Summary of 12/1/22 School Board Meeting
Opening/Consent Items:
Board Chairman Reid Goldstein opened the 12/1/22 meeting by having the Arlington Career Center JROTC space force Cadet Core present the colors.
Goldstein then welcomed the HB Woodlawn chamber singers and conductor Bill Buttowski to deliver a winter musical performance.
Recognitions:
Mr. Goldstein recognized School Board member Barbara Kanninen to recognize the co-chairs of the APS bond committee, Anthony Maderal and Debbie Pierre Louis. Mr. Maderal provided comments celebrating the passage of the bond.
Consent Agenda:
The School Board unanimously (5-0) adopted the consent agenda which included an additional day off on Friday April 21, 2023 for Eid.
Announcements:
Meeting Announcements:
December 7 policy subcommittee meeting at 4 PM in the ward conference room
December 8 there will be a closed meeting at 5:30 PM and a work session on the enrollment and capacity planning at 6:30pm
December 13 there will be a work session on the Virtual Learning Program at 5 PM and the board
December 15 there will be a School Board meeting at 7 PM in the Board Room.
Mr. Goldstein congratulated Barbara Kanninen’s award given to the regional school board member of the year at the Virginia School Board Association annual meeting.
Member Kanninen recognized other achievements during the annual meeting, including an APS award for excellence in risk management, Dan Johnson for his presentation on reimagining the role of SROs at APS, and APS Career Center students for their 2nd place finish in the meeting’s annual video contest.
Mr. Goldstein recognized contributions made by both Glebe and Abington Elementary, PTA, staff, and students.
Superintendent Durán discussed how he is still motoring to development of guidance from the state of Virginia on the rights of transgender students and reiterated APS as commitment to creating a safe and inclusionary environment. He also reiterated APS’s commitment to teaching a history curriculum for all students and is monitoring developing guidance changes at the state level.
Dr. Durán also highlighted the services APS provides to gifted students and provided an update on 1st quarter academic progress. The student progress dashboard was updated and APS will be providing a new growth measure for reading data on December 9.
Finally, Dr. Durán recognized all the APS schools that participated in the reading is fundamental book giveaway and all the students that participated in the Latino Youth Leadership conference at George Mason University.
Board Member Mary Kadera commented on the Superintendent’s review of APS’s Gifted Services and expressed a desire to have more gifted RTG’s and have them more included in planning factor work.
Public Comment
The public comment portion of the meeting featured 3 speakers:
Speaker 1: discussed the need to include more teacher voices in decision-making. Specifically discussed the recent calendar survey as an example of this problem.
Speaker 2: Spoke on behalf of APE our concerns over the calendar selection, the need to align with nearby jurisdictions and the impact of holiday closures and how they can disproportionately impact populations.
Speaker 3: Spoke about concerns over the calendar selection and how the selected choice has a negative impact on teachers.
Monitoring report:
Amy Jackson, the Supervisor of Educational Technology, presented a monitoring report on the use of educational technology in APS.
Member Kadera asked how APS Considers The Concept Of Digital Citizenship versus digital literacy. Ms. Jackson explained the difference as having access versus having a real understanding about how to use it.
Member Kanninen thanked Ms. Jackson for helping to put a technology vision in place. She also asked if we should still be considering the question of whether younger grades should have devices and what the right grades are for switching from an iPad to a laptop (specifically related to middle school).
Ms. Jackson emphasized that she thought technology should be used in some way at all grade levels, but we have to be thoughtful about how we are using that technology, and scale up effectively so the technology is helping students to do things that they couldn’t do otherwise.
Board Member Diaz-Torres commented on her positive experience watching teachers use technology for both math and reading in classroom settings. She praised the effectiveness of learning on devices after observing a class where students were watching the World Cup on their iPads while simultaneously being taught by a teacher a lesson about the American internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Board Member Priddy asked if they were planning to use the planning factor to determine the numbers ITC. Dr. Durán indicated that he doesn’t believe that it is the case, but can still be under consideration.
Board Member Kadera addressed the need to question what’s being considered for streamlining or reconsidered for abandonment given new knowledge, and the need to keep in mind the endgame with technology, as opposed to using technology as just a means.
Action Item 1: School Board Legislative Package
Lilla Wise, the APS Legislative Liaison, thanked Board members for coming to the Legislative Breakfast. SHe covered the following changes:
SB represents Arlington County and will set policy and curriculum, and allocate resources that are in the best interest of our community, despite what the State says.
In policy, adding: We oppose diversion of any funding from public schools to private schools, including to lab schools.
Adding: The Arlington School Board supports legislation that requires gun owners to keep their weapons and ammunition safely in locked storage when not in use to ensure that they do not fall into the hands of children who can use them to harm themselves or harm those in the schools and the community.
She commented that APS is not taking guns away from people or keeping people from buying them, APS just wants to keep guns out of schools.
Board Member Diaz-Torres moved to approve the changes to the Legislative Package. Board Member David Priddy seconded it. THe Board voted 5-0 to approve.
Ms. Wise then noted that the legislative session starts January 11, 2023 and it’s a short six-week session.
Information Items
The Heights Building Phase 1 Change Order for Washington Gas
Construction of The Heights Building Phase 1 required significant work by Washington Gas; particularly due to the redevelopment of 18th St N. There was a lot more work than the estimate because it wasn’t just standard gas line work.
APS generated the original purchase order of $263,270 for the work based on an estimate prepared by Washington Gas. Washington Gas is requesting a change order of $112,276.04 due to ground excavation and subsurface utility challenges encountered during the work and has recently provided the required justification for the increased costs.
School Board approval is required because the individual change exceeds $100,000 and the resulting increase exceeds 25% of the original value. Funds are available within remaining project funds approved by the School Board so no increase in project funding is necessary.
Board Member David Priddy asked a question of clarification on the invoice’s timing, and staff confirmed that they had just received it.
School Board will act on this at the 15 December meeting.
Proposed School Year Calendar 2023-2024
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Michael Hodge presented on the Proposed 2023-2024 School Year Calendar and the Calendar process. The Superintendent put forward Option 1, with 180 days of school, a start date of 21 August, and a winter break of over two weeks. In the community survey, 38% of the community voted for Option 2 and 34% of the community voted for Option 3 – both of which have a shorter winter break and a later start date of 28 August 2023 (versus 21 August 2023). The Calendar Committee preferred Option 3.
Primary community comments were to align with neighboring counties; religious holidays; same start frame; and shortening pre-service for teachers. Mr. Hodge presented a slide comparing the three Options and noted that all of the Options include the new religious days and have the same last day of school. He also showed a slide of the proposed Calendar for nearby school districts, although Fairfax has not yet proposed a calendar. Both Loudoun and Prince William have a shortened winter break (like Option 2 and 3). He said that 43% of APS staff live in Arlington, 25% live in Fairfax County, and 14% live in Alexandria.
Dr. Durán praised a speaker [Note: the APE speaker] for proposing a new process with a policy. He agreed that APS needs to have the parameters and policy set on when school starts, the length of winter break, etc, so that it can direct the Calendar Committee and staff, instead of surveying the community every year because we’re following a standard policy. Dr. Durán also supported the idea of planning two years ahead of time, instead of just one.
School Board Member questions and comments:
Board Member Diaz-Torres concurred that setting a policy for the Calendar Committee is a great idea. She mentioned that Fairfax just began their survey, which is about the principles, not necessarily related to a Calendar. Ms. Diaz-Torres views the responses as even and proposed combining options. She said that she would not support taking away the additional religious holidays because it is important that children see that they’re welcome in our schools and now that this country is more diverse we should include them in these calendars. She supports providing time to children for religious observance.
Board Member Priddy asked why the Calendar Committee chose their option. Mr. Hodge said the Calendar Committee wanted to see a shorter winter break, preferred 180 days of school, and did not want to start earlier. In discussion, Mr. Hodge confirmed that a Spring Break after Easter would not be aligned with other jurisdictions. Board Member Priddy ended by saying he looked forward to the advocacy in the next two weeks.
Board Member Kadera suggested that a well-designed survey across several jurisdictions, if the alignment across jurisdictions is most important, so that we don’t need to keep surveying. Ms. Kadera then asked about shortening winter break and starting later in August. She also asked if we need to make a calendar determination before Fairfax, considering that 25% of APS staff lives in Fairfax. Mr. Mayo responded that their final calendar will likely be in March. Mr. Mayo supported the idea of aligning policy with other jurisdictions.
Board Member Dr. Kanninen supports the idea of a set policy. She said that over time the thing people want the most is certainty in the calendar, and they want to know the start date as early as possible. Dr. Kanninen reminded everyone that the reason we have calendar uncertainty now is because there used to be the King’s Dominion law regarding starting after Labor Day. She asked the Superintendent to comment on why he chose Option 1.
Dr. Durán said that one key part of any recommendation moving forward is 180 days of school. He said that they also think it’s important to align with neighbors. Dr. Durán suggested adding the Monday after Easter as a day of school so that Option 2 has 180 days of school.
Dr. Kanninen also noted that in the past students advocated for an earlier start [before Labor Day] because of academic reasons. She also noted that there’s been mixed advocacy around winter break length where elementary parents want a shorter break and high school parents and staff want a two-week winter break. Dr. Kanninen supports the two-week winter break. Regarding the new religious holidays, she thinks that her two children who graduated from APS would have seen that the community valued different religions and inclusivity.
Dr. Durán noted that when he discussed alignment he meant Spring Break timing because of a prior year when Spring Break did not align with Fairfax, not alignment with the end date and start date. It’s ideal to fully align, but pie in the sky at this point. He said that he supports continuing to consider Option 1 and Option 2 (with an additional day) because of the Spring Break timing.
Board Member David Priddy asked about the Friday before Labor Day and Dr. Durán confirmed that by state law it has to be a day off.
Ms. Kadera underscored that Spring Break should be aligned with Fairfax and other jurisdictions. She also noted that she agrees with her colleagues on the religious holidays. She said that she hears from parents in the community about child-care concerns on the religious holidays because of single days off in the middle of the week. Ms. Kadera suggested that the County staff, School staff, and day camp providers work together to establish child-care options for these days off. Ms. Kadera also emphasized the need to coordinate Calendar planning with neighbors.
Mr. Goldstein questioned the need for two extra in-service days at the beginning of the school year which causes teachers to start work two Thursdays (seven workdays) before the start of school, but Mr. Mayo said it was the same amount as the current school year. Mr. Goldstein asked a series of questions to try and get at a 28 August start date. Mr. Mayo noted that removing Easter Monday as a day off when Spring Break falls before Easter (like Prince William County and Loudoun County) in Option 2 would get the number of instructional days to 180. Mr. Goldstein supported this idea. Next, Mr. Goldstein asked what happens if Fairfax has a completely different schedule. Dr. Durán replied that APS staff has coordinated with Fairfax to make sure that Spring Breaks do align next year.
Mr. Goldstein spoke on the extra holidays and said that “I am not personally in favor of [having them off] for a few reasons because it presents a burden for low-income families, for special ed families who would have trouble obtaining childcare during those single days off or for the break camps, of which there are some, but they don’t cover the waterfront universally.” He agreed that it’s a great goal but there’s still a tremendous burden on many people and he thinks it’s something we should consider because it still has to be implanted by many people.
Ms. Diaz-Torres noted that the Board could leverage its partnerships to find a solution and said that other jurisdictions across the country have these holidays.
Mr. Goldstein responded that it is hard to implement wide-ranging, comprehensive, and effective solutions. He ended by saying the Calendar will be an Action Item at the next Board meeting and that School Board members said they expected a lot of advocacy on the calendar before the 15 December meeting.
Mr. Goldstein then asked for new business, and seeing none, adjourned the meeting.
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