School Board Meeting, September 11, 2025

001Good evening. Uh, this September 11th meeting of the Almor County School Board is now in session. Mr. Paige, do we have a motion? >> Uh, we do. Chair Akuff, 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 authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Page, second in by Miss Osborne. Lauren, can you please call the vote? Miss Spilman, >> yes. >> Dr. Berlin, >> yes. >> Miss Prior, >> yes. >> Miss Osborne, >> yes. >> Mr. Paige, >> yes. >> Chair Akah, >> yes. Motion

002passes. Uh, now, um, we have a roll call to start the meeting. Uh, let's start with Mr. Mclofflin. >> Good evening everyone. Patrick Mclofflin, assistant superintendent. >> Roslin Schmidt, chief operating officer. >> Amy Wong, Almo High School student representative. Allison Spilman at large representative >> Graham Paige Miller district representative >> Kate Auff Jack Jwitt Rebecca Berlin Whiteall >> Ellen Osborne Scottville school district >> Leslie Pri Rio District Chandra Hayes assistant superintendent >> Josiah Black School division council >> Lauren Crawford acting clerk of the board >> and officer do you want to identify yourself >> thank you um I just want to today that we have you may see that we have a student representative on our board to tonight. This is the fourth year I believe that we've had student uh schoolboard representatives and she

003will make be making a statement a little bit later but we want to welcome her to the board. Uh we have five different schoolboard uh student representatives that will rotate during the course of this year and they have been a great benefit to us on the board. Next is a pledge of allegiance. Those who can please stand. I >> aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Now we'll have a brief moment of silence. The next item on our agenda is approval of the agenda. >> Do I have a motion? I move we approve tonight's agenda. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Osborne, seconded by Miss Prior and Miss Spilman. Motion passes. Um,

004next is school board and superintendent business. And I just want to make a note that Dr. Haw is at a uh I think >> Back to school night. He'll join us after a bit. Dr. Hayes. >> Good evening. Chair Auff. We do have a few items tonight and I'll start with Miss Schmidt. >> Thank you, Dr. H. I was asked to give a brief update on uh our weapon screening systems which we've recently deployed. Uh as you know, we initially deployed the systems at large athletic events this uh last fall. Uh but beginning this school year, we are now utilizing them for daily screening at our three comprehensive high schools. Uh this initiative is a part of the division's ongoing efforts to enhance school safety and maintain secure learning environments. The roll out of these

005systems began in a staggered fashion just last week, so we're only in the second week of use. Uh we know this is a major change for all involved. So we appreciate everyone's patience and cooperation as everyone learns the process and schools are making daily and continuous improvements uh continuous improvements to it. Uh schools are uh getting increasingly efficient and the process is much quicker than it was just a week ago. Uh but in full transparency, here are the times that's taking. Uh, Montichello was able to clear their screening by 9:00 a.m. this morning, Western 9:05, and Alamaro 9:07. So, those times will only get better as we continue to make improvements. Um, our goal is that this is not a stressful start of the day for our students and that it does not interfere with

006the instructional day. So, we will keep making improvements to meet that goal. >> Thank you, Miss Schmidt. >> Thank you. >> Um, good evening, board. I want to make a request to the school board. I would like to make a request that aligns with the recent decision made by our governor. Governor Yncan recently granted a half day for government employees on Wednesday, November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving. I am requesting that the board approved for all 12-month ACPS employees to be granted a half day on Wednesday, November the 26th as well. >> Do we have a motion to make that the case? I think this is something that we've done many we typically do but this is a will require a formal motion. >> I'm happy to make the motion. Just remind me the date

007again. The 26th. >> November 26th. Um I move that the board grant um the half day on November 26th that has been um uh >> Authorized. Thank you. By um the governor. A second. >> Any further discussion? >> That's not a There's no students on that day. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Do you have anything else, Dr. Hayes? >> Yes, Dr. Akuff. Um, this is September is suicide prevention awareness month. So I would like to read a statement. Good evening, Chair Akuff, members of the board, and members of our community. September is recognized nationally as suicide prevention awareness month, a time to raise awareness, share hope, and remind one another of the importance of the connection

008and care. Established in 2008, this observance includes National Suicide Prevention Week and World Suicide Prevention Day on September the 10th. These designations reflect a nationwide commitment to ensuring that individuals and families know that support is available and that suicide is preventable. One important advancement in recent years has been the creation of the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline. This national initiative reflects a growing recognition of the need for accessible mental health services. The lifeline provides free 247 confidential support via call, text, chat, and it connects individuals not only with trained crisis counselors, but with local mental health resources for our military families. It also integrates directly with the veterans crisis line, offering specialized support. Here in Alamar County Public Schools, we recognize that the well-being of our students is foundational to their success. To strengthen this

009commitment, we have implemented the HelpMe confidential reporting system, which allows families to be connected directly with our dedicated professionals, including mental health support specialists, school counselors, and school psychologists. Every day, they provide students with safe spaces to share their struggles, equip them with coping strategies, and connect families with resources they need. Their presence, guidance, and advocacy saves lives, and we are deeply grateful for their service. Several of these dedicated professionals are with us this evening and I'm in and I invite all of us to recognize their commitment to our students and families. I also want to acknowledge those who could not be here tonight. Their work is equally vital and their unwavering dedication continues to make a difference every single day. Our vision is not only to provide immediate support but also to create a

010community of care where every student feels seen, heard, and supported. One important step towards that vision is teen mental health first aid. Our first step is with within our high schools where we are preparing students to notice when a peer may be struggling and take the first steps in connecting them with help. As a school division, we rem we remain committed to fostering a culture where every student knows they are seen value valued and supported. Suicide is preventable and by working together as educators, families, and community partners, we can break down the stigma, open doors to help, and ensure that every student knows they are never alone. Thank you. Thank you. And Miss Spilman, do we have we have will you please read the resolution of this board? >> I would be happy to. Whereas

011September is recognized nationally as suicide prevention awareness month, a time to raise awareness, share hope, and emphasize the value of connection and care. And whereas this ob observance established in 2008 includes National Suicide Prevention Week and World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 and reflects a nationwide commitment to ensuring that individuals and families know that support is available and that suicide is preventable. And whereas in 2023, Virginia experienced 1,243 deaths by suicide, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death in the Commonwealth, including 184 young people ages 10 to 24 for whom suicide was the second le leading cause of death. And whereas one important advancement in prevention has been the creation of the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline which provides free 247 confidential support through text call or chat and connects individuals with trained

012crisis counselors and local resources including the veterans crisis line for military families. And whereas Alamaro County Public Schools has implemented divisionwide supports such as the HelpMe confidential reporting system and teen mental health first aid, ensuring students and families have access to timely assistance and tools to recognize when help is needed. And whereas Alam Maro County Schools vision is not only to provide immediate support, but also to foster a community of care where every student feels seen, heard, and supported. And whereas the work of our school-based mental health professionals, educators, families, and community partners is vital in reducing stigma, expanding access to support, and ensuring no student is left to struggle alone. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Albam Marl County School Board does hereby recognize September 2025 as suicide prevention awareness awareness month in

013Albam Marl County Public Schools and encourages all members of our school community to join in supporting this observance, promoting hope, and ensuring that every student knows they are never alone. >> Thank you, Miss Bman. Did you have anything else? >> Not until the spotlight. Okay, Miss Wong, are you prepared to make your introduction to the school board in the community? >> Hello, I'm Amy Wong and I'm a senior at Almo High School. Um, I'd like to begin by saying that we've had a strong start with our club fair and sports season and senior sunrise at Almo High School. But through a student survey, students have expressed concerns about several issues. So, the first concern was weapons screening. So many students have expressed worries over being late to class due to long lines outside of uh

014these screeners and would like more screeners if possible. Furthermore, they've expressed concerns about having these large crowds and have mentioned that these crowds could cause danger and they feel more vulnerable in these crowds than being in a classroom. Um students have mentioned that despite their frustrations, they appreciate their safety being taken into consideration. Another issue that students have raised is that they believe that banned websites on school computers is a bit excessive and that has gotten into the way of their schoolwork. Um, but regardless, we're all looking forwards towards uh we're all looking uh towards a successful square. >> Thank you, Miss Wong. The next item of business then is spot no spotlight on education. >> Yes. And in a continuation of the acknowledgement of suicide prevention awareness month, I want to um invite uh

015Mr. Miles Nelson, our coordinator of mental health and wellness. Um Mr. Cabbell Guy, our coordinator of school counseling, and Mr. Kevin Kirstst, our executive director of student support services. Good evening board. My name is Cabal Guy. I am the coordinator of school counseling for Alam Maro County Public Schools. And I want to take just a moment to thank Dr. Hayes for her words. Um I I have to acknowledge that they are scary words, right? when we're talking about suicide, when we're talking about student self harm, it can elicit a lot of response from students and adults alike, which I think goes to highlight the good work that our school counselors, our mental health support specialists, and our school psychologists are doing at the school level every single day. Uh for school counselors, we start this

016work very early when we're focusing on helping our elementary students learn to deal with big feelings and powerful emotions and learning what resources are available to them. We know that that work gets harder as they get older because the trust in adults and fear of the spotlight of attention being on them becomes a bit of a barrier. Um that's why the work that we do at the school level with needs assessments and student surveys, the MTSS ESBID process are all paramount to identifying kids that are struggling. Um, I would also like to say that one of the things that we focus on is a group that's oftentimes overlooked, which are those students who are the friend group of the peers that are struggling with their emotions because we know that as they get older and

017they're not sharing that information, they're having to balance how do I be a good friend and keep a secret, but also try to help with something that's developmentally not appropriate for me to deal with, like suicide talk. Um, so resources like what we talked about a moment ago with the Help Me app are really paramount to making a difference and giving kids the support that they need at the school level to deal with these things. Um, most importantly though is the relationship we have with kids and the people that are joining me tonight, school counselors, school psychologists, mental health support specialists, they really are the frontline workers that have their finger on the pulse for our students in our schools every day. And it really is paramount that they continue doing that work. And I

018think I would be remiss if I didn't thank you all as a board for funding those positions and continuing to make our students psychological health as important as our educational needs. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Guy. And so just to piggy off of what Mr. Guy said, um really wanted to thank all of our individuals that are here today. they're with us in the crowd today. So, all of our school-based mental health professionals, our school counselors, our school psychologists, school uh mental health support specialists, but also our community partners. So, we have region 10. Oh my goodness, I'm going to forget someone. I should look at my list. Uh we have active and connected. Um a new family legacy. Um man, I really should have looked at my list before this. Ready kids, region

01910. um family support program through DSS. We have so many community partners and it it creates a safety net that really just provides that community of care. Um but also we have here today region 10 and spark which is the suicide prevention awareness resource council that provides a lot of the training and support for us. So, they were um handing out t-shirts here tonight to honor our school-based mental health staff that's here today as a way to say thank you for all the work that they do. Um but to come back to that power of community, I was recently having a conversation with a crisis counselor and they were talking about how the student came into services and it really comes down to students peers and that peer encouraged them to talk with their family

020to talk with a counselor and that's how they engaged in services and that's where we get to the power of community. We talk about the adults, the professionals, the supports, the care, but like Mr. Guy said, it's our relationships that we have with the children, that we have with each other, that we have with our peers, and reducing that stigma and being able to have an open conversation about something that most people don't want to talk about. And so, the professionals we have here tonight engage in that conversation almost every single day. And we're continuing to support it. Our health and PE teachers are now supporting team mental health first aid and teaching peers how to engage with their or talking with students and helping them engage with their peers and they do that alongside

021mental health professionals. we engage with um again I am terrible going off script but that conversation and that implementation of team mental health first aid is really empowering not only our adults to have conversations with kids but it's engaging students to be able to have that conversation with each other. So right now we're implementing that within our freshman class. And so this is our second year of implementation. Within four years, everyone of our high school students will have that knowledge base that we can continue to support and reduce stigmatization and have a conversation around what healthy thoughts are and how and who do we talk to when we need that help. And so again, that's why we have the individuals we have here tonight and we're here to say thank you to them. And so

022I really wanted to ask if y'all would stand and be recognized so we can say thank you to all of our schoolbased mental health professionals. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you Mr. Nelson. Mr. Kurs you don't. Okay. Thank you all. uh as you know this board has long supported a you know strengthening of the mental health resources we have in our schools and I am uh very pleased that we are we are there for our kids. Uh one of my colleagues Miss Prior pointed out that I was remiss in not noting that today is the 24th anniversary of 911. There's so much else going on that it w it uh got lost in my head for a bit. But I think that's all just we should remember what happened. Then the next item on

023the announce on on the agenda is public comment and Dr. Berlin will be managing that. >> Thank you so much chair. I'm going to start by reading the public comment guidelines. Just as a reminder, we welcome public input at our school meetings. To sign up and speak during the public comment period, you can do se it several ways. Online sign up is available from 9:00 a.m. on the Monday of the meeting week until 2 p.m. on the meeting day. By phone, call the school board clerk's office to sign up until 2 p.m. on the meeting day or in person. Sign up at sign up at the meeting is available on from 6 p.m. until the public comment period for in-person meetings only. Please note that public comment is not received at special board meetings unless

024specified on the agenda. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak. The maximum number of people or groups that may speak at a meeting is 20. In the event there are more than 20 people or groups who wish to speak at the particip that particular meeting, each speaker will be signed a number and the numbers will be drawn. Those who do not have the opportunity to speak at a particular meeting may sign up to speak at a subsequent meeting or may submit written comments for the school board's considerations. Speakers should state their name, address, or voting district. Address comments to the school board. limit comments to the schoolboard governance of school division operations and provide written statements and supporting material to the clerk. The school board will use a timer to track each speaker's time.

025Once the time is up, speakers are asked to wrap up their comments. To m maintain respect, please refrain from clapping or other audible forms of support. You may raise your hand instead. Debate with the school board is not allowed and the projection system is for staff presentations only. I do want to check on something before we start. I we I noticed a difference between what was um online and the paper I have. Um so I have Sydney Duncan, Indigo Mathon, Sonia Carrick, Heather Lindsay, Heidi Gilman Bennett, and Dan McDonald on the I did have we did have a a Jim Dylan Bach. Um you are not on this list. I just want to you have time if you want it. I just there I think there was just a a discrep a discretion between copy

026and paste. So please note that that time is honored unless you withdrew your name. Okay, perfect. Um I would ask that the first three people um uh be ready. Sydney Duncan, Indigo Mathon, and Sonia Carrick. And as always, if any of us mispronounce your name, we deeply apologize and just correct us. Sydney Duncan, please come forward. Just have her adjust the mic cuz she did it already. >> Hello, my name is Sydney Duncan and thank you for taking this time to listen to our concerns. I am a senior and captain on the cross country team this fall and I'm missing practice day to speak on behalf of my fellow classmates regarding the state of Almoro High School and the tactic district. In the past three years that I have attended Elmer, never have I felt

027as restricted and dismissed than I do today. Almo preaches to us about safety and how important attendance is for our student body, but shows us students the exact opposite during school hours. In the past week, as many of you may be aware, Albero implemented the new weapons detectors. This includes two located in the lower Mesa and two located our athletics entrance for bus users along with one detector that supposedly is supposed to be open at 9:00 a.m. in the front office. This is four working detectors during the hours of 8:15 through 9 when 94% of our students enter the building for a student body of over 2,000. In this process, the last week, me and my classmates have been yelled at, lined up, and treated under heavy stress. As stated in the ACPS website, along

028with reported by school officials on the news this past week, there should be no reason for students to pull anything from our backpacks unless the exception of our computers. We've seen that opposite from our administration as we are yelled at to empty all metal from our backpacks and as we approach the school building under the circumstance that our the weapons detector goes off, which has been every day for me this week. Our admin has searched our bags in person. Some even asked to lift balls out to make sure that we are hiding nothing underneath them. I believe our admin is using the use of weapons detectors in order to find other items that may be on students. >> Sorry. Open if you need to. We will hold the time. >> Secondarily, our school preaches to

029us daily that attendance is key for our education. I agree with this statement. What I do not understand is why attendance is so important. That why is administration making it so hard to attend school. On Monday, due to the line, many of my classmates were late to class as they were marked hardy from 5 minutes to an hour and 20. We are missing vital instruction time due to the lack of detectors that were provided for Elmo. Within the school is a district within the school is a different story. Our administration have been made made the rule that our online passes if they exceed the limit by even a second. We are punished with lunch detention. This includes for teachers forget to end our passes or if the has passes been forgotten about. This isn't as

030relevant to teachers, but it puts an incredible amount of unnecessary stress on students during the time we should be able to take a break for ourselves. On top of this, the school is just in general overcrowded. We've known this for an issue, this has been an issue for years through all the school uh feeder patterns, and it continues to get worse every year. Our hallways are packed, and often we barely get to class on time, trying to go through narrow stairways. The admin closes off large portions of our hallways during lunches to restrict our movement which enhances this even more. To conclude, I have to advocate for change for actual working students. We understand we need for safety and accessibility, but those goals should not ever come to a cost of dignity of our student

031education. We're asking you to truly listen to the people who are most affected by these polit by these policies. the students involve us in the decision-m process because if we want schools to be a place where students grow, learn, and thrive, then we need policies that treat us like real human beings. Thank you again. >> Thank you very much, >> Indigo Mathon. >> Um, good evening members of the board. My name is Indigo Mathon and I'm a senior at Almoro High School and I live in the Rio district. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight, not just on my own behalf, but for many of the classmates who feel unheard and overwhelmed. Let me begin by stating that as students, we all appreciate the attempts to regulate and establish safety in the school

032environment as our world is changing. But I want to talk about a few issues that have deeply affected our ability to succeed and feel safe in our learning environment. First, the recent implementation of weapon detectors at school entrances. While we understand the intent is safety, the reality is very different. These detectors have caused backup lines so severe that students, especially bus riders who have no control over when they arrive, are facing delays of up to 45 minutes just to enter the building. That's nearly half of a class period lost. And these students are then marked tardy through no fault of their own. Even if our tardies are being dismissed, which we're not sure or have confirmed to be true, we are still losing vital class time. It does not make us feel safer and makes

033us feel stressed, punished, and frankly unwelcome in the place where we spend most of our time. Second, the bathroom situation. Currently, we are given timed online bathroom passes capped at 10 minutes. If we go over even by a second, we're automatically assigned lunch detention. That might sound like a fair system on paper until you realize that over 2,200 students and there are only 40 to 45 bathroom stalls. That's a 55:1 ratio, which does not meet the Virginia State Board of Education's own requirements of a 30 to1 ratio. These three of the entire bathroom facilities have been closed off by administration. We are literally being punished for needing to use a restroom that isn't even realistically accessible in time. And then there's the overcrowding. Hallways are packed. Classrooms are cramped. During lunch, many students, especially underassmen,

034who aren't allowed to leave campus, have nowhere to sit, especially when it rains. There is no break from the building. Despite all of this, our administration strongly promotes the importance of attendance and mental health, which I agree with. But how can you expect students to show up when it's physically hard to get in the door, emotionally draining to stay, and logistically impossible to meet basic needs? We want to learn. We want to show up. But these policies, however well-intentioned, are actively creating barriers to the very success we're told is important. I'm asking the board to re-evaluate these policies with real student input because right now it doesn't feel like we're being protected. It feels like we're being controlled and that is not the kind of environment that helps anyone thrive. Thank you for your time.

035>> Thank you very much, >> Sonia Carrick. Sonia Carrick, did I say that correctly? >> Doesn't appear to be here. >> I'm just going to check one more time for Sonia Carrick. If that person is not here, I will move on. Heather Lindsay. Good evening. My name is Heather Lindseay and I live in the Ryana District. Um, first I want to thank the students for speaking out with such poise and sharing their concerns. Um, I'm the parent of a recent Almiral High School graduate and a current Almiral High School student. Um, but I'm a school counselor at Lakeside Middle School and that's why I'm here tonight. Um, I thank you all for the recognition of the support um and the support that you give us to do our jobs to build connections with students every

036day. Um, thank you for recognizing the need for mental health in our schools. Over my 25 years um, working for this division, I've seen many changes in our schools and in the needs of our students. But one thing that has not changed is that school counselors have always been at the forefront of supporting the students mental health needs and social emotional learning. Most days I go to school with a plan of what I think I'm going to accomplish in the day. Um, and my plan gets set aside. Um, because student concerns come first. Um, whatever rolls in that day is what I attend to. Um, it could be anything from the loss of a pet or the loss of a parent. Um, it could be dealing with changing friendships and learning how to manage conflict.

037It could be managing feelings about an incarcerated parent. Um, general anxiety or thinking about self harm or suicide. While the mental health of our youth has been in the spotlight for the last five years, this has been the work of school counselors for my entire career. The work that school counselors and other mental health professionals do in the schools cannot be misunderstood or underestimated. And I thank you for recognizing that. I thought that September and suicide prevention awareness month would be a good opportunity for me to share these thoughts with you. Um, thank you for your proclamation and acknowledgement of our work. Um I also wanted to the opportunity to express my gratitude for the support um that you've given school counselors over the years and for keeping that emphasis um so that we can

038create safe schools and healthy students. Specifically, I also want to thank division like leadership and the board for supporting the reinstallation of the coordinator of school counseling position. Um that's a position that hasn't existed for quite some time and has been very needed. Um with Mr. Cabbell Guy in this role. I believe that we'll be better supported at the division level to ensure that we're seeing positive outcomes for all students and to help all students thrive. I tell my students that my door is always open and I extend the same to any of you if you're ever curious about what a day in the life is like um or have any questions and I invite you to come welcome come visit anytime. Thank you very much for all your support. >> Thank you very much.

039I just noticed the name Damian Barfield on the line with with Sonia Kurrick. I just want to make sure I didn't make a Okay, just want to want to make sure I always give everyone the opportunity. Um, Heidi Gilman Bennett, excuse me. Hello, my name is Heidi Gilman Bennett, Samuel Miller, District Officer of Family Council, speaking my personal opinion on high school capacity. Number one, we need a new northern high school. Population growth up 29 demands it. The key data was already presented to you by ACPS staff, a fourth high school. When just a fraction of the already approved housing is included in enrollment projections, a new high school would be filled to a 1500 seat capacity in just 10 years. There are 8,000 units of housing approved in Northern Albarl alone. If it were

040funded now, it would be full by the time it opens. It's that straightforward. Number two, do not build center 3. It will not solve overcrowding at Western or Montichello. They need additions. Students and families want a comprehensive high school with sports, with drama. Very few want to travel away from base school every other day. Center 3 means high transportation costs, high in environmental impact with more busing, high annual operating costs, high risks to safety as kids walk between separate buildings. Going above 1,200 student size frankly seems risky for student outcomes, including the ability to build strong relationships that are positive between staff and students. And frankly, I worry that ACPS can't effectively operate a large high school. But have you seen the housing development that's going on in Cro at Old Ivy Road? Seen the

041plan for 1,200 new units at 64 and 29? Please do not put any more students in trailers. We need additions to our schools. Doing all of these things plus the backlog of other CIP projects is expensive and it is possible. Other school divisions are doing it. Experts in our community have told us it is possible. But this requires you as our elected officials to get to work. We families who are not being paid are holding meetings with supervisors, with a planning commission. We are showing up. We are talking to candidates and housing experts. Our kids have suffered for decades due to poor decision-making. They are squished into pressure cooker high schools. No windows in classrooms that have been subdivided with flimsy walls. I say it's the adults who are now behaving badly. I'm calling on

042you and the people you've appointed to create a real plan that we can all stand behind. Not just a long wish list of a half billion dollars of placeholder projects. Instead, a detailed proposal for what must be built and improved and how to fund it. Tonight is the night to tell your long-range planning committee that we need a new northern high school. No more centers. We need additions. You need to deliver on physical spaces where our youth can thrive. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dan McDonald. Is there a Dan McDonald here? Dan McDonald. So, you know Dan McDonald. I'm Jim Dylan. Good evening, Chair Auff, other members of the board, Dr. Hos and staff. My name is Jim Dillanbeck and I live in the Rio district. As you may have heard, I'm rather stubborn

043and I'm running for a seat on this board again because I believe a good quality education is the key to giving our young people the tools to be successful members of our community. Unfortunately, many of the students in the Rio district are not thriving currently. My hope is to bring some fresh ideas to the board based on my experience as a teacher and coach and parent and with my conversations with many teachers and parents in the Rio area. I attended the PTO meeting at Woodbrook Elementary School on Monday evening, and I'm happy to report that they have a lot of energy and great events planned for this school year. If elected to this board, I've pledged to donate half of my stipen to the PTO's in the Rio district. What I'm compelled to mention tonight,

044though, is the abysmal test scores in our district, particularly among students of color. The SO test results from last school year came out recently, and I feel the need to mention some of the results. For black students at Woodbrook Elementary School, only 28% passed the math test, 26% passed the reading test, and shockingly, only 3% passed the fifth grade science test. These results are deeply disturbing. Unfortunately, the test scores for students of color at both Agnar and Greer Elementary School aren't much better. I don't blame the students or the teachers or the hardworking staff. I blame the system. The mission statement for ACPS says in part, "We seek to build relationships with families and communities to ensure that every student succeeds. We will know every student. Yet, unfortunately, many students are not succeeding. In fact,

045in the ACPS as a division, more than half of the K through2 students of color failed the reading and math and science so tests and twothirds failed the history so last year. The achievement gap for black and white students remains at an astounding 27 to 32%. Clearly, changes need to be made. As a teacher, I got to know my students in the first few weeks of school, but that didn't help them succeed. They need to be educated so that when they go on to college or the workforce or the military, they can thrive. We owe that to every student and family in the county. I look forward to hearing what changes will be made in order to improve outcomes for all students regardless of race, background, and economic status. And oh, by the way, I

046would also urge the board to approve the speedy planning to build the fourth high school as the best long-term solution to the overcrowding problem that has existed since the mid9s when I taught from a trailer at Almoral High School. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much. And thank you for all who shared their comments with us today, particularly the two um students from AHS. I know how difficult it is to speak in front of um this board. Um and I appreciate um your engagement in uh the civic discourse. >> That's the end of public comment. >> Public comment. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Dr. Berlin. Uh we now have on the agenda approval of the consent agenda. Do we have a motion? >> I move we approve tonight's consent agenda. >> I

047second. Moved by Miss Osborne, seconded by Dr. Berlin. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Next item is um school division business. And we have uh three meaty topics tonight. Uh beginning with building services annual report and Mr. Wman. forget how you share it full screen. >> Thank you. Good evening, Chair Auff, members of the school board, and Dr. Hos. My name is Matt Worman, and I'm the director of building services. I'm excited to be able to provide you with a brief update on recent work completed in our department within the last year. I'd also like to briefly just introduce with me this evening is Jeff Rom, our deputy director, as well as Tiffany Morris, our assistant director for custodial services. Of course, this evening we will be discussing our third strategic goal

048of equitable, transformative resources. However, we're also going to touch this evening on goal two of affirming and empowering communities specifically around our staffing. Our agenda for this evening will include a brief update of projects completed this past summer, an update on ongoing construction projects, and some operational updates. Okay, summer 25 updates. One of our biggest accomplishments this past summer was opening trail head learning community. Opening a new school with little to no budget was a huge hurdle. However, using different line items in our CIP maintenance budget, we were able to repaint the entire school, upgrade the HVAC system, outfit a serving line to provide meals to our students, and upgrade some of the furniture throughout the building, as well as make necessary security enhancements such as the installation of our card reader system. This was

049a major accomplishment that was successful, thanks in part to several members of our capital team. As we do every summer, we had multiple electrical and HVAC upgrade projects. You can see the full list here of schools that receive some portion of these improvements. Montichello High School's track was completely replaced this past summer. This now just leaves Albamar's track to be refinished and then all three stadiums at all three high schools will have been completely refurbished in the last three years. In recent years, we have also been increasing the amount of maintenance funds that go towards maintaining our storm water facilities. With increased regulations from DEEQ over the last decade, many of our facilities that we have installed over the past few years are starting to require some major maintenance work. Here you can see a

050major storm water retention rejuvenation project that was completed at Mountain View Elementary School this past spring. Other storm water maintenance projects were completed at Crosse and Western Albamaral High School. We anticipate a significant increase in storm water maintenance projects over the coming years. We also completed bathroom renovations at three schools, including Murray, Stony Point, and some staff bathrooms at Burley Middle School. This project is a great example that shows how our office utilizes the internal facility condition assessments that we perform to determine where to best spend the resources that we receive. as both Murray and Stony Point had some of the lowest scores on conditions of their bathrooms across all of our facilities. We were also able to continue our multi-year project of upgrading windows at Albamar High School. These new windows not only provide

051a modern upgraded aesthetic, but also provide significant energy savings in our facilities. While these projects, these sample projects do not reflect all of the work that our office did this past summer, it gives you an idea of what our office completed in the shortened summer period. Collectively, this summer's CIP maintenance work consisted of $12.5 million worth of work completed across all facilities. You can see the breakdown of spending by feeder pattern in the pie chart on the right. of this $12.5 million. And I should I should add too that does not factor in the two new schools. Of this $12.5 million, a little over 13.5% was spent in title one schools and $1.6 million was spent in our transformation schools. When factoring in the two new schools, an additional $8.2 million worth of work was

052completed just this past summer. Collectively, that accounts for nearly $3 million worth of work per week. That's an insane pace of work. And I'm incredibly proud of our capital team and the outstanding work that they were able to accomplish this past summer, particularly given how challenging of a year this was with the shortened summer period. Our team stepped up to the challenge and delivered. I also want to take this moment to just to announce that I'm really excited that Kagan Squire, who is one of our senior project managers, has recently accepted the role of assistant director of capital planning and construction in our office. Unfortunately, Kagan can't be here this evening because he's because he's on his delayed honeymoon. Um, but Kagan is an exceptional project manager and I'm really excited to see where he

053can take our capital program. Okay, shifting towards ongoing construction projects. We'll first talk about Mountain View Upper Elementary School. As you can see from these series of photos, work is progressing on the new elementary school at a steady pace. Over the last several months, significant site work has been completed, including the construction of storm water facilities, installation of underground utilities, and the parking lot is starting to take shape. On the building side, steel has been erected, the g the ground floor slab has been poured, and framing along with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing roughin are well underway. We have also begun drilling the geothermal wells. As you can see from these photos, the contractor has three drill rigs on site and are well underway with that work. As you all know, just last week, we were

054able to celebrate the highest beam being lifted into place. This was a monumental occasion and I'm so glad that we were able to include our students in the signing of the beam and that that uh ceremony. Thank you to Chair Auff and Judy Lee. Um I think I think I caught everybody that was there. I was actually on vacation last week, but so if I missed you, I apologize. U but as you can see from the photos, the cont uh this was an incredibly successful event. This slide provides just a brief summary of the project status. As the work continues to progress, our risks continue to diminish. We anticipate the steady pace to continue over the next several months as we drive towards the opening of that facility next school year. shifting towards Ace Academy

055Lambs Lane campus. Progress on this project is just a little behind that of the new elementary school, but is still progressing at a steady pace. As you can see from these photos, steel erection is well underway. Under slab MEP is roughen is completed, and actually just this past week, a significant portion of the ground floor slab was poured. As you know, this building will also house the school division's main data center. These photos show the extensive concrete structure that was constructed to protect those assets. This part of the building is also designed to have significant waterproofing materials to further protect that equipment from the elements. These aerial photos show how the site is integrated into the Lambslane campus and seek to redesign and reinvision that campus in alignment with the Lambslane master plan. You can

056see here where the road network, including the first leg of the future Lamb's Lane Loop Road, has been completed and is now open to traffic. And here is progress on the new parking lot that will be located just past the Alamar High School tennis courts. This work is also making significant progress in the last week since these photos have been taken. This portion of the work is on pace to be completed by the end of this month. I also want to give a huge shout out to Andrew Smith, a student at Almor High School, who has graciously been documenting this project uh really since the beginning and has provided these aerial photos to us for this presentation. And here is an overall summary of the project. Just like the new elementary school, as work progresses,

057our risks continue to diminish. We will have a he another heavy lift next summer on this project as we seek to construct the new student dropoff area between the Albamar High School cafeteria and the stadium. However, at this point, we are on pace for this project to open next school year. We wanted to provide you with a brief update with respect to the name of the new facility. As the rebranding efforts have finalized, we have started to try and solidify a shared understanding of the names for the two ACE Academy facilities. We've implemented use of the word campus and shift it from calling the first center from seminal trail to seminal place. As we move towards the opening of ACE Academy on the Lambslane campus next school year, I wanted to also provide a brief

058programmatic update. There will be eight studio program offerings offered at the new school. Based on current studio enrollments, we project that the new facility will have about 640 students in attendance next year or an average of 320 students per day. The following year, we project that enrollment will increase to the full capacity of 800 students or 400 students per day as the larger cohorts pass through. Shifting to the album High School second floor connector wing project. This project is moving along at a very steady pace. The contractor was able to complete their key milestones this past summer of completing the steel erection and pouring the concrete deck. As you can see from these photos, work is well underway with framing, MEP roughen, and exterior sheathing. This project is currently anticipated to be completed no later

059than late winter, early spring of this academic year. I wanted to also provide you with some brief operational updates. As I stepped into this role just a little over a year ago, one of my first priorities was to establish a set of core principles to guide our department. We designed a logo of these principles to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to signify that while each one of these is vital on its own, it's even stronger when connected to the others. Whether it's employee engage, excuse me, whether it's employee development, operational excellence, customer service, sustainability, or innovation, each piece is interchangeable and interconnected, shaping the culture we are building in our department. Together, they provide us with a clear compass, one that empowers staff, strengthens our service to schools, and helps us approach challenges with

060creativity and accountability. And later this month, we will be giving out our first annual core principles awards to five employees in our department who exemplify each of these core principles each and every day. These core principles really manifest themselves in the incredible staff that we have. I wanted to share a brief story with you from the very first day of school. We received a call at about 2:30 or 3:00 that afternoon that there was a large power outage at Albam Marl High School that was affecting an entire wing of the building. Our crews were quickly dispatched and when they arrived they started to assess the situation. They learned that there had been a power surge that had blown the transformer to that part of the building. All systems including HVAC, it elevator, everything was down

061in about 30 classrooms. By 4:00 that day, we realized that we were in a real bind and we weren't sure what we were going to do. We moved quickly and were able to secure an extremely large generator before the rental companies closed at 5:00 that evening. And our crews worked until 8:00 p.m. that evening to ensure that the generator would function and provide power to those 30 classrooms so that we would not have to cancel the second day of school on a day when the temperature, mind you, was projected to be in the mid 90s. By the end of that first full week of school, a permanent repair had been made. I was so proud of the way our maintenance team responded to this effort to ensure that our students would have a safe and

062comfortable place to learn. They stepped up and met that challenge and I'm very proud of them. Just to show you how incredible our team is, here are just a few of the highle operational statistics. Our custodial teams waxed over 1.2 2 million square ft of floors. For last fiscal year, our team completed over 7,000 maintenance requests, which is more than we received. And these were done with an average resolution time of just less than 40 days. A breakdown of the nature of those work orders can be seen in the pie chart on the right. Just this summer alone, nearly 1300 work orders were completed in the shortened window. On average, our team is completing 28 work orders per day, which is incredibly impressive given that we only have a maintenance team of about 40 people.

063And to be clear, these statistics don't even account for preventative maintenance work orders that our team handles on a routine basis. Our office also manages the community use policy. Last fiscal year, ACPS hosted over 2200 community events in our schools across 93 different external groups, resulting in 320,000 in revenue as of August 29th of this year. A breakdown of these statistics by school and the types of events can be seen in the charts and graphs here. And now I want to turn it over to Tiffany Morris, our assistant director of custodial services to provide you with some really exciting updates that are happening within our custodial team. >> Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon, uh, members of the board. I'm Tiffany Morris, and I've had the privilege of serving as the assistant director for custodial for the

064last two and a half years. Today, I'm proud to share some of the incredible work our custodial team has done to enhance the learning environment for our students and staff over the past year. Um, as you can see in this slide here, um, it shows the incred incredible work that our team has completed over the last two summers, refinishing millions of square feet of flooring. Um, we've actually painstakingly removed years of buildup to reveal clean floors which have dramatically increased the overall feel of the learning environment in all of our schools. Um, we've also brought our gym refinishing inhouse. And by doing that, it's given us greater control over the quality and the scheduling of the work. We've actually also started using a a higher quality, more sustainable product with lower VOCC's, um, which is

065and it also has improved durability. um by prioritizing this healthier, more sustainable and longinglasters um solution for our building occupants. To support our team's personal and career growth, we've actually implemented a custodial career ladder. Um we're really excited about this. This actually this program provides a clear path for advancement while teaching both technical skills such as um proper cleaning methods and equipment use but also teaches interpersonal skills such as communication, professionalism and customer service. Uh available to all custodial staff. Uh it aligns with our department's focus on continuous improvement and development and also fostering a culture of growth and excellence. This slide actually shows um one of our classes in our level one certification. Participation in this class is voluntary, but as you can see, every class is full of eager and motivated custodians who

066are really looking forward to advancing their careers. Um each level of the certification is designed to take 12 to 18 months to complete. Uh at the conclusion of the program, the participant applies for certification and then they complete a hands-on and written assessment to earn their certification. This process ensures not only um we're not only improving technical expertise, but we're also fostering a strong sense of professional pride and accountability. Uh lastly, I'd like to focus on team culture and recognition. Our annual custodial Olympics, as you can see here in the po photos, um always brings fun and camaraderie amongst our entire team. We get all 140 of our custodians together and we have games such as the mop bucket obstacle course and a um electrical uh standalone scrubber chariot race. Um, we also held our

067very first custodial awards this past summer where we were able to recognize the individuals that go above and beyond to keep our schools clean and safe. Um, I'm proud of all the work that we've accomplished and I'm excited to keep building on the momentum that we've built. Now, I'll turn it back over to Matt Wartman so he can conclude the building services annual report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Tiffany. I'm really proud of the work that Tiffany and the entire custodial team are doing to transform our schools. These efforts were clearly reflected in our Gallup data from this past year, which saw a significant overall jump among the custodial team. These results result these efforts resulted in increases in every single Gallup question, including four questions that saw a significant increase. This data is clearly

068a direct result of the changes that have been implemented over the last year and I couldn't be more grateful for the team's hard work and energy. Lastly, I want to provide a very brief environmental update. John Kohl's, who many of you know uh is our environmental program manager, will be before you later this fall to provide a full update from the ASUS committee. But just briefly, last year we saw our lowest energy consumption year excluding 2020 despite continued increased square footage across the division. We also saw our highest amount of composting collected and we are seeing some successes from our conservation mowing. A bird survey was conducted earlier this spring by the Piedmont Environmental Council in partnership with the Virginia Glass Grassland Bird Initiative. During that survey, they were surprised to discover nesting grasshopper sparrows,

069which is America's most endangered song bird. The birds were discovered to be nesting immediately within our conservation mowing areas, which is a strong testament that these areas are seeing the desired effects that we hoped for when we implemented that program. Lastly, I want to conclude with this photo of a cultural wall that we installed in our office this past spring. It's a world map where each pinpoint represents a member of our team and where they're from. Building services is the most globally diverse department in the school division. And this wall celebrates the rich backgrounds and experiences our staff bring with them. It's a daily reminder that our strength comes from the wide range of perspectives that make us who we are. And that no matter where we start it, we're all working toward the same

070mission to clean to together to clean, maintain, and create learning environments for the students, staff, and ACPS community. And so with that, we're happy to answer any questions that you may have. Okay, I have one question. Uh Matt, could you go back to one of the first slides that was showing um the property at Mountain View? >> I think >> this one. >> Yeah. Um on that slide, it's hard to tell whether or not there's been any type of vegetation or any type of protective covering on that place. Has there been? >> Yes. Yeah, this was a a progress photo taken during design, but yes, it's been hydro seedated with grass seed and it's taken taken root. If we were to go out there today, you'd see grass growing in in that area. >> Okay,

071no thanks. >> Am I allowed to participate in custodial Olympics? Absolutely. >> Sounds really fun. >> I would love to use one of those like buffer things. That sounds really fun. >> Absolutely. We'll definitely make sure the board meal calendar invite. I'll be there. >> Definitely get invited. >> It's usually It's usually during spring break every year. I I'll make I'll make I'll make a I'll make an exception and be there. >> Um you probably I know the answer sort of. Um I was I used to be on the ACES it's I don't want to call it a committee because it's already in the name but I was on ACES and one of the issues that keeps coming up is um the effectiveness of recycling and that sort of falls in a no person's land

072of responsibility. Some teachers do it and and John Kohl's isn't here to talk about it, but I'm wondering what kind of instruction and maybe this is a question from Miss Morris that do the custodians get in terms of the recycling because we do have recycling bins, but I've been told it's not been as efficient as it might be. >> Yeah, absolutely. When I've I I came here from the University of Virginia where we had an excellent recycling and redu reduction pro program. So, we're taking a lot of what I've learned there and trying to put it into process here. Um, the first thing I actually did was change our buying habits. So, we've actually, as a custodial team, we've actually reduced um our packaging and the um the carbon footprint of where we're ordering from.

073So, we are doing that as a custodial team. We are in the middle of training all of our staff. As you can imagine, it's a little bit difficult when you have staff that speak upwards of 10 different languages of how to process recycling. And there, of course, there's turnover. We're lucky that there's not as much turnover as there was at one time. Um, but this year, we're focusing on paper. So, we figured we're going to focus on one thing in the classroom. Obviously, paper is the first and easiest thing to do. Um so we're all classrooms have paper recycling and the custodians ha are starting there and then we are working school by school um with the composting but you're right it is kind of like all it's not exactly streamline between child nutrition teachers

074and custodial. So it does it's students it does I I do want to shout out to Alberal High School. I've I've spoke with the team there and they're doing an excellent job and we're we're working a little bit with them to help increase the recycling there. So, um, we're we're making progress, but I would say this year, um, we are focusing on the paper just because it it is a monumental task to train 140 multicultural custodians on how what goes in what container and and how to take it out. So, >> yeah, hopefully that's helpful. >> Are there any any more questions or comments? I would just say good job and too bad you missed the topping out ceremony last week. It was it was excellent. >> I'm really sorry I missed it. I heard

075great things. So, >> well, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, colleagues, we have a scheduled break. Do we want to take 10 minutes? Okay, let's take 10 minutes. We'll be back at what? 7:47. >> Okay, wake up. >> Wake up. providing direction to our long range planning committee on what we would really like a deep dive about. Um, with that, Miss Kumazawa. >> Good evening. I'm Maya Kumazawa, director of budget and planning, and this evening we'll continue our discussion on high school facilities planning. Uh, this topic aligns with our strategic plan, learning for all, with a particular focus on goal three, equitable and transformative resources. since um your work session on August 14th, you asked a lot of great questions um and we've pulled together data that hopefully answer the questions you had um

076at that work session as well as subsequent questions we we received after the work session. Um on this slide is a list of the topics that were covered in the Q&A document that was shared with you. Um, I just wanted to pause here for just a moment to see if there are any more questions about these topics or if there's anything else missing that you would like more information about. >> I thought it was a very helpful document. Thank you. >> Yeah. I just also wanted to say um I know I was one of the people responsible for many of the questions and it was very helpful because it was it kind of brought together a number of pieces that I think at least in my head I had been missing to to both think

077about what we what what had happened in the past what is happening today and what could potentially happen in the future. So it was very helpful. Um, I've updated this slide to put in front of you today to better frame our discussion for this evening. Um, should uh these are the same long-term alternatives that were presented last month except they have been uh we've added a likely scenario that would accompany each of these alternatives. Now, these are not u final or recommended scenarios. this is a likely scenario um so that you have something more tangible to discuss and that we could the evaluation metrics could be a little bit more specific. So the first alternative is a new center um in this scenario there would be a third center built that would house about 600

078students per day and in addition there would be an addition built to Western Albamar. So if we're we'd add a total of 1,000 seats. The second alternative is to expand on our existing buildings. So these would be expansions to Ace Lambs Lane, Western Albamaral, and Monachello High School for an additional 800 seats. And then the third long-term alternative is to build a comprehensive high school um that would add 1300 to,600 seats. Again, these are the same alternatives presented before with just a little bit more specificity. The preliminary evaluation metrics are shown here and they have been updated slightly to reflect the more specific scenarios. And I just want to reiterate that these metrics are not exhaustive and they carry variable weights. You it doesn't really make sense just to add them up because everyone may

079have different opinions on the weights of each of these metrics. This is just a suggest suggested framework for evaluating the alternatives. and you've got um a note taker in front of you to make notes. Um the colors are designated relative to each other in terms of the alternatives. Red represents the most challenging and green represents the least challenging for each metric. And again, depending on the final scope of the projects, these designations could vary. As Dr. Mr. Akov just mentioned uh the purpose for this evening is to provide guidance to the long-range planning advisory committee who will develop a report that will be presented to you on October 23rd and there will be um additional time for discussion at that meeting. Um we would request an action from the school board on November 13th to

080approve their CIP request which could be the long range planning advisory committee's recommendations or it could be amended as well. On December 3rd, there will be an opportunity to have a joint meeting with a board of supervisors. And then on February 25th is when the um FY27 CIP and budget will be presented by the county executive. And that's when the county's budget development process would begin. So with that, we've outlined some suggested questions to help with your discussion this evening. Um and I will turn it over to Dr. Akup. Thank you. >> I apologize. I did have one question. I just realized we do we don't have any updates of the official uh counts for 2526 for the three high schools yet. >> Correct. Um we use September 30th counts. >> Correct. >> And we

081pull that data a few days after that and from there we would develop um updated projections. Okay. >> So in the October time frame we'll come back with an update. Will the long range plan whichever option we ask or options we ask the long range planning committee to look at will it include looking at the projects we already have um on our wish list? >> Yes, that's right. We typically start with a baseline of our current list of projects um and make amendments from there because as it is a a long-term project list, they typically don't change much from year to year. Um the purpose of this is for it to provide more specificity around the high school project which was a placeholder up until now. And then um depending on the project the committee

082the goal of the committee will be to prioritize this project against the others and they will come back to you with a ranking a suggested ranking. Of course the issue in making any of these decisions is financial feasibility. Um, so will these I hate to even I'll jinx it. Will any will the the report or the advice consider whether or not the one cent sales tax gets added and how that might impact available funding or I mean well or that's going to be a discussion in you know December 3rd with the board of supervisors because they're the ones ultimately who have this decision. So the long range planning advisory is charged to provide a needsbased plan. Um so that that will be the true needs. Okay. Um funding sources and uh affordability is a good

083joint board conversation. >> Thank you for reminding me of that, Miss Schmidt. >> I I think that's an important note is that we are um bound to determine what our needs are. Um that said, we can't just ignore the fact that we have to figure out the funding. Um and several board members and myself have been digging into this over the last few weeks to think about, you know, if if we were to say, okay, let's do a new high school what does that look like? How do we get there? Um, and I do think that there are some creative options and I do think that we can afford to do it if we um can think about some of these things. One is the 1% sales tax. Um, and if that were to go

084into effect, um, Miss Kumazawa, correct me if I'm wrong, it's about $25 million a year. If we were to do additions now, those aren't going to solve our long-term problems, but they're going to help us significantly. If we were to do additions like the one at Western, we can pay for now is what I'm being told with current capital improvement funding that we have. Is that correct? >> Um, we estimate that we could build about a 200 seat edition, not the full 400 that's recommended, but it would be a phasing >> somewhere. We're getting there. Um, if we were to put that 25$26 million in a high interestbearing account for a couple of years, we would pay for a new high school within not a very long amount of time. And that's just one of

085the solutions. We've talked about a bond referendum, Dr. Berlin and some community members and I met with um former COO of Alamaro County who was also um at at Fairfax for about 20 years. um and he passed their bond referendum, but he also did a lot of building for them and he is gave us a lot of really great ideas on how we can fund things like this um and how to work with the community to make sure that another bond referendum is passed. I think that is a really good option for us. And yes, it would require um working with the board of supervisors, but having people like Sally Duncan who are going to be on the on the board of supervisors who are very invested in our schools, I think um is a

086really big step in the right direction. So, I think that given all of those things, um we can't really just keep kicking the can down the road and hoping that things get better or that we can, you know, convince the board of supervisors. I think our needs are very apparent. We need a new high school. Um, and we need to put some additions on our current high schools. It's also very apparent that the center model is not working. And it's apparent to me, I mean, we may not all agree on that, but I think that um I don't see us filling spending the money to build another center that may or may not get filled. um that does not seem like a good fiscally responsive responsible decision by our board. So in the research that

087I have been doing um and I think that we are in a place where we have to say we need a new high school and we need these additions we can get these additions done relatively soon that will help solve some of these problems and then we get to the point where within a relatively you know what does this say within four years like if we can get the 1% sales tax passed at the beginning of 2026 um you know it could be within you know 5 to 8 years that we have it maybe sooner than that with other you know political things that go on you never know but even if in the worst case scenario we put that money we put it in an interest bearing account we can pay for it um

088and that's not even talking about the PPE which did I get that right I don't close enough EA AE um we have some land that ACPS owns that may be very um exciting to some developers and some developers are actually really interested in this and I think that there is a good opportunity. And then the last thing I want to say and then I'm going to stop, but you know, we're board of supervisors, the main thing they're concerned about is their triple bond rating. Um, and I completely understand it. Um, but there's still a gap. Um, we're at about 5%, five or 6% and we could even go up to eight or 9% of um, lending, still keep that um, that bond rating. and that gives us a good chunk of money that we can

089put towards uh capital improvement projects if we can all agree that that's what we need to do. Um so I think that there are options available for funding this new school. >> Okay. Thank you uh Miss Bman. I agree wholeheartedly and I I don't think this can be an eitheror. I think this is has to be a both and. Um you've heard our students talk about the overcrowding in our high schools. We've seen the data. Um, I think it has to be a western edition in addition to a new comprehensive high school. I mean, the growth in this county is unbelievable. Um, the yield that I think we'll see going forward in the next 10 years is something we can't ignore. Like I don't feel comfortable looking at the capacity numbers and saying, "Okay, I'm

090going to continue having students. My kids did it. Now someone else's kids are going to be in schools that are over capacity by 200 plus students and that don't have natural light in many classrooms. I had the opportunity to visit the Boys and Girls Clubs last week and the difference between walking into uh the Boys and Girls Club um with the amazing amount of light and when you walk into AHS uh and again I appreciate all the amazing work we have done to bring it forward. However, it's still not what our kids deserves and where I am is our kids deserve the best schools and that's where I am going to, you know, that's my line. Um, and so I think this board needs to be much more aggressive in funding um, the building of

091new of a new school and of renovating the current schools um, to provide additional capacity. And we need to look at all options that are on the table. And we need to we need to press our voice with the board of supervisors. Um, and I'm not going to stop until we have new schools. Like that's that's my bottom line. >> Amen. >> Osborne. >> Amen. Miss Prior, >> I was just so when you're speaking of the new school, would that replace >> addition >> an additional >> it's a fourth high school >> under under the under the under a scenario for a new high school. We would be building a high school for 12 to 15,600 students somewhere up north on 29 off 29 and we would have to redraw all of the district lines.

092So there would be it it's the most expensive, the most disruptive, but it produces four schools of similar size and it probably satisfies our high school capacity issues for a generation. The challenge is getting it financed and the challenge but we have to make that argument. I agree with Miss Spilman. I mean, I was Graeme and I were the uh were on the school board when we decided to go with the center model, but the center model has never been fully implemented. It's been delayed 5 years. It's been cut 30, you know, one-third in size, and by now we were supposed to be having some other centers. I think I think the capacity issue has caught up with us and that we at least need to direct the long-range planning advisory committee to take a

093serious look at it, put everything on the table. Let's decide if we can uh sell this idea to the community and to the board of supervisors. Um there are pros and cons to it. I mean, the issue is how much expansion can we do in the existing schools before we have a high school. But I think I would, as Miss Spilman knows with great reluctance, um I would have to agree that we need to document this. No, I'm >> kidding. We agree on we agree on more than you think. >> I'm playing. But no, I mean I I I have to be open to the arguments that we are over capacity. We are grossly over capacity. We were over capacity when we did the referendum in 16, which is why we bought, you know, the

094first nine trailer, eight classroom, you know, mobile, you know, whatever they're called, cottage learning cottages. And we have two of them now. And even with the center, we're still going to have at least one. So let us take a look at it. Let us see how what it looks like. >> There's also a significant community benefit to having a high school up in that area as things happen there as a >> oh and if you look at the pattern of growth it's sort of terrifying. I mean, we've been dealing with >> we have about half of our students in our 14,000 student uh Alberal County school system in schools that are at or over capacity and we have to do something and um you know if we have to go to every single Kowanas club

095and Rotary Club and senior citizen and PTO we can make the case that we need a new school. Let us let us look at it. Let's see what we can get done. >> Mr. Paige, did I usurp your time? >> Okay, I agree with everything that's been said and I think the main two things that we need to look at would be the additions and the new comprehensive high school. And this is sort of rehashing a whole lot, but thinking back to when we first came up with the center proposal, at the same time, we were expecting like additions to be made to all of our three high schools. >> That did not happen. So that put us behind the eightball from the very beginning with the center's model. So I think we do need

096to look at additions and also the new comprehensive high school. I think once we have the new high school, if we do that, I mean it's going to be disruptive sort of we're going to have students coming like we had tonight very upset about the weapons screening. But I think in the long room, long run, it will be lovely being able to present our well our students with a beautiful new high school. My concern and the concern that Mr. Paige and I had when we made the decision to go with the centers, it was always centers plus additions and modernization. That got whacked off and the center itself got delayed and shrunken. though the best of ideas don't fly if they're not implemented well and I think that's where we are and um sadly um

097but >> well the centers aren't for everybody but they are for some some folks are >> sure sure I think the centers >> we can't there's not one solution's both and >> and right right anyway so what concretely do we need to say to the long range planning advisory committee to get them to do this work? >> Um I just two points of clarity. Um the first is the comment about we have enough funding for the addition to Western. That's true with an asterric. Uh right now we have um funding for what we call high school renovations. Uh we asked for it in the lumps money but it was funded over a course of five years. So many million per year. And so the only way to fund that addition is to save up with

098those five million. So that delays that and that decision would come at the cost of not making necessary improvements to Albamaro. So I just think there's you don't have to have that conversation tonight. I just want to it's not as easy as we have the money for Western right now. That's point B. The second is um I think I'm hearing clear direction that you are interested in long-range planning further studying and including a new school in their um plan. Well, I think I'm looking to staff to I'm not hearing great clarity and additions. We had always presented them as separate um for a couple reasons. One, you are creating enough capacity with the new school and financially and timing and all of that above. So, I'm thinking you need a little more clarity on what

099you mean by and additions in addition to the new school. >> I don't think that we want to make it and or. I think that what we're looking at is do some additions now with funding that we can come up with in the next year or two while we figure out how to fund a new high school with that being our absolute intention and we move forward with those plans. >> So you're looking for both a shortterm and a long-term. >> Correct. >> Right. I mean, >> and I say short ter sorry I was going to say short term meaning like yes it's it's not going to solve all the problems but we're it's getting us all all in the right direction and this county is going to continue to grow so >> I'll use

100a different way a new high school >> is going to take a lot of community planning a lot of that that is not going to happen tomorrow right land there's just some realities of that so as we are working to that what are the necessary projects until that open >> correct correct I We we have a very robust list of projects in our 5-year capital plan already and we need to think very carefully about which ones we might bump and because all of them are needed. As someone said, some of the maintenance and and improvements in the bathrooms in our high school in our couple of the elementary schools, they were like the worst, you know, facilities in in the county. We we need we need upgrading. We need to continue the funding for that.

101We've been trying to put elevate second elevators in multiple schools for years. So this is a major financial commitment that could delay or bump other projects. So that's why we need the long range planning committee to find the magic solution. >> Well, and I just want to continue to go back to where we started. This is a needsbased plan. We all understand money like we all been. However, like this is what our our students and teachers and faculty >> and community needs and deserves and we need to figure out as a community how we're going to do this. So, it's up to all of us parents, retirees, uh uh UVA students who are are staying and living here after graduation. Like, this is what our community needs. I just spent time in um DC um

102Falls Church in Fairfax looking at high schools and elementary schools. Like our kids deserve those schools and we need to figure out with this community how to make that work. >> And included in that conversation too would be making sure that the supervisors are aware of this need. >> Well, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean they're Yep. they're Yep. our partners on the board of supervisors are over um the work of every all the needs in this community including and one of the most important thing is the education of our future taxpayers. Um and so we need to make sure that they understand that and they understand the priority that that holds. >> Right. >> Anyone have anything else to add? Do you have what you need? I mean, yeah. Thank you. Um, thank you. I

103look forward to their report. They have a lot of work to do by the end of October. Well, I say they I know you're all involved in that. So, thank you in advance for all the work. With that, we have Dr. Mclofflin talking to us. [Music] about so performance review. >> Good evening board members. Pat Mclofflin, assistant superintendent for strategic planning and I am pleased to be here tonight to talk you through our uh so performance review. Tonight we're going to look at uh our performance over the past three years. All of the data that you see tonight comes from the Virginia school quality profiles. Uh within the presentation there's a link to the school quality profiles. Those were just updated about two or three weeks ago with our data from the 2425 school year.

104Uh we're going to focus tonight on division results for math, reading, science, and chronic absenteeism. Those are the areas that under uh both our previous and our current accreditation system impact us the most when we're talking about performance. So, we'll uh we'll look at those four areas for the division. Um individual school results, if you're interested in those, can be found on the school quality profile site. uh so results under the assessment tab and chronic absenteeism under the enrollment tab. Uh and the final piece uh you may recall several months ago we came and talked to you about the new performance framework that is being established in the state of Virginia uh for this school year. That data is scheduled to be to be released by the end of September and I will be back

105in our October board meeting to give you an update on that where we'll look at individual schools and where they landed on the new performance framework. So starting with reading uh these graphs, one of the things that one of the reasons that we wait to use uh the official state data for this is because the school quality profiles give us a comparison to other school districts in the state of Virginia and other students in the state of Virginia. So when we look at our overall performance for reading, uh our blue bars here are the performance of our students in the school division and the orange bars are the comparison to the state. Uh since 2022 2023, uh our reading scores have been primarily flat. Uh they've gone up one point uh since uh since 2223

106and we've stayed one point above the state average for a score of 75 this year compared to the state's 74. When we look at this data, we also look at performance of some of our individual membership groups. In particular, we look at uh black students, economically disadvantaged students, our English learners, our Hispanic students, and our students with disabilities. Those student uh sub uh student membership groups are traditionally where we see our achievement gaps. And just to narrow the focus a little bit on this slide, I know it's kind of busy. Uh the bars on the left uh on the far left are all of our students aggregated for uh reading. So that blue bar is our 74% for all of our students from 2022. The red is 75% in 2023 24 and the yellow is

107the 75% in the 2425 school year. Uh I'm isolating one group here, our black students. So we can see that that that group um you can see has uh has not uh improved their performance over the past 3 years. In fact, they have gone down by one point from 48. They did see a little bit of a bump two years ago uh but then went back down to 47. So they've lost a point over the last three years. When we expand that back and we look at our other membership groups that traditionally have achievement gaps, our economically disadvantaged students uh have increased one point in that three-year period. Our English learners have had a significant improvement from 24 to 37. Our Hispanic students have gone up by one point from 50 to 51. And our

108students with disabilities have gone up two points from 45 to 47. This is where you want to see a nice stairst step. Uh and for our reading scores, we are not seeing that uh for the last three years uh in terms of improvement. The other way that we look Whoops. Uh the other way that we look at our uh data is by our achievement gaps. How much difference is there between our membership groups and our overall results? And again, I'll isolate that for you here in our um in our reading scores that when we look at our our all students bars over on the far left are always going to be zero. That's the baseline. Any groups that are underperforming uh that threshold will have bars that go below that line. Any groups that are

109overperforming that threshold will have bars that are above that line. Uh for our black students, when we look at this uh this group in particular, uh their gap has widened over the past three years. They've gone from a 26 point improvement gap uh achievement gap to a 28 point achievement gap. Uh we see that the same holds true for many of our groups that they're either flat or uh or or maybe slightly increased. Economically disadvantaged has remained exactly the same for the last three years. our Hispanic students uh has remained the same uh over the course of three years. Our English learners has seen a um a significant uh uh lowering of their achievement gap and our students with disabilities has uh has decreased by just one point. Moving on to math, uh here we

110see a little bit better improvement for the division over the past three years. We've gone from 69% to 72% to 74% over the past 3 years. uh we went from uh being even with the state of Virginia to uh to exceeding the state of Virginia by uh by two points. When we look at that for our membership groups, this is an area where we do start to see those stair steps uh come in with some increasing performance for um uh for many of our groups. Uh, black students went from 42 to 47% over that time period, economically disadvantaged from 43 to 50, English learners from 33 to 45, Hispanic students from 48 to 52, and students with disabilities from 41 to 47. And while that uh that progress is something to be lauded, we still

111have uh much lower scores uh for those students than where we want them to uh to be to close achievement gaps. Though those groups need to improve at higher rates than our overall uh rate of improvement. And when we look at our achievement gaps in math, we don't see that same shift uh that's there. Um because our division scores have um have risen as a division over the last 3 years. Those uh the scores of many of our membership groups have risen pretty proportionally. And so for our black students, you still see even though they're performing better, you still see a 27 point achievement gap. A little bit smaller for our economically disadvantaged students, uh from 26 to 24. English learners have moved from 36 to 29. Hispanic has grown by one point and students

112with disabilities uh has shrunk uh has decreased by one point. And then our final area that we'll uh academic area that we'll look at uh is science. Our science scores have uh been improving over the last three years from 67% uh to 68 to 70. Uh we were even with the state uh three years ago and again last year or two years ago. uh and the state improved a little bit more than us uh last year. So, we're actually one point under the state average for science. Again, with science, for our membership groups, you do see that stair step here. Uh our black students went from 35% to 43, economically disadvantaged from 39 to 45, English learners from 15 to 35, Hispanic from 39 to 47, and students with disabilities from 39 to 45. And

113science is one of the areas where you are starting to see a bit of uh shrinking in the achievement gaps. Uh black students have gone from a 32-point gap to a 27. Uh economically disadvantaged from 28 to 25. English learners from 52 to 35. Hispanic from 28 to 23. And students with disabilities from 28 to 25. A final uh piece of data that I'll uh that I'll share with you tonight is our chronic absenteeism data. We all know that uh the since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has been a nationwide problem. Uh and and Al County is no exception. Uh but I am pleased to say that over the past three years, we have seen some uh what I think are some significant decreases in our chronic absenteeism, moving from 17.7% uh three years ago to

11411.8% last year. some additional highlights that I want to share with you or some real success stories that we have throughout the division. One is at Brownsville Elementary School. Uh for many years, I personally have felt that Brownsville has been a little bit underachieving in their so results. And when you look at their that top left box is our their reading performance over the past three years. The I guess that's kind of a light gray is the Brownsville numbers. The middle uh bar is the Almar School Division and the orange bar on the right is the state. Uh Brownsville has improved their reading performance. Um uh they actually took a little bit of a a dip two years ago down to 84%. They're back up to 94, which is one of the highest rates I

115think they've ever seen. Their math performance has improved steadily over the last three years from 78 to 95%. In fact, some of their grade levels, I think it was either their fourth or fifth grade, had a 99% pass rate uh on the math test and science has gone from 83, took a dip down to 76 and then bumped back up uh to 91%. And so that is the type of achievement I think we would expect to see from Brownsville Elementary School. And uh and I think Jim Ker's done a great job of getting them there. Montichello High School is another school that I'd like to point out. uh three years ago uh they were really struggling with their achievement in algebra 1. Uh that has been uh kind of traditionally at our high schools one

116of our lower performing areas for mathematics. Uh Beth Costa and her team put some uh put some increased focus on the algebra 1 program uh at Montichello and uh two years ago they came from 68% up to 84. And unfortunately one of the things we tend to do in education is think it's a fluke, right? Oh, that really couldn't be right. It just must have been an easier test that year or something like that. But that was sustained this year uh when uh when her results came in and actually she even got better. So they were they were far below um both the division and the state level of performance and now are uh are beating the division uh averages and and at the same level of the state. Uh special education is an area

117that we that we continually have a focus on. Um, and we know that our special education numbers are are not where we want them. But one thing that I did want to point out, uh, is that this year, uh, for the first time that I can remember in reading, in math, and in science, we are higher than the state average for our special education students. Um, you can see that this is not a problem that is uh that is specific to Almor County when you see the state averages where they are. Uh, but for many years, we were uh we were below in one or more, sometimes all three of those categories. So special education uh I think is moving in the right direction. And then one final piece I'll share with you is a

118couple of success stories around chronic absenteeism. Uh these are data points from Mountain View Elementary School. Those are the three pie charts on the top uh of this slide. And from Jouri Middle School, the three on the bottom. Mountain View went from uh over a 20% uh rate of chronic absenteeism three years ago to 16% last year to 8% uh this year. 8.4% 4% basically uh cut their chronic absenteeism in half uh from from the year before. Uh Jouri went from 22.3 3 years ago to 14.6 to 9.8 this year. Uh both Seth Canard and Ashby Johnson uh put significant resources and effort into the chronic absenteeism program. Uh they they put a lot of time into uh afterchool programming, tutoring programming where kids who were chronically absent could get a chance to buy back

119uh some of their time for that. and uh and their results I think are really uh starting to pay off. One of the final pieces that I wanted to share with you tonight that's not directly related to our uh to our so results but I think is is certainly connected um is an a quick update on our instructional practices audit. Uh we know one of the reasons that we focus on our achievement gaps is because we know they've been persistent for quite some time. our uh and it's important to us uh so much so that three years ago we had uh the Bellweather uh corporation come in and do an instructional practices audit for us. Uh that group uh landed with five recommendations for us. Uh those five recommendations had 19 separate projects uh that

120they recommended we work on and as we started to put those projects together they had a total of 92 uh separate components. Uh and I just wanted to give you a quick update that uh over the last three years 89 of those 92 project components have been complete. We're 97 complete percent complete with uh with the bellweather uh suggestions that they made to us. I remember three years ago Dr. Hos sitting up here and saying we are going to do 100% of uh of the recommendations that uh that came through and we're close uh to that. There is just um uh of those three, one is actually a repeat um finishing the processing of creating common instructional tasks that was scheduled to be complete by the end of the 2627 school year. So we are

121still on ta on track with that project. Um and that is actually a a component of two separate projects. So we counted that one twice. Uh and the other was to conduct an evaluation of our highintensity tutoring program which turned into all-in uh Virginia tutoring and decide whether to stop continue or to scale that. Um we originally scheduled to complete that by spring 2025 and we revised that completion date to this spring uh because of some of the funding issues that are there and uh and determining whether um whether that's something that we think should continue for us. So that is kind of our our current state of both uh where we landed with our so results uh where we are with the Bellweather project and I'll be back in October to uh to talk

122through the performance framework a little bit more and then we'll be back again in November with the state of the division report uh to dig into some other uh elements of the school uh system uh and where we're performing well and where we need some improvement. And I'll be happy to take any questions. What is the highintensity tutoring program more specifically? >> So, so that's uh what we call all-in tutoring. You may remember that uh the uh the state and the govern and the VDOE um proposed an all-in tutoring program uh to improve student scores. So, that looks different a little bit at at many schools. It's got to be it's got some parameters in it. It's got to be outside of um class time. Uh generally our schools do it as uh before after

123school tutoring. Um it's got to have certified teachers uh who uh who work with students on there and uh and when you see things like our um interession uh work that has taken place uh over the past couple years during our winter break, during our spring break, uh some of that is the result of some all-in tutoring uh funding uh that we've had. >> Does any of that include summer school? >> Summer school, I believe, is funded. Yes. I'll I'll defer to Dr. pays on uh that one. >> We actually have our expert Mr. Domer is here. So, he may be able to speak to um because there are some some different components in terms of the funding. >> There's always strands of funding that you weave together. >> I'm Craig Dmer. I'm the executive

124director of curriculum assessment and instruction. Um, in short, summer school is generally not funded with all-in. We did supplement summer school the last two years a little bit uh in order to decrease class sizes and to make sure that we ran the algebra bridge program um at all five middle schools. So that was uh the small piece of all in funding we used for summer school. >> Okay. >> I have a question on the economically disadvantaged. What is the overlap of black and brown like what percentage of black and brown students fall into that bucket as well? And is there is it broken out at all? >> So, so it's generally we that is one of the most um uh private pieces of information that exists in the division because of some federal regulations around

125it. So, we generally do not know um the the breakout of our economically disadvantaged numbers. Um all but what I would say is we generally see uh quite a bit of overlap between some of our students of color uh some of our students with disabilities and some of our economically disadvantaged students. In fact, so much so that they used to call that a separate group. They used to call it gap group one um in a previous uh previous iteration of accreditation. So I think there is significant overlap uh between those groups. It's concerning our um lack of progress in our um our our black and brown students and even going backwards and we spent all this money on the Bellweather report and it feels like we we're not getting anywhere. Um at what point do

126we say maybe the things we're trying aren't working? And I think as a board as we go into budget and we're looking at where money is being spent, I think it's it behooves us to look at um what is actually working and what's not and where money needs to be allocated to get these kids into um a better position. Um, and and something I'm interested in is how much of it is related to not necessarily instruction, although obviously that's the most important, but coming to school fed and and you know, free and reduced lunches, um, early childhood intervention and preschool, so these kids are coming to kindergarten ready to learn and not so far behind. All of that, uh, plays into it and I think that that is a much bigger issue that we need

127to look at. But um I don't think we can stand another year of sitting up here and saying that we've made zero progress um in this area. Um it feels like we're failing. >> So I would just uh to be clear, I would I would not characterize our progress as zero progress. Uh I think our our black students for over the past three years in math and in science are showing gains in from where they are. Uh in reading, we did not see that over the last three years. Uh but to characterize it as zero progress I'm not sure is quite fair. >> Fair. Thank you. I appreciate the clarification. Thank you. >> Yeah. And to to add to that and you may have already answered it um as she asked you about the socioeconomic

128part. I was wondering also about the absenteeism. Is that also covered by private federal because there's no breakdown um as to the >> as to who the chronically absent students are. Yes, we can break that down uh into um into different membership groups. Uh we can do that on the um on the school quality profile site. Uh when you look at any of the schools uh chronic absenteeism, uh you should be able to see that by the different membership groups uh as well uh and see what we've traditionally seen in the past as chronic absenteeism uh is again disproportionate to some of our uh students of color uh and our students with disabilities and our economically disadvantaged students. Have we seen an improvement in I feel like that's something we have talked about as an

129improvement in chronic absenteeism over the last couple of years. >> Yes, that's what we saw right here. >> Oh, perfect. Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay. Can you talk a little bit about how kind of now we have the numbers and we see kind of let's focus on those places that did well like as we look at Brownsville and reading as we look at um uh Mountain View and Journey on Chronic absenteeism talk to me about how you kind of look at the data right there's the data dig into what they did um from a leadership and a teacher level and then how do you kind of take those microlearnings and say okay how do we and share them with others. Now, some of they may work in other schools, some of them may not, but

130just how do you kind of dig into the data and do a data dialogue to say, look at these places that made some surprising progress. How do we, you know, are they transferable to other places and how do we continue to to have that learning happen across our principles? >> Yeah, that's right. And so, one of the um uh pieces that I would point to is our science curriculum. Uh if you remember uh we came to the board three years ago and we said there's been some pretty significant changes to the way the state is going to assess science and to our science curriculum. Uh we adopted five pawns uh uh science curriculum three years ago. Um and and I think just now we are starting to see the results of that science curriculum which

131is more hands-on more projectbased uh for our students. The uh the assessment has become much more challenging for kids. If you remember from our presentation a few years ago, it used to be very much wrote memorization and kids could almost figure out the test without knowing um the science. Uh and now they really have to have an understanding of the scientific principles. And so the encouragement that I see is that last year we adopted HMH. Uh and I can tell you uh from the the reports I'm hearing from the field last year at this time there was a lot of stress. I think you all were hearing that. Uh there was a lot of concern about how are we going to do this? Uh we've got letters training on top of that. This year we've

132hit the ground running with uh with HMH. Um uh we're we're in the process of adopting a new math curriculum uh right now. We're seeing some similar bumps in the road uh with that. But I think our reading scores are really poised to uh to take off uh in a in a smaller sense when you talk about how do we look at the schools that are that are really moving this work forward. I think it comes down to something we refer to as data driven instruction. When I look at um uh at Brownsville's work uh that Jim Ker did out there, I know that he really revamped his professional learning community structure uh with with his teachers and and made sure those professional learning communities were focusing uh on what their assessments were telling them

133and what they could do because of it. That's work we're doing with all of our principles. Uh we actually just kicked off yesterday. Uh we're training all of our principles and assistant principles in data driven instruction. And in fact, at some of our schools that have our most significant challenges, uh, Woodbrook, Greer, uh, Mountain View, uh, those principles have been trained last year in that and are already implementing, uh, some new structures that I think are going to pay some big dividends for them. And the other thing I'd be interested in, sorry, is um because I know there's a group of dis of like districts that you that I think over the last two years leadership has been meeting with, listening to, seeing different like kind of comparing to. I'd be curious to for as

134part of that analysis just to see kind of where they are in schools again. So like again for continuous learners at the cabinet leadership level, where are they making progress? Are there places they're making progress? We're making progress again to continue that conversation. >> Yeah, I was going to add on to that. I saw this week that Stanton publicized jumping I 70 spots or something in SOS over 70 years. Um I'm just curious like, you know, it'd be interesting to see like what other people are doing versus what we're doing, what what's working, what's not working, if there's things that we can implement, especially going into budget season that we would could consider um as we're looking at funding. One of the things I'll um just add is in addition to the data driven instruction,

135we've tried to create opportunities for principles to be able to share with their colleagues some of the things that they were doing that they are doing in their buildings to share best practice. I think at the back to school kind of leadership kickoff. Uh we had some principles come up and highlight some of the things they they did around algebra 1 around chronic absenteeism um so that they can start to maybe share some of those practices um with different buildings. And then also um we've also began partnering with districts just using this data, districts that are starting to close achievement gaps in special education and math and finding out what it is that they are doing, how they're implementing um certain programs and um strategies and then bringing those things to to Alamar. So some

136of those things are happening. And a and a final piece I would uh I would add on to that is a a structure we started uh on a smaller scale last year, what we call 90-day planning uh where we had our transformation schools come in at the end of every quarter uh for a three-hour workshop just to dig into their data with all of our um curriculum coordinators, our uh intervention personnel uh to set two to four targets about what they felt was the most important work for them to be doing right now. uh with this our previous structures um were really year-long school improvement plans and they often didn't get updated based on the current needs of the school. This year we're expanding that out uh the 90-day planning process to all of our

137schools. So uh beginning in October uh they'll come in for those workshops, dig into their data, see where their kids are uh and what standards they need to improve on uh and get a and get a strong focus on that moving forward. and and I'm sure if you'd ever like to hear any more more about any of those things, uh we would be happy to to come and um and take a deeper dive with the board. >> I think another thing that's important and I forget who up here just mentioned about the um free lunches and some of the other um basic life things that come in place that um I'm speaking primarily for Woodbrook now. Um I was there recently and I know that Alers Skate Church I believe has reached out to them

138and trying to do some creative things to help improve some of the um reading scores and some different things and they now have um you know new administration and so there's a lot going on. I think um you spoke I don't know if it was the last schoolboard meeting or a couple schoolboard meetings back where there were some things that um the district uh was going to try to do to help improve the scores of our black youth. Can you speak on what may be taking place um as it relates to that or is there any um >> I I could speak a bit to to what we're doing at Woodbrook. Woodbrook is an outlier. There's no doubt about that. When um uh when when you look at the scores uh of Woodbrook compared to

139our other schools, um it it stands apart uh from uh from the district. Uh I think we'll see that when our uh performance framework results come out as well. So, one of the things that we're doing this year is we had a team that uh just met for the second time this morning uh of about 20 uh plus uh central staff who are putting some intensive support uh measures in place at Woodbrook to support that team. We've got our um our key curriculum coordinators, our intervention coordinators, our student support services, our special education services, uh spending a lot of time in that school uh and talking to Christy Isaiah, the principal, and to and to our group about what they're seeing. uh and and helping us again get focused on a on a bi-weekly basis

140uh about what we need to be uh what we need to be working on right now to uh to get some improvements uh at Woodbrook. >> Yeah, I was looking at the ratio of students to teachers there and and one thing that um I discovered while I was there last week was that I guess a few years ago there was possible mention of some trailers being added. Um and so we'll have to continue to look. I don't know if anyone here recalls that discussion. I was not here at that time. >> I don't recall um a discussion on we re recently redistricted students from Woodbrook due to capacity concerns to Agar. >> So that that was the solution there. >> I'll get back to you on that one. >> Thank you. >> Uh Miss Spilman

141mentioned early childhood education um as one of these kind of other things to look at, right? the more you can close an achievement gap before kids enter kindergarten, the better we are long term. Um, and I know there's an opportunity now that the state finally has early childhood data um, with United Way and Ready regions. Um, and I I don't know where we are in the process of getting an MAU so that we could kind of take that that data, link it to our data to begin to look, you know, to see is that a piece of what is supporting um, schools like Brownsville and which I think will help us think about, okay, how do we also like, you know, we want to take on not everything, how do we also support the community

142in additional early childhood or partner with early childhood. So, I don't know where they are. I um about working on anou but >> we just met with last week I believe with our community partners to begin having those discussions >> um to determine because with some of the changes there's some staffing that we have to discuss and so being uh the biggest financial partner I guess in this process we are beginning those conversations to make sure that there's uh clear >> uh a clear understanding between the districts involved >> well and two so two things one that MU but there's also anou around just data sharing from data that is in existence from ready regions and united way and so I know there's a data agreement is always hard to get different group groups together

143but I think it would be helpful to see some of that data and I think as then as we look into our um so data um it's just another input to begin to think about what's working >> the last thing I'll add and you know I know I'm hearing a lot about redistric redistricting um is that um Woodbrook has I believe eight or nine apartment complexes that are students are sent to Woodbrook um you know as compared to Agar um and so that in itself presents a lot of different challenges um as well but um you know there's a lot of work to be done um but yeah I think it's important that individuals are aware of that Anything else? >> I would just add uh I'm I'm in the back today, but I would

144just add that um I did anecdotally just have a conversation with Aisha Craraven How. She was one of the Bellweather consultants that joined us. I think we what did we spend about $80,000 on the Bellweather study? >> Something in that ballpark. Um and uh they a couple times since then they've asked us for recommendations to work with other other districts. So I did have a chance to follow up with her. She was very pleased that we had accomplished 97% of their recommendations. And when I shared with her our uh academic results, she was also very pleased with that. She said, "You've done heavy lifting as a school system." Um, and I agree with her that we should be enormously proud of our teachers, our education support specialists, all of our staff in the schools. They

145are moving the data. Almo County Public Schools has experienced significant demographic shifts over the last 20 years. Uh, our percentage of free reduced lunch students has climbed dramatically, more than 50%. Um, our diversity, the diversity of our system and the international nature of our school system has is an enormous change for our community. We also will always have a barbell effect of University of Virginia because when you compare all students at university with University of Virginia in the mix, you are talking about a community where roughly 100% of the of that community around the university have at least a bachelor's degree. In Amwal County, 70% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree. There's two places in the county that exceed that. The other one is Silicon or in America that exceed that number of

14670%. That's Albal County and Silicon Valley. So in one sense you've got uh community around UVA uh that's on one extreme, the farthest extreme probably that you could possibly have. And then you've got, as Lesie mentioned, um, a school fed with nine, um, apartment complexes where people need extra support to make ends meet. So, I think we're always going to see that gap. Our job is to keep up and not give up, to not just someday say, well, we don't like the data, so we're going to stop looking at it. that it's not the things that we're doing are not giving us quick enough progress. So, let's jump to something else and move away from what we know are true tried and trueue practices. There is something called the flywheel effect. You're starting to see

147it. You when you begin pumping a flywheel, it's very gradual and slow to begin with and frankly it can even go backwards on you if you don't get your timing right. Right now, you're starting to see that flywheel moving. It's taking a lot of effort and these conversations are tough and believe me I' I'd much rather be talking about the rapid success that we're seeing. Um however that is what you will see but it requires persistence excellent persistence you've to stay the course uh put our faith in what we were provided in terms of recommendations from the bellweather study that's why I wanted an outside organization to do it not just keep listening to ourselves and we will see the progress that we want to see it may not come as fast as we want

148it but we will see it many of you on the board will see it during your tenure uh that you're on the board. And so I want to encourage you to stay the course. If if you had if you could see these numbers five years ago or three years ago coming out of the pandemic, you might have said, "Well, the way things are right now, I'm not sure we'll be able to get back to where to where we want to be." But we will and you'll you'll keep seeing the improvement and we need to keep doing the heavy lifting. But I would say to all of our school community, especially the the the day-to-day classroom teachers, this this is great progress that you're making. Heavy lifting. Keep lifting. We're here to support you. And I

149really want to thank uh Dr. McGlo Mclofflin in particular, Dr. Hayes, also um Dr. Kaiser for the for that three-pronged effort of building community, building our academic excellence, and making sure we have accountability for the results that we're expecting to see. I want to couch that with the governor said after all the tests were given that they were 30 to 40% harder than last year. That's the first time I heard that uh was in that press release. So maybe it's true, maybe it's not. uh it wouldn't be the first time that we've had changes and maybe it's a good explanation for why the whole state stayed flat. Who knows? I also know that they are going to raise our cut scores next year for the entire state. So then begins to bring into question, you

150know, what are these tests for? Ultimately, they're mostly to make public schools look bad in comparison to private schools that don't have measures like these. But we have to have these kinds of tests. We we must have standardized assessments so that we can help be held accountable so that we can benchmark against other districts. I want to always say though that it's about what we take away from them and the improvements that we want to make and be careful not to weaponize schools like Woodbrook and hold up those students as failures because they're not failures. They're a success story. We have a 93 plus% graduation rate. those students are in that graduation rate. They may not pass the first so take test that they take. They may not pass the second one that they take,

151but eventually they're going to pass that test and they're going to graduate and they're going to meet the attendance requirements that we have. So often times we hold up a school and we think we're championing it, but what we're doing is pointing out that in some respects the students and staff there are failures. They're an enormous success success story for what they're accomplishing and we need to keep supporting them and keep putting resources behind them and not give up on them. Uh thank you Dr. Mclofflin. >> Just one last thing if I may. So um I can't recall if you said you all met today or yesterday or 20 plus. Could you invite me to the next meeting? >> Sure. >> Thank you. That's it. Thank you. I would just like to not echo but

152uh along the lines of what Dr. uh Hos just said, I'm heartened by the progress as I mean we all want everyone to skyrocket to 80% or 100%. And see that gap the gap shrinking. We're generally going in the same in the right direction. Bellweather was an important evaluation of our our our instructional methods in reading and math. We have a new reading curriculum, a new math curriculum, we have a new science curriculum and uh we have an energized teaching staff that you know wants you know everyone wants to succeed. So I am I would support staying the course and let's see how these things work out. I mean, our our reading program just started last year. I would like to see, but I do want to see some movement by, you know, when these

153kids hit, you know, sixth grade, fifth grade. I I do want to see that, but let's pedal to the metal. >> And I would like these kids that are currently Woodbrook to um enroll in a brand new high school in the Northern Peter Pattern. >> We hear you, Miss Osborne. Are there any more questions? Thank you, Mr. McGlin. >> Thank you. >> Um and we look forward to the reports in October and November. Um other business. >> Okay. I have a quick quick um question. Uh during the public comments, um one of the students from out spoke about the problems that was going on with the security. >> Have those things been sort of alleviated? Um, they've definitely gotten better as the week has progressed, but I remember at the beginning students were waiting in

154line for anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour just in the line. >> So, >> and I couldn't hear everything that she was saying that sort of brought tears to that one person, but all those things. Um I think one of the things mentioned was that at Elmwell we have a policy where um we have smart passes for restrooms and there are like no fly times and I think that causes a lot of stress to students especially when there are 2,000 students limited restrooms and you have to wait in line for those passes >> and then they get detention if they're >> Yeah. Right. Okay. Um, I will add that I have heard um of students being patted down every single day. I heard of another female student who had to shake her bra out

155in front of other people. So, it's not going super smoothly. Um, so I just I I I'm glad I'm happy to hear that it's improving. Um, but those are definitely concerning things to be hearing from students. Um, and to have those students up here that upset um, yeah, is is not great. I I would agree. I mean, I think we need to do a better job with implementation, training of the staff, what is appropriate, what isn't appropriate, and um and and training of the students too, but um I don't want to have tearful students coming at the next meeting if at all possible. >> And our school shouldn't feel like a military zone. >> Right. Right. We want to keep when properly implemented these devices can add significantly to the safety in the schools. And

156so how do we make these devices work better? I did want to say Miss Miss Wong um I didn't ask you what your opinion was on the high school discussion and if you have a brief comment I would love to hear it. Um, I agree that we should have a new high school. I think one thing that has been a common experience for many students at HS is that we have trailers behind our school and those often aren't the best like environment for learning. >> My colleagues know I've talked about that for some time, but thank you. Anyone else have anything? Dr. Dr. Hos, Dr. Hayes. Well, if there's no more business, this meeting's adjourned. Thank all of you.