Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, 2nd Tuesday School Board Meeting, Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 8h 14m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1217434020?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DV3GCL432C63

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 2026-10-09. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:02:27] Good afternoon. I call to order this August 11th, 2026 Loudoun County School Board meeting. At this time, we will read our disclosures. I will start as a member of the Loudoun County School Board and make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with an item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee.

[00:03:02] These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I'm included. I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years.

[00:03:20] Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the School Board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and our health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits however affect thousands of employees while in the excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected of which I'm included. I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public's

[00:03:58] interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. LaBelle. Thank you Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits in any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:04:27] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. In addition, as a former LCPS employee, I, as well as my spouse, receive Medicare Advantage insurance benefits through LCPS.

[00:04:44] These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statuatory three employees whose interests may also be affected of which my spouse and I are included I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you mr. Cardi thank you madam chair as a member of the Latin County School Board I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and/or health insurance and related

[00:05:21] benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which I am included I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank You. Ms. Chernoff. Thank You Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection

[00:06:00] with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and/or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically as a school board member, I'm eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits however affect thousands of employees well in the excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which I am included I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you we will now move on to agenda item number three approval of the consent agenda board members before we

[00:06:38] approve the consent agenda we have some proclamations to read first from the Department of Student Services we have the attendance awareness month proclamation which will be read by mr. Svensson who represents the broad run district. Thank you, Madam Chair. Whereas regular school attendance is essential for student learning, engagement, and long-term success, and chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, can significantly hinder academic achievement and social development.

[00:07:06] And whereas compulsory attendance requirements are set forth in the Code of Virginia 22.1-254, and Loudoun County Public Schools is committed to proactively engaging students to improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism from pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

[00:07:22] And whereas Loudoun County Public Schools recognizes that absenteeism can be caused by a variety of factors, including health challenges, transportation barriers, family obligations, housing insecurity, and social-emotional concerns, all of which require compassion, partnership, and proactive support.

[00:07:38] And whereas fostering a culture of attendance is a shared responsibility for students, families, educators, school staff, community and health service partners, and local leaders who work together to remove barriers to attendance so every student attends school every day ready to learn.

[00:07:53] And whereas commitment to encouraging daily on-time attendance at school supports opportunities for in-school learning, growth, and school improvement, and whereas Loudoun County Public Schools is committed to helping all students feel welcomed, connected, and supported by implementing strategies that promote positive school climates, early intervention, family engagement, and student-centered services, and whereas the month of September, nationally recognized as Attendance Awareness Month, provides an opportunity to spotlight the importance of showing up for school and strengthen our commitment to student well-being, equity, and success.

[00:08:26] Now be it resolved that the Loudoun County School Board recognizes September 2026 as Attendance Awareness Month and resolves to support efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism by encouraging regular attendance, removing barriers to participation, and ensuring that every student has access to the relationships and resources they need to thrive.

[00:08:45] Thank you. Next, also from the Department of Student Services, we have the Suicide Prevention Awareness Month proclamation, which we read by Mr. Pepper, who is the chair of the Student Services Committee. Thank you, Madam Chair. Whereas suicide is a community problem and a leading cause of death among young people nationwide, and students' mental wellness is essential to their success in school and life, and whereas schools can help play a critical role in identifying suicide risk warning signs, communicating with parents, providing support, fostering connectedness, and ensuring students have access to trusted adults and appropriate

[00:09:24] resources, and whereas the Loudoun County community, having been impacted by youth suicide, encourages open conversations about mental health to reduce stigma, including the stigma associated with losing a loved one to suicide, and promotes help-seeking behavior among youth, and whereas awareness of youth suicide warning signs is important in the Loudoun County community and in schools. These warning signs include talking about or making plans for suicide, expressing hopelessness about the future, displaying severe, overwhelming emotional pain or distress, showing worrisome behavioral cues or marked changes in behavior

[00:10:03] that include significant withdrawal from or changes in social connections or situations, changes in sleep, increased or decreased, anger or hostility that seem out of character or context, or recent increased agitation or irritability, and whereas Loudoun County Public Schools believes that one suicide is too many and therefore promotes a culture of care, support, and help-seeking behavior for all students.

[00:10:28] And whereas Loudoun County Public Schools implements comprehensive suicide prevention programming and partners with professional organizations, community agencies, and universities to raise awareness, provide education resources, and connect individuals to effective treatment.

[00:10:44] And whereas Loudoun County Public Schools is dedicated to creating a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment where students feel seen, heard, and valued. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County School Board recognizes September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and encourages all staff, students, families, and community members to promote mental health awareness, access to available resources, support for each other with compassion and care, and affirm our commitment to student wellness and safety.

[00:11:17] Thank you. Are there any changes to be made to the consent agenda? All right, seeing none, let's move forward with the vote. I will now, actually, let me start over since it's been a few weeks. I will now entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

[00:11:36] Ms. Chernoff? I move to approve the consent agenda. Thank you. Second. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Svensson. All right. We have a second by, it has been properly moved by Ms. Chernoff to approve the consent agenda, and we have a second by Mr. Svensson.

[00:11:55] It has been properly moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. At this time, we will take a vote to approve the consent agenda. Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote.

[00:12:12] That motion passes with seven school board members voting yes, including Ms. Riccardi, Mr. Svensson, Ms. Chernoff, myself, Mr. Pepper, Dr. Rasheed, and Ms. LaBelle. One board member abstaining, Mrs. Griffiths, and Vice Chair Donahue absent for the vote.

[00:12:29] Let's move on to item number four. Tonight, we will hear from the School Business Partnership Executive Council update Which will be presented by mr. Shawn Mitchell the chair of the school business partnership executive council and miss rodee

[00:12:42] Dawson the director of family and community engagement.

[00:13:14] All right. Good evening Well, good evening dr. Spence chair Chandler and the greater allowing community and other members of the school board I'm very happy to be here this evening. My name is Shawn Mitchell I am the owner of a company called modern mechanical and I will be the chair of this year's LCPS school business partnership executive council and we we like all the words that we have there Renee will forgive me if I go off script this afternoon, too I already wonder that that is bound to happen at some point

[00:13:54] I will say that I'm very very excited to be the chair this year and I really enjoyed being vice chair last year I've had the opportunity in Loudoun County to chair a lot of different Organizations including the Chamber of Commerce and I've had probably the most fun and the most impact in being part of the school business council so i'm really looking forward to the work that we're going to be doing this year and i'm happy to give the update and really it's just an improvement upon the update that you guys got last year so um our first slide here captures the work that guides our council throughout the

[00:14:28] year our initiative gives us tangible ways to bring our schools and business community together whether that's connecting students with professionals through job for a day recognizing outstanding partnerships strengthening business engagement or bringing our community together through the first responders event. But the events themselves are not the end goal. Our focus is on what those efforts make possible: stronger partnerships, greater alignment with workforce and community needs, expanded opportunities for students, and deeper community investment in our schools. As a council, we have the opportunity to serve as a bridge between LCPS and the business

[00:15:07] community. We bring together leaders, ideas, expertise, and resources in ways that can open doors for students and strengthen our schools. That is ultimately what this council is about, turning strong community relationships into meaningful opportunity for our students. Over the past year our council has taken a more strategic look at how we approach partnership. Not only what we do but how we can strengthen the council, broaden the voices at the table, and better connect our work to the priorities of LCPS. That starts with who our representation is on the council board. Our council brings together leaders from across Loudoun's

[00:15:44] business and industry, higher education, nonprofit, and government communities. Each member brings a different perspective, a different network, and different expertise that can benefit our school and students. And importantly, our members are active participants in the work of LCPS.

[00:16:00] They support career day experiences, serve on industry and program roundtables, and lend their expertise as advisors as we think about curriculum, courses, and career pathways. They serve as mentors community investors and thought partners participate on committees and work groups and help connect lcps with additional expertise and resources throughout our community that level of engagement is important because the value of this council extends well beyond our meetings our members help bring the knowledge experience and resources of the community into the work of

[00:16:35] our school division and i'll say on a number of occasions this past year we've had items come up where family liaisons is looking for help with something they're looking for gift cards they're looking for jackets we have a student who has no health insurance had fallen at school had got a $25,000 inova loud and health bill and had no wheelchair to be able to return to school and our members and our partners of our school business council have been able to resolve those issues for those students the one student with the health bill we were able to get that $25,000 gone and

[00:17:13] we were able to get him a wheelchair sent directly to the middle school so that way he could return to school. So those are just some of the experiences that you don't think about that our members are able to contribute. The broader, more intentional approach is reflected in the partnership network you see on this slide. Today, LCPS has more than 2,300 active partnership connections across the division with those businesses. And that's a significant number. But our goal is not simply to make it bigger. Our goal is to make those connections matter. A meaningful partnership can open up a door for a student, bring expertise into a classroom, create a work-based learning experience,

[00:17:53] provide resources to a school, or help connect a student or family with support. So as we look ahead, our focus is not simply on counting partnerships, it's on maximizing what those partnerships make possible for our students, schools, and families across LCPS. One of the strengths of our council is the range of perspectives represented at the table. Our members bring experience from business and industry, higher education, non-profit, and community organizations and other sectors across Loudoun. That breadth is intentional.

[00:18:29] Different organizations see our community through different lenses and bring those perspectives together help us better understand where partnership can create meaningful opportunities for LCPS. And these are not simply names on a membership list. Council members are active contributors across the division. They participate in career experiences, serve as mentors, lend their expertise through advisory committees and industry roundtables provide insight into curriculum and program pathways and invest their time knowledge and resources in our school that active engagement is what gives the councils value and the other members of our council we really work hard to make

[00:19:06] sure that every member is actively engaged and if they're not we find a new member that will be actively engaged going into the next term so we really want everyone engaged working and participating in our programs we lined up here all right as we as you continue through our membership you can see that the council brings together people with very different areas of expertise and experience that creates an important two-way connection our members gain greater insight into what is happening in lcps the opportunities available to students

[00:19:41] and where schools may benefit from community expertise of partnership at the same time they bring perspectives from their own organizations and sectors into our conversations and help carry the story of LCPS back to a broader community. That exchange strengthens understanding on both sides and helps us identify opportunities we might not discover working independently.

[00:20:03] There's another important strength represented by these names. Every person at this table brings a network with them. When we build relationships with one council member, we are not connecting with only one individual or one organization. We are also creating pathways to colleagues, industries, professional associations, community organizations, and other leaders throughout Loudoun and the region. That allows the council to be a connector. Members can make introductions, help identify potential partners, connect schools and programs with expertise, and open doors to relationships that can grow over time. So the reach of this council is much

[00:20:39] larger than the membership you see on these slides. Strong partnership also requires strong alignment and the representation you see here helps provide that connection. The council includes LCPS leadership alongside organizations closely connected to Loudoun's business community and economic development that helps ensure our conversations are informed by both the priorities of the school division and what is happening across the broader community it also creates opportunity for us to identify shared priorities coordinate efforts and think more strategically about where community partnership can have the greatest impact that alignment helps move us from

[00:21:18] individual partnerships toward a more connected approach to supporting students and schools and finally this council is supported by leaders who help connect the work across LCPS, higher education, economic development, and the broader community.

[00:21:33] Taken together, the names you've seen across these slides represent tremendous collective capacity, but having the right people at the table is only the beginning. The names across these slides represent tremendous collective capacity. Our responsibility as a council is to turn that capacity into opportunity for our students.

[00:21:53] When you look at our membership collectively, you begin to see the real strength of this council. we have leaders representing education government and economic development science and technology healthcare marketing hospitality skilled trades agriculture aviation and the non-profit community that diversity is intentional the opportunities available to our students are incredibly broad and our council should reflect the same breadth more importantly each person at this table brings more than their individual expertise they bring relationships professional networks knowledge of

[00:22:30] of their industry and connections throughout Loudoun. When LCPS identifies an opportunity or need, we can ask who at this table can help, who do we know, and who else should we bring into the conversation. And we also recognize that our work is never finished. As Loudoun's workforce and community continue to evolve, we will continue looking at our membership to ensure the right industries, perspectives, and voices are represented. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to Renee Dawson, Director of Family and Community Engagement, to share how we are thinking about the impact

[00:23:07] across LCPS. So thank you, Sean. And one of the things I appreciate most about the council is the breadth of what the partnership can make possible. So career preparation is certainly an important part of that work, but our partnerships reach much further. Our business and community partners bring this expertise and the relationships and resources and opportunities that support students and schools and families in many different ways. As we looked across that work, we identified four core areas of impact that help us better understand both the breadth of our partnerships

[00:23:46] and where we can continue to grow. So career aligned and industry representation brings the voice and expertise of industry into our schools and helps connect learning through future opportunities. Student experiences and engagement, well that brings those connections to life through authentic experiences that expose students to new ideas, people, possibilities, and pathways, community investment, and student support, and that reflects the many ways partners invest in our students and schools through resources, expertise, service, and support.

[00:24:21] And the strategic partnerships and community impact brings together, brings organizations together around shared priorities and opportunities that have an impact beyond a single program or school. These areas often overlap, and that's important. Our strongest partnerships rarely fit neatly into just one category. They create multiple points of connection and multiple ways to make a difference. So the four areas we discuss come to life through initiatives like the ones

[00:24:54] that you see here. So our job for a day is one of the largest student experiences and this year 689 juniors and seniors connected with 77 community career hosts over across 15 career clusters, giving students the opportunity to step into workplaces, learn directly from professionals, and explore where their interests might lead. And that was done through the tremendous leadership of our Career and Technical Education team that facilitates and leads our job for a day. And then, of course, we have our School Business Partnership Awards

[00:25:33] Recognition that celebrates the relationships behind opportunities like these. More than 800 students, educators, business leaders, and community partners come together to recognize partnerships representing every school in LCPS. And it's a wonderful, wonderful illustration of just how extensive this network is across Loudoun. And our council also helps to bring partners together around broader community partners. The first responders event, I love 250 first responders coming in and we're cooking hot dogs and hamburgers and sharing gifts. Our

[00:26:10] relationship with the Broadlands Rotary and the connections with organizations such as Orbalinks and Amazon's are just like some of the examples of the different ways that the council relationships can lead to service investment and new opportunities. What I hope you see across these examples is that partnership doesn't have one just per one purpose or one outcome. It can create an experience for a student, strengthen a school, recognize those who invest in our community or bring people together around a shared need. And the council-led initiatives are only one part

[00:26:45] of the much larger partnership story across LCPS. And as we look ahead, our focus is not simply on doing more. It is on being increasingly intentional about where this council can add the greatest value. First, we want to continue strengthening job per day. The interest from students has been tremendous and working alongside career technical and adult education we have an opportunity to deepen that experience connected even more closely to student interest and pathways and continue expanding the range of experiences available to students second we will continue strengthening our membership we

[00:27:22] want the council to reflect the breadth of Loudoun's community and economy while bringing together people who are willing to contribute their expertise relationships and networks to the work and third is a holistic impact we want continue looking across LCPS for opportunities for this council and the broader partnership community can add value, whether that means creating an opportunity for a student, bringing expertise to a school or program, responding to a community need, or connecting LCPS with new partners and resources. What you've heard tonight is really a story about capacity. We have tremendous expertise, generosity, and commitment throughout Loudoun. Our

[00:28:01] opportunity is to connect that capacity more intentionally with our students and schools. That's our path forward, deepen what works, broaden who is engaged, and continue turning strong community connections into meaningful opportunities for students. Thank you for the opportunity to share our work with you this evening, and this will conclude our formal presentation, and I'm happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you both. It's so nice to have you here, and I will say it has been one of my favorite things about the experience of being chair, serving on the School Business Partnership Council. It's been wonderful to really get to know everyone

[00:28:40] that comes to the table and to see the incredible work that you're doing so thank you so much and with that I'll ask board members are there any questions or comments? Oh yes Mr. Svensson. Thank you Madam Chair thank you both for the presentation and thanks for all the work that you do. I was curious in terms of expanding the membership if there were some key areas that you were focused on in terms of industries or career clusters in terms of bringing folks in to the council and membership and expanding the breadth of expertise there at the table so i'll

[00:29:17] kick it to renee to expand upon my answer but we really did look at that this year that was a really big focus for this upcoming year and we looked at all the available um seats that we had that our bylaws will allow us to fill and so i think that we really added we made sure we had a rural agricultural representation that was really really important we wanted to have data center representation we thought that was going to be really important for those career paths um we expanded our trades and skilled our skilled trades um and that's near and dear to my heart with what i do and so uh we we definitely want to make sure we were there and then we wanted to also you know

[00:29:55] we had some um some higher education community partners that maybe weren't uh attending as frequently as we wanted to and so we made sure we reinforced those things to make sure we had those colleges and universities that are present from the higher education side as well because we think that perspective is also really important as we look at you know what what programs out there what career paths need certifications what needs you know licensing things of that nature and the only thing that I would add is as our partners rotate off that's where you start seeing so we are we are great with trades I feel really good about our trades industry and how that's

[00:30:33] represented on the council and then what you'll notice is as partners roll off we do look to see okay, if we've had more of the trades, maybe we need to add some in. Or if we're losing some agriculture, maybe we need to add some in. So I'm thinking about some aviation people.

[00:30:50] We have a term one year one EMWA person there, which is the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority. So it would be nice as we start rotating them out, we are really thoughtful as a board to kind of sit down and look to say, these are the fields that we think we want to have represented.

[00:31:08] Thank you both so much. Thank you. Ms. Riccardi. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you both for being here. This is a topic that is really near and dear to my heart as well, so I'm really excited about all of this. And I'm excited that you guys have expanded out the breadth of professions.

[00:31:29] I think one of my questions is, you know, you kind of have to put the infrastructure in place first with the support and with the professionals in the different areas. But what are we going to do or what are the next steps to continue to communicate out to families about all the opportunities that our students have?

[00:31:48] Because I feel like we have so many great opportunities for students, especially through this. And so, you know, being in Sterling, I feel like my family is always saying, well, we didn't know about this and we don't know about that. And I get there's the communication piece is always going to be an ongoing thing. But what are we looking to do as far as really connecting our students in this community?

[00:32:06] So I can talk about some of the things that we've done this year. The job for a day, really, we had a big push with that. And using the schoolology technology and posting it as an event that showed up for sophomores and juniors to be able to choose from.

[00:32:23] And then they could do a short survey and pick what interests them. And then they would get selected. And we made sure that we had enough industry partners to cover as many of the folks that wanted to do job for a day, that volunteered to do job for a day. and we and we have you know there's people in the community i mean i know of loud and you know they'll do they'll host two days and and they'll take 200 kids or whatever the number is they take a lot of those kids um so you know that was a big piece and then i got to i got to experience it from both sides this year because as an employer that hosted up 20 people at our office some of them

[00:32:59] not trade some of them that were more finance focused or entrepreneur focused which i loved having um i got to i got to experience it as a student because i have a 16 and a 14 year old at home and so my 16 year old did the job for a day actually did the um the event and so i got to listen to all the behind the scenes training and the the videos and things and so and and i felt like she said that you know all the information is there and you just have to look for it and and so that was as it relates to job for a day but i do know that you know we're making a conscious effort

[00:33:33] one of the things we're really working on is job fairs and it seems like you have a lot of schools that do their own thing or maybe a couple schools get together that you just don't really know like who's hosting and then and then the lift that is on individual schools and so we're really trying to bring all that under ctae and have it where it's a universal calendar for job fairs and i love job fairs we hire students every single year from job fairs we get them from job fairs we get them from capstone we get them from job for a day i mean it's a it's a fantastic pathway um so i think

[00:34:11] that you know as it relates to job fairs that's an area that we're going to be focused on for better communication as well and then i would say also the representation on the committee so we have several people from lcps that are on the committee and our hope is is that you take that information back to your departments and disseminate that information out to your schools so cte is represented on that dr. Grubbs is a secondary we also have special education that is represented and so our goal is to make sure that the people that are on the council the committee members are sharing that out but I do think and we

[00:34:49] post that information on our website but I'm always looking for ways to make sure that our families and our schools understand and have that information readily available dr. Rasheed thank you chair and thank you for this great presentation so excited and I love the variety of members I saw that you had the different terms up I was just wondering what is the method of recruitment if any if it's a brand new member of that board or council I can take that one so dr. said what we would normally would do is we have our

[00:35:28] existing membership and then we look at all right what are the industries we then intentionally want to feel and then let's let's find people in those industries that might have an interest in applying and then we actually have an application that that individual would fill out and part of that application has to do with kind of the expectations of what you know if if you are accepted what your responsibilities and expectations are and it's attending you know these meetings it's participating in job for that's participating in the the awards breakfast on so that way they're they're essentially saying you know on my honor I will if I'm completing this application I will be an

[00:36:08] active participant which we thought was very very important to do as well and so this year we got our applications in we thought we had very very extreme high caliber individuals and we're like all right how do we make sure we can accommodate everybody that we got because we we got every industry we wanted so yeah i loved what i really appreciated about that application that we did differently this year is we did ask for that commitment because our goal is is that the council are active participants that support not just the work of what we do in terms of the breakfast

[00:36:43] and job for a day but other areas as well so you'll see that you'll see the council members working with different departments different offices and our goal is to really make sure we have this large breadth diverse representation but also people who are committed to actively participating any further questions all right seeing none um thank you so much for the presentation and for being here this evening, and before we move on to our work session, I will ask Vice Chair Donahue to do our disclosure, please.

[00:37:18] Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance, and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, my spouse, my minor children, and I are enrolled in LCPS health insurance that may be affected by any potential changes to employee salaries the budget and or health insurance additionally my sister-in-law is an lcps employee who does not reside with me and is not dependent on me these subjects include thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may be

[00:37:53] affected of which my spouse my children my sister-in-law and i am included i can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you so much and with that we'll move on to item number five our work session so we will now have the Department of Communications and Community Engagement the state of partnerships in Loudoun County Public Schools which will be presented by Dr.

[00:38:23] Grubbs and Miss Dawson good evening chair Chandler members of the school board and dr. Spence thank you for the opportunity to share an update on the state of partnerships across Loudoun County Public Schools I'm very very

[00:39:01] excited about this, and I'm excited to share this presentation with my colleague and friend, Dr. Mike Grubbs, Director of Career Technical and Adult Education. Tonight's presentation reflects a comprehensive view of partnership work across our division, and these partnerships are not owned by one department program or council, they are built through the collective leadership of our schools and departments, the School Business Partnership Executive Council, the Loudoun Education Foundation, Career Technical and Adult Education Advisory Committee, families and businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and many other community organizations. And our goal tonight

[00:39:41] really is to show why these partnerships matter and how the work has evolved, the impact that the partners are making, and how we are building a more coordinated system to support every student. And so we're going to begin with the most important question why do partnerships matter to LCPS so partnerships matter because they extend what our schools can accomplish for students and families they enrich learning by connecting classroom

[00:40:15] instruction with colleges employers subject matter experts arts organizations authentic civic experiences they reduce barriers by coordinating health safety family access and essential need support and they also expand our collective capacity by bringing schools and departments and families and community organizations together around shared priorities partnerships are not an addition to student success they are a strategy for student success

[00:40:50] and they allow lcps to draw upon the expertise relationships resources and generosity of the broader Loudoun community. Did you have anything more? As Ms. Dawson shared, the strategies for partnerships are complementary to the work that we are doing. For enriching learning, for example, CTE partnerships are not just for work-based learning. They are for all K-12 career-connected learning opportunities, measured not just by students hired, but also by our curriculum enhancements and opportunities for students to see themselves in the workforce. So this work

[00:41:27] has developed over time and moving from individual relationships and programs towards a really more intentional coordinated and division-wide partnership system. LCPS has long benefited from strong school-based partnerships. Schools have built meaningful relationships with their PTAs and PTOs, businesses, non-profits, higher education, public agencies, our faith communities, and local organizations to meet the unique needs of their students and communities. Family liaisons, school social workers, counselors, administrators,

[00:42:06] career and technical education teachers and leaders along with the staff have been instrumental in coordinating these partnerships and connecting students and families with community resources and together these relationships created the strong foundation we continue to build upon today. So we kind of wanted to give some historical context. Now, over these past through years, the superintendent's vision and the school board's strategic priorities has really transformed how partnerships support our work. Partnerships are now intentionally embedded across initiatives, such as the Access Academy,

[00:42:45] which I'm sure Dr. Grubbs is going to share a little about, Rise Academies, expanded career and technical education pathways and work-based learning, wellness supports, family engagement, division-wide sustainability efforts, and the cross-department collaborations.

[00:43:02] Our career technical and adult education team continues to truly lead this work through the thoughtful and intentional development of programs and partnerships, experiences, and pathways that connect students with meaningful opportunities and expertise across our community.

[00:43:18] And Dr. Grubbs will share more about that work with you. Today, we are intentionally building towards a more coordinated, division-wide partnership ecosystem, rather than operating with those individual efforts, right? We are creating stronger connections among schools, departments, families, and businesses.

[00:43:39] And so as the partner, as the division continues developing the strategic plan, or we think about our new strategic plan, this way of thinking about partnerships in terms of being a ecosystem or a network provides us with this opportunity to build an even more connected and coordinated approach by intentionally aligning partnerships with our division priorities we can continue to maximize community resources strengthen collaboration and increase our collective impact for every student and every family do you want to talk about access sure i'll lean into access a

[00:44:15] bit i think is a great example where we're finding through lines for our special programs between partnerships like law and education foundation and our school business partnership access for example one of our lead partners with george mason university dr palmis sits on our exec executive council loudon education foundation has sought funding in addition to the funding that has come from the lab school to take our students to our business partners many of those business partners are on CTAC but many of them are also on our school business executive council and so I think that's where we're seeing some of those synergies that are happening in our special programs that are not in isolation of our partnerships but in that ecosystem and we're

[00:44:54] going to continue building on that success. So this snapshot illustrates the scale and breadth of partnerships across LCPS. I'm incredibly proud of that top number and that is not even all of active partnerships. Today, LCPS has more than 2,300 registered business partners, including more than 900 added through the career technical and adult education as work-based learning and industry engagement have expanded. Our work is further strengthened by two advisory

[00:45:32] committees, CTAC and the School Business Partnership Council, which help connect business and community perspectives with division priorities these numbers also reflect strong community engagement across our division more than and I will kick it over to you talk about that workforce summit sure thank you miss Dawson the column on the right really highlights some of the work that we've done over the past few years not in isolation but in partnership a lot of those 315 plus workforce summit participants and 150 plus roundtable participants were

[00:46:08] through this collective ecosystems a lot of those folks are not just attending one event they're attending all of our events throughout the school system as we look at those partners they have not only informed and impacted opportunities for students but those members represent a variety of industries that our team including the new work-based learning resource teachers have helped cultivate not just as contacts but engaged partners over the past year. As Ms. Dawson shared, it's not just about numbers, it's about impact. When I see those business partners, I think about our 1,000 plus documented work-based learning students that we

[00:46:45] captured this past year. Those aren't just numbers. If you did the math, that would be over a million dollars in paid stipends for our students, not only back into their pockets, but back into the economy. So those aren't just numbers, those are meaningful experiences for our students. I'd also like to point out the 100 plus partners that attended the Mental Health and Wellness Conference.

[00:47:12] So when you think about the scope of partnerships in LCPS, you think about the Department of Student Services that has a wide range of partners. And all of those partners are supporting our families and our students. We had 150 plus partners at the Environmental Roundtable and the Environmental Day. And we think about creating these initiatives of sustainability and stewardship, environmental stewardship, and these are led by partners and impacting students.

[00:47:42] The next slide really takes a closer look at the diverse sectors that make up the partnership ecosystem. So I love this slide, and it represents what that partnership ecosystem looks like that surrounds and supports LCPS, bringing together the many sectors of our community that contribute to student success. Businesses and industry, nonprofits, higher education, government agencies, public safety, health care organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, and others each bring different expertise, resources, relationships, and experiences

[00:48:22] to our schools. And if you notice, our students, our families, and our schools are at the center of that ecosystem. Some create those opportunities that enrich learning and expand pathways for for students, others help remove barriers, strengthen family and community connections, or provide resources and support.

[00:48:40] And increasingly, as Dr. Grubbs has mentioned, these partnerships do not fit neatly into just one category. A partner may support workforce development while also connecting and mentoring students, investing in a school, serving on an advisory committee, or helping meet a community need.

[00:48:59] And that is where the strength of this ecosystem really begins to emerge. And our opportunity moving forward is really to continue strengthening those connections across this network so that we can more intentionally align our expertise, resources, and commitment of our community with the needs and priorities of our students and our schools.

[00:49:20] And the next several slides, very excited, are going to present what that ecosystem looks like in action so our instructional partnerships bring additional expertise experiences and perspectives into teaching and learning colleges and universities help students explore post-secondary pathways we can see that through our campus program we can see that with the dual enrollment numbers and the great work that has been happening there to provide our students with access we have our

[00:49:55] specialized pathways that are expanding and we have partners that are associated with all of those So whether it's Access Academy, Academies of Allowed, and HAMSci, IB, Dual Immersion, Dual Language Immersion, AGLS, NJROTC, all of those pathways have partners associated with them.

[00:50:14] And then, of course, we have our expertise in Richmond. These partnerships don't replace the experts of our educators, of course. They complement and they extend it. When thoughtfully aligned with curriculum and instructional goals, Partners help students see how their learning connects with the world beyond the classroom.

[00:50:33] And the strongest instructional partnerships begin with an identified learning objective and are developed collaboratively with educators. Thank you, Ms. Dawson. I'll highlight the specialized pathways, and I think of our partner Katie Clark in academic programs. While many of those specialized programs tend to be CTE, I find that they follow a very similar process from conception to fruition.

[00:50:57] The Specialized Pathways, regardless if they are CTE, have all leveraged business partnerships and community perspectives. These individuals help us around the edges of Pathways by considering industry perspectives and providing experiences for students beyond the classrooms. These roundtable conversations for Specialized Pathways help students see themselves in the workforce, take field trips, and those aren't things that end when the program gets off the ground.

[00:51:22] They continue as the program goes into year two, year three, and year four. So as we were working through gathering information, one of the things that was very exciting is I could reach out and connect with the various departments.

[00:51:39] So I connected with science, and these are just a few of the instructional partnerships and what they might look like. And you can see some numbers and some impact. Genelia brings practicing scientists directly into elementary schools. Nature Forward extends environmental learning beyond the traditional classroom.

[00:51:59] Morvin Park uses its historical setting to create cross-curricular learning experiences. And through the longstanding partnership with Virginia Tech 4-H Extension, more than 34,111 students, 486 teachers across 82 schools had the opportunity to have hands-on experience with embryology, if you think about the reach and the impact of that.

[00:52:27] What I want to emphasize, though, is that the breadth of these partnerships, they bring research and environmental education, history, science, and higher education expertise.

[00:52:43] That's not me. There is some general excitement about the job. It's the excitement about the job. Directly into the student learning experience. And another significant way partnerships extend learning beyond the classroom is by connecting students with careers, employers, and the workforce.

[00:53:04] All right. Workforce partnerships help students understand the range of possibilities available to them and the skills needed to pursue those opportunities. Through career exploration, students learn about industries and occupations they may not otherwise encounter. Through work-based learning, they participate in job shadowing, internships, apprenticeships, mentoring, and other authentic workplace experiences. Industry partners also help LCPS understand emerging workforce needs and strengthen instructional pathways job for day is one example of this

[00:53:43] collaboration connecting approximately 600 students with more than 70 business and organizational partners other partners partnerships contribute to internships career fairs specialized programs and the development of pathways in areas such as health sciences skilled trades technology and computer science while often we measure success of students going into these programs these experiences also help our students identify which pathways they do not want to pursue in the future as well. So this next type of partnership are the whole

[00:54:22] child and family partnerships and how they collectively work together to reduce barriers. We all know that students cannot fully engage with learning when essential needs, health concerns, safety issues, or family access barriers remain unaddressed. So whole child and family partnerships really connect LCPS with organizations that provide food and clothing, health and wellness, resources, mental health supports, safety program, family education, and resource navigation. So our family liaisons, little shout out to them, are central to this work. They build those trusting relationships,

[00:54:58] they identify needs, they connect families with the appropriate resources, and coordinate with the Loudoun Education Foundation and other community partners. And these relationships allow the schools, allow us to support and our support to be responsive, respectful, and connected to the school. Our inaugural interfaith luncheon this year, which many of you all attended, had 120 attendees paired with family liaisons and the faith-based organizations that support the basic needs of our students. And this work is not separate from academic success.

[00:55:34] When students feel safe and supported and connected, they are better positioned to attend school, to participate, and to learn. And our partnerships strengthen the broader systems and community relationships surrounding our schools. Community and systems partnerships expand LCPS, what we can accomplish through a coordinated effort. We have our early learning work is one of those examples modeled after first 10, ready, set, K. We're very excited about that kickoff, Dr. Ellis. We have our civic engagement activities with events like together and

[00:56:10] Remembrance in partnership with our social sciences and global studies that connected veterans and other organizations. We do our first responders event that is in partnership with our first responders foundation. And then of course we have all of the philanthropic work that happens through our Loudoun Education Foundation and the other organizations. Our partnerships that turn community commitment into impact and this slide represents three examples of partnership impact across the areas of lcps job for a day which we've talked about and the great work happening with

[00:56:48] ctae and the school business partnership council and all of the students impacted the lcps green team and all of the work that claude is doing or clark is doing 60 schools 7 000 students engaged with the green team student-led projects benefited nearly 29 000 of our students across LCPS. Together in Remembrance, an event around Memorial Day, 34 schools, 3,200 first grade students, and that's not counting the hundreds and thousands of students that had curriculum that

[00:57:22] was specifically tied to Memorial Day. We have 25 Purple Star schools, and those schools are connected to our military partners. And then we have 64 schools that are receiving essential supports from our Loudoun Education Foundation, who has all of this huge partnership network.

[00:57:43] And these are just some of the examples that demonstrate the partnership impact, including learning, opportunity, service, family support, and community connection. And as this network grows, partners also need clear and welcoming ways to connect with the appropriate areas across LCPS.

[00:58:03] So our partnership work occurs across many areas of LCPS, and we want the experience for them to be clear and coordinated. FACE can serve as an initial point of contact for general partnership inquiries. So if you have a general inquiry, you're a partner, you're interested, reach out, and we can direct you where you need to go.

[00:58:23] Whether a partner is interested in supporting instruction, career-connected learning, students and families, volunteerism, all of those ways, This helps us to move from interest to meaningful impact. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that partnerships are not only welcomed, but intentionally aligned to where they can have the greatest impact for our students and our schools.

[00:58:46] And making those connections possible requires collaboration across LCPS with the key leaders, helping coordinate partnership work with their respective areas. And this is the dream team. Partnership work across LCPS expands across multiple departments and areas of expertise.

[00:59:10] These key points of contact bring specialized knowledge and establish relationships across instruction, family engagement, career connected learning, student support, sustainability, and community partnerships. And as we build towards a more coordinated ecosystem, strengthening those connections across these areas will help us identify shared opportunities, align partnerships with division priorities, and amplify their impact across LCPS.

[00:59:41] So as we examined the partnerships, and I had an opportunity to connect with the various departments, one of the things that became very clear, we are building an exceptionally strong foundation of partnerships that you think about. That wasn't even everything. We just gave you a little bit.

[00:59:58] We as a school division have cultivated trusted relationships with businesses and nonprofits and various agencies, our faith communities, and many other organizations. and these partnerships already enrich learning, support the whole child, and create meaningful opportunities for students and families.

[01:00:16] And those relationships really represent our strengths. We have a broad and diverse partner ecosystem. We have trust that support the whole child, and we are increasing that collaboration across departments. And together, these strengths have allowed us to really grow the partnerships in both reach and impact.

[01:00:38] And as we looked at, as a division, we recognized that as an opportunity. And rather than thinking about partnerships as just numbers, we have an opportunity to really zero in on impact. Numbers are great and how many students that we're reaching, but it does give us an opportunity to think about impact as a driver and not just the numbers.

[01:01:02] And so that brings us to the next chapter of our work. And our hope is that we continue to strengthen coordination across departments and our schools, expand equitable access to partnership opportunities so that partnerships are not just based on the geographic area of where a school is, that we have a broad reach for that.

[01:01:26] Align our partners with identified student or school needs, create that clear entry point for businesses and community organizations, and to improve our division-wide tracking and evaluation. Our opportunity is not simply to increase that number of partners, but really to deepen their impact and ensure their reach extends all across LCPS.

[01:01:48] Yes. So I think our central message, and I hope that you all leave with this, is that across LCPS, partnerships expand opportunities.

[01:02:04] They strengthen belonging, they remove barriers, and they support student success. These outcomes are not the responsibility of one department or organization. They are made possible through the collective commitment of educators, families, businesses, non-profits, our government agencies, higher education volunteers, and community leaders.

[01:02:25] Our opportunity is to connect these efforts more intentionally so that the strength of Loudoun Community reaches every school and every student. And that is what one LCPS means in practice, right? When we work as one coordinated partnership ecosystem, we don't simply increase the number of partnerships we consider impact, and we increase the important opportunities available to every student and strengthen the support available to every family and ensure that our community's collective strengths are aligned around a shared purpose, which is student success.

[01:03:06] Thank you so much. Thank you both for the presentation, and definitely what I heard there in your closing is that it takes all of us to make sure that our students succeed. And with that, I will open the floor to questions, school board members, Dr. Rasheed.

[01:03:22] Thank you, Chair, and thank you so much, Dr. Grubbs and Ms. Dawson, for this helpful presentation that shows a lot of accomplishments. We're pretty much out there. I think you mentioned in one of the slides, I think it was three slides together, six or seven or eight, and you had mentioned Janelia, you had mentioned Virginia Tech, and I noticed those are pretty strong models and pretty big program connections.

[01:03:51] I was wondering if there were any plans, and apologies if you already mentioned it, if there were any plans to expand similar hands-on research partnerships with secondary fields or creative fields, any others that you had mentioned? I think one of the things is when you look at those models, we have longstanding relationships with them. And I think one of the things is that we've done and we've been intentionally across departments is thinking about what are the success models and how can we replicate that for success? So while I don't have any specific plans for that, I do think

[01:04:29] that some of the work that's happening within career and technical education, some of the things that we are doing within family and community engagement we are looking at those models as exemplars for what we could do how we can expand other areas one more follow-up question if that's okay I just wanted to know I know you mentioned common standards for quality and impact I was just wondering if there were any metrics in place in regards to any type of feedback loops just so just so you could measure the success that's actually one of our areas of

[01:05:05] opportunity when we talked about our next steps and priorities as we're thinking about what the impact would be we had a partnership collaborative in 24-25 that kind of came together and talked about a common definition of what partnership is. I think reconvening that partnership collaborative which included a lot of people that you saw on the screen as the key contacts for all of us to come together to determine what some of those metrics might be for impact because our knee-jerk reaction is to think about we've got a lot of numbers of students this is great and it is but what does it look like for impact and the impact might be different

[01:05:42] for CTE it might be different for what my particular area is with our family liaisons and the resources that are provided so I do think that reconvening the partnership collaborative us thinking about it collectively how does your individual partner even if we just elevate that in conversation when we're thinking about what's our target number also what is the impact and what is our purpose behind it I think Miss Dawson is that really well I might just call it a specific example we've been doing the workforce summit for a few years now one of the focus areas at our level in terms of measuring impact is how are we

[01:06:21] measuring our our partners as we're bringing them along the work-based learning continuum so you've been doing job for a day for the last two five ten years how are we in terms of converting you into summer hiring if you've been doing summer hiring over the last two years great let's check in let's think about how we convert you to a year-long internship I think that really echoes Miss Dawson's comments of it's not just about the numbers how are we moving our partnerships along meaning them where they are but also helping them meet our students where they are moving forward so we'll continue to work together on how

[01:06:56] we measure success. Thank you madam chair and my thoughts are in the similar vein as Dr. Rasheed's just sort of really encouraged by hearing you talk about impact because I think that's really what business partners come to the table for so whether it's a wheelchair that shows up at a school I mean it's a massive impact right that's gonna mean a lot more to someone then we have 2,000 business partners I think that that personal touch is really important so I love that you're moving the focus that way and something that I think you're really underselling here is not so much how much you're connecting the business

[01:07:33] partners with LCPS obviously that message is loud and clear and wonderful but how much you're connecting business partners with each other I think that using the community schools as a lever or leveraging the schools even to bring together I think about the interfaith luncheon I was sitting at a table where people were like well I have this need and they're like well I can meet that need and not only they were meeting needs for each other not just the school which also strengthens the greater community which speaks to the schools being the heart of the community which is something I know that we really value and believe so I want to applaud you in that as well because I think that's the

[01:08:08] ripple effect additionally of the work that's happening I've also just really enjoyed as a school board member being part of this massive growth in this area to having a front row seat to these initiatives and to these business partners and their innovation and what they're bringing to the table for students is really incredible. And again, I echo what Dr. Rasheed said. I think knowing where we house all of that in terms of what is actually the tangible impact is really the next step for us to be able to share the story and to continue to maximize the depth of the work. So well done.

[01:08:45] It speaks for itself, but really appreciative of your all's work collaboration together and just the amazing things that are happening for our students. I mean, wow. Thank you. Mr. Svinson. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you both for the presentation and for the work that you're doing on the partnerships.

[01:09:02] It's really amazing. I was wondering if you could provide a snapshot of partnerships related to the VUE Transition Center and what partnerships planning has been done to date. What are the plans to do that planning in the future? Because I know that's going to be a space where partnerships are really key, so I was curious if you all could speak a little bit to that specific program.

[01:09:25] Well, I'm actually glad you asked that question because today I had someone pop in my office and they said, hey, have you had a chance to look at that list? Because we need some people from two different areas. And I was like, I've got the perfect people that can go in there. And so that I'm incredibly excited about.

[01:09:44] I've met with Ms. Kim several times to kind of talk to her about how I can support, how I can provide resources. I think Dr. Grubbs has been there since the very beginning in that process and working with her, but it was nice because when she popped by today, she was like, have you had an opportunity?

[01:10:01] Just take a look at the list, and there were a couple of people when I looked before, and I was like, ooh, at this roundtable, you've got to make sure you have this person, and this person needs to be there, and so today, I have a couple of other people that I'll be sending her way. And I'll just lean in on some specifics.

[01:10:19] SEAC and our special education community has a participant role in our CTAC, and they're active members, actively engaged. And then also at our September CTAC meeting, they will be presenting updates on the VIEW Transition Center, and so they're slated already on our September agenda to provide our CTAC membership updates.

[01:10:39] And to Ms. Dawson's point, a lot of the members that we've seen in terms of stakeholders providing input on the VIEW Transition Center were connections through CTAC or school business partnership and so I think it's speaking to you know it's not just about business partners for students it's about business partners for each other and I think that we've been leveraging some of that work. Thank you yeah it's a great example of the cross-departmental collaboration the cross-committee collaboration all working together. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Riccardi. Thank you Madam Chair. Well I'm going to say Dr. Grubbs and soon-to-be doctor. There you go. She's been working it. I just want to tell you

[01:11:18] I think the partnership ecosystem slide is really, we've talked about this a little bit offline, it's really powerful. And I think that, you know, when you're talking about adding value and impact, I think all 10 of these categories on here, the businesses that are in each one of these are going to define that impact slightly differently.

[01:11:42] Depending on you know if your health care provider or your arts culture and sports, you know business or you know So I think that there's going to be some interesting Nuances and it's not just the impact to LCPS But again the new one of the impact that the businesses are having so that they can go back to their Boards and their constituents and say this is the kind of impact that we've got So I think there's going to be some interesting ways that they're going to define it and in how we define it And maybe even within each of these ecosystems on both sides of that fence. So I think that would be interesting I think the other thing that would be really fascinating to see, and by the way, massive kudos to the two of you for the quantity of partnerships that you have brought in in such

[01:12:22] a short amount of time. This is, you know, yeah, seriously, that definitely deserves the fist bumps. As a business owner myself, I mean, this is a really challenging time for a lot of businesses, right? And a lot of people are really having to really tighten the reins on what they're doing and how they're spending time, energy, and effort.

[01:12:41] So I think it really speaks to growing deeper roots in the community when it comes to these partnerships. I'm so excited about that, just from a quantity perspective, because that's also just an amazing workload for both of you, I know. So thank you both for that. I'm just so excited to see where you're going with this.

[01:12:58] And I think it also, you know, it's something that we need to think about as we're looking at the budget moving forward and staffing and structure and support for this continued growth is what does this look like moving forward? And what kind of, you know, I know you guys are running on really thin staffing and what those needs might be coming up as we go into the budget process and the budget cycle.

[01:13:18] I guess like pretty soon we're going to start that again. Yeah. So I think that that would be a really, I would be really open to that conversation with both of you just to kind of know what your ideal is and what you would need. Because one of the things I want to make sure we're not doing is burning everybody out, including the two of you, I might add, right, because this is a lot of work.

[01:13:39] but i want to make sure that we we've you know if this is something that we're investing in obviously in the future that we've got the right staff structure to help support both of you and the work that's that's going on right now so that'd be helpful thank you again for all that you guys are doing it's really impressive all right um is it too late to ask for dad jokes it's so unfair i'm sorry that's like a private joke for the people that go to the partnership breakfast right

[01:14:15] we really do appreciate your skills in that area so I understand that we're going to need a little bit more time than we have at this point for the entirety of our stakeholder survey results presentation so with that we will recess this meeting for dinner and reconvene at 6:30 the board is now in

[01:14:42] recess.

[02:01:56] Good evening. The board is coming out of recess at this time. We did not complete our work session, so I just wanted to take a point of clarification and let you know that our work session will come back before information items, but we will proceed with the agenda for the public portion of the most public and cooperative portion of our meeting tonight. So next up is item number eight, the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. Tonight, the National Anthem will be performed by Rain Serla, a rising senior at Rockridge High School. She is an accomplished

[02:02:32] vocalist and proud member of Rockridge Sings, where she will serve as student board co-president next year. Rain is also an active member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society and will serve as its vice president. Last year, she earned recognition through selection to the All-District Honor Choir, All-Virginia Honor Choir, and the ACDA Southern Division Honor Choir.

[02:02:56] After high school, Rain hopes to pursue a BFA in musical theater. She is grateful for the opportunity to represent her school this evening. Welcome, Rain, and thank you for being here tonight. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for the national anthem.

[02:03:13] Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, for God, the bull, liberty, and justice. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we came at the twilight's last gleaming

[02:03:48] Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the rats we watch are so gallantly streaming?

[02:04:08] And the rocket's red glare still there.

[02:04:29] Taste that star-spangled banner yet.

[02:05:05] Thank you so much. That was absolutely incredible. All right. So we will now move on to item number nine, recognitions. Item 9.01 is our one LCPS spotlight. the launching of the Academy of Global and Linguistic Studies, and Leesburg Elementary School Dual Language Immersion Expansion Program. So come on up. I'll let you introduce yourselves,

[02:05:30] please.

[02:06:03] So sorry. I'll try that again. Good evening, Chair Chandler, members of the school board, and Dr. Spence. Thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening. We're excited to spotlight two of our newest student-centered programs launching this school year, the Academy of Global and Linguistic Studies and the Leesburg Elementary School Dual Language Immersion Expansion. These programs reflect our ongoing commitment to creating multiple pathways to

[02:06:42] success for our students here in Loudoun County. Tonight, we'll begin by grounding these initiatives in the LCPS strategic plan, then provide a brief overview of each program, and finally take a moment to recognize the teams who brought these opportunities to life. Tonight, I'm joined, sorry Next slide. Tonight, I'm joined by several dedicated leaders who have been instrumental in creating these programs. We have Dr. Brewer, principal of Dominion High School,

[02:07:15] Ms. Northman, coordinator of Academy of Global and Linguistic Studies, Mr. Lacey, principal of Leesburg Elementary, Ms. James, supervisor of World Languages and Cultures, and Ms. Graham, supervisor of Social Science and Global Studies. I do also want to recognize that we have Dr.

[02:07:35] Cloaks, assistant principal from Leesburg Elementary in attendance this evening. Each of them brings a unique perspective and deep commitment to supporting our students. At this time, I'll turn it over to Danielle Graham. Next slide, please. Thank you. It is important to ground our work in the 1LCPS 2027 Strategic Plan for Excellence. AGLS and the DLI program directly support Goal 1, empowered students, especially through Aligned Action 1.2, expanding multiple

[02:08:12] accessible pathways to success. These programs are meaningful steps towards ensuring every student feels supported and has a path to thrive. Now, I would like to turn it over to Dr. Brewer, Principal of Dominion High School, and Ms. Northman, the AGLS Coordinator, to give us an overview of the program. Dr. Brewer. On behalf of the Dominion High School community, I just want to say thank you so much for the opportunity we've been given to empower students to make meaningful

[02:08:46] contributions to the world. Then I'd like to turn it over to the architect of AGALS, Chelsea Northman. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. The Academy of Global and Linguistic Studies at Dominion High School prepares students to become globally minded leaders and problem solvers in an increasingly interconnected world. Through immersive language experiences, learning in Arabic and Mandarin Chinese, students will develop strong communication skills and cultural understandings. They will also engage in authentic explorations of international relations and global business, gaining insights into issues and opportunities

[02:09:24] that shape our world. The Academy's interdisciplinary international focused curriculum connects classroom learning to higher education and future career pathways that will help students build their knowledge, their skills, and their global perspectives they need to succeed in college careers and beyond.

[02:09:40] AGLS scholars can pursue specialized pathways in global leadership or global business while participating in advanced language and cultural immersion opportunities. Through dual enrollment opportunities and advanced coursework, they earn valuable college credits while experiencing their high school courses. Partnerships with international organizations and global businesses will provide real-world opportunities and connections for our students, and scholars can participate in internships, cultural exchanges, and short-term study abroad experiences in their senior year that will broaden their global perspectives. Together, these experiences will prepare our

[02:10:17] future graduates for connected studies and future careers in diplomacy, international relations, business, public policy, government, and other global endeavors. Next slide. This summer, we offered our scholars the opportunity to engage in community building, global inquiry, and language practice during our first ever AGLS Summer Bridge program at Dominion High School. During the experience, the students got to know their fellow scholars. They began an investigation of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They were able to dive into language study with their teachers, and they even experienced what global communication can look like with a trip

[02:10:54] to the Planet Word Museum in Washington, D.C. In closing, I would like to second Dr. Brewer's remarks and thank the school board for their support of this program. We feel so excited to welcome our 50 scholars into the program in just a few short days and the excitement continues to build and we look forward to sharing what our AGLS scholars will bring forward to this future and beyond. Now I will turn it over to Ms. James and Mr. Lacey for an overview of the dual language immersion expansion at Leesburg Elementary School. Thank you. We are excited to expand

[02:11:31] dual language immersion in Loudoun County Public Schools to Leesburg Elementary. Next slide please. So our program overview, we offer a 50-50 two-way immersion model that is both regional and school priority models. All of our students that are selected for the program are through a lottery selection process.

[02:11:50] The program begins in kindergarten, and transportation is not provided for students who live outside of the DLI attendance zone. Our program goals include academic achievement, bilingualism, and biliteracy, as well as cultural competency. Next slide, please.

[02:12:06] So, Leesburg is a school priority model, which means that they have local access first for the students who are zoned for that school, with offering out-of-zone opportunities for students as school capacity allows. So, the students are first offered, those seats are offered first to the students who are in the attendance zone at Leesburg, and the goal was to address the community demand for the program, while ensuring that this is a sustainable program that supports the enrollment.

[02:12:33] Now, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Lacey. Madam Chair and those of the board, we want to thank you for this opportunity. I want to begin by highlighting the goal. The goal was to make sure that we impacted those students that were in our community.

[02:12:50] Leesburg, the surrounding area has changed in the demographics. So when we had an opportunity to look at biliteracy for those students that's going to attend us, we felt the opportunity was one that we could behold. Dr. Cloaks and I have the opportunity to set an environment to where we do empower every student to soarward forward.

[02:13:08] We tell every student at Leesburg that they're going to be respectful, responsible, safe, and kind. Now we're going to add to it they're going to be biliterate because they're going to enhance the opportunities for their families. When conducting studies with our families, we notice that our students leave our buildings, and sometimes they're the leaders of their families.

[02:13:27] So we want to make sure that they're equipped with everything possible to have a sense of belonging so that they can lead this community and move forward. Next slide. I think I'm turning it over now to Mr. Slevin. Good evening, Chair Chandler. I do, would the board like to ask questions prior to the recognition before we move on to?

[02:13:55] Yes, let's do that. So board members, well, thank you all for being here and thank you for the wonderful presentation. It's lovely to be able to be on the cusp of all this change and be able to celebrate it before we get started. There are really some exciting opportunities coming to our communities. And of course, as the Algonquian rep, I'm so excited for Dominion.

[02:14:16] But with that, board members, do you have any questions? Yes, Vice Chair Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't actually have any questions. I just wanted to thank you all for the presentation, for all the hard work that you and your teams have put into standing up and expanding these programs.

[02:14:32] I majored in German and Latin in college. Languages are near and dear to my heart. And my rising fourth grader has said before that she really wishes she could learn Spanish. So I know she is sadly not going to be able to take advantage of the dual language immersion expansion.

[02:14:48] But it makes me really excited to see that we're bringing these opportunities to our students. So thank you very much for everything that you're putting into our community. Mr. Pepper. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to first of all say I kind of have a little bit of an advantage because as part of the Specialized Programs and Centers Committee, we've done so much great work just to bring these to the forefront.

[02:15:10] I'm so excited that we're expanding DLI at Leesburg Elementary. It's such a great opportunity for those students. So I really am curious as to how that summer bridge program went. with the global linguistic studies students. So you want to expand on, you know, the takeaways, you know, that all the students that were in the program get a chance to participate.

[02:15:32] You feel like they're going to have a leg up. I'd love to hear more about the Summer Bridge and how it went. Yeah, so thank you for asking that question. One of the goals of the Summer Bridge program was to bring a touch point to Dominion High School since we know we're bringing students from all over the community together to meet each other and meet a new school for the first time this school year.

[02:15:49] So the transition from middle school to high school can be a little nerve-wracking. So we wanted it to have a fun, engaging experience through the summer bridge. So we had half of our students participate. Summer is a very busy time for our scholars. And so those that could attend were able to.

[02:16:04] They spent their first day at Dominion High School getting to know each other with some community building cross pathway. So we had global leaders and global business learning together. And then they broke out into their language groups and they got right into learning Arabic and Mandarin. They left able to speak some words and go home and teach their families from day one.

[02:16:21] So it was very exciting. Then we welcomed some of our students and their parents to chaperone a field trip to Planet Word. If you have never been to the Planet Word Museum, it is a phenomenal language-based museum in D.C., and we're so lucky to have that opportunity to see what global language and communication can look like in a museum in an interactive setting.

[02:16:40] So that's what we did for two days at the end of July, and we're so grateful for that opportunity. That sounds amazing. And also, the students we're bringing in must be amazing because Arabic and Mandarin are two of the most difficult languages to learn at so many levels.

[02:16:56] So I'm so impressed with what I'm hearing. I'm just excited for you guys, and I would love to keep following up. Obviously, we'll do that in committee, but just keep following up on the successes and how year one is going to move into year two. So great work, and I wish you the best of luck and the students just to be so successful and excited to start this new program.

[02:17:14] Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chair. I also echo what Mr. Pepper said as the chair of the Specialized Programs and Centers Committee. We've really enjoyed seeing this unfold just in the planning phase, and now we're days away from welcoming the students, which is so exciting.

[02:17:32] I also am very excited about the expansion at Leesburg Elementary for obvious reasons, but I was wondering if you all could share. We got a little bit of a glimpse. I had been able to visit the DLI programs, but if you could just share about how the collaboration between the three programs sort of works with the different leaders, the teachers.

[02:17:51] So I don't know who wants to speak to that, but because it's pretty powerful how they support one another. And so could you just share about that? So as it's a single strand at each school, meaning just one class, both an English and a Spanish teacher, we have a quarterly meeting where the teachers come together once a quarter to have a full day opportunity to collaborate, participate in some professional learning.

[02:18:17] And then there's also once-monthly after-school meetings where teachers come and, again, have an opportunity to connect and collaborate to work together. Thank you so much. I think there's so much power in that, and I know they've already been reaching out to you, Mr. Lacey, so that's exciting. I will look forward to coming to visit soon.

[02:18:36] Thank you. Look forward to it. Thank you. Right. Well, I have a question. I know it's early, and you've had an opportunity to meet all of your students. I was just curious if anyone could speak to generally what areas of the county you're seeing.

[02:18:56] Is it really every area of the county approximately? Where are the students coming from to take part in the new Academy of Global Linguistics? That's a fantastic question, and I think that's one of the strengths of our program. So the majority of our students that accepted their offers are from Seneca Ridge Middle School, which is great, which means they're just bridging right up into Dominion like they would.

[02:19:20] But we're pulling from 12 different middle schools across the county. And so that's a great opportunity for our students to learn from each other and have a diverse experiences and collaboration with their cohort as they move forward. So I wouldn't say there's one area outside of the Sterling zone that has more interest than any other.

[02:19:41] It's pretty widespread and it's pretty consistent. That's great. Thank you for that. Yeah. Okay. Board members, any further questions? I don't. Did I see? Nope. Just making sure. Then Mr. Slevin. Thank you, Chair Chandler and board members. So at this point, we're going to move from an update and a spotlight to a little bit of a celebration.

[02:20:03] Tonight really is about spotlighting a new beginning. August is a great time to do that in the school system, as many of you know. And I am quite positive that these leaders and teams will be back in front of the board telling you great stories about the success of AGLS and DLI in future years. That being said, at some point, a school leadership team and a principal had to say, yes, we want to partner with you in expanding this opportunity. And tonight we have two of those principals here tonight with their teams that did just that. And the work that really went into launching these programs successfully has been happening this past school year. So just real

[02:20:38] quickly, we're going to present each principal with a small plaque that can be displayed in their main lobby because Dominion Titans have been a community for many, many years. Now they're adding some new flavor to their community. And Dr. Brewer stepped up and said, yes, we want this program in our school. So Dr. Brewer, thank you for your leadership. And of course, we have Mr.

[02:21:07] Sean Lacey expanding our dual language immersion program. So I'm sure he'll be displaying this with pride in the lobby of Leesburg Elementary School. So at this time, we're going to move over and take

[02:21:21] quick picture to celebrate our new programs thank you all right thank you everyone and with that

[02:23:29] we'll move on to item number 10 our superintendent's report presented tonight of course by dr aaron spence thank you madam chair members of the board as always my pleasure to share good news from around our school division i'd like to start this evening by asking adan mamoun to please stand up i'm happy to introduce mr mamoun as lcps's next chief operations officer mr mamoun joins us from montgomery county public schools in maryland where he has served as that school division's

[02:24:06] chief operations officer he previously held the role of director of capital programs in frederick county public schools in maryland mr mamu we look forward to working with you and welcome to lcps thank you again and congratulations oops next over the previous uh several weeks lcps administrative staff central office teams educators and new hires have all participated in events and conferences designed to launch the new school year with purpose and collaboration lcps leaders Leaders gathered for Lead Loudon on July 28th and 29th where attendees had access to almost

[02:24:44] 100 professional learning sessions throughout the two-day event. Lead Loudon provides LCPS leaders with a meaningful learning experience while strengthening the collaborative relationships across our division. Last week, new staff members to LCPS took part in journey into LCPS.

[02:25:01] During this introduction to the division, new LCPS staff engaged in sessions focused on building strong relationships, creating welcoming spaces, and implementing successful instructional strategies. This week teachers and school staff are participating in a variety of professional development sessions as we prepare for the year ahead and I just want to say I'm so grateful for the dedication our staff brings to LCPS students and to our mission. I wish everyone a joyful start to our new school year. Next, the Division of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility hosted the Equity Lead Institute on August 4th and 5th at Harper Park Middle School.

[02:25:35] There, Equity Leads engaged in professional learning focused on student and staff belonging, creating environments where every student can thrive, and I'm focusing on the power of student agency and voice. Each of our LCPS schools has an equity lead who partners with the principal to help cultivate learning environments where our students are supported, and these equity leads left the institute energized and ready to continue that work as we go into the new school year. As of this morning, more than 65 percent of our LCPS families had accessed ParentVUE and updated their students' information for the start of school. Tomorrow, class and bus schedules become available

[02:26:12] to families who've completed those updates, so we expect many additional families to log in throughout the remainder of this week as we prepare for the new school year. To support English learner families, the English Learner Family and Community Engagement Office and the Department of Digital Innovation are hosting ParentVue Palooza this Saturday, August the 15th, at the Sterling Community Center. This event is designed to help families access and feel confident using ParentVue, which is an essential tool for staying connected.

[02:26:40] The Division of Family and Community Engagement, Head Start, and McKinney-Vento teams connected with families at the Leesburg Police Department's National Night Out at the Douglas Community Center on August the 4th. There, they were able to meet with parents and caregivers, answer questions and highlight programs designed to ensure every student has the support they need to thrive.

[02:26:59] National Night Out is a nationwide community-building campaign that brings neighbors, community organizations, and local law enforcement together to promote safer, more connected neighborhoods. And LCPS is grateful to our partnership with the Leesburg Police Department and for their leading such a meaningful community event.

[02:27:16] And also to all of our community partners who came together to celebrate and support one another. As LCPS prepares to welcome students back to school, we're working closely with community partners to ensure families have the backpacks and school supplies they need for a strong start. This year, partner donations are supporting students across 15 schools, as well as families connected through the Welcome Center and the McKinney-Vento program.

[02:27:38] These efforts build on long-standing relationships, including a 10-year partnership with Loud and Clear Marketing, Costco, and the Rotary Club of the Broadlands that has provided more than 10,000 backpacks to children across Loudoun County. We're grateful for the many businesses, organizations, and community members who continue to step forward, respond to identified needs, and help our students begin the school year feeling prepared, confident, and supported.

[02:28:02] This summer, LCPS middle school students from a STEM summer camp led by partner OrbaLinks Academy explored sustainability and innovation during a recent visit to Amazon's HQ2 in Arlington. From touring the eco-friendly building to trying hands-on robotics activities, these students got an exciting look at real-world STEM and sustainability careers.

[02:28:26] Many thanks to OrbaLinks Academy and Amazon for providing this opportunity for our students. And then finally this evening, I would like to share that for the sixth year, LCPS will be providing funds to assist teachers with classroom setup and supply purchases. As the board knows, first year teachers are eligible for a classroom supply allotment of $250 and returning teachers are eligible to receive an allotment of $100.

[02:28:48] We know this doesn't fully outfit our classrooms, but we also know these help our LCPS teachers make sure classrooms are set up to best support their work with our students. And with that, Madam Chair, that concludes my report. you so much dr spence and with that we'll move on to item number 11 public comment here are our procedures for public comment thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process the school board welcomes comments from loudon county residents and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system speakers must limit comments to the time allotted based on the number of speakers and the

[02:29:25] agenda this evening all speakers have been allotted two minutes each for public comment please be advised that speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a later time decorum and civility all audience members shall maintain civility decorum and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times please remain seated unless arriving departing speaking at the podium or during a break violations of civility decorum and respect include shouting heckling jeering applause or other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board and vice versa interrupting speakers

[02:30:04] attempting to speak when not called to do so by the chair and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate disparage or distract a speaker staff member or other meeting attendees speakers should refrain from vulgarity obscenities defamation profanity and other like breaches of respect nor may speakers target criticize or attack individual students and or individual division employees during public comment the school board requests that comments on an individual student or employee related matter not be shared at public meetings where the disclosure could violate applicable confidentiality requirements speakers should

[02:30:40] communicate those concerns to their school principal or an appropriate school official speakers should face the dais and direct their comments to the school board per school board policy 2520 members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during the public comment period to the extent necessary i will also warn of breaches of decorum civility and respect from attendees prior to taking other actions to preserve the orderly conduct of the meeting violations of decorum and civility by any meeting attendee may result in the

[02:31:15] chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting repeated or persistent violations of decorum and civility by the audience may result in on the decision of the chair public comment being tabled until a later point in the meeting's agenda limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room during public comment for safety reasons or public comment period ending for the evening distribution of materials to school board members copies of materials for school for board meetings should be given to the public information officer in the media box at the back of the board room before the start of the meeting please provide 12 copies of materials under no

[02:31:54] circumstances may a speaker approach the dais. The public is reminded that access to the school board meetings is available through LCPS TV on 1070 HD and Verizon Fios channel 43. The live stream of the meeting may be viewed on the website. We look forward to hearing your comments. We will now start, there are no virtual speakers this evening, so we will start with in-person public

[02:32:18] comment. And our first speaker is Chris Countryman, followed by Brian Kirk.

[02:32:39] Good morning. Good evening, morning, afternoon. As we begin a new school year, I want to thank each of you for the work you do on behalf of our students and employees. I know that decisions made at the dais are not always easy, and I appreciate your commitment to making LCPS an employer of choice, where employees can build careers and are proud of the student of that career and students thrive. This year marks a historic moment for LCPS. For the first time in our history, we begin a school year with a collective

[02:33:12] bargaining agreement in place. That is more than a milestone. It is a commitment that employee voices matter and that their work deserves to be recognized, respected, and protected. There is important work ahead though. We need to ensure that every employee understands the benefits, rights, and protections they have earned through the CBA. A contract is more than words on paper. It must be understood, honored, and put into practice. I know there will be growing pains. This is new for most, and I pledge to give grace as we approach those challenges with good faith and positive

[02:33:49] intentions, and I ask the division do the same as we continue building this relationship. We also have unfinished business, though, from last year, from bargaining unit inclusion to reclassifying sub drivers and communication technicians and now ensuring employees receive the benefits they deserve. We cannot look at contract length through a traditional lens when the contract ask is no longer traditional. These issues directly impact employees and they deserve timely resolutions. I look forward to a year of progress, partnership, and results. Thank you.

[02:34:27] Thank you. Our next and final speaker for this evening is Brian Kirk. up there because it suits me very well. I'm Brian Kirk. I'm representing the Loudoun Arts Council.

[02:34:46] They've been in existence for 40 years. We are fostering relationships with all types of arts, although it started out early as a visual art thematic approach. We now include everything from ballet to theater to performances of any kind of music, and we've expanded to about 100 profit organizations. One organization that seems to be missing is the public schools.

[02:35:18] And I would like to find some way to create some sort of an advisory committee or some connection with the public schools. I was a fine arts department chair at Stonebridge High School for 20 years and saw the value of having all these wonderful teachers that available theater specialists art specialists music specialists dance specialists and wanted to see how they could help us make some kind of vision for the community beyond the classroom and beyond the school that they work at

[02:35:51] we're looking to try and well we envision a large larger promotion of the arts in Loudoun County and we can't do it without your assistance as a former teacher I think everybody could have a say that would help us develop our ideas and concepts for the for the Loudoun County system the school and the public and we are looking for opportunities to connect with you through the Loudoun Arts Council and promote the arts and in Loudoun County and try and get some

[02:36:30] retention in the students who become artists or dancers or theater specialists or those sorts of things and stay here and not not leave so we're looking to try and find ways to keep people here in the arts thank you thank you all for coming out today and for providing your public comment and with that we will return to our work session next up we have the department of academic stakeholder survey results presented tonight by dr ashley ellis

[02:37:07] and Dr. Dave Blakelock.

[02:37:29] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. This evening, Dr. Blakelock and I will share an overview of the 2026 annual staff, family, and student survey results, including trends in strengths and areas of opportunity, as well as our commitments to action in response to the survey results. We'll take a pause after Dr. Blakelock presents several data slides to allow you to process, take a breath, and ask us any clarifying questions, and then we have a little more information after that. So with that, I will turn it over to Dr.

[02:38:03] Blake Luck. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. Good evening. I want to talk a little bit first about the survey itself before we actually get into the data. So with the survey, we look at it as the school is the unit of analysis. So each school is what is being rated by the participants. We leave the survey as semi-anonymous what that means is we cannot connect an email address or anything to actual results however we can provide technical assistance should somebody not be able to find their link or have some trouble with the survey it allows us to be able to provide that technical assistance so we put out the survey parents receive the first two contacts in parent view

[02:38:40] receive a link for every school in which they have a child enrolled so parents may be taking a survey for each school level again focusing on the school at as the unit of analysis this students will take the survey in class by going to a url logging in with their student id and we get the single use and that way we keep make sure the data is valid we don't have you know a lot of people taking it over and over and over again we translate the survey into our five prominent languages here to make it accessible and we've also let we also have had paper surveys available on request for schools some of our schools say their parents are more likely to take it

[02:39:19] on paper so we've made that available there and then as we walk through this the one thing to note is that our high school students took the virginia school climate and working conditions survey we actually just received that report those reports yesterday morning so we'll be distributing those so you won't see the high school represented through most of the data but we're looking at the middle schools and they go back and forth from year to year so with that said we we will go ahead and jump into the survey itself.

[02:39:48] So one of the things that we do is we partner very closely with the Department of Communications and Community Engagement to come up with a marketing plan. We put out a variety of different announcements about the survey, at least two before the survey actually goes live, and all of these come out.

[02:40:04] We keep a very close eye on participation. As best as we can, we will put out additional materials as we see fit, and then we push out reminders to non-participants. will get a new email in their inbox as the survey rolls out we go to the next slide so we look at this and like I said we get it to first two contact contacts in parent view one survey length so you're looking at 120,886 total links go out that actually represents 89,515 email addresses so when we look at the response rate for our families it does look a little bit low but we're

[02:40:40] looking to go to two different contacts um so one parent may take it the other may not or there might be multiple schools involved so just one thing to keep in mind um but we did see an email open rate of 66 percent on that um we have been seeing family participation waning over the last few years that said we did have over 8,000 people take the survey so we you know we want to uh consider what they um looked at the other way to think about um the numbers themselves at 8,000 people if 80% of something agreed with 80% agreed with something that means about 6,500 people at least in this division are actively saying that something is happening so just a couple different

[02:41:19] ways to look at the participation rates so we have a lot of questions on the survey today we're going to go through what's known as like the strengths and opportunities of improvement so it's the highest five levels of agreement highest five disagreement so with that we will move on to the next slide and so our answer responses on the survey were strongly agree agree disagree and strongly disagree and don't know so this slide shows the highest five for the highest ones for agreement for the family survey what you'll notice here is that these people are actively saying that these things are happening and there's an emphasis in safety and respect on this slide

[02:41:57] from families which is very positive to look at as far as their perception of what's happening in schools themselves we have on the next slide we have it broken down by school level so what you can see is that it's a fairly you'll see a yes you'll see a slightly higher agreement from families on some of these pieces than i mean on from elementary school than on some of these and that's typical what we see as students progress through the grades you see that tend to see a little bit more disagreement so if we go on to the next slide so we see this that focuses primarily

[02:42:35] on feedback academic risks and consistency and one thing to note just to take into account is that is when we're looking at it like a top five bottom five there's always going to be a bottom five but in this case when you look at these this is like roughly one out of five people saying that these things are actively saying that these things are not happening which is still fairly positive when we're looking at an over 80 percent um agreement on that if you go on to the next slide um so we see a similar pattern here as what we talked about before we have the highest a greater amount of disagreement for the families of high school students and one of the things to

[02:43:14] note is that you know when you're with elementary students you're usually dealing with fewer teachers than you are with secondary so there's more opportunity for feedback issues consistency those sorts of things than you would see in an elementary classroom the next slide shows shows the top five items for staff members these themes are really focused on staff supporting the students and each other. When we go to the next slide and break it down by the school level, we see that it's fairly consistent across all of the school levels, this level of support of students and each other. And when we move on to the opportunities for improvement slide, you'll see a little bit

[02:43:54] of variance there where we actually have that, you know, the sufficient amount of planning time and division initiatives. The one thing I will point out is that our division initiatives over time has increased by nine percentage points as far as that disagreement or decreased the disagreement nine percentage points which is a strong improvement and that to say that all of these are showing lower rates of disagreement across the three years that we have for the data here and then breaking these down by school level what you'll see here is that not that sufficient amount of our non instructional time being higher at the elementary level with the planning periods and those sorts of things and

[02:44:34] And then you see more discipline-type concerns rise up when we look at the high school staff members a little bit later down in the slide. So we then move on to the students. And just a reminder that the students take the survey every other year, the middle school students.

[02:44:53] So that's why we only have two years here. And then on top of that, we added belonging scale items this year, which actually had some very strong results, which you see the top two there. But that's why we have basically the only one year of data for that.

[02:45:09] Really the theme here is that there's positive relationships with teachers and peers. The one thing to point out is basically on a previous slide with staff, there's about students knowing consequences if they break a rule. There's a difference there where students agree that they know about it. Staff members have a disagreement around that.

[02:45:26] And when we go to the disagreement slides or the options for improvement, You'll see the theme here is how students are being treated and that there's again that similarity between staff and middle school students about the consistency in which discipline is being administered.

[02:45:41] So we're starting to see some patterns across our populations here as we move through this. It is important to point out that so the changes that you see in how schools treat each other and the school cleanliness, again, you're seeing a 5 to 6 percentage point increase from survey to survey, which is a very positive change.

[02:45:59] Moving on to elementary schools, you see that the top five deal with peer relationships and teacher relationships, which is one of the primary survey topics there. And it's very similar to the middle schools as far as those relationship pieces. And when we move on to 16, you really have a variety of concepts here, which you once again, you see that consistency with discipline being an issue when it comes to elementary students talking about it as well. So moving on to the next slide these are our belonging items which we piloted this year there were 16 items

[02:46:38] we were looking to do some factor analysis to maybe reduce that down to see if that really actively accurately measures that particular dimension we were able to get a high school version of that scale out towards the end of the year so that we did have some baseline high school data to work with but as you can see here that belonging dimension as a whole is very positive so I'm going to pause here for just a moment because I've run through a lot of data very quickly what I will note here is that all the school survey reports are linked on to that on our survey on the survey website which can be linked there but I wanted to pause for a moment just to see some reflections see what stood out to you

[02:47:15] what patterns and what you want to know more about thank you and board members Dr. Rashid thank you chair Chandler and thank you for this quite detailed report it's a lot of data and I'm a big fan of data that's a big decision driver so to say. I noticed that in slides one and two I know that elementary and and I believe secondary school response rates were they were high they were like 78 and 65 and I know that that you had mentioned family participation was seven percent is there any type of outreach strategies or are there any like

[02:47:52] channels that we're exploring that we could use for like next year the year after for leverage to increase the family response rate? One of the things we've discussed is looking to try to push out through the schools a little bit more as best as we possibly can and finding ways to actually push out through text messaging in addition to the email link as well as making it easily available where if a principal says have you taken the survey yet the parent doesn't have to go digging through their phone to find the email where it is but actually having an alternative way for them to take the survey as well. I appreciate that and then a follow-up question I noticed that when it came to middle school satisfaction being 83%

[02:48:32] and then you have elementary school satisfaction being at 92%. Is there any type of specific transition programs that could kind of bridge the gap, so to say, so that students, when they're moving into secondary education, there's a better response rate?

[02:48:48] And if you already have that in place, can you name a few? So I'll take that one. Thanks for the question, Dr. Rasheed. In terms of programs to support students moving from one school to another, each school has different welcoming activities opportunities a lot of them are happening this week actually and some particularly at the middle school and high school level as students rise into sixth grade or into ninth grade the schools will have activities for them during the summer to welcome them to the school so sixth graders can find their locker to practice using their locker

[02:49:28] that's probably the biggest thing at the middle school level meet their teachers and just feel comfortable walking the halls of the building um and we can absolutely explore other ways of doing that but the schools do really um capitalize on that the newness of sixth grade and ninth grade to to welcome them into their buildings thank you um mr pepper thank you madam chair thank you guys i love playing with data particularly as it goes i'm going to start out by saying i'm one of the 93 percent of families who didn't respond to the survey but i

[02:50:02] think I have an excuse this time. One of the things that I'm finding very interesting is the kind of the percent that strongly disagree or disagree. And I know that it looks a little funky because it's backwards, right? So when you're saying that, for example, 19% strongly disagree or strongly disagree, that means 81% of people felt good about it. So it's really not that huge of a number. One of the things that I found very interesting here is the trend over time

[02:50:37] on slide eight in the feedback teachers are providing on student work and every year it's gone up both in terms of the level of disagreement has gone up both in terms of the timeliness of teacher feedback as well as the helpfulness of teacher feedback. It's gone from the timeliness has gone from 12 to 16 to 28, as well as the helpfulness, which is telling me one of two things. Either parents aren't believing that the feedback their children are getting

[02:51:11] is timely or helpful, or they're getting less feedback, or there are now so many additional responsibilities on the plates of teachers that their ability to provide feedback is less and less and less. So I would love to dig a little bit deeper into that because feedback is one of the most, and we all know this, feedback is one of the most important tools in learning, right? We learn because we make mistakes, and we incorporate the feedback we've made on those mistakes to try to do better the next time, because learning is all about growth. So that's one of the things that stood out for me as well. I also really do like that a lot of the strengths are centered around safety. The other thing I found really interesting is one of these questions at the elementary level

[02:51:49] was, my teacher says my name correctly, and it wasn't 100%. It was like 95%, consistent 95%, but that means imagine being that one kid in every classroom whose teacher hasn't gotten their name correct on a regular basis so I just want to put that out there as well so there's a couple just little takeaways I'm playing with the data thank you for that just one real quick clarification Mr. Pepper slide 11 I'm sorry slide 12 is actually broken down by level so as students

[02:52:27] go through from elementary to middle to high school that's where we see the significant difference in students knowing that there are consequences right no i understood that this is about feedback right so that's that's slide eight and it's a very similar concept where it's actually broken down by school level the trend data for that is on the previous slide which is pretty consistent actually um but to your point it's really interesting to think about and i think this goes back to Dr. Rashid's question um what is what is the difference at each level that that makes that data appear that way so thank you for that feedback so one other

[02:53:06] piece of clarification is the reason we go with that disagreement which seems a little wonky to do but it also um we have that don't know response which can wash down agreement if it's in there so we use the disagreement perspective to account for the fact that there may be a large percentage of people who say don't know so it's that active not happening active happening. Ms. Chernoff. Thank you Chair Chandler and thank you so much for the presentation and I feel a little bit at an advantage because at the Performance Monitoring Committee we sort of got a preview and one of the things that I really appreciated about our conversation is we

[02:53:44] really were looking at it with the lens of behavior and sort of overlaying the two and I think that that was very purposeful because it's very clear to me that there are some trends in terms of not having enforcement of discipline and that it's not I mean there's behaviors yes and I think we have mechanisms that we are putting in place to address that but addressing enforcement and consistency and understanding of rules is very different from actual misbehavior so that was a very long conversation and so I will let others go back and listen to that but I definitely think that that's something that's on my mind in terms of how do we close that gap the day that we figure

[02:54:23] out staff workload and planning, we'll be a very happy day, I hope to be alive to see that happen, but you know, it is noted, it's that continual, the new, and are we taking off the old, and I want to give a shout out to Dr. Spence, because at Lead Loudon, he said, you know, we're not about more initiatives, and it's like, that I think is a breath of fresh air, not so much about initiatives, but meeting the needs of our students, and you know, not adding just one more thing to add one more thing. So I think we are being purposeful in that sense. I am pretty concerned about the feedback, like the percentage of families

[02:55:01] responding. I know we're trying to kind of crack that nut. I think when we first heard that back in the spring, I know at least the three of us, Ms. Chandler and Ms. Riccardi and I kind of all dropped our jaw and are like really noodling on how we can help fix that because we want to hear from our families, and we want, not only do we want to hear from them, but I would hate for them to feel like their voices don't matter in coming back to us. Super positive on the belonging. That's been a huge driver for us and, you know, focus, so I'm so happy to see that, and we'll just continue to monitor, and I'll look forward to seeing the student responses from the state level as well.

[02:55:41] Mr. Spenson? Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you both for the presentation. Just following up on the piece about family participation I was curious and do families or staff or students who fill out the survey do they get the results back to them in some form other than here and they're just curious about that because I was speaking to a parent the other day about surveys and they were expressing like I wish I could just see the results of what I spent a lot of time writing on so if you could share a little bit about how that information is conveyed certainly we do

[02:56:15] post all the school-level results on our LCPS survey website. That said, we could probably be better about marketing and having some outreach to drive people there to let people know that the results of the survey are available for them there. And I'll just add, Mr. Spenson, that I'm actually, I was going to mention it in a few slides. We've had conversations at a leadership level about how we can be more intentional about closing that feedback gap. We ask for feedback, consistently we use it consistently and it's not always clear to the people who

[02:56:52] give the feedback how it's actually used and incorporated in what we do so how can we better communicate that back out thank you appreciate it vice chair Donahue thank you madam chair thank you Dr. Ellis and Dr. Claylock for the presentation I just had a couple of questions my first question is if if you happen to know do you know or dr. Spence or anyone else on staff do you know roughly how many students a typical middle school or high school teacher sees

[02:57:21] in an average day at LCPS I would say it would be probably in a day or they probably have about a hundred miss Mitchell may correct me a hundred or a hundred and twenty-five students on their on their roster so over the course of two days an A day and a B day so a hundred and twenty-five per two days yes Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

[02:57:51] Does that answer your question? Yes. And then I had a few questions about the response rate. So you indicated that 66% of families opened the email, but only 7% responded.

[02:58:08] Does that 7% are those families that actually full-on completed submitting a survey response? And how did those numbers, the 66% of opening and 7% response rate, how did those compare for the last couple of years?

[02:58:25] Thank you for that question. So, yes, we only use data when people have actually hit the submit button and have committed to their responses. Sometimes people will take half of it, want to go back, change their answers. So we wait for them to really, truly commit to those responses before we incorporate them into the data themselves.

[02:58:42] As far as an open rate, that's fairly consistent with what we've seen over the last few years. That said, the participation rate has been declining over the last few years. We've been working on trying to get that up there, but that's not just this survey. That's across a variety of all the surveys that we're doing right now for families.

[02:59:01] Unfortunately, that doesn't surprise me, and that's good to know. Do we have any way of tracking the number of families who maybe clicked on the link and started to fill out the survey but did not ultimately click submit? So we've done some analysis of that, and ultimately when we see those incomplete responses, it is somebody who has opened the survey, looked at it, and then closed it out again without answering any of the questions at all.

[02:59:27] It comes in as an incomplete response, but they really haven't engaged with the survey at all. Have we experimented at all with sending the survey out at different times of year? So we have it out in the spring.

[02:59:44] One of the things that we want to try to do is be mindful of when other surveys are going on. And one of the surveys that we have to work around is that Virginia's school climate and working conditions survey for our staff members, which actually takes usually a window from early January to the end of February, so they take a pretty big chunk of time to have that window open.

[03:00:03] So we typically do it in the second week of February is when we launch, we give about a two-week period of time for people to relax from surveys and try to get it out that perspective. It can be challenging as to when in the year you do that. You want to make sure that there's been enough school for people to be able to really comment on it with an informed perspective.

[03:00:22] And if you get it too late in the school year, people are kind of done and not really wanting to do it. Having it at the same time every year allows for that year-to-year comparison because if you slide it around, there might be different feelings based on the time of the year as well. It is a thorny problem, increasing the response rate.

[03:00:38] I very much appreciate the thoughtfulness that's going into your efforts to try and increase those rates. Thank you. Mr. Cardi? Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you guys. As was mentioned, we got to see the preview of this this week with the PMC.

[03:00:55] And I've been thinking a lot about that response rate piece of it, too. I think, I guess one of my questions, how many questions did we have on this survey? It depends on the survey, but they are fairly long. We think about surveys in terms of time and cognitive load.

[03:01:13] And so the family survey is about a 10 to 12-minute survey with the one open-ended question. So it is a bit of a time investment to be able to go through it. Yeah, and I think that's probably why you see that open rate. People look through it and say, oh, gosh, this is really long. You know, in the survey world, besides the length of the survey, which I think is one issue, is also the outcome piece.

[03:01:36] And we talked about this in PNC a little bit, you know, that if people know or have a better sense of what the outcome, not what the outcome will be, but how they'll see the results and how they'll get to see that displayed later on, I think is a really good way that may be something that's useful to put at the very beginning with instructions to say once it's complete or once the results come out we'll send you you know or a link to this presentation as an example or whatever that might be so that it gives people something to say okay hey i'll be able to see the results when they come i think that might be really helpful um seven percent is concern is you know is concerning it out of a you know school of 500

[03:02:15] that means 35 respondents are determining the you know the outcomes for 500 potential students or families so that's it's concerning the other thing i think we should really take a look at too and i've seen a lot of success with it is just the text texting versus email because it's been one of the principals in the sterling park schools share with me that not all parents have emails but every parent has a cell phone so it may be that we need to move to maybe a different format and in some shorter a series of shorter surveys that can be done on a phone in you know matter of

[03:02:52] a few minutes versus you know 10 to 12 and we might get a better bigger and better response from that too so just a thought so thank you for that thank you for that and exploring the texting option is something that I'm exploring with the vendor right now so that they can get both email and text with the same link when they take it once they don't get the reminders again so I'm starting to talk to the vendor about what that could look like and moving forward with that Ms. LaBelle thank you madam chair and thank both of you for bringing this to our attention. I have to agree with Ms. Riccardi and the thing that you said

[03:03:29] about they open up the email, they see how long it is, and then they close it. And it could be because they're thinking, oh, I don't have time right now. And then they forget about it. Whereas if you did have the shorter text, send it out in short bursts, you know, today we're going to survey you about this. And then the next day it's something else. And it's 10, 12 questions, they can do it really quickly on their phone that would be a great way to bring that number up giving it to them in short bits and pieces any further

[03:04:05] questions at this time all right let's proceed thank you we're going to move into some discussion about the net promoter score right now so just a quick refresher on the net promoter score it is based on a single question in the survey it's a very well-known metric you've seen the question a thousand times it is how likely are you to recommend insert concept here to a friend or colleague with that scale of 0 to 10 not at all likely to extremely likely or very likely the way it breaks down is that depending on your response

[03:04:43] it puts you into one of three categories detractor passive or promoter and then the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors gives you that overall score so you can see here from our baseline year when we first administered this question at the division level we've had quite a bit of growth, particularly from school-based staff, from a negative 8 to a 32, which I think is very much worth celebrating, that level of growth that we've seen there. And then for families, we've seen movement from 19 to 29. We dipped above a little bit more in the 24-25 school year, but a net

[03:05:16] promoter score of 29 is still very good to have. Moving on to the net promoter score at the school level again very similar concept we're seeing some pretty positive growth from both school-based staff and from families on that net promoter score their feelings about it you will note that they are higher for the school than they are for the division that is consistent with what you see in the literature about the relationship between the school and the division from both families and school-based staff so our net promoter score is on a very positive trend going over the last four years. And then our next slide, we're going to talk about some survey themes. So we have that

[03:05:56] open-ended question in the survey. Please share any additional thoughts. And so we went ahead and did a fairly comprehensive analysis of this year. The full report is actually included in the board packet itself. But just to give some highlights here, one of the things we did was we broke it down into the promoters, passives, and detractors category and analyzed the data in that way. We did that with the strategic plan, which seemed to be very favorable. That way, we're not having the Voices are very positive, drowning out voices of those who have different feelings in that.

[03:06:24] So looking at the promoters here, there's a lot of praise for individual schools. You'll see comments like, you know, love X school or the staff at X school are great. The promoters see that there's clear communication. Staff there express their autonomy, accessible leaders, and protected planning time. Now what you'll see here is depending on the population, you may see, you know, contradicting concepts here because it is the perception of the person in that category.

[03:06:47] So, moving on to the passives, they're looking for more division-wise and operational and instructional consistency. Families are looking for more personalized academic support and communication. Staff are looking for more planning time and professional development that is relevant to their positions.

[03:07:03] And then moving to the detractors, we're seeing some division-level disconnects and transparency concerns. Families with some concerns around policy, some concerns about the calendar and screen time. And for staff there from the detractors, we're seeing some feedback about a heavy workload, the strict pacing guideline, and some staffing vacancies as well.

[03:07:24] So I'm going to turn it to Dr. Ellis to talk through the next section. So to get a little bit more specific about the themes that we saw in the open-ended responses, as Dr. Blakelock indicated, the open-ended responses generally revealed a pattern of overall very high trust and praise for their school.

[03:07:44] They love their principals, they love their teachers, and we want that for our families and students. And also a general disconnect regarding division-level communication operations, specifically things such as when referencing policy, specifically it was assessment and grading, policy 80-40 was mentioned, a desire for transparency in decisions and communication.

[03:08:12] And I won't read all of these to you, but we did want to call out these specific concerns that stakeholders had in their responses. And so with that, we have done a deeper dive and continue to dive into the responses in terms of just a few examples of the ways we are currently addressing and plan to address some of the feedback we've received this year.

[03:08:39] So I'll start with what Mr. Spenson mentioned earlier as an example, you know, closing that communication gap, streamlining communication, removing duplicate emails. We are launching aptogy rooms at schools, which will help streamline communication at schools.

[03:08:58] Then also looking at how often families receive communication from central office, ways to streamline that and then ways to close that feedback gap right so we we have asked you we hear you this is what we can do about it and this is our plan for doing that so really closing that feedback gap a couple of more examples I'll mention assessment and grading we had heard feedback throughout the year and now we have additional feedback from the surveys themselves specifically from

[03:09:33] teachers regarding policy 50-30. We were already planning on doing a thought exchange this fall when things get going at the start of the year. We plan to do that for staff and based on this feedback we are likely to expand that to families and students so they also have an opportunity to give us specific feedback on that policy. We then plan to work with the CNI committee this fall to process all of this feedback and will likely or potentially make revisions to the policy and

[03:10:06] regulation through the committee work. Another example of us hearing the concerns and being responsive is our smart tech pilot that's launching in several elementary schools next week. We know this is a very important topic for many of our families and our elementary teachers, So we are excited to watch and support that pilot, and we will continue to provide guidance to all of our schools regarding screen time and gather feedback on screen time usage.

[03:10:37] And then one more example, just because it has come up quite a bit, and we did talk about it at PMC last week, following these annual surveys and this month's PMC meeting, we plan to examine discipline practices across schools for consistent application and support across the schools. We will also examine PBIS implementation. The PMC heard from Dr. LaPaula about implementation of PBIS and its connection to student behavior and overall perception of

[03:11:09] discipline. And so to that point, I wanted to just briefly call out to one of the slides that we shared in the PMC presentation regarding PBIS, the fidelity of implementation and school climate.

[03:11:25] So this chart compares staff's positive perception of student behavior on the annual survey, so those that strongly agree or agree, as Dr. B mentioned, to the implementation of PBIS based on something called the tiered fidelity inventory.

[03:11:41] And you'll see that schools that had greater than 50% of implementation of PBIS, so they are high implementers as measured by the TFI, demonstrated higher percentages of agreement on the student behavior dimension on the survey.

[03:11:57] So there is a connection there, and we plan to really dive into that and learn from that and adjust as needed. So to summarize, we are really appreciative of that 7% and all of the students and staff who completed the surveys, and we do remain committed to being responsive to that feedback.

[03:12:18] And with that, we will turn it back over to you, Ms. Chandler, for any additional questions or thoughts. Thank you. Any questions? Dr. Rasheed. Thank you, Chair Chandler, and thank you for this wrap-up. I had a question on slide 21 about the detractors, with the detractors underneath it, one of the bullets was policy.

[03:12:38] Is there anything specific about policy that parents are concerned about? Because, like, is it the policy-making decision that they're concerned about? Because my team and I, we post stuff about policy on newsletters, social media, so I just was looking into more detail, if you have any.

[03:12:55] Yeah, thank you for that clarification, or that question. And to clarify, it was the reference to policy on the family side, looking at the detractors. They were specifically concerned about assessment and grading, so policy 50-30 and policy 80-40.

[03:13:16] Any further questions, board members? All right. Thank you so much for the presentation. All right. With that, we will move on to our information items.

[03:13:32] First up, item 12.01 is the Department of Business and Financial Services, fiscal year 27. budget final alignment presented by Ms. Willoughby and Ms. Galbani I hope I pronounced that right it's just Ms. Willoughby okay great welcome trust me there you go all right so this evening I have the information item related to aligning the FY27 budget with final state budget actions as you may recall back in February the school board adopted the FY27 budget which was subsequently

[03:14:11] fully funded by the county board of supervisors at that time though the state had not yet finalized its fy 27 budget so our budget included an estimate an estimate of the state funding that we expected to receive at that time at the end of june the state finalized this budget and the final state budget provided 14 million dollars in additional state revenue for lcps beyond what was included in the adopted budget as a result staff is recommending that the school board revise its FY27 operating budget to recognize this additional 14 million in state revenue and increase expenditures by the same amount with this amendment the revised school

[03:14:50] operating fund budget would be 2.08 billion dollars which represents a 6.1 percent increase over the FY26 budget and sorry the current FY27 adopted budget is 2.067 billion which at that time was reflecting a 5.3 percent increase so essentially if this is approved the budget would go from a 5.3 percent increase to 6.1 percent staff is recommending that the additional 14 million be used to address several high priority needs identified in the agenda item the largest

[03:15:29] allocation is seven million dollars for full implementation of the tiered stipend strategy you may recall an earlier discussion about stipends during the continuing to invest in our exemplary staff budget presentation back in January. At that time Ms. Boland discussed efforts to streamline and better equalize stipend amounts across the school division. Because of the cost though the original plan was to phase in the new tiered stipend structure. This additional funding would allow us to fully implement that strategy and more detailed information about the implementation plan will be provided to the school board before you take action on September 8th.

[03:16:06] The next three items that were included in board docs are one-time costs. There's $3 million for first-year operating costs, subscription costs associated with the ERP fusion project that were outside the original project budget, $1.8 million for the procurement of panic buttons at our schools, and $1.5 million for firewall replacements.

[03:16:28] These three items were already on our internal list of priorities and would have been part of LCPS's anticipated request for county FY26 year-end funds later this fall. so we're basically just moving that forward with this opportunity the plan also includes 500 000 to support the state mandated sat school day this is an unfunded state mandate and the funding would cover the associated costs lastly there's 120 000 identified that would be reserved for other anticipated budget needs or overages and that brings us to the 14 million the recommended action

[03:17:04] for the school board in in september is pretty straightforward and that is to recognize the additional 14 million in state revenue and increase both the revenue and expenditure budgets in the school operating fund by the same amount similar to the original budget adoption process once the school board takes action the revised budget will be transmitted to the County Board of Supervisors for its review and action with that there are two potential outcomes one scenario is that the County Board of Supervisors approves the school board's revised budget in that case no further action would be needed and LCPS would be able

[03:17:40] to proceed with the identified uses of the additional state funding a second scenario is that the county board does not approve the revised budget as presented and instead reduces the county's funding to lcps by 14 million dollars while increasing the state funding by 14 million in other words the county would essentially swap the sources of revenue while keeping the overall lcps budget at the same level well while that would not require further action on the budget it would mean that lcps would not have the additional 14 million to address the priorities

[03:18:13] that i outlined i will share in my 11 years with lcps i have seen the county do both scenarios and so with that i want to provide some additional context should the second scenario occur each year the superintendent and school board develop and adopt a budget based on the resources we expect to have available we estimate state revenue receive funding guidance from the county regarding the local contribution and account for some other smaller revenue sources those resources collectively establish the amount available to support the school division's budget and a

[03:18:50] balanced budget is created and adopted for fy 27 the county introduced a new budget growth constraint the constraint was set at nine percent meaning the the county intended to limit growth in its operating funding to nine percent of county projected revenues the county then applied the a 60-40 revenue sharing formula and as a result LCPS did not receive the same 9 percent growth rate and our local funding actually increased by 7.6 percent. County staff has since acknowledged

[03:19:25] that this methodology did not produce a consistent result and has told its own finance committee that the calculation will be changed however beginning with the FY28 budget so that the county and school division are subject to the same growth factor for that budget going forward. However if that revised methodology had been used for FY27 and nine percent was allocated to LCPS or included in the calculation, LCPS would have received approximately 19.2 million more in local

[03:20:00] funding. Additionally, the school board adopted the FY27 budget based on the funding guidance and the resources available at the time. The additional 14 million we are discussing today is new state revenue that became available after the budget was adopted from our perspective recognizing that revenue and using it to address identified school division priorities is consistent with the way the budget was developed reducing the county contribution after the fact and replacing it with state funding would change the funding assumptions on which the adopted budget was based it would also mean that the school division of course would

[03:20:36] not be able to identify or to address the priorities that we identified earlier essentially if the swap is done going forward for next year my recommendation would be that we would have to look at how the budget is prepared because it does fundamentally change how we build that every year so in terms of next steps again you will take action on this at your meeting on september 8th and we will then submit this to the county for their review in action during that time we will i will be sure to keep the school board informed if there's any questions that we receive from the

[03:21:14] county board of supervisors any discussions or developments that occur during the county's review and before the county board takes final action and with that i'd be happy to take any questions thank you miss willoughby board members any questions um mr crudy thank you madam chair so thank you for this information i um i have to tell you i'm i'm happy to see that the stipend strategy is the first item on here i've had a chance to meet with a number of sports coaches throughout the county to talk specifically about the sports stipends but i know we've had

[03:21:53] conversations about many other you know bus drivers and all kinds of other stipend scenarios so i'm glad that that is on here i i would like to see that what this the strategy is for the the stipend plan so if we could get that that would be really helpful one way or the other whether or not it comes it gets funded through this or if it gets funded maybe in our next year's budget I'd like to see the strategy and plan for that and there's a couple items on here I know I recall I've seen the

[03:22:25] panic button program tool on the budget here for a couple of years and I I believe that was part of a grant program, or some of the funding was part of a grant program. Can you explain?

[03:22:42] Am I making that up, or was it part of a grant program? I don't believe there's—the reason why it's on here is that we had this item in the budget for FY26. However, during the procurement process, we ran into some challenges to get that completed by the June 30th deadline.

[03:23:05] And since we are not able to just freely roll over funds, any unencumbered funds at the end of the year must be reverted back to the county unless we have another approved use, we were not able to expend those funds out of FY26.

[03:23:23] So that's why we then were going to have it on our county year and funds request list. But again, now that we had this opportunity of the $14 million, it gave us a funding ability much sooner to be able to get those implemented.

[03:23:38] Because I know that there are a couple different grant programs that might partially fund that, too. I'll be honest with you, of all the things we have on this list, it's probably one that I'm least interested in. I think there's some other ones on here that I'm definitely, you know, the funding fusion and some other programs I think are much more important than that.

[03:23:58] But that's just me and my priority order of this. I guess the other question is, is what else, and this is kind of a question, I guess, for my fellow board members. Was there anything else in the budget that we processed that we didn't fund this last time that we would want to see in here that isn't in here now?

[03:24:16] And that's not a question to answer at this point, I don't think, but unless somebody has some ideas right off the top of their head. But I'd like to also explore that, too. And just to make sure I understand the timeline of this. Well, actually, let me just say, can you explain to me the timeline of this process? Because I know the Board of Supervisors is out this month.

[03:24:33] So what is the timing? So with the school board taking action on this at September 8th, and then this would be transmitted to the county for their review and approval process. So that would be another series of meetings on their end.

[03:24:51] So we would likely be looking at October before we finally know what the final outcome of the budget would be. So that would give ample opportunity to give additional guidance regarding the $14 million. Typically, though, because it's budget and the way we present the budget, we would want to have a plan approved.

[03:25:12] And so that's why we kind of brought it together as a package. And so if that was kind of separated from the September 8th meeting, I think knowing that in advance or if there were changes or possible revisions to the list would just expedite that process for us.

[03:25:29] That's really helpful, yeah, because like I said, I think I have some other things I might suggest us put in here too and move some of this around. so I guess you're telling me September 8th is when we have to do this do we have a F&O meeting before then I think we do the first week of the September 1st yeah I would share that this would be very similar to if we were we were to go into like a reconciliation process with the budget so if you think about when the budget was adopted essentially staff had presented a two billion dollar budget and then you had the opportunity to make motions and then vote on what the consensus

[03:26:07] would be to revise the superintendent's proposed budget so i believe the process would be very similar to that to now revise the school board budget would be opening opening the door for just the small dollar amount of 14 million dollars here's what here's staff's recommended recommendations for 14 million and then a similar process of making motions to revise the usage of the 14 million to then end up with a revised school board budget but then there's a possibility that we won't get that depending on what the board of supervisors wants to do correct so is there

[03:26:43] I feel like it's kind of a chicken or an egg thing it's like we asked for the 14 million but we may only get let's I'm making up numbers let's say we get seven and then we have to go back and then revamp our plan again so so that would become budget recon the budget reconciliation process and so we have a format for that like as I've shared this board and has been fortunate in not having to go through that process but we do have a process for that should they split the funding and I will share I don't recall that happening I think it's either they've supported

[03:27:17] increasing the budget and giving the school division the state revenues or they have done a full swap I don't recall them splitting the money okay could we get since we haven't done the budget reconciliation process can we get the process sure so essentially let's assume that in may i think it was may when they adopted the budget that they didn't fully fund that they funded um they funded everything but but they reduced their funding by 10 million meaning we

[03:27:53] are 10 million dollars short from having a balanced budget we would then come back to the board and staff would have recommendations of ten million dollars worth of reductions that we would you know share with the board and then same thing but now rather than perhaps adding or swapping the additions you're swapping out possible reductions through the same process by making motions and there being a vote of the board to come up to having a balanced budget so just as during the budget adoption we had the tote board of making sure we remain balanced at the

[03:28:33] end it's the same thing but now we are driving down to have a balanced budget but with a reduced amount okay so I just FYI I'm gonna be shooting over some questions for some budget items especially around staffing and understanding our staffing around our English learner title one school stuff so definitely want to look at that so thank you very much mr. pepper thank you Madam Chair, and thank you, Ms. Willoughby.

[03:29:05] I do agree with my colleague that this is kind of a chicken-or-egg situation. We don't really know what we're getting into. As I look at some of these, I kind of come at it from an opposite lens of Ms. Riccardi in that some of the things like firewall replacements or panic button procurements seem to be one-time costs.

[03:29:24] My worry is if we do things like go for the full tiered stipend strategy that locks us into a cost going into FY28. So as we look at these, I would love a breakdown of things that we can do that are, and don't get me wrong, we definitely need to increase stipends. I just don't want to put us into a situation where now we're locked into costs for the next four, five, six, seven years down the road, knowing kind of what we've seen projected budget-wise, that if we are able to do this money, it could be a lot of these one-time things, although the unfunded SAT day, it's going to be there for a while.

[03:29:58] So just some thoughts as we kind of go into this and the angle we're looking at. I'll share. We tried to strike a balance between recurring costs and the one-time cost for the exact reason that you've highlighted. The state revenue picture can change as well as the county revenue picture, even though they have indicated that for FY28, the cap would be 8%, going down from 9% for FY27, the cap was going to be 8% and each year declining down. Lots of things can happen in a year. So rather than locking us in on $14 million

[03:30:34] dollars of recurring costs we tried to strike a balance between the two okay so I just sort of want to talk through a few things to make sure that I have a clear understanding based on the development of this budget when the growth cap for county spending was considered the goal was a 60/40 split for this fiscal year 27 no the county's goal for their spending the a county

[03:31:14] I believe their intention was to ensure that both the county and the schools only saw a 9% increase in the county revenue stream. However, when they did the formula, the way they calculated it, they applied 9% to their funding stream, and then with the remaining tax revenues, they then applied to 60-40.

[03:31:41] So they kind of did a little bit of a hybrid between the two. But essentially, the way the math works, because since our budget is bigger and when you start doing the math, it doesn't end up being 9% for us. It ended up only being the 7.6% that I referenced.

[03:32:00] Okay. So they have since recognized, and we had brought this up, but it was late in the budget process, that we thought there was an issue with how they had calculated it. And so definitely appreciate that they recognize this and are wanting to correct it for going forward for FY28.

[03:32:18] And I just highlight it, should there be the hypothetical scenario, too, of as it is, we really should have received $19 million more. And then if they were to do the swap, then we're even $14 million less beyond that.

[03:32:35] So it just kind of compounds the situation. So technically, in the event of a swap, we would be below 7.6%. What would we be at? Yes, we would be, if they were to do the swap, our increase in local tax funding would be 6.6% over the prior year.

[03:32:56] So even further away from the 9% goal. That's great. Thank you for that clarification. And we understand that in terms of how we're anticipating the county will ask us to plan for our budget growth over the next series of years, is that for 28 we'll try to limit our budget growth of the county expenditure at eight percent and then it'll go to seven percent and correct however it the eight percent and the seven percent that you're referencing is a cap on the county funding stream not our entire budget so because

[03:33:35] for us in particular I'm sorry is that they are the majority funder of our budget they're not our sole funder we have about 30 percent a third of our budget is also covered from the state and so to to try to put a cap on our overall budget growth which was which for FY27 what the school board adopted I believe was 5.3 percent I don't think would make real sense because it we're just two different organizations that's fair and I agree and honestly in sort of looking at this 14 million dollars and and the fact that it's coming from a different revenue

[03:34:15] stream it does beg a difference and and makes me you know it further causes me to question those percentages and and hope that we'll be able to reconcile this in a reasonable way I would say I do like the allocation proposals that are here I find that the stipends are focused on improving staff compensation and ERP fusion is going to lead to more efficiency down the road and then the panic buttons are important for safety and security and making sure that our

[03:34:53] staff and students are safe and have you know a quicker response in the event that they're not safe you know I find all of these allocations to be fairly reasonable and I'll look forward to hearing what our partners at the Board of Supervisors say as we continue this conversation with that board members are any other questions no okay thank you so much um i will say board members um i i was going to ask about consent but i won't because it sounds like there's definitely more conversation to be had

[03:35:29] here so we'll just we'll see this come back on action next time and we will move on to item 12.02 audit committee fiscal year 27 audit plan which will be presented by um and donahue the chair of the Audit Committee and Mr. Ahmad Woods. Thank you Madam Chair. Good evening Mr. Woods. The Audit Committee or one of the Auditor General's primary functions is to put together an audit plan to guide

[03:36:09] the work of himself and his staff for the coming fiscal year. In June at our Audit Committee meeting Mr. Woods presented the committee with the Audit Universe which was a list of 38 different possible investigation topics that we discussed and he went through the list of how he would prioritize our our process to select which ones for his office to focus on for this coming year and at our last meeting which was just last week we did vote on and worked out the actual audit plan to pry to identify the

[03:36:49] specific investigative tasks that we want his office to focus on this year and that is what is being presented to this board tonight and for informational purposes only there is no request for board action to approve the audit plan it's already been approved by the committee but it is for to make sure that the board is aware of what the Auditor General's office will be focusing on this year and mr. Woods I'll turn it over to you to give more detail. Thank you, Vice Chair Donahue. Good evening, Chair Chandler, board members, superintendent.

[03:37:26] Tonight I am presenting the Office of the Auditor General's Fiscal Year 2027 Annual Audit Plan, which was reviewed and approved by the Audit Committee last week on August 5th. The plan establishes the office's audit priorities for the upcoming fiscal year and is being presented this evening for informational purposes only. The FY27 Audit Plan was developed through our Annual Risk assessment and is intended to direct limited audit resources toward areas presenting the greatest organizational risk and oversight value.

[03:38:00] As noted earlier, the committee reviewed and approved the proposed plan on August 5th of last week, and those approved engagements were selected from a broader audit universe consisting of 38 potential audit topics. The plan supports the audit committee's oversight responsibilities under Policy 3410 and is align with Strategic Goal 3.1, Culture of Accountability, and Continuous Improvement.

[03:38:24] Given current staffing levels within the Office of the Auditor General, the approved audit plan reflects a realistic and achievable workload while focusing resources on the areas considered most significant from a risk and governance perspective. Next slide, please. First audit will evaluate reporting and retaliation oversight, including the effectiveness of reporting channels and the processes used to review and address reported concerns.

[03:38:54] The second audit will examine information-sharing protocols between Loudoun County Public Schools, Leesburg Police Department, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, with a focus on communication processes, escalation, procedures, and coordination practices. The third audit will assess cybersecurity and incident response controls, including incident preparedness, security awareness, and operational resilience.

[03:39:21] Fourth audit will evaluate federal grant compliance, including compliance with federal requirements, reporting obligations, and grant closeout activities. Collectively, these engagements address governance, safety, operational, technology, compliance, and financial risks across the division.

[03:39:41] Next slide, please. This slide provides a high-level summary of the approved audit plan for public awareness and transparency. The approved audits focus on strengthening organizational accountability, supporting student and staff safety, protecting critical technology resources, and ensuring compliance with applicable financial and regulatory requirements. Through these engagements, the Office of the Auditor General will continue to provide independent, objective assurance to the school board, administration,

[03:40:17] and the public regarding the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and internal control processes across the division. The goal here is to help identify opportunities for continuous improvement while promoting accountability and public trust in division operations.

[03:40:36] Next slide, please. This concludes my presentation. I would like to thank the Audit Committee for its review and approval of the audit plan and for its continued support. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[03:40:53] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Woods. Vice Chair Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for that additional information, Mr. Woods. I don't have any questions since we just talked about this last week, but I wanted to add a little bit more context for my colleagues, which is that when we had asked Mr. Woods at our last meeting what was a reasonable, realistic number of topics to put forward for his team to get through in a year, he had recommended four to six topics. So when we voted on the audit plan, we agreed on four

[03:41:27] and we asked Mr. Woods to provide us with an update at one of our upcoming meetings in September or October regarding, once he's had the opportunity to dig into those a little bit, if he could then give us some feedback on if he thought his office would be would have capacity to address any additional topics during this fiscal year and if so then we may down the road add add to this audit plan for the current fiscal year is that correct that is correct the audit plan is a living document and we we will take

[03:42:02] a look at further audit committee meetings to address whether we need to add more items to the list correct thank you so if my if any of my colleagues are interested in looking at the at the other topics that were some of which were discussed and some of which were not those documents are still available on board docs in the materials from our last audit committee meeting and i i will say the two topics that i would like to um i would like the most to consider

[03:42:37] adding if there is opportunity to do so is the one that is listed as topic 19 from that previous slide which is student discipline practices and equity that was something that I I have been wanting to look into for a while and I think especially in light of the stakeholder survey results that we discussed earlier this evening in which a number of families did flag that as a concern that that is a topic of interest and the other one is the topic is marked as number 23 on that list of 38 which is cross school student safety

[03:43:14] information sharing and that is one that actually mr. Woods had brought to my attention kind of comparing when a student transfers into our district from another district we receive a lot of information from the sending district about the student but that's not necessarily the case in when a student is transferred within one LCPS school to another LCPS school so looking into if we need to tighten up protocols around that. If you can please say if I'm accurately stating what we discussed Mr. Woods. Yes regarding topic number 23 when performing a prior audit we

[03:43:53] met with principals and one of the or two of the principals expressed concern about when students are removed from one school within the division and transferring to another division, that sometimes the information is not always tracked for certain areas, especially regarding behavior issues. And so that's why I ended up on the audit universe. And so I can't, I don't know all the details in which, because they're in my notes from prior audits, but that's how I ended up

[03:44:28] on the audit universe, when students transfer from other divisions or other states, it's my belief that the registrars from the schools do a good job of tracking that information from the prior schools, but we also don't have control over those other schools, and so we do have control when students do move within here, our division, and so that's also why it's on this audit topic or audit universe.

[03:44:55] So if you have any further questions regarding this particular line item, I can answer them or do my best to try to respond in the absence of my notes. Thank you. Ms. LaBelle. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[03:45:12] Excuse me. As to the transferring between divisions, this is something that we had talked about with Mrs. Scanlon and I talked about at one point in time over the last year. My understanding is that sometimes we are not allowed to receive that information or send that information with students.

[03:45:35] Is that true? Is that what your understanding is? I would say at this moment my understanding would be quaint just because the last audit wasn't in the scope, but it was something we noted, which is how it ended up on the audit universe.

[03:45:51] I'm not quite sure all the information that can follow a student. One would think there is certain things that should follow the student to help enhance the environment into which they're going to, to the receiving school, and so that is a question that we would definitely like to answer during an audit. Thank you.

[03:46:15] Ms. Chernoff? Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you so much. I miss working with audit. It was nice to be kind of in the loop on that, but I trust that the committee is going well. I have two questions. I know that this is approved, so my first question is, that was sort of not my understanding, although I know that the audit committee is new and that we set it up. So in talking to Mr. Allen, in policy 2310 that has to do with the audit committee it says the audit committee approves recommends modifications to and monitors the audit

[03:46:49] plan through the division OAG but in policy 3410 section 2 school board duties item B it says that we approve the risk-based internal audit plan as a full board so we might want to do some policy cleanup and make sure we have what we want because on its face those things seem in conflict to me but it is a new process so I'm just gonna pose that to the board I'm not gonna be a stickler about it but I thought it was reasonable to at least raise it we have two things

[03:47:22] that kind of contradict each other my other point and question is I was we just went over all of our federal grant reporting in the spring and it was my understanding that we are already currently audited on federal grant compliance. So first of all, is that true? And second of all, how would this be different? Yes, all federal grants or anytime you have federal monies tied to your receivership, so us being the receiver, would be federally audited or at least have the ability to be audited. How this is different is we review

[03:48:02] internal controls over our practices of those uh grants and so it is a bit different whereas um federal audits are usually looking at our uh accounting uh systems to make sure that the accounting system it has the uh requisite uh systems to account by line items that are in the grant we're looking at controls over those we're looking at internal controls over those grants to To ensure that by time a federal grant is audited, there are no non-compliances.

[03:48:36] And so it's just a second layer to strengthen our practices here within the Loudoun County public schools. And so we would be the second line of defense, and then the federal government would be the third line of defense in this matter.

[03:48:51] Okay, I appreciate that. I just also wonder with like 30 plus topics that want to be discussed, this being one that is already audited is just making me wonder if we could get to some others. But it seems that the decision has been made, so I will go along with it.

[03:49:09] And I look forward to if we could point out those differences along the way, that would be helpful so we know who's accountable for auditing what would be great. Thank you. All right, thank you. Dr. Spence?

[03:49:26] Yeah, just if I could offer just a moment of clarity around that question, because I do think it's important since we're stating it publicly. The auditing of our federal grants is annual, consistent, and not just related to the accounting. It's related to compliance with the regulations.

[03:49:44] It's related essentially to a comprehensive review of our practices, our documentation, Certainly our fiscal processes, but also compliance with any applicable federal and state requirements.

[03:50:02] And many of the grants we're talking about, I'll give you just one example, is the Title VIB grants. We've been undergoing about a year and a half long monitoring process that's been conducted by the Virginia Department of Education related to this grant specifically and special education federal grant requirements.

[03:50:18] So I think it's a fair question to ask. And I think it's worth noting that there are a couple of different items on here that there are regular and ongoing audits that are performed with these topics.

[03:50:35] And the one thing I would just ask the audit committee to take a look at, and we'd be happy, my staff and I would all be happy to meet with the audit committee to have this conversation, is are we duplicating work that's not necessary? Kind of to Ms. Chernoff's question, how can we also provide the information that you might be seeking because we have it.

[03:50:58] And I would say this, and this is not in any way to slight the Auditor General's office, but, for example, the cybersecurity audit that's being proposed, we regularly audit using third parties auditing our cybersecurity processes and procedures.

[03:51:15] We have that information available. And what I would say is it requires an incredibly complex level of expertise to be able to conduct a cybersecurity audit like the one that's being described here. And I would be worried about our staff time having to help an auditor without that experience understand what they're looking for.

[03:51:39] So, again, not to slight your office, cybersecurity isn't your area of expertise any more than it's mine. But it would be, I think, helpful because this is a new process. And, again, this is not in any way to challenge or interfere with the independence of the auditor, but it is to provide information to the committee about what is already being done that may be again duplicative in terms of efforts where that may require staff time that's not reasonable in light of what we might be looking to get out of the process so my ask would be if we could work together to find a mechanism by which I and or my team both know what's being considered in advanced

[03:52:19] and then maybe have the opportunity to come talk to the committee and just answer questions about some of those topics because it's a the concerns I shared are just two examples on a long list of things that are recommended in the audit universe that we just have questions about thank you before we move on board members I would like to clarify on two points and I'm gonna ask staff first a little bit of information mr. Allen if you could just to to circle back and make sure that we're all clear on the same page could you let us know how those two policies harmonize together

[03:52:58] and if um there is any further action that could be taken to make this clearer thank you chair chandler uh yes on their face uh i believe ms chernoff is accurate in policy 3410 and policy 2310 appear to be in conflict the broader is policy 3410 which talks about the office of the auditor general and and that appears to indicate that the school board approves the annual audit

[03:53:32] plan however policy 2310 as the school board created the audit committee earlier this year does indicate that the audit committee has the purview and adopts the audit plan so how you could harmonize the two part two policies is that that the school board's determination was to delegate its authority to approve the audit plan on an annual basis to the audit committee however the plain language of policy 2310 does not indicate that but um and i can't recall off

[03:54:06] the top of my head if that was discussed at the time but to the extent it was that that's a way to cure that facial conflict thank you that's very helpful so now we understand how we're here and we have an opportunity to look for providing more clarity and policy given the opportunity in the future and then miss mitchell i just want to make sure that i understand in terms of what the process is that occurs now so in the event that is an lcps student transfers from an lcps school

[03:54:45] to an lcps school what information would follow that student and then in the event that a student comes into lcps from another district what is typical of the information that we're likely to receive thank you for the question miss chandler so within the division a records transfer occurs So all of the information that a school has for a student within our division, if they transfer to another school within that division,

[03:55:22] that comprehensive record does go with that student. The local file as well as all of the information that is housed in our Phoenix system. If a student transfers outside of the division into our division, we also do a records request. However, depending on where that student comes from, could be determined what is in that record, but we do request scholastic material as well as student discipline information.

[03:55:50] But in the event that somebody's coming from outside, we wouldn't really have any mechanism to ensure that that information was available. Correct. We just do a records request. And so what they send us, whatever they have on file is what we get.

[03:56:07] Sometimes parents will supply additional information that they might have. in every division the way the system that they use the records that they keep may differ but all we can do is request it okay thank you and then board members any Ms. Riccardi thank you madam chair so I think just from my my take on the committee and my thought about the the work plan here is that we've come up with these four topics as a starter I think as you I mean, Mr. Woods looks at these four topics and then creates a work plan.

[03:56:43] And as he may and will likely uncover more information about what we already have, what information we're already provided, the grant reviews and those pieces, his work plan for those topics may either become significantly smaller or perhaps even may not be needed depending on what's happening right now.

[03:57:07] So we're always able then to expand out the population of topics as the work plan gets larger or smaller depending on his work plan that he's going to present to us. So I don't know that under the, like right now we have a really clear sense of the time allocations it's going to take to do any of these things.

[03:57:27] But he's now been charged with these four topics and then we'll put together a work plan. We'll review it in the committee and then go from there. And I appreciate the input on these topics as well. I think it's really important to realize that these federal grants, I knew federal grants were audited.

[03:57:45] I just didn't know the schedule or the detail of which that occurs. And so that may influence, you know, the scope may end up getting much more narrow. He may want to go answer other questions around that topic that aren't being done or that are not covered in the current audit strategy.

[03:58:01] So that's kind of, that's been my take on this, right? So as we go forward and we go deeper, and Mr. Woods, if I'm off on this, please correct me, but I thought that's kind of where we were going during the meeting. Correct. The audit plan is a living document.

[03:58:16] Every committee meeting is the opportunity to address any concerns or update it. But just to go back to answer a previous question, the biggest difference between a federal external audit and our audit is preventive. If the federal government performs an audit, they can impose fees or penalties.

[03:58:39] We can lose money. If we have a finding, we don't lose money. We put controls in place to prevent putting us at risk of returning those funds back to the state, local, or federal government. So that's really the biggest difference is we do not have the power, nor do we choose to impose fees or sanctions, but we are the preventative audit, getting ahead of certain things.

[03:59:05] Some audits have not been closed out yet, and so it's auditing those practices and controls over those and not having the same liabilities that could happen in the absence of those audits. As far as the other audit, the cybersecurity and incident response controls, we're looking at controls, and so the scope would be scoped within what we are capable to do.

[03:59:30] Any audit, especially information systems audit, that is out of our expertise, it would be co-sourced. And there was an audit topic on the audit universe in which we do identify those type of audits.

[03:59:51] Right. Mr. Woods, it is amazing when you are out of practice, right? Of course, the three of us, Vice Chair Donahue and Ms. Chernoff and I, served on the LAMP committee for the past two years, and here we are, it's August, and we haven't been, I mean, Vice Chair Donahue has, but I want to confirm my recollection, and that is when audit was inside of the legislative and policy committee as well, that committee also, at the time, approved the audit.

[04:00:29] universe and then the process much as we have done tonight is that it the information after LAMP approved it was presented to the board that's accurate right yes yeah okay any further questions board members all right thank you so much all right and with that we will move on to item 12.03 the legislative and policy committee revised policy 2420 meeting procedures which will be presented tonight by Mr. Svensson, the chair of the LMP committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[04:01:07] Yes, it's a relatively straightforward revision of policy 2420 meeting procedures. It may look like a lot of red on the page, but it's mostly structural changes to align with current practice and to ensure consistency with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. There's also some additions at the committee level to ensure consistency between policy 2420 and policy 2520 concerning public participation so I am happy to defer to Dr. Bergen or Mr. Allen if there are any

[04:01:43] additional details they think would be worthwhile sharing with the with the board but happy to answer any questions about it thank you board members yes vice chair Donohue thank you madam Chairman Chair, I just had a couple of quick questions to make sure that I am understanding what the changes in this policy will mean in practical effect.

[04:02:09] So if I read this correctly, if we adopt these proposed changes, we will no longer vote as a matter of course on a request for remote participation only if there is a challenge to such a request.

[04:02:25] Do I have that correct, Mr. Spenson, or Dr. Bergen? I will defer to Mr. Allen. My understanding is that this is not changing current practice, so this is just codifying what we do right now, so I don't think that we're doing away with voting on remote participation, but I will defer to Mr. Allen and Dr. Bergen to correct me if I'm wrong.

[04:02:50] Thank you, Vice Chair Donahue and Mr. Spenson. Yes, that is correct. This came before the LNP committee based on the statutory requirement for any school board to review this policy where remote participation is allowed on an annual basis.

[04:03:09] So this will be coming back each year. So we're in compliance with the Virginia code in that regard. The board could consider other approaches through other governing documents on an annual basis such as the annual organizational resolution.

[04:03:26] As one potential approach to address this or otherwise it will review this on an annual basis But there are no changes or proposed changes to any existing practice Thank you, Mr. Allen. I'm looking on the red line versions. I'm looking at section three on lines 71 and following And I I guess this didn't jump out at me when we reviewed this last year, but it it reads individual participation from a remote location shall be approved unless it would violate etc etc and then says if a member's remote participation is challenged the school board shall vote on

[04:04:05] whether to allow such participation which to me suggests that perhaps we only need to vote if there is a challenge but maybe i'm reading that wrong that that's something i can look at in the interim between now and when this comes back for action to clarify thank you and i have two other questions if I may. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I also was wondering the limitation on the requirements for if a board member is seeking a personal exemption for remote participation,

[04:04:45] the policy requires that the board member provide specifics regarding what the personal reason is and limits it to twice in a year. And I was wondering if those requirements, the specificity and the cap of two is that in code or is that just by virtue of our policy thank you vice chair donahue that was that that was language that was in the previous iteration of this policy and that

[04:05:16] is from the code as well those are from the code correct 2.2 3708.3 and if i heard you right that it's capped at no two meetings per calendar year or 25 of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number whichever is greater is that correct yes yeah that that language comes directly from the code and the code does require a location to be indicated in the minutes however general location is fine it does not require it's permissive so if the board does

[04:05:52] not feel comfortable with a specific location it could use a general location okay thank you and And my last question was with regard to some public feedback that was, or excuse me, feedback from the Equity Council that was received where they asked if there could be a medical provision to allow virtual participation for medical reasons within certain parameters even if quorum is not, cannot be physically assembled.

[04:06:25] I'm assuming that the reason why we can't do that is because of the code, but can you please confirm yes that's my recollection um but if you could read i don't have it at my my fingertips the that specific feedback or proposed recommendation um yes uh so the the feedback was the the person stated there should be a medical provision for virtual participation when quorum is not physically assembled as long as it is not abused with parameters.

[04:07:03] I read that as if we cannot get a quorum of people physically in the building, we should nevertheless allow virtual participation if it is for medical reasons. But I'm assuming that we are not able to do that because of the code.

[04:07:20] That is correct. As a threshold matter to allow the board to allow remote participation of members, then a quorum must be physically assembled. That is correct. Thank you very much. Ms. Chernoff? - Thank you, Madam Chair.

[04:07:36] Kind of piggybacking in the same vein off of Ms. Donahue. Since this policy, and this is just more kind of thinking forward about cross-references that we have and sort of tightening up some of our school board policies, which I know we've talked about in retreat and things, because there are such specifics about percentages of how many meetings you can do and the code is pretty clear about that, I was wondering if the board would be open cross-referencing policy 1035 school board norms and protocols and then policy 2420 I mean policy 1030 a code of conduct for school board members which

[04:08:12] sort of outline our responsibilities to show up at meetings be present because they are linked together as part of that responsibility I don't know if I need to bring that as an amendment but how cross-references would work I would defer to mr. Allen on that but it seems to make sense to me that the accountability measure for board members would be linked to our meeting procedures so i guess that's a question thank you miss sherinoff i think for clarity of the record um you can make that amendment when it comes back for action perfect be reasonable thank you board members

[04:08:49] any further questions all right thank you very much and with that we'll move on to our last or i will ask is we're we're not going to put that on consent because we have amendments coming so right I just needed to process that for a minute okay item 12.04 student services committee new policy 5340 safe and supported supportive removal of students in the educational setting presented tonight by mr. pepper the chair of the student services committee thank you madam chair I bringing as an

[04:09:27] information item new policy 5340 on the safe and supportive of those students in the educational setting. This is a pretty hefty policy that was put together the Student Services Committee. As a committee we actually broke into work sessions including members of several of our advisory groups that all provided insight and impact of each policy. We went through section by section of a proposed policy from the Department of Student Services. All the suggestions were compiled and brought together to create this new policy.

[04:10:04] It talks about the processes for what to do if a student needs to be removed or secluded in the educational setting. And it's pretty detailed. I also note that there is an amendment proposed for this policy from my colleague Ms. Chernoff to add a section for those of you who have not seen that yet.

[04:10:28] And with that, I will allow Ms. Richardson to entertain questions or see if there's anything else I left out. Thank you, Mr. Pepper. You did a really great job, but I do just want to draw the board's attention to the fact that the reason that we're proposing this new policy was during spring of 2025 when the board was working on policy 5345, the restraint and seclusion of students.

[04:10:54] We had some incidences that came forward that did not rise to the level of seclusion but truly really highlighted the fact that we weren't making those meaningful connections with parents about what is happening when their students need to be separated from the educational setting.

[04:11:12] And so that's really the impetus of this policy. I do want to draw your attention to the fact that those work groups were absolute fun to have our advisory members there. And it was just truly very collaborative.

[04:11:28] We do outline the expectations for trained staff, the professional learning, making sure that our approach is trauma-informed, 24-hour parent notification. That was really the driving piece behind this policy is making sure that our parents are fully aware of what's happening with their students within the educational setting.

[04:11:51] Other than that, I'm happy to entertain any questions or comments that you may have. Dr. Rasheed? Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Ms. Richardson. I appreciate that. And I have two questions, and one of them is for line 68 to 69 on the red line version.

[04:12:12] I just couldn't find who makes the decision that's being referenced to discuss an incident. So is there like a particular staff member that's supposed to contact and discuss the incident with the parent? Because I did see that MSAC did include that as one of their recommendations.

[04:12:31] Or maybe it's there and I just missed it. Thank you for that question. So it is not explicitly stated in the policy, but we do have a draft regulation. And of course, that really just washes out once we know what the final policy is, but it's the building administrator or their designee that would really make that call to schedule that meeting.

[04:12:56] Okay. Thank you for that. Okay. For lines 73 to 75, and I promise this is my last question. So the policy doesn't really mention like demographic information. So I do feel that tracking demographics here would definitely kind of help us look at inconsistency patterns, unfair patterns, so to say.

[04:13:21] I do agree with MSAC's recommendation to update the policy of 5340. But before I go on into that, is there a reason why, if known, that demographics isn't included in the policy? Thank you for that question.

[04:13:37] Again, it is in our draft regulation that we clearly identify we need the first and last name of the student as well as their LCPS student identification number, date, the location of the incident, the time frame that it occurred, the name and role of the staff member that is recording this incident, the reason for removal, and the duration for removal.

[04:14:05] So we do go into more detail within our regulation, but certainly should it be the will of the board, we could include demographics as part of that log within the policy. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Vice Chair Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[04:14:22] Thank you, Ms. Richardson, for the presentation. I was chair of student services for two years, including in 2025 when we were working through the revisions of policy 5345, restraint and seclusion. And it was a hefty and emotional process that I was really glad to be a part of.

[04:14:42] And I really pushed for the development of this policy, in large part due to the circumstances that Ms. Richardson described, which is that I was contacted by multiple parents who described that they had learned of incidents happening with their students in the school setting, that they were not told about by the school and having a lot of concern about that, but that those did not fit neatly into the policies that we had in place at the time.

[04:15:15] And I felt really strongly that we needed to add a policy to close that loophole. And we started working on it when I was still the chair. I had really hoped to push it over the line last year, but I didn't get there.

[04:15:33] And it is surely improved by the additional time that it's spent in committee. So I do have questions, but I wanted to preface my questions by just saying that I'm really, really excited and happy to see this policy coming before us. I'm absolutely thrilled that we are putting this policy forward, and I'm really pleased with the breadth and focus of the policy, particularly the focus on the staff mental health in addition to the supporting the mental health of the impacted students when these situations arise.

[04:16:08] So, as for my questions, looking at the red line, my first question is for line 21 to 22, which describes the definition of accommodations, and it includes documented in specific plans, including IEP, 504, BIP, or other documented support plan.

[04:16:30] Would that include a safety plan? If there is a student who is not on a 504 or an IEP, but if there are mental health issues or safety issues and a safety plan is put in place, would that be included under documented support plans?

[04:16:48] Yes, that was the intent of the work group when we met. We didn't want to bullet out all of the plans that we have here in LCPS. You could have a provision that a student has an accommodation for removal within a health plan or a safety plan.

[04:17:04] So we didn't want an exhaustive list within the policy. But yes, that certainly would cover a safety plan. Because again, we do make sure that all staff that work with the student are knowledgeable about what's in each student's safety plan. Thank you for that. And then on line 65 of the red line, sorry to be nitpicky, but I did notice that it says Individualized Education Program in the middle of the line.

[04:17:31] And then it says IEP, but it's in italics, and it's not in parentheses. So I wasn't sure if that is a stray thing or intentional, but I wanted to flag that to maybe be cleaned up before it comes back for action. And I had also flagged the question that Dr. Rashid brought up for line 69.

[04:17:53] So two questions about that. You mentioned it's going to be covered in regulations, which I think is fantastic and appropriate. Will the regulations address how to proceed if the school officials don't necessarily think that a meeting is necessary, but the family wants to have one?

[04:18:15] Because I know that is a concern that has been raised, if you know it this time, because I understand the regulations are yet to be written. So that is certainly something that we talked about, particularly in our work group that we held in either late April or May, that second work group, was really making sure that we have that balance.

[04:18:35] So it's not explicitly stated in policy, nor is it currently delineated in regulation, again, because regulation is based off of a finalized policy and guides implementation. so please know that if school administration say oh i feel like we've communicated we don't need a meeting but a parent requests a meeting we're going to have a meeting i'm sure that will make a lot of people happy to hear that commitment uh on line 69 notwithstanding that those issues will be addressed in regulations uh it does say parent guardian a meeting with the parent slash guardian

[04:19:12] should will be scheduled another thing to clean up before it comes back for action um i also noticed that there are no there's no i didn't see any cross references in this policy um i we do reference i think the restrained seclusion policy in here somewhere um and this jumped out at me because my memory and i had been trying to look this up before i started talking but

[04:19:46] my memory is that when we revised 5345 last year uh to list to categorize seclusion as a prohibited practice within LCPS, which was a change from our prior practice. We also added some language that essentially said staff won't be punished if they engage in this. I had a little bit of concern with this policy because we do specifically list seclusion and say it is prohibited, but we don't

[04:20:21] have that language there or cross-reference to 5345 that specifically says but staff won't get in trouble if this if this does happen so I just wanted to flag that and I was curious about lines 91 to 94 of the red line which is the part that says three uses of safe and supportive removal involving an individual student shall trigger an administrative review to identify repeated or pattern usage, and determine whether additional supports, interventions, evaluations, or revisions

[04:21:00] to a student's plan is necessary. I was curious why you settled on three, and if it's three in a school year, in a calendar year, three involving the same student, three involving the same staff member, how would that be triggered? So that is another recommendation for the policy that came out of the work groups the parent committee members that were participating really felt that we needed a threshold that really triggered let's come down let's come and sit down as

[04:21:38] a multidisciplinary team and really look at what's going on for the individual student so it's for an individual student with three instances of removals would automatically trigger the administrative review that would happen in collaboration with the department of School Leadership and the Department of Student Services, we would look at do we need to go the route of MTSS, do we need to hold a child study meeting, are we looking at a referral for IDEA or possibly a referral for Section 504, or a referral for additional external resources through our unified mental health teams.

[04:22:18] Thank you. And then my only other question or comment was regarding Ms. Chernoff's proposed amendment, which I read. And not that I disagree with the intent, but we have written into this proposed policy specific language about communicating with the family of a student who is subject to a removal under this policy.

[04:22:48] And from my read of Ms. Chernoff's proposed amendment, that pertains to communications between the school and families of other students who may be witness to or affected by such a removal under this policy.

[04:23:04] And I just thought that that was covered under policy 3070 and its accompanying regulation. So I'm certainly happy to discuss this more with Ms. Chernoff offline or have further conversation of it right here, right now, but that's all I wanted to say about that. Thank you. Ms. Chernoff? Thank you, Madam Chair. I think this is a good time to go over my amendment. So I just want to clarify a couple of things. This specific, and first of all, the work of the committee was incredible, and I have

[04:23:41] to say I was really struggling with our seclusion policy, and one of the contingencies of feeling good about where we landed was the development of this policy. So thank you for your work. Thank you to all the people that were involved because I think it was a really great process that a lot of us are thinking about modeling our other processes after in the future so I appreciate that work and this is not to minimize anything that that committee did it's sort of kind of taking an opportunity that I saw to see a situation that I feel is actually not addressed falls through the cracks of what I think is 3070s purpose and what this new policy would have and

[04:24:19] And it is an instance that I experienced as an educator who worked with young children and something that I continually hear about, not super often, but as an exception in my district from families having concerns. The situation really is very specific.

[04:24:35] It's when a student in the class would probably be removed if they could be safely removed. but because of the nature of whether it's the behavior or the outburst or just the needs at the time, they need to stay in place and the entire class, in order for them to stay safe, need to be evacuated. And whether that is to the library, to have a read aloud, or that's, you know, another classroom where they're divided up, it does occur in our schools from time to time. And when that occurs it is my understanding that best practice is to notify the families of

[04:25:15] the students who were evacuated that that student that they were evacuated for a time because of the another student obviously the law is very clear and we outline that in in the amendment that we're not sharing personal information of the student or the nature of the behaviors but I do think that it is our best practice right now that we do notify parents and so for me this feels like an opportunity to codify that it's not a fire drill where everyone is being directed to leave and so you might let the families know that that's happening it's not a singular student this is a whole group of students that are being impacted and I just felt like there was a gap there and that this

[04:25:51] gives us a real opportunity to turn our families towards our policy and say we have this in policy and here's the process and to back up our administrators also because a lot of times there are parents that want that more personal information but the law prohibits that so for me it just felt like a really good niche opportunity to slide this in there and I'm very grateful to miss Richardson for helping me draft up the language and mr. Allen for reviewing it and miss Richardson if you could just speak to that it did come up in the workgroup if you could give us a little bit more context and then sort of your thoughts on how it's different from 3070 absolutely thank you mrs. Chernoff so

[04:26:29] So as I read policy 3070, that really applies more to emergency situations that impact the entire school and even maybe possibly surrounding schools that result in the initiation of emergency drills. So in this case of classroom evacuation, it is a student that in most cases we are able to safely and supportively move to another setting.

[04:26:56] but sometimes we do have instances where that's not safe for that particular student or staff or possibly the other students that are in the classroom to get from point A to point B. And we do have to evacuate the classroom, make sure we can relocate the students, and continue instruction.

[04:27:15] And yes, our best practice has been to notify those families of those particular students just in that classroom of what has happened that day. So just in case their child comes home and talks about an incident that has happened during the day, parents have awareness, while also making sure that we maintain our confidentiality.

[04:27:38] And then, of course, the policy and, of course, in practice, we would also notify the family of the student that was in crisis and needed that safe and supportive support within that particular setting. It isn't an incident, it doesn't come up frequently, but when it does happen, it's pretty disruptive.

[04:28:00] We do see it happening more at the elementary level than what we do at the secondary level. It was discussed in our committee. I'm not sure why we didn't grab it and put it in a section. It did come up particularly from our parent representatives that participate on SEAC.

[04:28:21] So staff would be certainly open to the will of the board to include this language just so that it is covered because as I see it and certainly Mr. Allen can weigh in too I think 3070 is more applicable to emergency response situations and not so much those things that can happen throughout the course of an instructional day that don't interfere with the entire school setting.

[04:28:46] Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you very much, Ms. Richardson, and the committee for your work on this policy. I had a question about the SEAC recommendations.

[04:29:02] I see that Recommendation 2 in their feedback was incorporated in large part at line 91. Their recommendation on line 17 regarding the safe and supportive removal from the educational environment definition, what is not in the red line, but it dovetails with the amendment that Ms. Chernoff has introduced.

[04:29:28] I was curious if it made sense to include that as part of the definition to tee up the language that's in that amendment, or if there was a reason that that language wasn't incorporated in the definition. And if so, I was curious what that reason might be.

[04:29:47] Are you specifically talking about SEAC recommendation 1 at line 17? Yes, yes, where they would add to the definition about safe and supportive removal, just the acknowledgement that there could be, instead of removing the individual student, the removal of other students from the instructional setting, leaving a student in the instructional setting for the purpose of de-escalation or regulation of a student or students.

[04:30:11] Certainly, staff would not be opposed to adding that to that definition at line 17. Thank you. Ms. Riccardi? Thank you, Madam Chair. I just had a couple questions. I know we've got some reporting built into the policy right now, and I wanted to see if perhaps Ms. Chernoff would be willing to add another piece,

[04:30:41] or I can do a separate amendment just to add some additional language in here about tracking the number of instances when the whole classroom has been removed and how many students were impacted in that process just so we can start to understand the scope of those it's one thing to say X number of classrooms but it's a whole nother thing to say it was 120 students over the timeframe or whatever it just be helpful as another data point for us to be able to track that and if so if you're open to that then I'll just send you the language or

[04:31:17] we could just add it to the amendment I think that is certainly something that we can maintain internally I don't know that I would want to share that as part of the annual report because again we are looking at such small student numbers like we have to be very cautious when we're reporting our restraint and seclusion numbers and we do plan on plan on pairing this annual sharing out to the board on safe and supportive along with restraint and seclusion so I just would want us to be careful that anything that we report could not lead to

[04:31:53] anyone in the public or any watcher being able to identify a particular school or a particular student that could be impacted but certainly for internal tracking purposes we can absolutely look at that information and those are things that would just sort of naturally happen because we would be working with building ad administrators to lessen that impact of course. So if we're tracking the total number of students that moved to a library let's say there's concern about being able to identify the one that stayed behind and I'm not saying I want to do it by instance I'm

[04:32:30] just saying actually what I really would like to see is by whole grade level we have this many kindergarteners that you know per year or first graders because what that's gonna then give us is right okay we've got you know first graders yeah I don't know it's I think it's gonna be interesting for us from like even a PMC perspective people in the student discipline conversations to be able to say okay we've got kindergarteners and first graders have the most instance I'm just and by the way this is hypothetical I'm making this up um but you know but but by third grade they're getting it and we're having less of these kind of situations happening and it's filtering out because then it will just give us some interesting

[04:33:10] data around really working with our younger elementary school kids and again it could be sixth graders i don't even know what that looks like but i think it'd be really interesting for us to start looking at it even by just grade level okay i think by reframing it that way like looking at total number of kindergartners that we have right as an example x amount were impacted by having to be evacuated I think we can do that and that doesn't really disclose any identifiable information where people would be able to pinpoint certain instances. Ms. Chernoff? Thank you. Ms.

[04:33:48] Richardson do you think that would since it would be internal and more for our data collection purposes would that be something that would fit better in a regulation then because it's operationalized? Absolutely. Okay so maybe we could make mention of the tracking so I can work with that but then the specifics of what that could look like would would make sense operationally okay we'll work on it thanks thank you any further comments or questions all right board members um a board member has uh suggested to me that perhaps we skip board member comments tonight

[04:34:22] i'd like to do a temperature check um so thumbs up if you would like to not give board member comments tonight update yes the next item on the agenda board member comments and committee reports

[04:34:44] majority rules so right um with that we will um move on to our um well actually let me ask is there any new business seeing no new business um we will move on to convene our closed meeting vice chair donahue do you have a motion yes thank you madam chair i move that the loudon county school board recess this public meeting and enter into a closed meeting pursuant to Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia for the following.

[04:35:23] Consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual litigation where such consultation or briefing an open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body as authorized by Section 2.2-3711 sub-A sub-7 of the Code of Virginia. And consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding a specific legal matter related to a former public employee as authorized by Section 2.2-3711 sub-A sub-8 of the Code of Virginia.

[04:35:46] Discussion and consideration of student matters that would involve the disclosure of information contained in a scholastic record as authorized by section 2.2-3711 sub-A sub-2 of the Code of Virginia, discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body as authorized by section 2.2-3711 sub-A sub-3 of the Code of Virginia, and discussion and consideration of the performance and potential discipline of a specific public officer as authorized by sections 2.2-3711 sub-871 of the code of Virginia. Thank you. Vice Chair Donahue has made a motion to convene a closed meeting.

[04:36:24] Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board go into closed session. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, let's move forward with the vote. Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, please record your vote.

[04:36:46] Clerk, please close and display the vote. That motion passes unanimously with all nine school

[04:36:52] board members present. The board is now in closed session. Vice Chair Donohue, do you have a motion?

[07:56:46] Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the closed meeting be adjourned, that the Loudoun County School Board reconvene its public meeting, and that the minutes of the public meeting reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed meeting. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. I have a second. By Ms. Chernoff, it has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board adjourn the closed session. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please close and display

[07:57:19] the vote that motion passes with eight board members so can we pause for a moment is it possible is there any legal issue with abstaining to come out no okay thank you uh eight board members voting yes including mr svensson miss shurnoff myself vice chair donahue mrs griffiths mr pepper dr

[07:57:53] Rasheed and Ms. LaBelle and Ms. Riccardi abstaining. Vice Chair Donahue, do you have another motion? Yes, thank you Madam Chair. I move that the following resolution certifying the closed meeting be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting. Resolution number 02-26/27, whereas the Loudoun County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas section 2.2 - 3 7 1 2 sub D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law now therefore be it resolved that the

[07:58:32] Loudoun County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge one only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the Loudoun County School Board. Thank You Vice Chair Donohue has made a motion. Is there a second? Second. Thank You Ms. Chernoff.

[07:58:56] It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board certify the closed meeting. Is there any discussion? Yes, Madam Chair. Yes, Ms. Riccardi. Thank You Madam Chair. Before the certification vote I need to state for the record that I believe there was a departure from the requirements of the closed meeting exemption cited in the motion. Pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3712 D I ask that the statement be recorded in the minutes and I will vote no on certification. Okay. Thank you

[07:59:25] Any further discussion? I'm seeing none. Let's move forward with the vote.

[07:59:44] Clerk, please close and display the vote. That motion passes with seven board members voting yes, including Mr. Svensson, Ms. Chernoff, myself, Vice Chair Donahue, Mr. Pepper, Dr. Rasheed and Ms.

[08:00:02] LaBelle and two board members voting no, including Ms. Riccardi and Mrs. Griffiths. Vice Chair Donahue, do you have another motion? yes thank you madam chair i move that the loudon county school board authorize the execution of documents necessary and appropriate pertaining to the respective student matter as considered and discussed in the closed meeting oh um i'm sorry we're gonna hold for just a second and go back

[08:00:31] ms riccardi could you please state the substance of the departure what clarification are you looking for any member of the public body who believes that there's been a departure from the requirements of the clauses one and two shall so state prior to the vote indicating the substance of the departure that in your judgment has taken place the statement shall be recorded in the minutes of the public body we're looking for mr.

[08:01:07] rationale sure mr. Allen what what kind of answer are you looking for specifically on that thank you mr. Carty and I was trying not to interrupt the order here but pursuant to 2.237.12 which you've cited you're correct that if you believe there was a departure from the topics as discussed and closed that you should state so prior to the vote and then that code section also indicates that that board member should indicate the

[08:01:41] substance of the departure in your judgment um that has taken place and i did i you may have said it and i didn't hear it but just for the record um and to comply with this code section i just wanted to make sure that that was clear for the record and the statement that i said that i believe there was a departure from the requirements of the closed meeting exemption cited does that cover it yes precisely um the code requires that the board member indicate or yeah shall state so prior to to the vote and indicate the substance of the departure that in your judgment has taken place.

[08:02:18] - So I feel like we have taken informal votes in closed session.

[08:02:44] - And just for clarity, that statement shall be recorded in the minutes of the public body. - Point of clarification, Madam Chair. - Yes, Mr. Spinson. - Given that Mrs. Griffiths also voted against certification, do we also need to have Mrs. Griffiths state for the record how she believes that the certification is improper?

[08:03:08] yes that would be appropriate oh we can go back and and run through the entire process for built-in suspenders thank you chair chandler so uh and just for clarification the certification is whether um there was departure from the topics discussed and so to the extent there is a belief that there was a departure from the topics as um read into closed in the motion going into

[08:03:43] closed that that's kind of the the scope of whether you believe there's a departure from that and the substance of the departure but any board member who believes there was a departure shall state so prior to the vote and indicate the substance of that departure and their judgment has taken place and then that statement shall be recorded in the minutes of the public body okay point of clarification madam chair yes mr. Svensson um given what mr. Allen just stated about the definition of substance with respect

[08:04:22] to the topics we discussed. Ms. Riccardi referenced a procedural objection to the closed session, but not a substantive departure in terms of topic. So I'm curious if there is indeed a substantive matter in which Ms. Riccardi believes we departed.

[08:04:48] Ms. Riccardi, would you like to speak to that issue? I would just say that the statute requires me to date my belief of the departure and where we've gone astray.

[08:05:08] It's not just the subject matter but the process. And so I'm just going to stick with what I've already stated. Thank you. Thank you. That is not well taken given that it is procedural and not substantive. But ultimately, we'll go back and run through the motion to certify the closed meeting.

[08:05:27] Vice Chair Donahue, do you have a motion? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the following resolution certifying the closed meeting be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting. Resolution number 02-26-27, whereas the Loudoun County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas section 2. 2-3712 sub D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law.

[08:06:03] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County School Board hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Loudoun County School Board. Thank you. Vice Chair Donahue has made a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board

[08:06:40] certify the closed meeting. Is there any discussion? Yes, Madam Chair. Yes, Ms. Riccardi. I'm going to just, you know, repeat the same thing. Before the certification vote, I'm stating for the record that I believe there is a departure from the requirements of the closed meeting exemption slide in the motion pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3712.

[08:07:01] And I ask this statement be recorded in the minutes. Thank you. Is there any further discussion? Yes, Vice Chair Donahue.

[08:07:18] Thank you, Madam Chair. I would ask Ms. Riccardi if in her view we discussed matters that were not on the list when we went into closed session. Would you like to respond, Ms. Riccardi?

[08:07:48] I don't believe that the statute requires me to state exactly why I think we departed, although I did make that statement clear earlier. Thank you. As a matter of the record, there is a letter that was issued by the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council on November 12, 2022.

[08:08:13] It's significantly longer, but in this letter it states whether they narrow the list of candidates via a straw poll or just by consensus reached during that discussion is inconsequential however no action taken in the closed meeting shall become effective until a vote is taken in open session furthermore no agreement reached during the closed session would be binding on the council members just because the members agreed to present a particular candidate for a vote individual members would then be free to vote

[08:08:46] against the appointment of that candidate during the open meeting is there any further discussion all right seeing none let's move forward with the vote thank you clerk please uh show the vote that motion passes with eight board members voting yes including mr svensson ms shirnoff myself vice chair donahue mrs griffiths mr pepper dr rashid and miss labelle and one member voting no

[08:09:24] miss ricardi with that vice chair donahue do you have another motion yes thank you madam chair i move that the loudon county school board authorize the execution of documents necessary and appropriate pertaining to the respective student matter as considered and discussed in the closed meeting.

[08:09:43] Thank you. Vice Chair Donahue has made a motion. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. It has been probably moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, let's move forward with the vote. Please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote.

[08:10:05] That motion passes with eight board members voting yes, including Mr. Svensson, Ms. Chernoff, myself, Vice Chair Donahue, Mrs. Griffiths, Mr. Pepper, Dr. Rasheed, and Ms. LeBell, and Ms. Riccardi abstaining. Vice Chair Donahue, do you have another motion?

[08:10:21] Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board approve a limited waiver of the closed session confidentiality and associated attorney-client privilege regarding discussions with such waiver being strictly limited to board member behavior discussions during the closed sessions on the following dates.

[08:10:40] June 17, 2024, November 26, 2024, December 2, 2024, May 26, 2026, and August 11, 2026. Vice Chair Donahue has made a motion. Is there a second? Second.

[08:10:56] Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. It has been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, let's move forward with the vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote.

[08:11:13] That motion passes with seven school board members voting yes, including Mr. Svensson, Ms. Chernoff, myself, Vice Chair Donahue, Mr. Pepper, Dr. Rasheed and Ms. LaBelle, and one board member voting no, Ms. Riccardi, and one board member abstaining, Mrs. Griffiths.

[08:11:31] With that, the August 11th, oh no, there's one more, pardon me, I'm very eager at 1240 to adjourn. Vice Chair Donahue, is there another motion?

[08:11:47] Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Last one. I move that the Loudoun County School Board find that school board member Dena Griffiths did violate school board policy 1030 sub B sub 9 and sub B sub 10, for which board member Dena Griffiths was issued a private letter of reprimand on or around December 6, 2024, as a measure of progressive discipline after being issued a private warning in a closed session on June 17, 2024.

[08:12:15] in part for conduct that the school board determined school board member Dena Griffiths violated policy 1030 sub B sub 4 in failing to quote to respect the stated purpose for and maintain the confidentiality of discussions that are held pursuant to the code of Virginia as closed meetings unquote as well as policy 1035 sub A sub 6 which provides that quote confidential and privileged information and or documents information and discussions from a closed session attorney-client privilege communication and other confidential information

[08:12:51] shall not be disclosed without the prior written approval of the board end quote the school board now finds that school board member dina griffiths has further violated policy 1030 sub b sub 4 and policy 1035 sub a sub 6 and that this board does not condone the behavior of school board member dina griffiths and does hereby publicly censure her thank you uh vice chair donahue has made a motion do i have a second second thank you ms shirnoff it has been properly moved and seconded is there any discussion seeing none we'll move forward with the vote please record your vote

[08:13:30] clerk please close and display the vote that motion passes with six board members voting yes including mr svensson ms shirnoff myself vice chair donahue mr pepper and dr rasheed one board member voting no, Ms. Riccardi, and two board members abstaining, Mrs. Griffiths and Ms.

[08:13:56] LaBelle. With that, we have concluded our business for this evening. The August 11, 2026 Loudoun County School Board meeting is now adjourned. Please drive home safely, and for all of our LCPS students, please have a great first day of school.

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