001Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. I am Dr. Don Robertson, the superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, and I call this school board annual organizational meeting to order at 6 PM, serving as chair prom in accordance with schoolboard bylaws 1-18 and 1-37 until the chair is selected. The clerk will now note for the record all school board members who are present for today's meeting. Thank you, Dr. Robinson. Present in the school board chamber are Mr. Bowensteel, Miss Brown, Mr. Ken, Mr. Co Pepper, Mr. Cummings, Miss Dwire, Miss Felton, Dr. Green, Miss Melnik, Miss Rogers, and Miss Williams. Thank you. At this time, please join me in a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. And after the pledge of allegiance, the national anthem will be sung by the Frank W. Cox High School's
002mix course and their course director is Miss Andrea Moreski. Please join me in a moment of silence. 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. Say you see by the dawn early so proud we at the twilight last stripes and bright stars through The perilous fight for the ramparts we watch were so gallently streaming and the rockets reds gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangle for the land of the free and the home of the brave. I will now proceed to describe the nomination and voting procedure for the chair and the vice chair. The following procedure will be used. Any school board member may nominate
003a candidate for chair. A nomination does not require a second. Any school board member making a nomination may discuss his or her nomination at that time. Other school board members will be allowed to discuss that nomination, make another nomination, or make other comments concerning any of the nominations. Schoolboard members are requested to keep comments to one minute. Schoolboard members who have not yet spoken during a round of voting have the right to comment or make a nomination before a school board member who has already spoken during that round of voting has the opportunity to speak a subsequent time. After a school board member has made comments on a nomination, I will ask if there are any other nominations for chair. When no further nominations are made, I will call for any final discussion of the
004nominees. If there is no further discussion on nominees, then I will close the call for nominations. Schoolboard members will vote for nominees during a round of voting by using colored pieces of paper that have been provided at their seats. The clerk will announce the names of all nominees for the position of chair of the school board for each round. The nominees during that round of voting will choose a colored ball from a container that the chair has or the clerk has. the color chosen by the nominee for that round of voting will be the color of the paper that schoolboard members use to vote for that nominee. The clerk will announce each nominee and the nominees assigned color prior to the voting for that round. The clerk will then call for the vote for chair
005and ask school board members to hold up the piece of color paper corresponding to the color for the nominee that the school board members votes for in that round. Schoolboard members are voting for the candidate that the school board member determines is the best choice from the candidates to serve as the chair for this year. The clerk will announce which schoolboard members voted for which nominee. School board members who do not wish to vote during a round of voting may do so by not raising a hand or holding up a colored paper. Schoolboard members will not be asked why they did not vote. The nominee who receives the most votes during the round of voting will be declared the chair. If there is no nominee who has the most votes or there is a tie
006vote or if there are no votes, then we will repeat the voting procedures as many times as necessary. After each round of voting that does not result in a declared chair, the schoolboard members may nominate additional nominees. Nominees already nominated remain under consideration unless their nominations are withdrawn by the nominator or the nominee. When a nominee receives the most votes, I will declare that nominee the chair and the dy elected chair will then conduct the remainder of the business of the agenda from the chair seat on the deis. Please note that the school board members will not change seating assignments at tonight's meeting. Only the school board chair will change his or her seat to the chair's seat on the deis. School board members will have their new seating assignments beginning on January 20th, 2026.
007Are there any objections, motions, or questions concerning this procedure? Hearing none, I will proceed to call for nominations for chair. Once a nominee has received the most votes and now I will proceed accordingly. So the floor is open to nominations for chair. Mr. Cummings. Yep. Thank you so much for that, Dr. Robertson. I wanted to nominate um Belinda Rogers for chair. Any comment? All right, Mr. Co Pepper. Thank you. I'd like to nominate Miss Kathleen Brown to continue as our chair and thank her for her hard work over the previous year. Thank you, Miss Williams. And yes, I would also like to support Miss Brown. Um she has done extremely well this past year and all of us sitting up here know how um fair she is to all colleagues, how knowledgeable knowledgeable she is,
008how efficient she is. Um she's she's absolutely done a great job and I think we all know too that the the meetings have run smoothly and just the whole attitude of the meetings have changed for the positive and I contribute that to her excellent leadership. So, she has earned it another year and let's keep moving forward with her leadership. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Milnik. So, since there are two nominees, um I to both of you, whoever wins this evening, I just want to say um I am looking for a chair to whoever it is to be more transparent with the um policy review committee. In fairness, the board has gotten very little this year. Um, and it appears that policies are coming forward without board knowledge and it's just that's just been the one
009committee that's been difficult to navigate. So, whoever it is this evening, um, I just respectfully request that there's better transparency with policy review. Thanks. Thank you. Are there any other recommendations for chair? hearing. None. We have two recommendations. Uh, Miss Tony Auto, we've got, uh, Miss Kathleen Brown and Miss Melinda Rogers. Okay. So, it seems that Miss Rogers has uh drawn a green ball and Miss Brown has drawn a yellow ball. So, when you uh note your voting, if you were voting for Miss Rogers, you would show the green card. And if you're voting for Miss Brown, you would show the yellow card and uh we'll be prepared to call for the vote when Miss Tony Auto gives me the signal. Okay. At this time, they may raise their cards. Okay, you can raise your
010cards. Miss Tony, you'll call out the votes. Okay, the results are as follows. Um, for Miss Rogers, we have Mr. Cummings, Miss Felton, Miss Melnik, Dr. Green, and Miss Rogers. That's five votes. For Miss Brown, we have Mr. Ken, Mr. Cole Pepper, Miss Williams, Miss Brown, Mr. Bowensteel, and Miss Dwire. And that's six votes. So, Miss Brown has received the most votes. So, at this time, I'll announce that uh the chair for the school board of city of Virginia Beach for this 2026 is Miss Kathleen Brown. And I'll pass the gavl to her now. Great. Thank you colleagues for your faith for me to continue in this role. Um, at this time I will use the same process spelled out by Dr. Robertson and I will call for nominations for vice chair. And so I
011will open the floor for nominations. Miss Rogers. Thank you. Um, at this time I would like to nominate u Mr. Matthew Cummings for vice chair. I think that um a change in leadership would be uh a positive thing especially having um representation and Mr. Cummings has always been someone who is fair um and even and so I nominate Mr. Cummings. Thank you. Um Mr. Cummings has been nominated. Mr. Callen, I would like to nominate Carolyn Williams for vice chair. Uh, I think she's done an excellent job and I would like to see her continue in that role in capacity. Thank you. And Miss Williams has been nominated. Are there any further nominations? Seeing none, is there any further discussion? Okay, seeing none, I will close the nominations. Miss Williams has selected the red marble and
012Mr. Cummings has selected the green marble. All right. At this time, please raise your cards. The votes the votes are as follows. Uh for Mr. Cummings, Mr. Cummings, Miss Felton, Miss Melnik, Dr. Green, and Miss Rogers. That's five votes. For Miss Williams, Mr. Kalen, Mr. Co Pepper, Miss Williams, Miss Brown, Mr. Bowensteel, and Mr. Dwire. That's six votes. So, Miss Williams has the most votes for vice chair. Okay. Congratulations, Vice Chair Williams. Thank you. And we are now on to the appointment of clerk and deputy clerk. I call for a motion to approve the superintendent's recommendation to appoint Regina Taniato as clerk of the school board and Nina Wedowski as deputy clerk of the school board for the 2026 calendar year. Um motion made by Vice Chair Williams. Oh, I'm sorry. Motion made by Mr.
013Co Pepper, seconded by Vice Chair Williams. Any discussion? Miss Rogers. I just wanted to thank Miss Toniano and um Nina for their unwavering support of the school board. Um there isn't a time that we have a need that they will not rise to meet it. And so I fully support and appreciate their nominations and thank them so much for all their hard work. Miss Malik, I echo those sentiments um to the both of you. I mean, it's a thankless job and people have no idea what you do and it's a lot. And um I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of my colleagues with with thank you. We see you. We appreciate you and we love you. Mr. Cummings. Yes. I will also make a third on the compliments being paved here or put forth today
014for Miss Toniato. Um I think just how much humility you have, how much greatness, kindness, and compassion you show folks. But my absolute I think you you do such a phenomenal job announcing names, being the timekeeper, keeping things on track, minutes, everything. And it's a true honor, I know, to see this vote go 110 for you. Mr. Ken, I have raised my hand in order to offer a few words, but there are no words. You are a remarkable part of this organization. And for those who are new or those who have been here a few years, we all recognize just how incredibly supportive and contributo to the process you have been. And although there is a superintendent, there really is a queen who oversees the entire process. So, thank you. Before I call for the
015vote, I I also want to echo my sentiments. Um, you know, our clerk and deputy clerk, they do a really great job rising to the occasion. Sometimes that requires coming in extra at times when, you know, we're unplanned, staying a little later to make sure things go out, um, meeting notices and whatnot. And so, you know, they both done an excellent job and, um, I'm happy to support you all continuing. So, with that, I call for the vote. for the clerk and vice and deputy clerk. So, madam chair, there are 11 eyes. The motion did pass to have myself and Nina as the clerk and deputy vote and I thank you. Okay, we are now on to the schedule of meetings um for January 2026 through June 27. And I call for a motion to
016approve the scheduled schoolboard meetings from January 2026 to June 2027 as presented. Moved by Miss Dwire. Is there a second? Seconded by Mr. Kalen. Um, and this is the same exact uh list that was in our last packet here in December. And I open the floor for any discussion. Uh, Chair Brown. Um given um the flow of the earlier workshop, I do not think that we need to have a January 20th uh special meeting. I think we can accomplish the other department uh meetings uh on January 27th and February 10th. Uh and so I know that you wanted that to be a board discussion. So my recommendation is we would not need the January 20th special meeting. Okay, Mr. Co Pepper does have a question on that. Is um is it possible to move the
017February 17th meeting forward? I don't want to push for the board, but my personal schedule that's better. Um but but I suspect the subject matter might be not be ready yet. That's why I'm asking. Uh you know what? Uh the February 17th meeting is to be determined. So it it's too early to determine whether we would need that meeting. Okay. Well, rather than run down that rabbit hole without knowing where it goes, I'd say we stay where we are. So the current motion on the floor is the calendar that is in front of us. If anyone wants to make a motion um related to removing the January 20th um and Mr. I just be before the motion I just had a quick question about the November meetings. Is that where we're or could we also
018add some discussion to that as well? Um I'm thinking you know it is the 24th is the day before Thanksgiving holiday break. Um I uh Dr. Robertson if it wouldn't be too much of a hurdle. I wonder if the week before would be more beneficial specifically since I did you know get a little heat for having some not heat but keeping the meeting a little long with some final questions if you if you recall the uh the broadcast. So I don't want to stand between people in Turkey again if we can move that meeting forward. And it did come up at at the at the meeting in November with quite a few head nods about two days before Thanksgiving. Yeah. I mean hold on a second. Mr. Cummings has the floor. Sorry. Yeah, Miss Melnik.
019Go ahead. No, I might suggest that we consider moving to November 23rd. Monday the 23rd versus Tuesday the 24th. Okay. So, if I can, um I would like a motion to remove the January 20th um special meeting because in agenda planning we don't have anything needed right away for that one. and then um either the um November 17th or 23rd um whichever one is preferable for whoever's making the motion. Miss Melick, did you still Can we do backtoback meetings? I know it's a lot per staff, but it it um I mean we can uh we absolutely can do back-to-back meetings. Yes. But it sounds like that would not be your preference. Uh preference would probably be to move it to Monday the 23rd. Okay. It's just that when we start moving, you know, people know
020know a Tuesday in their head. So Monday is just uh Okay. We do have a president uh where we um move it off election day to that Monday. So when election day is on that Tuesday, we meet on Okay. Dr. Green, I was going to support the recommendation from Dr. Robertson, but it looks like it's still discussion. Do you want to make that motion? Yes, I do. Um, I would like to make a motion that the November 24th meeting be moved to Monday, November 23rd, 2026. and remove January and remove the work meeting scheduled for January 20th. The budget meeting scheduled for January 20th, 2026. Okay. Thank you. Um there is a motion on the floor from Dr. Green to remove the January 20th meeting as well as move the November 24th meeting to November
02123rd. Is there a second? Seconded. Was that is that you? Did you just second that? Second by Vice Chair Williams. Any discussion? Miss Rogers? I just wanted to um add to what Dr. Robertson was saying. The third is is the first Tuesday. So we would have a meeting on the 10th. We wouldn't have our meeting moved. Um so then it would be either 10th and 17th or 10th and 23rd. And I'll support the motion to move it to the 23rd. Wait, what? What is Okay. Okay. All right. So, the motion on the floor is the calendar with what's in front of you except for the January 20th special meeting and November 24th will be moved to the 23rd for a regularly scheduled meeting. Seeing no further discussion, I call for the vote to approve that
022calendar motion with those modifications. So, Madam Chair, we have 11 eyes to approve the schedule of meetings with the modification to remove the January 20th special meeting and to move the November 24th, 2026 to November 23rd, 2026, the Monday. Thank you. Um, we are now on to student employee and public awards and recognitions and there are none. So, that moves us to the adoption of the agenda. I call for a motion. Uh well actually before we adopt the agenda I do want to mention um and we could go about it one of two ways um depending on how the board's feeling but there is a recommendation here in front of us um a memo that was sent and so we can either vote to move um during the discussion from the seak this policy let's
023see policy 5-54 four. Uh we can vote on whether or not that wants to be moved at that time or we can make that vote now. Um so with that, if somebody wants to make that motion, they can. Um Miss Mik, I move that we move policy 5-54, fiscal restraint and seclusion. Um move that off the agenda this evening and send that back to PRC. Okay. And is there a second to that? Okay. Moved by Miss Melnik, seconded by Mr. Bowen Steel. And we'll give the clerk a minute here to enter that in. Mr. Bow, Mr. Bowenste, it was on there. It just said motion to set a second. Yeah, it did. And Miss Melanie, can you just rephrase or just I have motion to move policy 5-4? Um, we're taking that off of action
024and moving and and sending that back to the policy review committee to send that to the PRC. Yes. Thank you. Great. Is there any discussion? Okay. And um I am also the liazison for the special education advisory committee. So, this is their recommendation and so I will support um moving this back to the policy committee. Um with that, I call for the vote to move policy 5-54 back to PRC. So, Madam Chair, we have 11 eyes. The motion did pass to remove policy 5-54 and send it back to the policy review committee. Great. And so now we are back to adopting the agenda with that modification and we have our original motion, our second. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, I call for the votes to approve the agenda um as modified. So Madam
025Chair, we have 11 eyes. The motion did pass to approve the agenda as presented and modified. Thank you. Um, we are now on to the superintendent's report and recognitions. Dr. Robertson, do you have a report or any recognitions this evening? I do have recognitions. Uh, I'm excited tonight to announce several administrative appointments. We'll start with uh Tova Hayes, formerly an admin assistant at Glenwood and Linhaven Elementary School, and Tova is now the new assistant principal at New Town Elementary School. Congratulations. And I see you have some guests. Congratulations. Next up, we have George Steve Loader, uh, who was currently an admin assistant at College Park and Holland Elementary School. We're pleased you've accepted our recommendation for uh Steve to be the next assistant principal at Linhaven Elementary School. And I see you have some guests.
026I do. I have my dad, my mother-in-law, my amazing wife, my principal, and my new Very good. Congratulations. Next up, we have Megan Smith, who was an admin assistant at John B. Dai and Thorood Elementary School, who's now the new assistant principal at Malibu Elementary School. Congratulations. And I see you have some guests. Congratulations. And then last but not least, we have Sharita Priden, formerly an assistant principal at Corporate Landing Middle School, who's now an assistant principal at Lancetown High School. Congratulations. And I know you have some guests. I have my daughter and I have my new Congratulations. So to all of our friends and family and guests, we appreciate you sharing these individuals with us. They have enormous tasks in front of them and we are excited for what they're going to bring to
027the table and it's just a testament to those that are here tonight to support them as to how they've achieved what they've achieved thus far. So congratulations. Enjoy your evening. Okay. Are there any modifications to the December 9th, 2025 meeting minutes as presented? Seeing none, I call for a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Moved by Miss Dwire, seconded by Mr. Cummings. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the votes to approve the December 9th meeting minutes as presented. So, madam chair, we have 11 eyes. The motion to pass for the approval of the December 9th meeting minutes. Thank you. We are now to public comments and the school board will hear public comments on matters relevant to prek through 12 public education in Virginia Beach. in the business of the school board and
028the 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 a quorum. Whatever views you wish to express, the schoolboard wants to hear from you and 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. Madame clerk, would you please introduce the first speaker? Thank you. I just want to note that speaker number nine has cancelled. We're going to start with our student speakers. Our first speaker is Nor Nagi. Good evening, members of
029the school board, Superintendent Robinson and staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here to suggest that the board consider allowing red cards, otherwise known as know your rights immigration cards, to be made available as optional self-s serve resources in high school guidance offices. I recognize the nuance of this topic, but I would like to clarify what this request is and is not. Firstly, this is not political advocacy. The red cards contain no slogans, calls to action, or opinions. They state plainly the existing legal rights of an individual, including the right to remain silent or ask for a warrant in neutral language. These rights exist regardless of personal political ideology and are regularly taught in the curriculum. The red cards simply increase accessibility. This is not active promotion. The cards would sit alongside other
030resources in the counseling department, many of which include information on sensitive topics like mental health, food assistance, or community support. Students only encounter the resource if they personally look for it. It's not advertising, it's availability. In fact, it fits centrally within the district's role of providing students with access to necessary information through counseling services. This is a way to alleviate uncomfortable burdens from student and staff. Right now, educators are susceptible to awkward, potentially dangerous conversations when students ask questions regarding immigration or their legal rights. These sensitive topics are easy to misinterpret as political, which facilitates the need for a standardized resource that removes the risk attached to personal disclosure from teachers. The quiet referral point may also provide an outlet for students experiencing fear and uncertainty regarding their situation, offering them dignity and privacy when
031informing themselves or a loved one. Lastly, this proposal is reliable. The cards themselves are costconscious at just under $100 for a thousand online or free if printed from a PDF. They are available in English and many other languages and becoming widely used and validated. I first encountered them through a fellow human rights commissioner where they were presented to me not as advocacy but as education. Ultimately, this request is about ensuring students have access to accurate information in a safe, neutral, and unobstructive manner. It protects staff privacy and ensures that those with differing opinions are respected. Thank you, and I hope you deeply consider my proposal. Our next student speaker is Saheli Dash. Good evening everyone. My name is Sahily Luray and I go to Bayside High School. On December 15th, I reached out about a
032concern regarding policy 6-26. Today, I am here to propose a better way for special need kids in our school system to learn culinary skills. The purpose of this whole thing is to help them become independent in their day-to-day life. I know that there is a fantastic culinary facility belonging to VB schools near the Linhaven Mall, but we have a lot of transportation issues um which makes it seem very inaccessible. That is why I'm proposing the mobile kitchen program. This is a food truck that can come to them. This will eliminate the transportation issues and increase the frequency of this amazing experience. I know that there will be financial and safety issues arising from them, but I have solutions for those issues too and we can discuss them in a different setting. Thank you for your
033time and I will continue to stay in touch. We'll move on to our next set of speakers. Uh Cody Connor, Alan Wakefield, and then Heather Cip. Good evening. It was April 23rd, 1951 at a all black school comprised of mostly tar paper shacks with no heat in Farmville, Virginia. Then 16-year-old Barbara John's conspired with several other students to trick the principal to leave the school. And while he was gone, they tricked the teachers into gathering the students together for an assembly. At that assembly, Barbara John's gave a speech that convinced the entire student body to walk out in protest over their school conditions. At great risk of danger to themselves and their families, Barbara Johns and 450 other students marched to city hall to demand safer, better schools and equal education. Their actions generated a
034great amount of media attention and resulted in a lawsuit that later became part of the famous Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court case that ruled racially segregated schools are illegal in our country. Now, I bring you this piece of history not just to illustrate the long celebrated tradition of student protests in our state and our country, but also to help you understand the ultimate futility of your attempts to suppress it. You see, eventually Barbara John's was celebrated for her actions that day. We even have a building named after her in Virginia's Capital Square, but at the time she was threatened and crosses were burnt in her yard. What we learned from Barb Barbara John's and many others is that regardless of any policy or law or consequence, be it imprisonment, violence, or even death,
035the threats of tyranny will never be more powerful than the promises of freedom. It was Da Vinci that said, "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." I've read your new policy on student demonstrations and it's clearly an attempt to strengthen your authority by silencing your students. Authority is not but the crutch of poor leaders. Only weak leaders fear a free society and attacks on freedom only prove that a leader has forgotten their place as a servant of the people. Tyranny will always breed rebellion because a leader that is not a servant of the people cannot be anything else but an enemy of the people. Remember that and make good decisions. Thank you. Our next speaker is Alan Wakefield, Heather Cip, and then Diane Musk. Good evening everyone. Stop right now. Barbara told me to ask
036you, did you have your rope and computer? I want to tell a story about weather in a knot in the rope. One day in my earth science class, I asked my students to describe the weather outside. Most said sunny or warm. But one student raised her hand and said, "It depends on where you are standing." So I asked her to explain. She pointed to the window and said, "If you are standing in the sun's light, it's warm. But if you are in the shadow, it's cold. Same classroom, same day, different weather." That moment stayed with me. She was describing weather as something much deeper. Our thoughts, who we are, and what education is. This sparked a discussion about a deeper understanding about weather, your feelings about life and the physical weather that we see daily
037because our schools are like that classroom. Some stand in the sunbeam, supported, encouraged, and seen. Others stand in the shadow, misunderstood, overlooked, or carrying burdens we don't always notice. And none of those students chose their weather. But we, the adults, shape the effectiveness of learning and teaching in the classroom. This robe represents a child's journey through school. Sometimes along the way, a knot forms. A knot can be anything. A language barrier, a disability, a stereotype, a fear of not belonging. Too often we tell kids to just work harder and push through it. But knots disappear when someone steps in with understanding, support, and the right tools. That's what diversity, equity, and inclusion is. It's not politics. It's simply about removing knots so every child has a fair chance to move forward. So tonight, I'm asking
038us to create better weather inside our schools and make the knot disappear by making sure every child, no matter who they are or what burdens they carry, to have a chance to feel the warmth of belonging. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Heather Cip, Diane Muskavac, and then Mel Rutled. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chair Williams, members of the school board, and Dr. Robertson. My name is Heather Cyp, and I am the president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. I'm here this evening to speak on the budget. Goal three of Compass to 2030 is value and invest in staff, where VBCPS will enhance and sustain a positive work culture and climate that values and invests in recruiting, supporting, and retaining a high quality workforce. Four key words here. Value, invest, recruit, retain. I
039shouldn't need to remind you that Virginia Beach is seventh in the seven cities for teacher salaries. This should be something that weighs heavily on your minds as we go into budget season. Virginia Beach is dead last when it comes to teachers and education support professionals wages. How does that show value or investment? Throw in the sucker punch with the health insurance premiums and Virginia Beach has now become a division that people do not want to transfer into. How are you going to recruit highly qualified staff members into a system like this? BBCPS has historically been at the forefront of public education in Virginia. Test scores and graduation rates reflect the high academic achievements of our students. BBCPS staff are topnotch and work tirelessly to ensure student success. Yet compensation is decreasing when you factor inflation,
040cost of living in Virginia Beach, and increases to health insurance premiums. Do you really think this is the way to retain staff? Goal five of Compass to 2030 is advance organizational excellence where BBCPS will pursue the effective and efficient use of division resources, operations, and processes to best meet the needs of students and staff. Effective and efficient, value, invest, retain, recruit. Are these just words in a document to paint a pretty picture of what a great division should look like? or are you going to use the strategic plan as the action plan it should be? The school division's budget needs to be gone over with a fine tooth comb. It is your responsibility as schoolboard members to ensure you understand every component of the budget, where the money is coming from, where it is being
041spent, and why certain dollar amounts are allocated to certain line items. It's also your responsibility to question what the division is doing that may or may not be necessary. Is VBCPS paying for certain software programs that are not necessary? is VBCPS overesting students with multiple types of tests that end up duplicating data. Not every assistant assessment required by VBCPS is mandatory at the state or federal level. Do the deep dive. Find out where the money is going. Find ways to streamline the budget so that VBCPS is effective and efficient and then use those funds to invest in staff. Show VBCPS staff you truly value them. That is how you retain and recruit. Put your money where your mouth is. Invest in staff. Our next speaker is Diane Muscoach, then Mel Rutled, then Megan Ashburn. Good
042evening everyone and happy new year. Um, experts site school chaplain as a vital support for moral infra infrastructure. Society is dangerously at risk if morals and ethics are neglected. History records these as the bedrock of nations. When the cornerstone is neglected and foundational cracks go unnoticed, the entire infrastructure fails. School chaplain fill the gaps to build resilience and stability. The subtle creeping in of trouble often goes undetected until it's too late. However, repairs can be made if one notices the cracks. School chaplain can help students regain their footing. Shaping young minds shapes society. This principle is profoundly quoted in this article by famous leaders of nations. Young students are in the process of developing their character, relationships, academic and work ethics. Without a moral compass, there is a decline within the school experience and ultimately
043all of society. Ideas for the new and improved are the bedrock of growth. We definitely want that, right? Let's also recognize that student resilience for the future is built upon historically solid foundations. Attempts to remove the moral compass from the public square has resulted in a stripping away of healthy interactive relationships. Instead of community and collaboration, there is striving and stagnation. Has society become more stable or more full of hate? The school chaplain seeks to enhance a nurturing atmosphere because children become a product of their environment. Today, all kids are being exposed to a higher level of bullying and sexual content of which they are not developmentally ready to process. This pressure interferes with academic and mental health. The student/mental health counselor ratio is unmanageable. Adding a school chaplain to the team helps provide holistic
044care. Like guardrails on a highway, we need moral and ethical guidelines founded in the spiritual principles. Helping children set self-care boundaries can help prevent falling prey to further exploitation and break the cycle of abuse. Schools have the privilege of shaping a stable society for all. Will the choice be to reflect and build upon what has already proven to work? Or will an entitled and a drift society squelch the true potential of an engaged mind to learn and work? Every child is a share shared responsibility. So let's work together and change the hearts of people starting at a young age like kindergarten. And happy new year again. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mel Rutled, then Megan Ashburn, then Andrea Eisenberger, Mel Rutled, U. Megan Ashburn, Hello. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone
045for uh receiving our letter from the SEAK and voting on that early on in the evening. We appreciate that. I am joined by uh our vice chair, Don Candia. Uh Katie Ali is our secretary. Kelly Vanella is here and Leslie Lancaster are all here from the SEAK. and we uh we appreciate everyone reaching out for those of you that have done that and we look forward to our continued partnership. Thank you. Our next speaker is Andrea Eisenberger and then Katie Alli. Good evening, Chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, excuse me, members of the school board, and Dr. Robertson. My name is Andrea Eisenberger. I am the art specialist at Three Oaks Elementary and vice president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to advocate for something foundational
046to the success of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, adequate and competitive compensation for all school staff. VBCPS is a large, complex division serving a diverse community with equally diverse needs. Every day, teachers, instructional assistants, counselors, custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, office staff, and countless other professionals work together to ensure our schools are safe, welcoming, and academically strong. These individuals are not just employees of the system, they are the backbone of it. Over the past several years, expectations for staff in Virginia Beach have continued to grow. Educators and support staff are addressing learning loss, increased student behavioral and mental health needs, staffing shortages, and evolving instructional demands, all while maintaining high standards for student achievement. Yet, compensation has not consistently kept pace with the rising cost of living in Hampton Roads, nor with neighboring cities. This
047has real consequences. VBCPS continues to face challenges with recruitment and retention across multiple positions. When staff leave for better paying opportunities or are forced out of the profession altogether, our students lose consistency, relationships, and experienced professionals. Vacancies and turnover strain remaining staff and undermine the stability that students need to thrive. Adequate compensation is not just about fairness. It is about sustainability. It is about ensuring that the people who serve our students can afford to live in the communities where they work. It is about honoring the professionalism and expertise required to educate, support, and care for more than 64,000 students across the division. We often hear all of you say how much you value the people who work hard to make VPC VBCPS a stellar school district. Compensation is how that value is demonstrated in practice.
048Competitive pay sends a clear message that this division respects its workforce, understands the realities we face, and is committed to long-term excellence, not short-term fixes. This is especially important for our lowest paid staff, many of whom are essent are essential to daily operations and student well-being. No VBCPS employee working full-time, should have to take on multiple jobs or face financial insecurity while serving our students. Uh, tonight I urge the board to prioritize meaningful, equitable, and sustainable compensation increases in this year's budget for all VBCPS employees. Investing in staff is investing in student success, school stability, and the future of public education in Virginia Beach. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your service, and thank you for your commitment to the people who make VBCPS strong. Madam Chair, that was our last speaker for
049this evening. Speaker number eight has also cancelled. Okay. Thank you and thank you to everyone that came to speak. Um we are now on to the policy review committee recommendations and we welcome Cammy Lenetti, schoolboard attorney. Good evening, Madam Chair, vice chair, schoolboard members, and Dr. Robertson. I'm Cammy Lenetti, the schoolboard attorney, and on behalf of the policy review committee, I will be bringing you recommendations from the December 18th, 2025 meeting. There are six policies we'll be looking at this evening. The first one up is policy 395. It has to do with public charter schools. This is a very long policy. If you notice that in here, we have not actually looked at this policy since 2014. We're a little overdue. The law requires that if you are to consider an application for a public
050charter school, you have to have adopted a policy, which is why we've had this policy on here. When going back to review the law on it, the law has been updated um during this time period, and we chose to incorporate some of the new uh statutory requirements. We also formatted a little bit better to be more consistent with how we do our current policy. So, you'll see a lot of changes on there. Primarily we are adopting the statutory requirements and regulatory requirements having to do with public charter schools. So it's very clear if someone were to put in an application what would be required and how we would judge that requirement. So you'll see it's a very very long policy uh on there but we are recommending the formatting changes and the updates to the
051policy that include the statutory amendments and there are a couple scrivener changes. Are there any questions about policy 395? Dr. Green. Thank you, Miss Lynetti. Is this the policy that we used for Green Collegiate when we were working Green Collegiate's interest because it's actually a public charter school that we are sponsoring on there, but yes, we looked at a similar process with this. All right. Thank you, Miss Rogers. I just had a question with one uh change uh and it's under number four public charter school application section C number three it we we struck evidence of an adequate number of parents legal guardians teachers students or any combination thereof support the formation of a public charter school. I want to make sure that if there is an application that we have enough support from the
052community. So I'm not exactly sure why we struck that and I just that's my comment. I'm not sure where you're looking at it's C public charter school restrictions to it says no no no it's number four is public charter school application and then what's that start with which letter section oh D application sorry Mr. call pepper. It's D4 and item number C is the name, address, phone number of contact persons, blah blah blah. And the number under that is there there's another number three. And we struck out the evidence of an adequate number of parents, legal guardians, teachers, students, and or combination thereof support the formation. And I'm not sure why we would strike that out because we would want to have our community buy in. Does that make sense? You could put that back
053in. The next section D is evidence of need and community support for the proposed public charter school. That could encompass that too. But if you wanted um what's currently C3 or currently three, you could add that back in. That would just be my only question. Does that make sense? Yeah. Um yeah, Vice Chair Williams says the chair of the PRC. Yeah. for the reason that Miss Lenetti said, "We just thought that was repetitive, so we didn't ask to get it back in there." Mr. Cummings, uh, thank you. I just had a couple clarification questions. Um, when looking through this with the application process, you know, if there's a public charter, do we require the part or and I don't think I saw an answer in here, but is there a requirement for them to have
054x amount of dollars in the bank or I saw financial statements. I saw a plan for marketing and I think I saw um like just budget, you know, line by line items. I'm a little uncomfortable partnering with an organization that wouldn't have an established liquid capital. Is that something that we see within public charters? We don't do we have not had public charter applications other than our own for a long time. But yeah, and this going to get the numberings a little long on here, but if you look at um GG under I want to say section under public school application under section GG, there is a fiveyear startup five-year budget, there's a startup first year cash flow projections clearly stated assumptions on there. There's evidence of fundraising on there. Now, I will say with
055public charter schools, they do receive money for each student from us also. not something that could be worked out. Um, so there is some financial application, but it doesn't talk about a financial statement of some sort. Yeah, I would like I mean I don't I the from a process perspective I I I would like us to have some form of policy. I mean I think it'd be beneficial to ask if this an application came before me that they have if they have more than a plan for fundraising that they've actually you know probably raised funds. And I know it's like, well, we're raising funds for something that might exist, but you know, knowing how the public charter market is, I think that, you know, there is organizations that would be interested, but would already have
056capital flow. Um, the other question I had was around public charters being able to wave schoolboard policies and regulations and state regulations. And that is the purpose of a charter school is the ability to have choices that might not be available in a comprehensive school that the school division is running. I'm trying to like understand that a little more at a deeper level. Can you just unpack like what would be scenarios of what they'd be waving? And an example might be the hours that you might require them to come in early, an hour or two early on there. You might have them Saturday school somewhat like um Achievable Dreams does. Now, Achievable Dreams is not a charter school, but that might be an example. They might come in during the summer. They might come up
057a couple weeks earlier than um you would expect other people. You could say you're not performing at the academic level we want. So, we're requiring required tutoring or required extra time for you. Those might be examples of that. Now, if they wanted to wave other policies, let's say something you consider student discipline policy or something, they would probably need to bring that to you to have a discussion. So, if you say we're never going to discipline a child for misbehavior, that's probably something you're going to be looking at. Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. I was thinking more so along some of those that the conduct policy and other policies within the school board. Um, you know, I think it's a well-written policy. I appreciate the depth of things put into it. You
058know, sitting on the be building utilization committee, you know, we've been talking about schools. We've been talking about enrollment numbers in those schools. And I would be very hesitant personally to see competition and opening additional programs when we see an enrollment and not you know schools not being fully filled. And I'm further cautious of public charters as well knowing that one in four have closed in five years and over the course of 20 years there's been a 50% closure rate. So I don't know if this is an avenue that I personally feel comfortable going down. Um and you know I found those numbers on K12 dive I think this right before coming to this meeting and they were published this last year. So I'm a little worrisome of you know creating the competition of resources
059as we are talking about budgets finite resources and whatnot. Um, but that's just my initial thoughts, but I do think I do really think that, you know, I do really enjoy the level of detail within this policy. So, I will note I've been here for at least 25 years and did a little bit of work prior to that for you. I've never seen a public charter other than Green Collegic, which you initiated, which is another form of charter schools. I've not actually seen us have one of these, Miss Melnik. So, I'm going to address Mr. Cummings in in just a minute. But I will say considering Green Run Collegiate has been in existence for quite some time. This policy had not been reviewed since 2014 is is very disturbing. 11 11 years before especially since
060the next item um student led demonstrations came up um for from a constituent more specifically a former board member and so somehow that took kind of precedence over some Can we stick to 395? I am um but for Mr. Cummings and the and the public. Um, Virginia Beach City Public Schools pays for almost everything for Green Run Collegiate, teachers, building, electricity, everything that they would normally have to fund raise for. Fundraising is very difficult. I have served on both the governing and foundation board for Green Run Collegiate. Very, it's very difficult. The money raised, I believe, um, fund the bridge program. um some probably some tutoring, but if it if it weren't for VBCPS, we would not have Green Run Collegiate. And you might want to ask during I'm not advocating for the dissolution of
061Green Run Collegiate, but you might want to ask during the budget process what what those numbers are, the money numbers. It's a very successful program. And so um I like it but it is successful um because we we fund it. Thank you. Um I also want to I I want to echo support for the policy. Um I I don't think that this policy is a do you support charter schools or not support charter schools policy. This is an update to an existing policy and Green Run Collegiate is actually very very successful and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but I believe they have a 100% graduation rate and they have a 100% lottery process. Um, so it's very fair. People love it. Um, and it's done very well and they do a lot
062of fundraising efforts uh as well. They have their gayla and all that. So anyway, I will point out to you what the you cannot entertain a public school charter application unless you have a policy in place. So that's not saying that you will do as you can see it's extremely complicated um policy to do but for even them for them to give you one it would take you a long time to do it. That's why we have this policy in place. Okay. Thank you Vice Chair Williams. Um yeah, just to remind my colleagues still the it would always come before the school board just like we spent a lot of time discussing Green Run Collegiate years and years and years ago and it comes before the school board no matter what for a vote. So
063this is just like Amy said to have in place in case we entertain another one. Thank you. There no further questions. We'll move on to policy 540. This is in the student section. PRC spent a lot of time. We were actually initially started with two policies. After some discussion, we realized we probably didn't need two policies in this area. We were trying to distinguish between when the school starts student um program, a student um initiative versus students independently coming up with them. After a fair amount of discussion back and forth on that, the final recommendation was to come forward policy 540 which would be called student le demonstrations. We will then have to remove the 539 if this passes. We left 39 in place 539 in place until we made a determination on this. This
064is a completely rewritten policy and subsections on there. So you will see the first is a policy statement. Seconds of purpose three has pretty C has fairly extensive definitions. We modeled this I believe was Prince George County. We had um borrowed that one to consider before doing that's where we came up with that and then modified it for Virginia Beach. So D is student rights, E is student responsibilities, F is request and proc approval process. G is school responsibilities. H is third party involvement. I is prohibited conduct. J's consequences. K is nonendorsement. We added a section L having to do with media digital expression online content because we're realizing that it becomes another issue for us managing on there. So pretty extensive column. I'm not going to read it all because it is about a
065six-page policy. But those are the recommendations coming from the policy review committee concerning how to manage studentled demonstrations. Are there questions? Miss Rogers. Yes. So, I don't understand why we even went through this entire exercise because we had a policy in place that was being um fully um um implemented by staff and students were following. Um, it's interesting that I personally went to a student led demonstration in September and by October in one month there were three social media posts made by a former schoolboard member discussing her um objections to my presence there and then this policy came up exactly one month later. So again, we should be here governing and making policy around everyone, not because we're mad at one person. That being said, we had a policy in place that was being followed.
066The students did what they were supposed to do. And again, some of these this is very like um the third party um involvement. Third parties may not be involved in or attend student led demonstrations. So if you have students who are asking for an outside source, for example, students demand action. It says they can't be involved in this. So they aren't getting guidance from the entity that they are asking guidance from. Like this again this is this is students can lead the demonstrations absolutely but they're going to need outside third party guidance for whatever thing that they're supporting. And so this then prohibits that. The other thing I really um think is that students are are doing these demonstrations to exercise their First Amendment rights. I don't have to like what they're they're exercising, but
067that doesn't mean that we can prohibit them from exercising it. There are consequences here. And um to me, they're talking about discipline. Honestly, this to me is um eliminating students ability to exercise their first amendment rights. Um this is so much more restrictive than what our policy was before all of these rewrites. And again, this wasn't up for a five-year review. um it came one month after I was asked to um you know attend a studentled uh demonstration and I don't think that our purpose here should be to use the PRC to um demonstrate to our colleagues that we're upset with them. Thank you, Miss Melnik. So, Mrs. Rogers is right. That's why I mentioned the previous policy and the amount of time that lapsed and then all of a sudden we're reviewing this one
068in a very small piece of time and we've just said to the public we can't go through it all because it's six pages. If this is information and then ne next time it's on for consent and the public doesn't even know what it says. That's that's not right. And so we should either go through it or this should go back to policy review because this is a lot of material about an important issue that may cross over first amendment rights. So I'm I'm a little concerned about about this and the presentation of this quite frankly especially since we have a working charter school nearly 12 years without a without a policy review. And when was the last time this one was reviewed? This is a brand new policy. I know it's brand new and it
069really did. Mrs. Rogers is correct. It did come from a former board member and it just stinks that now we have something that somebody didn't like and now it's six pages long. It was a working policy. Nobody complained. It was a fine policy and the kids did exact I'll speak to what happened at First Colonial. They got permission from their principal. As a matter of fact, where the students wanted to have the initial demonstration was out front and they were told they couldn't do that and they were brought to the back and they were given a section in which they were allowed to demonstrate. Students have the right to do that. We did have somebody complain and it has risen to this and and and this is unfortunate and this is a not only a
070waste of time, but we had a policy that was working just fine. And so I'm actually asking for this to go back to policy review and for them to seriously consider going back to what we had and or we take the time right now to to lay out all six pages to the people who are listening or who might be listening tomorrow or the next day. Okay, we're going to move on to Mr. comings. But I I do want to mention that this is in our agenda packet as has always been the case. Uh during my time on school board, during my time watching school board, we always put our policies in our agenda packet and um so I would encourage the public to read those. I don't want anybody to think that we're doing
071anything different than we've ever done. Um Mr. Cummings, uh thank you so much. I do have some questions as I read through here. Um, and I'm trying I'm just trying to understand a few things with uh policy and laws that I've read. And can you walk me through how did this how did this policy come up for development review? What was that process? Policy review committee. There was a question to look at 539 and some other related policies and regulations having to do with student demonstrations. While we were in that process, the policy review community asked the school administration to locate other policies that other school divisions might have. We didn't have very good examples um from Virginia because most of them use the VSBA policy. Uh they found one from I believe it was
072Prince George County and they brought that in to look and it seemed to be the one the PRC was most interested in. So we put it in our policy format, but a lot of this is from St. George. Prince George. Yeah. And so the Prince George, that's the Maryland school, correct? Correct. Yeah. I read that policy and I actually thought it's it's written differently from how ours is. And I actually thought their policy was well written in the sense of that it leaned more towards the carrot of civic engagement and encouragement. And I think it also didn't overextend. Um because I do have some I just there's just some things with my limited knowledge of Supreme Court law uh that I learned about at the VSBA conference with Tinker De Moines and refresh my memory.
073Did those students have permission to protest when they put their black armbands on uh to protest Vietnam War? No. Much of the rights involve much of the law involving student first amendment rights came out of the Tinker case. Yeah. So I think that permission is not needed. Students can demonstrate. That was clearly laid out from my perspective and what I read in Tinker versus De Moine is that students have a right that their first amendment rights do not leave once they enter a school. However, by no way means, shape, or form am I saying that they have a right to disrupt instructional time. And if you go through and read the rulings on that, they discuss in in great detail why they went that way. Um, and I think no one on this board is
074advocating students romping around with megaphones being like, "Get us out of class," you know, or and and advocating their their views. But my concern is what qualifies as a demonstration? If 10 students all decide to wear white armbands, is that a demonstration? Your current definition, this policy is under C2. So that says demonstration organized assembly of students peacefully expressing a viewpoint raising awareness of an issue such as vigils, rallies, marches, sitins, walk-ins, observances or slow collective action. Yeah. So similar so collective action in you know walk-ins, marches, you know kids walking around with armbands during one lunch would that be considered a demonstration? I think that is going to be subject to the principal's decision as to the guy is fact specific. So, I feel like we need to like unpack that a little more
075because I would not want to see the policy, you know, violate our first the students first amendment rights um as has been, you know, settled, I think, within courts. And then I also see some restrictions on spontaneous demonstrations and I'm trying to understand that a little as well. Say a major event happens and students decide, I don't know, let's just say that there's something horrific. 15 students decide to have a prayer circle during one lunch. Is that a demonstration? Is that spontaneous? It sounds like it's collective action. Sounds like they're doing a quote unquote sitin. However, that would not be permissible under our policy, would it not? It's possible. I would have to again, it's going to be facts specific to the circumstances. Yeah, I'm a little cautious about that. And then I see things
076on here where we're talking about expressing opinions and beliefs respectfully. And I feel like respectfully is extremely hard to to figure out. And I'm going to use a case uh something that's I think popular within the emails we're getting. You know, we schoolboards receive a few emails about Turning Point USA. And I'm not going to sit and talk about my opinion on this topic, but I do think that you have multiple viewpoints. One viewpoint says that the way that they discuss and debate and advance their issues is not respectful to people. We received a video from a constituent who said that the way that they go about communicating debating is respectful. And so already we have two different definitions of what is respectful. And so that it's hard, I think, to put a moral compass
077on something that is so subjective of what is respectful. Um, I've seen in K12 environments f, you know, photos of aborted fetuses passed out. Is that respectful? Um, some folks would say, well, they're utilizing their first amendment rights to protest abortion. Well, okay. They handed out one of those photos to say a young lady who, you know, was a a victim of an atrocious act who had to go through an abortion and she receives that photo, she feels disrespected. Once again, whose definition of respect is, you know, utilized when we are making these moral judgments on demonstrations. So I would like to see more concrete um definitions and policy with this. I actually think from a pol and I understand it was adopted from the Prince George, but I really do like the way that
078they worded some of the things specifically around spontaneous demonstration where they said, you know, I believe they said mentioned that spontaneous demonstrations are subject to schoolboard to disruption of instructional time. And I I think that's fair, right? Like yeah, you can't just randomly have a protest romper around and disrupt instructional time. Um, and I I I and I think I like the way that they laid out some of uh the different wording and whatnot as well. So, those are my comments. I think we really need to look more at Tinker versus De Moine. What what constitutes a demonstration? Um, and then finally, I worked in the field of social justice, student activism in a higher education environment. Uh, and I got to support students on all sides of the aisles. You know, it's not the
079role of the school board, I think, or administrators, teachers, folks during school time to teach students how to think, but it is important to give students, regardless of opinion, the avenues and the respect for them to exercise their first amendment rights and to be supportive. And so I would like to see maybe some adjustments with the policy where we are more forth setting and encouraging our students to exercise their first amendment rights that we encourage them to find spaces that we act as their partner. Those are the type of languages that I I personally look for. And then finally I have one more question one more question as as I just remember on third party. It says schoolboard members can't go attend demon. We're third parties. I can't go. The policy is suggesting I cannot
080go observe. Isn't that in conflict with existing school schoolboard policy that says I am allowed to visit schools to obtain background information for future policies? I feel like that's in conflict with our existing bylaws. Bylaw specifically 126. I'm very I don't understand the point to that part. I think as a school board, you know, I'm been elected by the citizens of my district to um be active in our community, be active in our schools, and I fulfilled a lot of those requirements. And I think putting a limitation on schoolboard members showing up and attending and observing, that doesn't sit well with me. The public has entrusted us to show up and to be present in our community. Um, is there is there a final question related to that? Just Yeah, my final question is like
081what do y'all think and writing that down saying we can't go to stuff? That was a request by the PRC members to place that into this section. That's what it was added on there. All right. Thank you. And if you um have additional thoughts once everybody goes through that's fine, too. So, I just I wanted to um make sure that we're moving the flow around um flow here. Um and I will go ahead and speak um since Miss Rogers has had the opportunity. Miss Lenetti, I see her signature on the bottom of this for legal sufficiency. Is this legally sufficient? It will meet the basics for First Amendment. Again, with any first amendment question you have, you're going to have a factsp specific determination you have to make. Okay. So, I bring this up because
082there's there's a lot going on here, but it it seems to me that the policy committee was unanimous bringing this forward. Is that correct? Was this a was this a three zero vote? I don't remember if I have the vote in front of me. I know we collaborated a lot because it was on through several meetings, but I believe once we did, we incorporated everybody's recommendations and that did go through. Okay. Thank you. Um I just feel like there's a lot of conversation um surrounding how this came about. Um we did receive a number of emails also. Um this was not just a Facebook post. Um, and the question really that I have is, is the protest for the student or is it for the school board? Um, for me, the protest is for the
083students. Um, and so I I think that this is I I don't really have a problem with the way it's written. And, you know, I know that our schoolboard members have mentioned that it's restricting something. It just says the school board is committed to the constructive exercise of student rights related to speech and assembly permitted by the first amendment of the United States Constitution and applicable law. Um, you know, and then down here in student rights, students have the right to express opinions and beliefs respectfully, organize peaceful demonstrations with prior approval, engage in civil discourse and peaceful activism as permitted under this policy. The code of student conduct and applicable law without retaliation, request administrative review if discern demonstration approval is denied. Um, there is a lot in there, but I I do Does this
084go further than the the school divisions required? Are we required to give space in in the school for a protest? Um, or there's no Virginia law that sets forth what you're required to cover student discipline. You would look at other first amendment case law in this case. Okay. So, does this comply with that first amendment case law? It be based requirements. Again, anything with the first amendment is going to be fact specific. A lot of what you see here demonstrated and there was a lot of discussion in PRC about making sure we're being safety and and quite honestly the world's a little bit different than it was in the 1970s. So sometimes when you're making determinations about the student, you mentioned the student want to be out front, we need to be say that may
085not be safe for you. So, we're going to we're not going to not say you can't do that, but we we need you to be in a safe area, which might be the back of the school. It might be the um the stadium area. We might say this is um a testing day. We really can't have you disrupting the testing because it could disqualify our testing, things like that. So, there was a lot of concern about making sure that we were doing that. We had the appropriate staff. And there was a concern expressed by those who have led schools before. Even if students spontaneously do that, we we do need staff. If we are going to allow you to go out into the stadium, we need enough heads up notice that we have staff there
086to make sure that you're out there and you're protected and that we have adequate staff remaining in the building. So, there were a lot of concerns making sure that the school had notice of what was going on mostly because they were worried about safety issues. That was a primary issue. In today's world, it's not as safe to demonstrate and we do have our first priority with students. So, could did we get enough notice to make sure we could make sure you're safe and we can put things in place for you? That was the school administration's primary concern. That's why you see a lot more u elements that you might have seen before is to make sure that we're really clear. But they also made it clear if you were denied that you would have the
087ability to appeal it so we can go through that. So, the school administration's primary concern is do we know enough about it? Can we help you through it? You might say, hey, we'd like to demonstrate on Tuesday, but we're doing so testing that day. Hey, could we move it to Wednesday? that that was the concern the school administration has. So they wanted to build those issues in there and to make sure we talk with you about what's going to happen so that we're prepared to deal with that on there. So that's why it's a little bit longer than you might have seen in some of the the areas to try to spell that out a little bit clearly. Okay. And I I guess I'll I'll ask some of my other questions because they're they're longer.
088But um I'll I'll follow up more about that. But I my final one is is this I know it's a new policy and there's a lot of red here. Okay. But is this that much different in practice than what we're already doing? I'm going to say yes. It's far more detailed than you had before. Okay. All right. Um Vice Chair Williams, did you already speak on this topic? Okay. Vice Chair Williams, then Miss Rogers. Um yes, we have worked a lot on this. Miss Miss Felton and Mr. Bowensteill and myself along with with Cammy and staff and we did rely heavily um you know on on Mr. Delaney because he used to be a principal in high school and and Miss Woodhouse. So we listen to them carefully about how it really goes on and
089how um demonstrations affect the everyday operations of schools. And I think that it was kind of eyeopening even for all of us about how much you have to prepare for because their top priority and it was the three of us. Our top priority was the safety of students while we're letting them exercise the freedom of speech and expressing themselves. Safety, safety, safety was our top priority. Um and so um and so that's why there you know it's a little a little bit more detailed because we were very concerned about that. um several this came back actually because we had a guest speaker to another school and so they kind of like all went together assemblies guest speakers this we even brought up some after school um clubs so they've kind of all kind of gone
090together that the three of us have requested more and more information so it actually first came about um before that as the policy committee does we review policies I'm not sure why this one or the last one or this one um was later, but we've the three of us have only been on the policy for a year and some of you sitting here have been on it previous. So, I'm not really sure what that is, but we do entertain policies that individual school board members have brought to us and several of you have just one school board member. We've entertained that. We've entertained ones that one constituent has brought forth. class rank that we just talked about last time was because one constituent had a cons concern. So, um so we're doing things that the
091way that this the PRC is supposed to do, but again um this was done mainly with safety as our top priority for these students. And um after being in we we used it as a um the um like Mr. Having said, we did use the draft that um LB had brought from the other school system that all three of us in fact really liked. In fact, we asked it to be sent back to her and took, you know, she used that kind of as a draft because we really liked that one. So, um I appreciate the hard work. Um I knew that there was going to be questions and some you know amount of controversy but um we feel comfortable with this and again it is putting the safety of our students and the day-to-day
092operations and um the ability to run the school and then also to make sure we re reduce loss instructional time. Thank you. All right, Miss Rogers. Dr. Robertson, I have a couple questions for you. Was our old policy endangering the welfare of our students? I would not say so. How many student demonstrations are you aware of that have taken place since the one in September? Not any. Not any. So, this policy is being rewritten that was already safe due to one demonstration this past school year. And again, while we like to say that it's not because of one event, evidence is provided is showing that it is because of one event. And I would also like to correct um Vice Chair Williams. The one constituent that brought up class rank was because we weren't following
093our policy, not because we needed to change it. And so we went back to following the policy that we have in place. We did not change it. Um Mrs. Lenetti, you have stated that this policy is much different than the one we had in place. Correct? Far more detailed than the last one. Yes. And it's organized very differently. Okay. And so again, I would ask, was there a reason to make it more detailed? Was there a reason because of student safety to make it more detailed? No, it was not in the rotation for us to look at. it was brought to we were asked uh the staff members were asked to take a look at other policies from other school divisions and bring them back to the PRC to consider. Right. But were we was
094our policy brought forward because of student safety? I can't say why it was brought forward. We was just we were told to put on the PRC agenda. I will say we did if you'll remember we looked at guest speakers which is a similar concept when you take students out of class. had and that was because of another incident, correct? One singular incident and we did try to merge the concepts. We realized that was getting too hard. We had to pull them back out again. So, we had looked at that one and looking at that we realized there were things we have to talk about um about how do you get things approved? How do you let the school know when somebody's coming in to speak? But again, with those incidents, and I can take them
095one at a time, with the student demonstration that occurred in September that caused us to review this policy, was there a time when students were unsafe during that demonstration in September? I couldn't speak. Dr. Robertson, do you know if there was a time? Not that I was made aware of. Okay. And was there a time that the students did not follow the policy that was already in place to have that demonstration? Not that I was made aware of. Okay. And so the students followed the policy. They were safe. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. They invited a school board member which per our bylaws we are allowed to come to special events. I was there. I because I was invited. I despite rumors I did not set up any part of the
096demonstration. I was simply invited by the students. and I as a school board member want to support students no matter what they're doing. And so I I did support those students. Um but my point is is that we didn't have students who were not following policy and procedure. We didn't have students who were unsafe. So I again would say if we're going to be governing, we're going to be doing what's best for the students as a whole. Um Mrs. Lenetti, with the renewed restrictions on this policy, are we in danger of violating a student's first amendment rights or opening ourselves up to a lawsuit because of the restrictions of our policy that is in front of us. First amendment is always subject to litigation. I'm going to tell you that. So it will be fact
097specific. You are allowed to do time, manner, and place type of restrictions controlling. So that's always allowable which was in our old policy. Yes. And that's that's always allowable. So that piece on there, right? You you run with any first amendment issue issues with with vagueness, over breath, too much control. And that that's why First Amendment is always fact specific. Right. Right. But we had a policy in place that addressed everything. We had a policy in place that didn't have some of the things we have here. That's not what I asked, but it it addressed making sure that we were respectful of our students first amendment rights and their safety. That was already in place. It allowed for student demonstration. Some of the things you see here on the procedures, um how you get it
098approved and stuff like that that that level of detail did not exist in the prior policing policy 539. Okay. Because I do recall the students had a procedure that they had to follow for uh approval. But um I will yield. Great. Miss Felton, then Miss Melnik. Thank you, Chair Brown. Uh, respectfully, I just like to address my colleagues and I do say that I do I do welcome your concerns and all the additions that you want to put before this policy. Um, a lot of things that was reworked back into this policy was granted by students. I took my time to talk to students and I sit down with them and had a candid conversation and about what you want to see in this policy because the climate of the day right now bring about
099a lot of things that are questionable. So our students wanted to make sure that they were on the right path. Now, in the beginning, when you read as a policy statement, when you see permitted by the first amendment to the United States Constitution and uh applicable law, a student asked to have that put in there. It was a student. It was a student that asked to make sure that we define most of what was in this policy. That's why I suggested that we define and draw out the policy which made the reading a little bit more um longer because it was short but there was so many questionable things in the policy that I said I want to see definitions so my students will not be caught up in anything that's discrimin that's discriminable but
100my thing is I do respectfully welcome my colleagues uh concerns things that you want to change But I want you to know that I set out I went out I talked to students I talked to principles and I wanted I wanted this to be student focused because it is about the students. I know that we feel that you know we all he looked at the fish and we going to the school fine me we can change that verbiage but I was focused focusing on the students and what they wanted to do how they wanted to move out because it is about them not so I know I'm a school board member not so much about me but I sit at a round table with several student and I just want you to know that we
101didn't just pick up and just I didn't I didn't I'm going speak for me I didn't now when the other polic policy came from the other division. I said, I like this policy, but I need it to be modified for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. It looks good, but modify this attorney Letti so that the students can read it and understand it. Now, I can agree that maybe seven set of seven set a pair of eyes might be better than three pairs three people sitting around look at it and talk about it. I get that. By no means do I want you to think that we were I was trying to undermine your intelligence about what you can and cannot do. Uh I could go deep in deeper into this policy more but it it
102took we sent this policy back I know three times three times because I did not like the way some of the read I did not like the way some of the verbiage came across for the students. It is all about the students. That's why I made it my business to talk to the students to see what they wanted. And then after I talked to the students, I talked to some principles. How could we interact with all of this because we want to make sure that we keep chaos organized and not just all over the place. I get it. But I want to make sure that my students is they're safe. they have their first amendment rights going for them and that they had voice in this policy. That's what I did. So I might come
103back with some more questions, some more statements on it, but I wanted you to know where I stood on this. I did not look at or cuz when I came into the policy, this policy was already there and I did not ask, but when I went back, I said, "How did this policy come about? Why do we have this policy now?" And it's not that old. But I would say to you if you go back and read the old one to me to me it didn't read it didn't give me a lot of details and in this policy we read down further it gives a student it show them how to go about sitting up the de uh the demonstration who to talk to timeline where to sit it up at. It gives them all
104of that definition. It gives them all of that information that they needed that was not in the other policy. And I thought that would make it safer for them, more convenient for them that they didn't have to run around. And and we gave a time limit to administration when they get back with the students. I mean, we're going to if we're going to um dismantle the um the works that's already been done, go back and look through the whole policy because I went through the whole policy. It wasn't just things that was that was just cut and paste and I took my time in getting this straight. And I'll say it again, this policy for studentled demonstration, studentled demonstration, that was not in the in the policy. Our student said to me, where you just
105have student, we want to change to studentled because it is about us. So I might have some more more state to come back after this, but I just want to put that out there. Thank you, Miss Malik. So I don't I don't this is the most restrictive policy. All of our student le we're all of our demonstrations any that we've had have been studentled. There's never been a teacher that has led a group of students to protest about anything. Everything we've ever had in the city of Virginia Beach has been organized, planned, approved by principles, set in motion by students in specific places designated by administration. I think there's a disconnect like maybe people don't know what the actual real policy stated versus six pages for something so simple. So, let me reiterate. The students
106at First Colonial High School planned a small demonstration. They went to Dr. Mayani. They got permission. They were told where they could go, when they could go, and how they could go. And they followed all of those directions. We have had walkouts. We've known about walkouts as a board that students were going to do walkouts. We were told in advance how it was going to happen, where they were going to go, what they were going to do. I see head nods from the superintendent. We've never had a problem ever. And now we have a six-page very restrictive policy that like everything was followed until today. It's not like something happened except Oh, h that's right. It was Speaker Don Scott. That's what it was. That's what started all of this. The speaker of the house,
107who by the way is an eloquent speaker who did a magnificent job for a senior project for a first colonial student. And had the entire board come to listen to him speak, they would have said, "Wow, what a great guy. What a great guy who really walked right down the middle politically for a group of students and did an amazing job for for a law student senior project was wonderful. But we tend to operate in this bizarre world of you can't you can't like this guy or say something nice about this guy because he's sitting on the other side of the aisle. This is a ridiculous sixpage policy that was prematurely reviewed for no reason. None. Kudos to the kids at First Colonial that did exactly everything that they were supposed to do to the
108letter. They followed all the rules. They followed our school policy and the school saw it through and that was the end of it. This is the work of one person and that name's going to come up again when we have to talk about something else that's coming. But this is wrong for our students. And we've never had a teacher or administration uh protest. It's always been studentled. That's the whole purpose of it. It's for kids. Mrs. Rogers asked the superintendent a few questions. Has it been a polic? Has anything ever happened? Are the students safe? Yes, the students are safe. everything everything was fine and now we have a six-page policy. There was nothing wrong with that. And again, I'm asking for it to go back. This is ridiculous. It's incredibly restrictive. And I think
109you're an amazing attorney, but I don't think the answer is, is this going to be a legal problem? I don't think the real answer is, well, that topic technically is always a legal problem. We haven't had we didn't have any legal problems before. This is really restrictive. I see. Yeah. Someone might challenge this. Not the last one, but definitely this one. Dr. Green. So my question is very simple. Why can't the policy based on the discussion go back? That's all I ask. Why? Is there a motion related to that? I move that that policy 5-40 studentled demonstrations go back to policy review committee. I second that. Okay. Moved by Miss Melnik, seconded by Miss Rogers. And while the clerk is entering that in, is there any discussion further on on that um motion, Mr. Kum?
110Yeah. In light of Mrs. Felton's explanation and the fact that it's already been sent back three times, I say we leave it alone. Three times. Miss Felton, I made that detailed information um my colleagues because I want you to know we didn't just do it fly by night. It was three times because we wanted to get it right. That was a statement that was made by um Vice Wing. She said it might be a long process. She said, "But it's going to take time." And I brought up the timing because that's how important it was to me. If it got to go back five times, I'm fine with it. That's why I say I respectfully receive my colleagues remarks and what they're saying and uh if this what it takes to get it right, I
111take it back. I agree and I would vote we can take this back and hopefully get more information and more options for them when we take it back and they write down their uh their uh concerns about it and where we can address it with their options. I would take it back. U Mr. Callum, thank you so very much. And I said three times because we when it first started off, it was one page that really didn't speak to the students needs. So they said, "This is what we want to see in the policy." That was the second time we took it back. Third time we took it back, we I saw I read it and with the definitions were not explanatory to me, but we can take it back. I agree, Miss Melnik. Uh
112for clarification, it didn't come to the board and we sent it back three times. No, I think we did have it in the agenda, pulled it off before it came up because there were concerns about it. At that time, we had two policies going. They brought it back. PRC has dealt with it several times trying to sort PRC did, but it never came back to the full board for discussion. So, this is the first time that the school board has had an opportunity to discuss this, and we are asking for it to go back. your internal strikes are yours, but policy review committee is supposed to bring things back to us and give us the chance to vet this and to discuss it. And I I I appreciate you saying that you'll bring it back
113um very much, Mrs. Felton. Um and I think it deserves I think it deserves a look based on the comments that you receive from the rest of the board. not to push it through just because you guys worked on it for a long time. Miss Felton, I stand corrected. Uh, Miss Milick, you're absolutely right. It did not come before the board. It came before the PRC that many times. I stand corrected and I wanted to make sure that we at least got something um sustainable sustainable to present to you. When we first got it, didn't look that way. So, I stand corrected. It came back to us three times. Now that you've seen it, I do respectfully welcome your comments and your options as how we should move forward with this. Thank you. All right.
114Um I'm going to call for the vote in a second here, but I just want to comment. Um I appreciate the policy review committee's willingness to work so hard together and collaborate. Um, I don't believe that there is anyone that's trying to make sure that students cannot protest. I don't think that that's a a thing. Um, I'm not going to support this request because I feel like often um sometimes people are using the PRC to try to get a little political about things and I'm I'm just I think that there was collaboration and if you don't like it, just vote against it. Um, so anyway, with that, uh, I call for the vote to move policy 540 to go back to the PRC. So, Madam Chair, we have six eyes and five nays. So, the
115motion did pass to get policy 5-40 to go back to the policy review committee. Okay. Thank you. And we are now on to policy policy 549 intercolastic competition. VHSL the Virginia High School League has a very long and torturous handbook if you've ever read it. There are many many procedures and policies in there. We came across a couple situations where when you're making decisions regarding eligibility transfers, it says either your school board or your superintendent can make those decisions. is up to you. It has been our procedure. We have a local committees and then the superintendent makes the final decision. We had a situation when there was concern about could you then go to the school board. After some discussion, we realized if we made this a schoolboard decision, we might not be able to
116get the school board together in time to make decisions. And our procedure has always been to do the superintendent. And VHSL allows either one of those. And it's been our procedure for years for the superintendent to do it. So our suggestion is to amend under 549 section B which is Virginia High School League and add a sentence two sentences. The school board authorizes the superintendent or designate to make decisions on appeals regarding transfers or eligibility in those matters where the school board andor superintendent are designated by BHSL rules or procedures as the appeal decider. School board does not intend to hear appeals of BHSL rules or procedures regarding transfers to eligibility. I can't tell you how often transfers eligibilities come up. We thought this might be too burdensome on the school board to take on
117these type of hearings. And since our procedures wouldn't allow the superintendent working with the other local committees, this made more sense for us. So this is just a clarifying of what our procedure is. Are there any questions? Hearing no questions, we will move on to I'm sorry. Do you think for the next meeting that we can get a print out of this? Even though we get the papers in advance, I know Mr. Ken always has printouts, but it would be so helpful. Um, it's very difficult to have a computer up here during these meetings because it's tight space. Um, so I put them out for myself. It's not a problem. We'll take care of that for you. Are there any further questions on 549? Hey, no questions on 549. I'll move on to 626. This
118is under your instruction section. This is new evaluation of new and existing programs. There are some clarifications that needed to have. There's some um scrier changes and formatting changes. This policy also continues to ref uh refer to the planning performance monitoring committee which you no longer had. So we needed to pull that out. There were some changes suggested from Dr. Bankey's office concerning that. For the most part, we are changing a script change following what our current terminology is where they use the term used to say report. They want to use the term plan. Now you'll see the removal of the the PPMC and under section E final sentence a sensitive provisions applied to an existing program. Future program evaluation shall adhere to the established timelines that was going to be recommended to be removed.
119For the most part, it's just consistent with our current policies and scripting or changes and some formatting. Are there any questions about policy 626? Hearing no questions on 626, I'll move to 644. This is school counseling. After review of this, we last looked this at this in 2017. We are not recommending any changes. So, this is simply the 5-year review. Any questions on 644? Hey, no questions on 644. We have 677. Literacy and response to intervention screening. We last looked at this in September of 2021. There are no recommended changes to policy 677. Are there any questions on 677? At this time, that concludes the recommendations of the PRC from this December meeting. Thank you. We are now on to the accreditation and accountability results for Virginia Beach City Public Schools student achievement results. We
120welcome Tracy Legata, director's student assessment, office of planning, innovation, and accountability. Good evening, Chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, members of the board, Dr. Robertson. As you just heard, I'm Tracy Legata from Student Assessment with the Office of Planning, Innovation, and Accountability. This evening, I am going to briefly review information related to state accreditation and results from the school performance and support framework as it relates to the status of our schools. And I will also share some comparison data for additional context. In this graphic, you see a representation of the new approach to the state of Virginia has taken to classifying schools. The new approach involves applying a two-part system to schools. One part is the accreditation system represented on the left side of the slide and the second part is the accountability system referred to
121as the school performance and support framework represented on the right side of the slide. I'm going to b briefly review each of these new systems beginning with accreditation. One of the biggest challenges we think people will face in understanding the changes to the classification system used by the state is that the word accreditation is used but means something different than it did in the past. Accreditation no longer includes student performance on so tests, absenteeism, and graduation like it did in past years. I'm using the exclamation point in yellow to highlight a big change and one that will likely take some time for people to understand. Instead, accreditation is now based on school level compliance of components of the standards of accreditation which cover areas related to instructional programs, school leadership, school facilities, safety, and community
122engagement. Accreditation focuses on the foundational supports and operational inputs needed to create the type of learning environment that can support positive student performance. Some examples of compliance requirements include secondary schools offering opportunities for study and exploration of the fine arts and world languages, meeting specific staff student ratios in special education and career and technical education classrooms, maintaining schools according to the Virginia Uniform statewide building code, and ensuring principles involve students, families, staff, and other stakeholders to promote promote community engagement. Compliance with the standards of accreditation has been in place for several years. However, there was not a school status attached to it prior to this year. Compliance with these standards is now used to identify schools as fully accredited, conditionally accredited, or accreditation denied. To be denied accreditation, a school must be conditionally accredited for
123multiple years and fail or refuse to adopt or implement the required corrective action. Based on information gathered during the 25 425 school year, schools received ratings of fully accredited or conditionally accredited 42526. In the past, compliance with the standards of accreditation was certified by having central office personnel review and sign off on these requirements. This was also the process used for 2425. Beginning with this year, the 2526 school year, it has been communicated that school principles will be required to certify compliance with some of the standards in addition to division staff. The Virginia Department of Education has indicated that certification during the 2526 school year will also involve providing evidence of compliance, but has not yet provided additional information about what that will involve. And the Virginia Department of Education has indicated that additional training
124will be provided at a future date. Based on the 2425 certification process, all of our schools were designated as fully accredited across the entire state. For 2526, 1,725 or 94% of schools received this designation of fully accredited. 113 or 6% of schools received the designation of conditionally accredited. Now let's focus on the second part of the state's classification system. The part that focuses on student outcomes and is referred to as the school performance and support framework. The framework is designed to identify and support schools based on four key components of student performance. Mastery, growth, readiness, and graduation. At the top of the graphic, you see how the framework is structured. Elementary and middle schools focus on mastery, growth, and readiness. High schools focus on mastery, readiness, and graduation. You also notice that mastery has the
125largest box. That's intentional. It carries the most weight at every level. This graphic displays how much weight each component is given at each level. You can see that mastery is given the highest weight at the elementary level and decreases as you progress to high school while the weight for readiness increases from elementary through middle to high school. With each component are indicators or measures that determine how many points a school is awarded in the framework. For example, when looking at elementary schools, the mastery component has the following indicators: reading performance, which includes the reading so test and Virginia's alternate assessment or VAP for students with significant cognitive disabilities, and that is for 22 and a half% of the total points. Math performance which includes the so tests in VAP for 22 and a half% of
126the points. Science performance which is measured by the so test in VAP for 10% of the total points and English learner progress which is growth in English language proficiency for 10% of the total points. Some of the indicators are calculated using an index waiting methodology. This means that how a student performs on a particular indicator determines how many points are awarded under the framework. For example, each student earning a past advanced score on the reading so or VAP assessment is counted as earning 1.25 points based on the index. Each student earning a pass proficient score is counted as earning one point on the index and so forth. For the growth component, the indicators are based on expected versus actual performance on the so reading and math assessments. Performance on each of these indicators is worth
12712 and a.5%. These also use an index waiting process. The readiness indicator for elementary schools includes chronic absenteeism, which is worth 10%. At the middle school level, there's a stronger focus on readiness as students are preparing for the academic demands of high school. Mastery still includes the same indicators as in elementary school, but now accounts for 60% of the total score. For science, note that only grade 8 science is included in these calculations. Earth science is not included. Growth is calculated the same way as an elementary school, but it carries a weight of 20%. For readiness, regular attendance continues to be important along with gaining experience in advanced coursework carrying a weight of 10% each. Now, we look at the mastery at the high school level, which has similar indicators to those at elementary and
128middle, but an important difference in test takers. In grades 3 through 8, mastery is calculated. based on students who took the test during the 2425 school year. Mastery on so tests at the high school level is based on the graduation cohort, meaning that the measure reflects the so tests taken by the official graduation cohort, not all students in 9 through 12. Only the so tests listed on the screen are included, not every test taken. Another way to say this is that at the high school level level, mastery for reading, math, and science is not a measure of how students performed on the assessments in 2425, but rather how the 2425 graduation cohort performed on these assessments. Progress and achievement for English language proficiency, also a part of mastery, is not cohort-based, but represents achievement for
129all EL students in grades 9 through 12. during the 2425 school year. When you look at the weights assigned to the components at the high school level, you will see that the framework places a greater emphasis on readiness when compared to the middle school with a focus on preparing students for life after high school, a key outcome for school performance. Regular attendance continues to be important for success both in and outside of school. Chronic absenteeism is not cohort-based. This indicator represents all students in the school during the 2425 school year. The readiness component also includes students who graduate on an extended year timeline, including those earning an applied studies diploma. The ready for life 3E readiness framework where the three E stand for enrollment, employment and enlistment is included as a key measure for readiness
130for the high schools. Here's a reminder of the point values awarded under that 3E framework based on course enrollment and performance CTE certifications and performance on ASVAB. The final component for high schools is graduation. This indicator is the federal graduation rate, which is a 4-year adjusted cohort rate that captures limited completion outcomes. As you can see, mastery still has the largest weight in the framework like it does in the other two school levels. However, readiness has a larger weight than the other levels and graduation replaces growth as a component in high school. All of the indicators and corresponding weights are used to calculate a framework score for each school that ranges between 0ero and 100. It is possible for school to earn a framework score greater than 100 become because some of the index weights
131are greater than one and the 3E fra and in the 3E framework students can earn points across multiple categories. The framework scores are used to determine the performance category for a school. A school with 90 points or 90% of the points and higher is identified as distinguished. 80 to 89 points is considered on track. 65 to 79 points is off track and schools with fewer than 65 points are identified as needs intensive support. Based on their category, schools are to receive different levels of support from the local school division and the Virginia Department of Education. And schools are categorized schools that are categorized as needs intensive support will receive a greater amount of support. When applying the rules for this part of the system, 19 of our schools or 23% earned a performance category of
132distinguished. A total of 51 of our schools or 63% earned a performance category of ontrack. And 11 of our schools or 13% earned a performance category of offtrack. These performance categories are labeled initial on the slide because the state's redesigned accountability system was meant to blend the state and federal accountability requirements into a single system. The next step in the performance focused classification model is to apply the state's rules for federally identifying schools in need of support and improvement. The first step in this process is to identify comprehensive support and improvement schools. CSI schools are defined as the lowest performing 5% of title one schools across Virginia and any high school with a 4-year graduation rate below 67%. CSI schools are identified every three years with the next cycle um to be schools to be
133identified in 2028. The next step of federal identification applies to all schools and involves looking at the performance of individual student groups to determine if targeted support and improvement is required. Schools that have one or more student group performing below the highest performing CSI school are identified as TSI, targeted support and improvement. In the past, a student group was included in calculations if it had at least 30 students, but under the new system, that number is 15. The change was made to ensure more student groups would be included in the calculation. Under the state's accountability model, if a school is federally identified as a TSI school, the school's performance category earned under the first part of the framework is automatically lowered by one level. For example, if through the calculations of the framework scores, a
134school earns a designation of offtrack but is identified as a TSI school, that school's designation would change from offtrack to needs intensive support. The school's overall framework score would not change, only the performance category, and TSI schools will be identified on an annual basis. I will illustrate how a school becomes a TSI school using an elementary school example. The data for the highest performing elementary CSI school is at the top of the slide in green. The overall framework score for this school was 71.8. Their reading indicator percentage 71.3 and for math 74.51. And finally for science it was 84.25. These data represent the all students group for this school that was identified. After establishing these thresholds, VDOE reviewed every elementary school's results for every student group with at least 15 test takers and compared the
135data from this school's all students group. Schools with one or more student groups performing below these thresholds were identified as TSI schools. The data in blue is a sample elementary school. If we look at the overall framework score for the all students group for this school, it is 88.2 which is a solid on track school close to 90. As we move through the reporting groups, we come to a TS. This means that reporting group was too small, not 15 students. These groups have less than 15 students are not reviewed at uh for TSI designation. When we look at the remainder of the reporting groups at this school, you can see that the students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged groups are below 71.8, the overall framework score for that threshold score at the top. Now, for
136only those groups, we compare their indicator scores. For reading, the indicator percentage for students with disabilities is below the threshold score, which was 71.3, but economically disadvantaged is higher. In math, the percentage is lower for students with disabilities, but higher than the threshold school for economically disadvantaged. And finally, in science, the indicator percentage is lower than the 84.25 25 in that threshold score for both groups, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged. Because this school scores for students with disabilities is lower than the threshold school for all the areas reviewed. This school would be identified as TSI for the students with disabilities group. It is important to point out that schools can be identified as TSI in more than one uh reporting group. Schools may also be identified as additional targeted support ATSI. The only schools
137in this category for the 2526 school year are schools that um did not show the required improvement to exit ATSI from last year and no new schools were identified this year. 434 schools across Virginia were federally identified. Most identified based on performance of reporting groups with 346 TSI schools. Of those TSI schools, 67% were identified based on students with disabilities reporting group. After applying fed federal identification rules, 21 of our elementary schools were identified as TSI schools and their performance category was moved down one level. 16 of these schools were federally identified based on the performance of students with disabilities. Four were identified based on the performance of English learners and students with disabilities. and one school was identified based on the performance of English learners. Because of the federal identification, the performance categories for
138these schools changed. 12 schools moved from ontrack to offtrack and nine schools moved from offtrack to need intensive support. This brings us to the final performance categories for our schools. The design the distinguished category remained unchanged with 23% of our schools earning this performance category. 48% of our schools earned performance category of ontrack. That's 23 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and four high schools. 17% of our schools earned a performance category of offtrack. That's 14 elementary schools. And 11 of our schools earned a performance category of needs intensive support. And that's nine elementary schools. This slide shows the final performance categories for Virginia Beach and Virginia. For comparison purposes, approximately 72% of Virginia Beach schools are on track and distinguished, while approximately 66% of schools across Virginia are in these two performance categories. With the
139state results finalized in our division performance in view, we now turn to what matters most. Continuing to support schools in a coordinated and cohesive way. One way we'll we will one way we will continue to do this work is through the school support process which has been in place for several years. This process involves providing differentiated levels of support to schools in a manner that best supports their needs. meetings are held on a more regular basis with our schools that require more intensive support. Under the federal accountability model, most of the schools identified for targeted support were due to outcomes for students with disabilities, which is why this group of students is an important focus of our support efforts. The office of programs for exceptional ch children in the department of teaching and learning and
140school leadership have partnered over the last couple of years to provide more intensive professional learning to administrators, teachers and assistants to improve outcomes for the students with disabilities. We have also completed our cyclical review with the Virginia Department of Education which has prompted additional data points that are guiding training requirements to address achievement gaps. School leadership ensures multiple progress monitoring checkpoints through school support meetings and works in partnership with school leaders to identify resources and supports to address the needs of students with disabilities. As you may be aware, our population of English learners has grown in the past few years. In response to state code, we have increased allocations to support English learners and have allocated them to the schools in most need. We have also provided additional training opportunities, both required and optional, for
141teachers to address the need of their English learners and to increase performance of this student group. Additionally, we have invested in curriculum revisions and align literacy interventions to best practices. Curriculum continues to be updated and created to enhance student learning and provide staff with highquality resources. Across the division, central office teams are partnering to review trends, identify bright spots within Virginia Beach, and study statewide patterns to see where we can learn from other school divisions. This shared responsibility across offices underscores the supporting schools is not the work of one department. It's a coordinated effort across all offices. This approach allows us to focus on resources where they matter most, provide consistent divisionwide support, and ensure every school is equipped to continue the work they have already started. This year represents the first year of Virginia's
142new accountability system, and with any new system, we know it will continue to evolve. One change that has already been adopted by the board of education is a multi-year phase in of new reading and math so cut scores. Historically, the cut scores for proficient have been 400 and for advanced has been 500 consistent across all tests. The new cut scores you see on the slide represent the first time cut scores will vary by test. It is important to note that these cut score changes do not affect the 2425 results that we just discussed tonight and will not take effect during this current school year. The new cut scores will be phased in over the next four years beginning with 2627. During this transition, an additional performance level referred to as approaching will be reported and
143will count as passing. This approach is intended to provide stability for students in schools as expectations shift. This is one of several changes we anticipate as the system continues to mature. Our commitment is to communicate clearly with the school board, our schools, families, and the broader community about what is changing, what is not, and how to interpret the results responsibly. It is our hope that what you see reflected here is a division that is already moving, already aligned, and already equipped to use these results to strengthen the work that's underway with coordinated support across all offices. We are well positioned for the next phase of improvement. Thank you for your time and I will be happy to address any questions that you may have. Miss Rogers, hi. Thank you so much for your very thorough
144presentation. Um I think I have a couple of questions and comments. Um first of all, I saw that part of our new credential or the criteria is facilities and safety. Do you know how much that affects their the ratings? because while that's our responsibility, it's not anything the school itself can do anything about. There are several things in the standards of accreditation. I don't know if I would say 50 60 several items. Our our school division was able to say yes that we are meeting all of those requirements and therefore our schools were accredited. So, we are doing what we need to meet um the standards of accreditation expectations. the facilities and safety we're fine with. Okay. Well, I only say that because obviously we have a very um challenging CIP and I don't we
145do need things to be replaced but we're just not there yet. Um and I don't want that to affect our accreditation. Um, the other comment I kind of want to make is this is was super thorough, but I feel like it's so much information for parents and because we've changed our accreditation system, we're going to have schools that were not on the needs improvement or needs intensive work that now are. So overall, I I know that we have this list of of supports, but is there like, you know, something easy, simple that we can say to parents, you know, about this whole kitten kaboodleoodle that'll be easier for them to digest because this is just a lot. It is a lot. And there are one pagers that can I can provide. They're on the VOE
146site, but I'm happy to provide them to you. um that helps explain it, but to be honest, the one pagers don't go into the detail that's really involved. Although it will be a nice way to help explain on a high level what all I think that's what I'm looking for because I've had questions already about this and I'm like, so I'm not an expert on this yet. Um and you know, now that we've had all of this, I still think we're going to get questions from parents when all of this comes out. And so the one pagers is that going to be available on our website? Um I can make it available to you all however we make resources available. Happy to provide that. Absolutely. Thank you. And as soon as I know feel like
147I'm an expert in the content. I'm not an expert anymore. No change. I just add that um the department of education did do a really nice job of creating those one pagers that are available as soon as you go on to the department the DOE website. you can click on the uh the school quality profiles and from that page you can click on uh familyfriendly resources that explain what all these scores mean. What we're hearing from parents and schools because the data is out there is what does it mean to my child, right? And so our parent our principles and teachers are well well positioned to say well this is what it means to your child. Um and then you know we have taken the approach we're not making any excuses for for the ratings.
148We are and we're not going to get into explanations around the ratings because we're worried about um how a particular subgroup could be viewed because a subgroup has caused the school that was nearly distinguished to be off track. and we don't want anybody to be um penalized for being a member of that subgroup because 16 kids took an assessment and and and their performance brought down the the entire rating of the school. So, we're working individually with those families um as we target those students um with a more strategic approach than we've done in the past because it was great learning for us last year and we we like where we are right now, but we need to continue to work. And I have a couple of questions actually about that specifically, Dr. Robertson. Um
149I have not paid attention for a minute. Are these the tests that you're referring to at the elementary level SOS? Am I correct? So, um let me just there are standards of learning tests and the VAP which is administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities. It's a much smaller population but they are included result. So, do the students with disabilities now because again it's been a minute that I've paid attention. So, do they take the VAP instead of the so because that depends. Yeah, it depends on their disability, their their level of disability. The VAP has a a 1% cap of how many students in the division can take the VAP. Oh jeez. Yeah. And so that's very small. And I'll say that we've been under the 1% cap. Um that the students who qualify
150to take that alternate, it is very limited. they have to be significantly cognitively disabled and there are things that have to be in place. I think my point is is you either have to be significantly cognitively disabled or you take the regular exam. There is nothing for accommodations which is why our students with disabilities have such a problem and it does affect our scores so much. There are accommodations but there's not an a different test. Right. Correct. Right. So, and and some accommodations though can't be met depending am I incorrect on that? At least when Okay. When I was teaching I want There are a lot of accommodations that are permitted and there are there is room for special test accommodations that go to VDOE and get approved. We've not had one come back denied.
151Okay. And it's typically denied if it puts the student at a disadvantage or allows an opportunity for them to cheat or something. But typically the special test accommodations have been approved. But we're still taking the same test. Correct. No matter what our disability is unless we are extremely okay. So again, that is correct that we don't have a different correct test to accommodate some of our students which would be helpful. So okay, that's legislative and we'll work on that. Thanks, Miss Melnik. So, it's a good thing that accreditation no longer includes so scores, absenteeism, and graduation rates, right? But where will absenteeism or truency show up? Where will we take a ding on that? In the school performance and support framework, there is a section for absentee chronic absenteeism. Yes. Okay. It's still there. It's
152just called something else and it's calculated differently. Okay. So, to your point, Dr. Robertson, Virginia Beach makes no excuses and we have for many, many years said, "Great, we're doing great, but we aren't, this division's never rested on their laurels, right?" Like, great, we did fantastic and we're going to do even better next year. So, that's a given. Um, but to your point though, what a shame that these subgroups can cause an entire school to be knocked down a level. And I feel bad for our community in that sense. And I'm glad that you're cognizant of of focusing and doing your best to make it not about a particular subgroup, but everyone's going to know what it is. Yeah. So, JARK, to their credit, okay, has already studied the first round of the release of
153the school performance and support framework and has come up with, I think, six or seven recommendations for refinements. Okay. And one of those recommendations is that um the first time a subgroup um scores would cause a school to drop rating to not do that the first time. Okay. To only if it occurs in consecutive years. So there are recommendations out there where adjustments could be made to the current framework process uh to take into account the double jeopardy type of uh impact of um penalizing a school where the overwhelming majority of their students scored in in the let's say ontrack range only to be um dropped to the offtrack range because of the scores of 16 students in a subgroup. Okay. But it was mentioned, so you have your subgroups. I mean, a school is
154going to be penalized as as you said. Um Tracy, like we have an we have a higher population of English learners and that number is continuing to grow and we could have the same schools affected that way for quite some time. Yeah. If you recall the it used to be that to to count English learners performance, you had 11 semesters to get those kids off all uh up to speed, which which you could argue is a long time. They reduce that to three. Um and there is discussion with JARK again to adjust that from three to five. So there's going to be some refinements. I appreciate Jark. Um, I I appreciate the JARK study and I'm my hope is that we're not going to study the the JARK study. Like I hope that we can
155move forward in with this because this these are significant opportunities for schools. Uh my only other concern is and I've seen this over the years with SOS, you know, um we work really hard with that and kids kids do pretty darn well and it's almost like okay, we recognize kids are doing are, you know, okay and school divisions are doing okay and now we're going to raise that bar again and you know what may have been 400 um in some cases is now 445. And so I would imagine that we're going to have more subgroups that are going to we're we're we're going to see this problem again. Um and so my question is where does that end? And h how how do divisions I know what we're going to do and I know you're
156going to say it, but how do divisions muddle through this? These can be some of the same divisions that are going to be dinged on accreditation because they're there's no CIP budget and they can't they can't fix their schools or build a new one because there's no money. So, I don't know. Help me. Or maybe there is no explanation. Yeah, I can't speak for what other school divisions are going to do. Right. And but uh I I am pleased at the work particularly of elementary school teachers last year who were thrust into the deep end u learning uh new new literacy standards which I think are really good. So I have a lot of confidence in in our our teachers and now it's at the middle school level that they are they are u adjusting
157their practice uh and our kids will will rise to the occasion and will provide the supports um and you know the thing that I like about the approach of the department of education they raise the standards they're willing to take a look at refinements to the process which is always a good thing to do. Um, but I don't I don't see the state of Virginia um adjusting standards. I I'm okay with accreditation. I'm okay with accountability. I'm okay with all of that, but there's there just seems I don't know. They're kids, right? So, I'm just happy that our teachers always rise to the occasion. And for those of us that visit schools, you see that the the teachers, they I I'll just speak specifically to elementary school teachers. They're knocking it out of the park
158with this language arts. I mean, it's amazing what I'm seeing. Um just just the language, how teachers speak to kids and how kids respond in the same with the same language. I mean, it's hard to believe when you're in a third grade classroom that these are third graders. Our teachers are doing great. Um, I just I hate constant change and I just hate the rules of the game changing all the time for people who work their tails off and across the board, and it's it's well known, don't make enough to do it. Yet, they they stick. It's a true profession and I applaud them. But I'm hopeful, right? I'm hopeful. Yeah, Miss Melnik, I just wanted to add that I have been watching the board of education meetings and some of the JARK recommendations are
159already being proposed to the board. So there there is going to be movement and change. We don't know exactly what that's going to look like, but okay. Because again, I'm okay with accreditation. I'm okay with accountability. It's just changing changing the rules all the time and so punitive for children. I just that's that's my thought. Thank you. Thanks Mr. Ken. Thank you for the presentation. Uh there is a page in particular where I'm going to need your verbiage notes. That's page 18. That's the mystery page on which the fountain of all information that it exists is uh necessary so that I can spend some time reviewing your comments and deciphering this page because it seems to be where all of the light exists. But if you can't find the light switch, you're still in the
160dark. So, a if I could have that page of your notes, that would be greatly appreciated. And secondly, in reference to page 21, and it talks about the 21 elementary schools that were identified as TSI, it begs the question, just because of the way my mind works, were any of our schools designated as either CSI or ATSI? No, we did not have any CSI schools. That means all of our title one schools were not in the bottom five percent of performance and none of our high schools had a graduation rate less than 67%. So we were not identified as TSI. The only way for any of our schools to be identified as ATSI is for them to be TSI this year and continue that path for three years and then we may see if they
161don't come out of that um category they may we may have an ATSI school. So, we were not eligible for any ATSI schools this year. Okay, those are the only questions. Thank you. You're welcome, Mr. Cummings. Yep. Thank you so much for your presentation and I appreciate the depth of what you went into information on the evaluation criteria. And so I I also appreciate your use of benchmarks as well because I'm a competitive person and I absolutely love when we outpace state totals uh in our excellence and then we underpace where we're off track and needs intensive support. So much applause to our school administration for their hard work and the competitive nature inside of me really knows that you all do great work for our schools and for our kids. And I think that's
162evident. Um I think Dr. Robertson, I would love I really appreciate what you said about um communication with parents and talking through like the scenarios, you know, because I'm just sitting there thinking, I'm a parent. I see needs intensive support. I see my school on there. What does that what's that mean to me? What's that mean to my kid? How do these recommendations that we have going in place, how does that impact their learning journey and their learning experience? So, I don't know when the timing of this could be, but I think I would appreciate just um maybe just some form of update of like that dissects these uh recommendations on 24 just a little more and just talks through like here's what we did. Here's um you know what we've observed. hear some things
163that we saw in some of these schools that were in the needs intent support or off track just so that I know that we could communicate with the public. I think these are great recommendations. I just think like uh just just a a deeper dive, not you know, not by next board meeting, just down the road at some point. I think I'd really appreciate and I'm sure other folks on the board would also appreciate um just how we're addressing, you know, the schools to get 100% on track so that we can continue to crush the state. Yeah. So, Mr. Cummings, I'll offer this to the entire board. um if you want to go and attend a school support meeting and sit in that meeting and see what happens, we can absolutely set that up for
164you. Um now you we will have to take a different approach. We'll have to work through Mr. actually Dr. Smith is going to be helping Mr. Delaney, but Dr. Smith because those meetings are scheduled uh elementary, middle, and high school at different times. So it wouldn't be like, okay, we can visit schools on Friday and go to one because we have to arrange for the entire team to be able to be there at those meetings. But if you're interested in going to attend a school support meeting, let Dr. Smith know and we'll make arrangements for you to sit in and watch one of those meetings. And that's where you will see all of the little inner workings where we talk about a student and their needs and how we're going to work with that student
165in there and you'll see who's in the room and it'll give you a really good indication of the process that we use. Yeah. Thank you so much for that recommendation. I think I that's one thing that I really applaud about you is inviting the board to come and see with their own eyes and to observe. And I think that's, you know, where we get to challenge our assumptions and then see, you know, what boots on the ground actually looks like. So I look forward to taking that offer up and finding time. So I appreciate your presentation. Um, and I appreciate, you know, the explanation as to why some of them would have shifted. And I I want to make sure that my interpretations are correct before I go out into the community. Um the reason
166that this number is the way that this number is in part is because the standards were raised, the bar was raised or is it just the groups? The um sta the what you need to be passing an so test will increase but not until next school year. Okay. So we may see some more challenges. Um we may um that certainly we may but the schools all the schools will be expected um they all have the same expectations. So the fi lowest 5% of title one schools is they're going to change what what those scores are and that's going to dictate who's TSI. So, I really don't know what it's going to look like because it's really dependent on how other schools perform in regards to the federal piece and moving schools because they're federally identified.
167That's going to look different every year. And there were new assessments based on new standards in the spring. Yes. last year, not cut scores, but there were new assessments based on new standards that that did not have as it was the spring was the first time, right? So, typically when there's those new standards, there is a little bit of a dip a dip anyway. Um, yeah, I mean, and Dr. Robertson, I'm going to take you up on your offer. Um, I don't want to participate in it. I just want to watch it. I will I'll keep my mouth shut. Um, but you know, there's there's a few schools here um in district 10 and um I think the high schools and middle schools look good, but I think that'll help me be able to go
168out into the community and say, "Hey, here's what we're doing to improve." And I want to make sure too that while I'm having this conversation that I don't I don't want any of our staff or teachers to think that, you know, I don't appreciate you, I don't value you because I do. um you know, but we're in the business of education and we're always going to be trying to figure out how we can improve and provide support to students that need support. Um and so there's no topic and that's going to be more important to me than student achievement. So, um I just want to make sure that I didn't glaze over the fact that I'm I I know that our teachers worked really hard here. So, and all of our staff really. So, okay.
169I think Dr. Green hasn't had the chance to speak. So, Dr. Green, thank you, Chair Brown. Um, mine is just more of a suggestion, Dr. Robertson, not telling you and staff how to do um your processes, but for my colleagues, because uh many moons ago, I you know, have had the opportunity to be a part of that process for school improvement. I would recommend Chair Brown that we go solo but and and the only reason why and and Dr. Robertson is nodding be because it is a lot and we do not want staff to feel that you know we are descending on them in groups and things. So, so my recommendation would be that we um go solo um through uh staff uh to those meetings uh because they they can be very intimidating. Um
170it's a lot of work that goes into it because they're looking at, you know, many aspects of what needs to be done to um help students and and and staff to improve. So, and I know a lot of times we're used to we may travel in pairs, but uh this may be one time I would recommend we go solo. Well, and let me add Dr. Green, I appreciate that. You know, this board has established the tone already with schools. So, staff does not feel that when you come to schools that you are being evaluative. That's not how they feel. you have your actions and your visits have indicated you are supportive and you are trying to learn. So in that unique setting it's probably is though a good idea just to do one uh person
171uh per meeting but we we have plenty of meetings because we have 86 schools or 85 schools. So there's plenty of opportunity. Miss Melnik, I'm so sorry I was in the restroom. So if somebody asked this um the additional supports I know we're already doing them but so today we had um the webinar with the state it was at 1:00 and I have not gotten the outcome of that meeting that happened at 1:00. I don't know if you can speak to and I'm sorry. You know what I did? I did this to Don. I don't and I'm not sure that that there was supposedly going to be as there's a pot of money. There is a pot of money we need to discuss and really dissect which we have not been able to do yet.
172What that money can be spent on and how it can be used. I know it has a deadline of it. Um you have to use everything in cumber through September and it's already almost February. So there's a lot of things with just having the meeting today that we really need to look at to to see how we can and if we can take advantage of some of that. Okay. But Miss Melnik, if I could because we also still have all-in tutoring money uh that needs to be spent this year. Uh we've met as a team with Docsel and DL Dr. Smith graciously said, "Let's take some of the middle school support money that we can shift down to our elementary school." So that's an example of immediate conversations that didn't just start last month. We
173anticipated much of these the concerns that were going to come forward. And so that shift is taking place. Elementary principles are submitting their needs. We're evaluating is it in the right spot, who needs more and supporting in that way. So some existing funds and the immediate steps are going to be used as well that we're going to use in our all-in tutoring funds. Okay. And my final question, I kind of alluded to this, but it is a good sign, right, that they're talking about the Jark. It's a good sign that these things are coming forward and there's conversation about it. Okay. Just I just have to be able to sleep at night. Tonight might be one of those nights where I when I don't. Okay. So, thank you. I would just ask that that one
174pager that was I don't recall who requested it but the I can make that available if you put that on the website so that families also have it visible to them so that they have as much information um I think that would be really great and then I'll also just give you some directions that Dr. Robertson alluded to how to find each school's data um because it's very telling as well. If there's a school you want to look into, you can see their their specific data in a one pager that's easy to digest. But yes, I'll be happy to do that. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. We are on to FFY 2024 title one part A application reallocation and we welcome Laura Silverman director of title one programs. Thank you. Good evening
175Chair Brown, Vice Chair W, school board and Dr. Robertson. I'm Silverman, director of title one programs. Today I will provide you an overview of guidance released by VDOE on December 18th regarding the federal fiscal year 2024 title one part A application reallocation. This is the first time we've had the to we have had the reallocation of bypass funds and we are requesting your approval to submit the application to VDOE by January 23rd, 2026. Under title one of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act, local educational agencies are required to provide services for eligible private school students as well as eligible public school students. Recently, the United States Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Education have issued specific guidance to local educational agencies regarding the
176federal fiscal year 2024 bypass reallocation funds. BBCPS will receive just over $150,000 in additional funding. These funds are restricted and may only be used to provide Title One equitable services to participating private schools during the 2526 school year. All funds must be encumbered by September 30th, 2026 and reimbursed by November 15, 2026. VDOE has provided guidance that school divisions must complete their Title One Part A bypass application to outline how they will use the additional funds to provide equitable services to eligible private school students. As outlined in the application, BBCPS will use the additional funds to support tutoring both during the school year and during the summer months, to purchase additional instructional materials to be used both in school as well as to enhance learning opportunities in the home environment, and to purchase additional technology
177devices and academic programs. VDOE has shared that the VD or that the federal fiscal year 2024 title one part A bypass allocation reallocation application is due January 23rd 2026 and requires approval from both the school division superintendent and school board. Thank you for letting me present this information to you this evening and I stand ready to answer any questions you may have before I open the floor for discussion. Uh Dr. Robertson mentioned this to me I believe late late December and we have a deadline here that we needed to make sure that we met. So this is on information tonight and it is also on consent of course if somebody wants to move it off of consent um you always can but we need to make sure that we're getting this out. So Dr. green.
178And with that, I can cancel my question because I just wanted to make sure we were meeting u the deadlines. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Speaking of consent, we are now on to the consent agenda. We are going to be voting on policy 3-40, design, build, and construction management. Policy 7-51, use of schoolboard equipment, Bayside High School Fire Alarm Replacement, Ocean Lakes High School Tower Lease Amendment, FFY 2024, Title One Part A Application and Reallocation. Are there any objections to the school board voting on the consent agenda items as presented? Okay, seeing none, um the motion is made by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Miss Rogers. I call for the vote to approve the consent agenda. So, Madam Chair, we have 11 eyes. The motion did pass for the approval of the consent
179agenda. Thank you. We are now on to the personnel report and administrative appointments. I call for a motion to approve the personnel report and administrative appointments. Moved by Miss Dwire, seconded by Miss Roger. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote to approve the administrative appointments and personnel report. So, Madam Chair, we have 11 eyes. The motion to pass for the approval of the personnel report and administrative appointments. Thank you, Dr. Robertson. Do you have any administrative appointments? Yes, I do. Thank you. We're pleased that you have accepted our recommendation for Tara Urick, currently an admin assistant at VB Middle School, to be the next assistant principal at Corporate Landing Middle School. Next up, we have Brian Loan. We're pleased that you've accepted our recommendation for Brian is currently currently the coordinator of security
180emergency management in the office of security emergency management to be the next director of transportation in the office of transportation and fleet management services. Thank you from Sean Barnes. Okay. Oh, it'll be sad not to see Brian around. Okay. Okay. And that's all of them for today. Okay. All right. We are now on to an achievable dream academy comprehensive evaluation recommendations. I call for a motion to approve the administration's recommendations that were proposed in response to an achievable dream academy comprehensive evaluation. Moved by Dr. Green, seconded by Miss Dwire. Any discussion? Seeing none. Oh, Miss Rogers. I just I wanted to ask a quick question. This double-checking this is they didn't ask for any funding. That's what I just wanted to double check. I didn't think that they had it and I was reviewing. Okay,
181double checking. Thank you. So, I I'll also comment that um one of the recommendations was to update theou if I'm not mistaken. Is that correct, Dr. Robertson? This it was Dr. Banicki. Do you recall a recommendation update? Yeah. I don't recall. Yeah, I I I don't recall that one. Yes, there there was going to be an addition of a sunset there. That's not Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. And you know, for for the public that's watching, you know, our last meeting was December 9th. So, we just have to refresh here to make sure. I want to scan real quick over the mou because I feel like there was anou. I may just be recalling something from the report. No, not specifically in the recommendations, but the first recommendation is to continue with modifications with
182the inclusion of a sunset provision. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that clarification. Okay. I see no further discussion. I call for the vote to approve an achievable dream academy comprehensive evaluation recommendations as presented. So, Madam Chair, we have 11 eyes. The motion did pass. Thank you. Um, and 16 C was moved back to the policy review committee. So, we do not have any discussion on that one tonight. And we are now on to committee, organization, and board reports. Do any board members have anything to report? Misso and I have a colleague that's asked to verify our next meeting. Our next meeting is going to be Let me get my paperwork shuffled. As we just approved, January 27th. It's a Tuesday. Okay. Vice Chair Williams. Yes. just to remind my colleagues on the PRC, we will
183be meeting on the 23rd, January 23rd at 3:30. Thank you, Miss Melnik. And now I remember why the 27th, uh, Dr. Robertson and I have we moved the governor school and CEP meeting to Tuesday of because of a conflict with I think WHR or something. So we will meet on the 27th for uh CEP and governor school regional boards. I'm sorry a correction PRC is meeting the 28th January 28th is a Wednesday. Thank you. What time is that at? 3:30. Okay. Thank you. All right. Seeing no further reports from board members, um, and we do not have an additional closed session, we are now adjourned at 8:57 p.m.