001Okay, thank you. We are now back in session. Mr. Hanson. >> We convene today in a closed meeting pursuant to a recorded vote on the motion above and in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires that the board certify that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempt from open meeting requirements under this chapter and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered. Any member who believes there was a departure from these requirements should so state prior to the vote indicating the substance of the departure that in his or her judgment has taken place. Statement of the departure will will be recorded in the minutes. >> If
002there has been a There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Dr. Bridges. >> Aye. >> Mrs. MacPherson. >> Aye. >> Mr. Hanson. >> Aye. >> Dr. Northern. Dr. Wilson. >> Aye. >> Mrs. Kilgore. And Sherrod's aye. Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Robinson, I skipped past you. Sorry. >> I voted aye. >> Okay, thank you. Okay, um Mr. Hanson. >> I would um like to make a motion that we remove item one from item I or number one from item I. Um or not remove but take it up for first and final review. Spinning. >> Okay, there's been a motion and it has been second. Do roll call. Yep. Just want to make the board aware that um I'm as you know, I'm not a big fan of first and final reviews. It's
003not a governance best practice. I'll be voting against it because of that reason just to give folks the opportunity to consider items um is the point of first and final and um we just received this item yesterday. I was hoping for more time to consider it. So, thank you for the opportunity to share my reasoning. >> Thank you. Okay, uh then Dr. Bridges. >> No. >> Mrs. McPherson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Hanson. >> Hi. >> Dr. Northern. >> Hi. >> Dr. Wilson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Robinson. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Kilgore. >> Hi. >> And chair votes I. Thank you. Mr. Hanson. >> I would um make a motion that uh the board reject the staff recommendation on item or number one in item I. >> Second. >> Okay, there's been a motion and a
004second. Any discussion? This was looking forward to the opportunity to be able to consider the two proposals over these next few weeks, but um I'm sorry that we won't have that. Okay, roll call. Dr. Bridges. >> Abstain. >> Ms. McPherson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Hanson. >> Hi. >> Dr. Northern. >> Hi. >> Dr. Wilson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Robinson. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Kilgore. >> Hi. >> And chair votes I. Um chair um also receives for uh first review items two through five and we look forward to hearing more in August. Thank you. With that, we will take a brief bio break. Thank you. Thank you. >> We are at number J, is that correct? Yes, correct. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, item J is a first and final review for recommendations
005regarding the Literary Fund loan application approval for release of loans. This is one of the unique circumstances where we do come before you to ask for first and final review, um, in part because all of the school divisions have applied through a previous application process and they've provided us all the necessary documentations set forth in the code to release their loans, and so we don't want to delay their construction projects, uh, from proceeding upon your approval. So, um, the Literary Fund and the Literary loan is a little bit different than the School Construction Assistance Program, just to explain that for you. The School Construction Assistance Program actually provides dollars from the general fund without the school divisions having to repay the funds. The Literary loans are different. These are loans that the school divisions are
006able to tap into the state's credit rating where they might may not have that in their own communities and pay back the loans to the fund. So, this is fully us loaning money to school divisions. They pull pay back in full every penny that they borrow from us. So, before you, we do have two school divisions that have provided us with all of the necessary documentation through prior grant application processes in 2024 and 2025 respectively. So, we have two applications. One for Pittsylvania County that they applied through the 2025 application period and for Stafford County that provided uh applied for the loan during the 2024 application period. The item request for you to release the loans today for Pittsylvania County is for HVAC and window replacements at Mount Airy Elementary School. The renovation project focuses
007on improving HVAC and indoor air quality. Pittsylvania County is requesting a loan literary fund loan for the project in the amount of 5,687,000 to be payable over 18 years and they are eligible for a 2% annual loan interest rate. Attachment one shows you the details of their application. The second for consideration is for Stafford County in a replacement of Drew Middle School with a new building to accommodate larger student capacity, provide provide approximately sized classrooms, core functional spaces needed for today's education, and improve learning environments for their students and staff. Stafford County is requesting a literary loan for the project in the amount of 25 million payable over 20 years and is eligible for a 3% annual interest rate and their application is shown in attachment two of your board agenda item. These school divisions
008have provided us with all of the necessary defined documentation in the code section with approvals from their superintendent as well as their architects and final project plans and specifications that meet our building requirements as well. So, today we are seeking from you approval to release these loans to these two said school divisions and I'm happy to answer any questions for you. >> Thank you. Board members, are there any questions? Okay, there are no questions. Is there a motion to receive uh for a first and final review the recommendations regarding the loan fund? Is there a second? >> Second. >> And the roll call. Dr. Bridges? >> Aye. >> Mrs. McPherson? >> Aye. >> Mr. Hansen? Dr. Northern? >> Aye. >> Dr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Mr. Robinson? >> Aye. >> Mrs. Kilgore? And chair votes
009aye. >> Thank you. Uh Okay. Okay, the first and final review of appointments to the Board of Education Advisory Committee, Mr. Chapman. >> Thank you very much, President Ashton. Vice President Hansen, members of the Board, Superintendent Conway. Um this item is also for first and final review. Um as you well know, uh the Board does a lot of variety of work on behalf of the children of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Um so much work in fact that the Board has a very robust set of committees who are necessary in order to um the Board has delegated work in certain subject matter areas. Um today we're bringing to you recommendations for such committees, um specifically the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure, the Early Childhood Advisory Committee, the Virginia Advisory Committee for Career and Technical
010Education, which I'll remind this is the first set of appointees that this um this uh Board is considering for this committee since it was reconstituted earlier in the year. Um and then the Advisory Virginia Advisory Committee on Advanced Learning. Um under the Board Bylaws, the Board has delegated to the Superintendent um to make recommendations to bring to the void board for appointment. So the board is our staff is bringing these recommendations under the authority of the superintendent to the board. The reason for first and final review is because we normally solicit these nominations beginning in about March. We've advertised these and these appointments start on July 1st. And so this is the last board meeting before these seats and these terms are going to begin. And so we're asking the board wave first review and
011approve this list of recommendees. >> Thank you, Mr. Chapman. Any discussion? Um, Dr. Northern. >> I just noticed there's one person on two committees. Is that fine? You don't have >> Yes. Yeah. >> Okay, thank you. We'll do a roll call. Dr. Bridges. >> I. >> Mrs. McPherson. >> I. >> Mr. Hanson. Dr. Northern. >> I. >> Dr. Wilson. >> I. >> Mr. Robinson. >> I. >> Mrs. Kilgore. And chair votes I. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Done. All right. Okay, we're on item L. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam President, members of the board and superintendent. I am Calypso Gilstrap, executive director of the office of innovation. I'm presenting for first review a no cost extension request from one of our lab schools, the University of Virginia's Innovation Hub College Partnership
012Lab School, who's asking for a startup grant extension. In May of 2024, the standing committee certified that UVA's Innovation Lab School was complete, compliant, and financially sustainable. The Board of Education then approved the Innovation Hub including the startup and per pupil funding grant. So UVA is requesting a no cost extension to allow Charlottesville City to complete some outstanding purchases and vendor payments that are associated with the Innovation Hub. The current grant period ends June 30th, 2026, next week. Um they have about $1.1 million remaining for the work primarily tied to some furniture delivery. Um and those items will not be complete before the current grant ends. So the extension would allow UVA to use the remaining funds that they originally purposed for. The superintendent recommends referring the extension request to the College Partnership Laboratory School
013Committee for review. This step allows the committee to confirm that the remaining expenditures align with the approved budget, determine whether delays affect the implementation benchmarks that we approved, and review the request within the board's established oversight process. The committee's review would then come back to you for final review. Madam President, this concludes my request. I'm happy to take any questions. >> Great, thank you. Are there any questions? Dr. Bridges. >> It's just a quick one. Have any of the other uh lab school partners had to have an extension? >> This is the only request that we have at this time. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? Mr. Robinson. >> Was the last time this committee met in 2024? And are you confident that it's still um is a sound group that that exists? >> Sound
014group exists. >> You're talking about the committee >> The committee itself hasn't met since 2024. So I just want to make sure that there's a committee ready to receive this. >> Mr. Henson. >> Just cuz they haven't met in over a year. So I just want to make sure they exist. >> It just as a member of the committee, I know when we discuss still engaged. We chatted at the end of the year at the beginning of the year where we thought we might need to meet on a topic and um I believe the membership is still all >> Yes, the membership is still intact. >> Great. That's >> Okay. >> Um while I'm talking, I will abstain on this one since it is a UVA matter. >> Yeah. Okay. Oh, this is first review.
015>> Correct. So, it'll first review, then it'll go to the committee, and then come back. >> Great. Thank you. We will see you again after the standing committee has completed its review. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful afternoon. >> Thank you. All right. We're up for item M, the first review of the academic and career plan guidelines. >> Good afternoon, President Ashton, Superintendent Conway, and members of the board. I'm Dwayne McCray, Deputy Superintendent of Innovation, Student Pathways, and Technology for VDOE. Thank you for the opportunity to present today as we continue advancing the Commonwealth's commitment to ensuring that every student is prepared for success after graduation. The Virginia Department of Education brings forth the first review to updates for the academic and career plan guidelines. These guidelines originally was approved in 2009 and most
016recently updated in 2024. It remained a critical part of how we support students in discovering their interests, understanding their strengths, and planning meaningful pathways towards future goals. The revisions you are reviewing today strengthens the alignment between these guidelines and the board's school performance and school support framework. Specifically, it focuses on the three-E readiness, ensuring that every graduate is prepared for employment, enlistment, and enrollment. These updates reaffirm the importance of beginning career exploration early through the academic and career plan portfolio in elementary schools and continuing development through a formal academic and career plan in grades 7 through 12. Together, these tools provide students with structured development or appropriate guidance as they make decisions that shape their academic experience and future pathways. As always, our goal is provide school divisions with clear coherent guidance that support high-quality
017implementation and upon final approval, video we staff will continue offering professional development, technical assistance, and next steps for incorporating and updating guidelines into regulations. At this time I will I'm pleased to introduce my co-counterpart, Dr. Michelle Wallace, assistant superintendent for the Virginia Department of Education, who will join me in presenting the remainder of the items. >> Good afternoon again. Um, great to be here presenting this item that will help to bring clarity to school divisions on academic and career plans. At this time I will review the proposed guidelines for school divisions and this is really they're guidelines for the divisions to use as they consider how they're going to support students building the academic and career planning portfolios for elementary students and academic and career plans for secondary students. The former guidelines are linked within
018your board item as the form the format is very different. You'll see it's kind of laid out in a a little bit more friendly user-friendly format and so if you want to look at those previous versions, they are linked within your boilerplate. The standards of quality call for elementary students to begin career investigation in the elementary grades and continue that through middle and high school. And when you look at attachment one, you will see the ACP guidelines begin with a tie into the current school performance and support framework including that 3E readiness framework as Dwayne mentioned and with a reference to the standards of accreditation, which require both the academic and career plan portfolio, commonly referred to as ACP P, and then the academic and career plan, commonly referred to as ACP. Um the updates
019to the guideline document come from feedback from our practitioners in the field who do this work annually with students. The academic and career plan portfolio created in the elementary school is intended to be a collection of student-centered information that demonstrates the strengths of the student throughout those primary years. Divisions have flexibility in how this information is collected for students, and the guidelines list samples of what may be included, but certainly it will be varied by locality. The ACP P sets the foundation of the academic career plan development, which begins in the middle school years. During this time, students begin a deeper exploration of career pathways and post-secondary opportunities beyond their graduation from high school. The standards of quality require each middle school student to take at least one course in career investigation, or local boards
020can select an alternative means of delivering the career investigations course to each middle school student, provided that such an alternative is equivalent in content and rigor and provides the foundation for such students to develop their academic and career plans. The guidelines provide clear examples of how schools can begin the development of the ACP in the middle school with a focus on key indicators from the three E readiness and the college and career ready Virginia initiatives. The ACP is a living document that is intended to make connections between the student interests, which have been captured in the ACP P, to create instructional coherence for a student's experience throughout high school. During high school, the ACP is to be reviewed annually and updated to reflect those student experiences, credentials gained, work experiences, coursework, and other experiences to
021help students and their families make decisions regarding post-secondary experiences. As 3E will continue to evolve, we want divisions We want you divisions to ensure that they are thinking about this very planning perspective. What are the school's expectations, having parent collaboration, and student personal experiences? After final review and approval from the board, VDOE staff will offer a series of professional development opportunities and technical assistance resources to support school divisions with implementation of the new guidelines. Updating the ACP guidance is intended to better support early and continuous career exploration, improve coherence between the ACPP in elementary school and the ACP in the middle school and high school, and to ensure that students receive consistent, developmentally appropriate guidance throughout their K-12 journey. And with that, the Superintendent of Public Instruction recommends the board receive for first review the
022proposed revisions to the ACP guidelines. >> Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Oh. Mr. Robinson. >> First of all, I I strongly support moving the ignition of exploration to elementary and love how you've written in here a lot of flexibility and how people go about this. And I just want to emphasize that point real quickly. So, it would be ironic if we if we in an effort when people are trying to remove seat time and we we heard students before talk about wanting more flexibility and being able to schedule internships and other opportunities it'd be ironic if in an attempt to move there we added more constraints to to schedules. And so my fear is that these requirements with the middle school course etc. Could if if not following your advice could result
023in less flexibility for actually doing the actual career exploration cuz we're focused on completing these forms. And getting your signatures etc. Again, I don't think that that's at all the intention I just as a comment as we go into first review the field I just encourage as you're already doing continued work on figuring out how to help divisions and schools do this with flexibility and innovation that keeps the intent of moving away from more constraints to more career connected experiences. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. We will accept this item for first review and then see you in August. See you then. Thank [clears throat] you. Okay, we are at item N I think. There you are Mr. Williams. Thank you. Come on up. >> I'm looking through the audience because the only audience member
024here is for this. So I'll acknowledge him in a second but thanks for hanging in there Clark. So good afternoon board Madam President Superintendent Conway. My name is Jeff Williams and I oversee the office of child care health and safety. In your attachments there's attachment called called handout letter item in handout. It is an overview of the office of child care health and safety. Someone real briefly go over that and just ask that you refer to that for time sake if you want to know a little bit more about us. Y'all met me last month when we were talking about some guidance documents and so just want to give you a quick overview. So we are a team about 130. So we're really big piece of Department of Education. We transferred from the Department of
025Social Services in 2021 and we are in eight areas spread out across the state. So you can see by this that we have an oversight of approximately 6,500 programs. Probably about 2/3 of those we call regulated in terms of either we monitor them for subsidy or they're licensed. In our core responsibilities, there's basically four bullets there. I'll just kind of let you look over those, but we are excited to be part of the VDOE because we do feel that we play a big role in helping VDOE meet its priorities and you can see those at the bottom there to ensure baseline for health and safety for all programs that are preparing children for kindergarten. So that was a big reason why we were brought over is to kind of unify Virginia's system for caring for
026children. Education does not start at kindergarten, it starts at birth. Ensure health and safety for out of school time programs serving K-12 children. Ensuring parental access to information about health and safety. Parents don't know what's going on. We kind of see our role as helping parents understand that. And then lastly helps ensure accountability for public funds being used to support healthy, safe, and quality programs. So with that being said, we're going to go into the slides and kind of give you an overview of what we're going to be doing and covering today. So the objective listed present the final revised regulation for first review outlining the developmental process for assuming key changes and demonstrating how stakeholders input shared and final version. So, I'll let you kind of look through the agenda there. Uh we have
027approximately about 10 slides that we're going to go through. Um and the first one we're going to go through is the process for updating the regulation. So, at this point I do want to introduce Clark Sanders. He is uh the chair of ECAC, the Early Childhood Advisory Council. Uh Clark has been involved since day one in this process. Uh he has all the scars to prove it. Uh he's got the late nights of reviewing regulations. Um so, just wanted to let you know who is behind the scenes and working with the department uh and all the different stakeholders reviewing these regulations. Clark, I appreciate you uh being being there with us. So, when Office of Child Care came from the Department of Social Services, uh we were given the task to review the regulations related
028to child care to determine the effectiveness in providing protection, two, the clarity of the provisions, three, their ability to reduce administrative burdens, and four, the extent to which they avoid unnecessary overreach. The process, the final regulations, we actually started this process back in December of 2021. BDO has worked with the Early Childhood Advisory Council, stakeholders, and the board to repeal or replace the old standards for licensed child day centers that are currently in effect. The final regulation presented today is a product of a partnership with ECAC members, stakeholders, and I really want to emphasize this next point. Over 750 public comments. Uh that was in two different sections and I'll talk a little bit about that in a second and multiple reviews by subject matter experts and leadership. So, after reviewing the process of ECAC's
029endorsement in 2024, the board endorsed the first iteration of these regulations. In January of 2026, they went out for an additional public comment. Uh, that commenced uh, in or excuse me, it commenced in January of 2026. And then VDOE amended the proposed regulations from February to May based on public comment to create the final regulation that is before you now. Next, please. So, as part of this process, the worker group, VDOE, stakeholders, ECAC had several goals. Uh, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 primary goals that are listed here. And I am proud to say with so much work and so much help, each of these goals was achieved. The strengthen requirements for water safety and safe sleep was very, very key. These are the key areas where children are injured. Regarding aligning standards,
030we align them with federal code, minimum standards, uh, and many times best practices. Playing of course the process of balancing a lot and uh, balancing health and protection with the ability to actually enforce these with the cost analysis. So, a lot of times we had to balance many times competing interest. We want to ensure alignment with state and federal laws. We want to protect children, but we also must consider the operational and cost impact of the regulations and also reduce burdensome requirements. The last thing we want is child care providers to spend so much time on regulations and administration that they don't have time to care for children. I'm not going to go through the rest of these for the sake of time. I would do encourage you to kind of look through that process
031as we kind of go through the next several slides. So, it's important to understand the timeline and process here. So, I'm going to spend probably a little bit more time on this. Hopefully, I won't stretch your patience too much. 2021, VDOE established a temporary work group consisting of multiple stakeholders. And in December 21, to help revise the regulations. In 2022, the work group convened and spent a year revising the standards. This work group went through every single line of the standards. This is not a DOE project. This was a wee project with those in child care. Members dedicated 40 plus hours of time reviewing the requirements in committee. That's not the time that they spent in person doing it. I can attest that I got emails from Clark many, many times late at night, and
032he's like, "Jeff, what about this word here and this standard here?" And I was like, "Yeah, Clark, that's something we need to talk about at the committee." So, really, just the committee did such great work. In April of 2023, ECAC reviewed the draft regulation, made a few changes, and endorsed the final draft. And this board approved a NOIRA and draft regulations in June 2023. It is important to understand that statement. Endorsed regulations. So, when we went to NOIRA, it was a first for VDOE. It was probably a first for all last day agencies. We actually had regulations for individuals to review. So, technically, we were able to get feedback at a very, very early stage of the regulatory process. 2024, based on 500 plus unique public comments, a A regulation was endorsed by ECAC and
033in September of 24, it was approved by the board in October of 2024. So, we had already had a public comment process. 2025, once executive review was completed, an additional 60-day public comment period began on December 1st. 2026, where we are now. Based on an additional over 240 unique public comments on the updated proposed regulation, the final proposed regulation was endorsed by ECAC in May, and that is what is before you now. Um, we're really excited that that we got so much, uh, as the superintendent says, feedback is a gift. And we got a lot of it. And based on that, we said, "Let's let's update things. Regardless of whether it causes something to be redone, we're going to do this. We want to get it right as best we can the first time." Clarifying
034language, you know, making sure everything makes sense because nine people can read something one way, one person might read it differently. Is there a way we can address that? And there was, then we sought to do that. Next, please. The current revised version reflects significant revisions based on public comment, agency review, ECAC review following public comment in the development of the final regulation. Public comment ended on January 1st. As I mentioned, 240 specific comments from over 134 commenters. So, we have a lot of people that were looking at this, which is what we want. You know, if we can get 300 people to say what makes sense, then that's going to be what's best. 80% of this in, uh, sections included either technical or substantive edit. And substantive edits made in 30 sections, technical edits
035made in 45. So, just want to take real briefly. Substantive means not that we're like, "Oh, we want to do, you know, we want to have a ratio of 1 to 100 and we're at 1 to 50, but because of the legal process, just slightly changing things can be considered something that's more substantive. Whereas, technical might be clarifying a word or two. So, the top concerns raised in public comment are in appendix C of this PowerPoint. So, if you want to go through and look at that, there's information there. So, really would encourage you to look through that as we go through if need be. Next, please. So, I do want to kind of highlight the changes to the final regulations. So, this is These are the changes from what the board approved in the
036initial one that went out for public comment. We made some changes based on the public comments, brought to ECAC, they endorsed it, bringing it to you now. So, there's kind of three key areas where there's some changes. So, the supervision flexibility increases ratios for school-age children only. To kind of, hey, this is what they're seeing in school, we can we can match that. We're okay with that. Includes a variance process for ratios and group size that's built into the regulation. Um, like in the mornings when, you know, you don't have a group of 8-year-olds and a group of 2-year-olds. You have, like, you know, brother and sister who come in, one might be four, one might be eight. So, how do you do that? So, there's some flexibility built into that. And then we increase
037the flexibility in supervision for school-agers to allow more independence. Um, so these are kind of the flexibility. I do want to make a just quick little reference. Because of the general procedures that you all approved, uh, last year, there's allowable variance to every single licensing regulation that's not based in code. So, if things change, technology changes, and there's something new, we have the ability to adjust based on economic issues, based on technology. Um, but this flexibility that we have here is specific to the licensed child day center standards. Staff flexibility expands qualifications for lead teachers and directors. Uh we have increased flexibility for staffing at the beginning and end of each day, which I mentioned. And we allow all training, including orientation pre-service, to count towards qualifications as a lead teacher. We always want to
038be people to move forward, and this is a way we can encourage that and actually use the training that they have. Last in that section allows for all training except for orientation to count towards annual training. Finally, in terms of the highlights, reduced administrative burden. This is really, really key. We want to make sure that we aren't asking people to do something just because we want to do it. We want to have every single regulation to a health and safety standard. So, we reduced the duplication of effort for documentation of immunizations and physicals. We reduce unnecessary testing by removing repeat TB testing. We reduce onerous reporting requirements. And we remove requirements related to undesignated epinephrine. That's a big issue when you'll be bringing more about that based on the code in the coming months. Next,
039please. So, the next steps. Uh the board will consider the regulations for final review this August. And this is the first reading. Uh second step, the attorney general will conduct a review of the final regulation to make sure we're good. Number three, an executive branch review will then be initiated, and the governor will review the final regulation. If the governor approves, a 30-day final adoption period will open, and then ECAC and providers will be notified when that period opens. Just again, from public transparency. This is a kind of important one. Once the adoption period ends, the regulations will become effective on a date determined by VDOE. So, what we don't want to happen is this to go effective on, you know, let's just say December 31st, and then we not had a chance to train
040staff, to train providers, to give staff that you know, providers an opportunity to kind of live into this. So, just kind of you know, we're always looking to make sure that we have a good implementation plan that's strategic, making sure that we cover all of our bases. And then lastly, kind of as part of that, OCH staff and impacted providers will be provided multiple training opportunities prior to the effective date of the regulation. In general, what we like to do is do a really in-depth training about 6 weeks out prior to effective date and then over the course of those 6 weeks have follow-ups, have office hours, you know, make sure that our inspectors are ready to answer any kind of questions. Next, please. So, in your PowerPoint, there is appendices. They range from number
041letter A is about substantive edits from proposed to final. Next, please. Appendix B is a cost-benefit analysis. These are things that we must do as part of the regulatory process. Next, please. And then the top comments and concerns and our responses. As part of the regulatory process, every public comment we have to have in a document and document our response. So, for all those public comments, we have a response and we record why and this is also information that we share with the OCAP prior to this. So, Madam President, that is our presentation and offering for first review. >> Thank you, Mr. Williams. Are there any questions? >> Yes. >> Superintendent Conway. >> Thank you, Assistant Superintendent Williams. Thank you, Chair Anders. Mr. Anders has run for many, many years to high-quality child care centers
042here in the in the capital region and has been an ambassador for multiple governors and first ladies um and has been here uh since the beginning of this process. I should note for the record that my youngest was in preschool uh so these these rules were applicable at that point and now he's going into third grade. So, if anybody uh you know wants to sort of think about how long this process has in all seriousness, I can't think of a moment where folks came together dedicated more than 20 hours sitting around the table going line by line and then we we have received so much public comment. I'd like to note if folks didn't hear this morning that our very young speakers were appreciative that there was we had removed uh that we had a
043requirement about reptiles and then we we got some very uh compelling public comment about the class turtle um and sort of ways in which we could have turtles uh and maybe some bearded dragons um and still keep our our children safe um but it is sort of the the the work by our thousands and thousands of early childhood site leaders, our educators across the Commonwealth who have uh on top of their very busy jobs shared feedback with us on how to strengthen these regulations. We we we we talk a lot about it but one of the most important jobs we do is to keep children safe and our littlest learners deserve these protections. We have always have to balance that with the very challenging job that our particularly our public private providers have in making
044sure that uh there is a balance between health and safety and the ability to run a nonprofit or run a business and make uh ends meet. So, thank you again uh Chair Anders. Thank you to the broader early childhood advisory committee and to all of the the many many folks who provided feedback including some of our littlest learners uh this morning. Great, thank you. All right, Mr. Williams, thank you. We will accept this item for first review and see you in August. >> Great, thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you. We have just a couple more items. I'd say we just continue to go. Great. So, item O. >> Oh. >> Great. Mr. Gilstrap, is that right? >> No. >> I'm standing in. >> Director Jackson. You're here. You're not Mr. Gilstrap. >> I'm not Mr.
045Gilstrap. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon, President Ashton, Superintendent Conway, and members of the board. I am Dr. Brian Jackson, Director of Licensure, and I'm here to present for first review the ABTEL board's recommendation to add the following items. The Praxis assessments for Russian, Chinese Mandarin, and Latin. Elementary subtest assessment updates to reading language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. And the new assessment and cut score for geometry. The Superintendent of Public Instruction recommends that the Board of Education receive for first review these items. >> Mr. Jackson, thank you. Are there any questions? Okay, wonderful. Thank you. We will accept this item for first review and see you in August. >> Thank you. Okay, item P. No. Torbert? Torbert? Oh. We're moving fast here. Yeah, hold on just a second. Yes. >> I need to
046make a statement just before the presentation. >> sure. >> Um so, just for the record, I want to acknowledge that I am employed by the University of Richmond. Therefore, I had do have a personal interest in this item. I note that the University of Richmond is one of many institutions of higher education addressed in this item. I affirm that I am able to participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. I ask that this statement be included in the minutes of this meeting for the record. >> Thanks, Dr. Wilson. Dr. Bridges. >> And similarly, Madam President, thank you. Um I am employed by Virginia Commonwealth University and therefore I have personal interest in the university. I note that VCU is one of many institutions of higher education addressed in this item. I affirm that I'm
047able to participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest as well. I ask that this statement be also included in the minutes of the meeting. >> Thanks, Dr. Bridges. Storber. You're on. >> Good afternoon, President Austin, Superintendent Conway, and board members. I'm prepared I'm presenting to you today for first review the 2023-2025 biennial approval education endorsement programs as required by the regulations governing the review of and approval of education programs in Virginia. These regulations require each institution of higher education to demonstrate that its education endorsement programs meet the standards of the biennial approval. The educator preparation programs met every requirement standard during this biennial review. The Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure has reviewed and approved this report. The Superintendent of Public Instruction recommends that the Board of Education accept for first review ABTEL's
048recommendation to grant approved status to all Virginia college and university educator preparation endorsement programs listed in the 2023-2025 biennial report. >> Oops. Thank you. Board members, are there any questions? Dr. Northern? >> I was curious, uh I'm seeing in the report here, it looks like, you know, everyone met each of these. They're like say girls all met. I mean, is it Is that typically the case? Have these criteria been changed? I mean >> Sometimes when we get everybody getting met on every single indicator, we adapt the indicators, but has has the report >> The report has the The report is in place and it has been the same in place for a long time. And if you look at the definitions for a completer and a non-completer, it pretty much indicates that you have to
049report for a non-completer, you would not report scores for them. And so So, that the the definitions pretty much dictate what's reported and what is not reported, and that is within the regulations. >> Are there more questions? Okay, thank you, Mr. Hubert. We will accept this item for first review and see you in August. Okay, Mr. Chapman, item Q. >> Thank you, President Nash, and Vice President Hanson, members of the board, Superintendent Conway. I apologize that after these long 2 days, you've been waiting to hear this item about regulatory process. Um So, without further ado, what we have for you here today for first review is a request to open up periodic reviews of regulations on three chapters. As this board, I think, is well familiar, we have engaged in a blitzkrieg of regulatory reviews
050of periodic reviews over the past 2 years. This is our three of our final chapters that we're hoping to open up these periodic reviews over the course of the next 6 months, really, uh, you know, until until the end of the year. Um, they're all big chapters, they all deal with special education. Um, but every four years, uh, the board is required to to uh, subject these uh, chapters to periodic reviews of regulations. Um, and the point of that is so that the board can continue uh, its its oversight, make a determination on whether these regulations should be changed or amended, repealed, if they're still consistent with the uh, stated objectives of law, um, if there's any way to minimize economic impact to small on small businesses, and in the process is supposed to consider
051whether it's still needed, um, what sort of complaints have been received, the complexity of the regulation, whether it overlaps, duplicates, um, or conflicts with federal or state laws, and even just the length of time since it has previously been evaluated. What we're asking is just to open the periodic reviews, and so this is really just a public comment opportunity. We will bring the results of the periodic review back to the board for approval before the periodic review is finalized. And of course, any changes that may or may not, you know, if if there are any changes to be recommended recommended to the board, once the board votes on the periodic review, those will be the subject of a separate action. So, this is really just a a kind of formal process to kick off the
052periodic review so that the board can um, can meet its statutory obligations. >> Thank you, Mr. Chapman. Are there any questions? Okay. Um, Mr. Chapman, we will accept this item for first review and appreciate you waiting two days to give this >> Thank [laughter] you so much. >> in August. Thank you. Um, that um, I think we've covered everything on the agenda. Are there any other items for discussion? Yes. Um, and eight plus in teacher preparation program with national accreditation What they recognize what they're achieving at is amazing what they're doing. They have huge improvements and they have them in the policies and guidance that have been put in place. So, kudos to Dr. Willis, what a Dr. I might add and all the other members of the staff that have achieved national recognition. >>
053Great. Congrats to VSU, correct? Go Trojans. Dr. Northern and then Mr. Robinson. >> She was reading my mind um because it's not just Virginia State University. It's Christopher Newport, William & Mary, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison, University of Lynchburg, UVA, and Virginia State University. Congratulations to all of our Virginia universities who received an A plus on how they are teaching the science of reading to their student teachers. And I also wanted to I've already asked that we get a upcoming presentation on the education recovery scorecard which was a big report that came out recently that basically showed how every district in the entire country was doing. It's put out by Sean Reardon who's a big education researcher. I did happen to notice several of our divisions got on the rise meaning that they're obviously
054headed in the right direction. Charlottesville, Richmond City, Roanoke County, Smith Smith Smith and Danville City. So, again we've got some some bright spots and bright stars and to learn from as we continue to do our important work of improving all of us. >> Thank you, Dr. Northern. Mr. Robinson. >> I appreciated that the depth of complexity in the conversations we've had the last couple days related to how we move forward, school improvement, accountability, JLARC recommendations, etc. and it points to the the the richness of dialogue and open and transparent communication that I think everyone on this board demonstrated authenticity in their comments and their intentions. So I just want to express appreciation for that first. And secondly, it points to how much work we have ahead of us that's deep in those areas. And so
055when I the work of the college laboratory committee reminded me of we have other weighty topics to tackle. In my three board meetings we or three or four we've not yet discussed anything related to artificial intelligence. And as we think about this combination of the tech lash that we heard a little bit about this morning and and and parents across the Commonwealth wanting less screen time and how we how we wrestle with that while also where there are stakeholders who want to leverage AI to in ethical ways to enhance with guidance to enhance learning. Those are weighty issues as are ones related to workforce development. There's so much happening and legislation that just passed related to to that. And so I would just encourage the board chair and the superintendent to to think about between
056now and the August September meetings how might the board be of an asset to figuring out like the previous board did with college laboratory schools and some other topics, what are some topics that could be pursued with depth off offline knowing that online we have many topics related to the core issues we discussed the last couple of days to continue to discuss with weight. >> Thank you, Mr. Robinson. Ms. Kilgore and then Dr. Wilson. >> I know we've already recognized Mr. Hansen this morning, but I wanted on personal note just to say how much I have appreciated working with him the past 3 years. He has been a source of integrity and character and compassion for education and I consider it an honor to call him my friend. >> Ditto. >> That actually should have
057been the last comment. >> [laughter] >> So, piggybacking a bit on Mr. Robinson's observation about topics, the weightiness of the topics. The last 2 days have been evidence of that including before this month's meetings. But I want two things. I think I say the suggestion about, you know, the topics before us, if there's a work plan of some sort or a schedule that we might look forward to so that we can demonstrate one that we have a plan forward in considering various events. And also for that as much for us as for the public. And then secondly, in the vein of how much weighty these topics are, I want to thank the superintendent and the staff. Because they have done lots of work leading up to these meetings anticipating our questions, our concerns, our observations
058and trying to to land in a place that is good for all across all of our students and families and so I don't want to leave today's meeting without saying publicly how much we appreciate the staff and the way they approach the work the seriousness that they share with this board for the work that we have ahead of us and so superintendent Conway to you and your staff thank you. >> Okay, well then chair gets the last comment. I wanted to make this meeting as long as possible Mr. Hanson. So I think I was successful in that and just want to also echo my appreciation for Mr. Hanson and his guidance but he's not done. He'll still be doing work on behalf of Virginia's children and I also want to thank superintendent Conway. You know,
059I I I chat GPT 167 days that you've been here which means that I've been here about the same time president and so I just want to thank the board for engaging in a thoughtful conversation and really you know, making sure that we have the right process the right engagement but what I hear very clearly is just a commitment to clarity for kids and our families and for our stakeholders. So I want to thank the board members for engaging in this process and for all the work that the staff did to really put forth some very heavy issues and guess what we get to do it more and more again. So with that I'll take yes, I'll take a motion to adjourn. I get okay. [laughter] All in favor signify by saying I. All right,
060motion meeting adjourned. >> Mhm.