Board of Supervisors Joint Meeting with the School Board   1/28/2021

And Chairman Page, I'll hand it over to you to call the school board order.

And I called Albemarle County School Board to order for this joint meeting.

Chairman Page, this meeting is being held pursuant to and in compliance with ordinance number 20-A16, an ordinance to ensure the continuity of government during the COVID-19 disaster.

members and staff that are with you today.

Okay, we have Dr. Kate Acuff and Kate as our usual procedure I'll let you say your district.

Jack Jouett District.

Katrina Carlson.

Judy Lee Judy Lee, Rivanna District Ms.

Okay, I think that's all we have from our county staff.

All right, we're good.

And with that, Chairman Page, any opening remarks you'd like to make?

So thanks.

Mr. Richardson.

Dr. Haas, thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

Mr. Chair, we're going to transition, I believe, to Andy Bowman in our finance and budget office, if I'm not mistaken.

And of course, the bulk of this meeting, the last half, make sure we leave adequate time for board discussion and feedback.

and that will certainly be an ongoing dialogue with both boards as we work through the fiscal year 22 budget and now that will of course be coming up soon the county executive is recommended to present the recommended budget on the 24th of course the superintendent school board will be working through that process as well so that concludes my comments I will be turning it over to Maia Kumazawa with the school's fiscal services thanks andy next slide please

At this point, Andy and I are here to answer any questions about these revenues before I turn it over to Mr. Roman Human Resources.

All do I. Supervisor Palmer?

No questions.

School board member Acog?

No questions right now.

Supervisor McKeel?

I'd just like to be able to answer questions from the community.

Can you clarify what you mean by are we getting all of them?

Quick 101 without taking a lot of time on the lottery, or I'm happy for you to answer it or send me an email and answer it separately.

And again, I can't speak to the history, so I will follow up with you on that separately.

Thank you.

Questions at this time?

Supervisor Mallek?

Thank you.

School Board Member Osborne?

No questions, thank you.

School Board Member Lee?

No questions, thank you.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley?

No questions at this time, thank you.

Vice Chair Kallsen?

I don't have any questions, thank you.

No questions at this time.

We'll hand it back to staff.

Dana, are you taking over, Lorna and Dana?

Thank you, Mr. Rame.

May I take any questions or provide any additional information?

Chairman Page, we'll start with you.

You're muted.

Oh, you're muted, sir.

Thank you.

I didn't expect that quite.

I'm not sure how long they've been ahead of us, if this is just something new for this year, but I will find out.

Supervisor Palmer?

I'm not sure if we're there.

They don't have to release that information, but we can try to get it for you if that's something that you'd like to see.

And I can't remember how many are actually in our adopted market on your first slide with the 14 that are considering raises.

We have 27 localities and 26 school divisions.

Sure.

The teacher side or the classified market data side?

Okay.

That's it.

All right, Supervisor McKeel.

has regional or different markets that they look at and we are in the southern, I can't remember exactly, help me with that.

Lorna, can you make, can you?

We're actually in the eastern region.

Oh, eastern, not southeastern, just eastern.

Okay, because there has been some discussion over the years of moving into perhaps, was there a northeastern or a market that was more similar to us?

So we have done some things with the teacher scale over the years, but we need to continue looking at it.

and help clarify for me one more question about when you said there the 14 in our adopted market we're looking to or did I believe you said increase add some additional pay mid-year or at some point along the way I'm a little confused are those you said 14 but we have 26 and 25

I mean, we have 14 out of the entire group of school divisions and local governments decided to move forward mid-year with increases.

I was just curious as to what the breakdown was.

I don't have that right in front of me, but I can get that for you.

Sure.

Supervisor Mallek?

No questions for me, thanks.

School board member Osborne?

Thank you.

So that's my only comment on that.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley?

Is that in our area based upon the counties that surround us?

I can send that to you if you'd like it.

Please.

It's out on our website, but I can send it to you.

Or is there additional training, which is an avenue to additional compensation while providing for the best practices?

like a master's degree or master's plus 30 or a PhD.

Has that ever been considered?

They've been recognized at the state and national level for Albemarle County Schools.

Does that also include IT and

It's just not whatever you want to take, you get extra compensation for it.

I think that's fantastic.

And if you want to reach out to him and talk about it, please, please feel free.

But you have other micro credentialing programs or is that just the one so far?

We actually did develop one for social-emotional learning, I think two years ago, and right now we're working on one for grading and assessment practices.

Thank you very much, and I'm very happy to hear all that, and that ends my questioning.

Great, Vice Chair Carlson.

So I'd like to just make a note of that.

And school board member Alcaro.

And I would just love to know how big the issue is.

I made a note.

I'm trying to remember back and don't remember what the gap has been in past years but so it might be useful or I'd like to see that at some point during the budget cycle this year.

Okay.

And at this point, Supervisor McKeel, you had a follow-up question you asked to get in?

So those groups, for example, the police could be more than 3% below, I mean, they could vary a great deal.

It's about $3,000 low.

Absolutely.

Supervisor Palmer, you had a follow-up?

Is that the reason why we are 3% low right now?

We're low compared to what other employers or localities that we benchmark against are paying right now.

So maybe I'm just not remembering that properly, but I'll wait for the detail.

Okay.

Thank you.

So I definitely want to see more detail on this.

We have 28 positions, and it just would not all fit on this slide, but we will be happy to share all the detail out.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley, you have a follow-up?

which I think would be a very good way of growing our own so to speak in supporting something like that.

So yes, we do have those programs.

I can put you in contact with Dr. Kaiser, our assistant superintendent for organizational development and human resources.

I don't know to what extent from UVA.

Thank you.

I think that concludes it on the number five item.

You ready, Lorna, to move to number six?

Andrake, please take it away.

I'm happy to answer any questions or provide any clarifying information.

Supervisor Palmer?

Have we had any extraordinary COVID-related expenses that have triggered the stop-loss policy, and do we anticipate that that cost of that policy will increase?

But at this point, I would not be able to confirm that we had a stop loss because of COVID.

I thought somebody was about to say something.

I thought I heard somebody.

Thank you.

Supervisor Malek.

Out-of-pocket maximums or are those a separate category and they may change?

I see.

School Board Member Osborne.

No questions, thank you.

Is part of the perceived or anticipated stability of expenses tied to the federal government picking up most of the COVID expenses and therefore if or when that comes to a stop we just simply don't know what the impact might be on the county for those potential COVID related lingering health issues?

So for an example, if someone has experienced COVID and then in six months to a year, they develop a potential heart condition or they develop a potential lung condition or whatever they develop, that's not necessarily directly tied to COVID, but it is part of the trend of the long hauler syndrome that we're learning about.

Thank you, I have no further questions right now.

Thank you.

School Board Member Lee?

Thank you, I have no questions.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley?

No questions at this time, thank you very much.

Vice Chair Carlson?

No questions right now, thank you.

I don't have any questions at this time either.

Andre.

There may be others as you go through your discussion.

Kumazawa would develop recommendations to take to each of the boards and the appropriations, but we wanted to get your reactions to this, so I'll pause and hear your thoughts and feedback.

Chairman Page, I'll begin with you.

This is really great.

Can I take the credit?

Supervisor Palmer?

How much of this is going to be, how much of our end of year balance is going to be used for this?

Is that one that we'll follow up during budget or is that a question you can answer now?

For the school division, Maya, if you'd like to speak to that.

I know I think we were given this already, but what's the total amount if you give $1,000 to all of our regular full-time employees and some portion of that to the 0.7 FTEs?

Okay.

And we estimate that the impact of this would be about $2.7 million as of ceiling.

Thank you.

All right, school board member Eka.

My questions have been answered, thank you.

And we were going to state a general opinion on the idea for the bonus?

Or how is that going to be structured?

It's all in one check.

All right, Supervisor McKeel.

And maybe you all have, maybe is that some sort of a sliding scale or in a way or?

So what I'm hearing is that this would touch everyone?

All regular employees, yes.

A temporary employee would not receive this.

I'm very much in favor.

School board member Oberg.

But that's me.

Supervisor Malek.

And so I'm very much in favor of having it shifted more to the lower wage earners right now because I think they need it more.

All right, school board member Osborne.

I feel like the the ones on the lower end have, in my perspective, have suffered the most.

Supervisor Price.

Thank you.

So I would like to, at some point, have that follow-up possibility.

Alright, Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Colson?

Just want to make note of that.

School Board Member Alcaro.

I support it.

Can you speak to that, sir?

Mr. Henry and Mr. Walker are here in case there are any other questions, but that's in a general framework how that works.

Do you have what you need from us for that question?

So general question, just in general, what are your thoughts really focused on the fiscal year 22 compensation goals and considerations?

Chairman Page.

All right, Supervisor Pong.

Thank you.

You are muted there.

Anyway, that's it.

Supervisor McKeel?

Thank you.

School board member, over.

And I just think that that's a problem.

Supervisor Malle.

that you've gotten back to that status so it's a very much give a little take a little something is taken away so we just have to keep baby stepping along here and do the best we can.

And I also agree with Kate in terms that we do need a strategy to get the teacher salaries at least as competitive as Charlottesville.

Supervisor Price.

And that is not in any way to discount consideration for our teachers as well.

School Board Member Lee.

So I do think that that needs to be something that we keep an eye on at all times and really think about, as Kate said, a strategic plan for that.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley?

Thank you.

Vice Chair Carlson.

I would, my priority would be the minimum wage increase.

School Board Member Elcaro.

And the first step in managing it is figuring out what the expense is going to be.

Let's see here Lorna, is there, do you have what you need from us in those responses?

I do, thank you for your engagement.

Thanks.

Is there more wrap up there or are we finished with that section?

We're finished with that section.

I would turn it back to Mr. Richardson and Dr. Haas.

Mr. Richardson.

I'll recognize Matt Haas to see if he's got any closing remarks and then I know the boards need to adjourn and I believe we go to closed session.

Thank you.

And Vice Chair Page, or I'm sorry, Chairman Page, if you have any final remarks and if so, and then we can adjourn the school board, then we, the Board of Supervisors does have, we do have to go into a closed session today.

So thanks.

Have a good meeting this evening.

Do we have a motion for the closed meeting?

Second.

Okay, we can call the vote.

Price

And what day is it?

Okay, you're live.

We're waiting for our recording button to start.

There we go.

All right.

Second.

Mr. Pisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Mallek?

Yes.

McKeel?

Yes.

Palmer?

Yes.

Price?

Aye.

There are no motions coming out of closed meeting this evening.

Thank you very much.

Good night.

Bye bye.