School Board Meeting - March 26, 2026

001A huge thank you to our our Albemarle High School spring string quartet who we will hear be hearing a little bit more about in a few minutes. So, with that I would like to bring our March 26 work session back to order and we will begin with our our closed meeting motion. I move that the board certify by recorded vote that to the best of each board members knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. Do I hear a second to that? Second. Moved by Ms. Spillman, seconded by Ms. Lee. All those in favor? I. >> I. Any opposed? Thank you so much. We will open

002our meeting today with our roll call and that is when we go around the dais to both introduce ourselves as well as do a mic and a voice check for those in the auditorium as well as those online so they can match a name with a face. I'm going to start with Ms. Erin Stone today. Erin Stone, assistant division council sitting in for school board council today. Matthew Haas, superintendent. Uh Bob Beard, Samuel Miller district. Jim Dillenbeck, Rio district. Allison Spillman, at large representative. Rebecca Berlin, Whitehall district. Ellen Osborne, Scottsville district. Judy Lee, Rivanna district. Kate Acuff, Jack Jouett district. Patrick McLaughlin, assistant superintendent. Dan Redding, chief HR officer. Oh, Christine Thompson, clerk of the board. Thank you so much. We will now stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag

003of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh before we move to our moment of signment silence, um could we just make sure we pull down the school board is currently in closed meeting sign. Thank you. We will now pause for a moment of silence before we begin our meeting. Thank you so much. The next piece of our agenda is the approval of our agenda. Do I have a motion for the approval of tonight's agenda? I move we approve the agenda. Thank you, Ms. Lee. Do I have a second? Second. Moved by Ms. Lee, seconded by Ms. Billman. All those in favor of tonight's agenda? Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed? We will move forward with tonight's agenda. The

004next piece on our agenda tonight is announcements and we are going to start with a spotlight on education. I'm going to ask Ms. Dana Schneider, the curriculum coordinator of four fine arts to come forward. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, board. Dana Schneider, curriculum >> [music] >> Sorry. We never know. I'll just project. I'll use my teacher voice. >> Yes. Um tonight you all were able to hear um, some of the Albemarle High School, um, orchestra quartet. Um, we had on violin, Alex Chen and Joanna Kim. Um, on viola, Alyssa Lee, and on cello, Amy Wong. They were Should I put this down? Oh, no. Okay. Um, they got Half of them got stuck in traffic on the way here, so there was a little bit of some, uh, nerves going on there, but, uh,

005they did a beautiful job and actually are now already packed up. So, um, thank you for letting them come and represent, uh, music in our schools month. Um, just a little bit of some of the things that are going on with, um, with music and other, um, performing arts events coming up. Uh, first of all, we'll, just because he's here, honor Alex Chen. Uh, he made it to All-State Virginia Orchestra along with another student from Monticello. Um, two, uh, band students from Monticello, a band student from Western, two band students from Albemarle, four chorus students from Monticello, three chorus students from Western, and two chorus students from Albemarle High School also made their All-State ensembles. So, definitely something to celebrate. Um, that event will be happening in Richmond, uh, April 16th through the 18th is,

006um, the workshop and rehearsal time for the students and the performances happen on the 18th at the Richmond Convention Center. If you're interested in more information, let me know. I'm happy to share that with you. Also, big, um, fun things going on tomorrow night is Arts Fest in the West at Western Albemarle High School. It'll be from 6:00 to 9:00. Um, the Music Mosaic at Monticello High School will be, uh, at 7:00. That's a fundraiser for, um, their, uh, Tri-M group, which is, uh, the student association. And then on Sunday is the Albemarle High School Swing into Spring event at the Paramount and this year it's going to be at 3:30 in the afternoon instead of in the evening and should be a really fun show and that is also a fundraiser and I can't

007remember which um uh organization they're fundraising for this year but it's always a fantastic event. What you're seeing in front of you here is a beautiful piece of artwork done by a middle school student, Isabel Wong, who is going to come up and say hello in just a second. Um this went into a a contest the the Virginia School Board Association regional art contest that happens every year. There are nine school board association regions in the state of Virginia. Um the uh last week was the networking forum at Louisa High School Okay. where [clears throat] Isabel um her piece of art won for the middle school Thank you. Um for the middle school entry for the region the central region. After all of the forums are done May 12th is the last one all first

008place winners will go into this is only the second annual statewide contest that will happen or that has happened. Um all of those first place winners for each of the levels elementary, middle, and high school will go into their own contest statewide and in early June there'll be a press release and the winners of each of those will be recognized in July 6th on July 16th at the um Virginia School Board Conference on Education. The winners will receive a commemorative trophy and a a thousand dollar award. So fingers crossed that Isabel's amazing piece of art is the winner. Isabel, would you like to come say hi? I mentioned at the beginning that it is Music in Our Schools Month. It is also Youth Art Month. And so, this is Thank you for letting me highlight

009just a little bit of all of the wonderful things that happen in our schools. Oh, and I hope you all were able to make it to the art shows that we just took down on Monday. They were at Crozet Library and Northside Library for this month. What do I say? I don't know. What do you want to say? Do you have to say anything about your piece? Talk to us about your piece of art. So, I just saw this piece on Pinterest and I was like, "Ooh, this will be fun to draw." So, Oh my god, it's so loud now. >> [laughter] >> So, I just saw this piece on Pinterest and I was like, "Oh, this will be fun to draw." So, like I drew it. That's awesome. >> [laughter] >> Beautiful. I don't

010know how else to explain it. It just It looked cool. How long did it take you to draw that? Um probably like 2 hours. Wow. My mom kept distracting me during it though. >> [laughter] >> And do we see your art teacher back there? And also here is Ms. Anita Nixon, the art teacher at Lakeside Middle School. Welcome. Thank you. How long have you been drawing? I don't know. I did I started an art class outside of school when I was like eight, nine, I don't know. Something around that, but like I really like drawing when I was a lot younger. What a beautiful piece. >> It is a beautiful >> Thank you. Yes. Good luck. Thank you. >> Good luck and congratulations. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Thank you, all. Thank you

011so much. Um, and I know this board is, um, uh, it is important for this board to continue to support the arts. Um, so, thank you so much for everyone. Um, and I also know that there are a number of musicals, um, coming up. So, make sure you are checking out the the calendars on our website, um, and supporting your local, uh, theater and, uh, music productions. The next piece on our agenda is our school board superintendent and committee updates. Do we have any school board superintendent or committee updates? Sorry about that. >> had a quick little presentation. >> Okay. Our mouse >> 10, 5, 5, 8 minutes. Our mouse died at the perfect time. Is that it? Oh, whoops. Thanks, Chrissy. You're awesome. All right. Uh, also, did we Introduce Carrie Finnegan? Orchestra teacher.

012Built She built the orchestra program. Uh, I've worked with Carrie now for 24 years, I think. She She built it. She's the originator of orchestra, really, uh, as a solid, rock-solid program in Albemarle County schools. Um, when I was new at Albemarle, she was starting out with me and I'm pretty close with one class at, uh, what was, uh, Sutherland at that time and one at Jack Jouett. And so, she started out not not full-time and started building that program like one class at a time. Then, we shared staffing with the middle schools to get this started at Albemarle and it's a thriving program. I mean, the kids are doing amazing work and she I've always thought of her just as a genius to be able to pull that off and one of my children

013was in her program for a couple of years and just an amazing teacher and it just shows you what what teachers can do. I mean they they just make they make magic really with that work and I've always loved working with Carrie. She's just so passionate about the kids learning and really having high expectations for them. Uh just real quick I so actually earlier in the week I did make a visit to Journey Middle School and this was just a shot from their sixth grade science class. The students are doing very hands-on work and it's all about protecting the watershed. Uh and it's hands-on materials where they're building their own barriers to rain rain storm water runoff and trying to keep chemicals from getting into streams which eventually would go there. And you could tell

014a little bit from the kids that their hands are in there and the expression on one student's face that's at the table but they were the noise level in the room and the excitement was just tangible and I loved to go in there to make that visit. They're doing amazing work. Um I will also want to just highlight yesterday something that really impressed me and it's part of our Scholar Studio program that we're working through. The teacher you see all the way to the right that's Brooke Hartzell. She teaches issues of the modern world at Alma High School social studies class but it's it's the entry class for the Impact Studio which is all about social justice, leadership, community leadership and these are ninth graders and I asked Christine to like circulate their projects around

015if you want to just kind of leaf through them. The level of work that they're doing they're looking at Iran and US conflict which they were doing or started the project, the one group that we looked at was starting their project as the conflict was starting. Um US-China trade relations, Israel-Palestine conflict, the climate crisis, uh US immigration policy. These kids were amazing the work that they were doing. I would say that um the work was highly relevant. It couldn't be more relevant. I'm I love history. I love reading about history, but I'm really excited the kids are doing a social studies class in ninth grade that's not world history. They're they're studying the present day so they can start to make attachments to what all that history they've already had through the school years. They

016deeply researched their work. We grilled them with all kinds of questions, and if it was just a matter of going into chat GPT and spitting out reports, the the level of poise that they had and the their their ability to to turn on a dime to respond to something was just amazing. They were passionate about it, too. It wasn't just presentations from students. It was really a learning experience. And it was aligned to clear standards. I asked the students, "What will you What's your grade going to be?" They said, "We're not going to be graded on this. We're going to be told we're going to get feedback from you, Dr. Hawes, and feedback from you and you and you. And then, guess what? We'll get to do it over." It's not just a one and

017done. We're going to work on this until we get it right. And [snorts] as soon as you know, as you know, as soon as you put a grade on something, the oftentimes the learning stops. The student just moves on. But they're going to get feedback on the specific standards of their work, their presentation, and they were they were after it. They wanted to have a great presentation. These students presented on the climate crisis. They had to work together. They had to engage in complex thinking, produce high-level work. And there's no level for this class. It's just issues of the modern world. It's not basic issues of the modern world. It's not average or academic or honors. These kids come in from middle school. They want to take the class. They want to get engaged in

018this topic, which is amazing in and of itself, and they're all in class together. They're Maybe they're broken up during the rest of the day. I hope not, but there there's no leveling in this class. They come in and they do the work, and they work to the standard. Immigration policy. Amazing work. And I talk about this because this uh I had a super exciting conversation about leveling uh yesterday because when I first came to Albemarle, leveling was a hot topic. Uh it was Can we Can we Can we remove leveling? Can we do it? It's so hard to remove leveling. It's part of our culture. You know, five levels of English in in a high school. I'm I'm not kidding. And so, but where do those levels start? They don't start in high school.

019They they don't That's not where they start. I As a high school person, I thought that's where they started. I don't know about you, but they start in elementary school. Or I should say they start Ted in elementary school, past tense. Um I ran into uh Karen Heathcock and and Andrea Blunt I Andrea Blunt this morning in the stairwell because I'd I had um been looking at the read the most recent reading results for the third quarter from Woodbrook and it's just blowing my mind how much progress the earlier grades are making. Fifth grade still, you know, cuz I think it's more on the old model of of actually of leveling. So, a lot of it was leveling. And um I was talking to them and I said, "You know what occurs to me is

020we don't talk about leveling anymore." And they said, "That's because in elementary school there's no more leveling of reading groups." I don't know about you, but when my children started school at Agnor, they they were in they would either be in the sunflower group, the bluebird group, the you know, the cardinal group, whatever. But, the issue with that was it was called leveled reading. Students took an assessment right from the beginning. You got labeled at a level and you pretty much stayed there. And for most for a lot of people that was fine because they were labeled, even if it took five or six bluebird groups, especially when parents would push in to accommodate all the bluebirds and they would get the grade level reading or they would get the above grade level reading and

021they kept making progress. Well, when you teach with the science of reading, you you don't abide by levels because the expectation is all the students will meet the same standard. So, you can't level them anymore and be and it wasn't successful to level because you would always have your level of reading or worse, lower. Just so you could read something and then it stayed that way, followed them all the way through middle school and on into high school where we wonder why we don't see diversity and representation in our um college level classes. So, looking at this student, he's a first grader. Now, my experience with first grade most for most of my life, is that students are not writing complete sentences to begin with. Not only that, but he told his teacher he wanted

022a challenge. He was going to use dialogue. He used that term as a first grader. He said, "I'm going to write dialogue." And you can see he's trying to write dialogue. Which is a meta skill when it comes to writing, because you're not just writing about what you're writing about, you're writing about what someone said in what you're writing about. And his effort in using punctuation to try to tackle that is admirable. Again, he's not going to get graded on it, though. I want to point that out. He's going He's going to keep working on it, cuz that's what we do in elementary school. We give We start giving grades in middle school and high school. But in elementary school, he won't be graded on it. He'll be measured on his proficiency and he'll get

023feedback till he gets it right. That student in first grade is going to have dramatically different opportunities because of where he he is in first grade, learning to read, learning to write. Soon he will be reading to learn, getting interested in topics like issues of the modern world, or maybe he'll be interested in math and science or medicine because of the reading and the access to the curriculum that he's going to have. That's the changes that you're looking for as a school board. That's It's leveling the playing field, but it's unleveling. It's because it's unleveling. He's learning according to standards, not based not getting stuck in a static group based on where he started as a kindergartner. Just coming back to this group, we talked about the Model UN. Um I couldn't get a picture

024of the whole room, but the diversity represented at Albemarle High School in this Issues of the Model That That's That is the Model UN. That is the diversity. There are students from all over the world in that class. Again, not leveled, all working on the same standards. And again, this leadership that we see of the present day and and moving forward. And of course, I just snuck a quick picture of our orchestra kids because that's not leveled either. All right, thanks. I'm done. Thanks for my my monologue. I appreciate it. Thank you so much, Dr. Haas. Keep up the great work. Thank you. Are there other school board superintendent or committee updates? Just today, both uh Rebecca Berlin and I were at Albemarle High School where they were having the capstone project presentations from the

025SOL studio. I did not There were like 12 or 14 of them. I did three. But saw a um >> [clears throat] >> a problem solving about teaching young people to swim uh with the Ben Hair Foundation. Uh a 3D printed uh device to improve your golf your tennis tossing up and serving. And then an ergonomically designed uh cart for um trash cans and garden tools for a lot of rural the students' rural uh elderly uh neighbors that she was going to She She did incredible engineering work on it. Um but I know Dr. Berlin had some other Yeah. went to some other ones. I also had the opportunity to do one that was my absolute favorite because even after having two two students in AHS and being a board member of uh for a

026few years, I still get lost every time I walk into the building. And so, um her presentation was about what can we do to solve that problem? Um and is there a better way to um create signage for the school so that it's easier for anyone be it if they speak English or not, they have a disability or not, they're new to the school, they're a parent to the school. How can we make it just a friendlier, easier place to be? Um and so again, SOL studio is our engineering and so it was you know just from this example the example of these four projects these students are able to take it in so many ways. Um and one of the things we hear from our business partners is it is the content they want

027them to have, right? But if you asked our business partners when when we did the original work um for ASA Academy at Lambs Day Lane, they kept talking about the and I always hate this term about the soft skills, right? Those things about presentation skills, about problem-solving skills, about you know, answering different difficult questions skills and we saw that. Um and I think one of the things you are you will see as as we continue to to go deep um into this kind of enrollment, employment, enlistment, particularly employment side of our studios is how and I think Dr. Hass just talked about this is like students are motivated in so many different ways, right? And this project-based learning that they're doing as a part of our studios really is is touching on some of those

028things um and was I was super proud. And so if you ever have the ability to my peers or to to those in the audience, if you're a parent or grandparent um or just community members as we have open houses from our studios, they're absolutely amazing what these students are doing um and what they're learning um and I'm so proud to have this as part of our curriculum within Albemarle County. Other comments? Um I was just going to say Dr. Berlin and I presented the school board budget to the Board of Supervisors on the 16th and there are still still two town halls we'd encourage the public to go to, make your voice heard about what's important to you. There's Well, there's one tonight during the school board meeting that we can't make. That's at

029Yancey Community Center, but then there's one on the 30th at Lakeside and I believe Jim and Judy will be attending that one. And then there's one on April 2nd at Albemarle High School that I'm planning to attend. So, if you guys can make it, we encourage the public to go to those and let the Board of Supervisors know to fully fund our budget. That's all. Any other committee school board updates? I visited Red Hill Elementary today. I want to thank the wonderful Paula Gateley for showing me around. She's a rockstar. It's the What is one of the best things of a new brand new school board member to go and visit our schools and talk to the students and meet everybody. They have something called a tree hall outside the school where they're doing sustainability

030work when the weather is good. They also have one fifth grade class at Red Hill, which is next year it's going to be two fifth grade classes. So, they're trying to put a wall in a large classroom to make room for two fifth grade classes rather than having a trailer. And also went to Ivy Elementary last week or the week before that and all the there was a low hum of wonderful things going on in that school as we all know it's great scores coming out of Ivy. And I met a couple of kids in the the library, the media center who do the news for the the Bluebird news for the kids at Ivy. And as a former news person, I gave them some tips. And how to get some good bloopers. So, thank

031you to Jennifer Underwood for a wonderful tour of my kids alma mater, Ivy Elementary. Thank you. I think I think all of the media centers are going to sign you up for their media center training for their news and and and radio broadcasts. Uh I'm going to do it. >> Okay. Okay. For free. Oh, did you all hear that? For free. Um our next topic on our budget on our budget. Obviously, budget is on my mind tonight. Um is our public comment, but I am going to read a statement before we do public comment with Ms. Osborne. Um as many of you know, we sent a letter to families to encourage them to engage with the Board of Supervisors and the School Board around the process of budgeting. In that letter, we noted that the

032Board of Supervisors trajectory of reducing the level of tax revenues dedicated to schools is particularly troubling. We mentioned that program cuts would likely become necessary should that trend continue. One of the ongoing costs we mentioned is the necessity to fund the collective bargaining agreement. Fair and reasonable agreements that the AEA negotiated in good faith based on our current revenue shares the schools expected to receive. We heard from many ACPS staff who rightly pointed out that the language used in the letter can be interpreted as the School Board positioning the CBA as a constraint against our ability to meet the needs of our students. We want to emphasize that we do not hold any such view as a board. Please let us be clear in no uncertain terms that the CBA is integral to establishing a

033quality public education system. Our teachers and staff are the backbone of the division. The CBA gives them the voice they deserve so that they can provide the compensation and working conditions so that we can provide the compensation and working conditions needed to make ACPS a desired place of employment. That is why we sought the the to engage with the AEA and entered into a collective bargaining agreement for the next 3 years. The collective bargaining agreements are not a detriment to achieving our goals as a school division. Rather, they are essential to those ends. We are committed to funding the CBA as a top priority because we understand that attracting and retaining quality teachers and staff is not a sunk cost, but is instead a strategic investment, an investment we support and remain committed to as

034a board. To all the ACPS teachers and staff and to all AEA members, thank you for your service to the students and families of Albemarle County Public Schools. And now, Ms. Osborne. Yes, we have uh time for public comment. >> [clears throat] >> We welcome public input at our school board meetings. To sign up to speak during the public comment period, you can do so in several ways. You can do so in online by that sign up is available from 9:00 a.m. on the Monday of the meeting week until 2:00 p.m. on the meeting day. You can call us uh school board clerk's office uh 434-972-4055 to sign up until 2:00 p.m. on the meeting day. Or in person. You can sign up uh that is available from 6:00 p.m. until public comment period right

035now. Please note that public comment is not received at special board meetings unless specified on the agenda. Each speaker will have 3 minutes to speak, but the chair with the board consent may reduce it to 2 minutes if there are a lot of people. The maximum number of people or groups that may speak at a meeting is 20. In the event that there are more than 20 people or groups who wish to speak, each speaker will be assigned a number and numbers will be drawn to determine which people or groups will have the opportunity to speak. Those who do not have the opportunity to speak at a particular meeting may sign up to speak at a subsequent meeting and or may submit written comments for the school board's consideration. So, speakers should state your name

036and either your address or your voting district. Um you need to address the comments to the school board as a whole uh and limit comments to the school board governance or school division operations. And you can provide written statements and supporting materials to the clerk. School board will use a timer to track each speaker's time. Once the time is up, speakers are asked to wrap up their comments. To maintain respect, please refrain from clapping or other audible forms of support. You may raise your hand instead. And debate with the school board is not allowed. And the projection system is for staff presentations only. So, we have seven people on our list tonight. Um Uh I [clears throat] will tell you that some folks are listed that they want to talk about grading policy. I don't

037know if you've seen that, but that's already been pulled off of the consent agenda. You can still tell us what you think, but that's obviously a um not happening um on the consent agenda tonight. Uh the first three speakers will be Jimmy Balough, Alicia Salinas, and Holly Odom. In that order or Uh in that order, but I don't see Mr. Balough here. So, how about Alicia Salinas? Good evening. I'm Alicia Salinas, a Spanish teacher at Western Albemarle High School in my eighth year in the county. I've implemented the grading policy at both the middle and high school levels. Tonight, I requested that the board only approve an amended grading policy informed by teacher feedback. While many teachers fully subscribe to the philosophies behind the grading policy, we have grave concerns that the guidelines in practice

038are not meeting the policies intended goals. I want to reaffirm that we all want a student-centered learning environment. Teacher voices and concerns are not obstacles to student-centered education. Rather, we are partners who support our students each day. To me, student-centered means that we support students to lead successful lives beyond high school. In my building, I hear the frustration that we are not preparing students for real-world deadlines and performance expectations. Our policy fails students if it does not help them build the executive functioning skills vital to success in both academic and workplace environments. The policy actually undermines the development of these skills. Students actually act actively learn bad habits from the retake policy, guideline five. With retakes, many students try for a good grade without studying first, then use the retake as a fail-safe if necessary.

039The constant options of retakes sets up false expectations for college-level academic work. In the seven years I taught undergraduate Spanish at UVA, our course syllabi stated "No late work" and never mentioned retakes. Students were expected to take responsibility for studying and seeking help before their assessments. I fear our students would have no idea how to approach cumulative midterms or final exams in college. In the workplace, no one hopes for a colleague who consistently requires two tries to finally get the work right. Students already have time to make mistakes, ask questions, and get feedback during the formative part of the learning cycle. It's excessive to provide multiple opportunities during assessment as well. Additionally, the retake guidelines lack nuance like subject-specific considerations. For example, speaking and writing assessments in world language classrooms are naturally competency-based. Student performance

040reflects their cumulative daily practice with the language. Allowing retakes on these assignments misleads students about the nature of language learning as they will not be able to to meaningful gains by the time of the retake. There are other issues. Although the policy seeks to communicate accurate grades, retakes inflate grades with second time advantage. I've also observed more instances of cheating during retakes than during regular classroom instruction or assessments. High-quality instruction is one of the best indicators of successful student outcomes. Sadly, the current policy cuts into time for high-quality instruction. Additionally, teachers and students as well have unmanageable workloads as we simultaneously juggle past, present, and future assessments. The workload is not simply disagreeable. It makes it impossible to do all that we are expected to do well. I live outside of the county in a

041division where my own children attend school. There is no retake policy. As a parent, I'm glad for that. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Holly Odum. You got this. Yeah. I want to say like we're friendly. Hello, Mike Squires. >> Longtime listener, first-time caller. Okay. Um okay. Uh okay. Hi. Thank you for taking your time to listen to me today. My name is Holly Odum, and I've been at Greer Elementary since 2019. I actually just drove from Greer um from my daughter's student-led conference uh just a few minutes ago. A friend told me that this week that vulnerability begets vulnerability. So, I'm holding out hope that you will remember Greer Elementary as a unique school and in the middle of critical progress that cannot be interrupted. Greer has to be protected. Just 48 hours

042ago, our principal Steve Saunders was asked by Superintendent Matthew Haas to leave his position leading Greer, a Title 1 school in Albemarle's urban ring, in order to replace the retiring principal at Crozet Elementary, not Title 1. You as our elected school board need to know we are not okay at Greer about this, and we will not stand by by this short-sided and disrespectful ask by Superintendent Haas to disrupt our gains. As our As our school board, I know you oversee the superintendent's hiring and tenure, and your actions of continually renewing Superintendent Haas shows you value stability for leadership and retention. However, this decision by Superintendent Haas is not in line with your value of stability and retaining compassionate educators. Point me to the data. Point me to the recommendations for ending achievement gaps that are

043impacting students of color from the Bellwether report. It's not there to support this decision. Superintendent Haas's propensity for shuffling principal leadership around every 5 to 6 years is not data-driven and is not nurturing the school community of accountability, transparency, and a culture of belonging. You and I know time is precious. That's why I only have 3 minutes instead of 5. If we can agree on that, why would you choose to move a gifted leader trained in managing the complexity of the Title 1 school to Crozet, and then give us, Greer, the task and the burden of the search and the transition? With one phone call, Superintendent Haas essentially said, "I'm putting the burden on Greer Elementary. They will take the loss." It is as if you traded it all, all the hard work by our

044teachers and staff under Principal Saunders for your immediate gratification. To be clear, I would like to talk more about that kindness that radiates from Principal Saunders, but and how he lives his job like a calling. But I fear that anything I say more about his amazing leadership will be thrown back in my face saying, "Well, that's why the superintendent made this lateral move." I implore you as members of the school board to not be fooled by that logic. Choose to be curious and brave. Do not settle for These decisions are never easy. In this situation, the most generous interpretation is Superintendent Haas has forgotten about Greer. If you truly seek to know who we are and what Principal Saunders is building, you would not have thrown it all away to fix Crozet. I implore the

045school board to come together and encourage Superintendent Haas to reconsider this decision. And at the very minimum, I ask you to recognize this, trust has been broken, and it is not easily fixed. It has been lost at Greer. You put us in an impossible situation, but as Greer Geckos, we will go to school cuz that is what we do. And we will work hard because as they say in Star Wars, rebellions are built on hope. Thank you. Next we have Bo Odum, Malinda Smith, and Megan Durkee in that order. I am Bo Odum. I'm I'm her spouse. She said way better than I can. Um I am the uh assistant dean for curricular initiatives and student success at the University of Virginia's College of Arts and Sciences, and I'm a proud parent of a third

046grader and a kindergartner at Greer. Um I'm here tonight to ask the board to reconsider the superintendent's decision to reassign Principal Steve Saunders away from Greer. I'm going to echo some of Holly's thoughts. Greer is a Title 1 school. That designation is isn't just a budgetary category. It's a recognition that families it serves face significant economic hardship, and that the children in that building day-to-day often carry instability with them when they walk through the door. What a Title 1 school needs above almost anything else is a steady, trusted, committed leader. Mr. Saunders has been that. Under his leadership, Greer has made meaningful progress in student outcomes, in school culture, and in the trust that families like mine have placed in that building. That progress didn't happen by accident. It happened because of sustained, intentional work

047by a principal who knew his community, earned its trust, and built something real over time. There's a real need at Crozet Elementary, and I understand why the superintendent feels pressured to act, but moving a proven leader out of a Title 1 school to solve a problem somewhere else is not a solution. It is a transfer of harm. It takes from the students who are most vulnerable and least equipped to absorb the disruption. Leadership transitions in Title 1 schools don't just slow momentum, they can erase it. Addressing Crozet's challenges cannot and should not come at the expense of Greer's children, especially when Greer serves children who have the least margin for disruption in their lives. Crozet Elementary is a desirable school and a desirable community. It should be able to attract strong leadership through a proper

048search. If the district lacks confidence in that process, that is a question about district leadership, not a reason to sacrifice Greer. I have to ask this board directly, why isn't the district finding a different solution for Crozet? I'm asking this board with the authority you hold over district leadership decisions to reverse this reassignment and keep Principal Saunders at Greer Greer Elementary. The children at Greer are Title 1 students, children facing real economic hardship, children for whom school may be the most stable place in their lives. They deserve no less investment, no less continuity, and no less committed leadership than any other child in this district. Do not make them pay the price for a decision that didn't have to be made this way. Thank you. Belinda Smith. Good evening. My name is Melinda Smith and

049I've been teaching high school science in Albemarle County schools since 2015. In that time, I've taught students with widely varied levels of skills, goals, and past time academic success, ranging from ninth grade Earth Science to Chemistry to AP Environmental Science. I'm speaking today with regards to the proposal put forth at the last school board meeting by division leadership to approve the use of grading policy IKBA and its associated guidelines for another 5 years without changes. I understand it has been pulled from this week's consent agenda, but I'd like to speak on it anyway. >> [clears throat] >> I'm deeply troubled that there was no communication with stakeholders regarding this proposal and no data gathered or presented to the board regarding student outcomes or policy and guideline implementation. Personally, I think that while the policy itself

050is well-intentioned, the guidelines set forth in the grading handbook actually contradict the policy and lead to significant issues with regards to student outcomes. However, as a science teacher, I value data and evidence over anecdotal stories and personal feelings, and therefore created a survey for the high school faculty to find out whether the majority of teachers are supportive of or opposed to the current policy, rather than simply speaking on my own experiences and concerns tonight. A copy of the same survey was shared with middle school teachers, and in the past week, 211 high school teachers and 93 middle school teachers have responded, representing teachers across all content areas. And their responses prove I'm not alone. 100% of those high school teachers and 96.7% of the middle school teachers answered no to the question, "Do you believe

051the current grading policy should be adopted for another 5 years without changes?" Only three out of 304 teachers who responded said yes. The survey did not attempt to gather information regarding any recommended changes to the policy or guidelines, but I did ask teachers to provide feedback on why they felt the policy needed updating. I've shared the full data and responses with you all via email, but I want to say now that the majority of responses expressed concern that the policy and guidelines leave our students lacking key workplace readiness skills necessary for life post high school, not just college, but life in general, and result in grades that misrepresent student understanding. I urge you to both reject this proposal, not just move it to another meeting, but outright reject it, and address the failure by central

052leadership to gather and present data supporting the continued use of the policy. Thank you. And next is Megan Durkee. >> [clears throat] >> Hello, my name is Megan Durkee. I'm here as a parent. I have a 6-year-old daughter who is in kindergarten at Mountain View Elementary, and a 2-year-old son who will be following in her footsteps as well. And I'm here in response to the email that was mentioned earlier about budget decisions and community input. And I just wanted to share my input in response to that. So, first of all, thank you for sending that and giving the opportunity to provide such input. I wanted to first share, you know, I share the concerns about the $9 million budget cut. And in direct response to the email, I wanted to talk about the services and

053priorities that are most important to me and my family. Generally, the most important thing to us is supporting teachers in the classroom, and specifically, to do that, what's important to us is class sizes, foreign language programs, and intervention services for students who need them. The email we received also raised some questions for me about the budget. And so, in particular, the language that stuck out was, "Over recent years, the county has shifted its funding priorities by reducing the school division's historical share of tax dollars to fund other government programs and reserves. Um so that language stuck out to me, and so I'm here to find out a bit more about that. Um and to say that for my my family, the most important thing for us to spend our tax dollars on is education. So

054thank you very much for the opportunity. Um that's all I have to say. Thank you. And uh the last one is Heidi Gilman Bennett. Hi. Um Heidi Gilman Bennett, uh Samuel Miller District. I'm speaking first in my role as an officer of Family Council. On the grading policy that appears on the consent agenda for action, or did appear for action with no edits, Family Council urges you to say no to approving the policy in a rush. Since the policy was approved during the pandemic with few questions and little input, Family Council has requested information to understand the rationale and data on whether it is working. We have not taken a four or against stance because what we want is for Central Office leaders to get feedback from all secondary teachers on what is working and

055what is not. From a family perspective, our kids' grades are not communicating whether they are mastering the content. We would like to see data on student outcomes, both academic and motivation. Has the policy achieved those outcomes? And only after those steps are taken should ACPS consider policy changes and official implementation procedures. Now, let me speak personally about the process, which I believe has been a failure. At your last meeting, this policy was brought up very briefly at 9:30 p.m. Leaders first acknowledged that grading practices are a major concern to stakeholders, and then proceeded to place the exact same policy with no revisions on this week's consent agenda asking you to approve it without further discussion. I personally published a very popular Substack post on grading for equity. Um I urged families who were concerned to

056contact the school board and also received 55 responses to a survey, which I have sent to you as a sample of our community's strongly held beliefs, which are varied. Grading for equity has raised massive firestorms of controversy across the US. Shoving this policy >> [clears throat] >> through here via consent agenda is just wrong. It's even your even your former grading champions didn't know this was happening. It's a sure-fire way to gut confidence in district leadership. Our teachers are the frontline workers, and they have in-depth input that will improve grading and student outcomes. Not asking for engagement is insulting. It will also lead to failure in implementation. I am deeply frustrated with ACPS division leaders not doing the work that both policy and practices to see if they're good for our kids, for our teachers,

057for our community. Personally, I actually believe grading for equity has many positive elements, but this policy is far too vague, and it's not going to succeed simply because of the failed process. I strongly encourage the school board to hold division leaders accountable for engaging with both families and educators as genuine partners. That's how our kids will succeed. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our public comment. Thank you so much. If I may uh Dr. Berlin, I just want to correct some facts. At the last meeting, we did uh address the board during the policy item. The board asked us to include a redline in the policy that would state that uh as a part of the policy we would establish an ongoing committee made up of school staff. That is part of the policy that

058is not that is now not on the consent agenda. So, we have I I think there were some misunderstandings around what is actually happening, but the items that people called for tonight are already underway. I've seen several emails go out from Dr. Hayes in response to emails from constituents telling them that we are establishing an ongoing committee that will meet forevermore to work on the grading policy the guidelines and it will include teachers from all the secondary schools to get input on how things are going and to keep making adjustments. Again, I assume 100% responsibility that when we implement a change like that in midst of a pandemic trying to help our students, particularly the ones most marginalized in non-pandemic times during the pandemic it was my responsibility to continue the process of getting feedback

059from teachers. I didn't do that. And however the calls for doing that tonight it is already underway. I want to assure you that. Thank you so much, Dr. House. So, the next piece of our agenda is the approval of the consent agenda. Do I have a motion for the approval of the consent agenda? I move we approve the consent agenda. This Can I just ask this is already without the >> Yes, so yeah, yeah, yes, yes, so yeah, I can I just want to make sure that that's what we're approving. >> Yes, yes, okay. Then I'll second. Moved by Ms. Lee, seconded by Ms. Fillman. All those in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed? That motion clearly passes. So, yes, just to clarify, um, uh, Ms. Fillman, um, that has been pulled by the consent

060uh, the that policy was pulled from the consent agenda, um, and we will be we have the board has asked for a presentation um, that describes um, uh, to to provide more information about the policy, particularly around implementation. Um, and that is already in the works. Thank you. We will now move into our school division work session. Um, and the first piece on that is our multi-year school support plans. Um, and Dr. Dallas Hipt Hipt? Height? Height? Hipt? Okay. Hipt, Director of School Improvement and Quality Policy and Strategic Planning will be presenting these plans. How are you? All right, good evening, everyone. I'm Dallas Hambrick Hipt. I have been with you before, um, when we've looked at uh, different initiatives and plans within strategic planning, and it's nice to be with you again this evening.

061Um, I'm here tonight to present the multi-year school support plans of our federally identified schools, and we have six of them. Um, let me start though by re-centering us on our strategic plan, which is learning for all at I'm not sure if this happened in closed session, but I know it hasn't yet tonight, so I thought it would be nice to make sure we do that. Um, our vision is that our learners are engaged in authentic, challenging, and relevant learning experiences, becoming lifelong contributors and leaders in our dynamic and diverse society. Our mission is to work together as a team. uh, We will end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities for our children's success through high-quality teaching and learning for all. We seek to build relationship with family relationships with families

062and communities to ensure that every student succeeds. We will know every student. Our values are equity, excellence, family and community, wellness. Our goals are thriving students, affirming and empowering communities, and equitable transformative resources. Okay, so for tonight's purposes in this presentation, I'm really here just to update you all on the new requirements that VDOE has for the multi-year school support plans, which is a new set of letters. And that's a requirement for federally identified schools that just came about this year. And by this year, I mean 2026 2026 for the 25-26 school year. So, we have been scurrying a bit in the division to enact the requirements that were required of us that we just learned about that are supposed to span the entire 25-26 school year, but we learned about in January. So, because

063they are a little bit more intense in a good way, we wanted to take some some time tonight to bring you all up to speed on what those are. So, I'm going to take some time to do that. And then also in the agenda item, the six plans have been attached for you to hopefully have had some time to review. And you'll see some some pretty similar commonalities across the six of them for a reason I'll get to in the presentation. So, as I said, in January, we learned that we had these six federally identified schools in ACPS. Five are designated as targeted school improvement, and those are Agnor, Crozet, Greer, Mountain View, and Stone Robinson. Um, is designated as a comprehensive support and improvement school, which has a longer designation and duration and a

064higher level of oversight. Um, I just want to remind you that Dr. McLaughlin has worked um on a presentation and shared that with you earlier that dove more deeply into the new accountability system as we're as it's rolling out and it he discussed the different metrics and the reasons, specifically the student groups and subject areas that these six schools are federally identified for. So, we won't go into into that tonight too too far um other than just letting you know that they have these are the designations. We have five TSI and we have one comprehensive support and improvement. Um this is a a good way for hopefully for you to be able to be able to see the the differences um in CSI and TSI and how that comes across in the requirements from VDOE

065in terms of what we have to do we had to do with the plans. Um, so in in in answering the question what student needs are addressed in the plan it's really the whole school and in TSI it's a specific group. And in answering the question who develops the multi-year school support plan and needs assessment for the TSI schools the school is responsible and that includes teachers and community as well as school leadership. And in CSI the division is over the ECPS was responsible for overseeing it and making sure that it included teachers and community as well as school leadership. In terms of the duration of the plan uh for TSI schools it's one year. Um, it it ends in September. So, we learned about it in January but it ends in September. So, it

066really ends up being less than a year but it's supposed to have been for the 25-26 school year. Um, the duration of the plan for a CSI can last up to three years with some different exit points along the way. Um, but it's typically two to three years. Uh, in terms of evidence-based interventions, or EBIs, those are um, some a list of uh, state-approved um, programs. Actually, they are from mostly from the What Works Clearinghouse database, um, that VDOE will accept as part of our plan. Uh, TSI schools must have two, CSI must have four. We have had two all along for the past 3 years at these schools. Um, so that's nothing really new other than at the CSI school there we're going to have to find two more and add two, um, to

067bring it to a total of four EBIs. In terms of which entities monitor and approve this uh, new plan, the uh, TSI school, um, is monitored and approved by, um, here locally. So, you all and the division will approve the plans, um, but we as the division are responsible for monitoring it. We also have to ensure that it's posted on the school and division website after it's approved. In terms of the CSI school, only, um, you're only required to review it and VDOE ultimately is has to approve it. So, you'll see you've seen it, um, but it is not something that you have to sign off on. We will have to submit it after you've seen it to VDOE and, um, wait for their approval. >> [snorts] >> Okay, so in those school support plans,

068uh, again, this is a new template. In the past we we have not had the, um, this this level of direction in terms of what the plans entail. We've had some, but this is the first year that there was a required needs assessment, which was also uh, predicated on a requirement for stakeholder engagement. It was very clear who had to be involved in that needs assessment, and you'll see those people and roles with contact information listed in the plans. Um, the principals held these meetings on a dime during snow days. Um, they planned them and then held them as soon as we could, because again, we learned about this in January. We had snow early February. So, I'm very proud of the work our principals were able to do in getting the community to come

069together and still analyze data and come up with an effective and and impactful needs assessment. Once that was accomplished, that needs assessment identified a root cause as well as some other insights and that was the basis for developing the actual school support plan which has the sort of the the usual suspects in terms of elements and it has some aligned action steps. And then finally, there's the assurances and approval section. So, we'll look at each of those little more closely. I'm in terms of the stakeholder engagement process. As I mentioned earlier, VDOE required that there were these um stakeholders present and participative in the needs assessment and it was principals, teachers, specialists and at least a family community member. In terms of the plan, you may have seen that all six schools intend to strengthen

070their systems and structures in order to meet the needs of all students and this is their three-year goal statement. I wanted to lift that part up because it is a unique element. It's not a a one-year plan that VDOE asked for. It was actually where do you want to be at the end of three years and ensuring that your focus was not overly specific but was long long enough to have impact. Some other features that I wanted to mention about the the plan that the schools the six schools decided upon was that they came to the conclusion that while they may have different reasons for being federally identified, the ones that that Dr. McLaughlin shared earlier this year, they don't believe that they need to buy more programs. They believe in their students and the

071capacities and capabilities of their faculties. What they want to focus on is leadership, as well as the systems and structures to better align and unleash the impact of existing programs that we already have, like HMH, professional learning communities, quarterly assessments for data-driven instruction, and 90-day planning, as well as the EBIs that we've been required to use by VDOE for the past 2 years, which are Lexia and a systematic approach to teaching numeracy. So, due to this systems and structures focus, you have probably seen that the UVA Partnership for Leaders in Education is heavily focused in these plans, and this was a unanimous decision amongst principals based on their needs assessments with their stakeholder groups that they really wanted to focus on leadership systems and structures to bring together all of the existing programs and efforts

072that we have around teaching and learning. Some of you may be familiar with UVAPLE, which brings both Darden and the School of Education at UVA both together alongside a results-proven alongside results-proven practitioners that partner with divisions who are committed to transformation. We're fortunate that this evidence-based program is a neighbor, and for about 20 years UVAPLE has been working with divisions and schools to increase student achievement in our nation's lowest-performing schools. So, you can imagine if they are if they have impact and they've been doing it for 20 years, that's a that's a great source of partnership. As you see here, UVAPLE is the only evidence-based provider in this field, as documented by an independent impact study conducted by RAND Corporation. So, now on to our ask of you as a board. VDOE, as I've mentioned,

073has completely revamped the planning process. It's much lengthier, has more templates, and then more approvals built into the process. And while we and while it has been quite the undertaking in these past month or two, we're excited to bring forward these plans and we do think that they probably are more thoughtful and better devised as we bring more heads around them in the process. When we submit the plans, uh we not only include the names of the stakeholders on the school-based committees that I showed you earlier, but we have to have these roles involved as well. Uh and these roles will sign um the assurance. So, it's the principal, the division lead, which is either myself or Dr. McLaughlin, the superintendent, Dr. Haas, as well as board acknowledgement. Um and in that board acknowledgement section,

074we have to have evidence that if you all reviewed them in the minutes of the tonight's meeting, um we are asking that you would you review and approve the five TSI school plans and review the single CSI school plan. As a reminder, VDOE ultimately approves that one. So, beyond tonight, um well, starting tonight, the steps are uh that we ask that you approve the school board through a motion for the five TSI schools. Uh we will then submit these plans to VDOE. We are applying for the optional school improvement grant funding to fund the operationalizing operationalizing of the plans. Um we are doing that. That was an option. We had to do the plans every every division has to do the plans, but you can choose whether or not you want the money. So, we

075chose the money. We thought that would be might as well. Um and then finally, you have to post the plans on the school and division websites once they are approved by the various entities that I have shared with you. That brings us to this slide. Um at this time, I'd like the board to consider motion approval for these plans. The schools and the stakeholder groups have spent a lot of time and effort working diligently on. Um and I'll leave it at that. I think Dr. McLaughlin suggested I give you a script to read from, and here it is if you'd like it. Um >> [laughter] >> and I don't know if there's Yes, and and also if there's any questions or comments, uh, we'd be happy to take those. >> Yeah, of course. Before before

076we make a motion, are there any questions or discussion items? I would just have a question about the SIG grant that we're applying for or will apply for. Will that be across the TSI and the CSI schools [snorts] both or depending on how much we get? Um, yes. They both get different amounts depending on So, CSI, um, is eligible for 165,000 and TSI for 45,000. Okay, per per school? >> per school. Mhm. Okay. Do Do we have any knowledge of if that's automatic, if like what the whether it will be approved? >> So, I guess I have I have overseen the grant for since I've been here, and we always get what we ask for. Yeah. We ask We have pretty good relationship with our contacts. We have a new person at video e this

077year, um, that I'm working with, but they can't wait for us to finalize this process and and give us the money to help our schools. And you said it's 45 per >> Around around 44, 45, 44.9 something, and then right under 165. >> TSI, and then say that one more time for the >> CSI is 165. And is that a year or for the three years? Great question. So, So, the 45 must be spent by September 30th of 2026 for the TSI because there was a designation for the school year that we just learned about in, as I said, January. And, um, the the TSI, I'm sorry, the CSI will span September of 2027. So, they have what's called a planning year built in, which is this current time period until September of '26, and

078then that we enter into the actual implementation year. So, that's why it's it's a a bit more money. And the recommendation is that this that these six schools will participate in the uh DVA's PLE program. >> Correct. They We um we we have done many things with this money in the past. This is the first time that um it's had this level of of um sort of you know, lifting it up to multiple stakeholders. Um in the past we have done different things with the money that have have been had different level levels of effectiveness. Um A lot of it was around curriculum development and um helping teachers to do the work that they need to do in our title one schools. Um we we've used it in a multitude of ways that are research-based,

079but at this point many of the principals who continue to be federally designated um wanted to look at something for leadership and systems and structures because they feel like while we are tinkering with school improvement, we're not at the point where we really are digging deeply into a research-based partnership to unleash the potential that we know our kids and our teachers have. So, yes, that's the intent is to use it to to fund that. And they would There are some of the some schools may continue to do some some of their own versions of curriculum writing and um some professional learning, and we're we're making that happen with um the generosity of some local funds so so we can not um take that off the list if there are things that they want to do

080regarding um working with um integrating special educators. Um some are wanting to focus on some EL, some of the the more granular reasons why they're in the in this designation. Thank you so much. Oh, could I say one more thing? You go. Uh what is the plan for telling us about the results? Wha- What would you like it to be? Uh we just We don't have So, I I appreciate that. This is um we do share that out through our um through our yearly update with um that I've been with you on before as the state of the division. Um, I have worked with you and presented before on 90-day plans and how we are monitoring school schools and um, students' achievement every quarter. So, those are things that we can continue to do. Um,

081I think it will come out obviously in different ways, but if there's an idea about something we um, might want to consider adding on as we continue to understand this new set of accountability requirements given to us by the state. Um, we that I think that would be very worthwhile. And I would if I could um, jump in with that. One of the things I'd I'd say is one of the the key metrics we have there clearly is our end of year SOL results. Uh, and we will continue to as soon as we have those in, uh, bring those to the board. Uh, as Dr. Hass alluded to earlier, we just wrapped up our third quarter testing. Uh, we should have the final uh, results uh, available Monday or Tuesday of next week and so

082I'm going to uh, do a written update to the board uh, on where we are uh, and just anecdotally uh, we were invited um, last January uh, to a January uh, 2025 um, to participate in an activity with the PLE around data-driven instruction. You remember may remember that Dr. Kennard and his team from Mountain View came and um, and spoke about that. Uh, and and two of the schools that are really um, going full bore with data-driven instruction are Greer and Mountain View. Uh, and looking at their third quarter results right now, it's it's really having a uh, pretty significant impact on the work that they're doing. So, we'll have a third quarter um, update for you all and then uh, hopefully sometime in you know, we always have kind of unofficial results uh, in

083June and then uh, as soon as the state comes out. Typically at the end of the summer, last year it took until December uh, but we're hoping that we get a little bit quicker for you then. Great. I'm mostly interested in knowing whether or not this UVA PLE thing is is worth their time and if they're getting something out of it. Mhm. Absolutely. And yeah, we can we can certainly I think the principals would be happy to come and and talk about that down the road. >> And I I think that just jumping on what Dr. shared with these principals have because UVAPLE is in our backyard have been able to attend various sessions over the past two or three years from data driven instruction to to an ignite session. So they were familiar with

084the work and the way that this leader learning is enacted and we didn't this was something that really came up from the principals as unanimous like we want to we feel like this is what we need and that's not just because of what they saw or experienced. It's I think the evidence base is very compelling. We've been working really hard locally to use some of the elements of PLE from the 90-day plans, the quarterly assessments, the aligned pacing guides. We're we're getting a lot of the we're sort of entering, you know, a little bit further ahead than some some divisions are so that's exciting, but I think the principals were like that's all good, but it's like there's we want to we want the full-blown thing and so let's look at doing that if we

085if we have this funding from the state and it won't cost, you know, local dollars. I'll also just mention anecdotally what other divisions that have worked with UVAPLE have gotten great results from them. Very practical and useful results to then move them forward on whatever problem of practice they had. So I'm really excited for this. Yeah, I would definitely encourage you to look at the RAND study. As I said, it's the one of the few providers that's ESSA approved because of their evidence base and their link to yes, impacting systems and structures and leadership that does show up in student learning in our most underserved schools. And as I said, I think that's one of that that's what's fascinating to the principals is that's working. We want to we want to be part of it.

086Any other questions before we ask for a motion? If someone would like to make the motion in front of us. I move to approve the multi-year support plans for ACPS schools that are federally identified for targeted support and improvement. Move by Dr. Aikens. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Dilenbeck. All those in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> know if you get the funding. Yes. >> Oh, we will. We're getting this This is probably one of the last last hoops to jump through, so thank you for seeing it tonight. Thank you so much. >> Mhm. Next, we have a budget update. Um before we do our budget update, um just a couple of things. We are in this section talking about I want I

087want to say potential cuts to the budget. Um just a reminder to everyone the budget has not been finalized by either the Board of Supervisors and voted on or nor by us. So, so that we are fiscally responsible, we are looking at potential cuts and we'll be looking at that during this board meeting and then our next board meeting. But, what I would encourage everyone to do is to continue to advocate for schools. I know that our Board of Supervisors has to make difficult decisions around funding. Um and there are so many needs in our community, but if you feel that schools are something that we need to continue funding at the current level, please make sure that you attend a Board of Supervisors meeting or attend one of the town halls. So again, these

088are we're discussing potential cuts. Um in case we are not able to have the current level of request. Thank you for framing that up and for the introduction. I'm Akumazawa, director of budget and planning. Um, and this evening we'll talk about three different items. One is a balancing scenario for the school fund. And as Dr. Villa mentioned, this would be in case that there are no changes to the proposed Board of Supervisors budget. So, this assumes that the Board of Supervisors budget would move forward and be adopted in April. Um, the second item is uh some information about the state bonus that has recently just been released. >> can you adjust the mic a little bit? Thank you. And then the third would be the um a balancing scenario for the capital improvement program or

089CIP. First, some technical adjustments to the good to recommend. Um, we're proposing a decrease in expenditures by about $300,000. At the time we produced the draft budget, we were still waiting on one letter from VRS with an updated non-professional retirement group rate. And so, we now have it. Um, and this technical technical adjustment reflects the difference from what we had budgeted in the funding request to what it is actually projected to be. And second, uh we are we received an updated tuition rate for our students to attend CATEC next year from the City of Charlottesville. And this decreased amount reflects the um updated tuition rate. So, together this decreases our revenues by about $300,000. So, our starting point for developing a balancing scenario is shown here. Um, the Board of Supervisors has proposed a budget

090last week that reduces our revenues by $6.4 million to $304.9 million. In addition, as I showed on the previous slide, we're recommending technical changes of $0.3 million, which decreases our expenditures to $311.0 million. That leaves a budget deficit of $6.1 million, which we must close by the time we have to balance the budget at the end of April. Since we cannot make decisions about revenues, these are the expenditure reductions in this balancing scenario. First, eliminate the budgeted new transfer to the CIP of $4.1 million. Second, decrease the proposed math and data specialist positions from six to two positions. Third, reduce division services FTE positions by $400,000. And lastly, utilize one-time revenues for technology expenses. These reductions total to the $6.1 million in the deficit. These are the recommended uses of fund balance as they were

091presented earlier this month. This is not tied to the FY27 anticipated recurring revenues, but rather these are projected savings that we would carry from FY26 into FY27 for one-time uses. These total $3.15 million, and the only change from when this was last presented earlier this month is to split the technology expenses between one-time and recurring costs. So, the total transfer to technology replacement was and is recommended to be $2.25 million. That would now be split approximately half and half. Half going to display equipment, which is a one-time need, and half to put towards a technology replacement cycle. That 1.1 number to put towards a technology replacement cycle is the same number that was on the previous slide that showed the reduction to get to the um balance scenario. So, this is a summary of changes

092of all three sections. One, which was the technical update of $300,000. The second, which was um the use of one-time fund balance. And the third, which is uh which are the service reductions. The service reductions include reducing the CIP transfer, decreasing the math and data specialist proposal, and reducing division services FTE. And as a reminder, this is a summary of the permanent reductions that would be carried into FY27 in this scenario. Um we've now included the reduction of division services FTE by $400,000. Um and this is the third year of permanent reductions that now total $9.5 million. I'll pause here for any questions and discussion. I would like to know about the reduction in math specialists. Um considering that was one of the top priorities and seemed like that was finally making a decision uh

093that was moving us in the right direction in closing some of these uh learning gaps. It concerns me that that's one of the first things to go. Um so, for that one, that is a um a new proposal. So, it wouldn't be impacting current the current programming that we have. And so, I know that was one consideration putting it in this balancing scenario. However, this is just a starting point for you all. Um and um hoping that either today or um at our next meeting on April 16th, you can propose revisions to the scenario in preparation for adopting a scenario if we need to make these reductions. Well, I would I would say then that I would love to see trying to find somewhere else to cut $400,000 and not removing our math and data

094specialists from the classrooms. Yeah, I would agree with that sentiment as well. I know that this was one of the top priorities that Dr. House mentioned in the original proposal and given the fact that our test scores in math and elementary school are near the bottom of the Commonwealth, I'd say we need to find somewhere else to cut. I think if we took a straw poll vote, my gut is the board would be and again, I know we're in a situation you know, having already cut 9.1 million dollars in past years, but I know that's a piece that kind of this board had made a promise to Dr. House one time. You know, a commitment to continue to first doing reading specialists, continuing reading specialists and that it had been on the our list to

095then begin to do math specialists. So, but I'm sorry Dr. House, I know there's something you wanted to Just to add to that, I agree with with Ms. Spillman because we have been wanting this for the past several years. But I guess I would ask staff if they could come back and say how would two math specialists be deployed versus six and you know, maybe this is something we can build on. I mean, I I just I don't fully understand how they would, you know, two specialists across, you know, however many elementary schools. Doesn't sound like very much, but I don't know. >> In this scenario, there would be a pilot at one elementary school and a pilot at one middle school and they would be assigned there and that would be kind of a

096a phase in. Okay. Okay. I mean, I also know, yes, on the face of it, I don't like what this looks like, but I also remember that the margin for new proposals was so small. >> Right. So, I don't like off the top of my head, I don't have other thoughts. Obviously, I don't like this, but it might be that that might be the thing that we don't like least. So, I I'm open to that. Um but yeah, that does not feel So, just >> like the idea of having a pilot, but a more robust pilot would be good, too. Yeah, I agree. Um I would say that this is targeted uh for enrollment groups. I I don't want to quibble. We our elementary math scores are far from the bottom. They're among the top

097in the Commonwealth. They're actually in the top among the top. Um it's with our enrollment groups where we have particularly low scores. So, I just want to get the record straight on that. >> Fair. Um but this is targeted to work in what we call our transformation schools. Um and that would be the schools in the PLE. Um we this is great feedback. I I I was pretty excited about it. I felt like it was a a um from the ground up uh because it had come up through Mountain View using their staffing creatively to accomplish this. So, I think we'll certainly this feedback's really great and we'll we'll take that back to the drawing board to see what we can do. And I would just encourage that it um the first cut doesn't have

098to be from a new proposal, I think. Um or a new a new program. I think that um there may be other programs that maybe aren't as uh successful that this would uh be more fruitful for us. So, I would just encourage the staff that unfortunately, if we have to look at cutting programs, what is going to be the least harmful to our students and our staff. And hopefully we won't have to do that. So, um recently the state put out some guidance about um SOQ instructional support position bonuses that we wanted to bring forward for awareness. Um we will look for direction from the board on how to move forward um in mid to late April. So, the state has approved in the FY26 caboose bill so that they approve a final bill for

099the current budget year that we're in. And in that bill, there is a one-time bonus for SOQ positions. Um to receive the state funding of $0.7 million, we must provide a minimum total bonus amount of $2.3 million. And that amount is based on a $1,500 bonus for full-time SOQ funded positions. There are some provisions in there that allow for flexibility in how we implement this. And so, on this slide is a range of options between the lowest cost to the highest cost. Well, let me restate that. The lowest cost would be to not take any action at all. Um this is not required. This is optional. Um if you did want to take some action to pull down the $0.7 million from the state, um to get to the $2.3 million payment of bonuses, this

100would be equivalent to about $900 per full-time regular employee. The highest cost interpretation would be to provide a $1,500 bonus per full-time regular employee. And the $1,500 is there because that's what the original bonus intent was. Um as you know, our we have about twice as many SOQ positions that the state um, funds. And so, anytime the state provides any kind of wage or compensation increase, um, they only cover a portion of it. The SOQ funded portions, and then within that, um, they cover we cover our LCI portion and they cover the other Our LCI is about .64, which means the state is covering 35% of the SOQ positions. So, that's why the ACPS share is so high, um, when these proposals come forward. So, the options for the board to consider is, um, to

101take no action, which is reflected in the current balancing scenario. The second is to provide a bonus in the current year, or there's an option to carry that forward into the next year. And then third, to provide an equivalent action compensation increase in FY27. Um, before I get into this slide, the dates on here are a bit off, but the dates should be reflective of the school board meetings, which are April 16th and 23rd, not the 19th and 26th. Um, as I mentioned, this bonus is not included in the balancing scenario, so we'll need to take further action if you desire to implement it. We will also need to coordinate with the AEA as this would be an impact in wages, which is a collective bargaining topic. So, first we would want to adjust the

102budget, um, at the next meeting you all could decrease expenditures if desired to pay for this. Um, we'd also be monitoring and adjusting FY27 projected state revenues. Again, um, typically we might have a an approved state budget, but this year we don't, and so I don't anticipate having that until early May. Um, but we might get a sense of which way it's headed by the end of April. We'll also analyze and adjust our third quarter school fund fund balance projection to see if there's anything additional we could put towards this as this is a one-time expense. Um and then after that the school board um and the division would need to certify intent on receiving the state match of the 700,000. And so on April 23rd, the school board will adopt FY27 budget during that

103same meeting. Um I'm looking for your intent to receive or decline the bonus payment because on May 1st, we have to certify to the VDOE of our actions. And then um because the budget would be adopted by then um in the next fiscal year, we can appropriate additional state revenues if they are available and or appropriate additional use of fund balance if available and then pay the bonus or the equivalent action if funding is available. Any questions on this? Is 900 the is low as you can go on the bonus? Is that the only what or is that just an example? >> That is um so we're required to pay $2.3 million in total. And so if you take the 2.3 and divide it among full-time regular employees, it would be 900. Um but this

104would not necessarily be the recommendation because that this doesn't include part-time employees. So if we wanted to pay a bonus for part-time employees, which we typically do at a pro-rated rate, that would have to be a 100% local funding for that. Um and that's estimated to be about $400,000 in addition. >> In addition, okay. Um so the ACPS share would be $2 million. If if that was the route you wanted to take, we'd probably recommend that we include part-time employees at $2 million. And this was fully approved and signed? Yes, the FY26. May I back on slide page number six, had a question about a couple of items. Can you explain the bridge funding for unfunded instructional resources? Yes. So, um the $600,000 here would pay for um the second part of the payment we

105need for Kidom, which is the K-5 math curriculum. And this would be in addition to the recurring funding that you all approved in your funding request um that includes a whole list of textbook needs such as secondary math, English language arts grade 6-8 and the algebra bridge program. So, this would be provided as a one-time increase in the textbook fund um that recurring amount that's in your budget remains also. So, it would be it's two sources of funding. Was that earlier amount mentioned $800,000? Am I Yep, $800,000 is the recurring increase that's in your current funding request. So, this is in addition to that? >> Correct. Have have we settled the issue with Kidom at this point? Yes, I believe so. Okay. Uh okay. I've heard from a number of folks that there concerns about

106spending large sums of money on technology and computers, especially in the elementary level. Um so, I don't have a specific proposal in mind, but I'm just wondering out loud about the uh essentially $2.2 million of uh fund designated for technology is Is this for New technology or improvements and and upgrades to existing technology? It is not new technology. The display equipment is up for replacement and the first 1.1 million dollars would go towards replacing classroom display technology. That was originally funded from one-time funds maybe five years ago as a board initiative to provide that technology and so because that was spent from one-time funds previously there wasn't any recurring funding associated with it. So this proposes replacement of those that technology that is now becoming outdated. The second piece the 1.1 that would fill in

107the gap for the recurring annual replacement cycle for personal computers, iPads, the everyday equipment that students and teachers use. And the way this is structured is that 1.1 million dollars would be funded out of one-time money. So next year we will have to look at this again and say okay, we need to find 1.1 million dollars in recurring money or find ways to reduce. So in this structure we're keeping the program whole for one year and then next year will be having the discussion again most likely. I'd be interested to know how much money we could save as a division if we scale back on the level of technology that we're giving to students in the elementary grades. Um I don't know if there's been a study of that. I'd be curious. Yeah, thank you.

108Thank you for raising that, Mr. Dellenback. I mean, I think we're seeing a lot of research coming out just in the last year, um but definitely in the last 6 months, um looking at the use of technology and in in um in elementary schools. Um you know, talk about levers, right? Like we went We were paper and then everyone went one-to-one computing and I think you're seeing people potentially coming back and I think we're starting to see letters um to the school board and one-on-one conversations and research. Um so there's a piece of me that wonders like Mr. Dellenback, are we going to um continue hearing um that potentially, particularly in our K-1 and 2 classrooms, but potentially all the way to through fifth grade, that we be asked to limit, um which I which

109although which would mean that we need more books. Um so there's always like there's there will always be a cost, but I do think as as we're looking at this, you know, particularly if we're looking at replacement, you know, looking across like our you know, where are we replacing and do we do we hold on some replacements in those younger grades? I know that's something late to come, but as we're looking at every dollar, um if we can also support some of those potential initiatives that I think we're going to see coming from both researchers and parent requests. I would encourage decisions like that be made kind of more at a higher instructional level if there's a different Yeah. path you'd want to move forward with. Um with regards to the budget, this is a

110um one-year funding for the program. And so I would say those kind of larger decisions should be made outside of the budget process. But because it's funded for the next year, at least that will be whole and then we can move forward from there. Yeah, and I would um certainly there's a lot of research out there also supporting these kinds of initiatives. It's It's just interesting. For many years we were doing professional development to introduce technology. I I do think it's important to be real thoughtful and as as we do and I think it's almost inevitable that we will start to pull back particularly at the earlier levels. We'll we'll also need to build professional development for our educators because it's because of the the reliance on it as an instructional tool. I have noticed

111and you probably noticed in my slide that I showed earlier tonight the young man was using a pencil and writing. And I with the materials that we're using now with um HMH, there's more hands-on writing. And I'm also noticing the students with Kidum and when I'm out there I see the workbooks. It's kind of weird to see that because I haven't seen them in so long, but the students open them up, they're doing their writing, they're they're able to in many ways work together more effectively than they were the with the screen kind of locking you in looking at it. So I'm glad you brought that up as well. I think it's a good discussion and something we really need to look hard at for the earlier levels. But again, I just want to add

112that we'll have to it'll be like a a strategic plan to back off if if that's where the board decides to to go. Ms. Kumazawa, in terms of camera equipment in the buildings, are these for our two new schools? Are these replacement or additions to existing buildings? I believe they are for our current buildings. Thank you. Okay. I have a question about the bonuses. I would love to give everybody in ACPS a bonus. Can you talk about when that would occur? And this is over and above the collective bargaining agreement beginning July 1. Right. Yeah. [snorts] Um there is an option to pay the bonus after June 1st. That's when the when we would get the payment from the state. So, that can occur in this school year or this fiscal year. Um or we

113have the option to do it next fiscal year. I would recommend that um because we still have some unknowns with the state budget and we might have potential revenues coming in next year or use a fund balance at the end of the year that it'd be distributed um in the next year. Um we have discretion on when during the year that would happen. There's coordination with HR and payroll and the AEA as this would be above and beyond the contract that we have with them. And just as you have more information about it, particularly what that total ask would be once we added part-time employees, just so we would know what that full impact would be. >> Yep. Would be. I would use the range of 2 million if you'd like to include part-time to

1143.9 million depending on the size of the bonus. >> the 3.9 would include part-time or should we also include >> That one That one does include part-time. I was trying to get the highest number. Perfect. >> Yeah. Other questions or comments on this portion? So, the last topic is the capital improvement program. Um typically the school board does not present a balanced CIP request because the board of supervisors develops that based on the school board request in December and then projecting using their available revenues. However, this proposed CIP does not address the school board's request for new projects. It does fully fund ongoing programs as requested. They include project management services, school bus replacement, school maintenance and replacement program, and school network infrastructure. In addition, costs for the Northern Feeder Pattern Elementary School are increased

115as requested. $8 million from renovations funding in the current CIP was moved to the Northern Feeder Pattern Elementary School project to fund the increase request. And another $8 million from the current renovations funding was moved to a placeholder in year five. That leaves $0 for renovations for the next five years. When previously there was $16 million. And then as you know, there is a CIP priorities placeholder in year five for the Board of Supervisors to determine how to spend. Um that funding comes $6.4 million in our FY27 local transfer by formula and another $6.4 million in our local transfer by formula in FY28. It's important to note that Virginia code and our local process requires the school board to provide a request for school capital needs. We begin this process by identifying all capital needs

116across the division. To prioritize those needs, we engage the Long Range Planning Advisory Committee to discuss which projects may have the greatest impact on advancing school priorities. For capital projects, we place the highest level of priority on projects that will reduce overcrowding in our schools, modernize our aging infrastructure, and increase student access to educational opportunities. Because we are not provided a budget, we do not factor cost or project schedules into our list of priorities. Rather, we focus solely on potential impact and school need. The Board of Supervisors has the sole authority to determine whether to fund the specific projects and for establishing a budget and timeline for when funding may be provided. This year, the Board of Supervisors has approved a CIP that has several placeholders. So, we are recommending a capital improvement plan for

117schools that is balanced. These are the guidelines that govern this proposal. One, stay within the available revenues as proposed in the Board of Supervisors budget. Two, align the recommendation with the capital priorities as presented in December. Three, focus on school renovations that are urgently needed rather than budgeting future placeholders. Four, preserve contingencies for future operating budgets by committing $6.4 million to one-time capital needs for 2 years. Um this would include addressing changes in the LCI in year three. Five, continue discussions with the Board of Supervisors regarding a new high school. These are the top five top five projects as requested in December. The first is the construction of a comprehensive high school. This remains the school board's highest priority. However, the project is not included in the 5-year CIP and no earmarks have been approved

118by the Board of Supervisors for this project in the future. As part of a balanced scenario, this project is placed in years five through 10. It is important to note that this cost estimate will need to be increased for every year the project is delayed. This cost represents construction costs in years three through five. The balanced scenario also requests renovation funding for Stony Point Elementary School for $8 million. The $8 million is currently in a year five placeholder for schools projects. And um this could fund part of the original scope that was requested. The next project is renovations at Albemarle High School and for $6.4 million in year one. This is part of the $12.8 million that was placed in year five of the Board of Supervisors priorities placeholder. Fourth, renovations at Western Albemarle High

119School again a partial scope would be for $6.4 million in FY28. This reflects the timing of when the amount was reduced from our local transfer and placed into the year five placeholder. And then finally the preschool center remains a priority and this project would be funded as revenues become available. So I'll pause here for questions. The purpose of this is to gain a direction from you all so that the chair could take appropriate actions in moving this request forward to the Board of Supervisors. Can I ask a question about the one-time transfer? Wasn't it previously $5 million and included like trailers for Western and art and things like that? Is is that just taken off now or Sorry, I should have asked it before but It goes It's a good question and I have the

120information. So previously when you saw the one-time list, it was both for FY26 and FY27. This list only includes the FY27 proposed budgeted amounts. The FY26 I got I thought I had the FY26 included trailer relocation and improvements on outfitting the trailer. It included art materials and art equipment funding and it included vehicle replacement that was related to new schools and just general that fund is underfunded. And so um that will happen occur in FY26 outside of the FY27 budget process. So that's not included on the slide, but um we will continue to move forward with that in this current school year. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Forgive me um because I wasn't part of the board prior to January. So I don't know all of the discussion that took place with the long-range planning advisory

121committee and so on. But if we push out the comprehensive fourth high school um do we then sort of reshuffle these priorities and um you know, when do we have another discussion with the committee and amongst ourselves about how best to to reshuffle these these priorities? I think that um the ranking order really is unrelated to timing. As I mentioned, we can't direct the funding or the timing. And so um if you want to move forward with projects, there's a certain amount of money available and that's how this would be. You can still if if it's your priority to keep the high school at in the number one spot, I think it could remain that way and it doesn't necessarily need to be reshuffled unless you feel that your priorities have changed. If that's the

122case, I would recommend that um that we discuss that during the next CIP process um in the fall, this coming fall. Okay. That was my question. When when does that happen? Would there be enough um money? I don't know how much we have in laps right now, but would there be enough money in that to fund the bonus, the 2 million for the bonus? Um, that is what we are looking at that. So, I mentioned we would analyze our projected fund balance amount at the end of this year, and that's where that would come into play. And so, if we're able to increase our projection for what's remaining, um, yes, that is a potential source. Is this something that Is this like a a random like thing or does this happen every year with these

123bonuses and I'm just not aware of it or is it just an extra challenge that we're being thrown because we made somebody mad? It's It's random and um It's It's generally positive, but it comes back to that same theme where the state will say, "We're giving you We're give We're giving out, you know, a 1% or 2% bonus, but for all school divisions because all school divisions fund above the SOQ." Right. >> They have to put their own money in and the Yeah, so to to just answer your question, it is random. Okay. >> We did do this, um, last spring. I believe we funded it. >> We had some good-sized ones, too, during the pandemic. And And again, I want everyone to know that it's not that the like the school board believes in

124teachers and staff and, you know, what we are uh, Virginia is 24th. Mat- Mat- Mat- Dr. Husk corrected me. Um, we have moved up one one stage in where our teachers sit and so, we believe our teachers should be paid more. Unfortunately, the way the state puts these bonuses forward, they're only covering a third or less than a third and it puts school divisions in a difficult spot. So, please >> It's not VRS creditable. It doesn't build on the person's pay, so they go from, you know, build on percentages from one year to the next. It's kind of a, you know, when the state builds all these surpluses, the reason they build the surplus is because they're underfunding education, which would be recurring dollars, and then they take the surplus back, and then they throw

125out the bonuses, so. Which are not recurring. But we've generally been able to figure out a way to get something to everybody, so I'm hoping the cards will all kind of play out in in our favor, and we'll be able to pull pull it off, pull something off, something meaningful. Good. We used to this one doesn't allow us to do the average across everyone. Like like the ones we've been able to do in the past in the same way, right? Yes, last year we were able to take the state contribution and split that among employees. This year we have to match it at a certain amount, but we can spread that out among everyone. >> So the the rules of it are always very complex, so we've been spending the last few days just trying

126to figure it out. Well, you figured it out. I mean, I >> [clears throat] >> I don't know who you you you you definitely figured it out. >> Dr. Berlin, do you need any more direction on this to move forward? >> I just see is do is there any other comments by my colleagues on this balancing scenario? Because we will need to move forward and share it with the Board of Supervisors, so. Okay. You don't need us to you don't need a a vote or a motion or anything on this. I don't think so. Yeah. Um so, the next steps would be that at the next board meeting on April 16th, I would bring back a revised balancing scenario based on your feedback, and at that time we can go through and make any changes.

127I would hope by the end of that meeting we would have an agreement on what the balancing scenario is. Again, assuming that there aren't any changes in the proposed county budget. Um, on April 22nd, the Board of Supervisors will approve their budget, and then the following day we will adopt the budget um with the changes that are discussed the week prior. And then in May, um as I mentioned with the bonus, um when we have updates regarding the state budget, um we can uh make additional appropriations or changes [clears throat] as needed. Would you like I know my our favorite email address. Would you like us if we are kind of spend time in the budget book um and and think of potential areas that we'd like you to look at, would you like us

128to kind of reach out to you at this uh email before the meeting or would you like to us to bring those to that meeting? If you have questions about it because you're unsure about exactly what it's funded, uh questions ahead of time would be great. Um otherwise, I would say during the meeting or between now and then, what will happen is if there's um consensus or if there's four votes in favor of what you're proposing, then we would move forward with the change. Um just keep in mind that any you know, increase needs to be offset by a decrease or you know, the other way around. So, it would be helpful if you could remain within the um the revenues as proposed. And then I do think you heard I mean I I see

129the reason for the pilot if we have to make a a cut. Um however, I think if there are other places to cut um that would allow us to keep those six math interventionists. I think we have the the will of the board there, and so I think I know I know it it it is difficult to find additional places, but if there are places we are able to find. um I think there is and we have also been hearing that from the public. So. Making my Thank you. questions. So, we are going to be moving into a close and unless there's anything else from the board that they wanted to bring forward on budget. We are going to be moving into a closed meeting and I do have Ms. Billy Spillman has a closed

130meeting motion. I move that the school board of Albemarle County, Virginia go into a closed meeting as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act Section 2.2-3711A of the Code of Virginia under subsection 19 for the discussion of plans to protect public safety as it relates to terrorist activity or specific cybersecurity threats or vulnerabilities and briefings by staff members, legal counsel or law enforcement or emergency service officials. The purpose of this item is for staff and law enforcement officials to advise regarding safety protocols at school board meetings and techniques for avoiding and de-escalating conflicts with constituents and other community members. Second. Moved by Ms. Spillman, second by Ms. Lee. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? We will now move into closed meeting. We will reconvene but just for a closed meeting certification. We do

131not anticipate any other meeting after that. Um This is one of those closed meetings that you don't want to have to do something around, but this is needed. So, thank you very much. Thank you to everyone who spoke during public comment and to everyone who participated in tonight's meeting. We will be back um for the closed meeting certification, but we do not expect you to stay just for that. >> Mhm. >> Want the closed. No, [clears throat] you're kidding. No, we're the agenda is closed. >> you all. It's comforting. I would wouldn't mind taking a little walk after. And what about you guys? So I don't have to leave. Okay. Okay. I move that the board certify by recorded vote to the best of each board member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from

132the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. Second. Moved by Ms. Fillman, seconded by Ms. Lee. All those in favor? I. >> I. Any opposed? We are now adjourned.