001Okay, the time is now 5:30. Good evening and welcome to the February 23, 2026 academic achievement committee meeting. I am Jonathan Briggs, District 2 representative and chair of the Academic Achievement Committee, and I'm delighted to welcome you to our first meeting of uh first meeting of the year. For those of you keeping track, yes, it may be February, but happy new year uh all the same. I hope everyone is feeling refreshed and ready to dive in with us this evening. Um so, let's get started. We're also pleased to have with us this evening Dr. Judith White, Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Elizabeth Faison, Associate Superintendent of Student Services, and Minne Hogan's Instructional Supervisor for Professional School Counseling Services, who will lead tonight's presentation. Uh, for those unable to join us live, a recording will be available
002on the PGPS YouTube channel and on the Diligent website. We will now proceed with roll call. So, Miss Johnson, please call the role. >> Mr. Briggs >> present. >> Miss Boozer Strer >> present. >> Mrs. Olivo >> present. >> Mrs. Goins McCants >> present >> and Miss Ajakay >> present. >> You have five. >> Thank you so much. A quorum is present. Um if there are no objections, the committee shall adopt the February 23, 2026 meeting agenda. There being no objections, the meeting agenda is adopted. If there are no corrections, the committee shall approve the December 15, 2025 meeting minutes as distributed. There being no corrections, the meeting minutes are approved. Um there are no registered public comment speakers this evening, but as usual um you know it's so important as you all know that
003we hear from you and and we continue to hear from our community members um via email. But just want to say that this is also an appropriate and really um impactful platform to share those uh priorities as we know that every kind of instructional or um system level intervention we lead is is mostly coming through this uh this committee. So, please always take that opportunity to show up and and share your uh your voice. That being said, we're going to move to the discussion item and presentation for today, which is section 504 services, a look at implementation. Uh so, I now yield to Dr. Judith White, chief academic officer, to introduce agenda item 6.1, section 504 services, a look at implementation presentation. >> Hello everyone. I am excited to be with you this evening. I
004am going to turn it over to our supervisor Dorene Hogan. She is here as a part of Dr. Faison's team. Um you know Dr. Faison is our associate superintendent of student services but under the direction of Dorene is our 504 services. So I look forward with you to hearing all the wonderful things they've done so far this year. >> Thank you so much Dr. White and thank you. Good evening uh board of education members and good evening to everyone. Uh thank you for the invitation and um we're going to go ahead and get started with uh information regarding our section 504 services. So today we're just going to again review just a little bit about our um accommodations um that are offered to our students. We're going to hear from a uh community member who
005is receiving uh section 504 services and then share any aha moments that we uh that you may have or just discuss any aha moments that you may have as a result of today's presentation. So our problem of practice uh focuses on uh our compliance gaps that uh surround section 504. Um we have uh many um uh 504 plans that uh may be out of compliance due to um a limited meeting schedule or interrupted meeting schedule. So with our snow dates, we may have had some uh meetings that have been scheduled um and that have to be rescheduled. And because the rescheduled date is out of um u the compliance date for the 504, it is now listed as out of compliance. And so we're grateful for our school counselors who are uh serve as case
006managers who are returning uh to the building uh tomorrow to ensure that our 5044 plans continue to remain in compliance. Um we also again as you know that uh we are in year two of synergy implementation and we were able to roll out a new database within synergy um so that we can have all-in-one tool to capture our 504 information um and we often hear from families who are concerned about the uh the uh compliance factors whether or not their students are receiving the accommodations that are listed on the 504. for plan. And so those are some of our problems of practice that we continue to uh find solutions. So here we are first quarter when we were here we were sitting at uh uh 2457 the amount of students in the district that had
007504 plans and uh throughout first quarter we received a 5% increase 5.5% increase of the amount of students on a 504 plan. So, we ended second quarter, and this was as of February 6th, I believe, um with uh 25,581 students in the district receiving a 504 plan. And we were also boots to the ground with uh again rolling out our new platform on uh 504. And you see that the professional school counselors, building based facilitators who are typically your uh administrators, your assistant principles and principles and then other participants. Some schools designated a student advocate or another uh administrator or intern to serve um on the platform or to serve as a a 504 facilitator. uh all of these stakeholders were uh trained thoroughly trained um between September and in January of 2026 um on
008the 504 uh tool. So let's take a look at some of our measures of success. Um again, each student who has a 504 plan has appropriate accommodations based upon their uh identified uh diagnosis. Um, in elementary school, we see that preferential seating is the most commonly utilized accommodation for our uh students on a 504 plan. We need our students upfront. We need our students free from distractions. Um, we need our students focused and learning. And so that's typically what is provided for our elementary school students and middle and high school students. We see um extended time um as a heavily utilized accommodation. Um and so our students um receive extra time with uh classwork with uh homework and um sometimes on test and quizzes on classroom based um test and quizzes as well. some um
009standardsbased or state-based uh tests and quizzes as well. Um in order to uh ensure that they have uh the appropriate time to um to uh develop the correct response um to focus and to um I respond in terms of what uh they have learned, provide a response in terms of the um the information that they have learned. And so for our middle and high school levels, uh extended time is heavily a heavily used accommodation. Our middle and high school students also heavily utilize a flash pass. And you may ask, well, what is a flash pass? that is um some sort of document or whatever way the team identifies for the teacher to use um for the student to indicate to the teacher that they need a break. Um many of our middle and high school
010classes are maybe 90 minutes and some of our students that may have um some disability with focusing with um anxiety um and just a merit of disabilities they are able to access the flash pass. to use the flash class to go see either their professional school counselor or their trusted adult, mental health practitioner, therapist, whoever their trusted adult is identified in the building. they're able to uh to step out of class or perhaps um the uh teacher will call the student and um um the teacher will call the trusted adult and the trusted adult could come to the classroom um to see the student, but we want to make sure that the student um has access to uh utilizing a break if needed. And so we were able to uh uh survey our professional school
011counselors and we were able to uh receive some testimonials in terms of how effective our measures of success of students who are receiving accommodations. Um and so if you uh you know look on the screen you'll be able to see we have about three or four um exam exemplars of students who um have met much success in utilizing uh the accommodations on a 504 plan. So, one from a fourth grade student from Hyetszville Elementary is displayed on the student I mean on the screen and the student increased reading and math scores including their MCAP scores. So, we are happy to see that. Our next measure of success comes from the professional school counselor from William Pekka Elementary School. And um this professional school counselor focused on a fourth grader who also demonstrated a understanding of
012a better understanding of the of the material um and was also able to meet success on classroombased assessments because of the 504 accommodations that were um implemented in the classroom. And again the counselor went on and uh discussed some of the accommodations that that particular student was using such as preferential teaching and extended time um which again helped the student to reduce barriers in learning and academic achievement. So, here are some of our compliance concerns um or um that we have uh currently in the school system with our uh 504s. Uh right now we have 15% of the schools that have students with 504 plans remain out of compliance um with updated 504 plans. And again um a lot are we can contribute the weather and um snow days um you know to the factor
013because we had many 504 uh meeting scheduled for the week or the seven days that we were out and uh for today. And so that definitely plays a large role in our 504 plans not being within compliance. And so of course we work in the office of 504 to ensure that um our counselors are who serve as case managers um are notified whenever uh our report our guidance uh our uh certify report uh speaks to the uh schools that are out of compliance. We immediately notify the school teams um and ask them to schedule dates as soon as possible to um ensure that a meeting is being held. Um and we are also in utilize our building facilitators which are our school-based count uh administrators, assistant principles and principles um to ensure that the accommodations
014are being put in place uh for the students and that the students are able to um to access the general education curriculum based upon whatever accommodations that are listed on their plan. So, we are very proud of all of our students who are on a 504 plan who are meeting success. Um, we wanted to highlight a senior a student who will soon be exited because this student is a graduating senior. Um and we asked him to give a reflection on his uh uh diagnosis and also on how the having a 504 plan has helped him throughout his uh academic career. I'm not able to hear it I think because you're muted Dr. Faison. I'm going to make sure also that I'm sharing um the slide and the sound. My apologies. >> It was working earlier.
015>> Yeah. Okay. Here we are. Let's try this again. My name is Quentyn Southern and I am a senior in Project Lead the Way at Charles Herflowers High School. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with anxiety and executive functioning disorder. And although I was given 504 accommodations when I was in private school, they didn't implement it fully. So, I struggled a lot. My parents and I decided that I should go to a public school so I could get my accommodations and it has really really helped me. Uh I've been an honor student at Flowers throughout my entire high school career. I scored in the 96th and 92nd percentile on the ACT and SAT respectively. I've been accepted into five universities so far. Um I'm the president of both my high school choir and my
016Capital League chapter. Um, having extra time and the ability to take breaks when I'm overwhelmed helps quiet and calm my mind so I can be my best. When I go to college, I plan to study architecture and use my accommodations to help continue my success. I want to thank my counselors, Miss King, Miss Bonds, and especially Miss Hendricks for supporting and believing in me. >> Thank you so much. And again, we are proud of all of our students um who are on a 504 plan who are meeting um academic success. Um and we just wanted to make sure that uh this uh form was able to see um the work that go the hard work of our students and what happens when our students receive those accommodations that they are able that the sky is
017the limit. So at this moment, we will continue to review the data that comes to us on a weekly basis uh via the certified report to ensure that all of our plans are in compliance. And again, those plans that are not in compliance, we are actively reaching out to the schools to encourage them uh to schedule meetings as soon as possible. Um we uh continue to provide ongoing professional learning uh to our case managers who are professional school counselors um and also to our building facilitators to um ensure that they have a understanding of the process and um the need to ensure compliance. Um, and we're also, uh, providing ongoing coaching and collaboration, um, with all of our school-based stakeholders, um, including especially our classroom teachers um, to ensure that the accommodations are uh, being
018provided to the students. Our parents are our amazing partners as well um as they immediately notify us um if accom if an accommodation is not being provided. Um and they're also supportive in our um efforts to um ensuring that the students are supported as well. If you have additional questions um regarding 504 services, you can feel free to reach out to myself or any specialists. We also have uh Dr. Laura Owens who serves as our compliance analyst um in our office as well. Questions? Okay. Thank you so much uh Miss Hogans for that really thoughtful clear presentation. Um I'll now open the floor for discussion. So colleagues you will have two and a half minutes for a question. Um we'll have two rounds to start and then if there's a desire for a third round
019u we'll vote. Um and so please raise your hand and I'll acknowledge you obviously in the order of your raised hand unless for whatever reason you cannot raise your hand just come off mute and I'll have you in Q. Uh so we'll start with board member Olivo. Um thank you so much um Chair Briggs and um thank you so much for this presentation. It was very informative. I had a question about the um the schools that are out of compliance. So 29 out of 192. Does that mean that they have a certain number or percentage that are behind or could you get on that list if you just have one one um 504 that's that's behind? Can you just dive a little bit more deeply into that for me? >> Yes. Thank you so much
020for that question. If you have one 504 that is one day behind, then you are on the list. Um >> Okay. >> Yes. Then you are on the list. And so that's why, you know, it may be a little heavier than what it has been in previous months because of we we were closed for snow and that impacted um you know our um our compliance rate. Additionally, uh because of the way our system is set up in synergy, uh for those uh parents who are requesting a 504 plan, uh the team must create a initial evaluation and once the initial evaluation is uh completed in synergy. Um it the team has 30 days to complete the 504 and so but it's still counted as a 504 that has not yet you know been uh created
021or finalized and so that unfortunately will count against our out of compliance data as well. >> And uh as a follow >> um just so that everyone's clear she mentioned this certify report and I just wanted to make all knew what certify was. So on that certify report, principles receive a report every Sunday and it lists a myriad of different codes that will if it's certain codes, it's certain things going on in their data. So it could be that you have a child listed as suspended, but it's on a weekend, right? So it's telling you how to fix all these errors. 504, I'm assuming, is one codes that's on there that will flag a principal every time something is wrong. So I just wanted you all to know that. So each of our offices has
022certain data points that's on that certify report. >> Got it. Thank you so much. Um second, and this hopefully will be quick, um were the 504 families also invited to participate in the the special education open houses that happened at every school this year at the beginning of the school year? Would that have included IEP and 504 families? Do you know? Just yes or no? No, I I say and invite was not extended to the uh to the 504 families. >> That's something like that's a aha. >> It is. Uhu. >> Yes, definitely. >> Yeah. So, I'll um >> and I and I know we're over your time so I apologize, but that's a great aha because normally people we all lump them together and there are instances we're like they're not the same. So,
023I think next year we need to be intentional about putting both groups. So, I'll share that with Trenel also and then Dorene, you and Trenel, Liz, you and Trenell can talk about that. That's a really good one. Like, no, we didn't. >> Great. >> It is great. Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Chair, for going over. >> No, no problem. Uh, thank you so much, um, board member Goins McC. >> Thank you, Chair Briggs. My question is just kind of a followup uh to that one in terms of I guess clarifying the lines. I think most of us on this call are clear of what the legal lines are between 504 and sped, but in terms of the services that they provide, what is available as support for those different groups of
024students, where are the lines there >> in terms of the services? um as 504. When a student receives a 504 plan, they are in the gened classroom and they are receiving accommodations to access the standard curriculum. When in terms of special education where the curriculum could be modified for the student, um the curriculum is not modified for the student on a 504 plan. However, there are supplemental services that a student on a 504 plan could receive, such as if a student needs in addition to the um the flash pass, a student may need a check-in with a professional school counselor. Um then the student will receive that that will be written on the 504 plan. or if the student needs extended counseling services, you know, uh based upon their disability, then that's written on a
025504 plan. Um if a student needs, uh um audio, hearing, um uh technology, um then that's written on a 504 plan. So, um I want to say similarities could be uh um could be the same. Um, but the special education student is receiving a modified curriculum whereas the student on a 504 plan is accessing the general education curriculum >> and and and thank you Dorin for that. I I would just add one piece to that for everyone's knowledge. Special education receives federal funding um as it relates to providing additional services for students. 504 is not a funded um mandate. So there are no federal dollars that come with a student who has a 504 plan. So, if there are additional equipment or um strategies or resources that um a student will need, either a school
026principal will find those dollars or the um uh department of student services will be created with our budget to find those dollars. But we currently do not have any funding um in the office of 504 services. there is no set aside or set aart budget for those students or for those resources. Sometimes we're able to fund those additional things through grants, but currently we have no budget um centrally for 504 students. >> Thank you so much. Uh board members, other questions? Um student member Ary? Yes, thank you and thank you so much for um your presentation. My question is about the flash passes that you mentioned earlier. Um you mentioned that it can be used so that students with 504 plans can go and like you know talk to counselors or like seek guidance like
027you know or just like get some downtime. But I wanted to ask like are there any other um tools similar to like the um to the flash passes because not everybody like might be able to like use the flash passes cuz like not all not one size fits all. So like you know I just wanted to know if there's other options for other students with the 504 plans as well to receive the same resources too. >> Thank you so much for that question. it. That's an amazing question and the reason why this is a a team approach and why uh uh all stakeholders who um are in this on the student schedule, all teachers are invited to participate in planning the accommodations is just so the flash pass or the need for a break could
028be extended in the best way in the best manner that fits the student. So, for example, there was one there's one student uh the teacher has like a little uh library set up in the back of the classroom. And so instead of um utilizing a flash pass to exit the classroom, the teacher and the student and the parent agreed that if a student needs to break, then the student could go back to that library uh section of the classroom um and just you know collect themselves um you know and then uh return back to uh uh to learning. And so it is not it is never a one-sizefititall. Um the flash pass again is uh coordinated and developed to meet the students needs. So it could be right outside the classroom, it could be in
029the back of the classroom, it could be um you know just uh maybe they need to come to class 5 minutes later um or etc. So whatever meets the students needs is the accommodation that is being provided. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you for that question. And and and listen, I would also add, imagine um a student who um because a student who receives 504 services, they receive it because they have um a disability that significantly impacts daily life functions, right? So in some cases, our 504 students are able to um request transportation. Let's say they were other otherwise be a walker to school in a walk neighborhood that if they have a 504 plan according to their accommodation and transportation is recommended that they would receive transportation as an accommodation. So it
030could be we've talked about preferential seating, we've talked about extended time, we've talked about homework chunking, sometimes it's fidgets for students, sometimes it's reduced assignments or um uh transportation. So there are a number of things. It could be audio books, speechto text. So there are a number of accommodations that are available to students um just based on what that significant life function is that allows them to be able to access the um academic um curriculum if we provide that accommodation to the student. Thank you for that addition. Um board members, other questions? Okay, before we go to the second round, I want to see if there's any other first round questions. Um, I guess I'll step in here then. I did have a question for the first round before we go to um, board member
031Olivo. Um, I was just curious about how implementation is standardized and I know that, uh, early on, Dr. White, you had shared kind of a tracker of like how special education is a prior priority. I know that obviously there's nuance there because special education and 504 plans are not exactly the same thing, but I was just curious about specifically when it comes to equity. I know that there are some um you know some schools that have a different >> dynamic or demographic of of students that have specific needs and how you all differentiate um across that specific need. And then also just how do you ensure efficacy? like how do you you know when you're thinking about school A and school Z that may have very different needs um and also the roll out of
032the the implementation like h how do we ensure that if um that's baked into the plan so far >> thank you loaded question um I'll take it from the bottom up in terms of the rollout um we designate a day every school year at the beginning of every school year um for every school counselor again who serves as a case manager um to provide a student's 504 plan to every teacher. Um and so we call it um internally 504 day, 504 distribution day. Um and so it does look different for every building in terms of how those plans are uh disseminated. We're excited about Synergy um because uh for years and years we've used the paper form. Uh we've had a paper form that we distribute and now um this information is housed in synergy.
033Um and we are uh by law required to capture the educator signature um as a way of uh validating that they have received the students plan. Then we train our building facilitators again who are our assistant principles and our principles um to monitor to ensure that the students are receiving the set accommodations in their classroom. Um it the there is a um a fine line with the uh school counselor serving as the case manager uh because they are determining they are distributing the plans. Um but because they are not the evaluator of the professional educator is where we lean heavily on our um administrators to ensure that the classroom teacher is providing the set accommodations. And I guess just that piece around like equity, like do you if you could speak to it, like are
034there schools where you're like there's more need here than there and how do you kind of address that when you know I know if I were talking to a principal and they're like our schools are very different from this so we don't have the same needs and we need this from central office. How do you address that? >> And we we do have schools that have uh more 504 plans um than um than the other. And so in terms of um but we also have exemplar professional school counselors who are case managers who are on top of it. And so you know we continue to train and support and advise our school counselors uh to ensure that all students are supported um that all plans are distributed and um that all students are receiving equitable
035accommod accommodations across the board. Okay. that and then Dr. Faison and then we're going to go to board member Olivo. I was just going to add to um the additional piece though parents were not invited to the open houses um the office of school counseling did host um a virtual 504 session for families um for the last two years to come learn um talk about resources um just give them I think the soup to nuts around what a 504 is what accommodations are you know how to monitor it how to communicate if there's there's an issue, how to monitor your child's grades um and getting involved in navigating things um as a parent. Um so they did provide those virtual sessions to families. Um and the other thing I would say is they have um
036this uh 504 articulation um so that before the school year ends if a student is going from elementary to middle or middle to high then counselors are communicating to that next doing that warm handoff from one counselor to another saying this was my student this will be your student these are the accommodations that they had and just providing that com uh that conversation so that there's a warm handoff in our students don't fall through the cracks just beyond uh teachers receiving a list of who the students are that have a 504 plan and what those accommodations would be that those counselors who really are the case managers have a way of communicating across levels as well when there's a transition. So great. Um, and wow. Um, okay. And which is what we expect, right? I'm
037not making it seem like this shouldn't be what's happening across school districts. This is, you know, that would be exemplar, but that's great to know that's happening. Um, board member Olivo, >> thank you so much, Chair Briggs. Um, and thank you, Dr. Faison, for that additional explanation. Um, I uh was a a special education 504 and then IEP parent um for my son from third grade until he graduated in 2024. So, um spent a lot of years making sure that his teachers had the had the paperwork and all that at the start of the year. So, really appreciate this proactive work. I wanted to ask about um you know in general and and Dr. Right. I know that that I can always come to you with this specifically, but what would you recommend that a
038family do if they, you know, they have, let's let's just say, you know, it's a family in high school, they have a 504, um, and they they just really are feeling like it is not, um, being implemented or followed with fidelity, they're getting, you know, maybe some push back, maybe even feeling a little targeted. um what what what are the next steps that that that parent should should um should take? >> Thank you for that question. Um initially they should contact their uh child's administrator >> and um from there the administrator will uh consult with the uh with the uh professional educator um and um work with the professional educator to um ensure that the said accommodations to find out you know why the if if and when or if or why the um accommodations
039are not being implemented in the uh or being provided to the student. And um you know uh determine if there are any barriers that are preventing this uh professional educator from providing the accommodations and then strategize uh to um and uh provide professional development, support and coaching to the said educator um to ensure that the student is uh meeting the accommodations. And at any given time that the administrator has um needs uh to consult my office then they will reach out to and we will provide support. >> Great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that explanation. >> You're welcome. >> Great board members. Other questions for the second round or any first round questions? Okay, seeing no hands. Um I I do have one last question and if anything comes to others and I'm
040happy to go to but um I was curious about the um the flash pass because that sounds great but it was making me think about my time back in the classroom when you would have students that are like coming in and out and how hard it is for teachers to kind of keep that instructional piece right if we're teaching whole group and then you go to the small group someone miss something how do you are there any kind of selfmonitoring tools before you get to the flash pass and the student is like I want to go right because we know sometimes students abuse things like do they have any tools that they are using to kind of adjust and figure out when is it time to for me to go to a school counselor, when
041is it time for me to step away or when is it time for me to kind of monitor some things or adjust some things on my own? Um, and do they have those tools and things? >> Absolutely. And again, every 504 plan is written specifically for the student in mind. And if the team feels that the student is not at the maturity level or you know is not able to emotionally regulate themselves to um you know to handle the uh the flash pass then this that said student would not be provided with a flash pass. Uh there would be another means or accommodation um written to support the student um you know with their um with their diagnosis or their disability. So we have wonderful students here in PGCPS and so which uh basically gives
042uh the reason of why we uh having a flash pass is a um a highly used accommodation. Um because many of our students are able to uh you know regulate themselves um you to um to uh you know take breaks when needed and um many of our students especially our high school students are grateful for the flash pass um because sometimes they just need a break. Anxiety is u you know is is high tensions are high uh stress levels high and they just need to step out for uh for a moment. So I've witnessed several students who uh you know once we we have introduced the use of the flash pass then they're uh you know it calms them down immediately knowing that they have that support in place. Um so uh to answer your
043question it is because it's not a one-sizefititall. You know it's written appropriately directly for the student. It's not given if uh the team feels that the student will not utilize it appropriately. I got it. Okay, Dr. Fasison. >> Yeah, I would just add one piece to that as well, and Dorine did a really good job. The the one piece I think um to note is that um we use our professional school counselors to teach every child across the board, right, through their classroom guidance lessons. When you talk about the tools that all students should have, um the American School Counseling Association and Dorene uh trains counselors every month, ele, you know, embed lessons that will help every child develop, grow, understand, and know the tool around self-awareness, around self-management, around social awareness, decision making, relationship
044building, you know, empathy and things like that so that they're able to number one have emotional literacy um know how to talk about how they're feeling and um just grow these help seeking skills um for students um and so that is what counselors do just as a baseline um for everyone so that everyone's not having to use the flash pass whether they have a 504 or not but everybody's going at that same rate right to learn just these basic fundamental things that we want, you know, kids to be able to learn and do to just um to be able to to cohabitate and to interact um as peers and to to create positive learning environments um as they engage one another. And the last thing I wanted um to say is that for um our
045our families who have written um who have a plan um and it goes back to an earlier question. If the plan isn't working, it can be updated because our students are growing and they're developing and sometimes their um uh their physical um aspects of um their neurodeiversity and things like that will require that the plan is updated. new family um changes, um divorce, and you'd be surprised how many students begin to become um anxious because of the um composition of a family or changing dynamics of a family. And so what may have been relevant at the beginning of the school year may not work in December or February. And so if the plan isn't working, then the family can always request that the plan is revisited at any time, you know, of the year. And
046sometimes the teachers may say, "Oh, we've been doing this for a while and it's not working. It needs to be revisited." And our counselors have lots of tools that give them a wide array, you know, of interventions and accommodations um that students um can glean from us. So I just wanted to add um that piece as well. which is really um really helpful to context. Um and I don't want to you know because I'm have in the chair role I don't want to step into if there are other board members that haven't raised their hand to make space for that. Um but if not I did want I did have one last question. Um and this was just around the 29 schools that are struggling. Um I was curious if there were any kind of
047common challenges that you all were seeing and then how those are being mitigated um if at all. uh as you're kind of looking across and um one Dr. white. I'm not sure if who's the right person here, but I know we had started off with like this is the vision, this is the mission for this year, right? Based on those different kind of um headers that we had, special education, etc., etc. And so, just like as you're thinking about the mission and vision and also the goal of what it is we're trying to accomplish, is that is the the schools that are struggling, is that factoring into a goal? Like are we trying to move a certain amount of schools across the finish line this year? And is that tied into any of those things?
048>> Absolutely. We won zero out of compliance and that's our goal every week, every month, every school year. Um, some contributing factors um to our compliance rate or out of compliance rate um number one are counselor vacancies. Um and that's when the administrator has the charge of developing the uh the 504 serving as both case manager and building facilitator um on top of their other duties and responsibilities. So that could be a daunting task and that's where we try to step in um in um and assist that uh administrator in that school as well. um we have several high schools that are out of compliance that are in that number and that is uh a factor of um a large case load uh that our high school counselors are experiencing. Um and so 504 is
049one of many things that are on their plate. Um and so we again try to balance and um and uh step in and provide support and training in terms of how to get this done. Um we have some new counselors uh this year. We were uh blessed with 34 new counselors and so we're training them as well and um some may uh fall a little bit behind with balancing all the again enormous responsibilities of a um of a school counselor. Um and then again with staffing absenteeism um vacancies and um uh in increased workload uh all goes into uh a student uh not uh a 504 plan being out of compliance. Got it. That's wonderful. Okay. Um board members, if there are no other questions, we're going to move forward here. And I want to
050say um just a big thank you to Dr. White, to u Miss Hogan, and Dr. Faison for just really I think a phenomenal presentation and just speaking to like where we're headed and where where we're coming from. Um and I really appreciate you all this together. Um I want to say again, thank you all for the excellent presentation and a thoughtful engaging discussion. Our next meeting is scheduled for March 17th um of this year. There being no further business, the time is now 6:16 p.m. and the February 23rd, 2026 Academic Achievement Committee meeting is hereby adjourned. Thank you all for your time and participation and have a wonderful evening.