Albemarle County Public Schools board meeting, May 28, 2026
3 h 05 min
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What happened
What happened at this meeting
Albemarle school board adopts Achievement Gap Advisory Committee charter on 4-3 vote 1:17:00
- Coming out of closed session, the board approved addenda to the employment contracts of the superintendent and the chief legal officer regarding annual salary increases effective July 1, 2026. 2:10
- Speakers at public comment raised the extended day enrichment program at Red Hill Elementary School and asked the board to act on a petition to improve recycling and composting in schools. 24:43
- The board also heard staff presentations on equity structures and held a work session on a research practice partnership with the University of Virginia. 1:17:09
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Item by item (12)
- Actions from closed session 1:17
- Ellen Osborne moved to approve the addendum to the superintendent's employment contract regarding the annual salary increase effective July 1, 2026. 2:10
- Ellen Osborne also moved to approve the addendum to the chief legal officer's employment contract regarding the annual salary increase effective July 1, 2026. 2:46
- Roll call and agenda approval 3:23
- Introduction of student representatives 6:23
- Rebecca Berlin said the board would recognize and introduce the students who will serve as the '26-'27 student school board representatives, who do not serve as voting members. 6:59
- Board members read biographies of the representatives from each high school and an alternate. 8:05
- Rebecca Berlin said the representatives would rotate time on the dais and gather information through focus groups, surveys or conversations at their schools. 12:39
- Superintendent and committee updates 12:39
- A district staff member said the Scottsville program would work with the Boys and Girls Club and that an open house for Red Hill families was on hold until a county procurement process is completed. 15:38
- Ellen Osborne said the Audit Committee met on the 19th and learned the county stopped about $260,000 worth of fraudulent checks from going through. 19:20
- Kate one board member said a student presentation noted that only the newer bathrooms have vape detectors and that the board perhaps should talk about the issue at some point. 21:06
- Public comment 21:36
- Kate Acuff said 10 speakers had signed up. 23:02
- Several speakers at public comment raised concerns that the extended day enrichment program was not planned at Red Hill for the 2026-2027 school year and asked the board to confirm a program or reconsider the change. 24:43
- Other speakers asked the board to review a petition to improve recycling and composting and add a discussion of it to the June 11th meeting agenda, and a speaker raised the move of the preschool special education program at Stony Point Elementary to Baker Butler Elementary. 33:25
- Staff response to public comment 47:48
- A district staff member said 3 Responsive Classroom training sessions, each 2 weeks long with 30 teachers signed up, would run this summer. 47:48
- The staff member said student scores across all standards of learning testing subjects continue to top state averages. 48:38
- Rebecca Berlin said the board would take the students' letter under advisement and connect with the Board of Supervisors and the ASES committee about follow-up. 50:50
- Consent agenda 50:50
- Achievement Gap Advisory Committee charter 51:31
- A district staff member said staff would propose a year-long program of about 9 monthly professional learning sessions for the board and cabinet, aiming to start in August. 51:52
- Rebecca Berlin said the updated charter increased student members from 2 to 3 to 4 to 8, revised the appointment process and added an annual review of the charter. 54:51
- One board member said the board needed community involvement, a second member said the board could offload the issue to a committee, and a third member said a pilot for a year or two could be considered. 1:00:44
- A motion by Kate Acuff to table the charter failed 3-4, and a motion by Allison Spillman to adopt the charter passed 4-3. 1:15:58
- Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee restructuring 1:18:43
- The director of equity education proposed that liaisons from the district's existing advisory committees, which the director counted at 14 plus, meet in the Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee. 1:18:59
- The director said the committee would switch from monthly to quarterly meetings. 1:18:59
- Ellen Osborne asked how the newly formed board committee would work with the advisory committee, and the director said it would send a liaison like the other committees. 1:28:24
- Cultural competency framework 1:31:51
- The director of equity education said state law requires the board to decide on cultural competency and proposed expanding the framework from teachers to leadership and operations and technology. 1:33:00
- The director said 1,262 educators had completed the book study, 705 had completed the microcredential and 557 were in progress. 1:41:45
- A staff member said the framework will come back for action at the next meeting. 1:51:19
- Research practice partnership work session 1:51:25
- A University of Virginia presenter said the partnership formally began in summer of 2022 with the first Star Hill Pathways student cohort. 1:55:32
- Board members stayed in place while students and presenters rotated among 3 small-group discussions. 2:04:21
- A district staff member proposed that the board identify 3 to 5 research priority areas annually. 2:56:45
- Adjournment 3:04:33
- Rebecca Berlin adjourned the meeting after no other business was raised. 3:04:33
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Video: posted by the district as “School Board Meeting - May 28, 2026”