Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 3/26/2025

Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 1h 25m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/ca7affeomt

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-17. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:26] White Sessions in the order. It's free every time. Is it you? It is me. Okay, Mr. Smith is calling City Council. Mayor Davis-Younger. Present. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Here. Council Member Ellis.

[00:00:41] Here. Council Member Smith. Here. Council Member Osina. Here. Council Member Vasquez-Luna. Present. Council Member Hudson. Here. McCormis, present. The school board joint meeting is also called to order. Mrs. Garza, can you please call the roll?

[00:00:57] Yes, ma'am. Chair Seward. - Here. - Ms. Chair Spall. - Here. - Ms. Stevens. - Here. - Ms. Brescia. - Here. - Ms. Smiles. - Here. - Ms. Brown present. Dr. Jones. - Here. - Madam Chair, we have a quorum. - Thank you. - Thank you.

[00:01:14] - Do I need to go? - Can I do anything? - Yeah, go ahead. - Dr. Newman, do we have any additions or corrections to the agenda? Can I get a motion? - Chair. - I move that the school board approve the public meeting agenda as presented. - Second. - I have a motion by Vice Chair Spall, second by Mrs. Brescia, the school board the city of manasas approve the public meeting agenda as presented is there any discussion all in favor aye any opposed motion 370. thank you so the one and only item we have for tonight discussion item with uh for the joint mcps work session is the mcps proposed budget

[00:01:50] i'll go to mr keane and steve y'all kind of working in tandem i guess i don't know Thank you, Mayor of the School Board. It's really the schools night to present to you and staff. Just one note, Dr. Newman and I, with Mr. Burke, have been in constant contact.

[00:02:08] As most of you know, there's been lots of changes and discussions at the state level. Neither body is real sure what we're going to get out of the state at this point until they adopt their budget. So with that, we'll turn it over to the schools for their presentation.

[00:02:24] Thank you, and it's wonderful to be with everyone here this evening. Tonight, presenting our FY26 budget will be Dr. Jennifer Quesada and with her, Mr. Taft-Kelly at some point. Please, Dr. Quesada.

[00:02:40] All right. Good evening, Mayor Davis-Younger, Vice Mayor, Wolfe, City Council members, Chair Seabrook, Vice Chair Spall, School Board members, Dr. Newman, and Mr. Burke. Tonight, Mr. Taft-Kelly, our Director of Finance, will present the School Board's adopted budget for FY26, which was approved last night.

[00:02:56] Before we start, I'd like to express my appreciation to Mr. Kelly, and she's going to hate me for this, and to Lee Miller, Budget Supervisor, for their work on this budget. This is Ms. Miller's last budget with us, but she's retiring at the end of the year, so thank you, Lee. There are many moving pieces, as Mr. Keene just said, and unknowns involved in the development of this budget, but we've navigated them all and tried to put this budget in story together for you tonight.

[00:03:18] The transmittal letter was hand-delivered today, as well as sent out via email to everyone here. So Mr. Kelly's going to walk through the budget itself, as well as some school board priorities, unknowns, and unknowns at the end of the presentation. I'm going to set the stage and help us connect the budget to our strategic plan, since our budget is the way we live out our vision, mission, and beliefs.

[00:03:38] And it works. Okay. As you know, our strategic vision is that each MCPS graduate will be prepared to maximize their potential as a member of the global community. That vision is supported by our mission that challenges us in the schools to be architects of student achievement, which requires us to provide learning environments that support and empower students.

[00:03:56] Our ultimate goals are to have students graduate on time with multiple opportunities, but also be prepared to be active citizens. As I mentioned earlier, our budget is the way we bring our strategic vision, mission, and beliefs to life. As you know, MCPS has identified a set of belief statements that are critical bedrocks on which our strategic plan is built.

[00:04:15] You'll see in this budget that these belief statements played a critical role in choices made. First, I want to call your attention to the following belief statement. and fiscally supporting intentional systems for success in an environment conducive to learning. This budget represents intentional choices to support student success.

[00:04:31] Next, I want to call your attention to the belief statement that all Manassas City Public Schools employees are educators. This statement is a belief that all employees, regardless of role, play a critical role in supporting the achievement and success of our students. And finally, I want to call your attention to the final belief statement, which is that excellence in education is paramount to the success of the city of Manassas, which is why we're all here today.

[00:04:52] Typically when we discuss our strategic plan we start with this image but tonight however it's important that we laid the groundwork with our vision and beliefs. The budget represents the way we provide the aligned foundational supports and necessary infrastructure to support the four pillars of the strategic plan that help us promote student academic success. We thank the city for playing such an important role in the aligned foundational supports for our students. Speaking of the pillars this slide just reminds us of the objectives and strategic priorities for each.

[00:05:20] The common thread within each priority is quality staff to implement them in a coherent way. It's now my privilege to turn the remainder of the presentation over to Mr. Kelly, who will walk you through the budget itself. Thank you, Dr. Quesada. I'm going to start with just a quick background as to why we're here today and what we're doing.

[00:05:38] And so, as you all know, the Union Code mandates that the superintendent of each school prepare a needs-based and balanced budget every year. That budget first has to be presented to the local school board, which you all know was presented previously and adopted last night. And then it then comes to you all, the local committee body, for presentation.

[00:05:55] That budget needs to include estimates of the funding that we're going to need for the year to support the school board's priorities. Next, I'm going to talk about some legislative updates. The governor's proposed budget was unveiled in January. Additionally, there was some revisions presented by the General Assembly in late February.

[00:06:15] In March, actually on March 6th, there was an updated calculation tool provided to us by Virginia Department of Education. That new calc tool provides some additional revenue for which we did update our proposed budget for the year. The original budget included $151 million, $73,000 in total revenue, and the new budget down for operating fund includes $151.4 million.

[00:06:39] As you all know, there's still uncertainty remaining, as Chief Keene said, amongst the state. And at this particular time, we are expecting the governor's budget to get approved in April or May. And before we get started and get into the numbers, I just wanted to give some quick facts about MCPS.

[00:06:57] So MCPS has 7,689 students, of which 71% of those students are Hispanic, and 55% being English learners. I think it's also important to note that of those 7,600 students, all of our students currently receive free and reduced work, currently receive free meals, and so that is something that we take pride in and that we would like to continue moving forward.

[00:07:22] Now we're going to go into enrollment. And so on this first chart, it's going to detail our enrollment levels over the last 19 years. And each column represents the enrollment levels by elementary, intermediate, middle, and high school students.

[00:07:42] As you can see from the chart, our enrollment levels have remained relatively flat, especially over the last five years, but even in general, have been pretty flat over the last 10 years or so. This next chart shows our English learner enrollment over time, broken down by active versus former EL students.

[00:07:59] For those wondering, an active EL student would be a student that is currently receiving services and is classified as level one. through level four. As you can see, our number of active EO students continues to increase and is currently at its highest level. This last chart shows how we compare regionally with other districts in terms of cost per pupil per the Washington Area Board Education Guide, which we also call the Wavy Guide. Cost per pupil refers to the amount of money the school division spends on each student on an annual basis. As you can see from the chart,

[00:08:36] MCPS spends about $18,076 per student. Now we're going to get into some of the numbers. And so this chart that's shown here is our operating budget and a summary of our operating budget for the year.

[00:08:54] This law provides the overall revenue that we're going to receive in this by category, so by state, city, and other, which is just miscellaneous revenue, and is broken down by, again, our operating fund as well as our federal and debt service funds. And as you can see from the slide, our proposed revenue for the state aid is going to be $84.1 million.

[00:09:13] Our city revenue, which you all know is $60.9 million, and that's just for the operating fund. Federal revenue for the year is expected to be $4.3 million. I'll talk a little more about that later. And then debt service fund, $930,000. Our expenditures, as they should, are balanced to our revenue, and we expect to spend $146.1 million in the operating fund, $4.3 million in the grant fund, and $930,000 in debt service.

[00:09:41] This chart here shows how our expenditures are broken down by percentage. This illustration shows that for our operating budget, We're going to have 42% of our revenue comes from the city appropriation. The largest majority of our revenue comes from the state aid, which is 50%, as well as sales tax.

[00:10:01] Those kind of go hand in hand, but they're broken out here for this illustration. And then our other funding sources, which is the miscellaneous revenue and other things, make up about 1% of our revenue. And how that is spent is on the right side here. As you would expect, the majority of our expenses are spent on instruction, and it's 74.9%, followed by operations and maintenance.

[00:10:23] We then spend 6.9% on health and administration, 5.7% on technology, 4.2% on people transportation, and then 0.6% on facilities, and that one kind of goes hand-in-hand with operations and maintenance. Some operating budget highlights.

[00:10:39] So our revenue increase for the year is going to be about $5.1 million. $5.2 million of our new revenue or our budget is going to be dedicated to compensation increases. There's a $1 million increase in employer contribution to health insurance, And I want to be clear, that's an increase to our contribution as the employer.

[00:10:59] And so we took on a larger contribution this year in order to relieve some of the undue stress on our employees. So we took on a larger portion of the health insurance cost this year. Additionally, we have $396,000 in additional strategic investments beyond compensation.

[00:11:18] Some expenditure highlights. Similar to last year, our primary focus this year remained on employee compensation and making our salaries more regionally competitive. We had a 5.5% increase across all staff, and then we added a longevity step as well.

[00:11:34] And that's for our staff who are at the top of the scale. I mentioned one slide ago about the health insurance increase, and that's also part of the expenditure highlights. So compensation over the years. We thought it would be a good idea to show how we've tried to compensate our staff over the last several years.

[00:11:54] And so, as you can tell from the slide, over the last five years, if you include the proposed budget, there will be a 28.59% increase for all staff in their salaries over that time frame, which is amazing and something that I think we should certainly champion.

[00:12:11] As you know, there's still work to do, and we are hoping to continue our focus on our staff and their compensation. Now our strategic investments. Dr. Quesada gave some great explanation as to what our investments and our goals are for the year and our strategic plan, how we're going to approach some of those investments. We're going to start with quality workforce. As I mentioned before, we expect to have a 5.5% increase or minimum 5.5% increase, which will be effective on July 1.

[00:12:41] We've added a longevity step to the top of our scale to show additional appreciation or appreciation to our staff at the top of the scale to ensure that they get a little more than just a standard COLA or cost of living increase. We had a reclassification of our certified nursing assistants to make sure that they are being compensated at the level of their peers in that category.

[00:13:03] There's an adjustment to the employer contribution to health insurance, again, to take on more of a load and reduce the burden on our employees. And now we're going to talk about inclusive and collaborative learning environment. For that strategic investment, we are adding additional ESOL certified teachers, some additional funding to schools for benchmark and other instructional materials, and then we're going to add an alternative education coordinator.

[00:13:26] Now, in order to balance the budget, we had to have some reductions. And so what some of those entailed was a salary lapse. And so salary lapsing is something that happens organically throughout attrition as employees retire or transition to different localities or other opportunities.

[00:13:48] And typically, especially for employees who are retiring or at the top of the scale, as you all know, there aren't just an abundance of teachers out here with 25 and 30 years of experience, so it's difficult for us to get those folks. So typically what happens, again, through natural attrition is the new employees that come on typically have less experience, which fetch smaller salaries, which allow us to have some savings there.

[00:14:11] And so some of those savings totaled about $975,000 for us to go into FY26. And so we were able to utilize that and help balance the budget with that. Additionally, we had to reduce our allocation for intervention services. These were some additional services that we added in FY25 that unfortunately had to be taken out in the FY26 budget in order for us to balance.

[00:14:36] Some potential unknowns. We spoke earlier, and you'll hear about this, I'm sure, beyond this meeting. uncertainty regarding the federal funding. We are monitoring any potential impacts to our student meals. As I mentioned before, all of our students currently receive free meals. That is something that we would like to continue. And so we are keeping a keen eye on that. Other potential impacts related to changes and cuts at the DOE. As we all know, there's a lot going on there. Collective bargaining, there's still discussions ongoing about that. And then state and local funding as far as the timing of when that's going to be finalized. Now I'm going to shift gears and talk

[00:15:15] about some school board priorities that are unfunded, but what have been deemed top priorities and or priorities for the year for our school board. And so these are priorities that would be addressed should there be additional revenue provided. We've broken these out into top priorities as well as additional priorities, and I'll just briefly read through some of these. So the top priorities would be additional salary increase for our staff. Again, that's something that we've put a lot of focus on and will continue to do so. Cost of providing free meals for our students, As I just mentioned, we have some concerns about the Community Eligibility Provision or CEP funding,

[00:15:52] as well as some USD funding that looks like it's going to be cut at the federal level. And so we want to make sure we're prepared for that and that we can react quickly in real time. Paid parental leave, again, just looking for ways to provide compensation, maybe not necessarily in the form of salary, but some type of compensation or benefits to our employees.

[00:16:11] We believe paid parental leave is something that should be given to our staff and something that we will continue looking at. Intervention services as I just mentioned we had to pull that out of the budget in FY 26. We would love to put that back in there That's something that we think could be very helpful to our students some additional priorities central registration additional ESOL teachers an additional social worker and as well as an additional speech language pathologist and then a diesel school bus now for Some proposed use of fund balance. This is these are two items that our school board believe are important and that they would like to

[00:16:48] utilize some of the available fund balance that we currently have in the operating fund to support these projects the first one is no surprise anybody here is the purchase of 8700 centenbill road which is where our central office is currently housed we currently rent several floors in this building and and the school board would like to purchase the building additionally the alternative education center or program as you all may or may not know state senator rome was attempting to to secure funding for us to start a pilot program for our alternative education program.

[00:17:23] That funding was not provided in the state budget. However, it is still a huge priority for the school board, and we would like to move forward with that by funding the pilot program with use of fund value. And so that program, the goal of that program would be to support students in grades five through 12 who face barriers of success.

[00:17:42] And the program's mission would be to enhance success, improve attendance, develop skills, and foster behavioral growth with the ultimate goal reintegrating these students back into the normal education environment, the general education environment. Considerations for long-term planning. So I just mentioned the audit program. There will be a need to incorporate the ongoing cost of that program into future budgets, as well as utilize the data that's going to be received from the pilot program to make sure that we're achieving our goals, some of which are to reduce the number of expulsions and long-term suspensions, as well as reduce the number of dropouts. There's also an ongoing need to maintain

[00:18:19] competitive salaries and to keep it we're always going to continue planning for future capital projects and now we're at this is our timeline and we are actually at the end of this timeline as we're here today on March 26th with this presentation and with that I will take your questions. You kind of glazed over central registration maybe I'm new and that's why I don't know what that is but can you describe what is central registration? Sure so central registration for us is going to be a place where students can come and maybe

[00:18:56] it was being a little better this so it would be a location so that families particularly families who native language is not English come to one place to register the assessment can be done they wouldn't have to go to multiple places and so it would involve like a registrar and a social worker sorry I was blanking on that so you'd need people to it helps families by coming in one place it's a model that's used in a lot of our surrounding jurisdictions. And so it's just a way to make it easier for families. Everything can be done at once for multiple schools and including the language assessment. Adding also that right now

[00:19:35] the people doing that work are the ESOL teachers themselves. So this would shift that administrative work away from them so they can spend more time with their students and put it in a dedicated. Thank you, Madam Mayor. My first question is the $1 million reduction in FY26. How much is that percentage for the reduction on the intervention and if you can explain a little bit of this intervention services. Sure, I'll go first and Mr. Goodfeller if necessary. So that was in addition this year to contracts with a company called University Instructors, did I get that right?

[00:20:13] University Instructors that were providing services in addition to our staff often before and after school and sometimes there's part of it that would be things in school through targeted support blocks and other things so providing additional resources now the students are still participating in our targeted support blocks and our schools would still offer after school services but that was added this year and is pretty much a big chunk most of the most of the budget or all of the budget for that additional um outside resource to come as an assistance to our schools okay and uh what's our one million because it says it will reduce but just trying to have an

[00:20:53] an idea was the budget or what percentage was reduced when the 1 million? 100%. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Of the outside contract. Yeah, because it's his reduction. I didn't say everything. Okay. Thank you. I did have the other one was it was related to the wage increases is the 3% was for in January. The 3% was effective generally was that targeted or for everybody that was so that if you recall um and

[00:21:31] that the reason that that 2024 has a higher percentage is in large part to the city council for giving additional revenue or give additional funding to give um teachers so it was three percent on average but four percent for our teachers and so the extra money from the city council was to give a four percent mid-year raise in 2024 we were doing averages on this slide and so um but So teachers got an additional raise above the rest of the employees in the middle of 2024.

[00:21:58] So the slide represents all staff. There was actually, if I just did teachers alone, teachers would have gotten 1% more than the rest of the staff. Because of that point in time. Got it. Thank you. The Dicela school bus, is that to reduce the intermediate 6 a.m., 625 bus?

[00:22:20] We need more than one. You were hoping. No, because, you know, like, I mean, that was a big topic last time, and, you know, experienced that for four years and, you know, continued to see the kids in the dark. I've got to be clear.

[00:22:37] And I'm sure the electric gas is more expensive than the diesel gas, right? The electric gas, the electric bus is more expensive than the diesel. The actual bus itself would be more expensive. Yes, but we have a bus itself.

[00:22:55] Because it says, and I know it's additional, I just want to understand. It says one of the additional priority, this is a school bus for approximately $160,000. I was just wondering if it was electric, would it be a lot more?

[00:23:15] Steve's answering for you. I'm sure. And it's more to highlight. She's trying to see if there's a comparison. Yeah, and it is more to try to highlight. Even with that, you are trying to meet the needs. From the city's perspective, Mike Morgan, our fleet manager, has been tracking actual expense of operating diesel versus electric.

[00:23:41] And as much as the electric buses are touted to be more efficient, the diesel buses are much cheaper to operate. And they allow greater flexibility for the school board because a diesel bus that picks up kids gets fueled and is ready to go if they have a trip planned for any of the students, whereas the electric buses are down for four to six hours to charge.

[00:24:11] So it's problematic. Thank you so much. Yeah, this is actually for my side of the house. Slide 14 shows increase in city funding of 2.72%.

[00:24:28] I believe our handshake is 3%, and I'm sure there's a really good reason, but I want to make sure we're not shorting our side of the bargain. I can answer that before it gets that far.

[00:24:46] So if you were to incorporate the debt service contribution that you gave us as well, it would total the 3%. So it's just the way it's broken. Yes, that was really good. We've worked very closely with Ms. Bergeron about all of that.

[00:25:01] so great clarification. I'm just giving you a chance to shine. On slide 11, and this is frankly my edification in the world, I really appreciate the breakdown between active and former as a part of the student population. I do realize obviously people graduate, leave the system in one way or another so they are no longer counted our experience experience in other jurisdictions

[00:25:33] or is this sort of a normal trend of these of this metric or and is frankly how obviously to me it would seem she was wow the more people you got in the blue rather than the yellow is better for them and for achievement so how do we get there so a lot of what happens is we have a lot students who come into us as level one so that's one of the reasons that and newcomers right so folks who are coming in so that's where the influx is right and so then a lot of the students who get to former right then move on and graduate and so it's students are moving through what that

[00:26:12] doesn't show you is how they're moving through from level to level um but a lot of our influx has been the students coming in um to us starting with us at level one and level two which you saw more of an influx of that since covid and you're seeing that elsewhere i can't cite numbers from elsewhere but um we have we have a lot of that okay um just again for me going forward being able to see people transitioning through the system and frankly therefore this the success of our efforts

[00:26:44] as opposed to a state average or a peer group or something like that would be a really helpful And particularly when we are looking at downrange things like ESOL teachers, if you're able to show the benefits and we're having success, that makes the sale for those positions a little bit easier.

[00:27:06] Let me also say to help you make it easier, some of the ESOL teacher positions that are being added, it's a requirement from Virginia Code. They specified out that they changed the funding model so that the breakdown is based on the level of the student. and that started with this current year and it's a phase in approach so the ESOL teachers we are adding are to make sure that we are in compliance with those requirements uh and the last question i had was the uh the 400 000 bonus that you got from the state thus far theoretically uh i assume that went to general operating and therefore it's compensation you're speaking for the the bonus for

[00:27:44] Yeah, from the original budget to what is the last number that came out of the school board, that information was given to us before we had the last school board work session. And so that money was then determined to be for the increase in the contribution of health insurance. So at the original presentation and that alternative education coordinator, those were the two things added with the remainder being in a contingency, a very small remainder beyond that. So good question.

[00:28:15] wish list. So page 7, this proposed funding for 3% increase for all standards of quality positions. So what positions are not covered under a standard SOQ? So it's it's harder to answer that. Would you like to do the others? Which ones are included? So a lot of positions are included, it's just not

[00:28:52] necessarily all of the ones that we have. So it's most position types are included in the standards of equality but the ratios at which they fund them do not meet the needs and divisions across the state have been arguing for this for a long time that they need to up the standards of quality funding model to match where folks are but you've got requirements for principles, requirements for particular class sizes. We actually have class sizes that are lower than the state requirements which then allow us to take advantage of something called the K-3 class size reduction grant, but that doesn't cover all of the grade levels, of course.

[00:29:28] So it doesn't cover all of our teachers, but it covers, so teachers are SOQ funded, but not all, right? And administrators are SOQ funded, but not necessarily all. But it includes categories like transportation, finance, HR. Those requirements are specified, and we get, it's like three-quarters of the positions, between two-thirds and three-quarters of the positions are SOQ-related, the equivalent in an FTE, if that makes sense.

[00:29:58] How many would you say are not covered by an SOQ? 400 and something. So 700-something are to 400-something or not. I don't have the exact number on my... When we looked at the bonus number... It's like 725 was, and then the difference to get to.

[00:30:15] So how many again, 400? 725 is the ones funded, and so you go up. It depends on if you're including part, you know, because you get to part-time. So you get up to 1,100, it's like 400 positions or not, give or take. So how many employees you got?

[00:30:32] How many employees do you have total? So just over 1,100, and so it's about 400. So it's, you know, depends on your cut in time. So the cut in time they gave us for the funding model for, yeah. And is this 3% that the state funding, is that including a local match?

[00:30:56] So, yes, because we funded to get all positions up to 5.5%. The funding from the state covered 3% for approximately 725 people. And so the proposed 5.5% increase that you're looking at.

[00:31:11] The balance is covered by the rest of our funds, yes. That'll be about half. All right, very good. Explain more here because, as Ashley said, you kind of went over it here.

[00:31:30] We've heard in the council here about, let's see if I can find it, on page 22 there. So your top priority is a 1.5 salary increase, 1.7.

[00:31:48] So, why 1.5? Why, you know, why, first of all, why a salary increase? Then why that percentage versus some other percentage along the way?

[00:32:04] Because our neighbors are at 7%, and we try to match them to stay in the market with them. So, we got to the 5.5 to balance the budget. In order to get to the 7, we would need another 1.5%.

[00:32:21] So it's basically to match, I'm assuming, like Prince William County. Are there other jurisdictions nearby, Fairfax? You can't.

[00:32:37] You don't want that number. There you go. Well, I may become a teacher then. You would get hired. Well, that's a need. Okay, so predominantly it's Prince William County. I believe Loudon also was around 6%, so don't quote me on that, but I believe it was around.

[00:32:57] All right. Very good. So when does your federal funding come in? So obviously things are not upheaval with the Department of Education, and you get a certain amount of federal funding. Is it like at a certain time of the year, or does it come whenever?

[00:33:18] Because I'm addressing the second one, your cost of providing free meals. Sure. when are you going to know that you don't have that money or you do have that money or you have part of that money? That is a great question, which I wish I knew the full answer to, but I can't answer it. When do you usually know? I can answer that. So typically, obviously with federal funding, it would depend on the type of funding that it is. There are grants where they are reimbursement basis, meaning we would incur the expense of front, submit reimbursements on a monthly, quarterly basis, and receive the funding a month or two from the time you submit that reimbursement. For the most part, most of our funding related to our meals is a reimbursement

[00:33:57] basis. And so we submit meals data to the state or to the Fed, and we get a reimbursement or we get a revenue received based on certain meal percentages that they give us. So then, if I understand what you're telling me correctly, in the real world, you could start, school starts in the middle of August, let's say, and you could start, you would be You could start providing the meals here, but you wouldn't necessarily know if it's going to be reimbursed or not.

[00:34:29] Is that correct? That is correct. Until you submit your reimbursement and then thumb up, thumb down, the check comes in or no check comes in. I would say ideally we would hope that there would be information provided prior to that happening. At this point, I can't answer if that would be the case.

[00:34:45] I would assume there would be a little bit of lead time, but yes, ultimately, should something happen, I mean, it's federal funding, that could be a possibility. Every other year we would know that in advance, but right now we can't say that we will. Okay.

[00:35:01] And then the next slide, page 23 here. I understand 8,700 is there at the beginning when it was first started and so forth. What I am, oh, I do underneath the purchase there, the second boat, owning the building will allow to collect rent.

[00:35:22] Have there been a decrease in tenants in that building? Not to my many. Okay, very good. And then this one about the alternative education program here. So I notice you only do grades 5 through 12.

[00:35:40] Is there a reason why it doesn't start, let's say, earlier? Let's put it that way. I'm going to have to rely on Mr. Gofeller to help me out with that one. He's the expert on that. Typically, when we look at the program, we're looking at a pilot program, a small program, And so looking at providing services to a small number of students, I think it's best to start at the intermediate.

[00:36:04] And so to target our intermediate, middle, and high school students for right now, is kind of thinking around that. And an estimated number of how many students would benefit from this program for grades 5 through 12 would be how many?

[00:36:20] 40 to 60. All right. So if I take 60 into 2 million, the question I've been asked by residents is, That's a pretty high amount to, you know, when you break it down per student amount. Could you elaborate what that money is actually?

[00:36:36] Why would it be, why is it so high? I mean, I'm not doing the math right at this point, but, you know, figure out whatever amount you want. But the residents, you know, are just saying that's an awful lot to be spending. So explain a little bit more about why it is what it is and what is really taking place.

[00:36:56] When I say really, I don't mean like you're hiding anything. What takes place in an alternate, alternative education center program so that residents who are watching, listening, or I, if I get questioned about it, could explain?

[00:37:12] This is what actually transpires in this program. Sure. So the program would be identifying students who maybe need a different pathway to a large class size does not work for them. And so it would be an alternative setting would be a small group that we would provide not only teachers, we would also provide counseling services, social work services for family, and connecting those families to resource.

[00:37:39] And so when you look at, these are going to be some of our students who have the highest need. And so when they have the highest need, you need to provide services in terms of personnel. And so the bulk of that money, about $1.2 million of that money, going to go to salaries for the staff that would be providing services to those students and so but we will be looking at complementing in terms of the curriculum making sure that we are providing the core contents to students so that they're staying on track for graduation with the hope that by this intensive services that we're providing students in an alternative setting that

[00:38:17] at some point is not meant to be long term the student would come in there It could be a semester, it could be a year, and have success in an alternative setting and then transition those students back into the general education. So if it's a METS student, transition them back into the METS school because they've had success here.

[00:38:37] And so when you look at that, what that takes to do that, you're going to be looking at bringing in parents, you're going to be looking at setting up goals for students, really setting up an individualized plan for those students. and those things obviously take resources to be able to do that appropriately. Do they have to go through the same tests depending on what grade they are, the state mandates?

[00:39:00] The standard of learning curriculum would be the same. Everything would be the same. The only thing that would be different is there would be a higher level of service and support for those students and families to help them be successful to stay on track for graduation. In your opinion, would this be similar if I had to provide an analogy of what you currently do for special education students?

[00:39:24] That if I pulled out your cost for your special education program, they would be significantly higher than the overall population, obviously, right? Because smaller classroom size, more teacher, teacher aides, more one-on-one, that sort of thing.

[00:39:42] Is that correct? Yes. All right. Very good. Because I always like things that are simple to use that. All right, I believe that's all the questions I got right now. Thanks. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just a couple of things.

[00:39:57] Well, I thank you and commend the school board for continuing to recognize and address the importance, the impact of the students.

[00:40:17] I'm assuming that participation is of significant numbers. And that's very important. It can get lost in sight that it don't ever want to anyone to be of the view that it's an item that's just a fluff item.

[00:40:33] That is a very critical impact it has on students' learning and their attentiveness in school can be directly related to their lack of hunger. So thank you for continuing to address that.

[00:40:51] Just a smaller point, but things get lost in conversations and repeated in the conversations. The salary match, it's convenient and quick to say it's to keep us or to match Prince William and we can't match Orleans and all of that.

[00:41:11] I want everyone, the residents and all of us, to remember the reason we address that, the real reason, is because we want the best. We think we have the best school and the typical improvement and so forth.

[00:41:31] To be the best, you can easily, quickly, and you must point to the school, the education, the educators, the teachers, and so forth. To retain those, we have to be competitive, sort of match. And then it's not to be like Prince William.

[00:41:50] It's so that we can be competitive for that teaching pool. So I just, let's not lose that with, oh, the council and the school board just wants to be like Prince William. That's not the point. The point is we want to be able to keep, to recruit and retain our best.

[00:42:07] The per student, cost per student analysis, as to the components of that formula, well, let me ask it this way. The 3% up or down will have a direct impact, I'm assuming, on cost per student figure.

[00:42:34] In other words, that formula is all built into that. Okay. Because looking at the chart, again, there we are. It's not a specific item. In other words, we're not saying let's not give the per student.

[00:42:50] Let's not have our cost per student at a level. That number comes out where it is because of the overall funding that you receive. That is correct. So that we, if there were any thought that the school is getting 2% too much or 2% too little, it would impact the cost on that.

[00:43:13] I think everything else has been covered. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to say it was 150,000 meals last month in February. Great, thank you. Wow, great that you were able to meet that challenge.

[00:43:29] It bothers me that there's such a need, but thank you. I have a couple questions. So the free meals, what is CEP funding exactly? CEP funding stands for Community Eligibility Provision.

[00:43:46] And so what that provision does, and I'm going to summarize, they set a certain percentage. I want to say it's 40%. And so if 40% of your students receive free and reduced lunch, then that school technically qualifies as a CEP school, meaning that that school could qualify for full, free lunch and breakfast.

[00:44:07] And so that then allows us as a school division to submit those meals to the federal government, and then we would get essentially payments for that. So the free meals are all federally funded?

[00:44:23] It's all federally funded money? So if you don't get the funding for that, the low-income children, they still do not get fed? So that's a great question. Honestly, that would depend on what changes were to happen at the federal government.

[00:44:40] Let's just say they stay the same right now or where they were prior to CEP. The individuals who qualify for free and reduced lunch would still qualify, we would hope. However, the kids who do not qualify would then have to revert back to pain, or we would have to cover that cost as Manasseh City Public Health.

[00:44:57] So it would be like pre-pandemic lunches. Okay. The Centerville Road building, $10.75 million. Is there any type of estimate for the costs, like for renovations, for it to be operational, especially for the alternative education program?

[00:45:16] Two million covers. That's in there to get that third floor ready for the program. Okay. Is there any other renovations for that building that you see? Just the list that we provided last year that covered the over 20-year.

[00:45:33] Do you remember that figure? I do not. Okay. 4.1 million, something like that? It's not a one-time. over the 20 years that they built out. Like AC and heating? Yeah. Okay. Have you seen, I'm just curious, with 2025, are you seeing a decrease in enrollment as well as a decrease in attendance in schools?

[00:46:01] Do you have any figures on that? So as far as enrollment, we've been pretty flat. Our kids think... Is it dropouts or moving? No, withdrawals. Our withdrawals are a little below last year's number at this time, but we don't know the reason for those, so I'm not going to speculate on why.

[00:46:23] Just a little bit below. It's like 40 more that have a withdrawal. The other question, the alternative education program that Senator Rimm attempted was denied. Do we know why the state would not say that?

[00:46:41] We actually made it to the last round. We were in a good place. getting good feedback from Senator Rome and then we made it to the last one and okay we didn't make it okay um so is that the funding for that coming out of your operation fund it's a pilot program right so the the ask is to be able to take it out of the fund balance so it's one time so it's a pilot so if it works and you don't know what the reoccurring expense would be.

[00:47:20] We'd have to come back and have a different conversation. Hey, this program is working. We would love to keep it going. How can we make that happen? Okay, one more question. The 40 to 60 students that that would serve, how are they being served now? In the school? Just the regular general population student?

[00:47:39] Do you have, like, a success rate, how they're doing with what the program is currently? There is no program currently. So they are in the general setting with everyone else. You don't have like a dropout rate or like, I mean, I don't know.

[00:47:58] Why do you think there's a need to do this? I guess I'm trying to see. Why do I think we have a need for it? Well, I think if you can look at our schools, look at Metsch, look at Osborne, look at Mayfield, there are a group of about 15, 20 or so that we believe if they were out of the building, we'd be a success for not just those that are left in the building, but we would also be putting them in a situation to be more successful.

[00:48:24] Okay, so like if the high school kids have a high dropout rate, you're hoping that you can keep them in school with the new program? I do want to say that that dropout rate has gone down to the lowest it's ever been. We want to do better. Okay.

[00:48:40] It's discipline. Thank you. It's discipline, and in some senses, also things like chronic absenteeism, because some children just don't flourish in that larger classroom size without that higher level of support. So we would be able to really drill down and look at individual students to see who would be the best fit.

[00:49:00] I don't think there's a specific mold. I think it's a student-by-student situation. And I think with some of our chronic absenteeism, getting those kiddos in alternative ed to get them successful in school before trying to reintroduce them back into Osborne or Metz or Mayfield or Baldwin.

[00:49:17] Thank you. Thank you, Molly. And I think I can start with that. So talking about that and actually Council Menosina was talking about the price, you know, if we were to do about, and I understand.

[00:49:35] Like to me, I see it like another school, you know, 40 or 60, but the price it will almost be like, if it was 40, like a two double rate for the current, for what bill do you have? And I don't know if I'm saying that word right. But if it was a 60, it comes to 1.88.

[00:49:53] It's the cost for me to, you know, be able to understand it, 2 million. So my ask on that, and I understand that, I appreciate it. I think it's going to make a difference. But for some reason, I thought some of them were home because they didn't have a, they were studying from home online because they didn't have a place at the school.

[00:50:13] You mean the expelled or long-term suspension students? For the alternate education? Yes. So if some of them are long-term, that we would want to not long-term, but put them in the alternative placement instead of. So is this estimated $2 million?

[00:50:31] Do you think it can be more? We're going to, as I say all the time, if you tell me $2 million, the program will be run for $2 million. I understand. So my ask, and I think it might be obvious, but I'm still going to ask. So will it be $12.75 request for the balance?

[00:50:51] And that is out of 16, the proposed use of available fund balance. Out of 16, right? Out of 17. Out of 16? How much is it?

[00:51:07] One-sixth. So 12.75 out of, you know. I'm sure it's in the books. I'm just trying to see what will be left. That's the request. Okay, $12 million. I didn't see. Sounds good. Thank you.

[00:51:23] The ESL, I had a question. that so you provided that it was 55% those they are graduating like about 900 and some students are they graduating this May June or they already got they're not graduating not all those like 900 are graduating from the school division they're graduated out of the service yes my ask will be they graduating in at the end of this or they already graduated the last quarter I'm sorry for getting in. So the way that they're identified, former English learners for the next

[00:52:03] few years after they've, they take an assessment every year, the access test, and that determines their level. And as they progress through, once they get past level four, they're identified as former. And that's because for some accountability purposes and some things, they're still counted in the group. They're not counted in the group for everything. They're not for funding or the requirements for the staffing that we talked about sooner. That assessment's done every year, so students move on up and they're in that former for a couple of years and so those students you could have former english learners who were in elementary school who came to us and progressed quickly through the process through the stages and then you can have some middle and high school so

[00:52:39] that number each year those numbers change based on the access testing which just ended the window for that just ended for this year and we get results in like june my ask is is it 55 today or this year or is it 40% because if you take those formers for the funding it wouldn't be 55 and it does make a difference you know for me and I'm very you know sensitive of that and the 10% of disabled so am I doing the if it was

[00:53:11] for funding will it be 55 or 40% so those 900 are counted you get some money for you get for the 55 percent includes the former if this is the question it includes our former English learners the funding model is different you don't we've received the money received in the requirements for staff the staffing requirements don't are way less when you get to the former but the 55 percent includes that whole stacked bar is Vasquez Luna that all of them

[00:53:47] thank you so when you so when I think about the school is still 55 not 40 percent even though the needs for the teachers are different and may be less than okay thank you and I do have a lot and if anybody from council wants to go please feel free I can wait for the free meals I you know I noticed a new power point that you presented breakfast and lunch but you do serve dinner which it can be very I will say that could be the first one to you know to be affected

[00:54:23] Okay. So when you presented that amount of money, will that include those some dinners at the high school? Yeah, that is correct. And I do apologize. You are correct. We do serve some dinners as well. And so that would maintain, we would like to maintain that as well.

[00:54:39] And I'll just give you the numbers for February. I asked staff to send it to me. So we served 36,630 breakfasts for that month, 87,508 lunches, 973 dinners, and then 2,411 snacks for our after-school tutoring programs.

[00:55:00] So we would like to keep those possible. My ask is with that money, that allocation will include. Okay, thank you. And then, you know, again, you know, for my process on trying to do this, I would like to say when it comes to the races, you know, I think, you know, our survey and, you know, understand survey feedback and everything that we hear from the city, it does show that, you know, the schools are the second priority and, you know, it does make an impact on everybody.

[00:55:34] So speaking of that, you know, when I see, at least for my responsibility, whether they're employees of the school system or the employees of the city, you know, still I see it as a responsibility for me and how I vote.

[00:55:50] Saying to that is, you know, just the reality is that just like as much as you are competing, we are competing with Prince William County, we are competing with Alexandria, Arlington, and we are getting some of our police and fire and rescue.

[00:56:06] you know through the past years we became the trainers and and you know i'm so happy that they do get uh other opportunities but it's you know something that you know we have seen and we have targeted speaking of these you know we're never gonna i understand and i appreciate the explanation but we're never gonna be able to have the money or or have everything that we need to to compete side by side with them but going to that and you know I'm very mindful of the 7% you know I don't know where we're gonna be but you know that is something important but is there a price or there

[00:56:44] is there an amount for targeted targeted increases or is this targeted increases not necessary do you have I'm sorry for rapid fire and it can be for anybody but do you have a big revolving door I constantly look at the news that you have in the jobs of the open jobs through the year.

[00:57:11] So, you know, I know I cannot ask for much, but I'm just saying, will that be? And if that will be something that we also need to be mindful, you know, how much will that be? Whether it's for this budget or the future budget, as, you know, if any, for future considerations.

[00:57:32] So is there a problem with the revolving door or the difficulty of positions or if there is a problem in between the steps? Hold jobs. So hold, retain workers.

[00:57:49] I think I'm understanding. Are there places on the scale that has more of a revolving door than others? We looked at that. There are some places, but we also tried to hit that last year when we did steps one through four.

[00:58:10] We put more in there last year than there will be others, and we'll continue to do that as funding is available. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. All right.

[00:58:31] Let me ramble a little bit here and do some, I guess, stage setting. As both bodies are aware, there have been some preliminary conversations going into before this, but I want to set the stage with regard to budget.

[00:58:50] We are trying to keep up the Joneses in Prince William County. Prince William County this year will receive $280 million from 44 data centers. Think about it.

[00:59:07] About half of that money goes to their schools. That's $140 million. They're roughly 10 times bigger than we are. That's $14 million. We have $14 extra million for the schools, pro rata. We wouldn't be having a lot of these conversations today.

[00:59:23] But we don't because they have 44 data centers producing that money. And we have a half of one right now that we're getting the real estate tax, but we're not getting any of the revenue off the equipment and, frankly, are not likely to from the latest, best intelligence.

[00:59:42] And we are at the mercy of the other, you know, the providers, the data centers when they complete the construction and when they energize them and all that before we can get the tax revenue. The flip side of that equation is we do have a relatively high tax rate, And that is a burden on our residents and business owners.

[01:00:05] We don't have the free, as it's free, spare money coming in from the data centers that Prince William County does. And there's just, there's limits. And just, we all know this, but I want to express it and put some context around it. With that being said, I have told the chair and the vice chair, with regard to the priorities, I will be willing to move, and I would hope the council will support moving forward, purchase of Apple Federal Credit Union building.

[01:00:42] It's the least bad option that I know of. There's not a good option, perfect option right now, the least bad. And with that, the pilot for the alternative education for this next year.

[01:00:57] I will caution everyone the challenge will be the next year and being able to sustain this. And I got no darn idea how we're going to get there yet. We've got to start. I understand the value, the commitment from the school.

[01:01:16] We need to move forward. We need to try to improve the opportunities for our students. And I'm, again, not speaking for the council, I am willing to move forward on this and hope that everyone will support.

[01:01:34] Similarly, from a process perspective, the unfunded budget priorities will be shown to the council in our markup session, both as a lump sum and item by item for each council members to voice and vote on.

[01:01:54] And we'll, frankly, just see what shakes out. The council side obviously has budget issues from the federal space impacting us as well, or potentially impacting us. And I realize, and I've expressed this, that these numbers and priorities may change between now and the 12th of May because of circumstances.

[01:02:20] And I totally, we have to accept that. And going forward, you know, we have the money and we can do what we can do. But the last piece I wanted to throw out, and I want to just be, I know there's been a lot of talk on this, and I want to be really, really, really clear.

[01:02:40] I know there was a discussion about having a public forum on April 22nd regarding the future of old D. I would strongly urge the school board not to do that.

[01:02:56] and allow city staff to complete its archaeological survey of the facility, see what is truly historic. I will tell the school board, point blank, there is zero interest from any member of this council about preserving that building anywhere near its current state.

[01:03:16] Am I correct in that? I understand, as you pointed out, the historical. Yeah, it's just historical. So, you know, in talking with Dr. Newman, Mr. Burke, staff, the chair, the vice chair, the mayor.

[01:03:37] It will be a public process. We will get public input. It won't be in April. We've got to get past the shopping center first. And frankly, we've got to complete the archaeological efforts and frankly see what's really there.

[01:03:53] So I don't want to prejudge anything. But with that, I will shut up. Thank you. What about the requirements of the SUP by September 1? Present something will be by September 1 will be will be September 1. I think I think we're pretty well assured of that we'll have the meeting and what I what I anticipate happening from Just me is staff will come back and say this is if any of the current structure is truly

[01:04:33] Tastes back to the industrial school and can be preserved. They will recommend to do that You know what that looks like and everything. I'm again I don't want to prejudge it. I don't have the first clue other than the fact that we got the house With the idea of relocating that but are we the requirement of us to present to you by September 1 is no longer no Well, let's let's see can we can we let?

[01:05:03] Let's let's staff come back to us people in you know in the I'm assuming May June timeframe, hopefully And if we need to hold off on that requirement, then we will hold off on that requirement. We're not taking action items tonight, so let's figure out where we're at.

[01:05:23] But I just wanted the school board to be very clear where the consensus of the council is on this. I appreciate you saying that publicly. Let me get Mr. Saino. Sorry. Well, as the architect of the amendment for the SUP, I want to go through again.

[01:05:41] I've got it here. I, again, having worked on this and gotten support from fellow counselors back in 2024 here, but essentially, I'm going to put it in very layman terms, but I'm happy to read or I'm happy to pass this down if you have not seen it.

[01:06:04] It refreshes everyone's memory. But basically, within 18 months of the opening of new dean, old dean will be taken down. No ifs, no ands, no buts.

[01:06:21] With the exception of any of the historic items that are identified of that structure that the city may do in conjunction with working with the schools to be able to get in there and do that.

[01:06:39] Now, with the building going down, I have the land, as far as I'm concerned, is still owned by the school system where Old Dean is. It's not city, it doesn't suddenly become city land. I'm sure I don't think that was never my intent.

[01:06:57] That's not written in here in any way, shape, or form along the way here. What Chair Seberg probably is referring to is when this was put together is to give the schools an opportunity to put together a master plan for use of the building in the 18 months between the time new dean opens and it has to be demolished along the way.

[01:07:23] School system is not required to come up with a master plan for use of that to present along the way here because, you know, again, the building is not going to come down the second day the new dean comes, you know, opens unless that's worked out along the way here on that sort of thing.

[01:07:47] But the current SUP never envisioned that old dean would continue to exist beyond 18 months of new dean opening. And if there's any misunderstanding, well, I won't say misunderstanding, there's a belief there is, I'd appreciate being shown in the current SUP where that is.

[01:08:10] I think where we were at is that if there was a desire to keep the building, we would have to present a plan to get approval from council. our concern as staff is if that is not on the table then we don't want to be doing work that you're already saying that the building is coming down and if that's the answer that's the answer and we can accept that but don't just don't say that there's hope to do something we put the work in and then you say it's

[01:08:46] coming down that's all just say if it's coming down just tell us it was it was always the intent, as Vice Mayor Wolf said, that OD will be coming down, would be okay. That's not a fair statement, because you're saying if you present a plan that is approved by council, it would stay.

[01:09:08] No, we said for the use for the remaining 18 months. So it's temporary. If I might, I guess to try to clear. To me, talking to the chair, don't present anything. There is no appetite from the council for retaining the building.

[01:09:24] Let's just move on. You are not required. The SUP doesn't require you to do it. It gives you the opportunity. And remember, when this was put together, let's be honest, passions were pretty high. There were folks who wanted to do something with that building, and I think in fairness on the side of council, if I can just summarize, there was the belief that sure, you may have a use for it, but there had to be some finality presented. And then the intent of the SUP was to make it very clear

[01:09:58] that Old Dean would not exist beyond 18 months of the new school opening up here. And you're right. I hear about the work and what have you. You don't have to. That is for you to decide if you. And as we know, there are additional.

[01:10:17] We're fine. On that. But I did also want to make it get into the record here that, indeed, the land remains with the school system as the owners at this point. You know, I should say at this point, you know, even when the old school is taken down, minus any historic portions that may be identified and wish to be retained.

[01:10:45] I hope you'll work with our city staff when the time comes to be able to identify those parts, if there are any. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, just to clarify, we were worried, to Tom's point, that the public was going to expect us to put forth a presentation because of this SUP.

[01:11:15] And so we wanted it clear tonight that there is no mandate that we make an attempt to save the building for short or long term. We also have been notified by the city staff that there are sewer issues.

[01:11:31] So that kind of negated, you know, it's another layer of reason why we're not trying to make this a fight. But the icing on the cake, I think, and what we want to leave today knowing is that the schools will not and the city will own the process to explain to the public what is happening on that property.

[01:11:56] And our ask is for a number of different reasons that it happened before September. but ideally, understanding your Mathis Avenue issues, that it happens as close to the end of the school year as possible, because we have concerns as a school board about what the public is going to say, and so we don't want to be tied to anything that's too delayed, even though it's really out of our hands, but we want that to be clear.

[01:12:23] That was what we, the six of us, took away, and I just wanted to make sure that everyone was on board. Mr. Burke is... Agreed, and we had another discussion on that today, and we're all on the same page. I do have a question.

[01:12:45] So it's been said that it's school owned by the school. Is it owned by the school or owned by the city? Owned by the school board. Okay. So the decisions to be made on the land use after the school comes down is the school board's decision.

[01:13:10] I have a question. If that's the case, I need to understand this. Why are you able to tell us that we have to demolish it if this is our land? I just want to know. I didn't say that because there was a pre-existing SUP dating back to 1960, 70, something like that, which gave the loan before us, obviously, which governed the use of the property.

[01:13:38] And when the new dean came up, an SUP had to be issued. So this sort of followed on the existing documentation with regard to the old property. And I'll be honest, what I expect to have happen is, and I think this is actually a win-win for the schools and the community, it's just a bigger, better Ginny Dean Industrial Park.

[01:14:01] It just makes it more of a presence in the community and a destination. And we're able to, just like most of the existing park is actually school property, if I remember correctly. Yeah, so we're able to work together for the larger benefit and the students that go to the new Ginny Dean will have this great memorial in front of them.

[01:14:26] If that's not a motivator or whatever, in green space. To me, it's just an ideal situation, but that's the mechanics of how this happens. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and for me, we knew this investment needed to happen, And, you know, you talk about the, you know, the new findings of problems.

[01:14:55] I mean, that is just going to continue. And if it continues to be open, it's about how much will that cost when we already invest. And after that, you know, we already, prior council already makes sure that it's something set up that, you know, at least within 10 years we have a system replaced.

[01:15:14] So it is about if we have to do anything with this, you know, we'll be even be able to meet the next school that, you know, we have talked about it in prior joint session. So to me, you know, it's also about the liability and where the money comes from and from the residents and, you know, and from the tax rate.

[01:15:38] And that is, you know, our responsibility. The last part of this whole puzzle, though, does remain a very intense and purposeful request, you know, that we will not have that space and we will not have that building.

[01:16:00] And so a big part of today is a head nod understanding that, you know, our considerations for long-term planning, which is slide 24, that council is going to be helpful and involved in what we do with all dead.

[01:16:16] It's our responsibility to get the data and own this pilot process, but we can't, you know, assuming it works, that there is an agreement with everyone that that is a priority and it's understood that we no longer have a dean building and we have, you know, all agreed that this park space is a priority.

[01:16:38] So we need you helping us with our priority now down the road, whether it's, you know, it might wind up being a two-year pilot. Like, we can be a little bit flexible, but there is a, we put a plan in place so that everybody understood that that was what we were all doing going forward.

[01:16:58] Thank you, Madam Mayor. I forgot to ask. The moving of the nation, is that called the cottage, right? Whenever that happens. And I understand it's that. When the cottage is moved, is that going to be in any space that is already, I just don't have the picture in my head.

[01:17:19] Is that going to be in any space that is already? Yes, they're already the part of the school currently. We have identified the space. My ask is, where's Matt? I'm sorry. You can't talk.

[01:17:34] You have to talk. Will it be a school property or a school line? The entire Manassas Industrial School is on school board property already, so we operate a historic site on school board property already. The cottage would also be on school board property.

[01:17:50] Dr. Newman, Chief Keenan and I have reviewed the location, So it's not in the existing footprint of the building. It's very close to it, but the earliest we would move that cottage would be after old Dean is offline. So it would be sometime late, late 26, possibly later.

[01:18:12] I just want to note, I heard the word two-year pilot for Alt-Ed, and I just want to note that we have not actually discussed that. That's true. Wait, so I want to correct the record. Please, thank you.

[01:18:28] Duly noted and accurate. I was actually going to follow up on that a bit. I mean, if this is a pilot program for 40 to 6 students, like, what do we anticipate the number of students to be? I mean, I thought that was one of the reasons for the Centerville Road purchase, to have the alternative education in that building.

[01:18:51] So I'm confused why Dean, the old Dean was... Eventually you want to grow that program. Right now we send kids out to Independence, which we would have to continue with the pilot program. At some point, we want to bring it in and have our own. And that's like 100 kids that go there or something like that?

[01:19:10] For independence? We have 20 slots at independence. 20 that leave our school to go off property. And they would still be there for now. I guess the answer for the schools, the identified need is significantly more than the 40 students in the pilot.

[01:19:33] and the governor would end up being, frankly, resources. And like I said, or like I started with, and that becomes the challenge. We don't know in the out years when and how much resources are available.

[01:19:52] Conceptually, to Ms. Spall's point, absolutely. We've got to figure out, you know, it's just every year what the math is going to work out with the budget. And frankly, on your side and our side, I mean, hopefully Delegate Rome next year goes to the governor and ask for another 2.2 million dollars and maybe it gets through so i mean there's we we have to explore all the options to help fund this it's not just one thing okay ability is key yes yeah

[01:20:25] because once you do it you're going to you don't want to go back oh do you want to um mrs garza reminded me we were going to have a joint meeting in november but we haven't been able to get a date in time that works or do you still want to meet jointly in November but can you do it after the

[01:20:59] legislative breakfast I think that's what no I barely will I have a flight and I barely will make it and I had already done it like I'm sorry I forgot about so we are open to it we're still open to it, but we need to move on that, so, okay.

[01:21:28] So, so if I understand correctly, November 20th is not available. Is that the date you're talking about, or are you talking about the date June, or June? We'll be in, um, our annual conference. Yeah, November 20th, we're at the SBA. Gotcha.

[01:21:45] That whole week. I think, um, well, most of it. We could probably do Monday night, but, you know. The chair had asked about after the legislative breakfast. The council member Tascas-Luna cannot. I'm going to coordinate the talk schedule system.

[01:22:01] It's tight. It's still in November 4th. So fantastic. Come up with a comedian this year. What is the following stage? October.

[01:22:19] October? October. I know. Yeah, I mean, I just like November. I mean, November is very busy. The 23rd or the 30th, I feel like. You cannot, well, we have potential hearings on the 23rd, but what was the other date?

[01:22:35] The 30th? I don't know if we're trying to stick with the Thursday. It could be a Tuesday also. The 30th? October? Yes. October 30th. We're going anywhere. So? Can't buy tickets now. I don't know.

[01:22:52] We're going to round you. You can't go anywhere. You can't fly out of HEF yet. Sonia, do you want to propose some dates? If it was at 23rd, it would be better. But I don't know if I feel... Oh, that's a lot of things.

[01:23:08] Well, we can move hearings, right? Yeah. What time is the breakfast? It's at 8, I think. Breakfast is at 8. Yeah. I was going to say... We can do more of the breakfast. 23rd. We're the 16th. Yeah, I'm working there. We got a date that looks like the 23rd. I'm out of town.

[01:23:24] Both the 16th and the 23rd. Okay. Okay. 23rd, you're a good close. We're on the 16th till the 23rd, Dr. Jones? The 16th till the 26th. So what was the issue with the 30th? Nothing.

[01:23:40] No, Sonia's traveling. That's fine. October 30th is fine. The 30th, I think, is looking good. We have a winner? I think we have a winner. I'm looking at my school board members. October 30th? Yeah, that should be fine. I don't know that far.

[01:24:03] I'm sorry, it's outside of the enjoying session, but for Monday, I need to try to call in.

[01:24:30] Okay. My Vice Chair Spall seconded by Mrs. Bredge that the school board meeting adjourned.

[01:24:47] Is there any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 7-0.

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