Summary of 10/27/2022 SB Meeting
Opening/Consent Items
The School Board started in Closed Session.
For the open session, the meeting began with a presentation of the colors by the Arlington Career Center Space Force JROTC Cadet Corps.
All members of the School Board were present, except Cristina Diaz-Torres appeared virtually.
The School Board then unanimously adopted the consent agenda. As part of that consent agenda, the following items were approved:
· minutes of past various meetings;
· certain personnel actions;
· the creation of the Artificial Intelligence Club at the Arlington Career Center, the funds for which are coming from the Washington Forest Foundation;
· various appointments to the Advisory Council on Teaching & Learning (ACTL), the Arlington Special Education Advisory Committee (ASEAC), the Budget Advisory Council (BAC) and the School Health Advisory Board (SHAB); and
· the certification of the Arlington School Administrators (ASA) as the exclusive representative of the administrative personnel bargaining unit.
Reid Goldstein separately made a statement in response to various statements made by the Arlington Education Association (AEA) in past School Board meetings. He stated that the School Board and the Superintendent are eager to begin collective bargaining with all 3 collective bargaining units. The next step in the process is for licensed personnel and support personnel to select their respective representatives. Arlington is only 3 of the 132 school boards in VA who have passed collective bargaining resolutions.
Mr. Goldstein then stated that Arlington incorporated a number of AEA’s requests into the collective bargaining resolution adopted in May, such as lowering the percentage of staff signatures needed to trigger an election from 50% to 30%. But he stated that “the AEA continues to mistakenly state that there is no neutral third party included in the resolution. This is inaccurate. A neutral third party is involved in elections, mediation and allegations of unfair labor practices.” AEA has been holding themselves out as representing licensed personnel and support personnel, which is not accurate since they have not submitted the required 30% of signatures to trigger an election and been elected. APS cannot engage AEA in any unofficial capacity until it is officially elected as such engagement would violate the collective bargaining resolution.
He urged AEA or another employee association to gather the necessary signatures so they may hold an election. He reiterated that the School Board is fully committed to collective bargaining, but the School Board stands by its previously adopted collective bargaining resolution.
Announcements
The School Board thereafter moved to the following announcements:
- The School Board will have a Work Session on November 1 at 5:30 pm on English Learners;
- The School Board will have a closed meeting on November 3 at 5:30 pm;
- The Policy Subcommittee of the School Board will have a meeting on November 9 at 2:00 pm;
- The School Board will have a regular School Board meeting on November 10 at 7:00 pm; and
- Dr. Barbara Kanninen will be holding open office hours from 8:30 to 10:30 am on Tuesday, November 1 instead of Monday, October 31 because of Halloween.
Afterwards, Mr. Goldstein acknowledged that Dr. Durán was honored with the Exceptional Superintendent Leader award by the National Center for Children and Families.
Thereafter, Board Members made the following announcements:
· Mary Kadera made announcements regarding certain of her liaison schools (Escuela Key, Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, Yorktown).
· Mr. Goldstein made announcements regarding certain of his liaison schools (Abingdon, Drew, Fleet, Glebe, Washington-Liberty) and the Arlington Public Schools Food and Nutrition office was given a check for $26,000 by Giant Food as part of a program.
Thereafter, Superintendent Durán gave his announcements (slides here):
- Discussed APS’ Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program, including a new video on it, which is available here.
- Reported that the school calendar survey is available online, with 3 options from which to choose.
- Announced there will not be any boundary changes this school year.
- Addressed the HR letter to Extended Day employees, clarifying they will get benefits through June 30, 2023. The change affected 35 of 156 extended day employees. The benefits audit conducted in Spring 2022 found that hourly Extended Day aides were receiving benefits that other temporary hourly APS staff were not eligible to receive. HR will have 1-on-1 meetings in November with affected staff to discuss their benefit options for FY2023-2024.
- Discussed the winter weather procedures for this school year (APS has 7 snow days built into the calendar and extended day will close if school closes early; APS will try to make decisions by 6 pm the prior evening or by 5 am that morning).
- APS will continue having equity conversations lead by Dr. Ottley, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. The next session will be virtual at 7 pm on Wednesday, November 16th.
- Lastly, Dr. Durán’s bright spot was that APS has 8 additional Virginia Purple Star Designated Schools regarding schools committed to military families. Those new schools are Arlington Career Center, Arlington Traditional School, Key, Hoffman-Boston, Kenmore, Oakridge, Swanson and Thomas Jefferson. Discovery was the first APS school honored with this award in 2019.
David Priddy had a question about Extended Day staff and that the roles aren’t eligible for benefits under federal law. Dr. John Mayo clarified that these are temporary positions that should not have benefits. The change would bring parity with other temporary positions.
Ms. Kadera had several questions on the announcement for Extended Day employees. Dr. Mayo explained that we have almost 2,000 temporary employees at APS, and that the only temporary employees receiving benefits were the Extended Day aides and school-based substitute teachers. Dr. Mayo said APS will need to have similar conversations with school-based substitute teachers. Ms. Kadera that we need to have better communications regarding HR in the future. Moreover, she thought APS should try not to offer certain benefits in the future if APS may have to retract such benefits in the future.
Ms. Kadera also had a question about the SEL report.
Mr. Goldstein had a question regarding the Extended Day staff.
Public Comment
Mr. Goldstein first stated that the call-in for public comment is ending. He said that participation has been low and the cost is high to offer such an option.
The public comment portion of the meeting featured 14 speakers:
- 7 speakers spoke in support of APS Extended Day staff benefits, including 3 Extended Day supervisors, 3 parents of Extended Day students and 1 Extended Day aide.
- 3 speakers from the Arlington Education Association spoke, speaking in support of Extended Day aide benefits, additional compensation for substitute teachers, a higher pay, better APS collaboration with employee groups and additional COVID leave.
- 1 speaker asked that APS focus better on APS transportation safety issues.
- 1 speaker spoke in favor of the Arlington Career Center design plan.
- 1 speaker spoke in opposition of the elimination of the call-in method for public comment for School Board meetings.
- 1 speaker spoke in opposition of delays in replacing a child’s lost iPad, and the inequity in education created by such delays.
Monitoring Item: Mathematics Monitoring Report
Shannan Ellis, Elementary Mathematics Supervisor, and Carl Seward, Secondary Mathematics Supervisor, gave the Mathematic Monitoring Report. Those slides are available here.
Notable items in this report and presentation were as follows:
- The last Mathematics Monitoring Report was in September 2021.
- Seek future action:
o Full-time Mathematics coaches at all school sites (e.g., only 10 of 26 ES have full-time Math coaches)
o Investment in additional math interventionists for all schools that demonstrate the need
- Presentation in line with 2 School Board priorities
o Ensure student well-being and academic progress with a focus on innovation, equity and evidence-based reports
o Recruit, hire, retain and invest in a high-quality staff
- Key messaging – a child’s early understanding of mathematical concepts is one of the strongest predictors of academic success
- Mathematics Challenges
o Persistent underperformance of students in historically marginalized and underserved student groups on assessments grades 2-8 (Black, Hispanic, English Learners, SWDs, and Economically Disadvantaged)
o Less growth in APS vs state for Hispanic and Economically Disadvantaged
o Less than expected growth for students who scored below basic on Math Inventory (MI) assessment
o Underperformance for all students and less growth vs. state for all historically marginalized and underserved student groups on Math 7 SOL
- Mathematics Strengths
o APS continues to outperform the state on all elementary, Math 6, Math 8 and end-of-course SOLs
o APS showed gains on a number of Math SOL assessments, including with all historically marginalized and underserved student groups
o On average, APS students grades 2 through 8 showed one or more year’s worth of growth, as measured by MI
- Advanced course enrollment
o 87% of APS students are enrolled in a math course their senior year, more than 50% of which are enrolled in an advanced-level math course
- Strategies: Curriculum Refinements
o More explicit support for interventionists and extensions
o Continued monitoring of a diverse enrollment in advanced courses
o Revisions of certain HS math courses
o Piloting of Data Science course
- Strategies: Assessments and Teacher Supports
o County-created assessments
o Centrally based interventionists – at 7 ESs and 3MSs supported by ESSR grant to help highest need students
o Data review and planning sessions increased
o Cross-county collaboration on professional development
o Classroom observations – help give guidance to teachers
- Additional Strategies: Problems Exacerbated by APS’ COVID policies
o Enhanced curriculum documents, including Bridging Standards to help address learning loss
o Interventionists and other supports for students with more specialized needs
o Online tutoring (most secondary students use of tutoring has been for math topics)
- Bright spots
o Teachers have high-quality digital and physical textbooks
o Students have access to virtual tutors
o All 3 comprehensive high schools have full-time Math coaches, and Arlington Tech and H-B Woodlawn have half-time Math coaches
o Mathematics teachers and leaders continue to be promoted within APS
- Moving Forward
o Focus on early numeracy
o Promote book study by math teachers of a book focused on math in equity
o Promote equitable grading practices
o Provide additional opportunity to earn college credit (offer AP Pre-Calculus for SY24-25)
o Focus on early Algebra readiness (refine Math 6 Strategies course)
o Restructure Math 7, saying problem is the homogeneity of this class because of acceleration of other students who are at grade level and says this homogeneity (and presumably the acceleration of other students) has to be restructured
Dr. Durán then spoke to flag the Appendix to the presentation, and the detailed data in such Appendix. He also stated that additional resources are needed to address learning loss in Math caused by APS’ COVID policies.
All School Board members had follow up comments/questions, including:
- Dr. Kanninen was the liaison for this monitoring item. In that role, Dr. Kanninen had raised the question that if there were more resources, what would Ms. Ellis do, which was addressed in the presentation. She was very happy to see the use of tutoring with math, considering that so many children from wealthier families have been getting their own tutors for years – it is a huge equity issue that tutoring addresses.
- Dr. Kanninen referenced APE’s speaker at the School Board’s public comment from several weeks ago (that speech is here) mentioning that we have fewer statements in 8th grade taking Algebra 1, and asked for additional details on it. Ms. Ellis said that the state identified the academic need to accelerate less children for Algebra in 8th grade. She does not think math is becoming less rigorous and it is being done to make sure certain students master the content more at lower levels. Dr. Kanninen agreed with that approach. Mr. Priddy stated that he previously was angry 4 years ago about such a change (and one of those “angry parents”), and he now understands it.
- Mr. Goldstein also asked about this issue too, stating that content retention wasn’t good for those lower-performing students. Ms. Ellis said the Math Advisory Committee looked at the data years ago, and 1/3 of the students were not experiencing success at all. Many MS students had to take Algebra Strategies courses and had to give up an elective. Ms. Ellis feels that other pathways may be appropriate and that there’s a misconception that all kids take calculus in high school (80% don’t) and all colleges require calculus. Ms. Ellis feels it’s important to do well in a class vs. just taking the class. Ms. Ellis feels it’s a system issue not unique to Arlington or mathematics, and relates to some of the educational issues we’re going to have to rethink, such as creating equitable opportunities for students. Mr. Seward said the Math department is focused on mathematics “readiness” making sure students do not skip content to get to upper-level math courses.
- Mr. Goldstein asked if we had data to show how the 8th grade Algebra students are doing and how these changes are working out in subsequent grades. Mr. Seward said we do not have data on how these changes are working. Ms. Ellis said when we look at data for last year, students in advanced courses did make more than 1 year’s growth and we had a high pass rate on the SOL. However, she said that we hadn’t had a look to see how the data is working out overall. She thinks the data was looking great before the pandemic, and that things changed because of the pandemic. Mr. Goldstein asked how old the data was and Ms. Ellis said the change was implemented in 2018-2019SY, meaning the data has not been fully updated in 4 years.
- Dr. Kanninen also asked about the persistent underperformance of historically marginalized and underserved student groups in math. Mr. Seward explained that the interventionists are targeting students in schools in which they are assigned to close the underperformance gaps. In secondary math, the Math department is reinventing and reimagining courses, like building interventions built inside of courses. Math strategies provide a second dose (but not necessarily a double-dose) of math in certain standards. Ms. Ellis also explained that they are working better and smarter with our students during the school day to address these issues.
- Mr. Priddy appreciated the presentation being up front about the staffing needs, about which he had additional questions. The request for additional match coaches would be 16 in ES and 2 in HS (it would be an additional 9 FTE since each already have 0.5); teachers and principals have voiced the need for these additional positions.
- Ms. Kadera commented on the importance of middle school math and that she really liked the commitment of the Math department to look at the course offering, and county-wide collaboration of math teachers.
- Ms. Kadera then asked for an explanation to the broader audience on math coaches vs. interventionists. Mr. Seward explained that math coaches provide ongoing support to math teachers whereas the math interventionists work directly with the students most at need.
- Ms. Kadera also stated that she’s hearing that elementary school teachers need additional small group help. Ms. Ellis responded that coaches could help with small groups, but the Math department’s preference is for coaches to support teachers directly instead of students.
- Ms. Kadera later asked about how the Math department is identifying methods that work well at one school, and how those methods are shared with other schools. Ms. Ellis and Mr. Seward provided detailed explanations on how this information is transmitted.
- Ms. Kadera last asked about collaboration with other STEM departments. Mr. Seward said a meeting is scheduled next month at the secondary level on such issue. Ms. Ellis stated that the upcoming statewide math curriculum changes in 2024 will involve coordination with other STEM departments.
- Ms. Diaz-Torres also appreciated the direct personnel questions and had a question about the Data Science course, about which she is very excited. Mr. Seward explained that the pre-requisite for that course will be Algebra 1, making it more accessible for all students.
- Mr. Goldstein asked about PAPER (secondary online tutoring). Dr. Durán said there will be a presentation on PAPER at the next School Board meeting.
- Mr. Goldstein asked about the “reimaging” of courses vs. flexibility with complying with the state standards. Ms. Ellis explained which courses have flexibility in content whereas they have more flexibility over instructional models for the other courses, such as completion of tasks.
Action Item: 1. Arlington Career Center Project Proposed Schematic Design
· The Board will act on the proposed Arlington Career Center schematic design
· Dr. Durán states the base option does provide an additional added instructional opportunity to the school system and not just the Career Center.
· Dr. Durán reiterates that his recommendation is the base as the option that the Board will consider to have a facility at the Career Center that is comparable to the other high schools that meets the instructional needs and current needs and one that truly invests in the future and is innovative and to expand and support the students.
· Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Gerald Mann, Jr. presented the following:
o States that career and technical education (CTE) is the way – creating opportunities for students going to college. Expanding career and technical education opportunities through enhancement and expansion of career cluster and pathways.
o There are 17 national career clusters; APS currently has 14/17 career clusters
o APS has no Manufacturing, marketing or energy and mentions we have room to grow
o Top industries in the area are IT cloud computing, healthcare, retail services, and transportation and logistics.
o Future George Mason Lab – an open space, has the things that are needed and the flexibility to change. Reference slide and talks about the picture and what is happening in the picture
o Health and medical lab – where students can see what telehealth is all about, have virtual patients.
o Cloud computing – connects to space and how do they lock it down. Mentions smart house. Make sure its secure so someone can’t hack into your house.
o Retail services and manufacturing lab Slide
o Transportation and logistics lab cluster
o Included slide comparing base and alternative options
o Are we investing in right now or in the future? The only limit is our imagination, we need to invest in the future.
o Dr. Durán introduces Mrs. Harbor, who recommends the school board approve the following actions:
§ Approve the revised BASE and ALTERNATIVE educational specification, dates, 09/15/2022
§ Directs staff to proceed into the use permit phase, developing a use permit amendment application use the base option
§ Directs staff to pursue cost sharing discussions with Arlington County for project scope that provides mutually beneficial public improvements.
§ Approve available project funding to $182.42M (with portion bond funding still contingent on voter approval), by approving use of $7.8M from capital reserve
Certain School Board members then had follow up comments/questions, including:
· Ms. Kadera had a clarifying question:
o When we hear about the 17 career cluster that the state has put up are CTE focus
o This would expand and when we talk about the instruction benefit would expand the CTE offering to all of our students – Dr. Mann says: yes, our students are pushing careers more. Make sure to have those career options to determine what level of education they want to move into.
o Ms. Kadera is hesitant to approve to spend that amount of money
o Dr. Durán believes its important and it gives more opportunities to those students. This is for our students who are not full time but the full time students can benefit as well. He believes this is an investment to the future for the career path that fits them the best.
· Mr.Goldstein asks what plans they have for the number of seats at the career center compared to the fulltime vs part time. How will determine who takes those seats
· Mr. Priddy moves with the school board to approve
· Ms. Kadera talked about the conflicts of enrollment, budget considerations and instruction, but ultimately votes to approve the motion, which passes unanimously.
Information/Action Items:
1. Randolph Elementary School Roof Replacement Project
· Meikle requesting approval of roof replacement; had approval for summer 2022 but timelines for materials and supplies (supply shortages, etc) meant project could not be completed on time, so deferred project. Extremely early approval / planning (planned for summer 2023) in order to ensure materials are ordered immediately and are available by next summer.
· Chose Northeast Corporation: $2.3M and coming from previous bonds already in place; price is locked in
· Dr. Kanninen: solar panels? Answer: not best roof for solar, but will be in condition that panels could be installed at later date if desired.
· Mr. Goldstein question: related issues of windows and HVAC? Answer: those have already been addressed, the roof is the last piece. Did repairs in order to install new HVAC, etc. Meikle reassures that new roof can be installed around new HVAC, with flashing etc. Should actually be easier to do with new materials in place.
· Kadera moves to pass motion: motion passes unanimosly
2. Lease for Temporary Location of Arlington Community High School
· Current location (Fenwick) will be demolished Summer 2023. Permanent place will be PenPlace at Amazon’s headquarters per agreement with County (2026)
· Temporary location will be Ballston neighborhood where Children’s School was previously
· Lease negotiations lasted a long time: that’s why it needs action, they need to get started ASAP
· Asking for approval of $1.9M. From future budget years reserve; operating budget, not capital expense
· Mr. Priddy clarifies that there’s a sense of urgency—may not accomplish this move on time, correct? Yes, doing everything in their power to ensure.
· Dr. Kanninen to John Mayo: what do we have in future budget reserve right now? Yes, we have $24.46M
· Discussion about funding: First half of year out of the future funds, but second half of year will come from current operating budget.
· Dr. Kanninen moves to approve motion, motion passes unanimously
3. Career Center Project: Architecture and Engineering Fee
· Change order that must be approved because it increases total amount by 25% and is over $100,000
· Fees are needed to complete Use Permit Phase
· Change order will not exceed ~$11M, but exact amount is not finalized yet
· Ms. Kadera question about amounts, did it grow from $2.4M to $13M?
Original $2.4M covered building scope “as they went”, design phase essentially, got proposal from designers for each step rather than whole process; if we could time travel backwards we would have been able to estimate that all those services would cost no more than ~$13M
· To be voted on at November 10 meeting
4. Taylor Elementary Improvements: Kitchen and Entrance Improvements
· Taylor and Williamsburg carved off from other schools as separate project to deal with supply chain issues
· All bids were lower than ultimate costs: budget was $8.2 mil for updates at 4 schools, now is up to $8.8 (due to inflation and “cost escalations”), 600k higher than originally estimated
· Question: is this cost increase normal? Yes, 14% increase is what they’re seeing across lots of costs/expenditures
· All bond-funded in previous bond and part of current CIP
· To be voted on at November 10 meeting
See the Scorecard.
