Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors — Joint Meeting with the School Board, Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 2h 5m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3707
Official Board of County Supervisors page (Prince William County): https://www.pwcva.gov/department/board-county-supervisors

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 2026-10-29. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:08] All right. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This is our annual joint meeting with the Board of County Supervisors and our colleagues on the school board. Before we go around and do introductions, I'm going to have my colleague do his statement.

[00:00:25] Sure. Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and Chairman Lateef, before the board and school board, hear from staff and discuss federal impacts, enrollment protections, and other school matters, and you declare personal interest in these matters. I like the school's employee. As school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group who are suspected by these matters.

[00:00:44] I will participate in these matters because I am able to do so fairly, objectively, and in the public area. Madam Chair. All right, thank you so very much. It's always great to meet with everyone. When the board is county supervisor, and when we're talking about things we want to discuss, one of the members made a comment about making sure that we're working closely and fostering relationships with our members of the school board.

[00:01:05] Obviously, we work very closely together, And that's going to have to be an even closer relationship as we navigate what's ahead of us. We'll certainly be talking about the economic impacts later, but I want to have everyone go around and introduce themselves. My name, obviously, Deshaundra Jefferson, Chair of the Princeway and Barney County Supervisors, and I'll go to my left.

[00:01:25] Barbara Latif, Chairman of Princeway and Council. Wade Anderson, Division Council. UCCS. Air Country, Brunsville District. Good evening, Eslebega, Coles District. That was Eslebega, Coles District. I'm Lisa. Tracy Blake, Meabsville District.

[00:01:44] Carol Flannard, Deputy Secretary. That's Andre Bates. Chris Shorter County Executive. Shaquille Yusuf, CFO. Lori Wayans, Woodbridge District. Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District.

[00:02:02] I'm so happy to be here. Richard Jesse, Akramon District. Any voting Akramoners in the back of the county? Andre Bailey, Vice Chair of the Board. Stomach District. Justin Wilkman-Tompton.

[00:02:20] Michelle Wilkman, County Attorney. All right, thank you so very much, everyone. I've already said a few remarks, but I'm going to turn it over to my colleague on the boarding County Supervisors, Dr. McKeith. Thank you, Madam Chair. We also have one board member missing this evening, Jen Walton. First of all, thank you. Welcome to the Kelly Leadership Building. We are always grateful to see you all and have this meeting. We truly appreciate the incredible support the Board of County Supervisors in Prince William County continues to provide the Prince William County Schools. That support has resulted in, as you've seen

[00:02:58] the articles of recent the highest paid first-year teacher salary in the entire commonwealth we have and you can add to that probably near the highest paid teachers first-year salary in the nation as well we have been voted by forbes magazine as one of the top three school districts to work for regularly since 2020 and this year as well we continued we had a record graduation rate this past summer for our students record scholarship dollars improved scores across the board since coming out of the pandemic success in and on in and out of the classroom on the field in the

[00:03:33] auditoriums and on our courts we continue to work hard to back stop your triple-a bond rating and very proud of all that work and so we can only do that with your great support so i first would like to thank you for the support over many years in our community our students our families truly all right thank you very much we have one member who will be here shortly and when he gets here he'll also have to read a coyote statement um but in the meantime i was going to tee up our first

[00:04:11] presentation and that is federal impacts on workforce and economy and again in this region we are all so dependent on the federal government what happens in washington has an intimate impact on us here in prince william county when about 12 of our workforce works directly for the federal government we're not just talking about the contract we're talking specifically for the federal government so i'm going to actually turn it over to um mr shorter let's see if you work before the presentation thank you very much madam chair members of the board and members of the school

[00:04:47] board again wonderful to see you all we we did these presentations yesterday for our board i'm going to ask first that we talk about the federal shutdown so this will be a summation of where we stand as a county there are certainly a lot of uncertainties as it were then we will have the agencies most impacted by HR 1 come up in presentations really about HR 1 and how they are impacted this is our we'll start with our

[00:05:25] Department of Social Services we'll have community services we'll have Ryan and Meisner with emergency management. The federal shutdown first, so we'll have Dave Sinclair come up to talk about the federal shutdown.

[00:05:56] Good evening. This is just intended to provide a general overview, and I'm going to talk a little bit about school funding. I realize that the experts are in this very room, so if I misspeak on anything, please do not hesitate to correct me.

[00:06:13] So real quick, I'm sure everybody already knows this information, but the federal fiscal year began on October 1st, 2025, and the federal government is funded by 12 appropriation bills that have to be passed by the Senate and signed by the President by September 30th of each year.

[00:06:41] Obviously, appropriations were not passed by the September 30th deadline, so the federal government was forced to shut down on October 1st. Mandatory spending programs, I'd like to emphasize, will continue.

[00:07:00] These spending programs are not subject to annual appropriations. These are benefits associated with Social Security, Veterans Affairs, Medicare, Medicaid. Services will be impacted in terms of new card issuances and customer service in those areas, but the benefits should not be impacted.

[00:07:25] Services funded by user fees, such as the U.S. Postal Service, will continue. and services that are funded by annual appropriations will be impacted both for essential services and non-essential services.

[00:07:42] Essential services will continue to function. Employees will work without pay. Some examples are obviously national security, air traffic control, and other transportation safety. But as we are seeing, air traffic control is starting to be impacted in terms of service and capacity to address safety law enforcement and criminal investigations will also be essential as will emergency disaster assistance non-essential services will cease and employees will be placed

[00:08:20] on furlough status without pay oh lord yes i do thank you thank you for that madam chair and chairman chief before the board and school board before the board and school board hears from staff and discuss federal impacts enrollment protections and other school matters i need to declare a

[00:08:58] personal interest in these matters my wife is a special education instructional aid with schools as a school's employee my wife and i are members of the group which is affected by these matters i will be participating in these matters because i'm able to do so fairly objectively and in the public interest. Thank you. Obviously, federal employees will not be paid during the shutdown.

[00:09:27] Essential employees will continue to work, however, we'll help them. This is becoming interesting in the sense that some federal employees are going to start seeing paychecks either reduced, and based on my reading, on October 15th, you will see members of the armed services not receive a paycheck.

[00:09:56] October 15th, they will supposed to receive a paycheck, but if this continues, they will not. This bullet point has, it actually flared up yesterday in the news.

[00:10:12] Back pay is supposed to be guaranteed once federal government reopens via the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which was enacted in 2019 as a guarantee of federal worker back pay.

[00:10:27] There was a lot in the news yesterday about that. They're not sitting for this time. I hope it's just trying to get folks to the bargaining table.

[00:10:44] Federal contractors are unlikely to be paid during the shutdown. That will be on a firm-by-firm basis, but they are not guaranteed any back pay. We have a couple stats here on federal government workforce estimates in the region and within Prince William County.

[00:11:04] There are about 450,000 federal government workers in the region, that's as of March 2024. And please note these numbers are likely different today than they were six months ago. And there's about 400,000 contractors in the region.

[00:11:22] Within Prince William County, as of February 2025, there are almost 31,000 federal government workers. As I said previously, these numbers will change due to the federal government's deferred resignation programs and reduction in force actions that took place during the summer This slide provides a snapshot of the combined Prince William County schools and Prince William County government budgets.

[00:11:53] This is direct federal funding received total of federal funding is about $169 million for the schools comprising 92 million and the county $77 million. On the school side, um, based on my reading of budgets, about $44 million is through school lunch and breakfast programs funded through the USDA, and about $48 million is in the school's operating budget.

[00:12:29] These are obviously your Title I, Title II, Title IV, that type of federal funding. On the county government side, of our $77 million, almost $50 million is in housing development, and $20 million is social services.

[00:12:50] Those are the two largest areas on print. I will drill down detail in the next slide. I'd like to emphasize is that on an agency-by-agency basis, very few details are currently known directly from federal agencies.

[00:13:08] Based on the 2018-2019 full shutdown that lasted 35 days, services might be extended one or two months using prior year appropriations. That's available to federal government agencies, but continuation of services is not guaranteed and is contingent upon remaining funding availability on a case-by-case basis.

[00:13:37] Real quick, summarizing Prince William County Schools, to my knowledge, a portion of Title I-A and Title II-A funds were advanced funded.

[00:13:49] It should not be a problem. It will be available to us as a community. However, the school lunch program is a little more problematic. I believe there's funding through this month, month of October. But after that, decisions will have to be made if the shutdown, it might be able to extend a little beyond October, but that's really on a state-by-state basis.

[00:14:25] On the Prince William County government side, the good news is we believe the county's housing choice voucher program is funded through calendar year. However, HUD programs such as CDBG and home program should remain available.

[00:14:51] In our Department of Social Services, SNAP is expected to have enough funding from prior year carryover funds and that will continue to pay benefits through this month of October.

[00:15:11] However, the situation is a little more dire for the women, infants, and children, also known as WIP programs. That funding may be exhausted through next week. TANF is temporary assistance for needy families.

[00:15:38] In the past, states could use unspent funds from prior year allocations to sustain services. States also have the option of using maintenance of effort funds to sustain services until the shutdown end, and then they hopefully will be reversed after the fact.

[00:16:02] So this is our last slide this evening. The duration of the shutdown is obviously unknown and conditioned upon congressional presidential actions. Prince William County will continue to evaluate our contingency plans for services reliant on federal funding.

[00:16:23] Obviously that is largely a function of how long this lasts. And the Prince William County Office of Management budget will continue to monitor federal updates on a daily basis. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions. All right, if anyone has any questions, please just hit your button so I can see what lights up.

[00:16:46] More to the point, the Board of County Supervisors, we had this great presentation last night. Thank you again for sharing us with today. If anyone on the school board, I was going to give first practice, if anyone on the school board, I see Dr. Lateef and then Supervisor Franklin, who's not on the school board, but okay.

[00:17:04] Great, great presentation. Do you have any idea of the number of contractors that live in?

[00:17:09] million to 35,000. Yeah, unfortunately, I don't have those numbers with me. We'll dig around and see what we can find out, sir. As I mentioned, there's about 400,000 in the region, but let me get back to you on that. Supervisor Franklin. Sure. I have to defer to any school board members. Just a couple of questions. Wanted to talk a little bit about Title I and what impact some of this, not only shutdown, but also HR1 will have on Title I.

[00:17:48] obviously in the Woodbridge district we have a lot of title one schools so just curious about that a couple of other things i'll just mention um students with disabilities how this will be impacted by hr1 and also the shutdown i believe it's the idea program that primarily deals with student with disabilities and provides resources and then how much of these resources are being converted to charter schools i'm just curious i don't know if you have any answer to that but it's something that we may just want to be mindful of uh and then lastly the school lunch and breakfast programs i know during covet we brought on some community partners to help with school

[00:18:28] meals but just wondering how again hr1 and the shutdown packed our school lunch and breakfast programs. So, right now, we're in the process of, we've completed and filed our 26 applications, 26, 27 years. Title 6B, which is our students with a disability, has approved. Title 1 hasn't

[00:19:06] been approved. There is some flux with some of our grants in terms of, this is very new news to us, that some of it is being moved out of BDO, Department of Education, Department of Labor, specifically in adult ed insurance.

[00:19:24] So we're looking at that, our applications are online. We have been reimbursed through August 22nd, because what they do is they give the money up front to the states.

[00:19:40] Our big month reimbursements is coming up, so we anticipate, you know, we'll know BDOE is slightly behind in its approval, And some of it also has to do with some real is happening specifically with uncertainty of the role of the Department of Education now.

[00:20:09] And so we just heard that some grads are moving. That may take some administration. In terms of the school and nutrition fund, we will continue feeding our children. And during COVID, we had a fund balance there, which we have the state nutrition administration have been asked to spend down on.

[00:20:39] So we should be able to sustain it in the short run. In the long run, what it means is that there is, there will be a cash flow problem with us getting requests on the time. Madam Chair, I'll just say that with regards to our legislative priorities, both the county and the schools, it may be worth looking to marry some of these priorities to make sure the General Assembly understands how important it is to help kind of pull the weight the federal government pulls back.

[00:21:13] So thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else? Mr. Reiser-Franklin, you happen to have a very good relationship with the person who chairs our legislative committee. Anyone else? All right, Mr. Shorter.

[00:21:29] With no other questions, I'll ask Fente Clare, Director and Budget for Prince William County. I'll ask Director Phyllis Jennings, Director of our Department of Social Services. Now, the next three presentations will all be about HR1.

[00:21:51] In fact, again, certainly some uncertainty are things that we know, and I appreciate that our director has brought that to us to see and discuss it. Good evening, Madam Chair Jefferson, Chair Dr. Lateef, members of the School Board and members of the County Board,

[00:22:28] Phyllis Jennings, co-director of Social Services, and to my left is my deputy director, Holly Heaney. She's one of you in our van of lights. And so what we do know, personally, we thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening to share with you regarding HR1 bill regarding SNAP Medicaid and share with you the things that we do know, but there are some things that we don't.

[00:22:59] So this bill came into enactment in July of this year, 2025. What we do know is Virginia is required to match the federal SNAP benefit at 25%. Previously, the administrative cost, it was a 50-50 with a fasted 50-G at this point this year at 75%.

[00:23:22] In addition to that, they will be expanding the work requirements for the able-bodied adults, both in SNAP and in Medicaid. So what we do know is Virginia is looking at having to cover an additional $90 billion with that 25% match at that administration.

[00:23:47] This slide here is a slide that we put together at DSS and work as to our budget lines and the federal money that we received. So with that 25% reduction, the projection is that it will be a $1.6 million deficit.

[00:24:07] As we know, BDSS has not given us any information regarding any money that they will be putting towards it or what the localities would be needing to pay. This is just something that...

[00:24:25] So beginning October 1st, 2027, state agencies will require to pay a state match to the federal government based on the state's SNAP error rate. This is the chart that they have created. The state managed to determine based on the state's SNAP allotment and percentage of errors listed under the Food Nutrition Services Auto Control payment error rate.

[00:24:49] Currently, right now, Virginia is at 11.5%, and the error rate, and looking at approximately $400, may affect in October 1st, 22%. So BDSS has established a goal to reduce the SNAP error rate to 6% by September 2026.

[00:25:16] The food nutrition services will assess the state stamp error rate in September 26, and they will assign the required match based on that percentage scale. What we do know is that we assess the system that we use in social services is what we call our BCMS system, which we have used for years to process applications.

[00:25:40] The Virginia Department of Social Services have shared that they recognize that the system is antiquated and has played a part in payment errors in the applications. PDSS have been advocating to the General Assembly to replace that system, but we have been told at this time that the General Assembly is not putting any money towards that, so it would lead up to PDSS and all the localities to come up with plans to lower the error rate.

[00:26:10] We are requiring and we have been in training for the supervisors and for staff to make sure that they are properly trained with the policies to make sure that we are processing applications accurate to reduce the error rate.

[00:26:27] This error rate used to be reduced across the state of Virginia just now. What I can tell you currently right now is that Prince William County DSS has a zero snap error. And we are, our plan is to try to keep at a zero snap error.

[00:26:46] Previously in FY24, we were at a 28.4% error rate. That was because we were in the process of Medicaid and blinding. We had to shift our human resources to Medicaid and bonding and appeals.

[00:27:04] And now we are in the process of, we do have our own quality insurance team in the department that does case readings and helps us to make sure that we are processing applications.

[00:27:22] Beginning this month, 2025, the general work requirement expanded to include ages 54 to 64. So with this change, all SNAP recipients, 18 to 64, will be evaluated. under the eight-body work requirement, which means they need to be working 20 hours a month, volunteering or inter-educational. If they are not, they are risking their benefits to be limited to three months of salary. Currently, right now, in Prince William County, there is

[00:27:57] about 25,000 constituents that would be to apply. By 2030, the following populations would be exempt from the work requirements and that includes those who are homeless veterans and children who are aged out of foster care under the age of 20. So a part of this bill as well is the low income energy assistance program that we have quite a few of our constituents in the

[00:28:35] county and that is going to be eliminated as you can see the numbers on the slide there is about over 1,100 households that receive assistance for eating, 125 for crisis, and over 1,200 for...

[00:28:53] Next we will move on to Medicaid, the Medicaid expansion. As of August 25th, we have close to 100,000 constituents that receive Medicaid benefits in Prince William County. As of December 31st of 2026, Medicaid expansion recipients will be required to participate in the termination process every six months right now that is

[00:29:25] we've done annually um and we have over 26 000 constituents that are included in that medicaid expansion uh as of 20 as of t7 31st of 2026 in addition these those that are involved or included in the Medicaid expansion would also be required for the work requirement.

[00:29:51] Meaning, again, they would need to work, volunteer, or education 20 hours a week, hours a month. So there are some exemptions, and these exemptions are in the females, so pregnant, postpartum women, foster care children, or formal foster care children, tribal members, veterans with disabilities, those who are medically fragile, to include physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities, individuals who have serious medical illness,

[00:30:25] or are receiving treatment or substance abuse. So this slide here shows the data of constituents in the county that are in that Medicaid extension.

[00:30:46] As you can see, Woodward has over 14,000 constituents. Next is Manassas, but it goes all the way down to 14.1. Now, this is as of July of 2020.

[00:31:04] as well as the information regarding standard medicaid and being viewed for bill there was concerns regarding possible fraud fraud reduction as of october 1st 2026 the eligibility requirement for those who are considered qualified alien status will be tighter for the scope will be tighter in reference to them being able to receive january 1st 2027 we will need to utilize a data

[00:31:36] source to verify recidious addresses. And as of January 1st, 2028, we need to death masturbate quarterly to identify. So BDSS has been working with all localities to come up with a plan across the state of Virginia to lower the SNAP error rate to get it down to 6%. Back in August, we called Operation Fix and Fine, where they were selecting cases randomly and giving us fees.

[00:32:14] back to make sure to see if we had any payment error rates and any procedure rates. DSS, all localities, is also required to develop their own plan about how to do quality insurance. We have done that, and part of our plan is that our supervisors will be two cases per worker, which means that we will be 320 cases a month to ensure we are on track, providing feedback to staff. We also have our own training unit internally. So we train

[00:32:53] folks that come in new before they start getting cases. Also, if there's anyone who needs a refresher, send them back through that training to make sure we have them. And so we have completed the state requirement for the training as of the end of September. So in addition to that, what we know is that it's going to take a lot of time in reference to the training in the reference to making sure that we are processing these cases on track.

[00:33:30] So we have talked with executive management, and we know probably more time for our staff to make sure we're doing what we're doing. So we want to make sure that we're doing our part here in Princeville County to help.

[00:33:53] So we are very much involved in what's going on with the state. They have a lot of initiatives. We are one of the agencies that they look at as far as quality assurance, since we have a zero-snap error rate.

[00:34:14] Staff is on panels down in Richmond talking about the quality assurance team processes that we have in place, providing feedback and information. We are part of the Big 20. What we know is that the 20 largest agencies in the state of Virginia account for 50% of the errors.

[00:34:33] And so we are working closely with what they call the Big 20. And so we were on a meeting earlier today. And again, it was provided a vision on the garden feedback.

[00:34:50] So I am happy to take it. All right, do we have any questions? Previsor Goody. I wanted to look around and make sure our schools were always happy for a shot at it.

[00:35:08] Ms. Jennings, thank you again for this presentation. Thank you for adding some more depth. I know that we have a chance to talk about yesterday. Can you go back to the slide that talked about the slide 12 that breaks it out by sort of region? So is this by zip code? I appreciate that, because as most folks here know, that there's parts of JLC that are called woodworks, parts of the Ocupine are called woodworks, parts of the Ocupine are linked, parts of the Ocupine are linked, parts of the Ocupine are when assets. So I just want to make sure we knew if this was based on zip code or what

[00:35:41] they're called. Yes. Thank you. Do we have any other questions? All right. Mr. Sherman? Thank you very much, Madam Chair and Director Phyllis Jenning-Hull. Thank you for the presentation. We're now going to have Georgia Bachman, acting director of our Department of Social and Community Services presentation.

[00:36:10] Good evening, Chair Lee. Chief, Chair Jefferson of the Board. I'm Georgia Bachman, Acting Director of Community Services, or some of you may know us as Community Services Board or CSB. Thank you for having me here today to speak to the federal funding landscape and how it may impact community services.

[00:37:14] The key takeaway today for community services is monitoring. Community services is monitoring the federal landscape closely for potential impacts to our clinical and administrative operations.

[00:37:30] The good news is that to date, there has been no major impact, but potential risks do remain. What we do know, in regards to federal grants, we are monitoring grants management closely.

[00:37:48] We do have one five-year, $5 million federally funded Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, SAMHSA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant.

[00:38:04] It's a system of care expansion and sustainability grant. This is a children's mental health initiative grant and serves youth complex behavioral health disorders for those at high risk. The system of care framework is to provide evidence-based, trauma-informed, resiliency-developed behavioral health services to children and their families using natural supports in a community-based manner to help them meet their self-identified goals and needs.

[00:38:35] We have just received our third year renewal and we have six full-time staff for this initiative. To date, there is no notification of risk to the federal funding of this grant. Regarding our ARPA block grant funding, originally those funds were to be made available through September 30th of 2025.

[00:38:57] However, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services did receive notification on March 21st, 24th last spring, that those funds were to be terminated immediately. has left an impact on many Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services projects and programming. However, Prince William Community Services had proactively invoiced for our projects and therefore we saw no loss of funding from that unforeseen event. There are no other

[00:39:34] known federal cuts impacting community services at this time. Regarding Medicaid As a behavioral health care treatment provider, there are some concerns that if we did see any Medicaid reimbursement reductions, this could severely limit our ability to offset the cost of needed positions.

[00:40:00] The impact would likely be a reduction of positions or needed increase in local funding to support positions. One of the most critical examples of this would be with our developmental disability programming. As many of you may know, the governor allocated funding this year for all of the individuals on the priority one waiver wait list.

[00:40:25] This is the highest need group of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities who have the most urgent need for services, facing immediate risks to their health and safety. And these waiver slots allow them to receive essential community-based support services.

[00:40:45] Recent Medicaid increases did support new, relatively cost-neutral positions for us to be able to serve these individuals, and as you can imagine, demand has grown.

[00:41:02] A reduction could lead to capacity challenges for us. In addition, the additional Medicaid redeterminations that Ms. Jennings Holt mentioned could result in some concerning coverage gaps or loss of Medicaid for some of the individuals we serve at community services.

[00:41:30] While we would continue to serve these individuals, we would be at risk for significant revenue loss and increased wait lists due to our limited capacity. To mitigate some of this potential impact, we have administrative staff who do work closely with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services and also the Department of Medical Assistance Services, DMAS, to get up-to-date information on changes and potential impacts.

[00:42:03] And so we are staying abreast of any changes. Lastly, we are closely monitoring the executive order related to individuals who are unhoused. Concerns have been expressed regarding a potential return to policies that encourage psychiatric commitment of individuals with mental illness who struggle with housing needs and who need community-based treatments.

[00:42:32] These risks could put an added burden on our already overtaxed public hospital system. With some of these potential changes, increased demands for psychiatric beds could create some bottlenecks and undermine some of our crisis transformation efforts.

[00:42:56] So again, in closing, we will continue to monitor the federal landscape closely and keep you all informed. Thank you. Alright, does anyone have any questions? Dr. Lateef? Yeah, thank you for the presentation and prior presentation as well.

[00:43:15] I don't know, maybe Shaquille you can answer. We do billing for Medicaid in the school division for some of our special ed services. Have we seen any cuts yet since last spring? Not at the moment. We're still in the billing cycle. Do you remember what number was $2 million, $3 million I think a year on Medicaid services? Yes, I can give you an exact number. It's worth it. I'll get you in.

[00:43:53] all right i see school board member zockemore thank you um going back to the the samhsa funded system of care grant who who gets that like how do people access or is that something that funds the county and the county then supports families so that is um currently being uh overseen by our new horizons youth program tanya odell and they have a team consists of six staff

[00:44:33] and it's a they have it it's icc intensive care coordination team and so they they take referrals in the same manner that they would take referrals to the new horizons um youth behavioral health program do we is it sufficient for our population in what sense our students our adolescents I mean we always have more need than we have capacity so so my

[00:45:08] next question then thank you so my next question then is because adolescent mental health and substance abuse care are a lot harder to get because of the regulations and right people have to be involved so the landscape for our kids is a little different than for our adults and people with some means your middle upper middle class are going to be able to maybe get somewhere but it's not often in the care that they receive they often have to go to Fairfax or

[00:45:44] Loudoun or Maryland and that's just that's one of the things that you know as As a school division, we have the mental telehealth, but that's not the same. And I'm just, I am concerned about the amount of beds we have here and how we can increase that capacity.

[00:46:05] And I know Dr. Lateef and I have had discussions about how this works, but I know it's based by hospitals, and then I know communities tend to not want to have mental health in their neighborhood, but the reality is that we really need places for our adolescents.

[00:46:24] is there anything you can like enlighten me on or well it's good timing but you may know that tomorrow we do have our grand opening for our new crisis receiving center which will be serving um 16 uh we'll have 16 adult crisis stabilization unit beds as well as 16 observation chairs there's also a regional crc that's going to be opening next spring in fairfax but it is a

[00:46:57] regional project that came from our opioid abatement authority funding so there is now it's also opening once there's a lot happening in the crisis landscape right now which um should be definitely you know reduce some of some of that burden some of it but i I am concerned about, like, people who are getting to crisis and they, like, what help is available to them.

[00:47:25] And especially for adolescents because I hear stories about people trying to get help and these kids are in the hospital for a long time waiting for care someplace. And I would love to see Prince William do something.

[00:47:42] You know. I do. Thank you. All right, Dr. Lateef. Real quick, on that quote, on your slide, your added burden on already overtaxed public hospital system. What are you referring to as a public hospital assistant?

[00:48:00] We've had a psychiatric bed shortage for many years, even before COVID, but it was severely exacerbated. During COVID, they had to take many, many psychiatric hospital beds offline, and the state has put a lot of their funding into these new crisis receiving centers.

[00:48:26] That's been sort of the big effort. So if there were to be a loosening of commitment laws and more people going back into public hospital beds, there could be a reallocation of funds back into the public hospital system as opposed to, again, more community-based treatment.

[00:48:49] Where are the public hospital beds? Virginia Mental Health Institute is the local one. And that's a public one? Correct. Then where is that located? in Falls Church. Is that its actual name? Or is that Dominion? Isn't that Dominion? Dominion is private.

[00:49:09] Got it. So we only have one public hospital system, a set of beds in Otham. Correct. Although there's other public hospitals in the state that sometimes individuals get looked into. Yes. Thanks.

[00:49:26] Not availability. Sure. All right. I'm going to call on school board member Richard Jesse and then I believe in correctment. Everything we have now is short-term.

[00:49:46] Probably because it's short-term and a month of sale, the person is faced with a problem and a cure. And that corrected nowhere in the state that we have something.

[00:50:05] It would depend what the level of care needs are for the individual. So it would be, you know, we're customizing the treatment approaches. The ideal is to help people live in their community, but to your point, absolutely.

[00:50:27] There's certainly not adequate need for demand for the need. All right, Supervisor Franklin.

[00:50:43] Sure, and I'll just think we're willing to chime in as well as we were having this conversation on the side, but this art report raises an excellent point, and the concern that I've always had is as soon as we opened the CRC, perhaps will be at capacity almost immediately now to mr. Jesse's point these are short-term stays but you know I've always been concerned about and obviously I support anyone in crisis obviously regardless of where they live but my

[00:51:16] concern has always been okay if we have 32 beds I think and if they're 30 from Fairfax that needs assistance and you know what about us locally so very good point very valid i think that's a conversation we're going to have to continue to raise with other stakeholders and making sure that we can expand at some point because it is true that even though this is a milestone we still have a long way to go to house those that are in crisis and also just kind of I'm clarifying to Mr. Jessie's point about short-term stays

[00:51:55] and if it actually clears the issue. I don't know that the point of the CRC is to necessarily cure as opposed to an immediate crisis to be able to level out, but those individuals will likely need longer-term therapeutic or psychological care.

[00:52:16] But thank you for bringing that up. That's been a concern of mine, and it's something we're going to have to continue to talk about in terms of expansion. Thank you. And just to the point about the short-term stay of the crisis receiving center, Connections Health is the vendor that's coming into the state to operate the facility. And their model is very much a community partner model. I was on a call

[00:52:52] earlier today with centera health along with connections in our emergency services staff they are very very committed to building community partnerships because they are very aware that the crc itself is not a panacea it is one aspect of crisis transformation and certainly will help alleviate some of the things that were happening in the community prior such as individuals boarding in emergency departments um and in adult detention center etc so it's not a

[00:53:31] panacea but it's definitely it's a part of the solution we also do have in terms of the earlier question we have significant contractual partners throughout the state who also are help us with serving the individuals can come into principally of community services board for services so it's not just our agency but it is a whole a network of community providers that work to get individuals and families and children the services

[00:54:09] that they need all right thank you so very much before i go on to i'm going to go to supervisor Bailey and Bodie but I just wanted to talk a little bit more because you mentioned 16 beds and you took a 16 standby where are we with opening cutting facilities for juveniles um and can you talk about the HHS waiver right so I'm sorry the um the facility has 16 beds for

[00:54:40] youth and 16 observation chairs and then 16 for adults and 16 chairs so it's for both serving both youth and adults did that answer your question so when you're saying sorry is it 16 each or is it 16 total 16 each that's what i believe and so because earlier there was a process with the hhs wait so has that been worked on we are still waiting to hear from cms on the status of that waiver. One of the things, and I don't know, I'm looking over the people across from me,

[00:55:19] is it worth the school boards working with us and putting in that their own legislative agenda? The reason why I ask is making sure that we have everything, because it's not just obviously a board initiative, a board of county supervisors initiative, a school board, whatever help that we can get, whatever allies we can get. Mental health is a real problem in our community, and I'm glad that people start to recognize that more during the pandemic and start to talk about

[00:55:48] you know meeting people where they're at especially in crisis is hugely important so I'm going to look to the people across from me I'll say we were very successful last legislative season thank you and you know as you say Mr. Sherga maybe not at that level but I just feel that the more people see it more people that we have who go to a committee hearing a subcommittee hearing just to say something you know would be a bonus for us I mean if that is not the case and I certainly accept it but

[00:57:37] I'll do, we'll share the link up in the schools.

[00:58:05] And I'll start it. But I want to assure the panel, the boards, both boards, that our continual advocacy together has started where we are with the CRC.

[00:58:22] And I think we are very much fortunate in that we do have a CRC and a facility in Chantilly. So we have partnered together from the inception. What we have to do is partner together even more advocating even in our different ways as we go to the to the general assembly with our leadership I think the CRC here in Prince William County was named in governor's budget and so that says a lot when we talk about how important Prince William County is the services that we need for our youth

[00:58:58] particularly and our adults and this was during the time the season when the institutions were shut down. So I think our foot is in the door in terms of advocacy, in terms of securing funding. It's just that we're at a tender spot. As you presented, Ms. Faulkman, even with a new CRC, increased demand could create bottlenecks. And so no one gets to determine when a person is going to have an episode. But what is determined is how we advocate. And so I think as an encouragement,

[00:59:33] And I just want to encourage the school board and we are in a very good place in terms of moving forward and addressing mental health because it has been swept under the rug for much too long. Prince William County is at the precipice at the pinnacle of making sure that it's not swept under the rug anymore.

[00:59:52] So I want you to be encouraged in that in terms of the language that we're talking about. It certainly has been shared already. There has been discussions, but we need to advocate and talk about it more. Thank you, Madam Chair. - Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:00:09] School board members, before I could see you right here, I know we've had a lot of conversations on this. We have shared experience around juveniles in crisis, so I see where you're, and frankly, that's one of the reasons why, as mentioned before, we talked about really investing that New Horizons program back in 2020, before a lot of this stuff began to fall.

[01:00:33] That's why we have the CRC advocacy. What's so tragic about this issue is there's so many different law gems and bottom lines. Because we talked about one of the big ones here, increased demand, but we haven't talked about the workforce struggles that we constantly see all around the country, let alone here in Virginia.

[01:00:56] We know that there's constantly conversations about we don't have enough mental health workers in the pipeline to really ramp up the way we all would want to. So I know we've been talking to our friends at the state. We'd love to see we have a conversation with the school division, how we can help you all maybe try to find more pathways to see folks, you know, take more interest earlier on in those fields so we can begin trying to address that.

[01:01:20] So that's one piece. The other one is, frankly, it took us some time to find the right partner. And Connections, as we mentioned, is out of Arizona, if I remember correctly. So we looked around the entire country to find the best partner. crisis now model that's a lot different than what's been done in Virginia before. So it's also bring something frankly from outside the region here and see how it's been able to go up all over time. So there's a lot of bottlenecks there.

[01:01:46] Again, I get the frustration I go that part of this piece and why we got here the way we did is because, to your point, for a long time there were regulations in place that prohibit the expansion of public beds. We know that. We know that there are post-enrichment that go back and forth on that all the time.

[01:02:03] and this is frankly one way we're able to sort of sidestep that entire piece when we know the demand is still there so we're looking forward as having more conversations knowing there's acuity especially among juveniles like you said we have other programs that we're trying to do and the last thing i'll just say is part of the beauty of the crc which will have the roof cutting tomorrow morning right and early is we were able to have a good enough building wrapping around with other services too so i used to go in there for a crisis then you're told to go some other part of the County. If you need, I'll have other needs and other services you need. It's co-located right there. So we're hoping that, to your point earlier, may not be curing them immediately, but at least get someone in a proper path and get some of the services they need alongside

[01:02:42] them instead of trying to send them somewhere else and be at the whims of, can they get there? Are the hours right? There'll be a soft handoff to those other agencies. All right. Supervisor Bailey, James. Thank you. One thing that just came to mind, Holly, as the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee in Baker. One of the conversations that was brought up on call last week with the executive of DHS was the fact that we need to look beyond mental health, how we can get the

[01:03:21] credentialing for more subject matter experts to assure that when we look at other places to address mental health, credentialing is later. So why am I saying that? I'm saying it to say it's on their minds and dvd adjust and demas so maybe may seem like we're far off but it is on their minds the part that we're struggling with right now but all right is there anyone else all right thank you so

[01:03:54] very much much manager and georgia bob and thank you station uh and so madam chair for the emergency management slides uh our report reference we do have the leader of our emergency management office here Brian Meissner and so if there are any questions about the evening certainly

[01:04:18] here's questions but really to have those for our agenda chair so I think to think that covers the objections of that all right and then I will turn it over to the school board with that thank you madam chair we truly appreciate the presentations this evening and regarding

[01:04:55] security and emergency management services we in the school division are very grateful for the work that we do with our police department our fire department all of our emergency services we are grateful many of the largest events take place every week our school events whether they're football games basketball games and they are the ones that are most highly attended and we truly appreciate all the work our security services across the county do by for our families and our student job we are very grateful Dr. McDade thank you so much Dr. Moutique at this time I'd like to

[01:05:32] to introduce our Supervisor of Planning and Capital Improvement Program, Fort Worth for U County Schools, Dr. Mack Cartridge. And then we also are joined by our Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Vernon Klock. They'll be presenting information on our enrollment numbers in PWCS.

[01:05:48] Thank you, Dr. Kate. First of all, we have a slide prepared that shows you the overall process throughout the calendar year, how we're continually responding to changes in date, updated projections, using those updated projections to make capital decisions, We tend to provide educational services for our students.

[01:06:17] Each September 30th, we count our students, evaluate the grade levels, and use it as our new baseline to inform 5-year projections for elementary, middle, and then 7-year projections for high school. Throughout this process, there is an end-to-end data pipeline that leverages cloud computing, automation and a variety of industry-leading best practices to provide our projections upon which the capital improvement program is built upon.

[01:06:53] At this time in the calendar year, it's a bit preemptive for us to have detailed conversations about new trends, new data, simply for the fact that the team is currently working on student enrollment projections using our new September 30th data as a baseline.

[01:07:11] What we can share is that the comprehensively designed model two years ago, again, has provided us accurate projections. The industry standard previously was about 1% projection error per year into the future.

[01:07:29] With the onset of the pandemic, changes that have come into education, that cone of variance surrounding the data projections for student enrollment has increased. sources are now saying it should be increased to two to three percent projection for every one year you go into the future. What we can share is with our preliminary data that our projection error was three-tenths of a percent this year. These slides are probably familiar to many of the folks here

[01:08:03] this evening. We share them with the planning commission and the ACS throughout the year, and what we can share with you are the salmon color boxes that indicate what has changed since is the last time we spoke. Overall for those views of this presentation we have been observing continual elements of population change for the most part these are tied to decreasing birth rates that are not endemic to that you see it's happening throughout the Commonwealth, throughout the nation,

[01:08:39] throughout the world. And the chart on the lower slide shows you historical birth rates for the county, they are on a network trajectory, and the most recent data that we've received from Virginia Department of Health show that there is a continued birth. This is really important to K-12 and all of them, as those births are tied to what is your kindergarten class five years of the future as those children age in place. With decreasing births, you then have typically smaller kindergarten cohorts, which then matriculate throughout your school

[01:09:17] division have a base that's much more constrained than their older grade levels. Another element of population change would be migration factor. Continually we are seeing continued domestic out migration from Crisland County, Northern Virginia, and many of these individuals are relocating to places where the cost of living is more affordable. We see that in the greater Richmond metro, Tidewater region, and not on this map, further south of

[01:09:50] Carolina is saying. As I was mentioning, when you have decreasing birds, you're really being reliant on migration to offset that. I've given the analogy before that you effectively can think of this as a bathtub with tap-on, and tap can be birds, it can also be a new residential development.

[01:10:20] Drain-open is your net migration out, people leading to the area. So it becomes increasingly difficult to project this because you have two opposing forces at play and you never really know is the tap going to outrun the drain or is the drain going to tap. Time will tell. That's our job to make data-driven predictions and share that with you. The graphic on the slide here shows effectively every grade level based on last year's data. And the takeaway is the lower grade levels are significantly smaller than our upper grade levels. And if

[01:10:56] If you hold everything else constant, just let these children progress and matriculate throughout the 12 grade levels, you're going to have increasing. One of the elements that we work closely in tandem with POC and our staff is tracking residential construction in the county.

[01:11:19] Every year, we reconcile our data tracking and staff planning for the county and use the development records that are in the pipeline to build out in our model so that those few future constructed units yield students and we build those into our projections.

[01:11:42] The graphic on the slide shows historical data to the left of the red line. And then the 2025 data was our projection of how many new housing units were we anticipating as of last September 30th. We projected just over 1140 new housing units.

[01:12:02] The actuals that we are seeing in the data this year are approximately 15 units, so within 300-ish housing units. And then we will use this as a new baseline.

[01:12:18] These new housing units project housing in the next five years. The trend that we're seeing in Prince William County schools is one prize of DBC students.

[01:12:35] Over the next five years, we are anticipating overall about 3,700 students. Year over year, since last year, it's been approximately about 1,000 students.

[01:12:53] When we look at the grade level or the school level, really, elementary, middle, or high, you can see that the purple line is our elementary. For the most part, we're projecting a decreasing trend at the elementary level. There's a slight bump in last year's projections in that 2029 year.

[01:13:11] That's a function of those birth data are the only birth data not observed. And by that, I mean the Virginia Department of Health does not release the most recent data that we need more of those five-year projections in the same timeline that we're actually doing the calculations so we partnered with county's to monitor birth to project births five years into the future that concludes our presentation thank you all right thank you so very much

[01:13:48] before i call on my colleague supervisor bode birth is a big issue in the county and a number of people mentioned schools they want to make sure that our schools have capacity when you're you're talking about following enrollment is that across the county are we seeing it in more areas in some areas more than others it's not being a formally distributed process there are pockets in the county number of students is and is projected to exceed capacity of our schools

[01:14:22] so our five-year CIP that is updated every year flex that and addresses strategies to ensure Alright, thank you very much.

[01:14:37] I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues, Professor Brody. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the presentation. I know we've had conversations around this before. Madam Chair, I appreciate the question because it piggybacks, it piggybacks go on to my question because I'm just going back to when we did redistricting back in 2021.

[01:14:56] And we saw that some areas of the county sort of shrank in population over time or at least remain second. Other ones had substantial growth. Other ones were somewhere in between. And I just feel like the land use patterns, the projects we approved, what have you, sort of ebb and flow.

[01:15:12] And so it's hard to tell overall how this feeds into what course of the county, going back to Madam Chair's point. Because, I mean, I don't want to speak for my colleagues in the diaspora, but we know for a long time, there wasn't a lot of big building. Well, then we approved the courts district. I know that my colleague who was here to my left always talked about how there needs to be more investment in district, and now she's doing that, so there's going to be more growth there.

[01:15:32] My district, too, we're approving these projects. So I'm just wondering how that flow is going to change over time, given that I appreciate you all also projecting this out based on our approved projects, but knowing that, frankly, growth is catalyst for more growth, and the more that folks are able to see that we're actually making investments, we're actually putting forth housing because we see it as a public need, that it might catalyze more folks coming to us, having more projections, more proposals, that's approving more housing that we don't need it.

[01:16:02] So I wanted to leave that. It's not really a question, but sort of a pooper thought. But my question is, how does your guys' projections jive with the Walden-Cooper Center? Because, you know, we've talked a lot about it in the past couple of weeks, how the Walden-Cooper Center recently put out their projections.

[01:16:17] And by 2050, Prince William County will have approximately 707,718 people. So, yes, in sort of the midterm next five years, seniors, we may see that plateau and dip. But in order for us to get from where we are right now to 200,000 more people, some of those have to be kids.

[01:16:38] Some of those have to be people having babies. Some of those people have to be people who are going to be enrolled in school, going an upward trend versus decreasing. I know that aging, people who are aging, contributes to that a little bit because they're sticking around longer and what have you. But some of those folks who are part of that population group have to be kids in our school system.

[01:16:54] So I want to leave that question with you. First of all, most the counties in the Commonwealth have had an increase in meat that's indicative of inflation.

[01:17:10] Second, a few years ago when this was first brought to your old's attention, there was a census estimate that showed PwC increased year-over-year population, while PwC has showed a decrease in K-12 involved.

[01:17:26] There is the opportunity for a correlation, but at least on that data point, it's indicative of the right. As far as how we align with Welding Cooper, when we redesigned our projection model two years ago, it was a stark change from what the previous trends and models have suggested were all this perpetual increase of 1,000 kids every year, and our projections were way up.

[01:17:53] So we redesigned it, and we came out in about October, November, with a very different narrative. Thousands of kids missed over the next five years. It wasn't until February, the following year, that Weldon Cooper came out with their projections, and it was very similar to ours.

[01:18:17] However, our model is far more sophisticated just because of the far extent we're focusing on counting. They're using a generalized approach for the entire Commonwealth. So we're able to pick up on nuances in the general world of Weldon Cooper.

[01:18:32] It's just to be out in their focus. And I appreciate that, because correlations don't mean causation. I appreciate it. I guess for us as policymakers, not that we have direct control over that, but we should, like I said last and we're all together, ask ourselves why that trend, those numbers are deviating, right?

[01:18:52] People aging in place, being people living more, that's a great thing. But frankly, if we're not creating the kind of opportunity where people feel like they can invest and have children, they can be financially stable enough to grow a family in this county, that's one of the questions we ask ourselves in the back of our head as we see it is.

[01:19:09] So I appreciate it. All right. Supervisor, I agree. Thank you, Dr. Jack. I don't want to say much. That's over. Evening. The word generalizing approach, I'm going to run with that for a sec, because I think what you all do in the school system, you can't base this off of generalizing approach.

[01:19:30] You've got to be pretty much caught on what you're doing. Thus, we don't build schools and let them sit for a year or two or three until population goes to enter them. I think that's such a great word because I want us to focus on, as you look at our CFPs, have buildings and projects in the pipeline that we're not using the approach so i wonder um and i know i i hope that we're utilizing what you're what you all are doing on a chani approach as we're looking at future buildings and development um to make sure we're kind of hitting those targets

[01:20:09] to what you're all doing and holding until such time that it matters to do something i just want as you said that it triggered how i see some projects develop and we kind of may look at rounding up a number where you all have to focus on rounding out and i want to like talk to you like the court situation working right now with superintendent and school board here on we we can set aside land for school development but the question becomes as we develop out what we're trying to do we will need that now because i think as future dictates what you will need we

[01:20:48] We can address those situations in, but what we're doing now, I want to make sure that the opportunity doesn't pass, except we're just seeing an opportunity with inflated numbers. So thank you for that. That was really triggering for me to see that. I'll say that, yes, we do mostly.

[01:21:06] Our county demographer is good.

[01:21:39] First, we moved into our community.

[01:22:12] There was only about 72 girls. She schooled at that time, and they went from elementary to middle to high school. And then, about 15 years later, there were no kids in that community, basically.

[01:22:33] The buses didn't even have to run because the kids were gone. Today, there are a bunch of kids back in that community. And how we project that and deal with that is another issue.

[01:22:49] But there is some form of 15, 20 years, people started to migrate back, started living. My neighbor down the street, his kids went to California and then just moved back here two months ago with two little kids.

[01:23:11] So it's really a projection of a good job, but it's very difficult to say what's going to be. Nobody wants to have a school like they do in some community where they have to close the school.

[01:23:27] but at the same time, we don't want to be like, we're over in Potomac Shores where they're building so fast. We can't keep up with it, and that's probably going to happen out in the West.

[01:23:44] So, you know, it's an amazing thing, but the projections are very difficult, and it has to do a good job. I don't know if it really happens. We have a good model, but I wouldn't count on it 10 years later.

[01:24:04] All right, thank you so very much. I'm going to go over to school board member Erica Dredenik, then I'll come back over here. Thank you, Mr. Jesse. You touched on some of the points that I wanted to bring up.

[01:24:23] You talked about the growth in different pockets and accounts. The layers right now, somebody's available. Did you have something?

[01:26:04] I did, but I'm so sorry. So the thing that I wanted to say also, all the points that remain, especially the redistricting, keeps coming up, so I think that's excellent.

[01:26:23] But the thing that I wanted to make note of is the conversations that we have with our school board members is critical. And I told Justin, I said, I teach a mom. I wash a lot.

[01:26:40] So I'm very proud of the relationship that we've shared in terms of me not getting in his lane. But collaborating with him as well as collaborating with the superintendent and her staff and understanding when I'm talking about land use, what does that mean, and understanding what is being projected.

[01:27:05] And so that type of collaboration when we talk about land use, when we talk about overcrowding, just an understanding of that. And I think we are just at the precipice of building more collaboration in that regard by utilizing our country and understanding what that means.

[01:27:25] Because in the past we weren't doing it, and I'm going to be very honest about that. We just weren't. So we're in a special place right now where that kind of collaboration, that kind of truth, that kind of, those kind of discussions got to be held, not just when we're having a joint full board or board kind of supervisors meeting.

[01:27:44] It has bowed very well for Justin and I, and it hasn't always been pleasant, but it's been true. And so as a result of that, the example, if you want an example, you can look at the Potomac Shores Elementary School.

[01:27:59] You've got trainers, too, I guess. You've got trainers, too. But I just want to offer that because I think we're making progress in that regard in our discussions. But the numbers and the data, it doesn't lie. I don't like that we're not having babies, but that's where we are.

[01:28:16] But that's just an example, and I just want to offer. All right, I'm super frozen. I'm sorry. I don't know if I'm going to vote in here, if I'm voting in school, or if I'm just a close. I agree with the collaboration part.

[01:28:31] I agree with the other investigations and how our work is operated. Anyways, but with that, you know, looking at these areas of growth, and you talked about what you already brought up, the Tomy Shores, you know, I think where we're seeing a lot of the growth, especially in Tomy Shores, kind of a little blip in an area otherwise that is seeing the lines of enrollment.

[01:29:05] And one thing I will say about that is land is scarce. It's not infinite. You can't just go anywhere and get that land. And so when we're doing these plans for residential development and stuff, I just want to make sure we're continuing the work all working as we have in the collaborative effort because, you know, as a community like Potomac Shorts keeps growing, my understanding from the last minute more land being purchased off Cherry Hill potentially for development.

[01:29:39] You know, I'm one that will be down the road. I think Potomac Shorts is probably the next Montclair and we'll have three elementary schools eventually attached to it. But with that comes, you know, the planning part. We have the school system looking at our CIP and using the scarcity of land and building up with the elementary school that you have this beautiful building.

[01:30:01] I know someone said it's a big, beautiful building. It's a big, beautiful building opening up in the fall of 27. Just, like I said, being mindful of the land and where we need this land. I know you mentioned about planning and land development and stuff like that.

[01:30:20] So again, when we're looking at the residential and the housing, making sure we have an area where we can build up, build a school, let us have the ability to do that building as they matriculate up the secondary.

[01:30:38] Thank you so very much. Supervisor Point. I'm sorry, School Board Grimper, Lauren Williams. Thank you. Sure. Just to put a little context in this room, really proud of our board and the work that we do, as someone who has sort of been, since I got on the board, concerned about land use in schools, even serving on a joint committee before most of the people at the table got here about land and land use.

[01:31:07] I think it's just important, A, to stop and be proud of the collaboration that we have now between our staff. The work that they've done in changing our model for protection is amazing. We are more and better situated now than we ever have been.

[01:31:25] Also, the continued collaboration with the county staff, getting that process up and going was challenging and I can absolutely attest to the fact that the open communication has been a benefit for all of us. I think what's important to remember is even though we are two separate entities, the work that we do affects one another, but there really is no magic solution that will solve everything right at one time because it's a complex problem. Potomac Shores is an example, Belmont Bay, how long have they said they were going to build? Sometimes they are, sometimes they not. Those are all factors that we have to consider. Where we stand now, we do have schools

[01:32:02] that are overcrowded but that's also a reflection of what's going on who's moving where how many kids have moved in sometimes we don't have any control over that um i'm just gonna keep picking on tone and short since it was brought up it's a good example in the sense that well i mean it's a good example right in the sense that we started building the open school people moved in there's continued growth right but at the same time the things that we i believe we are um should be more mind blows is reminding you that we do have a time here that we discuss this with the CIP like the school division has had a long-term plan for Potomac Shores area we followed our plan it's

[01:32:40] outside of our control if they start building tomorrow if there's in the construction phase there's a mystery discovery that we didn't know those things are also added factors that contribute to the situation that we're in right now I think it's important that we keep all of those things in mind because we do do a good job we don't have any control over millennials um having babies or not and there is a difference between the growth in the county houses versus how many individuals are actually going to be in our building um i just want to take a moment to add a little bit layer of history because this has been an ongoing thing and to just take a moment to say that we do

[01:33:16] work really collaboratively together i think we should continue to do that i think it would also be helpful to bring in uh members of the community like real estate agents when someone buys a house that they're even more clear of how our school division operates, where their students would be in school, things of that nature.

[01:33:33] I think that's often the missing link from our public, right, because we do the work. So I just wanted to take a minute and say I think we do a really good job. We should continue to grow and work collaboratively, but also it might be time to bring in other members of the community so that we all get a clearer picture when it comes to growth and students, how it really does affect our school population and also on the county side.

[01:33:57] Supervisor Franklin? Sure, yeah, I just wanted to say briefly, and it kind of ties into what Ms. Williams was saying. I think, actually, the school board has a very difficult job in trying to decide between these boundaries, right? For a little bit, we take for granted how contentious those discussions can be.

[01:34:18] We're just in a Potomac Shores meeting where we got several questions about boundaries, right? We don't have to deal with that so much until redistricting comes around, you all have to deal with that with regards to building new schools where to send a lot of those students so i just want to highlight and really thank you all for some of those more difficult discussions i know that the superintendent and i have had some conversations about some of the schools in the district and what the future of those schools look like and while you know those are some concerning discussions they're realistic that's the reality that we're in and i happen to

[01:34:57] think that some of this i saw kind of the stats on why we think they were declining um enrollment rates but i also think that some of this had to do with covid as well when our students were not in school and perhaps some of them did not come back to school and then we also had a cohort of students that graduated right consistently during covid um and so i just wanted to kind of point that out and thank the school system for the work that you all do all of you because it's very very difficult and you know when I get calls I just pass it right along to Lori and the superintendent but these are very very difficult decisions I think my

[01:35:36] colleagues can agree that when we're talking to constituents a lot of those questions are around the school system so just one thing all right thank you thank you madam chair and thank you oh yeah Does your board get an update on the trailer usage throughout the county, and if so, how often?

[01:36:02] You know, that's a great question. Do we get an update on the trailer usage? I mean, you know, every year we go through the same trailer usage. I know since I was on the board for the last seven years, our number of trailers have gone down or moved to different areas, but we still use them.

[01:36:19] You know, it's Brentsville District, Stonewall District, our districts where we have still goals. It has been a commitment by this board to try to reduce trailers over the last few years, and if possible, that's been able to do with bringing up new schools online.

[01:36:40] But as Ms. Trudetik pointed out, as we discussed redistricting, and I can bring that up in my final comments, but trailers are something that we're needing less of as the moment continues.

[01:36:57] So, starting to make a mistake, it's just very telling. We certainly do have schools to balance, you know, the only way to balance would be we do have schools that have underutilization, we have some schools that are overcrowding.

[01:37:36] It's a little bit more nuanced in that where the overcrowding is happening and where the underutilization is happening, it just depends. We could have a situation like... said where in her district you've got a school that is highly overutilized and then the other school that would get into that is not actually in the principal district it's in the games so it all just depends on where the school is it doesn't necessarily mean that it would have to be a whole county-wide because we've got pockets and those are things we talked about like where does the

[01:38:11] redistricting actually happen um you know which schools does it benefit or not benefit what i would say that you know to not have to have a situation where we have to close school that would be the first line that first on the defense or the first action that should be taken is if you have a school that is significantly underutilized the first thing you would want to do is look around at the surrounding schools if they are overutilized and that would be strategy um and what does that look like in terms of accessing it online

[01:38:47] in place to actually into these areas, actually implement redistricting, or is it just still in general? So, redistricting is a function of the board. What we do is bring forward the enrollment projections and show what the utilization is for every solution that the support receives the utilization report. Along with that comes the number of trailers annually and that policy is governed by the board. All right, Dr. Lateef? I was going to go over to Mr. Wilk and Mr.

[01:39:24] Jessica, because I thought you had to come, and now you're going to wait. All right, then I'll go to Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Jessica. I do want to add, despite the struggles with the trailers, we have collaboration, still that students can, much as we can, to make sure that other in Brownsville, that the site

[01:40:01] that are able to do the bathroom, we're doing as much as possible to mitigate, have that away from another school. I wanted to mention that, despite the struggle, we're as much as possible.

[01:40:20] Thank you. Mr. Jessica? With regard to trailers, the Occoquan District, probably 10 years, I can't remember how long, we had a lot of problems with trailers.

[01:40:37] And fortunately, three of our schools, we added additions to it, and that sort of eliminated. But that's not the case now. We're going back to starting to have trailers. Part of that is because of new buildings in the area.

[01:40:55] Part of that, I think also, Dr. McDade, correctly if I'm wrong, we now have an emphasis, we try to have pre-K in our schools, which means that an elementary school, in addition to the regular kindergarten, has a pre-K sometimes in there.

[01:41:16] So that's adding to the capacity of the school. But trailers are going back up, and buildings are going back up. So it is a problem. As far as redistricting, you have not lived until you have to redistrict school zones.

[01:41:39] That is one of the most challenging things that we have in the county, and it is a lot of fun. All right. Do we have anyone else that you want to say something, Dr. Lateef? Sure. You know, a couple things to just wrap up this.

[01:41:56] Number one, I think if you haven't seen the article that came out by realtor.com, the school division came out a few weeks ago. Prince William County, National Realtor Association said that we're in the top 30 counties that people Google online to check their school districts.

[01:42:14] They want to move here because of it. And so I want to thank you all because I should credit the entire Board of County Supervisors, Dr. McDade. The work you've all do has increased our reputation. Our rankings have increased dramatically over seven years. Teacher pay has increased.

[01:42:30] Student performance has improved. And so I look at things like that to drive people to move here, maybe to have more babies here. We need babies. If there's a headline in tomorrow's articles, it should say, we need babies, okay?

[01:42:47] We need them. It is important. I think it is critical. It is the taxpayer dollars, and we have to be responsible with them. And much of the work we do is not popular or easy to do.

[01:43:04] And the board has, you know, over the last seven years, done things to mitigate trailers. We've added classrooms, we've added schools, we've done some reboundering, we've done some innovative things, Brentsville, with new developments coming on that don't impact families, we actually moved those neighborhoods into schools that had less capacity prior to the construction.

[01:43:27] So we are looking and doing different things. We've changed the policies in our redistricting offices to be more nimble about the work we're doing the five-year strategic plan the CIP is used to be like a 10-year plan it's a five-year plan to be much more nimble but we do take this very seriously and there are some serious issues that this board has to deal with there are questions about do schools need to be built and where do they need to be built do we need to redistrict at a county level across high schools do we need to redistrict these are some questions that the public will raise anxiety over I mean let me be

[01:44:03] very clear, and it will not be popular to do many of these things. We have some high schools that are levels that are too low. We need to move students into those schools. We have, and Dr. McDade, I'll give you an example, who created an Eastern Creek Governor's Program at Freedom High School.

[01:44:23] That allowed us to add more students to Freedom High School, also make it more convenient for everyone on the East to not have to go to Osmore Park, which was the only governor's school. Her staff is looking need more programs like that to do that. Mr. Wilk is talking about bringing more programs in the schools like a veterinary science program. We are looking at those things to kind of create capacity. But Weldon Cooper said by 2030, the state of Virginia will lose 100,000 students, 60% of all students in the Commonwealth are in Northern Virginia, 7% of all students are in Prince William. We are taking a hit. There was an article the other day that Loudoun County has

[01:44:59] dropped to I want to say 83,000 students in this year's enrollment and they're going to be down to 81 next year or they're at 81 now they were just about a thousand students behind us I talked to their chair this morning and they are struggling and you would think that you know everybody wants to move to Loudoun County but you know it's expensive it is becoming very hard for young families to move into these counties and that's where we look to you to get more babies you know I mean, you know, I'm going to be honest, and so, but we do have serious issues that have to come up that the public will not be happy about us talking about.

[01:45:37] I can tell you, in our overcrowded schools, I get very little complaints or emails about someone not wanting to be in that school. Let me be very clear about that. You can FOIA my email box, and you will find that I have very few complaints from our families about our schools being that overcrowded.

[01:46:00] Because a lot of our folks who are in the overcrowded schools know that they might be the ones redistricted out of that school. I have schools that we have low capacity, and I have principals worried about fielding football teams, fielding a JV girls basketball team in our schools, while other schools have a JV girls basketball team.

[01:46:19] We have real problems that we have to be honest about. And that's where the Board of County Supervisors, and I've been very grateful over the last few years of your support, but if we are going to make some of these very difficult decisions, whether to build a school or not, whether to redistrict certain areas, these are going to make the public anxious, possibly angry.

[01:46:46] And so we have worked hard. Dr. McDade really came in, and I, you know, we're going to approach our, and here's where now I'll wrap up by inviting you all to participate in our new strategic planning program. We completed our first four-year strategic plan.

[01:47:03] Many of you contributed to that the last time. Tell us what you want. Look, if we have undercapacity, there are ideas of creating more pre-K programs. What about universal pre-K? I don't know. You know, that would be amazing. We have capacity now to maybe do that. have had the elementary program, we can do it. There are things we can do, but we need your support, your help, and there are going to be some things we have to do that are not going to be popular. But having a BOCS that's unified with us in addressing capacity issues, as Ms. Vega brings up and Mr. Angry brings up, these are real issues. And I do worry about these programs. We have

[01:47:41] great high schools. We have some of our high schools, the population has dropped so much, So these are historically strong high schools, strong athletic programs, strong academic programs that now are suffering a little bit because of low growth. So I want to fix that.

[01:47:56] I'm happy to entertain the public's desire to fix that. But I can tell you our public is generally extremely happy with the schools. Dr. McKay came in and made a commitment to make all of our schools better. Not just our good schools better, not our better schools better, but our all schools.

[01:48:15] And that has worked. And that's made folks, I will say, generally happier about our division, which is what leads to improved rankings, improved retention of great teachers and all of that stuff. So I thank you for supporting us. Thank you for that. Feel free to offline call us and tell us what you think. We're happy to do it. Thank you, Matt.

[01:48:35] You talk a lot about babies. What type of doctor are you in? I always thought you were, you know, on the wall. I get two eyes with each baby. It works out. Dr. McDade, I think you have your mic on. I just wanted to say that we will share the link to our survey for the Vision 2030 strategic plan.

[01:48:59] So if you would like to provide any input on the strategic plan, we'll make sure that the entire ULCS gets that link. And then just to put a piece of information that I think wasn't noted that is important to note in response to Supervisor Baker's question about the trailers and the pockets of overutilization and underutilization and just to put a finer point on the fact that we are losing enrollment while we are gaining in certain pockets just as much as you're seeing us putting trailers online we're also taking trailers offline significant at some schools so you look at a school like

[01:49:38] community reader like Hilton we've taken significant trailers offline even though you may see an increase in trailers in one area so if you see a lot of trailers in one area that's masking the fact that in other schools we've seen significant reduction in enrollment where we have to take trailers offline so it's kind of like a balance so I did want to make a that's an important note so that it doesn't appear that we're just adding more and more trailers because we are so are subtracting trailers in certain pockets all right thank you so much i just but i have to ask a question because you're mentioned

[01:50:15] unified you need the board behind you what is it that you need from the board when we when we yeah i mean look i mean if we're going to go down the road of redistricting certain areas as you've heard from my school board members those are not easy meeting um those are challenging meetings with the public and and rightfully so right like folks don't like to change so uh you know to credit the school board and dr mcdade we've tried to balance enrollment in the least painful ways we can. That is the first things we've done, you know. To a school board member

[01:50:49] Tridentix, real credit, there were a couple big projects coming out there where those land, those properties were going to, those homes were going to go to a very overcrowded, I think, Noxville school, but there's no current homes really, or maybe one or two homes in that area now. We decided to preemptively say, okay, we're going to redistrict that area before the houses get built to go to two elementary schools that are actually physically closer to that area but weren't zoned for that are actually underutilized. You know, if we do program capacity things like Mr. Jesse and Dr. McDade have talked about moving folks around to where we have building space, that

[01:51:29] helps. But, you know, some things are not going to be popular. And so we're trying to do it in the most leasable, least painful way for the public. The public doesn't like we will. You know, they buy a house in a certain area, expect to go to that school. So you're going to hear it from them when we start doing this, but there will be some painful points in the next few years. I promise. I appreciate that. Thank you so much very much. Um, I want to, oh, Supervisor Angry. I was only trying to be quick that we have our swing and keep the deal in the top front, so I didn't know if you were going to go around the room. For the board, I was just trying

[01:52:07] to be quick. I wasn't going to go around the board, but I was going to see if there were any last minute questions, so I really want to say I appreciate this presentation from both of the staff perspective. Yeah, okay. So I appreciate these presentations from the staff perspective, but I think the better part of this meeting is this conversation right here. So I just want to share with you, as Mr. Blake and I have been discussing, I didn't recognize and realize we have some trailer concerns in some of the schools in the outfield district

[01:52:39] Which is a concern, but other things that really are important that I really want us to work on as a board and school board and the board kind of supervises is, you know, the issues that we've been talking about, such things like this indoor sports complex, where I know it's very beneficial to the schools as much as it is to the county because of the opportunity for the sporting aspect, not just that, but the graduation aspect.

[01:53:05] And as you look at the fact that we spend a lot of money in Fairfax, I don't like to spend money in Fairfax, I'm happy that we can graduate there, but I would really love for us to bring all that back to the county, from gas, from hotels, from restaurants, from families being here to share the experience of our children graduating in the school system.

[01:53:24] So I think those are very important. I think that's a conversation we should be talking about. What does a public partnership look like? The school system, and I'm going to brag for you, is the largest employer in Princeton County. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, I believe you all say, but the fact that you have that big employer, I want to help you don't go that high.

[01:53:43] Okay. But the fact is, if you're a large employer, I think we can work together and do things that really benefit both sides of what we're doing. So, you know, we were discussing the issues of, you know, our children walking to school and really at some point we should have a real conversation about pedestrian bridges and really what that looks like and how much do we value a life over what that might cost.

[01:54:09] And I'll just say, you know, the last point that is a nugget for me is the whole public safety side of the conversation that we deal with on both sides of this house. And so when I look at how schools right now in the morning, which absolutely is a concern of mine, is there was a point where children rode the bus to school.

[01:54:33] But now all the schools in the morning have about a two hour window where you have so much parking or backup traffic of kids being dropped off the school. I kind of want to understand how we got there, and is there a way that we can work out of it? So one of the number one concerns I get as a district is traffic back up in schools, and many of them are in neighborhoods, and so that becomes the question.

[01:54:55] Now, I don't have an answer for it. I know you all don't either, but I just think that's a conversational district, anything we can do. I watch traffic cut off buses trying to get kids into the school. Like, I just, shouldn't the bus have the right-of-way? It's just these concerns for me. It's just something.

[01:55:12] And so I just want to bring up what I think we should kind of be discussing, at least not wanting. So, thank you. Not really, but I think I like the conversation. Turn your mics off if you're not speaking for a second, because you can't get hers on.

[01:55:29] Go ahead, Dr. McGee. No, I was asking you to smile. No, and honestly, I was sharing, I think, as I was sitting and listening, I've got a lot of insight to the relationship with us. So when we do this every year, I think there's some things that we can really kind of talk about and figure out next year if we're doing any better collectively together.

[01:55:52] So I just, you know, I want to share. I appreciate the presentations. I just think as I'm talking, I really accept some valuable time here to talk to Mr. Blake about some of the concerns and the things that I have, I can only succeed in the community as I'm getting the scholarships and stuff.

[01:56:12] all right hold on i so as dr matif said we can only have so many microphones on at once and i've written people down uh we're going to go to bode bailey and then i wanted to first thank uh school board member blake and stress are angry for for sort of their collaboration research talking about something i know that's near and dear art which is transportation right we talk about that all the time and i know that you all to the point of school have a really hard job of trying to navigate All those kids can be involved in a different places.

[01:56:43] Someone who had kids who were on a specialty bus that goes from Jenkins to Potomac High School last year. There's a whole lot of stuff that goes into that. So I wanted to commend you on working through that because I know it's not easy. On the other hand, though, we've had this conversation a little bit at the Joint Environmental Task Force, is how we can better partner on giving more transportation options to our school staff.

[01:57:05] We have Omni-ride buses go all around the county, And we don't really do a good job of figuring out where are those places where we can get more, you know, teachers, janitors, admin, those folks on our local free buses to help deal with some of that.

[01:57:21] We know that sometimes, you know, school staff may have mobility issues just like everyone else. They may have one car and someone has taken the car and they saw how do they get to school. We shouldn't have teachers having to take Uber to get to school to get to work. We shouldn't have to be in a situation where folks have to jump in their car to drive to a school that's nearby because the local bus can't take them there quickly.

[01:57:42] So I think there's something there that we haven't talked too much about in terms of how we do better about maybe the need of transportation for school staff. And I would love for us to partner on that. So that's one. Two. Walker, safe route to schools and things like that.

[01:57:57] I know that's been a long conversation. There's been ebbs and flows over the years. I know that for a little while we had some volunteers looking at gaps between not only schools and communities, but also public facilities like libraries and what have you. You know, as we talk about the trails and parks bond that we just sort of started talking about the board level, we have this comprehensive safety action plan that we approved and adopted earlier this year.

[01:58:21] I feel like there's still gaps in the pedestrian network to get folks, whether they're kids or staff, to schools through pedestrian and biking safely. So how do we more collaborate on that? And the last piece I'll say is looking back on some of the county's documents, some of the things that we do to inform our decisions.

[01:58:41] It's been 20-ish years since the county did a futures report. The last one expires on 2030. And what I looked back on is there was a lot of youth engagement on those last two iterations on the future report for the county. There are school children of all these that partook in that, you know, had ideas, had drawings, had all these things that they envisioned for the future.

[01:59:03] So to continue to talk about young families, children, how can we look more ahead to sort of how do we grow up over the next 30 years in the county, I think it's a real important conversation to have to see how we can collaborate more, to see how we can have more youth engagement on the county side in forming more documents as well.

[01:59:22] So it's less a question, but more sort of commentary. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Supervisor Bodey. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I've got five quick points, and I'll talk fast, not as fast as you can. But first of all, I just want to, the chairman of the school board mentioned about strategic planning, and I would love to be a part of that because you created a strategic plan when you first came on board, and you led us through that. You've accomplished a lot on the strategic plan with your staff and with the board.

[01:59:56] And so I think that's an excellent idea. We're doing the same, and so I think we can see some synergy there. The other thing I want to congratulate you on is highest starting salaries in Virginia. We weren't there when you came over.

[02:00:12] And so you value, just as the county has, the employees that work for you, and we value our teachers and the staff on the school board. We just thank them for hanging in there because teaching they need all of that. I can't do without the resource.

[02:00:27] Anyway, the other thing is graduation rates. It's important. It says that we're focused on our students and making sure that they can thrive and go out to the people they got to do. With that, the trades, I was in the cognitive, talked about how the trades were so important to where we are in society right now, where we are nationally.

[02:00:52] So that training piece is very critical, making sure that we're stimulating our kids and making sure people can eat, feel good about what they're doing in life, even if they don't have a degree. So that's very important.

[02:01:08] Then congratulations on the awards that you're getting. Every time we have one of these meetings, we're talking about the awards that you're getting. That's important. That's why people want to check and see, do I really want to move here? Because that says we're doing something right.

[02:01:25] thank you and i want to say to our school board members um you're the greatest because you really care about our kids even you know we do the same thing but we are not in agreement but you care about our kids and that allows us when we're funding or when we're supporting y'all what that means as we go forward in growing this county that's going to grow whether we want to or not but i just i just wanted to just highlight those things thank you madam chair for allowing me to do that because i think that we are on the right track as we go forward you know with our babies

[02:02:02] passing this baton to the next generation and a lot of times things get a little political but that doesn't matter if we keep our mind on what we're supposed to so thank you and the last person we had was i believe school board member williams chair johnson i just want to um thank everyone including the staff for taking the time to come here and and share information are playing to the public their job but everyone showed up and that's always nice i remember a time when i first got on the board that we met uh more than just once a year and i think that history has

[02:02:39] shown how well that we can work together for the benefit of everyone despite whatever political meanings or anything that is going on we're all here for the betterment of our community and i would like for all of us to really consider meeting more than once a year as we go through the unknown because we do work collaboratively together for the benefit of everyone and as we move into this time there's a lot of uncertainty and i hope that we can continue that relationship but also consider we might need to be more regularly just so we can continue to plan efficiently and proactively we should be proud our county is one of the only counties in northern

[02:03:17] virginia where you guys gave us additional funding where people had to give money back um we do have good working relationships problems get solved we work together i think that's the benefit to everyone and i would like to see us continue doing that and really consider meeting more regularly as everything in the shutdown goes on because it affects both of us um as entities so thank you everyone i appreciate the collaboration i think tonight is a good way to set the tone for that so everyone knows where we are and let's continue meeting so that we can move forward together all right thank you and i turn it over to dr latine thank you madam chair um thank you

[02:03:54] all for coming this evening thank you the staff for setting it up on both sides the ocs and the school board and dr mcday in order uh madam chair thank you i truly appreciate um our relationship as well and we know well i know we don't maybe meet as much but we do talk regularly and i really appreciate all this support for the school commission thank you very much all right i'm going to make this quick i appreciate again everyone who is here today and all the work and time that it took to set this meeting up i'm going to quickly say i did have a chance to go

[02:04:30] visit jimmy loop live earlier they want you guys they want more graduations you know i know i know hold on i see you we'll talk later i know that they have a different schedule but but we will talk because they've been at a point to talk about the pandemic how they helped 27 graduation whatever we'll talk um but with that strong schools are the backbone of our community it is what makes people want to live here raise a family but it's also what attracts more businesses that's why strong schools have been such an important priority for me with that i'd like to get a motion to

[02:05:04] adjourn second it let's go ahead everyone um say aye kind of prompted you on that one thank you very much meeting is adjourned

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