Summary of 8/17/23 School Board Meeting
August 17, 2023 School Board Summary
Consent Agenda. Included policies, personnel actions, appointments to school advisory committees, amendments to allow members caring for a family member with a medical condition to participate electronically in school board advisory committee meetings and School Board subcommittees.
Announcements. 98% of classrooms fully staffed with teachers. 58 remaining full-time vacancies. According to staff, this is better than previous years, but vacancies in high-need areas [APE note, APS said they were 99% staffed at the start of school last year]. 20 vacancies for bus driver staffing and will require bus drivers to do double runs. There have been recruitment events but anyone hired would need to undergo training and would not be ready for Day 1.
“APS follows CDC Covid guidelines.” Dr. Durán requested parents and staff to report positive COVID cases and isolate for five days and return on day six with a mask through day ten but acknowledged that masking is optional. Mary Kadera requests that APS work with the County to share information about COVID boosters.
Public Comments. Several students and parents plead with the Board to vote no on closing Nottingham Elementary. Commenters observed that APS is prioritizing the wrong factors in selection of swing space and that they should instead ensure that it is in a central location to the schools that will need it.
A speaker on behalf of Arlington Teachers Union implored the Board to work for school staff, not just Syphax staff, and to protect school building staff from superfluous training and investigate the summer school pay debacle. Another teacher shared the sentiment that administration staff is prioritized over school staff, highlighting the recent approval of additional office space in lieu of spending the funds on additional teachers, increasing supply reimbursements. A third teacher observed that the teacher vacancies are in the hardest to fill areas and that APS is wrong when they say there are no new initiatives this year (e.g., rolling out new grading systems).
Planned Academic Data Update Postponed.
Resource Adoption. Staff presented and Board approved resource (digital and physical books) adoption for Secondary Spanish, K-12 science, and secondary mathematics courses. Several Board members expressed they were uncomfortable with information and action (i.e., vote) being presented at the same time. Board members observed that the late adoption of resources puts a significant onus on staff to incorporate this into lesson planning. Concern was expressed that the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion staff were not represented on the procurement team. Staff noted in response that the equity leads at schools were involved. Staff confirmed that teachers have flexibility to use more familiar materials at the beginning of the school year while they phase in new materials. The vote carried 5-0.
2024 School Board Priorities. 1) Deepen focus on student well-being and academic progress for all students, 2) recruit, hire, retain, and invest in high-quality and diverse workforce, and 3) improve operational efficiency and continue efforts to realign all operational systems and infrastructure.
2023-2024 Calendar. Policy is to prioritize alignment with neighboring districts, ensure 180 school days, preserve existing religious holidays, provide cultural observance days, and discretion to end school year early if snow days are not utilized (and instead rely on the 990 hours state minimum). Change from earlier draft is the start of school can be earlier and winter break is no longer required to be two weeks.
754 comments received on calendar policy and summarized verbally by staff. There were not specific numbers presented on comments in favor vs. against specific aspects of the calendar. Bethany Sutton noted that while this is a lot of comments, ““This is a very, very small number of people weighing in – not necessarily representing the full scope and voice of our community. At a certain point, we do have to make some choices.” According to staff, the largest concern of commenters was the shortening of summer break, with teachers also most concerned with pre-service days. Regarding the number of days off for 12-month employees, staff stated that they have had religious holidays and winter and spring breaks as paid days off for “several years” per their collective bargaining agreement.”[APE note, the collective bargaining agreement for administrative staff was just adopted at the July 20th, 2023 meeting - read more about the admin action that provided a total of 31 days paid leave, due to the addition of religious holidays and spring break/winter break for 12-month employees in 2021 read about the 17,856 Missing Working Days and more on this here, here and here]
Reid Goldstein expressed concern about working families dealing with all the additional school closure days and asked staff how other districts help families with childcare issues. Staff replied that Fairfax County has extended day options on religious holidays. Reid Goldstein tried to ask more questions about the calendar policy but was cut short by Cristina Diaz-Torres, Board Chair, who observed it was already 9:30 PM.
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See our take on the previous draft of the policy here and a “From the Teacher’s Lounge” on the calendar policy proposal here.
Provide feedback on the draft calendar policy until August 24th on ThoughtExchange.
