Summary of February 13, 2025 School Board Meeting
Opening: Call to Order; SB members Zuraya Tapia-Hadley and Kathleen Clark both attended virtually (with Ms. Clark leaving early).
Presentation of Colors was made by the Arlington Career Center Space Force JROTC Cadets Corps
Recognition: Black History Month. In honor of Black History month, a performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing (often referred to as the Black National Anthem) as well as two other songs were performed by 18-member Faculty choir from Hoffman Boston Elementary School.
37 staff who have completed 30 years of service to APS were recognized.
February is School Board Appreciation Month. Claire Nokes, head of the Arlington CCPTA, was recognized by the board for the contribution PTAs make. Ms. Claudia Mercado, school board clerk and her staff were recognized. Ms. Nokes also referenced the advocacy the CCPTA has done at the state level to remove the cap on support staff and get more funding for special education. Additionally, she referenced efforts to ensure that money does not leave the system to support school choice. Finally, there was a presentation on addressing intergenerational trauma at school to help address childhood adversity and applauded APS for offering more Tier 1, 2 and 3 supports for children.
Ms. Kadera then described the Honored Citizen Award and asked that anyone who wants to nominate a citizen for extraordinary service to APS should please consider doing so.
Ms. Kadera then noted that it was impossible to not touch school staffing for the upcoming budget and acknowledged the difficulty for many who may be impacted. The School Board notes that they are trying to do this work with the utmost care.
She also noted the importance of transparency. The next step is for the Super and SB to present the proposed budget on March 13. They will be ‘showing their work’ but also will be sharing the materials they studied last summer, a list of potential measures the finance team and their analysis and an analysis from an external firm that was completed last month. Also, the questions submitted by the community will also be shared. They are hoping for strong public engagement between now and when the final budget is presented in May to achieve the best possible result.
Superintendent’s Announcements and Updates. This year is the 65th Anniversary of the desegregation of Stratford Junior High School. A video was shown on this event which also centers on the historically black community of Hall’s Hill in Arlington. Dr. Durán also acknowledged the staff, students and community members who were involved in creating and producing the video.
Your Voice Matters is now an annual (rather than bi-annual) survey. It is currently open from Feb 12-March 14. The strategic plan goals and metrics come from this survey data. He asks that everyone respond to the survey.
Chronic Absenteeism monitoring: from the end of the 2nd quarter last year to end of overall there has been a decrease of 2.3% overall (this is an exact quarter to quarter analysis). Allows APS to see actual rates at points in time.
Eleven schools have shown an increase and 28 schools have shown a decrease. For those 11 schools who have shown an increase in chronic absenteeism, the following will occur:
data review in February for principals.
Add’l support such as attendance summit and a liaison from student services to do monthly check ins
Add’l EduFuturo academic support
Looking at individual students with high absentee rates and what their specific needs might be.
For all schools: Automatic communication when a student misses a certain number of days per month, and parental notification to ensure parents are aware when a child is not in school. They are asking parents to give reasons for why children are not in school so APS can support those Children who attend at least 90% of the school year have higher SOL scores and are more likely to graduate.
Add’l Announcements: Wakefield robotics team qualified for the world robotics championship, and set a state record for the highest score. First APS school to do so.
Arlington County partnership on Future Ready workshops between office of Academics, DEI office, and Arlington County. County set aside funds to support students. After school pilot program to ensure we are providing training and skills and hands on learning for HS students. Career assessments, professional speakers, career planning, financial planning and much more.
SB questions:
Ms. Zecher-Sutton encourages parents to please reach out if their child is school-avoidance or has other struggles attending school so they can help.
Ms. Tapia-Hadley asked for more detail on how APS is supporting students with chronic absenteeism.
Ms. Clark spoke as the parent of a student with school refusal and encouraged all parents to reach out to get support, even though it can be hard.
Ms. Turner thanked Dr. Durán for bringing the data forward and noted that gradual progress is a good thing and make sure we keep the data in front of us to make sure what APS is doing is working. Supports provided are the most important thing because they led to improved attendance. Noted that EduFuturo is via grant and asked that we be proactive in ensuring that if that grant is to expire APS is taking steps to ensure it’s still funded if possible because of budget issues.
Ms. Kadera noted the 2.3% decrease but from what total a year ago? Ms Crawford: Quarter-to-quarter was 20.4% now down to 18.1% overall now. Noted that some students may be afraid to go to school–are we seeing any decrease in APS that we could attribute to that. Ms. Crawford: they have seen a decrease in past 2 weeks and are tracking carefully and not asking or assuming anything about the decrease.
Public Comment on Agenda and Non-Agenda Items:
There were 17 speakers for public comment:
7 speakers talked about the ITC change from 12 months to 10/11 month contract employees and their concern that reducing ITCs will result in financial burden for many ITCs and may worsen their ability to address ITC-related concerns.
A HB-Woodlawn student spoke in support of the J-2 PIP supporting transgender access to facilities.
A WMS student spoke in support of public school funding and against vouchers.
A teacher spoke about concerns about use of screens and educational technology in schools, stating that she has been unable to find any research showing that ed tech is making education better, not worse.
A community member spoke about pandemic response and lack of student achievement and college access, particularly among the Black population at APS.
A community member spoke in support of Family Life Education (FLE) but is concerned about removal of HIV information from websites and other federal efforts to remove FLE-related information.
A community member spoke against the current APS policy of allowing biological males access to the women’s locker room at WLHS, WHS and other parts of Arlington County.
A teacher spoke on the lack of engagement with classroom teachers on the calendar and encouraged APS and the SB to engage with teachers to get their input. As well concern around as ‘draconian cuts’ to lowest-paid staff members.
An APS parent spoke in favor of the policies supporting transgender students.
An APS teacher spoke out against block scheduling in HS.
The president of the AEA spoke about making APS a ‘safe zone’ area for immigrant students and families.
Monitoring Item: FY 2025 Mid-Year Fiscal Monitoring Report.
FY Budget: Net expenditure change is $17.4M. Most of that is due to salary lapse and turnover of staff.
FY 2025 Capitol Construction Update:
–Total budget: $531.1 MM
–Expenditures thus far: $359.9 MM
–Balance $171.4 MM
Minor Construction/Major Maintenance Fund:
–FY Reserve currently: $.6 Million
–88 projects identified/45 currently completed. Remainder slated for completion in next 6 months
–Ms. Zecher-Sutton asked a question about budget transfer for projects (confirming the use of the term ‘reduction in budget’ which happens when the bids come in less than the budgeted amount–the budget is reduced accordingly to be aligned with the chosen bid.
–Ms. Kadera made a note about salary lapse and turnover. It confirmed that this is transferred directly into the budget for the next year and is something the SB has been working with for its upcoming budget projections (rather than it being an additional $17.4 MM that the SB was not expecting to have.)
–Ms. Kadera made a request to get more information on ITC moving from 12 month to 11 month and budgetary impact. She also asked about rate of pay for transportation workers and comparables to neighboring districts (length of contract, hours, pay, etc)
Action Item: 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 SY Calendar
–Ms. Zecher-Sutton confirmed that time for ES conferences will be equal to or greater than that used in previous years. Answer was that there are now 18 conference times instead of 17 in previous years so technically 20 minutes more.
–Ms Kadera asked if we were extending beyond contract hours for teachers. The answer was overall no but specific schools may do things a bit differently.
–Ms. Kadera asked about composition of calendar committee. Answer 25 members comprised of central office, school support, principals, teachers at various levels, parents and caregivers.
–Ms Kadera acknowledged the impact on working families of having days off and are working with Extended Day staff to potentially offer coverage on these days off.
Motion made to accept the proposed calendar for these two years. Ms. Tapia-Hadley commented that she wished there had been more time to engage on the proposed calendar and that she does not feel comfortable with the calendar as is given her concerns with parent-teacher conference days, in particular and the long winter break.
Motion passed 3-1, with Ms. Kadera, Zecher-Suuton and Turner voting yes and Ms. Tapia-Hadley voting no. Ms. Clark was not present for the vote.
Information Item: Pre-K Resource Adoption
VDOE requires that any school with funding in place have a ‘high-quality’ resource adopted. Current OWLS resource is no longer approved by VDOE. New resources have been purchased for APS Pre-K students. Cost is $418,478, and APS will have access from February, 2025-end of 2028 School Year.The new resource, Creative Curriculum (Two’s, Preschool and Pre-K version), is both academic and play-based, and also adheres to the Science of Reading. Instruction can be modified for a variety of learners.
–Ms. Zecher-Sutton confirmed that the specific evaluation criteria used is mandated by VDOE. She also asked for the typical lifecycle of resources before VDOE elects to move on. Answer: OWLS was in place for more than 10 years; however, it depends. But confidence that with the chosen one, it is likely to stay and can be extended.
–Ms. Kadera asked if APS would on its own have left OWLS even if VDOE didn’t disallow it. Answer: APS was ready to move on from OWLS and are anxiously awaiting the new curriculum. Ms Kadera also asked how VDOE vs APS drive new resource adoption for curriculum, to better understand if an investment can be undermined because VDOE changes its standards. Answer: there are school divisions who develop their own in-house curriculum and then submit to VDOE for approval. So, can maintain own internal if desired.
There was no new business. Meeting was then adjourned.
