January 5, 2023 Charlottesville City School Board Meeting

001January 5th 2023 school board meeting to order we welcome everyone here this evening thank you so much for coming if we could please have a moment of silence thank you let's please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all foreign thank you Madam clerk will you please take the role yes Dr Odie Mr Bryant Miss Bryson warsberger here is Julie here Dr craft present Miss McKeever here Mr Morris here miss Torres yes and our student rep Vivian Wong thank you all right thank you madam Clerk the first order of business this evening since this is our first meeting of the year is to elect the school board chair so at this time I would like to

002open the floor for nominations from the board I move to nominate Mr James Bryant as chair of the Charlottesville School Board thank you do we have a motion I'm going to second that nomination that is thank you we have a motion and we have a second properly seconded thank you may we take a vote Madam clerk would you call the vote please Mr Bryant yes Miss lashandra mooresberger yes Miss Dooley yes Dr craft yes McKeever yeah Mr Morris yes Miss Torres yes okay I think we have a new board chair and I will turn the gavel over to Mr Bryant congratulations no we'll stay here I'm fine okay in accordance with school board policy BCAA School Board organizational meeting the school board will elect a vice chair of the board I need a motion um

003from the board um to elect the vice chair to have a motion yes I move Mr Don Morse for vice chair please second first second also all in favor of Dom Morris being elected as Vice chair raise your hand motion past congratulations Mr Morris foreign at this time I'd like to recommend Miss Julia green as Clerk and Miss Leslie Thacker as Deputy Clerk I would like to move those remote recommendations and I'll second foreign favor hi okay congratulations any opposed motion pass congratulations now the next item on our agenda is student and staff recognitions Miss Perth chuck would you come forward once oh I'm sorry I jump one my apologies I need emotion from the board to approve the agenda so moved second all in favor hi all opposed motion pass next item on the

004agenda student and staff recognitions Miss Beth chuck would you come forward to recognize Mr Preston Burton and the golf team to introduce someone who probably needs no introduction I would like to introduce you the CHS athletic director Andy Jones he's a long time uh familiar face to most of us as an instructional coach as a basketball coach as a manager of the Beaufort Athletic program and we are so happy to have him as CHS athletic director and I'm going to yield the mic to him thank you Mr good evening Dr Gurley uh Mr chair members of the board uh it's an honor to serve as the CHS director of Student Activities and I'm excited to be here tonight as we honor Preston Burton coach Joshua Grady and the members of the CHS golf team I'll

005keep my remarks brief even though their accomplishments are Manny for first the team they placed fourth in states which is the second best finish in school history and they won the school's first Regional Championship team members are Preston Burton Leo cafarella Ben Ewing Graham Morrison Landon rival and Griffin Waltz well done boys next the coach we'll have him come on up Coach Josh O'Grady aside from his work as a history teacher at CHS coach O'Grady has provided excellent coaching and Leadership for a number of extraordinary teams and golfers over the years several of which have gone on to play at the Collegiate level coach O'Grady brings leadership but most importantly he brings a positive energy that encourages his players to have a love for the sport thank you coach O'Grady [Applause] and finally please congratulate

006your Virginia class III state champion Preston Burton Preston will be playing golf for William and Mary next year Preston was a four-time all-district first team member two-time district player of the year two-time Regional Player of the Year in two-time All-State honoree at CHS he holds the school's record for lowest round most wins in a career most wins in a season in the longest winning streak did I mention that he is our first time all uh state champion in the history of Charlottesville High School I couldn't be more proud of these athletes they're student athletes and their coach for how they've represented our school and our community they represent everything that we like about our Charlottesville Athletics and we are proud to call them Black Knights go Black Knights thank you thank you Mr Jones and

007Josh and the whole golf team and congratulations does anybody have any comments our next next item on the agenda will be um recognition from Miss Kim Powell good evening everyone uh we are recognizing Ms Sherry Eubanks this evening as she has retired effective this month after over 30 years of service to the students of Charlottesville Sherry has worked for the city in people transportation in various roles for 30 plus years I believe the exact number is 34. 34 years and we do have I'd like to point out we do have Mr Juwan Lee here this evening he's the assistant director for operations for cat and he's been a great partner in this work as well John thank you for being here um Sherry has dedicated her entire career to the transportation of our students and

008to borrow a quote from one of my CCS colleagues it has truly been a work of heart this is evident when you listen to Sherry in this ad that we're gonna do here in a moment this was something that she did as part of the city's efforts to recruit drivers so you'll queue that up people drive school buses for various reasons I think that most people start off needing the job but then love the job and love the kids so we're the first person in the school system that the children see in the morning so the impact that we make on them when they first step on that bus can set the tone for their entire day more and more parents have to work multiple jobs and so having many school bus drivers not just

009your bare minimum but having many so that we have more time to pay attention to the individual needs of each child the relationship we have built with ccs we are looking for fun energetic folks to come in and really want to be with kids because kids are kids they're going to play they're going to be funny you know that's who they are and if we squash that we squash their hopes and dreams to test drive the school bus and apply come see us at Charlottesville High School on May 14th from 10 a.m to 2 P.M Shameless plug we are still recruiting and hiring bus drivers um Sherry if you'll join me up here please so um we have a big thank you card it's actually a booklet that Amanda and Beth happened put together um

010you'll see when you have a chance to read through this that a variety of people from all kinds of different roles people who are currently with CCS people who are no longer with ccs they've written some really beautiful notes of appreciation and congratulations for you in here and um because this booklets at least 10 pages long I can't unfortunately I can't read them all but I will just read one and this one's from me dear Sherry what a long strange trip it's been it seems like to me it seems like this to me and I've only been on this trip working with you since June of 2020 after Jim Henderson retired I can only imagine what it has been like for you working with city transit in our schools for over 30 years working with

011you through the pandemic I was amazed to understand the depth of knowledge that you have about this city and its people especially our students many of whom you have been transporting for Generations of course your depth of knowledge and experience will be greatly missed but your care for our students especially those with special needs and your commitment and dedication to the safe transport of all students every day will be missed even more thank you for being available literally 24 7 365 without fail thank you for every Transportation crisis and unsolvable problem that you somehow resolved and all the problems we solved that we didn't even know that you solved above all and I mean this above all thank you for delaying your retirement thank you for staying when we needed you most this booklet is

012a compliment compilation of thank you notes and well wishes from just some of the CCS staff who have worked with you over the years some people may retire and wonder if what they did made a difference you should never have any doubt about that but if you ever do this is just a snapshot of reminders that you made a big difference for the students of Charlottesville on behalf of a very grateful School Division and the many students you have served in so many ways for so many years we wish you nothing but the best for your retirement and to go with this big thank you booklet we do have a token of appreciation small one since we couldn't get you we couldn't get you we know you like to travel and we couldn't get you

013a big yellow to go off and do your traveling in but we did get a little yellow for you for those of you can see it it's a TSA carry-on compliant uh carry-on bag and school bus yellow as an added bonus you will not mistake that in a baggage claim I'm not sure well um thank you very much I appreciate you having me here and for the recognition um 34 years a long time with a lot of kids I've watched them grow up and I've watched them go off um a nice story um I pulled up one day to a restaurant and I ordered the food and this kid comes to well and what I bought was a kid came to the window and she was like Sherry you were my bus driver and I

014was like yeah I was and I was like what was your name again and she told me her name and she was like you were the best bus driver I ever had and I said oh that's great I said what are you doing now and she said oh I'm actually a student at UVA and that was probably you know 15 20 years ago but that just shows you that kids know who their bus drivers are and so bus drivers are important and I appreciate the the fact that you all recognize them as being a part of your you know your job on a day-to-day basis and it's all about them it's all about the kids and like I said the you know the kids we're the first person they see in the morning and that

015sets their day so hopefully you guys get a whole lot of bus drivers to come in the door um the ad hasn't done too much um I might do a little voice over afterwards but um again I appreciate the recognition and I look forward to seeing what Charlesville has to do for the kids here in the future thank you yes thanks again Mr Banks um do we have any comments from the board thank you again for your service and enjoy your retirement now Dr Aldi will do the teacher of the year recognition thank you Mr chairman members of the board good evening I want to welcome all of our amazing teachers of the year and their families here uh tonight thank you so much for coming it's such a special special moment to be surrounded

016by such greatness this evening so I'd like to start by telling you all a bit about the Mary V by covaris Virginia teacher of the year program all public and accredited non-public schools are invited to participate in this program this award honors teachers who represent the best in teaching in the Commonwealth of Virginia and Across the Nation to qualify for this award candidates should possess a current renewable Virginia teacher teaching license with an endorsement in the teaching assignment candidates should be teachers who are exceptionally skilled and dedicated and who are planning to continue in an active teaching status candidates should play active and meaningful roles in their communities as well as in their schools and the program is open to all teachers including school librarians technology Specialists school counselors reading Specialists and more this year

017we are adding Charlottesville City Schools to the list of school divisions who are recognizing Stellar teachers in this way please note participating in the Mary V by covarius Virginia teacher of the year program does not end our participation in the Golden Apple award program this just gives our amazing teachers an opportunity to not only be recognized locally but we could have a teacher to possibly be recognized in the region in the state or even nationally tonight we will be recognizing the teachers of the year for each of our schools these teachers were nominated and selected at the school level by their colleagues Miss Lewis standing there thank you Miss Lewis we she and I have been working with a committee of five Charlottesville City School staff members who reviewed essay submissions by each candidate in

018order to identify a division teacher of the year before we call our teachers of the Year forward I'd like to take a moment to thank the principals and administrators who helped to make this process go smoothly and I'd like to call each Committee Member to stand up uh as as I call your name just to show how much you have helped to review packets and to help this process go well Dr Tanya Coffey if you're here please stand there she is Dr Jill Dahl there she is Mr Jeff Ernie Jessica Ford I think she's out today and Dr Justin Malone very all right let's let's just please give them a round of applause thank you so much for taking time out of your already busy schedules to review essays and provide feedback about these wonderful

019candidates and now we will call each of our school level teachers of the Year forward each of them will receive a plaque and a small monetary gift after we have finished calling everyone I'll ask that all of you come up in front of the diocese to take a picture a group picture holding your plaques so if you will go over to Miss Lewis when I call your name to receive your plaque then go be seated and then we'll get everybody to come back up again for a photo Miss Chuck will take that photo from Burnley Moran we have Joan Evans Pre-K from Clark Caitlin Natale second grade from Greenbrier Sarah scavone third grade from Jacksonville Heather grunden speech language pathologist from Johnson Christy Hartwell kindergarten from Venable Charlene Adney second grade from Walker Amy whiskirk

020math teacher sixth grade from Beaufort Patricia Luke special education from Charlottesville High School Pamela Brown special education from Lugo McGinnis Academy Samantha Woodall special education all right so congratulations to all of you give them another big round of applause as they come stand before the dice with their blacks thank you for understanding closer oh congratulations all right that was fun now as I mentioned our committee was charged with using a rubric to score the essays that were submitted by the candidates there were some wonderful essays that were submitted and I know it was quite challenging for our committee to choose between the the essays and this was a blind scoring there were no names on these essays it was redacted so very fair process after compiling the scores we do have a division teacher of

021the year that we will be announcing tonight this teacher will receive a trophy and an additional monetary award and will move forward to compete in the regional competition that teacher is venables Charlene Abney please come forward please pimp forwardness Abney and we're going to get another picture yes crazy congratulations to all of our teachers of the Year give them one more big round of applause and congratulations to miss Abney as our first Charlottesville City Schools division teacher of the year thank you again to our principals and to family members who have come out this evening thank you to our judges ours for scoring our essays and congratulations again thank you on behalf of the board the next item on the agenda is the comments from members of the community Charleston City School Board welcomes comments

022from members of the community speakers are encouraged to keep their comments to three minutes so I will start with folks in the audience if you would like to come to the podium and speak please state your name an address good afternoon Leah per year 2415 Carrie Lane good evening Dr Odie Mr Bryant and all of the school board members and everyone else assembled I am here to say congratulations Mr Bryant and I have been friends for more than two weeks for more than two minutes and two seconds but when I was appointed chair it was a heartfelt congratulations it is something that will continue to help you grow and develop and you along with your other fellow board members will continue to follow the mission and vision for ccs and move this forward when I

023became chair something was given to me and I am going to give it to you Robert's Rules of Order the latest revised Edition come forward Mr brione do we have any other members of the audience who would like to speak um Francis Patterson Bryant I am the baby brother of the board chair James Bryant and he has known me for 61 years I and my wife Sabrina Bryan is here we would like to offer our congratulations on you and the Charlottesville School Board um for your upcoming school session and we wish and we pray nothing but the best for the Charlottesville School Board we hope and we pray that the Endeavors that you all are uh uh embark on this school year in the coming years will be nothing but putting the Children First congratulations

024once again to all the teachers uh who became teachers of the year and once again congratulations my brother thank you do we have anyone else from the audience would like to speak please come forward and state your name okay okay okay hi my name is Layla singer Terry and I'm a ninth grade student at shawls by High School recently I've been given two opportunities one for the drive for stem scholarship award in which I was awarded a laptop and most recently I've been awarded the opportunity to attend the national youth leadership Forum law NCSI on coming to the school board tonight to ask for you for your help to invest in my future this will financially support my career in law the overall cost is 4K and although my family and I are considered a

025GoFundMe we aren't comfortable with such a public platform My Hope Is that um My Hope Is that the school board city of Charlottesville will see the importance invested in a brilliant young black woman future like myself often I hear of you all discussing breaking down barriers for students of color and marginal hope that you can help break down this barrier for me and help my dream come true oh this is Holly my mentoring school and this is my mom Ashley thank you so much thank you thank you do have any other persons in the audience this Como is that anyone online next item on agenda is some public comment for the 2023-24 budget Charleston School Board welcomes comments from the members of the community are there any members here present that would like to make

026a comment on the 23-24 school budget do we have anyone online Mr Cuomo okay the next item on the agenda is the excuse me adoption of the consent agenda I need a motion from the board to adopt the consent agenda I so move yes I said all in favor aye aye opposed Mr chair I just need to I will not participate in this vote since I have a a relation who is receiving compensation as a result of the personnel okay thank you it's all opposed and you just said okay so next item on the agenda is the approval of the 2023 24 program of studies and Dr odett would lead us in that thank you Mr chair members of the board good evening again last month staff presented the draft 23-24 program of studies after

027some discussion it is our plan to keep AP Physics C in the program of studies rather than to retire it but also add AP Physics 2 so that we can address the access and Equity issues that were raised we will need to look at the CHS master schedule to determine if staff schedules can handle both courses we also will be ensuring that we communicate to our counselors students and families that courses will not make if the enrollment in the course is too low regarding pre-calcula um AP pre-calculus we will also be moving forward with adding AP pre-calculus as previous previously requested at this point we will also be reviewing enrollment and Staffing to ensure that this class can make you may recall that we were hoping to add real estate as a CTE option at

028this time we are not going to move forward with this course as we have received updated information regarding licensure requirements we do hope to add it at a later date when we have staff who hold the appropriate credentials to teach it lastly CCS staff have been updating course codes throughout the month so you'll see those changes as well these changes are all reflected in the updated program of studies and ESB tonight the superintendent recommends that the board take action so at this time I need a motion from the board to approve the program studies for the 2023-24 school year do I have a motion yes I will move that we approve the program of studies for the uh 2023-24 Academic Year second is there discussion I have um some comments to make related to the

029physics C physics 2 um and again a pre pre-calculus um one thing is after reviewing my own like the UVA admissions criteria it's very clear that physics too does not actually transfer as a AP like one credit transfers as a lab if you pass the AP Physics 2 exam not the whole class you still have to take physics 2 at UVA you don't have to take the lab which is actually the fun part um but um so I just want to be very clear this is my last program of study Lord willing um and I just I feel very strongly that we're watering down um without uh that doesn't actually support our students I I think um AFE a superior again I'm not an educator but I do think physics C can be split into

030two semesters or courses there are alternatives but physics without calculus is meaningless and AP Physics uh two I think merely enriches AP without actually serving our students if we had a meaningful physics d e um or uh really great physics two class it doesn't matter you know I don't think it needs to be an AP one to really generate the um the love of physics um so I just feel like we're uh continually to continuing to support AP without actually any meaningful under foundation for it um while we could do really interesting things with AP Physics c um that code support increasing um equity in physics um and that is why I will not be supporting this course of study I again I think a lot of the questions I have about Beaufort algebra and

031um the AP emphasis without I is what is problematic to me so I will that's all I have to say Miss Wong do you have any questions okay um I was I was uh concerned about what is the rationale for adding the another physics 2 class in between the AP Physics 1 and AP uh physics C okay okay at the uh Miss Wong I'm sorry at the last board meeting and in December we shared staff shared concerns about access for many students and so that's why AP Physics 2 is added because the calculus piece is not required and so more students who would not be able to access AP Physics would be able to with AP Physics 2 that was the rationale from the staff okay Miss morrisonburg Pistorius Mr Morris Dr Kraft the stooley

032and it's time for the vote so I've already said I need emotion from the board we've done that so oh it's now time for the vote all in favor of adopting the 23-24 program of studies say aye aye all opposed aye motion pass the next item on the agenda is the approval of the 2324 school calendar Dr Odie thank you Mr chairman in December we also presented and recommend it to you a draft of the 2023-24 school calendar draft number one c as mentioned before we worked with a committee composed of teachers parents administrators and central office staff and initially shared a different calendar with the community for review and comment after a split decision on that draft which was draft number 1A we decided to recommend a more traditional calendar that is very similar

033to our current calendar we shared this new draft draft number one C with the community after the December board meeting and have received feedback on it as well the majority are in favor of draft number one C about 63.4 percent others are still very interested in the elements that were presented in draft number 1A this confirms the need to continue to work with the calendar committee to gather more data about a calendar a calendar such as draft number 1A and determine if it is something we would consider for 2024 2025 we will plan to bring a draft of a calendar such as this for 24.25 to the board in April that being said at this time we do ask that you approve draft number one c as the calendar for 2023 2024 it does have

034an August 23rd start date a three-day Thanksgiving break and a June 7 closing date board members I need a motion from the board to adopt the 2324 school calendar draft number one C I so move do we have a second second discussion questions I'll start with Ms Dooley Dr Kraft no I think um I think we've done our due diligence in terms of feedback and I think uh ready to go with this smallest my preference was 1A Miss Torres um I think you know considering there was an interest in 1A and the fact that we are going to to bring a draft similar to that um and I feel like change is hard right and and I think we learned a lesson in the sense that maybe we didn't speak to the wise or or

035the reasons behind these changes and I think having that conversation up front will be helpful but also sometimes we need to just kind of dig in and make the changes if there's some you know benefits to it and people can adjust so I I just want to say thank you um to the committee because I know there's a lot of work and discussion and and it's difficult with with neighboring School divisions and and all of that and we realize that but that's it thank you I just wanted to say it's like I feel like this is like not something that we've talked about in the past obviously this is a fine calendar um but I do think the two so many families who um are divorced have uh share the kind of the the hull

036the winter holiday so like one parent gets one week and then the other parent gets the other week and so having both holidays in the second week I think is super problematic for parents or children who are um into you know into households um so like you could usually you split the holidays but then if both holidays are in the second week then the one parent gets that so um anyway I'm not proposing any change I just in the future I think it's okay to start the vacation on the 20th and have um and then go back on the Wednesday the third or something like that as a kind of way to just incorporate what we know to be a very significant portion of our students um that split their holidays amongst their parents what

037do you know the comments so all in favor of excuse me recommend recommending the 2023-24 school calendar say hi hi all opposed opposed motion passed the next item on the agenda I'll be from Dr Baptist chairman Brian members of the board Dr Odie excuse me please um here to report on activities that have occurred since the December meeting regarding the naming of facilities and um with a recommendation we don't have any new information regarding the recommendation for Venable uh to be renamed as Trailblazers Elementary that seems to be pretty settled within the community next for Clark there there have been um quite a few discussions since we've had our last meeting at the last meeting here the board recommended that we encourage Community to send emails to the board with their thoughts on this particular

038process while the committee did not see I think I saw two emails the board received quite a few emails and from what I'm told um from the particular emails that you received seven or more for the Friendship name and 13 were more for Summit don't have all of the the comments within that but that's what I was told from the the emails next Miss slacker um Dr Kraft did ask that we get the committee together again since there was some discussion with only a you know small vote uh difference between the names to see if the uh Clark staff or the clerk excuse me if the committee wanted to affirm that friendship was really what we wanted we um we had the committee meeting the committee suggested that we survey the Clark's staff to see

039their feelings on the topic and that was done shortly before the Christmas break and the survey had two main takeaways from it when we had the question about which was more in the liking friendship versus Summit overwhelmingly this Clark staff preferred Summit over uh friendship I think only one person from The Clark staff said that Summit was their preferred name we had a it was a range but there was only one who only loved it versus hated it loved friendship versus the uh Summit name and then we had a question in there about whether they thought the board should vote on this in January February or slow the process down and um some of the Clark staff have a little over a majority of the class the staff preferred that we slow the process down

040rather than voting in January or February so that was the feedback that we got from the um I'll have to excuse me I don't know what I've got it's not covet it's not the flu but I don't know what it is so coming from the committee we do ask that the the board consider approving the renaming of Venable to Trailblazers Elementary and to review the updated information regarding Clark and then either vote on one of the options that we have or give more guidance of how you would want the community to go next and we will follow whatever direction also following this it's um with the information that I shared with you back in October we will be beginning the process with the next two schools which will be Burnley Moran and Johnson we do

041have a committee meeting scheduled for next week to start that process and we'll have a survey very similar process to what we've done we'll be looking at the Timeline to see whether we need to to extend the timeline more than we have thought or if the timeline is okay and for the committee and all the groups that we will be working with to decide whether one names need to be changed may decide that names don't need to be changed for some of the schools and if so then go through the process for the name change so again back to the recommendation um approve Venable to be Trailblazers and then to review this information regarding Clark and to either make a decision or give us guidance on how you would like us to proceed foreign two

042things um an action item and a recommendation so I'll start with the student do you have any comments in regards to the recommendation I'll start with that first I would move that we vote on uh changing venables names Trailblazers you have a second discussion all in favor I'm sorry that I have I have a question I have something to say I think that we're named Trailblazers is kind of dumb to you so I just want you to think I I I'm gonna vote against it it's fine for you all to support it I'm sorry that you disagree with me but I don't disagree with you I just think that it last conversation was subject somehow it was hung up on um it was so Stark in Clark um and so I I just feel like

043this process has been problematic and we're not coming up with the best names possible for our community um on these in this school naming process so that is my concern I'm going to vote against Trailblazers um but I I just wanted to kind of give that heads up my concern is that all the like you should just be on the Committees because you didn't like the way the students voted it seems like to me the community voice doesn't really matter unless they agree with what you think no one has a problem with Trailblazers as much as the compounder problem you had with the connotation behind friendship that you wouldn't say was negative but you wouldn't say what it was so we we're spending a lot of time on your particular things that you don't like

044we're about to vote on something and you can't just disagree you call it dumb that's disrespectful to everyone involved in the process and if you were this into the names you could have been on the committee but it's a waste of everyone's time for them to work and get to this point and then you just like the process doesn't matter because you don't like the name you don't like any of the names you should just give us a list of the names you prefer and then we can send those to the committee too I just I just don't think that it's reasonable for me to be sit here and personally attacked for this um my opinion stating during you know what I believe to be a democratic process in which I disagree with and I

045do feel like relatively regularly um it's reasonable to have disagreement around things that are happening so I don't uh calling a name dumb that we're about to vote on is not reasonable and it's very personal um the story everything you'd like to say I do um I mean we know that there are a lot of emotions and a lot of thoughts um around this and I think there's been a lot of time vested in it and I guess what I had hoped to share tonight is um and without having to say we need to restart this but I think where we've been um hung up on is the process and and trying to come up with the best process and and ensuring um that the process is consistent and it's been a little challenging because

046we you know have made some tweaks to the process after after initiating this and I think that that makes it harder um for me personally what I had hoped and what I would love for the community and the students and the teachers and everybody to hear and what I thought would be a nice way to do this is is you know a committee develops a process and the data that we are asking for whether it's a student survey a teacher survey a community survey that that everybody up front is aware that those are data points that will be considered brought to the board for consideration But ultimately you know it's not the results of necessarily the staff survey or student survey or Community survey necessarily that is going to indicate or dictate what the name

047would be or or just um losing my word right now but but that that would be data brought to us and then I think as you know colleagues in previous uh meetings have said that ultimately it is a decision that that the board would would come to and make because because it is within our purview and I feel like it's just gotten a little a little muddy um and and not intentionally but I feel like to say we're going to use a process for one school and then a previous school where it feels like we might have a solid name chosen it wasn't the same process but then what do we do going forward you know what I mean what's that process going to look like so I don't know what this means I just

048needed to say all of that and you know I appreciate all of the work that everybody's done I don't know how to make this right it's an important decision right I mean this is changing the names potentially of of schools within our division every voice student voices matter teacher voices Community Voices matter but ultimately it's our decision so that's that's what I've got to say about I'll just quickly speak on the name Trailblazer itself um again there's a lot of emotion in regards to some of the names of the schools and some of the recommendations for the names um I just want to take a moment to honor those that that integrated the schools um even though that some of them had their own recommendation I do feel like this is a fair uh kind

049of compromise in terms of honoring them but not directly naming it after people those are my comments in touchcraft well um I guess I would say this process is is it's really complicated um and and fraught with a lot of uh of opinions and and emotion uh from the community and so you know we as a committee I think we're doing our best but I think you know when you start with you know you you start somewhere and you do the best process that you know that you you know that you think you have at the time but then it you know as I think we saw with Clark um we needed to maybe adjust the process more and I think that will be incorporated going forward the committee does need to really think about

050this and make sure that we we have um a process that allows us to collect you know clear data um and you know to have steps in the process that are um laid out and that are clear enough as to how do we how do we wind up at a decision um with that I I guess I would say that from everything that I've seen um the Venable name Trailblazers uh does you know has elicited a positive reaction from the majority of you know the uh the feedback that we've gotten I think with Clark we're sort of getting there but the question is do we want to go ahead tonight and and vote on a name or do we want to maybe give us give it a little bit more time the committee is meeting

051on Monday and it might be wise to just postpone that a month um you know I don't I don't know what else what other feedback we would be getting now about Clark but I think that's something for the committee to talk about uh when when we meet so my suggestion would be just that we go ahead with uh I guess we have emotion actually on the floor that we go ahead and approve uh the name Trailblazers for bidable school is too late well all in favor of um changing the name Venable to Trailblazers say I I all opposed motion passed and you said um Dr Baptist you will will deal with the recommendation we don't have to vote on that just what what we've asked is that you'll review the updated information and either Vote

052or tell us what you would like us to do next so if you if you aren't planning to vote tonight you know I hear you know maybe come back in another month what else information do you want I mean we we've talked to the staff we've talked with students we've done the survey we've done a community Forum what other information would the board want in order to vote and we'll be we're happy to do whatever I just would like to know what additional information is needed to make the decision okay we'll start over inspiration like we actually have tons of information from Clark in fact I feel a lot better about where we are with Clark in terms of um than where we are in naming wise um as opposed to Venable I feel like

053the process has been because we it was expanded and to have some Community input it really does feel like there is you know momentum around at least one particular name um but I I I just feel like there needs to be uh leadership on the committee that actually communicates with this board on a regular basis and the community I mean just getting students of input is I think not enough and I hope that moving forward we get more [Music] um just get more input um and more creative names um and uh that's all I have to say I I'm I'm comfortable either way moving forward with Clark in fact I'll move the naming of Clark to Summit I would ask what other information the board would want from the committee we've tried to as we've

054done different pieces to share the updates with the board so what additional information would you want from the committee well I have made a motion so I'm happy to answer that question um but I do think we need to talk about whether there's a second on the on it I'm sorry I couldn't I did not hear that you made a motion on apologize okay that's fine yes do we have a second yeah for Summit we have a second I'll second just to answer a question Dr Baptist I think um uh Community input and staff input is like a minimal level of not just the committee level and not just the students I think we need a lot a broader discussion at each School does that help for Clark we have um surveyed the staff no

055and and that's what I said I feel much more comfortable about where we are with Clark and that's where moving forward I assume that we're going to take very similar approach so Dr Baptist your question was if we were to delay this what else would would we be asking for regarding Clark correct and I'm not necessarily hearing everything I thought I had heard that she wanted more leadership from the committee with more communication and so I'm just asking is there more information or what information is needed because I know we've tried to share information at different points with the board so that you would know what the current status was yeah I think the subsequent information that has been provided you know and just delaying this a month it is has been helpful I don't

056know and that was going to be my question to to our fellow committee members board members you know if this were to be delayed I mean what what else would we be bringing back I mean we could prolong this forever um if you know someone's not happy with the first two names so I'm just not sure unless you all had some thoughts on that or if anybody has heard specifically you know from a fair amount of staff who who had that desire to to prolong it or to slow it down I I just don't know what what that would do that's for feedback from a fair amount of staff that they didn't feel um that as a Clark student it's very easy to feel that your voice doesn't matter because we were willing to vote

057on the name that Venable students voted for but somehow Clark students their voice and the thing that they voted on under the same process doesn't matter or doesn't count and so that was the feedback I heard um for this particular thing and these things can go on forever and so we did get however many emails about renaming its Summit but did we add the people who said don't change the name because then are we at a majority because that was how it started when we were like oh friendship doesn't work and so yes it can go on forever but it shouldn't feel like in the community that if yo if the thing you pick isn't we don't say hey come join a committee and put in this work and then after you do it we're

058going to criticize everything that you did and after having spent no time on the committee or doing any of the work and they just like it's obvious that it's not about the some things are not about the process some things are just about individual opinions of the board members and if that was the case we did not need to have a committee or a community panel um the way that we establish it because it put a lot of weight on the people on that panel the community members involved the people who um were the original ones to desegregate the schools they participated on those committees and they these were hard decisions and I think to just kind of shoe that away because a few personal preferences on the board don't like it to start this

059because we can bring up any topic on the board and say if you don't like it email us and we'll get 13 emails to support whatever it is and so I just feel like whatever process we go forward if someone doesn't like it we're going to end up right back here and so I just don't like the tone it sets that send this one back but don't send that one back like we're okay with this name even though some people on the board think it's dumb um so I this whole process and how we as a board the the committee has done a great job and they've reported to us but I don't think as a board we've communicated effectively to what we need if there's such an issue at the end for some people

060and when I say we as a board I just mean the people on the board who have issues with it right now because I thought the process was going just fine little picture um I think I was just going to clarify what I understood your question was moving forward because we had the motion in the second for Summit so moving forward Dr Baptist you're hoping that you wanted to know if what the process we used for Clark which was more comprehensive is what the board would like for the remaining schools that question was if a decision was delayed because I'm again I did not hear her motion um was it the decision was to be delayed what other information was needed in order to make a decision right so so my understanding was with the

061motion in the second then we probably need to just move forward with that right now yeah can I just ask um uh Dr Baptist um did we get any um any more detail about why the staff wanted to slow this process down did they did they convey why they wanted to do that okay there was no reason given just that was an option and they they checked that option I appreciate several comments that have been made I think for me you know a distinct difference that I see between the student votes and why I'm comfortable supporting Summit is that we are honoring the majority of students at Clark Elementary School who do not prefer friendship whatever the the majority of voting students um there were 33 that preferred friendship 28 Summit 15 write-ins and so

062the majority of students preferred not friendship so did they prefer Summit no I'll give you that but they did not prefer friendship and so with the additional data points that we have I'm not I agree with Miss Torres I'm not sure what additional information we would get by slowing down the process further so being that we um have a first and second motion if we can go to the vote it's all in favor of changing the name of Clark to Summit say I let's do the Roll Call Madam clue yes um Mr Bryant yes Miss Bryson warsberger no Miss Dooley yes Dr craft yes Miss McKeever yes Mr Morris no Miss Torres yes um so it's a five to two beds motion pass thank you all for your discussion yes ma'am thank you Mr chair

063just again um moving forward and and again I'm reflecting on some of the emails that I've responded to from community members about this I just wanted to make sure that I feel like you know one example of an email was really just had no idea about the process I think that the committee went went through and and didn't probably have access to um what was um discussed and evaluated as far as the historical background to the name so I mean I think if you were to look at individual emails and and just the differences and and asking you know this why are we changing it I think that I don't know if we can do that better but there were several emails that had that component to it they didn't really understand the history to

064start with I would hope as we move forward that we will make it clear with the subsequent schools that are being um evaluated for name change that it you know we're really really clear in in what the voices and the data mean you know that they are just that that they are not the deciding factor going forward and I think that that created some confusion and and none of us want anybody to feel like their voice doesn't matter it does but it may not be the deciding factor so if I'm just asking if we can make sure somehow when that's conveyed at each individual school that that can be a little bit more clear and I think that may help once we get to this position sure as I think we can always strive to

065do a better job with that I will say that Miss Chuck has done a yeoman's job of keeping up with the information having on our website since committee was formed back in 2020 every time we've met she's included notes from the meeting Mr Varner's research has been on our website the entire time when we did the survey that was mentioned several times the community Forum so information's been there I admit there are things on websites I don't always see and then I want how did this happen I didn't know anything about it I mean it's something we can certainly try to do but we have tried to make sure that we have publicized the various pieces but will continue to do better yeah I appreciate all that and that was not to Discount the work

066that has been done yeah and we all have different access points and availability to to access information so thank you thank you Mr chair even though we voted on on this issue I forgot to ask Miss Wong if she has anything to add to the conversation okay thank you all right any other questions comments guidance for me as we move forward well I'm wondering whether the board would like like you know monthly updates from this committee um perhaps we can just build that in for the next little while especially as we're launching the next two schools we can do that yeah I think that would be a great idea especially I think that when it comes to the board is when the community learns and so to that end if we you know just giving

067us update on the various names I think is a great idea we can do that and then for the public who may be listening this evening I do encourage um people to look for on our website the naming of facilities you can find the information that the research that's been done you can see the information from um the various meetings that we've had when we have a survey that is listed on the front page of our website so I do encourage people to look for it and we will continue to try to make sure that is more available take it out the Baptist next items uh next item on our generous items or discussion Miss Renee Hoover who will give us an update on our budget good evening Mr Bryant good evening Dr Brody and

068school board members this evening I'll be presenting to you an update on the point 24 budget development process uh this evening I will go over our budget priority the governor's proposed budget and the arpa Esser spending plan this is just a reminder of the budget priorities that was presented at the last school board meeting the governor released his proposed budget on December 15th on vdoe released the superintendent's memo on the 16th and the takeaway is this is the second year of the 2022-24 buying budget the buy-in budget included a 10 salary action for soq positions which is broken down into five percent for 2023 and 5 for 2024. and then that was the Baseline budget and then the proposed budget has technical adjustments and proposals the main technical adjustment uh was the adjusted daily membership

069and which is better known as the ADL um that they the uh ADM for March 31st and September 30th came at higher than what they had anticipated so they have revised the ADM which in effect changed all of our budget Revenue numbers the ADM is calculated on they also revised the estimated projections for state sales tax and all this uh copulates into an increase of about 2.5 million for us due to enrollment growth the governor's proposed budget had two additional proposals one is this one time one percent retention bonus and this bonus is for staff that was employed uh starting in September well I'm sorry during the the school year of 2023 and that stays with us through fiscal year 2024. and hold on yes and video we as uh calculated inertial a six thousand

070dollars which if this goes through I'll be a bigger impact for us the second proposal was a teacher performance bonuses and again we don't know where these proposals stand so that that's exactly what they are they're being put forth uh for the general assembly to go forward with uh this one is a bonus of five thousand dollars per individual uh would be awarded to the top performing teachers identify by the video we and so we'll continue to watch these two proposals as we go through the budget process and then lastly uh before the winter break um staff had to complete an opera template that was released by bdoe and it is posted on our website so we would like for you to check it out and provide us any feedback on that and this is

071our budget calendar for January our next four uh board work session will be Thursday January 19th we'll present the uh superintendents on changes from the fr-23 budget to the fy24 budget and if there's any questions for me Dr Craig yeah I was I thought that we were having a meeting with City Council um a joint meeting we will that will be at the end of January 1st of February it's not on our January calendar so it must be in February okay because all right I thought that was the meeting on the 19th but I guess oh no no no no no no no no okay we we come together as as a board to go over the changes to the budget before we meet with city council February February February February okay thank you Brian

072any other questions yeah just curious uh have you and uh staff been meeting regularly with city council and city folks and any any news on uh School Board uh School Board um School staff has been meeting with City staff uh and we've been having those meetings on a regular basis or or informal conversation checks appreciate that I think that's great to continue it's good thank you yeah thank you any other questions from Miss Hoover thank you Mr Silver thank you excellent agenda is uh Mrs Lewis Miss Lewis on our recruitment plan good evening okay okay it's on there the good evening board chair Bryant members of the board and Dr Odie um this evening I'll provide a human resource update on the that is focused on recruitment when considering recruitment it was important to examine

073hiring and retention practices and this evening I'll briefly share the 22-23 Staffing trends requirement the plan for Recruitment and measures taken for retention for staff during the 22-23 hiring season the division hired a 146 individuals in various positions including teachers custodians administrators and instructional assistants this year we also hired nurses and school secretaries which are typically positions that are filled and remain filled or extended periods of time so the division experience changes in many areas of our employees um as they evaluated their personal goals and made changes accordingly this graph will show you that the diversity of the person hired this year is approximately 27 percent 39 of the individuals we hired were persons of color I'm sorry this graph is a summary of the higher demographic specific to our teaching population as a point

074of clarity or teaching staff includes any teacher counselor and specialist along in this group um so the diversity of our teaching staff that we hired this year was only 13 percent we hired three African-American teachers one Asian teacher one native Hawaiian teacher and three teachers with mixed heritage now this shot shows you the years of experience the average years of experience of the individuals that we've hired this year is approximately seven years of expense the division hired 57 individuals with zero to five years of experience six teachers that were that have six to ten years of experience eight teachers with 11 to 15 years of experience and 18 eight teachers was 16 and 20 years of experience and four teachers 21 to 25 years of experience and two that had over 26 years of experience

07520 of the teachers that are in the zero to five years of experience are experiencing teaching for their first time 17 of these individuals were in the division that student teachers last year and perform well enough to be extended the offers being a teacher two of the individuals of the 20 were instructional assistance for us in the past and have been promoted to teacher as they completed their teaching program this is the second year the division has hired instructional assistance that have become teachers to two instructional assistants last year became teachers and then two instructional assistants became teachers this season when considering where to recruit it was important to examine where the new hires had completed their most recent college experience largely the new hires are Virginia College graduates approximately 67 percent of them or

07663 individuals or Virginia graduates at their highest um level of study and largely they came from the University of Virginia followed by James Madison University so as we begin to develop the recruitment plan it was important to focus efforts largely on Virginia colleges and universities and recognize that it's possible that we're going to get one to three candidates at each one of those fairs just because the climate is so competitive for the first time and since I've been in Human Resources the School Division opened the school year with a number of positions that were not filled largely these positions were in special education or secondary English and then we also had some openings as instructional assistance so two of the main focuses for the recruitment plan is to to one Phil High needs areas and

077two to diversify our staff as I mentioned special education and English teachers are going to be a priority this year we're also going to focus on secondary math and science there's a need for us to have a nursing or nurses pool of candidates as well and instructional assistants the second tier of our recruitment plan will be to solicit a diverse student teacher population and we're going to have recruitment Affairs that go to historically bad colleges and we're also going to have recruitment Affairs that happen at our community colleges one is coming out the Piedmont Virginia Community College and stuff it's important for us to include our administrators in the recruitment plan and our staff as well last year the division hosted its first job fair here in Charlottesville High School in February and it was

078very successful we hired 13 staff members from that event and we couldn't have had that function without the help of the administrators and division of leaders so we are planning that recruitment Affair again this year and it's tentatively scheduled for February the 26th um around the same date that we had last year we're working through the logistics and the management and the marketing plan right now in addition to that we're going to be integrating the use of college and university placements with student teachers and currently we have 55 student teachers or interns this semester so hopefully a percentage of them will be placed within the school division in October the HR team grew and we hired uh Jeff Ernie as the latest team member for the for our team and he has a wealth of

079knowledge and expertise working with Career Services and we're going to lean into that career services expertise and add the integration of Virginia Career works and college readiness this map will show you that we're going to be moving around a little bit in the past two years or past three years we've had less face-to-face interactions and more virtual experiences but this year we're planning to have face-to-face recruitment fairs and we'll start with Virginia Commonwealth University Norfolk State Hampton University Christopher Newport William and Mary Longwood George Mason JMU UVA and pecc and there's some other entities depicted there yes according to the new Benchmark data from Sherm the Society of human resource management the average cost per hire is nearly four thousand seven hundred dollars it's important for us to let that amount sit there for just

080a moment because the division hired 146 individuals this past season so it was really critically important for us to focus on retention because this is just the initial cost of bringing someone on board according to sherb analysis it doesn't even take into account the additional support and mentoring that is done by all the other professionals as they transition into Charlottesville City Schools so retention is going to be a priority we're very fortunate that the division has always had an extensive robust benefits package and this year was expanded to include a high deductible Health Plan we also have extended professional development opportunities for individuals so there's a graduate leadership cohort the opportunities for teachers to become administrators with the support of the division there's also an opportunity for instructional assistance to become teachers with a collaboration

081that we have with James Madison University we're just providing professional learning opportunities for people to grow within the division we're also doing a pilot integration of a 30 60 90 check-ins with new hires to give us a better understanding of what we are doing well and what we're not doing so well and hopefully this will give us the real-time feedback that's needed and the opportunity for us to make adjustments that's all the data that I have today um I'll be happy to take any questions stories hmm you're shaking it up Sir um yeah thank you for all of that so um exciting to hear and I apologize because I don't remember and I know this is kind of your first year doing this um what prior data looked like as far as comparison like with

082our diversity numbers and hires do you happen to know like last year is this lower this year's hires as far as two years ago we had a really strong class of diversity but last year the numbers are very similar to what it was [Music] um but uh the two years before that so there's a tremendous decline from prior to the pandemic yeah yeah I just didn't know I mean I'm sure this is yeah affected everybody on all levels um but I'd be curious just moving forward if we could just kind of have like maybe the prior prior years to compare it to that would be a great question I can certainly review data that I've have available to me from last year that was shared yeah you definitely have two years worth of data but

083I do know just from being here and four years ago there was a tremendous push um from one of my predecessors that brought in a lot of diversity a couple years yeah I do recall that and I don't I'm not trying to make more work for you to go back but maybe just going forward if we could have we could do that have numbers to compare um and then you mentioned mentoring and and that's so important I feel have we changed or can you describe a little bit about what mentoring looks like for new hires do we do we have so there's a structure that was set up that allows each one that is a new hire is assigned a mentor that's a a veteran teacher with at least three years of experience within the

084division and they're partnered up in the first semester of this full year so that they can work together throughout the school year they have regular conversations with each other and actual support that person that typically is in the building that scope of work is under Jessica Ford so she would be able to provide more detail but just having worked with her that's the model that is being used and then the 30 60 90 check-ins is that from HR or that's from HR so you guys make a call or it can be on phone or it could be a zoom or face to face so one is just changing the culture when an HR person comes to the building that they don't always see it as oh my God somebody's enjoyable um so if it's more

085of a check-in and it's a casual conversation it makes it a little easy and we're welcomed in the building plus we're getting that feedback in real talk yeah um well thank you for this and please let us know if there's anything we can do to support you thank you and all of us appreciate the focus on the retention and that's be interesting to watch with the governors proposal what that might offer thank you thank you Dr Gray um thank you again for all of this information um I was wondering uh in terms of the um hiring of teachers of color uh I was wondering if you know how do I put this you know if there were many more offers that were declined um if we made a more significantly more offers than were accepted

086for our division do you tell me there was some persons of color that decline offers with our School Division yes I can confirm that and um do you know why well those individuals are getting multiple offers and are picking the one that that best suit to their personal convictions so even during the job fair we extended early intents to two individuals during the job fair in February and we were made aware in May um I'm going to pursue another adventure so we we are making the efforts yeah yeah and we're working with GMU which has the largest JMU is known for having the largest diverse teacher population across the state so we're working closely with them so generally when we hire somebody from JMU it is a person that's of color because they've made it

087a focus to have a diverse teacher population that they're introducing to the public thank you you said in results from exit surveys on staff who have Departed the division um if there's any consistency and feedback for um those that have chosen to leave ccs um and if we don't have that if we can be sure but I don't have a extensive I'm afraid I did not review that today we do collect the staff data um and according to the parameters that the state provides the person will let us know if they're going into education in another School Division if they're leaving because of too much responsibility or accountability and or lack of structure so all of that is in there I can give you the statistics and is there anything that's less formal through the

088state our teachers meeting with building level administrators or with human resources as they are departing to have exit interviews uh so one we want to do that process because it's required with our data collection with the state so we ask teachers to do that on top of that but if they do have a conversation with Administration um they do have those conversations in advance and then they can also schedule a meeting with HR for an exit interview that's not formal too I'm sorry I couldn't understand the last part they can schedule an interview with HR to let us know when they're exiting that we don't have to use the formal process we do have the same number of questions that we're going to ask just so that we're consistent but it's a less State driven

089document not everybody takes advantage of that um opportunity so we stand out when they have their separation letter acknowledge letter we send out the URL that allows them to go online and complete that exit survey to let us know and provide us the data so I guess we get it three ways I guess for exit data I think that moving forward that might be an interesting data point for us too see okay if there's any consistency in the responses that those who are choosing to leave us are offering okay Mr Morris um the pilot um program that you're running I also would like that data um in the future to find out if we're sticking with that with the strengths and strengths and concerns are um and if we're going to continue with that that

090process okay yes sir well this one hi thank you um let's see um I had a question about the initial uh breakdown of diversity among um instructors does that include like temporary staff like it's just not okay okay do you have any idea of what that breakdown would look like for temporary stuff for like uh teachers and sisters does that include like Subs too no these are strictly salary and boys that are hired into a full-time position okay so when we started the school year there were at least six positions that were unfilled and yes we're using long-term substitutes in those positions but they're not included in this amount okay thank you I also had a question about the like retention rate for um like teachers assistants coming from like the universities and stuff um

091I think annually there is a report that we do as far as retention rates I can look that report up it happens in it's late in the year that they asked for retention rates but I can look that report up that report has a summary of retention rates across the division for administrators teachers and instructional assistants yeah I was just I mean I was just asking because I was I wondered if that had any um thing any insightful data about like uh teachers of color how many of the the teaching instruction instructors assistance of color or like uh I can tell you largely our instructional statements are more diverse than our teaching staff um those individuals may not have a college background that the requirement asks them to have at least one year of college

092or 60 between one and two years of college 30 to 60 credits so those individuals come to us largely the 30 60 90 conversations we're having with instructional assistants results in them saying the pay is challenging for them to continue to stay employed at that level okay thank you Mr Price uh my questions have been asked thank you real quick on on her Point um Miss Lewis was just curious I know that we had the opportunity to attend the aatf African-American teaching fellows function earlier in the year and if we are at all talking about that or making sure that the IAS or or you know anybody who might be interested in in needing some support and wanting to continue um with their degree or their education I mean I think it would be yeah

093I think it would be important for us to make sure that they know that program is out there if and we can talk about this later I don't know if that's okay we recommend it yeah I want a dentist was an instructional assistant he's now a student teacher at Burley Moran elementary school he started as an instructional assistant with us joined teach American history fellows he's going through his graduate program right now and hopefully he'll be placed at our school and two other candidates that are currently in that class um are have been recommended for the program as well great thank you any other questions for Miss Lewis comments thank you so much Miss Lewis for sharing to appreciate the update next on our agendas Dr Odie good evening again a recent Senate Bill 656

094requires that school boards local school boards adopt policies concerning concerning instructional materials with sexually explicit content this policy governs instructional materials that a teacher uses for classroom instruction or that a student selects for classroom projects a committee of Charlottesville City Schools staff including Librarians teachers coordinators and principals worked together to review our current policies policy IIA regarding instructional materials and policy iiab regarding supplemental materials to determine revisions needed to meet the requirements of school board Senate bill 656. you'll notice that these revisions there on your screen track almost verbatim from the vsba policies uh that we use here in Charlottesville City Schools the areas in green that's the new additions that we have to policy IIA I know you've had time to review it but some key points included in the additions to IIA include

095having processes in place for identifying instructional material that includes sexually explicit content prior to the start of each school year notifying parents at least 30 days prior to the use of any instructional materials with sexually explicit content providing alternative instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent requests that the student be provided with such instructional material and or activities and making these materials available for parent review on our website you'll notice there that various specific definitions are also included in the new portion of IIA down towards the bottom one small but important change from the vsba policy that we included is we added the words or gender identity in the last sentence of the definition of sexually explicit content it reads specifically instructional materials shall not be designated as sexually explicit based

096solely on the sexual orientation or gender identity of the characters they are in again we added or gender identity cross references and code references have also been updated as you can see at the bottom of the policy now revised policy iiab has only one small change if we scroll there you'll see that in green just one sentence regarding teachers referring to policy IIA the committee worked to update the regulations as well specifically how we will roll out this policy specifically we have included sharing this revised policy including those definitions it's key that we know those definitions they will help us as far as identifying the materials so we sh we are planning to share this revised policy with staff uh at the beginning of the year but truly once this policy is voted on it

097goes into effect immediately so we will need to do that work in sharing this revised policy with staff immediately so that all are ready uh we want them to be able to identify any materials with sexually explicit content based on the guidance there within you will see that we have included several ways that parents will be notified parent notifications through student handbooks through syllabi our canvas learning management management system and or Standalone letters and even parent-teacher conferences we can have those conversations there as well we plan to inform parents when students are required to select texts for independent reading or research so they can review their child's chosen resources and discuss their options it is recommended that the school board consider this revised policy and that we schedule it for a second reading and adoption

098at the school board's next meeting and as I said once the revised policy is approved we will implement it immediately as the law requires school Senate Bill 656 actually stated that it was to be implemented by January 1st we did not meet that deadline but as we wanted to spend more time adequate time ensuring it was well prepared well written comprehensive that's why we're presenting it now we've also because we delayed our presentation to the board we've been able to see how other divisions have been rolling out their process and their policies during this time as well [Music] um wanted to tell you a little bit about you'll see if if you've been following the news uh you'll see I see it every day especially in December different divisions rolling out their policy sharing it

099with their board and and acting having the board act upon it and they've been doing this in different manners some using the vdoe model policy uh verbatim some creating a completely new policy we already had policy IIA in place was a tiny little policy on instructional materials and so all of that green that we've added is what the vsba has recommended and as we have had success using vsba policies in the past that's what we are continuing in this manner and I will add one more thing well a couple more things um from the school Senate Bill 656 one thing that it says there specifically that I want to stress here is that this policy shall not be construed as requiring or providing for the censoring of books in the divisions Elementary and secondary schools

100so we are not going to censor library books I think that is important to share tonight so as we move forward with implementing working through our regulations that we have provided that we're going to be sharing with our staff working with our coordinators are planning to review curriculum review books we want to bring our coaches our administrators our administrators some of them were already on this committee they are ready for this work we want to make sure that we utilize these key people in reviewing and identifying um materials with sexually explicit content so we'll have this information available as Senate Bill 656 does require so at this time uh this this is just um information tonight uh but again we do ask that you consider our revised policy is written uh and then be ready

101for possibly a second reading at the next school board meeting so we can vote to implement it and move forward and at this time I will take any questions I'll start with Miss Wong Miss walsenberg no questions at this time the store is so I guess my only question is so the the policy or the additions to this policy were based off of the vsba recommendations correct yes they are and and the vsba of course what I when I compare the vdoe model policies um the Senate Bill 656 what the expectations are and the vsba uh it is clear to me that the vsba did review Senate Bill 656 and what the expectations were and likely review the video we model policies and so came up with something that is um easily implementable if that's

102a word for our school divisions so in in did you have an opportunity to look at some of the other division policies and and what those look like and is it a requirement that all of them have all of the definitions listed out like this what I've seen is those definitions are in there it comes straight from code uh and and as uh the there's a new code that um Senate Bill 656 enacted which was 22.1 16.8 so all of that just really is making it clear to us what the expectations were I've reviewed um I reviewed album models I reviewed Henrico Chesterfield ever be Fairfax us a few others just to see it was really helpful to see where people were Landing with um this policy I think that what we have is very

103comparable again some completed very brand new policies brand new policies are what we have opted to do is just to add on to what we already have as an existing policy and just make the revision and it works it seems to work for us our committee um felt that this was a good process for us Mr Morris Dr Kraft no I think this looks um very you know well thought out and comprehensive and um yeah so I I thank you for the work that went into this thank you thank you Mr Lee are all of the processes referenced already created or is that work to come so we've started this process and if you notice the regulations so the the um the policy says the superintendent needs to have a process for this a parental

104notification a process for identifying so what we did uh we wanted to get that work started because again once you all approve it needs to be implemented so the committee that's really certainly we work together on the policy but our our major work was getting those regulations in place and so what you have before you are the way that we're going to implement the policy and so we're going to continue to work uh our work the committee work is not finished yet but we have a very solid starting point making sure that our teachers and our staff have the this knowledge have this information before them having the coordinators go through curriculum making sure that we have all of this on our website the syllabus is very that's easy for high school but we don't

105have syllabi for elementary and Walker and and Beaufort so we're going to have to create a document that we're going to be able to have available so and will that be I guess will we be able to review the process processes that are established before we vote to approve this policy because it seems like the process has to exist before the policy goes into place so that's what the regulations are that's the process if let me just pull this up here um if you look at what we have the first bullet that's that's our process of making sure teachers are informed sharing this with them having you know one of the principles that was on the committee is that ideally it would be teacher work week you you know you share the new policies make

106sure everybody is abreast of everything they need to do reviewing any any um materials we want we can't share that we don't want to move forward with these things until it's approved but uh the next year we're gonna we already know how we're the next bullet we already know this is how we're going to notify families the requirement was to develop a process to notify families that those are our processes right there we're going to notify them um through handbook syllabi canvas letters those that's our process we're going to make sure that they know that they can ask for an alternative um lesson and they can change their mind that's another thing if let's imagine a parent doesn't opt there you know ask for an alternative lesson the child goes home and says hey I

107learned this today parent can say pause I'm Gonna Change My Mind and that's okay we we want to make sure that parents uh feel supported in what they'd like for their students um and then we already know that we're going to put it on our website so again those are the processes now we just have to do the work we have to compile the list um put make sure the syllabi have the items on there make sure the coordinators are reviewing but this is the process in the regulations is there something else Miss Dooley that you were hoping to see okay all right thank you aren't any other questions thank you so much all of your hard work working on those policies thank you thank you thank you all Mr Torres if you have a

108question I was just going to say I know that you you mentioned that we missed the January deadline so is this coming back to us before the February meeting did we have another what is the will of the board um we we do meet again on the 19th certainly you can vote on it then but that's more budget or we can wait till February you know we didn't meet that deadline and I think we're going to be okay uh we again we just wanted to make sure that it was comprehensive and well written so it's whatever you all would like we can certainly you all can certainly vote at our next meeting before there will be no penalty for adoption no then Dr Gurley and I do not believe there's a penalty thank you yeah

109they're going to come and get the school board chair right I'm gonna take him away no I think that's fine I think and and I apologize Mr Bryant I think when Dr Gurley had had mentioned this um when we met and I don't remember if we talked about it in the agenda meeting we weren't sure if we needed to kind of rush it um you know and if we're feeling okay then I'm fine with waiting if you all are fine with the policy as written you can vote whenever you would like all right well thank you all right thank you oh next item on the agenda is uh get my thank you here Miss Bianca Johnson Community fam engagement good evening School Board chair school board members and Dr Odie good evening also to any

110community members watching with us or attending tonight my name is Bianca Johnson I am a family engagement coordinator for CCS half of the face team or the family and community and engagement team you'll hear that acronym a few times tonight thank you for having me present this update um before I get started I was asked to share this announcement with the board and anyone listening this evening with the generous support of the community the house of Cuts Barber Studio in partnership with 100 black men of Central Virginia have been offering free haircuts for CHS students they just received a donation so that now Beaufort students can receive haircuts as well on the first round of 50 Cuts was funded by The Walker Buford PTO Portico church and mount Zion's First African Baptist Church students or

111their family members can schedule through the Creator booking app found on your app store or they encourage students to walk in students need to bring their student ID or show proof of attendance by PowerSchool and of course parking is limited it's three dollars an hour in the garage so I just wanted to make that known to you all um we can go to the next slide I want to introduce you all to the idea and definition of Community Schools according to the National Education Association Community Schools or public schools that provide services and support that fit each neighborhood needs created and run by the people who know our children best all working together the six pillars of community schools are a strong and proven curriculum high quality teaching inclusive leadership positive behavior practices family and

112Community Partnerships and Community Support Services I'll spend my time tonight talking about the work that face does in the last two pillars family and Community Partnerships and Community Support Services we all know that one of the barriers that our students face can be hunger through staff feedback another snatch I was organized for our students from October 24 to November 18th and received around 100 boxes of snacks for our students that were divided based on need we received a very generous donation from Loaves and Fishes to help support the drive as well as many family and Community donations as well we also hosted a coat drive from October 31st until December 9th for students to receive coats and you'll hear a little bit more about that later um in the height of the pandemic base was

113tasked with organizing a way for families to receive essential supplies you all know this as the response to essential needs events where some of you all volunteer your time to give out coats school supplies to even more all of this made possible through Charlottesville Community Partners volunteers and CCS staff of course these began in November 2020 and the last was in December of 2021 while I believe that this meta needs for the current time a recurring question I always had was how can we meet this need on an ongoing basis as we begin talks of the evolution of the response to RN or responsive essential needs last year's update talked about what we wanted to bring to ccs and we've heard from the partners about the plan to put everything in motion this year's update

114is what is now up and running at ccs thanks to our partnership with the Blue Ridge area Food Bank who's here with us this evening I'm happy to announce that our pilot food program Buford eats is now up and running members from the Blue Ridge area food bank here with us to talk about our partnership give you for each up and running and I'll let them introduce themselves you will also hear from the lead Point person of the team Ms Sheena Washington good evening everybody my name is Agnes and I'm with the Blue Ridge area Food Bank um just a little bit about the Blue Ridge area food bank and we have these lovely fact sheets at the end over there for folks that would like to know we work in 25 counties in eight

115cities in the Blue Ridge area in Western and Central Virginia we have over 400 partner sites whether those are soup kitchens feeding programs churches or School Partners out of the Charlottesville office where a lot of the folks here at night are from we have roughly 90 partner agencies and program sites and we're super excited that Buford eats is one of our newest um and I'll hand that over to Miss Washington the people good evening School Board chair members of the board and Dr Odie my name is Sheena Washington I am the school registrar at Beaufort Middle School I also work as the Lee Point person for Buford East Beaufort eats is a space for everyone to access groceries and food we are a team of six familiar faces that meet often to brainstorm the best

116way to get food to our Beaufort students our meetings became more frequent during the summer as we figured out who would be on the team and how the program should run our model is very similar to the other food market programs that the Blue Ridge area Food Bank runs with the addition of what we call pop-ups which is where we set up tables with fresh produce and staple boxes at events like open houses book giveaways and sport games at these events anyone that visits the table can grab any food item they want and we only need a few questions answered how many people are in your household how many are over 18 and how many over 60. we now also have a bi-weekly distribution running for families to access food the student or parent can

117sign up for the bi-weekly distribution with using our Google form as of today we have 34 families registered for our ongoing Food Service families have the option to Cindy food home by their students they can pick it up at their convenience or we also deliver homes as well thank you are there any questions oh you have one more okay um so today um not including these 34 families that will be serve about a week after um so we've served over 400 children just in the last six months in 200 families that's uh almost just shy of 3 000 pounds of food that's roughly 2500 meals and again we are just getting started we're super excited to kind of use this community school model for years food banks have sort of operated on a build it

118and they will come but what about things that are already there that people are already going to that are serving their Community um so again we're really excited to partner with the folks at Buford and they pour their heart and soul out of um of what they do into it and then left um to that end we would encourage you all to come if you want to reach out to Bianca or Miss Washington to volunteer to help them bag to pack groceries or to come to one of our pop-ups we're going to be at the basketball game next week it's a double header so please come by again not create events but be at places where families are already timing where community members are already coming because everybody could use access to groceries itself all

119right again I cannot tell you what this partnership means to me um is Food Bank also works with us to provide Thanksgiving winner and spring big boxes for our students and families we've also worked together um for the school food drive the last two years and we plan to continue that this year um while I help coordinating these efforts these are the folks on the ground that really work hard to make this happen so thank you guys again um for your support with everything another continuation of our RN events was figuring out a way for families to access essential items and so last year you all heard from Kim packet the development manager from the Chris Long Foundation about their efforts to start closets with us and calling it Ed Zone through donors the foundation

120raised enough money for all six elementary schools to have a closet in the building we had our official Ed Zone launch for the closets in November at Venable Elementary all six closets are up and running for students and families to access we aim to provide these resources for families while still protecting their dignity if a student or family needs something from the closet they can make the request known to the school mental health professionals and that's our school counselors or social workers from there our mental health professionals will gather the items the family has the option to of course send the items home with the student they can come pick them up or they can have them delivered Ed Zone also graciously covered coats for our elementary students as well Community Partners and donors such

121as the Greenbrier neighborhood association and the Emergency Food Network have contributed to make sure that Walker Buford and CHS also have Equitable access to free and essential items our coach ride that I mentioned earlier gave us hundreds of coats for the secondary students as well and on this last slide you're going to see more of our Partnerships and supports we're also exploring a long-term partnership with the emergency food bank to provide brick bags and ongoing access to food for winter break they donated 225 feedbacks for our students and Families um bases offer Chief professional development activities opportunities for staff and we continue to provide monthly workshops for families both virtually and in the community as well um you can I think that's the last one um but so we've been working hard to and to

122build and sustain our relationships with community members partners and organizations to remove barriers and provide better access to our students and families as needed again none of these things are possible but about the monetary support the volunteer support the word of mouth support from this Division and community so thank you to everyone that helps us make this happen and thank you all the board for supporting all of our face efforts supporting our vision and our students and Families Our collaborative efforts are the true example of us being better together so if there are any questions perfect any additional questions for Ms Johnson great job did your team amazing job your team are doing you're doing a good work for our community and by the way Bianca you owed me a call yes thank you thank

123you so much thank you and next item on agenda is the school board committee reports I think it's been duly noted and recorded with the clerk of the board now we have another opportunity for comments from members of the community the Charleston City School Board welcome Community comments from members of the community speakers are encouraged to keep their comments to three minutes do we have anyone in the audience who would like to come forth and speak to the board at this time Mr Como do we have comments you have somebody that just promoted them to be able to speak so um it's a good Clements Nazir of three minutes to speak greetings and good evening everyone old friends and family I just wanted to uh greet you from Washington DC and sin and join in

124the the congratulations of our new school board chair Mr James Bryant Mr Bryant I've known you for over 20 years and I am grateful for your support care and contributions and service that you have made to Charlottesville City Schools in a number of different capacities and so I just want to congratulate you again send you well wishes and just encourage you to continue to lead with Grace pride and love um to the rest of you thank you so much for the opportunity and congratulations also to miss uh Johnson and Miss Lewis for your presentations this evening um so that's it thank you so much person with spomo you know the comments from the community now board members will have an opportunity to make comments and I'll start off in the corner miss Mom oh miss

125Wong I just wanted to add a few things um for a follow-up when we were talking about the retention of the staff and all those things if we could I've gotten questions about I wrote a note uh teachers and their overloads and um how their how the compensation works for the overloads and is it included in the contracts if I could ask that for a follow-up at a later time the overloads when the teachers take the overloads when they're compensated and how it is included in their contract how how does that portion work and that that was you know that just for follow-up when they you know when we get to the end of the meeting um so but thank you for your presentation and then the other item that I wanted to come back

126to I still I know we've belabored the point but um the same one when we talked about the AP classes and I just wanted to put um my thoughts out there um I guess I was frustrated with the naming process or the renaming process um because you know for so long the schools have been named after very problematic um people in the case of Venable Venable in particular and then the idea that the school might share the same name as a public housing complex seem to be you know like a bridge too far or would have a connotation even though you know it was never followed up exactly what that connotation means it's kind of frustrating that you know that's the bridge too far but not the status quo of how things were when you

127know it was these names were completely okay and um it's problematic in my opinion that a school that serves a majority white population got to pick their name and a school that served a majority black and diverse population did not um get to pick their name by the same rules um and I I just that was my my last thought and comment about the process thank you Miss Torres um my only comments are congratulations to you sir thank you and congratulations to you and that's it thank you Mr Morris oh man um after the New Year a lot of people reset and I think for the board for the school division um hope that everyone took a moment to kind of reset for themselves and restore themselves for the journey that continues ahead I hope

128that the remainder of the school year leads us to growing closer together in um having honest conversations but also being able to work together um strongly so that we can ultimately serve the kids who are the end result of the work that we do have to craft um I would like to take a moment to uh thank and express appreciation to our outgoing chair uh Lisa Torres who has done an incredible job just such heavy lifting with such a you know weighty uh you know weighty items and things that we had to do we'd be picking a superintendent we're entering into collective bargaining we're doing a reconfiguration process you know on top of all of the everything else that goes on all the time and I know how much work you put into this and

129I know how much heart you put into this you put all of yourself into this role and checking in with us all the time and um just trying to manage us like hurting cats or something and um I just want to express my appreciation for all of that that you've put that you've given to all of us over the last couple of years so thank you Lisa thank you Dr Kraft the stooling well um I would be remiss if I did not introduce our new student board rep this Wong Vivian Wong welcome aboard also um Lisa like to also extend my um congrats to you for doing a great job as the chair the board doing some trying times so thank you so much for your service thank you I also want to thank my

130fellow board members for your support I'm very honored and very blessed you know I love history 50 years ago during those turbulent times of racial unrest at Lane High School my godfather the late Reverend Henry Mitchell said in this chair as the chair of the school board in 1972. I've heard very grateful I stand on his shoulders and the shoulders of many others in my community who poured into me Dom and I are products of the Charlottesville City Schools our backgrounds are similar but I am ever so grateful for all of your support and I don't take it lightly I wanted to share my vision of the school board and some of it has already been mentioned tonight where I would I would like to see us go I spent 29 years in the Charlottesville

131Public Schools as a substitute teacher a homebound teacher a music educator and a high school counselor 29 of my 45 years of service I'm hoping that we will continue to do the great work of continuing to to refine our equity and diversity policy it is extremely important because sometimes equity and diversity does not always mean inclusion so I know under the leadership of Ms Johnson we will continue to perfect that policy that Mrs Nazir was so passionate about also when teachers are leaving in droves all across the country what what are we going to what will we look like 20 years from now when teachers young people are not going into education what do we do as a school system how do we continue to hire not only hire but retain a diverse Workforce that

132is reflective of our student body my vision I'm hoping that we can start growing our own some type of teach Academy where we can encourage young people to go into education being that and you're right there they're all over the place they're shopping here and there and that's the fact that they want to be Educators they want to be committed to teaching children that is what I'm hoping that we can continue to refine that process getting them here retaining them here and that they are reflective of our students also as a teacher the foundation starts at the Elementary Pre-K kindergarten I am hoping we must continue to focus on student achievement we got our last data report Dr Gurley said this is the data this we own this and we're going to have to continue

133to work and not saying the teachers tonight they're doing an amazing job I was in a workshop at the vsba conference this uh Dr Kraft and I was a mental health Workshop one of the things that stood out to me most when she said she said when students arrive at the door they're going to either leave that baggage there or they're going to bring it in with them so teachers are doing an amazing job of working with our children we have a very diverse population of children's and City Schools I taught many of them and we have to continue to work on closing as my professor would say that opportunity Gap so that all students will feel welcomed valued and connected on in our school community this is important to me when I think about

134and I've worked six years at the community college as an academic coach and I see our children that are that have graduated from South High School and other area schools and they're not quite understanding the rigor what it requires to be a college student that's my job to to get them acclimated a lot of them make their transition very well others kind of struggle along the way and I strongly believe it is important for our students to graduate from Charlottesville High School with a College Plan not only college is not for everyone but a College Plan the military preps Technical School and Workforce Readiness skills so that they can be productive citizens in our community we've got to work on those students who may not want to go to college but have other options that's

135important to me not just getting them out of high school with a diploma but also working with those students to have plan B when they graduate and um as all of us are we're excited hopefully you know we'll reconfiguration I dream of that Middle School and as Don would say it's not about to build and it's about the learning that will go on in that school I'm I I just can't wait to that shovel goes in the ground and they start constructing Beaufort and also phase two with the little ones coming down the pike and maybe you all can get out of central office and you're all crammed up but but that's that's that that is my that is my vision a lot of other things I think it's important but those are the things

136I want to that's my vision of what for the Charlottesville City Schools and again thank you all for for your support I am very grateful and honored thank you and we will have comments from the superintendent thank you Mr chairman I'd like to take this opportunity to wish students staff families and Community Partners a Happy New Year we are so excited to be back to school and ready to continue the important work I thank you for that Vision we are ready to take on that challenge to continue the work that we're doing and that hopefully that restful winter break uh got everybody ready so that we can move forward um and just continue to ensure that there's exciting and engaging teaching and learning happening in our schools I also want to just congratulate again all

137of our school-based teachers of the year and our Charlottesville City Schools division Teacher of the Year Charlene Abney we're so proud of each of them and we're honored to just work alongside them I also just want to take a an opportunity to thank all of the people that helped to make our reception a success you know working behind the scenes and I know that Miss Lewis and I worked really closely together but it wasn't just us we had Leslie Thacker we had Julia and you know there were there were and we had um Ashley who came over and set everything up today uh Jenny played a small part there were lots of people that that really worked to make today a success for our teachers of the year so thank you thank you thank you

138to everyone uh one thing I want to add I learned just before coming to the meeting that we need to congratulate the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center they are celebrating 10 years so that's a big celebration we just want to thank this wonderful Organization for all of the important work that is done there and their partnership with our schools we wish for them many more years of Celebration and um over the past several years a week in January has been observed as Virginia principal Appreciation Week though we have not yet received the official certificate of recognition from the governor we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our wonderful principals for all they are doing well all they have done all they are doing and all they will do continue to do

139for our outstanding students staff and community their leadership really does matter so thank you to our wonderful principals and then I'll just end with a congratulations to our new board chair Mr Bryant congratulations again and our vice chair Mr Morris we're so excited about all that you're going to do continuing with uh the great work that's already been laid forth and thank you to miss Torres for all of your leadership in this past year and that's all I am thank you Dr Goldie now we'll have work session wrap up by Miss Lewis I saw my name on there and the wrap-up has quite a few tasks for me but um Miss Thacker did send out a report that was done in September so I will make sure I add any more detail one follow-up thing

140you have is you would like more very clear data from the naming committee made available to everyone historical data why the change of the name is occurring data reports explicitly and transparently um you would like monthly updates about the naming committee throughout the process so that you're well informed um there is a question to have the comparison data diversity Trends to 21 22 to 2123 retention data for instructional assistance an update on exit survey data and update on the 30 60 90 pilot program what the results are and if we'll use it in the future and information about compensation for teachers teaching overloads or extra section and how that is included in their contract thank you Miss Lewis sorry um I just wanted one more thing I'd like to add as part of my comments

141for the CX committee the special education advisory committee the next meeting is on January 18th at 5 30 pm on zoom on Zoom thank you final item on our agenda for the evening is future meetings board meetings upcoming meetings for the board on January 19th we will be having a School Board budget work session at five o'clock here in the media center CHS on February 2nd I have a school board meeting at five o'clock February the 8th the Charleston City School Board and the salsa City budget Council budget work session will be at five o'clock location to be announced February 16th the Charleston City School Board budget work session will be at five here in the media center at Charlottesville High School and on February 23rd we will have another another budget approval meeting here

142in the media center at Charlottesville High School so do we have any questions from the board members well without further ado this meeting is adjourned