Good afternoon everyone. I'd like to call this April 1st, uh, April 1st meeting of this special programs and center's committee to order. My name is Dr. Rashid and I'm the chair of this committee. We appreciate everyone being here. So the purpose of today is to approve the minutes from our last meeting. Uh, we have an action item for the charter schools for school year 25 and 26, uh, in regards to their calendars. And we have two information items. That's, uh, Thomason Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Update. And we also have a Parkview School, Parkview High School International Baccalaureate
Authorization Timeline. So just to give an update on that. Uh, so before we proceed, we value public input. So if there's anyone from the public who wishes to address the committee, the committee, please fill out a speaker card of the registration table. But we'll go ahead and open the floor to public comment. If you wish to speak, please come forward. State your name and limit your comments to strictly one minute. And I see we have, uh, Joe, Mr. Joe Esposito. Hi everybody. I tried to be nice and not come back too often since I bothered you all so much last year. Uh, but, uh, I just very briefly wanted to mention something
that, uh, just a bit of a concern and I to highlight it for this committee first. 'cause you guys certainly understand us better than any anybody else on the board. Um, in two more recent things that the board has done, which I think are great actions, they've looked at, um, expanding security by doing allied security, all the elementary schools, and then also address the idea of adding playgrounds. All the schools 'cause the importance of recess and, and, and play. Um, and unfortunately, um, when we asked about our participation in these programs, we were told that we would have to pay for them on our own. Um, my concern here is that the only thing that we're being told is that
'cause you're a charter, you don't get this. Um, and to me, I think we had plenty of debates last year. I will not rehash them about what's a, a benefit or not a benefit to the charters, uh, versus a regular school. But to me, this is directly in line with what the state code talks about when it comes to a financial disincentive for being a charter versus a financial incentive. And I certainly, although I disagreed and understood where you all were coming from on the Piece. Thank you, Mr. Esposito. I'm sorry we're outta time. I appreciate it so much. Thank you. Thank you. Um, so thank you to everyone and thank you to Mr. Esposito for providing comments. Your input is valuable to us and for,
but moving on, we have to approve the minutes from our last meeting. And has everyone had a chance to approve our meeting minutes? Okay. Are there any additions or modifications or corrections? If not, um, I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting. So moved. Okay. Thank you Mr. Streff. Um, so for the minutes, uh, do I hear a second to approve the minutes? I second. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Okay. And the minutes are approved. Alright, so let's begin by reviewing the agenda. And again, I, I think I kind of of went over it before.
Uh, we're going to have one action item for the charter school, school year 25 26 calendar. And we have two information items for TJ and one for Parkview. In regards to the IB authorization, uh, timeline, are there any adjustments, additions, or any comments on the agenda? Okay. So we'll go ahead and move on to our first agenda item. I'll turn it over to, I will turn it over to Ms. Mitchell if she's here, but if not, Dr. Ellis to present. Thank you. So, I do not, good afternoon. I do not have any additional information regarding the charter school calendars that Ms.
Lehman presented. Last, uh, at your last meeting. I will just remind the committee that this is an annual occurrence, that the charter schools, uh, bring calendars to the full board for approval. Um, Middleburg Community Charter has different start and end dates, but the same number of school hours. It does meet the VDOE requirements for school days and hours. Um, HCA has a very similar calendar to the LCPS calendar. Um, they attend a slightly longer day. Again, both calendars meet the VDOE requirements. And then the other thing that I'll note for you is
that we are recommending that the committee vote to approve that this move to the full school board on the consent agenda, um, to expedite the process and allow the schools to post their calendars as soon as possible. Thank you Dr. Ellis. Okay. Uh, members of the committee, do you have any discussion, comments, anything in regards to this item before we go for a vote? Okay. So if there's no questions, I'll entertain a motion to approve this action item for 4.01 Charter School, school year 25, 26. Calendar to go to the full board. Um, do I hear second?
Second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. And that motion passes to go to the full board. Thank you so much. Um, now we'll move on to our next agenda item. And that's information item for TJ's TJ for science and technology update. Yes. Mr. Seven, To clarify, was it intentional to not put it on the consent or did you want to, Were you okay with it? I thought I said I meant, uh, I would, we would send it to the full board As a consent or Information. Oh, I have to be specific. Yeah. So as in a consent agenda, definitely. So we, should we do the re-vote again?
It won't hurt Just to be sure. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. Alright. Do I, uh, see a motion to send? Um, I'd like to make a motion to send item 4.01 charter school school year 25, 26, calendar as a consent agenda item to the full board. Um, do I have a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. And that, that, uh, item moves to the full board. All right. We will now move on to the next item, which is an information item 5.01. Thomas Thomas Jefferson High School for Science
and Technology Update. I'll turn it over to Mr. Sub. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. We are, uh, prepared today to give a short presentation on an overview of Thomas Jefferson High School, um, school for Science and Technology. Um, this was at the request of the committee to learn a little bit more about what does Thomas Jefferson offer compared to our offerings here in LCPS. Even though, um, Thomas Jefferson is not a Loudoun County special Program, it is a student opportunity that we promote and is available to students in LCPS. So it's important for the board to be informed.
And so we are joined tonight by Ms. Clark and Ms. King, our gifted supervisor, who will take us through this presentation and answer any questions the committee might have after their update. So, um, the Virginia Department of Education, in conjunction with localities sponsors, regional academic year governor schools that serve advanced high school students during the academic year. Currently 19 academic year, governor schools provide students with acceleration exploration in areas ranging from arts to government and international studies, and of course, STEM and the regulations governing educational services
for gifted students mandate differentiation, differentiated instructional opportunities for gifted students in K 12 in Virginia. And the Virginia's Academic Governor School program is really an op an important component of offering those differentiated instruction or the undifferentiated instruction. Um, most school divisions in the state incorporate an academic year governor's school as an option for their students, and TJ provides our students with access to an academic year's governor's school program.
And LCBS has been supporting this opportunity since 19 85, 86 school year. So we have, uh, two slides here of some of those, um, exciting things that TJ offers to our students. But I'm gonna talk a little bit more about the things that I think really rise up for tj. So, supporting some of Loudoun County's most talented STEM students and attending tj, um, is really an investment in their future, but also the broader community. So TJ offers unparalleled opportunities for students passionate about stem,
with eight standalone labs and an integrated engineering lab that fosters hands-on learning and innovation. And over the past 30, well, almost 40 years, uh, TJ has cultivated a robust network of industry partners and universities providing students with exceptional research opportunities and real world experience, and we can move forward. And as a top ranked program, both in the state and nationally, TJ ensures
that students receive a world class education preparing them to become, or really they are, um, leaders in STEM fields. So by continuing to support these students, Loudoun County School Board is not only nurturing individual talent and students, but also contributing to the advancement of science and technology on a much larger scale. All right, this slide shows us the enrollment over the past three school years for ninth through 12th grade. As you can see, we hover right around that 400 students who attend from Loudoun County Public Schools.
Uh, we did experience an increase in enrollment during the 2122 school year, and that was due to the TJ admission standards, um, for that year. And the expansion of the ninth grade class from 480 students to 550 students. Um, we do expect that enrollment numbers to level off as this year. Um, the new standards will have rolled up through grades nine through 12th at this point. As far as students dropping out of the program, you will see, for example, um, in school year 2223,
we had a 111 ninth graders. And then you'll see in 10th grade, in 2324, it drops to a hundred. Um, so we do see some shifting late in summer or shortly after school starts. However, those numbers are small. And, um, we also see, um, that attrition due to students moving out of the area, or some of our students move to Fairfax. Um, and also some end up going to, uh, private schools in high school as well. So you will see some shift, but for the majority of it, um, it does stay pretty, pretty consistent. Uh, this chart, um, shows the schools
that are participating with, um, tj. So you see we have, um, Arlington Falls, church City, Loudoun, and Prince William, and just noted there for you which school systems do provide that transportation. Um, and that is on the sending county to provide per the contract. This, um, chart shows the transportation for students attending tj, and again, that is the responsibility of and is at the discretion of the cooperating school division in which the student resides. So in SY 25, there are 11 bus hub sites
and eight buses allocated to TJ runs from Loudoun County. Um, you will see the cost from SY 20 and SY 21 are lower, and that was due to covid and virtual instruction. And there has been, um, significant increases beginning in the SY 22, and those are due, um, to when bus drivers were moved to the universal scale in March of 2022, their hourly rates increased substantially. So just wanted to point out a couple things that are causing the discrepancies
of cost over, over the years. So that concludes our quick and brief update about Thomas Jefferson High School. If you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer those at this time. Thank you so much. Um, you know, this is really helpful with all the details, especially the, you know, the tables every, it really puts things in perspective. I wanted to open the floor for discussion members of the committee. Do you have any questions or comments? I do, but I will, you know, I wanna ask you guys if you want, would like to ask those questions. Yes, Mr. Estro? Uh, I'll start off with the first question. So, um, just curious, um, could we also see the number
of students that have applied, um, to, to TJ and how they trend over time, uh, when compared to the students that actually enroll? Um, I think that would be helpful as well, just to see how many students are actually, um, expressing interest in this opportunity. Um, and as although we are seeing, uh, enrollment go up, um, just curious as to whether, um, the applications have gone up as well. Um, I'm just start there. We we're not ready to answer that now, but that's definitely something we can put together and share with the committee.
Any other questions or comments about this update? Um, I, I had some questions. Some of them you have already answered, um, in that table with the school years with the cohort showing from ninth, 10th, 11, all the way to 12th. I I, I was just curious 'cause I know this wasn't attributed to, um, uh, to CVID and maybe I'm not reading the table right. Is there a cap for Loudoun students when they apply to, to tj? Is there a maximum as to how much TJ accepts In regards to application or Yeah, in regards
to applicants when they apply in the ninth, in their ninth grade, or if they decide midyear in the middle of high school, like 10th grade, 11th grade. 'cause in that table, um, I think there were 84 ninth graders in like last year that got accepted. But then when you look at 10th grade, it jumps to 114. So I was, I was just curious as to why there's a little bit of a jump there, uh, between the two cohorts, if you guys know. And so that Remember is a little bit lower than what we've seen in the past, so we feel like it's leveling off a little bit.
But the one 14 is, um, if you look at the previous year, the freshmen, it's that one 16 and then the next year, or excuse me, yeah, it was the next year they're at one 14. So that probably dropped at about two. Is this the same court when you look at it diagonally? Yes. Like those ninth graders in the, in the middle then move to 10th grade in the right side of the table, right? Yes, absolutely. I See it Just, and if you look at it in terms of numbers, um, so each year there are two sets of seats for students.
There's the allocated seats and the unallocated seats. And so every middle school in Loudoun County gets a certain number of allocated seats and that's, uh, 1.5% of their eighth grade class. So if there's like 560 in the eighth grade grade class, that might be about eight allocated seats. Um, and so all the students from that school are compared to each other. And then of the qualifying candidates, they might get eight seats. But then there's this other pot of seats and those are unallocated and those are for, um, just overall top candidates.
So in other words, if you add up the 1.5 for every school, there's a certain number and I think that number was like around 76, but we could have additional students added to it from the unallocated seats. Okay. So there's a little bit of a cap, but not completely. 'cause you have those unallocated as well. Yeah, with the exception of one cohort, I think the rest stayed the same. None of them increased when you follow them through on that table. Yeah. And every now and then you get an increase. And that may be due to a couple of things. One could be, it could be a TJ student from another one
of the cooperating divisions moving into Loudoun. I see. So that could be one. And then the other, they have a very small number of students who can apply, um, as freshman, sophomore, and junior. So those numbers are just so small, but they're, they are there. Okay. Interesting. Uh, for transportation, um, from other counties, is there any data available as to how many buses go to TJ from their area? So we started looking into this and we can, can, can continue, but we did get some information from Prince William County that they send three buses from the district
to TJ each day. Mm-hmm. And that I can imagine 'cause of logistics, but I'm just curious about the far away places like Prince William, um, and I, I I, you had some of the other, so Prince William, prince William has the three buses. Okay. Um, and we haven't been able to, um, get information yet around about Arlington or, um, I know one of them says, no, they don't send, they don't use transportation in that chart. Yeah. Falls Church City. We still are waiting to hear back from Arlington, but we did hear from the principal, William, with the three buses. Do you, do you think that, just out of curiosity, do you think that the three buses could be due to, uh,
just logistics? Is it closer in vicinity to Prince William? Is that why they only have fewer buses or fewer of their students get accepted? It could be fewer number of students. It also could be the way they do hub stops. Um, looking at the hub stop locations for tj, we do have geographic considerations. Um, they follow our hub stop model and, um, that could lead to the need for additional buses. Mm-hmm. Okay. Um, and how many bus, I, I forgot, I think we had eight or was it nine? Okay. Eight. Okay. Eight bus. We send eight buses and they're picked up at John Champ, broad run high school, bro. Woods, Loudoun Valley, heritage Freedom,
Rockridge in Dominion. Okay. Okay. Um, all right. Now once the Dr, I don't know if you guys know this for LCPS bus drivers, when they drop off the students, um, at tj, where from wherever hub stop they were, do the drivers stay there in that area or do they go, or do they go on their way? Do they go home or something like that? Are they off the clock? If that's lack of a better word. Um, and if so, if they stay there, do we pay them? Like are they on our payroll? So after dropping this, we,
after dropping students off at tj, the drivers return to their parking location in Loudoun County and then return in the afternoon for the dismissal. Um, drivers who transport students to TJ are compensated under the same pay scale and structure and how bus drivers be transport to LCPS to LCPS schools. Um, but due to the distance travel with just a few exceptions, they're really only able to support the trips to tj. So they're not often assigned to field trips or other, other, um, elementary, middle school, or high school routes. Okay. So they, so they stay, they stay in the area,
They basically come back and then they go back and pick up the kids. Okay. Okay. Yes. Yes. Uh, uh, Ms. LaBelle. So essentially because they, they make the trip to TJ and back twice a day, they're using twice the, uh, gasoline or energy that, because they're making it, using it, coming back to us instead of staying there during the day. Is that correct? Yes. Thank you. Um, is that normally with a a normally LCPS drivers and wherever they drive? Is that, what, is this the same protocol?
I'm assuming it is. I'm not familiar with the exact protocol. I could get more information on this topic from the transportation department. Okay. Um, and then when I, I had some other questions I wrote down. Uh, when you're dealing, I mean the one about the, the cost when you're dealing with the data table about transportation costs, could you provide a reasoning for the jump from the average cost of 2014 to 2020? I think you said this already, there was a jump from the average from 2014 to when COVID started and then there was a spike in 2022. Um, is there, you know, if,
if you could provide explanation, I think you did say it, Ms. Clark, do you wanna answer That question? Yeah. The information we had for that, for that spike in 2022, is the bus drivers going to that universal scale and their Yeah, that's the universal, their cost, their hourly rate increased. Okay. Yes. Ms. LaBelle, When I look at the, uh, chart that you have for LCPS transportation costs, that is only for the buses, the gas going back and forth, et cetera, that doesn't include tuition to tj, does it?
Correct. If you include that tuition, how much does that raise the cost of per student going? I'll ask Ms. King to correct me, but I believe the FY 25 budgeted cost was 7.25 million. It's actually six point. So the actual cost cost for, for this school year, it was 6.0. But you're right, you're right. Budgeted for FY 26. So the actual cost was 6.7 million for FY 25. For FY 26, The current fiscal year. 26. 25. Oh 25. We don't have the actual for 26 yet.
Oh, we don't have that yet. Okay. We have the budgeted cost for FY 26. The actual cost for FY 25 was 6.7 million. 6.7. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And then from, when it went from, in that same, in this same cost, when you see fiscal year 24, I'm assuming it goes from 9 37 to 8 62 due to enrollment, is that because of just the change of students, the difference in the students from that year as what is projected? Is that why there's a decrease? Is that why that's forecasted? Yeah, the AV very last figure there is projected. So we don't have that final figure yet. Okay. Yeah. 'cause I just noticed it's,
it incrementally increases and all of a sudden the one that's projected, there's a little bit of a dip. And I just was Curious. Oh, well, we did have a lower number of our freshmen this year. Okay. Alright. Alright. Any questions? Yes. Yes, Ms. LaBelle, Um, could you tell me what the programs are that are actually covered in tj? Uh, I know there's science and technology. What other programs do they have? Or is it just stem? Um, it is a full-time program. The students take all of their courses there. Right. But it does, it is a specialized STEM program.
Okay. So the Governor's school is based on the stem. I'm not a hundred hundred percent expert on this, but I think the various different governor schools have a different emphasis. Yes, they do. I just wondered whether, whether TJ had any other emphasis besides stem. It was definitely a STEM school. Okay. Thank you. That's, We were just gonna say it's a comprehensive school. Um, so it has all the athletics, all their, um, so it's not like our academy where we send students just a or B Day. It's a, it's a full, full school. Now. I was aware of that because I noticed that they had the athletic teams
and the music and the band. I do know that governor's schools are awarded based on different types of, uh, curriculum. For example, we have stem, but they also have some for languages, some for music. So things like that. So I was, I was asking if there was, so That is a, That's because some schools can have more than one governor's accreditation is what I was looking at. So it's a, it's an important distinction. There are a number, there are governor's STEM academies, for example, Matt as a governor's STEM Academy. Mm-hmm. Um, however, this is a governor's, it's a regional academic year governor's school, um,
which is a little bit differently in terms of their whole comprehensive approach as opposed to one segment of the school. Mm-hmm. Um, and so there are different categories of governor's school. Um, the one TJ again represents the whole school versus just one program in the building. Okay. Thank you for that. Could you add any To that? I was just gonna clarify also, in addition to the full year academic year at Governor's school, there are the summer residential governor schools, and those are in a variety of academics. But, um, the arts as well as the, um, world language academies.
So those are summertime programs about three to four weeks. Okay. Thank you. I I was aware of the summer programs, And so I would just on the second bullet, the division of governor school programs were designed to assist divisions meet the needs of students whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age level peers. While many of our, many of our programs benefit that population, um, part of the benefit of our partnership with TJ is the provision of the, those programming for those students. Um, so that is one important distinction between looking at different, um, offerings that we have at LCPS versus what TJ provides.
Um, so that's an, that's an important component of this presentation. Would you add anything? Ms. Um, Thank you. Yes, Ms. Ian? I was just gonna ask, um, if you can remind me what the cost differences between what we estimate our per pupil, uh, cost per year is at LCPS versus at tj and if that Delta is close or large. Um, just want to understand if that cost is really a wash between both divisions or both school and division. Um, and it's just the transportation
that we really need to focus on. Um, and then, and sometimes with Dr. Ellis, we go through this at a performance monitoring committee, but we, we sometimes bring in folks, whether that's school, um, staff, um, and administration or students where we talk about outcomes or we focus in on a specific piece of the benefit basically to LCPS, the students and the families around opportunities like this. Whether that's matter or others, maybe there could be an opportunity, whether that's here in SVC or in, uh, the performance monitoring committee
to really understand at a deeper level the opportunity that we are, uh, affording, uh, students from our division at tj. Um, at least I have an interest in that. But, um, so those are the two comments. Thank you. Um, and just one of my last questions, I think it was presented, I think at one of our main school board meetings. Um, would you happen to know the number of buses, um, from last year that transported students to TJ versus this year? It was presented at a school board meeting. I thought it was eight currently, but then I think last year it was six or seven. And I'm assuming that I'm attributing
that increases like once again due to an increase in cohort Possibly. But then, yeah, we could get that. But then the projected number for 2025, the cost for the transportation is looks lower. That's why I didn't, I couldn't correlate between the number of buses versus the cost of transportation. Or maybe I got the number wrong. Okay. We could get that for you. Alright, thank you so much. Appreciate that. Alright, any other questions? Board members about this item? Alright, Dr. Seat, I have one comment. Yes, Mr. Slevin. So just for this committee's information, we, um, there,
there is a time period where the school, full school board is asked to, um, commit to continuing our relationship with Thomas Jefferson. This past fall, the contract came to the full board, but generally the board takes action sometime in May to communicate to Fairfax that we intend to continue our relationship with TJ for the following following school year. So in this case, 26, 27. So just since this is an item, um, this will be funneled through f and o the intention to sign the contract. And so it'll be an information item actually following this
meeting at the f and o meeting. And then it will come back to f and o's action before it's in the full board in May. So there'll be, um, time to discuss TJ further in the full board when it comes out in f and o anticipated in May. Okay. Yeah. That, that would be, that would be really helpful. Yeah. Yeah, we can go into further details. That's, that's great. Um, alright, we're gonna move on. We will move on to our next agenda item that is Parkview School International Baccalaureate Authorization timeline. Um, I will turn it over to MR seven to present. Thanks. We are very excited to present this information item.
Um, as you know, we, um, during the FY 26 budget development process, um, we were supported in, um, planning for an expansion of our IB program, Parkview High School. I'm really appreciative of Dr. Jefferson, principal of Parkview High School to be here tonight. Um, knowing that the, uh, process to become designated as an IB school is an arduous one. Um, it's not something that happens overnight. We wanted to give the committee and the public a quick update on what that process is gonna look like. And, um, the importance of school leadership in
that process is represented by Dr. Jefferson being at the table tonight. So I'm gonna turn it over to Ms. Clark and I'll, um, have you introduce Mr. Schaeffer, if you don't mind. Absolutely. Thank you. And as, um, Mr. Slevin stated, we're, um, excited about this opportunity for Parkview High School. And I also have with us, um, this afternoon Mr. Schafer, who is academic, um, supervisor of academic programs. So we are just, as Mr. Slevin kind of mentioned, we're gonna give you an overview of the IB authorization process from IBO, um, our current tentative timeline specifically
for Parkview High School. And then, um, lastly, some current progress that we've made and some next steps in our journey. So this is straight, um, from the International Baccalaureate Organization. This is the overview of the authorization process. Um, so to kind of walk us through this, um, it is a very rigorous journey that Parkview will be undertaking to become an Ivy World School, as we also did with Heritage High School and Loudoun Valley. Um, this process ensures that the school meets the high standards and practices set by the IB organization.
So as you can see here, we, just to give you some context, I should have put an arrow there, but we are in the request for candidacy there that second, um, box. And in that we will be working on the application along with, um, Dr. Jefferson for submission. And we will be paying that candidacy fee to get started. Uh, the next phase there, um, obviously is a decision on candidacy by the ib. So they will look at that and decide if we're ready to move forward. Um, and then we'll move into that candidate phase. And that is the longest part of our journey that can take
between a year to two years, um, depending on, um, progress we're making. So during that candidacy phase, um, we will, um, hire that IB coordinator and then we'll work with, um, the consultation process there, um, which includes one visit to the school. So IBO will assign a consultant to work directly with, um, Parkview High School and Mr. Schaeffer and myself as well. Um, during, during this phase, we will, um, work on curriculum development, professional development.
So we'll send staff to have that professional development, um, throughout that, that year. Um, that would be next year during the 25 26 school year. And then after that, um, we'll have that IB consultant visit and then, um, a verification visit to the school. Um, for that there'll be a lot of preparation to make sure that we've met all the necessary aspects of the IBDP that are in place, um, for that visit. And then lastly there is the authorization, and that will be a report
and a decision, um, by that visiting team if they're recommending us, um, for that full designation of ib. Um, so in just a second we're gonna kind of talk through what that looks like for Parkview High School, um, broken down by year. So on the next slide you'll see here in the spring summer. So currently, um, we are working on that request for candidacy, which is a letter, um, from the school division stating that we are gonna, um,
have the finances to support this. We'll start that consultation process where they'll assign us that consultant. Um, Mr. Schaffer and Dr. Jefferson will have the pleasure of going to head of school training to learn all about ib to be able to support that and lead that. At Parkview, we are working on hiring that IB coordinator, and then that IB coordinator will also go to training as well. So then in the 25 26 school year, that is when we'll be in the candidacy phase. We would open student opportunities for rising ninth graders
to join Parkview High School. Um, we would do that IBDP professional development for teachers. Um, and then the IBDP curriculum development would happen during that school year. And that is all part of the process that we need to go through. Then in the 26 27 school year, that will be the consultation phase. We'll have that consultation visit. Um, we would be preparing students, again, we can't use that IB designation until we are fully authorized. So we call it LCPS pre IB as we did for Heritage and Valley. And that would be for ninth and 10th grade.
Our ninth graders would be our out of zone students. Um, and our 10th graders would be those Parkview students that are, um, already at Parkview. We would be doing that request for authorization application, and that comes with that verification visit. And then we would be during that school year getting our authorization decision at that point. And then in the 27 28 school year, which brings us to our brand new building that is highly anticipated. And, um, we would have the ninth and 10th grade LCPS pre IB from out zone coming in,
plus any interested, um, students all receiving, um, the ability to be ready to take those IB courses. And we would have our, as long as authorization goes as planned, would have our IB courses available for 11th graders during that 27 28 school year. And then obviously that next year that's not on here would be our first graduating class of diploma, um, candidates from Parkview High School. Next, I'm gonna turn it over to Mr. Schaeffer to talk about kind of where we're at and our next steps in our journey. Yeah. So Dr. Jefferson and I are excited, um, to be working with Ms. Clark
and letting you know kinda where we are now. So the position was posted earlier this year, and the hiring process began last week with round one of interviews. Um, Dr. Jefferson and I will be attending a training early next month on head of school's virtual training, and we're working through the request for candidacy. The, um, the application is has started, so we'll be getting those questions answered. Uploading important documents, statements of support from LCPS, those sort of things to get the ball rolling and to, again, jumpstart
that consultant phase. Um, the next step would be, um, again, finalizing the IB IB coordinator hiring, and then that person would be training, um, after July one and attend that training. I would, I would be going to training with them as well for the IB coordinator role, the professional development plan, working with Dr. Jefferson to, um, determine courses, curriculum development, how do we want to, how do we want this to look for Parkview itself. We have, um, guides obviously of Heritage in Loudoun Valley,
but we want to make this unique, um, opportunity for Parkview and what's best for the students in the community there. And, um, finally, like Miss, Ms. Clark said, there's, we've got, um, planned out can candidacy phase to be working through as well. Um, additionally, um, we also presented at the Parkview High School. Uh, they have a monthly staff meeting, faculty meeting in the morning. We've presented there about what is, it's a, it was a high level overview. What is ib? How is it best for students? Um, what what's some of the IB philosophy?
And to get people thinking about that. Dr. Jefferson, I don't wanna put you on the spot, but if you wanna say anything, I just wanna wrap up and if he wants to say anything he can. But, um, we are, as we said, I'm excited about this opportunity and, um, we know this is gonna be a valuable addition to Parkview High School and to all of our students in Loudoun County. But Dr. Jefferson, did you wanna say anything? You should never give a principal a microphone, but I will start off by saying thank you both to Mr. Slevin and Ms. Clark and Grant right here for Walk for working with us as we go through this process. This has been a desire of mine, as MRR knows
for quite some time for Parkview. Um, I will tell you now, Parkview is very excited about this, um, both the new building and the opportunity to be an IB school. So we are grateful. We can't wait to continue to go through the process. Thank you so much. It is exciting. This is long overdue. Um, I mean, I do have a, I have a, I have a question, but I'm gonna turn it over to the committee members. Any questions or comments? Yes, Mr. Str? Thank you Madam Chair. Uh, Dr. Jefferson, good to see you. Good see you as well. Mr. Uh, Shafer, um, I wanted
to just say how excited I was also, um, to see this presentation and also just to have the community really understand, um, the impact that this is going to have on Parkview, especially aligned with the reconstruction of the of, of Parkview High School. Um, I think it's really exciting that we are finally getting a program like IB and special programs in general, um, more accessible to Eastern Loudoun. I think that's something that, um, has been a high priority of mine, um, as well as the, the rest of the board from what I understand. So, um, very excited. Um, happy to support this in any way.
Look forward to future updates. Thanks. Okay, thank you Mr. Streff. Any other questions? So I know that it, it was said that it was going to open the new school would, would be opening at a certain timeframe. My only thing is, my only, uh, question was, or rather comment, um, if the IB school IB coordinator visits or IB consultant visits the school, do they visit the old school while it's in transition of trying to get open? Or how does that work? Absolutely. So we did, um, grant and I had a meeting with, um, IVO to talk about that. 'cause we said we're in a unique situation.
Um, they will come and look at, um, Parkview as it is, but we can also show them the floor plans and all the upgrades that they're gonna have, um, with the new building. Um, one of the things that always gets schools during the visit is the exam storage. You have to show them exactly where you're gonna store those exams. It's very specific, um, like, um, qualifications to get that approved. So I, I had questions about that and they said we could have a show them a place at the current school, but then also show them on a floor plan where we plan to do it. Um, there is an evaluation cycle
that occurs every five years, so they will be back, uh, to evaluate that as well in the future. But they said it shouldn't be a problem, um, to do it at the current school. Thank you for that. So excited. Um, I mean, I really am excited. I know this is overdue, but it, especially when, um, I hear a new program is falling under our committee and Mr. I've shared my thoughts with Mr. Slevin over and over again. I get excited so I can't stress that enough. But, you know, that's the last of our agenda items for today's meeting. Um, any questions before we move on to concluding? Yes, yes, please. Please. Yes. Okay. Please.
My microphone keeps going out. Did you want me to talk on this or To, so we are, we're prepared, but if you wanted to open it up, you want to turn it over to staff? Yes, yes, please. Okay. I'm gonna turn it over to Mr. Sullivan in regards to the survey. Sorry, I just skipped over the whole item. That's okay. Thank You. Um, I would just, I just want to, I don't know if Dr. Jefferson left, but he's still here. Um, one of the things that stood out, um, to me in the past few months and year, going to park view at all the community information nights for thinking about the plans and the programming in the building, um, that community really wants a school to, um, retain
and attract, um, students across LCPS. And I think that under Dr. Jefferson's leadership and partnership with IBO and the staff, um, it's really gonna be a, a special thing that happens when we open those doors in 2027. On, in that same vein, community input is really important. Um, and so we talked a few meetings ago about the potential of developing a survey, um, to inform this committee and the board on next steps when it comes to special programs and pathways, um, particularly around the special programs and academies as well as CTE.
Um, so based on the input from the committee, based on what we've done in the past, um, Ms. Clark has kind of led the charge to develop a, a draft survey, um, that we're hoping to get a little bit of feedback on before we send it out. Um, and Ms. Clark could talk a little bit about the timeline, um, in terms of when we're thinking we may, uh, share this with the community and when we would get results back. So Ms. Clark, are you ready to do That? Yes. Thank you Mr. Slevin. So I'll walk us through, um, our draft survey here. So section one is the introduction
and the purpose of this survey is to explore opportunities to expand or introduce new special programs and academies. Um, as a reminder, we sent this out back in, um, a survey, not this survey, but a survey back in 2022. So it's been three years and we're looking to update that. Um, we are seeking input from parents and guardians to better serve our students. The survey begins by asking which high school their child currently attends or would attend. Section two is talking about existing programs. So we then, um, transition to asking respondents
to rate their level of interest in expanding existing programs. Uh, these programs include A-O-S-A-T, access, DLI sci, IB, and JOTC and Matta, uh, for each of those programs, we were, um, anticipating that if they rate it as um, moderately or very interested, um, that then additional details would drop down for them to select. So for example, if they're interested in DLI, then it would show, um, some language choices
that they could select from if they aren't interested, it would not show those, um, options. Section three would be potential new courses, programs or academies. The survey, um, explores interest in new potential courses, programs or academies based on top career clusters selected by our secondary students. So we selected these, um, from school links. These were the top five that our secondary students had said they were interested in. So that is health sciences, science technology, engineering and mathematics, arts, audio, video technology
and communications, business management and administration. And lastly, law, public safety, corrections and security. Uh, respondents would be able to rate their interest in these categories and provide further details on specific subcategories. So for example, I know dental, so that would be an option. If they said health sciences, it would drop down and they would be able to select, um, some more specifics. Uh, section four are other areas of interest. Um, so the survey would seek input on those areas identified by LCPS based on regional needs.
These areas include agriculture, food, and natural resources, aviation and energy. Again, re um, respondents are would also, another question in that section would be for respondents to rank their top three factors influencing their decision to potentially enroll their child in a special program or academy. So would location, program, reputation, career, college preparation or availability of transportation, or lastly, career interest. What would be their top three factors that, um,
are important to them. And then finally the survey provides an opportunity for respondents to suggest other areas of interest that were not listed. So maybe something's there that they know, um, their child is interested in, they would have the opportunity to add that, um, for us to collect that data. And the research office will be supporting us with this. And, um, I'm trying to think if there's any other information that we should share with you at this time, uh, regarding that. Other than we, you know, really tried to model this so that,
um, it wasn't showing everything. It was only showing when respondents were interested so that, um, the survey isn't too cumbersome for families. So I'm happy to answer any questions or take any feedback at this time. Thank you so much. Survey's. Awesome. Okay. Members of the committee, you got any questions about the survey? Yes. Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you Madam Chair. Just a quick question. I love the survey by the way. Um, one is, just to confirm this, would this go to families with students in middle school? Um, or is that, is it across the board?
And then the second question is, um, what was my second question? Uh, second question is, is there a previous survey that is similar to this one that we could be be able to compare to for previous years? Or is this completely new? We do have a survey that was completed in 2022. We did take a, we did use that as um, some inspiration, but it is a different format that we're approaching. You want to comment on that? Sure. Yeah. So we did use that as kind of a groundwork to build off of, but now that we have programs we wanted
to make sure we included, um, some questions regarding expansion. Uh, that was not in the initial survey. So I think just as we've grown, we've kind of grown in how we want, um, the survey to look. Um, to answer your first part of your question, it would go to all families elementary, middle high. So it would be all parents and guardians. Um, we really do have a lot of student data already from school links. So that's again, where we pulled that one question. And then, um, I forgot Mr. Slevin had asked me to potentially talk about timeline and um, I know the research office has been trying
to do some intentional work about communication for surveys to really get, um, families to respond. 'cause I think sometimes we struggle with family response rates and I'm probably speaking out of turn here, but I'll try my best. Um, so with that, um, my understanding is they really do try to tie it with a communication plan or an event that is occurring. Um, so there's kind of two, two kind of timelines. I know that maybe we wanna get this information sooner rather than later. And if that's the case, then I think we would want, um,
to do this before it gets too late in the school year. 'cause people start getting ready for summer and maybe aren't paying attention to their emails as much. Um, the other option would be to maybe delay and do this more in a September timeframe. When we're back, we do do two special program fairs, um, that we could go out. And my understanding is there's some, maybe some new technology with a QR code that we could put up. They could scan it, if they've already completed it, it wouldn't allow them to complete it again, but it could be a push for us to really, um, push out
to all these families interested in special programs. Um, so there's kind of two timelines. Um, obviously we would want this information, um, to be able to help us with budget, uh, decisions in the fall. So just wanted to put those two options. And I don't know if Mr. Slevin wants to speak to one of those, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Yes, Ms. Libel, One of the questions that I have, uh, I am excited about programs. I love the survey. Uh, but the last page you asked them to give an, uh,
what would most influence your decision? Um, I had a question about the career slash college preparation. When we look at the programs that we're offering, are we offering, uh, an opportunity to get a certificate in an area if, uh, that's what they're interested? I I know that we often say you have to take two sequential CTE classes. Is that part of this or not? What would somebody who's not going to college gain out of? This would be my question. I guess My answer would be it would, it would depend on the course pathway
or the, or the program. Um, so for example, when we were developing our health and medical science academy, a large part of the conversation that we were having, um, related to career development was what credentials would be useful to our local mm-hmm. Health and medical science industry. That was the main topic of our round table. Um, and so in that particular case, the emphasis is on, on career development. Um, when I think about our early planning for the Global Linguistic Studies Academy, that is leaning in on our, our de um, dual enrollment opportunities as well as, um, the, um,
immersion in, in the language, getting that skill, um, potentially a, a seal of biliteracy, um, really leading into post-secondary opportunities with that particular program. Um, this survey benefits us in a number of ways. I think one is thinking about these specialized programs that we're developing, but also with our, um, C-T-E-C-T-E five-year plan. Dr. Grubbs is in the audience here that he had a big, um, seat at the table and developing this survey thinking about, um, not only special programs, but what courses could possibly develop.
What do we need to be thinking differently about what's happening at Matta, for example, or at the academy is allowed in. Um, and so that'll be impacted as well when it comes to career or college, um, orientation. Okay. And if that becomes, if that's like the number one motive, the reason why we're asking this question is when we're making recommendations to the board, what does staff want to put the most weight on? And then when the board makes the decisions too, um, you know, if career and college preparation is more important than location, like they just want this opportunity, whether it's on this side of the county or not, then maybe we could de-emphasize location
and really focus on the high interest fields. So that will just help us with decision making. Would you? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And then what are the next steps for the survey? Like, does, is there, does it have to go through a process before or is it ready to go? So we likely will do some tweaking. We still have time to, to give some feedback, but it would be, um, it would be an operations, a staff decision to move forward with it and we would come back, but we did want you all to give some input just to make sure it would be useful to you as we're making recommendations to the committee. Awesome.
Yes, Mr. Esra. Sorry, Madam Chair. Just last question. Um, so first I, I was excited to see dual language immersion there 'cause I know that we're really trying to think deeply about how we would expand dual language emergency and the, the interest in the community for that. Um, I also want to just kind of make a note around, um, there are some of these, some of these programs or pathways, some families may not be as, um, exposed to, like IB program for example. And so if it's in a survey and it says IB program and you list out, for example, the different programs within ib, um, that might not
register, um, to folks that don't have already have, um, a student in middle school, for example. Um, and so that might, you know, having all, I'm just, again, trade offs, right? Uh, having all of this in one survey, um, depending on the type of family, if they have elementary school kids or they have high school kids, um, will also affect the data that you get, right? Because the interest will be more focused on maybe what you have for elementary versus the high school. Um, and then in, in terms of, um, the timing for this,
I've had the opportunity to, um, uh, listen to our special programs presentations at schools, like randomly met, uh, Ms. Clark there during, um, one of my school visits. Um, and I think we do a, a great job. And I know Mr. Schaffer's still here. I don't know if he's still here or not, but yeah, there he is. Um, does a wonderful job in, in their presentations, um, and getting our families and our students excited about special programs. So kind of, it might be worthwhile tying this into that season. Um, but just a thought. Thank you Mr. Refe. Um, I guess that's our last, um,
information item for this meeting. Any new business before we conclude. Okay, great. Awesome. So our next meeting is scheduled for May 6th. Same time, same room. Uh, so if there's any, if there's no further business, I entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor of adjourning say aye. Aye. Aye, aye. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.