On April 5, the Loudoun County school board addressed general concerns about public mental health and updated COVID-19 statistics. Each school board member also read their respective disclosures regarding the effect of their policy changes. These disclosures detailed the effect of policy changes on individual board members, as well as their responsibility to hold themselves accountable for any radical changes.

Strategic Plan

Mike Martin and Rae Williams, representatives from RTI International, presented a new draft of the Strategic Plan. School Board Vice-Chair Ian Serotkin and a few other board members provided their feedback on the draft and pointed out particular areas that could be improved, such as the new mission statement.

Serotkin suggested that the wording of their revised mission statement needed to cater to the opinion of the students. “I think changing the mission statement from ‘empowering all students to make meaningful contributions to the world’ to ‘empowering all students to achieve their dreams’ is clearer, bolder, and more relatable to students.”

He reasoned that “when students talk about what they want to be when they grow up, no one states that they want to make a meaningful contribution to the world,” Serotkin said. “Students have dreams.”  

Community Town Halls

The school board announced the official opening of town halls at Tuscarora, Briar, Stone Bridge, and Dominion high schools to provide an opportunity for community members to help shape the direction of the next strategic plan and interact with school board members. The goal is to improve upon the mission of the school board by offering input and providing feedback on the most important priorities for the division over the next five years. 

Board Chair Jefferey Morse highlighted the utmost importance of community participation in bettering LCPS. “Gaining the buy-in of the community is a very important part of the school board,” Morse said. He additionally stressed how integral community feedback is in regard to the Strategic Plan specifically. “Our strategic planning is interested in soliciting any thoughts and feedback from the community before we carry it any further,” Morse said. “This is a high-level framework, but we are nowhere near finished until we have the community involved.” 

Morse also replied to public criticism of the school board. “We often hear from the community that we don’t appear to be listening,” Morse said. “This is really a listening tour for all of us.”

Community Questionnaire

In an effort to gauge and prioritize the most concerning issues of the public, the school board performed a preliminary data analysis of Loudoun County families through a questionnaire and collected feedback since the last school board meeting on March 22.  From the 13,000 respondents, 71% identified as parents or guardians. Of these parents and/or guardians, holistic support, strategic growth, and literacy are top priority issues. 

This data will help guide the direction of the school board’s decisions throughout the Strategic Plan drafting period. Additionally, the Board passed a motion to institute the Loudoun Education Alliance of Families (LEAF), an advisory group for parents to voice concerns and provide feedback on policies proposed to the School Board. LEAF members are nominated and selected out of LCPS community members by PTSO or other parent organizations. The vote passed 7-1, with one abstaining.

Eid Al Fitr

The school board has changed the student/teacher holiday for Eid Al-Fitr to May 2. Due to the lunar calendar shift, Eid was pushed forward one day from Tuesday, May 3 to Monday, May 2. 

“The past 12 years I have had to come to school on Eid, and celebrate separately on the weekend with my family,” school board representative senior Laila Masumi from John Champe High School said. “It would be nice to have that day with everyone.” The vote passed 5-2 with only two board members abstaining. 

Student Mental Health

During mental health awareness month in May, the Unified Mental Health Team (UMHT) will raise awareness and support through student-led activities like Sources of Strength and PEER campaigns. In addition, UMHT services will be promoted in advisory lessons, morning announcements, and school newsletters to prioritize the mental health of students. All LCPS school webpages will include a new button leading to LCPS community and emergency services to ensure all mental health and wellness resources are easily accessible.

Administrator Reassignment and Policy 8160

Following an email sent to LCPS staff from Executive Director and Chief of Schools, Rae Mitchell, the School Board plans to shuffle administrator positions in an effort to improve leadership development. This reallocation is meant to incorporate principles into different environments in order to adequately support students; however, this shift is involuntary for a large margin of administrators, and many are worried it may threaten the health of the relationships they’ve built with their students. Mitchell assured that not all administrators will be affected, and that no one will change positions. The motion is planned to take effect as soon as next school year, but changes are still ongoing and the confirmed date isn’t set in stone.

The Board also voted to pass policy 8160, a policy detailing exceptions to administrator reallocation, unanimously. This policy is intended to ensure the comfortability of staff and administrators, as well as preserving salaries and benefits.

Title I

Along with policy 8160, school board staff proposed Title I as a policy to compensate for any changes in salary or other general discomfort experienced by those affected. Title I part A provides financial assistance to school divisions and public schools with high numbers of students from low income families. Funds include 7.5 teacher positions, one district level position, transportation for homeless and foster students, instructional materials, community activities and events, and professional development. Schools are eligible to operate as the Title I Targeted Assistance Program if 35-40% of students are economically disadvantaged; if a school has 40% or more economically disadvantaged students, schools are eligible to operate as the Title I Schoolwide Program.