School Board Begins Discussion on Superintendent’s Proposed 2018-24 Strategic Plan

Superintendent Makes Elementary Boundary Initiative Announcement

The School Board began its discussion on the Superintendent’s Proposed 2018-24 Strategic Plan at last night’s meeting. The Strategic Plan serves as a framework for the School Board and Advisory Committees, school and department plans, and individual work plans.The plan was drafted by a committee, chaired by Ted Black and Meredith Purple, and made up of staff, students, and community members over the course of the last year. The proposed draft includes a Mission, Vision and Core Values as well as a set of goals, desired outcomes, performance objectives and strategies.

Draft goals include:

• Multiple Pathways to Students’ Success;
• Healthy, Safe and Supported Students;
• Engaged Workforce;
• Operational Excellence; and
• Strong and Mutually Supportive Partnerships

The School Board is expected to adopt the final 2018-24 Strategic Plan at the June 7 meeting. The full presentation is available online.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLANNING INITIATIVE:
During his announcements at the start of the meeting, Dr. Murphy announced that, in consultation with School Board members, he has recommended suspending previously discussed plans to consider moving any of the elementary neighborhood or option school locations in the fall of 2019. Instead, this fall staff will focus on engaging the community to develop recommendations for proposed elementary school boundary adjustments that are needed as APS prepares to open the new Alice W. Fleet Elementary School, the Montessori program at the Henry site, and Drew Model School as a full neighborhood school in the Fall of 2019. The boundary adjustments for 2019 will be based on all elementary schools remaining at their current locations.

The Superintendent added that APS may need to revisit the option of adjusting some elementary neighborhood and option school locations in the future when APS begins the community process to adjust boundaries and create a new attendance zone for the new elementary school at Reed that will open in September 2021.

PUBLIC HEARING:
Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) – The School Board held a Public Hearing on the Superintendent’s proposed FY 2019-28 CIP. For more information on the CIP, visit aps2016.apsva.us/engage/cip_fy19-28/.

ACTION ITEMS:
The Board approved the following items.

• Discovery Elementary School Exemplary Project – The Board approved Discovery’s exemplary project, “Profile of a Discovery Graduate,” which is based on the state’s new Profile of a Virginia Graduate. It includes five “Discovery Fundamentals” that guide a program of authentic instruction. The purpose of the project is to ensure that, in addition to having proficiency in all Virginia Standards of Learning, students will also become innovators, able to analyze, design, and create, consistent with the skills we believe will be necessary in an unpredictable future.
• School Board Policy (SBP) 20-2.210 Acceptable Use: Electronic Technologies Policy – The Board approved staff recommendations to amend SBP 20-2.210. The full presentation and Policy is available on BoardDocs.
• Construction Contract Award for Career Center Internal Modifications – The Board awarded a construction contract to Bennett Group, Inc. for $1,624,751.34 to complete the summer 2018 internal modifications approved a projected budget of $4,542,111.34 for the project. Full details are available on BoardDocs.
• Change to Guarantees Maximum Price and Budget for Fleet Elementary School – The Board approved an increase to the Fleet Project Guaranteed Maximum Price contract with an individual change order of $190,000 for accessibility improvements to Jefferson Middle School. Full details are available online.

APPOINTMENTS:
The Board made the following staff appointments:

• Heidi Smith was named Principal of Hoffman-Boston Elementary School;
• Michelle McCarthy was named Principal of Jamestown Elementary School; and
• Lori Silver was named Supervisor of English Language Arts

MONITORING ITEM:
Staff provided an update on the revised Options and Transfer Policy (SBP 25-2.2) implementation.

INFORMATION ITEMS:

• FY 2018 3rd Quarter Fiscal Monitoring Report – The staff report included a status update on revenue and expenditures.
• Proposed School Board Policy 25-3.6 Use of Service Animals in Schools – The purpose of this new policy is to ensure that persons with disabilities have the opportunity to be accompanied by their trained service animal on school property in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Contract Award for Architecture and Engineering Services for the Education Center Renovation – Staff is recommending the Board approve awarding a contract in the amount of $2,442,523 to Studio 27 Architecture, PPLC. Staff also recommends using $4 million of the available bond funds identified in the FY 2017-2026 CIP as “Secondary Seats TBD” for design phase expenses until future bond funds are available following the 2018 referendum.
• License Agreement for Parking at Buck Property – Staff presented a proposed temporary License Agreement to grant APS exclusive use of a portion of Arlington County’s parking lot, located at 1425 N. Quincy Street and formerly known as the Buck property, for parking APS white fleet vehicles (including maintenance trucks) and facility employees’ personal vehicles.  No other vehicles, including school buses, will be permitted to park at this location.

More information on these items can be found on BoardDocs.

RECOGNITION:
The School Board began the meeting by honoring staff who reached 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 years of service to Arlington Public Schools.

NEXT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING:
The next School Board meeting will be held on Thursday, May 31 (2110 Washington Blvd.) at 6 p.m. The earlier start time is to accommodate this year’s Honored Citizens recognitions. The agenda will be posted one week before the meeting on BoardDocs.

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.