School Board Approves FY 2022 CIP Direction, Summer School Fees

Superintendent Provides Return-to-School Update
The School Board approved its FY 2022 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) direction which defines the projects for the Superintendent to include in the proposed CIP, along with cost estimates and an evaluation of priorities among identified projects. The Superintendent’s proposed FY22 Four-to-Six-Year CIP will include some combination of the identified projects and address project costs and timeframes, as well as the impact of proposed CIP costs on future CIP budgets. The full CIP presentation is available online.

The Board also approved Summer School fees for this summer at its Jan. 21 School Board meeting. The School Board approved a staff recommendation that Summer School fees remain the same as last year. The complete list of fees as well as additional information is available online.

Additional Action Items
The School Board approved the additional action items:

• Middle and High School Program of Studies – The Board approved the middle and high school program of studies for the 2021-22 school year. More information is available on BoardDocs.
• FY2020 Final Fiscal Closeout and Status Report – The Board approved its FY20 Final Fiscal Closeout and Status Report – Additional details are online.

School Year 2020-21 Update
Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán presented return-to-school plan update with the following key updates:

• Career & Technical Education (CTE) students enrolled in the following courses at the Career Center will return on the hybrid/in-person learning schedule starting on Tuesday, Feb. 2:
  • Auto Tech, Auto Collision Repair, Barbering, Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Electricity and EMT
  • A School Talk was sent to CTE families Friday morning, Jan. 22, to provide notice of schedules and transportation details.
  • The Superintendent reiterated that he is holding on further date announcements but anticipates announcing student return dates soon. These will be shared with families with enough time to prepare for sending back students.
• Staff will report in person for one week either the week of Jan. 25 or Feb. 1 to prepare for in-person learning and will then resume telework until student return dates are announced. Central office staff will begin reporting in person on the following schedule.
  • Beginning Jan. 25: ELT members will report during their regular hours 2-3 days a week.
  • Beginning Feb. 1: Directors and Asst. Directors will also report 2-3 days a week.
  • Additional rotations for Central Office staff will be phased in gradually in the coming weeks.
• Arlington County Government administered 1,800 doses of the vaccine to eligible Childcare and K-12 teachers and staff during two initial clinics and additional appointments have continued to be scheduled.
  • Vaccine availability continues to be the driving force for appointment availability.
  • The Arlington County Public Health Department continues to work with the Governor to identify additional vaccine doses for Arlington County.
• New exclusion reporting was provided focused on staff and students reporting in person:
  • Of 1,311 employees reporting in person, there have been 76 reported positives and 103 close contacts. Of 320 students reporting in person, there have been 16 positives and 73 close contacts.
  • This data is from the time period: Nov. 1, 2020 – Jan. 21, 2021.
  • Reports are received every day of the week and may not be included in previous reports due to date of report submission. Employee and Student may show up in a close contact category and a positive category, which results in double counting for the purposes of this report.

Additionally, instructional data presented focused on student mental health and social emotional learning. The entire presentation is available on BoardDocs. Watch the presentation here.

Information Items
The Board discussed the following items:

• 2021 School Moves Project Temporary Change to Project Funding – Staff is recommending that the Board transfer funds to the project from funds available in the Capital Reserve, and transfer funds back once proceeds from the bond sale are received. No increase to previously approved funding is required; this is a temporary transfer to address project cash flow needs.
• Revisions to School Board Policy M-8 Internet – Staff is proposing changes to SBP M-8. More information is available on BoardDocs.

Recognitions
The School Board recognized the 24 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Literary and Visual Arts competition winners. The recognition included a video highlighting each student winner.The Board also congratulated four seniors who were named Posse Scholars. Each student will receive a four-year, full-tuition scholarship from The Posse Foundation to attend a partnering institution.

For More Information:
Citizens who want to comment on any items discussed at the School Board meeting should email the Board at school.board@apsva.us or call 703-228-6015. Citizens may call 703-228-2400 on the Monday after the School Board meetings to listen to a meeting summary.School Board meetings are also broadcast live on Comcast Cable Channel 70 and Verizon FiOS Channel 41; live-streamed on the APS website, and re-broadcast on Fridays at 9 p.m. and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. immediately following the meeting. All materials and minutes will be posted to the website at aps2016.apsva.us/schoolboard upon School Board approval at a subsequent meeting.