School Board meeting 01/11/2022

Written By Jerrod Anderson

A new chair and vice chair, a rosy budget outlook, overview of the schools’ learning recovery plan, in-school masking, and more. Timestamp and some helpful links on masking and in-school transmission at the bottom of this post.

The meeting on January 11 was mostly focused on Dr. Noonan’s budget proposal. Much of the presentation was a collection of information that had been presented in past meetings: the strategic planning timeline, the building of the new high school, continued lower enrollment relative to pre-Covid, previously presented enrollment projections, and the previously proposed salary increases. There were new expenditures proposed (as well as information on the expected amounts and sources of revenue) for next year. You can find details of the expenditures starting on page 127 of the budget book. They include (among other things) hiring permanent substitutes for each school to help with short-term unforeseen needs ($216,525), hiring a career and technical teacher/program coordinator ($96,612) and extended contracts for existing CTE teachers ($28,883) to support the proposed sustainability academy (for a total of $125,495), and a new (much needed) middle school math/science teacher ($96,612). Below is a detailed list of new expenditures, plus expected sources of revenue. More information on revenue and expenditures can be found starting on page 147 of the budget book. Here is a detailed list of new expenditures in the proposed budget.

The total for these expenditures equals the expected new revenue from a mix of federal, state, and local funding. This is a very rosy budget, and it’s exciting that we can think about where to add rather than where we can cut back. I am very excited that we can tangibly recognize the effort our staff has put in over the past two years, and adding a math/science teacher at the middle is something many teachers, students, and parents mentioned to me last year during the campaign. I think doing an audit of projected class sizes for next year to ensure adequate staffing for next year would be useful. You can also find the unfunded budget requests that have accumulated over time, which include adding a half-time ESOL teacher at the middle school and extending contracts for the elementary and middle school special education coordinators to support summer programs. A few thoughts:

  • The CTE (career and technical education) expenditures are geared towards supporting a new sustainability program. From the little detail that has been shared about the program, it sounds like a great program. More detail should be coming in the future. This would represent significant program growth in an environment of stagnant enrollment. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, but I think the board should get an idea of CTE teacher utilization and whether the Arlington Career Center is adequately serving our students.

  • The playground supervision will provide continuity of care on the playgrounds and allow for needed relief for teachers. The wording in the budget book is somewhat ambiguous, and I could not tell whether the expenditure was for 2 attendants at each elementary school (a total of four attendants) or 1 attendant at each school (a total of 2 attendants). Given the cost, I imagine it’s the former.

  • Permanent substitutes would definitely ease any short-term or emergency staffing issues, and it sounds like the principals are very excited about this idea. Staffing these at each of the 5 schools is about $43,000 per year per school. JTP would have a relatively low teacher-to-substitute ratio, but the case load for students with IEPs is hirer per teacher and teachers may have more time outside of class in IEP meetings.

Overall, this is a very rosy budget outlook. As a trained economist, my thought process always goes to the question “what is the opportunity cost”. There was a past request for an ESOL position. Do we still need that? Is some of the the money spent adding on a new high school program better spent getting that half-time teacher for ESOL students? Are there other urgent staffing issues? How do we currently compare to our historical use of paraprofessionals? If we are adding staff, is it better to add more staff to support small group tutoring sessions (in addition to the current and proposed intervention staff)? Is this time to add parental leave as part of the compensation package for staff?

This is only the beginning of the budget cycle so more information will certainly come. One thing that I would like to see is the implementation of climate surveys for staff, students, and parents. Having this information, in addition to that shared by the superintendent, would help the board more effectively make decisions.

One detail that was also mentioned is what will happen with masking with the governors new executive order. Dr. Noonan was taking a wait and see approach and would consider joint legal action with other districts to maintain masking in FCCPS. He did not think it was time to think about off-ramps. Timestamp and some helpful links on masking and in-school transmission at the bottom of this post.

Timestamps:

Meeting Start

Election of the chair - congratulations Laura Downs

Election of the vice chair - congratulations Tate Gould

Setting time and place of regular board meetings - second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m., work sessions on fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

Appointing board clerk - thank you for your service, Marty Gadell.

Authorizing school board officials to sign warrants

Approval of Kristen Michael (FCCPS COO) as the designee to attend school board meetings in the absence of the superintendent

Approval of the Code of Civility (pdf)

Learning recovery presentation

Dr. Noonan’s budget presentation (slides)

  • Mr. Reitinger expressed concern about a 2% COLA in a high inflation environment, comparing our professional development budget with other systems as a benchmark, and looking to see if we need to increase additional pay for things like teacher certifications

  • Further information on the school psychologist position. The position would be in addition to the two psychologist being sought using Covid relief funds

Recognition of the principals

Written public comments requesting clear communication on safe storage of firearms (pdf)

Approval of the Capital Improvement Plan (pdf)

Approval of policies on Media Relations and Internet Privacy (links for policies)

Future agenda topics:

  • Presentation of benchmarks on progress towards learning recovery goals

  • Detailed review of special services

  • Presentation on the high school’s sustainability program

  • Changes to the monitoring section of the DEI policy

  • Overview of gun violence prevention and school safety 

  • Discussion of various safe routes to the secondary campus

  • Adding liaison from the school board to Mary Riley Styles Public Library to deepen the relationship between the library and FCCPS

Superintendent’s report

  • Update on covid numbers (big surge)

  • GIVE Day activities

  • Discussion about possible changes in state policy on masking in schools. Dr. Noonan was not prepared to discuss off-ramps for masking and expressed a willingness to engage in litigation to keep masking in schools

  • 10 percent positivity in the drive-thru testing event from January 2 (thank FCCPS for holding that), and about a 5 percent positivity from the normal VISTA testing from Thursday (only one confirmed epidemiological link, which came from the wrestling team)

  • 1167 students and 243 staff members participating in VISTA screening program

Here are some articles and resources on the efficacy of masks:

Jerrod Anderson
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