and then I'll kick it over to you. Um, but we do um have the possibility of remote participation by one of our schoolboard colleagues, Miss Richardson. Um, so if we could start by getting a motion for her to participate remotely.
>> I move to um allow Miss Richardson to participate remotely. Um, I'll second. >> Okay. And just for clarification for the record, she will attend virtually from her personal vehicle or her work location due to a professional work conflict.
You accept that amendment or addition? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. Um, any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Wonderful. All right. Um, Miss Becker, would you call the role?
here. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Mayor Wade missing council ador >> here >> here. So we're here ready to roll.
>> Wonderful. Wonderful. Um and carrying on with our uh meeting protocols, if we can um have a motion to approve our proposed agenda. >> So move. >> There a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All right. All in favor
say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Um so Dr. Gurley, I think I'm going to kick this over to you. >> All right. Thank you all so much. Um good evening. um school board uh madame chairs, members of the school board, um
Mayor Wade, um and um city manager, um Sanders. Um before I get started, I wanted to make sure that I um introduce the um in the city school staff located behind me. Um we have Miss Lewis who is
our director of human resources. Um behind me, um we have Carolyn Swift who's our director of assessment and accountability. We have Dr. Anna Eley who is our chief academic officer. And we have u Miss Rachel Raznik who is our
director of student services. Um all representing and supporting us with schools. Oh, and to my left we have Miss Hoover, our director of um finance. And then we have our chief operations officer, Kim Powell.
and uh Dr. Johnson who's located in the back. >> And I'll just add a few uh individuals for city staff. Mike Goddard is our deputy director for public works. Uh John Maddox is city attorney. And I think that that James Breeze is on
his way uh because he has answers for some questions, I'm sure. >> Okay. >> Oh, and Kina Thomas, our clerk. Sorry. >> Yes. We do have our amazing school board clerk and deputy cir clerk Lesie Thcker and Julia.
>> And Miss Chrissy Hamill is our budget director. She's sitting right next. >> We're just a mess. We're just a mess. >> Got it. >> We got it. Yes. >> You don't look like child to me. >> All right, we could go on to our next slide. All right. So, to get us started, um we do
always start this presentation by reminding um everyone that the code of Virginia requires that the superintendent prepare a budget that estimates the funding needs to support the school division. And this is commonly known as um a needsbased budget. Um this presentation will
include projections of what we expect to be reflected in the FY27 budget. Next slide. the um budget development process. Um so during my tenure here as superintendent, we have continued to
refine our budget development process, making it more collaborative and intentional. We have used our strategic plan as our guiding framework, particularly because it outlines our priorities through 2028 across the four areas you see here on our SL on the
slide. This presentation also reflects feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. The budget um before you represents the collective voices of our school board, our division leadership, um school and program leaders, various
bargaining units, community members, all grounded in the needs of our school division. Next slide. Our budget priorities displayed. Um you see our budget priorities which inform uh which were informed by our extensive stakeholder
engagement listed in no particular order. The first priority is um compensation staffing compensation and retention and we continue to support our license and support staff through our collective bargaining agreements. And
this work has reinforced the competitive compensation and focuses on ret and focus on retention are essential to strong employee relations and a positive work culture. Our second budget priority student support achievement and
well-being. Um while we have seen a lot of successes in our overall student achievement, we recognize and continue to focus the need on our student outcomes particularly for certain specific student subgroups. Uh facilities
maintenance and capital improvement is another um budget priority area. Given the aging conditions of our facilities, ongoing investment and necess ongoing investment is necessary to ensure regular regular maintenance and
continued enhancement of our school buildings. And then lastly, we have early childhood education which remains a priority here in Charlottesville. We understand the importance of early learning and stakeholder and stakeholders
consistently emphasize the need to make an investment in our students to support their long-term success. Displayed on this slide are the in the white boxes are the priority areas that are listed in our strategic plan through
2028. And then at the bottom, what we've done is we've placed those budget priority areas that I just presented to you. We've uh we've identified how they align to our strategic plan. Next slide.
So, as we transition to the next portions of our budget presentation, um which focus specifically on our students, who they are, how they achieve, I want to pause to recap on how we started our school year. Over this
summer, I charged our division and instructional leadership teams with uh deeply disagregating data related to black student achievement. I asked them to ex examine trends over the last 15 to
20 years and to honestly assess which systems have been effective and which have not. Our first meeting took place one week after the school year ended with a clear focus on ensuring that the right systems are in place so that every
student can be successful, especially our black students. This this work continued into our opening professional learning this fall. In my opening keynote address to staff, I was very candid about the challenges we face and
emphasized that nothing can be changed until it's faced. Drawing from James Baldwin, I challenged our staff that during the 2526 school year to confront the barriers that have that have limited black student success and to put
intentional actions in place to change outcomes. We are already beginning to see the impacts of that work. The systems we have put into place are working. The structures the structures implemented over the summer and into the
school year. We are seeing measurable progress. For example, Summit is no longer a federally identified school and the negative labels that once stigmatized that community there those
stigmas are beginning to fade. The dedication and hard work of our teachers, staff, and administrators at staff are translating into improved outcomes for our students. Next slide.
So, I'll start with our um fall membership data. Presented here is our student enrollment over the last um our student enrollment data. And as you see over the last two years, we are still
remain relatively flat, but we've seen a decrease of about 86 students. You will notice in our subsequent slides that we've seen we are seeing some decreases as it relates to our English language learners and some of these numbers will
start to correlate. Um and I think we always do this every year. If you have questions as we go along you u as I go through the presentation and we go through the presentation please feel free to ask your questions and you don't have to wait until the end.
Uh next slide. So demographics data for the purposes of this presentation the student demographic information shown on this slide does reflect the 2526 school year um because that is the information that is uh public facing to our
community on the school quality profile. Um I do want to note that there is not a significant variation as you saw on the last um as you saw in the last slide between our school enrollment data from the 2425 school year to the 2526 school
year. Um and we will continue to update our student information as we um continue to do our next student record record um collection. Um and uh Miss Raznik also wanted to note that um that
the students that are included in of the students with disabilities that are listed here, those do not in um include our students who are privately placed. So there is a total of 557 students who we serve across all settings.
So our English language learner data um we are presenting this data a little differently for you. Um on this slide you will see the trends over the last 10 years. This data is presented differently. As I just said, it reflects
both the students we serve in our English language learner programs and our students who have formally exited, which is different than how we presented the information even to our school board back in November. Um, it is important
that we felt that it's important to show you this number because not only are we serving the students that are in our programs, but just because a student has exited the program, we know that those students still need support with being successful. So, we wanted to give you a
true picture of the number that we report to the um Virginia Department of Education. So again, this is one of those numbers that if you look at the school quality profile, this is the number that the um Virginia Department of Education looked for. So for the
current year, as you see on the um slide, there are total of 924 students. Um as Dr. Jeannie Fel presented to the school board um in November, she presented that we are currently serving
721 students. Um but we do feel like um again so that you know what the need is. The need extends beyond the students that we're currently serving. We also still do through our general education programs support our students um who
have been recently exited. >> Um Dr. Gurley just um um if you could just go back one slide. I'm sorry. >> Sure. hand and I may have been reading while you were you may have touched on this but um it says we have 95 students
that are unhoused. >> This was this is what was um reported in the last record um student record collection. Yes, that's on the school quality profile. >> Right. So is that going up or down? If you could just tell us not not specific
but is that are they staying at you know in you know, with social services and and hotels or >> right. So, um we have the McKenna Vento um program. Um all all public schools do. So, when students are um when
students are identified as unhoused, homeless, um we um are required to serve those students regardless of where they're living. And Miss Raznik probably can speak to this at a at a um finer detail than I can. Um but so if a
student a family's been displaced and they're living out in um in Alamar County, we have an obligation to go and pick them up. Sometimes we pick them up in the car on the bus. We go and pick them up and then we bring those those students back to the school division to
be um serviced. Am I missing anything? Um, and it it includes students it includes students who are um in in shared housing situations as well within the city. Um, and that number is going
up um each year. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. That's what happens. Good news. >> Um, advancing back to our English uh learners, the number that we report to VDOE as opposed to currently serving. Do
you can you speak to or explain why um BDOE wants the higher number and then speak to a little bit about how we continue to serve them. So, what what might be going >> Dr. thoughts probably can and I can I
can send you I can send you an explanation um of why they want the students who have recently exited um but I will tell you that how we continue to serve those students are through our um through our general education program so
I mean they may be receiving you know if they're not being successful um in our general education programs then they may be receiving some tier 2 or some tier three supports um You have to remember that. I mean, you know, just like with
anything else, I mean, I think we do a really good job of educating our students, but once you to qualify to not qualify, you're testing out. Um, and while that is a proficiency, that's not necessarily saying you've mastered. Um,
and so we do know that our students come back and they they need our support. So, we never really let them go. Um, and am I missing anything, please? All right. >> Yeah. No, I mean absolutely and I appreciate that and I I think I don't know how everybody else feels. I'd be
curious to just look at at some point not rush but just financially what type of supports go after they test it out. >> Yeah. >> Just so we look at different you know different u programs or we need to the
>> Yeah. I will tell you that I did not realize until we were doing the and we were looking at the um school quality profile I did not realize that they also include students who were formerly ills who are still enrolled in your school. Um which I do I mean after I saw the
number I said well that is a better way to look at it because I know that what we present to you all is normally the students we're serving. Uh but just because our students exit the programs, I mean that does not mean that they
don't still need us. Um they do. Um anyone else? All right. Um and so I'll conclude by saying that um last year um last year we graduated 25 um
English um English learners. We had 55 to exit the program. We had 62 new enrolled this school year. Um and then what Dr. Fel shared with the school board back at the November meeting is that the um that there have been no new
um refugee resettlements taking place. All of that has been paused. All right. um on this side. So, as we transition through our student performance, I want to begin by noting that this is the first year for the
Virginia's new accountability system. Along with the new new system, the assessments themselves changed significantly. Um the governor um our governor reported that back in the spring the the tests that our students
took were 40% more rigorous than the test that they had taken the previous year. Um we didn't know that until he told us that. Um, it's important to keep this in mind as we review the as we review the results because despite the
rigor that was mentioned by our governor, our students still made modest gains and this suggests that had the test made remained the same, we probably would have seen even greater gains. Um, under the new accountability system,
Charlottesville City Schools, as you see here, we're um, we are fully accredited. The system categorizes um schools into distinguished, ontrack, offtrack, or needs intensive supports. Students must accumulate 80 points to be considered on
track. And so the numbers you see on the slides are not percentages. Um those are points. Um you're given points for various areas in this new accountability system. Um it does require I mean an advanced level degree to really
understand the complexities of this new system. Um so these are points you see. So as you can see um most of our schools are meeting or exceeding um well I
should say are approaching or exceeding the 80 um the 80 points. Um, and I think, you know, this is a really good start for what was brand new this school year. So, I mean, all of our all of our schools are are falling right near the
the 80 point target based on the results. And these were these results for the new accountability system. So, for for our council pe um for our council folks, you know, we normally get these results back during the
summertime. We received the results for the new accountability system. Um about two it's been about two weeks, maybe not even two whole weeks. It's been about two weeks. And so >> can I interrupt? >> Yes. >> That mean we received them late or we received them early?
>> We received them very late. We normally receive these in August. We got them in December. >> Um >> in theory these results would inform what we're doing this year. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's in my script. Miss too. >> Sorry.
>> Yes. Really that point home. Yes. Thank you. >> Yes. Um and so um because of the results because the results were just released um the last in the last two weeks. It's challenging for us to use this data to inform our practices. Um like Miss Douly
said, normally when you get this data, then you say, "Okay, this is what we need to do differently." We are literally at the end of the second at at the end of the first semester. Um so what do you want me to do with this? But we have a plan. Um
um however our instructional team um so we use this to inform our practices. However, our instructional team led by Dr. Ana Eley and our principles we they did not wait um for this data to come out. they have been proactively diving
into the work and addressing um identifying and addressing the areas that need um support. Uh one thing I want to point out to you if you look at um Trailblazer while they scored 86 point um I'm sorry
I said it back was 83.6 um um 83.6 points um and it's technically on track. um they were moved down um they were moved down a level to um they were moved down a level to off
track because of a black student and black student performance and students who are identified as economically disadvantaged. Um and so and then another example um another thing that like you could note here is that under the last system there
was rounding. Um if you look at Charlottesville Middle School who had been previously accredited under our um who has previously accredited and met the benchmark under our old system under the new system they scored a 79.9.
they are listed as off track because um the new system does not round up um or down. Um it just it you what you score is what you score. Um so these are just some of the the challenges that we are um that we're facing. Um again I
mentioned um in my earlier slide when we talked about what we face we can change about how we are seeing um new strides with like Summit Elementary formerly Clark uh as you can see here they scored
79.2 I mean everyone is approaching that 80% that 80 point target um that was set out under this new um accountability system. Um, and I just want to conclude that slide by saying like we recognize the
work ahead. We own what the work is. We're committed to um being focused on equity and student outcomes. And so we we know that there's a lot of work that still needs to happen here. Um I want to begin our look at um our
student performance data by giving you a picture of of who we are in terms of our student data. So I just gave we looked at like who our students are, how many English language learners we have, students with disabilities, etc. So we often are trying to figure out who do we
compare ourselves with. So, um, Charlottesville City Schools is in what they call superintendence region 5 by the divi Virginia Department of Education. So, what we've done is we want to um look at our current region
and see who has similar makeups and I'll there are people who are similar but definitely not the same. So, we'll I'll talk about that um a little bit. But what we've done here is uh in region 5 we um have taken all of the the the
cities that are located here. Um and so if you look you have cities such as um Bu Vista and Stanton where their performance is higher um their performance is higher than ours. Um and but then when you take a deeper dive at
like who makes up their student enrollment data, it does not look like Charlottesville City Schools. Um but we included I wanted to keep them because they are in our superintendence region and these are and this you know these
are people who we are comparing like what does the student performance look like. Um when you look at the far right column you see that the state average. So the red bar is reading and this is all
students. When you look at the red bar the red bar is reading. When you look at the blue bar the blue bar is um is mathematics. Uh when you look at it you we are defin we're not near the state average. Um so Charlottesville City
Schools was 67 um 67% and this is raw pass rates u 67% from reading and 67% for math um compared to the state average which is 74 for reading and 72
for um 72 for mathematics. So we we definitely are not making the target, but remember this is the year where the governor said the test was 70 was 40% harder than it was previously and we
made gains. Um but it's one of those things where I I feel like I always say that when students start to do a little better, they change the finish line, the goalpost moves. and um and so I think that that's what you see reflected here.
But again um plenty of work for us to continue to do and that's the charge for this school year. Next slide. Displayed on this um displayed on this slide is the reading achievement gap among cities and region 5. As you can
see, a significant gap persists. Um something where um where we I mean this is we've we've been aware of this um for a very long time that this that this gap exists. Um this has really informed the
realignment of our work. Um so this was the work that we did back in August. Uh well, I'm sorry. We did this work starting back in June looking at the systems on and really like how do we continue to shrink this how do we shrink
this this gap? Um how do we crack this code? Because I mean around the Commonwealth, you know, people are struggling as in this area to to understand why the the gap continues to persist among our black students and our
white students. and we do feel like we can be a leader in this area if we implement the right systems. Um what we've done, our initiatives thus far have included um strengthening our teacher accountability with professional
learning communities. Um ensuring that we have the systems in place to support good tier 1, tier 2, and tier three instruction. We recognize the long-standing gap is unacceptable, but we remain committed to ensuring that
every student has the opportunity to reach proficiency. And that's the language that we're using as a school division this year is that every every student should have the opportunity to reach proficiency.
Um, and that's what we've done from the start of this school year is that every child will achieve at higher levels. Next slide. Um the math pass rates are similar to
our similar to our um reading slide. Um there is this gap that continues to exist between our black students and white students. Um that we want our students to meet the minimum to at least reach the minimum expectation which
should be proficiency for every student for every child. every child should reach proficiency and we anticipate to seeing growth and we are starting to see it. Our MAP data um our MAP data um that's one of our normed assessments
that we use in the division. Our MAP data is showing increased outcomes for our students. So we believe the things that we are doing are working. >> Dr. Dr. Can I ask a question about both
of these show uh for Charlottesville what would appear to be the widest gap certainly on this on this slide and perhaps even in the state. I'm just wondering how does that gap compare to years past? Is it essentially the same
and continuing? Is it getting worse? >> Um I think it's remained about it's remained about the same Mr. Snook. Um, I mean, you know, I think as our what we find is that as our black student achievement increases, the white our
white student performance is increasing as well. Um, so the gap has remained about the same, but we again I think what we're focused on now is we're laser focusing on ensuring that our black students reach the prof a bare minimum
expectation should always be proficiency. Um, so you know, I know sometimes people say, well, you know, this year I want students to get to 60. Where we're saying, no, we want students to to attain 70. We want students to get to 75% because those are the proficiency
targets. Oh, my slide on math. Um and I'm so in and this slide I just put this here to show that this is um this is all the sub student subgroups um across the school division and how our students um and how
our students are performing. So I want to come back to um that um at the beginning of this section I told you that this school year we had changes in the accountability system. Well I want to tell you that in the year
2026 27 they're going to be changes again. Um so every time it seems that we are getting a handle on what the expectations are um it changes again. So um I've reiterated over the past few
slides that um we have charged our staff with this work um and most certainly they've stepped up to the challenges. um they are implementing the strategies with fidelity and again through some of our most recent data such as MAP we
expect to see improved outcomes. I do want to preface that our accountability system is changing yet again and it does feel like an uphill battle. Um as a teacher, as an administrator, as the superintendent, as a school board, it
feels like like it's never ending. like we why is it continuing to change? Historically um and I say this and I stand on it that historically every time we see improvements um specifically for black students the benchmark shifts um
under the new accountability system um proficiency is going to increase again. So for example for our non-educators um as it currently stands to pass an test you get a 400. That's what we've been working towards. Well, now that's
getting ready to change. Um, for some, depending on the assessment, a pass could be 470. Um, 470 and and so things like that make it really difficult as a teacher, as a
parent. Um, you know, I mean, what it just feels like this numbers game when we're really just trying to help our children read, write, be successful after um after school. Uh and so these are the changes that are making it
difficult. Um these changes are occurring in real time. So we're going to um we're going to see them this school year. They're occurring in real time. And um more challenge and so this is going to be difficult to communicate
to our families. Um and and I think I just want to end by end this part by saying that you know I know we talk about sometimes that there's a decline in enrollment in L's or maybe this this group has changed but uh what
we know is that the needs of our students continue to increase. So um you know even if the enrollment changes you know the students who need us the most are still there and that need never that need never changes.
This makes it essential um for us to look at resources that are um strategically distributed around the schools and we continue to reallocate those resources internally. uh current funding levels, you know, they do they
remain insufficient when we talk about how we address behavioral and social emotional needs. I mean, there's just a lot of times there's just never enough money um available to support some of our students who have the greatest needs.
As we look at instructional funding next steps, um we will re-evaluate the supports at um at schools based on the new um newly newly released accountability data and our midyear student achievement results. So, we're
going to um like how do we allocate our resources differently based on the current needs. We are reviewing our budget requests. Um budget requests were due last Friday. Um so we are reviewing those requests um that focus on our key
priorities which include um as you see on the slide um supports related to class sizes, interventions and supports and reading and mathematics um updated instructional materials and expanded college and career readiness
opportunities. Um these are all the things that we will be prioritizing um for our funding for our budget requests um that were submitted by staff. Um this is what we will be prioritizing. Um and then additionally
as we develop the uh FY27 budget, we will explore how we can leverage the um efficiencies and um how we can utilize reconfiguration to absorb uh much of the costs related uh related to uh some of
these the needs around our school division. Um, so we've talked about our students, but the the people the people that make it happen. Uh, we know that people matter. Um, having the right teachers, support staff, and administrators are
critical to our students success and the operation of our school division. On this slide, you can see that licensed staff make up the largest portion of our workforce, followed by support personnel and administrators. Um we have
celebrated um significant improvements in staff retention. As you see the staff the teacher retention number continues to to climb. Um for the 25 to the 26th school year we had a division retention
rate of 86% but that teacher retention rate is what we celebrated um which is um 85.7%. um which we believe is outstanding. Um we do know and we do believe that a lot
of this is tied to um our collective bargaining agreement um that teachers um they feel valued within their compensation and they do feel heard in the processes um that happen within Charlottesville City Schools.
uh for the FY26 salaries and benefits total um $91.9 million representing 74% of our budget. Um education is fundamentally an investment in people providing the
instruction necessary for our student success. Um based on our collective bargaining agreements, we do estimate that about $4.7 million um that there will be about a $4.7 million increase in compensation that includes benefits
directly tied to salaries. An early projection of our health insurance is based on a 8% trend which is about 820 which is about $821,000. And we know that the VRS board of trustees has published a decrease in
rates. However, until the VDOE budget calculation is released, we will continue to use the current number. So for context, the current number is u 16.6 while the trustee rate is 14.14.
Um we do not use the trustee rate because in the previous year the governor and the general assembly did not implement the new rate maintained um the prior year they maintain the rate from the prior year instead little clarification on that that 4.7
million increase that includes the teacher contract we ratified last year but in addition to anticipating the uh instructional assistance other support staff union contract contract that you going to come through. >> That's correct.
>> Do you know what the breakdown is of the new this year's contract versus year two of the existing contract? >> Soover does. >> For which >> for the 4.7 million, how much of that's related to the new contract? >> Oh, we can't.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. So, it's it's in that number, but the school board has not received it yet. We're still in the final final phases. Uh early education. Um the final
priority area um on the critical importance of early childhood education. Our stakeholders consistently emphasize the need to prioritize funding for preschool expansion. We are also internally we are also expanding ways that we can support our staff by
providing preschool opportunities um for their children. Um ultimately our goal is to expand and maximize the space we have so that more students in our communities can access a a high quality um early childhood experience.
And then I will turn the next slide over to the next few slides over to Kim Pow. Good evening. So, um, we had a question at our last schoolboard meeting about, um, the facilities maintenance contract in particular and how that cost is
determined each year. So, I collaborated with city staff to confirm and put together this summary of of how the the cost is determined. So, um, first and foremost, the staff is divided into two groups. There's the HVAC that they're just called HVAC, but it's actually all
the people who do HVAC and electrical services. That's one group. The other group is the general maintenance group, and these are the folks who do the plumbing. They oversee or do painting work, door work, windows, roofs, floors, elevators, and anything else that's not HVAC and electrical. Basically, those are the folks involved with that. So,
they're preassigned. They're they're assigned within those groups into school or city for purposes of budgeting and cost allocations. And then so that's the labor side. The job supplies are tracked by the job through the work order system which is what we all use to submit uh
requests. Um and a lot of supplies are purchased specifically for jobs. But there are obviously some things that are stocked on the trucks and in the warehouse and stock supplies in the warehouse. They generally take an alternating approach to maintaining the stock. So they'll they'll do one order, charge it out to schools, the next
they'll charge out to cities that or to city. That's the way that was described to me. And then um the utilities are tracked specifically to the building. So those are um you know just actually tied to the facilities by the meters and so forth. So that's at a high level how the costs roll up um and the budgeting is
done. Now I do want to point out there are quite a few services that we do receive. Um we collaborate with the city and these things are not included or costed in the annual uh dollar figure that we we budget. It's not in our al our allocation but these are services we do receive. one you're very familiar
with is capital development which we used to call facilities development but I believe it is now capital development um and that's Mike what u you know Steuart Harding and and the work they do for all of our buildings and our major projects that project management and so forth then there's the what parks and
wreck does for us with ground services um that's the mowing uh mulch and leaf work um and oversight of the playgrounds in general because they also serve any of the outdoor play spaces that also serve as public parks And then um last but not least is the
sustainability team. Um we work most closely there um historically with uh Kirk Vizier who does monitors our energy consumption as they do for all city buildings, reports out to us, works with principles if they see anything getting offkilter and um you know just always
working to lower consumption. And then the educational work uh which Jill Grer tends to do a lot of the lead with that which um is quite a bit of work with our students actually K through 12. um they come out and do programming with them. So um those are all the pieces
and then we are working on an updated MOA. Um we got had a first draft provided to us I think I want to say around October sometime. Um we've done I've met with um Mr. Frius. We've we've got another round of edits that um we're
we're working on right now. And so the docu we're not quite finished with it but we're making good progress. And what I'm happy to report is the document doesn't really change our current scope of services. It's really a lot about providing greater clarity for what the standards will be around those services. Um and so we will have this work
finalized before the next fiscal year in July. But because it's not really aiming to change scope of services, um it's more of a clarifying process and and just I don't know for better bringing the document up to more current standards. um it it really in and of
itself doesn't have a budget impact is is our position on that. As far as the maintenance contract is concerned, um Miss Hoover put this together. You can see from the graph sort of what the history has been with the contract. Um we we are seeing some
accelerated um growth in the in the cost, if you will. Um, and what she's doing right now for the city for the school budgeting purposes is she's applying a 5-year average uh to as a placeholder for what the next contract could cost and that number comes out at
394,379 as far as the increase. Um, shifting gears to our other major contract, the other major operational area where we partner with the city, transportation. And the headline here is really just the challenges we face with
the ongoing pupil driver shortage. Um you can see the different classification of of positions there. And the the issue is the 30 to 39h hour role. Um we face a 58% vacancy rate there which drives our overall vacancy to 32%. And I will tell
you that right now we are um things are very hard with people when they call out for illnesses or other things. I mean it gets it gets hard fast. Everyone up to the operations manager gets behind the wheel of the bus and drives and sometimes we're still doing some double backs to make things work. Uh my
assistant Julia Green's been over to work and dispatch just to have somebody to answer the phones to help because everyone who can drive is driving on on a lot of days. So the big question is how do we address this vacancy challenge without overin without unnecessarily
inflating costs by just adding a lot more 40-hour positions because the nature of school transportation needs is if we you know we're close to and we're talking about like how many 40-hour positions do we really need but when you start to exceed that the nature of when
you actually need people driving and what you see in other school divisions it's not a lot of 40-hour positions. So, this is these are conversations we're having with our city colleagues just trying to to work through what makes sense to move forward and and fix this vacancy issue.
>> Um, in regards to the vacancies needing the more the 40 hours, is that something that I mean they have their own collective bargaining unit. Are we working with them? Who's working with them? because ultimately that ask I would assume comes from them to fill
those to ask for the funding to fill those positions. I just what is the mechanism that that >> done? So we've shared ideas with our city colleagues. I think I saw Mr. Frius is here now. I guess it would be best for them to speak to like what they
foresee is sorting this out the what the best way forward is. I mean, I think where we've started is that we're add we're we're discussing the potential of adding more 40hour positions, right? That's that's the easiest thing for us to be able to do right now. And the discussion where we
are right now is the possibility of adding six more of those positions which will address address the critical kind of the critical vacancies and meet our needs through the remainder of this year and the summer. uh otherwise it's an ongoing conversation as to what we can do in
this space. >> Thank you. >> Just like that. Sorry. Go build on this point here because I remember when I started my kids started having to take the bus three years ago. We had two months without enough drivers and it was a mess. We don't have that problem
anymore which you know it's very tight. Uh but it also brings me back to some of those accreditation scores we get because we get graded on attendance. We get points for attendance and correct me if I'm wrong here, Dr. Curly, but
we have had unfortunately very high unexcused absency rates which have brought down our scores a bit. And we I'm not going to we need to make sure those buses are running on time as much as possible to ensure we're not losing a
kid on a day here or a kid day there. Uh and and unfortunately then losing points that then we're so close on the edge on a lot of these schools. Okay. There's a lot of things we need to do, but it's there is some really direct impact potentially on how our schools are
graded uh and appear overall based on people transportation. >> Thank you. >> We appreciate the city working trying to trying to work with us through this challenge um because it is very much what it's frankly the I feel like it's our it is persisting as our biggest
operations challenge. Um I'm pushing buttons as if I'm advancing the slides, but I'm not. Um so this is just the graphic that shows the um the student transportation contract cost and how it has tracked over time.
It too has we've seen escalation in cost you know becoming more steep over the past few years. um the five-year average increase 10 over 10% and so that is the number that Miss Hoover is using right now to sort of project where that number might come in for this next budget and
that's 400 the increase would be $487,62 based on that math. >> Does that assume that the seven six drivers convert fulltime or no? >> No. >> Okay. So that's just stats. >> It's just an average. That's a straight average because again,
you know, that the solution, the things the ideas we've been talking about, there's multiple pieces and so we just don't know how that might net out on on your end depending on what the city's able to do. Okay. Um, so capital improvements. This is probably the area of operations that's been the most exciting because
we've seen a lot of we're seeing a lot of great momentum in this area after many, many years where the schools had been maintained, but we weren't really advancing improvements. Um our goals in continuing to move forward are continuing to modernize our aging facilities. The city fac the city school
facilities planning work group um we've met two times and we're meeting regularly. And that group's focused on establishing the criteria for what what does a modernized, you know, school look like that meets current educational needs and then evaluating schools the
each facility against those criteria to kind of ground ourselves and help guide next steps. Um, you know, the the school board uh really is wants to provide purpose-built spaces for interventionists, specialists, and enhance program supports moving forward.
You saw the student achievement data earlier and um one of the things I've I've heard VMDO say often and I I definitely see I see this in the middle school, the space is never neutral. It's always working for or against your mission at any given time. And so um we
want to be really purposeful as and especially attending to um what our students need for for their um achievement and the work that our professionals do in helping our students. Um, we want to strategically use all school properties, city properties to advance student
programming. And always safety is a continuous improvement process. And so we're always looking to continue to improve school safety. The city is the the largest funding source for the school division by 63% and we really do appreciate the city as
our partners and and the support they provide us over the past four year four fiscal years starting with 2023 the annual increase was 4 million 4.2 2 million through the current fiscal year
with an annual increase of 4.9 million. Fiscal year 2025, the school division received an annual increase of s 7 million and this was primarily due to the increase in the LCI rate and to cover the lost state revenue. Overall,
the 4-year average out to about 5 million. State revenue is the second largest funding source by 20%. This year is a rebenching rebenchmarking of the LCI. The LCI for the upcoming fiscal year 27
declines slightly from 7702 to 7666. Thus, we are estimating ST revenue for the division will be level because of the slight decrease and decline in our student enrollment. with the uncertainty of the federal
government, federal funding is left level. Um the sources that we receive federal funding for is school nutrition which is about 2.7 million. And then title one uh we receive about 1.4
million. Title four time sorry title 6b 1.6 million. And then title two, three, and four we receive at an average of about 200 150 to 200,000.
School nutrition is under the USDA and this is a highly certain for continuation because of the primary programs of national school lunch and breakfast are entitlement programs and the federal government is legally
obligated to provide reimbursement for eligible meals served to students. Title one is highly certain for eligible school divisions because like nutrition it's an entitlement program. Now, the funding can vary based on the amount of
the federal budget. The title 6B serving the individuals with disabilities is a formula grant. It's not an entitlement program. It's a formula grant subject to annual appropriation by Congress. What is speculative in continual federal
funding is title 2, three, and four. Between these federal programs, we receive an estimate of 150 to 200,000. We were if we were to stop receiving these funds, we would evaluate the services provided and look within the
budget to continue these services. Next slide. The next steps uh after this meeting is the school board will have a work session on January 22nd and before that we will have the uh
VDOE's Cal tool. We're anticipating it being released tomorrow. Uh so we will know what additional revenues we'll be receiving. Um, we will be evaluating the budget request uh submitt uh by staff and
prioritizing uh those requests based on what you heard earlier. And then we have to look at our positions and realigning those positions based on a reorganization plan by leadership.
So there's quite a big heavy lift um before we come back together and refine these numbers. This is a preliminary summary of the information that you've heard this evening. I want to emphasize that this
is preliminary. Uh this is not written and concrete. Um the compensation and benefits come to about 5.5 million. And then the non-discretionary which is transportation and maintenance of
881,000 for a total of 6.4 million. Uh we anticipate that revenue and savings from the other um areas will enable us to uh stay within this number.
Um our budget calendar is displayed is displayed here. U we have significant work to complete between now and January the 22nd. You just heard Miss talk about we will be reviewing
we will be reviewing the budget requests. Um and again those requests just closed last Friday. Um I provided um a highlevel overview of those instructional requests which were
related to class sizes and um supports continued supports as it relates to English and mathematics. Um and so we will continue to review and do this work together. Uh like Miss Hoover just said on the previous slide,
um we anticipate that the revenue and savings in some of the other areas we will be able to absorb um and so that we can attempt to keep that number that she presented um so that we can keep that
number um stable. Uh that is the end of our presentation uh for the joint session. Um, what questions can we answer for you? Feel like this meeting is the first time
we didn't get a lot of questions about acronyms and >> we're getting to be old pros. >> Yes. >> Thank you. So, Michael, do you have any questions? Um, >> I kind of want to hear what schoolboard
questions are first. All right, we can pivot over to our crew. Understanding this kind of an initial first task and we've got some good upcoming work sessions. Um, but Miss Taus, if you want to lead us off.
>> This is kind of our our first pass at this. So, we had a little preliminary access to the PowerPoint, but I'm looking at some of these uh things. This is the first time we've looked at that. I think um
I mean I I personally and want to make sure that we continue to really focus and do uh uh discussing and taking a look at the early childhood center and where that funding is as far as the CIP. And I know there's a lot of work being
done to evaluate and look at the Oaklan property and all of that. I I've shared some of my thoughts um at our last board meeting. Um just really wanting to have a better understanding of what that property is and and potentially if there are delays, how that would impact the
schools and our kids and and I know that we as a board with Dr. Berling need to have some more time talking about that, but we look forward to to receiving more information. um but also wanting to keep at the forefront that we need to uh have a
place for our little kids to go and and this was part of the bigger project as far as reconfiguration with the middle school and the preschool was part of that. So wanting to make sure that there really isn't a delay and that we are optimizing whether it be this property
um for the kids and and whatever else this property could could potentially do for the division. uh and then you know looking at Oklahoma as well. So I I know there's a lot that we don't quite know yet but again I really feel like uh
early learning, early childhood learning um maximizing the seats and what we can do uh not just for our three and fouryear-old kids but you know coming together as a city. I mean, we're talking a lot about um
accreditation and and the scores for and the achievement gap for black and brown students. This is something that we've been talking about for a very long time. We're acknowledging it. Dr. Gurley and his team are really looking at it, focusing on it differently. But what
outside of the schools can we as a community continue to do to support, you know, whether it's housing, um jobs, um accessible and affordable early learning for for any student or family
who needs that so that parents can then um get jobs and get into the workforce. um decent pay for our early childhood um care providers. So again, this is bigger than just the schools, but this is our
community and and these are all kids and these this is our future. So, I think it really is warranty um a bigger conversation and in looking at how we can be creative and maximize um what we do have, but really looking beyond just
what the schools can do as far as budget and and taking a look at where where the governor's budget um the outgoing governor is going to land and then uh looking at the new governor and she's going to be able to um edit that a
little it and then um both you the delegates and the senate senators um make some changes to that to that. So um there's still a lot of unknowns. I mean I think it's going to look hopefully better but there are a lot of
needs and we know that from the federal level all the way down. So again I don't know that I have a lot of comments yet about what was presented for the schools but I have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns as I know Mr. Sanders. I mean, I've listened to your
presentations to council and I know you were all looking at that as well and trying to take care of this community. Um, and we know the schools are a big part of it, but we've got, you know, housing and all of those other things. And so, I'm well aware of that and I
hope the community is is aware and listening and paying attention to because, you know, you all have some big decisions. Um, and I I do like has been said by Dr. early and um Miss Hoover, you know, appreciate the supports that you all have have offered and and
provided throughout the years for the schools, but there's a lot a lot to do. So, that's all I have to say right now. >> Sure. Um um like Lisa said, like this is the
first time like taking a deep dive in um in this information, but I would say for me um is, you know, to both city council and um to the school is like like really focusing on um like the achievement gap
um and how we look at that and being able to provide that support for families um because we can't pour all of this into the children and we're not pouring into the overall family. And so look at how we are pouring into not just the children but the family as a whole.
um and just kind of you know being in the housing space and kind of serving on the school board and I know that it's 95 but I think that um for like the homeless but a lot of of our homeless population is going unttracked and so like they may be living with like a
family member sleep sleeping on somebody's couch and we don't know about it and so um I'm quite sure like Mr. the way asked the question. I'm quite sure that number is a lot bigger. We just don't know about it. Um and just understanding how the housing crisis um
the cost of rent um in Charlesville affects families and families having to work two to three jobs just to be able to provide for their family. Um and so if you are, you know, a single parent um or single family household and you have to work two and three jobs just to live
in Charlottesville, how that affects your child's education. So, it's just not like, you know, the burden is just not on the school. It's on the community um to be able to wrap these services around our families so that we can see the success that we're looking for um in
all of our children um especially our black and brown children because that's who are in in the data. That's who are affected the most. And so that I hope that when we are looking at the budget that we're intentional um about like making sure that we're providing the
right services for our families and understanding what those services need and the families needs are so that their children can be successful. >> Thank you. Good conference actually said most of the stuff that I intended to say. Um so I I'll just
simply say this um in terms of the standards changing for accountability from the state um you know while they might change at the end of the day it's really we can observe if our kids are mastering the skills or not um we can
observe them when they're writing emails um when they are writing resumes and cover letters and applying to the job when we're working with them. We can actually see that. So, you know, while the state standard might change, what's happening in real life really does inform um their mastery of those skills.
Um I'll just second everything that they've said, but I won't say everything. I I do think it's really important to have that community approach. Um and I think literacy will take everyone. um by the time
students get to the schools, in some ways it's it's a little late. Um we really need everything to start at home and the better that we can support that as a city, um the more that we I believe we'll see these numbers increase. >> Thank you, Mr. Morris. Mr.
I'll just along the lines I think my comments but I've been struck out amount of basic services I think our school division provides to a lot of families and and members of our community. Uh I mean Dr. Gley when you think about FTEES and I
look at the support staff like piece of the pie there. How many FTEEs do you think we have on staff that are are not nec I mean everything's related directly to education obviously and but just helping provide the students
or meeting to able to meet their basic needs so that they can actually be in the classroom and learn. How many FTEs do you think we're basically budgeting to meet that? >> I mean it's a it's a significant portion. I mean, and so you're saying those non non-teer
non-teer like those like mental wellness >> is like support staff, right? And then some of those are for instructional learning like reading specialists, etc. But we also have >> but we have specialists just to make sure kids are sending to school. We have counselors, we have psychologists,
>> we do, >> etc. Right. >> Yeah. I mean I I think that we are staffed way higher than you know schools similar school divisions of 4,300 4,400 students. I mean I definitely think we have way more FTEEs than than the
average school division. I mean and and I will say as a person who's in the work daily it doesn't feel like enough um most of the time. So I'm not saying that we have too much. I'm saying that on any given day it still feels like we don't have enough. Um, and that's why you'll
see some of the things that um, I know like Miss Raznik has been working with um, schools on like what would it look like to have a registered behavior technician because we're seeing just a growing need of students who are in
elementary school with escalating behaviors. Um and sometimes it's um sometimes it's you know we don't these children have not gone to you know a formal preschool. This is the first time they've been in a structured setting.
Um, and so we we're taking that burden of like try having to educate a student because we're required to and we're going to, but doing that in a setting in a classroom with their peers and we're not talking about students these that these are necessarily students with
disabilities. So like we need people on the front line to like help to diagnose and treat some of the behavior. And it is I mean and and it's because we're addressing a lot of times for the first time something that should have been
addressed within a community setting. >> Any additional comments? >> Thank you. I would echo everything my colleagues have said prior and will not repeat them. I think what I'm looking forward to is um Dr. Johnson and Dr. Sharica Jones Lewis doing some of that
community and schools work to try to tie some of the services that are in the community um and bridge the gap maybe differently or better than maybe we have been doing um so that some of those services can be married a little
bit differently um and hoping that provides more robust services for those students that you speak of Dr. early and just appreciate the work that's gone into this even though it's a first pass. Um I know there are a lot of needs that our students and families have and that
I appreciate you working with um just the resources that we have, the funding that we have to make it work and not ask for 12 14 million to add 20 more positions because that would be really great. But I appreciate you repurposing
and being mindful and um how we do this work and evaluating the staff and roles that we have um and what's working and how we might have to do things a little bit differently without a budget implication and really just bringing
forward what we're seeing a collective bargaining agreement. 90% um or better is from collective bargaining and I am hopeful that we get that contract soon to review. Um I was
hoping someone from CA would be here tonight to weigh in on public comment, but don't see anyone. Um I'm hoping we get that soon and that we can have a robust conversation about what that looks like. Thank you for your work and your team. >> Thank you all.
Um, I'm just going to wrap up our comments just again drawing back to that compensation piece recognizing that of this preliminary numbers, you know, the vast majority is related to compensation and benefits. Um, you know, recognizing that the city is going through collective bargaining with a number of
your um, staff uh, and personnel as well. Um, but I think the retention rates are going to start to tell the story of how well collective bargaining is working in our division. When we make our schools a desirable place to work, we get to be more selective and choosy
about who is working with our students. Um, and that retention that leads to longevity and cont continuity just helps with everything. the relationships that are built with students, the relationships that our staff has in working with each other, um the training
that we implement, um just all of that builds on itself. And when we're not having constant turnover, uh the impact, uh that it has on our students and in decreasing that achievement gap, I think we're going to we're going to start to see. Um so appreciate your consideration
um you know of the impacts that collective bargaining is going to have when this you know we know that personnel is the vast majority of these budgets. So when we start talking about those numbers that's where we see um we see the number get big quickly. Um so
Mayor Wade we'll kick it back over to you guys. See if we said anything so profound that you guys now have some some comments or questions for us. Natalie, you want to? >> I do. Thank um uh my I've got two things
to talk about. The first one, um are there volunteer programs that community members should know about if they want to come in and help like read to kids or do math tutoring? And if so, how do they go about finding them and joining them? >> Yes. So, um Dr. Dr. Denise Johnson um
who's behind us. She's the she's she is the person who spearheads all that work. Um there is a spot on the website. Um but she is the direct contact. Um she can help with the going through the volunteer trainings. There's like a
level one, level two, level three. Um she can assist with like what areas there's some gaps where we need some folks. Uh we always welcome people to um do some substitute teaching if they want to in our schools. Uh but she would be
the person to reach out to. >> Okay, great. Thanks. Um and then my other uh point is um there's a lot of community problems that have symptoms that show up in the schools like behavioral issues, lags in
reading achievement. Um those community problems that can be at the root of that are you know like parental job insecurity, food insecurity, housing insecurity, um and then you know the transportation needs. If students are not able to get to school that's that's bad for our budget of course but it's
bad for the kids. You know they're missing out on days of learning. Um so while there are innovative ways that uh the school can provide what we need for our students um our responsibility is to
think about that on a broader level right um so I'm going to bring up something that I've brought up at a meeting before but I don't know if everyone I definitely know that everyone in this room was not there so I'm going to bring it up again um because I think that
everyone um all the people that we uh need to make this decision are in the room. Um so I want to plant that seed again which is being able to as we build new buildings um and shift our land use at on school property um we have the
ability to include housing in those plans. Um there's nothing but sky above us and the city doesn't necessarily need to provide the funding for that. an outside developer can come in and help support that. So, it doesn't cost us anymore. But then we have near housing
for maybe teachers who have just moved here or uh any other community member. Um there's there's a need for workforce housing, for teacher housing, for low-income housing, for market rate housing. Um and we can help provide that
by using our our land differently than what we currently do, especially as we embark on these construction projects. I don't want that to be a missed opportunity. Um we we've got space. We can do stuff with it. Um so that's just something I know we're not deciding that right here and it's not relevant to this
particular budget, but just something to keep in mind as we going forward as we go forward is the potential for um meeting housing needs in a new and different way that can help support our schools and our teachers and our kids. if you have examples of where that I
think it would be very interesting to be able to review some case studies or where that's been implemented. Um is that certainly not happening here? >> I don't I don't think it's a particularly common thing. >> Sure. >> Um but that doesn't mean it's impossible. >> There's Yeah,
there are a couple down in North Carolina. Um California is piloting some who they know. So there are a few, but I'd be happy to connect with you and maybe it's something you and I work I know Miss Torres has looked at this as well. So maybe it's something the three of us put
together and really start working on. I think at least something you and I have talked about. Um and and I think as we're looking at the land that we're hopefully coming upon kind of on
>> and then what might happen here I think it is quite wise to to in that direction. Anybody be I would welcome conversation. >> Yeah, there was a presentation years ago maybe the first couple of years at the SBA with some examples. I think Eastern
Shore, North Carolina that did some things like that. Um and I think there have been several of us who have expressed interest in looking at that and could we do that? Similarly, and I would love to look at like can we do an early childhood, you know, learning
center and subsidize it somehow for city employees, um, teachers, you know, even a joint effort with with the county. I mean, I think there's potential. There's a need for all of that. So, whether it's workforce housing or early early learning or early childhood spaces, I
mean, there's a big need for a lot of these things, but I think there's definitely an appetite to look at that and and to consider it. I know for me and Miss Burns, I won't speak for anybody else, but >> great. I'm glad to hear that it's uh it there's a warm reception to that idea
and not necessarily a nervous one. Although there are, you know, things to think about and safety concerns and and all of that, but um I think it could be a good use of our space. >> I don't have any questions.
>> Um I had a couple of um comments. Um Dr. Um, girl, I have to tell you, you know, seeing those the difference in those test scores, it just it pained me, brother. It pained me because I 20 years ago when I was on coun when I was on the
school board, we were looking at if not the same ver, you know, just as similar um discrepancies or or difference. And you know um I don't it's it's hard to find the right solution to it. You know
I know that we have been you know um trying to address it as a city as a as a school board. I know the school board members and I know they're passion and working at it. I know staff is doing it as well. Um
just trying to figure out like what you know what we can do. I'm talking to other mayors around now that I'm in this position. Other mayors they are having it the same issues as well. Um and
you know um just trying to you know figure out you know is it the you know um the you know the approach are we looking at a different widget to try to address it um the curriculum? Um um I heard your
speech at the beginning of the year was it was you know you you you had me fired up man. I want to go back and get my uh teaching degree to see if we can do it. So, um you know, if you can give us an example
what you know, you know, for the public that's listening, you know, that's some of the things that you're doing in the classroom, something specific that you know you're doing to you know address it. >> Well, the first thing I want to say uh Mayor Wade is that um I think we have to
think about this two different ways. I think a lot of times uh when people see the um let's just say the reading achievement data. Um so that's about students who have passed the so
you know sometimes what's frustrating is that people will see that and say our students can't read and that's not an assessment of how students read or how well students read. We have assessments internally that tell us how well
students read. So I think the first thing as school staff we we we we get a little deflated because we hear people say, well, you know, black students can't read. And that's not what that score is. That score is did they pass an
test. Um a and so as we talk about you know what we what we've done. So as we started the summer and it was the first week after our students got out of school um we looked at the systems that
are in place um systems that our black students would be accessing. And what I what we asked our staff is that what would you do if this was presented to you? and we had them to work independently. So, a student is coming
to you, they're deficient, they need these resources, and in our head, we would expect that they would all give us the same answer. And so, I'm just going to use seven. We had seven people give us an answer and we got seven different
answers. Um, we they all arrived at the same conclusion, but they did it seven different ways. And that was not our expectation because we feel we know that if we have a system in place um so say
if a student is not reading a student is having difficulties reading we would expect that they would that that the process would be very linear that you would do step one then you would remediate then you would provide this intensive support that there would be this progression but often people were
responding during that session saying well I don't know how even access the resource to support the student. So we knew that that was a problem that was our problem, right? So we we had to fix the system that so that our the practitioners who were in the building
understand like how they respond to the intensive needs of the students. So that was the very first thing. Fix the systems. Um make sure that people understand how to access the tools. make sure that people understand where to get
the curriculum resources to support our students. That was the initial groundwork. Um and then we had a subsequent meeting um where we had our our leadership advance where we wanted
to then hone in on like what does it look like and and we we are calling these things out. I mean I mean we're being very specific like no one's like whispering these things. Um so like what's the problem? Our black students
are not achieving. Um so at the leadership advance um what we did was we looked at what does it mean for a black student to be successful here in Charlottesville city schools. Um so again when you say what's different,
what are the resources that they can access? How are we how are we ensuring that we're not just dumping all students who are achieving at one level and setting the expectations very low. How
do we create a space where we're creating where we're saying what we minimally want to happen for students is to be proficient because every student owes the opportunity to be to be proficient and then to reach and then to
extend far beyond that. We were not providing our students um we had not been doing a good job of providing our students the opportunities to reach proficiency. Um so I mean I think we
have been very intentional about how we look at the data. Um like we are teaching we are retaching principles how to triangulate data so that they can work with their teachers on to on how to
triangulate data. Let's not look at one data point. Um I mean we were finding that a lot of times um Miss Asherin professional learning communities PLC's um we were finding that teachers were getting in PLC's and you know they were
you know using a data point and they may be using two data points but like what is that data point what are those data points telling you and what would you expect um Dr. Eley um did a very good
session on like on helping principles to understand that if students have been successful one to two times before and you're not seeing success now what is happening now because what we realize long term is
that we would expect to this student to see um to see proficiency we I So for so long we have been talking about the importance of a growth mindset. But what we realized is that the growth mindset
sometimes is what was creating a a space for us to be stagnant because we were celebrating that students were growing but they were growing year after year after year after year. And then we would look at those students trajectory over time as they were metriculating through
Charlottesville city schools. And those same students who had been growing never reached proficiency. So there was something that we were doing there was something that we were doing there that we needed to do differently. Um so it's how we evaluate
the data, how we you how we use the data. Um, so I mean we are having our school success meetings where we're in our school success meetings and we're being very prescriptive in those meetings that
we want to see like these are the things we want to see when we're there. And we're we're literally saying on the form now like what does it look like for a black student to be successful? like what does engagement look like for the
student in your classroom? Because I feel like and I and I said this, you probably heard this in my opening statement that I think for so long in our spaces, we've been a well, not we, me, people have been afraid to say like
that this this student, this black student is not doing well. And then we were we're getting tears when we're just saying, "Okay, we know what the problem is. Let's prescribe. Let's diagnose. Let's treat um the not just the
symptoms, but what the actual problems are. So, I mean, it's it's been a lift, but we are we are seeing we're we're seeing the needle move." Um and again I think that we we're living in a
unfortunate time and I go on the record about this every time that you know we have made what happens with students about so scorers. Um and and that's not the defining moment of what happens for students because that's ultimately a
test. Um, that's a test and it's a test that's being used adversely to impact some of our most marginalized students when we've been saying we have performance tasks. Um, and we know that when we give our students performance
task, we get much different outcomes for our students. Uh, so it's just a lot. I mean, I could go on on for days um about this work because >> everyone around me is as impassionate about this
now. Like I'm not just the face anymore. Um everyone around me is saying the same thing. >> So, um Dr. Gurley, um and your your board or madam your madam chair may have asked you this as well. What what would you need for that needle to go? Let's
say from 40 I think it's so it's 42 90 and and 90 say to 60. What what do you need? >> Well, I'm going to say to 75, right? 75 >> because I want our all of our students to reap proficiency. So, we're going to
have to continue to work in stride and on pace with the students that we have. But what changes what's happening is what happens with our students before they get here. What happens when they're on winter break, what happens when
they're on spring break. Um I think you've heard school board members say like I mean we've been tasked in the schools to do every single thing. And I think if you had a room full of teachers in here, they would all be snapping
because I mean the the greatest lift that we have and it's it's a big cognitive lift cognitive load right now that the school is being tasked with doing everything and and what's going to change is what
happens to our students before they get here. Um, and I I think I I say that knowing my own child is getting ready to turn three. Um, and I feel like I'm getting her prepared to be a kindergartener right now. Um, and and if
and she's not meeting that, then she's not going to be successful. Someone said that on this side already. So, what's going to happen is what hap how are we supporting our fa how are we supporting our families? Like, you know, who are our families? you know, who are our
families who, you know, um, mom, dad, um, you know, didn't finish school, um, you know, they don't have the resources. They need us, they need us the most, but we we we have some things in place for that, but we can't do that by ourselves, >> right? Yeah. I mean, I I I recall plenty
of times saying, you know, before we can begin to educate them, oftent times the teachers, they have to that that child has to be fed You know, oftent times they need to be safe. They may need a they may need a
hug and before some basic things are done, you know, learning just can't take place and often times it was at the, you know, doorstep of of the schools, you know, and so, you know, um, so, um,
thank you. Thank you. And and I want to I want to say for context purposes as we talk about, you know, black student achievement in general, um, and I think my colleagues will, you know, I'm confident that I'm 100% correct in this.
Some of our most our students who need us the most, our students who need us the most, our students who are disregulated, they check all of those boxes. you know, these are black students who are economically disadvantaged,
but yet and and you see it across every school division. So, it's not just Charlottesville. You see it across every school division, but you know, we the state and these tests are creating this one-sizefitit all which doesn't address
the things that they don't our students are not coming to school with and they don't have the adequate resources when they leave us in the afternoon. We can only do what we can do during the seven and a half hours that we have them. So, um, Miss,
that's kind of a follow up on on some of the things you just talked about. Um, do we have models or examples of other localities in Virginia or similar to us that have successfully closed that achievement gap and what what did they do?
>> I think we have um we have looked high and low. Um I think the the only difference where you we've looked high and low and when you are finding schools with um high poverty
that these are the results you get when the systems outside of the school are not in place. When you see school divisions where there are where black the black student achievement is
slightly higher, what you find is the common denominator there is there's a higher level of black middle class. And I think that that's the thing that's the that's one of the stark differences that we found is that the when and I
hate to say this in terms of numbers because our students are not numbers but I mean you're talking about test scores and that's what people keep talking to us about when you're talking about test scores where you see the achievement when you see less of the achievement gap
particularly in Virginia it's in those black school divisions where you have a higher level of black middle class. Um and and so I mean and that's and and they're largely they're counties. Um but yeah, again there's a black middle class
um which is carrying that denominator which is why the the achievement gap is not as wide. >> Yeah. So there's there's kind of only so much that can be done within the school system and it is those outer networks that need to be developed more.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah. Um a few things continuing on continuing on that conversation. Do you have this data broken down by like family income level? >> Uh I mean absolutely. Well, we don't
have it read. Well, we could make that readily available. We've triangulated data by address here in Charlesville City Schools. Yes, >> Mr. Payne. Uh I similar question. So
80 85% of our black students are low income backing out again through some of these graphs and 34% are of our white students are low income. Uh just as one data point I to look at that but yeah that's rough.
Yeah and I think you know it's not surprising at all you know as a data point that reflects the economic inequality in Charlottesville. um think it would be interesting to see it, you know, just by income level and and um
which I think connects to this conversation as well because I mean I you you touched on it but I feel like part of what's happening is you know as a university town UVA brings in very wealthy people with uh graduate and post-graduate degrees. You look at the um data science center and biomedical
institute that are under development, that's going to make the issue even worse. And those people come into our community and um we have a workingclass community in Charlottesville that we've never created a real strategy for community wealth building to have that wealth from UVA
trickle down to benefit them. So you touched on, you know, we don't have a middle class. I think that's absolutely true because there's no economic mobility here. It's just UVA post-graduate degrees wealth and people without a lot of economic mobility. Um, but I know that is far beyond what
schools have, you know, the power to fix on your own. Um, for totally different conversation going back to pupil transportation, those 30hour positions, are those with or without benefits?
they receive benefits but they the contribution uh rate is adjusted so that the employer contribution is at a a reduced rate as compared to our position to city colle that's my understanding
>> and I know um very different context so it may not directly apply but for PAT bus drivers you know we used to have a number of um non 40hour positions And you know what we found is, am I correct
and that my memory is correct that those positions wouldn't get filled because those individuals um were able to take that CDL and get numerous other positions that paid better with better benefits. So that was
kind of our core problem. >> That was a >> Yeah. Yeah, that was that was an issue. Yeah. in terms of our competitiveness uh with other job opportunities. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um so I I do just worry there's there's no shortcut to have just having
the positions be market competitive. Um but um and people touched on that, you know, there's about to be a big change in state government
and that's going to introduce a lot of changes in funding. You may we may get the 1 cent sales tax legislation. Um, I do feel like there's a structural issue in that we are adopting our budget before we know what the state budget is.
And every year that creates a weird dynamic, but I think especially this year when there's going to be substantial changes in funding and potentially school policy as well. Um, many localities in Virginia don't adopt their budgets before the state budget's
finished. I don't know why we do that. It seems very silly to me and I think it leads us to make worse decisions because we're forced to finalize our budget not knowing a lot of information. Um so I'll just say that. Um
and final question obviously the school board had made a decision on school resource officers some months ago. Is that something that's going to come to city council as a budget request? Where is that in terms of the process? Initially it was identified that it
would be possibly a request that would require a budget change. Um from a budget perspective it is neutral. Uh the police department can handle the request that was received or I guess still in the process of being finalized but I think ultimately is two officers. Uh so
it does not require any additional FTE. So we did not or it's budget neutral. The question is whether or not or how we deploy um those two individuals within school system. I think that's what's still being worked out for the agreement. Is that right?
>> Yep. We um so the umou has been uh finalized and um chief and I prepared to assign it and the work group is working u the SOP and so
and would should we anticipate then in a year or two that it would come to city council as a budget request to the police department just like kind of a time lag before we see it as >> yeah any expansion would be would go beyond our current budget allocation. So, anything else would absolutely be a
part of a budget request. >> Thank you. >> Any um other comments from counselors >> before you close? I would say because I know folks are interested in what I'm going to say over here especially, um I just want to
just indicate that um we have not yet identified what our budget gap is. Um I'm waiting for someone to help me see what that is. She is working feverishly on trying to get that squared away. It requires um a number of submissions
internal to the organization as well as external. So that's what we're waiting on getting all of that information in. Uh once we know what the budget gap is, uh then it becomes the challenge of us trying to figure out where I might be inclined to make adjustments to things
to make more things fit or I go back to council to have that harder conversation about what would you like me to do in the way of the two choices that I usually present and that is the red pin for changes or the consideration of additional revenues. Um, so where we are
right now is, and I'm just confirming that I'm hearing an ask for $6.4 million. Could adjust how it gets deployed, but I'll say that that um that's a big number. Even though it's not $12 million, it's still a big number. Um, we are not seeing uh revenue
projections increasing. They're still holding. They're a little flat. Uh so that makes us a bit nervous about being able to absorb any numbers that are bigger than what we have seen in years past and the requests have not trickled
in. They have piled in as usual. Uh and we have to then be able to work through balancing those and putting the choices before council. The budget briefs that I prepared for you on transportation, um housing,
what's the third one? transit. >> Housing three, >> public safety and schools >> and public safety and schools. Ultimately, I didn't talk a lot about schools because that's what this meeting is for. So, now it really is um the big hard task of getting through this
holiday break and then the month of January to make the numbers come together. So we will begin working in earnest at the start of the year making numbers work uh and then being ready for the conversation that we will have at the end of the month, end of January with regard to Oaklan because I know
there is continued questions and interest in that particular subject. Uh our team is continuing to work on the assessment of the site. The funds are available for the prek center. They are in the budget. There's no question about that. We've been made an adjustment to
when it's available and how much is available. But the fact that we put it in the CIP previously, it is there. So there's no question about funding the prek center either here or at Oaklan. The question is, can we make it work at Oakan? And if we can't even getting to
some consideration of what could happen at Oaklan for future consideration. It's just like to we didn't talk about the CIP really and I did want to recognize that you all have been doing some work on that and uh sitting on the CI committee committee with my colleague
u Miss Torres you know I have seen I think the appropriate amount of money out there at the moment. Uh Mr. Mr. Snook, you you mentioned at the meeting and we heard from uh also from Miss Powell how there is a committee that's working on a medium long-term
infrastructure improvement plan uh that would take advantage of a sales tax. I do think that would be a big 2026 again after this budget, but that we would have to collaborate on and work on. So, just want to make sure and I think you're all aware of that. But, uh,
we do look forward to I think the CIP subcommittee continuing to work on that with you all and seeing that plan worked out. And Mr. Snoke, I think you did say I think hopefully that target milestone date of July 1 to have that ready. And and >> I I threw that out. I I don't want to
convey the impression that somebody has made a decision on that. What I had said was that if we if we think we're going to have a referendum, we'd better have a fully developed plan by July 1st or it's political malpractice.
>> I completely agree with you. So happy to work with you to make sure that happens, too. Thanks. >> All right. At this time, we'll move on to our opportunity for comments from members of the community. Um, we have microphone set up here. Um, first up I
have Mayor Walker. If you will say your name and limit your comments to three minutes. Oh, you're at the magic touch. Um, I I came of course to talk about SRO's. You all have um and now listening to the
rest of the I have so many comments. Um, what I heard that was most alarming, cuz most of it was alarming that you all are only clear on that there's a potential budget increase and people need to be paid more. And I'll say that from someone who supported collective
bargaining and always supported increase to teachers pay but also challenged at the same time. And what I then heard was that if you are not in the middle class, which I am still not and was not um as a
student who started in CCS in 1985, three of my kids have been through here and they were not. Um, and but what I heard was that if you are not in the middle class, if there really is nothing that you all can do for people like me,
and that is sad. That is just so sad. Um, I've raised three kids as a single mother. There's just so much to the story there. Um, they've went to
the top H.B.CU in this country. They are amazing kids. I did not let people sit in rooms like this and talk about them like that even though they were not the kids who you all are. They were not in the office. They were not in the
hallways. They were not the kids. But still, why are those kids that you are having these conversations about in trouble? I was one of those kids. I remember a fight I had on the stairware right near the office. what used to be
the office right there. I remember teachers telling me what I could not be, what I could not do. And luckily, I had enough in me not to pay attention to them. I could go home, which wasn't perfect, but I had people there tell me not to pay attention. So the audacity to
request more money and I'm glad that we are having these conversations directly about whether what's happening in the classroom principles are having it with their teachers. You are having it with the principles and the teachers I guess whatever. But what are you asking for
more money for? I have consistently said this. I had a conversation with Mayor Wade not too long ago. I don't agree and I did not agree when Dr. Atkins was here that CCS can just continue to ask for money and deliver nothing. It's not okay. I told her that. I'm telling you
that. I'm telling city council that it's not okay. When I was on council, you all asked for tons of money, including sir Mayor Wade as a counselor, a school board member at the time. What have you done with it? Also, a point that was
made, how are the white students, because I've been in enough nonprofits to know that it's not just black students, but your white middle class students can offset how your lower income white students are doing. So, there's also a class piece here that I
have brought up many times. You all don't do well by them either. So basically you can write off anyone who does not do well and you can ask for money on behalf of them but then you don't deliver anything. What are you
delivering? So what I did come here to talk about SRO's. The only thing I've heard with certainty here is that you and the police chief are about to sign anou to police the kids you don't believe can do any better.
when you all asked for millions when I was on council to say you would do something else other than police them and now because you haven't figured that out in a few short years still coming out of a pandemic now you want the police back into the schools Mr. Sanders
is not budget neutral. We all know that it's coming from somewhere and there are a lot other places for that money to go. As someone who has been asked said looked in the face and a police saying said to us as a black member of this
community, I will hold y'all down. I was not born until 1980. Those are the people that you are given power to fix the problems that you all have in this school system. But you all are getting paid. Whether you think you're getting paid well or
not, you are getting paid well enough to do something different. Or city council needs to stop giving you the resources until you can figure out how to deliver better. >> Thank you. Uh next up we have Dr. Brack.
>> Thank you. Hi uh Michelle Brackne. Dr. Brackey, former police chief here in Charlottesville. I actually really initially came to talk about the SRO's as well, but um I'm going to deviate and tell you why I'm going to deviate. My doctorate is in instructional management
and leadership. That means education, teaching, superintendence, how to do this work. And to start out a conversation by saying all agencies are being asked to do more or be all things, that is the current state of America. So
we can't default on that as not being able to serve our children and serve our children well. The other thing that I want to comment on is there are models to do this work inside. We all know Jeffrey Canada Harlem Children's Zone
has been a successful model on how you educate poor black and brown children in communities and be highly successful doing it. And part of the motto is for Harlem Children's Zone in Jeffrey Canada is we remove all barriers for our
children being successful, not proficient, not barely making it, successful in their communities. And one of the things that I was really concerned about when I started listening to um the states is that the rigor has
changed. Well, what's interesting to me is when we do things like data and studying data, if the changes, the accountability, the responsibilities, and the metrics that we're using, they didn't just change for Charlottesville, that rigor was across the state. So if
our outcomes are still the same and the rigor is the same for every child who took that, we cannot say that because the goalpost changed, our children weren't successful because there were children who were successful using those same metrics. So we need to start
understanding and pushing back on sorry Dr. Gurley just generic narratives that we have been using for a very long time. Mayor Wade, I I hear you when you say these are the same problems. I grew up in the 60s. I know what it feels like to grow up in a large city and black
community in Pittsburgh, very poor, not being marginalized, but chosen by the states that we are marginalized. Our children can succeed. We just have to give them the opportunity and resources to do that. As for your public transportation, there are ways to do
that as well. when they were facing these same crisis in larger cities. CAT here is free for the high school students. They gave them the bus passes and created the bus routes so that they could get to every one of the high schools and we only have one here. So
you can get the bus routes and then that way you don't have to worry about additional employees to get them to schools. They also contracted out with churches because they have church vans and they have church drivers and they have the insurance and they were able to bring them in and employ people as
part-time give those kinds of contracts. It's being done there. It's a program called the Oasis program in Pittsburgh where they use the churches to bring our children to the schools. So I would ask you then ultimately is think differently. We don't have to keep doing
the same things because you are going to get that outcome. And lastly about school resource officers. As I said to city council, what problem are you attempting to solve by bringing the school resource officers here? What problem are you attempting to solve? And if you cannot answer that question, then
you do not need to do something that I literally undid by removing them from this goal. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else uh here who would like to give public comment? >> I actually actually Good evening. Um, yeah, I have a lot of
concerns, but I one of the main reasons why I decided to run for the Charlottesville school board is because I recognize that the conversations we were having when I was in high school are circular and they're still happening. I was in a public speaking class yesterday and I listened to
students present on the fact that we have honors and AP courses where students of color are not present and it literally felt like I was sitting in that classroom taking trigonometry or I think I took pre-calc or something in that exact classroom having the same
thoughts of what are we going to do to break down these silos within the school community and students are saying things like well you know I'm not engaging with certain people who are my peers because of tracking, because of socio economic
status, like things that are affecting where they are and what classes they're a part of. And so I've strongly um spoken out against SRO's, but that's not really the root of what I'm concerned about in this moment. In this moment, I feel like if we're
going to continue to talk about care, which is something that we've been kind of dancing around or alluding to, um, I do want to ask questions about how we are maximizing the staff time that we have available. Like we have CSAs right now, their care and safety assistance.
What care work needs to happen to help bridge that gap better? So, if that looks like adding additional training and opportunities for CSAs to be more active outside of just being a hall monitor, breaking up a fight, then I think we need to to do that. I think we
need to have people who are in the school buildings providing those laundry services or whatever the students need in order to be most prepared for their academic success. And I I feel like we are really missing an opportunity to maximize the skills and opportunities um
that CSAs can take advantage of and things that they can do in the building. Um because those those uh what's the word? Those positions, excuse me, already exist. So we don't need to necessarily hire new people. We just need to upskill the people that we have.
And I mean I can agree that it seems like more money is being requested each year. And I get that and there's it's warranted because we do have a lot of students that have a lot of needs, but I do want to see us maximizing those
positions and those opportunities to get staff more involved. Um I feel like as Dr. Brackney spoke of, um the Harlem Children Zone is a great example of how that care and those wraparound services are offered and have led to black student achievement. So maybe we take a
page out of their book and look at how we can implement that more in school buildings instead of just relying on third parties or uh nonprofit organizations to do that because there's always going to be other hurdles whether it's transportation or capacity with these organizations. I think we have to
get more innovative and creative with how we are maximizing the funds and the people that we already have available. Um, and so if that again if that looks like exiting off a spot in the school building for those care types of things to take place, it has to happen. And if it looks like building a bridge with
organizations like CRA, PET Housing Alliance, Abundant Life Ministries, City of Promise, United Way, we need to do that. Um, and so I look forward to joining the board and hoping to come up with some some solutions on how we can do that. Thank you, >> Miss Bryant. Um, that will conclude our
public comments. Uh, s section. Um we do have some upcoming meetings. Um the next one being uh Thursday, January 8th, our first um regular school meeting of the new year. And as a reminder, that will uh begin at
6 p.m. for our trial of a little later start time.