May 2024 School Board Work Session Minutes
York County School Board Work Session
Monday May 6, 2024
Note: Moving the school board member discussions to the top of this summary vs. chronological order for reader ease.
School Board Member Discussions – Occurs at 2:12:51 in the school board meeting recording
Policy Discussion Regarding Advisor Committees to the School Board-Policy BCF.
Lynda Fairman thought that a vote was already conducted on having a “standing committee” on board policies but was reminded by Mr. Richardson and Ms. Berry that a vote had not occurred.
There was discussion as to why it was necessary to have a “standing committee” run by Chair Fairman and Vice Chair Goodwin on reviewing board polices before they go to discussion with the board as a whole. Mr. Richardson felt it was unnecessary and redundant as they discuss board policies in session. Ms. Goodwin countered it would give her and Ms. Fairman an opportunity to redline policies and present the edits to the board.
Summary: Something is up. Fairman and Goodwin seem intent on setting up this standing committee quickly (next week) and quietly (scheduling the meeting in the morning of a work day.)It sure feels like this is an attempt by Fairman and Goodwin to avoid using the VSBA model policies and instead draft board policies obtained through their individual SMBA memberships and the associated resources. They also seem purposely evasive about who will fill out this committee, as if they have plans for members already.
Policy Discussion Regarding Agenda Format – Policy BDDZ
The agenda format: Ms. Fairman and Ms. Goodwin remarked that they will deal address the board’s regular meeting agenda format at the beginning of their new “standing committee”. Ms. Goodwin remarked that the agenda format change is to remove the invocation and change it to just a moment of silence rather than a speaker.
This change likely reflects that past invocation speakers were not willing to abide by the invocation rules and called the audience to pray to a specific religion. The invocation has faced much pressure as the invocation speakers have only represented Christian Protestant religions without inclusion of speakers from other religions or atheist speakers. The invocation has also been challenged by the national organization: The Freedom from Religion Foundation. Due to these concerns, we feel the move to a moment of silence vs. an invocation will be unanimously approved by the school board and well received by the YCSD community.
Policy Discussion Regarding Board Member Authority – policies BBAA and Policy BCB.
Mr. Richardson stated that the lack of communication from Ms. Fairman makes it impossible to work together as a school board.
Mr. Richardson reminded Ms. Fairman that at the school board working session in January 2024, Ms. Fairman said to the board members that she would follow policy and follow the law.
Fairman violated School Board policies BBAA and Policy BCB by trying to exhibit authority which she does not have – neither as a school board member nor as school board Chair:
Fairman directed Superintendent on an action in February, but then Fairman corrected herself after she was told she could not do that by Richardson.
Recently Fairman directed School Board attorney Melanie Berry not to talk to the media.
The only authority the board Chair has is what is assigned to the board as a whole and this is also part of the Virginia state code. 22.1-71.
Violation of Virginia FOIA act – VA Code 2.2-3700
The school board has had little communication from Ms. Fairman about the upcoming retreat schedule for 5.10.24.
Mr. Richardson and Ms. Berry discussed that under VA code for FOIA - open meetings must be advertised as soon as practical. Fairman relayed information on 3/25/24 to the SB (only the SB) confirming that the retreat was scheduled for 5/10/24 and even had a rough draft of the agenda. Yet the meeting notice was not available to the public till 4/29/24 and the agenda was not posted till 5/3/24. The undercurrent concern is that Fairman was purposely not communicating the retreat. Most likely because the “retreat” is just SBMA - Sherri Story and their affiliated attorney - and Fairman knew this would be extremely controversial and did not want it to get out before the last regular board meeting in April due to the public comment it would generate.
Issues with the proposed agenda for the 5.10.24 board retreat
Mr. Richardson, Mr. Shafer, and Ms. Berry are unable to join the SBMA, yet all the proposed speakers for the school board retreat either work for the SBMA or are affiliated via membership. This is clearly a move to incorporate SBMA agenda and training into YCSD.
The first speaker on the retreat agenda: Mr. Michael Sylvester – works for the Founding Freedoms Law Center, where “he focuses on advancing legal matters through the judicial process to protect clients’ religious liberties and other fundamental freedoms.” He has only been practicing law since 2019 and his focus area is not on school board standards of quality as he is poised to speak upon. Mr. Richardson remarked that Ms. Berry would be better suited to give that presentation and she would be free.
Ms. Sherri Story – SBMA Executive Director - was scheduled to present on SOQ 7 – School Board Policies………. even though VSBA is providing school board policies NOT SBMA. It would make logical sense to have the VSBA to present on school board policies.
Ms. Sherri Story was also scheduled to present on “Board Norms and Protocols”.
Both Mr. Richardson and Mr. Shafer expressed concerns about Ms. Story presenting. They feel she is not a qualified presenter and her continued history of making controversial social media posts and racist comments make her unfit to provide any training to YCSD. They noted that Ms. Story even recently twisted some educational statistics for York County on a misleading social media post. Both Mr. Richardson and Mr. Shafer stated they would be unable to attend the retreat with her presenting.
Update: As of 5/7/24 the school board retreat has been canceled. A future date is forthcoming.
Usual Business Presented by Various YCSD Admin Staff:
Mr. Bill Bowen – Chief Financial Officer – shared finance updates.:
Explained finance processes for year end.
Proposed transfers between major expense categories – not to exceed expected budget but instead to balance out expenses.
Utilization of speech services greatly increased. Between direct hires and contracted work, YCSD has 11 speech therapists. Going into fiscal year 2025, they are looking to have more direct hires vs. contracted therapists as contracted work is much more expensive. YCSD is committed to continue with the needed speech therapists to support school needs.
Much discussion on how to continue to retain bus drivers and recruit more bus drivers so that substitute bus drivers are available. Looking to raise the base rate for bus drivers and looking at getting more YCSD staff CDL certified. YCSD is also open to exploring niche recruitment such as commercial CDLs – even on a substitute basis.
Employee health insurance utilization and claims have increased. YCSD is looking to either increase premiums to 11.5% with 1.5% of this increase being absorbed by staff to minimize premium increase as much as possible. YCSD is also entertaining looking at different deductible structures to keep the premiums low. YCSD is committed to maintaining desirable employee benefits package and notes that their benefit rates are below the regional average.
Summary – Mr. Bowen’s finance team and the HR staff seem very proactive in addressing budget and staffing needs.
Mr. Mark Tschirhart – Associate Director for Capital Plans – went through an update on capital projects.
Seaford Elementary School:
Final HVAC roof screen installed.
Roof coating resumes this week.
Seaford road was re-paved and striped over spring break.
Bruton High School:
Roof repair and recoating: roof repair complete except for main gym.
Tabb Middle School:
Removed old HVAC equipment and lifted new heat pumps to the main mechanical room.
Other capital projects in progress:
Mount Vernon Elementary School: HVAC replacement.
Tabb High School lighted turf fields.
Tabb High School and Tabb Middle school locker room makeovers.
Dr. Butler – Director of Student Services.
Provided an overview of proposed revisions to the 2024-2025 Student Handbook and Conduct Code, focusing on content changes and revisions that align with state and/or federal laws and/or regulations.
Start time for York River Academy was changed to 8:20a.m. from 8:25a.m.
Language added to remind parents to update the school if they have a residence change during the school year since an out-of-zone application may be required.
In class ranking section – printed formula for calculating class rank was removed and new language added.
Under Addressing Concerns: Coach and/or activity sponsor was added under first steps for parents and students to resolve athletic or extra-curricular activities concerns.
Consequence range for BSO 12, Violation of the Acceptable Use of Technology/Internet Policy was increased to include out-of-school suspension.
Discipline Code RB 11 – Unwanted or Inappropriate Physical Contact, was separated into 2 sub-codes RB 11 – 01 (addresses consensual inappropriate conduct) and RB 11 – 02 (unwanted physical contact).
Discipline Code BSC 13 – Engaging in Reckless Behavior was separated into sub-codes BSC 13– 01(conduct that affects the safety of others) and BSC 13 – 02 (conduct that affects personal or self-safety).
Discipline Code BSC 15 – Inciting or causing a substantial disturbance to the operation of school or the safety of staff and/or students was separated into 2 codes BSC 15– 01(repeated behaviors that are not responsive to administrator interventions) and BSC 15 – 02 (s behaviors that cause a substantial disturbance to the operation of school or safety).
Discipline Code BSC 17 – Shoving, pushing, striking, biting another student with no visible injury – add a sub code: BSC 17 – 02 (delineates situations where student conduct did result in a visible or documented injury).
Discipline Code BSC 19 – Physical Contact of a sexual nature – patting body parts, pinching, tugging clothing – separated into 2 codes BSC 19 – 01 (unwanted and unwelcomed physical contact) and BSC 19 – 02 (consensual inappropriate physical contact of a sexual nature).
Under Elementary Instructional Program, the written descriptions for English Reading, English Writing, and Mathematics were edited to align with language from the Virginia Department of Education.
In the Appeal Process for an Out-of-School Suspension section, language was deleted, and a portion rewritten to align with Virginia Code 22.1-277.04 (Short-term; procedures, and readmission).
New language will be brought to the school board for approval in reference to the Network Services/Internet Acceptable Use Policy. Governor Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order Number 5 requiring the Virginia Department of Education to develop model policies for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the K-12 setting. The division is waiting for VDOE to provide model guidance to edit the 2024-2025 student handbook.
Dr. Jim Carroll – Chief Operations Officer – Bus Camera Contract
Bus Patrol full-fleet stop-arm safety program proposed. The goal is to deter drivers from illegally passing stopped school buses to bring the number of violations down to zero.
The Bus Patrol program also places cameras inside the bus that YCSD can review if there are student behavior or safety incidents within the bus.
More steps before this can be implemented:
A local ordinance to allow civil monetary penalty goes before the York County Board of Supervisors this May.
YCSD still needs to complete legal negotiations and schedule time for installation over the summer.
There would be a media campaign to promote awareness of this program and the campaign would start 30 days before activation of penalties.
Dr. Karen Cagle – Director of K-12 Curriculum and Instruction – Presentation on Queens Lake mSAM program.
Overview of program, review of mSAM parent survey.
Subsequent focus groups are scheduled to investigate the Virginia Department of Education’s framework for fine arts and identify ways to expand fine arts course offerings. Also investigating ways to engage more students by allowing more student choice.
Other discussion items:
Transportation Update – Ms. Goodwin had a meeting with the YCSD transportation office and provided an update on her findings.
Professional Development Discussion – Ms. Fairman had talked with a number of teachers over the past few weeks and there were concerns about the load of required professional development. Teachers communicated that they need some breathing room for planning their classrooms. Dr. Skinner discussed how this year was a bit unusual in terms of the volume of state required professional development due to the number of areas to cover from the Virginia Department of Education.
YCSD Website Update – Dr. Shandor and Ms. Goff discussed detailed updates on the intranet and external site.