Summary of 8/4/22 School Board Meeting
At the August 4, 2022 Meeting:
Board Members Attending: Reid Goldstein, David Priddy, Mary Kadera, Cristina Diaz-Torres
Closed Meeting: 79 appointments, one resignation with prejudice, two retirements, Dir of Curriculum and Instruction appointed. Motion to move to closed session was made by Reid Goldstein, seconded by David Priddy. It lasted about an hour and half.
Consent agenda included approving the Emergency Preparedness Plan, two terminations from the Advisory Council on School Facilities and Capital Programs and three appointments to the Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning: Chair: Bethany Zecher Sutton, Vice Chair: Jenny Roahen Rizzo and Secretary: Anne Paris. Also a Planetarium Director was approved.
Mary Kadera’s announcements included her participation in the Virtual Virginia’s kick off meeting. Their school year has already begun. Cristina Diaz-Torres announcement was about being a liaison to Community High School. Community High School is “an alternative option for adult students that offers a lot of flexibility.” Diaz-Torres announced that Community High School is an accredited high school again.
Dr. Durán’s announcements were brief and included a staffing update:
As of the meeting, 97.5% of classrooms are fully staffed with licensed teachers. About 68 full time positions need to be filled.
New for this school year, every school will have two full-time substitutes at every school. Substitute job fairs are ongoing with virtual interviews. New rates have been updated for substitutes including incentives.
A reminder of how to register was up next. Only new students to APS need to register. You can register in person at Syphas 8 AM - 3 PM or at your school or you can register online at apsva.us/registering-your-child.
As of August 5th, enrollment is about where it was as of September 30th, 2021. He expects more registrations for kindergarten to keep coming in the rest of the month. “Around 200 registrations are pending and then enrollment will match projections.”
Dr. Durán then went over the beginning of the school year calendar. The law in Virginia requires that if a school system starts before Labor Day that they give the Friday off of Labor Day weekend. APS will continue to “celebrate and honor all of our religious holidays.” Rosh Hashanah is September 26th. Transportation updates will start going out August 22nd-26th.
Dr. Durán said, “Back to School nights will be in-person.” There will be a virtual option should families choose but, “for many families there’s been a disconnect and a loss of being able to actually walk into school, so we’re looking forward to bringing that back. That’s such a special moment at the beginning of the school year for parents to be able to see and connect with teachers and their school and to see the school inside.”
Next slide was on “THINK BIG” space opening. Amazon Think Big Space opened at Wakefield High School. Students will “engage in project-based learning” and explore e-sports, technology, and math.
The Virtual Learning Program presentation monitoring report was up next. A brief history on the pause of VLP was covered. Ms. Graves, Chief of School Support, said, “We wanted to ensure that our work was not around just a response to a pandemic, but the opportunity that we consider to explore alternative learning styles and methods for our students.”
An update was given on the status of students from VLP. The numbers are reflective of June of 2022. 533 students were enrolled (not including seniors we later hear), total number of students applied for medical exemption were 36. A total of 29 were approved. 504 returned to their homeschools for 2022-2023 school year (includes students who moved/withdrawn). The criteria for approval was medical documentation. According to Ms. Graves, homeschools have been notified of students returning. Some families haven’t responded to their homeschools.
All families were offered the option to attend summer learning with VLP staff. Compensatory services were provided for eligible families and will continue into the next academic year. 65% of elementary students have completed their compensatory services, 40% for middle and 50% for high school. “A number of students” were living out of the country while enrolled in VLP and are remaining there so they are considered “moved out.”
29 students are enrolled in Virtual VA and/or modified instruction. Modified instruction provided by APS staff is provided for students that the format of Virtual Virginia is not appropriate for their learning needs or learning style, so the Office of Special Education will modify their instruction.
A survey was sent out to ask families if they will need access to lunch. They are resending the survey as they didn’t get the number of responses that they want.
Staff from VLP were transitioned to other APS Schools. 60 staff were eligible for APS contracts. 45 staff members were reassigned to APS schools and/or Virtual VA support. Several VLP staff when hired last year said that if they had to teach in person that they would decline so those teachers were not given contracts. 15 staff resigned. Virtual VA and/or modified instruction has 1.0 SPED instructor for each section of elementary, middle and high school.
APS Virtual Learning Working Group comprised of APS staff and teachers. They were tasked with developing a plan for consideration for the Board for this upcoming school year. The Working Group will meet with the Task Force monthly. Anyone who applied to the Task Force was welcomed to “ensure complexity of thought and discourse.” The Task Force will present a recommendation to the Superintendent and School Board in December.
Mr. Goldstein reminded viewers that this was a presentation on the disposition of students and staff from last year’s VLP program. Ms. Kadera mentioned that Virtual Virginia requires schools to have staff support (mentors) in the local school district. Ms. Kadera continued that APS is still obligated to provide counselors, social workers, specialists for english-language learners, etc. Mr. Goldstein then questioned the numbers on the slide showing status of student enrollment asking about seniors that would have rolled off the rolls. Ms. Graves confirmed seniors were not listed in the 533 column of enrolled students for 2021-22. No other Board Members had questions.
Thereafter, the School Board then moved to Action Items. The one Action Item was regarding the Barcroft HVAC Replacement Architectural and Engineering Fee. Staff presented the proposed action item for information at the July 19, 2022, School Board meeting. The information item presentation identified a not to exceed architecture and engineering team fee of $660,000 for CMTA; the final negotiated value is included in the School Board motion of $631,200. The motion was then unanimously approved.
Lastly, the School Board moved to Information Items, which concerned the proposed revisions of 10 School Board policies (Board slides are here). Steven Marku, the new Directory, Policy and Legislative Affairs, presented to the School Board on behalf of the Staff. These policies concerned:
Allowing for electronic participation to the state maximum (25%) in School Board Advisory Committees and School Board Subcommittees as a result of Arlington County’s state of emergency ending in August 2022
Telecommunication equipment
Transportation
Teacher evaluations (amendment to comply with a change of VA law)
Administration and non-administrative staff evaluations (amendment to comply with a change of VA law)
Class sizes (only added provision that class sizes shall comply with VA Standard of Quality)
Program changes requiring changes to APS’ budget can be done via the annual budget process and with an opportunity for community comment, but not a presentation to the community (see discussion below)
Ms. Kadera said changes to the policy on the budget process permitting changes to programs did give her heartburn. Changes to instructional programs (which includes Option programs) would thereby become a budget item, and, if something is budget neutral, then it may not be required to be voted on by the School Board (i.e., as it would not require changes to APS’ budget). In addition, the changes to community comment, thereby excluding presentation to the community, mean that simply posting such changes to the Engage page for two weeks would hypothetically suffice under the proposed policy.
Ms. Kadera passionately stated that whether to discontinue or modify an instructional program is one of the most significant decisions the School Board makes for parents and students. Therefore, such decisions deserve a public presentation and a standalone vote. She cited as examples the emotions behind pausing the Virtual Learning Program, any future new option programs or discontinuation of current option programs, and changes to the dual immersion program.
Ms. Diaz-Torres, the Chair of the Policy Subcommittee, said this policy can be further revised to address Ms. Kadera’s concerns and the PIP could do so too. Ms. Diaz-Torres said that the reasoning behind these revisions is because APS has historically made such changes via the Budget or CIP process, like with opening a new school, and those haven’t been standalone votes.
Ms. Kadera responded that she would encourage the School Board not to make decisions regarding instructional programs as part of the Budget or CIP process. She said such decisions are important enough that they merit their own standalone votes. “If we’re serious about instruction driving instruction and all these platitudes that we say, then we would not as part of [the CIP and Budget process make such decisions]...and it should merit a stand alone vote.”
Mr. Goldstein then directed Ms. Kadera, Ms. Diaz-Torres and Mr. Marku to get together in the next 2 weeks before it becomes an Action Item at a School Board meeting on August 18, 2022 and work on a possible solution to address Ms. Kadera’s concerns.
See our Scorecard for this meeting.
