Summary of 11/10/2022 SB Meeting
Meeting began at 7 PM with the Arlington Career Center Space Force JROTC Cadets Corps presenting the colors.
Consent Agenda
Consent agenda vote was announced, motion made by Cristina Diaz-Torres and seconded by David Priddy. Vote was 5-0 yeas. School Board approved amendments to School Board policy G-2.32 Prevention of Sexual Misconduct and Abuse to ensure compliance with Virginia law and the hiring of Mr. Fleming as Supervisor of Social Studies.
Local legislators met at Cardinal Elementary for “Take Your Legislators To School Month”.
Announcements from Board members followed, including Escuela Key’s October events and Yorktown Field Hockey teams upcoming tournament.
Superintendent’s Announcements
Dr. Durán started with more information on “Every Student Counts” and their use of data and assessments. A video followed to show how teachers collaborate while reviewing assessments and planning instruction.
Dr. Durán then covered National School Psychology Week. 15% of APS school psychologists are bilingual and 10% born outside of the US. All hold Master’s, Specialist or Doctorate degrees and 87% are national certified by a professional organization. Dr. Durán considers them “the heart of the school.” He then recognized Native American Heritage Month.
An update on PAPER usage
PAPER is used by middle school and high school. The number one subject accessed to far was math. During school hours of 8:00-4:00 PM is 57% of sessions but 46,259 minutes of the use with after hours usage at 43% of sessions with 67,40 minutes.
Update on extended day benefits
Any extended day aides working at least 15 hours per week will be eligible for benefits, including accrual of sick leave. Extended day aides will not be deemed temporary employees. If they work less than 15 hours they are classified as a substitute and not eligible for benefits. Staff were informed on November 9th.
Nominations are open for the “Best of APS”
Open through December 9th.
Some positions that can be nominated are Principal, Assistant Principal, Teacher and Support Employees. Leadership has been added as an award category as well.
School Bond
The Bond was approved by 76.76%. Thanks was given to the School Board Bond Chairs. Congratulations was also given to School Board-Elect Bethany Sutton.
The “Bright Spot” was on student achievements in music and “World Kindness Day.”
Mr. Priddy asked about a breakdown on PAPER usage during school hours and why Swanson has a much higher usage rate. Dr. Durán speculated that it may be because Bridget Loft was the former Chief Academic Officer and supported PAPER and is now the Swanson principal. Ms. Kadera asked about how much time teachers have to meet together to discuss the data and assessments. Dr. Durán said teachers meet at least once a week to discuss.
Then public comment commenced with one speaker on COVID vaccines.
Monitoring Items
· Mr. Mayo presented on Operational Efficiency. He began with introductions of the staff present at the meeting. He mentioned that APS meets with the County every Thursday. Strategies to improve system-wide operations include managing resources equitably, provide high-performance learning and working environment, redesign or eliminate inefficient services and systematically improve the quality of organizational operations. He then discussed planning factors. The School Board had directed the Superintendent to review planning factors with an equity lens. The study must be completed by Fall 2023 to ensure recommendations are available for the FY2025 budget. They are beginning the process now with Budget Advisory Council. A consultant will be hired in 2023.
· Mr. Raj Adusumilli, Assistant Superintendent with Information Services, then updated the enterprise resource planning (ERP) Status. ERP is the system of record that effects a lot of key positions including HR functions. The current ERP platform was implemented in 2055 and is running outdated technology with limited functionality and is out of compliance. They are current in the development stage with discovery completed. Next will be interviews and negotiations. The new system will streamline job postings by working with sites like LinkedIn and job applicant processes. Currently there are too many internal “touch points” to be efficient.
· Minor construction and major maintenance (MCMM) presented by Renee Harber, Asst. Superintendent for Facilities and Operations. Those are small to medium level projects ($20,000-$500,00) like floorcoverings, gyms, HVAC equipment replacements and playgrounds. Anything over $500,000 requires school board approval.
· Transportation efficiencies SY2022-23 were then discussed. APS consolidated routes because of bell time changes. That has caused a 5% improvement in comparisons to this time last year. Hub stop systems are currently experiencing 86% on-time arrivals. The hub stops service 11 option schools/programs. Hub stops are not necessarily walkable but are designed to be central. Currently 3,884 households us the Where’s My Bus application. The iRide Fare Fee program allows students to ride public transportation for free. About 400 students ride each weekday.
· Sustainability efforts was presented next. Includes food waste and budget planning for sustainability initiatives.
· The “Bright Spots” are creative recruitment efforts to attract new drivers to APS, transparent communication with “Where’s the Bus” and solar arrays at four locations. Information services has addressed more than 16,250 service requests and integrated 40+ new or updated digital resources including HMH Into Reading, Amplify and Savvas.
· Cristina Diaz-Torres highlighted the appendix saying it is “awesome” and “fascinating” with a high “level of transparency and clarity on our data.” She recommends checking out page 14 of the RFP for the ERP to see a diagram of the inefficiencies. She then brought up planning factors, particularly with regards to the Office of Special Education and ensuring the eventual consultant will have access to background. She also highlighted that the call center volume is about 1/3rd of the same time last year.
· David Priddy wanted to ensure that we partner with the County for negotiations on the ERP RFP. He also wanted to know how many MCMM projects are remaining. He also mentioned bus driver recruiting. He’s heard several comments that the buses are too full. Transportation responded that 77 passengers is the max buses can accommodate.
· Barbara Kanninen brought up late arrivals. Right now they currently show 9% late arrivals. She also mentioned the budget covers the sustainability staff at schools. She also questioned how parents and school principals find out the status of their MCMM requests. Currently, they’d need to check in with the facilities office.
· Mary Kadera tied the MCMM policy on 20K-500K threshold for MCMM impacts PTA grant requests. She also asked what the timeline is to replace student devices based on a speaker from the last school board meeting. Mr. Adusumilli said their goal is 24 hours. Ms. Kadera then asked about slide 30 in the appendix based on AM and PM arrivals for the bus routes showing percentage of on-time and late-time arrivals. She is concerned about the cluster of schools averaging 25% or more of late arrivals. Ms. Harber says that most late buses are option schools. She added that she cannot create ART routes, but that ART hasn’t yet adjusted its routes based on new APS start times, but it is starting to do that so as to address our most popular routes.
· Goldstein asks about Safe Routes to Schools transportation position. Ms. Harber says it is still open, has held round of interviews, that “it’s a specialized position, will be cautious in who they select because of the unique nature of the work”. Ms. Harber says ART is experiencing a staffing shortage and APS is experiencing a driver shortage. Safe Routes to school is only one aspect of the position: TDM position would also be staff liaison to JCTC and ACTC committees, TDM reports for when we have to get construction permits, will be communications piece of multimodal program. Kadera mentions there is desire for the school’s transportation system to eventually be carbon neutral.
· Goldstein says he receives a lot of email about the Hub Stops and their lack of safety. Neighborhood stop is less than mile for EL students and upper students under 1.5 mile. Hub stops not this way; staff who designed them are gone now; many hub stops are under a mile but that’s not always true or walkable, depends on location, could be a major street, no sidewalks, etc. Ms. Harbor says they need to review the program as it was designed in 2019 because Arlington has changed a lot since. Goldstein clarifies he is asking about whether protocol is safety, safe for walkers to get there alone. Ms. Harbor says that is not the case for Hub stops, so a parent drives or otherwise escorts children to the stops, and explains that because a hub stop review may be able to increase safety of stop but that could make the stop farther away / longer walk. Adding more stops doesn’t necessarily increase efficiency.
· Goldstein asks further: what about crowding at stop? Ms. Harbor responds that her team has visited the stop which received news coverage—stop is at 2 high rise apt buildings. They can’t control number of students in those buildings, stop itself is very large and has pull-off for the bus. Have not observed student behavior that is unsafe, but rather citizen behavior that is safe (cars going by)—there was also poor vehicular behavior by Alice West Fleet.
· Goldstein asks about MCMM vs Work Orders: Work orders are not publicly facing, correct? Are MCMM public? Ms. Harbor says in our budget you will see many line items on p543 in a chart. Are PTAs able to see this list? Budget is from superintendent process. If we share the list and then priorities shift because of sudden issue (i.e. roof leaking)—we’re cautious about sharing list, because don’t want people to be upset if they see something get tabled.
Action Items
Taylor Elementary and Williamsburg Middle entrance improvements
· Presented at last SB meeting, no new information but Jeffrey Chambers is available for questions. No questions or comments from board members.
Motion from Kanninen to take actions: award contracts to Matthews Group Inc, $1.271 million for Taylor renovations and $1.975 million for Williamsburg renovations, and approve budget of $8.82 million from kitchen and entrance/security vestibule renovation program funding to support renovations at Gunston, Wakefield, Taylor and Williamsburg.
Motion passes unanimously, 2:01
ACC Architecture and Engineering Fee
· Presented at the last meeting, but update from Jeffrey Chambers on total fees. Was set to not exceed 11 million, math has been finalized; individual change order to contract is $10.938 million. Resulting contract will not exceed $13,410 million, from which 25% increase will later be calculated. Motion made, passes unanimously
Dr. John Mayo: Action item: Fiscal Year 2023 Federal Pandemic Relief Bonus
· Money must be spent by Dec 1st. In 2022-24 biennial budget planned to give one-time bonus to staff. Receiving 2.9million and only qualifies for minimum SOQ which means only half of APS staff could receive bonus.
· Guidance came out that school divisions can determine amount of bonus paid in order to maximize the funds without requiring local matching funds. Needs board approval to spend this money in presented breakdown; depending on FTE status how much different staff receive in one-time bonus, up to $500. Flat amounts sent as separate check Nov 18.
· Question from Kanninen: We are just passing through federal funds that have been set/approved by VDOE, correct? Yes, that is correct (Mayo).
· Motion made by Kadera, Diaz-Torres suggests minor amendment so language says check is received “on or after” Nov 18 to give flexibility in case any amounts need to be adjusted
· Motion to pass amendment: passes. Back to main motion, as amended: no comments, unanimously passes.
Information Item
School board Legislative Package
Diaz-Torres: Core Legislative Package that APS has been advocating for in Richmond
Former director of personnel Ms. Wise presenting:
o First time we’ve been on site in 2-3 years, had been lobbying from home. Short session: 6 week session starts Jan 11.
o APS does not agree with what is coming out of Governor’s office
o Arlington was first, then Falls Church, to say that we’re not going to do what Richmond is saying; no court cases yet but probably will soon
APS holds the following positions:
o continuation of previously adopted policy protecting students from discrimination due to gender expression, identify, harassment, and transgender status.
o increased state funding for school facility modernization
o EL pupil/teacher ratios should be based on English proficiency level of students
o Support services should be funded based on local practices
o Full funding of Standards of Quality
o Halifax Model of 1% sales tax for school construction and modernization
o Cost of Competing Factor in reimbursement formula for planning district 8
o Virginia Literary Act which enables nationally-recognized research-based screener to asses student deficiencies, rather than PALS (which is local to UVA), which is cutting edge
o Enhancements to VA code that ensures officials are informed when a teacher or other school division employee is arrested for certain offenses
o Goals of Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education Practices advisory committee that was established by 2020 General Assembly
o Current policy regarding in-state tuition for DACA recipients. Some legislators saying they will try to eliminate that option this year.
APS opposes:
o Any diversion of public education funds to private schools in the form of vouchers or other reimbursements for parents for K-12 education expenses
Comments/Questions
· Priddy: culturally relevant advisory committee—just wanted to mention that Durán was chair of that committee
· Kadera: When we had our work session on English Learners, we talked about fact that VA our SOLs there is not an option for ELs to take them in their native language. Is that a legislative issue? Durán says not sure, it may be in code or if it’s directive from VDOE—it’s allowable under federal law, but do not remember if Virginia allows, if we would need to work with VDOE. Kadera: if it’s a code thing, I would like for us to champion that.
· Kadera: Teacher pipeline, issues training/recruiting to profession, whether scholarships, housing credits, grow-your-own, etc. in toolbox. Is that also being talked about as legislative priority in VA or would it move through other pathways? Wise: it’s not a priority because school divisions can already do these things, i.e. Hanover County is training and providing incentives, etc. Some school divisions provide housing for teachers, etc. Virginia is in a bad place for this issue, not producing half the teachers we need. Kadera: are there state funds to support these kinds of initiatives? Durán : SB might want to add as part of a funding request for recruiting teachers in legislative package.
· Kanninen: this is a terrific package, a lot of supports, like the breadth of this package
· Board will act on this package at Dec 1st meeting
Last information item: Annual Report on Summer School and Fees, 2023
Introduction, Durán:
· Report from last summer. Vision for upcoming summer, although much will come during budget discussions. If any proposed fee increases, would need Board action: not any, though. This is not last opportunity to talk about upcoming summer
Dr. Mann (chief academic officer) and Ms. Coronel (summer school coordinator)
Ms. Coronel
· Student data from 2022: Main foci were: math and reading for students below-grade level, EL language skills, credit recovery for secondary students, and extended school year for SWDs
· “Almost back from pre-pandemic”—although slide says there were only 2,808 when 2019 had 3,631.
· Highlights: small class sizes, staff pay incentives, in-person learning, focused on strengthening math and reading.
· Places for improvement: expenditures, teacher recruitment, too much time commitment from staff across many offices, need more consistent data for measuring summer school impact on academic performance, adding new curriculum resources
· Data: HS students, 87% passing grade after summer school, 96% MS students passed, some withdrew because they did not attend, some still struggled. DIBELS: 17.4% to 25% from Spring 2022 to Fall 2022 assessments, narrowed gap by 7%. Math Inventory; across grade levels for all APS students, and then compare to those who went to Summer School; Students who attended summer school averaged 6-7 percentage points higher in difference from Spring and Fall MI
Dr. Mann
· Opening up summer school from needing help in math AND reading to math OR reading—big change from last year. Research shows that data 2+ years is more helpful to designing programs. Need to focus on how to take lift off of schools when we’re writing letters for eligibility, trying to centralize this effort. Summer school is whole new school year and programming is different for each level (ES/MS/HS).
· Something new is “virtual boost courses” available to anyone, even if not qualified for summer school. Trying to engage students to prevent summer slide. Also offering rising 9th and 10th graders to access PE.
· Partnership with Parks and Rec
· How do we co-locate programming and partner to serve students of county. They are considering 4 longer days rather than 5. May help with teacher recruitment but also good for students so they can have some fun. Would keep totals the same but Friday is day for enrichment to get energy out and have different experiences. But how to help families on Fridays if they need childcare?
· Not proposing any fee changes, keep same from last year; not charging at all for summer bridge classes from WL and Wakefield (for enrolling in AP courses)
Questions from Board:
o Priddy: Part of why we didn’t have more students last year was because we didn’t have enough teachers; he is all for any initiatives that improve student recruitment.
o Diaz-Torres: staffing and applications for staffing being too much of a black hole, if they were hired, etc. Hiring for summer school happens concurrently with hiring for upcoming school year, and latter gets more attention. How can we use Summer School as trial period for teachers who aren’t sure if they want to apply to APS? Excited about co-located programs; we had a similar model when I was in summer camp, half was academic and other half was robotics lego camp. Elephant in the room: Registration, parks and rec has had trouble, “Hunger Games” battle to register for enrichment—my concern is we can’t end up where families who are eligible for summer school are not able to get into enrichment programs that are collocated at our schools because of systemic failures. Need to make that registration process coherent and smooth.
o Dr. Mann; yes, I spoke to Ms. Rudolph yesterday about that issue. We are planning how to make the colocation work in practice. How do we get names of our registrants to parks n rec in an effective way, etc. Going to be meted out in details soon.
o Durán : We will not bring forth proposal for 4 days without guaranteeing that you automatically get the 5th day. There are 2 possibilities –I would never allow proposal where you need to sign up separately for 5th day with parks and rec; we will provide the 5 days, all 5 days including transportation for the 5th day.
o Diaz-Torres: That is a very helpful clarification.
o Kanninen: Let us know if you need more support along the way. Questions on different topics: we had hiatus for a while on CC enrichment program; not APS summer school, but it is APS in the summer. Have we thought about why that is separate registration or shouldn’t it all be part of same catalogue? Outdoor Lab too?
o Mann: Just discussed that yesterday evening. When we say Summer, what does that mean, we’re continuing to explore how to address that. No answers yet, just wrapping their heads around that.
o Kanninen: Work for credit—Health / PE/ personal finance etc: How do we offer those classes, are they online? Just a thought, why not also expand ability to take classes at CC in summer, so kids have flexibility during year to take other things (and not have periods taken up by PE, for instance)
o Mann: We’re thinking about this. In previous job, most popular summer course was always PE whether virtual or in person.
o Kadera: Very excited there’s new energy and thinking about summer school. Monitoring report from last summer school when I first started were pretty depressing. Over budget, inconclusion academic achievement, constriction of who could take it, no good-news headlines. What I’m hearing this year: parents have asked for expansion of eligibility, looks like APS is adding / expanding offerings. I like the idea that it’s a 5 day program that provides both school and enrichment to get “best of both worlds”. Like idea of parks and rec providing camp-like experience after school is over, i.e. part-day components before or after school. Might want to consider choosing summer school sites based on food insecurity rates so food distribution services could also be collocated.
o Goldstein: thank you I look forward to how this matures. School board approved summer school fees last year, and they haven’t changed, so no vote necessary for upcoming fees.
· No New Business—meeting adjourned.
See the scorecard.
