Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City School Board Meeting - July 28, 2026

Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 2h 39m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeM9975Wi38

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 2026-10-16. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:04] For the regular meeting of the school board of the city of Manassas, the time is 6 o'clock. Please join me in a moment of silence, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the Black 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.

[00:00:39] Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll? Yes, ma'am. Chair Spall. Present. Vice Chair Dr. Jones. Here. Mrs. Siebert. here mrs. Stevens here mrs. Brescia present miss Brown miss miles present thank you madam chair we have a quorum thank you dr. Newman are there any additions or deletions to our agenda no ma'am great can I get a motion to approve the public meeting agenda chair I move that the school board of the city of Manassas adopt the public meeting agenda as presented second I have a

[00:01:18] motion by miss Stevens seconded by miss miles that we approve the public meeting agenda is there any discussion all in favor any opposed motion carries seven oh and i let's see it's now time for superintendent's spotlights so we are going to introduce our mcps career carousel that's correct thank you chair spall good evening to dr jones other members of the board and good evening to everyone that has joined us on tonight i stand before you to share just a few

[00:01:57] superintendent's announcements and spotlights and as chair said we're going to start off with our mcps career carousel we have mr eric godwin our cte work-based learning specialist he's going to come and share information about a job shadowing and workplace readiness program for our students with diverse abilities good evening chair spall vice chair jones dr newman other members of the school board um i'm pleased to announce or to spotlight our career carousel program This program's inception was stemmed from conversations between CTE and special education

[00:02:36] leaders in the midst of a federal program and civil rights review. The thoughts of every MCPS student will enter the workforce and how we prepare them is how this program truly came off the ground. Menae Braswell, who serves as our transition coordinator, stated that she would love to have a summer job shadowing program and we just kind of ran with that. We held monthly stakeholder meetings with CTE special education and transportation on how to pull this off.

[00:03:02] The special education leaders worked with students. I was able to connect with the businesses and the transportation department would get us there. The first year of the program we had 12 students and this year we had 15. We wanted to keep the program small and authentic so the students could be fully immersed in the experience. The career carousel is a two days packed with job shadowing and workplace readiness. Students were able to job shadow at two different locations within the city of Manassas and work on their resumes, interviewing skills, professional hygiene, and learn about various professional resources. Students got to engage with Dynamic Speaker, who was used to be a special education

[00:03:41] teacher on AI in the workplace, and hear from a panel of professionals on a day in a life as an entrepreneur. The program concludes with a celebration ceremony where the businesses and students were recognized for their hard work. Parents are invited to program as well to join in on the fun. We had a total of 25 businesses or community members that supported this program from serving as either a job shadowing host site or sharing their skills or speaking with students. We do appreciate them. I'm going to mention our businesses and individuals that were able to come and support our program. Those businesses were Dabble Creative Reuse Center, Historic Manassas Incorporated, the

[00:04:20] Manassas City Library, Manassas City Community Center, Manassas City Parks and Rec, the MCPS Transportation Department, our Special Education Department, Old Town Man Cave, Honey and Ivy Gluten Free, Lido Pizza, Georgetown South Community Council Foundation, Lazy Hill Dog Wash, Mr. Leonard Newman, our OHS Tech Ed Teacher and Robotics Advisor, Mr. Keith Riley, our OHS Auto Tech Teacher, our OHS Custodial Team, Janae Monroe with Higher Ground, Virginia Godwin with the Virginia Department of Health, Joan Masonet with Ed Intelligence, Chris Peden with Peden Accounting

[00:05:00] Services, Jimmy Edwards with Care Evolution, Brandy Newell with the Chief Fund Officer with Multiple Businesses in Old Town, Did Lake Incorporated, Dr. Jennifer Chapman, Osborne High School Principal, Mr. Brian Masiak, the MCPS Director of Transportation, Cindy Kaser with the Rotary Club of Manassas, and Mr. Thomas Gefeller, James Madison's student who volunteered his time to support us during our program. I also want to give a huge thank you to Allison Hayes, Jennifer Mineski, and Carrie Pendleton of our special education department that served as chaperones for the job shadowing sites throughout the program. I also want to highlight the people that were on this committee that

[00:05:39] made this program possible and that is Megan Barber, the OHS special education department chair, Miss Krista Stanley, the transportation operations specialist, Miss Menae Braswell, transition coordinator, Carrie Noons, Compliance Specialist, Michelle Marshall Metz Middle School Special Education Dean, Miss Erica Loesch, Director of Special Services, Mrs. Chris Taylor, Director of CTE, and myself. I would also like to kind of wrap up by inviting any of our students that were invited to be able to come down if they want to come down with their families for a photo as well as anybody that served on the committee to

[00:06:17] come down and also get recognized. So thank you.

[00:07:34] - That's an exciting program, I love it. All right, next we have our introduction of new administrative personnel. Welcome to the family. As we prepare for the start of a new school year, we are excited to welcome some new administrative leaders to the MCPS family, and I am happy to introduce them to you tonight.

[00:07:55] And as I call your names, if you can just join us up front, that would be great. We'll start with Mr. Montel Brown, principal of Baldwin Intermediate School. Mr. Brown joins MCPS from Fairfax County Public Schools where he served as an assistant principal.

[00:08:15] He brings leadership experience across elementary, middle, and high school settings and is passionate about building strong school communities where every student feels supported and successful. Welcome to Mr. Brown. And also from Baldwin Intermediate School, we have David Kieling.

[00:08:40] Mr. Kieling is serving as assistant principal at Baldwin Intermediate. He has already been serving our students as the assistant principal there while continuing in his division leadership role as coordinator of health, physical education, driver education, and family life education.

[00:08:57] He brings a strong background in instructional leadership and student wellness, and we are pleased to formally introduce him to the board this evening. Congratulations. From Hayden Elementary School, our newest principal, Natalie Short.

[00:09:20] Mrs. Short is no stranger to MCPS, an Osborne High School graduate. She has served our division since 2008 in a variety of instructional and leadership roles, most recently as assistant principal at Hayden Elementary. We are excited to welcome her into her new role as principal.

[00:09:42] And serving alongside Mrs. Short is Jess Newman at Hayden Elementary as assistant principal. Ms. Newman brings more than two decades of experience in education, including classroom teaching, special education leadership, instructional coaching, and school administration.

[00:10:05] Most recently, she has served as instructional facilitator at Jenny Dean Elementary, where she has helped strengthen teaching and learning across the school. Welcome, Ms. Newman. And finally, we have someone that couldn't be with us tonight.

[00:10:21] That's Jody Place, who's the new assistant principal at Osborne High School. And I would like to say that Ms. Place brings more than 20 years of educational leadership experience including roles as an assistant principal alternative education administrator her extensive experience towards student success and school operations will be a tremendous asset to Osborne High School so shout out to her tonight in her absence so again we'd like to officially welcome all of you to the role of principal or assistant principal and we just thank you we know great things are coming from each of you for this school year and we're excited to work alongside you at

[00:11:01] At this time, I'm going to ask all of the board members to just come down for a group photo as we continue to welcome you to the family and welcome some of you again.

[00:12:08] All righty. Well, next we have an announcement, Jenny Dean Elementary School ribbon cutting.

[00:12:39] Before we conclude this evening, I'd like to share our excitement about the opening of the new Jenny Dean Elementary School. Next Tuesday, August 4th, we will celebrate this important milestone with a ribbon cutting ceremony as we prepare to welcome students and staff into a beautiful new facility we are looking forward to officially opening the doors and beginning an exciting new chapter for the jenny dean community and we're excited to receive our students on august 12th so thank you to for um this concludes our announcements for tonight

[00:13:12] thank you so much ms radford um we will now move to board committee reports ms stevens yes chair um i will be doing a presentation on policy updates as we had a policy committee meeting recently we are also scheduling another policy committee meeting for august 18th at 4 p.m are you is

[00:13:49] are you presenting i'm sorry i'll be okay i'm so sorry um are there any other board committees to report okay um so at this time we welcome members of the public who wish to speak about services policies and affairs of the monasticity um public schools are there any speakers tonight okay then we will move on to our consent agenda the items are considered routine and may be approved by a single motion unless a board member requests an item be

[00:14:22] removed for separate discussion do I have a motion chair I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approved the public the public excuse me approve the consent agenda as presented second okay I have a motion by miss Stevens seconded by miss Brescia that the school board of the city of Manassas approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

[00:14:53] That motion carries 7-0. We will now move to our discussion agenda. The first item is advanced academics. Dr. Laura Goldsung, Director of Instruction, will provide an update on advanced academics. Good evening. Good evening, Chair Spall, Vice Chair Jones, members of the board, and Dr. Newman. My name is Laura Goldstein and I'm honored to serve in the capacity of

[00:15:31] the Director of Instruction for Manassas City Public Schools. This evening, I'm pleased to provide an update on our advanced programming and services for students across Manassas City Public Schools. I will share highlights of our current programs, recent growth and accomplishments, and the steps we are taking to ensure that advanced learners have access to rigorous, engaging in equitable opportunities to support their academic success.

[00:15:59] Thank you for the opportunity to present this information and I look forward to sharing our progress with you. This evening I will provide an overview of the refinements and enhancements that we have made to our advanced academic programming to better meet the needs of our students. Specifically, I'm going to review the courses and programs that comprise advanced academic opportunities across mcps discuss enhancements and refinements we have made to curricula instruction and student supports to strengthen these programs i'm going to share

[00:16:36] some evidence of impact including student learning outcomes participation and progress we have observed as the result of these efforts and i'd like to highlight our priorities for this school year, school year 2026-27, including opportunities for continued growth and innovation. Our goal throughout this work has been to ensure that advanced academic opportunities are rigorous, engaging, and accessible while preparing students for success in future coursework, in college, career, and life. So with that overview, I will begin reviewing the programs

[00:17:16] and courses that make up our advanced academic offerings. But first, I'd like to take a moment to connect this work directly to our strategic plan. Our advanced academic programming is closely aligned with the division's vision that all students will graduate on time with boundless opportunities for their future.

[00:17:40] These programs also support our commitment to developing graduates who are critical and creative thinkers who are effective collaborators, strong communicators, and contributors to our interdependent global community. Advanced learning opportunities challenge students to think deeply, to solve complex problems, communicate effectively, and engage in meaningful learning experiences that prepare them for success. That success being beyond high school.

[00:18:13] This evening you will also hear about specific initiatives that support two key strategic pillars: our inclusive and collaborative learning environment where all students have access to rigorous coursework and the support they need to succeed; and strong family and community partnerships, which are strengthened through collaborations with organizations such as George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College, and our Governor's School programs.

[00:18:42] Together, these efforts advance our strategic priorities and most importantly support strong academic outcomes for all students. With that connection to our strategic plan in mind, I will now review the courses, programs, and opportunities that make up our advanced academic programming continuum. So before discussing these recent refinements, I'd like to briefly just review the courses and programs and what we consider the continuum. Research consistently

[00:19:17] shows that students who participate in advanced coursework with highly qualified teachers are more likely to enroll in post-secondary education, succeed in their first year of college, persist to graduation, important, and be better prepared for careers, for military service, and for lifelong success. Our commitment is to ensure that every student has access to rigorous, high-quality learning opportunities that open doors after graduation.

[00:19:48] Our Advanced Academic Continuum includes honors courses, which extend the grade-level curriculum through increased depth, complexity, and rigor while preparing students for future advanced coursework. Our Advanced Placement Courses, or AP, provide students with college-level learning experiences while still in high school. These courses help students develop college readiness skills and offer opportunities to earn college credit through AP examinations.

[00:20:21] Dual enrollment is offered through our partnership with Northern Virginia Community College, and that allows students to earn both high school and college credit simultaneously, accelerating their pathway to post-secondary success. The Governor's School programs include opportunities through the Governor's School at innovation park just down the street on the manassas campus where they provide specialized and advanced instruction for students with interests and strengths in targeted academic

[00:20:52] fields and specifically in stem and mathematics avid or advanced via individual determination we're going to talk a lot about that in the last slide of this presentation that equips students with the organizational, academic, and self-advocacy skills needed to succeed in rigorous coursework while expanding equitable access to advanced learning opportunities.

[00:21:21] And the Early Identification Program, EIP, in partnership with George Mason University, that identifies and supports first-generation and historically underrepresented students through enrichment mentoring and exposure to advanced academic opportunities and that helps build pathways into honors and ap dual enrollment and specialty programs together this entire continuum of program is is comprehensive it provides a multitude of entry points into advanced learning opportunities from early talent development through college level coursework

[00:22:01] through ensuring that every Manassas City student has access to that rigorous coursework, meaningful support, and pathways to college, to a career, and just to future success. So if we look at our integrated programs at Metz Middle School, one area where we have focused on some significant attention and we continue to refine curriculum and expand authentic learning experiences for students. We are pleased to report that student interest in these opportunities continues to grow. As shown in this chart, enrollment in both the integrated humanities

[00:22:41] and the integrated math and science programs increased by approximately 10% between 2022-23 school year and the last school year, 2025-26. This growth reflects both the strength of the program and the value that the students and the families see in these advanced learning opportunities.

[00:23:01] in the fall of 2025 we redesigned the interdisciplinary research course to strengthen research practices and provide greater connections across content areas students now explore different core discipline each quarter and then conclude the year with a community action project and that is the application of their learning to the real world so just a few examples the Buddy Baskets. One of the one cohort created Buddy Baskets for new mothers residing in a local

[00:23:37] homeless shelter. The baskets included essential items such as diapers and wipes, socks, toys, and other necessities. Another project, another cohort developed Pack It Forward in partnership with Shine Forth. After researching challenges faced by children in foster care, students created care kits with reusable duffel bags and essential items such as socks and toiletries and then some comfort items to support youth that were transitioning between their placements. These projects allow students to engage in meaningful research while developing empathy

[00:24:17] and problem-solving skills and civic responsibility. In the spring of 2025 we launched a partnership with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the National Science Foundation and Northern Virginia Community College. So that group brought astronomy learning experiences to Manasseh City students. Our eighth grade integrated math and science students serve as facilitators for hands-on astronomy learning stations during a community event that was open to students grades three through eight and this opportunity allowed our students to not only deepen their scientific

[00:24:56] understanding but also to develop leadership and communication skills so we also had a career fair that was brought by the education department directly to metz middle school and that helped students make connections between their academic interests and career pathways and then most recently this summer we updated the integrated humanities curriculum documents to further strengthen rigor and aligned learning to those authentic real-world learning experiences.

[00:25:30] These revisions embed additional opportunities for experiential learning, hands-on exploration, the cross-curricular connections that are so important while maintaining a strong alignment to those academic standards. So overall, these enhancements have helped make our integrated programs increasingly engaging and relevant and rigorous. Our next area of focus is advanced mathematics in grades six through eight. So as shown on this slide, we have experienced a 55%

[00:26:09] increase in enrollment in our advanced middle school mathematics courses since 2023-24 school year. This growth reflects both expanded access and our commitment to identifying students who are ready for more rigorous mathematics pathways and students in grade six who are performing at very high levels on those students the grade six students those those kids are performing at very high levels on that grade 7 SOL so if you are in that grade 6 pre-algebra you are taking that grade 7 SOL and while

[00:26:46] the SOL scores from 25 26 are not yet public they haven't released those yet I I can report that in 24, 25 and 25, 26, the pass rate for those sixth graders taking the seventh grade math SOL was over 95%.

[00:27:05] So this chart highlights growth across the pipeline, right? We have seen substantial increases in enrollment in that grade six pre-algebra class, in the grade seven pre-algebra class, and in honors algebra one.

[00:27:23] That indicates that more students are engaging in advanced mathematics early in their academic career. One big factor that contributes to this increase is House Bill 2686, which was implemented beginning of school year 2526, so last year.

[00:27:43] So under that legislation, students in grade 5 through 8 who score in the top quartile statewide on the end-of-year math SOL, they are automatically enrolled in an advanced or accelerated math course for the following year.

[00:28:02] Unless a parent chooses to opt out, their score, if it's in that top quartile, has them advance into a higher level math. So our division continues to use comprehensive whole child approach when considering advanced course placement. We review multiple data points, including classroom performance, we look at teacher recommendations, assessment results, student goals, what do they want, and the family input to support student success.

[00:28:35] Now you're going to notice a decline in honors geometry enrollment over time and this trend is consistent with current best practices in mathematics education which emphasize developing a strong foundation in algebra one before accelerating students into geometry.

[00:28:52] this approach better supports long-term success in advanced mathematics coursework all the way through high school. So overall these trends demonstrate that more students are accessing rigorous mathematics opportunities while progressing through the pathways that are designed to promote both achievement and lasting success. So this is our visual overview that we use for the multiple pathways that students can take to access those advanced mathematics during

[00:29:27] the middle school years a side note the picture is of astronomy night that was our astronomy night so grades six and eight um there are that's a critical time for students to explore their interest and develop strong mathematical foundations our goal is to ensure that course placement expands opportunities rather than limits them. So this flow chart illustrates the different entry points into advanced mathematics and shows how students can move between the pathways based on their readiness and their achievement. Key takeaway here is that we provide multiple

[00:30:07] opportunities for students to enter advanced coursework while ensuring that they are appropriately challenged and supported for long-term success in math. So this chart shows enrollment trends in our middle school honors and accelerated courses between school year 2022-23 and school year 25-26.

[00:30:34] Overall, we continue to see strong participation in advanced coursework, particularly in mathematics. Mathematics enrollment increased by 50 percent, reflecting both our intentional efforts to expand access and the impact of House Bill 2686.

[00:30:55] Social studies and science enrollment increased by approximately 10%, demonstrating steady growth in student participation in advanced coursework across those content areas. And English enrollment had a slight decrease by 11% over this period of time.

[00:31:14] Taken together with these data indicate that more students are accessing rigorous learning opportunities in middle grades, particularly in mathematics, while participation in other advanced courses remains stable or continues to grow.

[00:31:31] These trends support our goal of building a strong pipeline of students who are prepared for advanced coursework and college and career-ready experiences in high school.

[00:31:47] So let's talk about high school, let's talk about OHS. At Osborne, we have focused on creating clearer and more accessible pathways into advanced coursework. One important refinement has been the streamlining of the course offerings.

[00:32:04] So in some content areas, we previously had multiple levels of programming without clear distinctions in rigor or expectations. So today, most courses have two primary pathways: an on-grade level course and an advanced course option, such as an honors, AP, or dual enrollment. So, for example, in English, a 9th grade student may choose English 9 or English 9 honors. By 11th grade, students

[00:32:37] continue on an advanced pathway through AP Lang and Composition or dual enrollment English. While there are a few exceptions, this model provides students and families with a clearer progression through high school. In addition to simplifying those pathways, we have engaged in a multi-year effort to update and strengthen our honors curricula and ensuring that alignment and rigor and consistency across those courses. We have also worked intentionally to reduce barriers

[00:33:16] to this advanced coursework. Prerequisites that may have prevented students from accessing advanced courses were arbitrary I'm going to say arbitrary prerequisites those were eliminated we removed financial barriers you removed financial barriers by ensuring that mcps pays for all ap exams we expanded access by adding high interest courses such as ap pre-calculus and ap african

[00:33:50] American Studies, which the College Board designed as open access AP courses to encourage broader participation in advanced academics. So these courses provide students the opportunity to experience college-level work, to earn college credit, and to build the confidence that they need for future advanced coursework.

[00:34:13] They have also helped expand participation among students who may not have traditionally enrolled in an AP course. Finally, it's important to note that advanced learning opportunities extend beyond our traditional academic departments.

[00:34:29] Our career and technical education programs also offer rigorous advanced coursework in areas such as information technology, business, and other career-focused disciplines. Together, these efforts are helping us create clearer pathways, expand access, and ensure more students can successfully participate in advanced learning opportunities at OHS.

[00:34:59] So as we continue to expand advanced placement opportunities for students, we recognize that increasing access alone is not enough. We must also ensure that every AP classroom is led by a highly prepared and well-supported teacher.

[00:35:19] So in the fall of 2023, one out of every 11 AP teachers had up-to-date training, and that training is provided through the AP Summer Institute. Today, we have 20 AP teachers, and all of them have received current, high-quality AP professional development aligned to their content area.

[00:35:47] This investment directly supports our strategic plan, the commitment to maintaining high quality workforce. The instructional practices teachers learn through that AP training strengthen teaching and learning, not only in the AP classrooms, but really across all levels of instruction.

[00:36:10] The course expansions that are listed here provide students with more opportunities to pursue their interests, engage in college level coursework, and develop the skills necessary for success after high school. Together, these efforts reflect our commitment to expanding both access and quality, ensuring that more students can participate in rigorous coursework while receiving strong instructional support.

[00:36:41] So this chart highlights the significant growth that we have seen in advanced placement enrollment between 23 and 26. Across every core content area, Participation in AP coursework has increased exponentially.

[00:37:02] That demonstrates that more students are choosing to challenge themselves through college level learning experiences. These gains reflect the collective impact of several intentional strategies, including expanding AP course offerings, implementing open enrollment practices, removing financial barriers by covering AP exam fees, and investing in teacher training and support.

[00:37:31] Most importantly, these data indicate that more students are accessing rigorous coursework and taking advantage of these opportunities that will strengthen their college readiness, that will build their academic confidence and potentially earn college credit while still in high school.

[00:37:50] So the growth shown here reflects not only increased participation, but also our ongoing commitment to ensuring that advanced learning opportunities are accessible to a broader range of students across OHS.

[00:38:11] And while increased enrollment is important, our ultimate goal is student success in these rigorous courses. This slide shows that not only are more students taking AP courses, but the students are also taking the AP exams and they're earning the scores that can lead to college credit.

[00:38:33] So between school year 22-23 and 25-26, The number of students that were taking at least one AP exam increased from 295 to 474 students. That was a 61% increase.

[00:38:53] So that's really the number of students. And then the number of exams that were taken by those students increased from 343 to 747 exams. That's 118% increase.

[00:39:11] But here's the important part. The number of students who earned a score three or higher which is the score that's generally recognized by colleges as demonstrating college-level proficiency that increased from 103 students to 252 a hundred and forty five percent increase yes they earned that right they earned it you'll also notice that the percentage of AP students earning at least one score of a three or higher increased from approximately 35

[00:39:50] 35% to 53%. That's an increase of 18 percentage points, representing a 52% improvement in overall student success rates. These results tell an important story. As we have expanded access to our AP coursework, invested in teacher professional learning, and removed barriers to participation, we have not seen student performance decline.

[00:40:25] Instead, we have seen more students participating and more students succeeding. This demonstrates that increasing access and maintaining high expectations can go hand in hand, allowing more students to experience rigorous coursework while achieving meaningful academic success.

[00:40:46] Dual Enrollment continues to provide students in our school division with valuable opportunities to earn both high school and college credits simultaneously, and that's through our partnership with Northern Virginia Community College.

[00:41:07] These courses allow students to experience the rigor of college-level coursework while remaining on their high school campus and receiving support from our MCPS teachers who have been credentialed by the college. shown in this chart, student participation continues to grow. Our English dual enrollment increased from 144 students to 183. That's a 27% increase. And our social studies enrollment from 154 to 224 students. So that's a 45% increase. And we've also expanded dual enrollment

[00:41:46] opportunities within our CTE programming. And that's serving approximately 140 students last year. And because that was the first year that we had dual enrollment, that data was not previously collected. We're going to use this as our baseline for future growth. So several factors contribute to the success of this program. First, our partnership with the community college significantly reduces the cost of earning college credits making these opportunities more accessible and more affordable for

[00:42:22] students and families. Second the credits students earn can be applied toward an associate's degree at the community college at Northern Virginia Community College and then they are transferable to Virginia's public colleges and universities helping students save both time and money after graduation. And finally MCPS continues to work closely with the community college and neighboring school divisions to strengthen alignment to standardize instructional practices

[00:42:55] and ensure high quality and consistent experiences for all dual enrollment students these efforts are expanding access to college level coursework and providing students with meaningful pathways towards post-secondary success while they're still in high school so economics and personal finance we are going to offer an honors course for EPF beginning this coming school year in 26-27.

[00:43:32] That option, this is going to expand opportunities for students who are seeking additional rigor and then that real world application piece for their learning. So while we're meeting Virginia's graduation requirement for economics and personal finance, this honors course is is designed to deepen their analytical thinking, to strengthen financial literacy, and prepare students better for college and careers and life after high school.

[00:44:02] So students in this course are going to develop advanced skills in analyzing economic systems and evaluating financial decisions, applying financial literacy concepts to real world personal and career situations.

[00:44:19] going to strengthen college and career ready skills such as research, communication, collaboration, and problem solving. And it's also going to demonstrate their learning through that authentic public facing experience. The kids are going to complete, the students are going to complete quarterly synthesis and application projects that connect that course content to issues that are affecting their lives in our community. A unique feature of this course is the connection

[00:44:53] TO OUR CTE PROGRAM. ALL HONORS EPF STUDENTS ARE GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CTE EXPO EVENING EVENT THAT WE HAVE. IT'S A YEAR-END CULMINATING EXPERIENCE AT OHS. I THINK YOU PROBABLY HAVE ALL ATTENDED. IT'S A FANTASTIC EVENT. AND DURING THIS EVENT, OUR EPF HONORS STUDENTS ARE GOING TO PRESENT THEIR PROJECTS. THEY ARE GOING TO LEAD ACTIVITIES. THEY ARE GOING TO DEMONSTRATE economic and financial concepts for community members, for staff, and for their peers.

[00:45:28] Through these experiences, they're not only going to demonstrate their content mastery, but they're going to develop their professionalism, their communication, right? They get to practice those skills. They get to demonstrate leadership. They get to engage with those community stakeholders, probably the ones that Eric Godwin talked about earlier today, our partners. This new honors offering reflects our continued commitment to providing students with rigor with meaningful connected relevant learning experiences that they can apply in their community right now

[00:46:09] so the governor's school right that is an important advanced academic opportunity that is available right here in our backyard right the governor's school at innovation park that is the virginia department of education in partnership with local school divisions there's the evening vre for us um there's 19 regional governor schools across the commonwealth and that

[00:46:42] provides advanced academic experiences for high school students we have this particularly unique relationship with um this governor's school is the only one located on the campus of a four-year University. We have George Mason's University's science and technology campus just down the road.

[00:47:07] It's an incredible opportunity for our kids. And the program serves 11th and 12th grade students from Manassas City, Manassas Park, Prince William County, for kids that have shown a real interest and aptitude in the STEM fields. So ours is a STEM academy. Our students select a specialized pathway in biology, chemistry, engineering, or physics. And they participate in accelerated curriculum that combines that rigorous coursework with the authentic research experience in those

[00:47:42] labs and classrooms. So for school year 26-27, which starts in about two weeks, right, we're going to have 18 Manassas City students participating in this program. The 13 that are reflected on the slide. Those are newly accepted and we have five seniors. So as part of our commitment to expanding college access, MCPS covers the cost of our four dual enrollment college credits. So you're covering the cost for every Innovation Park student with opportunities for students to earn

[00:48:17] additional credits as well. Across the program, students can choose from 18 specialized courses that align to their area of study, allowing them to personalize their learning and explore future college and career interests. An additional benefit of the program is that qualified graduates receive guaranteed admission to George Mason University, providing a direct pathway to higher education.

[00:48:47] Makes me proud. I'm a patriot, two times over. The Governor's School at Innovation Park represents an outstanding opportunity for our students to engage in advanced STEM learning, college-level experiences, and research opportunities that prepare them for success beyond high school.

[00:49:05] So a component of the continuum, right, is the advanced academic, of our advanced academic continuum, is the Early Identification Program, or we like EIP, that we offer in partnership with George Mason University.

[00:49:26] And this program is designed to support first-generation college students by providing the resources and the guidance and the experience that they need to prepare for the success in higher education. And so through EIP, students receive academic support, college readiness experience, mentoring opportunities, so important, and then the social-emotional resources that help remove barriers and expand access to post-secondary opportunities.

[00:50:00] We are excited to share that last year, George Mason University received grant funding that allowed the program to expand by providing opportunities for 21 additional Manassas City students. So to further increase access beginning this year, MCPS will start recruiting students during the fall of their eighth grade year.

[00:50:26] So this additional outreach opportunity will allow MCPS to again take advantage of that GMU grant and place additional students in the program. So expanding participation in EIP reflects our commitment to ensuring that every student, regardless of family educational background has the support and the guidance and the opportunities that they need to pursue higher education with confidence so speaking of confidence avid right

[00:51:01] which stands for advanced advancement via individualized determination right is a nationally recognized college career and life readiness system it's designed to prepare students for success in rigorous coursework, post-secondary education, and future careers. What makes AVID unique is that its impact extends well beyond the students enrolled in the elective course.

[00:51:28] AVID provides educators with research-based instructional framework built around Y-Corps: writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading. That strengthens teaching and learning across all of the classrooms. Students enrolled in AVID commit to challenging themselves academically by taking at least two college preparatory courses each year while receiving the support

[00:51:59] in study skills, in organization, collaboration, and the college and career readiness. So we're going to support you, you're going to take those two courses, and we're going to help get you there. MCPS has maintained an AVID program since 2014, serving approximately 100 students annually.

[00:52:21] For the 26-27 school year, we are significantly expanding access. METS Middle School will launch its first AVID section, serving approximately 25 students. And Osborne High School is expanding from 7 to 11 AVID sections, allowing for more students to participate in this program.

[00:52:43] We're also increasing access for our multilingual learners through an innovative partnership between AVID and our ESOL department. By pairing an ESOL teacher with an AVID class, students can participate in AVID while continuing to receive the language support they need to be successful. To support high quality implementation, approximately 40 MCPS teachers and administrators have completed avid professional learning increasing our capacity to bring avid strategies

[00:53:21] into classrooms across this division and that's a picture from their summer institute that they attended at osborne high school we've also expanded avid practices beyond the elective classroom by adopting avid y core strategies into everything they do they're doing it in everything they do so last year osborne focused on the organization part or the o and the c collaboration this year uh osborne is going to expand that to integrate the w the writing and they're also going

[00:53:56] to talk about inquiry in the classroom inquiry is an important connection to student engagement every student has received a school issue planner and teachers participated in professional learning focused on organizational strategies that are going to support students in every content area.

[00:54:16] Through shared language, common instructional practices, sort of the culture in the school that this creates, there's a clear focus on college, career, and life readiness. AVID helps ensure that all students are supported in reaching their highest potential. So as we think about advanced academic programming, it's important to recognize that success in these programs does not

[00:54:52] begin in middle school. It does not begin in high school. It begins much earlier, right? If we want students who are prepared for honors classes, for AP, dual enrollment, to knock on the door of the governor's school, we must provide them with early exposure to rigorous learning experiences, right, strong literacy development and the opportunities to discover their interests, what are their talents, their passions, while they're still in elementary school. So at MCPS,

[00:55:27] we believe that every student has strengths and potential and deserve to be nurtured. And that's why we intentionally build a pipeline of opportunity that starts in the elementary years. Some of these experiences, some, not all of them, I could, there was, the list was too long for me to put them all but i think it's important to highlight that we have our gt teachers give whole group lessons in k2 so kindergarten through second grade they have enrichment lessons in all

[00:55:59] classrooms four times a year we have stem and we have innovation fairs right that provides project based learning opportunities we introduce kids to stem and thinking and problem solving and 3d printers which they love right um division math night um so important our title one division math night which i know that you have all attended where we we all come on to one campus and put our collective efforts together to connect with our community around

[00:56:34] math in the real world right that's so important we have robotics we have computer science exploration right so that includes our school-based robotics activities which yes Lego League but also we have ITTS is with programming they're doing programming with you know kindergarten and first graders with the little blue guys that run around on the on the floor it's problem-solving through technology we have amazing fine arts opportunities here in the city of Manassas and that includes we of course performances and we have drama

[00:57:10] productions. We have the art show, right, that allows students to develop and showcase their talents. But we also have a community that welcomes us and offers us amazing field trips and experiential learning opportunities, right? I think about all of the things that we do with the Hilton Center, right, and how we're welcomed into the Manassas Museum. For aligned lessons, fourth grade Virginia Studies is one I can think of, right? That's actually the picture on the slide.

[00:57:38] That's a fourth grade Virginia studies lesson at the Manassas Museum. Ultimately, these opportunities are about more, more than preparing students for advanced courses. They are about building the habits and the mindsets that lead to lifelong success.

[00:57:58] As educators, we have a responsibility to help students develop grit, perseverance, and the confidence to tackle challenging work. We want every student to understand that the struggle is a natural part of learning and that the ability grows through effort. It grows through practice. It grows through support.

[00:58:25] By fostering a growth mindset in the earliest grades, we help students see themselves as capable learners who can work through difficult problems. They can embrace challenges and they can continue growing throughout their academic journey.

[00:58:45] So as we close this evening's presentation, I'd like to reflect on a simple question. How'd we get here? How did we achieve the results we've shared tonight? The growth we've seen in participation and successes across honors, advanced placement, dual enrollment, AVID, and other advanced programs did not happen by accident.

[00:59:09] It was the result of intentional decisions and strategic investments. First, we work to eliminate arbitrary barriers to access, ensuring that students have the opportunities to challenge themselves and pursue rigorous coursework.

[00:59:29] Second, we invested in our educators through professional learning, credentialing support and training. High quality advanced programs begin with highly skilled teachers who are prepared to support students in those rigorous learning environments.

[00:59:48] And third, we established maintain high instructional expectations supported by research-based resources such as the AP classroom, through the Northern Virginia Canvas, through AVID, through the instructional practices.

[01:00:04] All of those things are an ecosystem of high instructional expectations. And we strengthened our partnerships with Northern Virginia Community College, with George Mason University, creating those opportunities while helping them build confidence, success, and transition for post-secondary education. In addition, we have made some strategic financial investments to remove barriers for students and families. And when I say we, I mean you. I mean us together. Paying for the

[01:00:40] PSAT for all students, grades 9 through 11, covering the cost of all AP exam for students enrolled in AP courses. And starting this year, so starting this year, the state is requiring school divisions to offer what they call SAT school day. We talked about it in our policy meeting.

[01:01:05] The state does not require that divisions pay for the cost of testing, but MCPS does. MCPS started this practice prior to the requirement. MCPS went further than that requirement and is paying for the students to take the test so that that cost is not a barrier to the college entrance exam and using that ap potential data we're identifying and encouraging students who have shown readiness for ap coursework like we're reaching out to them continuing to invest in

[01:01:43] a highly qualified workforce through ongoing professional learning and teacher credentialing is essential and i think that our retention rate is really going to help with this right that's all good news it's all connected these investments matter because the research is clear when students have access to rigorous coursework and strong instructional support they are more likely to succeed in college in careers in military service and beyond boundless opportunities is what we call

[01:02:19] it in our strategic plan so as we look ahead our commitment remains clear we will continue to expand access, remove barriers, strengthen partnerships, and create opportunities for all students.

[01:02:34] We are particularly excited about the future growth, including the work towards becoming an avid national demonstration district, where high-quality instruction, college and career readiness, and student opportunity are embedded throughout the educational experience.

[01:02:52] And consequently, opportunities like these require patience, investment, belief, hard work, and grit from our students, from educators, from families, from our community, from us.

[01:03:09] So I'm here for that. And I thank you for your continued support of these initiatives and for making advanced academic opportunities a priority through your investments in our students and our schools.

[01:03:26] and because of that support, because of your support, more students than ever are accessing rigorous learning. They're preparing for bright futures, and like I said, they are filled with those boundless opportunities. Thank you so much for sticking with me through all of this information and this opportunity, and I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

[01:03:52] So, Dr. Golzon, it was a true joy to hear that report, and it's a story that I think needed to be told. So I thank you. It must have been very exhilarating also to be able to tell it. So thank you for what you did tonight. It is. I'm proud to be a part of this journey for Monassah City.

[01:04:11] And so are we. It's very, very oppressive. Questions to my right? I just have one quick question. Do you, because I can't remember how long, do you know how long we've been covering the cost of AP SAT testing? Because we've done it for a number of years. A number of years. I have that number right off the top of my head we will i will dig into that yeah because we've been doing we've done it for several years before the state started requiring it this is not a new development right exactly yeah so thank you anyone else yes yes i just want to say thank

[01:04:45] you for your presentation and uh for all the hard work i'm sorry go ahead oh you can go okay i'm sorry it's okay um okay um thank you to everyone um and even my fellow colleagues here because i was not here when the decisions were made but there were good decisions i just have to say that i am a personal product of avid it used to call it used to be called upper bound program in new york city um but it was a platform from which many of my peers launched to you know um the careers

[01:05:24] that we not have and the leadership opportunities that we have achieved but in reference to removing barriers it wasn't long ago when i was a teacher and i had two students who were enrolled in ap classes and my salary as a teacher wouldn't stretch that much to pay for the ap courses and so i found myself having to take part-time jobs even waitressing to be able to pay for the ap court advanced testing and with two children you can imagine how expensive that gets and how fast and sometimes we had to make decisions as to which ones

[01:06:01] we were going to do because we couldn't afford all of them and fast forward on August 9th in a couple of weeks I'm going to Ohio because my son is gonna walk with his PhD in neuroscience and traumatic brain injury so these are removing barriers is not it's not just removing financial barriers but I do remember having to take time away to do those jobs which took me away from them and the support that they needed because the rigor that goes along with the courses requires families to make sacrifices

[01:06:39] so it was hard on both ends so the fact that we're doing this for our families just give me great comfort. And so I'm proud of this work for us. So thank you. Ms. Seaberg. Thank you, Chair. Dr. Goldson, can you tell me, are we still encouraging our rising juniors and seniors to apply for summer residential governor's school? We do. I know it's very limited. Very limited. And we don't really have a part of like making those connections. I think we let them know about it.

[01:07:11] But I need to dig into that and find out what we're doing to let them, because those are vastly different there's a broad range of opportunities right through the summer academies right do we know if we had any students attend this summer I'm don't want to speak I don't want to speak out of turn okay I can get some information about that okay thank you thank you to my left dr. Jones I just want to say dr. Gosling thank you for your very thorough report I was writing some questions but you answered them all so thank you for your thorough report and And a special thanks to the system for getting rid of barriers.

[01:07:47] And you know that you have to start in elementary school, so they're prepared by the time they get to the upper grades. But thank you. Yes, ma'am. Next. Ms. Miles? Okay. I just, I think it was very thorough. It was very detailed, so I appreciate that.

[01:08:03] I had a question about AVID specifically. I know you said we serve 100 students annually, and this is more information for parents who may not know about it. How is a student able to go through the process? Is there like a selection process?

[01:08:20] Is it something that a teacher says, oh, I think that student would be good? Or how does that work? So actually, Kareem, Melissa, huh? So I would be remiss if I did not point out the team who did this work. So if you guys could all just stand and everybody, everybody in that end of the, they all had a huge hand in leading the decisions.

[01:08:42] Like literally, everybody went, right? There we go. They're the people who did the work. Kareemah built an online tool, but there's an application process. So the simple answer is there's an application process. And really what we're looking for are students in the academic middle, right?

[01:08:58] Like students who have shown some aptitude, have shown some desire, who need. We look at scores. We look for outlying factors. Kids who just need a little push, right? And they need support with filling out college applications, applying for scholarships, right?

[01:09:21] Need that organizational skills, right? And so there is an application process, and that's how they're selected. Okay, great. Yeah, it's so great to see that that program is growing. And I love how we're also adding pairing the L teachers in the AVID classrooms.

[01:09:38] And so how many L students are typically participating? So I think that's new this year, so I don't have – because enrollment isn't – we're almost there with enrollment, but we're still getting those courses assigned. So it'll be great to see when I give you an update.

[01:09:53] Yeah, that's awesome. Just to know that it's kind of spreading out to all of our students, not just also our L's students. So I like that. I also – I know we're getting an update soon, or it's coming soon, about our field trips, Dr. Newman.

[01:10:09] So I wanted to ask because I know there's only two and that were listed on there. I'm sure we go other places as well. We go a lot more places. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to say that because I know as a parent, if I was looking at this, like, we only go to Manassas, like, do we go to the zoo?

[01:10:25] Do we go to D.C.? Like, so I'm looking forward to that update. But I love just everything that we're doing with advanced placement. But the other question I had was, I know you mentioned that there is a process for MET students to be placed in the upper math.

[01:10:45] And so is it possible for you to at least touch on how that process? Because I know as a parent, you know, you're like, oh, my student is in this class. Well, how did he get in this class? Right. So if you could touch on that. Yeah, actually, it's a state bill.

[01:11:02] So all of the kids in the state, they take, let's say they take their grade six SOL, their math SOL. We put all of the kids on the chart and we look at the top quartile to the top 25% of kids in the state and what was that score range.

[01:11:20] And if our kids scored in that range, then they are automatically advanced into an advanced or an accelerated course from their position. I know you mentioned not just that as the measure. there's also another measure. And you said the teacher also has to have a recommendation. Is that still the way you do it as well? So we look at those kids. We look at those kids that are identified. We send that list to our high school counseling, to Mr. Harry Wolin and his staff over at METS, right? We're like, these are the kids. And it's actually Elizabeth Susco who sends that list. They take a look at that, right? And then what we want to make sure, because an important

[01:11:59] part of this honors and advanced coursework curriculum to system ecosystem is that kids are placed correctly right we want to make sure that the whole child is ready to do that work right and so we want to look at all of the factors parents can opt them out but a teacher a teacher recommendation matters right like the whole child what is what are sel or what kind of um kind of interest does that child has so um yes that's what i mean when i say we look at the whole child i appreciate you

[01:12:36] explaining that thank you so much that's all i have but thanks again for the presentation hold on one second dr newman has an update on summer residential thank you thanks that's pressure thank you um so i too enjoyed the presentation it's a kind of a long uh subject you know to cover all advanced academics it's kind of a beast uh so thank you for taking that on of course i send my questions generally in advance and you promised me earlier that you were going to answer most of those throughout the course of presentation which

[01:13:16] you did but bad news for you and for all of us i have new questions listening to your presentations that's a joke um anyway the so i'm going to just jump in kind of right where you left off what you you guys were talking about there. House Bill 2686 also includes an opt-out. So parents can opt-out. Absolutely. How is that opt-out option communicated to parents? I can't tell you exactly how that is. Their schedules are published through PowerSchool. There comes a day where

[01:13:51] we push them out and those schedules are available to parents through our online sources and kids are issued their schedule um i don't want to tell you wrong so i'm going to dig into that and see if that is communicated to parents prior to that time or are they enrolled and then when parents see that they can question the counseling office at the school yeah i would think it was one or one or the other of those right i'm i'm supportive of kids taking the most rigorous course course load of which they're available but i also don't want our families to be caught you know off guard if if they think that it's not an appropriate placement.

[01:14:27] So, you know, that's why I was asking that question. So speaking about that, advanced mathematics grades 6 through 8, I kind of, you kind of caught my ear with the decline in honors geometry. Did we have evidence that our honors geometry kids were not succeeding?

[01:14:44] Because if I, yes, we did have evidence. Dr. Quesada is saying yes. Can I ask that? We want to make sure. don't have a number okay okay so this 23 24 95 number was that was before house bill 26 86 so So that was a big number, 95 students did it.

[01:15:23] And those students did not do well? - I can get, we can get the breakdown year over year, but the expansion, our double acceleration of students in algebra in seventh grade and geometry in eighth grade, when these decisions were all being made and the conversation about what was the best for those students, the data supported the direction that they're going because you had students who were two years ahead and then not being successful, many of whom would then go on to take the course again because they weren't in a successful place.

[01:15:59] I see. Yeah. I mean, we want kids to be successful in their placement. So that's a... But I think we also want the kids to be placed correctly. Right. I mean, it is... And it's actually kind of a high stakes placement because whether or not you finish calculus by the time you finish high school is...

[01:16:19] impacts your, like it is kind of crazy that the decisions you're making when you're 12, 13 years old have those long run consequences, but the truth is that they do. So you want kids to be successful, but I also don't want to be purposely pulling anybody out of geometry and then kind of stunting them. But it sounds like that we did have the data to support pushing that back. So let me ask a little bit, kind of going backwards in time in the presentation, you covered the integrated programs at METS, but I want to give you the opportunity to tell the public, because we do

[01:16:56] have people who tune in for the very first time, and I know the answer to this question, let the record reflect, but what are the integrated humanities? What is integrated math and science? So it's a cross-curricular approach to English and social studies together, right? It is humanities, right? So we're looking at how those worlds connect, how that is reflected in the past and in the present, and the lessons that we can learn from that. And then, of course, math and science is STEM, right? So the integrated math and science program looks like application. So these

[01:17:35] things, these classes look like project-based learning. It looks like application of concepts and sort of the big ideas and bringing that into real-world learning for our middle school, making it relevant for them.

[01:17:51] And then, as is evidenced by them, them making these sort of service learning projects, you know, like the baskets and supporting those foster kids. So if you're an IH student at METS, you're taking an advanced level of English and you're taking an advanced level of social studies.

[01:18:08] And that's where the word integrated comes from and those curricula work together. And those teachers work together and the curricula work together. And then similarly with integrated math and integrated science, again, for the public's benefit, if you don't have a child in these programs, so everyone can follow along with what we're talking about here.

[01:18:24] They did go through a shift in terms of how those programs were both structured, but then also how students were admitted to those programs. Can you? 2023. Right. I don't think that I can speak to that exactly right now, but we did open up access and that it wasn't those courses weren't connected you could be in one and not in another and have that honors experience especially if you were a student who was maybe particularly passionate about science but your math skills weren't quite getting there you could um you could disconnect from from both

[01:19:01] you could take one option and not the other and so by doing that we expanded access and entry into that advanced coursework right and then level one of the other structural changes was to the research course which you covered already that well you said what that this is now um you kind of went over what the research course is now but you we didn't actually cover what it was what it was so what was it before uh it was well it was a um an elective course and i don't believe and again i

[01:19:41] need to really dig into this and I did give a presentation on this in 2023 and then I went to Hayden for a little while and now I'm back and so I don't want to speak out of turn or give you incorrect information but I think that the what we have done in clearly articulating and grounding that research course in evidence-based practices indicated that you know maybe we maybe they weren't as aligned previously. Right. And I do believe one of the other changes for the integrated math and science was you had to be on the double accelerated track before to be in IMS. And now

[01:20:20] you can just, you don't have to be double accelerated. You can be single accelerated in math. And that importantly, and this was a part that I missed personally when we were talking about this in 2023, that that matches the governor's school's admissions criteria, that the governor's school does not require double acceleration. It requires single acceleration. So in terms of improving our governor's school pipeline, that was a reason for that change as well that I understand now, but in 2023, I didn't. And while we're on the subject, I want to make sure that we all have

[01:20:51] the opportunity to understand that together. Let me shift now over to Osborne High School, going back in time again. Actually, this was my very first board meeting when I was a baby board member January 2023, we got the update on the consolidation between honors and AP. So it used to be AP English, honors English, regular grade level English, and then that mushed into no more honors and either AP or dual enrollment. We had a lot of different offerings in that course

[01:21:31] catalog. And the intention behind making clear pathways was to clearly articulate that it's just English 9. It's just English 10. It's just econ and personal finance. And that is aligned to standards of Virginia. And that is rigorous coursework in and out of itself. And then we would have an honors extension to that. And what we were doing back in January of 2023 was we were

[01:22:05] clearly articulating what was different between an honors level course and just a the general education course offering and making sure that those honors extension that it was a synthesis right so that we were asking kids to synthesize information that we were asking them to apply right that there that there truly was a difference and that earned that grade point average bump right that might come with that and so we were doing that across the board and in a lot of our

[01:22:40] courses you know and again i don't want to speak out of turn or off the top of my head but we would have three or four different versions of these things and so we said we're going to have we're going to offer the standards-based course and then we will offer an honors extension and then that will prepare you to sort of off-ramp right into advanced placement and dual enrollment so by simplifying the pathway and increasing the rigor and the articulation in those syllabi that makes it easier right for teachers and students and parents to be able to clearly see that pathway

[01:23:17] to graduation and that was what we were doing so the courses that were consolidated into either ap or dual enrollment mostly where do we know where those students went did they go into ap or did they go down into the grade level? I think the data indicate that they went to AP, right? If we look at that exponential increase in participation in those classes, again, I can dig into the data, but I think that the slides show us that that's where they went. Right. I agree with you. Yeah.

[01:23:51] So where do we get? So the AP, that's from the College Board, they provide the curriculum. They do. For dual enrollment, does Nova Community College provide the curriculum? Yes, we work with them. we align textbook selection it is it is a college level course in our high school gotcha and honors is that's we if it's an honors class that's a curriculum we develop that's ours yes ma'am the so you were saying that our advanced placement teachers they are receiving now professional

[01:24:29] development they attend the summer in the ap summer institute so based on the course and uh the syllabus that they are it's an online class that they take with other teachers from really around the nation around best practices it'll cover updates to that curriculum it'll talk about um application projects it talks about pedagogy and and activities that you can do with the kids it really is uh professional learning with other teachers in our region and around the nation that are teaching the same class so do our dual enrollment teachers how do they get

[01:25:05] professionally developed. Right. How do they do that with Northern Virginia Community College? I'm going to look into that. We're going to look into it. Okay. There is something because the college has to certify them before they can teach. And we norm some of that with our partners, our regional partners with teachers in Prince William County, and I think also in Manassas Park.

[01:25:25] So when we are designing our courses, how do we decide whether to offer an AP or a dual enrollment version of something again I'm gonna need to look into that probably I would have to say that we also have to look at what dual enrollment courses are being offered by Northern Virginia Community College right what's available to us what interests do our kids have and yes okay okay so we do

[01:26:04] offer both so that's interesting that we offer that if we can offer both AP and dual enrollment that we offer that? What's the difference? So AP classes are accepted by universities as equivalent credits for some classes, right?

[01:26:23] The dual enrollment credit is the course from Northern Virginia Community College, and it would appear that way on your transcript. So it's not necessarily an AP sort of shows up like a transfer credit, and dual enrollment is the course. Interesting. So I would think that dual enrollment, if I was a parent guiding my child through this is that dual enrollment would be preferential to our families so then that kind of makes me wonder what's the point of I would say that that not every college outside of Virginia accepts a dual enrollment credit okay and so an AP credit can be more universally accepted which if you have a student who's

[01:27:03] looking at going to post-secondary education outside of Virginia. And the AP may be more appealing to them because the university would take that as opposed to not taking a dual enrollment credit. There we go. Thank you. Secretly my goal every meeting to get him out of his school.

[01:27:21] I think that, oh, and then the last question I had pertained to AVID. The ESOL teacher participating in AVID, that's at both Mets and Osborne or just at one? I wasn't clear. Okay. And the section, the AVID section at Mets is brand new.

[01:27:39] That's brand new. So we're going to see where it goes. And I think that given our, you know, amazing community, if that becomes a successful, and why wouldn't it be, a successful partnership, why wouldn't we? We will expand that if possible. Yeah. Actually, I lied.

[01:27:55] I have one last question. You, bullet point number one for critical components of success was eliminating arbitrary prerequisites. Can you give me an example of an arbitrary prerequisite that we had before? Here he comes. Number two. There we go. I'm just thinking of an example for you. Requiring seventh graders to take Algebra I to get into the integrated science math program at Metz Middle School.

[01:28:17] So that's what, so that's an example. Correct. Okay. And? Because no other university, no other school district around us did that. Right. And then by doing that, the governor's school didn't require that. And by doing that, it created a barrier for our kids to be able to go into that program.

[01:28:34] Gotcha. Thank you. You've made it. We're all the way through. We're good. Thank you so much, Dr. Goldson. You're very welcome. I appreciate you. Thanks. Chair, I'll be doing the presentation from the podium so I can use the clicker.

[01:28:50] Sure. Thank you, Ms. Stephens. I apologize for missing your announcement earlier. So this is a very unique position to be in. Wow. Not here very often.

[01:29:15] So I'm Lisa Stephens. I'm the chair of the policy committee and fellow policy committee members are Ms. Miles and Ms. Brescia. And at any time during this presentation, if either one of you would like to add information, please feel free to interrupt to add information. We're starting something new with presentation of policy updates that we've made decisions on during our policy committee meetings to make it a little bit easier and a little bit more transparent for people to see what different policies we've looked at, what kinds of changes there were,

[01:29:50] and what which policy updates had major changes that we felt would be important not just for the board to see but for the public to see as well um this is the first time we're using this format I do want to say that with the caveat that this may not continue to be the format because we are moving to a different platform for all of our uh school board work community and we don't know yet exactly what policies are going to look like in that format so this may change drastically it may

[01:30:25] not we will not know till we fully move to that format so thank you to dr casada miss breja asked to make sure that we align this presentation and our policy work to the strategic plan so as part of its governance responsibility the school board sets and updates policies to provide support and guidance for all the pillars of the strategic plan which ultimately create the conditions for student academic success in other words each policy may align with a different pillar of the strategic plan and it was easier and made more sense to say they make up the

[01:31:01] foundation for all the pillars to stand on so we've divided and hopefully i'm going in the right direction yes we've divided policies into three different areas the first is policies that had no revisions periodically the vsba will go through policies on a regular cycle and they'll have policies that they look at but do not need to be revised this first policy is reproduction of copyrighted materials the vsba looked at it its code is egaa we use the same code that the vsba

[01:31:36] does they did not see any need to update the policy other than to say it was part of their regular review cycle we only have one policy such as that tonight the next policies are policies with minor revisions minor revisions or revisions that may include updates on citations updates on legal references updates on language moving from passive to active voice taking the word school board and capitalizing the s and the b where the s and the b were not capitalized in the past these policy revisions do not change or alter the overall meaning or affect the current implementation

[01:32:16] practices of the policies so you'll see them here and these policies will not each have their own slide but later you'll see the policies that will have their own slide because they require further discussion so we have school division goals and objectives acceptance of electronic signatures and records school year slash day driver education parent and family engagement field trips guidance and counseling programs student absences excuses dismissals student athlete extreme heat safety and protection fundraising and solicitation administration of surveys and questionnaires

[01:32:55] acceptance once again you'll see acceptance of electronic signatures and records twice because one refers to students and the other refers to administration so that's a policy that will be joh or geh depending upon which population it refers to then community involvement in decision making here we have the policies with extensive revisions these are policies that either have extensive revisions are new to mcps or are new policies in general you'll note that if it's a new policy it does say new in red and we do have one that's a new policy that's mcps

[01:33:32] specific each of these policies what policy updates will have its own slide because the committee felt it was important for you and for the community to see what the changes were what the updates were or what the new policy is so the first one i'm just going to go through the list and then we'll go through each slide there's teaching about drugs alcohol tobacco gaming and electronic devices, off-site instruction and virtual courses, sexually explicit instructional materials, textbook selection, adoption, and purchases, excuse me, college board school

[01:34:07] day program, which is new, which Dr. Goldsong referred to, extracurricular activity notices, which is new, parental rights and responsibilities, family leave and medical act, family leave and medical leave act reduction in professional staff workforce tutoring for pay recess which is a new mcps specific policy thank you to miss breja notification regarding prosecution of juveniles as adults this is new to mcps hold on just a second i just want to make sure that i have i have all the actual policies in front of me so i just want to make sure that i don't get them mixed up

[01:34:44] if you have any specific questions after i present them okay um notification regarding prosecution of juveniles as adults as adults this is new to mcps student wellness use of school buses threat assessment teams child abuse and neglect discipline of students with disabilities final financial aid information and guidance for high school students which is another new policy service animals in public schools and parental rights and responsibilities the first policy is teaching about drugs alcohol gambling and electronic devices the proposed policy update

[01:35:23] reflects additional requirements based on new virginia code school divisions are now required to provide instruction in addition to what is currently required concerning hemp products intended for smoking and time spent using electronic devices such as computers cell phones and other smart devices and the addictive potential thereof this is geared only towards students from 9th to 12th grade. The instruction that previously was required was drugs and drug abuse, public safety hazards and dangers of alcohol abuse, underage drinking, underage marijuana use

[01:35:58] and drunk driving, the health and safety risks of using tobacco products, then hemp products used for smoking, nicotine vapor products, alternative nicotine products, gambling and the addictive potential threat thereof. The next policy, there were quite a few that had large revisions this year, off-site instruction in virtual courses. What changed in this policy reflects a change in regulations. For students who require homebound services, homebound instruction, excuse me, the policy previous allowed certification from a physician assistant, advanced practice medical

[01:36:38] registered nurse licensed physician or a licensed clinical psychologist the vsba according to regulations updated the policy to say that certification for a need for homebound services can only be provided by a licensed physician or a licensed clinical psychologist then we move on to policy sexually explicit instructional materials this policy update added language required by amended virginia code the added language explains the purpose of policy iia this is a relatively new

[01:37:12] policy and the policy now starts off with purpose the policy establishes clear procedures for identification of instructional materials with sexually explicit content parental notification of any instructional materials with sexually explicit content parental review of instructional materials with sexually explicit content and the provision in a non-punitive manner of alternative instructional materials that do not include sexually explicit content for any student whose parents so request the update also removes the definitions definitions section and moves it to

[01:37:47] just after the purpose instead of at the end of the policy the next policy is textbook selection and adoption nothing was changed in the process of selecting adopting and purchasing textbooks but what was added to it was the procurement of high quality instructional materials approved by the board of education that are now required to go through the same adoption process as textbooks in addition the school division does needs to designate a faculty member to serve as the hqim

[01:38:19] liaison it was shared with us that mcps has staff already to fulfill said role the next policy we go to is the college board school day program which is a new policy which dr goldsung referred to it's based on new virginia code it requires manassas city public schools to provide eligible 11th and 12th grade students the opportunity to take a college entrance exam during the school day as opposed to finding their own time outside of the school day removes those unnecessary and arbitrary barriers while ensuring accommodations clear communication and the option for families to

[01:38:58] to decline participation. MCPS currently fulfills the requirements of the proposed policy and has a testing coordinator at OHS who oversees the process. In addition, as Dr. Goldson said, we cover the cost of all of those exams.

[01:39:15] Next, we go on to extracurricular activity notifications. This new policy requires division staff and volunteers who sponsor, oversee, volunteer with an extracurricular activity to use approved communication methods and not solely rely on social media to communicate with students and families about that extracurricular activity unless the superintendent provides specific written exception based on a requirement to meet an objective that cannot be any reasonably achieved without its use.

[01:39:50] The superintendent may revoke that exception at any time. Next, we have parental rights and responsibilities. This one is a policy that was already in place, but the update was one that I think a lot of parents appreciate. It's an update required by Virginia Code. Parents of students in middle and high school will receive notification by email or SMS text message of course registration deadlines and the process for requesting changes to a student's course selection.

[01:40:22] After that one, we have policy GCBE-M, family and medical leave. There were substantive updates to policy GCBE-M. Language was updated for clarification purposes without a change in meaning.

[01:40:42] Definitions for qualifying family and medical leave reasons were removed as were attachments that the VSBA felt did not need to be there and resulted in more confusion than anything else. The next policy is reduction in professional workforce. This policy was updated to read the school board authorizes the superintendent to develop appropriate regulations and procedures

[01:41:10] for accomplishing a reduction in force. This is a modification of policy GCPA. Then we move on to tutoring for pay this is GCQAB-M this is a modified policy because when we first looked at this policy update each of us interpreted this policy in a slightly different manner and we asked for some clarification so miss Fisher gracefully updated the policy to read any staff member who provides tutoring to students

[01:41:46] not enrolled in their class must do so outside of school premises and only an outside of their contracted work hours the prior language was confusing and was not very clear the next policy we look at is new and specific to reach to mcps courtesy excuse me of ms breja proposed policy iac with the star the star indicates that it's an mcps only policy previously recess was discussed in several different policies iac is proposed to reduce confusion and increase clarity in addition it outlines the expectation that recess cannot be

[01:42:26] withheld reduced or denied as a disciplinary measure nor shall it be used as a setting for disciplinary consequences unless it is a disciplinary measure assigned for conduct during recess the next policy we have is notification regarding prosecution of juveniles as adults this policy is not new to the vsba but it is new to mcps um when there is a policy when there is a model policy that's not required by virginia code or virginia regulation it is up to the school

[01:43:01] division to decide whether to adopt it or not if the school division decides not to adopt a policy from the vsba that's not required by virginia code or regulation the school division mcps does not keep a record of it when this policy came up in the updates it was new i was unfamiliar with it i met with dr newman he was unfamiliar with it as far as we know we have never had this policy that the decision to not adopt this policy occurred before either myself or dr newman

[01:43:35] joined mcps the policy re the policy update excuse me reads the school board of the city of manassas annually provides information developed by the office of the attorney general to students regarding laws governing the prosecution of juveniles as adults for the commission of certain crimes um the policy committee felt that it would be a wise choice to um put forward this policy for adoption because we all felt it was actually quite logical to have and yes dr newman and we already do it it's it's in the code of conduct right it's already in the

[01:44:14] code of conduct thank you dr newman the next policy on the list is student wellness this proposed change to policy jhcf-m the m means it's modified would remove the paragraph concerning recess which is now addressed through proposed policy iac a cross reference to policy iac will be added as well this policy for student wellness is a modified policy because we have previously

[01:44:48] removed parts of it to put into other policies that increased clarification because they related to health issues and medical issues that were better addressed within different policies or in their own policies i believe we will be looking at this policy again when we have our next policy committee meeting as there are additional updates that should be brought to us when we next meet and i'll share that date in just a minute the next one is whoops sorry i went too fast in turning things

[01:45:21] the next one is threat assessment teams code of virginia the code of virginia update includes additional training requirement and language more in line with statute so the new piece to this This policy is training must include specific training on the use of emergency substantial risk orders and substantial risk orders in accordance with Virginia code 19.2-152.13 to address the risk of harm to self or others posed by a student's access to a firearm.

[01:45:55] In addition, the superintendents or superintendents designee must provide the parents with information on the legal requirements relating to emergency substantial risk orders. Now we move on to child abuse and neglect reporting.

[01:46:12] Language was added to reflect changes in Virginia code, adding additional personnel to the listed mandated reporter requirements. The following people who in their professional official capacity have reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected must report the matter immediately.

[01:46:31] any teacher or other person employed by the school board of the city of Manassas, which means any city of Manassas employee, and any athletic coach, director, other person 18 or years or older, employed by or volunteering with a school athletics program in a division school, including interscholastic teams and clubs.

[01:46:51] Those are all people who are required to be mandated reporters. In addition, reporting to a supervisor does not relieve an individual of ensuring that the report is made to the appropriate agency. So it is not enough to report it to your supervisor.

[01:47:10] You need to follow through to ensure that the report has been made to the appropriate agency. The next one is policy discipline of students with disabilities. Policy JGDA was substantially revised to remove language that was procedural and/or administrative in nature and to improve clarity.

[01:47:31] The language that was procedural and/or administrative in nature is to be added into regulation or we need to ensure that it is in current regulations. The update also directs the superintendent to develop regulations related to policy JGDA, which is taking that administrative and procedural language out of the policy and ensuring that it's in the regulation.

[01:47:57] the wording within the policy is the superintendent shall develop regulations to implement this policy including procedures governing the administrative and procedural components of policy jgda as required by the idea individuals with disabilities education act section 504 of the rehabilitation act and the virginia stat and virginia statute and regulations financial aid information for guidance for high school students this is a new policy and i'm going to tell you this is a long piece of information because this new um proposed policy has a lot of meat to it

[01:48:37] so there is a lot on the screen it was very difficult to summarize this and can and include all of the pertinent information so this policy would require mcps to increase student awareness of financial aid opportunities and compliant and ensure compliance with Virginia law the policy requires the school division to provide high school students and their parents or guardians with annual information about free application for federal student aid including eligibility requirements resources application deadlines and the financial aid process the division must also

[01:49:12] provide information about alternative aid options such as the Virginia alternative state aid application to help students understand available federal and state financial aid assistance programs in addition the division must publicly post student financial application data establish a five-year goal to increase the percentage of graduating students who complete a financial aid application and report progress to the Virginia Department of Education as required participation in FAFSA or other financial aid applications remains voluntary and students and families may choose not to apply the policy also

[01:49:51] protects student privacy by prohibiting the disclosure of personally identifiable student information and as less it is necessary and prohibited by law then finally and this is one that I've said before is a very interesting policy this was one of the first policies I got to look at because it allows you to have miniature horses as service animals and schools provided they're trained this new addition to the policy the proposed update to policy kkk kka excuse me updates the definition of a three unit service dog team to include the parent

[01:50:25] of the person with the disability previously the policy did not indicate that it could be a parent of the person with the disability and those are our policy updates if you have questions i will answer as many as i can and miss breja and miss miles feel free to chime in with any pertinent information. Thank you, Ms. Stevens. Do I have questions to my right? Okay. Questions to my left?

[01:51:01] I just want to thank you for doing this and putting that all together and going forward with this new process. I do think it is easier to follow. There's now a better written record for people because not everybody is going to sit and watch the video, but people will read the slide presentation. And I think it was, you did a lot of homework associated with this. So I want to thank you. It actually ended up being easier. I need to thank Ms. Betty Jo Winnom because she created the slides because I was stuck at, what are these slides going to look like? And

[01:51:37] I went with Dr. Newman. I was like, do you have a template I can use? And he said, I know somebody who's an expert at this. And so Ms. Winnom very helpfully created this template for me. And the template was very easy to use and i do think it is much easier and once i had the template i knew where to fill everything in and i know miss miles had wondered if there was a way we could include a link into each of these right now there's not a way to that is not manpower hour extensive to embed a link it may very well be possible because i've spoken with miss garza in detail

[01:52:14] about the shift over to community we may be able to start embedding a link to that specific policy once we migrate to the new platform um which would be even better because then you could just click my my hope in a perfect world is it would just be the code like here it's kka you would click on kka and that policy would pop up that would be easier right now it is just too labor intensive to do I was going to say, Alba also put a lot of time and effort into this.

[01:52:45] Absolutely. And the presentation looks great. And I really, I think that it was so detailed that to me, I don't think it's right now not necessary to have the link. So I think I'm very, because we were talking about, I didn't know how it was going to look, but now I'm very pleased with it.

[01:53:01] So thank you. It's a work in progress. And of course, Ms. Garza does so much work on this behind the scenes. She's the one who gets the policy updates from the VSBA. She's the one. They don't come to us looking like they look tonight. They come to us in a very different format.

[01:53:17] Ms. Garza is the person who goes through and formats every single policy update to fit our format. She then splits them up and shares them with the different cabinet members who are responsible for the different policy updates. Then she gets them back, and she puts them all back together.

[01:53:36] So this would not get done without Ms. Garza. So we appreciate the work that you do as well because you get us to the point where we can do this. So thank you, we really appreciate it. So thank you. - Just one point of clarification.

[01:53:51] I mean, you can sit down. This is clarification into the air, but policy JHCF-M, the paragraph regarding recess, was that not actually in the policy, it was in the regulation, JHCF-R, but my recollection is the same your recollection which is that we needed to talk more about jhcf-m so i'm clarifying that when we are voting on these that that's not going to be included and so jhc-fm student wellness

[01:54:23] the policy um update when it comes from the vsba includes recess right we had moved that out put that into a regulation but there are additional updates coming to that i don't recall what they look right right off the top of my head i believe we'll be looking at that the next time the policy committee meets the next time the policy committee meets will be on august 18th at 4 p.m at central office um that is an open meeting open to the public so anyone can come view um there's no

[01:54:56] public comments time during that meeting though so thank you okay thank you again miss stevens um policy is one of the big three that things that we do so it is very important um that we all are on the same page with it i do hope that diligent um is going to offer us something that doesn't make these processes so redundant um and maybe makes it a little bit easier to follow what we're getting from vsba but it's a large body of work and i appreciate everyone's time thank you we will

[01:55:33] now move to discussion uh our action agenda the first item is uh student code of conduct could i I get a motion chair yes I move that the school board of the city of Manassas approves version I'm trying of course to verify which one it is here on board docs right now but I believe is this version B okay let me make sure this is

[01:56:06] version B yes version yeah version B I have a motion by miss pressure is there

[01:56:25] a second second I have a motion by dr. Jones seconded by Miss Brown that the school board of the city of Manassas approved version a is there any

[01:56:59] discussion chair um generative AI is a very hot topic right now very coincidentally miss brown miss miles and i were all at professional development yesterday for our day jobs um that a huge component of it was ai and the component that was ai was not actually towards identifying when students are using ai it was ai as a tool for educators um and i think

[01:57:38] this is something that's constantly changing it was a great pre it was a great um professional development. I would like to share it with Dr. Newman later, but it brought to mind some questions that I have that I don't know whether they require clarification or not. Um, I do want the public to know we do have a policy IIBEA-GAB-M acceptable computer use. It does cover AI, not extensively,

[01:58:08] But there is a regulation that is IIBEA-R-1 use of generative AI in school settings. And I believe this policy was adopted in 2024. It is, I'm sorry, this regulation came to being in 2024.

[01:58:29] We don't, the school board does not vote on regulations, only on policies. And I just had some questions about it. I know Mr. Gefeller and Dr. Newman have said that this is work that's being done and has been done. My question, and maybe this is a question for you, Dr. Newman or Mr. Gefeller, is educational staff currently receiving professional development on how to identify when students use AI in work?

[01:59:04] There's not, we have not had a specific professional development that I could point to, but it is um conversations that are happening in clt meetings it's happening with between principals and leaders and assistant principals but in terms of have we had every teacher take a course in ai the answer would be no okay because and dr newman you and i had a discussion about software to identify ai we did the school division did look at software for identifying ai but it had a very high error rate and i think dr newman you said the error rate is was as high as 50 percent i can just

[01:59:41] tell you the the items that we submitted it was about a 50 failure rate yeah we were we were asked to generate um for that demonstration uh we were asked to generate a completely generative ai document uh a document that was not had any ai in it and one that had partial ai and it identified the the example that we had created without ai identified that as ai and so we chose not to adopt that because it was not a reliable demonstration okay thank you because i think

[02:00:18] that is important to know that you know we have students with all different levels of expertise and we have students who have the ability to perform at a level that can look like ai and ai is not infallible. The professional development we were at yesterday said one of the things that was repeated multiple times was you have to remember AI can lie. And so that was something that really stuck in my head. Do we have, and you may not know this, Dr. Newman or Mr. Confeller,

[02:00:54] do we have members of staff in the schools in central office who feel like they're proficient in for lack of a better term identifying what's AI what student work is AI so every every one of our schools has instructional technology specialists and part of that part of their work is around generative AI and so as part of they're having conversations with teams as they're looking at developing instructional materials they're having conversations providing that sort of training with our staff so I would say that when we're looking at people who are very comfortable

[02:01:33] with that. I mean, obviously, we have all spectrums, but our ITTSs would be someone we would point them to as a person of resource. Okay. Because, you know, my concern, I'm a teacher, and I have students who do create work that is AI-assisted. They have work that's completely AI, and they have work that's completely their own. And it's very hard as a teacher to identify, monitor, and address. And And my concern is, AI, we don't want them using AI when they're not supposed to be using

[02:02:10] AI, but are we creating a burden on our teachers by saying, and this is maybe a rhetorical question, by saying you have to have some sort of method or tool to identify what is AI.

[02:02:29] And I'm hoping that what I'm saying is making sense. but as a teacher it's a very difficult task um and as a teacher i look at student work on a student by student item by item basis to make that decision so i'm wondering if we need to gradually phase in some sort of process procedure to support teachers bless you bless you in um

[02:03:05] bless you developing a rubric or something to aid them with the identification of ai work and addressing the identification of ai work so that's that's where i am on the situation right now to my left so yes sorry um yeah um i know that miss stevens had mentioned the policy and i was just looking it up um and it talked it just talks about um the ethical and appropriate and productive

[02:03:39] utilization of AI to support short and long-term success of staff and students in defining the perimeters for the use, appropriate tailored guidance for staff and students, and the approach to ethical, appropriate, and productive use of AI aligns with the guiding principles for the use of AI in education, also released by the governor, and then perimeters for generative AI use.

[02:04:10] So I know that it it says that in there. And my thing is, when we put it in the code of conduct, as opposed to just in this policy, as a former high school teacher, high school English teacher, ironically enough, who had to grade a lot of papers, if we do not have a tool for our teachers to use in order to detect AI, putting it in the code of conduct leaves us to possible discrimination.

[02:04:42] And I will say this, being a woman of color, you know, there are stigmas, and we don't know those stigmas. And of course, we don't want to accuse our staff of having any of those stigmas. However, because grading papers is very, very subjective, and I know this because I'm a writing major as well as a teacher now, you may get you may think that you did a wonderful job on a paper, and you can have two teachers graded, and they will grade it differently.

[02:05:13] you'll get a B from one teacher and an A from another and because of that we really have to be careful about adding the words that I feel like it's very verbose with the one with its B however I looked at Prince William and how they put it in their code of conduct and it was just a very simple line unauthorized use of artificial intelligence that is all they put and I think if we do want to add it, perhaps adding it very succinctly like that might be better than

[02:05:50] using the descriptive language that we have in option B, which is very descriptive. And because we do not have the tools for teachers to verify whether or not AI was used, we really have to be careful that we are not setting our teachers up for failure or possible parents saying, well, you said my child use AI, how do you know? And so because we don't have that software, we just have to be cautious. And that's where I'm at on that. Thank you.

[02:06:26] Ms. Seberg. Thank you, Chair. May I also offer just a small amendment? It's just a typo in the first phrase of option A. The last sentence of the first paragraph should read, students must maintain academic integrity at all times adding an s in a period under number five number five on page five

[02:06:59] number five cheating plagiarism ai misuse and dishonesty um oh is that it's the first pair option a it's on both of them it's the same type of one both but i'm just asking all times okay yeah thank you any other comments miss brosha um so this is so first of all i'll say if the only objection is the phrasing then i could support a simpler language like unauthorized use of ai

[02:07:36] i could support that and if this motion fails we still have another meeting before the school year starts to have base essentially an option c so i will be voting against uh option a because i do think we need unauthorized use of a ai even if it's that just that simple phrase in there and And the reason I say that is because if we refer to what Ms. Stevens said, IIBEAI-R-1, parameters for generative AI use, MCPS defines the following appropriate functions for the use of generative AI in school settings.

[02:08:11] And if you go to number two, learning support, teachers and staff shall work with students to appropriately use generative AI to support learning of content standards. they shall utilize resources from MCPS to make clear distinctions between applications of generative AI that support learning, like the provision of ideas and resources to better understand the use content, and improper uses. As defined in the MCPS Code of Conduct, Option A has no definition. This regulation has nothing without a reference to the MCPS Code of

[02:08:47] Conduct. There's currently nothing in our Code of Conduct. Option A does not mention it at all. So we cannot rely upon a regulation or a policy. There's nothing in there. This is a very simple, unauthorized use. If that's the phrase that is preferred, if we want an option C, yes. But as this regulation is currently written, we must put something in our code of conduct, and option A has nothing. So I'm urging everybody to please vote against option A, and let's have a chance

[02:09:20] at option C that we can vote on at our next meeting. Thank you. Ms. Miles? Yes, so I would definitely like that compromise, especially since we do have other districts that are using that in their wording in the code of conduct. But like I said before, B is very verbose. And because we do we do lack the ability to enforce what B says, I think that is not within reason for us to use

[02:09:57] that wording. Chair? Yes. Ms. Stevens. Thank you. I appreciate it. When I pull up the actual student code of conduct that is attached to this page, and I look at the 2627 student code of conduct, I'm trying to see which one I clicked on because it does get confusing as to which one clicked on this would be the option b student code of conduct this is not in the the slideshow

[02:10:34] that puts the two different options together this if you look on page five where it says electronic integrity students may not access or attempt to access unauthorized databases accounts online services school technology or use technology in violation of school rules include including misuse of ai or other digital digital tools students may also receive disciplinary action as outlined in section 20 technology and equipment misuse so what it looks like if it is it in both is it in

[02:11:07] both a and b does it does option a because the one i'm looking at i don't here on page five and option it's on page six and a and there we go um option a did so this doesn't talk about ai So we could potentially, and I'm sorry if I'm thinking and talking at the same time and not necessarily making sense to everyone.

[02:11:37] If you actually pull up the code of conduct, option B, the full code of conduct, the section plagiarism includes the long edition about AI. But then you go to dishonesty, forgery, and then go down to electronic integrity.

[02:11:55] Option B has added under electronic integrity, students may not access or attend. attempt to ask access unauthorized databases accounts online services school technology or use technology in violation of school rules including misuse of AI or other digital tools would that blurb in the electronic integrity section be enough for everyone's satisfaction of a it's in b if you look in b but it's in b move it to a and have it suffice so i know this

[02:12:34] is confusing and doesn't make this is very confusing no but this does not include any mention of a no it doesn't that's right but no but if you what i'm saying is if you look at option b the whole student code of conduct and you are on what is page A in in the full student code of conduct so if you pull up student code of conduct option B in

[02:13:05] English Miss Garza could you please pull up the slide deck thank you and then go to the slide that has the two options the slide deck good evening chair spa Oh, Vice Chair Jones, members of the board, Dr. Newman.

[02:13:39] So then, okay, so here are the changes or the revisions that were requested. So, Ms. Stevens, if we look at the bottom bullet, I think that's what you're highlighting from option B. Thank you.

[02:13:56] They aren't formatted the same on the slide as they are here, but does it satisfy the board enough for it to have the blurb with electronic integrity? students may not access or attempt to access unauthorized databases accounts online services school technology or use technology in violation of school rules including misuse of ai or other digital tools and not include that blurb with um plagiarism would that work i don't know about

[02:14:28] it i can live with that that works for me so it would take out the piece on plagiarism but leave section title it would leave um cheating it would leave electronic integrity and electronic integrity including misuse of ai or other digital tools which would allow teachers to use or not use ai in their classroom to whatever degree they feel comfortable with

[02:15:04] i have a question the proposal is to eliminate plagiarism completely because there is a written you know students may not use material in violation of copyright or copy the work of others without proper citation and or present the work of others as original creations that's the original option a you know written version of it so what is the so to remove just the piece under plagiarism about ai because ai is mentioned in in option b ai is also mentioned under electronic

[02:15:37] integrity? Just to clarify for Ms. Brescia, so we would keep option A plagiarism and that would stay the same. However, from option B, we would change it to the electric integrity, what is listed there. And this would also, in my opinion, remove the responsibility from the teacher when it comes to actual writing because that's what is the issue so I don't know if that hopefully that's clarification we need to vote on option 8 that is the

[02:16:16] motion that we have that's right but I was allowing discussion okay so we do need to go back to vote for option a as it stands right now as amended no well Well, we amend it next, right?

[02:16:35] We have to vote on the thing that's on the floor right now. Right. And so we shall expect, to make sure everyone knows what they're voting on, that this is a proposal for an option C is on the table, and that option C will come our way on our action agenda on August 11th, which is before the start of students returning to school.

[02:16:58] So just squeaking in just under the deadline for that one. And then, so if you want option C, vote against this, is my understanding. No. Dr. Jones.

[02:17:14] Yeah, I'm not completely sure what option C is, but we're voting on option A or B. We asked at the last meeting to come back with option B. We have A and B. And I don't think we should just throw things into the code of conduct. I don't think we're being responsible when we're sitting here and say, oh, move this, move that.

[02:17:32] I don't think that's being responsible. but we're going to vote on option a and see what happens but uh i am not prepared to vote for option c i'm not even sure what option c is so all right i also want to ask someone that's not us um when i mean we've got to print this thing and hand it out so i don't know that august 11th is really gonna work is that do we have a print date or how do we distribute this now yeah distributing it

[02:18:05] before the the day before school starts is challenging yeah miss miles are we able to table this and because so that way we can get an option c or is it something that we could create right now like i mean if if we're we're agreeing to an option c removing electronic integrity i'm excuse me removing the plagiarism if everyone's in agreement with that are we able

[02:18:35] we're not okay i'd like to call for the vote please um all in favor aye aye aye okay all opposed opposed no a we're voting on a whether to adopt a opposed opposed all in favor was okay so i believe that is a 6-1 vote um we'll move on to finance the fy 2027 amended budget

[02:19:14] can i get a motion chair i move that the school board of the city of manassas approved the increase of two oh my two million two hundred forty four thousand dollars including seventy three thousand dollars for the food services fund and two million one hundred and seventy one thousand for the operating fund to the fy 2027 approved budget as a result of increased revenue from the state as presented on july 14 2026 and authorized the school board chairman to transmit the updated budget schedule to the city council of monastas in accordance with school board policy and virginia

[02:19:53] code is detailed in resolution r2026-06 requesting increased budget authority as a result of this increase in state revenue second i have a motion by miss stevens seconded by miss seberg that the school board of the city of manassas approved the increase of two million two hundred and forty four thousand dollars including seventy three thousand dollars for the food services fund and two million $171,000 for the operating fund to the FY 2027 approved budget as a result of increased revenue from the state as presented on July 14, 2026, and authorized the school board chairman to transmit

[02:20:32] the updated budget schedule to the City Council of Manassas in accordance with the school board policy and Virginia State Code as detailed in Resolution R2026-06 requesting increased budget authority as a result of this increase in state revenue? Is there any discussion? Chair? Yes.

[02:20:54] I'm just going to briefly comment that I'm very glad that two out of our three unfunded, our previously unfunded needs were met in this. But I do hold out hope for option for our third unfunded need. Registration is kind of a silent killer of student achievement. And it's kind of, it goes under the radar a little bit, but if kids cannot start school on time or if it takes them weeks or months to do so, despite the best efforts of our existing staff and despite the best efforts of our existing structures, our students do take a hit on our registration, on their student

[02:21:34] achievement, and it does our current setup, and everyone's doing the best we can. I'm not saying, I'm not making that argument, but when we are pulling teachers out of their teaching duties to administer tests that could easily be done at a central registration it is very important for us to keep our unfunded need number three as a live as a live item here although I am glad that number one especially number one came all the way through I want to reiterate what Miss Brescia said and I'm actively registering working with registrations every day for my job when

[02:22:13] we have, um, kindergartners and, and just thinking about a parent, just imagine you have three kids and you have kids at every single school. Like you have a middle schooler, you have an elementary student and, um, intermediate school, um, and you don't have transportation. It's really tough for our students and our families. And that, like Ms. Brescia said, it deters them and they miss, um, countless days because mom is trying to figure out transportation um so i do um definitely encourage our board hopefully we will get that need met um and that the money that we get next

[02:22:51] time from the city will approve that because it is so important um any other comments okay i i echo uh i mean we don't call them unmet needs for um just to be picking words out of the air so i do hope that we do keep that alive um can i have uh all in favor aye any opposed that motion carries seven zero um moving on still in finance to retention bonus can i get a motion chair i

[02:23:29] move that the school board of the city of manassas approved the plan for providing which returning staff with a retention bonus of one thousand five hundred dollars for full-time staff and seven hundred and fifty dollars for part-time staff in the august 31st pay period as presented at the july 14th 2026 meeting second i have a motion by miss stevens seconded by miss brown that the school board of the city of manassas approve the plan for providing returning staff with a retention bonus of 1500 for full-time staff and 750 for part-time staff in the august 31 pay

[02:24:06] period as presented at the july meeting july 14th 2026 meeting um is there any discussion miss prescia oh no that's for when i say that okay um uh all in favor aye any opposed that motion also carries 7-0 um we will now move to board member comments miss miles okay first i want to congratulate all our new administrators i wish you a successful school year um a couple

[02:24:42] weeks ago i was able to attend the vsba's annual education conference i had the opportunity to connect with other school board members in virginia and had the privilege to meet our secretary of education who is a former educator and administrator and i learned was also a mentor of dr newman so his mentor so that's awesome i learned the importance of a strong relationship with the school board and the superintendent and i also learned about new grants that are available to fund after-school programs and community hubs for school districts to do more to connect families to resources. Our school district was also recognized for the Career and Conversations

[02:25:20] program, which was talked about today, and it was just an honor to be able to accept this award with fellow board members. Monday is convocation for our staff and teachers, and I look forward to seeing everyone all in one place celebrating the start of the school year. I truly hope everyone enjoyed their summer break. I know many of our staff and teachers often put on their mom or dad hat and spend the summer with their children. I'm one of those. And every year is a brand new year to remember your why. I remember one of my administrators had us write our why down and put it in an envelope and put our name on it. And then we opened up our why at the end of the school year

[02:26:00] to see if that kept that motivation going. But I encourage you to write your why down and may that why I give you the motivation to be the best teacher you can be to our students. And I want to end my comments with an encouraging quote from the late great champion educator Rita Pearson.

[02:26:20] She said, every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best they can possibly be. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Miles. Ms. Brescia.

[02:26:38] Sure. So we are almost two weeks out from the start of school. That is a very exciting place to be for parents. So everybody make the most of this time. Schedule your haircuts if you can, because we snuck just in, and then the phone started ringing, everybody trying to get in at the same time. Anyway, I want to expand a little bit on this, my thoughts on the artificial intelligence discussion that we just had. And I want to make sure that I understand everybody correctly in terms of where folks were coming from on this, that seemed at first that I was hearing that,

[02:27:14] oh, we have a policy and a regulation that covered it. And then when it, but I don't understand why we proceeded with a version that doesn't mention, a version of our code of conduct that does not mention artificial intelligence at all, when the regulation clearly states that it is on us within the code of conduct to define that. That is bizarre to me. I'm sorry to use such a strong word. I am speaking extemporaneously using my brain and using my heart. So it is not perfectly polished and organized, but it is strange that we have a regulation stating that it is on us

[02:27:52] to define improper use of artificial intelligence in our code of conduct. And then we adopt a version that fails to do so. I don't understand that. I also don't understand this reliance on software, this argument saying that we require a software for it is an argument to remove plagiarism from the code of conduct completely. How has any plagiarism been detected over the years? And it's true, much plagiarism goes undetected. People are very clever about concealing it.

[02:28:30] You never have perfect enforcement in anything in our code of conduct. The dress code being a famous example, it is very difficult to enforce a dress code, but that doesn't mean that we take a turn every single time to try to refine and make it better. It does not mean we eliminate a dress code just because it is hard to do and hard to enforce. We can do our best to enforce a dress code and we can do our best to enforce plagiarism and software detection. It's a red herring, frankly. To chase after that and to exclude, to fail in our duty to define improper

[02:29:10] use of artificial intelligence, the way that our existing structure asked us to do, to fail to do that, and hiding behind software detection as the reason why is, I'm going to use the word again, bizarre. It's bizarre to me because it is, you know, if your sister in college writes your essay and a teacher and a principal and administrator can tell, oh, you were writing at the fifth grade level and now you're writing at the college level, there have been ways to detect this

[02:29:48] before and it's never been perfect. But it is important to have in there anyway so that we can set that high standard for our students. And I urge us all to move on in our thinking from reasons not to do things.

[02:30:06] We do not have to be carefully spoon-fed every single step that we make. We can edit our code of conduct. can do that it is the school board's document and it is and yeah i was encouraged by the brief hope that an option c had in there but it's strange to me that instead we went for a version that didn't mention it at all i'll tell you where else we do not mention artificial intelligence we do

[02:30:41] not mention it in our technology use guidelines and that needs to change we do not mention we We don't have a policy that addresses it. And the one regulation where we do delegated it to us, and we failed.

[02:30:56] So this was never intended to be the single one thing that we do to tackle artificial intelligence. Yes, we absolutely need a rubric. We need a lot of good guidance in terms of what is learning with the assistance of artificial intelligence versus what is undermining learning with artificial intelligence.

[02:31:17] if you're using it to process, that's great. But if you're using it to do the work, that is not great. And where that line is and how that's going to be something that we iterate over and over again, which is why our regulation delegates it to our director of instruction to be promulgating those instructional guidelines every single year. So I'm glad that that part is happening. This was never supposed to be that. But we are behind the eight ball here, guys. Prince William has it in their code of conduct it's not always in the code of conduct sometimes it's in the technology use guidelines instead of the code of conduct but we don't have it there so um so we're starting the

[02:31:55] school year off we're kicking it off with no defined improper uses of artificial intelligence and that is unfortunate and uh have a great summer everybody thank you miss special miss stevens thank you chair um it's hard to believe summer is almost over the school year is right around the corner i don't know about anybody else but i always come up with all these tasks and things i'm going to accomplish before the start of the school year and i only get about 10 of them done so i think that's kind of the norm um i did want to talk for a moment about the conference on

[02:32:31] education several of us went to last week i attended four breakout sessions that were exceptionally good they were about things other school divisions are doing which all in the end promote student achievement the first one was transforming your central office into a family hub the second was using data and family engagement to decrease chronic absenteeism the third was beyond the bell how after school services support students and the final was governing not managing the legal role of school boards in complex special education matters um i found them

[02:33:08] all to be quite informative i have not had an opportunity to share what i learned with my fellow school board members but i hope to do so soon i also wanted to remind folks that we have summer school graduating coming graduation excuse me coming up this week i believe it's on the 30th and i believe it's going to be at osborne high school we will be able to see our final graduates walk the stage and i look forward to that and i look forward to cheering them on and then in just a few weeks we'll be back in school doing all the things we've forgotten how to do and getting back in our routines and i just want to remind everybody as our students start going back to

[02:33:45] school be careful on the roads the roads have been very quiet with no school buses with no student drivers but they're soon to get very busy so as we move towards the school year think about readjusting your morning routine when you leave for work because you will be slowed down by our school buses and our student drivers enjoy the rest of your summer thank you thank you miss stephen smith-seberg thank you chair um congrats to all that were recognized here this evening um something i want to share with my fellow school board members as a seasoned school board member with 10 years on the school board i wanted to remind us all that school board members if you

[02:34:25] have a concern or question about a policy you don't have to wait until it comes up on the agenda if you do i encourage you to reach out to the policy committee chair we've talked a lot about policies tonight but whenever you have a question or concern about a policy in some cases the issue has already been discussed or is currently under review all policies that are under review by the policy committee as well as those that have been adopted are available online for both school board members and the public you're always welcome to share feedback through the prop throughout the process rather than waiting for a formal meeting uh today was wonderful to welcome new and returning

[02:35:01] faces to Manassas City Public Schools at the New Teachers Luncheon, and I thought the messages from our chair and our superintendent were so welcoming and inspiring. Thank you. There's a lot to look forward to. As Mrs. Stevens mentioned, we have a summer graduation coming up. This Friday, Osborne High School Screaming Eagles Marching Band will have its season preview for family, friends, and fans friday at 4 p.m on the practice field by the tennis courts um i look forward to welcoming all staff at convocation on monday and just another reminder about the new jenny dean ribbon cutting

[02:35:38] at noon on august 4th all are welcome and tours will be offered thank you chair thank you miss sieberg miss brown vice chair dr jones well welcome to all our new administrative leaders uh special thanks to all the businesses in the community that participate in the career carousel program job shadowing provides valuable insight to our students and i want to thank all the staff who made the program possible and once again don't forget the african american festival on saturday august 1st at metz and the jenny dean ribbon cutting on august 4th at noon

[02:36:15] the manassas city leadership team met last week and they are ready to rise forward uh they heard the message that we arise that we rise by going beyond what is comfortable and move toward forward by staying aligned to our purpose and mission the entire leadership team will plot lessons from the book switch that include direct the rider keep our focus clear our mission remains unchanged ensure every student is seen supported challenged and prepared motivate the elephant read with purpose and hope when challenges increase our belief in students and one another must grow

[02:36:50] even stronger and shape the path create systems supports and conditions that make success possible for all students and staff remove barriers align resources and build momentum through action councilman tomosina and i had perfect weather last saturday for our neighborhood walk and neighborhood talk i met students that attend several of our schools and one parent even was walking in the community to find us so that was really great i only heard good things about manassas city public schools and the only question was about how to get school supplies it's also great meeting our new teachers

[02:37:25] this afternoon and also i look forward to seeing our returning teachers and staff next week and also don't forget mark your calendars for the first day of school but also open houses and back to school nights together we will rise together we will move forward thank you dr jones um i think for my closing i just want to say that i did attend some virtual meetings this week with Senator Warner's office with Public Schools Leadership Network. Everywhere I go, people are talking about AI. So I don't think our kids are really going to be able to completely miss the

[02:38:04] message. I think that, you know, if time weren't a factor, we would have been able to probably nail down this policy. But I think it deserves our full attention. And I do believe that state and federal guidelines are coming. And they're, you know, they're going to be in place across the they're going to be fair they're going to be detailed I hope that they will be enforceable you know so I I stand by my vote but you know I wish that we would have had more time so that we could have added a blurb I would have liked to have seen the word AI in our policy in our student code of conduct but other than

[02:38:41] that I appreciate everyone for their detailed reports tonight and I want to thank everyone for the work that they're doing on behalf of our students so I hope that we everyone have it's a good night and thank you for coming and sharing with us in such a detailed and enthusiastic way you guys are just and I get a motion chair I move that the school board meeting adjourned second I have a motion from a Stevens seconded by Miss Brown that the school board

[02:39:15] meeting adjourn all in favor any opposed that motion carries 7-0 have a good night everyone

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