001answer funds please check in with Miss Williams okay cool cool thank you all right since it is 6 59 PM I am going to go ahead and call this meeting to order with a reminder to silence your electronic devices one and all um and a reminder that we are going to have a video and audio recording of this school board meeting as we always do it will be available on our YouTube channel Mrs Williams can I get a roll call please yes Madam chair Mr Paul Alexander here Miss Stacy cyberling here Dr Shantae Jones here miss Rachel Kirkland here Madam chair Miss Ellen slobotnik will not be attending this evening very good and before I start in the pledge of pledge of allegiance this evening I would like to um have a moment of silence
002in memory of Chris Greco thank you please stand I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you do we have any additions or corrections to the agenda seeing can I get a motion for approval of the agenda motion to approve second motion and a second all in favor hi see no opposition motion carries all right um moving on to the consent agenda I know we've all had a chance to review that can I get a motion for that please we've approved consent agenda second notion in a second all in favor hi see no opposition that motion carries all right public hearing on NPCs use of ARP Esser funds so we're going
003to go ahead and open the public hearing the purpose of this public hearing is to allow comments directly related to the ARP Esser funds guidelines citizens wishing to speak must sign in when called the podium please provide your name at Manassas Park City address or if staff uh job title and work location here at Manassas Park City Schools each person is allotted three timed minutes to make comments Mrs Williams will let you know when you have reached your three minutes Mrs Williams since we've opened the public camera hearing do we have anyone to comment no Madam chair okay all right I will go ahead and close uh the public hearing and uh it says I'm supposed to thank everyone for their comments but I'll just move along all right moving on uh to superintendent spotlight
004Madam chair I'd like Dr groster to come forward we've got some great things to celebrate all right good evening Madam chair and members of the board we do have several exciting things to Spotlight tonight so we're going to go ahead and Dive Right In first we want to take a moment to recognize the contribution of our school bus drivers now if you don't know I think we all know this school bus drivers get up really early in the morning so we did invite them to come to a seven o'clock meeting but I think most of them go to bed shortly after so through Patty Hurley our director of transportation we have arranged for them to be watching the meeting with us tonight so they are going to see this presentation and they will hear your
005comments school bus drivers play an important role in the school division they're often the first face our students see in the morning and the last face that they see in the afternoon they have the opportunity to set the tone for the day I can tell you that every interaction that I've had with a bus driver in Manassas Park has shown me how positive energetic and committed to our students that our drivers really are but it's easy to hear that from me I thought if we really want to know the truth who should we ask and you know what the answer was in my head seventh graders they're going to tell us the truth so I went into Manassas Park Middle School the other day and I asked those seventh graders a couple of questions about
006their bus drivers and here's what they had to say hopefully you can hear this I'll move out of your way best sugar and wine [Music] very going to sleep why do you think bus drivers are important in school systems because not all kids can get transported by their parents and it's nice to have like public transportation to get us from into school that's like it was important okay who's your favorite bus driver and why um my favorite question was my fifth grade bus driver her name is Miss Connie I really liked her because she was just really nice and funny and she was always just kind to us kids and and why do you think bus drivers are important I think it's important because if sometimes kids can't get a ride to school from their
007parents or if there are other legal Guardians are at work and can't happen to pick them up they can always take the bus to school so tell me what bus you ride I ride bus 23 and bus 18. okay and who are your bus drivers Mrs Isabella and Mr granadas okay and one of those bus drivers has a pretty close relationship to you right who is that yes Bus 18 Mr granadas he's my dad okay what does it mean to ride a bus room by your dad it's very comforting knowing that my dad's always safe okay why are bus drivers important I think monster rivers are important because they get up really early to help kids get swim across okay so tell me about your favorite bus driver and why they're your favorite bus driver
008um my favorite bus driver was mystery from Miss Tyree she is my fifth grade bus driver but she retired and she was my favorite because every time when before we left to go to the school she would always teach like life lessons in the back of the bus and then like to me throughout that year it was very helpful all right why are bus drivers important because throughout the year when you when they drag you to school and then when you first talk to them you can actually make like real connections with them and then they're like your friend that like drives you like to school yeah so if you've ever been in a middle school classroom and you've asked a question you know and you picture how many students raise their hand eager to
009answer you when I went in and I said how many students in here have a favorite bus driver from when they've been in school every student raised their hand so I think that right there really highlights the power of our bus drivers and building relationships with our kids so I hope bus drivers if you're watching us out there I hope you enjoyed thank you let me go to the next slide okay next up uh Miss Carrie Reardon teacher at Manassas Park Middle School recently entered a competition through wusa9 called the Eco challenge Miss Rudin entered the challenge to get additional funds for her school Garden project out of all the submissions in the DMV Miss Riordan was selected as one of the winners last week wusa9 came to the school to surprise her and her
010students with the news and I'll tell you she's in the back there she can back me up then she did not know [Applause] so when you see her on TV here just know this was this was totally a surprise for her but she did a great job so we're going to show the story now we hope you enjoy I'm Darren Haynes and we are at Manassas Park Middle School home of the Cougars and we are in for a treat because one of their teachers is about to be surprised Carrie Reardon her class is one of the winners of our Eco challenge let's go inside the school and surprise her with the news oh man this is nice this tunnel welcome to Manassas Park Middle School we're so glad you're here I'm happy to be here
011this is weird to know no we're going to go surprise her now thank you [Music] I was weird good how are you you see some of your students here yeah oh yes you don't know why you're here do you no I have no idea do you remember that submission you made for the equal challenge yes I do we have a surprise for you okay you won yes [Music] [Laughter] that is so awesome talk about your submission and what what that project was um well we have a school garden here and what we're trying to do is improve the quality of the skull Garden right now with um this Grant and um just to teach the students a little bit more about gardening and nature but we're not done okay part of the surprise is to
012help you with your experiment and we're here to bring in oh my God five thousand dollars on behalf of Washington Gas congratulations you are a winner of the Eco Challenge and five thousand dollars [Applause] wow to see life Thrive with that money we can use for it would be awesome I'm pretty excited because I've already been in the garden once with her you can learn while also having fun with other people this really opens the door for us to invite our community and Business Leaders into our schools and work with our students and really be partners in education with us and I think through this Garden we can then give back because I know Miss Reuben's hope is we can grow some things here that we can then give back to our community [Music] thank
013you [Applause] [Music] I love how the kids are so invested in the success of it yeah and by the way through the Smithsonian education Science Center we'll meet with the teacher and students to help them develop their project so oh that was going to be my ending there so next week I know this week I believe on Wednesday we do have the Smithsonian along with WUSA coming back to the school so this wasn't just a one-time deal they're going to come back and follow up on our garden and do follow-up stories on the news about all the great things going on in the school that's why we wanted to really kind of bring home the whole idea of giving back to the community and being you know active citizens within our community so congratulations Terry
014great job [Applause] [Music] congratulations thank you so much because I was recording those students okay try again perfect congratulations [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh oh there we go all right next up tonight each spring at the vsba regional spring networking forums an art contest is held to Showcase art from the region each School Division submits an elementary middle and high school entry in the art contest the artwork is judged and the artwork selected for first place is shared throughout the year with the membership and spotlighted at the annual vsba convention so tonight we are going to show off the three pieces of artwork from Manassas Park schools that will be going up in the competition so first we have hangout I've got to get these so I can get them in the camera because you've got
015to see these all right first up this is from Yara Rodriguez and I left the sticky note on it because this is called banana so Yara is with us Yara would you like [Applause] and I think Yara is going to tell us why did you choose banana I don't know well it is fruit right okay we're in the same way okay next up we have I think mayelli Hernandez from Manassas Park is with us tonight [Applause] and did yours have a name and yours his name spiderweb did you have a reason why you came up with that name because it's one of her songs it's one of her songs great all right great job and I don't know Jacqueline Jacqueline here tonight I'm not sure if Jacqueline from the high school is here but you
016can see Jacqueline's [Applause] you guys congratulations stand right up here we're gonna take a picture right around look at this one all right ready guys one two [Applause] [Music] and finally tonight we want to take a moment to recognize teacher appreciation week last week was Teacher Appreciation Week 2023 we take that week to appreciate our teachers and staff for their year-long effort in providing our students with a safe positive challenging and engaging learning environment as part of that week Dr Saunders chose to collect some snaps to share with staff members a staff member could send a message to her to share with a colleague about why they're appreciated I just wanted to share a little handful of those with you your hard work and dedication to this school goes unmatched thank you for being a
017teacher I look up to snaps and claps for the best co-teacher friend coach writer and human being there is your relationship building with students and those around you is truly special and I strive to be more like you every day thank you for all you do and finally the last one dude seriously the best rock on and thank you to our teachers that concludes our Spotlight fantastic any uh comments from the board yeah we'll start with miles it is every time I just really want to congratulate everybody again um first off shout out to all the bus drivers I've been riding the bus for since I was in second grade and um I remember the first day I was like I was so nervous to be on the bus but the moment I saw my
018bus driver's face just like one of the students said I kind of felt at home so um I just wanted to shout out my bus drivers my current bus driver Mr granados um Miss Barry miss Connie Mr Eugene Miss Elena and Miss Joanne thank you all so much for being willing to create that relationship with not only me but the rest of my fellow peers and shout out to miss Reardon I saw she oh she left um but shout out to miss Reardon I had missed I can brag about that she was probably one of the best science teachers I ever had and um to see that her garden is going to get the attention that it deserves is really exciting and last but not least congratulations to Jacqueline Yara and mayelli I hope I'm
019saying that right I cannot wait to see more artwork from you guys in the future and yeah um I Echo what Miles said thank you to all of the bus drivers um you all are heroes so thank you for what you do does not go we don't take it lightly um what you do does not go unnoticed and hopefully they were able to hear everything the students have just had to say um also Ms Reardon congratulations so excited to see what this Garden is going to do for the community and for the school and excited that we get that partnership with the Smithsonian so they can help to continue to watch it Thrive also all the art students congratulations your artwork was um is amazing keep doing what you're doing I know you're just going
020to get better and better and I'm excited to see what the future holds for you all and then teacher appreciation week I cannot say thank you enough to all of the teachers out there your work is just it's amazing work I know that you know sometimes a thankless job but I just wanted to make sure that we said thank you for everything that you do I've been a teacher so I understand so thank you all and I know your students appreciate you the community appreciates you and your school district appreciates you so thank you I know we try not to you know beat a dead horse with everybody we're saying the same things but again teacher appreciation week I I mean for the teachers that are out there and listening it should be teacher appreciative
021teacher appreciation year life uh whatever I mean you guys do so much I I will never be able to truly Express how grateful we are for what you do for our kids um the art show we went to the district art show we actually got to see what the other schools were putting up as well I just want to tell you guys did an amazing job your artwork was some of the best ones there we really appreciate your submissions and all your hard work the bus drivers I still remember my favorite bus drivers from just a few years ago wow [Laughter] honestly it's not just getting the kids to and from school though it's the hours you got to put in uh driving the kids to William Monroe High School down into standardsville it's the
022it's all those extra hours and that for all those away games and getting them to and from and then up the next morning right back at it so thank you again I really cannot tell you how much we appreciate it and and even a few years ago helping with food distribution with covid you guys were out there you know delivering lunches you know and it it goes without being it doesn't get said enough how much wonderful things you guys have done in transportation and thank you guys so much foreign [Applause] so we're gonna start off with the bus drivers thank you and it is so much more than just driving a bus it's a lot more and just so I I've learned recently that there's there's more that um qualifies them to be a bus
023driver it's not just the smile and ability to make a right turn in a bus but they also need to know how to repair the bus if it breaks down do minor repairs they also have to go through some medical testing to make sure they don't pass out at the bus so there's there's a lot more that goes into being a bus driver it can't just be anybody and obviously when they greet our students cheerful disposition helps as well but thank you to our bus drivers Miss Reardon amazing teacher as well and there's nothing there's only good things that come from a garden to be honest so I think that's it um yeah the being the butter chair you get to speak last but then everyone said everything thank you to our teachers uh appreciation
024always it shouldn't be a week it should be every day it is the hardest you know speaking as an educator it is harder than you can possibly imagine um to our artists some tremendous work the sba's art show is always fun to see and we always have such incredibly talented artists who represent us so well so thank you for coming out banana is a truly an inspired name for your composition Kudos um the bus drivers uh just such a special place in the heart of so many kids and your work is so appreciated um in an education community in a school division everyone is a teacher from bus drivers to custodians to classroom teachers we all have a role to to teach our children and some of the most valuable lessons you get are from
025your bus drivers and [Music] plus two I know I'm missing something [Music] um Miss Reardon I was thrilled when I saw that video and she always has done such amazing work uh for Science and to really engage students in in scientific Endeavors and it is really well deserved so that is all for that moving on to public comments I'm going to read some rules I stick to my rules very closely individuals who wish to address the school board should sign the list maintained on the desk in front of the school board clerk that'd be the one Mrs Williams right over there prior to the start of a regular board meeting when called to the podium please provide your name at Manassas Park City address or if your staff job title work location we limit our
026comments to community members and staff stakeholders each person is allotted three time minutes to make comments Mrs Williams will let you know when you have reached your three minutes and at three minutes all comments are over the board does not give feedback to your comments or questions during public comments time should your comments warrant a response Dr Saunders that lovely person over there will work with staff to address the concerns questions raised and will provide a response in a timely fashion now with all of that said Mrs Williams do we have anyone sign for public comments yes Madam chair okay go ahead and take it from the top and please let me know when you're ready to start counting the three minutes wait thank you Honeycutt yes up to the board you state your name
027and your address I am Honeycutt from 9219 Andrew Drive okay okay ready we're good my name is osk and I am a proud member of the LGBT community it's come to my attention that one of the very few books depicting the experiences of LGBT people has come under Fire I acknowledge that when you take a single frame from a 240 page Memoir out of context and display it as if it were the central theme of the piece it's shocking it's especially disturbing to those who believe that homosexuality and transgenderism is wrong and sinful the fact is a high school library is filled with books containing references to heteronormative sexual behavior in The Diary of Anne Frank for example it contains a passage in which she describes inserting objects into her vagina and yet it is
028a memoir of incredible literary importance in so many such cases we are able to acknowledge the sexuality as a part of the human experience and that brief references to sexuality do not Define a piece of work as pornography while the incredibly selective nature of this outrage may not be evident to those leading this charge I can assure you that that hypocrisy is not lost on The Young members of the LGBT community who utilize that Library why are only books that contain passages of LGBT sexuality being challenged the answer is simple we live in a society where homophobia and transphobia are still very prevalent those leading this charge would find this Memoir offensive even if the two pages that contain anything even remotely graphic were removed because it validates and affirms the author's transgender identity when
029I was young I like every other young queer person was constantly inundated with messages of the way that I was born who I am at my core is wrong and sinful and disgusting these messages are incredibly damaging to young people and I assure you that it is no different today that is why books like genderqueer are so important they allow LGBT teenagers to see their experiences reflected back to them they Foster a sense of pride in their identity and help them to find Hope for the future they need access to gender affirming literature they are five times more likely to commit suicide than their peers and depriving them of gender affirming literature as very real and deeply damaging consequences even if I'm the only person today who speaks against the removal of this book you
030must know that mine is not the minority opinion of the general population this very same book was challenged in 2021 in Fairfax County schools and after extensive review and consideration from a well-qualified committee the book was restored to their collection they determined that the book was not obscene or harmful to juveniles and went on to say that the content referenced in the complaint does not go substantially Beyond customary limits of Candor in description or representation is not the dominant theme and is significant to the development of the main character therefore contributing to the book's literary values thank you thank you okay next Rue Honeycutt hi my name's Rue I'm a 9219 Andrew Drive as well weird um I want to say first of all thank you for having the meeting and also thank you to
031bus drivers I have friends that are bus drivers and they're awesome um I just want to backpack off what osk was saying also a queer person and my experiences throughout School were extremely unpleasant I was called slurs on the regular I was told that I was a hairy man I was told that I was sinful and like filled with shame I also was raised in a very Christian household my family trying to get me away from that and the schools that were too liberal I was then homeschooled so I spent a lot of time in isolation which caused me to be extremely depressed when I entered into adulthood I found a wonderful community that just welcomed me in I was exposed to just amazing literature that also like validated that experience and told me that
032I was valued as a human and that I had worth and that it was okay I now work in an emergency room I love my job up and unfortunately I do get to experience young kids that come in startingly startling young children that come in with suicidal ideation and we put them through the medical process before helping them go to facilities and oftentimes they feel unheard they feel isolated and they feel ashamed and being one of the first people to interact with them in the Health Care system and ask them something as simple as what pronouns do you prefer what name do you prefer do you need me to to not do that in front of your parents like what can we do to cover and protect you while you're here I find it especially
033like disheartening that it is 2023 and that is still a regular occurrence I find it disheartening that things that just reflect somebody's experiences that are there to encourage children to help them explore their identity and become the adults that will then integrate into society and become valued members of said Society are things that can be taken away and children are forced back into isolation and secrecy and have to go things like the internet or their friends to try to figure out like is this okay is this normal so I hope that that is taken into consideration that it's more than just removing a book it is removing what could be somebody's Lifeline so thank you for letting me talk and I hope you guys have a good night this is Williams mark din please state
034your name and address my name is Mark and I live at 9415 Elm Court ladies and gentlemen my name is Mark DIN and I'm 16 years I'm a 16 year old student attending Manassas Park High School today I stand before you to alert you and the community of the presence of pornographic materials in our libraries including child pornography School library stand as an integral pillar of educate of our educational system serving as Rich reservoirs of knowledge Discovery and personal development there are sanctuaries where our young minds are encouraged to explore learn and grow through literature research and diverse educational resources these libraries contribute significantly to the intellectual and emotional maturing of us students the materials found within a school library should Inspire curiosity Foster critical thinking and cultivate a love for learning they should supplement
035classrooms to promote cultural and social awareness and natural empathy respect and understanding is with is it it is Within These hollowed walls that we should be introduced to a variety of ideas cultures and perspectives all appropriate for our ages and development stage yet on Tuesday 25th 2023 I discovered a book in my my school library named genderqueer its Pages were filled with lgbtq propaganda encouraging young children towards acts of general mutilization and to my dismay it contained child pornography less than two weeks later on April Friday May 5th 2023 I made another alarming Discovery an online book from my school library catalog called Fun home was also riddled with explicit lgbtq propaganda it contained graphic depictions of two women engaged in oral intercourse and an unsettling scene where a minor observed a naked dead man
036being surgically opened and his genitalia exposed I respectfully call on our school board to take a strong stance against this presence of inappropriate materials in our libraries I remember I recommend that these books be immediately removed from the collections James day my name is James day I live at 9234 Matthew Drive Manassas Park first of all I'm encouraged by Mark's courage to come and bring this very hard topic to the school board for your consideration pornography of any kind to include children or child pornography is not appropriate in the high school where it now sits the state of Virginia also agrees and Virginia law basically defines what pornography and child pornography is and it seems like as this is becoming more and more apparent I as a parent am finding that this pornography and this
037child pornography material in our school library that is accessible to minors is not appropriate and does not comply with Virginia's legal definition of what pornography and child pornography are I'm very concerned then as a parent that this material should be basically immediately removed from the library and access online be be blocked beyond that what I would like to encourage the board to consider is to take steps from having this happen again how is it that this material is deemed appropriate for minors and the content in the first place in our place in our school library system what process is used for scrutinizing this material before it's placed into the library how does it comply with state law and those penalties against the dissemination of child pornography and pornography if during your investigation you deem that
038it needs to be better oversight on how this material is put into the library then I would recommend the school board set up and work closely with the parental review board and ensuring that their recommendations be acted upon both promptly and effectively in conclusion the power to affect change lies in our hands by implementing these Solutions I think we can work closely to creating a safer more nurturing and learning environment one that respects the rule of law and fosters a cultural respect and understanding my Christian faith in 15 years as a Sunday school teacher an elder show just how critical it is to guard our children against what they're exposed to Jesus Christ even considered these matters as having a very Eternal significance and he warned against doing things against children and what they're exposed
039to in Matthew chapter 8 verse 16. when he said whoever causes these little ones to stumble and believe me who believe in me to sin it would be better to have them have a great Millstone fasten around their neck and drowned in the depth of sea it is eternally significant you all have a very important responsibility it's critical and I think if you work with the parents teachers former Sunday school teachers to really look at this material and come up with a solution I think you can find something that that benefits all along with the parents your custodians of the children's education thank you very much all right anyone else Dawn Hayford name and address please my name is Dr Don Hayford and I live at 102 Walden Street Manassas Park are you ready Miss
040Williams perfect as a parent a person who considers herself fairly well educated I've read a lot of different books some of those in my free time some of them at school in high school and then later in college and I'm going to name some of the books I read in high school that I would say shaped my life beloved when rabbit howls Girl Interrupted I would argue that all three of those books are probably considered pornographic by somebody's standards but they're great literature they tell stories that are important to be heard would I let my nine-year-old read them no but at 17 16. yeah I think I could handle it and I think it gave me a very good skill set and that was learning how to understand other people and understand other points of
041view as a Christian I grew up in a very conservative household and it wasn't until last year that I realized I was queer and this is the first time I've seen that in a public setting and it was through hearing other people's stories that I realized that I don't have to look like any other queer person to be valid in my gender identity and in my sexuality and it is important for our children to know that no matter what they feel no matter how they feel no matter what their truth is that it is okay that they are valid that they deserve to have a life to have love these stories need to be told I didn't have access to these stories when I was younger to realize that perhaps some of those things that
042I was feeling were normal and had a label because I didn't think I fit into the boxes that I saw in most of the media but I realize now that there is a place and there is stories that speak to each of us and validate our Human Experience and that is so critical for our children to have access to when they are old enough to understand it and I personally believe that high school is a perfectly appropriate place for that to happen furthermore I would argue that there should not be any censure of books in our high school library specifically now probably not certain books not saying the high schooler should be rating 50 shades but literary books of great value books that are tell the story time thank you thank you Mrs Williams has
043anyone else signed up no Madam chair thank you very much that ends our public comment period all right uh moving on upcoming meetings our next school board work session is Monday June 5th here I'm actually in the third floor uh conference room at uh 6 59 PM then our next regular school board meeting is June 26th here at 6 59 p.m uh will also be my last one board member comments do we have any comments before we go online this is like one of my only times to talk okay um I somehow doubt that all right um just uh giving a couple of events coming up in the next couple of weeks at the schools um the AP Capstone program will be having a little recognition ceremony as a member of the AP Capstone program
044I saw firsthand how hard the AP seminar and AP research students worked this year so please come out and support them that is on the 18th at seven o'clock um and uh Mrs McCracken will be running that my English teacher um there will be a lot going on that week um there is an art show on um the 17th that is the district-wide art show um also on that night um there is a Middle School choir concert please go support the sixth graders they have been working very hard on this concert my sister has been talking my ear off about it um and I will be there too so please go support um our Performing Arts programs uh and there is also another choir concert um 7th and 8th grade on the 18th as well
045that is also at 6 59. um and if you want to come and support the high school choir I am also a part of the high school choir program that is on Monday May 22nd um also I forgot to mention my amazing teachers thank you for all you have done this school year shout out to Mr Green Mr bushelon Mrs mccracking Mrs shank Mr Martinez and I'm missing one I'll remember it at some point it might it may not be now but I will remember I will remember um uh and last but not least um I would like to say um please uh keep Cougar Elementary in your prayers please check up on the teachers a lot of them knew Mr Greco um uh I never personally had him as a teacher but I was
046connected to a lot of students that did and I just really don't want his um tenure and the amazing students that he touched to go unnoticed so please check on um your teacher friends at cougar check on your students former teachers and help out anywhere you can because this is a community this is a tight-knit community and we're going to help everybody get by so thank you 7 30 foreign so I just real quick miles from I can't believe you didn't mention that prom is this weekend and congrats to your peers but uh please just uh all the kids out there have fun be safe and then also again my thoughts and prayers are to everyone who knew Mr Greco I loved that guy and I really you know wish all of you you know
047some peace but you know he will be missed condolences as well to Mr Greco at the also I'm going to be I want to say congratulations or congrats good luck on your sols over the next week so and also thank you to all the public speakers today are the commenters that's appreciated Community input is always valued thank you um I always kind of seems to go last but um just again remembering Mr Greco and his sweet spirit and my thoughts are with um everyone who has uh felt the loss so keenly this week also um uh thank you for teacher appreciation sols are coming I will see you Thursday at the Capstone some of your preceding the preceding seniors were a little upset like we didn't get a yes so uh your blazing new ground
048congratulations for that and with that as I was starting to say we have a 10-minute recess um we have some business to do in closed session which has us leading the chambers but we have 10 minutes to clear the room and move on to our next thing so with that I'm going to call a recess to go home