Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC) Meeting, Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 2h 02m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1232373300?rel=0

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-13. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:01] Okay. I'm just going to use this one. So good evening, everybody. I'm Jasmine Tyler. It's so great to be here with you all. I'm the chair for this 2026-27 year of MSAC. I just want to give a few housekeeping updates. If you didn't grab the handouts, they are in the back. Also, the restrooms are out and down the hall to the center of the building. And we will make sure to get out the slides, the minutes, and the transcript, sorry, I just checked my notes, for you all to have,

[00:00:38] to share with other people as you help to build MSAC up for the year. So thank you all for being here today. We're going to have a fun meeting. You all have the agenda, but I just want to go over it here. And importantly, I want you all please to take a second to pull out your device and scan the QR code. There will be lots of QR codes throughout the evening. And if you sign this, this is for attendance tonight so that we know who's here and can stay in touch with you. So tonight we're going to talk about our year of empowerment. We are going to have some amazing

[00:01:15] remarks from our LCPS leadership who has taken the time to come and join us tonight. We're going to learn, importantly, who is in the room. And we are going to do a couple of activities together that will help empower us for the year. We're going to look at our website project to update it for the LCPS communications department. We are going to work on starting our conversations at schools. And we're also going to start our town hall series, which is going to be an open mic

[00:01:51] opportunity throughout each MSAC meeting so that we have space to hear back from you all, not just at your cluster tables, but across clusters so that we can learn from each other and grow together. And then finally, we'll have some reflections and reminders. So we should, you know, be out of here for sure by eight. I'm so excited to introduce many of our executive committee members. We have, to my immediate right, our vice chair, Raquel Chapman.

[00:02:23] We're so thankful to have her. Our communications chair, Carolyn Fiffick, isn't here. We have Samantha Zabaly, our comms director, I mean, our secretary. To her left, we have Nikkei Hughes, who is our membership chair. Out in the audience, we have Rod Laird-Juleau, who is our policy chair give a little wave by force and also um we have um our outreach chair sharice hunter who could not join us tonight but is looking forward to being here with us and has

[00:02:59] been um you know rolled up her sleeves and joined all of us in some of this planning um for the last month and a half we also want to just shout out and say a special thanks to our past chair aaron Kunkel, who's back there too, and, you know, whose shoulders we stand on, and, you know, who we're so thankful for for her leadership throughout her tenure with MSAC and her continued contributions. So many of you are returning faces, and it feels like a reunion, and some of you are

[00:03:36] new faces, and so we just want to make sure that we're all on the same page. If you weren't able to get a copy of the printed bylaws, don't worry, they are on the MSAC website. You can grab them there. But we really are here to elevate the experiences, needs, strengths of our community members. And that is primarily focused on historically underrepresented community members.

[00:04:01] Interestingly enough, here in Loudoun County, we know we are a majority, minority county in terms of our school population. And that brings some real opportunities and also brings some challenges. And so that's what we're all here and committed to working on together. We are always working to connect our families and community members with school leadership, whether that's in our clusters and our schools or across LCPS. So this is really a space for you to connect. It's also a space for you to learn how to point to other places for connection, right? On your tables, there's a

[00:04:38] card for the OMSBUDS office. Many times we know that our community members aren't able to fill out a Let's Talk because it requires lots of information. But the OMSBUDS office is an opportunity for really providing confidential information for action. So feel free to, you know, take that with you and use that as a tool when you're engaging with families back at your schools and throughout your cluster. Again, we are really making sure too that you are empowered to represent your communities because we don't want you to feel like you volunteered for something, but you're

[00:05:18] ill-equipped to do so. So we want to make sure that you are able to do this. We also understand our responsibility in mentoring our student delegates and engaging with them meaningfully and also having them mentor us so that we can be in an exchanging relationship where we learn from each other to empower our schools and our communities. I've said it a couple of times, our theme for the year is empowerment. We really want to make sure that each month's

[00:05:51] um, theme really connects to the learnings that you can use and take back to the community. So we know that information gives us power. We know that, you know, individual concerns really, um, voice collective challenges and that, um, making sure that more people are at the table means that, um, representation is real and power is also real. Um, I would love for you to please take a second to take your QR code picture or scan thing and fill out our delegate survey because you don't just have the power to shape the communities you're a part of,

[00:06:31] you have the ability to shape MSAC. We wanna know what works and what doesn't, right? And we can take into consideration those issues and start to incorporate ways to address and hopefully improve them.

[00:06:49] So this survey is really about how MSAC is functioning and how it works for you. You don't have to only fill it out now, but it does give you a chance to give us some feedback because we are a new full executive committee, very excited about that.

[00:07:06] And we want to do our best as well to serve the committee and to help organize and order the work that you all do. We have a membership challenge. And for those of you who are sitting at your own tables, this is what I mentioned.

[00:07:25] We want to make sure that every school is represented and that each of these cluster tables is full. So if you're looking around and you're wondering, huh, I wonder where that other elementary school is, or I wonder where our middle school is, or I wonder where the high school is, We want you to work with your principals and PTOs, and we're going to help you too.

[00:07:53] We want to make sure that each school is resourced with an MSAC representative, and so that's why we're taking the cluster approach. We also understand that sharing the responsibility and being able to work together within your cluster empowers you all, not just for now, but for the future as MSAC members and our students and communities move from school to school.

[00:08:18] So this is the MSAC application. If you haven't filled it out yet, please also fill this out. It has other information that we are seeking from you besides attendance tonight. And this is the link that you're also able to share with other people, especially in your cluster, to compel them to come to our MSAC meetings where we have fun every third Wednesday of the month, except December. Okay, so without further ado, I want to really kick it off with our LCPS

[00:08:57] esteemed leadership. I am so excited that we were able to get Dr. Aaron Spence here, our superintendent here from Loudoun County to speak. And so maybe it'll be, okay, great. So it's going to be Dr. Spence. So that's really great. Here you go. Thank you so much. Good evening I was I was you know you always want to defer to your boss so but she said I could go first so here we go. I'm really pleased to be here with you all this evening for so many different reasons. I always enjoy working with this group and spending a little time through the course of

[00:09:34] the school year with this group and getting feedback from you all and through our team and through our school board liaison about some of the work that you're doing. I really love the theme this year. I really enjoy and appreciate the theme of empowerment. We had an all-county principals meeting this morning, so all hundred of our principals were in here this morning, and that was the theme we talked about as well. It was really how do we build a sense of empowerment and agency, not only with our students, but also with the staff and faculty that we support every day and with the families that we work with every day to make sure that people

[00:10:08] really know, A, we care about you, B, we really want you to thrive and be successful, and you belong here, you have a place here, and then see your voice matters. And that's really what empowerment is all about. And I want to especially shout out to our students who are here, and thank you for being here. I'm consistently pleased when I have the opportunity to interact with our students who are our MSAC delegates, because the voice that you all find really does matter. In fact, just yesterday, I did a, I don't know if you all have ever seen him, if you don't watch our

[00:10:44] closed circuit tv thing you might not see them but we do this thing called um think fast and it's just where we have the opportunity to talk to different people in our community and throughout the school system and yesterday i did a think fast with two students and the whole conversation in that think fast was about student voice and why student voice matters so much um and it is really important and vitally important that you're in this room because the decisions that we make as a school division the decisions that are informed by committees like this one ultimately really impact you at the end of the day like you are the end user of those decisions and if we're making

[00:11:22] them without your voice and without you saying you know if you do that this is what life's going to be like for my friends and me um that's not great for us and so it really i need you to hear me as young people your voice is critically important in this conversation and you need to have confidence in this room and hear it from the leadership of this of this committee that that we really are glad you're here and it really is meaningful for us to know what you're thinking and what your experiences are like because otherwise if we don't know we don't get to address it and so bringing it up and talking about it and then also telling us that you know if you do this it's going to

[00:11:59] impact us this way really is helpful for us and then that also obviously applies to everybody else who's taking time out of your lives busy lives that we all have some world traveling lives apparently um to to be here to also share those experiences and those perspectives that we don't otherwise have as we make the decisions that we we need to be making as a school division and we we face a lot of difficult and interesting challenges as a school division and so we do need this kind of interaction and feedback and collaboration um as we try to to move through some of those

[00:12:35] interesting and challenging decisions i mean we're right in the middle of a firestorm of interesting and challenging decisions right now if you ever watch board meetings I mean I'm supposed to encourage you to do that it's a it is a some some nights a task but I will say you know we're in the middle of a calendar discussion that's going to directly impact everybody in this room and there are interesting questions at at in front of us as the school board debates and thinks about what our school calendar will look like as we go forward so things like do we maintain inclusive holidays on that calendar or do we go to federal holidays? That's part of the debate and that's

[00:13:14] where all of the feedback that we get in the collaboration that we do matters because people need to hear from everyone who works and lives and learns in our community so that those experiences can inform their, you know, our board's thinking, can inform my thinking so that I can make my best recommendations to our board. So all of that to say, empowerment's a great thing because your voice matters and we need you here at the table. Now, I'm looking around and I'm going to reinforce what I also heard, which is that we need everyone at the table. And I want to help as much as I can.

[00:13:53] I've committed already and I've sent out the flyer and asked our principals to put it in their newsletters. And so hopefully you've seen it in your principals' newsletters. If you haven't, maybe send me a little note and I'll give them a nudge. But I'll be following back up with them because the expectation that I'm setting with my department of school leadership is that every school is at the table in this meeting.

[00:14:14] And I've asked them not to just have an MSAC representative, but to have a student delegate at the table for every school as well. So what I'd ideally like to see is 200 people in this room every time we have a meeting. And I know that's what you all want as well. And so I want to try to help you as much as I can.

[00:14:29] And if we've got other ideas, I'm more than willing to talk about those and see what we can do to help. And that's not just for optics, it's because, again, everybody's experiences matter, and collectively we're way smarter than we are when we isolate ourselves and try to make decisions in isolation.

[00:14:47] So thank you for the opportunity to be here with you all this evening. Know that the leadership of the school division stands behind MSEC and the work that you do, and are here to support and be a part of that work with you, and we're grateful for the opportunity to do that. All right. Do you want me to go ahead and hand it over to? Yeah. And so I will, I will ask Mr. Muhammad, who I think you all know, to come up here. And he's going to offer some remarks as well. Shahid, thank you, as always, for being here and for your leadership.

[00:15:17] My pleasure. Of course. Of course. Well, thank you. And good evening or late afternoon for everybody. I'm Shahid Muhammad. I'm the Acting Assistant Superintendent for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. Recent last year awardee. Thank you.

[00:15:37] to the committee. It's one of the great achievements in my educational career. You should see where it's at in my house. I got a little flashlight on it and everything. But I'm just excited to be able to help and serve the committee another year. And I'm really excited for all the great things you're going to accomplish. Chair Tyler and the executive committee have really put a lot of work in. I can see the momentum, the excitement, the passion,

[00:16:10] for it. And so in my role as a staff liaison, I just want to make sure that in order to continue that empowerment, to give you that power, we're giving you the right information because, you know, without information, it's hard to gain that knowledge to be powerful. And so we're going to really focus on that from our division. I love the idea of filling this room. And what Dr. Spence said is so important because we have so much power here in this committee, but we also want to be accountable, right? And it's important that we come together. I'm excited every time I get to

[00:16:49] spend some time with you all. I feel like I'm at home with MSAC, and that sense of belonging swells within me when I get to be able to participate with you all in this committee. So on behalf of DEIA. We're really excited to support you in the ways you need support and to make sure this is a great year. Our office is always open, so you can always send us questions. We stay in constant contact with the executive committee and Chair Tyler and just looking forward to a great year.

[00:17:23] And so that's it. And now I'll bring up our school board member, Dr. Samara Rashid. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mohamed. So yes, welcome to the new year and congratulations to the new team.

[00:17:49] And I call us a team because we all have to work together. And I love the theme that Chair Tyler has brought together, which is empowerment. And that's what it's all about, empowerment. Without empowerment, we can't come together.

[00:18:06] But when we come together, we bring about empowerment. so it definitely is a source of strength and it also is a sense of strength so with that I welcome you to the new academic year I wanted to share my excitement I'm just for with some updates that I wanted to provide with you you all know the word on the street as Dr. Spence has mentioned that we do have the calendar that has come forward for the year 2028 and 2029 I know it sounds so far away But it's very important that you really be attentive to it.

[00:18:39] And I know that on the website we have several different choices. Make sure you look at the details. Make sure you provide your feedback. I know right now it's like a couple of years away. But let me tell you, even the year that we currently are in right now, that's what we said many years ago or a few years ago.

[00:18:59] And time just creeps up. So just please make sure that you provide your feedback, no matter which option you choose. It's always important to do that. Take a look at LCPS's social media page. They have all the links up as well as my social media.

[00:19:14] You can just put in Rasheed and put in LCPS and calendar. Those three words, it'll pop up. My aide, Ms. Shannon, my ride or die. She has business cards with her. Yeah, I always do that because she is my ride or die. She does have business cards.

[00:19:31] So that has all the stuff that you need to contact me. And don't be shy. I want you to utilize me. I want you to use me. I am, I guess I don't like to say tool, but I am a resource is a nicer word to say. And I don't want you to feel like, oh, you know, she doesn't have time or anything.

[00:19:48] There is no dumb question. There is no small question. So email, call, I think Let's Talk or OnFlow me, whichever is easy for you. There's an even, my cell phone number's on there with the text message ability.

[00:20:04] So that's something I definitely want you to look into. I am chair of curriculum and instruction, or what we call the CNI committee. And I just wanted to let you know that this time we're looking into the effects of the updated grading and assessment policy, or a fancy word of saying policy 50-30.

[00:20:22] And that deals with more extra credit or what they call the ceiling, the retake ceiling, the maximum score you can get. So I need you to really reach out. LCPS will send out a thought exchange invitation this fall so that you can also share your feedback.

[00:20:40] Don't be shy because when you or your kids would like to take an exam or there's a formative or any type of assignment, this really takes in effect. It really dictates or provides the guidance as to what would be the retake value or what would be the score that you can get in order to do a retake, etc.

[00:21:02] okay so please look out for that again you can find my contact information and i don't want to use up your time i know we have a evening ahead so i will turn it over to chair tyler and welcome back thank you thank you so much we're so thankful for your liaison and leadership and resource support um as you heard we do have a year planned ahead so working with our empowerment theme tonight is empowered to communicate. Next month, we'll be empowered by our understanding of many different

[00:21:35] components. We're going to hear from legal on our FOIA obligations or parameters. We're also going to hear from Academies of Loudoun because last year, one of the things that happened was by the time we heard from them, the applications had already passed. And so we are front-loading that this year so that we have more empowering information to take back to our communities to be able to take full advantage of those opportunities for applying. We're also going to be really deep diving into our website feedback process, but you'll hear more about that in a

[00:22:15] minute. I do want to flag that on October 27th, MSAC will be testifying, providing comments, something in front of the school board. And so I would love to have MSAC in the room here for that to support me and the executive committee as we, you know, partake in that annual fall process.

[00:22:39] In November, we are going to be empowered by information and LCPS's Dr. Ryan Tyler will be joining us to talk data. And Dr. Rashid will be presenting on impact as well. And so we're looking forward to both sides of understanding data more and how we have been able to use data and our collective understanding to impact very important LCPS policies and procedures.

[00:23:12] We do not have a meeting in December, but stay tuned. We might have an optional event. In January, we're going to be empowered to navigate our counseling and school links, opportunities and linkages.

[00:23:30] In February, we are going to do a deep dive. We will be empowered to plan and use the school improvement plans for each of our schools, not just in thinking about the building spaces, but what's happening inside those schools, what's happening with curriculum, with teaching, with capacity, with students, and culture.

[00:23:52] In March, we are going to be empowered by our connection. We are going to, again, participate in a delicious, yummy, and fun dinner with DEIA that's theme is, you know, Together Empowerment and Impact. I, the day before that, though, will also be testifying, sorry, I skipped ahead, and will want you back for that school board meeting as well. And as Dr. Spence said, feel free to come to all in any of the school board meetings. They are interesting. So that's what's happening in March.

[00:24:27] And then in April and May, we are really starting to wrap up the year and put our concerns and celebrations together and also thinking about leadership for the next year. So we will be working on nominations and then subsequently elections. And don't forget about our equity.

[00:24:47] We are looking at May 1st for that, hopefully at the Douglas Center. So that's what the calendar looks like for the year so that you have a sense of what we're doing, when we're doing it. And if there's something missing from here, please, again, feel free to email one of us, all of us, and let us know or to raise it during our town hall because we would love to figure out whether or not we can incorporate more into our monthly meetings or if we need to have subcommittees.

[00:25:21] Okay. Without further ado, I do want to hand it over to our vice chair, Raquel Chapman, who is going to lead us through our next segments. So before I start, I do want to thank our LCPS leadership.

[00:25:40] I can honestly say that without their assistance, being a part of this committee as a delegate wouldn't be possible. they support us in everything that we do and like they said please don't hesitate to reach out to them and to share your thoughts and your feedback because they really do want to hear it so like we said earlier we have some new people in the room we have some old people in the room so I would like to go around the room and have people introduce themselves that way we get to know each other for me personally I had a story when I came to MSAC some people have a story I don't want that

[00:26:20] to always be the case. We want to reach out to our communities, to our schools, and have people join MSAC for information, not just as a reactive opportunity because something happened to them or their child. So whoever wants to start, let's go ahead and from your table, name, share your name, your school, and if you would like, it's not mandatory, but I want every student in LCPS to feel what so we're going to listen to just different words and hopes from your table if

[00:26:58] there's only one or two people at your table you can kind of join up with another table if you want to come on the mic and share with everyone that would be great too just to note that if we are the only way we can get the transcription is if you do speak into a microphone so even if it's not right now for the introductions definitely um as we have our you know share outs or our town hall

[00:27:24] please be sure to speak into the microphone hi my name is crystal haynes i'm representing balls bluff elementary and i want every student in lcps to feel like they belong hi my name is eloise Simmons West Press I represent Harper Park Middle School and I want every

[00:27:59] student in LCPS to feel seen. Rodley Julo represent Heritage High School I want every student in LCPS to feel respected. Hi I'm Dr. Keisha Benson Woods I'm representing Gumma Spring Middle School and I would love for every student in in Loudoun County to feel destined,

[00:28:37] 'cause I don't believe that there are any mistakes or accidents, I think everything's on purpose, even when you don't even realize it. - Hi, I'm Shalita Sun-Louis, and I have kids at Potomac Falls, as well as Riverbend Middle School, and I would like for every student at LCPS to feel accepted.

[00:29:05] - Hi, I'm Cynthia Azat, my child is at Algonquian Elementary School. - I was gonna say I want every student to feel seen and heard. - Hi, my name is Kim Shevchenko and I am representing Potomac Elementary and I want every student in LCPS to feel like they can share their story.

[00:29:34] - Hello everyone and good evening. My name is Debbie Wheeler and I'm the delegate at Kenneth Colbert. You guys have all said the most amazing words but I want all the kids there to feel loved.

[00:29:51] - Hello everyone, my name is Lakeisha Kennedy Flores. my daughter attends Lincoln Elementary, and I would like for every student in LCPS to feel like they belong. - Hi, my name is Robin Scott.

[00:30:11] I have a daughter at Blue Ridge and a son at Loudoun Valley, and I would like every student to feel safe.

[00:30:30] - Hello, my name's Abdullah Qadri, and I am a student from Rotterdam, I'm a senior, and I would like every student to feel like they have the opportunity to do anything they need or want. Good evening.

[00:30:48] My name is Safira Haidari, and I'm a student delegate from Stonebridge High School, and I would like every student to feel hopeful. Good evening, everyone. I'm attorney Jasmine Davis. My children attend Stonehill Middle School and Waxpool Elementary School, and I would like every student in LCPS to feel respected, heard, be able to achieve what they want to achieve and have mentorship for those students and yeah I'm glad to be here

[00:31:23] hello my name is Emma Bevins I'm representing Simpson Middle School and I want every student at LCPS to feel like they have like they're optimistic about their future hi I'm Mez Ellison and I'm a delegate for Lunsford and Hutchison Farm Elementary and I want every student at LCPS to feel like they can take take advantage of all the opportunities that LCPS has and all the resources and they

[00:32:01] feel empowered. Hi I'm Joyce Kavaner I have two children at Hillside Elementary and that is the school that I have been fortunate fortunate enough to represent. I want every student at LCPS to feel safe. Hello Rashid neighbors I have two daughters at Waxpool Elementary and I want every student and

[00:32:35] parent to feel they can get the resources and information they need through the formal channels and through, you know, informal discussions with the community. I'm Ruth Narcisse. I'm the delegate for Sully Elementary, and I want every student in LCPS to feel worthy. Hi, I'm Hibba Khan. I'm a

[00:33:11] teacher at Independence High School, and I want every student to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Alisa i am a teacher at sterling middle school and a coach at parkview high school as well as two students at parkview high school and i just want to make sure that when we are making sure we're creating a sense of belonging it's not just the celebrations but also that if there are issues arising in the school that they're being addressed appropriately my name is jennifer heron i'm from

[00:33:48] simpson middle school and i want every child to feel heard seen loved and of course empowered

[00:34:04] Why me? No, I'm just kidding. No. Hi, I'm Erin Kunkel. I feel so weird because y'all know me and y'all know what I would say. I want every student at LCPS to feel the joy of learning. I truly do. I want them to feel loved. I want them to feel encouraged and supported and empowered to pursue their dreams and their goals and to know that the future belongs to them and they can do whatever they want if they set their minds to it.

[00:34:36] I wanted everyone to hear that. So I do want to thank everyone for sharing. Like they said earlier, when we talk about empowerment, we talk about all these things.

[00:34:55] We talk about being, having a sense of belonging, feeling seen, feeling heard, feeling respected, being destined for greatness, being accepted, being able to share your story and to share that with everyone without fear of being criticized negatively because you're different.

[00:35:16] different, or because you don't look like someone else, or because you don't celebrate the way someone else does. To feel loved, to feel safe, to have the opportunity that every other kid has. To be hopeful, to be able to achieve our dreams, our goals, to have mentorship, to be optimistic about the future, to feel empowered to do all those things, to be informed, and to also be worthy because each of our kids and all the kids in the LCPS community is worthy of all these things.

[00:35:53] And being a part of this community, being a part of this committee, it will allow our kids and allow us to take that information back to them and their families to help them be empowered and be informed and have access to the information that it's available, but they just don't know where to find it.

[00:36:12] So that's what I found here, and that's exactly what I want for everyone else. So thank you. Okay, it's okay.

[00:36:39] All right, so one of the things that the committee has wanted to look at and to just make sure that you're able to get the information that you want and that you need, that the website gives you that information. It should be a stop where you should be able to go and find what you're looking for.

[00:36:57] So I do want to invite everyone to use the QR code, go to the website, take a look at the information that's available, Let us know what you would like to see, what you think could improve.

[00:37:16] Now, I do want to put it out there that we may not be able to add all the things you want and make it all fancy and pretty with, like, the chat GPT stuff they do now. But we do want to make sure that our community and our families have access to the information.

[00:37:33] Coming to the meetings is one thing, but being able to provide resources to your schools and your families, We want to make sure that that information is available to them and that it's easily accessible. So we'll be working over the next month to just take a look at it, not do a complete overhaul, but, you know, just kind of fine-tuning some things to make sure that we can give the community what they need and what they're expecting from MSAC as far as the website is concerned.

[00:38:02] Okay. So we will have Nikke, our membership chair, come up and go through our delicate power moments. So we're going to understand your role and starting conversations and what that looks

[00:38:25] like.

[00:38:55] Good evening, everyone. I'm Nikke Hughes. Really happy to have everyone here. We're really excited about this year, particularly having everyone, having every school have a seat at the table. And so part of that is making sure that our delegates understand your role and how you can help us achieve that goal of having all schools represented at MSAC a couple of things you have on your tables MSAC delegate conversation starters and we'll talk about these in a moment but you'll use these to help start these important conversations at your schools I think one of the biggest questions that

[00:39:32] delegates have is how do I engage my school community my home school so a a couple of things five things actually that we'll talk about one is showing up and that's attending meetings and staying connected a lot of us have been engaged by our ptos or by our principals and that is a fabulous way to make sure that you're connected with your homeschool community you understand what's going on and then you also have a voice so those of you that attend pto meetings make sure that they have put you on the agenda so you have time to address your

[00:40:10] greater school community, give them updates about what's happening at MSAC, and then also you have an opportunity to understand if there are concerns for you to bring back to MSAC. But just participating and showing your face and letting people know that you're involved with MSAC is really helpful. The next is listening, gathering questions, concerns, success stories, ideas from your home community. So you are their voice in MSAC meetings. So when you engage with your school community letting them know that you are delegate for msac asking questions being a part of important

[00:40:47] conversations that are happening at your home school is a really great way to be able to take those voices and bring them back here for msac sharing again being a part of your ptos is really critical because it gives you an opportunity to address your home schools share information back and forth and that's really important in staying connected and empowering your home schools and communities in MSAC. Like Dr. Spence mentioned, if we don't hear those voices, then we can't incorporate those in the conversation. Connecting, knowing your cluster, and collaborating. So we

[00:41:26] have everyone, all the delegates, sitting at your cluster school tables, and this is a great opportunity to get to know other delegates in your cluster, sharing information amongst what's happening in your various schools. It's helpful not just for MSAC, but if you are, for example, A delegate at an elementary school, meeting your delegates from the middle school and high school gives you a great communication channel for understanding what your students will be experiencing as they transition from school to school.

[00:41:53] And finally, ACT, participating in surveys, subcommittees, campaigns, presentations, and other opportunities. There will be opportunities within MSAC to perhaps participate in subcommittees, as well as being able to share your voice and the voices of your homeschools.

[00:42:16] Okay, so I'm going to give everyone an opportunity to, again, if you're sitting by yourself, feel free to join another table, another cluster table, and then we'll spend how much time should we yeah sorry about that violating the rules uh we'll probably stay on this until 7 15 so we'll have about 20 25 minutes to talk and then do a report

[00:42:53] out that will lead into the town hall that you see on the agenda too but this is just this is just a chance to start to get to know the folks in your cluster and to talk through some of the things that you're hearing from those schools and learn from some of our returning members' experiences and start to practice maybe some of the different types of conversations you may engage in in a little role play because that can be helpful, number one.

[00:43:23] And also, you heard Vice Chair Chapman say, many of us come to MSAC because we do have a story and we want to address that we also do want to be a part of the fabric of the communicate of the community so that we are there for the celebrations and for the challenges so um when we're doing our sharing it's important to lift up you know across the spectrum um because it isn't all just bad but we do want to make sure that we um have a chance to work on the things that do challenge us hope

[00:45:18] that helps.

[01:07:10] The conversations seem rich, so we're going to give folks five more minutes and then

[01:07:14] come back together as a big group.

[01:12:44] All right, we are going to just wrap up the conversations in the next minute or so and come back together as a big group. I would even invite people, we are going to conclude our cluster time, and if people want to move in closer for the town hall, that's fine.

[01:13:04] also no pressure just an invitation um but what were some of the things that you practiced or heard that stood out to you if there are any tables who are interested in sharing go ahead so my kiddo is in first grade DLI program at Potomac Elementary and just a little bit of context is that we are a multicultural family and we already speak two languages at home DLI for people who may not is the dual immersion language program so there are three elementary

[01:13:40] schools in Loudoun County that the students have half of their curriculum in Spanish and half in English. And on top of that in Loudoun County, half of the students are native Spanish speaking and half of them are native English speaking. So I think that's a very important component of the program because it's not just language, it's cross-cultural exchanges. But I recently became aware that there is still no plan in place for this program to go beyond fifth grade. Currently it's only to third grade so that means what happens to these students from middle school

[01:14:11] and high school and we don't know. So maybe there's a chance for us to do some asking for instance with some board members who are on the chair of curriculum committee our liaison Dr. Rashid but also across you know LCPS in departments and also to connect with those other schools so that we can lift this up as not just an individual issue, but, you know, a real community

[01:14:48] issue for these three groups. And then hopefully expand to other elementary schools, which was always their intent. And I just want to say that our experience in the program, it's not just language learning, it's world learning. So my child being a multicultural bilingual kid already has connected more with his Spanish teachers who ask questions about where he's from, encourage him to share about our culture, language, and have even advocated for country's flag in the school cafeteria.

[01:15:22] So these have all been through his DLI program. It's definitely in the talks to expand dual language immersion, and it has been in conversation at the curriculum and instruction committee meetings.

[01:15:39] So I do believe we are reviewing data, We're looking at logistics. We're looking at areas. So it is a talk for it to be in the pipeline. Now, definitively, that will take time, but I know that it is in the talks. So just letting you know for awareness.

[01:15:55] Thanks. Great. So there might be time, opportunity for us to even provide some comments or something or for community members to do so. All right. Can I chime in? I'm sorry. I didn't hear where that came. Yes. Thank you. Sorry. LaKeisha Kennedy-Flores, is there a plan as maybe a stepping stool or a stepladder to more language immersion or cultural immersion programs, having second languages or languages taught at the elementary school level?

[01:16:29] Is that maybe a way that we can get there? Is there a way? There's always a way at LCPS. I'm not going to lie about that. There's always a way. What I do recommend is, well, first of all, there's data, and I don't know if Dr. Tyler is still here, but there's always data, and we look at the data in terms of which languages are most requested.

[01:16:55] So it's not like, you know, if one student wants it, that's great, but we have to see the numbers in terms of the demand. What do parents want? We have one data for that, and then we have another set of data regarding the students and what the students request. And based on that, then we see, okay, so what is the amount of students or what is the amount of requests?

[01:17:17] And is it, I don't want to say worth it, but is it popular in that area or is it available in that area? So that takes some time for the wheels to turn to see if it could come to fruition. How do we get those wheels going?

[01:17:34] Well, first you have to provide comment. You can provide some reflection. Again, reach out to me. I always say utilize me. Reach out to me so I can channel that. into the CNI committee meeting, and we can log that in as feedback as well. And then we know that there's an interest. But again, we also have to, the reason why I say we also have to look at data in addition to just the feedback.

[01:17:57] Thank you. Thank you. There was a time in Loudoun County Public Schools that they offered a second language in elementary schools, and then they got rid of the program. So it is possible because they did it. But also I'm just thinking Spanish, German, French, right?

[01:18:15] That's all it's offered. And is that really applicable now? Like, why not Arabic or Irdu or, you know, some common languages that we have in the school, rather than just the same three that have been offered for decades? Good point. Thanks.

[01:18:33] Oh, sorry. Can I chime in? And so one of the great things about speaking into the microphone is that we'll have the transcripts from tonight's meeting. So a lot of questions and concerns can be brought back to leadership in the Division of Teaching and Learning. And hopefully get some context and background so that you have that information along with what Dr. Rasheed was saying in terms of the data and the advocacy.

[01:18:56] So these are great questions. These are great concerns. We want to make sure that these concerns and questions are brought to the appropriate people so that you can have some context and background based on what we're discussing tonight. And then to move forward with. Yeah, thank you so much.

[01:19:11] Yep. So the reason I brought this up today is because I learned just last week at our open house is that there is a parent advocacy group, I guess, piloted by a parent out of Sanders Corner. And she said that she's working with her school board representative. So it seems like there might be separate pieces moving at the same time.

[01:19:30] And I don't know how we can get that all on the same page. Just a connected conversation, getting this raised, and just to get a sense of who across the room we have some affinity with and some, you know, connection around these issues.

[01:19:48] Any other interesting conversations come up at your tables? Any tried and true practices lifted up or recommended for engaging with principals? All right.

[01:20:13] Okay, so we talked about empowering students to bring up concerns with their principals and admin, and oftentimes admin, frankly, doesn't take the student seriously because, you know, they're kids or whatever it might be, whether it's a student equity team or whatever it might be, right?

[01:20:37] So our kind of like thought to that was how do we get more parents involved to advocate for their kids, especially if it's a minority parent group or something like that? How do we get them involved and how do we bring them to these meetings?

[01:20:54] So how does MSAC kind of step in with that outreach that might be beneficial? Interesting. Yeah. And also, too, one of the things that I heard, too, was perhaps education for administration.

[01:21:10] to credit student equity leads as well and to give them more gravitas when they do lift up an issue or an opportunity alongside of making sure that we can resource parents and community members, whether it's in this room or back in the communities, to also be echoing those student suggestions.

[01:21:42] - So our table had, we talked a little bit about, And we noticed a common theme about not rocking the boat. So I don't know if anybody want to talk about that, but I'm a big talker. But there are sometimes kids when they are experiencing something and they feel kind of isolated due to their identity.

[01:22:01] They feel that, you know, they tell their parent, the parent attempts to, you know, maybe has to think about whether they can go ahead and tell the principal or administration, but they don't want to rock the boat. So that is a little bit of an obstacle. so it's kind of more like a wait and see thing you know like some families kind of say you know what I don't want to cause trouble so that was one issue that our cluster noticed other people have that come up too yeah in the mic when I was at this had my child at the school he was at last

[01:22:40] year um I did not feel like it was um as easy to approach the principal and the admin um I'm feeling much more confident about being able to do it this year at his new school and that was a actually your question was similar to what I had been thinking earlier how do we get more parents involved one of the ways is I mentioned that my son is playing tackle football and hit one of his buddies the the coach's kid actually goes to Potomac as well and is also in the DLI program and I I saw the mom the other day and I mentioned that oh yeah I won't be here Wednesday so um you

[01:23:17] know, I'll be sending Cain in with you guys. I'll be at the MSAC meeting. And she was like, what's MSAC? So I told her and she was like, oh, that's great, right? So some of what we need to do, I think, is talk to the parents when we go for pickup and when we go to different events and let them know that you're there. Because not everybody comes to the PTA meetings.

[01:23:37] Those of, we already had our first PTA meeting at Algonquian. It was only the parents really, and it was the first one. Sometimes it takes a while for people to get in, but there were very few outside of who participates in the events at the school. So how is everybody supposed to know that I'm here, that this is what I'm doing, that this is what we are doing?

[01:23:58] I'm going to have to go and talk to parents as I start meeting people more. And that's why it's really great to just show up, not to just show up at the school, let me take that back, but to show up for the Monster Mash or the school chorus, not just back to school night or the PTA meetings or PTO meetings, But to just be a part of the community, because then you do get to have conversations across, you know, pickup or, you know, being in the audience and say, like, oh, I'm here, you know, I'm with MSAC.

[01:24:29] Those aren't my papers. But, you know, oh, what's MSAC? Oh, MSAC is all of these things on your handy one pager, right? And the handy one pager will hopefully be on the website, right? And so then we're going to start to put together those resources so that you're able to articulate sort of what you're volunteering your time for in your own words and, you know, with the official words, if that's helpful, but also to help you just understand that you also belong as a parent, right?

[01:25:00] And that the other parents too belong and just your presence and your representation will also help to foster that. So that's why we hope that there will be other people in these cluster chairs, right, because you are going to go back and say, like, oh, we're going to talk to the countryside folks.

[01:25:18] They're not here at our Potomac Falls cluster meeting. Oh, where are the Lowe's Island folks? Like, they need to be here, too. And really thinking about who's missing. I'm just using the Potomac Falls cluster example because that's mine. And I'm our Riverbend delegate now, co-delegate, maybe.

[01:25:36] I'm bringing you back in. You're here. You're here. but I see Aaron's hand. Hi, I was just going to say that one of the easiest ways you can make yourself a known presence at your schools is like Jasmine said, to show up at events. Like the way my school, when my kids were in elementary school at Round Hill, the way they got to know me was I stood outside with the PTO moms and with a pair of scissors, getting frostbite, clipping open those little icy pops. And every time somebody came by, do I know you? And I'm like, oh, hi, I'm Aaron Kunkel, I'm the MSAC delegate for Round Hill. Or if we had an event at the school and our

[01:26:15] principal was like, hey, can you just let people know who you are? And I would just talk to random people like in clusters. I would go out of my way to find the families who were minority or marginalized that I knew needed to know that there was a resource there because oftentimes we don't know anybody's there and it would be another parent showing up like, oh my gosh, there's somebody here that looks like me. And I'm like, look, we're at the party together now. So what would you like to know? Like, I know about this organization. And it's so easy to make the connection. If they associate you with a good thing, you're here to help, the principal's got your back, or you're just showing up saying, hey, can I help? Can I just let people know about MSAC?

[01:26:51] And I promise you, it opens so many doors because so many parents will start wanting to know, and then you just encourage them to come one time and sit at a meeting and hear it, and they start making the connection. And they know that at least if they don't ever come back, they know that you're a resource and you're there to help and you're there to listen whenever they need you and so just showing up and saying I'm here to help opens so many doors I know it sounds so simple and probably lame but I promise you it works every single time just saying how can I help you I even do it at the middle school now and our principal has known me for what feels like nine years at this point every time he sees me I'm like how can I help you what can I do and he'll

[01:27:29] let me know he'll email me and let me know how I can help now just so he can get the word out and then i can call him whenever and say can you share this information for msac and he does because he knows i'm there to help and he knows that i want to make that connection with the community and i'm trying to make our school and our school culture a better place we've sort of entered into the space that we're going to hold every meeting that's the open mic the sort of

[01:28:02] town hall space where delegates can lift up interesting issues that other folks in the room might know about where we can start to put the pieces of the puzzle together or where we have you know a report out of a nice event that happened that could be replicated or where we have some concerns about um you know how intersectional issues are being dealt with maybe between MSAC and SEAC for instance um and the special education advisory uh committee for

[01:28:34] instance so uh let's switch into that sort of fulsome space the town hall space for the next you know 10 to 15 minutes before we wrap up um if there have been any other ideas surfaced or any um stories from last year that are really like important maybe to share whether they're you know uplifting or um you know thinkers but we want to just make sure that we hold time for the full group to be able to talk to everyone together and have sort of that open space

[01:29:12] so that the full agenda isn't just like dictated and like a marathon that we're pushing people through so chair tyler it's also an opportunity to recognize and discuss celebrations yeah about what's going on in your community your school as well right i mean i can just share i'm not

[01:29:48] just the chair I'm a parent and so you know um third weekend we had a big black monkey incident um so we know that the racial epithets are still alive and well or unfortunate right but um I do feel like River Bend Middle School did you know the appropriate interventions when a teacher overheard my son being called this um and they made sure to call home as well um albeit a week later And, um, I don't know if other people are experiencing, you know, climate culture challenges

[01:30:27] too, or if you talked about them at your tables, but, um, again, not to put a damper on celebrations, but just to say, I mean, I'm sure that we're not the only family, um, that has experienced it already only, you know, four to five weeks into the school year, unfortunately. Um, and so, you know i just wanted to name that i certainly didn't expect it um but it happened okay in the mic please

[01:30:58] can you say what grade your son is in and then how the school actually handled it sure thank you um i can uh let you know that the students involved were in eighth grade my son and a friend and the friend said this and a teacher overheard it in the hallway and i do not know what happened to the friend because we're not allowed to know um you know the outcomes or you know what happens

[01:31:31] with other students um but I was informed of it and um what I understand is that they had a conversation with Xavier about um you know the impact on him how he felt about it how he was processing it um and if he felt like he could you know continue in the moment you know um all of which he said he was okay um and that it might have just been in jest um in in a sort of peer to

[01:32:06] peer kind of way but was still inappropriate and so trying they helped to have him understand you know appropriate and inappropriate interactions even amongst friends so I think there were a lot of interventions that they engaged in um there was also a delay because the guidance counselor had been out sick so I mentioned there was a week delay there that was the delay and you know I don't have a real credible not no not that he's not credible I don't have a real like forthcoming witness like in my son right so you know he's like oh that happened and then I went to football

[01:32:44] practice and then you know all I just continued with my day which unfortunately also is an experience that our kids learn and have to develop, right? And so he did the thing to protect himself so that he could continue with the rest of his day that we all have done when we've experienced that. So that's a little bit about how it went on. This question is for Mr. Muhammad. Just with the details provided without background, how would you rate that response from the school?

[01:33:24] How would you rate it? Well, you know, just according to what Chair Tyler said in terms of timeliness, I wouldn't rate it that high because you said it took a while. And having a lack of your UMHT or your counselors in the building isn't a reason to prolong the process of using the steps in the protocol.

[01:33:51] I am happy to hear some of the things that were mentioned in terms of how do we repair harm getting to the background and context of the situation between the two students a discussion on intent and impact right and of course it is understandable that you know you're not going to understand what the consequences are for the student who was the offender but so there's some things that were right and some things that maybe could be worked upon and I would never use the

[01:34:25] fact that staff i didn't have the right people there to act immediately um but that does happen sometimes i guess but so i mean i wouldn't give it a out of 10 or out of five uh i think there's some things still some things that could be improved upon but at the same time um just listening to the explanation um of what happened in the details the protocol was being followed um one of the things you also have to always be leery of and i'm i'm glad chair tyler talked

[01:34:59] about this in terms of where students how this impacts students so for her son and you know parents and caregivers know their children best so some students are like oh yeah no yeah no big deal and you so you might want to you might want to probe what why isn't it a big deal and have them articulate why and if you know you knowing your child it makes sense based on their personality in there you know how they handle things then okay but if it doesn't feel right then you might

[01:35:36] want to take some more time unpacking that and having conversations because one of the things we do see is that students will harbor these things for for years these things um and they go on and they go on and then some of the things you do know some of the things you don't but we do know that over time even if it's two students playing it could be very harmful for the student who is being subjected to that type of language.

[01:36:08] And we want to make sure that we are appropriately dealing with that. So I hope that answered your question.

[01:36:23] First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your son. That's terrible. And, you know, the fact is that things like this do happen across the county. And as a teacher, I hear and witness things all the time. My question is, I guess, for everyone or just to put it out there, is there consistency with consequences when it comes to racial or hate-based incidents?

[01:36:47] Because I've seen kids get off the hook, for lack of better words, and it seems like there were no consequences. And then, of course, there's student privacy, so we have to respect that. But at the same time, does it come down to principals?

[01:37:03] Does it come down to admin? How can we make sure that there's consistency? And not just about consequences, but about rehabilitation and how to fix whatever is going on and how they see things and how they normalize saying hateful things, they being the kids.

[01:37:21] So I guess is there transparency and consistency? Yeah. So? Yes, I want to chime in. I don't have the answer to that. But I do want to say I think as much emphasis as they put on, like, the D.A.R.E. program for drugs, we should put emphasis on, like, a bullying program that rewards you for not being discriminatory towards other students because my child also, she was in the fifth grade, called the hard R twice, and the school just put it, brushed it under the rug, and just told me that they were happy about how my child handled the situation, but the other child was still at

[01:37:59] school the next day, still laughing, and had the nerve to do it again, because there was no action done the first time, and so I think if we put an emphasis on a program in which people were rewarded the same way in not doing drugs, because we have the fentanyl issue here, the same way on Not being racial racial targeted behaviors towards other students because my child should feel comfortable to go to school and Get her education and learn and listen the same way someone else's student is who isn't of color or Isn't you know gay or isn't whatever it is that is different from someone else Everyone should be able to go in class and do what they're supposed to do and be able to get those grades

[01:38:38] That they need to achieve so I think a program in place like that would really help on the county that's just my my thought thank you samantha i i agree and one of the things that we talked about is the social emotional learning is something that is incorporated into the schools if there was i don't know there might already be but if there was a race like cultural sensitivity piece or something that is included in the socio-cultural learning curriculum that might also benefit the

[01:39:17] students because since it's already in effect in the schools i'm just thinking about staff because the building matters it sets the tone you get a different principal or admin and things tend to shift so what kind of training are they getting are they fully bought in like i just remember in the past goshen post would present and it's like you don't have a choice to buy into this this is every child every day full stop so i think hiring or attracting those staff members or the admin are putting people in place that are bought in that do support deia that do make sure

[01:39:55] that everyone feels like they belong that i think it's got to come from the top down it's like the calls coming from in the inside the house if somebody's not responding appropriately why do we still have that person in charge um as i have actually recently been told there are sel lessons on that we had i have noah family that's dealing with a similar issue and the teacher brushed it off the child went to the counselor and um the counselor and the parent spoke and she was saying

[01:40:34] you know we are gonna start going over those lessons to kind of prevent this from happening the issue in this instance is that you know the teacher was like oh they don't mean it oh you know it's fine that sort of is trickling down because then they've had other issues that are not exactly the same but kind of like similar vein with just like that one child being targeted so um yeah it's a mess out there for some kids um I think our administration as far as what our

[01:41:09] principal has said to me earlier today is very bought in and he was like I need to know I need to counsel the children involved. I need to talk to parents of the kids around the incident. So he definitely was following the protocol and what he was saying to me, but the parent is like, I don't want to target on my kid's back. So she's not willing to stick her head up and potentially further impact her child or further isolate him. So, I mean, the system is in place, but it's difficult to sometimes get everybody bought in, even if like we have SELS. And so I think she's

[01:41:44] kind of just relying on like okay well maybe this like one lesson will help some of these first graders make better choices but I mean when you have first graders are obviously racially bullying other children I don't know that that's something likely to change without consequence so we have Mr. Muhammad maybe respond I wanted to add not just the question about what the application

[01:42:16] like the reliability of application is in the response and again whether it's punitive or rehabilitative but also we already know that there's an under-reporting of incidents and so we are already at a deficit around the information that we need. I worry that understanding what the reliability around application or implementation would also have

[01:42:52] those kinds of limitations as well maybe because of that yeah these are all really good topics for discussion the the issue is going to continue to be ongoing for a myriad of reasons a lot of what we've heard tonight here going back to your question about the variance and how school to school incidents are handled yes i believe there is a variance and that's based on a lot of

[01:43:24] different factors we do have schools who the the information that they are able to provide to parents they provide to parents of course there is a level of confidentiality in terms of consequences that are it's just part of the law that you can share with another person about another person's child so there is some unknown there but what we can talk about is the follow-up

[01:44:00] and I do hear that it's hard for a lot of parents to you know kind of not let things to kind of let things go based on not trying to make waves and and having this feeling that if they just let it go, it'll go away. And that is part of the problem, to be honest with you. And as complex and nuanced as it is and how difficult it is for parents, we do have to have a swelling

[01:44:35] or momentum of not letting it go. And using all the available resources at our disposal within the school division to make sure that we are communicating to the right people, that asking the right questions that we're looking for follow-up and that we're we're going to continue to have conversations about this as a community and as a school division because that's the only way that things get better so i would say that to your question yes i think there are some some

[01:45:13] issues that we still need to work on but with groups like msac lots of different parents our division and also staff in schools that are working very hard on these issues I think we can get to a point where we're seeing we're seeing the the results that things are getting better but it's heartbreaking to hear that we do have students within our school division that have been had to endure these things

[01:45:48] since kindergarten and those are the types of things that it's very hard to stomach that that the this this student's k-12 educational journey is quite different than another student's just based on inherent characteristics the color of their skin their religion their identity all these things right so we have to continue to have the conversation we have to continue to do our best to hold everyone involved accountable and that's parents included and have

[01:46:26] these hard conversations because without them we're going to kind of go back and i will say that i i do over the last four years have seen gains and improvements in this process but we still have we still have a lot of work still to to do and to go so and i think one of the things that will be very important is to come back and share the 25 26 school year data and how it's been

[01:46:57] unpacked so you can kind of see for yourselves and be able to equip other parents and staff members and students with the knowledge of how to deal with these situations when they occur because a lot of times even the students they don't know what to do and they are so shocked we just talked about it at a table you know things happen and they're so shocked that these things are happening they are in the moment not knowing what to do and so if we can prepare as many students and families as possible on what to do in the moment and

[01:47:37] then what the follow-up should look like, I think we'll be much more equipped to handle the situation. This is an age-old story, so it's a societal ill to think that it's not going to pour into our schools as microcosms of society doesn't really kind of make sense.

[01:48:03] We need to do our best to eradicate it on a level that's going to give back students' humanity and also teach students the errors of their ways. And that does involve consequences and accountability.

[01:48:23] And we're just going to have to keep working at that. Sorry, I really don't mean to hog the mic. Just very quickly, why is there variance between principals and admin and how they deal with the consequences? Like, if we have consequences that are concrete for cheating or for drug usage on school property or whatever it might be, why do we not have consequences for hate-based incidents?

[01:48:50] Are you talking about continuity and how the situations are handled? Yeah. It's the same reason why we have variances in teacher practices. Sometimes it's experience. Sometimes it's beliefs. Sometimes it's will. There's a lot of different factors that come into play in terms of how one school might be handling a situation.

[01:49:15] We just have variants in the way that sometimes the incidents are interpreted. Some people have different lived experiences that have helped them to come to a better understanding of how to handle things. Some people don't want to handle it. Some people do want to handle it.

[01:49:32] So I think there's a lot of different factors involved here. It would be very difficult to assign a factor to a specific situation or principle, but I think that that is why we see some variance.

[01:49:47] Okay, so all disciplinary actions in terms of consequences are addressed in the S-bar. Racial slurs and hate speech, including verbal and nonverbal, is addressed in the S-bar.

[01:50:07] The disciplinary forms, the referrals that admin have that teachers use, is that varied from building to building so they all have like one referral and like at the admin building can see all the referrals coming in from different schools that is correct okay so you have to also think about the range of consequences for an incident or a violation based on s bar and that range is denoted in our student code of conduct so you can look to see a particular tiered

[01:50:43] violation and the levels or the different types of disciplinary consequences that can be assigned but you have to also take into other things in making the decision on the consequence right it can be as a student done this before it can be the age of the student it could be intent it could be the there's information around the incident itself that gives bearing to why a different discipline consequences assigned so and interpretation plays a big part of it as well

[01:51:22] so the the google form that we use as teach as teachers you guys have access to that no we do not have internal google forms from schools okay is there any way that y'all could have like a master google form so that you guys can see what's actually being addressed because i know for a fact that I've written a lot of referrals for racial slurs and hate speech and a lot of those kids were not addressed. We don't have the ability to use or utilize any internal documents that are

[01:51:58] created to communicate disciplinary issues in schools. What we can see is what goes into Synergy Phoenix that can also be pulled at the central office level. Now one of the things that I'll always say as well is you have to start communicating these issues and concerns to other people outside of your school so you know we we talk about let's talk and on flow but it

[01:52:32] it works and you have the ability to highlight specific things that you feel are not being followed in terms of guidance best practices policy in this application and have people who are in who are responsible to serve these schools look into these matters and have conversations around it based on especially if we feel that there are students who are not being treated

[01:53:08] equitably in the way that disciplinary consequences are being given based on a behavior incident if that makes sense. Do you think that the admin building would ever just have one universal Google form where they have access to the responses at different schools maybe one day?

[01:53:40] No because we used to do that from I think 2020 to 2022 and it was very difficult to be able to maintain that level and volume on a particular disciplinary code from the SBAR and be able to generate multiple reports based on school, based on level, based on the type of incident, that became very cumbersome, and we weren't able to quickly compile and analyze the data,

[01:54:19] which is why we went to a more centralized system. That was used for all data discipline violations, not just this one. I'm so appreciative of this rich conversation because this is exactly what the town hall space we're hoping to do.

[01:54:43] And so I just want to thank you all so much for, oh, I even had a slide for the town hall. All right. So without further ado, we want to make sure you get out of here on time-ish. So please remember, do you want to do it or do you want to do it?

[01:55:01] To complete the delegate survey, to complete the delegate application and share that so that your cluster folks are here with you next time. And also be aware of the calendar questionnaire that also did come out.

[01:55:25] And we did take attendance, and I will put that attendance slide back up in case anybody needs that. Um, so thank you. Our next meeting is on the 21st of October from six to eight. Um, and we will continue with our empowerment, but I'm going to go back now to the attendance QR code. So thank you.

[01:55:56] Hold on. We got one more. Remember this is just attendance, not the delegate form, but you will get these slides. Uh, you will get a PDF version of these slides. Um, so you'll have access to all of the qr codes and it went out uh these links also went out in emails so they you can also find them on our social medias and such yes um i'm sorry to drag this out a little bit longer for people who want to leave now um uh we've had an issue at our school about prayer and reflection rooms and i reached out to some other schools and realized that they're also having problems

[01:56:34] And I wanted to talk to MSAC and see what we could do here about that. Thank you for surfacing this for us. I don't know if anybody else is aware of this at their schools.

[01:56:52] If you would please email me at the MSAC chair email. It is also in here. Oh, well, it's clickable. Sorry. It's just MSAAC chair at LCPS.

[01:57:09] Sorry, I thought somebody was pointing somewhere else. at lcps.org and and i'm happy to start figuring out how we will be supportive and thinking about this as a community thank you sorry mr muhammad oh i'm just going to add that thank you for that comment and i love the fact that you can take their comments your ideas your questions your concerns you can send them to chair tyler chair tyler can also share with us so that we can be working on this at the same time to provide information or some answers for you and i have heard about prayer room issues in a couple of schools and we've been working with those schools

[01:57:49] directly and uh so um would love to get more information about it to be able to know how to thank you sorry just to end on a lighter note happy hispanic heritage month yeah i represent sally and we are 80 plus percent hispanic and we are celebrating um the month with a spirit week this week so if you have students that have the same background make sure you make them feel seen.

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