Summary of April 10, 2025 School Board Meeting

In attendance: Mary Kadera (Chair), Bethany Zecher Sutton (Vice Chair), Kathleen

Clark, Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, Miranda Turner

Chair Mary Kadera convened the meeting at 5:30 p.m., which included a closed

session followed by a public session at 7:02 p.m.

Opening

 Presentation of Colors: Conducted by the Arlington Career Center Space Force

JROTC Cadet Corps.

 Student Showcase: Performance by the Gunston Middle School Jazz Band.

Consent Agenda

The Board unanimously approved:

 Meeting minutes from:

o March 14, 2025 Joint Budget Work Session

o March 27, 2025 School Board Meeting

o April 2, 2025 Policy Subcommittee Meeting

 Personnel actions across multiple staffing scales including appointments,

resignations, retirements, terminations, and reclassifications.

 Perkins Grant for 2025–2026.

 Resolution declaring April 2025 as the Month of the Military Child in Arlington,

Virginia.

Announcements

 Upcoming Meetings:

o April 25 – Audit Committee

o April 28 – Policy Subcommittee

o May 1 – Closed Meeting and School Board Meeting

 School Visits & Events: Chair Kadera highlighted a student-led event at

Swanson Middle School celebrating the Month of the Military Child.

Superintendent’s Update:

o Acknowledged federal compliance requirements regarding anti-

discrimination.

o Shared budget timing updates due to state-level uncertainties.

o Highlighted Arab American Heritage Month.

o Announced an attendance communication initiative.

o Celebrated national recognition for Taylor Elementary’s Professional

Learning Community efforts.

Board Questions

Tapia-Hadley

Attendance Notification: Asked if families are being notified before reaching 10

days of absence (e.g., at 4–5 days) to proactively address attendance issues.

Kadera

Budget Process: Provided an update on two recent budget work sessions and

encouraged the public to watch recordings online. She noted a helpful log of

board questions and answers available on the district website.

School Visits Inquiry: Asked Dr. Duran for examples of inspiring practices

observed during school visits that might be scalable.

Public Comment

8 Community members spoke on a range of issues:

 Library Staffing Cuts: Concerns from parents and staff over proposed

reductions in library assistant positions.

 Budget and Curriculum: Comments on the budget process and use of Core

Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA).

 Equity: Requests to maintain bilingual resource specialist positions and ensure

fair staff compensation.

Monitoring Items

 English Language Arts Update: Presented by ELA Supervisor Sarah Cruz and

team, highlighting:

o Progress in secondary literacy.

o Implementation of CKLA at the elementary level.

o Assessment tools like VALLSS and MAP to track student growth.

o Focus on professional development and targeted interventions for high-

needs students.

Board Questions:

Tapia-Hadley

Early Literacy Practices: Highlighted the importance of handwriting and

physical movement in early learning and asked how the curriculum

balances these with technology use.

Data Disaggregation: Requested that literacy data (e.g., 7% of students in

a certain category) be broken down by school and asked for clarification

on what “other times of day” means in the context of student support (e.g.,

after-school help?).

High School Performance: Sought an explanation for low

performance/growth at the high school level, asking whether it’s due to

developmental, structural, or support-related issues.

Kadera

Secondary Literacy Concerns: Emphasized the historic lack of reading

support in high schools and appreciated recent community advocacy.

Raised concerns over students graduating without sufficient literacy skills

and requested clearer interpretation of high school literacy data.

Turner

Daily Instruction Gaps: Questioned the impact of block scheduling on daily

literacy interventions at the secondary level.

Summer Slide: Observed consistent percentages of at-risk students at the

start of each year and asked whether this indicates a summer learning

loss.

Quadrant Analysis: Focused on quadrant data (e.g., slide 30) and asked

for an explanation of strategies used in higher-performing schools that

could be replicated. Also inquired about support structures and next steps

if growth doesn’t improve.

Zucker-Sutton

Early Grade Struggles: Asked whether students in K–2 who are in high-

risk literacy bands struggle with the same skills across grades or if new

difficulties emerge each year.

Student Knowledge Transfer: Raised concerns about whether student

performance data and needs are being effectively communicated across

grade transitions (elementary to middle, middle to high school).

Clark

Parent Engagement: Asked if parents of students receiving extra literacy

support are given strategies to reinforce learning at home.

Accessibility for Impaired Students: Asked how well the district is providing

accessible texts and appropriately accessible testing methods for students

with impairments.

Action Items

 Grace Hopper Center Construction: Board approved Change Order #2

($359,827), funded from existing project contingencies without additional

allocations. Motion was to approved with a unanimous vote of 5 – 0.

Information Items

 Special Education Annual Plan: Dr. Erin Stone and Dr. Kenneth Brown detailed

the use of IDEA federal funds (611 and 619), including planning and compliance

updates.

Adjournment: The meeting concluded at 10:53 p.m.