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

Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 2h 25m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfkGUocP-M

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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[00:00:05] Thank you everyone for being here on this beautiful night. Please join me in a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance if we could stand. Madam Clerk could you please call the roll? Yes ma'am. Chair Spall? Present. Vice Chair Jones? Here. Mrs. Siebert? Here. Mrs. Stevens? Present. Mrs. Brescia? Present. Mrs. Brown? Mrs. Miles? Here. Mrs. Breeden? Here. Mr. Emun? Here. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Giff- we have

[00:01:15] quorum excellent mr. Rockefeller are there any additions or deletions to this agenda no ma'am is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda chair I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the public meeting agenda as presented second I have a motion by miss Stevens and seconded by miss Brescia that the school board of city of Manassas approve the public meeting agenda is there any discussion hearing and seeing none all in favor

[00:01:46] Anyone opposed? The motion carries 7-0. We will now hear the superintendent's announcements and spotlights. Ms. Radford, Ms. Keegan, you have the floor.

[00:02:03] Good evening, Chair Spall, Vice Chair Jones, members of the Borden and Mr. DeFeller. In recent years, MCPS has used the Apple and Pear Awards as a way to recognize staff. This year, the Human Resources Department developed a new employee recognition award that focuses on highlighting the impact of all staff throughout the division.

[00:02:23] The new award, called the Impact Award, enabled staff to nominate their colleagues for making a meaningful difference in their school, with students, within their team or department, and throughout the community. This award honors employees who actions drive positive outcomes, focus on creating change, improving processes, strengthening culture, and significantly benefiting others.

[00:02:47] Any contracted MCPS employee can nominate any of their colleagues, and this award was not specific to roles or titles, which directly connects to the MCPS belief that all employees are educators. Tonight, Ms. Radford will help us to spotlight 10 staff members who are recognized by their peers for this award.

[00:03:06] There will be an additional 12 recipients that will be recognized at the next meeting on March 24th. Each recipient will receive a framed copy of their nomination this evening as well as a plant that can serve as a reminder that their impact will continue to grow within Manasseh City.

[00:03:22] Thank you, Ms. Fisher. And so, yes, we are very honored to present the following Impact Award recipients for tonight. We'll start with Tracy Turner from Jenny Dean Elementary School. Yes, please join us down front. I'm so sorry.

[00:03:46] Ms. Turner is recognized for the meaningful impact she has made as a member, I'm sorry, as a mentor, teacher, and educator. Her guidance, encouragement, and willingness to support colleagues has helped fellow teachers grow and succeed.

[00:04:04] She builds strong relationships with students and creates a classroom environment where every child feels valued and capable. Ms. Turner's dedication and professionalism make a lasting difference for both students and staff. Congratulations, Ms. Turner. Next from Round Elementary School, we have Lynn Oliver.

[00:04:31] Well, Ms. Oliver is honored for her remarkable dedication to students and colleagues throughout her many years in education. And her commitment to excellence continues to elevate the learning experience for students and staff at Round. So congratulations to her in her absence. Next from Hayden Elementary School, Alicia Marsh.

[00:04:52] Ms. Marsh is recognized for her extraordinary leadership in mathematics instruction and her commitment to supporting teachers and students.

[00:05:09] She supports teachers through mentorship, develops district-wide instructional resources, and creates opportunities like Math Club and STEM events that engage students and families. Her passion and dedication have strengthened math learning across classrooms and throughout the division.

[00:05:26] Ms. Marsh's work continues to expand the reach and impact of mathematics for MCPS students. Congratulations. From Baldwin Elementary School, we have Priscilla Stroman.

[00:05:41] Ms. Stroman is celebrated for the positive impact she makes across the Baldwin School community. Known for stepping into classrooms when needed, she connects with students of all ages and ensures learning continues seamlessly. Her generosity and care extend beyond the classroom, including organizing opportunities that bring families together. Ms. Stroman's compassion and dedication help create a supportive environment where students can thrive. Congratulations

[00:06:18] to you. From Weems Elementary School, Amy Miller. Ms. Miller couldn't be here tonight, but she's being recognized for strengthening the culture and climate at Weems. Through her work supporting student well-being and resilience, she's helped improve engagement, attendance, and overall connection to school. Congratulations to her. Next, from Hayden Elementary School, Natalie Short.

[00:06:55] Natalie Short is honored for the strong systems and communication she provides for the Hayden school community. Her dependable and purposeful communication keeps staff informed and connected through consistent updates and clear information.

[00:07:12] Ms. Short's organization, positivity and leadership support the many moving parts that keep the school running smoothly. Her work helps strengthen collaboration and transparency across the school. Congratulations Ms. Short. From Weems Elementary School, Sandra Marino. Ms. Marino is being recognized for the care compassion she brings to students, families, and staff every day at Weems.

[00:07:43] She's known for her patience and attentiveness and creates a welcoming environment where families feel comfortable seeking help and support. So congratulations to her. From Round Elementary School, Connie Judd. Connie Judd is being celebrated for her proactive leadership in supporting teachers and improving reading instruction through coaching, collaboration, and data-focused support. She has strengthened instructional practices and helped

[00:08:21] students make meaningful progress in literacy. She also fosters a welcoming school environment and celebrates student achievement. Ms. Judd's dedication continues to build confidence and success for both students and staff. Congratulations to you. From Baldwin Elementary School, Donna Johanson Cross.

[00:08:44] Donna Johanson Cross is recognized for the leadership and positivity she brings to the Baldwin school community she works alongside teachers supports decision-making and consistently find solutions that keep students at the center Mr. Hanson-Cross also creates meaningful opportunities for students that enrich their school experience her dedication and collaborative spirit inspire those around her and strengthen the entire school community

[00:09:18] congratulations and finally we have Dr. Eric Brent from central office Dr. Brent couldn't be here tonight but he is being celebrated for the leadership and collaboration he brings the central office team through clear communication team-building and a strong focus on relationships he helps staff work together toward shared goals that impact students so congratulations to him we would like to say congratulations and thank you to all of our impact award

[00:09:57] recipients for the lasting impression that you have made in our school

[00:10:00] community thank you thank you all congratulations who's our spotlights for

[00:11:15] tonight thank you miss Radford we will now move to board committee reports I i know we have some upcoming committee meetings but are there any reports that we can okay um so at this time we welcome citizens who wish to speak about the city of manassas public schools fy 2027 school board proposed budget and capital improvements program because we have an agenda we need to complete we ask that comments be limited to three minutes we appreciate the time

[00:11:52] you have taken to be here and we treat citizen comments as a public hearing and do not engage in conversation with speakers. The lack of an immediate response to your comments should not be taken as a lack of interest or concern. Please note that matters which are properly the subject of closed meetings such as those related to performance of school personnel or individual student concerns may not be

[00:12:15] discussed during this time. And first up I have Ms. DiMaria. She's on both of them.

[00:12:36] Okay so we're not on budget. Right now. Okay so I have to read this. I'm sorry. okay excellent so at this time we welcome citizens who wish to speak about the city Manassas public schools no we welcome the 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've taken to be here and we

[00:13:14] treat public comments as a public hearing and do not engage in conversation with speakers 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 I do have for the public comment mr. Marya hi good evening so I am here speaking as myself as a citizen as a staff member not as the MEA president and but as you know because of that role I am at the majority of these meetings and I have noticed something that I need to speak up about there has been a condescending tone and dismissive attitudes sometimes directed towards our

[00:13:52] staff by school board members it's very easy to pass judgment and make assessments when you have never worked in public education and I would just like to remind you that it is your responsibility to act professionally while sitting at the dais to show your support so show your staff support and this is not a request to stop asking questions or expressing concern it is a request that you do so respectfully advocacy for our schools should never come at the expense of our staff's integrity and dignity talk to staff please ask dr. Newman questions but you don't need to condescend to your staff

[00:14:29] from this place of power there's a vast difference between rigorous oversight and public belittlement and our staff deserves better thank you thank you mr. Mary in order to keep everything the way it's supposed to be I'm gonna read this statement okay at this time we welcome citizens who wish to speak about the city Manassas public schools FY 2027 school board proposed budget and capital improvement program because we have an agenda we need to complete we ask that comments be limited to three minutes we appreciate the time you've taken to be here and we treat citizen comments as a public hearing and we do not engage in

[00:15:08] conversation with speakers but the lack of an immediate response to your comments should not be taken as a lack of interest or concern please note that matters which are properly the subject of closed meetings such as those related to performance of school personnel or individual student concerns may not be discussed during this time and the first person I have signed up for this budget and capital improvement sign up is Anna Demeria good evening again this time I am here as the MEA president representing my members to discuss the budget so first we would like to thank you for making salaries a priority and giving certified

[00:15:47] staff a five and a half percent raise we also appreciate that you have shown our classified staff that they are valued by giving them a six and a half percent raise we do have some questions and concerns about the changes to the leave policy on the divisions commitment after meet confer it was stated that they would the division would provide eight hours of paid leave to attend a child school event but that was presented differently on the budget presentation there it specifically stated that to attend their child's event so we want to

[00:16:24] know if this policy only applies to staff member who are parents to see their own children in events or if any staff can use it to see any child that is important to them such as a grandchild a niece nephew or a godchild and then finally we appreciate the attempt to improve the policy for use of personal leave the proposed change does not do enough being able to carry over some leave will not attract new talent nor will it be enough to retain staff especially when neighboring divisions have grouped all leave into PTO we highly encourage you to consider making all leave PTO to show that you trust and your staff and also to show your commitment to retaining and attracting

[00:17:03] new staff thank you thank you mr. Maria and next up I have Shaniqua Williams good evening in our schools we teach our students to utilize their resources and check multiple sources to stay informed I've taken that to heart and I reviewed the budget work sessions that have been posted online while I appreciate seeing the health care costs on the agenda at the recent meeting that you guys had I I was concerned at how quickly the conversation was set aside,

[00:17:40] and the discussion seemed to pivot abruptly to funding for the alternative school and the various supervisory challenges surrounding the building. Unfortunately, the board never returned to the health care conversation, at least from the December work session that you had, I mean the January work session.

[00:18:00] During that brief discussion, there was an implementation in my perspective that adding new benefits might somehow outweigh increasing premiums that employees might face. If that is the board's intention, I'm asking for total transparency in your discussions.

[00:18:17] We need you to clearly communicate in the next budget meeting exactly how these insurance rates could be calculated and what you plan to do to balance them. I brought these concerns to you last year similarly, and I do want to thank you for your support that you provided then. While the rates did increase, your actions and decisions made that increase manageable.

[00:18:38] I shouldn't have to remind you, but I will, that behind all the slides and numbers are people, your employees. These rates affect how each one of us access our benefits, how we care for ourselves and our families. So please make this a priority at your next budget meeting, and please make sure the conversation on healthcare and insurance are transparent, complete, and clearly communicated to the community you serve.

[00:19:03] thank you thank you miss Williams the next item is our consent agenda these items are considered routine and may be approved by a single motion unless a board member requests an item be removed for separate discussion is there a motion chair I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the public approve the consent agenda as presented second okay I have a motion by Miss Stevens second by Miss miles that the school board of the city of Manassas

[00:19:43] approve the consent agenda as presented are there any is there any discussion I seeing and hearing none all in favor any opposed the motion carries 7-0 we will now move to the discussion agenda the first item is new business resolution 2026 - oh three 2026 VSBA business honor roll and we're welcome

[00:20:18] Ms. Bradford to the podium yes thank you so as you have mentioned the Virginia School Boards Association always gives local school divisions an opportunity each spring to recognize local businesses and organizations large and small who have made significant contributions to public education and so one of the ways that they do that is by requiring a resolution for each submission we're able to name three organizations to the VSBA business honor

[00:20:54] roll and so tonight to introduce our resolution I would like to read it in your hearing because we have worked collaboratively with our career and technical education team to talk about all of the many many businesses and organizations that support us it's very very difficult to limit it to just three but for the sake of the honor roll these are the ones that we have chosen for this go-around. Whereas public schools and local businesses are an integral part of this community, and whereas many local businesses play a crucial role in supporting our schools, and whereas the economic health of our

[00:21:30] community, state, and nation depends on a strong public school system, and whereas collaboration between local public schools and local businesses strengthens schools and the business community alike by providing a well-trained and highly educated workforce and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and fundamental to preserving a strong democratic society now and in the future therefore be it resolved the school board of the city of Manassas hereby names Mike Beatty Safford Subaru of

[00:22:07] Manassas and Lake Manassas Health and Rehabilitation Center to the 2026 Virginia School Boards Association business honor roll showing appreciation for their ongoing support of this community's public schools their work has aided this community and focusing on the goal of providing the best public schools we can for every child who attends them so as we present this on tonight for discussion it will be presented again on March 24th for approval and then in April submitted to VSBA according to the guidelines that they have presented to divisions and then in May we will bring the recipients

[00:22:47] for a public recognition thank you miss Radford are there any is there any discussion regarding this resolution seeing and hearing none I would like miss miles I just want to thank those who were nominated for their partnership with our division I know that us reaching out to them is one step but them reaching back to us and sharing you know your resources with our division is awesome so thank you can't wait to move these nominations forward so thank you for putting this together okay thank you next is family engagement and federal

[00:23:25] program compliance with mr. good evening chair Spall vice chair Jones members of the board my name is Kurt I'm on the director of federal programs and family engagement the first part of this presentation that we were going to share with you tonight will focus on the work we are doing as educators to facilitate the English

[00:24:03] language development of our families. The second portion of this presentation will give you as the board and our audience members an update on the annual English language proficiency assessment, also known as the WIDA access.

[00:24:25] So our focus this evening is how our language instruction education program and Title III Part A supports our students and our families. The purpose of Title III, Part A of the Elementary Secondary Education Act is to ensure that English learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and meet the same high academic standards as their peers.

[00:24:49] This federal program aligns with our division strategic plan through the following pillars. Now as you can see, I've outlined strong family and community partnerships because that is the most direct alignment to our adult ESL, our family engagement. But I just want to help you to understand and help our audience at large to understand how Title III connects to our strategic plan.

[00:25:12] Inclusive and collaborative learning environments. It connects, Title III connects, through equitable access. Title III ensures ELLs are not just present, but are full participants in the classroom by providing the linguistic support needed to access core content like English language arts, math, science, and reading.

[00:25:34] Collaborative instruction. 3 encourages the implementation of school-wide programs that restructure operations to better serve diverse learners, fostering a shared responsibility for L success among all educators. Culture of Caring: A holistic support.

[00:25:52] Title III funds can be used for mentoring, counseling, newcomer toolkits that address the social and emotional needs of immigrant students, helping them feel safe and valued, and advocacy and rights. The program, Title III, reinforces a culture of caring for ensuring students and families civil rights are protected, such as the right to appropriate language assistance without discrimination.

[00:26:17] Quality Workforce. Title III, a requirement of such, is providing PD to teachers, principals, and school leaders to improve their ability to implement effective L curricula and assessment measures. Specialized Expertise.

[00:26:33] Funds are used to support recruitment and training of personnel, including coaches and professional development specialists, specifically skilled in language acquisition. Title III has a provision for limited English proficient family engagement that includes our adult ESL classes.

[00:26:54] Grant funds are used to teach our families English as well as to purchase the materials used for these classes. This initiative supports our commitment to develop strong family and community partnerships as outlined within Manasseh City Public Schools strategic plan through meaningful engagement and community integration.

[00:27:14] Title III mandates family engagement activities move beyond basic communication to include training that helps parents become active participants in their child's education. Community integration, Title III authorizes partnerships with community organizations to provide wraparound services such as adult ESL classes for parents and community outreach to create a supportive ecosystem for our families we as a team and some of the team is here as long

[00:27:44] as as well as our families we work to facilitate linguistic we work to facilitate linguistic development so that our families understand our mission we are architects builders of achievement we leverage the unique characteristics of our diverse community by providing a supportive equitable and innovative learning environment in partnership with our families to empower our students our children to reach their fullest potential this includes our families as active

[00:28:21] participants in instruction that helps them to be able to engage in their child's education within an educational environment and with our teachers so our classes started small our first adult class was a tuesday thursday morning class that was in collaboration between legacy impact a non-profit community partner and manassas city public schools this beginner class quickly filled up and met faithfully from 10 to 12 twice a week at metz middle school during this time metz provided the space to facilitate this opportunity through the work of our family liaison

[00:29:00] miss maricella murray and also i have to give a shout out to the administration the prior administration was very supportive of miss murray's work our family liaison at metz middle school but our current administrator miss julia finnegan has been outstanding and if juliet if you're watching thank you very much she has always been a very active participant in our adult esl program she has always been a very active participant in our parents as educational partners program

[00:29:38] she is always present when we have our celebrations for these classes and the meetings that we have for these classes she is a tireless building administrator that has been very very supportive in the work that i and our team has done so starting in january of 2024 the mets family liaison took over the morning classes. This fulfilled the essential duty of our liaisons of organizing and participating in school and community outreach programming based on parental feedback. The feedback that we had for years when I was your ESOL specialist for the division

[00:30:16] was that our families were requesting adult English classes. Now at that time we did not have the capacity to do so. At that time we would direct our parents to Prince William County where we had a memorandum of understanding that they could participate in their adult ESL classes.

[00:30:32] But the problem with that was oftentimes the classes would fill up, leaving our families not able to take them. Also, the cost was prohibited. Also, the travel was prohibited for our families. So our second step was to work with Grace Methodist Church and Legacy Impact.

[00:30:48] When the liaisons started working with us in that first year, we queried them to see, we asked them to see, what are they the most passionate about? It was Ms. Maricela Murray who was the most passionate about adult education. Based on that, she and I started to work together to collaborate on the idea of what would it look like for us to have adult ESL here in Manasseh City.

[00:31:13] So she graciously volunteered with our partners at Grace Methodist Church in order to get an understanding of what this looks like, what kind of materials they were using. And based on that information, we started the framework of what these classes could look like for us. We also chose the program materials based on what our collaborative partners were using.

[00:31:33] So if I was taking classes at Grace Methodist Church, but I couldn't take them there, and I was already done with the basic level class, then I could potentially go to our classes held at Mets Middle School and pick up with the same materials for our level one class.

[00:31:50] So just trying to keep all of that in line in order to make it fluid for our families so that they would be able to meaningfully participate in this. We continued to work with Legacy Impact for our evening classes in that year. Both morning and evening classes met from January to May with 40 adult learners at the time participating in these classes.

[00:32:12] So as I said, we started small. Our students don't just learn English. They also learn about the community resources that are available to them, community programs that are available to them, and actually the history of the city.

[00:32:32] Our students are aware of free GED classes through Prince William County and free career growth opportunities through Northern Virginia Community College through our Manassas Grow program. Our students have ventured out of their comfort zone and practiced their English skills locally at our Manassas City Library, Farmer's Market, Train Depot, and in and around Old Town Manassas.

[00:32:55] Our students, going through these classes with us, have obtained jobs, improved their employments, and become school volunteers. These opportunities align to the purpose of moving beyond basic communication to include language opportunities that build English language development and confidence.

[00:33:18] Over the summer of 2025, Ms. Murray continued with a small cohort of students for summer school that could attend class and we resumed both classes in August when the school year started for the 25-26 school year.

[00:33:37] We unfortunately were made aware that Legacy Impact had lost their grant and could not continue paying their teachers for the 24-25 school year. The work began with collaboration between Legacy Impact and MCPS.

[00:33:53] We continued with our efforts, grateful for that collaboration and guidance that Legacy Impact provided to us, giving us the ability to move forward and grow the program. We started a level two class with our current students and started a new basic class with new participants in that year.

[00:34:10] Our program began to grow due to our family's completing levels of instruction, necessitating additional classes as our students progressed through the Cambridge Leveling System. Approximately 90% of our students complete the class each year.

[00:34:26] 100% who complete are promoted to the next level. Students do have the option to continue in the previous level if they wish to. Teachers assess students' capabilities and students assess themselves. And we actually model the same process that we have with our students.

[00:34:45] We conference with them. Our teachers, some of whom are here tonight, conference with our students to see, This is what I see in you. I believe that you can go to the next level. What do you see in yourself? Are you feel that you're ready for the next level?

[00:35:00] So we are warmly pushing our students forward. If our students feel like they are not ready for the next level, then they can resume the current level. But if we find in that first semester that, you know what, Craig, you actually are ready for the next level, we have the flexibility to be able to move that student to the higher level.

[00:35:26] All of this information is explained during the registration process for these classes so that the parents understand how the classes work and how they are assessed. Currently METS has nine adult English classes serving 116 adult learners.

[00:35:43] We have two level three classes, both AM and PM and PM is evening, two level two classes in the PM, three level one classes in the AM and PM, and two basic level classes in the PM.

[00:35:58] This program follows the school year calendar and students complete one level by attending classes from September to May. Just like with our students, attendance matters. Just as we emphasize its importance for our students, our adult learners see firsthand how their attendance directly impacts their progress, making the connection through their personal learning experience.

[00:36:21] This also includes study habits. So I just wanna share with you on the screen, you see these wonderful faces. These are the people behind the scenes who are helping our families to be able to grow and succeed in their English language development.

[00:36:41] We have Ms. Pamela Santos-Parrera. It's her second year teaching our adult learners. Last year she taught basic and this year she is teaching level one.

[00:36:57] We have Ms. Luciana Bianchi. This is her second year teaching our adult learners. Last year she taught level one and this year she is teaching level two. We have Ms. Tamara Flores-Torres.

[00:37:17] This is her second year teaching our adult learners. Last year she taught level one, and this year she is teaching level two. We also have Nina Nemanzi. This is her first year teaching our adult learners, and she teaches a basic level.

[00:37:35] We have Miss Yuli Castillo Delgado. This is her first year teaching our adult learners, and she teaches a basic level. We also have Miss Rebecca Carafilos Sedino, first year teaching adult learners, and she teaches level three.

[00:37:57] And of course, we have Miss Maricela Murray. This is her third year teaching our adult learners, and she is teaching two classes, our level one and level three. We can't make this program happen without these wonderful teachers.

[00:38:14] They work all day, then they work with our families in the evenings. And so they make a huge difference in the lives of our families. They also incorporate to the greatest extent possible every opportunity to replicate some of the things that we do with our students.

[00:38:31] So collaborative structures, use of elevation strategies, these types of things to help our families to understand exactly how are their students taught so that they become familiar with this. So that when they're in parent-teacher conferences, when they're confident with using their English, they can ask questions.

[00:38:48] How do you integrate language and content in your class to help my son or to help my daughter? So this is just a picture of our graduation ceremony from last spring. As you can see, we had a very full house. Everybody who has a piece of paper in their hand has a certificate that they've graduated the course for that year.

[00:39:07] And again, in that picture, you will probably find, or you definitely will find, Ms. Finnegan, as well as all of the teachers. So you've heard about the program from me, but now what I would like to do is present five of our family partners who have something to share with you about the impact of this program.

[00:39:30] Our first person is Mr. Rodriguez. Members, city hall members, my wife, she's taking the Tuesdays and Thursdays evening class PM, and she barely spoke to me in English, right?

[00:40:05] Sometimes my younger son speaks English to her, she didn't understand what was going on, so now she kind of speaks to me in English, tells me what does this mean, how do you pronounce this? She's actually advancing in these classes, she's learning, and she knows what she's, you know, she's saying, she's trying to understand a little bit more English. I'm hoping you guys will continue funding this program. Thank you so much, Mr. Rodriguez.

[00:40:41] Our next family member that would like to share is Ms. Kenia. Good evening, Scorn Board.

[00:41:03] My name is Kenia, and I have been part of the METS program for two years while working. This program is important to me because during this time, I have made a lot of progress in my English.

[00:41:21] I understand more and speak more confidently, and I feel more independent. Even while working, the night classes allow me to learn, allow me to, oh my God, I'm sorry.

[00:41:47] It's okay, it's okay. Allow me to, yeah, allow me to keep in like progress, you know. Um I'm sorry but yes um thank you to the med school and the city for making it possible for others to learn while balancing work and responsibilities. We are so grateful for being part of this program. Thank you so much. Thank you Kenya.

[00:42:23] Our next family member is Ms. Farah. School board team good evening everyone I hope you are all well.

[00:42:41] I feel so privileged to be here. My name is Farah. I have attended Mets Night School for two years. I'm a mother of two boys with one of them being an Osborne graduate who is now in college and the other who is currently a junior at Osborne High School.

[00:43:01] I am very grateful for how these classes have helped me to improve my English and communicate better with my family and other people every day my life. My family really pushed me to join this program because this is free for us yeah this is very free for us and because of this program now I feel more confident have hope and expectations for finding a future job here at Manasseh City Public Schools to apply my skills communicate clearly and help out my elder son financially

[00:43:37] with college and this program not only help adults but young people as well because in my class we have three four kids like they are in Osborne high school and other school thank you for supporting program that help adults build a better future for themselves and their families thank you so much thank you Farrah last but not the least how I forget my teacher without all of you without her nothing is possible for us she's very kind-hearted and very

[00:44:12] helping person I ever had thank you so much we have Mrs. Stephanie and her mother Magalice good evening everyone my name is Stephanie Monsalve so I was a

[00:44:47] Osborne student and right now I'm going to NOVA. I want to share with all I'm so grateful for this program because this program improved my English and I came in different areas in my how my professional education I can communicate better with my teacher my counselors and my classmates also help me in my work I can communicate I work in customer service so I can communicate better with the different people and when I go to some place I can communicate I can

[00:45:23] understand more and I can translate my mother so thank you very much and I want to say thank you because she's amazing person and excellent teacher he is my mother Magali so she's in this program too and I'm so proud for her because he can talk better with different persons she came in the sermon thank you thank you Stephanie good evening my name is Magali thank you opportunity thank you

[00:46:00] for the other program thank you thank you thank you so much and we have miss for the opportunity to speak today.

[00:46:35] I came to the United States with my family looking for a new opportunity and better future. Like many immigrants, we came with heart and dreams. So learning English was not easy at the first. It was very difficult.

[00:46:52] But little by little, I began to feel more confident. I would like to spread my sincere gratitude to the school and the teachers for the support. This program is very important because it allowed me to improve my English and communicate better in my daily life.

[00:47:10] Also help us build a stronger and better community. Because of this support, I can help my customer at the work. I can go to the places like the doctor and the bank without fear.

[00:47:25] So thank you for believing in a student like me and helping us build a better future. Thank you so much. Program like this change life. And this program change mine. - Thank you, Ana.

[00:47:44] - I would like to take a moment and give a round of applause to the teachers. Thank our family partners for taking the time to share with you how this program has made an impact on their lives.

[00:48:04] I want to thank you, all of you, for the support in making this program a possibility. I would like to thank Dr. Newman, hopefully he's watching, and Mr. Gefeller for the support that they have provided to make this program a possibility. And with that, we will switch to access.

[00:48:29] So, major components of Title III, Part A, include language instruction education programs, which is our ESOL for Speakers of Other Languages program, and accountability and assessment for English proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as well as assessments for academic achievement for our ELS students.

[00:48:49] As part of our LIEP, Language Instruction Education program, we assess our students annually using the WIDA Access for ELS assessment. ACCESS stands for Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English language learners.

[00:49:05] It is a large-scale, secure assessment of English abilities and proficiencies. This too ties directly to our strategic plan and our strategic pillars. It ties directly to inclusive and collaborative learning environments as well as L instruction and assessment as outlined within the Elementary Secondary Education Act and Virginia State plan to meet the requirements of ESEA as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act.

[00:49:35] Under inclusive and collaborative learning environments, it too is equitable access. Title III ensures L's are not just present but are full participants in the classroom by providing the linguistic support needed to access core content like math and science.

[00:49:51] Collaborative instruction. Title III encourages the implementation of school-wide programs that restructure operations to better serve diverse learners, fostering a shared responsibility for L success among all teachers.

[00:50:08] English learner progress relates to the Virginia School Performance and Support Framework due to it being included in the mastery component of the mastery index. This is 10% or 10 points that give schools credit as students advance in their English language proficiency.

[00:50:24] This 10% is calculated by how students perform on access over two years or two data points of access. Not all students who take ACCESS in a given year will be part of this calculation if they do not have two ACCESS data points.

[00:50:39] These students and their scores are evaluated using the composite proficiency level gains chart, which is organized by proficiency bands and grade level clusters. For example, if a student has an overall composite score of a 3.6 from the spring ACCESS of 2025, they are in 8th grade, then this student would need to progress or grow in English demonstrated on the ACCESS for ELLs assessment in the spring of 2026 by 0.1 to demonstrate progress based on the spring 2026 ACCESS.

[00:51:15] If a student is a level 2.4 from the spring 2025 ACCESS, they are in third grade, that student would need to grow by 0.4 on the spring 2026 ACCESS. The overall or composite score is made up of the four language domains and are weighted.

[00:51:34] Reading is worth 15%, speaking is worth 15%, reading is 35%, and writing is 35%. So the WIDA access for ELs, districts receive access and alternative access data.

[00:51:52] It was May 13th, now it's extended to May 28th because they have given us an extension to the window due to inclement weather. This is good and bad at the same time. June 5th is the last day of school for students. June 5th DOE does, let me rephrase that.

[00:52:11] The data that we need in order to be able to show progress will not be available to us until May 28th. It's a very fast turnaround for us to be able to work with assessment and accountability, crunch all the numbers, get a preliminary data report of who has made progress, who has not necessarily made progress, so on and so forth.

[00:52:35] So then that way we can meet with each one of the ESOL teaching teams to see if they have made the targets that they had set forth in the fall semester. Each school establishes targets for their English learner progress. These targets are then supported by strategies that schools are going to implement. Some of those strategies are more intent usage of collaborative learning structures, more intentional usage of elevation strategies, more intentional observance

[00:53:13] to and usage of student conferencing. More attention to each student's English Learner Individualized Instructional Plan, which is their goals for the year. Each student, each identified ELS student on a caseload with prescribed minutes of service has a learning goal. Two goals per semester for four goals per year. So this data is very, very important to us because it's a driver.

[00:53:39] those goals that i mentioned are based on the access for l's assessment they're based on those four language domains we look at those domains and we see which is the domain that needs the most intensive support we often ask our esol teachers to create a productive language goal something for speaking and writing because you can measure that you can see that you can feel that you can hear it you can still have a receptive language goal you just need to make it into something measurable. So if it's a reading goal, then how are students going to retell for you, so that you can see that they are comprehending, they are processing the information that they

[00:54:18] are responsible for. Ultimately, the data informs practice and helps the division to determine if we are meeting the requirements set forth in the Castaneda standards. Castaneda versus Picard, 1981. It has a three-prong test or a three-part standard. This standard is if our language instruction education program is based on sound educational theory recognized by experts in the field? Is our language instruction education program sufficiently resourced with personnel

[00:54:55] and materials so that it can be successful? And does our language instruction education program have periodic evaluation to see if it's actually doing what it's intended to do? For school administration, the data identifies what percentage of their English learners have met progress targets and what percentage have met proficiency requirements, a 4.4 overall composite score to be able to exit out of ESOL services.

[00:55:24] This in turn is used to adjust strategic planning and implementation at the school level related to integrated language and content instruction, scheduling, use of staff, resources, and professional learning. WIDA access measures the following.

[00:55:42] So it measures the receptive language, listening and reading. It measures the productive language, speaking and writing. And it measures academic English or academic language across content areas. So listed on the slide, you will see the five standards of the WIDA ELD framework.

[00:56:01] You have social and instructional language, and that's social and instructional language of the school setting. It's not the same conversational English that you would have outside of school on the playground. No, this is very specific to language used within school, but it's not necessarily specifically related to content, but it is very important. Things like overhead projector, whiteboard, those are all very important things that our students have to learn and see and recognize and understand how they're used. But it also emphasizes, most importantly, the language that's used within content disciplines. So the language that's specific to English language

[00:56:40] arts, the language that's specific to mathematics, the language that's specific to science, and language that's specific to social studies. And generally, it's how students understand and can communicate ideas using this academic language. So you may ask, you know, what exactly is the difference between conversational English and academic English? Well, the difference between the two is the difference between social language, otherwise known as basic interpersonal communication skills, which is informal and used in casual and social settings, versus English used in formal

[00:57:16] settings also known as cognitive academic language proficiency that uses precise or specialized vocabulary strict grammar and often has an objective tone for example conversational english uses high frequency simple words whereas academic english utilizes technical sophisticated and discipline specific terminology another example of this con is context conversational english is for daily interaction academic english is for researching writing and formal presentations The difference between social and academic language is exactly what the WIDA access measures

[00:57:53] because students must practice the language associated with content disciplines of language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, to help them access rigorous grade level content and assessments, as well as to be able to graduate and move on to successful future occupations and careers. As I said previously, we do not immediately know how our students have performed on the WIDA ACCESS 4Ls. Data is not released to us until the end of May. We have

[00:58:29] many supports in place, as I mentioned previously, to facilitate higher progress rates, student conferencing, individualized instructional goals based on the ACCESS domains, collaborative structure tools and resources such as Kagan strategies and elevation strategies, excuse me, prescribed minutes of service, caseload management aligned to English proficiency levels and minutes of service, the role of the opportunity agent within our collaborative learning teams.

[00:58:58] Each school creates progress targets, and Summit K-12 connect to literacy. Summit K-12 is limited or being piloted this academic year with five schools. Last year we did one, then we picked up another. This year we have five.

[00:59:14] One elementary, both intermediate schools, our middle school and our high school. WIDA does not have language quick checks. They do not offer language assessments. They do offer language assessments, sorry, but these are both time consuming and expensive.

[00:59:33] Thus far, the Summit K-12 data is very positive. Students show good progress in listening and reading, less progress in speaking and writing. And this data aligns with our observational analysis in that we must, as educators, afford our students more opportunities to meaningfully speak and write during instruction.

[00:59:54] Summit is helpful, but it does not replace high quality integrated ESL and content instruction. Summit, if used by more schools, offers educators the ability to easily, with less time, monitor the English language progress of their students.

[01:00:09] We are working with all departments and schools to increase the capacity for this in the 26-27 school year. With that, that is the end of my presentation. Do you have any questions?

[01:00:27] - Are there any questions to my left? Dr. Jones. - Dr. Jones. - I just wanted to say thank you. know when I retired in 22 you didn't have adult education classes and it was often a need so I want to say thank you to the school system for having that in the community now because I know it's definitely needed and you're helping so many people when you do that thank you Miss Brescia thank you I want to thank you for that presentation it was very clear I understood very clearly the connection to the strategic plan and all that good stuff thank you for that so

[01:01:04] first I want to go back and commend you and everybody for the work that's been done with that adult ESL program and when I saw the slide on board docs like now we hear from our families I was like oh are we gonna actually hear from the families and I was so I'm so happy to have had your participation here English is such a difficult language to learn public speaking in any language is very difficult to do so I want to give you another round of applause just so so I'm

[01:01:42] totally blown away by that very impressed thank you I I kind of got a vibe but I just wanted to confirm that the way we are measuring success of this program is by participation we're hoping to increase the numbers of families were served yes yes and it's it's it's it's it's progress not perfection right we continuously grow the program Mariselle and I work very closely as part of our Family Outreach, along with our other liaisons, along with the team that I work with, Dr. Stephanie

[01:02:17] Hudson and Ms. Adriana Chernugan, our 712 specialists, and Dr. Hudson is our K6 ESOL specialist. We continuously have the conversations with the leadership that I report to. The intent is, with the willingness of federal funding availability, is to continue to grow this program and potentially offer it at other sites we use met as a hub because it's easy for our families to get to and as I said before miss Finnegan has been a fantastic partner they have the room she makes the rooms available to us in

[01:02:54] fact when you come to any of our classes you'll see we have an entire wing for our adult classes and we also tie it we have a very strong PEP program our parents as educational partners program at METS and we tie in a lot of what the students are working on with the PEP program and then also that is where we have our English Learner Parent Advisory Committee meetings. So at this point we are not in a position to be turning people away we are able to meet the need or is there a wait list? No I think and Ms. Murray can probably talk more to it than I can but we do have a wait list because we just we at this point in time

[01:03:33] it's the capacity of getting more teachers. We're very lucky to have the teachers that we have. It's just trying to get more people involved. Some of our teachers actually are high school teachers that join us at METS. Some of our teachers are METS teachers. So yeah, it's just the capacity building, the messaging of how important this is and what the potential impact it has. The thing with this program that I love so much is it really is the notion of wrapping services around our students. So when we originally had this idea, if you're

[01:04:11] not aware, at METS we have not only our inclusive integrated language and content classes, but we also have something called specially designed academic instruction in English classes for entering students who are level one and for our emerging students who are level two. Specially designed curriculum for those students. We also have a class for our long term ELs and the definition of a long term EL is a student who has been identified for English learner services that have not exited the program and they've been participating in the program for five or more years these students have needs that are slight that are different you know and so we

[01:04:50] have a specialized program again at mets for these students which is really spearheaded i know that the teacher for that is miss tamara tourist miss tomorrow sorry um and it's really worked in in collaboration with our 7-12 ESOL specialist, Ms. Adriana Trenucan.

[01:05:12] When we originally thought of the idea, and Maricela and I were originally talking about this and brainstorming on it, we wanted to try to wrap the services around, really specifically, those long-term L students. For whatever reason, they're not performing on access, they're also struggling academically.

[01:05:32] We wanted to try to get as many of their families involved in this program so that they see much the school cares for them and they see that their parents are really involved as well because there's no way to to quantify that but to qualify it you do see a difference in the students behavior when they know that their families are participating in this program you do see a difference in their just their mannerisms and Maricela could probably attest to that more than I can because I don't see these students every day but there really

[01:06:10] is an impact. And the impact is our division cares about our students, cares about our families. Life-changing, as I think one of our speakers said. To go back to the waitlist, the logistics of the waitlist, the limiter is teachers, and we need more teachers for it. The limit is not funding, the limit is not facilitating. No, at this time it's not funding because, again, we underwrite this program through Title III, Part A federal funds so the materials this the salaries for teachers all of it is underwritten through title

[01:06:47] three okay so this is but the so we could help you by talking this up a little bit as an opportunity for people to absolutely okay absolutely um miss maria we've you've been mentioned a few times i just want to thank you you know from me to you for all that you've done not just for this program but for all that you do for mets in our school community i don't know when you sleep but I greatly appreciate all that you've been able to do so that was part a I mean I don't I have more questions for part b but I don't know how we want to do the question I turned to the

[01:07:24] chair to ask do you want me to do them all or does anyone so there's been a request uh would the families be willing to um take a picture together so that we can kind of promote um all of this goodness now through the division I think we could just take a break and then people can formulate the rest of their questions and the teachers too absolutely everybody we'll try to be very quick yes no this is important and

[01:08:00] we're happy to take the time to do this cool after working after taking care of

[01:09:04] their children after taking care of their responsibilities at home and they just see it's such a priority of learning English and advancing their education for the benefit of themselves and their students, their children, and I'm just at awe at all of them.

[01:09:20] As you can see, some of them do have our students here with them tonight. And if you happen to ever stop by METS, you will see some of our students with their parents. We don't offer childcare in our program, but students are welcome to bring their children, and you'll see their children next to them, either the younger ones coloring or reading, But also our older ones, you'll see them there with their Chromebooks or doing their homework and studying.

[01:09:47] So thank you guys so much for leaving in our program and supporting our families. And like she said, just offering such a life-changing opportunity for our families. So thank you. I did not realize how many of our families are here tonight.

[01:10:09] It is very impressive, and we are proud of all of you, every single one of you. Ms. Miles, you had a few questions? Yes, I have a few questions and I may have to email them to you because I don't know if you can answer them today. But first, I want to say I love seeing the history and the progress of the program.

[01:10:26] Keep up the great work. I know when we support our families, and you mentioned this, wrapping around our students, we build a future success of our schools and our students. So this is just wonderful. You have me crying like with one of those stories. Anyway, but I wanted to ask, and this is a question, like I said, might have to email us but it's budget season right how much do we need to increase this program like how much can we give you to increase this program and I know I'm it's just me asking this but I'm gonna email you that question because you keep mentioning the title nine funds correct or title three excuse me title

[01:11:06] three funds and that being said so this means that we're not funding this specifically from our okay so that's why I want right and so I would like to have that number you can email it to me I would like to know and I appreciate the families that came giving us your experience I think it's just wonderful and just to see a mother and daughter come up and show that they're both you know receiving it's just yes and the question I had and I love how you broke

[01:11:41] down the WIDA I had a question though about the summit k-12 and that it was also another budgetary question because you mentioned where we did that one school we're now doing it at five but how much do we need to increase this program to all the schools and so that's a question I will email you and so because it's important for us to be we many of you if you have looked at our budget seen our numbers we have almost 3,000 L students in our school district

[01:12:11] We need to know this guys. And so I'm saying this and we need to be putting money into our L students and their progress and their success, whether it means, you know, providing services for our families and not having a wait list so that our families can get those English services.

[01:12:27] I have been a teacher in a parent-teacher conference where I have to have a translator. I cannot speak to my parent because she does not know the language, right? How wonderful it is when a parent learns a language and can speak directly to their teacher with concerns or even after school.

[01:12:46] When you are greeting a parent, dropping them off, and you can't speak to your teacher, it is hard as a teacher, and it's hard, I know, as a parent. And so if we can give this to these parents as a gift, that gift comes back to us in communication, with their teacher, with the school, with the principal, if there's an emergency or not.

[01:13:09] And so I'm 100% behind that, but I want that information so that I can give that information to the right people. So thank you, that's it for me. - Looking to my right, Ms. Stevens.

[01:13:26] - Chair, I remember when we first talked about funding family liaisons. And they were a very, it was a very new concept. And nobody knew quite where having a family liaison would go and what the role of a family liaison was.

[01:13:44] And I have to say, Ms. Murray, you all are knocking it out of the park. You all are doing so much more than we ever envisioned. And I think it makes our school division much stronger school division. And when I think about this parent education program, I really think it's part of us being a community school.

[01:14:04] We're not just schools for our students. We're schools for the whole family. And by having those parent education classes in one of the school buildings makes that school a more inviting place. It makes that school a second home, not just to the children, but to their parents as well.

[01:14:22] And then inviting the children and letting the children attend the lessons as well, it really brings home how important it is. And it creates so much buy-in, not just for our kids, not just for our parents, but for everyone who's involved.

[01:14:38] So, you know, this is one of those times where being a school board member feels really good. And this is one of those times where I wish we could stand on the roof and shout this as loud as we can. This is one of those times where this is something that needs to be an inside Nova. Everyone needs to know the amazing things that are happening in our schools.

[01:14:59] And this is one of those amazing things that too few people know about. This needs to be front page news, folks. This is really important. This program started three years ago, and we already have 116 students and a wait list.

[01:15:16] That's phenomenal. We're providing a service no one else was able to provide. And that's huge. And Ms. Murray and Mr. Emil, thank you for putting your heads together and doing all that work to get this program off the ground. There's nothing negative I could possibly think of saying about it.

[01:15:36] I think this is so important. It's so beneficial to us, our schools, and our community as a whole. So thank you very much for that. And thank you for everyone who teaches and for all the parents who are students. I did have a question.

[01:15:56] Yes, ma'am. So when we talk about funding, we talk about Title III, Part A funding. Yes. So, I don't know if you can tell us this right off the top of your head. How much EL funding, what percentage would you say approximately comes from the federal government?

[01:16:15] Percentage, I don't know off the top of my head, but I can give you the figure. Oh, wow. And the figure is somewhere in the neighborhood of $355,000. Okay. And that just covers, and we get a portion of it from the state as well, correct? Well, that's only federal dollars. So, federal dollars are disbursed to Virginia Department of Education, and then the Title III office, Virginia Department of Education, disbursed that money to school divisions.

[01:16:42] Okay. And that's based on the number of L's that we serve. So, in the September 30th report, the SRC report, that number is what's going to drive your funding for the next school year. Now, you're familiar with SOQs, Standards of Quality, which is the minimum level of funding from the state.

[01:17:02] So would you say that EL funding funds at a similar rate as SOQs? Because SOQ funding only counts for about 60% of what it costs to teach our students. Would you say that our funding for our EL program and our EL students is at the 60% range, or would you say it's higher or lower approximately?

[01:17:25] So we have kind of an idea. Well, you would have to exclude federal dollars. Okay. Okay, because that's state monies. Right. That I do not have an answer for you right now on what that percentage would be. I'd be happy to investigate it, but I would suppose that it would be lower than what we would wish it to be.

[01:17:47] And then you're able to augment with grant funding. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So one of the things that makes me very fortunate to have the position that I have is I am your grant coordinator for Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV.

[01:18:06] What I work to do, and it makes it much easier because of the reauthorization of ESEA under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, many of the components of Title III have moved into Title I. Title I is a much larger amount of federal dollars.

[01:18:22] So since many of these components also exist within Title I, I always look to be able to leverage monies in order to be able to meet the needs of our students, all of our students. But for me, also considering that I am the director of your ESOL programming, I always have the lens to look to see, you know, how can we better assist our English learners.

[01:18:46] And you will always keep us informed on the needs as far as space, staffing, funding, so that you all, and Ms. Maria, I keep looking at you, so that you can keep doing what needs to be done to keep our families successful.

[01:19:05] Yes, ma'am. - Okay, thank you very much. Anyone else to my right? Ms. Brown. - Hi, could you clarify for me, because I thought I heard that you say we had a waiting list because of, we don't have enough teachers, but not because of funding, or did I misunderstand, did I mishear that?

[01:19:26] - Yeah, it's the teachers, and so let me clarify, it's not that we don't have enough teachers, it's that we don't have enough teachers to participate in the evening classes. And so this is, even though we underwrite the salaries for the teachers to do this, It's still difficult sometimes to get teachers to want to give up their evenings, you know, because people have lives and people are busy.

[01:19:49] And so, you know, sometimes it's a challenge. And we do a lot of recruiting. Maricela and I both do a lot of recruiting to see, hey, you'd be great for this. Would you like to try it out? But it's not because of lack of funding or shortage of money?

[01:20:05] No, ma'am. At this point in time, no. All right. Just want to clarify that. But I put that out there as this point in time because we don't know what the future holds for federal programs such as Title II and Title III. Correct. That is scary. Could you expand a little bit more or restate how the WIDA data is informed and instruction in our schools?

[01:20:25] Maybe Dr. Quesada or someone, if anyone can just let me know how the data is being used. Yeah, so I mentioned in the presentation on, and of course Dr. Quesada is more of the expert than I am, on how the ELP progress percentages impact the school accreditation, school accountability accreditation. It is tied, and I know she would correct me if I'm wrong, to the mastery component of the index. So when we look at that, every school in Manassas City Public Schools, first

[01:21:03] off, every school in Manassas City Public Schools has multilinguals in their school. Secondly, every school in Manassas City Public Schools has multilinguals who are receiving direct ESOL service. There's a difference between the two. When you look at our statistics, let me rephrase that. When you think about multilinguals, it's all students who go home and there's another language that they're exposed to. Some of these students may have received direct ESOL service. Some have exited out of our program and their monitor status for four years. Some have reached the window and and now they're, you know, designated or reclassified as fully English proficient.

[01:21:42] And then we have some students who, there's another language spoken in the home, but they were screened and they were found ineligible for services based on their English ability at the time. It does not mean that our students will not potentially struggle with English, depending on the cognitive load and the grade level expectations as they move through the grade levels, okay?

[01:22:04] So when you're looking at our numbers, somewhere in 68% to 70% of our kids are multilinguals. Around 40% to 42% of our students receive direct ESOL service. And that means that if I'm your student, Ms. Brescia, I'm on your caseload, I have a prescribed minutes of service based on my English language proficiency level and where I'm receiving that service.

[01:22:31] No, thank you for that response. I was looking a little bit more tangible rather than the continuum of services the students are receiving. Like, for example, if you and I are co-teachers and we have a student who is receiving those direct services, what does that look like in the classroom?

[01:22:49] How are we connecting and sharing that data and using that data to inform both of our instructions? Yeah, so that's a great question. So first and foremost, the most important thing that we offer to our educators and to our students is the cycle that works.

[01:23:06] And I don't just say that because Mr. Gefeller is sitting there. It is the most important thing because as Ms. Brescia stated two school board meetings ago, when that CLT process works, it really works. In that CLT process, we have a role and that role is known as the role of the opportunity agent.

[01:23:26] ESOL teacher is coming to the table after looking at the content standards with a rough draft of what a content and language objective could be and the types of scaffolding support that would be necessary in order to lower the language barriers of that particular lesson.

[01:23:43] Teachers who are co-teaching are either macro-planning in the CLTs or micro-planning when they have time available in order to make sure that there's accessibility points and the appropriate scaffolds for our students to be able to participate in that grade level content because in our model which is primarily esl integrate or con let me rephrase sorry esl integrated into content instruction which is really content-based language instruction okay we use the content as the medium

[01:24:19] of the language that we are focusing on the esol teacher is responsible for looking at by name and need each student to see, "Okay, this is the language objective. What is the language function that we are looking for? What are the language features that we're looking for? And what is the key language use that we expect the student to use to apply in this lesson? Is it narration?

[01:24:45] Is it informing? Is it explaining? Is it arguing? And how are they going to do that? Again, it's progress not perfection thank you that's what i wanted to hear um so thank you for all the work that you do and i just want to address the families and the students here i am an immigrant and i came in the 80s and i didn't speak one word of english so i am very proud of all your success and all your progress just keep committed to your progress so felicidad estoy muy orgullosa de todos

[01:25:18] Before we go back to my left, I just want to say that each of you is what makes our division great.

[01:25:35] And we firmly believe on this board that our diversity is our strength, and we are proud of each of you. I would love to know when graduation is. I think we'll all probably make efforts at this point in time to visit some classes, but we want to see the work happening.

[01:25:53] And so don't forget that we're out there, you know, if something special is happening or just the everyday is happening, we're going to try to get by. But we would love to be invited to graduation. For the second part of your presentation, I believe Ms. Brescia has questions.

[01:26:09] Does anyone else on this side have questions? Okay. Thank you again. So the -- just wanted to confirm the WIDA access results, we'll get those later this year. Yeah. May 28th is when the data file will be available.

[01:26:26] Your reports and paper won't be available until mid-June, but it's the data file that's really important to us because that's where we work with our colleagues to crunch those numbers and to get an idea. The official data is not released until end of August, early September.

[01:26:41] I was going to say, it's not right away that we're able to see. So I'm trying to understand, completely wrap my head around how this interacts with the performance framework. So it is under the mastery component. earn points based on how well our students do on WIDA access so if we set an annual target and I'm looking at Baldwin because they're they start with B so they go first on the student the school profiles they have an annual target of 56% so if they meet that target of 56% does that mean they get all available mastery points I would think so so the federal government

[01:27:18] actually sets progress targets will the state in partnership with the federal government sets targets that increase every year for the percent of students that are supposed to show progress on the access test and as mr. Emil said that's a - you need two points in time right so it's all about the progress so if a school meets their target so the federal target of 56 percent they're only going to get 5.6 out of the 10 points possible because in the way that it is currently constituted now there are discussions happening at the state based on some recommendations from many stakeholders many many stakeholders to perhaps wait that do that differently more like they did with the other

[01:27:57] components within mastery so that could change and we'll keep you posted if that makes a difference but last year if you got 56 percent of your students and you met the target you only got 5.6 of the 10 points so just only over half don't try to understand the logic so you would need to get a hundred percent of your students making the progress in order to get all the points yes correct who are not included.

[01:28:25] - Right, okay. - Or students who are new to us at any, in that year are not included in the calculation. - Okay. - Yep. - I know. - I just wanted to make sure that since it does have a framework implication and goes into whether schools are distinguished, on-track, off-track, all that good stuff, people understand now what we're kind of up against in terms of how that, what is going on in that mastery column.

[01:28:51] - Yeah, and actually, Ms. Brescia, this year, for this year, for this testing cycle, it's 58% as the target, but still, 5.8 points if all of your kids, 100% of them, make the target. - Okay, well, that is good to know. That was the, I guess I could have asked those on the first half, but that's all for me, thank you.

[01:29:13] - Thank you very much, Mr. Emmel. - Thank you. - Again, congratulations, everyone. - Thank you for affording me so much time.

[01:29:33] - Okay, next up, we have Connecting Social Studies Classrooms in the Community, where Ms. Melissa Neal, Coordinator of Social Studies pre-K-12, will provide information on Connecting Social Studies classrooms in the community by highlighting a partnership with the

[01:29:49] Manassas City Museum thank you Miss Neal talk loud if I need to but yeah I'll start over good evening chair Spall vice chair Jones the members of the school board and mr. Gefeller my name is Melissa Neal and I am the pre-k-12 social

[01:30:28] studies coordinator for Manassas City Public Schools okay this evening I am pleased to share the ongoing partnership between Manassas City Public Schools and and the Manassas Museum.

[01:30:45] Over the past several years, I've collaborated with Rachel Goldberg, who is the museum's program and education coordinator, and we work together to design focused, standard-based hands-on learning experiences for our students. Tonight, I will highlight the programming that we have developed and implemented to support the teachers as well as the students of Manassas City.

[01:31:07] This collaboration has strengthened our academic programming by fostering meaningful community partnerships and creating inclusive and collaborative learning environments. One example of our involvement is Liberia's 200th anniversary celebration that happened this past September, where Weems Elementary fourth grade students were able to participate in a private tour of the historic home and property that is located right there within their own attendance boundary.

[01:31:41] After the Weems fourth graders learned about the site's rich history, the students created original artwork which represented different historical eras of Liberia. Their work was then proudly displayed at the community event on October 11th that celebrated the 200th anniversary and featured guided tours, living history demonstrations and reenactments as well as live music.

[01:32:07] Next slide shows a few of them in the small picture. They were really quite beautiful. I know Dr. Jones was there, was able to see those. This is an example of how our students can demonstrate their understanding through the art that they create. This place-based learning experience was a true highlight for our Weems 4th graders.

[01:32:26] It connected the classroom instruction of Virginia studies to local history in an authentic and meaningful way. Another example was the partnership that we had with the museum and its curator, Ms. Mary Helen Dillinger, where all of our 5th grade students in the whole division had the opportunity to visit the VA 250 Mobile Museum Experience titled "Out of Many, One."

[01:32:53] This program was created to honor the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The interactive exhibit housed an expandable tractor trailer and it traveled throughout Virginia to bring stories of the state's history directly to schools and the communities. The timing of this exhibit was planned so that this experience previewed the fifth graders Unit on the Revolutionary War and the New Nation.

[01:33:17] The visit to Manassas coincided with the Manassas Museum's special exhibit, "Give Me Liberty: Virginia and Forging of a Nation," which further enriched the students' learning experience. This event was coordinated months in advance with several community partners.

[01:33:34] We are especially grateful for the Manassas City's Transportation Department and the Manassas City Police Department for their support to ensure that all fifth grade students in the city were able to arrive safely and ready to learn. Their collaboration reflects the strong community commitment to providing meaningful educational opportunities for all of our students.

[01:33:58] In addition, all of our Manassas City Public Schools second grade students culminated their Honoring America unit in late September by creating artwork inspired by the American symbols that they studied. Then, in turn, their artwork was displayed during this event that was open to the public at the VA 250 Mobile Museum Experience.

[01:34:20] This provided another opportunity for students to showcase their learning within a broader community setting. In November, the fourth graders from Baldwin, Dean, Hayden, and Round visited the Manassas Museum to learn about the indigenous people of Virginia.

[01:34:36] During this visit, the students explored a longhouse, examined authentic indigenous artifacts, compared their own lives to those of Virginia's indigenous communities, and created clay pinch pots inspired by traditional designs. Throughout the experience, student practiced key social studies skills including asking questions, thinking critically, and using evidence while comparing and contrasting.

[01:34:59] And they had a lot of fun too. The museum was not only excited the students about their learning, but also the teachers. It modeled inquiry-based learning for the teachers, and in a follow-up survey, 100% of teachers who responded agreed or strongly agreed that this experience helped our students better understand this topic in Virginia studies.

[01:35:25] Then in December, our kindergartners and first grade students from Baldwin Elementary participated in a Christmas tree decoration program. Each classroom received a Christmas tree, courtesy of the Manassas Museum, and created decorations around themes such as seasons, times of day, and habitats.

[01:35:43] The decorated trees were then displayed at the museum throughout the month, and our kindergarten students had the opportunity to visit the museum to view their trees on display, which made this experience even more meaningful for them. This supported the 2023 Social Studies Standards for grades kindergarten and one which asks students to explain how communities celebrate traditions and recognize important Virginia holidays including Christmas Day. It was a great example of connecting the classroom learning with our local community. This past year Baldwin Elementary was the school that participated and the future will rotate among our five elementary

[01:36:20] schools then in January I worked with the Manassas Museum and Rachel Goldberg and I planned together a professional development for all of our k-6 social studies teachers that was about 144 teachers that were present and we titled the professional development using questioning strategies to foster curiosity in the classroom during this session Rachel modeled two strategies a visual thinking strategy and a see think wonder strategy the teachers Teachers practiced these strategies using the primary sources provided by the museum as well as some museum artifacts.

[01:37:00] Participants then took their knowledge of what they learned with the museum items and applied the strategies to their own classrooms using primary and secondary sources from our own adopted curriculum and resources. This professional development reinforced the connection between the classroom instruction and community-based learning, ensuring that teachers are equipped to engage students in meaningful inquiry-based social studies experiences.

[01:37:25] Since the January professional development, the teachers have responded and taken what they learned in January and immediately it impacted our classrooms. Rachel's assistant, Victoria LeAntonio, coordinates the museum trunk program.

[01:37:43] This is a program where Manassas City Schools can check out a trunk with some realia and museum artifact reproductions in there and use it for a week for free. If you're not a Manasseh City school, you can still check it out, but you have to pay a fee, and they let us use these trunks for free.

[01:38:03] But since the PD that we held on January 9th, so in the two months, the data's from the end of February, we were able to serve over 500 students with the resources in the trunk. Last year, we compared January and February to this year's data, and no teacher checked out the trunk.

[01:38:21] So this is kind of a great impact to see how PD was impacted our students and our teachers immediately, right there after the PD on January 9th. So that's where we are now, but we're not done yet.

[01:38:40] We have so much going on in the social studies world, it's very exciting. Currently, all of our pre-K classrooms are experiencing the past and present trunk. And at the end of March, we have Dr. Kate Majure. She is the author of a graphic novel titled "Freedom Was In Sight."

[01:38:58] She will be visiting and presenting to our kindergartners and our fourth graders at Jenny Dean Elementary, as well as to our AP African-American studies class and US history classes. Dr. Mazur reached out to me after her research led her to Jenny Dean.

[01:39:14] She was intrigued by Jenny Dean and loved the idea that a school was named after her because in her studies as a historian, she found her to be an important yet kind of obscure historical figure. So I connected her with the museum and the Manassas Museum is actually sponsoring Dr. Mazur's visit from Chicago, she teaches at Northwestern, to come into Manassas so that she can visit our students at Jenny Dean and at Osborne High School.

[01:39:45] In addition, all of our kindergarten students are going to complete their end-of-year assessment through a walking experience in Old Town Manassas. During this experience, they will visit the Manassas Museum, the Farmer's Market, and the Historic Manassas Visitor Center at the train station.

[01:40:03] Students will demonstrate what they know about all four strands of social studies. In economics, they're going to demonstrate that they know about making choices by purchasing something at the farmer's market. They will be given a token where they will have to make a choice and they will discuss how they understand that they cannot have everything that they want.

[01:40:24] They will learn about geography and using content geography terms for kindergarten, such as what is near, far, next to, or between. They will learn about history and they will respond to how places have changed over time after they've viewed photographs and artifacts of Manassas in the past and compare it to Manassas in the future.

[01:40:48] And of course, the very important social studies strand of civics, they will discuss prior to the trip the importance of following rules. Again, the Manassas City Public Schools Transportation Department is making this possible.

[01:41:05] Without them, we could not do these things. and this year I've roped in the Monassas City Police Department to help us to make sure that everyone is safe as we cross the streets in Old Town Monassas too. In this presentation, I hope that I've shown you how the partnership between Monassas City Public Schools, the Monassas Museum, has enabled our students to engage with history and social studies through real-world experiences, practice civic concepts in an interactive ways, explore their local community, and use inquiry to learn and solve problems.

[01:41:37] Thank you for your time this evening. - Thank you, Ms. Neal. to my left miss pressure thank you chair thank you miss neil for this great presentation i really enjoyed it i have a kindergartner who is already very excited about that walking tour that you just told us about so thank you for putting all of that together my question for my first my my main question for you i saw you had a teacher survey of every of the people who had participated in

[01:42:16] some of these events um is that the only way we're measuring the not to say not to do a little if it is the only way to measure success of these initiatives and that's fine but i'm asking are there other ways we're measuring the success of these initiatives so usually in social studies we score students using rubrics so i'm working really hard not to put our elementary schools in front of the computer to take another multiple choice test i want them to show what they know And that's where the idea of this kindergarten field trip came from, bringing them downtown so that they can show what they've known about the four strands.

[01:42:52] So at the end of the year for that one, the students will complete a rubric, or the teachers will complete a rubric on each student of how they show what they know. So we do have that type of data. This is the first year we're bringing that particular program. Last year, we started bringing the fourth graders to the Manassas Museum three years ago.

[01:43:11] we started small and we added a school each year and I've been trying to look at some of the data of what we've taught at the museum with the Longhouse about the indigenous people and to see how it's impacted our SOL data our SOL data is in fourth grade is it's a struggle to to match that up because the students who attended it was it wasn't I couldn't figure out who attended and right so there's some other data points we could have that I could work on but yes so that's the that's one of the things I try to do is the teacher surveys I tried

[01:43:51] to let social studies be a place where teachers can experiment with some things and bring the real world and make some real-world connections and make learning meaningful important to our kids and so their teacher impact the teacher voice choice in the programming is very important to me. Yeah, I mean, I do find it strikes a chord with me.

[01:44:12] To tell a brief anecdote, when I was working as an educator in New York City public schools, the students I was working with, at one point it came out they had not seen a play. These were New York City residents, which was insane, right? It was insane that they hadn't gotten down to see a play, but it was hard work. It was really hard work, actually. It was a very bureaucratic workplace, but we did get those kids to Broadway, and it did make a difference in how they interacted with the school the curriculum and with each other honestly it was a great bonding experience but these kinds of trips are very important and not all localities even very big wealthy you know you have even big city

[01:44:52] localities do not do this well so this is a huge credit to you to the city of Manassas that we're able to make these partnerships happen and these opportunities unlock for our kids so thank you for what you do for that thank you thank you the kids are amazed they can go back to the museum with their

[01:45:07] families and it's free so that's the same similar thank you Ms. Bresha and Ms. Dr. Jones I just wanted to say I know when I went to Liberia house when I first stepped there a student was yelling at me and I'm like who's coughing me but she wanted me to see her work that she had done with the drawing and the drawings were beautiful all the pictures were great so I think not only are you exposing our students to different things in the community but also their parents but also the community gets to see what great things our school district is doing And also I know the Christmas trees, that's always a big thing at the museum also.

[01:45:44] And I think they love going to the museum and saying, that's my tree, that's my class tree, so they love it. So thank you for exposing our students to the community, and you're doing that to them and to their parents, but also I think the community can see what our students do. And they even watch them when you take them out if they're behaving.

[01:46:02] You know, they'll say, oh, that school was good. Those students are so well-behaved. So all of that is teaching our students about what to do in the future, so thank you. Thank you, Dr. Jones. Ms. Stevens. Thank you. Has there been any discussion on the Manassas Museum and the Jenny Dean Memorial, having the kids go there for that?

[01:46:27] Not yet. No. I work with Rachel Goldberg. She's very easy to work with and very open to suggestions when things come across our desk. So, like, for example, bringing Dr. Mazur into town just kind of showed up this year.

[01:46:46] And so we're open to ideas and suggestions. Yeah, because I was thinking about that because, you know, she's coming because of Jenny Dean, who's kind of not very well known but was so important to our history. And it just made me think of the Jenny Dean Memorial and then the fact that parts of the Jenny Dean building are of historical significance.

[01:47:08] We'll leave that there with that. I think that has a great potential. But I have to say this is great because kids are learning that there's history in their own backyard. And not all communities have that. We have a long-seated history, and I think it's so great for the kids because they drive by Liberia House all the time.

[01:47:28] A lot of them don't know what it means, don't know its history. But for them to see that history, it gives them a greater sense of the world and what the world is like. And it's great that they have these opportunities to go to these places, get this hands-on learning as opposed to getting on a bus and having to go to Jamestown or Yorktown.

[01:47:47] It's right here. Then they can go back and say, Mom, Dad, let's go to that. Because I know my 7th grader learned about Liberia House from going with school. Right, right. And we've been twice since then because that's the impact that it made. So I think this is great. It's authentic learning.

[01:48:03] It's experiential learning. And it really sticks with our kids. So this is awesome. I can't wait to hear more. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Stevens. Anyone else? Okay, Ms. Miles. I wanted to mention the museum trunk. I know as a teacher, when I taught Virginia history, Virginia studies, excuse me, we had someone come in and show our students all the different things from that. And it was impactful to them. And I know that, you know, having so many different grade levels who are able to do the past and present, you know, in first and second grade it's just awesome for them to touch and feel the things and and the fact that

[01:48:43] they're providing to us for free for our teachers I think it's phenomenal so hopefully we can provide even more so that more teachers can participate that would be great that's the goal is to create equitable experience for all of our students and not just the students who have the teacher that know about the about the trunk so that's really the goal is to bring equity to all of our classrooms and provide an experience for example for the fourth grade fourth graders that they all had a place where they could go and learn outside of their classroom so the museum's program and education coordinator she does a lot of things outside of education and her coming in with the trunk to every single

[01:49:21] fourth-grade classroom wasn't a reality so what we did is brought the students to the museum and then when they're in the longhouse they were get to interact they got to interact with artifacts that they're that were very similar to those in the trunk and then teachers could bring the trunk back for further exploration that's wonderful thank you so just keep up the good work for that thank you so I just want to close by saying I have I've been around for a long time longer than some people might like but the trunk program is not new but it was really a heavy lift to get it off the ground so I really commend you

[01:50:01] for the work that you've done, and, you know, you talk about being equitable, too. So it's not just who knows that there's a trunk. That's really, really important. I don't remember, you know, a lot of walks in Old Town. It was something I really wanted to happen, you know, getting those kids out.

[01:50:18] Like, we do have so many resources, and you're making it happen. You know, book talks, going to the farmer's market. It's just really, really great work, and I know it's not easy. So thank you, and thank you for being strategic about what grades you're opening it up to and making sure that everybody is able to experience manassas.

[01:50:39] Thank you very much. Because it's a great place, right, that we all live, and it's part of all of us. So I'm happy to be that ambassador. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time. So we will now move on to our action agenda.

[01:50:58] Can I get a policies? So, I believe that Ms. Stevens will be discussing our policy section I instruction. Yeah.

[01:51:14] Ms. Rose, can you pull up the policy? So, the policy, the grading policy has been updated. And as you can see, if you scroll through, everything in green is new and everything in pink that is crossed out has been removed.

[01:51:30] And it's kind of meaty. So, I just want to give you a quick summary of the grading policy and how it's changed. It establishes a fair and consistent and transparent grading system across Manassas City Public Schools to support high academic standards, encourage student growth, and accurately reflect mastery of learning standards.

[01:51:52] We direct the superintendent to maintain comprehensive grading regulations aligned with instructional goals and state standards, reviewing them every two years with inputs from educators, administrators, and other stakeholders as needed. The grading philosophy emphasizes reflecting student mastery, promoting engagement and ownership of learning, offering multiple ways to demonstrate understanding, and supporting growth through timely feedback and reassessment.

[01:52:22] It also requires separating academic performance from behaviors such as effort and conduct while ensuring fairness across all schools. Grading and assessment in the division are guided by principles that ensure grades accurately reflect a student's mastery of academic standards.

[01:52:39] Teachers use both formative and summative assessments to measure progress and provide timely, meaningful feedback that supports continued learning. Students are given opportunities for a reassessment as outlined in the regulations, and grades are never used as punishment or influenced by classroom behavior.

[01:52:58] Students are expected to make reasonable efforts on all assignments while teachers must maintain sufficient evidence of learning when determining grades. Consistency across schools is supported through district-wide expectations and administrative oversight and grades serve as an important communication tool for sharing academic progress with parents and guardians.

[01:53:22] Thank you Ms. Stephens. I'm sorry to have skipped you. It's okay. IGR is an important policy. It's not as colorful. as the other things, and there's no colorful multi-- - No, but what you do for us for policy is very important, and we thank you.

[01:53:42] Is there any, are there any questions? This will move to action. - Yes, this will move to action. I don't know if Ms. Fresher has a question. - It's not so much a question as I wanted to provide some additional context around how the policy is moving.

[01:54:00] This version that's in green now is how grading used to be set in Manasseh City Public Schools. And then in 2021, it became more rigid and the stuff all in red that the board was voting on and creating policy around the details, like what's an S and what's an S plus and all that kind of stuff.

[01:54:23] So this is going back to not necessarily in what any of the details are gonna be because those details will be determined by regulation by the superintendent and the staff, but in terms of the process is going back to what it was prior to the pandemic.

[01:54:39] And the vote that we are going to have is not a vote on the details. It is a delegation of those details to the staff. And this is how most divisions do it, by the way. So we're not stepping out into strange, uncharted territory.

[01:54:57] We're returning to a baseline situation of how these things were sorted out. So the policy is more overarching, and the regulation spells out the specifics. And one of the things that's important with this new policy, should we vote in favor of it, is that every two years it will be reviewed to make sure that there are not issues with it, to see if there's anything that needs to be updated or not.

[01:55:24] And it will have input from the various stakeholders within the division. Thank you both. I know as a parent, a lot of times you're wondering, okay, so what does that mean?

[01:55:40] So what changes have been made in this policy to reflect my student? so the specific changes so what the policy does is the policy directs the superintendent to set the specifics of what the what grading will be day to day per assignment so if you're looking at the very specifics that the deep dig that's something that would be in the regulation this is more of the umbrella that the regulation sits under thank you because i noticed the grading scale is in there and I just that was some contention before in the past so

[01:56:19] it's very important parents to look at these things especially for those of you who have high schoolers and middle schoolers right and the regulation should be able to be once the regulation once the policy goes into effect if the board that's the will of the board then the superintendent and mr. Rockefeller you can correct me because you're standing in for this superintendent if I'm incorrect the superintendent will then look at the current regulation and adjust if necessarily if necessary the regulation to work under the policy if

[01:56:54] the policy is voted in thank you for that information that is correct Ms. Stevens also given the fact that we're in March any changes to a regulation would not take effect until next school year because you wouldn't want to have two different grading policies in the same school year hurdle and burden for school staff or teachers because it's happened in other school divisions where halfway through the year there is a change that's really good to note as well for parents to know that exactly yes so should this policy go into effect any regulations written would not go

[01:57:33] into effect to the following school year as we are more than two-thirds of the way through the school year that would just be an incredible burden not just to staff but to students and families as well miss Brown yeah I just want to reiterate that any changes that the superintendent makes to the regulations with as when we pass this policy it will be done in tandem with multiple stakeholders so I just want to

[01:58:10] ease that concern if anybody's thinking about it and we have outlined some of Some of the stakeholders in this policy such as educators and administrators But that will be up to the superintendent to decide who is going to help them I mean the regulations if that is what is to happen once this policy is adopted. Thank you And correct me if I'm wrong the first and the third paragraph of the policy that's in green the first paragraph reads the purpose of this

[01:58:49] policies to establish a fair consistent and transparent system of assessment and grading across Manassas City public schools that supports high academic standards encourages student growth and accurately reflects student mastery and then I believe that paragraph is repeated as the third paragraph purpose so we would just need to take out either that first paragraph or that third paragraph because they repeat each other thank you I wanted to note and I think it's very good just how the policy was written that we're separating

[01:59:26] academic performance from behavior and grades are never used as punishment I think that's very important to note so I thought I just needed to highlight that thank you miss miles anyone I like the part where it says it's to support high academic standards excellent good work team we will now move to the action agenda can i get a motion madam chair i move that the school board of the city of manassas

[02:00:04] approve the proposed revisions to the 2526 school calendar making april 20th 2026 a regular instructional day for students and staff and april 21 2026 a professional day for staff and close for students due to the scheduled special election second i have a motion by ms seberg seconded by dr jones with the school board of the city of the masses approve the proposed revisions to the 2025-26 school calendar making april 20 2026 a regular

[02:00:41] instructional day for students and staff and april 21 2026 a professional day for staff enclosed for students due to the special scheduled special election uh any discussion all in favor Any opposed? The motion carries 7-0. It is now time for board member comments.

[02:01:09] Good evening, everyone. I'm very excited that I get to comment tonight. First, I would like to bring up that March is Developmental Disabilities Month, and next week is also Down Syndrome Awareness Week.

[02:01:29] And to celebrate, Osborne is actually having a spirit week for Down Syndrome Awareness, so participate. And additionally, I would also like to highlight that February 27th, Osborne High School held the annual unified prom for the special education students. Annually, the leadership class plans this event around the same time each year.

[02:01:47] Therefore, if you would like to make a contribution or help out next year, please feel free to reach out to Paul Whaley or Emily Nelson to make this special event just perfect for these kids that deserve it so much. And then lastly, I would like to just say that I was so happy to hear about the efforts we're making towards the family connection and English learning that Mr. Emil brought up.

[02:02:11] The stories were really, they were really like heart-wrenching and powerful, and I think that is great that we're tackling and identifying these issues that are so prominent in our community, especially our district, and I cannot wait to see what they achieve in the future, just to see that they're getting these individuals involved in opportunities like grow Manassas and even helping them learn specific academic language that I might not even know how to use fully is amazing, and I can't wait to see the future of this program and how it continues to grow.

[02:02:45] So thank you, everyone, for the efforts toward this program, and that's all I have. Thank you, Ms. Braden. Mr. Amen. Hello, everybody. I hope everyone's having a great evening so far. Congratulations to our Impact Award nominees.

[02:03:01] Everyone's very proud of you guys. I would like to recognize my fellow debate team members, Sophia Whitesell and Grayson Reed, for finishing third in public forum during the regional championship at Colgan. As well as them, Greg Brow of Student Congress finished sixth.

[02:03:18] All three of them will be competing in super regionals on March 21st at Deep Run High School. To honor Women's History Month, I'd like to take a second to appreciate our all-women school board. the leadership wanted to do wanted to show our gratitude to you so a joint effort was made to give you guys this happy women's history month you both

[02:03:50] that was really awesome okay continuing on to miss miles can we take a picture maybe if we're done before nine yes I'll have to take a picture after thank you so much for that it's hard to like figure out what kind of comments you want to make there's so many things to say but I want to first congratulate all our impact award recipients. I love this new award that honors all employees and it's not specific to roles or titles. And a few things I heard when each teacher's bio was read, those who

[02:04:24] were our award recipients, welcoming school environment, positivity, consistently find solutions with students at the center, strengthening the entire school community, collaboration, team building, help staff work together towards staff goals. And I just thought, and so many more accolades from those teachers that were awarded that but again congratulations to the 10 recipients so next I have an ELPAC committee report update the ELPAC committee met on February 19th and this meeting focused on building our parents understanding of access for ELLs 2.0

[02:05:02] and how instructional staff use the data to inform integrated ELD English language development for those of you don't know what that means and content instruction and assessment our parents analyze an excess score report which is the weta that we talked about today which is our english test that we give each year and indicating what domains the anonymous student needed to build so from this data parents experienced a collaborative structure to build clearer and stronger messaging aligned to a science sol so parents basically were able to experience what the teachers are doing and how the students are experiencing it and the first portion of this

[02:05:41] meeting focused on a deeper understanding of the information listed on an excess score report leading parents to indicate to us if they were a teacher which domain would they want to emphasize the most during instruction and then based on this parents were given a modified paragraph related to a forest ecosystem and this reading material is presented in not only spanish and english but urdu and hindi and this process was scaffolded for our families using sentence frames word banks and specific questions aligned to the reading task.

[02:06:14] These structures assisted our participants to grow in academic language as they made the three rotations and they came up with this theme based on their the team's analysis of the last meeting's data in November. They decided an interactive workshop for our families that focused on content and integrated language support and how we're able through instruction to support our students in ways that build academic understanding, academic English and confidence within classroom activities which I thought was a great idea and I'm glad it was a very success successful and at the end of every meeting they allow parents to give feedback and parents were given an

[02:06:53] opportunity to give feedback in an open non-structured conversation and they indicated that they had a deeper understanding of reading the access score reports and how score reports inform the instruction for their students all the participants indicated their messaging and discourse became stronger clearer and more specific through the rotation and recasting so great job on that and I look forward to going to the next meeting I wasn't able to go but thank you for all you're doing with that mr. Emil also last week I was able to take a tour along with fellow members of the new Manassas pathways of

[02:07:30] our alt-ed school located in the back wing of the Manassas City Community Center I was pleased with the layout the peaceful classrooms as we walked through and a highlight of the tour was observing the daily community time that brings staff and students from all ages and grades together for a game conversation and rest it we even had some students who were putting together their second puzzle it's just a great environment that we have created there so I look forward to seeing the progress of that and just the environment continuing to grow I'm also looking forward to attending Saturday's annual

[02:08:08] pancake dinner supper fundraiser this Saturday, March 14th, hosted by MCPS Education Foundation from 4 to 6. It's not too late to get your tickets and it will be at a new location this year, Osborne High School. And lastly, I want to extend my sincere condolences to the colleagues, students, who she taught, friends and family of our beloved art teacher, Ms. Kim Obrakta. May she live on in the lives she touched in her time in Manassas City Public Schools. That's all that I have. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Miles. Ms. Brescia. Yes, thank you. So my

[02:08:47] objective with my comments tonight is to recognize our valued staff, inform the community of some of my own recent activities, and highlight some upcoming opportunities in the community and with our schools. These remarks are in alignment with my role as a board member to facilitate strong community partnerships, which supports our student academic success. I first want to congratulate our award winners the impact on our students is highly valued and I really like the rebrand I think it nicely aligns with our division priorities and what we all hope for our division culture so I love that impact I love it I would like to thank everyone who came to participate in the budget process there's still time to do that we have our final markup work session on

[02:09:27] Monday the 16th so stay tuned watch closely our budget process now as it is structured is transparent and welcomes all participants anyone can speak for themselves as an individual to express their preferences and I'm I'm grateful to everyone who does so so if you are interested in how this process will evolve you can attend our work session in person which will be at central office or you can stream it or watch it later on the division YouTube I also had on my list to congratulate the debate team the debate team is very near and dear to me I was an Illinois State semi-finalist I debated in college and It's how I met my husband.

[02:10:06] And you're like, oh, that's so cute. But really ask yourself, should two debaters marry each other? And on a more somber note, we are here in Northern Virginia. We have many families who have family members serving in the military.

[02:10:25] This is obviously a very dangerous time. So I would like to encourage everybody to keep our service members and our impacted families in our thoughts. Some things I have been up to. I have spent a lot of time at Mayfield, both at their Black History event, which is always spectacular, and I spent the day shadowing there and observing there, and I got to meet a lot of people and see a lot of things.

[02:10:48] It went really well, really well. I attended the SEAC meeting as a parent. Mrs. Stevens is the liaison, so I'll let you report on that, but I did volunteer to put together a short video to help showcase what SEAC does, so look forward to seeing that. I participated in the GovSchool site evaluation Ms. Seberg for the governor's school this is a process that they have to go through every few years with the Virginia Department of Education and it was a great dialogue where we were able to provide feedback to the VDOE about how the school is going and spoiler alert it's fantastic everybody um everybody had great things to say I walked schools with Dr. Newman and Mr. Gefeller I

[02:11:27] went on the pathways tour with many people here I went to career day at Weems with many people here and yesterday i had the opportunity and the honor of introducing baldwin elementary school to city council and i will say that mr rupert if you're watching out there you did a great job you did do a great job as a reminder for the future there is an early release day tomorrow the end of the third quarter is thursday march 19th so we are three quarters of the way through the year and reminder we have no school on friday the 20th on saturday here in the community we have the saint patrick's Day Parade that's at 11. I also encourage everybody to check out Manassas Drop and Swap at the

[02:12:05] community center that's at 1 p.m. and it's truly changed my life as a parent in terms of getting rid of my children's old clothes and being able to take in new clothes and new sizes and then the pancake dinner at 4 p.m. you can do all three things if you are a very motivated individual so I hope to see everybody at all three things and of course St. Patrick's Day is Tuesday March 17th please observe responsibly, and I'd like to highlight that the Manassas City Police Department is having their parent informational series on Wednesday, the 18th, on the topic of problem gambling. So to conclude, I hope everyone understands how happy I am to see our students,

[02:12:41] families, and staff be successful and how sincerely invested I am in everyone's continued growth and, of course, academic success. Thank you, Ms. Basha. Ms. Seabert. Thank you, Chair. While we've had our meeting tonight, we've had several of our champion spellers over at Garfield High School at the Regional Spelling Bee, and so I do look forward to recognizing them at an upcoming school board meeting, but I'm also nervous for them, so I hope they're doing well. I wanted to highlight that our Osborne Symphonic Band program competed in their assessment last week and earned superior

[02:13:21] ratings. They earned straight superior ratings from all the judges at the Voboda assessment. They managed to do this despite several challenges like missing instruction and rehearsals due to the weather. Combined with their superior rating for the marching band earned in the fall this means that Osborne will once again be recognized as a Virginia Honor Band signifying comprehensive excellence in our band programs and we look forward to recognizing them as I mentioned. Also today I participated in the VSBA webinar on the community platform and community is what board docs will be turning into and if

[02:14:00] this board decides to have a contract with community we will be able it'll be easier for everyone parents staff members school board members the ease of search is fine-tuned there's improved functionality and lots of new features so i look forward to that decision coming up concludes my comments thank you miss seabird miss brown thank you chair good evening everyone i would like to get my comments by extending heartfelt condolences to the family of mr brook

[02:14:37] as well while the passing of a loved one is never something we can prepare for i am sending prayers so that you can find strength and comfort in her memory and in the love that was shared we are so sorry for your loss i would like to continue and extend congratulations to all impact recipients your work is the is the difference as miss miles has already mentioned some of the accolades that you receive i will echo that as well thank you you are the difference um thank you to title three staff for making learning come alive you are doing more than

[02:15:13] teaching english you are actually empowering students and families to engage with our community and discover all the opportunities that we offer your work proves that love care and acceptance do not need translation so thank you this month we celebrate the remarkable strength resilience and achievement of women worldwide and honoring their contributions to social culture and political progress it is in that vein that i would take this moment to elevate all women educators It takes courage to answer the call to serve as a teacher, as a staff member in your community.

[02:15:52] But you prove every day that as an educator, you can do it. And it can be done with grace and determination. So thank you for all that you do. Many of my colleagues have already mentioned the Pancake Supper. But I would like to extend that a little bit.

[02:16:09] If you're not able to join us, you can still buy a ticket and support us. and we will ensure that we pass that ticket onto a family that cannot afford it. All tickets are $20 for adults and $10. So just buy your ticket and you can donate it if you're not able to make it.

[02:16:25] All the proceeds will go to the foundation and the foundation education supports students and teachers. And speaking of that support, I will close my comments by reminding students because we have nine days, I think, for the scholarships the applications are being accepted now through march 19th so let's hurry and get those applications in i'm encouraging all current osborne high school seniors to apply at

[02:16:57] mcpsedfoundation.org scholarship offer so thank you thank you miss brown miss stevens thank you there was a seac committee meeting on february 25th 2026 seac stands for the special education advisory committee and while it has a very official sounding title it is open to everyone and anyone we especially welcome our parents of students with special needs one of the great things about SEAC is that you do not have to attend the meetings in person you can attend them virtually over zoom so you

[02:17:35] can be anywhere and still participate if you'd like to attend in person you can attend it's at central office um we talked about a few things one of the big things is mr macyak will be leaving us to go to transportation it was his final meeting and in march our march meeting we will be welcoming miss erica loch she's taking over um we did discuss the sib shop the um rolling out of sib shop was impacted by the snow we had so we're moving a little bit slower than we had originally planned and the key is is we don't want to rush it because we want to

[02:18:13] do it right at this time we have three facilitators who are either already going through training or will be going through training the SIAC committee also talked about setting up a communication I'm going to say subcommittee miss Brescia has agreed to do publicity I guess would be the umbrella term for it and Ms. Forkel is going to facilitate the subcommittee we discussed the Spring Special Olympics on April 24th at Osborne High School I believe we are always looking for volunteers so you can reach out to find out if you can

[02:18:50] volunteer if you've got the time during the day I also and this next SEAC meeting is actually next Wednesday at 7 p.m. so next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at central office or virtually. I'll be there virtually as I usually am sitting in a car in a parking lot because my kid has swim in the dark. I did want to share, because it is Women's History Month, about an important woman to Virginia from Richmond, Madam C.J. Walker. Her name was Sarah Breedlove when she was born. She was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist who

[02:19:26] became the first female self-made millionaire in the United States. Through her pioneering line of hair care products for black women. She rose from poverty in the post-Civil War South to build a national beauty empire and used her wealth to support civil rights, education, and black economic independence. And one of the great things I like about her is a quote that she once made, don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come, get up and make them. So that's what I encourage everyone to do. As we hit spring, it's time to turn over a leaf. Get up, make your

[02:20:01] opportunities, take them by the hand. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Stevens. Ms. Vice Chair, Dr. Jones. Well, congratulations to all that received an impact award tonight. Special thanks to Ms. Emil for the exciting information on the ESL adult education. The work is not in vain when you hear you change lives. Last Thursday was my busy school board day. I started the day off touring the Manassas Pathways alternative education pilot that opened in January. Pathways currently serve 16 students and they have a goal to have 30 by the end of March and

[02:20:39] Manassas pathways is an example of Manassas City Public Schools commitment to providing appropriate services for all of our students my second stop was artistic expressions which is at the Manassas Museum and this is a must see so I definitely encourage you all to go out and see the artwork of our Osmond high school students it's definitely outstanding and my last stop last Thursday was the gifted and talented advisory committee meeting the The committee meets four times a year and anyone who has children that are in the Gifted and Talented program, you're more than welcome to join.

[02:21:14] Mark your calendars for some upcoming events. Astronomy Night will be on March 18th from 6 to 8 for grades 3 through 8. The Enrichment Program Summer Escape program will run from June 15th to the 17th. And the End of the Year Showcase will be on May 20th at Osborne High School.

[02:21:32] And lastly, the Gifted and Talented Local Plan is being rewritten and you will be able to review it soon and give your input on that plan March is National Women's History Month so special thanks to all the women serving in Manassas City Public Schools and then there are also a lot of observances during the month but I want to highlight music in our school month we have to make sure that our students are exposed to music youth art month the importance of art education our schools is super important and Miss Neal showed us some of that today and the work that our students are doing and then also National Reading month and we know that reading is so important to our students so I

[02:22:10] encourage all our parents to make sure your students are reading daily and especially at night and that you are boosting their imaginations and the critical thinking skills and don't forget to check out the Manassas City calendar because there are lots of events you can attend and we would love to see your faces in the place thank you thank you dr. Jones I'll I'll try to be brief I've got things all crossed out like that lady on the internet that says things we do not care about I think but that's not what's happening here I would like to put a plug in for our job fair from 9:00 to 12:00 at Mayfield this

[02:22:45] Saturday I do want to reiterate thoughts and prayers to the family of Miss Obrakta as the art teacher that has recently passed away we thank her for her profound impact on the students that she taught I would like to give a shout out to Carrie Davis who's someone who would never want to probably come to a school meeting or she'd be too busy but she recently won an award for being a team mom and she's done that with grace and dedication for the last several years so she won that award at Osborne last Saturday night and so I thought that

[02:23:22] that was something that people should know I was gonna ask you guys will you send us the calendar so that we can dress up for spirit week next week as well we may or may not be in the building but we can still try to participate and we're very interested in doing that I would also like to recognize our board of seven women during women's history month for you know working collaboratively collaboratively together along with all the women in the division that worked so hard just to make sure that all the

[02:24:01] great stuff you saw tonight you know happens mr. Emil is his own kind of hero. But being surrounded mostly by, you know, just really dedicated women that are really inspired to help make us the division that we are. And it's the division that I'm very proud of. And I think that, you know, in Manassas, it's a story that we should be telling. And I think we saw a lot of examples of that tonight. So, you know, the Impact Awards were great. I don't want to play down anything that we learned about tonight. But I think everybody else has been pretty eloquent about just

[02:24:36] thanking you for the work that you do and caring about our kids so with that we'll take a motion to adjourn I move that the school board meeting adjourn okay I have a motion by Miss Stevens and a second that the school board of the city of Manassas adjourn is there any discussion all in favor anyone opposed are you guys okay to take a picture real quick thank you again for the for the

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