Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City School Board Meeting - June 24, 2025

Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 1h 1m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXglyMDZMnI

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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[00:00:03] Order, would you please stand for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:00:18] Mrs. Garza, would you please call the roll?

[00:00:45] Chair Sieber. Here. Vice Chair Spall. Present. Mrs. Stevens. Mrs. Garcia. Present. Ms. Miles. Present. Ms. Brown. Dr. Jones. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:01:01] We have a quorum. Thank you. Dr. Newman, are there any additions or deletions to the agenda this evening? No, ma'am. Thank you. And can I add a motion for the public meeting agenda? Chair, I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the public meeting agenda as presented.

[00:01:19] I have a motion by Mrs. Stevens, seconded by Vice Chair Spall, that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the public meeting agenda as presented. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? The motion carries 7-0. Moving along to board committee reports, and I'll go to Mrs. Brescia, who chairs the board development committee.

[00:01:42] Yes, and the board development committee will be meeting tomorrow, so stay tuned for our recommendations following that. Thank you. Mrs. Stevens, who chairs the policy committee. The policy committee will be meeting on the 2nd of July at 5 p.m. Thank you both.

[00:02:00] Citizens' comments, are there any citizens that wish to speak? Moving right along. Consent agenda. Chair, I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the consent agenda as presented.

[00:02:20] Second. I have a motion by Mrs. Stevens, seconded by Mrs. Brescia, that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed?

[00:02:36] The motion carries 7-0. Consent agenda is approved. Okay. Discussion agenda. We have a facilities report on our new Jenny Dean Elementary School with construction update from Mr. Kefeller.

[00:02:56] Good evening, Chair Seberg, Vice Chair Spall, members of the board, and Dr. Newman. Tonight, I'm happy to provide an update to the construction of the new Jenny Dean Elementary School. So, just to start off, the budget status, the construction of the budget remains on track.

[00:03:13] Always good to hear that. We've had erosion control improvements requested by the city, but those have been covered. Those changes have been covered by our contract allowances, so there's no impact on our budget. In terms of construction progress, the structural footings have been completed.

[00:03:31] The preparation for the concrete slab on the grade pours is finished, and concrete work will continue this month and into next. The mechanical rough-ins for the new school and the stone underlayment have been completed at the site the masonry work continues to be on both the interior and exterior partitions the walls and the mobilization of the scaffolding for the vertical work will be underway very soon in terms of the site conditions as you know we've had a lot of rain recently and that has caused some ongoing erosion control adjustments which the the contractor has made and

[00:04:11] And however, that has had no impact on our final scheduling of being on time. So we will continue to plan a move in in July as has been scheduled. The improvements also have been made to the sediment basin have been performed because of the rain, the problems that the rain has caused at the site.

[00:04:31] In terms of summer work coordination, the summer school construction is underway, including the teacher parking lot improvements and they will be ready for the fall when our students arrive back at Jenny Dean. The contractor has been working closely with the Manassas City and Manassas City Public Schools to make sure that we are not impacting summer school that is happening there for our preschoolers and that we will be ready to open Jenny Dean on time in the fall for our students.

[00:05:02] The planning is ongoing and to coordinate the utility work and to look at the new traffic flow pattern in preparation for the new school year, which that construction will cause. And then the primary focus for the remainder of this month into next month will be continuing to pour concrete, working on the wall partitions and the landscaping.

[00:05:21] And so just to share a few of the pictures that you see here. And so we can see the progress that is happening. You can see the stonework, the mechanical and utility plumbing that has been, is underneath the gravel there and the walls are going up.

[00:05:36] just here before it was covered over with gravel and the site as it looked in May. Things rapidly are changing over there, so these pictures are from May and we'll give you another update next month for the month of June.

[00:05:53] Wonderful. Any comments or questions from the board? And I understand we're making these available on our new dean page? Correct. We will be migrating all the updates that I've been giving each month over to the under the Jenny Dean Construction site on our website.

[00:06:12] Wonderful. Thank you so much. Is there a time that there...

[00:06:28] You will have to be trained to get your hard hat to get on. Do that. I think it's a 30-minute... Yeah, it's pretty short. And we'll get you a hard hat and a vest and get you proper shoes.

[00:06:46] Yes. If we saved our hard hat... Oh, do we have to have metal toe shoes, too? Yes. Oh. Well, maybe, I mean, I wanted to know... Keep my hard hat in my car just in case.

[00:07:06] I keep my hard hat, my vest, and my boots in the back of my car. Okay, thank you, Mr. Gefeller. We look forward to the update next month. Okay, next item on the discussion agenda is for student services, our student conduct support update.

[00:07:28] Mr. Gefeller again. Here I am again. Good evening again, Chair Seberg, members of the board, and Dr. Newman. Tonight, we bring you part one and part two of a three-part update on student conduct and share the work that has been done through our behavior solution guiding coalition and our purpose tonight is twofold one consistency and continuity we believe that there needs to be common expectations and that the consequences and responses are the same whether a student is in kindergarten sixth grade or high school a seamless k-12 framework also supports smooth transitions from elementary to intermediate middle and

[00:08:07] high school and that that is important for the success of our students the The second purpose of tonight is to provide transparency in areas for improvement. We want to be transparent with our data and share that we know there is room for improvement in our schools.

[00:08:23] The data will show that 95% of MCPS students had no out of school suspensions last year, a significant point, a data point worth celebrating, yet it still means that there are incidents that require significant consequences.

[00:08:40] We are not hiding from that reality. We are strengthening our response through our systematic work through the guiding coalition of teachers, administrators, division leaders, and mental health professionals. As you know, we are also readying for the start of a new alternative education program for students who are not successful in a traditional classroom setting.

[00:09:01] We will also share some data about incidents of bullying, and I want to state that even one case of bullying is one too many. So next month, part three of our update on student conduct will focus exclusively on how we identify bullying, how we respond to instance of reported bullying, how we administer consequences and support students who have been bullied.

[00:09:24] Tonight's presentation, however, sets the stage, explains current data and details the guiding coalition's work to build a proactive system that every student will implement in the 25-26 school year.

[00:09:39] So starting off with some data, our 24-25 data shows that 95% of students encourage zero days of out-of-school suspension, 2% accumulated three or more days, 1% reached five or more, and fewer than 1% reached 10 or more days of out-of-school suspension.

[00:09:59] The takeaway is encouraging that most students consistently meet expectations, yet the data also tells us where to focus our tiered supports, especially for the group whose behaviors escalate to the point of needing out-of-school suspension.

[00:10:14] Behavior is serious enough to warrant out-of-school suspension disrupt learning for everyone, which is why our behavior solutions work targets prevention, early intervention, and equitable alternatives. I'm gonna ask Ms. Jackie Sa, our hearing officer and our coordinator for student conduct to come and talk about the next two slides.

[00:10:36] And then I will come back and talk about our last slide before I turn it over to Ms. Erika Loesch, who is our professional learning coordinator, who has been heading up our Behavior Solutions Guiding Coalition.

[00:10:53] - All right, good evening. As requested, I'm just going to spend a little bit of time reviewing our definition for long-term suspension and then the code of conduct regarding bullying. As per Manassas City Regulation, JGD, JGE, superintendent or designee, which is the division hearing officer, is authorized to long-term suspend a student for 11 to 364 school days if the offense involves weapons, serious bodily injury, drug offenses, or if it's determined that aggravating circumstances exist.

[00:11:27] Aggravating circumstances are defined by several Virginia codes and VDOE. Consideration is also given to the student's disciplinary history. With regards to the student due process hearing for long-term suspension, the student and parent are given written notice of the proposed action, the reasons thereof, including the specific code of conduct violation and the right to a hearing before the division hearing officer.

[00:11:54] The hearing is held as soon as possible, but always prior to the expiration of the initial 10-day suspension imposed by the building administrator. At the hearing, the principal presents the findings of the administrative investigation, and the student is given the opportunity to respond, present their side of the event, and discuss any other relevant information they would like to be considered.

[00:12:15] The student and parent are provided with relevant school board policy, sections of the code of conduct, information about the appeal process, and then the next steps following the hearing. The student and parent are duly notified of the disposition, the specific length of the suspension, and information concerning the availability, community-based educational services, alternative ed, or intervention programs.

[00:12:40] The notice also indicates if the student is eligible to return to their base school upon the expiration of the suspension, or if they're required to attend an alternative education. Possible outcomes of that hearing. The recommendation for long-term suspension can be denied, and the student can return to their base school with or without disciplinary probation, which would be for an identified period of time.

[00:13:04] The long-term suspension can be accepted and also held in abeyance, meaning that the student can return to their base school to serve their suspension as long as they are following the code of conduct or an alternative placement outside of the division, which may include online classes, virtual instruction, or attendance at a non-traditional school for a specified period of time.

[00:13:34] BULLYING FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT: IN ACCORDANCE WITH VA CODE 22.1-276.01, THE STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION 3 DEFINES BULLYING AS AN AGGRESSIVE AND UNWANTED BEHAVIOR THAT IS INTENDED TO HARM, INTIMIDATE, OR HUMILIATE THE VICTIM, INVOLVES A REAL OR PERCEIVED POWER IMPALANCE BETWEEN THE AGGRESSOR OR AGGRESSORS AND THE VICTIM, AND IS REPEATED OVER TIME OR CAUSES SEVERE EMOTIONAL TRAUMA. THIS ALSO INCLUDES CYBER BULLYING. BULLYING DOES NOT Bullying does not include age-appropriate, ordinary teasing, horseplay argument, or peer conflict.

[00:14:07] Manassas City Regulation JBHA-GBA-R requires all students be informed of their right to protection against bullying behaviors and the right to file a complaint if they believe that they have been the victim of bullying behavior. School administrators are responsible for investigating each complaint, determining if the complaint is legitimate in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct, School Board Policy, and VA Code, and taking appropriate corrective action both for the victim and the accused in a timely manner.

[00:14:37] It's important to note that the language put forward by VDOE and Virginia Code is fairly stringent and establishes very specific criteria that must be met in order to categorize an event or serious events as bullying, albeit the term is often generalized to define incidents of unkind behavior, verbal aggression, and other altercations that do not meet that criteria.

[00:14:59] Bullying is a very serious matter for both the victim and the accused and should be investigated accordingly to ensure that the behavior matches the criteria and our students get the support that they require. So I now want to share how bullying incidents are captured in our discipline data and where we know improvements are needed. First a log entry is a written narrative that is included in Power School, our learning management system, anytime there is contact with a student or a parent, with a counselor, an administrator, or a teacher to address an

[00:15:38] issue. It creates a way to track information for students. According to our power school records, only 0.01% of all log entries explicitly include the word bully with an I or bully with a Y. However, this data does not take into account cases of unreported bullying by students and it does not include other behaviors that can be captured and labeled as disruptive conduct, harassment, or threatening intimidation, which could easily involve bullying but not tagged as such. What this tells us is not that bullying is not happening, but we may be responding

[00:16:17] to the behavior, but not labeling it as bullying in our schools. This leads to underreporting and missed opportunities to activate supports for students, both for those who are being harmed and for those who are exhibiting harmful behavior. As we move forward, we are prioritizing training and system updates to ensure data is more accurately reflects what is occurring in our schools this includes improving how we identify document and respond to bullying behavior you'll hear more about how we respond to bullying behavior in part three next month the bottom line

[00:16:51] is though that we take every report seriously and we are committed to building a system where bullying is clearly recognized consistently addressed and never minimized and with that i want to turn it over to miss erica loesch who is our professional learning coordinator and our leader of our guiding coalition around behavior solutions that we talked about early in the school year that we promised to bring back an update on and so I'm going to turn the presentation over to Ms. Loesch. Good evening Chair Seberg, Vice Chair Spall, members of the board and Dr. Newman. Thanks for the opportunity

[00:17:28] to share with you about the Manasseh City Public School behavior support system. When developing the strategic plan 2027, a strategic priority for pillar two, a culture of caring, was identified to Tiered Systems of Behavioral Support.

[00:17:46] Beginning in December 2023, our assistant principals, directors of school counseling, and director of student athletics, began unpacking the layers of developing a tiered systems of behavioral support. The group engaged in professional learning using the text Behavioral Solutions, teaching academic and social skills through RTI at Work.

[00:18:07] This helped to develop an understanding of the RTI at Work process and established common language around the work. The need to develop an aligned and consistent system across Monassah City Public Schools became evident.

[00:18:24] This led to forming the Behavior Support System Steering Committee in June of 2024 and the Behavior Support System Guiding Coalition in August, 2024. The Steering Committee is charged with facilitating the work of the Guiding Coalition.

[00:18:41] The Steering Committee articulated the purpose of the Guiding Coalition identified Guiding Coalition members and determined the approach to the work. Then, beginning in August 2024, the Guiding Coalition began this important work.

[00:18:57] The Behavior Support System Coalition has 21 educators from across Monassau City Public Schools, as all nine schools and central office is represented. The members have diverse perspectives and background.

[00:19:13] It was important for us to articulate the goals and purpose of the work. The overall goal for Monassah City Public Schools is to implement an academic and social behavior multi-tiered system of support that ensures student behavioral growth and success from kindergarten through graduation.

[00:19:34] That means that the guiding coalition needs to create a proactive system for developing positive academic and social behaviors to guarantee equitable access to education through alignment and consistency across all Manassas City public schools.

[00:19:52] And that leads to schools needing to align the proactive system to their schools for school-wide implementation. System implementation will occur on a rolling basis as we know we need to have a solid tier one foundation.

[00:20:09] The Behavior Support System Steering Committee developed a phased approach to this work and we are currently in phase two. Unpacked tier one. The Behavior Support System Guiding Coalition unpacked tier one to determine what we need in order to implement tier one.

[00:20:31] We then developed the Manasseh City Public Schools K through 12 essential behavior standards. Essential academic and social behaviors are defined as actions and concepts that all students must master for interpersonal and career success in and outside of school and after formal education.

[00:20:52] Students are required to apply these actions and understand these concepts in all learning environments throughout all school locations and events and in the larger community. The development of the MCPS K-12 Essential Behavior Standards was done through a comprehensive collaborative approach.

[00:21:13] The work began in the spring of 2024 with our assistant principals and school-based directors. Their work was then provided to the guiding coalition who collaborated through a structured process to define each essential behavior by grade span, ensuring alignment from kindergarten through grade 12.

[00:21:32] These essential behaviors are the foundation of the behavior support system. These are the positive behaviors that students will be taught kindergarten through graduation. Division-wide expectations.

[00:21:49] So we are utilizing the Behavior Integration Assessment, or the BIA, from Hannigan's Behavior Solutions. The BIA is a comprehensive tool designed to help understand the criteria and features of each tier as well as monitor implementation.

[00:22:06] This tool is the basis for our work when developing division-wide expectations and will be our primary progress monitoring tool. Division-wide professional learning. We need to be clear on our purpose of the behavior support system and expectations across the division.

[00:22:26] To support clear communication and understanding of the essential components of this system, ongoing professional learning will be provided at the division level. The guiding coalition will take the lead in developing these professional learning opportunities and schools will always have the opportunity to supplement these opportunities with more school specific learning.

[00:22:50] School Behavior Support System Leadership Team. Each principal has identified staff to comprise their school's Behavior Support System Leadership Team. The school team is responsible for Ensuring school-wide and class-wide prevention systems are in place, so that's identifying and teaching essential behavior standards at the school.

[00:23:14] Continuously ensuring the BIA criteria is in place for successful implementation in each tier. Working through the right now data, so determining the hotspots on a school campus, what grade levels might be demonstrating undesirable behaviors, if there's an uptick in referrals in a particular area.

[00:23:35] also the process for communicating Tier 1 and Tier 3 intervention data needs, and so forth. The school behavior support system leadership team will also support the school administration in developing and monitoring the school-wide implementation plan, which is based off of the division-wide expectations.

[00:23:59] As a division, we will spend fall 2025 establishing strong Tier 1 systems. As schools are establishing tier one systems for their building, the behavior support system guiding coalition will work to set the division wide expectations for tier two to include developing resources, professional learning, communication, and benchmarks for success for tier two.

[00:24:25] We will then follow the same process for tier three. As you can see, this work is a multi-year process to establish the different tiers of support, and we are excited to see the positive impact this will make on the students of Manasseh City Public Schools.

[00:24:42] Thank you. - Thank you, Mrs. Loesch. Do we have any questions or comments from the board? Ms. Miles? - Thank you so much for explaining who made up the guided coalition.

[00:24:57] That was one of my questions. And also, I was wondering about tier one, but you explained it pretty well, so I understand. And hopefully those who are listening understand it as well, that we're starting from the top and spreading across the division, as opposed to going individually with each school first, which is nice, it's great, everyone's on the same page so I like that what we've created so far I think I'm sure all of us agree that it ensures continuity across the division so that if you go to one school the other schools doing the same thing as far as

[00:25:29] tier one so that's great thank you anyone else down here Dr. Jones thank you for the report ask some questions but I'll wait until next time till we get to part three but thank you for the report Mrs. Stevens thank you um are we tracking in-school suspensions and detentions the way we tracked out of school

[00:26:01] suspension yes I mean it's tracked yes so I mean all of the behavior codes and any consequences are all reported in power school so yes those are tracked so is there a way to determine what percent of our students are receiving detentions receiving in-school suspension yes okay is that something that can be shared at a later date okay because I think that's important as well well because sometimes it it helps identify a pattern of behavior amongst specific populations and I think it would be helpful to have and my next

[00:26:41] question for you you had mentioned that there's going to be I don't think it's you it was mentioned that there's going to be training for teachers will that training include how teachers enter information into the system because they know that with all the look different excuse me learning platforms or educational platforms or administrative platforms that you use to track students different teachers will put in different codes and I think that maybe sometimes can be confusing will teachers be taught this is when you enter

[00:27:18] something into the system this is how you enter it and this is when you use which code yes we do we will put we have provided training we will continue to private training we also for new teachers for new administrators Ms. Loesch led and with the help of folks from Dr. Casada's office led a session on that with Power School because anybody familiar with with Virginia codes there are a lot of codes and there's some very fine differences between some of the codes so it's important that we capture that data accurately. And how are students able to make a complaint about bullying? Is there a specific

[00:27:56] process in place across the division? Is it different in different schools? There is and something we'll be talking about more in depth at part three but there's multiple ways that students can report they can report it verbally to a teacher an adult a counselor administrator they can also fill out a fill out a form and report that a teacher can teacher can report bullying to administration a parent can report so there's multiple avenues to report cases of bullying in our schools and so 95% of our students have not received an out of school

[00:28:32] suspension so that's approximately about 7300 students within the division have not received an out of school suspension correct and I think that's really important for people to know and for people to remember that the vast majority of our students are doing exactly what we need them to do every day and if you were gonna put a grade on that a 95% would be an egg so I think that says a lot not just about our school division but about our students as well that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing that when parents hear stories because you know negative news always travels faster than positive news that reminder

[00:29:09] that 95 percent of our kids are doing what they're supposed to be doing every day so thank you and thank you for that report miss brown yeah well since i have you there um i needed that clarification because 95 of students without out of school suspension is different than the percentage of students with no incidents infractions so do we have that percentage we do that percentage I don't have it with me tonight but we can certainly get that to you and we can include that for a report for you because I think that would be a

[00:29:44] number that will indicate to the community safety so thank you and nevertheless 95% of students without out-of-school suspension does signal that our staff is intervening and applying tier one and tier two proactive measures.

[00:30:03] So kudos to the staff for those numbers. I did have a question. So next month you're going to do bullying. Is it part three or more in-depth? It's going to be part three, specifically talking about bullying and how we respond to it, how it's reported, really identifying what we're doing with our students to make sure that they are aware of how they can report it, how we wrap services around students who are being bullied or students who are bullying, what interventions we're putting there.

[00:30:35] So we're going to do a more in-depth but exclusively focusing on bullying. Okay. And I was a little confused about the numbers. I know that 26,342 are the log contacts and that's a variety of things. Correct. But there was another number, 1,666.

[00:30:53] that the number of infractions disciplinary infractions do you can you speak to that there was a number I think it's a number of incidents so 1,666 and I think that's where we need to get clarification with our staff because we have we need to make sure that we are there our staff and one of the things that we need to improve on is making sure that we are are identifying the

[00:31:30] correct according to the codes according to what the bullying means and because I think when you have bullying means different things different people and I think that's important for us to have clarity across the school division okay so then the 1,666 were just infractions of incidents in relationship to bullying correct no general all behavior in general all behaviors we pulled out we pulled out of that number the infractions that had the B-U-L-L-I or B-U-L-L-Y to try to narrow down

[00:32:05] what the log entries were that were specifically talking, referencing bullying in some form. So the 96, the 44, 27, 25. All right. Thank you. I did have some questions for Ms. Lodge. So could you or might you be able to elaborate a little bit more about the specific behavioral standards K through 12 behavioral standards so that we can all be calibrated on that so what the coalition has done has looked at the research through Hannigan's behavior solutions and they have 11 different

[00:32:44] essential behaviors that align with the life skills that are needed in order for students to be successful in and out of school across all settings and so they They are metacognition, self-concept, self-monitoring, motivation, volition, strategy, responsible verbal and physical interaction with peers and adults, appropriate language, respect for property and materials, independently staying on a required task, and regular attendance.

[00:33:18] And so what the Guiding Coalition has done is looked at all 11 of those and has, again, a very diverse group in the sense that all K through 12 is represented as far as educators go and looked at what would each of those 11 essential behaviors look like in K through 2 all the way through 9 through 12 and are we teaching those old 11 standards to the students or are we kind of condensing them under specific categories so one of the things that the each of the school leadership teams will be responsible for doing is looking at what they

[00:33:58] currently have in place and evaluating that and then adjusting it as necessary to ensure that these standards are captured within the essence of what they are teaching their students and that allows for the flexibility within the division-wide expectations to meet individual schools for example we know that at Baldwin they're the Huskies and they utilize Husky as they're as a part their matrix to teach students behaviors so these would be incorporated into those systems okay and

[00:34:30] speaking of systems thank you um what is the specific system um that we are using across all schools to um to embed the standards is there a system in place so we're utilizing the framework of the behavior in a sorry the behavior integration assessment and what that does is it sets the criteria and the features and so in utilizing that every school would look at the feature and then would need to respond to that feature and

[00:35:07] would provide evidence as well as ongoing reflection around what next steps would be in order to improve in that area is it similar to PBIS so PBIS is a piece right it's when we think about reinforcement of behaviors and such yes there is a piece that teacher schools would need to identify the reinforcement system that they're using with PBIS we're looking at data right so what data sources are we using how are we teaching all of those behaviors all of those are incorporated in this work and I have one more question thank you for your patience so where we are right now because I also got a little loss in the

[00:35:44] timeline are we in the phase where we are training the staff but not truly it's not really coming down to teaching the staff so that they can implement it with the students we're still in the face of the staff being calibrating the staff teaching them or where are we so we're in phase two and we're getting ready for implementation starting when teachers return so that will be simultaneously our schools will be are already starting to have the conversations among their school leadership teams and then that will when teachers come back in august it will be incorporated with

[00:36:23] implementation and ongoing reflection throughout the entire fall of 2025 so by next spring we could possibly walk into any particular school and see this in action with our students Yeah, the idea is that within the fall of 2025, every school would have a tier one system established.

[00:36:46] We know we always need to reflect and refine. So with ongoing reflection and refinement and that actually we would also be starting to be able to provide evidence and data around tier two and the start of implementation with that.

[00:37:03] All right. And might you be able to provide a copy of the 11 standards as part of the meeting? - Thank you so much, appreciate it. - Mrs. Brescia. - Thank you. So I guess you can stay, I'll start with you.

[00:37:18] - Okay, thanks. - You're already there. So I want to thank Ms. Brown for your questions 'cause I had a lot of questions in the same kind of area. And my just kind of general thought, if I can maybe shorten this or streamline it since we know we have a part three that's coming.

[00:37:36] As you were going through the work slide, you were talking about unpack tier one, we need to implement tier one and my question was well what was it what was the answer right what what did we need to unpack tier one you know the essential behavior standards you know miss brown asked well what were those standards okay there's 11 of them that's great but i don't really understand i think that we could use some more expansion on for example what metacognition has to do with uh a positive behavioral you know how how that plays into it uh so i think a copy would would be nice, but an expansion on some of these concepts, maybe in phase, you know, in part three,

[00:38:16] that is coming in July, I think might be helpful. You know, you mentioned a progress monitoring tool. That sounds great, but I want to know more about what is the, you know, what exactly we are measuring, you know, how exactly this progress is going to be monitored. It's one thing, you know, I'm glad, obviously, that we have a progress monitoring tool, but I would love to be able to, and I think our community would love to know, How do we measure progress in that area?

[00:38:41] Helps build our trust. The, yeah, so just, I don't know that, what is more efficient, if you wanna speak to some of those points right now, or if maybe those are just worthy for expansion in part three. I'll kind of leave it up to you, however you feel comfortable proceeding.

[00:38:58] - So I think first and foremost, what might be helpful is by providing the board a copy of the 11 essential behavior standards, 'cause then you can see what has been articulated by the division as what students are expected in each of those areas at a grade appropriate or age appropriate level.

[00:39:20] And then also in full transparency, providing you with a copy of the BIA as well and having an opportunity to see what is included in that. Again, that's really grounded in the research with Hannigan. And so I'm happy to provide that to you as well.

[00:39:38] focused on tier one right now and for each but for each of the tiers so for all three tiers there's four criteria and under each criteria there's five different features so it really breaks it apart as to if we're going to be implementing this and implementing it with fidelity then this is what we would need to see and schools are expected to be able to provide evidence and we as a division would then be able to collectively provide evidence right I mean I want to make sure that you guys are getting you know I trust you to do your jobs right like this is not I'm not intended I'm not asking all these questions because I want to really micromanage the process of how these

[00:40:14] 11 standards interact with each other or whatever but there is clearly so much work happening here and so much that I want to make sure that you're getting you know credit for here in the public sphere like not just with us as seven board members but so that people can understand like this is you know that we in Manassas City Public Schools take discipline seriously and that there is a lot that's underway.

[00:40:38] You know, to have it reduced just to six bullet points is, you know, is an undersell. We need to -- I would just like to see it expanded. So I appreciate you keeping us as our seven members educated, but that is part of the reason why I think we need to go a little bit broader for any future dialogue on this.

[00:40:59] So, end of that one. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about, you said at the top, when developing this guiding coalition, June 2024, it became apparent that a guiding coalition like this was necessary, and I was just interested in that phrase.

[00:41:16] It became apparent. How, who, what? So, yes, and I want to make sure I have my -- so, through the work starting in December of 2023. There were conversations and really the assistant principals and then the school-based directors, through that conversation, there was a lot of reflection. And really, as a collective group, was this, we need to do consistency, we need to have consistency and alignment across all of our schools. And so, in thinking about how do we, because as you said, it is a big undertaking

[00:41:54] to establish a behavior support system as a division. So in order to do that, who were, who did we need to, whose voices did we need to invite in order to ensure that we really did have representation? Because again, that was school-based administrators.

[00:42:12] And so that's where the idea of the guiding coalition came so that we could expand it so that there was representation across all aspects of the division. Gotcha. And what I'm trying to get at is there was feedback that we were hearing in the division Yes, we needed to address this absolutely more systemically and we responded it's a central office administration You responded to the feedback you were receiving The so how are so this is the tier one rollout is starting this fall is starting in August

[00:42:46] So is this how is the how our protocol changes? I mean, you know, new teachers are obviously brand new They're going to learn things for the first time, but we have you know most of our staff return you know returns from year to year So how are we? How are we ensuring a smooth rollout? How are we communicating any protocol changes? So?

[00:43:05] anecdotally I can share that I know that there's been Conversations happening at the school level with the members of the guiding coalition and school leadership with their staff around Different the schools have different committees already formed and so through that there's been some that have been happening that are informing staff I also know that at convocation last year mr. Goodfellow shared that this work was underway and so that was an initial message as well and then through our professional learning plan we have established a timeline where professional learning

[00:43:44] will be able to be implemented and then also every school leadership team that's being established by school principals part of their school implement implementation plan is also establishing how they'll be communicating ongoingly with their staff so many different layers around communication gotcha thank you so in terms of reflection I've heard that you use that word a lot reflection and refinement yeah this is going to be moving over a course the course of several years so who is responsible for gathering and bringing that feedback is this the 24 committee members who are responsible

[00:44:20] for that are there going to be surveys administered like how are we reflecting and refining I think all of all of the above every school will have data that they will be looking at and reflecting and refining we will be building ongoing reflection with school-based administrators collectively as a division in order to review that data also at the division level the data that we have access to or that we if we find that we need to create and gather data surveys all of the above will be ways that we'll be able to reflect and then we're fine great that was the last question I had for you if Mr. Capilla

[00:44:56] could come back to the microphone hi welcome back so you said at the top of you at the top of your introduction that this was we're offering this in the interest of transparency noting that we have areas of improvement that we need to make and I just want to clarify those areas that you were noting for improvement are is our consistency and our continuity agreed those are the yes two main things okay just wanted to make sure there was nothing else under that and I also was we received you know in the winter some discussion of some changes that Osborne in particular had been make has been making to their behavior management you know with their tardy sweeps and all that other kind of

[00:45:36] stuff are those are a distinct effort to do those fit into this somehow those are distinct efforts and that's really born out of Dr. Chapman recognizing with her administrative team and feedback from teachers at the high school that some things needed to change so they for example they enter they implemented targeted tardy sweeps and really if you I think feedback that we have received from staff at Osborne is that things are significantly improved but they have looked and worked very hard on their protocols and processes looking at how they are addressing student behavior there and I think that there's again

[00:46:13] still work to be done but in the fact that dr. Chapman is came on board in July and hit the ground running and put some things and recognize some things in play and need that are needed and then work with her admin team to make those adjustments I think has been commendable for her okay but just to clarify she's this has not that has not been a behavioral guiding coalition that is not that was that was that was that was a great leader recognizing a need to make a change to respond to what was happening in the building from teachers from her instructional counsel from her administrative team and making those

[00:46:49] adjustments in real time that's all for me thank you nice chair Spall hi I just I'll be brief I just want to you know appreciate the focus on fair consistent discipline and remind the world that we are looking at these units of measurement that you have in place but we're also looking at putting in place our alternative education program which will help kids you know in a new way that we've not been able to help them in the past yes thank you and my only question

[00:47:22] is this part three will it be at the July 8th meeting or the July 22nd or we don't know yet okay July okay thank you okay gotcha thank - Thank you, Mr. Grafeller, thank you, Mrs. Loach, and thank you, Jackie Sopp.

[00:47:51] - All right, moving on to our action agenda. We've seen this information before, but Dr. Jennifer Quesada, Executive Director of Accountability and Finance, and Mr. Taft-Kelly have before us an update to the budget and next steps.

[00:48:08] So, Chair, I move that the School Board of the City of Manassas approve the use of the additional $1.5 million in revenue from the City Council to provide for an additional 1.2% salary increase for a total of a 6.7% salary increase for eligible employees as compared to fiscal year 2025.

[00:48:37] - I have a motion by Mrs. Brescia, seconded by Mrs. Stevens. The school board of the city of Manassas approved the use of the additional $1.5 million in revenue from the city council to provide for an additional 1.2% salary increase for a total of 6.7% salary increase for eligible employees as compared to FY 2025.

[00:49:02] there any discussion seeing and hearing none all in favor aye any opposed the motion carries 7-0 let me see if I can get back online here hold on okay school board members comments I'll go first to mrs. Stevens thank you I think in my tenure here on the board this is the first time I'm going first so really yes so first I'd like to say thank you for the detailed report on student

[00:49:41] conduct and on the work being done to develop a multi-tiered system of support that fosters academic and social behaviors that ensure social and academic success for all of our students it's greatly appreciated we know recognize that you've done a lot of work and there's still much work to be done and we look forward to hearing more next month and further in the future last week we all attended a two-day school board retreat and from my perspective it was exist it was a success i enjoyed having the opportunity to spend time with our newest school board members and the chance to get to know them better in-depth presentations were shared by each

[00:50:21] member of the superintendent's executive cabinet and deep authentic discussions were had concerning each presentation i especially appreciated the presentation on monassa city public schools communication we took a deep dive into the area of access to school board meetings for our speakers of other languages the focus on language access is especially important there's always room to improve how we serve families who may face barriers to understanding or participating in school related communications we discussed how to reduce reduce or eliminate the barriers an estimate for the cost

[00:50:56] associated with making meetings accessible to all our families will be shared at a later date finally we have discussed and we had a presentation on the web virginia virtual academy also known as vava and how it can play a positive role in supporting students who require alternative educational options whether it's because of suspension expulsion home-based learning or homebound services and for students who may prefer a virtual option for learning as opposed to in-person instruction the program would be available not just to students who reside in in Manasseh City but to students all around the Commonwealth the VAVA what

[00:51:36] I'll refer to it as would be our 10th Manasseh City public school and all students enrolled in the program would be considered MCPS students any student other than those who are suspended or have been expelled enrolled in VAVA would be eligible based on grades and behavior to participate in MCPS extracurricular activities while the board has not has yet to vote on on establishing a VAVA school, what we have learned so far has made us optimistic that is a very real possibility.

[00:52:07] Thank you. - Thank you, Mrs. Stevens. Ms. Miles. - Yes, so I also am seconding that the school board retreat was very good. We met and it was a great time for our governance team to come together to evaluate the school board's top priorities.

[00:52:24] It was refreshing to see that we had many of the same thoughts on what we should be, what should be our top priorities, which I thought was really good. And some that I suggested included student achievement, combating attendance concerns, and supporting VAVA, just like Ms. Stevens was mentioning.

[00:52:41] Also improving our communication with the community and giving the community a voice to share concerns consistently. I'm really excited for what we will do next with these priorities. So our summer camps and our summer school program are well underway. Make sure you're on the lookout for buses and students waiting on the bus in the morning.

[00:52:59] it's been very hot over the past few weeks and I know it all too well because my air condition went out the worst time but now finally I have a cool house but anyway I hope that this summer students and families will take advantage of our local pools that are open and activities and programs at our Manassas City Community Center before I end my comments I want to wish everyone a happy 4th of July I hope everyone enjoys a holiday with their family and friends that's all have thank you thank you Ms. Miles Dr. Jones well for the third time you're here I attended the school board retreat from June 16th to 18th in Charlottesville the retreat provided time for

[00:53:39] thoughtful reflection and strategic planning we use time to share insights review our current progress and a lot our goals for the future our commitment to students family and the entire community remains strong together we educate support and empower every learner to reach their full potential potential and i look forward to continuing this important work together with you parents school community tonight we had a presentation on bullying it it's important for us to keep our students safe so please take time parents please take time during this summer to educate your children about bullying to talk openly about bullying others and or being bullied

[00:54:16] and make sure your child is a positive role model be on the outlook for more information this fall Just a reminder, the Manassas City Schools are participating in the Summer Food Program. Meals will be provided to all children without charge. Check the website for Mealtimes from June 24th to July 10th, Monday through Thursday.

[00:54:35] Meals are available on a first-come, first-served basis at Baldwin Elementary, Ginny Dean Elementary, Mayfield Intermediate, and Osborne. And lastly, as I mentioned on June 10th, I want to remind parents to keep your children active this summer. Don't forget to sign up for the Summer Reading Program at the library And consider visiting the many parks and museums in the area. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Jones Next is mrs. Brazil. Thank you I'm going to keep it short because everybody has said mostly what I was going to say anyway the retreat was great I'm grateful for everyone's participation for the opportunity that we had to come together as a governance team Especially with so many new members. I found it to be very meaningful and productive

[00:55:15] I want to note that I am grateful to our city partners for their investment in Manassas City public schools It was a real pleasure to vote on that tonight, so, you know, thank you city partners. I appreciate it. And I also wanted to share a bit of personal news, not personal, but individual news.

[00:55:31] It's kind of old news at this point, but I was appointed by the state superintendent, Emily Ann Gullickson, to serve on the superintendent's investigative panel, which is the panel that provides non-binding recommendations to the VDOE pertaining to teacher and superintendent licenses, so that's exciting.

[00:55:46] exciting we've already had our first meeting that I was a part of and there's another one coming up in August and I just want to tell everyone to stay cool I was reading that incidents of violent crime increase during heat waves which I absolutely believe so everybody please take care of yourselves hydrate and we'll be through it soon thank you thank you mrs. Brescia miss Brown thank you thank you for the presentation and updates I would like to just take a moment for the cabinet sitting here today and thank you for your continued dedication and your commitment to stay

[00:56:24] the course and remain with us one more year you're doing a great job I've just been here for a couple of months but I've been impressed and you have earned my respect so thank you for everything that you do I want to remind all the families that although school is in recession we are still here should should any need arise and make sure that you take the time to update your emergency contact information is so easy to do and on a personal note I also would like to celebrate one small accomplishment I have been appointed as the vice chair

[00:56:59] for Northern Virginia Community College Board so you will see me there and I would like to take this time also to invite all Osborne students to Sandra's to talk about your dreams with City Council member Ashley Hudson and school board member Diana Brown on August 3rd, so look for a social media invite for an RSVP link.

[00:57:24] I hope you all enjoy your summer and see you around the city. - Thank you, Ms. Brown. Vice Chair Spall. - I'll be brief. I guess I wasn't gonna say anything, but I did wanna share that what stood out to me throughout our training and collaboration was our shared commitment to the mantra by name and by need.

[00:57:42] So I just wanna thank everyone for their dedication. It was a really good retreat, and that particular phrasing means a lot to me and I think it really speaks to who we are. So let's keep using that phrase, thanks.

[00:57:58] - Thank you, Vice Chair. For my comments this evening, I did wanna report that Dr. Jones and I attended a Public School Leaders Network legislative breakfast with many Nova school leaders, legislators, and business leaders to discuss key issues impacting our students and our schools.

[00:58:16] Topics included funding, IDEA, Medicaid, Title I, and also our own Montoya Jackson, Director of Food Services for MCPS, presented how targeted funding in school nutrition makes a difference.

[00:58:31] This is something that she and we know a lot about here in Manassas City Public Schools, as this school board has supported school meals for all students for many years now. Recently, the Summer Arts Symposium wrapped up, and they do that with a big showcase.

[00:58:49] There was a collaborative concert consisting of students from rising sixth grade to 12th, and a few teachers and counselors that played along with them. And this is a wonderful opportunity for your students to work with the younger students, work with the older students, the older students get to encourage the younger students.

[00:59:13] And together, everyone grows in their musicianship. There was also an art gallery. Students explained how they created original works of art inspired by meaningful connections to leadership styles and their personal emotions. So please watch for educational enrichment opportunities like these next spring when we're planning for next summer.

[00:59:34] Just a reminder that it's not all fun and games here at the school board. In addition to celebrations and planning, the school board also handles serious responsibilities throughout the summer and throughout the school year, including student discipline hearings, such as expulsions and reentry requests.

[00:59:52] It's important for our community to know that we take the code of conduct seriously. This week, we even received a thoughtful letter from a student asking why anyone should be expelled since it means missing valuable learning time. And that's a fair question. It also reflects the kind of compassionate thinking we hope to see in our students.

[01:00:11] But we also have to weigh these concerns with our responsibility to maintain a safe and supportive learning environment for every student. The school board is always open to hearing student perspectives during re-entry hearings, but there are also expectations and requirements that must be met before a student can return.

[01:00:30] I'll also mention the governance team retreat. Last week, I wanna thank Dr. Newman and my fellow school board members for their preparation, active participation, and commitment to working together in service to our students' success, schools, and our city.

[01:00:46] This concludes my school board member comments. - May I have a motion for closed session? - Chair, I move that the school board of the city of Manassas enter a closed session pursuant to exemptions from open meetings allowed by section 2.2-3711, part A, paragraph one of the Code of Virginia, 1950, is amended for the following purpose.

[01:01:06] 2.2-3711, part A, paragraph one, discussion of superintendent evaluation. - Second. - Who's that? - I have a motion by Mrs. Stevens, seconded by Mrs. Spall that the school board of the city of Manassas enter a closed session pursuant to exemptions from open meetings allowed by Section 2.2-3711, Part A, Paragraph 1 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended for the following purposes.

[01:01:31] 2.2-3711, Part A, Paragraph 1, Discussion of Superintendent's Evaluation. Is there any discussion? All in favor? - Aye. - Any opposed? Motion carries 7-0.

[01:01:46] We will go into closed session.

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