001Good evening everyone. I'm Matthew Haw, superintendent of Alm County Public Schools and I now call to order the January 8th, 2026 organizational meeting of the Alam County Public Schools School Board to order. Um, so at this time, uh, we're going to certify the closed meeting. Miss Lee, do we have any motions coming from the closed meeting? >> Uh, we have our certification. Dr. Haw. I move that the board certify by recorded vote that to the best of each board member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Freedom Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. >> I second. >> Okay. And so we'll have a roll call vote, please. >> Miss Lee, >>
002yes. >> Miss Osborne, >> yes. Miss Filman, >> yes. >> Dr. Akuff, >> yes. >> Mr. Beard, >> yes. >> Mr. Dylan, >> yes. >> Dr. Berlin, >> yes. >> All right. >> Motion passes. >> So, the motion uh is passed. And at this time, we will do a roll call just to do a mic check. And before Miss Schmidt, we'll actually start with Officer Profett in the back there. >> Officer Profit. >> All right. Well, thank you very much for being here tonight. I couldn't see that you didn't have a mic. I'm sorry. >> Miss Schmidt. >> Uh Roslin Schmidt, chief operating officer. >> Lane Cox, Community Lab School. >> Kate AOV, Jack Dwitt district. >> Bob Beard, Samuel Miller district. >> Ellen Osborne, Scottville district. >> Rebecca Berlin, Whiteall district. Allison Spilman at
003large representative. >> Jim Dillanbeck, Rio District. >> Judy Lee Ravana district. >> Matthew Hall, superintendent. Josiah Black, Chief Legal Officer. >> Lauren Crawford, acting clerk of the board. >> All right. At this time, if we would all uh please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. At this time, uh, we will have our moment of silence. And I would like to, uh, please dedicate the moment of silence to, uh, Finn Kip, a fifth grader at Murray Elementary School who passed away on December 22nd, 2025. Our hearts go out to his family and the Murray Elementary School. Uh community. Thank you. So we will
004begin with item 3.6. It's our election of officers. And so we will begin the 2026 calendar year for the ACPS school board with the election of officers for the school board. I promise everyone I will work work my way through this one item here as efficiently as possible. My procedure has passed muster with our legal counsel to my left here. And this is my eighth time uh conducting this process. So I have a little practice. So please bear w with me though if you will. Uh we will begin with the election of the chair for the ACPS school board. At this time would any board member like to nominate a board member to be the chair? >> Um I would like to nominate Dr. Rebecca Berlin for chair of the school board. >> Thank you,
005Miss Bman. Would are there any other nominations? Would any other board member like to nominate board member to be the chair? All right. I will take that as our candidate is Rebecca Berlin, Dr. Berlin. And so at this time then we will have a roll call vote for our candidate. Uh, if you would please do that. Uh, Lauren, please take it from here. >> Yes. >> Dr. Akuff. >> Yes. >> Mr. Beard. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dylanbeck. >> Yes. >> Miss Lee? >> Yes. >> Miss Osborne? >> Yes. >> Miss Filman? >> Yes. >> Dr. Berlin? >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. So, our the nomination carries and Dr. Berlin. Will is the new chair for the Alamal County School Board for 2026. I am now quite relieved to vacate this chair position. There's
006a lot of pressure with it. And I will now pass it on to you. >> Thank you very much. I am honored. Congrats. Oh, sorry. Congratulations. >> Have some notes. >> The notes are what I really need. The next item on our agenda is the uh nomination and appointment of the vice chair. Do I have any nominations for vice chair? >> Chair Berlin. I nominate Ellen Osborne. >> Thank you very much. >> Second. >> I'd like to nominate Allison Spilman. >> Do I have a second for that? >> Second. >> Thank you. So, I have two nominations for vice chair. I have um Ellen Osborne and Allison Spilman. We will I'm just looking at my legal counsel. And so we can do this as a roll call vote together with someone nominating or voting for
007each person or should we do this in order for the first person nominated and then take a yes or no vote and then the second person nominated. >> I think it's best to poll the board and ask each member how he or she casts their ballot. >> Okay. >> Um but I think it's important also to confirm that the nominations are accepted. >> Yes. Um uh Miss Osborne, you were nominated first. I want to see if you will um accept the nomination. >> Yes. >> And Miss Spilman, um I want to uh see if you'll accept the nomination. >> Yes. >> Thank you so much for both of you for putting your names forward. Um Lauren, uh can we do a roll call vote? And instead of saying yes or no in this vote, you
008would you will say the person that you are nominating or that you are agreeing to. What's the correct language? >> Right. And each board member can vote Osborne uh or Spillman or none of the above as they prefer. >> Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. So Osborne Spillman or none of the above. Lauren, would you please call the roll vote? Yes. Dr. Abbourne. Mr. Dillanbeck. >> Miss Spielman. Miss Lee >> Osborne >> Miss Osborne >> Osborne >> Miss Spilman Spilman >> Mr. Beard >> Spilman >> and Dr. Berlin >> Spilman. >> So we have four for Spilman and three for Osborne. So with a vote of four for Spilman um and three for Osborne um Allison Spilman will be our vice chair for um the 26 year. Thank you so much. Thank you for
009everyone for for putting names forward. Uh the next uh piece in our oh thank you Dr. Hos um is a discussion of our committee assignments. So, as um uh I think people in the audience are aware and I know definitely our board members are aware that in addition to these public meetings that we um participate, there's a a number of other things that uh the school board members do each and every uh week. Um and what that is are a number of committees that we are assigned to. Um and so each year at this time when we nominate both a new chair and vice chair, we also go through those committees um and have a discussion amongst the board to see if it's a committee that you are continuing on. You're you have done um
010like Miss Osborne on the audit committee that you want to continue on or um if it's a committee that you are interested in having someone else take a look at. um it's good to for us to have a variety of people um on these committees um and a variety of of viewpoints. So I think this is also just a very interesting point for for our student representative and everyone in the audience just to see the the vast number of things that our board members do in different areas of um the community and our school community uh to support all of our efforts. So in the past the way we have done this is is share out the list of the committees and then have um uh uh the cler actually that's a pause. Do we
011need to nominate the clerk? >> We did >> we do we do so give me a second while I get >> do you have do you have the the run of show? I don't. >> You don't ever run a show. Okay. >> Um what? I know. I know. Okay. Um so before we before we do Well, >> and actually this is a question. I'm sorry. Are we nominating Christine? Like what is going to be the process tonight because Christine is not present to accept the nomination? >> The clerk of the school board is appointed or reappointed. And if it is your desire to reappoint Miss Thompson, then that requires a motion and a voice vote. >> Correct. But she is not here to accept the nomination. But that is that is that doesn't matter. Okay.
012I just want >> That's okay. You can you can make the appointment and she can accept it at a later time. >> Perfect. Thank you, Dr. Hos, for giving me this. I appreciate this. Um, do I have a nomination for uh the reappointment um of our school board clerk for the 26 calendar year? >> I move we reappoint Miss Christine Thompson as our school board clerk. >> Second. Moved by Dr. AOV, seconded by Miss Spilman. We would take a roll call vote, Lauren, for this um reappoint. >> Yes. >> Of Thompson. >> Miss Osborne? >> Yes. >> Miss Spilman? >> Yes. >> Dr. Akuff? >> Yes. >> Mr. Beard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dylan Beck? >> Yes. >> Miss Lee? >> Yes. >> Chair Berlin? >> Yes. By a vote of seven in favor and
013no opposed, um we are reappointing Christine Thompson as our clerk um for the 26th school year and we will we will notify her of that. So I was jumping on the committees because we have a lot of discussion about the committees. Um so all of the school board members have in front of them um the list of committees to which we need to do an appointment for the for the school year. Um, I'm going to go ahead, I think, to just read the name of the committee. Um, because I think it is helpful for the audience to hear the the the entire breath of committees that everyone has. Um, I'm not going to read a description um, unless the the the uh board would like me to since you have that in front of you.
014Um, because we have had people in serving in all of those committees. If any of the members or especially any of the new members would like additional information on those committees regarding um the content or the the location or time any of us would be uh willing to to answer that um and then we will can move through the process um uh for people to put their name forward and and this has been a very collegial discussion in the past um and I don't believe we've had to take votes on this in the past Um but um Lauren, I'm gonna ask you to to as soon as we're ready to to take full records, and I'll do that as well, just to make sure we get the right people. Okay. Um in the right boxes.
015So um we have the ACES committee, which is the advisory committee on environmental sustainability. Um and Mr. Paige and uh Ms. Lee were on that committee um in the past year. Um and Kate Akoff was an alternative and has uh was one of the founders of that committee. Um we have the ED Alberar Foundation for Education which is our foundation that supports um the schools um through fundraising and other efforts um and Dr. Akoff and I have been on that um since the founding. We have the audit committee um which works um with our auditors to review um those those proceedings um and makes recommendations um and Miss Osborne has been part of that um for the past five years. Um we have our CIP advisory committee um which has been supporting uh our our
016CIP with Dr. Hos um and Maya Kumazo and Rosalyn Schmidt um and uh Dr. Akoff and Allison Spilman were on that last year. Um we've had our communication committee which um has been an important piece that the the school board has talked about um but but is one that we have we have said we really we are interested in revitalizing again this year. Um we've had some changes in our communications team um at the county um and we're definitely uh interested in working with them going forward. Um and Miss Bilman and I were on that. Um we have our discipline committee which meets on Mondays. Um and uh Mr. Paige um I hope Mr. Paige that you are um enjoying your first Thursday free um on the second of the month um tonight. Um uh
017and Miss Spilman and u Miss Prior were on that with Miss Osborne and Judy Lee as um al alternates. Um we have our diversity and equity committee um which Miss Spillman was a part of. with our legislative committee which um Dr. Av and I were a part of. As you can see, we h we there's a lot that the school board does in addition to these monthly meetings. Um we have a our actually our schoolboard orientation committee which Mr. Blackwood's not something we have to vote on today. Um and then we have our Piedmont educational a regional educational program, our prep um committee which serves which is a um multi- uh school district organization that supports children and adults um you know up through 21 with uh supports for delays and disabilities and I was
018on that. Um and then we have our Thomas Jefferson adult and career in regional board um that Miss Osborne was. Um and then we had a newer committee last year, a work session committee of one that working with um Miss Smith about uh uh making suggestions for our schoolboard meetings. So those are all of the committees that our uh school board is a part of in addition to to spending time in our schools. So, I I always think it's interesting um for people to to to learn about that because as I um it was as when I was a constituent, I did not realize all the the things that the school board does um to support this work. Um so, I'm just going to start from the top and kind of a committee and look
019towards the people that were were on it before to see if they are interested in being reappointed um or if they're interested in having um a new colleague join them. Um so the the ACES committee on environmental sustainability um we Miss Lee was a part of um and Mr. Paige um and um uh so we will definitely have a an opening um um but Miss Lee is that something that you're interested in in doing again or is that something you would like to um step back from to do to again? So >> um I and as you mentioned before and we're really collegial in this process but uh I am interested in being in that again but if other people feel really strongly then um I can set back as well. >> Um others so
020so and for some of these we have um two positions and some of them one just because of the rules and regulations of the committees and their bylaws. This is one that we have too. So, um, Miss Lee, if you'd like to be reappointed and is there, um, another board member that would be interested in in joining the environmental committee. Um, I think Dr. Akov or or Miss Lee, if you have any questions about that, if you could ask them about it as well before you put your name forward. I would say that I have also I've really learned a lot on this. I'm environmental sustainability is something that I'm very interested in, but I'm I learn something every time about it even though I'm very interested in it. >> I remember that this this
021is time we actually feel like a little bit like an auctioneer. I have once going twice. Um >> um so the aces and and if there are things people are interested in, I can pause on that except Judy's and um we can come back to it. But uh anyone anyone off the top of their head interested in? Yeah, Miss Berlin, I would be pleased to honor Graham Pa's legacy and serve again with >> on the ACES committee. >> Thank you so much. >> Not again. >> Um, so we have uh Judy Lee and Bob Beard for the ACES committee. Um, the next committee we have is the Albamar Foundation for Education um that Dr. Akoff and I were a part of. Um, uh, uh, Dr. Akoff, is that something that you're interested in continuing with?
022I would like to continue on that role. Thank you. >> Of course. Um, uh, and Dectar Cuff and I talked about this one a little bit. Um, this is one we've both been involved with. She was involved with it even before I was. Um, I feel like this is one that I would be interested in seeing if there's another board member who would be interested in um, doing it. I I take this time of year as a time when thinking about what I have been working on and where are things that sometimes it's just time for some from some new blood and some new ideas and this would be what I'm if there is someone else on the board that would be interested in participating. Um we have a wonderful amazing new um executive director
023um that is supporting uh this foundation going forward. Um and I think we are on a um a high road to to to move forward and to really make a name and to support the students um uh in the county and this is one of the places where we are are raising money for our community in schools program. So um this is uh this is a one once a month commitment. Um so I wanted to see if anyone is interested in joining Dr. Akov in the uh Elramar school found the foundation for education committee. >> I would be happy to join this committee as well. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> You can't join everyone. >> I know I know there okay. Okay. So, thank you Dr. Akaf for your years of service
024on this and and thank you um Mr. Beard for for joining this. It's a it's a great organization. Um and I think you will really enjoy the mission. Um um we have the audit committee. Um uh we said jokingly earlier that um uh Miss Osborne has bingo in this because she has been on it for 5 years and we have discussed that this is one that you need continue um continued presence because of all the learning um to get up to speed. So, uh, Miss Osborne, are you interested in continuing? >> I think I can do that. >> Thank you so much. So, for the audit committee, we have Ellen Osborne. Um, we have the CIP advisory committee, um, which is one, Dr. Akov, I may be looking to you for a little bit of
025advisement before. This is one that we have had formally and informally over the years. Um is this one that we are looking to to formally continue or you're kind of doing inform of how are we how are we structuring this going forward? >> I mean previously the the committee was a joint committee with the board of supervisors uh and then we brought it in house. I think given our significant capital uh ask that I think we should continue it and I would be interested in remaining on it. >> Perfect. Um and I would like to remain as well if no one else is interested. >> So for the CIP committee, thank you um Dr. Aub for continuing. I agree that this is something that's always important but definitely important as we as we look forward
026with the buildings that will be opening next year as well as things we're considering in the future. Um Mr. and Miss Bilman, are you interested in is there anyone else and is this one is not limited by bylaws? I would believe so there but or or would your preference is our >> we had three members. We'd have to po advertise it and it would be a public meeting. So we limited. >> So we will have two. So we will have two. >> That is right. Thank you. >> So for the CIP committee, Lauren, we have Dr. Akob and Miss Spilman. >> I do. >> Uh the communications committee. Um, this is a committee uh that uh I think we have kind of similar to to the CIP committee has has gone over changes over the
027years, but I think this is something that is important um with our new um chief communications officer. Um the past in the the past year um Allison Spilman and myself were a part of it. Um I definitely want to I know we have a number of people with expertise in this um on the board. So, I wanted to to see who might be interested in doing this. Miss Fillimman, obviously, if you're interested in continuing. Um, but I I am happy to continue, but I also know we have a number of people with communications experience that I would like to look to if they are interested. >> Um, are you speaking to Bob Beard specifically? >> But I I'm speaking to Bob Beard, but also to to to Judy Lee. I know Judy Ms. Lee has
028extensive experience in >> um >> in communications. I'm happy to step aside for the two of them if they're interested with their expertise. >> I mean, I'm I'm happy to serve on this. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lee. >> And as a former journalist, I would be happy to do it as well. >> Thank you so much. Um I'm so excited always for the great experiences that the the three boards that I have worked on here um bring to the table. Um, and I am very exciting for for happy uh for the experience that u Miss Lee and Mr. Beard have because I definitely think communications is something we as a board and we as a school district continue to strive um to to do better and to to continue to continue
029to both communicate with our constituents as well as our families. Okay, moving through this. We're on the D's. Um the discipline committee. Um this is one thank thank you Dr. AOB that we um do have three members on just because of the um the type of work that we're doing. It's a public meeting um and it's always communicated and in the same place that you'll find information about the schoolboard meeting. Um so this is one that u Mr. Paige um uh Miss Filman and uh Miss Prior um were part of um and Ellen Osborne and Judy Lee um were alternates. So, if this is one, um, I guess I should ask, uh, Miss Spilman if it's something that she would like to continue on, um, and then open it up to the board. >> I
030would like to continue on this one. >> Okay. So, so Miss Spilman, excuse me, will continue on this. Um, and we have two openings for the discipline committee. Um, this is monthly um, the second and fourth Wednesdays. Um, as but it it is an as needed meeting. Um, and for this one, we will have three members and two alternatives. I'd be honored to be part of that committee. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Dylan Beck. >> So, we have Miss Spilman, we have Mr. Dylan Beck. I'd be happy to serve um either as on the committee or as an alternate if someone else would like to because I've I have been able to run it before. If someone else has a desire to do it, I'm happy to be an alternate. Miss Lee, if you're
031interested in serving as the third, I would be interested in serving as the as an alternate for it. >> Great. >> I can be an alternate. >> Um, so for this committee, for the discipline committee, I have Miss Bilden, Mr. Dylan Beck, and Miss Lee as the three official members, and um, Miss Berlin and Ms. Osborne as the alternates. Thank you all for for going through this with us as we as we do it. Um the next committee I have is the diversity and equity advisory committee. Um and Miss Spilman um has served on that um the past two years and Miss Lee was on that before. U Miss Bilman, is that something you're interested in? >> I'm happy to do it. Um we didn't really meet much in the last year, so I'm wondering
032if it's still something that's continuing. Um it is. Okay, then. Yes. happy to do it if unless somebody else is interested in jumping in. Seeing no other votes, bids, names coming forward, um Miss Spilman will be on the diversity and the um equity advisory committee. Um the legislative committee um uh Dr. Akoff and myself were part of that um last year. Um Dr. Dr. Akov, is that something you're interested in continuing with? >> Resurrecting. Yes, >> resurrecting. Right. I think this is another committee that we we have on the books, but we've not been not been able to use it to the extent that we should be maybe. Right. >> So, I would I'll be part of the resurrection of this committee. Yes. >> Um so, um for the legislative committee, I have Dr. AOB.
033I am interested in continue in in helping with the resurrection. Um, but again, if there is someone else that would like to to to do this, um, I'm happy to to step back. Seeing another no other votes, I will um I'm sorry for that. Put put uh uh Lauren, if you can note that for the legislative committee, it's um Drs. Berlin and AOF and we will um ensure that this uh continues to move forward. Um the new member I think committee I think is just Josh. So Josh is is is is going to continue. Um the the last couple committees the um the Piedmont Regional Education Program which is the prep program which um supports our um coalition of school districts that uh um in special education that serve uh those services that we might
034not be able to hold in house. Um I have been on this committee um in the past but again I'm this is something if there is someone else that is interested in um in in doing this work it's a wonderful way to u meet fellow board members from the let's see the eight other school district nine other school districts um as well as the special education um directors and the superintendent or assistant superintendent. Um just looking to see if there's this is a committee that anyone is interested in in serving on. Seeing no voices come forward um I will continue. It's an honor to to continue to um to work on that. I would say if there is anyone who from the board whoever wants to join me just to see um I would be
035happy um to have them with me. Um uh so Lauren um you can keep prep um as me. Um uh we have the Thomas Jefferson Adult and Career Regional Board. I know that's something deep um in your heart, Miss Osborne. Is that something you're interested in in >> Let's continue. Actually already RSVP to the January meeting. So >> Okay, perfect. And then last but not least, Miss Schmidt, we did this. We did I guess this was something we had done in the past or we had started Judy did it the year before the the work session committee. I know you and I met a few times to talk about work sessions. Um I think this is something that's it's helpful. I mean, one of the things we're going to continue uh to do is get
036input from the board of sessions that they are. But if there is someone on the board that is interested in in working with um uh Miss Schmidt uh on the work sessions, um I'd be happy to to again have that person uh work on that going forward. >> I'd be happy to, Dr. Berlin. >> That would be wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Akoff. I appreciate that. Um so uh the just the last three that were prep um Thomas Jefferson is Ellen Osborne and then um the work session committee um is Dr. Akoff. I'm just going to take a look at this. Um we had a number of commission committees that we had done in the past um that are no longer valid but um I just want to make sure to take a look at Dr.
037Hos, take a look at um Dr. Akov Lee. Those have been on the board for longer. Are there any that we may have missed or that are insured that we should be resurrecting? Perfect. Okay. Thank you all. Um there is there will be no quiz. Um uh but one of the things we have talked about in the past is uh doing a better job during um school board and superintendent business of sharing a little bit of information about these um about these committees and what happens. Um, so >> is it possible to uh offer a comment about committees? >> Absolutely. >> Forgive me, I'm the new one of the two new people on the board. Uh, so this may not be the right time, but I have ideas for three, forgive me, new committees, uh,
038as as possible areas of focus. I know we've talked a lot about closing the achievement gap. So one committee would be I would call it the gap committee um as a way to work amongst ourselves and with others to try to uh come up with a way to to aggressively close the achievement gap. I know that um Dr. Hos has initiatives in place already. uh but it would be I think if that's a big priority for us, we need to um really apply some some uh work toward that goal. A second one would be um what I might call a a PPP committee, the public private partnership committee. Um, as we all know, there's been talk of the cost of building a new high school and the enormous cost of the CI CIP projections and
039so on. And we our operating budget is pretty significant. So I would love to see some interactions um with the business sector both in terms of uh raising funds but also in terms of um partnerships where we have business people um who are involved in in seeing the the schools uh continue to grow and improve. And in the last committee, I've talked to a number of teachers and as a former Almoro High School teacher, uh really really feel strongly about needing to hear from teachers. So I'm planning to meet with teachers on a regular basis and would love to have a teacher advisory committee where we're not advising them, but they're advising us as a board of the issues that they're facing and the ideas that they have for how we can improve schools. So,
040forgive my ignorance and and um lack of experience, but I thought I would toss these out as further possibilities for committees in the future. >> Thank you so much. I'm going to, as I always do, look to to our our esteemed lawyer um kind of according to school protocol. What is the best way to do this? um to have a discussion to to move it uh to uh bring it to a motion in the future. What What would you recommend? >> Well, uh I think it's really up to Mr. Dillanbeck whether he wants to make that as a motion now or whether he'd like to have more dialogue with his colleagues first and then bring it to a subsequent meeting for motion at that time. >> Yeah, I think uh further discussion amongst ourselves u
041but just wanted to offer that as a as a consideration at this point. Thank you. I appreciate you bringing that forward as as as we know there, as I said, there are a number of committees that we're a part of. Um, but I believe we should always be continuing to look and see what we might be missing and particularly what voices are missing at the table. So, so I look forward to to future conversations about um uh kind of thinking about how we could do an adisement committee around the the the gap uh public private partnerships as we know are so important um and teacher and staff advisory. >> Thank you so much. Yeah. So, the next motion um before us is approval of tonight's agenda. Do I have a motion for pro the approval
042of tonight's agenda? >> I move we approve tonight's agenda. >> Second. >> Uh uh motion moved by Miss Osborne, second by Miss Lee. Um, tonight's agenda is approved. Our next uh point of the evening or our >> Do we have to vote on that? >> I apologize. Thank you, Dr. Akub. I appreciate that. Um, uh, uh, all those in favor? >> I, >> all those opposed. >> By a vote uh, by a voice vote that passes. Um, announcements um, uh, in schoolboard business. Um, tonight I want do you tonight I want to welcome uh Leighton Cox um our student uh representative from Community Lab School. Um as many of you know we have an alternating um school board student representative um at each of our meetings um which is a wonderful place for you to
043come um and share a statement um but also be a full part of um our discussions. We will not make you join any of our committees though. Um that but you're always willing to uh willing and welcome to to come um and and observe. Um but I'd like to say thank you for being here. Um and I know you have written a statement to share with the board. >> Thank you Mr. Miss Berlin. Um good evening board members. Thank you for giving me a few minutes to share an experience that changed how I think about education including my own. Last December, I traveled to Stanford University to participate in a in the liftoff design sprint. Princ principal Ratliff, who is here with us today. My classmate Nick Jensen, CLS alum Khloe Root, and I were
044selected to attend. We spent three days at the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching at Stanford University, working alongside some of the most influential figures in American education. Learner Studio, the nonprofit that hosted this event, was founded by Kim Smith, who was also a founding team member of organizations such as Tech for America and Bellweather Education. The adult participants she convened included school founders, superintendent, philanthropists, ed tech teachers, and researchers, people who collectively shape policy and practice for millions of students. This was an invitationonly gathering. Learner Studio focuses on accelerating what they call horizon 3 learning or H3 for short. Horizon 3 represents where we are headed. A system that centered, flexible, personalized and prepares students to thrive in careers, communities, and a democracy shaped by artificial intelligence and rapid change. It's not about what
045saying what we have now is broken. It's about recognizing that our world, our generations will inherit, the world our generations will inherit will look different than the one now. I know this board already thinks the this way. Supporting scholar studios, community lab school, and thinking about a new high school. What made this event different from most education conferences um was the students weren't invited to give feedback at the end. Learner Studio selected just 20 youth experts from across the entire country and we worked alongside adults as equal contributors from the very beginning. The commitment didn't start or end with those three days in December either. We participated in preessions before the sprint and will continue to meet for the next six months to carry the work forward. Dr. Shireen Almala, an assistant professor at UVA
046School of Education and Human Development, served as the youth partner, the youth partnership lead for the entire event. Many of you know Dr. Elmala for her long-standing research partnership with Community Lab School. Her role was to ensure that the youth voice wasn't just included, centered throughout the design process, that the collaboration between generations was authentic and not performative. On the first day, um, we drove straight into building immersive installations. These weren't powerpoints or written proposals. We created physical hands-on experiences designed to communicate viscerally what school could feel like in a Horizon 3 world. My team finished our installation right on time, and that evening, we presented to adult participants. The second day was intense. After we set up at the Carnegie Foundation, we rotated through sessions and met educators and innovators from widely different contexts.
047Rural schools, urban districts, and edtech startups, philanthropist foundations, excuse me, urban districts, edte startups, and philanthropist foundations. That evening, all 20 youth experts gathered for group activities and games. It gave us process. It gave us space to process everything together and build relationships with students from across the country who are thinking about the same questions we are. On day three, we shifted focus. My team worked on a promotional video articulating our vision, what we called an H3 adult, the kind of educator who can guide students in this new model. We weren't just imagining better teachers. We were designing a system where adults and young people work in tandem, where the educators roles evolved alongside the students they serve. After finishing the video, we developed formal presentations. Each of the 10 teams their model on the
048final morning. Adults and students voted together. Our group placed in the top three out of all 10 teams, which felt incredible, but honestly wasn't the point. The point was this. I spent three days in rooms where adults de with decades of experience and real institutional power treated my perspective as essential. Not as nice to have, not as a box to check. Essential. I came home thankful for a community lab school for this board's willingness to support something different and for the chance to represent our community at a national level. We're already trying to be a Horizon 3 kind of place, a school that centers student agency that values relationships that prepares us for a world that will actually inherit. This trip showed me that what that vision looks like when it scales nationally. and it
049showed me that students don't just benefit from educational innovation, we can help build it. Thank you for all you do to support all Al Marl schools and students. >> Thank you so much. I so appreciate it. Any Yes, we we can always give I'm thank you. Thank you so much. Um and it is all of for all of us. It is so important to have family and student voice. Um, and we so appreciate the the time um that you spend doing this um and and and really um value your authentic contri contributions um because it really makes us a better school board and a better school system. So, thank you so much. Um Dr. Hos, um what do you have under um school board and superintendent business? >> So, I I have a few items.
050First, I'm going to uh do the spotlight on education. Then, I'm going to have um Dr. Dr. Hayes come up to talk a little bit about our Go Tech Career Pathway Grant that we recently uh won. And then Dr. Kaiser is going to come up and uh we're just going to get any feedback that you might have and we're going to seek approval for um our legislative positions so that we can start moving forward on that. So, I do want to start out with the spotlight on education, but first I just want to congratulate Leighton and and really that uh story that you shared was really inspiring. Thank you. Uh Madame Chair and members of the board, at our last board meeting, we shared an update on Alm County Public Schools results from the Virginia
051Department of Education's new school performance and support framework. We noted that ACPS remains the strongest performing public school division in the region. And with 33% of our schools earning distinguished recognition, we significantly outpace the statewide average for top performing schools. Tonight, we want to recognize excellence in leadership by bringing forward the principles of our distinguished schools. While the extraordinary work of our teachers and students is ultimately responsible for our results, their success is made possible by principles who set a clear vision, foster strong school cultures, and champion continuous growth and learning. Their leadership creates the conditions for high achievement, academic excellence, and pride across our school communities. And so, we are pleased to recognize the principles of our distinguished level schools who are are here tonight. Um, as I call each name, I see that
052Dr. Hayes is ready to uh she has a certificate for you and a handshake. I ask that each of you uh after picking up your certificate come up and shake hands with the board, please. And then, uh, we'll all gather down in front of the podium for, uh, I see Dr. Grant's getting ready to take a photo. So, our our first principal is Jim Ker, principal of Brownsville Elementary School. Joe McCaulay, Holly Elementary School. Jennifer Underwood, Ivy Elementary School. I'm sorry. Uh Wendy Eckerly. Congratulations, Joe. >> I have a cold. >> Wendy Eckerly, Murray Elementary School. Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. >> Morin Jensen, Stony Point Elementary. >> Rick Rhovac, Henley Middle School. >> Congratulations. >> Chad Ratliff, Community Lab School. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. and Jennifer Sublet, principal of Western Alm High School. >>
053Thank you so much. >> Thank you. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it. See you soon. 22nd. Yep. >> Thanks, Rick. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. come up through here. Madam chair, if you want to come down as well. >> Thank you so much. >> See you soon. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Look at us. We did it. >> Okay. I'm like I'm the only person. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> You'll be like you know each other. There we go. >> All right. Thanks y'all. >> Go ahead. Yes. >> Sanitizer likely. >> All right. And so, um, >> as we transition, Dr. Hayes is already near the podium, so she's ready to roll. And also notice a familiar face who uh did was really behind
054the scenes really doing a lot of heavy lifting uh from the UVA Center for Community Partnerships. Uh Dr. Allen is here. Um so we have him here as well and they're going to talk a little bit about our uh awards of the Goatee Career Pathway. >> Absolutely. Uh good evening Chair Berlin, Dr. Hos and members of the board. I am Chandra Hayes, assistant superintendent of instruction, and I am here to share with you some exciting news regarding opportunities for our students in ACPS. Over the past month, Alamar County Public Schools has been a awarded more than $2.5 million in grant funding to expand career connected learning and academic acceleration opportunities for students. In December, ACPS was awarded a $1.7 million regional GOATEK grant. The goat grant stands for great opportunities in technology and engineering careers.
055This grant was written and led by Miss Megan Maynard, who couldn't be here with us tonight. She's actually recruiting for Scholar Scoot Studios um in partnership with Charlottesville City Schools and Green County Public Schools. $685,000 of those funds will be allotted directly to ACPS. This regional collaboration ensures equitable access to highquality career connection labs in every middle school across the three divisions while also allowing divisions to share implementation expertise industry partnerships and professional learning. GoE aligns directly with our scholar studio vision 3E accreditation goals with the three E standing for enrolled enlisted and employed and the new albamar county exploration. Goateech is an anchor for our career connected learning ecosystem, ensuring students in Alamar County, Charlottesville, and Green County have the skills, experiences, and opportunities to thrive in the region's most important industries. In addition,
056ACPS was awarded $1.5 million through the targeted extended enriched school year and year-round school grant program. This grant aims to improve student achievement outcomes and support innovative approaches to in instructional delivery and school governance. This amount is broken into two awards for two grants that were written. I wrote the first grant to support the future graduate camp at Albamara High School and Montichello High School. We were awarded $300,000 per school for a total of $600,000. The future graduate camp is a summer bridge program for rising ninth graders who have experienced challenges with attendance, minor discipline, and academic risk to ensure they make it to graduation. The design gives students early access to relationships, routines, and resources to improve academic readiness on their first day of high school. Our hope is to determine the level of
057need and possibly expand to Western Almor in summer 2027. At this time, I'd like to invite Dr. Ben Allen with the Star Hill Pathways Initiative, who co-authored the second grant with Miss Megan Maynard to share more about how they will use the $900,000 to strengthen career exploration, workbased learning, and post-secary pathways for students. >> Thank you, Dr. Hayes. Good evening. Uh really glad to see you all tonight. Uh it's really exciting to be here. I briefed about this initiative with uh some of our uh older schoolboard members and now that we have some new friends, it's a nice update. And so about four years ago, I like to always start with a story is we started with this pilot at Burley Middle School and it was 40 students over the summer was right after the
058pandemic ended. We were trying to get back and re-engage with students. And the whole point of it was how do you get college and career expiration starting as early as possible so that it ties in the strategic goal with the county of getting students in early access and then making sure that they have the supports they need all the way through high school so they can go on amazing trips like all the way to Stanford and present in front of um experts and um professionals. And so this program started four years ago and I'm proud to say that we're up to 200 students in Armal County, 300 total because there's 100 students in Charleston City Schools and we're in every uh school 6 through 12 in the county. And in that this cohort model, we
059follow students all the way from middle school to high school and they get access to college and care readiness. Um so that's work-based learning. Um how what does it mean to be a lawyer? What does it mean to be an architect? What does it mean to be a police officer? and we get students those exposure with industry leaders in the community as well as around the Commonwealth. As students progress through the program past middle school, they also get paid internships. So the summer after the nth grade, they're getting $156 an hour doing internships in the program or the interest that they have. And as they get older, we're doing college and career. Um our greatest partners are PVCC and then also we have a lot of internal partners here at the school district. And so
060that $900,000 is not only going to be able to expand and have us more students, it'll allow us to support with SEAL, it'll also allow us to support the research functions of this, which I think is um Dr. Kaiser has been critical and Dr. Carlock, who's not here tonight, critical and not only understanding how students are developing from sixth grade all the way to our oldest kid is in 11th grade now, but what are the things, what are the barriers that are being removed for these students that are predominantly first generation students and students from lowwealth communities. And so uh just excited at this collaborative partnership. I know Mr. Dylan Beck mentioned uh private practice. Uh this is truly an investment not only in school districts but also in um industry partners that are involved
061in this as well as the university. So um thank you for the support that Dr. Hos has put to this Dr. Hayes and really excited to work uh in collaboration with this and the uh other initiative in this grant. >> Thank you Dr. Allen. Dr. Did you all did or you have I just say thank you Dr. Hos and Dr. Akub for your approval to submit these grants last year and I would also like to again thank Dr. Allen and Miss Megan Maynard for the amazing work they have done to provide opportunities for the students in ACPS and the surrounding divisions. >> Thank you Dr. >> Thank you so much. >> Well, while we have uh Ben here, did you have any questions for >> That's what I was going to say. Do we have
062any I wanted to see if we had any questions on any of the grants um that we talked about today. It's an amazing um that's a amazing accomplishment. Um but questions >> just a quick question. How are students identified to be a part of the program? >> So I'll speak on the future graduate camp program. So what um we do we work with our school counselors um and in our high schools and then they partner with their feeder middle schools to identify students. they have to meet the criteria of at least you know two of the three criteria of attendance minor discipline or um having uh not passed SOS in middle school. And so we really wanted to make sure we were reaching out to a community of students that often um can fall through
063the the cracks or by the wayside um and make sure that they are engaged so that they can make it through high school and graduate and move on to career, military or um college. >> That's great. >> Thank you. And then the the Star Hill pathways. >> And then for Star Hill, similar. We work with counselors, principles at every single school. They identify students. Uh we look for students that are firstgen and lowincome as our priority students. But it's a program that if you were ever come and invite you all to the programming days that we have and the summer camp over the summer. It's a two-eek camp that we do for students. Uh it really is students from all walks of life. So it's a it's a really exciting uh I think mix of
064students from not only county but Charlottville city as well. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Ellen. Is it pretty much divided girls and boys in the classes or how how is this is it pretty much balanced with these tech type opportunities >> with the tech opportunities that we have >> right with you know the demographics I'm asking how many how many girls are in this program >> I would have to get some information from um to miss uh well go hasn't just hasn't started quite yet but I would have to get more information on the breakdown of the students that attended last year but I can get that information back to the for for future graduates. >> It's not urgent, but I'm interested. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments?
065>> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh so the next piece that I had uh I had sent out an email uh recently to the school board uh that outlined our uh essentially our positions that we wanted or the school board's positions that they wanted to share with the uh with our legislators. And so uh in that email it said you know if you had any changes or updates that you wanted to make to please let me know before the meeting but there's also this opportunity right now there you do have a print out of the um of that. So, if you want to just take a look, if there's anything that jumps out at you that you would like to see added, um I am seeking a motion
066to go ahead and get approval from the board so that we can transmit them to our legislators and we're also working on inviting them to attend our uh early spring student senate. And we'll make sure our school board members invitation to that as well. I think it's strong. >> Do I have any Well, first are there any other any comments? I mean the one thing I would say is everything is important but I know some of the conversations we have been having um you know are absolutely around investing in our school facilities and so any help that we can get from um our state government um to support that um so it doesn't all have to come out of localities um I know that's something that the state just hasn't been investing in. I mean
067everything is important so lifting up everything but um I definitely think something that is something that is so important for us and other communities going forward and then if there are no other comments I'm going to see if there's a motion on the floor for this. >> Uh I move that we approve the provided legislative priorities. >> Second move by Miss Lee, second by Miss Spilman. I believe this is a voice vote unless u uh Dr. Hos, you would like a a a roll call vote? >> You can just do a voice vote. I really appreciate that. Just want to make sure. >> Um, all those in favor of the legislative agenda, >> I. >> All those opposed. >> All right. >> Thank you, Dr. Hos. This motion clearly um passes. Um, and we look
068forward to supporting you um on this legislative agenda. >> Thank you. And I am I I am sincerely looking forward to reviving the legislative committee and uh working with our communications department. One of the things I in recently attending the VAS conference on Monday and Tuesday that we heard from the legislators that attend a panel there >> is that um they really would like to have >> closer relationships with school boards, meaning >> um invitations to uh visit schools, graduations, performances, things like that. So, I I'm going to work with um with Dr. Grant around that, you know, try to identify a series of events throughout the year as a as a a calendar for them that they could attend. Uh, I do want the board to know that I do have um, as many
069of you do, uh, cell phone uh, exchange with all of our legislators. And I know sometimes they will text you or call you and ask you for your view on a particular piece of legislation or a direction that even the state school board might be taking and they do that with me as well. And that's also a best practice is for us to maintain that uh, kind of close connection with our legislators. And I think it helps that our our um legislators have been uh schoolboard members. And then the last thing I just want to point out is that following the December 3rd meeting with the board of supervisors, uh Dr. Grant identified a series of questions that came about through that uh discussion around the uh CIP. And so what we did was uh
070through a process gathered answers to those questions and we're going to be we want to transmit that to the board of supervisors. I spoke with the county executive about it this morning and um we're going to I'll transmit it to him and then he'll share it back with the board of supervisors. It is on the consent agenda. So you're and you're just receiving it for information. It's not that you're approving it as uh adopting it as your views. You're just saying you received it and then because we didn't want to share it with the board of supervisors or staff at the county level without your seeing it first. So, um you'll have an opportunity to read that. U but I wanted you to be aware that when you do approve the consent agenda, you're saying
071I saw it. It's on there for information. >> Thank you. And thank you for staff for putting that together for us. Um, I know we had lots of questions come up um in that uh board of supervisors meeting and we wanted to make sure that we would get them the information that they needed. So, thank you for doing that. >> You're welcome. >> Any other board or superintendent business before we move forward. >> Okay. Um, next on our agenda is public comment. And I've asked uh Miss Spilman to do that tonight. We have one person for public comment. Correct. We welcome public input at our schoolboard meetings to sign up to speak during the public comment period. You can do so in several ways. Online, sign up is available from 9:00 a.m. on the Monday
072of the meeting week until 2 p.m. on the meeting day. By phone, calling the schoolboard clerk's office to sign up until 2 p.m. on the meeting day. Or in person, sign up at the meeting is available from 6:00 p.m. until the public comment period for in-person meetings only. Please note that public comment is not received at special school board meetings unless specified on the agenda. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak, but the chair with board consent may reduce this to two minutes should there be 14 or more speakers. The maximum number of people or groups that may speak at a meeting is 20. In the event there are more than 20 people or groups who wish to speak at a particular meeting. Each speaker will be assigned a number and numbers will be
073drawn 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 to the school board's consideration. Speakers should state their name, address, or voting district. Address comments to the school board. Limit comments to schoolboard governance or school division operations. Provide written statements and supporting material to the clerk. The 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. Debate with the school board is not allowed. And the projection system is for staff presentations. Uh we
074have one speaker tonight, uh Mr. Chris Dilbeck. Hello. Uh my name is Chris Dilbeck. Um I'm from the Roman district. Um I'd like to talk about actually a book that I'm reading right now. U it's called Off the Mark by Jack Schneider and Ethan Hut. Um as you all many of you all know I'm interested in teaching someday, maybe in high school, maybe in community college. Um and this book is interesting to me because it talks about the future of the grading system in uh in both high school and college. Uh the authors seem to argue several problems with the modern grading system and I wanted to go through some of those with you all. Uh the first is that they say that uh grades effectively reduce students to a single line on a transcript.
075They condense a student excessively. So they're just shown as computer science a um and not the potentially rich and interesting record that a student has had. Uh they also note that grades can have permanent impact on students and I have a personal example of this. I missed top honors at JMU by a very small amount. Um, one of the issues there was that I received poor grade in theater at that school. Um, I had no way to change that. I'm currently an IT architect. I'm in the in the field, but I could have had the top honors on my on my transcript uh if I had some way to to deal with that theater issue. Um, they also talk about grades being instantaneous. So, for example, if a student um gets a low grade in
076math in the 10th grade, but that motivates them and then they get better by their senior year, that that D in 10th grade geometry will stick with them forever, just like my theater issue did. Additionally, they talk about games uh grades being gamed by students. So, many of you who are teachers may have known uh students asking for um asking to have their grades raised or sending aggressive parents uh to advocate for them. Uh, additionally, some of my opinion, I also believe that uh, grades being high pressure uh, will cause schools to relax the grading standards. Uh, citing the evidence of the minimum 50% rule that is in effect here at Almoro County. Uh, so what do we do about this? Um, we need to make grades better reflect the skills of students, what they
077can do instead of what they remember or what they can recite. Um, I'd recommend looking into ways to make grades more updatable as students age and get better. So, if you're that student who got a low grade in math in the 10th grade, um find a way that they could update that grade if they apply themselves and do really well and to pass an AP math test in uh in their senior year. Uh if I were designing this, I'd go even further than what the authors say. I I would build a private portfolio for all students with lists of skills ranging from things like sing your sing a song of your choice in kindergarten to solve a quadratic equation in high school math. And then when you complete those you would you would attach evidence
078of that skill to the portfolio. So what I recommend to you all is read the book um off the mark by Jack Schneider and Ethan Hut. Um and I just want to let you know it makes me very happy to come up here and give you all homework. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dolbeck. Um, and that is the end of public comment. >> And as always, thank you to everyone um that provides public comment. Um, it is definitely something that I encourage all of our constituents to do um um as we move forward, particularly as we move forward into our budget um season uh this winter. Uh the next thing on our agenda is approval of the consent agenda. >> I move we approve the consent agenda. >> Dr. Dr. Akoff has moved for the
079approval of the consent agenda. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Approved by Dr. Akoff, seconded by Miss Lee. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. Our consent agenda for tonight passes. Um, do we have any other business? >> Um, I just wanted to uh thank Mr. Dylan for the comments about the committees earlier. Um, I know that sometimes we can just sort of move along and it's good to pull back and have these thoughts and I just wanted to share my thoughts about the potential of a gap committee because um I I think we may have discussed this a little bit when we were talking uh and it did it really stood out to me last year when we got the SEAK um committee report that we have a handful
080of groups that we identify as gap groups but we hear from one of them because of law and it's great. I I love getting that feedback, but there are so many groups we don't hear from regularly. Um, so I really I I agree with the desire to look into our other achievement gap groups. Um however I will also mention that from my experience on the diversity and equity advisory committee that that work didn't always complement what was happening in the division. So I think that with any of these committees and it would be good to look at all of them really um you know we need to be really intentional about what we're looking for from the committees and you know what best use of the committee would be. So those are just my thoughts
081about that. But thank you. >> Great. Yeah. Appreciate that. >> I thought all seven of of us were on the gap committee. >> I mean, I thought we were the gap committ. >> I mean, truly. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Any other comments tonight? >> Well, with no other comments on and no other things on our agenda, I uh call us ajourned for tonight. Thank you so much. early. >> I know that a brief tenure for me. >> Not in budget season. >> It's probably the shortest tenure I've had. >> I could have done that.