Summary of 12/14/23 School Board Notes
Arlington County School Board meeting December 14, 2023:
This is Mr. Reid Goldstein’s last meeting. Before getting to business, school board members and Dr. Durán took time to thank Mr. Goldstein for his service. In his farewell remarks, Mr. Goldstein shared his parting bit of advice to his colleagues to “come together as a team” to be more effective.
Staff announcements:
- New Hires announced
Stephen Linkous, Chief of Staff leaving Jan 31, 2024
Upcoming Meetings & Events the SB will attend:
Next SB meeting is Jan 25
Dec 15 Audit committee
Dec 20 Audit subcommittee
Jan 3 policy submit
Jan 9, Work Session #1 with the Advisory Council on Teaching & Learning (ACTL) at 6:30 p.m.
Jan 19- Audit committee
Jan 20, Superintendent and School Board retreat
Jan 23 - Work Session on ACTL #2 at 6:30 p.m
Jan 25 - Closed meeting at 5pm,
Jan 25 SB meeting
Dec 15, swearing in for new County Board members
Dec 19 - farewell for County Board Chair Christian Dorsey
Dec 22 - swearing in for school board member Miranda Turner
Superintendent Francisco Durán’s announcements:
APS Family Info Night to be held on Monday, Jan 22, 2024 to address bullying prevention.
Reminder: Winter Break is Dec 21 - Jan 1
Bright Spot: 29 APS teachers earned or renewed their National Board Certified Teachers certification.
Public Comment:
10 speakers including:
a middle school student sharing concerns about distractibility and ineffectiveness of iPad use in middle schools
A high school teacher presenting a budget proposal to increase number of teachers and reduce class sizes
Community members opposed to moving MPSA to North Arlington
Community members asking for transparency with regard to the Capital Improvement Plan proposal, “You owe it to the taxpayer to direct staff to show your work … that it will be a timely and affordable solution.”
CCPTA rep urging more community engagement with regard to the relocation of MPSA
Monitoring Report Update:
Catherine Ashby Assistant Superintendent gave an update on progress of the Strategic Plan Priorities, focusing on APS communications to parents.
APS has a goal that by 2024, 90% of APS families will respond favorably about APS in the Your Voice Matters Survey.
The June 2023 Comms Survey had 1531 responses
Board Member Bethany Sutton asked about the effectiveness of Parent Square.
Ms. Ashby noted that the number one place APS families get their information from is the Superintendent’s Weekly message.
Parent Square was a step to consolidate and streamline communications.
It’s difficult to compare to previous comms plans, because there was no data with the previous program.
Board Member Cristina Diaz-Torres noted that an area for growth is to keep in mind families who speak other languages and make sure they experience the same ease of communication as English speakers.
Action Items:
Board Member Priddy proposed an amendment to: Strike the bullet points that read
‘relocation of MPSA program and identify reuse of legacy Career center building’ and replace it with language to study options to relocate MPSA to the legacy Career Center building, at three possible price points not to exceed $45M, Board member Sutton seconded.
The Amendment passed 3-2
In favor: CDT, Priddy, Sutton
Opposed: Goldstein, Kadera
Members Goldstein and Kadera both expressed concern that there are still too many unknown factors that could affect the best location for MPSA and that the decision needs to be more strategic.
Kadera; “We owe it to the community to explore options. No one will move anywhere before the next cycle in 2026. We have time to do our homework.” She also noted that swing spaces should not be off the table as they are helpful to cutting costs if they are set in a centrally located APS building. To critics who say moving MPSA to north Arlington will result in excluding south Arlington families, Kadera said “I take this concern of access seriously. I asked for enrollment data for all options. I can’t find conclusive evidence that families zoned in south zip codes are unwilling to access when they are moved away. Without an additional scenario, I worry our planning will be incomplete and short sighted.”
Goldstein for his part said, “It's too early to say MPSA will be the future occupant of the legacy career center. We don’t have a good track record of decisions made years in advance… It’s too early today … Decisions are better made with timely data.”
Ms. Sutton and Chair Diaz-Torres for their parts both emphasized that the direction does not lock in the future location of MPSA, but rather narrows the field of study to a particular location in an effort to, in the words of Chair Diaz-Torres, “get it right.”
Vote on the Direction of the CIP passes 3-2.
In Favor: CDT, Priddy, Sutton
Opposed: Goldstein, Kadera
2) Randolph Elementary school kitchen construction contract award
Motion passes 5-0 to award the contract to the Matthews Group LLC $1,556,991 and approve project budget of $2.55 M from the kitchen and entrance security vestibule Renovation program to support renovations at Randolph
No comments.
3) Claremont ES School Vestibule and Office Relocation/Construction award and budget.
Motion passes 5-0 to award contract to Nastos Construction LLC in $1,591,964 and approve budget of $2.624 million from Kitchen and entrance/security vestibule renovation program funding to support renovations at Claremont
No comments.
4) Proposed School Calendars for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 SY
(Presented at Nov 30 2023 SB meeting, no changes)
Motion passes 4-1.
In favor: CDT, Sutton, Kadera, Priddy
Opposed: Goldstein
While Chair Diaz-Torres touted the vote as win for including 2 years worth of calendars, and Ms. Kadera noted the professional development time that the new calendars will allow, Mr. Goldstein was the lone member opposed: “There’s a lot in this calendar proposal and motion that is beneficial and that I like. But as I’ve said many times, I believe anyone who wants to celebrate a holiday can do so without penalty, without closing the entire school system to do it. So these calendars include the holiday closures and therefore I will not be supporting it.”
The new calendars increase the number of early release days and change the number of professional development days prior to the school year from 7 to 5. Dr. Durán says this time during the school year will allow teachers to have space to better serve students.
5) 2024-30 APS Strategic Plan Foundations
Ms. Sutton proposed an amendment to change language in two places
In vision statement, replace the word “world class” with “outstanding” and in core values section, under valuing staff replace “benefits our community” with the phrase “is critical to our community.”
Amendment passed 5-0.
Final vote passed 5-0
Information Items (2).
1) FY 2023 Final Fiscal Status and CIP Quarterly Reports
Presented by Tameka Lovett- Miller, Interim Assistant Superintendent, Finance and Management Services, Mark McLaughlin Director of Finance
Highlights: FY 2023 Closeout
Overall net available funds total $20.8 million ($4.6M from 2023 Savings from Operations + $6.2M additional county revenue)
Records for 2022-2023 are closed and audited.
Annual school report was sent to VDOE
(Supporting documents are on Board Docs)
County Revenue Updates:
Additional County revenue to APS was an increase of $7,549.437
Based on APS’ 47% share of additional tax revenue
Does not include APS’ contribution to General Fund Reserve
Since there was an overall increase in county net tax revenue there was an additional contribution to the General Fund Reserve of $1,358,150
For FY 23 the General Fund Reserve was maintained at 5.5% of operating expense
The net result is an increase to APS of $6,191,287
Staff is recommending the $20.8 million be reallocated
$1.6M to Compensation Reserve
$10.1 to Figure Budget Years Reserve
$9.1 to FY 2024 Expenditure Recommendation
FY 2024 Recommendations
Of note:
Electricity costs are up (Dominion has increased rates by 12% which is 3x the typical year).
Tuition to Thomas Jefferson High School has increased for the 106 APS Students who attend. While the tuition is usually covered by the regular budget, APS failed to include the increase in last year’s budget, so this year’s update includes 2x the increase to cover last year and this year’s increases.
Pushback:
Both Ms. Sutton and Mr. Goldstein noted some of the items on the slide did not come to the board for approval. Specifically, the TJ tuition and the EverDriven contract.
Dr. Durán noted that the board HAS approved the tuition fees because APS has a partnership already in place (and with board approval) with Fairfax County to cover the costs.
On EverDriven, Mr. Goldstein asked, “Is that a new contract? It used to be Red Top Cab. You’ve decided to fund without board approval? I’m concerned about the expenditures in the couple hundred thousand dollar range that appear to happen without board approval. If these were construction you’d have to get approval from the board. But here’s a new contract for $255K for Ever Driven that is news to me.”
Dr. Durán conceded he’d “have to look into” the contract. The contract which previously belonged Red Top Cab provides transportation for students with disabilities as well as students protected by the McKinney-Vento Program, a federally-funded grant program under the McKinney- Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act to ensure that children and youth experiencing homelessness have full and equal access to an appropriate public education and experience. APS staff noted that EverDriven provided more comprehensive background checks and insurance police than other providers.
No action on this item until the Jan 25 school board meeting.
2) Complete Streets Memorandum of Agreeing (MOA) & Presentation with the County at the Career Center Campus. Presented by Jeffrey Chambers, Director Design and Construction
County has developed a Complete Streets project to reconstruct South Walter Reed between Columbia Pike and 5th Street South.
Projects will be done at the same time, so in interest for APS and County to work together so as not to waste funding.
County Board action expected on MOA on December 16, 2023.
No additional funding is required from APS.
Complete Streets is funded completely by the County.
The new school will open in August 2026.
Action on this item will take place at the Jan 25th meeting.
No new business. Meeting Adjourned.
