001Do it. Stay up and I don't even minutes. Good evening. My name is Kathleen Brown, chair of the Virginia Beach School Board, and I call this meeting to order at 6 PM. Madame Clerk, would you please announce the role? Thank you, Madam Chair. Present in the schoolboard chamber are Chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, Mr. Ken, Mr. Co Pepper, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Wire, Miss Felton, Dr. Green, and Miss Rogers. Thank you. Please join me in a moment of silence follow the the pledge of allegiance as you are able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This evening, the school board has the pleasure of recognizing students and staff for their many achievements.
002We thank the parents and the community for coming out tonight and helping us celebrate, but we do ask you to re remain seated until all students and staff have been recognized. Thank you. Our first is for winners of the VB CPS digital con citizenship contest. Thank you. Will the awardwinning students please come forward? These students demonstrated exceptional leadership and ingenuity through their first place submissions in a contest titled Go for the Gold. Mastering screen time balance by using a variety of media including posters, videos, and podcasts. The students shared practical strategies for maintaining digital equilibrium. Their projects moved beyond simple advice, offering actionable ideas on how to foster responsible, ethical, and safe behaviors both online and offline. The judges were particularly impressed by the students ability to blend technical skill with heartfelt advocacy. And now
003we will hear from instructional technology coordinator Charlie Hinch who will introduce us to these students. Thank you Charlie. Thank you. It's a pleasure to celebrate the first place students in our digital citizenship contest. Our first winner um in the kindergarten through second grade category is not here tonight. His dad is here though. Um, Harun Jane Sundara is a first grader at Lancet Elementary School. He actually has a piano lesson. Our winner in grades three through five is Alexander Golden, a fifth grader at Windsor White Oaks Elementary. We have three middle school winners. Um, and they are seventh graders from Great Neck Middle School. We have Sana Adabog. And we have Elise Oko and Emily Murray. And our high school winner is Nicholas Emmer, a sophomore at Salem High School. Thank you. Congratulations digital citizen contest
004winners. We are so very proud of you. Thank you. Our next recognition is for the VHSL class 5 girls basketball champions. Please welcome the lady Cavaliers of Princess Anne High School. Led by coach Darnell Doer, the 28 and0 Princess Anne Cavaliers girls basketball team defeated the Mechanic the Menchville Monarchs by a score of 65 to62 in an overtime thriller. It took a total team effort to secure the school's 16th state championship in the school's history and the fourth in a row for the Lady Cavaliers. Off the court, each young lady has maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher. And now, student activities coordinator Geron Brumage will introduce the Lady Cavaliers team. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to announce the two 2025 2026 VHSL class 5 state champions. Um, first up, winter
005brumage. Alana OS Amaya OS Ammani OS Tristan Rickenbacher not here but we want to honor Jazelle James Maya Land Dailyaly Kyla Daly Ellington Williams, Ruby Winterrad, Destiny Wear, our class 5 player of the year, Micah Ojo, Bahar Greywall, and Rune Vienn's Beyond's daughter, the Lady Cavaliers are coached by Daniel Doer, William Austin, Mark Joe, and Susan Rezer. And at this time, I would like to add that Micah Ojo is not only the class 5 player of the year, but she is the first girl or boy to earn player of the year honors as a freshman, sophomore, and junior since the VHSL began selecting all state teams in 2024. In addition, Micah is a three-time state champion, a gold medalist with the USA basketball team, and this year's Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year. Thank you.
006Thank you, Mr. Brumage, for standing in this evening for Coach Doer. Although Coach Doer couldn't be here tonight, we'd like to congratulate him as the VHSL coach of the year. This is his fifth VHSL coach of the year award since the VHSL began selecting a coach of the year in 2015. We look forward to the future as the Lady Cavaliers enter the 2627 season with a 71game winning streak. Congratulations Lady Cavaliers. We are proud of you. Huh? Our next recognition is for class 5 state champion boys 4 by 200 meter relay team. Please welcome athletes from Bayside High School. We are proud to recognize the members of this state championship team. They are Kyrie Ramshshire, Isaiah McCartney, Kamari Kirby, and Elijah Willoughby. Kyrie, a junior, is the class 5A regional champion in the 300 meters.
007In just over a year of competing in track and field, Kyrie is a four-time regional champion, a twotime regional runnerup, a twotime state champion, and has earned all stake honors in the 300 meter dash. Kamari, a senior, is a firsttime member of the indoor track team. He played varsity football and tonight marks his first school board recognition for his outstanding athletic achievement in track and field. Isaiah, a junior, made an impressive debut this season in his second year on the indoor track team. His quiet and low-key demeanor makes him the teammate that everyone wants to be around. Elijah, a junior, is being recognized by the school board for the third time during his high school career at this year's Virginia High School League class 5 state indoor track and field championships. Ali Elijah also qualified
008for the finals in the 55 meter dash where he placed fifth overall standing as the only runner from Virginia Beach competing in that final. This team is coached by Thad Harold. Where's Coach Harold? Oh, he's in the back. Okay. Congratulations team. We are proud of you. If we can turn this way good Our next recognition is for indoor track champions from Kellum High School. Please welcome the Knights. We are recognizing the VHSL class 5 indoor track and field 4x800 relay champions. This team is comprised of Mia Spain, Kate Spain, Miriam Garut, and Scarlett Johnson, who couldn't be here today. They not only broke the Kellum school record, but also broke the VHSL state tournament record for this event. This team helped the girls track team place third at the state indoor meet, win the third
009place finish at the VHSL state cross country meet last fall, and also capture the region 5A championship in both indoor track and cross country this school year. Avery Handlin was not able to join us tonight, but she represents Kellum as the two 2026 VHSL indoor track and field girls pull champion. Her vault of 12 ft also broke the school record. She was essential in helping the girls track team place third at the state tournament this year. Uh, additionally, she plays softball and is the 2026 state gymnastics bar champion. Kellum's indoor track coaches are RC Gay, is RC here, and Nancy Ro. Congratulations, Snipes. We're very proud of you. Well done. Our next recognition is for the indoor track champions from Lancetown High School. Please welcome up the Eagles. First, we got First we have Kyle
010Matthews. He is the VHSL class 6 boys triple jump champion with a jump of 47 feet 7 in. Kyle Kyle was the first ranked boy triple jumper in state and top five ranked sophomore in the United States. Woo. We also have with us the VHSL class 6 indoor track girls 4x400 relay team state champions. Let's give it up for Marley Greenley, Niga Sykes, Carmen Johnson, and Rosiah Davis. This team won the championship with one of the top times in the state, 3 minutes and 54.01 seconds. They also Oh, we got we got more. They also just earned all American honors at Adidas National Indoor Championship on March 22nd, placing second in a blazing time of 3 minutes and 49.85 seconds. And what is significant about this time, it is the fastest time by a Virginia
011high school team in one of the best times in the entire nation. These athletes are coached by Thomas Anderson. Congratulations, Eagles. We are proud of you. And I can finally say, go birds. Our next recction rec recognition is for Virginia Association of School Librarians, York Region Librarian of the Year. Please welcome Nate Ellison of Windsorwood Elementary School. It is a privilege to honor Nate Ellison, the Virginia Beach and Virginia Association of School Librarians, York Region Librarian of the Year. He is also the VBCPS librarian of the year. Since 2017, Mr. Ellison has transformed the Windsorwood Library into a vibrant hub of innovation, instruction, and community. More than a carer of books, he is an essential instructional partner. He co-plans and co-ees alongside colleagues integrating future reading skills through instructions and program like Battle of the
012Books, the podcast club, the cyber security challenge, and the marker space expo. Mr. Ellison believes that every child deserve a space to read with joy, learn with purpose, and experience belonging. His library is a living and vibrant space that reflects these core values. He doesn't he doesn't just manage a collection. He inspires a community. Congratulations, Mr. Allison. We are proud of you. Give it up. Give it up for Mr. Allison. And this concludes our recognitions for this evening. Thank you everyone. That was great. I know I did. What was that? National Okay, we We are now on to the adoption of the agenda. Are there any modifications to the agenda as presented? Miss Rogers. Thank you. Uh I move to add a motion related to instructional time to action. Okay, that would be action um
01315B. Is there a second? Seconded by Mr. Cummings. Any discussion? Okay. And madame clerk, are you ready for us to make? Madam chair, we just have to vote on that before the adoption of the agenda. Okay. Okay. One second. Thank you. Okay. Motion was made by Miss Rogers, seconded by Mr. Cummings to add 15B. A motion related to instructional time to action. All those in favor of the voting board is open. So, Madam Chair, we have eight eyes and one extension. So, the motion did pass to add that item to um action 15B. Thank you. Are there any other modifications to the agenda as presented? Okay, seeing none, I call for a motion to approve the agenda as presented and modified. Moved by Vice Chair Williams, seconded by Miss Rogers. Any discussion? Seeing none, I
014call for the votes to approve the agenda as presented and modified. So, Madam Chair, we have nine eyes. The motion to pass for the approval of the agenda as presented and modified. Thank you. Um, Dr. Robertson, I just want to confirm there is no report of recognitions this evening. Correct. That is correct. Thank you. We are now on to the approval of meeting minutes for March 24th, 2026. Are there any modifications to those minutes as presented? Seeing none, I call for a motion to approve the March 24th meeting minutes made by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Miss Wuire. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote for the approval of the meeting minutes. So, madam chair, we have nine eyes. The motion did pass for the approval of the March 24th meeting minutes. Thank you.
015The school board will now hear public comments on matters relevant to prek through 12 public education in Virginia Beach and the business of the school board and the school division from citizens and delegations who signed up with the schoolboard clerk prior to noon today. The purpose for the public comment section is for the school board to offer an orderly form to receive public comments during the schoolboard meeting. I call upon all speakers and all persons in chambers to be civil in discussion and decorum. Whatever views you wish to express, the schoolboard wants to hear from you and to ensure that all viewpoints and perspectives are heard. The best way to do this is for all of us to strive for civility and respect. The school board also invites the public to submit comments through emails
016which can be found on our website. Madame clerk, would you please introduce the first speaker? Thank you. Our first speaker is student speaker Olivia Ives. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chair Williams, and members of the school board. Oh, sorry. I'm coming to you with my concerns regarding the recent development of a modified schedule and the impact that this will have on not only my academic life but the lives of many other students within this district. I am a junior at the Bayside High School Health Sciences Academy. Due to living out of zone, my drive is already quite lengthy and 10 extra minutes could lead to all out of zone students getting home as much as 20 to 30 minutes later every day. Because as said is vice chair as said by vice chair Williams at
017a recent schoolboard meeting leaving school 10 minutes later puts you in even greater traffic in the city of Virginia Beach. As someone who has commitments to after school directly pertaining to my education and medical volunteerism requirements through my academy. This effect this greatly affects the hours I am able to give them which can cause inconvenience. The 10 minutes that I gain in the classroom directly cuts into the hours of time I devote to my education that occur after my last class is over. The negative impact this causes on many students as well as their families and employers severely outweighs any benefits that may be sustained by 10 extra minutes of instructional time per day. This issue can be solved with a greater solution. The use of an hoursbased instructional requirement. I urge you to suspend
018the VBCPS policy 613 to allow the use of the Virginia Department of Education's 990 hour requirement. Given that we have already exceeded the 990 hours significantly, this would allow us to no longer need to make up this day by adding extra time from now until every day no um to every day from the be sorry from the end of the school year. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ana Sanchez, then Gerald Dean 80, then Tracy Olsen, Anisa Sanchez, um Geraldine Greetings, Madame Chair, and all honorable members of the Virginia Beach City Public School Board to include our Delta Sigma Theta chapter member, Dr. Alvida Green, and everyone gathered here today and viewing alternatively. I am Gerald Dean Edy, president of the Virginia Talumi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sority Incorporated. Today our chapter 180 members
019strong is honored to be with you as this month our chapter celebrates 44 years since our chartering. Delta Sigma Sority Incorporated was founded on January 13th, 1913 by 22 collegiate women at Howard University to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need. The founders of Delta Sigma Theta envisioned an organization committed to sisterhood, scholarship, service, and addressing the social issues of the time. Since its founding, Delta Sigma Ththeta has become one of the preeminent servicebased sororities with more than 350 initiated members and over 1,000 charter chapters worldwide. Since 1982, the Virginia Beach alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta has served the Virginia Beach community with programs and projects like providing school supplies for Title One schools, providing meals and resources to members of the community in need to include the Beachbacks program, facilitating
020youth programs, coordinating workshops for families, donating books to schools, reading with students in our partner schools, hosting ortorial contests for students, welcoming students on the first day of school, providing avenues for students to explore as they move beyond 12th grade and providing scholarships to support dreams, just to name a few. At the state level, our educational equity advocacy includes legislation that supports mental health awareness, training, and instructions, early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities, and equity in public school funding and staffing, at risk programs established, and standards of quality. We are proud of our relationship with the school district and are committed to ensure that our children, all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, gender, background, have access to the same opportunities, the same standards, and the same level of support. With the
021members of the Virginia Beach alumni chapter here today, please stand. We thank you for your time today and we look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship and partnership as we as we serve the Virginia Beach community together. Before we take our seats and some of us depart, I will leave you with this quote. Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom. George Washington Carver. And I will add, freedom serves as a catalyst for self-determination, fostering the confidence to navigate systems and to actualize one's full potential. Sors, you may be seated. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Tracy Olsen, then Heather S, then Elaine Lombardi. Good evening, schoolboard members. I'm Tracy Olsen, parent of two teens, former special ed teacher in BBCPS and SEAK member. I'm here tonight to touch
022on the changes to high school schedules from a mix of year-long and 4x4 to mostly 4x4 unless you take on your AP. My daughter is current 10th grader with an IEP and she has benefited from core classes being held in a year-long format as I'm certain other students with and without IEPs have. When class registration started, we were very discouraged and frustrated to find that all core classes except algebra 1 are being shifted to a 4x4 semester format. AP honors and a few electives remain year-long. I called every high school, talked to other parents and had discussions with two APs. And it became clear that this decision was not motivated by student request, parent want, or students best interest in learning, but because of transfers around the area that tells students like my daughter that
023equity is not important. It says if you excel or learn easily easily, it serves you. If you have challenges, too bad. BBCPS has always prided itself on being ahead of the curve, serving students first and valuing differences. But that doesn't seem true. It's disingenuous to say that everyone learns at the same rate, but then offermies, AP, honors, DE also while having students with various learning needs on IEPs. Offering classes at various lengths ensures that each student can take classes according to their need. This change alienates an entire population of students regardless of IEP that need information spaced out in a year-long format to succeed. I hear that my daughter can just take the classes again or continue in high school into her 20s. That's hardly a solution and it's not an option for students without
024IEPs. BBCPS is set up for those who can go above and beyond. But where are the services and opportunities for poor and specialed children like my daughter? It doesn't seem equitable, and I'm sure courts would agree. I'd like to also address the 10 extra minutes they're being tacked on. According to VDOE, if our school division meets the 990 hours required, and we do, there's no need to add more time. Unfortunately, we have our own policy 613 that I believe should be suspended. Changes are being made without the best interest of students, as you heard in mind. Not only that, but staff, teachers, and families are all impacted. There has to be a better way to address that. Lastly, Think College is a secondary, excuse me, post-secondary opportunity for students with learning disabil um intellectual disabilities.
025I don't think a lot of high school guidance counselors in our district know what this program is, and I'm sure a lot of parents don't either. With all the emphasis placed on AP honors and DE, there's an entire population of students have no idea how life-changing this program can be. I would like to request that high school students with IEPs have information given to them about these programs that are currently in 360 schools throughout the country. We do set up our traditionally collegebound students. We need to be setting up our special ed students for success. Think college. Let's pass it on. Thank you. Our next speaker is Heather Cip, then Elaine Labour, then Cody Connor. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chair Williams, members of the school board, Dr. Robertson. My name is Heather Cyp, and
026I am the president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. I'm here this evening to speak on the addition of the 10 minutes to the instructional day. You cannot judge how much people care about this issue just by the number of people who signed up to speak. Student, staff, and community members spoke to you for months on end about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the majority of you still stripped it from the division. In the week before spring break alone, I was told by numerous staff members how scared they are to speak because they are terrified of retaliation. But even with that fear, every one of you on the board received hundreds of emails that week, and you're still getting them. Over 1,700 people signed an online petition within a matter of a
027couple of days calling for you to reconsider your actions with a special schoolboard meeting over spring break. Over the past 2 weeks, I've received an equal number of testimonials about the chaos this is causing. We're now 2 days in and the negative impacts are already being felt by our staff, students, and families. Staff and students are hardressed to make it to other jobs after the school day. And the traffic changes make many of them late for those jobs. Staff are being forced to pay for extra child care because they cannot make it to their own pickup on time. Some are charged $5 per minute for being late. You've created more financial hardships for staff and families. Students are not clearing the buildings and buses are not departing prior to prior to the end of teachers
028contract hours. Yet, they cannot leave until the buses clear the parking lot. Hourly staff are also being pushed to work past their time, especially security personnel, because they cannot leave before the students. The division should not be running on unpaid labor from its employees. And don't pretend this is about ensuring continuity of instruction. Each school decided how to add the 10 minutes to classes. Of our 13 high schools, maybe two or three of them have the same schedule. Now, some just add five minutes to only two other blocks. Others try to find a way to add time to all and have reduced their lunch time to do it. Distance learning teachers are now juggling multiple schedules per block. Imagine a second block teacher sending from PA high school to Lancetown and Chemville. PA's block 2
029starts at 9:00, but Chemil is 8:55 and Lancetown is 8:47. Then, Lancetown's block 2 ends at 10:10, which is 10 and 15 minutes before the other two. This leaves 70 common instructional minutes. Some middle schools have had to flip when grade levels have lunch to add more content time, but elective courses, even those that are high school credit, didn't get time added. And for Aday Bday, we've lost an Aday, but you're adding time to Bday classes because every day gets time added. This is a pacing nightmare for teachers. This 10 minutes is pure chaos for staff and students. Do what's right. Reconsider your decision and eliminate the 10 additional minutes for the remainder of the fourth quarter. You want to ensure students get that instructional time. Make April 21st asynchronous. This particular issue is not
030a VDOE mandate. They don't care if you have an asynchronous day since the 990 seat hours are more than met. Check your own box for a virtual day if you must. But reverse the chaos. Our next speaker is Elaine Labardi. Cody Connor and then Natalie Bray. Hi everyone. Thank you for giving me this time. I am asking you as a school board to suspend policy 613. Suspending it for the rest of the year will give us time to talk about it as a community and make some decisions moving forward. 10 minutes added to the school day may seem inconsequential, but those 10 minutes can have wide ranging implications. Parents have some pretty tight schedules when it comes to pickups, after school activities, or just family time. This 10 minutes thrown into the works is a
031serious monkey rich, and it will likely cost some of our staff and families if they have to pay for extended child care or pull their kids out of activities and lessons. Additionally, anyone who depends on HRT bus transportation to school and work may not be able to wait an extra half hour if the extended time makes them miss their regular bus. Two years ago, we used this podium to implore you to count hours rather than days for exactly this reason, unexpected non-school days. But as a board, you decided it was more important to count those 108 days rather than actual instructional hours. Dr. Robertson, you and I have talked about this, but I want everyone who's listening to know that you came through for my child at Salem. I will always, always remember that. Today,
032I need you to put yourself back into that supportive mindset and come through for the students and families like you came through for my child. You are the strongest influential voice here. There is an easy easy solution for now. Suspend the policy. Then let's take the time to talk as a school and as a community. We can still have 180 calendar days, but by counting the hours rather than than the days, we can have the cushion that our neighboring cities have. You as a board insisted that counting days makes us the best local division. You know that's false, right? We aren't better. We work more days. We pay less. Our health insurance is subpar. And our scores aren't significantly different when adjusted for poverty in the e economy. Remember, teachers don't leave schools. They leave
033administration. What is the definition of crazy? Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. The results aren't changing. So, let's try something different. suspend policy 613 for the rest of this year, go back to regular school hours, and allow us time to talk it out as a community before we write the next calendar. For high school students, instructional time is roughly 6 hours a day. We know the 30-minute lunch break doesn't count as instructional time, but we have the choice to count the passing periods or not. BBCPS has decided against this, implying that there is no instruction happening during those passing periods. Respectfully, I desent. I am at my doorway checking on kids that I may or may not have had. I do the fist bumps to let my kids know
034I'm there. I might say, "Oh, hey, how'd that algebra test go?" Or, "Gosh, you feeling better? That language is not appropriate for school. I'm doing these things. This is what you asked me to do. This is what I agreed to do." If those minutes could count, that would give us an additional 12 minutes a day, which would more than cover us under VOE's rules. Please suspend the policy. And then we as a time talk. Thank you. Our next speaker, our next speaker is Cody Connor, Natalie Bray, and then Janelle Smith. I don't remember if I told you, but our daughter this year decided to go from home school back to public school. And there's been hard days. High school's hard. It's really hard for her. and your policies haven't made it any easier. The handful
035of teachers and staff that have done their best to make her feel welcome and respected will be appreciated more than they'll ever know. I think at the end of the day, despite the challenges she knew she'd face, she just was lonely, wanted a chance to make more friends, even if that meant spending all day at a place that made her feel uncomfortable. and unwelcome. And she has she's made made some friends. Belonging is such a deep primordial need, people will sacrifice everything for it. Health, safety, everything. Did you know when your belonging is threatened, it activates the same part of your brain that gets activated when you're physically hurt? That's why my daughter was so furious yesterday when she got home from school. It's almost funny cuz all the things she has to deal with
036because of your decisions. It was the unnecessary addition of 10 minutes to her school day that had her cursing your name all evening. Um, you see, at her school, they took 10 minutes away from her lunch, which is tempting mutiny. I think students would already be protesting if you hadn't made it so hard for them to. Those few minutes of of quality interaction with her small group of friends is about all my kid looks forward to at school. Those few precious minutes of connection and longing that have now been taken from her. And that's about all it is after you get to the lunch line. It's just a couple minutes. And this unnecessary change that you could have avoided is affecting everybody negatively. Parents are rearranging schedules. Appointments are being missed. Teachers are working longer,
037paying more in child care. Students don't have enough time to finish their lunch at some schools. I think you've taken enough from our students and our teachers. Give them back the 10 minutes. It's okay to admit that you're wrong and make a mistake and fix it. You don't have to persist in the stupidity. make good decisions. Our next speaker is Natalie Bray and then Janelle Smith. Good evening, Chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, and Dr. Robertson and schoolboard members. My name is Natalie Bray, and I'm from District 8. I'm disappointed with some of the school board's decisions leading to the addition of 10 minutes to each school day until June 8th. I realized there wasn't much time to deeply discuss solutions to the problems posed by the April 21st special election. I am grateful that you
038decided to close schools that day. Thank you all for prioritizing the safety of students and staff. However, closing school that day created a problem to solve. How will our school division address that lost day? schoolboard hesitated because of the Virginia Department of Education's elimination of the usual solution of synchronous or asynchronous learning to make up lost instructional time. Upon deeper examination, this is not an obstacle for VBCPS as we surpassed the 990 hourly requirement. I wish that school leadership had proactively alerted the school community about the issue facing us. Instead, I felt as though the perspectives of students, staff, and families have not been sought after by some of our representatives. For example, last meeting's agenda listed this highly impactful problem to solve in decidedly vague terms, calendar changes to quarter 4. As someone in
039from my community commented, should parents have cleared their schedules to come and speak about this vague subject line just in case it happened to change their family's daily schedule for eight weeks? This is not informative or compelling. 24 hours before the March 24th meeting, informational slides were posted to outline the suggestion of adding 10 minutes to school days. Only two people addressed this during public comment. Calendar changes to quarter 4 was up for information and then action at that meeting, briefly discussed and then decided on before the broader community was aware of what was happening. No policies or rules were breached during these agenda choices. But isn't that the bare minimum? Your constituents deserve more accountability and transparency than what was provided. What is effective leadership and good representation? Accountability, transparency, and fiscal responsibility are
040descriptors that frequently come up for people in Virginia Beach. I admire elected representatives who are good listeners and actively seek the perspectives of stakeholders, especially when discernment is required. Effective leaders are committed to the process of resolving problems as a team. The best leaders are creative and agile-minded solution seekers who are empathetic and pragmatic decision makers. This evening, I encourage you to lean into the opportunity to use these principles and reconsider the addition of 10 minutes to every school day. By now, you've received many individual emails and a petition from 1,718 community members making the same request. There's another solution to the problem. You can temporarily suspend schoolboard policy 6-13 and change the way you measure instructional time to hours instead of days. This isn't a slippery slope. And that is time. Our next speaker
041is Janelle Smith. Good evening, Dr. Robertson and members of the Virginia Beach School Board. My name is Janelle Smith. I am a gold star spouse and the mother of three little citizens attending Virginia Beach City Public Schools in District 10. I'm speaking today about the decision to add 10 minutes to the school day. For many of us, our days are already running on tight, carefully managed schedules. 10 minutes is a difference between making a pickup window or paying the extra child care. It's a difference between getting home at a reasonable hour or pushing everything, dinner, homework, and bedtime later into an already full evening. Families are now expected to absorb added cost and stress for change that feels completely out of touch with our day-to-day reality. And let us be clear, these hit disadvantaged families
042the hardest. When budgets are already stretched, even a slight increase in child care costs matters. Not everyone has flexible jobs, reliable transportation, or backup options. This decision does not just inconvenience us. It creates real hardship for families with special needs students. The impact is even more serious. These children depend on structure, predictability, and carefully coordinated schedules. Therapy appointments, transportation, and routines are not easily adjusted. A 10-minute shift can throw off an entire system that took years to build, and the added stress on both children and caregivers is not something that should be brushed aside. All of this leads to a simple, very urgent question. What is the actual benefit of these 10 minutes? Because from where families like mine stand, the cost is clear, but the value is not. This decision may look small from
043the deis where you may have the luxury of living your lives in a two parent home with abundant support or you have already transitioned to life of grandparent and you no longer even have children attending Virginia Beach public schools. But in real life, this is disruptive, costly, and inconsiderate of the families you serve, especially the most vulnerable. That should matter. I urge you to reconsider this decision before families are left to deal with even more consequences. They had no voice in creating. You have other more convenient options. And I will tell you this, we are watching. We have been affected and we will remember. Thank you for your time. Madam Chair, we're going to move on to our online speakers. Um, speaker number one is currently not online. We're going to go to speaker two.
044Sandra Christian, please unmute. Sandra Christian, please unmute. We'll move on to our next online speaker, Lee Hicks. Please unmute. Good evening, school board members. I'm Lee Hicks and tonight I'm speaking to you as a ninth year teacher, all of which have been in district 5. as a teacher of the year, as a coach of two teams, as an adviser for three clubs, and as a community member. I want to thank the school board for all of the support that you have provided teachers and staff over the years. With that in mind, I'm asking you to support your innovative staff by reconsidering the decision to add 10 minutes to the end of the school day. This is already having significant impacts divisionwide as shown on numerous petitions and is disproportionately impacting the middle schools. For example,
045I've spoken to numerous bus drivers and I've heard that they have been arriving late to their other schools and activities and thus are not being able to have the 10 minutes off their buses between pickups as per DOT policy. Additionally, staff leave at 4:20 and scholars dismiss at 4:15. So, admin has to scramble to clear out an entire school of students in 5 minutes or risk having unmonitored halls. I understand the policy that was cited for the board's decision. However, set policy specified that we could either count our school year 180 days or 990 hours for state accreditation. I beseech you to support recognizing hours and not days like NOFK and Chesapeake schools which will allow this board, parents and guardians, admin and all school staff more flexibility when special events like a special election
046arise. Even if not for every year, at least for this one specific isolated instance, certainly we can utilize the hours as opposed to days in order to minimize the disruption to the school day this late into the school year, especially as we are preparing for so testing, which helps determine federal funding. I hope this board continues supporting the foundation of this school division and what makes us a truly innovative district, your staff, and move away from days to hours to address our grievances. Thank you for your time and consideration. We're going to go back to Sandra Christensen. Please unmute. Can you hear me? Yes, please go ahead, Miss Christensen. Excellent. Okay, it's Christian. Hi, good afternoon, uh, school board. My name is Sandra Christian. I'm the grandmother of Christian Carr, who is a student at
047Hermitage Elementary. I want to give you a background on some incidents involving Christian Carr. On March 11th, Christian reported that another student put grass in his water bottle. Staff said that they could not act because they didn't witness it despite the student admitting it, which is a class three felony offense, tampering or altering a person's food or drink, which is Virginia law 18.2-54.2. The following week, the same student put dirt in his water bottle and taunted him. Christian received ISS on March 27th with the school informing his mother that it would be served on March 23rd. Excuse me. I'm sorry. March 17th. Um, school the issue with the discipline process. School policy states parents and guardians have three school days to appeal a disciplinary decision. The assistant principal was absent, so the principal assigned the
048discipline. The family appealed on March 23rd and requested a meeting, but no meeting occurred until April 2nd. They were told the decision would be sent home the next day, but it did not arrive until April 8th. The letter claimed there had been two appeals, though the family only submitted one. The concern is raised that discipline should not be administered until the appeal window is fully exhausted. I am proposing a policy change that if only two appeals are indeed allowed. The final decision letter should clearly state when each appeal occurred. Staff should also ensure that accurate communication and adherence to policy timelines. The second issue that I have is guardian documentation issue. A 2019 court order stated that I, as Sandra Christian, his grandmother, gave guardianship during the mother's deployment and other to or other times
049she is unavailable. At the April 2nd meeting, I was denied participation due to a lack of documentation. The required documentation was submitted on April 3rd. On April 13th, I was again told I was not authorized to discuss Christian situation was referred elsewhere. I was told I needed a fur form, which I had no idea. I didn't know what that was. I'm asking a policy change that the schools should proactively inform military families about required documentations for guardians. Staff should also read documents carefully, noting that the guardianship applies during deployments and other times the mother is unavailable. It's not either or. Guardians, even volunteers or emergency contacts should clearly be advised of what documentations are is required in order to fill in that guardianship role. Thank you. you while you have time. And madam chair, uh,
050speaker number four is not online. So that concludes our speakers for this evening. Okay. Thank you. We welcome Cammy Letti, schoolboard attorney for the policy review committee recommendations. Good evenings, madam chair, vice chair, schoolboard members, and Dr. Robertson. I'm Cammy Letti, the schoolboard attorney, and tonight I will be bringing you recommendations in the March 25th PRC policy review committee meeting. There are five policies we'll be looking at tonight. They are all in your business and non-instructional operation section. The first one up is policy 31, which is criteria. This has to do with financial management on there. This was reviewed by the policy review committee, but we have no recommendations for the changes to this policy. you have any questions about policy 31. Hearing no questions on policy 31, I'll move on to policy 355 which
051is buildings, facilities, grounds, vehicles, and equipment. Generally, the recommended change is in section A is simply scrierous changes clarifying in the final sentence and taking out unnecessary language. Other than that, we have no recommendations for other changes to policy 355. Are there any questions on 355? Hearing no questions on 355. I'll move on to 356 which is safety program. Under safety program the only recommendations we have will be in the second sentence which will now read the school board believes that safety is important to everyone concerned with the schools. Not only is a protective measure during school hours and we would add and school events but also as an instructional means of developing an appropriate mode of behavior to minimize undesirable and unplanned occurrences. Those are the only recommendations other than a change to the
052legal reference and those will be our final recommendations for amendments 2 35 356. Are there any questions about policy 356? Hear no questions on policy 356. We will move on to policy 364 which is security of buildings and grounds. The only change is in section A1. We will be taking out the reference to dust to dawn and outside lights and simply refer to outside lighting will be installed where most needed. Other than that, there are no recommended changes to 364. Any questions on 364? Hearing no questions on 364, we'll move on to 372, which is safety water management to prevent Legionella growth. The only change is in the second actually the first sentence, which will take out the words to prevent for the prevention of Legionnaires instead of Legionella disease and that would be the
053only recommended changes we have into policy 372. Other questions on 372? Those are the end of the changes fund policy review committee from its March meeting. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Uh we are now on to budget transfers and we welcome Crystal P, chief financial officer and before um she presents, I also want to note that this is on our consent agenda tonight. So if anybody has any issue with voting on it as it stands, it will need to be moved to action at that time. Thank you. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chairwoman Wing, school board members, and Dr. Robertson. Forformational purposes this evening, we are presenting two fiscal year 2025 2026 budget transfers for the board's review. Schoolboard approval is required for any budget transfer exceeding the superintendent's authorization threshold of 250,000. The first
054transfer totaling 2,80,000 will fund the replacement of 13 regular education buses. This transfer is proposed to be supported by available funds from the custodian's object code due to vacancies as well as unexpended funds in the elementary classroom cost center, specifically elementary teachers also resulting from position vacancies. The second transfer in the amount of 300,000 will support classroom conversions at Kimville Elementary and Lancorn Park Elementary. These conversions are necessary due to the reduction in class size from 24 to1 to 19:1 at Kimville Elementary and increased enrollment at Link Horn Park. Funding for this transfer is proposed to come from unexpended funds within the high school classroom cost center, again attributable to position vacancies. That concludes this presentation. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. Mr. Thanks. Just for my own clarification, um that
055we see that the purpose is to cover regular education bus replacements. Is that part of the bus replacements and uh that we were presented with from I believe you know a few weeks ago where he talked about the need for 100 some buses. We did talk about the the um replacement cycle for buses and we are okay with the special ed buses. So we do are starting that process with these 13 buses with these buses. Okay. I just want to make sure. Thank you. Okay, I don't see any further discussion on that. And so we are now on general fees schedule for 2627. Go ahead. Um, good evening again, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chairwoman Wing, schoolboard members, and Dr. Robertson. As part of our annual process, we are presenting the general fees, which includes the approved
056assessed fees for the 202526 school year and the proposed fees for the 2026 27 school year. For your convenience, any changes to the fees are highlighted in red. Please note that several fees will remain unchanged for the upcoming school year. I hope you've had an opportunity to review the schedule in advance. Beginning with student meal prices, there is a 10 cent increase in the paid lunch rate for both elementary and secondary students as well as a 10-cent increase in the paid breakfast rate at both levels. On page three, under technical and career education center courses, fees for practical nursing 1 and two, LPN high school have increased by $29. This adjustment reflects rising costs associated with ATI or assessment technologies institute, lab pack supplies, and the addition of a new respirator fitting fee. Cosmetology toolkit
057fees have also increased by $27 due to higher supply cost. On page four, we have included fees for adult and student junior varsity tickets. Historically, these fees have not been listed on this schedule and there has been no change in these fees from the previous year. And lastly, I would like to highlight the tuition for non-resident students shown at the bottom of the schedule. As part of continued efforts to support recruitment and retention across all positions, the division offers a non-resident student enrollment option for eligible full-time employees. Staff members holding a 1.0 O allocated or full-time benefited position may apply to enroll their children in BBCPS schools tuitionfree applications are reviewed annual reviewed I'm sorry applications are reviewed on a case-byase basis and must be renewed annually employees who are interested are incurred to reach
058out for additional information so accordingly the first two line items under BBCBS employees reflect a zero tuition rate for both elementary and secondary levels for all other non-resident students. Tuition rates have been calculated in alignment with prior years and reflect increased divisionwide cost. And with that concludes the presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Mr. Cummings, uh, thank you so much for sharing. I had a couple questions about the fees. Um, and I don't anticipate the answers being just for followup is fine. Um, with the projected increase in paid launch from 305 to 3:15, do we do we know what's this year's current revenue is or and how the 315 would be projected or is that something to follow up on? We'll follow up with you. We'll have to look at the
059food services fund, but we can get that for you. Yeah, I would love just to see with both the paid lunch and paid breakfast what our current is with this rate of 305 and what the projected will be with the 315. And then I wanted to circle or go over to the uh athletic tickets. I know that that was a topic of much discussion from last year. Um and you know I did hear some thoughts from parents and how they're were impacted and how this did become um just some frustration I think with with you know being able to see their kids uh perform uh in athletic events. And so I would be curious if we could just have at some time more in depth of understanding, you know, how much the tickets yielded. Um
060what did you know what cost were they did they cover? Do they meet do we meet our goals with our coach raises? Um and did we get too much revenue which and whatnot? And I'd love to hear some more impact and story and narrative around that. Yeah. So Mr. We have that information now. We can put it together and and provide the board with a memo with that information through the fall and winter. Is the winter done? The fall and winter done. And yes, we are right where we thought we would be in terms of additional revenue. That's covering the cost of additional um uh fees for u officials and to cover the cost of increases for coaches. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of folks, you know, you sat when I sat and
061talked to them said, you know, this gives our our coaches to be able to have a significant raise. I mean, as parents, I think we see how much our coaches invest into our kids. And I'm glad that we were able to give them um uh some some extra money. I would just love to hear some more information about the ticket prices and impact and just also have that ready for our community. Thank you. Thank you. And um I actually I would echo um what Mr. Cummings has asked for and I was actually curious and I don't know if this is the time to ask but a lot of families have reached out regarding the family pass and what exactly the family pass includes is something that uh community members are just a little bit confused
062about. Does it include one school? Does it include all your kids schools? Does it include all season? Does it include all year? Um, so that is something I would like more information about so that the community has that when they ask. Okay. And I don't see any additional questions. So we are now on to Carl Perkins Grant and we welcome Dr. Sarah Lockett, director of technical and career education. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chair Williams, and members of the board and Dr. Robertson. I'm Sarah Lockett, director of technical and career education. And as required by the federal Carl D. Perkins grant, we are here tonight to present for the board's information the proposed local plan for budgeting grant expenditures for next school year. The federal strengthening career and technical education for the 21st century act
063authorizes funding to local school divisions associated with Carl Perkins 5 grant funding and reflects our nation's more than 100year federal commitment to career and technical education programs. The funding allocated to localities is critical to ensuring that our programs are prepared to meet the everchanging needs of learners and employers in our city and across the Commonwealth. To remain in compliance with the act, Virginia Beach City Public Schools must sub approve and submit a Perkins 5 local plan and budget for career and technical education annually. Based on requirements authorized by the standards of quality in Perkins 5, the school division must submit this year's application no later than April 30th, 2026. Tonight's presentation supports continuing Perkins 5 funding for programming providing over 36,000 student seats in 1697 career and technical education sections for secondary students offered to
064students face toface, online, and through dual enrollment. Our CTE staff continues to work closely with teachers, students, parents, industry, Virginia Beach Economic Development, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, other members of local government, and our general advisory council to ensure that their input is reflected in the budget and plan presented to you this evening. In addition to the local plan, Perkins 5 requires school divisions to conduct a local needs assessment to evaluate program structure and implementation that supports student achievement and performance. The impact of spending outlined in this year's plan will be measured by federally identified performance measures that look at CTE program completers collected from the 2425 school year. These measures include four-year graduation rate, academic proficiency in English reading, mathematics, and science, postprogram placement, non-traditional program concentrations, program quality measured by attaining a recognized
065post-secary industry credential, program quality measured by participation in work-based learning, and program quality measured by technical skill attainment. I am pleased to report that students completing a CTE program in Virginia Beach blew many of these away, notably in the area of program quality and specifically in the area of technical skill attainment through industry credential attainment. Virginia Beach substantially surpassed the benchmark in both of these areas. Well, you can see on the slide that our students outperformed the VOE benchmark in almost every measure. There are two areas where we will focus improvement efforts this year. The first is 5S3 participation in work-based learning. This MIS measure looked at CTE completers who completed and documented a work-based learning experience in the 202425 school year. During the school year, the Virginia Department of Education drastically reduced the number
066of experiences that counted in the in the official measure and did not provide divisions with official guidance on what would count until after the end of the school year. Even so, work-based learning numbers in Virginia Beach increased more than one percentage point last year. Now that VDOE has published the guide for highquality work-based learning, CT staff and schools are reimagining opportunities for students. That work has been underway since the start of the current school year. Additionally, high school principles came together to engage on this topic earlier today. The second Misbenchmark is 4S1, non-traditional program concentration. Non-traditional status is defined as one gender making up less than 25% of the workforce in the career area tied to a particular course. Examples may include female students enrolled in welding or engineering or male students enrolled in dental
067assisting. The courses designate designated as part of a non-traditional program change over time as trends shift in the workforce. This benchmark remains a point of struggle nationally and for schools and for industry. The CTE team and school counselors remain vigilant in recruiting and we will continue efforts to encourage non-traditional program enrollment. These efforts include the ATC's STEM spa day, women for the win events for high school and middle school girls, beach girls rock, and events tied to the STEM trifecta. This slide summarizes our local plan for spending estimated grant funds for the 2026 2027 school year. The Virginia Department of Education has not yet released official funding allocations by locality for next year and divisions are asked to prepare a budget based on level funding with the current year. Our plan is based on an
068estimated 1 million75,5786. On the next few slides, we'll take a closer look at the budget by category and the budget's focus is driven by program data and the annual comprehensive local needs assessment. As stipulated in the Perkins 5 legislation, up to 5% of funds may be used for cost to administer the grant. We will explore these first. The portion of available funding, this portion of available funding is split between indirect costs and our test proctors. The indirect cost rate is calculated with a formula that equates approximately 2% of the entire grant. The budget for this item is lower than the allowed 2% at just $14,998 to account for spending that is categorically exempt from indirect cost. This funding goes to the office of business services to account for administration of the grant. the the exempted
069funding from indirect costs is shifted to the second line to fund part-time test proctors who deliver exams to students seeking industry credentials each year. Um, and this is larger because we took the lower amount for indirect cost. The total allocated pay for text pro the total amount allocated for pay for test proctors this year next year is $38,754. Perkins 5 legislation also requires that localities use federal funds to support professional development for CTE teachers. The proposed budget includes $17,000 for professional development activities for teachers and others involved in career and technical programming. Professional development efforts for the 2026 school 2026 2027 school year include the opportunity for every CTE teacher to attend the Virginia Professional Conference for their subject area as well as continuing to fund teacher travel to participate in national CTE conferences and
070industry training. While not required, Perkins 5 permits the use of grant funds to support leadership development for students who face barriers as members of special populations. This line refers to support for co-curricular student organiz or organizations including DECA, Educators Rising, FBA, Skills USA, and the Technology Student Association, TSA. Career and technical student organizations are an integral part of each career and technical program, and we continue to experience a surge in student participation in leadership contests sponsored by our CTSO clubs. In addition to robust participation for high school students, we are continue to see middle school students competing at the state and national level in FBA and TSA. And therefore, the proposed budget for 2026 27 includes $105,000 to support travel for students identified as members of special populations to compete in these events. Virginia allocates
071the bulk of our federal Perkins grant funding to required spending for equipment, software, and lab resources that allow our students to prepare for diverse career pathways at just over $58,000. This line item is budgeted for equipment and instructional materials at our secondary schools and our specialty centers. These items include technology, software, machinery, and instructional resources. equipment to improve our CTE programs is also supported by non non-p perkins sources like funding from the Virginia Department of Education, local funds, and industry contributions. The next line item represents a portion of the industry certification exams given to students enrolled in high school CTE courses. The the budget includes $120,000 for industry credential test vouchers. Overall exam vouchers for students are supported with a mix of federal, state, and local monies. The proposed budget also includes continues to include
072support for STEM initiatives and efforts to recruit girls into STEM fields and non-traditional coursework. $19,000 is allocated to these efforts and will directly support nontraditional the non-traditional gender benchmark we noted earlier in the presentation. This is a larger allocation to STEM and nontraditional recruitment than in past years. The last two items in the Perkins 5 grant budget are related to addressing our staffing challenges. Instructional positions in CT classrooms remain a critical shortage area. $123,797.50 50 cents is budgeted for hiring incentives for new CT teachers and the associated FICA taxes. The budget estimate is based on the actual amount expended in the current year and anticipated hiring for next year. Incentives help us recruit and retain talented CT teachers. The final line item of the proposed budget represents supporting highquality technical skill attainment. Approximately $38,000 is
073allocated to employ a part-time STEM tutor support to support students and faculty with skill development focused on mastering the use of modern industrial tools like laser engravers, 3D printers, hydraulics, and CNC routers, as well as the software and math skills required to work with these tools. Positions funded by Perkins 5 are eligible for the grant for just three years after which they must be retired or transition to local funds. This position is a part-time temporary position and will be in its third year in the fall of 26. The position is important to our work to support accountability standards and to prepare students for a modern workforce. Members of the General Advisory Council for Career and Technical Education have been involved in the creation of this plan and budget. The GAC did a final review and
074approved this local budget application at their April 1 meeting. Thank you for your time this evening and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. Dr. Green. Thank you, Dr. Lockett. And for our um viewing public, and you can help me a little bit. Um I in the past, Virginia Beach has always led the state uh in industry uh credentiing and and certification. Uh where are we positioned based on last year's? We are still right there at the the top of the heap. We're super proud of that and we are also proud that that continues to be free for students. All right. And then the second part, if you don't have this number handy, but knowing you, I'm sure you do. Uh how many students last year uh did we have that received their
075industry certifications? 14,440. All right. Thank you, Rogers. Thank you, Dr. Locket for your presentation. I I do have a couple of questions. Our CTE new hire incentives are one of our top ticket items in this budget. So, what does that entail? Because it's a a lot of money and I just don't know what that means. It it it is a lot of money. So, it is a $5,000 hiring incentive for CT teachers that are new to Virginia Beach. Um it helps us with enticing folks to come through the door. When we had our hiring fair, I had a big ask me about my $5,000 hiring center sign right there on the table. Um it also is generally split between two payments. One at the end of the first semester and one at the end of
076the second semester which is an incentive for folks who are working through that first year to make it through that first year to get their incentive at the end of each semester. It helps with attrition in first year which gives us some more time to build new teachers um through that first year and really you know gets them hanging on so they get those two payments. Um, and it it means a lot to folks, especially when they're looking at coming in as on a provisional license, which we support with a lot of efforts. Um, you know, some through our office, some through tuition reimbursement, but it also if they have courses to take, it also gives, hey, you've got some some money that can help support some of those efforts you need to do to
077get off that provisional, which I think is more than we see in other places. Okay. Thank you. Uh, and then my other question is our non-traditional program concentration that was not met. Had that been met in the past? It has. It it it goes up and down. It has the state has raised that benchmark by a lot. Okay. Um and I can look it up. I can actually tell you what the benchmark is. I've got them here in front of me. I want to say it's in the low30s and we were at 27%. You have to think about the fact that the the benchmark for a career to be considered non-traditional for one gender. The other is less than 25% out in industry are here, right? But the state is asking us to have more
078than 30% of our students enrolled. So they want us above that. And some of that has changed with how the federal government sets the benchmarks. Um in the last year that has changed too. The benchmark must be higher than the average attainment in the state. And so those marks have risen. So we've been below it, we've been above it. We kind of dance around it on non-traditional because in the end you we do a lot of things to make students see themselves in these careers, but in the end they they choose what they sign up for. So right that's where our work is is in getting I just want to I just am curious because this because we're concentrating on gender and ensuring that we are doing uh enough to uh entice uh non-traditional genders
079for other CTE programs. I want to make sure that some of our diversity uh language and some of our other things isn't hindering that process. Sure. and and the the language on non-traditional gender comes from the federal government. It's not our totally. I just want to make sure that we're not hindering ourselves. Sure, I understand. Thank you, Vice Williams. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Lockett. I just want to, you know, send kudos your way. You're a rock star in this field. She's so passionate. We all know it. And I I was just speaking at a civic league last night and I was bragging about you and and Dr. green. I believe it's uh 14,500 credential industry certifications that we've gotten. I think it's I might be 540. I might have said 440, but it might be
08054 because it's it's like 131 different options. It's definitely 131. Okay, good. I remember. It's a it's amazing what we have to offer and the addition of the three new programs with the aviation and the and the medical assistant and and I just you're doing a great job and and many of us sitting on the stas you know have pushed workforce development and we started the committee three years ago that we worked so well together with um I was talking to a gentleman the other day though and he said I wish that we would have had all this when my kids were in school and I said well how long ago was that? He said eight years. and I said, "We did have it." So, we have talked about this about getting the word out
081and I know you're doing the videos that are great, but we still everybody needs to get the word out. We offer so much for workforce development and we've just got to make sure that people in our community know about it and we'll continue to work on that together. I look forward to it. But you're doing a great job. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Brown and Dr. Locky. I've been with you since um student on the mall. Am I Senator Too? Am I dating myself? Dating me. It's been great. I'm still in touch with some of your students. They they have flourish. They have their own businesses now and doing really great and they remind me of you. Uh I'm looking at um the Perkins loan and I'm looking at one of the programs that we
082have practical nursing one and two know the fees are going up with them. Uh two questions. Is this an out- of pocket uh for the students and will they still be covered by program? Sure. So, practical nursing um has a fee associated with those fees go directly to fees that we pay for things like screenings that are required um kits items that they take home. David does a great job coming up with that figure. Um those are out of pocket to families. Now, some of our adult students because remember that's some high school students and then some adult students. Our adult students are not eligible for this funding. Um, so when we talk about Carl Perkins, it really is separate from those fees. Those fees charge things that kids walk away with that they take
083home with them that become part of their kit. Their stethoscopes, you know, things like that that are are there um background checks that they have to have to do. And that's for the adults and for the the high school students. But Carl Perkins still supports every student in that classroom because Carl Perkins still supports professional development for all of our teachers in that program. It still supports industry credentials. It still supports the equipment that are in those labs. So when we think about this money, it's it's very separate from those items. So the items that you see on that fee schedule are not actually eligible for Perkins money, if that makes sense, because they go with the student. They're considered consumable. It does make sense. And thank you so much for clearing that up because
084I still promote uh the CTE programs that we have with individuals that are out and letting them know that it's still open. Uh this program has really been a significant uh contribution to our communities. I was talking with a young man last night welding. He received welding. He is now in Baltimore welding on the the whole ship doing those things. uh one of our buticians that went through your school. She has her own business now and she's doing really really great. Uh talked with some of the nurses that went through your school. They have their own businesses for traveling nurses and and things like that. I just got to say that this program has significantly touched these uh students in this community and they have allowed that has allowed them to stay here and work
085and create their own businesses. Thank you so much for all that you do. That's our goal, Miss Dwire. I just wanted to repeat on that number. You said 14,4,540. Miss Williams is correct. I was short 100. It was on the spot. 540 last year. Wow. Not that that's anything to and 171 different ones. Yeah. That's awesome. And what do you think is uh as far as students and their interests right now? what is trending the most in well you know we we still cons continue to see a huge interest in welding. Um we are getting ready in July to open our third welding lab and and you know have a a packet memo coming out to principles about sending kids over for that introduction to welding class that you all approved in the fall of
08624. Um we're super excited about that Navy funded opportunity coming on board because we're still seeing more than 100 kids turned away from that program and this is going to serve those kids. So, we're super excited about that. Um, continue to see heavy interest in AI, cyber security, um, more interest than we've seen in the past in some of the financial services. Um, so it's it's really interesting especially to see how AI is molding um, changes in how everyone does business and how those technologies are going to come into the programs we already have. I see our engineering kids um using AI to um write tool paths for their CNC routers that are routing out like complicated designs and doing manufacturing. So um it's really exciting for me to be on the cusp of seeing
087kids learn how to use these next these new technologies and not have them think about them as something that's going to put them out of a job as something that's going to make them really stand out to get the next job. Absolutely. Thanks so much. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you for everything you do. All right. We are on achievement data and finishing strong. And we welcome Matthew Delaney, chief academic officer, Dr. Lorina Kelly, executive director of elementary teaching and learning, and Thomas Quinn, executive director of secondary teaching and learning. Good afternoon, Chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, school board members, and Dr. Robertson. I'm Matt Delaney. I'm the chief schools officer as well as the interim chief academic officer in Wickby. This evening is Dr. Lorena Kelly, executive director of elementary
088teaching and learning and Mr. Tom Quinn, executive director of secondary teaching and learning. There's going to be essentially four parts to the presentation this evening. It will begin with a review of our achievement data journey, which will include a summary of our preK through 12 strategic priorities. I'll turn the presentation over to Dr. Kelly will share data specific to elementary and then it will go to Mr. Quinn who will share secondary data. I'd like to emphasize the data you will see this evening is by no means final data. For example, you're going to see beginning of the year and midyear vows data as students just participated in end of year vows data assessments prior to spring break. On the secondary level, Mr. Quinn will share some fall so results. Just want to note that not
089all students participated in so testing for the t fall term. Uh we'll end the presentation with the plan we have in place to finish the year strong. As we enter the final nine weeks, we take an all hands- on deck mentality to provide schools with what they need to ensure all students are able to perform on the end of the year assessments, whether it's the SOS, APs, final exams, or even industry certifications. As Dr. Laka just shared at our last schoolboard meeting there was a discussion during the fourth quarter schoolboard agenda forecast regarding the frequency of student data presentations. So we just wanted to take a brief moment to share presentations that we've done this year that included student achievement data. In the first quarter we had a presentation on so pass rates. Also we
090had a presentation on DTO's core content which included information on social studies achievement data. Also in the first quarter, a secondary math sequencing presentation was conducted that included math achievement data. In the second quarter, you received information on the K through three literacy screener that compassed to 2030 navigational markers which included benchmark data on the percentage of students meeting state standards in reading and math. In January, the school board received information on the state accountability results as well as data on college coursework and readiness data to include the PSAT, the SAT, AP, and dual enrollment. In the third quarter, the school board approved a multi-year school support plans and federally identified schools. In this meeting, schoolboard members were invited to attend school support meetings, which provide an inside look at how student achievement drives student
091instruction. Um, Mr. Cummings, we appreciate your endorsement of that process. During the middle school schedule update, we provide a date on the number of middle school students receiving middle plans, I'm sorry, receiving reading plans as well as the number of students receiving instructional support while also being able to continue an elective course due to the new schedule. Next month, we're going to provide the school board with information on how we are finalizing our use of all in Virginia funds to support student achievement. And you'll also have a presentation in May to discuss the work we have done with targeted support and improvement schools. The teaching and learning framework wheel on the slide should be familiar to you all. It really guides our work with regard to teaching, planning, teaching, and assessments. But responding to student
092needs is really our year- round priority. We use data to guide planning, instruction, and assessment, ensuring our response is targeted and effective. As shared in previous schoolboard presentations, school support meetings are centered on data and give school structured opportunities to share progress and assess support. This work spans all grade levels from preK to 12 and across all subject areas. Outlined on this slide are the preK through 12 strategic priorities for the year. To support our schools, we we will continue providing sight specific support to finish the 2526 school year strong while maintaining the key actions driving growth. We have aligned resources, routines, and approaches across core supplemental and intervention programs. Student reading plan resources like progress monitoring tools have been developed for K through8 teachers. For K through eight teachers receive professional learning and resources
093to support each step, including monitoring and adjusting based on student growth. Evidence-based literacy instruction remains a priority. As we shared in a previous presentation, the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Literacy Act requirements outlines an approved list of identified resources, each of which is reviewed and determined as affected by the VDOE. Our school board approved literacy plan identifies the specific evidence based resources that we have selected. Early literacy support staff who provide 2.5 hours of intervention for high-risisk K through three students with reading plans have received targeted professional learning on differentiating within the curriculum with an added emphasis on supporting our English lang language learners and our students with disabilities. Kindergarten teaching assistants also receive focused professional learning and resources. TA led small groups begin the third week of school. TA's trained during pre-ervice
094week, observe structured literacy lessons and then replicate those lessons with small groups. Educators analyze data across all subjects and use that data that analysis to design intentional instruction that moves students toward proficiency and beyond. Detail and do have taken a very strategic approach to professional learning for our coaches and administrators. This ensures consistent coherent messaging so teachers can stay focused without being overloaded by multiple initiatives. Everyone understands the priorities and the goal of improving student outcomes. Finally, improved collaboration with English uh ESL and SWD team, student with disability teams continues to be an area of focus. Professional learning is centered on meeting the needs of all learners with across with alignment across specialists. That also includes our gifted resource teachers. So at this time I'd like to get us to some specifics and I'll turn
095the presentation over to Dr. Loranda Kelly, executive director of elementary teaching and learning. Good evening. As we transition to elementary data, I will share a review of the assessments that we're going to discuss this evening. I will begin with the preK Virginia language and literacy screener or vowels, the K3 vows, and the four five vows. As you can see from the slide, the fourth and fifth grade implementation is new this year. For math, I will share information from the Northwest Evaluation Association measures of academic progress or the NWA map. I will conclude with the fifth grade science and social studies learner benchmarks. And we will begin with our youngest learners and the Virginia language and literacy screener for preK students. The prek vows assesses multiple foundational literacy skills. All prek students take the assessment. The
096assessment reports data using three bands, beginning, growing, or strong. This slide includes the percent of students in the strong band at the beginning of the year and at the midyear. As you can see from the data on the slide, the percent of students entering the strong band between the beginning of the year and midyear has increased in all skills. Our students are moving in a positive direction. The percentage of increase ranges from 17% in letter name to 30% in beginning expressive sound. As we have shared in previous presentations, data are analyzed to the class and student level and the department of teaching and learning and school leadership work together to provide support, aligned resources, and relevant professional learning to foster the movement of more students into the strong band by the end of the year.
097The next few slides will share Virginia language and literacy screener data for K through three. Many of you are familiar with this assessment and know the transition from PALS to bowels. Like the preK screener, this assessment is designed to evaluate early literacy skills and provides educators with insights on students areas of strength and areas of need to support students with a strong foundation of literacy skills. This slide provides the kindergarten vows data. All kindergarten students participate in the vowels assessment with the exception of students who have an IEP exempting participation. Student scores determine a band of risk, high, moderate, or low. Students who score in the high band of risk have a student reading plan and receive 2 and 1/2 hours of intervention per week. There are 610 student reading plans at this grade level.
098Our goal is to move all students to the low band of risk. The bar graph on this slide shows the percent of students in the low band of risk from the beginning to the middle of the year. As you can see, we do have much to be proud of. The percent of students in the low band of risk has increased from 51 to 74% from beginning of the year to the middle of the year for all students. Students with disabilities experienced a 15% increase and English language learners saw a 23% increase. This slide provides first grade vowels data. Information is presented in the same manner as kindergarten. All students are assessed and the same bands of risks are used. Students in the high band of risk receive intervention and have a student reading plan. At
099this grade level, there are 625 reading plans. As you know, it is our goal to move all students toward the low band of risk. This bar graph shows the percent of students in the low band of risk from the beginning of the year to midyear. We're moving in the right direction. with the percent of students in the low band of risk increasing from 58 to 71% for all students and with students with disabilities and English language learners experiencing a 12% and 15% increase. We will move on to second grade and like KM1 all second grade students participate in vowels at the beginning and mid year. The same bands of risks noted previously are used and students in the high band of risk receive intervention and a reading plan. At this grade level, there are 783
100student reading plans. This group of students demonstrated a strong gain with a 20% increase from the low band of risk for all students from 49 to 69%. Students with disabilities had a 15% increase and English language learners had a 22% increase. Throughout the previous slides, we've highlighted that all students took the screener and I highlighted the percent of students in the strong or low band of risk. Beginning in third grade, there's a transition from all students taking the assessment to students who've demonstrated reading risk. This means that in third grade, students take vows at the beginning of the year if they ended second grade in a high band of risk, are new to Virginia Beach, or if administrator or teachers would like additional data to support student progress. This results in a smaller number of
101of students taking the assessment. And then we transition from a focus on low band of risk to high band of risk. In the previous slides, we were looking for an increase in the percent of students moving to the stronger low band. Since we're now moving to a focus on the high band of risk, we're working to decrease the number of students in the high band. So, we're looking at a decrease. This slide includes grade theory val data. As explained on the previous slide, we're moving to a focus on the high band of risk. At the beginning of the year, 21% of third graders run the high band of risk. At midyear, this decrease to 14%. This decrease shows positive growth and progress towards our goal. Students with disabilities and English language learners also demonstrated a
102decline in the numbers of the high band of risk. We're seeing movement in the right direction. As a reminder, students in the high band of risk are supported with a student reading plan. And at this grade level, we have 726. As we transition to the vows for grades four and five, I'd like to remind you that this is the first year of implementation of this screener. This was shared during the update in quarter 2 for the lit for literacy. The intent of the screener is to identify relative strengths and weaknesses in specific literacy scales. It is designed to provide a better understanding of why students are experiencing difficulty with reading comprehension as indicated by standards of learning or so performance. Like grade three, not all students take this assessment. Students take the vows if they
103fail the standards of reading test, standards of learning reading test, pass with a real accommodation, or if a teacher administrator have a concern. Unlike the K3 screener, the 45 screener does not provide a band of risk. The subtest data is shared in three categories. Well below, approaching and adequate. Like grade three, we will focus on well below and a decrease in that band would indicate that students are moving in the positive direction. This slide provides information for word reading and spelling for fourth grade. As you can see, there is movement in the right direction with an incre with a decrease in the percent of students in well below across across both subtests and student groups. In this grade level, students who fail the so receive a student reading plan at and there are 803 student
104reading plans. This slide provides information for fifth grade. As you can see, there's strong movement in the right direction with a decrease in the percent of students in the well below category across both subtips and student groups. At this grade level, there are 654 student reading plans. You will hear more about the grades K through sorry 6 through 8 first year of implementation with Mr. Qu. We focus on literacy and I will now shift to math. I will share a brief update of the Northwest Evaluation Association meth measures of academic progress or the NWA MAP assessment. As a reminder, we shared during the quarter 1 DTAP core update that MAP growth assessments are online computer adaptive assessments that determine growth from one text test to the next. The MAP growth measures what a student knows
105regardless of grade level. It also measures academic growth over time, allowing student progress to be tracked throughout the school year and across multiple years. There are two important measures we want to highlight this evening. The first is the RIT score. When students take the test, they receive a RIT, which is a specific unit that shows a student's current level of understanding. It's measured as a stable scale like a ruler. So, the number means the same thing regardless of grade level. A higher RIT score indicates more advanced math skills and concepts. Because the scale doesn't change, you can track growth over time by comparing scores from dis different testing periods. You may recall we reviewed this information during that October school board presentation and we also highlighted the percentiles. You can see on the slide that
106data are reported with five percentile bands, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Students fall within a percentile based on their writ score. At the elementary level, students in grades two through five take the map three times a year. It's our goal to increase the number of students in the top two percentile bands, 61st and above. Over 50% of our students score within the top two percentiles. This means that slightly over 50% of our students perform better in the winter than 61% of students nationwide with the same starting RIT score, same grade level, and same numbers number of weeks of instruction. Schools just finished their third and last administration of this assessment right before break. Teachers are using this data in combination with data they have from other assessments to select instructional areas of focus to
107develop lessons based on student need and support students in meeting proficiency and beyond as they prepare for end of the year assessments like the standards of learning test. Lastly, we'll take a look at fifth grade science and social studies. These benchmarks these benchmark um assessments are different than the assessments that we've been discussing throughout this presentation. These are internal assessments. Um these are created to provide fifth grade teachers with information about fourth and fifth grade standards of learning that will be um assessed on the fifth grade science so test and on the Virginia studies so test that our fifth take graders currently take. As you know those tests are rigorous. So these questions embed the science and engineering practices, data analysis, experimental design, modeling and technology enhanced items. You can see from the snip on
108the screen that teachers analyze this data by standard and by student. This is the data that they use to determine the learning experiences that they're creating to remediate and extend learning for all of their learners from now until the end of the year to meet them where they are and to push them towards proficiency and beyond. Not only to prepare them for the standards of learning test but to prepare them for the next grade level. So in conclusion, I want to highlight that this is the type of realtime data that teachers are using daily to make sure that they're creating the most powerful learning experiences for our students and it is a all hands- on deck approach to ensure that our students are ready for end of the year assessments and for their next school
109year. I will transition to Mr. Quinn. All right, we'll transition our focus to our secondary sites. As we begin our data view, we'll separate high school and middle school, reviewing the items in the order listed on the screen. Note, the frequency of testing opportunities varies greatly from the middle school format and will be explained at the conclusion of the high school data portion. I will pause to provide a moment to review the list. On this slide, you will see our term 1 fall 2025 algebra 1 geometry and algebra 2 so assessment data for high school. Despite the full implementation of the new more rigorous math standards, scores have stayed relatively steady. It is important to note that results previously shared from last fall are no longer an applesto apples comparison because they were still under
110the old standards at that time. We are continuing to refine pacing, sequencing, organization, and assessment quality through the development of several committees comprised of strong teachers for the courses listed on the screen and beyond. Committees have been meeting the past few months to drive the meaningful full work forward, which also includes the launch of several new textbooks this summer. This work will support the refined math sequence approved by the board this past fall and is set for full implementation during the 2627 school year. Recall in the fall, the Department of Planning, Innovation, Accountability provided a comprehensive overview of our 24-25 performance. On this chart, we'll examine term one results for the end of course or EOCC, reading and writing assessments. These results reflect students who completed an SO assessment, the end of a 4x4 course,
111or completed a retake of assessments from a previous test administration. This includes 1,729 reading testers and 1,794 writing testers. This does not include students currently enrolled in a year-long English 11 course. To provide context, EOCC reading for term 1, 2025 tested on the old standards, while the current term of 2026 tested on the new standards. As with mathematics, it is important to recognize the new standards have been proven to or have proven to be significantly more rigorous. Despite the change to the new rig more rigorous standards, all students increased by 1%, our students with disabilities by 3% and our ELELLL students by an impressive 16%. On the EOC writing exam, we saw a slight dip of just under 1% for all students, around 1 and a.5% for our students with disabilities, where our ELLL students
112held strong, earning a fivepoint increase. The ELLL specifically made significant progress in both reading and writing following increased collaboration between the English uh team and our ELLL departments providing targeted professional learning to our ELLL teachers on unpacking the new English standards as well as professional learning on high impact differentiation strategies to our literacy leaders who support the needs of teachers throughout the buildings. Moving on to social studies for our term one update. We developed a focus on four key areas. transition to the 2023 standards, teaching social studies as a skill, bringing clarity conversations into PLC's, and using data to guide instruction. At the high school level, you'll see benchmark data for world, sorry, you will see so data for world history 1, world history 2, world geography, and VAUS. Our social studies team is working
113with world history 2 and teachers and PLC's to review common misconception, keys to instructional design, and targeted supports and next steps. As we move into term two, high school teachers will begin fully implementing the 2023 standards for the first time as students will be assessed on those new standards. Then why is it going funny? All right. Finally, our term one LBC2 results reflect the core focuses of social studies as shared during our October school board meeting. Recall that LEBC2 requires students to achieve three goals. successfully pass the course, master the majority of the standards, pass three of four performance tasks. Know that student performance tasks are evaluated by a committee which does not allow the teacher of record to score their own students work. With success the successful expansion of the program this year to
114Cox and Princess High School plans to on board our remaining schools consisting of Kellum, Ocean Lakes, and Salem already in progress and scheduled to launch this fall. Here you'll see our term one fall 2025 high school science data for biology, chemistry, and earth science. Note that during term two, the SOS for chemistry and earth science will shift to the new standards, no longer allowing us to compare apples to apples. Biology scores are comparable to last year. Highlights from the great work we're seeing in the schools include an increased focus on vocabulary strategies and graphing, utilizing division assessments to drive instructional change, and implementing of building thinking classroom structures and discourse strategies to increase the quality of academic discussions. We are seeing increases in chemistry and earth science. However, it is important to note that the
115number of test takers in those courses is relatively small. Both courses will begin assessing a new set of standards this spring. But due to low number of students taking the chemistry so we have opted to shift our focus to our local assessments to monitor student progress and provide targeted support. We'll now transfer to our middle school updates. For middle school, we will focus on information related to year one of the Virginia Literacy Act roll out, examine Val's data, and provide a brief NWA map update. We want to remind the board and the public that middle school is in the inaugural year of the BLA and we'd be remiss if we did not extend our sincere gratitude to our elementary counterparts who've graciously shared their insight and wisdom from their first year, provided ongoing support and
116feedback and collaborated closely to align our work K through 8. From central office staff to our building principles and to the amazing teachers in the classroom, this has been a true team effort. Beginning one year ago in partnership with the department of school leadership, the secondary detail team launched a professional learning series focused on implementing the VA. From unpacking the legislation to establishing clear roles and responsibilities, a process for screening students, developing student reading plans, and providing intentional levels of intervention, the partnership has been one that has experienced tremendous growth. We want to publicly thank our building principles, our reading specialists, our literacy teachers, and literacy coaches for their leadership on this work. They have been nothing short of amazing. The vow midyear screening was given to 2,968 students with existing reading plans and students
117enrolled after the fall's val fall vows window without data to support grade level literacy proficiency. An example that would be standardized test scores. The midyear subtests include encoding, better known as spelling, decoding, better known as word reading and fluency. The data reporting the categories include well below, approaching, and adequate in areas of spelling and word reading, which are set by vowels based on the number of items correct on grade level material. In grades six through 8, a total of 3,213 students were assessed on the midyear vows during this first year of implementation. As mentioned on the previous slide, the Val's midyear or winter screening was given to a total of 3,213 students in grades 6 through 8 with 200 2,960 of those currently being supported with a reading plan. Keep in mind as we review
118this data is much like the grade four or five data shared earlier by Dr. Kelly. In short, we want to see a decrease in the percentage from the fall to the midyear. Overall, we saw positive movement across categories in both subtests. In the spelling subtest, we saw 258 students move out of the well below range, which included 67 students with disabilities and 37 are English language learners. For the word reading test subtest, we saw 68 students move out of the well-blow range, which included 201 English language learners. As division, we review this data alongside progress monitoring observational feedback to identify areas of support for specific sites, evaluate and adjust interventions, and highlight areas of professional learning to build the capacity of our educators and administrators in meeting the needs of our struggling readers. Now share
119a brief update of the NWA MAP assessment. As shared by our elementary colleagues, the NW MAP growth assessment follows the same format at the secondary level using an online computer adaptive assessment that determines growth from one test to the next. The tests are administered for grades 6 through nine for reading in the fall, winter, and spring. In the year of reading, just over half of our students performed as well or better than 61% of the students nationwide. And that includes those with the same starting red score, same grade level, and the same number of weeks of instruction. Our ELELLL students again led a highlight in grade 8 with a 5% 5% improvement in reading. As we shift to math again, the NW map assessment follows the same general format as the reading version. The results
120show that slightly more than half of our grade six through algebra 1 students performed as well or better than 61% of the students nationwide with the same RIT score, same grade level, and same number of weeks of instruction and math. The percentage of students in this category increased from fall to midyear for all by four to five percentage points while our students with disabilities English language learners experience between a one and three point gain. While NW MAP data provides a perspective on our performance on the national level, it is through our local assessments that we gain more actionable feedback. Shown on the slide here is just one key example of the level of depth we collaborate with our teachers to monitor student progress, identify their strengths and areas for growth and drive instructional change. These
121benchmark assessments, as you see, exist across all core courses grades 6 through 12. The data is accessible to PLC's following each test administration with most ad being pulled each Friday, allowing each site to analyze their students performance against that of division. To assist with item analysis, each spreadsheet contains hyperlinks to the specific standards and objectives that provide teachers and administrators greater detail into where remediation and/or enrichment is needed. Coordinators and specialists from the Department of Teaching and Learning collaborate across division with administrators and teachers through PLC's to examine trends, respond to student needs, identify key resources, and establish next steps. This plan, teach, assess cycle allows for a calculated response at each stage and best serves our ability to respond to each site's needs in real time. As we return from spring break, we recognize
122the need to pick up right where we left off. On this slide, you'll see an outline for a finish strong plan highlighted by the partnerships between docsel deto building principles, sitebased coaches, school improvement specialists, teachers, teacher assistants, and tutors. We'll continue our focus on the use of foreigna, review resource allocations to consider bolstering support where needed, provide additional funding for before and after school tutoring, and use various grants to support AP boot camps as well as students preparing for IB testing. In short, it will continue to be an all hands-on deck effort as mentioned earlier to ensure all students, teachers, and sites are prepared for a successful finish. As you can see, the department teacher continues to part across offices, schools, and sites to ensure all students provide the opportunity to come future ready. Our
123team stands by to answer what questions you might have. Miss Rogers, thank you so much everybody for the presentation. Since it was a huge presentation, I may have several questions if that's all right. Um, I'm going to start with Mr. Delaney. Um you guys talked about I mean you specifically talked u when you were on slide five about sight specific support. Um is that for every site or it do you guys just do sites that are more in need? Like how does that work? It works with the comprehensive utilization data. Really? We take a very hard look at where schools need support, what specific schools needed based on a variety of indicators. Not only just how a student's performing, but we may have issues at some schools. for example, of a T trial on FMLA
124or a staffing concern, right, where the data starts suggesting serious gaps and then we flood resources there that can prove uh that include support for the coaches in that building and the other teachers that are involved. So, it isn't just where we look at one school, we then analyze what other resources they have. So, right, but I guess my question is are we giving uh site specific support just to our in need schools or does it go out to all of our schools? Yes, it makes sense what you're asking. Every school has some level of need so that we dissect what specific need is at that school. So we don't make assumption and I'm not saying you are, but I'm answering your question. Sometimes schools make assumptions of what schools are high performing, which ones
125are not. And as a result of that, some students at high performing schools that are in need of support could be overlooked. We have not taken that approach for several years, which is where we talk about the school support process. The resources go based on student need and specifically what the data says. Okay, that's good. And that was what kind of where I was asking when you talked about sight specific support. I was like, is that every site or is that some sites? So, that's what I was asking. And then the other thing you talked about was um intervention and differentiation. Is are we um doing specific um professional development for differentiation for our for our staff? Um with regards to that or are we just doing like um uh like you know as we
126see a need that we're doing that kind of uh uh instruction for uh differentiated instruction. Yeah. Well, we always doing professional writing around differentiated responses and you know not to sound corny but that's what we say every school every student every day. Every student has a need. Uh we do significant training with our building level principles and our coaches and I'm going to shout this out because Mr. Quinn talked about it briefly. For example, you could go to every middle school league meeting this year and you would have seen the principal sitting with their reading specialists analyzing student data and making decisions specifically to the need of that student. Is it an implementation issue of that program? Is there other supports that's needed that goes down a level and Dr. Kelly could give specifics as
127well as the professional learning we provide teachers on differentiated approach to what's in front of us. The importance of small group instruction as you know comes out of that data component. So you're hearing a theme in all my answers. We let the data drive the response and differentiated the support and that's in a variety of our data indicators. Okay. And and and I guess I'm asking about the differentiated instruction as as I go out and do observations, every teacher's understanding of how to deliver differentiated instruction is very different. So that's why I'm kind of asking are we giving some teachers who are in more need more specific supports with regard to differentiated instruction because we can't meet our student need then we're going to lose them and it could sometimes be based on the teacher's
128understanding of how to deliver that. Yes. So we yes we are given that level of professional learning but you I chuckled when you said it because I think back to my teaching days where people were confused differentiation and felt like you had to do something different for 30 kids in your room right and that's the the work we do around data analysis and how you so the one the one chart that Mr. Quinn showed and and Dr. Kelly showed that broke down the granular level. That's where you really see the data that provides that differentiated support because they can analyze by standard when students are struggling and then small group those students. Okay. Thank you so much for that. Okay. So now Dr. Kelly, I'm so sorry but like says big presentation, lots of people.
129So Dr. Kelly, I wanted to ask you about veils. So, cuz I was a little bit confused because all students take the ex the the veils testing, but I know that not all students are in the veils program like it was with PALS. If you don't meet a specific uh you know whatever grade so to speak within that val testing then you are then given the um specific instruction. Correct. Correct. So then the on these charts on the left is everybody. But is it on the next two just for the kids that had the instruction? Like I was confused on how this data was laid out. Let me share that with you. Okay. So um the all student group just shows all the students who've taken the assessment. So in K1 and two all students
130take the assessment. And you're exactly right. Students who I are are in the high band of risk are the students who through the Erie the early intervention reading initiative they received the two and a half hours of intervention per week and they have a student reading plan. Right. We broke down students with disabilities and English language learners specifically because that's the that's an area that we're really focusing on. So when you were talking about differentiation and support um we have literacy leaders in every building. We have math coaches doing their professional learning communities. We look at the bowels data. We look at a variety of data and we answer those questions. Who are the students that are getting it? Who are the students that are not? And we discuss what that instruction is going to
131look like per the student need. Okay. And the and the reason I'm asking about how this is because you show the how many students have the reading plans based on the results of the testing and and I find it interesting, but I think well I shouldn't say what I think. um that like in kindergarten we have 610 students on a literacy plan. First grade it goes up to 625. 7th grade or second grade it goes up even more. And where we see a drop is in fifth grade. It actually like it goes up it goes down a little bit from second to third but then it goes up again in fourth but then there's a significant drop in fifth grade. I am wondering if this is because just of growth in the students. They're young,
132they're coming in, they don't always understand what's going on, and then as they're going towards middle school, we see that drop or if it's something else. So, that's I guess what my question is when I was looking at this data because it's hard to really see when you're you're showing all the students that are taking the exam, but not all of them are getting the the um you know, the high-risk stuff. So, And it's important that we give these students in high-risisk those plans. So I I didn't know if we know what the reason is. Well, to be completely honest with you, this is the first year that fourth and fifth grade are using the bow assessment. And so a lot of this information, we are doing exactly what you just said. We are monitoring
133and we're going to use this continue to analyze it to see what trends we see in the future. Um, well, I would be unable to say exactly what the reason was at this time. Okay. And then the other question is for 17. This snippet, this doesn't actually tell me anything, right? It's just like a a p a picture of what the teacher see, but this is not showing me data. Like, okay. Okay. I'm not supposed to. It's not supposed to do that. It's so show the example that a teacher looks at this and individually she'd be able to tell by the student. Mhm. But this is not telling me our fifth graders for social studies and science. Do they do they not have we don't have information on them yet? No, no, no. We do
134not um we do not give like a score for the assessment. What we do is we look to see per the standard who's who are the students who are getting the standard accurate who it's an internal assessment. It doesn't go into the gradebook. Doesn't have any kind of we don't use it that way. But okay. And that's but Miss Rogers, it does provide data. It does provide data, right? No, and I figured that, but what we got I I couldn't figure and some of that was a little bit intentional to show that you guys can see the big picture, right? This is the down to the dirty level of what a teacher really values formative assessment data to truly drive instruction around the standard and what percentage of students have mastered that standard is indicated
135on those those charts. So, right, we understand why it's not as clear, but we wanted to show you guys kind of a report that they would utilize. Okay. All right. And then Thank you. I appreciate it, Dr. Kelly. All right. Um, and then I'm sorry. You're good, M. Rogers. Can we move on to Mr. Cummings and then circle back around in case he has some of the same questions? It's all good. Um, I'm going to follow up with probably some of my data specific questions, uh, just over email. Um, but I just wanted to just make some brief comments that, you know, I appreciate the emphasis on the support meetings. if folks on this on the board would love to see how how does this look in day-to-day implementation, you know, and how does this
136look in delivery of our schools that the support meeting and I know I've shared this before um was very it just takes this dense you know uh uh this data intense uh driven presentation and breaks it down and shows how it's implemented and I thought that was very pivotal to myself as a board member to from the, you know, from theory to practice. And so I encourage my colleagues to reach out and to attend one of these meetings just so they could see what it looks like in in real action. Um, and so I just wanted to draw a couple things and point out a couple things that I'm very proud of to see that the CEO address this year. You know, we see quantified impact of our prek programs and how that helps our
137student literacy. And so I'm excited to know that we are expanding our prek um programs because you know the question that I have I think or the communities presented uh at times is you know what do we do with this bucket of schools that is allegedly you know not performing in the way that they need to be performing in and how do we get them to a place where they need to thrive and survive and to be um on a on a journey to academic achievement. Well, that takes investment, right? And it takes investment in early education, in expanding our programs and from pre preK. It takes investment in our summer programs. Um, you know, so we don't see summer loss of learning. And so I was very happy to see, you know, the data
138that we have that we're seeing successful outcomes in our programs. And the questions that I always have is how do we take something good and scale it to ensure that we are on a track in Virginia Beach um to really I think drive home uh education for all of our our students and create them you know give them a foundation to be lifelong learners. And it just made me just want to take a step back and just remind our board just, you know, how important it is these decisions that we make and how it impacts, you know, our community every single year and to keep those in your back pocket when we come to our budget time uh next year and talk about prek when we talk about summer programs. We can see the impact
139that it has. So wanted to share that words of wisdom and I will send some questions to Dr. Robertson is with house just about some data specific things but this is a very thorough pres presentation. I love seeing the different bands that you all have and how you're looking at and trying to solve problems um and you know driving making sure that all of our our kids are being set up for success. So thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Quinn. Um as you know we give thousands of AP exams each year. Um, for our viewing public, can you provide the window when we will start AP testing because I see I know the AP boot camps help prepare students for that. We start the first week of May. Okay. And it runs for about
140three weeks, you know, with different exams. Usually two given per day. Um, I don't have them all memorized. Uh, but I would say yeah, they're they're coming up quick and principles do well to reach out and they want money uh for funding for AP boot camps. We do a needs assessment because a lot of it is grant funded. So, we've been planning for this since probably about last August, September range. So, and we make adjustments. We hold back, you know, some extra funds for uh anybody that needs a little bit extra to make sure that they have the opportunity to provide tutoring for our kids. All right. Thank you. Yep. Miss Rogers, did you have any additional question? Yeah. What's up? Sorry, Mr. Quinn. on the information with regard to the maths testing. Mhm. This
141just shows what the percentiles are, but we don't have any information on here um here or in the elementary level. And sorry, Dr. Kelly. Um with regard to like growth with mass testing, do we usually like how many times a year do we do it? Because like that was I guess do we do it more than once a year? Three times a year. So fall, winter, and then uh so we but you guys just didn't include the growth from the fall winter or from the pushing. So um in short to keep this from being really long presentation, we focus just on where we are now, which is that the percentage of students hitting that 61. So I think Dr. Kelly did a good job of really highlighting pushing into that green and blue category that
142you saw on that slide. That's where we're trying to go. So when you look at where we are, getting the kids to move from the left side to the right side has been the focus and we're seeing that. Um Okay. Yeah. And I think um when you guys do this again, if you just show us that growth, that would be awesome because I think sometimes some of this information is a lot of overwhelming like this is how we do it and I just like I think oh well for me I just want to see where we're at. Like we started here now we're here. Okay, that's it. Thank you. And so, um, on that vein, um, I tried to look myself to find the data that correlates for some of these things from last year.
143And so, um, the year where we were last year, and I know it's not the same group of students, so I I know that it's not exact numbers, but I would like to know that we're trying to work towards improving. Well, I know we're working towards improving, but you know, whether or not the actions that we're taking towards progressing in the right direction are effective and um you know, where we might need to analyze something else. So, um I don't know if maybe you know where what date last year's presentation was. I can look that up on my own or I would just especially from kindergarten through um third grade. I would be very interested and that those comparison data numbers um you know reading on grade level in particular very important by grade three
144there's lots of statistical data showing the importance there and so um always hunkering down on that as you guys know. Miss M Miss Brown, can I offer maybe based on your your statement on knowing it's not the same students data that's sometimes really important and effective is that tracking data. Kindergarteners this year, first graders next year, second graders. What does that trend look like for that group? We do monitor that that at times as well and review that data to see is this a group of students that we are seeing that growth. So those are things we can also look to provide as well that gives you kind of a a view not again it's to your point it's not all the same students but it does allow us at the school level to say
145how did these kids perform last year they're now coming into second grade how did they do in third grade and we do take a look at some of those trends as well and if that data you know is available without being you know terribly burdensome on staff um that would definitely be also of interest but um I don't want you guys to spend hours and hours compiling that, but it it would be nice to see. So, yeah, Mr. Co Pepper, thank you. Um, I think you partially answered this, but I just want to make sure I understood it right. Um, my colleague asked you about how often these these are going. You said three times a year, right? Name app or I think so. Well, this is based on those two things, right? Everything in
146this presentation is based on those two things you just said. No, we have more data than that. For secondary, you have the so test as well. Uh because high school test by term as well as um the course of the year. Okay. So for the specific maps three times for vows is three times and for wells is just it just wants that's a whole another story. Well, it depends on what class and what format. Can be a 4x4 course. It'll be the spring depends if you're a senior. Uh yeah, right. We'll talk about that too. There's that as well. You see the low testing numbers in certain classes if you already earn your verified credits. So, okay, that does drive me to the real question which is like the slide 17 um you know the
147grafted it's just kind of a demo there. I'm just actually curious how often that's updated. The elementary one that's the one that's the one you gave was well 1709. Okay. Yeah. They're going to come up the winter benchmark. The winter benchmark. Correct. The one say we update that when the standards of learning are updated. So when we had new standards of learning, we created a new assessment that was aligned with the standards of learning assessment and it like I said it covers the fourth and fifth grade um objectives that the fifth graders take. So now we have that one. We of course analyze it each year to see if we need to make any tweaks to it. But that's what we do. Okay. is based on so you said it's based on the standards of
148learning that the students have to take and we look at the test blueprint for the fifth grade science so test which covers content that's taught both in the fourth grade and the fifth grade okay my question though was how often is that updated that sounds like kind of randomly oh the well that that that sheet and if I understood right when we were talking about it that's the one the teachers can look at and kind of have a that's the result like once the kids take it that shows who gets it Right. Who gets it wrong? Per question. Per question. Yeah. All right. Okay. Not as useful as I thought it was. Okay. Well, let me let me clarify one for you, Mr. Co Pepper, based on your question because I don't know what slide
149number is. It shut off. No, the next one, the high school, the secondary example that Mr. Quinn provided. That is one where a a content specific objective could be covered in a end of what you would see as like an end of a unit test. And it outlines exactly if you look at it on slide 33. If you're looking at that now, we're going in the weeds a little bit, but you ask a good question if you're okay with that. If you look at that slide, you will see where it says in there expressions and operations and the student will represent verbal quantitative uh situations and you see A and B. So that's strict standards right there of student achievement. Okay, the questions outlined across the top. I'm just if you take the test average
150and beside that you see EQ.1A that shows you that that question is designed to translate between verbal qualitative if you're following. So what that allows a teacher to do after they've given this assessment is see by looking at those scores which students performed well on it and who did not and then who may need assistance with that standard A with remediation or others and who does not. So where that's really important is it's different than kind of maybe how you and I grew up where everybody got the same review, a lot of people got the same response and you just moved on. In this example, this gives the teacher and a group of teachers collaboratively sitting across, I'll just say across seventh grade to look at a standard and go, man, our kids really missed
151it here and how are we going to support them or these kids nailed it. Now what are we moving on to next? And we're not spending as much time on that. So when you talk about updating that standard and information can get updated a lot more often than what Dr. Kelly shared on the benchmark. So you saw two separate examples there. One on benchmark and one that's more active in terms of assessment data. So they can then come through just one more thing. They can come back and spiral back through to reassess students on that standard to see if they now have it and then they can move on or maybe there's three more that still need additional support through targeted intensive tutoring. as Mr. Williams asked about earlier today. So that's a comprehensive reason
152of why we think that data is very effective for us. Okay. Well, that's that's getting to the reason I was asking these questions because you were talking earlier about u Miss Rogers asked you a question about you call it targeted support. I thought you uh you made some examples that you know were kind of acute problems like you know a teacher's out sick but you also made some some comments about not performing here and there and that that's why I'm asking these questions kind of trying to get an idea for how you're making those decisions at the staff level uh that you're seeing a performance problem and how often you're able to update that. Yeah, in this instance of the one I just shared with you, it gets updated often around the standards because here
153we are. I think our first so is on March or is on May 13th. I think it's fourth grade reading, maybe fifth grade reading. So, you're looking at right now they're doing a lot of this work to see this mastery of standards that are going to be assessed and ensuring that they're differentiating that support. So student A is working on areas of weaknesses, student B is working on areas of weaknesses, and it may not require a a comprehensive whole group review if certain kids don't need that. And that's where this data stays live to a degree that I can return to it and see how students have progressed in that end. Both at the grade level, but I believe also the DO group coaches can see that across the division level as well. And that
154goes back to Miss Rogers question about how do you then decide where to go in that allows us to look third grade at this school, fourth grade at this school. So that that's the we knew that one might be a little bit where people go I don't understand what that is there for but we wanted to allows for this dialogue. So I appreciate you asking the question. Well partially ask it too because at the previous meeting one of my colleagues asked a question about getting these kinds of presentations more often. It sounds to me like, and you kind of got dogpiled. I felt like basically saying that's not possible, but it sounds to me like you're doing that. Well, that's the reason for the one slide that we provided that it Dr. Robertson, I apologize
155for interrupting you, but Dr. Robertson kind of shared it. He didn't think that was a huge issue because we do them all the time anyway at this be, you know, and that's why I had that one slide that outlined all the ones we do. Yeah. What's you do it all the time? I'm not sure that we get that information all the time. Well, me personally, yeah, this is a team. Yeah. I mean, that's our Yeah, that's our world. Yes. Exactly. Right. Yeah, that's our world. Okay. Okay, that's my question. I appreciate it. Thank you. And um I appreciate everything you do. Thank you so much for this presentation. And I just wanted to make one final comment that as a parent of a first grader that has also children in high school. I find these
156screeners to be very comprehensive and very useful. Um, you know, my high school kids are doing fine, but I feel like, you know, back when I was a single parent and they were in elementary school, that that would have been really useful to have all that information before, too. So, I'm really glad that we're providing that um for our students and our families so that they can understand where their kids are at. Thank you. Thank you. We are now on to the 2026 VSBA Success and Innovation Awards. Welcome Dr. Sarah Lockett, Director of Technical and Career Education. Thank you. And good evening, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chairwoman Williams, members of the board, and Dr. Robertson. Thank you for having me back again tonight. And tonight I'm really excited to share um with you our nomination for
157the 2026 Virginia School Board Association Showcases for Success and Showcasing Innovation Awards. Let's see. Showcases for Success from the Virginia School Board Association honors outstanding achievements and innovative practices in public education across the Commonwealth. This year the team um chose to spotlight the expedition port of call career immersion event. In addition to submitting this event for the showcases of success, we are here this evening to seek support in further nominating this program for the VSBA showcasing innovation award. The nomination process consists of selecting one innovative program or project, answering five application questions about the nominated program, seeking school board approval for the nomination, and then submitting it electronically by April 17th, 2026. So, back on February 24th, every seventh grade student in Virginia Beach was invited to take part in the Expedition Port of Call
158event sponsored by the Regional Maritime Training System. Uh so, I want you to please join me in watching a short video recap of the nominated event. Uh this is a wonderful example of workforce uh development and action in Virginia Beach. This is the inaugural expedition port of call. 100,000 square ft of career exploration and immersion. It's not a career fair. The idea is that our students get an opportunity to have a hands-on career engagement opportunity. Over a 100 industry partners here to engage with our entire seventh grade class. Our philosophy is to work through the entire academic journey with our young people. When we do that, we're thinking about exploration, not just seeing something, but really engaging with it and having a hands-on experience as part of finding what their career curiosity is. What is
159this local truck called? The maritime industry has an enormous footprint in Hampton Roads. So, they had a major hand in putting this event together, hence the name port of call. Today, the goal of the Virginia Maritime Association was to really let middle schoolers know that maritime exists. Our goal is to give the students a look at what they could do in the future by setting up uh with the Port of Virginia and with some other companies to see how the supply chain works and where they could potentially fill in openings in the future. The supply chain in Interotal Logistics is the second largest revenue generator in Virginia. A lot of kids and even adults don't necessarily understand how the products got to your shelf. It's showcasing the granular careers that are in the maritime supply
160chain actually provide wellpaying jobs that don't necessarily need $90,000 worth of, you know, tuition or or college debt. I believe that bringing this information to the youth will help provide the future of the supply chain. And there's so many things that you can do in the community. We are part of the traffic safety unit, fatal crash team. We're also with this big van behind us is our crisis negotiations van. We're cross trained as that. Coming out here with our youth services unit across the way there just to show the kids what we have to offer in the Virginia Police Department. We love doing these events, being able to give back to the community. Obviously, trying to tell these kids, one, it's a great career with the city, but also a lot of fun with what
161you're making. Today, what we're doing with the kids is we're teaching them a couple things about banking. We're also teaching them how to write checks. A lot of people say, "Why bother writing checks?" Well, it's still an art format. You need asking us about, you know, careers in banking. So, I tell them, I go, "You know what? Dream about anything that you're interested in doing. I do marketing, but I work for a craft agent. We need people who understand it. We need people that understand human resources. One, two, three. Was the chef thing over there? Yeah, I thought that pretty cool. Well, I'm talking about like all the nursing stuff over there. What like stuff? Yeah, I thought that pretty cool. It's really cool to see everything. I saw like a lot of like port
162stuff like seeing like the country and how we get our stuff daily. Um, it was really cool, but there's all sorts of jobs, so it's not just one type of job. There's like a million different other things. It shows all the things you have to do like that go into the job, which is really cool, too. The expedition and expedition port of all starts with an X and that X is meant as a solving of variables. We want students to come to this event uh and spark their career curiosity, something that they're going to see that will lead them towards further sustained exploration as they continue their journey at the UCBS. So, we really appreciate the unparalleled support that current technical education receives from the school board, from city council, from the Virginia Beach and
163Hampton Roads business communities, and from Dr. Robertson. Uh, so with your approval of the nomination, we look forward to submitting uh this work for the VSBA awards on both levels. And if you have any questions about the event or the application, I'm happy to answer those at this time. And also, this is due to the tight turnaround um and timeline, this is also on our consent agenda tonight. Miss Rogers, I just want to say thank you so much for putting this all together. I'm hoping that this continues each year. I think it is so critical to give middle schoolers an understanding of what they can do and a direction they can go in. Um, I've I've been saying I will keep saying it. It's not about a piece of paper at the end of, you
164know, their schooling. It's about being able to be successful members of our community. And just this giving all of these students the ability to see themselves in a career that they might not otherwise have the ability to see themselves in. It's amazing. Thank you. And mark your calendars. February 23rd, 2027. We'll be back. Okay, thank you. We are now on to the 2026 BSBA business honor role and we welcome Nicole Livis, Chief Communications and Community Engagement Officer. Good evening, Chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, members of the school board, and Dr. Robertson. On behalf of the Office of Family and Community Engagement, FACE, I'm honored to present a dedicated partner to Virginia Beach Schools for the Virginia School Boards Association's business honor role. The VSBA business honor role offers an opportunity for school divisions to publicly
165recognize businesses, organizations, and nonprofits that go above and beyond in their support, especially as schools continue to navigate increasing budget challenges. We selected Bayport Credit Union. This year, Bayport invested 25,000 into our schools through FACE, supporting major initiatives, including the back to school carefare, which served 7,000 attendees in August. Bayport also served as the presenting sponsor for our teacher of the year celebration. But their impact goes far beyond funding. At Tallwood High School, they supported service learning fairs and led a master class connecting students across schools and developed student ambassadors. At Chemville High School, my alma mater, they empowered 15 students to teach financial concepts to 100 elementary students and they supported student grant opportunities. At Bayside High School, they've reached over 300 students through college and career readiness events and deliver financial literacy education
166with more sessions planned this spring. Bayport doesn't just support our schools. They show up, they engage, and they invest in our students futures, which is so important. For these reasons, we respectfully request approval of this resolution recognizing Bayport Credit Union for this well-deserved honor. Thank you, and I'm happy to take any questions now. And this one is also on consent tonight. So I do not see any questions. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We are now on to the consent agenda. We have budget transfers, the 2026 VSBA success and innovation awards and the 2026 VSBA business honor roll. Are there any objections to the schoolboard voting on the consent items as presented? Okay. Seeing none, the motion is made by Dr. Green, seconded by Miss Dwire, and the voting board is open. So, Madam Chair,
167we have 10 eyes. The motion did pass for the approval of the consent agenda. Thank you. We are now on to the personnel and administrative appointments. Is there a motion for approval? A motion made by Mr. Ken, seconded by Mr. Cummings. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote on the personnel report and administrative appointments. Mr. Wy, have you vote? Thank you, Madam Chair. We have 10 eyes. The motion did pass for the approval of the personnel report and administrative appointment. Thank you. U Miss Rogers emailed us a motion point of order. Dr. Robertson. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh pleased tonight you've accepted our uh recommendation for Matt Fisky, currently the principal of CEK Elementary School and Achievable Dream Academy to become the new director of student support services in the office of
168student support services effective July 1, 2026. Thank you. Okay, now we are on to a motion um related to instructional time and Miss Rogers sent that in our email inboxes um on Friday and so that serves as the notification as required under our bylaws and then of course we added it to our agenda tonight. Miss Rogers, thank you so much. I move that the school board of the city of Virginia Beach temporarily suspend the provisions of policy 6-13 that require the school calendar to be constructed constructed and measured by days and that for the duration of the suspension the division shall instead calculate and apply instructional time and hours. Thus implementing a hybrid approach for meeting instructional time. This temporary suspension shall remain in effect until June 30th, 2026 and will eliminate the need for
169staff and students to stay an extra 10 minutes each day from April 15 26 to through June 7th, 2026. Um, okay, hold on. Motion made by Miss Rogers. Is there a second? Okay. And Miss Rogers, do you want to speak to your motion? Yes, please. So, I apologize. I was not able to be here in person um at the last meeting. Um but it was my understanding based on the policy um it says such alternative plans must be approved by the school board and by the Virginia Board of Education. And between that and the email or the email we had received from the Virginia uh Department of Education, I was under um the impression that we would have to add these 10 minutes because the Virginia Department of Education was making us do so. However,
170over the break, I personally contacted the Department of Education and was told that if we meet the 990 hours, we don't have to make up the time. So, I decided to submit this motion because we're not giving students an extra day. We are giving them a way to check the box for our own policy. It's not giving our our students a full a day to be able to make up the time that they are missing by not being there on April 21st. It doesn't make sense to me and from the reaction we got to the from the community to have our staff and students stay an extra 10 minutes each day just to adhere to our own policy when we can suspend the policy and even alternatively give them an asynchronous day or give them
171a you know a day to actually make that time up. um it seems to be causing a lot more confusion than it does to be helping. And I think it's fair to with this better understanding that this is of our own doing that we consider a different approach to the April 21st closure of our schools. All right, Mr. Ken. I think it's important to frame the conversation around the concept of competition. We witnessed tonight and have on many occasions the stellar performance of our student athletes or our students who are involved in things such as the dig digital citizenship process. And what I've witnessed not only in these events but also with my kids and now with my grandkids is the concept of competing on a playing field whether it's athletic or academic and how
172meaningful it is to be able to compete well and how disappointing it is when you enter the plane. playing field and lose barely or lose badly. And I've watched kids and grandkids shed crocodile tears many occasions on events where things didn't go well. Taking that as a reference point and applying it to the world of academics, we are seeking to provide our students with a level of educational excellence that will allow them to enter the playing field of the world that we will be introducing them to. And I think what we're learning with things like AI, we don't even know the jobs that kids when they leave here will either enter into or pursue a college education and then be launched into the world and what that will lead to. But what we want them
173to be is competitively prepared for that. And so you step back and you ask yourself what's the playing field in which the world of academics is currently taking place and who are those players that are doing really well and as a result that's who we'll be competing against. So in this world of AI, you start asking questions and you open up doors. And my first question was, what are the top 10 high-erforming countries across the world in the subjects of math and science and reading? Who are they and how did they get there? How many days, for example, did they say this is what we're going to expect you to be able to participate in in order to be ready? I didn't know what the answers were going to be. And here's what the answers
174were, at least as it relates to this one test. Singapore is number one. Number of days in class, 195. Macau which is in China has also 195 days. Taiwan 200 Japan 225 South Korea 220. As you can see there's a bent toward the Asian countries in this first five scores. Hong Kong is next with 190 days. We finally leave the Asian countries and we get into Europe with Estonia of all countries 175 days. Canada 187 days, Ireland, which I have a tendency to have a favoritism about, 174 days. And lastly of the top 10 was Switzerland with 187. put them all together and average them out, 195 days on average is what they subject their kids to in order for them to be ready to compete in the global marketplace. I think when we shift
175from days to hours, we start a trend of lowering the days that are involved from that perspective. And I realize I'm sharing my thoughts and my opinions and my perspective with an audience that may be greatly dis not only discouraged with but also in disagreement about. But I believe with this as just one example that we need to maintain 180 days and maybe seriously consider as we explore this in later meetings raising the bar and actually adding additional days. bottom line, in order to prepare our students for the difficult global economy and marketplace that they'll be entering and to have some leg up on the competitiveness that's required because we'll be competing with kids from all over the world. So that's my perspective and as a result I would suggest that we stay on the
1761880 days as a reference point. Mr. Cummings. Yeah. Thank you so much for for sharing and uh I just wanted to voice my support for this motion. You know, I originally made a substitute motion when we had the the discussion. Um I was a fan of just keeping it simple uh specifically for our parents and for our community, for our schools. Um, and you know, I just want to first and foremost acknowledge all the all the people who have emailed the board, commented on social media, commented on the news articles. Um, it's so important, I think, for a school board to receive public input and to receive your stories and to receive how decisions impact, you know, our families, our kids, our students. And, you know, I want you to know that I hear you
177and I understand the stories. One particular one to stood out to me that was shared during our public comments about um you know a parent having to pay up to 50 bucks um I can't remember the exact I think that five minutes it's $5 per minute or something like that but an a good amount of money uh for extended child care uh due to how the due to this policy and I had to take a step back uh when we originally received that email because I remember what it was like to be that parent getting through the stop signs, leaving work right at 5:00, getting to my kids daycare before 5:05, so I didn't have to pay the $10 extra fee. That's on top of when I'm already paying, I don't know, $800 something a
178month. Um, I remember Nasma, Indiana, so some folks will hear that number and be like, "Oh, that's cheap." But I looked up the average price of daycarees for Virginia Beach and it looked like anywhere from 250 to 400 per week, you know, and so 10 minutes does have can have significant impact on our families and our staff and our students. I want you to know that I hear your stories when you share them to us and I encourage you to continue to share those stories and those narratives because capturing qualitative information is so important not just for decision-m now but decision-m for the future uh and how we build and respond to uh things that come up during our calendar. And I recognize that there's not a decision that is going to appease every single
179person, right? like and I understand that we were given a task, you know, um and there are some options and there's not going to be a good decision that will make every single person happy. But I do think that there's decisions where we can reduce friction. And from my perspective, you know, for as a school board member elected by the community, my job is to be a bridge. And you know, we built a detour and got a lot of feedback that that pathway wasn't really great. I don't think I received it might have been one or two. Didn't care, but I don't think I cannot recall any emails, messages, comments, anything that I saw on my own that said, "Hey, this is benefiting my life for the better." Um, but I did receive quite a
180few about the impact that it made. And so sometimes we got to look take a step back and ask, "All right, well, what's another detour? What can we do uh to, you know, make sure that our community is moving forward in a good way?" I hear what my colleagues saying about the importance of you know academics and uh days and support for education and I say you know as a a teacher who taught in China you know I I remember how much respect the community there had for someone who was a teacher how much of a prestigious position that was how that community valued their teachers at this they would say you know this is my E1 Ler my English teacher and it was with you know great importance and so that is the importance
181and the significance I think that a lot of those countries have put onto public education and academics and their kids learning experiences um and you know that's some of the things that I hear but I would challenge my colleagues to think through we've gotten a lot of messages from the community and I know that change always has friction you know we change the one thing we change back there can be some friction points um you know as well and understand that change is difficult. Organizational change is a $100 million industry. Companies learn are constantly learning how do we make change? How do we make impactful change uh throughout our companies? And you know this is a huge industry and it's something that you know you hear something like 10 minutes you're like what's that really
182mean? Is that really going to be a big deal? then you learn yes it is a big deal once you hit the bottom uh once you hit you know how it impacts your your your community. So I would urge my colleagues to think through what the what the community has said um how we can listen to and respond to community voices and support this motion. I think it's a good way to bridge uh the feedback we receive and provide a solution forward. I understand, you know, that change is difficult and that if we did make change that that have had some impact as well. Uh but I do think it's a good motion in response to what we've heard from folks. Thank you. Um Dr. Robertson, I I will share I've gotten a couple of
183emails about some schools adding five minutes to each class and therefore taking 10 minutes away from lunch. And I would hope that regardless of outcome today um that that um not occur. And so I I don't know um if you know the board would agree with that, but um I I don't think adding the the minutes and taking away uh the lunch time is is the best uh I mean we're basically adding 20 minutes at that point. So um I just wanted to share my thoughts there and um just regardless of outcome on this, Miss Rogers Nope. Mark, I'm sorry, Mr. Bone Steel. And then Mers, okay, I agree with uh Chair Brown about what she just said with the lunches and that that that's should not be happening. But anyway, 1,700 people sounds like
184a lot of people, but when you do the math, it really comes up to less than 4%. So my evaluation is that 96% seem to not have a problem with it. Miss Rogers, thank you. Um I want to thank my colleague for bringing up um concern about our competitiveness. And I think if this were a motion to permanently um change the policy, that would be valid. But this is a temporary um suspension to address a specific problem within our community. We did not make any decisions regarding the upcoming election and it is a very political situation. Uh the only thing that I was concerned about was ensuring that our students were not in the buildings when voting was going on for their safety and and and I wanted to accomplish that. However, you know, within
185that top 10 list, we had countries like Estonia at 175 days. So, how are they at a top 10 with 10 less days? I don't think it is days that make our schools great. I think it's the quality of the educators that we have in our buildings. And if we want to continue to employ quality educators who want to work for our schools, who want to live in our community, we have to listen to them asking us to do this for them. A friend of mine who is a trustee in another state um said that there are three C's of good governance. There is competence, there is commitment and there is compassion. And it is that sea of compassion that I am actually looking at. We have been asked and begged 1,700 times to change
186this policy temporarily, not permanently, because we need to have further discussions on the calendar to temporarily suspend it so that we are not putting our community in a place that is giving them chaos. If we have a commitment to do what our constituents are asking us to do, then we need to listen and maybe less uh you know I I I don't know how you quantify what is enough. How many emails does it take for it to be enough? How many voices does it take for it to be enough? 10, 100, 1,700, 10,000. How many voices does it take for us to say, "Okay, I'll listen." I think for me, I want to lead with compassion and I want a commitment to the community that I'm here to listen to them. That's why I put
187this motion forward. That's why I think this motion should go ahead and go forward and we can do a better job of looking at this policy in the summer and actually having good dialogue around it. We're not changing the policy permanently. We are suspending it temporarily through the end of the school year so that we can address a specific problem. We're not going to have these. Well, I hope we're not going to have these elections every year, but this is a not a normal school year, not a normal issue. This is a very special election that we were not planning on, we were not thinking of at the beginning of the year. We need to lead with compassion, commitment, and competency to ensure that our community is being taken care of. Miss Dwire. So, I
188understand where some of the parents can be frustrated, but I and and I understand that this put a a a kink in their schedule perhaps and and other areas uh students that work maybe or I I don't know, we could go on and on. Um, for me personally, I felt like we did address and we did respond to the public when we voted to close the schools on the 21st out of concerns for safety. And I think we responded to our public. Um, and honestly for me, I also listened to what our superintendent recommended and his staff and the admin and I took that into consideration as well. Um, and also I get concerned when I get an email and it says the same thing like as if there's an email list that is circulated
189and people are on it and we just circulate it. So are they real names? I don't know. Maybe someone can answer that for me. Um, so yes, we did respond to our public. We closed the schools, all of them, for the 21st. And then the superintendent took it a step further and responded to the Department of Education and what their mandate was. And him and his staff agreed that this was the best route to take and we supported it. I supported it. Vice Chair Williams. Um, yes. Thank you. Um, Dr. Robertson, refresh my memory. I think I generally know the answer to this, but I may not have the specific um, minutes, but we've done this before since I've been on the board, had to make up, you know, time for different reasons. And have
190we added minutes to the days before? Yes. Um, my recollection is it was 15 minutes at one one year and 20 minutes another time. Is that correct? Yeah, we we've actually done it, I believe, three times. Uh, one year was 10 minutes, one year the 10 minutes turned into 20 minutes, and one year was 15 minutes. Okay. And it was due to inclement weather. Okay. Um, you know, unfortunately, anything that we decide is going to inconvenience or not make some people happy. And we we realize that. I I am a teacher. I'm a on a very tight schedule. I totally understand it and get it. I've got kids in sports and all that stuff, too. Um, but you know, since I've been on this board, we've done, I guess, 11 calendar cycles and all the
191superintendents that I've worked with and all the boards I've worked with have kept it on days. And I'm assuming that's because we, and I agree with this, think that days maximize maximize instructional time. Dr. Robertson, is that an accurate statement or Yes. What is your feeling about? I think days maximize uh instructional opportunity. Okay. Um, so it'll be an interesting conversation obviously um, you know, in the in the summer, but I I think, you know, someone said it's it's not a slippery slope. Um, I think it could be and and I have to remind the the public that we are here because a few years ago, this board and I did not support it decided to go from 183day calendar to 182. Then a year or two later or the next time 182 to 181.
192And then finally the third chop was 181 to 180 days. Um so it gave us no wiggle room none at all you know and and you know some colleagues sitting on on this dis will remember in the day we had these days for emergencies or snow days we kind of built them in we didn't really actually call them snow days but they were extra days where if something unexpected happened that we would have some wiggle room and unfortunately um that has not happened. So, for these reasons stated, um I will not be able to support this motion and um but thank you anyway for bringing it forward. Miss Rogers, Mrs. Letti, um can you refresh my memory? Was there not a change in the law in 2024 regarding um counting days and hours? Correct. It
193allows the local school division to make its decision on how to do that. So we don't have to submit any waivers. You don't submit waivers. You will certify at the end of the year how you counted your days or counted your how you met the requirements which you couldn't do at the end of the year. Okay. Thank you. And Dr. Robertson, when you guys counted had to make up time in the past, was that before 24 or after 24? Before. Right. So it was before the law was changed. So now, are we required to make up this time outside of policy 613? Yes, we are required based upon our calendar. No, we're not required based upon the Virginia Department of Education option to go hours or days. Correct. So if we temporarily suspend this and
194count hours till the end of the year, we would still have more than enough hours to meet the Department of Education's requirements. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. And then um one other question. Is it educationally better for students to make up at their this day in 10-minute chunks or in an entire synchronous or asynchronous day? How would the better developmentally appropriate instruction? How would delivery be better for our students? Yeah. So, our original recommendation um was to use April 21st to close the schools and do a synchronous learning day because our we know how to do that. We know how to do that well. and the Virginia Department of Education denied our request uh because they did not deem April 21st as an emergency situation, which I found fascinating given we're in the middle of
195a war and we are in a military town with with key military personnel in the bases with children in our schools and they didn't see the emergency and having our 55 58 schools open as polling locations while students were present in school. So that was our original recommendation because that was the best method. When that didn't work, our other options were to look at April 3rd, which was the day before spring break and a staff day to take turn that into a regular school day uh and eliminate the staff day. We felt like given the time for teachers to prepare for that significant change, recognize that some teachers and families had made plans already to not work that day that that wasn't a good option. And then our other option, which we've used uh again
196several times uh was to add 10 minutes to the day at the end of the school day. Um and so that was the third option to maintain uh what's in our policy right now which is a calendar built on days. One of the discussions that the board had when we adopted the calendar was to to ensure clarity that if we got to inclement weathers but Dr. Robertson, I think my question though is going to be that could we suspend this policy and then have a synchronous day and therefore make up our time the original way we had you had recommended and still need the 990 hours and it would be all situated. So then you're you're asking can we at this point on April 14th signal to our staff and families that on April 21st
197we're going to do a synchronous day. is not something I would recommend. Okay. Well, I appreciate that. Um I guess uh then if you would not recommend it, that's understandable, but we would meet the 990 hours as required if we chose to suspend this. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. Right, Miss Dwire. So, um Dr. Robertson, it was my understanding that um if if we closed our schools, your recommendation was what I said earlier to to go with the 10 minutes. Correct. Our first recommendation was to close the schools and do a a synchronous learning day. Uh allow the students to do remote learning on that day, which we've done and done well before. When the Department of Education said no, the next recommendation was to extend the school day by 10 minutes for the 40
198days beginning April 13th and concluding June 8th. And that's exactly the email you sent us and that's what I supported and I just want to clarify that. Thank you. Okay, seeing no further discussion, I call for the vote on Miss Rogers motion to suspend policy 613 temporarily till the end of June, I believe, and then um not do the 10 extra minutes starting tomorrow. So madam chair we have four eyes's and six nays. So the motion did did fail. Great. Thank you. We are now on to committee organization and board reports. Do any board members have anything to report? Miss Dwire. I do. So on March 27th, I had the pleasure and honor to tour finally three schools with Dr. Robertson and Sher Brown. And the schools we toured were Lance Town, Newcastle and Creeds
199and um principal uh Ally Jordan and Heather Quinn and Casey Conger were absolutely welcoming and I have um nothing but uh praise. I was so impressed. Um, and the first thing I noticed, so a shout out to our maintenance is the shiny building inside. The floors just sparkled. And as I walked the halls, um, all the students were engaged and the principles above all, and that's why I wanted to give them a shout out. They had such pride. Um, and you could just see it in their faces. And um a shout out to our super for nominating them. And needless to say um I'm grateful. I am grateful for uh what's what I saw and I'm encouraged um because I've been hearing a lot of negative lately. So I'm going to speak positive. Um, and
200also March 27th, I had the privilege and honor to go to a play, a musical put on by Woodstock Elementary. And I don't know if anybody else went, but these were third through fifth graders. And let me tell you what, I was completely bowled over this production and these ladies were nothing shy of professional. Those students knew their lines. Every one of those students on that stage performed and for the first time in a long time I saw a bunch of happy students who in were pretty much in their element. Um, and I as I as I thought about the hours that those ladies put in, and I'm going to mention their names because I want to give them a particular shout out. Um, I I don't know where to begin. That was a lot
201of work and I'm sorry that my colleagues didn't see it. The production was called Matilda Jr. And like I said, um I I come I came out of the public school system in Pennsylvania and I was in the arts department and um as far as uh musical and theater, I did it. And um to see those kids perform up there and just to see the smile on their faces, it really warmed my heart and it took me back literally to my school days. And um I thought, "Wow, this is where it's at." And I also reminded myself that the hours that they rehearsed, they weren't on their cell phones, you know, they weren't on computers, they were just being kids and they were having fun. And I said something to someone today. I said, you
202know, um it really struck me because I don't those those ladies that um you know helped with the director, they have no idea the seeds that they planted and how it was so lifechanging. not just as a spectator to see it, but you could see it on their faces. And it it was real. And again, it's heartwarming. And thank you guys. Um I'm going to shout out their names. Let me pull it up because I I'm still talking and thinking about it. Um I haven't seen an elementary school production like that ever. And it was Nicole Storias, she visionary and director. Laura Henderson, Bailey Fox, Hannah Gry, Cara Johnson, and Megan Craig. You guys are amazing, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ken. Dwire stole my thunder. I attended this
203probably not the same night but I attended the same performance and uh years ago I was involved in what would be deemed many dramas and I remember how difficult it was to memorize this few lines that I was associated with. But there were several characters in this performance who went on and on and on with their lines. And I just sat there in stunned disbelief as to how much they were able to remember, but also as a result of just how hard they would have had to work in order to make that reality. So kudos. Yeah, exactly. So it was very impressive. Well done. Dr. Green. Um, thank you. Um, before spring break, um, I had an opportunity, uh, to attend art of being a military child, um, over at Little Creek to recognize our
204students that participated in that and and each of the winners. Uh with April being a month of military child, uh tomorrow is purple update day in our school division. So wear your purple. And last week I had an opportunity to attend the uh opening of the uh Virginia Museum Mocha. And I am very excited, Dr. Robertson about the opportunities that we will have with partnerships uh with the museum or or ones that will continue because we have them now. Um because the new space is beautiful. It is located in my district in district 4 on the campus of Virginia Westland. So I would encourage um everyone to go visit uh that museum. Uh a lot of neat exhibits. Uh they currently have one uh now there and uh will be continuing. Miss Rogers, I also
205attended the uh grand opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art at Roberts Wesleyan and um it was fantastic. There was uh a lot of really cool exhibits and one of the things I supremely enjoyed was the hands-on art lab where uh children could go in and make their own art and display it. So, I encourage all of our families to take their children over to the Virginia Contempor Museum of Contemporary Art. And I'll actually echo that. Um, I had the opportunity to tour the new VB Mocha while it was still under construction. It was a hard hat tour. So, um, they're doing great work over there and they have a lot of programs that support our students here in Virginia Beach. And so, definitely head over there if you have the opportunity. MissWire, do you
206have something to add? I I just hope I mentioned the school Woodstock Elementary it was. So, I don't know if I did or not, but that that was the school. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Lenetti. We finished all of our closed items previously. Correct. It is 9:09 p.m. and we are turned