Summary of 4/28/22 School Board Meeting
It was announced at the beginning of the 4/28/22 meeting that SB member Reid Goldstein was not at the meeting while SB member Mary Kadera was attending via Microsoft Teams. The Arlington Career Center Air Force JROTC Cadet Core then presented the colors.
Opening/Consent Items
The School Board started by unanimously adopting the consent agenda. As part of that consent agenda, revisions to 2 policies (evaluations and electronic meetings) were adopted.
The School Board then discussed the following appointments:
Appointment of Ms. Francis Lee as principal of Ashlawn Elementary School, who was present and gave a speech; and
Appointment of Ms. Bridget Loft as principal of Swanson Middle School, who was present and gave a speech; and
Appointment of Joanne Uyeda as Interim Chief Academic Officer.
Announcements
The School Board thereafter moved to the following announcements:
The School Board will have a closed meeting on May 5, followed by a public hearing on the budget at 7:00 pm; and
The School Board is accepting applications for the School Board Advisory Committees for next school year.
Afterwards, Superintendent Durán gave his announcements (slides here):
Dr. Durán discussed how on Wednesday, APS celebrated administrative and extended day staff and how critical such staff are to APS.
The month of May will have a number of recognition days that APS will honor.
On May 4, APS will celebrate principal, teachers and support staff of the year.
APS still seeking people to serve on the Virtual Learning Program Task Force. People can apply until May 6.
The SOL testing window for students in grades 3-12 will be from May 16 to June 14. Teachers and students will be working diligently to prepare for the tests, which help measure the extent to which students have learned the content and skills reflected in state standards. Parents should not schedule students out of school on the testing dates and ensure students have a good night of rest the night before the test and bring their iPads fully charged. Families will receive their SOL results in June. Such results will be made public on the APS academic dashboard once APS receives the SOL results, which is typically in late July/early August.
Dr. Durán then highlighted the role served by APS Sustainability Liaisons, who engage students in outdoor learning and connections to their environment and community.
Next, one of Dr. Durán’s “Bright Spot” announcements for this meeting was Dan Paris, a teacher at H-B Woodlawn who is 1 of 2 teachers from VA to be nominated for the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award in the National History Day National Contest. The national winner will be selected by a committee of experienced teachers and historians.
Lastly, Dr. Durán’s other “Bright Spot” announcement highlighted APS’ music education.
Public Comment
The public comment portion of the meeting featured 14 speakers:
9 speakers spoke in favoring of the School Board adopting the site plan for the Career Center, which included Career Center faculty, parents and students.
3 speakers spoke in opposition to the School Board adopting the site plan for the Career Center, which included 2 students opposed because of the negative effect on the animal science program.
2 speakers spoke in favor of the planetarium.
Adoption of Policy Revisions to School Board Advisory Committees
The School Board then moved on to discussing policy revisions to the School Board Advisory Committees. Those changes are summarized here and were adopted unanimously by those School Board members present.
Approval of Career Center Site Plan and Disagreement as to the Effect of Dissenting Votes
The School Board approved the Career Center site plan on a vote of 3-1, with Kadera voting against it. That presentation is available here.
David Priddy made the motion (and seconded by Cristina Diaz-Torres) to:
Direct staff to begin the Schematic Design phase and at its conclusion present to the School Board for approval a proposed:
Schematic Design and reconciled cost estimate meeting the Base Ed. Specs.; and
An alternative Schematic Design and reconciled cost estimate meeting the Alternative Ed. Specs., designed to accommodate a future addition.
Include the Arlington Career Center project, based on the approved Project Requirements, in the Superintendent's Proposed FY 2023-32 CIP
Dr. Barbara Kanninen, Mr. Priddy and Ms. Diaz-Torres all spoke in favor of adopting the Career Center site plan.
However, Ms. Kadera made a motion to postpone the vote on the site plan by 1 month until immediately after the CIP is approved in June and the plans be updated thereafter in full consideration of facilities’ costs and needs as reflected in the CIP. That motion was not seconded.
Ms. Kadera subsequently articulated her reasoning for that motion to postpone (and why she would be voting no on the Career Center site plan):
APS would have a clearer sense of the overall cost associated with this property, such as APS’ total overall capital funding will be dedicated to this one location
APS would have a clearer sense of what other capital projects would have to be deferred because of this Career Center project
APS would be demonstrating better stewardship of the use of public funds. This plan costing $174M without consideration of the effect on the bond debt service and other capital projects is fiscally irresponsible. There could be possible additional costs because of the potential for other programs to occupy this space, which would displace some current occupants of the Career Center. Thus, APS doesn’t know the total cost of this plan. Moreover, other schools have renovation needs that may have to be deferred because of the cost of this site plan.
Afterwards, as part of her general comments supporting this plan, Dr. Kanninen stated that she wanted her “board colleagues” to recognize that School Board members’ comments and actions are heard by school communities (including students), and “you’re not a candidate anymore or a commenter on social media or ArlNow.” Watch here. Further, she stated that when School Board members take actions and school communities hear you’re not supporting them, it’s “heartbreaking” to those school communities.
Thereafter, Ms. Kadera followed up on Dr. Kanninnen’s comment about supporting school communities, stating that the School Board regularly makes decisions that affect school communities, including boundary changes, program changes, etc. She said these decisions are difficult, but they’re not meant to slight certain communities as the School Board must weigh the needs of the community as a whole.
Dr. Kanninen then responded that she was referring specifically to “school projects” as something that, if voted against, will hurt those school communities to which the school projects relate. The vote as then held.
Discussion of Proposed Changes to Attendance Policies
Dr. Laura Newton, Director, Student Services, presented on the proposed revisions to the attendance and full-day school attendance policies. These policies concern, among other things, unexcused absences and the truancy and intervention process.
The School Board will vote on the revisions to these policies at its May 12 meeting.
School Start Time and Bell Survey Presentation
Reneé Harber, Assistant Superintendent Facilities and Operations, presented APS’ overview of possible changes to school start times and the results of the School Bell Survey. The presentation gave an overview of the diverse 2022 School Bell Study Technical Advisory Team, historical data, challenges and regional comparison. That presentation is available here.
She then discussed the results of the survey of parents, students, and staff about potential changes in bell times for schools. There were 6,192 respondents, a little over half of whom were parents. Maintaining the current bell schedule was the most favored response and the superintendent’s recommendation is based off that response. Notably, instructional time will increase at every level except for the Career Center.
Discussion of Collective Bargaining Resolution
Dr. John Mayo, Chief Operating Officer, then presented an overview of the collective bargaining resolution, which will be voted on by the School Board on May 26. Notably, at this time, only Richmond Public Schools has adopted a collective bargaining resolution and APS may be the second public school system in VA to do so.
The collective bargaining resolution will set the structure for collective bargaining at APS if certain groups of employees to more formally allow employee groups to organize and express their views as a group through representatives. APS has identified the following bargaining units: (i) licensed personnel (e.g., teachers, librarians, etc.); (ii) support personnel; and (iii) administrative Personnel (e.g., principals, assistant principals, directors of technology, etc.). Some employees will be excluded from the ability to participate, such as the Superintendent, personnel in the Superintendent’s cabinet, and employees with access to a large amount of confidential information.
A new Director of Labor Relations will be the individual who will oversee and coordinate the specific details of the collective bargaining process and the day-to-day administration of actions of any collective bargaining agreement. APS’ goal is to have collective bargaining agreements effective by FY2024.
All Board members present spoke in strong support of adopting a collective bargaining resolution. More information regarding this proposal is available here.
