Prince William County School Board Meeting - March 5, 2025

001uh the I'd like to call the meeting the Prince William County School Board order a motions in order for the approval of the meeting agenda Mr Blake I move that the Prince William County school board approved the meeting agenda as recommended do I have a second Mr chair Miss wall second any discussion please vote all in favor approving the agenda hands in the air any opposed okay no opposition moving on that motion passes motion enter close session moving on the motion uh a motion order Mr Blake I move that pursuant to Virginia code 2.2 d371 and 2.2 3712 the Prince William County School Board enter close session for the following reasons one to discuss with staff the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salaries disciplining or resignation of specific public officers and Pointes or employees of

002any public body pursuant to Virginia code 2.2 A1 and two to consider the grievance appeal of employee T25 d002 pertaining to their salary and to the receive legal advice from division Council related to the same under Virginia code 2.2 3711 A1 and 8 and three to discuss with divion Council and staff actual and probable litigation and specific legal matters involving staff students and other civil litigation involving the School Division under Virginia code-2 or 2.2 3711 A7 and 8 and4 to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security of school's facilities the safety of persons using such facilities and the action taken to respond to such matters we're discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia code 2.2 a19 and five to discuss the award of

003a public contract to employees specific representative which involves the expenditure of public funds in the term or scope of such contract where discussion and Open Session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body pursuant to Virginia code 2.2 a29 do I have a second Mr chairman Mr Williams second any discussion please vote all in favor I any opposed no opposition motion passes all right at this time the school board will now enter close session enter open in 1 hour [Music] um the Prince William County School Board is now returning to open session um I'm going to move things around first we're going to do a motion order for 701 close session certification Mr Blake I move that pursuant to section 2.2-cu of theota Virginia the Clos session of the Prince

004William County school board meeting of March 5th 2025 be certified by adopting the following resolution now therefore be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge one only public business matters lawfully Exempted from open meetings requirements were discussed in closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board do have a second Mr chairman Mr uh zarap I second any discussion please vote vote is seven yes one not president vote Williams motion passed U moving on to um close session action items a motion order Mr Blake I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and

005releases of specific employees as presented in the close session do I have a second Mr chairman Miss wall any discussion please vote vote is seven yes uh one not president vote Williams motion passed uh moving on to uh grievance appeal for employee T 25002 motions in order Mr Blake I move that the Prince William County School Board affirm the step three grievance determination issued by the superintendent dese in employee case number T 25-2 and further that the chairman at large is authorized to provide a written decision to the employee reflecting the school board's decision do I have a second Mr chairman Miss arore I second any discussion please vote vote is seven yes one abstain wil motion passed okay um thank you at this time we the school board is required to hold a public

006hearing on a matter that is before us and so we are going to go ahead and do that so at this time I do you want you want to read your stuff first and then I declare the public hearing all right so let's hear from division Council Wade Anderson thank you Mr chairman in January 2022 the school board entered into an option agreement with loran power doing business as light shift energy setting for fourth terms under which light shift could exercise a right to purchase a 3.06 acre parcel of land AB budding Gainesville Middle School and University Boulevard extended directly across from Gainesville High School at any time within a three-year period in January 2025 light shift notified the board that it was exercising its option to purchase the property prior to selling real property

007Virginia law requires a school board to make a determination after holding a public hearing that it has no use for the property and declare the property a surplus the school board must also seek the approve approval of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to retain the proceeds of such sale the purpose of tonight's public hearing is to receive comments from the public as to whether the school board should declare the property Surplus and seek to retain the proceeds of sale thank you at this time I declare that public hearing is now open on the subject of the sale of surplus property um we had posted uh for a number of days the opportunity to speak at the public hearing regarding this topic tonight we do not have any qual citizens to speak up to

008speak therefore there being no citizens indicating they wish to speak on the subject I declare the public hearing closed okay moving on to the Pledge of Allegiance we have um Allah Rashid to lead us in the pledge our student representative this evening much aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay all right um before we go on to this meeting I wanted to sort of um talk about what happened uh just a statement on um you know what my feelings are and and the board's feelings are in theorum so you know good evening uh I'd like to share that it is my responsibility as chairman at large to direct and guide the actions

009of this board pursuant to the board s agreed upon rules as members of the Prince William County Public School Board we serve a community that entrusts us with the responsibility of shaping the future of Education this responsibility demands that we conduct ourselves with Integrity fairness and professionalism at all times our school board of Ethics Professional Standards and protocols policy 117 are not merely aspirational ideals they are prescriptive guidelines that govern our actions and interactions these standards require us to model professionalism speak candly and courteously to each other listen with an open mind and engage in discourse with courtesy and prioritize the welfare and academic success of all students regardless of background ability or circumstance we serve as models both for our students and our staff and as such we must act accordingly likewise we must

010respect the defined roles within our school system our responsibility is to provide oversight and governance while the day-to-day operation of our school Remain the purview of the superintendent and administration whether in public forums private discussions or Community engagements me must me we must always reflect the professionalism expected of those who serve in positions of leadership as chairman at large it is my responsibility to ensure our board and our citizens adhere to our agreed upon rules for decorum and professionalism tonight I'm reaffirming our commitment to the Schoolboard ethics policy and will not hesitate to enforce rules of orders for those who do not comply up to and including muting audio for those who do not adhere to the time limits for speaking recessing meetings if necessary or take other actions as deemed appropriate to ensure the

011business of this board is conducted accordingly now more than ever our role in public service is critical and we must ensure our actions reflect the Model Behavior we want to demonstrate to our students staff members and Community thank you next we're going to move on to thriving Futures focus and tonight and so for those of you who don't know but you should know thriv fusure focus is an opportunity to highlight the exemplary work being accomplished in our schools that fulfill 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 award at the state or national level we appreciate how

012these honores have positively represented Prince s County Public Schools and the school board is proud to recognize them publicly for their accomplishment tonight the school board will recognize accomplishments in the Arts We Begin our acknowledgements with Mr Justin wil of the great patomic District who will introduce our first award winner Mr wil thank you Dr Latif the council for art education Incorporated is a nonprofit organization established in 1984 with the primary sponsorship from the art and creative materials Institute incorporated or ACMI ACMI supports highquality visual art education programs in K12 schools across the us through the efforts of its members partners and the substantial support it receives from National organizations and institutions like ACMI the council for art education actively promotes a strong commitment to visual arts education for students in grades K to 12

013the council for art education is set to honor independent's non-traditional school art teacher Cali Watson with the Award of Excellence as the youth art month ch chair for the Virginia art Education Association or vaa this recognition is for her efforts in developing the state digital portfolio for youth art month uh youth art month activities throughout Virginia as an art teacher at independent non-traditional school and the youth art month chair for the Virginia Arts of Education Association Kelly has demonstrated unwavering commitment to fostering creativity and artistic expression among our Young Learners through her exemplary work in organizing youth art month activities across the Commonwealth Kelly has provided a platform for students to display their talents and celebrate the importance of Visual Arts in their educational Journey her digital portfolio which highlights the numerous activities and events

014that took place during youth art month is a testament to our dedication and Innovation on behalf of the pic District it is my great honor to recognize Miss wson and her colleagues independent non-traditional schools represented by is represented by principal Stephanie bretzky and jod panowski principal at the public separate School Miss Watson would you like to share a few words tonight please good evening and happy youth art month uh ladies and gentlemen esteemed members of the Prince William County School Board I am filled with immense gratitude as I stand before you having being recognized for receiving the national award of Excellence from the Council of arts for my work on the Virginia's youth art month digital portfolio this award is not merely a is not only merely a personal accomplishment but it symbolizes the outstanding

015art programs found throughout the state and highlights the unwavering support and commitment to the Arts that we proudly uphold here in Prince William County Youth art month which began in the 1960s serves as a vital reminder of the the importance of the Arts in our schools it highlights creativity and expression that F Fosters arts for our students enriching their educational experiences I feel truly fortunate to be part of a community that values and supports Arts programs so deeply however it is essential to recognize that in Virginia many counties are facing cuts to their art programs this reality underscores the need to continue celebrating youth art month and advocating for art education for all students every child deserves access to the transformative power of the Arts and together we can ensure that the vital component of

016Education remains a priority thank you once again for your support and for believing in the power of art to inspire and un uplift our students let let us continue to to Champion creativity in our schools and Community thank you thank you very much for being here congratulations thank you Mr wil from the Kohl's District Miss Lisa zarap please share more about our award-winning students thank you Dr Latif uh the Kohl's District would like to recognize Charles J colan senior I can't say that tonight Charles J colan senior high school and Daryl prices for his portfolio's prestigious ious selection as one of the 50 by the college board's 2024 advanced placement art portfolio online exhibit just to emphasize how amazing his this selection is Daryl's portfolio was one of 880,000 submitted by student artists his artwork

017will be exhibited online internationally within the yearly digital exhibit by the college board so we want to congratulate Daryl as he present he presented a stunning portfolio of selected Works earning well deserved recognition for his creativity technical Mastery and unique artistic Vision his collection celebrated for its striking composition depth of expression and Innovative use of materials captivated audiences and critics alike Daryl graduated in 2024 from Colgan High School however this selection was not made until December of 2024 and the E exhibit publication was in February 20125 so we are fortunate to be able to still be able to celebrate Daryl's amazing achievement and he is in college he could not attend tonight but he is represented by this evening by colan High School principal Dr Tim Healey and art teacher Miss Elizabeth Burns who will

018read a letter on behalf of Daryl's achievement good evening thank you yes uh Dr Latif Schoolboard members and Dr madade thank you for having us my name is Elizabeth Burns I am the co aogan High School cfp teacher and I am here tonight to represent our kogan cfpa art program our AP course our programs and then of course 24 2024 graduate from colan cfpa visual art graduate Daryl price he couldn't make it tonight as Mrs uger said uh he is currently a freshman at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore Maryland titled Micah uh he is studying illustration and accomplished all A's first semester and therefore he said he couldn't leave for tonight so yes Daryl is one out of 50 students from over 80,000 art portfolios exams globally one of 50 chosen his artwork

019was chosen as it exhibited high quality showing quality in diverse ideas style material and processes and this recognition and online Art Exhibit is used as a teaching and learning tool in visual art classrooms around the world year after year through Studio practice application of Design Concepts and informed decision-making students assemble a body of artwork called a sustain investigation that demonstrates a high level of quality of growth over time of personal voice shown through content technique and process Daryl's sustained investigation was how do different genres of music impact the human psyche AP scorers stated that Daryl's artwork was selected in part because it demonstrated and achieved synthesis in his portfolio Daryl stated that by developing my skills in figure creating space and personalization and as I delved deeper into what my SI asked I focused into

020exemplifying the emotions the genres rose out of me peers in the public because of those symbols after his vision with this concept he began to visually Express how the message of the genre impacted emotions of the human psyche he was was focused on different genres of music and this piece here which I have a few different images of in him was influenced by punk music as a whole very anti-establishment and full of rebellion to further that feeling he combined it with vague references to a postapocalyptic landscape and motifs as Daryl's teacher as his 2D uh art AP course teacher I work diligently with him uh to assist in finding and fostering his artistic voice we worked on developing a path together for him developing questions in his portfolio we worked on things as it related

021and to get his best portfolio out he does continue to keep in touch with kogan he came back and helped us as an alumni and helped us with our cfpa auditions he stays in touch with our alumni as well as myself and always looking for opportunities he was our national Arts Honor Society president as well he thanks you and I thank you thank you Miss Burns and congratulations to you and the KGAN Community thank you for all the the beautiful art and and everything I know we've got uh student Works coming up soon and I can't wait to see those shows yes thank you excellent thank you Miss araport before taking a few pictures Dr McDade would like to share a few words thank you Mr chairman first I just want to say to Miss

022Kelly Watson um we're so lucky to have you in Prince William County I want to congratulate congratulate you but also I want to commend you for fostering artistic expression and providing meaningful opportunities for our students to highlight their talents and and I want to um just reassure you I first I agree with everything that you said in the transformative power of Arts education and reassure you that in Prince William County it's in our strategic plan we're we're starting our new strategic plan coming up very soon um and arts education will have a prominent role uh in in that plan so we have no um issue with continuing to invest in arts education because we see it as core to the opportunities that we provide to our students so thank you so much for your incredible

023work in fostering um artistic expression and creativity in our students you are to be commended and then um for Daryl price wow that is so impressive um as a graduate of of kogan Senior High School we're just incredibly proud of the work that he's doing doing and to hear that he's continuing that work um in in postsecondary um is really refreshing but Daryl's work really exemplifies creativity technical Mastery and artistic vision and so it's a well-deserved National recognition that brings Pride to kogan and to the entire Prince William County schools Community um I want to thank you Miss uh Burns and uh Dr Healey for not only accepting this recognition on Daryl's behalf but also supporting him um in highlighting his artistic talent and pursuing the Arts after graduating from kogan so and it's a

024testament to the work that you're doing the fact that he continues to stay in touch um with with his foundation at kogan I want to congratulate each and every one of you and just say how incredibly proud we are but for our Educators I'm grateful to all of our Educators who Inspire our students every single day and bring out the absolutely best in them and help help them to show artistic EXP expression in everyday life as well as in school so congratulations to both of you thank you Dr McDade at this time I'd like to request our honores to come forward with a photo of the school board and receive a small token of our appreciation to that wasn't straight I couldn't figure out how to e for that's here con oh okay thank you

025very much everyone uh at this point we're going to move to the adoption of the consent agenda an action item uh Vice chair Blake I move that the Prince William County school board approved the public meeting consent agenda as recommended you have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams any discussion please vote vote is 8 yes unanimous motion passed okay great moving on acknowledgements and recognitions a motion M Blake I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the acknowledgements and recognitions as recommended do have a second Mr chairman M Williams a second any discussion Mr chairman M Williams um most of these are for the month ahead but the procurement month resolution is also for this month of March um just to have a little designation because usually they're for the upcoming month thank

026you please vote vote is seven yes one abstained trenic motion passed those citizens U moving on to Citizen comment now um those citizens who signed up in advance with the clerk May address the school board this evening when they're 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 gerain to the operations and policies of Prince Wayne County Schools please use proper Decor of manners while the podium or you'll be asked to step aside we ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping cheering or cheering to avoid disruption 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

027we have six citizens signed to speak when I call your names please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record um we will start with I'll call the first five just so you know the order if you want to come up you can if not just come up when it's your turn Brian Wilson Jeffrey Fuller sta Chris funderberg and DM Euro um Brian Wilson good evening board members and Dr McDade my name is Brian Joseph Wilson my address is on foul with the clerk my son is a second grader at Mary Porter and Miss Williams District but I live in Mr wilts District I'm here to speak to you tonight about a duty for empathy that I believe rests with this board this Podium and your deas represent the

028lowest level of the representative democracy there are no other elected persons between me and this board you and I as a team find ourselves squarely at the Confluence of fate and Circumstance where National politics converge to become the reality of our day today on January 21st the acting Homeland Security secretary rescinded guidelines for ice and CBP which prohibited enforcement actions in quote sensitive areas which include schools while there's been considerable debate on what actual impacts there are or lack thereof the fact remains many of your constituents in the Commonwealth's most racially and ethnically diverse County are terrified while this does not directly impact my family I am deeply empathetic toward my County mates who it does that empathy compels me to illuminate what I believe is a moral imperative for you as individuals and more

029importantly as a board to promate a distinct position and articulate your intentions with respect to this matter the pwcs immigration protection statement is only a boiler plate and it is stale in this moment of inflection it fails to tell our community what the board thinks about and more importantly what the board is willing to do about the possible impacts of this major policy change if you have made your position or positions known I cannot find either after reasonably searching thus many others might not be able to find them either during the November 19 school board meeting I watched Miss Williams and Mr Jesse contend that the board communicating a position on skills games in the community was quote not in the board's willhouse conversely Miss wall argued skill gain were a distraction to be addressed

030by the board I ask is it possible is the possibility of perceived or actual Federal immigration law enforcement in our schools within the board's wheelhouse or a distraction to families and students I respectfully request you demonstrate the most basic level of empathy by considering if your family was directly impacted by this change what would you expect to hear from the elected officials closest to you I thank you for your time and attention and my thoughts as I as you continue your challenging work challenging and vital work you have my full attention and support and I really thank you guys for what you do please consider your responsibility to communicate a clear and resounding position on this matter good evening thank you Jeffrey Fuller Jeffrey Fuller okay Reena stab hello my name is Reena stap and

031my address is on file with the clerk um I wanted to talk a little bit more tonight about regulation rights it is a necessity for the students to feel comfortable and safe in schools of course parents want their children to be open and honest with them we all want more than the one word answer to how was your day but it would be ideal situation where children and their parents can have conversations about sensitive subjects like sexuality and gender but not all households are that open and accepting um lgbtq youth who have access to spaces that affirm their sexual orientation or gender reported low rates of attempting suicide than those who did not according to the 2021 report by the Trevor Project schools were found to be affirming spaces 50% of the time and yet

032only one in three found their households to be affirming places these schools where the lgbtq youth can be treated with acceptance and can be a safe place for them can be life-saving the lgbtq youth are over represented in the young people that experience homelessness and housing instability in the United States less than 10% of American Youth identify as lgbtq yet they make up 40% of homeless minors they're also more likely to experience assault trauma depression and suicide compared to their non-lgbtq plus homeless populations most common sighted reasons for being homeless is running away from their families who reject them due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and the second most common reason is being forced out by a family despite want wanting to stay home after disclosing their orientation it is these homes that

033are not welcoming and gender affirming spaces where the children would be turned away from in fear or violence that would need the schools to be the safe place for them for these atrisk children are not always able to inform their parents and they don't need to inform the parents that a child prefers to be called a different name or use a different pronoun some items lifted in the regulation like respecting someone's name clo choice or hairstyle seems Common Sense afforded to all students and just as these are the first steps to be considered as gender affirming care that have been under attack recently this is why we need to stand firm protecting all of our children that attend schools in Prince William County thank you Chris funderberg my name is Chris funderberg and my address

034is on file and I am often accused of being engaged in hate or being a member of a hate group because I don't believe that we should allow or encourage children to change their gender the truth is I'm only here because I love my children and I have love for the children that have been harmed by gender ideology and those that will be I don't hate TR kids nor do I hate their parents I empathize with the parents who have been told that they can either affirm their child's transition or have a dead child while the stats for those with gender dysphoria aren't good as we heard several times last week and again tonight the truth of the matter is that the suicide rates between gender dysphoria depression and anxiety are essentially the same autistic

035children and those with other mental health issues are told that their problems come from having a brain that doesn't match their biological sex and that their distress will be solved if they transition that's insane I blame W path and gender ideology activist for causing the harm to children and creating this divisive issue that didn't even exist 20 years ago I blame them for introducing children to this harmful ideology and effectively recruiting them in order to break down societal norms and the nuclear family the cast review found that affirming child child gender transition does not lead to long-term better outcomes in fact the opposite is true these kids need to be treated for their underlying mental health issue not told that everything will be fine if they mutilate themselves I understand how hard it can be

036for a parent who has let their child transition to believe anything that I'm saying is true because then they would have to face the fact that they have participated in harming their children but I'm only saying it to help them and their kids the sooner you stop affirming the sooner you can get real help in the meantime biological boys do not belong in girls only spaces if a trans child does not feel comfortable using the space that aligns with their biology then they should have the option of using a general neutral location not forcing everyone else into that position you cannot put the needs of the many below the ideas of the very few thank you thank you didm Ural good evening esteemed board members I have a few rhetorical questions to ask and I

037hope that you'll find meaning to my words is it fair for one person to make another person feel uncomfortable especially in a private setting like a bathroom or a locker room would you tolerate this kind of behavior from a bullying child a parent or a teacher is it not the collective goal to raise confident successful and emotionally stable children should state laws be followed by our County or at the county level regardless of your agreement with them wouldn't you prefer spending more time resources on basic and advanced academics over social non-issues that divide and categorize our children we the taxpaying parents certainly do think so now I've got some questions for which I would like to receive answers on I will follow up with an email to you I do understand that it's not common

038practice for you to reply to parent emails but I'm hopeful that one of you will take me seriously and reply policy 7 38-5 was adopted by Prince William County during the summer of 2021 I will point out that Miss McDade took her position here in July of 2021 and she did come from Chicago Public Schools I asking regarding this policy what guidance did you receive and rely on to shape this policy what medical journals what psychiatrists what mental health professionals were consulted when concluding that this policy Was A New Path forward here in our schools what evidence did you find that this policy helped the transgender student and did not harm the cisgender student Miss McDade and others what Authority do you have to make promises to lgbtq plus groups of parents and students while

039completely ignoring the civil liberties of all unlabeled groups sounds like diversity equity and exclusion to me uh Miss McDade what Authority do you have to risk $50 million in federal funding for non-compliance to our federal and state laws and I asked that question to all of you what Authority do you have to take that money away from our children it doesn't look like it's pouring out of the walls you can see that the students are um overcrowded in the schools and teachers are up to here with it I asked these questions because after listening to The Advocates for 7:38 during the last meeting it came clear to me that this is not about facility use but more so a mental health crisis one Prince William County resident quoted statistics about an increase to 72% suicide

040rate it was mentioned that they need affirming spaces in order to feel like they belong whether or not this study is accurate thank you Miss URL Miss URL your time is up thank you Miss URL thank you Miss URL thank you Melissa urk hi I'm uh my name is Melissa yurk and my address is on fire good evening I appreciate this opportunity to exercise my right as a citizen and I recognize that being on the board is not your day job and you have families so thank you for being here I'm urging you to look Beyond parans ship and political theater to embrace a common sense approach to this issue of Title 9 and policy this is a matter of safety period according to Webster's new college dictionary gender is defined as the fact or

041condition of being a male or female human being especially with how it this affects or determines a person's self-image and social status Etc in application gender implies personality you can be a masculine girl or an effeminate male these kids are perfectly perfect biology is a mut just like gravity again this is a matter of safety by not clearly defining our County's position on this topic males and female sports and locker rooms you are exposing yourself to a growing number of issues for example how will you ensure children's safety in bathrooms how can you objectively determine whether someone is trans identifying boy or a boy just trying to gain access to a girl's locker room despite required parental involement involvement the course you are advocating by your willingness to not establish a definitive position is going

042to undermine any parental Trust of the school administration so then are you effectively saying we do not want parents involved I have kids in all levels of School in Prince William County the the older they get the less they want to use a school bathrooms bullying in bathrooms is not a unique issue to trans identifying children I do not know many kids who want to use school bathrooms if you want to talk about safety bathrooms are the unsafest place in any school why add another layer to that provide in writing a policy for gender neutral bathrooms for Trans students this is not a civil rights abuse as is noted they make up 0.6% of the County's roughly 990,000 students I have watched kids switch gender identities from one to another throughout a single school year

043please just focus on educating and stop acting like your hands are tied they are not the Grim case leaves the onus on the states I don't understand why the supremacy clause is not adhered to as it is constitutional you can't say biological boys participating in girl Sports is fake the UN has a lot to say about that and at no point during the speech am I saying a transgender identifying student has less value that concludes citizen comment time for this evening up next is student representative time we have Miss Allah Rashid senior at Unity re High School Miss Rashid floor is yours thank you Dr Latif good evening to the Prince County Schoolboard community in Dr McDade I'm happy to be back on the day as representing my peers again to start off my remarks

044I want to just say happy women's History Month with the goal of women's History Month being to highlight the amazing achievements of women countywide or Nation globally I mean and I'm excited to see how all this the schools achieve all the schools highlight these achievements sorry an example of this is how Unity read is hosting a showcase honoring women in his women in history towards the end of the month with other schools following student hosting similar things each student involved puts so much effort into these events and I hope you all get a chance to participate and see what takes place throughout the month on Monday student senators countywide were able to visit Capitol Hill for National social emotional Lear learning week or better known as seal week with the castle organization this amazing opportunity

045was brought to us by Miss wines Miss Thomas Dr Schaefer and Miss Viola ASI they worked really hard to allow us to advocate for ourselves and for the event to happen it was an amazing opportunity and each senator who went agrees and they definitely deserves some kudos for this at the event we each advocated by meeting with both House and Senate members by sharing stories related toal and the impact of it in our lives both at school and at home home social social emotional learning impacts students beneficially because of how it teaches us key skills needed for the future such as self-awareness self self-management and relationship skills students do not see it as something that negatively impacts Us in any way as it teaches us ways to better ourselves in the role we hold in

046the community it should not be seen as something that bars students as it creates an inclusive environment where we are able to grow effectively part of these meetings included included helping to Define what social emotional learning is and to try and clarify any Mis miscommunication that may occur my story had been regarding the idea of social awareness and relationship skills currently at my school I host mentoring opportunities for Esau students at my school where we discuss future aspiration current schoolwork and practice English or for me my Spanish this allowed me to grow my role in the community as I had been able to develop how I work with others in different settings other students and I hope prum County Schools will continue to support social emotional learning so students are able to continue participating in

047Opportunities such as this furthermore middle school students who are members of their school's student voice committees attended the first ever student leadership Workshop hosted by the County student Senate their bout rooms range from practicing peaceful disagreements to creating action plans these students were able to practice their leadership and advocacy advocacy skills as they are working to better their school environment opportunities like this are so beneficial to students countywide as they give an emphasis on student voice and Leadership even though it had been designated towards middle schoolers the high school Senators had been able to lead the event themselves adding on to this emphasis of countywi leadership this week is also a foreign language week which is meant to highlight the diversity present within our County FR county is the most diverse county in the state

048and this week highlights that and the inclusivity inclusivity we hold it encourages students to recognize the cultural diversity present within the county and also to be appreciative of it food and nutrition employee recogn recognition week is also upcoming is also coming up to recognize the dedicated staff who work to provide for students countywide recently employees from the food and nutrition services came to the student Senate as well as many high school high schools and middle schools to elicit student feedback about meal options the student senators and I appreciate their emphasis on student voice and all they work all the work they do on us for a daily basis we welcome other departments who want to incorporate more student voice in their decisions to reach out to Miss Viola ASI to schedule meetings with the student

049Senate we'd love to be more involved in decisions that impact Our Lives as students that'll be all for my remarks this evening thank you so much and I hope everyone has an amazing evening also Ramadan muar to everyone who celebrates thank you thank you Miss rashan uh next up committee updates Miss wall You' like to provide updates on internal audit and the joint um Governor's board thank you Dr Latif the internal audit committee last met on Friday Friday sorry not Friday February 19th um at 400 p.m. at our previous for our previous meeting um Dr Latif Mr Jesse and Mr Blake were intendant as was I and we received a status update on audit activities which included um audit and engagement reports completed since our last meeting we discussed activities in progress and we also

050had a brief discussion on future meeting dates for 2025 um and briefly reviewed that audit activities are governed by the 2025 internal audit plan so one aspect um of internal audit is we conduct School audits to assess design and effectiveness of controls over things like cash receipts um Community use of facilities fundraising activities booster clubs ticket sales time and leave things like that um internal audit is moving forward with developing our Enterprise risk management aspects of the audit function and we expect more information on that coming up at our next at our next meeting um which will be I believe in May audit software was purchased um also to assist in modernizing audit process processes and improving the ability of the Auditors to complete their core functions so I want to thank the division for

051approving that software it's a big plus for the team um and lastly an annual audit report highlighting internal audits activities for 2024 will be coming out later this month so that's about it for internal audit I'm going to move to Governor School joint board meeting um The Joint board meeting for governor School met on Thursday February 20th at 7 o'cl over zoom and Dr Latif and I were both in attendance as were other board members representing Manasses City and Manasses Park and we heard at this meeting four summary presentations from students on their science projects and it was really interesting to hear what they've they're working on and to get a taste of the level or the caliber of research that those students are performing and we also discussed the current student population and projected

052enrollment for the coming year um we discussed upcoming dates for the next school year and reviewed the admission process time timeline so um one interest one interesting item of note is that the decisions for the next school year will go out on March 27th and the deadline for students to respond to admission for the program is April 6 so that's right on it we're coming right up it's very exciting for students it's an exciting time um and congratulations to all the students who had the courage to apply and and and hopefully everybody will get in that wants to get in um we have the upcoming events I want to highlight a couple for the board one is there's a research research Symposium on May 2nd at the GMU scitec Freedom Center and everybody's invited to

053that I've heard it's amazing I haven't never been so I'm excited to go this year um and this will be the 14th graduating class for our Governor's School and that ceremony will be held on May 17th at 10 a.m. and that will be at Colgan high school because the location is rotated among the three divisions and it's our turn this year so we get to be the hosts um of course everybody is invited and encouraged to attend that all board members are invited um the next meeting for the governor School joint board will be April 10th at 7 o at 7:00 p.m. also on Zoom that concludes my update thank you Miss wall up next superintendent's Time Dr MCD thank you Mr chairman pwcs provides multiple opportunities for students to participate in performance and production

054with the fine and Performing Arts and March is Arts Education Month which encompasses music in our schools theater in our schools and youth art month Arts Education Month highlights the value of Arts such as dance media Music Theater writing and visual arts in a students well-rounded education and we saw some clear examples of that during thriving Futures focus our schools recognize the educational value of the Arts to teach record to teach abstract thinking Innovative practices and understanding empathetic reasoning our teachers work to nurture the unique talents of our students encourage creative exploration and develop comprehensive skill sets transferable across the curriculum the Strategic plan sets a goal of increasing student participation in the Arts by 5% through access to Opportunities like auditions concerts and exhibitions we want all fine and Performing Arts students to participate

055in at least three Extended Learning experiences per year our pwcs website now shares a calendar for all of our Theater Arts events that are taking place throughout the school year so please visit pwcs.edu and select academic programs then Visual and Performing Arts to find the Theater Arts events page and there you'll see all of the performances and Arts events I invite all pwcs community members to attend at least one of our many school events so that you can witness the depth and breadth of talent right here in our classrooms in Prince William County schools March is also women's History Month with International women's day recognized on Saturday March 8 this historic day was founded in 1911 by the International Conference of women and was established to reflect appreciate and celebrate the contributions of women throughout

056history the theme for this year's International women's day is accelerate action it emphasizes the critical importance of ensuring that every woman and girl has equal rights and opportunities the theme highlights the need for Collective action to achieve gender equality showcasing that the empowerment of women and girls is essential for sustainable development economic growth and Global Peace and security the theme underscores the pivotal role of empowering women to catalyze Rapid advancements in our Global Arenas as the United Nations declares gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is not just a goal in itself but a key to sustainable development economic growth and peace and security be sure to be on the lookout for features from the school division and our schools throughout the month of March as our Schools staff members and students recognize

057the barrier breaking achievement of women in history this month speaking of breaking barriers we want to highlight and celebrate National School Social Work Week the first full week in March is an opportunity for our community to acknowledge the challenging work of our school social workers and to thank them for their heartfelt compassion in changing lives every single day with the history steeped in improving attendance and making connections between home and school the National Association of School of Social Workers designate this week to recognize and celebrate the women and men who help students with mental health Social Challenges and provide family supports and resources often they are unsung heroes to our students in crisis and I want to thank each and every school social worker in Prince William County schools for their transformative work with our

058students and the countless contributions that they made to our communities every single day at this time we're going to move into uh the presentation for tonight each year we do a uh highlight on academic achievement through our quarter updates we do the full state of schools um with the school board um in October and then we do our quarter updates throughout the year so we're at the end of the semester and so now we'll be presenting Quarter Two which is the end of the semester update um before we start uh I do want to thank and acknowledge the board for um analyzing data over the course of the last month and engaging with us um as we briefed you on the performance of students and how they're doing quarterly this was something that the board

059specifically asked for regular updates on and and we've been doing that for the past three years now which has been really beneficial it's also been really helpful um as board members has G have given us feedback um and so you'll see Incorporated in the presentation that we're sharing with the public today uh some of the feedback that we've gotten from our board so I really just want to thank you for your engagement and your commitment to continued academic achievement in Prince William County schools at this time I want to introduce our director of research assessment and data services Dr Tim Neil he's going to present data from the first semester he'll also be joined by Dr Stephanie svan who's our associate superintendent of teaching and learning and so in addition to uh sharing the data

060that you'll see here we also will be sharing some of our next steps and how we're going to tackle areas that um require additional growth and attention there's a couple of key takeaways before we begin that I do want to call out I want to highlight that first you will notice that um chronic absenteeism is lower than last year at this same time and the second thing is that we're seeing substantial Improvement being made in students reading at or above grade level which is a testament to all of the hard work that our classroom teachers are doing every day as they continue to implement the science of reading through the Virginia literacy act and so we're seeing some really positive moment with that work we still have areas of growth um and necessary support particularly

061in the area of math so we'll be bringing that forward but are also um sharing exactly what uh some of the things that we'll be doing for the remainder of the school year to mitigate um any risks in areas where we're not seeing um appropriate growth and so what you'll see in terms of the results that we have gotten specifically when it when we talk about vaa is there's been a lot of strategic communication around the science of reading in in the Virginia literacy Act and the work that we're doing relationship building datadriven initiatives as well as powerful work that are amazing um teachers staff and administration and so I really want to celebrate because that was a a really heavy lift in a in a quick period of time but our our our Educators

062every day are really making a difference and an impact and I think you'll see that in the presentation tonight throughout the presentation I want to just keep top of mind that many of the goals that's driving the work is in our strategic plan and we are committed to our continuous Improvement plans both at the school level as well as um at the central office and Department level as well so at this time I'm going to turn the floor over to Dr Neil and he will have support from Dr Sullivan thank you uh good evening Dr L schoolb MERS and Dr McDade it's a pleasure to be here tonight to present to you the quarter two uh overview so I'm going to cover uh information from the second quarter that is is focused on the commitments

063we made during the Strategic plan presentation in October I'll be touching on our active enrollment information attendance and chronic absenteeism uh academic performance uh specifically related to our Virginia growth assessment uh literacy and our course performance I'll also look at uh progress towards graduation and then uh conclude my portion with looking at our Focus student support dashboard in a little bit more detail so this table shows our our active enrollment for quarter 1 and quarter quar two you can see uh in terms of total students we are hovering a little over 91,000 students uh active at the end of the second quarter so it's a a touch more than where we started in quarter one uh the fluctuation we do see among student groups is fairly typical uh in terms of looking at our academic

064growth and achievement some of our big takeaways uh we do see a drop in our chronic absenteeism compared to the same time last year uh our vertical scaled scores for mathematics um are generally improved over what we saw last winter and uh in terms of reading uh the percent of students on or above grade level uh with our hmh are significantly improved over the prior year so this line plot shows our average daily attendance from August to January 17th or January 10th uh which is the um first quarter and you can see we're hovering around uh 94 95% % average daily attendance with the characteristic dips near the holidays uh you do see one larger dip there on January 10th and that was the 2-hour delay uh when we look at Chronic absenteeism just as

065a reminder this is defined is missing 10% or more of the uh student membership day so if you're enrolled for 180 days that would be 18 days uh it does include at the present time both excused and unexcused absences and it is a component in our accountability system uh the bar chart that you're looking at shows us The Chronic absenteeism rate from August to septe to January and so in 23 24 we are a little over 177% uh for the current year for that same time span we're a little over 15% so 2% reduction and you can see that same pattern persists when you look across uh School levels uh moving on to our memic performance the Virginia growth assessment is required by Virginia code uh for students in grades 3 through eight there is

066both a math and a reading component to this um we are allowed to have an alternative uh for uh the VGA and we do have that approved for reading for the current year and uh what's important to know um is that historically we see a greater change in our vertical scaled scores uh from Winter to Spring then from fall to winter so this table shows our vertical scaled scores for the winter of 2024 the fall of 2024 which was the start of the school year and the winter of 2025 which is the most recent um assessment uh on the far right you can see two columns with arrows if it's an upward Arrow it indicates we saw improved scores uh o either over the fall or over the prior winter uh if it's a horizontal

067arrow that means we saw relatively flat change and a downward facing Arrow indicates a drop so when when we look across grade levels we generally see Improvement uh in both the fall and over both last winter uh fourth grade is relatively unchanged and 8th grade uh we did see a drop from compared to the prior year so the Virginia language and literacy screening system is the has replaced Pals it is a more robust assessment uh that assesses both code-based and language skills and looks at progress over time students are placed into uh risk bands High moderate and low and if you are assessed to be in the high risk band uh individual plans are created to support you so when we look at this uh stack bar chart you can see um specifically looking at

068kindergarten first and second grade the blue bars are the lowrisk bands and we see substantial increases in the percent of students that have been assessed in that lowrisk band meaning we have fewer students in the high risk ban across those three grade levels third grade requires a little bit more of an explanation at the beginning of the year all students in third grade are assessed uh with vs so you can see um at the start of the Year 42% of them were in the lowrisk band uh compared to 25% of them that were in the high-risk band at the middle of the year the only students that are assessed are in the high-risk band so the bar chart uh for third grade at the middle of year is reflects only those students who were in

069the highrisk B band at the beginning of the year so of the 25% that were in that high-risk band you can see um almost half of them are now either at moderate risk or in the lowrisk bands so our hmage growth assessment is administered in grades 2 through eight three times a year it is an Adaptive test so it does respond uh create questions based on student responses and it provides a growth measure um for both language and comprehension so this bar chart shows uh the beginning of the year which is in blue and the gold which is middle of year assessment um when we look at beginning of year compared to middle of year we see substantial increase in the percentage of our students who are reading on or above grade level the gray

070bars are a comparison for the prior year and so you can see uh in general we're outperforming where we were last year at the middle of the year as well so the next three slides are uh stack bar charts that show the distribution of hmh reading categories so hmh does place a student into one of five categories uh below or far below approaching and at or above grade level and so here you can see the dark blue bars of percent of students who are at or above grade level and across all grade levels we do see an increase from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year we see the same pattern when we look at our English Learners a higher percent are on or above grade level at middle of year

071compared to beginning of year and we also see that same pattern for our students with disabilities so this is a a information that we shared in first quarter but we're sharing it a little bit differently now and it shows the percent of students who are passing all of their courses which is the dark blue uh failing only one course which is the light gray or the gold which is failing two or more courses uh the caveat here is the elementary level this is only grades 3 through five and for those students D's and D pluses were included in the failing category because we have very small number that receive Fs in at the elementary level and the distribution we see here is fairly typical what we've seen in Prior years uh when we look at

072progress towards graduation this is something that is being tracked in monitoring using a dashboard throughout the year it includes key indicators such as uh course credit areas um earning verified credits as defined by diploma type and so forth uh for the purpose of this presentation we have uh defined the key indicators as core academic areas and the core verified credits associated with them so this bar chart uh shows two things the gold bars are course credits and the dark blue bars are verified credits uh verified credit means you've passed a test associated with uh that course so you can see we we have some increase um in both course credits and verified credits the horizontal bars on each one of the bars shows where we were in the first quarter so it's been a very

073small movement up uh what is important to note here is that this will change more rapidly in the spring as uh testing ramps up and more students earn those verified credits so in the first quarter update I shared with you the focus student support dashboard which uh provides realtime data on critical risk factors it was something that you asked for more information about so we fleshed it out a little bit more here to show how the data that I've shared with you now uh is being utilized at the school level to help inform um classroom interventions so this is a screenshot um from the focus student support dashboard uh it is a a single high school and it's it's uh it's pretty colorful but what I want you to focus on uh are the IND

074idual um dut charts and the uh coolness or hotness of the colors so in the upper left you can see a dut chart that shows um risk factors associated with grades uh just below that you can see risk factors associated with absences um and then total risk factors in the upper right what this dashboard allows our school staff to do is look at these risk factors um and use them as filters to drill down to the student level identify students that might be um in need of additional support and design interventions based on on those specific needs so just beneath this uh graphic you can see there is a a table that is student information it has been deidentified but each one of those lines represent an individual student that then uh the teacher or

075school counselor can look into that find what that specific student's needs are and they can design specific support plans and at this time I'm going to turn it over to Dr Sullivan to talk about some of the support measures we're taking thank you Dr Neo we are employing multiple strategies to ensure that our students and teachers have the best resources and support to maximize student achievement this year every K through 8 school has launched the all-in tutoring program these programs are designed to provide eligible students with high dosage tutoring opportunities before during and after school in both virtual or in-person formats the focus of this tutoring program is on building skills in reading and math so that students are able to successfully navigate the content in class over 10,000 students are currently participating in these

076programs our high school students continue to have access to supportive digital curriculum for credit recovery credit support and credit acral teachers May assign assigned specific units of instruction or students May enroll in a full course currently over 2,300 students are participating in one of these options we spoke about Varsity Tutors at our last update this provides students with an on demand support 247 through a variety of program options this is available to all K12 students and currently over 2500 of our students have used this resource one of the most popular features is the essay support option students can upload their essays and receive Live support in improving their work we know that timely feedback is critical to student growth and through this resource students have another option for instant support this year we also made

077available to our students the resources in Con Academy in the platform students can receive support for a wide range of classes to include AP courses and students can utilize the SAT preparation tools built into the system Con Academy is the official partner to college board and the preparation tools are adaptive based on the individual strengths and weaknesses of the student at the division level one of the newest ways we support teachers and schools is through our collaborative supports for instruction known as CSI every week week all the Departments and our level Associates meet to review current School data and identify appropriate support to assist School leaders and staff in targeting High need areas for example our instructional coaching team may be given additional Focus areas for the upcoming weeks based on prevailing student data this

078weekly review allows for timely adjustments for coaching professional learning and resource needs we also continue to employ the strategies identified in our wested review for our L students new this year is access to Lexia English which is a research-based tool to support English language acquisition for our level one and two students families can utilize it at home to strengthen practice in English we're also excited about the deployment of new instructional assistance to support English language development this has allowed us more support in classrooms that were're serving students in a variety of different languages with very limited skills in English to better assist new teachers serving students with disabilities the sped team launched a series of training this year focused on novice teachers and co- teers these sessions filled quickly with a great response from our

079teachers they commented about the timely and relevant support from the session sessions also want to Spotlight one more thing the collaborative monitoring of students with disabilities each central office team is responsible for monitoring student progress by name and by need this allows them to go into the schools meet with principles and review individual student progress these strategies um have been a great success in making sure that all parties are looking at the individual needs of students as we move on with this school year I want to remind all parents and students to not hesitate to contact their teacher their school their support staff if they have any questions about any of the available resources thank you very much questions Miss Williams thank you I appreciate the presentation and I can uh I really appreciate the

080full circle scope that where um lens that we're using to help students cross that finish line of graduation and and I don't have a question that needs to be answered now um but one of the things that I was thinking about when looking at all the resources that are available that I don't see listed I think is an often um forgotten tool and something that we could strengthen not only um our use of in schools but also for our student families is our um academic career plan um because I feel like at least in my household it's a goal right of what we want to do after and all the things that we need to do to get there so and we spent a lot of time and effort it's absolutely fantastic I think the

081think the superintendent and I and I the reason why I bring it up is because it also kind of folds into having guidance counselors and more family engagement because it's a tool not only used by students but the families right and then it could be reinforced um for our students maybe if they're having a hard time in chemistry and they want to like not do it anymore it's sort of a motivation so I I just think it's one of the things that we don't talk about a lot but really fits nicely into um having students achieve their goals so in our next presentation or sometime in the future if we could add that I think it'll also give more visibility because I've been speaking to quite a few parents are like I don't know what

082that is and even myself I got it confused with the difference between a a profile of a graduate versus the plan that ends up in your student view and your parent view account to sort of track where your student is in progress so I think that this is wonderful um I know that we'll you know we're all human so the scales will go up and down I thank you for um bringing attention to detail where we have those absentee days because just looking on a calendar like what is that so I appreciate that and the new format so thank you for your hard work and um I still think we're on a good path appreciate it thank you Miss wall thank you this is a great update I really appreciate it and I asked a

083bunch of questions already but I wanted to um ask one and then make some general comments or maybe I should make my general comments and ask the question I just wanted to say I'm impressed with the commitment to academic achievement and I know the most important thing that we do is focus on the academics of the students and I really appreciate these updates just helps me know how we're doing um I'm excited about all the efforts with literacy um and it looks like it is starting to yield results so I just wanted to point that out I'm also excited about how the data how we are able to use the data at the central level to then go into the schools and actually help the Educators who are working with the students and I think

084that's a really important connection um and I think if we stay at it it should start to really yield some really great results for students in their own individual learning paths um and I thank you for going through the supports the all in tutoring The Varsity Tutors Con Academy Lexia language acquisition that was one of the concerns I remember voicing it to Dr McDade early on you know how can we get better at helping children learn English as quickly and as efficiently and as effectively as possible because as soon as they can do that they can be their own learn their own teacher they can learn at the pace of everybody else so I really do appreciate that including the highlighting of instructional assistance to support elel and the wested you know recommendations which I'm

085assuming we're moving forward on implementing um I just wanted to highlight all those things I really do appreciate it um my question was just on the slide with the third graders um and why we I wondered if you could go a little bit more into why we only retest the high-risk band and not the high- risk and the moderate risk band I I would think like from that would be good data to have on those kids who are moderate risk because to me if I if I were a parent and I had a child who in third grade you're like your child's at moderate risk you know I'd kind of want to know like are we making progress towards the end of the year and and I don't know if that's just a decision that's

086Guided by policy or if we just I if you could explain that no absolutely that's actually the um expectations of the vdoe okay and so they set the parameters this is the first year of implementation and they set the parameters of who's to test and when to test um but we have already given some feedback around that distinction in third grade and I know that they've been actively receiving feedback as vals has rolled out throughout the year okay that's good because maybe it is good to test the moderately at risk to um okay super um I would hope going forward maybe they would you know recommend that is it possible for us to do it anyway even if it's not recommended for this year it wasn't um but I think there will be more flexibility

087in the future and I do want to add for the board's benefit that uh vs 4 through eight rolls out next year so again these are still initial years of implementation with a lot of test data and so I think it was really important to keep to the construct on how they're evaluating it's done through the University of Virginia and um but we are going to be able to extend then beyond that next year thank you that's a really great piece of information to have I appreciate it anyway thank you I appreciate the update no more questions Mr TR no no um okay I asked my great um Dr Solomon you you mentioned the Lexia language acquisition tonight you said that um there's opportunities to do stuff from home with that are we using those

088opportunities to do things from home uh yes our our data usage on Lexia English is pretty strong and students are accessing it at home as well I definitely think we I I mentioned it today with intention to uh begin reminding parents that this is something that they can use at home with their child to continue that practice of language acquisition in the home is it optional or do we recommend and tell the parents you should work on this with them at home it is an optional resource that um outside of the school that we want to encourage our students to continue to use at home um but we can Elevate our encouragement to the next level so I mean are there do they do they say um like is there homework assigned no it it

089is an additional resource for students to practice English language outside of their ELD block um and many teachers are providing some additional sessions and assignments um but right now it is an optional tool for the home piece of it they are are using it in school as part of the required ELD curriculum okay um great and then on slide 20 for the focus student support Dynamic dashboard um it is uh this is really cool this is great um we're looking at risk factors but reassure me how in what you look at so these look like we're looking at Dynamic dashboard Dynamic factors for high-risk students what are we doing for the BC students who were trying to make ABC students what are we doing for the CD students who we're trying to make BC students

090who's monitoring that effort and are are we monitoring that with dashboards or is that included here so I can say um definitively that the dashboard is is intended to Target those who are most at risk in terms of determining how our school counselors and School staff are are using this and and other um risk banss for lack of a better word I would actually have to go and uh talk to our director counseling about that that that'd be great next time maybe if you can just give us some feedback on what do we what are the efforts for those children because we want we you know we'd love to know that too you know I I know we're making some efforts in that regard but I'd love to know the specifics on that yeah okay

091any other questions Mr wil uh not questions I did ask mine earlier and thank you for the earlier presentation I do want to just commend and re recognize Again The Varsity tutoring program um I wish more students used it I mean it's a great program we pay a good chunk of money for it um and and I'm thinking you know I know like when we have our um uh title uh one family nights and programs like that at our schools that we promote it it's almost like when we not even don't really want to get into this but like when we teach the code of behavior for the first week of school it would be nice in almost every classroom if it was just brought up to our students to emphasize the this what you

092get from it because I mean the students that I know who use it for like their homework the essays first of all it eliminates the need for them to feel like they have to go on chat gbt and have their essays written for them so having those opportunities to work with a live person on the other side of it a qualified tutor the test prep is good um I don't know about you Dr Latif but I find a lot of students go to college and don't really know how to study yet for test um you know and I think a lot of that's ingrained at home and the parents work on that with their kids but I also sometimes I realize that may not happen um and so some of these like vital almost soft

093skills it's like we have to reemphasize and focus more on um to really keep our kids engaged all of them as Dr Latif is saying not just you know the ones accelerating or the ones that we really focus on the the lower end but that middle end group as well and identifying them and ensuring that people are aware of the resources the parents the students and I do want to put a plugin for our upcoming summer school programs uh those are phenomenal um um and uh you know not only the ability in you know middle and high school to do academic recovery and uh support but we do have those new discovery engagement programs and so as a parent I'm excited about that because I was just looking today uh looking at programs at the

094County uh government not that those aren't bad with like the County Parks and stuff but I'm happy we have them and those are going to be right away I think it opens on March 10th okay that's a good one so for families you know out there to enroll your students um you know obviously there's a cost but and there's other options for families who free to reduce lunch for like scholarships but I think that's another great opportunity to promote the academics and the stem or steam or other areas of focus so kids can gain an interest on them and are not just sitting home all summer on like their iPads or something like that so anyways that's my two cents thank you Mr wil just on the what I I'm really excited about in the

095presentation though I I really appreciate is the VAR City tutors available to all students 24/7 yes you know that is that's the thing that's going to help our students you know move from BC to AB you know and CD to BC uh th um long before Varsity Tutors and long before the pandemic you know Varsity Tutors was a company that was just available for folks who wanted to do it online at home nothing to do with the pandemic was a private company and uh and and we my family we used them extensively um and they are fantastic um they are really um you know I credit them a lot with help helping my children you know um have good grades Stay Stay you know up toate and uh and what I would encourage every student

096in the division every parent in the division is to you know try Varsity Tutors at home um they are fantastic they are um it's a service that the school division is paying for we want you to use this we're we're not we're not paying for this and spending taxpayer dollars so that it just sits unused we really want you to use it I mean Varsity Tutors Con Academy depending on your type of learning and how you like to learn you know each of them are a little different uh we have other tutoring things that I know the School Division you know different schools are trying different things we have you know um a lot of variability and and a lot of uh you know different things rolled out by different schools but I I would

097really you know I I think one of the ways to move the needle on our performance is really pushing all the students especially that middle of the pack students too to take advantage of these opportunities many times they may be told oh you're doing okay like a b or c is okay it's you know it it could be better it should be better I I think and and and there's so many options here that we're giving them that we are paying for that I I hope our students and families truly take advantage of and I'm glad you highlighted this and Dr McDade thank you for this presentation this is this is really critical stuff um and and I can't tell you how useful these resources are and and just please I'm begging the parents I'm

098begging the students I'm begging the teachers encourage your children to go out and use these resources they are there they're for you every kid has a laptop this is not rocket science you can get on and do this and they can help you with any aspect of whatever course you're working on and what you're trying to do and study and uh help you with reviewing help you preparing for the future classes please you know and I'm not getting paid by any of these tutoring companies let me be clear on that uh um but I am a big fan of them I know they work and they've worked for my kids and and I want them to work for your kids and I know they can and and I truly hope um you know we're investing

099a lot of money in this so so thank you I think Mr Blake did you have something to add I was just going to say thank you as well for this presentation um and I was really just and thanks for the all of the support measures that are offered to our students you know it's just great to be able to pick up the students that are falling behind or or that slip through the cracks so and I know especially with the um additional support for the L students and the and the uh students with disabilities that's very important so I appreciate it thank you Mr chairman uh for the for the T tutoring vars econ Etc we can we'll do we'll work with our Communications team to get um just some more pushes on it

100and and push out information and just kind of get a regular drum beat of marketing it to our families truly appreciate it I think that's a great idea Mr Jesse yeah I think we're doing a lot of good things here some some things concern me because when I look at it for example on the course performance where uh our high school students all 16% are failing two courses but again with all the things that you're doing I'm hoping that we can get those people up uh and I hope the correlation of all that we do correlates well with the S so at the end of the year so I'm looking for forward to seeing some improvement in the S sols and hopefully uh it it does what it's supposed to do because I think we're

101doing a lot of good things uh but sometime we do good things and it doesn't correlate with the actual test but we'll see thank you thank you um I think M Williams did you have your hand up again M I just wanted to piggyback on the idea um that chairman Latif was saying and in addition to marketing I think some Sometimes some our parents the amount of messages that we push out make them less and like likely to read whatever communication sends out I don't know the answer to this and obviously you don't need to know now but maybe something simple as a on line on our report card most of our our families look at report cards if they don't catch the text messages and and everything else so if it was something simple

102that says tutoring is whatever that's not my strong point but that might be a better idea I think Mr um wil also said something about the beginning of the year when we have the high point point of when our parents are most engaged so that's all I wanted to add thanks okay that's it you know last on the tutoring it helps your a students also stay at the A's right so so I you know I highly encourage everyone to use it I don't think there's anyone who won't benefit from it so anyways thank you all very much thank you Dr McDade anything else to add no that concludes the superintendent's report for this evening all right moving on to what are we moving on to uh what is on my thing here no we have

103revisions we are now moving on to board matters but F oh yeah first off we have several revisions of policies for first reading tonight and they're able to read in their entirety in board docs under agenda item 1801 and 18 through 1803 if the board has any questions regarding the revisions deletions division Council Wade Anderson's available to answer them now um so take a look 1801 that's 116 vacancies on Schoolboard uh 132 regular special Clos meetings and 139 School Board member participation in meetings by electronic communication we're updating a lot of these policies take a look at them over the next two weeks if the community has any concerns they also can weigh in please email school board on any of these concerns anyone have any questions on these right now anyone anyone Mr uh

104Mr wa Mr Anderson sure yes I was Mr chairman I was just going to mention that uh for these three policies primarily the changes are due to St statutory changes um that have needed to be updated including in 132 um changes to uh state code regarding electronic meetings um and in 139 changes to the um ways in which a board member might participate uh remotely and so that's primarily the changes in these they to update and be in alignment with the changes to state code Miss wall um and Mr raid I have one question on 116 but I think I'll just talk to you about it offline yeah I it was just a matter of the wording you're my editor she editor and chief editor and chief board editor and chief yeah it was just

105like because of the way it was written I was feeling like it was ambiguous the understanding wasn't was clear but anyway we'll talk off blame it's probably me but anyway I will take I'll it's just a wording issue an interpretation based on the wording so I'll talk to you later about it um Miss uh trenic wait you said that 132 and 139 was because of code does that also apply to 116 yes ma'am thank you anything else okay that takes us on to board matters uh we will start with uh Miss araport thank you Dr Latif um you heard this evening that it is music in our school's month um art in our schools month mus youth art month I wanted to highlight some things um that the Arts give our students um this is

106not an exhaustive list just a list but creativity critical thinking cultural awareness communication confidence self-esteem social emotional skills resilience they have decision-making skills fine motor skills logic and reasoning social skills develop student voice problem solving and innovation and our teachers especially in elementary give our kids a basic um experience in as many things as they can and then they get to go into middle school and develop these a little further when we get to you know the the things like tonight where we're honoring students who have taken that interest and really honed in on it and become one of 50 students out of 80,000 on an AP uh exam it that really speaks to the um the level that some kids will go with these things um I myself a I'm a music teacher and

107I I see what my students get through these things and even when you don't necessarily go into our classes thinking that you're going to be a performing musician or an artist um I want kids to have an appreciation for those things um specifically music can you rock your baby to sleep can you dance at your wedding um can you re recite a poem lyrically that kind of thing so it goes with you for a lifetime um I'm going to keep it short tonight um I just uh had an opportunity to hear all count Chorus at colan a couple weeks ago and it was just uh one of my favorite events getting to hear all of these elementary kids from across the county uh great job to the to the students and the parents for making

108sure their kids got to rehearsals and to the teachers for preparing thank you very much have a great week Miss Williams thank you Mr chairman um I just want to uh start off by uh acknowledging that freedom height there's been a lot of concern and questioning the community about how uh Mr Lee will be recognized Freedom High School is in the process of meeting with students and then it will go out to the community U and we'll have later updates they're they're trying to narrow down what the students feel is the best way but in addition to that there will be a celebration of life uh for Mr Lee on um March 7th at Freedom High School the doors open at 4 but the program is from 5: to 6:00 p.m. um Mr Lee was

109just a pillar of the community not just necessarily Freedom so I I believe this is open to the public and I did hear the cry from several current Freedom teachers and administrators that they would love to see their former alumni and families in attendance to celebrate him um in addition to that I haven't been listening to many things that I attend I'm try to keep that in the Schoolboard monthly newsletter uh but I did attend the black history month program at fredlin um from there woodbr Senior High School's black student uh Union was in attendance which was amazing to me as a former member of that group I was able to then receive an invitation to attend woodbridge's Senior High School's um black mental health uh event I'm sorry I know there's a little bit

110of nuance to the title but it was really interesting just to see from a former students perspective as I'm a graduate of w Senior High School how these programs are still um active in our schools but how they've evolved to meet the needs of the students today and how they provide leadership activities and um advocacy activities for our students so it's really refreshing to see that that was the first mental health panel that they have put on um I know robotics is coming to a close there'll be some state champion competitions I encourage schools if they have the capacity to keep robotics going until the end of the year the new platform comes out at Worlds in May um so some schools I know are going to continue to practice and Robotics again provides a

111lot of the soft skills that our students need to thrive in life after school uh this month is women's history month and uh as well as Arts and Music Awareness Month uh we celebrate these things because they acknowledge a part of who individuals are and a few of my favorite women history are Phyllis Wheatley Ida B Wells and Henry a uh LAX so if you don't know who those are you can go ahead and look them up I also want to give a nod to the family engagement series for March there are quite a few everything from online exploitation and what to be aware of to gifted College financial aid um and so forth and then uh the board will have a work session on 3:12 I think it's important for our public to be

112reminded of that and then it's so time so Funtime year in many family households I highly encourage you to seek out additional assistance practice with your student at home and uh get prepared for SOS and then in honor of uh March History Month just for my two seconds I would like to thank my mom because she is a historic Trailblazer for me Jen Wall all right um first I'd like to start by briefly speaking about our meeting last week um it's important to me that we maintain a professional courteous demeanor while doing the Public's business occurrences last week brought unnecessary unwanted attention to our division and our lack of decorum was unfortunate and I do not think it represented us well so I do hope that we can moving forward commit to showing greater respect

113for each member of the board um and assure the public that we're here to focus on educating the children Prince William County and keeping their education at the Forefront of all that we do and say I also um want to say yay for the calendar for all the Arts events I'm so excited about this this is going to make my life a lot easier I love the Arts and I I love to support the Arts and so having it all in one place I think would be really great so whoever is responsible for that thank you so um congratul I want to give some shout outs um congratulations to the battlefield girls gymnastics team they came in as the runnerup at class six state championships they were so close they did such a great job

114um uh so congratulations lady Bobcats I'm sorry it wasn't first um congrats to Lucy Arnold of Battlefield high school she was the state runner up in the 100 1,000 meter run and Tren Daniels from Gainesville is the state indoor track champ for the 1600 and the 3200 so congrats to those kids um Battlefield played lley and State Hockey Championships in a really close game it was three to2 Battlefield again came up short but I still want to congratulate the team sometimes it's just hard to be number two but you know to get to that level compete at that level that is worth it and worth mentioning um and congratulations to battlefields FBA on a successful run at Regional Conference they had six members placed first in their events and in all 13 members will go

115on to the state Regional Conference in April so congratulations to the FBA students um in my remaining time I'm going to highlight a few events um I've been to a bunch of things Unity Reed had a roaring Rumble drone event um it was awesome there was a robotics middle school competition at pmic middle I did that was a double hitter that day for me um I went to Gravely Elementary's literacy night and this was a really cool event it was all winter themed it was so fun um Mullen Elementary had a multicultural night big success the room smelled absolutely amazing um with all the foods that families had brought and really helped build meaningful connections between home in school so great job Mullen um wow I'm gonna I went to a pyramid concert at Reagan

116I went to a black Excellence celebration at St Clair so fun and SE perch Robotics and a mystery guest reader um I was a mystery guest reader at Gravely Elementary and I had a a lot of fun with that um one of my favorite memories is reading to my kids when they were very small children and helping them discover the the love of books I am a lover of books I regularly read two or three at a time and I'm a member of two book clubs so lifelong learning is a continuing focus of mine so I leave you with a quote about literacy this is from Jackie Onasis there are many little ways to enlarge your child's world love of books is the best of all thank you thank you Miss wall Mr Jesse Yeah

117I'd like to uh you mentioned something indoor track uh events and so forth is something again somewhere down the line I hope we can find a way to get an indoor track facility in the prince wi County uh I've been to a lot of events this month some of them really touched me uh the mental health uh event over at the Woodbridge High School really touched me uh I have a very interesting and strange upbringing and I could have used a lot of mental health when I was a kid so so it's good to see that we have that here uh the lak Ridge Middle School Jour and robotic team are just kicking all kind of uh air and doing well and so I'm looking forward to them doing well in the state finals uh

118this year uh in a couple weeks uh I also was a wrestler in high school and I don't enjoy going to the big events where you got four five uh uh maths going on at the same time but lak Ridge Middle School had uh event and it was one wrestling the event at a time and I really brought back some good memories from me so it's something that I did enjoy a lot of uh I went to uh the I remember of the his start committee and that group is there it was sort of interesting our meeting usually have about 10 or 15 people and for this this particular last meeting we had about five because people were sick with the flu and stuff so it was just sort of interesting that but it's good

119to be back uh and getting out I'm looking forward to uh the this summer and this ring and looking forward to see how well we do uh because thing and I hear the rain on top of the the building here so I hope that uh I should have brought my umbrella in thank you Mr trenck thank you um I wanted to thank um the speakers tonight who spoke um and and exercised their right to um come up and and talk to us I appreciate that um I also wanted to thank uh you all for the presentation that you gave um that we do receive in our 2 by two and we're given time to ask questions and um suggest edits to the presentation as well so I appreciate you doing that again for all of

120us for the public um I'm also thankful for the division's work on the budget as it's a big um task and for your willingness to have conversations with us and get our input and take to heart the things that we um care about and want to um point out so I really appreciate that from the division and from Dr McDade um it's a big big big week I know gen wall tried to steal some of my thunder from Gainesville High School even though that's in my district but uh it's fine it's fine um our track athletes have just done a phenomenal job at States and seeing these things pop up there there is a girl who cut down her time I don't want to even like do it not Justice by talking about the actual

121time frame because I am clearly not a runner it's not my thing but um she did take a huge chunk off her time and win a title again um a lot of kids from Gainesville as well brentville um our B basketball teams I did get to see a lot of basketball this week I went to Patriot unfortunately um the Patriot boys lost but they um put up a good game and the Gainesville girls as well as well as the brentville girls um but they had great seasons and I can't wait to see these kids play their senior years uh we also took home some wrestling titles which is a huge deal um it's a very mental one-on-one sport so to watch those kids do big things on the wrestling mat is so cool to see

122and I can't wait to see those kids all in here in a couple weeks for thriving futures um which will probably take forever that week because there's so many of them um and then I just want to highlight that I will be at the show of the season this weekend which is sule at marstellar middle school I am biased because my son is in it but um I'm very excited to see that I'm also excited to come watch everybody play in their spring Sports and performances as well as continue to visit um schools in my district so thank you and have a great week Mr wil thank you Mr chairman um just a brief note um I've tried to make sure my positions are articulated on topics ranging from federal law um and um the

123recent changes with the vhsl um I assure an earlier speaker speaker I will articulate my position on a matter within the next two weeks of something that was brought up um couple events I want to approach uh and bring up a little bit and talk about some of the good things that are happening in the district District I know I haven't run down my events in a while and done like an inventory uh but I do want to talk a little bit more about some of the ones in the last two weeks um cumington Harper um had a great kindness night um at first I was like well what is going on here but it was more of a community coming together in like a facility which was really nice I was like well there's

124no real theme or decoration but it it was nice to see uh everyone just getting along and doing different things together and eating pizza um as family I love seeing that uh Henderson had a stem night that I've traditionally gone to every year uh a great program I really love the room a lot of students uh a room where a lot of students created their own version of the game Operation um so it was really cool there's a lot of neat ones there I took some photos of some of them always attend uh usually when I make sure I'm in the area that the pic njrc um uh ball Gayla that they had uh Dr McDade was there with me as well uh very big supporter of our OTC programs especially the two in my

125schools of Forest Park and pomac High School uh Ashlin had a family reading night uh Montclair had an event titled Black History Month um Ashlin had Heritage night it was the first year in a while that I wasn't able to do my Italian Booth um but I will try to do that next year um it's just been a busy time uh I do want to thank uh a great meeting I had in collaboration this week with uh supervisor Bailey uh talking about some of the budget topics uh and the funding uh and bringing up uh bringing her um up to speed with some of the issues um within the pomac district so we had a great collaborative meeting uh we plan on also within the next couple weeks uh this month going to some PTO

126uh together uh to introduce ourselves well bring her and introduce herself to some of the families in the area um so I'm excited about that uh and our collaboration um and our partnership that she and I have of of course it's very important for the Board of Supervisors and the school board uh to work in a collaborative man manner um and engage one another and make sure we're on the same page in my opinion uh lastly uh the choir uh Forest Park had a great pyramid concert last night uh three of my elementary no four of my elementary schools two of my middle schools um and one high school we're all together uh in a great night promoting the Arts so there we go my two weeks I appreciate that thank you Mr [Music] Blake

127thank you Dr Latif uh good evening everyone I just want to talk about over the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to attend several uh Exemplar exemplary events across the schools and I want to take a moment to highlight the inevitable work and dedication of our students Educators and families um at minville elementary I had the pleasure of attending not just one but two great events they had a friendship name and the health fair where they uh gathered um canned goods and brought families together for their uh their new um food pantry there and it was a celebration of wellness and community and then last night I was able to visit their Springs steam night and it showcased the Hands-On learning Ingenuity curiosity and of our students events like these remind us of how

128vital it is to engage families in education early and often then I was able to visit Hampton Middle Middle School and where I got to watch the fairy tales Fable and things production where students explored the power of Storytelling and literacy seeing the creativity come to life was a testament to the formidable work being done in our classrooms and then like uh Miss wall said I also was able to attend the unity read um Royal Rumble robotics drone event for that was my first time seeing it it was awesome and uh it's just our students are pushing the boundaries of stem proving that Prince William County schools is fostering the next generation of Engineers problem solvers and leaders in technology their tenacity and skill were on full display and it was truly wonderful to see

129uh I also got to visit uh b elementary school where I got where I met with the the new principal Mr pinsler it's always great to see such strong leadership taking shape and I have no doubt great things are ahead for Belair and then I visited also Fitzgerald Elementary where I got to enjoy the kidis scope of sounds musical performance you would have liked that Mrs aapor made me think about you the talent and dedication and enthusiasm of our young musicians were truly brilliant reinforcing the importance of art education in shape and well-rounded students and last night I got to visit the 47 47th Annual Spelling be at Garfield High School watching our students demonstrate such dexterity with language poison intellectual strength was a powerful reminder of the importance of literacy and academic excellence and

130I want to give an extra shout out to the winner of the spelling be who helds from the neapco district and George Hampton Middle School Vincent Chu eighth grader uh this was his third time he he's been to the spell and be every year his sixth grade seventh grade and then he finally won this year his eighth grade year uh and lastly I just want to express my appreciation for being on this board we may not always concur on every issue but we approach our discussions with Civility and decorum understanding that our share goals is for the betterment of our students that is not something we should take for granted especially in light of the Discord that we see in other Governor embodies across this nation thank you thank you Mr Blake um all right

131great news so Patriot um had a great basketball season Unfortunately they lost in the quarterfinals but a great team uh great coaches over there and great program uh congratulations the Osborne Park girls basketball team for now qualifying I think they play the semi-finals in the game is this Friday and if they win this Friday they will go back to the state championship I believe um which they went to in 2022 um Tammy um not Tammy Caroline tribet I want to congratulate defending her State title in the 3200 meter run yesterday at the vhsl classics indoor track state meet with a time of 10 1946 setting a new meat record and moving her moving her to the top five in the nation in 3200 meter rankings top five in the nation car uh Gainesville High School

132student Caroline tribet who I think is a commit to Penn State so congratulations to her and then I think we have just some more because Dr Latif loves late breaking things congrats to Ava rice who just won States for the 55 meter hurdles Battlefield student and broke her own School record and ran for the third fastest time in Virginia history she also finished third in the 55 meter dash congrat congrats to Brandon Murray who won the states for 300 meter dash and Lucy Arnold she got second in the 1,000 the boys 4400 got fourth overall good job Bobcats thank you um this is the season you know for finals robotics debate speech science fairs this is an exciting time spelling bees this is one of the most wonderful times of the year um look forward

133to our students competing um at the highest levels as they continue to um make great achievements and and and really make Prince William County schools proud so very excited about that let me just reiterate a number of things um Prince William County schools and the county is the 10th most diverse County in the country and we have been committed to over the last seven years I've been on this board and even before that and and since Dr McDade has come to make sure that everyone knows we are the most welcoming place for any student regardless of you know what they are what they believe where they come from it is critical for us to continue to do that we have emphasized that in press releases we've emphasized that in our commitment to letters coming from

134the superintendent from the school board to our community and parents and I believe our parents understand that they they understand where we are on that we have a safe and secure environment our Safety and Security is among some of the best in the nation I'm very proud of that that includes protecting our children from unwanted or unnecessary um you know uh risks and so it is really important for us to continue that work I firmly believe we have done that well and I'm committed to doing that and you know our work is based on the fact that we are the most diverse um County in the country and we want to make sure that we are diverse we're Equitable and we include everyone and that's the work we've done that's the work we're committed to

135doing we continue to follow law and all aspects of the work we do and um we will continue to do that and we will continue to proceed as usual and so I want to thank everyone for their work here and I want to thank the division for um second quarter report uh everyone have a great night thank you