001Roslyn Schmidt chief operating officer Josiah black chief legal officer Aaron stone assistant division counsel Christine Thompson clerk of the board Dan Redding chief HR officer Chandra Hayes assistant superintendent of instruction and also dr. Haas Welcome. Thank you. And again, thank you to all of our officers who are here to serve and protect us tonight We will now stand for the Pledge of Allegiance As we begin our meeting tonight, I ask that we all pause for a moment of silence. Thank you so much. The next point on our agenda is the approval of our agenda. Do I have a motion for the approval of tonight's agenda? I move we approve tonight's agenda. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Agenda is approved by Ms. Lee, seconded by Ms. Osborne. All those in favor of tonight's
002agenda? Aye. Any opposed? We will now move forward with today's agenda as planned. And we will not be having a spotlight on education tonight. That has been rescheduled to a future date. So the next point in our agenda is 4.2, school board, superintendent, and any committee updates. Does anyone have any updates? Dr. Hust, would you like to begin with that? You're good? Okay. Any other? I have one, but I also want to yield the floor to my peers. So I have, I'm appointing two community members to the advisory committee for environmental sustainability. Some of you have heard us call that ACES that will be representing the Whitehall District. I have two constituents, Jennifer Williams and Megan Garrity, who have asked to both share that seat and it has been approved. So I would like to
003appoint those tonight and have Ms. Osborne send out that communication following this meeting. Oh my gosh, I do it. So for those of you, so for those that you don't know, for some reason, this is just, you have to have levity in life, right? For some reason, every once in a while, I use Osborne and Thompson. So it is a little inside joke, so apologies. The only other thing that I, the only other piece of... I guess announcement is that for those of you about a month ago, we had the Western ceramics class their teacher in their class come for school board appreciation and give this the school board mugs and beautiful art and so Just to honor though all of our students tonight. I am using that mug And I'm thinking about those students
004and our wonderful students across the county every time I take a sip So thank you again to miss Patterson her students for that amazing gift to us. So the next part of our agenda 5.0 is our public comment. I am going to start by reading our guidelines for public comment and then I will describe the process that we will be using. Actually I'm going to start process. So we are going to be using a different process tonight. According to our policy, if we have over 20 individuals signed up to speak, then we have to move into a lottery system. And so as of 5, we had 29. Are there updates about the number of people who have signed up? Do we have an update? How many of the total? 34? And we have 34 people.
005So we will be doing a lottery. So I will first be reading our public comment script, and then we'll be talking through the process for that. The Albemarle County School Board welcomes public input on matters related to school board governance and division operations. For tonight's meeting, we have more than 20 individuals signed up to speak. In accordance with school board procedures, speakers will be selected by number drawing and each speaker will have two minutes. The total public comment period will not exceed 40 minutes unless extended by the board. When you are recognized, I will ask you to please come forward, state your name and your address or managerial district for the record. comment should be directed to the school board as a body and Should relate to matters within the board's work and the operations
006of the division This is not a forum for debate for board members for personal attacks or from remarks directed at individual school board members or staff We ask that all comments remain respectful on this topic. I'm gonna pause on that a few things As a reminder, we are examples for the students of this county. I am asking that everyone in this auditorium respect decorum, use respectful language, and follow the guidelines that I am calling out. Again, we are examples for all of our students. You need to follow those guidelines and show them how we can act. If anyone is doing personal attacks against the school board or member of the staff, I will ask you to stop and reframe your speech. If you continue, I will ask for the mic to be cut off. A
007timer will be used to track speaking time. When your time has expired, please conclude your remarks promptly. If you have written comments or supporting materials, you may provide those to the clerk for the board's consideration. To help us remain Maintain decorum. Please do not clap Please do not boo Or please do not otherwise audibly express support or opposition during public comment If you wish to show support you may do so by raising your hand or standing Please note that the board does not respond during public comment period Board members may address matters raised later in the meeting under other business The other note is we allow you are allowed to have signs But they cannot obstruct the view of anyone in this auditorium and I will be asking those on the dais To help me
008as because of my short stature. I'm sometimes not able to see if you're blocking anyone's view We will ask you to lower your sign or just raise your sign at the back of the room I'm also going to read Our disruptive meeting management policy tonight As a reminder, our public comment is governed by the guidelines just read. Each speaker will have two minutes to speak, and all comments must be addressed to the board, not to individuals. Please refrain from applause, shouting, and interruptions so that each speaker can be heard and the meeting can proceed in an orderly fashion. If disruption occurs, I will give a first warning. Under school board policy BDDH and Virginia Code 22.1-79, the chair is responsible for maintaining decorum and orderly conduct during meetings. This is a public meeting of the
009school board and not a public forum. Interruptions, shouting, or personal attacks are not permitted. In addition, disrupting a public meeting like this is a crime under Virginia Code 18.2-415. You will receive a warning and that further disruption may result in removal from the meeting. If disruptions continue, we will have a recess of the meeting for five minutes to allow order to be restored. We are committed to hearing public input, but we cannot continue while the meeting is being disrupted. Our ACPD officers will assist as needed to ensure safety and to restore order. We will reconvene once order is restored and the room is calm. If order cannot be restored and we are unable to continue, persistent to Virginia Code 22.179 and school board policy BDDH, I will direct the meeting to recess and the room
010to be cleared. The board will reconvene once order is established and individuals may be removed, may continue to review during live stream. Last if order cannot be restored I will ask the officers to remove a certain person and unfortunately have to charge them with historically contact under Virginia code one eight point two dash four one five So apologies for having to read all that but I do want to make sure we are able to hear from everyone tonight And to do that I need to make sure we have decorum and respect for everyone in this room As I said, because we have 34 speakers, we will be doing a lottery. I do have one amendment to that. According to school board policy, a group may ask for five minutes to speak for the group. And
011Mr. Noah Kaufman did email me and make that request in the allotted time. And so he will be given five minutes to speak, and he will not be subject to the lottery. He will speak first, but I ask to hold while we do the lottery. So what we are going to do is my colleagues... Sasha Black, Erin Stone, and Christine Thompson are looking at the list, the list that was done online, and then the list if anyone signed up today. There are numbers next to each. One of them will call a number, and then the other will look at the, I will look at the list, and I will highlight the individual that will speak. Six, 32, 24. Go slow, sorry. Okay. Do you have the first three? We're going to go and do them
012all at once. I'm going to use my handy highlighter. Number 32, we're going to go, I'm going to have you select all of them, and then we will go, and I will call people up in threes. Number 32 is Tom Sekeli. Sekeli, thank you very much, and I always apologize if I ask that you correct me. Can I just point out number six came before number 32? Number six is Amanda Moxham. And 24. Number 24 is, I wish, it's almost like we're giving out raffle prizes today, is Adrian Eichner. You can continue, Ms. Stone. Number three. Jimmy Ballou. 30. Number 30 is Joss Heltzer. Number 22. Number 22 is Will Woodrow. Number 19. Number 19 is Nancy Koenig. Number 7. Number 7 is Frankie Ahern's. Aaron's. Apologies. My best friend is Ahern. Aaron's. Number 1.
013Number 1 is Jennifer Lodovici. Number 28. Number 28 is Barbara Ruddy. Number 9. Number 9. And number 9 is Dolly Joseph. Number 11. Number 11 is Philip Hamilton. Number 29. Number 29 is Kim Albaro. 20. Number 20 is James Powers. 17. Number 17 is Carmen Chandras. Twenty five how many more do we have the stone one more after this? Okay. You said number 25. Yes, ma'am number 25 is Rob Hewitt and 33 and number 33 is Zach Apologies for not being able to read your writing power power hurts Would you like me to read the full list and then go in threes? Would that be helpful for people? Anyone just go through I'll go in threes. Ms. Osborne told me to go in threes So the fur is that as I mentioned the first speaker
014is Noah coffin and he was granted five minutes so Miss Thompson if you would put five minutes and then I'm just gonna go in order on my list instead of the order called So the next three will be Jennifer low load of a chi Jimmy Ballou, Amanda Moxham. If you would just pause while we get the timer. And then the other thing I'll just ask, so I don't have to ask everyone, is the sound has been quiet, although I feel like it's a little louder today, so it's good. I just ask that we all are different heights, so there are two microphones as you come up. I just ask that you pull both of them close to you so that everyone in the audience as well as online can hear you. And and he will
015be given five minutes and the others all other speakers will be given two minutes per board policy Miss Thompson is you are just let us know when the timer is fixed and mr. Kaufman can begin My name is Noah coffin. I'm from the Samuel Miller district. It's an honor to be with all of you here tonight I'm speaking to you not as a turning point USA chapter leader But as a student in the Albemarle County School District because it's who I've been most of my life I mean this from the bottom of my heart. I hold a deep amount of respect for each and every one of you. Being part of the school board is not easy, and we certainly haven't made your job any easier, but I commend you for standing up and getting
016involved in the community. You all have a very unique and special opportunity to create positive change in the Albemarle County community. Unfortunately, this policy doesn't do it. Instead, it does three things. It bans all speakers from non-curricular clubs. It restricts all curricular clubs' fundraising abilities and allows the school board to eliminate any club deemed at their discretion to be hateful. You know, with Western Alabama High School, Turning Point USA, we've done a whole slew of media interviews, newspapers, hit pieces. Out of all of them, my favorite was the very first one we did. It was our local school newspaper. There was a student in it, very liberal student, but attended all of our meetings, asked great questions. I'll never forget what he said. He said, I disagree with almost everything this club says, but the
017most important thing you can do as a citizen is create a space for civil dialogue. He was absolutely right. He realized something not a lot of people realize. He realized Western Albemarle High School in Albemarle County has the ability to platform free speech, to platform civil dialogue, to bring people from different ends of the cafeteria, from different races, religions, creeds, backgrounds, ethnicities, kids who would never talk to each other otherwise, to have civil discussion. Imagine that, talking about something we disagree with civilly. It was truly a wonderful thing to see, but it doesn't just affect Turning Point USA. It affects the Women's Empowerment Club. It affects... the Young Democrats Club, we want to host our first female governor of Virginia. It affects the Habitat for Humanity Club. We want to bring in their CEO and
018founder. It affects athletic clubs who want to bring in professional athletes to speak. It kills Western Albemarle's civil engagement. If you intended a Turning Point USA meeting or frankly any meeting where a speaker is present, I encourage all of you to. You wouldn't see divisiveness. You wouldn't see fight. You would see a bunch of kids gathered together having civil discussions. You would see 700 students, over half of the school, gathered together, asking questions, listening intently, being more engaged in a meeting at lunchtime than I've seen in class. A class where we follow the school curriculum. And so I wonder, why is that? Why are a group of teenage kids able to gather hundreds of students together once a month to participate in an active discussion when my teachers in class can't do that for 10
019minutes? I really encourage you not to kill a good thing. You all have a very exciting opportunity to foster an environment for free speech and civil dialogue, an opportunity to platform civil discussion instead of platforming the culture of a culture of hate, a culture of silence, a culture of keyboard warriors that's causing anxiety, depression, suicide rates in our community despite the culture where we can talk to people that we disagree with. I really encourage you to make the right decision. As for the funding section of this policy, when I first read it, I asked myself, why? Why are we putting these restrictions on student funding? And it leads me to believe that Turning Point USA has more of an involvement in this policy than some of you are willing to admit. You know, media on
020both sides of the issue, both pro and against this policy, all agree on one thing, that Turning Point USA at Western Albemarle and Albemarle High School have been at the forefront of this policy. In November, when the school board moved to prohibit Ms. Cobb from speaking at our school, Now, we're looking at a ban on all speakers. At that same school board meeting, a young lady from Albemarle High School complained about our successful fundraising initiatives. Now, we're looking at restrictions on those fundraising initiatives. A member of the Albemarle County School Board compared our club to a racist, hateful group. Now, we're looking at the ability for the school board to have complete discretion to ban any club they deem as hateful. A lot of people in our community don't think that's a coincidence. This policy
021does a lot more than that, though. You see, there's a lot of unintended consequences. It cancels and instantly terminates a lot of clubs, including our rugby, pickleball, fencing, and mountain biking clubs that rely entirely on parent support and volunteer support to operate. They operate just like a lot of sports teams, but they're not VHSL official sports and rely on these parent contributions and help that this policy instantly eliminates. Did you talk to any of them in the 12-person survey and get their feedback? We put out a survey this morning to hundreds of students. What we heard was an overwhelming response. Over 300 students saying no to this policy and only 20 saying yes. You'll have a really special opportunity tonight. I've prayed for each and every one of you profusely throughout this week. I have
022a lot of respect for each and every one of you. Regardless of how this goes, I will continue to pray for you. I wish you all the best and I hope you do the right thing tonight. Thank you so much for my time. Thank you so much. We will now move to our first three speakers. As I said, please come and state your name and please correct me. I apologize if I mispronounce anyone's name. And please note your magisterial direction. I have Jennifer Ludovici, Jimmy Ballew, and then Amanda Moxham. Just because we have a number of speakers tonight, I just ask that the next two speakers just kind of come in to move closer to the mic so that they will be ready when it is their time. And every please apologies Could we please
023change the timer to two minutes for the remaining speakers once that's done you may begin Hi, my name is Jennifer Lita Vici and I'm a parent in the Samuel Miller district I'm here to support the immediate adoption of the proposed changes to the student club policy. Yikes I understand why people aligned with TP USA and Club America feel like these revisions are targeted at them. I offer a different perspective Club America has pushed the boundaries of what our community believes to be an appropriate use of school, time, and resources. This is the impetus behind an entire array of people taking a hard look at what we have on record and walking away feeling like the policy is lacking. Without that push, we would not be here today. But the reason we're here is not because
024Club America sponsors controversial events. It's because we have a lackluster policy that has failed to provide guidance to the principal, the school board, administrators, parents, students, and the guest speakers themselves about what is and what is not allowable on public school time in public school facilities. While it was the actions of one club that brought attention to the current policy, the lack of clarity in that policy is the actual problem we're here to address. Policies exist to provide clear directions. Not adopting improvements, now that we have seen the myriad of faults in the current policy, would be irresponsible. I'd like to specifically address the key revisions on fundraising, which have been misrepresented as a new process. I run the Waz Unity Fund, which supports inclusive events hosted by student clubs. We have supplied funding to
025seven separate clubs this year. The current practice is to make donations to student clubs through the school, designating the intended club, and the school manages those funds. The proposed revisions do not change current practice. They clarify the policy for those who may not have been following them properly all along, which again underscores the need for updated language. I encourage you to vote yes on the suggested revisions immediately. Thank you so much. Mr. Jimmy Ballou. Is Mr. Jimmy Ballou in the audience tonight? Mr. Jimmy Ballew is not here, so I will yield his time back to the chair. Amanda Moxham. Good evening. I'm an Albemarle County parent. I live in the Rio District. And good evening. Albemarle County schools should actually never be a place where racist, homophobic, and misogynistic political organizing is happening to recruit
026our impressionable teenagers. Our schools exist for one core purpose, learning. Classrooms should be places where every student feels safe, respected, and able to focus on their education. Turning Point USA... Branded as Club America is not just another student club. It is a known national racist, homophobic, and misogynistic political organization that has repeatedly been tied to racist rhetoric, harassment, and confrontational behavior on campuses and in high schools across the country. Last year at Texas A&M, leaked screenshots from a Turning Point USA chapter group chat revealed hundreds of racist and homophobic slurs used by members including repeated uses of the n-word and slurs targeting LGBTQ students. The messages sparked outrage because students saw in plain language the culture being normalized inside this organization and increasingly high schools are becoming the next target. In Michigan, the creation of
027TPUSA clubs led hundreds of students to walking out, creating division within the community. This community in particular, Charlottesville, knows all too well what happens when white supremacist ideology is allowed to organize openly with the support of the administration. And that history here, which is actually not that old, Should guide the choices we make about what we allow in our public schools school boards have a Responsibility under federal civil rights law to ensure students are not subjected to hostile environments Albemarle County should be known for protecting students and standing against white supremacy Thank you so much and please take your seat. I am going to call up the next speakers Frankie Aaron's Dolly Joseph and Philip Hamilton Frankie Aaron's Please and please let me know if I mispronounced your name. It's Aaron's Aaron. All good Hi,
028my name is Frank Aaron's I'm a graduate of Albemarle County Public Schools and a proud public educator in the county I returned to this county to teach over four years ago I've wherever needed teaching 18 unique preps across four departments in my most recent evaluation I earned four out of four marks in nearly every category and my students saw a 30% increase in mastery on their County assessments this year In February, I was told that I am to be riffed. I was told that due to the opening of Ace Academy at Lambs Lane, Monticello's enrollment would drop and my position, along with at least 10 others at my school, 16 at Albemarle, and more at Western would be cut. The logic does not hold up. I was given my RIF notice well before student course
029selection will be finalized at the end of the month and before Ace Academy even began hiring teachers. As of this afternoon, teaching applications at Ace Academy are still not available online. There were ways to reshuffle staff without shattering lives. Yet the central office chose a path that has destroyed our staff's trust and cut dozens of excellent educators from our ranks. Sharing my news with colleagues, I've been met with resounding response. They've shared tears, they've launched into outrage, and consistently they've reprimanded the failures at central office that have led us to this reality. our central office has been silent. For a county that values equity, this county has needlessly disrupted the specific support system, the teachers who our students rely on. For a county that values excellence, this county has cut dozens of proven high-quality educators.
030For a county that values family and community, this county just signaled to our staff that we need to provide that to our kids, but we won't have that provided to us. We have an exceptional group of young people growing up in this county. I see them every day. I'm tremendously grateful that I get to work with them. Our school system deserves a central office that supports their teachers in the same way and with the same dedication that our teachers support our students. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ms. Dolly Joseph. Dolly Joseph. Is Dolly Joseph in the audience? Ms. Joseph will cede her time to the chair. Philip Hamilton. You will have two minutes. Well, thank you for giving me time to speak today. I am Jack Jewett District, and I'm certainly friends with Noah
031Coffin and members of his organization. They're a great group. I've been to multiple meetings that they've hosted, and they are supporting Charlie Kirk's mission, which is free speech on campus and in our schools and in the public overall. And it's been six months since he was assassinated. And, you know, his wife wants to come to Aldermore County. He wants to come and speak to these students. And I think that the board should be open to, you know, keeping the current policies in place to not put forward these amended changes and to allow Erica Kirk to come to Aldermore County and to speak to these students. And one thing I do want to bring up is that if you are going to vote the other way and put forward this policy, there's a group. called FIRE,
032and they sent this earlier today to the board, and it states, Dear Board Members, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, FIRE, a nonpartisan nonprofit that defends free speech nationwide is concerned by proposed revisions to the Albemarle County School Board's policy governing student activities and organizations. As written, the amended policy would violate the First Amendment, which protects students' rights to free expression. The proposal also follows controversy surrounding a Turning Point USA club speaker invitation, Victoria Cobb raising serious concerns that the board is targeting the group because of its views or the views of guest speakers. FIRE calls on the board to reject the proposed revisions and to respect and uphold students' First Amendment rights. So I urge you to not move forward with this, and you'll be facing a lawsuit if you do. Thank you.
033Thank you so much. Our next three speakers, Carmen Chandros, Nancy Koenig, James Powers. My name is Carmen Chandros, and I will cede my place to Mr. Gene Locke. My name is Gene Locke. I live in Crozet. My grandkids attend Western. Unfortunately... I've heard from some students at Western Albemarle that the learning environment feels unsafe to some of them and that the learning environment is increasingly undermined by bullying, intimidation, incidents of bias and disrespect. The policy change that you're considering does not address that. It does address the time and place of outside speakers. And I think it's a good idea to put it after school so that there's not disruption in the middle of the school day. But I urge you to address why there is this increase in lack of safety and intimidation in hostile
034speech in our schools. Why is this happening? Your student representative spoke eloquently to the need to address that at your last meeting. I hope that you will realize that there are repercussions to some of the speakers that have been invited. It instills a normalization of certain kinds of disrespect. Free speech must not be a cover for hate speech. You have to have a policy that helps your administrators define what constitutes speech that is harmful to the learning environment. I know that is difficult. It's tricky. But I think the time has come to do that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Our next speaker is Nancy Koenig. Thank you. Good evening and thank you. I'm Nancy Koenig from Scottsville. I'm a retired county teacher and parent of a 2002 graduate of Monticello High School. I commend
035the board for their recommendation as stated in Procedure A4 that, quote, the total program of activities in the school should be comprehensive and well-balanced, providing many and very... varied opportunities for all students and that an organization would not be denied access based on religious, political, philosophical or other content expressed by the organization. This procedure allows for the opportunity to hear diverse information and opinions leading to the learning of critical thinking skills. One of your interview themes states that you want to quote, protect ability to associate with outside groups. But the timing of these policy clarifications makes me doubt the true intentions. This process comes just before a speaker from Turning Point, USA has been invited by a non-curricular club. I am concerned also that funds raised by clubs would be confiscated by the schools should
036the club be dissolved. If enacted, the policy would inhibit the ability of a club to raise funds because the contributions would not be guaranteed that they would be used for the purposes of promoting the club. I ask that you consider these comments before voting on the proposed changes. Thank you and God bless. Thank you so much. Our next speaker is James Powers. Good evening, Board. My name is James Powers. I'm a parent of three, two who have gone through the school system and one still in the school system out of Rio District. I'm here to speak about the proposed safety revisions of the student activities policy. I support the proposed language and offer two considerations for the Board. The Chesterfield revision you're going to see later on indicates that, quote, student organizations shall not engage
037in any activity which materially and substantially disrupt the school's learning environment. I ask the board to consider how will disruption be measured and how many kids need to have their learning disrupted for an action to be taken against the group. For our transgender kids in the district, knowing that there are student groups that seek to invalidate them and promote a culture of exclusion is enough to disrupt their learning. Metrics should be put in place that aim to support those most at risk, and actions in response to the disruption must be clear to staff. Two, the presentation reads that student organizations that promote or endorse violence, harassment, or hatred toward an identifiable person or group based on a number of characteristics that I won't go into for time or are affiliated with any organizations that do
038so shall not be permitted. Again, district administrators need clear guidance. in terms of how those terms are defined. The primary consideration should be given to students being targeted, not the students expressing themselves. The targeted students should be at the center of the conversation regarding what it means to be harassed, for example, or what violence includes. Furthermore, if groups are associated with outside actors, then someone must monitor the words and actions of those outside organizations and respond appropriately. Getting these points right in practice will go a long way to addressing other concerns in the policy. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Our next three speakers, Will Woodrow, Adrian Eichner, and Rob Hewitt. Will Woodrow, Adrian Eichner, and Rob Hewitt. You will each have two minutes. I yield my time to Ollie Woodrow. Good
039afternoon Albemarle County School Board. My name is Ollie Woodrow and I'm the vice president and co-founder of the Turning Point USA chapter at Western Albemarle High School. I want to start by saying thank you for the hard work you're doing to make Albemarle County Schools great. I have a great amount of respect for each and every one of you. It is because of that respect that I'm certain you'll make the right decision on the policy you're voting on tonight. Any Western student can tell you that over the last year, Turning Point USA and other non-curricular clubs have radically changed the culture of Western Albemarle. from one where political topics were almost taboo to a culture where civil political discourse has become a norm. This dialogue provides students on both sides of the aisle the ability
040to formulate their own opinions and beliefs. And in our polarized world, where the youth gain the majority of their political knowledge from social media echo chambers, the ability to engage in political discourse is not only a good thing, it is necessary for the future of American democracy. The way our club functions is by hosting external speakers whose ideas spark discussions around the school for weeks following. At a school where over 85% of students engage in extracurricular activities, hosting speakers after school is simply not an option. Make no mistake, the policy you're voting on tonight would be a death blow to the culture of civil dialogue and respectful conversation that our club has worked so hard to create. If that is your intention, congratulations. However, I think better of you. When it comes to the vote
041tonight, I trust you all will make the decision that agrees with logic and with the values outlined in the American Constitution, not just your own political bias. Thank you. Thank you so much. Adrienne Eichner. Hi, my name is Adrienne Eichner. I'm a graduate of Alamaro High School. I'm very proud of being a graduate from Alamaro High School. I enjoyed my school years. I was homeschooled before that. And it was very exciting to be in classes with boys and I was just so excited to be there and learn. And I enjoyed the clubs. I got to meet a variety of people and I got to learn new things and learn what their life was like and you got paid for babysitting. I didn't know that. And there were just all these things that were just so
042amazing about being in clubs and getting to try new things that my parents probably wouldn't have promoted me to do or encouraged me to do. So why are you trying to restrict school clubs that are respectful, peaceful? If they're not peaceful, what are they doing wrong? And what are the penalties for that? I just feel like the timing is very strange that when Turning Point starts asking to do things, you start changing things. And there was a particular board member that's now a vice chair. And as I said, I didn't mention her name. It's all the same you said board member I'm sorry you may continue but you may not you you may not direct anything to a board member whether the name is used or not is it appropriate for her to be charming
043Please turn off the mic Thank you very much Rob Hewitt If you want to move both of those mics closer to your mouth so that yep, we're all just different Good evening, my name is Libby Hewitt. Apologies, I apologize. Christine, would you turn the mics on and just reset her time? It's not your, apologies. Just one second, she'll reset the time in a minute. I want to make sure you get your two minutes. Thank you. Okay, my name is Libby Hewitt. I'm from the Samuel Miller District. Good evening, all. I just want to point out a couple of things before I start, and that is the Equal Access Act of 1984. I'm sure you're... probably familiar with it, so it gives a person a right to equal access and equal treatment. Also on your website,
044it says, talks about equity mission to end the predictive value of race and ensure each individual student's success. My question is, how is this new meeting policy achieving that goal? By forcing speakers to only speak after school hours, you limit student participation. Not all students have transportation, whereas at lunchtime, their break in the school day, they can easily show up. If you pass this new meeting policy, you are denying them the equal access that you say you value. Hate speech that's a question mark this club has grown by leaps and bounds 250 members currently 700 students at their last meeting students readily choose to spend their free time in this way and Have you personally gone to the meeting? It would be worth your time. Every time I've heard Noah or other leaders speak, they
045speak with respect and care and kindness. I'm sure you've heard that tonight. And that character, perhaps that's the very qualities other students are attracted to, and that is one reason the club is growing. Hate limits. Love attracts. We should be nurturing students in their quest for truth, not restricting them like this new policy would do. They have a right to choose their speakers, manage their budgets, and conduct their meetings. This is how our future leaders will grow. Today's students are looking for what is real. They're generally not finding it on social media. Here's an in-person meeting that invites dialogue and search for truth. Thank you so much. Our next three speakers are Barbara Rudy, Kim Albaro and jobs Josh Hexler Barbara Rudy My name is Barbara ruddy and I'm from the Sanmue Miller district I'm
046a 40 year resident of Albemarle County a former high school educator of 10 years and An Albemarle County Public School central office administrator for an additional four years Based on that experience, I believe I offer a bonafide frame of reference for my comments regarding policies that affect our student body and the health, well-being, and safety thereof. I support the proposed changes to the policy regarding outside speakers for non-curricular student clubs and activities that occur during the school day. It's perhaps most important to point out first that the proposed changes to the policy do not include or result in the elimination of any existing student club or group, either curricular or non-curricular. Provisions and related requirements under the Federal Equal Access Act are maintained. To put a finer point on it, the proposed changes as written
047neither discriminate against nor disallow said external speakers from being invited to present to non-curricular clubs. With the changes, such speakers are not precluded from being involved or invited to present at non-curricular activities. Rather, they are appropriately distinguished between external speakers who present during the school day at curricular clubs and activities versus external speakers who present at non-curricular clubs during the school day. The proposed changes in no way disallow freedom of speech or the free exchange of ideas between students. Both are critical to the intellectual development of students as informed citizens and future contributors to our nation. With the changes, there is likewise no inherent breach of federal law. Thank you so much. Thank you. Kim Albaro. Good evening. I'm Dr. Kim Alvaro. I'm a Crozet resident, mom to four, and a concerned parent. I'm here
048to talk about student safety during events with high-profile visitors who present elevated security risks. ACPS already has daily safety protocols at every school, coordinated with administration and law enforcement. These protocols let students focus on learning and give parents a peace of mind while their students are at school. I'm a Navy veteran. I'm married to a Marine. We've both had multiple combat deployments. So when I think about operational risk management, I worry about specific things. When I heard about the concerns about the upcoming event at our local high school, Western Albemarle High School, I looked for an operational risk management plan for a high-profile visitor arriving during the school day. I found one. With just a couple clicks, I found a confidential document for law enforcement and school administration only that outlines the security measures that
049would be needed in order to host a high-profile individual who requires armed security. It's reassuring that the plan exists. It's alarming that anyone could access it. When a high-profile visitor event disrupts the school day and requires additional security, parents need real assurance. If parents are relying on these protocols to keep their children safe, they deserve to know what those protocols are. And when an organization invites speakers who require armed security details into a public school during school hours, the benefit of that event must be weighed against the risk. Every parent knows there is nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm. I ask you to hear this not as an attack on any club or event, but as what it is. a parent's expectation that every child at that school is safe.
050If a voluntary club event creates increased risk for those who do not wish to participate but are required to be there, that event should be held after school. Thank you so much. Josh, excuse me, Josh Hetzler. My name is Josh Hetzler and I'm legal counsel for the founding Freedoms Law Center. We represent Virginians to protect their constitutional rights to free speech, free assembly, and religious exercise. I am here tonight to warn the school board about the dangerous path it is considering going down with the student clubs policy as currently proposed. While the school district certainly has the authority to set reasonable parameters for how its student clubs may function within its schools, that power is not unlimited. And we believe these proposed policies likely run afoul of important constitutional safeguard rails. To begin with, it
051is clear that this policy is targeted toward one particular group, the TPUSA chapters. Only after the Western Albemarle High School TPUSA chapter had Victoria Cobb speak about the reality of two genders did the school board decide to overhaul its policies, which disproportionately and adversely impacts TPUSA. There is ample evidence from statements by this board alone to show clear animus towards this club because of their viewpoint. It is also problematic that one person at his or her sole discretion can dissolve a club if they deem that club to have engaged in the promotion of harassment or hatred of an individual or protected class, or if their affiliated organization is deemed to have done so. At a minimum, this vague and overbroad language will significantly chill otherwise prohibited free speech. and it certainly could be used to
052shut down the TPUSA chapters based on what has already been said to falsely characterize these clubs, many comments of which you've heard tonight from those who support this policy. There are other potentially fatal problems with this policy from a legal perspective as well. So I urge you to reject this policy and respect the constitutional rights of all your students. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our last two speakers for tonight are Tom... safely and Zach Zach Howe hurt and please Correct my pronunciation. Thank you for your time. It's Tom Sally and I am a father of a Mara County student and I'm here tonight to support the proposed restrictions on outside guest speakers during the school day Our schools must be a sanctuary for learning not a recruitment ground for outside political interests I get
053it. I get it that folks want free speech. I'm all for it, too. We all are. And I get it that some group, that Turning Point USA, wants to have open debate. We want people to come and engage. But I think, really, Turning Point USA is a one-sided, divisive group with a glossy cover. And I think if you have a rehearsed debate tactic and a charismatic speaker, that you can make an extreme message sound convincing to vulnerable kids. I think using marketing gimmicks like free pizza targets minors. It's not about diverse viewpoints. It's a calculated attempt to bait a captive audience of children. I think providing a platform for rhetoric that targets specific students, specifically our LGBTQ youth, directly contradicts this board's own anti-racism and non-discrimination policies. We can't claim to protect all students while
054simultaneously handing a megaphone to groups that marginalize them during lunch breaks. So while I'm all for free speech, and I think these clubs should be able to meet at other times when kids who want to participate in that can go and join them, I'm all for that. But I urge the board to vote yes to move these partisan events to non-school hours. Let's keep our instructional day focused on education, not, I'd say, political machines. Thank you very much. Our last speaker for today is Zach Powert. Hi, my name is Zach Pockard. I'm in the Whitehall District. For the last 23 years, I've had the privilege of wearing a uniform representing our nation, both in the Army, now in the Virginia National Guard. I don't wear a uniform for any reason other than to protect the
055organic right as a nation for us to disagree civility and to work for freedom. I don't have a need for anyone to agree with my point of view. It is critical we create a culture of mutual respect. Our schools should be areas of inherent inclusion, mutual understanding, and mutual support. I've seen a very disturbing trend at Western Albemarle High School. My two sons have reported that certain clubs are not academic in nature and have only resulted in increased animosity, increased division, and hate. To say that the school is at a pressure point is putting it mildly. They come home feeling unsafe. When there are guest speakers, there are security risks at the school, and we have considered telling our kids, don't go to school today. The disruptions caused by TPUSA has destroyed the learning environment
056at Western Upper North High School. Furthermore, when talking to the administrators of the school, there is no clear policy. There is no clear guidance for them. We need policies in place that equip our administrators to be able to do their job appropriately. This isn't a political issue. This isn't about just TPUSA. It is about any organizations whose actions and guest speakers can put students' lives at risk. This policy gives our administrators the ability to create an academic first and inclusive environment. Thank you. Thank you so much. That now concludes our public comment for tonight. And I do want to just say from this board how much I appreciate the respect that everyone was given to each and every one of the speakers. The next point on our... And I'd like to continue that respect as
057we move to this next section. And I will pause if I'm not given that respect. The next point on our agenda is our approval of our consent agenda. Do I have a motion for the approval of our consent agenda? I move that we approve tonight's consent agenda. Second. Moved by Dr. Acuff, second by Ms. Lee. I have a motion on the floor for the approval of the consent agenda. All those in favor of the approval of our consent agenda. Aye. Any opposed? Our consent agenda clearly passes. We have no items pulled from our consent agenda. So the next piece of business on our school agenda is school division business. The first piece of business on that is A1 policy IGDA intrascholastic. and extracurricular activities for secondary schools. I am going to, this is how this
058next point, this next agenda is going to go. So we've heard from the public, both through public comment as well as through comments through a written comment that has been submitted to us through email. I'm going to ask Dr. Russell Carlec to come to the podium. We've had. several questions both from board members on the funding and fundraising provisions as well as I would say of the comments both tonight as well as comments that I've responded to personally that has been one of the largest questions. So before the board... goes forward on anything, I'm gonna ask Dr. Carlock to just speak to those pieces of both what is in this policy as well as what is in other policy. But just pause, Dr. Carlock. After he speaks, what I am going to do is we
059are going to go across the dais for the board members, and I'm going to ask each of them. If they have any suggested revisions to the policy or any questions about the policy If there are suggested revisions what we are going to do is I'm gonna actually Call up. Mr. Grant and we are going to have the policy up and we will discuss revisions and We will redline that if and take a vote on specific kind of friendly amendments to that Once that process is done, I will see if there are any motions on the floor. And then we will move forward if there is a motion for a vote. So I just wanted to make sure people kind of understood where we were going from here. So without further ado, Dr. Karla, would you
060mind just addressing the questions around fundraising both in student funds both what is included in this policy and then what is already included or not included in policies that already exist for the school division. Certainly. Thank you, Dr. Bray. One second. Ms. Thompson, you will have more than two minutes. Thank you, Dr. Berlin certainly so I'll go over the specific section about fundraising that was in the recommendations and then discuss how it connects to existing policy around fundraising and our county public schools, so the the policy Suggested right now says the following all fundraising by student organizations both inside and outside of the school Requires prior principal or does the approval per school board policies KJ a KJ B and JL All monies raised or collected by student organizations or clubs shall be school activity
061funds and shall be deposited promptly with the school. Fundraising by and for student organizations outside of the school shall comply with school board policies KJA, KJB, and JL, and all monies raised in this shall be expended only for the purpose approved by the principal or designee. If a student organization is dissolved, the student activity funds continue to belong to the school. came about as a result of a lot of confusion that was expressed by parents as well as students as well as staff members who supervise or monitor school activities around fundraising. And this was also the last sentence was a line that was added as a result of advice from our financial department staff to explain what already happens with student activity funds. So an example of that is if There's a reason that a
062student activity fund cannot be dispersed as the purpose set out in the original proposal for the fundraising. that can be used for other purposes as close as possible to that existing purpose. An example would be during COVID, there were quite a few school cancellations that led to a lot of fundraising that had been done to send students, for example, to competitions for orchestra or for choral competitions. We were not able to comply with those existing proposals because we canceled schools. And when we came back, those funds were still in student activity funds. And so administrators had to make a decision about how to Apply them so they applied them to different competitions for music There are other provisions within our crowdfunding policy that stays something similar And so I'll go through some of the existing
063policies that we have around fundraising. The first is in our student section of school board policy specifies student fundraising. And I won't read through everything here, but I will note a few of the pieces that are pertinent to the student activities policy. The first is careful monitoring and regulation of student fundraising. So that's existent within our policy. It also requires fundraising to have advance approval in order for students to engage in fundraising for student activities. Fundraising in schools KJB says that in the school it reiterates a lot of what the other policy says and it also requires a written request 20 days in advance to engage in fundraising within our schools Outside of school, it notes that there are similar regulations in place for students to be involved in fundraising outside of school. It also
064adds that this fundraising needs to be done in compliance with local ordinances. It also prohibits door-to-door solicitation by students. Section 1D of our crowdfunding policy, this is policy KJA, requires written approval from Albemarle County Public Schools for employees and eligible organizations to engage in crowdfunding for ACPS purposes or programs. Student activity programs are school programs operated for the benefit of students. Section 2D notes that funds raised in crowdfunding campaigns must be sent to the school or ACPS finance. And four says that donated items become ACPS property. And section 4F notes that items and proceeds acquired through crowdfunding for ACPS programming become property of the school board. So this, again, these are existing policies. It was outside of the scope of the review to look at our fundraising policies. Our goal was to clarify where our
065existing fundraising becomes, fundraising policies become pertinent within the student activity policy. To do was to clarify those policies and to connect back to our fundraising policies one other piece I think it's important is noting that the part about student fundraising becoming student activity funds Many other school districts do this and this particular language comes from Chesterfield and Virginia Beach as models Thank you General questions because we raised this I wanted to see if there are any question clarifying questions that my peers had regarding the funds or fundraising pieces that Dr. Carlock just shared with us. Can you tell us a little bit about the accounting of those funds and who keeps track of that, please? Yeah, so an example would be when I... This is many years ago, but it's under this similar policy organized
066or helped students organize a fundraiser at Monticello High School They wanted to do a soccer tournament to raise money for a charity organization and they wanted to do it on a Saturday And so we had to go through the process of renting the school facility We had to make sure that we had a process in place for collecting funds This was before a lot of internet was used for fundraising So we were collecting checks and in some cases cash and it was made very clear to me by my principal that time I was a teacher that it was expected to have a process in place to gather those funds to account for them and to give them to the school bookkeeper as soon as possible. And then that school bookkeeper then deposited those funds into
067the school's bank account under student activity funds for that particular student group. This is how it's already operating in many of our schools in these situations. Again, the goal is to clarify how that operation works across our schools because there have been some instances in which it has not been applied consistently across our schools. And how do we get that to be applied consistently? I think that's, once a policy is in place, I think it's really important for the school district to work really hard to make sure that the policies are implemented in a way that's fair and across all of our student groups. So just to clarify, at this point, there may be a number of clubs operating in high schools, especially, that are non-curricular. that are not submitting donations and running their fundraising
068through the school system currently? In the interviews and the focus groups that we ran, that seemed to be the case, that that was indicated in those groups. Were these groups that had the school name in it, like the Monticello Chess Club or the Albemarle High School? Aeronautics Club. Yes and looking back historically and this isn't only happening right now. This is these are things that have happened in in recent years I was able to find instances in which the schools names were being used in online solicitation for funds And when that's the case, and perhaps this is a legal question for Mr. Black, but in that case, if something were to happen to those funds, who would be responsible if the school name is attached to those funds and something happens to them or there's
069something like that? That feels like a governance thing that would come back as our responsibility, correct? Potentially. Chair Belen, may I ask a question? You may ask a question. Dr. Carlock, under existing practice, what happens when a club ceases to exist and it has some activity funds on deposit under its account? So when a club ceases to exist, it's usually right now, to my knowledge, we haven't disbanded any clubs in recent history in terms of when it ceases to exist, it would be most likely due to students no longer being interested in that club and not signing up for it. We've had situations in the past where, from my personal experience as administrator, where we've had funds in a student activity account that had been there for many years, and the students had since graduated,
070and the principal then made a decision to allocate those funds to a different student activity or a different purpose that was similar to what that original club was set up to do. Can you talk about how much money is in some of these funds? Do we know? I can speak from my personal experience as a former administrator. Often it's very little money. It's maybe a couple of dollars. There are situations where there's more funds, but generally most of our student activity funds are smaller. Other questions for Mr. Carluck on this fundraising question? The fund and fundraising question. I'm sort of getting off the point a little bit, but if I mean there was if it if a club disbands and the monies would stay with the school I know that we are also in in
071the in the fuller policy or having Clubs write a charter on could they designate in that charter if they disband their funding would go X, you know they would prefer it to go. If it was a bicycle club and they wanted to go to the lacrosse club, I mean, could that be specified in advance? I think the school board could specify that in the language if they choose to, if they wish to say something to that nature. Thank you. Any other questions on this? Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you all. So I'm going to ask... Mr. Grant, correct? And to come up to the dais. Sorry, that's right. You can do it right there. You don't have to stand in front of me. So just what you are seeing in front of
072you, and just a question. Is this available, this version with the numbering available online? It's okay if it's not. It's okay. So for those of you here in the audience and online, what you're seeing, this is the policy as you saw it, as discussed it last week. The only change right now is that there's just numbers on the left-hand side so that as the school board is discussing the policy, if there are any potential amendments that we want to make. or changes that we want to make. It'll just be easy for both us, for Mr. Grant to make a note, as well as for you to see what we are potentially changing or discussing changing. I should say apologies. So what we are doing next is I am going to go around to my colleagues.
073I've asked Dr. Acuff to go first. I will go last. I'll skip myself. And we will be just bringing forth any questions for consideration or... Points that we want to of course. Yeah so Will there be time to discuss the entire policy or just? changes should You should I think we should discuss both the entire and The prior policy as well as the changes there will if we do move for a vote There'll be another point for time for discussion, but I think it makes sense to talk into a point in context as well First of all, I'd like to thank Dr. Carlock and his team for the hard work that he's done over the past several months. We asked in November for a review of policies, not only in Virginia but elsewhere, to clarify
074our thinking about our clubs. We have had many questions answered. I think the review was quite thorough, and I support... Adoption of the policy as written. I also wanted to extend my thanks to dr Carlock and all the people who were involved in the review and I also want to thank everyone who came out here tonight to speak and All the people who spoke and especially if your voice shook a little I just want to say I see you because mine does too and it just means you're really speaking your truth So I really appreciate that A lot of people made a lot of good points tonight as have been in our emails, particularly Ms. Ludovici, I think, sorry. I think it was important for us to take a look at this policy and we
075have so many policies and we do look at them, but when we look at them through the lens of what is really happening and it's important the timing to understand how much is missing from a policy. So I thought that was an excellent point that you made about that. And I know some other people made this point too. What I really like about this policy is that it keeps the main thing the main thing. We talk a lot about student achievement. But you know at the end of the day we're truly a curricular enterprise and so it the distinction the clean distinction between co-curricular and non-curricular clubs while placing you know importance and value in clubs is Really important in this policy and so I too have no changes to suggest Ms. Osborne Yes I
076would like clarification on line 183, defining school day. We think we know what that means, but perhaps we could elaborate on that a little bit. Do we want to use the phrase bell to bell or what? I don't really care what we use, but I don't want it to be discombobulated into something else. Other than that, I'm fine with the policy the way it has been written. My concern is the division level and making sure that we have consistency in how the bookkeepers do their thing with the money and how the principals interpret these things as well so that it is consistent across the division. And one thing doesn't happen at one school and another happens at another. So just that consistency I would be looking for, whatever that means, training or memos or whatever
077they get. Other than that, I'm fine with the policy as amended. Would we like to discuss the word changing right now from school day to bell to bell? Or something, or if someone else has a friendly amendment to that. I think we utilize that term now for putting our cell phones away and other devices, so I think that's an understandable time frame. So I would support that modification. One suggestion that somebody mentioned is that we think about the process of buses coming and going and perhaps set define the school day as Before the buses arrive or after the buses depart in the afternoon just as another possibility Am in favor of something like that I just you know as a former teacher and administrator knowing that that is a busy time to clear that a
078speaker should not start before She needs to end before buses arrive and cannot start before buses leave. I think just adds clarity to that but It sort of adds clarity conceptually, but not exactly right. Yeah So I would still favor bell to bell. Yeah, because you're assuming that we won't have any more bus driver shortages and that buses are running on time and all that stuff too. Right. It makes some sense, but. Just for clarity, where I have right now is in-person guest speakers during the school day, which is defined as the time from the first bell to the final bell of the day. That's the part that's added. Shall only be permitted for co-curricular student organizations and continues on. Is that the language? I mean, I think if we did a. If we did
079a straw poll or hand poll or whatever we're talking about. I actually like the bus to bus idea as well. So this might be something to vote on. Sorry. I like the bus to bus idea too. So this might be something to vote on. My only concern is that it may require some time. From the time I've... used to teach and coach at Albemarle High School. I know that from the time that last bell rings until students have the opportunity to leave the campus is, shall we say, chaotic. Would the board want a time frame before so we could have, which is defined as... X 15 minutes 20 minutes before the first bell and 20 minutes after the final but do you want that kind of clarification? The only other thing I have thought of
080is and I bet I don't have teacher contract hours in front of me is we do have a term called teacher contract day I don't know if that has a time frame in it. I don't know if I'm looking at mr. Redding. I don't know if there's a time I don't mean to put you on the spot. So I'm also fine with if we did a 15 minutes of 15 minute I would offer that teacher contract time can be adjusted based on the needs of the position. It could include what we consider before or after school. Okay, thank you for that clarification. I appreciate it. Do we want to do a straw poll or a vote? I'm just going to keep looking to my right and to my left. I just want to make sure
081clarification. Right now I have which is defined as the time from the first bell to the final bell of the day. Didn't hear whether or not there was any interest in editing that further. I am interested if we're going to do it a fine time Then something that's reasonable and I do see a former HS principal right there Then we can ask if like 20 minutes makes sense or I'm sorry. I don't mean to put anyone on the spot I don't know if it's 15 minutes or 20 minutes makes sense for people to be able to get in and get out before Any such activity? I mean, I'm not a member of any club. In some ways, it's more controllable, it seems to me. If you have other things to do that evening, if your
082club meets right after school, rather than waiting until, you know, 20, 30 minutes until the buses are gone. It looks like this is something that we should take a voice vote on. I'm looking to my right and to my left. Right now looking think about Robert's rules. So right now the proposed change is As that is written right now is as defined the time from the first bell to the final bell I propose we we do the language that's up there we can always If it's not if it's not working we can modify it down the line Do I have a second for that motion? So I'm deciding if I should do a roll call vote on this or just I'm going to do a all those in favor of the amendment as made by
083Dr. Acuff, which is on the board. I'm going to ask you to say aye and raise your hand. All those in favor? Aye. It sounds like I said aye just because I was speaking for myself. I just want a second to think about that. We can all take time to think about it. There's no rush. Because it did seem like an important part of this was people being able to leave if they wanted to. And I know that you were just asking about defining the day, which I think is important. But then we're just taking on something a little bit different right now. And I just want to be thoughtful about that. And I'm slow. So I'm just sorry about that. Well, they're both good points. But Kate said about if you're staying for an
084after-school activity, waiting around 15 minutes for buses to leave is kind of a pain. But I'm fine on either way on this. I just think we need to pick something so that we have some guardrails. I would, as another former Albemarle High School principal, School ends at 3.50. I recommend the board pick a specific time. Otherwise, we're going to start haggling. You see what's happening here? Right. This will be happening at every school. And so I would recommend quite a buffer after school lets out, anything between 45 minutes and an hour so everybody can clear out. If students are interested in attending an after-school club or presentation, over the years as a school principal of two high schools, I've noticed that they will stay and do that, or they'll go and then they'll come back.
085So I recommend specifying a specific time, not doing it based on when all the buses are gone, and then, as Dr. Acuff pointed out, we can make adjustments to that time if it turns out to be... Turns out to be impractical. That's my recommendation How would that work with the different levels of school ending would we just specify all of them because of it presents? So with what times middle school? All our high schools have a common bell schedule all our middle schools have a common bell schedule with the exception of Henley So there's more consistency and what times middle school at all? 405 and then Henley's 410 Well, as you probably noticed the attorney whispering in my ear, we could also say 45 minutes after the final bill. So it's very specific. So we
086do have an open motion on the floor. Can I rescind my motion? Yes, you can. Kate's motion. Can I rescind my second? You can rescind your second, I believe. Yes, you can rescind your second, Dr. Acuff. I'll give you a moment. I don't mind withdrawing mine. As Dr. Haas said, we just need a time certain. And so do we have different times for middle and then high school? So we say 45 minutes after. That's a long period of time, isn't it? That's a long period of time. I think it's a lot. I'm concerned with that. I understand why, but I also. Yeah, yeah is the do I have a motion on the floor to I have picked my child up from ages and so I know that that lasts that times can be quite chaotic
087and also from Lakeside, so We could do 45 at the high school in 30 minutes at middle school if that makes you all feel better. Yes Is that a formal motion? It has to get up to the pink. I just want to make sure I capture what you're looking at. So I've heard. So right now we've got bell to bell, which does not specify middle school or high school. We can specify middle school or high school with the set time of day. Or we can do a number of minutes before and after bells. And it's not time of day. So I think we would do. 45 minutes after the high school bell and 30 minutes after the middle school bell. I'm gonna give mr Grant a moment to type that in so we can all
088look at it. You said 30 minutes for middle school There's nothing worse than being the person who is writing this Many people are watching We have which is defined as the time school day Which is defined as the time from 45 minutes before the first bell to 45 minutes after the final bell of the day for all high schools and 30 minutes before the first bell to 30 minutes after the final bell for all middle schools This so this is a this is a policy for our Secondary schools so only middle and high school are included I just want to make sure I'm looking to my right into my left about that and but do are there any exceptions so I move that we accept the amendment as presented second all those in favor Any
089opposed That amendment passes It was mr. Dillon back Apologies for not stating that there's not any other points that you wanted to make or questions that you wanted to bring up I'm gonna pass it over myself as the chair always goes last to mr. Dillon back. Good evening. I'd like to also Thank rusty Carlock and others who've worked on this policy and those of you who Shown up tonight to voice your support one way or the other takes a lot of courage, especially for high school students This is clearly a divisive issue. I want to encourage each person here to take a deep breath Put down the swords and consider the perspective of the other side and may consider tuning out social media for a little while We as a board are charged with just
090a few responsibilities One of which is setting policy to govern the schools in this county We have a duty to ask the question, will this policy enhance or inhibit student learning? While I agree with much of the provisions of this policy change, I have some significant concerns on several other important issues. We have a duty to enact a balanced policy which protects the rights of all students to a safe and effective learning environment and their rights of free expression. I've heard instances of harassment on both sides of the issue. That needs to stop. I'd like to challenge students and parents to sit down sometime in the next week or two and have conversation with somebody who is in opposition to your beliefs. Not some campfire kumbaya scenario, but some real, honest, and respectful discourse. That's
091healthy and productive and perhaps the only way we can overcome the incredible division that we see in our country and sadly in our county. We welcome productive input on this important policy and we've gotten a lot of it. And we look forward to the time when students can get back to learning peacefully again. I have several specific friendly amendments that I'd like to offer up, but first I'd like to propose that we cut out for now, for this discussion. the policy on financial donations and the distribution and management of fundraising. Because I think we can agree on much of the rest of the policy, but in my opinion, the fundraising piece still leaves a lot of unanswered questions, and I have some disagreements with the way the policy is written in terms of... money coming
092in from outside sources and the Supervision of that so a point of order. Mr Dillon Beck has made a motion if there is a second there can be discussion Do I have a second on that motion? I have it highlighted there on your screen. You can see it. It makes sure Dylan that's the right section correct And just to confirm, your motion is to delete Section 3, fundraising by student organization, and allow that to be, to pull that out of the policy for now until additional work can be done. Correct. So to give us more time to address all of the complexities of the fundraising portion of this policy change. Do I have a second for that? Seeing no second on that floor on the floor. We will continue our discussion, okay On line 63
093I'd like to offer up an addition to The sentence that starts student organizations that promote or endorse violence harassment or hatred toward an identifiable person or group based on race color religion Ethnicity and so on I'd like to add political beliefs to that list Point of order chair. Mr. Dillenbach. Is this a motion or? Yes, this is a motion to a friendly a motion for a friendly amendment. I think it's what it's called No, it's just it's just a motion. Just a motion. Yes, sir So you're just ended. I just want just to clarify for everyone in the public. So that would be to add After Change the disability comma or political beliefs affiliation Sorry, it's well, but that's fine. It's spelled correctly. So we have a motion on the floor from mr Dillon back
094to take make a change in addition to Line 64 to add political affiliation to the policy. I will second that the second is moved by Mr. Dillon big second by Mr. Beard do I have any discussion on that? Do people need a moment to? I think there's a difference between beliefs and affiliation. So if Mr. Dillbeck could clarify which he wanted to use and we get the correct one there, I would appreciate that. I'll go with beliefs. So, Ms. Osborne, that would be a friendly amendment? No, that was a question in the discussion because we had the second and then moved to discussion. Don't mind putting that in I think it follows more naturally before or affiliated with organizations Than where it is in the sentence or disability or political beliefs I'm being challenged on
095my Robbitt's rules tonight. Do I do you? That was a point of discussion. Would you do I need him to rip to? Pull his original motion and redo it or is this okay? I just want to make sure I'm Following my Robert Cruz I'm going back to my model United Nations time. So We didn't say exactly where in the sentence he wants. Yes, right so Chair Berlin if we want to be hyper technical about the rules The appropriate procedure would be for mr. Dillon back to withdraw his and make a new motion So I'll withdraw my original motion Make a motion to insert political beliefs after disability or And before our affiliated and I will second that again Moved by mr. Dillon back seconded by mr. Beard. Do I have any discussion? I'm I'm just
096inclined to support adding a mutable characteristic to a list of immutable characteristics that are having listed out by I'm sorry, I can't remember this. Dr. Kralik might have to correct me on this, but the Virginia Human Rights Group, I think it's a very well understood list of groups, and I don't believe we should add that. That's a good point, Ms. Lee. I'm going to give everyone just a moment on the dais, and then I am actually for this one, just because it will be close, I am going to ask Claire Thompson to do a roll call vote on this motion. Are you ready? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Beard? Yes. Mr. Dillenbeck? Yes. Ms. Lee? No. Ms. Osborne? Yes. Ms. Spillman is absent. Dr. Acuff? No, the motion is tied The motion by a vote of
097three in favor and three opposed Because the rules of parliamentary procedure are if something ties on the motion fails And I know this is a long and extenuating process and I appreciate everyone's decorum during this time So I'm looking for the section on fundraising. Mr. Grant, if you can help me with that. That's line 197. Begins that section. Okay. Thank you. I want to present a hypothetical situation to demonstrate what I feel like is poor policy that's trying to be passed that needs to be clarified. Forgive me, Rachel Miller, who I believe is the club sponsor of the Monticello High Bike Club, if you're here or listening. What I'd like to do is to use that as an example, maybe a little less controversial or highly charged example. I don't know the conditions of that
098particular club, but Imagine for a second if we have a wealthy donor in the county who wants to support the mountain biking club at Monticello High School and so makes a donation of $100,000 to help with preparing trails, buying bikes for kids who can't afford them, going to sporting events. And this is not an athletic... Sport an official VHSL sport on a cello high school. So this is an outside non-curricular club so imagine this club gets a donation of $100,000 and for whatever reason the club Is shut down maybe lack of interest or whatever the way I read this policy is that those funds Don't get returned to don't stay within the club, but they get transfer to Monticello High School. I have a strong objection to that. I believe that that's not good policy,
099in my opinion. And so, although I understand that there needs to be some management of funds for non-curricular clubs, especially for donations that are coming in from outside the school. Don't believe that this the way that the policy is written starting in line 202 I would Suggest that's that's problematic to me If a student organization is dissolved the student activity funds continue to belong to the school what I would like to see instead is a policy that distinguishes between student activity funds collected within the school for the club use versus outside funds coming into non-curricular clubs. Because in my opinion, although I do believe that there needs to be some adult guardianship of those funds, we don't allow minors to manage funds. My proposal would be... that any club collecting funds, that they would be
100under the management and direction of an adult. And I would suggest perhaps an annual reporting requirement, for example, so that the principal of the school is aware of the fundraising activities, both the money coming in and the money going out. But if the club shuts down for whatever reason, those funds stay within the outside organization. I know that there are 501c3s. I know that there are clubs at Albemarle High School and other places where they receive money from outside sources. There are Albemarle High School clubs, rowing, other clubs that receive money. So I believe, and I have some specific language, but would yield. All of our activity funds are managed by adults at schools. All of them have procedures regarding reporting and deposit and expenditure requirements. All of them require two signatures for any expenditure
101associated with it. Any donation has to be received any donation that's made is is generally received by adults in the school And it's retained within their accounts Monies that are outside of our accounts are not controlled by us So it is we're discussing solely the monies that are under our control so if someone makes a donation to a club and Deposited in our accounts Our principal is ultimately in control of our activity funds within that school. They are aware of them. Monthly or more frequent reports are made to the principal regarding that. And the expenditure generally requires their signature and at least one other person's signature within that school. So we have robust controls regarding our expenditures within. Now would add Jackson that and I thank you very much for your information, but that's that's
102not just Albemarle County This is it's based on Virginia code 22.1-100 school activity funds. That section allows school boards to establish and manage school activity funds for activities such as clubs, athletics, publications, and student organizations. The law requires that activity funds are accounted for and audited. The principal is responsible for administration and funds are part of the school's financial system. And then it goes further. The Virginia Department of Education provides, there's a handbook that's, it's Virginia Department of Education School Activity Funds Manual. It states that student activity funds are public funds held for the benefit of students. So any funds that are put into school activity funds do become the property of the school system for the benefit of students. They're not private property of the club or student officers. The principal has fiduciary responsibility
103for how they're used. Club disbands the manual generally recommends that funds be transferred to a similar student organization or used for Student activities consistent with the purpose for which the money was raised or placed in a general student activity fund account for student use divisions typically When a student organization becomes inactive or dissolves the remaining funds revert to the school activity fund and may be reassigned by the principal for as long as it is used for student purposes, so Under legal principle. They just need to be used for student purposes the principal cannot say well I'm gonna do something for the staff or something like that so making changes like that while I'm sure there's good thinking and there's justification for that kind of thinking. It would go completely against what is done as a
104best practice and a legal practice across public schools all over Virginia. And if the principal said to me, I'm going to recommend that a club be formed and have its own funds outside the school, then what we say is, well, if they're going to do that, then we're not managing any of it. And we have parent-teacher organizations that do that. At some schools, the PTO runs its account through the school, and others, they make their own tax-exempt fund, and we don't manage it. Ken say that we're going to require that they report to us and give us an annual account of what they're doing, but we can't enforce that and If an account is created inside the school in in our accounts, then we have control over it and it reverts so What I heard
105you say just a second ago is that there is a provision for outside clubs to have Fundraising and collect funds That are separate from and not a part of the student activities fund Not with the school. We just heard dr. Carlock say that there are clubs existing now that have funds that Are not run through the schools even though they are Yeah school related clubs. I'm sure that's the case. I mean you think about the multitude of clubs and Little organizations that students will put together. I mean right now it's tax season and we're all supposed to pay our taxes But all over the country there are people that won't and so it's very hard to enforce that What we can do is say in policy that if you're gonna have a club in the
106school then we will you need to have the funds run through the school The issue, I think, with non-student clubs or non-curricular clubs is that technically they're not supposed to have a sponsor that's running it as an adult. So what happens is then the students can sometimes take it upon themselves to have an account outside the school. Now with the curricular clubs, you have a teacher sponsor, and that's all running through there. So you're going to have, just because it occurs doesn't mean it's lawful or it's in compliance with our policies. So I wouldn't, I mean, just my recommendation as an administrator, I wouldn't create something in policy that's going to make it easier or encourage something that's really not in the best interest of kids. That's just my take. I'm not a board member,
107and I can't make an amendment or et cetera. And Jim, on your hypothetical of the $100,000 for the mountain bike club, typically it seems like that would be something that would be run through the AFE now that we have the AFE. And in that case, the donor can put stipulations on their $100,000 saying, I want this to be used for bike trails. near Monticello and then that's that's a different ballgame and Within in your example, that's the school control those funds The foundation the foundation which would control those funds because that was a gift to the foundation which Benefits a certain project and in that case the donor would say if that club were to disband I don't want the money back or do something else with it that in that case the donor would
108have that so Based on this policy, that's not allowed. There's no provision for what you just described. But the AFE is a different ballgame. Right. So those funds wouldn't belong to the school. They would belong to the AFE. So, again, it just proves my point that I think we need to do some more work to refine the fundraising and fund management process because, A, what you just described wouldn't be allowed under this new policy and B, as one of the students pointed out, the impact on existing clubs would be dramatic. I know for example that there are some clubs that are operating with parental involvement and parental funding that according to the letter of this policy, That would be prohibited. I think any any club that has us has album all on a bike club
109or Chess club or Monticello bingo club, whatever. I mean should run I mean that they are representing this school division and I think the school division needs to oversee the finances of those clubs. It seems to me that another way to go about it, Jim, would be to tell any large funder, you know, I'm setting, you know, I'm donating this, you know, I want to do A, B, and C, and I can give you manageable amounts over a period of time. I mean, it's on, I mean, the concern you seem to have is that the donor might be disappointed that... the funding for a new bike trail was in the possession of the school division after the bike club closed shop. As a point of order, I just want to make sure. There's been a
110lot of discussion. I want to make sure I didn't miss it. I don't have any motion on the floor. So you've had a lot of discussion. Okay, so I'll make sure I didn't miss in terms of the structure of the order for discussion. So I'll make a motion just to get it on the record. So on in section three, starting with line 194. Section D3, yes. Section D, fundraising? Yeah. I would add any club receiving outside funds must demonstrate a competent adult guardianship of funds and disclose fundraising activity to the school administration on an annual basis. clubs which require additional security and supervision will be required to pay for those services. And then I would amend the last sentence to, if a student organization is dissolved, the student activity funds collected inside the school continue
111to belong to the school. Any funds collected from outside shall be returned to the outside organization. I have a motion on the floor. I know you have that written. I don't know if you want to maybe hand it to Mr. Grant. Before we go. Chair Rowland, did you want to recognize Mr. Zimmerman? That's up to you. I will recognize Mr. Zimmerman knowing that you are. Sorry, I was about to try to give your title and I can't so you're an expert on our accounting procedures and I would appreciate Your remarks I apologize. I didn't identify myself earlier for those who are listening. My name is Jackson Zimmerman I'm the school finance officer I wanted to be a little clearer on on when the funds are under our control. They are school board funds They must
112be they can only be dispersed under the policies of the school board and County of Albemarle So those funds when we receive them they are our funds We would need we can only disperse funds upon an invoice or Request for disbursement that is approved by staff so returning funds After the school board received them for a purpose Those funds generally as of rule Belong to the school board and are not dispersed that they are utilized by the school board for the school boards activities otherwise don't make the Donation or give those funds to the school board so I would caution against perversion of funds that would create a Long-term nightmare in terms of tracking and you're speaking specifically of school activity funds all funds School activity funds are our funds. So if there's a donation
113to the Albemarle rowing Club so there are instances regarding donations if someone wants to Give a check just give a check for $100 to the rowing club and they don't want any any tax Documentation regarding it they can just hand The check or hand $100 into the school and the school will deposit it into that fund if they want a vision to be recognized by the school board It must be received by the school board and in order for them to make the claim on their IRS taxes They should have that documentation to back it up. That's why you receive those quarterly reports Regarding that so if someone wanted to make a hundred thousand dollar donation for a mountain biking event. I would really highly recommend that be done through the school board directly and
114be brought before you. And administration would be involved in that. But if somebody is making a $100 donation to the Pampin Biking Club for their use for general purposes, that is typically handled at the school level unless they request IRS documentation and then it is brought directly to the school board. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Zimmerman. We do still have an open motion on the floor. Wanted to see if my colleagues would like mr. Dillon Beck to read that again before To inform their decision if they want to second that seeing no request or no second that motion fails One last item of clarification There's been a lot of concern mentioned about the possibility of a principal terminating a club for whatever, for a reason that there is no recourse. And my question,
115I think Dr. Carlock addressed this last week, is no, that's not according to this policy. This policy, but I don't see where it's spelled out a process for terminating a club. Did I miss that? Clarity. You can pull it up so we can see it. Control F. What are we looking for specifically? Is there a line or you want us to find? I believe it was in the original policy document looking at Rusty to see if that has been deleted or amended somehow. So I'll read the response. So in Section 3A, the policy prohibits clubs that, one, violate the law, two, violate school board policy, or three, violate school rules or the student conduct policy at the organizational level. That's in the part about creating clubs and which clubs are prohibited. There is no direct
116language about terminating an existing club. The prohibition of the club could be read as such. However, if the board wants to address the language to be more specific about termination, there is this language from Stafford. It says specifically that student organizations that do not... follow what the basic stipulations are for creation of a club. It says, and this is direct quote from their policy, failure to comply with these provisions shall be grounds for disciplinary action or revocation of recognition. It goes on to say non-curriculum related clubs and organizations that are denied permission to use school facilities by a principal may appeal the principal's decision to the superintendent or designee. I personally like that language. I feel like it is. more clear than what's in this in particular. So I guess my last motion would be
117to include Stafford County's language about the process of termination of a club. Could you read that again? Yeah. Well, I guess we'll wait for Jason to type it in. Spare him the trouble. If you can read it. So the way Stafford's language is, is failure to comply with these provisions shall be grounds for disciplinary action or revocation of recognition. Non-curriculum related clubs and organizations that are denied permission to use school facilities by a principal may appeal the principal's decision to the superintendent or designee. And I would need to know where you would want that within this process. That's exactly what I was going to ask. Where would we be inserting this? Well, my thought would be... Toward the end after line 308 evaluating the program talked about how to charter programs and What's allowed and
118so on and then administering and then evaluating so I would probably insert that after line 322 321 So, Jim, the line 65 that says failure to comply with these provisions shall be grounds for individual display and action or revocation of the rights to conduct meetings under this policy, is that, I mean, that seems redundant. Is that? That line doesn't specify the process, the fact that the appeal. Okay. Yeah. Well, that might be where the new language could be inserted. That's fine. Either way. As long as. There's an opportunity to get in there. For you to make a motion, I'm going to, apologies, my stomach's growling and you're starting to hear it. For you to make a motion, I'm going to need you to be specific about where you would like it to be inserted. Line
11967? Line 67. Does that work, Jim? Yes. Section 3A, line 67. All right. So just for people following along so as Jason is typing this is going into the section 3 under student organizations There's a policy statement and then at the end of that I'm gonna love mr Grant to continue typing and then but there's a motion on the floor for this language. Okay, so I have on Okay, I have on line 68 failure to comply with these provisions shall be grounds for disciplinary action or revocation of recognition non-curriculum related clubs and organizations that are denied permission to use school facilities by a principal may appeal the principal's decision to the superintendent or designee Yes So for those of you listening online Mr. Dolan Beck is I'm just going to do some self talk here
120is making an amendment to his motion to just delete line 65 and add a statement on line 68 with more specifics and this is an open motion on the floor that has not been seconded yet. You know what I will second this one. You beat me to it. This has been moved by Mr. Dillenbeck, second by Ms. Lee. All those, well, I'm going to give everyone a moment. All those in favor of this motion? Aye. Any opposed? By a motion of six in favor and zero opposed, this motion passes. So we now have two amendments to this policy. Thank you so much, Mr. Dillenbeck. Mr. Beard. I have no amendments to offer to the policy, but I know it's great. I'm a new school board member. I've never done this before. I've never run for
121office. I've never been in public office before, but I do have a little bit of a statement I'd like to read. I just want to thank everybody for being here, for speaking out, and for our excellent ACPS staff, especially Rusty Carlock. Thank you, Rusty, for proposing these changes to our rules for student organizations. I'm speaking as a taxpayer who loves our Albemarle County Schools and as a devoted parent to two young men twins who graduated from Western in 2018. Our son's got a fabulous education there and have gone on to good careers and happy lives so far, knock on wood. But it pains me to see the Western that my family and other families know and love so much be torn apart by rancor and division and controversy over outside speakers during lunch by non-curricular
122student organizations. We need to focus continuously on student academic achievement. We need to get back to the business of loving and cherishing our young people, of educating them with rigorous academics, to be the adults of tomorrow, the leaders of tomorrow, the mothers and fathers of tomorrow, if they so choose. We need to keep alive that special spark we all remember that is found in high school. the spark that animates our students' knowledge, their creativity, their passion, their athleticism, and yes, their teenage humor that we know so well. So, end the distraction. I am in support of this new policy. And thanks, everybody, for coming out tonight. Thank you so much, Mr. Beard. Ms. Spillman was not able to be here tonight, and so I have a statement from her that I will read before I
123make any comments. I regret that I am unable to attend tonight's school board meeting because of a prior work commitment. However, I want to make certain that my position in support of the recommended policy is clearly shared for the record. I brought forward the motion in November asking Dr. Haas's team to review our policy on school clubs and outside speakers because of the significant number of concerns we as a board received about the operation of clubs in our schools. That motion was unanimously approved by the board to start the process, which will culminate tonight with public comment and board deliberation. This has been a very thoughtful and public process. It has taken months of careful review, public input, and student feedback to reach this point. I believe the recommended policy reflects that work. As drafted,
124this policy aligns with other school divisions in our state, protects free speech, and helps ensure that our schools remain safe learning environments centered on our educational mission and curriculum. One of the most important duties we, as a member of the school board, have is to create and adopt binding policies for the school division. So, although I cannot be there tonight, I did not want my absence to leave any doubt on where I stand. I fully support this recommended policy update because I believe it is a balanced, carefully considered, and student-centered approach to meeting the needs of our students, sincerely, Ms. Alison Spillman. And so I think I am, as the chair, the last to go. I'm going to keep my remarks brief. One of the things I did want to do, of course, is thank
125everyone for both public comment, but also for everyone who reached out to the school board email. And I do have some data, thank you, Mr. Grant, regarding all of the emails that we received. And I know additionally my colleagues have received other emails. But these are emails that came to the full board and that I answered. So we received 44 emails regarding these policy changes. About exactly 35 were for the changes, about 80%. Against were three, which is 7%. Neutral were four, 9%. And with changes were two or 5%. And so I do support this policy as a former teacher and administrator I do believe that the school day should be focused on instruction in our curriculum and that public safety and school safety should be our utmost concern And because of that I believe
126these changes are needed I also believe that policies, while should stand the set of time, do not always. And one of the things you will see with me as a board member is review of policies, making sure that they stay current with our times. Thank you. Do I have any motions before me on the floor? I move we approve IGDA as amended. I have a motion on the floor from Ms. Lee asking that we approve policy IGDA as amended tonight. Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Dr. Acuff. We will be doing a roll call vote for this. Do we have any additional discussion before the vote? Seeing no discussion, Ms. Thompson, would you go ahead and do a roll call vote? Ms. Osborne? Yes. Ms. Spillman is absent. Dr. Acuff? Yes. Mr. Beard?
127Yes. Mr. Dillenbeck? No. Ms. Lee? Yes. Chair Berlin? Yes. By a motion of five in favor and one opposed, this policy change is adopted and will go into effect immediately. Thank you so much for everyone's input tonight. I appreciate the decorum that we had. I know it is both difficult to stay for this long. We are going to move into an immediate 10-minute break before we have our school board approval of our budget. Our budget is one of the most important things that we have in front of us, so I would encourage everyone who came out tonight to stay to listen. Because the these are your taxpaying dollars at stake and I think it is important for you to understand how we are using our money As we will go into a break until five
128minutes to nine. Thank you so much Thank you all so much for attending tonight's meeting we are now moving into our budget I Would ask everyone to take their seats We are moving well everything that comes in before the board is very important our our school board budget Is the backbone of our work and that is what we are talking about next? So a point eight point three is the school board approval of our FY 27 funding request and we will be voting about on this reaction Good evening. I'm Maya Kumazawa, Director of Budget and Planning. And as Dr. Billings stated, this evening you're scheduled to approve your funding request for fiscal year 2026-27. On February 12th, Dr. Haas presented a draft funding request. And following that, we held three work sessions where we learned
129about the funding rest in a lot of detail. And major topics are listed on the slide with links to the work session presentations for any of those who may have missed that. The funding request meets our six budget goals as approved by the board. It is fiscally responsible. It has engaged with the community. It provides for our competitive compensation. It represents sustainable operations. It aligns with our strategic plan and the decisions have been made based on data. This is a balanced funding request where our projected expenditures of $311.3 million equal the available shared revenues. as proposed in the local government's budget of $311.3 million. So with that, I'll turn it over to the chair for action. Thank you. Do we have any questions or any discussion? We have a motion, a requested motion in front
130of us, but I do want to just take a moment to see if there's any follow-up questions. We have received 137. questions that I know you've responded to? I knew you'd ask. We have now posted and are finished as of now with 173 questions over 82 pages. So similarly with our survey that we released, we had the highest engagement there that we've had that I am aware of, and it was the same with the Q&A this year. So thank you to the board and to the community who've participated throughout this process. Thank you, and I'm sorry for all the questions. Do we have 179th question before we move to a motion? And they were thoroughly answered, so thank you. Thank you. And just to note to the people who are listening, this is a funding
131request. It is not our final budget. The chair and vice chair will make a presentation on Monday. At 5 p.m. To the Board of Supervisors. And room 241. So do you need a motion? I do. If there are no other questions or discussions, I do need a motion from the board, or from a board member. Apologies. I move that we approve a school board funding request of $311,317,000, no, yeah, $157 in operating funds and $32,280,602 in special revenue funds for fiscal year 27. Do I have a second? Second. Moved by Ms. Lee, seconded by Dr. Acoff. Would we like to take a roll call vote? Do we need to take a roll call vote on this? No. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? By a motion of six in favor, zero opposed, our funding
132request moves forward. Thank you so much. And thanks to all the math teachers out there who taught us how to read the numbers. Because this is a motion that no one wants to make because it's a hard one, especially this late at night. I just wanted to clarify that I didn't answer all those questions. It was a lot of staff help distributed throughout. So the credit goes to... All the staff who helped out with that, so thank you. As mentioned, the next step for you all is to present this funding request to the Board of Supervisors on Monday. That is scheduled intentionally before the Board of Supervisors proposes their maximum tax rate and proposes their budget on March 18th, so it's just two days after that. So it'll move very quickly from then. And then
133we will be back with budget updates for all of the school board meetings. starting two weeks from now. And so there is room for public comment and further public engagements. Although they're not labeled budget work sessions, feedback is welcome during the next three school board meetings. On April 22nd, the Board of Supervisors will approve the FY27 budget and set tax rates. We will approve the school board budget immediately after that on April 23rd, and that would conclude the budget development process. And as a reminder, this is how you can stay engaged and contact us at this email provided here. Thank you. Thank you, Mara. Thank you so much. Thanks, Mara. The next agenda item is 8.4 Policy Review, IKBA Grading Policy. Dr. Patrick McClellan, Assistant Superintendent. Hi, good evening board members. I'm Pat McLaughlin assistant
134superintendent for strategic planning and policy and I'm here tonight to provide a policy review of IKBA our grading policy all of our policies are Embedded in the vision mission values and goals of the school division And it's a little bit strange to have a policy that's up for first read in a five-year review to come before the board like this. But we know that the grading policy is one that we tend to get a lot of questions on. And so as this was coming through the cycle, we got a request to bring it here for a little bit broader discussion with that. So tonight, we're going to present the policy to you. Dr. Megan Wood is here to talk a little bit about how we shifted that from policy. to practice over the last five
135years and is going to talk about some next steps in our work. So, ICBA was initially adopted in September of 2020. It provides guiding principles for what we believe grading should entail in the school division, and it is grounded in a lot of research, two pieces of which are a research white paper that was produced by the Education Advisory Board, who is a research firm that we partner with, and other sources, including a repair kit for grading by Ken O'Connor and some other publications. as well. The policy itself is relatively short, right? And the heart of it is our guiding principles around grading. And there are three of those. The first is that we want grading to be accurate. And some of the bullets from the policy that reflect this are an alignment to standards
136of student learning, that grading should be separated from work habits, and that grading should use mathematically sound calculations. The second guideline is that it should be consistent. And when we talk about consistency, some things we call out are that it should reflect individual differences and rates of learning. It should encourage students to take an active role in setting goals and assessing progress. And it should promote practices that encourage continuous engagement in learning. And our final guiding principle is that it should be supportive of student learning. An example of that is being consistent within and across students, teams, departments, courses, and schools. When the board adopts policy, it then becomes staff's charge to implement that policy. And over the course of five years, staff has worked to develop guidelines and implementation practices for our school division.
137And I'd like to invite Dr. Megan Wood up at this time to talk through. that portion of the presentation. Thank you, Dr. Merloth. Good evening. I'm Megan Wood, and I'm the Director of Professional Learning. When the policy was first implemented, I actually was a principal at Lakeside Middle School, and now I'm in the role of Director of Professional Learning. So before the policy was adopted in 2020, there was a lot of professional learning around grading practices and best practice in the classroom. both administrators and teachers. Ken O'Connor came to Albemarle County several times and led professional learning around best practices with grading. From that, a policy was written to support the the guiding principles that Dr. McLaughlin just shared with you. And then in 2020, we shifted to helping support the implementation of those principles.
138One of the things that was done that year was there were teacher roundtables that were created along with principal feedback loop for the development of a handbook, which I'm sure you guys have heard of. that tried to help support meeting those guiding principles. And then in 21, 22, there were centrally developed resources to help administrators support the change in practice in the classroom around guiding practices. I think it's really important to note that those first three years included collaboration from central office classroom teachers and administrators in trying to help support the implementation of these practices. That first full year of the school year those the guidelines that were focused on the most were guidelines one through four because there are eight guidelines and so they so we tried to reduce the amount of change that
139happened in one year. The second year of implementation were around guidelines five through eight. At that time, the handbook was also launched at all of the schools as well as an accompanying resource on how to use Power Teacher effectively to meet those guidelines. And then in the 23-24 school year, we tried to shift to operational practices to help support the implementation of grading practices, so we switched grading orientation practices to the new teacher academy, so every teacher that came in in the secondary level was oriented to these guidelines and the handbook. And we also had a, we called it a grading champions team, where every high school had teacher representation and school building administrators were a part of that team that helped provide feedback on both the implementation in the building and designing professional learning
140to help support. identified areas of need for teachers and then they would take that professional learning back to their buildings and deliver it to help support teachers. After that end of that school year the feedback that we received indicated that we felt like we had operationalized it enough to that maybe that committee wasn't needed anymore and so that committee disbanded and then at this point in the stage we feel like based on the feedback that we might need to There's some more focus groups and then focus on helping supporting implementation towards those guiding principles again. So our next step is to start thinking about how to engage high school focus groups to gather input on strengthening that consistency and expectations around the implementation of the policy. Those focus groups would include members from all of
141principals, teachers, students, parents and guardians and instructional coordinators and then explore other potential resources and support structures to consider. to continue to help support the consistency and implementation around those guiding principles. And so I think at that point we're ready for. Yes, so so next steps with this policy This is a five-year review and it was presented without any changes to it as you know All policies are required to be reviewed at minimum once every five years. So at our March 26 meeting IKBA will be on the consent agenda for action and and readoption for the next five-year period And we would be happy to take any questions that you have I have one question. So could you pull back the guiding principles? So I've been on board with this policy from the very beginning.
142I watched a pretty long Zoom from, I think, Dr. O'Connor, maybe, just explaining the principles. And I've talked with Matt many times about it, about fairness, about accuracy, about it really focusing on student learning. One piece of feedback that I get consistently and frankly I understand as a parent is The one part of this is that it's separated from work habits, which again I do understand and I agree with but then I wonder if work habits are addressed somewhere else because I think that's the thing that holds people up is that it's hard if if the grading is Consistent I don't know. I just I wonder if I guess that's the question. Are our work habits addressed anywhere else in our policy? So with the exception of saying that grading and work habit should be
143separated they are not addressed specifically in the policy one of the one of the initial intents around this one Dr. Haas first came on as superintendent was to think about a move towards standards based grading which would then allow grades to be separated out into individual standards and also have categories for things like work habits and and timeliness things like that One of the concerns during the grading champions conversations was around, we said practice shouldn't count for a grade anymore in the original guidelines. And based on some of that feedback, we actually modified that guideline to say that homework and practice can count up to 10% of the grade, but no more than 10% of the grade. So that grading champion not only provided professional learning, but it did provide some feedback around the implementation.
144So that was one. Change that did come out of that conversation I have I've noticed that but it also came at a time when my kid was just changing school So I thought maybe it was a school change thing, but no, okay And I would say I I don't feel I don't want I don't feel like we've abandoned the conversation around Moving toward more of a competency based grading system. We are we're using the scholars pathways as route of professional development for our secondary educators because typically with CTE classes and moving toward credentialing in a particular career or a particular work skill, and many of you served on the KTEC board, so you're familiar with this, that The grading, for a better term, or evaluation of performance is based on competencies. And so it's not
145like a foggy, you get an A and it's based on an average of points and et cetera. It's more, this is a particular skill you need to learn for your credential and you're on a scale from not proficient to highly proficient. This is where you sit. Ultimately, That's it's probably one of the most challenging changes in in education to do in typical k-12 education public education But we haven't given up on it and I think that as We make a lot of progress with the scholars pathways and the students are getting more used to being Evaluated on what they can do and what they know rather than they're turning in assignments or getting a percentage and not really understanding what it means, I do think that will start to influence what happens in the other
146classrooms. The other thing we've talked about is having these guidelines, but then also starting to broaden the conversation among teachers who are already using. competency-based grading and start to build on that as a source of momentum it'd be like a coalition of the willing if you will I know that our our student database power school, there was a considerable amount of work that was done for the lab school because at the lab school, that's how they grade students. It's on competency-based grading. So we know that there's configurations in our online grade book that will work with that approach. So I just want the board to know. We're not giving up on it. It is the best way to help students learn. It is clear feedback for students, and it helps them make progress. And we're
147going to keep moving in that direction and try to help our educators with the change, which is probably the most complex change that you'll ever try in a public school system. So sorry to interrupt, Pat. Obviously wasn't a part of the policy from five years ago, but in talking to a number of veteran teachers They have some pretty significant concerns about the unintended consequences of The retake policy for example which their opinion and I don't have a reason to doubt this creates a lot of work for them and doesn't really address the underlying issues. So I know that tonight's not the time to get into that, but will we have an opportunity to discuss some of what we're hearing from teachers and parents regarding the specifics of the policy? Did you say will you? So
148one of the things I would say, and Megan can probably help out with this, is that one of the reasons we felt like there needs to be some continued conversation, as Megan alluded to, is because there are... interpretations of the guidelines that are there. The guidelines themselves, I don't think anywhere say retake in there. They talk about, you know, second chances for students and revision opportunities for students. And so I think that those are, that those inconsistencies are something that this team would want to address and make sure that everyone's clear on what those mean and what those look like for a classroom teacher. Yeah, and we had this discussion about... Policy versus practice. That's right, yep. And to me, it sounds like we need to come up with either better policy or better implementation
149than what a number of teachers are experiencing. Would you go to the, oh, didn't mean to cut you off. Would you just mind going to the, because you were just referring to that, the focus group piece. So is this focus group piece? post I'm sorry post our reaffirming or Voting on the policy because it's part of the implementation or would this inform? I think the focus group is going to be put together regardless of the, you know, any shifts to the policy. That is something that, as Dr. Wood alluded to, we had a group of grading champions who were really kind of the representatives who brought this back and hoped for alignment and consistency within the schools. We got feedback that principals felt that was operationalized last year. I think, and so that was disbanded.
150But clearly, the feedback that we're hearing is that it would probably be helpful to continue to have that group meeting and discussing things that are coming up in the practice of grading so that they can be addressed. Yeah, because I feel like that is one of the pieces that we consistently hear and I you know I partly parted part of it is like in this word consistency right comes it's like you know every policy right but you're like how do we ensure the Policy is a number one understood. You know, I'm with my hands right understood and then that there is a central document it sounds like this The notebook guide is the central document, the piece of truth that everyone goes back to, and then how are they trained on it so that it
151ensures. that people are doing it. I always think about policy rollout, right? The first time you do it, the first wave, you do a great job, but because of the turnover that just naturally happens in schools, that's kind of my question is how do we ensure, again, I know that's on the practice and implementation side, but I do think is there anything, you know, as a school board, I hear one of the consistent words that I hear across my peers is how are we being more consistent in how our policies are being implemented. So that is one of the things I think about as a policy comes forward is, is there any language we can put in to ensure that that Consistent implementation or do we trust the implementation? So I think that's so the
152question there's a question there is You know these you know might these focus groups bring forward information That could inform a change in policy. So I think the question is do you Vote in a policy and potentially vote on a revision and then have to vote on a revision or is there a need? To vote on that policy immediately So I think there's two ways to look at things like that. The policy itself, at least from my perspective, is very hard to argue that there's really anything that would be objectionable in it. So we have policies that are informed by Virginia Code and, you know, best practice. And so in particular with grading, I think what you want to do is you've got to think about... what's best for kids and not really anybody else
153because they are the ultimate recipient of that whatever's outcome with grades. So I think the challenge to the board on that is to really focus on what's gonna be best for kids with that. With regard to guidelines, I think the issue with it and really every other thing that's not consistent. is that there's so much for our teachers. and principals and frankly everybody, including the school board, to try to keep up with. So I think what we try to do, and I think this is a good example, this is one of the, we talk a lot about, or we don't talk about it, but I hear people talk about the big rock. You hear that expression because it was something Stephen Covey popularized where He does that thing where you put the sand in the
154jar first and then try to put the big rocks in and then you turn around and put the big rocks in and then the sand. What I would say is my failure in this, this is a big rock. And rather than saying, well, this is something we're going to really try to be consistent with and really do all the best things to make sure that it stays consistent. I just took my eye off of it. You noticed it was 1920, 2021. I think we had other stuff going on then. But still, it's ultimately my responsibility to point out what are the big rocks and what's the sand. And this was a big rock. And one of the things you can do if you really want consistency on something is to govern it. And when I
155say governing, I don't mean board governance. I mean staff putting together what Dr. McLaughlin was talking about is a team that represents teachers from every school so that they can constantly give feedback on it forever, right? Not when we think it's reached a tipping point, not when we think it's... become operational because it's so much called there's so much culture behind it and that's what makes it a big rock is that it's not something that is easily embraced because it's so student-centered in public schools that are not student-centered where they're centered on all these other things besides students sometimes so I know that was a lot but What we will do is we will always have a grading committee forever that will get together. They will talk about grades and whatever iteration of the grades
156are moving forward or what the guidelines are going to be. I feel like the policy stands. It's a strong policy. We will report back to you any changes to the guidelines because that's the other part. I don't want you blindsided by... emails or messages saying, you know, things that have been changed and then having you react to them. But we're always going to have this. And there's going to be, there will be some other things that we're looking at that, you know, certainly the club's conversation earlier, that has turned into a big rock, right? Mean they wouldn't think it was back in the day. Maybe it wasn't a big rock, but now it has so I feel like we need a governing group It's always gonna meet that's gonna review what's happening in the schools
157and ensure the consistency of it and Certainly from the board perspective if there are things that you feel are Bigger than maybe we're paying attention to then please by all means let us know if there's something that it's you know Turns into a big rock for you because then we can do that and I'd much rather put in the effort on a continual basis of quarterly or You know bi-monthly or whatever it is then to have it become episodic and then we all get blindsided by something that's a real problem So that's that's how I think that's a good way to address consistency is just ongoing governing by staff of whatever the changes that we're trying to manage. And we're learning to do a better job with that, I think. Thank you for that. I
158do wonder if, I don't know if there's any, there would be any interest in... My peers and include to your point of like having you know kind of having have having that group Disbanding it that having that group be part of the policy going forward. I mean that's I'm asleep on it person. I don't know like that would be a question of you know, would we would would the board have an interest in amending the policy so that that However, we call it that that group is in policy so that it has to get like, you know. We do have policies that do stipulate that there are particular groups that are going to monitor. I think the equity policy is one example. There's others that do say. And it's not, you're not getting in the
159weeds. You're just saying have a group, right? And that's the expectation. That way when you get to the point where you're reviewing the policy, if the group's not there, then you can. Correct it you can get back on track I know I would like to hear from teachers. Yeah about the policy and changes that might be coming down the road Yeah, and and I would say students as well It's a again the hard thing to ask students But I do just as like we had that the conversation a while ago about bell changes, right? It's important to get a student's voice I know they all want A's, however. They understand. At the end of the day, they understand what's working and what's not. So if we wanted to make an amendment to this policy prior
160to taking action, we could do it next week, or we could ask for staff to look at an amendment. Now what would be the best so so you could do ether that the board could with the consensus of the board? An amendment could be put in there. It will be back in two weeks for On the consent agenda if you wanted to amend it at that time you would pull it from the consent agenda We would do it in the items pulled from the consent agenda could amend it then and then adopt I think we're all tired tonight, but I think that's, well, I'm going to put that in mind. And we can take a stab at redlining it and bringing it back tonight and just run it by. Would my colleagues be interested in
161that? Or you could have Dr. Grant pull out his laptop again. No, I wasn't going to ask you to do it right here. I had some eyes looking at me like, you've got to be kidding me. I know. I don't want to, but yes. I don't think this needs a vote, but if it seems like that's the will of the board to have that included as part of the policy in a red line, we could look at it. And I heard my colleagues say making sure, and it's on here, but making sure there's teachers as well as, I think we think about how students are included, but having a student voice. But it's already, I mean, in the next steps, the language could parallel that somewhat. So what I hear is the consensus of the
162board is to bring an amended policy that includes a governance committee, for lack of a better term, for the consent agenda at the March 26th meeting. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Item 9.0, other business. Is there any other business by board members or the superintendents? Before we adjourn see no business in front of us. I now adjourn today's meeting. Thank you all so much