001I would like to call to order the work session of the Norfolk School Board for Wednesday, May 7th, 2025. I we welcome each of you present here this evening and a quorum is present to transact the business of the school board. Miss Tanner, please call the role. Cassine, here. Buffalo here. Inge present. Martin present. Olson present. Thomas here. Caligiro present. We will begin today's meeting with agenda item 2.01 school board goal five interim measures one and two and two. Dr. Paul please come forward. All right. Good afternoon, Madame Chair D. Caligger, Vice Chair, Miss Thomas, members of the board, Dr. Bzong. Um, as Mr. Caligger said, I'm going to be reviewing school board five, goal five, measures one and measures two. So, as a reminder, goal five is focused on graduates receiving advanced studies diplomas.
002Um, and the the goal is to meet the state average by the class of 2027. So, looking at 5.1 specifically, that's the measure looking at our 2027 cohort. Um, and the goal is to have uh them at 47% by the end of this quarter based off of our metrics. So, as the data show, uh, there was a decline of 6 points from the second to third quarter of SY25. This places the 27 cohort off track of reaching the target of 47% by the end of the school year based on our metrics devised for this measure. And currently the highest percentage the 2027 cohort can reach by the end of this year is 47% uh based off the metric devised for this measure. What's going well? Uh the 27 cohort's failure rate in mathematics is 4.9
003points better than the division average. And their failure rate in social studies is 7.1 points better than the division average. So, um, it's it's, uh, English and science is where we're seeing the concerns with the failure rates. What's not going well is there's been a decline of 1.8 points from the first quarter to third quarter this year, and students in the 2027 cohort are 11 points below their target for quarter three. So, next steps, and you'll notice on both of these, the next steps are consistent with what we're doing with both the both the cohorts. So, I'll review on this one. Um content offices will support high school student remediation efforts to uh ensure students earn verified credits. Um as you're aware, a large part of graduation is having that verified credit where you pass
004a class and pass the so test with it. Schools will provide students with opportunities to turn in missing work and make up work um as they continue and finish out the school year. And school counselors are reviewing course selections to ensure students are taking required courses to be eligible for the advanced studies diploma. Um, and I I will say that also dips all the way down to the middle school level, even though we're we're tracking through the 2027 cohort as we talked about originally with this goal that we're really focusing even on middle school to make sure that they're getting the courses they need so they enter high school on track. Um and then each content area continues to work this year and is planning for next year to continue providing targeted professional development to
005improve the instructional practices in alignment with best practices to ensure the students are successful in the in the in the courses required for the advanced studies diploma. Uh refining implementation of highquality instructional materials, collaborative planning and best teaching practices to enhance student learning and engaging in collaborative planning and instructional alignment to ensure consistency and coherence across grade levels. So, I'll pause after this one um and then go into measure 5.2. There any questions? Madam Chair, uh may I suggest since 5.1 and 5.2 they're just different cohorts? Is it I'd like I do have several questions but they pertain to both. So, um I want to defer mine till after 5.2. So, unless anyone has anything specific about this. All right. Okay. Let's move on to 5.2. All right. Sounds like a plan. So, 5.2 again,
006same goal. And this measure is looking focusing on the 2026 cohort. Um, so these students are currently what we would consider 11th grade or juniors or their third year into high school. And their goal is to hit 35% by the end of this school year. Uh the data show there was a 0.1 point increase from the second to third quarter. Um and this continues to have the 26 cohort off track of reaching the 35% by the end of the base end of the year based on these metrics. And currently the highest percentage the 26 cohort can reach is 35%. What's going well? Um there was a slight increase from quarter 2 to quarter 3 with the 26 cohort and the 26 cohort is 1.4 four points above where they were for quarter 3 during the
00723 24 school year. So, we're seeing them at least still growing over the years. Not as fast as we'd like, but they are showing improvement. What's not going well is that the 26 cohort is um uh below the target by 5.2 PI points and there was a slight increase in the percentage of students failing math by 1.1% and history by.9%. And then again, the next steps are the same as the next steps for the 27 cohort. So I'll pause there and and entertain any questions or comments the board has. Madam Chair, how many students are in a cohort? So we have approximately 2,000 per grade level. I don't have the exact numbers with me, but that's pretty close. So um so Dr. poll entertain me for a moment here. So, I did um do some
008research. I I do my research when you submit the documents here. So, 2023, we had about 1,558 MPS students graduate. Only 579 receive advanced studies diplomas, about 37%. Then following school year, 2223, we had about 1543 students graduate, 639 received. That's 41%. I'm going backwards here, but keep following me. sitting in in 21-22 1,632 students graduated. Of that, 712 receive advanced studies diploma. Now, if we reverse that, 43% 43.6% in 21, 41.1% in 22, 37.1% in 23. So, it is going down. Um, what are some of the lessons that you've learned in the efforts that you're doing to um try to increase access for students to actually be on track? Cuz as you quoted, English and science are the fail rates. Correct. for the 27 cohort right now. That's where where it falls. The so
009uh Mr. Angela, a lot of this is accredited to uh to to our our co times and we shut down um and it it put a lot of students off track. Our students now that are here in these cohorts were in middle school at that time. Um so, you know, we're we're looking to start to see a a growth pattern again um as we go into it. So, a lot of it has to do when they were in middle school or their first year in high school and maybe they were taking a foreign language course online and it was a little bit more difficult and they chose not to continue. Those are a lot of the data that we're seeing right here with the students that are in our upper cohorts right now. Okay. Follow-up
010question to that. How is the district working to ensure all students, particularly in historically underserved communities, are getting access to advanced studies diplomas? Sure. So every every high school offers uh courses that that meet the requirements for advanced studies diplomas. So um when we do scheduling and when we do um hiring for schools, it's based off student requests. So we take student requests in and then we look at what teachers we need. Um so students, you know, are encouraged and requesting the languages and and and those are being offered at all of our schools. Um, we have in the past as well, if there was a need at a school where there might only be four or five students who were requesting a specific course that might have taken it, we've also done those via
011Zoom where we've had a teacher teach from um teach from maybe Norview High School and and Zoom into um maybe Lake Taylor High School to make sure that that course is offered. Sometimes we'll find our our smaller high schools have uh more constrictions on course offerings because they may not have as many students who are asking for enrollment just because they don't have as many students in the building. So we will make sure that we have that and we've also increased our offerings through virtual Virginia. So a student doesn't have to be in the virtual scholars academy to take a course if they have that need. They can also take a single course through virtual Virginia to make sure that they have that ability to do it. Um, I have several other questions, but I
012definitely want to allow my other board colleague. Okay. All right. Well, I guess we're we're going to go well from then, right? Well, first off, I just want to note I got that data from the Department of Education. I like to site my sources. Um, so, um, what changes, um, or what are y'all doing for family engagement and the communications to increase awareness for the advanced study diplomas? So, uh, a big part of our engagement with that is when students are enrolling in courses, um, materials are sent home, parents have to sign off on what they're what the students are registering for as well. Um, and, you know, when we have open houses, the the counselors and the and the and the principles will make parents aware of, you know, that we really want students
013to have access to everything they can. Um and and again though this it really comes down to student choice on on where they what they're going to sign up for in courses, but we do make them aware that this is a an option and it's you know it's a it's a strong option to take for a collegebound student. Excellent. Thank you so much there. And just looking ahead as we look ahead to the new school year and given the continued decline in um ASD advanced studies diplomas, what are some of the new initiatives and strategies that you and the administration are going to be using to increase and re-engage students? Yes. So, a lot of what we've done this year already to put into place was to to really focus on our students again at
014the middle school level and early high school levels um to ensure they understand the importance of the the world language course or the foreign language course is what really um is probably the biggest blockade for our students because they they need either three years of one or two and two, right? Um and if they don't start it in middle school or if they don't start it and continue it in nth grade, that's where we're seeing where they they will fall short. um or sometimes it's a lab science that they may need. So, they may get to their senior year in that chemistry course. Um so, we're making sure that there's uh additional tutoring opportunities in there and we're doing a lot more with um academic and career planning. Um so, as they go through that
015that that we're focusing on on them with an advanced studies diploma and if they're opting not to, then we're we're focusing on their career path to make sure that they're going to have some kind of a certification when they finish high school. Okay. So, so what you're saying, I want to make sure I'm hearing you correctly. So advanced studies diploma it is an option for our students of course they don't have to they can go through and get the standard diploma if they choose to. So and but if those you are re-engaging you're re-engaging those students and if they want to you're still offering them to come back and try to to get the advanced studies diploma. So I I want to I want to make sure I'm understanding your your question correctly. So it
016like if they if they've graduated they can't come back and get it. No no they haven't graduated. Okay. Yeah. those you are re-engaging students that may have let's say for example a student did not come get the advanced studies diploma where they're go on track to get it but they're felling behind as we English and science are failing what are we doing to just re-engage those students I know English I mean that was it was a it was a hard subject for me at one time you know getting those nouns and verbs and everything together yeah so uh so let me so the metric that we use to gauge if they're going to receive the advanced studies is based on currently failing courses So if a student is failing a English or science course, there's
017already a lot in place for remediation and supports because if they fail that course, they just won't graduate either. So it's it's even more important that we're on track with that. But when we're talking the because the advanced studies, it's as long as you've taken English 9, 10, 11, 12, there's no honors requirement or anything else for it. Um so this metric focuses on um on if they're failing or enrolled in specific courses that they would need to have. So, um the the continued um partnerships that we have with uh with some some like university instructors that offer tutoring and that so you saw that in the budget time when we had funding for that to make sure that we keep those available even after you know we we didn't have the funding from ESSER
018um that that we have that in the budget to maintain that for our students and our schools. Okay. All right. Awesome. Thank you so much. And last follow-up question that I have and I promise Miss Bassine I'm gonna give you time. Thanks so much. Um so next question is for those students that um are not let's say they're filling in advanced studies diploma they and let's just say they don't get it. What are do you have any data to show you said you're giving them career paths. Do you have any data to show that when they've graduated they didn't get the advanced studies they may have got the standard diploma and they've went into a career right out of high school? So, um, the the the only data we have is based off off exit
019interviews about where they're going the following year. And I do want to be clear to to whoever's watching as well. Even, you know, if a student doesn't get an advanced studies diploma, that does not mean they're no longer collegebound, of course. Yes. So they can still be collegebound on that with with with with any diploma. But we do um we do uh closing close out surveys with seniors and then we report that with the strategic plan um that you know to make you know the percentage of students who are um going into either college career or military when they leave high school. Got it. Absolutely. Thank you Dr. Paul. My pleasure. Well, good news is that he asked some of my questions, so mine will be fewer. Um, uh, but to piggyback on some of
020those. So, so data. Well, first I know we're not looking at subgroups in this particular overarching goal, but I imagine in your root cause analysis that you're looking at subgroups of students who may be um struggling more once they're on track to to actually completing uh the advanced studies diploma. Do you have a sense who who who who's struggling more than others or if there are particular gaps at certain schools that we need to I I I can't really speak to that without the data in front of me. But I can assure you that um with with P school our our data warehouse that that not only me but all the way down to the teacher level we have it at our fingertips. Um we can do great analysis reporting um and we we can
021you know we are looking at that constantly to know where our students stand. Um that may be that may be helpful just from a over not school school by school but overall just knowing how our subgroups of students are performing might be helpful um in that case because one of the re the reasons we chose this particular goal was not because there's you know um is access to rigorous coursework right and I know in this part of the strategic plan we have a table where we're looking at um AP, IB, dual enrollment, you know, and and some of that increasing access to those classes is part of is obviously going to feed into this goal, right? And as U Mr. just asked in terms of making sure we have equitable access to these courses and
022um that as a a supplement to this, it might be helpful to also see um you know the data around our increasing access to AP courses, IB um especially as we have you know one high school that has expanded you know the IB career pathways which you know obviously gives more kids access to um that rigorous coursework. Um so that might be also helpful to kind of so we'll I I we'll see that when we do the review of those you know or it actually it's sent in report form the strategic plan we'll have that and that one is broken down demographically as well. Okay great great okay and then um and then I know Mr. just asked about strategies you put in place and I appreciate your response but for the strategies you have
023listed here in terms of next steps. Um what I imagine that all of these together is what you hope will lead to um I guess retain students on track better correct on track on track for the advanced studies. Right. Right. Okay. And is there anything in particular of these next steps that you think um have a bigger I I I think at this time of the this time of the year at the end of first semester, end of the year, it a lot of it has to do with the second one where our teachers are flexible and they they give some grace on late work and missing assignments and they they they reach out and they um let them know, hey, if I still get this, you can still be successful. Um is one of
024our our biggest avenues there. um as well as the remediation efforts um in in the use of of tutors. Okay. Remind me. So, I know we're moving into a 4x4 schedule next year, which I believe from previous conversations that we've had um may lend itself to improving outcomes in this particular for this particular goal. Right. So, that'll go back to one of Mr. In's questions actually nicely with 4x4. So, let's say we have a a student who's finishing their junior year and they only have one foreign language credit. Maybe they took Spanish one as a sophomore, then decided, I don't want to take it anymore, but now they're like, wait, I really want the advanced studies diploma next year as a senior. They'd be able to take Spanish 2 and Spanish 3. So, they'd be
025able to qualify for that under the 4x4 schedule. So, yes, that will help um with with advanced studies uh pathway planning. Thank you. Have a question. Madam chair. Yes ma'am. Um you mentioned that you collect surveys on what students are interested. How often do you actually collect surveys? The the survey I was talking about was when seniors graduate is there like what are their next steps and and where are they going from here? So, have they been accepted to a college or are they planning to go to maybe a community college? Are they going into the military? Do they have a a career oriented in mind? So, are they, you know, leaving and going into a workforce that they plan on doing for a long time? That's the survey that I was referring to. So,
026you don't collect the survey on what um advanced courses they might want to take or So, each year we collect the the the when students go to register for their courses, what are their desires, what do they want to take? Um, and if there's a a broad enough amount of students who want it, then the course should be offered at the school. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. All courses for advanced studies, they're offered at all of our high schools. Students don't have to travel to any other high schools to get any of the courses. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. All right. So, I just wanted to um I know um board member Bassine, she had asked about the data. You didn't have it in front of you. Um, so I'm actually on Department of
027Education's website now. I'm trying to get to it, but I recall I did look at it last night. So looking at our schools, um, two of our schools, Booker T and Lake Taylor, they have a low proportion of students that are getting advanced studies diploma, while Graanby High School and Mari are getting the highest proportion of advanced studies diplomas. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? I know it's a student choice. It's a parent's choice if their child wants to get it. But I I just want to understand because Booker T is is is I think it was like at nine. I I could be wrong, but I recall it was a single digit of um advanced studies diploma. What are we doing to increase those numbers at those schools? So again,
028it's the discussions with the students and with the academic career planning and really now the the push at the middle school level. I you know again I I just want to say when this when we put the goal on the table for advanced studies diploma we talked a lot about the fact when a student entered high school they're pretty locked in to to where they were going and and so everybody was already in high school that we're tracking at this point. So right now the emphasis in middle school on what we're really pushing with advant with academic and career planning is where I we're going to see the you know it's kind of like going back to the early literacy when you guys remember we first started talking about the early literacy planning that we
029did where we really focused on K12 really heavily and now we're starting to see results in third you know vice we saw good gains in third grade reading because it's it just takes time. Same thing with the advanced studies diploma. When we focus on the middle school, you know, next year as our rising ninth graders start coming in, then we'll start to see more more students on track for advanced studies because they it's been discussed with them more thoroughly in the years where they're really deciding what they're going to do in high school. When most nth graders are in high school, they really they're they're on track for where they're going to be on track for their diploma. Now, with the 4x4, it's going to be easier to change some because they'd be able to
030double up on a course here and there. Um, but I I think with the time, you'll see that because we put a lot of emphasis in the middle school in academic, academic, and career. All middle schools. Oh, well, absolutely. All middle schools. Absolutely. So, do all middle schools offer the same uh in uh in introductory level, French, in uh French, Spanish, whatever? So, they're they're offered at all middle schools. And if it again at the middle school level, if there's not enough students, then we're able to do that virtually as well. Are you seeing a rise in the feeder schools to Booker T, Norview, uh, Lake Taylor? Are you seeing a rise in those feeder middle schools of students taking um, introductory level languages? I don't have the data in front of me, Mr. Cal.
031I'd be curious. Yeah. Any other questions? Well, thank you very much. Thank you. See you in a few minutes. We will move on to agenda item 2.02, gifted education program update with Carla Steed. Thank you, Miss Ste. Good afternoon, Madame Chair Dealerro, uh, Vice Chair Thomas, uh, Birds, uh, Superintendent Dr. Birdong, and members of the Northfor public schools school board. Thank you for the opportunity to share an update on Northfor public schools uh gifted and academic career services as outlined in its local plan for the education of the gifted. I look forward to sharing um a few highlights of our current services as well as some plans for the uh next gifted local plan revision coming up 27 and 28. I want to first highlight the two big ideas that shape our current gifted services
032and are central to our gifted local plan which outlines the district's approach to how it serves its students. First, we focus on equity and opportunity. Our goal is to support talent development for all students by expanding access to enrichment and advanced learning, not just for those that are formally identified gifted. Secondly, we believe in prioritizing services above labels. While formal identification does play a role, it shouldn't be the sole path to advanced learning. By applying multiple levels of service, we expand access to rigorous highlevel opportunities while ensuring students receive the best level of support. At the core, Norfor Public Schools believes every students strength should be recognized and supported so they can reach their true potential. So to support the first big idea of equity and opportunity, Norfolk Public Schools continues to grow its emerging
033scholars talent pool, an early talent development effort focused on students with schools from historically lower numbers of identified gifted students. These students score in the top 15% on Northfor public schools first grade screener within their school, but the score did not meet the benchmark of formal gifted identification. From grades two through four, the emerging scholars are clustered in the general education classroom along with their gifted identified peers and are pulled weekly by the gifted resource teacher for exposure to higher level lessons and critical thinking that goes beyond just the general curriculum. It also provides opportunities to build confidence and readiness in these students for future advanced learning. All emerging scholars are automatically retested in the fourth grade. And this year we retested our first cohort of emerging scholars, those who started in the second grade
034to assess growth and identify those ready for formal identified ident formal gifted services. In school year 2425, 398 students in grades 2 through 4 receive gifted services through the emerging scholars model. This is in addition to our identified gifted students. Notably, the demographics of our emerging scholars more closely reflect the diversity of the district, helping us move more towards equitable access. This year, we retested our first cohort of emerging scholars originally selected in 2022. Of the 109 students retested, nearly 30% were newly identified as gifted after receiving services. By comparison, the full 2022 first grade class of over 2,000 students, only 9.3% were identified gifted through that initial screening. The emerging scholars identification rate exceeds Virginia's state average of 12.3% and surpasses far surpasses the national average of between 6 and 7%. Showing the impact
035of early talent development and exposure to advanced learning. Another bright spot in our data is around student engagement and attendance. Both our emerging scholars and gifted identified students show lower rates of chronic absenteeism compared to the overall student population. This suggests that when we provide services that align with students needs, whether that's through challenge, creativity, or connection, students are more likely to feel engaged, feel seen, feel heard, and therefore more connected to their school. Support our second big idea, services above label. We're building a system where services are based on readiness, not just identification. Like the multi-tered systems of support, our multiple levels of service framework aims to match support to student needs while expanding access to advanced learning. So this level one encompasses all students and designed to spark curiosity and stretch thinking for
036all students in the district. Our level two is more targeted small groupoup instruction in the general education classroom. Our level three now is for specific students identified that would benefit for an enriched learning opportunities such as our emerging scholars. And our level four are our formally identified gifted students who receive instruction aligned to their abilities. Level one and level two are key in expanding access and developing talent from early on. Therefore, we appreciate the board's continued support and staffing full-time GRTs at all our elementary schools and maintaining shared GRT support across all their middle and high schools. An example of a level one service is our arts and sciences enrichment program as it encompasses and is available to all students regardless of identification. Delivered by school-based teachers, these courses spark curiosity, build creative thinking, and
037strengthen those important collaboration and communication skills. This year, approximately 70 arts and sciences courses were offered across 25 schools, expanding access to enrichment across the district. While level one services and enrichment is important available to all students, we have systems ident to identify those who may benefit from more advanced services. Each fall, Northfor public schools opens this gifted referral process to help identify students with exceptional ability or the potential. Referrals can come from teachers, from parents, or even from the students themselves. Over the past two years, referrals have grown by 30%, suggesting that our outreach and training, particularly among recognizing potential in underrepresented groups, is having an impact. In this school year, 730 students in grades 2 through 12 were referred and about 36% were found eligible. We'll continue to equip teachers and families with
038tools to spot potential and address misconceptions that can limit opportunity. In addition to referrals, North Public Schools uses the cognitive abilities test known as Kogat as a universal screener for all its first grade students. This research-based best practice helps us catch a wide brain net, cast a wide net, and to ensure that we capture more students, especially those who might otherwise be overlooked and give them a chance to be considered for gifted services. This chart shows the percentage of students whose scores met the 85th percentile threshold for gifted processing. The KOKA is also where we identify students for our emerging scholars talent pool. These are students who may not have met this 85% threshold you see in the chart but scored in the top 15% within their school and therefore create uh receive talent development
039services. And as part of our revised plan we are now tracing uh we are now tracking English learners and students with disabilities more intentionally. This is an important step in helping us better understand who we are reaching and who we still need to support. Jumping now to our high school services. While advanced placement, IB, and honors courses are not really labeled gifted, they do offer the depth and rigor that meet the needs of our academically gifted students. These classes challenge learners, keep them engaged, and build skills for college and beyond. Secondary gifted services also include access to specialty programs at the middle and high school levels, offering advanced interestbased curriculum options. As we complete year three of implementing our current gifted local plan, we're already beginning to lay the groundwork for the next plan cycle,
040which takes effects in the 2728 school year. The revision process will begin with research and internal planning starting this summer, followed by stakeholder engagement through a variety of focus groups in early 2026. We will gather input from staff, students, family, our gifted education advisory committee to ensure that the new plan reflects broad perspectives. A draft of this updated plan will be compiled and shared with the school board in June of 2026 before being submitted to the VDOE for its technical review in October. The board will have opportunities for involvement throughout this process and we're committed to keeping our approach transparent, inclusive, and of course data informed. In closing, Norfor Public School continues to expand access to gifted services, emphasizing equity and inclusion. Recent data highlights positive outcomes such as increased representation and identification through its
041emerging scholars program and reduce absenteeism among students engaged in advanced learning opportunities. We appreciate the board's ongoing support and at this time welcome your feedback and questions. Thank you. Are there questions? Uh, Miss Marbuff, hello. Hi. How are you? Good. I don't know if I missed it, but the talent development process, what is that? The tal the talent development process is our it's called the emerging scholars program. And so we the we do a universal screener in first grade for all our students and there's a benchmark of 85% in one of their subcores to allow them to move to gifted processing. At some of our schools, a lot of those students don't meet that threshold, but we want to provide them services. We're trying to be more equitable and giving more students opportunities. So, what
042we're doing is we're applying what's called local norms. So, even if the students score did not meet that 85th percentile, if they are in the top 15% of the score in that school, they are considered an emerging scholars. And the gifted resource teacher will pull them each week and develop them second, third, and fourth grade. And then in the fourth grade, which we just did, we retest them to see are they ready for gifted identification. But either way, ideally, we'll see them probably taking more advanced courses as they move progress because we will keep we'll make sure that they're identified as an emerging scholar throughout their trajectory in Oklahoma public schools. Good. Yes. So that's what's but I mean we believe in talent development regardless, right? So even if they're not an emerging scholar, if
043a teacher or a parent or if we will provide service regardless of a label. We are all about giving the student what they need. And so if a student wasn't identified as an emerging scholar, but the gifted resource teacher goes in and spots something or the parent asks or the teacher says, we will pull them into those talent development uh that emerging scholars group. Thank you. You're welcome. Um thank you Missstead for u your great presentation. Um so uh to piggyback on that around the emerging scholars in slide number five um Miss Tanner if you can pull that particular slide up. Um, so I just want to be sure I understand because I think it's pretty remarkable what you've shown here um, in terms of this nearly 30% um, uh, emerging scholars that have been
044identified gifted. Is that right? That's correct. That's what I meant. Okay. So these these are again students that have met their local norms, right? And then or so what's the difference between the There were 125 emerging scholars, but the percentage identified gifted, that's that's the retest, right? That's the retest in 2024. Correct. All right. But those 32 and I'll let you finish the question. Oh, I'm sorry. But they're not the same. So this 109 of that of the 125. Of the 125. Okay. Correct. So they're the same. Okay. Yeah. That's um I think that's pretty remarkable. It is. um and what that might suggest from a policy practice standpoint for how we deliver gifted services um in the district, right? Um what are your what are your thoughts about that if this is a trend
045that we continue to to see the talent development? Absolutely. I think having continuing the full-time gifted resource teacher to be able to go into those classrooms regardless of the identification counts. Again, it's not the label, right? It's not the label, it's the services. And just to hear the stories from e the students and the gifted research teachers that are emerging scholars. Um I've heard one of my uh gifted research teachers at Jayok said one of her students just feels smarter. Yeah. They come to school, they go, I feel smarter and they're challenged. They feel they're, you know, I go and I watch them and I see what they're doing and they're smart. They catch that. They just not, they just need that exposure. So, if we can continue that and ideally, you know, continue it
046and maybe even focus it on as we continue, we talked about middle school. That's a lot of times where our kids go underground. And if ideally if we can, you know, making sure that we have more supports in our middle school with our gifted services, I would like to see that and that might help with the pass advanced and help with the other issues as well. I have I have and I guess I was thinking like does it does it beg the question should we be doing more of a schoolwide effort where we are um providing that higher level challenging rigorous uh coursework for every student. So there's some you know research out there that's suggesting you know that that is that may be the way gifted is going right. So I just wonder with
047this data if that is something that a perfect example would be the schoolwrite enrichment model that's by uh Rulli up in the University of Connecticut Connecticut. Um, it's been proven to show substantial results and it's a whole schoolwide. It's it's it's almost like a specialty program for the school and every student is involved and every student goes through a certain it's curriculum and it's based on the the the curriculum but has I don't want to say tainted but it's infused with some type of either interest um or theme with a gifted you know with that kind of gifted pedigogy and again gifted is good for all students I mean all students benefit that's I guess what it's just yeah it's Well, it's essential and I keep saying that over and over again. It's not just
048for that certain right some students need a little bit more um of advanced services and some teachers just need more exposure and opportunity and so the word gifted can be very polarizing and people have misconceptions about it. So part of our mission is really just um communicating and educating what gifted is and is not. Um, some districts have gone away from the word gifted. Call it advanced academics. I know Oregon has has gone away with it and we could um, of course then there's some parents that really want the word gifted and so there's that mindset. Right. So, right. Yeah. But to me, it's just providing what the students, all students, the opportunity to be exposed and to grow and to be challenged and to find what they love and to have them want to
049come to school without the label. Without the with Yeah. Without even the kids with the label, the gifted label, they feel intimidated. I don't like the label. So, yeah. Right. Which is So, um Yeah. Well, I app I appreciate that feedback because um that's something I'm going to be looking at as we as you continue to bring us these updates. Um and we move into talking about our next, you know, the revisions to the local plan. Um I have I have a question. You mind if I related to that mind? Uh a little bit. You go ahead and finish and then I'll Okay. So, um slide nine and 10 if we could go. So I am really curious to learn more about um the intentionality that you talked about in terms of um uh you
050know our special education population, our 504 EL population, what the barriers were before and what you did differently uh what the department what Gears has done differently to now capture that group and what we're being more deliberate with it. I mean it's always twice exceptional has always been part of gifted but we're being uh more deliberate or actually have it now we have information we're tracking I I don't like the word tracking but we're keeping track of it monitoring mind mindful of it and we're trying to keep it on our reports and I know um we have so we'll be going on on the forward with that one of the things that the nor public do nor public schools has provided is uh a budget to partner with the college of William Mary and the
051uh Dr. Carpenter is an expert on twice exceptionality and so she has come and given PD to our gifted resource teachers and she actually came to GK um and presented to Gak. Um so she so we have and we've done that a couple of years now and so that then the we've had schools reach out. We've partnered with special ed um trying to get some PD out there. As for our L's um I'm I'm in the same building with the U L senior director. We've already talked about doing some they've got that nice, you know, a facility there. We're going to do some workshops on trying to develop the owl population. A lot of its misconceptions. Again, people have an idea of what gifted is or is not. And it is an ongoing um mission
052to try to u relate to them, you know, what gifted services could be. And part of it is exposure and and making it try to make we're very in try to be as inclusive as possible. Um we had a recently we had a you know some out an outreach program we called it gifted pulooa. We invited everybody there uh regardless of if they were identified or not and we just had them play games at different uh tables and and experience and we had a good turnout and so people started interesting and so just building awareness um making we've had workshops to parents about twice exceptionality we've had workshops with L's and so just doing more of that. We're just being more deliberate. It's I'm I'm being very wordy about it. But yeah, welcome. So, uh,
053first of all, the data is great and I think what you're doing is fantastic. So this question is not meant to be a negative question but I am I do I do have a question because anecdotally I have heard that there are some schools in the district that identify more kids as gifted than other schools and that could be for a myriad of reasons. But do we see that trend in our district where there are some schools that uh find that there are higher rates of students that test into gifted initially? Absolutely. That's why we have our talent development, right? So that but my question really is for the talent development, you're looking at the kids who score the top 15% at that local school. So, it's conceivable that a child that is identified, if
054a child is at a school with a high gifted population, they might not be identified because they're not in the top 15% of their school, whereas whereas at another school, they might be identified as an emerging scholar. Correct? I think I know what you're saying. So, some schools will have no emerging scholars because the top 15% were all identified gifted, right? Some schools have no identified gift or maybe one or two, but we're still serving 15% of that first grade population as a talent development, right? So, it's just we're trying to make sure we're giving equitable services regardless of the label, talent development. But my concern is that somebody who might be 16th% at the school with everyone identified gifted would get would get emerging scholars services at a school with a very low gifted
055population but don't get that don't get that services at the school that is their home school because there is such a large identified gifted population. And again, if that parent wants the feels that the child is not being uh challenged, if the teacher recommends the student to be uh given services, if the gifted resource teacher comes in and pushes in and says that student needs to come to my pull out, we will certainly provide services regardless if they're, you know, emerging scholar or gifted identification. We're here to provide. If they are in class and meeting the objectives and bored, that's what we're here for. We will pull them regardless of their of the label. Again, we're trying to emphasize it's about services, not the labels. We have the labels just to to make sure that
056we are meeting certain um percentages and and we have to turn into the state, you know, every every year, you know, the percentage of our student that we're identifying gifted. But to us, our goal is to provide services to as many students who need it as possible. And some of our identified gifted students really sometimes we don't pull them because they need more remediation. And some of those kids in the class, the general ed that were never identified gifted or emerging scholars, we will pull them because they're sitting in class board, they're acting up. So that's our job is to identify regardless of whether they they get through the emerging scholars or their gifted identification process. And I hope that answers the question. Yeah, it it does. But how do we empower our parents to
057know this? And how do we empower our teachers like to make these referrals? That's the gifted research teachers that go in there. They build those relationships. We have workshops for the parents. We we send out we the all the gifted research teachers are supposed to communicate to parents on a on a bi-week a bimonthly basis and then they should be included in the school's newsletters. They should be part of the school's internal PD plan as well. So a lot of them are able to present the Kogat screening, the referral process. They're supposed to be able to provide, you know, training. Here's what to look for. Here's what to spot potential. Here are some misconceptions. The student that's acting up that you think no way is gifted is probably extremely gifted, bored, and frustrated. And then
058so that's the job. That's what we do. That's what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be going into the class. We're supposed to be providing that professional development to our teachers and our administrators um as well. Just as important. Welcome, Mr. Ang. Um, excellent job. Thank you. Um, just want to commend you and all of our phenomenal teachers. This is teacher appreciation week. Absolutely. And shout out to all our teachers doing an awesome job in Northfor public schools. Um, how many students in Northfor public schools have been identified as gifted from a grades K12? I want to say about this I don't have the exact number in front of me. Um, or a percentage. You have a percentage. Right now we're about 17%. 17%. Which is above about twice the national average and
059above the state of Virginia. Okay. Excellent work. Excellent. There are no more questions. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for the presentation. Next we have agenda item 2.03 school board policy review. Dr. Paul. All right. Thank you. Good afternoon again everybody. Uh Chair Dalier, Vice Chair Thomas, members of the board, Dr. BSong. Um so uh policy review um today is is is is pretty pretty small and we still are waiting on the VSBA policy updates. they have not been released yet for the the last session. Um so there are two policies uh today I'm just going to briefly highlight. Policy BDDC is agenda preparation dissemination and that has one update in it as you saw in the red line uh changing the word um inclusion to consideration. Um and then policy GAZA
060IBZ that's a long one that's around bring your own device. Uh there have been updates there to match the no cell phone the executive order 33. Um, and basically what that means is if a student brings their own device, they can use it before or after school. And it keeps the the regulation in place to say, you know, if you're on our internet on our Wi-Fi, you can't do this, you can't do that. Um, but it says in there specifically that BYOD is not allowed during the school day. So that it supports EO33. So those are the the two specific policies that that we'll we can have questions and conversations about that will require a vote at the business meeting. And then there are two regulations that are just updates for the board. Um the
061first one is the the board uh staff communications policy uh regulation BGR. Um and I believe that was a part of the work the board had been doing and that updates the the the regulation rather to match the current practice. And then Jedr is on student absences and that's updating in preparation for the 4x4 schedule. So those are the the four on the docket. than the two that will require a vote. So, I'll I'll pause there for any questions or comments or discussion on the policies. Colonel Pson. Good afternoon. Thank you very much. Um I'm concerned about the wording on the process for agenda. Let's call that agenda preparation dissemination where we change unfortunately is only one word and it changes the context of how we conduct our business. Our business is here as a
062body is free exchange of ideas and information and listening to what the other members have to say. You're changing it now from it will be included to it will be considered but considered by who? And how is it cons how do they how do they come to the judgment of whether your idea will meet the floor? Again back to the basic process and every uh member has the opportunity to speak speak freely and present his ideas. They don't have to be accepted, but the way this is worded, it will not make it that far. I yield the floor. Well, um, to what Miss uh, Colonel Pollson has said, like on the agenda today is future agenda items and I guess we're going, you know, um, around the table. So with the inclusion stried out and
063put in consideration like you said it it can be considered what determines consideration versus automatic inclusion right automatic inclusion is that you know the chair saying no we're not putting that on the agenda or is that a a majority vote superintendent yeah I mean how who makes with this written And if we approve this, who who's going to make the final decision? Well, with the future agenda items, I asked for I've been asking for uh consensus from the board. Board. Okay. But different chairs absolutely can interpret that, right, differently. Yeah. Yeah. But the flip side I would argue is that the chair was elected to do their job and part of that is working with the superintendent to set the agendas. So we a single school board member shouldn't have the power to drive the
064agenda either. So it is it is a slippery slope um here uh and I I yield I yield my time to anybody else who would like to speak. Colonel. Um yes I I understand your points. I'll give you an example. I mentioned at a U meeting about the the board culture and the response to me was noted. I brought it up again about the declining board culture and nothing has happened. It's still declining and we need to talk about it, but it's nowhere on the horizon and it has been not acknowledged that we're going to do that. the floor. Uh, Miss Bissy. Um, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so, and I appreciate, you know, we talked about this with our norms and protocols discussion that we had um, in March, I believe, about um, you
065know, how we would come to consensus on agenda items. And you've been doing that, I think, at our board meetings since then and getting that consensus. And I do like with that particular example, I do recall that a majority of the board was not in support or did not agree. Right? I think that was a reason for why it was not included on the agenda or has maybe not being considered. Right. Um and so and then we talked about having norms and protocols for instance on the agenda and there was a consensus around that. Um but again I know you're taking it back and considering it with Dr. Birdong and team about when to bring it back to our work session. Um so I don't know you know that's where norms and protocols kind of
066elaborates on what the policy says when we talk about what consideration actually means because that kind of spells out what it is. But you're right, you know, different chairs could interpret consideration differently. Um, but again, I don't think a single board member should have No, absolutely. And that that's why that's why I think most we supported the um the practice of getting consensus from the board uh about whether everyone felt that that was an agenda item. Um because sometimes you know we all have opinions about you know about certain things or want to know you know want data about certain things but not everybody may not feel that that is a critical piece of board business you know so um I personally am in support of as written as it as you have uh changed
067it changed that word But, you know, I'm open to hearing from my colleagues. I'll just say I I agree with what Tanya is saying um about having a a larger process about us discussing um potential agenda topics and having a consensus on that before it makes it to your guys's meeting. Um, I think the word consideration is a more accurate term of what's actually happening. Um, and if it's not considered for and in my experience in agenda planning, if it wasn't if it couldn't make its way on the next agenda, you're planning like three months out. So, it'll go some, you know, you want to get it on as immediately as possible because then it could become, you know, an irrelevant issue or some, you know, whatever. So, um, so that's just my my opinion.
068Let's go around. Uh, do you have any com further comments? No. You have any further com comments, Colonel? Yes. I find again this will exclude those that are not in the majority, and we do have a majority of consensus, but if you you can't hear what the other board members have to say, then we're not a board. I yield the floor. Any comments or questions about any of the other um proposed policy changes? Madam Chair. Yes. Can you expand upon the bringing your own devices policy, please? So, it's a regulation that we've had for a while um on the books where students and uh can bring their own devices. So whether it was a phone, a tablet or a computer in the past. Uh and it's it it lists everything around um uh when you
069log into the network and what's acceptable, what's not acceptable and and and how that was put into place. Uh so they will be only able to use it before and after school. Correct. So based on executive order 33 when we put the cell phone policy into place, that's correct. Okay. So the purpose is just to provide Wi-Fi after school. Well, it there's correct. So, the the purpose of of maintaining because the discussion that we had was why even have a BYOD regulation. Then the purpose is because if a student does bring their own device and they're using it after school hours and they're on our our Wi-Fi and connectivity, we want to make sure that there's a regulation in place to say what what is acceptable and what's not. Is this the same Wi-Fi that
070is accessible to students um during the day on school laptops? Uh there's a guest network. That's correct. Okay. Um, are you familiar with how they filter the system? Because I know you mentioned it's mentioned on the document. No, that that would be um our our IT department. I'm not familiar with how it's filtered. Dr. M. So, um yeah, I read the the pol the uh policy. Um my concern is the development of the enforcement when it comes to especially the cell phones and I know some schools are have little notices they hand them but you never like the person who's giving that violation never really knows how if that's their first second or third warning. Sorry, are we are we referring to the cell phone policy now? Yeah. Or any device. I mean if if
071they had their Yeah. Which is the cell phone policy is the cell phone and devices. So um I I I would have to look into that to see you know the process that was put into place was was you know that when it was done it was documented in a central location in the school so that even even if when the when the teacher might give it out they may not know immediately when they give it but they'll find out pretty soon once it's recorded in the central location. What is that central location? Um it's it's synergy or or CIS. So our student information system. Yeah. So in practical a you know practical scenario would be um a student has the device out. It's in between classes. They're not supposed to have it. They get
072a warning. The teacher then goes and enters that in synergy. Is that what you're saying? They have to report it to the office and the office enters it in synergy. a teacher a teacher teacher reports it to the office. Yeah. Because a teacher can't enter discipline into synergy. So the the there there certain people in the main office who can enter the discipline into synergy and then once it's in entered into synergy then they'll know. So there is there there might be they don't really know immediately which violation like how many times they've been warned about this because there's what four maybe four warnings, three or four warnings, right? immediately they don't know, but then if it if it comes up as if they've hit their their mark on it, then they're they'd be called
073to the office for it that because the teachers aren't responsible for doing the discipline or anything else either. It would it would be on the on the on the administration to do that. I just I think we need to think that through some more because it's a putting a lot on the ad the administration or the teachers in the school and the administration and you know, if you're going from class to class yourself, um, to have time to go back and have to do that, it just seems like we need to streamline that process more. We can I'll work with Dr. Kata and we can certainly look into that. I mean, even if the kids had I mean, I I guess some schools don't have the um identification cards, like if there was like a
074swipe system or something that they immediately have it recorded without all the back and forth. I I totally agree that that there there's probably a better system out there, but it it you know without having access to like a swipe card or something that would be immediate where a teacher could put something in and it you know we don't we don't have that infrastructure in place right now to be able to do it. So right now the the infrastructure we have is it's reported and once it's reported it's put into synergy right away and then it would pop up a note and then the one who would be doing the discipline anyway which would be the administrator would be the one to call them down because remember when we put this in play also we
075didn't want teachers to feel like they were a disciplinarian in this effect that they they needed to report it because we would didn't want to put that onus on them. Yeah. So I'm afraid that they might feel like they are being put in that disciplinary position and might not want to or have time to deal with it. You know, it's just because to email the assistant principal or the main office and just say a warning has been given to the student, they will put it into synergy and they'll say, "Oh, that's the third warning. So this is what they get." And then so the the administrator will apply the discipline, not the teacher. They're just alerting. And they're still giving the kid the warning though. I feel like that's part of the process that but
076anyways I I just would like to see a more streamlined process to to take that off of the teachers a little definitely don't want it on the teachers. Very true about just discipline in in general. Um you may want to think about it this way. It's the teacher. If if you're acting out in class and I'm your classroom teacher, I'm going to be able to best describe what you've done in class as opposed to an assistant principal who might be dealing with 10 other children. And so we have to have teachers input because their input will determine if the child is going to be disciplined or not. So they have to have some um involvement with the process. Otherwise, who's going to know what really happened? Yeah. I'm just thinking about the four-step process like
077you get a warning, you get a warning, you get a you know appointment point, you get it taken away and then the you know all that it just there's still a lot of teachers but this doesn't really follow follow under this policy discussion. So there would be a regulation attached to this policy potentially do is is there a regulation attached to this policy? Not yet. It's it's a separate policy. The cell phone policy is a separate policy. Separate. Yeah. And it has its own Yeah. And it is the disciplinarian who will administer the discipline. Like the assistant principal once they receive the referral, then they'll know, oh, I'm looking at Adele Martin. This is her sixth time. Like, oh my goodness. A parent to come to the school and pick up her child's cell phone.
078But yes, so the teacher has to be involved because otherwise who's going to report it? Who's going to report it? another child in the class. I mean, the child himself or herself, somebody's got to report it, but I hear you. We We want to take things away from our teachers, but they but but they have to report it and they they want to report it so it's accurate and there's some follow-up, you know, consequences. All right. Additionally, when we were developing this, we did take this to teacher forum and we had discussions in there to make it as teacher friendly as possible. definitely don't want to bur burden them, but they want to be a part of this process as it relates to discipline and reporting. Thank you. Uh please don't go anywhere. We now
079move on to agenda item 2.04, program planning for summer school. Oh, no. I'm sorry. Um I'm sorry. You didn't ask. Does anybody have any other questions? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were done. Mr. I apologize. It's okay. No problem. Um, so if we can call to BGR regulation board staff communication. So we're looking to take the current one where we have all the superintendent chiefs. I'm assuming this is all your chiefs, Dr. Bertzong. Um, specifically, let me get to that. Okay. So I can, but typically, yes, as it relates to that policy, it would be around the chiefs, but more so my design. My designate. If I'm on leave, right, I'll have a designate. Okay. So what? So just correct me so I'll make sure I'm understanding. So as we have it currently right
080now, this is saying that if you are away then one of the one through six chief of staff all the way to clerk of school board could be one of your designates if we need to request data. That's the former uh that's the former policy. That's not the revised policy. Yeah. No, no. Oh. Oh, you're okay. Sorry. So, and then the red line we want to strike out all of the chiefs and the clerk and we want to put in the event of a divisionwide emergency. Okay, that shouldn't be a separate communication by itself cuz Okay, let let me just give an example. So, if just to say you take a vacation, we still have a school board meeting. Who's your second person in command? Okay, repeat that. So, if you take a vacation, who's
081your second person in command for us to get information from? I don't want to mess up your vacation and ask you for student data and I appreciate that I get a vacation. So, thank you for putting that out there because I haven't had one. So, thank you, Mr. Edge. So, I have a design and it's not always the same person. Okay. Okay. when I have to be on professional leave like I was when you all had the special call meeting um then that designate would be the person um more likely than not it would be the chair that would be in contact with that person to say we have a divisionwide crisis um we need your support with with whatever the situation might be. So that would be the person that typically it would be
082the chair that would call. But if you felt the need that you know you needed to call as opposed to the chair, then that would be the person that would be serving as my design while I'm out of the office for Got it. So and this is if it's if it's an emergency. That's right. So okay. So but this communication I'm as I'm reading it, this is just communication across the board. I'm just thinking shouldn't there be one standard one for your communication if you're leave like I said vacation and then if there's an and if there's an emergency so that's two I would think be my designate even if it's an emergency that the designate would be my person who would be serving in mystead while I'm out on leave and you would select
083that designate absolutely okay so it wouldn't be one of the chiefs so it could be Mr. Freley, for example, if if you wanted it to be him. Yes, it could. It could possibly be. Okay. Yes. Okay. But I I think is Mr. Inch, I don't think started as part of the annual meeting of the school board, the superintendent by statute tell the board they recommend superintendent design for when they're absent. Gotcha. Okay. And so there are a number of people that have been voted on, you know, that were presented to the board and approved by the board as the official designate. Okay. Of the superintendent and the superintendent sound. I forget uh the names. I think there have been several. Yes. Okay. All right. Awesome. Thank you for that clarification. You're welcome. All right. Any
084more questions? I am I apologize for that. Any more questions about schoolboard policies? Yes. Sorry. Um may I add one more thing? Um, in regards to the filtering system, I think it's important that we do our research on what is being filtered because, um, I find that often things that are educational educational are still being filtered and students are not able to gain access to important historical concepts that might be considered um, against or private. For example, searching a part sometimes you face difficulties finding correct information regarding it. And I think it's very important that as we're about to put this policy forward, looking into that so that information is available to all students that is accurate and usable. Thank you for that board. And I believe there's a there's a method in place that
085if a student is researching and they come to something that has been blocked, they can go through their teacher who can then go to their Yeah. Here's our expert on that. Yes. Uh yeah. If there's something that a student is trying to get access to or even a teacher sometimes before as they're preparing their lessons, they're going to first check to see what's available, what they can get into, what they can't, what the students can get into. Uh there's a process. So if a teacher cannot get into it or a student cannot get into it, they let the administration know and we can change the filters. The filtering system changes all the time as new things are added to the internet, new pages, um and things are taken off. So it's a constantly kind of
086a living document. There's multiple things that get changed with what's filtered and what's not. So it's important that we allow students to be able to access that information as well as teachers, right? But that that's not going to that's going to be a process. The process is for the teacher for the student to let the teacher know and the teacher let the administration, right? But that doesn't help the student the day when they're trying to do the work. It's it's gonna Oh, they can they can change this filter in within less than a day. I mean, all it takes is for uh someone at the at the uh school level to know and then they can just really access that one site and whitelist it and that allows the site to be accessed by anybody.
087And the good news is that our teachers are designing their lessons in advance. So if there is something they need access to, they should be able to access. We always go through first as they're preparing lessons and make sure everything is able to be accessed by students. Yeah. I think I think it's probably more on the student part that it can be very frustrating when you're given an assignment to go and research something and half the websites are blocked. I mean, I'll give you a funny story. When I worked for NPS when Google first came out, like really just came out and google.com was filtered. But I found Google.de, de, which was still an English language Google that I told everybody in the building to use because that way we could still Google, right? So,
088um maybe I shouldn't have done that, but anyway, um I think I think the problem is that the students the students in that moment like just feel hamstrung. they just they they can't get their research done and or they're finding inaccurate research because maybe there's something on the site that is a little bit controversial and has has been and been stopped. Very true. We we definitely don't want to let uh information that should not be accessed by students to get through. So sometimes we end up being a little more restricted in the beginning and that's really just safety. uh and that there's rules and regulations that we have to follow by the federal government that says you must restrict certain things. So we try to work with that. It's it is very challenging in that
089part and as I had said before the internet I mean it's pages are growing thousands of pages every second are are added to the internet. So it's getting vast and huge and so it is quite a process to do that to be able to filter what's important to be filtered. Uh, Miss Bina had Well, I was going to say, so you said that that can happen at the school level where they can generally the school can whitelist it and it would be whitelisted for the division. So there's an administrator or the school's IT or we have an IT person that would contact Mr. Zamora. Okay. And then they would quickly whitelist that and then would be able to be accessed immediately. Really? Okay. It's not it's not something a teacher, you know, if they assign,
090you know, they it's not something they they have the access to be able to do, but they can put a list of websites. These are all things my students will be accessing next week for our lesson. And then what they'll do is they will have that teacher send that information once they send that information to it, they can whitelist all of them very quickly. And then the whole division is then whitelisted. We're phoning several friends. We have a new friend, Mr. He knows. Yeah. He's our technical on the grounds person. Okay. Awesome. Hi. Good afternoon. Jesse Zammorene, director of IT. So, North public schools, we take cyber security very serious and that's from internal and external. So, one of the things we want to make sure is filtering is extremely important. Sometimes students or staff
091will browse and they don't know what's actually on the site. Our filtering system is called Lightseed. My my blood pressure. You say it's called light speed. Light speed. Oh, you say something about your blood pressure. You all right? Yeah. It could break. He does get very passionate about. So, so, so basically we do have a system in place and it's called the help desk. Any teacher that needs access to a website that they need access to, you can email the help desk or you can call 757-628-3900. Okay. Okay. And we do have and we do have a state-of-the-art system. As a matter of fact, when we were audited, we were one of the top secured networks in the state. So, I just want you guys to know that's good. We have we have a very
092supportive team and sometimes it seems like there are issues, but trust me, that's just normal operations. And so we do our very best on the daily to make sure everyone has access to a device as well as re access to network resources. That's it. Okay. Well, thank you Madam Chair, but you got to recognize me first. Mr. All right. I had already recognized you. Oh, okay. I'm gonna make sure I like to follow my things. I don't want Colonel Pson to get me. All right. Um so my question if I'm a student at Booker T Washington High School and I want to look up um a part tide in South Africa and so the teacher doesn't have access or autonomy based off of none of their credentials and their licenses like we don't give the
093teachers any autonomy to say hey we know that that they can go look at it first it is reliable information and then we can disseminate that to the student. We have to call a help desk. the help desk have to look at it, make sure it's on the good list, and then and then it's how what's the turn what's the turnaround time? So, for like like like Dr. Bersong said, if a teacher is to um to present something ahead of time, let us know ahead of time. But otherwise, each school has a dedicated engineer. Okay? And the engineer, they don't necessarily have the rights because everything is managed centrally here at CAP. They just all they do is escalate it to tier three and then we just go and make some adjustments and so so
094it's a same day turnaround instantaneously. Would you would you say that? Yes. Yes. And a lot of times a lot of times the schools will create a list. Okay. And then that list ahead of time will make sure it's unblocked. Gotcha. But the light speeded what it does is we don't say we don't go like when they say do research we don't go to every single page on you're looking for certain things. Lightseed categorizes it. Got it. Okay. And then when it's categorized, if it finds something that's potentially malicious, it will automatically block it. Is that also searching anything to make sure we're in the we're in the era of misinformation? So, does that filter anything to do we have something that to make sure we're not giving misinformation to our students? That's something that
095I can find out. Keywords, pictures, and things like that. Yes. But we do have the ability like say for instance the arts department. So in the arts department the teachers have to be the ones to declare whether like you say if they have a a statue that's you know has a new right so we give them the ability we put them apart as a group to be able to say verify and validated so that we can unblock that particular site. Okay. And so and then if Okay, so they verify it. You don't unblock it automatically. You you look at it as well. There's another safeguard in place. No, they can actually do that. But what happens is let's say they do verify and it was a malicious site, we will be alerted. Okay. And then
096we can actually then then search and see what happened. Got it. And then the teacher could be would be potentially held accountable for Okay. Okay. So, if we give the teacher permission to look at artwork that may have a body part on it, then why are we not giving teachers the same access to look at the information prior to giving it to a student if a student's looking on their laptop? Because since we're a one for one school, you know, what if they actually did that? Why I I I guess the problem is if a teacher is doing their lesson planning at school, they can't look at the website because it's blocked for them to figure out if it's an appropriate website. Maybe let me rephrase the question. So what I'm saying is if a
097teacher in an art class goes and looks at a statue of let's say Dianices um and it has nudity on it and thus the teacher can approve or not approve it then correct. Correct. Okay. And if they do approve it, and let's just say a parent gets word that they approved it and the parent did not like that their child also saw that and then they do a complaint. Thus, it goes through the system and the processes and thus then the teacher could be called in and held accountable for for actually showing that. Correct. And that's one of the reasons why we kind of wanted to keep it tailored to the arts. Okay. because because if we were to have all teachers try to validate what's what's good a good website and a bad website,
098it's going to be hard to manage from a centralized perspective. Well, I guess I'm just looking at it just from an efficiency standpoint and also giving teachers some autonomy and independence in the classroom. Um that if a student if I'm on my laptop and I want to look up something, ding, it doesn't. The teacher can't put in a password and say, "Hey, I verified and I've looked at it that it's good." and then we can keep going with our lesson plan. Teacher can't even look at the website because it's filtered, right? So, the student looks at it and it says it can't go through. Teachers got to go through a whole process, but a art teacher doesn't have to go through the same process. They can click something and then they can just Oh, I
099don't think so. I think they still have to go through the Excuse me, Madam Chair. Yes. Sorry. We're we're This is supposed to be to vote on the policy, right? You're absolutely right. Thank you for bringing us back to to to um back to center. You're welcome. But thank you. Yes, it's good information. Thank you. Again, it's about security. It's not our intention to block sites to prohibit any students from learning. What we're trying to do is to be able to keep supporting teaching and student learning, but be able to practice good make sure we secure our networks and our data. Thank you. Thank you. Because we've been attacked before. So, I can imagine. And the and this policy does not address what your concerns are. Got it. Okay. The policy on the floor that
100we are discussing does not address those concerns. Thank you for that. But that could be something we talk about in a future meeting. Okay. Uh we are not taking a vote today. No, it'll be on the business meeting. It'll be on the business meeting agenda. Well, thank you. And please don't go anywhere again, Dr. Paul. Uh we're going to move on to 2.04 4 program planning for summer school 2026 five oh it's a oh I'm sorry 2025 I'm just looking at the agenda no no problem so good afternoon again madam chair Mr. Kalerero vice Thomas members of the board Dr. bird song. I'm here to give you a brief overview of the summer programs being offered this summer. So, this summer, uh the summer stars program where successful thinkers are ready students. There's our stars.
101Um uh there will be several opportunities for content specific learning as well as enrichment programming to meet the needs of all of our students. In an effort to continue offering as many programs as possible at no cost to students and parents, there will be elementary programming in 13 of our sites. The sites with multiple schools hosted at the school in bold font. So students who are zoned for from SS Point, Crossroads K5, and Camp Allen um will attend summer stars programming at Graanby Elementary School. And for for those that are newer to the board, this is a uh we really started this process right after COVID to try to get all of our students back and saw great results. So again, with budgeting and funding, we're able to to provide this free for all of
102our our students. Programming for the prek to five grades include the early childhood special education program, a four-year-old summer literacy camp for any of our prek4 students preparing to transition to kindergarten. And I'd like to say that we're we're the only division in our region and possibly the state that offers a a prek summer program um to to really help our our prek4 um be solidly ready for kindergarten. Um SummerSt Stars basic skills programming, a behavior and social skills support program as well as a cross categorical program for our students with disabilities within the extended school year eligibility which is IEP driven. We also have Camp Einstein, uh, getting ready for pre-alggebra 6 for rising sixth grade students, summer arts academy, the green STEM experience, and our English learner newcomer program will all continue to
103be offered this summer. Again, I'm going to fit this word in here as much as possible at no cost um to our students. Our middle school students will be attending classes uh within the the sites listed on this slide. um with all of our star program this year being in one middle school to help consolidate um and help with with costs so that we can have transportation to one middle school. NPS middle school uh students will have summer stars programming, cross categorical programming, getting ready for pre-alggebra and algebra junior university health and PE summer arts green STEM summer experience and the middle school English learner newcomer program as well. And as has been successful over the past two summers, our in-person high school summer school program will be the hybrid program with students attending in-person
104two days a week and live online the other two days a week. So Lake Taylor High School will host our summer programs with Lake Taylor, Graanby, and Mory attending in person on Mondays and Tuesdays. They'll be online Wednesdays and Thursdays. Norview and Booker T will attend in person on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and they'll be online Monday and Tuesdays. And will they get synchronous or asynchronous? It's all synchronous. It's all synchronous. Synchronous online. Correct. High school students will have the summer stars program, which will house students who were unsuccessful in a course during the regular school year. and any student who wishes to take a course for initial credit will do so through virtual Virginia's online program which again is at no cost to our students. There will be a virtual credit recovery options for students
105with teacher assistance provided daily and two programs for students with disabilities who qualify for extended school year focused on post-graduate career development or crosscategorical programs. There will also be advanced placement summermies to prepare students for upcoming AP classes. So, we offer that for about two weeks through the summer. A credential boot camp for students who are eligible to take a credential exam, and I think Miss Goan talked about that when she brought the Perkins grant forward. Work-based learning opportunities, a summer ISAE program for students seeking their GED, as well as courses at open campus for students to continue to catch up on their learning. And as with last year, NPS is partnering with United Way to offer extended learning for Chesterfield, PB Young, Ruffford, and Southside STEM Academy through the LEAP program. And for students
106at Coleman Place, Engleside, Lynenwood, and Suburban Park, the 21st Century Learning Grants will provide additional learning activities. And this slide shows our enrollment trends for the past seven years. Um, as with last summer, all the programs are free to NPS students and applications for a variety of programs. They closed on the 28th. Um, so we're just just wrapped that process up. And you can see, um, postcoid where our numbers have increased dramatically. Um, so precoid, um, we weren't really doing much with secondary summer school and we opened that back up and now we also offer for free our arts programming and camp Einstein that have increased our enrollment so that our students at all levels can learn. Uh, a couple data points. Uh, summer 2024, um, for reading specifically, 50.7% of the students enrolled in
107summer school showed improvement from their spring to fall scores. And for mathematics, the it was 35.1% that showed improvement from the from the spring to fall. Um, so that's the brief overview of what's going to come this summer. Um, I'm prepared for any questions or comments you may have. Question. Um, thank you, Dr. Paul. Uh, so has there has there been any changes to uh the eligibility criteria for our students with disabilities? um who can participate in the extended year? No, it's it's IP driven. That has always been IP driven. It's an IP team decision on eligibility for extended school year. Okay. Okay. I was just curious if anything had changed um around that and um kind of piggy based on our conversation earlier uh around goal five. Um what specifically are there any programs
108in place during the summer that might help like bridge um some of you know some of for the kids that are off track you know to kind of help them. Yeah. So really in general all of the programs. So our our stars program is more of a remediation program. So if a student was unsuccessful in the course they can go to the summer program and they can make that course up. So in summer if you've if you've if you've taken a course and you were unsuccessful the the general a lotment of time is 140 hours and and to retake the course it narrows it down to 70 hours. So that's why summer is a better time to do it because you can take it in less time. Um and then with students who maybe made
109the decision I I want to I want to get that advanced studies but I'm missing a class. So that's where we offer the virtual Virginia at no cost. So they can take a initial credit course which covers the entire curriculum as a first-time student um at no cost as well. And then the step up to math programs that we have in place also um really help with students to become prepared for that. And then more than that even the AP camp that we offer again at no cost um to make sure students are ready for that rigor of an advanced placement course. Uh for students in the high school clusters that do the virtual two days a week. Do we provide devices and internet access for those that do not have that? Yes. So, we
110have uh when when COVID was in play, the division bought about I think 3,000 um personal Wi-Fi devices. We still have those so we can activate them for a month at a time or two months at a time. So, if a student needs internet, we have that. And the summer school site will distribute the Chromebooks on the on the first day of summer school. Okay. I figured, but I just wanted to ask. That's a great question to ask. uh Miss B and I have an additional question around slide number 14 um which you know is one of those data points that we've been you know asking about about how students are performing among those who participate in summer school programs and um from spring to fall like um what can I guess do you is
111this more is this in line what with what the research shows should be expected or are We are we ahead? Are we kind of below um what what you would typically see? I I think we're we're on point. You know, you remember these numbers are taken from the STARS program which were students who who had failed the year before and they're coming and they because they need to make up that credit or to to earn it to get to the next grade level if it's elementary or middle school or to earn that credit at high school. So to see the numbers where they're improving um where maybe they had been not improving years before um and also knowing that they still had there was about five weeks after summer school where there was you know
112where they had a summer and they could have had summer slide then as well. So these I these are these numbers um are are consistent with what we saw last summer and we were pleased with what we saw last summer. Um and then we did see again our fall results were stronger. So, we're we're we're looking forward to having this summer and seeing good numbers again with the practices we have in place. Other questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. My pleasure. Thank you. All right. We'll move on to agenda item 2.05. discussion and vote to approve initial bylaws and contract for new regional recovery program for region two. Good afternoon, chair the county bureau, vice chair, Miss Thomas, members of the board. Um, what we have provided to you is an initial contract and bylaws
113for our recovery program which we hope to open in August of this school year. We're very very excited about the program. We knew that you would want to see a copy of the contract and the bylaws and we are available to answer any questions. Mr. um uh Attorney Cloud has been very engaged with the process and certainly he is prepared today to address any questions about uh the contract or the bylaws that you may have. And as you can recall in January, Dr. Catalo provided a very comprehensive um overview of the program and I think we did po did we rep post that if we didn't repost it it's um available under board docs in January so didn't necessarily want to re uh present that that PowerPoint again but just to remind you that we
114did present information related to the program and you did vote on a resolution of proceeding with us towards opening the school. Yeah, Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. C. So, are are we expected to vote on this or is this for information? So, it you want to address. So, I'll let Mr. Cloud address that. How about that? I know he wants you to vote today, but I'm sorry. Yeah, I was presenting it to you and with with Dr. bird song just because uh although you have had a slideshow on the subject, this would give you a more uh intensive and specific sense of what is coming. This this contract could be signed by Dr. BSON without coming back to the board. She has the authority to do that and it's not necessarily the absolute final. In fact,
115you may have noticed if you looked at it, there are even some comments and things in there. That's how it was forwarded to me by the chief attorney who is involved in this, which is the attorney for the Virginia Beach public schools. And that's because they are taking the lead and they have also been the recipient of the initial funding from the general assembly. it went straight to them, right, for the school rather than to divide it amongst the boards that are going to own it. So, it's really today for you to just kind of again give a vote of approval to moving forward with the understanding that the final initial bylaw and contract will be substantially similar to this. There may be some uh minor changes but there won't be anything significant or if
116there's something that I think is significance that gets changed then uh I'll come back you know we'll come back and and talk to you about it. It's mainly um they're really under the gun on this and uh August 1st is is a tough deadline to meet. Uh and so the idea was you all could approve this and Dr. Burns won't sign this tonight, but then as soon as we're ready, we being me and the other attorneys for the other four divisions. It'll be quickly signed. And actually what the Virginia Beach city attorney uh schoolboard attorney has told me what they're asking is the superintendent and others will just sign the signature pays and send that to them uh so that when when uh as soon as they're ready and the different uh divisions are handling
117it differently. I think some may go to their boards at the business meeting, but in some cases their superintendent may just sign the signature page and not even talk to the boards about it further. You have a question, Miss Bine, do you have a question? Um, no. Um, no, I don't right now. Mr. Um, so not so much a question, just a statement. I'm so glad we're doing this. Just like Jack said, we're under the gun on this. I am so glad that we are taking and getting ahead of this with our students that are facing substance usage. So I'm I'm proud to definitely when this comes about for a vote to vote forward. So definitely this is going to do a lot of great help for our students. Dr. Martin, did you have a
118comment? Colonel? No. Miss Moore Buffalo? No. Miss Thomas. So, um, can I get a motion to accept the approved to a motion to accept the and approve the initial bylaws and contract for new the new regional recovery program for region two? I move that we what you would what that we accept this initial contract initial contract of bylaws for our superintendent to sign for approval and to approve the initial bylaws and contract. Oh, initial bylaws and contract for the new regional recovery program for the new regional recovery board. I feel like I'm getting sworn in. Dr. Martin has brought forward the motion and Miss Thomas has seconded it. Miss Tanner, please call the role. Bene. Buffalo. I Martin I. Olson. Thomas. Hi. To Kellogger. I was just going to add eventually uh we're calling it
119region two etc. for the purposes of the contract, but it's going to be called the harbor hope. We shared that with Great. We'll move on to agenda item 3.01, future agenda items. What I'd like to do is give each board member a chance to bring forward anything they would like. So I am going to go around the table. Miss Pine, would you like to start? Oh. Um, so all what I had was, you know, the norms and protocols we talked about at the last time this agenda topic came up, um, that we do need to finish reviewing them and adopting them so that we at least have our code of conduct ready to go for um, for our reference. Um the other uh topic not so much um the I have two other topics that
120I would like the board to consider. Um is an update on the EALC program since it's been we'll be completing our first year of implementation. Um I'd like an update on you know what metrics were put in place to ensure implementation fidelity and how we're ascertaining impact on student outcomes and um what the measures of success are so that you know as we go into year two we know um you know we can monitor our progress uh for our students over time and um I don't know if you want me to pause there and see if there's interest before let's address the norms and protocols and then the second one and then we'll yeah and I raised that at the last future agenda item. So I think that we are in agreement already. So that
121one that one is good. So an update on the EELC program and metrics fidelity student outcomes and measures of success is what I have. Did I did I do a good job with that or did I miss something? Yeah, like you know where are we in the implementation? Um and you know what are the yeah what are the metrics uh that we are examining to determine the success of those programs and um especially as we're getting ready to start a new one u at Southside STEM Academy next year. Uh is there interest in getting an update? So let's go around the table. I would maybe not like is anyone not not want to get an update on these? Well, let's just Yes. Though, and let me clarify, too. It is for consideration at a time
122that you and uh the administration feel that it feel that it's appropriate. Yeah. I'm not asking for it next month. I'm I'm just putting it on out there for for you all to consider when it's appropriate to bring it to us. Dr. Martin, do you agree that we should get an update? Miss Buffalo, Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Colonel? Yes. Yes. Got it. All right. What is your third topic? Um and my third topic is um so we it's been a couple years since we've had an update on open campus but specifically around um open campus and our overage for grade and that's something that we've been talking about for for quite some time um you know previous board um and also I would like to have um an update on open campus and our overage
123for grade um population and how we are serving those students or how we may better serve uh those students um in our school district. All right, Dr. Martin, do you have any comments or any comments or comments, concerns or just want to say yes, you would like to get the update? I I agree with her. I think those are good topics. I agree. I had it question. Go ahead. What What would we use this information for? I mean, this uh being new to the board, I mean, I we we get there's a lot of segments. There's a lot of parts and and we're keeping track of those for decision making, but this is the first I've heard of of the overage and and and that's probably why why we need a good idea to get
124Right. Right. And and that's exactly why. So, Open Campus is one of our programs, you know. No, I I know what Open Campus is, but and so part of that originally when it originally started, it was it was meant to kind of um address some of the overage population who were in the credit recovery kind of period, risk of dropping out. And so um and and like where we are currently with that because we do have an overage population and we see it every month, you know, when we're getting student appeals and disciplinary hearings, you know, we see that, you know, we have, you know, 16 year olds in seventh or eighth grade. And it's it's how do we set our students up for su success who may be in those um in those situations
125where they're overage for grade and how can our academic programming um how are how is our academic programming meeting the needs of those students? Um and kind of connecting that to open campus. is open campus a place where we can enhance and strengthen to provide those services. So I think it's it would be good for the whole board to have an understanding of open campus but also our overage for great population. Thank you. I I I didn't get the connection between overage and um Indie with younger I was thinking the adult uh program the adult that Miss Buffalo was going to talk or speak with and and I was thinking it was more that and then I all of a sudden I didn't really I and I got the connection now. So that's a whole
126separate programs. Right. Right. Okay. Thank you. So, would you like to have an update? Um, oh, sure. But let's Oh, because you because we were I was asking and then Mr. N. Oh, would you like to have an update? Oh, we're going this way. Okay. Um, yeah. So, um I know one of our students um at Booker T had sent us an email. They found Oh, I'm going to come to you for that, but I just on Tanya's topic. Oh, okay. Yeah. No, I'm good. I support them. Okay. Um uh Dr. Martin, do you have anything you'd like to see added to the agenda? Yeah. Um I want I'd like to see uh board training planned um and regular updates on the school right sizing that our committee is working on and uh I'd like
127to hear more about the transition to the block scheduling for the ne for the upcoming school year the 4x4. Yeah. And I did I say this committee reports for the community committees that were anyone's sitting on to make time for that. Okay. Uh so you want let me just make sure I have everything that you said written down. 4x4 block scheduling. You want updates and time for committee reports for the committees that we are sitting on. Yeah. So, board training, updates on the right sizing, committee reports, and block schedule transition. Okay. Uh I think we've agreed to board training. So, that is agreed to do it or have you agreed on a vendor? Um I am I am in contact with the greater city schools. Great city schools. Council of Great Cities Council of Great
128Cities. I'm sorry. Okay. Um and so I will be giving an update on that very soon. Will the admin administration have input on who you decide to Absolutely. Uh so in terms of regular updates on the steering committee, I re I reached out to Ken. I didn't reach out to Mr. Inch, but uh they are pl they are providing reports. Do do you want to receive the report or Jason sent the email out? Yeah. So, is that sufficient? Do we need to discuss it at schoolboard meetings or is the report sufficient? I think the report is sufficient. Okay. Report can. Of course. I sent you a copy. Oh, yeah. I got both yours. Sorry, I just misspoke. Um, but if we need more than simply their reports, please let me know. Yeah. I mean, I
129think it's important that we have some discussions in front of the public so that they're aware of what's going on as well. Okay. So, are we in agreement that we should have some some discussions that or I mean I think we're going to that's naturally going to have to happen. Um but as far as the reports maybe those should be public, right? Right. So, they should post. Yeah, I I agree with that, having them posted, but I don't I I think we're naturally going to have them be agenda topics um as a result of the timeline that we're working with. Um would how would the board like or be maybe considered because he sent one, I sent one and u send it to Yeah, I So we should work together. That's what I was saying.
130Or send it to Miss Tanner and she can post it together. Well, he was saying the process they should have some kind of template, you know, the information that they're going to share so they can work together so they're not both sending but not both recreating the wheel, right? Okay. I mean will can do that too. Madam chair may may I ask I'd like to ask um Dr. bird song what um what she feels may be best cuz in the past I know either the consultants provided you know like the update or minutes took minutes from the meeting or like is that something um that they're do you know if they're continuing to do that or um yeah taking minutes of the meeting has been asked to take the minutes okay since she is the
131board clerk. Okay. Um Okay. So that's so going forward. So are we duplicating efforts? Um I guess well I think minutes and a report are not necessarily the same thing. I mean the report is like a high level summary comes in what we what kind of information we want um you know out of that report is I think I think we can talk about that like we don't have to talk about it right now in in here but something about it but I agree on getting a report I'll just say that if we want to set a template for the report that both that that both Colonel and I are at um to just just for uniformity even though we're going to have the minutes done by Cameron. Yeah, you getting a double dose. I
132mean that's I feel like there's a double dose. Well, that's what I'm that was that's what I felt like duplicated efforts, you know, right? And by all means, I think that we should Well, I see a report as a highle summary and I see the minutes is getting into the minutia. Well, well, we should exactly they're not voting or So I'm so I'm I'm just envisioning it in incorrectly. Then I was thinking of more of them giving us a summary and then we also had the minutes to refer to if we had needed more detail about a summary. So you'd like both? Somewhere in between me. Somewhere in between maybe I I appreciate the reports that they spent their time uh creating. Oh yeah. I thought that it was very helpful. Maybe our our report
133should be part of the minutes or I mean that's the or if you want to call it a record or or could their reports be the you know be the minutes. I don't know. I think we still need Miss Tanner to properly take take the minutes. Okay. Because then I think that that's that seems to be duplicating efforts. But I don't I don't know. I I am not going to die on that hill. So whatever you guys decide is so so they well there's only one more meeting. They've already done the work for the first meeting, right? Which they were great. What are our marching orders for the second meeting would be not to submit a report or submit a very brief highle report. I I like what they did. That was sufficient for me.
134I told him I was going to give him a compliment. So here it comes. Oh, okay. Give that to me. His his report was so detailed. I mean, and I like that. Yeah, I did, too. I'm going, "Wow, he must write faster than I do because I didn't have that extensive uh detail that he had." But we we we should work. I think when there's two people, you work together, one one report and and both have to contribute to it, you know. So I contributed by giving all the uh uh what do you call the handouts that that we had those items that I attached to mine and he gave the detail I gave the the supporting documents. So I guess they're marching order. I'm sorry Miss Buffalo. So the only I agree with Tanya
135I think we're doing two and uh Miss Thomas we're doing double work if they're giving us a overview of what happened in the committee. We're they're not taking any action in the meeting. So I don't I don't get why Miss Tanner is taking minutes and they're doing their report and that's what you all that report you all put together was very high level explained it all. I just don't understand why you guys are okay with that. I can explain why. Okay. um because of we were unaware that they were going to provide a report and so in order to support this work for the board we wanted to be proactive to make sure there were not any questions about we don't know what's going on so therefore that the administration asked Miss Tanner to provide
136minutes and we were unaware that Mr. and Mr. Dr. uh Colonel Pollson would be doctor's better thank you okay Dr. Pollson, Colonel Pollson would be providing um a summary. So, at the end of the day, we want to make sure you have the information that you need. That's that's all we care about. So, you all can decide how you want that information, either through minutes or either through their work. I I have a legal question. Do do we need minutes for Jack? Yes. Do we need minutes for in case there's any future dispute on what happened with the committee? Uh, I' I'd say it's a good idea to have minutes. I mean, if if you're going to have a report, then the person doing the minutes can bear that in mind and do less. There's
137no real standard for how complete our thorough minutes. So, we have one more meeting, right? So, it's not this is not a long-term hall for anybody. So, we will keep the minutes. I appreciated your reports. I would like to see another report. Maybe it just has to be one instead of you guys duplicating efforts. We could do a Google doc together. Yeah, that's cool. Sounds good. And we will get those reports posted as well. Appreciate that. Minutes are posted. If I if I might, what th this discussion about reports would reply apply to all of our committees? Well, that's actually an that's I've got that right. Okay. Um, thank you. 4x4 block scheduling. You'd like an you'd like to see us get an update on where that stands? Yeah, as we transition into it. Yeah.
138Agreement. I agree. Yeah, I agree. Uh, and then committee reports for the committees that you serve on. Um, we should I think we discussed this already that people should be providing them, right? And we're talking about the standing committees, the board committees. So, and for some of ours, I I think I don't I think we can um you know, policy is kind of it happens during our meeting, but um I think it' be a report that's posted docs in board docs. Yeah. Everyone aware? All right. We're in agreement. Just more Buffalo. Anything that you'd like to see added to the agenda? took my EELC's in my open campus. So, yeah, you did scratched them out. Um, but I will say that um for consideration um in the future that um I would like to see
139our divisionwide technology um plan for our school division. Okay. Agreement. I agree. Anybody? Okay. Anything else, Miss Moore Buffalo? Or did you have a comment? A question. Is is this a new request of the administration? I I think I I I don't I don't know. I can't even speak to it. elaborate. It's just something maybe the board has not had in a had in a in a while. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's something that would probably be good to be updated on. And that would be I would leave it to you all to determine if that's a report or, you know, a presentation. Yeah. Buffalo. Um, nothing extra at this time. I know they covered so much. Yes. I don't have anything at this time. Uh, Colonel. Um, I'll reserve my comments for another time when
140we get All right. We're going along real well here. So, Mr. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. Good. Um, so um just for consideration, mine's um very quick. Um you all may have received an email. Well, you actually did. It was um there from one of our students um at Booker T. Washington. They found the great piece of um of blanket tapestry that shows the rich her um history of Booker T. I would and he's asked to come present that. I would love for him to come and present that to the board on the 21st. I think it'll be a great opportunity to showcase us to see Booker T. Washington's history if we don't know it. And then also for anyone that comes so that they can see this school and just see the just the
141remarkable talent that's there. I just think it would be something worthwhile coming just to present to the board. What do we think? Highlight students. Yeah. For highlighting a school and is there is there a schedule like is the schedule already made for highlighting student activities? Could that be under the chair's report? Could that be under the the uh that would be the clerk the clerk's report? That's what I mean that's where it would be. That's what I'm asking. Um, if that's I I don't if there's room for it on our agenda anywhere. We can make room. It's not going to take long. All right. Yeah. And this is the last business meeting before school. That would be great. If I real quick, while you're writing, are you talking about a presentation? I mean that they're
142going to give the history of it like about this. I I read the the thing that So he's going to give the blanket, not the school. Right. But it's it's it's history that's was written by I guess some um we doing it. It was it was made by Well, there's the world father. I I can't remember the the it's not a student object. It's it's it's it's a history of the school. Correct. Right. Okay. Yes. All right. I thought it may be something. I don't see any reason that we can't I don't see any. So, we will add that to the clerk's report. Awesome. Thank you. But we do we do probably need to reach out to him and set parameters on how much time he um I'm excited for that presentation. Pretty cool. Yes.
143All right. Well, that went very well. Good job. Will you finish, Jason? Um, you have another one, actually. Um, no. No, that one's not. It's something we can discuss in close session. Okay. Oh, well, you have I I guess a little Well, well, maybe let me ask a question. You tell me why I need to put I'm still new. I got some similac behind my ears here. All right. Um, so I would like to see, for example, um, the tennis courts um, from Booker T. Washington. They were opened up this past weekend, which was great. I commend um Booker T. Washington for the tennis courts and every person who has made sure that this has happened, our city partners, but I did not know about it until I went to a breakfast. That's that's the
144only way I knew about it. And so to go if I didn't know that would have never been a school board member there and nobody there was from the administration but um the ad for um the date that I was given was not accurate. Yeah. So, we got to make sure that anything that's going on with North public schools that is something dealing with um commemorating our students, the schools, the school board should know, the administration should know so that we can have some representation there. Well, it seems like there was communication issues because you weren't fully aware. Yeah, it was another date. It wasn't that Saturday. I think the date I was given was a Friday. Okay. And I'm sure it was innocent. Yeah. No, no, I don't think it was any malice behind
145you. Tried to No. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you were. Yeah. But I'm glad you brought that. So, I'm glad you found out and you Yeah. I had a had a great time. Um that was an awesome time. Those courts are beautiful. They are. They are. Did you have anything else, Mr.? No. No. Good to go for now. All right. Can I get a motion to go into closed executive session? I move that we go into executive close session. I second. So, Miss Mor Buffalo Oh, is there any discussion? Miss All right. Miss Moore Buffalo has um brought forth the motion and Miss Thomas has seconded the motion to go into executive close session. Miss Tanner, would you please take the call the role? I'm going to read the motion first for you. Doesn't she have
146to read the motion reading? That's okay. Move that the members of the school board of the city of Norfolk go into a closed meeting for the purposes which are set out in subsection A of section 2.2-3711 of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as amended for discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of the school board pursuant to subsection 2.2-371. 2-37118 3711A1 of the of the act. The subject of this portion of the closed meeting is the discussion of possible discipline, the motion or termination of specific personnel, consultation with legal counsel and briefing by staff members pertaining to actual or probable litigation or regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by council pursuant to
147subsections 2.2-3711 A7 and8 of the act. The subject of this portion of the closed meeting is the matter set out above in subsection A of this motion. Bassine I Buffalo I Martin I Olson I Thomas I Calerro I motion is approved. There we go. Uh, can I get a motion to come out of closed executive session? I move we come out of executive close session. Second. I third. Miss uh, Moore Buffalo has brought forth a motion and Mr. Inch has seconded the motion. Miss Tanner, please call the role. I'm going to read the resolution first. Oh, yeah. Oh, Miss Panner, please read the resolution. A resolution certifying a second meeting of the schoolboard of the city of Norfolk in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Whereas the schoolboard of the
148city of Norfolk has convene a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. And whereas section 2.2-3712 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by the schoolboard of the city of Norfolk that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Though therefore be resolved that the school board of the city of North hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the executive meeting to which this certification resolution applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the executive meeting were heard discussed or considered by the schoolboard of the city of Norfol. Bassine I
149Buffalo I Martin I Pollson I Thomas I Caligger I motion is approved. Thank you all for coming this evening and this school board work session is now adjourned.