3/3/2026 - FCPS School Board Work Session

001Okay. The March 2nd, 2026 work session is called to order at 11:30 a.m. It says Miss McConen has submitted a a request to attend this meet this meeting morning's meeting remotely due to personal reasons as she has a school conflict in his l located in Laurel Hill Virginia. I have performed the initial review of Miss McConn's request and have found it to be compliant in compliance with the school board's remote participation resolution and I have approved the request. It's going to be a hard speaking day. U Miss McConen, please check your audio. Okay, then we will call her. We will move forward with um voting her in when she arrives. >> Okay. In order to comply with section 2.23712D 23712D of the code of Virginia is necessary for the board to certify that since the

002Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on March 3rd, 2026 to the best me best of each member's knowledge. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters were identified in the motion con convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the board during the closed meeting. Do I have a motion? Moved by Mr. Moon, seconded by Dr. Anderson. All those in favor? Uh unanimous for those at the table. Okay, great. No action was taken and closed. Now on to item 2.04, strategic goal to report safe, supported, included, and empowered. I call on Dr. Reed for a presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Meline. It's my pleasure to introduce the uh interdep departmental team that has worked so hard to pull the data and goal two

003report together. And just a reminder to our community that's watching that these goal reports are the result of the work of all of our educators across the school division and the many many thousands tens of thousands of students. So this team comes together to lead and help us with our monitoring reports. So, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Neil and ask that everyone on the team be introduced and I look forward to our goal two report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. Um, good morning to the members of our board. I'll um have Marty Smith kick us off with introductions. >> Good morning. Marty Smith, chief of staff. I'm not usually introducing myself, so Joanni Ponet, chief of schools. Good morning. Diana Shin, senior manager for the office of equity and student

004conduct. >> Good morning, Sloan Presidio, chief academic officer. >> Good morning, Candace Hunstead, executive director for strategy and planning. >> Good morning, Nardis King, chief equity officer. >> Good morning, Tara Huan, executive director for equity and student relations. We do also have several members of our departments here and we have some of our goal champions here as well. I see Londa Peterson, one of our principles, who's our goal champion. So, we have uh a large group here uh to support today's conversation. Um if we could bring up the presentation, please. So, we are going to go through the full presentation and then turn it back over to the meeting managers for questions. Um so our objectives for today you can see on this slide and we're looking forward to the conversation with the board. Um

005today's presentation is on goal two which is our safe supported included and empowered goal and there are six measures in goal two and we're going to touch on all of these today. Um the six measures for goal two fit under the broad umbrella of school climate. So collectively they provide us with insights about how students are experiencing school. Our report uses student voice data from several surveys to support our continued understanding and work to create environments where all students are safe, supported, included, and empowered. So today's presentation is going to cover school connectedness and belonging, attendance, discipline, and inclusion of students with disabilities. And I'll now turn this over to Miss Huntstead who's going to go through the first two sections of our report. >> Our first section looks at school connectedness and belonging. We

006know that when students feel connected and supported by peers and teachers and others at school, they are better equipped for success. They feel better, they're engaged, and they have better academic outcomes. Last spring, we launched the student experience survey to learn more about students perspectives and experiences. The survey was given through grades 3 through 12 and had a 63% response rate. The majority of students responding to the survey reported a sense of belonging, positive relationships with teachers and peers. Students reported especially high rates of feeling that teachers care about them and that they trust their teachers. There is variation by student group across questions. We also looked at this data by grade. Students in late elementary and middle school reported the lowest levels of belonging and positive relationships. We saw particularly low rates for students

007in grades five and seven indicated that their peers treat one another with respect. Another indicator of school connectedness is participation in activities. Activities can provide enriching experiences that strengthen the ties to the school. On the most recent Fairfax County youth survey, 69% of our students reported participating including afterchool activities at least once a month. This includes off-campus options. Additional survey data provides insights into why students may not participate in school-based activities. The barriers that were listed include liking the available options, not having the information on how to participate, permission to participate, and for social reasons. We have three strategies to improve school connectedness and belonging. First, we are focused on developing students social and emotional skills through lessons provided during morning meetings in our elementary schools and during advisory in our middle and high school.

008We use data from the social emotional learning screener to inform practices across the division. For example, we use insights from the SEAL screener to develop new toolkits to help staff and teachers support students sense of belonging and emotional regulation. Schools can also use SEAL data to discuss overall examples with students who provide critical insights and help identify strategies to any schoolwide issues. An example of this data can be found on the slide. Our second strategy focuses on encouraging positive interactions outside of the classroom. We're implementing several key initiatives under this strategy, such as establishing peer ambassador programs to welcome and support new and transfer students in connecting with their school community and providing a wide variety of school-based activities to engage diverse student interests, including spaces where students can connect on issues of identity and

009wellness. On this screen, you can see an increase of percent of students who participated in 15 or more days in the middle school after school program. As a reminder, in school year 2324, this program began offering after school sports. Our final strategy is centered on preventing and responding to incidences of bullying, harassment, and hate speech within our schools. Data from the youth survey shows that 33% of our students report that bullying is a problem in their school and 14% report having experiencing bullying at their school in the past year. This data follows national trends of bullying by grade level. In the full report, we have also identified significantly higher rates of bullying for students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. To prevent bullying, harassment, and hate street hate speech, we strive to create

010a safe and respectful school climate where students learn clear expectations, form positive relationships, and develop social skills. Lessons are embedded within the health and school counseling curriculum. We also equip students with strategies if they witness bullying, such as reporting to an adult. School teams intervene with students exhibiting risk factors or low-level violations that do not meet the definition of bullying or harassment. And finally, we have a standard protocol for responding to incidences of hate speech. Our next section, regular school attendance, provides another view of overall school climate as students with strong levels of connectedness and belonging also tend to have better attendance. Regular attendance is strongly linked to several positive student outcomes. Missing even a few days of school can have a negative impact on students learning and overall experience. Chronic absenteeism is defined as

011missing 10% or more of the school year or about 18 days. This includes both excused and unexcused absences. This slide presents the chronic absenteeism rates as defined and reported by the Virginia Department of Education. These rates for the last school year include adjustments from the impersonal flexible instructional time, also known as IP FIT, which allows school divisions to offy instructional time to reduce the rate of chronic absenteeism for students, schools, and divisions. This data matches the official state report and aligns with state policy. However, it is important to remember that IP fit was not available at baseline. This slide shows chronic absenteeism over time and by student group. As a reminder, we want to see these rates decline. Any bar that falls below the star indicates the target is met. And any bar below baseline,

012which is that first light gray bar, shows progress. Last year, we met our overall annual target. And many student groups saw substantial improvement from baseline. I want to note for the board that this target was updated from last year's report to correct an error in prior calculations. We also monitor student attendance by grade. Chronic absenteeism rates vary by grade with the highest rates seen in kindergarten, 11th grade, and those categorized as 12th graders. This is consistent with what we saw last year and with national trends on student attendance by grade level. This slide provides a detailed look at last year's student attendance broken down by student group. This data represents the percentage of school days missed and does not include adjustments for IP fit. Monitoring days missed also helps us identify students who may be

013at risk for becoming chronically absent and may need support with missed learning. We have three strategies to improve our regular attendance. First, we are clearly communicating our expectations as a division and creating student center plans with families for those who are missing school. Second, we help students and families access a range of services that address barriers to attendance, including health and mental wellness services and basic needs assistance. This includes wraparound services to support students and families with multiple needs. And finally, we strive to help students catch up academically following frequent or extended absences. This includes our offerings through IP FIT, such as spring break programs at some schools and return to learn plans that support smooth transitions back for our students. Before we talk about our key findings, I want to highlight the data on

014the screen. Looking at our chronic absenteeism rate at this point in the school year compared to where we were at this point in time last year, we see that our rate has gone from 12.9% to 10.5%. That's a 2.4 percentage point improvement. We're moving in the right direction and we're doing it midyear, which suggests that our strategic actions are working in real time. This slide summarizes our key findings on the first two sections. While we see that most of our students report high levels of connectedness and belonging and are coming to school regularly, we acknowledge that there are student groups where this is not the case. Our strategies continue to focus on encouraging positive interactions in and outside of the classroom, communicating clear expectations, and providing the support that students need to engage in school.

015I will turn it over to Miss Neil. For our next section, we're going to be looking at limited and consistent use of suspension. So, this year, we're not looking at overall discipline. As you may recall, last year during the goal two presentation, the board shared some questions and concerns about setting a target on overall discipline. Um, and given the important role that discipline plays in teaching appropriate behavior and a desire not to discourage schools from continuing to conference with students or parents and intervene at a lower level, we've adjusted our focus to look at suspension data. So, suspension is the temporary removal of a student from the learning environment following a behavior violation as outlined in our students rights and responsibilities or SR&R handbook. While it is useful at times for maintaining a safe, orderly

016learning environment, suspension can have a lasting negative effect on students academic behavior and connection to school, it can also impact overall school climate. So to minimize the impact, suspension should be used only in response to serious behaviors and they should be applied consistently. Overall, we see the numbers of both inschool and out of school suspensions have gone down from the prior year. Last year we saw fewer students suspended with 1.75% of students receiving an out of school suspension. All school all student groups made progress and several met annual targets. This progress has reduced the gap for some student groups but we continue to see disparities which we'll examine in the next slide when we look at risk ratios. This slide shows risk ratios for out of school suspension. A risk ratio compares the suspension rate

017of one student group to the suspension rate for all students who are not a member of that group. So for example, students who are economically disadvantaged were 3.2 times more likely than students who were not economically disadvantaged to receive an out of school suspension. We include the five student groups with risk ratios of 2.0 or higher as we use that as a threshold for disproportionality. This slide shows inschool suspension data that is new in this year's report. 2.84% of students received one or more inschool suspension last year. This rate is also down from the baseline. As with out of school suspensions, we see disparities in inschool suspensions. We'll take a look at that on our next slide when we look at risk ratios. So this slide shows the risk ratios for inschool suspension for student

018groups with a risk ratio of 2.0 or higher. This slide shows in school and out of school suspensions by grade. So, as we've noted in prior years, suspensions peak in grade 8 and show declines beginning in nth grade. We have three strategies focused on improving these outcomes. First, we're focused on establishing and communicating clear expectations about student behavior and the use of consequences through revisions to the SRNR. We're training administrators and teachers and informing students of their rights and responsibilities. Second, we're monitoring the consistent use of discipline across schools. This year, we implemented the division discipline requirements, the standardized practices across FCPS. We're also monitoring and supporting schools with disproportionate levels of discipline and schools logging very few referrals. Finally, when incidents do occur, we want to support students to reduce additional or more serious

019discipline involvement. We're continuing to certify staff as restorative justice facilitators. And as of this January, 98% of our schools had at least one certified school-based facilitator. We're also piloting a new system for teachers to document incidents that they manage in the classroom with the goal of responding to minor incidents before they escalate. The system was piloted in seven schools last year and expanded to four additional schools this year. So to summarize this section, we've seen discipline uh declines in the number of inschool and out of school suspensions as well as fewer students receiving these exclusionary sanctions. Disproportionality remains high, however, for many student groups. We expect to see continued improvement and reductions in disproportionality as we focus on clarifying expectations, responding to inconsistencies, and reducing repeat and more serious incidents. Our final section of our

020goal two report focuses on inclusion for students with disabilities. And we are specifically going to be looking at inclusion in kindergarten through age 21 as we looked at pre-k inclusion as a part of our goal one report. Inclusive experiences create a sense of belonging, support positive relationships, and help all of our students reach their full potential. One marker of inclusion is the extent to which students with disabilities spend their school day in the general education setting. This data is presented in VDOE's annual special education uh performance reports and are also monitored by FCPS. As we expand our inclusion work, we'll continue to look and explore additional data relevant data points to report on. This pie chart presents our estimated outcomes for last year on indicator 5 of VDOE's special education performance reports. We've also included

021the percent of students who spend 40 to 70% of their day in an inclusive setting, which you can see in yellow as this is not included in the state reports, but this is the whole piece of the pie. So about 61% of our students with disabilities in kindergarten through age 21 spend 80% or more of their school day in an inclusive setting and you can see that in dark blue. About a quarter spent 40 to 79% of their day in an inclusive setting which is in yellow. About 12% spent less than 40% of their day in an inclusive setting which is in teal. And then finally under 3% spent their day in a fully separate setting which is shown in light green. This chart summarizes our progress over time on indicators 5 A through C

022as it relates to the annual state targets. We've made steady gains in the percent of students with disabilities educated in inclusive setting as shown in indicator 5A and we continue to meet the state's annual target for indicator 5C. This slide shows rates of inclusion for indicator 5A by grade level. We see particularly large increases for students in grades three through seven and grade 10 and rates of inclusion were highest for our elementary schools and decline beginning in seventh grade. This year we're pursuing three strategies to increase inclusion of our students with disabilities. Our first strategy is focusing on increased access to general education settings. We've partnered with external consultants to implement a phased approach to this work. And this year, we're working with cohorts of schools to provide intensive training and support, including with scheduling

023and identifying opportunities to increase inclusion at each school. We continue to expand the use of the advisory period in middle and high school for executive functioning interventions, which allows our students with disabilities to free up time in their schedule for additional courses, including electives. We're also clarifying how general education teachers can provide special education services. Second, we're creating resources to guide decision-making during the IEP process. We've updated the least restrictive environment data collection tool to help IEP teams consider and document placement discussions as we've developed resources and we have also developed resources and guidance to support staff when having conversations about inclusion with families during IEP meetings. and we've worked with an external consultant who's reviewed all of our IEP forms and provided feedback and recommendations. As you can see from the slide, our early

024estimates of this school year show more students with disabilities being included in the general education classroom 80% or more of the school day. Third, we're focused on preparing every teacher to provide inclusive instruction in the classroom. We've aligned teacher performance evaluations to the FCPS learning m model. We also continue to provide learning for teachers and staff in the principles of universal design for learning or UDL and inclusive practices. UDL is also embedded in our content area planning and pacing guides. And we're working with elementary schools to increase inclusion for students currently served in enhanced autism classrooms. Lastly, we're sharing our vision for inclusion with students, families, and the community, including offering a number of public facing resources that share the how and the why of the work. This includes continuing to work with our disability

025advisory and advocacy groups. So to summarize our final section, we continue to see steady gains and inclusion. And to continue to progress towards the state targets, we're implementing a multi-year phased in approach to improve how students access special educ special education services and provide more opportunities for students with disabilities to access grade level content and curriculum and connect with their peers. This concludes our goal two presentation and I'll now turn it back over to our meeting managers. >> Well, thank you so much for for taking through us all taking us all through that data so quickly and um helpfully. So um we have um a lot of time allotted for this discussion. So um I see uh Miss uh Dr. Ricardi Anderson wants to start us off. So over to you. >> All right. Thank

026you. Um, just a couple of overall things that I wanted to raise before I got into my specific questions. One, I noticed throughout the document that you began to identify either a continuing strategy or newly added strategy that is entirely so helpful because it it gives a little bit more sense as to the growth and um when I compare this year's with last year's not that I love doing that, but I could see that the strategies which are no longer in use which also something that I always look for because we can't do everything all the time. Some things have to come off the table. So I'd love even if it's not marked here in some way, I'd love as part of the presentation to say, you know, these are some of the things that

027we've discontinued because it really gives a good lens to that um evaluation of whether or not these um activities are having the desired impact. Um so that's one. Um the second piece I it's more of a question than a wondering in the baseline and I believe also the first year you provided with all of the reports the intersectional data. I have not seen that the last couple of years and it has been inherently helpful. Can you speak to why that's no longer provided? >> Yeah, Dr. Anderson. So I think we're always trying to balance the breadth of these reports with focusing the conversation in some of the areas. And so this is always a con constant conversation we're having with where to pull in intersectionality, where to not pull in intersectionality data. Um if that

028is something that the board would like to see more of, we can certainly make sure that that we're pulling it. I think it it is the attempt to balance hundreds of pages of data, right, with with being able to stay focused on some key things >> and and I definitely understand. I think it had been provided in all the places and that wasn't necessarily helpful but there are some places where I think it will give some real insight as to why we've landed the way that we have. Okay. So I'm going to start with my questions. Um you know another kind of overall question there were some references to the youth survey and I know we did for the first year the experience survey. Are these being used interchangeably? Is it both? Is it one

029or the other? I want to kind of ground my thinking here. So, our youth survey is looking and I I will certainly turn it over to Dr. Prescidia and Mike Axler for some from color and content on this. Our student experience survey was really designed to look at the experiences students are having in school um and to help us answer some of the questions related to our strategic plan um goals. Right? Having student voice in particular as a part of goal two was an important piece of this. Our youth survey is pulling in data that's also looking at risk factors and risk behaviors to make sure that um we as a school system and as a county are providing support for students. Dr. Presidio. >> No, just briefly I want I think that I think

030that's a good response but um just remember too with the youth youth survey we're only giving that in grades six, 8, 10, and 12. So it's a smaller student sample in terms of experience information. And additionally, as Miss Neil was pointing out, we don't control all of the questions in the youth survey because that's really owned by the county and community agencies. We're a partner in that development process, but we don't have the ability to add questions that might pertain more specifically to some of our strategic plan goals. So that's why I think that the two instruments kind of in concert work well together. >> So both are represented in this report. Okay, wonderful. So now getting into my questions on page 10 of the report where you talked about the um the climate survey,

031the climate statements and just looking at this and I just go through and I highlight um the lowest numbers in each and every category and there are a couple of groups that show up as having the lowest levels of satisfaction. Black students show up in every category and students with 504s show up in four of the six categories. Can you speak a little bit to what did you find in a root cause analysis of this data set? >> So we did do some initial um focus groups as a part of the first administration of the student experience survey. So recalling that this was our first time doing it last year. We did not do any specific focus groups with this data in particular Dr. Anderson but I think we had similar questions as we were

032looking at the data as I think you're raising today. Yeah, I I just find it very curious that we have um some sets of students whose experiences have not mirror the rest. And so I I would love for you all to look into that a little bit more and get back. Similarly with the chart below, seventh grade students again just showing that dissatisfaction and so I have some wonderings there. Um and then with the last chart, it shows the eighth grade students. Um speaking to the activities, um the afterchool activities, that's the figure six on page 10. I I would have expected that we would have had increased participation being that we had different um activities added just last year and I didn't see that come through here. Was that a rise or was the

033data just collected in a different way? I I think where we are seeing the growth if we go back to slide 11 um is in our middle school after school program data. So we do see to sort of reference your point after we added middle school sports you do see that increase of students who are participating in 15 days or more in the middle school after school program. And I I don't know the extent to which the youth survey because as Dr. Presidio is not given at every grade level. May or may not be picking up on some of those nuances. >> Thank you. Good morning. It's really great to see the increases uh going in the direction or the decreases going in the direction. There are some slides I wanted to ask our clerk

034team to please pull up as um I reference them. So can the slide 12 please be pulled up? Thank you. So can you share please why these particular selected these grades were selected 6 8 10 and 12. >> Good morning Marin. Grades 6 8 10 and 12 were selected because those are the grades that take the Fairfax County youth survey and this is where the data is pulling from. >> Thank you for that reminder. Um slide 10 please. Okay. So, the sense of belonging is the place that really needs um further attention, feeling they're valued members of their school community. Um just wanted to reinforce that that's the lower of the the numbers we have there. And then on slide 11, uh the second strategy, so the safe spaces, um again I just thinking about

035that to connect on, you know, issues of identity. And then 17, please, that it shows that our eighth graders are among those with the highest chronically absent. And then slide 19 please shows that in strategy two a basic needs assistance is a strategy just for the basic needs as well as access to health and mental health. And then slide 28 please. Thank you. Um we see that grade eight is the highest percent of inschool suspension out of school suspension. So thank you. So, those data points jumped out to me and I'm I'm just going to go ahead and address it because we've voted to not provide busing to students going into eighth grade as well as fifth and sixth grade from our boundary policy. And when we talk about belonging, access to basic needs, I

036feel that the board's decision last week to not fulfill the boundary policy promise of providing especially to these eighth graders who we see need extra supports. Again, I I don't believe that was the right decision and I want to know what anyone else thinks about are we going to readress this especially knowing that Sky View still is coming up to be decided. Are we going to have that same approach to the boundaries? Um and I also just do want to say there are families right now I'm hearing from them whose kids are stressed because they're eighth graders. They don't know where they're going to go. The Kilmer AAP, the thorough I've been getting emails all night. So the stuff we do impacts how well our students feel. And so I'm looking at this really fantastic

037presentation and thinking about the real world application. I want to understand when we're going to determine the phasing for Sky View. We cannot do it last minute again because it really harms our community and when we're going to actually schedule for action the vote on the Sky View boundaries and the transportation and the phasing. We still have not decided the phasing for Sky View. That's going to feed the next time we see this data. Thank you. >> Uh thank you. Uh oh, thanks for the presentation and a lot of good data. Uh I am going to ask you some questions regarding a page number 10 of the slide. that grades 6 through 12 or sense of belonging that 59% uh that is you know to me you know very low you know there are you

038know 40% more than 40% of students who are have indicating that they don't feel that they belong to uh to the schools But my question goes with to what I see on same page number 10 of the report. Uh I have a hard time matching the numbers between what I see on the slide versus what I see on the report. You know for example sense of belonging on page 10 of the report figure number four top line is I feel I belong in my score and numbers there is different from what I see. Of course on that slide it has right under sense of belonging is has description uh students feel they are valued members of the community which is not the same as what I see. So uh I don't I don't I don't

039know how to you know use this two different set of data >> and Mr. Moon. So we noted that as well when we were working on the report and I think what I would say to this is we've got two different samples who are taking the surveys. So there's different student populations providing information at two different points in time. Um so students may have different sentiments at different points throughout the year. The questions are not the exact same on the screener as they are on the student experience screener. And so that also impacts students interpretations of the questions. It is certainly something that we're looking at as we make some decisions about student experience survey changes potentially for next year. >> But I guess but you picked this set of data to present at today's

040session. Why are the report we have a different set of data. So >> yeah, I I think it's a good question and I apologize that it's not easier to follow. As Miss Neil said, there's different instruments that we're using for different purposes. So slide 10 in the uh PowerPoint presentation is using the SEAL screener results which we use here to really talk about kind of the state of uh student sense of belonging in schools because we have more items on that that start to help you really get at, you know, what maybe are some of the root causes and start to try to unpack a little bit what these particular issues and concerns might be. whereas um the student experience survey is looking at a lot of different things and doesn't go into the same

041level of depth and detail. So on slide 10 when we're looking at the seal screener results I think it's just important to kind of remember that these are given on a um kind of a cyclical basis multiple times throughout the year and every one of our schools has anal lead who is part of the multi-tered systems of support team in their school that coordinates responses based on the data that they're getting. So they get individual student data look at which could trigger maybe the need to provide individualized supports to students but more importantly they're really looking at that trend data like we're pulling out here because this was one of the lowest points in the screener survey that we wanted to make sure that everybody um was aware of. So the leads, the MTSS teams,

042the administrators at the building use this information to develop additional supports to students throughout the course of the year. And we provide uh the leads training every quarter to help them develop action plans to think about what they can do in response to their data. So that's why we chose to highlight this one on this slide here. But um I take your point. It doesn't align easily to some of the other data points in the report. Okay, I think I think I understood what you said, you know, except then what do we do with the data provided in this report? What's the what's the value of this? >> Well, that's still important data, but I think our challenge always is when we're thinking about what we want to highlight in the slides is we want

043to pull out the things that we think are the most important to highlight. So that information is also important but this was one of again the lower points in the survey responses that we got back. So that's why we pulled this one out. >> Okay. Could I could I then make a request because I was you know more when I saw this pretty low number of sensible belonging on page 10 of the slide. uh I was interested in seeing you know seeing subgroup data whether you have similar subgroup data just like you did for you know the report itself if you could provide I would appreciate that the next one I got 30 seconds uh goes to the school attendance do you do Do you have any data showing impact of student absentism on student

044achievement? >> I know that we presented some of that data either last year or the year prior where we looked at um chronic absenteeism and I think so performance in third grade. It is certainly something we could pull again. Um >> we only have a full third grade. >> I I present I know for sure we presented that one year. I'm trying to remember where we intersected chronic absenteeism with performance. We could go back certainly and do some um key data points and how chronic absenteeism is is differentiating student outcomes, but we know it has a >> as as I was reviewing the report for today's work session, I was quite alarmed. We're talking about chronic absentism being 10% or more. That's 18 days. And 12th graders, seniors, 22% of the students are 10% or

045more. What are students thinking? What are families thinking about students going to school or students coming to school? My time is up. >> Thank you, Mr. Moon. Um, Miss Anderson, >> I have a few points that I want to make. So, I'll I'm going to start on this actually though. Um, one of the things that I noticed when I was actually a community member attending strategic goal or the strategic plan meetings was that there is a drop off that happens right around 8th grade where kiddos don't necessarily see the point of what they're trying to do and there's a lot of dissatisfaction that happened in the the numbers and then when they hit nth grade um they realize and this certainly happened in my house is that oh my gosh this is actually the same

046as what was happening in middle school. And so there's this moment where they're still unhappy. Um but the satisfaction increases significantly as they get closer to the nostalgia of leading high school, right? Um so there's this natural thing that kind of happens. So one of one of the things that I'm wondering is is this sense of belonging is is that a normal of what we're seeing time or is this specific to just this year as a standout? No, it it is a trend and it's not just a trend for Fairfax. It's really a national trend. So when we look at things like sense of belonging or incidents of bullying or harassment, we're going to see them peak kind of in this period of early adolescence, right? When students are developing more of a sense of

047self, sense of identity that might not that might conflict with somebody else's sense of self and identity. And then you have to kind of put all the societal factors in context of these ages as well. This is typically when many students might be getting um their first access to individual electronic devices. Now we know some get earlier but this is kind of when students start getting a cell phone for example which can then kind of exact some of these issues um just through social media and other things. So this is a trend that we do see in our data. It is a trend that we see in national data as well. The other thing that I would say here is what are we doing within our practices that kind of make sure that students understand

048what we mean by sense of belonging because I think there are lots of adults that you could ask on a bad day that they would say the same thing. And so I want to make sure that we're kind of I mean if you ask any kiddo in one of our schools what bullying means, they all know exactly what it means and can tell you. Um, so I'm very interested in knowing whether or not we're going to work on developing some lessons um that will help kiddos understand what that sense of belonging. If it's something that we're going to ask, I feel like it's important for them to understand what we're asking them. >> Yeah, we kind of have two different delivery mechanisms for uh learning opportunities in this area that would target all students. So

049the first is through our advisory program or our morning meetings responsive classroom at elementary advisory at middle school and secondary. So we have developed lessons around all of these topics that we're talking about in these slides here today. Um and then those are supplemented with lessons that the counselors provide. Um and again counselors will work kind of across the tiers. Right? So they'll provide some general instructional lessons to students on these topics. But then when we see issues maybe if a school is struggling in one of these areas in particular the counselor in that school might do some small group work. They might even do some individual group work with those are the two primary kind of responses to instructional opportunities. >> And I I I I just want to hearken back to what we

050know about gratitude practices overall is that we know that once the actual act of of recognizing what you're grateful for encourages you to seek out the opportunities where you do feel gratitude throughout your day. And I'm wondering if the same kind of thing can be done with kiddos to talk about where do you feel belonging in our school and how can you start looking for those opportunities. Um so I think that there are some things that are already going on for adults that certainly can be scaled um appropriately for for kids. So I'm going to stop there for now but I have some other things that I'll I'll come back to related to the other topics. >> Thank you Miss Anderson. I am going to take a quick turn before I go to gobacks. Um,

051first of all, to thank the team for all of the work that they did. This report is jam-packed with a lot of information. Um, and I I don't only want to thank the team because you are the faces that we see in terms of you bringing all of this to us, but I also want to thank the people down on the ground that are doing the work because the fact that we're meeting so many targets and that we are exceeding them means that the people that are in our schools are doing the work. So, I really want to thank them for their day in and day out of doing the work. Um, I think that overall this report was really positive, which I think portends to overall of the work that Fairfax County Public Schools

052does. And like anything, nothing is perfect and we do need work uh in some areas. Uh but what I really like about this report is the fact that the strategies are outlined in terms of how that work is going to be done and it also shows a thoughtfulness of the fact that you have maybe eliminated some strategies that were not being uh successful. So that's what I want to do first and foremost um u is what my turn that I wanted to take. Also, when we're talking about this particular slide, I want to commend what we are doing because we are not taking the report that is the youth survey from the county, which is a good survey and I'm on the skip committee and so I understand how that all works, but we're going

053a step further. We're actually going like maybe 10 steps further because not only are we screening the kids not only once, but consistently. And we know like if you are a newcomer the first time you come in, you may not feel a sense of belonging. Uh and as the time goes by, you may or you may come in as someone that's always been in the school and you may feel a sense of belonging and as time goes by you might not. And so the fact that we're able to identify that and identify the kids and then provide services and that's the question that I wanted to ask uh before I make one point is I think it's important for the public to understand that once you get this information and you did talk about certain

054strategies how that is how that's responsive to the students not only maybe individually or as a group and I am going to go to the seventh and eighth grade data uh just because I my experience in the schools having three daughters um there's so much going on with those students uh that we have no control over and that they have no control over sometimes in their little bodies you know so I think that the fact that we see this as a trend throughout the nation is not um surprising um you could never pay me to go back to that time when my body was changing and things were happening and I got a tiny pimple that I thought everybody was going to look at. That to me looked like it was the size of a

055crater and I certainly focused on it. Nobody else did. So, thank you. Yes. So, if you could just answer the question that I asked about what they do, what what what the strategy. >> So, actually I'm gonna ask Dr. Axel whose team is leading this work because maybe you can provide a little bit more detail than what I did initially. >> Thanks, Dr. Presidio. Um, so for our screener data, it it guides our social and emotional learning and wellness planning at the division level, at the school level, and at the student level. So if we're looking at a school, let's say a middle school, we have our school MTSS teams review the data after each window in the fall and in the spring. And then they plan support across the tiers. What are we seeing

056as a need across our whole school? and how are we if that need is belonging trying to implement practices that foster a sense of connection and belonging and identification with the school at the student level we can help to see which students are showing um you know lower levels of connection of relationships of belonging and how can we help to connect those students where are we seeing needs for skill development and how do we work in that in explicit skills instruction into our curriculum and into our lessons um and it allows us to um integrate these into our structures like advisory and morning meeting into schoolwide belonging campaigns. Some schools have explicit curricula and lessons that they implement. And also there are schools that have school improvement plans focused on and wellness goals and this

057allows them to implement them within the structured um metric focused outcome. >> Thank you. Uh we're going to go back now. Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. Um, I wanted to talk about the strategy that is on page 12 because I thought that was interesting. Action 1.3. This is the engagement of the group of students to go through the data. Can you speak to are there discussions specifically with the students whose data show concerning results? Yeah, we um we definitely provide uh supports to the schools and do work directly with individual students. But Dr. Axler, do you want to provide a little bit more information about what those individual student consultations look like? >> Sure. So for students who are showing um data that we have concerns about, the first step is usually to have the

058MTSS team, a site intervention team come together. You might call this a kind of um staffing team or you know student focused team, kid talk team. They come together to say what do we know about the student? What else do we know that helps us to inform our understanding of what the student might need? How are their grades? How's their attendance? What's their discipline record? What do we know about their home life? What do we know about them that can help us to take a look at this data and contextualize it? Because we don't want to make decisions just based on one or two data points. We want to make sure we fully understand what we know about the student. And then what are some ways that we can try and target what we think

059to be the underlying needs of the student because sometimes if we see a challenge with um bullying that might reflect underlying difficulties with relationship skills or social skills and so how do we figure out what those needs are and then in partnership with the family how do we come up with targeted interventions that might support this particular student? >> Do you have a sense of how many of these we accomplish? Well, we have um in our MTSS and CIS uh database records of all the interventions including group and individual interventions that are conducted and so those related to behavioral wellness. I don't have a sense off hand, but I I think it's roughly in the you know 1500 to 2,000 interventions thus far this year that we have documented across our schools. >> Thank you

060for that. um on page 14 where you talked about some data regarding sixth graders. My wondering is is the data consistent depending on where because we have sixth grade sixth graders that are in elementary and sixth graders that are in the middle schools. Is the data consistent across these two configurations or do we see any differences? I >> mean generally it's consistent. We'd probably have I mean we'd have to disagregate the data completely to tell you what the level of difference is, but when we've looked at it, it's fairly marginal on these. >> If it's marginal, then don't look into it too much, but I I'd just be interested in that. Um on page 17 of the report, um we talked about we're talking about here with students with disabilities and their chronic absenteeism. um

061you know we have a lot of students with disabilities who are medically fragile and so attendance tends to be a little bit more impacted. How do we hold that consistent? I know there's no waiver, there's nothing but how do we kind of understand that in the realm of what we have to um report here? >> Yeah, I mean I I think the approach that we take again it's a tiered approach, right? So starting with universal messaging about the importance of attendance to families and to students, then kind of making sure that we're tracking and monitoring student attendance. So when we find students that um are absent five or more days, we kind of start the intervention process with those students, understanding, trying to understand what the root causes are, help get them to school. Then

062when we get to the third tier, it's really like the individual solution seeking and trying to figure out like what are all of the root causes for an individual who's not able to attend school on time and it could range from anything. It could be medical issues, >> right? Some of these students are in the hospital on days on days. How do we account for that? Because we still lock them as chronically absent. >> Yeah, we have to do that because we have to report for state reporting purposes. But you know our our supports to those students and those families is very individualized and case management you know centered in terms of how we respond. So again those teams those support teams at the school have your counselors your social workers to really try to

063figure out based on what the individual student and family situation is what additional supports might they need. It might be access to transportation that's reliable. It might be a situation where again it's a health and medical situation and the student we learn is going to be out of school and is going to need um continuity of learning plan and then a return tolearn plan when they come back from a medical issue. So it's really trying to treat every student not just students with disabilities in the data individually and try to figure out what we can do to support them best. Is there an opportunity for an IP fit type of approach to mitigate the um attendance data for such students or let's say at the hospital for >> well I think the IP fit program

064has been successful so I think the question is for us right now really is like how can we expand that I don't think it's for one particular subgroup of students necessarily I think it would be for any student that could benefit from that so we are trying >> I think I wanted to relate it to the continuity of learning opportunities that you shared could not qualify as IP fit. Um, >> it could, but I I was more referring like if we know a student is going to be out for a prolonged period of time, proactively trying to make sure that they've got the supports they need so that they don't fall behind and then need a remediation plan. So again, when we know students are going to be out and sometimes we don't know that

065because the families don't have the opportunity to tell us, but monitoring the data and being responsible or responsive to the data, sometimes we can make contact with families and and find out what the situations are. >> Thank you. Um on page 18, you talk about some other again all attendance data and my wondering is have you had the opportunity to tease out the out of school suspensions to see because that is for lack, you know, whatever the reason is, that is something that we are imposing. And I'm not saying it's incorrect, but it is still an act that we're taking. Have we teased that out? If we take out the suspensions, what does this data show across these subgroups? >> I don't believe that we've specifically looked at that, but that is certainly something we

066can take a look at. be very interested to see that especially given the disproportionality data that we see that that you've presented in the other pages um which I'll get to in short order. I just want to go in order here. Um on page 20 oh I'm sorry >> yes I want to add something. Um we are we are looking at um for example uh students who are suspended something that we are uh trying to implement is that they're going to be receiving classes uh at home if they are uh inhouse suspension rather than just be suspended is that uh they will be assigned with some classes as well. So this is uh through admentum that is something that we are uh looking at of uh that's a plan uh >> while they're at home

067they'll have instruction. >> Yes. >> And then it won't count as a suspension. >> So this is exactly what uh we are trying to look I know we haven't uh planned uh yet until uh I know the last time we had a conversation uh before I see all the details I'm going to bring to the table for uh Dr. King and Dr. precidio and see if we can do it in that way. I know that there is an um a memo from superintendent from Virginia superintendent uh about the three hours may count. However, I don't know if that going to be in conflict when the student is being suspended. So, something that I will have to work with uh Dr. But uh this is um a project that has not been totally finalized with some

068rules and regulations. Uh I will have to work with both of them. But uh I was thinking in the part of instruction bringing instruction to the students who are suspended if we have a service that uh because sometime you see this is a punishment for the student or correction. I was thinking on the other side is rather than just punish them go home and that's sometime you are rewarding them hey and punishing the parent which you know is something that we can uh figure it out together but I think that uh what we are looking is to to make sure that the students are actually receiving classes hey you're not going to be just at home doing nothing you are actually going to be assigned to classes >> right well I'm very much willing to

069to hear more because I do agree because I sometimes I I look at it with my head to the side when students who are cutting class their punishment is to go home like well yay thank you you've just solved that um >> and uh I want to add Dr. Dr. Anderson to that also and it's about the multilingual students or or or immigrant students where sometimes sending the home that's that's exactly what they want in some cases some students just they don't want to be school sometime so rather than uh I wouldn't say punish that in that way sometime it just to discipline them and teach them differently and and this is what we are uh looking is uh understanding because sometimes uh we had to be uh culturally uh aware of things that happening

070in some cultures and uh so I I will say another one to uh to call punishment but discipline to discipline them or correct them should be in a different way. >> Sure. And my last question for this round is based on the data on page 23. I'm always looking to see what the correlations are or the causality of activity and I see here there's huge increases if I may just finish this question huge increases in terms of parent notifications and parent involvements and conferences etc. Are those parent um interactions a a substitute activity for suspensions both in school or out of school or is the result of that increased parent interaction a decreased number of inschool suspensions in um is chicken or the egg situation here? >> Yes, thank you for that question Dr. Anderson.

071So, one of our changes to the SRNR last year was to require interventions for every single discipline incident. And so, what that means is that we're ensuring that when schools are entering an an OSS or an ISS that they are also pairing that with an intervention, which is why we see those increased interventions very particularly around parental notification, parent conferences, student conferences, etc. So, it's not in lie of, it is in addition to. >> Okay. I have some followup but I went out of time. Um, so we're going to go to uh Mr. Moon. >> Thank you, Mr. Molin. Uh, just a couple of questions. You know, some of my questions relate to strategies have been already asked and answers. So, but this particular one might not have been asked. Uh I'm gonna I'm gonna

072focus on what I see on page 19 of the slides that strategy one two and three but I'm going to focus on one and two one and two and each one of them has a two subst strategies underneath. So whenever we come up with a strategies in this case whatever we see up there a couple of strategies or four strategies all together uh that you came up with for 25 and 26 school year. How do you come up with the strategies? Is that is that you analyze the data and you see this is where we are lacking we could do a better job or how do you how do you do that? You know for example you say first one first bullet point under strategy number one consistent clearly communicated expectation about attendance you think

073we hadn't done that well that is why we are doing this or is that what the parents are asking >> well I think it's an excellent question so where we always start when we develop strategies is kind of two places what is our data telling us what trends and patterns are we seeing in the data and then what does the evidence base tell us is an evidence-based response to those that particular issue that we're seeing in the data. Right? So, we go to the research base and when you look at how to support positive attendance and address issues of chronic absenteeism, that kind of multi-tered approach really is supported by the evidence base. So, the first thing is we have to be clear and consistent with our communication. In a school division our size, I

074think communication is never going to be perfect. Right. So there's always opportunities to, you know, try different strategies, different mechanisms to connect with individuals to really get your message to the folks that you want to have receive it. So that is very important. I I think it's particularly important for us in Fairfax given the amount of multilingual learners that we have in the school division as well um to make sure that everybody understands the importance in this case of of of regular school attendance because as you pointed out I think sometimes students and and families don't realize how those absences even excused absences are accumulating and what kind of a deficit it can really create for student learning. And you see that manifest itself in different ways at different grade levels. In the earlier grade

075levels, oftentimes our families are a little bit more cautious with sending their students to school um if their students, you know, might have a cold. Well, I mean, we have pretty clear guidance about when you should keep your students home for medical reasons and when you shouldn't. But getting that message out so that everybody understands when it's safe and when you should keep your student home is something that we're continually working on. So broad strokes to your question. We look at the data. We look for the trends. We look at the research and the evidence base for what we need to respond to. And then as Dr. Axler was kind of pointing out in in some of the work that we do, getting direct information from students about some of the issues and barriers is

076also really helpful for us in designing our responses as well as seeing what schools that are making really big reductions um in chronic absenteeism in their schools are doing that might be transferable to other schools in the system. So it really is kind of a multiaceted approach to strategies, but it starts with the data and starts with the research. >> So I I want to add that. Uh thank you. You know, uh believe it or not, uh Mr. Moon, uh sometimes uh as I meet with parents and go to community and everything sometime, oh, I didn't know that I have to send my child every day. and I have heard over and over especially um high schools and and that's why I reinforce it every time that we have the opportunity it it is so

077powerful it is so powerful with with flyers and every time I go hey remember that your child needs to be every time um something that uh Sloan said that is totally is tell them explain them hey when when is when the weather is a little bit cold. A lot of where parents they don't have insurance and they are afraid if the child gets sick then how can I get uh medication or medical service for the child. So that is something also that we have to especially in some areas if you see some regions that are very um that chronic asentism is is very high or they're really low and some others uh high school what I about to say is uh every time that I have a meeting with them I really tell hey remember

078that if you don't go to school even if you get a 100 on the test you will not get credit because chronicantism you know being absent. So that really uh to tell them and put it uh every time that I have a parent in front the first thing that I say hey remember that you have to the children must be because it is a lot of uh implication when they are not in school. Thanks. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your responses. You know, I I I absolutely agree uh with a necessity of providing consistent and and clear communication about our expectations and how that's going to affect you know students learning and I I bet that that's a data driven but let me go to something under strategy too is

079access to health and mental wellness services and something you know Dr. respons a little bit too but so is that something that students provide you with the data related to this or parents that is why we are putting in this >> if we are doing data driven >> in part yeah no in part but again remember the entire kind of framework for how we're supporting attendance with those tiers so once we actually have students that are manifesting five or more absent right? We start to have individual uh interventions in conversations with the students and the families to find out what the issues are. So, this particular strategy is coming more from that tier 2 response where we're seeing students that are already manifesting poor attendance patterns and we want to be able to support them

080and intervene before it gets worse. Some of the things that we're learning is that students and families in some instances maybe the student doesn't feel safe at school, maybe they're dealing with issues of anxiety or depression, right? And we need to be able to get them the the mental health and support services that they need. >> You know, I'm asking these questions again, you know, again, >> uh, you know, I have to believe that they are all data driven data driven. Whatever we provide the strategy that require investing our resources. So you know where how where we put our resources would have to really be the kind of services investments that is the best you know most needed for the students to address the issues on end and and I'm hoping that as we provide

081this implement these strategies those result in positive outcome and That's why I want to see next year uh uh Miss New as you present the next start thinking about doing that how this one this particular strategy resulted in this kind of positive outcome. Um okay just to set the stage for where we are um we were supposed to break at 12:30 for lunch. However, my preference is to exhaust all the questions. Um so our friends at the head of the table can go about their day. Um and uh we can then take lunch. So okay um well in that case uh it looks like we have multiple people with questions. So um let's break for lunch now and then we'll come back. Sorry we'll be back at um 107. Oh, thank you. I'm just going

082to start with my last set of questions. Um, this speaks to the disproportionality data. Um looking at on page 24 um the out of school suspensions while I'm always you know talking about the um achievement gap I do want to point out that I see this closing um it went from 4.15 was the difference in during the baseline year to 3.33 in the current year. So I do want to point that out. Um but it's still like significant disparities. What is happening here? what what else can we I I know I see the list of um of initiatives and ideas, but if we're looking at the students who are the most impacted by this, it's the black students and students with disabilities. So, it's hard for me to just gloss over this. I'd like to

083hear some of your thoughts. >> Um so, again, thank you for that question, Dr. Anderson. So we are really building out our systems and our frameworks and supports around addressing discipline disproportionality. And so this very initial year was around addressing suspensions and being able to see that reduction and then of course continuing that. And then at the same time we launched many of our policies and practices and staff capacity building as well. And so we should be seeing of course like continued impact of those things that we've implemented this particular year in our um upcoming data as we proceed throughout those initiatives. but they're very specifically focused on um changing our policies and creating practices that align our discipline practices across the division and then also building capacity of staff. >> What's the cultural responsive

084work that's being done? Because we're talking about two very specific group of kids for our students with disabilities. I heard some of the things you talked about earlier, although I'd like to hear more, but with our black students, what's happening there just so we don't end up having this data over and over because all of the groups are decreasing, but the gap is closing very, very, very slowly. >> Yes. So, one of the things that we're doing in those initiatives called our school discipline consortium is requiring that schools perform root cause analysis very relevant to the subgroups of students that they're seeing that have these rates of disproportionality and then based upon their root cause analysis to determine how they're going to provide action plans, interventions, and supports for those students very directly. So we

085have a very targeted um approach to how we are addressing student groups that we're seeing are continually being represented in OSS and ISS as well. >> So then are you seeing this um trend across all schools or at particular schools this consortium does it involve all of the schools? How many schools? I don't need to know which schools right now but how many schools? So, it's currently 24 schools that we work with, but we do perform the data analysis for all of our schools across the division. And we do release that discipline disproportionality data to every single school in the division and then follow it up with coaching and support from our team. >> Oh, okay. Um, I thought you wanted to say something else. Um just looking at also the information the data on

086page 26 and again these are um with our students you know black students being what 10% of the population it's just really striking me that this continues to persist um I did want to follow up with something I heard in the presentation regarding the teacher evaluations being linked to the learning model. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Yeah. So, that's a big part of the work that we're trying to do around inclusion, which in my view continues to be probably the largest initiative that we have in the school division right now because what we're trying to do is train all of our teachers, all of our administrators, all of our schoolbased staff, including instructional assistants at making sure that we're doing everything that we can to educate students in the least. So,

087as I think all of our board members know, we're working with some national experts on inclusion. We're just in year two of that work right now. Um, that work actually started in January of 2025. We have schools that we're working with in three phases. So, phase one, we have 12 schools. The second phase just has come on board with um completing some of the required foundational professional development. We've got about 80 schools there and then phase three will come on uh for next school year. But all of that work around inclusion at the end of the day centers on this idea of universal design for learning and building a strong foundation so that our general education classrooms are accessible to students um and we remove barriers proactively not reactively. So when we talk about UDL

088we talk about the big ideas basically of multiple means of representation, engagement and expression, right? Giving students choice in how they access learning materials. So not everybody necessarily has to learn from written text. Some students can um get information in graphic organizers, videos. Similarly, when students um present their learning outcomes, not everybody has to do it all the same way, right? So it's creating choices and options as well as a learning environment that really stresses belonging and connectedness, right? Building a strong cultural in the learning environment. So to do that work well, if those are the expectations and the focus for what we want our practices to look like, we felt like we really needed to align the teaching uh teacher evaluation to the actual instructional expectations that we have in the school system. So

089going through kind of the seven standards and the teacher evaluation framework, if you look at it, you'll oh sorry, you'll see in there um connections to UDL in terms of planning, the work that you need to do to plan to set up your classroom. That's right. >> Yeah. No, that works out perfectly. Thank you. The other thing I'd like to have a little refresher on is what is the role of the the champion, the gold champion? >> We have multiple gold champions in the room. So, I'll do my best on this one. I can't wait to Can our gold champions who are in the room raise their hands? Got a few in the room. So they work with teams that represent various members of our school community. So we may have teachers sitting on teams.

090We may have various um staff from different departments sitting on teams. Um I know last year when we did some updates with our algebra 1 um goal, we had students and family members come in and present as a part of those teams. But what they're doing is going through a process every year at looking at our data, making decisions about our what strategies do we need to adjust. Back to what Dr. Presidia was talking about earlier, evidence-based strategies. What are the impacts we're seeing? Where do we need to make adjustments based on the information that we're understanding? Um, and and also looking at where are some innovative opportunities where we can try some different things even at small scale to see how those things impact student outcomes. So, they're looking for what's working globally, but

091also scalable solutions that we can test out in different settings. >> No, I appreciate that because I don't think I recalled what the role was. Um and next to last is the certified restorative justice facilitators. Um one of the strategies that you mentioned is that you're looking for each of the schools to have at least one. Are you seeing some sort of correlation or relationship between a um certified um restorative justice facilitator out of school and their discipline data? >> Yes. So we do see correlations between our restorative justice practices work across all of our tiers and the impact that we see in terms of discipline data. Um very specifically with our work around restorative practices and our restorative schools project we see that we um those schools and those classrooms that participate in those

092restorative practice circles in their classrooms that they have greater sense of belonging as represented through the screener survey data. And then we also see that schools which are utilizing their school-based facilitator are relying more on restorative justice than perhaps other um consequences like exclusionary discipline like OSS or ISS and they're also increasing their intervention work. So we are seeing an impact with our restorative justice practices across tier one through three. >> Okay. Thank you. um on on page 56 part of the appendix this is where you talk about the percentage of high school students with VHSL sports participation and it's essentially stagnant from 23 24 to 2425 and in the 2425 year if I'm correct we introduced boys volleyball and girls wrestling that correct I would have expected some increase because of those two additional

093sports that didn't seem to show that. >> I just think it's a numbers issue. I mean, we have more students participating in those, but when you talk about the thousands of students that we have in the high school data set, just adding a few additional students isn't going to change the percentages dramatically, I think. >> But we also have fewer students, I believe, or at least I thought. Um, okay. Um, and going to the page before that, which is page 55. This is the middle school after school program. I see that you've broken this down by any participation 15 days and 30 days. And I know some of these markers are, you know, being asked for by the county, but I'm really wondering about the average participation. What does that look like and what kind

094of student is participating? Because these are very different data sets. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we're going to go to >> I'd like a response before you go. I know Mr. Horn's in the audience. I don't know Tom if you want to get to Mike if there's any um thoughts about Dr. Anderson's question about the average number of days of participation if we have that. If I understood the question, I think the question was about how many days per average the student attends, >> right? Because if you look at the demographics, the type of student that's participating once or at all versus 15 days or more or 30 days or more, they're very different students. And that um fr FRM level of student is very different. So, I just wanted to see if we could

095present the data a little bit more broadly just to get a sense of who are our kids who are in these programs. >> Yeah. First my first commitment is we can look at all of and disagregate that data. I don't think we have it for you today. Um I think the second challenge we would have and will have with that is programming is different at each school. Um and we have some programs that operate weekly. We have some programs that operate over the course of months. We have some programs that operate operate in short windows. So we may have an eight- day program and we may have a 16week program. Um so we may have kids that are attracted to a five-day program. We have may may have other students that are attracted to a

096once a week for 15 weeks program. So, some of it is is availability of programming and and how it functions in each school, but we'll provide some more data for you. >> Yeah, that's definitely good context. >> Thank you, >> lady. Over to you. >> Thank you. Uh, thank you for the report, staff. Great work. um you know as I was studying all the data related to uh incidents um of discipline it's to me it's just the developmental model I mean clearly things escalate in those middle school years where kids are hormonally challenged and awkward uh whereas was indicated they're getting on devices I just my word to the public please wait as long as humanly possible to put a device in your child's hand and please charge their devices including their computers in your

097room at night and make sure they can't get to them when you fall asleep. Um because there's danger out there. Um so a couple comments on that, you know, in terms of belonging, in terms of having an adult that you can trust. Um I I I want I'm a little bit more interested in what strategies are being approached for the 30% of kids that indicate they don't have a trusted adult. And I think that very much correlates to whether they're involved in an activity or a club or a sport after school. So, are we doing any targeted things to do outreach to those kids because we know who they are? Um, to try to map them and get them engaged in something of interest. >> We are, and I'll just mention a few things and

098then maybe Dr. Axel might want to add a little bit more. You know, at the secondary level, one of the components kind of of the theory of action around advisory is that you're going to have somebody who's going to know a smaller group of students and know them better and start to actually see some of the needs that that student might have because of course a classroom teacher with 150 kids and a counselor with 500 kids can't provide that amount of personalization. So, it's just another strategy to help us with that. So oftent times the adviserss will try to, you know, help facilitate opportunities for students um to make uh stronger connections at school and also hopefully serve as one trusted adult in the school building that they've got a relationship with. So that's one

099thing that we try to do. And then of course our counselors and um psychologists and social workers when we've identified students that you know do have a lack of those at those uh supportive trusted adults as resources try to facilitate those connections um as well but it's very intensive student by student um you know and it it's a lot when you think about the number of students that we have in our schools to be able to facilitate that well um but Mike do you want to add a little bit more about some of the things we do? >> Sure. And I think one of the things that we want to do first is to figure out why might a student not feel a sense of belonging. Right? If we have a student who um hasn't

100been to school very much, then the reason they don't feel a sense of belonging might be because they haven't been to that school. So then we have to look at our shift to what might be the barriers to getting them into school. If a student's there and they still don't feel a sense of belonging, what's their connection like with the adults around them and with their peers around them? For connections with adults, we sometimes do like the 2x10 relationship strategy, right? Have a two-minute conversation, an adult with a student for 10 consecutive days. um around how the student's doing, getting to know the student, fostering a connection because as we know and as you had alluded to, a strong connection with a caring adult is the number one protective factor for any student and the

101number one uh contributor to feeling a greater sense of belonging. And the more that we can have students, teachers, and other adults from that school doing that with a student in a targeted way, the more likely they'll feel that sense of belonging. We also connect them with mentors, sometimes with peer mentors, other times with adult mentors, so they can establish a more long-term connective relationship and have a positive association with coming to school. And sometimes there might be things like academic barriers or um lack of participation in other activities with like-minded peers. And so we try and set them up with activities that may um align with their areas of interest identification. But really it's a targeted student by student process to figure out what else do we know about the student that might be

102contributing to a lack of sense of belonging in this community and how do we try and address that and tether it to our tier one initiative because we know that this is something that's a need for all of our students. >> Okay. Thank you. nothing new or innovative since I was in the system, but other than the 2 by10, I like that 2 by10 idea. Um because part of the reason I'm asking is I think that you know during academic advising it was an expectation of me as a director that my we weren't just counting credits to make sure they're on track. We were asking them what are they doing? What what are they involved in? You know, who's at home with you? You know, that's your get to know you moment. And that's the

103opportunity as you're talking about interest in electives to then say, well, do you know, you know, you know, Mr. Smith who is the sponsor of you know this particular the investment club you know um and make those connections so I think there's just more we can do the other thing when you talk about advisories like I just wonder if we're giving any because I remember it was a constant debate when I was at Chantilly about whether you wanted your advisory to be the same for four years because then that's really the relationship and and that's what I wanted um I'm not sure that I won that battle. I also worked hard to with multi- language learners to get them with someone who was spoke their native language to make an advisory of students so that

104it was more meaningful for them. And I I bring this up just because I think these are things that sometimes need need to be more rolled out to people as best practice. Um, and I'll bring this up again, health and PE, you know, we can't have specialists in in in high schools because at Chantelli, they change teachers every quarter and their classes have 35 children in them. It's not 150, it's like 200 kids. You're meeting new 200 kids every single and you can't build the relationship. So, sadly, I'm going to run out of time. But when um suspensions, you referenced uh you're changing some policies. What are what are those changes? We made several policy changes to the SRNR last year. One of which was requiring interventions for every discipline incident, requiring parental notification for

105every incident, um enhancing our SR&R student lesson. So all of those changes that we made last year, we're now beginning to see some of those implementations this year. >> Um excellent. Thank you. Um and then my other question is, are we checking to make sure that all of our schools are actually entering discipline? Yes, we are in fact doing that. Um, so we have initiated our essentials of discipline data entry training. It's a professional learning and coaching program which works with schools when we see that by the end of quarter 1 we either do not see discipline entered or we see that there is low discipline entered and then we provide direct professional learning around what are the data expectations around discipline entry. And then we also help them to do root cause analysis and

106then develop what's called a data action plan in order to make sure that they're increasing their consistency. And then we've also created internal data tracking tools that help us to be able to determine any kind of like discrepancies and referral rates between all the way from elementary to high school. >> So does that also mean you're tracking by administrator? Um, there is the possibility for that, but it's very specifically looking more at the school level >> because I would encourage you do it by that because that was a problem in all my years of wherever I worked. There were the people that were all over it and worked with kids and built relationships with kids, worked with their counselor, and then there were people who never sent for a kid when they had referrals. Uh,

107and if they did, they kind of slapped them on the hand and they never took the time to put it in. So I think that's part of our some of our disproportionality um is that we're not in theory logging things. Um can I just finish real quick and I'll take a go back. Um so the other thing I just I I read about these things. Have we reached thought about establishing mentorships? I know we do with faculty but with outside mentors or parents or fathers you know I've seen a lot of press around um fathers coming in and being part of a school cult culture and yeah the dads that you know are helping to you know um in the hallways get kids to class help and it's it's like addressing behavior too. Have we

108done any work in that area? Yeah, I mean we have in our schools um unfortunately are kind of you know in a position where they have to do a lot of that recruitment themselves, right? So some schools I think have been able to kind of crack the code on that a little bit better than other schools. Um so we do need to find better ways to provide centralized support to it. Right now one of the things that we've tried to do is work through the the skipped process. Right? So the successful child and youth policy team at the county level that has all these county agencies. That's something that we've talked about repeatedly there is trying to figure out how we can get more community partnerships through agencies like that. Um, one of the new

109the newer programs that skipped is my brother's keeper, the Obama initiative to try to provide positive mentoring uh for for young men. We're seeing a little bit of traction that's starting to get off the ground, but you know, we need to do more to develop those community partnerships so schools don't have to do everything on their own. >> Yeah. I mean, I'll take something like Edu Feturo. They got into a couple schools and then expanded. So I would ask >> they are still working with them. >> Yeah. Yeah. But I would ask that we pick a school that's got an issue, got disproportionality and target it and do recruitment and pilot it and then it'll grow. Uh it's my opinion. So the last thing is are we doing any you know I know when I

110was at Chantelli we had like >> Thank you, Miss Lady. Your time is >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. I wasn't going to do a co a go back. Uh I'll be this is my last thing. >> Yeah. I haven't spoken. So we used to do uh men's groups and women's groups. Um, and it's, you know, trying to help with behavior, trying to help connect them, you know, and I I know our counselors and our, it was not just counselors, our entire mental health team would would be doing that. Uh, I don't need an answer, but I I just hope that that's still something that's that's happening or empowerment groups, you know what I mean? Like I I think sometimes when you have a positive interaction, um, then it breeds more positive interactions. Um, so and

111and the last thing I'll say is one thing that I did when I was at Chantilly was something called an on a roll ceremony where basically every teacher could nominate one kid a quarter who was on who's had momentum going in a positive direction. And for many kids it could be a behavior shift, it could be an attendance shift, it could be an academic shift, um, it could be a collaboration shift. But I will tell you that those were many many of the kids recognized had never had a positive experience in a public school before and their parents came and their grandparents came and it was a it was a game changer because they'd actually never been recognized for something positive. So things like that I think are are helpful. Again, thank you team for

112your report and all your hard work. >> And can I just two finger on the mentorship thing? We still work with mentor works. Right. Right. Because as um as a community member, I have volunteered through mentor works and they will assign you to a school. So it may just be about community. >> No, that's a great program, but we need more of those. >> Yeah. >> Um okay, Miss Anderson. >> Okay. So, I'm going to gently channel my former colleague for just a minute and I want to talk a little bit about the inclusion data. I am incredibly happy to see that our trend is going in the correct direction and it continues to increase in that way. Um, I'm a little concerned still with the chart that's on page 35 in the fact that

113it still seems that we're a little bit more successful at the younger grades than the older grades um related to getting kiddos in in included environments. So, I was to start, can you guys talk a little bit about what we're doing to kind of make that work better? >> Yeah, I mean, and I'll I'll kind of keep it brief to start and then if you want me to go um and expand, just just let me know. But the first thing I would say is this is really lagging data. So we're looking obviously at last year's data, but remember that data doesn't even reflect any structural changes that we had made at the division level as a result of the inclusion initiative. So you just have to have that context a little bit. The secondary data

114um particularly when we get to high school, but this is true of middle school as well. A couple of the big problems that we've identified there. one um oftent times the schedule drives the services at the secondary level much more than it does at the elementary level. So if we have a student who's scheduled into a self-contained class for example two two periods of a self-contained class and they're already not going to meet the inclusion targets, right? They're not going to show up in the positive data. So that's a real challenge for us. We've got to figure out ways to, you know, get around some of those scheduling constraints and concerns. And our model for that is a co-eing model that we're working with all of the schools inclusion initiative uh to implement. But that's

115a huge transition from a special education teacher and case manager um educating students in a self-contained environment versus pushing into the general education class and co-eing, right? And you've got to be in different places at different times. And it's a big, you know, adaptive shift and change. And that's why we're going through an entire year's process to do professional development, training, provide the schools with time to do planning about how they're going to make those shifts and practice the following year. So, this data is lagging data. Um, even next year's data, like we're projecting now, is probably going to be up like four or 5% we think, but that's only going to reflect changes that 12 of our 200 schools have made. So, we're a couple years out, I think, to seeing some of those

116bigger jumps as we start to eliminate and shift our service delivery from a model that really um in a sense doesn't allow us those same opportunities that we have at elementary for the pushin support um at the secondary level as much. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate the context there. Um, I guess my other question is is I know that we look at these reports as discrete reports often, but what what intersectionality are we looking at, particularly related to tracking inclusion with success in general education classrooms? Because that is something that I definitely think that as we're working towards, we we want kiddos included, but we want them to be successful in included environments. So, I want to see some cross cross-pollination there just a little bit more. Um, and then the other aspect is

117is I mean I always wonder because we have such a large student with disability population whether or not some of the state percentage requirements are are still as feasible for us just because we have kids with greater needs. Um, and then the thing that you've heard me talk about throughout this entire year so far, is those kiddos on the VAP that have been taken out of a a more restrictive environment, which is great that they're in a a less restrictive environment, but they haven't had the skill set that they need to be successful in that class. And so, I want us to see what we're doing to kind of get them more on track. And and I think that it's largely particularly I mean I've talked to many of you about the fact that a

118lot of the the supports that we have for MML or MLL learners like it would work it seems like it would work similarly and so understanding as kiddos move closer to becoming or becoming eligible to come off the VAP like what are we doing to prepare them to be ready to be in those so track classes. So I really want to see us work more towards those transition moments. I think that transition across the board is something that we um that we need to work on and working on the transition between the major grades where we see a decline in inclusion I think is going to be really successful because I can I can see where kiddos that may have been firmly um included in a in an elementary environment. It would be devastating to

119lose that inclusion as they get older. And so I would hate to see that be the continued trend. So, I think that we're on the right track, but I want to I I would just encourage us to kind of look at this holistically a little bit more. >> No, I I appreciate the comments and suggestions. Thank you. >> Next, Melanie. >> Thank you. I have two topics I wanted to touch on. One is the middle school after school program, and this is really more for Dr. Reid. When we were at the joint meeting with the supervisors, there was new information about how they were budgeting for it. I wonder if you could explain further. We had some questions and um would just appreciate understanding how anything's changing. Please. >> Yes, ma'am. I um I think

120that uh one of the things that uh we recognize that um obviously this is an important program. It received a lot of attention last year and I think we've discussed how important it is for our students to be active and connected to school in our goal to report as well. Um, historically the middle school after school uh funding from the county has been housed in the health and human services part of the county budget um and has been uh transferred as part of what is characterized as a budget transfer. Um this year the budget instead of being housed in the health and human services and part of the budget transfer it is um being provided in the school operating fund transfer which um I think is obviously generating a different level of concern because then

121it competes with other uh commitments within the school operating fund. Uh traditionally these funds have paid for staff and some operating expenses. Um but it hasn't been line item uh from the county. It's was put in this uh budget transfer. Um but it was generally used uh to pay for the staff, our middle school after school specialists and some operating expenses uh with the matching funds from the school division to support transportation stipens and other um expenses. >> Thank you. And So when you say it pays for staff, are we paying FCPS staff or county government employee staff? >> So it's used to pay for the middle school after school specialist positions which actually are FCPS staff. Okay. Of the funding for those positions traditionally had been housed in this health and human services county

122part of the budget. Right. >> Mr. Smith could probably provide a little more historical >> and I was going to add there is a uh schools match to that as well. not a one forone match, but there is a school's portion uh of that funding as well. >> Thank you. And from what I recall the conversation, their uh financial officer said something to the effect of they're transferring it so it's maybe perhaps neater and more organized and they would keep track of the revenue and I'm wondering what because there was an interest in moving to a revenue or feebased model. I wasn't quite I don't know if you have any clarity on that. >> So, there's been some discussion about the possibility of um I believe it's 1.2 million of their transfer uh being um

123transition to a feebased model. So, some way of collecting fees. Uh I know county staff and school division staff had been working together to try to put together what that model might look like. Uh I don't believe they've completed that work and I believe uh it's been paused at this point just waiting to see what actually the total dollars are that we're going to receive uh from both the Commonwealth and the county because our 40 uh $3 million gap it is inclusive of middle school after school at this time. So, I think that that work around what a model could look like, who would collect money, all of that would have to come before the board before it would be um possible to be executed. So, I Dr. Pon, your team has been working on

124that. I'm not sure. I think they've paused that work. >> I I think that's enough. That's great. That answers my question because I just The question I want to ask is if the program is it 48 $4 million last year that was under our side of the budget, right? or no was that was what they provided to run the program. Yes, ma'am. >> 3.9 I think. >> Right. So, when we say that there is a gap of 43 million, isn't it really like a gap of 47 million? Because this is to and please correct me or or you know clarify. This brings me back to my days working in title one at the US Department of Education and it sounds like the exact definition of supplanting where we asked for money and they said we'll

125give you the money but we're going to reduce the amount overall that you asked for. Furthermore, it sounds like they're directing us how to spend our money. So, if they're going to lump that 4 million into the transfer, we could do whatever we want with that, and that could include not paying for middle school after school or something else. Can you confirm? Is my understanding correct? Yes, ma'am. I mean I I think the your initial point about the 43 to 47 clearly is because we would have to we've committed um or in the budget that we adopted or not adopted but advertised uh the budget that I presented that you advertised voted to approve to advertise does have a $43 million gap and if we need to add the the4 million and it at this

126point I believe um It was the middle school after school. There are some public health topics. >> I think debt service as well. >> Well, debt service is an addition to the middle school after school, but then there was also a transition for um our graduating adults um with special needs transition program. So, there were I think several programs that have been moved from the health and human services part of the county budget to um the school division operating fund. So that would be an accurate statement. >> Well, thank you. I think, you know, I would certainly like to start talking about a $47 million deficit or gap plus those other things. You know, we instruct our staff again, especially in title one, do not supplant. And this is the fear, honestly, that the state's

127going to come in with money and then the local government will say, well, see, you have that money, so we're just going to move our money elsewhere. I mean, that is the definition of supplanting, which is not supposed to be happening. So, I would like to know if you could please at some point the total gap or you know that the county is moving into our column that will supplant our investments unless we reroute those investments. The other thing I'm glad to hear you say that the work to propose a fee has paused because in very clear language many times I personally and others have said this program there was tried to have there was a pilot done with fees and it did not work. children did not come. So that the county continues to

128use time and money to look at ways to get this middle school after school program covered by a fee is really wasteful and I just wish we could move past it. Okay. Um I see no further plaques. Okay, then uh Melanie. >> Okay. Okay, I do have one more question around um universal design for learning which I'm so excited about and I remember one of the kickoffs where we had an outstanding uh person consulting group who was helping us and it's really wonderful to see the the increase. I just want to share an experience I had as a parent of a student um who's dyslexic. So my kiddo is in seventh grade and he was meeting with his counselor to determine whether or not to take world language because you know he's told oh the

129advanced diploma and if you want the advanced diploma then you're going to need world language. Well, I did my research and it turns out unless you differentiate instruction for a dyslexic, it is really hard. So, against the council, you know, that he had been hearing and from his peers and teachers, I said, "Look, buddy, this is going to be a really tough road for you and you've got your advanced math. So, you know, colleges you will find, we'll find the place for you." And he finally said, "Okay, mom, I guess you know something." Okay. So um but I I think that and this is again something our our previous colleague would say about inclusion in the secondary grades especially for our twice exceptional students right so I did not feel comfortable with my son going

130to learn a world language unless it was differentiated and I would at least like to put a plug in for that because I feel like it's constantly touted to kids get your advanced diploma but if you have a learning disability I mean and and we're also starting language instruction when he's which we know is not developmentally the best time to start a language. So I share that feedback in terms of counseling and also in continuing to advocate for differentiate instruction in those secondary grades for kiddos with disabilities. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh seeing nothing further. Um oh wait >> oh Dr. Anderson, you >> until >> want to ask for clarification regarding one of the strategies on page 30. This is action 34, the pilot process for responding to minor incidents. What I'm sorry, I'm

131not sure I'm fully clear on what this means. Is it just a technical change with codes or are there more things involved? >> Yes. So, um the office of equity and student conduct has um partnered with the department of special services um in a pilot for schools that allows um schools to be able to enter their minor referrals in CIS consistently and of course kind of like have a data coaching and support around that so that we can be able to take data and learnings from that in order to be able to provide um a systematized divisionwide kind of like protocol and policy for um to strengthen and enhance how we're entering minor referrals. Minor referrals are those things which are not necessarily accepted by an administrator for um SRNR support, but there are still

132behaviors that we're seeing that we absolutely want to be able to monitor and um have preventative support for before we get to that major level that's where it is accepted by um an administrator. And so um initially that pilot started last year and then it expanded I believe by four schools this year. And I'll also um defer to Dr. Axler who within the department of special services who is supporting that pilot project. >> Thanks Diana. I think you hit on the main points. Really the idea is to empower classroom teachers to be able to get a better sense of those minor behaviors and to be able to respond based on the data they see before they escalate into more major referrals. >> So this is training for the classroom teachers. What are the minor referrals

133that fall into this category that are not accepted by administrators? >> So they're the couple examples. uh they're the same codes that you see in the SRNR. Um so for example like classroom disruption, but it's not something that an administrator should probably handle. It's something that could be ha that could happen at the classroom level. And so as a result, we would consider that to be a minor referral versus a major referral which an administrator would handle. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so I I actually just have one quick suggestion and we had discussed this uh because our schools are accredited by the degree of absenteeism. Um if if we can have the data of unexcused and excused absences because as one of my colleagues um stated and as I have had experience sometimes a

134child is in a hospital for a month and that's counted against us and there's no way that that child can be in school. And I think that that's an unfair character characterization of some chronic absenteeism. And that's what we're judged on. And I just don't think that's a fair metric when it's something that we're not going to bring a kid from a hospital and and you can't even have instruction for some children. Um if we can have that divided because I think the picture would look a little bit different. >> Okay, great. Well, this concludes our discussion of goal two. Um, we will be taking a 11 minute recess. Uh, so see you back at 2 p.m. for discussion of SRE. >> So, um, I know that a lot of us are really excited because

135we see some of our school people here and I I know calling you guys back was a little bit hard because you didn't want to tear yourself away from that. Before I move forward, um I do want to take this opportunity to allow uh Miss Lady to introduce uh her representative for the student leadership program. This is my student uh Gigi from Langley. Thanks. So, for those of you that don't know, our student leadership, schoolboard student leadership program, the students come to a schoolboard meeting, a work session, and they have other opportunities, but it it it really is enlightening for them. And I just spoke with her and she said, "Oh, this is so fun." So I love to hear young people say this is so fun because maybe they will be sitting at this

136dis in the future. Uh we are now moving on to the discussion of the students rights and responsibilities. I call on Dr. Reid for a presentation. >> Thank you Miss St. John Cunning. And um this afternoon we are going to undertake our annual conversation to review our student rights and responsibilities document and regulation. So I'll turn it over to Dr. King to uh launch our presentation. >> Thank you Dr. Reid and good afternoon schoolboard members. Today is our time will be spent engaging in meaningful discussion regarding the students rights and responsibilities regulation for the 2627 school year. Our work is refining the SRNR is not not just about uh proposed policy adjustments. It's about ensuring that our schools are spaces where students feel safe, supported, included, and empowered. Where educators are provided valuable resources to

137make positive discipline decisions and community members relationships are further strengthened. And all these efforts align to goal two and our division strategic plan. Today's presentation will review and seek approval of proposed changes and recommendations and to determine alignment between school board and staff around the community engagement feedback. After reviewing these proposed changes, our team will pause and allow for collaborative discussion and questions. At this time, I would like to introduce members of the chief equity office who have been instrumental in leading this work. I have Tara Huing, who is our executive director of equity and student relations. I have Danna Shin who is our senior manager too for equity and student conduct. Lisa Forest is our superintendent administrators hearing. Ben CLA is our data specialists uh for equity and student conduct. And there are several

138members. Can you raise your hand everybody? Let them know that you're here as part of this work. We have some principles who've joined us today. We appreciate it. Members of the instructional services team. um we work collaboratively to ensure that we're bringing the best recommendations to the board that are going to impact our students experience with students uh SR&R in our schools. Now I'd like to invite Tara Huan to begin our presentation and guide us through the fundamental elements of today's discussion. Thank you Dr. King. >> Good afternoon everyone. Today's session is intended to achieve two desired outcomes testing. Is that better? Okay. Today's session is intended to achieve two desired outcomes. Review and seek approval on proposed changes and recommendations to the SRNR and determine alignment between school board and staff around community engagement

139feedback. In addition to following this model guidance, the work of the SRNR is guided by the mission and vision of the chief equity office which is fully aligned to our FCPS strategic plan and mission. Our vision is to ensure every student, staff, and family belongs and thrives. Our mission centers on cultivating equitable beliefs and practices throughout FCPS. Our team helps support the FCPS strategic plan by reviewing and ensuring the consistent implementation of the SRNR in terms of goal two, safe, supported, and included environments, and goal three, academic growth and excellence. The Virginia model guidance which governs state discipline codes of conduct requires that schoolboard policy provide for the systemic review of local discipline regulations. As such, FCPS reviews the SRNR on an annual basis to ensure alignment with any statemandated changes, staff recommendation changes, and

140community feedback. During this annual review, our team works alongside principles, central office collaborators, and the community to cross-reference discipline related legislation updates, make requisite revisions to the SRNR, and facilitate opportunities for community engagement relative to the proposed revisions. Our community engagement was multifaceted and included schoolboard 2 by two sessions, meeting with principal associations and follow-up opportunities to obtain additional feedback, principal workshops, meeting with the advisory committee for students with disabilities, monthly virtual sessions with administrators to ask and answer questions about proposed SRNR changes, and implementing a divisionwide survey for all parents. parents and caregivers, schoolbased staff, and middle and high school students. These community engagement efforts have played a crucial role in shaping these proposed changes and align with the FCPS strategic plan. Building on the feedback we have received, there continues to be a

141need to ensure consistent disciplinary practices across the division that are developmentally appropriate and help reinforce a safe, supported, empowered learning environment where all students can achieve academic growth and excellence. Community members desire the consistent application of discipline and behavior wellness interventions. We will now begin our review of these proposed SRNR discipline changes. And assisting in this review is Danna Shen, senior manager for the Office and Equity of Student Conduct. >> Thank you, Tara. Our team has organized next year's changes to the SRNR into two parts, core changes and secondary changes. There are three core changes for SY 2627. They are establishment of universal grade matrices, regulation of the creation and distribution of intimate images and requirements for inschool suspension of students with disabilities. We will first discuss these core changes and then review proposed secondary

142changes. The universal grade matrices or UGMS are an accompanying guidance document to the currently established discipline matrix. The UGM however provides standardized discipline responses by grade level for each listed ESBAR code. These matrices clearly outline sanctions, required interventions and administrative actions for each disciplinary action. Roll out will be phased over three years beginning with category C and D behaviors. These behaviors relate to relationship behaviors and behaviors of a safety concern. Behaviors of a safety concern have been the most frequent reporting category for two of the past three years. As a result, our office determined the need to begin the three-year phased roll out with categories C and D. Category A and B infractions will follow in the subsequent year. And finally, we will we will finalize the matrices with categories E and F. You will

143notice the matrices list the precise ESBAR code and whether it is classroom or office managed. This is in alignment with already existing MTSS behavior wellness frameworks. Each code is also assigned a specific sanction and intervention at each level. The matrices correspond to current SIS codes and align with MTSS interventions and the use of MTSS site intervention teams. Lastly, the UGM also provides indications for administrators about discretionary or mandatory referral for discipline incidents to the division superintendent. To support the matri to support the matrices are designed with the following in mind. Multi-tered systems of support behav for behavioral wellness and restorative frameworks empas are emphasized and required for all incidents at all levels and for all students levels correspond to severity and impact and not frequency. There is an exception for drug offenses which are guided

144based upon the precise infraction. detailed guidance to help administrators determine violations, including a definition for severity, a definition for impact, and a chart outlining levels by severity and impact. clarifying that administrators shall determine disciplinary levels based on severity and impact and may go outside the matrix based on already established SRNR factors including incidents in which the principal determines that the misconduct has substantially impeded the learning of the students or others interfere with school operations endangered the well-being of others or the conduct was rep was repetitious following attempts to intervene guidance that administrators may code up to four ESBAR codes the first listed offense must be the most severe and include a UGM sanction and leveled UGM intervention. Any additional codes must receive only the UGM level intervention from the same level as the selected sanction

145level. To assist with consistent implementation, we've created a severity and impact chart to assist administrators in determining the appropriate level of severity or impact. There are three major aims of the UGM which help to provide support and accountability. To prioritize MTSS and restorative behavior to ensure interventions and sanctions are developmentally appropriate. To promote consistency in application of the SRNR, the universal grade matrices and protocols across schools and division. Our team has made formatting formatting changes to the universal grade matrices in response to community feedback and feedback from this board. We will walk through each of these formatting changes. There is now a header on each page of the UGM. We have removed the administrative actions column to allow for easier navigation. Further, we have removed running tables and now each UGM will fit on one

146page to allow for easily accessible navigation to the appropriate sanction and intervention. Our office engaged in research on other K through2 discipline matrices or frameworks. Most divisions use tiered matrices, but not necessarily grade bandit models. A few have started this work, but FCPS's model is more comprehensive in its detail, standardization, and grade development alignment. Some districts formally align discipline responses by grade level. FCPS's model combines grade level alignment, standardized steps, and restorative practices. FCPS's proposal intentionally combined specific responses aligned to student grade levels, standardized administrative steps tied to specific infractions, and required MTSSCL and restorative based interventions. Together, these elements balance subjectivity and discretion, increase consistency across schools, and ensure discipline is developmentally appropriate. This approach positions FCPS as a forward engineer in developing consistent and developmentally responsive discipline practices. This proposed change requires language

147support services for multilingual learners, ELP levels one through four, when collecting verbal or written student statements. It defines language support services as the provision of a translated student notification statement issued by the office of the chief equity officer and administered to students by school administrators. It provides the translated student notification statement in the students requested language stating the alleged violation and the and that participation in providing a verbal or written statement is voluntary. It does not require a student statement for disciplinary action to proceed and does not modify or erode existing protections for students with disabilities. This proposed change focuses on inschool suspension protocols for students with disabilities. The same protections for out of school suspension now formally extend ISS to ISS for students with disabilities. There are no changes to these protections, only a

148formal extension of the same protections for students with disabilities. Our team conducted a divisionwide survey and I will now turn it over to Benjamin CLA, data specialist in the chief equity office to walk us through some of the key findings. We sent a survey to over 300,000 members of the community to understand how much they support or oppose the proposed changes. The target audience included all parents and caregivers and school-based staff. It also included students in grades six through eight who make up just over half of the responses. We received about 9,000 complete responses. This is in line with other large-scale FCPS surveys administered this year. We are grateful to have heard the voices of so many in our community and to share their reactions with you. On the next two slides here, you see

149reactions to the proposed changes with support in dark blue on the left. Staff showed strong support with threequarters reporting that they strongly supported or supported the changes. A clear majority of parents and caregivers also supported the changes. Students were largely neutral on the first two topics with nearly half reporting that they neither supported nor opposed the changes. All respondents strongly supported accommodations for multilingual learners. In this slide, we broke down support for the different matrices by reported grade level. This means, for example, that for the grades 9 through 12 matrix, we report results only from students in grades 9 through 12 and parents and caregivers with students in grades 9 through 12. When comparing with the overall ratings at the top, we see that respondents are notably less neutral when rating matrices that are directly

150relevant to them. We also see that parents and caregivers showed slightly more support. I'll now turn it down turn it back to Diana to walk us through some additional changes being proposed to the SRNR. >> Thank you, Ben. Our next proposed change adds a formal definition of developmental disability aligned with the Virginia code. The code align definition defines a developmental disability as a severe and chronic disability that begins before age 22 is expected to last throughout the person's life is caused by a physical or mental impair impairment or combination does not apply when the only diagnosis is a mental illness and results in substantial limitations in three or more major life activities. It recognizes that children from birth through age nine may also be considered to have a developmental disability if they have a significant

151developmental delay or medical condition likely to cause significant limitations later in life without early supports. In addition to the criteria above, the definition allows for a developmental disability to apply to students identified as having intellectual disabilities, autism, or any other disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that causes the student to require specially designed instruction and significant support in the areas of self-care, understanding, using or expressing language, mobility, decision-m, living independently, or work skills. The next proposed change focuses on the creation and distribution of intimate images, also known as deep fakes. This change introduces two new ESBAR codes related to the creation and distribution of intimate images and provides a definition for intimate images. Discipline requires Title 9 review and authorization. Once formally clearing the Title 9 process, students can receive up to a

1525-day suspension as appropriate, referral to the division superintendent, and a required intervention lesson. This proposed change establishes a dedicated SRNR section detailing hate speech and/or slurs related disciplinary procedures. It establishes a definition for slurs. It requires tiered interventions as part of the disciplinary process related to these incidents. At level one, students are required to participate in the part one culturally responsive learning intervention. At level two, students are required to participate in the part two culturally responsive learning intervention. At level three, students receive a referral to their school's MTSS site intervention team. At level four, students are again referred to their MTSS site intervention team as well as to a school-based mental health support team member. At each level, an administrator may make a referral to the FCPS Restorative Justice Department central office team member. And

153lastly, administrators are required to issue a standardized community letter regarding the incident. This change proposes updates to training for all FCPS team members in the SRNR from bianual to annual to reflect division practice. It supports principles in delivery of SRNR instruction and clarifies their role in providing follow-up support, answering staff questions, and reinforcing expectations. The office of the chief equity officer will continue to support principles with turnaround training for school-based staff through the annual integrated discipline training for administrators. These changes are intentionally designed to assist in addressing discipline disproportionality across the division. This address includes the limited consistent use of discipline alongside a critical counterpart policy practices and people alignment regarding discipline and student support. We know that reducing suspensions is one arm in addressing disproportionality. We must also ensure that discipline expectations are clear,

154responses are consistent, and supports are embedded at every level. This work reflects a systems approach aligning how we define behavior, how we respond to it, and how we build adult capacity to support students and staff so that discipline is appi applied fairly, predictably, and with appropriate interventions that reduce repeat behavior and improve outcomes. Policies set clear, consistent expectations for discipline. Following last year's SRNR changes and annual review discussions with the board, we implemented several policy changes, including requiring interventions for every discipline incident, and launch launching the division discipline requirements, which requires standardized SRNR training for school-based staff, the appointment of a school discipline lead, establishment of discipline review teams, and two discipline data dialogues per year. We also updated CIS to align with SRNR changes, including required interventions and leveled responses, ensuring structural consistency across

155schools. Practices ensure consistent supportive discipline responses and support for every student. To implement divisionwide discipline practices, we piloted the essentials of discipline training in nine schools to support those with no or low discipline data entry and launched the school discipline consortium for 24 schools where discipline disproportion discipline disproportionality data signals an opportunity for collaboration and coaching. Consortium schools receive professional learning and ongoing coaching. And that professional learning includes root cause analysis, goal development, and support in implementing preventative tier one PBIS systems. We introduced neurodiversity toolkits into every school and central office-based restorative justice facilitation. These efforts are reflected in early data trends from quarter 1 and quarter 2 of SY 2425 to quarter 1 and quarter 2 of SY 2526. interventions saw a 32% increase. Advanced interventions increased saw a 37% increase and out of

156school suspension saw a 5% decrease. We've also focused on strengthening staff capacity and discipline implementation and monitoring while expanding behavioral wellness and restorative supports for students as an ongoing effort. 98% of schools now have one to two certified restorative justice facilitators, reinforcing our commitment to restorative practices. Further, we've created standardized SRNR training for school-based staff and updated student SR&R lessons to a modular format, which focuses on student rights and responsibilities. Lastly, our office hosted two webinars for families called the power of restorative justice R.J. practices to support students and families at school and at home. The webinar reviewed the FCPS RJ program, the R.J. mindset, dove into tier 1 and tier 2 R.J. supports, and concluded with some ideas for using R.J. practices at home. Together, these efforts reflect a coordinated strategy to address discipline

157disproportionality through the implementation of policies, practice, and student and staff capacity building. As we've outlined, this year's SRNR updates alongside the initiatives strengthened from last year reflect a coordinated effort to clarify expectations, standardize responses, and address discipline disproportionality through aligned policy, consistent practice, and strengthen staff capacity. And while divisionwide systems create the structure, the true impact of this work lives in our schools. To bring this to life, we've invited three principles who are leading this work. implementing required interventions and engaging in data dialogues. Our principles today include Amanda Burke, principal of Edison High School. Lindseay Karns, yes, please. Lindseay Karns, principal of Lake Bradic Secondary, and Angela Thompson, principal of Newington Forest Elementary School. In addition to sharing how they are operationalizing these expectations, they will speak to why they believe these SR&R changes matter,

158how the clarity, consistency, and required interventions position their schools to respond to behavior more effectively, limit exclusionary practices, and strengthen outcomes for students moving forward. We will first hear from Amanda Burke, principal of Edison High School. >> I'm not used to mics. Okay, good afternoon. My name is Amanda Burke and I'm the proud principal of Edison High School and I'm in my 26th year at FCPS. Over the course of my career, I've served as an administrator in a variety of settings including a comprehensive high school, a comprehensive services site or a CSS program, uh, deaf and heart of hearing program and schools that support academy models. Those experiences have shaped how I think about clarity, consistency, and equitable access in the discipline pro and practices. Edison serves about 20 2100 students, grades 9 through 12.

159Our population is roughly 35% Hispanic, 20% 26% white, 18% black, and 12% Asian. One of our strengths is our strong PBIS framework grounded in restorative practices. We're a pilot for the minor referral process and our administrators also work in pairs on complex cases which supports careful investigation and calibration regarding the proposed SRNR changes to um with the universal grade matrices. Um it will significantly strengthen consistency in the implementation of discipline. Uh the levels now clearly correspond to severity and impact with the exception of drug offenses. Impact includes consideration of whether a behavior impedes the learning environment, disrupts instruction, or affects the safety and well-being of others. The addition of the clear definition for severity and impact along with the chart outlining levels um by both factors provides detailed guidance to help our administrators determine the

160appropriate violation level. This reduces subjective interpretation and increases consistency across cases. The emphasis on behavior interventions and restorative approaches at all levels reinforces that discipline is not just about consequences. Required interventions are embedded within each level, ensuring accountability while also supporting students in repairing harm and restoring the learning environment. The guidance clarifies that administrators must determine levels based on severity and impact and may only move outside the matrix based on already established SR&R factors that protects consistency and transparency. Operationally, uh clarification around SBAR coding also matters. Administrators may code up to four SBAR codes consistent with the VDOE limits. The first offense, sorry, the first listed offense um must be the most severe and most must include both a UGM sanction and a leveled intervention. Any additional codes receive only intervention from the same sanction

161level. That structure increases clarity, prevents over penalization, and reinforces limited consistent discipline. I also want to highlight the proposed revision regarding the accessibility of interpretation and translation for students statements. As a school with high multilingual learner population, ensuring multilingual learners leap levels one through four receive translation translated notification statements in their requested language strengthens clarity and fairness. It allows students meaningful meaningfully to sorry it allows students to meaningfully participate and understand the voluntary nature of their statement. This reduces misunderstanding, prevents escalation and reinforces due process while maintaining uh the administrator's authority to act when necessary. Finally, the divi division's discipline requirements have shifted our leadership conversation in meaningful ways. required data dialogues and the expanded discipline dashboard have increased visibility and accountability. We can identify patterns by student groups, location, and time of day. Just

162as important, the structure has given me as a principal a clear framework to ask targeted questions of my administrative team. Instead of broad conversations about what are we seeing, I can press into specific data points. Uh what student group is most impacted? What time of the day are incidents occurring? Are we seeing behavior that is impeding the learning environment in a particular classroom or grade level? What interventions have already been attempted? For an example, our initial our initial review focused on academic integrity because it represented 45% of our category A referrals um and aligned with what we were quantitatively seeing and hearing from our teachers as a major concern. However, when we look we looked deeper into the data, we identified notable trends among Hispanic males within our 10th grade class. That shift happened because

163we had the data in front of us and structures to part and a structure process to analyze it beyond surface level totals. That level of analysis changed our action planning. It helped us refine our MTSS and PBIS supports and plan more targeted proactive lessons for third quarter. Instead of reacting to the highest category count, we can now prevent escalation through earlier identification and intentional intervention leading to stronger outcomes for our students. Thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective today and I'm now going to turn it over to Principal Lindseay Karns. >> Good afternoon everyone. My name is Lindseay Karns and I am so proud to serve as the principal of Lake Bradic Secondary School. I've been a part of the FCPS family since September of 2008, and it's a privilege to lead such

164a unique and vibrant community. Lake Bradic serves over 4,000 students in grades 7 through 12, and our success is rooted in the collaborative spirit of our staff and community. We represent a beautifully diverse population, including 15% of our students with disabilities, just over 20% of our students receiving free and reduced meals, and 9% are multil- language learners. We view this diversity as our greatest strength, and we're committed to maintaining proactive systems that ensure every Bruin feels supported and included. I'm very encouraged by the proposed universal grade matrices. They provide the clarity and predictability our staff and families need. By ensuring that accountability is always paired with required interventions, we're giving students the tools to truly learn from their experiences. I especially appreciate the updates clarifying hate speech and slur interventions, including providing a formal definition

165for the term slurs. This clarity is essential for our secondary students. It allows us to have more honest and educational conversations and ensure our response to these incidents is both consistent and impactful across the division. Our work with the school discipline consortium has deeply impacted our leadership team's approach. We've moved away from simply asking what's the consequence and focusing on what is the necessary support. At Lake Bradic, we've implemented intentional guard rails. We utilize exclusionary suspension only when there is a direct safety concern. If an administrator is considering an out of school suspension, they first consult with a teammate. Then they review the incident and their rationale with the associate principal or myself. This collaborative layer ensures that we are being thoughtful and consistent across both the middle school and the high school levels. We've

166also enhanced our alternative instruction arrangement or AIA room activities. Uh we now have a clinical team member come in daily to provide an added layer of intervention for any student who's received an infraction. They support the student through the incident in real time and help them navigate the social emotional side of the situation which ensures that they're truly ready to reset and return to the classroom successfully. We're already seeing the results of this work with a measurable reduction in escalated incidents at Lake Bradock this year. We truly feel this these proposed changes will only further that positive trajectory, allowing us to focus on the long-term growth of our students rather than just the implementation of rules. I'm looking forward to continuing this journey with our incredible community. And I will now turn it over to

167Principal Angela Thompson. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. My name is Angela Thompson and I am principal at Newington Forest Elementary School and I am proud to say this is my 32nd year in service in Fairfax County Public Schools. Newington Forest Elementary is a diverse K6 community of approximately 580 students. We are now a minority majority school with Spanish being our largest language group. Our school is deeply committed to strong academic progress and social emotional support for every child. One strength we have already brought to this work is a robot robust PBIS framework and consistent use of restorative conversations to increase students sense of belonging and problem solving. The proposed SNR changes, particularly the universal grade matrices, bring clarity and consistency to how we identify infractions and respond. The matrices help leaders clearly determine the appropriate

168level of behavior while ensuring that required interventions are embedded at each level. This structure anchors us in a consistent disciplinary practice. Students are held accountable, but the accountability is paired with meaningful developmentally appropriate interventions, especially for our most vulnerable populations like students with disabilities and multilingual learners. In addition to the proposed SRNR changes, it helps us focus on interpreting and interpreting and using accessible language for students around the areas of clarity and equity. When students can fully understand and communicate about the incident in their home language, we're better able to respond accurately and embed appropriate supports and ensure fairness in the process. This year, the change to the SRNR clarifies that interventions are required at every discipline incident and the central focus around the discipline practices consistently. By aligning interventions directly with the discipline matrices,

169we ensure consequences are addressed at the root cause and not just the behavior themsel itself. For example, when a student demonstrates repeated classroom disruption, our team um implements daily check-ins and checkout systems, explicit self-regulation instruction, and ongoing family communication to create a cohesive homeschool support plan. Since implementing the new division discipline requirements, our discipline conversations have evolved. We continue to meet monthly as discipline/clinical teams to review student data, monitor student progress, and collaborate with families to identify targeted supports. However, we now place stronger emphasis on proactive problem solving that engages students as a part of that problem solving. Overall, our focus has shifted from addressing rule violations to understanding student needs and building essential skills. These proposed changes better position our schools to serve students by strengthening the clarity of the SRNR, ensuring consistency, and

170prioritizing prevention and intervention so that discipline promotes growth, reflection, and accountability for students. Thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective today and I turn it over to Diana Shin. Thank you to our principles for their feedback and perspective on the proposed SRNR changes and their leadership and innovation and implementing our current enhanced discipline practices. We'd now like to review pending state legislation. The three bills displayed on this slide have potential for impact um to our discipline code within the division. These three bills have passed in one chamber and await action by the other. HB298 proposes that no student shall be suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance unless an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice was first implemented. HB957 proposes the creation of a VGOE managed bullying/cyberbullying report tip line. And SB 108 proposes to update

171the current Virginia code regarding cell phones from restrict student cell phone and smart device possession and use on school property bell to bell to prohibit cell phone possession and use on school property bell to bell. We will continue to monitor these bills and their potential impact on the SRNR. Reviews of cell phone discipline data, excuse me, and discussions with administrators indicate a need for an updated cell phone matrix. While cell phone infractions are part of category B violations scheduled to be rolled out during next year's matrices, first year implementation of the cell phone policy suggests support for either for earlier roll out of this specific violation. The proposed cell phone matrix would align itself overall to the format of the proposed universal grade matrices. levels would be determined by frequency. There would be continued standardized

172responses at each level and expanded interventions for cell phone violations. For example, tier 2 cell phone restorative practice groups would be included. So, we appreciate the time and dedication of our schoolboard members, our staff, and our community partners in engaging with these important updates to the students rights and responsibilities. Your commitment to fostering a safe and supported learning environment is essential as we refine our policies to better serve our students and schools and to achieve the goals outlined in our strategic plan. As we've outlined, these proposed discipline updates are designed to clarify definitions, enhance enforcement consistency, and ensure more consistent application of the SRNR across all schools by expanding the universal grade majies, providing clear guidance and accommodations for multilingual learners when collecting student statements, and extending requirements for inschool suspension for students with disabilities,

173ensuring clarity by providing a definition for slurs and developmental mental disability, expanding interventions for hate speech and slurs, updating the matrices to include MTSS and restorative based interventions, and aligning training frequencies and methods with division practices. We are strengthening the consistency of enforcement of disciplinary decisions. Thank you for your time, dedication, and engagement, and we will now open the floor for two questions. Just kidding. >> Okay. So for for question number one, Dr. Anderson, >> okay, Mr. Mr. Moon, >> I'm sorry, >> Mr. Moon number one. Go. >> Mr. M, may I have a both questions? One and two. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh uh I'm going to start with the two questions, right? Two at a time. uh the universal grade mattresses obviously uh that is getting a lot of support from

174principers not just you presenters uh and we have some snippets of those from presentation slide is that what am I seeing like for example is uh uh So where is the rest of it? >> Are you referring to the community survey data? >> I'm sorry. >> UGM >> is that is that something something top secret that it cannot be revealed? >> Oh no of of of course not. Um so the um so we're starting of course with the category C C and D UGMs and then we provided those of course to the board during our 2 by two presentations. How about this is a public discussion correct and we're not supposed to look at it. We're not supposed to show it or we're not supposed disclose it or >> the UGMs were also provided in

175the division survey so the public had the opportunity to review them as well. >> I was looking for it on the bulldock and and unless there is a really legal reason not to provide that on the bulldock I think public needs to see that so that they can comment on it as well. It's not just you know administrators uh but all of us need to be able to provide the input as we make a decisions on on on SLNR changes. Uh so with that said since I don't have that uh you know principles seem to be saying that it makes it easier for them to be consistent to be able to apply. So is that going to be so detailed and specific that a for certain offenses or infractions a princ administrator can easily be

176able to put that into certain location on matrices and and beat out consequences that this is going to be automatically right here and this is going to be this this is going to be autom automatically right it's going to be that is it going to be that or I'm >> Mr. Moon, are you asking that it's going to be simple as they look at the matrix and they follow it across the line? >> Yes. >> That's the starting point in every conversation between the student and the administrator. It sometimes might be nuanced, but to ensure that we're having clarity around what the expectations are at the division level. This is the starting point for all discipline. >> That's the starting point and that was where I was going to go. That's a starting point. Whether

177there is a room for discretion or judgment on the part of administrators and if there is certain discretion and judgments to be respected then whether that's also going to create some inconsistencies amongst different scores. Since I'm not looking at the matrices I don't know what I'm saying but am I asking those questions? >> This is my question. So yes, so there is still principal discretion retained within the universal grade matrices. So the levels correspond to severity and impact and then we provide a very specific definition for severity, a definition for impact and then we provide an aligned chart to be able to determine what does severity and impact look like. Then within our training of our annual integrated discipline training, we'll continue to enorm administrators around how to utilize this chart and how to be

178able to determine severity and impact based upon the guidelines. So the discretion that remains for administrators is when they're determining is it a level one, two, three, etc. that they're using the provided guidelines that are issued by the division. And then we're we're pairing that of course with um with that coaching and that professional learning and training as well as progress monitoring. >> So uh purpose behind a providing these matrices is when you say is that mainly to provide consistency? >> Yes it is. >> Does that if that is I Dr. King was was nodding her head. uh I don't know whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with her but if if that is in fact in fact the reason behind purpose behind providing mattresses is >> consistency fairness fairness >> because we are being

179inconsistent and we are being >> well the data shows that sometimes we are being inconsistent in how we respond to discipline and that all of our students are not having the same experience when it comes to SR&R in some of our schools. >> Okay. Uh since we have a three hour hours and a half for this discussion, >> I don't think >> I'll ask my next two questions at next time around. >> Dr. Anderson. >> Um yes. Um firstly, I do want to say thank you to the principles who have come here. I I want to be a little bit responsive to what I believe I've heard. Um that was pretty much common across the three of you. Um what I heard was structure. uh in your schools you have a structure in terms of

180expectations and a structure to teach how to behave. I also heard that you don't vilize the struggling student. You try to figure out how to actually discipline because discipline is to instruct. It is not just to be punitive. But I'm hearing that you're finding ways to address the behaviors in terms of why is it that you're doing what you're doing and let's figure out how this does not happen again rather than you did this, you're going to get this as your punishment. So, I do appreciate hearing this. Um, what I also heard across the three of you is that you are being proactive. So you are putting measures in place before the discipline comes up. Is does that summarize it? Is that accurate? I I thank you so much for coming here to to share

181this because I I would I'm not asking to answer. Don't even shake your head. But I would wonder um given the conversation we had just a little while ago, is the disproportionality at your schools different than in other places? Um, so don't shake your head, don't respond in any way, but I do want to thank you for sharing all of the work that you're doing because this is hard because it is really challenging to not just be responsive to the behaviors that you're seeing because we want our schools to be orderly. Former principal myself, I don't want anything to go outside of what you call a typical day, which you get very, very few of. You want people in class, you want teachers in class. no substitutes, nothing out of the ordinary. That's what we

182strive for. But all of this work is out of the ordinary so that you can have more ordinary days. So I I do applaud your your um commitment to going the extra mile to do this. Um I will spend my next 50 seconds on the second piece which is the UGMS. Um I do think these are very helpful. When I talked to you all about this during my 2 by two, I thought these were an important way to address what we have talked about every single year that I've been here on this board, which is the discretion that is being applied across schools is inconsistent. I guess that's the whole idea about discretion. You're going to do things differently because your tolerance levels may be different than my tolerance levels. I think this provides a

183level expectation in terms of how we're going to address certain things. My question is the removal of the required administrative actions. You mentioned you did that based on feedback. Where does that live now? >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um so what will happen is we will create an appendix document for administrators called the SRNR intervention library and it's already beginning and it takes that column that had the required administrative actions and then puts it into a separate document they can be able to access to see for each and every single incident what are the very specific actions that they should take. So for example for an act of bullying um it has to of course be documented in BIMS like the investigation process. So it will say please make sure that you implement this

184into BIMS etc. So it just gives them a comprehensive list of actions that are required for each discipline incident within the SR&R intervention library. >> I like go back please. So before we go to go backs I I do want to take a few minutes to thank the team for all the work that you've done. Uh I also want to thank all the principles that are here some of those who have spoken and some of them who haven't. I've had the privilege of working with several of you. Some of you since my children were in elementary school. So, we've got some of the cream of the cream here. And the the top did I did I mix my metaphor there? The cream of the crop here. Um yeah. Uh so I really do want to

185thank you for your time and for your perspective. It's invaluable because when we're talking at this level and looking at these charts, a lot of the times if you haven't been in a school, you don't understand how this plays out. Um, I think that's very helpful for our board to understand. So, so thank you for being here now and I hope you're available if we have questions later on to let us know how it's all playing out. Um, and I and again I I do go back to a change in ten tenor where we're not looking consequence, but what's the necessary support? And because we have students and children, I think that approach is so positive with our kids and going back to discipline actually having the root of to teach versus to punish. So,

186thank you for that. >> Great. Um, Miss Anderson, >> I just had a quick question um because I wanted to make sure I got it right. on page on slide 22 when we're talking about the definition of disabil development of disability is what's on the slide where where we ended up because I know it's not necessarily where we started. So I wanted to just clarify that I was understanding that this is kind of where we're going to end up with what's going to actually be in the final document. >> Yeah. Yes. So that this is the proposed change to the definition based upon the feedback that we received in the survey and from the board. Yes. >> Okay. Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Um we're back to Mr. Moon. >> Thank you, Mr.

187M. Uh I'm going to go to easy one. Uh next in the cell phone news. Uh anybody can give me an update on where this is in the house. It passed the Senate and what's the current current status in the House? Anybody knows? >> I believe it's currently in committee, but it has not passed the second chamber and so we are still awaiting. >> You know, assuming that this is going to pass and I mean seeing how the Senate reacted to the proposed bill, uh that if he passes, it's a barto bear prohibition. Are we expecting more violations because now because based upon a what has been presented to me and 2 by two uh the meeting that that administrations are overwhelmed in the number of violations that they have had to deal with. Is

188that going to even worsen? We have some principles at the high school level that are here that probably can tell you that they are probably grateful for the 30 minutes during lunchtime so that the students can get that necessarily um that necessary tech break. Um I believe that if we prohibit bell-to bell that we will probably see an increase in cell phone violations in our schools particularly our high schools. >> So how do we address those violations then? Do we either strictly enforce or do we ignore them or do we close our eyes or how do how >> we don't we don't close our eyes to rules. >> All right. So, how do we how do you handle them then? >> Honestly, Mr. Moon, we already have a process in place and to be honest,

189we've had a process in place for many years with this board's adoption of a cell phone policy before. Um, principles just need to implement the rules as they are. And and I'm going to say this as well, the if the if it changes, you know, students are going to be disappointed in this, but the majority well over majority of our students do what we ask them to do every day. They might be disappointed, but they do follow the rules. And I believe that um the inconsistent, well, not the inconsistency, but the um increase may come from some students who are still having difficulty following those rules, but the majority of our students follow the rules. They might not like it. But >> is there any any help or assistance that schoolboard can provide? >> You

190want to march to Richmond? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, I just think that um you know, we just have to wait to see what the law is and we're going to continue to work with our principles to see how we can support them from central office as they deal with um maybe a slight increase in cell phone um violations. But I think that Diana wanted to share something. >> Jump in real quick. Diana, it looks like uh and I can confirm this in just a moment, but it looks like Senate Bill 108 did not pass the House. So, I'm going to confirm that, but it looks like it did not pass. >> It did not pass the House. >> May I be recognized? It's scheduled for a committee meeting tomorrow at 9:00

191am. So I know it's minute by minute around here, but >> it is scheduled for tomorrow morning. >> Yeah, >> the new day in the Commonwealth. Yeah, >> I do have that confirmed. Okay, my next question goes to uh for multilingual lingual parents and students the translation and interpretation service that we do provide or we fail to provide along the way. Could you comment on that? My understanding is again correct me if I'm wrong. The only time we are required to provide such a translation service is when we provide a notice to students or families about needing to provide written statement. Is that the only time we are required to provide service? >> Are you speaking about outside of the SR&R process or you talking about within the SR? >> Within SRNR. Go ahead. So

192within the SRNR there are no other formal requirements to provide translation services when a discipline incident occurs. This is establishing a precedent that when we are collecting a student statement relevant to discipline that we will provide a student statement in the students um requested language. It is a requirement of course to inform the student of this information and to let them know um that it is voluntary in accordance with the regulation of the SRNR but this will be setting precedent to make sure that those statements are provided in the students language. So this additional accommodation is the if if we call that accommodation being provided to the multilingual students to provide when they provide the statement but in general a a SRNR our discipline process does not require us to provide any translation or interperson

193service in SRNR in itself. We expect our principles to provide any accommodation that each of our students need when they're addressing them in our schools. This past year, we received a call from a parent of a multilingual student who went through the discipline process and shared with us that our student did not understand what the principal, this was an elementary school um student, and the parent, the student did not understand the process that he was going through, and he was asked to provide a statement. And so we wanted to make sure that we addressed that concern that was brought to our attention by adding this to this year's. But in essence, our principles know that we have um students that have needs, different needs, and that their expectation is they address those needs. >> Okay.

194Thank you. I mean I mean I appreciate that that's expectations and principles up to expectations. I have to believe. Uh is there a reason for us not to codify that >> codify the expectations >> expectations? >> There's no reason for us not to. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That's the direction that the board takes us. We will gladly do that. >> Okay. You you mentioned about direction of the board. What about what does staff think? >> I mean I think that it's an enhancement that we will just be um helpful to our students and parents. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm done. >> Okay. Um, back to Miss Anderson. Dr. Anderson, sorry. >> Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on the UGM. You mentioned that administrators would have a separate document. So, they

195would now have to look up this piece and that appendix in order to get the full breadth of what their actions should be. That seems a little cumbersome. So we are working on trying to in fact digitize the UGMs and of course make sure that they are available on our our internet so that they don't have to go to separate places to be able to access the documents. They can be able to align them and see them together. >> Yeah. Because it this is just so very clear across the across the page is very helpful. Um I know last year I t we talked here about disproportionality and how your office Dr. King as well as um Dr. Pon and I don't know if there was a third in there if Dr. Pilia was involved

196that you would be capturing and monitoring at least on a quarterly basis um like that discretionary piece in terms of if students are not put forward through the system you would be capturing that and evaluating that in some way. Does that ring a bell? >> Say a little bit more Dr. Anderson. um when um when principles decide not to put students forward for particular um activities, disciplinary activities that you would be monitoring that with um Dr. Pon's office that you would collect that data quarterly I believe. >> Are you talking about um moving forward to the hearings office or just when you say put forward what do you be clear? >> I I can't recall. No, it it was to you t we had discussed that when principles again going back to individual threshold. Do

197you is this coming to you? Please help us. >> Yes, I'm aware >> because I don't know what the term was that we had used. Last year we made a change to the SRNR around monitoring enforcement and that monitoring enforcement was around the very specific violations that we enhanced last year around assault and weapons because there was a provision that said that for assault and weapons um that an administrator could not suspend if there were certain factors that were in place and are we monitoring which students are receiving potentially like this nonsuspension and which students are and so the answer to that is yes and it is part of the um quarterly sorry the um semester discipline report that the board um receives and so the board will of course be receiving that report shortly

198so you'll be able to see the implementation of that required SRNR regulation around monitoring >> okay so it is semester not quarterly so I will hold my questions until that report is produced um on slide 18 you talked about protections that would now be provided to inschool suspensions can you speak a little bit more in terms in terms of what that entails. >> So currently right now the SRNR requires um and provides several provisions around um out of school suspension requirements for students with disabilities. Things like um manif manifestation determination reviews, consultation of the IEP prior to um suspension for a student. So, we are extending the the um the requirements for students with disabilities that already exist in the SRNR and just formalizing that those same protections also translate to inschool suspension for students

199with disabilities as well. >> Okay, thank you so much. Um just last two things. Um again just going back to the disproportionality of students, you know, this is a systemic issue which will require a systemic effort. I so very dearly appreciate what our principles are doing, but how are we taking potentially those kinds of activities and elevating them to a systemwide approach? So I think we're doing that um through that process of policies, practices, and people. So this year we built that framework around policies, ensuring that every single school is providing an intervention-based response for a discipline incident and then of course we're monitoring those interventions and then providing coaching and support to to schools in the implementation of that. We're also releasing discipline disproportionality data to schools directly and then um following up with

200monitoring and and coaching around that. So we've built in not only the policies, then we've built in the practices themselves and then we support schools very directly in these concerted efforts across each one of our schools and then we provide targeted support to those schools where we see that there's just opportunities for further collaboration and for for support. So it's really kind of like a an aligned approach. >> And I appreciate that. That actually sets up my last question very nicely. Um I you know during the gold two report that we just had a little while ago lots of ideas that are coming in from your office from Dr. Presidio's office in Marcy Neil's office um in terms of strategies in terms of actions you're there you're providing the guidance you're providing the support you're

201providing the coaching and the instruction who provides the monitoring because you all are not directly schools are not directly responsible to you per se for conducting these activities with fidelity so I don't I don't know if this is a Dr. Pon or Dr. Reid question, but who is supervising and monitoring that all of these things that these offices are pouring so much into are being implemented with fidelity? Is the accountability out of >> Yeah. >> because I know you don't have that authority. >> Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Actually, all our senior leaders have that expectation of that authority and that responsibility. So, in co collaboration with Dr. Pon's office and the region offices. I would expect that principles would respond to Dr. King and I see some nodding here in the same manner they

202would respond to any of our uh senior leaders. So um I I feel like uh it's a shared uh expectation and um when Dr. King has an expectation or request I would expect principles to be responsive to that. I I think you might want to respond as well, Dr. King. >> I do. We work very closely with the chief of schools office and we are um working very closely with the RAS who are directly working with our principles. Anytime trends um we see trends in behavior differences. We are meeting with the RAS during their weekly meetings that they have to ensure that they see the same things we do and then we also coach them around how they can support their principles around this as so it's you know DA's team works hard and they're

203they're a small team but they have big impact in this district. I want to say that publicly because I think it's important. This is a lot of work. We've come a very long way in SR&R and how we support our schools and um students in regards to um equity in discipline. Um but we also recognize that we um don't touch principles every day and the RAS touch principles every day. >> Not touching it that way, Dr. Anderson, but we um want to make sure that we are partnering with not only um the chief of schools but also the chief academic officer as well through there our um collaboration with the different part um departments in our district that can support students through this process. So Dr. Axler's team is very very collaborative with our team.

204Um so yeah, we we we ensure the monitoring because the data speaks to us. Our data tells our story and we respond to the story. Can I just finish my sentence so I don't have a go back? Um, the reason why I asked this, it's because I've kind of struggled a little bit in some other areas. Um, particularly the school improvement plans, you know, in conversations with the Razes. Well, this office has a piece, that office has a piece. And I've talked to you about this quite a bit, Dr. Reid, where well, who's going to own when it's not happening? It it's never super clear. And so that's why I'm asking it here. Who's going to own when these good ideas are not being implemented? And what I'm hearing is you all have direct access

205to work with those who are the evaluators to provide that feedback for additional followup. So it's not loss in the sauce because you haven't that direct authority. That's what I believe I'm hearing. So, I'm feeling comforted >> in that >> you're just not going to be left out in the wind or not you, but these ideas that are expectations are not left out in the wind because you're not necessarily the direct supervisors of school folks, >> right? And you know, we're responsible for the data. We're responsible for improvement through our strategic plan. And so, we as a team take that very seriously. And uh when principles need to know that we're falling short in areas, I don't have a problem picking up the phone and calling any principal and saying, "How can we better support

206you?" Because this is what the data is showing. I I actually had a conversation with an assistant principal through the work that DA's team is doing with the consortium. Um you know, they have their data and they can see that their data might be different than their colleagues in the school and it's forcing them to have conversations that they've never had before. Sometimes people work in isolation and I think that Miss Lady had mentioned that to her time in in the schoolhouse and you know sometimes people are just so busy trying to get their job done that they don't pause to see and um calibrate their practices amongst their colleagues within the school. Diana's team through the consortium is reminding them that data tells a story and what story do you want to tell at

207a school? What story do you want to tell at the region level? And what uh story do we want to tell as a district? I just want to add uh yes she we work definitely together and when something needs to be clarified uh we are next door pretty much say hey can you go and send a clarification on this to the to the principles and we have been doing it >> this lady for your first round >> thank you um and uh this is fantastic work I really would agree as someone who is trying to navigate this work as an administrator I do like this um universal grade level matrix. Uh I think it makes sense um and I think it takes subjectivity out of it and I think we've had too much of that

208subjectivity. I think that's where that bias comes in. Um where unfortunately the disproport proportionality sometimes is a result of that. Um and just I I've observed it right so trying to take some of that out. So these are great but the one thought I have is well two thoughts. One, when we talk about the what our great principles are sharing, I'm worried about staffing. I mean, let's just throw it out there. We're in a budget year. We're 43 $43 million short, and staffing is where we save. And it's we're doing great things, but without people, we can't we can't sustain them. And so, I just want to put that out there that, you know, we need staffing because we need people. And we talk all the time about school-based instructional people, but there are definitely

209school-based folks that are not they don't have classes, they're not student facing, but the work they're doing is unbelievably important and and life-changing for for for kids. Uh and and for faculty who feel supported with without the the behavior specialists and things like this, they're not. Then I want to throw this out there. In the age of AI, it seems to me we could put the SRNR in notebook LM and there could be a way that because it's insular that what we do that to make things even less subjective, you know, put a description of an incident in and hypothetically see what it tells us the matrix is supposed to do because there is some interpretive dance that still is going to have to go on. Um, but I without something like that, I just

210think it can help. Yeah. Are we Because I just we we got to work smarter, right? And um so that's all I'm saying. I just think it's another area where it's sort of on the operation side. Um but notebook LM because it is a confidential space. Um is something to think about. You know, I think we can do similar things down the road. Um even even the question of a manifestation hearing, right? Um if we're going to put an IEP in and put the incident in, I don't know. I mean, what's what might what might we get out as guidance? I just think we we've got to work uh I mean, obviously, the human side is first. I have to keep saying that. I'm not asking for this to replace that. I just think it's

211a tool that could help. Um but overall, fantastic work. Um I can see in the data over time, you're making we're making changes and we as as Dr. Anderson points out, we still have work to do. But I I I see and admire this the the commitment you have to that work and in hearing from principles the commitment they have to doing that work and I think that we're in a good place and I just really appreciate uh all you all you've done and uh the changes this particular year uh look like they took a lot of time for the SR&R. So thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Lady. Can I can I also have before we move forward that you're absolutely right about the potential use of um notebook LM and we have already

212started thinking about ways to be able to digitize the SRNR and of course the matrices and have um absolutely explored uh notebook LM with some preliminary success. So yes, >> Miss Marin for your first round. Yeah, I for some reason I keep remembering the first time I reviewed the SRNR and it was during the spring of 2020 and I was outside on a tennis court because I was walking around trying to do something during co and get active. So that keeps coming into my mind. So I agree we've come a really long way. I think the conversation's really changed and I'm really pleased with the direction that it's going. So thank you. I wanted to ask well first I want to talk about cell phones and I do think it would be um wise of

213us to prepare for a new law that puts them away for the day even more fully. I I'm very eager for that. I don't think it's served our students well to not do that. So I do hope that as we get closer to the um that in whatever next round happens that you are have language at the ready for that. I wanted to relate this to the development of our AI policy and instructional technology because we've been having conversations about okay well if there's bullying on AI or misuse of AI but really the platform isn't the area right it's if poor decisions are being made if you know misbehavior is happening whether it's on a device or in person that the SRNR speak to that and so I think ensuring that the trainings underscore that

214that you know as more technology expands, making sure we're applying that the same rubric and being consistent. So, that's something that's been on my mind a lot as we work on the AI policy, which brings me to um you know, the SR&R policy itself. It's now 10 years since it was last reviewed. And I've been making some notes to see maybe we could just put some of our real foundation commitments like um some of the comments from our principles who summed it up so nicely. um you know data collection and analysis, consistent staff training, um discipline is not just about consequences. It's about addressing harm and restoring the learning environment. You know, if we could put these in our policy, we doesn't have to be a long policy, but just these values that I think

215we we're saying, the data dialogues, um you know, the necessary supports, I would really love to see us do this. And I know we've got the AI policy and the calendar policy cooking, but I think that we could get this updated to just have a shell and protect the things that um that we really care about. I also wanted to mention um just another plug. I say this um every year. I don't think that the parents and families are interaction is very authentic or wholesome. I think I accidentally clicked something on parent view at the start of the year and I that was it and I couldn't get back to reviewing the whole RNR. I think from what I can tell the students are engaging with the content but as as parents and families I

216just don't think it's I don't know whether it's just literally not having not being able to just click it all away and something more um authentic. So those are my comments. >> Thank you, Miss Maron. Um, Miss Anderson for go back. >> Yeah, I just wanted to touch base. I know I was one of the large proponents for us giving um a scaffolded approach related to cell phones last year. Um, I just want to I am a rule follower by nature. So, if the law changes, we absolutely should follow what that the law says. I will tell you that it was in subcommittee today and it did come out with they came out with recommendations to the language that would also ensure that students that are dealing with dis or diabetes plan and things like

217that. So, I would want to make sure that whatever we have echoed in our policy echoes what's in the law. Um, the other thing that I want to make sure is that we recognize the fact that the possession of the cell phone alone is not necessarily something that we should be disciplining students on as long as it's outside the hours. Um, but that also means that, you know, I just want to make sure that this isn't something that is going to cause damage to students who have a cell phone in their backpack or anything like that. The other thing that I'm going to go um and I've I've talked to several parents about this who have brought this forward to me. I understand that we want our kids to talk at lunch. We have an

218entire group of kids that don't want to talk to people at lunch and that's okay. Um we h you know some kids need a chance to recharge and be away from people for a minute. And if they want to use their lunch uh as an opportunity to do that, I don't think that we should try to interfere. I would always encourage interaction to happen between students, but they're getting a lot of interaction in class and having those moments to recharge I think is just as important for those introverts out in the world other than you know us extroverts. We make people tired sometimes. Um and so I would just basically want to encourage us. Um the other thing I get always concerned about is when we have strict rules that are particularly in law that

219don't have support that we can use through discipline. And so I get very concerned about the amount of time that we're going to spend policing cell phones without any real mechanism to create discipline for students to understand why it's significant. So I hope that we're going to do whatever we can to have those opportunities to talk about why this is in place so that it doesn't just seem like one more thing that we're pushing down on kids as a way to control. Um, so anything that we can do to talk about respectable, you know, responsible electronic use and things like that as we're developing um, language around how we're going to introduce this to kids, I think is going to be hugely important. And also talking about the fact that we understand that they're not

220the same as kindergarteners, I think is also a really important aspect of this because um, that's my only concern about we're not scaffolding the approach here. But I, as I said, I am fully in support of us doing whatever the law tells us to do. >> I I actually do have a question about the possession, the use of the word possession and have attorneys here um prohibition of possession and use. And I think about the kid that has is not using bell-to-bell a packet of marijuana, but he's in possession. And if you're in possession of a phone, I've just How are we going to work around that? Well, I know, but the way this is worded, the wording is possession. cell phone possession and use. So if you it's saying that before it was a

221prohibition but now if now it's a violation if you are in possession of a cell phone at school that that is that is like a legal like I know in my head how I'm interpreting it like they could have in their pocket and not use it but are we in violation of however this is going to be structured legally that that's just my question of how the workaround is if we can have a workaround. I know what my interpretation is, but is that in compliance with the law? We would have to work with Mr. Foster on that and Dr. Because if you look in SRR and I see um Miss Forest behind me shaking her head up and down when it says the word possession is an important word in that law and that's something

222we would definitely have to work closely with division council and our superintendent to determine how we move forward in what we share with our principles about that because they are allowed to use them on school grounds before school and after school. So, you know, some of our schools don't have lockers. You know, our students don't have anywhere else to put them but in their possession if we allow them on school grounds for before school and after school use. And I will say before I came on this board, this is something that would have not triggered my thought process, but since I've been on this board where sometimes we argue about where a comma goes and how it can change the sentence, I'm a little bit more aware of those things. Um, I actually wanted to

223just kind of revert back to this conversation around how we're supporting students with cell phone violations. I've heard a number of um, schoolboard members discuss that. Um, so in the proposed cell phone matrix that will be updated for next year, we have included, as you said, kind of like leveled and scaffolded interventions as well. So it starts of course with of course like parent phone calls and conferencing, but it proceeds all the way up through ensuring that students who have anywhere from two to five cell phone related referrals are evaluated for a tier 2 restorative practice intervention group. In addition, those students are also referred to their MTSS site intervention team to be able to solution seek around what are some of the root causes around why we're seeing kind of these repeat violations. So

224we have intensified the interventions and supports for students relevant to cell phone violations. >> Thank you Miss Marin for a go back. >> Yes. I I just want to preempt the discussion that might come when when I'm expecting the law to come down. The reason there is a second law is because this board didn't follow the intent of the law. So the first time and while legally an interpretation was offered for us to have it during lunch, that whole lunch argument was made the week of the vote with zero research attached to it. So I just hope that we can learn from that and make decisions that are based on data and data show that young children and children do not have the cognitive development to be resisting devices. uh kids with uh neurode divergent

225brains also also resist it. So it's not perfect. But again, the reason there is a bill, the patron of which was a schoolboard member last term is to have us follow the law and put cell phones away. I I just see so much parallel in the AI discussion. It's like I want to get to the innovative discussion, but all we seem to talk about is access to devices and kids have brains that are not fully developed. And while we might anecdotally know some people who can handle it and some people who want to sit at lunch, the research shows that it is not good for kids. So I again I just really hope that this board can make researchbased decisions and certainly follow decisions about the law and not debate what possession means and what

226all day means because if we want to be research based let's be researchbased that's all. Oh actually that's not all I want to just add one thing. We're not talking about family engagement. Even if our kids do everything we want during the day, they go home to whatever their home is. And whether that's supportive or not as much. So this is why and we haven't really talked that much about family engagement. Why when we click through the SRNR, what are the parents? I mean, we talked about having parents or family members come in and sit through a presentation about cell phone use. I had to sit through such a presentation for my daughter when she did the online summer driver's ed. I thought it was a great idea. required. So, you know, if we want

227kids to practice healthy behaviors during the day, yeah, we can teach them, but we know that their families are their first teachers. So, I don't want to accept full responsibility for how kids use cell phones in schools because we're never going to have full responsibility. So, let's just do the best we can, follow the research, and keep engaging our families as children's first teachers. >> Dr. Anderson, did you want to go back? Let me speak and I won't have another go back. No, I'm just >> No, I I just wanted to, you know, as I'm I was not going to speak, but I just wanted to say this. Um I wanted to underscore what Dr. King actually shared a little while ago. Some of our students, this will not be an issue for them. And

228I've received letters from students who are saying this will actually help me. It will relax me in the classroom just like it has right now when we had, you know, put it away in the the shoe thing, put it in the box thing. They just feel a relief that they're not going to be missing out on things. And I am also a board member who participates very routinely in the VHSBA Friday roundups where they talk about all the bills. I find it super super helpful. And when they started talking about this bill multiple weeks ago, literally the comments in the chat were, "Well, who's not doing it?" We are an outlier. Everybody else is doing it for the most part. Fairfax County is a big fish, so it covers a lot of kids. But most

229school divisions just did it. It Yes. And I don't want kids to be arrested for having their cell phones. I don't think that's what we want. The idea is you walk into the building, classes start, you tuck it away, and unless you have some externing, you know, extenduating circumstance or some accommodation, you pull it out to use when classes end, and then you move on. That's what it is, and that's what a lot of people are making happen right now. And we're ringing our hands over it a little bit when it's already happening all throughout the Commonwealth. Miss Lady. >> So, obviously I have very every intent of following the law. Um, I actually believe to Miss Marin's point about the safe uh partnership and teen driving presentation that we need to do a more

230robust job with our kindergarten orientations. That's our most uh captive audience. The majority of parents come to those and I think we need to be talking about the dangers of putting devices in front of their children. Now, many of them have already done it, unfortunately, by the time they're kindergarteners, but we need to start working with preschoolers and explain that that is that that when putting something in front of them to keep their attention um off of something else is is in the long term not not great. Um, at least that's certainly my opinion. Um, I I also want to say that, you know, I agree that teaching kids responsibility about their cell phones is important. And I'm going to throw a completely different monkey ratch monkey wrench in this conversation because to a certain

231extent, a lot of the things that we do with uh grading um don't exist in colleges. And I can't tell you, I just heard from a kid recently who um attends the College of William and Mary who was going to miss a class and got it excused from their professor because of a a school activity they were involved in and thought that in doing that also meant that whatever was due on that day didn't have to be turned in. So guess who got a zero. uh and I'm I'm not trying to joke but it's we do we need to think about I mean I believe that time is a variable in learning but the extent to which with our advanced learners especially APDE IB kids um you don't get to retakes in college um so

232I'm just going to throw that out there because it's similar to the addiction one has to a cell phone um and you know college professors are certainly not making them take it out of their hand but if they show up with the addiction it's harder for them to concentrate as well so uh but yes we will follow the law. I do expect it to come down that it's going to be a pro prohibition and if it if the word is prohibit versus possession, we'll have to work with that. Um, and no, we're not going to be um I mean hopefully kids will have it on their person and we never see it. And I I will reiterate the majority, not some, the majority of our children and students and young adults do what they're supposed

233to do. We have great kids. Thanks. >> Thank you, Miss Lady. Um, see no others. >> Meeting is adjourned at uh 3:29 p.m. >> Thank you for your time everyone.