Summary of 11/30/23 School Board Meeting
Meeting Open:
Chair Cristina Diaz-Tores opened the meeting, indicating Dr. Durán would be participating virtually.
Announcements/Questions/Comments:
Chair Announcements: Board Member Diaz-Torres detailed a number of APS meetings taking place over the next month. She also reminded the community that APS is still accepting applications for the School Board advisory councils for this school year.
School Liaison announcements: Before Thanksgiving, Board Member Kadera attended the National Honor Society induction at Arlington Tech and English Learner Academy. Also attended “A Giant’s Tale” at Cardinal Elementary. Board Member Reid Goldstein announced Oakridge Elementary is supporting their Holiday Hope Campaign. Escuela Key’s Mr. Tony had a book published. Also, on December 5 at 6:30 at Escuela Key there is an information session for parents of English Learners. They will learn about assessments such as DIBELs, PALs, plus accessing the Standards Based Learning that will be implemented at Key for the first time.
Every Student Counts: Project Based Learning video from Jamestown Elementary.
ALL In Tutoring plan submitted to VDOE to provide tutoring for eligible elementary and middle school students in Reading or Math before, during and after school. The request was made earlier in the week and Dr. Durán emphasized that APS is focused on making sure the funds would go to the schools. Inviting community members to apply to be tutors.
Kicked off Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 2023 Literary and Visual Arts Contest.
Calendar Update – Early Release 12/6/2023 and Winter Break 12/21-1/1
Attendance Matters Every Day – Since school closures during COVID, APS has seen an uptick in overall days number of students are absent. Chronic absenteeism is 18 days or more.
Latino Youth Leadership Conference was hosted on November 17.
Bright Spot – Escuela Key featured by US DOE at an event on November 16.
Questions: Board Member Kadera if the ALL In plan that was submitted is available for anyone who wants to see it. She also wants to hear about training for tutoring. Dr. Durán said VDOE will post the APS plan and other plans that are submitted. Dr. Gerald Mann indicated they are building out the training now. Board Member Zecher Sutton asked how the plan will be implemented since APS can’t hire all the tutors all at once. She wants to know how it will be triaged. Dr. Mann answered but did not provide much detail how it will be done.
Public Comment:
There is now a student-produced video to share the guidelines. There were 15 speakers, 1 call-in, 14 in-person. Two teachers spoke on teacher concerns, 1 teacher spoke on Secondary English Learner changes, 7 speakers spoke on Family Life Education (FLE), 4 speakers spoke on MPSA/Career Center PIP and one speaker spoke on other items.
Monitoring Item: Safety, Security and Emergency Management
Chief of School Support Kim Graves introduced Aaron Queen and Jim Miller – this area was recently moved to the Office of School Support. The mission is to safeguard students, staff and community. Key programs include School Safety Coordinators, Public Address Systems, Emergency Notifications, Access Control, Security Cameras. Capital Improvement Projects include Lock & Key, Card Reader Replacement and new Public Address Systems. A link to the presentation can be found here.
Questions: Member Zecher Sutton helped with the presentations. She asked them to explain a tabletop exercise. This is when they go into a room and sit down at a table to work through scenarios. On Slide 11 she wanted emphasize the role of School Safety Coordinators. It’s “not just a security guard.” Member Kadera complimented them on the relationships the SSCs have. She liked the tabletop exercises. A question is are they having drills at various times? They said they would be doing that. There was an active student threat at W&L 2 years ago. Is there a way of neighbors around the school to get information about what is going on? How does APS collaborate with the County on this? Now there is technology so that everyone is informed very quickly. Alongside is stakeholder engagement. The County is responsible for information the community. Lock and key/card access – what happens when they are not working? If there is an issue – who do they speak with? Lock & Key – this is under Facilities and uses a work order system. The team is going into 11,700 locks to make sure all are working. Card Access is also work order and moved to Safety, Security and Emergency.
Action Item - Family Life Education (FLE):
Steven Marku, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs: There is a policy and there is a PIP. Policies are voted on by the Board and the Policy Implementation Procedures (PIP) are done by the Superintendent and presented to the Board for information purposes. This was presented in early November. There were no policy changes from 3 weeks ago. Regarding the PIP there were 2 changes:
Delete “Teachers will not, in whole class instruction, demonstrate the use of contraceptives.” According to staff, this was meant to be deleted earlier.
Add “Understand the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by teenagers’ abstaining from sexual activity before marriage.” This language is consistent with the language used in the Code of Virginia. Removed out-of-date and redundant language
Add language to align with Code of Virginia, including requiring the School Board to review the Family Life curriculum at least every 7 years.
Questions/Comments: Dr. Durán quickly commented on how there is information for parents on how to opt out but did not say where this was stated. Member Kadera asked about this topic. She said she could see the language about how the parents could opt out but it was less clear that the parents could ask for alternative scenarios for instructions. It mentioned in the PIP that staff had this toolkit of instruction methods that they could use but it was not as clear that parents could affirmatively ask for this. Debbie DeFranco, Supervisor of Health Physical and Driver Education & Athletics clarified that opting out totally is really the only option. There is no way to opt out of the “strategies”. Member Kadera then clarified that APS is using an opt out as the way to alleviate parent concerns. It is a binary opt in/opt out. Ms. Zecher Sutton asked about the concern about teachers demonstrating contraceptives. Ms. DeFranco said it could be video or in person.
Ms. Zecher Sutton motioned that the Board adopt revisions to the FLE policy. Board Member Priddy seconds this motion. Ms. Zecher Sutton wanted to reiterate that the PIP notes that says the staff will make sure developmentally appropriate. Mrs. Kadera appreciates the way they have discussed this since they received so much feedback. She is mindful that they want to recruit members to the advisory boards. She specifically mentioned SHAB. “This [keeping the option for gender separate small group classes] is their one recommendation to the Board on this issue.” They are not always in lock-step with feedback from advisors. Mr. Goldstein thinks they have a good policy. Mr. Priddy talked about policy vs. practice. Ms. Diaz-Torres will support the changes. She emphasized “developmentally appropriate” and mentioned that if students didn’t learn about this in school they would seek out information on the internet.
Motion passed 5 to 0
Action Item – Middle and High School Programs of Studies presentation:
Questions: Ms. Kadera has questions about chronic absenteeism. As we track the changes, should we see this go down? She also asked about the staffing. Ms. Zecher Sutton wants to make sure that APS is sensitive to teachers as they implement changes. Mr. Goldstein asked about the results of the 7th and 8th intensified. They only have anecdotal at this time. There are some scheduling issues and they may need to get consultants to help work on master schedule. Mr. Priddy asked if there is a plan to train faculty for ELs. Yes there is a plan and some is underway. Ms. Kadera asked what intensified means and it is deeper into the standards, not necessarily faster but than can happen.
Ms. Kadera motioned that the Board approve the Middle and High School Programs of Studies for the school year 2024-2025. Ms. Kadera comments that many comments were on ELs and 6th grade intensified but it is broader than this. 6th Grade intensified and team model are in tension with each other. It is a scheduling and a staffing issue. She requests that the board be fully aware of the trade-offs. At what middle schools is this in conflict? They need the data. They don’t want to go back to tracking. Mr. Goldstein has heartburn about the intensified classes, particularly the lack of data. But everything does not have to be perfect before moving forward. Ms. Zecher Sutton provided some accolades. Ms. Diaz-Torres also provided some accolades.
Motion passed 5 to 0
Information Item – Randolph Elementary School Kitchen Renovations:
Jeffrey Chambers, Director, Design and Construction – renovations for entirely new kitchen. Interior work will start when school lets out in June 2024 and be completed when school reopens in the fall. This could change. The staff requests approval for funds, which is currently available. They ask for the contract be awarded to The Matthews Group. Total cost of $2.55 million, under the estimate of $2.89 million.
Questions: Ms. Zecher Sutton asked about having multiple years not able to use the school at Randoph this summer. She feels compelled to comment when do these renovations in serial manner, is there a way to do them all at the same time.
Information Item – Claremont Elementary School Vestibule and Office Relocation Construction Contract:
Jeffrey Chambers, Director, Design and Construction – swapping classroom and office locations similar to Williamsburg. Will begin late spring or summer of 2024 and be complete after school opens in fall of 2024. Initial budget was $1.98 million but now estimated at $2.624 million. Funding is currently available to support his. Asking to approve the $2.624 budget and to award the contract to Nastos Construction for $1.59 million.
Questions: Mr. Priddy asked about the total budget cost vs. just the construction cost. Ms. Kadera asked why this is coming in higher. Randolph is all within the building. At Claremont there are some things outside the building. She is happy to see this project accelerating.
Information Item – Revisions to the 2023-2024 Calendar:
Due to schools being used as polling places, changing March 5, 2024 from a school day to a non-school day. Staff will have a workday. Instruction days will decrease by 1 to 179 while instructional hours will remain above requirement.
Information Item – Proposed 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 School Year Calendars:
A school calendar must be180 instruction days or 990 instruction hours.
Calendar Committee comprised of internal and external stakeholders.
Proposed calendars equivalent of 13 days over the 990 instructional hours.
Questions: Ms. Kadera asked about Early Release Days. The calendar adds Early Release Days. While staff wants more opportunities for professional learning days but this put pressure on parents to arrange childcare. They use Wednesdays at most of the Early Release Days but not certain why. Ms. Kadera asked about how this fits for conferences. They don’t want half days for conferences as a permanent move. Ms. Zecher Sutton clarified that most months will have a Wednesday Early Release Days. She was confused why this was added back when in the past there were more monthly Early Release Days. Mrs. Graves confirmed there were more days in the past and in fact that WEEKLY Wednesday Early Release was taken away to add instructional hours. She can follow up with what factors led to the decision to shift that. Ms. Zecher Sutton says if feels like we are returning to something that was problematic. Mr. Priddy agreed that we need to find out why APS shifted away from many Early Release Days. Ms. Zecher Sutton wants to make sure due diligence was done on when the Eid Holiday is celebrated.
Information Item – 2024-2030 APS Strategic Plan Foundations Superintendent’s Proposed:
Jonathan Turrisi, Special Projects Advisor along with Stephen Linkous, Dr. Megan Doyle, Maggie Slye.
A Steering Committee was appointed by May 2023 and this group contributed to the plan.
The Steering Committee included 8 parents/community members, 9 APS Staff and 2 students.
RTO International was the external partner.
The plan has 4 phases
Phase 1 – Planning (Spring-Fall 2023)
Phase 2 – Development of Plan (SY 2023-2024)
Phase 3 – Implement and Monitor (2024-2026)
Phase 4 – Tuning Process (Spring 2026)
Feedback themes: DEI, Academic Excellence, Quality Workforce, College/Career Readiness, Safety.
Mr. Turrisi presented the recommendation and walked through the current strategic plan, the Steering Committee’s recommendation and any changes made by the Superintendent.
Academic excellence is included in this recommendation.
The actual recommendation with be on December 14, 2023.
Questions: Dr. Durán indicated they will keep Steering Committee connected but it appears more staff will be involved in the next phase. Mr. Goldstein asked about the vision. How will we know if we get to the academic excellence targets. The response is in spring 2024 targets will begin to be set. Mr. Goldstein thinks Mission should come before Vision. Dr. Doyle said Vision is long-range and the Mission gets APS there. Mr. Goldstein wants to be clear what the Board will vote on December 14, 2023 – the Vision, the Mission, the Core Values and the Priorities. There was some discussion of how the latter wo will help APS develop Performance Objectives and Strategies. Ms. Zecher Sutton commented that she was so excited about the consistent use of the Oxford comma. She really does want to know what “world class education” means. She says it feels jargony. Under Stewardship environmentally sustainable will not be underlined – in presentation it is hyperlinked. Under Valuing Staff she has pause about “and benefits our community” because she wants to keep the staff at the center of this value. Ms. Kadera will send some suggestions offline. One thing she wants the Steering Committee to be recognized. She wanted to highlight the number of responses vs. the last time. In 2017, they had 360 respondents while in 2023 there were 4,200 in the first round. For the 2nd survey in 2017 there were around 350 respondents while 2nd round this time there were 1,200.
