Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City School Board Work Session - March 12, 2026

Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 2h 6m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQMN9xRMR0M

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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[00:00:00] to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:00:29] Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll? Yes ma'am. Chair Spall? Here. Vice Chair Dr. Jones? Here. Mrs. Siebert? Here. Mrs. Steven? Mrs. Brecia? Ms. Brown?

[00:00:45] Here. Myles here. Thank you. Madam Chair, we have a quorum. Thank you. Are there any additions or relations to the agenda? No ma'am. No ma'am. Thank you, Dr. Newton. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the public meeting agenda? Madam Chair, I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approved the public meeting agenda as presented. Second. Okay. I have a motion.

[00:01:18] Ms. Sieberg, second is Ms. Miles, that we approve the public meeting agenda. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Five. Oh, nice little homey group. Not home leave.

[00:01:37] Okay, so I think we move now to our proposed business, which is implicit bias training, provided to us by Dr. Barrett. Thank you for being here.

[00:01:54] Thank you very much for having me be a part of this conversation, this culturally responsive equitable practice.

[00:02:07] This is culturally responsive, this is a step, and I grew up in this group, for a semester

[00:02:47] students give great feedback, a lot of feedback to be a part of this group, not always a real

[00:03:36] conversation. Today, a learning opportunity, we have an opportunity to engage in a candid conversation that challenges

[00:03:56] in the brain. Always say there's no one in the room that has no one in the room together to work and explore how we self-assess and how that might influence our decisions. And then we have an opportunity to examine our current assistive team. Always like to set the tone, set the stage, these types of views, okay? Safe space, brave space. Yes, everything. Keep these in mind. Give and receive welcome. I want to be welcoming to your thoughts and I want you to think I am welcoming. Listen and speak with an open mind.

[00:05:22] and be curious before being criminal. Ask questions for seeking clarity with the understanding that there may not always be anything.

[00:05:41] Embrace discomfort and be brave. You might have experienced some imbalance or uncertainty. You have these type of conversations. That's normal. That's normal because you're constructing new understanding.

[00:06:02] Respect yourself and others by actively listening and do not discount your lived experience. But all those things that they take come up with the best decision.

[00:06:25] And be you, truth, bring your authentic, accept you.

[00:06:55] I want you to want that person back. Want that person back. Want that voice at the table. It's important. You know why we need that voice at the table? Because they're working with our kids. And what I always hope for every conversation is that they're in a better place than the next conversation in terms of working with our kids.

[00:07:23] Our goals for today, I promise I will not read every slide to you. We want to have something to share or whatever is important to compete on. This is the goal for the conversation today. Our focus is implicit bias.

[00:07:40] But we're just going to touch it on a definition of explicit bias. We're going to recognize processes and how it may impact teams in a private practice, if they should face discern information.

[00:08:20] We've done this for some time. And so the information you will hear today comes from a number of places in the university. The agenda.

[00:08:44] Any questions about the agenda? Okay.

[00:09:03] To hear my voice, it's a place to get you involved. Sometimes it's just I'm willing to take a little walk. I'm trying to walk.

[00:09:20] Yeah, I'm walking. All right. If we could just go just kind of across the back of the room. It's a little ice cream.

[00:09:39] And I know you heard a lot of stories about the kids we've had over the years. Things that have come, challenges we've had, life, the great things we've achieved, et cetera.

[00:09:57] And so it's always important for me to get an idea of the individuals in the room. So this is, we don't have to talk. I'm going to read. This is the iceberg. Okay? If you could just listen to a statement that I make and follow the instruction you get.

[00:10:16] For example, when I read, if you have someone to the right, please take one step forward or move forward. If you have someone. Is that you? Yeah. I don't have anybody to write.

[00:10:34] The other, I know I'm going to follow you. Okay. okay okay then i'll explain it out if one again it's going to be there's some triggers you have conversations so this this this focus so the triggers are bias stereotypes discrimination and another trigger would be maybe passage down this activity we'll be focusing on a child let's

[00:11:12] age 21. Give us an idea. If one or both of your parents graduated from a university, please take one step forward. If you were impacted by divorce, take one step back. They can't go.

[00:11:44] Let's start over. You remember that. I don't know. You're one back. I can hear what you should have. We're on the same. Let's start. Can we start over again? Yeah, yeah. Let's start here. Everyone come to this line. Okay. So this line. Thank you. Because I'll be a villain. Okay. All right. Let's go back to the university if you have both parents that graduated.

[00:12:01] Take one step forward. Did you say one or both? Yes. One or both. One or both. Okay. If you were impacted by divorce, take one step back. Please. Okay. Did it take too big?

[00:12:17] Okay. If your household employed heifers such as gardeners, cooks, or nannies, please take one step first. I was like, which one of us did that?

[00:12:35] If you had access to transportation, if you had a car in the family, please take one step first. If you felt included among your peers at work, please take one step first.

[00:12:58] Did you say birth to 21? Yes. I wanted to go. That's fine. You stand still if it doesn't apply. If you constantly felt unsafe walking alone in life, please take one step back.

[00:13:18] If your family ever fled its homeland, take one step back. If you studied your ancestors and their history in elementary school, take one step forward.

[00:13:41] If your family had health insurance, take one step forward. If you have ever been bullied or made fun of based on something you cannot change, such as your gender, ethnicity, physical feature, age, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

[00:14:12] If your work, I'm sorry, if your work or school holidays coincided with religious or cultural holiday that you celebrated, please take one step forward. If you were ever offered a job because of your association with a friend or family member, please take one step back.

[00:14:40] If you were ever stopped and or questioned by the police because they felt you were suspicious, take one step back. If you and your family have ever inherited money or property, please take one step back.

[00:15:08] If you came from a supportive family environment, please take one step back. If one of your parents was ever laid off or unemployed, not by choice, please take one step back.

[00:15:31] If there was ever a time in your life when you needed to skip a meal or you were hungry because there was not enough money to buy food, take one step back.

[00:15:52] If you have a visible or invisible disability, such as difficulty hearing, please take one step back.

[00:16:08] If you were ever uncomfortable about a joke or statement you overheard related to your race, ethnicity, gender, appearance, or sexual orientation, please take a step.

[00:16:30] If your ancestors were forced to move to another country, take one step.

[00:16:48] If you would never think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs, take one step forward. If you took out a loan for your education, take one step.

[00:17:07] If you had a romantic partner, if you and your romantic partner can appear as a couple in public without fear of ridicule or violence, please take a step.

[00:17:33] If there was ever substance abuse in your household, please take a step back. If your parents told you that you could be anything you wanted to be, please take one step.

[00:18:01] This really helps me understand players. I just ask, as a team, to just turn around.

[00:18:18] Don't move, just turn around. You see, they all come from different places. They all have different experiences. And there's times when teams work together in a very good world for understanding why someone may respond to certain things.

[00:18:40] Let's think about our kids. They come from different places all over. They still have a responsibility. Make sure to maximize them. Maximize them. Don't leave.

[00:18:55] Don't eat that. There are times, you know, maybe at the top of the class, class. All of our kids. They're here, they're going to go here. They're here, we want to bring them further up to maximize. Sometimes that kid at the very top may not need a lot of resources to get to where he or she needs to be. That's fine. That's okay. But we want to make sure they get it. Okay? So they may need just five dollars for a cup of coffee. And they get them where they need to get it. They're headed to class.

[00:19:27] Then we have kids that have different experiences, different backgrounds, different challenges. They need more. We should identify what those needs are to make sure they have that to maximize their potential. That is our responsibility in both of the education.

[00:19:45] And so, yes, we may give them a little more, but we give them more to maximize their potential as well. Understanding where they're coming from, what their needs are, or trying to identify what they're doing. And it may be a little more, which is fine. So you may need $10 from a company, which is fine.

[00:20:02] Okay, and I'm just, that's it, the bookends, but there's funding here, there's support here, there's supplies here, there's material, same here and same here, and that's why these conversations are so important.

[00:20:20] And even when someone doesn't want to have that conversation, it's so important to give them at the table to look into a place and understand it outward. Thank you so much. Is that the walk you were talking about? Can we do that? Yes, ma'am. That's the walk you were talking about.

[00:20:36] Oh, my goodness. It's just so important that we don't make assumptions about people or circumstances or situations.

[00:20:52] We make sure we do the work to find out what's important. And so we've had these conversations for the past few years because it's important to build a collaborative workforce or environment.

[00:21:10] So you will often hear Dr. Newman or Mr. Capella have these conversations with staff. I will always remind them of these things, and this is why we have these conversations. This is the work we need to do. It doesn't mean we're going to always agree.

[00:21:26] We should feel respected, valued, and empowered to be a partner. Different perspectives are a sort of knowledge and consideration. And it doesn't mean we're going to do what you said, but we're going to hear you as we come to a petition.

[00:21:43] And then we'll give you a why in terms of why we did not do that work.

[00:22:18] Because when we assume this tends to happen, comes to people in a certain sense of a situation. Rumors have a tendency to lead to anyone finished up. - Miscommunication. - Miscommunication.

[00:22:34] - Distrust. - Distrust. - Distrust, yes. - Firing up. - Exclusion. - Exclusion. - I was thinking about spread, 'cause people spread rumors. They don't spread the truth, 'cause it won't be spread.

[00:22:50] - Absolutely. Which create and can create a negative workspace. - Yeah. - And we say, hey, we're pretty diverse.

[00:23:02] Being a person, that's okay. Our focus is explicit. Let's just take a look at the definition of the promise not to be taken by overt, negative behavior that can be expressed in physical and verbal.

[00:24:13] It's implicit because it's outside the person's awareness.

[00:24:43] Some of their own experiences help us to make quick decisions or judgmental key decisions in the workplace.

[00:25:07] Both think about peace and some others: sexual orientation, gender identity, weight, gender, physical abilities, religion, and there are many others.

[00:25:24] Can you think of a few more? It's a long list, but you can think of a few more. Say education. There's five. Love of education. Or lack of education. Younger students, like, if you weren't classes, they'll open up money.

[00:25:47] What is their money? Social economics, absolutely. How are you dressed? The way you dress? How are you dressed? How are you dressed? But don't even know about the open up with pin drugs. I like you for that. The family that you were raised there?

[00:26:03] Well, language. Here's someone with an accent.

[00:26:21] When we talked about the unconscious, there are 78. 78 focused on the unconscious and the common. Many things. Okay, be aware of the emotions.

[00:26:42] and how they might influence our actions and choices will help us make the invisible visible. That implicit bias can come out the wrong way at the wrong time, but not the right way.

[00:26:59] Origin of bias, influenced by stereotypes from the media, movies, TV, news, social media, magazines, newspapers, influence how we make.

[00:27:34] Our own experiences in life, groups that we hung around, the impact that our parents had on us, or families, adults as well. well. Other experiences, maybe someone early on, early in your life, who was assaulted by an individual of a different ethnicity, and that continues to impact you well into your

[00:28:00] adult. But you feel like it's all, all observations, things that you're observed over time. And

[00:28:21] these are something we have to come through cognitively. That has to come through. This

[00:29:39] advice exists at a level in our more primitive part of the brain where we learn fight or flight when we are in. For instance, the person grows up in a family or a neighbor or a school where everyone is the same race, greatly limiting their interaction with other races. And in early childhood, one of the persons' first experience with someone of a different race was negative.

[00:30:09] Not what I gave earlier, but an assault. No matter how many positive experiences that person may have in life, that early experience that will imprint it and may carry an eternal response when you're alive, that's uncommon.

[00:30:35] How do we change? You have to have more experience with the person before we have an outside chance. You have to be purposeful, purposeful, purposeful to do just that.

[00:30:55] And that means in your space. Are we able to give experiences? Absolutely. This is a conversation. This is not Eric Brent's time. This is our time. I have probably several of them to say. But I went to a school in Florida with a lot of students that were from the south, and they had never seen a black person in person, and I'm legit being serious.

[00:31:21] So my roommate, who is from Whitesburg, Kentucky, I do not make this up, that's what the name is to proceed she would stare at me while i was doing my hair i want to touch it like i was a doll or a pet or something and i had to really have like a heart-to-heart conversation with her because i'm like we can't do this like and i grew up around everybody yes so it was very different for me i grew up in northern virginia where um i feel like i was more of a minority because we just had so many different cultures right so it was just interesting but we became the best of friends but i changed her experience with other cultures because so it was a great

[00:32:01] effect by you know she was like wow you know i'm so glad i get to meet you because i've never experienced anyone except on tv that was not my race um so that was a good experience and i had another roommate who was from up north so it happened and she was from like uh boston and she had she said only black girls i ever experienced would have bad attitudes and were disrespectful and and I changed her experience with that too so and we became really good friends and we were roommates and so I feel like I've probably had the opposite experience you know

[00:32:35] where some people might have had their reverse but you're purposeful in your approach for understanding although you were offended yeah you said you need to get a deeper understanding of where she's coming - Right, I didn't understand.

[00:32:51] - And we have to get, initial reaction, yes. You want to lash out, that is not necessary, that's not necessary to answer. Try to understand where they're coming from. I have these conversations sometimes and I have no idea where they're coming from, but I know I need to get to it at some point to try to understand what they're coming from.

[00:33:17] Now, when I do what you want to want, I may not, I still may not understand, okay? But I have a better understanding of who you are. And what kind of conversation? Improving your way.

[00:33:34] Any other thoughts? Can you just about building the relationship? Very important. I know that we, I'm sure that we all have seen the little iceberg picture where you just see the tip of the iceberg.

[00:33:50] Yes. And so if you think of that as a person, what you see is just the tip of the iceberg. But what's underneath and all the layers that make that person that throws a rhythm in, all of those pieces are equally important. Absolutely. very important. We have to have the willingness on both sides. Okay, both sides. Because this person can't be willing to do the work, and this person is fighting everything for trying.

[00:34:18] And we have to be willing to work on both sides. It's not easy. It's not easy. Because you're on opposite ends of the spectrum, but it has to be in respect. But it's also the business of our lives, right? And also the context in which, in particular, this board means because there's layers in a context even relational conflict so that's why it's so important to remember that there's so much more and even in the activity that we just did the walk I was

[00:34:55] very surprised that Suzanne was in the middle and that was I was very surprised That's maybe a bias that I've had. I didn't expect her to be closer. So is that a bias?

[00:35:11] So I have to be conscientious about that. So what I see is the dip of the iceberg. Thank you so much, Sharon. That's the purpose of walk. Because weekends, I've done this because they've worked with 10 plus years. They learned that walk, a lot of better conversations down the road, more time with each other.

[00:35:35] that try to get one to one more. Yeah, and to put it into context, today, like, I was speaking to some colleagues and expressing how fearful I am because of the war in Iran and all of that, and she's like, oh, I don't worry about that.

[00:35:51] But then I tried to explain to her that I lived through 9-11 in New York, and I had family in the Twin Towers, I had friends, I have had lunch many times near or there, you know.

[00:36:07] and so that that's so palpable to me and so she's like you know I never would have thought about that context and so when I put it into context it was like ah now I understand why you feel more impacted than other people about the current event so I think sometimes just taking the time to explain the context to people does yield that opportunity to have that level of understanding and maybe a little bit more empathy.

[00:36:39] Even when you're offended. That's the worst time. But you have to take the time to understand it. Maybe the intent is not. Okay?

[00:37:06] Another activity? Sure. We can stay seated this time. I have a riddle for you. I want you to take a look at the riddle and just share with me how is this possible and your first thought.

[00:37:24] I just want you to go with your first thought. And this is old. Use this word. This has been around a long time. Decades. Any other thoughts?

[00:37:53] Well, I've seen those. You can't say any. But it's been around. Decades. I'm glad. I'm sorry.

[00:38:09] Do you all agree? Do you have other thoughts? No one has any other thoughts on what this possibly could be. It could be the other father. I don't get a coffee card for that.

[00:38:31] Yeah, because a lot of families, even though you're still out there, you're all at your father. Yeah. Okay. That was an answer. I was also looking forward.

[00:38:46] Yeah. It used to be that the mom was a wild answer, right? It was. That was the only answer for a period of time. The only answer. For a long time. And that wasn't even readily available. available and not everybody thought ever when this first came out they thank you yeah when it first started they couldn't even think of mom because they couldn't see a mother had they done that's certainly wow so this thing has evolved over time okay you can make it too yeah okay it's been like

[00:39:26] six years since i've been in a building as an assistant principal but even six years ago i had to have conversations with my staff when say two mothers showed up as the family and they were still feeling uncomfortable or two males as the family and so it's incredible that we are now thinking more and in that because we're getting closer to where we need to be in order to accept

[00:39:59] children and their family structures that's our responsibility sharing every single child every single child and the adults parents let's have a conversation even if you don't understand okay if you don't understand the situation it's important to have the conversation even if you don't believe this is public education we have the responsibility to maximize the potential

[00:40:30] The other thing is that we have to remember in our country, we are very blessed that we do, even though we talk about the biases, we have less biases here than other countries, because in a lot of our Middle Eastern countries, they know a lot of things.

[00:40:52] That kind of thing is, I mean, it's a crime in some ways. So I think that that's something we also, because we do have families that come here that they weren't treated that way, or women are not allowed to speak, or, you know what I mean? There's so many things. So we're very blessed, I feel like, too.

[00:41:11] Yeah. Yeah, but you bring a good point because also if we are leaders and we have a staff that's diverse And that is a cultural context for them, then that's why we need to be brave and well-versed so that when this situation happens and they grow from that context, we can guide them to say, it's okay, we can still be respectful.

[00:41:39] This is something that, you know, we value from our families, our families, our family. I want them to feel well. Characteristics, I don't know.

[00:42:05] Thank you.

[00:42:28] Something people don't want to talk about, though. That implicit bias against our own in-group. I think that's the toughest, but well, women, so I, if I'm in the dark, so if I'm in a dark place and it's really late at night, if I see a man coming towards my car, my instinct is immediately to make sure that I'm going along, but it's a very different reaction

[00:43:04] no slower reaction if i just see a woman walking towards my car and so that is a life and but it goes into also sermon and context and and so anyway so i do understand that and so when we have to live in those biases right that are formed by experiences and sometimes reality you know how

[00:43:34] do we how do we come off in a favorable way because the sermon is a thing and so it's it's kind of a

[00:43:59] judgment and sermon are heat for those times yeah context too because like if you're just walking outside running or something outside you're not going to have the same angst as if it was dark

[00:44:17] I have a student who did not want me to touch any of his papers or books, he didn't want anybody to laugh, touch his papers, his books, or anything, he would tell my teacher, "Sis it was white, you give that to me, I don't want her to touch it."

[00:45:38] he was just really that was his bias and then when um a spanish student came to the classroom he told that student you're lower than a black i mean that was what he said but he came back two years later and apologized he said he was sorry for his actions when he was in middle school because he educated himself they do come back to they come back and come back to have a conversation they come back and say we're having these conversations different people now um it's it's interesting you just have to open yourself to have them come together and i think it's also

[00:46:15] the way people are raised i will say that one that one thing about my family like we were very adamant my dad was very adamant about not watching certain movies that were derogatory towards white people because he wanted me to not have that image and he wanted me to be able to have relationships with all cultures and so he was like we're not watching that until you're old enough to understand and he would say that specifically but if you are taught a certain way you are going to respond unless you are taught another way in your opinion yeah and it happens and if you do watch certain

[00:46:50] things the way movies are portraying certain cultures you know derogatory or whatever or the past you know it's very important i think you forget about that that's why i always i think about other cultures because of the way families are raising their children, you can't control that. And that's hard. That is a hard thing.

[00:47:12] I had a similar experience to yours, Dr. Jones, but as an assistant principal, I used to greet my students every morning, and most of them will give me hugs, you know, if they wanted to. They're little, it was in elementary school, but they will give me a hug or fist bump or whatever or just chat with me but this one little girl uh wanted to hug me uh but her father had told her not to touch me because i was hispanic and she would cry to her teacher all the time because she could never give me a hug and she would and he went to my principal and said

[00:47:51] please make sure she never touches my child is that one agree with anyone being in leadership And so it was really hard for the student because the student was little and she didn't understand why her father wouldn't allow her to have kind of that natural relationship that other children were allowed to have.

[00:48:21] That was my experience, my father-in-law that raised kids very strong and had to do it.

[00:48:54] So I knew if they were going to get things done, they'd be very strong, too. So I knew those things early on, so my entire life, even in the 70s, that was never an issue. Most of some of my best mentors were female leaders.

[00:49:10] I mean, my best mentors, because it's about good character, integrity, morals, and ethics. And it doesn't matter what color you are, who you are, what color you are, how much money you have, et cetera, et cetera. It's not a price on those things.

[00:49:27] So I always knew how much money you had. You had work, church, faculty, integrity, morals, and ethics. It didn't matter. You should give just some money and a lot of good things. That's just the way this product and how it's consistent with a grandfather who kept it, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:49:47] Always respect. I don't care. I didn't have what happened, but I didn't think it would be better because we had all about that thing. So we're not. We're in a supervisor position. Now, y'all do. In the end, we have tough conversations. We can leave because we have to spread and stuff.

[00:50:18] So the association, we talk about associations in our minds because over time, we just, our minds are set. we just associate certain things with a certain I don't care it's hard to shake we just it's just hard to make those changes so I just want to do it corrective and associations and this is the we just want to deal with colors okay just make it very easy okay but just again my mindset we have

[00:50:55] somewhere in our life experiences we have associated this with this it is hard to change but we have to work to change this is just an example okay what I want you

[00:51:23] I just want you to give me the color. All those words. Okay. Fair enough. Just a bunch of words and you're going to see some colors. This is easy. Just give me the colors.

[00:51:39] Okay. I'll just give you the colors. So you go fast. Go. Green. Red. Yellow. Wait. You said red. Red. I want you to give me the colors.

[00:51:54] Not the word. Not the word. No, you stopped it too. Which is fine. I don't follow directions. No, you follow directions. Associations. Yellow.

[00:52:12] You saw yellow, but you associate red with red. And that's hard to change. I didn't follow directions. I tell my kids.

[00:52:24] you know what's funny our students are not able to read yet they would see the color

[00:52:58] Red, yellow, blue, green, touch it again, tap it again, tap it again, hang on, there, okay, I'm going to try that, okay, I can't keep page with my point, red, yellow, blue, green, red, yellow, all right, you take it too long, don't hesitate, but let's do it, We're going to start with the bottom and work our way up.

[00:53:38] Okay. Green, blue, yellow, red, green, blue, yellow, red. Green, blue, yellow, red, green, blue, yellow, red. Now there's a pattern.

[00:53:53] That's good. Well, there always was a pattern. Good. She said there was a pattern. Yeah. So that's easy. You got it now, right? I think so. - All right, start for the bottom. - Green, blue, yellow, red. Green, blue, yellow, red.

[00:54:16] But you know what? This is why I hate subtitles, because I end up reading. I'm writing them at the bottom, right? - Yes. - Okay, that's good. - It's hard, it's hard. - So we figured it out. - It's a challenge. - But it's still not natural, right? - No, no, no, no. - Okay, Mrs. Brown, we're gonna go all over.

[00:54:37] On one point, then you can tell them. - Okay. Which one do you? - I'm trying not to touch you. - Okay, green, blue, green, yellow, green. - You got it.

[00:54:54] - You're the first. - This is it. - Yeah. - Hey, we needed a childlizer. - Bye. - We needed two. - Life experiences. You've been taught certain things a certain way, and they're hard to change. And even if there are biases that come out, or they're expressed in a negative way, They still take the time to make sure you have them under control.

[00:55:18] And that's why you have to be people where they are, help them next time they'll take them off. You can't expect it to change or not. You have to be willing to have the conversation to understand where they're coming. You have to be willing to do it.

[00:55:35] And sometimes it's not easy sitting there to have that conversation. It's important.

[00:55:48] Because she should get it. Because she's the trailblazer. No, but I didn't do that. It doesn't matter how good you're coming. This is what you do with it. That's what I was going to say. We can just dump it. She's done with it. All those aspects.

[00:56:04] She's fine. I've been forwarding a lot of people. You're not saying me. People in my life and friends in my life, they had to buy. And they exposed me to those things. They shared those things. Because they knew I didn't have it.

[00:56:19] So it helped me along the way. So hey, you can keep getting there. This is what you do with it. Some people want to take it off, but some people want to help make others. Now, let's talk about those risks.

[00:56:37] We talked about some of this in terms of their bias and how we control it. control it. When they may come out, the intent. Let's talk about the individual factors that risk implicit bias. These are times when that bias that implicit bias shows emotions. If a person angry, has anxiety, fear, and disgust, that bias can come out. Maybe the intent was

[00:57:12] not there, but you didn't take the time to gather your thoughts and see what it's coming from. You just express yourself. Sometimes you feel bad afterwards. That was not my intent. It's not the way it went into a person.

[00:57:29] Exhaustion. You're just tired. You worked all day. You worked all day. You got to make some tough decisions about some very important things. It's the mind trust here about things that are happening for our kids, for our staff. Late night meetings, trying to make hard decisions.

[00:57:47] Hard decisions. I think when there's exhaustion for the board in particular, I often think about governance and how it just moves at the pace, the molasses. And for somebody like me who is an action-driven person and who wants to see things in place, I sometimes experience exhaustion.

[00:58:13] So I think, yeah. So that bias may come out of the way you do that intent. And that's, you've got to pull back a little bit, flat. Because it doesn't come out of the right way. I don't see how it's going to happen before.

[00:58:31] It probably brings back. And we're always looking. How can we move forward and how we respond to the tone that we use is very important if we're going to be able to move forward. I don't know too many departments or too many teams that get a lot of good work done attacking one another.

[00:58:55] I just haven't seen it in my lifetime. I'm young, I'm 60, but I just haven't seen it in my 60 years. I know that's not a lot of years. I just haven't seen a team that goes back. Now, I've seen a team that had passionate conversations, honest conversations, going back and forth, but I'm just staying and getting bothered because they're looking for answers.

[00:59:19] I mean, there are times, even in some of my teams, we have passionate conversations, and I was in a B-shirt program, and I may have made a decision that, hey, where did I have to go that way? But I'm driving home saying, no, it's a good point. Next day, hey, guys, you need to come back together.

[00:59:36] Okay, some good points made. We're going to have to revisit this. This is a better way to win this approach. Distractions, multitasking. I may be answering your emails when you're trying to do good work, not really paying attention, here's something, response.

[00:59:55] That's the voice. These are things here in terms of the structures that we have within.

[01:00:22] These are things you're not going to address right now. You may have a retreat down the road. Say, hey, how do we forward to make sure we're coming up with the best possible decisions and solutions for our team, for our division, for our students, for our parents?

[01:00:38] Some of the conversations we have with departments, these come and say, hey, we have a retreat, talk about some of my gender, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, because we want to cover an error. We want to make sure we're not coming back to this situation.

[01:00:53] Another situation may come up, which is fine, but we want to make sure we're able to forward, get things done, have honest conversations, have passion. So policies that we have in processes and decisions, the lack of processes, feedback, and reflections, pressures to perform in a particular way, the lack of diversity and decision being diverse I think we as a board are

[01:01:28] getting pretty we're improving on our structural societal that's key we have a board development committee now that is documenting our processes so it's known and there's you know makes it clear to everybody and you know everybody can contribute we're getting better. That's the goal we just want to continue to be able to perform.

[01:01:58] I feel what Diane said that I'm an action person. It's been very frustrating because I feel like the lack of diversity in decision making is different here than what I'm used to and being a leadership physician where if I saw a problem I fixed it let's do this instead of having to go through like red tape to figure out how to fix it so that's been really tough and I think the pressure to perform in particular ways is also a tough thing because there's certain things you can't

[01:02:34] say or certain ways you can't email someone or you can't you know approach it this way so that can be a little bit tough if you've never been in this kind of environment yeah and that social piece also because in the past they did you know almost wars I guess most wars are independent but we do have structures of political differences so for me it's been really tough because I come from the expectation that we were

[01:03:10] all elected to do was best for kids and so sometimes I think some people tend to forget that and want to perform in particular ways and i don't if i could just if i had imagined one that it would be one of the things that i would remove from the board because i think we all got elected for one purpose to do what's best for students and for teachers and i think we all have the capability to do that and if we were to stick to that i think we will be a little bit more

[01:03:43] efficient and efficient but that's easier said than done i have to believe until i know otherwise that everyone is worth your right attention i'm sorry i was just going to comment on the processes and the policies and i know that it's it can be difficult to understand but the reason why we have those policies and those processes is to keep it fair and transparent and that is a good one so and And again, I'm listening to this conversation.

[01:04:22] I'm saying, oh, this is a great retreat. I don't need to have the conversation. I used to do my retreats. I would send it out to my team. I'd say, wow, that's mean. I'd say, please see that you're done.

[01:04:38] Again, you're not going to always get one. You're going to understand it. And that's important. I think that they've done that a good job of, like, when, you know, I'm like, I'll give a response and they'll say, well, this is why.

[01:04:57] So I think we have been better about that. Because for me, being someone who thinks logically, but also emotionally, I do both. I need to know why. I don't like just being told no. So that has been a little bit better.

[01:05:13] It's always important to give the why. It's always important to give the why. It's always good to have those emotions. It's always good to have that under control. Right, that's true. But you don't like the why. That's true. But it's good to hear that.

[01:05:30] So that way, you know, okay, this is why. opposed to just being because you know i don't know if all of you were raised this way but mom will be like because i told you so and i would want to know why why you could question it all

[01:05:54] think we should give for understanding right for understanding it's true yes i may make one more comment too from the individual perspective but i think it for us it may fall on that structural society piece for support because um when four of us came in three were veterans and so that does lend itself to anxiety maybe fear for new members but maybe anxiety for new members or It's just the dynamics changed, and unfortunately, that cannot be.

[01:06:29] Did you express those fears to your team? I don't think that anybody expressed those, but I'm certain that many of us experienced those. It's not just individual, but also it's not something that can be ironed out and be done with, because right now we're going to another change.

[01:06:48] So there's three running, and so there's a possibility. there's a possibility yeah yeah there's a possibility yeah yeah yeah so there's a possibility of two branding members next year and then reset it could be the possibility of three branding members next year so that that that's that brings anxiety and and and for some people it might bring fear and so being aware of that because we cannot help it out and it just it

[01:07:26] just depends and by giving people a chance and not holding biases i think building those relationships might be the key that keeps us on the upward and not right static understanding and the wise yeah i would say treats every year certain things may be a place in the mind to make changes and again you have new members offered so you're always addressing your students for two years

[01:08:04] it's like the clt's yeah foundation yeah you have veterans that know i know now you have newcomers coming in they're going to get information right away because the president should address your fears right i don't know how it is in your skills or the artist or school or just the dynamic when you have new teachers coming in they're actually easier sometimes to work with than the ones that been there for years and well if you have a good clt yeah if you have a good clt with a strong

[01:08:37] foundation when those new teachers come in it is so easy because it's so solid they're on board they understand what they need and support those teachers etc etc but there are some clt that have difficulties every single year so it depends on the clt and the type of foundation but i think I think the CLT is not really a thing.

[01:09:05] It's more of the relationships with the people that are in the CLT sometimes. Because we're all different. But the good ones have those relationships, right? Sure, and that's why they work. They have their under-assigned duties, responsibilities as a team. And if you don't come, you need to fulfill your duties.

[01:09:21] That team is holding you accountable. Which is good accountability. I'm so sorry. I said 40 minutes. Okay. It's okay. This is great. I need to do that. Yeah. All right, here we go.

[01:09:37] Tips for interrupting, you talked about some of this earlier. I believe Mr. Brownlee. Some of the ways. Slow down and allow yourself to time and space for the children. Yes, ma'am. OK.

[01:09:52] Yes, ma'am. You're going to do the best. It's all heavy for me. No, I'm just kidding. And again, even emotions come to surface. Frustration comes to surface. Consider all your responses if we want to make a difference, if we want to be able to move forward.

[01:10:20] If you don't care about those things, go ahead and respond. I can assure you you're not going to focus on facts and evidence. We talked about this throughout. Specific examples as you make decisions.

[01:10:37] The whys. I think this is a big one, too, because, you know, a lot of people have a lot of ideas or, you know, examples in their head. But if you can't articulate it, you know, even the most supportive group, you know, if they really don't know what the direction, you know, you just need to be able to give good examples.

[01:11:00] Leaders tell me, I don't always need to give goodbye. Tough time, give bye. That's true, yeah. They're going to hold a long time. They may do it. They may go through the motions. Sure, how are you going to be able to move forward?

[01:11:17] And get results. And get results. Right. I think the slowdown and allow yourself time and space before making decisions is kind of what our team did with certain things. Like we saw we were getting kind of like a stalemate, let's take a break, and then come back to this.

[01:11:32] And I think that we did try to do that because it was, we talked at the beginning, but focusing on back evidence and kind of leaving the emotional piece out is, I know that's one thing I've always been taught, like my grandma was an administrator and she was up there, I would always call her for tips and she's like, take your emotions out, where the facts at, you know, and so that's something that's hard when you have a bunch of people, emotional being, right? So remembering to stick with those things.

[01:12:03] But you know what? You're saying that's women. That's a body. Is it? You're right. That's true. It's all humans. I thought you said that. I did. I did. I said that we're a emotional being.

[01:12:20] Oh. I would not have said okay. Because that would be a no-no for me to say. and you know what that's an implicit because you you have that in your mind that that's what women are your emotional means that even unconsciously i should not have said

[01:12:47] i think it's also too because i grew up around guys and i also worked better with men just because and that was my experience let me say this now men are emotional correct we have a different way of displaying those emotions that's true i guess i guess the emotions that i've seen is i've had different experiences and that and that like you said your biases are shaped by your experiences well let's go back let's go back to the colors

[01:13:22] Well, there's a lot. There's several issues underlying that little statement because we are also assuming that emotions are negative. And, in fact, I'm doing a training on Sunday about emotions because just saying that women are emotional, that's not a negative.

[01:13:42] All human beings should be aware that they are emotional beings. I don't want to give the impression that we're saying emotions, all emotions, are negative. These emotions lead to negative reactions.

[01:14:01] And I guess what I'm always saying is that, you know how they say lead with your head, not your heart, because your heart sometimes will lead you astray. So that's what I was talking about. Let me say that, not everyone else. And the reason why I was saying that is because if we don't focus on facts, evidence, and examples to make decisions, and we base it on our own emotions, our peers, my emotions are going to be different than your emotions.

[01:14:27] So that's kind of what I think that in my experience, I've seen men do a better job of that than we do. That's what I see. Now everyone's experience might be different. And what I was saying, Nina, is that saying that your statement is biased, even that is biased in itself because we're given an qualifier to emotions, That's what I was digging in the 50s.

[01:14:54] I got you. I love to hear you. This is good though. My job is to make sure you go away with something new. I always like to walk away with something. I don't care if I do this 20 years. I want to walk away with something.

[01:15:10] I do. This piece is really interesting for a retreat. So let's go over the last two.

[01:15:23] I was joking the other day because I get all these credit card offers, and when I was younger, no bank would get any money.

[01:15:57] And that's a conversation we've had a lot of conversations, and that has been in place for some time in our society. It took years to get through, and it's going to take a lot of years to get over that.

[01:16:19] Who we choose to help. I'm sure. Who we choose to help. Have that conversation, because I have a friend that really needed help, and I was like, well, she's this, and she's this. on stuff but i'm also what if i happen to you there are sometimes you know that on the surface there are people that they have everything that they need you feel like you don't have to help them they need help just as much as someone else that's what i don't do the homework get the facts

[01:16:50] get the evidence etc etc you cannot assume that everything will get tired is a big one i lived it and through my skin through my own experiences but now i'm living it from hr perspective because now i am on interview panels and i have to constantly you know retrain and retrain and retrain and retrain so that we are equitable and we come to that interview panel with the least

[01:17:24] amount of bias is we want to hire an individual but that is a huge one for bias especially here you know i had a conversation i don't want to bring out this is not bad words there will never be bad okay and though that was about bringing i'm not talking to students that was about making

[01:17:55] should bring qualified individuals to the table right as well that was right then of course right and on the flip side what we see what we see today is okay you you say that's a problem but you have unqualified going into positions with no diversity so it's always important i'm not that political

[01:18:32] I'm not, I'm about right on treating people like that. Okay. I always pay careful attention to your foot.

[01:18:48] People alter the Bible to justify certain behaviors be hundreds of years ago. So this here, if you just watch the foot print, it speaks for itself.

[01:19:06] - Is that your phrase? Please close attention to your foot print. I will say, I-- - I'm sorry, say it. - Is that your phrase? That is not... 2026? Yeah, that's my phrase. That's just who I am. I do listen carefully to what you say to me.

[01:19:27] I do watch you watch me. Right. Thank you. I do. I've always done that. I want them to do the same for me. Hold me accountable. I just want to make sure you talk matches you walk. Right. I love how you said highly qualified, no matter what, because I want to say that.

[01:19:43] Because I spoke to a gentleman a few months ago, and he had a conversation about, you know, he's had a lot of trouble getting hired in certain places, and it was not a person who would think would have trouble getting hired. He said, well, the occupation that I'm in, it's predominantly a certain height, and I don't fit that.

[01:20:04] And so I've been passed over for this position. And so people don't understand, and he's just really angry about it. And I'm just like, wow, I'm just, because I, what I've experienced is the total opposite. But I think the bias was that everyone who looks like you gets this, but it doesn't always happen like that.

[01:20:25] And so we have to remember that, like we've said, our biases are because of our experiences and a person's bias. We need to kind of dig deep, like why do they have that bias? And not just assume it's because they're racist or because of this or that.

[01:20:42] and really try to get to understand them as well because once he told me i was like wow i'm so sorry you had to enjoy that you know like yeah and i'm fine i've got this and i've been trying to apply for this job and this job and i can't get it i'm like wow and i was going to say well i've experienced that but on the other side so yeah my son marco experienced that in the netherlands because he wasn't you know a dutch he was a dutch and um but they explained to him that when they do hire an american or somebody else by the country they have to do a lot more

[01:21:19] paperwork and but he he is employed now and he's you know on a student visa sorry but that's interesting that he learned that yep and and he it helped him understand you know right can i make one more comment about who gets hired yes okay i think also we we face systemic challenges for that because it's not it's not just looking for the highly qualified candidates but getting

[01:21:51] highly qualified people highly trained people in those interview panels and so i think that's where we fail systemically yeah i would agree with that i mean i've noticed that a few times yes and having a lot that it might have been a different result if we had different qualified people are only yeah yeah and not just you know you have to train every train and continually

[01:22:23] train i remember when i was younger in a system with 86 schools that was mostly vocation i was told many many times that you know they put me in this school because i was a better fit to that community or that I fit better with that culture and so I always challenge them to say how do I add value to the culture that you didn't want to send me there and so I work for Prince William County Public Schools now and one of the mottos is looking for people who add value so they have me at that slogan but

[01:23:02] it's because that's really important it's not about fitting in the culture because then you say implicitly that that culture is the best culture. And I think when you bring human talent, you have to be open to improving the culture and continuing to grow the culture.

[01:23:20] So when you look for people, you need to be sure that those people can add value for that culture and not just fit in. I like that. No, that's okay. Where do you live? I'll tell you about the time.

[01:23:38] Oh, my God. People think I'm rich because I live in Sunder Lake. well i will tell you guys a story okay so i'm getting that out there i'm not rich but people do believe i'm rich i just i did it it's something i just remember as a child my dad like when we would be a certain part of where he grew up he and then we would come back to where we live and he would lock the door he's like we're not there you don't have to lock the door here you know like he just it was an assumption that we live in a safe area so no one's going to break up into our are you know like so i think that that that assumption is there too that depending on who

[01:24:17] you live around or what area it is that it's more safe than other areas i still have a mistake 60 years later i have a habit of checking to make sure my wife raised me right wow what do you do that very well the things that were happening in the neighborhood the things you could hear outside I just wanted to ask you, when you said where you live, I also think about how I know at

[01:24:52] one time we brought in so many teachers from Pennsylvania and many of them and that was seen and that were associated with black students that may not have been associated with Hispanic students and so you had to kind of, it's kind of a learning experience for them and you want to make sure that they weren't, you know, like being black, this one person is always in service. Most of them, you poor little baby. But you got to teach. We got to teach the standards.

[01:25:15] And I'm assuming that they can't learn and they don't know something just because of who they are and what you've seen on TV. And I know when my son was looking at colleges, we went to one in Pennsylvania. And this one student, he was a senior. He didn't actually be an African-American until he got to college yet. And he was just from some small town in Pennsylvania. But I mean, think when you bring teachers in from other places you have to consider what do they know about the students that they're teaching and are we equipping them to teach them the quality standards and yeah

[01:25:50] and that gentleman in the situation of something beginning is from pennsylvania to hear that story you talk about it's just it is tea

[01:26:16] i had a participant teacher that i worked with um and uh a couple years ago and she you know know sign the contract and everything and she comes she's like yeah i didn't know no one spoke english like none of my parents speak english they didn't tell me that this was the type of school

[01:26:54] i was coming to and i was like wow she's like i wasn't prepared for this you know and so it was a real learning curve but she loved children and so the parents loved her she was like a loved teacher but it was it was very hard it was a culture shock for her especially being in jamaica where you have no other culture really and depending where you are but um i think it is like you said dr jones to really train our teachers or at least give them um pd or something where it's similar to this for them for students for um teachers who don't have that experience you know

[01:27:32] are reducing bias that's what we need i mean and it starts with these conversations whether we're

[01:27:43] have here, you have a tree, you have a meeting in your conversation. It's just, we have to deal with it. I already did that in the second one. Listen, this is, none of us, they see, brave speech, none of us, none of us. And again, you do, someone should call you on that, okay? But that's okay, in a very respectful way. And then we have a conversation about why. That can happen to you.

[01:28:26] We're not generalized. All boys are. All girls are. All women are. All men, etc., etc. Diversity. Studies have shown over time, more we're exposed to diversity, more and less like who we are to think stereotypes.

[01:28:50] They'll step up inside the neighborhood, go to different events. It's uncomfortable for you. It's okay. It's okay.

[01:29:02] We have resiliency. Always respect this. Just a question. We welcome all. Not going through emotions.

[01:30:01] We're having a hard conversation. These are painful experiences. I think that two thoughts I had about, I don't think I'm ready to talk about discrimination,

[01:30:33] but challenging microaggressions, we have to be able to understand the fact what those are. And typically, in my experience, when I challenge those microaggressions, then there's a bias, an automatic bias or a label given as being combative of being disruptive or those kinds of things so i think this is a very impactful statement but it was one that will require it just on the microaggressions it requires a lot of unpacking

[01:31:08] in order to be able to make progress on that if so if you're challenging someone building you're coming across in that manner there needs to be a conversation you know what i'm saying Because you also have to be able to take their perspective, you know, in terms of what they're saying.

[01:31:32] If you want them to be open to yours, you have to be open. I said, sometimes you don't be open. How do we get here? Now, if we start here, how do we get here before we get here? How do we get in that situation?

[01:31:47] We have to be open. It doesn't mean the conversation is going to be easy. It doesn't mean you're going to be satisfied with the outcome. But you can walk away with an understanding of what you're saying. They should walk away instead of irritated.

[01:32:03] - And with that, - I'm done.

[01:32:19] - Okay. - That's good. I'm done. - I do say, and I do say this, after every conversation, to Spall and the team, you'll decide how you're gonna get this conversation, how you're gonna be able to kneel in time.

[01:32:42] Thank you. - Thank you so much. - How's the CREP committee going? - The CREP, the task force is, I am pleased with the conversations that we're having. In the conversation, I'm going to talk about folks with parents and students that they gave us enough feedback and a focus for next year.

[01:33:08] But things we may have missed over the years today, we need to focus a lot. And that's what I thought about. That's why I got to have these voices. You don't have to lie, but you're here. You got to do something. So we do need to be bad. We have to stop.

[01:33:24] We want to talk about some of the things we'll go.

[01:33:43] So you may have these conversations. but next week we have a task force meeting people.

[01:34:20] I just feel this, standard six covers a lot, and if you get a chance, it'll take a look. If we, it will take every single step. Let's take a look. So it's not easy to get that right.

[01:34:39] My opinion is one opinion. Okay. It's your own opinion. I think it's interesting to talk. We talk about hair every single child. Every single child, half of those conversations, the update, the update, the update, data conversation on data dialogues, et cetera, et cetera.

[01:34:58] So I'm not saying it's easy work, but we have to continue to have a conversation to evolve one more time. Thank you. Thank you. I said 40 minutes. Can we process for seven minutes? Yes. Oh, okay. No, thank you for sharing.

[01:35:16] Thank you. Thank you. It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry. Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown, it's very nice to meet you for the first time. It is. - Likewise, I mean, yeah.

[01:35:32] - And nicely left. - Did you say seven minutes online? - She said seven, yeah, okay.

[01:35:38] - It could be summer, but it doesn't have to be,

[01:41:13] you know, but I mean, I think question one is, would you be able to help us, you know, do a deeper dive, number one? - Yeah, I would say yes right now. - Okay. - Trying to get understanding of that.

[01:41:29] - Right. - Deeper dive, deeper dive. - I mean, I think that as long as we're keeping - You can talk to them later. - You don't have to team each other.

[01:41:47] Yes, I would always. - If we say we like you as a trainer. - I'm just a part of the conversation. - If we want more of a group of different programs that you can-- - A topic, there's a lot of topics that fall under this. There's no question about that. So I would always say, I've never said you know it's bad.

[01:42:05] That's a big deal. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, but I just, I mean, this is kind of a good step forward. was um you know we have had some other trainings and it wasn't all it didn't all have the same outcome so if we if we decided that we like dr brent in his style can we work with dr brent well okay i mean we can both think about it but i can get some more feedback from these guys but but I just wanted to know in your bag of, I don't wanna say tricks, but in your bag,

[01:42:43] in your deep, deep, deep, vast bag of knowledge. - Conversations. - These are real honest conversations about how. - Yeah, okay, great. Well then we'll be in touch tomorrow, the next day. - Thank you. - In fact, Brian is not available on the 17th of June. - Yes. - He's traveling.

[01:42:59] - Yeah. - He's available on the 18th. - I think I'll fly back in the 17th. i think that you know we probably but you said not the retreat probably not maybe you know our own we might still call it a retreat but not that retreat that's perfect thank you thank you very much have a great evening you too all right chair take us away okay so again i'm just talking about ongoing um you know topics here this is something that you guys would be will am i understanding

[01:43:37] correctly this is something you guys would be willing to open up your calendars and say I want to pick a day to work on some kind of a deeper dive that is something in the neighborhood of further board development yeah preferably on a day that we're off so don't stick off for it but um well yeah okay so um it might be something that would be you know maybe maybe closer survey here but you know and it doesn't necessarily have to be 8:30 4:30 you know

[01:44:12] something but um and if I can get some kind of a menu of topics from dr. Brent would you guys like to see that yes that'll be the day you can say here are three potential things that sound good yeah and here are five days that he could work with us yeah then we can maybe say yeah it's gonna be important that we get everybody's yes yes everyone can be in attendance i think especially since we have to work together as a team i mean if you want to hear we're doing things on our own and you know yeah yeah no i mean

[01:44:44] i i agree and i'm pleased to hear it so i'm highly motivated to make it work but um uh you know how we're going to do it those are the things that i guess but just the understanding right now we're not trying to add anything right at this point of that depth and into the current into the current yeah right well I think that's that's great um and I'd like to invite everybody to Dunkin Donuts and we can maybe have a hot

[01:45:17] chocolate or coffee one day soon oh yeah well one-on-one I guess Well, we could probably do. We could do something.

[01:45:32] We just couldn't talk about work. We can put our hair down for a cup of coffee. All right. Are we allowed to socialize? Just not. I think. Maybe we should have a discussion topic. Just talk to the school board. Yeah. Talk about the weather.

[01:45:47] Sorry. Right? So it's supposed to be acceptable topics to discuss. Well, or everyone can enjoy some stuff in the notes. Yeah. Maybe we'll, I'll call it impromptu Duncan Day and everybody brings a coffee for the meeting. Okay.

[01:46:03] I have a few little cards, a discussion card. I would love that. And we can bring up the EM. I can bring up the EM. Yeah, that would be fun. Meet me at Duncan and we're good. We're not meeting. I think it's good, like, cards that are insightful that need you to talk about things is good.

[01:46:20] And then you can bring those to the retreat and we can just kind of throw them around one night. We used to do that, like, at dinner time. Yeah. Did we do that? I think we talked about topics when we were at dinner, like at the restaurant, but it was just random. All of us were, like, conversating. Okay.

[01:46:36] Okay. So, um, it may not work out for all of us, but everybody's enjoying it. Yeah, but I like bringing it, too. We'll think of it when we're back at them. There we go. Okay, so I think, is it time to move on to our continued discussion of Speed of Trust?

[01:46:56] Yes. I think so. Okay. And so, Diana, would you like to lead us off with this conversation between 95 and 128? Yep. Give me a moment to share my notes.

[01:47:13] All right. So we were looking at capabilities. And are you relevant from page 95? That's everybody there. And so.

[01:47:30] Hold on. Did I take my notes? So when we talk about capabilities, we go directly into skills. what you do well and sorry but the whole thing about this chapter is that he talks about can you actually produce result and some parts that I really like

[01:48:05] because I just have this acronym on my wall for my staff and for myself is the tasks where you it's not just about getting things done but using your talents to get those things done. It's the attitude, like somebody talked about their grandmother, but my grandmother always said, you know, do everything with love. So it's your attitude towards that task. It's the skills and your knowledge behind how you get those tasks done. And it's your style. And the style piece is

[01:48:42] the piece that makes you unique. And so when you do the thing that you do, even somebody else does the same thing you might look different because that's the piece that I like about this acronym of B.A.I.G.E. '97. It's your style and your uniqueness and so that's for me that equals to value and so that was one of the pieces that I took away from this particular chapter about capabilities.

[01:49:09] So do you want us to go around the table and just talk about? I have a few pieces you took away if anything and it's okay this wasn't you know it didn't resonate with you but this particular page of 97 did resonate with me anybody want to go first with me to take a stab at it or anybody um i had two that i really liked um if you don't

[01:49:41] like change you're going to like irrelevance even less um page 106 i thought that you know that's really it's really interesting and just on multiple levels um you know resonated with me right now but what I really like also was just on the top of 112 you can't create a high trust culture unless people form you know I think that we're really working hard here to build a team but you know I think the thing that's gonna make us come together the most is having some results that we can all

[01:50:20] stand behind. And so, I mean, I'm really excited about, you know, the school reports and, you know, learning about the new academic textbooks and watching, you know, the things that are happening in ESOL. I mean, all those things are just, I can't imagine as a new-ish board member, you know, being in my, at the beginning of my second year and seeing all these things kind of come together, that, you know, I think that you guys have to feel different about us than you did a year ago

[01:50:57] just by seeing the quality people that are just, you know, pouring their hearts into what we're doing every single day. So, and, you know, things like All Dead and Jenny Dean coming together are, you know, really powerful things.

[01:51:14] So I just, I like that it's, you know, it wouldn't be a direct quote unless people perform, to me you know unless you're producing something and i think that we're we're getting there or as a team we can say we did this right and if i can make a connection share on that page 113 too with results i think i i thought about the alt ed program because we promised that and we delivered on that um but that you're right there were there's so many other things including the ef program that we just discussed at the last meeting um we promised that and you guys did

[01:51:51] the heavy lifting prior to our arrival and here are the results so i think as a board um even though we say we're doing we're doing we're doing and people don't see the tangible results our credibility is a board as an effective board does get stained so i think telling that story and highlighting and elevating the things that we are doing will build that credibility so that results matter can i add on to that yes um page 113 again about results and i'm going to change some of the words

[01:52:27] in here okay sure um let's see the whole experience seeing the effect though that the results had on our relationship with our city council as they saw us reaching milestone after milestone during those period of time producing hitting the numbers increasing the margin increasing the cash or funding as we had committed to do we could see their confidence in us grow they began to see us as a good risk they significantly increased our funding amount again and again and again they wanted to give us uh what we needed to succeed oh that was a great connection

[01:53:11] what a wonderful audience yeah no i hope they hear that because i think we we take it for granted that they too need to hear you know descriptive positive feedback because they're doing hard work as well and within strains of their budgets and things so all right thanks to that thank you for having me and i was kind of like on the same page um i had like what is your track record so okay one-thirds one-twelve okay yeah what is your track record and um so um i just um i saw a teacher the other day and it says it's not what you said

[01:53:45] was what are your actions and so i think it's really important that when we i i shouldn't use the word judge we think of what people do kind of look at what have we done in the past what they currently doing and then from there we decide can we trust them to do what they're able to do in the future for us so i thought that was really important so i think we want to look at that track record of everybody ourselves and other people in the city because and we want to make sure we have a good track record okay so some of us have to be concerned what other people do

[01:54:16] do we do what we do i'm hoping that your suggestion of the book the highlights for the year like the date of the school's whatever report i really hope that that brings some attention and people celebrate a school yeah and like the adult classes you know that would be great to add to that i just think a year ago you know we all had things that we wanted to do for schools and we all had a pure heart you know if you will but if you asked us what our mission of the board was you know we would have all said seven different and as we start to have these common experiences where

[01:54:56] things are um things that we're together watching press you know i think that maybe our story will come a little bit more online you know and it doesn't have to be this one thing but you know if and i think i talked to you about this in the parking lot the other day but if our you know our mantra became it's our job to catch people being good you know it's a very small simple statement but if that if we all said that you know when people said what is your mission as a board it doesn't have to be that that's just an example but you know i mean if it was if it rolled off the tongue and it was encompassed you know a large enough goal that it still fit you

[01:55:35] know what people kind of wanted to do but but to me that's kind of what it really is but we just we just weren't there a year ago but now you know we're seeing these things and what i think i like in what you said too i don't know the exact phraseology i think you wrote it down but what dr brent just said about watching their footprints yeah pay close attention to your footprint yeah yeah results matter yeah yeah so i mean you know i just i think it's the only constant here on this board any board you know is going to be change and so we know we're rolling into another person

[01:56:10] or two people or three people and you know um getting ahead of that and realizing that you know where development matters people feel isolated the way that the job just is is more isolating than you think when you're out campaigning you know it's just you can't that we you know five years in i just tried to have a party and it's not that we couldn't we could you know make our own rules and we could say but but it's a little facetious to make people think that we can just get together and it takes time and it takes effort and um you know i still believe that we can we can

[01:56:46] get there we can build that team and we can show people that seven women can produce result you know eight yeah um so uh yeah i just i i saw the one that said what made them want to extend more trust result right as give those results council you know even the community you know is going to have more trust in our schools because they're seeing different things and we're highlighting

[01:57:21] those things because sometimes we don't highlight as much yeah when we do you know and just this concept of assuming best intentions you know I mean there are times when I think that you come that a problem you know chair chair chair seeberg you know it was great about you know i mean i see so many things that you guys ask or say or do you know that i asked or said or did but you know she kind of helped me when i was new understand you know to look at the big picture and to you know assume best intentions it's so easy to pick you know what about this it's easy to criticize yeah

[01:57:58] But when you really do try to catch people being good, it's pretty, you know, first of all, it's very fulfilling. But second of all, you know, I mean, you have to dig a little deeper than just trying to find what's wrong. Because anybody, you know, every single one of us, somebody finds what's wrong with us.

[01:58:17] Nobody's perfect. We always tell teachers, tell the problem, tell the solution. Yeah, yeah. We may not like the solution, but come with it. I mean, as a volunteer, that was definitely what I always tried to love that. you know yeah that's the way to go right because you just show up and tell people what they're doing well i mean and then it becomes a complaint session as opposed to problem solving yeah like we have this problem walk and solve it yeah and that's you know you know here or there about about the book but i appreciate that the book keeps us kind of grounded and again i mean it's

[01:58:49] just a common theme that we can talk about what's our next assignment yeah can i close with 117 yes 2017 because i think it's important to say that this part um the what and the how those two pieces are really important so we are getting the work done um and i think we were being efficient on that end but i think the how was getting in the way uh what was continuing to get in the way of this board and i think that right now by having this training by doing the the book study by attempting to build relationships with each other, that how is going to get easier.

[01:59:30] And in Fairfax, I had some team members that were young moms, and three o'clock was their hard stop. And I watched their time like a hawk because I wanted them to go home at three o'clock. And so they value so much my intentional effort to be respected of that, that when they were there from 733 they gave me a thousand percent but it was because i always will tell people no this is how we're going to do it and so i was always i was always mindful about getting the result but i

[02:00:08] was very intentional with that and i think that we're making i believe we're making step stores improving the house as a board as a goal i i think we're all putting in work and i appreciate everybody for doing that you know um and i think that when you put in the work it's got to eventually pay off you know i mean it's some maybe it's like losing weight people don't know this right away you know and then it's all of a sudden you're just like one day i go wait a minute something's different you know so i think we're getting there i think we're going to know something a little bit different i know i was saying that um practice makes better not perfect you know

[02:00:47] how people say practice is perfect so I think as we practice the same correct agreements teamwork and all that we're going to get those results and it'll be a better team and not you know I'm trying really hard to give the wise you know sometimes it might be with a typo or it might be done quickly you know I don't know like again progress over perfection but I am trying to listen you know and I think you know every everybody's doing their best and I think you know we need to continually thank each other for doing that because it's not an easy job and

[02:01:24] there's really I don't think in masses you know maybe other places but we haven't done a really good job of explaining to candidates what really happens you know you know I don't think people get it they don't yeah until you're here and think of it but when you're in the thick of it you know you start to get your why and you start to understand you know and you start to just find new ways to create more time because everything is important it's all equally important i have an ideas for that but i'll i'm saving for retreat okay we talked about it yeah oh great all right

[02:01:59] so the next assignment is the 13 behaviors and this is the meat and potatoes of the book because if we learn this 13 behavior so we master a few of these behaviors um our trust reliability will exponentially increase so um we could do um it's page 130 we could do the first five behaviors that would be good yeah yeah more of a chunk up to 156 oh no uh to so it's 130 where the 13

[02:02:32] behaviors begin and 177 yeah to 177. and what is the work session um are we allowed to ask about the two different dates now or i mean it's what the uh it's march 26th they have that email so So that correspondence about providing a new feedback or having heard from anyone except for one person.

[02:03:11] Okay, so there are two upcoming potential work sessions. I think we definitely have enough to fulfill one of those two dates if there's an appetite to do both. But there is a reminder that the 26th of March is right before spring break.

[02:03:31] So, you know, I just don't know if people are going to just kind of – it's only the Thursday. It's not like we're asking you to stay on a Friday, but just if people are just kind of mentally done by the 26th. So we have it set on our calendar. You guys have an email that you can respond to.

[02:03:47] We don't have to discuss it here, but there's an opportunity to do just one in April or two. And the one that we would add then would be the 26th of the month. I mean, Thursdays for me are already slated.

[02:04:03] So the next two potential ones will be March 26th or April 16th. Now, if we wanted to make a little bit more progress on the reading, we could split the behaviors. Like one board member can take behavior one and two, another board member can take behavior two and four.

[02:04:25] I think for those of us that want to, you know, read the whole book, there's no reason not to. I mean, I think we can have the freedom. yeah yeah if you know if for some reason somebody just wanted to scan it it sounds like you've given them the freedom you know to just pick one um but for like today we did two yeah yeah yeah that's great yeah i mean we're getting through it you know just like we got some other books uh in the queue um so you know i mean i think that we're listen it's back to this irrelevancy you know

[02:04:59] we're trying to keep ourselves um focused together and um i think you're going to find this next part okay so uh is there a motion to adjourn yes chair like a motion to adjourn me okay so i heard from um mr brown seconded by dr jones um the motion to adjourn uh is there any

[02:05:33] discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5-0. Yay. Thank you, everybody. Thanks. Have a good night. I still can't quite.

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