Virginia Beach board presses for clearer gifted services, questions Old Donation School equity

Virginia Beach ' The school division's gifted education office told the School Board on July 1 that it has updated identification and service models and will emphasize local school cluster supports while defending the role of Old Donation School, prompting board members to press for more data and for options to expand access. The presentation by Crystal Wilkerson, director of K'12 and gifted programs, summarized changes approved in the division's 2024'2029 local plan and a set of operational moves intended to broaden information, increase differentiated instruction in home schools and refine criteria for identification. Wilkerson said Virginia Beach City Public Schools is "one of the only divisions in the Commonwealth and the only one in our area that staffs an endorsed gifted resource teacher or GRT in every comprehensive home school," and described several changes to screening and service timing made after stakeholder review. Board members immediately focused on equity of access. Several members said Old Donation School (ODS), the division's stand-alone program for gifted learners in grades 3'8, offers more intensive opportunities than cluster services in students' home schools. Board member Melinda Rogers said she had asked to see the numbers and noted that while some families opt not to apply for ODS, many do and that "the setup at ODS allows for students to have much more opportunity for gifted instruction than the students at their cluster models." Wilkerson told the board that the division now begins identification at third grade (services begin in grade 3) rather than first grade and that some earlier screeners and tasks were removed because they presented barriers or had budget impacts. She summarized key technical points: the CogAT was removed as a universal screener in first grade because of cost but still is used for applicants; the Naglieri (nonverbal) is still used in grades 2 and 5; the performance-based math task was removed as a universal screen for first grade; and the division is centralizing communication and professional learning for GRTs. Board members also cited local data presented in the packet. Wilkerson said the division has roughly 2,700 elementary students identified as gifted and that ODS offers about 1,360 seats for grades 3'8. Individual schools shown in the report had large variations: Wilkerson and board discussion referenced Ocean Lakes High with a reported near-35% gifted identification rate and Kellam High at about 24.23%; Pembroke Meadows Elementary was cited at about 28% and Thoroughgood Elementary at about 34% in the division's materials. Several board members asked for follow-up data on how many identified students are assigned to cluster services versus pulled into ODS, and for counts of students classified as "twice exceptional" (gifted with disabilities). Wilkerson said some changes were intended to expand cluster capacity and that the division's offices would provide a memo in August with additional analyses and a plan to report quarterly on implementation and lessons learned. Board members proposed alternatives to the current model during the public discussion. Rogers and others suggested a "school within a school" approach to cluster programming that would group GRTs and clustered students locally so more learners could receive concentrated gifted instruction while remaining in their community schools. Board members discussed budget and staffing implications and asked staff to analyze costs and feasibility, noting prior estimates that a satellite program could cost roughly $1.66 million per site in earlier planning discussions. The board asked staff to return with additional materials in September, including the Johns Hopkins study the division previously used, and for Wilkerson to provide a copy of the approved 2024'2029 local gifted plan to the full board. Ending: Staff said it will bring a memo to the board by Aug. 12 and return with a fuller presentation in September; board members were unanimous in requesting more school-level breakdowns of placement, twice-exceptional counts, and comparative outcome data between ODS and cluster models.