Summary of September 5, 2024 School Board Meeting
REGULAR MEETING OPENING:
1. Call to Order - 7 PM BY Ms. Mary Kadera. Moment of silence for school shooting that occurred in Georgia the day prior.
2. Presentation of Colors: Arlington Career Center Space Force JROTC Cadet Corps
3. Spotlight on arts - Yorktown HS marching band drumline performance
CONSENT ITEMS: Motion to approve passes 4-0.
1. Minutes
2. Personnel Actions
3. Appointments to School Board Advisory Committees
4. Revisions to School Board Policy E‐3.30 Buildings and Grounds Management
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. Board Announcements
Dates for subcommittee meetings were announced.
Reminder to community: members of SB Advisory Committees still looking for members.
Long Branch ES: ice cream social coming up.
Abingdon ES: family science night Oct. 1st (open to the public).
2. Superintendent's Announcements and Updates
APS Cell Phone Pouch Pilot begins Sept. 16 at 4 schools (Wakefield HS, HB Woodlawn MS, Swanson MS, TJ MS). All schools must comply with new PIP regarding personal devices.
Randolph ES wins NPR Podcast Competition.
Dr. Durán reviewed First Day report and played video.
Questions:
Ms. Zecher Sutton: For schools that have had kitchen renovations, what changes have been seen (fresher food?); What metrics will be tracked re: cell phone pouch pilot?
Ms. Turner: What schools will be surveyed in October re: cell phones (all or only pilot schools?); How is feedback coming in at schools part of pilot vs. schools not part of pilot?; When is data from Wakefield’s survey (conducted last spring) going to be available?
Ms. Kadera: What is the length of the cell phone pouch pilot? (Dr. Durán says the entire school year) but the SB is voting on the policy in December, how will that work?; Is the Lightspeed monitoring reports for parents available again this year?; What are changes in substitute pay arrangements?
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS:
1. Speakers:
- increase salary more than 1% for CAP/National Board certification by teachers
- internal audit on healthcare
- commentary on policy on relationship between SB and APS staff
- cell phone policy, audit
- APS not listening to teacher voices
- health insurance
- bus driver shortage; no parking for drivers; health insurance
MONITORING ITEMS:
1. FY 2023-24 Final Internal Audit Report was presented by the Internal Auditor. Auditor reports to the SB. Topics covered in the audit- School Activity Funds, Transportation, Purchasing Cards, and Healthcare.
Questions:
School Activity Fund (School Activity Fund) / P-Cards
Ms. Zecher-Sutton: Why didn’t the outside CPA firm that has been auditing the SAF come up with the issues that the SB Auditor did? Do all schools have a SAF?
Ms. Turner: Do business practices, SOPs, etc. exist for the training? If not, when will they be ready?
Ms. Kadera: Reports refers to “additional training” - what training already exists?
Healthcare
Ms. Zecher-Sutton:Is APS better situated to make large-scale decisions like changing healthcare providers in the future?
Ms. Kadera: When will current healthcare contract end? When audit was conducted, was it uncovered why APS was moving to a one-provider contract? And then why was it amended to allow a two-provider contract?
INFORMATION ITEMS:
1. FY 2024-25 Internal Audit Work Plan topics to be studied:
Payroll assessment: followup
Human Resources
Information Resources
Overtime
Questions:
Mr. Priddy: When will we go back and audit the previous topics that we just identified have issues to be corrected?
Ms. Zecher-Sutton: What is the definition of a risk methodology for selecting a topic for the audit?
Ms. Turner: Will the scope of the HR audit be similar to what was studied during ‘23-’24 audit (risk areas, SOPs, etc.)?
2. Proposed Revisions to School Board Policies B-3.6.37 Electronic Participation in School Board Advisory Committee Meetings and B-4.4 Electronic Participation in Meetings by Individual Members
Question:
Ms. Kadera: what constitutes a postpartum period?
3. Wakefield High School 9th Grade Immersion Textbook Resource Adoption
Question:
Ms. Zecher-Sutton: Is this going to be a Language Arts resource?
Ms. Turner: Is this the typical timeline to approve a new resource? How rapidly can this access get to the students? What about professional learning needed for staff?
ADJOURNMENT
