Staff Advisory Council Minutes
Division Updates:
Welcome
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF WORK
The purpose of this Committee is to create a continual loop of communication, feedback and discussion. Specifically, there are three goals we will keep in mind as we work together:
We will pursue a shared understanding and delivery of accurate information.
We will work to continually improve our policies & procedures, making adjustments in response to the needs of our schools, departments and community.
We will seek to contribute to an organizational climate in which all stakeholders are valued, and contributions are respected.
The SAC is not a venue for personal conflicts to be aired and mediated nor is it a vehicle by which established communication protocol can be circumvented. While some issues that are specific to a school or department may be appropriate to handle within this committee and communicated throughout the division, others will be more effectively addressed outside of this committee with the specific principal or department leader.
Meeting Dates & Locations
Move to another day of the week?
Move meetings to schools each month?
It was the desire of the group to continue to meet at the School Board Office on the last Tuesday of the month, though many were agreeable to changing this if future desire arose from other members.
Staff Advisory minutes
All minutes will be housed on Google Sites.
Central Elementary:
Reps: Amy Conner and Maria Graff
Good news:
Several people wanted to give a shout out to all of the Law Enforcement that showed up on Wednesday to ensure the safety of students and staff. A shout out to school leaders as well.
Thanks so much for this encouragement! Our partnership with the Sheriff's Office is amazing.
Staff Questions/updates:
It’s been suggested that our unnumbered work day be before open house, not after.
We can incorporate this into the calendar committee’s development of the 2025-2026 school year and get feedback from other schools. Historically it’s been requested to have that day before students, but understandable that particularly for elementary classrooms, there is more time needed to prepare for open house.
I have a question as to why all of the individual pieces of fruit are in baggies. It seems like a waste of plastic.
It was clarified that this question was related to pieces of whole fruit, such as apples and oranges. VA Health Code now requires “sneeze guards” to be installed over any salad bars, buffet lines or self service lines that contain fruits or vegetables with edible skin. Plexiglass shields were purchased and have been installed (during the first couple of days of the school year this year) at Central, so these items are no longer in plastic baggies.
The lack of recess aides is really affecting teachers’ abilities to get things done, which is affecting staff morale. We have PLCs once a week, team meetings once a week, and now curriculum planning once a week due to the new reading program and SOLs.
I understand this was a significant loss and we will make the recess aide positions a part of the upcoming FY26 budget process. I am asking staff at Central and Carysbrook to communicate with each other and their respective principals about how they would prioritize the need for recess assistants in relation to other needs. I will meet with the staff at both schools to get feedback so we can be sure to paint an accurate picture of the staff’s disposition during the budget process with the school board.
There are a tremendous number of changes at the state level that have had a big impact at the elementary level, especially. I know that has caused significant stress in some cases and we will continue to be open to ways we can alleviate that burden while still equipping our staff to meet the required (new) challenges. The new curriculum planning meeting came from the team, itself, and was not initiated by the administration or curriculum team. Central also does not hold regular staff meetings in order to further protect teachers’ time. Only if there is a pressing need does a staff meeting get scheduled.
One thing that has been done at Central is to remove lunch duty as a requirement, following the first couple of weeks (in order to ensure children know their routines, etc). Beginning with Monday, August 26, Central teachers do not have lunch duty unless they have to cover an unforeseen need (another staff member is sick, etc).
Another concern about loss of planning time, while middle school and high school have so much time.
Thank you for sharing this. The differences between elementary and secondary planning are universal - and certainly there are other differences due to the nature of the work at both levels. I am open to any suggestions on how to create additional planning time at the elementary level and will make the recess aide positions a part of the upcoming FY26 budget consideration.
A request was made that an all staff text or call go out when there are delays or closings. Many staff do not check their emails in the morning.
Yes, an email, text and phone call goes to all staff contact numbers listed in Powerschool any time there is a schedule change. Most recently (August 21), we had a unique situation where we had to implement a change (2-hour delay) around 12:30 AM. We did the email and text at that time, but did not do the phone call since it was so early in the morning. The phone call (along with a second text and email) went out to all staff announcing/reminding of that delay at 5AM, and we will continue to use all three venues when we have changes to communicate.
It was clarified during the meeting that some staff members, especially those who were parents of FCPS students who had graduated this past year and were no longer in school this year no longer had the same contact information located in Powerschool as they did before. This led to some not receiving communication to the parent contact information they believed was in Powerschool.
There are carpets in the first floor short hallway that have sections being held together with duct tape. Can anything be done?
Replacement of the carpets at Central is on the Capital Improvement Plan for next year. If there are any carpets believed to be a more immediate (safety) need please let Mrs. Barnabei know so they can be addressed sooner.
Question about the $500 deductible that was eliminated if a health questionnaire was filled out. Under new insurance, that is not an option, and employees were told that they would be held harmless. It is not a significant out-of-pocket expense, but an inquiry was made as to why it wasn’t explained at enrollment. “We are looking into it.” was said in June. Any updates?
There is a wellness option being developed to provide an equal benefit ($750 towards deductible) to our employees this year. Two things have made this more challenging and thus a lengthier process: (1) aspects of the prior provider’s plan were found to be in violation of IRS standards (a reminder that the company is no longer in business), so replicating the benefits while complying with regulations has taken longer, and (2) the desire is to ensure a seamless transition as much as possible, and the prior plan details were proprietary (built specifically by and for the previous provider).
That said, there will absolutely be a wellness incentive that I am confident our employees will find fair and positive!
Is there a district-wide policy regarding Donor’s Choose and Amazon Wish lists?
Our requirements regarding these types of solicitations are simply that:
The request has first been brought to the building or department leadership first, and
The requested funding is to support an approved purchase/activity (this should be covered with “a”)
I have found that teachers' requests to the community sometimes involve purchases we would have supported at the division level but were never asked about.
Another concern is lack of planning time.
Understood. This is addressed in earlier responses.
A concern about not enough time provided for the loss of a close family member (spouse, child, parent).
FCPS offers a 3-day paid bereavement benefit (in addition to the accumulated sick days) that is comparable and in some cases more generous than that of our neighbors. A quick search of the leave policies in place in our neighboring divisions (this is typically found in policy GCBD and the surrounding policies):
FCPS 3 days paid bereavement leave
Goochland 3 days paid bereavement leave
Louisa did not find any mention of bereavement leave, though I suspect there probably is some benefit in place
Albemarle 5 days unpaid bereavement days or can use up to 5 accumulated sick days (no additional paid bereavement leave)
Charlottesville can use up to 5 accumulated sick days; approval for more (no additional paid bereavement leave)
Nelson 3 additional sick days for bereavement as needed
Buckingham 3 days (or 24 hours)paid bereavement leave
Orange up to 5 accumulated sick days (no additional paid bereavement leave)
Many cases are individualized, and we are always open to hearing the details around individual situations and seeking ways to accommodate what’s in the best interest of our employees as much as possible.
Carysbrook Elementary:
Reps: Michelle Ryman and Jennifer Flood
Good news:
Thank you for having officers at all of our buildings after the threat.
Thank you for the positive words and a big expression of gratitude to our Sheriff’s Office for the continued support!
Staff Questions/updates:
Open House
There was a suggestion to have open house moved so it has at least a two day buffer between it and the first day with students (rather than only one). There was also a suggestion to change open house so that there would be one day for elementary open house and another for secondary open house with the aim of being able to offer shorter open house hours. Other counties offer open house/meet the teacher for 3 to 4 hours only, and some staff have indicated that they would prefer to adopt a similar model.
We can incorporate this into the calendar committee’s development of the 2025-2026 school year and get feedback regarding the back to school week for teachers to include the Open House schedule.
Support for NeuroDivergent Staff
What does that look like in Fluvanna?
I would need to understand the context more clearly in order to develop the best response. If the question is around how staff members get support and/or accommodations for their own needs, they should communicate them to their principal or Dr. Stribling as the one who leads our Human Resources Department, then we go from there and the next steps are very individualized. There could be formal documentation from a medical provider or it could simply be a more casual discussion with one’s principal about a specific need. We would involve other professional expertise areas as necessary.
Staff acknowledgement:
Can we make the staff recognition form easy to find on the staff page of fluco.org?
Yes! We are migrating to a brand new website soon (exciting!) and we will place this form in a prominent location to be sure it’s easily accessed. We have had 22 recognitions processed thus far - keep up the great work!
Planning time
Having no recess aides this year has already had a negative impact on teachers. We do not have nearly enough time during the workday to do what we need to do to provide the best experiences for our students. We love our students, but we love our families and our lives too.
Understood! This is addressed above as well. Unfortunately Carysbrook is not staffed robustly enough to support the elimination of lunch duty as has been done at Central, though we are looking for creative ways to alleviate some of this burden at Carysbrook as well.
The recess aide positions will be a part of the budget consideration process for the upcoming year.
FMS:
Reps: Chris Gresham and Tonya Lloyd
Good news:
Thank you for your support and swift actions (along with the Sheriff's department) to investigate and alleviate the threat placed on the Middle School this week. It helps everyone feel safer and protected.
Thank you! As stated above, our Sheriff’s Office is incredibly supportive of our schools.
Thank you for the Securly Hall Pass - even with the learning curve, this has cut down on students being out of class.
I’m very glad to hear this is positive!
Staff Questions/updates:
Would like to ask about teachers getting a stipend for the UVA Literacy Canvas Course since it is a very significant amount of time to complete it. Other divisions nearby have done so.
Our division literacy specialists have been working ahead on the modules in order to provide an overview of each module that can be completed collaboratively at a monthly planning meeting during the school day throughout this school year in order to reduce the burden of time to complete outside of school hours. To my knowledge, some divisions who provided stipends, required teachers to complete this over the summer or outside of contract hours. Professional development points will be given.
I appreciate the free breakfasts and lunches for our students. However, I would like to know where the funding for this is coming from and what we have agreed to do in order to receive these funds.
Our ability to offer free meals to students comes through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). Meals we serve are reimbursed from the federal government at a rate that is calculated based on our percentage of free/reduced lunch-eligible students. Once eligible, we are able to implement the program using the reimbursement rate for a four-year period. Divisions who are eligible to apply must apply, per VA Code § 22.1-207.4:1. We must apply to participate in CEP when we meet the requirements or submit a waiver that has to be approved if we feel that it is not financially viable to participate in CEP. In our case it was financially beneficial. One reason is because we have been experiencing close to 100K in unpaid meal debt annually.
Other than ensuring our meals meet federal nutrition standards (which they must anyway), there are no other responsibilities we have agreed to.
I know it's been brought up before, but I want to take all available opportunities to bring attention to the need for a restructuring of the grade-placements in the county. I acknowledge that doing so would require extreme overhauls to our public schools' infrastructure, starting with Central Elementary. But I (and every single person I've ever spoken to about this) agree that it is a must. If we truly stand by the idea of doing what's best for our students, removing 8th grade from the high school and 5th grade from the middle school is vital to that mission.
One suggestion heard several times is move 3 - 5 to the middle school building and 6 - 7 to the Carysbrook building. This would allow us to have a “true” middle school and elementary school. It would allow easier scheduling because 6 - 7 are not required recess. Also, when this has come up in the past it is said that 8th grade is to stay at high
Responding to both previous items in the following response:
A facilities study would be the most efficient way to determine what possibilities there are for reconfiguring the structure of our schools. Given the unknown impact on our enrollment due to newer developments in the county, now would probably not be the best time to begin radical changes to the structure of our schools. We are also experiencing a continued decrease in high school enrollment, so the removal of an entire grade would pose challenging situations to resolve. I will also note that there are members of the school community, parents, and staff who have expressed opposing opinions and support the structure as it currently stands. I offer that simply to say that before significant movement on these issues, we should get a comprehensive perspective of how the community, staff, students, and families feel about this, what vision we have for the future, and the extent to which we prioritize those investments over other needs that invariably arise. I remain open to the conversation.
FCHS:
Reps: Haden Parrish, Shannon Taylor, and Luke Divine
Good news:
Securely is doing a great job of helping with hallway traffic. Once everyone is on board, it will be awesome!
Securly Classroom has helped with monitoring off task chromebook behaviors.
I’m glad to hear that this is working well!
Staff Questions/updates: