Summary of 10/12/2023 School Board Meeting
Consent Items:
Consent Agenda & Vote:
Mary Kadera moved to adopt, Sutton Second, all in favor. Passed 4-0. Mr. Goldstein was not present.
School Board adopted Revisions to School Board Policy I-11.1 Family and Community Engagement and J-2.1 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify languages and practices, approved by Superintendent.
Announcements
Board Announcements
October 24 – Committee of the Whole, 5:30 PM, Room 401
October 24 – Closed Meeting, 7 PM, Room 401
October 25 – Policy Subcommittee Meeting, 8 AM, Board Conference Room
October 26 – Closed Meeting, 5:30 PM, Board Conference Room
October 26 – School Board Meeting, 7 PM, Board Room
Mary Kadera – announcements from her liaison school, Kenmore, regarding Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations and events.
Superintendent’s Announcement and Updates
Dr. Durán began by giving support to Jewish students and all those affected by the terrorist attacks that are occurring in Israel. He reiterated the many supports and resources available to students, and encouraged any student and staff who are struggling to reach out and find the support that they may need. Dr. Durán also emphasized that APS will not tolerate any antisemitism or acts of violence and the school system’s mission of a safe and supportive learning environment.
Dr. Durán then addressed how many employees, present and otherwise, continue to feel very frustrated, unheard and unsupported regarding the Health Care transition, and acknowledged the many missteps in transparency and communication throughout the process. He committed to support the transition and, more importantly, including staff’s voice into decisions like this in the future.
Highlight video on Substance Use Education and Prevention from APS students. Dr. Durán focused on education to help substance abuse prevention and early intervention overall. APS has worked to align its services and support with the County programs and recognize that more can still be done. Dr. Durán highlighted some of the work that APS continues to do:
Substance abuse prevention lessons beginning in 4th grade through high school, which includes helping students understand the severity of substance abuse and how immediate the impacts can be felt. This is not just experimentation; this is a life-or-death matter.
Acknowledged the wonderful work of our substance abuse counselor
Expanded access to emergency Naloxone in order to be responsive in the moment
Expanded student involvement in how they can educate their peers about substance abuse. For example, those at the Career Center were trained over the summer through a state initiative to provide peer education and support.
Additional October Recognitions: Red Ribbon Week (October 22-29), Unity Day (October 18). Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, Dyslexia Awareness Month, ADHD Awareness Month, Augmentative and Alternative Communication Awareness Month, Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
In recognition of Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, Dr. Durán highlighted the Strategic Plan Goal of ensuring 80% of Students with Disabilities spend at least 80% of their day in the general education setting. Three-year trend shows that students with disabilities who spent most of their day in general education setting with appropriate support made far more progress than students who receive their instruction separately.
APS progress dashboard has been updated (2022-2023 school year) showing three-year trends and results of primary assessments and SOL pass rates, broken down by various demographics and schools.
Dr. Durán then shared an update on official 2023-2024 enrollment based off of September 30th numbers, with actual enrollment showing 3 fewer students than the 2022-2023 school year. This is the official budgetary number used for all state purposes.
Dr. Durán reviewed the VA Department of Education “ALL In” Tutoring initiative for 3rd-8th grades. This program allows APS greater flexibility to implement high-intensity tutoring, and APS has identified the students who are eligible for tutoring based on updated guidance from VDOE. APS is awaiting the final budgets from the State but expects tutoring to begin mid-November as they finalize staffing and resources. Additional information will be forthcoming as they get more information.
Bethany Sutton asked that any disproportionality regarding Students with Disabilities that are also Black, Hispanic or English Learning be further studied and looked into. Ms. Sutton then asked if there were any other indications beyond SOL scores that show positive learning trends among English Learners. Mr. Gerald Man, Chief Academic Officer, indicated that other measures such as MAP, DIBELS, PALS show the formative growth among English Learners but that it takes time for that to be shown in SOLS. Dr. Durán also reminded that especially for early year English Learners the State of Virginia does not allow them to take the SOL in their native language, unlike many other States, so while they may know the content they are unable to show that progress in the standardized test. Ms. Sutton also asked questions verifying how the ALL In tutoring will work. Dr. Durán and Dr. Gerald Man reiterated that they are still waiting on more information from the State before they can solidify how this tutoring will work, but that this will be IN ADDITION to any current program or remediation a student may be receiving.
Mary Kadera also asked a clarifying question regarding the ALL In Tutoring and whether this would be 1:1 or small group and when the tutoring would take place. Mr. Mann confirmed that it would be small group and the current guidelines indicate that the groups could take place during before or after school hours to and including some holidays or extended breaks. Ms. Kadera then asked if staff has contemplated giving a secondary assessment to English Learners in their native language. Dr. Durán responded that while it is a very good and important question the answer is not easy given that these are the students that need the most instructional time, and any additional assessments take away from that. Ms. Kadera then asked what happens to students who are caught with substances or paraphernalia. Dr. Crawford and Dr. Durán emphasized that they have a range of consequences based on the severity, possession, intent to distribute, and that APS works closely with security, APD and community centers like Second Chance to handle the situation appropriately and with the best interest of student(s) in mind.
Ms. Diaz-Torres advocated that any data related to the drug related incidents be broken down by school.
Ms. Sutton gave a heartfelt comment regarding the disruption to healthcare insurance providers and reiterated that while those in leadership have work to do, they are committed to building bridges and listening and working together with faculty and staff.
Ms. Kadera discussed pilot programs other counties have started to help detect TCH and tobacco vape usage in bathrooms and encouraged APS staff to watch closely these pilots.
Mr. Priddy also commented on the healthcare insurance change, saying that that though The Board talks about leading with empathy quite often, it clearly has not permeated through the system.
Ms. Diaz-Torres also commented and apologized for the challenges of the health care changes, and promised to advocate with CareFirst to better serve employees.
Monitoring Items
Mathematics Update Presented By:
Carl Seward, Secondary Mathematics Supervisor
Shannan Ellise, Elementary Mathematics Supervisor
Kelly Krug, Director of Special Education Elementary Education
Angelique Close, Director Secondary Special Education
Terri Murphy, Director of English Learners
Mathematics Update Presentation can be found here.
The purpose of the presentation was to provide an update on the APS Mathematics program and seek school board approval for the additional full-time Mathematics Interventionist.
The investment in various interventionists is working as APS is closing the gap faster than the State. It will be important to continue funding additional Math support by providing the human resources needs such as math coaches, full-time interventionists and Arlington Tiered System of Support (ATSS) Specialists. Highlighted some strengths and weaknesses such as Greater year-over-year SOL Growth on Math 7 SOL, however Math 7 SOL still had Low overall performance.
Explained how 2023-2024 is a “Crosswalk Year” for newly adopted state standards. Essentially means they need to incorporate the newly adopted Virginia Standards into the curriculum this year and those standards will begin to be tested on in the 2024-2025 school year. This represents a much tighter timeline than in years past, resulting in additional work for administrators and teachers, and therefore more investment needed. As such, they have paused all work on reimagining the Math 7 course until after the new Standards are better implemented.
Leadership detailed how they are supporting the workforce by ensuring opportunities for professional learning that meet or exceeds industry standards. Professional learning supports content, resources and best instructional practice are key components to ultimately supporting our students.
Staff again highlighted the impressive gains that students have made after receiving interventions and expressed a need for more Math Interventionists. On average, schools with centrally based interventionist saw the equivalent of 36 additional days’ worth of instruction in 2022-2023 compared to 2021-2022, while schools without centrally based interventionist saw the equivalent to only 12 additional days. It’s also important to note that those students who have worked directly with interventionists saw an increase in their social emotional well-being, with teachers reporting attributes such as increased confidence, more flexible thinking, more excitement for learning, more classroom engagement, resiliency, and ability to use learned strategies.
Staff ended their presentation by recommending an additional 15 mathematic Interventionists at the elementary level be funded by the upcoming budget. Only nine would be considered new hires, as six of ten currently on staff are funded through the ESSR Grant that expires at the end of the year. The addition of nine new Interventionists would be shared among the remaining elementary schools. Data has proven that these interventionists are the best way for every student to make one or more years of growth as teachers cannot do this alone.
Ms. Kadera had several data requests for staff to follow up with the Board. Ms. Kadera also confirmed some of the logistics as it related to the State’s new Standards, both that staff was operating on a shorter timeline and without the direct support they are accustomed to.
Ms. Sutton points out that while there are departments for English Learners and Students with Disabilities, the same cannot be said for Black or Hispanic students. She goes on to question whether the desired outcomes for these students will be reached if as a system we are not focusing on them the way we are English Learners and SWDs. Ms. Ellise discussed how they have investigated this topic more in depth and have explored instructional topics, methods and action steps that work well for Black and Hispanic students, despite the fact that there is no direct office for Black and Hispanic kids.
Ms. Sutton then commented that the presentation failed to highlight or thank the hard work of teachers and instead focused solely on the work of the interventionists. Mr. Seward was quick to reply that he and Ms. Ellis see teachers doing Yeoman’s work everyday when they are in the buildings visiting classrooms. He then pointed out that the purpose of the presentation was to highlight those students who haven’t had success previously, and are now seeing success with the interventionists, but that does not mean that every other member of the math community is not making a difference for their students. Ms. Ellis added that the interventionists are the last piece of the puzzle and that teachers are incredibly appreciative to have the support of these specialists.
Ms. Kadera asked for the current quantity and location of Interventionists. Ms. Ellis responded that there is a total of 10 interventionists, and they are deployed to the three southside middle schools and seven of the eight Title 1 Elementary schools.
Ms. Diaz-Torrez appreciates all the data showing the benefit of the Interventionists, especially as they begin prioritizing budgetary needs.
Mr. Priddy reiterated a point in the presentation that APS has an advantage in hiring math teachers because of the additional supports in place, and how that is another point that will help them evaluate the Interventionists during the budget process.
Action Items:
Update Presentation on the Internal Audit Work Plan by Alice Blount-Feney, Director Internal Audit, can be found here.
The amendment will focus on Information Systems Audit. The only change that has been recommended is to exclude software compliance that is currently being reviewed within the organization.
Motion: Ms. Sutton moved to adopt the Internal Audit Annual Plan for 2023-2024. Seconded by Ms. Diaz-Torrez. Ms. Kadera moved to amend the work plan to include and prioritize an audit of the 2022-2023 APS Health Insurance procurement process and related communication to APS staff. Seconded by Ms. Sutton. Ms. Kadera then spoke further to the amendment, specifically the harm she feels had been done to APS staff through the health insurance change issue.
Vote passed 4-0, Mr. Goldstein was not present.
The School Board Budget Direction presented by Ms. Dias-Torrez can be found here.
Ms. Dias-Torrez reviewed the language changes to the Directive. Ms. Kadera moved to adopt. Ms. Sutton seconded.
Vote passed 4-0, Mr. Goldstein was not present.
Monitoring Items
Mr. Steven Marku, Director Policy and Legislative Affairs presented the Revisions to School Board Policy M-7 Extended Day can be found here.
The largest change to the Policy was to clarify that Extended Day must be given appropriate space and given priority over outside organizations in order to properly operate Extended Day. Other minor changes were suggested to both the Policy and the related PIPs. Mr. Marku then reviewed some of the public comment received from 8 parents and 1 staff member as well as the feedback and suggestions from the CCPTA.
Ms. Kadera had one data request regarding expulsions from Extended Day.
Ms. Sutton stressed that Extended Day will have priority not only over outside organizations but also over PTA usage.
No New Business. Meeting Adjourned.
