Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City School Board Work Session - August 13, 2026

Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 2h 6m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXVZh8_mthU

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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[00:00:02] Please join me for a moment of silence, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:00:31] Madam Clerk. Chairs for all. The President. Vice Chair is Dr. Jones. Here. Mrs. Siebert. Here. Mrs. Steven. Present. Thank you, Madam Chair, we have a form.

[00:00:52] Dr. Newman, are there any additions or additions to our agenda? First of all, I request that a governance training with the Virginia School Board Association, the agenda item be added to the agenda for discussion and consideration.

[00:01:10] Chair, I move that the school board is going to announce this group of public meeting agendas modified. Second. a motion by the Stevens seconded by vice chair Jones that we put the public meeting agenda any discussion all in favor we will now move to the work

[00:01:45] session agenda the first item is that we will participate in training on the diligent community platform as part of the school boards transition from board docs to diligent community this training will provide an overview of the platform's features and functionality to support efficient access to meeting materials collaboration and work and now we have these books can you hear us I can we're already okay we're ready for you whenever you're ready good evening everyone I'm excited to walk you all through the community platform this

[00:02:23] evening my name is Merrick Brooks I work in the customer success program I With BoardDocs and community, a little bit of everything out here at Diligent. So I shared my screen with you all, so you should be seeing that. We're excited and looking forward to getting you all started in community.

[00:02:42] Tonight, we're just going to have a quick overview, or not quick, but a brief overview of what's available to you in the platform and how it looks. But just like within BoardDocs, I think my advice to you all is to get in there and click around when you do get access to your community site.

[00:02:59] you'll find your flow, just like you did in your BoardDoc site. There's not anything that you all can break, if you will, so don't be shy. Get in there, review your meetings, review the information provided to you with your board packet and everything.

[00:03:16] What I shared with you here is the public-facing site. You can see it looks quite different than our public-facing site in BoardDoc, so a bit of an upgrade, if you will. we can customize this and we can add different pictures and things like that as time goes on.

[00:03:33] But here on the public site, you'll notice we have a calendar over here on the right hand side. There's also a calendar option here that we can expand to view a larger calendar to see the meetings that took place on different dates. We can access a full list of meetings. This does include all of the board docs imported meetings as well. So you'll have all of your meetings here available to you. But if you notice on this right-hand side, we have different areas where you can find upcoming meetings, recent meetings listed here. So one benefit here of having multiple

[00:04:10] options, depending on what device you're on, you know, multiple options in multiple locations. Sometimes when you're viewing this on your laptop or computer, you'll have a wider view. Whereas if reviewing this information say on your your phone or even a tablet then you may have a more vertical view so it does auto adjust based on the device you're using is mobile friendly so everything that we look at today you can do from the device of your choice and then of course we have a search here as well of course it's with search information available on the public facing page

[00:04:48] and if we scroll down here we can access information that's stored within the document library of course we can meet all of you some information regarding your board and then from the public facing page there is an option for the community to be able to subscribe to receive email notifications now for you all as board members you will still receive those email notifications when the packets made available to you this here would allow the public to sign up to receive email notifications if they were interested in knowing that each time you had a special meeting or a

[00:05:23] regular meeting they can choose the meeting types that they subscribe to but that way when we do post those meetings for the public they would get an automated email notification and they can view that information so that is a new feature that we did not have available in port docs if i scroll up here at the top right there is a sign in option here now you could save the sign in page as a favorite you can always come here to the public site and choose to sign in here really up to you

[00:05:55] One thing different between BoardDocs and community, in community, your user names will now be your email addresses, and you will all be able to manage your own password. So in the past, in BoardDocs, I don't know if you've forgotten a password and Alva had to reset that password on your behalf.

[00:06:14] Now, if you forget your password, there will be a link that I forgot my password. It will generate an email, and then you can reset your own password through that email notification. once we do sign in it is going to pull a page up that looks similar to this um now i am logged in with training access so it may look slightly different when you all get access to your site this is what we call the diligent platform now if you had access to other diligent products you might have different tiles here based on how how what what diligent products you all were using

[00:06:53] if you are a board member that sits on another board you may also have access to your other board within this platform here so with board docs that was difficult to navigate between different boards if you set on on multiple boards here all of your boards that are managed under the diligence umbrella if you will you'll have access to those here in this diligent platform but you'll notice here, my immunity tile is here, and if I were to select this tile, it is going to pull me to a page that looks very much like this. We would actually start on upcoming meetings. We didn't have any

[00:07:32] upcoming meetings listed here yet because we haven't started using the community platform, but here you would have access to upcoming meetings, and then what we were looking at previous, or right here, is those previous meetings. So here under previous meetings, All of your BoardDocs imported meetings will be here.

[00:07:51] They will have access to all of those, as well as, you know, any meetings that we're creating in the community platform. One thing I do want to point out here, and this is a great example, notice this meeting here for June 23rd, and the status says Review Preview.

[00:08:08] What that is letting us know is that this meeting is in draft state, so it has not been finalized and pushed out to the public and to the board and everybody yet. This is a draft meeting, so if you have access to a draft meeting to view that information, you would see that status there of review preview.

[00:08:29] For our purposes tonight, we're going to use this June 9th meeting that we've created or have created in community, and when you select that meeting, this will be your board member view or your member view. So a little different than the view within BoardDocs currently, but here we have the agenda outline down this left-hand side.

[00:08:51] This is a clickable outline, so you could click here and it would navigate through those agenda items for you. And then notice in the middle of the page here, we can also scroll through these items or through this agenda packet. If I scroll down here, notice this information that is in a locked box.

[00:09:15] That is your cue that this information is locked out. It is not available for the public. It is available for members only. So maybe we had some specific information that was not public information that we need to communicate with the board. We could block that information within the agenda.

[00:09:32] And that, again, is your cue that that information is blocked out from public view. And then as I scroll down, you'll see there's some attachments here. I can click on those attachments here. Again, if I were to scroll down this left-hand side, you'll notice those same attachments are over here on that left-hand side.

[00:09:48] And I can utilize this left-hand side as a clickable navigation. Up here, there are some different options, and this is all based on your preference of how you want to view this information. If I wanted to move this sidebar over, I could select that.

[00:10:08] It just gives me a bigger workspace, if you will. And if I toggle that, it just brings that left-hand column back in the picture. So sometimes that may depend on, you know, if you were looking at this on your phone, you may want a bigger screen and to be able to move that information on the left side out of your way.

[00:10:25] Whereas if you're on your laptop or computer, you may like to have it there. My settings icon here, I can choose, do I want to do this page by page? Do I need to rotate information? Perhaps I'm looking at an attachment that is drawing, and I need to rotate that information so I can see it in a more horizontal versus vertical view.

[00:10:47] There is also a zoom option here. So if I wanted to blow that information up bigger so I have bigger text, You can also use these plus and minus signs here to utilize that zoom feature as well. And then this hand here, there's two options.

[00:11:05] I can have my hand more of a grabber as I pull this information up and down, whereas if my arrow icon, not a right or wrong there too. Again, just more of your preference of what you prefer to use as you navigate through that information. And then looking at this right-hand side here, these are new annotation tools that are available to you.

[00:11:29] These annotation tools here are available to you with your username and password. So you don't have access to each other's annotation tools. Nobody has access to yours. You can't see anybody else's. So as you're preparing for your meeting, if you wanted to remind yourself to ask a question or raise a point, you certainly can utilize these tools here.

[00:11:52] Again, only available to you, but they are available across devices. So if you were at home on your laptop and took some notes and prepared for the meeting and then brought your iPad or logged into a different laptop, again, link to your username and password.

[00:12:08] There is a highlight tool. So if I wanted to highlight some information, let me click on that. If I wanted to highlight some information, there is an underline tool. If I wanted to underline some information, there is a freehand tool. So if I wanted to, you know, draw some pretty pictures on my packet, I certainly can.

[00:12:26] And then there is a comment tool or an annotations tool. So if I wanted to drop a comment here and say, you know, ask for more info, I could do that and add those comments on my packet. Now, on BoardDocs, we also had an annotations tool where we could add, say, comments within the packet.

[00:12:44] We can only add those on the agenda items. In community, if I were to say, look at this attachment here, I have access to those same tools on the attachments as well. So if I wanted to circle this and then add a comment here or whatever my comment may be, I could add a note.

[00:13:05] I can't type and talk at the same time, so I'll keep my notes simple. But if I was reviewing that information, I had something I wanted to add to an attachment, I do have the ability. This magnifying glass here is going to search through the information within this packet.

[00:13:24] Whereas, if I look up here at the top right-hand side, this magnifying glass here is searching through information within the entire site. So, similar to the search tools that you're used to in BoardDocs, that magnifying glass at the top right-hand side, where it's searching through everything within your BoardDocs site, same concept here.

[00:13:43] This magnifying glass at the top right, searching through everything within your community site. Whereas this one here is searching through the information within this need. And then same as my right-hand panel here, this is my option to move that right-hand panel.

[00:14:02] Or if I wanted to see all of my notes within the packet, I could bring that right-hand panel back on that right-hand side. So we can move that out of the way. We can move this one on the left-hand side out of the way. And then even a couple more options here under my menu icon on this right-hand side.

[00:14:20] there is an option for full screen. So if you wanted this to take over your whole screen, give you a bigger, again, workspace here where I'm clicking through these items here and navigating through the packet, I can certainly expand this to a full screen.

[00:14:35] And that way then I'm clicking through my attachments either within the meeting itself or utilizing the navigation on this left-hand side to navigate through those attachments and information. If I wanted to go back into my regular screen exit full screen, I do have the option to exit full screen, it just brings me back to that condensed version. Also, under my three dots here, there are some options for printing or downloading the packet. This is a one-click print, so if you did want to print out the packet for any reasons, it does print the agenda first, and then all of the attachments

[00:15:13] that belong with it in the order they sit within the packet after the agenda. We do have that that is currently also not available in BoardDocs. So really for you all, once you come into the community platform, you know, we'll come to our meetings here, you'll see the list of meetings that you have access to and select whichever meeting we want to view or look at and that's what's going to pull you over or bring you over to that board view or your member view of your agenda meeting packet where you can review that information, add notes and comments as you need to, of course search that information if you needed to as well.

[00:15:49] what's our first impressions or questions or what are your thoughts I just have a simple question is will we have access to like a trainer or a testing platform before it comes out where we can just kind of group around in it and scroll around and see what's there or will we not have access to it until we migrate to community.

[00:16:25] I think she said we can't. We can certainly work with Alba to set you all up with access so that you can come in here and begin. We can create a test meeting. You can kind of come in here and click around, if you will. And we can do that prior to you. Right now, your site is not public.

[00:16:41] We haven't provided the link out on your district website and things like that. So even though we're seeing it here, not everybody, we haven't launched the site for everybody else to see. but yes we could certainly grant you all access so you could become get in here and start playing around prior to that official kind of go live date in community i would appreciate having that just so we have the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with it before we go over to it so miss brooks do we have a migration date yet a live date well we were actually talking about

[00:17:18] that earlier um i would i would refer to alba on that if we wanted to plan to go live say in september or october um but yes we could certainly we can certainly make that happen yes we're waiting on policies as i refer to you on the email i don't know if you can hear me okay yes i i can hear you so yeah we can connect on getting the policy um training underway um as early as you know next week and get that all settled so we really I would I would look to all

[00:17:57] of you if we wanted to launch community with your September meeting I think that is a very doable timeline if we feel that we need to delay that to say you know your October meeting then we can make that happen as well from my personal opinion will be that I think we won't be ready until October just because we're still working on some policies and we won't be able to migrate those policies

[00:18:23] right now I agree it's very interactive and very updated to the 21st century so That's a great thing.

[00:18:48] The other thing, because the other four docs was kind of hard to navigate and kind of behind the time, so I think this is very good. But I wondered, and maybe we said this, and I'm sure we did, and I probably wrote it down, but how much cost did this, like, incur us as a school board, or was this something that we had to do because they told us, like, well, right.

[00:19:14] The problem that we're having is that Diligent is not able to support BORTAX. As you guys have experienced in the past few meetings, we run into issues where we can't connect to BORTAX. So Diligent is not able to support BORTAX anymore.

[00:19:32] So then the next platform would be community. So everyone, we've been waiting for VSDA because the content goes through VSDA to approve community for us to move forward. they started in January and right now you know we've been working on trying to move all the agenda items into community they're both owned by the same company it's just that you know like you mentioned you know for that it's already outdated and so then the next platform is community and then you know that's where we are right now okay great just in the migration here thank you it's

[00:20:09] hard to believe for dogs is over 20 years old so I mean think about a cell phone we don't even have cell phones they're 20 years old so when they started looking at you know improving the platform overall it just became apparent diligent that we needed to create a new platform and that's where the community platform came from anyone else thank you miss Brooks we appreciate you showing us this glimpse but we can I think successfully say that our target

[00:20:46] date could be one of our October meetings if we want to shoot for October I think that's that's great and even how well we can connect it because the board wants access to community now so they can start playing around with it we could certainly set that up so I think that the problem before was that I couldn't set them up is because it was not a test what we had created it was a live document so I want to see if you can create a test so that way they can

[00:21:23] go in and play with it and not have any interference with anything so then let me know as soon as you have done that and I can go ahead and start giving them access we can probably do that before the end of August if you guys are anything like me you'll probably think of some really good questions as soon as I leave the meeting so let me know and we're more than happy to help out

[00:21:54] okay thank you thank you so much for joining okay next we'll have mr. Miss miles discussion regarding a proposed adjustment to the 26 27 school calendar related to the good Friday the board will review the proposed calendar change and discuss a potential impact prior to determining next steps but first we're going to have Dr. Newman cue us up as to the steps that have been taken between our retreat

[00:22:27] when we asked for this and now. Yes, during the retreat this became a topic. Just wanted to let you know what goes into actually making a change. So in order for Ms. Miles' proposal, she would either have to do adding a day before instead of starting on August 12th, she would have to make the 11th a school day or she would have to add a day instead of ending on June 4th she would have to make June 7th the last day of school or she would have to

[00:23:06] go in we went through the calendar any date then shaded blue on your calendar calendar she would have to swap out one of those days either taking a day from for a break, taking the day for Thanksgiving, taking the day for a spring break, or one of the other holidays within the calendar. She had a very tough job because none of them are excellent options. She can go through her thought process, but I just wanted to give you the parameters of what she was working on. She couldn't just say, I want to do this.

[00:23:45] It had to be particular days that the students were already out of school. She couldn't take a half day because half days already count as a day so it had to be a day to figure out you stick as close as you can to the graphic organizer that we sent out so just the topic the significance whether it's a student focused outcome and the ideal outcome for you okay well I've prepared a statement so that details my request um is it gonna echo like that okay okay I know it is for me

[00:24:24] so I'll just wait I wonder if the live stream was when she was just talking it

[00:24:47] I would like to explain my request to update the 2627 school calendar and Dr. Neumann talked about the example of what I needed to look at and we talked about that and I understand that if we want to recognize an additional religious observance as a day off for students, it would need to replace an existing day off on the calendar. And I'm therefore not asking

[00:25:25] that we add another day to the school calendar. I'm proposing a one-for-one exchange. Currently, Friday, September 11th is a day off on our calendar in recognition of Rosh Hashanah. And I want to be respectful and clear that I'm not suggesting that Rosh Hashanah is unimportant or that a religious observance does not begin on Friday. But Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown, Friday, September 11th, after the school day has ended and continues through Saturday and Sunday.

[00:25:53] And my question is whether closing school for the entire day on Friday is necessary when the religious observance begins after the school day and also observed the following two days, which are partly. And I also looked at the calendars of our neighboring school divisions, Prince William, Manassas Park, Griffix County, and Fauquier County are scheduled to be in session on Friday, September 11. And this means that Manassas City is the only one of the neighboring divisions closing school that day. And then I thought about that, whether or not we could use this existing calendar day in a way that better reflects the needs of our own community, while

[00:26:31] also maintaining consistency with the surrounding school divisions. So my proposal is to use the existing September 11 school closure to recognize Good Friday on March 26. And the reason being, Good Friday is an important religious observance for many of the families we serve.

[00:26:47] We have 70% Hispanic families in our school district. A significant majority of our students celebrate Good Friday, and it has typically fallen during our spring break. So traditionally, we've had that day off. Currently, our spring break is the week after, and I believe that doing this would be equitable.

[00:27:12] It also would think about attendance and the community we serve. And currently, our calendar recognizes two Jewish holidays, one Muslim holiday, but does not specifically recognize a Christian religious observant. And recognizing Good Friday would provide greater balance and acknowledge an observance that is significant to many of our students, families, and staff.

[00:27:34] And I want to emphasize that it's not about diminishing anything with our Jewish families or diminishing the importance of Rosh Hashanah. I believe all religious observants should be treated with respect. I'm just asking us to consider whether or not existing school closure that occurs before the primary daytime portion of the Rosh Hashanah observance.

[00:27:56] Also, when neighboring school divisions are open on that day, could instead be used to recognize another significant religious observance within our community. And there's also a practical consideration here. If we remain open on Good Friday, we could potentially experience significant student absences, staff call-ins that could affect classroom coverage, transportation, and instructional continuity.

[00:28:19] And this proposal does not add an additional day off. It would simply exchange one existing calendar day for another. It would allow us also to maintain the same number of students days off while providing greater balance in the religious observances, giving us one Jewish holiday, one Muslim holiday, and also one Christian observance holiday.

[00:28:38] So for me, this is about equity, consistency, and being responsive to the families we serve. And I'm asking for my colleagues, my school board members, to consider this one-for-one calendar adjustment and support recognizing Good Friday on March 26th, 2027.

[00:28:56] That's it for me. any discussion I do have a question because I honestly don't know I know there is a Jewish holiday I don't remember which one it is that preparation starts before the holiday and I don't know if it's Rosh Hashanah or not so there is one and to go back a bit in time there was a former school board member who did predict that this kind of thing was going to happen who

[00:29:33] felt we shouldn't celebrate be closed on any different religious holidays so I would like to hear from our Jewish community as well because they don't want it's a very it's a dicey situation because either way has the potential to alienate a group of people so that's my that's just my two cents right off the top of my head so um for me I mean I do think that you put some thought into this. I did ask you to do the work to figure out an extra day. I didn't know what day you were

[00:30:13] going to pick, but you know, my very quick reference does say that you're correct in when Rosh Hashanah starts, but I want to offer that 9-11 is the 25th anniversary, September 11th, the 25th anniversary of 9-11. So I can envision for this particular year that there would be a lot of families, and I've heard of some families, you know, that already have plans for that kind of significant date so you know I think it's unfortunate and I will give a head nod back to that former school board member that just asked that we don't

[00:30:49] label things like this because your argument is fair but I think September 11th itself you know maybe people who made this calendar we're thinking of that or not but for me that being a day off could be very significant my general philosophy on calendars is that the controlling decision maker should be the operational disruption.

[00:31:20] And so when I put the very, so when I run it through that paradigm, I do think that observing school on Good Friday, especially when many of our neighboring divisions have, that's the week that they have off, right? We all confess that. Having school on Good Friday is probably more operationally disruptive than having school on chapter 11. Like I'm expecting that we will have more call-outs on this particular Good Friday versus this particular September 11th, but

[00:31:56] also looking at the operational, which is Ructive Lens, like it is August 13th, I think this is a great idea. I wish we had had it a lot earlier, but it is what it is, so that I'm kind of, I mean I do think that if we're trying to maximize our student attendance and we're trying to maximize or minimize our operational disruption I think the proposal makes sense to be using that okay so I guess is there an interest in moving this

[00:32:27] forward I mean we're not voting no it's just the word would be to move it to a regular meeting yeah just a regular one and to a regular school board meeting it gives the community an opportunity I mean the date that we would bring this forward, August 25th or September 8th, because that's the question is just show of hands.

[00:33:00] We're going to talk about this in November, changing the school calendar, but Dr. Newman, If we don't get tons of snow, inches of snow, and we have extra days, is that possible?

[00:33:33] And we don't know what the weather will be. But saying there was not a lot of snow on that day, if the time was snow. If we're slow. Yes, it is. Very slow. To do that. But yes, that is possible.

[00:33:50] But we also need conversations about, oh, we didn't get snow. That's in school. Those conversations. But I also want to say you put a lot of work in this, Ms. Miles, but I celebrate Good Friday, but I also celebrate it at night.

[00:34:09] I don't celebrate it during the day. So, but I mean, worth talking about, but I mean, but then too, we are giving parents not a lot of time because some people may have plans for September. Right. And I do understand that. um i apologize for the time constraint but we didn't have this work session and um so that kind of pushed it a little closer to the edge um and dr newman did speak about the snow day and said

[00:34:37] that could be an option um so wait we have voted here before this is just a little bit forward i mean i mean i don't know how that works so it moves it on to the discussion agenda there's no actual action on the item we're not adopting a calendar here we just are deciding whether we want to talk about it more okay and then you put it on a regular meeting where it's right a little bit more viewership yeah a more public presentation and people can come to the public comment there's no public comment

[00:35:20] it has to be has to be an action now it can be a discussion item and we can choose to waive second reading. Okay. But we also have to be diligent because we're talking about 9/11 and it's fair for our constituents to have a heads up. Yeah, definitely. I do know that, like I said, that all the districts are open that day. So we're the one single district that decided to close um on the calendar so just yeah yeah just yeah so just wanted to point that out

[00:36:01] 25th okay thank you chair are we inviting you know are we asking the public to come speak that night so that we can hear from them every meeting is an opportunity they're able to yeah i mean we we can take an extra effort in our capacities to pass it around.

[00:36:23] All right. Thank you. Yes. Number three, Chair Spall will lead a discussion on board development topics, including board member conduct, governance practices, expectations, board effective leadership, collaboration, and the board's commitment to serving the Nassau City public schools community.

[00:36:43] So that is the topic. The significance is it is not necessarily related directly to student outcomes, But what came out of a recent meeting that we had that has been run by legal is addition, I believe, to our board development document.

[00:37:04] So we just need to have a venue to codify that board members should not solicit personal contact information from staff members. Board members should avoid communications or interactions with staff that could reasonably be interpreted as directing supervisory or influencing staff work.

[00:37:20] board members who participate in PTOs, booster organizations, or similar parent group, should do so with careful attention to potential conflicts of interest or perceptions of undue influence. And these were the words that we came up with together that I ran by legal, and she said that they were all, you know, she didn't have the issue with the worry. So my ideal outcome is to move these items to, I guess, the discussion agenda for September 8th or to put them in the board development document the handbook so is

[00:37:59] there a will move forward with this because I've learned a lot more about this kind of stuff we already have in our board of veterans not to director group division staff and that's already been there so it seems redundant the The second one, at least, is productive.

[00:38:30] Board members should avoid communications or interactions with staff that could reasonably be interpreted as directing, supervising, or influencing staff work. That one? Right. Because we already do not direct. That's already in there. We've already agreed on it.

[00:38:48] My concern about the one regarding booster organizations is if we put something in there, frankly, even though the wording is soft, we have to do so with careful attention, that if we are you happen to be on a board where people do not assume your good intention that if you get that we go down a path of micromanaging your government your personal relationships as you move through the community and that it as we talk about the slippery slope with the snow days we go on a

[00:39:27] slippery slope of like oh I don't like for example your PTO or I don't for example like your booster organization or what you're doing in there and we really should be staying out of each other's business when we operate in the schools that way, because we are, at least those of us who are parents and families, have the right to do that, and the wording is soft, but I think it brings us, I think it supports a culture that is and has been unproductive, so I don't like that one.

[00:40:06] And then should not solicit personal contact info, I actually got some professional guidance on that one. And we have a legislative privilege. We're legislators. And if we want to engage with our stakeholders and our community, we are free to do that. We are elected officials. And so, I don't like that one either. Okay. I mean, does anyone else want to comment on,

[00:40:40] would you like me to read them again? I mean, it has been clear to us in our legal references that, But, you know, whatever the rule of the board is, we can make whatever rules we want. But I understand that, you know, we've done some in-depth investigating. This was, again, the language that we came up with together.

[00:40:59] I mean, just with the PTO, when board members who participate in PTOs, booster organizations, or similar parent groups should do so with careful attention to potential conflicts of interest or perceptions of undue influence. Could we make a more general statement?

[00:41:17] Because it's not just the field, but for example, I participate in the foundation board. So it's any board or school-related board in any other capacity that we are representing. So my perception is this, and correct me if I'm wrong in my interpretation of what you said, this pertains to not when we are acting as parents, when we are acting as community members, not on like the board and the committees we sit on as board members. This is when

[00:41:57] we are acting as individuals. Board members who participate in PTO, parent teacher organization, booster organization, similar parent groups, should do so with careful attention to potential consequences or perceptions of So what's the board doing in regulating a board member's behavior outside their capacity?

[00:42:23] Can members of the public speak now? Not yet? Not yet. Can you ask a question again? Why is the school board interested in regulating the personal associations and private interactions of individuals on the school board in a pre- and private time?

[00:42:53] I think we became interested because it became a problem but I don't know that we were interested prior to that to try and codify something that will help people going forward understand where the line is because there has been serious inquiry as to what the line is. I mean I view this as trying to be helpful but not trying to be punitive.

[00:43:21] that it could become the unit. This started in a totally different sphere of thing. I agree, and it's really a shame that it could change. I don't think there's no retaliation to anything that's happening right now.

[00:43:37] This is something that started months ago. And if I may, I think we don't want to, I really don't want to, especially now that I know that the board doesn't have jurisdiction over PTOs.

[00:43:53] I learned too much about PTOs this last two weeks. But in retrospect, though, even as teachers and educators, if we do participate in PTOs, we have to hold a line. And so, and sometimes it's unfair, but even in communicating with, you know, my grandson's teacher and principal, there is a little bit of always your school board member, and we just unfortunately cannot take that hat and just leave it.

[00:44:27] so there there is a need to just be mindful of that and in particular with the pto they are they are standing in partnership with parents and teachers and we all have a responsibility to be the best versions of ourselves when we are sitting in those places so that would be my response to why we need to be mindful of that so these are not mandates i don't think they're just

[00:45:00] Good reminders or code of conduct. It's a reminder for the handbook. I was trying to bring you forward for what I I'm carrying the water here guys. I'm just reminding you of what we said and I want to know You know, it's been months now. Do we want to move it forward for you know, sufficient to the handbook. Okay. Well, let's take it Do you want to vote one by one? Do you want to vote for all?

[00:45:25] Well, do you want to is there is it the will of the board to move any of these forward to the handbook? I see them as being a reminder's handbook. I mean, it's for boards to come, not just us, but for people who also come on to the board.

[00:45:41] So I don't see anything, it's just some reminders. I mean, but I think as far as being a school board member, like Mrs. Brown said, I don't think you would ever really take your head off. I may be in the capacity of something else when I'm in a room with different people, but technically, you know, I'm a school board member.

[00:45:59] So, but I don't think there's anything wrong with just like reminders, just like uh and i would agree with that and that's why it would be part of the handbook it complements our code of ethics but since we're talking about board development and i know our board development committee has been working on it because we are trying to make it better for the next time we have new school board members um but what does it matter if there are

[00:46:32] no remedies i think that we've been i mean my two cents on that which is only one of seven members you know I mean there's not much we can do about remedy the remedies happen you know at the at the voting box that's what our lawyers have been saying the citizens decide I think the citizens decide can I ask another question I'd like to go around I go back what are your thoughts on ending it after conflict

[00:47:09] of interest and not the what was going after conflict of interest potential conflicts of interest or perceptions of undue influence conflicts of interest It is. So conflicts of interest is a specific thing. We all receive training on that from Koya. You know, we all do that. So, I mean, sure, conflicts of interest, period, because I guess we should put that, we have being mindful of Virginia Koya in here, so we should

[00:47:43] be, I guess, mindful of Virginia Koya as well. I don't mind that. Because they understand that second part is very broad and open to multiple interpretations.

[00:47:58] Right. Well, so when you get into that, it becomes murky. And we should just spend more of our time talking about our kids and less about each other and how we spend our time in our association, in this community, in our free time.

[00:48:24] like we just really i think need to refocus and the um you know should not solicit personal contact info put it in a handbook or not that is a directive that's a rule that is written as a directive and a rule and there have been you know i have found you people to babysit my kids from the city i mean we all live here in this community it's it's a very it's a small community and there isn't a lot of overlap especially with your parents right because when you're a parent some of those other parents are the parents of your children's friends and you get their

[00:49:04] contact information but it's in a totally it's in a totally innocent manner um so i agree on the first part because there are going to be times where someone says hey can i give you my number and we can talk because i've had many times where that's occurred um or you offer that people like so I you know I think the overarching thing should be is for us and

[00:49:43] this is not necessarily something that can go in a board member handbook or an board kind of that we need to be mindful that regardless of who we are interacting with in this community in general not just in school but everywhere is that there are people who will always see us as school board members I think that anywhere we go I'm sure we can all point to instances where we have gone somewhere just as a person but we've encountered someone in the public who addressed us as a school board member so I think the

[00:50:20] overarching thing is to always remember regardless of what we do there's going to be a perception from the public that we are school board members and everything we do reflects on that whether that's fair or not that's that's just and the public who gets to wait his miles i was going to say i i have a dilemma that i experience daily i have staff members that are in all the schools i a lot of the schools i know them personally have their number and i had it years ago but if we talk

[00:50:55] about but no but i'm but what i got around having it not be a school board thing friend thing i hand them my card and say if you ever need anything let me know here's my card so i so i can differentiate the two um and they know if it's a school board matter that's what you reach out to me if it's a friend matter you can text me and i think that i started that in the beginning so i could keep that line. I do the same thing with friends that I know have kids in schools as well. And I think

[00:51:29] it is a touchy thing because especially if you know a lot of people and you have a lot of friends, but you can really get into a sticky situation, promising people things that you can't deliver from a personal perspective. So it's important for all of us. This is a lesson to all of us to keep our responsibility separate but I do think that in any case if we're at a party or anything like that we should not be should not feel like we can't be ourselves because of our

[00:52:07] role but we we just have to be professional in everything that we do so that's just we have to remember that because even as a Prince William County employee there's certain things I can't say or can't do. And we all just have to remember that. But having that line in the handbook is important because we don't know who we're going to get on the board again. And we need to make sure we're proactive to have something in place so that certain lines do need to be added. Maybe not the whole thing, but something needs to be added that maybe that we stay professional and

[00:52:47] we keep our personal lives out of our school board lives something like that no if legal has clear the language I think we should follow too but when I first joined this board I one of the biggest boys for me was that there there was no kite and sometimes less is more but sometimes more is more and in this case more is more when I teach my children when we do discipline in schools

[00:53:25] is not to constantly issue remedies or disciplinary consequences it is so that students or human beings that they develop they learn the boundaries they also learn the expectations and then they adjust as they grow I'm a better version when I know what is expected and I can live within those lanes and I think I don't know if I can speak for Dana and I but we could have benefited greatly to have all of this information

[00:54:00] when we first joined this it was a lot to digest and I'm always extra extra maybe too careful sometimes but having this in writing will help new members like me so I think if legal said this is clear which we should follow suit with legal especially so what this first one is should not solicit a personal contact info employee there is not nearly you know this is is this so easy to agree am I allowed to do it if I

[00:54:37] run into an employee am I allowed to do it at a school and playground am I allowed to do it at a private party at a private residence at Friday night and an employee happen to be there. So that is a problem. And make sure, I think you need to go back to legal and ask, because that is, because people are entitled to their free association. People are entitled. And like I said, legislative privilege, that's another word you want to use, because as

[00:55:10] legislatures, legislators, the best part of our job is to engage. So for example, I have a newsletter. Would you like to be on my newsletter? Can you give me your newsletter, your email, so I can be on newsletter and that is they can subscribe to you and see this is a folks I didn't got on the school board to dig around in people's newsletters and to dig around and who's babysitting least kids and to dig around and all of this this is not

[00:55:49] why we're here it's not and I'm gonna make another we do we need this handbook done by we just need it done by Jane by December I am going to submit that this This is not the time to do that now.

[00:56:13] That's what I'm going to submit. And if BSBA board governance training is on the list, then that might be. Is the wording on board docs? Because I was trying to, is on board docs for you to see in a print or are you just reading what you just read?

[00:56:31] I'm just curious. Because I guess it would be nice to have it so we could. I've been tracking it for a long time, trying to make sure I kept it correct. No, no, no. to give it to you yeah if you could send it just I'm not an auditory person I like to read them and take a vote I guess just read real members should not solicit personal contact information from staff members board members should avoid communications or interactions with staff that could reasonably be

[00:57:06] interpreted as directing supervising or influencing staff work board members who participate in PTOs, boosters, organizations, or similar parent group should do so with careful attention to potential conflicts of interest or perceptions of undue influence. Now, I do believe that I did write these out and I sent them out to you guys after they were approved, but I did not send them again today. I apologize. That's right. I was going to say the last one that you read, I definitely think is important. And I had, I think I had mentioned it to you because I thought

[00:57:42] about being a vice president or something at meds and i was like maybe i shouldn't do that because that's a conflict of interest um so i like that wording the first one though like i said is very it's very hard because all of us have a different way of connecting with staff and with the community like i said i told you what i do sarah does it has a newsletter everyone has their way um so i think perhaps making the wording more like the last line whereas we need to be careful

[00:58:15] in our interaction with employees and maybe saying it that way so that way it's a cautionary line not a mandate i think we have to go with the legal the legal wording should be the one that stands i would submit that item number two should be and this needs to be added to board The number two, take care not to influence or whatever, it says it all.

[00:58:51] Whatever you're trying to say says it all in terms of this directive should not elicit personal contact info, which infringes, which has many legal problems, and I do not know why we want to keep going down that road when we could just say number two.

[00:59:12] should avoid communications or interactions with staff that could reasonably be interpreted as directing supervising or influence that work correct because that's clear that in the school staff work so just two and three keep those two so you know I think I think keeping two is is important because that does that spells things out a little bit more clearly than number one and possibly number three ending at conflicts eventually i know for me i want to stick to what

[00:59:50] legal said to do and i think we'll be in better standing with the with the wording there i i think that i don't have a problem with either one because typically if my mode is here's my card and so if i give somebody my card they'll get to contact me if they wish and i think that is the best mode then requesting give me your number so just here's my contact information it's a way so we're not saying that we're not going to be able to reach constituents so don't asking we're not

[01:00:26] so we're not going into the buildings and asking them for phone numbers so we're not stopping them a food line or when they meet a food line say hey give me a number i want to connect no here's my card and then leaving it up to them correct yeah that should be that should be okay but what about facebook because i know for instance i have well if you're is that still soliciting like if you say hey what's your fate what's your or i find them and i want to talk so that's not allowed to friend people on facebook that's what i'm wondering so problematic you see what this is like we're going to go down and we're going to use each other we're going to use it to beat each other over the heads

[01:01:02] and i think we need fewer reasons i think we need peace and i think all we need is number two i think we can because this is clarification I took these notes I wrote these things up I asked legal what they thought she didn't write them for us I'm sure they could be probably better but she wrote and I think I copied you all you know seems reasonable but those were replies things reason she had no issue with what we said but she also didn't try to correct it or make it better you know I

[01:01:36] gave her what you gave me so I ask again you know I'm happy to can we ask legal should we not so those the personal contact info what that like does it apply to seeing someone you're sitting next to someone at the baseball field right and you decide to be friend because your kids are the same age and they're on the same baseball game right like is this during school hours because perhaps legal read this assuming because we're operating under a very brand new theory that we are school board members even in our private residences and that we are in our

[01:02:16] official capacity even when we are private parties and we are at our official capacity even when we are you know on the playground with our kids the lawyer might not realize that we're operating under this extraordinarily novel legal theory that we are regulating our personal lives so could maybe get some clarification whether the board is able to regulate our personal time i'm more than happy to do that if that's the will of the board i mean i think our our legal representation is fully aware of our situation so i mean i don't necessarily think that i need to couch the questions but if that's what the board wants to happen i can do that i mean i just want to know

[01:02:55] how you work with miss miles um the other thing is how does prince william do this like is this because they are very large so i'm sure this might have come up but we are allowed to make our own no I understand but it would be nice because maybe they're wording you could look at their wording that might be better than the wording that we came up with that's all I'm saying just like to state for the record there are some things this board is not allowed to do there are some things this board is not allowed to do and regulate our personal lives is one of them and you are

[01:03:34] representing here today that sitting next to somebody on a weekend at a baseball game is that is the behavior you're trying to regulate and so I just want I for this boards protection I just want if I'm providing guidance to a new board member I would like them to operate under the assumption that they can tell people how to get in touch with them that that is the mode of operation that this board prefers not to solicit their information but to tell them any number of ways that they can get in touch with you and I think many of us

[01:04:13] operate that way I miss I believe show of hands all of us operate that way that's one person I put out newsletters I mean people can join if they want you know I'm not talking about Facebook I'm not no one was really started out talking about newsletter we're talking about going into a building and asking a staff member if you can contact them outside of work is that what we're talking about because that's what started this okay so so the building that's another thing

[01:04:51] that's a totally different thing if we are acting if anything we are talking about now you said food lion yes you said baseball game yes that's what you said it is on camera okay so great it's on camera so I and so it's a completely different discussion if what we're talking about is official capacity because you know walking through the school school day you know that's what started it then that is uh then that is a totally separate thing what this is saying and how it can

[01:05:26] be misread because we have gone through this journey already just here at this table um we go from the food line is okay that you don't do it you don't ask we're trying to set some guidelines for a new person i mean and you want to debate we're trying to set some guidelines none of this is punishable. None of this, I mean, we're just trying to help new people. And I don't understand what's happening right now. Right. So just let's leave it at number two. Let's leave it at number two. Okay. That's fine. But that's not what you asked for originally as a group. So I'm trying to ask everyone how they want to handle this. Everyone, not just one person. All right. So can

[01:06:03] you put your motion forward or your, your question forward to see the will of the board? And then we can have Sarah's motion forward. I mean, we don't make motions. You know, do you all want to proceed with this as is or do you find I mean all right so they're still creating this myself I wanted that's what you want there's two ideas here do we want to proceed as presented or do we want to proceed as modified by board member pressure which the server I would like to proceed with all of them with further

[01:06:36] input in governance training from the SBA and or a second yes that's good so going to talk about this a governance training that's the proposal if we can make governance training happen I mean there are some major you know commitments I second okay we don't make motions right emotion yes okay about all of these

[01:07:07] with legal or if I can all agree on governance training days everything in the handbook they're just guidelines they're not they're not ultimatums or do right yeah they're just guideline so just best practices

[01:07:46] session topic number four is three on threes discussion regarding potential three on three discussion items contingent on board consensus to even continue this process I would say does actually directly relate to student outcome i believe that if we want to proceed the topics that i would suggest putting forward have to do with robotics cte wean indoor athletic field universal pre-k future usable dean long-term cip plan sewer study facility study and anything else that you want to add see a three-on-three

[01:08:24] today has been an effective way to move big items forward with our council i just the outcome today that I would like to know is we have a majority of the board that wants to agree on the this this is the way to move forward you only move forward in a different way yes I don't mind moving forward on that but I would like to have minutes agreed and they should be distributed soon after the meeting since it's not it's not three school board members or three council members it's

[01:08:59] not required to have a formal announcement but I would like to have minutes from that so I can see what was discussed. Yes. Agreed. Is there any interest in moving this forward? Move forward. Move forward. One, two, three, four, five, six. Which minutes? Which minutes? Which minutes? I will come back to the board if they say no to minutes and we can decide what to do next. If they agree to minutes then we will schedule something in a rather than later. Okay. Kim, can you do what's the topic? These are top of mind robotics. The idea of robotics

[01:09:37] in the future, a dedicated robotic space, CTE in general space, WEMS, what's to happen with their rehab, just making sure it's on everyone's radar as a 10-year plan. We have a five-year CIP. We don't have anything that's really identified as a 10-year plan, and that was the request, is to maybe start talking about that, and that's the way it's happening in the back.

[01:10:02] indoor athletic fields as a potential universal pre-k just as a heads up future use of old dean long-term cip plan which is all of this i mean i'm regurgitating some things sewer study facility study i think a lot of people believe that we're embarking on a facility study for and you know i mean we have the 18 months we don't have any dollars we're not we're not doing a study right now on what could happen with me I think a lot of people think that's happening so I believe you know the more widely we share what's actually happening the

[01:10:41] better I thought the city was doing something on like pricing out a partial demolition of Dean I thought they were doing so they're doing that but they're not for use of the building they're just knocking it down the whole and a partial just partial and so that that part is just any use no uses for being said but there is a facility study just excluded it is correct we also do have our own

[01:11:18] silly study in the works but it does not include and what's the timeline on that for you so it's nothing the rolling we're not going to come out with anything before 18 month deadline like I mean maybe one portion of it but it's not 18 month timeline is for OD that's not it that's not it at all okay okay thank you very much number five oh chair I want to say about the minutes could we

[01:11:55] settle for a minute they're written by you or one of the attendees I mean I'd be happy informal minutes in the past we've written contemporaneous notes on what happened and they didn't want to distribute them so I mean it needs to be something that is everyone agrees on I'm happy to do the work dr. Newman what can do the notes but you know we need to send to agree that we share them with our boards yes and I'm just saying that signals as improper to me because we need to know and the public needs to know what was and their board needs to

[01:12:34] So yes, I think it's a fair ask and I'm happy to do it. Number five, artificial intelligence guidelines. Ms. Sarah Brescher will lead a discussion regarding the development and implementation of artificial intelligence guidelines.

[01:12:51] Correct. Hi. We have a graphic organizer. Yeah. So I do believe, yes, it's focused on our students and their outcomes. It's significant because artificial intelligence is fast evolving and becoming a huge part of our lives and also instruction.

[01:13:07] My ideal outcome for the day is for the board to agree that we would like to learn a little bit more about what our school's approach is to AI. When I was spending time with our AI regulation, IBEA-R-1, it says in there, the regulation itself, that lines out broad principles, but then it mentions that AI guidelines are developed by August 1st every year by the instructional department.

[01:13:38] And as far as I know, we don't have access to that. So I just would like to know a little bit more. And then I have found myself in a position as a school board member not being able to answer kind of basic questions like what AI capability do our student's devices have?

[01:13:57] And what safeguards do we have around them? And do we have a growth or shrinkage plan on the AI? So I would just like to ask for, I would just like to understand those AI guidelines and how AI interacts in our classrooms.

[01:14:13] Can I build on that? I've been interested in AI probably since the first time the BSBA gave a presentation on AI four years ago. The keynote speaker was talking about deep faith.

[01:14:29] And I think I was sitting next to you and I think you had a very shock, you were very shocked. that just stuck in my head and then last year um i was able to go to one of the breakout sessions that was done by um james city williamsburg and they have a really robust ai plan and so i did some digging and just looking at ai and what i would like the outcome to be is if we could have a presentation on where we are as a division with generative ai where we want to be with it how

[01:15:06] we're going to get there and what the timeline is. Because I feel, and I put this in, um, when we had the retreat, this was one of my school board priorities was to establish division wide expectations, training and structures to ensure all staff and students are responsible, ethical, and skilled users and creators of artificial intelligence. Um, it didn't have a big draw when we met at the retreat but i think coming back around it is because um miss brown miss

[01:15:40] miles and i were at a professional development day for princelium county and the keynote speaker was talking about ai and one of the things she said that really stuck with me she said this generation will create jobs not seek them we have to teach our students to think critically and so i think that's something that going forward we need to keep in mind and in looking at other school divisions in Northern Virginia and around the state that are kind of at the forefront of AI, they have some really robust things going on.

[01:16:11] They have multi-year plans where they've done things like they've had town halls, they've created committees, stakeholders, everything. And I feel like we need to get there because generative AI has the power to transform education.

[01:16:27] It has the potential to increase productivity, teacher and staff productivity. And it prepares our students for tomorrow at the digital world. So I would because and I also just recently read through the regulation again, and I would really like to know where we are.

[01:16:47] And just looking, I found a lot of really great tools that are available for school divisions, professional development opportunities that I know, Dr. Newman, I emailed that one. She was called AI Innovation and Education Pilot Program.

[01:17:03] I think that's through the VDOE. don't remember right off hand so that's what I would like to see is to know where we are now where we want to be how we're gonna get there so if I may just go around so I do sit on the steering committee for school public policy regional elected leaders and public school leaders network and on the 4th of August while all this was kind of coming down we were sent a letter that

[01:17:38] said that they wanted to post it by the 7th which would have been last friday um and i never saw it post for sure and i wrote them today to ask i mean i feel pretty confident that we can share the letter net by now but i just haven't seen it out but it's dear secretary smith and superintendent conway we're looking forward to another great year for our students and educators we were honored that you met with us during our listen listening tour this spring and look forward to continuing our working relationship with your organization. As you know, Senator Karski and Delegate Razul from Northern Virginia put forth legislation that was signed into law by Governor Spanberger

[01:18:17] requiring the BDOE to issue guidance on the use of AI in K-12 education, compile details on the current use of AI systems in student instruction, and develop a pilot program to facilitate local school districts' AI capabilities, especially those systems with diverse school populations and high levels of free and reduced lunch population.

[01:18:39] Members of PSLN believe this guidance is much needed and will benefit each of the school systems in Northern Virginia. However, as the technology and the applications are rapidly changing, we encourage you to establish a working group on innovative technologies that includes AI while proactively exploring the rapid pace of technology development that are likely to impact student learning.

[01:19:01] Serving over one-third of the student population in the Commonwealth and a widespread diversity amongst our educator workforce and student enrollment. We would be honored to have representation on your working group. PSLN is made up of superintendents and chair and vice chairs of each of the school boards in Northern Virginia.

[01:19:18] Thank you for your consideration. So this is evolving right now. Dr. Newman's already jumped on it to see what kind of pilot things we might be able to be involved in. Like, this is happening, and I'm ready to share the letter with you. I was waiting to hear from them that it had definitely posted. but I think it's important while we're having this conversation that you know that we're not letting any grass grow and I'm not assuming they're trying to make this we don't know we don't know well I mean I did put it in my chair

[01:19:48] share but dr. Newman we do have an AI committee would it be appropriate when When we do get to the point where we're getting ready to adopt some tech publicity regarding AI, after feedback from BDOE, would it be appropriate for them to review it?

[01:20:17] Because I want to hear from the staff what they feel is needed. Okay. Ms. Miles, I'm sorry. No, it's okay. So the NSBA, which is the National School Board Association, has a certification you can go to for AI, and it's something that I think that ... I know I would like to go maybe some some of us would like to attend but i think it's important for us also to um have information about it um so that way you're leading um yeah so i didn't know if that was something

[01:20:54] anybody else wanted is that open to that yeah it's also it says it's open to uh k-12 education leaders yeah um so i wanted to say in the daily briefs that we get louisa county there was an also from them they will talk about how they studied it for three years and how they were really trying to make sure that they were trying to teach kids how to use AI instead of avoiding it and something really critical of what you just said they said they want to make sure that it was not a replacement for critical thinking but we do have examples of what we can do when people are working yeah Louisa County was one of the counties that they said was kind of at

[01:21:31] the forefront and they had a multi-year working group and I don't know if it was Louisa County or Williamsburg James City but they actually have like an AI summer camp for students to go to where they can do all the things especially I love I am loving all of this discussion of other places but my ask my ideal outcome is actually very narrow like the outcome I'm asking for is to as for us as a board to agree to get a presentation on the AI guidelines that already exist in the next big public schools are we interested in hearing more about how we are

[01:22:10] already contemporaneously right now handling it and also to see what you need yeah yeah yeah well i want to thank lisa for bringing this at the summer retreat and i hopefully you did see my excitement at that time but um i was excited that you were innovative in bringing that um so So I'm sorry if that didn't translate as exuberance, but I was really excited.

[01:22:36] But AI is here. I just, a side anecdote, my daughter is a marketing director and she has to train young people on a regular basis on AI fluency and ethics. And it's eight weeks that she does.

[01:22:54] And it's amazing because I get to hear some of the conversations that happen. so this is affecting the students after they leave us and you will be surprised how many haven't been taught in their respective schools so this is really important but it starts with us so I'm is there interest in moving forward the idea I'm not finished chair I'm so sorry okay okay um so the the leading AI starts with us and again I'm not getting sponsorships on this book but may I

[01:23:29] recommend this book to all of you is the AI driven driven leader for Prince William County you can get it for free I'd like to hear more from BDOE for what

[01:23:59] they would like it if that's part of it. Great. I think it was four. There's the will. There's a will to receive it. I was going to send the information about the certification to ALBA so you can just look at it.

[01:24:22] number six Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation gradually a discussion regarding the Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation the board's consideration and recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month celebrating the history culture and contributions of Hispanic and Latino community is there you would lead

[01:24:50] discussion. So this is Henrico. This is theirs. We do not do one. We do not do an Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation. So I think we should start. The time to start is right now because it's coming up if we do want to do this. And so, I mean, this one is pretty basic. I think we should add Some distinctive Manassas City flavor like maybe add after the second paragraph a section you're noting the percentage of citizens of for residents of the city of Manassas who are Latino

[01:25:30] percentage of kids in our schools who are Latino or who have a Hispanic heritage and How happy we are their contribution for that community Or we can just do this kind of plain Jane one. It might also be important to put in what efforts we make because we might not have done a proclamation before, but we certainly have had celebrations of the Staten Heritage Month.

[01:25:59] So it might be a way for us to highlight what we are already doing. And what the city is already doing. Like the celebrations in the schools. Maybe you mentioned that. Yeah, the city has their own proclamation. Well, no, not just their proclamation, but what the city is doing as well. Well, I've been working on the proclamations.

[01:26:18] i can give you a draft if that and i can look at this draft as well um but in hindsight do we have a proclamation for african-american month yes yes we do okay and so all right so is there a will to move this forward yes so what so so are we moving like control effing out henrico county or we're our one right right right around okay and ms brown has one drafted so if she would share that one

[01:26:57] i can send my draft i've been working on it just i didn't know we could add more items so we couldn't add any more items for this meeting so what's happening next with the i can send my draft share and then i'm going to try to get it That would be the date if you go on to discussion.

[01:27:20] Is it the later part of September, first part of October? I mean, it's September 15th to October 15th because of, yeah. So what do we do on September 8th? Yeah. Because there's a lot of difficult things. So if a draft goes on to discussion, we'll all see it then.

[01:27:39] If there's, you know, like what happened with the Code of Conduct, somebody wants to tweak or add or whatever then there's time because then that's the next meeting it goes on action so whatever draft is already drafted can go out to discussion an action would just be reading it yeah yeah i mean you can i can send it to you tomorrow sarah and then you can add change for the liquid or i can go through this and add change and delete and combine or something the action

[01:28:11] item then is for me to send it in to the whole board and actually then also look at the african-american proclamation yeah okay action or agendas as discussion number seven, Ms. Diana Brown will lead a discussion board to establish

[01:28:48] time limits for agenda discussions, including considerations for managing meeting time. Okay, so I know we had a discussion earlier about questions, and I think Dr. Jones, board member, Chair Jones, Vice Chair Jones, she actually led that discussion, and I think there was an agreement of how we were going to proceed regarding staff presentations and the basics of that agreement was that we needed to be considerate as a whole of our staff when presenting I know particularly when I

[01:29:25] have to present to my school board it's really nerve-wracking so standing there for more than a minute longer than I have to is really something that I don't wish on anybody but having said that we did have an agreement and so I was looking at Robert's rules and and I left my book but it was noting that there no specific time constraints but at the discretion of the chair if no specific

[01:29:59] rule already exists in our guidelines then the chair can monitor the questioning or we could as a whole do temporary limits so for specific meetings and there is a process for that where at every meeting we just make the motion that every board member will have X number of minutes if we wanted to do it that way or we can make a permanent rule for all future meetings regarding

[01:30:32] presentations where but a vote will be needed on this where we set either a number of questions or time it could be three minutes five minutes whatever we wish it to be this is step seven of us five minutes that we know that's over a half an hour for a staff member to stand there as answering our questions so I will be more leaning towards the three minutes but whichever way we want to do

[01:31:08] it and I was concerned about well how would this hinder because sometimes I do have questions lots of questions and I don't want anyone to tell me don't ask that question but when I look at Robert's rule of order balancing the time limits with what we have to say in Robert's rule the will of the majority the will of the board is the right and so if we decide that it's three minutes so that it's five minutes then that's what it is so I did have just a little

[01:31:45] agreement that if we do work this is just for staff presentations and I can send the draft that I have that will state that we to establish clear boundaries between information gathering um we will have an equal opportunity to ask questions and we will resort we will resolve to adopt the following specific rule of order that the staff presentation will be heard without interruption following the presentation there

[01:32:20] would be a question and answer period um and that each board member should limit to a maximum of whatever questions or a maximum of time and um and then the chair officially uh came close whatever uh presentation is that so i think sometimes and i've been guilty of this we tend to ask questions because we want to clarify more things for the public but i think as i was digging through this the presentations that the staff give to us is for our specific audience sometimes this information has already been disseminated to the public in a different way so

[01:32:59] although we are willing good intended we just expanding the number of minutes that a staff member standing there answering questions that should have already been asked or we should already know the answers to this pressure so Roberts rules is a first of all I didn't hear the part how this really student outcomes you can figure that out I just I must have missed it you can

[01:33:36] figure that out that's not according to our funnel so Roberts rules is a procedural template first of all so if we want to pass a protocol it needs to go through our protocol so that's how that would work so the next step for this would be for development committee generates feasibility of this and I can tell you I have some practical concerns and considerations just whose job is it

[01:34:14] going to be to do the time and I'll tell you that if your time is infringed upon and not cured in the meeting you know that does bring us the dicey legal territory such as such as curtailing the First Amendment rights of the membership court I mean nobody wants to do that no but in Roberts rule balance time limits with freedom of speech is done by protecting the will of the majority so you're looking in the wrong section there is actually a separate

[01:34:46] section 4921 so and we are a small board it's defined as a member of as a membership of 12 or fewer which is clearly us and but also it's besides the point because Roberts rules is guidelines for how to structure a meeting what we were talking about is a new protocol yes so that needs to go to board development I don't know where the chair would like it to go and if it has to be added to a protocol then it's a protocol I do believe and you can look

[01:35:21] into this chair more deeply but I do believe that it is such a discretion to adopt the general rule and for so that for purposes of meeting efficiencies but But if we want it in a protocol, which will also be a good idea to have, as a general rule, I don't have any objections to that.

[01:35:44] So, you know, I can do more digging for you or development can do that. It's just a suggestion. And if it can be done, then I think we should do it. So, to reiterate, I am the chair, but I'm one of seven equal members.

[01:36:02] more than happy to see if it is the will of the board to pursue this discussion further, whether... I brought this up earlier in the year, and I think I remember telling you that at one meeting, 45 questions were asked.

[01:36:18] At our last four meetings, I think the presentation was probably about 25 minutes, and the questions were about 30 minutes. I do think we need to be considerate of people's time. Some people watch the school board meeting and say, for instance, they want to see one particular thing um and you know so say i start watching school and it's six i mean it's like the third thing on the agenda or so but then you know it's eight and it's still not that thing but i think we need to consider the time but also i personally and this is i personally don't think that we need to ask questions that we know the answer to i think we need to understand that our

[01:36:55] community, the smart, the many different ways they get information from the school, they create the website. I think we should ask questions for clarification. Definitely we don't understand something, but I think we need to be more considerate of not only our central office staff, but also our constituent staff, our constituents who are watching the meetings and we're not asking just an abundance of questions. So I hate to say that anyone only has, i would hate to only ask two questions we don't have three minutes but you're not interested in

[01:37:29] the amount of questions you're being asked before you it's too many i know in the past we had discussed having our staff present to us during work sessions to give us a little bit more time to kind of sift through questions we might have and then having them present before the dais where it's just we've already seen it and so then that way we don't have as many questions already given our question perhaps you know because typically we start earlier during a work session we have a little bit more time perhaps that's a compromise to that because i think it is

[01:38:08] i've you know most school boards do not limit their members and how long i mean i check certain they don't limit them so maybe that would be a compromise to that so if there is a specific complaint from the staff i would hope that the staff would feel comfortable enough to bring that to dr. Newman who could bring it to me because I know when we're talking about 45 questions I feel and we all know we're talking about it was the so what I

[01:38:45] think is with this would accidentally do is increase the burden on staff because what I have done as a courtesy all the time what I do if I read through a presentation and I anticipate question I send it ahead of time I mean if I don't anticipate questions I don't and you know I don't but if I anticipate questions I send those ahead of time and I have a little disclaimer at the top you don't need to reply to this if you prefer to you know either address it in your talking points or have me ask us at the meeting it's up to you and I almost never get a written response back sometimes I do sometimes I don't now if

[01:39:21] we're going to narrow our meeting time to now well I want to know more about that can I get a you know dr. Newman can use to pass these questions on to dr. Gold's on so dr. Gold's on can schedule a one-on-one with me or get or spend time answering emails for me like we're all there we're all assembled at a meeting and if we've got the question we've got them and that question that meeting was 45 questions I mean those who are our school continuous improvement those were those are very yeah that was a very extraordinarily meaty topic that was in

[01:39:58] And especially since some of our schools really, you know, there was really a lot to go through in those. So I don't think we should design a rule around the one time there was 45 questions.

[01:40:13] And I think that, and it seems to me just from my own observed behavior, when I have given, and I always do give the staff an opportunity to answer in writing, they have always elected very consistently not all the time very consistently elected to use the meeting time and so i think that we're trying to solve a problem that does not truly exist that has nothing to do with our students i'm still waiting to hear that and would give you know bring us into this dicey water in terms of regulating and putting somebody in the

[01:40:51] uncomfortable position of being beep beep timer and the beep beep sit down whatever we're a small body of seven members we're not all going to do this job the same way we're not and I don't understand why we cannot accept that about one another I don't dr. Newman if you had had staff concerns about the questions would you feel comfortable telling me about them I just an

[01:41:30] allegation was made I wanted to know if that was true no no it was said that you know people I don't think she made an allegation I was saying I would I would hope that for everybody interested if it is a problem then please do it was an Yeah, it wasn't like it was an open spirit, right?

[01:41:49] I know, Foreman Miles made a recommendation, and to me, I'm not saying it's a bad recommendation, but that is staff pretending twice, so they were asking them to do double the work.

[01:42:05] But if there is a way we could say, have your questions, you get the board, you get the document six days, seven days, if you could say, we can get them on Friday and give staff

[01:42:22] Tuesday and they can email you back. I think a lot of times when you get it, we already have stuff going on Tuesday to prepare. Like that's a stressful day for us. So they try, you send us the questions and they try to answer them during the presentation in the day of the meeting instead of stopping. It's not that they don't want to answer them.

[01:42:53] Well, I'm fine. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. But I'm just making the point that it seems to be a manufactured problem that has nothing to do with our students. Like, we are all assembled for a meeting. We should, I think, the thing that is actually best for our student outcomes is for the elected representatives to the board to be able to have the time and the discretion for all of us to have the mutual assumed good intention to use that time in a way that we're all going to do it differently, but to pursue that student

[01:43:33] academic excellence and to understand the issues that are facing our school. Are you willing to try to get the questions to staff by Friday? That's fine, yeah. If that's the compromise, sure. I just want to put this out there. We are not complaining.

[01:43:49] I don't want it to be, well, staff is all upset about whatever. send the questions whenever but if you want a response I think you get a response I'm not speaking only if you want a response to your question they could you get in there by Friday they give us Monday we have cabinet on Monday we can talk through it and if you want a written response if you don't it's gonna be difficult to get myself being I think the only person who sends the

[01:44:25] questions ahead of time it is really like like i said it is a courtesy because i am believed or not trying to be courageous and it is something and you know no one's complaining no one is complaining so it is a very bizarre um there's that word again uh discussion that we find ourselves in but if if friday is the answer and we see that that naturally cuts down on the question time then i'm happy to go with friday we'll see if that naturally comes i just want to ask

[01:44:59] mr president question because two meetings ago you said you actually answer all my questions in your presentations but i have new ones and then it was 17 minutes of more questions and that in that case yeah i had actually gotten an email from a parent who was and she had questions about dual enrollment versus ap specifically and this is a parent highly engaged who if she's confused more than one person has got the question so i did feel and in my role as an elected representative

[01:45:35] of the public to the schools i did feel that was important to talk about that and i didn't get that until probably tuesday morning myself yeah those are that's important if if a parent send you those questions and it's the day of the presentation um i think my response will be to send that to to Dr. Newman so that he can address that parent through the proper channels and then put it on his radar that perhaps this is another, you know, or mention to the presenter that

[01:46:11] there might be some more want for that type of information out there and that you share the concerns with Dr. Newman. And I know that you had to step out of the meeting when we had the discussion about the questions so I understand that you you did you weren't here when we when dr.

[01:46:30] Jones presented that because I think you had another meeting with something yeah and so but that was we did make an agreement that day that we were going to be mindful of the number of questions that we were going to ask and to seek clear you know clarification because I was guilty of it when it was budget season because I was what is happening here I had so many questions and then I had questions about all of your questions so that was intense so I was guilty at that time but since dr. Jones brought in you know that calibration I

[01:47:05] have been more mindful and so but if we have an agreement to be mindful about that and I'm just I'm just telling you from experience percentage of school board as a staff member does affect you and you if you have to stay there until 9 p.m. or past 9 p.m. and you have to go back in there the next morning to attend to student needs i mean i i have to spell out student outcomes um that specifically i just plus that our staff makes

[01:47:36] great sacrifices to be here and they they deserve our full consideration so that was the grounding for this and so i'm i'm okay if we go back to the agreement that we made that we're going to be more mindful about that i think the friday suggestion is a good middle ground um but we in reality we just need to be more aware i just i just have one quick thing um for me i need the presentation to be done for me to have questions like i can't i've tried to do that i need to hear it so everybody's

[01:48:14] different in the way they but i don't even have like i can look at the presentation and i have any questions and then as she's reading oh wait a minute that and so i think we need just a balance just making sure like we're not repeating like what dr jones has said not repeating what another person has said that we're listening as they're asking their questions so we're not going to ask the same question and i know i've been trying to do that and write notes as people are talking so So that way I know what to ask.

[01:48:42] So given everything, Ms. Brown, what is the ideal outcome for today? Either a middle ground and going back to our agreement to be considerate of our staff and monitor the number of questions that we're asking.

[01:48:59] And if we, I don't know, now for me, if I go over three or five minutes, I'm like, okay, I'm going to save this question and then I just send it to Dr. Newman. And then if I need to share with anyone that has concerns, then I go back to those people and send them my notes or post them on Facebook or ask them to contact them directly.

[01:49:22] So whichever way we go, I just need our staff to be fully considered. So is it the will of the board to pass this through protocols or is it the will of the board to try to self-monitor? I thought we were doing a Friday thing, right?

[01:49:43] those questions I can give each other more time I mean I'm okay with okay so I'll start with that is will the board to self-monitor and I'm willing to do that and then if we have to revisit again we'll revisit again but I think

[01:50:05] this is a good grounding she was not here where we made that agreement okay so

[01:50:38] number eight of nine items and the handbook update and this is just discussing proposed changes to the school board handbook including revisions updates and recommendations to ensure the handbook reflects current board practices procedures and governance expectations so I believe that Ms. Garza has the draft some of the changes up yeah we didn't put your name on it so I

[01:51:13] wasn't really sure exactly how this is going to roll out but yes I think I think I'll be about the so we all spent a lot of time with this at our retreat and the sections highlighted in bright blue were sections that we just wanted more input on and if I'm from our division attorneys and from my recollection those were sent and then nothing came everything's fine right I don't that because those bright blue sections were the only outstanding items was that we

[01:51:48] wanted okay bright blue I did not take as an action item I don't know we definitely had an email about it at some point I know there was a question that I said about I mean members seeking nominations that you know and I'm just going to throw out there that, you know, in light of recent happenings, you know, to begin consulting with fellow board members in December just seems like it's been

[01:52:27] synthetical to what we've been saying in the practice. So happy to. Well, you're just informing them that you're running. It's not, it's not taking a tally or anything. It's just letting them know, hey, I'm looking to run. I'm interested in running and just letting you know. And I would like your, you know. Yeah, that way you're not surprised who is because that was, that was the issue we come and a lot of us didn't know oh i didn't know you were running and so that was

[01:52:59] where our head was with that and there is no uh legal effect or tally like i said this is just to tell you all i would like your consideration or chair or you know you know such and such as nominating me and what do you think about that that's a perfectly allowable yeah if they have then just being transparent with each other as well so those bright blue

[01:53:34] sections I recall the what the attorney said about how to contact the division attorney and we recall that I can't find that yeah I know I have I know you sent it yeah yes right yeah I know you guys if that was the only question then this This would be, I mean, those three new items would be going to court governance training, but then this one, assuming there's nothing else that we can find in the email, and I

[01:54:12] should have, I'm usually better about putting it in the file for this, but I did not do that with it. Assuming there's nothing else, assuming there was no substantive concerns from the attorney that ALBA can accept all changes and get around and start formatting them like that.

[01:54:31] Well, we have one more matter to discuss, which may take some time, so if Dr. Newman wants to try to find people to apply on that one issue, which is, well, I don't know. I mean, I was just going to move on to the Rodney date, so if you can do it by then, if not, we'll say to Alba, start formatting anyway, and I'm sure I'll get to it.

[01:54:57] That's one small thing as well, like I think that whatever changes. That's it. Thank you. She's going forward to it. all right so we'll wait for the forwarding or so it was suggested to me to perhaps reach back out to BSBA and try again with some level of governance

[01:55:31] training through the SBA which I wholeheartedly agree I think would be you know, just a good option. So I didn't go too far down a path because I don't know how everybody feels about it in general, but Rodney Jordan is willing to come here and meet with us. And he's given dates, um, that are in September. So, you know, this is something that I view as perhaps

[01:56:01] leading up to, um, master board training for 2027. For now, it's just a little bit of a booster to kind of help get us back on track um so rodney can come september four not four oh eight nine and ten eight nine and ten these are on our this the dates are on our he would like six hours set aside

[01:56:34] and we all have to agree that is a bsba rule so are any of those dates dates that you can um nine Okay yeah because he did he was clear that that was a VSBA rule it has to be everyone and I I felt like it needed to be suggested but you know I understand my work in school like to ask to take

[01:57:10] off a date in september is probably folly but um i will go back and ask about october dates oh you don't have dates for oh there's no and that was the only september dates he had available okay okay um do you all do you all want to suggest to me october dates when the divisions open that you could take off i mean yeah i could i'd have to do it when i get to my other computer before the 20th because i know there's like a day in october i can't are you uh just very very generally is

[01:57:48] anyone interested in trying to extend our bsba trip by one day either way oh in november in november i feel like the sooner the better but i just i can't make anything that september work anyway when is that in november 18th 19th 20th oh well unless you're going to stay on saturday

[01:58:14] I just already all be together yeah I'm not asking anyone to do it I'm just trying to yeah October I can give you dates in October I mean I just have to look at my calendar and it's not I'll text you tomorrow is that okay I mean I'm gonna have to use Alba and I

[01:58:49] need you guys to respond to emails you know I guess I will I will email you my October date you can email me the date okay I guess you have to ask him first though right to see what they see as well it is a it is a dance yeah question about it and it is a very cumbersome thing that you want to ask him first

[01:59:28] before we give you dates and then don't I mean he's gonna do his best to make himself fail about it I will prefer Friday narrows it down so Friday is a

[01:59:44] Friday Friday or Monday my half my family's off Oh October 12 may work well do we all want did we

[02:00:19] agree that we all want this is it is it the will we we must all be present I think it's a good idea this is not a will of the board this is a definite I can't I have to double check on that day because I have to make sure we'll just start at the very top do does everybody think that it's a good idea yes yes definitely that yes I just have to double check and then I will explore Fridays and Mondays I will ask him about I mean we off it's a lot to ask our staff to come in on a day off

[02:00:50] and it'll be local it'll be here right well we still we might have a P.E. that day that's the only thing it's October 12th it's Monday we might I know I'm gonna I will double check in and tell you as soon as possible about that date I can work I mean that's promising I will write them right now

[02:01:21] That is technically our last item, so let me just get this done, so it's out on the Aetherweb. Yes. Is there anything else? Oh. I thought Dr. Newman had. No.

[02:01:38] Oh, okay. Then I'll move back around. Okay. Sorry, Dr. Newman. We want to go back to that item. We have an actual determination. What item? What item was it? The lawyer's input. Oh. Alba Ford did it. Here we go.

[02:01:54] Yeah, so it is up to the board whether individual members can contact Division Counselor. Okay, so this does look like an access code for a vote and all of this.

[02:02:15] This also talks about the Division's insurance carrier. Yeah, for the most part, everything that appeared, except it sounds like she's asking us to clarify that in the first paragraph,

[02:02:46] that the right she's asking us to add this like when litigate maybe we should add this like litigation yeah and that sounds like everything else is pretty

[02:03:24] much okay all right so we can direct Alba to start formatting and we will send her and have her include that statement it's the first red blurb second sentence for litigation arises whether the Division Council will represent the board or any given member etc etc etc put that into it yeah I can come over to your what do we want to bring it back to the committee I don't think this needs to go to the committee I think I know having finished format right so how about

[02:03:59] we format this well I'll work with you to what we're just how we're processing this lawyer recommendation now and then we will put together a free package and and that will go on the next discussion agenda.

[02:04:18] That will be August 25th or September 8th. September 8th might be better. I mean, it's not a rush, so we could be September 8th. Yeah, there's not as many people on there. I think it's all the more time to have the discussion agenda after Tarzan.

[02:04:44] Yeah, we just have to be in fact, you all. Right, and the board has agreed on what this. So then we're going to have another discussion for the last time, and then action next.

[02:05:00] Ready, second. Do I have a motion? Chair, I move forward the evening chair.

[02:05:18] The motion by Ms. Steven, seconded by Ms. Miles, that we adjourn. And Dave House, I don't know.

[02:05:34] I didn't second. I didn't second. Oh, I just heard a very soft. No, you're good. But Ms. Miles, your son and my daughter have a class together.

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