Summary of 9/8/22 SB Meeting

At the September 8, 2022 School Board Meeting:

Announcements 

• Among other announcements, Mr. Goldstein shared the tragic news of the death of an APS student and led the Board in a moment of silence. 

Public speakers 

• Two APS parents, including one on behalf of APE, spoke on the need to address learning loss through summer school and comprehensive, not one-off efforts as the budget allows. 

• One APS teacher on the need to maintain competitive compensation to retain 

First day of school monitoring report (Dr. Durán’s slides are available here):  

• Dr. Durán and APS administrators visited every school on the first day. 

• 31 students enrolled in Virtual Virginia, supported by Principal Danielle Harrell 

• First day enrollment was 27,524 (+631 students from last year’s official count), which is continuing to rise. The official count will be available at the end of September. 

• APS opened the school year 99% fully staffed. We currently have 47 vacancies, 15 at the elementary level and 20 at the secondary level, plus part-time vacancies. APS is deploying school-based and long-term substitutes and recruiting. 

• School year priorities this year are to focus on student strengths and develop a culture focused on asset-based thinking. Dr. Durán also discussed supporting students academically with a particular focus on students on addressing gaps for historically underserved students. He described efforts to better inform parents about how APS is supporting students who are struggling. The next board meeting will focus on describing these efforts. 

• New academic resources include Paper, a virtual, on-demand tutoring service for secondary students; new curriculum resources in English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies (K-3), and French instruction; student progress and equity dashboards; and additional interventionists, coaches, and other specialists. 

• Dr. Durán also explained that APS is placing equal importance on social-emotional learning and mental health. The Panorama SEL surveys will be offered again this year. 

• APS is working to strengthen Transportation Services. There are 158 routes serving 15,480 general education students and 775 special education assigned riders. Dr. Durán acknowledged some issues during the first weeks that they are working to improve, in part due to continuing bus driver shortages, and mentioned the Where’s the Bus app, a new offering this year. 

• Normal meal services has resumed after the expiration of the USDA waiver making meals free for all students.  

• Under Health & Safety, Dr. Durán described updated COVID-19 protocols and $5.5 million in upgrades to school building safety (upgrades to door hardware, security vestibules, and public address systems). 

• APS is continuing to distribute iPads and MacBooks to all students, with distribution expected to be complete by September 12. 

• The Family Information Line is 703-228-8000 and fields calls on transportation, registration, tech support, extended day, and food services. 

• Dr. Durán showed a video celebrating the first day of school. 

• Ms. Kadera and Mr. Priddy asked about school safety coordinators, which are new this year. There are 35 total, assigned to middle and high schools for a ratio of 1 to every 500 students, with “roamers” at elementary schools. Dr. Mayo described their training. They will be tracking data and Dr. Durán will provide a safety monitoring report at a future meeting. 

• Ms. Kadera also asked about COVID-19 policies for staff members who test positive. APS is no longer offering special COVID-19 leave and has reverted to normal sick leave. Ms. Kadera noted that staff are required to stay home for five days if positive and may quickly deplete their leave. 

• Mr. Priddy commented on device distribution and the AOVP process. 

• Dr. Kanninen commended APS on a smooth start to the school year. She also referred to slide 10 of Dr. Durán’s presentation as ATSS 2.0 [ATSS stands for Arlington Tiered System of Support], something APS has been building as its instructional model for ten years, and “the answer” to the questions the community is asking about what APS was doing to address the achievement gap pre-pandemic and what it is doing on learning loss now, noting the public speakers on learning loss. Mr. Goldstein echoed these comments. 

• Mr. Goldstein also asked who is providing the tutoring via Paper. The tutors are not all teachers, but they are vetted by the company to have the relevant expertise. 

The School Board adopted its priorities for the school year: to ensure student well-being and academic progress; recruit, hire, retain, and invest in a high-quality and diverse workforce; and improve operational efficiency. More detail on these priorities is available here. The priorities were adopted by a 5-0 vote. 

Information Items 

• Long Branch elementary – actions to close loops in terms of real property ownership at the site. 

• Revisions to non-discrimination and internet privacy policies. Ms. Kadera pointed out that the internet privacy policy is not the same as either ed-tech collection or use of student data, which she suggested APS address in the future. 

See our Scorecard for this meeting here.