All right. Good evening, everyone. Call to order the March 11, 2026, Legislative and Policy Committee meeting. Um, sign up to make in-person public comments, occurred prior to the start of the committee meeting. The meeting will be audio-recorded and posted on BoardDocs. Um, do we have any public comment sign-ups today? I don't see, I don't see anyone. Okay. Um, we will then- ... since no one has signed up for public comment, we'll move on to item number three. Moving on to the draft minutes for the February 11, 2026 meeting.
Have the board members had time to look over the minutes, and are there any changes to the minutes? I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the February 11, 2026, Legislative Audit and Policy Committee, as it was called Legislative Audit and Policy Committee last time. I'd like to make a motion to approve the draft minutes from February 11, Do we have a second? Second. Thank you. The motion's been properly moved by, Ms. Griffiths and seconded by Dr. Rashid. All those in favor of approving the minutes say, "Aye."
Aye. Aye. All those opposed. The motion passes three to zero with all school board members voting in favor. All right, we'll move on to item number four. Um, it says new Policy 6330, Distribution of Information and Posting within Schools, on School Grounds, or during School-Sponsored Events presented by Dr. Bergen. So I'll turn it over to Dr. Bergen. Thank you, Mr. Svendsen and board members. Um, as you're aware, we took this, item up at your last meeting.
By way of background, Policy 865, which is currently on the books, is being recommended for deletion in its entirety and replacement with 6330, Distribution of Information and Posting of Schools on School Grounds or during School-Sponsored Events. Uh, this policy, has, has been through many revisions beginning, several years ago before this board with F&O and then with this board but the previous LA&P Committee. It was heard once by the full board. It was sent back to this committee. You heard at your last meeting, and we are now here to take action.
What we'd like to do at this time now is share with you the feedback that was received since you last met, so that we can review, the information that we received from individual citizens and from the advisory committees who chose to submit comments. We do have a presentation that just summarizes the comments. Um, they are redundant, so if you're looking at the handouts that were in BoardDocs with the MSAC feedback and the spreadsheet of the individual comments, you could, you could read it there, or I'm going to summarize it in this
presentation on the screen, which is also available to you in BoardDocs. Okay, so first we'll start with MSAC. If you can go to the next slide, please. MSAC began at, their first feedback was relative to lines six through eight in the section that reads, "Only requests from the following organization/entities to distribute and/or post materials within schools, on school grounds, or at school-sponsored activities may be approved upon the authorization of a principal or LCPS building administrator." And I'm accentuating the word or,
'cause the feedback from MSAC was that it was ambiguous that the word or, whose decision takes precedence. Are approval split between two authorized parties? What if there is a principal and another building administrator, such as an assistant principal? So in consultation, with legal to remove that ambiguity, the following revision is recommended by the administration for the committee to sent, to the end of the sentence on line eight, so it would read, "May be
approved upon the authorization of the building principal or designee or the building administrator at non-school sites." And we believe that will clarify any ambiguity. Um, most of the time this would be a matter for a building principal, but we do have some centers where there is a, a, a-- Or this building is a non-school site, and, the building administrator would have to make that determination. Any questions about that proposed change based upon the feedback from MSAC at line eight? Okay. The
next comment from MSAC was at lines, forty-two to forty-three, the section of the policy that reads, "Advocate for or against a political campaign or political cause as further described in Section B2 below." And the comment from MSAC is that there's politics in everything, and anything can and likely will become a political cause. This term is vague. Um, I would, in response refer the committee down to lines seventy-three through seventy-nine, which provide three examples of
political campaigns or political causes. As listed in the policy in those lines, number one, the election or defeat of any candidate; number two, the passage or defeat of any referendum question; or number three, the passage or defeat of any matter pending before the school board, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the General Assembly, or Congress. Accordingly, administration is not recommending any further revisions to lines forty-two through forty-three since the policy does clarify what political cause or political campaign might mean
in line seventy-three to seventy-nine. Any questions from the board members about, lines forty-two through forty-three and the feedback from MSAC? Okay. The next, comment from MSAC was at lines forty-five and forty-six, the part of the policy that reads, "Are likely to cause substantial disruption of or a material interference with school activities." And I'm accentuating all of those words as MSAC didThe comment being that the wording is
subjective, particularly if the decision is being made by one person. The reasons and specifics for the denial should be documented so there's clear evidence showing the cause of the denial. In response, the administration would say we rely on our building principals and their professional judgment to determine what constitutes an event that is likely to cause substantial disruption or material interference with school activities. And accordingly, we are not recommending any further revisions to lines forty-five and forty-six. Questions from the board members? Mr. Svenson.
Yes. I just wanted to ask Mr. Allen if this language also tracks, y- legal precedent, Supreme Court language that... So it might be helpful if this is kind of a, a definition or term of art in the law. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, it, it is. It's arising out of Tinker versus Des Moines Independent Community School District. Um, so th-that case out of the Supreme Court and its progeny, has expanded Tinker to provide that in de- det-determination of the likelihood of a material and substantial disruption is kind of a term of legal art,
and schools may consider foreseeability of disruption. Um, and so this language is also in other policy, school board policies, in the student discipline suite. Okay. All right. Then we'll, we'll move on. The next comment from MSAC, applies to lines fifty-six through sixty-four, which is section B1 of the newly revised or the, the new policy sixty-three thirty. Section B1 is in regards to
distribution of political materials on election days. The comment from MSAC is that the wording allows an individual to be approached and does not allow for accountability if this section is not followed, and the recommendation from MSAC was that we add wording, something similar to, "A person may not be approached. Material may not be-- may only be distributed if the person approaches and requests such materials. Individuals, companies, organizations who violate the provisions of this section shall be subject to the provisions of School Board Policy sixty-six
twenty." In response, lines fifty-six to sixty-four pertain to election days, which generally are non-school days, and the officials who are in charge of the polling would be responsible for generally anything that's occurring relative to the posting of political signs or, you know, they're-- wherever the polling place is, whether it's a school, a church, a community center, there, the rules apply as to what politicians can and cannot do with the electorate as they're approaching to, to cast their vote. So accordingly, we're not recommending any changes
to lines fifty-six to sixty-four since that section is pertinent to B1 election days, which generally are not school days. Any questions from the board members about that feedback? Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, you're just gonna run through these, and then we can, discuss them again, if that's okay. I mean, I don't need to ask questions right now. I just wanna hear- Okay. -everything that's in front of you. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that we were providing a fulsome update to the board on- Mm-hmm. -the feedback that you received since you last met.
And then after-- Uh, my plan is after we provide the feedback, you all then would discuss the feedback and your own thoughts about what you wanna do with this policy. Um, yeah. I mean, I'm thinking maybe we'd go through each one, possibly. Um, but thank you. Uh, continue. Thank you. Okay. Well, we're getting to the, to the humdinger, which is the section where I think is where this, this committee, the previous LA&P and, and all the other committees that have taken this up have really contemplated the most, in my estimation, from the comments I've heard from board members, both at committee level and in the full board, and that's
at lines eighty-one to ninety-two, which is section B3, which is distribution of political materials on back-to-school nights and during school open houses. The comment from MSAC is that these events should be focused on parents and students, and there should not be distractions with political materials being distributed, with the recommendation that this policy be updated to not allow for political materials to be distributed or posted at back-to-school nights or during open houses. In response, I would say, relative to section B3, lines eighty-one to
ninety-two, that entire paragraph was added by your predecessors, the previous LA&P, by a motion made by a member of the committee. It was not recommended by the administration that we include that section in the policy. So consistent with the recommendation from MSAC, the recommendation from the administration is that section B3 be struck in its entirety. We, we had never recommended that it be included in the first place. So, other than MSAC, we did have, comments from several,
three to be specific, three individuals who took the time to, follow the link and provide their, their own comment. The first comment, as projected on the screen here, was from an individual who's in favor of individuals being able to attend back-to-school night and open houses, with the rationale being that Civics Education Week in Virginia, occurs in the month of September. September seventeenth is Constitution and Citizenship Day. It's the time of year when most back-to-school nights occur
and that this is an opportunity for civic engagement with parents at back-to-school nights about local election information, and it's an educational opportunity. So I, I would read that as they are in favor of section B3 as it was amended into the policy. To the contrary, another individual who identified themself as the LEAP representative for Eagle Ridge Middle School says, um-serving on the PTA board and helping at back to school nights, I do not hesitate when I say the distribution of campaign materials at our back to school night borders on harassment if not crosses the line.
Our community is diverse and many of our families do not know what or why they are being handed materials. They believe it is school related. They only-- they enter the event with confusion and frustration, which is a distraction to the purpose of back to school night. And they go on to make further comments, but I, I stopped, there, to signify their staunch, support of removing B3 or not including that in the policy. And then the last, and third comment that we received, was from a student. And, as indicated on this slide, the student says that, "I
strongly urge you to vote against this policy. As a student organizer of the Broad Run High School Against ICE walkout, the ability to distribute flyers was essential to our campaign. Restricting students' rights to protest, speak up, talk, pass things amongst ourselves clearly violates our First Amendment rights. Students have voices and rights too, even within instructional time. While I understand not allowing posting of materials is not the business of the school, what is passed between students? We are also required to take U.S. government and political participation, and advocacy is taught to be a civic responsibility.
Allow us to exercise our rights and display our interest in causes that are important to us." In response, the administration would point this student and all students to Policy 8273, Student Speech and Expression, which was last revised in September of twenty twenty-four. And I'll read as indicated on the screen, "Students have the right to freedom of speech and expression during instructional and non-instructional time, both inside and outside classrooms or other areas where instruction is occurring. Such freedom of speech includes oral and written communication, student advocacy
for social or political causes, and communications in different formats, such as in publications, on clothing, or through electronic digital social media. This right does not extend to or include speech or other expressive conduct that violates Policy 8210, Introduction to Student Discipline, and/or that leads to or is likely to lead to substantial disruption or material interference with instructional time, school activities, or an invasion on the rights of others." So, in response to this comment, the administration's recommendation is that we would footnote into this policy, Policy
8273, Student Speech and Expression. That is all the feedback that we received, and I will pause here and turn it back over to the committee for further discussion about this policy. Thank you, Dr. Bergen. I really appreciate the presentation, especially the format. As we discussed, I think it's really helpful to see kind of, comment by comment, feedback by feedback, what our-- what the administrative response is and to talk through it in this, this way. So I appreciate you all taking the time to put that together. Um, I'll open the floor to my colleagues for any comments they may have. Yes, Ms.
Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. And by the way, thank you so much for bringing this back. I really appreciate it. I think it's, you know, a lot of discussion still needs to be had. Um, I think I, I, I think on B3 you did say, Dr. Bergen, that a recommendation was to strike it out, B3. Is that, is that correct? I thought that was what you said. Yeah. When, when the administration brought sixty-three thirty, as a new policy to the previous LAMP board, that section was not in the recommendation of the
administration. Um, like the individual who identified themselves as part of LEAF, we regularly, as we've reported out to the board and to the previous committee, we regularly hear s-very similar comments from other schools that there are, in, in my words, bad actors, people who do not, uh... E-even though they were told in advance by, Mr. Sutton, they were reminded on-- while they were at the property, "Stay forty feet away, don't approach people, be respectful," they don't follow those instructions, and they enter the
school, they approach people, and, people don't want to be approached. They came to back-to-school night or open house to meet their child's teacher. They're not there to interact with people running for political office, whoever those people are, whatever party they may belong to. And so our recommendation, from the administration is that we do not allow for the distribution of political materials during instructional time. And back-to-school nights and open houses are part of the school division's mission. We sponsor those events so that parents can come and meet their child's teacher.
I, I, I just feel that it's critical, for candidate-- There's a big difference between elected officials and candidates. Um, elected officials are able to, you know, make appointments and be in the school, and, candidates have to work a little bit harder to, meet parents and speak to parents. So I think, you know, per what you were saying, I, I don't think that B3 should be on here and should be taken out, for the simple reason that, it's just some-- it's just a common thing
that candidates do to get to, to meet parents and, you know, chat with them. I mean, regarding the school board, I'm not talking about all political candidates. Um, but for all polit-political candidates, it would be to try and meet constituents. Um, who is going to enforce, sayings-- staying stationary forty-- at forty feet and, you know, if the person moves, who's going to enforce that? I, I feel like that's a lot of pressure on the principals. Um, my thought is, maybe putting
signs that say, "Stay forty feet back," and be more clear, you know, with tape or something. Um, I just, I just don't feel like it's fair for candidates that, are running to be stationary or, you know, all the way back and not be able to speak to people orhand out, materials. I think they should be able to do that. This is probably one of the only times they can during a, a back to school night to get to meet all the parents in their districts.
So, that's just my thought there, and I, I, I'm sure we'll have further discussion on that and other items. Thank you. Yes, Dr. Rasheed. Thank you, Chair. Um, just for clarity, B3, in the red line copy is currently not struck out. That's correct. Okay. It was... We brought the policy back the, as it had been presented to the full school board who sent it to this committee because the full school board received the red line version as it was delivered out of LA and P- Like this ... your predecessor.
Gotcha. And your predecessors at this committee level inserted B3. Uh, during the, their final meeting, it was a motion by one of the members of LA and P to include that language. Am I, am I speaking to your recollection as well? That's what I recall. Okay. So the previous committee, voted to keep B, keep B3 in place as it is in the red line copy. Yes, ma'am. They- They all- During their meeting, they inserted it in during their meeting and then voted it out of committee to go to the full school board with
B3 intact. Only for it to get sent back. Only for it to get sent back- I'm just trying to remember. Okay ... because, to, to your comments and to the comments from the community, it's split. Um, I've heard comments from board members in, in both directions that it should be and it shouldn't be included, and that's why, I think it's worthy of the discussion we're having. Okay. And then the recommendation is, whi-which we had on that slide there, was to strike it. Admin recommends that they strike B3 out or keep B3? Yeah, rec- yes. The recommendation of the administration, in keeping with the comment we received from the
one individual who, who identified themselves as a representative of LEAF, we never included it in 6330 as an administration because we have heard from multiple school sites very similarly that it is difficult to manage. Uh, you tell people to stay forty feet away. You tell them to stay stationary. We tell them in advance, and we tell them at the event. They still do it. So if we just say there's no distribution of political materials, during instructional days to include back-to-school nights and open houses, then we don't have to police it 'cause it won't be happening 'cause it won't be
permitted. Thank you for that clarification. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. Um, I think on, on this piece of the policy, I have been struggling with this as well, as I think most of my colleagues are split because we can all appreciate that, it is helpful as a candidate, to speak with parents. And I think, you know, I can speak for, for hopefully all of our c- my colleagues that we would do so in a respectful manner and, and approach parents that wish to be approached and talk about the issues. Um, but I, I also understand that, you know, this
is... When we have back-to-school night, it's not a public event that's open to the full community. It's specifically for parents. We're not inviting, just anyone to the sc- to come to the schools that evening. It's, it has an academic purpose, just for the folks in that school community, the parents of the students at that particular school. And, I understand how it distracts from that purpose. And I think the, the comment from the LEAF representative that some of the comment also shared some remarks from the principal at Eagle Ridge Middle School, who described what he has to do each back-to-school night,
when he, when inevitably he has frustrated parents, and that's usually kind of the kickoff. The start of his back-to-school night is trying to calm down parents and explain what's happened and what materials they've received, which obviously is, is not a, a great way to, to kick off that event. And I, you know, I, I am someone who has been a, a political organizer before, a field organizer. I, you know, have canvassed before. Um, I, you know, may be a bit unique. I enjoy it, but I understand not everyone likes to, to canvass themselves or be approached. Um, and I think that there are lots of
opportunities during the campaign season for candidates to interact with the community through forums, that are put on by, well, organizations, that, are, d- by community organizations, by door knocking, by, by making phone calls, by high traffic canvassing at, at public locations. And kind of weighing all the feedback that, that I've been hearing, I would err on the side of striking B3, just because, as I said at the beginning, this is not a public event. There are public events where candidates can engage
with parents. And, you know, I would hope in the absence of these back-to-school night opportunities that there might be, parent organizations, student organizations that might host candidates, more frequently so that parents can come with the expectation that they're about to be inundated with politics, and, and do so on their own terms as opposed to it being during the, the back-to-school night. So I am planning to introduce an amendment to strike, B3, and I'm happy to do that now so then we can continue having the discussion. Um, I will just say that it, it has been something that I've thought a lot about
and have talked to our colleagues who were previously on LA and P, and I know they all were internally conflicted as well because it is a, a challenging issue. Um, but th-this is kind of where I, where I come down on it. So I will, at this time, make a moti- make a move to amend policy 6330 by striking section B3 in its entirety. Do I have a second? Yeah, second. And now I'll open up to discussion on that, on that amendment. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, so basically taking the whole thing out
would mean that, you know, because it does say here we may be able to hand out information, but forty feet away stationary. So does, d-does it-completely take out that we're able to hand out information. Yes, it would say that you would not be able to hand out information at that, that event. I, I think that completely strict- restricts, candidates and elected officials too if they wanted to do that as well. Um, so I'm in disagreement with that. Um, I don't think it should be...
I think it could be amended. Um, personally, I, I think that, we should be able to hand out information. Um, I understand it's hard to enforce, the 40 feet away, but, taking out the whole thing, I don't think should be done. Um, I think we should be allowed to handle- to hand out, information, to, to our constituents at the, our district schools. So is there some way we can rework this
without taking it a- completely out? Um, I'll, I'll hand it over to Dr. Rasheed. I think you had a comment. I just wanted to piggyback off Mrs. Griffith's, suggestion. I wanted to ask what LCPS's suggestion was on that slide as it pertains to any replacement, or was LCPS saying just take the whole thing out? Just take the whole thing out? Ye- we, we were never advocating for it to be included- Okay ... when we, when we brought 6330 to the previous committee. Okay. Okay, thank you for that. I, I think that, I, I definitely appreciate Ms, Ms.
Griffith's comments on this. I, I think it's a, it's a, it's a tough issue, but I think the issue is there's no way to properly enforce this. We don't have the staff or resources to ensure that folks are complying. So I think in the absence of a, a huge effort at each of our schools, every back to school night or open house, I, I think the better option is just to, to take it out entirely. And again, I think that inc- have other opportunities that are not on the s- on the school property for our candidates to engage, with,
with constituents, including parents, whether that is door knocking, phone calls, candidate forums. Um, and again, as I said, I would hope that in the absence of the parents seeing, all our candidate faces at back to school night, that there might be more, more candidate forums organized by, by, organizations th- connected to schools so that they can introduce the community to the candidates and hear from them. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, I, I am conflicted, but I will tell you that we
are school board members. Um, and school board members should be able to meet, their, their potential constituents. Um, so I have a real-- I do have a problem with striking this out because I feel like this con- restricts us completely. Um, and, and you were just elected. Some of us will be running again in two years. So, please understand that, and if you decide to run again in four years, you will not be able to do much at a school. Um, we're school board members.
We're not gonna be able to do much at a school to, speak to the parents. So I, I, I disagree, with taking it completely out. My suggestion was to do a little bit more, as far as adding signs, outside, stay back 40 feet. I've never, I've never seen that before. Um, or put, as I mentioned, put some kinda tape restricting, people to, you know, so they can't cross a particular line. But taking it all out, I'm not sure that I agree with that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. Dr. Rasheed? Thank you, Chair. And, I'd like to piggyback off what Mrs. Griffiths had mentioned, and I, I think it's a pretty good point. Um, so at back to school night, do, at the actual event itself inside the school, do parents or the administration there or the principals there, whoever is attending there, do they have an opportunity or do they want to talk to, like for example, the school board rep of that school? Does that ever happen? Is that ever part of an agenda? If you'll recall, that's why we do the school board videos for the back to school
nights. Sure. Um, so the, the board members are able to record those videos, and the principal at the school shows those videos- Like an introduction ... at the beginning of the program. I see. Okay. All right. Thank you for that clarification. If, if I- And, and to clarify, that would be in like our official capacity as school board members in terms of like the substance of the school board work and not, not campaigning? Correct. Correct. Yes. That's not campaigning related. So this is elected school board members versus candidates, yes. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um,
and, and, and with that, you know, some school board members do attend, back to school nights just in case parents do have questions. I myself, have done a couple as an elected official just to, meet with parents and see if they had any issues. So, if you think about it, you have the elected fish, official inside and then the candidate outside, and that's not, that's not very fair, right? Um, and then with B3, you'd be taking it out completely, so, so the candidate doesn't even have a chance to,
present themselves to the parents. Um, so that's something else I just wanted to add because a lot of times at these back to school nights, even though there is a video, they'd still like to sometimes meet the school board member, and they appreciate if that school board member is there. And, you know, whether they're outside, inside, you know, I'm elected already, so I've been inside chatting with parents on back to school night just, you know, checking to see if there were concerns. So I, I, I think this is a, you
know, um-A very sticky situation that we're getting ourselves into. Um, so- Can I just clarify real quick- Oh, yeah, sure ... based on what you're talking about? Um, what you're speaking about related to being an elected official and getting concerns from, from parents as their elected official is different than campaigning or, you know, presenting political materials to parents on back to school nights. So just to clarify kind of that. Um, thank you for that clarification. But I, I, but I still think that it could come across because that person might be
running again as well at the same time that they're campaigning. Um, it could be misconstrued that way. Um, so there is confusion there. Um, are they meeting with the parents? Are they campaigning? Now, I've done a couple, back to school nights where I actually go to speak to the parents and introduce myself and chat with them as an elected official. Um, however, you know, it could be misconstrued. Uh, the optics could look like that person is allowed in the school and then, the candidate has no chance
of, meeting the parents. So it's, it's a very sticky subject, and I, I'm h- I'm hoping we can figure something out, and not completely strike it out, strike B3, where we can't hand out or, or the candidates can't hand out materials. Thank you. Great. Um, thank you everyone for the, the comments. I think that in the interest of moving the issue forward, maybe we'll take a vote on the amendment now. And, yes, and I can certainly clarify the amendment, and
then, and then we can move forward to other parts of the policy. So, I will rephrase the, or restate the amendment. So the amendment is, um... Yes, this is, this is my amendment to move to s- move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by striking section B3. Um, so, with that, we'll, we'll take a vote. Um, let's see. I- Um, oh, s- and- I see a Dr. Rasheed. I believe you seconded the motion. Yes. Oh, yes, sorry. Yes. I knew if you signed- Yes, yes. And, and, and I think, I think you, Dr.
Rasheed, you seconded, previously. Yeah, second. Second. Uh, so yeah, so thank you for the reminder. Uh, the motion was introduced by, by myself, and, has been seconded by Dr. Rasheed. Um, and so with that, I'll take a, I guess, a voice vote, here. So, starting with Dr. Rasheed. Oh, yeah. My vote is yes. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. My vote is yes. Ms. Griffiths? Uh, my vote is no, but I o- Am I allowed to make another suggestion? Um, well, I think we'll have to-- We'll close out this, uh- Okay ... amendment- Okay ... and then you're welcome to-
All right ... to introduce something. So no. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. So with that, the amendment passes two to one with Dr. Rasheed and myself voting in favor and Ms. Griffiths voting no. All right. Um, do we ha- So we're back to the, the base motion on policy sixty-three thirty. Um, I know there were a few other issues I wanted to, to cover here. Um, but, Ms. Griffiths, did you-- Were there any other, amendments related to this section of the policy?
Well, regarding B3, you, you have voted to strike it out, but, is it possible to put into the policy, candidates are allowed to be there, but not political parties? Meaning that a candidate can be at a location, but maybe the political parties are not. Um, I think that it probably is... Is there an amendment that you have to offer at this time? It would be a- an amendment. Um, I just wanted to do
a temperature check to see how you both felt about that. I think that it would be-- I, I, I guess I'll speak for myself that it would be di- difficult, I think, to distinguish between the candidate and political party if there are volunteers for that candidate. Um, so I, I would not be in favor of that. I think it, it ki- The purpose for me of d- of deleting B3 is to kind of preserve the, the back to school night being the focus on the parents and not on the campaign. And if I may say, one more thing, the political parties
or the candidates, they do bring calendars that they give out, to the parents. So none of that, no longer doing that is what you're saying. So completely striking out any chance of any candidates, meeting the parents and, and not-- no materials, so no calendars or anything. The school division provides calendars for parents. So w- w- they're on our website, we distribute them. Mm-hmm. Any materials that parents need to know about the operation of the school division they receive from the school.
Well, I think it was something the political parties did. So that's completely striked out, stri- taken out. Yes, that's right. Okay. All right. Um, I wanted to move to addre- to address a different topic in, within the policy. So I really appreciated the, the student who, submitted their, their feedback. And I, I agree when I was reading the policy. I think that it's important that it-- So this policy is intended to focus on, folks who are outside the school community.
So not the students, not the employees. And I think that it's important that we clarify that th- this policy concerns those, those outside entities, and there are separate policies that govern, student expression, and, and, and staff, staff participation in, in political activities. So I, move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by striking lines three to four and inserting the following paragraph at the beginning of the policy before section A.The Loudoun County School
Board seeks to minimize intrusions on school operations with respect to the distribution of information and materials, as well as posting within schools, on school grounds, or during school-sponsored events by individuals that are not LCPS students or employees. Accordingly, this policy establishes applicable parameters for that purpose. This policy does not relate to student speech and expression, which continues to be governed by Policy eighty-two seventy-three and its accompanying regulations, nor does it relate to employees' participation in political activities, which continues to be governed by Policy seventy-five
twenty-four. I'll speak to the amendment briefly, just that, that this is intended to clarify the purpose of the policy, and set out that these are parameters that, apply to folks that aren't students or staff, because I, I appreciate, the, the need for that clarity following the public input. So I-- with that, I'll open, the floor. Any discussions, I'm happy to send that language, to, to both of you, so you can see it in writing, bef- now, and then in the future, I will endeavor to have this
posted on BoardDocs, before. And, and to that end, it-- on a little inside baseball, I've moved up the planning meetings for, with administration ahead of these so that we can have time to develop some of these, these changes, so you all can have the benefit of seeing that on BoardDocs ahead of time. So, with that, I'll, I'll open the floor, and I'll just, send you all this text so you can see it. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svendsen. So basically, you s- Oh, sorry. Do we have a second for the motion or the amendment? Uh, second. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. Uh, yes, Ms. Griffiths.
Um, you said lines three to four. So you're removing from the red line or the clean? I'm just trying to... So I, I believe, and s- staff, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe the red line and the clean are the same, because it's a new policy. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yes. But you're removing those two lines, and you're adding all that other information. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I'd probably ask you to repeat it again or- Sure. You know, send it to me now, now if you can. Yes, I've just sent that, over, over Teams, so you all can see it in writing. Um, I'm happy to, to read it again if that's
helpful. So this, this incorporates some of the, some of the language that were-- it was on lines three to four, but just builds it out a little bit for, for clarity, just to say that we're not, we're not changing other policies that govern students and staff. This is related to, to outside, individuals and groups. Can you send it to us again? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mr. Svendsen? Yes. Um, just to as-assist staff in managing the amendment, could you, kindly send it by Teams
to, staff? Marie can display it on the screen if you send it to her. She can access it- That's perfect. Thank you ... and stick it up for also everyone in the room and to, Mr. Allen, so he can just review it for his legal lens. W- that would be helpful and appreciated. Yes, Dr. Rashid. Thank you, Chair. And based on your amendment, are, are you saying you can't distribute, p- like pamphlets, like non-LCPS related events or pamphlets
that relate to that, or brochures or any material? Is, is that what this is kind of going towards? So this is just clarifying that all the things that are within Policy sixty-three thirty are aimed at, are not aimed at students or employees because they're governed by separate policies. So the requirements, restrictions, authorizations, that are in sixty-three thirty apply to, to, not, do not apply to students or, staff. Okay. Thank you.
Is there further discussion on the amendment? Um, it's not intended to be, a substantive change, but rather,
instead of just having like the cross-references at the end of the policy to just spell out at the front, what the policy's purpose is. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svendsen. Um, I think it's, I think it's vague. Um, when you say, let's say, "Minimize intrusions on school operations with respect to the distribution of information and materials, as well as posting within schools," you already took out B3. So I'm just trying to understand, on school grounds or during school-sponsored events.
So, you know, it may not be political. It, it could be anything. It could be, you know, promoting a, a football game or, you know, a band competition. I mean, I, I don't think the verbiage here works, um-If, a-and if you could elaborate on that because it doesn't look to me like that would work, because then it's sort of saying you can't do anything at all. Um, well, Ms. Griffiths, I just would point you to section A of the
policy because that kind of outlines- Minimizing- Which- Minimizing intrusions. Yeah, yeah. So I would... So to section one, so the requests from the organizations and entities that are spelled out in section one, they can get authorization from the principal, at the school, or if it's not a school, the building administrator. Um, and, those are the organizations that could get authorization to distribute materials, and that would be subject to the, the guidelines that are in this policy. Um, and so that's, that's kind of...
Th-that's the basis for the policy that we're, we're putting forward, this, these, these guide- this guidelines, these requirements for the distr-distribution of, of information and materials overall. Is there any further questions or comments on the amendment? Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Just that I feel it's, it's some more verbiage, that you can't do anything. Um, th-that, that's how it reads to me. Um, so those are just my thoughts. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. Um, all right, at this time, I will-- Well, we can, if
there are no further comments, we can vote on the, vote on the amendment. Um, happy to restate it. Um, so I move to amend policy 6330 by striking lines three to four and inserting the following paragraph at the beginning of the policy before section A. The Loudoun County School Board seeks to minimize intrusions on school operations with respect to the distribution of information materials, as well as posting within schools, on school grounds, or during school-sponsored events by individuals that are not LCPS students or employees. Accordingly, this policy establishes applicable parameters for that purpose.
This policy does not relate to student speech and expression, which continues to be governed by policy 8273 and its accompanying regulation, nor does it relate to employees' participation in political activities, which continues to be governed by policy 7524. Um, and with that, I will do a voice vote. Uh, I introduced the amendment, Dr. Rashid seconded, and I'll go to Dr. Rashid. Uh, my vote is yes. My vote is yes. Did I say? No. Thank you. The motion-- the amendment passes two to one, with
Dr. Rashid and myself voting in favor and Ms. Griffiths voting no. Okay. Um, have a technical... Yeah. The, the tech-technical, amendment to introduce here, because there's, there's a typo on line twelve. I move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by replacing the word educational on line twelve with education. And I'm- The word education- And I am introducing this amendment because it's-- the, the name of the
organization is the Loudoun Education Foundation and not the Loudoun Educational Foundation. Is there, are there any, is there any discussion on this amendment? Second. No s- Second. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. The am- Second. Yeah, the amendment has been seconded by Dr. Rashid. Um, any discussion on the amendment? Okay. We'll, we'll vote on the amendment now. Um, so Dr. Rashid? Who's first? Yes. I vote yes. Ms. Griffiths? Yes. Thank you. The vote passes three to zero with all school board members voting in
favor of the amendment. All right. Um... Then I wanted to raise an additional-- This is something that we discussed at the last meeting, when it was an information item, the-- when policy sixty-two thirty was an information item. We discussed that, the Loudoun Education Association is not spelled out in section A one of the policy, but that the, collective bargaining
agreement would, would supersede any, s- policy in terms of, whether LEA would or would not be allowed to distribute materials. So I, wanna include some language in the policy just to make that clear for the reader. Um, this, this would be the case, whether we include the language or not because the collective bargaining agreement supersedes the, the language of the policy. But I would like to move, that the committee amend the proposed version of policy sixty-three thirty to insert the following language as a new section A
two to begin on line, which is currently line twenty-seven, and renumber the subsequent sections of section A as A three, A four, and A five respectively. Following language is, "Requests that are received from the Loudoun Education Association or other exclusive bargaining representatives will be governed and addressed in accordance with the school board's resolution providing for collective bargaining and/or respective collective bargaining agreements." Do I have a second for that amendment? Um, second. Yes.
I will send that right now. Okay, thank you. Um, all right. I will send that first to Marie so she can display that. Then I will send it to Dr. Rashid and Ms. Griffiths.
Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Um, thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, this is requests to put materials or re-requests to enter the school. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that? Um, yes. So this is in section A, concerning the distribution of information and materials. So this would be requests to distribute information or materials. Yes, Dr. Rashid. Also, in addition, are you, eliminating number two or? No, it's just-- it's renumbering. Okay. So it's going in- So it's going down. Um, it will be the new number two, and what's currently number two will be number three, and so
forth. Any further comments, questions? All right. Uh, we'll move to a vote. Uh, I introduced the, the motion, and Dr. Rashid has seconded. Um, Dr. Rashid, how do you vote? Yes. I vote yes. No. The motion passes two to one, with Dr. Rashid and myself voting in favor and Ms. Griffiths voting no. All right, thank you. Um, all right. I would ask now, staff, could you display the proposed amendment, to line eight, addressing the concern about the
ambiguity of principal and school building administrator? That was on the slide previously. From the, from the feedback? Yes, please. Yeah. So, sure. So Marie, thank you. Uh, it was MSAC feedback relative to line eight, if you go back to the beginning of this presentation. Keep going. Yep. It'd be the very first MSAC recommendation. Yep. There. Go down one. Yep. So the administrative response, if you scroll down, Marie, the
administrative response is that we would amend the end of line eight to say, "May be approved upon authorization of the building principal or designee or the building administrator at non-school sites." Oh, I'm sorry. That's not my motion. That was our recommendation as the administration. If you'd like to take that up as a motion, I'd believe that. Yes. Thank you. Um, yes, I'm, I'm happy to introduce that motion. So I move to amend policy sixty-three thirty, by, replacing language on, lines, s- seven to eight.
Um, so it's replacing the current language that reads, "May be approved upon authorization of a principal or LCPS building administrator," and replacing that with the following language, "May be approved upon authorization of the building principal or designee or the building administrator at non-school sites." Do I have a second for that motion? Second. Thank you. Dr. Rashid has second, and the motion is on the floor now. Uh, any comments or- This is this. Oh, yes. Uh, well, I think I, I just read from the-
Oh, okay ... the slide. Okay. Any comments on this one? This is to remove the ambiguity that MSAC raised, which, which I agree with, in that sentence. If no comments on the amendment, we will move to vote. Um, I, introduced the motion, and Dr. Rashid seconded. So, Dr. Rashid, how do you vote?
Yes. I vote yes. Ms. Griffiths? No. The motion passes two to one, with Dr. Rashid and myself voting in favor and Ms. Griffiths voting no. Okay.
So one piece of feedback that was introduced by MSAC that I, I didn't see on the slides related to disclosure when material was generated by artificial intelligence, which I thought was a, a valuable piece of feedback. Um, we already have a, disclosure requirement in the proposed policy, and in lines thirty-three to thirty-four. Um, and so I'm-- will be moving-- so I, at this time, I move to amend policy
sixty-three thirty by inserting the following paragraph after section A13, what is currently A13, on our papers, to read, to... So I move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by inserting the following paragraph after section, section A13, which will becomeI think four as, as currently here, but I think we've added something in between. So, I, I think based on a prior amendment, it will be number five, but if you're looking at the current
proposed policy, it's number four. Um, I w-- The language would read, "Information and materials that are approved for distribution and are generated by artificial intelligence, whether in whole or in part, must include the following statement, quote, 'These materials contain content generated using artificial intelligence.' End quote." Do I have a second for that motion? Second. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. Um, I would open the floor to, to comments on that. Okay. If no, we'll, we'll move to a vote.
Uh, the motion is introduced by myself, seconded by Dr. Rashid. Dr. Rashid, how do you vote? Yes. I vote yes. Yes. Thank you. The motion passes unanimously with all three school board members present voting yes. Um, okay. And then, yes, Ms. Griffiths, you have an amendment you wanna put on the floor. And while we're reading it, Ms. Griffiths, do you wanna, m-m-move-- make, make the motion? Yeah. I move to amend policy sixty-three thirty,
with an amendment as far as, lines-- section D, lines, a hundred to a hundred and four. Um, elected... And this is off the red line that we had. Um, elected officials seeking to visit, during any LCPS-sponsored activities as defined in policy eighty twenty, relations with school support organizations should contact the LCPS coordinator and government relations to, efficiently coordinate such visits and minimize disruption of activities. Proposed language of section D replacement would
be, elected officials se-- elected officials seeking to visit during any LCPS-sponsored activities as defined in policy eighty twenty, relations with school support organizations may coordinate directly with the relevant school principal. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. Um, do we have a second for the motion? I will second the motion. Um, and then, or we'll open the... And, and Ms. Griffiths, would, would you like to speak to your motion? Yes. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, section D, as currently written,
routes elected official school visits through the LCPS coordinator of government relations, an administrative employee under the authority of the superintendent. This structure gives the administration effective gatekeeping authority over the movements of elected school board members, inverting the proper oversight and relationship between the school-- between the board and the administrative staff it supervises. Elected officials have both a right and a responsibility to visit schools. Conditioning those visits on administrative coordination is
inconsistent with the board's oversight role and creates unnecessary bureautic-- bureaucratic friction. Uh, direct coordination with principals who manage day-to-day school operations is appropriat-appropriate and efficient w- channel to, to use. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. Um, I had a question for staff on this. When, in the policy it says elected officials, are school board members, contemplated, included in, as elected officials in this?
Thank you. Uh, I can answer the question, hopefully. Um, no. Uh, generally, school board members who want to visit schools, absolutely, make their own arrangements to do that with, with the, members of the, the school sta- or the principals. Um, I, I think what, I think what this is speaking to i, is the fact that traditionally, el-elected officials, y- you know, in some cases members of Congress, state deleg- members of our
state delegation, what they'll do is maybe they don't know what the process is. Maybe, they don't want to, interfere with the flow of the, of the, of the school day. Um, maybe they don't know what the flow of the school day is. Or, or, or maybe they'll just call the principal, and the principal will feel obligated to make arrangements to let somebody, visit, which under normal circumstances would be more than would be welcome.
Um, but maybe they're hesitant to deny someone, an opportunity to visit their school, especially like during SOLs and testing and, and things like that. So the reason that I think that this, this, this works is because it allows, it allows the opportunity to, create an avenue with, with which people who don't normally go into our buildings on a day-to-day basis or a week-to-week basis, something like that, especially, our elected school board members, allows them the opportunity to, to create a really, a really,
clear and scheduled, you know, opportunity for them. It's, it's, it's really about convenience for everybody. Thank you. Um, further comments, Ms. Dr. Rasheed? So the amendment is what you were, Mr. Sutton, you were pertaining to the... Not originally what's in the red line, you're just saying it, it provides more clarification? So, uh- Mrs. Griff- I thought you were talking in reference to Mrs. Griffith's amendment, or the tr- the red line copy as it states. I, I assume Mrs. Griffith, and I, and I'll ask her to, to, to, to repeat, her, her concern was that it inhi- inhibits the ability of school
board members to go into buildings, and that it inhibits the ability of school board members to, establish and maintain relationships with, principals and, and, and members of our school community. I'm saying that, that's, that's not my understanding of this. School board members can, can do or not do, visit schools at, at their... And they, and you do. Mm-hmm. Right, right. Um, you certainly don't, you certainly don't ask anybody's permission up on, on the second floor to do that, so. Okay.
Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, I, I think in reference to this, amendment, there are, some principals that, feel like they have to, you know, they can't just speak to you, they have to go through the administration, to schedule something. And I was trying to avoid that because a lot of principals are nervous, about scheduling with a board member. Um, several have told me that, that they were told not to, schedule directly. So that is what this
amendment's about. So I'm gonna move to introduce a substitute amendment, and Mr. Allen, please, let me know if I am not following the proper procedures to do this as I go. Um, but I move to amend, lines 100, to 104 to read as follows: "Elected officials, not including school board mem- Loudoun County, not including Loudoun County School Board members seeking to visit during any LCPS-sponsored activities as defined in Policy
8020, Relations With School S- Support Organizations, should contact the LCPS coordinator for government relations to officially coordinate such visits and minimize disruption to such activities." And for clarity, the language not, not including Loudoun County, School Board members is in, is contained within commas. Um, do I have a second for that substitute motion? I mean, I, I'm about to second it, but then I don't... What happens to Mrs. Griffith's initial m- motion? Or was that a... Well, I'm a little lost.
If I... Something wrong with this today. Um, if I may, that does pr- provide a little more clarity. It's, it's really, clarifying that school board members shouldn't have an issue per the policy. Uh, but other, maybe other elected officials might have to go through somebody else. Um, it was a concern for me as a school board member, I would reach out to people and find out later, "Well, I can't talk to you directly." Um, so this would clarify they can talk to us directly. So, I, I think your amendment to that is, is, i- is good.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think we still need a second for the substitute amendment. Um- Second. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. So the substitute amend- motion has been seconded. Um, so, I believe if there are no... I think that addresses the concern about- Yes ... what this, this language could mean. Um, so if there are no further comments on it, we can vote on the, on the substitute. Um, and then Mr. Allen, once we vote on the substitute, will we, will we need to vote on the original, or is it just taken care of since we've substituted?
Thank you, Chair Svenson. If the substitute motion passes, then that makes the, amendment that Mrs. Griffiths raised moot, so you would not need to take a another vote. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Allen. All right, with that, we will vote on the substitute, amendment. Uh, Dr. Rasheed? Yes. Yes. I vote yes. Yes. Thank you. Um, the substitute, motion amendment, passes unanimously three to zero, with all school board members present voting in favor.
All right. I appreciate that we're past 6:00 o'clock now, but I, I- this is a complex policy with lots, eh, of, of sections, so I, appreciate that we're taking the time to go through it, and I appreciate that it was sent back to us and that we, are, are doing, I think some important work to, to clarify the policy. Okay. Could staff, present the slides again just to see... I think there were, in addition to the, the amendment we've
already done on line eight, there may have been some other, suggested amendments in response to public feedback. I just wanna make sure that we've covered those. Okay. Um, I, understand, staff's position on, the feedback about, lines, uh-42 and 43. Um, but I think that it's worth
clarifying what the ambiguity that MSACS identified with respect to the term political cause. I agree that, could really be lots, lots of things. Um, so I-- and I understand we have that language further-- language that clarifies it further below, but I, I'm going to now, right now, move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by revising lines forty-two to forty-three to read as follows. So this is, currently, the copy we have. This is
A4B. Um, that's going to read now, "Advocate for or against, one, the election or defeat of any political candidate; two, the passage or defeat of any ballot referendum question; or three, the passage or defeat of any matter pending before the school board, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the Virginia General Assembly, or the United States Congress." Do I have a second for that motion? Second. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. I now open the floor for
comments on the amendment. Yes. Um, in the items that you had mentioned, I, I don't have it in front of me, but something about you said you itemized it. Like, you said a couple of things. Did you wanna add and, or could you be both at the same time? 'Cause I, I couldn't... I did-- I didn't catch the details that fast. Um, it's a good question. The current language we have further below in B2, where, where this, language comes from, uses the term or.
But you could be doing multiple. Yeah. Yeah. Grammar. Thank you. I don't know if, Mr. Allen has a thought about changing it to and, or. Thank you, Chair Swenson. I think the or gives flexibility. If it's any one of those independently, it would be, prohibited, and if it was multiple of those, it'd be prohibited. So I, I think the or captures that, but I understand your point.
Thank you. And just for clarification, I should say that, the language in, currently in B3 is slightly different. What, what-- The language that I added was just for clarification. In front of the word referendum, I added the word ballot to clarify what, what type of referendum we're talking about. And before General Assembly, I added the word Virginia, and before Congress, I added the words United States. Um, so that in... So that's-- My current amendment has that language, but otherwise it tracks the, the language that's in the
policy. Any further comments? Okay. I just have a clarifying question. Yeah. Yeah. So the language as it, prior to your amendment that is in the red line version at lines seventy-four through seventy-nine, your, your amendment would move very similar language to be repeated at lines forty-two and forty-three? Yes. Okay. Would you also then, for consistency, want us to track those same
changes in lines seventy-four through seventy-nine to insert, for instance- Yes. -United States before Congress? Yes. Okay. I'm happy to... Should I introduce that as a separate motion, Mr. Allen, or... Because I can do a substitute motion and put it all in one. I think for clarity of the record, thank you, Chair Swenson, you can do a substitute motion to put it all in one. All right. I'll do that. Um, I move to, introdu- to introduce a substitute motion at this time. Um, so I move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by
revising lines forty-two through forty-three to read as follows: "Advocate for or against, one, the election or defeat of any political candidate; two, the passage or defeat of any ballot referendum question; or three, the passage or defeat of any matter pending before the school board, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the Virginia General Assembly, or the United States Congress." Further, I move to amend policy sixty-three thirty by revising lines seventy-four to seventy-seven, to conform with the language in, to be introduced in lines forty-two to
forty-three. S-second. Second. Thank, thank you, Dr. Rasheed. I appreciate that. Um, so we have our substitute motion on the floor that now takes care of the conforming edits to seventy-four to seventy, lines seventy-four to seventy-seven, and we have, the language now at forty-two to forty-three. Any comments on... Okay. We'll move to vote. Uh, Dr. Rasheed? Yes. I vote yes. Yes. Thank you, all. All right, do we have any further discussion on policy sixty-three
thirty? I do not. All right. Um, we will, having voted on our amendments, we will move to the, the base motion. Um, so, uh-Dr. Rasheed, how do you vote, um... Oh, let, let me... Hold on, let me just see, da, da, da, da, da. All right. Um. We're gonna vote that the Legislative and Policy Committee, forward new Policy sixty-three thirty to the full school board, as an information item.
Just to- As amended. Yes. Just for clarification, i-if the recommendation could also include the deletion of Policy eight sixty-five would also be part of the recommendation. Oh, okay. Yes, yes. Okay, I will do that. Um. All right. Um. So I move that the-- So I-I'll just-- I'll put, put... So I guess, do I have a, do I have a motion, to approve the base motion as amended? Yeah. Second, yes. Uh, I make a motion to-
Mo-mo-motion ... I make a motion to approve it as amended. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. Uh, do we have a second? I'll second. Um, okay. So Dr. Rasheed has moved to approve the base motion as amended. I have seconded. Um, now the base motion is that the Legislative and Policy Committee review the deletion of Policy eight sixty-five and new Policy sixty-three thirty, and forward it to the full school board as an information item. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And then, so that's-- Yeah. Oh. So the- Oh, it's- So I think that was the original base motion at, at the top of
the, at the meeting. But just so everyone- Yeah. To refresh everyone's memory since it's been a, been a little bit. Um, so we have that base motion, as amended on the floor. I don't believe there's any further discussion, so we'll move to the vote. Um, Dr. Rasheed? Oh, yes. I vote yes. Ms. Griffiths? No. The motion, as amended, passes two to one, with Dr. Rasheed and myself voting yes and Ms. Griffiths voting no. Um, thank you very much, everyone, for your patience.
Um, and we will now move to our information items. Move to policy, to Item five point oh one, Policy two three five oh, Appeal of Administrative Decisions, presented by Dr. Bergen. Thank you, Dr. Bergen. Thank you, Mr. Svenson. Uh, so board members, these two policies are before you for information tonight, and I would like, to review with you the proposed changes, beginning with twenty-three fifty. And then after a review of these two policies, the recommendation of staff
is that after you have contemplated the proposed changes, that they would then, be approved by the committee to go out for community feedback and return as action items at the next meeting. So Policy twenty-three fifty, Appeal of Administrative Decisions, is due for its five-year review. The last review occurred on September thirty of twenty twenty-one, which at that time included only technical changes. There are, a number of proposed changes before the committee today, beginning at lines two and three, clarification that appeals of administrative
decisions to the school board would be through a select committee. At line four, clarification that appeals would be permitted to both policies as well as regulations when applicable. At lines five and six, clarification that the policy provides the procedures for the appeal process when that process has not already been specifically set forth in another policy for which appeals are permitted. Line nine changes the title of Paragraph A to "Select Committee of the School
Board." Uh, there are proposed scrivener changes in lines thirteen, sixteen, twenty-one, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-nine, and forty-two, most all of which include striking of the word "division" before superintendent to be in conformance with other policy updates. Lines forty-four through forty-six provide clarification on the timeline for the completion of the appeals process, that it shall be as soon as practicable when additional time is required for the collection and process of additional
information beyond the thirty days. Lines forty-eight and forty-nine, clarification that decisions of the select committee shall be final with no further appeals permitted. And lines fifty-two and fifty-three, insertion of the reference to Policy eighty seventy, Written Comments and Complaints, for resolution of any complaint that is not covered by this or any other policy. Those are the proposed changes. Be happy to take any questions. Thank you, Dr. Bergen. I'll open the floor for questions by my colleagues. Yes, Ms.
Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, select committee, what committee would this go through normally? The, school board chair appoints, all committee assignments, and there is-- all the school board members are appointed to the select committee on a rotating basis, so each board member gets a month. Uh, and one more, thing. Uh, that makes sense. Thank you so much. Um, the, line forty-eight and forty-nine, the decision of the select committee of the school board shall
be final, no further appeals. Um, I feel like, that's absolutely final, and we should look at, appeals on a case-by-case basis. Um, I know that we have policies where, we wanna just, you know, end any appeals, but sometimes there are reasons why, appeals should be consideredSo I feel like that's super final. Um, so, that particular line, I'm not sure I'm okay with, "The decision of the select committee of the school
board shall be final and not, further appealable." Um, and as school board members, I'm not sure, if you've experienced this, but, some cases have come up where, I know we have the policy, but case-by-case basis should be considered. So, I can do an amendment to it today or, provide an amendment for the school board as far as maybe adding case by ca- or a case-by-case basis. Thank you.
Dr. Rasheed? Thank you, Chair. Um, could I just get some context, in regards to the current... And, and apologies if you already said it, for the, the, the, the forty-eight, forty-nine addition of the decision of the select committee. That statement, is there a reason why that was added? Or was it just for, it was just to make it more defined, I, I'm assuming? Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. Um, I believe this recommendation from staff was to provide, as you indicated, greater clarity that the select committee of the school board,
you know, there's various appeals for special permissions, attendance zone, and that select committee of the school board is the, final kind of arbiter of those decisions, just so that families have, expectations that that is the final step in the process. I think before, it wasn't clear, and it might give them a false hope that there's another step to the full board or to some other, school, board organization or entity that would be the
arbiter of, yet another decision on top of that. So it just provides greater clarity. And, and if I may add, so it's not to say, and just out of curiosity, this statement... Well, before this statement was added, i-in a traditional sense, parents were able to appeal before or, or... Thank you for the question, Dr. Rasheed. No, this is, no, the practice is not changing. The decisions of the select committee have always been final. Um, and so therefore, it's just clarifying that
procedure. Okay. Thank you. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Um, that particular line, I would probably, add, and I can do the amendment for that, ca- not only, case-by-case basis, but at the school board's discretion regarding that particular case. Um, things change, and we shouldn't, we should be able to maybe go back and, and revisit, the issue, when a, when a, a decision has been
made. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths, Mrs. Griffiths. Uh, in, in terms of what's provided for in the code for sa-say discipline, hearings, as you might be aware, the SBAC committee hears all, discipline appeals. And so under the code, applicable code section allows for a full, appeal to the board when that's not a unanimous decision, if it's a two-one split and it's adverse to the student.
So the board a-and the committee here could contemplate, a procedure like that. It's, it's just not currently practiced, and so that's why this language was added to conform and confirm current practice. So, but that's certainly within the purview of the committee or the board if they wanna contemplate that. Any further discussion on this? All right. Um, thank you for the presentation. Uh, we will move forward to item five point oh three, or no, sorry. Yes, five point oh two, Policy thirty
forty, School Building Administration, presented by Dr. Bergen. Thank you, Chair Svenson. Okay, this is the second information before you tonight, board members. Uh, this policy is also due for its five-year review. It was last reviewed in September of twenty twenty-one, and at that time, there were no changes. It was just affirmed to continue to be on the books. There are some proposed changes before the committee today. Beginning at line two, spelling out Loudoun County in place of LCPS and the striking of
the word division before superintendent in conformance with other policy updates. At line four, insertion of the word Virginia for clarification that licenses are prescribed by the Virginia Board of Education. At line six, striking the reference to charter school principals since they are under the supervision of their own charter boards or their, per their charter school contracts. Charter school principals are not under the supervision of the division superintendent. Lines six and seven are scrivener changes, including use of the
verb shall and shall be in lieu of the verb is. Lines eleven and twelve, additional language to clarify that principals shall perform any such duties as may be assigned to them by the superintendent pursuant to the rules and regulations of the school board. And lines fourteen through twenty-two, insertion of additional language that is found in both the Virginia Code and in the VSBA model policyWhich is recommended that the— We recommend that the committee consider adding to this policy rec-recommendations from a principal to the superintendent on
personnel matters such as appointments, assignments, promotions, transfers, and dismissals, as well as the training for principals in the evaluation and documentation of employee performance, as well as training for assistant principals and other supervisory personnel in the evaluation and documentation of employee performance. And then lastly, at lines twenty-four and twenty-five, insertion of additional language to clarify that the administration and operation of charter schools is governed by Policy fifty-four ten, Charter Schools, and its
accompanying regulation. Those are all of the proposed changes from the administration relative to this policy. Thank you, Dr. Bergen. Um, Dr. Rashid? Um, thank you, Dr. Bergen. Um, I, I know that the principals are not under LCPS. So what contract, and I-- maybe you already said it, what contract are they under, if any, if they're not an LCPS employee? And can we dictate, you know, such trainings, that, that were mentioned in this contract or in this policy?
So I'll take your first question. The principals of the charter schools, are under the supervision of the charter boards. They select their principals. They evaluate their principals. Um, in terms of dictating additional training, was that your question? It's already in Virginia Code. We require that our, our principals need to be trained into how to s-supervise and document their supervision of principals when they're, in the classroom performing their, their required evaluations. So that's the, the training is in reference to how principals are trained and how to conduct teacher evaluations.
Uh, I'll defer to legal if they'd like to elaborate on my, my response to your question. Thank you, Dr. Bergen. I, I think you captured it. Um, that would be contractual for the, the charter school agreement. But yeah, my understanding is that they are, charter school principals are, hired and at the-- under the supervision of the charter school board of directors. Although there is, as you may be aware from your prior chairship of the, special centers and,
programs, the-- there is a dedicated executive principal, who provides guidance from the, the school leadership team, and that was Elaine Lehman. Thank you. Um, but can-- Like, do, does their board, their charter school board, have duties that they also tell their principal that they have to do that may conflict with what we're saying? I'm just trying to avoid any conflicts. S-So do-- for clarity, this policy before you does not
apply to the principals of the charter schools 'cause they're not under the supervision of the superintendent. So the insertion of the additional language would be for the principals who work for Loudoun County Public Schools. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. Any further questions for staff or comments? No. Well, thank you all. Um, we have no discussion items on the agenda, so we'll move on to new business. Is there any new business that, folks would like to bring? I don't have new business, but I had a discussion item, just a general question.
Oh, okay. Yes. Okay. Well, well, do we-- So I will-- we'll mo-move back to num-- item number six. Sorry. I ap-apologize, Chair. No, no worries. I shouldn't have, s- gone back past it so quickly. Um, yes, Dr. Rashid, discussion item. Thank you so much, Chair. Uh, just out of, curiosity, I know it's a hot topic, about data center tax exemption. Um, I, I believe it's, along the lines of the budget. Um, is there any way you guys can tell me a little bit about, a little bit about that? 'Cause I know it's, pretty big up for debate.
Thank you for the question. Uh, okay, so, basically what's going on is this with the budget, 'cause we're, we're sort of at, currently at a budget impasse. Um, essentially you have, the data center tax... Can you hear me okay? Essentially you have the data center tax exemption, which basically is a long s-long-standing incentive program which i-it was designed in two thousand and eight to lure businesses, technology companies specifically, into, Virginia. And it eliminates, um-- Sorry, my
words. It, uh-- The benefit is that they are exempt from the five point three, I think it's five point three percent tax related to, like, their servers and, and, you know, paper towels they put in their, you know, cafeteria and thing, things to that effect. So what happened this week is, I guess, yeah, a, a little bit last week, is they, they re-- they sort of came at loggerheads. So the majority leader of the Senate decided that they wanted to move up the twenty
thirty-five removal of that exemption to twenty twenty-seven. That created a problem for, the House, which is absolutely not going to remove that until twenty thirty-five. And what we're talking about is we're probably talking about a million six, or excuse me, a billion six in, in, you know, Senator Lucas's, who's head of the Finance Committee, her-- she's seeing a, a billion six that we're not getting. And, the governor,
uh-House, the speaker is seeing a billion six that we weren't really gonna get until twenty thirty-seven anyway because we made all these, we made all these agreements with the companies to do it, and if we break that now, then that's gonna inhibit our ability to, to generate more revenue vis-à-vis more companies coming in here who are not gonna come in here in their mind because we're going against what we agreed to do and the new companies who are saying, "Wait a minute, you agreed to do this." Um, the...
Basically, the reason it's, it's so intense for, intense for us is because what it does is it, it, it affects what we do here. Um, does it affect us immediately? Is it gonna tomorrow, are we gonna be in dire straits? Uh, no. But the, the long-term ramifications of, of them taking away that tax exemption is that all the businesses and all the technology companies and all those folks that are-- that wanna come here are not gonna come here. They're gonna kinda go to Kentucky, they're gonna go
to Texas, and they're gonna go to Ohio. And so long term, you're gonna see a dramatic, a dramatic, drop in those companies come because what they do is they automatically put in a hundred... You know, the agreement is you put in a hundred and fifty million dollars, for whatever the fee is, plus you're gonna employ a certain number of people, and that certain number of people are gonna be, you know, we're talking high-skilled, high-skilled jobs, and they're gonna live in Loudoun County, and they're gonna raise their children and the, the whole bit. So it, it's really an argument over whether the
subsidy is needed or not and, and an argument over, okay, if we don't have it, how are we gonna work with that? And if we do have it, what are we gonna-- how are we gonna work with that? So, you know, the, the fact of the matter is that they are on a deadline, we're on a deadline. Um, mid-March, they have to come to a conclusion. Um, so we'll just see if, who, who will, you know, who, who will pull their car out of the way first. I, I, I don't know. I don't know yet if this is an, uh... I was talking to our, our, Joel Andrus, with,
with, with Kemper. I was talking to him today quite a bit about it. We just don't know yet whether this is a game of chicken, okay, I want other things, or this is, or this is really something that, that the, you know, the Finance Committee and Senator Lucas feels really, really strongly about it. Because in their mind, the billion dollars is coming somewhere. So in, in the Senate's mind, the billion six is coming somewhere. So if we don't, we don't get it from the data center, we're gonna take it out of the budget somewhere else, which creates another issue because then the loggerhead related to the
budget becomes about other things like, you know, whether it's teacher raises or infrastructure costs or whatever. I, I, I mean, those are my words, not, not anybody's words. But, you know, full repeal, compromise, phase out, I'm assuming that it's gonna be a partial rollback, because the governor is involved. But other than that, I mean, I, I mean, long-- Short story long, sorry, but, that's where we're at. And, and we won't know anything until they decide that they're gonna make the, make the compromise.
Thank you so much. That's a slew of information and- Sorry ...worrisome too at the same time. But thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. Uh, any further discussion items? No. Thank you. Uh, and I believe we'd already gone to new business, but, there were no new business items, right? No, I see no business items. I'll move to adjournment. Um, our next meeting is scheduled for April eighth, twenty twenty-six. Please mark your calendars. Um, and we-- At this time, we will adjourn the meeting at six thirty-five PM.