001okay I would like to call this meeting the Prince William County School Board to order emotions now in order for the approval of the meeting agenda Miss wall Mr chairman I mean I approve the meeting at as recommended do you have a second Mr chairman all in favor raise your hands aye any opposed no opposition motion passes moving on to the motion enter closed session emotions over Mr wall Mr chairman I move that pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2-3711 and 2.2-3712 the Prince William 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 section 2.2-3711a1 two to discuss and consult with legal counsel regarding requests for religious exemptions pertaining to specific students under Virginia
002code section 2.2-3711a2 and 8. three to review a disciplinary matter for a specific student that would involve the disclosure of information contained in the Scholastic record for the individual student and to receive legal advice regarding same as provided by Virginia code sections 2.2-3711a2 and 8. four to consult with staff and division Council regarding actual litigation involving a public nuisance where such consultation and open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711a7 five to discuss with division Council and staff actual probable litigation and specific legal matters involving specific stuff and students under Virginia code sections 2.2-3711a7 and 8. 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
003to respond to such matters where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2-3711 a 19. do I have a second Mr chairman a second please for any discussion please vote I'm all in favor aye any opposition no and seeing none motion passes and you can do it again here if you'd like and um that's it at this time the Prince William County School Board will now enter closed session return open session in one hour [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] County School Board will now reconvene an open session we are moving on to the agenda item 8.01 for closed session certification emotions and Order Miss well Mr chairman I moved that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3712 the closed session of the Prince William County
004school board meeting of September 20 2023 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 the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board do you have a second Mr chairman a second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed moving on to closed session action items emotions in order for 9.01 approval of appointments and releases of specific employees Miss Vice chair wall chairman I move that the Prince William
005County school board approved the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in closed session do you have a second Mr chairman any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed on to 9.02 emotions in order Miss wall Mr chairman I move that the Prince William County school board approved the requests for religious exemptions in case numbers re 23-16 through re23-18 do I have a second Mr chairman second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed moving on to 9.03 emotions in order moisture wall Mr chairman I move the based upon a review of information provided in support of the student's appeal of the September 6 2023 decision of the school board disciplinary committee and the record before the school board disciplinary committee the
006Prince William County School Board denies the student's appeal and confirms the school board disciplinary committee's long-term suspension decision of student hs23-325 and that the school board also approved the immediate placement in computer-based instruction CBI program via remote access only for the first semester of the 2023-24 school year and the conditions for the students return to Traditional School do I have a second Mr chairman Ms Williams a second any discussion please vote the vote is six yes one abstain Jackson one absent Ralston motion passed moving on to 9.04 emotions in order Vice chair wall Mr chairman I I move that for the reason set forth in the student management and alternative programs Department's smapd letter of August 30th 2023 the Prince William County school board approved smapped recommendation to reassign students our student srh24-029 to the
007computer-based instruction CBI program via remote access only based on charges of unlawful acts in the community do I have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed moving on to 9.05 a motion is an order Vice your wall claims against Altria Group Incorporated and other related entities and authorized division Council to execute the documents necessary to effectuate participation in the settlement do I have a second Mr chairman my second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed thank you on to 9.06 we need a motion Miss wall Mr chairman I move that the Prince William County School Board retained Council to represent the school board and assert any claims it may have against meta platforms Incorporated
008formerly known as Facebook and other defendants for damage arising out of the design and operation of social media platforms and the creation of a public nuisance and authorized division Council to execute the documents necessary to effectuate such retention do I have a second any discussion please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed okay that wraps up closed session action items at this point we'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance tonight we have Fernando morante senior from Forest Park High School school board representative on the dice with us she will lead us in the pledge Miss Fernanda 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 justice for all thank you Miss marante moving
009on to adoption thriving Futures Focus right well you're doing that first all right well I welcome everyone to our second thriving Futures recognition of the 23-24 school year thriving Futures focus is an opportunity to highlight the exemplary work being accomplished in our schools that fulfill our vision that every student will graduate with the knowledge skills and habits of mind to launch 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 honorees have positively represented Prince William County Public Schools and the school board is proud to recognize him publicly for their accomplishments all of our honorees tonight are from the Kohl's District Mrs Lisa zargapor of the
010Kohl's district will introduce our award-winning musicians first Mrs argopore thank you Dr Latif each year the Virginia music educators Association or vmea selects the top performing ensembles in the the Commonwealth to perform at the state music education conference this year's 2023 conference will feature the Charles J Colgan Senior High School Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Ben Bernstein and the Osborne Park High School magical's directed by Dominic izo performing at the vmea conference is the highest demonstration of student participation and performance opportunities and Extended Learning opportunities as their music will be performed for educators administrators and state officials we are excited to have both ensembles share their talents and represent the high quality of music education that is offered to our students in pwcs the Colgan High School Philharmonic Orchestra is directed by Ben Bernstein the principal
011is Dr Tim Healey Mr Bernstein please introduce the students who are here with you tonight and share some more information about this talented group of musicians well thank you so much um for this recognition as you can see I brought members of the Colgan Philharmonic Orchestra this is we are so excited to play at the vmea convention in November of course you are all invited um it is an I work with these students every day and uh it is a teacher's pretty much dream to work with musicians of this caliber and um I just can't say enough of the students and they're just their work ethic I want to thank them first of all just just just being there every day and working so hard I would like to thank their parents don't forget to
012thank your parents for supporting them for all these years it takes a lot of behind the scenes work all the teachers that have ever helped them I'm really appreciative of them I'd like to thank Dr Healy for creating just a great environment for the Arts at Colgan high school and I would like to introduce the students that we have here this evening so I will begin with our violinist lme Lauren McDonald David George Catherine Choi Matthew Staton Sophia Curley and Grace Porterfield art violis our Emily yeah Bernice Gonzalez Atiana Reyes Cordero Amanda gestric and Mia Navarro our cellus cat bomb Ian croker and Leah Lily McDonald and our bassist Char Garrison I'm so proud of these students and we are so looking forward to performing in November at the vme conference thank you Mr Bernstein
013the Osborne Park High School madrigals are directed by Dominic izo and the principal is Lisa Marie Kane Mr aizo would you please introduce the students who are here with you tonight to share and share more information about this honor absolutely thank you so much and good evening and thank you for honoring our students and Osborne Park this evening I also would like to thank our wonderful principal of the Year Miss Lisa Marie Kane and our wonderful central office administration for Performing Arts including Miss Michelle Milligan and Miss Jasmine Hawkins I am Dominic izo I have been the choir director at Osborne Park for the past 11 years since I have been at op it has always been considered a stem school but I can assure you that at Osborne Park we are very much a
014stem School incorporating Arts into educating the whole child this performance process that we are about to partake in is the result of two years of dedicated work by these um awesome students behind me and the ones that have come before them the recordings that we submit uh were based off of just post pandemic and last school year as well um and both of these wonderful ensembles that we're honoring this evening this is uh both of our second times attending vmea both in 2018 and in in 2019. so I would like to take a moment to honor these wonderful students who will be singing on November 17th um Santino one of our seniors as well as Viviana Katie Jillian Ruth Caitlin Roberto and Yvette our Juniors Camry Kyla or I'm sorry Kayla and Sarah and our
015sophomores ansh Alejandro Wyatt charity and and Jenna we also have a few singers that were not able to be here this evening but thank you so much for honoring us this evening and honoring arts in our school division thank you [Applause] so congratulations again to the Colgan High School Philharmonic Orchestra and the Osborne Park High School magicals on their impressive achievement excellent thank you Ms argopore congratulations I ask again that the families and the colleagues of these two outstanding schools and their students rise for recognition in the back please thank you very much very exciting Mr agapore please share information on our next honoree well thank you Dr Latif the school board would like to recognize CD Hilton High School sophomore Cadence Costello for her State and National first place finish in the Educators Rising
016competition for lesson planning and delivery Arts Costello is a member of the Educators Rising a Career and Technical education student organization that aligns with teachers for tomorrow a program that helps students pursue a career in education Educators Rising hosts a National Conference each year to convene their network of future Educators and teacher leaders Costello was one of five students from Hilton High School who attended in the 2022-23 conference in Orlando Florida and the first underclassmen to represent pwcs at the National Conference she earned that privilege by placing first in the nation in the state and in the nation I'm also proud to announce that pwcs was chosen to host the Educators Rising State conference at Potomac Shores Middle School on March 2nd Cadence is here tonight with assistant principal Switzer her teacher Catherine Jackson and
017her family members I would love to invite Cadence to speak on behalf of her accomplishment hi everyone I would like to take a few seconds to thank everyone for coming out tonight Prince William County growing our own my incredible support system at home and Miss Jackson for their continued support in helping out students like me who hope to achieve their goal of teaching one day I cannot wait to see what the future holds in the classroom and I want to thank all of you again because seeing you all out here supporting all of us helps me realize that truly the best place for me is the classroom so thank you all so much have a great night [Music] thank you and congratulations to our future educator Cadence Costello and and with the family of Miss
018Cadence Costello stand in recognition of their of the support please congratulations again to the Colgan Philharmonic Orchestra the Osborne Park madrigals the State national winner Cadence Costello before taking a few pictures superintendent Dr McDade would like to share a few words thank you Mr chairman congratulations again to the Colgan Philharmonic Orchestra and Osborne Park madrigals we are so incredibly proud of you in our strategic plan we have a commitment to ensuring students have access to fine and Performing Arts and so we're just so grateful that you represent all that we hope all students have access to within the school system and we are just shining that you will be representing not just your school but our entire School Division and sharing your talents at both the state and National level and then also Miss Costello
019congratulations to you we're incredibly proud and we just cannot wait to see you return after graduation and hope that you will be walking the halls of one of our schools here in Prince William County as a certified teacher congratulations to you all thank you Dr McDade at this time I'd like to request our honorees to come forward for a photo with the school board and receive a small token of our appreciation we'll start with Colgan first then Osborne Park and then Miss Costello thank you foreign there's a whole country thank you [Music] okay [Music] Elementary okay so I started out of high school and then I had it so I you know services thank you um thank you all right um thank you okay very good again congratulations again to all our honorees and thank
020you all for um your patience as we went through that it was very exciting um now we'll move on to the adoption of the consent agenda 12.01 uh Vice chairwall Mr chairman I moved at the Prince William County school board approved the public meeting consent agenda as recommended do I have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams a second any discussion Mr chairman Miss Williams I just wanted to remind the audience that we do these a month in advance so these are all for October I forgot to mention that last time it gets confusing sometimes thank you Miss Jesse I just wanted to congratulate the custodial Services they are the lifeblood of a school if a principal doesn't show up maybe people will be upset but the custodian does show up the most important person in
021the building thank you thank you Miss Jesse Miss Jackson thank you Dr Chief um I just want to speak to the revision of policy 891 construction of new facilities and renovation of existing facilities this resolution was a collaborative effort between board members and the division I would like to thank Ms wall Miss agapore Ms Williams for their collaboration and insight I also want to thank division Council Carol Marchant Dr McDade Dr Ryan and Mr Bach collaboration is essential for board production it is a as it is a corporate board as Miss Jesse often references and requires a boat of five to make change lastly I appreciate the Educators who reached out to me to advocate for this change Universal Design learning is included in the school division strategic plan and is defined as a set
022of principles for curriculum development that gives all students an equal opportunity to learn it provides a blueprint for creating a flexible instruction that can be customized to meet individual needs what do I appreciate about this resolution is that the board in the division renews its commitment to inclusion and breaking down barriers for me it recognizes the importance of play or resource in the academic day for Young Learners including the academic benefits I'm excited as the Adaptive policy reads for all playgrounds including new schools shall employ Universal Design meaning that the playground shall be designed to be be usable by all students the greatest extent possible without the need for adoption or specialized design so thank you Miss wall thank you Mr chairman I also wanted to speak to policy 891 I'm I'm excited about this
023um improvement in our policy towards improving playgrounds for all children so I think it's really really great and I'm glad that I was able to work on it I also wanted to speak for just a minute about the um where did it go the legislative priorities and I wanted to express appreciation for the Focus that is in our legislative priorities for things that are addressing teacher shortage attraction of teachers to the profession retention of teachers and supporting the critical needs of the school division to support children so I really like that narrower Focus that we have I think the legislative priorities are great and I'm looking forward to um being able to advocate for Prince William County schools in this upcoming General Assembly session thank you okay thank you for everyone and then just as
024a reminder to everyone all of the actions we take on the consent agenda are up on the internet on the website um underboard matters and you can read about each of the policies and I would emphasize policy 891 I want to congratulate uh Miss Jackson of the brensville district Miss Walla and Ms argoport and all the great work they've done to get this across the Finish Line I think this is terrific and very excited and thank you to the superintendent for the work please vote on this um if you haven't already the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed great moving on to Citizen common time uh those citizens who've signed up in advance with the clerk May address the school board this evening when they're called the podium the citizen comment period
025for regular school board meetings one hour citizens may speak on agenda items or other topics remain to the operations and policies of pwcs please use proper decorum manners while at the podium or you'll be asked to step aside we ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping cheering or jeering to avoid disruption of the meeting if you do not the board will recess and I'll ask the room be cleared to restore public order tonight we have 20 citizens signed up to speak when I call your names please come up to the podium state your name and address for the record I'll call the first five names and their chairs up front if they choose to move forward Eileen Devereaux Richard Jesse Afton schwalm Carl greeton and Emily cherry
026Eileen Devereaux good evening Madeline Deborah the Gainesville District during the last school board meeting I spoke about documenting egregious aggressions against some African-American students in the western end of the county perpetrated by Prince William County Schools Employees today I'm speaking about organizational coherence at family and Community engagement and will suggest some specific yet simple actions that can be taken to begin to unveil a culture of accountability I stand with other marginalized students including racial ethnic minorities differently able English Learners low income lgbtqia and other children who thriving Futures have been compromised often it's unnecessarily complicated to advocate for children particularly African-American because of the lack of organized and accessible information I am requesting that Prince William sing clear and detailed communication about the fundamental civil rights of all students and lists specific options available to
027parents to pursue when those rights are being violated it should be referenced such policies such as policy 738 non-discrimination harassment and it should have links to forms to file complaints and incidents of harassment and bullying this should be part of the school and the weekly message and it should have a prominent position on a home page at pwsc.edu and at each school principals should be required in their school letters newsletters to affirm the values of equity inclusivity Innovation Integrity resilience and well-being and clearly state if these values are deemed violated who to contact and how this includes the process within the school and at the district level this communication should also contact information associate superintendents Chief Executives supervisors of the different academics departments so they can be engaged with situational awareness and when the school
028level resolution is received as unacceptable principles should also reiterate this information as PTO and Pac meetings prominently explaining the office of the Ombudsman this office provides parents students and members of the school Community confidential and partial and informational assistance in resolving School related concerns conflicts and issues yet it is buried in a school board well page why I realize that there would be pushback but a culture transparency and accountability some in school leadership will be uncomfortable because they will now be associated with policies and procedures that they had previously were not following or enforcing for I believe when you shine the light there will always be those that will be exposed good and good riddance but for everyone else cheers and carry on with the business of choosing children and my fellow parents I feel
029strongly you should engage to us bless men and to get timely health information and you can contact me directly at no Pam nopa M gmail.com is we need to document and mobilize we are not tolerating racism or any other ISM against our children period get the memo and get to work thank you Richard Jesse good evening my name is Richard Jesse my address is I'm filed thank you board members Ivory received a request from the moms of Liberty to do a survey the major question was would you support the model policies on insurance privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents I respect privacy dignity and respect of students and parents I just don't agree our interpretation how to do these things are the same I feel the statement in large part wants to
030know what is my position if the division should have a absolute obligation to inform the students parents if they are gay or transgender even if the student doesn't want their parents told I request that everyone think about what if the students know that their parents have an extreme opinion on gays and other such issues what if the student says that telling the parents could cause it possible extreme or even a possible violent reaction if there is a possible threat of violence would the school system be obligated to report this to Social Services there is no absolute correct answer that's why I believe the system must have the option to do what they feel is best interests of the students switching to books Banning and teacher history abandoning books and teachers history back in the day
031blacks were allowed not allowed to read but now some want to tell us what we can and cannot read yes you have a right to determine what your kids are allowed to read but you don't have the right to tell me what my kids can only read what you believe is appropriate nor does any parent group that comes forward have the absolute right to say that something can or cannot be taught in their school I believe and I mentioned believe that the current compromise is that if a questionable book or topic is going to be discussed in class you must be given a 30 days notice and are able to opt out thank you very much Afton schwalm hello my name is Afton schwalm and my name is on file with the clerk I'm a
032special education teacher in the county as division employees in uni and union members observe the collective bargaining process unfolding it is relatively obvious that the division's strategy is to run out the clock refuse to negotiate on the majority of contract proposals Force our Union to pay half the cost for expensive mediation and then ultimately pass whatever contract language the school board feels like pwea has said that the moment they pass the resolution written by the union busting attorney they are yeah but the union busting attorney they hired that they that that was their plan and it unfolded in exactly the way they predicted but as I've witnessed this process my mind keeps returning to a few short years ago when the schools were shut down to due to a global pandemic this is for a
033few reasons for one I'm reminded that much of the animosity that school board chair Latif feels clearly feels towards teachers broadly and the union specifically goes back to how aggressively we push back to when we thought to um have the staff back we fought against having the staff back in school before the vaccine I even recall him saying a little while later that he withdrew his candidacy for lieutenant governor because he was unsuccessful in that attempt but the main reason that I have been thinking about this a lot is that I remember how the division praised teachers and told us how we were essential and indeed it is obvious that at the time the education staff is literally essential to the functioning of society the majorisdiction given by those who wanted to open schools before
034there was a vaccine was that it was necessary to both bolster the economy and this is obvious when schools can open parents have to stay home from with their children not all jobs can be conducted through teleworking so this made diff it difficult for businesses to open that effect compounded every day schools remain shut down I know I have no doubt that Latif and the other school board members probably received plenty of calls from business owners urging them to open schools as soon as possible perhaps their disappointment factored into latif's claim that shutting that school is shutting down there until there was a vaccine hurt the via the viability of his campaign for lieutenant governor now we're being asked to provide this virtual instruction which we proved did not work during that pandemic on our
035Code Orange days so bringing it back to the present all this makes it more bewildering that the division and School Board seem completely unconcerned with Staffing shortages in our schools it makes it difficult to understand why they are so unwilling to compromise in good faith when it comes to collective bargaining and contract negotiation if teachers and staff were essential workers then why does the school board and the division leadership treat their employees dismissively disrespectfully and antagonistically why do all of these actions seem almost designed to chase their staff out of the division and into the Open Arms of Fairfax Carl greeton good evening I'm Carl gretton of the Gainesville District the school board has not solved the problems presented to them last year it is not too late for the current School Board to drop
036out of the running for next year and drop your candidacy you have not solved problems own up to it and drop out it is time to move on there are candidates for your position the Prince William teacher Union does not even support the current chair the current school board has been in the position to make Prince William County better what have you done to correct the downward spiral absenteeism bullying violence and inflated scores are high what would be your process to make Prince William County stronger if you vote to shut down schools these issues will only grow worse what have you accomplished is not working set up a process like a project manager would propose and then seek input from specific individuals at a Roundtable better yet set up a tiger team to find the
037answers the chair has spoken about data center income data center income is not the answer 400 million dollars may come into the general Prince William County budget not the school board budget in 15 to 20 years I am sure there may be some Math teachers in this room 20 million dollars a year by 50 divided by 57 percent to schools is approximately an additional 11 million dollars the fiscal year 2023 budget provides the schools with 715 million dollars yet Dominion Energy has said the cost of power Towers will be 16.7 billion dollars that cost will be passed on to rate payers at a cost of eight hundred dollars per year for everybody in this room if you are concerned about money then you should stand against the digital Gateway the 16.7 billion dollar bill will
038start now if you want to save money eliminate die Prince William County can do away with in-services for teachers while you virtue shame the same teachers you are trying to hire eliminating die can probably save a million dollars due to the salaries in that department the current chairman states that Sol scores have increased and are above average School Board candidates have stated the reality is Sol scores are down 15 percent we don't always have to look just at the increase in Sol scores the goal should be to blow those scores out of the water remember we're just trying to get back to the norm prior to the lockdowns we need to rise above that number do not even consider future lockdowns and contribute to additional mental illness did anyone vote to follow the previous lockdowns
039the ones who followed the lockdowns or the current school board members early voting starts 22 September 23. that's on Friday to find your voting location go to elections.virginia.gov thank you Emily cherry and then after Emily the next five will be Katie Jefferson Yari dalancore Jennifer Roberts Yvette Martinez Rigg and Jared gay Miss Jefferson or Emily Cherry I apologies hi my name is Emily cherry and my address is on file and tonight as one of the co-chairs of pwea social justice committee I want to speak about what our School Division values many teachers in Prince William County started this school year by boxing up shelves of books from our classroom libraries even though we know that being exposed to as many books as possible is the best thing to help our students become lifelong readers even
040though we know diverse books serve as mirrors for students because the ability to see characters like themselves in a book makes them feel less alone it lets them know that there's a place for them in this big wide sometimes lonely world even though we know that diverse books serve as Windows for our students allowing them to see outside of their own lives and to empathize with people outside of their own cultures I've heard from teachers across the county that because of the division's unclear directives about the new policy on sexually explicit materials many teachers are opting to remove their classroom libraries entirely rather than accidentally it violate a policy that is unclear and hasn't been explained it's hard for me to understand why such a policy even exists in Prince William County schools because I've
041been paying attention I've heard this school board each one of you talk about how much you value social justice I've heard you say that Equity is a core value of the school district and the school board but we can't say we value diversity and then limit diverse books in our classrooms maybe eliminating books from classrooms wasn't the intention of this policy but it has certainly been the result and when the results of policies don't align with our values then those policies have to change like I said I've been paying attention to what the school board says and it says that they also have heard you say that you value teachers and some of you have even said that you support our right to collectively bargain and yet so many teachers are here tonight and we're
042telling you we don't feel valued we don't see evidence of the desire for good faith negotiations from the county when you said you supported giving us a seat at the table our expectation was that our voices would be heard but that isn't what's happening instead the only thing we're hearing in response to a request for thriving wages and better working conditions is no so let's be real whether you say you value Equity or you say you value teachers if the results of your actions don't match those words then I don't believe those are your values at all Katie Jefferson all right good evening Dr mcdaiden School Board my name is Katie Jefferson and my address is on file with the clerk on October 4th 2022 Justin Wilkes stated that he's been a Vanguard for collective
043bargaining for the 14 months prior later in that same meeting he cited that inaction has a cost we've heard that by the testimonials tonight that our educators are facing that was 14 months ago I agree with Justin and action does have a cost it's apparent the Vanguard of collective bargaining has jumped ship the silence and lack of support has been deafening meanwhile almost 12 months later Educators and support staff are still facing the same problems with the same people sitting in front of us but it doesn't have to be that way I firmly believe that that the people in front of me can take action they can help our veteran employees they can help our employees that need the most help the ones that are on the lowest on the pay scale it was brought
044to my attention that the school board chair did not believe that a bus driver who was so brave to put her salary out to the public he did not believe it was substantially lower than what was advertised well this week we figured it out on the classifieds pay scale chart there are grades in which encompasses almost 180 job positions in steps or pay increases which you know you get when they decide you get them and the steps the way that it looks is it's a yearly salary based on the grade and the steps and that yearly salary is based on I believe 37.5 hours over 250 days but there's only one job in grade number one and that's a cafeteria Hostess there was no cafeteria host by the way only Hostess we'll get to that
045later who is only permitted to work 180 days so this cafeteria Hostess doesn't make the sound the advertised salary there's no way that entire grade is zero percent accurate she works a hundred and he or she if it was a host Works 180 days so I ask our Vanguard Justin Wilk did you or do you understand this that you have an entire grade on a pay scale that's incorrect did you know this when you allowed our bus driver to be humiliated by the school board chair when she was called a liar it seems to be we're back at the same place that we were way back in October when you ask these questions and I'll ask them again what is the estimated cost of losing our teachers and our support staff how much are we
046spending to recruit non-certified teachers and what part of the budget has been allocated for something Miss Jefferson Yari delancour T hello my name is Yari dallencour and my address is on file um I am an educator artist wife and mom and I'm just going to share a little bit about my personal experience coming here as a new family to Prince William's County I grew up in Northern Virginia in Reston went to South Lakes High School went to Langston Hughes and Forest Edge and I had a wonderful experience growing up here I left and went to New York City spent many years pursuing my career in the Arts and education and then went to California to Silicon Valley for my husband's job in Tech when we came back to Northern Virginia we were excited we moved
047to back to Reston and we moved out here about a year ago we have five kids from the ages of 5 to 16. so two at the high school and three in an elementary school and some of much of what I've been hearing is very disheartening and concerning we've experienced many of the things that have been mentioned here as a family of you know African descent where our children have been unfortunately discriminated against when it comes to Athletics or placed in courses that are advanced level courses we had two of our daughters in a private school in Vienna and we came here and I literally my husband I had to fight to make sure that they got placed in advanced classes and we were given every excuse why that wouldn't be the case we applied
048our daughters and our son to gifted programming had to appeal they were accepted because they had the test they had the aptitude and um were deserving of being placed in those programs I can't understand why we're fighting so much and I'm sure this is one anecdotal story and just my experience but while we're spending time on all of this we're not being Innovative we're not supporting our children and thriving collectively we're not being interdisciplinary with our students and focusing on some of these other things so again I mentioned I'm an educator and an artist and it's a bit frustrating to see the resources and the opportunities that we have here that we're really missing with some of these other issues that we're facing so I do wonder and ask Even in our school which is
049all the elementary school we don't have any African-American teachers I remember growing up here again at forested and seeing a diversity of teachers also in my community in our churches in our wrestling Community Center in Lake Ann at different events and so on and so forth so I kind of expected to see that just 30 minutes away in this same area so I just think about the relationship between Community between our schools I'm also very active as a girl scout leader I try to get as involved as I can so I just want to understand more about the recruitment processes the things that are being done to hold teachers accountable when they don't send allow certain students or discourage them to be in advanced classes and with some of the other issues around discrimination when
050it comes to Athletics and things that we've heard over the last this is my second board meeting that we've attended so just want to see and understand better what you all are doing about those things we're a new family here and more new families are coming so make this place great and keep it great thank you sorry Jennifer Roberts good evening Dr McDade Dr Latif Vice chair wall school board members and District leaders my name is Jennifer Roberts I reside in the Gainesville districts and my address is on file Prince William County School's fourth commitment is organizational coherence which includes working toward convergence operating as a unified school system with shared accountability for school and division goals objective 4.4 reminds us that school divisions are complex systems and that the multiple components of the school
051division depend on one another and must be aligned to support students as the mother of two pwcs students I observe and experience that Dr McDade and her team have done an excellent job of developing an actionable strategic plan that all District employees are supposed to follow I also observed that Dr Brown has done an excellent job establishing the division's diversity Equity inclusion and compliance office as well as creating an outstanding Dei plan that values and benefits every stakeholder in our learning community unfortunately what I also observe are too many pwcs staff members who are hell-bent on undermining and unraveling the efforts of these two dedicated leaders as well as holding on to discriminatory and racist practices that endanger black students instead of working with parents of black students to cultivate environments that help our children
052Thrive far too many educators are sacrificing the well-being of our students and Catering to the majority the Gainesville district is comprised of 12 schools out of those 12 schools at least one-third of them employee staff members who are participating in discrimination and racism toward black students or enabling staff members to practice discrimination and racism this may be news to some who have been duped into thinking that all is well in Gainesville and Haymarket don't let the abundance of fake Smiles School of Excellence recognitions and high test scores fool you the Gainesville district is sick with the cancer of racism too many black students are suffering in plain sight at the hands of imposters impersonating true educators pwcs policy 738 is clear on the district's position on discrimination and harassment but far too many employees are
053closing their doors and willfully disobeying the policy some of these same educators are enabled by other imposters who actively or passively participate in the racism or keep their dirty secrets Black children and parents have rights too we will not tolerate this abuse we are asking you to help our children are under attack thank you Yvette Martinez rig my name is Yvette Martinez Rigg and my address is on file good evening members of the school board administrators dedicated pwcs employees and fellow community members I stand here before you today with a firm belief in the power of collective bargaining as a Cornerstone of a thriving educational Community it is a vital bridge between the various stakeholders committed to our students growth and development cultivating a culture of mutual respect and collaboration that the unique perspectives and
054talents of pwcs staff are acknowledged and harnessed enriching and launching our students thriving futures but this can only be accomplished when both sides are willing to negotiate in good faith for a fair contract pwcs employees were clear when they voted for collective bargaining we wanted transparent communication channels between the administration and the staff to ensure that decisions are made collectively taking into account the perspectives and experiences of those on the front lines day in and day out but I'm sure you've heard all these things before my priority in addressing this body is to speak to the dedicated Prince William County employees to my colleagues we have not had a voice or a seat at the table for far too long we came together uniting our voices to ask for collective bargaining united we ask for
055change once again we must unite and let our voices be heard demanding a fair contract if we fail to come together again we consent to Virtual code oranges to become the norm except that other duties as assigned is the norm that working beyond our contract hours without pay is the norm that two percent pay increases are the norm that built-in snow days never used are the norm or that three-year contracts become the norm the only way to see the change we asked for is to let our United voices be heard join pwea write letters to the school board or better yet attend the school board meetings we must let our United voices be heard my dedicated work co-workers I leave you with this one last thought united we bargain divided we beg Jared gay and
056then after Mr gayleby Maggie Hansford Steven Spiker arvinder johri Kimberly Melman Orozco and Amanda Locklear my name is Jared gay and my address is on file with the clerk in searching for reasons why division leadership in their bargaining team have been so antagonistic towards employees attempts to organize for the purposes of negotiating a fair competitive contract I came across a piece of information that might reveal some context Chiefs for change is an organization that was started by Jeb Bush which split from Bush's foundation for excellence in education in 2015. to quote the Washington Post since its creation Chiefs for change has represented a small group of State education officials who have loudly promoted an agenda shared by Bush using test scores to evaluate teachers a to F report cards for schools expanding charter schools and
057online learning among other things many of those ideas are embraced by conservatives and opposed by teachers unions the foundation also connected State education officials with its corporate donors facilitating private meetings between State decision makers and Company Executives at the foundation's annual meetings this has led to some criticism that the arrangement serves as a backdoor for major corporations to urge State officials to adopt policies that would enrich the companies end quote so what does this have to do with our School Division and collective bargaining well superintendent McDade is a member of Jeb Bush's Chiefs for Change and is even quoted in some of their promotional materials our superintendent is a member of a consort a conservative organization that promotes all of the same discredited ideas championed in George W Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation and
058conservative reform agenda that puts the interests of private companies over those of teachers staff and students so it is at any wonder that the line item for professional development went up by 90 in her first year as superintendent is it any wonder that she stood in the way of good faith contract negotiations between the union and the school division is it any wonder that the school board just told us that the meager and inequitable counter proposal on pay we were given yesterday is mcdade's quote First and final offer end quote that's not good faith negotiating that is constructing a fake table for the purpose of gaslighting employees and residents of our community into believing that staff has actual rights in our school division it's collective bargaining theater her she's basically the Vince McMahon of education
059is it any wonder that policies have gotten more onerous and punitive towards staff since she became superintendent is in any wonder that the huge Staffing shortage in our division doesn't seem to be a concern to her after all public schools fail the right-wing education reform agenda is perfectly comfortable falling back on their calls to privatize schools I'm not saying that that's mcdade's goal but I am saying that the logical conclusion of many of the policies that she is promoting through Chiefs for change is school privatization and many of the people that are also affiliated with cheese for change have no problem making that case explicitly so the question is does this reflect the agenda of the Democrats on our school board who hired super into Nick McDade if so they should own it if not
060they should denounce it she may not have to worry about getting reelected but you do thank you for your time Maggie Hansford hello my name is Maggie Hansford my address is on file I am a parent of three uh I would love a hot spot for my students to be able to have Code Orange there's a lot of parents and Educators that are being denied hot spots so I think we should have that discussion sooner rather than later I came here today to talk to you about the proposal that was provided to pwa but first I want to talk to you about when you all started you all started you were elected in 2019. when we are compared regionally to all the school divisions regionally in 2019 when we you were elected we were second
061from the bottom for average teacher salary today we're second from the bottom an average teacher pay when you were elected in 2019 we had the highest classroom sizes in our high schools today we have the highest classroom sizes in our high schools compared to all other region all other divisions in our region you all were elected four years ago and that's where you started and you are there today let's talk about the proposal that was provided to pwba but first let's talk about the two percent raise for educators that was shared to all of our staff that was provided by the state passing our budget and what staff needed to understand was it's two-thirds of two percent so if you're making sixty thousand in Prince William County schools you're not getting twelve hundred you're getting
062800. you're getting started getting the two percent from January to August you're getting two-thirds two percent okay so let's talk about the counter proposal it was partial I'm still waiting on it but you were able to do a slideshow you were able to give me a three-page summary but I'm still waiting for the actual counter but let's talk about where it gets us does it get us anywhere from second to the bottom for average teacher salary absolutely not you all decided that 80 percent of our certified teachers will receive five percent and twenty percent of our certified teachers will get nine percent we wouldn't do that to our students why are you doing that to your staff do better Steven Spiker hi thank you Steven Spiker my address is on file uh like everyone else
063here I was caught by a surprise on Thursday to learn that Code Orange stays will now require live virtual learning according to the pwcs website we have 18 days worth of hours built and above the minimum required and this means that there's nothing stopping us from declaring a code red and just closing the schools during bad weather instead of a Code Orange so why do we even have them Dr McDade and your 2021 letter when you created these Code Orange days you said that you wanted to maximize time available to provide instruction to our students citing investments in technology laptops and Wi-Fi that in theory provide an equitable experience you said quote these Investments have provided the means to deliver instruction even when in-person learning isn't an option and while I admire the work that
064you've done since you were hired of the professionalism that you brought to our schools on this issue you are wrong code orange days were a mistake from the start and dumbling down doubling down on them now demonstrates a failure to recognize that mistake for starters to the original rationale whether it's asynchronous or live or resume virtual learning does not maximize time for instruction because it doesn't work period even in a scenario where every single teacher is able to fully prepare and provide virtual instruction in every single student logs on to receive it we know that virtual learning was and is a disaster in fact the reason why we Face learning loss from the pandemic is precisely because it doesn't work and opposing more virtual learning to help make up for the loss caused by virtual
065learning is insane but we also know that the scenario I just described is impossible it doesn't happen teachers do not have the time prepare to prepare for a sudden shift from in classroom to Virtual let alone those who have their own kids to support and students do not have an equitable experience which extends far beyond County provided equipment to include technical experience to include adult supervision to support it and a quiet dedicated space for kids to actually engage with the material maybe the most affluent in the county will be in an ideal position to participate but most students are not and most parents are not in a position to scramble to provide it when a Code Orange is called the night before a school day so as a result it's inevitable that Code Orange days
066will be the day that many students and teachers call out sick or they may not even bother with a pretense of an excuse and just be marked as absence and this is happening while we're boasting about our improved attendance numbers in short code orange days put unreasonable demands on teachers who are already unreasonably unreasonably burdened it increases inequity in learning among students it creates chaos for parents and it undermines our school success story about keeping her kids kids engaged in classrooms and for what there's no reason for any of this just call it a school day and close the schools teachers parents and students will figure out how to manage the rest as they've done for decades and it really is that simple thank you our vendor Jory good evening my neighbors are winter Jewelery
067and my address is on file as a co-chair of pwes social justice committee I would like to take a moment to discuss some issues related to social justice in our school division as well as emphasize how actually including employees in the decision-making process via good faith collective bargaining negotiations would augment social justices core tenants of inclusivity equity and diversity it was heartening to see that Prince William County schools and the Prince William County School Board declined to implement the governor's guidelines aimed at stripping protections and representation from some of our most vulnerable students I wish that a school division had led in this aspect instead of waiting for other divisions in the region to take similar actions first this left many staff members students and parents flustered and alarmed but I sincerely thank you for
068the decision that being said I have to also express my disappointment and concern over the school board's decision to voluntarily Implement other guidelines regarding books that are antithetical to our school division stated commitment to inclusivity diversity and equity the policy operates under the guise of parental rights to ensure that the children are not being assigned sexually explicit materials yet the weight definitions provided for sexually explicit can be so broadly interpreted as to include many titles that contain innocuous technicality that no reasonable parents would find sexually charged or objectionable what the policy actually does is provide a line of attack in the right-wing culture War being waged against LBGTQ plus Youth and representation while the policy does not single out LBGTQ plus representation it places a requirement on teachers and staff to provide prior notification of
069a broad swath of titles that would satisfy the aims of parents pushing these types of policies and in turn censor books that contain queer representation additionally this policy places such a mammoth and unreasonable burden upon teachers Librarians and other staff members how can that predictable outcome possibly make this policy in the best interest of Staff or students it's imperative to incorporate texts that authentically represent underrepresented voices and create spaces of courageous Kimberly Melman Orozco good evening my name is Dr Kimberly milmanarosco my address is on file um I wanted to spend my time my three minutes juxtapositioning some of the things that you all have said compared to some of the things that audience has said um and I'm trying to reconcile the gap between the two so Dr Latif um in your promotional advertisements
070for your election you said that there have been over 30 percent teacher and staff raises that you oversaw this yet we're hearing from many teachers saying that that's not what's happening and that you're fighting against their collective bargaining for a 17 increase we're hearing from them that they're still second from the bottom with average teacher salary um I actually took the time and it's not a 200 Page document to look through your proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 and I didn't see a lot of teacher raises I did however see many teach many raises for your administrative staff specifically for example one light line item that I thought was particularly interesting was in fiscal year 2020 your budget for general counsel Wade Anderson I'm looking over at you was under half a million dollars now
071it's over a million for 2024. why do you need that maybe it's because of the multiple violations to federal and state law with regards to special education rights that that could have been part of it but how could that money be reallocated if you actually complied with the law that half million dollars certainly can go and help the bus driver that is trying to look for a raise and being paid 35 000 a year I'm sure um let's look at some of the other things you said Forbes Magazine number one school division to work at in the Commonwealth um win in 2023 it said that we had dropped 50 positions we are 50 places underneath and many many other schools are ranked above us so that I don't see that being a reality now with
072a little bit of time that I have left I just wanted to also make mention that um Dr McDade I I'm curious how you feel being used as a talking point by the board members we've heard many parents talk about the Discrimination within the division but if you ask Miss Adele Jackson or Dr Barbara Latif we don't have a discrimination issue because they oversaw your appointment as the first black superintendent I wouldn't like to be used as a talking point personally and on that I'd like to end with a narcissist prayer that didn't happen and if it did it wasn't that bad if it was that's not a big deal and if it is it's not my fault and if it was I didn't mean it and if I did you deserve it every single
073time I hear and I juxtaposition what teachers and parents and staff members are saying to what you're saying that's what I think about Amanda Locklear good evening my name is Amanda lockler and my address is on file in June I stood on this very same spot and I said there are a few things in life that we can't get back the word after it said an opportunity after it's missed and time after it's gone time cannot be replaced yet not all of us pay attention to it a few of us rush it many of us waste it some of us don't have it and none of us are promised it little did I know exactly three months later the words I had spoken would be a constant repeat in my head I'm gonna cry board
074members I have been watching the debates Town Halls whatever you want to call them I appreciate you sharing aspects of your lives in backgrounds I can certainly empathize for the child that's being bullied or a parent and being made to feel like they are less my heart hurts for them I can also agree that engaging with our schools our administrations our teachers our counselors should result in success for the students however it doesn't always happen sir you said rather than you know complaining and you know screaming and grandstanding about the issue what we did was we work closely with the school Division and the teachers and in the administration and counselors I'm glad it worked out for you I'm glad it worked out for your child collaborating as a collective sometimes proves to be quite
075challenging for various reasons especially when it comes to special education this month marks a year since I've been asking for help guidance and assistance mind you I've gone from the bottom up the issue continues here and here's an example and now a core memory unfortunately June 22nd I request an IEP meeting via someone at the KLC to discuss the ieees that have been completed this should have started a 30-day time period August 17 56 days later the first meeting is conducted with a time limit so we have to reconvene August 19th my mom goes into the hospital August 21st school starts August 29th 68 days after the initial request in the second the second meeting is conducted my mom is now in the ICU intubated and I am in that meeting to finish this out
076for my son we have to reconvene again I'm told 15 minutes before we stop that there's a hard stop September 1st my mom dies step number six I bury her September 12th 7 82 days later we meet again to finish out the IEEE discussion and conduct a meeting for a different Prince William County email that a 65-day time period at what point does someone help us Us and Them thank you you're Sydney and Lasseter and then after her will be Bella Lasseter Chantal Rock Hina Ansari and Chrissy Falls Jessenia Lassiter Bella Lassiter Chantal Rock Hina Ansari foreign hey everybody it's so good to see so many familiar faces I I've recognize so many of you thank you Dr Latif thank you uh Super Nintendo McDade uh for having me here I am uh a substitute
077teacher actually here in Princeton County schools and I can Echo a lot of the things that I'm hearing from the teachers and um I'm here because I was uh I'm part of a Facebook group and they were talking about the lgbtq rights and they asked me to come in and speak well they didn't ask me I volunteered because you know what am I going to do on a Wednesday night besides sit at home or come here and talk to all of you so I wanted to tell you a story that I heard with a parent while it is Ashburn I feel like it's still a relevant story so bear with me for like well you've got a timer so we'll see and I also like your timer it's very snazzy so um she was telling
078me that her daughter is a muslimber Muslims and she wears a headscarf so she went into the daughter went into the bathroom this is the the T the parent telling me this story she said her daughter went to the bathroom and she was adjusting her head scarf and a trans girl came in and then she said she didn't know what to do and she panicked so this is the parent told me this so I said what was the end of the story but the mom didn't have an end of the story so I went to find the daughter and I asked her because you know I'm a substitute teacher I'm not afraid to talk to kids even though they are a little intimidating and uh and they and she she looked and I retold the
079entire story as her mother had told it to me and the daughter looked at me dumbfounded and said I don't know what you're talking about so I thought it was fascinating that this parent had contrived the story of this Boogeyman of this trans kid coming into the bathroom and scaring her kid when none of it ever actually happened so I think that that's something that I think about when I talk about trans rights and as a substitute teacher and I know one of the teachers said this too the schools are wildly overpopulated I've reserved myself to only doing high school because I can't handle kids that I can't reason with and you can reason with a little bit with high school students I think I encounter maybe one or two lgbtq kids per day and
080that's like 120 kids per day so percentage-wise you're really uh you know you're it's like an elephant and a mouse but anyway I didn't have any more to say but thank you Chrissy Falls good evening Dr McDade Dr Latif School Board I'm back General thank you for appointing me to the safe schools advisory Council of the years I serve I'm mostly proud of what we accomplished last year and we now have weapon detectors going into every middle in high school I hope you're I hope you're having the schools ramp up that dial and getting those Vapes and all of those other fun devices we know vaping continues to be an issue how does this tie into your discipline process are students being educated are parents being educated this would be a great Initiative for your
081Substance Abuse Prevention specialist except you only have one your prevention specialist does a great job and is fully involved in other prevention efforts in the community bringing in resources into the school system but again she's only one person and with the student student body of what ninety one thousand if you don't already know neighboring Counties have a saps at least in every High School sap stands for Substance Abuse Prevention specialists where they are assigned to provide Substance Abuse Prevention education and brief intervention services not only with the child but also the parents and School staff prevention in this county has always been on the back burner the school system has access to Community Services New Horizons school-based prayer therapists and prevention staff but prevention needs to be a priority in an elementary and middle schools
082where it can have the most impact years ago Prince William County Has A Substance Abuse Prevention specialist in each high school with feeder programs in each middle school and was a model for the rest of the state maybe it's time to play catch-up and provide our students with the science-based information and skills they need to make healthier choices and prevent discipline issues and addiction thank you at this time that wraps up citizen comment time we will move on to 14.01 proposed sale of vpsa bonds fall 2023 this item is on for Action this evening a motion is in order Vice chair wall thank you chairman Latif I move that the Prince William County School Board a authorized the completion and submission of the application to the Virginia Public School Authority vpsa for a fall 2023
083Standalone Bond sale in the amount of 141 million 380 000 to finance certain Capital Improvements projects for school purposes B authorize the superintendent or such other officer as she may designate to submit such documentation as required by vpsa C request for the board of County Supervisors to authorize the completion for a fall 2023 vpsa Standalone Bond sale and to take such other action as may be necessary to complete the bond sale and D direct that this resolution shall become effective immediately do you have a second Mr chairman Miss Williams a second any discussion um does anyone have any questions regarding this item we discussed this last time any questions okay at this time um please vote the vote is seven yes one absent Ralston motion passed okay Mr Wallingford go forth get us a good
084rain thank you very much moving on student representative time tonight we have our student rep Fernanda moronte senior at Forest Park High School on the dice with us miss morante please thank you Dr Latif good evening Dr McDade again Dr Latif and school board members in Prince William County Community my name is Fernando morante and I am beyond excited to represent the student body here at Prince William County this year as well as representing my high school Forest Park this evening in the diocese I'm excited for this amazing opportunity and I promise the pwcs student body to do my absolute best to fulfill all my duties and make your voices heard to the school board uh with that said I would like to congratulate once again Osborne Park High School madrigals and Colgan High School
085Philharmonic Orchestra for their next performance at the upcoming Virginia music Education Association professional development State Conference in November 2023 as well as City Hilton High School sophomore student Cadence Costello for achieving first place on the junior varsity level in the category of lesson planning and Delivery at the 2023 Educators Rising National Conference I think these are examples of what Prince William County Schools staff and students can achieve if working together Prince William County thriving Futures Focus implementing it all schools encourages students to graduate on time and with the skills necessary to have a thriving future post High School Prince William county is strongly committed to every student enrolled in each of the 95 schools to ensure that they are receiving the tools necessary for Learning and achievement for all positive climate and culture family and
086Community engagement and organizational coherence the county does the best they can to provide the tools necessary to ensure this happens but it is our job as students to also work towards this common goal students in schools will only be successful through engagement with family and Community as partners in one way of ensuring this comes through is through student attendance it's been proven by the Virginia Board of Education that better attendance is associated with higher grades which is why I would like to encourage all my fellow Prince William County students to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities we are giving daily such as specialty programs sports teams academic clubs student-led organizations College fairs and school-based and county-wide activities I strongly encourage all students to make the most out of school and work together for a
087better attendance rate county-wide which will lead to better academic performance for all on another note it's been a month since school started so I would like to extend a warm welcome back to school to All Families in Prince William County I have seen the adjustments that students have made regarding the implementation of the evolved weapon detection system in all middle schools and high schools I can't speak for Forest Park as we won't be starting until October 11th but I do know some schools have started using them already so I do acknowledge and appreciate all the effort that students and staff are putting towards making schools a safe learning environment I know it is a different and even unfamiliar process to walk through the evolved system take your laptop out and whatnot but if there is
088something that we can all agree in is that we want a safe space to learn so I do thank all students and staff for working together to adapt this new implementation I would also like to acknowledge and print the wish Prince William County Community a happy Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th through October 15th we honor National Hispanic Heritage Month in the U.S this is the time of the year that I personally enjoy a lot as I'm part of the Hispanic community in the county in Prince William County so I am beyond excited to see what different student groups and different schools decide to do to celebrate this special time of the year I invite all student council associations and Multicultural student groups to take advantage of this month and organize activities within their schools
089to celebrate the immense diversity than the county hosts Prince William county is the second most diverse County in Virginia and 10th in the U.S so I advocate for all student leaders to reflect this during this time and get excited to celebrate all the different cultures and backgrounds present in our County I think it's a perfect time not only to celebrate Hispanic culture but diversity as a whole I am really happy about all the activities and celebrations I saw a video from Freedom High School and I thought all the activities they had were really nice so I'm excited to see what the rest of the county does finally I would like to show my excitement about the integral ceremony of innovation elementary school will be taking place tomorrow September 21st I am so grateful to have
090been invited as a senior representative along with Isabelle and Jackie my fellow reps I can't wait to see what the Falcons have to offer to the Prince William County Community I was looking through their website in Innovation Elementary School's mission is to provide opportunities for all students to demonstrate creativity challenge their own capabilities work collaboratively and appreciate and support individual differences and I am very thrilled to see what students from the news newest School in the county have to offer to the community throughout its first year and with that I conclude my remarks for tonight thank you for listening excellent thank you Miss morante we really appreciate it we welcome you to the board and we're excited to work with you the rest of this year moving on to Super tennis Time Dr McDade thank
091you Mr chairman first I would like to formally welcome and introduce our new pwcs executive cabinet members we have first Shaquille Youssef who is assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer Mr Youssef most recently served as Director of Finance for pwcs prior to that Director of Finance for Fairfax County and he will be taking over the role of CFO from John Wallingford who retires October 31st so congratulations to both Mr Youssef as well as Mr Wallingford as many of you know Rita Goss our former associate superintendent of teaching and learning also retired in June 30th of this past school year and we are excited to welcome Dr Stephanie Sullivan as our newest associate superintendent for teaching and learning Dr Sullivan joins pwcs from Brevard public schools in Florida where she most recently served as the
092assistant superintendent for secondary leading and learning welcome Dr Sullivan uh Bill Bixby was our associate superintendent for high schools he retired June 30th and we have now two new associate superintendents for high schools Mr Greg hood and Mr Keith wolf Mr Hood previously served as pwcs management support director of high schools and Mr Wolf most recently served as executive director of secondary Education and Leadership for Spotsylvania County public schools welcome to the team following the retirement of Dr Jocelyn Hart Kimberly gudinus has assumed the role as the associate superintendent for Western Elementary Schools Ms godinous previously served as pwcs management support director of elementary schools and she has a long history with pwcs having served as a teacher Elementary School principal and supervisor for professional learning congratulations to each of you on your new roles
093and we look forward to witnessing your positive impact on students schools and communities each year between September 15th and October 15th our nation celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions diverse cultures and extensive histories of the American Latino Community this month inclusively celebrates the independence days of several Latin American countries including Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras and Nicaragua on September 15th Mexico on September 16th in Chile on September 18th on Monday we notified all pwcs employees of the school board and divisions approval of an additional two percent salary increase for fiscal year 2024. during the sy24 budget season all employees received an average five percent increase and we committed at that time to investing any additional state revenue received this year towards competitive wages and benefits at the
094end of last week Governor Younkin approved the state budget which allocated additional funds for Education although we already met the criteria for the state the state criteria for a two percent increase in our initial budget process we are keeping our commitment to continued investment in employee compensation allocating the additional two percent was on top of the average five percent for employees that took effect in July that increases the average salary for the fiscal year 24 by 7 percent this two percent salary additional salary increase will take effect January 1 2024 and will be applied to the salary scales for certified instructional managers and classified employees this week began the first phase of implementation for our security screening systems we began with four high schools which include Gainesville Osborne Park freedom and Independence non-traditional school it
095has been an overall successful start to implementation of course as we expected students are getting acclimated to this new routine however each school has begun implementation without incident and by the end of the first week we expect any minor delays in starting times to be remedied we will continue to learn and refine practices throughout this first week of implementation to ensure a smooth process as we are onboarding additional secondary schools in the weeks to come at this time in the superintendent's report I would like to invite Miss Denise Huebner associate superintendent for student services and post-secondary success and the student health and wellness team to give a presentation on Substance Abuse Prevention good evening chairman Latif Vice chair wall members of the school board Dr McDade thank you for allowing our team to be here
096on the team from student health and wellness is in charge and oversees substance abuse under the direction of Ms Pam Bell unfortunately Miss Bell would not be is not able to be with us here this evening but she was a significant contributor to this presentation so I would just want to mention to her so I'm grateful to have Dr Tamika Martin who's our supervisor of student prevention programs and family assistants as well as Mallory McKnight or Substance Abuse Prevention specialist if I can get this clicker to her door here we go so the work of retainment student health and wellness is grounded in our strategic plan that and our goal is that every student will graduate on time with a knowledge skills and habits of mine necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and
097their community our strategic plan was built on core values that we wholeheartedly Embrace Equity inclusivity Innovation integrity resiliency and well-being we take responsibility for well-being of students physical and mental health and we take measures to help families and students and employees feel supported and protected in order to thrive under commitment to positive climate culture our goal is to promote to promote Wellness for all this includes emotional and physical wellness and for students that means having skills that will lead to success in the future I believe it's important to recognize that the division's role in substance abuse is to provide education to students and to support parents by providing resources and referrals to community agencies as an organization we understand that our Core Business is education we understand that it's our responsible to responsibility to remove
098barriers to learning for students and as a division we work to create conditions that do remove those barriers but we do not provide therapy for students who are impacted by substance abuse or addiction Princeton County Schools partners with families by supporting students and developing healthy habits through education and awareness we also have a significant role in helping families connect with Community Resources when needed one of the most important roles we play in Substance Abuse Prevention at Educators is to help our students learn these success skills that will lead them to a thriving future on this slide you will see examples of some of those success skills these are embedded into our counseling curriculum into our day-to-day actions with our students by teaching these skills we will help students make responsible decisions about their well-being students
099are going to experience challenges peer pressure but as I mentioned resiliency is part of our core values and the foundations of our thriving future strategic plan we believe it's important to help our students feel a sense of belonging that creates conditions to help and demonstrate resiliency we want our students to believe in themselves feel self-worth when faced with challenges and to make good decisions and apply healthy habits as you can see on this slide nationally there are trends of substance use prior to age 13. increasing from 14 in 2021 to 15 in 2022 this data shows that students nationally had their first drink of alcohol prior to the age of 13. there's also an increase nationally in the use of marijuana and perhaps the most concerning statistic is the use of illicit drugs that show
100on the CDC survey that is at 13 percent on this slide you'll see some National Data from the Journal of American Medical Association for the national Center for drug abuse the statistics show are regarding fatal drug use and overdoses among teens you can see the increase by 94 from 2021 it's an increase of 20 percent and in 2021 fentanyl was identified as seventy percent of the overdose the result of the cause of Overdose deaths for adolescents between 2016 and 20 20 there was a 61 increase in drug use among 8th graders this data includes um some information that we see locally in Virginia the data reflects trends that we do see such as vaping marijuana use and alcohol consumption on the increase and this data set shows the same alcohol vaping illicit drug use by
101grade levels you can note the high percentage of students who are engaging in vaping you'll notice how the use of substances increases as our students age our goal is to ensure that our students have education at all levels to help prevent the use of substances our strategies are information dissemination prevention education which is most effective when it started at the elementary and with lessons that are developmentally appropriate and with parental consent and involvement support for problem identification and referrals to Community Resources are also strategies so as parents we encourage you to know your teen's activities and pay attention to your teens patterns whereabouts and social activities provide boundaries establish expectations and rules be involved in your child's social world know who your teen's friends are if you have prescription medications please make an effort to
102keep track of them find ways to support and engage in conversation sometimes that's not easy with teenagers it's not easy being a teenager these days but as a parent the best thing you can do is to provide supports to love unconditionally help your child understand that they are not alone and keep in conversation with them and also set a good example on this slide you'll see a summary of our coded Behavior violations that are related to substance prohibited some substances we opted to share a comparison of pre-coded data and postcode data to help highlight our current challenge you can see the significant increase on this slide you'll see the specific violations pre and post pandemic and you'll note the increase in vaping or as we call them electronic cigarettes as well as violations related to
103marijuana and so at this time I would like to turn the presentation over doctor to make Jamaica Martin who will provide an overview of some of the efforts and supports provided to families thank you as with many of the supports that we have for our students our Substance Abuse Prevention education uses a tiered approach tier one includes prevention education for all students grades K through 10. tier two supporters for students who have their first code of behavior infraction involving substance use and they're referred to our stop and think program the program is held monthly and provides education on vaping marijuana and opioid use it is a small group session that allows students to also assess their substance use and learn to make good decisions students with substance subsequent infractions or who are referred due to
104more serious serious substance use issues may be referred to our New Horizons program there's a counselor at each of our high schools and they are provided by Prince William County Community Services for our tier one lessons provided to students in grades K through five school counselors usually create a developmentally appropriate plan that is used throughout the division for each grade level then in grade 6 through 10 our health and PE teachers create lesson plans that provide information about things such as types of substances Trends and signs of addiction students also learn the risk Association associated with using substances and understand things like social influence in addition to our student education we provide education to our staff through professional development our substance abuse specialist provides annual updates to teachers and partners with outside agencies to discuss
105different topics we also partner with the Community Services Board of friends William County to hold monthly revive training for all staff our substance abuse Specialists also provides educations for parents in the community as requested by School staff this can include information on Trends and resources tips to talk on talking to youth about substances and setting up the hidden and plain sight bedroom display which highlights signs of substance use and paraphernalia that can look like everyday products as our goal is to provide education to students and families regarding substance use and misuse we have compiled resources on our Substance Abuse Prevention website this is where parents and Guardians can go to get more information about what we offer as well as links to Community Resources this slide shows some of the educational activities that occur during
106the 2022-2023 school year and as I said our substance abuse specialist collaborates with Community Services to provide education for our schools and communities throughout the year for both staff and for students and Families each year pwcs also celebrates Red Ribbon Week this this year the dates are October 21st through 31st with the theme of be kind to your mind live drug free schools are encouraged to sponsor programs and activities and Miss McKnight provides a planning guide for their use we also celebrate Red Ribbon day on October 26th where everyone is encouraged to wear red in support of the cause in addition with to our partnership with Community Services pwcs also partners with the DEA our drug inform enforcement agency the Prince William County Bar Association and the prevention Alliance of Greater Prince William County our
107division also has an opioid task force that meets throughout the year to discuss current trends and develop recommendations for improving substance abuse education the Task Force brings together stakeholders from many departments throughout the division and some members from the community and so as Ms hebner said the goal of this presentation is just to equip you with the facts and resources so you can feel empowered to have these conversations with your children and that Spirit we wanted to share some Community Resources that can be useful in those discussions I now turn your backs over to Mrs Huebner to close us out just in closing I'd like to again thank you for the opportunity to bring this important topic to light and that concludes our presentation thank you Miss hibner so at this time um I will
108open it up for board members who have questions or comments and who would like to go first Miss Williams I just have a comment I just want to say that I appreciate all the hard work that's done by your office and the presentations I have been able to attend a middle school presentation care to Middle School families the hidden in plain sight bedroom is impressive I thought I was pretty hip to the game with all the kids that I know and I still learned quite a few things I appreciate all the time and effort that goes into that of course we continue to build our staffing and I would very much love to see the day when we have the ability to make presentations county-wide at multiple events and multiple times I know that we'll
109get there one day and but in the meantime I I really appreciate all the work I think it would be good to see some of these um some of the information and other types of events too just so that we can hit the most um the maximum amount of parents as possible I know that we inundate our families with information so I'm always trying to figure out new ways to catch attention but I do think that it is critical and important there are a lot of families that deal with drug or substance abuse issues and I know it's top of a lot of family Minds so I appreciate all your efforts and I just want to say thank you thank you who would like to go next Miss Jackson all right I really appreciate the
110presentation tonight and I've also been to some of the trainings and they were they were exceptional so I just appreciate the conversation and the time that you've taken to present tonight um and this update is asked for it was a direct result of a conversation from office hours with Miss wall and parent engagement and I and I just this partnership that is being demonstrated it's just like I appreciate it I know we said like three times but I do I do appreciate it um so there's one thing I have a question about is that what steps would you suggest to parents in terms of involving schools so like they they might want to involve the schools in the conversation maybe they're on the fence about calling the school um would you take would you suggest
111the parents to take if they suspect those students involved in drugs I definitely encourage the parents to reach out to their counselors they are we have school mental health professionals they partner with our social workers and have the ability to connect parents with Community Resources it's always good to partner with parents to know what's going on so we can form a plan of support like we said our goal is to remove barriers for students and so while we don't provide treatment we do provide supports so that students can access their education when the building and then if they don't feel comfortable contacting the school directly is there another resource like here at the Kelly Center that maybe they could contact certainly always welcome to reach out to me directly or to our office of student
112health and wellness I would also encourage parents who are looking for that confidentiality piece or for the resources our web page does have a lot of information on it and a lot of good connections really Community Services Board would have good resources for parents so I encourage them to work with either their medical provider or Community Services Board to see what's the best option for their family all right thank you all right Mrs zagrefer thank you um when I was with a vsba event and got to meet board members from all across the state we would talk about mental health drug addiction all kinds of things and each Community has its own way its own approach of doing things I'm also in a cohort with UVA where I have no educational professionals across the state
113one of them Works in Rockingham County and they have therapy in their schools I believe is what what she has told me in the past so and I know that there were a couple other school divisions where the school board members talked about that what what what how do we get um I don't know how to ask this is it possible to get therapists into the schools for some of these kids who might not have access otherwise or a Telehealth um or if because some places do do it I don't I don't understand whether that there's barriers here because of our government structure or our school structure or it I'll let you answer so we're certainly always open looking at ways to help our families it is you know a very like you say a
114sensitive topic and the parents are the ones who have the rights and the know the best treatment for their students it is a matter of resources and so I would encourage you to to reach out to maybe our Board of County Supervisors to explore what Community Options could be brought in to our buildings as we've noted we do have New Horizons counselors that are located in our high schools and so we do have access to students who go through that community service and are referred to the New Horizons but at this point in time that's our limitation thank you the other thing I wanted to just say to the general public is the the revive training is really short and it will get you a Narcan so uh it I recommend people taking it it's
115a it's a pretty fast easy training there's a little video they play that just it makes my heart hurt it's so sad you know with a little yeah yeah the little birdie so but I recommend everybody um who just just take a look and see what it is but um it's a really fast training right thank you Miss Williams sorry Miss tazzy first hi I want to thank you for this presentation uh slide 13. would you please look at that slide I I just want to talk about the parent education portion of it it says that schools request presentation designed for Paris is it the schools are do they have the option or you wait for them to call you for a presentation or are these presentations in all schools and are they elementary middle
116you may have covered that so I and I can let our specialist speak to that um so we are very new into the school year but Our intention is to work with our family and Community engagement office so we have done division wide information sessions for parents and we do have schools that reach out to us so it's not something that's mandatory but when schools contact our office we do work with them to provide the um the information to parents so it is a request by schools there's a little bit morbid but I have a friend who works at the funeral home and years ago she said to me Lily the number of kids that are dying from drug overdoses is overwhelming and now we have stats to prove that she was right so I'm
117just wondering is there some way we can get this information to parents because one of our friends who worked with us lost her son and did not know he had drugs so the parent education piece is very important I'm just wanting to tell where we is there some way we can uh perhaps move that to a higher level a higher priority for schools at the middle and high school level I I look forward to opportunities to promote information and as much awareness as possible so it's certainly something that we'll look into you're so political you you really have the right answers okay thank you I think you didn't eat that thing okay bye-bye all right Miss Williams thank you I just wanted to clarify something I might be misunderstanding are do we no longer we
118used to I know it's a school division work with counselors or therapists and often therapists that came from outside the school division to host internal like um groups for students to participate in of course with parental permission if they had substance abuse problems or had themselves or family members do we do you know if we still do that or we don't do that I'm not sure if you would know that off top of your head I I believe what you're referring to is the New Horizons program that we do have those counselors in each of our schools so we certainly have you know I can't speak to the resources that the county has I do know that we are in contact and we do work closely with them and I do know our county is
119also overloaded with parental requests and and a lot of families that are in need of service so we have our New Horizons counselors and that's what I'm aware of okay maybe we could get an update on exactly what they do because um I'm just curious to know if that's still an ongoing program because it would be something that I know we used to as a School Division years ago partner with them so it wasn't just a matter of showing up in their office and having it like a 10-minute discussion or what however I'm just guessing because I have no idea sure and just just to reiterate right I know that it's not us yeah uh right so I'm not saying that we provide it I was just saying in Partnership that was something that outside
120counselors came in and that was offered during the day so I don't know you know clearly I know you don't know the ins and outs of every specific program down to my new detail just wondering if we could get an update on that because I think it's important if we're informed then we can also inform others and that would be helpful because then there's a lot of outside resources and I'm also aware that the county is doing a lot of work with mental health services for Youth and adults as well so I I appreciate the continue collaboration that we have with them just interested in that one particular piece they are and we're looking forward and we're having our first opioid task force meeting of the Year soon and we have Community reps representation on
121that from the county and so I'm certainly something that we can pursue did you have your hand up Miss marante um I have a question if from a student perspective I've seen uh substance abuse um in a couple different schools what would you say is a good action item that us as students can take um so we can help reduce this problem which I think students are a strong voice and really your peers are most influenced by those who are around them so I would say helping promote good and healthy choices you know working with a caring adult in your building if you have a student um you know voice committee or a student representation thinking about how you can and internally promote you know healthy habits and good substance abuse you know protocols and
122so we'd be happy to give you resources about that Vice chairwall thank you um thank you for this presentation thank you Dr mcday and your staff this is something that I've been asking about for a while um and Miss Jackson referred to a a constituent meeting that we held the joint office hours meeting where we um you know talked with a parent who's having a particular Challenge and I know that she was just representative of many parents and so I know this is a very big problem for our students it's a societal problem it's a tragic problem and so I do appreciate that we have you know some of these resources I do um have a couple of questions I know some of the data that we had on slide four for example some of
123our data was citing National Trends and some Virginia Trends and I know we do have for instance opioid abuse in our schools um but I don't have a sense of how that is for Prince William County do we have more specific data that we could get you know at a later time or the board could take a look at I don't know the extent of the severity of the problem here but I suspect that it's growing and that our a lot of kids are having a really hard time do we do we could we get more data that's more specific to Prince William County I'm certainly happy to work with our County Partners to provide that yeah that would be great thank you um and I my other question is I'm aware that neighboring jurisdictions
124um have moved ahead on the prevention piece I mean they offer some prevention tools and other things that we we don't yet offer in Prince William County um so my question to you is if if those who are working on this challenging problem could recommend to us a wish list what would be on the top of your wish list as far as resources or programs or or anything what would be what would you like to see us provide so that we could be more effective especially at the prevention piece for children and our families I'd certainly be happy to work with my team and bring that back as part of our strategic budget process and I think you know obviously it's always you know more is better in in Awareness so events increase in events
125to help parents understand more yeah thank you I know um when I was a parent of middle school kids I went to several events that were hosted by the schools that my children attended and they were um put on by Community Partners and they were excellent but they were also very poorly attended there were maybe 15 20 people in the room and the the information was so good and so shocking for most of us um but it was it was powerful so I would like to see I think I'm echoing comments of fellow board members a way that we could um get push push in to families lives a little bit more I don't know you know obviously if we hold an event and we invite the whole school and there are 1300 kids in
126the school and 15 parents show up then we got a problem but I think maybe you know that was that was a while ago so maybe there's more interest and I think having more and more frequently having those events and having those Events maybe in person so that people could afterwards stay and be connected with people or at least be connected with the resources even a maybe an event where they we run through the website and show the things that are available I'm not sure if that would help or not but in any event I know there's a great need and prevention is a really important piece that I feel like we might be able to do more on I'm not really sure but those are my comments um and I really do appreciate the
127opportunity to discuss this because I think it's very important Mr welcome yeah hi I'm supposed to say something right um so uh as you know I was in the safe schools for a number of years and um my understanding is it's the committee itself has kind of changed in its overall kind of functioning role and purpose from you know when I was on the committee and doing like an annual event or some type of focus and stuff like that is there still discussion or um within the safe schools Committee of really trying to uh you know kind of be the ones who are more or less putting on this program collaborating with the administration and bringing forward Community concerns to Target topics for this upcoming year or as it turned more into like an advisory
128role and just kind of policy and hearing about the policy from the superintendent and just kind of soliciting feedback so the safe School advisory council is just starting and I know at the end of last year at the end of the safe schools we did collect interest topics from the council and so I can turn that over to Mr Bach who is now the new facilitator of the safe schools advisory Council thank you Miss evening or good evening board members Dr Latif and Dr McDade yes we'll uh to answer your question Mr Wilk it will run very similarly as an advisory we are going to be asking our committee to be bringing issues that they're hearing from the community and stakeholders to the table and helping us problem solve collectively with them to address some
129of those issues okay so really it's not changing overall in that kind of function from the past correct okay yeah um okay I got a quick question Miss heebner um and I'm not sure who can answer this for me and you may have already answered it while I had stepped out but you know on slide eight um code of behavior violations um pre-covered postcode do you all expect this to be our new normal or do you think we're peaking do you think we're going down what are your predictions on this I mean we have loosening of these marijuana laws and this nonsense and I I worry that this is the new normal so I wish I could predict the future and I wish I could predict that it were going to get better I'd predict
130you'll have really good things um I will say that what we see in the community whether it be reportable offenses and offenses that happen outside the community where we then you know help provide students with education or things that are occurring in our school it does seem to be consistent and it does seem to be something that we all need to really focus on you know again I'm going to just reiterate that really the best prevention is really helping our kids develop those skills those you know decision making feel confident feeling a sense of belonging when they're in a school building and outside so that they don't succumb to peer pressure and so engagement in not just outside activities but in their education as well so I really truly believe that as a School Division
131we're on a great path a lot of wonderful things happening in school buildings you know rigorous curriculum you know instruction and you know a sense of belonging is being created but I do recognize that it is still a challenge in the community both in their schools as well yeah just really quickly I do want to emphasize too that this is more than a school system problem and so um there are limitations to what we can do in our schools to address this it really does require more support social services and support from the healthcare industry as well as continued opportunities for education on the effects of all of this I also do think that the new security systems that we have in place will play a role in helping to minimize some of what is
132getting into school buildings right now so that's that's a positive so you know we are hopeful that these numbers will begin to go down as we continue to recover coming out of the pandemic but I cannot say enough that you know the school system is not a health care industry and so there are a lot of supports that are needed that requires um you know Professional Health Care Professionals and it requires um you know Community organizations to step in and support us so what we're what we're presenting today really is our best effort with um you know the limited training that we have and ability that we have to really address a problem that we're seeing throughout our communities that is coming into our schools and and I think the team I want to commend
133the team because I think that they've done a lot with a little but I would push that as a school system as a board that we collectively continue to demand more support externally from our Community Partners and from Partners within the county because there's a lot that can be done that we're just ill-equipped to do in the school system so what you saw tonight really is our best effort and we do have some partners that have been diligent in supporting us but definitely more is needed especially for a school system this size oh here we go uh so thank you for mentioning that Dr McDade our hospitals cannot handle adolescent mental health issues we don't have the Personnel we don't have the beds we don't have the space and the Ugly Truth is that mental
134health and addiction don't make these corporations enough money to invest in our people um I'm I'm tired of hearing about how kids can't get therapists there are hardly any psychiatrists around for for children and this is then then we have to deal with it in our school systems and our families are ill-equipped because they can't find the support and the help which I hope that people are looking at that list there's some really good access points for families Nami and um the parent partner thing those are all great places um but in this area we lack the ability to take care of our families and our children so um in that regard we we need to make sure that our our Hospital thank you for putting that back up I appreciate that um we we
135don't have beds for for adolescents we're going to be getting that Community crisis center and thank goodness they did did put in a place for adolescents but we now we need the people who can work there those are specially trained people so uh sort of a plea to the community at large we we can't do this in the schools alone parents can't do it by themselves we need everybody to come together so my soapbox I'm Miss wall sorry I can't I have one other question I'm on Slide what slide is this 17 um could you explain a little bit more about the pwcs opioid task force for for the benefit of the board and the community sure Dr Martin would you like to speak that so we we have a group of people who come
136together we have community members um Heather Martinson we actually have team members from risk management and you know as a goal we do look at what can we possibly you know do within our division to help educate staff there's been some really good outcomes that I'm proud to say I know one of our team members from risk management has trained some staff from facilities our bus drivers you know on how to handle substance that you're unsure and what it would what it would be you know so you don't have fentanyl exposure and things like that so we're really looking at different aspects um truancy you know because truancy leads to kids being in the community and having the opportunity to engage in things that are dangerous and so the open Task Force really is a
137collaborative effort between the county and really looking at what we can do and and how we can support kids and and our education system thank you thank you for that Miss hemner thank you as well I mean um I think Dr McDade um really put the exclamation point at the end of this I mean the pervasive nature of drugs and and um you know we've been fighting this war since the 80s and um we've been losing um you know it doesn't discriminate on Race religion or you know um socioeconomic status drugs are so pervasive and we see it everywhere and as Ms argopore and you know I should you know she not really well stated we don't have the resources in the community that a size of this community really ought to have when it
138comes to beds for these kids for therapy for psychiatrists psychology social work we we've done some of that here in the school Division and increased some of those numbers of psychologists and psychiatrists or psychologists social workers and counseling but nowhere near the ratios that even you know can can address this in a real way it's very challenging and so I I applaud your work on the task force anything you can do to to work with our community leaders to encourage you know some innovative solutions and ways to get funding to to both the schools and into the community to address these problems that are so difficult to deal with I mean there's no easy answer on this one and uh there hasn't been and it's something that you know we haven't made easier with some
139of the laws we continue to pass so I appreciate this and I I thank you very much and thank you for putting this together my pleasure thank you Dr McDade we'll revert back to your superintendent's time that concludes my superintendent's time okay okay you want to step on any toes there uh next we'll go to Miss Williams for a committee update on the Governor's School in Innovation Park uh thank you Mr chairman I I did give a small update uh the last um board matters just want to remind everyone that the last excuse me the next uh Governor school board meeting will be on November 9th it'll be a virtual Zoom meeting there's always opportunity for public comment at those board meetings and I just want to congratulate Manassas Park for um for their new
140chair also at Prince William County schools I am the vice chair for the Governor's School for this year the next committee update I just want to focus on is the racial and Social Justice Commission there will be a meeting tomorrow night at the McCourt building I will unfortunately not be able to attend as the representative due to back to school nights but the meeting is public there's opportunity for public comment and it is live streamed as well so will resume at the next meeting with any other committee updates thank you okay uh on the board matters um this evening we started last week with Mr well we'll start with Miss Jesse and I'm we're going to get Miss Jesse a little bit extra time tonight Mr Wilkes um seated some of his time so she's
141got four minutes on the timer okay thank you I don't know if I'll need the four minutes I wanted to talk about our relationship with parents and kids and especially lpgt kids uh last week we had a lot of parents in the boardroom and also missed walls talking about the two of model policies I've read both model policies and they act as guidelines and one there were 70 000 people who were involved in surveys an extensive amount of research was done and another one there was research but it also included the kids and I don't I'm not here to present a favor for either model but I think that we need to look at him as guidelines and I'm here to talk about the kids and I'm going to start by talking about Maya Angelou
142Maya Angelou along with several famous women including Madeleine Albright wrote a book of memoirs Matt and Maya Angelou's Memoir was called you've been raised at the age of 16 she headed out to New York and found that she her mother pulled us inside and said don't forget that you have been raised and all of us grew up in this situation where we've been raised by our parents but these are not the same kids that we have that Madeleine Albright had I'm sorry that Maya Angelou during her time there used to be at one point I used to read about the research of who's influence and who and there were three influences in our children's lives number one was parents when Naya Angelou grew up and two were peers but now there's a third I want
143to remind parents that there's a third influence and that is a Str I call him a stranger there are social media these kids are picking up social media and so we need to look at that Dr Phil wrote about having a soft place to land when I look at what we're doing in Prince William County we're offering kids an opportunity to have a soft ways place to land because we have provided counselors for them when you work as a principal you hear a lot and I'm not an expert I must tell you though that when I was a principal every year when we did this uh Social Service came in and talked about students who had problems with the you know the touch and looking at different Bad Touch and good touch every single year
144I had three or four kids who showed up in that office and I was always shocked at the number of kids and I want parents to know that this school system has supported students and we have provided counselors and we are we were the first school system really to have parent advisory councils Dr McDade has opted a great deal she has more advisory councils and parents are involved and I asked the counselor that I'm asking you to please stay with me because this is the most important part of this I learned that when I asked one of the counselors what is the number one reason children do not go to their parents and it was he not he automatically said shame and fear it's not fear of the parents it's fear of losing the love
145and respect in his family and the shame that he will bring to his family I know that we want to believe that children who are lbgt look at other media sources and decide that they want to become gay I don't know anyone who would look up and decide they want to be gay because of the shame that comes with it so for I want the parents to know that this school system is willing and able to support students in any way possible by providing counselors and parent involvement when you look at our parent involvement as segment and and doctor I'll make days strategic plan and that's what I want to say I think we provide a Dr Phil said we have to provide kids with a soft place to live and some of you have
146kids and you know that you have to have something somebody for them to go to and we're the person that they go to thank you Miss Jesse Miss thank you Mr chairman I just want to start off by saying happy Hispanic Heritage Month um I am always excited every month that we have the opportunity to celebrate a unique group or a uh this month is also for us back to school night uh Bonanza I guess you could say most of us have a back to school night uh sometimes two or three in the evening I know I have been to my one high school and was at Fred land last night I've been to um in elementary school title one night I look forward to attending as many as I can possibly fit into my
147schedule unfortunately some elementaries are at the same time so if I don't see you at one grade level night I'm sure I will see you at another this is just I say this to say as a reminder to parents please join your ptos your ptsas your principal advisory councils I think now in 2023 we the opportunity to participate these in these groups have been come easier many of them are done via zoom and they are very accommodating to parent schedules and it's important to be able to provide your voice and say in not only your child's education but just events in the school and what you'd like to see happen if you don't have your parent view app download it on your phone please do so it's pretty critical when you get to back to
148school night and you have to go from class to class and your child doesn't bring the paper or you don't bring your child it's very helpful and parent view is a wonderful app you can find information on your student schedule as well as classes and grades everything right at the palm of your hand and if you haven't had the chance to thoroughly review I also I'm a Nut when it comes to this I love reading the code of behavior and have for years and I think it is the most easily digestible code of behavior that we've ever had with definitions and everything so please make sure you read it so you are up to date on some of the new things that we have going on this school year I'd like to put an early
149plug in for Title One Family Camp it'll be October 14th I'm going to plug it away as much as I can I've gone in the past and I find it extremely helpful and full of wonderful programming this Tuesday or yesterday this past Tuesday or yesterday I was able to be at Freedom High School live for when the Evolve system was turned on I just want to thank all of the staff at the Kelly building all the staff in the buildings because Freedom wasn't the only school for a successful first run I know that it will get better as the days goes on and students get acclimated and as well as our staff working the Evolve system I am very proud that we were able to utilize this system here in our County and next up
150I have Virtual Office hours coming up this weekend 9 22 at 10 A.M if you are interested in participating please email me and lastly I want to thank Casa Brumar I was able to be a speaker on an education policy at their lgbtqia Symposium I want to Echo a lot of Miss Jessie's sentiments um and the most thing the common thing that I heard was staff would like to see a little bit better training available not mandatory on how to deal with issues with lgbtk lgtp I'm sorry trying to go too fast lgbtqia issues within schools so thank you Jackson all right thank you again thank you to all those who came and spoke tonight and just one more shout out for a national security officer appreciation week it's just this week so happy appreciation
151week and again thank you there are a number of recognitions and Mrs Jesse touched on one with the sit in the consent agenda that I'll touch on when they come next month last month we met for the joint environmental task force which I'll update everyone during the committee time in October jet meets every third Thursday I'm going I will miss tomorrow's meeting because as was mentioned it's Innovation Elementary ribbon cutting ceremony and as I just toured Innovation Elementary I'm excited for more community members and stakeholders to see this Innovative new school I want to thank my nominee for sustainability councilwin Vetter a junior at Patriot High School last year she joined the Patriots Eco club and is the president this year when I asked about her involvement and interest in sustainability she said I became
152interested in environmental issues through Scouts the essay formerly Boy Scouts of America and my family vacations in scouting one of the most important aspects that they teach is respect for the outdoors the environment especially the leave no Trace as a family they vacation and national parks where they've seen the diversity of beauty within the United States and she wants to preserve and protect the beauty of nature her long-term goals is to become an environmental engineer and help create solutions that will lessen our impact on the planet as a member of the sustainability Council she wants to help Prince William County schools become more sustainable and I am very thankful for her service so thank you Corinne this month continues to be busy with back to school nights and events and soon homecoming games so if
153you see me please make sure you say hi love and respect to all you all Mr thank you um so it has been a busy month or a couple weeks actually going to back to school nights I also got a chance to stop by Signal Hill they had a bingo night with their PTO and that was a lot of fun meeting parents and some of the kids who go to the school and listening to how they were feeling about the beginning of the school year I have met with some Prince William County Employees to go over some of their concerns and some parents I will go back to some more publicly announced office hours these were people who asked to me but when when the back to school night slow down a little bit I
154want to reiterate that I think taking the revive training is really important for anybody really I also want to give out some thank thank yous I'm grateful to the problem solvers in this world in my own job today I had a behavior specialist I got to sit down and ask some questions and he asked me one simple question that kind of realigned my whole thinking on on some some things I wanted to work on so the people who do that the coaches of our teachers the the leaders in our buildings who help us problem solve thank you for for doing those things I met some principals who in here in Prince William County who who also work really hard to try to take something off of teachers plates they try to give teachers a little
155extra recognition for the fact that they need some planning time or some some time to to get things done for their classrooms so every time we have those things that happen um just take a second to be grateful because those are people who are watching out for each other making sure that our our employees are taken care of so that we can do our best work for our students I also want to be grateful to the people who are fixing my technology tonight as I've been experiencing some wacky things with my school board stuff so thank you for helping me fix that I look forward to open up some office hours soon as soon as back to school night settle down I hope everyone has a great couple of weeks and see you next meeting
156Mr Wilk okay I'll do two minutes without a clock uh just a couple things uh to um state that I've done and then reiterate a couple things um about uh something a position I have uh so on nine seven I did attend the independence non-traditional School back to school night that was a great event I enjoyed seeing families from all across the county all of us have students who attend independent school but I'm proud that it is within the boundaries of the Potomac District the Potomac Shores last week two days back to back thank you Miss Williams for coming supervisor Franklin came it was great to have so many people there the first night I was there as a board member the second night I kind of wore two hats I was there also for
157my son it was great to see so many inclusionary practices I wasn't even aware of to go in and find out my sons in like the shop class and also the gym class it was great and then last night Grant Park had their back to school night you know another thing about Grant Park is you know we just recently have been working on the fenestration and coming to a conclusion on that and uh just the sheer natural Lighting in the cafeterias from these expanded Windows uh replacing old metallic doors for glass doors and putting more windows in the classroom has completely overhauled the appearance and just the overall kind of feel in that building so I thank the division for that couple things to clarify about the position about uh Code Orange I wholeheartedly that
158snow days have a pivotal role in benefiting both students and staff affording them precious for spikes amidst the unforgiving winter season I do want to clarify that our division and its commitment has affirmed a continuation of Code Red days as a response to adverse weather conditions so these are not going away furthermore the reduction of double runs in our bus system instills a greater confidence in the successful execution of two hour delays when necessary so in the past we didn't have those now we can possibly bring those back now however I do have concerns stemming from my roles as special needs father with a child who faces considerable challenges enduring prolonged virtual sessions equally I am the husband of a spouse who is a dedicated teacher grappling mounting workload associated with live virtual instruction does
159weigh heavily on my mind so consequently my opposition to Code Orange Still Remains Resolute thank you okay um thank you very much so it is the fall beginning of school year um oh I keep forgetting Miss wall I don't know why I do that every time I don't think you do it every time it's good you're good you're good um good evening everyone um it's been a busy two weeks I'm excited to officially welcome several individuals who have agreed to serve as Representatives on advisory councils representing the Gainesville District um for Samara mcadwell as the Gainesville District representative on the safe schools advisory Council and yubo Zhang who has agreed to serve on the superintendent's advisory Council on Equity I also wish to thank Karen Carney for her continued service and valuable contributions to the
160advisory Council on sustainability and Lisa Fox for her continued service on superintendent's gifted education advisory committee I want to talk about a few School visits a few weeks ago I was able to meet and welcome the new principal at Sudley Elementary principal Rebecca Bowles and last week I met with the new principal at Unity Braxton Dr Mary Jane Boynton to both I'm so happy to have you here in the Gainesville district and it was a pleasure visiting with you I want to extend a special welcome to the new principal at Battlefield High School Dolores Lucas who comes to us from Patriot High School and will begin there on Tuesday September 26th I'm looking forward to a great year over at Battlefield and thank you to David huckstein for stepping in as interim principal to open
161Battlefield this year and for the many long hours you put in to get the year off to a great start so I wish you the best with your future plans other things I've been up to I stopped by Sinclair Elementary School to deliver some school supplies that had been collected by a local church and had a good visit there with principal principal Heather good I attended senior night at Battlefield High School where school counselors shared important information with parents about how to help their children navigate their senior year including the FAFSA and college applications and letters of recommendation so that was a really great that was a really great meeting and very useful I think all the ninth grade all the first time senior parents were so thankful I went to sixth and seventh grade
162back to school nights at Bull Run Middle enjoyed meeting staff and parents there I attended the Nova region Public School leaders Network meeting last Friday with Ms Jackson and we discussed how to address the teacher Recruitment and Retention challenges in Virginia and how to promote these efforts in the upcoming legislative session so I look forward to that I attended the Ronald Reagan Middle School back to school night for 7th and 8th grade last evening and that was a really well attended event and great turnout great to talk to so many parents um we had a meeting of the internal audit committee earlier this afternoon and we were doing some great things on that committee and I will share an update on that at a later time during the committee update portion I'd like to end
163with a message on parents and how important parents are to children and this is from Barbara Bush to the graduates of Wellesley College in June 1990. she said whatever the era whatever the times one thing will never change fathers and mothers if you have children they must come first you must read to your children and you must hug your children and you must love your children your success as a family our success as a society depends not on what happens in the white house but on what happens inside your house I just want to reiterate parents schools are here to support you you are the most important people in your children's lives and I hope you always remember that and now thank you everybody and have a good night Mr Wilk thank you Vice chair
164wall always with the solid quote so um anyways we are at the beginning of the school year um I had some great opportunities to attend football games across the county Hilton Freedom Gainesville and Colgan games all well attended a lot of excitement out there with our folks um you know it is the beginning of the school year so what do I worry about I worry about our seniors as they're getting ready to apply to colleges join the military get jobs making sure they're taking advantage of the opportunities that our School Division has please please please parents read your emails I will tell you the most important thing that you can do is read the emails that come home and follow up on them if you have any questions or concerns there's a lot of information
165packed in them I know there's a lot that come home I know it's it can be tiring you'll get them for the teachers you're going to get them from the um counselors you'll get them from the principals you get newsletters but there is a lot of great information in them and they are sent home with the intention to engage our parents and engaging our parents means we can help our students succeed and thrive in the way we'd like to see them and and college transcripts if you can start getting ready to your high school transcripts start meeting with your counselors start talking about your reference letters start thinking about what teachers you're going to ask for those give your teachers time to write the letters don't wait till the last minute and tell them on
166October 1st that it's due October 3rd today is a good day to ask for reference letters you know it's very good to ask your teachers they want to do it and they want to help you but they can't do it if they get 20 requests with like one day left fafsa's parents very stressful take a look at that um and 69 percent of our school division is of some ethnic minority and with this year's changes in college admissions I cannot emphasize enough that if you have questions about them please see your counselor more importantly call the University you're applying ask them what have they done what have they changed to address the new admissions policies every University is restructuring their admissions policies changing their essay questions ask them what they're looking for what are the
167attributes of a student that they would like to admit they would like to see and then you know as you craft your common application essays and your essays to apply to those universities you know think about what they're saying about what they want to see and if you know it's sort of the we say the why the Y University the Yuva question the why William and Mary question the why Mason question why do you want to be here that's what they want to know and so I think it's important to do your homework it's really going to be even more important this year because we're seeing changes that we've never seen on a scale this large um lastly um this is a large School Division um 1.71.8 billion dollar budget if it was a perfect
168School Division I wouldn't do this job or even want to be here or try to be here um I think we can make improvements in this division it's a large School Division like any School Division across the country and we Face the challenges and magnitude of problems that everyone does and you saw the challenges were up against with drugs and um and that's a big deal but these challenges are difficult and they require collaboration cooperation working across party lines a bipartisanship it requires us to work well with our Board of County Supervisors with the general assembly folks with our police and our sheriff and all of this work you know over time if we do it correctly we can address some of these problems but none of the big problems we have will get fixed
169overnight or with any one budget item or any other line item I mean it requires a lot of work the School Division brought Dr McDade in highly sought after she was she she was a star out of all the candidates we applied and we did a nationwide search and and it is because of her success and commitment to some of the most difficult problems School divisions face in the country and and it is really hard to do this work you know the challenges whether they be in special education whether it be Equity oriented whether they be in um am I am I getting yelled at I know I'm over time but anyways um whether they be in each of these areas they are um tremendous challenges and if it was easy um you know um
170they'd have been solved and they're they're not easy and so I you know I I I recognize you know frustrations that exist um and and that is why all of us up here come to work and come to this work to try to make it better and and I think we are making it better but it takes time it takes effort and it takes a collaboration with the entire community and so as we move forward in this school year I am optimistic and I continue to tell everyone Prince William County schools is one of the best school divisions in the nation and we are leading in many ways and we're going to continue to do that hard work and continue to make improvements where we can so I want to thank you and with that
171I'd like to adjourn tonight's meeting thank you all