Summary of the 4/13/23 School Board Meeting
The meeting began with a ninety minute closed session to consider employee matters.
Top Three Takeaways
As part of APS’ ongoing efforts to expand availability of Narcan in schools, Dr. Durán announced that APS hopes to allow students to safely carry Narcan in schools by May 26, 2023.
APS is seeking steering committee members for the 2024 – 2030 APS Strategic Plan Steering Committee. The application window is April 14 – May 4, 2023.
The Office of Special Education is continuing to work to provide the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) to Students with Disabilities (SWD) and is looking at different ways to improve performance. APS’ overall strategic goal by 2024 is to have at least 80% of SWD spending 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. The current metric as of 2020-21 is 64.5%.
Attendees: Reid Goldstein, Cristina Diaz-Torres, David Priddy, Mary Kadera and Bethany Zecher- Sutton virtually (only for the closed session).
Following the closed session Mr. Goldstein called the meeting back to open session – he indicated Ms. Zecher-Sutton could not be with the Board due to personal reasons.
Consent Agenda and Vote
Ms. Torres moved to adopt the consent agenda, Mr. Priddy seconded. All voted to pass the Consent Agenda 4-0.
Special Education Annual Plan Application – provides detailed description of how federal funds under IDEA are spent.
The Board adopted revisions to School Board Policies F-2 Goals and I-9.1.5 Exemplary Projects –
Presentation – the Superintendent has approved PIPs related to these policies. Under Consent the School Board approved three budget neutral adjustments to leadership positions taking place beginning July 1st. Two of the three positions are vacancies that will be filled. This allows APS to better support mental health and support DEI within one office.
The School Board appointed Ms. Alice Blount-Feeney as the Director of Internal Audit effective as of July 1, 2023.
Announcements:
Mr. Goldstein reiterated that Arlington Education Association (AEA) filed a request seeking certification as exclusive representative of licensed personnel. Certification is scheduled for April 24th – April 27th and will take place through secret ballot over email.
The Board will hold the following meetings:
April 18th – Closed meeting at 5:30pm
April 18th – Budget Work Session 6:30pm
April 25th – Closed Meeting 5:30pm
April 25th – Public Hearing on SB Proposed FY 2024 Budget at 7:30pm
April 26th – Policy Subcommittee Meeting at 8:00am
April 27th – SB Meeting at 7pm
Ms. Kadera – highlighted a military fun run at Oakridge Elementary on April 14th.
Mr. Goldstein – highlighted the following events at Drew Elementary: 4/19 – first Family STEAM night from 6:00-7:15 pm; and 4/27 Multicultural Night 7:00-8:00pm where Drew will also have their mural unveiling.
Superintendent’s Announcements:
Dr. Durán began by honoring Mr. Ben Burgin – APS Assistant Director of Design and Construction who passed away recently. He expressed condolences to his family and work colleagues.
Dr. Durán’s presentation –
Dr. Durán began his presentation by discussing literacy activities of fourth graders at Arlington Traditional School (ATS) working on graphic novels. ATS is partnering with the Arlington Public Library as part of their “Get Graphic” series. The students will visit Swanson Middle and visit with author Jerry Kraft to share their graphic novels. Dr. Durán thanked the partnership with Arlington County Library.
Dr. Durán recognized National Assistant Principals week and asked everyone to wear purple on April 19th to recognize military kids as part of the month of the military child.
Dr. Durán announced the launch of the APS Partners in Education Volunteer Drive. APS is looking to connect with business partners and incorporate more volunteers from the business community in APS schools. This effort will include coffee chats and special events, toolkits and materials on how to volunteer and an “Adopt-a-School” initiative.
Dr. Durán announced that APS hopes to allow students to safely carry Narcan in schools by May 26, 2023. The next steps in this process include reviewing current policies and PIPs and creating a new parent/guardian consent form. Dr. Durán reiterated the need to continue to battle this mental health crisis.
APS is seeking steering committee members for 2024 – 2030 APS Strategic Plan Steering Committee. The application window is April 14 – May 4, 2023. Committee members will be announced on May 25th, 2023 with the first steering meeting on June 5, 2023 from 6:30 – 8:45 pm.
SB Member Comments
Ms. Kadera commented that ARL Public Library has an author series focused on graphic novels for the community. Ms. Kadera expressed appreciation to the county library and community library staff. She encouraged community members to volunteer in order to support the mental health of students.
Ms. Diaz - Torres praised the speed in clarifying the guidance regarding Narcan and encouraged students to become trained through Arlington County. She encouraged community members to become involved in the steering committee.
Mr. Goldstein expressed condolences on behalf of the board on the passing of Mr. Burgin.
Public Comment
Josh Folb – spoke to honor Ben Burgin and on ongoing APS employee benefit issues.
June Prakash – President of AEA. Ms. Prakash spoke about issues raised by AEA members while visiting teachers. These issues include: concern over growth of Syphax staff and resulting growth of class sizes. Some asked: why do some get paid for Spring Break and others do not? Teachers are concerned about losing their planning time. Why wasn’t there more teacher input when choosing the CKLA curriculum? Multiple questions on CKLA program efficacy and data supporting it.
Mr. Goldstein announced that the sign up to speak form for the April 25th public hearing on the FY 2024 budget will be posted from April 19 – April 24th at 4pm. The sign up to speak form for the April 27th School Board Meeting will be posted from April 20th – April 26th.
Monitoring Item
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Mann introduced Dr. Kelly Krug Director for Elementary Special Education and Heather Rothenbuescher, Director for Secondary Special Education.
Ms. Rothenbuescher spoke first and detailed that 100% of the work the Special Education Office does directly supports the staff and students in the schools. The 200 members of the office provide specialized interventions to students in schools.
The Special Education presentation indicated that 603 APS staff have completed the Crisis Prevention and Interventional (CPI) Training online and 309 staff members have become fully trained in CPI, which aligns with APS’ policy around physical intervention for students in crisis.
Dr. Krug took over the presentation to detail efforts that APS has undertaken with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and specifically AAC coaches. AAC coaches have worked with speech language pathologists and families in parenting coaching sessions. Dr. Krug also highlighted that the Special Education Office has trained 291 staff members on Language Acquisition Motor Planning (LAMP) Words for Life Training. In 2021 APS was the first public school system in Virginia to be recognized as a center for excellence in using LAMP.
Dr. Krug detailed trends for the office – referrals for support continue. Staff members are out in schools dealing with Autism and Low Incidence; Behavior Specialist Referrals and Student Support Team Referrals. She also detailed the great efforts of the Parent Resource Center and specifically their efforts on Substance Abuse Training.
Dr. Krug gave an overview of the Parent Survey Results – as detailed, the results were largely positive, with areas of improvement possible in consistency across schools in implementation. Next year a modified graduate level class on Special Education Law will be offered for administrators on special education regulations.
Extended School Year (ESY) Improvements – Dr. Krug detailed challenges of ESY from last year. This year, ESY will be clustered at Fleet and ATS. The office is meeting weekly with the transportation office to make sure all will run smoothly.
Ms. Rothenbuescher took back over the presentation to detail LRE data. Per the APS strategic plan, the goal is by 2024 to have at least 80% of SWD spending 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. The latest data from APS Data Warehouse indicates that for 2020-21 the inclusion of SWD is at 64.5%. Ms. Rothenbuescher also used Virginia Department of Education Indicator 5 (Education Environments for Children Age 5 (K) – 21) to demonstrate that APS is not meeting the VA State Goal of 71.60%.
Ms. Rothenbuescher shared school-based data for the 2019 – 2023 school years with names of schools omitted to demonstrate which schools are increasing the number of SWD in 80% or more Gen Ed. The Special Education office is sharing this data with school-based administrators to encourage best practices. Dr. Krug took over to discuss how to work toward improving the LRE goal. One idea was to look at the secondary elective “instructional studies” currently only open to students with IEPs. This course focuses on organization, study skills, work completion, etc. Dr. Krug discussed the possibility of opening this up to other students, either next year or for the 2024-25 school year. The second item highlighted was to require some schools to include LRE goals in their action plans for next year.
Ms. Rothenbuescher took back over to discuss the Medicaid program and expansion. For budgeting purposes, the APS Office of Finance will budget $900K of Medicaid revenue to the APS Annual Budget. Anything beyond that will come back to Special Ed, student support, etc. This year the Special Ed Office had $325K over that. This went to hiring additional support and purchasing testing materials, etc. There is currently a matter pending at the state level that if approved would enable funding to go toward other measures such as behavior intervention and other items and wouldn’t require parent consent for reimbursement. Currently parents have to provide consent for Medicaid reimbursement for student services. Some areas in the future may be nursing, special transportation or personal care assistants for self-care.
Questions from Board on Monitoring Items
Mr. Priddy asked for clarification if all schools would have to put in LRE goals in their action plan or just those that were below the 50% metric of SWD in 80% or more of Gen Ed. Dr. Krug responded that for schools who are not meeting the mark they would need an LRE goal in their action plan. Dr. Durán said for action plans they look at an area of need and write a goal for that.
Ms. Kadera asked if there was an example of a school that would not be able to meet the 80% target in the APS strategic plan. The presenters said no. Ms. Kadera also commented that the main issues she hears from Special Education Committees when dealing with issues of inclusivity are staffing and the need for co-planning time for teachers. Dr. Krug added that the issue can be mindset and viewing all SWD first as general education students.
Ms. Diaz-Torres noted that for schools with lower percentages of SWD included in general education classes they will face higher support needs. Ms. Kadera suggested differentiating expectations for different schools. She also commended the substance abuse training offered by the Parent Resource Center. She discussed ways to use assistive technology to help struggling readers in the general education population.
Mr. Goldstein asked the Special Education Team to clarify the numbers included in their presentation. They clarified that Pre-K and students participating in certain programs due to their specific needs (for example the life skills courses and Shriver) were not included. He also asked if there were any specific recommendations from the presentation. Dr. Krug stated that rather than putting in a specific recommendation that they were looking forward to have their planning factors looked at.
Information Items
Barcroft HVAC Replacement Construction Award
Jeffrey Chambers, Director of Design and Construction gave a presentation on the information item– APS received two bids on the project and the lowest bidder was determined to be non-responsive. The higher bid number includes three alternates (LED light fixtures and domestic hot water system with multistack heat pump). The lowest responsive bidder was Shapiro & Duncan, Inc. with a bid of $9.426 million and they have done work for APS in the past.
Staff estimates a budget of up to $12.9 million of which $5.3 million is being provided from the COVID State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF). Staff recommend the School Board award the contract to Shapiro & Duncan, Inc. in the amount of $9.426 million and approve a budget of $12.9 million from Major Infrastructure funding minus the $5.3 million from CSLFRF
Ms. Kadera asked if part of the RFP is related to energy efficiency of the new HVAC system. Mr. Chambers said that everything they do is done to be as sustainable as possible and as carbon-neutral as possible. Mr. Chambers also clarified for Ms. Kadera that there was enough money in the budget to cover all three alternates.
Mr. Goldstein asked Mr. Chambers to clarify that the total project cost is $12.9 million and the contractor cost is $9.426 million. The difference is the design fee and the project manager. This project was picked based on a study during COVID and due to a matching fund from CSLFRF.
Revisions to School Board Policies J-5.3.2 Home Instruction and J-15.32 Records Management
Dr. Marku gave a presentation on these revisions. Most involve non-substantive changes, however these changes delete an existing appeals process with conflicts with one in the VA Code. Public Comment was received from ASEAC and the Home Educators Association of Virginia.
Ms. Kadera asked what other services APS would be required to provide to homeschool students by law. Dr. Marku said he could follow up afterwards.
Dr. Marku moved to J-15.32 Records Management which essentially removes unnecessary language and adds relevant references, including FERPA.
Mr. Goldstein adjourned the meeting after hearing no new business.
To see our scorecard for the meeting, click here.
