Coraggio Consulting
Virginia Board of Education, Business Meeting (Part 3), Thursday, June 25, 2026

Date: Thursday, June 25, 2026
Place: Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Department of Education), Richmond, Virginia
Length: 59m (video)
Official meeting video (VDOE, YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7onXBk7yzxE
Board of Education meetings, agendas and minutes (VDOE): https://www.doe.virginia.gov/state-board-data-funding/virginia-board-of-education

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 2026-10-22. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:23] Okay. Thank you. We are now back in session. Mr. Henson. We convened today in a closed meeting pursuant to a recorded vote on the motion above and in accordance with the Freedom of Remainment Act, Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires that the board certify that through the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempt from open meeting requirements under this chapter and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened, were heard, discussed, or considered.

[00:00:53] Any member who believes there was a departure from these requirements shall state prior to the vote, indicating the substance of the departure that in his or her judgment has taken place. Statement of the departure will be recorded in the minutes. There has been a motion.

[00:01:13] There is a motion. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Dr. Bridges? Aye. Mrs. McPherson? Mr. Hanson? Aye. Dr. Northern? Aye. Dr. Wilson? Aye. Mrs. Kilgore? And Chair votes aye.

[00:01:30] Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Robinson, I skipped past you, sorry. I vote aye. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Henson? I would like to make a motion that we remove item 1 from item I or number 1 from item I.

[00:01:54] Or not remove it, but take it up for first and final review. There's been a motion and there has been second. We'll do a roll call. Yep. Just want to make the board aware that I'm, as you know, I'm not a big fan of first and final reviews.

[00:02:13] a governance best practice i'll be voting against it because of that reason just to give folks the opportunity to consider items um is the point of first and final and um we just received this item yesterday i was hoping for more time to consider it so thank you for the opportunity to share my reasoning thank you okay uh then dr bridges no mrs mcpherson aye mr hansen all right dr northern Dr. Wilson? Aye. Mr. Robinson? Aye. Mrs. Kilgore? Aye. And chair votes aye. Thank you. Mr. Henson?

[00:02:53] I would make a motion that the board reject the staff recommendation on item number one and item I. There has been a motion in the second. Any discussion? Just was looking forward to the opportunity to be able to consider the two proposals over these next few weeks, but I'm

[00:03:21] sorry that we won't have that okay roll call dr bridges staying miss mcpherson hi mr hanson all right dr northern hi dr wilson hi mr robinson hi mrs kilgore and chair votes aye um chair um also receives or uh first review items two through five and we look forward to hearing more in august

[00:04:00] thank you with that we will take a brief bio break thank you thank you we are at number j is

[00:08:37] that correct yes all right thank you thank you very much item j is a first and final review for recommendations regarding the literary fund loan application approval for release of loans this is one of the unique circumstances where we do come before you to ask for first and final review in part because all of the school divisions have applied through a previous application process and they've provided us all the necessary documentations set forth in the code to release their loans. And so we don't want to delay their construction projects from proceeding upon your approval. So the literary fund and the literary loan is a little bit different than the school

[00:09:14] construction assistance program. Just to explain that for you, the school construction assistance program actually provides dollars from the general fund without the school divisions having to repay the funds. The literary loans are different. These are loans that the school divisions are able to tap into the state's credit rating where they may not have that in their own communities and pay back the loans to the funds. So this is fully us loaning money to school divisions. They pay back in full every penny that they borrow from us. So before you, we do have two school divisions that have provided us with all of the necessary documentation through prior grant application

[00:09:50] processes in 24 and 25 respectively. So we have two applications, one for Pennsylvania County that they applied through the 2025 application period, and for Stafford County that provided, applied for the loan during the 2024 application period. The item request for you to release the loans today for Pennsylvania County is for HVAC and window replacements at Mount Airy Elementary School.

[00:10:18] The renovation project focuses on improving HVAC and indoor air quality. Pennsylvania County is requesting a literary fund loan for the project in the amount of $5,687,000 to be payable over 18 years, and they are eligible for a 2% annual loan interest rate.

[00:10:37] Attachment 1 shows you the details of their application. The second for consideration is for Stafford County and a replacement of Drew Middle School with a new building to accommodate larger student capacity, provide approximately sized classrooms, core functional spaces needed for today's education, and improve learning environments for their students and staff. Stafford County is requesting a literary loan for the project in the amount of $25 million payable over 20 years and is eligible for a 3% annual interest rate, and their application is shown in attachment two of your board agenda item. These school divisions

[00:11:14] have provided us with all of the necessary defined documentation in the code section with approvals from their superintendent as well as their architects and final project plans and specifications that meet our building requirements as well so today we are seeking from you approval to release these loans to these two said school divisions and i'm happy to answer any questions for you thank you board members are there any questions there are no questions is

[00:11:48] there a motion to receive for a first and final review the recommendations regarding the loan fund is there a second okay the roll call dr bridges hi mrs mcpherson hi mr hansen dr northern hi

[00:12:10] dr wilson hi mr robinson hi mrs kilgore and chair votes aye thank you thank you uh okay okay first and final review of appointments of the Board of Education Advisory Committee. Mr. Chapman.

[00:12:33] Thank you very much, President Ashton, Vice President Hanson, members of the Board, Superintendent Conway. This item is also for first and final review. As you well know, the Board does a lot of variety of work on behalf of the children of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[00:12:50] So much work, in fact, that the Board has a very robust set of committees who are necessary in in order to, the board has delegated work in certain subject matter areas. Today, we're bringing to you recommendations for such committees, specifically the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure, the Early Childhood Advisory Committee, the Virginia Advisory Committee for Career and Technical Education, which I'll remind, this is the first set of appointees that this board is considering for this committee since it was reconstituted earlier in the year, and then the Virginia Advisory Committee on Advanced Learning.

[00:13:23] under the board bylaws the board has delegated to the superintendent to make recommendations to bring to the board for appointment so the board is uh or the staff is bringing these recommendations under the authority of the superintendent to the board the reason for first and final review is because we normally solicit these nominations beginning in about march we've advertised these and these appointments start on july 1st and so this is the last board meeting uh before these seats and these terms are going to begin and so we're asking that the board wave first review

[00:13:55] and approve this list of recommendees thank you mr chapman any discussion um dr northern notice there's one person on two committees is that fine yes okay thank you we'll do a roll call dr bridges hi mrs mcpherson mr hanson dr northern dr wilson hi mr robinson mrs kilgore

[00:14:29] and share votes i thank you thank you done we're on item l thank you thank you good afternoon madam president members of the board and superintendent i am calypso gilstrap executive director of the office of innovation i'm presenting for first review a no cost extension request from one of our lab schools the university of virginia's innovation hub college partnership lab school who's asking for a startup grant extension in may of 2024 the standing committee

[00:15:06] certified that UVA's Innovation Lab School was complete, compliant, and financially sustainable. The Board of Education then approved the Innovation Hub, including the startup and per-pupil funding grant. So UVA is requesting a no-cost extension to allow Charlottesville City to complete some outstanding purchases and vendor payments that are associated with the Innovation Hub.

[00:15:27] The current grant period ends June 30, 2026, next week. They have about $1.1 million remaining for work primarily tied to some furniture delivery, and those items will not be complete before the current grant ends. So the extension would allow UVA to use the remaining funds that they were originally purposed for. The superintendent recommends referring the extension request to the College Partnership Laboratory School Committee for review. This step allows the committee to confirm that the remaining expenditures align with the approved budget, determine whether delays affect the implementation benchmarks that we approved and review the request within the board's

[00:16:06] established oversight process the committee's review would then come back to you for final review madam president this concludes my request i'm happy to take any questions great thank you are there any questions dr bridges just a quick one have any of the other lab school partners had to have an extension this is the only request that we have at this time thank you any questions mr mr robinson was the last time this committee met in 2024 and you're confident that it still

[00:16:39] is a sound group that that exists sound group exists you're talking about the committee the committee itself hasn't met since 2024 so i just want to make sure that there's a committee ready to receive this mr henson just because they haven't met in over a year so i just want to make sure they exist it just as a member of the committee i don't want to discuss still engaged uh we added at the end of the year the beginning of the year where we thought we might need to meet on a topic and leave the membership is still intact yes the membership is still intact

[00:17:19] right let's see um uh while i'm talking uh i will abstain on this one since it is a uva okay uh well this is uh first review correct so it'll first review then it'll go to the committee and then come back great thank you we will see you again after the standing committee has completed its review thank you very much have a wonderful afternoon you too thank you all right we're up for item m the first review of the academic and career plan guidelines

[00:17:52] good afternoon president ashton superintendent conway and members of the board i'm duane mcclary deputy superintendent of innovation student pathways and technology for videoe thank you for the opportunity to present today as we continue advancing the commonwealth commitment to ensuring that every student is prepared for success after graduation, the Virginia Department of Education brings forth the first review of updates for the academic and career plan guidelines.

[00:18:19] These guidelines originally was approved in 2009 and most recently updated in 2024. Remained a critical part of how we support students in discovering their interests, understanding their strengths, and planning meaningful pathways towards future goals.

[00:18:37] the revisions you are reviewing today strengthens the alignment between these guidelines and the board's school performance and school support framework specifically it focuses on the 3e readiness ensuring that every graduate is prepared for employment enlistment and enrollment these updates reaffirm the importance of beginning career exploration early through the academic and career plan portfolio in elementary schools and continuing development through a formal academic and career plan in grades 7 through 12. Together, these tools provide students with structured

[00:19:14] developmental appropriate guidance as they make decisions that shape their academic experience and future pathways. As always, our goal is to provide school divisions with clear, coherent guidance that support high-quality implementation, and upon final approval, VDOE staff will continue offering professional development, technical assistance, and next steps for incorporating and updating guidelines into regulations at this time i will am pleased to introduce my co-carterpart dr michelle wallace assistant superintendent for the virginia department of education who will join me in presenting the remainder of the items

[00:19:52] good afternoon again um great to be here presenting this item that will help to bring clarity to school divisions on academic and career plans at this time i will review the proposed guidelines for school divisions. And this is really their guidelines for the divisions to use as they consider how they're going to support students building the academic and career planning portfolios for elementary students and academic and career plans for secondary students.

[00:20:23] The former guidelines are linked within your board item as the format is very different. You'll see it's kind of laid out in a little bit more user-friendly format. And so if you want to look at those previous versions, they are linked within your boilerplate.

[00:20:39] The standards of quality call for elementary students to begin career investigation in the elementary grades and continue that through middle and high school. And when you look at attachment one, you will see the ACP guidelines begin with a tie into the current school performance and support framework, including that 3E readiness framework as Duane mentioned, and with a reference to the standards of accreditation which require both the academic and career plan portfolio,

[00:21:12] commonly referred to as ACPP, and then the academic and career plan, commonly referred to as ACP. The updates to the guideline document come from feedback from our practitioners in the field who do this work annually with students. The academic and career plan portfolio created in the elementary school is intended to be a collection of student-centered information that demonstrates the strengths of the student throughout those primary years. Divisions have flexibility in how this information is collected for students, and the guidelines list samples of what may be included,

[00:21:48] but certainly it will be varied by locality. The ACPP sets the foundation of the academic career plan development, which begins in the middle school years. During this time, students begin a deeper exploration of career pathways and post-secondary opportunities beyond their graduation from high school. The standards of quality require each middle school student to take at least one course in career investigation, or local boards can select an alternative means of delivering the career investigations course to each middle school student, provided that such an

[00:22:26] alternative is equivalent in content and rigor and provides the foundation for such students to develop their academic and career plans. The guidelines provide clear examples of how schools can begin the development of the ACP in the middle school with a focus on key indicators from the 3E Readiness and the College and Career Ready Virginia initiatives. The ACP is a living document that is intended to make connections between the student interests, which have been captured in the ACPP to create instructional coherence for a student's experience throughout

[00:23:05] high school. During high school, the ACPP is to be reviewed annually and updated to reflect those student experiences, credentials gained, work experiences, coursework, and other experiences to help students and their families make decisions regarding post-secondary experiences.

[00:23:25] As 3E will continue to evolve, we want divisions to ensure that they are thinking about this through a planning perspective. What are the school's expectations, having parent collaboration, and student personal experiences?

[00:23:42] After final review and approval from the board, VDOE staff will offer a series of professional development opportunities and technical assistance resources to support school divisions with implementation of the new guidelines. Updating the ACP guidance is intended to better support early and continuous career exploration, improve coherence between the ACPP in elementary school and the ACP in the middle school and high school, and to ensure that students receive consistent, developmentally appropriate guidance throughout their K-12 journey.

[00:24:18] And with that, the Superintendent of Public Instruction recommends the board receive for first review the proposed revisions to the ACP guidelines. Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Mr. Robinson?

[00:24:38] First of all, I strongly support moving the ignition of exploration to elementary and love how you've written in here a lot of flexibility in how people go about this. And I just want to emphasize that point real quickly, because it would be ironic if we, in an effort, when people are trying to remove seat time, and we heard students before talk about wanting more flexibility and being able to schedule internships and other opportunities, it would be ironic if in an attempt to move there, we added more constraints to schedules.

[00:25:13] And so my fear is that these requirements with the middle school course, et cetera, could, if not following your advice, could result in less flexibility for actually doing the actual career exploration because we're focused on completing these forms and getting signatures, et cetera.

[00:25:32] Again, I don't think that that's at all the intention. I just, as a comment, as we go into first review of the field, I just encourage, as you're already doing, continued work on figuring out how to help divisions and schools do this with flexibility and innovation that keeps the intent of moving away from more constraints to more career-connected experiences.

[00:25:58] Thank you. Okay. Thank you. We will accept this item for first review and then see you in August. You did. Thank you. Okay, we are at item N. I think there you are, Mr. Williams. Thank you. Come on up.

[00:26:16] I'm looking through the audience because the only audience member here is for this. So I'll acknowledge him in a second, but thanks for hanging in there, Clark. So good afternoon, board, Madam President, Superintendent Conway.

[00:26:37] My name is Jeff Williams, and I oversee the Office of Child Care, Health, and Safety. um in your attachments there's attachment call uh called handout letter item in handout that is an overview of the office of child care health and safety so i'm going to real briefly go over that um and just ask that you refer to that for time's sake if you want to know a little bit more about us uh y'all met me last month when we were talking about some guidance documents and so just want to give you a quick overview so we have a team about 130 so we're a really big piece of the Department of Education. We transferred from the Department of Social Services in 2021

[00:27:17] and we are in eight areas spread out across the state. So you can see by this that we have an oversight of approximately 6,500 programs. Probably about two-thirds of those we call regulated in terms of either we monitor them for subsidy or they're licensed. In our core responsibilities. There's basically four bullets there. I'll just kind of let you look over those.

[00:27:45] But we are excited to be part of the VDOE because we do feel that we play a big role in helping VDOE meet its priorities. And you can see those at the bottom there to ensure baseline for health and safety for all programs that are preparing children for kindergarten. So that was a big reason why we were brought over is to kind of unify Virginia's system for caring for children. Education does not start at kindergarten. It starts at birth. Ensure health and safety for out-of-school time programs serving K-12 children. Ensuring parental access to information about health and safety.

[00:28:23] Parents don't know what's going on. We kind of see our role as helping parents understand that. And then lastly, helps ensure accountability for public funds being used to support healthy, safe and quality programs. So with that being said, we're going to go into the slides and kind of give you an overview of what we're going to be doing and covering today. So the objective listed present the final revised regulation for first review, outlining the developmental process for assuming key changes and demonstrating how stakeholders input shared and screened version.

[00:28:59] So I'll let you kind of look through the agenda there. We have approximately about 10 slides that we're going to go through. And the first one we're going to go through is the process for updating the regulations. So at this point, I do want to introduce Clark Anders. He is the chair of ECAC, the Early Childhood Advisory Council. Clark has been involved since day one in this process.

[00:29:25] He has all the scars to prove it. He's got the late nights of reviewing regulations, so just wanted to let you know who is behind the scenes in working with the department and all the different stakeholders reviewing these regulations. Appreciate you being there with us. So when Office of Child Care came from the Department of Social Services, we were given the task to review the regulations related to child care. To determine the effectiveness in providing protection.

[00:29:58] Two, the clarity of the provisions. Three, their ability to reduce administrative burdens. And four, the extent to which they avoid unnecessary overreach. The process, the final regulations, we actually started this process back in December of 2021. BDU has worked with the Early Childhood Advisory Council, stakeholders, and the board to repeal or replace the old standards for licensed child aid centers that are currently in effect. The final regulation presented today is a product of a partnership with ECAC members, stakeholders, and I really want to emphasize this next point,

[00:30:37] over 750 public comments. That was in two different sections, and I'll talk a little bit about that in a second, and multiple reviews by subject matter experts and leadership. So after reviewing the process of ECAC's endorsement in 2024, the board endorsed the first iteration of these regulations.

[00:31:01] In January of 2026, they went out for an additional public comment that commenced in, or excuse me, it commenced in January of 2026. And then VDOE amended the proposed regulations from February to May based on public comment to create the final regulation that is before you now.

[00:31:21] Next, please. So as part of this process, the worker group, VDOE, stakeholders, ECAC, had several goals. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 primary goals that are listed here. And I am proud to say with so much work and so much help, each of these goals was to strengthen the requirements for water safety and safe sleep was very, very key.

[00:31:51] These are the key areas where children are injured. Regarding aligning standards, we align them with federal code, minimum standards, and many times best practices. We enforce the process of balancing health and protection with the ability to actually enforce these with the cost analysis.

[00:32:15] So a lot of times we had to balance many times competing interests. We want to ensure alignment with state and federal laws. We want to protect children, but we also must consider the operational and cost impact of the regulations and also reduce burdensome requirements.

[00:32:31] The last thing we want is child care providers spend so much time on regulations and administration that they don't have time to care for children. I'm not going to go through the rest of these for the sake of time, but I do encourage you to kind of look through that process as we kind of go through the next several slides.

[00:32:49] So it's important to understand the timeline and process here. So I'm going to spend probably a little bit more time on this. Hopefully, I won't stretch your patience too much. 2021, BDU established a temporary workgroup consisting of multiple stakeholders, and in December 21, to help revise the regulations.

[00:33:09] In 2022, the workgroup convened and spent a year revising the standards. This workgroup went through every single line of the standards. It was not a DOE project. This was a WE project with those in child care. Members dedicated 40 plus hours of time reviewing the requirements in committee. That's not the time that they spent in person doing it.

[00:33:34] I can attest that I got emails from Clark many, many times late at night. And he's like, Jeff, what about this word here and this standard here? And I was like, yeah, Clark, that's something we need to talk about at the committee. So really, just the committee did such great work. In April of 2023, ECAC reviewed the draft regulation, made a few changes, and endorsed the final draft.

[00:33:58] And this board approved a NORA and draft regulations in June 2023. It is important to understand that statement. endorsed regulations. So when we went to NORA, it was a first for BDOE. It was probably a first for a lot of state agencies. We actually had regulations for individuals to review. So technically, we were able to get feedback at a very, very early stage of the regulatory process. 2024, based on 500 plus unique public comments, a revised regulation was endorsed by ECAC. And in September of 24,

[00:34:34] it was approved by the board in October of 2024. So we'd already had a public comment process. 2025, once executive review was completed, an additional 60-day public comment period began on December 1st, 2026, where we are now. Based on an additional over 240 unique public comments on the updated proposed regulation, a final proposed regulation was endorsed by ECAC in May,

[00:35:03] And that is what is before you now. We're really excited that we got so much. As the superintendent says, feedback is a gift. And we got a lot of it. And based on that, we said, let's update things. Regardless of whether it causes something to be redone, we're going to do this.

[00:35:24] We want to get it right as best we can the first time, clarifying language, you know, making sure everything makes sense because not people can read something one way. One person might read it differently. Is there a way we can address that? And if there was, then we sought to do that. Next, please. The current revised version reflects significant revisions based on public comment, agency review, ECAC review following public comment and the development of the final regulation.

[00:35:51] Public comment ended on January 1st. As I mentioned, 240 specific comments from over 134 commenters. So we had a lot of people that were looking at this, which is what we want. You know, if we can get 300 people to say what makes sense, then that's going to be what's best.

[00:36:08] 80% of the sections included either technical or substantive edit, and substantive edits made in 30 sections, technical edits made in 45. So I just want to take real briefly, substantive means not that we're like, oh, we want to do, you know, we want to have a ratio of 1 to 100 and we're at 1 to 50.

[00:36:28] But because of the legal process, just slightly changing things can be considered something that's more substantive, whereas technical might be clarifying a word or two. So the top concerns raised in public comment are in Appendix C of this PowerPoint.

[00:36:45] So if you want to go through and look at that, there's information there. So really would encourage you to look through that as we go through, if need be. Next, please. So I do want to kind of highlight the changes to the final regulation. So these are the changes from what the board approved in the initial one.

[00:37:04] Went out for public comment. We made some changes based on the public comments, brought it to ECAC. They endorsed it, bringing it to you now. So there's kind of three key areas where there are some changes. So the supervision flexibility increases ratios for school-age children only to kind of, hey, this is what they're seeing in school.

[00:37:24] We can match that. We're okay with that. Includes a variance process for ratios and group size that's built into the regulation. Like in the mornings when, you know, you don't have a group of eight-year-olds and a group of two-year-olds, you have like, you know, brother and sister come in. One might be four, one might be eight. So how do you do that? So some flexibility built into that.

[00:37:46] And then we increase the flexibility and supervision for school-agers to allow more independence. So these are kind of the flexibility. I do want to make just a quick little reference. Because of the general procedures that y'all approved last year, there's allowable variance to every single licensing regulation that's not based in code.

[00:38:09] so if things change technology changes and there's something new we have the ability to adjust based on economic issues based on technology but this flexibility that we have here is specific to the licensed child day center standards staff flexibility expands qualifications for lead teachers and directors we have increased flexibility for staffing at the beginning and end of each day which i mentioned and we allow all training including orientation and pre-service to count towards qualifications as a lead teacher. We always want to be people to move forward, and this is a way we can encourage that and actually use the training that they have.

[00:38:48] Lastly, in that section, allows for all training except for orientation to count towards annual training. Finally, in terms of the highlights, reduced administrative burden. This is really, really key. We want to make sure that we aren't asking people to do something just because we want to do it. We want to tie every single regulation to a health and safety standard.

[00:39:08] So we reduce the duplication of effort for documentation of immunizations and physicals. We reduce unnecessary testing by removing repeat TB testing. We reduce onerous reporting requirements and remove requirements related to undesignated epinephrine.

[00:39:23] That's a big issue. You'll be bringing more about that based on the code in the coming months. Next, please. So the next steps. The board will consider the regulations for final review this August. Again, this is the first reading.

[00:39:40] Second step, the attorney general will conduct a review of the final regulation to make sure we're good. Number three, an executive branch review will then be initiated, and the governor will review the final regulation. If the governor approves, a 30-day final adoption period will open, and then ECAC and providers will be notified when that period opens, just again from public transparency.

[00:40:03] This is a kind of important one. Once the adoption period ends, the regulations will become effective on a date determined by VDOE. So what we don't want to happen is this to go effective on, you know, let's just say December 31st. And then we've not had a chance to train staff, to train providers, to give staff, you know, providers an opportunity to kind of live into this.

[00:40:25] So just kind of, you know, we're always looking to make sure that we have a good implementation plan that's strategic, making sure that we cover all of our bases. And then lastly, kind of as part of that, OCH staff and impacted providers will be provided multiple training opportunities prior to the effective date of the regulation.

[00:40:44] In general, what we like to do is do a really in-depth training about six weeks out prior to effective date. And then over the course of those six weeks, have follow-ups, have office hours, you know, make sure that our inspectors are ready to answer any kind of questions.

[00:41:01] Next, please. So in your PowerPoint, there's appendices. They range from letter A is about substantive edits from proposed to final.

[00:41:16] Next, please. Appendix B is a cost-benefit analysis. These are things that we must do as part of the regulatory process. Next, please. And then the top comments and concerns and our responses as part of the regulatory process. Every public comment we have to have in a document and document our response.

[00:41:36] So for all those public comments, we have a response and we record why, and this is also information that we share with the ECAC prior to this. So, Madam President, that is our presentation and offering for first review.

[00:41:55] Thank you, Mr. Williams. Are there any questions? Yes. Superintendent Conway. Thank you, Assistant Superintendent Williams. Thank you, Chair Anders. Mr. Anders has run for many, many years to high-quality child care centers here in the capital region and has been an ambassador for multiple governors and first ladies and has been here since the beginning of this process.

[00:42:21] I should note for the record that my youngest was in preschool, so these rules were applicable at that point, and now he's going into third grade. So if anybody wants to sort of think about how long this process is, in all seriousness, I can't think of a moment where folks came together, dedicated more than 20 hours, sitting around the table, going line by line, and then we have received so much public comment.

[00:42:45] I'd like to note if folks didn't hear this morning that our very young speakers were appreciative that there was, we had removed, that we had a requirement about reptiles. And then we got some very compelling public comment about the class turtle and sort of ways in which we could have turtles and maybe some bearded dragons and still keep our children safe.

[00:43:09] but it is sort of the work by our thousands and thousands of early childhood site leaders, our educators across the Commonwealth who have, on top of their very busy jobs, shared feedback with us on how to strengthen these regulations.

[00:43:25] We talk a lot about it, but one of the most important jobs we do is to keep children safe, and our littlest learners deserve these protections. We always have to balance that with the very challenging job that particularly our public-private providers have in making sure that there is a balance between health and safety and the ability to run a nonprofit or run a business and make ends meet.

[00:43:55] so thank you again uh chair anders thank you to the broader early childhood advisory committee and to all of the the many many folks who provided feedback including some of our littlest learners uh this morning great thank you all right mr williams uh thank you we will accept this item for first review and see you in august great thank you ma'am thank you we have just a couple more items. I'd say we just continue going. That's great. So item O. Great. Mr. Gilstrap,

[00:44:30] is that right? No. I'm standing in. Director Jackson, you're here. You're not Mr. Gilstrap. I'm not Mr. Gilstrap. Thank you. Good afternoon, President Ashton, Superintendent Conway, and members of the board. I am Dr. Brian Jackson, director of licensure, and I'm here to present for first review the abtel board's recommendation to add the following items the praxis assessments for russian chinese mandarin and latin elementary subtest assessment updates to reading language arts mathematics social studies and science and the new assessment and cut score for geometry

[00:45:09] the superintendent of public instruction recommends that the board of education receive for first review these items mr jackson thank you are there any questions hey wonderful thank you we will accept this item for first review and see you in august thank you thank you hey item p

[00:45:34] no torbert torbert hello we're moving fast yeah hold on just a second yes you need to make a statement just before the presentation oh yes sure um so just for the record i want to acknowledge that i am employed by the university of richmond therefore i do have a personal interest in this item. I note that the University of Richmond is one of many institutions of higher education

[00:46:09] addressed in this item. I affirm that I am able to participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. I ask that this statement be included in the minutes of this meeting for the record. Thanks, Dr. Wilson. Dr. Bridges? And similarly, Madam President, thank you. I am employed by Virginia Commonwealth University, and therefore I have personal interest in the university. I note that VCU is one of many institutions of higher education addressed in this item. I affirm that I'm able to participate fairly objectively and in the public interest as well. I ask that this

[00:46:43] statement be also included in the minutes of the meeting. Thanks, Dr. Bridges. Torbert, you're on. Good afternoon, President Alston, Superintendent Conway, and board members. I'm presenting to you today for first review to 2023-2025 biennial approval education endorsement programs as required by the regulations governing the review and approval of education programs in Virginia.

[00:47:11] These regulations require each institution of higher education to demonstrate that its education endorsement programs meet the standards of the biennial approval. The educator preparation programs met every requirement standard during this biennial review. The advisory board, teacher education and licensure has reviewed and approved this report. The Superintendent of Public Instruction recommends that the Board of Education accept for first review ABTEL's recommendation to grant approved status to all Virginia College and University educator preparation endorsement

[00:47:47] programs listed in the 23-25 biennial report. Thank you. Board members, are there any questions? Dr. Northern? I was curious, seeing in the report here, it looks like, you know, everyone met each of these. They're like zeros on that. I mean, is that typically the case? Have these criteria been changed? I mean, sometimes when we get everybody getting met on every single

[00:48:19] indicator, we stop the indicator as the report? The report is in place and it has been the same in place for a long time. And if you look at the definitions for a completer and a non-completer, it pretty much indicates that you have to report. For a non-completer, you would not report scores for them. And so the definitions pretty much dictate what's reported and what is not reported.

[00:48:48] And that is within the regulations. Is there more questions? Okay. Thank you, Ms. Torbert. We will accept this item for first review and see you in August.

[00:49:04] okay mr chapman item q thank you president ashton vice president hanson members of the board superintendent conway i apologize that after these long two days you've been waiting to hear this item about regulatory process um so without further ado what we have for you here today for first review is a request to open up periodic reviews of regulations on three chapters as this board i think is um well familiar we have engaged in a blitzkrieg of regulatory reviews of of periodic reviews over the past two years.

[00:49:41] This is our three of our final chapters that we're hoping to open up these periodic reviews over the course of the next six months, really, you know, until the end of the year. They're all big chapters. They all deal with special education. But every four years, the board is required to subject these chapters to periodic reviews of regulations.

[00:50:04] And the point of that is so that the board can continue its oversight, make a determination on whether these regulations should be changed or amended, repealed, if they're still consistent with the stated objectives of law, if there's any way to minimize economic impact on small businesses, and in the process, supposed to consider whether it's still needed, what sort of complaints have been received, the complexity of the regulation, whether it overlaps, duplicates, or conflicts with federal or state laws, and even just the length of time since it has previously been evaluated.

[00:50:38] What we're asking is just to open the periodic reviews. And so this is really just a public comment opportunity. We will bring the results of the periodic review back to the board for approval before the periodic review is finalized. And of course, any changes that may or may not, you know, if there are any changes to be recommended to the board, once the board votes on the periodic review, those will be the subject of a separate action.

[00:50:59] So this is really just a kind of formal process to kick off the periodic review so that the board can can meet his statutory obligations. Thank you, Mr. Chapman. Are there any questions? Okay, Mr. Chapman, we will accept this item for first review and appreciate you waiting two days to give this wonderful presentation. Thank you so much. See you in August. Thank you. That, I think we've covered everything on the agenda. Are there any other items for

[00:51:34] question yes um state university you're receiving a plus in teaching preparation program for national

[00:52:11] so kudos to dr willis for the um dr covington and other members of the staff that have achieved that nationally. Great. Congrats to VSU, correct? Go Trojans. Dr. Northern and then Mr. Robinson.

[00:52:30] She was reading my mind because it's not just Virginia State University. It's Christopher Newport, William & Mary, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison, University of Lynchburg, UVA, and Virginia State. So, congratulations to all of our Virginia universities who received an A+ on how they are teaching the science of reading to their student teachers. And I also wanted to, I've already asked that we get an upcoming presentation on the Education Recovery Scorecard, which was a big report that came out recently that basically showed how

[00:53:08] every district in the entire country was doing. It's put out by Sean Reardon, who's a big education researcher. I did happen to notice several of our divisions got on the rise, meaning that they're obviously headed in the right direction. Charlottesville, Richmond City, Roanoke County, Smith and Danville City. So again, we've got some bright spots and bright stars to learn from as we continue to do our important work

[00:53:42] of uh improving all of us thank you dr northern mr robinson i appreciated um that the depth of complexity and the conversations we've had the last couple days related to um how we move forward school improvement accountability uh jailers recommendations etc and it points to the um the the richness of of dialogue and open transparent communication that i think everyone on this uh board um demonstrated authenticity in their their their comments and their intentions um so

[00:54:19] i just want to express appreciation for that first and secondly it points to how much work we have ahead of us uh that's deep in those areas and so when i the the work of the college laboratory committee reminded me of we have other weighty topics to tackle uh we in my three board meetings we we or three or four we've not yet discussed anything related to artificial intelligence

[00:54:41] And as we think about this combination of the tech lash that we heard a little bit about this morning and parents across the Commonwealth wanting less screen time and how we how we wrestle with that, while also where there are stakeholders who want to leverage AI to in ethical ways to enhance with guidance to enhance learning.

[00:55:04] Those are weighty issues, as are ones related to workforce development. There's so much happening, and legislation that has just passed related to that. And so I would just encourage the board chair and the superintendent to think about between now and the August-September meetings, how might the board be of an asset to figuring out, like the previous board did with college elementary schools and some other topics, What are some topics that could be pursued with depth offline, knowing that online we have many topics related to the core issues we discussed the last couple of days to continue to discuss with weight?

[00:55:45] Thank you, Mr. Robinson. Ms. Kilgore and then Dr. Wilson. I know we've already recognized Mr. Hansen this morning, but I wanted on a personal note just to say how much I have appreciated working with him in the past three years. He has been a source of integrity and character and compassion for education, and I consider it an honor to call him my friend.

[00:56:09] Ditto. That actually should have been the last comment. So piggybacking a bit on Mr. Robinson's observation about the topics, the weightiness of the topics, the last two days have been evidence of that, including before this month's meetings.

[00:56:30] But I want two things. I think the suggestion about, you know, the topics before us, if there's a work plan of some sort or a schedule that we might look forward to so that we can demonstrate, one, that we have a plan forward in considering various events and also for as much for us as for the public.

[00:56:55] And then secondly, in the vein of how much weighty these topics are, I want to thank the superintendent and the staff because they have done lots of work leading up to these meetings, anticipating our questions, our concerns, our observations, and trying to land in a place that is good for all across all of our students and families.

[00:57:24] And so I don't want to leave today's meeting without saying publicly how much we appreciate the staff and the way they approach the work, the seriousness that they share with this board for the work that we have ahead of us.

[00:57:42] And so, Superintendent Conway, to you and your staff, thank you. Okay, well, then Chair gets the last comment. I wanted to make this meeting as long as possible for Mr. Henson. So I think I was successful in that. I just want to also echo my appreciation for Mr. Henson, his guidance, but he's not done.

[00:58:04] He'll still be doing work on behalf of Virginia's children. And I also want to thank Superintendent Conway. You know, I chat GPT 167 days that you've been here, which means that I've been here about the same time as president.

[00:58:20] And so I just want to thank the board for engaging in a thoughtful conversation and really, you know, Making sure that we have the right process, the right engagement, but what I hear very clearly is just a commitment to clarity for our kids and our families and for our stakeholders.

[00:58:39] So I want to thank the board members for engaging in this process and for all the work that the staff did to really put forth some very heavy issues. And guess what? We get to do it more and more again. So with that, I'll take, yes, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

[00:58:59] okay yeah all in favor signify by saying aye all right motion meeting adjourned

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