001the I would like to call this meeting the Prince William County School Board to order approval agenda motions in order Miss zapor oh um hold on hold on hold on yes all right um Mr chairman I move that the Prince County School Board appr wait what am I doing yeah that's it right approve the meeting agenda as recommended do I have a second any discussion okay all in favor I okay agenda passes unanimously five votes I'm moving on to motion Ander close session motions in order Mr araport Mr chairman I move that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 3711 and 2.2 3712 the prince way County School Board enter the Clos session for enter Clos session for the following reasons one to discuss with staff the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salaries disciplining or resignation
002of specific public officers appointees or employees of any public body pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A1 two to review disciplinary matters for a specific student that would involve the disclosure of information contained in the Scholastic record for the individual student and to receive legal advice regarding the same as provided by Virginia code section 2.2 3711 a 2 and 8 three to discuss with division Council and staff actual or probable litigation and specific legal matters involving staff students and other civil litigation involving the School Division under Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A7 and 8 four to discuss the award of a public contract to employees exclusive representative which involves the expenditure of public funds and the terms or scope of such contract for discussion in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position
003or negotiating strategy of the public body pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 3711 a29 and five to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to security of school facilities the safety of persons using such facilities and actions taken to respond to such matters where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 3711 a19 do I have a second CH Mr Jesse second all in favor uh you raise your hands any opposition no opposition uh motion passes at this time the prince Willam County School Board will move to close session and return in 1 hour [Music] at this time the Prince William County School Board is now returning to open session from closed session a motions in order for 8.01 close session certification Mr Blake
004thank you Mr chairman I moved that pursuant to section 2.2-cu of the code of Virginia the closed session of the Prince William County school board meeting of March 19th 2025 be certified by adopting the following resolution now therefore be it resolved that the Prince Williams County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge one only public bu business matters lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed in closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and two only such public business matters as identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board do I have a second Mr chairman I second miss zapor any discussion please vote it is way too high it's like in my face vote is8 Yes unanimous motion passed
005great thank you moving on to um close session action items uh we have motions in order Mr Blake I move that the princip William County school board approved the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in the Clos session do I have a second Mr chairman Miss arore second any discussion please vote vote is8 Yes unanimous motion passed uh moving on to the apparent appeal of the smap reassignment student Sr 25101 Mr Blake uh I move that for reasons set forth in the student management and alternative program Department's letter on February 5th 2025 the Prince William County school board approved smap's decision to reassign student sr25 d101 to to computer-based instruction program via remote access only based on charges of unlawful acts in the community do I have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams
006second any discussion please vote vote is 8 yes unanimous motion passed great um next up is a pledge of allegiance and at this time we'll have uh Miss araport lead us in the pledge I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all um wonderful okay moving on we have thriving Futures Focus good evening everyone this is our opportunity to highlight the exemplary work being accomplished in our schools fulfilling our vision that every student will graduate with the knowledge skills and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their Community we dedicate this time during our meetings to recognizing students staff members and schools that have earned an honor or
007award at the state or national level we appreciate how these honores have positively represented Prince William County Public Schools and the school board it's proud to recognize them publicly for their accomplishments tonight the school board will recognize our regeneron talent talent search F regeneron science Talent sech finalist candidates um and the candidates for the 2025 US Presidential Scholars Program and our National Merit Scholarship finalist We Begin our recognition with Miss Lisa zarap Cole's District representative who will introduce our first Honore thank you Dr Latif uh the regeneron science Talent search organized by Society for science is the nation's oldest and most prestigious Science and Mathematics competition for high school seniors student selected for this honor demonstrate exceptional research problem solving abilities and leadership in stem R Latif has been named one of the top 40
008finalists in The 2025 regeneron science Talent search this year's 40 finalists were chosen from nearly 2,500 applicants representing 795 high schools across the United States and internationally as a finalist ra has already received $27,000 and competed for more than 1.8 million in Awards during a week-long competition in Washington DC that took place last week she presented her research to nationally renowned scientists and competed for the top prize of $250,000 R attends both Charles J Hogan Senior High School school and the governor school at Innovation Park as a senior she is represented tonight by colan High School principal Dr Tim Healey and by AP biology and biology one teacher National Honors Society sponsor and co-lead Mentor Miss Stephanie Brown at this time I invite Ria Latif to share a few words about her project and what
009this award means to her thank you so much for this incredible honor I just want to say I was truly excited to represent pwcs at this as I find as the regener on STS finalist in Washington DC um my project studied the effects of disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms specifically looking at blue light exposure on how this could affect our physical and mental health outcomes and my research Journey started with Mrs Brown at Hogan high school and culminated with Dr P at the governor school at innov Innovation Park and I am truly truly grateful and thankful for their unwavering support and guidance and I would not be here today if it wasn't for them I'm also greatly appreciative towards Dr renberg and the sport system of the science faires and opportunities this County holds that
010prepares students like me for opportunities like this um I would also like to say thank you to Dr McDade for championing the Virginia Junior Academy of Science and encouraging students across pwcs to participate in events like this that give you opportunities to meet 39 amazing other young students across the county and meet with um amazing scientists Nobel Prize winners and and I would have never been exposed to this if it wasn't for all these opportunities so thank [Applause] [Music] you sorry thank you Ria um congratulations again on your incredible achievement um well I also want to recognize Miss Lisa sharp who's also here counselor from kogan high school as well thank you very much and um um where am I here am I missing a page of my script oh right it has yeah well
011so because this is um I'll take a little privilege this is my my daughter and I'm um you know very grateful I I think she I think she pointed it out very well um that the school division is really committed to science um and and opportunities for our students across all stem categories and and and we've spent a lot of time and energy on that and I think for parents and and students alike we are very grateful for the commitment the School Division has especially at a place like Hogan High School where where one might think it's a fine and performing arts school but they have never said no to the work that the students want to do there whether it's science debate robotics um and those things and I think we have that attitude
012across the division as well in in our high schools and I think it just leads to just great success for students everywhere so we're very grateful um so thank you um um who do I go to next it's still me it's still oh that's what's confusing it's still miss he's seeing he's seeing Cole's District all over this and he doesn't know what to do I believe you have an additional recognition I do thank you Dr Latif it is my honor to recognize several outstanding students from princee County Public Schools who have been selected as candidates for the 2025 US Presidential Scholars Program one of the most prestigious academic honors for high school seniors this National program recognizes students for their exceptional academic achievement leadership and service to their communities the following students have received this
013distinction Elizabeth yaboa Cody of Charles J kogan High School represented by Tim Dr Tim Healey and counselor Aaron flare Ezekiel Miller presidential Scholars Program in Career and Technical education of CD Hilton High School represented represented by principal Cassandra Crawford and fax teacher kathern Jackson Ali goar of Osborne Park High School represented by principal Lisa Marie Kain R Latif of Charles J colan Senior High School represented by principal Dr Tim Healey and school counselor Lisa sharp also the Governor school at Innovation Park although they could not be with us tonight we still wish to recognize principal Dr Jason Calhoun and the school and school counselor Melissa Bach congratulations to these exceptional students on this prestigious recognition I invite any students who would like to come and share a few words to step forward to the podium
014uh this will be quick I just wanted to say that it was an honor to be recognized as a candidate for the presidential Scholars Program and an honor to represent kogan high school thank you all for the opportunity to be here [Applause] tonight uh first and foremost uh all Glory God for this opportunity I also thank my magnificent fact teacher Miss Jackson for encouraging me to do this award as well as my principal and all my family and friends that supported me along this way and to represent not only Prince County but Virginia and as well as a very important CTE Department of all our education thank you I'd like to thank you all a lot for this opportunity as I was talking to miss k um we have no idea how much of a
015pain it would be to organize something like this so thank you very [Applause] much thank you Mr araport and congratulations to all our award recipients Mr Willl would you introduce our first National Merit Scholarship finalist thank you Dr Latif the National Merit Scholarship program is one of the most distinguished academic competitions in the country recognizing students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement each year one .3 million students enter the competition by taking the PSAT nmsqt only 50,000 high high schoolers receive recognition and from there 15,000 students are selected as National Merit finalists this evening we proudly recognize six pwcs students for earning this Elite distinction from the pic District I would like to recognize Benjamin ikenberry of Forest Park High School represented by principal Richard Martinez congratulations thank you so [Applause] much thank you Mr
016wil Mr denck from the brunville district I would like to recognize James YZ of Patriot High School represented by acting principal David Van gelder congratulations [Applause] [Music] James thank you Mr trenck Miss wall thank you Dr although they could not be here tonight the Gainesville District would like to recognize two students Daniel Cho and Alan ping of Battlefield high school as well as principal Dolores Lucas congratulations to these two students and to the Gainesville [Applause] Community thank you Miss wall Miss gapore thank you Dr Latif from the Kohl's District again I would like to recognize two students Isabella Carter of the Charles J colan Senior High School represented by principal Dr Tim Healey and although Alexandra cannot be with us here tonight we still wish to recognize Alexandra whan of osbor Park High School represented
017by principal Lisa Marie Kaine congratulations to you [Applause] all thank you Mr araport at this time I'd like to invite any of our National Merit finalists who'd like to share a few words on your accomplishment to please step forward at this time I'm happy to be recognized by the Prince Williams school board for my achievement I'm proud to be representing the county as a National Merit honor scholarship finalist I would like to thank my family as well as the teachers and staff of Prince William County who have helped me along the way this is as much a recognition of them as it is for me and as I go forward to College of career and software engineering and hopefully United States Air Force I will constantly be appreciating your help thank you [Applause] [Music] wonderful
018um anyone else yes please um hi uh I want to thank the school board and everyone here for this opportunity um I'm really grateful for this recognition I want to thank um Dr Healey and all the teachers that helped me get here and my family too for their constant [Applause] [Music] support congratulations again to our TW oh do we have another one yes let's go I'm sorry what's up guys I'm I'm just happy to be here thank you guys for inviting me shout out Forest Park High School Shout Out Mr [Applause] Martinez wonderful guys thank you congratulations again to our 2025 US Presidential Scholars Program candidates regeneron science Talent search finalist and National Merit Scholarship finalists before asking our superintendent to share a few words I would like to ask the parents and the family
019members of our award-winning students to please stand at this time to be [Applause] recognized um I'd like to invite Dr super um our superintendent Dr latan MCD to share a few words thank you Mr chairman I'm really excited to recognize the ex exemplary achievements of our pwcs Scholars um you have demonstrated excellence in academics in research and in leadership and these honors really represent the hard work and dedication of not only our students but also our Educators our families and our school communities I want to thank all of our Educators and leaders School leaders that are here supporting our students and the work that you do with them each and every day to support them in realizing their dreams and their goals congratulations to our National Merit finalist you represent less than 1% of seniors
020Nationwide and I know you'll continue to inspire others as you take the next steps in your academic Journey congratulations as well to our presidential Scholars you represent Prince William County schools with such distinction and we are incredibly proud of you and to R I am so proud of your remarkable achievement in science um I remember our first interview when you were the editor for G BJs as and um at that moment I knew just how palpable your um your passion for research and for science was and it's showing up today with this remarkable accomplishment I know that you all will achieve so many tremendous honors in the future beyond your time in Prince William County and I look forward to seeing all that you will accomplish congratulations to each and every one of you we
021are pwcs [Applause] proud I'd like to reiterate Dr mcdade's comments I mean I I can't thank the families who support you know the your your children so much for all these years in our schools we am you know I as a parent sort of have the privilege tonight of also speaking in my wife here um the ram Latif um know what you've gone through and know what what it takes to get our kids to where they are but we can't do it without a community of teachers staff principles bus drivers custodians everyone who supports these kids to make it happen and it didn't just happen in one year it took 4 8 12 years of schooling here in this County to get us there and so I I can't thank you all enough another round
022of applause for all of our amazing teachers and staff at this time I'll invite all our honores to come forward for a group photo um Diana GL will help direct that with the school board and receive a token of our appreciation we'll start with the um US Presidential Scholars Program candidates first then um our national mayor finless schar all right uh presidential scholar oh they're going that way all right National marriage James that's thank you [Music] got picture picture Spees I always love listening to okay thank you for that moving on the adoption of the consent agenda uh we're moving on 12.01 I move the princi um no Dr Mr Blake thank you thank you Mr chairman I moved that the principal County School Board approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended do you
023have a second Mr chairman um any discussion Mr chairman yeah a second and discussion uh I just would like to pull uh 12.04 um and not pull excuse me um postpone it to the next meeting table you move to table it I would move to table it does anyone have any objection to tabling the motion I I if there's no objection I can just go ahead and table it is that right well by unanimous consent motion Rob postp oh I see so are we voting on The postponement okay postp okay um okay so all those in favor of postponing uh what item number is that 12.04 12.04 to um a meeting coming up right ail April 2 you're being specific today okay good uh all in favor of that motion um yeah are we doing
024by hand all right all by hand vote I to move it okay any opposed no opposition noted motion passes unanimously so now we'll Moote on the full consent agenda okay all um please vote on the consent agenda we can do that electronically can we do a hand vote for this particular one that would help me thank you all in favor I okay any oppos okay motion passes unanimously thank you moving on next to acknowledgements recognitions a motion to order M Blake I move that the prince Willam County Schoolboard approve the acknowledgements and recognitions as recommended do you have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams second any discussion Mr chairman yeah um I just under here is our resolution for the vs VA business um uh 2025 business honor role and so in this we are
025recognizing um the Prince William County Community Foundation Hilton Performing Art Center northern Virginia food rescue Prince William water and Chick-fil-A um and so I just wanted to bring attention to that and to thank them for all the work that they do with our school Community thank you please vote Laura we got it okay okay vote is seven yes one abstained trenic motion passed okay moving on to Citizen common time those citizens who've signed up in advance with the clerk May address the school board this evening when they are called to the podium the citizen comment period for regular Schoolboard meetings is 1 hour and citizens may speak on the agenda items or other topics Germain to the operations and policies of pwcs please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium or you will
026be asked to step aside we ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping cheering or jeering to avoid disruptions of the meeting if you do not the board will recess and I'll ask the room to be cleared to restore public order tonight we have 11 citizens signed up to speak when I call your name please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record I will call the first five up if you'd like to make you know come up and sit up front you can if not that's okay too Katherine wheeler Anna bung GI Giovani Riley oldenberg Sherry Middleton and David duly Katherine wheeler good evening my name is Katherine wheeler I reside in Mont Clair Virginia and my address is on file
027with the clerk I am here as a parent of of a non-binary graduate of Hilton High School and a transgender Junior at another Prince William County School pleading for you to continue to honor the rights of transgender children in our schools this year my child made the courageous decision to change his gender and name officially in the school records based on the horror stories we had heard of families who had done this in other school districts we were nervous about what this process would be what we encountered was a system that affirmed who our child is our child was asked how they want to be perceived what name and pronouns they want to use where they felt comfortable changing and using the restroom and even how and which staff members should be notified every staff
028interaction that we had was affirming and one that affirmed my child and their identity it was an incredible relief to us to our whole family that it was an easy and positive experience tears were shed my child would like to make sure that you know it was mine um but ones of gratitude for a system that treated my child with the dignity that they deserve I tell you this story to make it clear that the policies that were put in place in a time when our government supported trans rights made a positive impact on students and families in your communities I want you to have a face to connect with when you are affirm to know what affirming identity means the current Administration policies in our government are putting many schools in the impossible position
029of choosing between funding and caring for our children I urge you to continue to choose to serve children as their full selves as your first priority I ask you to remember my face and the faces of the Brave youth that are here today that are asking you to put them first as you consider what it means to serve this population of Youth whose Society has been telling are insignificant and whose rights don't matter I urge you as Educators called to help form our youth to Contin continue to tell them not just tell them with words but to show them that they matter and they are perfect exactly as they are thank you um you two actually can you can sit in the front the chairs in the front as well by the way um if
030you don't have to stand and wait I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear Anna um bong Giovani did I get it right great hello uh my name is Finn and I'm a junior in a prince Willam County high school as well as a student organizer with the pride Liberation project um my address is on file with the county clerk um I'm speaking here tonight to urge the Prince William County School Board to continueous policies that affirm queer students this includes its policy of allowing transgender and non-binary students to use their preferred names and pronouns in the classroom amidst the increasingly hateful political climate of this country it is absolutely vital that local communities stand up for every one of their members sadly however many local governments and companies have already begun to roll back
031their inclusive policies despite not being required to putting many vulnerable students further at risk of Mental Health crisis and even sorry and even physical danger as a non-binary student myself I can personally attest to the incredible positive impact that being able to change my name and pronouns had on my school life and overall mental health I know myself better than the government does and when I was able to have my true name and pronouns respected my mental health improved it allowed me to be my authentic self at school in a way that before had never been possible additionally a 2019 study by the Journal of adolescent Health found that transgender students whose Schools allowed them to change their names and pronouns in the classro were less likely to experience symptoms of depression or suicidal behaviors
032please do not get in to the federal and state pressure to attack the rights of transgender or otherwise queer students in public schools for some of us this is a matter of life and death our leaders should always focus on creating policies that accommodate rather than exclude this County students thank you for hearing my testimony Riley oldenberg is the timer okay thank you hello I am Riley oldenberg and I am a Junior at kogan high school my address is on file with the county clerk I am a masculine presenting transgender person who has been out and socially transitioned for years I am speaking tonight to testify against bringing anti-transgender policies that force people to use the bathroom and play on sports teams that align with the gender they are assigned at Birth into this County
033one repeated concern I've heard from the side arguing to restrict my rights is the argument that they need to keep their daughters safe from biological males and restrooms and changing rooms while I have gone through the proper paperwork and could use the men's bathroom I still choose to use the women's changing rooms for personal safety as many peers still View and accept me as female in these women's changing rooms I am not wearing androgynous clothing and speaking in a fairly high voice I have short hair a flat chest and shorts going down to my knees meeting my hairy legs that is all people's daughters are seeing and they're uncomfortable people's daughters and sorry they're uncomfortable when they see a boy in the girl's changing room in a county where transgender people must use the bathroom
034of the gender they are assigned at Birth thousands of students will all be in the same situation these new policies that are being proposed by the Trump Elon Administration would not make people's daughters feel any more safe or comfortable and they definitely wouldn't for transgender students in the wrong bathroom transgender po people are not going into whatever restroom they feel like we have to go through complex paperwork as shown by um other people um we have to go through complex paperwork with parent signatures in order to change changing rooms these new policies would not keep boys out of women's changing rooms they would be bringing them into them so I urge you all to work against anti-transgender policies that Force everyone to use the bathroom of the gender they are assigned at Birth these new
035policies being proposed do not help anybody they only hurt us thank you Sher Middleton hi my name is Sheree Middleton and my address is also on file with the clerk good afternoon members of the school board thank you for the opportunity to speak today again my name is Sheree Middleton I am the parent of Joshua Middleton Stevenson whose status was moved from accepted to weight listed for the pathways of global citizenship mathematics specialy program I stand before you today with great concern and hope as I seek a fair resolution for my son inclusion into the specialty program on February 28th when we were when the offer was extended we accepted it promptly in good faith a contractual um acceptance believing that this was a chance for my son to access Educational Opportunity he deserves however
036as we know there were unfor unforeseen issues with the process which could have been avoided which have led to confusion and disappointment for many families including ours despite our timely acceptance my spot my son's spot in the program was rescinded this has caused a necessary stress and uncertainty for us parents and mostly for my son since this process has begun i' we have seen many inconsistencies on application day Gainesville High School was not even listed as a choice along with the specialty program engineering and construction I personally contacted it and Miss Kelly Brown to correct it and signed up my son 30 minutes later on November 1st Joshua applied to all three specialty programs at Gainesville High School and however I was told by some parents that they were not allowed to sign up for
037the same three programs at one school Joshua is on wait list for all three programs at Gainesville High School I ask you to consider making an exception in this case my son accepted the offer when it was presented to us and yet due to administrative oversight his spot was taken away the students who accepted the offer in good faith like my son should not be penalized for procedural failure instead they should be granted the opportunity to continue pursuing their educational aspirations while granting this exception you not only allow my son to participate in a program he rightfully earned but you also send a powerful message that pwcs is accountable value fairness transparency and well-being of his students I also respectfully request that pwcs provided clear and transparent explanation of what transpired between February 28th and
038March 13th to ensure families like mine who mine are fully informed and confident in the process moving forward transparency is essential for building trust and it will help ensure that no other student faces the same uncertainty in conclusion I implore you to Grant my son a chance to participate in this specialty program we accepted the offer in good faith and believe that honoring that acceptance is the right thing to do thank you for your time and consideration David douly hello hello my name is David douly Jr and my address is on file I'm a gay white 50-year-old married man to my husband of almost 17 years though I was only married last March however there is much there is so much more to me I'm a father who raised kids here in the county in
039this school system go Hilton and who proudly saw both of my kids successfully graduate and become wonderful adults I'm also an uncle a brother a veteran an army Sergeant a friend a mentor a human being and last but certainly not least a proud grandfather of an almost three-year-old girl I'm coming to you to speak and show my support tonight to the Prince County school board and the superintendent of schools for continuing to support sexual orientation and gender equality for both our students and staff did you know those policies also support our cisgender and straight allies as well your public support of these policies has made you a Target by folks who wish to strip All rights from lgbtqi plus community members to come under lawsuit from our own government and hate thrown at you this
040is what it feels like for most vulnerable our transgender and non-binary folks who want nothing more than to be loved and left alone I love a transgender person in my life he has grown survived and Thrive to taxs physically by a assist white male not a transgender person he is a creative he's a rascal a lover of animals and always there even grudgingly when I need help so I challenge you to continue to support love to show support for others especially for our transgender folks and people of color don't just speak the words show us your support in action Love is Love It is hypocritical for our opponents who State we must support the president's policies when those same folks called on you to not support the previous Governors the Virginia Governor's policies forget the
041hate the supposed protecting our daughters our parental rights and protect all children be kind to all no exceptions n PS if the federal government wants to threaten to remove funding then let's find a way to not need any federal funding uh next five will be Caitlyn Weston Marty Weaver Ellie Fox Sean Spence Melissa yurk Caitlyn West Weston good evening my name is Caitlyn Weston and my address is on file with the clerk two weeks ago we heard our student Representatives speak eloquently about her experience at the Capitol building for a social emotional learning or seal week thank you to the teachers who helped students advocate for themselves and attend the event and thank you to the PWC students who attended the event and spoke with Senate and House members this sounded like a powerful and
042meaningful experience for both the students and our Congress members I can't imagine a more important time to intentionally integrate seal skills like self-awareness self-management and relationship skills into schools goal setting self-regulation and being informed citizens are skill sets that we want all pwcs graduates to have as a parent I was thrilled to hear about our student Representatives experience and perspective keep up the great work also it is my understanding that pwcs follows the vhsl guidelines as you are aware on February 10th the vhsl rescinded their long-standing inclusive policy supporting all students in the the Commonwealth of Virginia since 2014 vhsl has reviewed 48 appeals from transgender students to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity granting 42 of them this policy has ensured fairness and opportunity in High School athletics overturning it is an
043unnecessary and very harmful decision that will negatively impact students across Virginia the vhsl board has received numerous emails from Virginia residents asking them to reverse this decision I urge you all to reach out to the vhsl and express your disappointment in this decision urge them to reaffirm its commitment to inclusive policies for student athletes share with them that there is no need to comply in advance to an executive order that is not the law I believe they have a board meeting in May during which they will discuss this matter further I am confident that if they hear from all of you that will make a big impact on their decisions thank you thank you Marty we Marty Weaver aaan women's history month are we talking about real women or the alternate reality I am offended
044by your failure to recognize the uniqueness of women this importance of women in history when you believe anyone can be one you dishonor Us by not acknowledging our unique nature we are more than a thought and when did our history go from celebrating Life by our unique ability to give birth to keep the human race going to celebrating the death of our pre-born and men can't give birth you're actually eliminating the importance of women by recognizing anyone who believes they are a woman as a woman they are not and never will be when there's any kind of competition with separate categories and a trans person participates as their identity and wins then an actual woman has been cheated out of her place in history think outside of sports best actress best female singer and it
045doesn't matter how many trans are participating one is too many if one girl is cheated out of her rightful place in history girls won't want to even try to follow their dreams when at any time they can be cheated out of accolades scholarships a path to their future successes by a person who now identifies as a woman when Title Nine came about over 50 years ago there was no confusion about women only now when we have some unscrupulous people with their own agendas and ability to try and alter nature with drugs and mutilation surgery of perfectly healthy bodies gender affirming care should be to fix the troubled Bine children have sought to find their identities as individuals for Millennia all have gone through body image discomfort as they go through puberty making the medical experiments
046is harmful not getting them real help in a timely fashion blocking parents from trying to help their children whom they love is harmful separating them from their parents and Faith Community is harmful you are harming the majority by making them accept crazy positions of other delusions a pronoun for a person is either he or she not they and not calling little Jody Sally and her you are fostering an environment of grooming of vulnerable kids and distancing them from their families you are not their families this is child abuse and must stop safe and fair treatment for girls for their Futures their histories so I am I this woman mom Grandma standing up here now because when my son was a student here you had not yet totally lost proverbial minds but now here we are
047moms and dads with common sense are fearful of retaliation against their kids and themselves they are reluctant to speak but if you can't hurt but you can't hurt my family and me this is too important these kids are too important women's history is too important and your insistence on ignoring the president's EOS about Dei and girls is going to cost the school system a lot of money and hurt everyone good job are you proud of yourselves and this is supposed to be women's History Month anything goes month is junee Ellie Fox um hello uh my name is Ellie Fox I am an organizer uh and my address can be found with the county clerk uh I'm going to George Mason University now uh but I went through my entire K through2 education in princip Liam
048County in the middle of covid I was coming to terms with my gender identity uh once they led us back into the school building I took the opportunity to put that exploration into practice at first I had my teachers and peers call me Laurel uh now my middle name eventually I settled on Laie my teachers never gave me any trouble when I was trying out different names if principal in County Schools were to heed to Trump's executive orders on quote unquote School indoctrination trans students would be forced back into the closet School makes up so much of our Lives as youth by not accommodating Us by refusing to recognize our gender identities you would be creating a hug roadblock for our development as fully realized people I maintain that the school never indoctrinated me they
049just made room for me and my pre-existing identity some of you are concerned that um some are concerned that schools are exing the roles of parents parents are not infallible and being one does not necessarily mean controlling every aspect of a child's life ultimately adolescents need room to discover who they are on their own if a parent not only doesn't wish to respect them as the gender that they identify as but wants to force all other authority figures in the child's life to disrespect them at all that's a problem with the parents the school should not Empower them neither should schools empower the Trump Administration to police the gender expression of adolescence the talk about protecting women's Sports is a trojan horse for the government to force trans people out of the public eye entirely
050and to makes our lives impossible we are seeking uh we're seeing transgender people denied entrance into the United States under the justification that our very lives are criminal acts of fraud this school indoctrination executive order is simply one part of a Fallout assault on trans people by the government I implore you to stand by our students Prince Willam County Schools cannot seed an inch to these fascist policies Sean Spence good evening members of the school board my name is Dr Sean Spence my address is on file with the clerk I'm going to discuss overcrowding uh at the school SCH and my own teaching experience as a professor at George Mason Maryland and rice universities as well as a senior instructor at the Army engineering school I've seen firsthand the impact of class sides on student
051learning overcrowded directly hinders individual attention to a student leading to measurable learning loss but before I proceed I want to express my sincere appreciation for this board's dedication to our children's education your commitment alongside our teachers and administrators hard work is vital to our County and we must continue to work together to remove the constraints our Educators face reduce class sizes and optimize the learning environment for all the students in our County Prince William County has the potential to lead in education in today's economy businesses uh seek skilled workforces we need well-functioning schools to attract top tier companies to our County however overcrowding hinders this we need innovative solutions my wife and I both products of public schools which led us on to Ivy League doctorates we believe in the transformative power of a quality
052education tonight I address the severe overcrowding at Covington Harper Elementary School the 2425 Prince William County report and dashboard show Covington Harper at 119% capacity and looking to Surge to about 140% in the near future this is unacceptable to further emphasize the point of overcrowding there's a few studies I want to quote one is the class size and student academic achievement published in the educational evaluation and policy analysis Journal this study demonstrates a significant positive correlation between smaller class sizes and improv student performance particularly in early grades especially in elementary school what we're talking about here therefore I have three solutions short-term lease and retrofit temporary space look for underutilize buildings within the county for immediate relief in the medium term redraw district lines and balance student populations third in the long-term prioritize smaller class
053sizes quality education depends on it lastly I urge the members to also enhance the access to this particular meeting to members who may not be able to make it in purp person I implore you all to act decisively our children deserve better I will follow up with an email to each board member thank you for your time Melissa yurk good evening my name is Melissa and my address is on file thank you for hearing me again I'm continuing to urge you to look Beyond partisan and political theater and emotion to embrace a common sense approach to complying with Title 9 and rethinking policy is strictly about following a sound law that has been protecting safe spaces and sports since at least 1982 do not fall prey to the straw man argument or the weaponization of
054empathy that ensuring safe and comfortable spaces for biological girls and boys as anti-trans or anti-lgb it is said that trans kids are one of the ones being bullied in bathrooms and I completely believe that then why on this planet would you allow them in there it def logic bathrooms are notorious in this County for not being safe there are gender neutral options you are not com complying with any of the orders or policies set by the state or vhsl for their safety you are riding the fence with your silence and in action are you prepared to lose funding 80% of the county supports compliance your guidelines in should be bypassed in these matters this is a slippery slope that no one wants consider what is going on around the country schools are losing funding and
055currently as of this week uh an Illinois School District now faces a lawsuit because of how they handled a boy in a girl's locker room the UN even has things to say about this they have a global report on violence against women and girls in sports dated August of 2024 I feel like I'm talking in a vacuum there is silence there is no response no acknowledgement to any of my emails much less about the state and executive orders as I said in past meetings now is the time to take a stand it is what you are elected to do thank you Gloria Jordan good evening esteemed school board members Dr Latif and Dr McDade my name is Gloria Jordan and I live in the Kohl's District I am here in support of the proposed budget
056several years ago when I was vice chair of the equity advisory committee we asked for additional money to be allocated for graduation coaches you have increased graduation coaches and I've seen the benefit of that more students are able to navigate plans after graduation whether it be College the military trade school or directly into the workforce graduation coaches support advisors to help students access more scholarships or internships we have had absolutely amazing advisers through Prince William County schools they always believe the best of my students and saw their potential potential at every stage for which I am truly grateful thank you I also see an increase for teacher pay in this budget this allows us to attract and retain more experienced teachers in our schools to address the diverse needs of Prince William County students special
057education is another important topic to me when ensuring our commitment to diversity equity and inclusion as we all know the spectrum of special education ranges from non-verbal those who need more support to get to grade level as well as those who require additional challenges to keep them engaged I am thankful that this board recognizes and prioritizes the diverse needs of all the 90,000 children in this County you have increased both your special education teachers and services to students many students also have physical needs from asthma diabetes seizures and mental health disorders I appreciate that you have made a commitment to having a nurse in every single school which allows teachers to be able to concentrate on meeting the needs of their students and not have to do things outside of their scope schools across the
058state and this country would greatly benefit from having a nurse in every school finally I want to commend you all on your efforts to continually improve special education for students from early identification in elementary school signant reassessing along the way into the gifted program as well as um adding additional seminars and the gov School my children have thrived in Prince William County schools from elementary school through high school and Beyond and I just want to say thank you thank you for your commitment to diversity equity and inclusion as you meet the needs of every student whether it is in language acquisition math and reading skills or navigating their future School our school district goes above and beyond you all will not boast about your commitment for Equity but it's important for Prince William County parents
059to know that every student from every background culture ability socioeconomic status religion or Creed is valued and given individualized education to help them Thrive and be productive citizens in our community and around the globe thank you so much okay thank you that concludes citizen comment time and we are up um next with the office of the Chief Financial Officer 15.01 for the fiscal year 2026 budget Capital Improvement plan um in it it is on this evening for approval I'll turn the meeting over Dr McDade thank you Mr chairman over the last several months we worked together with the budget team schools and departments to develop the fiscal year 2026 budget and capital Improvement program I would like to thank our entire budget team including Joe mondoro and our who's our budget director kathen Addison assistant
060director of budget and Natasha Valencia supervisor of budget and the entire budget team who really lead uh the budget process and under their lead under their leadership um we've seen such success with our budget process and I want to thank our Chief Financial Officer uh Mr Shaquille Yousef who leads the entire budget and finance office thank you for your diligence commitment and execution of our proposed budget it's a budget that we're incredibly proud of I would also like to thank our school board members for your critical feedback and input engagement and support support throughout this process your proactive involvement and thorough review of the proposed budget supports our continued alignment to our strategic plan which we've continued to accomplish this year on February 5th our team submitted the fiscal year 2026 proposed budget and CIP
061to the school board the school board then held a public meeting on the proposed budget on February 10th followed by a public hearing on February 19th a work session and final markup was held on March 12 at that work session the following Investments were included within the proposed budget and this is just a um short list of some of the budget highlights we included at the at the markup two additional science Specialists fully funding cost for academic competition travel and participation one position to support and expand extracurricular activities additional support for elementary school math to include two math Specialists and five instructional coaches to support School schools with high math needs additional funding for summer school uh virtual courses such as um health and and physical education too and econ personal finance additional funding to
062cover the tuition fees for summer High School Accelerated courses three additional security operations center staff for after hours events an additional eight um administrative interns for schools that have high instances of level two programs in special education Vape sensors in all high schools prior to the start of the 2526 school year one additional social worker dedicated to supporting mckenny vento adequate funding for rougher repay for teams advancing past the district level competitions Department budgetary funds for science six additional Community security officers for elementary schools additional Investments for supplementing Elementary School gifted programming and 13 additional math coaches to support and maintain accreditation for math in element schools Additionally the CIP work session at the proposed budget presentation we informed the board that approximately 24 million in profer funds held by Prince William County which are
063eligible for use in school construction throughout the county will be allocated to the CIP after Consulting with County staff we are requesting These funds as part of the CIP approval process this approach differs from P past practice where profer requests were made individually as projects progressed the enhanced approach better supports Capital planning and transparency and as of as of our last inquiry the total amount available for school use was a little over 28 million the uh Capital Improvement plan is a incredible undertaking um it it it is something that we work on all year um it's a multi-year plan and I do want to show appreciation for Mr Vernon Bach who is our chief operating officer who is responsible for the CIP in collaboration with Mr Shaquille Yousef um our Chief Financial Officer uh Mr
064Yousef and our Operating Officer Mr Bach are both available this evening to address any additional questions on the proposed budget and CIP okay questions comments from the board Mr wil thank you Mr chairman first of all thank you uh to the entire team uh hold on do do I I should probably make a motion to discuss the budget I don't think we've done that right sorry my apologies um I need a motion Mr uh Vice chair Blake uh thank you Mr chairman I moved at the Prince William County School Board One approved fiscal year 2026 through 30 CIP and the fiscal year year 2026 school budget for All funds in the total amount of 2 b41 million 95464 and further to approve the revenue sharing agreement between the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and
065the Prince William County School Board that provides 57.2 3% of the County's General revenues be transferred to the school division for the operations of the fiscal year 2026 and further three direct the superintendent to forward the requested school budget by fund totals to the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors and further for requests of Prince William County Board of County Supervisors to approve and appropriate the fiscal year 2026 school budget by lump sum appropriation in the amount of 2 b41 million $9 54,692 by fund totals as in previous years and five request of Prince William County Board of County Supervisors to accept budget and appropriate $24 m968 th000 in profit funds to support the Prince William County School's capacity increasing projects do I have a second Mr chairman m i second okay okay great
066discussion Mr will are you sure I'm just kidding uh tonight um first of all again as I was saying thank you all uh the entire uh Finance facilities budget team administrative uh the cabinet and all the others and all the various departments and the work that was done into this thank you um you know I know getting this ready over the years a herculan task and so I'm very much appreciative of that um and so uh but I do want to State a couple things about you know tonight as we get prepared to adopt this budget I do want to highlight some of the key Investments That align with the thriving future strategic plan and support Student Success safety and opportunity not only through the school system but most especially within my pic District a
067thriving future starts with safe accessible schools that's why I support and I'm thankful that the sidewalk Pathways at pic Senior High School the expanded Vape censors and more Community safe safety officers to create safe learning environments have been added the addition of dean of students at secondary schools will also strengthen discipline and student well-being this budget invests in student achievement with new graduation coaches and behavior Specialists that guide students as a steadfast supporter of the Fine Arts I'm pleased to see funding for renovated patomic senior high schools Auditorium reinforcing our commitment to creativity and academic Excellence our student athletes deserve high quality facilities the addition of PR practice turfs at our high schools including Forest Park expands opportunities for teamwork and growth finally we must invest in our Educators and our staff with a 6.9%
068average salary increase we are committed to attracting and retaining our top talent this budget reflects our shared vision for strong schools and I look forward to its positive impact on our students staff and families thank you Mr Tren that was very professional Mr wil um I am not going to do it as professionally but um this budget process as I said at our last meeting that I doubt any of you watch because it's a work session but anyhow we work through this budget and um one of my favorite Parts is that Dr McDade really does uh speak to each one of us and understand the unique needs of our district and um gives us the opportunity to put forward with different budget initiatives um and make suggestions to her as well as to the team
069of um everyone that does this because it takes a lot of people to make it happen um this is my second budget season so I felt a little bit more prepared this time uh but I did put forth a lot of different requests um after meeting with principals and parents and teachers in my district to hear about um the different needs from uh different people in the community so some of the things that I'm really excited about are The Vape sensors in every High School uh for the fall I think that's going to make a huge difference for safety um for our students and for their uh educational day um another thing that I am excited about is the are the additional csos at the elementary school level um and and Beyond um I'm excited
070about that as those those students are um part of our our discussions and different people have come and talked at our me spoken sorry at our meetings about wanting more safety for our elementary school students so I appreciate um moving in that direction um the additional math support funds for science those are all things that uh we pushed for um and I'm really excited that we were all able to talk about those things and bring them forward the referee pay for people that make it past districts I know that's a big deal for our schools um the elementary school gifted programs uh getting some more funding based on per pupil um allotment too is great so um I'm also I also asked for additional uh assistant principles at the elementary school level uh and that's
071something that we were talking about and looking into for later um for in the future so those are there are some things that we did not get on our request list which is fine because it's hard to meet all of those needs but I appreciate um Dr McDade working with each one of us and talking to me especially through my long list of ons and needs um and I'm excited that we were able to uh bring this forward and I can't wait to pass this Budget on Miss Williams thank you um chairman Latif I am uh especially excited that our our budget happens to fall uh during equity and education month because I believe that our budget um aligns with our strategic plan and Equity is one of our core values um this budget absolutely
072captures the voice of not only each member of here on this board but our staff from the Kelly building down to the staff in our actual school buildings where students um reside and are educated uh it captures their community's uh input and and does so in a way that's meaningful and that everyone has the opportunity to see their voice reflected in some part of the budget and as we know budgets are not perfect and there's always things that we can work on and improve but as someone who has sat here for a very long time now um this budget and really since Dr McDade has been here it it has we have seen the increase of capturing this voice in a meaningful way that gives value to our academic community and it makes me proud
073to be able to support this budget because a budget really is our financial dollars um and what they mean to our community and to our school excuse me to our school community and it's very exciting to see each year the increase of that voice captured I'm also um proud to support this budget because as a board member it is one of our major responsibilities is to approve a budget that works for the betterment of our community and the world that we live in now um as Mr wil said it captures things from his district and I thought when I heard that not only does It capture things from his district each one of our districts are reflective but we don't live in a world anymore where it is just what happens in my district in
074my district alone it's because of the improvements and I'm just going to say because Mr wi said it earlier because of the sidewalk that's in his it makes an improvement for everyone that goes to patomic high school for every event and it's nice that we are able to to make these improvements and to have these things highlighted in our budget because all of our students share resources across the division and this budget absolutely speaks to that whether it's sidewalks or um increasing in student funding for competitions having students not have to worry about if they're going to fundraise or if their school Community has enough money to go participate and Cooks around the world or an academic or a stem research uh competition it speaks to um our what we've heard from our community our
075staff about student discipline by having a dean of students these are all things that help everyone across the board and I'm really proud to be able to support that um in addition to that it's just our our continuous commitment to our strategic plan and every way shape or form um exercise in our in our dollars that we are going to be that say are are a priority for our school community so I'm really proud to be able to support this budget I'm thankful to Dr McDade all of her staff I'm thankful to Vern's department for the CIP and I'm also very very thankful to our financial department because of all the time and energy that they take to explain especially to persons like me I usually have some random off question um even though I've
076been doing this a long time because it it shows that not only are you serious about what you're doing but you in turn have the opportunity to educate us so that we are able to make well-informed DEC ision as well and to our public so thank you Miss araport I will make this quick because it would be repeating much of what has already been said um but for the public um there the work that goes on behind the scenes uh that that we as a board even only get a a small snapshot of of it has to do with the superintendent who came came in and wanted to make sure dollars were going to students and wanted to make sure that schools were heard in their for what their needs are and that we could
077plan for those things so I believe this budget uh reflects it it continues to reflect uh the meeting the needs of our students and our staff uh I I'm jealous of the raises to come and but but very happy that we're a in a position to be able to do it so um that is that is all I'm going to say right now because um thank you for all the work that everyone has done thank you Miss wall thank you Dr Latif um I uh don't have any questions for staff and partially that's because I've I asked a lot of questions through the process so I appreciate you're taking time to answer my questions um we're here tonight voting on a very substantial budget for fiscal year 2026 um and I believe this budg is
078strong and significant um I've advocated for a number of items that are in this budget um and I appreciate the consideration of my concerns thoughts and my suggestions and I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge like Mr wil the efforts of our hardworking budget team who have been working all year to bring this proposed budget to us for our consideration so thank you very much the key feature of this budget is the proposed raises for certified classified and administrative staff and from my awareness of other districts and their budgeting challenges and from some who are proposing modest raises and celebrating that this is a significant commitment to our District's competitive advantage in the hiring market and please correct me if I'm wrong but from what I can ascertain this may be the biggest proposed
079increase in salaries in Virginia I'm not sure if that's true but it looks like it so until corrected that's what it is um I also wish to note that I am very disappointed that the teachers union has failed to put this agreement to their members for a ratification vote before we are voting here tonight this is especially serious because this budget is historic in its generous compensation increases over the next two years and directly impacts every employee I wonder for those who pay union dues Faithfully each month if you should be demanding more from your union several years ago I voiced my concerns loud and clear that teachers would be ill represented by tying themselves to the Union in such a definitive way as to enter into collective bargaining I sincerely worried that our ability
080to do right by our employees would be hampered through Union missteps and neglect of important issues from what I have seen including the failure to bring this wage agreement to a vote of its members an agreement secured through the very collective bargaining process that the union so vehemently fought to earn my concerns have not been allayed nonetheless I anticipate that the board is going to move forward with this proposed budget because of our commitment to our employees through our five-year strategic plan launching thriving Futures wherein we are striving to carefully align strategic Investments to uh ultimately Drive student achievement and give our taxpayers a valuable return on their investment in our school schools so the budget here does align significantly with the Strategic goals laid out in our strategic plan and it is because of
081this that I intend to give my support to this budget Mr Jesse Yeah I just want to say that I'm really excited about the budget and I'm really appreciative that we have done all we could and I would just also like to say that I understand Mrs Wall's concerns uh but I've been attending board meetings for 12 years now and this this Division and this Administration has done a wonderful job that was not always the case so I do believe in unions and I do believe that they are needed but sometimes they're not really needed but it's good to have them there until they are thank you Mr Blake uh thank you Mr chairman uh so tonight I'm proud to support uh this this fiscal year budget uh 2026 budget and capital Improvement plan and
082I think this budget is more than just numbers on the page it's a direct investment in the future of our students and a reflection of our shared commitment to providing the highest quality education for all children at all levels every dollar in this budget is intentional designed to uplift Empower and Empower every student in our division I'm particularly excited about the addition of the dean and students at uh U this role will bring a much needed consistency and oversight to our disciplinary practices helping to reinforce the code of behavior with Fidelity and ensure that all students are supported in a fair and structured environment um several other key investments in this budget that align closely with priorities of my district and broader strategic plan include the adjusting the E ratios to meet state requirements which
083will uh provide targeted support to our English Learners add in El teacher assistance and leads as well as El instructional Specialists to strengthen the instructional framework for our growing ill population hiring eight graduation coaches to ensure more of our students reach the finish line and earn their diplomas increasing mental health support by adding five High School psychologists and and more counselors reinforcing our commitment to student well-being expanding classroom support with additional kindergarten teaching assistance recognizing the importance of early intervention in foundational learning and I'm also excited about the investment in the pwcs uh VCU Apprentice Residency program and the I teach alternative Pathway to teacher licensure program which will help us recruit and retain a diverse and highly qualified teacher Workforce um this budget again is not just about meet is not just about meeting
084the immediate needs of our schools it's about building a sustainable and Equitable foundation for the future it reflects our Collective responsibility to ensure that every child regardless regardless of background or circumstance has the opportunity to succeed I want to thank uh superintendent Dr McDade and Mr Yousef and Mr Bach and her entire team for their thoughtful work and crafting a budget that reflects the needs of and values of our community I'm proud to support this budget knowing it will make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students and families and let me be clear every dollar in this budget is invested for all children at all levels this budget helps all students it's not about one group or one school it's about supporting every single student across this division every investment is directly tied
085to strengthening our schools and empowering our students to succeed thank you very well said Mr Blake it's often said that our um budget is a direct reflection of our values um I'm very proud of this budget this is I believe believe my seventh or eighth budget I'm overseeing as chairman and I am very proud of this budget this budget um reflects everything um as Miss wall points out that's aligned in our strategic plan the Strategic plan which comes from a um surveying um and organized process of working with our community our partners our students our teachers our faculty our staff all of that work went into creating the Strategic plan the budgets that we have voted on the last four years have all aligned with that strategic plan that effort uh which reflects our values
086and what we all want to see get better what we want to see continue here in our school Division I am very proud of that I believe the budgets we have voted on including this one make us one of the best school districts in all of America one of the most competitive school districts in all of America one of the best districts um where we treat our staff and teachers extraordinarily well I think it is among the best in America um I have no doubt that these investments will improve student achievement at all levels across all schools across all groups and um it was a wellth thought out budget we spent a lot of time on it I'm particularly thankful to the superintendent her staff tonight after we vote on this no longer is the
087superintendent's proposed budget it becomes a Prince William County School Board budget and the one that we will present to the board of County Supervisors I'm particularly proud of the continued record raises for teachers and staff that this School Division and this board has been committed to doing over the last eight years a record that has helped us catch up to our neighbors the competition um in Northern Virginia to make us a place where we can better recruit and retain our top talent which we have done done we continue to do um I I was hoping this evening we could celebrate that um this budget and what I think everyone should know is that the School Division and the school board went into good faith negotiations with um the Prince William Education Association we came up
088with a very exciting collective bargaining agreement that um we both agreed to last um two months ago now that agreement has yet to be ratified but I want the public and all of our teachers and all of our staff to know that this School Board is fully funding every commitment in the agreement even though it hasn't been ratified uh we are particularly proud of the work we went and and how much work we we did to come to a complete three-year collective bargaining agreement this agreement really addresses a lot of the needs that our our teachers had a lot of needs they wish to have and a lot of the work that we needed to do to correct um long-term longtime problems with the way we were um addressing human resources and I think um
089I very excited by that and I I am very proud of this board for the work they've done and how we're going to move forward with again another two years of record raises for teachers which I believe will become the highest raises in the nation in the same time period of any District in the country and that shows our commitment because we also believe having great teachers is the first step in having great academic performance and all the research shows that and we want to recruit and retain the best in the business um in which is our Core Business here of teaching and learning so I will fully support this budget proudly support this budget and I'm excited to do so so at this time if there are no further comments we'll um take a
090vote on the budget please vote Justin did you have to read your thing does he have to do his thing disclosure you can just read it just say it we all know what it is for sorry Dr MC um Dr McDade and Dr Latif um I read this one every year for the last 10 years um pursuant to the Virginia state and local conflict of interest act I'm required to declare the following regarding adoption of the budget my wife is employed as a teacher in Prince William County Public Schools and I therefore have a personal interest in the transaction I'm a member of a group of three or more persons affected by the transaction and I am able to participate in the adoption of the budget fairly objectively and in the public interest thank you
091please the vote is8 Yes unanimous motion passed thank you that will be a unanimous vote once again for the fiscal year 2026 school budget um for the amount of 2 b400 I like to say it2 b41 million 95400 649 um thank you very much we will now move on to where we at um superintendent's Time Dr McDade thank you Dr Latif um I'm so excited today we um we hosted the save youth leadership training Summit you'll see some of the decorations still left behind here um in the boardroom the uh save stands for students against violence everywhere and um we had wonderful event today and I would like to thank Mr Jake Edwards and the entire crisis management team for hosting this year's Summit as well as Sandy Hook promise for their incredible partnership um
092as we leverage the voice of our student leaders to build stronger and safer schools and communities for all students we had 80 students here today representing 18 secondary schools that's across middle and high schools uh division wide we had 30 staff members along with national staff from Sandy Hook promise who um LED student students through save promise Club activities for the day to make meaningful steps to prevent violence and cultivate connections it was an impactful day of student leadership and learning I'm also pleased to share that the Prince William manases Regional science and engineering Fair will take place this Saturday March 22nd right here at the Kelly Leadership Center this event is a celebration of innovation and scientific inquiry highlighting the incredible talents of our students and they are certainly Scholars and researchers virtual judging
093began on March 6th and concluded March 13th the public is invited to view the top student projects in each category from 8 to 9:00 a.m. before judging begins later in the day the middle division award ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. followed by the senior division award ceremony at 5:15 p.m. I'm so excited that this year year we have a record-breaking number of participants with 313 middle and high school students present presenting 224 projects more than 200 category judges yes that is something we worked hard to increase and we expect to have more student researchers and scientists participate um in the years to come we have more than 200 category judges including students from our national science Honor Society um which were evaluating project who will be evaluating projects in the middle division alongside
09430 external organizations lending their expertise I also want to note that we had 62 student members of the National Science Honor Society who volunteered to judge projects in the middle division as part of our grow hour own initiative the senior division first and second place winners will advance to the Virginia state science and engineering Fair while five grand prize winners will compete at the international science and engineering fair I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to our sponsors i66 Express lios and Spark for their generous support in making this event possible for more details please visit the pwcs website and search science fair additionally I would like to um advertise some upcoming career opportunities here at Prince William County schools for students families and staff like first pwcs will conduct a summer job fair
095on Monday March 24th from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Kelly Leadership Center for summer student aid positions the student aid positions are typically 3 week long part-time morning hours worked between June 23rd and July 11th additionally there are two work days before the beginning of the program June 18th and 20th so we want to encourage our students to take advantage of this secondly we're hosting a Career Information night job fair on Tuesday March 25th from 5: to 7:30 p.m. at the Kelly Leadership Center for individuals looking to explore diverse employment options right here in pwcs for those interested in teaching we are hosting two 30 minute sessions on Pathways to teacher lenser and that's going to be at 6:00 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. finally we are hosting an employment and summer job fair on
096Wednesday March 26th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. at Osborne Park High School for high school students looking for summer employment and graduating seniors who plan to enter the workforce military or postsecondary training programs these three events and more can be found on our website under upcoming events I am honored at this time to introduce our um associate superintendent for special education Dr Ashley ryer Dr ryer will provide a presentation spotlighting the enhancements made to pwcs postsecondary transition programming for students with disabilities as they align with our strategic plan so um I'd like to thank Dr ryer and I know Miss Johnson is accompanying you as well um thank you for this presentation good evening Dr Latif Vice chair Blake members of the board and Dr McDade we are pleased to be here this evening to
097provide an update from the office of special education that specifically focused on enhancements made to our post-secondary transition programming for all of our students with disabilities here with me this evening is supervisor an Johnson and she'll be joining me in this presentation before we begin I'd like to highlight a few individuals that are in attendance tonight all three directors from the office of special education Dr Darwin Barker Dr Amy Hollow and Dr Wendy Martin Johnson I'd like to thank them and their teams for their leadership and their focused work around many areas of continuous Improvement that reside in our office I'd also like to acknowledge our chair of the special education advisory committee Miss Christy Buie young she's here with us this evening uh the topic of postsecondary transition is one that has been of
098great interest to our seak and so we'd like to thank them for their volunteer service and continuous support the 2223 school year began with the reorganization of the office of special education we'd like to thank Dr McDade for this vision and the support of the board to provide dedicated leadership to this critical area in our school division some may recall that in October of 2023 we provided a comprehensive update of the work that was included among all three departments tonight we'll focus on just a few key priority areas and updates and then move on to our Spotlight the department of specialized instruction led by Dr Amy Hollow oversees the total instructional programming for students with disabilities this begins with our youngest Learners children ages 2 to 5 who receive Early Childhood special education services this
099is an area that is grown in response to increased identification of these children this year we opened this school year with 66 additional halfday preschool programs that all opened fully staff I'd also like to note that over half of our ecse programs provide opportunities for students to be educated alongside peer models this is in the spirit of kindergarten Readiness and is above and beyond other inclusion opportunities that exist through our partnership with headart nvp this department leads the work of our specialized programs for students who require dedicated support from special education staff throughout their school year this team also works with school teams to ensure that there are the appropriate instructional materials with special education teachers to address students academic and behavioral needs in the area of reading this includes not only students accessing high
100quality core instruction which has been strongly emphasized this school year through implementation of the Virginia literacy act but also the instruction that students with specific reading disabilities require Beyond core instruction this is aligned to their specific needs and is determined by their IEP teams the specialized instruction team is also working with schools to identify every opportunity possible for students to be served in general education settings to the greatest extent possible inclusion is a value that we hold high this year this department h hosted the first ever new special educator induction program called bright beginnings and a series of professional learning for special education teaching assistance this department has also expanded assistive technology supports and hosts a number of Outreach events through expansion of the parent Resource Center the department of special education programs and development
101led by Dr Wendy Martin Johnson leads the work of related Services which include speech occupational and physical therapy as well as eligibility and child fine this team oversees compliance with special education regulations which includes procedural supports to schools around high quality special education documented documentation and paperwork as well as dispute resolution our goal in this area is to resolve disagreements with families early and at the lowest level possible tonight's Spotlight will cover enhancements in post-secondary transition and finally this department partners with transportation and coordinates our extended school year programming the department of tiered interventions and supports led by Dr Darwin Barker coordinates pwcs is multi-tiered System of supports which is an implementation of intervention across all areas and supports all students in schools including those those with disabilities this department is responsible for proactive and
102preventative behavior supports these do not replace consequences but are focused on positive supports and restorative practices that would implemented would reduce the likelihood of a student violating the code of behavior this department also coordinates training around deescalation restraint and seclusion we are proud to report that 100% of pwcs schools have at at least one administrator trained in Handle With Care in addition to other staff who have been identified throughout the IEP process and this puts us in complete compliance with state requirements this slide provides some information about our students with disabilities in pwcs you will see that there's been an increase across the past 3 years and as of December 1 of this past school year 14.6% of student students in pwcs receive special education services we serve the greatest number of students who qualify
103as students with specific learning disabilities autism and other health impairment we've seen the greatest growth within numbers of students with autism increasing by over 500 in the past 2 years as well as our students with developmental delays which coincides with our increase in preschool programming the division has made significant strategic Investments throughout the past several budget Cycles many of those were referenced in the earlier presentation tonight I'd like to highlight just a few and thank Dr McDade and Dr fenard for their support as along with the support of this board for these Investments highlights include additional resources to support School programming staff and the expansion of central office leadership over the past three years 350 teaching assistants have been added to specialized programs this means that in our schools the majority of specialized programs are
104staffed with two teaching assistants in addition to the classroom teacher 15 additional Behavior Specialists have been added to support schools and students with the greatest behavioral challenges in addition in partnership with our uh colleagues in budget the model for allocating special education teacher positions to schools to serve students in our level one or resource programming was adjusted so that schools know clearly how many special education teachers to staff based on the pwcs ratios of 1 to 12 in elementary 1 to 15 in middle school and 1 to 17 in high school across disability categories and with a formula that now rounds up instructional staff in schools have benefited from from supplements provided to sponsors of Unified sports a program focused on inclusion that is in place in our middle and high schools our IEP case
105managers also receive a stien that acknowledges the additional workload when responsible for special education paperwork I'd like to specifically note the cak's advocacy for both of these Investments the leadership in the office of special education has continued to expand in response to needs to provide dedicated lead leadership in the areas of child find Early Childhood special education and related services our procedural support team continues to grow to continue to assess needs and support high quality IEP development in schools and finally two additional Investments highlighted on this slide support the expansion work for postsecondary transition programming staff added to open new work-based learning sites and the supervisor for post secondary transition who directly uh works on building out this programming for our students what better way to begin our Spotlight than with our very own pwcs
106Vision 202 every student will graduate on time with the knowledge skills and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their Community the enhancements in postsecondary trans ition are at the essence of this with many focused efforts on preparing all of our students to transition competitively into the workforce the postsecondary transition expansions cross several commitment areas of our current strategic plan most notably that pwcs will prepare all students for post-secondary education in the workforce and we'll work collaboratively with Community agencies and business partners to support strategic initiatives as we approach the home stretch of our current strategic plan we are proud to report the two goals related to this area of focus have been accomplished by 2025 all high schools will follow a cohesive division-wide framework to implement the employ program
107this program exists in all of our high schools and we have students participating in multiple levels of coursework in addition pwcs will partner with businesses to develop three additional full- day work based learning programs you may be familiar that historically pwcs has had a project search site at the UVA Health Center in Hay Market and since then we've added three additional programs last school year pwcs opened a homegrown program at Toto Marketplace and this school year additional work-based learning sites were added at Capitol Ridge gracious living and west wind Minster at Lakeridge the Westminster at Lakeridge program is a second project search site which Miss Johnson will share more about in just a few moments but we would like to celebrate that pwcs is the only School Division in the Commonwealth that has been granted
108a second site as well as the only School Division that was allowed and able to open a site this school year I'd now like to turn it over to Miss Johnson to provide some more details about this exciting work good evening and thank you Dr ryer I am thorough to be here with you this evening to share information on secondary transition and highquality work-based learning programs secondary transition planning starts for students with disabilities at the age of 14 during their in annual individualized education program meeting this planning involves creating personalized support to help students prepare for Life After High School including higher education employment employment and independent living when planning for secondary transition the IEP team will create what's called a transition plan very similar to the academic and career plan which includes postsecondary goals
109transition Services course of study and annual goals student Focus planning is key which means making a plan based on the students strengths interests and preferences while using assessment data to develop the plan and supporting the students involvement in their individualized education program and the transition process the main goals of secondary transition planning are increased Independence and self- advocacy better access to post-secondary education and job opportunities and improv quality of life for for After High School collaboration among all professionals and services is crucial for a smooth transition from high school to post-secondary life Prince William County Public Schools continues to build upon strong relationships with our business partners ERS as well as the department for aging and rehabilitated services and the Prince William County Community Services Board as well as training programs and colleges for students
110with a goal of entering the workforce directly after high school graduation work-based learning opportunities with specialized programming and direct instruction in workplace Readiness is provided through transition programming and in partnership with the Career and Technical education department this year we are excited to continue our collaboration with the Career and Technical education department focusing on the employment opportunities for youth or Employee Program aligned with Virginia's work-based learning standards employee equip students with the top skills needed to enter the workforce since 2023 the employee program has grown significantly offering highquality work-based learning opportunities for students with disabilities in all of our high schools students gain hands-on experience explore various careers and develop essential skills like communication networking and time management the Employee Program includes a Continuum of classes to help students meet their post-secondary employment goals employee
1111 focuses on job shadowing allowing students to observe professionals and engage in career related learning employee 2 emphasizes school-based Enterprises where students run a business and prepare for internships employee 3 offers internships with 151 local business partners providing hands-on experience employee 4 features paid work experience with students completing a minimum of 396 hours of competitive employment while also earning High School Credit these courses provide incredible opportunities for our students to develop workplace Readiness goals as as they progress we prepare students aged 18 to 22 for full day work-based learning environments like project search and explore or to enter the workforce directly into competitive integrated employment as we continue to enhance work-based learning opportunities for students with disabilities we strive to maintain current Partnerships in the community and grow our Network to allow for new Partnerships
112based on the specific needs interests and references of our students this list of business Partnerships illustrates a small sample of the community support we receive across the county which affords our students the critical opportunities to apply theoretical knowledge in real world settings enhancing their skills and employability we are deeply grateful to our 151 local business partners for their unwavering support which helps our students explore different careers refine their po secondary paths develop professional networks and gain insights into the chosen Industries making them better prepared for their Futures explore and project search are highquality work-based learning programs that immerse our interns into the world of employment through full day internships at business host sites for students between the ages of 18 and 22 interns spend the entire program year which does follow the school calendar attending
113the internship at the business host site we have proudly partnered with each business host site to ensure training room is available for students to receive direct instruction each day prior to participating in the Hands-On internship opportunities the project search program model was developed at the cincin Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in 1996 and has been duplicated more than 500 times Nationwide and in 10 countries countes through this program young adults develop the tools necessary for employment and the skills needed for self-determination management and self- advocacy project search is a partnership between the school division the div the Virginia Department for aging and rehabilitated services DARS and Dead Lake an adult Employment Agency as well as our business host sites through this partnership our project search sites benefit from having a job skills trainer on site
114provided by DARS and Dead Lake available on site for the interns in the program even after completing the one-year program DARS and Dead Lake remain committed to supporting our interns with work Readiness and employment needs We Are Forever grateful for their invaluable partnership and the difference it makes in the lives of our interns our two project search sites include UVA Health Prince William Medical Center on the western side of the county County we also have Westminster at lak Ridge on the Eastern end of the county similar to project search Prince William County Public Schools also is expanding our homegrown Explorer Program our two current Explorer sites include totos Neighborhood Market on the Eastern side of the County as well as capital Ridge gracious retirement living on the western end of the county in both of
115these programs interns receive direct instruction and employ ability and functional skills for about an hour each day and about 4 hours working in identified internship rotations the goals for our interns in both explore and project search are to prepare them for successful transitions into the workforce by helping them identify their job preferences and strengths gain and refine practical job skills and build confidence through real world experiences these programs also focus on supporting interns as they transition from school to work ensuring they are equipped to navigate competitive and integrated employment environments interns develop essential skills and tools like resumés and portfolios which highlight their abilities and experiences setting the stage for long-term professional success mentors within the business host sites support our interns in their rotations many students and explore and project search and their experience
116with an offer of competitive integrated employment definitely worth celebrating students engage in work-based learning programs to acquire essential experience in various areas the benefits of participating in these programs are numerous and impactful they help students transition smoothly to adulthood by providing structured opportunities for career exploration and skill development through Hands-On experiences students can apply Knowledge and Skills in real world settings significantly enhancing their learning and retention these practical experiences allow students to build their professional networks connecting with industry professionals and mentors who can offer guidance support and potential job opportunities in the future networking is a vital component of Career Success and these programs provide a platform for our students to establish and grow their professional relationships participation in work-based learning programs enhance students employability by gaining practical skills and experience students become more competitive
117candidates in the job market they develop a strong work ethic learn to adapt to different work environments and acquire essential soft skills such as communication teamwork and problem solving these programs offer tailored support to meet the the individual needs and preferences of each student ensuring they receive the guidance and resources necessary to succeed in their chosen career paths work-based learning programs play a critical role in preparing our students for their future careers providing a comprehensive and supported environment where they can grow learn and Thrive I would like to highlight some of the recent achievements and outcomes of our work-based learning programs in 2024 Explorer Toto Neighborhood Market won the prestigious innovated Partnership of the Year award from the Chamber of Commerce this recognition underscores the impactful collaboration between our program and the local business Community
118just as exciting our project search Westminster at lak Ridge program was nominated for two significant business chamber Awards this year project search Westminster at Lakeridge won the innovated Partnership of the Year award just like last month we are incredibly proud of this recognition which showcases the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the program our employment outcomes are equally impressive at project search UVA Health 74% of our graduates have received competitive employment offers upon completing the program this success rate demonstrates an the effectiveness of our partnership with DARS did Lake UVA health and Westminster at Lakeridge and the dedication of our interns similarly explored toos Neighborhood Market boasts a 67% success rate with graduates receiving competitive employment offers this achievement highlights the real world impact of our Hands-On learning experiences for our interns and
119the partnership with our business partner Toto Market finally I'd like to note the growth in student participation over the years and the growth of our program since 2011 the division provided the opportunity for 10 interns to participate in Project search UVA Health with the expansion of project search to a second site and the development of our explore program we have a projected 60 students that will be enrolled across six full day internship sites for the upcoming 2025 26 school year this growth is a testament to the value and demand of our programs as well as the success of our students at this point we are going to take a few moments to watch a video of our interns in the work-based learning environments at project search Westminster at Lakeridge and explore Capitol Ridge gracious retirement
120living please roll the video the explore program is a full day vocational program for individuals with disabilities between the ages of of 18 and 22 so the ultimate goal is to teach them job skills so that they can be employed I'm doing the project Explorer here and I I'm a kitchen helper explorers giv me us good work skills preparing me for a job we have students that work in the kitchen it could be from food prep for filling up water bottles to setting up the dining room tables my job here is to help the kitchen prep team we have student that do more housekeeping laundry type work washing the sheets and towels drying them students that help with the housekeepers actually cleaning inside resident home I feel comfortable being an intern I'm learning to clean
121better learning how to vacuum they're being able to come here to the explore program and receive that undivided vocational assistance and training that they deserve and they should receive everybody deserves a shot and this is their shot and then they can finally open the doors to whatever is imaginable for [Music] them project search is an employment training program for students with disabilities who are interested in seeking competitive integrated employment students come to the retirement community to participate in three different internships alongside a mentor to develop their job skills project search is a partnership between printo County's schools did Lake DARS and Westminster at Lakeridge so the mentors and the students have had a great partnership right from the beginning they really have worked well together not only are our mentors teaching our students but our
122students are teaching our mentors every day as well the program is offered to all of the high schools and pris William County schools part of their transition program and it it really is great it's a great opportunity and I'm so glad to be a part of this my job is to assist the interns with perfecting their skills and developing their transferable skills project search is helping me reach my goals so I can get a job in Food Service currently I am a cator inter turn I help plan events for residents and design the calendar I interact with residents every day my job is I col of fruit and vegetables project search helped me make my resume and learn job skills I feel like as aity we get to give back to these interns and the
123interns are giving back to us just as much I really love this job it's so fulfilling to make such a difference in these students lives and prepare them for a thriving [Music] future as we continue to grow transition programming I'd like to share our exciting plans for postsecondary transition next steps and continued enhancements in our highquality work-based learning opportunities first we are broadening our highquality work-based learning initiatives through the addition of new Community Partners these Partnerships will provide even more opportunities for our students to gain valuable work experience across all Industries next we are adding two new Explorer sites for the 2526 school year these sites will offer more students the chance to participate in Hands-On learning and to develop a essential job skills for the 2026 27 school year we are enhancing our programming
124and access to high quality work-based learning for students transitioning to supported employment this will ensure that all students regardless of their needs have access to highquality work-based learning experiences we will continue our strong partnership with the Career and Technical education department around the employee curriculum this collaboration is crucial for aligning our programs with industry standards and preparing students for successful careers finally we are focusing on developing a comprehensive post-secondary transition plan in the Middle School level by starting this process earlier we can better prepare our students for future educational and career paths this concludes our presentation for this evening we sincerely appreciate your time and your support we are happy to take any questions thank you Dr ryer and Miss Johnson for sharing um that valuable information and all the work that is happening with
125our students to ensure that they transition from Prince William County schools ready to create a thriving future for themselves and their community at this time um Dr Latif that concludes the superintendent report and um we're here to answer any questions that the board might have related to the presentation on special education Mr Williams thank you Mr chairman I don't have any questions I just want to emphatically uh thank you for this program as someone who has visited the Toto site um and I mean it's just absolutely amazing it it really is life-changing for these students and for our staff I know the hard work that has gone into this is something Beyond I can personally imagine the amount of sites that we have the opportunities for students um directly coming from within our school division
126to be employed to um just makes me think when I was at to I've never felt so much love from visiting a work site in my life it was just absolutely incredible to see not only the students working but to visit the training room to see how they were getting reinforced the academic standards um how to communicate and collaborate with each other right there getting those skills I can only imagine I haven't had the pleasure of visiting other sites but it was absolutely phenomenal and for me having um a close family member who went through the special education program was wasn't afforded these opportunities just to know that we have grown so much in that time it was years ago grown so much in that time but to know you know just to think back
127of how much better positioned this individual would been doing fine had a great education here don't want to say that U don't want no SL no slck from Prince County Schools did great service for him but just it's it's it's the additional add-on and and just think that we are now going as far back as Middle School to help plan these transition transitions I know it's important not only to the student but also to the parents who wonder you know what is my what is my student going to or parents are Guardians what is my student going to do um what meaningful opportunities have they had while they've been in school and this is again I'm a huge supporter of CTE um I love this this other lens of CTE is able to provide for
128this Niche group of students and it's wonder the video is fantastic um and it's wonderful to see that it's continued growth um I just want to thank both of you ladies um for the amount of work that you have put forth in this program as well as the rest of your staff I would absolutely be remiss if I did not recognize uh Miss Christy Bo Young who is sitting behind you who I can't see because I'm so short because of the podium hello s and all the hard work that uh she has done I know that she has been with us for several years and um is a part of cak as well so I just want to again thank the team for continuing to have these opportunities for our students uh and opportunities for
129growth in our community as well because we are a part of our community and not I can't I'm hardpressed to think of a a program that says this more with love um and dedication and service to our students and those families so thank you Mr W uh want to Echo a lot of things that Miss Williams said there um thank you all for the presentation um I I think it's good that the community is aware of these things um I remember earlier this year I went and visited um a site in Ohio while I was traveling for work and I had no idea that these programs really existed in our school system and um I think it's great um the presentation was trenchant and really informative and I think it will help the community get
130a better understanding of the programs we do offer and the pathways and services you know they they always you know the the the saying is you know college uh and career Readiness begins in the cradle and you know often times for parents like myself who have special needs children you're always there's this worry and fear that you know what is your child going to do after they either graduate or age out at 22 if they stay in the system and you know and I think after seeing I know after seeing that actually that it does provide you know me with more reassurance and confidence as I hope it does to a lot of other families uh that we have rapidly expanded this program you know I can remember when I first came on the board
131um and and a lot of the changes that have developed of course as you know special needs populations are growing in all School District districts across the country I can't think of one that I haven't talked to uh even in my day job where the needs are not increasing along with the numbers so you're seeing more severe cases uh with students with you know moderate to severe disabilities and I think our programming and our supports have to reflect a lot of that too because you know for those students who even have the most severe needs we want them to be productive we want them to transition to some type of independent lifestyle and learning and I think we're on that track we're we're doing great things the Partnerships I thank you for incorporating a lot
132of those I know one of my pieces of feedback was I think the community would love to see you know some of these 151 names there um you know I can't say enough about toos uh Carlos Castro is a great man and I'm I'm the partnership as he has helped Foster with our school system is amazing so I can't say enough I could go on here a lot but in the effort of time thank you so much for the presentation Mr Jess yeah I think this is a really Val I know this is a really valuable program uh I grew up with a my sister who was uh had challenges and I I look around today when we look at all the homeless people and all the the stuff we are helping prevent some of
133that from happening and that's very important I do have one question there was a list one of your slides has a whole bunch of uh organization one of which was the claywood elementary school what was that list about and what did they do do I turn this off yes so that list was um a small sample of the many uh Partnerships that we have out in the community and many of those are our own elementary schools so our high school students do go into our elementary SCH schools and they are afforded the opportunity to have different internship opportunities at our at our elementary schools especially if they have a postsecondary goal of being in education and so we are our interns do go into those elementary schools that's what I thought so my question is
134I only saw one school that is a small sample but we have the entire list that we can provide and it is actually on our website okay there there are more elementary schools Mr Tren I wasn't going to chime in but he said a key word for me which was T claywood um that program has has happened for a long time the kiddos come over from Patriot High School um and the really cool part is they also those kids also serve in other roles um other activities things like a carnival um they were able to run the game for a school carnival years ago um but they bring them in for other things like after school activities as well um and I think it's just a great opportunity and program and it's awesome to see
135them all walking over from Patriot um so it's nice to have those uh sister schools right next door but thank you for the presentation um again since we already heard it once but thank you again for giving that to us miss wall thank you this was um really informative um it does show how we are working to help every student with their specific needs knowing that we have a very wide variety of students that we educate and we get ready for what comes next after they leave our Halls so I really appreciate it um you shared some exciting news and updates um besides the presentation being very informative I do believe it's very important the work that you are doing Dr reer the word work that you're leading in your department or your office um
136and I'm pleased to see the expansion of highquality work-based learning in so many different areas at least I'm trying to still kind of wrap my head around all the different sites and how they differ one from another but I I get the general idea that we are expanding and providing additional opportunities for students and those Partnerships with our schools and our community businesses are really valuable I had no idea we had 151 different partners so that's um awesome and I look forward to learning more about the two new sites sites that you um mentioned and I don't I'm assuming you didn't specifically say it because it's not time to reveal it yet but um if it is go ahead and say but if not I understand but that that's pretty exciting also the number of
137going from 10 to 60 um in just a few short years is tremendous um and I know that this is going to grow even more so um I wanted to say thank you did you want to respond to the one thing I said so I'm going to give Miss Johnson permission that we are able to release the name of one of the sites that's been confirmed for next year so we're super excited about that um plans for the second are underway and it's just a matter of finalizing um a last couple of last details yes so very exciting for our Western group of high schools we have uh established partnership with Hilton in Grand Manor Banquet Hall over in Manasses so that will be our second Explorer site for this upcoming school year wow that's
138great that's exciting and as Dr mentioned we continue to uh work for the Eastern end of the the county I appreciate that um I had one question if it would be all right for me to ask um you mentioned in the the reading supports issue I think it was early on maybe slide four um and I I know this is something that sometimes comes to me as a board member for families with students who are really struggling do we do comprehensive in our special ed um variety of things that we do um do we we do the comprehensive screenings to see if there may be some disg graphia dyslexia you know I know there are other terms as well or do we we um Outsource that to um Specialists and then how closely do we
139work with the families to make sure they get like the diagnosis they need and then like the reading Specialists understand what the diagnosis is because that's something that I do interact with um community members on a regular iume to be quite regular you know just concerns about reading like maybe there's something more going on here besides just you know um maybe a little bit of difficulty sure um so the answer to your question is yes to everything that you mentioned so we do have ability through really our Core Curriculum to be identifying students who are struggling so an example is in our vows assessment that's utilized this year that all students um in our younger grade levels participate in there's a specific measure um that might flag the rapid automatic naming if a student is
140really struggling um with reading difficulty at that basic phoning level um from there a school might then take a student through the child fine process where they would be referred to be evaluated by our staff um but that would be a more comprehensive diagnostic look through psychoeducational assessments um which would ultimately then um move into an eligibility process for consideration of the student being eligible for a student with a specific reading disability I will just it might be helpful just um for some of the questions that some may have um we approach the look at reading disabilities from an educational perspective so we would not diagnose something that is a medical diagnosis and exists in the DSM such as dyslexia but what we're looking for is characteristics of students who are struggling and then being
141able to pair um with those difficulties the appropriate instructional match and remedy thank you that's really helpful um and I appreciate that explanation I don't have any other comments except just to say great work and thank you and thanks for helping us be more educated on the topic so that we can speak um with community members at a higher um level as we seek to explain what we're doing here in Prince William County schools thank you Mr Blake you didn't have any no I just well thank you for that presentation and um just all the work you guys are doing and just to secure and make sure that uh some of our most vulnerable Learners get the same opportunities and um and uh access to a thriving future so thank you okay thank you guys
142very much truly appreciate it okay next up um 1801 sale of surplus property we're now moving um I need a motion I move that the school board adopt a resolution determining that the school board has no use for 3.0 6 acres of land adjacent to Gainesville Middle School and declaring the land to be Surplus property have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams I second okay so to be clear the way this motion is written a no vote means that the School Division will keep the property is that correct Mr um Anderson a no vote means School Division will retain the property because the School Division believes we still have a use for the property correct that's correct okay so everyone should be clear that that's what the no vote means okay discussion Miss wall thank
143you Dr I um visited and observed the land in question in item 18.01 um I viewed the perimeter I walked across the crosswalk um between Gainesville High School and Gainesville Middle School and then the lighted walkway um walked across the field toward the baseball diamond and looked toward the high school from that direction walked along the path along all of the trees and stood on the field and viewed the trees in ground cover as viewed from the middle school property looking back toward the high school and spent time just observing the environment it's very clear in my mind um that this property is not Surplus and for one the path is a very valuable addition to approachability for the two schools and the fields and the parking lots of the schools um it's a sizable
144path with lighting um for when it's a little dark but games always happen after school um and that path connects those two schools and it provides a distinct and desire able way to approach the high school from nearby neighborhoods um out of the way of traffic there's a lot of traffic that comes in and out of Gainesville High School um using the road that's by the fitness center but this crosswalk is further away from that and out of the way of traffic um it's a very desirable location and students are using it the path is also used um for access to the parking lot that's available on the high school side when athletic events are occurring on those ball fields on the middle school property so people are parking in the high school and then
145they're walking across this property to the baseball diamonds and the fields on the Middle School site in addition um I'm aware that Prince Will County School's facility staff are using that path to access the middle school campus for property maintenance um the second broad reason is the viewed there is is significant even though it's it was late winter when I well I guess it was late February um when I walked the site um the trees were still providing a significant amount of view shed and privacy for the school properties um and I have no doubt that as the trees fill in for spring and summer and fall there will be a lot of natural beautiful scenery um between these two properties that enhances the experience for the students on our campuses that connect these high
146school and middle school properties so for all of these reasons my clear conclusion is this property does have school use and it is not Surplus property Miss Z yeah um I had spoken with um Miss wall when she was planning to make the trip over there so we had talked a little bit um and she also you you left this one out so I I thought I'd just add it um the the substation that you can you can see through the trees right now um it it's it it gets a screen um presumably when the when the foliage comes out and that that provides not just a visual buffer but um it it's you know aesthetically pleasing as well um but she had talked about how it was pretty clear that um this pathway was
147something that was well used it it looked like um it provided access between those two Fields really well and somebody at some point had told me there was uh it helped increase an availability for parking for games as well um I is there a parking lot that's nearby that people would park in and then they just walk over to field yeah so so it sounds like it's got a lot of use already so thank you for your day there okay great um yeah Miss wall I I also want to add um because of the way Virginia's environment is um I think the property also provides a a place for water to collect um kind of some of the environmental aspects of water drainage um and places where water to run off um which is also
148an important aspect to have some of that natural growth of bushes and trees and other things um it's it's important for the Virginia's climate and ecosystem to not cut down all the trees okay please vote and remember the no vote is to not sell the property a yes vote is to sell the property vote is seven no one abstain trenic motion failed okay uh moving on to board matters um where did we start last week last week we started with Lisa this week we'll start with Mr wil Mr wil What fail we don't want we yeah we want it to fail I I kind of said it three times it's okay may it always fail um I'll be brief tonight uh I do want to mention a statement I guess you know a previous speaker
149two weeks ago um brought up and challenged the board to make their um viewpoints known on various topics and I although you know this one is not necessarily the most important one at the moment given all the um fluidity of what's Happening daily in our country um it still I believe is gerain to the conversation with students and it goes to I strongly oppose the recision of the DH DHS memo that protected sensitive areas like churches and most importantly K12 schools from immigration enforcement every child deserves to learn in a safe welcoming environment without fear as a school board member I take my responsibility seriously to ensure our 90,000 students receive a highquality education and feel secure in our schools removing these protections creates fear that disrupts learning and prevents children from assessing the education
150they deserve no student should be too Afra to attend school I do fully support law enforcement when urgent action is needed such as threats of harm gang violence or national security risk but broad enforcement near schools only harms students and families schools should be places for learning not fear I want parents to know that I will always stand up for every student's rights and privacy following state and federal laws our schools must remain safe spaces where all children can learn grow and dream without fear thank you uh Mr nck thank you Mr Blake you're welcome um I had the privilege of going to Cedar Point last week and watching um Mrs laflor I hope I said that right put um and her students put on an amazing show of Newsies um Elementary School level play
151are not always like Productions but this was like a production and I was very excited I even brought my own little candy stash and ate Candy and watched the kids and um it was extremely impressive what was even more impressive to me were the Middle School theater teachers there scouting for their productions for the next year so when we say our teachers are dedicated we mean it um they were actually there scouting their talent for next year which I loved um they just always put on a great show uh and what I love even more is how many parents are involved in helping with the show um makeup costumes I mean these I was so so so impressed um I also was able to watch marstellar sule also extremely impressive um I the these kids
152just love every moment that they're doing this and when it's over they're kind of sad because they've spent months and months doing this every night um but it was really wonderful to watch and see and of course I got to watch my little guy perform and he did a solo and just did a fantastic job he never sings for us at home but getting to see him sing there was just really awesome so Kudos Mr miles um I also went to Gainesville High School's advisory council meeting uh they invite or have invited me the last couple of years we got to talk about the budget uh and the different things that are happening at Gainesville High School again those parents just love their school and love that community uh and I'm just glad that we're
153able to talk about uh any concerns uh regarding traffic or anything like that and talk about the things that we're doing to mitigate that um I also got to watch my very first lacrosse game I had I don't even know what that is it was very intriguing there's a lot that happens it was just a big deal so we got to watch that and I'm learning a lot about lacrosse so it's fun um and then I'd also just like to end even though my kids never watch these meetings and say happy 19th birthday to my oldest son today sorry thank you Mr Jesse go ahead thank you Mr Blake uh this has been a busy week for me it's been dominated by Robotics and drones and competitions okay uh you know you can go to
154the football game and you spend two three hours there you go to Robotics and particular thing it's Saturday morning starts around 9 doesn't end until about 5:30 6:00 Saturday well Saturday is one thing but the competition goes on to Sunday and so you're there from Sunday morning those kids and those coaches and the parents it wears you out but it's really really a lot of fun learning the difference between the different type of uh Robotics and drones is very confusing uh the competition uh it's just something but I've said before lak Ridge Middle School is really tearing it up and then I have to remember it's a drone team that's really tearing it up so for example I think the picture you were going to they're going to put a picture up on on the
155screen for you I hope uh there you go every one of these kids there are six teams all six teams are going to the state competition in West Virginia in the end of May not one team not two teams but all six teams they that's the Drone team here uh Mrs Heather odm is a coach she does a wonderful job their their Trophy Place is so packed now with awards from the robotic team and the drum team they have their own separate uh section for for them uh it's just wonderful to see that and it's it's just very exciting the most exciting thing these are skills that are profitable skills going into the future that these kids are learning and it starts in elementary schools so is this it's this amazing but I want to
156thank everybody uh and this has been a a good meeting again I'm really excited about the budget and I just hope that that we continue with all the good things that we're doing thank you Miss wall thank you Dr Latif this past month has been full of exciting events um for families across the Gainesville district and Beyond um I've had the pleasure of attending some wonderful school activities I've been really really busy this last month where I've seen your students engaged and thriving and some highlights include Gravely Elementary School's literacy night which had a winter theme which was very fun Mullen Elementary's Multicultural night which was amazing the orchestra concert at Reagan which was a pyramid concert so the elementary school kids that feed into Reagan were there Battlefield high schools Orchestra assessment they earned
157all ones they had a superior rating so congratulations to Battlefield Orchestra Bull Run had their first ever their inaugural Multicultural night and it was a huge success um Sinclair Elementary had a black history celebration which was a riot it was so much fun um Gravely guested I was a Gravely guested reader at the readathon and I read Harry Potter um the first book and the kids loved it um we had a science engagement night at Unity Braxton led by the kids themselves um with their own independent science research and their explanations um there was uh the pwcs Arts Festival for elementary schools I loved that it was amazing good job everybody who worked on that um I also have done done a deep dive into robotics the Vex Middle School qualifier the Vex robotics States
158and the Vex robotics sorry States also for high school and middle school there were two different events uh the C Purge underwater robotics at colan and the Roaring robotics Rumble drone event at Unity re and Cedar points music Newsies also I have been going far and wide across the division your students continue to amaze me with their talent dedication and hard work and as we enter the final stretch of the school year which is going to be filled with testing final projects college scholarship applications all the post-graduation planning I encourage you to cherish these moments with your children wishing I am wishing everyone the best for a strong and successful final quarter for the 2025 school year I do appreciate hearing from community members on matters that are of greatest importance to them I am
159working to Res help resolve some of the concerns that been shared with me most recently I do appreciate your support and confidence as I work to help find Solutions one thing um that I can very much appreciate is how important it is for families to have outstanding teachers who teach effectively diligently and communicate with students and their families regularly nothing is more important to our families than excellent teachers when it comes to their children's education I'm going to conclude by some final thoughts on perseverance and fearless cover uh courage um from a Shakespeare measure for measure our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt Nelson Mandela said it always seems impossible until it's done and a Japanese proverb is fall seven times stand up eight
160I hope that we all continue to stand up in every opportunity and I leave you with that good night Miss William thank you Mr chairman as our um month of March meetings here comes to to close and um March is women's History Month I just would like to um make special note to some of the wonderful things that we have uh in our lives because of women uh things like Wi-Fi GPS Bluetooth windshield wipers home security systems Kevlar telecommunications aquariums treatments for malaria automatic dishwashers computer programming coffee coffee filters space station powder liquid power excuse me Liquid Paper paper bags foot pedestal trash cans monopo signal flares circular saws retractable dog leashes invisible glass computers chocolate chip cookies and of course all of us here came from a woman and those are just a few
161highlights um of some interesting things that I some of them I knew some of them I didn't but I wanted to take the opportunity to share uh also like to just recognize a few women that we don't often talk about and I would encourage you to go look these women up on your own uh women like Christine J Jorgenson Alia Garrison gwendelyn Anne Smith State Senator danar Rome Kim Koko a aoto Amanda Simpson Stacy lton Nelly Blye Henrietta LAX Grace Hopper Heidi Lamar and Margaret the human calculator Hamilton just to name a few there are so many amazing women um there's just not enough time to celebrate them all I would also like to thank uh our vice chair uh Tracy Blake for attending the Woodbridge Women's Club 60th anniversary um the Woodbridge Women's Club
162has been instrumental in providing community service um out and about the whb bridge and aquan District as well as uh generally in the community but as well as within our schools um they have in the 60 years of existence here given over $100,000 of scholarships to our students in the community Community I am off bi 100% biasly proud my mother is the current president and under her leadership the scholarships have gone not only for academic but for also CTE students as well so I'm extremely proud of that i' like to remind everyone that we have I think it's open registration now for Prince County School summer camps there are scholarships availabl for those camps if you go in and click in and Link uh and another reminder is it is the end of well the
16327th will be the end of the third marking period please everyone make sure you check your grades talk to your teachers in case you need to boost grades all of the necessary things that come at the end of a grading quarter Don't Panic reach out ask for help um and see if maybe someone else in your in your peer group may need help as well and lastly I would just like to celebrate fredin ptso chair Miss Mna she held the first ever Bingo night at fredlin and was able to get sponsored by not only by not sponsorships by not only Urban Air but food line as well it was an amazing event and with that I will come to a close thank you Mr araport thank you um got to go to the Vex Middle
164School state competition on Saturday uh and I got to see uh teams from is it Parkside and Benton and I ran into some other kids that were on some private teams in the county and thought it was really neat that they decided to kind of collaborate amongst themselves because they were so interested uh in robotics and I went to Bennett Elementary's International night they also had a book fair so I picked up a couple of uh books for my grandsons as their birthdays are coming up um the highlight of my my week though was absolutely the the best part on Saturday going to Richmond to watch the Osborne Park uh girls basketball win the state championship beating Manchester 60 to 48 uh this was their sixth straight season of going to the Championships and they
165finally bring a uh uh the the trophy home and this is the first time in the entire history of the school that the girls basketball has done that uh head coach Chrissy Kelly um I I think she builds team the the the quality of the team and just I've been watching them since I've been on this board and of course there's girls who've matriculated through our school system so they're no longer on the team but they created the basis for the team that exists today and there was a quote in the Prince William Times by coach Kelly and it says uh we just focused on our identity and that's defense osor Park head coach Chrissy Kelly said we are a unit a single unit that defends one basketball we're going to have breakdowns we're going
166to get scored on we're going to have lapses but at the end of the day it's got to be 32 minutes of trusting that identity trusting ourselves defensively Kelly added that's just what this group is all about they're just phenomenal and I truly believe you can't be phenomenal without the support of great coaches a a great school great families who are making sure the athletes get to the the practices and are fed and taken care of and I will leave you this evening with this is unusual for me by the way sports quotes but I I love um you just can't beat the person who never gets up by Babe Ruth Champions keep playing until they get it right by Billy Jean King and it's not whether you get knocked down it's whether you get
167up by Vince Lombardi have a great week Mr J Blake uh thank you Mr chairman first I'd like to just start by um just a moment of silence for Howard Glen senior he was the one of the assistant principles at Garfield High School he just passed away so I'd just like to say a moment of silence and um okay sorry I've I've had the pleasure of attending several community events that highlight our District's ongoing commitment to Student Success and engagement uh at neapco elementary I participated in a lively Bingo night that brought the community together it was a fantastic opportunity to interact with families educ ators and community members and see firsthand the positive relationships that are being fostered in our schools at pen Elementary I had the privilege of attending both The Advisory Council
168and meeting and the uh PTO meeting and I was particularly impressed with how well the PTL functions at pen their efforts are a model for all of us setting standards for the community involvement and support for our schools uh they probably should be be have best practices as a PT I'm just saying and then additionally I had the honor of joining uh the read Across America event at King Elementary School I got to read to a prek class for breakfast um it was truly uh an honor to see the students so engaged in learning and one uh the teacher also told me that that was the quietest that her breakfast had ever been in 9 years of teaching so I I was humbled by that too so you know if you need me to come
169read in your classroom I'm here for you and and I also too want to just take a moment to uh just shout out the Osborne Park uh girls basketball team on their first state championship that was a big deal and as always I want to be responsive to the concerns raised by members of the community and I just want to assure everyone that we are fully committed to following all federal and state laws Prince William County schools has always operated in compliance with with the legal framework that governs our schools ensuring that we provide a safe respectful and inclusive environment for every student while we welcome open discussion let me be clear that our practi is aligned with the laws in place to protect all students and ensure their educational opportunities are secure and Equitable
170in closing I'd like to leave you it with this quote by Winston chos that I find particularly relevant in today's climate the price of greatness is responsibility we all share in this responsibility whether we are Educators administrators parents or community members and it is our duty to safeguard with the Integrity with this the Integrity of our schools let us continue working together to ensure that our policies reflect the values of fairness tradition and the well-being of every child thank you thank you Mr Blake um well wonderful let me start off by saying congratulations to Osborne Park High School girls State 6A state champions what a fantastic run they had this year and it was a incredible game on Saturday and I'm so glad for them and and congratulations and we'll be recognizing them here in
171one of the upcoming meetings um you know I I said it during the budget um discussion are um you know often times I said it's is the budget's a reflection of your values and I think this budget truly reflects the values of this board who's committed to the the student achievement salaries and safety of our students and that safety includes mental health that includes having an open and welcoming environment for all students regardless of who they are where they come from you know I've pointed out that 20,000 students or so maybe um you know are born overseas in this division we have one of the most diverse counties in America 10th most diverse our division reflects that diversity in every color shade and um um variety here in our our County and I'm thrilled to
172oversee a School Division so diverse and a division as you heard from many folks this evening so welcoming and we want to keep it that way and it is um our commitment to doing so um and in making sure here in our County we do what we've always said we're going to do what's reflected in our strategic plan regardless of who's um sitting in Washington DC or frankly who's sitting in Richmond we will continue to do the work that this community has asked us to do and the work that um uh has gone into our strategic plan and the work that um we hear daily from our folks so with that I will um adjourn the meeting you guys all have a great night e e for