Good afternoon. I'd like to call the march 10th, 2026 school board work session
to order. First, we have an update on esl from ms.
jenkins. Good afternoon, vice
chair, school board members, dr. Mary, dr. High. I'm so happy to be
with you this afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to share an update on english learner services in
chesterfield county public schools. Today, I will highlight our student
population trends, instructional model, performance indicators, and strategic priorities moving
forward. Our work centers on ensuring every multilingual learner has access to rigor,
relevant instruction, and the opportunity to thrive
within our division. Thank you
for your patience. Our english learners are students who participate in english as a
second language program. Our english learner population represents 16.4%
of our total enrollment. And this growth reflects continued demographic shifts
in our community. We now serve students representing 102 languages, and while spanish
remains our largest language group, we continue to see growth
in our top languages. This diversity is strengthening our division, and it requires
intentional systems to ensure equitable access and strong academic outcomes. Not all
english learners have the same needs. We consider the multifaceted nature of our
english learners, with a focus on subgroups such as newcomers or recently arrived english
learners, long-term english learners, students with limited
or interrupted formal education, and dual-identified students.
each group requires differentiated instructional supports, such as long-term english learners, who
particularly need intentional academic language acceleration in order to prevent linguistic
plateauing. Our federal guidance is clear. English
learner programs must enable students to attain english
language proficiency and participate meaningfully in grade-level instruction
within a reasonable time frame. Our instructional model prioritizes grade-level access
and academic language integration. We are intentional about aligning language
development with rigorous curriculum, rather than separating the two. Language and content must be
learned together. And master scheduling plays a critical role in protecting access and
expanding co-teaching opportunities. Staffing for esl
reflects an equity-based model under virginia's updated
standards of quality. Support is not assigned solely by headcount. It is
differentiated based on student proficiency levels. Schools with higher concentrations of
level 1 and level 2 students require more intensive staffing, and that is reflected
throughout our division. We currently have 319.7 full-time
employees that are highly effective, quality teachers who
are focusing solely on language acquisition. So they are language teachers.
providing students sufficient time with qualified teachers remains essential for
accelerating the language growth that we're looking to. We have had vacancies, but we work closely with our
human resources department through job fairs and intentional programs to support. Building our own
pipeline within the division. English learners directly
impact multiple performance framework indicators. As an
accountability subgroup, their performance is impacting academic achievement, growth,
and graduation metrics, and we are monitoring both achievement and meaningful access within
that grade level curriculum. We do have an official english
language proficiency test. For the state. And that is the wida access assessment, which
measures english language proficiency annually across four domains, which is
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students can exit esl programs once they receive
a composite score or overall score of 4.4 or higher. As you
can see, we are showing our proficiency level distribution. It is important to notice that
we are seeing a decrease in our level one student population, which used
to be our largest population. And we're in... On the other side, we're seeing a growth
in our level three and level four students, which that's our developing and expanding
language proficiency group. Movement upwards through the proficiency levels is driven
by multiple factors, and we understand that. However, we are seeing an
upward trend in our access proficiency growth, which is promising. We want
to remain focused on accelerating growth for those students in level three and level four
statuses, where the impact is both language and academic access. That point
in their journey. Beginning for the 25-26 school year, wida
assessments did reflect the updated 2020 english language development standards
framework. Changes include new tasks and revised rubrics for additional accommodations.
specifically, we're seeing new tasks in the kindergarten level, but
the accommodations and the reflection for the new standards is a k-12 approach
to the test, and that's seen throughout grade levels. It is important to note that a
statewide recalibration will occur in july 2026 to align scoring
with more rigorous standards. It's important to also note that shifts and cut scores,
or proficiency growth targets, may impact our proficiency
rates statewide, and we're preparing schools accordingly for what that data may look
like. Sustainable improvement depends on system-wide capacity. This
year, we expanded professional learning beyond esl teachers to include administrators, school counselors,
and instructional designers. Administrators are monitoring english learner subgroup data
more than ever and with an intentional focus. And
so we are making sure that we are providing on-demand reports and support and master
scheduling decisions to protect access for our students. This work
moves us from isolated expertise to shared responsibility.
family engagement remains a cornerstone of our programs, as
we value our parents as a critical educational partner. We continue expanding family
engagement through workshops, transition support, and community partnerships.
and we've strengthened throughout our division interpretation and translation systems to ensure meaningful
communication with families and parents of our students. Strong family engagement supports student
academic achievement and graduation pathways. Title iii
federal funds is a strategic partner with esl programs. We
use title iii funds to supplement core services and
support professional development, such as tutoring, newcomer outreach, and
instructional resources that are embedded into our schools. Title iii
also supports job embedded coaching, as well as initiatives
for our families. Our investments align directly with, again,
accelerating language growth, and improving student outcomes. So I do note challenges and
strategic priorities for our future. When I look at challenges,
I don't see them as obstacles, but I see them as those boulders. That are going
to lift us to the next level of student academic success. That includes staffing
pressures in high-growth schools, supporting entering students, and accelerating our long-term
english learners. But our priorities outline... The division's area of focus
to further english learner success and strengthen overall division performance. We will
be focusing on access growth with the new recalibrated
scores, strengthening co-teaching models, enhancing those data dashboards that our schools can
use, and curriculum resources. We
like to say within esl, every english learner, always and in all ways. Our multilingual
learners bringing. Tremendous assets to chesterfield county. And
by aligning instruction, staffing, and data monitoring, and including and bringing
in our family engagement, we are building a system that ensures language is not a barrier
to opportunity. I thank you all for your continued support, and at this time,
I welcome your questions. Thank you, ms. Jenkins. Board
members, is there any discussion? Okay.
I do want to thank you. For the slide in which you had graphs,
a bar graph on there, and they were individualized. There's a legend and different
shapes to signify what was which. I greatly appreciate that. So thank you very much
for thinking outside the box, so to speak, to make sure that anyone
looking at that chart would be able to comprehend the information. I
do appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you, everybody. Next, we
have a literacy update. From dr. Staines and ms. Carpenter. Good afternoon,
vice chair, school board members, and dr. Murray. I am
jasmine carpenter, the director of elementary curriculum development and support, joined by dr. Sainz,
our secondary curriculum development and support director, and I am also
accompanied by karen hoover, our division's elementary literacy curriculum support
specialist, dr. Caroline canning. Our division
secondary literacy curriculum specialist, and kate hundley, our division secondary
literacy intervention support specialist. So today,
we're excited to share our team's work across four key areas. Our core
promise to students, how we have worked with the community this school year,
our roadmap for next school year, and a status report on how we're leading the way
with virginia literacy act. We last provided a update to the board in april of 2025.
our work is anchored in the fundamental belief that all students must be equipped
to be a critical thinker, an effective communicator, and a strong reader and writer.
this isn't just a goal, it's a promise we've made to our community to ensure our
students can truly influence the world around them through literacy. This year has
been defined by partnership. We've collaborated with our school leadership directors and
school improvement teams to work with our principals to track student growth more closely
through regular data reviews. Our team has also worked with division partners
to support our principals to monitor student growth. We've partnered with families
to get more books into homes through our grant funds and family literacy nights. And
finally, we've prepared our teachers to become experts in the new 2024 english standards of
learning. By providing them with hands-on, professional learning to bridge the gap between
research and daily classroom best practices. This continues to be a true team effort.
for next year's implementation of the ccps literacy plan, we
will move from implementation to sustainability and impact.
we will unpack the literacy plan action steps with school leaders to ensure
shared ownership and clear goals at every level. We will also expand family and community engagement
through media spotlights and by developing our division-wide family literacy plan. Most
importantly, we will continue equipping our teachers with the professional learning and tools
needed to continue using evidence-based literacy practices.
at the elementary level, we are focused on high-quality instruction
for all students. We are engaging in... We are engaging in ongoing collaboration
with principals, english as a second language staff, and the office of special
education to support all learners. To support this, we've updated
our instructional guides. We have also introduced the imagine, language and
literacy digital tool, which provides every student with personalized practice
tailored to their specific pathway. But we aren't just looking at data. Our division
leadership team is joining school-based teams to conduct literacy instructional walks
in schools. These visits allow us to support teachers with classroom practices that align
with the high expectations of the 2024 standards. Together, these efforts are
strengthening consistency in instruction and building confident, capable readers
during their foundational years and beyond.
at the middle school level, our literacy-specific focus continues to prioritize
high-quality instruction for all of our students. We've
continued to provide updates and refinements to our curricular resources to
support our teachers who are supporting our students, and all align to the state's
2024 english standards of learning. Our teachers co-designed these resources
using evidence-based strategies to meet the virginia department of education
standards. Especially underneath developing skilled readers and building reading
stamina. With our literacy intervention support specialists leading our now 19
middle school reading specialists, we are building an
articulated system that gives intervention strategically to our students as needed.
with our recently adopted virginia department of education's approved literacy, supplemental and
intervention resources. This year also... Students
in kindergarten through second grade and select students in grades three
through eight have been assessed on the virginia language and literacy screening system, also known as
vows, to specifically monitor the literacy skill progress. I've also expanded student
reading plans into grades four through eight. This work ensures that literacy
development is vertically aligned and sustained beyond the primary grades. One
of our biggest successes this year is efficiency. We've used technology
to automate the data for student reading plans, and previously this was a very
heavy burden on our administrative teams.
with the data being pre-populated, reading specialists and families can
spend their time focusing on the best interventions for those students instead
of filling out the document. We want to largely thank our office of research and
evaluation for their efforts in automating this for our teachers and our students.
moving forward, we will align the upcoming virginia literacy act
workgroup recommendations with our ccps literacy plan. And strengthen integration
with multi-tiered systems of support to ensure a cohesive,
responsive system of support. We will also elevate family literacy efforts and ensure
interventions are tightly aligned to individual student reading plans. This work
reflects our long-standing promise that every student graduates as a critical
thinker, effective communicator, and skilled reader and writer.
by aligning systems, strengthening partnerships, and supporting educators,
we remain committed to advancing literacy for every learner. Thank you
for your time this afternoon, as well as your commitment to literacy for all students in chesterfield county public
schools. Ms. Carpenter and I are happy to answer any questions that you may have
at this time. Thank you, dr. Steens and ms. Carpenter. Board members, is there any discussion? Mrs.
chatters? Thank you, mr. Vice chair. I just had to... When I
was talking to some reading specialists in the county, we were talking about how do we address the
students who are still struggling. So if you have an individual plan for
dominique, but now it's time for dominique to move on to the next grade,
but we're still not at the reading level that we need to be, what do we have in place to help get the
student there if we're going to move them to the next grade? Elementary
or middle? I'll take both. So
we have, we are currently in the process of developing our multi-tiered system of support. So I know that there are some schools that are
implementing different interventions with students. So it really would depend
on what is like identified in the student reading plan, what specific skills they're
targeting. There are opportunities to work with a reading specialist.
based on what's in that plan, based on if they are receiving any certain type
of services as well. So it would be very student specific and based on skill. Targeted
skill intervention. And that
would be for elementary and middle? Okay. We also work very closely
in the middle schools to ensure that the reading specialists and the teachers are working
in tandem year over year. So part of that is ensuring that there's no gap in service.
so, when students are part of a literacy intervention in grade 6, we want to make
sure that the 7th grade teachers are aware. Going in of what specifically that student needs, and that's part
of their reading plan. It's also why we administer vows typically to those students in sixth, seventh,
and eighth grade in the fall, so that we can see any growth that might have happened, especially if a student
attended maybe a summer intervention or a remediation program, or even summer school. We
always want to use the most up-to-date literacy information to help really provide wraparound services
for the student. So if we're... You move dominique
to the second grade, the second grade teacher knows that dominique is struggling a little bit, this is her
targeted skill area that we're trying to work on, and dominique's still not getting
it. Now it's time for third grade. Does dominique move on to third grade,
knowing that I'm not advancing in the targeted support? Like, how does that work?
there are several different measures that ultimately happen of moving a student along, and it isn't just based off
of their reading. So, for example, if the parent and the teacher are agreeing that
they do have enough of the acquired skills to move on to the next grade level,
they may move on. However, there may be an enhancement of the intervention system
starting on day one for that student. And then my
last question was about non-digital products. Are we incorporating
non-digital products to help students with their reading development? And if so,
which ones are we using? Yes, so ocr has a physical component to it as well. So we still
value having books in hand. We also have the decodables that
students can access in the classrooms as well. We
are partnering with the family and community engagement office to also make sure that we are providing books to families as well. So there
is definitely a physical component through ocr, which is our core resource
at the elementary level. Thank you. Dr. Darby. Thank you,
mr. Vice chair. So there are only so many hours in the day. And I love reading
and I wish our children could all gain all these skills. But I know that
at some point something has to go. So I'm curious, how many students are we
talking about who have these reading plans? And who is
responsible for monitoring them, and when
during the school day is this type of support? You mentioned summer school, but that's the
only one that I heard. That's like an outside of school time type of activity. Well, I can speak
specifically about middle school. For our students who currently have a
student reading plan, let me just make sure, or else kate's going
to jump up and correct me. We recently tested.
in our fall subtests, 4,116
middle schoolers. So as we think about that number, that is 6th grade, 7th grade,
and 8th grade across the district. I love that you highlighted, dr. Darby, that it isn't just summer.
in particular, in the middle school schedule, we offered three different
options for our students to currently receive intervention this year. The first option,
well, really, two of the options were during flex time. That is our
extended day, where the students get an additional 20 to 30 minutes, depending
on the school. And they were coming out of their traditional flex times and they were going into a specific intervention
experience. The third is really when we are thinking about,
are there other times during the day? That we may be able to specifically move them,
not moving them out of an english class, but what could that look like as a supplemental resource
for them as well. We also always encourage before and after school that, as you can imagine, especially
at the middle school level, that can get really complicated with transportation. And trying
to ensure that students still get to participate in after-school or before-school
activities. So we do try to provide families an array of different opportunities that
they're able to participate in. Very similar
to elementary school, with the options that we have, we are, some of the schools are
identifying it as wind time that they're using, which is kind of the adjacent
to a flex time that you would see in a middle school. Classroom, so we know that
students are getting time there. We're also doing before and after school
through our all-in funds, as well as our eiri tutoring, that's happening
before and after. And I know that elementary teachers are masters of multiple contents,
but they are very much focused on literacy through all content areas as well. Thank you both
and I appreciate your support of our students. Okay, thank
you guys. Appreciate it. Thank you, mr. Vice chair. I
appreciate it. Thank you all for your patience. Next, we have our school board
self-evaluation, code of conduct and governance manual discussion. So, if we want to,
we're just going to go down, read the list, and... Do we want to go in the same order or do we want
to move it down? Okay, sounds good. All righty. So I'll read
the question and then you answer. Okay. So, number one,
our board is committed to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality
instruction. So I know our scoring was strongly agree, agree, disagree,
or strongly disagree. So
for this. I said, strongly agree. I will agree as well. I
strongly agree that this is not only a commitment and a vision,
but also emphasis on expectation for student achievement and quality
instruction. So I do strongly agree. I was in between,
agree and strongly agree, just because I tend to be very optimistic and
like to... Pull myself back, but I do believe that we have
high expectations of student achievement and quality
instruction. So I'll just give it a halfway hanging on that line. I said, strongly
agree. I strongly agree.
next, we have. We have defined goals toward our vision
of high expectations, and you need to identify one
of those goals. So I scored us a strongly agree. I said,
with the work between staff and the board and what we have done with our new strategic plan
that we started for. The school division demonstrates that we
have a defined goals towards our vision and high expectations. I also said,
strongly agree. The goal identified was our truancy and the amount of work time.
financial commitment and leadership on all levels of our education in cheshire
county to lower that number which we have. So that was identifiable goal that I
thought we excelled at. I said,
strongly agree on this one. Um, and I do not have a goal
that we did. Did. I did not have that one. But, um, you
know, I think of the one that you're talking about, truancy,
and I'm talking about absenteeism, which is the same thing, and that is, it seems
like if the kids aren't in class, they aren't learning, and that is pivotal
to everything, and I've noticed across the board, we have
brought those numbers down. I
also said, strongly agree. I was looking at our goal of... Having
graduates who are ready to engage as productive citizens. And I'm particularly excited
about the new cte programs at cte hull street. And the
work that has to go into that in budgeting for construction of the new buildings and hiring
new employees and the opportunities that the students will get in those programs. I
also just strongly agree, and I referenced that same one, but I focused on the cip portion of it. That
the collaborative work between our board and the board of supervisors is evident
of our high expectations. Because we're actually working towards building the relationships we need to build
in order to make sure that we're providing the types of schools and space and things
of that nature that our students deserve. All right,
so number three, um. We have
strong shared beliefs and values about what is possible for students and their ability
to learn. And of the system and its ability to teach all children
at high levels. And then identified one of these shared beliefs. So I
said, agree. One of the shared beliefs is the support that we have for the initiative. To
make sure that each student takes an honor ap dual enrollment course before they
graduate so that they can see their potential and their
successes. I strongly agree.
so some of my colleagues had cte as number two. I have cte
as number three. And the reason for that is we are focusing
on their success and in particular, ability to teach children
at high levels. And so if we're strictly to a classroom with the basic function,
functional subjects, and not thinking outside the box. And bringing in outside companies
to work with our teachers, staff, and children, we're missing the mark, and I
don't think we're missing the mark in that realm. Because that is a shared belief that we
have in ensuring that our students are learning at a higher level. Because
we're meeting them where their skill sets are, where their interests are, and
then helping them advance that as they continue to move on and graduate. And then,
for the most part, for those cte students potentially transitioning into a job offer
by the time they graduate. Because of the companies that were here
within ccps. So for those reasons, I said, strongly agree. For this one,
I said, agree. I do believe that we believe every child has
unique strengths, and I was less specific. I'm just more
global. We believe as a group that every child has the
ability, the unique strengths to succeed. And that is what
it's our responsibility to, as a division, to allow them to
realize their full potential
and be fully formed beings that
are ready to go out into the world. And that is, I
believe, that every single thing that we say is having
that in mind. I agree on that.
I strongly agree. I was thinking of maslow's hierarchy of needs that. We all believe
that our children can succeed, but they have to have the basic necessities
of safe schools. And things like the priority put
on major maintenance in the most recent budget talks, and the priority
for adding a school for communities. And schools
show that belief in supporting students in all the all the ways that allow
them to achieve all that they can achieve. I also said,
agree, and the shared value, or the shared belief, was the
infinite learner mindset that we talk about and how we're executing that
with our l students. And the work that we're doing in there
and the effort that we're putting in there, the resources that we're putting in there. To make sure
that we're not leaving any student behind on our path to getting them
to the ultimate goal
of graduation. So, number four, our board is accountability driven, as evidenced by the fact that we spend more time
focused on policies to improve student achievement than we do on operational issues. I said,
agree. I also agree
with that. This is always a
tricky fence to walk, if you will. Because you can
easily find yourself on the operational side. And I think sometimes I find myself
on the operational side. Because potentially a policy maybe isn't as well-rounded or
as defined as maybe it could be. To help navigate some
of those things. And so, you know, although we do our best
to not get into the weeds of things, potentially when we find ourselves... I do remind
myself, okay, let me go find the policy about this. What does that say?
does this make sense? And so I do agree
with number four. I agree with number four. Similar
to what mr. Bronto said, it is very easy to move into
that operational. I almost hovered on the in-between line
because it is very difficult to do. But I feel like as a board. We've gotten
better. I know I've tried to get better. And so I'm going to give us an agree
on that. I also said, agree. Well, I said, disagree for the
examples that you both gave. Because of the magnitude of the emails and the phone calls that
we get that are operationally based questions and concerns, sometimes there is not a policy
that directly relates to what they're calling us about or emailing us about. I
said, disagree, because I'd say it's 50-50
on how much time I dabble in the operational and dabble in the policy side,
right? I pull myself back up out of the operational side once I hand it over
to the proponent, who needs to take care of it. But
for being honest, I think it's a disagree. And honestly, if you're doing the job right,
it's probably a disagree. Because you're going to get complaints or concerns, or questions from constituents
who don't have. That is not
related to policy at all. And so it makes it a little bit hard to help them because I can't refer them
to a policy right away. Because we don't have one that talks to mr. Paranto's point,
to that level of detail or that well-rounded language that we need. And if I could,
I'll just add to your your comment, um. But I think once you pass that over,
then you have stepped back out of that operational side. So that's where I see that it is a
dance and you can find yourself in that operational space very quickly.
but as soon as you pass it over to staff where it should be, then you're back
in where you need to be in your role. And then we can go and address a policy if that's the case
at that point. Okay, number five, we have a collaborative
relationship with staff and the community. I so strongly agree.
I also said, I strongly agree. There isn't a staff member that I have not
met that has not been
outstanding in their role. To the point of listening to what the concern is,
potentially offering suggestions, and then the follow through and coming back
to say, hey, just wanted to keep you in the loop. We did x, y, z,
which they didn't have to do. I could have prodded and asked those questions, but I didn't.
I don't find myself having to because I do get the feedback from staff. And it's
not just, you know, dr. Murray, dr. High, it's the chiefs, it's the directors,
it's the principals, you know, teachers themselves, you know, whoever it might be. That want
to collaborate and want to make sure that we're heading in the right direction. So I
strongly agree with number five. I strongly agree with
number five. I also strongly agree. Strongly agree. All
right. Number six, we have a strong communication structure
to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders in setting and
achieving district goals. And please provide an example if
you can. I said, agree. I said that we are all responsive to both internal and external
stakeholders. I agree. If you
have not received an email from ccps about something,
can you please raise your hand? Exactly my point. We, I do
think to a certain extent, have a lot of emails out there
from the district, from the schools, from the teachers, which it's
all great. I am a firm believer that you can never over-communicate. But I do think there are times when the
communication can be more finite in what we're after versus leaving maybe things a
little bit broader for interpretation. That then might leave some wondering,
okay, what does that mean? Or how do I get more information on this?and so I think maybe
that's an area for us to go back and look at,
but it is an agree for me. I'm going to agree
on this. I think, to your point, mr. Pronto, that we get a lot
of information coming from the county, coming from the district. There's a
lot going on and there's a lot going out. I was somewhere
yesterday that we, the county,
the district, we thought that we were communicating something, and it turns
out we weren't. And so there's always room for growth. But,
you know, I'm thinking about the town halls that we just hosted, the budget town halls,
and they have historically, or,
you know, recently, not been as. Well attended, as maybe we would have liked,
and so we clustered them together now. That was probably due to the snow,
but we were doing that anyway. Um, and and we had a robust um attendance and conversation,
and it felt, um, it felt like the engagement level was
heightened. Uh, and I think that can only be good
for us as a as a district.
um, you, I said, agree on this one? I echo your statement about emails and I would add to
that social media and I think that there is a robust communication system. I was
stuck on the idea of it being
toward setting and achieving district goals. And I think that we are really great at
celebrating really great things publicly and communicating that information. But I think
achieving goals also implies that we have to. Say where
things aren't going great, and invest time into communicating
with stakeholders about how we can work together to improve and achieve the
goals that we have set, which are great goals and lofty goals, and it takes work
to get there. So I think communicating, maybe not through social media and email,
but communicating those types of steps along the way is an important thing. I had a agree
for this one, and I'd say that we've gotten better.
over the last, this is year three, we've gotten better in how we're communicating,
but I would agree with mr. Paranto about a finite message. Because sometimes,
and I've had constituents, once I talk to them, acknowledge, you didn't read
the email all the way through, right? Like, it's all the way down at the bottom,
second paragraph from the top, right? We might need to do a better job in conveying information that's
more important, succinctly, right, so that people can get it. And I would agree. With dr.
darby's assessment about when we're talking
about achieving district goals, when we're falling short, that should be discussed as well, right? We're not trying
to mask where we're having struggles. We should discuss them the same way we discuss
our wins so that the community can help us achieve those goals. So we have buy-in on all
things that'll get us there.
so, number seven, our board is data savvy. We
embrace and monitor data, even when the information is negative, and use it to drive
continuous improvement. And if you have an example,
that would be great. Yes, so I said, agree. I said, obviously
we use data lots of our decision-making, even in the tough ones. And lots of times our data is year.
obviously we look at it year over year. And even in the tough one, when we had
to do away with year-round school, right? So we looked at that data
over a multi-year period to decide that that was the best move. I should strongly agree.
we have a lot of data, and this board uses a lot
of data. And if it's not presented, we ask for it. Mrs. Chatters and I more often
are the ones that are asking for specific data points. And we use that to tell the story.
of what we're looking for, or heading towards the
direction of which we want to solve. And it doesn't matter who's presenting. You know,
if we've asked for certain information, it is given right away,
even if that department, through that information, may not look good, if you will.
their acknowledgment of that, I think, is also extremely important
to say, yeah, we know this is where we are, and the goal is to get here. But you asked for the data,
so here you go. So for those reasons, I believe it's a strongly agree. I too
strongly agree. I think we, it feels
like everything is data-driven. The most recent one that I can really think of is the
learning cottages. Our trailers, classroom trailers,
we, no one is going to say that that is a great thing
to have plunked down on your schools, but in our case, it's a necessity. And so that
would be data that is something we don't want look at. Except what we did was we have it as a
goal in our strategic plan to have, by, you know,
the next five years. For for our students to be all in
under a building instead of in a classroom. And so that's that's a place where we are
looking at the data and we are saying, okay, not saying what we want. We
want to move forward another way. I said, agree. I have a
much shorter time in this chair than the rest of you. So my most recent
understanding of the use of our data was dr. Wataka's
talking about the facility condition assessment and using that to inform the decisions
that we make moving forward with improvement of our buildings. I said,
strongly agree, and I like that. We don't just take
the data for what the data says. Right, because our students are more than just data points.
and so we're looking at the whole student and the whole impact of what we're doing.
and my example was the newdale district elementary school, right? To ms. Hudgens'
point about the number of trailers or the learning cottages, we're able
to get rid of them, right? A significant amount of them out of my district
in particular, and take 150 children off a waiting list who want to get an opportunity to get
into pre-k. And we wouldn't know those numbers. If our team didn't do the research and have
the data to support it, so that we could provide it to the board supervisors.
to get them to buy in to why this is important and why it's needed. So I think we did a
great job with that. Number eight, we work to align and sustain resources
to meet district goals, even in the midst of budget challenges. I said,
strongly agree. We have a great financial team. Enough said.
I'm just going to say, ditto with mrs. Coker. I greatly
appreciate our financial team, our operations team,
and the collaboration that goes in that to say, okay,
what do we need? And we heard it several times this budget season, not only from mr.
meister, but also from dr. Murray, the ask
of chiefs and directors to go back and say, hey, what can you acknowledge that you
can cut? What can we do without? So that we can focus on these other goals. And it
was an overwhelming response that was given. And so I think that's extremely valuable to
remember when we're grading this, and that's why I say I strongly agree. And I also
strongly agree
for things that you guys, similar, it's just a great team and it feels very aligned
across. Frankly, the cabinet. And so I was very impressed,
as you said, with the red papers going back and telling me, what can we drop? What is
no longer either working for us? As you know, the time has come. It's very
rare outside of, or in, you know, a public setting,
for that to happen. And I find that remarkable. And we found
money, so that was great, and so I strongly agree. I also
said, strongly agree. I said, strongly agree,
and I was hovering between agree and strongly agree, but I would say that we've made
progress, so that's why I went with strongly agree. There are a lot of challenges
in certain districts, right? I would say that mine has. The
most challenges, unfortunately, for different reasons that are not this board's
responsibility, right? This was inherited things, um? But I appreciate the work that
mr. Meister and our superintendent, dr. Murray, have done to try
to close the gap on those challenges. Close the gap on the differences and the inequities between what my
district has and what other districts have and I. The conscious effort to put that
there speaks volumes. To thank you. Both teams looking at the big picture and
seeing how we can make this better for all of our students. How can we do that? And I truly appreciate
all the work that went into... Making miracles happen, to not have a list of things
on the side where we can't do for the first time, felt really good to look at. And I appreciate all the work
that went into making that happen.
yeah, to your point, ms. Chatters, I was at a meeting last night and I was very
pleased to say someone asked about the column.
of the things that we can't, you know, if we get extra money. And I was like, we don't have that
column this year. Oh, it's fantastic. All right, number nine. We lead as a united team with the
superintendent, with strong collaboration and mutual trust.
I said, strongly agree. We have a great relationship with the superintendent,
with really all of cabinet and all staff members, you know, doing our job. Not to reach
out and get into those weeds. But if we, you know, had a question. The response is
immediate. So thank you. I also
strongly agree. I think we have a very good rapport with our superintendent. That
speaks volumes of this board, but it also speaks volumes of our superintendent. He's
dealing with five very different personalities, and we all have our individual goals
and what we think ccps should look like, and the different
things that we'd like to do. And he has to juggle all that and figure out, okay, I hear
you, but this is important, and would you please look at this? I want to explain why
the answer might be no right now, but I'm not hearing you. And I think, you know,
that goes a long way for someone to not only process the information,
but then get one, be confident in giving feedback. But
in addition to that, then explain the why. A lot of times,
it's just very easy and quick to go, no, we can't do that. Okay, what else do you have?
but why? Right? And I don't find myself very often asking why, because
in my conversation with him, I find out the why. And kudos
as well to dr. High. It's similar. I know it doesn't say your title in here,
but a group of the both of you together. What you get from one, you get
from the other, in my opinion, and I greatly appreciate that about you. So thank you. I also
strongly agree. This is, you know, we're starting our year,
year full, first year, but it's really a year and a half that.
you, how long were you interim? It
did. It did. Sorry. It's been a while. So, you know, I feel
like we as a board have gelled and this relationship has also
grown, and it is, I think, fruitful. Strongly agree. I
also said, strongly agree. I also said,
strongly agree for some of the reasons, mr. Paranto mentioned that managing. Same
thing with elkie, having to manage five different personalities and five
different calendars. Both of you managing five different personalities, five different
calendars, five different objectives. We don't agree to disagree. We just disagree, right? And I
think that's better. I don't like the term, let's just agree to disagree.
no, because I have strong opinions. We all have strong opinions. Superintendent and
deputy have strong opinions. But I appreciate the way that they're communicated to us. I appreciate the fact that we're
not just shut down. With the idea. Crazy it may seem, but they entertain it,
right, briefly, and then explain why it can't be done. And that's fine. And I
appreciate the willingness to have the dialogue in the first place. So I said,
strongly agree. Madam chair, if I may, something else to add
to this that stood out to me, when it talks
about mutual trust, and when we
were at ctc, in the auditorium, in front of numerous staff members and
teachers, a lot of stakeholders in leadership of ccps, and when it was
announced that dr. Murray was going to be the superintendent
and board members, I don't know if you recall this or not, the place erupted. It was
deafening. It was deafening. You don't get mutual trust, in my opinion, from somebody if
that's not the response you get. Right? If it was crickets
and it was like, oh, dear god, right? Then mutual trust
might be of concern. I just bring that up to say,
not only are we trusting our superintendent, but I firmly believe those that are
under him trust him as well. And I think that's extremely important to highlight
in this. Number nine. Thank you. All right, on to number
10. Our board takes part in team development and training
to build shared knowledge, values, and commitments for our improvement efforts. I said,
agree. It's a line on disagree, agree. I see that
look, dominique, because I think we could do more. Yeah,
definitely think we could do more. I should disagree. I'm
not on the line. Look, we do. We do. We go to williamsburg.
that's an experience in and of itself. We attend the vsba conference. And it's on us as
individual board members to attend the other vsba things that are presented virtually.
if you can't go in person, I know I had gone to the... There was one centered
around school board law, and, you know, that was very informative. I don't feel the
need to go that again the next year and the next year. But, you know, that's something that
I had interest in. So I don't expect, you know, mrs. Hudgens if you're not
interested in that, you know, for you to go is not going to be a value to your time.
and if you're, you know, more into, you know, let's say transportation or
something, and I'm not, I'm not going to necessarily attend that. But I do think it's important that
when we attend these things, that we do some kind of,
nothing extravagant, some kind of report or some kind of email to the board members
of what was learned, maybe something that was of interest,
something we'll look into for our own district, school district, division-wide. So I
think we can get better at that. Now, I also recognize that I also have a full-time
job. And so I'm not always available to attend a thursday
afternoon session in person, you know, down in virginia
beach, for example, right? And it's not offered virtually. So there are some things that,
because of our commitments, we do miss out on. But the things that we can attend, like
there was one this afternoon that was virtual for board docs, I think that's extremely important. And
from what I saw, pretty much all board members, including our...
superintendent, we're in attendance for that. So things along those lines are good,
but I do agree we need more of that as much as we can. So I
called mine a week a. So I guess that's, I mean,
it's the same. So hovering on the line. We did that
professional development together, the team building in that first year, and I think
that was really helpful. I don't know if that's something that we wanted to look
into again or what, mr. Pronto is talking
about is individually learning for our, you know,
for this job, which is always, always good. And I remember
back when I was a yearbook teacher advisor, we would go to
conferences and no one was allowed to attend the class as much.
you know, together everybody had, and we divided and we conquered, and we came back and reported.
and so that, um, to your point, would be a really good plan for us to do, if there are
things that are beneficial. Um, so that's that's why, um,
I gave us a week. I said,
agree. I also again have a much shorter time in this seat than anyone here.
and so I was reflecting on, um, the williamsburg bsba
conference. As well as the new board member. That everyone
weighed in on whether that would be helpful to someone
from a larger division. And so I do feel like we have many more opportunities that we
could seek out, but we are maybe agree. I
like your week a, but I don't think that was on the chart. I said, disagree,
because it's about team development and training, and we haven't. I know we had
talked about in our governance document that the vice chair might be responsible for
spearheading how we do our team development. I think we could revisit that and codify that a
little bit more, but the team development is important. And to mr. Peranto's point,
I do sometimes take the classes too, the individual ones, but I look at the price tag of how much it costs. And then
I'm like, the bang for the buck on whether or not I'd rather use that money on a team development. So that
the five of us can do something with, because the one we did before, when merv was here, that one
was really eye-opening. I think that was, and I'm sorry you missed that, dr. Darby,
but it was really good, and so we should revisit doing things like that. Again. Madam
chair, if I may, mrs. Chatters, I appreciate you bringing up the price. Because
when we're spending the people, you know, our constituents
money, we have to be able to speak as to why. And if we can't add the value to it,
I don't think we need to be spending it. So, yes, that is also another reason I
appreciate you pointing that out. Thank you. Now we have our
long answer portion. We have
two questions. First one is, what do you believe is one of your board's greatest
strengths? Second one is, you know, we've got the glow, now we'll have the grow. So
first time is grow, glow. So one of, what I wrote here for
our greatest strength or strongest strength, is the answer. Actually back up
to number nine, which is the relationship with. The superintendent and leadership team, you know,
we have clear understandings of each other's role and support those roles
in a respectful manner. One of,
I believe, our board's greatest strengths is the diversity of our passions and what we're
after. And, you know, if we can find ourselves, I
think, sometimes siloed, but if we take a step back and look at what we're all collectively
doing, we're after the same goal, which is our students. We just go about it differently. I
wouldn't go about it the same way. Maybe, dr. Darby would, but she gets
to the same point that I would eventually get to. It's just a different way of doing it,
which is not wrong. It's just different, and I like that about this board. We bring
different backgrounds, from education to military, to operations, to teaching
at a collegiate level. Working in the business world. And, you
know, all of that has its values that we utilize as a
board, whether we recognize it or not, because of what we're saying to each other when we're
interacting or making decisions. And it's a different viewpoint that maybe I don't
think of, but because somebody else on the board said,
whatever that is, it's like, okay, well, let me understand why that person believes that
or thinks that, or, you know, for me to understand. So that we have that opportunity
to continue moving forward. So I do think that's one of the board's greatest strengths. I
remember last year, that's the one that I took. That's always a big piece
for why this works. What really
stood out to me this year, as I was thinking this through, was our respectful collegial
relationships. To ms. Chatter's point, agree
to disagree, or just flat out disagree, but remain a respectful relationship. And I
believe that we, I think that's what we do. And
I think that when you can do that in an atmosphere of how
great are you if you always agree and you're nice
to each other? But when we don't always agree, and yet we remain...
respectful and having this goal
of our students, you know, the student success remaining at the center of every single
decision that we make. And I think a lot of times, that's
how, you know, we understand. Hey, you might. We might disagree, but I know in your
heart this is your goal, and so that's how we can remain
mutually respectful. I said this board's desire
to listen and discuss, especially as you all have
worked to get me up to speed, your willingness to share information, your willingness to share time
and suggestions. I think it shows this board's willingness to work toward a vision
of a common vision,
where we are a thriving board, where every member is.
active, where it wasn't just that I was going to fill the seat. You wanted me
to be able to be active, that we are a thoughtful board,
a respectful board, even when we don't agree on things. And I have really
appreciated being a part of that. I said,
resilience because of the things that have gone
on for this board. And we've received our fair share of
attacks and name-calling and
visceral comments from the community to us,
and we're still sitting here. So I think our resilience to the goal, which is to make
ccps the best that we can for our students and our teachers. That is why we're still here.
but resilience after it's been a rough some moments, right?
and so I think we're resilient.
okay, final, you, what do you believe is a growth area for your board? Pulling
from the questions above, I did say we need a team building exercise. Sorry if I took
yours. I think it would be
worthwhile. Not educational, right, but then just adding a
little fun in there, too, learning about each other. So
we're going to go paintballing and mrs. Chatters and I are on the same team. Good luck
to all of you. You'll need it. In all seriousness, I believe
the growth area and not to repeat what mrs. Coker said,
but it was the only one that I disagreed with in the survey, which was our development
together as a team. And so as a vice chair, which I'm honored to be, but, you know,
with for. This board is looking into that development and reaching out
to the individual members to say, hey, what interests you? Do we have the same level of interest
in an activity or what? Have you? To mrs. Coker's point, to have some kind
of academic spin to it, but then also, I have found
in team building, relationships grow out
of just the spontaneousness of the occasion, right? You
know, doing rope climbing, I'll just pick
on myself. I might be afraid of heights, and dr. Darby isn't, right? So she's coaching
me along and what have you. Those are things that you wouldn't think somebody might
step up to the plate and do. But through that, you realize, okay,
we have a common goal here of success, to see ourselves forward. So I
do echo, mrs. Coker. I do think number nine. 100% is my growth
area for the board. And as I said, as vice chair,
we will dive into that in 2026. I appreciate this board's
willingness and want to do that. That's also extremely important. Thank you.
and it will include. That's referee. Yeah. So I hearkened
back to one of the previous ones, where.
and I don't think we're terrible at this, but I do think it's easy
to slide the clear boundary between governance and management. And that slide that
we, I feel like we have to beat it back every day. And
so I think that it's something that we have to be aware of.
and we have an incredible staff. There's an incredible
staff out there who's able and willing to help us. So just top
of mind. This seems like a really cruel joke. That
I've been sitting here for two months and y'all are like, what's an area of growth? So, I
can't really speak for much from my limited time,
but what I would look forward to post-budget season is an emphasis
on instruction and the ability to reflect on the goals that
have been set. And some of that more proactive planning and
reflection on the data that revolves around the goals that have
already been set and instruction. So we all have the
same answer for the front of the group. For the team development, I
also think that's really important. And we have an amazing resource in carmen. So
perhaps something that is related to diversity, equity,
inclusion, since it is also... Part of our mission and our goals,
we can incorporate that into a team development opportunity. So that we can understand the
different perspectives and how that impacts how we do what we
do. That would be really eye-opening as well. Okay, I
would like to thank my colleagues on the board for their input today. Next, we
have announcements, communications, and school board comments.
members, are there any announcements or comments?
okay, the next school board business meeting will be held this evening, march 10, 2026,
at 6.30 p.m. Here in the public meeting room. If
there is no further business, we will enter into closed session, which will be held in
the public meeting room's conference room. While in the closed session, the
board will recess to attend the reb banquet in room 502 of the county
administration building. After the banquet is over, the board will resume the closed
session here in the public meeting room. Madam clerk, please announce the items
for today's closed session. It is my understanding that the school board desires to enter
into a closed session. In accordance with section 2.2-3711.a of the code of
virginia, the virginia freedom of information act, and specifically,
under subsection 1, the discussion and consideration of personnel disciplinary matters,
and 2, the discussion and consideration of student matters that would involve the
disclosure of student records. Members of the board, you've just heard
the items requested to be discussed in closed session. Do I have a motion in that regard? So
moved. Is there a second? Second. Madam clerk, would you
please call roll on the motion? Ann coker? Aye. Jennifer darby? Aye.
dominique shatters? Aye. Stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa hudgens? Aye. We are now
in closed session. The recess
has ended. Do I have a motion?
the recess has ended. Do I have a motion to reconvene in open session? So moved. Is
there a second? Second. The board is now in open session.
madam clerk, would you please read the resolution certifying the closed session? Now,
therefore, be it resolved that the school board hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, 1.
only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements
by virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution
applies, and 2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion
convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered
by the school board. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution?
I make a motion to adopt the resolution. Is there a second? Second. Madam
clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann coker? Aye. Jennifer darby?
aye. Dominique chatters? Aye. Stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa
hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion
regarding the student matters? In case numbers 2025-26-re30,
2025-26-re31. 2025-26-re32. It
is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you
please call roll on the motion? Ann coker? Aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye.
stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa hudgens? Aye. The motion
carries. Is there a motion regarding the first personnel matter?
in case number 2025-26-56-hr,
it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you please call roll
on the motion? Ann coker? Aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye.
stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion
regarding the next personnel matter? In case number 2025-26-57-hr,
it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you please call roll
on the motion? Ann coker? Aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye.
stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa hudgens? Aye. The motion
carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter? In case number 2025-26-58-hr,
it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann coker?
aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye. Steve impronto? Aye. Lisa
hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel
matter? In case number 2025-26-59-hr...
it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann coker?
aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye. Stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa
hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel
matter? In case number 2025-26-60-hr,
it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann coker?
aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye. Steve impronto? Aye. Lisa
hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel
matter? In case number 2025-26-61-hr,
it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second?
second. Madam clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann coker?
aye. Jennifer darby? Aye. Dominique chatters? Aye. Stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa
hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel
matter? Madam chair, I move that the decision in case number 2025-26-02-ph be
reversed. Is there a second? Second. Madam clerk, would you
please call roll on the motion? Ann coker? Aye. Jennifer darby? Nay.
dominique chatters? Aye. Stephen pronto? Aye. Lisa
hudgens? Aye. The motion is reversed.