001Welcome everyone. This is the Ritual School Board meeting for October 29th, 2020, and I'm calling the meeting to order at 4.02 p.m. and I'm going to do roll call so we can have a record of who is here. Cindy Anderson present. Veronica Nolan. She's here. I can see her. Oh, there you are. Okay. Megan Alderton. Yes. Ramey Gentry. Here. Jacinta Green. Here. Margaret Lorber. Here. Michelle Reif. Here. Heather Thornton. Here. And do we have Christopher Suarez yet? Okay, so I'm sure he'll join us soon. And now we'll start off with a moment of silence. Thank you, everyone. Now, if we can move ahead and if I could get a motion to adopt the agenda, please. Madam Chair, I make a motion that we adopt the agenda for this evening. Okay. Second. Ms. Gentry seconds Ms.
002Lorber's motion to adopt the agenda. And I sent everybody fairly late something about an amendment to pull something off. It was too late to pull it off at agenda setting to remove the legislative agenda from the consent calendar. Do I have a motion to do that? It's not we're not we're going to do it. We're going to do it later. Madam Chair, I move that we pull the ACPS legislative agenda from the consent calendar. I can't. Ms. Green seconds Ms. Gentry's motion to amend the agenda to remove that item. I'm going to call for a vote on the amendment, and then we'll go back to the actual. I'm sorry, Ms. Anderson, I believe I misspoke. I said poll, which is slightly different since it's the consent calendar. So just to clarify, my motion is to
003remove it from the calendar. Okay, thank you. All right, so we're moving the legislative. legislative agenda from this agenda. And so that was Ms. Green seconded Ms. Gentry's motion. So I'm going to call for the vote. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Ramey Gentry? Yes. Jacinta Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber. Yes. Michelle Reif. Yes. Christopher Suarez. Yes. Heather Thornton. Yes. Okay, that's 9-0, and we are now all here, so that's good. And now I will call for a vote on the amended agenda. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan. Yes. Megan Alderton. Yes. Ramey Gentry. Yes. Jacinta Green. Yes. Margaret Lorber. Yes. Sharif? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. So that's 9-0 to approve the agenda as amended. And now next up, we have our... We have our public hearing on the renaming of
004schools. And this afternoon, we have 14 speakers. And so if you're on the call to speak, if you could raise your hand, so the clerk, that will make it easier for Ms. Nielsen to move you over when it's your turn. Each speaker will have three minutes to deliver the message. There's no visible clock, but there will be. of ringing if you get to your three minutes. It's a little hard to hear on these Zoom calls, though, so we might have to tell you. We welcome any and all comments. If you want to send your comments, if you haven't already to us, please do. And that way you can actually submit longer comments than what can fit into the three minutes. Just so that you know, we don't respond to public comments this is our time
005to hear what you have to say so we don't engage with individuals in terms of their public comments this evening. So first up we have Ms. Deering. If we have Susan do you see let's see um there's a couple people on here without like a real name I see one called the century I don't know who that is. Okay so I'm looking for Ms. Elizabeth Deering. a CPS student. Let me just check on the sentry. Can you tell me your name, please? The person who's registered as the sentry. I'm sorry, we can't hear you. So if you could just tell me your name. Greg Hittleman. Oh, awesome. Okay. Thank you very much. I'm going to put you back on mute for a moment. Cindy, I would just move to the next speaker. Perhaps they're not
006on yet. Yes, I think so. Okay, next up we have Mr. Hart. I see he's on here. I'm unmuted now. Can you? We can hear you. Thank you. You can hear me, but you can't see me. Is that okay? That's fine. We see your name and we see a baby. I'm not much to see anyway. Here we go. I don't see. Yeah. Okay. Should I start? Yes, please. My name is Harry P. Budhart. I'm here to talk to you about the renaming of T.C. Williams High School to Judge Nolan V. Dawkins High School. My connection with the school is several granddaughters who have been, are now, and will be attending. And as a member of the Kiwanis Club, which has a key club at T.C. Williams and awards several scholarships each year, and I'm on
007their scholarship committee. And what I'd like to say is Judge Nolan B. Dawkins is a wonderful person to name our school after. He has lived all of his life in Alexandria. He's a product of the Alexandria school system. He was the first student to integrate GW High School back in his day. He went into the Army after college and then into law school and came right back to Alexandria. His first job here in the city was in the city attorney's office. And then for several years, he was a successful private attorney. He became the first and only African-American judge in Alexandria. He was a juvenile court judge for several years and a circuit court judge for many more, all for a total of 26 years as a judge in our city. He has and had,
008he had and has a wonderful reputation. He is high quality, has been all of the time. This is a unique opportunity to embody the name of a singularly high quality citizen and jurist that the people of the city and the students of our high school, including my granddaughters, can be proud of in every way. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Hart. Next up we have Mr. Hiddleman with Sentry. Yeah, so I'm not representing Sentry. Somehow that's my business. So this is Greg Hiddleman and I'm a co-parent for three ACPS students, including one rising freshman. There were some students who wanted to speak at this session and for some bureaucratic reason they weren't allowed or weren't able to so they sent me an email. I'm just going to read their statement first. These are some
009students from the high school. The definition of systemic or institutional racism is a form of racism that is embedded into normal practices in society. That is exactly what is being allowed by keeping this name. Our student demographic is majority people of color, and that is the demographic that T.C. Williams fought to keep out of our schools. By allowing his name to represent us, we are ignoring the fact that because of his actions and beliefs, students and families in the community were oppressed. It's incredibly harmful to families of color, as the name serves as a reminder. of the mistreatment and trauma caused by TC Williams racial injustices towards the community. And then I'll move to my own statement. Every ACPS school board member knows and is known for a painfully long time that TC Williams High
010School is named in honor of a racist. Board members also know that he was an ardent segregationist who despite Brown versus Board of Education refused to integrate our public schools for years. It's a fact that his most notable legacy is thousands of kids who suffered under his vicious leadership. Now, that ACPS has spent so much time, decades, avoiding and belaboring the decision to remove the despicable name from our one public high school, most recently bungling its reputation management and public communications, alternately treating community and student calls for change as annoyances or threats to evade or control. unleashing a season of bureaucratic hoops around the renaming process in the midst of already stressful and difficult times and shamefully dragging its heels at every step in what should have been a no-brainer, unanimous vote. Isn't it about
011time for the board to finally, finally, finally just do the right thing? Generations of brave voices of all races and hues have called for this change, coming together again in this year. of pain and chaos with a message to the future that we can work together and piece by piece, step by step, make our community, our nation, and our world a better place for all. You're going to do it at this point. It's impossible to imagine otherwise. So stop fiddling around. Vote to remove the name now, please. And we'll celebrate. And we'll come up with a new name together. then onward together to the many other issues we need to address in our schools, from incompetent, rudderless leadership to widespread systemic inequity. Thank you. Next, we have Mr. Hopkins. Are we there? Can you hear
012me now? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. I was trying to turn on video. Don't know how to do that, but we'll work it out. We have your photo, so that would be sufficient. Madam Chair, members of school board, and Mr. Superintendent, good afternoon. My name is Glenn Hopkins, and I speak to you today on behalf of Hopkins House. As some of you may know, this venerable and storied institution was founded in 1939 by Alexandria City Public School. teachers. Over these 81 years since our birth, Hopkins House has had a close and very positive working relationship with the school board and administration. In fact, in the 1940s, Hopkins House, the NAACP, and famous attorney Charles Houston first envisioned and worked with the school district to build the Parker Gray High School. Parker Gray, which
013opened in 1950, and was torn down in 1965, was the precursor to the high school, which is now infamously named in honor of the racist superintendent who bullied over the city's public schools for some 30 years. I share this little history with you to give you insight into why Hopkins House is so invested in righting this grievous wrong. While we've been successful in working with Alexandria City Public Schools on so many issues over these eight decades, issues at the very heart of what public education in our city is all about, we have been decidedly, sadly, and frustratingly less successful in coming together to rid this city and our school district of one of its most visible and heinous symbols of racism and bias. I know many of you personally and regard you as my friend,
014in part because we share common values, one of which is a deeply felt abhorrence to racism and bias. The late great Congressman John Lewis said, and I paraphrase him with great respect, when you see something wrong, say something and then do something. We see the name of our public high school. We say to you that it's wrong to be there because it's a hateful symbol that hurts and divides us. And we ask you now to do something by removing this evil name. And not to be missed is the fact that such symbols are detrimental not only to the well-being of people of color, but to our white brothers and sisters as well. That white children should be burdened by the sins of their fathers is a weight on their shoulders that they should not be
015forced to bear. To be sure, removing these public symbols of hate and bias is not a matter of race, but a matter of right. In 1991, on behalf of Hopkins House, I called on the school board to change the name. Today, 22 years later, the name still remains. The community engagement and debate on this festering issue should now be over, or it has gone on already far too long, my friends. You have the opportunity today, in this moment in history, to change a symbol of hate to one that represents the goodness and humanity of our city. Remove his name. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hopkins. Next, we have Ms. Peruganen. Sorry, Karen. That's quite all right. Thank you to all the school board members for letting me speak today. I am a proud ACPS graduate.
016Go Titans. I am proud to be an ACPS employee. Shout out to my Tucker Tigers. I'm proud to have a daughter that graduated from ACPS, class of 16. I'm proud to have four more children in ACPS. Two at George Mason Elementary. God bless the teachers in that building. And two at George Washington Middle School. Shout out to the Prexys. If you know me, you know that I am extremely proud to live and work in Alexandria. Unfortunately, I'm completely ashamed that we continue to have our only high school named for a racist and a segregationist. Today, I ask that you please agree to change the name. Please set up a quick engagement to determine a new name. And please show our black and brown students that they matter. ACPS prides itself on equity and celebrating diversity.
017Please demonstrate our celebration to diversity by changing the name of our high school. Now, Dr. Hutchings graduated a year ahead of me from TC. His mother, Mrs. Hutchings, was a teacher at my elementary school. He mentioned in the Washington Post earlier this summer, and I'll paraphrase, a name change was something we didn't even think was possible in the 90s. Please, let's make it possible now. Thank you for this time. Thank you. Next we have Ms. Mar Miller. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi, thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Tricia Mar Miller. I have lived in Alexandria for 28 years, 20 of those as a parent. For the majority of those years, I neither asked nor wondered who T.C. Williams was. This is Alexandria. Of course he was a good man. How many
018Alexandrians assumed the same? How many still do? It was about a year after I'd begun to work with ACPS students in my role as an academic tutor and as an advocate for students who need 504 and IEP support that I started to recognize a lack of equity within our school system. However, it was at a local lunch spot that I heard it said for the first time. A friend, an administrator at the school told me. Not only is there inequity in the system, but the school is named for a man who fought for segregation, a man who tried to exclude those very students whom you are supporting. One need not spend much time researching who he was. One need only read one or two articles, interviews, accounts. And as everyone now knows, there is a
019book as well. The only high school in our diverse, progressive city honors an arch segregationist and avowed racist who valued neither diversity nor progress. Allowing his name to remain in a place of honor sends a clear message to our Black students and citizens. They have been permitted to attend T.C. Williams High School, not because we in Alexandria value them as vital members of our community and recognize their equal rights, but because the man after whom their school is named lost the battle to keep them out. Let me repeat that. Williams lost a hard-fought battle to keep them out, and yet we honor him. Many may say, oh no, that's not me. I value all people. However, unless you have actively fought with us to get his name off of that school, I am sorry to
020let you know, you are complicit. The name of our only high school honors a man who believed that African American and disabled children should be educated in segregated, anything but equal schools. The name T.C. Williams must make BIPOC students wonder if they are really wanted and welcome if, after all these decades of supposed progress, this city is still telling them that they are not good enough. And what message is the name sending to every student and to every person who knows of Williams' prolonged and concerted efforts to keep Black and disabled students from attending our schools? There are people in our city who believe that changing the name of our high school is a mistake. This very renaming process includes the possibility that William's name will remain on the school. Our history has been written.
021We cannot change it. However, that history should not only disgust and mortify us, but it should also motivate us to change every aspect of our school system that abides systemic racism. We cannot rewrite our racist history, but it is time now to rewrite our future. Let it be made profoundly clear that we no longer honor exclusion or racism in Alexandria. I beg you to vote unanimously to remove the name of a hateful man from Alexandria's only high school. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Mr. Hodge. I don't see Mr. Hodge present, although maybe we can go back to him. Let me check some of those phone numbers, make sure. I think you're on mute, Cindy. Yes, it would be so much more helpful if you could hear what I'm saying. Yes,
022we'll go back to the people that we didn't capture at the end. Next up, I have Mr. Waters then. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. I support renaming T.C. Williams High School and William Murray Elementary on the current ACPS standards, which are a matter of public record. I choose not to quibble on the goodness or identities of T.C. Williams or Matthew Mowry. Quite the contrary. I come as a vested stakeholder, risking being misunderstood, but focus on a higher calling to help you as elected public officials decide whether there are compelling reasons to rename two public schools under current renaming standards. In my view, there are compelling reasons. But I admit being hampered by an incomplete record of TC Williams job expectations, conflicting accounts of budgetary conditions he faced, and a lack of objective performance
023and behavior of standards. As a result, I applied current inexact expectations, budgetary conditions, and perceived performance as well as behavior standards. Documented evidence reveals the deceased former superintendent failed to make an extraordinary contribution to the school system as a whole, especially in the areas of community relations and student services. Mr. Mowry's actions speak louder than any words. I believe T.C. Williams and Matthew Mowry as people created in God's image are no better or worse than you or me. But their chosen behavior, I say again, their chosen behavior. is the issue that is disturbing to me. Mr. Williams, as a public official, was highly partial, and Mr. Mallory maintained his allegiance to the Confederacy. Both of their failure, in my view, of upholding the ACPS standards, current standards, is disqualifying. So I still question what was
024the ACPS basis or standard use to name the two schools being discussed. I hope we can all agree factors such as expectations and standards on the various conditions matter. When these factors are applied in rating the quality of service of T.C. Williams and or Matthew Mowry as educators, teachers, and leaders, I submit their human behavior alone is sufficient basis for removing their names on public schools unless you decide to use the antiquated might-makes-right philosophy. In closing, these renaming petitions have forged the city another opportunity to turn the page on a might-makes-right history, thereby proving once again that places like people can be renewed with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for your service and the privilege of your time. Thank you. Next up, we have Mr. Munson. I think I saw him, right? Oh,
025yes, he's already over. Mr. Munson, I saw you and now it's disappeared. Hello, Mr. Munson. Can you hear us? I hear you. Okay, we can hear you now. Great, thank you. Thanks. Okay, can you see me? No, but that's. We see your name. That's all. Just as well. Okay. I just, I won't, I won't be holding the phone in a strange way then. So thank you for, for giving everyone an opportunity to speak. I'm going to give a different perspective than I think you've heard so far. The one thing that this comes down to for me is that the high school was named after a man. but it has been redefined by our whole community as a symbol of unity and diversity. And I think it's actually something that we should treasure. Divorcing what was
026associated with Mr. Williams, but retaining the goodwill that we've developed over so many decades. But let me first speak as a father of an upperclassman and mention a few practical considerations and concerns I have if we were to change the name. And I don't mean for these to be considered minor and minuscule, but they are realistic concerns that I think we need to make sure we think through. First of all, TC Williams' name is listed in a number of databases that the students utilize. For example, I've helped my daughter working through the Naviance website to look for colleges. There are a lot of resources that require you searching through and finding your high school name. So that's something, if the name changes, I think we need to look into difficulties you might find in having
027a different name. Also, at least in the near term, there are a lot of admissions offices or college coaches that might be looking for recruits that are familiar with T.C. Williams High School and a change to a different name. Even if it's relatively minor and easy to overcome, I think the lack of familiarity with the great high school that we represent, I think that is going to pose a bit of a problem that we need to be careful of. My broader concerns, though, are I think it sends the message that a student's destiny is somehow tied to their high school name rather than their individuality. I don't think that's the message we're trying to send. I think it also conveys the message that a simple name change can solve the serious problems that our students
028and our community faces. I think we have shown as a community, particularly our students and our educators, that hard work and working together to be more integrated and to embrace our diversity, that is what has changed. And so I think a simple name change is not going to accomplish a solution to the real challenges we face in our society. And lastly, let me just say from the perspective as an adult, I mentioned before the goodwill of our name. I know that we don't live in a Disney movie, but the truth of the matter is there is not a single high school in the United States that has more goodwill associated with its name. And that is because it stands for the exact proposition that we can overcome segregation. We can overcome racism by working together.
029And everyone I have talked to, when I asked them what they know about T.C. Williams, they say, oh, it's the high school where they overcame the racial problems. So I think there is a lot of goodwill in the name that we have redefined that separates from Mr. Williams. In conclusion, let me just say that I- Mr. Munson, I'm sorry. You've used more than three minutes. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. You can send us the rest of your comments, right? Your comments. Sorry, I didn't hear that, Susan. It's a little bit subtle compared to the one in our board room. I'm going to go get the loud one next time. Okay. Next up, we have Mr. Sanders. Oh, let's see. Yeah, he's there. He's there. I don't hear him speaking, but
030I see that he's there. He has both a connection on the computer and on the phone. Both are allowed to talk. He may need to unmute. It looks like on the computer he's unmuted, right? Correct. Mr. Sanders? Let's see. So it looks like he did connect with the phone, and that's what it's trying to use, but it is muted. Okay. So maybe, Mr. Sanders, you can... unmute your phone. Yeah, because he's on a phone. I can't do anything with his. You can't unmute a phone. It looks like he is unmuted, but why don't we go on to the next person? We'll go back to Mr. Sanders. I think that's right. Next up, we have Ms. Henderson, Sharon Henderson. Good evening, members of the Board of Education and Superintendent. My name is Sharon Henderson, and I
031am the daughter of Coach Herman Boone. I would just like to thank you all this evening for the opportunity to speak with you concerning renaming T.C. Williams High School. As you go through your very serious process of determining whether to rename T.C. Williams High School, I simply wanted to express the desire of both the Boone and Yost families to have our father's name considered as the new name for T.C. Williams should the decision to change move forward. Now, we all know that the blockbuster movie Remember the Titans put T.C. Williams High School in many households around the country, while it forever carved our father's names in the history books of the world. But I wanted to be known that these two men did things far greater for the community of Alexandria than what was portrayed
032in that movie. You see, both men shared a history of being relentless advocates for students towards social justice and equality. Because of their determination to make a difference, many young people benefited from their leadership on and off of the football field and today are hugely successful in their own lives. Wayne Saunders, who you all have on the board to speak, is an outstanding example among many who benefited from his mentoring experience with these two great men. Should the board decide to rename the school and choose the Boone Yost High School, it would certainly be one of the greatest honors that the legacies of both men could receive from the city that they both love so much. I believe it would also communicate the city's commitment to inclusion for all of the extremely diverse student and
033community demographics of Alexandria, Virginia. Again, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to address the board this evening. Thank you. I think maybe did Mr. Sanders, can you speak now? Because I think maybe I heard something. It's still not working, huh? Let me see. I thought I saw the square with his name. Yeah. Make some indication that he was able to transmit. Okay, we'll keep going back to him. Yep, we'll go back. Okay. Now we have, next up we have Ms. Haddo, Colleen Haddo. Yes. Good afternoon. There's a lot of feedback. I don't know what that's about. Do you have sound coming out of another machine? No, I don't think so. Is that better? It seems to have subsided. It was just momentary. Okay, great. Thank you so much for the opportunity to
034speak. My name is Colleen Haddo. I am a resident of the city of Alexandria. I am an attorney here, as is my husband. And I have a daughter. She attended kindergarten at Wiles Crouch and a three-year-old. And my daughters, they will attend Alexandria City Public Schools. I first have to say that I am incredibly disappointed in this school board and the failure to have T.C. Williams renamed in a swift and certain manner. It is an embarrassment to the city of Alexandria as we watch our neighboring jurisdictions rename schools named after racists, segregationists, and confederates that we are still deciding whether or not we're going to act or not. It's the stall tactics and that not every single member of this school board has made an explicit endorsement that the name of T.C. Williams must go.
035The constituents of the city of Alexandria don't need to be educated about T.C. Williams and who he was because we know who he was and we're not proud of who he was. And that this is one of multiple efforts to try to change this name. And yet the school board members that we have elected have not chosen to act, has not gone unnoticed. I would echo Bud Hart's comments in endorsing the high school to be changed to Nolan B. Dawkins High School. And I won't go over everything Judge Dawkins has done for this community in the honor it would be to name a high school after him, a high school that all of us can be proud of and our children can be proud to attend. And me as a parent will be proud to
036have my children graduate from that high school. We're not proud of TC Williams and we shouldn't be proud of TC Williams, but the silence and the lack of action has been very loud, almost deafening at times. I would ask that this school board take swift and certain action to change the name of TC Williams and Matthew Maury and no longer sit in silence or put us through bureaucratic processes. Your constituents deserve better. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Ms. Chapman, Michelle Chapman. Can you hear me? We sure can. Go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Michelle Chapman and I've lived in this city for 65 years. I am an alumni of the only public high school in the city of Alexandria, class of 1974. I'm also speaking on behalf of my sister, Toni,
037class of 1971. and two brothers, John, class of 1975, and G. Stanley, class of 1976. I also speak for the countless children of color who were held back from achieving their highest possibilities because the spirit of a vile, evil, and despicable former superintendent. was then and is still inhabiting the building at 3330 King Street. I also speak for an employee who lost her job because she wanted the best for her children. That superintendent should have been the one who was fired because of the action that he took against her. But I'm here today, one, to thank you for affording us the opportunity to express our feelings. Two, to remind you that we as a community should never reward bad behavior. And three, it is never too late to right a wrong. Some of the many
038numerous reasons that this name should change. This superintendent was one of the chief architects of the taking of land that belonged to Black families to build a school that he didn't want Black students to attend. They were not compensated correctly and irreparable harm was done to them. Two, he lied about test scores and abilities of Black students. So to keep them from achieving an equal education. Three, and this is the most important part, his perceptions guided how Black families were to be treated, not just at school, but in the community. And those perceptions have lingered long after he's been gone. This name invokes similar feelings like those surrounding Confederate statues. And this is all the more reason that it should be removed. There are plenty more reasons, but I only have three minutes. It's past
039time, people, to change the name. It's come up plenty of times before and should have been acted on by now. This kind of person is not who we want our children to emulate in our school standards should be. Thank you very much. I'm sorry your time has expired. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up. I think Mr. Sanders, can you speak now? I think Mr. Sanders. I don't know what's going on with that audio, but that's, I think it's maybe because of the two devices. Because it's happened the last two speakers, that's what the feedback is from, is somehow it's from, I think, Mr. Sanders' connection. So I don't know, Mr. Sanders, if you can be on one or the other, maybe that would be helpful. But we're going to go on to the
040next person and then come back again. Can you hear me now? Oh, yes. Yes, we can hear you. Okay, we can hear you. Yay. Please go ahead, Mr. Sanders. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for having me, giving me this opportunity to speak to you tonight. I just want to say that, you know, I would like to see the name change to Boone Yost High School as well. These two gentlemen are very well known by many of you from an athletic standpoint. But if they were here tonight to defend themselves or suggest a name change in their honor, they would tell you that their first priority was as educators. That's what they came to the city of Alexandria to do, to teach. Athletics football coaching was just an extension of their cheating abilities. When the 622
041plan went into effect in 1971, the community, the students, were very upset. There was a four-pronged attack to resolve that issue as far as trying to keep the city at calm. Coach Boone, Coach Yost, the community leaders, the faculty, and the students. all became one to keep the city of Alexandria from going up in flames. Now, I say there were three other factors. Yes, there were. Those individuals, the community leaders, the faculty and the students, along with Coach Boone and their staff, stayed on point to keep calm within the city of Alexandria. If you were not here during that time frame, you have no idea what was going on within that school system at that time. Those four groups, along with those two coaches, maintained the peace to the point to where we are today
042in the city of Alexandria. You're able to see history as it is today rather than what it could have been. So from their efforts. It brought on a community that worked together. It brought quiet and safety to the city. It established what the city of Alexandria is to this day. So I hear what many of you are saying, and I want you to also understand that those four elements are the reason why TC Williams is what it is today. Now, if... Those two gentlemen, along with the other three elements, could represent T.C. Williams back in the day. Why not going into the future, the school, the city, the community, the students cannot represent Boone Yotes High School? The city does not lose any identity because you got two of the greatest titans that the school
043is named after. That's all I have to say this afternoon. I appreciate your time. I look forward to seeing the outcome of the committee's decision. And thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sanders. I'm glad that we could finally get you connected to us. Next up, I have Ms. Petrini. Hi. For the record, I just want to state that I support a change of the TC Williams High School name, but I'm talking about Matthew Maury today. I wanted to start by saying that I'm grateful to Dr. Hutchings and the school board for taking on this project. I'm also very grateful to the nearly 200 members of our community who signed the petition. I want to thank the board for adopting a thoughtful process and from my observations during this process, the Maury community stands behind a name
044change. I'm a Maury parent. I have a kindergartner and a third grader at Maury, and I've been interested in Matthew Maury since we moved to the neighborhood. I was a history major, and I've found that the legend of Matthew Maury deserves scrutiny. There are two things I focused on when studying Matthew Maury. I wanted to understand his place in the Confederacy, and I wanted to understand the significance of his name being chosen for our school. In the early 1900s, a picture was painted of Matthew Mori by the Daughters of the Confederacy with the publishing of propaganda booklets that emphasized his accomplishments in oceanography and labeled him as a great scientist and global humanitarian. Upon further inspection, historians have noted that he was also a pro-slavery internationalist. He attempted to negotiate a slave trade from the
045United States to Brazil, and he tried to create a new Virginia colony in Mexico after the Civil War, where slave labor would continue with a new label of indentured servitude. In fact, he convinced nearly 4,000 Confederate soldiers to defect before his plan was thwarted by unrest in Mexico. When he joined the Confederacy at the start of the Civil War, his economic ideas that united the slave-holding American South with South America emboldened the Confederacy with the financial confidence to secede. Morey also invented an early version of the torpedo that sunk Union ships during the Civil War and went to Europe to lobby for the Confederacy. In the 1920s, the cult of the Lost Cause led to a Jim Crow era South that rejected integration and glorified members of the Confederacy. Matthew Morey's name was plucked from
046Civil War history at this time, and things were named after him as his statue was raised on Richmond's Monument Avenue. On January 16th, 1929, Matthew Maury Elementary was named by an unelected school board who did not engage with the community to find a name for this school. In the minutes from the naming meeting, the notes read, moved, seconded, and agreed that the new Rosemont X school be named after Maury, Matthew Fontaine Maury. There was no substantive discussion or community engagement as evidenced in the minutes. The name Maury was chosen specifically to emphasize the South's intention to remain segregated and to honor the lost cause. It sent a message about our school, our neighborhood, our city, and about Virginia. It is past time to reject that message. Thank you for your time, everyone. Thank you. Now
047that's the last speaker, but we had two more, two of them earlier in the list that we did not, we're not able to connect with. So Ms. Elizabeth Deering. I see there's one person still. Oh, that's, that's Ms. Mitrini. Okay. And then the second is Mr. Gregory Hodge. Don't see him either. Right. Okay. I think that. Susan, Ms. Nielsen, do you see any? I do not see either of those. Okay, perhaps they were unable to make it in the end. All right, so that concludes the public hearing on the name changes. And we finished our public engagement then, and so the vote will be on the 23rd of November. And so that's the next thing. Also, there are some written comments that are attached to this agenda and people can submit for regular meetings. People
048can submit either written comments or they can sign up to speak. But it's I'm sorry, Ms. Nielsen, is it by noon two days before? It is noon one day before the one day before one day before noon because our technology requires a little more notice when we're virtual. So thank you all for coming out. And now we're off to the next thing is the report by our student representatives. So I'll turn it over to them. Hello. Good evening, everybody. First, I want to say to miss. Miss Vetrini, that whole thing with Matthew Mori, that was really great. That was well put. I'm actually doing a research paper about the renaming that I decided to do. So I was writing a few things down. But good evening, everybody. First, I wanted to share something personal from
049Ashley and I. We've been telling the high school students about emailing us, the student rep email, if they wanted to ask questions or speak their truth about anything. And this week, we just started getting a few emails from the students, and it made my entire week. We really, when we got the first email, it was super exciting to email them back and connect with my peers. and I hope that we get more emails from students like this in the future because this is something that Ashley and I look for as student representatives. Your voice is crucial to this process. My second report is that the high school students have been saying that they want to take a survey that is more directed to their concerns that they have with virtual learning today. I talked with
050Ms. Burgos and Mr. Ballas, and they've been very supportive of it. The previous survey, it served its purpose in reaching out to the community about how we should reopen when the time comes, and it gave questions about... transportation, health and safety, the continuation of virtual plus, all of that good stuff. But this survey will concern things like mental health of the high school students, their workload, the new schedule, their access to resources, etc. We will ask them about what the academic level describes the majority of their classes, like if they're taking honors, AP, general, DE classes. Are their assignments manageable? If virtual learning has made a positive or negative impact on their school performance and different things like that. We hope that administrators, counselors, staff, and teachers will look at the survey with an open
051mind and consider our needs as we move forward with virtual learning in the second quarter. The way I see it, I think this survey somewhat, it mirrors the student voice. This survey would be a platform for students to speak their truth about what they're dealing with in school today, right now, in the present. By serving by reserving time for students to take the survey and by approving the survey, you would show the students that you are listening and you do value our voice. So I hope that we can move forward with the survey because this is something that my peers are really passionate about. Now I will turn it over to Ashley. All right. So good evening, everyone. Thank you, Lorraine, for your report. So last week, October 20th, was our final student conversation surrounding
052the topic of where are we going. So thank you so much to all the students that participated in the discussion and everyone that worked so hard with helping us organize to ensure everything went accordingly. And special thanks to Ms. Thornton, Ms. Green, and Mr. Suarez for moderating those student discussions. And apart from the student forums, I had the pleasure of participating as a panelist for the community engagement discussion. So last night, I had the honor of being alongside Mr. Christopher Harris, which is the president of the Alexandria NAACP, and then Miss Cindy Benavides, which is the CEO of League of United Latin American Citizens, so LULAC. It was very enlightening being a part of the conversation. So many thanks to Mr. Porter and Ms. Tanika Tukan for leading those discussions and our wonderful school board
053members for moderating those as well. And just to share a little bit from that conversation, which was so enriching. It was something that Mr. Harris mentioned, and it was about the whole renaming process and how us changing the names, just the first step of really addressing the racial inequity, of really addressing the systemic issues that we see in our school division. And that, you know, even though we're going to change, the name change will occur. Eventually, we still have to address many of those issues because they continue to perpetuate in our society. So it was just very interesting hearing his perspective as the president of the NAACP about this matter and just him talking about his experiences as a graduate of TC as well and just like lack of knowledge. that he had when he
054was a student and just hearing Ms. Benavidez experiences as, you know, a Latina being in AP classes and just the disproportionate numbers being in those spaces. And that just kind of really goes to show the changes that we have yet to make because I still experience those things and many other students of color experience those things where they feel as if they're the only student. being in those spaces. So just seeing the 20 year difference between her experiences when she was a student and graduated in 2000 and my experiences and those of other students of color just goes to show how we really need to start taking those first steps and really addressing these issues and getting down to ensuring that we have inclusive spaces for all students and that they're being supported along the
055way. So thank you. Thanks to both of you for your role and all those discussions and for helping plan that. So thanks to both of our student reps. Still very, very happy that you come to our meetings. So next up, we have our consent calendar. If I could get a motion to adopt the consent calendar. Madam Chair, I move we adopt the consent calendar. Second. Okay, Ms. Alderton, second Ms. Lorber's motion. Is there anything to remove, pull from the consent calendar? Yes, Madam Chair, can we please pull item nine? Okay, actually, it may now be... It's fixed. It's already up to date. Right, right. Okay, of course, we're in here. Ms. Chanty, if you could just state the item by name. Certainly, reappoint Sean McNary to the Budget Advisory Committee. Madam Chair, I would also
056like to pull the gift that needs to be approved by the school board and also community use of schools September report. Okay, well, we're down to the minutes only in the consent report. So, okay, we'll do that. We have three of them out. So, all right. So for the remaining thing, which is just the minutes for October 16th and 22nd special called board meetings, we have a motion and a second. And so I'm going to call for the vote on that item. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan, yes. Megan Alderton, yes. Amy Gentry, yes. Jacinta Green. Yes. Margaret Larber. Yes. Michelle Reeve. Yes. Christopher Suarez. Yes. Heather Thornton. Yes. Okay. So that's 9-0 for the minutes. And now we'll go on to the number seven and eight, which are the community donation to ACPS and community
057use of facilities report. Ms. Green? Oh, you're muted. Ms. Green, you're muted. I need my t-shirt. I need my t-shirt, Madam Chair. I was thinking of your t-shirt, but I wasn't going to mention it. I might wear that one meeting. You should. It would help me. I will. Thank you. I just wanted to, for the community donation, I just wanted to send out a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Rawlings, the pastor of Kingdom Fellowship, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Keeping It Moving Ministries. That was such a wonderful donation that is going, you know, so needed here now, here within ACPS with our disadvantaged families and just people that truly need that extra boost during these unprecedented times. That was for you, Dr. Hutchings. So just, you know, we appreciate our community partners and all that they
058do for our schools, for our families. And I just wanted to publicly say that it's such a great donation and it's so very much needed. So thank you to them. And then moving on to the community use of our schools, Dr. Hart, if you could explain to me, there is one charge for a parking lot that was used at George Washington Middle. for an event that was actually food given to quite a few ACPS families and then other marginalized families here in the Alexandria area. And I was wondering... what that $600 is for, and also with other organizations that are using our parking lots, which I'm affiliated with another one that had an event at Minnie Howard. Is that the standard rate? And then third, is there a list of what we charge to use
059our facilities that are currently not being used in the pandemic? Okay, so I will have to verify the $600 expense that is on that report. For my understanding, it was actually a donation, but I want to verify that that is absolutely correct. For the second part of your question, I'm sorry, Ms. Green, can you repeat the second and third parts of your question as well? Yes, just, you know, basically community organizations that are using our facilities while we are, you know, while we aren't utilizing them, is there a listing of just what we charge or, you know, do we charge or, you know, I'm not sure, like, I think you'll find out if that was a donation from the church or not, but do we charge during? this pandemic period. I know our virtual partners,
060we do not charge. We do not charge. And we have, right. Yes. So we have not been charging for our virtual, we just mentioned that, our virtual plus partners that are utilizing our schools. All other non-essential activities, which is noted in the memo, have been suspended for the time being. So we're not receiving any charges for activities that we would typically host in the buildings. The activities that we are hosting, such as distributions and parking lots, we are also not charging for. And again, I will verify that the $600 was a donation, and I can make sure that Dr. Hutchings is able to relay that back to the board. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Okay, so the way when we pull them off, we have to individually vote on them. So maybe we'll
061go ahead and vote on the first two individually, and then we can proceed to the third one. So the first one is the community donation to ACPS. So if I could have a motion and a second for that, that would be great. Madam Chair, I move that we approve the community donation of $8,500 in gift cards. Hi, Jim. Dr. Reif seconds Ms. Green's motion, and I'll call for a vote. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? I'll go back. Ramey Gentry? Yes. Samantha Green? Yes. Margaret Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reif? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? Yes. Megan Alderson? Okay, so we'll say eight yes and one absent. Yes, I'm sorry. That's all right. Nine, nine, zero. That's okay. It's, you know, we're meeting long time. People have to leave their desk for a second
062sometimes. So nine, zero. And then if I could get a motion and a second for the community use of facilities report for September. Madam Chair, I move that we adopt the community use of school September report. Second. Second. Okay, I heard two different people. I'm going to give that to Ms. Lorber because I heard her last and I missed the first one. Ms. Lorber seconds Ms. Green's motion and I will call for a vote on the Community Use of Facilities Report. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan, yes. Regan Alderton, yes. Amy Gentry, yes. Rosenta Green, yes. Margaret Lorber, yes. Shawif, yes. Christopher Suarez, yes. Heather Thornton. Yes. So that is a nine zero nine zero votes. So I was looking for something from the clerk for a second. Now we have a misgentry. Thank you, everyone.
063I'll be brief. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank Sean for signing up again for another year with the Budget Advisory Committee and really thank all of the returning members for the Budget Advisory Committee. I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to encourage members of the community that might be interested in serving on this committee to please join. You can get information and the application on our website. I also really want to encourage my fellow board members. to maybe do some active recruitment for this committee. If you've got some people that you think, you know, based on conversations that you've had with them, that they've shown a particular interest or zeal about budget related issues, you know, maybe it hasn't occurred to them that this is a way that they could
064help service. So I really want to encourage you all. And my last bit of news that I hope you all will be pleased to hear is we've had the, you know, I've had discussions with the leadership of BA, of BAC and also with Dr. Hutchings and the finance team. And we've concluded that the best use of BAC's time this year and their scope of work really should be focused on the question of the budget calendar. We know from earlier in this year that there were definitely a number of questions raised about the calendar, the timing, the sequencing, the placement, overall budget calendar questions. And so this seemed like a really clear mission that the BAC could really sink its teeth into, especially as this is a year when some of the other budget things are
065going to be a little bit more in flux as we, you know, are continuing to get COVID-related updates. So... the plan will be for them to submit the report of their findings and their recommendations the beginning of May and we express we specifically set that timeline in coordinating with the finance team so that it would allow them time to absorb the report and have that be, you know, part of the information that they're, you know, considering when they come to us in June as scheduled with options for budget calendar. So again, thank you to everyone that serves on Budget Advisory Committee and look forward to welcoming some new members. Thank you. And with that, I will call for a motion to reappoint Sean McNary to the Budget Advisory Committee. Second. Who seconded? Who was that?
066Was that Ms. Alderson? Yes. Okay. Ms. Alderson seconded Ms. Gentry's motion to reappoint Sean McNerney to the Budget Advisory Committee. I'm going to call for the vote. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Sorry, I had a moment. Thanks. Yes. Megan Alderson? Yes. Rami Gentry? Yes. Yes. Robert Lorber. Yes. Michelle Reif. Yes. Christopher Suarez. Yes. Heather Thornton. Yes. Okay, there we go. 9-0. And we move on to our old business. And the first thing up is our area of focus for this meeting, which is policy equity audit timeline. And I'll turn it over to Dr. Hutchings. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I'm going to turn things over at this time in regards to this is our equity. Yes. I can't hear you. I'm sorry. Equity. I'm going to turn because I'm looking at my team. I'm
067like, where is everybody on here? I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Jackson because I have all these faces on. I'm like, where's the team? To Dr. Jackson at this moment. We moved that actually because we had some people from outside of ACPS joining. And that's kind of our policy, our sort of practice. Thank you. I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Jackson to introduce our team to begin our discussion in regards to our equity audit. As Dr. Jackson is coming on, I just want to share that, as you all know, our strategic plan that we have in place, racial equity being the heart of our work, and ACPS 2025 equity for all, you know, we are in order for us to ensure that we are dismantling some of the systemic racism and
068overcoming some of the inequities within our school division, we're going to need to audit our policies because our policies drive our practices, which in turn have an impact on our achievement results. So we're hoping that this equity audit will at least give us the information that we're going to need to begin to, you know, develop the appropriate policies that will support the mission, vision, and core values of ACPS. But Dr. Jackson, if you can just introduce our team for today. so that we can begin our presentation. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Dr. Hutchings, for that wonderful opening. And Ms. Kenetra Wood is going to lead us in our presentation this evening. She is our Executive Director of Equity for our department. So I'll turn it over to her. Greetings, Chair Anderson, Vice Chair Nolan, School
069Board, Dr. Hutchings, Senior Leadership Team, and all those that are watching at home. Ms. Nielsen, can you share the slides, please? Thank you. We're here tonight because ACPS is on a journey, and a journey to eliminate barriers that inhibit our students from achieving their highest potential. Guided by our strategic plan, equity for all 2025. We are here to share an update of the request of a request by our school board and superintendent to conduct an equity audit of our school board policies. It is our goal to eliminate those barriers and make sure that we are not perpetuating inequities within our school and our school division. I am accompanied by Mr. Terrence Wilson, who is from IDRA, and I will give a little bit more of an introduction for him later on in the presentation. You
070will hear from him. I would first like to start by saying that this is a proactive and innovative journey that we are on, and I commend and am in awe of our school board and our superintendent for starting this process. In researching organizations, to ensure that we can get this done. It's not widely done in other places across the nation. And so in that research, there was some difficulty and some challenges that were posed in finding an organization that can support us in the way that we needed to be supported. Next slide, please. So in looking at organizations and researching areas where we would be able to be supported in this area, We came up with a couple of guiding questions to guide our thoughts and our process and the work that we needed to
071be done. And the first one says, how do we ensure ACPS policies are aligned to support the work of our strategic plan? How do we actualize our strategic plan by strengthening our policies? How does our data support the need for policy alignment to our strategic plan goals? And finally, how do we create a crosswalk of our data, policies, and strategic plan to ensure that we are aligned and everything that we're doing within our division is done through a lens of equity and, at the heart, racial equity? In 2017, there was an audit, equity audit done by Hanover Research, I should mention. It was a comparison and an overview of our school board policies with an equity lens. And at the time, it compared us to about six other divisions across the nation. At that time,
072it was what we needed, where we were in our journey. But where we are now, we need something a little bit different and a little more detail in order. to ensure that we are aligned with our vision, mission, and core values and are able to actualize our strategic plan in our everyday work. Next slide, please. And when we think about the steps along the way that we have taken in ACPS, it has truly been, and I keep saying, a journey because that's what it is. This work is a journey and every day we are on that journey and we look at the things that we have done in the past, we were working on and now we have brought to life our strategic plan 2025 equity for all. We do equity training with our school
073board, our administrators, and our staff. And our leaders have even embarked on turnaround training that they are doing within their respective departments within the division, as well as our schools. We are in participation and partnership with the city and our city colleagues in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, known as GAER. We have put instilled equity liaisons in each one of our division schools. We have interdepartmental collaboration, and I am excited to say that today we had our first cross-departmental Leading for Equity Committee meeting where we got together. And this is a place where we are going to discuss how equity is actualized across our division within every department within our central office. And we have collaborative partnerships that we have worked on throughout the year. Next slide, please. This slide I'm sure some
074of our school board members have seen before from Mr. Page and his office. But this is a chart, a graphic that really gets home to how our strategic plan process works. And I just wanted to show it so you can see the entire view of this. of this graphic and it gets into the planning process, the actual work and the framework that it took to write the strategic plan and the components that it is written in, and then how we monitor for continuous improvement. And if you go to the next slide, please. I broke down a little bit just to show the alignment of how an equity audit of our school board policy meets and supports what our strategic plan is guiding us to do. And so you see the little block with our school
075board there who started the creation of our mission, vision, and core values that were then vetted and given feedback from other stakeholders within our division, and the alignment to the goal, systemic alignment. And that's what this... process will do. This process will align us with making sure that we are building a culture of continuous improvement and a design equitable systems for schools and instructional improvement and ensuring that our policies are able to speak to that will continue to put us in a place where we are able to meet that goal. Next slide, please. At this time, I would like to introduce you to the organization that we propose to conduct our equity audit of school board policies, the Intercultural Development Research Association, known as IDRA. This organization was recommended to us through the BDOE director
076from the Office of Equity and Community Engagement. And like I said earlier, this was a process to research organizations that could even support us in this work because it's not work that is done or widely known across the nation. Their experience with Governor's Commission for Social Studies and our SOLs, so the work that they are already doing in Virginia, pushed us to also want to meet with this organization. They have experience working with policies through an equity lens, and they focus on how policies operate and how they impact people and all of our stakeholders as we move this work forward. Next slide, please. So at this time, I would like to welcome Mr. Terrence Wilson from RDRA to step on and come off of mute and talk to you a little bit about how his
077organization can support us in our equity audit of our school board policies. Mr. Wilson. Thank you, Ms. Wood. Can you all hear me okay? Excellent. Well, I first want to thank you all for taking the time out to have a conversation about this very important issue and addressing equity. And I really want to commend you for the vision that you all have set to focus on equity over the next couple of years. And, you know, from being a part of this meeting, you know, it seems like, you know, and it's very apparent that you all have. community members that are actively engaged and you are actively engaged as a school board and superintendent and as a staff to really focus on equity. So I first want to commend you for that and thank you for
078having me on this afternoon or this evening. I am the regional director policy and community engagement director for IDRA and also serve as a lead for our equity assistance center for the US South. And so over the course of the next few minutes, I'm going to tell you a little bit about our organization and how we operate the EAC South. what we do and how we might envision a partnership together, specifically looking at equity. And so I'll begin with a conversation about who we are as an organization. The Intercultural Development Research Association has been around since 1975. We were founded to address... numerous issues around educational equity, specifically around school finance. And over that time, we have developed a number of different education equity focuses. And during that time, we've also been granted one of
079the contracts from the U.S. Department of Education to run one of four federally funded equity assistance centers. And so our center, the EAC South, operates in Region 2, which includes the U.S. South. Although I know Virginia, you know, is geographically maybe not the South and I was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. So I understand this more than most, but we include Virginia, D.C., down the coast of Florida and over to Texas. So we've got 11 states and D.C. within our region. And the focus of these services is really to. talk to school districts, to state agencies, to local campuses about how to be better and improve academic outcomes for their students using an equity lens. And so the four areas that we examine school districts and their activities as through race, national origin, gender,
080sex, and religion. And so we've worked, we've operated this contract with the Department of Education for somewhere over 10 years. We've worked with school districts and state agencies all over the South on how to improve equity in their school districts. And so we've been doing this work through this contract for, you know, the EXL for a number of years. EAC has been, IDRA has been doing this work for much longer. And so we have a wealth of experience on our team to help school districts who are wanting to address more specifically issues of equity in their policies, in their practices, and in their engagement with communities. There are three levels of intervention that we offer the schools that we work with. And they range from intensive, which are kind of one focus on one particular
081issue. So, you know, so schools might reach out to us, districts might reach out to us and say, you know, we've had an incident around race, we have an incident around, you know, sexual orientation. Can you come give us a training? We do those intensive kinds of relationships, but we also do. projects that span numerous years where we're looking at, you know, the universal aspects and bringing in the community and talking about a long-term vision for how a school district can move forward and set equity policy. So there's a range of services that we offer and we're very excited to be being considered for the good work that you all are doing in Alexandria at this point. And so at this point, you all can go on to the next slide and I'll talk a
082little bit about Well, you can stay on the slide before. I'm sorry. I'll talk a little bit from the slide that we were on about our equity audit process and how we do. how we engage with school districts across the South about these issues. And, you know, for us, you know, as I mentioned before, we've been doing this work for a number of years, and we've really got six goals of educational equity that guide our engagement with schools. And so those goals, you know, are really kind of our vision for what we want to see at the end of an equity audit process. So those goals include data that reveals comparably high academic achievement. and other student outcomes for all groups of learners, equitable access and inclusion that affords all learners unrestricted entrance and participation
083in academic and extracurricular activities, equitable treatment, and a welcoming and inclusive learning environment. equitable opportunity to learn in an academic setting with high standards that offers a strong system of supports, equitable resources that include fair allocation of funding, staffing, facilities, instructional materials, and equipment, and accountability that ensures that all stakeholders hold themselves and each other responsible for the success of every student. So I'm sure that you all heard a lot in those goals that, you know, resonate with you all from the goals that you've articulated in your vision for 2025 around, you know, wanting the best outcomes for all students and really having an ability to focus on where the deficiencies may be, where the opportunities for growth might be, you know, as you relate to specific populations of students. And so the equity audit
084is just one way that we've gone about getting to some of those goals that we've articulated. And really, we focus in three main areas. You know, we can focus on looking at the programs that you are offering students and the access to those programs, looking at the instruction, the teacher's instruction, looking at achievement. And we look at data. in a number of different ways, both the qualitative and quantitative data that is available. But it's really important for us, as you all have been engaged in this process, to also have an idea about what the real lived experience is of your students, of the young people in your environments, of families, of educators, of community members, of you all as administrators in approaching this. So the way that we approach this is not a top-down kind
085of analysis. We have a very collaborative style in our audit process and there's opportunities for collaboration and opportunities for feedback along the way. Because we think it's vitally important if you all are gonna have an equity audit and you all are gonna have the ability to examine policies, you wanna receive input from all of those that might be impacted in your community. And so in the audits that we've done in the past, they've include listening sessions. campus and classroom observations, focus groups with parents, with students, community members, obviously reviews of particular policies and plans, and actually looking at the data, you know, looking at the academic performance, graduation, other of those kinds of measures that are typically examined. And so we try to do all of those things to come up with a clear picture.
086about where the opportunities for growth with regard to equity are in your school district. And I know that you all have been engaged on this journey, as Ms. Wood mentioned, so you'll have a good deal of, you know, you've made a great deal of progress in assessing these things. And so our expertise is continuing to help you push that envelope forward, but also working with you, you know, as I mentioned, over time to figure out ways that you can address these. the policies that may be producing disparities, you know, in the system. You know, oftentimes the way that inequity and disparities work is that it's not that it, you know, there's no person behind the curtain that's trying to pull strings and create inequitable outcomes. But oftentimes there are policies and practices in place that
087just have not been examined. And so part of our ideas is not only assessing where those opportunities may be, but helping you along with the community come up with different strategies that you may be able to use to address those opportunities that you've identified. And so there's opportunities for collaboration, opportunities for growth along the way. And so we really are excited to have the opportunity to work with you all to help you build, you know, how you get to that vision. We really think it's laudable that you're taking these steps and, you know, you all are addressing things that are extremely timely in today's environment. focusing on race, religion, national origin, sex is crucially important for the growth of your school and for the well-being of your students and the families that you serve. So
088with that, I will turn it back over. I know that we will have some time for questions at a certain point in the presentation, but I really want to encourage you all to consider us and just applaud you for the work that you've been doing thus far and hope that we can help you reach the vision that you all set for yourselves. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. If you'll go to the next slide, please. So our proposed next steps is in the fall of 2020 to solidify our working relationship with IDRA and ensure that we are able to move this work forward. In the winter of 2020, we want to be planning for the school board policy equity audit and the actual timeline that it will take and the activities that will go within that timeline.
089We also hope that the equity audit will be in progress during the winter of 2020. In the spring of 2021, we project that the audit will be completed with a report for the school board and next steps will come from there. You'll go to the next slide, please. So that concludes our presentation for you this evening. On behalf of our fearless leader of the Department of Student Service and Equity, Dr. Julie Crawford, who couldn't be with us tonight, but we are wishing her and her family well. And the Department of Student Services, we thank you and are open to questions at this time. Okay, Miss Lorber has her hand up so she can start the questions. Thank you so much for the presentation, both of you. You know, I'm excited about what we're undertaking. My
090question has to do with the fact that in the last three years, we did a major comprehensive evaluation of our special instruction, special education program. And for students with disabilities, climate and equity were big, big issues. And I know there are a lot of findings there. I noticed that in the focus areas of IDRA and also in our own preamble to the discussion, we don't mention disability. And the fact is that students with disabilities are an identified gap group and they're a significant gap group. And so while on the one hand, I can understand where we don't want to repeat over audit. On the other hand, my question is, are we going to somehow integrate the findings from that evaluation so that we are understanding that students with disabilities and their families frequently feel that
091the system does not treat them equitably at all. And I guess I have a question for you, Mr. Wilson. I was surprised your organization. Is that just not an area that people ever ask you about? Or was that simply for our case because you thought we were not addressing disability in this particular project? No, that's a great question. And so for us, the four areas of focus are the areas of focus from the Department of Education. And so they have a mandate for us, for their equity assistance centers, to focus on those four areas. But I will say that through all of our work that we do, you know, analyzing disparities for students with disabilities has a lot of overlap, especially if you look at race and national origin, with the disparities you see along
092those lines. And so disability is one of the areas that we consider. you know, as we're looking at, you know, the performance of school districts. And so, you know, when you're looking at the data that we have and the information that you've already done or garnered through previous efforts, you know, we would definitely want to incorporate. those findings into whatever we would have going forward. But I know for us, we're looking at disability as it relates to some of those other categories, right? And oftentimes, you know, a lot of the disparities that you see with students with disabilities are often seen along those racial and ethnic origin lines, although not always. And so we're looking at disability as one of the areas, although it's not one of our solely stated, you know, areas of interest
093that we have as an organization from the Department of Education. And I'll just add, Ms. Loeber, we get that question a lot because our strategic plan talks about having racial equity at the heart. And we do a lot of racial equity training and that question comes up. And we are very clear when we're having our conversations that we are race explicit when we talk about race being at the heart of everything that we do, but not exclusive. And we always bring... intersectional analysis into that process. So race and gender, race and sexual orientation, race and religion, race and disability, race and income. So it's not that it is left out of it, but we know that at the root of many of the other intersections, race is an issue within there as well. And with
094our audit, I was a part of that team that worked once we got the findings with Ms. Warner. our disproportionality rates go specifically to Black males and race. And so we have to keep that at the forefront as we do our training and we talk about what we're working on, but noting that we are not race explicit. We are race explicit, but not race exclusive. And we can add... Sorry, Ms. Lorber, I was just going to say that, you know, as we're doing the audit, I think that we can add, the board can add explicitly that, you know, we want to make sure that we're looking at the disparities in regards to students with special needs in regards to policies as well. Because this really is about the equity audit for our policies within our
095school division. And I think that the, you know, the school board can include that specific areas being one of the areas of focus, even though it's not. one of the areas of focus for the U.S. Department of Education and particularly grant, we on our end can have that as one of our specific areas to analyze and review when we're doing the policy audit. That's absolutely right. Can I just add, Madam Chair, I just wanted to finalize that point. It's because it sort of relates, the intersectionality also relates to the issue of inclusion and inclusion of, for years, families of children with disabilities in our school system, and I'm sure in others as well, have felt very much, felt themselves to be a group apart. And I think so, therefore, even though yes, there is the
096intersection, all of these groups have some intersectionality. But I just think we do have to remember that if we are thinking about equity in our school system, this is a special population that has also felt tremendous inequity. almost as though they were of a different race. So I appreciate the fact, Dr. Hutchings, that what you just said. And I think that's terrific. And I'm sure we're going to do that in the future. Thank you. Mr. Suarez? Thank you, Ternson. I just wanted to say thank you so much to the team, to Dr. Hutchings for pursuing this initiative. I think it's just so, so important that we, you know, really look through all of our policies through an equity lens and that we undertake this effort. And I really appreciate. you know, the work that you
097all are going to bring to bear on this project. I really just have a short question, which is at the very end, you noticed or you noted that there is going to be a completed audit in the spring. I would love to just kind of understand a little more of what the completed audit is going to look like in terms of the deliverable and then what the school board action might look like after that. So I realize that might be going in a little more of the weeds of the timeline. But I'm hopeful as a board member that we can, you know, start thinking about what the revisions of the policies might look like in the spring and then act on that, you know, this academic year if we can. So I'd love to just
098kind of get a little more gloss on that. So did you want to take that, Ms. Wood, or did you want me to? You can start and I'll pick up. I mean, I think that's a great question. I think that the details of when the deliverables are going to be due and what they're going to look like, I think we're still in the process of finalizing kind of what that's going to look like. But I do want to let you know that it will take us some time to do the audit in the way that. you know, you all are going to require to be able to act on it to have sufficient justification for moving forward. I think that when we had spoken before. you know, the plan was to review and to access
099things, information and data and the policies themselves over the course of, you know, what's left of the winter and then the spring. But I do want to let you know that it does take some time. You know, we've done these audits before in other places, and it is a multiple month process, typically. So not to slow anything down, but just to let you know that, you know, that. the timeline is going to be flexible, but we do have to allow time to do things thoroughly. And so that is a non-answer to your question. But I definitely hear the concern. And I think that we recognize that, you know, we recognize the energy that you all have and the desire to want to act on this. So, you know, we will respond to that in the
100best way that we can. Just to add on to what Mr. Will- You want to go? Go ahead, Dr. Hutchins. I was going to add on to what Mr. Wilson had just mentioned in regards to us being a lot more general right now. I believe that it's going to behoove the board to establish a committee, you know, like a board committee, meaning board representatives who would help lead these efforts so that we could have, you know, the board perspective in regards to timelines, in regards to deliverables, so that we as a staff are not. making assumptions as to what the board needs. This was a board initiative. And I think it is something because the board, we all own our policies, right? That's something that as board members that you all change. And I think
101that having that seat at the table is going to be key so that we can begin to flesh out specific dates and having the specific. deliverables that will come out of this audit. Because really what IDRA is allowing us to do is they do allow us to have some input in the process. They're providing their services, but we do have to kind of lay out and give them some guidance on what specifically we need so that it's customized for ACPS and not to try to replicate other things they've done in other places. And just to add that this is the first step, Mr. Suarez, like you noticed that on the timeline, solidifying our work with this organization is the first step. The second step is to look at a timeline and really, really plan what
102that is going to look like. And the hope is that the board will be a part of that process. So thank you, Dr. Hutchins, for mentioning the board committee to help support in that work. because we will be meeting and planning and making sure that we are meeting the needs of the board and what the board is looking for, and that you are a part of that process as we move forward so we can plan out what those things look like together. Yeah, and I think that one of the important things, too, one of the nice things, because of another thing that we're in charge of, and that is budget, is that this is actually grant-funded. Can someone give a little more detail about that? Because I'm not sure. I don't know if I mentioned
103it, but yes, so we are, our organization's involvement is totally grant funded, so there's not going to be any cost to the school district to have us come out and do consultation for us to be there and work with you all. You know, part of our agreement, you know, will be any expectations, but the part of it is not how much money that it's going to cost. Our grant fully covers the cost of our technical assistance services. So that's something I should have mentioned before. But yes, that is, there's not going to be an obligation on the part of the school district. And you may. I think you did mention it earlier. I just wanted to make sure because that's not something we're used to hearing a lot. So I wanted to make sure that
104everyone not only heard it, but actually internalized it. So no, I think you did. And so tonight really we're. It is, this is on for info, but I think generally what we generally need is a sense of, is this a path that we want to pursue? Because we will, you know, I think the committee is a good idea for more constant input into the process and then reports back. But I don't think we have all the details and we wouldn't want to have all the details now if we want to have input. But we do need to understand whether people think this is a. a good path to, you know, a good relationship and to embark on a path to start with, you know, IDRA to do this work. So there is, there are a
105couple of other hands raised, so we'll go in here. Can I jump in for one second, Chair Anderson, just for a moment to say that Even though this is a grant funded organization and we are proposing this organization, but I want to say go back to the research. did quite a bit of research and reached out to quite a bit of different equity organizations, MSAN, our VDOE. And like I said, this organization was recommended to us by the Office of Equity and Community Engagement for the VDOE. And many of the other ones that I looked at. did not really have what it took or had never done any of this work before. So I just want to reiterate that is that, you know, this is not just a process that we're going through a recommending
106IDRA because they are grant funded. It's a bonus. huge bonus that they are grant funded, but there were other organizations that I looked at and they just did not have what it took to do the work, or I did not feel confident that they could really do the work because they had never done it before. Yes, thank you, Ms. Wood. I didn't mean to imply that just because the price was right. I think that it is, we also heard that it was a good fit, but that's an extra bonus, especially this year and in terms of what we're looking at in terms of our budget. So I just wanted to make sure and also that the community understood because they also know that we have restricted dollars. more so this year than some. Dr. Reeve,
107you have some questions or comments? Yes, thank you for the presentation, Ms. Wood and Mr. Wilson. I really liked how you were talking about your approach being not top-down, but that you do listening sessions and campus observations. And I was wondering how you think that COVID-19 and the fact that we're in a virtual format right now, how that will impact your process. And then I'm also interested to hear from Ms. Wood a little bit about, just since we're on this topic, kind of an update on equity training in general, how it's the virtual environment impacting it. And do you see this audit, you know, tying into some of the equity training that we're going to be doing in the future? So if you could just kind of talk a little bit about that. Sure. I'll
108say quickly that, you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely altered the way that we go about these audits. But we have, you know, some of the data collection tools that we use. We've created virtual versions. So we've got, you know, maybe a school climate survey that we've used in the past that we used to give physically. And now we do an online survey. We've done a number of focus groups through Zoom with different, you know, groups of stakeholders. And so we try to be mobile as much as we can. or virtual as much as we can given the, you know, the restrictions and the pandemic. But for us, I think it's less important, you know, the manner that we, you know, reach out to folks, but that we find, you know, what the opinions are
109and go to the source for those. So wherever people are gathering virtually, right, even if it's social media or, you know, we've had to be somewhat flexible and adaptable. to be able to get at some of those conversations and with your administrators, with your educators, having folks available with Zoom. By this point, we're all Zoom pros. And so the occasional non-nude aside, so I think folks are very comfortable using this medium to do some of those conversations that we would usually have and collect some of that data. But for us, we are anticipating doing things virtually, you know, as, as until the point where we are allowed to come and do things in person, we would obviously be available to come and do things in person at that point as well. But it's definitely been
110a concern, but we've adapted to it. And we've continued to do these kinds of equity projects, you know, since COVID-19 happened. And for the second part of your question, Dr. Reese, it has been a little bit of a challenge doing trainings in this virtual setting with the demands that we already have on our staff in the virtual settings and all of the... all of the professional learning that had to take place in order to even get our virtual learning plus off of the ground and in motion as it is today. And now we're planning for the reopening of schools as well. And that's going to take some time as well. However, we have started with two modules specific to our, excuse me, our strategic plan 2025. We did the module as an hour and a
111half presentation in our leadership academy and we broke it up into two parts that our division leaders school-based and central office staff are asked to deliver as turnaround training to their staff and so those modules have been put out the second one is the staff is working on that one right now and we're in the process of putting together the third module that we will then deliver to our school our leaders and again that will be turned around so we'll have three done by the end of this calendar year and hopefully three to four more in the next in 2021, the spring of 2021. So. We are also in the process of, we put out an RFP to do anti-racism training within the division. And so there are a lot of different things in the
112works as far as training goes, any opportunities that come about. We are definitely reaching out to staff to see if they're interested in trainings that are coming. We are getting ready to embark on a Beyond Diversity training with a group of staff members, which is an intensive racial equity training. that happens over, usually over a course of four days in the back end of New Jersey, but it will be virtual this year. So training is a little bit of a challenge in this virtual world. And, you know, we have a lot of priorities that we are working on, but we're still pushing forward. Thank you all. I think at this point, because this is info and it's just the beginning, I think what I would ask is if you have an issue with moving forward,
113that might just be the easiest way because the thumbs up thing doesn't work when you're across several screens. And so if you have an issue with moving forward with this relationship at this time, please raise your hand so that I will know that. And otherwise, we look forward to, you know. figuring out how the committee should work and moving ahead with this important work. So seeing none and hearing everyone, I mean, seeing no hands raised, then I think we are good to pursue this path and we will be hearing more about this. Thank you so much, Mr. Wilson and Ms. Wood. Thank you. Thank you to the board. Looking forward to working with you all. Yes, thank you. Next up, we have the MOU with the police department as our next item. And this is
114up for action this evening. Dr. Hutchings. Thank you, Madam Chair. And yes, this is up for action this evening, our MOU with the Alexandria Police Department and Alexandria City Public Schools. And tonight we are hoping to share with the board just information in regards to the revisions that have been made in regards to our MOU and also to provide any responses for clarifying questions that board members may have about the MOU. or about the process. You know, we have heard from our community over the past several months, and as well as from our staff in regards to, you know, revisions that are needed to be made. But I'm going to turn things over right now to Mr. Contreras, who is our Director of Safety and Security, who is going to facilitate. our presentation this evening.
115And I also just want to welcome Chief Michael Brown, who is here. Chief, I always say Dr. Michael Brown, who is here with us this evening. And I just, you know, I know he will be around for any questions that you all may have after the presentation. So Mr. Contreras, you can take it away. Thank you, Dr. Hutchings. I really appreciate that you did the introductions for me. Thank you, Chief Brown, for being here with us. And I also want to acknowledge Captain Soriano. Thank you for being here with us as well. I think you two are the only ones, right, from the police department? I believe so. Okay, so I must be honest with you all. Coming on two weeks ago after 10 o'clock was a little difficult. I seemed, after it was over,
116I was thinking to myself that I really talked because I thought I talked or spoke really fast and wasn't sure if I... got my points across or the points across. So today we're going to do a little bit different. I am, I think I have permission to share my screen. I am going to pull up the memo, the MOU and, and just go through it. And I want to have more of a conversational feel to it instead of, instead of me just trying to read a slide or, or, or spit out some information. So we are going to give this a shot and I'm going to count. Oh, I also forgot to. I'm going to count on you, Chair Anderson, because I can see some of you when I pull up this screen. Can you
117see the memorandum, the MOU? Yes? Okay. Yes. But I can't see all of you, so I want to go through this. But I don't want to miss anything. Is this too small or should I keep it that size? Okay. This is good. Okay, good. Okay, so I'm not going to read line by line, but the purpose or the design of this format was to highlight some of the changes that were made since the last version. There are at least 10 versions of this memorandum, and this is the final, the last, the latest draft. I'll first go over the partnership declarations. I'll highlight a few of them, recognizing the first one, letter A, that school safety and security is best achieved with the collaboration of law enforcement and school. I normally don't comment on previous presentations,
118but Kenitra's line about interdepartmental collaboration really hit home with me because I think in order to succeed with this program and this effort, it is going to be a community effort. So that really struck a chord with me. I want to drop down to letter D. recognizing the commitment to diversity and safeguarding the civil rights and dignity of all Virginians. Also letter E, recognizing that students and staff are respected for their diversity, dignity, and self-worth. Letter F, having regard and that ACPS commits to the ACPS strategic plan 2025, which identifies racial equity as a strategic imperative. So I'm going to just keep scrolling. And forgive me, I hope this doesn't make anyone busy. So we added the previous version did not have school security officer noted in there. We added that, and I'll go over
119that later. Skip the index. We added a definition in section three. There was a lot of discussion about what a contact was. You heard the SROs when they spoke, you heard them. say that students stop by and chat with them. They ask for advice. They do the fist bump. They talk about the past weekend sports events. So we wanted to make sure that we added the definition of a contact. And for this MOU, the definition or contact is defined as questioning for law enforcement purposes. And this pertains to questioning of a student or staff member or anyone basically inside of school or detainment of a student. And number three, apprehension or arrest of a student. All contacts shall be considered reportable offenses in addition to the reporting required by school board policy or by statutory
120requirement. And I'll touch on that on page 13 as well. We also, I want to spend some time on the next section, measurable objectives. This is a huge topic. We wanted to... outline ways on how we were going to evaluate this MOU and the future program. So I will start with Section A, which is the VDOE Annual Report for Discipline, Crime, and Violence. Now, I want to make sure I highlight the point that this section covers the administrative discipline data measurable. So how many incidents are reported each school year and how many resulted in the law enforcement action. I think that's very important. It's already captured what we are proposing is that safety and security services analyze this information and provide you, the school board and the community. with the analysis of that so that
121we can differentiate between incidents of administrative discipline and law enforcement action. We feel that's very important. And this analysis that we are committed to do will give us that opportunity. Section B. is the political, the police, I'm sorry, the police statistical reports. My brain's working faster than my mouth, I'm sorry. So the, and this, you'll hear me reference the form a lot, but there's a reason why. We added this measurable in here. The forms collected will be reviewed for accuracy. Event type, administrative result, criminal result, parent notification, and case number information will be analyzed by Safety and Security Services. And what we're going to do with this is we're going to compare it to Section A, and we will include... age, race, sex, disability, and any other pertinent data in this analysis. This form, I
122believe there are, I'm going to try to answer questions that I have seen. There was a barrage of questions that came in recent, and I want to make sure that I try to touch on them as I go through this in hopes of answering your questions. So the form itself, the reason there is a section on the form about student ID and case number is because it will be the responsibility of safety and security services to actually go into power school, look up the student ID of the persons that were involved and extrapolate the necessary information, age, race, sex, and any other pertinent data in order for us to give you a... a big, a full picture of what's going on in each school location. So that's, that's, and the reason why there is a
123section on the police case number is we will have to work closely with the police department and Chief Brown can talk about this later, but we, we will need, we will need to rely and collaborate with the police department on that because they When they have a police action, I'm not going to speak for police, but with my experience, a lot of when someone is booked into a facility, that data is captured, that the age, race, sex, and other information is captured. So we will have to rely on police to give us their information, and we will have to merge that with our information. The VDOE school climate survey, we all know what that is already. That's run by the state, and we can extrapolate information from there as well. Because those surveys ask a
124lot of questions, but the challenge with those surveys, it doesn't drill down. So for the last two weeks ago, we spoke about the information on SROs. make you feel safe at school and that was towards the students. There's a student section and a teacher section. Well, it doesn't if a fourth of the students say no, we don't really know why they're saying no. So we'll have to work on that with the state, but we will also use that information for our analysis. Section D here, during our quarterly reviews, we will Once we analyze the information in Section A and Section B, we will provide the school board with our information and post it publicly with permission of the school board and the superintendent. Section E, a lot of these activities with students don't happen a
125lot of times, but when they do, we anticipate that we would or we are going to require that an after action report be done when that happens. I'll keep going here. Under the section of responsibilities, we added a, what is a school administrator? The document talks a lot about what a school administrator is. So we wanted to make sure we added that definition. I believe a school board member requested that. So ACPS will ensure that school administrators with an assigned SRO receive relevant training. on the roles and responsibilities of SROs. And again, that's going to be the responsibility of safety and security services to make sure that happens. For the purpose of this MOU, a school administrator is a principal, assistant principal, or their designee. Now, in case you do have a question about a
126designee, it could be a lot of times deans, counselors, and other officials of that profession stand in. for administrators. So that's what that means there. Okay, so we added the section E for this, the school security officer. The reason why we added this in here, because there was some, we didn't want, we wanted to make sure that we delineated the police officer role, which is very different than a security officer role. So basically an SSO, which is a school security officer, assists administrators with enforcement of student code of conduct. in addition to performing their already assigned security monitoring duties in their assigned area. So we wanted to make sure we outline that here and provided a definition of what a school security officer's role is, which is very different. Under Section 5, Operational Procedures, we
127added a fair treatment statement. In accordance with school board policy, JB, any action taken in response to disciplinary misconduct and or criminal offense will be administered fairly and without regard to race, national origin, disability, religion, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or marital or parental status. So we wanted to make sure that was in there. Information sharing. There were some questions about information sharing. student rights. So we wanted to make sure that we highlighted the consent access. A law enforcement officer or SRO may have access to students' education records with written consent of the student's parent or guardian, or if the student is 18 or older. So I will have to defer to the police officer professionals during the Q&A period. But when the juvenile system or the juvenile criminal system, if that's what it's
128called. Forgive me if that's wrong. But once a student turns 18, the parameters change as far as giving consent or gaining consent. So we can explain that later. But that's why it's in there like that. And it's important to know the section right below that's not highlighted. But I wanted to make sure that it's known that in the event of a significant and articulable threat to health or safety, school officials may disclose any information from student records to the appropriate parties, including law enforcement officials whose knowledge of the information is needed to protect the health and safety of a student or other individual. I only highlight that because someone said it best. two weeks ago that a lot of times the victim is a student, one of our very own students. So in order to
129glean more information, in order to quickly process that information, certain things have to happen. So that's why that's it. Section C, investigating questioning on or off school property. We wanted to make sure that was clear. That's the same thing as the section above. as far as timeliness to prevent injury, death, or evidence destruction. There are certain things that can happen that law enforcement officers are required to do. So we wanted to make sure we highlighted that fact. Also added is the SRO is, will be, we talked about the form. On that form, it is now, we are going to ask our police department partners are the ones that fill that form out on page 18. And the SRO or police officer will be responsible to verify that the student has had contact with their parent
130or guardian or legal consultant before anything, before any investigation or questioning proceeds. No questioning of a student will take place without the presence of a school administrator. And we had this, we had to be very careful here with notice of rights, but I wanted to make sure that you all were aware that this was in there. This was also a request because the Miranda warning, and I'm not going to get into all the, all the legalities, but case law is case law and the Supreme Court has already established. certain things, but this is very similar. This wording here is very similar to a Miranda warning for students. While in the presence of a school administrator, the student will be informed generally of the purpose of the investigation warned against self-incrimination in a developmentally appropriate manner
131because of the age of the student. and also informed and advised that the student has the right to remain silent, that the student is free to leave an interrogation, and that student has right to stop the questioning and request that his or her parent or guardian or attorney be present at any time during the interrogation or questioning. So we just want to make sure we highlight that that's in there now. searches. SROs and law enforcement officers should obtain a search warrant in all cases where initial consent was not obtained and probable cause exists that a crime has been committed. So again, probable cause is established guidance, legal established guidance case law. So we really didn't want to get into any. trying to reword or recreate probable cause, but this, there's a lot of cases where
132SROs and law enforcement officers can act, especially if the crime being committed is in their presence, but we wanted to make sure this was in there to make it clear that when there is not consent, that asserts warrant. We added some references to already established policy. So we added a couple of references in there at the request of school board members. Well, that was not as painful as I thought. I thought I was going to be here for hours. I thought I was going to be the one keeping you all here until 10 o'clock. I'll close with this at the end here. And again, this is the latest version based on today's discussion and any requests. And it's up to you all. I can bring up the Word version and make changes on the fly,
133or I could take good notes and make sure that the latest and greatest version be supplied before, if that's what's necessary. So equipment details. In the appendix was added about vehicles being parked away from visibility of the general public. It discusses long arms that they're only displayed in the school or around campus unless that they're not displayed. I'm sorry, unless there is an emergency. Body cameras, body camera video should not be used in the school setting unless there is a law enforcement purpose. If used, such recordings must be strictly controlled and protective of juvenile information for legal requirements. And of course, Narcan was added as well, because that is a, police officers carry that on their duty belt. Duty belt is where their equipment is, basically. And that is, we wanted to make sure that
134was in. I think that's it. There were a couple of questions. I wanted to close with these remarks. with the overarching objective, because I think this will help some context, add some context. The overarching objective of this school law enforcement partnership is a positive, equitable, and safe school environment. And you'll read that comment when there are letters, and I got this from the ACPS letter to families that's on the website, the student services website. And it mentions the goals, cultivating positive behaviors that promote learning, supporting mental health with trauma-informed practices, building strong school communities that are restorative, delivering fair and equitable treatment across all student populations. And it closes with the collaboration between ACPS, Safety and Security Services, and ACPS Student Services. Equity will be needed. Actually, this is my closing. That's on the letter.
135will be needed in order to properly assess and analyze available data. This data will inform on whether law enforcement action taking place at schools promotes a safe and equitable school environment. I wanted to make sure that was noted because one of our goals, and I'm going to hold it up because I don't have this, I don't want to pull it up. One of our goals in our strategic plan is to is to, one of our measures is percentage of students who feel safe, valued, and engaged in their learning environment. One way is to do that is to provide a safe learning environment for them. And also to capture disproportionality rate of suspensions by school and student group. So those are also captured in the strategic plan. So we wanted to make sure that we had
136that in our mind when we... proceed with our analysis each time we meet with the department. So with that, that is my presentation. I hope I answered some questions and I'll open it up to everyone. Thank you. Thank you very much. I have a couple of hands raised already. One is, the first is Ms. Lorber. Thank you so much for the presentation. I really appreciate it. And I guess I'll just start right at, I still cannot, I can't get used to the idea or accept the idea of guns and handcuffs in schools. And while I do understand the tremendous, that our principals and all our high school and to middle schools have nothing but positive things to say about the role that the SROs have played currently and are playing currently. My personal feeling would
137be that if I were to come out 100%, let's renew the MOU, I would be doing it on the basis of personality. I'd be doing it to preserve these individuals' positions as opposed to on the principle of what it would take for me to feel comfortable with SROs in the school system. And I guess my questions are, I could see either, I believe it's very good to promote careers in policing and I'd be delighted if the police department would give us a couple of instructors and we could, many students already go into criminology. Criminology is one of the top choices of entering freshmen in many of our local colleges. I don't think we really need SROs to encourage that. On the other hand, I think it would be totally appropriate to have members of the
138police force in our school to teach. I think it'd be nice to have people from the fire department, all of our public servants. My biggest objection is guns and handcuffs in the school. It just makes me feel like if we need to do that, it means somehow, if we have that kind of violence in the school system, somehow we failed the students that are. in need of that kind of violence. And if the purpose of the SRO, the collaboration, is really to promote restorative practices and so forth, I believe as a school system, we ought to be doing more ourselves to be promoting restorative practices. So bottom line, I understand that because we have no data and I am in favor, if it were actually, if we had data that showed that before we had
139SROs, the referral of students to the criminal justice system was significantly higher than after the SROs came in, that they are really acting as a barrier and making it easier for students to. to resolve these issues. That would be interesting data and the fact we have absolutely no information, but in principle, I'm troubled by the idea of needing people with guns and handcuffs. And actually my question would be, could we have SROs who dress as police, but don't carry guns and don't use handcuffs and simply, but otherwise, are helpful in this, you know, help mediate when there are issues. I don't even like the thought that they're out looking for criminal activity, but I think helping us resolve when there are moments in the school system. And for those who are very concerned about the
140threat of violence from inside or without, we could have their guns and handcuffs stored somewhere so that in an emergency, If there was something in 60 seconds, they could get a hold of these things and meet the emergency need. But I guess that's my question. Could we possibly, could we have SROs that don't carry weapons and don't carry handcuffs and don't use them? Chair Anderson, if I could, I'll go ahead and respond to that. It's our policy that if you're going to have an officer on scene, they will be equipped. with all the things that they could use to deescalate and also to take care of issues. It's also for the officer's safety as well because, quite frankly, the officers, as we've seen as recently as this week, often become targets because of who they
141are and what they're wearing. I would not feel comfortable, nor would I condone. putting an officer in a situation in uniform, even a low grade uniform like we do currently with the SROs with the soft shirts, with all the equipment that they are trained to use to protect life and property, including the students as well as their own. And I do respect your opinion on the handcuffs and the weapons, but I frankly would not condone that. Okay. Next up we have Ms. Gentry. Thank you. And thank you very much for walking through the revised memo, Mr. Contreras. Interestingly, I think some of my questions are going to be actually maybe more for the finance team. I have to share with people that You know, board members received a packet of information really less than 24
142hours ago that included a lot of information. And also, I must say that I think some of that information has also been shared with other people in the community based on, you know, some of the emails that we've received. And my concern about it is that based on what I'm reading in this, I think there might be perhaps some confusion about the budgeting that goes around this. It seems that people are sort of lumping SROs in with student services or with security or with some of the grant money that we've received involving security system upgrades and things like that. And my concern about that is I sense that some people are, when they're asking the board to end the MOU, they're doing it from a position of, well, we understand there's this, you know, money
143that's being, you know, that's... that's going to the SROs and we want you to take that money and do something else with it. And I think we need to really help clear up some misunderstandings about that. That this is not an either or proposition that we are talking about different funding streams and along with kind of helping people differentiate that, I think some really good context for people would be, I think it would be, you know, again, people have talked about we want more counselors or we want more Dr. You know other kinds of you know students supports or things like that, and I think it would be helpful if we could provide some context about how we we actually have been ramping that up over the last several years. Dr. So Dr hutchings whoever
144whatever staff, you think might be best able to provide that kind of contextual information. So, yes, and thank you, Ms. Gentry, for that. And as you mentioned, we have over the years been ramping up the number of social workers and counselors within our school division. As you all know, we are above the, you know, the Virginia Department of Education requirements in regards to counselors within our schools because we value the social, emotional, and academic needs of our students. So that is an area that has been... one of our focus areas over the past several years. In regards to the two actual funding streams, and I know Mr. Turner is on the call, he can talk to specifically the school resource officer funding that is a part of the Alexandria Police Department's budget. uh we don't
145have access to you know to those dollars it would have to be allocated from the city to provide us additional funding but um mr turner if you're here which i do see you you're there um if you want to i'm sorry so many people i couldn't find you first um if you want to just chime in on that one please So that is correct. The funding for the SRO is out of the Alexandria Police Department's budget, not Alexandria City Public Schools' budget. And I believe Chief Brown said last week when he was speaking that if we want to move forward with this, he would use those police officers on a different beat throughout the city of Alexandria. So it's not as though if we ended the SRO program that we would then have that funding
146to do something else with like... fund additional counselors or something like that. And to Dr. Hutchins point over the past several years, we have been working with Dr. Crawford's group to be able to increase the amount of student support team positions that we have throughout ACPS. And we do that because it is one of the priorities that the school board has set for us in September each year during the budget priority setting. And if I may, I'll close with a comment on the surveillance or security equipment and the grant that was recently awarded. I just wanted to make sure that it was understood that the funding for that or the request is because we are in dire need of equipment. What I mean by that is, let's say I'll use an example of a typical
147elementary school. Now, I'm not I'm going to try not to give too much away, but. They have a certain amount of cameras, let's say. Number one, those cameras, a lot of them are still analog cameras. So what that means is I can see them from my office and I could log in and see that school site from my office, but it's very outdated. It's not very dependable. And sometimes it doesn't record. We get a lot of requests from school administrators. A, B, and C happened. Can you take a look on this date at this time to see what you see? And we often have to say the camera system did not capture it. And it's not because they want to, they tried to solve a situation that had occurred. And some situations range from, some
148of them range from conduct, but a lot of them are. our parent concerns that a student goes home and has a concern or report. And we have to, we have to be able to verify whether that incident happened or not. So, and that some of those don't even involve police. They're just administrative actions. So, so our systems are outdated. Also, I wanted to add that, and this is, I hope nobody laughs, but if you've ever seen, some of you are probably a lot younger, too young to know, but a dot matrix printer. with the paper that has the holes on the side and it feeds the printer feeds the paper through the through the ribbon we still have a system like that here at ACPS we need to get rid of that and upgrade because
149it's just it's just not working anymore we need to be able to receive information on a phone or a text or an email versus a dot matrix printer so when we ask for funding it's because we really needed And I'll close with, I'll stop there. And in addition to what Mr. Contreras just said, I think we have to keep in mind, we are responsible for protecting the million dollar plus. buildings that we have, you know, we do have to protect our assets and having security systems and things are, you know, to protect our buildings, fire, theft. I mean, things that happen when kids are not in the schools, they still need to be protected. And that is very important for us. We also have to keep in mind that with the security systems that came
150and some of the software that came out of the grants, it is also for staff to have access into our buildings so that you can use key fobs. and modern day technology to actually get in and out of our schools and an ability for us to record who is actually in our buildings and who is in the schools when things are occurring. And that's for a number of things. If you have a fire that occurs in a building and you have people who key fob in and it happens to be at a time, especially now that we're in this global pandemic, you want to know who was inside that building during that particular incident or if there was a fire. And for someone who may not have made it out. You know, these are different
151things that allows, you know, our school division to be on top of modern day security. And I was honestly very surprised with the security systems that we have in place when I arrived here in 2018. I went to our control room and it was literally like I took a step back into the late. 80s, early 90s. And that is unacceptable for a school division like Alexandria City Public Schools. You know, we are responsible for 16,000 plus students and over 3,000 employees. And the type of software we had was in a system that you that really didn't really record anything. And you didn't have access unless you went into that space at Minnie Howard in that room. And that to me was extremely shocking for it. 2018 to have a system like that in our program.
152So I just wanted to reiterate, it's beyond the school resource officers with the security grant and the equipment that we have. It is really protecting our assets. And as a school division, it is our obligation to do that. Thank you. Chair Anderson graciously letting me. go on to my next one that I want some clarification on. And I promise fellow board members, if I do it this way, then I won't get back in line. I think another perception that might be out there, and I think actually Chief Brown kind of alluded to this the other week, you know, that, you know, some of the initial uses of SROs and buildings and some of the, you know, some of the trends, for example, in the 1990s, you know, we had a you know, very kind of
153tough on crime, zero tolerance sort of approach to things. And it's actually included in the materials that are posted. But since we didn't talk about it before, I thought it might be good for you all to talk a little bit about, you know, the VDOE has come up. It's the memo. It's, I hope I'm getting the title right again. It's the attachment that's included, the guidance of reports of certain acts to school authorities. And what you're really seeing there is a trend towards, you know, making it clear that there is not an expectation that. every single possible offense immediately needs to go to law enforcement you know that that's not the the goal or the purpose and um you know i i think that's an important thing for our community to hear um and uh
154along with that you know what has been said repeatedly now um the fact that the sros are not connected with the suspension stuff you know we we definitely um We as a division have actually been quite transparent and candid about, you know, that we still have challenges with our suspension rate data, but, you know, that that really is a distinct thing. So, again, if you guys could just fill in a little bit more about some of those shifts in terms of the reporting as, you know, in terms of the guidance that's coming from VDOE and also just, again, really reiterate that. that distinction between the suspensions and the police involvement. So thank you for bringing that up, Ms. Gentry. And in the current or in the proposed MOU, we were very specific about that in
155regards to the role of the SRO and the roles of our administrators and staff. One thing that is very clear, and I'm proud of ACPS for being ahead of the game in regards to this and getting rid of those zero tolerance kind of policies that used to go to be in all school divisions across this country, which I think really perpetuated some of the racial disparities that we saw across America in public education. And we have, you know, we're way past that. in ACPS, but we are, as you mentioned, Ms. Gentry, still seeing some disparities. And if you look at the actual data workbook that we presented to the board last year as we were going through our strategic planning process, we were revealing that information. We were making that information public because we really
156want not only the community, but our staff to understand and for us to start working through why is this a reality for us still. within our school division? Why are we seeing more black and brown students with referrals in our schools? And why are we seeing them suspended from our schools at higher rates than their white counterparts? And that is something that we need to be working on internally. I mean, restorative practices is one thing. Don't get me wrong, because I think it's very important for our restorative. practices in our schools. But we also have to work through biases that people have around black and brown students, you know, and that is a harder nut to crack. You know, we were just talking earlier about doing these equity audit. and us having this anti-racism training
157for all of our staff within our school division, that is what's going to help us to tackle some of those racial disparities. Because unfortunately, society has made Black and Brown people in general seem as if we are criminals, you know, and that is the perception that people have in their minds. So you see a Black and Brown student in a hallway playing around with, you know, his or her friend or their friend, and they're, you know, tapping one another, now you're calling saying that they are fighting, right? And they were just playing. They were goofing off like teenagers do. But your bias may make you perceive that there was something more happening. And then we act on that, unfortunately. And I think that Mr. Ballas, particularly at the high school, and Mr. Mazur, and Ms.
158Peters at the middle schools, I think they're doing a really phenomenal job with trying to crack down on that and to make sure that, you know, we are getting rid of some of those unintentional biases that people have and digging a little deeper with some of the referrals that are coming to their offices. But that's an internal issue that we need to resolve. SRO situation is not going to resolve that. That's something we do need to resolve internally. And we've been saying that. um over the past couple of years and it's actually identified in our strategic plan uh one of the areas of focus for us that we knew we needed to tackle with those um discipline disparities uh i don't know if that was there any other part to your question miss gentry because
159i wanted to cover that um I think just again if there was anything related kind of to that that that the VDOE memo if any well thank you yes so Dr. Wilkins I was going to see if Dr. Wilkins I don't know if he I can't see everybody on this thing or Mr. Contreras can talk to the VDOE memo I do know that in regards to some of the ethnicity and gender and some of those questions that came about that were shared with us these are updates you know that came about this past July that we are going to ensure, of course, we want to always be in compliance with the VDOE, that we will ensure our documents allows us to actually gather that information. That's information that we want internally anyway. So whether the
160VDOE was asking for it or not, we want to be able to disaggregate our data by race. by schools, by different grade levels and things of that nature. All the things that the VDOE is requiring us to have in there. But I don't know if Mr. Contreras has any further comments in regards to the memo. Yes. Yes, Dr. Hutchings, thank you. And I think you're referring to, Ms. Gentry, the memorandum from Virginia DOE dated October 23, 2020. And it's to the superintendents. We received it today. I believe, and I don't know if Susan has it. I believe it was forwarded to us by a school board member, but it's right here. And I'll just briefly state that this is regarding the discipline crime and violence data and the student behavior and administrative response data that's
161shared with the state. And that data is required. Number one, they eliminated the requirement to to report misdemeanors, which is a plus in the right direction. But also, it outlines exactly what's reportable and what's not, what's required to be reported and what's not. So we will be taking a close look at this. But just I'm not going to give examples. I don't think it's appropriate to do that now. But there are codes next to it. So this guide, this table, these tables used to guide the schools as to when they go into power school and report a reportable offense, which is now listed on this table, there are certain things they have to report and certain things that there are other guidance on. So that's going to be taken very seriously. We will make sure
162that that is adhered to, definitely. Thank you so much for those clarifications. And I just, to round out, I just want to say that, you know, I feel like there's been some people that have, you know, there's been some concern that we don't have data. And I would just say that, A, we're certainly, you know, we're hearing all the data we're going to get. But I would also argue that we do actually have a fair amount of data. You know, I believe Vice Chair Nolan indicated, you know, in our earlier discussion, you know, we actually have in many, you know, a significantly lower arrest, lower arrest record than, you know, smaller high schools and high schools that don't have SROs. We have the data of the success of the social interactions that the strong social
163emotional relationships that these SROs have been able to provide. And that's really, that's a very intentional thing that's done with the leadership of our schools. And I want to say that I consider that an another data point too. When I hear from all three of our secondary principals about how essential they consider and vital they consider the role of the SROs. That is significant to me. And we also hear from teachers about the relationship and some of the other support staff. So, you know, as a closing note for Ms. Lorber, you know, I too wish we could live in a world where I'm a big fan of British mystery novels and you know there were days when the constable on the beat only had a stick. We are not, unfortunately, in that world anymore. Every
164single member of, you know, we see examples of that every day. And unfortunately, you know, people with ill intent have access to materials that can cause harm. And I understand why Chief Brown would need, would think it appropriate that his you know his own team has that um again it would be more of a concern for me if i was hearing uh example you know frequent examples of of of guns drawn on students in in school buildings and but i'm i'm not hearing that um we actually you know when we've heard from the students to go back to what Dr. Hutchings was saying, it truly seems like there's more frustration from the students and more issues around these ideas of suspension or around these ideas of some serious work we need to do on cultural
165competency. But that's our work and hopefully we'll have, I look forward to supporting the MOU and hopefully having them APD in the building to partner with us on that. So thank you, everyone. Thank you, Ms. Gentry. Dr. Reeve? All right. Well, thank you for the presentation and walking us through the MOU, Mr. Contreras. I appreciate that. And thank you also to Chief Brown and Captain Soriano for being here. And I want to thank Chief Brown because we had a call last week and I got to talk about some of the concerns I had about the MOU. So I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. And before I get to my question, I just wanted to mention, you know, Dr. Hutchings, you brought up zero tolerance. And I have to say. When
166I was reading the school climate survey, I was surprised to see that, you know, we do have teachers who are supportive of zero tolerance policies. So that was a little concerning to me. So I would love to have that conversation with our staff. And with regards to funding, I think that's an important point, Ms. Gentry, that the funding for the school resource officers is through the city's budget. But I will add that, you know, I know that city council has been looking at ways to um you know do more work in the area of mental health supports um 21st century policing that kind of thing and we have received letters from four council members now about you know the sro program but my question um i have some a couple questions about the mou and
167i i was wondering if you could and it kind of goes to this point that miss gentry was bringing up that we have a lot of data but speaking as a school board member it's been really hard to kind of locate it i mean i know you shared some different things with us Like we get the suspension data report every year, but you shared the Virginia school quality profile, which had like the number of offenses on there. So I actually, I'm just trying to understand with the different data sets that we walked through. the VDOE annual report for discipline, crime and violence and the police statistical reports. Like how is that information gonna be shared out with the community? I know you talked about having the quarterly performance review meetings. And so, How are you
168planning to share with the board, but also share with the public so that it's publicly accessible? I don't know if we can put some links to the Virginia School Quality profile or the civil rights data collection information, or if we are going to just post that data ourselves on the security services website. But if you could just speak to that question, I would appreciate a little clarity around that. So I will say that, you know, a part of this whole MOU process is that we want to make sure that we're doing some reports out and making information accessible to our community. And one thing that we are going to be doing moving forward is not only having the MOU posted, as well as updates from meetings that we may have posted for people to be
169able to see. But I think, Dr. Reif, the point that you made in having a link that goes to some of the data that is presented to the... through this to the VDOE is important as well because we are required to do that every year. That is something that we just have to do. I think we could also have a link to our data workbooks because the data workbook is still around. It's still here. It's, you know, one of our metrics is looking at our discipline in our schools and looking at some of those disparities. So I think that us having links in multiple places because, you know, of course, we got to have it on the CNI page and we got to have an accountability page. But I think we can have those links
170on our safety and security pages as well so that we're keeping our community as informed as possible. so that anyone who wants access to the information, they don't have to do a FOIA to get it. We can refer them right to a website to get access to that information. And if I may add also, we adopted 21st century policing three years ago in 2017. And that's one of the reasons why with all the policing initiatives and the ominous bill that's been taking place in the special session of the General Assembly, we're already in compliance with everything but some minor reporting. And one of the things that we've been doing since day one is to be as much transparent with our data as possible. So what I would envision in anything that we do that we're
171clattering and we're going to be providing to the school. district will also be posted on our website because we were we're committed to transparency in that area. Great. I mean, yeah, I think, again, it's just, I think there is, I think there is data there, but it's just, it's, it's hard to, like, I think the suspension data that, that the school board receives, and that's, that's, of course, posted publicly, that information is presented really well, and it has a breakdown by school, by age, by, you know, race and ethnicity, but as far as, like, referrals and, and these things that you're going to, that you're going to be collecting, on this new reporting form, I think that's the data that I've been having a really hard time finding. And I'm sure I think members of
172the public are too. And I wanted to ask one more question, but I really appreciate that you put in the measurable objectives at the end of each of these data points. But we got feedback from someone in an email which articulated a concern that I had, which is that Well, they said that the evaluation strategy is not fully formed. We have a list of sources of data and questions to ask and timelines for asking the questions, but it's not clear that we've established the criteria by which we would evaluate the SRO strategy as positive or negative. And that's kind of what, like when I think of measurable objectives, I'm thinking of what's the desired outcome. Like we're going to see a reduction in... You know, like, I don't know, whatever it is, like, I think
173like spelling it out in that way, as opposed to, we're going to collect data on X. No, we want to see a decrease in X or something to that effect. But, but, and then there was another letter we got from the Legal Aid Justice Center that said that. Some of what we're asking on this law enforcement occurrence report form is actually, it's required, it's new statutory requirements, but that some of the requirements are not included on here. And I trust that. you're going to be aware of what those statutory requirements are and that they're going to be added on here. You know, like they talked about, I know you talked about using maybe the student ID number to identify, you know, some of the racial identity and that kind of thing. But I wanted to
174ask about this point where it says the incident is who it's initiated by because the teacher and administrator are categorized together. And we've made a really big... point in this MOU that it's supposed to be going through administrators and not teachers. So I'm just wondering if it wouldn't make sense to separate out those two so that we can know how many teachers versus administrators are initiating these incidents. So I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. So let me comment on the form itself. Thank you, Dr. Reeve. I'll start with that. So the rationale behind the teacher slash administrator is because we have to remember, or a big picture is that all schools or any, there could be a law enforcement response to any school, not necessarily just an SRO. So when we
175think of SROs, we certainly do not want teachers calling an SRO ethical help with a discipline action in the classroom. We do not want that. And that's not what the report form is for. So, but on the other side of that is we do want to provide the ability for schools that don't have SROs to notate how the event or the occurrence started. For example, a student is claiming that they were violated in some way illegally, a minor student. Let's say an elementary school that does not have an SRO. That initiation is going to start with a teacher, and that teacher is going to collaborate with the administrator. So those are the types of things. That's why it was written in that way. It was not intended to create the image or... reference that a
176teacher would be contacting the SRO directly. That was not the intent of the form. So I hope that makes sense. I also want to touch on referrals because We recently submitted responses to City Council and we referenced referrals. Now, I don't know what was going on in 2017. That was before I arrived. But we had 47 referrals to law enforcement in 2017, 2018 school year. We had 19. referrals in the 2018-2019 school year and we were down to 12 referrals in the 2019-2020 school year. So to me, and I know you talking about data, it's very important to understand the data is there, but the way it's packaged to you for me, I consider myself a casual viewer. I'm not a... I'm not a data or statistician or anything like that, but my, my submission,
177I submit to you that in the future reports will look like, and they will have graphics. I always get jealous when other departments, especially facilities give you a presentation because they have really neat graphics on their slides. I, I, I kind of, you know, I kind of like, Oh my, I'm next, but I only have a couple of words on a slide. So, and I have no graphics to give you, but that's going to change. That's going to change. So what I mean by that is. We take the arrest data, we take the referral data, we take the discipline data, and you're going to get pie charts. That's the best thing I can come up with right now in my brain, but you're going to get pie charts that show the differences, and it's going
178to break it down for everybody to see clearly as to what's going on. That's what we anticipate. I don't have an example to give. But that's what I envision as far as providing you the data. And that data can be posted on the website in a pie chart showing this is how many in quarter one, this is how many conduct violations there were. This is how many suspensions there were. And we can break it down as detailed and possible. And we'll also add the referrals as to how many of those led to referrals to law enforcement. So that's the goal. And if I could add, Dr. Reif, I was here in 2017, and that's one of the reasons why we changed the MOU, because I looked at the numbers when I went and looked at
179the SRO program. And in particular, the officers brought it to my attention that they got an awful lot of referrals for administrative discipline type cases and not anything related to a violation of criminal law. So I had them pull the cases, and I looked at them personally. And indeed, a good number of those cases should not have been referred to the SRO. That should have been handled by the administrative staff. And that's why we changed the version of the MOU to make it clear at that time. This is a better document than what we did before, but at least to make a differentiation between what's administrative scope of activity. and what is really a true traditional role or a role for an SRO. And I think what Mr. Contreras was talking about is basically the
180outcome of that as people start to not call the SRO for the administrative discipline or those kind of conduct kind of cases. Thank you. Yeah, I'll just interject there. I have seen over some period of time, and I do think that historically, there has been some issue with that. And I was so intrigued, so happy when I met with Chief Brown, when I had the ability to do that last year. And he talked about the 21st century policing strategy and, you know, referred to them as our kids that, you know, how, you know, how are we going to work with, you know, the best outcomes for our kids, meaning the ACPS, everybody in the city. So I think that was, I do think that when my kids, for instance, were at the high school, I
181think things were very different. And I think it's really improved since that time. I have Ms. Nolan up next. Thank you, Chair Anderson. I first want to begin by thanking Chief Brown and Captain Soriano for being our guests this evening and for the substantial amount of time you're putting into this. We really appreciate that. I also want to thank Mr. Contreras for your great presentation and for being so thorough in walking us through what the improvements have been made to the MOU. I also just want to apologize to everyone in advance. Actually, if you don't have a question, but given the volume of... interests we've had in this issue in the vote being tonight, I did want to take a moment to share a few of my thoughts and why I'll be voting in support
182of the SRO. So I apologize in advance that I do not have a question instead and just sharing some thoughts. I just want to first begin that one of the things that's so phenomenal about Alexandria is that I think we're all on the same side. In fact, you couldn't ask for a school board that's more committed to truly wanting to serve our neediest population, including addressing the suspension data through policy and budget decisions. So Let's just begin with that we are all on the same page, and I do mean all of us on the Zoom, that we want suspensions, particularly youth of color, to be reduced. My concern is that the SROs have absolutely nothing to do with that. And while I understand that there is a national conversation out there, and while I have
183seen up close in other jurisdictions that they do have areas of improvement with their SRO, we, on the other hand, in Alexandria, should not be utilizing a national model, a national conversation, and instead should be celebrating. that we have such a program, a strong program. So I'm really baffled, to be honest with you, by some of the advocacy we received because I can't fathom why we're even considering taking away resources from the very kids that we all claim to champion. Even we as a board and city council must remember that we ourselves have armed officers at every single meeting and it does not cause violence or tension. Thank you so much, Mr. Contreras, for reviewing the data. It was actually one of the biggest points I wanted to bring up. In my research, it seems
184on average that 5% of schools... that are half the size of T.C. Williams within the state of Virginia, oftentimes have both arrest and referrals. So not only do we are the largest high school in the state, we actually have the lowest percentage and the lowest volume of number of both referrals and SROs. It also needs to be noted that there are schools who do not have any SROs in the state. Yet they have significantly a larger number of arrests and referrals than schools who do have SROs. So the reason I'm sharing that is that there is no causal relationship shown through data that SROs cause arrests or referrals. If you want to impact the school to prison pipeline and as well as suspensions, it's not the SROs that are causing it. In fact, the experts
185dictate, especially those in Alexandria. And I can say this having been a school board liaison to the Northern Virginia Detention Center, that if you want to really, which by the way, ACPS always has the lowest number of students that are. served there that if you want to focus in on the prison pipeline, it's truancy, it's mental health, and it's substance abuse. SROs have nothing to do with that. So that's where I think we have to be super careful that we are using data to inform ourselves on decisions. And we have to decide as a division, what is the outcome we're seeking? And what I hear from all of the advocacy, it's the suspension rate, particularly students of color that we're trying to move the needle on, but we're pulling the wrong levers. And that's why
186I'm really concerned about the misinformation. that's out there. We've already discussed the funding that the money that is pays for this SRO program is graciously coming from the police department's budget, which anyone that's paid attention to our city budget, they also have received budget cuts and they're working with limited means. And so it's a huge misnomer to think that if we get rid of the SROs, that we are going to afford extra support staff. We don't keep... the money. It belongs to the police department who is strapped for resources. So we are exceptionally fortunate to have such a strong partnership thanks to Chief Brown that he's willing to share his resources with the school community. I also just want to share with regards to stakeholder opinion, there are two sides to this issue. We currently
187as a board are hearing from folks who fundamentally are against police in schools due to a national narrative. And I understand the reasons for that national conversation. That said, we are also hearing from folks as to how ACPS in particular, the SR program is unique and is actually a significant service to our community. I especially want to note that we have phenomenal principals in our secondary schools who have stated unequivocally what an invaluable role the SROs play in the school and it has been stated by the superintendent and those principals that the SROs do not suspend or arrest students. In fact, quite the opposite. They're a huge resource to our neediest students. So I ask you, what kind of school board and community would we be if we did not show any faith or trust
188in our school leaders? We're the ones doing the day-to-day leadership and have the best lens as to what's going on. It would be more... our staff and it's not a smart way to retain the important talent we have in those schools. I've been in education for 24 years and I've only worked in communities of color and I've worked with nearly 40 principals and I can honestly say it does not get better than Mr. Ballas, Ms. Peters, and Mr. Mazur. So we need to listen to them and respect their professional opinion. Moreover, I've had other TC staff who've reached out to me with similar sentiment as to how the youth are impacted positively by the SROs and I do want to share with the community that today, an hour before this This meeting an International Academy
189teacher reached out to me very concerned that the students have approached this teacher and asked, do the students in the International Academy need to get involved in an advocacy campaign to explain the benefits of the SROs. Furthermore, we could not be more fortunate to be served by the leadership of Chief Michael Brown, Captain Soriano, and the SROs who serve us in the schools. Therefore, I will be I just want to share and be unequivocal that I'm proudly voting to support the SRO MOU this evening. And I'm doing so on behalf of the dozens of African-American students that live in public housing who have approached me and asked to ensure we keep the program, as well as the 30 to 40 soccer players who consider the SROs their lifeline. So again, I apologize that I don't
190have any questions and I just wanted to provide some comments, but given the sincerity. the amount of misinformation and is out there. I just felt really important. I want to be crystal clear where I stand on this issue. And again, I'm really frustrated that there isn't even conversation that can take away resources from our media students. And so I apologize, but it's just, it's just been a really frustrating experience. So thank you again for listening. I apologize that there were no questions involved. And thank you again to Chief Brown and Captain Soriano and the SROs for all you do to be a community policing in your lens and also such a valuable partner. And I appreciate it. And I hope you haven't felt disrespected through this process. That's all. Thank you. Next up, we have
191Ms. Thornton. Thank you, Chair Anderson. And I just want to echo my colleagues and say thank you to the representatives from the APD that are here today. And thank you for your engagement throughout this process. You know, this conversation isn't easy for anyone. And I definitely think that it's. you know, significant and important that it just so happened that a law passed requiring the school board to review this memorandum of understanding or any agreement with a law enforcement agency every two years. And it just so happens that that is the time for us. And so while this conversation might be difficult, I do think that it's an important one. And I'm happy that we do have an opportunity for our community to engage on this as well. For me, while, you know, there's been a
192lot of talk about data that's been discussed today. But, you know, ultimately, when it's come down to what the school board has had to review and what's been posted for the public to review, I still have not seen anything definitive to suggest that, you know, how we are measuring the success of this program. Even with the revisions that we have included in the memorandum of understanding, which include very important measurements, as Dr. Reif mentioned earlier, I'm still not clear what baseline we're using. to indicate what would be considered successful. And it's interesting because I've been looking at conversations that have been happening elsewhere in the city and in Northern Virginia at large. And it's interesting because I'm not sure many people realize this, but there's actually a lot of conversations about the status of the
193juvenile detention facility, which is housed here in Alexandria. And it actually houses... I don't want to say image, but detentions from different jurisdictions. And I actually was an intern for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Arlington, Virginia, about 10 years ago. And Arlington also houses juvenile offenders here in the city of Alexandria. And it continues to do so, even though that discussion is evolving. And even then, there were conversations that There were trends in which the actual number of juveniles entering the juvenile, the criminal justice system was on the decline. And that was 10 years ago. That decline continues today. And as a matter of fact, there have been such success with diversion programs. new models of policing that have made it so that there have been less juveniles entering the system at large
194in Northern Virginia. And so much so that due to the underutilization of our own facility here, they're now talking about repurposing it. So I would argue that, you know, these national trends and this actual decline in juvenile crime, at least in Northern Virginia, suggests that, you know, is there a need to have a daily police presence policing young people? And, you know, I inquired earlier about, you know, like, is there data specifically suggesting that there are that many imminent threats in our school facilities that require a daily police presence? And I just still haven't seen that that's the case. And so for me, I think, you know, understanding if we're talking about systemic issues and we keep discussing how racial equity is at the heart of everything that we're doing, you know, if we talk
195about systems and this is a system that we need to discuss. And while I definitely appreciate the individual actions of some of our SROs and think that they're great as individuals, as a system, I don't know how we can discuss this program without acknowledging its origins and the origins of many police programs in schools due to the fact that kids of color primarily have been over-policed. And that's just a fact. And it's interesting that mostly public schools where there are majority minority students. they have a higher prevalence of the presence of SROs. So thinking about systems, that is something that I do think about. And I do wonder, you know, If that is the case, and I do think it's important to maintain a positive police interaction with our community, including our students. And I
196do acknowledge, you know, like Ms. Nolan was saying, we have students at the International Academy that, you know, have forged bonds with the two SROs at T.C. Williams due to the soccer program and other initiatives. But, you know, I've said this before, I don't think that those programs necessarily would stop just because we don't have a daily police presence in schools. There's a very robust public affairs and community program that our APD has. And if anything, I think that it could even be further enhanced, in my opinion. And so I did actually just want to pose a question and maybe Chief Brown could help answer this, but, you know, hypothetically speaking, if we did not have officers in TC Williams or any of our middle schools there every day, would it still be possible to
197have liaisons, so to speak, that are officers who perhaps when we do have imminent incident imminent threats or incidents that require police presidents presence, could we call on specific officers to come in to help us with those situations? And does that require that they be present in the schools every day in order to have that sort of relationship with schools? Well, that's a great question, and thank you for asking it. We actually have liaisons with the elementary schools right now. We have community police officers that are assigned there, and they make a point of going by, checking on folks, seeing how they're doing. But in the case of a situation where you're calling for police assistance and it's not an SRO, you're going to get the officer that's usually closely assigned, and there's no guarantee
198that the officer that's the liaison is going to be available. They might be on days off because of our schedule that we use outside. The SROs are on a separate schedule designed to meet the needs of the operating hours of the school district. We're on a 24-7, 12-hour shift on everything else for the most part, except for our detectives. And so they may not be working the day that you are open for business in a school and you ask for Officer Brown, and you may get Officer Soriano. And that's not the bad thing. Maybe Officer Soriano is better than Officer Brown. but you're not going to have that understanding of what's taking place in the school and the interest of the school district. We've had situations where a B cop will show up and, you
199know, we talked about one at the last work session where the officer didn't understand all the protocols that the SROs do. We try to minimize that, but we can't train every officer in a MOU kind of arrangement. As to As to, and I understand the issue that you bring, and it's a fundamental issue as to whether you want officers in the school. As I mentioned last time at the work session, this is a decision for the board, not the police department. I will tell you that 21st century policing is all built about relationships, and we will continue to do what we can in terms of relationships with ACPS. This is a vital investment we've made now, but we have also other demands. in 21st century policing, which we've been trying to do for other parts
200of the city as well. And yet we've protected these units and these folks for this program. So getting back to the funding issue, believe me, we have the mental issue that Dr. Reeve talked about that the city council is looking at. We have about five or six other different initiatives that we've been waiting to do for staffing. And yet we've protected the SRO program for that. And I think because it is an investment in the city, it's an investment in our youth. And we will continue to do it in a variety of ways. But the individual students won't have that day-to-day interaction. Soccer doesn't take place every day. Some of the extracurricular activities the kids can't participate in. And this way they can see an officer and actually start to put the face and a
201name with the officer and maybe identify them as a person. A little historical perspective might be of interest, and it's actually mentioned in that 2020 study that I talked to you about that was issued by the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Justice Program. In the 90s with the 94 Crime Bill. It was a call for crime and reduction. And there was crime in many of our schools in that period of time. Magnetometers at the entrances of the schools. I remember I was in and around L.A. and almost every school had a cop on the thing and the magnetometers were there and they were, you know, stopping frisking kids at the door and they were pulling guns out of their pants. That was 94 and that was one of the ways that you
202could spend the federal money that was in the crime bill so that you can make the school environment safe. I wasn't here in the 90s with ACPS or an Alexandria. My sense is that it's evolved over time because now it's more of a community policing event. But the side benefit is if there is a crime involved, you have somebody that's able to respond. Again, I do believe the national narrative is driving some of this. It's also driving it in other areas of policing, not only in the city, but also across the country. But as I mentioned last time, this is a tough decision for the board, and I don't envy your task. You've got some folks that like us being there. Our SROs love being there working with the kids. I think we have a
203path forward with the NYU that John's put together that we can collect data and the baseline will be the first time we have that data. But the real question is, do you want us there or not? And believe me, my SROs will be heartbroken. I will be disappointed, but I will respect the decision. But I can use these assets elsewhere in the city about demands from the community who would like to see our officers in there. And you'd be surprised some of those neighborhoods. Okay. Ms. Lorber had another question. Yeah. A question and a comment. First, I would like to say that. My position here in Alexandria is not related to the national narrative. I understand the national narrative, but I would feel guilty giving a knee-jerk reaction based on a national narrative. It's more
204related to my own history within the school system and in the city of Alexandria. And I know things are evolving and changing. My family and I have had experiences that have shown us bias. in the treatment of children of color and parents of color by the police force. And when I started working in the school system, the SRO at the middle school, GW, it was not a happy experience. And so, and that's a few, quite a few years ago, from 2006 to 2009. And I understand there's been a big change, et cetera, et cetera. But there's a history there, a sense of I think I appreciate Ms. Thornton's articulation of this, do we need police in the schools? I also don't really appreciate being told, well, in this day and age, unfortunately, there is crime
205and you need to protect people. I understand that, but at the same time, this is a school, this is a school that we traditionally have not had. students pass their backpacks through a metal organizer. I, and I also, And I so appreciate the role that these particular SROs have been playing. I'm not convinced that we have actually developed a uniquely Alexandria system of SROing. I'm convinced that we may have a unique set of individuals right now who are ideally suited to these positions. So my question would be, can we have a one year I'm in favor of, for one thing, I want to grandfather these. I don't want to pull these folks out right now if they're playing a significant role and we don't have, obviously, the resources. It's the police department that provides these
206resources. But I would like, rather than waiting another two years, I would ask, can we, in a year's time, look at everything again. And oh, and I did want to make one other point about the teachers. And I didn't see this in the agreement. I think it's very important that part of our teacher orientation include something about how you use or don't use the SROs. What is the appropriate role? And how do SROs relate to teachers? And again, when you have these incredibly personable relationship-oriented SROs, It can be hard, but at the same time, I know for a fact, as recently as like three years ago anyway, that many teachers at T.C. Williams acknowledged that they had fear of children. Certain students made them fearful, and they were ready to call the fire, do whatever
207they could to not have to deal with these students. I guess my question is, can we prolong this a little bit rather than voting up or down? Yes, two-year MOU, here we come. Can we provisionally continue and study and look at, once again, the impact, the data, and then ultimately, I mean, I would, I, yeah, I guess I just would like to buy us a little more time to gather some information data, do a better job of surveying students, really find out if students. If it's causing unrest, I appreciate very much the fact that we were already discussing moving the police cars out of the, you know, getting some symbolic changes there so that it doesn't feel like a police state when you enter the school. Anyway, I'll stop talking, but I did want to
208know, could we do something interim? Do we have to do a two-year? Can we do a one-year? Something along those lines. Thank you, Ms. Lorber. I know, Dr. Hutchings, I saw you go off mute, so I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was going to mention that, you know, our job and our goal is to make sure that we are analyzing and checking in. periodically that we're not waiting until two years like we just did this past MOU. So we really want to make sure that throughout every year that we're constantly revisiting and coming back to have discussions around the progress. And in regards to a baseline year, with some of the measurable objectives that we have included in the MOU, it is new for us. And this is a baseline year. So I think that we
209we are trying to put ourselves in a situation where we can have some clear data points and have some discussions around what's working and what's not working with the revisions that have been made that will give us some of the baseline data that I hear some of the board members asking for. But we will have consistent check-ins and analysis conducted throughout the year. So we're not going to be waiting until the end of the two years. And all of those will be public and we will, and we're planning to post that information for the community. And I'm hoping that we will also be able to provide updates to the board around that so that we can have consistent conversations and it's not waiting until it's time for a renewal. Thank you, Dr. Hutchings. I wanted
210to say the same thing. The answer is yes, Ms. Lorber. In fact, you can request a review at any time. But the goal is to use our quarterly status analysis reviews to drive that one-year review. check up so that we can make sure that we're providing the information you need. And also, speaking of information or analysis or data, if you all have something in mind that you want to see and how you want to see it, please, you know, we won't need to. We won't need to put it, I don't think we'll need to put it in the MOU, but if we provide something and you want to see it in a certain way or there's some specific data you want to see and how you want to see it, please feel free to let
211us know. Chair Anderson, if I could, we have no problem with reviewing our stuff. We do them on a weekly basis with some of our patrol activities. We look at our programs and we move people around because we, you know, it's a finite amount of resources and the demands change throughout the city at different times of the year. And as I mentioned at the last work session. The more we look at things and the more we evaluate, the better off we'll be. So the police department has no problem with those kind of adjustments. And I do believe in the MOUs, their standard language, that they can be stopped at any time by either party. Yeah, and I would just point out, first of all, that the loss is it's no more than two years past.
212So we can't wait two years to start talking about it again. In fact, we were on a bit of a tight schedule this time because the law went into effect July 1st. And that was the middle of the summer in the middle of a pandemic. And, you know, so the second point about that is that we are still in the middle of a pandemic. So the data for some time. will really not be there. So we're going to be who knows, and it won't be even good as baseline data, even if we get back, because we've already missed some of the year. So I think, you know, given all that, we're really, we're not talking two years, we're probably talking a year and a half before. I wouldn't suggest waiting, you know, until the last
213couple of months do that so that we can. you know, be sure to talk about it and have work session, you know, and some time can pass for people to work on it. So if you think about it in that way, as, as you know, I, I, we try to do every week that it, time goes by so quickly before you have to start working on it again. So, so I would just offer, offer that. And then I have Mr. Suarez who hasn't spoken yet. So Mr. Suarez. Thank you, Chair Anderson. And just on that particular point, since it was raised, I would just add that the agreement, you know, does state that within 45 days, the board can terminate the agreement at any point in time. And obviously, the statutory framework requires us to
214review it every two years, but we can review it as much as we want. So I have a few comments and some questions interspersed. I will say at the outset that this is a very tough issue, was an issue I think all of us answered questions on during the campaign. There's a lot of complexity of this issue, a lot of nuance to this issue. And that's why the last session I asked a lot of pointed questions and I will say, you know, I still have very significant concerns with the general notion of SROs, you know, and I have concerns about the message it may send to students to have a police officer in the building. With that being said, SROs are, you know, serve many purposes and they're in many districts that lack the diversity,
215frankly, of ACPS around the country. And there's many different purposes for SROs. I will say that based on the changes that have been made. So far, you know, I think the MOU is directionally better than it was before. I think we still have to continue to refine it over time based on data. I would agree with my colleagues that the amount of data I've seen on this issue has not been as robust as I'd like to see one way or the other. I feel like we're speaking in terms of a lot of anecdotal information. What might have happened 10 years ago? What might have happened with a particular student on the soccer team? Like those sorts of things. And I do think. And I appreciate, frankly, that this iteration of the MOU is going to
216collect more data and is going to more robustly go through that process. And I am particularly concerned about the fact that there are students who continue to have concerns about police in school. And we need to unpack that and address that, as I think you acknowledged, Mr. Contreras. You know, but some of the things I do appreciate is that the definition of contact was improved in this. I do think we do need to have more transparent data that's broken down by race, ethnicity, and so forth, so that we can get to a granular level. Some comments from the community noted that Latinos may not be broken out in the data based on the current proposal. We need to make sure that that's specifically broken out. I did have a comment. echoing some comments we heard
217from the community about the consent provision. I do, for the access to records, I do appreciate that the new provision requires parental consent for under 18, but I will say insofar as we're kind of decoupling school resource officers from being school administrators, I do think an 18-year-old student should still have rights as well and that the record should not be released freely necessarily absent. you know, probable cause or something that raises to a higher level. So I would, you know, I do think that is a bit of a loophole as some members of our community have expressed. And so I do think that that loophole would need to be plugged up. I would say, too, you know, echoing comments from Chief Brown, that we absolutely cannot have a situation where administrative type referrals are done
218by the SROs. That's just simply unacceptable. And, you know, during the campaign, the position I raised and the position I'm going to maintain tonight is that, you know, I'm okay with SROs, but they really have to be. in a minimal role and in a role that is you know only when absolutely necessary and teachers you know need to take the primary and frankly in nearly all instances sole responsibility for disciplining their classrooms they're the instructional leader of their classrooms they're supposed to set the tone in their classrooms and we can't have a culture in the division where you know teachers see officers as a crutch. And so, you know, I will say I haven't heard of that being an acute problem right now. I've heard of it being a problem in the past. And so
219based on that, you know, I'm okay, you know, for the moment, for the second at this point in time. But I do think it's a huge, it remains a huge concern. And there are teachers who are, you know, referring students to discipline. maybe not to an SRO, but referring students to discipline way too quickly. And that is contributing to the disproportionality and those sorts of things. I'd further like to say I appreciate that the issue of zero tolerance was raised because that was a problem several years ago. And I think I mentioned a prior meeting. I wrote an article in the Journal of Law and Education in 2011 about zero tolerance and how terrible it is and how it exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline and all sorts of things. So that does remain a concern. And
220yes, zero tolerance isn't codified in our policy, but if the presence of SROs is... resulting in sort of zero tolerance situations, that is going to be another problem, right? So I just want to make sure I'm putting all these things out there, because I think we need to be looking at all of these issues in scrutinizing the program. You know, I will also agree with the comments of my colleagues about, I appreciated the edits around taking the police cars and moving them into the parking lot, right? Like, I think a principle that should guide moving forward with the MOU needs to be a principle of minimization. You know, the notion that, yes, there's police in the building for, you know, a situation should it arise, but... You know, that is, again, a last ditch case
221scenario only reserved for the most extreme situations where it's really needed. And yes, maybe there's some role for relationship building and things like that, but it's not something where the police are in the student's face. I think that, frankly, probably leads to a lot of the concerns and anxieties among some of the students who. have been surveyed. So I would say that, you know, and so I would also say going back to another theme that has been raised, you know, I think a lot of the comments in support of the MOU and in support of the SROs have been complimentary of these two particular SROs. And I think that probably is the same with respect to the principals who have expressed their positive view of that. And I just would say, We need to make
222sure this agreement's buttoned up because, and I obviously have faith in you, Chief Brown, and I have faith in, you know, our community to have to bring the right people in. But there have been people who aren't the right people. And we can't ensure that every person is going to, you know, be revered in the same way of these two particular SROs. So I think it's really important that we, you know, remain critical, you know, even of these particular officers. and scrutinize them very vigorously on a going forward basis. You know, and one thing I would say too is I have to make a more general just sort of comment and observation because, again, I've been really torn over this decision. I've kind of gone back and forth because, you know, I really do want
223to acknowledge there is this racial reckoning in America, right? And there are a lot of police right now who are not treating communities of color very well. And this is a huge problem. We have to acknowledge it has to be front and center, you know, and we as a division are talking about using equity, you know, as the lens of, you know, everything that we're doing. And so I think this, again, this agreement is moving us toward a more equitable implementation of this program, but there are sort of more broader trends nationally that I think are relevant. And I do think, you know, we need to be mindful of. I think in Alexandria, we tend to say we're different and we're so great and things like that. But a lot of times, going back to
224the naming comments, you know, that we heard earlier today, we have a lot of systemic racism and historical baggage in this community. And I'd be remiss to say that, you know, we have to acknowledge that. in what we're doing. But just one additional comment I'd add too is, you know, The SROs also do play a role about school safety. And we have to acknowledge that we have the largest high school, you know, in the state of Virginia, you know, just as a statistical matter, regardless of the racial composition, ethnic composition of it. And I think it's important to note that, you know, we've been in a pandemic for seven months where we haven't had a single school shooting. We haven't had a single instance of violence. Like I've actually, you know. Before the pandemic, you'd
225turn on the news and every week or every month, there would be some sort of major catastrophic event in a school. And I remember reading an article a few months ago that this is the first stretch of time in the last 20 years where you haven't seen these types of incidents. And, you know, yes, Alexandria, we're a great community. We're a progressive community. You know, we have the right values and ideals, but, you know, we are not immune to some of those. challenges and possibilities in the future. And so I think for me, where I ultimately land is I really have reservations, you know, honestly, about police in schools for many of the reasons my colleagues stated. I think we need, have a lot of work to do. I do, however, think that We are
226in good faith setting a baseline here. You know, we are going to scrutinize this program. This is what we're doing. And that, you know, that I think that there's not, it's not the sort of zero sum sort of situation I've maybe heard from some members of the community. And I will just say finally to the members of the community who've advocated, I just want to thank you for your advocacy because I think it has been. incredibly valuable. It certainly pushed my thinking. I think it's pushed the police department's thinking. And it's reminded us that we definitely need to continue to scrutinize on this issue and make sure that this is the right fit for Alexandria City Public Schools, because it may not always be the right fit. And to Ms. Lorber's point, you know, You
227know, in voting for the MOU, I'm not voting for this in perpetuity. I'm voting for it given the context and the data I have at this moment. But at any time, I would reserve the right to say, you know what, this isn't working. We need to pull the plug on this. So those are my comments. I do hope a couple of the, you know, points I made about tweaks could be... particularly on the access to records could be made. But I do think this is a good faith attempt by the staff of the school division and of the police department to get to a good place on this, even though it's an incredibly difficult decision and there's no perfect answer on this all around. So thank you so much. Okay, I have Dr. Reif with
228another question or comment. Okay. Thank you. I don't, does Megan want to go first? Cause I don't think she's talked yet. I can. No, that's okay. All right, well, thank you everyone again for the discussion. I think this is, you know, it is really important. I've said this before, I'll say it again, that I'm glad the legislation was passed requiring that our MOU be reviewed every two years because I think that, you know, it has led to greater transparency and accountability of law enforcement in our schools. And I'm glad that the legislation required public input. And I, like Mr. Suarez, want to thank you know everyone from the community who filled out the survey and spoke at the public hearing and emailed the school board and i can attest that i know that there are
229changes that have been made to this mou in response to feedback from the community so i really want to thank people for that and you know thank mr contreras too for leading us through this review process uh and incorporating the recommended changes um and i think you know that it has been improved a lot. It goes farther in protecting the rights of students. It establishes more clearly defined goals and it identifies the data that's gonna be used to evaluate the partnership and it creates the new report form. So I think there's been a lot of really good changes. That said, I think that this is an opportunity for us to step back from this MOU and ask ourselves, and I think this is what you know, Chief Brown really said it, is do we want
230law enforcement in our schools? Do we need law enforcement in our schools? I really think that that's kind of where this issue is boiling down to here. And, you know, I just want to say that my response to this question is shaped by my previous experience working in the criminal justice system for a number of years. I ran a prison volunteer program outside of Philadelphia. where I worked in a juvenile detention center, a county jail, and a state prison. And I worked with many incarcerated individuals ranging from juveniles all the way to people serving a life sentence. And most of the people that I met first became involved in the criminal justice system as teenagers. And the overwhelming majority of them dropped out of school, almost universally at the age of 15. And this put
231them on a path. of recidivism, a cycle of in and out of jail that was really hard to break. And of course, we have a name for this problem. It's the school to prison pipeline. And it's also been established that people who are incarcerated tend to have lower literacy rates as well than the general population. And a lot of criminologists have studied this problem and found that historically, you know, over the last 25 years that the presence of law enforcement in schools has contributed to this problem. And so that, you know, that leads me to this question of like, why did we put law enforcement in schools in the first place? And this is something that I think has come up in our discussion as well, that. you know, was the 1994 crime bill that
232directed a lot of federal resources into law enforcement. And so it's not surprising then that this program of having law enforcement in schools in Alexandria dates to 1997. And it's interesting to me that it's 1997 because, you know, the Columbine shooting happened in 1999. So it wasn't. The program wasn't started, you know, just in response to the school shootings, but I think it really was an outgrowth of the crime bill, which has been widely studied and shown to have resulted in criminalization and over-policing of Black and Brown communities and mass incarceration. And I think many people now agree that that was a failed policy, and there's been a culture shift away from criminalization and policing. And Chief Brown talked about that, and he talked about how You know, he's brought and implemented some of those
233changes here in Alexandria. Communities and schools are investing more in counseling, mental health supports, and other social services. We're emphasizing building healthier relationships. And in ACPS, we're focused on these issues, restorative practices, positive behavior interventions and supports, multi-tiered systems of support. We have our K-2 literacy initiative as well, which I think is also connected to this issue. So there's a lot of positive changes that have been happening that I know this board is very much in support of. And while I believe the support for... the school resource officers is very well intentioned. I think we're associating sometimes SROs with these changes that are really the result of a culture shift, you know, and I think that, and I do think there's been a very rosy picture painted as Mr. Suarez was saying about our program.
234And I'm glad that, you know, we've made these changes, but I think there are examples and I don't even want to get into them of, you know, of examples where there have been things that have gone wrong and that haven't been great. And so I feel like, you know, we're at a point here where we can be bold and we can take the next step in reversing this failed policy. And that is we can take law enforcement back out of our schools instead of holding on to this artifact of the past. And to be clear, this isn't about taking security out of our schools, because again, we have over 40 school security officers in our schools. This is about taking law enforcement back out of our schools. And I think that, you know, the resources
235that we're talking about, you know, I think that we can still access a lot of those things. I think if we end this MOU, law enforcement can still offer the after-school soccer program. They can come in and participate in educational activities in our schools. you know, they can be called on when crime is committed. I have to say I was a little, I am a little concerned about this kind of line of reasoning that, you know, a typical officer, you don't know what you're going to get with a typical officer or, you know, even our school security officers, you don't know what you're going to get. Like somehow these SROs are, you know. super, super special. And I'm not saying that they're not because to your point, Chief Brown, I don't want to break anyone's
236heart with this, you know, with this vote or whatever. But, but I think that, you know, I think that we, I think all of our police officers in Alexandria should be capable of coming in our schools and interacting, you know, in a very responsible way with students and have some training to know how to interact with young people. And I think our school security officers should be trained to deal with some of these typical problems of youth behavior that, you know, exist. And I agree with Ms. Lorber. I don't think... I'm not against police in schools because of this national narrative. I think it's problematic to have law enforcement in schools. I'm speaking for myself. I believe the daily presence, the daily presence of law enforcement is unwarranted and it's unnecessary and it's an artifact
237of a failed policy. And I think it's time to take law enforcement back out of our schools. And so for that reason, I'm gonna be voting no on the MOU tonight. Thank you. Ms. Elderton? Thank you, Madam Chair. It's been really good to listen to this conversation. I appreciate the complexity of it and appreciate all the people who have joined in. Mr. Contreras, really thank you for your presentation and your work going into making these revisions. Chief Brown, I think you're awesome. Thank you for spending more time with us. And, you know, with that said, I think one of the things I'll say about the pipeline to prison is, you know, as an educational institution, I firmly believe we want to in this pipeline to prison, we need to teach our kids how to read.
238We need to teach our kids how to write. We need to teach our kids how to do math because we already know the data about literacy rates in prison. but that's our responsibility to teach these kids. That's what we should be doing. So, you know, I'll put that in there. I'll say that we need to, as educators, be better about how we deal with students. That is our responsibility as educators. We are as much responsible for school climate as anyone else. But the students at the end of the day look to us. They come to us to have a safe environment. And that's our job. And when kids feel safe, they do behave better. And so, you know. I think that's my second point, you know, a combination of all the social emotional supports that
239everybody's talked about, the academic needs that need to be addressed. And quite frankly, I think the academic needs are harder to address. And I do feel like we're always kind of looking for the easy solution. Let's do the hard work. Let's get down and dirty and get these kids doing what they need to do, having the skills they need to feel confident and successful so that they don't end up having to interact with the criminal justice system. With that said. Madam Chair, I guess I'd like to go ahead and make a motion. You know, our superintendent is recommending that the school board approve the revisions to the MOU. And so I move that the school board approve these revisions to the MOU and authorize the MOU between the Alexandria Police Department and ACPS. Second. Ms.
240Nolan seconds Ms. Alderton's motion. So I will call for a vote as we've had robust discussion. Can there not be discussion on the motion? Well, we've had a friendly amendment, I guess. Pardon? Can I do a friendly amendment that I'd like to approve it for one year? Is there any support for that? I don't know. Do I have a second for the one year? I would only say I'm concerned about, as Chair Anderson mentioned, about our ability to collect data in this year. If someone could confirm for me that we have the ability to pull, I mean, we have the ability to end the MOU. So I guess I'm just, you know, I'm wondering if we want to commit to a specific date right now. I, you know, other than, I don't know, that's my
241only comment. Okay, I have, I think, Mr. Suarez, did you put your, I'm not sure. Yes, so I just had a brief comment and also a point of clarification. So the comment is to Ms. Lorber's proposal. You know, again, I would reiterate that nothing prevents the board from acting to rescind the MOU at any time. So I don't think we need to do that to. you know, have that option open for the future. So I, it's not because I, you know, don't agree that we should be scrutinizing this within the next year. I do agree, we need to be on top of the scrutiny every year. I don't think, I don't think we should, you know, follow the legislative, you know, mandate, because that's a minimum requirement. That's a floor. You know, so I guess
242that would just be my comment there. But my clarification is, I just want to make sure that the motion language. would capture the comment I made about, you know, the sort of release of records. I don't want there to be a loophole where anyone just because they're 18, the police automatically get records. So I just, I'm assuming the spirit of that can be implemented. And, you know, with that understanding, I'd be comfortable with the motion, but I just want to make sure. Dr. Hutchings, do you want to talk to that? Or would that be Chief Brown? Or both of you? The records belong to the school district. You can set whatever rules you would like for that. If we're doing a criminal investigation, as Mr. Suarez would reaffirm, we can always get a warrant to
243get that if we need it. But I'm not so sure we need to have access to that on a routine basis for an 18-year-old. We can work, I think, with John and get the language together that will address your issues and still make sure that we have the established probable cause. And I was going to mention that we don't hand over just we don't just say, you know, here's the police give them our records. We are very tight with student records because there are FERPA laws that are out there and we're not going to release records, whether the student is under 18 or above 18. And a lot of times we will ask for a warrant to be able to have that released. Thank you. So is that it, everyone? Should we? Proceed with the
244vote. Okay, so I have Miss Nolan seconding Miss Alderton's motion. And so I'm going to call for a vote on the item. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan, yes. Megan Alderton, yes. Ramey Gentry, yes. Jacinta Green, no. Margaret Werber, yes. Michelle Reif, no. Christopher Suarez, yes. Heather Thornton? No. Okay, so that's six yes and three no. So thank you everyone for such a great, robust conversation. And I'm sure it will not be the last time we talk about this. And thank you, Chief Brown. Captain Soriano for joining us. And now I think you're free. Chair Anderson, thank you very much for us bringing us to the table. And frankly, I enjoyed the conversation. I know this is a difficult decision for the board and I look forward to any kind of review you want on this.
245The programs that we do for this city should be subject to review and that includes the SRO program. So thank you very much. Thank you. Yes, I agree. Thank you, everyone. Okay. And now we are on to the next item is evaluation, superintendent evaluation goal setting. And I believe that is, is that just directly to Ms. Nolan, Dr. Hutchings, or are you going to say something? Yes, Ms. Nolan. Okay. So Ms. Nolan. Well, first off, I just want to thank everyone for being a true team effort amongst the board. I'm really proud of the document that we collectively have come up with together for the evaluation of the superintendent. Also, I just want to give special thanks to my colleagues on the committee, both Megan Alderson and Chris Suarez. It's been a real pleasure getting
246to work with this on you, as well as we've had significant amount of leadership from Clinton Page supporting the assessment of the document, as well as... Dr. DeRionne Pollard- Mr Mr wilkins to welcome, so thank you so much, and obviously Dr hutchings has been a vital part of the conversation, so I think it really speaks collaboratively. Dr. DeRionne Pollard- It think it speaks to the collective effort of working together with board and staff to come up with a document, if we have with regards to the revisions. Just wanted to share that, you know, we had already created a robust evaluation as a board. Unfortunately, during the times of COVID, we had to revisit it about, I would say, in June, knowing that there were certain things we weren't going to be able to do. For
247example, the SOL data was not going to be on hand, given that the state had provided a pause in the evaluations. Also, another example was that we were unable to survey the staff on an in-school climate survey. given that we were remote and focused on virtual learning in the spring. So what we've done for this iteration is we've revisited and wanted to get back as much to the original evaluation that we've come with, including how are we evaluating students academically given this year, as well as what are we doing during the times of COVID to and ensure that students are still engaged and receiving a robust education. And the third thing you'll note from this iteration is that we have made a commitment to have 360 surveys from both of our internal and our external
248school communities. So those are just some of the highlights that I wanted to provide in terms of what you can expect from this incoming evaluation. You'll note that we have a process as a board that we have a mid touch point in December. And then we have a robust evaluation that is done amongst the board and Dr. Hutchings in partnership in the summer. And we followed that process this past year. But again, I just wanted to share that we did have an original document that we're trying to get as true to as possible. We did have to make revisions of it during times of COVID. And we are trying to get back towards the original document while still understanding that there is moments of COVID. You'll notice that I believe that the screen is being
249shared that there's seven. I'm so sorry, Susan, if you don't mind just going down just a tiny bit. We are bound to the state requirements of what's being evaluated. I'm so sorry, Susan, do you mind going up to the top of page three, please? Thank you so much. So you'll note that these are the seven areas, mission, vision, goals, planning and assessment, instructional leadership, organizational leadership and safety. And then if you don't mind just going up slightly, communication and community relations, professionalism and division wide student academic progress. So, again, that is what the state has dictated needs to be included in the evaluation. And then Dr. Hutchings, his team and the board have worked in partnership as to what are going to be the key indicators that we are looking for in this upcoming year.
250So just wanted to give an update to both the community and the board as to where we stand with an updated evaluation for the school year 2020-21. Let me just pause for a moment and ask my colleagues, Mr. Suarez and Ms. Alderton, is there anything that you would like to add or anything I failed to mention? Okay. Dr. Hutchings, is there something that you wanted to add in terms of the evaluation process? I think you captured the collaboration piece. So thank you for that. Thank you. It's been a pleasure getting a chance to work with you on it, as well as your team. Yes, thank you, Ms. Nolan. And also thank you for the rest of the subcommittee for that. And board members, we wanted to bring this up to look at it tonight, but
251we aren't going to discuss it. But if there are further changes that you want to suggest, then please get those in as soon as you can. Yep. Thank you, Chair Anderson. Okay, so now we are to, I think, we're getting there, we're getting there, everybody. We're getting to a report that says for me, which is, Susan has told, Ms. Nielsen has told me a few things I need to remind people of the November 12th presentation of our Capital Improvement Program budget. And there will be the work sessions for that budget on the 12th and the 16th. And then on the 17th, we're having a joint discussion on budget with the city council. And there's a public hearing on the 23rd on the budget, the CIP budget. So the deadline to sign up will be the
25222nd at noon. And you can go to the school board meeting page to sign up. We will have updates on the virtual plus and phase reopening on the 12th and 23rd of November and the 3rd and 17th of December. So that's it for my updates and now on to Dr. Hutchings' report. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a quick update because I know that we're going to be bringing to the board what we promised at our last meeting was that we're going to bring back updates in regards to our transition from the board's motion last week in regards to reopening our schools, our school buildings. And I just wanted to give a couple of kind of like tidbits of what to expect. when we come back and some things that we are investigating further.
253One is the technology component that we're looking deeper into in regards to having cameras and things in the school and determining what the infrastructure could look like. We wanted to bring some specific details around that. So Dr. Hoover and her team are working through some estimates on how much all of these things will cost and what is doable within the school division as feasible and also financially possible. So we're going to be sharing that with the board at our next board meeting. I also just wanted to share that today I had an opportunity to participate in a simulation at Jefferson Houston. As you all know, next week we're going to be bringing a small group of our students in who are part of our citywide program, these are students with special needs who are part
254of citywide and K through second grade. And today we... brought in some of those teachers and instructional and an instructional assistant, and then also different department representatives to get a feel of what does the day in life of a student and a staff member returning to school in COVID-19. And I just have to say, I mean, we've recorded this today and you're going to see a video that we're going to be able to share with the community, which I think will be very powerful for our community and our staff because it is very different going back to school. in this COVID-19 world. And I think that the point of reference that a lot of people have is prior to March 13th. And going through the simulation today, it is absolutely nothing like prior to March
25513th. I mean, you know, we were required to wear a mask. We had to be six feet apart. When you go into classrooms, of course, you know, there's limited spacing and being able to actually be in the classroom and not looking at it from the you know, a picture like we had shared with you all, you could really see how six feet apart, it just limits the amount of space that you have in a room. And another feature, you know, things that we were just talking through is like our younger kids using the water fountain. You know, that's not something that can happen. You know, we have to make sure that they're using water fillers and have they have water bottles while they're in school. Lunch has to be served in the classroom versus outside
256the classroom. Then they have to remove their mask to eat. But you can't remove your mask and eat and talk. And you've got to have your sneeze guards up. I mean, it was just so much detail. And I just want to say hats off to our operations team, our school nutritional team, our C&I team, Terry Werner. her team with specialized instruction, because it took a lot of hands on deck to really bring just the simulation together. And I'm really looking forward to sharing out with the community. just to get a feel of what that looks like. You know, kids stepping off the bus six feet apart. We were very fortunate today to have one of our families and Miss Cindy Hart. She actually allowed for one of her children, Stephen, he was a part of.
257the simulation today. And he was able to kind of go through from off the bus to getting his temperature checked, to going to the classroom, to having a snack, to doing work with the instructor. And we were able to see, well, how does that work and how does that engagement happen? And it was, I think that was probably the most refreshing time for me to see Stephen, the young man in there, because he was just so excited to be in school. And it was a great experience, but it is very, very different than what we are all accustomed to. And I just want to make sure that our community and our staff, as well as the board, is just prepared for. the difference because it's shocking. Everybody that we talked to going through it, it's
258so different that it's just eye-opening and it's shocking. I don't know any other word to say. No one would have ever imagined we would have to operate like we did today, but that is going to be our new normal for a little while. And that finalizes my report. I just wanted to give you the heads up that we will be sharing out with the board. some technology updates. And another piece that I did want to make really quickly is that we are going to be doing an intent to return. form with all of our staff, and that's 100% of our staff, just to get a feel of our staff members who are unable to return to get an understanding as to why they are unable to return. We're working through kind of all the logistics
259right now because we do want to be able to talk with our staff about the process before releasing, you know, a document or an intent form so that people don't have to fill in the blanks. We want them to understand why we're collecting this information. and what we're planning to do with this information and why it's really helping us with our planning. And it's very important information that we do need in order to plan for this transition. But some of the specific things that we're going to be looking for. in regards to our staff is staff members who are unable to return. We want to know, is it because you have health conditions, not stating specifically what your health condition is, but that you have some form of health condition that's preventing you from being
260able to return, or that you have someone in the household that has a compromised immune system, so you are unable to return because you could bring COVID. into your home that could have an impact on someone who lives in your household that you're unable to return because of age because we do have some of our staff members who are over 65 or in the age bracket that you really shouldn't be out in the community at this time. or that you have situations where you don't have the childcare at home because there are some of our staff members who don't have childcare and we need to know if that is their situation of why they cannot return. And then the fifth area that we're looking at is that you're fearful of coming back. And we had
261some deep discussions around the fearful component because we even shared this with Dr. Herring. Fear is real. Fear leads to anxiety. It leads to mental issues for some who experience fear. It doesn't allow you to be on top of your game and to be able to educate and teach. And we have to really determine which staff members are having fear so that we can either work with them to provide some coping mechanisms in regards to that fear or, you know. they may not be able to return into our buildings. And we can't just tell people, you know, get over it, suck it up. This is the new world. You know, like we can't do that. I mean, we're the same way we talk about social and emotional needs of our kids. We have to think
262about the social and emotional needs of our staff too. And this is a crisis for everybody. And people who may not have had any type of, you know, mental health issues prior to this global pandemic are beginning to experience them now being at home in their homes for the past, you know, eight months. So we want to make sure that we're capturing that. And then the final category is other, where there will be a space to allow us to know what that other thing is so that we can share with the board. specifically what these categories are and what our staff overall, because this will be a required document for 100% of our staff members. to complete. But we're going to be sharing some more information with you all at the next board meeting. But
263we're planning to, we're aiming for November 9th to have a division-wide discussion around why this intent form is needed. And then right after that division-wide Zoom session that we're going to have, and it will be recorded, we will be issuing the intent to return form. So I just wanted to give you the heads up of where we're headed. with that because we've been talking about it this week with our division team, as well as the teaching and learning team. So that concludes, I know it was a lot, but that concludes my update for this week. Okay, thank you. Do board members have any announcements? Okay, so then next we have a, if Vice Chair Nolan could lead us into closed session, that would be great. Sorry, cut me off guard. Let me get it. I
264apologize. I know we're at the end. It's hard to believe that we're close to the end. It just came all of a sudden then. Although it's not quite the end. We have to go to a closed session and then come back again. Okay, I'm so sorry. I'm looking to see, was the script sent before? I don't see it. Yeah. Let me, Susan, can you quickly do it or should I try to? Yeah, I can resend. Let's see. I'm looking. I apologize. Somewhere around 2.30-ish. Okay, I apologize. I only have an email at 2.22 and another one at 2.35. I apologize. I didn't receive it. I'm sending it. Thank you, Cindy. Sorry about that, everyone. No, no. That's right. You'd think I'd have it memorized by now. Well, there are several of them. Not tonight there
265are several of them, but there are several of them. It's hard to memorize. especially the numbers pursuant to and all that yeah make sure Susan and Jennifer and maybe Chanel have them memorized did you get it nope I apologize not coming through let's see oh there we go thank you everyone for your patience I apologize um here we go Okay. Madam Chair, I move that the board convene a closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3711A6 for discussion or consideration of the investment of public funds where competition or bargaining is involved and where, if made public, would adversely affect the financial interests of the board. I can't. Okay, Ms. Green seconds Ms. Nolan's motion, so I'll call for a vote. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan? Yes. Megan Alderton? Yes. Amy Gentry? Yes. Cassandra Green? Yes. Margaret
266Lorber? Yes. Michelle Reeve? Yes. Christopher Suarez? Yes. Heather Thornton? So that's 9-0. Do people need... Sorry. I didn't say it yet. I'm so sorry, Heather. No problem. Ms. Thornton, I'm so sorry. I was thinking no one would. So I was thinking more about the next question was, do people need like five minutes between? Okay. All right. So if you haven't received the link, please email me and I'll be sending it to you. Five minute break and then we'll be so like, at 8.05. How about that? That's seven minutes. Susan, are you sending the link now? Is that what you just said? I sent it this afternoon. You should have received it. I can resend it to you. Okay, please. Hello, everyone. We're back. Hey, Susan. That was a quick one. Seemed quick, anyway. It's all
267relative. I guess I was working. I didn't realize how much time you were in. It was quicker. We don't have any options. Five, six, yeah, okay. It's green. I see you. Vice Chair Nolan can read us out of the closed meeting. Yep. Pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3712, I move that the board certify to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters identified in the motion 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 October 29, 2020. Second. Ms. Gentry seconds Ms. Nolan's motion. I'll call for the votes. Cindy Anderson, yes. Veronica Nolan, yes. Megan Alderton, yes. Amy Gentry, yes. Jacinta Green, yes. Margaret Lorber, yes. Michelle Reif, yes. Christopher Suarez, yes.
268Heather Thornton, yes. 9-0. Thank you for certification. And now we need one more motion. Madam Chair, I move that we adjourn. Second. We're just getting to it. I'll give that to Mr. Suarez. He seconded Ms. Gentry's motion for the vote. I beat him, though. Oh, did you? You know what happened is... I didn't know who the first person was. I heard a first person, but I couldn't figure out who it was. So sorry. It's getting very good at the second. Like you're like the number one second right now. I'll let Chris have it. He has four kids under the age of five. It's a badge of honor to do these. You need something, right? You need something. Okay. Cindy Anderson. Yes. Veronica Nolan. Yes. Megan Alderton. Yes. Maybe Gentry. Yes. Jacinta Green. Yes. Margaret Lorber.
269Yeah. Michelle Reeve. Yes. Christopher Suarez. Yes. Heather Thornton. Yes. So that's 9-0 to adjourn at 844. All right, y'all. Good night. Bye. Bye.