School Board Meeting   9/7/2023

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

Yes, sir.

Ms.

Bryson Morsberger?

Present.

Ms.

Dooley?

Here.

Dr. Kraft?

Present.

Ms.

McKeever?

Here.

Mr. Morris?

Present.

Ms.

Torres?

Yes.

Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed?

Motion passed.

Now this time we will have comments from the community.

If you'd like to sign up to speak, I think the sign up sheet is at the podium.

And when you come forward, please state your name.

and your address, and you have three minutes to speak.

Good evening, Dr. Gurley and members of the board.

I am coming before you tonight as a voice for the many, many emails, phone calls, and conversations I've had with staff members that are concerned about the lack of COVID leave.

This is by far the greatest concern I have heard from staff as CEA president this year.

Staff is currently required to quarantine for five days, which helps keep

It helps keep us all healthy.

However, we are also required to use our sick days.

One COVID quarantine wipes out half of your year's sick days.

And we work in germ factories.

And that's if you feel well enough to return after five days.

Several brand new staff have already gone unpaid.

for quarantine that is mandated because they haven't accrued enough sick days.

This is a hardship for many staff and is a problem you have the power to fix.

At the encouragement of AEA, Albemarle gave all staff five extra sick days awarded at the beginning of the school year to help cover necessary quarantine periods, as well as to encourage staff who are sick to stay home.

I think we learned a lot about caring for our community during the last few years.

CEA would like to see you put that into action.

Either put COVID leave back in place or give us five sick days provided to all staff immediately.

In addition, any new staff who have gone unpaid because of quarantine, their absences need to be paid.

Please make that right.

Thank you, Ms.

Killigan.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm here to say thank you and want to offer support from my wife and I for your thoughtful approach to the beginning of the away all day cell phone policy that you've initiated this year.

My wife Emily and I have two students at CHS, a ninth and 10th grader.

And just comparing last year to this year, the overall drop in screen time from our 10th grader who was a ninth grader last year, as well as just the lack of random texts at odd times of the year has been surprisingly wonderful start to the year.

We've also heard from several other of our friends who are teachers at this school that they've seen increased student interaction and participation just in the first couple of weeks.

Given that this school's primary role is to educate our children, I want to encourage you to continue to refine but remain committed to the all, sorry, away all day philosophy, whether that enhancement includes the yonder pouches you all are investigating or other nuances to it.

There's a broad and growing amount of research that supports this approach.

Jonathan Haidt published an article this summer in the Atlantic, also published other places that just kind of accumulates an increasing number of studies

on the mental health decline, decrease in learning, and loss of belonging that's attributable to cell phone use of our students, of our kids in the past decade.

My own work teaching engineering to architects at UVA confirms that cell phones generally do more harm than good in the classroom.

Finally, from a personal standpoint, one of our children has some significant educational needs.

And we've heard from several of his specialists that his engagement this year, by having his phone away, he uses it as a crutch, as do many children who don't have educational needs that use phones as a crutch.

His conversation and engagement in classes with his peers has increased pretty dramatically.

It's a huge life skill that he needs to build and the current approach to limiting, significantly limiting cell phone usage in the school is really helping him build that.

Cell phones are amazing, helpful communication devices for connecting with others, but they don't need to be in classrooms.

You have my wife and my full support, as well as tremendous number of our friends who we've been in communication with these first few weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Hayes.

Hi, thanks members of the board.

Jason Halbert, 2633 Jefferson Park Circle.

I too emphatically support the off and away cell phone policy for the students.

I'm not sure about the yonder pouches, but I'll let you guys sort that out.

I think a whole year of off and away with some incentives for the kids and backing up the teachers and administration with enforcement would be great.

I have three kids in city schools, two of which are affected by this policy.

Like the previous speaker, we've noticed a change in terms of usage and behavior, and I agree with all of the research about the negative effects.

I think classrooms should be revered spaces where students know they're there to learn.

Just a space where those things are off and away.

If my phone rang right now and I got it out and answered the call, everybody would just be like, what's he doing?

So the school classroom should be a place where they're not there.

I agree with people who say that there's a level of communication necessary with kids during the day.

And I think that exceptions can be made.

Kids can communicate with their teachers or they can do what I had to do when I was in high school, get a pass, go to the office and use the landline.

A landline?

What's that?

I think that's it.

I hope you stick it out despite the complaints and I hope it serves as a useful change to the school.

Good evening, friends.

I'm Erin Garcia.

I've had kids in the school system for 12 or so years and

It is, I think as you've probably heard from me this week, a great honor I am passionate about the school system and what you all are doing here and these teachers bless them.

I have a lot of teacher friends and seeing teachers come back from COVID.

Where kids were on screens all the time is remarkable.

And to see what they've had to deal with.

I hear from my kids who are in ninth grade and eleventh grade, both here, proud Black Knights, that they last year, you know, kids always had earbuds in their ears.

And I just lose my mind thinking about what must that be like to teach these children.

So the fact that you're putting time, energy and a lot of resources into it really is an amazing thing.

And I do appreciate it so very much.

As we talk about in our family we have lots of regulations around screen and it's screens and it still feels like an epidemic even in our home with only two children and our children not the only ones.

We have the same problem and so if my husband and I who have fully developed brains don't know how to deal with it I can only imagine what 1400 or so students are trying to do.

Like my friends have already or my colleagues and friends and

Fellow parents have already said, the difference of last year and this year is remarkable with our own two kids.

Now there are only two of them.

So it's not a full scope of the issue but they were coming home from both Buford and CHS with around four hours of screen time during the school day.

I put as many stops on our phones as possible but at some point I just can't control what's happening here and I don't know how you do either so I'm not saying I have answers but digging deep and getting into this I think is a really really wonderful thing so we call it an epidemic when we told our oldest that this was going to happen he said cannot happen it is not humanly possible that you're going to that you

that this is going to be able to be fulfilled.

And I thought, well, that's a really interesting thing.

He said people are going to skip class.

It's not going to be doable.

And not even our kids think it can happen, which I really think is sad.

So again, I don't have the answers, but I thought that that was a really interesting piece.

And now he's kind of, he's toned it down a little bit because I think that he is seeing some changes.

I would imagine it's not perfect quite yet.

but I do think that the energy and time that you all are putting into this is really wonderful.

Is yonder the answer?

I will let the experts and you all that are doing your deep dive go further with that.

But I do know that the ability to put stops on things is really hard for kids who are in the 14 to 18 year old age range.

Thank you, Ms.

Garcia.

Is anyone else in the room who would like to come forward and speak?

Hi, my name is Greg Frank.

I'm a Charlottesville resident and proud parent of a ninth grader.

I'm here to talk to you about measures to manage student discipline at CHS.

And I want to ask a few questions in order to provide a more stable learning environment for everybody else.

Understand there's a group of about 100 students who simply do not go to class.

They come to the building.

but they just don't go to class.

Some don't come to the building at all.

And I wanna ask what are the consequences for not attending class?

Whatever the consequences should be, they're not applied consistently.

And it's underserved the needs of those students who really need boundaries and perhaps come from families where there aren't enough boundaries.

And it also underserved the rest of the students

who have a distracted administration that's dealing with discipline problems.

and they react to the discipline problems and as a result, they don't have enough capacity to deal with the normal running of the school and have to take reactive measures like, for example, truncating class times, getting rid of BKT times that results in people instead of being able to do in-person lab work, they have to now do virtual lab work all because of the inability to manage student discipline.

I want to find out why there is such inconsistent application of discipline because I think it really affects teacher morale too.

Right now, I'm not sure whether you're aware, but I think the teacher morale is probably at an all time low at CHS.

And it's because of student discipline.

And that affects recruiting and a lot of things.

I have a few other questions.

Should students released from Blue Ridge juvenile detention center for criminal acts

start first at Luger McGinnis before returning to the general population at CHS, particularly when firearms were involved, because we have such a case right now.

And I'm sure I don't need to remind you that that's a very significant liability issue should, God forbid, something happen here.

Another question is, shouldn't more than one person, a very busy administrator, have the ability to adjust the number of students allowed in a class, especially during this tumultuous first few days of the year, to be able to help more students get into their sections?

All of that work funneled through one person, and that very, very overloaded person, and that has created quite a lot of disruption for many students.

Another question is, why are we still missing a biology teacher?

The students involved just have to watch movies every day with a sequence of different substitutes.

Now it's hard to recruit good teachers right now at the best of times, but with teacher morale pretty low, it's even harder to recruit good teachers.

What can we do about that?

Thanks.

I live in Charlottesville.

I'm a senior at CHS.

I'm here today to share some of my thoughts on the cell phone policy and fights at CHS.

I'd like to preface my statements by thanking Dr. Gurley and Dr. Odey.

I sent an email yesterday requesting to have a place on the cell phone committee.

They responded quickly and I look forward to future discussions.

I'd like to thank Mr. Jocelyn, who I emailed and spoke with recently as well.

My knowledge of the cell phone policy is that of personal experience and some conversations with students and staff.

It's obvious, as many have said, that this issue is complicated.

I feel as though there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that context matters.

I asked that phones be allowed during breakfast and lunchtime.

That seemed to be one of the biggest complaints I've heard from students that they are not allowed to use them at that time.

I'd also like to say that the current cell phone policy is flawed in its own right.

Not only is it nearly impossible to enforce as evident as a student at CHS,

But various classes at CHS require the use of phones and or personal devices.

It is counterintuitive to say off and away, but then also require me to use my phone.

To give an example, and to be as brief as I can, to enroll into PVCC for dual enrollment classes, I need to use a personal email.

The school emails are deleted after graduation.

The school Chromebooks don't allow me to log into a personal email, and thus I must use a personal device such as a phone to log into PVCC.

Now I'll speak on fights at CHS.

From what I recall, fights usually happen during transition times or lunch.

The issues of fights at CHS will be there whether or not phones are off and away.

Fights, of course, are a personal matter.

It is not my business to know the why behind the fights,

at CHS, but I do wonder, and I feel more could be done on a personal level.

Nobody should be denied their right to education, yet the education of others should not be diminished either.

I do not have a solution, but what we have right now is not working.

Time is limited.

Today, I'm limited to three minutes, but my time at CHS is two.

I have the utmost respect for those in this room today, those who have dedicated a great portion of their time to bettering this community.

Thank you so much.

I'm going to transition to Zoom.

I think we have two people in the Zoom room waiting, then I'll come back.

MJ Smith is scheduled to speak.

Is MJ Smith in the room?

Again, I'll just ask anybody who's in attendees gallery to raise their hand or chat message.

Once I see that hand raised, I will promote you to be able to speak as a panelist for three minutes.

And we have a user listed as Krista Bennett.

Krista, I see you and I've just promoted you.

Great, thanks so much.

I'm Krista.

I live at 106 True Sport and I have a ninth grader and a 10th grader and a fifth grader.

Yeah, can't hear you.

OK, are you guys able to hear me now?

Krista, I live at 106 Choose Court.

I have a 10th grader and a fifth grader.

And I'd like to start by thanking all of you, our teachers, our administrators, and our school board for helping us get off to a great start to the school year.

I have a couple of things that I want to highlight tonight.

The first is I want to give a shout out to the UVA athletics, or I'm sorry, the CHS of

Athletics Department and I'm glad I can be on camera.

So I'm going to show you something.

So I got this at my daughter's school hockey game on Tuesday night and it has our roster and team pictures of all of our our fall teams and it's just so great to have this.

I know it seems like it's something that's small that's little but I think it communicates to our students that they have our support and our investment in their time and their talent

And I'm just so thankful for the athletics department.

It's been obvious that they're doing a lot to to improve communications and I really appreciate it.

And then second, I want to express my support for the phones away policy, although I really appreciate hearing from that student and some of the ways that perhaps we want to tweak it.

And I also want to voice my strong opposition to using yonder pouches that make phones inaccessible during the day.

And I have a couple of concerns.

The first is our student safety.

The threat of school shootings is something that every parent and child lives with every day.

There are also other security concerns that affect students.

And as a parent, I want my child to have access to contact me in an emergency.

Second, there's a need for a more community-engaged process.

I've been a CCS parent since 2013.

Our district has made a lot of progress towards more transparent decision-making processes, and the board has really done a great job there.

I so appreciate your leadership in those efforts.

I don't think that we've achieved that transparency and that community feedback with this yet.

I'm really glad to hear there's a cell phone committee.

I'll contact some folks to see if there's one that parents can join as well.

I'm really glad to hear that we're hearing from students, especially a representative sample of students about how it affects them and kind of their thoughts of how we can do it best.

So I ask the board to please reconsider the implementation of the pouches until more members of our community have been engaged with this process of deciding this policy.

Thank you, Ms.

Bennett.

Anyone else in the zone?

The next person is listed as Sandra Aviles, and I will promote you to panelist.

Good evening, Dr. Gurley, members of the board.

My name is Sondra Avalos-Poe, 617 West Main Street.

I'm the community organizer with Charlottesville United for Public Education, and we're excited to announce that we're planning to host a school board candidate forum and participate, sorry, I'm sorry, in partnership with Charlottesville Tomorrow and with support from Charlottesville Inclusive Media.

We're still working out the finalized location and the date, but it's going to take place either the second or third week of October.

and we will have more details coming up on that soon.

I also wanted to let everyone know who's tuned in that there will be an affordable housing rally at Tonsler Park, 500 Cherry Avenue on September 16th at 4 p.m.

Housing is essential to all human beings and because of that housing is a human right and shouldn't be a stressor that our Charlottesville City School students should ever have to deal with.

Thank you, Ms.

Poe, for providing us with that information.

Do we have anyone else?

Before we move on with the agenda, is there anyone else in the room who would like to come forth and speak?

At this time, you have an opportunity later in the agenda to speak, if you'd like.

Thank you.

Ms.

Chuck.

I'm rallying my people around me right now.

Ms.

Thacker, if you don't mind loading the first set of slides about the Shannon grants.

We have a few representatives in front of us, of our staff who earned one of the Edgar and Eleanor Shannon grants that are so generous to support Charlottesville and Albemarle teachers.

We have

Catherine Gray from Clark, I believe, is the sole member who was able to join us this evening.

So, Catherine, do you mind just saying a quick word about what your project is?

So this is my second year in a row receiving a Shannon grant, so I'm very thankful.

Last year, Clark received a school-wide $5,000 grant for student-initiated community service projects, which is great.

And everyone should come look at Clark and see all the cool things that kids have done there.

and in the community.

And I misspoke.

We do have a second representative.

We have folks from KTEC here who are now part of our family or an increasingly part of our family.

So we wanted to ask them to come share their good news with us as well.

All right.

Do you want to tell them about it?

Okay, so Mr. Morse, he submitted a proposal called strike up the band.

So he actually was delivered yesterday, received a huge band saw that can cut wood and metal.

And he said it was like Christmas.

And so he's working to share that, that love for that, that

huge massive piece of equipment with his students.

And so we're looking forward to that.

Nope.

I just want to say thank everybody for it.

Thank you.

And thanks, thanks to them for coming.

And thanks also to the Shannon Grant Foundation.

All right.

The next group are three staff members who over the summer have earned some national recognition in various ways.

And so Ms.

Hi, everybody.

I actually didn't know I was gonna have to say anything, but I am deeply honored to represent Charlottesville, Virginia, and of course, special education.

This is a field I'm super passionate about being in, and it's just really great to be able to represent this Charlottesville City Schools, as well as lots of other meaningful things.

Congratulations.

I think Bianca might be next.

Yep.

Bianca Johnson earned a scholarship through the Bureau of Justice Assistance to reserve her certificate in restorative justice facilitation and leadership.

You may know she's been increasingly doing this work for us.

And so this will just be another area of support and expertise for her.

Anything to say?

Thank you all so much.

One thing that was really fascinating about working in the Philippines was the strong

Organization between like the local schools and the universities there.

So I worked with university partners and teachers.

And so it gave me some good ideas for ways that we can think about that in the future.

Just congratulations to all.

Congratulations to each and every one of you.

OK, moving on.

The next thing on the agenda is the adoption of the consent agenda.

Is there a second?

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed?

All right, Mr. Chair, we will now have our items for discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Gurley, good evening.

Did we see Mr. Pitt back there?

Maybe he hasn't come yet, but we will carry on because we've got some great students here today that we're going to recognize.

So I'll start by just letting you know that we have three young ladies who will be our student representatives this year.

I'm gonna call them up.

I'm gonna read a bit of, I asked them to share some things with me that they do, that they're involved with,

and I'm gonna read those things when I call them up and I'm gonna have them remain and then after I've introduced all three of them, then perhaps we can have a picture with the board chair and vice chair and Dr. Gurley.

All right, so tonight we have with us first, Ms.

Jayla Turner, come on up Jayla.

And as she's coming, I'll read what she shared with me.

Jayla is the only majorette in the CHS Marching Knights.

On her own time, she practices the baton to grow her skill.

She is also a part of the wind ensemble.

The instrument she plays is the clarinet.

I always wanted to play that, by the way.

She loves making paper cranes.

Origami is something she taught herself how to do when she was just eight years old.

Last year, she was the freshman student council president for the school.

She has a fascination with music.

And one day, she hopes to be able to create her own piece of music to share with the world, Jayla Turner.

Next we have Ms.

Maggie Haffey.

Maggie is currently a senior at CHS and has loved being a part of the Black Knight community for the past four years.

She is the only girl on a public school varsity baseball team in the state of Virginia.

as well as a member of the varsity girls basketball team.

She is also an editor in chief for the Nighttime Review, the school's newspaper and has a great passion for journalism.

Maggie was elected the 11th grade class president last year and is currently running for reelection this year.

Around the school, many people know her as Swaggy Maggie, as she always does her best to put her heart and soul into school spirit for CHS.

Usually, you can see Maggie decked out in black and orange during spirit weeks.

Maggie Haffey.

and lastly, we have Raquel or Kels Allen.

Kels works two jobs.

She worked over the summer at the Boys and Girls Club of Cherry Avenue and now she works there after school until basketball starts.

She also works at the new Raising Cane's restaurant.

Kelz is a school ambassador and is running for school president.

In 2021, she was first team all district and second team all region.

In 2022 and in 2023, she was first team all district, first team all region, and had an honorable mention in all state.

Kells wants to go to a historically black college or university or HBCU to study psychology to help with the mental health crisis.

She wants to return to her community once basketball isn't for her anymore and help build the kids in the Seville community up mentally.

She is very excited to be a part of this team and is here to work and give insights from a Black student's life.

She wants to provide perspective and help fix the big issues we have.

Kels Allen.

So it looks like we have another outstanding group of student representatives this year.

Jayla will be our first representative for this year and we welcome her.

She'll be sitting, I think next month, right?

Next month at five o'clock, you'll come, we'll have a space for you to sit and we welcome your voice and input.

So if you're all okay, we're ready for a picture with our beautiful young ladies.

Come on up here.

So now that we've gotten our picture and we've made it official, I do

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed?

Motion passed.

All right.

I was so excited, I'm so sorry.

All right, so good evening again.

Now I will be sharing with you a policy revision.

As Dr. Gurley mentioned, we're talking about policy JFC, which is student conduct.

You may recall that this policy, JFC, was revised earlier this year based on VSBA recommendations.

During that time, old language such as beeper was removed from the policy.

Now we are presenting it with our new cell phone expectations included.

You see it on the screen before you underline.

This language matches what we have in the students' rights and responsibilities as well.

Do we have a motion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

I will have Ms.

Hoover, she will come forward and give us a middle school project update as well as some recommendations for the

FY24 budget actions for school construction.

That's a lot of words, a lot of words.

Good evening, Chairman Bryant, members of the board, and Dr. Gurley.

This evening, I'll share some photos of the middle school project, and I'll be bringing forward two budget actions or recommendations for you to consider next month.

This first photo is the middle school project now underway.

Here you see the backside of the gym, the football field and track are now completely gone.

There has been significant earth work in the area behind the gym building and the Boys and Girls Club.

Here you can see some of the excavation and preparations for the geothermal wells.

This is another look at the preparation site for the geothermal wells.

The vehicles and the equipment in this photo give some perspective as to how much excavating is involved in this area of the job site.

This is a view looking up from the old gym building towards building A. All trees are removed from this area inside the construction fence.

And here's another view of the same area, but looking down towards the gym building and Boys and Girls Club.

Again, you can see all the trees are down.

and you can see some of the debris from the old breezeways and you can see the beginning of the earthwork in the area.

And this next is the aerial view from the job site camera.

You can see where we were at at the end of July and how things look as of August 29th.

August 29th happens to be the exact date the demolition permit was issued by the city.

So we can now say the confidence that the gym demolition will be completed this month.

And it will be exciting to look at the views from this camera in the coming months.

All right, so now the budget recommendations.

This is the first of two recommendations for the fiscal year 2024 budget.

The first action is to authorize fund balance to support the school construction.

During the development of the city's FY 2024 capital improvement program, city and school staff worked closely together to identify ways to bring forward funding for CCS to help cover the middle school construction costs in the face of the continued inflation pressures.

CCS proposed $1.5 million of the school's fund balance to assist in the funding of the construction and subsequent to that we were awarded the school construction assistance program that we applied for and was awarded $17.5 million.

Staff recommends that the school board proceed with authorizing the $1.5 million from the fund balance to support the school construction.

However, we're asking that the board designate these funds to support the new preschool center in order to complete the longstanding school board vision for reconfiguration of Charlottesville City Schools to better serve our students.

The next action is to amend our FY24 budget for the SCAP grant.

The state grant was $17,562,682 that was awarded to us on May 11th by the State Board of Education.

Only CCS can submit the grant reimbursements to VDOE.

That's the reason we're asking to amend our budget.

And given the significant amount of funding involved, the school board must amend our FY24 budget to recognize and account for these funds.

And then we will also ask, once the board takes action, we will ask the city to amend their budget.

So here's a summary of the two board actions that we'll be bringing back next month for you to take action on.

I'll start to the left.

Please.

Thank you, sir.

So it goes to the city and it's going to sit in the CAP but be designated for the preschool construction.

OK.

And then the $17 million, the SCAP grant, I know that that was great, is great.

And that allows us to kind of check all the boxes and do all of the things that we had hoped to do for the middle school.

It will be a drawdown, a reimbursement.

Okay.

Mr. Morris.

Quick question in regards to the fund balance.

It'll leave us about $800,000 in our fund balance.

We haven't fully closed this fiscal year.

We do anticipate adding to it, but currently it would be about $800,000.

Ms.

Dooley?

Ms.

Yeah, sorry to tag on to Mr. Morse.

Now weren't some of those funds going to be

Oh gosh, I don't remember how we spoke about that before, but weren't they related to some of the other projects that we were doing and we were applying for either grant money or funding for some of the roof work?

We have ARPA money that we're applying to the HVAC projects that actually freed up some money.

and the ARPA ESSER funding, that free grant funding we're drawing down which will come back to us through gain share.

I think so.

So it's basic, we're basically just shuffling money we're using.

But I just wanted to make sure I remembered, I mean, that we were using some of that.

Okay.

All right.

Great.

Thank you.

It'll be Miss Hoover again, and she will give us a 24-25 budget calendar.

No, not this.

It's for information.

We'll do that next month.

So you have the draft or proposed calendar is following the same format as we have done in years past.

It's the outline of our budget work sessions and our budget meetings to begin and continue the work of the FY 25 budget developments.

Any questions?

Yeah, so just reflecting back, previously, years ago, we used to do two by twos with some of the staff.

And I know that we've had last year that we did have this meeting, the five o'clock meeting, I guess it's slated.

for October 19th.

And I just was curious to get a sense from the rest of the board if you felt like you like that option versus something else or I don't know.

I think I felt like I was better prepared with the two by twos and I don't know why, maybe that's just me.

Yeah, I don't know if there's a pros or cons to either, but I felt like

to just bring the list.

I don't know, I felt like it was a more robust discussion.

And again, maybe that's on me, you know, and I just need to make it when I had the two by twos, as opposed to the format that we used last year.

And maybe it's a scheduling thing, you know, and just freeing up staff.

And it worked better to do it in a public meeting.

I think part of the process last school year, we sent out and someone from Stepkin, Ms.

Hoover's not here.

It's been a long day.

I believe last school year we sent out a survey to those board members and then what we did was we went through to look for if there were any trends in the survey data and then we brought that back.

I thought we brought that back to you and said these are some of the things that we're seeing in terms of budget development.

So I think maybe that's the part you're saying, did that part work for you?

Because I think that's what we did.

We brought that back to you all.

So previously, you did two by twos.

And then last school year, what we did was there was a survey, what you would like to see in the budget, your priorities.

I just think it's really important to have a work session type rather than school board.

And I think that's a big difference.

Like this is not conducive to discussion.

I think a work session model where we are more in like talking mode rather than

being talked at mode is very different.

And I like the public session rather than a two by two, just ideologically.

So I like the survey.

I think that worked really well.

It was very helpful to kind of move forward.

And I liked how early it was because then we could really understand the priorities early on from a staff and division level.

I like it.

I think two-by-twos are

difficult from my perspective.

And again, I don't think the CH... I'm not gonna be able to make that meeting.

That's my boy's birthday.

We're not going.

No, I mean, I agree.

I like the work session model.

I just, I think the meeting that I'm referencing wasn't really a work session though.

I mean, I didn't, I don't recall it being set up like a work session.

I recall it being the two by twos.

No, just on the 19th.

It was set up like this and we just kind of came in and said, here's what my priorities are for next year.

And I think the survey was a compilation of what you all had heard from the PTOs as well.

So it kind of prioritized some of the things that PTOs were bringing forward.

And then there was a nice presentation, a robust presentation to us after all of that was gathered.

So I'm fine.

One of the things that this brings to mind for me is that we are going to have a big transition in school board membership and I think that it's going to be really important to have formats that invite, that allow for

And I just wanted to add too that I would

I like the work session model.

We're kind of all sitting around the, you know, the structure's a little different, but I just think it's important for transparency.

And then, you know, it's all, we don't have to try to remember what maybe this, you know, like just having it all in a public forum just keeps everything clean and on the record so that when we're not, you know, like so that you don't have to find the person who was there.

You can just reference it back.

So I'd just like to say that thank you for your work on this calendar.

I would like to propose that we change the location of the October 19th meeting to maybe the Walker cafeteria, if that's available, or some cafeteria space where it's more work session-like.

And of course, invite

any candidates make sure that you know they are available.

Obviously it's a much more casual spot and opportunity for maybe on the agenda there can be some public comment but have you know clearly delineated agenda for public comment without it taking over.

Can you also just maybe make the font a little bit smaller on the left most column?

There's parts that are cut off.

We'll take action next month.

Okay, next month.

This was just for information.

I'm Anna Isley.

I think I know everybody, but if not, that's me.

And I'm excited to be here to tell you about professional learning here in CCS for the upcoming year.

Yeah, you can go ahead.

OK.

Our professional learning offerings, as you'll see on this slide, highlight the core values of our new strategic plan.

So throughout this presentation, you're going to see professional learning sessions that relate to these four core values and certainly align with Staff Support Goal 2.

All CCS staff will engage in meaningful, relevant, timely, and personalized professional learning.

So we're really

I'm proud to say here that our professional learning plan is multifaceted and involves a lot of entry points for staff at the division, school, team, and individual level.

Specifically for Target 4, I just wanted to reference that one because it is very specific about having at least 10 current employees obtaining their further leadership certification.

We do have 10.

Currently enrolled in Longwood University for an admin program so they are connected with them some and they are busy getting their hours because this program is a is a fall, spring and summer program so they'll be done by the end of next summer and or slated to be done then so they're busy with their coursework and getting their

Internship hours right now.

Also, I'll just highlight target six to increase the percentage of staff who report that professional learning is effective or highly effective.

So I am going to show you some data later.

So I just wanted to pinpoint that one as well.

But certainly all of those strategies and targets align with the work and will be visible and evident as we work through the plan.

All right, so here in CCS, we have a wide variety of options for professional learning and sort of avenues for professional learning, starting at our division-wide PL days.

And then we have a lot of ongoing programs, ongoing professional learning happening in our schools, which I'm going to highlight as well and across the division, actually.

And school-based professional learning and professional learning communities, our PLCs, which are team-based by content or grade level.

and then more individualized support through instructional coaching and mentoring.

So these are kind of the different areas I'm going to talk through today.

So I'm going to start off with talking about our Palooza, which was a huge success.

We got a lot of really good feedback on about August 16th.

So we offered over 130 sessions and many of those, most of those were

were CCS educators and staff that were presenting our specialists, our coaches, our coordinators, for sure, teachers.

So last spring we had done an all call for proposals and those were all vetted and organized and arranged for the PL Palooza.

So all staff were included in this.

So regardless of staff's role, they had professional learning sessions to attend.

And it was a great celebration.

kick off for our school year.

So that was our first division wide day.

And I'm going to highlight a few of the sessions from that next.

So I decided to focus in on one area, I know there was some, there's been some discussion about professional learning related to differentiation, I think at a previous meeting.

So there's, we had a huge catalog of offerings, obviously 130 sessions or more.

So just

to kind of zero in and give you a sampling of what it looked like.

These are just sessions on differentiation that were offered at the August Palooza.

So we have outside presenters.

We have Christina Dubé.

She's working with Buford School this year.

But this session was actually for all staff members, K-12.

She did a flexible grouping session with differentiation and engagement.

We had doctors Konradi and Labette

from William & Mary and UVA.

They're working with our Walker teachers this year.

But again, this was an open session for everyone on how to access complex texts.

So

How do we break down and make grade level text accessible to all students?

So we had a wide variety of folks in that one.

We certainly had some sessions supporting making content accessible for our English learners.

Ms.

Raznick has an ongoing, and her team, an ongoing series for special education.

This one in August focused on specific learning disabilities.

And again, this is not just for special educators, but for all staff.

At our next PL Day later this month, it's gonna be on other health impairments, but it's sort of a series throughout our professional learning days on a different disability category each time.

We have small group planning, our GRTs, we had teachers at the high school presenting on addressing multi-level literacy needs within the class.

So this is just sort of one topic, the extensive sessions that were offered just at the Palooza

And then, of course, you can go to the next slide.

I just wanted to highlight some of the others.

There's no way to capture every topic without just going through the whole catalog.

But we had numerous sessions, equity sessions, restorative practice, family engagement, technology, wellness.

We had customer service, power school, lots of technology, multi-link Google learner sessions, our strategic plan.

We did have coursework engagement so that our staff members who are working on courses on their own were able to have some time to work on those requirements as well.

So just a sort of sampling of some of the topics that were offered to show the wide variety that we had.

So one thing we definitely want to do is get that feedback.

And, you know, our Palooza, one of the big goals was to get everyone excited for the school year and feel energized and enthused.

At the time that I collected the data, put this slide in, we had 174 responses.

And what you'll notice is that, you know, over 80%, I want to say it right at 82% answered in the affirmative that they were energized and inspired for the year and couldn't wait after the Palooza, which we thought was really strong, and especially to only have, you know, just

3.5% in the negative.

So we felt really good about how much that event really prepped and excited people for the year to come.

And then on the next slide, you're going to see a similar question, which was to what extent were the sessions you attended valuable, useful, and relevant?

So we want our

Teachers and staff to feel like the professional learning they're getting is effective and important and valuable.

So again, over 70%, 71% answered in the affirmative that it was extremely relevant or useful or a four.

And just 10 individuals, less than, you know, about 6, 5.8% I think were in the negative.

So we feel like we're on a really good start here with professional learning for this year and the response to it.

So this was just one day.

The Palooza was just one of our division days, but we have several to go.

September 29th, later this month, I'm deep into the planning stages of that and organizing sessions.

We've got lots of great sessions coming in and our theme for these remaining three dates is lowering the barriers, not the bar.

And so we really are focusing on how we can support all of our help

help our teachers and our staff members support all of our students and in eliminating those barriers and holding high expectations for all of our students.

In addition to these division days, because we know there's only there's just a few of those throughout the year, we do have a lot of ongoing professional learning that's happening.

And I wanted to highlight a few of those.

So Drs.

Comrade and Lovett, who I mentioned earlier, who did a session for all and also Dr. Dubay,

They're working specifically with the Walker and Buford literacy teams.

So this is ongoing throughout this entire year.

They have done some scaffolding complex texts and some planning sessions with them already, but they will be in PLCs.

This work involves walkthroughs and feedback in the schools.

So it's kind of comprehensive throughout, you know, throughout the year.

We're on year two of working with Skip Tyler with the Buford math team.

And it's kind of a similar thing, just this ongoing professional learning that's happening in the teams and on our professional learning days.

I wanted to also highlight an example.

So all of our schools have school-based professional learning that they offer as well that our instructional coaches are a vital part of providing along with teachers at this individual sites.

So I've checked in some with CHS and I wanted to highlight their plan.

They have a sustained plan for professional learning that involves instructional rounds.

So this is just one school's approach, but the focus is on differentiation and engagement strategies.

So the idea in a plan like this is that the strategy is taught and it's practiced and implemented.

And then there's some peer observation and walkthrough feedback that goes with it.

So this is kind of cyclical throughout the entire year.

And they've got the Kochis and some of the leadership and teachers involved there.

I know, again, that there was some discussion around support for our secondary schools related to differentiation.

We have also reached out to Dr. Carol Tomlinson to see if she can advise us a little bit on the planning aspects of that.

And actually my background too, I teach a graduate differentiating instruction course.

So I'm supporting the instructional coaches as well who are who are going to be in our schools in that arena.

and more ongoing professional learning.

We have Dr. Shawn Woodley, who I know many people got to see as our keynote speaker for the Palooza.

He is doing some continuous work with Walker and Buford also, some culturally relevant teaching strategies, evidence-based strategies, sessions with the whole staff, but also some sessions to support leadership and teacher and instructional leaders in the building.

There's some coaching and training sessions.

that give them feedback as well after all observations.

I'm really excited about to share our letters numbers so you know this is part of the science of reading letters is our primary teacher sort of

course that we have, cohorts, and we've been doing this for a couple years now.

So we have about 50 people, a little more than 50 enrolled right now in letters one or letters two.

So again, this is on the science of reading.

By the end of this year, assuming those individuals all complete the cohort, this is the percentage of teachers that will have that will be trained.

100% of our kindergarten teachers and our elementary instructional coaches, 95% of reading specialists, nearly all of our elementary principals, and 80% of our first and second grade teachers.

So that's not exhaustive.

There's other other individuals such as, you know,

ESL teachers or third grade teachers that have also gone through it, but the focus, and this is the primary.

So we're excited about the number of teachers that will have been through this.

And this is an ongoing year long course, and we're able to weave it and incorporate it into professional learning days as well.

Of course, we also have school based professional learning.

So as I mentioned earlier, I gave the CHS example.

So different schools have

different professional learning that they're doing as part of faculty meetings or during professional learning communities.

Our instructional coaches are vital in delivering that professional learning.

And that's really school based and school focused on the school needs.

And then certainly in professional learning communities, that's our grade level or content area teams.

Instructional coaches are part of that, along with specialists such as math specialists or reading specialists.

They're working on a lot of analyzing student work.

Planning next steps, learning together.

Sometimes there's deliberate intentional professional learning embedded there as well, or they're following up on professional learning and collaboration.

So that's another thing that's continuous that teachers are getting that's really job embedded.

And then, you know, I just mentioned the coaches supporting the professional learning they're sort of at various levels here both the professional, the school based and division based professional learning and certainly the PLCs, but they also offer a lot of individual support so this is kind of, you know, when we look at professional learning at the division level the school level the team level and then

also supporting individuals, making sure that we're differentiating our professional learning.

We have a graduated model where new teachers get, you know, brand, brand new teachers actually have a mentor and they work with instructional coach.

And then as the next years progress, there's coaching cycles with the instructional coaches.

So coaches work with all the new teachers and individual coaching cycles.

They give observations.

They are able to model, co-teach,

plan together, give feedback.

Actually all of our instructional coaches are being psyop trained.

a four part series, but it's an approach, a framework to support English learners in gaining academic language while also being able to meet grade level content.

So it's helpful for all learners.

And they're going to be able to train others and use those strategies in their schools.

We have

novice teacher mentors.

Also, they've been through a training we partner with George Mason to provide that.

And they have one to two novice teachers that they're working with in the schools.

It's a little bit more informal, but regular check ins throughout the whole year and really support the teachers professional growth.

So they have lots of support.

All right, so we are excited about how comprehensive this plan is and

how we're addressing the wide variety of needs at all the different levels and looking at it from the perspective of the school or the division, excuse me, all the way down to the individuals.

Hi, Dr. Isley, how are you?

I'm well, how are you?

Thank you for taking on this role.

The key is really the results, right?

How are you measuring

The results, like, obviously I don't feel like SOLs are like, this is the result.

Maybe that's how the vision measures it.

Fine.

But like,

Yeah, that's a good question.

Certainly, you know, I mean, on the division days, there's obviously feedback.

You know, there's like surveys and those types of things.

Coaches often give, ask for feedback.

We do, you know, I support that team and I was an instructional coach and, you know, we seek feedback from staff.

on the effectiveness of our professional learning.

Certainly, it's evident when you do walkthroughs and observations because if you see those practices in play, then you know that they're being used and it's working.

So, it's not a, oh, this one measure will tell us whether we've done our job.

I think we definitely want

for staff to feel like it's effective.

But we certainly, and that's why these cycles and these ones that are focused on rounds are the ongoing one, because you really can see that progress over time or the implementation of strategies over time.

So it will be a combination of feedback surveys of observations, and certainly the student achievement data is part of that.

I think you're really uniquely positioned for this role, just having served in various capacities in the division.

And so I'm excited to see this progress.

I'm very excited to see PsyOp on these slides.

And then hopefully we can continue to expand that beyond coaches as we move forward.

And

Yeah, I think just knowing how we can support you, finding the balance between having a plan in place that is aligned with our strategic plan while still remaining flexible as student data comes back.

I'm hoping that we'll get math and PALS results at our meeting next month.

So how can we, again, plan but remain flexible in responding to needs so that teachers are able to

Yeah, and I'll be part of the school success meetings too.

So when we're going around to schools, I mean, that's additional to just another piece of this where we are hearing individual needs or seeing data and we can be responsive to that.

But you're right, you have to be both proactive and responsive.

I just wanted to focus on the feedback a little bit.

That's a really good question.

I don't know if you know I know that the goal in the strategic plan has was very specific about the effectiveness and wanting to see that data so I don't know.

If when that was designed, if there are other, you know, there may be other measures from prior to that.

I will tell you that, you know, this is the first time that we had everybody back together for a full day of professional learning and certainly it's the kickoff of the school year and there's

you know a lot of excitement around it as well so I am very hopeful that the results continue to grow but also understand that you know that was there that was the beginning of the year and we go through you know the course of the school year we'll see we'll see if that stays stays where it is but I think you know

And I think the strategic plan gives us an opportunity where we were, I mean, I think we were taking, we most certainly were administering surveys after professional learning, but I think we are now being more intention, the strategic plan is causing us to be more intentional about

letting that data drive what happens next.

And so, yes, we started very high.

So, you know, we may not be able to replicate that in March.

Let's just remember that at the first one.

And I know that's the next deliverable from the strategic planning company.

So I think that this is, we can most certainly weave these data points as some of the metrics that people, that we capture and people watch as we move throughout the next five years.

And that's just one aspect of this overall professional development.

So yes, we will have those from the sessions that are the division-wide, but we also want to be able to capture like the mentoring, for instance, has a program evaluation component to it.

Instructional coaches give, like I said, they ask for feedback as well.

Well, I'm very excited about this and I want to thank you for putting all this together.

I think it looks great and very comprehensive and a lot going on.

I want to make sure that there's so much content, there's so many different things to cover.

I just want to make sure we're also focusing on

Wellness for our teaching staff and you know somebody earlier in the meeting mentioned low morale something and you know it's sometimes hard to know what that's all about but I think it's really important I don't know if that's the thing if that's really what's going on when one person said it

So that looks like food trucks, massage tables, all kinds of things.

We had some giveaways and all of that.

I know, dance parties again, absolutely.

No, I wanted to say thank you.

I thought it was really fun to kind of read through this.

Number one, I appreciate it.

And I just wanted to say I appreciated seeing the different reports that came up and how they were tied to

our strategic plan and just how that that's looking so I appreciate that in this meeting and the agenda today so thank you for that but also embedded in with what you offered there were so many points that did touch on what

the group that worked on the strategic plan you know really wanted to see and that so it was nice and it it'll be interesting because I you know like you said it's going to be important to be able to circle back and to get that feedback and see that you know people

aren't just attending, but that you are able to apply it.

And we hear that a lot.

So whether it's something different as far as literacy is presented the next time.

But anyway, I really did appreciate all of that.

Well, thank you, Dr. Asli.

I think this is a great thing, all this professional learning going on.

I just have one quick question.

In some of the professional learning activities,

So yeah, all of these activities over these days, they earn points.

And the same thing for schools are able to submit for like, if they do a professional learning session after school or something like that, like they're able to turn that in as well.

Great.

Great.

All right.

Thank you, Dr. Eisling.

And the next thing is 9.6.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Gurley.

Good evening again.

Tonight, I am going to be sharing a presentation for my colleague, Kim Powell, who is not here this evening, so I'll be presenting it on her behalf.

This presentation provides a snapshot of our enrollment and elementary class size numbers as of August 28th.

So what you will see here, the blue chart on this page shows the enrollment numbers by school and grade level in PowerSchool as of again, August 28th.

The green chart on the bottom shows new student registrations in progress in schoolment as of that same date.

The total enrollment and new student registrations in progress was 4,556.

This snapshot is an increase over our official fall membership numbers last year.

And we will look at how the numbers compare by school at the conclusion of this presentation.

Next slide, please.

So before we look at the comparison of this August 28th snapshot with last year's fall membership, this slide shows the elementary class sizes as of August 28th by school and by grade level.

These calculations assume all registrations in process convert to actual enroll enrollments.

So it considers the numbers from both that blue and green chart that were on the previous slide.

Enrollment changes during the summer required reassignment of some staff between and within a few elementary schools

in order to achieve optimal class size across all of the elementary schools.

Greenbrier had a net staff reduction while Burnley Moran and Jackson-Vaya both needed additional staffing, and we've made sure that happened for them.

Enrollment projections can be challenging overall, and it's even more challenging to forecast where the forecasted elementary population will land across those six elementary schools within our 10 square miles.

We like to avoid reassignments, but it is sometimes necessary and appropriate among the elementary schools to address population shifts within the city.

The state sets targets for grades K through three based on at-risk factors.

You'll see those K-3 targets.

I call them K-3 class size reductions there on the right.

Can I ask a couple of questions here?

Sure.

I don't mean to interrupt.

Actually, I do mean to interrupt.

And I just feel like this is the appropriate place to ask this question.

So that's why I'm going to ask.

OK.

Sure.

I apologize.

First of all, I don't think I've ever recalled seeing decimals in these particular charts before.

So can we round in the future and not use decimals?

What it means, Ms.

McKeever, is, and I, yeah, I have seen these decimals and we can certainly look at that, but what it means is like Berling Moran and the kindergarten classes, some of the kindergarten classes have 18 kids, some of them have 19.

No, I know what a decimal means.

No, but but if we say 19, then you're thinking all of the classes have 19.

We can certainly talk about that.

But okay, and so then my understanding of the Clark K-3 grant.

It's been 19 since I've been here for three years.

So maybe it changed.

It does change.

Okay.

So maybe it'd be more accurate to have the, instead of having a decimal it'd be more accurate to have like, there are three classrooms of kindergartners.

of one with 18, one with 19, one with 18 or one with 17, one with 18, one with 19, you know, like just to be more accurate.

And I understand the concern.

Like I just feel like it's really hard to make policy decisions.

on this aggregate number.

I mean, again, these numbers are not that bad.

I've seen worse.

These are manageable numbers.

But it's really hard to make it, I think, on this kind of aggregate data rather than specific classroom.

And maybe you did that.

I think you did.

Because the only unintended, I guess the only unintended of rounding it up is you may calculate that there's an extra student in the grade level.

It's going to push the number of students up in the grade level.

Like if there are three teachers, you would, you're going to, you're going to add an extra student where there's not a student.

I will share that Ms.

Powell shares a document with us in ELT that does have more specifics about the number of classes and the kids in the classes.

So we use that to make decisions.

Yeah.

And that's what I was thinking.

I mean, we could most certainly display that chart.

It just, in our meetings,

it becomes, is that legal?

It's illegal.

Instead of using like a regular piece of paper, it would be a legal sheet of paper that's very long that would require just a little bit more interpreting because it would say, to your point, it would say Burnley Moran, kindergarten, three teachers.

It still has a decimal on it, but it indicates how many,

I believe it also has the total number of kids in a grade level.

Again, like I understand we're adding a teacher at Texavaya on Monday, and I understand we've added a couple of, and that's like where we are, like where we will be next week.

And I guess my,

And so I don't really feel like this is a very urgent year in terms of adding teachers because we've already done it or we will be doing it or we're in the process of doing it.

And since I won't be here next year, I'm basically telling the board that you can ask for more data.

And this is not very helpful data if you are looking and you have a bunch of parents emailing you for it.

And you can just ask for more data because this is not going to be helpful for you to make an analysis of whether you should add a teacher or not.

I would encourage, I mean, so I agree.

I mean, we can most certainly, we work from a very long spreadsheet so we can add that.

I think that

In most instances, hopefully, if a parent has a concern about the number of students, the principal has communicated that information, like the Bernard Moran that was communicated back in August.

Dr. Malone, he communicated the kindergarten change.

So it's just a matter of, in some cases, moving a teacher from a grade or getting someone in.

So hopefully, if there is someone that still has a concern,

that that has been addressed.

But all of those numbers, with the exception of Burnham and Moran, that's on its way.

And just to be clear,

These numbers do look good because it's been fixed.

Or it will be fixed.

It will be fixed, yes.

Like you said, we're in the process of making sure these numbers, class sizes, are manageable.

If we had have shown you, Dad, if the school board meeting had have been last week or week before, then you would have seen the data that we were seeing that helped us make the decisions that we did make.

Yeah, so I think they're very helpful.

Yeah, I felt like there was one more that and I do do.

And what may also be helpful is that that sheet that we use, I could link that sheet to you.

I mean, so that you can see what we see in real time.

I mean, because there's definitely a lot of moving pieces.

I think I mentioned this when we met earlier.

My concern is less about this chart.

It's more of the registration enrollment at the end, you know, back in May and over the summer.

And so I want to have a discussion

including Beth Chuck and our principals and our kindergarten teams of how can we division-wide enhance and improve our kindergarten camp and our registration so that our community knows that it's time to register.

so that we have a better accurate understanding of who is gonna show up at our building more than five days before school starts or even the day school starts because it's too late at this point.

Yeah.

I absolutely agree.

We can always work to enhance our communication process to try to,

remind parents of five year olds that kindergarten is gonna be starting.

I just do remember as a principal, the work that goes into kindergarten, sneak a peek in orientation and all of those things.

And then there's still families that come at the end of the summer to register.

So we'll continue to do that work too.

And by the way, our six schools, all of them do,

Well, then we have work to do.

Absolutely.

Okay, no problem.

Thank you for the question.

So I'll just reiterate that you can see on that chart that all of the elementary classes are well below the state targets even before considering other personnel such as instructional assistants, which are also factored into the actual state calculation for the K-3 class sizes.

So this slide here, this chart shows how the official fall enrollment numbers from the end of September 22 compare to our snapshot numbers from August 28th.

It's not necessarily apples to apples comparison, but you can see at this point, we're on track for an enrollment increase of about 1%.

The pre-pandemic growth bubble that went through the elementary and middle schools is now concentrated at 10th grade and to a lesser extent at 11th grade as you can see over at the right.

Do you guys have any idea what's going on at Clark and Greenbrier like is there just like some kind of movement out there like what what happened there?

Does anybody?

I was just wondering like- No, but we have a feeling there will be more Clark students at some point because of the affordable housing that is happening there.

But right now we do see that there is a reduction there for those two schools.

I know that, if I may, just there was movement of some families out of Hearthwood, I think, last summer, just based on whether it be vouchers or I mean, there was so I raised some questions about that to some people.

And then also just wondering if

Yeah, just with the construction going on over by Clark, if people have had to move, you know, out to the county while that's going on, I mean, it's hard to know.

We will of course continue to monitor growth particularly at the elementary level as we continue looking at population shifts that you're talking about here and what's happening with the affordable housing projects that are now underway.

We'll keep monitoring.

Our current projects and construction will necessitate reevaluation of the six elementary school zones and revisiting the growth and capacity study work that was done in 2016 and 2017.

So we know that's on the horizon.

And I think that that is the last slide for this presentation.

Yeah, thank you.

I mean, I know we get that at KTEC.

I mean, that's part of the report that we get there.

But considering that one of our goals is to increase Charlottesville City Schools, the students, you know, each year.

I mean, I don't think it would take much.

Yeah, so I'm saying I agree with you.

So we can monitor the current enrollment.

Maybe it can be added as a last slide.

Here's who we have at KTEC.

These are the programs.

These are the students who were enrolled.

These were the students enrolled in September of 2023.

And these are the students who enrolled in September 2024.

Yeah, I was just wondering about Lugo McGinnis and you know I don't know what our enrollment is there and

As I understood it, I thought that we were maybe hoping to increase enrollment at Lugo McGinnis, but I'm not even sure now what the target is for enrollment there and where we are now.

I can speak to the last week when I looked, there were 17 students that were enrolled there, but we have several students who are

opting to self enroll at Lugo McGinnis.

There's a great program there.

We've got a great leader, Mr. Trotter, who's doing some amazing things with the students.

And there were two students today that came before me.

17 is quite low.

Yeah, we know that we have been up to 30 previously, so we know that we can at least get there.

Right.

So we're working to see who this is the best fit for.

So we started small.

They typically stay the year unless they're placed there at a disciplinary review hearing where they are given a specific time frame to be there.

And I will say that many students who were there last year who could have requested to return to the high school opted to remain at LMA because they realized that it was best for them.

Ms.

Morsberger.

Ms.

Just one more.

This is a request I think for next month is if we can get an update on how our English language learners factor into these enrollment numbers.

Is that next month?

It should be coming up.

I know we usually have an ESL presentation.

I just can't remember which month it is.

But are you fine with it being when Dr. Fouts does the presentation?

Okay.

I was just thinking that just with respect to LMA, there might be some useful, like we might want to have a report on maybe even a work session, work session style type conversation around LMA with Mr. Trotter.

Like what he's doing, how it's going, how he can support him.

Maybe it's related to budget priorities, things like that.

OK, so are there any more questions for Dr. Dooley?

So moving right along, next on our agenda is 10.1, board response to written reports.

They've all been recorded and duly noted.

So we have another opportunity at this time for members of the community to come forth and speak.

You will have three minutes.

When you come forth to the podium, please state your name and your address.

So this time I'm going to pivot before info.

Can't hear you.

Okay.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Zionna Bryant, Charlottesville resident.

I'm calling about a couple of things.

One being about the volunteering.

I saw that there was a call put out to the community for volunteering, and I've donated some clothes to the CHS clothes closet, and I'm wondering if there could be

Maybe like a clear community call similar to that of the volunteering list so that those who want to give are able to do that and know what that process looks like.

I also saw that one of the cheerleading coaches at Buford was putting out a request to ask for like sanitary

and hygiene products for like the Buford cheerleaders.

So I know that there are people who are like in the UVA student community who would love to support and also community members.

I think that if those things are posted, I think it would be easier for folks to do that.

So I just wanted to put that on your radar.

And additionally, I wanted to ask a little bit a question about

the kind of disciplinary processes throughout the school district I know we have a zero tolerance policy and I guess my question is what is the kind of status of the restorative justice practices if any at all what do they look like?

I think that that is something that I'm really concerned with especially as I'm seeing how suspensions are handled

and kind of given out at CHS.

And I understand when it is warranted, it makes sense.

But I also wonder what are some of the kind of steps in between handing out a three or five day suspension?

Like what are what are some of those interventions that are happening?

Are they uniform across the board?

Are they kind of up to the discretion of the assistant principal or head principal at the time who may be paying attention to the matter?

I think those are

Definitely important.

And as we kind of shift to this like CSA kind of patrol hall monitor style of like discipline, especially in the high school, I would love to hear more about what those processes look like and how the zero tolerance policy is aligned with the anti-racist work that's been done within the district over the past few years.

Thank you, Ms.

Bryant.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now we will have comments from the board.

And Ms.

Okay, thank you.

Just want to say thank you to everybody who has sent emails and who has come up for public comments.

I always want to appreciate voices and feedback that we receive.

Also just wanted to announce, I was looking at a newsletter from Piedmont Regional Education Program.

And for those who are familiar or those who aren't familiar, we do have within the school, we have what's called the Special Education Advisory Committee.

And I believe that our first meeting will be the 29th.

It's slated for possibly September 29th, but I just wanted to just remind parents what this is about in our community.

Basically, it's an opportunity for parents

to get together and to talk about your student who might have different needs or different types of supports within the school system to show up, get support from other parents within the division.

Also, there are school board reps and there are administrative reps on that committee.

And then also to work together to just hear what types of supports or what other

Possibly sessions that we might be able to hold on site.

And then also there is, like I said, the Parent Resource Center that offers a lot of regional supports to students and parents with IEPs or that have different types of needs.

So we'll be kind of pushing that out.

I will try and be a better voice up here to remind people of when those meetings are happen.

September 20th

Hi, a hybrid so that you could either come in person or log in and follow along.

But there's different topics.

So again, that's the Special Ed Advisory Committee, September 20, five o'clock.

All right, thank you.

Well, I would also like to thank a lot of the people who have written to us and talked to us about the cell phone policy.

Now I'm on.

Anyway, sorry about that.

I'd like to express my special appreciation to our teachers who have been working very hard on this, you know, and who are here, who have joined us, who are working with us.

I just feel like it's something big and something really important.

So I know we might have some differences about exactly how we go about this.

But I also just want to keep our focus on the big goal, which is really to help our kids

sort of relearn some of the skills that they maybe have lost because of social media and cell phones and, you know, and the opportunities for engagement and the opportunities for community building within our schools.

that I think this policy will provide those opportunities and open some of those doors.

So I just hope we can stay the course and keep our eyes on that big prize and on these kids' brains because we really need their brains to continue to grow and develop in the best ways and we need for their

Ms.

I just want to take the time to thank all of the teachers and staff and school admin, people I see in the room right now that I've been seeing out directing traffic and pointing kids in which directions to go.

And it's been hot, so hot.

And everyone's just, you know, putting their best foot forward.

Hi, thank you.

I just have a couple things to say.

One is just to remind that I would like to see report on LMA and on the Buford UVA partnership.

I also really find that it, as a school board member who has two kids, one at Walker now, one at Buford, it's like

Just unbelievable how important it is to have kids in schools to kind of know what's happening on the ground.

I just can't believe how important it is.

I don't know.

For so long, I didn't have any kids at Buford or at Walker, and so it's just been really

eye opening and helpful.

And I don't know, it just makes me a better school board member, I think, if slightly more challenging.

So sorry about that.

But also, but it also makes me really difficult parent because I'm like, yeah, you got to keep your cell phone away.

And if you get caught, that's gonna be a problem.

So he's not getting caught.

Or if he is, it's going to be a problem.

Anyway, I just really want the teachers at the high school and the students at this high school to understand that what we are doing, hopefully at Walker and at Buford, is really

setting the stage for the future.

And I just hope that what's happening now is really hard, but I know that it will pay dividends in the future with our kids who are coming up.

And I just can't emphasize to you enough how important and the dramatic the results are.

at the dinner room, you know, just in socializing with your kids.

And so I just, for me, it's been really helpful.

So I appreciate all the work that everybody's doing here at the high school and in school in general to keep this policy going.

So thank you.

And I think that's it.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate everybody.

Okay.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who emailed, spoke this afternoon.

I tried my best to keep up with all the emails.

I think I answered and responded to all of them.

They were coming in fast and furious.

So thank you all for your input and your insights and your support and your encouragement.

Teachers, welcome aboard.

You're back.

The kids are back.

So I'm hoping that you all had gotten off to a good start.

It's about three weeks in, and I know that it's some adjustment for our staff and students with the cell phone policy, but in the final analysis, it is going to all work out.

I truly believe that.

So just hang in there.

Thank you all.

Thank you all for attending and hanging in there with us.

When I was about 12 years old, I sat on a pew and I remember someone saying that we are all imperfect people.

And so I think that we

What I know is that we have to recognize that we are all imperfect people, but we are perfectly designed for this work.

And I do believe that every day, and I believe that we're surrounded by the right people doing the work here in Charlottesville City Schools, that we have been perfectly designed for this work.

And so we don't always have all the answers

But what I do know is that we all are prioritizing the learning of every single student here.

and I think that if we keep that in the forefront of everything that we do, that every student matters, every decision that we make matters, that we touch every student here regardless of our role and that we're not bigger than our position.

We're all equal here and we all want the exact same thing.

So I am looking forward to a great school year.

I am so ecstatic.

at the manner in which everyone has shown up to do the work.

And we know that the work wasn't easy when we signed up for it.

But when we see those faces, that's why we do what we do.

So I'm just going to end by saying that I appreciate every single person, student, staff, family.

I appreciate you all.

And I will continue to love and lead with love you all.

All right, Ms.

We will have an ESL update in November along with a literacy update, because I know PALS was mentioned.

So that will be in November.

We'll provide you with an LMA update as well as the Buford Lab School.

Okay, thank you, Ms.

Now, before I get to the upcoming meetings, I just want to remind,

Board members, we received an invite for the PDF CA after work get together.

They will be donating a prize.

So I would recommend, highly recommend you come.

That's all I'm going to say about that.

Our next upcoming meeting will be October the 5th here at 5 o'clock in the Booker T. Reeves Media Center.

OK.

Do I have a motion to adjourn?

Do I have a second?

All in favor?

Aye.