Summary of the August 17 School Board Meeting

Chair Responds to Charlottesville Events and Outlines Next Steps to Review School Names
Board Approves Appointment of School Administrators

At the start of the Arlington School Board meeting on Thursday, August 17, 2017, the Board observed a Moment of Silence to remember the lives of Heather Heyer, Virginia State Patrol Pilot, Lt. H. Jay Cullen, and Virginia State Trooper Berke Bates, as well as the many others who were physically or emotionally injured by the violence in Charlottesville last weekend.  Afterwards, School Board Chair Dr. Barbara Kanninen made a statement on behalf of the School Board members.

The School Board approved a new School Board Policy on electronic participation in meetings by individual Board members at last night’s meeting. The new policy, in accordance with Virginia Code § 2.2-3708.1, allows individual School Board members to participate in School Board meetings by electronic means from a remote location that is not open to the public in certain limited circumstances.

MONITORING ITEMS:
Staff presented updates on two topics:

• Academic Performance Update – Tara Nattrass provided the Board with a report on academic achievement. The report highlighted 2017 SOL scores; student enrollment on advanced courses and next steps.
• Update on Policies Review – Staff provided an update on the review of all School Board Policies.

OTHER ACTION ITEMS and APPOINTMENTS:
The Board approved purchasing the single family home located at 1721 N. Culpeper Street for the purpose of providing an additional emergency ingress/egress to Glebe Elementary School.The Board also approved the Parking License Agreement with Ethiopian Community Development Council for Fleet Elementary School.In addition, the Board made several appointments, including:

• Sarah Putnam – Interim Director of Teaching and Learning
• Jessica Baker – Assistant Principal, Arlington Career Center
• Tracy Gaither – Assistant Principal, Drew Elementary School
• Shana Curtis – Assistant Principal, Gunston Middle School
• Eric Underhill – Assistant Principal, Swanson Middle School
• Miles Carey – Halftime Science Teacher and halftime Assistant Principal, Washington-Lee High School
• Wendy Carria – Supervisor, School Psychologist
• Laura Porter – Assistant Principal, Swanson Middle School
• Scott McKeow – Assistant Principal, Yorktown High School

INFORMATION ITEMS:
The Board discussed the following information items.

• Revision of Select School Board Policies (SBP) 25-1.17 Student Safety-Bullying/Harassment Prevention and SBP 35-3 Employment
• Revision to School Board Policy 35-8.3 Contracts and Work Schedules
• Revision to School Board Policy 35-8.6 Telecommuting
• Revision to School Board Policy 50-1.10 Naming of Facilities
• Construction Contract Award-Full GMP for the Relocation of Administrative Offices to Sequoia Plaza Two
• Contract Amendment for Construction Management Services for the Abingdon Project
• Determination to use Construction Management at Risk Delivery Method for the New Elementary School at Reed

For more information on the above items, visit BoardDocs.

Next School Board Meeting: 
The next School Board meeting will be held on Thu, Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. The agenda will be posted one week before the meeting on BoardDocs.

Next Work Session:
The next School Board work session is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thu, Aug. 31. The work session will focus on 2017-18 Projects Planning and will be livestreamed at https://aps2016.apsva.us/school-board-meetings/school-board-work-sessions-meetings/.

For More Information
Citizens who want to comment on any of the 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 of the meeting will be posted to the website at aps2016.apsva.us/schoolboard upon School Board approval at a subsequent meeting.