001questions. >> All right, moving on to human resources. >> Okay, chairman, I'd like to ask uh Dr. Rates to come forward and introduce the next two um presentations. She's uh overseeing both of those. So, I'm going to turn it over to her. >> Good evening, Chair Alexander. Members of the board, um if you have been around Manasses Park for the last 24 years, anytime in the last 24 years, you probably know who Chris is. But I'm really excited tonight to introduce him as our director of human resources. He's held many roles in the division that have given him a lot of background knowledge that he's using in his current role in human resources. Uh what I hope tonight is some of the work that we've done as a new HR team coming together. We're also
002joined tonight by Kip Tuttle, our coordinator of benefits, um, who's only been with us a short time, but is already in there doing the work. So, I hope that you'll see some of the work that we've done and some of the work that we have planned to do. Um, because I would say that really overall what we're looking at is that critical role that human resources plays in the recruitment, the hiring, and the retention of the best staff possible that we can put in front of our students. So, I'm happy to introduce tonight Mr. Koig. >> Good evening, Chair Alexander and members of the school board. testing better. >> Okay. I'm pleased to be here this evening to provide an update on our staffing. I'm reviewing where we were in FY25 and where we stand
003now as we begin the FY26 school year. The data I'm presenting tonight represents our new baseline. As you may recall, 85% of our human resources team um including myself are new to the HR department or are new to Manass Park City Schools or both. Combined with the loss of historical data previously stored on network drives, this made it difficult to conduct an accurate year-over-year comparison based on previous data. Moving forward, this baseline along with the anecdotal information we've gathered will be serve as the foundation um for tracking and analyzing staffing trends in the years ahead. As with everything we do, um the updates I provide um will tonight will be cross over all three of the pillars of the Manass Park City School Strategic Plan. Okay, got it. Um last year I began planning for
004recruiting and hiring in mid-occtober shortly after I also stepped into the role of benefits administrator from park city schools when we had staffing changes. Um from the start I had two clear goals. One target affairs of the greatest number of teacher candidates and the highest needed academic areas. And two maximizing the impact of our recruiting budget. No, thank you. U to make datadriven decisions, we turned to the college navigator website, a resource curated by the national center for educational statistics and the institute of education services sciences. This tool allowed us to dig deeply into student demographics um and analyze the sizes and graduation rates of various education majors across US colleges and universities. For example, if we're looking for an East Coast institution with 200 or more elementary education majors, College Navigator helps us quickly
005identify the schools um where our recruiting efforts will have the strongest impact. In addition, we carefully consider the financial side of recruiting. Okay. Um education fairs all come with a cost. Um registration fees, travel, lodging, and more. Um, so being intentional about which events we attend ensures that we're making the best use of our resources. Finally, we also collaborate with our neighboring school divisions to see which fairs they are attending. This helps us benchmark our efforts and ensure that we're competing effectively in the same talent pools. During the 24-25 school year, MPCS participate participated in 13 in-person recruitment fairs and three virtual fairs. By comparison, one of our neighboring divisions attended 25 job fairs in one single month. As I shared earlier, our focus not is not on volume, but on strategically maximizing the impact
006of our recruiting budget. From our efforts, we were successful in recruiting candidates from five of the Inerson job fairs that we attended along with one from our virtual job fairs. Whenever possible, I review resumes and candidate profiles in advance of each fair and personally reach out to schedule time at each fair um to meet with strong prospects. In addition, we created and shared uh targeted social media posts to promote our presence, such as the example shown here from one of the universities we attended the career fair for. In addition uh to attending college and university career fairs, MPCS also hosted our own Saturday recruitment event designed to attract teachers, instructional assistants, school nutrition team members, and transportation staff. Building on that success, we plan to host additional weekend events this year to reach even more
007potential candidates. Last February, we also launched our new modern applicant tracking system called Red Rover to broaden our reach and attract a larger pool of candidates through another new partnership uh that we started last year with LinkedIn. Every position that we post in Red Rover is automatically shared on LinkedIn, giving us immediate exposure to a wider audience. This partnership has also allowed us to spotlight highnee positions, increasing visibility and applicant traffic. We're also expanding our pipeline of future teachers by welcoming more college students into our schools for field experience and internships. Last year, MPCS hosted 24 college students throughout the year. And already this year, we have 16 scheduled to begin at Cougar Elementary and Manow Park Elementary in the next two weeks. And this year, uh, and the year has only just begun. This
008hands-on experience is one of the best ways to attract future staff by giving them opportunity to build connections with our students and teachers early on. For the past several years, MPCS has also offered hiring incentives to licensed candidates to make our division even more competitive and attractive. For some, these incentives have been the deciding factor in choosing to join MPCS. This year, we are awarding 19 hiring incentives to new staff members for this year. So, where did our recruitment efforts bring us for the new school year? As of early September, MPCS has hired 79 new staff members. At this point, the majority of our full-time positions are filled. As is our standard practice, we are reviewing student enrollment data to ensure that we're staffed at sufficient levels and we're aligned with enrollment needs across the
009division. Throughout the spring, teams across MPCS collaborated to design a robust onboarding experience for new staff. We've had a new teacher orientation for many years, but we took the one we had and we energized it to include uh new information, new supports, um and included more people in the process to ensure that we had a well-rounded program. Um in early August, this work culminated in an engaging 4-day new teacher orientation. This event plays a vital role in preparing our new staff to thrive in their roles and to feel connected to the MTSS community from day one. While we were pleased to welcome 79 new staff members this year, we also said farewell to 79 colleagues who left MPCS through retirement, resignation, or now renewal. This is nearly identical to last year's total when 80 staff
010members exited during the 2324 school year. As a result, our staff retention rate for the 2425 school year stands at 84.6%. Anecdotally, that is very similar to previous years. Um, while we don't have the hard data to support that claim, um, having been working with recruiting for many years, this is about our typical level. So, looking at staff exiting, of the 64 staff members who resigned, an item to note is the 18 members of our staff that left MPCS to work in another local school division. This is an area we plan to examine more closely as we continue to brainstorm strategies to reduce this number. Beginning next year, we'll also begin reporting staff exit data differently using the Virginia Department of Education official exit codes, which outline 18 different reasons why a staff member may
011leave. This will allow us to track and analyze exit data with greater accuracy and consistency. Um, another really important area that we need to focus more on is staff engagement. Um, we've done a lot with staff engagement already. We have a lot of programs listed on this page that we should be very proud of. Um, but engaging employees are engaged employees are more likely to remain with the division, helping reduce turnover costs and preserve valuable instructional knowledge. In today's competitive hiring market, a strong reputation for staff engagement also makes our division more appealing to prospective candidates. Our efforts will focus on strategies such as expanding professional learning opportunities, enhancing recognition and appreciation programs, strengthening mentorship and leadership development, and creating more effective channels for staff voice and feedback. By prioritizing engagement, we are not only
012supporting the retention of our current team, but also building a stronger, more resilient workforce here from Manass Park City Schools. And that is the end of our um staff data presentation. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Coney. We have any questions from the board? >> I don't have a question, but I just wanted to say thank you to the whole human resources department. I know a couple years ago we were talking about this data that we were wanting. Um, but now I guess with the red rover system, it's actually happening. So, thank you all for that. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. Our team has been doing a great job. No, I was I was excited to see Indiana University of Pennsylvania teacher fair on here. May maybe we'll get
013a hire in the future. >> We have in the past. So, >> all right. Well, we'll keep up keep up the good work there. >> We have one. Yes. >> We have one at the high school also right now. >> Awesome. Awesome. >> Oh, yes. Yes. >> We'll we'll continue to to to push that. Yeah, sure. Um, no question on the U. No, appreciate the kind of the exit information. That's super helpful to understand. uh and understand you're going to be kind of getting an additional level of granularity and and feedback in that. Do you have anything now on kind of where >> those folks who are moving to other divisions are kind of situated in the experience level to kind of understand you know where are we differentiating ourselves in benefits or are kind
014of >> comparing in benefits if those folks are kind of making benefits based decision salary based decision rather than you know I could go here or I could go down the street. That is an excellent question. Um, while I don't have the hard data in front of me for that, I would say the majority would be around the year three to year six range, maybe even pushing into seven and eight. Um, but that's essentially the range that we need to work on our engagement more with. Um, again, more ane information based on talking with staff that were leaving. Many of them did leave due to salaries in those ranges um because they were going to local schools. Um so that was one of the deciding factors for many. Um while we are very competitive and
015we are doing things like those signing bonuses and and things like that, we need to go to that next step on how do we retain. >> All right. Helpful. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Um couple questions. So um related to the fairs that we go on and I know some of these questions feel free to be like I know we've lost historical data. So in the future we feel free to just volley it back. But >> um do we look at success rates from previous years to like okay this is a dry well we're going to stop going to Ohio and spending that money. Do we assume so but >> we do um we have d good data from last year because I also helped pretty extensively with the with the recruitment fairs last year um
016as well as the previous year before that. um we have extensively edited that list that we go to and like I said we really want to make sure that there are candidates at these fairs um when we're going to them. So one of the first things I look at is when we're choosing where to go is how many majors in those different fields that we're looking for if we're looking for school counselors are there any school counselor candidates even at that job fair. Um so those are the types of questions that we do research. We work with the um the institutions that we visit. um prior to actually signing um for one of these fairs to make sure that the candidates that we're looking for are actually at them. Um I would say we were
017fairly successful with size of the recruitment fairs this year except for maybe one or two. Um one example would be Old Dominion University. Really expected that to be a great fair to attend. We hadn't attended it in a couple of years. It had been one that had dropped off, but I had heard really good things about it talking to some of our colleagues. there were about 15 candidates walking around the entire time. Um now luckily the that was a very very lowcost fair um with it was no overnight travel or anything like that. So the loss on um the actual capital isn't huge there because it was just my time uh for that day. But those are the things that we look to avoid um when we are going to these types of fairs. We
018try to do as much research as possible up front to ensure that those candidates are actually there. Awesome. Um, so next question. Um, >> these these two kind of go together, but what criteria do do we use for selecting career fairs to go to? Uh, and and what I'm leading into was I know one of the big pushes was to increase the diversity in our hiring. >> So, I was just kind of curious if you could explain that a little bit. >> Sure. Um, I think like I said, we use that college navigator website very heavily. Um, and it does give us very good demographic information about the students that are in those schools. So, not only does it tell us the number of students that are in each of the different majors, it does
019give us great demographic information. Um, we have looked for diverse candidates um in all the different schools we go to. And for the most part, with the exception of a few, the schools that we did choose to attend last year um did have diverse student bodies. So that was an important consideration um just because we want a well-rounded school division um that represents the students with within our school community here. So that is something that is taken into account as when we're looking at which fairs are we going to go to. >> Awesome. All right. Um just a couple more. >> Um >> I remember several years ago um in in the the building staff where we would always say, you know, we need our principles here not out recruiting. How are we able to
020kind of maintain that now with having the recruiting team established so that the admins can be there in the buildings with the team? >> We're not quite there yet, but we're closer. So, like I said, we had the um 13 inerson fairs this past year. Um half of those I I attended um sometimes by myself, sometimes with another staff member. Um but we do try to keep principles in the buildings as much as possible. Um, one of the things when it comes to hiring is our principles are the ones that um, are looking to do the hiring for their building to ensure they have a good fit for the staff in their schools. So, we have to have that delicate balance. >> So, looking at So, for example, George Mason, which is a nice local
021career fair that was staffed by all school principles last year, um, school principles, assistant principles. It's close. It's easy to get back to the building um, build to our building. So that was a strategic reason for placing the principles at that that job fair specifically. But one like Texas where all of Northern Virginia visits te the different Texas uh job fairs due to the number of students that they have um that would not be one that I would have a principal go out to because it is far time wise and whatnot. >> It's my understanding also that sometimes >> some of our competit competition basically they have they'll hire on the spot. we have to have our interviewers there specifically to strike so that we can get these kids before the group scoops them up.
022>> And essentially what we do um to sort of counter that to an to an extent is as soon as I'm done speaking with that candidate, I take a picture of their resume and send it directly to the principles so that they have that candidate's information right then and there as quick as possible. um in many instances the the candidate was receiving a phone call within minutes of leaving our booth by one of our principles um to try to get them in. So that has been a successful way to capture that with not having our principles there. We also set off to set up um Zoom interviews with the candidates with our principles um right away too. So I think you'd be a great fit for Manass Park Elementary School. Um what's your schedule look
023like? Do you have any time to speak with one of our principles? That's essentially the what we would use to counter that too. >> Awesome. The last question, this is similar to what Mr. Graham was referencing, was in for future years, is it possible >> um when we're seeing that number of of uh resignations to see the breakdown by type of staff? Is it a teacher? Is it support staff? Is it bus drivers? Is it from just that kind of >> Yes, that is information I could provide. >> Awesome. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Thank you, sir. >> Thanks. Thank you >> and congratulations. >> All right. Good evening again, Chair Alexander and members of the board. So, we are going to totally shift gears now. Um, but I'm going to introduce another uh great
024uh one of the great members of my staff, Dr. Kristen Marberry, and she's going to come up to talk to you a little bit about the code of conduct. So, I know in the past we've talked um a little bit about some of the discipline and behavior and things in the schools and how that works. So, what I've asked for her to do tonight is really provide you guys first with an overview of our code of conduct. Um it is somewhat typical to talk about here's the updates like we do in policy updates, but I think it would be nice for us to have just a quick brief overview of our code of conduct, then some of those updates. And I did ask her based on some feedback from one of our meetings we had
025previously to just give you guys a little quick update on how things are going with our new cell phone policy in the schools. So Dr. Marberry, >> thank you. Good evening, Chairman Alexander, members of the board, Dr. Saunders. Um I look forward to speaking with you today about our 2025 2026 code of conduct. So, as with everything that we do, we are grounded in our strategic plan. And I would say our second pillar and our third pillar really speak to the foundation of our code of conduct, us building our community and then also making sure that our spaces are safe for students and for learning. So, the purpose and and foundation of a code of conduct kind of seems pretty obvious, right? It's it's kind of the list, the rules, um the parameters that guide
026and conduct how we uh provide instruction with our students. But another take on this and another kind of spin on why a school division and specifically our school division's code of conduct is so important really starts with what we teach our littlest cougars, which is the three Rs. Um we really take seriously the building of respect and responsibility within our students. So just as important instruction is in our beginning vowel sounds and the scientific method, it's just as important that we're teaching our students how to conduct themselves and how to interact with each other. So our code of conduct really governs that and provides that foundation. You'll see mentioned here our um the Virginia Department of Education's model guidance. In 2021, they provided a pretty extensive document that guides school divisions on how to approach
027code of conduct and gives um some guidance on what that could look like um to be taken from the state level and then modified with the uh local school division level. So, we make sure that our code of conduct each year is in alignment with that guidance document and then also adheres to different uh required established changes and updates to Virginia codes and Virginia uh Department of Education regulations. And there's two that I'll highlight towards the end of the presentation today that did impact the release of our 2526 code of conduct. So, a lot of people don't realize that our code of conduct um is in effect while on school property. So obviously at all of our four four schools, but it actually extends um quite beyond that. So wanted to highlight that for you
028all today. Um our bus stops, going to school, from school, um on the school bus, whether we're on field trips, if we're any of those learning experiences that are provided for our students, um are areas and spaces where our code of conduct is in effect. Um so just something to to remind and and good for for the public to know. Our code of conduct begins by really opening up with the different roles and responsibilities of our key stakeholders. So the two ones that we're very familiar with um here in this setting is our school board. Obviously, thank you to you all um for making our policies and obviously working with Dr. Saunders to make sure we're uh creating and holding um our school division employees uh responsible for um what's appropriate and what we as
029a community feel should be emphasized within how we govern ourselves in schools. our school administrators really shoulder the um the priority of enforcing the code of conduct of looking at what is um slated the importance and we'll talk a little bit about the lever level leveling of different um actions and behaviors but it's their responsibility to take a look at what policies are in place and then to in decide and determine what response is appropriate um based on whatever um behavior has been displayed within the school day. Um, but something that's not always um prioritized, but I think is really prioritized within our school division is the parents, guardians, the students, and the school staff. And so there's an um an old adage that I I live by as a teacher and I definitely live
030by in this role. And that's really those three pillars that make a stool stand steady, right? You need all three um legs of a stool in order to for it to be balanced. And that that stool really is balanced based on parents, students, and school staff. And so you'll see here in kind of the descriptions that are provided on this slide more of those detailed responsibilities within those three pillars because if we're able to be preventative and if we're able to really design that responsibility and that respect within that student um from the from the home side and then also from that school side um we have a much better chance of developing a positive character within that student and hopefully we wouldn't even need the code of conduct to address any behaviors that are
031happening within the school setting. So, um you'll see a lot of those kind of detailed um here. It is important to mention that within our our for our parents and our guardians, um uh school attendance, right, is huge. I know we've been emphasizing a lot in our website with a lot of our um information that's gone out to the community, but our students being present um being in good health, being prepared, um is important to to start their day and then also to end their day for our school staff. um managing those student behaviors that take place within the classroom, knowing and honoring student rights, responsibilities, and then also making sure that um we're communicating like we just said with families and also with students to make sure that that um stool is balanced with
032all three pillars. And then within our students, making sure that they are aware and uh knowledgeable of our code of conduct and really just our expectations on a regular basis. and then um building up their own self-efficacy and um their skill set to be able to um manage good character um and to maintain self-control even when sometimes things within any a school day or any day can get quite challenging. So that kind of breaks down those those roles and responsibilities within the code of conduct. Um there are different um disciplinary actions and then there's leveled responses that go along with them. So um this slide kind of highlights the different escalation path that um is outlined within this code of conduct should there be um some sort of a infraction that takes place within the
033school day. So you'll see starting with level one, um if there's something that takes place, and I'll go through an example on the next slide, but just to kind of give you an overview, um if there's an a level one behavior, um this is something that would take place within the classroom setting and is typically something that is addressed by a staff member, um or somebody that's working closely with the student, a pair of professional. Um sometimes, you know, students are able to um address this within themselves just based on um the B basic classroom procedures that are available within the classroom setting. But um those level one responses should there be um something within the code of conduct can be something as small as a seat change. It could be something like a reflective
034task. Um another example of a level one behavior could be a conference with a student where you're able to just talk them through maybe something that they're experiencing. Um maybe it's a couple of minutes and then you're able to get them back on track. So, that's just kind of some uh quick highlights of what a level one behavior could look like. And again, it's uh usually addressed within the classroom setting. A level two uh behavior then if we're escalating up to the next level, these are where we're supporting students and we're trying to really emphasize them continuing to be engaged in their regularly scheduled classes. So, um we're looking at what preventative um interventions can we put in place? Um what things can we how can we support the student so that that if there
035is a level two behavior um we're able to still make sure that they're still accessing their curriculum. So, we're looking at different approaches to where they can still stay in class that they can still be learning and not have an interrupted school day. So, an example of a level two behavior could be um establishing a check-in or checkout with a student. So that could be maybe there's a mentor or a positive staff relationship that that student has where we can uh really leverage that relationship to allow them to um process the beginning of the day or the end of the day so that they feel seen so they feel heard and so they have an outlet um as the days go on and that could be maybe for a couple of weeks or so on
036and so forth. Level two response could also be maybe an alternative like lunch um task or activity. Maybe they're doing a reflection or working with their school counselor at lunch to maybe talk through something that took place during class that day. Again, these are happening outside of those instructional times, working with staff to allow them to still access their regularly scheduled classes. A level three behavior um is where we have some sort of a short-term removal from the school environment. So these are responses where you know based on whatever behavior's taking place, whatever infractions taking place, unfortunately there is going to need to be a minor delay or disturbance from their instructional um what they're receiving instructionally. So this could be um at the middle or high school level. This could be an in school
037detention. This could be an afterchool detention. Um it might also be some sort of a referral for that. Um maybe there's some sort of a conference that needs to take place with the parent and the student. Um there's several different options and with each of these levels there's more detailed descriptions um within the code of conduct. Just trying to provide you with some examples um along the way as I'm describing them. for a level four behavior. These are cases where the behaviors are pretty severe, where safety is usually of uh a concern um and when we do unfortunately need to continue to remove that student from the school environment typically for um at least a full school school day if not a couple of school days. So, um these are situations where a student may
038um unfortunately be within an out of school suspension setting or receiving um instruction separately or in a different creative manner separate from their peers while we're navigating and creating a support plan for them um before we're returning them into that classroom setting. And then lastly, um, level fives, which are the most rare, um, behaviors are situations where, um, it does need to come to myself and, um, my office to review whatever infraction has taken place, um, and to further collaborate with the school administrators of that building, the parents of that student in that student to detail a more very high level specific pathway forward for that student and what's best for them instructionally while um, again prioritizing the self safety and well-being of the school community. So, going off of that u description, I've provided
039an example here um of what it would look like for a school administrator that's kind of operationalizing the code of conduct um and also to help as families and um students are seeing the code of conduct just kind of how to read it um because it can be a little confusing. So example I used here was teasing or taunting or some sort of engagement with um engaging in a verbal confrontation. So first you'll see on the left the SBAR code. Um ESBAR is an acronym that stands for um student behavior that requires an administrative response. So this is something where um based on this infraction administrator needs to speak with the student. RB7 is a code that's provided by the state. we have different behavior codes that are provided by the state. So, this would
040be a relationship behavior seven. Um, and then I just kind of described what the offenses were and then you can see a range. Um, our code of conduct u something that I really value within our code of conduct is that we do not just group all of the behavior infractions together. We separate them based on the secondary and elementary level. um knowing that developmentally our students while it may look like look to be a similar behavior at the first grade level um there is some behavior that still needs to be taught between a first grader and a 10th grader and so we honor that in the leveling of our responses and working with students. So, um you'll see here that uh from an elementary level prek through 5 if this were to take place uh
041within school to where an administrator would need to respond. If I'm an elementary school administrator, I'm looking at my level one and level two responses that would be appropriate for this. And if I am a secondary school administrator and this was taking place, then it could be a range between a level one, a level two or a level three based on my knowledge of the um of of what took place and what is best for the school community. So, this is where then all of those details of investigations and conversations with students and um past history and any other things that need to factor into the response are taken into account by the school administrator before deciding what that next step will look like. We also um have a section where there are mandatory reports
042to law enforcement. This is where we are fully transparent with our community with uh different uh things within our code of conduct that the state requires us to notify um our school resource officers with or you know if they're not available which they always are um then we would work directly with Manassa Park Police Department but our school resource officers are very alert and attentive to um to our needs within our school community. So that's kind of how this um how this progresses and um you'll see the different categories within the 2526 code of conduct. Um but it pretty much all follows that same process. We are as with everything continuing to improve and to review our processes. Um we are required by law to banually review our code of conduct. Um and we use
043several different worksheets and resources provided by VDOE to do that. Um so there are two VDOE one element of student conduct policy and another student code of conduct elements checklist. That's what we um my team or as a staff, we look through our code of conduct and see what updates there are to policies um and kind of go through the checklist to make sure that we're meeting the uh requirements from the state. And then also looking at what types of disciplinary actions um have been appropriate from previous years, from current years to work with administrators, see if there's any uh changes or lapses that we need to adjust. And then we also provide um staff trainings and resources. So all of our new teachers this year received training in um conscious classroom uh which is
044a wonderful um classroom management and just overall intro for our new teachers in how to create safe and welcoming um classroom environments conducive for learning. We also um have safety care um which we primarily provide uh to all of our staff and we don't go through the full safety care training because it has some more um specific details um to it but the beginning of safety care is a deescalation training opportunity. So, all of our teachers at the beginning of this year uh during their inservice week did receive a deescalation training to provide them with tools and strategies so that if they're starting to notice signs or things of a student um maybe um not being at their baseline or starting to escalate um to give them resources to be able to uh work directly
045with that student to um work and work through whatever they may be experiencing. And then we have two wellness curriculums or curriculums um that we use with students. Rethink Ed is at our um elementary campus and then second step is at our secondary campus where we're really providing training and resources to students um so that they have skills to just navigate themselves and navigate how they um interact with others. So, um lots of different ways that we try to preventatively um provide um resources for adults and students on how they can um avoid needing to have any interactions with uh our code of conduct or school administration. Um the two updates that I wanted to review with you that um both came out this July that impacted our code of conduct. One is cyber bullying
046and we can go into even more detail on this when we have our um school counselors uh present when during school counseling month but um Virginia code did change the definition of cyber bullying. So you'll see that our new code of conduct features the new VDOE definition of cyber bullying um and includes our same action steps that we would take with bullying. So, our 24-hour notification to parents and then um working through the process to decide if we need to do a formal investigation or uh what supportive measures need to be put in place for the students that are involved. Um so, that change has been updated within our code of conduct and will follow our normal bullying responses. And then secondly, everyone's favorite um cell phones. So with the governor's uh executive order 33
047last year um as you uh previously mentioned earlier this board meeting um cell phones and student use of cell phones or restricting student use of cell phones from the beginning first bill to the last bill um has been in place and is now not just an executive order but it's also Virginia code. Um so there's now um law that goes along with student cell phone use and smart device possession. Um, and just anecdotally, um, this is something that we're constantly refining and working towards, um, making sure that we're providing cell phone free education. I can say at the secondary campuses, having walked through lunches many times and arrivals and dismissals, um, I can tell you that our lunches are definitely a little bit louder at the secondary campus as students are engaging with each other,
048talking with each other. Um we're starting to see a lot more students um bringing in games and playing with cards and um interacting with each other which has been uh very refreshing to see. Um and we're still working towards our arrival and dismissal procedures um to make them as effective and efficient as possible especially at the high school with our yonder pouches um led by Mr. for us and then at the middle school with principal Huntley um having the lockers working through with the middle school stu middle school students how to get their cell phones in their lockers and and remembering their codes and things like that. Um it's been um a great transition. Um and we're constantly the leadership teams of both of those buildings are constantly looking at how we're doing and providing
049any support to see how we can do it even better. Um, we've gotten a lot of feedback from students and their voices um have been invaluable um to really u see and hear from their perspective how these changes really change their world. And so we're uh seeking and looking to continue to include student voices, not just with cell phones, but with just all of our processes, including um next year's and future years developments of code of conducts and things like that. We're we're brainstorming how we can bring in student voices so that they are um they see it as a representation of them as well. Can also say from reviewing our our our discipline data that um this time last year we had 65 interactions of students with school administrators officially um over the topic
050of cell phones and this time uh this year we've had less than three. So that's that's a positive number to to note uh that there's less in formal interactions between students administrators as it relates to cell phones. Um that the principles the different procedures that they're putting into place are allowing that to not be a throughout the day distraction and conversation and that the focus can be on the learning. Um, finally, just a couple of next steps, uh, as it relates to the 2627 school year code of conduct. Um, is just thanking you for your commitment and shaping that. Um, and inviting you to really take a look and review our current code of conduct. And we welcome your feedback and priorities as we prepare for next year. Um, and look to schedule a future
051session where we can um, really capture your input and guidance as well as other stakeholder groups. And that is all that I have for you this evening. >> Sure. Uh no, I appreciate the uh the update. The SBAR codes from the state, I assume then that you're reporting back based on those codes. Is that something parents can review? Uh that data is available. >> Yes. So that data is available. Um it's available through the state actually. They capture the data and then release it out publicly. Um so that is accessible to anybody who would like to review it. Um we we also review it internally within the leadership teams, the school administrative teams. Um at our yearly retreat, we take a look, set goals um and monitor throughout the year, but it's also publicly accessible.
052>> Thank you. uh kind of in the last five years, last two years, we've seen kind of proliferation of student civic engagement, freedom of speech type activity. The kind of the language in here may prohibit and things like that. Can you walk me through kind of where that line is of where we're crossing into kind of disruptive behavior, looking at like freedom of speech and that type of thing? >> Sure. I would say the the biggest line is really um you know we are we love hearing from our students. They absolutely have freedom of speech. Um the only time that it crosses into a matter where would be you know could be considered an infraction of our code of conduct would be when it disrupts the school day. Um so really it's school operation. um
053when their display of um you know whatever that might be or whatever um they may be expressing um if it crosses that threshold of us uh of our ability to conduct the school day whether it's school lunches or whether it's a class discussion that's taking place and the teachers trying to you know continue the lesson along. That's where then it becomes that gray line of of whether it is um you know could be considered an infraction of of their behavior >> kind of different between an individual basis or a large group basis. >> Um I would say yeah I would say that would apply to to both. So if there is a display of several students or a student to where the school is not able to operate and function and flow or to where
054people um you know the students are feeling unsafe or um you know there there's some sort of a crossover there that's when that transition would occur. But if it's peaceful, if it's respectful, if it's um you know not prohibiting any school operation from taking place, then that's certainly perfectly fine. >> And then so in the the cell phone regulation, so this so for my fellow board members, the cell phone policy we presented earlier in this meeting has some language in here about discipline that no student will be suspended or expelled solely for a violation of that policy. I notice on the chart that's kind of from the current approach where those type of things are on the table. Can you talk a little bit about how we would kind of mitigate I guess the limiting
055of the options for those more extreme cases? >> It's a great question. So, um, yes. So, the changes in Virginia code are saying that a student cannot be suspended simply for having their device, whether it's a smartwatch or headphones or their cell phone. that that is not an offense that can be that a school administrator could decide to suspend them just based off of that. um where you'll see within our code of or our code of conduct if there let's say there's other other elements to that interaction where maybe a student is maybe they're you know refusing or maybe there is also um something that's critical within that device that connects to something bigger and you know we're trying to work with that student and you know if there's I guess just another layer another
056element to it is where um within our code of conduct that could be considered um but simply for having their device on them. That's not something that we would uh respond with an out of school suspension. >> Thank you. >> The only question I have is um on top when would you like the board's reviews questions submitted back to you guys at least? >> No, that's a great question. So, chairman, we will we'll define a specific time for that for um the work session and um let you all know. But I think you all have hard copies of the code of conduct as well as the digital copy. So, feel free to write all over that and and make your comments because it is a it's a large document. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank
057you, Dr. Marber. All right. Um, so we have no action items on the agenda. So, moving on to upcoming meetings. Uh, we have an upcoming work session Monday, September 22nd at 6 PM. Um, in the conference room, third floor, we have a regular schoolboard meeting Monday the 13th, 6 p.m. in board chambers where we are at second floor. And we have a representative report. >> So, chairman, we we don't have a report today, but I do want to take a moment and introduce our um student representatives. Um we have we're excited uh to have Berlin returning as our student representative for the senior class and also excited uh to welcome uh Osmar Orano. Orana or I'm gonna get it right. Um so to welcome uh our junior representative um Miss Delorean Delorean and I had
058an opportunity to meet with the two of them uh this past week and to go through you know our student representatives review a a code of conduct as well and um an ethic clause. They kind of talk about ethics of being student uh members of the school board and what their expectations are. So we spent about 30 to 40 minutes with the two of them last week. um they sign and then the board clerk signs. So, it's an official document and we will be excited to welcome them both um at our at our next meetings. So, just wanted to say welcome to them. They they showed up right in time. >> Thank you guys. >> Um any uh moving on to board member comments? >> We'll see what they have to say. one um congratulations
059Mr. Con so on your new position um and then I just wanted to share that uh the joint gov school board um met for the first meeting last week um and they're off to a great start we and Manasses Park have five students in gov school um and I believe Dr. Calhoun will be coming to speak to us in November >> thank you um so we can get some more information on go school The only thing I have was we appointed the gov school board which Dr. Jones will be vice chairing this year. So next year she can chair. >> Thank you. >> So thank you Dr. Jones for stepping up and that manasses this year is the jurisdiction that will be leaving our school. So um if there are no other comments, may I
060get a motion and a second for please? >> Have a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motion second. All in favor? >> I All right. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone.