Summary of 2/8/24 School Board Meeting
Meeting Open: Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres opened the meeting, indicating Ms. Sutton would be participating virtually.
Announcements/Questions/Comments:
Chair Announcements: Ms. Diaz-Torres announced APS Service Awards. A total of 102 employees achieved 25, 30 & 35 years of service
Claire Noakes: Recognized School Board Appreciation Month. Call to action: show appreciation for future school board members by raising School Board Member salaries. Average salary is 25K, County Board receives 77K and has full-time staff.
Board approved Request for an Alternative Accreditation Plan for Arlington Community High School which is a non-traditional, alternative school that provides students who have become out of step with their peers an opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma.
Board Announcements:
February 10 – School Board-Superintendent Retreat, 9 a.m., Fairlington Community Center
February 13 – Arlington Civic Federation Meeting, 7 p.m., Virginia Hospital Center
February 20 – Work Session #2 with Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning (ACTL), 6:30 p.m., Board Room
February 22 – Closed Meeting, 5:30 p.m., Board Conference Room
February 22 – School Board Meeting, 7 p.m., Board Room
February 13, Arlington Civic Federation Meeting - School Board will be attending
2024 APS Honored Citizens Award is accepting nominations through close of business on March 12.
Ms. Kadera attended an event at Wakefield High-School hosted by Coalition for Empowerment and Opportunity to roll out the AP African American Studies Program. Wakefield will be piloting the course. Hoffman Boston - artist in residence did a poetry workshop that ended with a poetry slam. Erin Healy at Discovery rolled out Kindness Month and this Sunday they are holding an annual share the love event to learn about local nonprofit organizations. Mr. Priddy attended Arlington 2050 Kick-off which is a yearlong effort to distill community feedback to 2-3 should look like in 2050. Ms. Sutton shared about an event held at Kenmore middle school how after school programs for middle and high school students can help combat the substance abuse and mental health crisis.
Superintendent's Announcements and Updates
Every Student Counts video featured teachers sharing their approach to grading and highlighting effective reteaching strategies for students who need additional opportunities to demonstrate their proficiency.
Thank You, School Board, Clerks and Staff 3 Thank you to our dedicated School Board and their outstanding team, Claudia Mercado, Carmen Mejia and JulieAnne Jones.
The biannual Your Voice Matters @ APS (YVM) survey will be conducted by APS and the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families (APCYF) between Feb. 20, 2024 – Mar. 22, 2024. New this year: results will be used in action planning for school and department level action plans.
Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Timeline
February 29: Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2025 Budget
March 14: Public Hearing on the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget
March 19: Budget Work Sessions #1 – 4
March 22: County Board/School Board Joint Budget Work Session
April 11: School Board’s Proposed FY 2025 Budget
April 23: Public hearing on the School Board’s Proposed Budget
May 9: School Board’s Adopted FY 2025 Budget (May take up to June 30)
Bright Spot: 65th Anniversary of the Integration of Public Schools Celebration was held at Dorothy Hamm Middle School.
Ms. Sutton commented that the Friday evening program at Dorothy Hamm and there is a permanent exhibit about the 4 students who integrated into Dorothy Hamm Middle School (then named Stratford) Members of the Community are welcome to visit and see the exhibit.
Public Comment:
Concern about the needs of Palestinian, Muslim, Arab students and staff harassment and bullying. Fear of retribution.
Jewish representative concerned about anti-semitism. Jewish students fear revealing identity. APS professional development session yesterday was held by a anti-zionist who did not give narrative to the Jewish.
HR Status Report appendix needs attention. Vacancies are taken on by current teachers. Mid-year Fiscal Year Report - hope that Superintendent brings new cost of living adjustment to the table at the end of the month
Teacher and former student. Elementary school class sizes are too varied. 17 & 19 this year and 26 & 27 last year. Smaller class sizes are linked to many lasting benefits. This is why there should be support for Debroah Waldron’s proposal.
APS Teacher. Proposal to reduce class size. 12-month employee leave does not align with neighboring jurisdictions as stated by Frank Bellevia. APS gives 12 month employees 27 days of paid holiday leave. Neighboring jurisdictions provide their 12 month employees with 12, 15,16,17, and 19 days of paid leave. Those 5 jurisdictions are in alignment with each other. APS is not. At most, the other jurisdictions provide 12 month employees with 2 days of leave over winter break and 2 over spring break. APS will provide 14 this year. Mr Bellavia stated 10 month employees “will be granted seven paid days that they do not work” but what he didn’t mention was that , during that same time period, 12 month employees will be granted 24 paid days that they do not work. Twenty four is considerably larger than 7. Between August 17 and June 14th (the first and last days of school) all 10 and 12 month employees now work the exact same schedule but 12 month employees will be paid for 217 days and teachers will be paid for 200. Teachers are treated as a second class member of APS and work just as hard as 12 month employees. 12 month employees get paid for 8.5 % more days than teachers. This is hugely demoralizing to 10 month staff. This policy tells 10 month employees loud and clear that they are not important. We cannot have a system where every student counts until APS decides to act as if “every employee counts”.
Chronic absenteeism is an issue. Materials were sent to school board members. 4 good practices mentioned: Early intervention, consistent and timely follow-up, early home visits and tracking progress. Companies are out there who train personnel to make home visits which is going well in some schools.
Arlington parent and teacher. Successful 3rd year teacher in their 20s tried to call Syphax after teaching at 3:45pm and was told all the employees had left. Departments need to be staffed 3:30-5:30. Please accept Debroah Waldron’s proposal to bring Syphax staff back into the classroom at a zero-cost. Does not require grading and planning. Sending certified staff to teach and non-certified to aide is a positive step to benefit Arlington students.
Mother of Elementary students talking about gifted programs. There is a need for a dedicated classroom for gifted students. Current approach is not really working because teachers have to focus on students who are struggling and gifted students are bored. Gifted students are being left behind. Inclusive and diverse approach is being taken but to truly be inclusive gifted students should be given attention too. Families are leaving APS because of this.
School bus driver. APS does not attract enough employees needed in transportation. Buses are overloaded. Every time a bus is late, students miss breakfast. 2-3 bus drivers call out on a snow day and it’s a problem? There is also a parking problem. Walking one mile in and one mile out 4 times a day to get to work. 12-month employees have 24 paid leave days. Bus Drivers need more.
Vice President of Arlington Education Association. Students need class sizes small enough to attend to student needs. Teachers need a workload they can manage in their contracted 40-hour week including access to printers and copies. Concerns need to be listened to and taken seriously. Employees need to trust that school leadership has their best interest in mind. Compensation packages should never be altered mid-year.
Monitoring Items:
FY 2024 Mid-Year Fiscal Monitoring Report Initiated By: Andy Hawkins, Assistant Superintendent, Finance and Management Services. Staff Contact: Mark McLaughlin, Director Finance
FY 2024 Budget Status as of December 31, 2023
Current projection is accurate
2.9M expected shortfall
Projected Funds from Operations Available at Closeout/(Shortfall) $14.1
Recommendation that no funds are reallocated at this time
CIP Quarterly Report as of November 30, 2023
CIP public address system projects have been completed. • The FY 2024 Major Construction Reserve is currently $0.3 million
Through November 2023: 102 projects were identified; 42 projects (41%) have been completed. The majority of the remaining projects in process are expected to be started or completed within the next six months. The FY 2024 MC/MM Reserve is currently $0.7 million.
Questions:
Ms. Kadera questioned salary lapse and turnover. Dr. Durán confirmed General practice is to return salary lapse to reserve. Curious on how turnover compares to previous years with 8.8M at this year last time and 13M this year.
Ms. Turner questioned HVAC infrastructure roofing project has 43M balance remaining - however the project is ongoing.
Ms. Diaz-Torres confirmed that some projects are ongoing and some related to CIP.
Ms. Sutton question about totals of projected funds at close out. Are there comparative figures for what those were last year? Those will be pulled up and reported.
F-1 FY24 Mid-year Fiscal Monitoring Report PPT (2).pdf (643 KB)
1 F-1 FY24 Mid-year Fiscal Monitoring Report memo.pdf (148 KB)
2 F-1 FY 2024 Mid-Year Fiscal Status Report - Attachment I_REV.pdf (114 KB)
3 F-1 FY24 CIP Memo.pdf (52 KB)
4 F-1 FY24 Maj Cap -MM Report.pdf (112 KB)
5 F-1 FY24 Bonds Report.pdf (15 KB)
6 F-1 FY24 Min Const Report.pdf (39 KB)
Human Resources Update Initiated by: Michael Hodge, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
Strategies: Recruit, retain and advance a high - quality workforce; bolster a diverse workforce.
Retention rate continues to improve
Start of school year vacancies falling year over year
Goal was to hire 1,000 substitutes and we are at 905 as of today
Schools with Critical Unfilled Substitutes (40% or more unfilled) went from 13 to 3
Continuing to focus on substitute strategies including compensation which is currently $22.76 as of 1/1/24
Increased t-scale workforce diversity by 7%
Increased substitute work rates by 6%
Working with Arlington Career Center to recruit our own students to become teachers
Working to adjust our guidelines to reduce the amount of time to hire.
Strategy: Provide growth opportunities; grow and develop high - quality leaders.
300+ new teachers attended APS Base Camp to build and support educators and 80% rated as good or excellent
169 mentors of new teachers and 187 mentors of experienced teachers new to APS. 86.5% of mentors meet at least once a week. Majority of mentor meetings are 30+ minutes
The HRSSC is a customer service center providing support to APS employees and external stakeholders around all HR topics: benefits, compensation, payroll, talent acquisition management, employment verification, etc. Tickets are acknowledged or resolved within 24 hours. 9,639 tickets solved so far this school year compared with 7,808 for all of 2022-23.
Bright Spot: Favorable response rate for respectful relationships between staff and administrators/supervisors, and staff and students on the 2022 Your Voice Matters (YVM) survey
Opportunities: 45% of APS staff provided unfavorable responses to staff engagement questions on the 2022 Your Voice Matters (YVM) survey; 43% of APS staff provided unfavorable responses to workplace climate questions on the 2022 Your Voice Matters (YVM) survey
Recommendations/Next Steps: Identify new and improved professional learning opportunities, implement effective retention strategies to retain a high-quality staff, explore opportunities to address themes and trends within exit survey data
Questions:
Ms. Kadera said the success of their work is success for APS. Question on whether professional development is tying performance reviews more closely to professional development plans. Stars modernization will assist with this. Teacher goals will align with professional learning. Some professional learning is powered from divisions across central office - how to map across APS department to department
Ms. Turner questioned 75th percentile or better on staff engagement and climate, as indicated by the Your Voice Matters Survey. Regarding 99% staffing metric. What is denominator? Based on vacancies at the time. It can include teachers who have taken on an additional class - can provide numbers. Dr. Durán shared that there is a team focused on broadening metrics. Are there other factors influencing recruiting and retaining? Yes. Very competitive area. APS moved up hiring timelines and Title 1 schools can hire as quickly as possible. APS is having discussions with finance regarding incentives to be competitive. Salary setting process - making sure we don’t lose candidates in the salary discussion process. Hodge thinks we need to move to incentives for hiring and retaining. Durán shared about the opportunity to invest more in candidates who are required to take additional classes. Ms. Tucker shared about Teachers for Tomorrow program pipeline to retain students to come back and become teachers which also increases diversity of teachers as well as the Teacher Ambassador program for current students who come back while in school to aide and assist and then return to teach after graduation.
Ms. Sutton asked questions on recruitment and professional learning. Can you explain more about targeted recruitment efforts and the advantage and cost? Handshake is platform that gives access to every college student and actively recruit. Lots of success. Geofencing allows us to track and advertise to users within a geographic area. Emissary text also allows us to contact prospects. Regarding increase in T-Scale diversity - what strategies are involved? We go to many colleges and universities - HSBCUs and high hispanic populations as well as grow our own programs really contribute.
Mr. Priddy likes customer-focus. How many cases are outstanding regarding pre-existing conditions? How will retention and recruitment rate be influenced through these courageous conversations?
Ms. Diaz Torres - Audit currently assessing HR processes and all APS process touched through open enrollment. This report out will be at end of school year. What are top 3 lessons learned and what will be different for open enrollment? Preparation and planning is key for day of and site management. Making sure APS has up to date contact information for retirees. Information on website, not only intranet. Connect with retirees in person and virtually. Make sure we are accurate in communication and do our due diligence beforehand. Manage mail in-house and not just through bulk mail.
Ms. Kadera - we need to speak at state level about support for recruiting grow your own teachers. Provisional licensure teachers - is there anything special above and beyond mentorship that these teachers need? Meeting with teams to learn how we can provide more support throughout the year. We find they are looking for lesson planning and delivery support and we are also working to understand needs before rolling out programs. How are exit surveys advertised and conducted / response rate / trends? In response to separation notification, it invited them to participate in an optional survey. Talent Acquisition Coordinators are responsible for administering. We do not have a lot of data. We do know why people leave because it's required on the form - most people indicate personal reasons followed by retirement and relocation. More precision of information would be helpful. Form could be updated.
Ms. Turner - is there a sense of comparison to other jurisdictions and/or before covid? We do not know compared to other jurisdictions but we are above state average. We monitor quarterly and by employee scale. Is there a peer group to compare? We will look into that. In the appendix, there are areas that are notably unfavorable, bus drivers and t-scale. Can you speak what’s being done with groups that have reported unfavorably? Getting into departments and having roundtables.
Ms. Sutton - how we measure the impact of professional learning programs beyond self-reporting. This is exceptionally difficult beyond the learning experience itself. Extended programs with follow-up and feedback with support from an evaluator and looking at how practice is changed - data collection through coaching reflections and walk throughs. Beginning steps are ensuring design of program includes goals.
Ms. Diaz Torres - important to emphasize net promoter score of how employee would rates APS to work for a friend or colleague. Pulse surveys on a regular basis could be considered.
Action Items:
Installation of the New HVAC Unit for the Wakefield High School Pool Initiated By: Reneé Harber, Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations
One change from January 25 Board Meeting. Pool closure will now be March 18 - April 5, 2024 and reopen April 12, 2024. Missing piece needed to be ordered and will take 4 weeks to arrive.
Questions:
Mr. Priddy - we are aware of Longbridge closure and collaborated with county so that Longbridge has a rolling lane closure.
G-1 Action Installation of New HVAC Unit for Wakefield Pool (Rev. 020824 1053 am).pdf (276 KB)
Motion passed 5 to 0
Adjournment: 9:52 pm
