School Board Update
September 8, 2020
Arlington School Board
Email: school.board@apsva.us
Website: www.apsva.us
Location: 2110 Washington Boulevard, Arlington, VA, USA
Phone: 703-228-6015
Twitter: @APSVaSchoolBd
Agenda for the September 10, 2020 School Board Meeting
The agenda for the September 10 School Board Meeting is posted on BoardDocs at:
https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/vpublic?open.
This meeting will take place virtually using Microsoft Teams. Meetings are available for viewing live on the APS website and broadcast on Comcast Cable Channel 70 and Verizon FIOS Channel 41.
A. CLOSED MEETING - NONE
B. REGULAR MEETING OPENING - 7 PM
1. Call to Order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. CITIZEN COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA AND AGENDA ITEMS:
4. Announcements:
- September 17, 2020 Virtual Closed Meeting, 5:15 PM
- September 22, 2020 – Virtual Policy Subcommittee Meeting, Noon
5. Superintendent’s Announcements and Updates
C. CONSENT ITEMS:
1. Minutes:
a. May 5, 2020 Public Hearing on the Proposed 2021 Budget
b. May 21, 2020 Closed Meeting and School Board Meeting
c. May 27, 2020 Capital Improvement Plan Work Session #1 and Public Hearing on Superintendent’s Proposed Capital Improvement Plan
d. June 4, 2020 School Board Meeting
e. June 25, 2020 School Board Meeting
f. June 29, 2020 Joint School Board/Executive Leadership Team Retreat
g. August 13, 2020 Closed Meeting
h. August 18, 2020 Work Session on The Heights
2. Personnel Actions
3. Adoption of New Policy E-5.1.2 School Start Times
4. Grants and Restricted Programs:
a. School Security Equipment Grant – Taylor Elementary
5. Appointment to Budget Advisory Council
D. MONITORING ITEMS:
1. School Year 2020-2021 Update
E. ACTION ITEMS:
1. Revised 2020-2021 School Calendar
F. INFORMATION ITEMS:
1. School Board’s 2020-2021 Action Plan
2. Transportation Staff Facility Construction Contract Award
3. New Elementary School at Reed Temporary Change to Project Funding
4. License Agreement for School Bus Parking at the Trades Center West Lot
G. NEW BUSINESS:
H. ADJOURNMENT
Citizen Comment at School Board Meetings
At this time, no in-person public comment will be allowed at Board Meetings, however limited Public Comment will be allowed using a call-in service.
The Public Comment Agenda Item will take place at the beginning of each Board Meeting. ALL public comment will be heard at that time, on both Agenda and Non-Agenda items, and there is a limit of 1 hour for all public comment.
Please note, the deadline for signing up to speak is 4 PM two days prior to the Board meeting. The speaker form is posted at https://www.apsva.us/school-board-meetings/sign-up-to-speak/. When you sign up you will receive an acknowledgement. The day of the meeting, you will be provided with detailed directions for calling. During the meeting, speakers will be announced in the order that the calls are received.
Welcome Back Message from the Superintendent
Update on Technical Issues
APS Families,
We sincerely apologize for the system-wide technical challenges many families experienced today, especially with connecting APS devices to Canvas and Microsoft Teams. The Department of Information Services identified that the primary source of the issue was firewall-related, due to the large volume of traffic trying to access Microsoft Teams at one time. We are deploying a solution now.
We knew there would be a high volume of traffic on the first day of school. We believed we had taken all necessary steps to prepare for this in advance, and unfortunately this morning we discovered an additional adjustment was needed. We are refreshing the firewall servers now. Performance has already improved and should continue to improve through the afternoon. We will continue to monitor this tomorrow and throughout this first week to make adjustments when necessary.
There are no additional steps necessary for families. We encourage you to continue trying to log on and to try restarting your child’s device.
Additionally, the phone number we had set up for technology support was quickly overwhelmed due to the same issue, and we have resolved that issue. Families can continue to access our self-help guides on the website and dial 703-228-2570 for additional support. We are sorry for the issues and understand your frustration as we start the year. I also want to clarify that we were aware of an issue with Global Protect, brought to our attention late last week, and that issue was resolved over the weekend. We will continue to monitor and support families throughout this week and on an ongoing basis.
Sincerely,
Dr. Francisco Durán
Superintendent
Lea la actualización en español.
School Board Policies Available for Public Comment
On April 15, the School Board launched a new public comment process to seek feedback from the community on policy drafts and revisions. After the internal policy process is complete, policy drafts will now be available for 30 days on the APS Engage site to ensure that all interested stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input. Staff will review comments and any suggestions submitted during the public comment period before completing and presenting the final draft as an information item to the School Board.
Arlington Public Schools is soliciting comments on the draft revisions to the following policies.
- K-14.30 Volunteers
- F-1 Financial Management – Capital Improvement Plan
- F-5.7 Construction and Maintenance
Feedback should be provided through the APS Engage online feedback form. Please be sure to include the policy you are referencing in your correspondence. Or by submitting the corresponding policy questionnaire at https://www.apsva.us/engage/policies-for-revision-amendment/ under the Public Comment on Drafts section. The policies noted above are available for public comment from Sept 1 - 30, 2020.
Advisory Committees that have opted into the Enhanced Feedback process for these policies may also submit a supplementary memo in addition to responding to the survey. The survey response should note that you have submitted a supplementary memo. The Supplementary memo is due the day the survey closes.
Open Office Hours for the 2020-2021 School Year
The schedule for Open Office Hours for the 2020-2021 school year is now posted at https://www.apsva.us/contact-the-school-board/open-office-hours/.
School Board Liaison Assignments for the SY 2020-2021
Each school at APS is assigned a Board liaison to engage and become familiar with particular issues affecting that school community. The Board has approved the revised School Board liaison assignment list for the new school year.
We encourage you to share your thoughts and comments with the School Board by email at School.Board@apsva.us. We ask that you minimize messages to individual board members, as they will be focused on communications about maintaining safe operations during the pandemic. A copy of all messages received at School.Board@apsva.us is made available to each Board member. Board members receive regular reports of emails received.
Updates for the School Year 2020-2021
APS has the following information available for families:
- The APS COVID-19 webpage has the latest updates and new FAQs about instruction, technology, meals for students, family resources and more.
- APS Expands Grab-and-Go Meal Service to 21 Schools for New School Year Beginning Sept. 8: https://www.apsva.us/distance-learning/meal-services/
APS to Launch Family Technology Call Center: https://parentacademy.apsva.us/
Explore Videos and Resources for Parents:
The Annual Online Verification Process (AOVP) Begins on August 31:
https://www.apsva.us/post/the-annual-online-verification-process-aovp-begins-on-august-31/Comcast Internet Essentials Details: https://www.apsva.us/digital-learning/internet/
Food Resources from Arlington County: https://www.apsva.us/post/food-resources-from-arlington-county/
- Need assistance? See who to contact at https://www.apsva.us/post/who-to-contact-for-help/
Questions related to APS and the change in operations due to COVID-19 can be sent to engage@apsva.us