June 5, 2025 Charlottesville City School Board Meeting

001All right. Good evening everyone. It is Thursday, June 5th, and I'm calling our schoolboard meeting to order. Uh we will start with a moment of silence. Thank you. And if you'll please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Miss Backer, if you can please call the role. >> Yes, Madam Chair. Miss Burns >> here. >> Miss Cooper >> here. >> Miss Douly >> here. >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Mr. Meyer, >> yes. >> Miss Richardson >> here. And Miss Torres, >> yes. >> Thank you. Um, and now if we can move on to approve our agenda. >> I move

002that we approve our agenda. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Got a first and a second. All in favor? Consent agenda is what we're going to amend when we get there. >> I think you have to do it now. Correct. >> I think we'll pull that once we get to the consent agenda. >> Is that um so we're back to a first and a second on approval of our agenda. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> All right, Miss Cooper, off to you for your disclosure. Aisha Cooper declared that I have personal interest in the transaction of the Shawsville City Public Schools for the reasons set forth below. I believe I may participate in the deliberation and the voting on the transaction as permitted by Virginia Code section 2.2-3112B 2-3112

003B1 and 2-3115H. Uh, specifically, the transaction in which I intend to participate in is deliberation regarding the vote on the Charlottesville City School Board operating budget for the 2024, 2025, 2025, and 2026 fiscal year, which includes pay to my daughter. My personal interest in this in the transaction stems from my daughter employed by the Charlottesville City School Board as a safety care assistant by the way of association with my daughter. I am a member of a group of three or more all employed by the school board the members of which are affected by the budget deliberations and approval and I'm able to participate in the budget deliberations and vote fairly objectively and in the public interest. I I ask that this statement be maintained with the minutes of the uh Scholesville City School Board. It

004is my intention to orally disclose the existence of this interest during each meeting of the Charlottesville school board in which the 2025 2026 operation budget is discussed and ask that each such disclosure be recorded in the respective minutes u meeting minutes. >> Thank you very much. Um, and now we get to move on to some recognitions. Dr. OD, you are up. Madame Chair, members of the board, Dr. Gurley, good evening. We are proud tonight to recognize our students who have earned career and technical education certifications. These certifications reflect the hard work, dedication, and realworld skills our students have developed in fields ranging from healthcare and information technology to culinary arts and skilled trades. Their achievements not only demonstrate personal excellence, but also prepare them to contribute meaningfully to our community and workforce. Congratulations to each

005of these students on this important milestone. And I would ask that as I called some of these students are here tonight. Um and so I would ask as as I call their name and share the program that they have participated in they would come stand here in the front if they are here. Uh mate Diego Lopez her program was cosmetology and she has earned the Virginia cosmetology examination certification. All right. Then we have Fatima Flores Puentes. Uh she is has been participating in the EMT program, emergency medical technician examination, Virginia Department of Health Office and Emergency Medical Services. Next we have Jane. Yeah. Clap as they come up. Jamie RP, another EMT program student. Then we have Lao Vasquez, EMT. We also have Medina Abdadir, a nurse aid with certification in nurse aid examination. Katherine

006Garcia Anhill, nurse aid. We have Zakara Graves, nurse aid. Sadia Hamilton, nurse aid. Mercedes Gray, nurse aid. She I mentored her. I was hoping she would be here. Um, Tanayia McGrder, nurse aid. And we'd love for Dr. Heltz to come stand with them. She is their fearless leader over at KEK. So, we want to give all of them another round of applause for all of their hard work and earning these certifications. with the board chair and vice chair come on up and and take a picture with them as well. Dr. Gley. >> Yes. Congratulations. We're so proud of you. >> And you get to keep going, Dr. OD with our uh parks and wreck advisory board student member. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I am also excited to introduce the 2526 student representatives for Charlottesville

007Parks and Recreation. These students were selected for their leadership, enthusiasm, and commitment to making a positive impact in our community. We look forward to their voices helping shape future programs and opportunities for youth across the city. And they will serve with our vice chair, Miss Burns. So, first we have Meera Mazri, and I'll share a little bit of information about these students. I hope they're here. Uh, Meera is a junior at Charlottesville High School. She is on the cross country and track team. She also is captain of the debate team and vice president of the local YMCA Youth and Government Club. She has been inducted into the National Honor Society, National Latin Honor Society, earned her degree of distinction from NSDA and her AP scholar with honor award. She is section editor of entertainment for

008the nighttime review and a link leader. She is incredibly excited and thankful for this opportunity to make change and advocate for people in her community. That's Mera Mazri. We can give her a round of applause. And next we have Harper Olrich. I know she's here. Come on up, Harper. Harper is honored to be chosen for the city of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. She is passionate about helping her community and working to make Charlottesville and our world a better place. She previously served as the schoolboard representative for the junior class in the 24-25 school year just last just this current year. Attended the VSBA conference in Williamsburg. We saw her there and collaborated with staff and students to elevate student voice at CHS and in board meetings. She is attending the Governor's School World

009Language Academy this summer and received the seal of biiteracy in French. Harper founded Black Knight Mentors her sophomore year. This works to increase leadership opportunities for high school students by placing high school mentors in all six of our elementary schools. She is a member of the National Honor Society and values not only the academic rigor at Charlottesville High School, but the strong, meaningful relationships she has built with teachers. She is an equestrian and competes across Virginia. and she also serves as secretary for her 4 club. Congratulations to Harper. And we and we're gonna get a picture as well. And congratulations to Meera in her absence as well. All right. Um, and now we'll move on to section 8.0 comments from members of the community. Starting with any comments from students. All right. Seeing none, we'll

010move on to comments from members of the community. Uh the first sign up I have is for Brett Schneider. If you can approach the microphone, say your name, and limit your comments to three minutes. Uh good evening, members of the board. Uh Dr. Gurley. My name is Brett Schneider. I'm a parent of two rising third graders at Summit. Um, if my name sounds familiar, it's from my email from May 19th uh to you all about my concerns about Summit. And um, I want to show up tonight share a few comments. I'd like for you all to get to know me. I I I want to advocate for Summit Elementary. I believe the school needs more resources. Um, to reiterate a few points from my email, few things stand out about Summit. They have the highest

011proportion of low socioeconomic status families of all the elementary schools. They also have the worst test scores. It's the only elementary school that has conditions for its accreditation and it has the highest turnover amongst its staff. Despite all this, uh there seems to be uh in my perspective an underinvestment in the resources uh at that school. Um, as a result, seven out of 15 classroom teachers have already left the school. Um, now I understand that's anomalous and it isn't usually like that, but it still highlights this very high turnover at summit. And I I'm thankful for all of your work towards the resoning. I know that's a difficult process. I really appreciate the work that you all did to um to see that through and I believe that will help in the long term but

012I believe more needs to be done in the short term. Um so as you all review the staffing plan for next year my ask is that you give extra attention to summit. Uh the first step in stabilizing the staffing at that school will be to make sure every single position is filled uh in the medium term. I know the budget for next year is already uh well underway and it's too late to advocate for additional resources for next year. Um but in the medium term um I believe that there are additional resources that school needs. Uh in addition to stabilizing the uh classroom teacher positions and limiting that turnover in any way possible, uh it needs additional non-instructional resources such as uh additional counselors, additional special education staff. Um, I've heard from teachers that the

013behavioral and the uh uh the needs that disrupt the classroom uh on a regular basis uh routinely create challenges for them and I believe that this contributes to uh the high turnover. Um I I will add that um I have nothing but uh um great things to say about Summit. have had fantastic experience. Um, but the fact that I don't know who my, you know, I don't, there's only one third grade teacher that's staying for next year. >> For the third grade students, they're going to fourth grade. Um, no one knows who these teachers are. Um, and um, >> thank you. Your time has expired. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other community members in the media center who wish to give comment? Approach the microphone, say your name, and limit your comments to

014three minutes. My name is Veronica. I have a third grader at Burnley Morraine. And I'm going to keep it very, very short. The only reason why I came here today, and I'm sorry I didn't came to more of these meetings, is to say thank you to the board, Dr. Gurley especially, uh, but the whole board. You guys, I know this was not an easy school year. I know there have been many, many things thrown your way and there's been many, many parents who did not necessarily only express the gratitude that I'm here for today. Do not take it personal. None of that is personal. All these parents are trying to fight for their children and they kind of sometimes maybe forget that this is personal. Those emails end up in your inboxes. Don't take it

015personal. Work hard as you're doing for now and all these years and keep up the good work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other members of the audience wishing to give comment? Anybody on Zoom? Mr. Pomo? Okay. All right. Thank you. Um All right. We'll move on to item 9.0 O adoption of the consent agenda. >> Yeah, chair. I'd move uh to take our I think it's item sorry 9.7 the school board meeting schedule off the consent agenda and add it. We'll discuss it at the next board meeting. Uh just I did some quick research. It has to become the next item after the consent agenda so we can discuss it right after. >> I move then to sorry excuse me to take off the uh school board meeting schedule uh 9.7 and make

016it part of the action or times for discussion. Sorry, I don't know where you want to put it, but somewhere in the meeting. >> Okay. So, there is a motion to approve or to adopt the consent agenda with the exception of item 9.7. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. Uh all in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> Any opposed? Okay. So, we have an adopted consent agenda. Uh and now for item 9.7. um which is our 2526 board meeting dates. Um I think I need a motion to approve August 7th, 2025 as our next school board meeting. Um and then we will revisit the calendar in full at our August advance. So somebody wants to summarize that in a motion, that would be lovely. >> Sure. I'll move um to approve August 7th, 2025 as

017our next scheduled regular meeting and to discuss the rest of our 25 26 schoolboard meeting dates at our next schoolboard advance. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Great. We've got a first and a second. Any discussion? All right. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> All right. Thank you. Um, and now we'll move on to our action items. So, first up, we've got our crew of title specialists. Good evening everyone. Um, last month we presented our uh federal titles 1 through six and uh tonight we are asking that you take action on the applications. All right. Um so we need to um action to approve our title. Do we need to approve them separately? Okay. >> It's it's individual each one. Sorry. >> Awesome. Okay. So, first

018up, um our title one application. I need a motion to approve. >> Uh I move to approve our title one application as presented. >> All right. We've got a first. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Any questions or discussion on the title one application? >> I do. Please. >> Uhu. Um, so and this is may just a point of clarification on our agenda. Um, under where it describes action required, it says no action required at this time. So I don't know if that's just if that matters at all. >> I think that was from last time action will be requested on June 5th. So >> I just noticed that. So that as I was looking at that, but particular to title one, I did want to say thank you for rescending um

019the larger font um how that breaks down. Again, I just do for the record do want to express concerns about these budgeted amounts and I know we do have them for this next year, but just as far as Title One and funds um under this current political climate, I do have concerns. And then also I just had a quick question about um transfer expenses or transportation expenses to support students currently unhoused. I just didn't know if anybody knew anything or had heard anything about McKinley Vento and just funding for that and do we need to are there any concerns? No. >> Yeah, no concerns. And we Mckin Bento supports the transportation as well as title one together. We we meet that requirement >> and right and then I mean just as far as like flagging

020that we're watching all >> federal moves at this point. I just have been reading and hearing some buzz about potentially that there might be cuts to that. At this time, we don't have any official concerns. >> All right. I'm just going to continue to bring up all of my concerns. And I know we're all watching it, but I I need to say that. So, thank you. >> Okay. We have a first and a second for approval of our title one application. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. Um, we'll move on to our title two applications. I move to approve title two as presented. >> All right, we've got a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. >> Torres with a second. Any questions. >> All right. All in favor

021say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. And uh moving on to title three. >> I move to um excuse me. I move to approve our title three application as presented. >> Wonderful. We've got a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Any questions or discussion around title three? All right. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? All right. And last but not least, title four. >> I move to approve title four as title four application as presented. >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Miss Cooper with a second. Any questions, discussion around title four. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. Thank you all. >> Thank you. Um, next up is Miss Swift. Uh, good evening, Madam Chair, members of the

022board, and Dr. Gurley. Um, at the May meeting, we presented the February policy updates for your review. And so, at this time, if there are no questions, we ask that the board take action on these policies. All right. Is there a motion to approve the policies as presented? >> I'll move to present the policies as presented. >> Okay. There is a motion to approve. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. And I do believe we have some questions and discussion. So go ahead, Miss Torres. >> Should we start down here? Apologies. Um, sorry, not sorry, I guess. So, first question just generally um has there been a change or a desire to move away from student rights and responsibilities versus the language that I've seen a couple times in here um student code

023of conduct in different policies >> or it says standards of student conduct. So the >> is that different? >> The physical document is the student rights and responsibilities and so it probably there probably is some referral in policies that students um student conduct but the official language of the the document generally around the around most places is rights and responsibilities. Not I don't know that all folks have shifted their language. I just felt like it was a little confusing because we made a big deal of going to student rights and responsibilities, but then in a few of these policies when I was reading through them, it said standards of student conduct. So, I just wasn't sure if I missed something if it matters. is I mean that's kind of synony conduct. I I know that's

024that's probably hard, but that's the legal that's the legal ease and what the Virginia Department of Education uses is rights and responsibilities. >> And uh if I may, the document used to be called the code of conduct, right? >> It was never called the standards of student conduct. I think that that is referring to um >> The standards, not the name of a document. >> Yeah. >> But it's it's referring to a lot of the different student behaviors that we list out in our right student rights and responsibilities. >> Yeah. >> So, again, I get it that we're using VSBA templates and and making them ours, but I just didn't know if we wanted some >> Yeah. And I would need I would need to see it because where it says standards of student conduct.

025>> Would it refer to >> Miss Julie's point that's the that to me that's the lower case like it's not referring to the document that's the standard of student conduct. >> Okay. So maybe we can just flag. So and I again apologize that I didn't bring this to you a little bit earlier, but policy JFC and also JFCM were two of the places that I saw that. >> Okay. And then also I'm sorry um my my next question that I'm going to go to was regarding policy GCE um and it was about substitute teachers and there was some just some blanks in that policy. I mean, there was like fill in the blanks, insert other qualifications desired by your school board, and I just felt like if if we should be filling that in, we

026need to do that now. But I didn't know if that was an oversight and it was just the template that wasn't completed. >> GCE. Yes. I'm sorry. See that? >> You don't see it? >> Which one? >> Is that in the Is that Is that in the one that we're doing for discussion? That's in the one for discussion. I would say GC I think that may be in the ones that we that are for discussion >> separate from >> because you know we're doing >> Yeah, we're doing another set. >> Yeah. So I apologize if I because there were a lot to review and so I may have um made notes but >> it's it may be in the >> it may be in the discussion. >> It's in a discussion. >> Okay. All right.

027>> So we'll hold that one. >> Found found that for later. Okay. Sorry. Um, I wanted to just say I appreciate the fact that the policy I K EC, the promotion and retention policy is been pulled for right now and that there's going to be committee work on that. Can anybody provide any info as to what kind of research or what we're doing with that policy, please? From what I recall from our last meeting, um, Miss Torres, there was concern about including attendance um, as a consideration for retention. And so that was one of the main discussions that was brought up and as well as uh, including parental how to handle parental requests for retention. So rather than to rush that work and that discussion, we decided to pull it uh to reflect more on

028how to respond. >> Okay. I I do know that I have other concerns about this and I'll try and email them to you all and I didn't know if I thought some of my colleagues also had concerns about this. So I didn't know if this would be the time that you want to voice that so that they're aware of what we were hoping would be reconsidered for that or send emails later. Did you >> I think mail was appropriate so that it could be captured. >> I don't want to. >> Okay, Miss Burns, go ahead. >> Yes. Also appreciate that it was pulled. Um, I think, uh, not rushing to a decision, but also digging a little deeper. We've heard some feedback from teachers this year, sorry, from teachers this year, um, particular to attendance

029and what they're seeing in their classrooms. Um, and late arrival to school, late to class, they don't show up. um but still manage to earn 50% uh just due to some grading policy, but then they're moved on from those um classes because technically they pass, but they haven't actually been in the class. Um, and so I'm interested to just understand some different approaches that we might take to attendance, whether it results in a true change of promotion or just more conversation about attendance and what does it look like um for our students not to show up um to not just physically being in the building, but to attend classes. and what does it look like to be in the classroom versus in the hallways and how do we have some accountability there was of particular

030interest >> yeah I'm interested in um for the lack of a better word kind of setting some some some some hard benchmarks or check-ins um one of the thought processes I had is you know uh to to have students reading by third grade like third grade should be one of those benchmarks like if you if a student is not at a mastery level then we should consider keeping them back. Um the other part of that in terms of mastery is as we have our new grading policy I think kind of maybe what you were alluding to Miss Burns is if a if a student has not mastered at a certain level which to me would be the equivalent of a C or above uh not escaping with D's um then we should really consider holding

031them back. Um, I think there's more to discussion in terms of which what how many benchmarks and should it be one at each school, should it be multiple at elementary? Um, to I guess try to not impact the the social stigma of being held back. Um, opposed to someone being held back in 10th grade or something like that. Um, which kind of happens because if they don't have enough credits where they don't pass English, they're still a ninth grader, right? Um I might have a few more thoughts, but I'll leave it at that for now. >> Um I kind of want to just um jump in and kind of say I second that. um looking at um attendance and um for retention or maybe holding students back to really look at that at a um

032elementary level and how we catch that before we sending them to fifth sixth grade and how are we really being intentional about like you know having metrics put in place that if our kids aren't meeting those benchmarks like Dom shared that we're catching them at a really young age so it doesn't have such a significant impact on them when they're in middle school and high school. I just want to caution the board that there are like I think there are several different topics here. So attendance, grading, and promotion are all distinct conversations that could be reviewed. And while there is overlap, I don't think that we should be tying them all together in the way that it sounds like some are promoting. I don't know. I mean, I'm interested in hearing from the experts in

033our schools, in our leadership about this idea of benchmarks. I think there's a lot of conversation about like what is developmentally appropriate and the continuum of um learning that occurs that it's not It's not as clean and clear-cut and black and white as at this moment. They either have it or they don't. Um, so I just I don't know. I I don't I don't like the zero integrating policy. I'm not sure the grading policy that we landed on is the right one because we're still trying to operate in a 100 point, you know, scale, but we're using half of the numbers. And so, you know, the unintended consequence now is where we've got students who aren't doing much and are still able to pass, but that's a different conversation. Attendance, we still have kids who

034don't come to school, but they know the content. And so, like, are we that's a different conversation about how we're making sure we're meeting those students needs. Um, so yeah, I'm have some concerns generally, but I really want to caution us from trying to like thread all of this together so seamlessly and, you know, present one, you know, clear policy that's going to capture all of it because I don't think that's the case. And I see some of my colleagues chomping at the bit. So, Don, go for it. >> Yeah, I I think I just need a little bit of clarification and maybe I'll I guess I'll I'll just provide a little bit of clarification clarification where I'm coming from first. So like grades are supposed to be the reflection of what the student knows

035and what they've learned. So to me that's all kind of the same thing. If if a with a in mastery grading if a student can perform then that means that they have that knowledge which means that yes they should be promoted. I think what my concern is is our additional supports. It seems to me, and I'm I'm anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, it seems to me that can only work to a certain degree. You can only catch a student up x amount of, you know, you you might get a extra year's worth of growth or two years, but if a student is in um eighth grade and they're still reading on an elementary level, at what point do we say you should actually stay here so we can give you additional support prior

036to going to high school? I remember one of the and again I'm always willing to be corrected. One of the claims when we did our big reset is that I think it was like 30 something uh students out of 34 at walk were reading below uh I think the seventh grade level or something like that. So I think for me with mastery it proves it's a indicator that the student knows the thing. If they don't know the thing, then we're not setting them up for success. So to me, that's tied in. Maybe you weren't speaking to me, but I just wanted to clarify that. And if you were, maybe you can tell me where it might be separate. >> I think I'm I would defer to our I think I'm thinking specifically literacy and learning

037how to read that that happens a lot of different times for different students. And also thinking about our students with special needs um you know how are we accommodating their promotion or retention students who learn differently and need something different so I don't have all the answers I think and I don't think any of us do um I think just generally public education doesn't right or educate like if we could solve the achievement gap we we would have done that it's not like somebody has the secret sauce and isholding it um so yeah I just think it's going to take conversation robust conversation such as this but expertise. >> I appreciate your feedback, Miss Doulie. Um, I mean, I do see how you're seeing that there are a lot of different pieces, but I think

038ultimately I think it the concern, and people correct me if I'm wrong, is that we've seen students be promoted for lots of different reasons. And there's different metrics feeding into that that may or may not impact whether they're promoted, but ultimately promotion and walking across that stage, they should be able to to read and and do certain things. And I I feel like there's been enough of us who are expressing concerns that that a lot of our students probably aren't for a variety of reasons and not for a lack of us all trying to support them. So again, I don't have answers, but I do feel like, you know, this has percolated. It's something that comes up time and time again throughout the years. I don't know if we have time in August to do

039a dedicated um you know at our at our at an advance at some point to really just focus on these types of things because I feel like there's an appetite and there's a need to really dig into this and and to do better by our students. Again, not that we aren't aren't all trying, but I think I think we need to do more and I think it might mean some changes and I don't have the answers, but I'd like to dig into it a little bit more. >> I agree. >> Okay. So, we have a motion in a second to approve our policy updates. Is there any more question or discussion? >> Chair. Um, if I may, the facilities policy didn't seem to like it was updated per the email I had sent. At least

040that was online along the lines of allowing for it was I thought it was updated in the live document. Was it not? >> I'm I'm >> We all agree. We all agree. So, >> well, I don't want to vote on something. I'm sorry that is >> Yeah, we could we could amend to pull it out >> and colleagues that was just I think we were too narrowly u limiting the type of organizations that could potentially use school facilities. What what's the policy code for that, Mr. Meyer? >> Is that FEA? >> Oh, FB >> FEA is in the discussion or is it >> So, it's KG RL. >> Oh, it is. >> And I just clicked on the document again. It's page 12 of 13. We'll put we'll took that one into August. >> Okay.

041So, would you like to make a motion to amend the motion to remove? >> I move that to amend the motion to remove policy KGRL and to re take action on it at a future meeting. >> Second. >> Who made that? Who made the first motion to approve? Miss Torres, do you accept the amendment? Okay. And Dom, you'll second that. >> Um, we need to vote on accepting the amendment. >> Yes. I I do have uh one quick question. Sure. Um policy JHDA. This is um because we received the our committees um earlier today. Um, this is the policy that refers to a re a human research committee. Um, because it's in policy, is that now one of the schoolboard committees that should be added? >> Policy. JHD, human research committee. Paragraph three. Suppose any

042education research would be human research. I think the essence of my question is it if it's a board committee that one of us need to be assigned to or if it is uh like a superintendent. >> Can you speak to what exists currently? We don't have a board member on a human research committee to my knowledge. >> Yeah. And this refers to funded by the US Department of Education. I understood it to be like superintendent >> not a board committee >> like any any superintendent directed committee >> I don't know >> um okay so we have a friendly amendment to remove the facilities KG policy in a second we need to vote on accepting the amended motion and this is not voting to approve the polic is just voting to approve the amended motion. So,

043all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. So, we're back to our amended motion of approving the policies as presented with the exception of polling policy KG. Any further discussion? All right. Uh, all in favor say I. I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. Thank you, Miss Swift. Um, and our last action item is um the FY26 budget amendment. Miss Hoover. >> Good evening. Good evening board members and Dr. Gurley. Um, at the March 27th schoolboard meeting, uh, I I made a presentation to you uh, regarding uh, amending the FI26 budget uh, for additional state funding. Uh, that's came out of the March 6 uh, budget from the general assembly. Um, we paused on that because we were waiting on the governor's and the governor returned that budget.

044um with no changes. So now we're bringing that amendment back for you to approve. Are there any questions? >> All right. Um thank you, Miss Hoover. Is there a motion to approve the amendment of $385,77? >> I move to approve the proposed budget amendment. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Miss Cooper. We've got a first and a second. Any discussion or questions? All right. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. Um, all right. We'll move on to our discussion items. So, first up, this is a combo info action with Dr. OD and our 2526 student representatives to the school board. All right, Madame Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Gerley, good evening again. It is my honor to introduce our 252 26

045student representatives to the Charlottesville City School Board. These students were selected through a thoughtful interview process during which they demonstrated their passion for student voice, their leadership abilities, and their desire to contribute meaningfully to our school community. A selection committee carefully considered each candidate's strengths and potential to serve in this important advisory role. We will have two student representatives who will sit on the dis each serving a five-month term August through December and January through May. They will also attend designated work sessions, collaborate with their fellow student reps and participate in monthly board meetings. In addition, a third student representative has been selected to serve as an alternate and mentor, someone who will step in as needed on the DAS throughout the year and support the ongoing collaboration and collection of student voice. All three

046of these excellent students will work closely with board mentor Amanda Burns and will play a vital role in collaborating to shape the student experience and helping guide the future of our schools. Please help me welcome our incoming student representatives. I will call their names and share a little bit about them as they come to the front and stand here to prepare for a picture. First, we have Ginger Craighead or Penelopey Ginger Craighead. She as is known to most uh as Ginger and she's a rising senior at Charlottesville High School. She's gone to Charlottesville City School since kindergarten and is a proud trailblazer elementary school alum at CHS. She competes in the Mock Congress debate team and is a co-president of the CHS film club. She is a two-time VHSL Film Festival Award winner, member of

047the National Honor Society, and a distinct member of the National Speech and Debate Association. She is grateful for this opportunity and excited to work with the school board. Ginger will serve on the DAS for five months. Let's give Jinger a round of applause. Next we will have Sally Schwarzman. Sally is a rising junior at Charlottesville High School. He is co- captain of the CHS debate team and qualified for both the National Catholic Forensic League NCFL Grand Nationals and the National Speech and Debate Association NSDA National Tournament. He is an active member of model United Nations Quizbowl Key Club and Green Bacon at Cong at Congregation Beth Israel. He serves as a student teacher and as religious and cultural vice president of Beth Israel Temple Youth Group, BITY. During the summer, Sally swims for the city

048swordfish and Sally will serve on the dis for five months. Let's give Sally another round of applause. And lastly, we have Jayla Turner, who will serve as an alternate and mentor. [Applause] Jayla is currently the only majorette in the CHS marching nights. On her own time, she practices baton to grow her skill and her hope is to be able to twirl in college. She is also a part of the wind ensemble. the past three years she has served as the student council president of her respective class. She has also served as a member of the link crew helping the freshman around CHS. The instrument she plays is the clarinet and her goal is to be able to play professionally and use her talents to pursue a career in music therapy. She has served as a

049student schoolboard rep uh previously during her sophomore year and she is very excited to be back and knows that next year is going to be wonderful. Jayla has been selected as mentioned before as the alternate and mentor representative a role we believe is a perfect fit given her exceptional prior service on the board. Give Jayla a round of applause. We are so excited to have these wonderful student leaders serving in these roles for the 2526 school year. Congratulations again. And let's get that picture with our board chair, vice chair, and superintendent. And is Dr. Malone here? Okay. Congratulations. >> Okay. So, we actually get to take action on approving and approving these students uh as school board representatives. So, if there is a motion, Miss Burns. Sure. I enthusiastically move that we approve the appointment

050of our student school board representatives for the 2025 2026 school year. >> Wonderful. We've got a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Great. Uh any discussion or questions? >> I I noted that a number of them are on the debate team and I look forward to some healthy debate. Maybe they can teach us Robert's rules of order as well. Um, all right. We've got a motion and a second. Uh, any more questions or discussion? All right. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Wonderful and welcome. We look forward to serving with you all next year. All right. Next up, we've got Mr. Jordan with a highly anticipated Charlottesville Middle School presentation. >> Good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Gurley. Um, it is a pleasure to be

051with you all this evening to talk about our lovely Charlottesville Middle School. Um, this picture was taken not long ago. U, we've come a long way from, uh, when we started in the fall of 2023. Um and over the last uh two years, uh there's been a lot of uh planning um about um how we would start school um this coming August. Um, and so I would like to thank uh the team of people that I've been working with, Miss Powell, uh, VMDO, Neielson, uh, thank you. I wasn't sure how I was going to get through this. All right. Um, and, uh, Stuart Harding from, uh, the city. And so, uh, while we've been having school for the past two years and navigating, uh, the world of construction, uh, we have also been, uh, planning,

052uh, for this, um, uh, this summer. And so, um, I'm going to share that with you all this evening. Uh, next slide. Few slides are just pictures, uh, sort of, uh, how things began, um, last, I'm sorry. Uh yeah, school year. Uh this is how sort of things began. Um next slide. Uh this is this will be under construction uh this summer actually. Um week uh there will be a lot of uh of concrete concrete excuse me. Um and so that uh this is what we will see uh when we return in August. Next slide. And then obviously once uh the entire project is finished uh this is the wonderful school our students will be attending. Next slide. All right. So the first thing we're going to do is talk about logistics um and how

053we're going to make this whole thing come together. So if you go by Charlottesville Middle School this summer, you will see this sign. Um you're probably not going to get past the aquatic center. Uh there will be uh this sign will be posted uh because myself um as well as our um assistant principles uh registar um and instructional coaches we will be at Johnsonall Oaks uh this summer. Next. All right. School safety. Um this is going to look a little bit differently. You can go to the next slide. This is going to look a little bit different uh than what it does now. So, while we are having school in our new construction, uh there will be uh renovation. Um our existing building will be under renovation. And so, there will be a construction fence

054around um what we know now as the main building and the fine arts building. Um but in the midst of that, we don't have a cafeteria. So, we have to have lunch in DB building. And so, uh, we're going to safely get our kids from the new construction to DB building. Uh, we will have, uh, we do have a coverage plan for arrival, dismissal, um, and lunches as well as transitions, um, primarily administrators, uh, CSAs, um, and other non-classroom teachers will help us with this, uh, process. Um, we also have right now we currently have one CSA, but we're going to work to get more um of them uh certified to do traffic because there will be u an intersection right there uh by the aquatic center coming off of Cherry Avenue where parents will

055be leaving um the uh the drop off the pickup and drop off um area and our buses will be coming from uh behind the Boys and Girls Club. And so we will have someone there to direct traffic um before they even get to Cherry Avenue. And then um everyone will have a FOB. However, unlike now um they will only have keys that are necessary for the work that they do. So, right now we have um I don't even know how many uh master keys out um just because of the layout of our existing building, but that will change um so that people don't have access uh to places where um they don't need to be. Um, and then our CSAs will be uh stationed um all over the the new building to make sure that

056uh there's always um their presence at least. Next. All right. So again, um on the inside, so if you look at the the picture on the left, um essentially you'll be standing at the main entrance. Um, and those are and the main entrance is on the uh the third level of the school. And so those steps will take you down to the second level. When you get down uh to the bottom of those stairs, our librarian and our books and temporary library space will be to the right. And then there will be a wall um in between the new construction and where you see those bricks. And by the way, those bricks are gone now. Um, but there will be a wall there to make sure that we keep everyone away from uh the construction.

057All right, parking is going to be more of a challenge next year than it already has been. Uh but when uh to get to our parking lot where our staff will be uh next year, you would enter off of 9inth Street and then you would just follow the service road um to the to the back of the school and that the parking lot on the left is um a new parking lot um and and it is permanent um but it's not enough uh spaces for 100 people. Um, and so to the right is where our outdoor basketball court will eventually be and um that will actually be temporary parking next year so that we have more parking spaces. I anticipate some of our staff will still park at the aquatic center u which is totally

058fine but we will have um parking for for our staff next. And then our buses are also going to be going through this area. So, there will be an arm gate um right by where our kitchen is now. And then there will also be one on the other side um of the Boys and Girls Club so that once school begins at 8:30, we can put the that that gate down and you would need um access in order to get to the back of the school. Next. All right. So, this is going to be a a major change for um all of us. Uh you can go to the next slide. So currently our buses um our bus loop is in the front of the building and our parents enter off of 9inth Street um in

059order to access the parent pickup and drop off area. This will change beginning um in August. So our new bus loop will actually wrap around the entire um property. So, the buses, our buses will come in off of 9inth Street. They will go around to the gym and they will drop our students off there and then they will continue out to Cherry Avenue. And then our parents will enter off of Cherry Avenue, drop our students off at the front, and then they are going to exit um out Cherry Avenue as well. So, this is going to be a change. We're we we are really going to um encourage our parents not to um pick up or drop students off at the aquatic center because it's just going to add one more wrinkle and we're going

060to have to find somebody else to cover. Um and so u uh this will be new next year, but we're we're going to get through it. Next slide. And so this is the these are the doors where our uh students when they get off the bus, they will enter through these doors and just walk uh to the end of the hall and then go up some steps. The area to the left, it there's a um there's a black top that's going to be there. And so uh sometimes our buses come before 8:15 when we uh let students into the building. And if that is the case and they do not uh want to eat breakfast, then they'll just uh be outside. Uh there will be uh someone out there with them. If they do want

061breakfast, they'll go inside of the building and we have an area uh where they can eat um breakfast in the morning. And this is that area where I was talking about. Sorry, there's a lot of construction happening, but they'll essentially walk up the stairs to the mezzanine and that'll get them into um the rest of the building. Next. All right. For family pickup and drop off, you can go to the next slide. Again, our families are going to come in off of Cherry Avenue. They'll drive all the way up and then they'll drop their students off, make the loop, and then um exit out. We're hoping that eventually there There may be an opportunity once our parking lot is finished for parents to make the loop but then exit out and they go out Ninth

062Street, but we'll see how that goes um in 2627. Next slide. All right, our walkers. So, we have students who walk uh from different directions. Uh some will be coming from Cherry Avenue. Um and if they do uh come that way, uh they'll just stay on the sidewalk. They'll walk all the way down and then there's a crosswalk. They'll cross there. Um and then they'll uh if they're eating breakfast, they'll go to D building. If they're not, they will um just hang out in the front and then they'll come into the building at 8:15. Next slide. So, there's actually been some changes to this. So, our students who enter from uh who come from Prospect Avenue, Forest Avenue, they're still going to they're still going to uh enter from um from 9inth Street. Um and

063they will still go uh they will still enter uh the back of D building because that is the only way uh they can enter without going all the way up to the traffic light um and just coming all the way around. So they will enter through the back of D building. They'll have breakfast or they'll hang out until 8:15. Um from my understanding and I think we need to go back and look at this but the this is not going to be ADA accessessible now which I think we need to look at that because if we have a student who uh needs um those accommodations then um that is not going to work. So next slide. All right. So, our current DB building, which sort of sits in the back of our school, um, so

064right now we have two classrooms, uh, D49 and D410, uh, excuse me, D410, excuse me. Uh, we are using those rooms for temporary storage, uh, this summer. And then Neielson is going to um uh go in and create some holes so that um essentially our classrooms are connected for lunch. Uh two of the rooms will be used for serving lines and then the other rooms will be used for uh for our students to eat lunch. We will have about 24 students in each uh classroom. Once um once this work is completed, our custodians will go in and make sure that we're ready to start school in August. Our students who walk from Prospect um Forest Hills Avenue, they will eat breakfast here. All students will eat lunch um in DB buildingild. We do have students

065at times who do not want to be in the middle of the noise. Um and so we will have a designated space for them and then after winter break the building will be de uh demolished. Next slide. And this is just sort of a picture of what that temporary food service um area will look like. And the the new plan is for the walkway near D49 and D410 to be to be the um accessibility area, but I think we're going to need to look at um revisiting where this the steps are. Next slide. And so this is sort of the area where that temporary um walkway will be so that our students can get from DB building uh to the main building um and vice versa. It will not cover this entire area. It is

066going to be very narrow um because uh they'll still be working, but this is sort of where the area will be. Next. All right. So our current building um A building is the main building where most of our core classes are. Cafeteria, front office, B building is where fine arts um our fine arts classes are. And then C was demolished last school year. That was the gym. And then D building is where we have a seventh grade team. But beginning in August, um A building will be the gym and then seventh grade will be B building. Area C will be sixth grade, D and E will be eighth grade, the library, science and engineering classes. And then the uh F building will be fine arts. Next slide. And this is just a picture of what

067it will look like beginning uh uh next school year. Next slide. And then the next picture is just uh the site plan that was created by BMDO which uh points out where everything is such as the uh construction fence uh the bus loop parking and things like that. U next slide. All right. So with instruction uh next slide some things will remain the same. We are going to stay with our two team uh two teams per grade level. We have a minimum of six teachers uh per team. Um and then um our periods will stay the same. We'll stick with 79 minutes for our core classes. Um and then our electives will be 45 minutes every other day. We will have early morning PE, but we did not get enough requests for after school PE.

068And a lot of that is just because uh students are in um a fine arts program or they play sports um and things like that. Next slide. Um and so next year um every um uh teacher will have 45 minutes of unencumbered planning every day. Um they will meet uh once a week for a PLC and then they will also meet once a week for their team meeting. Um, we did have to update. We were hoping to have two lunches, but after talking to the building inspector, 36 students in one class is just too many. Um, and they wanted to wait until later this month to see how it would all look and we needed to get started with our schedule. So, we just went ahead um and we're planning for four lunches next. All

069right. So, some people will be in their permanent spaces beginning in August. Um, I we are excited about our brand new gym. Um, and so our uh students no longer have to go to the Boys and Girls Club for PE. They will do everything right in the gym. Um, and then our art studios will be available um as well as the clinic. And then our seventh grade English, math, and history teachers will all be in their permanent locations. Next. So, as far as temporary spaces, um, so 8th grade will occupy area C, which is where our sixth graders will be when they come over in 2627. Uh, band, orchestra, and chorus. Those classes uh will happen in our three fitness rooms. And then engineering will take place in one of the art studios. And then

070there's a classroom right across from uh one of the art studios. And so our two um engineering classes will happen in those spaces. We do have a family support room in the new building. That's where our urban farming class will be. Our library, as I said before, is going to be on the second floor. Um and then we have a structural teaching room for our students with disabilities. That's going to be on the third floor. And then we have a space for our Isby class. That'll be the second floor. Um it's actually not inside of the corridor. Um, and then our tech support will be on the third floor as well in an open space. And the next few slides, I think, are just some pictures so you can see what it looks like. So,

071this is what um our fitness rooms look like. And so, I believe this is the room where our band uh will be next. And then this is what our art studios look like. So, one of our engineering classes will be in this room uh next year. And then this is our family support room. Uh and so our urban farming classes will take place here. Next, when our students return, all of this uh construction equipment will not be there. But this is what our structured teaching room will look like. Um we can get uh about 12 students um in in this classroom. And it's basically a place for um our students who need um to leave the um the larger setting, the gened setting um within that 79m minute block. They can return to this room

072with with an adult. Next. And then this is uh where our isby uh room will be. And I think we can have about eight students plus a teacher in here. Next. All right. So, some people will have a shared space. Um, so our AVID teacher, theater teacher, and world language teachers, they will essentially have a landing space. So, they will have a space where they can keep their belongings, all of their instructional materials, but then they will teach in other um classes when those um when those teachers are on planning. Our instructional coaches and specialists are going to share a room on the fourth floor. Um, our mental health professionals are also going to uh share a space um on the fourth floor and then our assistant principles will be on the third floor. And

073I do want to add that although these people are sharing spaces, we will have designated spaces where people can reserve if they need to do some one-on-one counseling, meet with a family, um things of that nature. Next. Um, and this just talks about the things that um, our teachers will have um, in their classrooms. Um, and you'll see a picture of it on the next slide and how it all looks. So, this is what a typical classroom will look like. Um, it is very nice. Uh we are u the cabinets uh the wardrobe closets are already in the classrooms. Uh we're going to be installing the view sonic boards this summer. Um they're actually already over in the new uh building and then our furniture will be delivered the week of July the 7th. Let's

074keep our fingers crossed. Next slide. This is what our science room uh looks like um in the new building. Um and so uh these labs will be occupied by our eighth graders next year and then our sixth graders the following year. Next slide. Um and so with our breakout spaces uh that you'll see in the next slide, we we are we plan to use these um spaces for small groupoup instruction for one onetoone instruction. Um uh it's an opportunity for our students to collaborate more. We have town hall meetings to talk about expectations. Um our eighth grade promotion ceremony and so it's a a good uh good space for that. There's flexible seating there. Um and we can even have uh staff and student conferences in these spaces. Um and there's a very lovely picture

075on the next slide. Um and this is just um uh an example of what those uh spaces look like. Next, after school activities and clubs, uh we can Yep. Uh so fine arts um because we will not have um an auditorium or a band room, orchestra room, and the fitness rooms um just aren't large enough for the entire orchestra or the entire band. Uh we are working with um Aaron IIO to um uh to have rehearsals here uh Charlottesville High School and um there will be transportation for our students um from Charlottesville Middle to Charlottesville High. Um our concerts and shows will continue to be here um in the performing arts center and then uh there's just ongoing communication and coordination between myself uh Mr. High of course um Virginia Cauldron and our uh performing

076arts teachers and transportation. Next for sports um again we are very excited to uh be back home in our own gym. Uh we thank Dr. Thompson uh and Walker for allowing us to use their gym the last two years. But um as you'll see on the next slide, our we are very excited about our gym. Uh but volleyball, boys and girl, boys and girls basketball will take place in our gym. Uh swim practices will continue at the aquatic center. Um and baseball and softball and track will happen um in other locations most likely here at Charlottesville High School Lane or um and Lane Field. Um, and then we are hoping that when our sixth graders come and the project is finished in 2026 that we can have some inter mural sports just to generate some

077interest and get our kids excited about sports that we don't currently have teams for. Um, and then there will be a calendar where we have all of this information because we know that people will use our building. They're going to rent our building and so so that everyone knows um what's happening at Charlottesville Middle School. There will be a calendar Next, this is our lovely gym. Uh, they've actually just uh put the the floor down. Um, I think now they just have to come back and paint it, but the the rims are already in there. The scoreboard is in there. Um, it is a very nice uh space for our kids. Next. All right. So, um, we have been working again the people that I mentioned before. uh we've been meeting um and then we've

078also uh we also recognize the importance of communication and so uh back in January when we returned from uh winter break we had a meeting with all of our staff uh to just uh talk about uh furniture primarily and then the timeline for uh preparing for uh phase two which um is now. Um and then we also met again uh in March uh to talk about the phasing, the safety measures and the new learning spaces. And then uh next slide. Um we also held four parent info sessions uh to give them uh to give our families uh information about uh this summer and um and next uh school year. Next. Um, and so we are planning to have a young night kickoff on Monday, August the 11th. Um, we recognize the importance of bringing our

079students in as soon as possible and also um their families. In the past, we've had uh meet and greets on the Monday and Tuesday before um the first day of school on that Wednesday. and we did that um within like four hour windows. However, due to logistics such as parking um we cannot do uh do it in the same manner this summer. Um and so we know that um the community is excited about our new building. We know that our families are excited and we are going to get them into our building as soon as possible. Our goal is August the 20th, we're going to start having back to school nights where each team will once a week each team will host a back to school night so that we can get our families into

080the building so that they can see um what's happening where their kids are learning. But before then on um Monday, August the 11th uh we are going to bring in our students um for an orientation. So they will come in, they will go to their core one classes, they'll have some time with their teacher. If the intercom is working, they'll get to hear from me. And then they are going to uh tour the new building uh with with their core one teachers. And then um if you ever if you've ever uh spent some time with us on a Friday, primarily once a month, we do a big schoolwide pep rally. We are going to try to do that um um before they leave. So from like 12:30 to 12:45, we are going to work with

081uh Miss Pal, Miss Green, and transportation to uh provide transportation uh to our kids who um would normally ride the bus and then parents can also drop off their students and it'll really be um a good test run too to see how all of this works. Um but we are planning to bring in our students um Monday, August the 11th. Next. That is all I have and thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Um, any questions from board members? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, next up we've got our bianial division literacy plan. M. Riddle. I'm definitely not as tall as him. I'm sorry. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. Gurley. Tonight, I'm presenting the Charlottesville City Schools bienial division literacy plan for your review. This presentation is

082being brought forward for both information and action as required by the Virginia Literacy Act. The vision and goals of our literacy plan are to ensure equitable learning opportunities for all students that are rooted in science-based reading research to increase literacy skills across all student membership groups. This work aligns with priority one of the strategic plan and will ultimately increase academic achievement. Last spring I shared with you for the first time the division literacy plan. At that point, we were still awaiting approved curriculum resources for grades 6 through 8, and we were waiting for guidance documents for the student reading plans and specific details about the Virginia Literacy and Language Screener BLS. But then at the start of the school year, we began to implement and we revised as more details and information were released. We're

083now taking that information from the plan and we're revising it to include the 2-year vision. Tonight, I will share with you both what has been accomplished and what our next steps are. And Miss Bryce is here to share the highlights and goals for CHS, even though they're not included in the literacy plan. There are six sections of the literacy plan and we will take a look at each section while keeping in mind the goal and the vision for Charlottesville city schools. The first section of our literacy plan includes a comprehensive communication plan. In Charlottesville City Schools, we believe that literacy is a civil right that has the power to create equitable outcomes for every student. In order to achieve this vision, we must communicate and partner with all stakeholders for our families and caregivers. We

084provide detailed student reports from vowels for students in kindergarten through third as well as MAP and Dibbles reports. We share student reading plans outlining individual goals and strategies. Our aim is to provide clear and actionable information so that families and caregivers can actively participate in their child's literacy journey. To keep our community informed, we present updates to you all, the school board, and maintain relevant information on the CCS website and host literacy sponsored events to raise awareness and engagement. Our teachers are supported through ongoing professional development opportunities and collaborative professional learning. Oh, PLC's are focused on best literacy practices. Finally, our administration receives regular updates from the VDOE and are engaged in intentional intentional collaboration with our reading specialists and literacy and me the literacy coordinator to assure alignment and effective implementation of our literacy

085goals. This comprehensive approach ensures that information flows effectively across all levels, fostering a collaborative environment dedicated to student literacy success. The next section we're on highly qualified and high qual high quality instructional materials HQIM. Sorry. The next section of our literacy plan focuses on the instructional materials that underpin our literacy program. We're committed to providing our students and teachers with resources that are re researchbased and effective. For kindergarten through fifth grade, our core program will be HMH into reading. For grades 6 through 8, we will continue to use my perspectives. Additionally, starting in third grade, we will include at least one novel study and text set per grade level to deepen comprehension and engagement with literature. We believe that this is essential in our goal of developing skilled readers and building reading stamina, which was

086one of the areas identified in our standards and our progress monitoring data. I have included a few of the supplemental resources that are available and used in our schools. During the most recent school year, we noticed that occasionally a student may need additional instruction on foundational skills. We then identified an approved resource called really great reading that would meet this need. Really great reading also allows for an intervention that aligns with the classroom instruction and student mastery which will help us to alleviate the learning gaps for our students by aligning those programs for intervention. We have a wide range of targeted programs. I noted a few of them there. We've also worked hard to ensure that our interventions address our achievement gaps. The really great reading programs such as countdown blast and HD word are

087examples that meet those needs. Though not included in the VLA requirements for the division division literacy and plan, we wanted to include updates and information about grades 9 to 12 in Charlottesville city. We use um teacher and district created curriculum guides and pacing guides. In regards to interventions and supports for tier three, we use programs such as rewards, starry, and sips. We were excited to see that many of the programs we already use are on the approved resources guide for secondary students. The next one is professional evidence-based reading training or professional learning. This past school year has seen a strong commitment to professional development in evidence-based reading practices across our division. We've had a significant number of staff members actively engaged in high quality training programs focused on literacy. It's a pretty remarkable investment when

088you include all elementary and middle school teachers in one training that's focused on literacy. And you can see this included electives teachers, math, science, history, everybody in elementary and kindergarten or elementary and middle school. Reading and and writing occurs in all classrooms. So by including that training for everybody, we're able to reinforce that. In total, we had almost 350 people participating in at least one of the literacy courses. Some of our individuals completed a letters course and a Virginia literacy partnership course. We have met all of the requirements of the Virginia Literacy Act and we will continue to grow upon our literacy focus and training in the upcoming years. Some specific examples for the upcoming school year include intensive professional and learning partnerships at Walker and CHS. At Walker, Dr. Tammy Williams from William and

089Mary will work closely with literacy teachers to support comprehension instruction of complex texts. At CHS, we're supporting English, ESL, and SPED teachers through training with Dr. Jade Wexler in the evidence-based pack plus literacy model. This includes professional development and coaching focused on building students background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. We're also working to establish a schoolwide literacy approach and boost student engagement with text through strategies that promote discussion, critical thinking, and authentic writing. Now that we know what resources we're using and have completed the training, it's time to look at how we can identify student need and progress monitor their learning. This year, we implemented bal K to3 for the first time. Next year, we will expand its usage to grades four through 8. We're still awaiting the guidance from the VDOE and the VOP regarding

090the criteria, subtests, and instructional indicators. In the meantime, we also use MAP and internally designed assessments. Overall, in the elementary schools, we were able to see gains in students level of mastery and foundational reading skills, which will support their reading comprehension and fluency. And at the high school level, we're closely monitoring student progress using multiple assessment tools. MAP growth is our primary measure for tracking academic growth and ensuring students are progressing towards grade level benchmarks. Students scoring at or below the 20th percentile on MAP are additionally screened using Dibbles to identify specific literacy needs. We continue using MAP throughout the year to measure growth over time. In English, we also use district developed assessments to gauge mastery of standards. Recognizing the importance of consistent checks in a subject where measurement can be more subjective. There

091are many ways and opportunities to monitor our implementation and progress of the division literacy plan. One example is lit our literacy walks. In the fall, principles and I met and discussed several school lit or school level literacy instruction. Through our discussion, we identified an area of focus and then the school members that would participate in these walks such as instructional coaches and reading specialists and how we were going to use the walkth through look for tool developed by the VDOE. On the day of the visit, we were really able to narrow in our focus on that identified area and it allowed us to collaborate our expectations, provide pre precise feedback, and create action steps for that school. Next year, we will continue to refine our process and monitor our action steps while increasing the number

092of literacy walks. We will also look at ways to share and learn across our schools. A large component of the VLA and literacy plan also includes engaging parents, caregivers, and community members. Families and caregivers are invited to participate in the student reading plan process. We regularly communicate about student performance and progress on vowels, dibbles, and map. We also hosted many schoolbased literacy events at all of our elementary schools. Just this week, the 210 reading specialist team was designing and preparing a fall literacy event that will provide consistent messaging and support our families about the vows assessment, including descriptions of the subtests and resources for families to support in their students reading growth. Overall, in thinking about the next steps in literacy for the division literacy plan, we will continue to focus on the implementation of

093evidence-based literacy instruction with continued professional learning and monitoring of implementation. We will also increase our students opportunities to engage with complex text in meaningful and authentic ways. We will make sure that our complex texts are windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for our students. The novels and complex texts that we will also support continued reading stamina. The stamina to develop a and to read a text across multiple days or weeks is a skill set that will support our students as they continue to grow in their literacy. We also in want to increase we also will increase our usage of the vow screener in grades four through eight. This will be a big lift but the information should be valuable to both our teachers, students and families. That concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any

094questions at this time. >> Great. Thank you both for your presentation. Um open it up to the board for questions. Mr. Meyer, start on your end. Yeah. Uh, thank you very much. Very thorough. Uh, my apologies for the state being delayed in getting you all information so you could further develop it. Uh, if I may for them. Uh, one thing that in here that I get a lot of questions about and I don't think it's directly associated with this but kind of indirectly is screens and impact on learning and andor reading. Is there in any way that taking lessons from screens or the various programs we're using that are coming from laptops or screens versus some other format say a book or a handout or a piece of paper etc that are being considered into

095this. >> So I think we're trying I I know by implementing some of our novel studies and everything we are also engaging kids in reading physical books. Um, so we're trying to find the balance between the physical paper copies of books and reading as well as reading on screens. But I think it's a balance is what we're trying to implement. >> Morris Burns, >> thank you. Um, I appreciate all the work you're doing here. I maybe not necessarily for you, but just a comment to my colleagues. you can do all the work in the world, but if our kids are not here, they are not reading and they are not receiving intervention. And so I'm concerned about all the effort and energy and great work that goes into this. But if we have children that

096are not in the classrooms, when one of your um when a child might get pulled for intervention, what happens? What like they're not here, they're not getting it. And so I just um that's concerning to me. I just I don't know if there's a response to that. But if they're not in the room and they're wandering the halls and you go to pull them, you just move to the next kid. I I guess I don't know. I think the response is that we are doing everything we can to make sure that the instruction is meaningful, relevant, they want to be engaged learning in the classroom and as long as we can make sure that we're providing the right information in an environment that everybody wants to succeed, then that will also support the attendance. Great.

097Thank you. >> Um I am curious um what we are doing to help parents understand the results and data that's coming back to them. Um like the MAP report comes home, I have to like Google and remind myself how to interpret it. Um, and you know, same with bows and dibbles and all of these things. And so I just um want to know like what we can do to help caregivers better understand where their child is at and if in like parent square if there's a video that can go out when the scores are sent out as just like a cheat sheet to help. And then also just like getting to a greater level of specificity with that data. So like great, I can see where my child is relative to his grade level peers

098and where he is relative to what his writ score was projected to be, but it's not giving me the detail of like is it comprehension, is it phonics, is it, you know, what are and you know, of course, one could talk to a teacher, but we know that not all parents are going to be doing that. So like what can we provide that's just providing more? Yeah, I can definitely say that this year at the start of the school year, we had all intentions of doing our kickoff literacy event to explain all the components of vowels and how to read that student reading student reading plan and the student report. Uh but with everything coming to us at the last minute, it we weren't able to put it into place as we would have liked.

099We did have parent conferences for anybody who had a student reading plan where we went through it together. Um but next year now that we know K to3 everything about vows and we figured out everything we're that will be part of the back to school night um where everybody will get to hear the same information and understanding and then be able to follow up and ask those questions. But I think how we expand that to MAP and all of the other data assessments is important for us to do and that's a great idea. >> Yeah. And just thinking like we know that we're not getting every student or every parent coming to these events and so I think like we're always thinking how do we reach population that doesn't come to us. Yeah. um you

100know and so what is kind of part of that plan and there doesn't need to be an answer right now but just thinking about like how are we going to households or communities or wherever to make sure that caregivers have a chance to be invested in helping their students succeed. >> That's great next steps to figure out. Thank you. >> Um I think that was really good. Um, and to be able like I think sometimes even when the teachers are sitting down with parents and trying to explain, they have a difficult time explain it explaining that to the parent to be able to understand. And so if it maybe if it could come with some type of narrative that breaks it down so the parent um that receives that letter can be able to understand

101it. >> Um, thank you as always. Um, so I wanted to kind of flip back to um, slide two where you kind of refer to strategic plan and our priorities um, and and the specific targets. So, at some point, and I know we've talked a little bit about the data dashboard, kind of being able to use the dashboard specific to these targets um of where we maybe were um at the beginning of this academic year and then when you present, I'm assuming you're still kind of going through data from this most recent testing um to kind of see where we are in relationship to that because that's again I Someone stated it. I'm very appreciative of of what the division has done as far as investing and preparing and training staff and those who um

102work with our students. But but this is really what what matters and you know and what a lot of people should be paying attention to. So we can put these up here and and go ahead. You look like you want to say something. >> Oh no. I'm totally I agree and that that will we'll make sure to include all of that in the o I think it's October but in the fall when I share the data and information yeah we need to dig into it deep >> and I and it's okay I mean I want to say this personally it's okay if if we're not even close to that but and and I I want to see that and we need to know that >> and then we can dig in right um but that's

103really th those are the things that I want to see I am so grateful that that we are where we are as far as literacy and the science of reading and that we have all of these tools as far as interventions um that we can offer our students. But um again, it's it's the benchmarks. It's where are they at third grade, fourth grade before they get much further than that. I mean, we really need to be in my opinion, I don't know, honing in just hanging on to that kid and and doing something different or something more. Um, I'm curious though if you can give me a snapshot or us a snapshot because again you've listed a lot of great interventions here for K through five and six through eight. Do the teachers have just

104kind of um individualized choice as far as what interventions they're using or what does that look like? Because I mean when you look at SIPs inspire a lot of good stuff there but there's a lot of overlap too. Yeah, SIPS inspire and all those those are in a tier three intervention. So those are done by the reading specialist or Aspire is with the special ed teacher. um in for the classrooms and their support. It's a yeah it's more of a tier two in within the room and we have exact um program and resources and tools that are bu connected to HMH as well as UFly um and a couple others but our reading specialist and that is one of the Palooa sessions is digging into exactly like how are we helping the kids within the

105classroom? How are we providing these interventions for the kids who just need a little extra? They need a little bit more but not so much that they are requiring a tier three intervention. So, we want to make sure we're catching those students and providing them the lift that they need. >> Okay. And then I I wasn't able to um flip back, but how many student reading plans did we identify at the beginning of the year when you presented? So at the beginning of the year I had presented that there were 492 reading plans. Um and we learned a lot about reading plans and I realized that the information that I was sharing was the case load of our tier of our reading specialists and we actually had more students because our ESL student our ESL

106teachers were providing support through a reading plan. Our special ed teachers were providing support through reading plans. We ended up having I think the information you want is at the very start of the year we had about 21% of our students that were on reading for plans. By the end of the year we had moved out and gone down to 17%. And keeping in mind that our the way we were doing it this year was not just the VLA requirements. VA only required it for K to two. This is our numbers overall because we implemented and we did it across all the grade levels. K to 12. Um, so we make we took it on. We said if this works, if we need to be identifying and being intentional and the support that we're giving

107our students and our families in literacy, then we're going to do it for everybody. Um, but so we saw definite shifts and decreases and we I believe the data is showing also improvements that is aligned with it. the Val's data alone, we were able to see improvements and I think our numbers on the Val's assessment in the fall is going to be significantly lower looking at where our students were in the spring and the benchmarks on that next grade level of the assessment. >> Okay. And I know um you know that the students moving in and out of that might might vary and then as new students are identified, but I would love and I don't know how that would be to be able to track and just kind of see the progress from this

108year and then I don't know what's working, what isn't. I mean, I'm sure you guys are digging into that. >> Yes. >> Um and really trying to hone um specific interventions that might be more impactful for certain groups of kids. But um and then last question was are we at a point or of re-evaluating whether HM is a good fit for our core program. >> I believe we're up for adoption in two years. So we will begin that process. I know we follow right behind the math. Um and it would be too large of a lift for our elementary teachers to adopt a new math and a literacy at the same time. Um, so I believe it's math and then it's literacy right after and we'll be able to review. But HMH into reading is

109one of the approved core programs. >> Might be approved, but is it the best? Because we want the best, right? >> Yes. And I guess we will figure that out through the adoption process. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you both. Oh, we need action though. So, is there a motion to approve our bianial division literacy plan? >> I move to approve our literacy plan. >> Well, go ahead, Mr. Myers. >> As proposed, I'll second. >> Mr. Meer has made the motion. Miss Torres second. Any questions? >> And so, the action I'm sorry, the action is just to roll in the 20 2527 part of it. Correct. >> Correct. >> All right. Yep. Thank you. All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Thank you both very much. >>

110Thank you. >> All right. Next up, Miss Chuck with some communication on our communications. Um, can you all hear me if I leave them over here or do I need to move the mic? I should move the mic here. Sounds like. Okay, perfect. I have a lot of slides and I'm hoping to move through them very quickly. So, I want to be able to uh man the slides myself so Miss Backer is not guessing what I'm up to. Uh I'm here tonight to speak about our communications and our community uh relations program. And I would just wanted to give a a brief explanation. Amanda is actually on vacation this week. I'm so so sorry she can't be here, but in her absence, I just want to give her a huge shout out. She is a

111tremendous asset to our program. so smart intellectually, so smart emotionally, and just brings a lot of that to bear in our work. So, what is it that Amanda and I do all day? This is a national survey of people who do our jobs. I know the font is small, but the the words over there on the left are crisis communications. That is the top priority that my colleagues across the nation identify. And it's followed by social media. And the main thing I want you to look at when you see this slide is that this is not an exhaustive list. You'll see as I go through this presentation that we do a lot, but what I noticed about this chart is that it's pretty flat. In other words, there's no one or two things that people

112think are the most important things. It's a pretty flat thing where people feel like all the things are pretty important. And so within that world where there's a lot of priorities and there's a lot of good things to do, how do we narrow down our messages? And we really focus on what we call the need to knows and want to knows in the uh monthly newsletter that we put out. call that the news and highlights. And uh really even that we could we could give you a whole lot of news. We could give you a whole lot of highlights. So we tried to use the strategic plan as kind of our northstar for how to how to narrow it down, what to focus on, particularly the parts of the strate strategic plan that we were

113working on as a division for that year. And even once we narrow down our content, there are so many choices to make about channels. Um and that is you know you might say oh do all the channels do all the things but I want to remind you there are two of us and also that do all the things all the time is not a strategy. So uh within that we I'm just going to show you some national data that helps guide our work. Uh this is u just a national survey about how parents prefer to receive essential non-emergency school information. You'll see that the website looks like it is really out ahead. However, if you were to gather up all the items that are parent square, covered by parent square, and add those up, that

114actually pushes it way ahead of the website. The last thing I want to point out is just how small that figure is for social media. So, that is the national data and then we'll move on to just our own local data, which comes from last year's Title One survey for elementary families. Once again, you'll see that parent square is really uh head and shoulders out there. And I want to give a shout out to those elementary families who still think that there's a place for backpack mail, the flyers and notes. Particularly those families are often talking about seeing their their kids actual work. They like they like seeing what it is that their kids have done and what their kids are working on. So I'll go back to parent square to start us off. That's

115the top tool in by national surveys and local or you know not parent square specifically but by the the data that was gathered nationally and locally. and I last spoke to you maybe a year or two ago about its uh launch and then how it was going. It's still going really well. I'm still proud to say that our data is good that we can contact our families uh and that we're really branching out and using a lot of those robust features that the that the system offers. Of the 14 features, we're using 13 and the only one that we're not is credit card payments because we have other other ways of doing that. I really just am proud of our staff as I look through these figures at how many text messages, how many photos

116they're sharing, how many volunteers they're getting signed up through these through this system. The main tool that we use day in day out, kind of the bread and butter of Parent Square are these posts that we send to a whole group. Could be a whole school district, could be a whole class, could be um whole school. Um Amanda and I alone have a list of 120 of these annual messages that we send out. Not that every I know it feels like every family gets 120 from us but it uh but many of them go to some targeted group kindergarten registration or or people who haven't re-registered by a certain date or what whatever it is. So that's uh a lot of the work we do. And then also Amanda and I really uh we try

117to focus in on these personalized taking advantage of the data sets that we have to get the right information in front of the right person. uh just your your child's login, your child's bus information, that sort of thing, just at your child's report card. Uh just to make sure we're giving really actionable messaging to families. So, we're clearly sending out a lot of messages and the question is who's even opening these messages? Who's reading them? And those are two different questions, but the way the industry can measure it is who's who's opening. And I'm really pleased with this slide. If you look at the industry standard across the country for marketing type emails, 36% open rates. If you look at education open rates, 49%. And if you look at the open rates for our monthly

118newsletter, 81%. If you were to delve deeper into the more topical messages that we sent out maybe to specific neighborhoods about resoning, those were in the 90s, which is just crazy high. Uh it doesn't mean that it's 100. We want it to be 100. And again, opening an email is not the same as reading an email or understanding an email or feeling equipped to act on the email. But even as a starting point, I'm I'm really proud for our division to be uh getting these high this high level of engagement. And I think it does reflect on what we all know, which is that our families uh care. Um you know that I also use uh parent square for unplanned uh communications. And for those, I work very closely with people like Kim Powell, our

119principles. We really just want to get accurate information out to families as quickly as possible to get ahead of any kind of rumors or confusion. Um, I think that, you know, at the beginning I talked a lot about strategy and priorities, but all that kind of flies out the window when you have to send a message out. So, a lot of the job is really just balancing that kind of um uh being strategic, but also being responsive. So, I'm not going to read through these parent square next steps. I think the big idea is that we want to just work to equip everyone and give everyone some good guidance on how to follow best practices and really improve consistency across schools, across classrooms. Those best practices also include like how how to know when you're

120sending too much, right? Uh it's a it's a very powerful tool, but at the end of the day, uh we're we're we're good spammers, but we're spammers, and we have to be u mindful of that uh too much quality. All right, next tool up, the website. Um I'm not going to talk about this too much except for the fact that I'm still really happy that it works handin glove with parent square. That's an efficiency that Amanda and I have really appreciated. When you start turning to the website, you're not only talking to our specific families or families in the community who have signed up to receive our messaging. You're really reaching a a broader audience of prospective families of our own staff of of prospective staff and people in the community who just have an

121interest in some topic or other that they're wanting to look up. Um, our goals for the website first is to try to decentralize control of it because a lot of the people in this room are content experts in certain areas and we want to give them editing access to their own page to get Amanda and me out of the middle. Um, we also are doing a summer upgrade that will improve the navigation, the appearance, the ADA compliance of the site. When we rolled out Parent Square two years ago, they had just acquired their their website partner and it was um they've just really enhanced the abilities and the capabilities and the appearance of what's possible now. And so we have hired a vendor to give the site a good refresh over the summer that I

122think we will all be glad for. Next category is media relations. And I know this one, you know, hits you guys pretty personally sometimes. Uh the first thing I want to say is just look at that's not even an exhaustive list. That's barely a list. Uh I put after 10 or 12 or however many there are right there. But for a small community and for a small division our we are very very media saturated and um you know that's we want to be good partners to our to our media colleagues and so a lot of times when a media call comes in that it again that's one of those things that Amanda and I will kind of drop the plan and try to help help the reporter out because it's a real uh partnership that

123we have to be we want them to be good to us and we want to be good to them. Um, we've at a very conservative estimate, our media log shows or at least at the time I was putting these slides together a couple of weeks ago showed 140 stories. We don't usually log the sports stories. We don't have as much to do with them and uh it's just keeping the log itself is is its own job. Um, that is a mix of stories that we place and it's a mix in in stories that reporters come to us. That's about five stories a week. And while it may not feel like it, the overwhelming of those major the overwhelming majority of those stories are neutral or positive. On the days when the news doesn't feel so

124neutral or positive, I wanted to show this slide to you because this is a national survey about how families learn about K12 education in general or their child's school in particular. Their child's school is the light the light blue line. And you'll notice this is one that is not a flat chart, right? There's a head and shoulders winner about how families learn about education and that is from their own school. That's not only directly from Amanda and me. That's from their principles. It's from their teachers. Uh it's it's not only electronic communications. It's all the ways that their schools could be face-toface meetings. But that is the way that families learn about what K12 education in America is like. And it's particularly how they learn about how their own school works. Number two on that

125list is family and friends. It's it's a pretty significant drop to get there. And when going back to our media partners, I think maybe number five on the list is news stories. Number seven on the list is television stories. So I went ahead and just rebuilt this graph to show you what would it look like if we combined news reporting and television reporting. And it's still number three on the list behind friends and family. And so for me, one of the big takeaways here is that we have a very powerful tool. We have an audience in families with children that anybody in town would want to have that audience and we can speak directly to them and we can equip those friends and family that are talking and teaching one another about how our schools.

126We can equip them with good experiences and good messages about our schools. Last one I think on the list is social media. And uh if you recall, you know, I think families only said maybe 2% of them wanted to get information or get essential information from schools through social media. And yet on the list of of ways that people who do my job listed it as a priority, it was number two on the list. That seems like a really big disconnect. But when we talk about need to knows and want to knows, the need to knows mostly come through a tool like Parent Square. And the want to knows are all about social media. And again, that reach on social media, it's well beyond our particular staff and families. You have a lot of community

127members. You have people out of state, especially when a post really takes hold. I think um I think it was these graduation pictures on Instagram. I think uh the last time I checked that it had maybe 45,000 views on it. Um it can have a very big reach when you get a story that really tugs at the heart or uh just is inspirational in some way. So, I'm not going to go through these. Uh, the job is is busy and complex. It's no more busy and complex than the other people in this room, but it it is. And, um, I'm happy to go deeper on any of these when I'm done. The last thing I wanted to mention is that a big part of the job is also being a thinking partner to my colleagues

128in the room. Particularly when we have a new project, reszoning, re of all all the re that we talked about this year is an example of that. That's made this year a busy year for us. Um, we really want to um be involved not only in the communications, but we we we're just an extra set of brains, an extra set of hands for projects like that. And especially as these projects kind of rub up against real parents, against real staff members, against real students, we want to kind of u that's the community relations part of it. We want to make sure that we are helping my everybody look at it from the perspective of those those stakeholders. So when you see uh topics like transportation, you don't think, oh, that's communications, but uh but Amanda

129and I have had our hands deep in in all of these topics. So, I think I've covered these next steps except for the last three, and that is uh working more closely with our family engagement team just so we're all on the same page about we're all engaging families. We're all hoping to uh share information, but also um uh get information back and to get feedback back. So, how can we work more closely together? Another one on the list is elevating student voice because that just makes everything better. And the last one on the list is really taking advantage of the that beautiful middle school that Mr. Jordan was telling you about and just um the opportunity that it presents for us to help everybody gain excitement about this middle school and this resource in

130our community. I threw out a bunch of statistics here. I'm certainly not going to run through any of those. I think that the bottom line is I hope I hope I've explained that Amanda and I stay very very busy, especially in a year that brings a lot of change. And uh I'm I'm not any busier than the folks at this table, but there does come a limit of what is sustainable for two people. Uh we Dr. Girly encourages us to hire hire the company who's giving the website a refresh this summer because there's just not enough hours in the day, right? Hire a photographer to go to some of the events that Amanda and I just can't get to. Hire a graphic designer to do some of the things that would take us a lot

131longer to do than it would hire a graphic designer. Even even without strategy, we we we stay very busy. And so um as we think of more just I was making notes to myself during the literacy um the literacy presentation about videos that would help families understand uh data that is a great suggestion but it's a more and at some point more requires more. So that's that's what I have. I'm happy to answer questions. >> Thank you very much. Um board members questions. for us. >> Just just lots of gratitude >> and I was just starting to count the tabs open on my screen right now. Nowhere near compared to the 73 that you had listed there, but um I don't know how the two of you do it. So, um just and and again,

132you listed so many um positives and and I can't I can't even begin to name how many times I've leaned into you or or you and I have talked um throughout the years about new things coming up or issues or or anything and and you do you do have the knowledge, the background and just I don't know how you keep track of everything. So >> learning learning and being kind of a historian of schools is part of the job. >> Absolutely. And anyway, I'm grateful for you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I guess the only comment I'll have is, you know, more means more. So when we come to our budget season to just make sure you put that number in there for us. >> Thank you. >> Uh you know, thank you,

133Mr. Chuck for I think was very covered everything uh which I really appreciate and a lot of detail in there uh as I would expect from a communication professional. Uh I think it is it is interesting kind of the social media aspects or again how it reaches or doesn't reach certain audiences and I appreciate that and I also understand you know the challenges of it with I would say a lot of misinformation etc. So, um, you know, one thing, a couple couple reactions. One, you I do think we we do a really good job at communicating and I've seen that improvement. I've heard that uh parents have felt a lot of improvement since getting parent square going and kind of again say more frequent communications around especially emergency events etc. uh where we the police

134get called, you know, and being able to get that information out to parents through parents square. And I think what I've seen is you've done it really quickly is very helpful and and I want to give you kudos for that. Uh because I think that was a large concern and a lot of folks had it a number of years and this tool seems to be working. Um, a couple of things overarching thing here and and again I think I mentioned this in the email like I think we do really good communication and marketing though is I think something that I'd like us to see tightened up a bit andor maybe expanded and I do realize there's again limitations of your time and efforts and so you know things that I think about are summer interns

135I is there you know some there's There's obviously debate uh kids that experts in debate, but you know, do we have some kids that are excellent at marketing here that we could pay a little bit to give you 20 hours a week during the summer or even during the school year to help with I think a lot of that social media and I know I'm not sophisticated with it, but you know, I think these kids are and could help do some of that. uh you mentioned equipping our families and parents and and I think there's a bit of initiative to do that and I'm really excited to see that because I do think they can be our best messengers especially when thinking about marketing. Um, so giving those to those talking points and and sending

136out those materials for them and I would say even encouraging them, you know, and how do we encourage them to uh when they get into those conversations with their friends who for whatever reason are, you know, not sending their childrens to our schools kind of again push them gently and or give them some tools to, you know, again. So, I'm glad we're thinking about that and and doing that. You know, one thing I think I wrote to you about is I'd love to see bumper stickers for all of our schools. Very simple thing because I see all that for all those private schools. I see that for the Albert schools and it drives me nuts. Uh and I want our bar when I go to the grocery store. I want to see and again searching

137Charlottville Middle School, Charlottville High School, Greenbryer, I you know again all those cars in there just to show people that vast amount of uh kids who send them to our schools is kind of like they are not the minority, we are the majority. Um, sorry. The last thing is I am excited about CMS and I'm glad to see that that point there that we're is there a public launch a I know we're not fully completed, but is there a specific event that we're thinking about for this summer? >> Uh, let me let me jump in on a couple of points you had mentioned. Uh, let's just start with bumper stickers. Uh, every year in the printed calendar, we send out something a little bit fun, a magnet for the refrigerator or some a sticker sheet

138I think was last year. This year, you'll be glad to know it is a window clings for your car. So, that that order was placed about a week or so ago. Um, in addition, a lot of those uh kind of classic marketing efforts that you you might think of, even in terms of uh avenues like Charlottesville Family Magazine, some of that kind of went into a pause during the pandemic, and Amanda has really been uh kind of rebuilding that program up uh again. So, I'm happy. I think you'll be I think you'll be glad with that. She uh has been working she's particularly excited about the possibilities with Charlottesville Middle School. And in addition to your bumper stickers, uh she is working on t-shirts for some future young knights to uh because one one thing

139that I've heard people mention in this community is we've got one high school. Everybody here should be rooting for the Black Knights. And so uh I think we just saw that as an opportunity with some year-end funds to get some t-shirts and just build up a little bit more excitement about those future young knights. Um, oh, last thing I I did note and and one thing I I think about is our city councilors who approve our budget and what are the media sources they're reading and I think that's more traditionally probably like the daily progress and and our >> non social media etc. So, um, that is an audience that again, I want to make sure we're considering uh, and I think we've done a lot better job of of presenting our asks, uh, this

140year and with our PowerPoint decks and and Dr. D's presentations, etc. And I want to see us continue to be able to think mindful of, you know, for better or worse, that channel being something that influences decision makers about again some of our more important financial matters. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Chuck. Appreciate you. And give our gratitude to Miss Corman as well. >> I will do it. I will do it. Thank you for your time. >> Um, next up, Mr. Cuomo got a stadium fiber project update. All right, good evening everybody. I'm going to just try to do the advance from here, but I've got backup just in case. So, I'm going to ask Miss Lewis if she could just spacebar to the to the various slides. And I will say for Miss

141Chuck, she gives Parent Square and Facebook and social media way too much credit because kind of the supervisor and tool user behind the product is usually the one that makes it super successful. So a lot of people say they would never want my job and I always say to her I would never want her job because of all that entails. But um I come to you tonight with um updates and future prospect for um bringing fiber and internet and streaming to Charlesville High School Stadium. Um I met with Andy Jones. We've been talking for uh for days and weeks and um we have some updates to share with you. And uh so the background plain and simple the background is we all know that having um streamed games is is a benefit and advantage for

142a school system. The reality is that the last four and a half to five years have been just inundated with multi-million dollar projects. We did private fiber for the entire school division. We've outfitted uh security cameras, doors, uh just enhancements that are were higher priorities to be to be blunt. Um things I think the board has spoken uh truthfully about and and the community has given feedback on. So those projects, as Beth said, there's a certain amount of things that you can do and then you you run out of things to do. And um that's where we were. those projects just for lack of a better word have they took priority over this request. We know it exists and um we are here to uh talk about some long-term goals. So, one of the long-term

143goals for me and for Andy and I think for C CCS athletics is we want to be able to bring these this fiber, which is essentially internet, which is essentially streaming to the stadium as well as potentially other areas of um athletics through Charlottesville City Schools. So there is an initial phase which would run fiber um to the CHS stadium and it would also future ready us to have the fiber but not the equipment in place so that in if two or three years down the road came and we wanted to add an event to another to another field to another avenue we wouldn't have to have this conversation over and over again we would just have to move from like an 80% finish to get to that finish point and work with our vendors.

144um and what that looks like from an aerial view. It's a little hard to see with the um with the yellow on the bright, but essentially you'll see the stadium on your left hand side, the high school in the middle, and then the baseball fields um on your right. So coming the plan would be to to run fiber underground from the school, which is basically the main data center. And uh while we're doing this work, we would uh preemptively run fiber past the tennis courts strategically. Um we would run it to the track and field space and then we'd go the other way underground. We'd have to come all the way around um making a little stop at the baseball field, come around the baseball field. We'd have to bore under the railroads tracks and

145the road over there on uh on Melbourne. Then we'd pop out at the stadium and since we are over by that stadium there, we would run fiber to the press box and there's an office over in that space which is strategically located by to um a field. So that would be the entire need of fiber that we think would future proof any future um uh athletics events and whatnot. But the initial phase would cover uh the stadium. we would uh expand and get the equipment needed to stream from the stadium. And like I said, in phase one, the timeline estimate would be hopefully starting the project in the fall. That has some flexibility. We're looking at uh 3 to 5 months, upwards of six months, but essentially to be ready for the 26 27th school

146year. Um there's a long list of things that need to happen including uh permits, getting the work done, buying the hardware, connecting it, and again having that future ready for phase one, which again we would work to get that ready by uh the spring of 26 so that in the 26 27 school year, we'd be all set with the fiber portion of it. Now, the short-term goal, Andy and I have been working with our current vendors and working with some wireless technology that we feel could find a short-term solution to get um streaming to the stadium, which would be just a wireless 5G router and uh working with one of his vendors that streams the football games. And so his short-term goal working with me, we're testing this out this summer, is to use that

147piece of equipment, which we already have, work with the vendor who's already providing the camera for us and make that an operation that will work for the um for the 2526 school year, for this for this upcoming school year. That process is ongoing. I don't have uh you we didn't find the solution and test it just yet. We have the pieces of the solution. and he's in contact with his vendors of the athletic department. Um but that's a short-term goal because we realize getting this work done is is going to take some time. So again um we're having these conversations with the vendors now. We started in May um to find a short-term connectivity solution for the Charlottesville stadium, the high school stadium. We want to put that kickoff, so to speak, in July to

148make sure it works. And then during the fall season, we want to use that equipment to to make the, you know, the streaming happen. But then also hopefully in the fall of this school year, we want to lay down all of that fiber and and future ready um the additional places as well as the stadium. And by March of 26, ideally, we want to have that hardware up and running and tested and know that it works. um so that as we move into the summer of July 2026, we can move away from that temporary wireless technology and um Andy and the athletic department can have their official launch for the phase one, which would be the stadium. And then again, what that would do is future ready um other stadiums or locations where athletics were

149held should the need arise down the road. Um, and after that point, the only costs would be to provide the hardware necessary or the subscription necessary. We wouldn't have to do any additional digging. We wouldn't have any additional internet fees. Um, everything would be off of our main network. So, it's just a really upfront upfront to get the fiber run. um first year to get the um stadium access and then just as as it eb and flows towards uh additional events needing to be streamed. I'll leave that up to Andy and his team. Um we'd be in a much much stronger position to be able to have a turnaround time of getting something up and running in a relatively short period of time for uh minimal cost. And so that's just a brief update of

150where we are and I'm happy to answer any questions about that process or clarify anything if I didn't speak uh fully on it. >> And then I think you're also looking for action, right? Us to approve an allocation of $100,000. >> Yes. Would be would allow us to to begin the the talks with the vendors because they are four or five months delayed before they can get to anything. >> And is the largest cost of that I mean is that the labor that's It's the labor and the and the fiber. Yeah, the labor is the the largest cost. >> And then for the crossing under of Melbourne, is that a VOTE ement or the city? Who are we getting? >> I think a railroad is the biggest >> obstruction. We're going to try to use

151existing piping that we've done with other projects, but we have to assume that they're going to make us start the entire process over and then there's a process for the day that we can actually do the boring because they have to make sure there's no trains and safety involved. So, it's it's ex extensive and lots of uh tape to cut through to get to that finish line. >> And like once we have this, does it increase? This might be an Andy question like our ability to host >> Yes. >> regional events, state competitions, things like that. >> I'll speak on his behalf. Having the ability to stream at that stadium or other locations, he told me was a uh was a definite plus for being the stadium that would be asked to host future events.

152because a lot of the expectation from his his words were that the um the the stadium ready uh streaming made the venue more likable for uh outside people to say hey let's host something at Charlottesville they can stream this event for us >> thank you Mr. Mr. Any questions down there? >> Yeah. So 100K, this is a capital improvement project or is this coming from like our surplus funds? >> I believe we pay for it or >> surplus funds, discretionary funds from our from our budget. It's not something that we've baked into the existing budget. Yes. >> Okay. And at the moment, I think we're charging $50 an hour to for folks to use the stadium. If they're going to be using this, I assume we would be charging extra or there'll be a premium

153now to recoup our investment of 100K. in the in the update that Miss um Pal is um drafting it will we're going to up the fees for the um for those outside entities >> those outside and that this would be obviously some kind of add-on if they want to use this. I guess my my concern being is like we're making an investment. We're providing a a better product here. Like we should be charging market rate for it. Uh especially Right. Okay. I'm seeing head nod. Great. Right. Uh and I think yeah, my only concern is doing project development, having to get easements. Uh and railroads are notorious for uh specifically again fiber optics and trying to get across. I think there's a whole set of lawsuits and legal things that just got passed us here

154in Virginia facilitate that. So, I hope your timeline's they know what they're doing, but >> we've we've done it before and we've worked we're working with a vendor who's been with us for years. Um, but again, the the reason for the info and action tonight is because we we fully recognize that asking for that, you know, one day's worth of work can take three months to get start to finish. And that's being kind with numbers. >> Morris. >> So just a definitive on where the money is coming from. Do you >> So the money would be used um discretionary like surplus funds. Correct. Nate. Yeah. >> For any folks listening at home, one time one time fund balance. And like I said, once once this investment is done, the cost to do everything else is

155fairly minimal. What is our what is our balance right now roughly? Our fund balance was 9 mill. repeating about $9 million. Thank you. >> All right. So, is anybody wanting to make a motion? >> I move that we approve the project as presented to move forward with fiber installation, hardware purchase, and supportive technology through fund balance allocation. Thank you. Got a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Oh, >> I was going to say an estimated cost. I would put that in. >> Yes. So, friendly amendment, Miss Burns, to include the $100,000 as part of the motion >> as the estimated cost >> accepted. Okay. Um, so all in favor? I >> I Any opposed? Do you have what you need from us, Mer? Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right.

156And we're back to you, Miss Swift, for some additional policy updates. Right. So, hello again. Um, so we have prepared the May 2025 VSBA policy updates for the board's review. The updated policies are provided in a red line format in which the new language is indicated by underlining and the deleted language is shown with the striketh through. Um the attached table provides a brief description of these changes. In addition to the revised policies, the second section of that table includes a list of policies that were reviewed by VSBA um but not revised. And so we ask that the board take action on these May policy updates at the August school board meeting. Um and then I want I did want to reference a couple of policies that were brought up earlier. Um so the GCE

157substitute teachers um that was an oversight. So that bullet where it says insert other qualifications that should be removed because we do not have any other additional qualifications to add. So that will be removed. Um, and then the JFC and JFCM is new. That's the new cell phone policy which we took that language from JFC and we inserted in that policy. But regarding the student conduct language, um, so wherever we um, wherever we see any language that references the student code of conduct, we do replace that with the students rights and responsibilities. However, the standards of student conduct reference that policy and the standards that are outlined in the students rights and responsibilities. That makes sense. You're welcome. Um, are there any policies specifically that you guys are overviewing or that you want to bring

158our attention to? I think there >> there are um new like brand new VSBA policies um >> EBBC was the opioid one >> antagonist. >> Yes. Um the advanced accelerated math student the cell phone I just referenced. Um and then the notification about the school connected the student overdose. Are there any questions regarding >> Now that I've got a little extra time, I'll go ahead and send these questions and comments in email to everybody. And again, thank you for your grace as I kind of mesh them all together with my notes. It's a lot. It's a lot. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions at this time? Some more light reading over our month off. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Um we have several um written reports

159in item 12.0. Um but moving on to number 13. >> Chair, I want to discuss, if I may, excuse me, some of the river reports. Is that okay? >> Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to point out um when on the YMC update, I was very happy to see again that or at least they're reporting that they had no weight list at the start of the school year, which I think is very important and it increase their overall enrollment. Um my expectation is that that happens again this coming fall. uh and that they had uh and for all the parents out there that might listening, they had created a new afterare program or or care program for the days when there's professional learning and other um our staff is working but uh there is uh kids

160are not in school. So I was happy to see that. Uh I did note on the absenteeism report which I'm very happy that we're receiving also that uh a number of schools did improve year-over-year. Uh I think the majority did and some substantially and I think you know again the team and staff at Summit Johnson I think in Jackson Baya was where we saw the largest um improvements in absenteeism. I did note that there were two schools where we had worse results which is concerning to me. Uh I think it was Buford and Trailblazers but only slightly. Um you know I think we've talked about this the last month and it's come up today also that you know I think this is something that I hope the administration again speaking for myself here that it

161is focused on. I will note that CHS ended the year with 33% basically a third of their students uh chronically absent. Very concerning. Um and I want to tie this back to the communication side of things and and I I do hope that we figure out how to communicate that this is a problem uh better to our our parents and to the community overall. and as one of our tools that I would say, you know, and and trying to make improvements here. I think overall we saw improvements year-over-year, but this is still I think I would say unacceptable in my opinion. So, >> I do want to make sure that we um communicate this to the community because I don't want to sound an alarm on this one. So, yes, I want to agree with

162you that the number is larger for Buford. the percentage is so last year the chronic absenteeism um was um 24.82% 82%. And so at the end of this school year is 25.3. Um Miss Raznik can u explain this better than me, but we're talking about a student. Um so this is not that you had a hundred more kids who are chronically absent. Um I don't know if I'm doing this any justice but we so as we are looking at these numbers and you know so I think people could walk away from this messaging thinking that you know that we have way more kids who are chronically absent. So yeah. >> Yeah. So um we these are the this is the raw data. Um as we get um like waiver days and things like that included

163in this um you will get some updated information. Um we've started looking at the actual um like when we think about Trailblazer for example um pulling a we pulled a report down and we're looking at is it predominantly kids with a bus without a bus? Is it students with disabilities? Is it families to try to tailor what happens differently at Trailblazer next year? It's the same thing will happen for Buford. Um what is the impact of suspensions on chronic absenteeism? um because suspensions count as a day absent. Um and so thinking about alternatives to suspension and then um we have two days this summer where school teams are coming in um and I mean you mentioned summit like that is a substantial decrease and we are so proud of them and seeing their work this

164year has been exceptional and they you know there's some special rate that they figured out and having them share what they did with Trailblazer is going to be more meaningful than me sharing it. So, um we're excited to have those days and then dig deeper into what are those targeted strategies for the populations that we didn't see improve. >> No, thank you. And again, this was the data I'm hoping to see. I'm glad to see you guys are also parsing it, you know, again, below just this and understanding it. And I'm really excited about the results that we got at Summit and and great to hear that hopefully they're sharing their special sauce. Wasn't happy to see though that some schools did not improve. >> Uh so thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right.

165Uh moving on to our second opportunity for comments from members of the community. Okay. Um, we'll move on to comments from the board. >> Uh, I want to want to thank you uh the staff administration for the graduation uh the high school graduation. I think it was very impactful uh very exciting to see the that amount of students crossing the stage there and again learn about all the accomplishments that they have done. So, congratulations to staff and obviously all the students and graduates. Uh, I'm going to stop there. Thank you. Um, I'll just quickly share gratitude for the school district uh changing the academic calendar a little earlier so students and teachers can get out a little sooner. Um, being a part of a neighboring school district is a big difference. So, thank you. Burns.

166>> Thank you. Yeah, congrats Dr. Gurley on what I would say was a pretty great year from where we sit. Um, sure, we hear a lot of um grumblings and valid concerns and I think that shows just the committed community we have, but gosh, we get to celebrate a lot of really great things. And I think we saw a little bit of a glimpse of that tonight in our students that we're bringing on. and um just hearing about the other really great impactful work that's going to happen um in the future and how we continue to all do this work collaboratively. Um, I think if anything, it really shows our community that we do listen and we do hear what they say and that we can take a step back and we can pull policies

167that maybe we were going to vote on, but now we're going to look at a little bit more because there's something more worth looking at. And so I appreciate um every opportunity we get to do that and look forward to having a little bit of downtime. Right. We're gonna have some downtime. Okay. Um, so look forward to that. Wish you all a lovely summer and we'll see each other back soon. Thank you. >> I have no comments. >> Richardson. >> Um, yes. A little bit of downtime, right? A little bit of committee work mixed in there for some of us. Um, wanted to say that I had I had meant to make a comment about one of the new policies, the um the AI policy, and I know that there was some committee work um

168done around that. So, um wanted to just kind of elevate that um and kind of tie it a little bit to some comments we've heard and and that I tend to concur with as far as screen time considerations. um and and would love to kind of I'm going to continue to bring this up as a as a concern. Um I had um an opportunity to sit with some um fellows from the Hunt Institute policy cohort that that I was invited to be a part of this last weekend. Um and our session focused on K12 funding and just K12 issues. And it was really interesting to just have conversations as it is with this board to hear different perspectives around AI. Um people who felt um there really wasn't a need to put guard rails around

169it. Um and then I'm I'm on the far other end of that spectrum, but to just be able to have civil conversations around that and to listen to different perspectives. Um I I'm and as I think everybody in this room is really um supportive and wanting our students to be critical thinkers and to be able to engage. Um and AI is something that we can't really ignore. It's it's here and it's out there. Um but I'm very much concerned about it and really would like guard rails and would like some ongoing um work within the division to really take a look at that and to encourage and support teachers to limit screen time and and also to just that um responsible use um but also had uh the opportunity to talk um with Miss Horn

170a little bit about what she did in her classroom. room this year and was really impressed um that she went screen free and all of the parents in her classroom and the students were totally supportive of that and the engagement that she was able to um be witness to and um so I think I think it's worth um putting a pin in. Um basically um what she talked about was you know using Chromebooks and using um the computer to do some research but then um asking students to do first and second drafts by hand um and then sitting and engaging with their colleagues and and just the interactions that she saw um with students, you know, rolling over in their chairs to say, "Hey, take a look at this." you know, and then they got

171to use their um computers again to publish their final works. But I I really would love um like I said, to continue to elevate this as a concern and something that maybe we can do a little bit differently here at Charlotte in Charlottesville City Schools. Um also a shout out and to pay attention to the um new cell phone policy and the belltoell um just how that looks and how that's been rolled out. Um, and again, I think that ties into um screen time, computer time, and just the the mental wellness and health of our students. So, um, also want to and and I'm anxious to see if the middle school PTO how they can be engaged and part of the branding and the work as the middle school begins to um, show itself as

172the state-of-the-art um, building that we have. I know we've got a lot of parents and people in the community who are willing to jump in. So, I I hope that we get to see that a little bit. Um and then one final thing um I will wrap up with is that again this Saturday, June 7th, there is um an autism awareness festival and it's at Moss Knuckles Elementary School in Courthouse um on 2055 Courthouse Road, Louisa, but it's a a fun day um of family events. There's going to be a bouncy house, craft vendors, food vendors, games, face paint, face painting. This is from 10:00 a.m. to 3. And again, um it's for autism awareness and everybody's welcome. So, thank you everybody. >> Thank you. Um I don't have any comments. So, Dr. Gurley, >>

173um I just want to thank um my extraordinary team um for an amazing school year. Um that's principles included, that's teachers, that's every group of support staff. Uh we have truly had a remarkable school year. Um you know, sometimes uh the staff uses better together more than I do because sometimes I feel like it's being cliche. Um but I I mean they really are the definition of being better um together. And um I do want to also um thank the school board um for your continued vote of confidence and my leadership um of the school division. Um I am very appreciative of that. Um I don't take um it lightly um the responsibility of leading the future of the students of Charlottesville City Schools. So I appreciate you all and and thank you for extending

174my contract. We we thank you for accepting it. I'm Miss Swift. We wrap up. Um so I took some notes around the promotion and retention policy. So I try to yeah capture everyone's thoughts. Um so we'll continue to um discuss that, form the committee, and kind of go from there. Um, also the policy KG, we will insert u Mr. Meyer's suggestions and we'll see that in August. Um, and then also about providing additional information um to help parents interpret data. So, such as creating a video or just kind of maybe a one pager to help um understand some of the various many reports that we send to families. So, we will we'll work on that and try to send something out. >> Thank you. >> Um All right. Uh our next meeting is August 7th

175back here at 5:00 pm. Uh and with that we are adjourned.