Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Good morning everyone and thank you for being here.

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I am calling this special board meeting to discuss and consider an independent review and investigation to order.

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Before we begin, Dr. Acuff is not able to be in the room today due to family matters.

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So I first have to ask the board if anyone has an issue with her joining remotely.

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Clerk Thompson.

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I just want for the record to note that the board is in agreement that Dr. Acuff can join remotely.

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And just for everyone in the room, I know there was a request to be in a larger room.

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The reason we are in this room today is because of the sound system.

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If we are in the main room, there is a two minute delay.

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for anyone on the phone.

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So Dr. Acuff would not be able to participate in discussion.

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And so we are here.

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Thank you to the board of supervisors and the technology team for making sure the sound is available.

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And this will be being recorded as well as being streamed currently.

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So thank you, Dr. Acuff, for joining remotely.

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We will begin as we usually do with introductions and I'm going to start with Clerk Thompson.

SPEAKER_06

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Christine Thompson, Clerk of the Board.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Erin Stone, Assistant Division Counsel.

SPEAKER_02

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Josiah Black, Chief Legal Officer, Chandra Hayes, Acting Superintendent, Jason Grant, Chief Communication Officer, Marie Goethe, Daphne Kaiser, Assistant Superintendent, Jamie Foreman, Chief Technology Officer, Megan Wood, Interim Assistant Superintendent, Dan Redding, Chief HR Officer, Bob Beard, Samuel Miller District, Jim Dillenbeck, Raya District,

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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I'm Allison Spillman.

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I'm the at-large representative and chair.

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I would like to respectfully ask that I make a quick announcement.

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Today I'm announcing that I've made the difficult decision to step down from the Albemarle County School Board.

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My final meeting will be next Thursday evening, August 13th.

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Sorry.

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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This is not a sudden decision nor is it a reaction to the very few people who have recently demanded the resignation of this board.

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I've been considering this transition for months and had originally intended to step down at the end of the last school year but recent events made that timing difficult and I chose to remain longer than planned to help support the transition to a new superintendent.

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I'm leaving because I feel confident in the job I've done.

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I've served this community with integrity, worked tirelessly on behalf of our students and families, and consistently gone above and beyond what this role is required.

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I'm really proud of my service on the work we've accomplished.

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At the same time, serving on this board has taken a significant toll on my physical, mental, and emotional health.

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The personal cost has become untenable.

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My children deserve

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to have me fully present in their lives and they should not have to endure hatred, harassment, or criticism because their mother serves in public office.

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I will continue to work hard on behalf of our students, staff, families, and school division through my final meeting next Thursday evening.

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I intend to finish my service with the same commitment and dedication I brought to this role from the beginning.

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Serving on this role has been an incredible honor.

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and I'm really grateful to the students, families, educators, staff members and community members who've trusted me and worked alongside me.

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I leave knowing that I gave this position everything I had but now it's time for me to focus on my health and more importantly my family.

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Thank you.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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I am Dr. Rebecca Berlin.

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I'm with the Whitehall District.

Ellen OsborneMember, School Board

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Ellen Osborne, Scottsville District.

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Judy Le, Rivanna District.

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Dr. Acuff.

SPEAKER_06

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K.A.

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Hough, Jack Jewett District.

SPEAKER_09

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Thank you.

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Dr. Berlin, we skipped over the superintendent.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Because this is a special meeting and not a regularly scheduled board meeting, there are specific parameters by which we must abide, pursuant to code 15.2-1418 of the Code of Virginia and consistent with ACPS school board policy BDB.

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Only matters specifically noted in the public notice shall be considered during the special meeting.

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And again, this is the discussion and consideration of the independent review and investigation.

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Before deliberating next steps, we will hold a closed session to receive legal advice about recent personnel issues and the Division's policies and practices concerning the response to allegations of sexually inappropriate conduct by staff.

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Following our closed meeting, we will have a public discussion, deliberation, and consideration on the independent review investigation and how we move forward.

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With that, do I have a motion to enter closed session?

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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You do.

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I move that the school board of Albemarle County, Virginia go into a closed session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act section 2.2-3711A

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of the Code of Virginia under subsection 8 for the consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by the school board regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel.

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The purpose of this item is for the school board to seek legal advice regarding an independent investigation of recent personnel issues and the division's policies and practices concerning the response to allegations of sexually inappropriate conduct by staff.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Do I have a second to this motion?

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Second.

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Moved by Ms. Spillman, second by Ms. Lee.

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I would like to do a roll call vote for this.

SPEAKER_06

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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Yes.

SPEAKER_06

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Mr. Dillenbeck.

Ellen OsborneMember, School Board

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Yes.

SPEAKER_06

Ellen OsborneMember, School Board

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Yes.

SPEAKER_06

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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So moved.

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We will now go immediately into closed session.

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I do ask that everyone, and we will need to remain in this room so that we can make sure that Dr. Acuff has clear sight and sound.

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I am asking that everyone

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Leave this room until we are done with closed session.

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I am asking, I'm just joking with this, with Mr. Black, Ms. Stone, Dr. Hayes to remain in and then we will invite others in as needed.

SPEAKER_06

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Room 235 right around the corner is open and auditorium.

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Approximately how long will we close?

Ellen OsborneMember, School Board

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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I would like to bring this special meeting back to order.

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Do I have a closed meeting motion?

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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Yes, Chair Berlin.

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I move that the board certify by recorded vote that to the best of each board member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Seconded by Ms. Spillman, seconded by Ms. Lee.

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Clerk Thompson, I'd like to just do a roll call on just that motion.

SPEAKER_06

SPEAKER_05

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Yes.

SPEAKER_06

And as a reminder, we don't have actual mics, but they're in the ceiling, so just

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Do I have any motions coming out of the closed session board?

Ellen OsborneMember, School Board

00:10:04

I move that the school board direct the division superintendent and chief legal officer to engage the law firm of Harmon Claytor to conduct a thorough independent investigation of recent personnel issues and the division's policies and practices concerning the response to allegations of sexually inappropriate conduct by staff.

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and to share the firm's findings with the school board at the earliest possible date.

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I further move that the chief legal officer be directed to ensure that Harmon Clater is afforded access to all documents, data, witnesses, and other evidence that would be necessary to conduct such an investigation.

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Do I have a second?

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

by Ms. Osborne, seconded by Ms. Lee.

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We are now open for discussion.

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Any members of the board want to discuss this at this time?

SPEAKER_02

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We want a thorough, timely, and robust investigation by Harmon Clader and we anticipate that ACPS will give them a full access to the facts.

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We want to know what happened and we want to make sure that our kids at ACPS are safe always, our staff is safe, our parents are safe,

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and to make what happened at Hollymead's other schools never happen again.

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Thank you.

Jim DillenbeckMember, School Board

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I'm also in favor of this investigation.

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I think it's vital for a healthy school division to have

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our practices examined and to get feedback.

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I also will be proposing in the near future at some point contracting with an independent inspector general type of role for an annual review not just in this particular case and circumstances that were

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we're talking about today but an annual audit and review of our policies and procedures by somebody outside of ACPS because I think it's important for us to have at some point that feedback from

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and somebody in an Inspector General type of role.

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So I'll be proposing that at some point in the future.

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We've gotten lots of feedback from various people, both teachers, parents, and I want to raise some of the questions that we're going to encourage the law firm to investigate.

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These are from Taylor Greenwood.

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Number one, was there any mechanism to aggregate concerns about a single staff member over time so that a series of separate reports would be recognized as a pattern rather than handled as unconnected events?

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Number two, was the reporting pipeline understood and followed consistently so that proper reporting didn't depend on any one person getting it right in the moment?

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Number three, what visibility existed above the building level so that concerns reached people with the authority to act?

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The goal isn't to re-litigate one case, it's to find every point where a signal failed and to fix those systems so that the next time a concern is caught at the first signal rather than the fifth.

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If the review maps the failures carefully and the findings are made public, it will do more to rebuild trust and to protect children than any single personnel outcome.

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Thank you.

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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Yeah, I'm fully in favor of this investigation.

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I think it's really important that we find out what we got right and what we got wrong, and it needs to be from the top down.

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It needs to not just be at the school level, but we need to figure out

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what the systemic failures are and how we can fix them.

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And so not just point out what was right or what was wrong, but what actual items do we have going forward that we can put in place.

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Our students, as a parent, an ACPS parent, I want my kids to be safe in school.

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And I want to feel like when I send them to school that they're coming home safe.

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I have confidence in this division.

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I am proud of what we do, but I think that there are gaps and I think that there are holes and I think we need to figure out where they are and I think having an outside attorney

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I'm in favor of this and I want us to keep our focus on the primary goal, which is what can we do

Ellen OsborneMember, School Board

00:15:54

to come out of the situation that makes Albemarle County Public Schools a safer and stronger division for our students, our parents, and our employees.

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And I want us to keep focused on that goal.

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Moving forward, what can we do to make this a safer place?

SPEAKER_04

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I'm also in favor of this, and I don't have anything profoundly different to say.

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After Allison leaves, I'll

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for at least a time to be the only ACPS parent on this board.

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And it is very, very important to me that our kids be safe and that our staffers and everyone in the community, in the ACPS community be safe.

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So I'm very much in favor of this.

SPEAKER_05

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Dr. Acuff?

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I don't have much to add.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

00:16:59

I too am in favor of this investigation.

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We need to have a robust investigation on how we can best protect the students that we are responsible for and provide improved safety for our children, our employees, and our families.

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We need to look at what the failures were in our system, particularly the policies, procedures, and practices, and how they can be improved for the future.

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This is the best decision that is in the best decision of the students in the school division now and in the future.

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So I have a motion on the floor with a second.

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Do I have any other discussion before we move to a new vote?

Jim DillenbeckMember, School Board

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I think it's important to make sure that we understand this is going to be quite a long process and there may be information that we're not able to share with the public and so we ask for patience and we're all committed obviously to

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Greater safety and better structures.

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But it's going to take some time, so I appreciate the patience.

Allison SpillmanVice Chair, School Board

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And we asked for updates along the way so that it's not just waiting until the end.

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We committed to updates every 60 days with hopefully actionable items coming out of each of those closed session meetings with the investigators so that we can continue to be doing the work.

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replace the work that the division's already doing and that our interim superintendent is already putting in place to make our schools safer and change and improve already.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

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Any other discussion items to bring forward?

SPEAKER_04

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I just want to mention that in addition to the 60 days, if there are any insights that come up and need immediate attention, we'll act on those as well.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

00:19:13

Clerk Thompson, I would now like to move to an immediate vote.

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Does anyone need me to read the motion we read or be ready to vote?

SPEAKER_06

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Mr. Dillenbeck.

Jim DillenbeckMember, School Board

00:19:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_06

SPEAKER_02

00:19:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_06

SPEAKER_06

SPEAKER_02

00:19:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_06

With a vote 7-0, the motion carries.

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Thank you so much.

Rebecca BerlinChair, School Board

00:19:45

I now declare this August 4th Special Board Meeting adjourned.

Special Board Meeting 8/4/2026

Call to Order

Discussion and Consideration of an Independent Review/Investigation The Albemarle County School Board will discuss the scope, cost and structure of an independent review/investigation related to recent events in the division.