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Loudoun County School Board, Student Behavior and Accountability Committee (SBAC), Monday, August 24, 2026

Date: Monday, August 24, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 21m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1220984682?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] afternoon. I would like to call the meeting of the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee into order at four o'clock today, August 24th. To my left is Mrs. Ann Donahue, and to my right is Mr. Ross Svensson, both members of our committee. At this point in time, I see we have one public comment no oh okay all right obviously and no public comment today no people asking to comment

[00:00:39] uh so i'm going to ask both my committee members have you followed the um are you here for public comment just in time okay well we have one person to speak with us for public comment and you are nice to see you miss weisskopf uh i'm glad we're we've got a good day here um as we have miss Andrea Weisskopf here for public comment.

[00:01:13] If you would like to come up to the microphone, sign your name on the public comment. Okay, quick. I was looking at suspension rates, and I am curious.

[00:01:34] I know that, I don't know what I'm allowed to say, but I know there is a high percentage in the VDL program that are placed there. So I would like to know, I think you might like to know, are they using that to cover any disciplinary actions at schools?

[00:02:00] I don't know if they might be, might not be, but I think that's an interesting question. Thank you. Black Lives Matter. Thank you. We appreciate your comment, and certainly that's something we can look into. All right. Now I will take the time to ask my colleagues. Have you had time to review the minutes from our last meeting last year?

[00:02:26] Yes. Yes. Thank you. Anything you want to say about them there? You meet with your approval? Yes. Go ahead. Thank you very much, Chair LaBelle. I reviewed the minutes. I was not present for the June 22nd meeting.

[00:02:43] I did review the minutes anyway, but I wanted to raise two minor concerns. One is it does list Betsy Scotto-Lavino as another LCPS staff person present, but she was not at that meeting.

[00:02:58] She was in Massachusetts on that date, so she was not there. And we tried to listen to the recording and could not find the recording of the June 22nd meeting on the LCPS website. So I was hoping to get clarification if a recording was made.

[00:03:17] And then I had one question because the agenda for June 22nd did list that there would be a closed session, but there's no indication of a closed session in the minutes. And since I was not here, I was curious if that could be clarified as well. Thank you.

[00:03:33] Ms. Scanlon, can you help us with this? My recollection of that meeting, I would have to go back in the notes to be able to clarify the issue of the closed session, but my recollection is that we were able to fit the closed session in immediately after the student disciplinary hearing.

[00:03:56] And so it was on the SBAC agenda as a placeholder so that if we didn't complete that closed meeting, which was a student disciplinary matter during the, let me back up, there were two student disciplinary matters in front of the committee.

[00:04:17] One was a full appeal hearing, the other was not. And we weren't sure if we would get to the second matter before SBAC. And so we added a closed meeting onto the SBAC agenda in the event that we needed to go into closed again.

[00:04:35] And then my recollection is you actually did complete both student matters during the closed session that occurred before the SBAC meeting, Rendering the closed meeting during the aspect meeting unnecessary Yes, thank you. Okay, and could we check on who was here and who was not and correct those minutes and I think

[00:05:14] Madam chair if I may on the The recording I think at the top of the draft minutes notes that there were unforeseen technical difficulties That meant that the electronic audio recording wasn't captured for that meeting. I should read more carefully Thank you, Mr. Svensson.

[00:05:34] The matter of the attendance, we have the attendance notes in our office, so that is a matter that Ms. Alvarado can look into. If you want to defer the approval of the June meeting minutes until our next SBAC meeting, we would have the attendance taken care of for you.

[00:05:56] Certainly, I defer to you, Madam Chair, and I apologize for not flagging this in advance so that it could have been checked sooner. Okay, well, we can go ahead and defer until we get it corrected. Thank you.

[00:06:13] Okay. We have no action items today. We finished up all our work last year, and today we're going to do an overview of what we accomplished last year and possibly do a little bit of talking about what's coming up.

[00:06:37] That is correct. Absolutely. So the year in review, again, we're looking at the school year and not the calendar year. So during the 25-26 school year, which ended in June, SBAC was very busy.

[00:06:53] There are six policies that went through SBAC during the last school year and that were adopted by the board. Five of those six policies were policies that were student disciplinary in nature and were drafted by myself and shepherded through the process.

[00:07:17] One of the six policies was a policy student personal device use that came through SBAC even though it wasn't disciplinary in nature. It was just one of those policies that seemed appropriate for SBAC to take on rather than another subcommittee of the board.

[00:07:37] But as you can see, SBAC was very, very busy last year with policies. In terms of student disciplinary actions, I did give a three-year perspective here. During the 25-26 school year, SBAC took 10 student disciplinary actions, and that included eight appeal hearings.

[00:07:59] You will see that in each of the prior school years, the number of actions taken equaled the number of appeal hearings. Last year was a little bit different because there were two unappealed expulsion recommendations last year.

[00:08:15] So that is why there were eight appeal hearings but ten actions. The additional two actions were the result of unappealed situations. In terms of the coming school year, there are currently, based on the policy tracker that is kept by our senior leadership in our cabinet, We have four policies that we expect to come before SBAC during this school year.

[00:08:50] One is our AUP, or Acceptable Use Policy for Technology. That is on a two-year review cycle instead of a five-year review cycle. And the last time that was reviewed was November 2024.

[00:09:08] Accordingly, it would be ideally finalized by November 2026 to meet that two-year review period. That is a policy that Aaron Smith will be bringing forward to you.

[00:09:24] It's not student disciplinary in nature, but this is the appropriate committee for it. We also have 8260 reporting student conduct. That, you will see, was last reviewed in October of 2023.

[00:09:41] It's on a five-year cycle, so it doesn't have to be reviewed until October of 2028. It is student disciplinary in nature. It has to do specifically with, in accordance with the Code of Virginia, the reports that the school system accepts from law enforcement and the reports that the school system has to provide to law enforcement related to student misconduct.

[00:10:11] That's all set forth in the Code of Virginia. Upon review, as you know, at SBAC, we have kept up with all of the policies that are due, and we have also taken it upon ourselves to revise policies that could be improved upon.

[00:10:33] And in this case, we want to make sure that that policy, because it's based on the Code of Virginia, is fully in alignment with the Code of Virginia, and there's a few points where it's not entirely in alignment.

[00:10:49] So that is the reason for bringing it forward to you early. After that, there are two other policies that will come to you, I anticipate, in the winter, because they are due to be reviewed by March 2027.

[00:11:04] That is our student discrimination and harassment policy. That is a policy that I anticipate will be drafted and presented to you by our DEIA division. And then also our Title IX sex-based discrimination and sexual harassment policy is also coming due for its five-year review.

[00:11:28] And I anticipate, of course, that that would be drafted and presented to you by our Title IX coordinator. So I was thinking we'd have a bit of a light year with policies, because I only had one. But in fact, you have four on the horizon that we can look forward to.

[00:11:48] I'd happily take any questions you have about what we're anticipating for this year or what we accomplished last year, if that's something you'd like to discuss. Do you have anything you'd like to ask? I do have one question, well, possibly two.

[00:12:09] When we talk about the reporting of student conduct, does that include, I know there were some changes recommending that we had MOUs with the Sheriff's Department. Does that include our need to revise some of our things?

[00:12:28] I've seen some changes in policies down in Richmond, and some of them say make sure you've updated your MOU with the Sheriff's Department. That's something I know I've been asking Tedra. Are we in full compliance?

[00:12:45] So the MOU is larger than what this policy pertains to. This policy is very specific to what under the Code of Virginia, what types of student misconduct has to be reported by the principal to the police and what under the Code of Virginia our law enforcement partners are required to report back to us.

[00:13:10] So it's a relatively narrow policy. And it is addressed in the MOU as a section of the MOU, but the MOU takes on much more than that content. Thank you.

[00:13:27] Anyone else? All right. Seeing as that we have no business at this, new business at this time, I'm ready, if you are to, well, I'm ready to hear a motion to adjourn the open meeting.

[00:13:52] No? Yes, I can make a motion, Madam Chair. You have something to say? I move that the Loudoun County School Board recess this, sorry. Okay, to move to go into closed? Okay, thank you.

[00:14:14] I'd like to call for a motion not to adjourn the open meeting, but to move into a closed session. Is someone ready to make that? Yes, Madam Chair. Jumping ahead of myself. I move that the Loudoun 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 purpose.

[00:14:39] Discussion or consideration of a recommendation for disciplining a student enrolled in Loudoun County Public Schools is authorized by Section 2.2-3711A2 of the Code of Virginia. Second. Thank you, Ms. Donahue. The motion has been seconded.

[00:14:56] All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed. Hearing no opposition, the committee approves the motion to move into a closed session by a vote of 3-0. So we're going to have to ask those who are not part of the committee Thank you for coming today. I would now like to call for a motion to move in to move out of closed session Madam chair

[00:15:32] I move that the closed meeting be adjourned that the student behavior and accountability committee of 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 Thank you, Mr. Svensson. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Donahue. The motion's been seconded. All in favor say aye.

[00:15:51] Aye. Anyone against? Hearing no opposition, the committee approves the motion to adjourn the closed session by a vote of 3-0. I need a motion to certify the closed meeting.

[00:16:11] 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 04-26-27, whereas the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee of the Latam 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 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by this committee of the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law, now therefore be it resolved that the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee of the Loudoun County School Board

[00:16:50] 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 executive meeting to which the certification applies, and two, only such public business matters that were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee of the Loudoun County School Board.

[00:17:11] Is there a second? Second. Thank you. The motion's been seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone against, say nay. Hearing no opposition, the committee approves the motion by a vote of 3-0 to certify the closed session.

[00:17:35] Regarding the appeal case, do I hear a motion? Madam Chair, regarding appeal case number OSA01-26-27, I move to expel for 365 days the student named in student disciplinary case osa01-26-27 the expulsion will be enacted in accordance with the signed letter of agreement all those in favor second i'm sorry thank you second the motion thank you miss donahue the

[00:18:08] motion's been seconded all in favor say aye aye all opposed hearing no opposition the committee approves the motion to expel to expel the student named in the disciplinary case osa01-26-27 The expulsion expulsion will be enacted in accordance with the signed letter of agreement The committee approves this motion by a vote of three to zero the student behavior and accepted

[00:18:46] accountability committee's findings and decisions will be included in the report and Reflected in the minutes of the public meeting if there is no other business before the court can I have Sorry chair LaBelle. I was I wanted to flag one thing which is that our next scheduled meeting on September 28th on Monday September 28 coincides with the Loudon Education Foundation's golf classic dinner banquet

[00:19:22] Can we discuss the date for our next meeting after we finish the motion with the meeting today? Okay, all right If there's no other business before this committee other than the date that we will next meet Can we have some conversation about that? I just move the meeting. I just wanted to flag it. I

[00:19:59] Have not I board members often like to attend, but not everyone does every year, so I Have not decided yet separate. I had not decided separately from realizing that there is a conflict Thank you for bringing that up.

[00:20:16] I wanted to flag it for my colleagues. I myself didn't have any plans to attend. So any thoughts, Mr. I was not able to attend given the time of that, but I can make the 4 o'clock meeting here, so it doesn't matter to me either way.

[00:20:36] So do we want to go forward with the meeting? It looks to me like there would be quorum available for this meeting, but I defer to you, Madam Chair. Okay. Well, we will go ahead then since we have a consensus here.

[00:20:53] If there's no other business before the committee, may I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? I move to adjourn. Thank you, Ms. Donahue. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Svensson. The motion's been seconded.

[00:21:09] All in favor of adjournment, say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone against, say nay. Hearing no response, the committee approves the motion to adjourn by a vote of 3 to 0. Let the record reflect that this meeting adjourned at 435.

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