001Welcome everyone. This is the virtual special called school board meeting for August 6th. I'm calling the meeting to order at 7.03. When I call your name, please indicate that you're present. Cindy Anderson, I'm here. Veronica Nolan? Present. Megan Alderton? Present. Raimi Gentry? Present. Jacinta Green? Here. Margaret Lorber? Margaret, you're muted. Now? Yeah, now are you, so you're here. So Michelle Reeve? Here. Yeah. Christopher Suarez? Here. Heather Thornton? Here. Great. Okay, so we're all here. I'm going to start off with a moment of silence. Everyone, could I get a motion to adopt the agenda, please? Madam Chair, I move that we adopt the agenda for this evening. Second. I have Ms. Green seconding Ms. Lorber's motion to adopt the agenda. So I will go through the list. And when I call your name, please indicate your
002vote. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Ramey Gentry? Ramey, you are silent. I didn't hear you at least. She looks frozen. I will come back. Margaret Lorber? Okay, I don't know. Am I just not hearing people? I just sent a green light. Yes. Okay, thank you. Back to Raine. I was going to say, you skipped the other Gs. No, I didn't hear. I thought I said it and then you didn't. So I was going to come back to Raine's entry. Yes. Okay, Margaret Lorber? Yes, okay, Michelle reef Christopher Suarez. Yes, Heather Thornton. Yes. Okay, that's nine zero to approve the agenda. Thank you everyone So that now we will go on to that to the public Hearing and this public hearing is exclusively for comments about our continuity of learning 4.0 plan
003for the fall and so And Dr. Hutchings indicates he's in on the phone. I think he's on the other side, not the panelist side. So each person has three minutes to deliver their comments. It would be really nice if you also follow up and send them to us by email so that we can have a record of them in case we want to refer back to them. Or if you also have comments that would exceed three minutes or information that you'd like to share with us. So first... Carolyn Samuel, Dr. And if you're one of the speakers who signed up, which we have for if you could raise your hand on the attendees side and that way I can find you more readily. Carolyn Samuel, Dr. Okay, so first up, I see Carolyn Mesa. Carolyn
004Mesa, Hello. Carolyn Mesa, Okay, go ahead. Miss Mesa. Thank you. Carolyn Mesa, Okay, great. All right. Good evening, school board and Superintendent Hutchings. I'm a parent of a rising first grader and a rising third grader at James K. Polk Elementary. My children participated fully in the spring and summer learning programs offered. They attended all the Zooms, did all the worksheets, and generally did all the things required. And I have some recommendations to make the virtual learning experience easier for parents this fall. One, communications from teachers to parents need to be more frequent and on a platform that's convenient to them, namely email. I'm begging you to have teachers send parents a weekly email that outlines the expectations and assignments for the week. Having to take a picture of a QR code first thing in the
005morning to find out what is happening that day is incredibly inconvenient. A consolidated list of assignments or syllabus would also be helpful. With multiple children on multiple devices, it's very hard to keep up with it all. and I'm asking for your help in making our roles easier. Knowledge is key, and by sharing class curriculum upfront, it would help us plan our week and ensure they're able to successfully complete assignments. Two, please consider learning pods when you're making class assignments this fall. I, like many others, are forming pods with parents who have children the same age so that we can supervise our children's learning and assignments. Children this young cannot be expected to self-regulate and proactively remember to do all the things expected of them. An adult needs to monitor their activities. And if my husband
006and I are to keep our jobs, it can't be us. And I can't afford a one-on-one tutor. So it's more cost effective for parents to band together to form these pods. As you say, Dr. Hutchings, nobody expected to be in this situation. And all of these are unanticipated child care needs. And parents are struggling to patch together a workable solution for the fall. I understand that some very valid issues around equity and diversity have been raised regarding these pods. However, this is fundamentally a childcare issue that each family needs to solve in whatever way they can. Kindergarten to third grade cannot be expected to be home alone or even working alone and be successful. My children needed help logging in, help finding the materials, and constant reminders and prompts to pay attention and do the
007work required. My job suffered as a result of the spring and summer, and while nobody expected us to be in this situation for so long, we all have to do whatever we can to make it manageable. Nobody is working in a perfect world right now, and you're asking for a lot of flexibility and patience from parents and students. I ask that you give parents the same flexibility and understanding and meet them where they are and where they need to be. And that might mean allowing kids to be in pods and by assigning them to the same teacher. By not doing this, you're making an already stressful and difficult situation even harder. Pods are not perfect and have flaws. But absolutely everything about this world we live in right now isn't perfect and has flaws. We're
008all just doing the best we can. I know how hard everyone is working to make this situation as good as it can be and know that I'm fully committed to supporting your efforts. I just need some help. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Mazin. And again, if you want to send that to us, that would be great. Next up, I have Jeremy Flax. Mr. Flax, can you hear me? Hello, Mr. Flax? Hello, can you hear me now? Yes, yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to speak. I appreciate all of you being present. I am the father of a rising eighth grader at GW. First of all, I want to say that I do think you made the right decision. I'm fully supportive of this start to the school year having to
009be remote. Of course, that is now a decision that comes with a lot of issues and problems of sorts. I know last year, I would say that for my daughter in seventh grade, it was a bit rough. I realized it was somewhat unexpected to have to teach remotely, but I hope that given the time that the schools have had to prepare, for what I think is somewhat inevitable, that it'll be a bit smoother, that the lesson plans, the teaching, the follow-up, the metrics for how they're doing will all improve substantially over what I saw and my daughter saw this past spring. Again, I really don't mean to be too critical because I understand that it was basically an emergency situation and do the best we can. And I think that's what happened. But I think
010now, I'm hoping for more structure, more oversight, more feedback, more follow up. I realize it won't be perfect, but I'm hoping for improvement over what I saw this spring. I worry a little bit about parents that have to work, either single parents or couples that both work. Fortunately, I'm not in that situation where my wife can be home. So, you know, probably no need for me to get too deep into what I think is a very serious issue because it doesn't affect me personally. But I do worry about what plans the school has made to help parents who just can't stay home. And I haven't heard too much about what those plans are. I may have missed them, but I certainly hope that all of you are putting your thoughts together as to how you're
011gonna help those families that can't have a parent at home during the school year. But basically, I think you made the right decision. Again, I'm fully supportive of making the best of this. If my daughter doesn't progress exactly as she would have, Had she been in person, that's fine. I understand that is what we have to deal with. And, you know, we will all make the best of it. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Thank you. Next up, we have Kyle Martin. One second. I don't see him any longer. I'm sorry. Yes, I saw. Oh, there. His hand is raised at the top. Yeah, at the top. Oh, got it. The hand went up and then they go up to the top. That's why. Got it. One second. Okay, Mr. Martin, if you wish to go ahead
012and start. Very good, ma'am. How's the audio? Can you hear me all right? Yes. Okay, excellent. I am a father of three, a rising second grader, rising first grader, and a rising kindergarten, kindergartner. And as Mr. Fleck said, I am one of, we are one of those families that is dual, essential, in person. And we do not, and we are struggling to find a way to make this work. I am perhaps a little bit less sanguine than Ms. Mason and Mr. Fleck in the unexpected nature of this start in the fall. And I would like the school board to present how families such as us that have to go to work in person. that do not have a spouse that can stay home and teach, that do not have the resources to fund a pod
013or a private tutor for our student? Or how are we supposed to make this work? There's some general references to child care, which is great, but those lack the specifics that would make you feel as if there was real substance to those. Perhaps we're early in the process, but I feel like this is a blind spot for the school board in how single parents, dual essential employees are going to make this work. Alexandria Rec has child care and attempted to do some of the summer learning, but it was hit and miss because they're not teachers. So I would like the board to address how our family is supposed to make this plan work. Hand in hand with that, I would like the school board to address why we went with a one-size-fits-all solution. I've asked
014several times why we didn't pursue options that were both a virtual option for people who wanted to go virtual and an in-person option taking advantage of the space vacated by the virtual students. I get kind of brushed aside with waves of the hand that such a thing is impossible, but I just don't think that it was fully considered or maybe it just, I don't know, I feel like it was there and we just didn't look at it. We still have time to make adjustments to this prior to it kicking off. And we talk a lot about inclusivity here, but unless we're going to be willing to create a plan that allows single parents and dual essential employees to participate fully in the school year, then we don't have an inclusive plan. We have a plan
015for people who have sort of 1950s family structure or are well-researched. And I'm up on my time. So I thank you for considering my comments. Yes, thank you. Thank you. We have another speaker, but I'm not seeing the person, but I figure they might be under a different name. So I'm just going to call out the name for Meredith West. So if you're here, Meredith West, in any way, if you could raise your hand and we can see that you're here. So again, looking for Meredith West. Okay, so seeing nobody raising their hand, that is actually the last speaker we have for this evening. And so we will close the public hearing. But if people have, if other people are online listening, you can certainly continue to send us emails with your comments and concerns.
016So thank you very much for participating. And now we'll move on, actually, which is a good place for this, to the superintendent's report. Actually, is he still on, Susan? I'm looking. I do not see him. Is he the one? I saw his cell phone drop earlier. Oh, okay. Yeah, he hasn't reconnected yet. I'm back. He says he's back. Is he the one at the top? Is he the number at the top? I think he's the one at the top. Yeah, I think he's the number at the top. Okay, he should be back. Okay. Dr. Hutchings, it's time for your report. That's why. So we finished the public hearing. Yes, I don't have a report. Yes, I don't have a report at this time. All right, I just put it on there because I know- I
017apologize. I'm in a bad area, so I can't. My phone keeps dropping. because of this weather. I have to tell you the story later. I'll see you later. Okay. All right. So now then we will move on to our closed session that we have this evening. If the vice chair could lead us into closed session for both topics, that would be great. But you're on mute. My apologies. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I do have two items for closed session to read through. Number one, for employment matters, Madam Chair, I move that the board convene a closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3711A1 for the discussion and consideration of employment, performance, and contractual matters for 35 specific public employees. My next motion is a legal briefing. Madam Chair, I move that the Board convene
018a closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3711A7 for consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiation or litigating posture of the Board. Second. Second. I know I'm muted. I don't I missed who said that first. The second was that you miss green. I don't know. Miss Gentry. Miss Gentry. Sorry. I think I was asking for a second at this time. You were saying second so Miss Gentry seconds Miss Nolan's motion for to go into closed session. So I'll call for the roll call for the vote. Cindy Anderson. Yes. Veronica Nolan. Yes. Megan Alterton. Yes. Amy Gentry. Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reeve? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Okay,
019that's 9-0, and we'll be going into the meeting, but as everybody knows in the past, we have to do a different link, so we need to get out of this meeting and get into that. So I'll see you on the other side. Thanks, everyone. Pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3712, I move that the board certify that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters identified in the motions by which the closed meeting was convened and are lawfully exempted by the Freedom of Information Act were heard, discussed, or considered by the board in the closed meeting held on August 6, 2020. Second. Ms. Green seconds Ms. Nolan's motion, so I'll call for a vote on it. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Ramey Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Is Margaret Lorber
020on? Yep, there she is. Okay. Michelle Reif? Oh, there's Michelle. Oh, there she is. Okay, Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Okay, so that's a 9-0 yes vote. All right. Now, Ms. Nolan? Yes. In the grievance that was just discussed in closed session, I move that the board dismiss the grievance as withdrawn and authorize the chair to issue a letter to that effect. Second. Mr. Suarez seconds Ms. Nolan's motion. So I'll call for a vote on it. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Ramey Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reeve? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Okay, that's nine to zero in favor. Now, what we've been waiting for, may I have a motion to adjourn, please? Madam Chair, I move we adjourn the meeting, tonight's meeting. Do
021I have a second? Second. Ms. Alderton seconds Ms. Lorber's motion, so I'll call for a vote on adjournment. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Ramey Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reeve? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Okay, the meeting is now adjourned. It's 9-0 to adjourn and it is 8.40 p.m. All right, everybody, we'll see each other in less than 24 hours. Right. Again. Good night. Have a nice evening. I look forward to it. Yeah, I do too.