001Good evening. Good evening everybody. Uh this meeting of the Elmar County School Board is now in session. Want to remind everybody that uh Dr. Rebecca Berlin, our vice chair, is participating by phone. She is on a work-related business trip. Um coming out of close meeting. Do we have a motion? >> We do. Chair Acre, 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 Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorized to close meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Page, seconded by Miss Lee. Uh, Miss Thompson, can you call the vote? Miss Osborne, >> yes. >> Mr. Paige, >> yes.
002>> Miss Prior, >> yes. >> Miss Spillman, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Dr. Berlin, >> yes. >> Chair Auff, >> yes. Motion passes. Um, do we have a motion coming out of closed meeting? >> We do. Chair Auff, I move that the board approve the employment contract of the chief legal officer. Second >> motion made by Miss Lee, seconded by Miss Spilman. All those in favor? I I opposed. >> Motion passes. Congratulations. >> Um, next item is uh a roll call. Let's identify who we are for the community who is who are listening at home. >> Uh, Mr. Reading. >> Why don't we go that way? >> Sorry. >> Yes. I'm Dan Reading, chief HR Officer. >> Western AL album, student representative. >> Oh, Claire Curry. >> Thank you, Miss Curry. >>
003Judy Lee, Ryana District. Allison Spilman, at large representative. >> Graham Page, Miller District. >> Kate AOV, Jack Jew. >> Ellen Osborne, Scottsville district. >> Leslie Prior, Rio District. Chandra Hayes, assistant superintendent of instruction. >> Matthew Hall, superintendent. Josiah Black, Chief Legal Officer. >> Pat Mclofflin, assistant superintendent for strategic planning. >> Dr. Berlin, you want to go ahead and go? >> Yes. >> Chief HR officer, student representative. >> She's watching. >> Oh, she's watching the Zoom. >> Erin Stone, assistant division council. >> Dr. Berlin as a vice chair um for Whiteall and she is on the phone right now. We're having a little delay with her being on on the on the um >> apologies. This is Rebecca Berlin from Whiteall and thank you for letting me um uh join remotely. >> Christine Thompson, clerk of
004the board. Now over here, >> Erin Stone, assistant division council and officer Officer Bonnie, Abal County PD. >> Thank you so much. Um, now those who are able, let's stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Now, we'll just have a moment of silence before we get started. The next item is to approve tonight's agenda. Do I have a motion? >> I move we approve tonight's agenda. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Lee, seconded by Miss Osborne. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Next item is a spotlight on education and we have Miss Butler. Good evening, cherry cuff, members of the
005school board, members of the superintendent's cabinet. I'm Jennifer Butler, deputy chief communications officer, and I am delighted to join you this evening for our spotlight on education. Tonight we have the privilege of highlighting ACPS educators who create whose creativity, initiative, and innovation have led to new opportunities for students across our division. These teachers have earned competitive grants, developed community partnerships, and launched hands-on learning experiences that inspire curiosity, inclusion, and joy in the classroom. Several of our honores are with us this evening and others were unable to join us in but they have shared statements, photos or videos for us to celebrate their work. We are proud to honor each of them and the impact they are having on their students, their schools and our community. Tonight we begin by recognizing two outstanding educators from Scottsville
006Elementary School, Kelly Christ and Tina Panella. Third grade teacher Kelly Christ received the American Chemical Society's Distinguished Elementary School Science Teacher Award and an accompanying grant to enhance her science instruction. Kindergarten teacher Tina Panella received the ACS Elementary Science Grant for her project, Kindergarten Science Through Art, which builds early science understanding through creative hands-on activities. Principal Cindy Wells shared the following. In order to foster active engagement to build knowledge and passion for science through the arts, two Scotsville teachers received awards from the American Chemical Society Virginia section. Kelly received an $800 grant to enhance her science instruction, including plans for an indoor greenhouse. And Tina received $452 to support her project integrating clay, insect models, and tie-dye kits to bring science concepts to life. Next, we recognize Karen Acriman who received a teacher innovation grant
007from the public education foundation of Charlottesville Albamarl >> or PEFKA to support the first Lego League robotics club at Henley Middle School. Her program has doubled in size this year and provides students with meaningful opportunities to learn coding, engineering, and teamwork. Karen writes, "I am very grateful for PFKA for the $1,000 grant to support the Hen Henley First Lego League Robotics Club. The funding has allowed us to expand participation, increase access to materials, and bring in mentors from Western Alamar High School who support the students in their work. We also want to acknowledge Michelle Banazac of Albamarl High School who received a PEKA teacher innovation grant for her project Pocket Talk enhancing classroom communication and accessibility. Thanks to her grant, Michelle explained, Alamar High School was able to purchase 10 Pocket Talk portable voice translator
008units that support more than 90 languages and provide seamless two-way translation. These devices now allow peer tutors and staff to converse instantly with students and families in their native languages during tutoring sessions, school tours, and study groups. This capability has strengthened communication and improved rapport between tutors and students, creating more inclusive and approachable academic support across the school community. Although Michelle could not join us this evening, we are grateful for the powerful impact her work is having on students and teachers at AHS. Our next honore is art teacher Janette Sto who received a Pepka grant to lead a block printing workshop for all art one students at Montichello High School. Janette said, "This was a wonderful opportunity for students to learn a skill used in many cultures throughout history to distribute information and record history.
009This cross-curricular project was a fun hands-on class activity that kept students engaged and learning something new." Janette shared these photos of her student work. We also recognize Angie Foreman from Stone Robinson Elementary who was awarded an impressive four grants this year. Three from PEFKA and one from the Shannon Foundation. Her project supports student well-being, bilingual literacy, neurodeivergent representation, and research-based analysis schools collection. Although Angie is leading Stone Robinson's literacy night this evening, she shared a video demonstrating the impact of her work. A link to Angie's video is included in tonight's slide deck and I encourage you to view it when time allows. Now, I'd like to transition to hearing from our honores who were able to attend this evening. Our first presenters are Bernest Brithorne and Erica Goff who are co-leading an immersive authentic field
010ex research experience for AP environmental science students at Montichello High School supported by Pepfka and Shannon Foundation grants. Good evening. Bernest and I wanted to give students the opportunity to engage in authentic and self-directed field research experience. So, we applied for funding through the Shannon Foundation and Public Education Foundation. With this funding, we were able to build field kits to support outdoor explorations and teach science to our AP envir science students throughout the year and also take 18 students on a weekend field trip to Mountain Lake Biological Research Station, which is a UVA field research station in Southwest Virginia. Students were mentored by biology graduate students and professors from UVA, Mary Baldwin, and Virginia Tech while we were at the station to develop and design an open inquiry research project and then present their findings
011to a wider school community. Today less time outdoors than their predecessors and we wanted to provide opportunities for meaningful engagement with the outdoors and to explore research questions um while they were at the station. I spent three summers at Mount Lake as a grad student at UVA and I wanted to take students there because of its biodiversity and abundant opportunities for ecology and evolution studies for a wide variety of plants and animals. My career goals were heavily influenced by similar experiences and field trips that I had as a high schooler and it inspired me to study science in graduate school and also become an educator. So, I'm really grateful that this trip inspired students and that we were able to provide this opportunity to our students. >> Yes. Uh you all can see a photo
012of the field kit in front of you here. Uh but what students were able to do with both the funding uh from Pepka of allowing us to go to Mountain Lake and then these field kits uh were to break into groups with their research mentors, develop their own questions based on observations and curiosity that they had as we looked at this place uh and then have a day and a half to explore and analyze data. Um some of the consequences were intended. Uh we saw improvements in understanding of the content. Students were engaged. um on surveys they all said that either they agreed or strongly agreed that their understanding of the natural environment improved their ability to ask questions their understanding of the scientific method. Uh we also had some unintended consequences as well. A
013lot of the students commented about how meaningful it was to have time in nature with people and away from phones. Um, even though the facility has Wi-Fi and we had freetime or evenings, I don't think I saw a phone out the entire weekend. Um, students were making s'mores, they were playing games, and many of them commented that was really important to get to interact with students they normally wouldn't outside of a classroom context. Um so we were able to share this opportunity with our students which like Mskoff I my own education opportunities and career trajectory were influenced by being able to spend time outside exploring. So it was really meaningful to be able to share this with students and in their surveys as you all can see in these quotes that they are now wanting
014to make their own choices about their future influenced by this experience. Um some of you u might have seen an invitation. We had a poster session recently where students were able to engage in something that I didn't do until I was in graduate school. Um but to work with research mentors develop a poster sharing their um research um and then present it to community members um families, students from our environmental science class who weren't able to attend and community members as well. Um, and it was really incredible to walk around and see students uh sharing what they knew and also for students who weren't able to go on the trip to learn from their peers. Um, as far as what we would like to do next, uh, we have the field kits. We've already used
015them in other labs. They're evergreen, so we're going to be using these throughout the year. Uh, and we're hoping to be able to recreate this trip next year, working with the organization to kind of be creative with ways to cut budget now that we've done it once. Um, and we're really looking forward to ways to continue to expose students to field research, uh, both here on our campus and hopefully in other environments in Virginia as well. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Sounds like an incredible experience for you all as well as the students. >> Yes. >> I don't know. I think they had more fun, but it was close. >> My dad was a science ele uh middle school science teacher, so I did a lot of this stuff outside the classroom. >> But
016great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next, we welcome equity coordinator Megan Washburn, who secured the USA Pickle Ball Serves Grow the Game Grant on behalf of ACPS. This grant is helping bring adaptive and inclusive pickle ball opportunities to students, including partnerships with the Trail Head Learning Community. We'll begin with a recent video of students unpacking and exploring their new equipment, followed by remarks from Megan. Pickle ball in particular is great because it's a space where able-bodied kids are able to play with kids who are in wheelchairs and be side by side. >> I don't know a lot of sports that are like that. Um, and it's a great way to build community and as you can hear the joy and the laugh that is happening right now. Um the kids just it um being together
017like that. Oh yeah, that's a nice hit. Yeah. So Emily Tomco came to me uh about um in July sometime to ask about playing pickle ball with her post high kids and her question was around equipment and resources for her kids. Um and I I was able to find some paddles to donate for my personal stash. But I found this grant from USA Pickleball called Grow the Game and um I was like, let's just apply for it. And we applied for it and we earned the grant and now the kids have all the pickle ball equipment. >> We got uh several packages from USA Pickle Ball including 75 paddles, 100 balls, two nets, and a banner. And the kids all open them and helped put together the nets. Um opened all the paddles and now
018they're playing and having a great time. How fun was it to open the packages to to get all this stuff out of them? Uh, >> it was really fun. >> Having the equipment here provides opportunity for our students to be able to socialize on a different level. A lot of our students have occupational and physical therapy needs. And this is just another way to improve their mobility and their um physical skill sets. We also have uh students other than post high here that this that really really need the skill of team building and this is just a fun and easy way to um incorporate even social emotional learning and um team player skills. A lot of our students they just don't they don't do well in groups and it the more fun we can make
019it the better they do. >> Do you like playing team sports? >> Yeah, I do. What um what's your favorite part about playing team sports? >> I not playing team sport before, but >> I never played it before. >> But now you get to maybe every day. >> Yeah. >> So that's going to be fun. >> Yeah. >> Do you enjoy playing sports? >> Yep. Sure be. >> And why do you enjoy playing sports? >> Well, since I was like 17 or 18, I played pickle ball since the first time I did. and it made me feel realize I I I feel joy myself playing the ball >> cuz it's so exciting. It's a lot of fun. >> Historically, equity in our county has been about um race and gender and sometimes our students with
020special capacities are um often overlooked. And so this is an opportunity for our work to together um to consider the intersectionality of student identities and ensure that all our students are receiving equitable experiences. So grateful at the trail head learning community that Megan um advocated for our students and really um saw a need and worked really hard to fulfill that and we appreciate her and the whole equity team very much. Hi everyone. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share the work that we're doing at Trailheaded Learning Community. Um, as you know, my name is Megan Washburn and I'm an equity coordinator and many of you know I am obsessed. I'm sorry, I think the word I wrote was passionate about pickle ball. Um uh as a lifelong athlete, I've been a
021part of many teams across many different sports. Um and when I played division one softball, I was removed from the team for a part of my identity. Um there are many reasons that I love pickle ball. Um it gives me a space to continue to be athletic and compete. It um it gives me a space to meet people I would have never met in my life. Um so many people that are important to me. And um my pickleball community also offers me opportunities for authentic connection and authentic belonging so that I can be that that person I couldn't be on that softball team. Um as I travel across the nation to play um play pickle ball, I always wear my equity coordinator hat. So I'm watching and looking and I see players who are diverse
022by race and gender and age. I see um people using wheelchairs alongside um able-bodied players. I see um folks wearing prosthetics, playing and being successful on the court. Um pickle ball crosses into my work as an equity coordinator because I see the power of how it br together. Um one thing that's missing from our broader Charlottesville pickle ball community is that adaptive pickle ball. Um and it's not about the sport itself, it's about our infrastructure. Um, pickle ball is one of those few places um that like I said able-bodied players can come together with people who are in wheelchairs and um it's because of the weight of the paddle, the size of the court, and the rules that USA pickle ball puts into place for us. Um, last year Heather Russell and I started teaching
023our students how to play pickle ball. We started with the intensive support center and some students at Stone Robinson Elementary. Um and then uh as you saw in the video, Emily Tomco approached me in July and wanted to get this going for post high and now all the students at Trailhead Learning Community. You're you're going to receive a one pager that talks a little bit more about the grant, but um it came from USA pickle ball and their mission is to um spread pickle ball throughout the world and the nation um and and support inclusive programs like the ones that we're trying to do. Um, equity begins with access and this grant helps us to remove some of those barriers um for our historically been excluded from full participation um in physical education and sports.
024Adaptive pickle ball creates a pathway for every student to experience the benefits of physical activity, teamwork, and belonging. And just those who and not just those who fit into those traditional athletic participation as you can see um the students in the video were laughing. They were connected. They were moving. You could feel the joy emanating from the video. Um, this initiative directly addresses the special capacities element of our mission, challenging the systems and assumptions that too often limit access to opportunities for students with disabilities. It's a powerful example of equity and action. We're not giving everyone the same thing. We're giving every learner what they need to thrive. I want to uplift Emily Tomco whose passion and ideas sparked this. um Karen Frink, whose love of pickle ball and dedication to her students um to
025help them find success ha and um affirmation have helped to maintain the momentum for this project. And Megan Marshall who's here supporting um without her leadership that inspires others to step out um and take ownership of how they support students to be successful and live their authentic lives. Through this grant, we're not just teaching pickle ball. We're um teaching belonging, confidence, and lifelong wellness. We're showing that when we design with equity in mind, every student gets to play, every student gets to grow, and every student gets to thrive. That's what our mission looks like in motion. Thank you so much for letting me share tonight. >> Thank you so much, >> Meg. Thank you. Um you know, my No, you're good. Um you know, I'm a little nervous. >> No, you're good. Um, my son
026attends TLC and I'm personally grateful for this. Um, there are not a lot of adaptive sport options for our kids um, in the community and especially in our schools. And as Miss Marshall said, those kids lack um, teamwork and team building. And so to give these opportunity, I think is priceless. So, personally from my family, thank you very much for this opportunity for my son. >> Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. He was one of the first that I got to teach. Thank you. Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. >> Also with us this evening is fourth grade teacher Megan Sullivan of Brownsville Elementary School. Megan received the Community Climate Collaborative Outstanding Educator Award for her leadership in helping make the organization's climate activi climate action activity kits classroom ready and for the engaging sustainability
027lessons she brings to her students each year. >> Megan, good evening. Um, so these are just some pictures of u my kids using the kits. Um, so since 2021, the community climate collaborative, which is also called C3, uh, in Charlottesville, has worked with ACPS to provide fourth grade students with free hands-on science kits each spring. Um, these climate action kits align with our fourth grade science curriculum and they provide authentic connections to the units to our units of study. Not only do the kits uh include terrific classroom projects and teacher guides, but they also um include activities to bring home um such as word searches, math challenges, scavenger hunts. Um there's information for families that help them consider ways to conserve energy and to and contact information for community resources. Katina Dudley and I have
028worked over with C3 over over the years to improve the activities and information to best match student and family needs. Last year, students grew edomame seedlings. Um they made solar nightlights which are up there. Um and they created desktop paper windmills. C3 works really hard to ensure that every fourth grader across the county has access to the same great kits for zero cost. Last year, they provided us with 1,020 science kits. These kits are highly engaging and educational, and I'm grateful to be able to partner with such a wonderful local organization to improve the science experiments for our students. >> Thank you. And finally, closing tonight's spotlight is Albamaral High School's Chris Buunan, whose leadership in geographic information systems or GIS education has earned national recognition recognition, including a recent EZRI case study highlighting his
029innovative approach. Through grant support, drones, field research, and advanced mapping tools, Chris has created a platform that inspires students to connect social studies with real world problem solving and pursue future academic and career pathways with confidence. >> Sorry about that. >> Yeah. Good evening. Um, it's hard to believe that it was around 20 years ago I was standing up here getting recognized by the school board because you all were about to approve me for a leave of absence to go work with a teaching American history grant at UVA and the focus was going to be on bringing emerging technologies into the history classroom and one of those technologies was geographic information systems. Six years later, the grant ended and I had the GIS and geography bugged. And so Jen Subl, who was the lead social
030studies coordinator at the time, said, "You need to talk to Jay Thomas." He likes shiny things. And uh so I talked to Jay and he said, "So what do you want to do here when if I hire you?" I was like, "I want to build you the best geography program you could have in this division and get our kids employed and highly paid." He goes, "I like it." And so in front of you today are eight folks who've gone through the geography or GIS program. Due to time I won't share with you all of the comments. Um but the program has been invited to share with the council for social studies coordinators conference in DC to share what we're doing with modern geography. And so about two weeks ago I reached out to some alumni
031and said hey I've got to do this presentation. I'd like some of your thoughts on the impact the program had. And then lo and behold, Jennifer reaches out and I was like, "Well, I'm all about double or triple dip dipping when I can." And so I'm gonna use some of their comments to share with you the why we do this. Whenever you write a grant, it's not about what you're going to do, it's about why do we do it and why should you pay for it. So I want to start with Chelsea Chavers. Kelsey Chambers. Kelsey graduated from AHS in 2016. She is currently a US Marine Corps cgrapher and in 2024 she served as the Marine Corps's interim GIS manager. Here's what she had to share. I use geography and modern geography tools every
032single day. I love that geography can be considered a social science because it really does impact so many people. As a ctographer, I use geography and modern tools with my professional career. I solve problems every day with maps. It's crucial that I know my audience and what they care about based on where they are and what they do. Without the influence of geography, my job would be a hundred times harder. In my personal life, I use maps every single day. The other alumnist I want to highlight is Mark Reordan. Mark did not go down the geography path. He went down the political science path. Uh and he is currently the de deputy district director for Congressman Eugene Vidman and former district coordinator for former congresswoman and governor elect Abigail Spanberger. Here's what he shares about
033the influence of geography. Working in politics, using mapping tools to predict or follow political voting and trend evaluations has been the most direct way I interact with mapping tools. More generally, geography and my experience in AP human geography continues to influence how I approach a number of different policy projects by always considering how geographic and demographic differences may create differing effects on our populations. In the top right is Cecilia Smith. She is a class of 2023 graduate who's preparing to get her bachelor of arts degree in smart and sustainable cities and her master's degree in urban and regional planning from well I like to call it the University of Virginia Tech. She wrote, "My high school AP geography class allowed me to think both creatively and analytically in a way that none of my other
034classes did. this challenged and excited me ultimately leading me to pursue an urban planning degree in college. Um, let's see here. She also shared that many of my peers entered my major without a foundation of GIS, but my early exposure helped me find my passion and direction much sooner. I am deeply grateful for the experiences. I strongly believe that offering geography and GIS within social studies curricula gives students valuable tools to understand and shape the world around them. bottom right to the left, Heba Awan. Heba Awan is a secondyear student at the College of William and Mary, majoring in data science and became a teaching assistant for the William and Mary GIS program as a freshman. She said, "High school geography stands out to me because it was the first time I saw how spatial
035patterns influence social, political, and economic circumstances. It helped me connect global events to the spaces in which they occur and understand how geography shapes decision-making. Looking back, it was such an amazing opportunity to expose this kind of thinking in high school rather than having to wait till college. Most students don't get the chance to work with geographic data or develop a deep understanding of spatial relationships until much later. Having this early exposure allowed me to enter college ready and confident in my GIS abilities, which ultimately shaped my decision to major in data science. And then one, it literally just came off my email at 3:30 this afternoon. Got an email from a freshman at James Madison University. She wrote, "I will never be able to express my gratitude for album offering the GIS courses. I
036distinctly remember you coming into my class sophomore year to advertise AP human geography and GIS." I knew nothing about GIS, but I did that I wanted to be pushed outside of my comfort zone. So, I signed up for both of your classes and I'm so glad I did. I never really knew what I wanted to go to college for or what I wanted to do in life. And I figured out out in your class while GIS made me feel so crappy sometimes. I felt so proud that I saw my work come together finally and that made it all worth it. I remember there being times that I wanted your help so bad and you wouldn't help me and I would feel so discouraged. But now I'm so happy that that you didn't hold my hand
037the whole way through and I was forced to figure it out myself. Also, GIS just introduced me to so many cool things, opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities and gave me overall great opportunities. Because of GIS, I know what I want to do in life and already have background knowledge on a lot of things people are just now beginning to learn. In addition, we've been able to use. So that's just those are our folks. That's why we're doing this. Um, in addition, we've been able to use GIS and social studies to receive a $50,000 grant from National Geographic that we received in 2020. We've been able to use that experience money to take teach students out to be cultural geographers to experience through the lens of geography. So, we've been able to use
038it to invite in leading scholars to talk about how they are using work for environmental and social justice. That's in the bottom right. That's Professor Johnny Finn from Christopher Newport University. We've gone out with drones to capture public service videos to make uh cool videos of Alam in the fall and so forth. We've been able to visit um the memorial to the enslaved labor and understand all the thought that goes into memorials. Don't think about it, but you don't just put a memorial anywhere. You have to put it somewhere with meaning. And so when you think about that, there's a reason why the Vietnam Memorial is not right here on the court steps. when they put it up it was controversial. So you put controversial things not in the center but off where people have
039an opportunity to reflect but not right where other people will see it. And when they go out on these field experiences they're asked to think like a geographer and to realize that what you see and experience is in the eye of the beholder. There's a professor named DW Minik who says that everybody experiences space differently and he submits there are 10 different versions of experiences. Some people experience nature, habitat, ideology, wealth and so forth. And so just last week we took a field trip to Mount Peelar and even then space is you don't generalize it. It's very specific. So one part of the area can have one sense then you move to another part and another sense. And so this just shows you the type of data we're collecting. And so people that visited the
040historic train station outside of Mount Peelar, you can see the variety and ways in which students experience that place personally. But then we also have a chance to see how we understand it collectively. So I want to thank the school board, the school division, and the school for helping support this dynamic program. Thank you. >> Great work. I mean, I we've heard from some extraordinary educators tonight that have translated their passion to getting the funding to get things done, and it's really inspiring. I wish I had been a student in every one of your classes. Um, does anyone else have anything to say? Um, I know three of us on the school board are executive directors and have to write grants and it's not it's not always the most fun thing. So, I admire the
041initiative that went into that. Uh, and I think you know the proof is in the excitement that your students have shown. So, bravo. sort of hard to move to the next step on that but thank you all for being here. Um, we do have the next item of business though is school board and superintendent business. And I know that our student representative, we have now I think this is our fourth year with student schoolboard representatives and they've all been extraordinarily impressive and tonight is the first meeting that Miss Curry is attending and she has a brief introduction of herself and some of the issues that she is considering for our presenting for our consideration. >> Yes, thank you Dr. Akuff and good evening school board. My name is Claire Curry and I am serving as
042this year's school board student representative for Western Alamar High School. I am a junior this year and as I have learned how to navigate the ins and outs of Western, I have discovered the magic that the school thrives on. Western Albam Marl is an incredibly strong community. Yet, there are a few concerns that have been brought up that I'm going to address now. Currently, Western is facing a turbulent time when it comes to the political views that remain prominent in our schools. In recent weeks, the tensions on both sides of the political spectrum have began to boil over with emotions of uncertainty, defeat, and powerlessness. Both sides can see the growing divide that is breaking the bonds that many students hold so dearly. One's political stance should not be the factor that destroys friendships, relationships,
043or just simple classmate interactions. The state of the world currently has taught us that the best way to exist is to be separated, closed off, and constantly bring politics into the equation. But that is the exact opposite of how the United States came to be. Opinions cannot be controlled and politics will always be prominent in the world and in our schools. That I cannot change. Yet altogether we can do a better job at rekindling that connection and using our school strengths to keep a united western community. Let us all make sure that regardless of beliefs, our schools remain a place where students can disagree without division and engage without fear. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Curry. Is there any other school board or superintendent business? >> Um, yes. Do you have anything, Matt? >>
044No, ma'am. >> Okay. Um, I am going to make a motion, but I wanted to read a short statement first. Um, over the past several weeks, I've talked with parents, teachers, and students, including some from Turning Point, to really understand how our policies affect the people they're meant to serve. What I've heard has made me realize that while we all care deeply about our students experiences, there's room to strengthen our policies to make sure they reflect both our values and our responsibilities. Over time, our policies governing extracurricular clubs and outside speakers have served us well, but they deserve a fresh review. The legal landscape and our community expectations have continued to evolve, and we owe it to our students and staff to ensure those policies are clear, fair, and up-to-date. We carefully screen the curriculums
045taught in our classroom. We review the books in our libraries and the websites students can access at school. Even parent volunteers have to go through background checks before helping their in their children's classrooms. But right now, we don't have a clear consistent policy for vetting and approving thirdparty speakers to come into our schools or speak to student groups. That gap creates uncertainty for administrators, staff, and families. And that's not fair to anyone. But I want to be very clear. I fully support all student clubs and their right to meet. Our extracurricular groups provide incredible opportunities for leadership, friendship, and civic engagement. This motion is not about any single club or event. It's about reaffirming our district's commitment to both the First Amendment and the safety and dignity of every student. By asking the superintendent's office
046to review and update our procedures, we're ensuring that every student group, regardless of viewpoint, is treated equitably and that our schools remain welcoming, respectful spaces for learning and dialogue. I believe we can and must do both. So, I move that the board direct the superintendent's office to review and update all policies and administrative regulations governing student extracurricular cubs and outside speakers to ensure both robust protections for freedom of speech and safe and inclusive learning environments. The review shall establish viewpoint neutral criteria for club recognition, facility use, and speaker approval. Align with applicable federal and state law. Include clear safety protocols that do not discriminate based on viewpoint. Provide transparent procedures for event approval, cancellation, and appeal. Include staff and student training and include stakeholder cons consultation. Draft provisions with red lines and an implementation plan
047shall be presented to the board as soon as possible with implementation no later than the start of next school year. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. Motion made by Miss Spilman. Uh second in by Miss Osborne. Uh is there any discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> oppose. I >> motion passes. Thank you, Miss Filman. Um hard to follow that, but uh just in terms of news, um Mr. Paige and I went to the topping out ceremony at uh let me see if I get it right uh at Albamar Career Exploration Academy. I I'm getting used to trying to get used to not calling it center too. Uh that building is going uh great. I mean it was a great experience being there and they're already putting the sighting on it. So
048I think we're on according to Mr. Wartman. Looks like they will be wrapping up so we can open it for the next school year. Um, anything else? Well, I know we have a lot of end of the year reports tonight. So, um, why don't we Oh, >> public comment >> first. We have public comment. Do we have anyone signed up? >> We have three >> three people. >> Miss Osborne's going to manage this. >> Okay. 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. You can do it online. That sign up is available from 9:00 a.m. on the Monday of the meeting week until 2 pm on the meeting day. You can do it by phone. Call the school
049board clerk's office at 434972455 to sign up until 2 p.m. on the meeting day. Or you can do it in person. Sign up at the meeting is available until 6 pm. uh until the public from 6 pm until the public comment period. Please note that public comment is not received at special board meetings unless specified on the agenda. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak, but the chair with the board consent may reduce this to two minutes should there be more than 14 speakers. The maximum number of people or groups that may speak in a meeting is 20. In the event that 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 drawn to determine which people
050or 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 and either your address or your voting district. Address comments to the whole school board and not individuals. Limit your comments to schoolboard governance or school division operations. And you can 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, uh you are asked to wrap up your comments. Actually, you should wrap them up before the time is up. To maintain respect, please refrain from clapping or other audible forms of support. You may raise
051your hand instead and debate with the school is not allowed and the projection system is for staff presentations only. So tonight we have three speakers. Uh we have Mr. Chris Dilbeck and then Nancy Koig and Ashley Martin. And we'll go in that order. Hello school board. My name is Chris Dilbeck. I'm a resident of the Ryana district. Um I'd like to present today a potential alternative funding option for the new school that you all are thinking about. Um as you all some of you all here may know uh Al Marl is currently considering to relax the data center regulations in the county to allow a large data center to be built here. Um large data centers can have thousands of employees. Uh they may have families too. Uh which would increase demand on the school
052system accordingly. In order to help mitigate this impact idea for how the school board could work with the county ahead of time um to make approval for this new data center contingent on their collaboration with you all. Uh I would propose it be Camelot High School uh working together with the data center having them pay a significant percentage of the initial expense and then they would commit to yearly funding of the school. Uh in return uh you could offer them access to the schools across the county to run direct to work training programs for exceptional technical talent that come out of those high schools. Um they could even have uh volunteers come in, help with classes, uh participate in computer science programs at the schools. Uh and it would I think that would be an
053effective enticement for those data center owners to uh to work with an expending on an initiative like this. Uh additionally, there's opportunities outside of technical talent. Uh data centers require large quantities of support staff, facilities, HVAC, plumbers, electricians, um network and cabling kind of uh roles. So there's opportunities there to work with them to uh run support staff training programs direct to trades out of the high schools. uh they could have potentially two pipelines of exceptional talent in two different zones from the technical and non-technical uh coming direct into their data center which might encourage one of them to sign up for something like that. Uh so I ask that you all consider that proposal at some point. I yield back. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Cody, >> good evening. I'm Nancy Kernig from Scotsville.
054I'm a parent of a 2002 Montichello High School graduate retired from Red Hill Elementary in 2014 after teaching for more than 30 years in three elementary schools. I am very impressed by the high quality of the projects presented earlier this evening and by the teachers who took the time to write the grants. However, I am very concerned by the lack of focus on academic skills commendations on adopting a strong reading program for K5. However, the county budget provides $20,000 per student and yet the so scores are at 75% proficiency. I am one of the many retired teachers who remember when people would move to the county because of its excellence in education. In fact, some parents in neighboring jurisdictions would pay for their children to attend. What has happened? I suggest that the county has
055lost its focus. The document, what drives our division, exemplifies the lack of focus on academic excellence. In the superintendent's overview, the four sentences in the second paragraph list resilience, innovation, real world experiences, instructional practices, audit, equity, and wellness before mentioning at the very end of the paragraph, academic excellence. Not until page six of the document do we see mention of Thomas Jefferson's vision of ensuring that citizens were educated through public schools. that being essential for a functioning democracy. I quote those phrases from that document, which I commend, meet the needs of all students while preparing them with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and lifelong learners and make positive contributions to society. Those phrases, while good in themselves again, lack the f focus of academic excellence. Learning for all. The current strategic plan
056is indeed important, but academic excellence for all. The plan of the 80s and 90s for Alamoral County Public Schools should be our focus. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> And Miss Ashley Martin. >> All right. I'm Ashley Martin. I'm probably going to piggyback off of what Nancy said. Um I noticed a few years back when we were having school bus issue, everyone was upset and they got up to talk and then after they all left and spoke, um you guys were talking about capital improvements and solar panels and wind turbines and all that stuff. I see that after everyone speaks tonight, you're going to talk about the same type of stuff. You're focused on capital improvements rather than academic excellence. the student achievement is subpar in Al Maro County and yet over
057and over we're talking about new high school, a new uh elementary school when we just shut down an elementary school in Scotsville. So you could potentially use those older buildings and focus on student achievement and then once you get the student achievement then maybe spend millions of our tax dollars on capital improvements. Thank you. >> Thank you. That concludes public comment. >> Thank you, Miss Osborne. The next item on our agenda is to approve our consent agenda. >> I move we approve our consent agenda. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Uh motion to approve the consent agenda was made by Miss Lee, seconded by Mr. Page. All those in favor? I >> opposed. >> Motion passes. Um, next item of business is uh the Advisory Committee for Enviral Sustainability or ACES, their
058annual report and I don't know if it's a team presentation uh or not. We will soon find out. This is a committee that was established maybe four years ago and consists of uh school board appointees, staff and liaison to the county, Miss McKiel. >> Good evening and thank you for having us. This is a group uh presentation though sadly we're down one member who is supposed to be here tonight because she got the flu. Um and so Katina Dudley and I will will be speaking. our our committee member who was going to speak as well will like I said not be available. We're also joined like you said Dr. Akoff by Dian McKielle and and committee member um Betsy Solsby. Um so thank you again for having us. I'm John Kohl's. I'm the environmental program
059manager here at Elmer County Public Schools. I'm joined by Kina Dudley. Kina, I don't want to get your title wrong. So if you please tell us >> curriculum coordinator for science. >> There we go. Uh we're here to present the annual report from the advisory committee for environmental sustainability. Um that's a bit of a mouthful so we just go by ACES. We'll begin with a overview of our purpose and our focus areas. We'll transition to talking about some ongoing programs and then uh wrap up with the recommendations to the school board from the committee. Uh generally when we think of how ASA's work uh kind of aligns with the strategic plan, we think of these equitable transformative resources. Um but more and more of the focus on sustainability is about our student health and well-being
060and making sure that our buildings are safe and healthy places to learn as well as places that are beneficial to the environment. And so I think that really aligns with um many of these goals like our thriving students. Um, a a recent study showed that the school's learning environment has up to 25% of an impact on the students performance while they're here with our schools. And that's on things like indoor air quality, making sure we're not burning fossil fuels in the buildings, um, and things like that. Our purpose, and we start every meeting by going over the purpose. ASES is is exists to advise the school board and the superintendent on ways to help ACPS develop and reach sustainability goals. ASUS fosters an integrated series of tools and knowledge for the growth of environmental awareness
061and coordinates the implementation of the county's climate action plan as it relates to schools. We have five focus areas. The first four are aligned with the climate action plan that is transportation, land use, buildings and renewable energy. Sustainable materials management, landscape and natural resources and curriculum integration of climate action was a focus area that was added by the committee. Um, sorry, I'm going to go ahead and make this full screen here. Curriculum integration of climate action was a focus area that was added by the committee early on because we identified the need to really tie all of this work to the curriculum. Um like I said these sustain these uh sustainability updates that we're going to provide are ongoing programs. These are not new programs. Um first I wanted to highlight a few things on
062the energy efficiency front. Um the first is that in 2024 we saw record low energ building energy consumption despite added square footage. Our building energy sector greenhouse gas emissions have remained below the climate action plan 2030 target for 45% reductions and that's been ongoing and and steady since 2019. And um it's less less uh applicable now because the Energy Star program has kind of been shuttered. But uh at the time a few months ago all ACPS school buildings qualified for Energy Star certification with an average score of 99 out of 100. meaning that our school buildings are performing in the top 99% of all the buildings nation all all similar school buildings nationwide. Um I wanted to provide an update on solar energy at ACPS. Um I think this is a really critical piece of
063our achieving our climate action plan goals. Um ACPS has 4.8 megawatts of rooftop solar projects underway. The first are scheduled to be installed this uh fall and spring. These were procured via a combination of self-owned projects and power purchase agreement ownership models and are expected to these projects alone are expected to generate 33% of ACPS's total electricity usage combined with the existing solar we have that will be close to 50%. And these these projects are expected to save somewhere um around 10 over their their their total life. Um, I put a little caveat there because we're going to talk about it at the end, but there are some some political things that are happening that that threaten our solar projects. Um, and so we'll talk about that kind of when we get to the recommendation
064section of the proposal. And I'm going to turn it over to Kina. >> Good evening, Chair Auff and school board members. Um, again, my name is Katina Dudley. I am the curriculum coordinator um for science in the county and I've joined this team in that role to support the work that ACES is doing in partnerships with what's happening in our classrooms. Um so John mentioned the solar projects that we have going on. Um we also partner with Madison Energy Infrastructure to allow our students to have hands-on learning experiences in our classroom. they um have a former Almar County teacher that works for them now and she comes in and leads some of the projects and she's also created um kits so that I can also go around and use these solar panel kits with our
065students and just this morning they delivered um solar art kits so now we can use the solar panels so that the students can create art um at the same time our kids get really excited about these opportunities and they get to see exactly what's happening putting on our roofs and how that powers our buildings to actually powering whatever they can put in their hands um during those learning experiences. Again, these lessons are also aligned to our Virginia SOS and they strengthen our STEM learning and our real world career connections with our students. John has also worked really hard to ensure that each of our buildings has an an environmental sustainability liaison. The teachers in these roles or the staff members in these roles extend sustainability work happening across the division and they bring this work
066into the classrooms engaging students and managing actions in each school. We're highlighting some of the same people this evening that um you've seen highlighted earlier today for some similar but also different work. Um the MHS, the Montella High School Environmental Club under the leadership of Erica Goff has been collecting waste paper towels from bathrooms and diverting that waste to the school's composting stream. The student leaders are now working to expand this program because they want to educate their their peers during their advisory periods um to just learn more about composting. The Almar High School a change club under the leadership of Diana Weber has turned grocery bags into plastic yarn and repurposed this waste by knitting sleeping mats and then they donate those mats to um a homeless shelter, The Haven, here in Charlottesville. This
067group has also collected over 950 pounds of plastic films and they've donated those to Trex decking to be reused. As a result of their work, this group was awarded UVA sustainability leadership award um at the end of last year. We also have sustainability liaison Mary Morales and Chelsea Lungren who collaborate together to educate students and fellow staff on sustainability initiatives that has led Mountain View to receiving the na the National Wildlife Federation's EOS schools award. We also wanted to highlight um a partnership between a collaboration between teachers at Walton Middle School, Heather Keell and Jennifer Perk. Um, they run a recycling club and last year they recycled over 1,000 pounds of paper. Annually, Almar County partners with Community Climate Collaborative, also known as C3, as you heard earlier from Megan Sullivan. They provide educational climate
068kits for every single fourth grader in the division. We also partner with local um businesses to provide guaranteed meaningful watershed um educational learning experiences um for all of our fourth graders, all of our sixth graders. And this year we're expanding those partnerships so that we can offer those experiences to our students in biology at the high school level. In 2024, the amount of compostable material collected exceeded all previous years combined. We wanted to highlight this mid 2025 data shows that ACPS is on track to set another record this school year. So, you can see on this graph that these are actually annual years and not academic school years. Um, another notable example includes Walton Middle School where the lead custodian, Melvin Bradley, collected and repurposed cardboard boxes throughout the year. He stored them at the
069school, eliminating the need to purchase new boxes for end ofear packing um for teachers as they needed to clean out and move to different rooms. So, this is also a very exciting night to be here. I really appreciate all of the teacher recognitions that occurred earlier. Thank you. So this part is is the recommendations from the committee. Again, I was hoping hopeful that one of our committee members will be able to provide this information to you. I'm sorry because I I think it would be more meaningful to hear it from the committee, but unfortunately, like I said, she was sick. So I'll do my best. I'm going a little off book here. So the first recommendation from the committee is the adoption of an anti- idling reduction policy in our light duty fleet vehicles. um
070this this policy uh would be uh kind of incorporated into schoolboard policy EBA. Um there's numerous benefits to idling reduction. Um obviously the health benefits all the things that come out of tailpipe are not good for our health. Um nitrous oxides particles like PM2.5 and PM1 and PM PM10 all of these things are known to cause asthma and other respiratory conditions especially in young people like our students. um what's good for the person is typically good for the planet. And so these these correlate to good benefits for the environment as well. Um and there's a financial benefit there because you see less uh running of of engines. So you see less wear on the engines, less fuel usage. So we see that financial benefit too. Um so like I said this we're proposing this as
071a amendment to policy EBA. I know that the policy uh team is working on this right now. So hopefully this will come before you shortly. Um the policy, some highlights of this policy. It applies to all light duty fleet. So it does not apply to our school bus fleet. I know they already have a policy for how they handle idling. Um it sets a maximum idling time at 5 minutes. And it requires the operator to stay with the vehicle while idling. Um it allows exceptions for occupancy safety during times of high heat or high cold or you know extreme cold. um anytime a vehicle needs to operate for continue to run to operate specialty equipment for maintenance and during warm-up times during cold weather. Um the language is intentionally bl broad broad um and that
072allows each department to develop SOPs within that department uh to meet their specific needs. The second recommendation um is for the the adoption of a light duty fleet as we transition vehicles over time. Uh this was a smart goal that was developed by the committee. Um and one of the things I wanted to highlight is the A in smart goals as we talk about them in our committee meetings. We talk about the A being the achievable portion. Um and and we really look to our schoolboard liaison and then now today to your to our whole school board to determine whether this is achievable or not because we we identify achievable as is the division willing to do the work to make it happen and that's really for you all to tell us but we're recommending
073that it happens. Um so so this the highlights of this policy or this uh this goal would be beginning in f fiscal year 2027 as vehicles come up for replacement we evaluate whether or not an EV that is comfortable so still serving the division in the same way is available and if so replace it with an EV. each vehicle will be evaluated and then we acknowledge that there may be a slight budget difference and we don't want to interrupt the u the the vehicle replacement cycle because we know it's already far behind. Um and so we would be putting in a we'd be working with our in the transportation department to create a budget proposal to cover any cost delta between EVs and regular engine vehicles. Uh, recommendation three, this is one that was specifically
074from the committee to reduce single-use plastics in our schools. Um, there's less of a of a specific action that the committee's asking for here and more of a um general push to reduce single-use plastics. I think this is being seen a lot in our lunchrooms, but but really across our our programs. I I put pulled together some statistics this afternoon. And I put these together every year to planning commission who requests this data. But the the school division by my estimates generates somewhere near uh 200 two 2,900 tons of waste each year. Um and only 650 of those get diverted to recycling or compost. And so that's a lot of waste that goes into the trash. A lot of it's paper. It's certainly heavy waste, but I think a lot of it's also plastic coming
075out of our lunchrooms. And so the committee has really asked um that we really evaluate ways in which we can reduce our our single use plastics. Um there's a number of benefits associated with it. Um there's a lot of un unnecessary waste generation. Um I think in the lunchrooms especially where we have composting programs going on. It becomes very hard for the students to um pull that out and it kind of contaminates our our compostable waste. That's the picture that's here is a picture. I I receive pictures every time our compost company comes to collect and they send me a picture of all the plastic they pulled out and so this is one of those pictures. Um and so here are some suggestions that the committee put together on ways to do that. Um again
076this is you know done through a budget initiative to bring more compostable materials and get some of these plastic items. Um but we would welcome input from the board on on how they saw it best to deal with that. The final recommendation um is is for the board support and I know we we missed the this board's legislative agenda um but for board uh support any state level actions to enable on-site renewable energy at our schools. Um right now uh there are several barriers at the state level to to implementing solar and I'll show an example of this here in a moment. Um these include interconnection request delays, excess of grid upgrade costs where the utilities actually requiring the schools to pay to upgrade their grid in order to interconnect solar. Um and then I
077know that also uh several of the larger utilities in the state are uh petitioning the state corporation commission to reduce the net metering credit. So that means that that they would buy the solar back from us at a lower rate than we would buy electricity from them. And that's that threatens the viability of these projects. Um, solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy generation available and so solar projects often offer long-term operational savings as well as the ability to meet our um environmental and sustainability goals. So, it's a really critical um it's really critical for our for our ability to meet these climate action goals that have been set by the county and by the committee. Um and and an example of this um this is Walton Middle School where we're one of
078the schools that's being worked on as this part part of this PPA project. The the image on the left was the original design for this school. Um it was a $556 kilowatt project and it was estimated to generate $1.2 million of savings over the 25-y year life of this project. Um, Dominion Energy as part of our interconnection application indicated that we would need to install over a million dollars of equipment up they upgrade their grid before they would allow us to move forwards with this project. Um, and so the option is either to pay this uh, which would negate any savings from the project or we could reduce the project down below the threshold where they care. Um but this dramatically reduces the amount of solar energy we can generate um the amount of environmental
079benefit we receive and the amount of savings. And so so the board respect respectfully asks that the or I'm sorry the committee respectfully asks that the school board uh support any sort of state action whether it be through the state corporation commission or legislation that would uh help with solar energy on our school buildings. Um there are supposed to be a questions or feedback but that's all I have. What the the board I'm sorry again the committee specifically requested two pieces of feedback. Um number one is uh like like Dr. AF said this is our fourth year. Um and and so we were wondering this is this the end of our fourth year and so we were wondering A is the is the committee achieving the goals that it was set out to achieve and
080b are there any topics that you all would like us to consider and discuss as we meet in this next year. Thank you very much. >> I would I would like to invite our two schoolboard representatives on that committee if they to start to start us out. if you have any. >> Well, the um one of the things that I mean we've been discussing the um electric fleet replacement and um you know the plastics and certainly we have all discussed that here on the board several times but um I I don't know that we've gotten any broad movement on it. So I thought that the recommendation of you know directing staff to at least evaluate what our usage is um and see if there are places where we can reduce and ways that we can
081reduce would be I I think that would be a positive step forward for us since we seem to discuss it. It seems like we have agreement some agreement on the board that you know it's something that we should be looking at. So that that's where I would start with that >> Mr. Paige. And uh with number three, I think um ASUS had already started on some ideas of how to do that in schools and what even I think had um a pilot program at one school. Right. So that would be one thing that I think we could really focus on quite a bit. Number three. >> Yes, sir. I agree. Um and and you're correct. Murray Elementary School, um there were a few hiccups with getting that off the ground. First the dishwasher was broken
082and then they were down a staff member for a little while. But um at the beginning of November the pilot reusable flatear uh the reusable flatwear pilot did start at Murray Elementary School. I have not heard anything as of yet as to how it's going but I know it's going. >> Yeah, I was going to ask about that because they presented on it last year. Um but I'd be curious to know what the if there's cost savings associated with the investment. I think that they had said that they had had some in storage that they were able to use if we were to implement this across um the division. Uh what is the cost of those single-use plastics versus the investment in um washable silverware to use? Um I think as we go into budget
083that would be an interesting um comparison to have. I think the the ma main driving cost that that made it seem like it may be unfeasible at a larger scale was um was actually the cost of labor to do the dishwashing. I don't think the cost of the utensils was the was the factor and I think one of the data points that we're really looking to get from the pilot at Murray is to determine how many utensils are lost. I think one of the the arguments against it was that um the students are still going to throw it whether by accident or intentionally >> especially in elementary school >> right in the trash. And so one of the reasons we chose Murray which I think is a good thing but also a challenge is that
084they have such a robust program and they were so excited to do it but I think they'll be also more likely to really see it through. We would hope we could do the pilot at two schools so we could kind of get better uh you know more holistic data. >> Yeah I'd be interested in what the whole cost of that shift would be. I very much and maybe I was asleep last year, but I very much like having concrete recommendations. >> Um and uh so I really like to see that. I have questions though about the vehicle replacement. I don't really I have to confess I don't see I don't recall where in the budget that is. I know it's not in the capital budget. It's in the operating budget for small vehicles. Is that
085correct? >> I'm not an expert here either. I think that there is a small fund uh called the vehicle replacement fund. I think it has something like $200,000 in it. I see Roslin coming this way. >> Get the COO in here to to to in >> and what do we use those light vehicles for? I would also be interested knowing >> it's walking slow because you were act uh it is part of our operating fund. It is one of our our special revenue funds uh because we transfer um on a recurring basis. It is grossly underfunded. It was a um it's something that anytime we have some one-time money, we um push to it. Um so foreshadowing that um potential requests in the budget, it is all of our non-school buses. So think of all
086the trucks our electricians drive. Um technology has some vehicles to move equipment. It's all of your non bright yellow. Um >> is it used for student transportation as well? Um so we do operate a fleet of um vans for pupil transportation. We've recently um formed a committee to evaluate which ones need to be replaced first and pupil >> and that would be included >> obviously takes um priority. >> Yeah. I just had a a question about the language of comparable vehicles. I mean that might need to be uh word smithed a bit. I mean, is it comparable in in performance? I mean, they're not going to be right now, particularly when all the funding for subsidies has seemingly vanished, >> right? I think um the the full report did provide a more comprehensive list of
087the ways that they should be evaluated against each other. >> Um so, it was, as you said, daily mileage um performance, the job that basically something that can do the same job for the division. So obviously you wouldn't replace an electrician's van with a Prius, >> right? I I was I was really looking at the dollar signs, but >> yeah. So that that was the one thing that we weren't looking uh apples to apples on because we knew that there may be some cost differences. Some vehicles I think are are comparable in price and some are not. And so that's where that uh budget request would come come in. and and I was talking with the transportation department today on that and I think we're going to do it perhaps as a separate request from
088the vehicle replacement fund so they can kind of be evaluated each on their own. >> Speaking of vehicles, with respect to the idling policy, have we ever done a study like how many cars are lined up at Agnar every morning and how how much time is spent on that? How how do we get our hands around the volume of emissions, you know, because of the drop off lanes? >> Yeah, that's been a a big area of discussion with the committee and it's I think it's a harder thing for the committee to recommend on. I think what we were talked about doing um was using this liaison program to maybe see if we can get some students to go out there and collect some of that data. >> Um but but we haven't done anything concrete
089with that yet. But even just the numbers, I mean, of course, some of the some of the cues for for that are on on the streets, not on not on school property. So you I know that there they go for maybe not blocks and blocks, but for quite a while. It'd be nice to have some data about that, like how many I know in my neighborhood, it's Greer and uh and Agner whenever I drive by there's big queue. I'm sure it's the case all over the county, but >> I think it is. >> Um I think my question about whether um the committee is meeting goals is I wonder what it was like before we had the committee. It was only like five years ago. I don't remember like how was the division handling you
090know our footprint and our sustainability efforts. Is that you know fully staff or >> I mean is that different? Could Miss Coulson and I were the ones who who who advocated for this committee. I mean there was a lot of activity within the division doing really good work on solar panels or or various energy sustainability activities. Uh this had the effect of putting it all under one umbrella. Perhaps the information is all uh centralized and uh it coordinated with the county's climate action plan and we also have brought it more system systematically into the classrooms. So I I mean I do think it has a I mean can it be tweaked or improved? I'm sure we all every committee can be but I have been extraordinarily impressed with the the seriousness of the work and
091and now the recommendations. Thank you. >> It's always a follow through that's hard >> and that's on us. >> I agree. I think if I can add one thing to that, >> you can add many. >> Thank you. One thing that I feel like I saw was that ACPS really was a leader in this area, but we were leading with little projects. We were we were we were leading by doing little things and and that's a part of this committee where starting to make more systemic change and I think that's really interesting to see from my point of view. >> Yeah. What I really what I really appreciate from the meetings is that um I think there's a real sense of responsibility of our magnitude, you know, in the community and how important it is
092that we are leaders in that way and that we take responsibility for, you know, what we're putting out. So to me, it's it's very important. I think it's doing very important work. >> Miss Curry, do you have anything to add about focus on environmental sustainability? You don't have to. But >> one little thing that I just took from that is um about the idolling um the idling program that you mentioned. I know for Western in specific um the first thing I thought to thought of um is in the mornings um when you're coming into school and when you're coming out of school. Western only has one road going in and out. Um, and I know there will be long lines of traffic um, for cars coming into the school and buses coming into the school.
093Um, and that just made me think that I know that those emissions essentially just sitting there waiting to come into the waiting to leave out of the school. Um, that would definitely be prominent for Western also. Um, and there are solutions that to be made. there are solutions that um will be made and can be made, but that's just what I was I noticed that that it's definitely prominent for Western also. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> And Miss Dudley and Miss Solsby and Miss McGee. Thank you all for being here. Um, next on our agenda as we're moving through all of these endofear reports, um, comprehensive system of professional learning by Dr. Megan Wood and Tony Bores. Good evening. Uh I am
094Megan Wood and I'm the director of professional learning and I have with me tonight uh Mr. Tony Bores, the assistant director for professional learning and we're going to share some updates um on the work that we've been doing to support our staff. Um, our work really lies in goal three of the strategic plan around equitable and transformative resources, specifically around the retention and development of high-quality staff. So, tonight's presentation will focus on those two actions and programs that we're um developing and supporting to um to retain and develop um high-quality staff. And then we'll look at um the steps and the priorities that we're going to take moving forward. Um we're going to highlight two programs. Um we are doing more than just these two programs, but we wanted to bring attention um to two
095programs that we're offering to support our teachers around retention. The first program is our novice teacher induction program. This is a three-year program. Um and the goal of this program is to not only orient novice teachers, which are teachers new to the profession. Um and that's regardless of their lensure route. is not only to uh orient them, but it's to integrate them into the Almiral County Public School community. Um currently we are serving 80 teachers. These are teachers that are in their first or second year of um teaching. Next year we will expand the program to include teachers in their first, second, and third year of the program. Um right now we have a uh specific cohort of instructional coaches that just focus on supporting novice teachers. um and their case loads are indicated on
096this slide. Right now we um their their case load is one coach per 20 novice teachers and then next year we anticipate that their case load will go up to one coach per 30 teachers. Um I think it's important at this time to highlight the changing demographics of our novice teacher cohort. Um you will see in 2023 um we hired more teachers that had that went through a traditional pathway which means a four-year program or a master's program to become a teacher. Um this year we have reached the tipping point and right now we have hired more teachers that have gone through a non-traditional pathway to receive their lensure. Meaning these teachers are career switchers or um or have gone through a different pathway to to get their lensure. So they have provisional licensing. Um
097so that changing de demographic is something that we certainly will be keeping an eye on as we discuss our programming um and what that looks like. The programming that we offer these teachers is um like I said already, it's a three-year program. It's progressive in support. The first year is intense um um in terms of providing coaching support weekly. That coaching support could look like a meeting with a teacher one-on-one or it could look like the coach going into the classroom and providing co-eing support or modeling lessons or doing observations and providing feedback. We also offer throughout the year um four targeted workshops. Um and then you can see on the right side of this slide the curricular concepts that are covered in year one and two. Um these topics and concepts are based on
098the needs and the feedback that we've received from our novice teachers and what they feel like is most relevant to their to their experience. Um one development of this program that we've shifted in the last year I think um is we have incorporated the culturally responsive microcredentiing process into this programming. So at the end of three years they will have met the board's um requirement to receive their micro credential so that we are inculturating that into the process. Um we gather data um from our from our novice teachers and over 94% of the respondents when asked did they feel like they were supported um on a scale of 1 to five with five being completely supported 94% of the respondents rece uh reported a high level of satisfaction with with regard to the support that
099they have been have received in this program. Additionally, we collect qualitative data. Um, these are four powerful quotes um from teachers that have been enrolled in this program. Um, these quotes speak to the confidence that the novice teacher network has helped them develop. Um, it also speaks to the community that we're building through this cohort model. Um, additionally, it speaks to developing the reflective practice around intentional instructional decision- making. And then and then the last one um speaks to the retention um the value of this program on the retention at least for that participant. Um at this point I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Borash and he's going to talk about the new um teacher induction program that started this year. >> Thank you Dr. Wood. Thank you board for having the opportunity
100to speak with you. As we as we referenced at the outset, this focus on retention targets both our new to the profession and our new to the division teachers. And this induction part of our process focuses on those who are coming into our division while having veteran experiences. So, a significant level of background experience and skill sets that are maybe extension beyond those that are new to the profession. They are new to our division, which means there's a significant transition period that they would be experiencing as they come to join us. And so the supports that we offer for those folks, this past year, we had 78 teachers for whom that um applied over the course of this as a first year new to ACPS teacher. They're all specifically receiving support from our instructional coaching
101team um to help support their induction into the school division and their orientation with that. We anticipate that in the next year given that hiring processes generally follow a year-to-year um um trend that's that's pretty aligned that that number would double in size next year. So that would impact the ratio that would support as we look at the progressive support similarly to that which is provided to the novice teacher uh induction supports. This one is for new to ACPS teachers that have that veteran experience is less about building the the core skill sets of the foundational practices and much more about their orientation to the division. So the first semester of their experiences here, the weekly and then later approximately bi-weekly supports that they receive from the instructional coach is really around orientation to the
102resources they have available and knowing how to access those resources to support themselves, to support their students, and to support their school. As they move into the second semester of their first year and moving beyond into their second year of year two, we then begin units of study that, as Dr. Dr. Wood referenced it inculturate the elements of um the framework of quality learning as well as the micro credentiing from through CRA into specific units of study that coaches partner with these new to ACPS teachers to to support the transfer of the learning into practice not only meets the micro credentiing needs but also helps to ensure that folks are building that shared culture as they join us in the in the work. to briefly review just because we have reference and there was a
103question to be able to speak to this a bit the focus on that continual embedding of the culturally responsive education programmatic supports. We are seeking to ensure that those are new to the division that that support is built into their uh induction such that it's not something separate but something aligned and we've worked closely together with the equity team to be able to help align that work throughout. as far as satisfaction data so far as Dr. Wood referenced we are almost just past a quarter in to this uh implementation. So what we've been able to learn so far from those participants who have responded are their um that seemed to be helpful in their transition to the role as well as explicitly on the partnership with curriculum assessment and instruction being able to have the
104resources that they need to support. We anticipate that as we're moving forward, we are actively collecting data on that implementation to ensure that we're seeing the participation in and completion of the program requirements over time and tracking their effective data of really their satisfaction of that support through their participant satisfaction survey. Because we track this uh work throughout our coaching partnerships, we can also be able to see the impact on the transfer into practice through this partnership as well. That wraps our focus on retention. And now I think we move into the opportunities for development. >> So we really believe that learning um happens on a continuum. And so we like to make sure that we're attending to the needs of learners. And so we really try to offer opportunities that increase teachers knowledge around
105um their building their capacity. Addition additionally we want to provide opportunities that build readiness to transfer their their learning to the classroom. And then we also want to provide opportunities for them to transfer their learning to practice. So we're going to highlight an example of each of these types of opportunities. Um the first being making connections. I was practicing this earlier in my office and realized that that just happened last week. Um which feels like it was a year ago. Um um many of you know making connections is an annual conference that we run at Montichello High School. Um we um so we provided 271 different sessions throughout the day for teachers to attend. The trends in those sessions focused around instructional design and effective teaching uh technology integration supporting multilingual learners. Um the purpose
106of this is to expose staff members to best practice related to areas of personal interest and choice. So it is set up like a conference. If you were to go to a conference, uh teachers self-enroll in sessions. We had a mix of presenters from external um so some of our vendors like HMH came and presented um and some of other vendors came to present but also we have several staff members that like to highlight the practices that they're um implementing in their class and to share with their colleagues. So it's a mix of external and internal presenters. Um so we just hosted that in November I mean yeah November 3rd and our feedback on that event from the respondents so far is promising. Um you can see that the majority of respondents indicated that they
107were on a scale of 1 to five of engagement that the majority of them 94% were engaged at at least a three or higher. Um satisfaction data many of the respondents indicated over 72% were satisfied somewhat satisfied or completely satisfied with the options that were offered for them to attend the sessions. And when we analyzed the qualitative data, the trends that emerged were um that they found the presenters engaged and knowledgeable um and they modeled practical researchbased strategies in the sessions so that teachers could see what that what that looks like in actuality. Um that the the sessions were hands-on and interactive. Um benefited from the collaborative and networking with colleagues and experts to share ideas and problem solve. um that the choice and the relevance of the sessions aligned to their individual interest and
108professional goals and that they were able to take actionable steps after attending these sessions. We also um ask for data on impact and obviously this is perception data from from the participants. people reported that they felt like um their knowledge prior to and after increased by about 18% around the sessions that they attended. And we saw a 21% increase in their uh confidence in applying the the information that they had learned. And so now we want to shift to an example of how we build readiness. Um you all um know about the Virginia Literacy Act last year. Um, I thought it would be interesting to bring um, letters volume 1 and letters volume two back into the conversation because I feel like there is some room for celebration. Um, we selected uh, letters volume 1
109as a way as a pathway to meet the Virginia literacy requirements last year as you all know. Um, and the reason why we did that is because it felt like it aligned to the high quality characteristics of professional development. And I'm happy to share with you that at the end of the school year last year, we had a 99.3 completion rate of letters volume one and uh the VA requirements. When we uh solicited feedback on the experience, people reported that the asynchronous learning of letters deepened their understanding of how reading develops in students. It strengthened their ability to make intentional evidence-based instructional decisions. It increased reflection on their practice and it created shared language for reading instruction. Additionally, um we um supported the development of district-led facilitators and we received really positive feedback about that.
110Um colleagues like learning from other people in their building and that's a model continue to move forward. Um and we're looking at ways that we can expand our facilitators around other types of professional learning so that people are learning from people that they know. Um because of the feedback that we received, we offered, this is the most exciting piece of data for me. Um we offered uh teachers the opportunity to self-enroll in letters volume 2. And out of the people that participated, 88 elementary staff self-enrolled in letters volume 2, which is 20% of the teachers that participated last year. Um we currently have a wait list for the cohort. Um we're looking to see if we can increase the number of people that we can support in that starting in January. Um a lot of
111that will depend on budget and the number of people that are interested. Um but we definitely still have a demand for people to continue that learning that they started last year. Um in addition to that, we opened the opportunity for secondary teachers to enroll in Letters Volume 1. Um we have a small cohort of secondary teachers that self- selected to enroll in Letters Volume 1. And then of course we're still um using letters volume one to meet the um requirements of the VA. So we currently have 53 elementary staff members that are enrolled in that and that's three cohorts of that. Um we have not collected data just yet on letters volume one and volume two because we're just starting the in-person training sessions. But when we do collect data it'll be similar to the
112data that we're collecting on the new to ACPS induction program. We'll look at implementation data. We'll look at effective data. And we'll look at impact on transfer to practice. And at this point, I'm going to turn the mic back over to Mr. Bores, and he's going to talk to you about our job embedded professional learning. Um, and for this, we have um selected to highlight instructional coaching. >> So, as Dr. Wood referenced, those three categories of professional learning opportunities. Um, this one specific to instructional coaching is meant to be a job embedded professional learning means to help support the the knowledge that teachers have into the practices to help support their students. Um, some of the core elements we'd like to lift up are that coaching partnerships really are focused on a goal oriented approach
113that's ongoing and sustained over time. That's a mix of reflection and action such that um, by reflecting on practice they can make more effective action as they move forward into the future. How it happens is really through a myriad of different paths, but the easiest way to describe it is actually through a story that I'm about to share with you. There's two different um areas of focus. One is at the outset of a coaching partnership through the analysis of data to identify a core goal that you'd want to be able to use to move forward. And the second piece would be focused on the implementation of that coaching work um through a number of different partnership pathways. The story that we'll share with you here today is a story from one of our teachers here
114at our school division partnered with a coach um to transfer the uh newly adopted math curriculum into practice. After their orientation session and building knowledge through that way, they sought out the coach's support to help um help them transfer that into the practice with their students. Through that partnership, they started by backward designing their work together, which really just means reviewing the standards, reviewing the associated assessments and the new curriculum, and starting to think about what possible misconceptions might their students walk in with, as well as what needs that might the teacher have to build their own knowledge around the content that they're going to help to work through. And through that partnership and goal setting, they're able to identify the coaching partnership that will help them transfer um that work alongside each other into
115their students. approximately every other week. And I say approximately meaning it follows the schedule of the units and and the lessons themselves, but approximately every other week, this teacher and the coach work together to be able to implement individual lessons at the classroom level to co-e, model, and refine that practice together and to move into um using the student data from each of those lessons as well as the end of week um assessments to determine the impact and adjust their instructional practice as a result. When we look at the outcomes of that coaching process, we've seen two key impacts on that. One is around the teachers impact of their practice. They've specifically referenced the increased knowledge and skill as well as their confidence in the ability to apply that practice. Now, they feel like the
116curriculum is theirs and it's something that they can use as they move forward. But not only that, just for our teachers, it's also for our students. Through the quarter 1 assessment data that's come through, the students have demonstrated significant success on the outcomes associated with that assessment. and the principal at that school has reported uh supreme really supreme confidence in what's happening in the school and what they're seeing the students do on a day-to-day basis. So, it's not solely with the data, it's also with um the story throughout. That's one of the hundred stories that's happening across our school division. Over the course of this first quarter, we've worked with just under 500 educators across our PK-12 um spectrum. You might notice a discrepancy between the elementary and secondary. The lar largely that difference is
117um based on the staffing allocation and how we've staffed schools. There are eight coaches supporting our 15 elementary schools while there are three coaches supporting all of our secondary schools. So that limits their bandwidth to be able to spread that support across the way though that targeted support is supporting those is um helping to advance those that receive it. What we've seen as far as satisfaction data when people are asked about coaching 9.3 out of 10 and I know.3 people isn't really a person but you get a sense of significant uh recommendation of partnering with a coach to a colleague that they would feel comfortable and excited in being able to do that. When looking in and disagregating the reasons why or the benefits that they see, they focus on collaborative reflection that they experience
118in their partnership with a coach, use of data to inform goal setting, the instructional design and delivery outcomes that come from it and the confidence that they feel. Just being able to see this um the words of our teachers through their partnership has been really powerful to us. It's not just their words though. It's also in the data that they report and that they were able to see in terms of the impact on their learning. We can see here that through that partnership in teaching, they report a 33% increase in knowledge and 37% increase in application across the board for those that are engaging with coaches and and work through that as well as 88% indicating that there's either a desired or more than expected impact on the learning that they're seeing with their students
119as a result of their partnership. Um, so in short, those that are working with coaches are seeing that transfer into practice successfully help them and help their students. We're really excited to be able to name that. >> So, we're just going to take a brief moment to look um at the work moving forward and then open it up for questions. Um our priority is to develop a systematic approach to adult learning that focuses on both the development and retention of staff. Um our current areas of focus are aligning professional learning structures to increase professional capacity around job related skills and support transfer of knowledge into practice. Um, establish a professional learning curriculum that balances guaranteed experiences with differentiated approaches for staff engagement and increase collaboration between the department of professional learning and stakeholders to support
120division priorities and then create continue to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement by supporting reflective practices through job embedded professional learning. These priorities and current areas of focus have uh were first grounded in the Bellweather report and then we've modified and adjusted and adapted them based on the feedback that we're getting from the programming that we're offering. And again, we just wanted to highlight some ways that we're doing this work. There are other ways, one area that we chose not to focus on tonight, but we are expanding um the support that we're providing. We offered a classified making connections that was essentially the same size. Um there were I think 171 sessions at that one. That was on October 13th. Um and we offered um that opportunity for all of our employees um classified employees
121as well. So we are um continuing to work with other departments outside of instruction as well to support um the development of high quality staff. And so at this time we're done. And if you guys have questions, we're open to them. I have a question about the coaching for my I I know that last year because of budget cuts we actually cut the number of instructional coaches with the idea of focusing on new teachers new hires and it from if I understand what you're doing new curricula I mean is that is the coaching for those three categories I mean the new math curriculum and is that all being done by that core group of instructional coaches. >> That's correct. >> And remind me, we had 21, we're 18. >> We have 25 and we have
12215 now. >> We have what? >> We had 25 and we're down to 15. >> Yeah. I I knew I didn't know we ever had 25. I knew that that was allocate. That was >> we had the FTEES. We didn't always have the funding for 25, but now we're down to 15. >> Doing a lot doing a lot of coaching. >> Yeah. So four of those are specific to novice teacher support, >> right? >> And then the remaining 11 are eight are at elementary schools and three are at secondary. And those 11 support new to the division but veteran teachers. So they support the school's priorities. They support individual coaching and then they also are supporting new to the division coaching. >> And and are they supporting the new curriculum like the new math? Okay.
123Okay. Yeah. So, the ele eight elementary coaches are supporting >> Okay. >> the curriculum, the school priorities, and individual needs. >> They've got a lot on their plates. >> Yes. >> Um, could you go back to the slide on the student learning impact, please? >> Um, yeah, there we go. This one? Yes. Yes. Um do you have this seems um objective from the coaches or I mean the teachers perspective right do we have any concrete data on effects on student learning for grades or SOS or anything like that to show >> I think that that's so what we're what doing now is we are um if teachers I'm going to try to be as succinct as possible if teachers engage in a coaching cycle they are setting a goal that can be around student learning
124or professional growth and then we're measuring was that goal attained. It's really hard to say I worked with an instructional coach around this one thing for six weeks and then try to tie that to so data. So that is a that's a really um hard thing to do. So we have to be very um intentional about that. the story that we told um there is assessment data that indicates that that coaching cycle was impactful based on those student results. Um so we can do that because it was around a specific unit of study >> and in a specific assessment but to take SOS and say oh you worked with a coach why are your so scores like this that would be really hard to draw that connection. So for a teacher whose students historically do
125not perform well on SOS or on testing, um can a principal or an administrator >> put a with that teacher to >> Yes. So what one of the things a couple years ago the model um the model we've shifted the model to be a little bit more responsive to needs. Um and so we have um two different categories and ways that administrators can recommend coaching. One is, hey, I noticed that you're really interested in this and you might want to reach out to an instructional coach or the other can be a little bit more directive and then there's a process in which we engage in the in enrolling a teacher in that coaching. Um, because it needs to be handled respectfully. It needs to be handled delicately and it needs to be very clear about
126the outcomes of the coaching. Um, we don't want principles to say, "I need you to go work with an instructional coach because we want your scores to come up." that leaves too much ambiguity around the type of work that the coach and teacher need to engage in. And so we're really trying to help. When we have principles that want to assign, for a lack of a better word, a coach to a teacher, we Tony or I meet with that principal, then we meet with the coach. We meet with the teacher to make sure that whatever they're going after is very clear so that the outcome that is intended can actualize. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. um with the novice program. Uh how much emphasis is given on the culturally responsive teaching component? >>
127So what we've done is we have the four novice teacher instructional coaches and then we have Megan Washburn who was here tonight presented. she is part of that team. And so anytime that they're developing the curriculum, she's working with them to make sure that there's explicit ties to the culturally responsive curriculum that has already been developed to ensure that the teachers are getting the same quality um and the same uh learning so that we all have a common understanding of what we what it means to be a culturally responsive educator. So there's a really tight alignment to the current program to the new program. >> Okay. Any other comments, questions? I was really impressed with how many of the student uh of the teachers signed up for letters, too. >> Yeah, that was exciting to
128see because I know that there was a different narrative last year. >> We got a lot of letters last year. That is that is true. So, it it sounds like they've made it through, which should >> Yep. >> which is good. And the same thing I I know we had a little snag at the very beginning of the year with respect to the new math curriculum. Is that has that been that's probably not in your bay wick? >> I'm going to look at Dr. Hayes for that one. >> Okay. So, some of the things we can work on inhouse. Other things are um things we have to work on with the vendor. >> So, as a part of that work, our team is meeting with our vendors weekly to get updates on corrections to the
129material. when we will get new materials um and additional resources that they can provide for the district at uh no cost um so that our staff has what they need. We also are working with our building level staff to help provide them with um support such as writing assessments um figuring out which materials that we already had in house that we can continue to use like different manipulatives um and then reporting out updates to the buildings as and as timely as we can with what we're getting back from the vendors. >> Okay. It sounds like that qualitatively different issues. I mean, there was learning letters and then with with the math curriculum, there were some mistakes in the materials, >> vendor issues. >> The vendor issues. Okay. >> We're making progress. >> Yeah, we're making
130progress. Not as as fast as we would like. Um but the vendor is very responsive and we're working as fast as we can inhouse to get the materials out, the um tangible, you know, items out and then working on assessments and questions that the staff can use in their classrooms. And I will say that the coaches, we have some coaches that are part of the team as well, so that they're apprised of what's happening so that they can support teachers. >> Any more comments or questions? >> Just a quick comment that in one difference between the implementation of the HMH curriculum and the new math curriculum is the significant reductions we made to central services staff. So it does have an impact when we make those reductions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Wood, Mr.
131Bores. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, the school started at 5:15, so let's take a 10-minute break. So, come back at 8:30. evening. Evening. >> Well, it's evening. Yes. Good late afternoon. Evening. Um we're back in session now. And the first presentation uh on the agenda after the um break is approval of the capital improvement plan. And we have Mr. Workman here >> or Okay. Or Miss Schmidt, either one. >> Good evening. >> Uh my name is Matt Wman, director of building services. Um Mayumazawa, sorry she can't be here this evening. uh she had a prior commitment uh this evening and so normally she'd be here uh presenting this to you all but um Rosa and I will do our best to fill in her shoes. Um so we're back here this evening uh
132following up from our uh the previous board meeting in October around the capital improvement plan request uh to the board of supervisors. Just a quick reminder of where we are in the process and tonight's purpose. Uh the purpose of this evening's meeting is for the school board to discuss the recommendations and propose any changes if needed and then ultimately to take action to adopt a CIP request that will go to the board of supervisors. Where we are in the process, you can see the schedule there on the right. Um we're at the November 13th business meeting to approve the CIP request. The next meeting will be the December 3rd joint meeting with the board of supervisors leading up to the county executive's recommended budget which will include the CIP uh on or around February 25th.
133Just a quick overview uh what we talked about last meeting of where we of what the request includes. Um this first slide includes the ongoing programs in the CIP including the project management program, school bus replacement funds, school maintenance and replacement of our facilities uh as well as network and audiovisisual uh equipment for a 5-year total of $119.4 million. This next slide is the remainder of the CIP program request. There are some changes from what we presented to you uh in October and those changes are all highlighted in yellow. Um hopefully that's coming through on your screens. Um I will just quickly go through those changes. Um we we took the took your your uh leadership and said that the northern feeder pattern is already included in the CIP and started our numbering with uh
134the comprehensive high school. We also rolled in uh land acquisition uh into that project as a placeholder. Uh there's no there's no amount to it um just because land acquisition costs are very variable uh depending on where exactly we were to look in the county. Um other changes uh since the previous meeting um we did update some project estimates for both the Albamarl and Western Alamar High School improvements. Um, as we look back at those projects over the last uh since the previous meeting, um, we think a couple costs on a couple of those projects have gone up. We also realized that since that study was first done, there's a couple other needs that have arisen in some of those schools. And so accordingly, we we increased those costs um readjusted them as well as
135provided uh necessary uh requested funds for the additional scope. Um, based on your feedback, we moved uh the Western Almora High School improvements up to the number four ranking as well as moved the preschool center up to the number five ranking. Uh, we also, based on your request, put together a preliminary estimate for the preschool center uh at 53.7 million. Um, and then lastly, we did retain uh the land acquisition for future projects. Um there are other needs um such as for example the MA middle school master plan study recommends a new middle school at some point in the future. And so um we did retain a land acquisition uh placeholder amount um for those other needs outside grants of high school. I will quickly go through the top really seven projects um just to
136quickly remind you of what they are. So the first was the comprehensive high school. Uh this project scope would include the construction of a comprehensive high school in the northern feeder pattern uh to alleviate overcrowding in all of our high schools as well as to address long-term growth in the county. Projected capacity uh would be the 14-600 student range. Um there as as we talked about the previous meeting uh there is a current site um the Burkar profer or now called the shortage branch profer um that's available and uh technically possible uh could work uh with some significant challenges um or an alternative would be to obviously purchase new land. Um the uh request is for this to open into the 3132 school year. The next uh number two on the list was Stony Point
137and numbers uh six and seven respectively where Murray and Bris would um would be elementary school improvements to these three schools. The one thing I really want to highlight on this slide because we really didn't talk about it last time. There's a link if the public wants to go to it on this slide, but we did publish a new report this year with the long range planning study um which really did a deep dive into these three schools um where we uh we had a consultant DLR group out of Northern Virginia came in did a really a thorough facility condition assessment of all three um and then proposed some specific recommend recommendations and changes to these facilities. There's some schematic floor plans for all three. Um, all three include additions as well, um, which seek
138to alleviate some minor capacity challenges as well as ensuring that we're providing parody at these schools in comparison with our other elementary schools across the division. Example, um, Stony Point has four trailers, so there'd be a small addition to be able to uh, accommodate the programs that are in those trailers um, and to get them off the site. Uh Murray, for example, has um their office space is significantly smaller in comparison to other school uh schools in our division. And so there's an office addition proposed to that school to make sure that they have the same resources and spaces that our other schools have. Next is comprehensive improvements to Albam Marl and Western Albam Marl. Um again, there's a link there to the master plan study that was completed uh really about two and a
139half years ago now. Um, but these are just major renovations uh to um these two high schools. Uh everything from uh bathroom renovations, corridor improvements, uh increased daylighting, um uh projects of that nature. And then lastly, uh is the preschool center. Um again, we have recently put an estimate to this at $53.7 million. Um the idea would be to construct a new facility to combine preschool programs in the urban reading area. um our our preliminary um uh kind of program if you will has 20 classrooms in this facility. Um this would open up that does offer opportunities for growth. Um but it would under current uh capacity or enrollment numbers would free up 14 classrooms uh in five of our existing elementary schools including Greer, Agner, Woodbrook, Holly and Broadiswood. Um so there would be
140some uh capacity relief in those existing schools as well with the completion of this project. And so with that uh we have a couple recommended actions here for you. Um I'm happy to answer any questions additional remaining questions you may have. Otherwise I turn it over to you. >> Anyone have any comments? >> I have a Thompson. I have a question whenever we can get it in so I don't interrupt someone. >> Go ahead, Dr. Berlin. >> Thank you. My question is around just I kind of agree with that order. The question I have is between Murray and Briswood. When you look at the facility ratings, um Bronestwood is considered inadequate and Murray is considered poor. Neither of those are good ratings. But I feel like we should be moving our inadequate schools before our
141poor rating schools for renovation. So I didn't know I was just interested in the why for that. Is it just that we're trying to provide support in the different areas of the county? Um but I did not that was one of the ch one of the pieces I didn't understand why because for a while would been above Murray and kind of the need for updates. Yeah, I'm thank you Dr. Bland for the question. Um I don't have the numbers in front of me. I apologize, but I believe Murray has some um more pressing capacity uh challenges as compared to broadest wood. So I think that was the thinking around Murray over broadest wood was really more of a capacity um perspective as opposed to facilities. >> These are three of our oldest schools. I I
142can't remember when Murray was built, but I know Stony Point was 1935. Uh and um Broaduswood was 1936. And there's both physical plant, both the building and the sites need significant work. Um I don't know, Miss Schmidt, do you know what the pressing issues are at Murray? I sort of agree with Dr. Berlin that the two were Murray and Brouswood were not Murray Stony Point and Brouswood were listed in the greatest need at one point. But um when you look at existing facilities, you're right on the um facility, what do we call it? The um facility condition um index riswood is late is um lower, but as far as capacity needs, Murray's at capacity, it's lacking any small spaces, so the additions would provide some relief there. We had to recently move a prek program
143because they didn't have space um etc. But I think we are splitting hairs a little bit. I think um both are um needed >> right >> Stony Point and Broughtest Wood have always been sort of at the bottom and every they get kicked down every time I mean with more pressing issues but is that the same then why is um why did Western move below Albam Marl when it comes to school improvements and then also I guess in conjunction with that we have the Western edition down at 19 but being funded in 27. Um could you elaborate on that a little bit? >> Yes, sir. Two questions. Um I'll I'll tackle the uh high school improvements questions first. Um we actually did uh well a couple things. There was you may recall and we've used
144it in a couple of slide decks over the last couple years. There was a facility condition assessment done as part of the 2016 study. um where it looked at the whole facility, but that was 2016, that's nine years ago now. Um and so we actually this past fall did an internal facility condition assessment of all three high schools. Um and a lot of the things that scored low at Western in that 2016 study um which was really a comprehensive look uh at the building were systems um such as MEP, the elevator, that sort of thing. And over the last nine years through our CIP maintenance program, we've actually already upgraded a lot of those systems at Western. So just offh hand in the last 5 to eight years, we've replaced all the roof at Western.
145All the electrical panels have been replaced. The elevator has been upgraded. Most of the HVAC has been upgraded at that school. Um and so when we looked at these two schools and the remaining work that's uh to be to be taken uh that needs to be done there, our internal facility condition assessment which was just completed this last spring and fall or excuse me spring and summer showed uh that album was actually scoring lower at this point in time which is why it's ranked higher. Um for your second question um that's where long range planning ranked it. Um but based on the board's direction uh to pursue um uh this is going back two or three meetings uh to pursue the comprehensive high school and then to also consider uh additions to Western. That's why
146it's in fiscal year 27. >> Okay. All right. Thank you for that clarification. Um I had a couple more questions if that's okay. Um on the preschool center you have um 53.7 million. Uh but on the slide you talked about it being a um combined program with in the with the urban ring. Um is that a shared cost with I mean are we looked at you know like combining it with Charlottesville or United Way or things like that and is this the total cost of that program if Alamaro were to fund it alone or are we looking at it being if we're combining programs it being a shared cost? So the 53.7 million is what it would cost if we were to design and build it ourselves. >> Okay. I think that's something we should
147consider if it if it's we're combining programs. We're talking about um you know like we said it's a ring, right? And like >> well just to clarify when we say combining it's it's ACPS's existing programs that we're combining, right? That being said, there's a lot of opportunity in this um project vision and it's really in its infancy which is why it was to be determined. Uh last meeting this is just depends. There's a lot of opportunities both community partners u we've talked about does it is is employee like a benefit that the kids could there's so this is just the structure. So this would be the max price >> that it would cost if we were to just fund the whole thing for 20 classrooms for 20 class. How big you go if we did
148not go in on co-unding and and Okay, thank you for that. Um and then I just had a few questions on the Northern High School. Um so this total includes potential land purchase. Is that correct or am I misreading that? >> Yeah, we didn't The short answer is no. We did not put a a dollar value to land acquisition, which is why it's to be determined. Okay. >> And I know that's really confusing because it's in fiscal year 27. >> Um, but the reality is there's a lot of variability on land costs in Alamar County, particularly in the area where, excuse me, in the area where we're looking. >> Right. Okay. >> And I think the first decision point is whether whether or not to utilize the profer that we have. So that study is
149still ongoing. I think we'll bring that back to the board if this project gets prioritized and keeps moving forward. >> And that's a property we discussed this week that we has significant challenges but is >> as we further >> not as bad as we originally thought. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um >> so that will factor whether you need to purchase land or not. Another variable. >> I gotcha. Okay. Um and then I guess my question is where does like a PPA come in and when do we start talking about that? We have two board of supervisors here tonight and Miss Mcquille and I have had this discussion before as a possible way to lower the cost of um funding this high school. And um community members have reminded me that we have a significant amount
150of property at um Baker Butler that could potentially be used in a PPA that may be desirable for developers. Um, at what point does that come into play here as we're looking at costs and, you know, we have to take this to the board of supervisors and wanting to be mindful of what we're asking for and um, being respectful of the fact that this is a lot of money and um, how are we finding the best use of our funds, I guess. Um, in terms of if we were assuming this schedule, let's just say this schedule were to be uh followed, um, you really wouldn't need to make that decision. Um, I'm doing some quick schedule in my head real quick. I'm sorry. You really wouldn't need to make that decision till mid2028. >> Okay.
151>> Right. Don't hold me to that. I don't My point is you don't have to make that decision now. >> Okay. But that could significantly reduce the total cost of the school >> potentially. I mean I think obviously the biggest barrier in all this is the affordability of it. Right. And so um I think that the joint board meeting is the next conversation around we we need their partnership in do in doing that. Right. And so um to me that's the next step to start talking about um how do we how do we tackle this? This is a huge need but it's a huge cost and um so to me that's the next step. And but you're it's going to be a longterm conversation though. >> Okay. All right. Thank you for that clarification. >>
152That's all I had. >> I mean, I think our job is to to look at what we need to educate our kids and and what what options we have both for addressing capacity and uh renovating the existing structures and looking. I have to say, as you know, I was not an early person in favor of the new high school, but in looking at the range of options, we've been focusing for the past several years on our elementary schools and and building capacity with West, you know, with the Crows expansion, with Mountain View upper, North Point is coming, but our high schools are bursting at the seams. I know Miss Filman is constantly reminding us that Western Alba Marl is not the only high school that's that's bursting and where all of our high schools are.
153This is a solution if we're bold enough to take it that would create four similarlysized schools across the county and would solve our our high school capacity challenges for a generation at least. Um it's expensive. It is um we will have to redraw the district lines which will cause some consternation. Um and um but we'll end up with four similarlysized high schools and that we we won't have to worry about renovating the existing ones. But, you know, we won't be dealing with capacity as a main driving force of all of our decisions, which is what it's been. I mean, capacity issues have delayed even putting elevators in some of the schools that we've had. We've had to make capacity number one, which is why Stony Point hasn't been remod, you know, renovated even though it's
154on our list every single year. Um, so, um, well, I've just said what my top priority is. The others, I mean, I I highly, um, value the recommendations of the long range planning committee. Um, but I guess if there's some more discussion, let's have it. Otherwise, perhaps >> these top five are good for me. Miss Osborne is always succinct. >> Can you put the motion back up, Mr. Wman? >> I move to adopt the school board capital improvement program request for FY2627 to FY 203031 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Lee, seconded by Mr. Page. Um, all those in favor? I >> I opposed. >> Uh, unanimous. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. I did want to acknowledge too, David Storm, who's from the LRPA PAC, was here this evening. So,
155thank you. >> I saw him over there. Thank you. >> Um, next item of business, moving right along in our many reports tonight is Dr. Dallas Hit talking about the state of the division. All right, good evening everyone. Um, as uh Dr. Akub said, I'm Dallas Hit. I'm one of the directors in strategic planning. I'm pleased to be with you again for the second time uh to share our 202425 state of the division report. And yes, it is the second year. You may not recognize me this year. I have to wear glasses. So, um I just want to make sure you remember I was here last year, a year later. Um the state of the division report is our opportunity to consider the vast body of effort and the work that the division undertook in
156previous in the previous school year and identify progress and challenges based on a set of predetermined metrics that give us insight into the extent to which we are meeting our strategic plans three goals. As a refresher, the state of the division tracks the same metrics year-over-year that were established during the development of the strategic plan. The metrics are highle data points on a spectrum of key measures that the division and community identified as ones to watch. With any presentation based on data, we expect that what you see tonight will peique your interest and perhaps spark interest in learning more deeply about a particular milestone or metric. Some of these questions might have been addressed in previous or upcoming presentations. For example, Dr. Mclofflin provided two presentations in the last few months in August and September
157that looked more granularly at the preliminary student achievement data and included analyses by student groups in each subject area as well as school level data and preliminary designations and those presentations are still really the best source of that information. Mr. Reading and Dr. Wood present tonight on information related to some of the milestones and metrics in this report as well. So their presentations along with the array of other topics you have heard will also be useful in providing deeper dives into what the work looks like as well as the why behind these data or the story or relevant context. At the end of the presentation, we look forward to receiving your questions and taking them back to the various departments for further insight as deemed needed by the board. One last note before we begin.
158You do have a report in front of you. Um, I'll say more about it at towards the end, but this you can feel free to look at this as I speak. I do have the um slides that are ready that are aligned as well for the general flow. Um, but I'll tell you more about this version for now. And as I've sort of referenced, we still are in preliminary data mode with the with the state. So, we have not finalized the report. All right. As we get into the report, I encourage us to center on the mission because it is so closely aligned with learning for all. So, let's take a minute to review that. Working together team, we will end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities for our children's success
159through highquality teaching and learning for all. We seek to build relationships with families and communities to ensure that every student succeeds. We will know every student. Three goals. Thriving students, affirming and empowering communities, and equitable and transformative resources are the ways we actualize our mission, vision, and values. If we can create the conditions for our students to thrive, our community to be empowered, and use our resources in equitable and transformative ways, we will make progress towards the focus of our strategic plan, which again is learning for all. When we launched the analysis that leads to this 2425 state of the division, we started with these three documents just as we did last year. Learning for all provides the goals and the strategies we plan to use to attain our mission and vision. The Bellweather audit
160provides an unbiased look at how well we are doing in the pursuit of these goals and provided researchbased recommendations about how we can become more impactful in our pursuit of learning for all. The budget initiatives obviously demonstrate how we are allocating resources in pursuit of learning for all. The next six slides share some key highlights of our milestones and our metrics within each goal. So the the essence of thriving students is providing high expectations coupled with high quality academic and affective supports for the children in our schools. You can see the full complement of the 2425 milestones on this slide as they include considerable accomplishments in literacy, special education, and a few other area are areas that help students thrive. specifically a full implementation of our structured literacy program HMH into reading which is accompanied
161by high-quality professional learning for teachers on structured literacy to ensure that teachers feel prepared to enact structured literacy in their classrooms. Additionally, for the first time in 25 years, our special education program no longer disproportionately identified black students for intellectual disability. And our special ed education department also exceeded the state average for test scores in reading, math, and science. In terms of metrics, we're taking note of continued increases in math and science achievement and holding steady in our reading pass rate. While science continued to increase, it did miss it did miss beating the state average by a point as the rest of the state also improved in this subject. While we do not have a 2425 on-time graduation rate yet from the state to compare us to, we can say that our graduation rate did
162increase compared to our rate last year, which was also higher than the state average for 2324. In terms of literacy progress, as measured by Val's risk bands, we're very pleased to share that kindergarteners met the goal of being under 20% for identification and decrease that rate by 8% compared to last year 23 24. While first and second grade have not yet met the threshold of being under 20% the way kindergarten has, we do see considerable improvement in these two grades compared to last year with six and five point trots in identification in first and second grades respectively. Additionally, ACPS decreased identification rates across cohorts. When looking at 23 24 kindergarteners who were 242 25 first graders and the 23 24 first graders who were 2425 second graders, we see decreased rates and identification. While we
163see promising growth towards meeting goal one and thriving students, we also took note of some metrics we want to be aware of and have worked into division level priorities moving forward. For instance, while middle school course rate course course failure rates decreased, those for high school increased, resulting in essentially the inverse from last year. And while the percentage of students in the high-risisk band for vows decreased from fall to spring in grades one K through two, we did not hit our target of moving the percentage of vows in uh in high-risisk bands to under 20%. Even with the promising growth I just mentioned, we remain diligent in monitoring leading indicators on the quality of implementation in the classroom as well as incremental measures student learning to ensure not only we continue to decrease that band
164identification, but meet the full goal of being under 20% in grades K through two, not just K. If you'd like to know more about ACPS's efforts dedicated to meeting goal one, I'd like to highlight that we have several vignettes in the full report that detail structured literacy as a concept as well as HMH as a mechanism for our system level delivery of structured literacy. Goal two, affirming and empowering communities. The essence of this goal is acknowledging and supporting all students and their families and communities. Milestones for this goal this past year included launching a partnership with communities and schools so that schools can better meet the holistic needs of students and their families, establishing a device-free education policy and meeting benchmarks for initial implementation of that policy to ensure students and teachers have higher quality
165learning environments. training on training staff on teen mental health, first aid, and increasing the number of school-based vaccine clinics, which not only keep our students healthy, but also prevent them from missing school if families need support in coordinating vaccinations that are required by law for continued enrollment. In terms of the metrics for goal two, we're taking note that while we saw our biggest increase to date in culturally responsive teaching percent certified, which is up a net of 12% from last year, that number of 45% still leaves some room for growth in terms of meeting our goal of 100%. Chronic absenteeism dropped again by a percentage point, which means a net decrease of 6% in the past two years. I note that absenteeism is a very thorny issue with many explanatory variables that must be addressed
166concurrently rather than there being a single recipe for success. So we are proud of our work on this complex challenge. Panorama values moved very little from last year in either direction. School climate went down a percentage point. School fit remained exactly the same and family engagement increased by a percentage point. Even with holding constant climate and fit each improved about 12% and family engagement by 4% since 22 23. If you'd like to know more about this goal two uh in our efforts so far this past year um I want to mention that the full report has further information on device free education specifically school safety mental health supports and I hope you'll take time to check those out. All right. Equitable and transformative resources goal three. The essence of this goal is meeting the needs
167of our students and communities. Last year, the milestones we for the school include breaking ground on two new schools in a data center, completing collective bargaining, opening employee health clinics, and beginning the year with a full complement of drivers. I think that's most people's favorite. Key metrics for this goal include we are still eagerly I would like to note as I've said a couple times we're still eagerly waiting the final designation for schools from VDOE. So this means that the preliminary data that we have and we've included in this report um indicate that we are yes one less than uh that we are one less than 2324 in terms of the group of schools that are designated in the upper tier. I say upper tier as a general non-technical term to denote the schools that
168VDOE typically identifies as performing at or above standard. But the name of this group as well as the criteria for being in this group is changed by VDOE from year to year which makes comparisons tricky if not impossible. We will be updating and analyzing this metric more once VDOE VDOE finalizes their data and their designations as well as criteria and the scores that compromise their designations. We're hearing now that may be uh after the first of the new year. In other news on preliminary data, teacher retention is also looking to hold constant but ACPS HR will not have their final value for a few more weeks when their data are fully analyzed. One metric we are sure of in this goal is that employee engagement continues to increase. It it improved almost a tenth of
169a point on a five-point scale which converts to about a 2% gain from 2324 and an estimated 3% total increase since 2223. Even with these promising accomplishments, we know we have work to do around continuing to deeply support the predicted five schools that may be labeled off track. If you'd like to know more about ACPS's efforts dedicated to goal three, which is transformative resources, I will mention that the full report has some in-depth updates on the instructional practice audit as well as the professional learning that Dr. Woods referred to earlier this evening. So, please check those out. This concludes the formal part of the presentation. Uh please note as I said earlier we will not be finalizing the PDF that you with you um until we get final certified data from the state so that
170we can make accurate comparisons to on-time graduation as well as report on appropriate designations of schools. Um so we will whenever we have that we will finalize this report and send it and have the glossy one that we've had in the past and and be ready to share that with you. Um, I hope you'll continue to read and reflect on the larger report and that tonight's overview has provided a highle look at ACPS's progress and challenges in regards to goals one, two, and three. And while I have been your guide tonight in the overview, it's a team effort and this list of people is not exhaustive, but these were the major contributors and supporters to putting it together. And I certainly want to recognize them and state my appreciation. And we're very happy to take
171questions at this time. and I I will take them, but I will also facilitate their answering um with others in the room andor take them and and uh back to the to the crew and get answers for you. >> Um I don't I say the thing that annoys me when everyone else says it, not so much a question, but a comment. Yes. >> Um I I really appreciate how um transparent we are with um all of our successes. It's great. and then all the things that you know we are still working hard on. So um I just wanted to name that. So thank you very much. >> Thank you Dr. Lee. >> Um I have a few questions. I didn't see the equity table in here that had been shared in previous years and I'm
172wondering um why that is and if we can get that if that's going to be shared um specifically you know it detailed um like student discipline and things like that. I'd be really interested in seeing that and um when you think that might be available. >> That's available and it's in the in it's online in there's a a website dedicated to state of the division and there are a lot more metrics that you can review. The ones that are in the presentation today are the ones that were identified as what we continue to report on in this overview, but there's a lot more that you can certainly drop down. >> Yeah, it had been presented before in the state of the division. So that's why I was curious, but >> not last year. They they
173changed it. Yeah, they changed the format. >> Gotcha. Thank you. Um, and then, um, I'm curious, you know, on the schools that are off track, those five, >> what are I would love to know, and I don't know if you have all the answers right now or if you're the right person, but what are our plans for getting them off from the off track back on track? And also, you know, we rank very low in our reading when it comes to our black and brown students, our economically disadvantaged students. Um we're 86 out of 90 in Virginia districts for black students. Um 98% of districts outperformed us um for economically disadvantaged. Um and yet we are in the top five in the in the >> state on uh spending per student um or top 12
174I guess but we rank in the bottom five for performance. So, we're spending a lot of money and I would like to know, you know, what our plan is as we go into budget to rectify these situations that have been kind of long-standing in the division. >> Again, I know you probably don't have all those answers, but I would love to get them at some point, especially as we go into budget. I think it's really important. Um, and Dr. Hayes, I would also, you know, as we're talking about the math um curriculum not going smoothly, what do we need to support our students and our staff? Um is that going to play into the budget as we are looking at interventionists and things like that? I think that's all things to be considered and all
175plays into the state of how we're doing. There are definitely a lot of things to be really proud of. Um, and I agree with Miss Lee, but I think there's a lot of things that we need to focus on, too, and that will come into our budget discussion. So, I would love that information as well. >> Absolutely. >> Any other comments? >> Thank you, Dr. Dallas, for an excellent presentation, and I look forward to when the state finally gets their numbers out that have been promised since what, September. >> Yes. you and you and the principles as well. Everybody's very eager to know. >> Thank you. >> Yes, we have yet another presentation tonight on human resources uh annual report and hiring update and how do you all feel about being the closing act? >>
176Awesome. Miss Thompson, walk me through what to what am I hitting next? I'm the worst millennial ever. >> Oh, not that one. >> There it is. >> Yeah, do this. >> Thank you. Mr. Reading, did you want to open up or do you want me to go for it? >> All right. Thank you. >> Uh, good evening, uh, Cherry Cuff and and members of the school board. I'm Brody DS with uh, the human resources department, also with a a head cold, so if I start just losing it, you'll know why. I'm excited to spend a few minutes with you all on behalf of the HR team to present uh a few highlights included uh in HR's 2025 annual report. We do have a pretty simple agenda um uh this evening. I'll open with a quick
177overview of the annual report uh to include a few highlights of the HR team's work from this past year. Uh following I'll turn it over to uh director of talent Dr. Jason Sears who will take the the line share of the presentation. Uh Dr. Sears will provide uh the the the current school year staffing information and hiring report reflecting the work done to prepare for the 2025 2026 school year. Of course, our efforts are intentionally aligned with the uh strategic plan. In particular, many if not all the topics reviewed in the annual report and discussed tonight are tied to goals uh to focus on supporting the physical and mental health of our staff and supporting their engagement in our school communities as well as goal 3's focus on attracting, developing, and retaining the highest quality
178staff. So, getting things started, the first highlight um to mention is that the school division started the current school year with less than a 1% vacancy rate for teachers. And I'll certainly let Dr. Sears unpack this further in his portion of the presentation, but I did want to highlight that fact and open with it as an achievement. Second, many team spent a good portion of last year procuring, selecting in um implementing and supporting the Almar County uh employee clinic. Uh a wonderful resource for staff and their families. The clinic provides a comprehensive primary care, urgent care, physical therapy, dietitionian, occupational health, and counseling services program to our staff and their families. With two locations, the clinics uh provide these services to support staff while also helping to help manage our health care costs. The February,
179the first clinic will have been open uh one year and since it's opening, we're seeing about a two and a half uh times the overall utilization from that first month and we're far far exceeding certain services such as physical therapy. Another achievement is the good work of our compensation total rewards team. uh they completed a realignment of the the paygrades um and some of the lower paygrades in our paygrade system that were greatly compressed. Several years ago, as some of you may recall, we did collapse um the I think it was the bottom seven uh pay grades occupied by a high number of employees in roles such as teacher assistant, custodial staff, and child nutrition. but we did so to accommodate the need to have our minimum pay um compete with UVA's $15 an hour.
180However, this compressed many of those pay grades, not allowing for meaningful differentiation. And last year was really spent planning, implementing, and communicating this realignment effort and how it advantages employees when promoting. This past year also saw another increase um Dallas mentioned this a minute ago but u this past year also saw another increase in staff engagement. Uh HR staff departed with principles and managers and staff on engagement strategies and this year we're happy to report that our engagement ratio is now 3.92 to1. Um meaning um for every disengaged employee there are 3.92 engaged employees. That's up from our original 1.92:1 ratio four years ago and very close to eclipsing the Gallup standard of 4:1. Lastly, as you might be aware, uh HR will be implementing a few new systems supporting more efficient processes uh this
181current school year. UKG Ready will improve our time and attendance reporting processes and will launch in late December. However, implementing this system is certainly a heavy lift on its own, but the preparation has been ongoing for months, including the 2425 school year. We're very excited to see this and other projects uh come to fruition as well. I encourage you to review more about this project and many of the other initiatives from this past year in the annual report. Uh and if it's okay, I will take questions um related to these topics um following Dr. Sears because I want to make sure he has enough time to get through his uh information as well. So with that, I'll turn it over to Dr. Jason Sears. >> Thank you, Brody. Uh Chair Auff, uh Doc, uh members
182of the board, uh Dr. Hus, thank you for giving me some time today. Um first, we're going to be reviewing the vacancy rates and uh comparisons uh to school divisions uh across the some school divisions across the state. Uh then we're going to look at some hiring demographics and some overall diversity of the classroom teaching staff. Uh then we'll uh finish up with educational support staff uh and leadership positions and then I'll finish with uh a look at some of our our focus areas in the future. I'm going to I'm going to go to this slide first. Um, and as my kid said, uh, I know this seems like I'm yelling based on the text of this, but, um, I do want to yell this from the mountain tops. Uh, you know, we are extremely
183proud of the division for this achievement. Um, and it's been a a whole team effort. uh based on the hard work of our principles, assistant principles, our amazing uh talent acquisition team on boarding ESC, uh for the second year in a row, we were able to u begin our school year with a vacancy rate under 1%. Um and that's uh against uh the average vacancy rate in Virginia of uh 3.4% and uh 3.4% vacancy. So I think that's something we should all be proud of. Um this slide um uh is a comparison of some uh some specifics. Um and you can see that um in the Commonwealth we're still not quite seeing uh vacancy rates of preandemic levels, but um they are beginning to uh plateau and you can see uh some of our targeted
184recruitment areas um have yielded uh zero vacancies in some instructional areas. Um and overall we're pleased to share that Albamaro County Public Schools is performing favorably compared to our peers across the Commonwealth. Um the trend in filling positions is also promising and demonstrates the commitment uh of ACPS to give highquality instructors to all of our students. As we stated before, our our teacher vacancy rate has remained uh low, opening this year at 0.9%. I would also like to h highlight that we've made significant progress addressing educational support professionals hiring needs. Uh our teaching assistant vacancies have dropped substantially uh from 10% to uh about 3.7% over the last four years. Uh for the 2526 school year, we hired 186 new teachers. Uh of these new hires, 21% uh about 39 individuals identified as teachers of
185color, which is an increase from uh 17% last year. We're beginning to see an increase in our first year teachers. Um Megan Wood noted that and I'll talk a little bit about that um later. But um we also in that increase of first year teachers, we're of course seeing uh an increase of our first year teachers of color. Um that rising from 2% last year to 5% in this newest teaching cohort. This next slide just um just demonstrates uh the positive trend toward increasing diversity in our new hires over over the years. So, this chart demonstrates Albam Mar Countyy's commitment to recruiting and retaining our entire uh teaching uh instructional staff. Our total percentage of teachers of color stands at 13.55%. Um this represents a steady cumulative growth over 3.5% um since the 2017 2018
186school year. Now, while we celebrate this progress, we remain committed to uh sustained effort increasing uh the diversity of our all of our staff. Um as we improve the retention of our teachers of color and we hire at the same rate or higher or better, excuse me, uh we will continue to see our teaching staff reflect um or begin to reflect the diversity of our student population. Here we see um data on our educational support professionals. These are essential non-instructional roles and continue to be our most diverse teams as demonstrated here. You can see in uh transportation, child nutrition and ED which is extended day enrichment program uh having 19% 30% and 61% uh new hires of color respectively. Um this section also highlights uh I think positively our technology department which remains one of
187our most stable departments. Um and uh and this means that sometimes u that the fact that um the best recruitment is uh strong retention. So sometimes that's good. Uh finally as we summarize the hiring activity with our leadership and central services teams. This year we saw several leadership changes. Notably, uh, of the four external hires we made across the leadership and central services, three of those individuals were leaders of color. Um, and we remain focused on both cultivating internal talent from within and attracting diverse uh, highc caliber leaders uh, to the division. And to demonstrate that 30% of our internal transfers and promotions were leaders of color as well. Just want to take a few moments to uh talk about some of the things that are on the horizon for uh our department. Um provisional
188licensed teachers uh as noted earlier um we are seeing an increase in our first year and provisionally licensed teachers to pro to proactively address this trend and ensure continuous support. Michael Thomas and and Dr. Dr. Sarah Lynn have collaborated to develop new procedures and systems that will support our educators in their journey to achieving full lensure. And at the same time, we're um partnering partnering with professional learning to the professional learning department to establish new instructional procedures and new provisionally licensed teachers. I think this collaborative effort is um is essential to maintaining our high standards for instruction. um human resources department is uh continuing department uh to part to continuing to to partner closely with transportation and child nutrition. There are two departments that we are constantly working with to identify innovative ways to recruit
189and retain essential uh staff members. Our current recruitment efforts includes a a mix of platforms to maximize um our reach and includes radio and television campaigns, social media campaigns, strate strategic use of professional job boards, partnership with employment agencies in uh several geograph geographic areas as well. Uh we're constantly working to refine these efforts to more clearly define and recruit highquality candidates for all departments. um our talent acquisition team and they've been rebranded as the TAC team um TAQ. Uh they did that just because it sounds cool. So uh Jason Crretchfield, um John McQuen and Brandon Edwards have made some concerted efforts to develop new and effective recruitment strategies. Uh one of those is hosting hosting targeted job fairs. We've begun to see significant benefits in hosting our own smaller uh focused job fairs. We're
190beginning to now experience positive results uh in targeting uh specific job uh job categories. We've already hosted uh a successful job fair this year and that resulted in bringing in some qualified transportation candidates. Uh future initiatives will continue to refine this practice as we'll focus on targeted onampus recruitment and strategic student uh relationship de relationship developments to build a pipeline for future talent. Our retention strategies are focused on enhancing engagement and developing strong leadership. Um, as Brody mentioned earlier, we've uh focused our commitment to staff engagement through work in the Gallup engagement. And Gallup is um more than just an annual survey. It's a framework used to identify uh the level of engagement across multiple areas of the organization, drive intentional decisions and deliberate practices to foster high staffing uh staff engagement. Additionally, we've begun
191uh to implement Clifton Strengths to continue our leadership and and team development. Our initial phase involves working with department and school leaders. Uh we'll then expand to training um school and department teams to identify and develop individual strengths by identifi identifying all of our staff's unique talents and empowering our staff to do what they do best. uh every day will lead to will hopefully hopefully will will lead to um higher engagement and a more committed workforce. Our goal is to become a highly engaged strength based strengthbased organization. We believe this work coupled with our Gallup engagement uh will significantly enhance staff retention in both the short and the long term. Finally, we are proud of our TOPS program, our teacher opportunity and provisional supports program that continues to grow. This program plays a critical role
192in supporting our current staff who are seeking to become certified teachers within the district and effectively building our um internal talent pipeline. Um and that's all I have. Thank you so much. It sounds like you're doing a good job keeping teachers. I know we we occasionally get people saying, you know, what are we doing? um or thinking that we are also having the same sorts of issues other communities are. I think it's great. Um how many applications are we getting for teacher positions? I mean I mean my sense a couple years ago that we were not getting the numbers but we were still keeping our hiring in still keeping our positions filled and doing a good job in retention notwithstanding the smaller numbers of applicants. >> Right. I I I don't have that information with
193me, but I um just in general um by the work of our um >> our principles and assistant principles um by the by the work of um early contracts, what we're able to do is through um the um recruitment efforts and the applications that we are receiving, we're trying to get those get through those quicker um in an effort to find that best talent while they're still available. Um, but I that is something that I can begin to get to look at and get back to um get back to >> it's not I mean it's not critical. I mean as I I recall maybe 10 years ago maybe maybe Graeme can help me. It was like we would something like 1500 applications for but then it was down to maybe 800 a couple years ago
194and >> yeah I'm only I've only been here for about we're still and I was getting worried it sounds like we're doing a pretty good job hiring them and keeping them. >> Absolutely. But we are noticing the national trend of fewer applicants. >> Yeah. And that that that is all the way from uh our teacher our our uh teacher colleges. Um so graduating less um so there are are fewer out there. Um but we we still remain uh a place that um teachers want to come. Um and I think that's one of the most important >> we have to make sure we stay that. >> Absolutely. Anything else? Thank you for staying and making this final presentation. And Mr. DS, I hope you feel better. Is there any other business tonight? I want to thank
195everyone for being here. It's been a long night. I think we got quite a bit done. Thank you. We're ajourned.