Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City School Board Meeting - February 10, 2026

Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 3h 41m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWzXZKiYPaU

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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[00:00:07] - Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I'd like to call to order the meeting and see if we can have a moment of silence with the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:00:40] Thank you so much.

[00:00:57] Ms. Garza, could you please call the roll? - Yes, ma'am. Chair Spall. - Present. - Vice Chair Jones. Mrs. Seabourk. - Here. - Mrs. Stevens. - Present. - Mrs. Brescia. - Present. - Ms. Brown.

[00:01:13] - Present. - Ms. Miles. - Present. - Ms. Breeden? - Present. - Mr. Imoun? - Here. - Thank you. Madam Chair, we have a quorum. - Okay, Dr. Newman, are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? - Yes, ma'am, we need to add a closed session.

[00:01:33] - So, I'd like to recognize the dignitaries in the room. Thank you, Mayor, Commissioner of the Revenue, Chief Keen, and our MEA President, Ms. Demiria. Thank you all for being here and taking an interest in our activities.

[00:01:54] there a motion to approve the public meeting agenda chair I move that the public meeting agenda of the school board of the city of Manassas approve the public meeting agenda as modified second okay all those in favor all those opposed the motion carries with a 7-0 vote we will now hear the superintendent's announcements and spotlights mrs. Radford you have the

[00:02:27] floor why thank you chair Spall good evening to everyone that has joined us tonight. We have a full house, so we are excited about that. And I'm excited to share some wonderful spotlights with all of you. So those who will be joining us down front will come along. Tonight, we will begin our spotlights with the MCPS Holiday Card winner. I know we are a little bit removed from December and our holiday time, but you know, we've had some closures and things along

[00:03:04] the way. So we're excited to be able to spotlight this person tonight. Each fall, MCPS hosts an art contest with the winning entry serving as the official holiday card for the school board of the city of manassas the entries are always so creative and are a wonderful display of our student talent across the division you can see the winning entry there on the screen this year the winning entry

[00:03:29] was produced by sophia aguilar an 11th grader at osborne high school sophia are you here well we we certainly congratulate Sophia in her absence.

[00:03:48] Next, we move on to our Mary V. Bukovara's Teacher of the Year Award. Each year, Manassas City Public Schools nominates a staff member for the Mary V. Bukovara's Teacher of the Year Program, sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education. Mary V. Bukovara's Teacher of the Year nominees are individuals who inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn, have the admiration of students, parents, and colleagues who play an active role in fostering community, create a culture of respect and success, and demonstrate leadership and innovation in and outside of the classroom.

[00:04:25] I'm honored tonight to recognize each of the nominees for this year's award. We will begin with Baldwin Elementary, Anna Demeria.

[00:04:43] Ms. Demeria is an ESOL teacher whose student-centered approach, collaboration, and adaptability support both individual learners and the broader school community. She partners closely with grade-level teams through co-teaching, data-informed planning, and strong family communication, ensuring students of diverse linguistic backgrounds are positioned for long-term success.

[00:05:10] Congratulations to Mr. Merriam. I think there's a little bit of a delay on our presentation on the screen, so you would have been able to see her lovely face there as well. It's still spooling, I think.

[00:05:29] Oh, okay. It'll pop up in a moment. Okay. Next, from Jenny Dean Elementary, we have Cassandra Winnings. Ms. Winnings is a highly experienced literacy educator who supports students with diverse learning needs through targeted small group instruction and close collaboration with classroom teachers. She strengthens literacy outcomes and family engagement through innovative initiatives that

[00:06:05] celebrate reading and support student success. Congratulations to you. From Hayden Elementary, Dr. Victoriana Savas.

[00:06:25] Dr. Savas is a scholar educator whose leadership and instructional expertise support high quality literacy instruction across the school. As a reading support teacher and instructional facilitator, she collaborates closely with staff and families to ensure learning is aligned, inclusive, and responsive to students' diverse needs.

[00:06:47] Congratulations. Next, from Osborne High School, Logan Francisco.

[00:07:03] Ms. Francisco is an educator and school counselor whose instructional leadership and student-centered support help remove barriers to success. Through culturally responsive practices, family partnerships and division-wide counseling leadership, she fosters belonging, strengthens transitions and empowers students to thrive.

[00:07:25] Congratulations to you. From Osborne High School, Mark Whitley. I think Mr. Whitley couldn't be here tonight, but he is a social studies educator at Osborne and people have said that he leads confidently, engages meaningfully with his community at Osborne, so congratulations to him.

[00:07:59] Now from Mayfield Intermediate School, Patricia Torres Gonzalez. Ms. Torres Gonzalez is a dedicated educator whose instructional expertise and cultural perspective strengthened inclusive learning across her school.

[00:08:21] Through her work in dual language education, support of English learners, and strong relationships with students and families, She fosters a welcoming environment where all students can grow and succeed. Congratulations to you.

[00:08:41] Next we have from Osborne High School, Shirley Glum. Ms. Glum is a music educator at Osborne High School. She could not be here tonight due to a previous engagement, but we congratulate her in her absence.

[00:09:01] And from Jenny Dean Elementary School, Tracy Turner. Ms. Turner is a dedicated educator and team leader whose instructional expertise and collaborative leadership support consistent student growth.

[00:09:18] Through her work with staff, families and school initiatives, she helps foster a positive connected school culture focused on student success. Congratulations to you.

[00:09:33] And now, representing Manassas City Public Schools as our 2025-26 Mary V. Bukavaris Teacher of the Year

[00:09:43] finalist from Hayden Elementary School, Ms. Amy Keene.

[00:10:13] 21 years of experience. Ms. Keene is recognized for her strong instructional expertise, collaborative leadership, and unwavering commitment to meeting the academic, social, and linguistic needs of all learners.

[00:10:34] Her work consistently supports student achievement, strengthens school culture, and reflects a deep belief in every student's ability to succeed. Recently, Dr. Newman, Ms. Fisher, Chair Spall, and her building administrators surprised Ms. Keene to inform her she had been selected as this year's MCPS winner.

[00:10:55] She will go on to represent us at the regional level and hopefully at the state.

[00:11:00] Congratulations, Ms. King.

[00:12:08] Congratulations, everyone. Thank you.

[00:12:27] Next we have the Washington Post Principal of the Year nominees. Each year, the Washington Post gives school divisions the opportunity to recognize exceptional leadership in their principals across the region in the DMV. And so we have several of our principals here that will represent us in this contest.

[00:12:47] And so I will begin with Baldwin Elementary School, Dave Rupert. I feel like I want to call Mr. Rupert the rocket man, you know.

[00:13:04] Mr. Rupert is a principal whose leadership is grounded in strong relationships, high expectations, and a deep commitment to students and staff. Through a safe, welcoming school culture focused on academic excellence, collaboration, and family partnership, he fosters an environment where students thrive and educators grow.

[00:13:24] Congratulations, Mr. Rupert. Over at Hayden Home of the Hawks, we have Dr. Laura Gozong. Dr. Gozong is a principal whose leadership is rooted in service, presence, and an unwavering commitment to students and staff.

[00:13:56] Known for her willingness to do whatever is needed to support her school community, she fosters a culture where people feel valued, supported, and empowered to succeed. Congratulations. Let's see.

[00:14:14] Weems Home of the Wildcats, Michelle Hupman. Mrs. Hupman is a principal who fosters a strong culture of academic achievement where students and staff feel valued and supported through close collaboration with teachers, clear use of data, and meaningful relationships with students. She creates an environment that encourages growth, perseverance, and success. Congratulations Mrs. Hupman. Since we're all on the

[00:14:52] mascots from Mayfield Intermediate, home of the Bobcats, Dr. Donald Frischkorn. Dr. Frischkorn is a collaborative leader whose open-door approach commitment to professional growth and focus on student achievement foster a positive and inclusive school culture through trust shared leadership and a visible presence he empowers staff and support students in reaching their full potential

[00:15:25] congratulations dr. fish corn and our mighty Mets middle school Mustang miss Juliet Finnegan could not be here tonight but we want to congratulate her in her absence she is known as a compassionate and dedicated principal whose thoughtful leadership

[00:15:46] creates a welcoming inclusive school environment congratulations to her while they're posing i will

[00:16:24] also say that the reason we did not announce the winner tonight is because the washington post has very strict guidelines and they embargo that information until the spring so you will not hear that until around april all right thank you all so much okay our final spotlight for the evening is about the jenny dean life and legacy event that is taking place on next tuesday february 17th

[00:17:01] i'd like to invite our whole community to join us for this special evening honoring the life and legacy of miss jenny dean so on tuesday february 17th at 6 30 manasse city public schools and the school board of the city of Manassas will host an evening of reflection and remembrance at Jenny Dean Elementary School. This event will bring our community together to honor the voices, stories, and history connected to the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth while also looking ahead to the future of Jenny Dean Elementary School. We hope you'll join us for

[00:17:36] this meaningful opportunity to reflect, remember, and celebrate a legacy that continues to shape our community additional details are there on the screen and on our website and our social media we encourage everyone to attend that concludes our spotlights for tonight thank you thank you Mrs. Radford okay so we will move now to board committee reports I know that we had some snow days and we're a little bit behind on some of our meetings but does anyone have a board committee report

[00:18:10] chair I will make a board committee ask which is to ask my fellow board committee members to get back to me on scheduling please thank you at this time we welcome members of the public who wish to speak about services policies and affairs of the city of Manassas public schools because we have an agenda to complete we ask that comments be limited to three minutes we appreciate the time you have

[00:18:45] taken to be here we treat public comments as a public hearing and do not engage in conversation with speakers however the lack of an immediate response to your comments should not be taken as a lack of interest or concern please be respectful when presenting your comments and at this time we have mr. Miria thank you hi good evening school board dr. Newman I first want to say a shout out to Amy Keene when I was nominated I was like oh my gosh like okay but then I saw

[00:19:23] that Amy was the winner there's nobody more deserving she's given so much to the city and these kids and she's really good at what she does and I've never worked with her and I know that so but I'm here now in my role as the MEA president and so with the presentation of the results of the meet and confer process tonight we thought now would be an apt time to review and just share the things that the MEA has advocated for over the past couple of years that have still yet to be addressed or fixed so the first thing we have is improved workload balance as teachers are asked to do more and more we must know what tasks are being removed from their plates to make room for the new items we would

[00:20:03] like to protect we have advocated to protect and increase independent planning time clarify the number of required weekly meetings including CLS tees to prevent burnout and ensure consistency across schools prioritize prep and provide true unencumbered independent work days provide protected days at the beginning of the school year for classroom setup not just fragmented hours ensure all meetings and within contract time we have asked that central office support with sub coverage in schools so we can protect our specialists ESOL teachers and kindergarten IAs from being pulled from the students who need them. We have asked to increase IA sub

[00:20:41] pay. We have also asked to increase compensation for our ESPs so it is fair and competitive and honors their critical contributions. We've also advocated for the board to establish a formal parental leave policy for all staff. We've asked to have a clear timeline for bus replacements and also to address the lack of air conditioning for our students and drivers provide elementary intermediate teachers with a division-wide list of supported classroom-based consequences that do not involve withholding recess streamline elementary ELA grading into one category to reduce redundant paperwork and

[00:21:20] finally to provide appropriate professional development for all staff teachers and ESPs and this includes asking staff what PD they would like and what they need as well as having differentiated PD thank you thank you mr. Maria the next item is the consent agenda these items are considered routine and may be approved by a single motion unless a board member requests an

[00:21:51] item to be removed for separate discussion this motion was made by Miss Stevens second by vice-chair dr. Jones all in favor any discussion any opposed

[00:22:25] okay I believe this motion passes 7-0 thank you okay we will now move to the discussion agenda the first item is under human resources our meet and confer update good evening chair Spall vice chair Jones members of the board and dr. Newman the school board will receive a report this evening on the meet and confer process which was designed to strengthen communication collaboration and problem-solving around working conditions throughout the

[00:22:58] division. As outlined in MCPS regulation GBD-R, this structured process was an opportunity for staff representatives to share feedback, exchange ideas, and receive input from division leadership. The facilitators leading this process, Amy White and Scott Baker, played a critical role in ensuring the work remained structured, transparent, and focused on division-wide challenges and opportunities rather than school-specific concerns. Throughout this process the facilitators guided discussions gathered and organized staff input coordinated with division leaders to provide information and ensured

[00:23:36] representatives were equipped to make informed recommendations at this time I would like to introduce our facilitators Scott Baker is the former superintendent of Spotsylvania County Public Schools where he earned the Friend of Education Award from the Virginia Education Association over the course of his 30-year career in education he worked as an instructional assistant in special education teacher administrative intern assistant principal principal director of curriculum instruction and assistant superintendent of instruction amy white is the former associate superintendent of human resources in prince william county public schools where she led the

[00:24:13] meet and confer process for 12 years her career there spanned 31 years where she's also served as an elementary teacher coordinator for the division's instructional support team assistant principal and principal mr. Baker and miss white will now present an overview of the meet and confer process share insights gathered from the representatives and review the recommendations that were developed

[00:24:36] through this collaborative effort good evening sorry I used to be taller good evening madam chair distinguished board members it's a pleasure to be with you this evening and dr. Newman as well I in accordance with your school board regulation, GBD-R, a meet and convert committee convened to provide structured forum for staff

[00:25:14] representatives division-wide to share perspectives, identify common concerns, and develop practical recommendations to enhance working conditions for all of your staff. I want to thank you for the opportunity for both of us to share the final report and recommendations of this year's process.

[00:25:34] Amy Wilson, and I truly appreciated the opportunity to serve as co-facilitators. It was an honor for me to get to know her and to work on this process together. Our role was not to do anything other than to guide the process, to ensure that there was balanced participation, to help the committee organize their work in a structured and constructive way.

[00:26:00] The process was primarily collaborative. the focus throughout was on solutions on a sense of shared responsibility not just individual concerns and to strengthen communication even though we weren't technically a bridge we do hope that we're able to help streamline some of these concerns and issues as well as solutions between the staff and to the administration and school board tonight we're going to briefly walk through the process how it worked who participated and most importantly the recommendations that emerged

[00:26:33] from the committee. So I think I reinforced at the beginning this process was grounded in your recently adopted regulation. It was also designed as a structured forum for staff to voice their concerns and engage in collaborative problem solving. Now one of our overarching goals, and it was probably a little more informal, as facilitators we wanted to help create the conditions for practical good faith dialogue focused on improving working conditions of MCPS staff not just solely for the staff but in ways that enable them to do their

[00:27:12] best work and ultimately to help them to better support the students that they serve. From the outset I think the emphasis was on solutions and on sharing ideas rather than individual positions and I'll just as an aside having been recent enough in the the work of public education I think that the challenges right now are paramount, and I don't think they've ever been more complex and required more of everyone who is involved.

[00:27:44] And so I think our goal here was obviously to focus on solutions, but as facilitators, we also wanted to be a listening ear because there are times when we all need to just vocalize how difficult the work is and know that everyone was in it together.

[00:28:01] This process, I think, also provided us an opportunity, as I said earlier, to bridge communication in real time to both inform and refine recommendations that were developed in the first few sessions by having division leadership take a look at them as we were getting towards the end and be able to provide right in that moment what they could do and were doing as well as what they committed to doing in the future. Per the board's regulation, participation was division-wide and it was broad and it was intentionally balanced to make sure that all

[00:28:38] of the perspectives reflected the full range of staff experiences. And we focused pretty intentionally to ensure that this process was inclusive. I talked about it being collaborative. We also wanted to make sure that each individual committee representative had ample opportunities to contribute and share their perspectives. So a lot of the way that I'll talk about in a moment, we constructed the dialogue and the activities was around the opportunity for them to work in small groups and then be able to share out so that every voice was able to be

[00:29:11] heard and so this is just a very quick outline of the four sessions and what the emphasis was or the focus of those four sessions was during the first session members were oriented to the process and what to expect we established norms for engaging in discussions to make sure that everyone was on the same page in terms of how we would engage in those discussions and how we would be respectful throughout the process.

[00:29:44] And then at that time, all of the school representatives submitted their school topics and issues and feedback. We also prompted some initial small group discussion to sort of practice the norms before we got into the very specific work of developing strategies and solutions.

[00:30:01] At the second session, we shared a synthesis of those issues that they had brought individually by school and department, and we helped to synthesize them into common themes and facilitated discussions via a gallery walk activity regarding potential strategies for addressing issues and concerns practically and constructively.

[00:30:24] And that enabled us not only to begin the work of developing solutions, but also to make sure that we were really clear on the deeper context underlying some of what had been presented in terms of concerns or issues.

[00:30:40] And then during the third session, small groups took those specific strategies and they formed recommendations for consideration under each theme area and shared those recommendations with the whole group for questions and feedback. And so it was a way for them to kind of check each other to, again, help, even though they might have worked on one particular theme area in a small group, everyone got to contribute to the whole set of recommendations.

[00:31:07] And then at the fourth and final session, And thanks to the division's leadership, providing initial responses to the draft recommendations, the committee then was able to go back through those, refine, ask questions, and then ultimately we are sharing tonight what we have as final recommendations that came from this process.

[00:31:28] So when all the initial submissions were reviewed together, I think some clear patterns emerged. And you're seeing these different division-wide themes that came up in those discussions and from the individual school and department submissions.

[00:31:45] These were the themes that as Amy and I went through them, we determined these are kind of the big ideas. These are the big picture items that we need to focus on. There are some, as you'll go through, you'll say, well, there seems to be calendar, for example, popping up in various themes.

[00:32:02] Yeah, there is some overlap of some of these issues or there are places where it might be addressed in multiple theme areas. I think there was some consistency across the schools and roles and that gave us some confidence that we could really dive into these themes.

[00:32:20] And a big part of what we stressed is that it's one thing to have the concerns, it's another thing to develop actionable, practical recommendations. And so as we'll continue to stress for the rest of this presentation, we had by and large a very strong group of teacher and staff representatives that were they were all in in terms of providing that support and that dialogue and doing that hard work.

[00:32:52] And so as I go through here, I'm going to just very briefly make a statement about each of these committee recommendations. You're going to notice on each slide that on the left-hand side are the committee recommendations, and I won't read every single one of them. But you'll also see on the right side some of the division commitments that, again, In real time, we were able to merge, here's what is being recommended, and here's what is already happening, will happen, or we will explore happening in the future from a division-wide perspective.

[00:33:25] For this first one, under planning time or workload, staff emphasized the need for more uninterrupted, unencumbered time to prepare instruction, collaborate meaningfully, and complete required responsibilities.

[00:33:41] Now, there's also a calendar connection here in terms of days being designated in the calendar, perhaps later, as you'll see, for full work days that do not have any other activities that are planned or required. And one quick example that I think you'll see in here about CLT meetings that are scheduled, and there are already a little bit of a head start on some of these in terms of division commitments.

[00:34:09] At least at one level, we were given the information that New Elementary School currently has CLT planning scheduled on Mondays and Fridays, so that certainly helps in terms of moving some of that forward. And then you can see here a second set that go with planning time and workload, as well as the division commitments.

[00:34:35] And again, this will be given to you, and you will have this to continue to review. Under professional development, I think the big picture of this was that staff requested professional learning for all staff that is relevant, differentiated, and respectful of time.

[00:35:00] So again, there's a connection a little bit to planning and workload. But there are a lot of different within our educator ranks. There are a lot of different groups that have what they believe are specific professional learning needs. And so sometimes it's a matter of making sure that based on their level, based on their specific role and the training needs of that role, They would like to see it be even more differentiated.

[00:35:27] And, of course, the best practice is not only having the professional learning days but also to try to have more job-embedded professional learning along with that. And here's another extension of those professional development recommendations and commitments.

[00:35:55] And staff requested clearer, more flexible, and more consistent leave practices. And you can see there were a number of different specific recommendations. And this is, again, highlights what I think Amy and I were so pleased with this particular committee because they really understood that they had to be solution-oriented.

[00:36:16] They had to provide things that were reasonable and actionable. And there are a number here that you can see if you go to the right-hand side that you can already see targeted revisions that are in the works regarding these recommendations and the responsiveness of leadership to that.

[00:36:39] Yes. The third bullet, you see the eight hours of paid leave that will be granted in four-hour increments per school year for an employee to attend a child's school events. That was a big thing that I think we've all experienced if we've been in education, that we're also parents to, many of us, full-time.

[00:36:57] And that takes a lot of time. And so that sense of we want to be able to support our children as well as the children that we serve in our classrooms and schools. And you can see a very immediate and concrete response from the division in terms of the recommendations.

[00:37:20] This one, in general, is a little more complex. So we had a lot of different individual concerns that came into what we have put as the theme of climate, culture, and communication. And it almost could be climate slash culture dash communication.

[00:37:41] Because communication, what we found, might be, in many cases, kind of the solution path for addressing some of the climate and culture concerns. So when you're looking at some of the recommendations, you'll notice that that communication through line is there.

[00:38:00] And then you can see the division commitments that go with that. But I think the idea of, and as a former superintendent, I understand the idea of we're always making decisions and trying to communicate them. I think some of this gets into the idea of how can decision-making be as inclusive as possible throughout the process, so that not only are staff aware of various decisions, but that they can continue to have more of a seat at the table as much as possible with different kinds of decisions.

[00:38:37] And you can see, again, some crossovers here, too, with professional learning and, again, providing support to staff in terms of their development. And I think some of this is around the idea that everyone in an organization like Manassas City Public Schools has to continue to grow, whether you are, as I started my career as a paraprofessional, or you are a teacher, or you're a principal, or you're a superintendent,

[00:39:12] that we are always constantly growing, and so wanting to know that as teachers and staff at the building level are expected to continue to learn and improve, that that high expectation is modeled at the divisional level as well. And then student discipline, staff expressed the need for more consistent expectations, clearer procedures, and stronger training and support.

[00:39:42] I think the idea was not necessarily that at any individual school that they thought they had a specific problem more than another school, but that they were aware in a tight-knit place like Manassas City.

[00:39:58] You know, everyone is comparing notes across schools in terms of different practices and how things are handled and managed. And so there was a sense that there could be greater consistency. So the recommendations here are aligned with that. Some of these things we know are, I know from experience, are established at building levels, but how can there continue to be cross-collaboration?

[00:40:21] And in some cases, it's probably fine for there to be a specific school rule that isn't the exact same as another school, but it's important to make sure that that's at least being tested and discussed in the process.

[00:40:38] And then you can see here with calendar, this is very specific about the process of developing the calendar. We were fortunate to have some folks who had been very involved, in that process over the years that could help to dispel some misunderstandings or information that wasn't completely accurate.

[00:41:02] For example, MSPS has not had a code grade day in the past eight years, but yet it was a concern. And so it was shared that during certain weather-related events, particularly those two-hour delays or code blue delays, the presence of essential personnel is sometimes just necessary to ensure schools are safe, operational, and prepared for students. But I think having had to make those awful decisions as a superintendent of inclement weather and wanting to make sure that the codes are clear, this is just, again, these are recommendations and responses that are related

[00:41:39] to things on that line. And then you'll see here with compensation, staffing, and programming that there is a sense that there needs to be another salary study. However, we know that there was a very recent salary study that was conducted.

[00:41:59] But again, every year, and especially as you're going into budget season, I know that there's going to continue to be looking at different employee groups and the equity of that, the pay and the consistency of that. And so a lot of this is centered around that.

[00:42:21] And then I think I'm just going to speak to the very last recommendation, having been a special educator and working with students with disabilities, but also students who come to school and have different kinds of challenges, is to make sure not only that the training that folks need to manage very challenging types of behaviors, but that perhaps consideration could be given to how that compensation is differentiated, if that is even possible.

[00:42:55] But you'll see again some division commitments and that a lot of that I know is developed up front through how you do job descriptions and how you determine what the actual positions are. So now I'm going to turn it over to Amy, who is going to close out our presentation.

[00:43:16] Thank you. What were the outcomes and results? As you heard in my introduction, I'm very conversant with the meet-and-confer process, and I personally have never experienced the level of engagement or leadership response than I did in this particular process in Manassas City.

[00:43:32] I hope no one from Prince William is listening at the moment, but that's the truth. So what were the outcomes and results? Clear recommendations that were actionable. It was not just complaint. recommendations staff informed solutions leadership responsiveness when teachers and support personnel brought the concerns we were shared we shared them with leadership who listened and saw everything that was brought from schools

[00:44:07] and the committee and were extremely responsive to what could be done in the best interest of our employees aligned priorities meet and confer is to recommend through an interactive process what is good for teachers but focused on what is good and essential for student success it doesn't stand apart from that and so when we got down in the weeds at times we asked how will this impact

[00:44:42] students success so we were laser focused in that area and I believe your first meet and confer process began a strong foundation for this continued partnership in the future at the end of the process on our final day we asked our participants reflect on what you hope to gain from this process and look back at the what we've done the work we've done and the recommendations you

[00:45:17] put forth and tell us what worked for you did you feel heard what would you suggest as next steps what might have gotten in the way of the process or ways we could enhance and to a person they said they felt heard and their voices respected they felt that discussions most discussions were extremely professional and solution focused that collaboration was strong across schools

[00:45:52] and central office and it was organized and equitable what do they hope will do in the future they would like longer gaps between the meetings even though they met with their staff before they began they wanted more time to go back and talk about some of the recommendations they wanted an earlier sharing of summaries and varying representation among the committee they want to continue the process annually actually I think they would have liked

[00:46:29] the process monthly but you know our regulations specifies the timeline but they hope very much that this can be done again next year door I know that Our board members have received the survey feedback that this highlights, but I'm just going to go ahead and make sure that it's really clear that one of the biggest positives was Amy's snacks and what she brought, and I think that it's important to highlight that.

[00:47:05] I mean, I think that sometimes if you've ever conducted professional learning or you've been a part of it, the snacks are key in terms of keeping folks engaged. And I want to make sure that she receives ample credit because she didn't just bring things in, she baked things.

[00:47:23] So I want to thank her because that helped me as well as I enjoyed it. That's funny. I wasn't expecting that. but if you'd ever like to try my chocolate chip cookies just let me know oh goodness what are the next steps this continual interaction between leadership and the feasibility analysis of what teachers and our support personnel feel they need to do their job well that we look at implementation

[00:48:02] planning, if we don't do it all right now, let's be conscious of what our employees say is important so that we can continue to work on those issues. And look at the meet and confer regulation, which is very specific, and say, do we need to change anything to get more input, more opportunities to speak and share and make it even better as we go forward?

[00:48:32] So I want to make sure that we're, again, clear about how professional, thoughtful, solution-oriented and committed to improving everyone that we had the opportunity to work with in this process was.

[00:48:55] That includes each of our representatives on the committee. It also includes the division leadership and their responsiveness. But we want to thank everybody for their participation. I know there might even be a few that are here tonight, but we are extremely, you know, they made the process worthwhile.

[00:49:14] And one thing that Amy just shared that I think is an important thing to maybe close on, I think that a process like that is only as good as the follow-through on it and the continued engagement. However, the board and the leadership determines that that is best accomplished.

[00:49:32] but I do think that hopefully this has provided a good path and momentum for more of that and so we're just glad to have been able to be of help we will be glad to answer any questions regarding the process or the meetings themselves of course if there are very specific questions about some of the responses to recommendations that I'm sure leadership and staff would be able to respond to those so thank you miss white and dr. Baker for that very exciting update on

[00:50:06] a new process that we're trying and we are very happy to learn that there are some actionable items and I know we as a board are very interested in follow through so do we have any questions from the board yes regarding slide number 13 on discipline something that the school board does every year is we refine the code of conduct and I just wondering if some more specifics are going to be coming on that on this specifically dress code

[00:50:43] and discipline from our perspective the code of conduct is always updated what people were speaking about was with the dress code as you just mentioned could we be very specific but I believe that the code of conduct is written that way so that there is some opportunity for leadership to make decisions based on their school and their community and the age level of the students in their building but again leadership was very involved in this entire process and heard

[00:51:17] that concern I'll just reiterate too that I think some of it had more to do with you have a you do update the code of conduct every year and you have a process and I think the input into that process is making sure that if there are where there is discretion in terms of differences and I think the dress code was one of those where there is not necessarily a uniform division-wide dress code and I don't know that the committee was asking for that what they were asking is our principals truly authorized and empowered to make the

[00:51:57] decisions and I think there were just some some mixed understandings about that so some of it is about what's actually in the code of conduct I think other aspects of it are the enforceability and the consistency by which it is executed and implemented and there is a committee right now working on particular examples and exemplars for the discipline okay well thank you and thank you for your presentation and thanks to the committee that worked on this thank you anyone else yes miss pressure thank you thank you for that presentation

[00:52:35] Thank you for baking cookies and joining us on this journey. So the question that I have, one of the recommended future considerations was very representation among the committee.

[00:52:52] In what way? Because it sounded like a fairly representative committee to me, but-- It was, but it was primarily teachers. do we want to add extra support personnel to the committee to work on their specific recommendations gotcha I would also add that I think some of that was also in the context of you know and this is again just the spirit of that committee they were honored and pleased in most cases to be able to be the representative for their schools but I think they believed that this type of

[00:53:29] of process should be afforded to more and more people over time so I think the very is that if you do meet and confer as you've done it this year for the next five years that over time there may be different representatives at each school or each site or throughout the division so that you know more and more folks can have that experience although some of them did want to come back next year for the snacks or for the conversation I think both yeah thank you I and I also share for future considerations the earlier sharing of summaries I think that that would have helped me as a board member earlier sharing of even

[00:54:08] this presentation would have helped me as a board member I find that most of my questions are actually for you guys so we can talk about that all later but this is very good and thank you thank you miss miles I had a couple questions about some of the wording can you explain the gift of time what does that mean yes and again I'm gonna give a kudo to your leadership you have some of the best leave generous leave policies I've experienced and one thing you do is give

[00:54:46] a gift of time which is I believe two hours two hours and it's given to teachers to use when they need it and it doesn't count against their leave so what the teachers and the classified ask for is can we have the gift of time early in the year so that we can use it as soon as we need it and not wait till the spring or christmas time and the other question i know you mentioned support staff they were needing more pd what pd is offered currently and maybe you can just send this to me um because you know i know typically support staff

[00:55:24] does not attend work days because it's not in their contract hours so would that mean that they would have to now attend work days so that they can go to the PD or what is that plan that's a great question and I think we can really get back to you through the Department of Human Resources and tell you what we have and what we're planning in the future okay and I had one more question I know you mentioned mentors in the school buildings like the central office staff would would they be given stipends if they were mentors or are you planning on perhaps teachers

[00:56:00] being mentors and getting a stipend or i i believe and please correct me that they were thinking of new administrators in the schools having someone they could rely on and up to this point it could be someone from central office or it could be a consultant brought in um as needed i did that myself the first year I worked for Manassas City was mentored a brand new principal who just needed a little guidance and support and that one I have one more I know central office staff it mentioned them providing substitute

[00:56:38] coverage is that something that happens currently or there are times we do provide okay substitute coverage for particular professional development okay for professional okay so that teachers can attend professional development okay I'm just honestly I've never heard of that so I wanted to clarify was that no currently there when there's a need for example we had a need this year at Osborne High School when there was a large number of teachers that were out central office staff responded and covered those classes and so they do

[00:57:17] substitute for things other than professional development they've done walkthroughs so teachers can go observe other teachers in classrooms and central office is also covered in those classes as well so it's not just for professional development that's wonderful I come from another district teaching outside of the district and that doesn't happen so I think that that a central office member being willing to sub in that way is actually extraordinary a lot of reasons yeah thank you that's all for me thank you miss Stevens thank you chair um thank you for everything you've provided and

[00:57:56] given us giving us the actionable next steps what is the next step in the meet and confer process itself as opposed to these actionable steps I think we're coming upon the budget process pretty soon some of these have budget implications so this is what the leadership is very invested in doing some of them are pretty easy giving the gift of time at the beginning of the year but we're also looking at very specific recommendations like work days

[00:58:29] being separate from professional development days and adding money to the contract with certain positions that will have to be informed by the budget process right well what I'm asking is we have our actionable steps and of course many of them are guided impacted by the budget but what I'm wondering is the actual meet and confer process are we continuing this process are we changing this process what is the recommendation that we do with the actual meet and

[00:59:02] confer um you know and I say this in the exact right way it's really not up to us it is now we have kind of released to you I think the the results of the process and the feedback on the process and again thank you for giving us the opportunity to facilitate it. I do know that Amy was sharing a little bit about you're at that stage now where it's about what do you do with that information and that is a decision that's collected between the board and the divisional leadership in terms of what needs priority,

[00:59:39] what can be addressed during the budget. So I think all of this great information that's come to you is now, it's now in the governance, hands of governance and leadership. Regarding future meet and confer I think the idea from the feedback that we received is that your staff that were involved in this really like the process or seem to favor this kind of process being ongoing you have it in regulation form so it's really up to you as to how you want to continue it whether you want it to be an annual event or whether you want it to take place in different ways but that is

[01:00:15] certainly now at the discretion of the board well thank you and and I have to say thank you to everyone who was involved in the process it's wonderful to hear the level of leadership and professionalism that was exhibited and the level of engagement I think that's something we as a board appreciate because when we have these actionable steps we know that the actionable steps are based on a genuine commitment and are made in good faith so thank you and thank you to everyone who's part of the process thank you dr. Jones I want to thank you for your work

[01:00:52] I have a question about the calendar I know it is upcoming for 27 28 and 28 29 we'll be working on school calendars were there any specific recommendations on how to get more stakeholders input I think stakeholders have a lot of opportunities to provide input but when people say they weren't aware or they didn't do it that means we have to look at communication and see how can we be more aggressive maybe of getting the input from our personnel some of the

[01:01:27] decisions are made two years at a time I am I feeling mr. de feller to my right yeah I just if miss Garley could you go back to the slide please there are some dr. Jones there are some very specific things that we are committed to doing with the calendar in particular to get additional number one get additional clarification be able to make sure everyone knows what they're voting for and providing feedback on but also to expand opportunities so currently we do

[01:02:04] not have a process in the current calendar process where we have additional in-person meetings that everyone is invited to so we are going to be adding additional meetings to meetings virtual and in person to seek feedback from whoever wants to come families and staff to get additional input we're going to be providing summaries after each of the committee meetings that will go out to families and to our staff as well to provide a broader context of what's being discussed in the hopes of getting more input on the actual specifics of the calendar development so I think you will

[01:02:40] see very specific and actionable things that we're committed to doing moving forward to increase participation in the calendar because as as you know we don't have a very large percentage of people who provide that feedback and so that was something that was reflected in these recommendations and how to do that in a very actionable way anyone else miss Brescia sorry now that staff is standing at the podium now I'm gonna ask different now that we're doing this now I'm gonna ask different questions one thing that stood out and I don't know

[01:03:18] what slide number this is. Under the committee recommendation of work to ensure consistency across schools in terms of accountability and professional expectations, one of the division commitments in response to that was the executive director of human resources is working collaboratively to support the implementation of policies and regulations across all schools. And my question for that was just how, like what does that look like?

[01:03:45] Sure. So right now really the focus is on working with our administrators around taking close look at all of our policies whether it be through any type of conversation or situation that we're encountering but also at every principal meeting I do a policy spotlight where we really dig into a different policy and kind of and read through it and really talk through it just to deepen the understanding and really in any interaction that I'm having I try to refer to every policy regulation that we have that really grounds our work that we do on a daily basis and so that's really been an effort that our our

[01:04:17] departments been really working through this year thank you so one of the committee recommendations was enhanced communication from central office and administration to all staff in the building provide a rationale for decisions align communication to the strategic plan investigate a new family communication tool like remind encourage administrators to provide weekly updates so there was like that's like six things in there but what did the committee have in mind for enhancing communication from central office and

[01:04:57] administrators what was that I know there was talk of newsletters and making the board docs more accessible I would use an example the attendance or leave policies to make sure that people are very clear and what it means and that people are being held to the same standards across the division so specifically one of the things that we're committed to doing is a quarterly

[01:05:34] newsletter that highlights the work that's happening in our buildings and spotlighting our teachers and our staff that are doing the work that are getting results and so that we can replicate that across the division and so we want to make sure that we're being transparent about things that are working really well in the division and so we're committed to doing that with the same thing with board docs we're created we're committed to do a creating a document that shows how to navigate board docs because it's not always easy to do and so we're going to be creating that working with the communications department

[01:06:09] as a way to enhance that communication as well which also ties back into what what miss Fisher was talking about with policy implementation because all of our policies as you know are on board docs and so how to navigate that but actually putting together a document or some sort of a tutorial we haven't decided on what to do yet with that but making sure that is something that will enhance that and be able to educate and show and how to how to actually use that so the deficit that was identified through this process was just that our policies were unclear and hard to find that I guess I am trying to understand what the

[01:06:45] deficit was in communication that we identified and a newsletter sounds great but is that I think they just wanted to be sure everyone was receiving the same message and I think it's important to know that we constantly said where is this working well with everything that came out like okay this is the planning issue where are we nailing this and so that we had people sharing where it was working beautifully and so I guess you know building on those exemplars of where the communication and the understanding and the planning has been

[01:07:24] done so well and help our other schools and I think that's what it really was about the clarity of expectations and concentrating on how we can keep growing and refining it regular you know regulations and policies are not always easy to maneuver within and so I think it's just a way of how can we approach that and make it the average employee in the school division make it accessible to them your point about where is it working well and I have our teacher of

[01:07:59] the year standing sitting there right in front of me I will say on CLTs yeah that obviously came up when they I will just say this is not a question I'm just going to make a statement when they work well they work really well and the CLT I sat in with our teacher of the year I left that room feeling like I could go teach third grade reading which is something I have never done before so I know that there is a fair amount of that it has not taken off as well in some other places but the process itself really works and there's really nothing that helps our student achievement more than that process you're absolutely right

[01:08:37] I just wanted to underline period just as a last thing and I know you have another question. I think that what you're probably seeing too, and I think it was good to ask specifics, what exactly needs to be done. I think there was a theme within a theme here, and it's from my experience, it's always around communication, which is we do a lot of communicating, but that doesn't mean everyone feels communicated with. And sometimes it's pockets of individuals, sometimes it's just in one little area, but the bottom line is that rarely can you

[01:09:13] not develop more enhanced ways, more robust ways to enhance communication with everyone. And I think that's the idea. I do think that there are some things, though, that it's going to continue to take a concerted effort, at least from my experience.

[01:09:30] One is a calendar that you approve two years in advance sometimes to get people engaged in that as a sense of urgency. So I do think a lot of it was, as Amy shared, we kept probing, well, what would make a better what would end so I I don't think that that process ends with what we're sharing with you but I think hopefully it gives you a sense of more of how we're feeling people are perceiving communication okay just a few more things and I want to say thank you for the process because I didn't get a chance to say that I know that that was a lot of work and just being able to sit

[01:10:08] with their the stakeholders as well obviously not just us but everyone and having that input was great I noticed on the climate culture and communication slide I think it was slide 11 that it talked about considering the recommendation was to consider a local survey I love a good survey everyone knows that but I wonder are we going to go with that recommendation from teacher input on the evaluation of administrators is that something that we that you discuss that you're going to do or I think what we talked what we

[01:10:44] decided was we were gonna look at the video we working condition survey and go back to our staff and say let's talk more about this at the school level so it doesn't become a personality issue a particular leadership issue because this is division-wide what would be best for our kids but to look at a survey that's in place and use that to get more input from our stakeholders at individual schools gotcha so using what you already have but diving a little deeper I like that and I also I think that's miss Brescia mentioned the behavior

[01:11:24] consequence matrix and you might have mentioned it is that that it was recommended to do a division-wide behavior consequence matrix is that something that that's being worked on okay I think that okay and that's all I have but thanks again this was very thorough and I love details lots of them here and just to see the commitments that we already are doing as well as the recommendations and how they do go hand in hand I thought was encouraging as well thank you thank you miss Stevens thank you just very very quick the comments on board docs we are moving away from board docs and we will be

[01:12:00] moving to a new platform called community which according to the video that the school board got to see is supposed to be much better and more user-friendly and i believe the whole state is going to it through the vsba so just that heads up if you don't like board docs i'm not the biggest fan of it either i don't think it's easy to navigate but we are moving to community so some of the issues we've had with board docs we may not have in the near future anyone else thank you so much you've given us much to think

[01:12:35] about and we appreciate your work okay we're moving on to new business um and tonight we're are going to have our Black History Month proclamation.

[01:12:55] Vice Chair Jones and Ms. Miles will read the Manassas City Public Schools Black History Month proclamation and the school board will then discuss and consider adoption of this proclamation recognizing February 2026 as Black History Month throughout our school division.

[01:13:25] - Like, you can take the microphone, just kind of, oh, get Amelia's, Mr. Eamon's.

[01:13:42] We didn't rehearse this. you guys give us just a moment. Whereas February is recognized and commemorated in the United States as Black History Month, and we recognize the people, historic events, and the cultural moments that have shaped American and world history in our society today. And whereas historian Carter G. Woodson and other notable African Americans launched a Negro History Week in 1926. This annual observance grew to honor the achievements by black Americans and other people of African

[01:14:19] Whereas in 1986, Congress passed public law 99-244, officially designated February as National Black Afro-American History Month and encouraging all Americans to honor this vital aspect of our nation's heritage.

[01:14:37] And whereas this year's theme is a century of black history commemorations, which honors the 100th anniversary of the first Black History Week established in 1926. The theme traces the growth from a week to a month and how it has transformed black identity, shaped public understanding, and addressed the need for inclusive and accurate narratives.

[01:15:03] Whereas, in educating the children of this public K-12 district, it is appropriate that all students learn about, reflect upon, and cherish the contributions that the citizens of African descent, both past and present, have made to our nation in the realms of art, business, civil rights, education, entertainment, military, music, law, literature, politics, inventions, religion, science, and much more.

[01:15:35] And, whereas, Manassas City Public Schools has one school named after an African-American who made a lasting impression on our local and national community. Jennie Dean founded the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth.

[01:15:51] Jennie Dean Elementary is now on this site. And, whereas, we must honor the men and women who have sacrificed, who have sacrificed an unwavering dedication to civil rights, freedom, and equity continue to inspire generations and enrich African American culture. Whereas now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the The Monassau City School Board hereby designates February 2026 as Black History Month throughout the school division.

[01:16:22] We encourage the celebration of the collective ingenuity, creativity, culture, and traditions of African Americans and encourage participation in educational events, honoring the contributions of African Americans.

[01:16:37] Draw inspiration from the rich legacy as we strive together toward equity, liberty, and opportunity for all chair I move that the school board of the city of Manassas waive second reading and approve the black history month proclamation as presented second okay I have a motion by Miss Stevens seconded by Miss Seaberg that the school board of the city of Manassas waive second reading and

[01:17:12] approve the black history month proclamation as presented on any discussion I'd like to thank you for reading that it was very beautiful thank you for both of you okay all in favor aye any nays and you want to post I think the motion passes 7-0 thank you we move on to our subtitle of accountability and I would like to call up dr. Cassata all right good evening chair Spall vice

[01:17:50] chair Jones school board members and dr. Newman tonight you'll be receiving presentations from four of our principals about their continuous improvement efforts the remaining five principals we will be presenting at the next board meeting as a reminder to the board in public we presented performance data for the division and individual schools in September. In December we presented accreditation and accountability data for all schools as well. As requested by the school board the purpose of these presentations is for principals to provide an update on the strategic priorities and goals that schools have identified through their comprehensive needs assessments looking at multiple data points. The presentations are focused on the strategic work that the principals and their school teams are doing to move the

[01:18:27] schools forward. Each of the presentations follows the same format. Each presentation starts with a snapshot of the school with its accreditation and accountability status. Each principal will then share their strategic priorities and how they were determined. They will then walk through specific goals and strategies and conclude with a spotlight.

[01:18:45] These principals will be providing you with specific examples of the ongoing strategic work in their buildings to address their identified priorities, all of which are in line with the division's strategic plan and its priorities. Tonight's schools are all of those schools with some type of federal identification for improvement.

[01:19:01] for schools. For targeted support and improvement schools, which are Dean, Baldwin Intermediate, and Mayfield Intermediate, it means that they've been identified for additional support based on the performance of one or more student groups. That designation is an annual one based on one year of performance data. The state requires that these schools submit school improvement grant applications with strategies and evidence-based interventions targeted at those areas for which they are identified. For those schools identified for targeted support and improvement, you will see that they have slides dedicated to a focus on special education and/or English learners where applicable. These principals all have updated their existing continuous improvement plans to ensure they have an explicit focus on

[01:19:38] these targeted areas as required by the state. The division monitors implementation of those strategies and plans. For comprehensive support and improvement, schools are identified based on overall performance compared to other schools at the same level, elementary, middle, and high school. This is a three-year designation. For ROUND, which is identified for comprehensive support and improvement the focus is more global the state requires that these schools submit school improvement grant applications with strategies and evidence-based interventions additional requirements for CSI schools include that the division conduct an updated needs assessment and resource review with round and collaboratively update the continuous improvement plan to

[01:20:15] include a multi-year support plan as required by the state since this is a three-year identification the state requires that this multi-year support band plan be provided to the school board for review later in the spring since it will be developed after the division needs assessment and resource review are completed. This multi-year support plan will then be submitted to the state for ultimate approval. The division monitors implementation of the strategies and plans. Updates the multi-year support plan will then be made after performance data and accountability ratings become available in the summer and fall. Tonight's presentation for round includes the strategic work already underway at the school based on their needs assessment and includes partnerships with division staff. The order of the presentations

[01:20:53] tonight is as follows dean elementary then round elementary baldwin intermediate and then mayfield intermediate it is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to dr stevenson for the first presentation thank you good evening good evening chair spall vice chair jones members of the school board and dr newman i'm pleased to have the opportunity to share an update on our school improvement plan at

[01:21:30] jenny dean as jenny dean elementary school's first year principal and the efforts we are collectively making to ensure academic progress and success for every child. I'll begin with a brief overview of where we stand as a school.

[01:21:50] Jenny Dean Elementary is fully accredited and our current enrollment for the 25-26 school year is 571 students. Our school performance and support framework score totals 73.9 out of 100. As a school, we hold a federal TSI designation specifically for performance among our special education students and our English learners.

[01:22:13] Because of this designation, our overall performance category is listed as needs intensive support. This data helps guide our improvement priorities and the work we'll discuss tonight.

[01:22:28] Our team conducted a data-driven comprehensive needs assessment that identified both English language arts and mathematics as our most important areas for improvement. This included a root cause analysis that utilized multiple sources of evidence to identify implementation of evidence-based materials and practices in literacy, and coherent student-centered instruction in mathematics as the most pressing needs within these areas.

[01:23:00] This aligns with the inclusive and collaborative learning environment pillar of our school division strategic plan, with its focus on inclusive practices, instructional planning and delivery, literacy, and a cycle that works to achieve student academic progress. I want to stress that our MCPS strategic plan's focus on student academic progress and success is our primary driver, and it's our North Star.

[01:23:29] Our first major goal area is literacy. Our SMART goal states that by May 2026, the combined grade 3 and 4 English language arts SOL pass rate will increase to 65%. For our subgroups, we aim to increase pass rates for special education students by 31 percentage points, and for English learners by 27 percentage points.

[01:23:52] We believe this goal represents an achievable intermediate step between last year's achievement levels and the MCPS strategic plan's 80% proficiency benchmark. To achieve this, we are implementing several key strategies.

[01:24:08] Weekly CLT meetings grounded in evidence-first analysis and adjustment of instructional strategies and student support using a cycle that works. of Lexia Core 5 as an evidence-based literacy intervention, regular literacy walk-throughs, observation and collaborative planning feedback loops to strengthen instruction. And we are seeing encouraging indicators of growth. Major areas of focus in literacy continue to be decoding, oral expression, reading comprehension, writing, and citing evidence, areas we intentionally

[01:24:44] target through small group and individualized instruction. Our next goal area is mathematics. We have the same overall target for grades 3 and 4, an SOL pass rate of 65% by May 2026.

[01:25:01] For our subgroups, the goal is a 15-point increase for special education students and a 19-point increase for English learners. Again, we believe that this goal represents an achievable intermediate step on the path to achieving the 80% proficiency levels laid out in our division strategic plan.

[01:25:20] The strategies to reach this goal include weekly grade-level CLTs using a cycle that works with an emphasis on using evidence-driven adjustments to instruction and support, faithful implementation of the math workshop framework, ongoing observation and collaborative feedback loops to refine instructional planning and delivery, and with these strategies we are also seeing some positive growth, especially on our division mathematics performance tasks.

[01:25:49] Our instructional focus in mathematics includes number sense, multi-step problems, contextual problem solving, all supported through small group and individualized instruction. Our support for special education students centers on inclusive practices and high expectations.

[01:26:09] We are focused on increasing the effectiveness of our implementation of the following strategies: use of co-teaching models, individualized plans and tailored supports, evidence-driven scheduling, use of high-quality instructional materials to target student needs in both literacy and math, and enhancing collaboration within our CLTs and across our special education department.

[01:26:37] Our goal is to ensure students receive effective specialized instruction in the most inclusive setting possible. We are also focused on meeting the needs of our English learners. Our approach continues our school's use of research-based practices with a greater focus on the fidelity of implementation we are teaching and supporting English learner achievement of grade level standards with scaffolds that vary from light to substantial support based on student need we emphasize language development across all four domains listening speaking reading and writing

[01:27:11] and we make strategic use of students home languages where appropriate clear language objectives guide planning to ensure students can access content and and demonstrate understanding as they engage in language development.

[01:27:32] One area that's been very promising for us, very positive, is literacy intervention. This year we have strengthened the fidelity of our intervention implementation and have seen significantly higher student engagement during our targeted support block. We are proud to share that there has been measurable growth in the number of students performing at or above grade level as measured by our intervention tool since fall 2025.

[01:27:57] This is an encouraging indicator that our systems and supports are working. In closing, I want to thank our staff, families, and students for their continued commitment to growth and improvement. We were encouraged by the progress we're seeing and remain focused on ensuring every student at Jenny Dean feels supported, challenged, and successful.

[01:28:19] Thank you, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, Dr. Stevenson. Ms. Stevens. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Dr. Stevenson. I wanted to ask first about CLTs because they come up frequently in conversation on CLTs.

[01:28:37] And we did see through the meet and confer process that there were issues with potentially the number of CLTs that were being held for a week in certain schools or certain classrooms within the division. So my question for you, and that where CLTs work, they work really well.

[01:28:54] Can I assume that there was an issue with CLTs previously? I know that's a loaded question. What I will say is that if you will indulge me in the use of an analogy, because I really like them.

[01:29:11] Let's say I had a goal to get stronger, and I had a strategy to get stronger that was going to the gym. That makes sense as a goal, as a thing to do. I've identified what I need to do to get stronger.

[01:29:28] But then if I go to the gym and I don't lift increasingly more weight, I won't get stronger. If I lift the same amount of weight every time, I won't get stronger, even though I'm engaging in a strategy that should lead to the outcome that I'm seeking. I think CLTs are very much that way.

[01:29:47] And so our goal is in identifying them as a strategy is, yes, we've identified, if you will, the going to the gym part. We need to make sure that when we're in the gym, we're doing things the right way. And so that's why I don't consider CLTs and a cycle that works as they're two different things.

[01:30:11] CLT is the team. A cycle that works is the process. It's going to the gym and engaging in the routines that actually lead to growth. And so our focus this year has been making sure every part of a cycle that works works, right?

[01:30:29] And so not just the planning and the delivery of the instruction or the design of the assessments, but the review of the data, the adjustment of the instruction, circling back to kids who still haven't learned it, and making sure that we're completing those cycles frequently enough that we're getting a good sense over the course of time as to how well our students are mastering the skills that they're supposed to be in the classroom.

[01:30:59] This year, to help us do better on that, we have focused on what I call an evidence-first approach, where we start most of our meetings with the data first, and then we move into the planning of the instruction after we have talked about how we're going to use the evidence to target the needs of the students.

[01:31:20] And that's helped our teams immensely to be able to make sure that all aspects of the cycle are really working. Kind of a long explanation. Yes, well, then that made me feel guilty about going to the gym. But that's a totally different story.

[01:31:36] Totally different story. So, and one of the things, you know, the focus was specifically on our SPED students and our EL students. And as a teacher, as a SPED teacher, and working with both here in this division and in other school divisions, one of the biggest hurdles for SPED teachers and EL teachers is having common planning time with those gen ed teachers, especially when you're working in a co-teaching model.

[01:32:04] And I really haven't seen anywhere where they found the perfect solution, but how are we ensuring that those folks who are working so closely together with our neediest kiddos have time to plan together on a regular basis?

[01:32:20] - So we do have it set up in our school so that both the ESOL teachers and the special education teachers can be in the CLT meetings and they have roles on the team. And so they're not just at the table, but they have something they do at the table.

[01:32:37] Our ESOL teachers are very, very involved, for example, in helping to prepare the resources that our team uses around scaffolding for our students. And they're also very involved in helping with the planning and language objectives and how those will work in the instruction.

[01:32:54] Okay, thank you on that. And then, and I don't know if this is, well, I don't know. Do we provide co-teaching professional development? Because co-teaching, I think, is sometimes the hardest thing. Because you have sometimes two very different personalities with two very different viewpoints on instruction who have to work together as a team with children of all kinds of needs and differences.

[01:33:23] So what kinds of things do we do or do you do at Dean to support co-teaching models? Co-teaching's actually been a division-wide area of focus in our professional learning. So we've had several sessions on it. I'll also add that we've done quite a bit this year with cooperative learning, which I consider to go hand-in-hand with co-teaching because of the way it engages students and the way it helps us to make sure the students are the ones doing the work and doing the learning.

[01:33:58] we've been also implementing this year as I'm sure you know the cooperative learning feedback cycles where where the feedback is given in the classroom as the instruction is occurring so though both of those both of those efforts have been I think very helpful helpful to our staff and honestly other than feeling guilty about the gym I think those are all my questions so thank you for your presentation and thank you for your analogy Mrs Brown thank you so much for

[01:34:36] leading Jenny Dean I haven't had an opportunity to thank you personally so thank you I know miss my colleague here Miss Stevens kind of gave you a lead way to answer part of my question but I had two questions for you I like to get a little bit more tangible specific things so what specifically what specific measures are being taken to support students with disabilities in English

[01:35:09] language learnings and in regards to the targeted improvement goals so we're first and foremost I would say making sure that we are using the same expectations for those students that we do for all of our other students I'm a I'm a big believer and I really think our entire staff is committed to the idea that we just have to plan appropriately for their needs.

[01:35:36] And so in addition to the very official sounding strategies I laid out, I think our approach is it's very individually student-driven and I can tell you, for example, on the special education side, we make adjustments to kids' routines within the confines of their IEP and what their IEP requires.

[01:36:00] We make adjustments to their routines, we make adjustments to the instructional strategies we use with them throughout the year based on how they respond to them. Our strategy with special education students is not static, it's something we're always looking at.

[01:36:16] And I can tell you we have several students that we're in a very good place with now compared to the beginning of the year because we've been willing to do that in collaboration with the teachers, with the parents, and to utilize the process and tools available to us to really meet their individual needs.

[01:36:36] On the English language side, I can tell you that the principle at play for us when we plan for their needs is this idea that they have to be developing their language at the same time that they're learning their curriculum.

[01:36:51] It's not one or the other, right? It has to be at the same time. And so what we do with our planning around language objectives, what we do with our planning around scaffolding, having substantial levels of support for those who need it, moderate, light, where they're engaging in the same tasks with the same expectations, but these different levels of support allows us to engage them in both language development and learning the curriculum at the same time.

[01:37:22] - Thank you so much, I know that takes a lot of work. If you can give us some examples of any indicators of growth that you have observed since all of this has taken place with your growth plan? - Yeah, we see, I always try to be cautious, right?

[01:37:37] I don't wanna overstate, but I try to be cautious because I think we have to be very aware and honest about where we are and where we need to get. However, I do think in addition to the intervention data that's been very positive, we've seen some real growth in the writing of our students.

[01:37:59] We have these tasks that we do pretty regularly and that we use often as our common assessment data in CLTs called apply understandings. They're writing tasks that the students engage in as part of the literacy program we have. We've seen a lot of encouraging growth on the student writing, more use of detail, better citing evidence from the text, all that's still something we're also working on with many of our students.

[01:38:27] I'll also say in mathematics, when we compare our division assessment scores, particularly our performance tasks from this year to last year, we see significantly better student performance from the same, on the same basic assessments.

[01:38:44] - Thank you so much. - Ms. Miles. Specifically, our students who obviously need more than just tier one support or tier one instruction, do we have a specific, Do you have a process in place for contacting parents and kind of notifying, hey, we think that your student may need this or need that?

[01:39:07] Is there something that you have in place at Jenny Dean for that? - So in terms of tiered support on the academic side, we start with our basic universal things that we do for all the students. The targeted support block is where we deliver most of the tier three intervention.

[01:39:26] And so there is notice that goes out to the parents are on reading plans about that and they are given an opportunity to give input on that. And then in the Tier 2 area, very often that is planned through the CLT on the math side, through math workshop, on the literacy side, through the benchmark program because it does have pieces in it that allow you to target additional student needs through small group instruction and even one-on-one support.

[01:40:01] And yes, to the extent that we need to engage parents in any support at home around that or make them aware, we also do that. Thank you. Ms. Barsha. Thank you. You've answered most of my questions through the course of your presentation.

[01:40:17] Thank you for that. For improved mathematics outcomes, the status is ongoing with encouraging growth in student performance on division performance tasks. What's a performance task? A division performance task for math is, it's not, so when I was in school, all my math tests were, you know, they were lovely.

[01:40:41] They were like, here, do these hundred problems, do the odds, and then you'd do the odds, and then they'd say, do the evens for homework, right? I don't know if anyone ever had that experience in school. Okay, hundred problems, due tomorrow.

[01:40:58] Thank you, Mrs. So-and-so. Anyway, so obviously, we're not quite that way anymore. We're not so traditional. We're not so kind of one-tracked mind when it comes to how math is supposed to be learned and how it's supposed to apply in the real world. Instead, we try to give, the division gives us tasks that are contextual.

[01:41:19] And so it might be something, you'll have to forgive me. I'm probably butchering one of the tasks because I'm going off the top of my head. But it might be something like, you have to make cookies for a bake sale. And here are the ingredients you're going to need.

[01:41:35] and here's how many cookies you need to make. And then they have to figure out how much of each ingredient they need to make the appropriate amount of cookies. But then that's not all, right? That's just the first part. That's just the first part of the task. My wife's a math teacher.

[01:41:51] She loves it when I talk like this about math. All right? Then something happens at the bake sale, and someone buys this many, and there's this many left, or then someone ordered more than you needed. Like something is thrown in there that they have to then figure out again.

[01:42:09] They have to take and apply the math again at a deeper level. And then usually there's one more. There's one more level. Like it's not one more thing that happens in the context that has, then they have to apply the math at an even deeper level. And the idea is to measure how well they can really apply the math in not just a real world scenario, but in a scenario where the variables change.

[01:42:34] And if they can do well on that, then they can do well in real-life situations, is the idea. They also will do better on things like SOL tests as well. And you're seeing growth in that. Yes, we are. We are seeing some encouraging growth there.

[01:42:50] That's good. Thank you so much for the answer to that question. That was a real journey. Thank you. So my last question, appropriate individualized use of home language. Can you provide more context and example of what that might look like?

[01:43:07] And, of course, this varies tremendously depending on student need and also on the level of skill and comfort the educator has as well. But, basically, sometimes it's very helpful to a student to hear some of their home language while they're learning as a way to access content.

[01:43:29] So I'll give you an example. I don't know if we did it right. I see Mr. Emmel over there, but we were trying to do it right. But I was in a kindergarten class recently where they were part of the activity where they were supposed to draw a bus, and then they were supposed to write, this is kindergarten, they were supposed to write something very simple about the bus.

[01:43:53] For some of our kids, it was very helpful for them to have the word bus in their home language to be able to understand what they were drawing. So that's an example of a very simple example. But sometimes there are cases where you utilize their home language as a way to help them access the content and the curriculum, but also as a kind of a bridge to them also learning English as well.

[01:44:20] Anyone else? Dr. Jones. I don't have a question, Dr. Stevenson. I just want to say thank you for your leadership, because I know it takes good leadership to bring change in the school. So thank you for your leadership. It was a riveting update. Thank you so much.

[01:44:51] So next up is Ms. Boatwright, principal of Round Elementary. She's gonna discuss strategic priorities, goals, and strategies in place at Round for the 25-26 school year. - All right, thank you. Good evening, Chair Spall, Vice Chair Jones, and school board members, and Dr. Newman.

[01:45:10] My name is Janita Boatwright. I have the honor of serving as the proud principal at Round Elementary for the past seven months. Although I am new to Round, I stepped into this role with intention, purpose, and a deep commitment to helping our Round Village and make sure we thrive.

[01:45:27] I bring over 13 years of administrative experience, some of it in Title I settings, working closely with diverse learners, including students receiving special education and English language learners. Before moving into administration, I served as a special education teacher in both elementary and middle school, which grounded my belief in equitable access, strong tier one instruction, and high expectations for every child.

[01:45:52] Being on site and fully immersed as a leader at Round these past seven months has only strengthened my conviction that our students, staff, and families have tremendous potential. That when we work as a unified village, we can transform student outcomes, and we will.

[01:46:09] I also wanna take a moment to recognize the members of our instructional leadership team. I have several folks who came out this evening. Ms. Monique Tambu, my assistant principal. Dr. Harris Keyes, our instructional facilitator. Ms. Erin Bakey, our literacy liaison and reading support teacher.

[01:46:26] Mrs. Connie Judd, our reading support teacher. Mrs. Katie Bambara, our math support teacher. And then I see a few other surprises. So two members of our school improvement team. We have Ms. Kim Chua, and Ms. third grade teacher, and Ms. Leila Davis, fourth grade teacher.

[01:46:43] And we have one of our permanent subs, Ms. Victoria Ford. Thank you guys for coming out. I do wanna point out our instructional leadership team is not only a key part of our school leadership, they're part of a larger leadership team that partner with me to analyze the data, determine our root causes, and identify strategic priorities that drive our school improvement plan.

[01:47:06] Their expertise, thought partnership, and unwavering dedication to our students have been invaluable, and I'm grateful to lead this work alongside them. It takes a village. I am thankful for y'all having me here tonight to present an update on our round school improvement plan.

[01:47:22] I'm glad to walk you through where we are and where we're headed. Our focus is on progress so far, areas of success, and strategic priorities guiding our work this year. This slide provides an overview of Round Elementary's current accreditation status and performance metrics.

[01:47:42] As many of you have already seen this data numerous times and gone over it, I will continue on to how this data is impacting where we are as a village. Our Identified Strategic Priorities.

[01:47:57] Before sharing our Identified Strategic Priorities, I do wanna speak briefly about how we arrived at our root causes. Our school improvement leadership team, a broad representation of Round Village, led this work collaboratively and thoroughly. Our leadership team included our instructional leaders who are here tonight, a team lead from each grade level, a special education representative, an ESOL department lead, an ENCORE department lead, our ITTS and T-Spec, our head custodian, our family liaison, one of our parents, and our front office lead.

[01:48:30] Yes, that was a lot of people, but it takes a lot of us to make sure that we're getting it right and that we're doing the right thing. So we met several times over the first few months of school, and subgroups reviewed multiple data sources as part of our needs assessment. These included both academic performance data, our student growth measures, attendance patterns, and staff feedback.

[01:48:51] Each group, each subgroup analyzed the data, identified concerns, and then we reconvened as a full team to share findings and determine common themes. As a team, we repeatedly asked ourselves, why is this happening? Why are we here? To dig deeper and arrive at the root causes you see on this slide.

[01:49:09] Using the MCPS strategic plan pillars, which guide us towards student academic success, We identified three strategic priority areas. First priority, academic instruction, that is aligned with the inclusive and collaborative learning environments. Across classrooms, we found heavy reliance on scaffolding, which limited student discourse and prevented full engagement with grade-level rigor.

[01:49:31] Root causes included a deficit mindset and inconsistent implementation of grade-level standards and evidence-based instructional practices. Our second priority, staffing and organizational learning supports, is aligned with the quality workforce.

[01:49:47] We noted inconsistent expectations in varying levels of instructional alignment. Root causes included mismatches between instruction and new curriculum requirements, and inconsistent communication and underused planning time. Third priority, identify it with school climate.

[01:50:04] It is aligned with culture of caring and strong family and community partnerships. Frequent non-emergency absences affected continuity of learning and student engagement. Root causes included inconsistent messaging about the importance of attendance, and limited consistent student connections.

[01:50:22] These strategic priorities grounded in data and developed collectively by our school leadership team serve as the foundation for our goals and action steps for this year. Instructional practice and student engagement. Our goal is to reduce the gap between student performance and expected achievement by improving instructional practices.

[01:50:42] The SMART goal is that 100% of teachers will implement at least one student-centered evidence-based strategy weekly. Strategies include math workshop and Kagan collaborative learning strategies to engage students in the learning process.

[01:50:57] Now I know what you're asking and you're thinking, while this seems something we have been using as a division, classroom observations and walkthroughs at the start of the year indicated more teacher talk and a lack of consistent implementation of both strategies. We reinvigorated the usage through targeted professional development and including this in our observation conversations with staff.

[01:51:18] This work is ongoing and we're monitoring through observations, teacher feedback, and student data. Our goal for improved literacy outcomes, So this slide focuses on that. Our goal is to improve reading proficiency to 60% by spring 2026, representing a significant increase from last year's 48% proficiency rate.

[01:51:43] Strategies include building teacher capacity with tailored professional development, supported by our language arts coordinator, special education specialists, and benchmark advanced trainers. We continue focusing on strengthening tier one instructional practices and promoting student engagement through a growth mindset.

[01:52:00] Our ongoing monitoring includes professional development participation, professional development participation, classroom observations, and student performance data. Next, we have our math outcomes. Our math outcomes mirrors literacy.

[01:52:16] Our goal is to improve math proficiency to 60% by spring 2026, representing an increase from last year's 54% proficiency rate. Strategies focus on capacity building, professional development around the math workshop model, and growth mindset practices.

[01:52:34] Monitoring is ongoing and includes observations, coaching, and student data analysis. Our goal to enhance staff capacity. This goal centers on increasing staff capacity and our delivery of high quality tier one instruction.

[01:52:51] The SMART goal is that by June 2026, 90% of staff will report increased confidence in instructional practices, evidence through surveys and lesson plans. To strengthen staff capacity, our strategies focus on differentiated professional development, clear and consistent internal communication, and robust support systems that help our staff feel equipped, informed and valued.

[01:53:14] Within our Round Village, we've put several structures in place to make this happen. We've expanded our professional learning model by offering professional development choice sessions where staff can select from up to six different learning options based on what is most relevant to their work. One of our recent choice sessions included topics such as syllabication is sweet, next steps for Lexia and targeted support block, TSB, seven steps to a language-rich classroom, one of the ESOL supports we should be using, beyond grading, transforming learning through formative assessment, math problem-solving, and Schoology.

[01:53:51] In addition, we provided targeted micro-professional development sessions on one Monday each month, which staff may choose to attend if the topic aligns to their needs. Monday is the day we do not have CLTs, so staff can use their planning time to go to these micro-PDs if they would like.

[01:54:07] Past topics have included AI foundations, Book Creator, and Canva, among others. These flexible learning opportunities ensure our professional development remains timely, relevant, and responsive, allowing staff to engage in meaningful learning that directly supports their practice.

[01:54:23] We provide weekly newsletters, a shared school calendar, and we establish a centralized hub where staff can find all the information, resources, and forms they need, helping our Round Village stay aligned and supported. We have shared leadership opportunities that allow staff to contribute to their strengths, contribute their strengths, and have a voice in decisions.

[01:54:43] In addition, we prioritize regular check-ins. We celebrate staff through things like Friday shout-outs. And we often offer leadership committee opportunities for, we offer leadership committee opportunities for anyone who wants to grow or take on more responsibility. All of these efforts are designed to support staff retention, build confidence, and strengthen our collective practice.

[01:55:03] We do have, the leadership committee was open, our school improvement plan committee. And so other staff who wanted to join, who weren't, that big subset that we had was able to join if they wanted to. There's only one other staff member that took advantage of it, and she happens to be a special education teacher, so we have two special education teachers on that team.

[01:55:26] Ongoing monitoring includes surveys, walkthroughs, sign-in sheets, agendas, and staff feedback. Our other goal here is improved attendance. It's our school climate focus. Our SMART goal is to reduce non-emergency absences, tardies, and early dismissals by 25%, bless you.

[01:55:45] by June 2026. Strategies to increase attendance include increasing family awareness of the impact of absences, enhancing family engagement by sending out a weekly newsletter so parents stay informed, hosting regular family monthly events on our third Thursday of the month, opening up lunchtime for parents to eat with their student, and developing a common process for our survey, sorry, developing a common process from our survey to better increase instructional continuity for absent students.

[01:56:16] Our continuous monitoring includes newsletters, phone calls, handouts, pacing calendar data, re-entry meetings, attendance meetings, and surveys.

[01:56:32] So for our spotlight here, we have some major hurdles that we know that we have to overcome, but we are seeing some positive shifts and gains in some areas. We are offering tailored professional development opportunities to help teachers effectively learn how to scaffold lessons using Benchmark and Lexia.

[01:56:48] During these opportunities, teachers are given professional development choices to meet their individual needs, as highlighted a little earlier. As we have teachers on many different levels, we have collaborated with the professional growth specialists to work alongside individual teachers to ensure that they have specific support aligned with district vision and policies.

[01:57:06] And that will be some of our central office staff who comes in to help work with some of our teachers. We have heightened our focus on aligning tier one literacy instruction to benchmark advance with teaching the how in our collaborative learning team meetings, which is resulting in positive early outcomes with both VALS and Lexia data.

[01:57:24] We are also collaborating closely with our central office staff to deepen our team's capacity to effectively support both our general students and our English language learners and students with disabilities. This partnership includes two pieces, instructional walkthroughs which provide staff with both broad trends and targeted actionable feedback to strengthen our general tier one classroom practice and building teacher knowledge around planning high quality lessons using the benchmark program with an emphasis on leveraging the embedded supports designed to meet the needs of our struggling readers, including students receiving special education and ESOL services.

[01:58:00] This ongoing collaboration continues to help us refine instructional planning, so all students have access to regular, well-scaffolded grade level learning. Thank you for your time. Continue partnership in supporting our village.

[01:58:15] Our improvement plan is a living document. It evolves with our collective effort. The collection, sorry, the collaboration and commitment of our staff, families, and community are essential. And together, we are doing the hard work that leads to meaningful change. - Thank you for giving us insight until you're around Village.

[01:58:33] - You're welcome. - Do I have questions, Ms. Brown? - Thank you so much. I also like your confidence. You know, the confidence in your students and your teachers. I know that achievement is the result of effort, but it's also the result of that determined mindset.

[01:58:54] So thank you for that. And thank you for giving your teachers choices for PD as well, because that makes a world of difference. - Yes, thank you. - I wonder if you can expand a little bit more about the evidence-based student-centered strategies. I know you mentioned the Kagan strategy.

[01:59:10] I wonder if you can pick one or expand on something and why those strategies are effective when students are learning and when we're trying to close the achievement gaps. - So I think it's effective for many reasons. When we use Kagan, a lot of times, and our, anyway, so when we use Kagan and our collaborative learning strategies, not only do you have the teachers not doing the work, but you have the students doing the work.

[01:59:42] So you have students talking and that discourse between students increases their ability. So sometimes you can take someone who you know is strong in an area and someone who is a little less weak or a little less strong or weak in the area and you ask a question and let them have that conversation.

[02:00:00] And we talked about a little bit like translanguaging and things so they can speak in their own language if they speak the same language to help them solidify the understanding of the concept, but then they're still producing the same outcome that you want them to produce, that all the students need to produce to show that they're learning.

[02:00:16] So some of the Kagan strategies, the collaborative strategies, they're helpful for our students to be able to feel comfortable before they have to answer in front of the rest of their peers, before they have to answer to their teacher for their final answer, things like that. - That's fantastic. I hope the parents are receiving a little bit of information about that as well, because I do believe that those are some of the most effective strategies that we have because you're right, they do allow the students to process their own thinking, but also to consider other students' perspectives as they're learning, so it's really great.

[02:00:51] And then you mentioned something about reducing absences and tardies for non-essentials. So do you have any glows of anything that you were doing around that is effectively helping you achieve that? - Yeah, so, one thing I know I thought about when I was going through this um so we had quite a few students last year who I wasn't here but I was told so I'm only going by hearsay um that the parents would pick them up I don't know if parents just missed them that kind of thing um and so one of the things we did this year was we opened up our cafeteria so parents can come in and have lunch

[02:01:29] with their students um obviously we have a bigger cafeteria out here than some other schools but but that's okay, we're able to, so we're accommodating our parents, they can come in and have lunch with their child. And so for some of our students who would leave early, they don't have to leave early 'cause the parent can come in, get their kid fix, see their child, know that they're okay, see some of their peers over in the cafeteria and then head back home.

[02:01:52] The same thing for birthday celebrations. There's rules around it, but there's still birthday celebrations that they can come in, have lunch with their student, bring something for their students. - Steven.

[02:02:08] like the parents can come for lunch and get their kid fixed and then go back to you know home or work I cannot that's that's nice I like that um can you talk to me a little bit about what you're seeing with evals and Lexia data so what we're seeing is some of our high-risk areas are reducing so the students in the high-risk bands are getting smaller that high-risk bands getting smaller and so you know we have more in the other two bands the lowest and the medium the moderate so that's the progress that we're seeing of course there's always a

[02:02:43] few outliers and there's few a few kids that are we have some individual work that we have to do but for the most part our bands are shifting in the right direction well that's good to hear and it's especially with VALS because VALS is a difficult assessment for students to take I've tried to take them myself and they are a bit challenging so and I want to commend you on the hard work you're doing you're making a lot of changes to how the school runs and how the school works and accountability for everyone and I know it's hard and I know

[02:03:19] it's painful but at the end of the day once you get past the hurdles and you see the students success and the positive outcomes then it's all worth it so thank you for that you thank you miss miles I had a few comments I'm not really questions but I noticed throughout you mentioned the growth mindset which i think is awesome um and it sounds like that's something that is throughout the whole school and just having that with all your teachers that's what we're working on yes that's great um and i know i love how you guys are collaborating with everyone you have everyone sitting at the

[02:03:57] table and seeing how you can improve the school that is wonderful even parents right which is and you talk to them before you know before you started the year which i think is just phenomenal and just seeing the importance of attendance the math workshop model can you explain that that that is my one question in our math work in our math workshop model the point is that you know so we

[02:04:33] tell the kids right yeah yeah family use your research so the math workshop structure is something that's been in place in the city for several years this year we've division-wide made a big push in all the schools to relaunch it in all the components of it and the way it's being launched its component little by little so we started with the first 10 minutes in the last 10 minutes which is your reasoning routine and your reflection how you open and close your math block so that we are getting the student structured to learn throughout their math block and then the middle chunk of it is where they'll do the

[02:05:11] focus lesson and then their small group in their learning stations it's a structure it's not the actual instruction we use our resources for that but that consistent model is being used all the way through really eighth grade and even in some of the high school classes so it's a consistent structure that helps give the students that time to you know engage in great learning and productive struggle because it's important thank you I appreciate you coming up to this. I'm not sure if everyone knew that, so I wanted to make sure to highlight that.

[02:05:44] I just, I'm very pleased with the presentation. It was very thorough. The SMART goals seem very precise, and it looks like you're taking a lot of time and effort to really narrow down what the needs are and figuring out what you need to do to accomplish those goals that you have, so thank you.

[02:06:03] Glad it shows. Yes, we have. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Brescia. - Thank you very much. Speaking of the SMART goals, I'm happy, thank you for including them. Thank you for including what the baseline was so that we know what our target is.

[02:06:20] But I do just kind of as a general note, have so much grief over the fact that 60% is now a goal when round used to be in the 70s. But in terms of, to look on the bright side of things, which I always try to do, the round village did it before.

[02:06:40] - We're gonna do it again. going to do it again we're going to do it again we're all going to get there together so talk to me a little bit about scaffolding that's one of those kind of technical words and this is a public broadcast so when people hear you talk about scaffolding what is that and what isn't it okay so scaffolding is making sure we get the same outcomes and that students are able to provide the same outcomes and get to the same point but they may not get there the same way so i'll give you a really easy example you may have a student who struggles in third grade to read and so they

[02:07:18] may have an audio accommodation so they can hear the word problem or the reading passage read to them so they can still meet the demands of answering these questions and demonstrating their comprehension of a story so that's so scaffold scaffolding is giving what someone needs still reach the same level someone else does. It is not modification, which means that you're changing the end goal or where you're trying to go. It's trying to make sure that we give the supports they need so they can still reach it and show that they can reach it. Yes, so making sure

[02:07:51] everybody gets to that same expected standard. Yes. One of your bullet points for root causes mentioned underused planning time. Can you talk to me a little bit more about underused planning time? Was that the individual planning time? Was that the CLT process? So we made some changes this year in our schedule. One thing that we did do was I came in and we were trying to figure out why some of our folks weren't at the table. So we made sure we adjusted schedules so that our special education and our ESL teachers are aligned with specific grade levels so that they can go to

[02:08:31] CLTs and be at the table. And then we also made sure that the CLTs we have several things to address. So we actually have CLTs three days a week, we have ELA language arts on Tuesdays, we have science social studies on Wednesdays, and we have math on Thursdays, which leaves Mondays and Fridays for teachers to use their planning for different other things. Sometimes there was the mind shift everything had to be done in CLT and it doesn't there's some things that teachers work together so as a grade level you can meet on a Monday that's not an official meeting to look at okay well are we going to count this as a

[02:09:10] major grade or a minor grade what are we going to do for this assessment and that kind of thing so that's not something that needs to happen in CLT and so some of our teachers were learning that the planning time that they have on Mondays and Fridays that there are some things that they probably could be doing during that time that's not necessarily that's not for a CLT time so learning how to use our planning time and what the different things are that fits into the different planning periods of time how the pieces fit together yes so I mean I I'll put out another plug out there I started full disclosure as a CLT skeptic

[02:09:48] everybody here is old enough to remember that but I do when the pieces fit together they work very well and I know that that the three days a week the Tuesday Wednesday Thursday that covers each of the process I know that that has been an area of productive struggle as you said in a different context elsewhere in your presentation I do hope that everybody brings an open mind to that process because it can and does work and I hope to see it further develop here at round under your leadership another question I had you're talking about the

[02:10:25] optional micro PDs on Mondays and Fridays. How has the demand been for that? So we got a new ITTS this year, and she came with a wealth of knowledge. She did it previously in a different division. And so her big thing was, hey, all right, I got these things. We can do this PD.

[02:10:46] And so we really got it going in December. And then, of course, January was a very interesting month and so this month will be the next time that we have it so really like it's a process she she's excited about making sure that we include technology in what we do and using ai correctly and using schoology so she's been pushing into library classes for students and then you know on the other side she can work with the teachers because now you've tried to help the students do and now i can help the teachers do it so she's really big about making sure that she opens it up

[02:11:22] she's asked staff and did a survey to see what kinds of things they want and those are the kinds of things that she has and just because you come for canva and you have a question about schoolagy she definitely stops and helps you with that too speaking of technology power school we still do not have access to power school so how is that impacting your attendance initiatives um it's not one of the things that we have been working on at round is um something you'll learn about me i I believe in systems and processes.

[02:11:54] I believe that we should have systems and processes because even if I'm not there, things should continue to run. And so one of the things that we did and just finished up last week, well, yeah, last week, we were here last week, was, I had to think about it, was an attendance form so that our attendance secretary is monitoring.

[02:12:17] Staff doesn't see it as easily as they saw it in Power School, but she can see the attendance. She's marking it, and the form that we're using is like, hey, here's a three that your student's missing. She can hand it to the teachers, and the teachers can take it, make the phone calls to the parents, document what they have to document, and then the form comes back.

[02:12:35] She continues to do the process. You know, when we get to five absences, there's another section on there for it. So we have a process that we just put in place so that it makes sure that we're not slipping and letting that slide, even though the technology is a little different than what we were used to. - I appreciate your ingenuity.

[02:12:51] This has been a strange year, hasn't it? It has been a strange year. Outage and the ice storm. Anyway, that's it for me. Thank you. Okay, thanks. Dr. Jones. Once again, thank you for your work. I know it took a lot of time for your team to come up with what the root causes were and what you were going to do.

[02:13:07] Have you met to discuss where you are now, or will you wait until the end of the year? No. Actually, last Thursday in January, we had a meeting that was supposed to happen where we were our our team divided up who is responsible for the different sections and so everyone was supposed to get to gather the data for their different sections of the plan and we were supposed to meet then that's actually tomorrow morning that we'll come back together and look at the data that we have from our school plan so no we're not waiting till June anyone else

[02:13:42] I just want to thank you for the in-depth opportunity to learn exactly what's happening around um not academic focused for me but i just want to lend information that i used to be part of your friday lunch bunch so i met with another former chair um every friday for years and years around so you can consider it your community service that you're growing civic

[02:14:06] leaders as well yay thank you thank you again all right thanks okay so we have miss jackson coming to introduce around our Baldwin Intermediate thank you so much for being here all right good evening chair Spall and congratulations also to our vice chair miss Jones and dr. Newman the other members of our board tonight I am Dakota Jackson and I am the very very proud principal at Baldwin Intermediate

[02:14:45] School this is my second year serving at Baldwin and I am here tonight to provide an overview of our current performance status and the strategic actions we're taking to improve our outcomes for all of our students and I would like to start by congratulating the many members of my staff here tonight we do remain accredited for the 2025-26 school year and that has been something that we are very proud of considering our science scores last year which we have approved improved and I will talk about that in just a moment under the school performance and support form framework we earned a total score of 73.9 out of

[02:15:20] the possible 100 points. Initially, we were designated in the off-track range due to our overall score. However, we do carry a targeted support and improvement designation in special education, which does lower our overall performance category to needs intensive support. While we are accredited, this designation signals that subgroup performance specifically for students with disabilities in our building requires focused improvement. This year, our work is centered on strengthening our tier one instruction and expanding access to our grade level content closing our subgroup gaps here with me tonight are

[02:15:58] several members of our staff including our special education team our instructional leadership team and many more of them surprised me tonight we have some members of our SLT we have everybody I'm just gonna call them out miss Boggs miss ask you miss Perdomo both from our special education team miss Boggs is our pre algebra advanced math teacher and our stem teacher and she has been integral in helping us pull up the science scores. Miss Frances, Miss Williams both here and they are our to participate teachers and we're glad to have them here tonight. Miss Heather James is our instructional facilitator and the rock and core of our school. Miss Lara Perez Ruiz you may recognize her she

[02:16:35] has come to join us with and she is our ESOL lead this year. And then in the back row back there we've got Miss Wilson Inskeep who is teaching our sixth grade math. Miss Kowasek who is teaching sixth grade ELA. We have two of our permanent subs Miss Kelsey Spinner who is brand new to our division but also an OHS grad and Miss Avery Montanez who is also an OHS grad and her husband who also works at Osborne he is going to be joining us as our SSO next week he starts on Monday and Miss Evelyn Gonzalez who is all things Baldwin she is our translator our attendance guru and we call her Mama Gonzalez she runs

[02:17:15] our main office. So thank you all for being here. I appreciate your support tonight. I forgot the last one but not the least important one. Our new assistant principal for the 25-26 school year Mr. David Keiling. So now that I've introduced them all I would like to take a moment to formally recognize them for their incredible work over the past year and a half with me. As many of you know we experienced a 92% retention rate at BIS last year. I can't speak exactly but I believe it is the highest since the school has been open the work reflected in these results that I'm going to present to you tonight are both the strengths and the areas

[02:17:54] that are improving they represent the daily efforts of these dedicated professionals that are sitting right behind me who are exceptionally committed to our students and this is not in my script it is not in my PowerPoint slides but I will look you in the face and say to you tonight in my 14 years of education I have never worked with a more passionate committed staff than the people who are sitting behind me and I mean that from my heart. Our teachers and support staff have responded to the challenges our school has faced with urgency professionalism and an unwavering focus on growth. These

[02:18:31] teachers work with love passion and absolute dedication and I'm very proud of the way that they continue to lean into the work and I thank them for their endless commitment to our school community. So we conducted a 25/26 needs assessment just as all of the other schools and we identified three primary areas of focus for the school year first is of course our students with disabilities we saw tremendous gains in fifth grade science and maintain mathematics performance and I know that this question is going to come so I would like to tell you specifically what those gains are we pulled our science

[02:19:07] scores up in eight months nine percent overall and while a lot of this presentation is going to focus on special ed I want you to know that in the last two years those science scores specifically for special ed students you're 29 percent that is astronomical growth over the course of two years so there's a lot in this presentation that the numbers don't always tell and I want to start by recognizing that I do have my special education staff here tonight and I'm proud of the work that they do in addition to that growth we also did see some outcomes that we would like to keep as a focus in our growth our areas

[02:19:46] of growth are fifth grade English language arts where we experienced, unfortunately, a 9% decline. That is going to be a key area of priority and focus for us this year. In response to the data that we have, we have established three strategic priorities. The first is strengthening our instructional support for students with disabilities through daily small group instruction, skill-based grouping, and expanded general education access. The second is improving fifth grade ELA outcomes through daily targeted small groups and explicit foundational literacy instruction. And the third is rebuilding our fifth grade mathematics achievement through

[02:20:26] strong tier one instruction and very targeted intervention for the rest of our students. These priorities guide our scheduling, our staffing, our professional learning, and the monitoring of our systems that are in place. Our reading smart goal is to increase our overall pass rate on the SOLs to 70% and we are looking for measurable improvement among our English language learners our students with disabilities and our economically disadvantaged students to achieve this we're strengthening both instruction and intervention that's our focus we've reinforced our tier one reading instruction this year and we've

[02:21:05] implemented a very clear MTSS framework for tier two small group intervention using Lexia and tier three intensive intervention which is one-to-one in our school. We've strengthened our collaboration between our general education, our EL, and our special education teachers, and we have refined our service delivery model this year to better align our supports with student need. Across our classrooms, teachers are implementing high-yield instructional routines, which includes sentence frames, vocabulary scaffolds, and structured academic discourse. We've also expanded our after-school boot camps from last year, and we

[02:21:42] have continued and started earlier our summit k-12 instruction so that we can strengthen language acquisition for all of our students at the administration level that's my team me David we are conducting bi-weekly instructional rounds to monitor the implementation and provide targeted feedback this is an initiative I'm very proud of we go as an entire instructional leadership team every two weeks in addition to our observations in addition to our walk in addition to our formal observations to go see our classrooms and to provide feedback to our teachers we include teachers in those rotations so they come

[02:22:19] with us and see the instruction and what we're looking for themselves to help them grow in their capacity when they head back to their classrooms all of these strategies are currently in progress with a focused emphasis on strengthening co-teaching practices aligned with our division expectations and also in support of a cycle that works improving math performance is that second goal. Our SMART goal here is also to increase to 70% with measurable subgroup growth. We strengthened our Tier 1 math instruction and implemented structured MTSS frameworks again just like in ELA for those Tier 2 and Tier 3

[02:22:54] students. Tier 2 is using ST Math and Tier 3 is one-to-one intervention. We're conducting progress monitoring every two to three weeks depending on the weather and we are directly tying those to our IEP math goals where applicable. Special and EL teachers are intentionally using manipulatives in math instruction and during small group instruction to ensure that students are building that conceptual understanding before moving to the abstract reasoning really getting them engaging with the math instead of just that visualization after-school boot camps now also include ST math and math back lab which is an additional

[02:23:33] program that we have purchased for our students who are really missing those foundational math skills we're talking addition subtraction multiplication and division we are seeing our last group of COVID students who were online for kindergarten come through those are our current fifth graders and we have noticed that there is still they are getting the skills that the teachers are teaching in class that is not the problem the problem is the time that it's sometimes taking them to process the skills because they're lacking the foundations in some areas if I'm struggling to divide fractions seem really hard sometimes and so we are also conducting bi-weekly instructional rounds with math

[02:24:10] to ensure that we are implementing all of these initiatives with fidelity. Our current focus is on strengthening fact fluency systems and increasing our after-school participation. We do have a lot of students staying after school which is great and that's where we're getting a lot of that foundational work to improve for our students so that hopefully it's more attainable for them in class as they're approaching the more rigorous standards of their current grade level. Next is special education. We are strengthening inclusion and special education in our building a major component of our improvement work

[02:24:48] is strengthening our inclusive practices that is a PD we started last year in conjunction with our division-wide PD and we have continued that at our school level this year we're increasing collaboration between our general education our special education teachers through structured planning and expanded co-teaching models you heard some of my colleagues talk earlier today about the co-teaching professional development that we have been really really embracing in the division right now it's teaching them the different models so they can decide amongst themselves what works best with their personalities and their student needs in the classroom. We're increasing the time in general education in the general education setting with appropriate

[02:25:25] supports to ensure that students with disabilities have meaningful access to grade-level content. I'm a huge fan of that I believe that when students are exposed to more they they take in more and having them in the general education setting is the least restrictive environment and it is where they will have more opportunity to have additional discourse with students that don't think or don't sometimes work at the same levels that they do daily small group instruction is consistent and focused on foundational skill acquisition including reading fluency phonics number sense and computation groups are now data-driven and adjusted every four to six weeks at Baldwin

[02:26:03] intermediate school that is a change for the current year progress monitoring is also aligned directly to our IEP goals and we have strengthened our communication with families regarding the services their students are receiving the services their students need and how their students are progressing through their goals. This work ensures that the inclusion setting reflects not just placement but also the measurable growth and access that our students have and need. Our last goal is to reduce chronic absenteeism. Our chronic absenteeism rate

[02:26:36] for the 24-25 school year was 16% and my goal is to move that to 8% over the course of this school year. We use daily attendance tracking and weekly early warning reviews to proactively identify students at risk and we collaborate very closely with our counselor our social worker our psychologist and our community partners to ensure that there are if there are any barriers to any of our kids attending school regularly we find a way to solve that or to at least address it for the child and make sure that they're able to make it to the doors every single morning we've strengthened disciplinary processes to reduce exclusionary discipline and implemented a structured in-school

[02:27:16] suspension model that maintains academic continuity. Additionally, we are refining PBIS practices to improve student behavior outcomes. These efforts reduce lost instructional time and support positive behavior in the building. They also ensure that disciplinary practices don't unintentionally increase our absenteeism. All of these strategies are in progress as we speak and our current focus is on refining our PBIS implementation. We already have significantly reduced our out-of-school suspensions which I am confident will lead to a huge decrease in that chronic absenteeism rate for this current school

[02:27:51] year wanted to take a moment to put a spotlight on some of the work that's been happening in the building for us these next two slides reflect our ongoing collaborative work and you've heard tonight some of our my colleagues talk about collaborative learning teams we are also in fully embracing the collaborative learning teams in our building miss pressure I invite you so please come see our, I'm just going to throw one out there, math CLTs. You saw reading and I'm not, no shade to Laura. I'm sure it's great, but you want to see some great math instruction. You want

[02:28:29] to be a CLT lover. Come on over. We'll have a seat for you. Okay. I want to point out that this is not just work that happens in CLT. We are delivering bite-sized PD to our teachers in our staff meetings. So it's not just a staff meeting where I call them together and say something that probably could have been an email don't say anything because I know there's been one or two okay but we're calling them together to really make use of the time to help them grow in their capacity that's my vision for them I believe my job as the principal is to help them grow so that when they're standing in front of their students they have the confidence and they have the capacity to

[02:29:04] truly teach exactly what needs to be taught to move our students our staff wide professional development has been focused on building language rich classrooms and strengthening academic language instruction across all of our content areas the bite-sized PD is tailored to the needs of our staff and our students responsiveness to walkthroughs as we see teachers and provide feedback allows us to adjust our PD so that it's really real when we're going through and we're seeing what the teachers are needing when we're going through our walkthroughs every two weeks and we see what the instruction is looking like we come back together as an instructional leadership team and say

[02:29:39] okay now next staff meeting how can we connect it all for the staff and we actually even have it as a theme this year connecting the dots between our inclusive practices and our bite-sized PD with seven steps to a language rich classroom I can't take credit for that that is Heather James is amazing she should copyright it but this work the goal here is to increase teacher capacity and supports and improve the outcomes for our students the better and stronger our teachers are the better chance our students have at achieving And then up there you see some of our teachers. These are our small group sessions. I have been

[02:30:15] really proud of the work that we're doing in small group. It is an opportunity for students to really be able to be seen and heard by the needs that they have. This is an example of our bite-sized PD in the building. We have identified at least seven Kagan cooperative structures this year that our building has embraced that our teachers are very confident in and we know that from the data that we have from our walkthroughs.

[02:30:41] Our special education and general education teachers collaborating on their PD for seven steps to a language-rich and interactive classroom. You can see those there. So even a guest appearance in there from Mr. Emel, who has been wonderful in supporting our students this year.

[02:30:57] We've had a very good collaboration with our ESOL department, Mr. Emel, Adriana Cernuncan, and then I can't, Laura is here with us. I'm happy to have her, but she's also coming from that department. So we have a wealth of knowledge in the building on how to bring this all together for all the different needs that we have.

[02:31:15] And it's been a true joy to partner with our partners over at Central Office, our colleagues at Central Office who have that depth and understanding and can bring that to the building. They are always in our building and we appreciate their support. It has made a difference for our teachers.

[02:31:32] So in closing, I would like to say that our improvement plan is intentional. It's data driven and it's already in motion. We are strengthening our core instruction and expanding our inclusive practices, and we are looking at targeted intervention that will reduce barriers to learning for all students.

[02:31:49] Our goal is not to move out of the off-track range. That's not enough for me. It's to build sustainable systems that we will be able to assure exist well past this year for long-term academic growth for all of our kids. Thank you, and I welcome any questions.

[02:32:06] - Thank you for your commitment to your staff and your students. Do we have questions? I just have one question, but I'm a little bit sad that I cannot work with them and for you. Come on. I'm not going to brag.

[02:32:23] I'm not going to brag. I'm going to put this out there preemptively, but as of now, I have no teachers, none, zero, that have said they are not returning next year. So I don't have a seat, but I may. Come on over. Come visit. Come have lunch.

[02:32:40] - Thank you so much for the wonderful presentation. You answer all of my questions that I had prepared, but I just wanna let you guys know that a strong tier one instruction is the superpower. You can save the world with that. So thank you for everything that you do.

[02:32:56] But for you, Ms. Jackson, I'm wondering what might you need from parents or from the community to help you meet that goal of reducing absenteeism from 16 to 8%.

[02:33:11] - I think our parents are already here with us. We've had several meetings. We send out consistent communication. Ms. Gonzalez is on it every single day. If a parent is bringing a kid in late, we ask him right away, hey, why are you late today? What can we do to help you get here on time tomorrow?

[02:33:27] I had a student that has consistently been very tardy all year high-fived me today and say, Ms. Jackson, I made it on time. And I said, what are you gonna do to do it again tomorrow? And he said, get a good night of rest. And I said, look, it's that simple, right?

[02:33:42] So it's the conversations, and it's really identifying what are the barriers. That looks different for every single child. We have had various different needs that have come up that have prevented some students, but we really rely on the work of our social worker, our school counselor, and the teachers.

[02:33:57] They communicate to us what the kids are telling them, and then we hear whatever is happening that's preventing them. Maybe it was transportation this morning, and for whatever reason they didn't get on the bus they couldn't get a ride right and so we try to identify what those things are and put a plan in place for the specific students needs we have students that are working with outside transportation companies to make sure that they get to school every day and that has resulted in an increase of attendance for that child that it's it's different by student what do I need from parents communication tell us what you need and we will find a way for you thank you if there's anything that I can do personally just let me know thank you

[02:34:35] for everything that you do thank you I have just a few comments not really questions I it was very thorough and I loved how you put the small group instruction happens daily and those focus groups which is so so wonderful and the bite-sized PD and growing teachers in their confidence and capacity that was great and I love the seven language or language rich classrooms I use that actually in Prince William so as a teacher myself it's a wonderful book I'm

[02:35:14] glad that you're doing that maybe we can adapt it with some some of our other schools too because it's a phenomenal book but just connecting the dots with those inclusive practices and by slightly just some of the things you were saying and then the PBIS practices that was one thing I wanted to ask could you expound on that a little bit and then you talked about structure discipline and how you've lessened outside suspensions which is great but how are you specifically using the PBI practices PBIS practices in the classroom so it looks a little bit differently this is one area where we're

[02:35:52] trying to refine it looks a little bit differently classroom to classroom but we do have a PBIS team that we are trying to get to meet a bit more regularly we're really focusing on the things that we think are going to motivate our students to be intrinsically ready for success right we have done some walking field trips miss classic's back here she's planned a lot of those where our students who are demonstrating absolutely wonderful behavior get a reward by going to have pizza like down in Old Town Manassas in the plaza right just an opportunity during that lunch period where they're excited it's something to look forward to we are also utilizing various other

[02:36:29] events in the school that we want to give all of our students access to for example we have our Valentine's Day dance on Friday old students who have to have no referrals they cannot have been suspended there are many behaviorally incentivized constraints there so that if they are doing the right thing they're being rewarded and if they're not they know well in advance why they are not being able they're not having access to that that's an opportunity for all of our students because we have transport we've collaborated with transportation they've been amazing we have buses that will take our students home after the dance. So transportation is not a barrier. So it really is truly an opportunity for them to come

[02:37:07] and show up and have a great time and also recognize that they're there because they're doing the right things in school. I love that. I love that. So keep up the good work. And I think it's great, though, just to talk about your obviously your school and the other schools, all the little things that are are one working at your school. It would be wonderful to have that kind of in a list of this is what's working so if there is a principal that's like I really need some ideas they can kind of pull from them I know that's maybe forward thinking there but I just think it's great seeing these presentations and I love how you added the pictures as well so thank

[02:37:44] you thank you so my first question is how does all of this align with our strategic plan in every way. I'm glad you asked that. So the biggest focus for me this last year was a culture of caring because retention was something that I thought was going to be very important to the work that we do in making sure that, you know, last year was like building the plane and sort of flying it at the same time. This year, we're flying the plane and just doing maintenance and repairs where we

[02:38:16] need to, and then we will adjust as we need. For me this year, with our data, my shift, my focus has really shifted to truly embracing the inclusive and collaborative learning environment especially for our special education students who we are not seeing the outcomes that we prefer to see right now all of the work that we do every single day is aligned we embrace a cycle that works we are completely aligned to our strategic plan in the division our 70% goals are just a sub goal to the overall 80% that we are reaching and the God's honest truth is 80 is not good

[02:38:52] enough for me either many of my teachers this year wrote smart goals for 100% of our students to pass we want to set the bar high no one rises to low expectations so our expectation is that 100% of our students pass but our goal is to make it to at least 70 so that we are moving the mark each year as we progress thank you for that let me ask you to expand a little bit more on utilizing skill-based grouping instead of label based grouping is that a new emphasis this year last year I feel like our IEPs drove a lot of the work that we were doing in special

[02:39:31] education and that is a positive thing for the students if you actually truly understand where the student is in class and if they're if the goals are aligned to the instructional and curriculum materials which oftentimes they're not and so because of that like for example we had a student that not from our division from outside of our division came to us last year in fifth grade on a kindergarten reading level we move that child in special education with an IEP to second grade by the end of the year but the chance of that child passing a fifth-grade SOL are still very low which is why you see some of the results that

[02:40:07] you're seeing right now the mastery itself is what is harder for some of our students with disabilities our goal is then to focus on the actual skills they need not necessarily what the thing is that's driving the deficit so as we talk about students we're talking about where are they now what is it that they need in order to make it to the next step and where do we want them by the end of the year what's a realistic goal for them it's not realistic to say kindergarten to fifth grade that's a lot of pressure on a student in nine months and honestly if we could make five years of experience five years of growth in nine months we'd only have two or three years of school we wouldn't go to school for

[02:40:46] 12 years, right? That's a lot for a child in such a short amount of time. So when you talk about the skills that they need, you talk about the very specific requirements that it's going to take to move them forward. And that's where it comes back to some of those foundational things that we've been talking about, like phonics for reading fluency, or whether if it's in math, we're looking at some of the basic math facts that they are still lacking. That's what we're talking about when we're saying skills-based rather than label-based. So tell me a little bit more about your after-school boot camps. Who gets invited to those? How do they work? So it depends. We run our after-school boot camps Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

[02:41:24] and we provide transportation for all of our students. So those are the best days that work out transportation-wise and that goal was in mind with the needs that our kids have. We know transportation is at times a barrier and if I want them to stay after school I need to make sure that they can stay after school so we've chosen Monday Tuesday and Wednesday on Mondays we do Mondays and Wednesdays we do math instruction and depending on the need that children will either engage in ST math which is one of our high quality instructional materials that we are already using division-wide and if they have additional needs say they're on level or right close to on level that's where we're using our ST math if they're not quite there there's there

[02:42:02] are one or two grade levels behind and they need additional foundational supports we have them working in math back lab with structured small group support from an actual teacher so that happens on Mondays and Wednesdays the students that are invited to that are our students that we have not seen making adequate progress in ST math in that HQ IM or students who did not recently perform best at their best on their common formative assessments that we are giving their performance tests as Dr. Stevenson explained earlier when we see them not performing well there we look at their metrics and performance matters

[02:42:38] see how they did if we see that they're in the red or they're in the yellow we want to pull them we communicate with the parents we send home a permission slip as well that also communicates with the parents in both English and Spanish and we tell them which date we need them to stay and that there's transportation available we've had a really positive just a really positive response from our parents on that we have a lot of students staying on Tuesdays we do English literacy instruction that is based in either summit k-12 or Lexia and it's dependent upon need like Dr. Stevenson I believe

[02:43:14] that if you approach the language acquisition portion first and then in conjunction with the learning that they're happening the student has a better chance it's really hard to pass something in a language that's not as familiar to you doesn't mean that you don't have the skill you may very well you may very well have that skill in your home language it's the language that becomes the barrier so on Tuesdays we do Lexia tutoring for our students and that is all students who have not yet met the mark that we have determined as a school they should be at by 50% of the school you're in so you're moving on to thank you for that you're moving on to a different topic your bi-weekly

[02:43:52] instructional rounds is this new this year or did you also do it is new this year yes we did some rat like some loose rounds last year but it was not it was year one and it just wasn't the effort that I needed to put into it year one this year it is an actual focus for me it is something that we put a lot we make sure it happens we are in the classrooms every two weeks and you can come to those two people listen I'll be there okay come on so my other question for you do you have any preliminary results showing growth in your academic

[02:44:28] yeah yeah we do so we if you were to pull our Alexia data today a lot of our students started in those foundational level skills that's like K through two that's where the bulk of our students at Baldwin intermediate were specifically in fifth grade K through two is where we saw them at the beginning of the year some a lot of them still in K and one we have seen the majority of our students move at least into intermediate level skills and that is very very aligned to what happened last year as well where we saw that growth in sixth grade happen So we feel very positive about what our outcomes may be at the end of this year.

[02:45:06] That's good to hear. Tell me about your ISS model, because this has always kind of been a challenge with the 252-kid school, how you put something like that together. So tell me about how you've solved the ISS problem.

[02:45:21] So it is not a typical structured ISS program. I am not for just sticking kids into a room and hoping for the best. That's not my ideology. what we do at Baldwin is we look at it based on what the kid actually did would removal from school benefit them more than being in school with a teacher but separated from the class taking a break from the classroom environment and we do not do it for full days so a student will be assigned either the period or a half day of ISS with a teacher with academic content that they are working through the entire time that they are there and they have the opportunity to

[02:46:01] rejoin the rest of the students based on their progress while they are in ISS thank you for that and power school for your absenteeism goals how has that impacted you it hasn't we are we are still tracking we've had other ways to track and measure our attendance literally since last year we're currently now using Schoology just like everybody else but it we were not affected by the power school outage at all we have one consistent person that looks at our attendance daily we're also very fortunate that our admin associate who is new to us for this year miss Janet Torres is our former attendance officer so attendance is something that I feel very confident is

[02:46:41] going to improve this year great thank you so much you're welcome okay my favorite phrase is on time and on budget but my very second favorite phrase is by name and by need and you said it a hundred times tonight so thank you for that in a hundred different ways I know you're making it happen thank you thank you very much okay last but certainly not least is our

[02:47:16] very own dr. Frischkorn you all are welcome to listen to dr. Frischkorn for a little bit but you're welcome to leave you know between now and 9:00 we want to make sure you get home soon thank you we can get you out by 9:00 I love that

[02:47:52] confidence good evening chair Spall members of the school board dr. Newman and colleagues thank you for those who stayed and continue to be here tonight's presentation highlights Mayfield intermediate schools school improvement plan and most importantly how our work is intentionally aligned to the division strategic plan specifically the goal of student academic success and found the foundational pillars that support it our focus is ensuring that every student is supported through equitable, data-informed instruction so they are prepared for

[02:48:32] success as critical thinkers, collaborators, and communicators. I'm also proud to share that I've served as the principal of Mayfield Intermediate School for the past eight years, during which we have seen consistent year-over-year growth in both student performance and school-wide systems. Mayfield Intermediate is led by a dedicated administrative team, including assistant principals Sarah Milhone and Brian Moore. We are proud to be fully accredited and and to serve our students with a strong focus on growth and continuous improvement.

[02:49:07] Throughout this period, we have maintained a high-quality, stable staff, which has allowed us to build strong instructional consistency, deepen professional collaboration, and sustain effective practices over time. Just as importantly, we have intentionally built a culture of caring, one where students feel supported, staff feel valued, and families feel connected to our school community.

[02:49:31] This work aligns with our division strategic plan, particularly the quality workforce and inclusive and collaborative learning environments. By investing in people, fostering strong relationships, and prioritizing a positive school climate, we create the conditions necessary for student academic success.

[02:49:51] Based on the school performance and support framework, Mayfield earned an overall score of 80.5 out of 100, with strong performance in mastery, growth, and readiness. While our score placed us in the on-track range, our Targeted and Support Improvement designation for special ed adjusts our overall performance category to off-track.

[02:50:15] This designation has sharpened our work and reinforced our commitment to equity, intentional planning and data-driven decision-making. To identify our strategic priorities, Mayfield conducted a comprehensive root cause analysis using multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative data to ensure instructional decisions were intentional, equitable, and responsive to student needs.

[02:50:42] We analyzed SOL performance data from both the previous and current academic years, enabling us to identify longitudinal trends and current gaps in student learning. This included a review of overall pass rates and subgroup performance to better understand where achievement gaps persist.

[02:51:01] Following state assessments, we conducted item analysis using the student detailed by question reports available after SOL testing along with the Virginia growth assessment data. This analysis allowed us to closely examine student performance on specific SOL strands and identify patterns related to foundational skill gaps rather than isolated standards.

[02:51:25] We also reviewed data from common formative assessments administered during the previous school year to assess consistent instructional trends across classrooms and grade levels. This helps us determine whether learning gaps were systematic and required school-wide instructional adjustments. In addition to state and local assessments, we incorporated adaptive program to gain deeper insight to student skill development. For literacy, we use Lexia Core 5 data for fifth graders and Lexia Power-Up for sixth graders, which provided diagnostic information on phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and

[02:52:02] comprehension. This allowed us to pinpoint specific literacy skill deficits that impact students across grade-level text. For English language learners, we examined Summit K-12 online learning data, which provided detailed information on student progress in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This data helped us identify language acquisition trends and instructional supports needed to accelerate academic growth. Equally, we incorporated teacher input gathered through collaborative learning teams facilitated by our instructional facilitator supported by school administration teachers provide

[02:52:39] valuable context related to instructional practices current curriculum alignment and student learning behaviors which helped validate and refine trends identified through analysis by using these data data sources state assessments growth measurements formative assessments we were able to find we were able to identify clearly identify foundational skill gaps in literacy, mathematics, and science.

[02:53:04] These findings directly informed us our strategic priorities and guided us through the targeted instructional supports aligned to the division's strategic plan. Our literacy goal is 70% of our students pass the reading SOL by May, 2026, with measurable growth for English learners, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students.

[02:53:27] The work directly aligns with the strategic plan's priority of focus on literacy and instructional planning and delivery. Key strategies include: Target differentiation through collaborative learning teams. Collaborative learning teams meet regularly to analyze student data and adjust instruction, with a strong emphasis on differentiation for special education students and ESOL students.

[02:53:51] We strengthened progress monitoring practices, particularly within EDMOD, to ensure interventions are timely and effective. We increased progress monitoring in self-contained special education settings. restructured special education service models to provide instructional instruction that matched the students needs and we revised a master schedule that embeds dedicated intervention time throughout the school day which permits our reading and math support teachers the ability to work with an increased number of students as compared to previous years beyond the school day

[02:54:26] we've implemented k-12 summit and an after-school program supporting ESOL students across all four language domains as well as data-driven after-school intervention programs focused on identified student subgroups. Together, these efforts reflect a cycle that works using data, instructional planning, and timely intervention to support student growth.

[02:54:51] Our mathematic goal mirrors our literacy goal. 70% of our students will pass at the 70% SOL pass rate by May 2026 with improvement for targeted student groups. As with reading, Collaborative learning teams, targeted scheduling adjustments, and after-school supports, including K-12 summit and subgroup-focused interventions, are key components for our math improvement strategy.

[02:55:18] This work supports the strategic plan's emphasis on high-quality instruction delivered by skilled workforce. Key strategies here include number-sense reasoning routines to strengthen conceptual understanding, professional development aligned to the math workshop model, intentional use of the CLTs to analyze student data and to adjust instruction, embedded intervention time during the school day, and after-school math intervention aligned to state, division, and school-based data that will begin the first week of March.

[02:55:54] These strategies reflect the strategic plan's priority that educators are accountable for using best practices and data-informed decision-making. Our science goal is 70% of students to pass the science SOL by May 2026, again, with targeted growth across student groups.

[02:56:14] Instructionally, this aligns with critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. We are encouraged by our progress in science, particularly in instructional practices. Teachers are consistently implementing hands-on student-centered strategies that promote deeper thinking and academic discourse.

[02:56:33] These practices are building a strong foundation continued student or continued growth as we move toward the spring assessments strategies here include consistent use of stem scopes with students performing hands-on labs aligned with standards implementation of the 5e instructional model which engages students in exploration explanation and evaluation increased use of cooperative learning structures to promote to promote student discourse and engagement and differentiation through clts to support diverse learners these practices

[02:57:09] ensure students are getting are not just learning content but developing skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways finally instructionally this align our focus on special education aligns with our pillar one for inclusive and collaborative learning environments in a quality workforce this slide highlights the intentional work our intentional focus on special education service delivery which directly supports the division's commitment to inclusive practices and equitable access to high-quality instruction that is delivered by a skilled, high-quality

[02:57:47] workforce. Over the past year, we have restructured our special education service delivery model to better match student needs. This includes creating self- contained instructional settings for fifth and sixth grade math and language art students who require more intensive support but do not qualify for the structured classroom curriculum. This model allows us to provide targeted instruction while maintaining high expectations for student growth. To To ensure these supports are effective, we have increased progress monitoring and self-contained classes, allowing teams to regularly review student data and make timely adjustments.

[02:58:24] This reflects the division's emphasis on a cycle of data-driven decision-making. In addition, we have strengthened the collaboration between special education and general education teachers through CLTs. Staff are intentionally focused on differentiating instruction for students with disability, ensuring alignment with core instruction and specialized supports.

[02:58:43] Finally, we've increased our use of cooperative learning structures with students, reinforcing inclusive classroom practices, and supporting engagement, communication, and academic discourse. This approach benefits students with disabilities while strengthening instructional practices school-wide.

[02:59:00] Together, these efforts demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that all students are supported, valued, and provided access to instruction that meets their individual needs, in direct alignment with our division's strategic plan. Here's our spotlight.

[02:59:16] One area that we are especially proud of is our Cooperative Learning Coaching Initiative. Our Cooperative Learning Coaching Initiative exemplifies how professional learning directly impacts student outcomes. Through coaching, modeling, and feedback, teachers are strengthening instructional practices that increase student engagement, promote discourse, and support collaboration and communication.

[02:59:39] These pictures here are taken of just last Monday. I had the opportunity to coach Ms. Milhone as she led our staff through a couple jot thought activities and round robin consensus, but again, these are taken right back into the classroom and used.

[02:59:55] We have coached over 100 coaching sessions for teachers and provided feedback, so again, this is definitely something to be proud of that our staff is doing. This work reflects a strategic emphasis on a coherent system of professional development because you see this in all nine schools.

[03:00:12] In closing, Mayfield Intermediate School's plan is intentionally aligned to the division strategic plan, student academic success, inclusive and collaborative learning environments, high quality instruction delivered by a skilled workforce. We remain committed to continuous improvement, equity, and ensuring that every student has access to instruction and support to reach their fullest potential.

[03:00:35] Thank you for your continued support, and I'm happy to answer any questions. And I got 'em right at nine. - Thank you, Dr. Frischkorn. Do I have questions to the right?

[03:00:50] Ms. Brown. - Thank you so much for your presentation and for staying on time. When I was an administrator, the master schedule was my blessing and my cross to bear. So I can understand how difficult it is to even make a change in the master schedule.

[03:01:08] But you mentioned in your presentation that you revamped the master schedule specifically to dedicate remediation time. So how is this improving outcomes?

[03:01:24] Do you have any glows to report? - So how our Bobcat block, which is our intervention block work before, it was the last 30 minutes of this school day for all 850 students, which was, which really strained our four, our two reading support and two math support.

[03:01:41] And what we looked at is how it could be staggered throughout the day. So now that it's staggered throughout the day, our reading and math support teachers We're able to work with small groups, which means about 80 students, which is about 10% of our student population. So we've seen huge gains in that.

[03:01:57] Also with the implementation of VALS at the intermediate level, our reading support teachers have been really able to help our classroom teachers with the testing and analysis of the VALS program. So that's been a huge gain for us.

[03:02:19] - Ms. Miles. - Yes, sorry. I wanted to ask about the K-12 summit that you use to help L students, which I think is great. Can you give me more information about that? I noticed that you use the WIDA scores to determine whether or not they are, so do you have all level ones, level twos, like would it, give me a little background on that.

[03:02:38] - So one, we're fortunate. We saw the great gains that METS had last year with it, as well as Baldwin Intermediate, and we got to work with Mr. Immel, and we got it up and running where we offered it for every single student who was receiving English ESOL services. We consistently have about 160 students attend each week.

[03:02:57] We offer Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for two hours. So we're very excited that that's about 70% of our ESOL students that are attending and receiving that. And we started that in October. We're finishing up next week because we already started our WIDA testing yesterday.

[03:03:14] And we'll, nope, it's today. We started today. And we'll continue it Thursday and throughout the rest of this month. And with the K-12, what exactly are they doing? Are they working on writing, reading? They're working on all four components that they'll see in the access test and really talking to our teachers and seeing our kids.

[03:03:35] What they're being exposed to during the Summit K-12 is a much harder test than the actual WIDA test. So when they go to take their WIDA test, they'll have more confidence. We are seeing progress with their growth.

[03:03:51] They were able to take the beginning of the year, mid-year, so we did see some progress there. That's awesome because I know now it counts towards the performance growth, you know, the 10%. So I think that's awesome that we're implementing that. The other thing I noticed that you do the STEM scopes for science, and I wasn't really sure about what that meant.

[03:04:13] Like with STEM scopes or in the learning activities, I know I've heard of the 5E learning model, but if you could elaborate on the STEM scopes. so again the stem scopes is a curriculum that we have that aligns with our state curriculum and the biggest thing that i can tell you is it gets kids involved um hands-on analyzing the actual experiment that's going on it takes a lot of planning by our teachers i mean we have teachers making runs to walmart to gather gather supplies and ensure that they have everything in place for the experiments to take place and the setup but again the engagement and the discourse that our

[03:04:48] students get out of this is beneficial and again when you see that that's a lot easier to take away learning from then a lecture for 15 minutes during our science block that's awesome thank you yeah I love the presentation it was a lot of things that you are doing which is great because it shows the action steps and not just you know this you have your smart goal but this is what we're doing you know to get there so thank you Ms. Brescia.

[03:05:20] Hello, thank you for including the alignment with the strategic plan. Told you I had. I love that you did. You said it. You deliver. Very good. So tell me about how you identified 70% as your pass rate target. So really, we look at that as it is attainable.

[03:05:39] We see what our 6th grade students were able to do as they left, and we see where our 5th graders are that are now 6th grade. Again, we see that as an attainable target. It's not the 80% that's on our strategic plan, but based on what our teachers have done in previous histories, especially our math scores last year, we were very close to that 70%.

[03:06:01] - You were very close. - And we'll keep pushing for that. So that's where we keep that goal there. - Well, that's why I was a little, 'cause your math goal, you were, it was 68% or something like that. You were very close. I was a little surprised. Why not 73, 4, 5%, you know what I mean?

[03:06:19] Why not stretch it a little bit? - High expectations starting first going. - All right. - Can you talk to me a little bit about differentiating instruction? What does that mean? - That means giving each student what they need in order to be successful.

[03:06:35] As we were talking about the scaffolds, you go into our classrooms, and again, I go back to the high quality staff we have. You go into our special education inclusion classrooms. We have multiple staff members in there who are working in small groups, providing students with exactly what they need.

[03:06:55] Also, with the VLA, students have to be on, being exposed to grade level text. When you're in sixth grade and you're two or three grade levels below grade level, accessing that grade level text takes some more scaffolds, some more support, some more individualized instruction.

[03:07:12] That's where our teachers are doing what our students need to be successful and helping decrease those achievement gaps. - So differentiating is not a synonym making it easier or to hang it down absolutely not our teachers hold all our students very accountable and i will use miss slaughter and miss emmel as two of our sixth grade teachers their students they will find them wherever they are in the school every morning they'll let them know what they need to do to make sure they're on grade level and moving right in the right direction but that's every single special education teacher that we have we have nine or nine

[03:07:51] phenomenal ones that do everything they can to make sure their students on their caseload as as well as every student that they work with be successful. - So speaking of special ed, you mentioned increased progress monitoring and it sounded like the team itself was doing the monitoring.

[03:08:06] How has that increased? - Well, we are using EdMod, which is a program with the special education department. So that helps our case managers with the progress goal monitoring with our IEPs. But again, I look at the Ms. Tickle, Ms. Franklin's class, that self-contained class where it's fifth and sixth grade students who have some significant gaps that we have to improve.

[03:08:34] That class has ranged from 18 to 22 students. So they're individually assessing students. They're using Bobcat Block to see where they are with their Lexia and provide them the lessons that pop on their Lexia that they need to bridge that gap.

[03:08:53] - So speaking of Lexia, do you have any preliminary results to show that you're moving in the right direction? - Yeah, so I mean, right now, for example, our sixth grade, 65% of our students were placed in the foundational level at the beginning of the year.

[03:09:09] And right now we currently have 45% of our sixth graders in the foundational level. So we have cut that gap there in our sixth grade. - Very good. - And again, it may feel it's sort of unique because we have Lexia Core 5 for our fifth grade and then Lexia Power Up for our sixth grade.

[03:09:26] So it's two different programs. But our teachers, again, because of our great math, our reading support teachers are able to balance it. - Great, well thank you. - You're synthesizing 830 students, you know, from five different elementary schools.

[03:09:43] And this is the first, you know, time that they all have to come together. So we appreciate all that you're doing. And I also wanted to shout out, I think Mr. Emil got a call out from every school so far tonight. So thank you for all that you're doing as well.

[03:10:04] So, Mr. Kefeller is gonna give us an update on alternative education program. I'm excited to hear that.

[03:10:28] - Good evening, Chair Spall, Vice Chair Jones, members of the board, and Dr. Newman. Tonight, I will provide an update on the Manassas Pathways Program, which is our alternative education program. So to provide some background, in 2023, the school board identified the creation of an alternative education program as a key priority to better support students who struggle in traditional settings.

[03:10:53] In July of 2025, just last July, the school board and the city council approved $2 million to launch an alternative education pilot program. The Manassas Alternative Education Program, also known as the Manassas Pathways, began serving students 17 days ago on January 12, 2026.

[03:11:15] The reasons that Manassas City needed this program were to support students who struggle to thrive in traditional settings, to prioritize academic success for all learners, and to respond to disciplinary violations through restorative practices and alternative learning environments.

[03:11:36] The bottom line is that this program is designed to positively impact student achievement, decrease disciplinary incidents, and reduce chronic absenteeism by creating the conditions for students to be successful in a smaller program with high academic and social supports for students.

[03:11:57] The Pathways staff and alternative education team have been closely working with schools, families, and support personnel to ensure a strong launch. Enrollment has been increasing, and we expect over 20 students by the end of March, I'm sorry, by the end of February, and 30 students by the end of March.

[03:12:14] At this time, the program is serving 16 students, and this includes one fifth grader, one eighth grader, four 9th graders, five 10th graders, three 11th graders, and two seniors. The program is currently staffed by nine dedicated professionals, including an administrator, an administrative associate, a security officer, three teachers, a certified nursing assistant, and two teaching assistants.

[03:12:44] The staffing model was intentionally designed to provide strong supervision, individualized instruction, and comprehensive support for students with a wide range of needs. The school has developed strong internal infrastructure aligned with division procedures, including modified schedules, student monitoring systems, academic supports, and staff planning, which is informed by student data and instructional plans.

[03:13:06] Teachers also participate weekly in a specialized CLT process to design for alternative education with a strong focus on each student's unique needs. Manassas Pathways provides smaller class sizes, individualized instruction, and social-emotional supports tailored to students' strengths and needs. As I stated earlier, the program's primary goal is to help students make academic progress, stay connected to school, earn their high school diploma, and prepare for post-secondary success. To meet the needs of students in grades 5-12, the Pathways uses a hybrid scheduling model, and the high school students attend

[03:13:44] half-day shifts while middle school and intermediate students attend full-day sessions. Students assigned to the Manassas Pathways program are selected based on established disciplinary criteria or through a principal recommended placement.

[03:14:00] Students receiving long-term suspensions are considered for a range of alternative education placements offered by the division and as a result of the disciplinary proceedings through the hearings office may also be placed at the Manassas Pathways. The overarching goal of this process is to ensure each student is placed in an environment that promotes success by addressing prior disciplinary challenges through structured supports, targeted interventions, and intentional opportunities for academic, behavioral, and social-emotional growth.

[03:14:30] Outside of the disciplinary process, principals may also refer students to the Coordinator of Alternative Education for consideration for the Alternative Education program. The screening process is completed by the Coordinator of Alternative Education in collaborations with the pathways program administrator and as needed the director of school leadership during that process they look at the entire child and determine what is the best placement for that individual student originally the pathways program was proposed for the central office however an

[03:15:04] independent architecture firm's analysis of that building code said that it would have required raising the building's fire rating in order to use the space for more than five students this work Work would have required a significant financial investment and a multi-year construction timeline.

[03:15:23] The division worked closely with an architecture firm and the city staff to explore potential solutions, but no option could be implemented quickly or cost-effectively while still meeting the building code requirements. As a result, the division partnered with the City of Manassas, which allowed the program to be housed in the dedicated wing of the Manassas Community Center, the former Marsteller Building, located at 8750 Sudley Road. This partnership enabled the division to proceed without further delays in opening the program while ensuring the facility met operational and

[03:15:57] safety standards. The Pathways program has its own separate, excuse me, a separate entrance and is fully secured with the evolved safety systems and access to the program is controlled through badge entry, ensuring safe and secure environment for both students and staff. The location also allows the division to operate the program effectively while maintaining a strong focus on student safety instructional quality and program sustainability we transport all of our students there with buses and we're able to use the existing bus loop to drop off students at the entrance that has been dedicated

[03:16:34] to the pathways program and so I just want to show you some of the pictures from the program and we're currently in the works of trying to determine a date where we can provide a tour and an open house for you all to visit but again we've only been there for 17 days and we were interrupted with obviously the snow so you can see here we have a conference room area where we have planning and collaboration where we talk about students and student needs where they meet on a regular basis the staff we have our main office we have our intermediate learning space so we have several small rooms that you will see

[03:17:14] when you visit there and so we have right now we only have one fifth grader and so you'll see intermediate spaces for students we have spaces that are designed for middle school students I also want to point out as you'll see again in the next slide but when we designed the building we really looked at purchasing furniture that was not a traditional furniture that you might see in a school so you'll see soft seating you'll see different kind of seating for students to to utilize when they're at the program here's another example in in student support spaces that we have for students

[03:17:52] that are meeting with teachers, meeting with alternative program, a case manager who provides some of the social and emotional support for our students. When she's meeting with them on a regular basis, there's places for that to happen as well in this program.

[03:18:09] And here you can see our high school learning space that we have available for our students that we have teachers and students that are in there as well. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. - I'll go to the left first.

[03:18:24] - Yeah, I don't have to. - I don't have my question. We go to the right first, everybody knows this. - Ms. Stephens. - Always to the right first. I only think I have one question and the question is, or maybe it's a statement that you can support.

[03:18:46] Pathways is not intended to be a permanent instructional setting for our students. - That is correct. - It's designed to give them the support they need in order to go back into their base school be successful correct the goal is to really program for individual students and to give them the tools and get them back on track to be able to reintegrate those students back into their base schools and then I actually did have a second question we have with our high school students they're on a split schedule yes do we have grades mixed together or are they split by grade no

[03:19:23] there's there's there's grades mixed together okay thank you that was all I hat thank you anyone else to the right to the left i have one question or two um do we have l students and sped students and are they being serviced during this time okay so do we have a teacher that comes in or like how does this work yeah we have a teacher that works with them that that's based there um that and and they administer the access test they provide l instruction but they also work with the teachers to plan uh mr emmel another shout out another presentation

[03:20:02] has supported the Pathways program as well. Okay, great. And so could you repeat the goals of how many students you want? Like you said, March, and it was rather quick, and it wasn't on the slide, so I was like trying to write it down.

[03:20:19] How many students is your goal to have by March? By March, we're hoping to have 30 students by the end of March. Okay, and are you looking towards more high school students or middle school? Like what is your goal in that? we don't identify students by we don't have a goal for particular grade levels we just want to meet the needs that are currently exist in our schools so we want to open and welcome all of our students that feel that we feel are best fitted for this program and so we're not looking at grade level we're looking at needs of kids and with the 30 students will you have to hire more staff we will not okay so where you are you have the capacity of 30 correct okay thank you miss

[03:20:58] thank you this might be better answered when we finally get the tour together but the facility that we are in do we have access now to a gym and to cafeteria to exterior play spaces like yeah so good question the answer is is yes and no so the gym there is a gym available to us that we can schedule and work out with community manager obviously we have not been there for very long so we've not

[03:21:35] had that need yet but we can work out that space have been very accommodating to us they've been a great partner for us we also have the outdoor learning spaces the outdoor spaces that are there that I think there's a baseball field there's field there so it's a better suited for outdoor activities cafeteria one of the support rooms is used utilized for the cafeteria purposes just because we don't have a need for a large area for to bring students together because they're there for a short amount of time but we do provide lunch and breakfast for students we do bring those into students Miss Jackson has worked with our cafeteria staff to bring in lunch we actually bring them in from

[03:22:14] Hayden breakfast and lunch and so but we don't utilize the cafeteria there that's available at the community center thank you and what are just out of curiosity what what's the bell time for Manassas pathways like that might be too specific for you to have no so the path of the we start at 7:30 in the morning with our first shift and we are done by 2:30 3 o'clock in the afternoon I don't have the exact times but that's roughly what we do yes I have one more I was thinking about transportation so you said you have bus only so where do

[03:22:51] parents drop their kids off if they need it to obviously their students going here where would they do you have like a hub where they're dropping them off or yeah we we have a dedicated entrance so if you come in off the road by the wawa the entrance dedicated entrance is right there and there is an a phone that are is manned by our security staff and so if we have students that come in late or they're able to let them through they come in through that dedicated entrance they don't come into the front of the building okay in addition to that

[03:23:26] though what I meant I probably should have prefaced this are we picking we have a bus that picks up all these students yes okay and so we have that bus is designated for that route correct okay okay great and so like for instance as you add them they'll be added to that route correct okay thank you so I know when I was there the other day they had been down to play basketball so there's a like a fence that can come up and they can enjoy other spaces when it's planned and I think they're going to get some library access time too so we lifted this program up from nothing it was just

[03:24:06] manifested from a dream so I'm extremely proud of the work that we've done and I think we all should be too it's just really amazing to be over there and see the just the vibe it's it's very powerful I thank you for your time thank you okay we will now move to closed session can I get a motion oh board member comments okay we I guess we

[03:24:43] didn't stop for Miss Breeden or mr. Emon sorry about that but I'm sure they'll have something to say next time so we'll move on to miss Brown or they can be added to the minutes if they submit them to their comments I want to start my comments by extending congratulations to all teacher of the year and principal of the year nominees we are so proud of you to earn the admiration and respect of peers is the true definition of success so congratulations I want to take a moment to thank all who participated in the meet and confer process without your direct input growth will not happen I'm encouraged with the

[03:25:22] results and the commitment to address the concerns and I stand with you guys a hundred percent on the desire for the clarity of expectations thank you to principles for your presentations tonight. I know that it takes a lot of time and effort and I'm very appreciative of all that you do. There are several things that we are honoring and celebrating this month. First, African-American History Month. This month gives us an opportunity to reflect on the profound contributions, leadership, creativity, resilience of African-Americans. It is not only a

[03:25:55] time to learn history but also to listen, to reflect, to recommit ourselves to equity, respect, and opportunity for all this week is also kindness week a reminder that kindness is not a small or an instinct or insignificant thing kindness is powerful it is choosing empathy over assumptions

[03:26:16] courage over cruelty and connection over division that the school board of the city of manassas

[03:40:51] 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 discussion of personnel matter PERS 25 26 oh three two two twenty P and PE RS 25 26 - oh three two three is there any discussion no if none all in favor aye is there anyone opposed the motion carries 7-0 thank you all for coming

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