001yes ma'am okay all right I'd like to call this meeting of the prince Willam County School Board to order uh a motion is an order for approval of the meeting agenda Miss wall Madame chairwoman I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as recommended do I have a second I second it Mr Jesse seconds any discussion please vote the vote is s yes one absent Latif motion passed moving on to the motion to enter closed session a motion is in order Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 3711 and 2.2 3712 the principal County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons one to discuss with staff the appointment transfer release assignment and promotion of specific officers and employees pursuant to Virginia code
002section 2.2 3711 A1 two to review disciplinary matters for specific students that would involve the disclosure of information contained in the Scholastic record for the individual student and to receive legal advice regarding same as provided by Virginia code sections 2.2 3711 A2 and 8 three to discuss and consult with legal counsel regarding requests for religious exemptions pertaining to specific students under Virginia code sections 2.2 3711 A2 and 8 four to discuss with division Council and staff actual or probable litigation and specific legal matters involving specific staff and students pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2 3711 A7 and 8 five to discuss with division Council specific legal specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice pertaining to a the Freedom of Information Act and Schoolboard committees and B policy 47.8 pursuant to Virginia code section
0032.2 3711 A8 and six to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security of school facilities the safety of persons using such facilities and actions taken to respond to such matters or discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-cu please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed the Prince William County School Board will now enter closed session and return to open session in 1 [Music] hour [Music] chairman Latif is unable to be here this evening so I will be running tonight's meeting I know right a motion is in order for close close session certification Miss Walt Miss zaga Miss Madam chairwoman I moved that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 3712 to the closed session of the Prince
004William County school board meeting of March 6 2024 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 meeting requirements were discussed in a closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and to 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 I have a second Madam chairwoman Miss uh Williams second second any discussion please vote around the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed moving on to the closed session action items a motion is in order for approval of appointments and releases Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move
005that the Prince Will Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in Clos session do I have a second Madam chairwoman uh Miss William second second is there any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed thank you on to 10.02 a motion is in order Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move that for the reasons set forth in student management and alternative programs developments smap PD letter of January 29 2024 the Prince William County school board approved smap's recommendation to reassign student srh2 24079 to the computer-based instruction CBI program via remote access only based on charges of unlawful acts in the community I have a second mam chair Miss Williams I second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent
006Latif motion passed on to 10.03 a motion is in order Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move that for the reason set forth in the student management and alternative program Department's SM APD letter of February 5th 2024 the Prince William County School Board approve s mpd's recommendation to reassign student sr24 086 to the computer-based instruction CBI program via remote access only based on charges of unlawful acts in the community do I have a second Madam chair Miss Williams I have second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed thank you on to 10.04 a motion is order in order Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move that for the reasons set forth in the student management and alternative program Department's SMD letter of February 7th 2024 the Prince William County school
007board approved smap PD's recommendation to approve the early readmission of student es 23-1 198r to Prince William County Public Schools and that the board also approved the recommendation and conditions for the students return to a Traditional School setting do I have a second Madam chair ah Mr Blake I second seconds any discussion please vote the vote is five yes two no trenic and wil motion passed on to 10.05 a motion is in order Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move that for the reasons set forth in the student management and alternative program Department's SM APD letter of February 2022 February 22nd 2024 the prince Willam County school board approved smap's recommendation to reassign student sr2 24-96 to an alternative education setting not located on the property of any traditional Prince William County Public School to be
008determined by the students IEP team based on charges of unlawful acts in the community I have a second Madame chairwoman Miss Williams I second Miss Williams second and is there any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed thank you and moving on to 10.06 the motion is in order Miss wall Madam a chairwoman I move that the Prince William County school board approved the request for religious exemption from compulsory schol School attendance for case number re 2322 second Madam chair Mr Blake second second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed thank you and moving on to our last closed session action item a motion is in order Miss wall Madam chairwoman I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the
009closed session agenda item as presented in closed session do I have a second Madam chairwoman Miss Williams second Miss William second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed thank you this concludes our Clos session action items um we are will now stand for the Pledge of Allegiance uh there are several students in the audience tonight if you would like to lead us in the pledge come on up to the podium I I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all of you for coming up we're moving on to our thriving Future's Focus thriving Futures focus is an opportunity to highlight the Exemplar work
010being 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 these honores have positively represented Prince William County Public Schools and the school board is proud to recognize them publicly for their accomplishments first tonight the school board will recognize our two winners of the Harry F bird Junior leadership award program was established in 1994 by former US senator Harry F bird Jr it was Senator Bird's hope that the award would create a desire for excellence among students and provide recognition and fi financial support
011to students with outstanding leadership qualities every year winners are selected from each of Virginia's 11 congressional district districts it is exciting to share that two of the 11 Statewide winners are pwcs students and each student will beward awarded $25,000 yeah that's yeah these prestigious awards show exceptional efforts to prioritize the school commitment to launching thriving Futures We Begin our recognition with the Kohl's District tonight our first award winner moroi yakle of Osborne Park High School thank you moroi is represented tonight by assistant principal Miss Artis Gill and we are so proud of your tenacity dedication and academic prowess you represent the absolute best of P of our pwcs profile of a graduate critical thinker digital citizen innovator Visionary resilient and a global collaborator Rock would you care to share a few words about your accomplishment
012hello everyone I'm Rocky and I wanted to First say um thank you so much for having me here today and I just I know I could not have done anything without my parents here and my grandparents who are not here today and thank you so much to the Harry bird foundation for giving me the opportunity to um receive an award of this honor I'm extremely privileged to even say that I've received this award and I know this means so much to me and my family being a fres generation student here and I know this is going to go so far in my future and I look forward to using this award in my future pursuing a career in um Global and public health policy and international Affairs thank you so much look that's leadership there
013too this is amazing congratulations on your well-earned recognition Mr Blake the representative of the neabsco district would you please introduce your honory this evening yes thank you madam chair the neapco district is proud to rep uh recognize aneli gunakan awarde of the Harry fber leadership award anelie is represented tonight by her principal Garfield High Schools Matt mat anel Le would would you care to share a few words with about your [Music] recognition yes sir thank you good evening everyone uh my name is anel Goran um and and with the award I would just like to say that of course um my gratitude goes out to um those on the committee those who put effort towards the award um but also the I would not be the person I am today without all those amazing individuals
014who have helped shaped me um first and foremost um my family um my dad especially um and then also all of my wonderful teachers that I've had from Elementary School uh to high school who have helped help shape my mind help create um the person I am today I really appreciate them and everything that they've done and I look forward to um going to college double majoring um in computer science and international Affairs uh hopefully to get into a career in intelligence but I appreciate um all of you all the work that you put in um and the work of all those amazing individuals well said Angie congratulations to you for receiving this prestigious award and symbolizing the accompl accomplishments we strive for in Prince William County Public Schools congratulations anelie principal mat and the
015entire Garfield High School Community good job thank you Mr Blake um are are your parents here tonight any your families at all here tonight could you all stand for just a second congratulations on this I know you must be incredibly proud all right uh tonight the school board would also like to recognize two outstanding coaches Mr Jesse of the Woodbridge District we will begin with you thank you the aquan district is very proud to be to recognize Woodbridge High School track and feel and cross country coach Kelly MC Grill uh coach McGrill has been named the US track and Phi and cross country coach association Virginia outstanding High School cross country coach of 2023 mcrill was recognized for her exceptional contribution to the Woodbridge High cross country team specifically the team performance including their state
016championship coach McGrill received her recognition for coaching Woodbridge High School uh vs vhsl class and state championship at a previous scor boot board meeting but she could not be here with us tonight still we wish to acknowledge our outstanding coach excellent thank you Mr Jesse and congratulations to Woodbridge High School I now invite Jennifer wall the representative of the Gainesville District thank you Madame chairwoman on behalf of the Gainesville District it is my pleasure to recognize Michael spck head wrestling coach of Battlefield High School coach has been named the 20203 24 Virginia wrestling Coach of the Year by the Virginia chapter of the national Wrestling Hall of Fame coach spuck has been go yes let's that coach spuck has been a high school wrestling coach for 26 years including the past 20 in Prince William
017County as head coach at Osborne Park for 13 years and at Battlefield for the past three he has amassed almost 250 career wins in the past three years at Battlefield coach has won three District titles has been region runnerup twice and has one region title coach spuck is here tonight with principal Dolores Lucas coach spuck would you like to share a few words on the meaning of this award to you I actually start with uh I brought gifts for everyone I didn't want to come up empty-handed um I am a uh a CT I I teach physics as well as um some CTE classes and I have a graphics class at my students design and um and sell products from our class to other schools and everything so I brought gifts for all of you
018uh their water bottles uh designed from our by by our students and so they were they thought it would be a great opportunity to to Showcase what they do um I just want to say thank you uh I'm very very lucky with the support of the administration I have with Miss Lucas uh Mr Jason kooch the uh our Athletics activities director um we have a lot of great coaches at our school um another two other coaches Brian schaer and Ray Bernard uh assist me quite a bit um but the biggest thing is we have just wonder students Prince William County students are the best and uh I couldn't have been coaching 26 years of wrestling if it wasn't for such great students in our school system thank you very much Mr spit congratulations to you
019and the entire Bobcat community and to miss delor Lucas as well thank you Miss wall congratulations again to our outstanding coaches coach mcreal and coach and congratulations to our amazing Harry bird leadership award honores maraki and aneli if there uh any other uh family members here from any of these other honores uh you want to stand up and be recognized as well did Coach spck did you bring your your significant other yeah these are said families go through this too right um before taking pictures uh superintendent Dr McDade would like to share a few words thank you so much congratulations Mari and anelie what an amazing amazing accomplishment your achievement earning the uh Harry bird leadership award really demonstrates what a commitment to learning an achievement can accomplish for students as you strive to create
020a thriving future for yourselves and your community I'm so incredibly proud of each of you also congratulations to our coaches of the Year coach McGrill of Woodbridge High School who couldn't join us tonight and coach of Battlefield high school and I think you said it best um coach buuck about all of our coaches and the significant impact that they have on the lives of our students and they go above and beyond I just heard you say you teach CTE and physics and you coach um so this is really just giving of your heart and your passion to our kids and I just want to thank you for uh sharing your time and your talent so that our students can soar each and every day additionally I do want to provide a quick update from our
021September launching thriving Futures where we honored two 2024 National Merit Scholarship finalists which was sky and Joseph from Osborne Park and Patriot High School respectively and I am so proud and um to announce that both sky and Joseph have advanced and now are no longer semifinalists but 2024 National Merit Scholarship finalists so uh really excited um so congratulations to each of you for your tremendous accomplishment and I also want to um thank both of our principles for being here tonight because we also know that our principles as we talk about uh when Mr talked about you know being able to do the work that he does it takes strong leadership to support uh the opportunities within the school and to help Advance uh different programming in the school so I want to thank you for
022that uh creating the conditions for um teachers for educators for coaches to do their best work on behalf of students and for being here to support your students as well tonight congratulations we are pwcs proud thank you Dr McDade at this time i' would like to request our honores to come forward for a photo with the school board and to receive a small token of our appreciation we'll start with one photo that includes our two Harry F bird Jor leadership Award winners and the second photo will include our wrestling coach of the year l conratulations e we're all back all right so we are now moving on to adoption of the consent agenda a motion is in order Miss wall oh you okay no have no okay Madam chairman chairwoman um I would request that
023item 13.07 be moved from the consent agenda to board matters okay all right that being the case that will take a few minutes so give me a minute and I'll let okay she has phys yeah mine says it too all right all right so miss wall okay Madam chairwoman I move that the Prince William County Schoolboard approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended do I have a second Madam chairwoman Miss Williams I second Miss Williams second any discussion all right so we're we're going to do a hand vote except so show of hands faor all in favor the vote is seven yes one absent Latif motion passed thank you moving on to acknowledgements and recognitions we need a motion madam chairwoman I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the acknowledgements and
024recognitions as recommended have a second Madam chair one Miss Williams seconds any discussion Madam chairwoman Miss Williams I just want to say that I appreciate the um uh recognitions being spell well we can't see it now but that they're now spelled out for the public to be able to uh see what it is that we're voting on thank you very much I know that was a lot of work all right any other discussion on this all right so uh uh I hands we'll vote on this so it is six yes one exstension trenic one absent Latif motion passed so moving on to Citizen comment time those citizens who have signed up in advance with the clerk May address the school board this evening when they are called to the podium the citizen comment period for
025regular Schoolboard meetings is 1 hour and citizens may speak on agenda items or other topics gerain to the operations and policies of pwcs please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium or you will be asked to step aside we ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping cheering or jering to avoid disruption of the meeting if you do not the board will recess and I will ask the board that the boardroom be cleared to restore public order tonight we have 24 citizens signed up to speak per policy 134 citizen participation the time allotted to speak will be adjusted to 2 minutes for each speaker as more than 20 citizens signed up for this evening's meeting when I call your name please come up to the podium
026and state your name and address for the record see where thank you so I have first five I have Harry Wiggins Chay claros catala CL claros Michelle Fontaine and Lily J thank you madam chair board members uh my name is Harry Wiggins 3525 wood brid uh excuse me wooders in trail uh Lake bridge Virginia uh couple things and it's uh mostly about the uh the proposed new high school or lack of proposed new High School uh I I took a look at the report that you were relying on uh to um delay the the High School the report was written by Hamilton Lumbard who has a ba in history this building is filled with EDS and phds and yet we're relying on a young man who has a ba in history to extend the uh
027the building of this new High School uh he really he speaks about Louisa and Gand counties I'm very familiar with both of them keeping in mind they have 5% growth 5% is zero is still zero uh the county Dem uh demographer and I know you're all familiar with the county demographer and uses data uh from time to time from 2020 to 2023 the county population increased by 13,000 13,000 there's no indication that it's slowing down that 13,000 is 2 .7% which is essentially the same for the last 20 years about 1% a year uh the other thing I'm going to mention and and this is kind of off topic but I I understand there's some bullying going on by some board members to others and that there's a quidd pro quo going on if I
028if I vote against the school I'll get something that may be great in Philadelphia New York Chicago it's not great in Prince William County so you need to stop it thank you J claros good evening Dr mcdad school board members my name is t CLA and my address is on fire I'm a third grader at Kos elementary school and I'm here to talk about the benefits of Reese's recess helps kids do better on test and improve social and emotional skills and reduces disrupted behavior when I do not have reses I have a lot of energy and cannot pay attention without it middle schoolers do not have reses and I think they should have time to play and be kids this is why middle schoolers deserve a 15 minute recess period thank you for your time
029catala claros good evening Dr mcdad and school school board members my name is Catal Clos and my address is on file I'm here again for the fourth time to talk about Middle School recess since the last time I was here I had had another member join my committee we made it at Panera Bread off of 2:34 every Saturday at 11:00 a.m. for anyone who wants to come we have been asking people to em email the board members and have collected over 200 295 295 signatures we have received signatures from people that live in Hay Market dumre Woodbridge Bristo and other areas all over Prince William County again I am advocating for a 15minute recess period break period for middle schoolers recess plays an important role in not only maintaining proper physical health but mental health
030as well recess lowers risk of depression and lowers anxiety help self-esteem and confidence so us at the middle school resource committee would like to change the instruction policy to get middle schoolers recess what policy needs to be changed changed Michelle Fontaine my name is Michelle Fontaine and my address is on file I believe middle schoolers should have recess because it gives them a break and time to calm down and reset their minds so they can concentrate on learning it helps them improve their Social Development so they can have better communication with people and also helps reduce their disruptive behavior behavior in the classroom it also increases their level of physical activity and Social Development so they can practice socializing with different people and make social connections from my research I have found out that recess
031can also help different people Al can also help with people who have attention deficit hyper hyperactivity disorder also known as ADHD a few symptoms are are being able to sit still especially in calmer quiet surroundings constantly fidgeting and and being a unable to concentrate on tasks students with ADHD recess can result in them experiencing better results and they can even have reduced symptoms in the classroom taking away recess for kids with ADHD can have a negative impact on them also the American Academy of Pediatrics says that recess is essential to Children's Health and development it provides a much needed break from the structure of a classroom which needs to many cognitive social emotional and physical benefits so those are my reasons why middle schoolers should have recess in middle school thank you for your time
032Lily Jesse good evening my name is Lily Jesse and my address is on file I came here to be an advocate for those unseen this is not right to ask teachers parents and students in a school it has 2700 students the second largest school in the county small physical space because it was built in 1975 with 19 of its classrooms on wheels or Rovers as they're called apparently this program was put in place about 15 years ago and to ask them to be on wheels for another five years is just not right the same you may ask why are these Rovers not here tonight the same reason they did not complain about not having upgrades in the stadium for more than 45 years at the school the same reason they didn't complain when they didn't
033have white boards and they were using black boards the same reason I found 14 trailers at three schools and 37 kindergarteners jammed into a small classroom in two in 2015 along along Route One the same reason in this report report given to you that shows that this at this time this is the report I gave to you please look at it in this report you'll see that at one point there were 10 trailers on one side of the county and 125 on the other the same reason I didn't complain about the Meals on Wheels at foren elementary I got my food from across the street from Woodbridge High School the same reason after being on this board for 11 years I did not even know there were Rovers that Woodbridge High School and you The
034Rovers exist because and the reason they're not here is because no one told them that they had the right to ask for anything at these schools they fear retaliation the N second reason they're not here is because they've always that's the way it's always been they just make it work thank you Miss thank you thank you our next five speakers are Bonnie fahe Kate Olsen Flynn Tara patch Dennis cantes and Patty mcney so first up we have Bonnie fah Miss SAR gapore that's Fay thank you for the past 33 years I've lived on Hedges Run Drive my house is 1.2 miles from Woodbridge High School this isn't the first time I've addressed the board the first time was in about 1996 six my kids were in fifth and 10th grades the older at Woodbridge I
035was the ptso president and served on the advisory ccil Woodbridge High School was overcrowded Woodbridge High School has been overcrowded many times sometimes with its many as 3,000 students Back Then There Were trailers principal Pam Brown referred to the trailers as the academic Village the solution they came up with let's change the boundaries the proposal for wood placed the boundary at mohen Drive anything west of mohen beginning with Hedges Run Drive remember we're talking 1.2 miles from the school would be sent the kids would be sent to Osborne Park about a half an hour away in manassis obviously this wasn't a good idea and parents convinced the board that it wasn't a good idea and both my kids did graduate from Woodbridge High School I've often said if you want parents to show up for
036a meeting tell them it's a boundary meeting meeting and they'll turn out in droves so now 30 years have gone by Wood Bridge is overcrowded again or should I say still I don't know currently there aren't any trailers those highly visible symbols of overcrowding but there are 19 teachers on carts that means there are no classrooms available to them I understand that teachers are asked to take turns giving up their classroom every couple of years even those who do not have their own classrooms often have to share for part of the day with the nomads educators are incredibly resilient having been a teacher myself I can imagine it I can't imagine it I now have five grandchildren who live within the white Woodbridge High School boundaries the building itself is more than 50 years old
037so after years of overcrowding and inadequate and failed attempts to address it our kids deserve thank you a new school thank you Kate Olsen Flynn good evening school board and Dr McDade my name is Dr Kate Olson Flynn thank you again for the privilege of speaking to you tonight about the CIP and the plan to postpone the opening of the 14th High School thriving Futures are something that we all want for our children our goal should be that every student receives the same quality of Education by attending a school facility that has equal and adequate access to space and conditions for a thriving future unfortunately that still isn't the case I started my advocacy for equity in 2017 when I noticed the incredible disparity in the state and availability of facilities technology and space for
038students between the high schools I wrote an extensive letter to the administration outlining 30 minimum conditions that needed to be met to rectify the these inequities at Woodbridge High School it turns out that number nine and 10 on my list of issues was classroom space and teacher roving teachers on carts which have never been remedied due to overcrowding in fact this overpopulation was one reason for building Colgan and taking the cfpa program from our school in 2016 and it was justification with the 14th High School in the east in 2017 Woodbridge has never been under capacity now Board of County Supervisors have approved 243 units to be built in our community in the next few years this is fact that means that at least 2,000 plus more students will have to attend Woodbridge and Garfield
039right now Woodbridge has 19 rovering teachers and Garfield has 14 roving teachers this 2,000 plus student increase will necessitate Woodbridge and Garfield to have even more teachers on carts and less space technology and time to provide a quality education we all want thriving futures for our children no matter where we live in the county please reconsider the postponement of the 14th school and make it at full capacity for 2500 students as it had been promised for 8 years I thank you for listening and for your time in considering the well-being of our school Community thank you Tara hatch good evening Schoolboard and Dr McDade my name is Tara hatch and my address is on file I'm a parent of two kids who have gone to Woodbridge High School one of which we sent away his
040senior year to finish his education with and get a better experience we have an incoming freshman and then we have two more that will also be going to Woodbridge I'm very concerned about the proposed delay in the start of the 14th High School I would like to share some of the conditions that my children have had to endure while at Woodbridge High so that you know why a new school is so important for the students and teachers safety and wellbeing we have 19 roving teachers on carts as others have said this affects the well-being and potential achievement of our students because these teachers have to navigate the Halls to get to their next classroom our students get less instructional academic and social personal time with teachers before and after class and there is additional stress
041on teachers to have to Traverse the hallways with 2,800 students at the same time the classrooms themselves are also overcrowded and outdated so much so that the teachers can't dismiss students altogether they have to dismiss them by row much like departing an airplane so that the students don't trip over each other because of lack of available space there are very few spaces for our kids to congregate but in the overcrowded hallways the library is closed much of the time due to testing because there is no other place for the students to test the cafeterias are so crowded that we have to have five 25 minute lunches to allow students to eat and many students feel very uncomfortable and unsafe smashed in a cafeteria setting like that these are just some of the issues that this
042old outdated building has had has on the safety and well-being of the students and teachers at this school we have been promised a new high school since 2018 please don't make us wait another five years Dennis caravantes good evening my name is Dennis caravantes my address is on file I'm a father of two and and concerned about the continued delay in the building of the 14th High School in the oo District where I work I have a saying more work for us doesn't mean we shouldn't do what is right building the 14 high school now is the right thing to do continuing kicking the can down the road a few more years looks like you or the superintendent are trying to avoid the work and it looks like you passing the buck to someone else
043we elect you and hire you to do this work you see Garfield and Woodbridge high schools are over 50 years old Freedom High School is now 20 years old it was people like you who that chose to act to do the work to do the right thing I exort you to have a legacy and build the school now building materials are getting more expensive and new residential projects have been recently approved in the area seven out of the 13 high schools are at over capacity already the other six have less than 25% availability the three schools in the area use trailers or classes on Wheels as others have mentioned to deal with the lack of proper facilities we need to redistribute the load and build additional capacity now don't wait three more years to begin
044help our high school staff realize Dr McD's strategic plan Vision that students and schools will only be successful through authentic engagement with family and Community as partners in education let staff authentically engage with students and their families by reducing the number of enrollments it is very hard for them them to not have an assembly line uh approach towards students and their families when they are managing over 2,000 people daily most of them all they can do is manage the flow keep the students moving give them some general direction or to navigate the chaos but it's not feasible to build lasting relationships under those conditions we thank you for your service to this County and for making decisions on our behalf so please listen and start building the 14 high school now p m mcne hi
045my name is Patty mcney I have been a pwcs elementary school counselor for 19 years I'm also a mother of an awesome eighth grader at lak Ridge Middle tonight I would like to talk about equity in our worldclass school system I've worked in these buildings all over this County with all socio economic levels and backgrounds being a school counselor I am well aware that fair is not always equal however the decisions being made about building plans as well as salaries for our staff are Beyond not fair they mock Equity recently I attended events at pic Shores Middle and Patriot High I felt like I was walking in buildings on Elite college campuses it was amazing how lucky for those students yet looking at the socio economics of those schools luck has nothing to do with
046it meanwhile Garfield and Woodbridge are dangerously overcrowded and obsolete Woodbridge High School is so short on space that the library is closed 20 weeks out of the school year for testing this the kids don't have access to the library Equity means fairness and impartiality should guide our decisions I'm advocating for the 14th High School to be opened by 2026 this ensures that um decreasing overcrowding for Garfield and Woodbridge delaying construction denies diverse and disadvantaged students the opportunity for Equitable and excellent education addition additionally addressing equity and teacher pay is vital awarding raises only to certain staff undermines principle of equity worse worsening the teacher shortage and morale for all the staff that works so hard for these children providing fair and Equitable pay raises is essential for the benefit of all our students their success
047and overall health thank you for our th thriving future our next five speakers are M Mall herado lenaa Guera please tell me how to say that when we get there Cheryl McBeth Kimberly Melman moasco and Sonia Doran magali herado good evening I'm magali herado my address file with the clerk I am here here again to address some of the concerns about the proposed delay in the 14th high school did you know that the 14th high school was was mentioned in the 2015 budget 10 years ago for a projected 2021 opening fair to say that school is long overdue the capacity data that is presented to you is at best inaccurate it is misleading and quite frankly irresponsible to say that Garfield is under capacity did you know that at least 10 teachers in Garfield in
048carts how is that under capacity there is at least 19 teachers at Woodbridge also on carts I know that the academic program has been approved for wre high school but I am nervous that once you move to program capacity methodology you will use that as an excuse to the priv of the academic program as well decision makers should visit these schools unannounced during transition times during dismissal times go to the small classroom where students are dismissed by Rose don't announce your visit to the principal stress trying to to impress you go when you can witness the actual challenges that they are facing like having to close the library at least 20 weeks of the academic year it is time to set us out the old style the old west style politics and the way things
049are being handled sadly reflect that stereotype like the veil threats when they think nobody is listening about how we better watch it or we'll end up with nothing our students deserve better than that from our Schoolboard chair pressuring Schoolboard members to look the other way by dangling improve improvements to their school districts manipulating you into ignoring the long-standing needs at Woodbridge it's not okay I am probably too naive but I am still holding out hope that our school board members will do the honorable thing and consider the needs of all students including Mr wil who's ignoring me right now to do the right thing and avoid being manipulated or threatened that the district will get nothing if they don't Lena Lena G Guera I would like to know how I'm supposed to say your last
050name g thank you good evening school board members and [Music] Dr I don't know how to say my name is Lena gar and I'm in fifth I'm a fifth grader at Kyon Elementary School my address is on fire and I'm here again to share my beliefs of continuing recess at Middle School my brother Lucas currently attends Saunders Middle School at Prince at Prince William County and he has shared how much uh they miss recess and how they wish they could still get some fresh air and play basketball or soccer I'll be going to middle school next year and I'm really sad that recess may not be an option option for me recess may be the only time to get some fresh air or some exercise or have a chance to play a sports with friends
051according to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation over 40% of children get the ma majority of their total physical activities of recess to place there are many benefits of having recess during Middle School like it improves memory attention and concent it helps kids work brains work and develop properly it helps kids decompress and absorb what they recently learned it reduces disruption behavior in their classroom and it improves social and emotional development these are very important because not a lot of kids Express themselves in the classroom recess is a time to be free I think that recess is a great idea because it brings back childhood memories you can can do a lot of activities and get vitamin D which many people don't get enough of and it's healthy for you and great for
052your body and M last April the Fairfax Country Board voted to update its student staff Health wealthness policy thank you thank you thank you yeah we have a shorter time tonight um Cheryl McBeth good evening my name is Cheryl McBeth and my address is on file again I beseech the board to reconsider delaying the 14th High School to 2029 we've heard about the Rovers at Woodbridge and Garfield these teachers deserve dedicated space and I will remind you that just because you don't see trailers outside doesn't mean the schools aren't overcrowded the CIP data regarding reduced local birth rates projected housing construction and residency are not in concert with the stressful reality that Eastern High School students and staff live each day Mr Blake you say you want to bring a fresh perspective and informed decision
053making to the table so I charge you to become informed on this matter by doing your due diligence and go with your fellow board members to visit woodbrige high school walk the high schools Walk The Halls during passing time and peek into classrooms during instruction to see the kids packed like sardines miss trednick you said you want to avoid repeating past mistakes don't allow another delay historical budget and CIP files on the board's website document that this school was slated for a 2021 open in the fy15 budget and the fy16 CIP confirmed to delay to 2022 the fy1 17 budget delayed it again to 2023 the fy19 approved budget delayed it to 2024 2021 CIP delayed it to 2025 and the 2022 CIP delayed it to 2026 the school has been in the plans for
054at least 10 years now and you are proposing not to open it for another five years it should not take 15 years and six delays to open a school Prince William County can and should do better than that there is no need to delay construction any longer on the basis of redesign since the price Model building design was selected long ago for the 13th and 14th high schools further delays are not needed to explore new designs with stakeholders your stakeholders here tonight implore you to utilize the existing design and build the school forth with for a 2026 open 20 2026 open the county has the land the design the need with the increasing cost of construction postponing again would be a shameful and expensive mistake to repeat true some of you were not on the
055board in those earlier years of plan but you are accountable nonetheless to follow through on the commitment that the board collectively made regarding this building um Kimberly Melman Rosco Kimberly Melman Orco all right so our uh Sonia Doran um good evening long time no see uh I'm Sonia Doran um my address is on file I am here to Advocate against the delay of the opening of the 14th High School our schools are overcrowded and I know this is I know this because year after year at Lakeridge Middle School each new class that enters our Middle School is larger than the previous one before and guess what those kids go to Woodbridge senior high school that means it just continues overcrowding at Woodbridge senior high school School the studies that you use to argue that there
056will be a population decrease is misinformed about population Trends in this part of the county with two military base Families Two Two military bases families continue to buy houses in this area with pride I might add because it is a highly seeked area because they love Lakeridge and as do I and with the five multi-unit developments that are already approved by the board of County Supervisors the aawan area will continue to grow and the population within our aawan Woodbridge area not only for Woodbridge senior high school but probably Garfield as well needs to be alleviated because they're on Rovers as well as you've heard from all of my other PWC friends in fact we already see and I can skip that CIP decisions should not be based on studies that have been unfamiliar understanding of
057the demographic context but this board should work with the board of County supervisors to ensure that your plan is aligned with theirs as we used to do in the past this construction delay only sends the message to our community that once again our needs come last to the mid and Western sections of the county since 2010 they have had three high schools built in their area and we have had zero I am also a parent of a ninth grader at Woodbridge senior high school I have no doubt my son is getting a good education thanks to his teachers and administrators how Miss ABY meets the challenges thank you we have our next five are Maran Jensen Cheryl Thompson Wesley McBeth Jennifer Jesse and Zoe Obi oi did Zoe please tell me to how to pronounce
058your name properly so Maran Jensen my name is marann Jensen and I'm here to talk about an ideology that is based on the unscientific opinions of a select few partisan Elites it's a dysfunctional adaptation of a politically charged concept which has taken our schools backwards and not forward this board's misguided focus on diversity equity and inclusion those three words are quite Noble true diversity can strengthen knowledge and understanding true Equity Miss Williams will you please sit down you're showing example of inclusion true Equity is defined as fairness with impartiality and inclusion well who doesn't want to be included in life's Pursuits unfortunately those words have lost their true meanings through this board's Progressive of agenda example Miss Williams walking out during my speech the term diversity is misused to deceive children into following a system
059that Fosters division based on demographics and beliefs the term inclusion is Warped to justify the exclusion of anyone or idea that dares to disagree H interesting and this double speak has taken the impartiality out of equity instead using fairness as a weapon to attain unrealistic outcomes maybe there's a place for social science experiments but it's not in public schools how can you focus on a women who Advocate diversity and inclusion theme this month when many Educators refuse to define a woman how can you celebrate inclusion where children are forced to use ridiculous pronouns based on sociological and psychological Trends this logical mess is a result of your misinterpretation of what it means to be diverse fair and inclusive you have spent $1.5 million on an equity office that has not improved academics outcomes by a
060single measure and has instead embraced a militant obsession with wedging itself between parents and their children what metrics show a resulting academic Improvement there is none it's based on this Mi it's a its mission is based on a fallacy your job does not include running politically motivated social experiments use the Dei money to actually improve grades so that once again Virginia Public Schools can be the Envy of the nation Cheryl Thompson uh good evening my name is Cheryl Thompson and my address is on file I'm speaking tonight to voice my opposition to the pr proposed delay of the 14th High School my family is a military family we moved here in January of 2018 for three years my kids were four and six we were relocating from Washington State and my biggest concern was finding
061a rental house zon for the best elementary school and we chose to rent this house because of the elementary school fast forward a couple of years later and we decided to buy and stay in our current neighborhood we knew a new high school was going to be built and we lived close to the pro proposed site we thought our kids would be attending a state of the heart art High School I never thought that I would now be advocating for that school to be built in 2025 instead of opening in 2025 my kids are now 12 and 10 my seventh grader will not be attending a new school his choices are between two 50-year-old schools that are overcrowded and have teachers that roove around because they don't have classrooms in five year if the delay
062happens for five more years my fifth grader will not attend the 14th high school now like so many other families we are looking at leaving our friends and community and relocating to the western part of the county a delay in the opening of the 14th High School is not a good idea families teachers and students on this side of the county need to know that you care about them enough to improve their working conditions and their learning kids do not do well in overcrowded spaces new technology needs to be a countywide standard not just on the west all students students and teachers matter military families are living and will always be living in Prince William County we can't control our job placement but we can control where we live we can make sure our children
063have access to the best education they can get military families make up 12% of your population we bring in funding we will we will not be migrating South because we still report to commands if there is anything we will be more of us as the housing market is less affordable in places like Fairfax and Lowden counties we need the scho and we itce Willam County scho we can do better we must do better vote toay School Wesley MC Beth good evening my name is Wesley MC Beth and my address is on record I'm here tonight as a middle school student who asks you not to delay the 14th High School opening in 2029 I I was and have been looking forward to going to the new high school since I would likely be zoned to
064go there if it is postponed again I won't get to attend I hope that students who were originally supposed to go to the 14th High School do not get disappointed the same way I did now that there have been several delays such as the delay stated in the 2022 Capital Improvement plan that delayed the building of this new high school another year another delay would cause so many hardworking and deserving kids to miss out now I find that unacceptable I'm amazed that this 14th High School's opening date was originally 2021 and the idea of this new high school was originally proposed in 2014 when I was three I am here to tell you that a further delay will impact many people living in the zoned area of this new high school including me because now
065I will most likely have to transfer to a different High School to have a program of my interest in risking put in a lottery if many students apply or else attend an already overcrowded School assuming this new high school opened in 2021 it was like like it was originally planned to students on the Eastern side of the county could have been offered more specialty program choices and this would most likely attract some students zoned for an overcrowded high school please take what I have said into consideration and do not delay the building of this 14th high school thank you Jif Jessie Jennifer Jesse my address is on file um you don't actually have an over crowding pop uh problem you have a transfer to overcrowding pipeline most of the student parents that IAL to as
066an admissions consultant parents at Freedom Garfield Hilton Unity read Woodbridge call me and ask how can I transfer to colan Battlefield Patriot Forest Park Osborne Park should I move should I go to a private school instead so a lot of the problems that you're having could be resolved with the 14th high school because a lot of the students know that they're not going to get the letters of recommendation that they need they're not going to get the uh technology that they need they're not going to get all the aps that they need at certain schools and even though Woodbridge is a great school and I'm saying this as a Garfield grad so I think that should count even though Woodbridge is a great school we can't keep asking us to go back I had a
067lot to say but I'm to the point where I'm tired of this I feel like we're always pitting the East versus the west and the West versus the East and we're not recognizing that if we solve a problem in the East we could solve it in the west if we start moving creating a space that people want to go to they're not going to feel like they have to move they're not going to feel like they have to go to private school our students there students here these very horrible by the way students here that you all have promised us this new school since 2015 2016 there are kids that graduated and you all are pushing it back to 2029 none of you you're terms do not last till 2029 we deserve a solution with
068this board and I ask not only that you vote for the school but I ask that somebody second the motion so that it's at least a discussion thank you Zoe Obi okoi and please correct me on your last name hello my name is Zoe obio Co and my address is on file former students I am here because middle schoolers don't have recess how are fifth graders supposed to make their transition recess is important because it improves memory attention and concentration helps kids' brains work and develop properly helps kids decompress and absorb what they've recently learned reduces disruptive behavior in the classroom and improves social and emotional development and that's why I say to do the best on test you must give students Reus thank you for listening and have a great evening our last speakers
069for the evening are gwendaline brown Carrie Coleman Pros uh Henry Robert Henry Thompson and Hugh Donnell so we'll start with gwendelyn gwendelyn brown Carrie Coleman and please tell me your last name sure okay um good evening my name is Carrie Coleman PR and U my address is on file um I have two children at Woodbridge High School and I'm concerned about the overcrowding at Woodbridge and I support the building of the 14th High School to highlight the impacts of overcrowding on different student populations I compared Woodbridge and colan high schools which on the surface appear to be very similar these schools have similar square footage number of students number of classrooms and staff members yet when we look closer at the student demographics and student outcomes we can see why overcrowding is having a significantly
070greater negative effect on the students at Woodbridge and how different populations have different needs the number of economically disadvantaged students at Woodbridge is more than double that at kged and the gifted population at Woodbridge is less than half than that at colan considering student outcomes nearly three times as many Woodbridge students are suspended as colan students absenteeism is similar for both schools but the academic success rates differ greatly considering graduation graduation rates every year approximately 42 fewer students will graduate from Woodbridge than colid only 45% pass advanced classes at Woodbridge versus 65% at colate there's also a significant difference in so Pass rates with history having the worst Pass rates 55% at Woodbridge versus 71% at colan these outcomes don't just impact now but have future consequences for our community well-being and students career and
071college readiness and I've seen this in my professional work both at Northern Virginia Community College and at George Mason I believe the best solution would be to build a new high school well in advance of 2029 to decrease overcrowding at Woodbridge and also Garfield and to provide um smaller class sizes and better academic support to increase student outcomes at both high schools thank you for your time this evening Robert Henry Thompson good evening Schoolboard members and Dr McCade my name is Henry Thompson and I live in Woodbridge and my address is on file I am in seventh grade and I attend fredland Middle School where I am taking Spanish and IB program I think the whole high school should not be postponed one because this High School will bring in more Revenue to the side
072of the county just like colan people want to go to the newer schools in the area and so if we choose and so if we choose to create the high school it could increase the amount of Revenue that comes on this side of the counting it can also help with School zoning so people don't have to travel as far to get their High School which means less time on buses and more times for after school activities and also a lot of families moved here because they thought that the high school was going to be built when their child was going to be in high school I was also hoping that and my friends but we no longer have that opportunity anymore because the school has been delayed multiple times if construction starts this year my
073brother will be able to go and he is two years younger than me and starts middle school in the fall my mom and I have started looking at high school specialty programs in the winter and I will more than likely attend Osborne Park which also has an overcrowding problem but in closing I want to go to the school that will give me the best chance to go to university with a scholarship and the new school will help me achieve this goal Hugh Donnelly my name is Hugh Donnelly my address is on file this March is women's uh History Month which focuses this year there's a main focus on women celebrating who advocate for diversity equity and inclusion online you can find this information in open stories about these women's and their beliefs for example batina
074love is an advocate for abolishing the police and removing all sros in public schools she also supports the idea of abolishing capitalism due to its racial inequities another influential figure is Gloria lansen Billings who is known for her work in creating culturally responsive instruction in her foundation article titled towards a critical race theory of Education she highlights systematic race M present in our education institution and Society in General within our own Community Maria Burgess serves as the County's Equity director in a previous position with Prince William County schools she publicly stated that she understands a Marist Marxist framework is the key to comprehending it comprehending its influence in education in 2020 Governor junkan issued an executive order to remove diversity Concepts and critical race Theory from public schools however we as we approach the 3D
075anniversary of Prince William County's Equity statement uh School statement and continue to allocate millions of dollars annually to support Dei the concerns arise about the ideological foundations of this approach which has been labeled as a Leo uh Neo Marxist ideology the community seeks transparency from the board regarding the stance on this matter why hasn't this been a public statement denouncing this Marxist ideology and why are we implementing the framework that turns our students into social justice Advocates rather than focusing on merit-based education parents and taxpayers have a right to know why this is being politicized thank you and that wraps up citizen comment time unfortunately our student rep is unable to be with us tonight so we will be moving on to superintendent Time Dr McDade thank you Miss zapor pwcs provides multiple opportunities for
076students to participate in performance and production uh with fine and Performing Arts 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 our schools recognize the educational value of the Arts to teach abs ra thinking Innovative practices and understanding empathetic reason 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 by 5% through access to Opportunities like auditions concerts and exhibitions we want all fine and Performing Arts students to participate in at least three Extended Learning Experience es per year I
077invite all the pwcs community to attend at least one of our many school events so you may witness the depth and breadth of talent here in our classrooms March is also women's History Month with International women's day recognized on Friday March 8th the historic Day founded in 1911 by the International Conference of women was established to reflect appreciate and celebrate the contributions of women throughout history the theme in this year for the international women's day is invest in women accelerate progress the theme underscores the pivotal role of empowering women economically and socially 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
078to look for features from the division and our schools throughout March as our Schools staff members and students recognize the barrier breaking achievements of women in history speaking of breaking barriers this week is celebrated as 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 thank them for their heartfelt compassion in changing lives every day with the history steeped in improving attendance and making connections between home and school the National Association of school 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 unsung heroes to students in crisis I want to thank our school social workers for their transformative
079work with our students and the countless contributions to our community at this time I would like to introduce our director of research accountability and strategic planning Dr Tim Neil to present data from the first semester we we have been over the course of the last two years sharing quarterly data on student performance in terms of grades as well as attendance and so we are sharing the first semester today he will be joined by Dr Stephanie Sullivan associate superintendent of teaching and learning and Denise heer associate superintendent of student support and postsecondary success who will share next steps to further support student achievement attendance based on the data that you will see this evening two key takeaways that I would like to highlight before Dr Neil presents include the Improvement of our chronic absenteeism numbers based
080on this time last year and the datadriven work in pwcs last year at this time chronic absenteeism was reported at 25% currently we are reporting a 177% chronic absenteeism rate certainly not yet where we strive to be in reducing chronic absenteeism but a great distance from where we were those results are based on strategic communication building relationships and datadriven initiatives throughout the County throughout Dr Neil's presentation I want to keep top of mind the Strategic plan goals the data driven focus and the continuous Improvement that we are striving for every day following the formal presentation we will facilitate a question and answer from the board um so that we can share any additional information that may be requested at this time uh Miss Vice chairwoman I would like to bring Dr Neil thank you uh
081good evening M arore Schoolboard members and Dr McDade tonight I'm going to provide a brief brief overview of our second quarter or first semester data uh we're going to hit our on our current enrollment uh as of the end of the second quarter attendance data assessment data our elementary and secondary course marks and our secondary failing course analysis so this table shows um the enrollment counts at the end of the second quarter for all active students it's overall and also broken down by by student groups uh you can see that if you comp compared this with our first quarter we're pretty similar to where we were there is some fluctuation as we go throughout the school year this table shows our average daily attendance uh pay attention to the blue bars those are our current
082uh school year with the white bar on the left as a comparison the far right Blue Bar shows the average daily attendance through the end of quarter two when you compare that with where we were last year at the same time you can see we've had an uptick in our average daily attendance rates the line plot on the right actually shows this data where you can see there are fewer Peaks and valleys in the first half of this half of the year uh but as is typical when we get towards the holiday seasons we do see those dips in student attendance what's really exciting is that this has manifested an improvement in our chronic absenteeism rate so as a reminder chronic absenteeism uh means that a student has missed 10% or more of their membership
083days so if a student is a member of Prince County schools for the entire year that's 180 days that means they have to miss 18 days of school to be considered chronically absent chronic absenteeism also counts both excused and unexcused absences so the reason for missing school uh in this calculation uh doesn't make a difference it's whether they were present at school or not and lastly uh chronic absenteeism is a component of the current accreditation system in the Commonwealth so when you look at the table on the right again the blue bars are where we want to focus you can see we've had a a considerably um strong improvement over where we were at the end of quarter last year uh in many cases that can be um four five six 7% in fact uh
084Prince County through the end of second quarter was at 25% last year we are at 177% this year when we look at the same data breaking it down by level uh student group and race and ethnicity we Sim see similar rates of improvement um we should note that the the rate of improvement at the high school level is smaller uh than those of the other levels but then again that is that is something we see manifesting in other pieces of information moving on to our assessment data uh princeon County students have participated in the Virginia growth assessment uh this was an assessment that was um required by legislation passed by the general assembly in the fall students took um the growth assessments on content based on the prior years material in the winter which uh
085concluded just a few weeks ago it was based on the current uh grade level material these these tests are adaptive which means that uh they adjust the questions that students receive based on how they respond it's the same content as the so tests but the uh tests themselves are much shorter performance is measured uh differently it is on a vertical scale score ranging from 900 to 2,000 so all students are are on the same scale meaning we can track growth over time uh the research accountability and strategic planning department has provided support to uh schools and staff to interpret and utilize uh the VGA data and I would encourage anybody who wants to learn more to go to the v's website there's a parent and caregiver resources page that has um very good information about
086how you can use use this information so this table shows the VGA scores for reading the average scale score for reading in the fall and in the winter we would expect to see a an increase in this vertical scale score which when we look across the grade levels is in general what we see M Mr if you could please could you talk a little bit about what a vertical scale is just very quickly sure sorry I just for anybody listening has no clue absolutely so when we when we administer uh the test every grade level has its own every test has its own uh score so a third grade reading score um has its own scale that it uses a fourth grade reading has its own scale that it uses and you can't really look
087at a third grade score and compare it to a fourth grade score the vertical scale score um in essence puts it all on the same Continuum so that we can look at a second grader and a third grader and a fourth grader and it will all be on the same measurement type you're welcome uh this table shows our math um average vertical scale scores again we would want to see an increase from the uh fall to the winter uh average and that is when we look across the grade levels what we see in general it is important to note that our Advanced uh students in mathematics in 8th grade do not take the VGA we also have several uh measures that we use for to look at literacy uh the two we're going to look
088at tonight are the hmh literacy assessment which is administered in grades 2 through five uh three times per year so they have a beginning of year mid year and end of year it assesses reading comprehension uh and provides Lexile score we'll also look at the pals um phonological awareness literacy screening uh for their mid-year diagnostic assess assessment so this table shows our elementary Reading levels as meas measured by hmh the blue column on the right uh shows the be beginning of year and midyear change so you can see we have had an increase across grade levels the bar just to the left of that uh shows a comparison for the prior year at the end of quarter two so in the first quarter presentation we did do uh an update on where we were with
089our po scores and that was a benchmark score score the midyear Pals is different and that is is serves as a diagnostic for student progress so teachers can use this to to make instructional decisions so Pals provides a midyear range for each domain and student is either on target for meeting meeting the benchmarks at the end of the year or not on target so this table shows the elementary midyear Pals for our kindergarten students kindergarten students have five different domains rhyme Beginning Sounds alphabet recognition letter sounds and spelling and you can see uh the blue uh row uh is the current year with a comparative year just beneath it and you can see um in general we are either higher or on par with where we were at our mid year diagnostic last year our
090first through third grade students also uh participate in a midyear Pals diagnostic it is important to note that our third grade students it is only a subset of of all students so first and second grade all students in those grade levels take it third grade students it's those students who were monitoring for additional support and so you can see the blue column is the current year uh the column to the left is where we were last year at this time and again similar to where we were with kindergarten uh we are on par with where we were uh the prior year moving on to grading uh just just for context grades can be amended over time if students demonstrate Mastery of that material and the pwcs regulations do allow teachers to override the mathematical average
091if they feel the student and have evidence that the student has demonstrated Improvement in the Mastery of those standards so the next series of slides is going to show the grade distribution at the elementary middle and high school levels across the content area so this slide is for our elementary students uh each is grades 3 through five only they first and second kindergarten first and second grade don't do not receive letter grades you can see the quarter two is on top it's bold quarter one is directly beneath it for comparison um what we see when we look across um all content areas is a slight shift um towards the middle so we have a fewer percentage of students receiving A's um slightly increased percent of students that are in the B and C range with
092very little change in the D andf range this pattern holds across um all the content areas of the elementary level we see that same pattern when we look at the middle school level again the grade distribution uh shows a shift towards the middle and this also persists across all uh Middle School content areas moving on to high school this um High School is broken into two slides because High School also has a semester grade so the semester grade is at the top it is bold Quarter Two is directly beneath it quarter one is um at the bottom uh similar to our elementary and middle school we do see a movement to fewer percentage of students in in the A and B range at the high school level we do see an uptick in the percent
093of students that are receiving uh DS or FS when we look at the semester grade uh which is a an indicator of Mastery of material all the content material to that point uh we do see it o improvement over the second quarter and this pattern does persist across all subject areas at the high school level so moving on to our our failing course analysis so these tables show the the percent of students that are failing none one or two or more of their courses so the first table here shows our middle school students quarter 1 and Quarter Two and our high school students semester quarter 1 and Quarter Two again the percentages of students receiving de or or I'm sorry the percent of students failing one or failing two or more courses is similar uh
094to what we saw in the first quarter at the high school level uh we see a similar pattern again there's a small in an increase in the percent of students that are failing at two or more courses when we look at the semester level uh those rates also drop we further broke this information down by um student group and race and ethnicity um similar to what we we found in quarter 1 our English Learners our special education students and our Hispanic students have a higher percentage of those populations that are failing one or failing two or more courses and we also see that at the high school level so at this point I'm going to turn the presentation over to M Huer hubner to talk about our strategies so good evening so we are really
095working to support our school leaders and attendance teams not just with ideas but actually the implementation of the strategies that create the positive climate culture I'd like to recognize really the work of our school leaders teachers all the teamw workk in the schools and at central office really helping kids understand it's important to be at school and educate the adults that lead you know our students to come to school that we can only learn if we're here present in the building so the team in student health and wellness has been making a targeted effort not only um to look at the best practices but to go on site to give some support to schools and give some ideas about how things could be streamlined into order to make it a little bit easier they're holding
096motivation matters Zoom sessions um so teams School leaders can come hear ideas share strategies and talk about what's working and what we need to tweak a little bit our students have been provided the opportunity to actually talk about attendance and we're listening so our focus groups are offering some insight on barriers and motivation for student attendance and engagement we had some interesting discussions around the why um so we would recognize that there's the avoidance of um School due to academic challenges some have responsibilities to provide their f um for their families either by working for their families or for themselves or for doing um presenting some Child Care um support either for their own child or a sibling mental health issues directly related um to Chronic absenteeism including stress grief loss trauma anxiety and struggling
097to make social connections um I recently had the opportunity to listen to a panel um students talking about chronic absenteeism and one young man said we are young and naive but kids know when adults are actively listening adults like to put out advice they don't pay attention to our specific needs and that's different for every kid so we're really working to listen and respond to what our students are saying to us truly listen and act on it we received advice on in incentives for attending school what do the kids want what would motivate you to come to school working to create opportunities for social connections for our students engagement in school buildings and considering how we can meet kids where they are and using their input we've modified our attendance letters our attendance letters will
098no longer be sent for missed periods that's based on stakeholder feedback and they we we will continue our text messages which encourage and notify parents for safety reasons of if their children are in school for period by period and those are sent at the end end of the day um parents will continue to you know be notified by letters but this is with the goal of helping supporting students in attending 66% of our students who received a first attendance letter did not need a second one so it shows us that the letters are working it's getting the message across that intendance in school is important and the school is really a gentle reminder of the importance of being in school our parent Lea LS continue to be a critical support they make the important connection
099between home in school as a part of our efforts to know each student by name and need our parently aand are working with parents helping parents understand recognizing that there are cultural differences around attendance and the importance of attending in a way that's nonthreatening but encouraging so that we all understand and can be on the same page so we do have our oh we go so we have have high school students who are at risk and they are being monitored closely and not just monitored but being supported on time graduation task force which is led by our awesome High School associate superintendents Mr hood and Mr Wolf through that task force we continue not just to identify the problem looked to put supports for students in place to ensure that every Student achiev Success we
100provide opportunities for credit recovery social emotional mental health support as well as success coaches who are working on academic needs for students so one example is a student who has a success coach was so excited about the academic success that he was experiencing that invited his friend to come along so hey come on so we really do feel like this is effective and it's getting the message to kids that if you need help we are here for you there are adults that are willing to help you please reach out ask us we'll be there for you and we're going to find you even if you're not asking our school counselors continue to collaborate with Administration and other staff to remove the barriers to learning this is done through a comprehensive counseling program so we believe
101that that makes us stronger in our group counseling individualized counseling crisis counseling resource counseling and I just want to say if you have a need if you're a parent who's listening or a student who's listening and you want or need some help talk to your school counselor find a trusted adult in your school building the adults in the building are there to help you they care about you if you can't find an adult in your building please reach out to me I'll make sure that you do get connected to someone who cares so our families and students that are in need of support there are a lot of avenues and we are here for you and I'll turn the microphone over to Dr solivan now thank you Miss heer good evening in board members going
102to take a few minutes to explain just a few of the strategies that we are using to focus on improving outcomes for students we know from data and research that when struggling students receive content that is rigorous and aligned to the standards coupled with high teacher expectations that they improve at a rate even more rapidly than their on track peers and sometimes that's counterintuitive for people we want our students at all levels of achievement to be receiving high quality curriculum implemented from teachers who are skilled in instructional strategies with high expectations for student learning one way that we can assist students that need additional support is through supplemental instruction to help students recover credits ACR credits and engage in credit support beginning this school year all high high schools have a credit recovery platform to
103help students complete units or courses along with getting additional support each school has developed opportunities for students to work alongside certified teachers to complete these programs and this is an important shift we now have a consistent division-wide platform with expectations for excellence for all of our schools so that students do have an opport opportunity to recover but they are recovering using curriculum and strategies that are proven the structure approach ensures that all students are required to complete the rigorous requirements of the standards while getting that differentiated approach each of our elementary and middle schools has prioritized providing tutoring opportunities for their students that would benefit from additional instruction the support sometimes precedes a unit or it may provide reinforcement after content is taught tutoring also allows for students to fill in instructional gaps as a
104result of changing schools or other factors that may interrupt the learning process we've also launched digital platforms for parents to be able to Monitor and support from home we believe that parent School connection is vital Lexia is a well- researched literacy tool and zern is an evidence-based platform that supports math instruction both of these platforms are available to all students and families K8 we encourage parents to work with their schools to make sure they have the information to access these tools all K8 students have those and again they can be used at home or at school also excited to share that we have finalized an agreement with Varsity Tutors provides individual assistance for all students K12 students students can reach out 24/7 for help with specific questions or concepts these tools have been particularly helpful
105for advanced math and science courses because I know some of us run out of the ability to help our students in some of those classes at certain grade levels and so this provides them an opportunity to reach out and get some of that specialized support the L instructional and sustainability team have worked closely with school administrators in providing dat data scheduling support and interventions to assist schools in providing needed opportunities to our students who are still mastering English every student is monitored and tracked to ensure that their needs are properly identified and interventions match those needs we have found that this approach this year again ensures that students aren't left behind this happens at every one of our schools they get routine visits from a uh division Vision level person who has done much of
106the behind the scenes work for them and that way the time spent at the school is Meaningful and focused similarly our Special Education team led by Dr ryer has developed a process for cluster School support assistance with the identification of students and work around helping schools Target the strategies identified in each student's individual education plan teachers are supporting in understanding inclusive best practices and in strategies to ensure that co- teing elevates student outcomes our student learning team has created an immersive model for professional learning based on site-based collaboration sessions I am very excited about this credit goes to Dr Julia renberg and Sarah pluma talo for developing this program prior to each unit they go into a school work with not only the teachers at the school the L teachers the sped teacher the instructional
107coaches but more so they invite teachers from the surrounding area schools that have the same challenges and so what happens is this Cadre of people work on professional development for the specific unit that is upcoming and they strategize on the instructional approach data has indicated great success we are seeing those schools that participate in this collaborative process their data is showing a significant levels of improvement for this student and this is what we've known all along that teachers collaborating make magic happen teachers having an opportunity to have time to discuss um I want to really credit the principles who are providing that release time for their teachers we have replicated this model in math and are looking forward to replicating in other subjects areas as well and so again these are just a few more
108strategies that we are using to be on this continuous quest to improve student outcomes thank you very much is that the end of our pres no yes it is oh my gosh it was thank you so much that concludes the formal presentation and we will open up uh for questions Miss Williams thank you um Vice chair uh first let me start by saying I appreciate all the hard work and effort that was put into this um as I mentioned um from time to time all of you who um work towards gathering this data for us interpreting it and making it easily digestible for not only board members but the public I think are highly un unrecognized so I just want to say thank you for all of the hard work that you do um I
109have a few questions and um some of them do not need to be answered now I don't think they can be answered now but I would be very interested to know how our new student profiles profile of a graduate um that data and that tool can be incorporated to helping um support student strategies in the future how they tie together because I think that it's a very good resource and it um is an equalizer across the county and I think it will also um contributed to lowering some of the workload from our counselors and spreading it um amongst all of the individuals who serve as our students so maybe this time next year after we have it kicked off and rolling I'd like to see that sort of incorporated into our strategies um I want
110to applaud the division for our continued growth in listening to our students um it's really hard to solve student problems if we don't ask them what it is so I really appreciate the work that is done um in that Arena as well and I would encourage us to continue to do so um not only uh for our older students but also also our younger students as well um I did a question um regarding the identified schools and the success coaches and the the strategies and plans that are currently at those schools is there um expansion for that program or the strategies that the program is using for all of our schools so we do have we are targeting our three high schools with the highest absenteeism rate or highest need and really our lul population
111as well but we do have opportuni with schools need extra support or particular students need they can reach out to our office student services on postsecondary success and we can align them with a success coach and so our success coaches are our teachers who are you know doing extra on top of what they're already doing but we will connect um students with success coaches if it's in need and how are we sharing that information with our um population sure we have um routine directors of School counseling meetings and counseling meetings so we put that out there we have um our coaches also received that information and so we do notify those who are the ones that are supporting our students in need so they have that process in place thank you and then the last
112um thing that I'd like to um learn a little bit more about well actually have two more but this one is for gifted students historically they are left off this um student support strategy as far as commentary and recognizing them but we know that gifted students who don't receive the services that they need also contribute to a high dropout rate so um I was wondering in the future if we can incorporate some more information about how it is that we're targeting our gifted students because we do have an unequitable gifted population countywide and I know that we've been working hard I say that knowing full well as the person who has triumphed this that we are act improving and we have continue to improve so I don't want to say in a negative way but
113I do know that those students also um require additional support especially at the high school level yeah that that is a very timely comment um in the past month we've done a deep dive into our atrisk student population that is simultaneously gifted and looking at how we are identifying those students for support um the first thing we had to do was change some of our data systems for the early Warning Systems tracker that you've heard about it was not targeting gifted students and so we stumbled upon that worked with technology and our student service department and that's being changed um I have tasked some sounds kind of mean but I have asked um our gifted uh Team to place a priority on developing Improvement plans for students in those spaces um because data does show
114that students who are gifted are often times not the um task completers that people might otherwise believe and so we are launching a priority effort in that space and again really timely just talk to Dr fard about it a couple weeks ago and uh it's very important I think it's important for there to be no blinders in general yes right and so no blinders for who needs more acceleration and opportunities for you know enrichment no no blinders for students who need support the support may look differently for a student who has strong cognitive abilities um but it's essential nonetheless so thank you for bringing that up thank you I really appreciate that because I think the um average person's perception of a gifted student is that they're straight A students who um turn in all
115their work and um my own personal story of not being accepted as a gifted student and then later finding out as an adult helped me to understand why I graduated the way that I graduated and I would also say as a parent of a former princi County student who was gifted um not in this context right now because it's not the topic of discussion but to really look at the services we provide high school students um and not labeling classes just gifted or program specialy programs as gifted because all students aren't it's not Equitable for all of our gifted students and a lot of our high school students drop because they don't want to be pulled and the class isn't really truly meeting their needs for gifted um and the last thing um if you
116could just talk a little bit more about V Varsity Tutors versus paper so we have a little bit of understanding about that and then I'm done thank you yeah very similar platforms um the uh State I applaud uh the Virginia Department of Education um the state entered into a contract with Varsity Tutors where we were able to add on to that contract and they are providing this service free for all students in the state of Virginia um so it is a very similar platform where students will go in and you know access for a problem or support um very parallel programming this is an opportunity that we at this point are entering into a contract free to Prince William County students through 2030 um and so uh it is significant cost savings um with similar
117Services thank you so much yep uh I know Mr Jesse had a question not so much as a question I just want to thank you for your presentation uh I think it's very very well done the only thing I would say and I don't know if it's possible because I'm sure some of this is time sensitive if there's any way to break it up and do some not as much in one time I think I you know I try to listen and my attention span uh after a while just sort of phases out but uh the information we're presenting is excellent it's good to see that we are achieving a lot of our goals I just like to know if possible somewhere we can break it up into more than one session at one time
118time thank you um Miss wall you had a question okay thank you very much um this was a great presentation I always look forward to the time when we get to talk about data and student achievement because that's kind of the number one priority at least for so many of us right and and for me personally um and so thank you I I do um care a lot about this and I know it is the culmination of a lot of hard work on among a lot of our staff members and I know there are many people who you may call them like people in the last wagon um who work really hard um for students every day and don't necessarily get their recognition you know when we but when we put all this data together
119we can see that we're making we are making strides I can see areas of improvement and I know that means that a lot of people are very quietly and without any recognition working hard so I just want to say that up front um it does um I did have a couple of questions one I was intrigued by what you were saying about how high school students were pulled together to kind of have some you know asking students like what's going on and why are you not coming to school Etc because I do see that we have we still have kind of some persistent rates of absenteeism um and I am curious to just dive a little bit more into that what are some of the top things that students are saying is it is it
120that technology makes it easier to keep up on class so they don't feel like the stakes are as high to miss or there other things that are going on if you if there's anything that you can share to add beyond what you've shared sure I kind of um hit on the broad themes and so I have yet to have a student say I've just got you know so many resources at home that I'm not coming to school really more um when we're talking about academics they're just talking about a little bit of it's kind of hard I'm kind of not you know I'm not into it um that's one of my favorite I'm just not into it like okay but really um if I had to Anchor in on the most persistent theme it would
121be related to anxiety mental health and a lack of social connectedness if I could you know the big buckets would be thank you actually that's pretty eluting I appreciate that so anxiety mental health and not feeling necessarily connected to the school or to their peers or to their teachers or the subject I'm social connectedness in general you know no one I I I can definitely go on there's you know we've got this person it's very individualized um the reasons are very individualized but one thing that we are listening to strongly is the what would make you want to come to school and it's surprising ing that even adult um you know kids are adults high school kids they want to get together they want to play games in the morning before school they want to
122have opportunities to have you know great off of off the record conversations with teachers you know connect with people in a personal way and just feel a part of something big bigger than what you know just themselves so we're listening to that and providing those opportunities so we're buying some incentives so that schools can keep some you know different activities that kids can join in and create those opportunities thank you I appreciate that um I do think um from something that we really learned during Co and everything that we tried to do afterwards was that kids really missed connecting with each other that was the thing you know they were like you took the way one thing away that I loveed the most which was hanging out with my friends and connecting with my friends
123you know hanging out in the band room before school starts or you know whatever it was you know lunch activities Sports all that so I that's interesting and I appreciate that um I had one more comment or question uh the Strategic collabor ation the content area professional that that piece um and you said that students were showing significant Improvement and I'm really glad to hear about that um in particular was that because teachers were collaborating and it I mean I'm I'm excited about this because I I like when I can hear like Hey we're doing something that's really making a difference what can give me little more Deep dive in that yeah we call them our collaboration days and we work with our level of Associates to utilize data and identify clusters of schools that
124have similar academic needs our team goes in and focuses on professional learning and planning towards the next instructional unit um and again what what we're doing that's different is a it's embedded it's job related we're really trying to to take more action sort of into the proper workplace the they're including every body that supports students and that's also important often times our sped teachers or L teachers are are not a part of the planning process for instructional units uh as principles are also directly involved and then based on where this site is all these other schools are also invited so those teachers are getting substitutes and their principles are actually coming so now we have a large Forum of people in a room focusing on unit development and lesson planning for the upcoming instructional unit
125um one thing that I feel really strongly about is whether students need additional help or we need additional support the more that you can frontload so that the student can be more successful in that tier one instruction so the teachers plan they implement the unit with science and math we have unit assessments and so we're able to see this regression of increase in the unit assessments against potentially sites where this isn't occurring not that we don't want it to occur everywhere but I'm really focusing on those priorities um so the data is looking very strong on that targeted planning and high quality instruction is yielding results in students uh data and so uh right now we're working in elementary schools in this space and like I said we started in science we have now begun
126a replication of the approach in math mindful of the fact that our elementary teachers are often the same Math and Science person so we do have to take a very cautious approach in working with our elementary teachers to not um overtax them with all the different subject areas thank you that was that was really interesting and I learned a lot from that so I appreciate that and then the plan is to move this out yeah we're we're looking at how we're doing uh modified version of it in secondary but not with true Fidelity to the model um but we are working on how we can expand that um right now like I said uh Math and Science with VA coming next year we're going to be doing a lot of work around reading instruction the
127scientific based research approaches um so that's going to take a whole different level of focus thank you well it looks like it's bringing results and so I'm really pleased about that really proud of the team thank you thank you Mr Blake you had a question oh yeah Madam chair not a question I just wanted to thank you guys for the uh this Focus dedication to addressing uh the diverse need of our student population through these um carefully crafted uh support strategies and I just think that it reflects a profound understanding on the complexities involved in fostering an inclusive and supportive educational environment and I just want to say thank you no questions Mr wil thank you first of all for this I appreciate the presentation and the work you guys put into this I know
128you put on a you know 30 minutes you come up here and it looks like it was a quick easy um but I know a lot of work goes behind uh extrapolating that data and putting it together so thank you for that um a couple things uh and these are one this per first one is not a question this is just a general comment on Slide Five uh The Chronic absenteeism and um and I think we always go through this um Miss sub about the balance between chronic absenteeism and disciplinary policies um and I understand the conundrum in some sense that districts are in not just ours but others across the Commonwealth because on one hand you know we're saying we need to enforce codes of Behavior Uh in student discipline which I think you
129all know I side more heavily on than absences um but we also then have to um make sure we're not having kids be chronically absent and I I believe out of school suspensions count towards absent rate right for disciplinary you are absent if you are toward chronic absent yes okay this okay so all I was really saying there is no more not really a question but I just put that out there is it's a balance uh things to look at um I always stay vigilant on discipline because it is something very passionate of mine it is something I feel I've had an influx um you know if I was to look at my let's talk and there is a feature where you can actually tag the topic I use it and you can run reports
130um the vast majority of my issues as of like the last three weeks have dealt around the enforcement of the code of behavior um and so just a perspective I understand with the community but again I'm you know a stickler for enforcement of the code of behavior and uh of course look forward in June to revisiting that as well as you know one of my favorite times but that was about that and and so no really questions there um slide 21% of students St failing courses um so with the special education population um I know a big thing happening uh right now in the Commonwealth is the uh enforcement of the federal and state policy the 1% cutoff rate for the VAP and um the rubric that districts are now having to do to determine
131if a student is eligible still to take the VAP if when we're looking at first of all the scores and the percentages that you put up are we including just level two students with those percentages for failing or is it also including level one students as well so these percentages would reflect any student who is identified in our student information system as having an IEP okay so students who are in a self-contained room would probably it's not a traditional type of for courses and stuff like that in that sense but I'm imagining that is not necessarily factored into cor you that would be correct okay failing with that okay so one thing you know again I'm thinking of is and again under the opes of saying that it's all about inclusion which I am all
132for it's a great buzzword and I think it has many benefits however when you have students who probably should fall into the VAP category but because of a very difficult um uh rubric let's just say that really makes it hard in a sense for a child to qualify for the VAP so then you're taking s sols and your grade levels behind your General Ed peers so you're trying to find modified support but once again being grade levels behind you're expected to try to pass an so or pass a general education course so is is I'm ass sure there's discussions occurring um right now about how to factor that in because potentially it could lead to more students failing depending on the severity of how many years behind that student may be so if it's a
133sixth grade student but actually at a third grade reading level we're going to probably see an influx potentially of failed courses depending unless we have obviously you know a plan which I imagine we will have in place but it's just something on my radar and a concern because I know this is coming and I know if a student doesn't have the VAP evaluation before I think June it's going to be under the new guidelines and of course districts can do that now anyways but it's going to be much harder for a student to take the VAP versus taking an so Mr W I might be able to address your question so just to clarify in terms of the cap um the state the Virginia Department of Education has defined students eligible for participation in the
134VAP when they meet the criteria for a significant cognitive disability um however right now approximately 1.5% of our students are participating in the VAP it really is an IEP team decision so it's not like we have a set number of students that we can qualify for the VAP so I just wanted to clarify that point um but when you look at the percent of students failing courses that is going to be inclusive of all courses and some of those are designated and have adaptive ways of modified grading according to what the student's projected profile is after high school and just for clarity I know the IEP teams determined that but the state and the federal government is trying to make it as 1% or less as possible for your entire student population is that that's
135correct however any student that takes us over that 1% cap we provide justification for and as long as that justification shows that that student meets the criteria for significant cognitive disability then that can still be clarified as an appropriate IEP team decision okay thank you and Mr Den it's okay you don't have to get up I don't have any questions I am now aware that this time frame can also be just for comments and not for questions so um I just wanted to give the division credit because we do receive this presentation orally and Visually in a zoom call because this may not be public knowledge prior to this meeting and are we are given the ability to ask questions as board members to make comments to also send emails ahead of time to get
136information although I know because I also struggle a little bit to sit still and pay attention all the time that hearing the presentation for a second time while we sit here provides us all the opportunity to listen again and maybe come up with more questions Andor just comments if we like to hear ourselves talk so I just wanted to thank you for the time that you put in to present this to us multiple times all right I want to thank you all um I I hope that our um public is seeing we see this as a very Global 30,000 foot View and the context in which we see some of these things is not necessarily every student everywhere if you have a concern about your child please talk to your child's teacher we have so
137many supports available I am really happy to hear about all the things that we're doing um that and and then the thing with involving teachers in a collaborative effort just real quick are we giving them PD credit for that as well ah there's a nod yes okay um I have no questions just thank you for all the work I it it was fantastic uh anything else Dr mcade oh that concludes our report all right all right so moving on to committee updates tonight we have three committee updates we'll start with Miss wall and an update on the internal audit committee thank you madam chairwoman um the internal audit committee met on February 21st the audit committee meets quarterly um M Dr Latif and Mr Jesse serve on the committee with me um we I was
138voted to be the chair of the audit committee I'm happy to continue in that role um at our last meeting we were we did that um we were given a status update of audit activities including completed School audits there were eight School Audits and a turnover audit for the CFO position that were conducted during this last um quarter and we were given a chance to review the revised compliance best practices checklist for Bo Bo booster clubs and parent organizations this is one of those areas that we are have been targeting to try to improve our practices and compliance with our policies and regulations um we also discussed some in progress audit activities um upcoming audit activities and um further developing the audits efforts audits efforts towards Enterprise risk management which will bring added value to
139the pwcs organization as a whole by identifying and managing risks um we uh the recruiting of an internal audit manager is ongoing we have an office of one currently we have our internal auditor so that will double the size of the office um and there will be an upcoming peer review of our audit office with the support of the association of local government Auditors and that is penciled in for this summer um lastly the audit committee will meet again in May thank you uh moving on to Miss Williams who will provide us with updates on the joint environmental task force and the governor's School joint board thank you Vice chairwoman um I attended the first joint environmental task force meeting of the year the original meeting was postponed due to not being able to maintain
140a quorum uh at the meeting the um old business included finalizing the jet annual annual report to the board because this is a uh predominantly board county supervisor's uh task force the topic of the meeting as in addition to introducing new members was to discuss uh compost and sustainability throughout the county and the School Division uh it's very short meeting and I hope to have uh more information at our next meeting uh and then moving on to the governor School Innovation Park um we met in February uh the board discussed the budget uh we had our last updates we also discussed the emissions calendar the school year calendar which follows George Mason and Prince William County schools uh in addition to that some upcoming uh highlights will be the research Symposium on May 3rd which
141is open to the public at the GMU Science and Tech Freedom Center if you have the opportunity to check it out it usually starts about 9:00 in the morning and runs till about 11 or 12:00 there are various students that come and present their research project typically it ranges everything from automated cat dispensing to astrophysics projects uh if you love science and technology I would highly encourage you to attend this year's graduation has been set for May 18th it will be at uh Manasses Park High School auditorium Prince William County schools continues to have the highest amount of enrolled students at the governor school and U this year's uh excuse me uh this year I am the vice chair and it is uh Manasses park that is the chair so thank you our next meeting
142will be April 18th all right thank you we are moving on to board matters we have 1901 proposed rezoning that was taken off of cons sent by Miss wall thank you m Miss Zer um this proposed resoning is in the Gainesville District it's a project that I've been watching for a very long time I'm very familiar with the location um it's it's one I'm very familiar with because it's very very close to my my neck of the woods um and I believe this request for development impact statement is premature we don't have the most um upto-date data in this report um the applicants report relied on data from the 2022 uh 23 school year as opposed to data for the current year um and while I understand you know there there's just a delay and
143I don't know why it's a rapidly changing environment with a number of rezoning projects being proposed um and that changes the numbers it's an ongoing thing so I recommend um that we that we postpone considering this impact statement indefinitely um and give the applicant time to update its impact analysis using current data and so my motion would be um that I move that we postpone the development impact statement for the Smith Crossing resoning item 1901 indefinitely we have a second to that motion second Erica trenic second any discussion um are we waiting for a new updated um new data or is just indefinitely never wanting to talk about this again no I I think they just give I don't know when the applicant will be able to come up with like make a new filing
144it just is indefinitely meaning I don't know what it's not to a Time certain and those are the two options for the motion um but it doesn't mean that it's killed or anything like that it just means that the applicant decides when they get their analysis together and they they'll resubmit because they have an interest in having this come before the board sorry would you be open to a friendly amendment to change indefinitely to upon when the applicant submits new data I would have to ask division Council if that's okay I'm just asking to change the uh out the word indefinite into when the applicant submit new data because that's what you're looking for if I'm correctly understanding as well it would be easier to well she could do it indefinite she her motion was
145to do it indefinitely upon receipt of the information adding it to a subsequent board agenda um if she's willing to change her motion to a date certain the first meeting for instance after receipt of the information that would that would be okay to me if we say that the first meeting after the receipt of the applicant's revised application thank you am correct so that's fine all those in favor of amendment to the motion all right so all those in favor we have a discussion on that oh you want a discussion on the okay sorry so Mr Jesse yeah my understanding these zoning issues are in support of action that the planning board is going to take so I'm a little concerned that we're saying let's delay something when we are not sure whether the planning
146board if I'm correct the plan we are doing this to send to the Planning Commission into the Board of Supervisors they have their schedule so I'm not sure uh we can delay responding back to them Miss wall so the applicant proposes is looking for our approval or disapproval as the case may be on this um impact statement so if we say we're going to postpone this and we ask them to come back with more accurate numbers it it's it was always on them to come forward and say we want your approval in the first place if I'm not mistaken so it it just the continue the burden is still on the applicant to make the application and they have an incentive to make the application what I'm saying is they they delayed so long in
147getting this to us that they used old data and I would like them to use current enrollment data so that it is accurate I just think it's important that our data in our impact statements have Fidelity with the current facts since this was 2022 23 school year and we're almost to the end of the 23 24 school year so I it's not that we're trying to kill it or anything like that we just need better data and and that will become part of the public record so I think that's important Miss Williams thank you um I appreciate your ask as well as the um senior board member who spent like eight nine 10 almost my entire tenure dealing with County School Division relations when it comes to land and planning and plan and all of
148the things um our impact statement is only one factor that the county uses to make those decisions and it is um at least in my year serving has very rarely been a make or break um uh key component to their decision making um and that is after years of serving on joint audit committees where we did not have any conversation back and forth and because of that previous committee uh joint land committee I'm I can't think in the name of it I'm so traumatized from serving on it um but that's how we got our revised development impact statement and was able to get it in timely manner to the bccs um so I appreciate asking for proper data because that does make a difference on our decision whether we approve it or not but it
149has almost no bearing on what the BCS does so I appreciate that um Tren I I just can't to to sit up here and say that our decision making has no bearing it it literally like I don't know why we're sitting up here if it has no bearing what we say how we vote every single vote we take as an elected official we were put here by the people to serve the people to do a job what we say and what we vote on matters these impact statements matter they impact you as constituents in your communities they impact your schools the amount of children in your schools they impact where these neighborhoods are it it matters people it really really matters and so my vote matters when it comes to an impact statement my opinion
150is going to the board of County Supervisors and they review it and they take it into consideration it is not for nothing it comes before them they look at it they read it they care the general public cares what the school board votes on when it comes to these projects it matters clearly it matters you heard these people in the room talk about what matters to them it matters uh Mr Jesse first of all I I do agree with uh Miss wall that the data if the data is flaw that that's the issue uh again I just go back and I I do agree with you also that it does matter what I'm saying is that I don't know if the process perhaps if we could say that we don't want to do render opinion
151because we're concerned with the data being outdated but I don't know what the process is so at this point in time I will probably yeah I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point in time but it's important where is this going and who is we who are we sending it to and when is it due to them is there any more discussion so we need to um yes could we call the vote please and just remember you're voting on The Friendly am the friendly Amendment so uh Miss wall do you want me to restate please using okay so I move that we postpone the development impact statement for the Smith Crossing resoning item which is item 1901 to the meeting after which a new development impact statement is received and entered onto
152a Schoolboard agenda yes so we do we're gonna have to do a hand vote right we can do a hand vote so if you agree raise your hands to change it on the friendly M the friendly amendment to change a motion vote yes I yes we're only voting on changing the motion changing the motion all right okay okay so now the amendment now there needs to be a vote on the main motion this wall can we have a Sor motion okay so I move that we post bone the development impact statement for the Smith Crossing resoning item 1901 to the meeting after which a new development impact statement is received and entered into onto a school board it wouldn't be entered onto the agenda it would just stop it you would just stop it it
153it it you're postponing it to a date certain to the meting is the first meeting after receipt of the application with updated data okay to the first meeting after which a revised application is received do I have a second Madam Vice chair can I ask a question real quick no Miss William second hold on we can do a discussion Miss William seconds okay I just I just have a question for Wade can we ask can we ask them to to do what we're asking them to do with this motion which is resubmit a an impact statement is that a we're asking sure thank you Mr Den we're asking in the sense that if they wish us to consider the application they will have to submit a new application with updated data if they do not
154do that then it will not be considered you're really making me get out my book tonight I mean this is really I Dr Latif needs to get back here Dr L leaves and then all this happens all right so thank you Wade for your help so Mr Jesse yeah the vote has been called I don't think we can have discussion after the vote I I motioned my motion was for the now for the regular motion the first vote calling was for the amendment and we haven't actually called the vote yet have you okay yeah that's what yeah we're on discussion that's what yeah are there is there anyone else who would like to discuss anything seeing no one no discussion let's vote show up hands all those in favor as in favor of the motion
155as amended raise your hand okay thank you all right thank you so now moving on to board matters I started I believe I started with Miss wall last time let's start with Mr Blake thank you thank you madam chairwoman good evening good evening everyone these last few weeks have been super exciting in our community we've all come together showing off our skills and supporting each other in a big way there's a bunch I want to share about what's been happening in in the neapco district especially because it's National School social social work week this week we really want to shout out those amazing folks our school social workers they're the ones behind the scenes ensuring our children have that emotional and mental support they need it's because of their dedication that our kids can tackle
156challenges both in the classroom and outside of it okay so I attended the vhsl girls open State wrestling meet at Garfield High School uh these past couple weeks witnessing nearly 500 girl athletes compete with such determination and Excellence was nothing short of inspiring inspiring it's a testament to the power of providing platforms for all of our students to shine I also had a chance to take part in the first ever Achievers museum at the Dale City Elementary School it was really special to share my experiences and hear and hear what the kids were dreaming about it's clear how much a little support and having a good role model matters and for read Across America day I enjoyed reading a few books to the first graders at King Elementary School it was a fun way to
157show how important and exciting reading can be and then last Friday I had a chance to attend the Friendship dance at M minville Elementary School it was a fantastic Community event with food face painting a 360 photo booth and music it's Gatherings like this that really show us what our community is all about and I can't forget the basketball game between patomic and Patriot High School that I got to attend with Mr wils and Mrs trenic it was a a great game full of energy and showed the importance and teamwork and uh the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship all of the all of these events shine a light on our kids talent and the solid support system we have here let's keep this energy up and continue to bring our community together thank you to
158thank you for everything all of you do and for being part of this journey have a good evening Miss Williams thank you Madame Vice chair um I was honored to be able to attend our first aerial drone competition I'm just going to keep talking about it because I believe Prince County Schools is one of the only divisions uh that has now Land Air and sea robotics uh it was an awesome event and I can't wait to uh watch this program grow for all of our students um it is a little bit different than the national go National Guard correct the National Guard program um which is also another uh opportunity for students to be able to participate and learn about drones in the classroom um but they are not competition drones I was sorry to
159miss the underwater robotics event uh that was held at colan High School I usually am able to go uh but I do know that it was an amazing event um because it always is I was able to attend uh the vsba title 9 best practices uh webinar to continue to keep keep my education up to date on Title 9 and all of the goings on that pertain to that um sorry to miss this coming week actually tomorrow the school and food nutrition annual event uh it is a great event if you've not been I highly encourage you to get it on your calendar it is an opportunity to share your opinion directly with our school food nutrition office on what you think is good and not good for our school lunches and meals uh I
160do know they take your opinions into consideration as I had a son who went every year and is now chef and I am excited to be able to attend tomorrow uh the drama the drama club play at Featherstone it's actually three short plays uh that they will be performing for uh parents and Guardians on Saturday there will be a mental health fair at Freedom High School I encourage all those who are available to attend uh upcoming we will have a title one math in science night that will be on March 12th I hope that you are able to uh sign up and to learn more about Title One um Math and Science I think that uh overall we offer a lot of parent engagement activities throughout the division some are in person and some are
161virtual I highly encourage parents to attend oftentimes they are geared towards parents ability to help their students progress academically or to learn more about the programs that we have internally within the School Division uh just want to send out a final reminder to those uh who need to accept I think actually might have been yesterday for the specialty programs um the cut off either was yesterday or it's tonight so if you haven't gone in so if you haven't gone in please do so I think specially programs are what set us apart from our surrounding counties and allow for our students to Traverse throughout this County to um take advantage of uh different academic programs and CTE programs it's worked for my family and I um excited for my youngest to participate in a specialty program
162next year doing IB just want to thank all of our staff again for all of their hard work and um dedication to improving the outcomes for all of our students and our employees let's go down all the way to Mr wil thank you Mr arore uh just highlighting some of the events um I went to in a couple um you know comments um first of all um although Fernand is not here um the Forest Park last Friday had their uh annual U Multicultural night which was outstanding uh it was well attended and what I love most about it it was completely student driven uh so from the planning to the setup to the um uh running uh the agenda uh I thought it was phenomenal I think there were over 50 different cultural cultures represented
163so that was a great job uh to Fernanda who's not here tonight and her entire team uh thank you for Dr McDade and U mayor Derek wood for attending that event um I also shortly after was back here at the KLC I was honored to uh and invited to present the presidential medal uh to the student ambassador ceremony uh one of the students who uh was up here uh recognized from Garfield High School was there uh and it was organized uh by uh my neighbor and friend Dessa picket uh whose children actually started the ambassador program a number of years ago uh so that was a great event um also very appreciative of schools doing their reading and literacy nights um for people who don't know the Virginia literacy act uh which passed a little
164bit a a couple years ago I think uh is coming into full effect and districts have to submit their plans uh of action uh to promote literacy and uh I really enjoyed attending ashlin's uh reading night um which again you know focused on you know obviously some of the foundations of literacy and reading so that was a great event um congratulations are in order Mr um Tracy Mr Blake mentioned already uh but miss trenic uh her Patriot Pioneers uh did defeat uh my indefatigable and tenacious pomac High School Panthers um Bittersweet Patriot played very well uh but I'm still very proud of uh my pic Panthers uh definitely want to recognize TJ Bea and Kenny De Guzman who were First Team all regions so best of luck Patriot as you continue your journey through States
165and uh uh last but not least I do want to thank uh the board of County Supervisors uh in the honor and for appointing me uh to as the member at large representative to the Prince William County committee uh for students with disabilities um it is an honor uh obviously representing our school system as a special needs parent um and as someone who is very passionate uh about transition services and the opportunities that will afford our students and with uh other disabilities uh including the various MD ID Ed the various uh programs that we have to support them I'm excited to uh lend my feedback and support to see how we can expand these opportunities for our students throughout the county thank you thank you Mr jenck as we step into the month of March
166I'm thrilled to share some incredible highlights from the brunville district over the past few weeks I've witnessed the sheer excitement as Patriot High School emerged victorious in their quarterfinal basketball game propelling them towards the 6A state championship match I'm excited to watch them bring home the win this weekend in Richmond I also got to participate in the advisory councils for hey Market Elementary School and Gainesville High School it was truly inspiring to learn about the remarkable achievements and initiatives happening within each of these schools I also attended the Black History Month assembly at LS Elementary School getting to watch kindergarteners sing the incredible performances by other students and the fun game show was such a joy I continue to be actively engaged in conversations with the school division regarding teacher pay your dedication and years
167of service to our schools have not gone unnoticed I'm committed to ensuring that your concerns are heard and addressed effectively I extend my heartfelt gratitude to those teachers who have reached out to me placing their trust in me to help advocate for their needs um tonight after listening to some of the the speakers talk I just wanted to uh say a few few words um first of all pitting the East against the west side of the county achieves nothing growth not comparison should dictate the need for a new school our focus should be on continuing Capital Improvement projects to address aging schools countywide with homes being built across the county some districts may see more growth than others continuing with the East vers West rhetoric undermines our goals providing quality education to all students I'm
168sure that every School in our county is equipped to help prepare our student for a thriving future the other the other misconception that I heard is that there's a lack of diversity represented on the West End um I unfortunately I'm not a mathematician I did get some stats from from the division that came to me um Patriot High School is 53.3% minority Unity Reed High School which is also in the brentville district and on the west end of the county is 92.1% minority I did not get Gainesville and brinville but I do know that they are close to what Patriot is if not more um so those are just my points I'm super excited about going to watch three drama performances this weekend one of which my baby is in so I'm very excited can't
169wait to watch that and of course very excited to go with Miss McDade to Richmond this weekend to watch our Patriot Pioneers bring home the win thanks guys Mr Jesse thank you I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about where I went but I will say that at the Drone competition Woodbridge High School and Lake bridge Middle School were in the finals competing with each other and the girls Lake Ridge Middle School team beat Woodbridge High School so that's something to brag about now let me go back to what's really important to me starting in 2021 we were supposed to get this new school seven seven times this school has been postponed and what we're saying that's enough every time we look around there's an excuse to delay the school something else
170have to be bu number one I support the promic shur Elementary School that needs to be done now okay so I'm not saying I don't know you know the issue why we can't do both but probably money is the main issue so the recommendations of what we are doing as Miss wall was just saying here about the data our data is a piece of the data you use to determine if a school is over capacity under is outdated you know it's outdated and why you're making important decisions on this data is beyond me when you have 110 people you say is the over capacity at lak r i mean Woodbridge and you have 19 teachers that do not have a classroom how does that relate to not being overcrowded when you have five 25 minutes
171lunch periods and kids are still in line 15 minutes into the Lunch Period and haven't eaten yet why is that not overcrowded how you can figure it we need to re look at this data this school is overdue and thing yes we compete with the East and West most of the building in this county has always been uneased most of the building will still be be on the East and the buildings around minville and Telegraph and and Caden Hill Road are happening if somebody says there's 2,000 units it's not going to be 2,000 kids going into the high school but there will be kids and it's important for us to keep that in mind just thank you the last thing I want to say my wife received another award from the Senate yesterday down in
172Richmond which included being a member of this board she was recognized on the state for floor so thank you thank you Miss wall thank you um I want to start out by saying um I appreciate the students um who came out tonight and some of them are actually still here I think which is pretty impressive um and it's impressive to see students advocate for the things that they want and even if you don't necessarily get what you're advocating for it is absolutely awesome that you're here advocating and I want to commend you for that um I also want to thank those who came to talk with me during office hours that I held last month I appreciate that opportunity to sit and have a chat one-on-one about challenges or one on two however it is
173um about conversations um and concerns of my district um I want to you know at issue an important issue in the Gainesville district is development and while this development in the Gainesville district has slowed down in recent years over the last 20 years that I've lived in the district I'm well aware of how rapid large- scale development um on the county level stresses the school system and I know in Gainesville residents experien rapidly overcrowding schools with large numbers of trailers Battlefield once had 24 trailers they still have 11 um and multiple boundary shifts were very um hard for families to adjust to Once Battlefield not too long ago actually was 150% capacity and it's now at 103% capacity which is still overcrowded however it is in par with Woodbridge which is also 103% Capac capacity
174our actually our most overcrowded school is colan High School it is at 142% capacity and freedom Forest Park and Osborne Park are all in the one around average of 112% overc capacity Battlefield and Woodbridge are at the same level of overc capacity which is 103% um where we really need a new high school is in the colan Osborne Park area um so I'm very interested in seeing wise planning and accurate forecasting to the best of our ability with the most accurate data possible and recently we have seen strides in the data that we're using our team has made efforts to get more accurate data including birth rates per zip code things like that so that we can try to be more accurate because in past years because of inaccuracies we're kind of in some of
175the problems that we have now where we were shooting a little bit in the dark and we have schools that are over capacity and we have schools that are under capacity and yes it does make an impact on school I know because my kids were at Battlefield when it was 150% capacity that being being said these decisions about where to build new schools require careful analysis and we do need to attempt to rightsize our schools if we're going to build a 250 million do high school that sits half empty taxpayers will not be kind to us nor should they be we build schools because the numbers justify them not because we want them or people feel like they're owed them or they were promised them in the past we owe it to the taxpayers to
176build responsibly so again the most overcrowded school is colan 142% of capacity I feel sorry for those kids and I feel their pain um gain Garfield that was mentioned tonight that's actually 86% capacity I don't know what's going on at Woodbridge to have teachers that many teachers on carts but that doesn't seem like a new high school problem that seems like there's something else that can be discussed and I'm out of time I have plenty to say on this topic so maybe you'll get it next in two weeks but thank you very much uh thank you all for this evening for uh your thoughtful discussions and passionate discussions uh I want to start off by recognizing the Osborne Park girls basketball team while they did not get into uh the states they did have a
177fantastic season they are an awesome group an awesome team led by a a fantastic coach and it was great thrilling to watch them play um and I I'm sad that they're not going to be in Richmond but uh I will be cheering Patriot on uh March is music in our schools month it is youth youth art month and it is theater in our school's month uh Hilton High School is putting on the first musical in over a decade they're going to be doing Mama Mia this week I believe no next week next week so um she all come out and support them um I want to thank all the the teachers that did the really hard work of um getting the Elementary art show here at the Kelly Center this was the program and I
178asked the artists that I met to autograph my program for me and they they did it was they had beautiful works of art I I was impressed with the the quality uh the number of different things that they had um I went to the Drone uh drone competition which was really fascinating and and uh first time I'd seen something like that I after that I went to All County Chorus the elementary um Elementary All County Chorus was in the same building and they were so well prepared it was such a great show uh the teachers worked really hard parents thank you so much for getting those kids to rehearsals uh it paid off it was a really really great uh performance um it also went to assessment at colan the band assessment I didn't get
179to hear too many bands but I did hear Hilton uh Gainesville Manasses Park and colan and all of those performances were fantastic and it just brought me back to that time when I sat in in a band and I remember playing that high quality music and feeling very proud of myself very accomplished and I hope the kids just keep that with them always um want to before I end here tonight I want to mention that Ken creger was a teacher and a a soccer coach and he just passed away he's also the father of ali creger um he coached at Osborne Park when Hilton opened up he coached there and he coached at Forest Park and he just passed away he was one of the top uh winning coaches ever I had him for a
180PE teacher as a freshman in high school and um and we played a lot of soccer and PE um uh he he was um what he he also coached girls basketball and I I know I I know he will be missed um my condolences to his family and with that nothing for nothing more being coming before the board I now declare the meeting adjourned