Coraggio Consulting
Prince William County School Board Work Session, Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia
Length: 1h 13m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0XjROWCxlo
Official School Board page (PWCS): https://www.pwcs.edu/about/school_board/

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 2026-11-04. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:00:01] Okay good evening everyone if everyone wants to grab their seats and start making their way to their tables. We will get started. Okay I don't know if I get too close to this thing does it I'm gonna stand and this is really good.

[00:00:19] This mic is really sensitive. Okay. All right I'd like to call this work session and final markup for the fiscal year 2024 budget to the Prince William County School Board to order. Notice of electronic participation pursuant to school board policy 139 school board member participation in the meetings by electronic communications school board member Diane Ralston may participate in this meeting through electronic means from her home due to a medical condition that prevents her physical attendance.

[00:00:44] If so the clerk will so note in the minutes of the meeting. Moving on to the approval of agenda. A motion is in order. Mrs. Wall. Chair Wall. Dr. Lateef. I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as recommended. Do I have a second. Chairman.

[00:01:00] Ms. Zargarpur seconds. Any discussion. - Okay, all those in favor, just signal with your hand, aye. All those opposed, no opposition, the motion passes. Thank you, we will begin tonight's work session and final markup with an opening remarks from our superintendent, Dr. McDade, followed by any updates from John Wallingford, followed by updates from John Wallingford, our chief financial officer.

[00:01:24] I will then share the ground rules for the markup and we'll begin, we'll open the meeting up to board members for discussion. Following tonight, the board will vote to approve the final budget for fiscal year 2024 next week's meeting on March 15th at this time I'll turn things over to Dr. McDade Dr. McDade.

[00:01:41] - Thank you so much Mr. Chairman good evening everyone. Can you hear me now? - Yep. - The budget and school division leadership work together to develop this budget which continues to support our four year strategic plan 2025 launching thriving futures.

[00:02:02] On February 1st our team submitted the fiscal year 23-24 proposed budget to the full school board. The school board then held a public meeting on the proposed budget on February 6th and a public hearing on February 15th. And tonight we will conduct a work session for the final markup of the fiscal year 24 budget.

[00:02:20] On March 15th, we'll be bringing forward the proposed budget to the school board for consideration for approval, as well as the capital improvements program, which will then be submitted to the board of county supervisors for their consideration later this spring. And as always, I just want to thank the board your partnership and all of the work that we've done collaboratively on this budget.

[00:02:42] Like last year, all of the work that we've done has been driven by our strategic plan. We made a commitment to all of our stakeholders that our priorities would drive our investments and we are staying true to that in this year's budget as well. We do have some previously communicated uncertainty in the state budget, so I do want to first start with some updates from Mr. Wallingford.

[00:03:04] share some additional information that we've received that'll inform our budget process moving forward because it will have implications beyond this evening so we have some updates there we also have some additions to present tonight from what was proposed earlier because as a part of our budget process as you all know the full board does evaluate and analyze the budget very carefully and I want to thank each of you for the extensive feedback that you provided on this budget in addition to recommendations that were made on ways that we can further align with the strategic plan and investments that to

[00:03:41] be considered for the proposed budget so you'll see a lot of that feedback in some additions tonight that we're bringing forward in direct response to some of the critical feedback that we've gotten from the board I know that it's been a lot of time and effort that you've spent on this process and we really appreciate the partnership that we have with you in making sure that we are not only being fiscally responsible but that we are committed to the vision of Prince William County and fulfilling our strategic plan so at this time I'm going to have John come forward and share some quick updates as well as share the

[00:04:17] additional investments that are being proposed for markup tonight based on feedback that we've gotten from the full board thank you dr. dr. McDade excuse me thank you dr. McDade dr. Lateef members of the board I'm going to provide thank you Jim I'm gonna provide you with a brief update some of this information you saw at at our last board meeting and then I'm gonna provide like dr. McDade

[00:04:51] mentioned just a couple of items for context so county revenues last week on the 28th the County Board of Supervisors got together and they their county executive proposed their budget for fiscal 24 and we learned a couple of things that we did not know. The first is they adjusted the revenue forecasts that we worked together on to the extent of impact of the schools of about $14.8 million. Like I said,

[00:05:27] that came out just this past week. And that is at a tax rate of $9.77. Okay, so that was proposed and will be advertised, those rates will be advertised this week in the local press.

[00:05:51] One thing of interest is the fact that the computer and peripheral tax was increased for the purpose of advertising their tax rates by 35 cents to 21.5. That generates for Prince William County Schools about $5.6 million dollars should that total amount be shared. It's about $280,000 per penny on that tax rate.

[00:06:17] And so the one thing I'd caution here is during the conversations the board had last week, they were reasonably clear that there is some expectation that because of that increase in computer and peripheral tax rate, that there is, I would say, a reasonably high likelihood that they're going to come down a penny on the real property tax rate, which will effectively negate that additional $5 million to us.

[00:06:47] So I wanted to share that with you because it's something they spoke about last week, but I think the likelihood that we see that money is reasonably low. The next line here is state revenues. We went through this last week, but I'll go through it again briefly.

[00:07:05] On the 25th of this past month, on February, the General Assembly, they adjourned Sonny Dye and passed what they're referring to as the skinny budget. And they're referring to it as the skinny budget because they really didn't address the issues that they went to conference with.

[00:07:25] As you're aware, the House produces amendments to the governor's introduced budget. The Senate produces amendments to the governor's introduced budget. That was introduced in December, I think, on the 16th. And the House and Senate, they'd go to conference, the conferees, they'd get together and they'd try to reconcile the differences between those two sets of amendments.

[00:07:48] Because they couldn't resolve their differences, they passed a budget that listed a couple of items that they felt necessary to get done and were still left wondering what the final product will be. So the point of this is that there's a high level of uncertainty this year, similar to the past couple of years.

[00:08:09] It's a situation where normally I'd be able to tell you what we thought the revenues were today. But right now we're uncertain. One or two other points about what's happened in Richmond over the past week or so. They did pass, like I said, a skinny budget.

[00:08:28] That did change the numbers somewhat. The detail to those numbers really haven't been released yet. Our expectation is that there are reductions. But we're not certain what those numbers are right now. be coming forward with those as soon as we receive detail from videoe now we have received the detail for fiscal 23 we haven't received the detail for fiscal 24 yet finally one last point on hold harmless and the math mistake that our friends at videoe made okay if you recall there was a 4.3

[00:09:04] million dollar error in fiscal 23 the current fiscal year there was a 10.7 million dollar error in the numbers that they provided us that we used to build the fiscal 24 budget a total error of roughly 15 million dollars okay we have not really been held harmless to those numbers we won't know the answer to that though with certainty until we get both the 23 and 24 numbers from videoe number one and number two until the conference get back together the general

[00:09:43] assembly has a special session and they actually resolve the budget and so we don't know that right now we will keep the board up to date as we proceed so what we will do is we'll present to you the proposed budget the numbers that you have seen for state and state federal and county revenues we will make that proposal if we don't learn what the real numbers are by the time we get to next week, March 15th. We'll move forward and adopt the budget based on the numbers we have. And then when

[00:10:19] we get full information, we'll come back to the board. And this is something we've done recently in the past couple of years. We'll come back to the board with updates to the budget based on the new numbers. So just a couple of items to kind of address some of the uncertainty. I want to provide a little context. Over the past five years, what you will have seen, what our employees have seen is a 5%, a 2.8%, a 5%, a 7%, and then a 5% raise for the years fiscal 20 through fiscal 24.

[00:10:59] That 5% raise is what is built into our budget currently. You're probably all aware that both the House amendments and Senate amendments proposed an additional 2% raise. That is an issue that we will address when we get the final numbers from the general excuse me the special session that will take place the bottom box there you see same period 20 through 24 our health insurance increases have been over the

[00:11:30] past five years 0% in 20 0 and 21 0 and 22 we had a 2% increase last year and we will have a 3% increase in 24 should that budget pass so to provide a little context to both the health insurance and the salary increase we periodically put together something like this to provide this context if there's a five percent raise this year on average and again i i want to stress the word average on average you would expect to see a little bit less

[00:12:09] than a five thousand dollar salary increase for teachers the proposed health insurance increase at three percent at three percent that insurance increase would be two hundred ninety one dollars annually so to make the again to provide context if we're going to have a five percent raise which is the numbers built into the proposed budget the health insurance increase if you take that into account and adjust the salary increase we're looking at a four point nine four percent salary

[00:12:47] increase after the adjustment for health insurance cost increase to the employee so again this is just to provide you context and this is for one group of employees it's not for the whole obviously for the whole employee base we have people on grades you know one all the way up to 21 22 and the impact to each person individually will be a little bit different last point i make here that 291 dollars intentionally taken is the most expensive cost increase an employee will see it's not average it's not what we would expect most folks to see

[00:13:23] but that is the most expensive cost increase for health insurance finally one last item before i turn it back to the board and to dr mcdade is i just wanted to review our debt sale numbers over the past five years and put the numbers up in front of you and there are two three points i'd like to make one is you can see that we've had we had reductions in two years of about 30 million dollars for each year okay you can see the debt sales those amounts 126 24 15

[00:13:57] the last two years 64 and 44 we thoughtfully reduced those amounts by 30 million dollars each okay and on the the rightmost column something called true interest rate interest or interest cost between 2.9% on the v18 and historic lows on the v20 and v21 at 1.4 at 1.6 we will see those rates climbing over the next year or two or

[00:14:31] three so again just to provide a little more context and finally here and dr. McDade I think we'll make some comments about this these are the additional items that dr. McDade is bringing to you at markup then I'll just walk through them quickly and list them off for you and then like said i think dr mcdade may want to go through make some comments the first item you see is unified sports that will cost about forty five thousand dollars bus cameras again this is a result of

[00:15:04] feedback we got from the board special education teacher stipend that is a thousand dollar stipend for special ed teachers that's an item that we're still working on some of the details on but an expected cost of about 1.2 million dollars coaching supplement study to take a look at the supplementary pay amounts we have that you can see in our budget manual one of the things we'll be doing is adding sixty thousand dollars to the budget to have a consultant come and take a look

[00:15:39] at those and provide us with some information towards making changes on those student activities participation fourteen thousand dollars that will go to schools on a needed basis non-traditional sports expansion uh five hundred and one thousand dollars for a variety of sports that are non-traditional they're not baseball they're not football those kinds of things and then finally you can see a ci coach contract change that's an item that we should have built

[00:16:14] into the budget we're adding it now it's a contract extension from 223 days to 250 days for our continuous improvement coaches that help guide our continuous improvement process dr. McDade just bringing forward that the this the process to come to these additional investments is based on areas where board members identified after thoroughly reviewing the budget additional opportunities to support areas that are areas that are need based

[00:16:50] on feedback in what we committed to not only in the strategic plan but feedback from you know constituents for example the unified sports is a huge successful program within the county and we're excited because we want more high schools to participate in that but you know financial resources have been somewhat of a barrier for some programs and so that was brought forward by board members and so we put an additional line item there I do want dr.

[00:17:23] Flanard to speak a little bit about the special education stipend that came from concerns that board members have about caseloads and documentation and planning for meetings etc and so dr. Flanard will kind of clarify what we're doing with the stipend there.

[00:17:42] Good evening and thank you. The proposal that is before the board this evening is for special education teachers that are really the case managers. So these are the people that really start the process from beginning to end. They would be in charge of the agendas and sending out the invitations and gathering all of the information making sure all the team members are present.

[00:18:02] So it's the bulk of the work that is the current proposal. And then an additional item where you see the student activities participation just to give a little bit context behind that we did have concerns from one of our board members around students being able to participate where financial resources are a barrier for them and where waivers can be submitted and increasing the level of division support for that so that's what that fourteen thousand dollars is for the non-traditional sports expansion this is something also in our strategic plan

[00:18:41] where we committed to expanding non-traditional sports so that we could have more student interest being addressed within the school division. A couple of things here, you'll see bowling, for example, which is a lot of interest there, and now all of our schools offer that. Crew is another where there's some needed supports for crew because it is a very expensive sport, especially for competition.

[00:19:04] And then one that I'm really excited about, e-sports, because the VHSL does now offer e-sports for state competition, and so we wanna bring that to the school division which is also some hefty costs there. So that's why you see this investment.

[00:19:22] We do believe that all of our students have different talents and interests and we don't want any student to not be able to participate because we're not offering something. So we're continuing to evaluate interest and expand our offerings. So I do wanna thank the board members that brought forward some of these concerns around taking advantage of the opportunity just to expand that this year.

[00:19:43] and then John did talk about the contract changes, but I wanted to just give a little bit of background context for why some of these investments are being brought forward.

[00:19:59] That concludes our presentation, Mr. Chairman. - Great, thank you, Dr. McDade and Mr. Wallingford. I think it's important to note that board members have had previously, and I think as Dr. McDade points out, you know, we meet every couple of weeks, but it's important for everyone to know that the board members work really hard in those times we're not meeting, And that includes meeting with constituents.

[00:20:21] And so, you know, how does the budget process work? Constituents meet with members. They, you know, whether it's community members, whether it's teachers, whether it's students, asking board members about concerns they have for budgets. And those board members convey those concerns throughout the year to Dr. McDade.

[00:20:37] Dr. McDade puts together the proposed budget each year based on what she hears, primarily as you all heard from the strategic plan, but then also from what she hears from board members. We look at the proposed budget and we give feedback to the superintendent. She's presented some changes here.

[00:20:55] And so we really appreciate it. But I do wanna thank the board for working really hard throughout the year on this work that goes into getting the information from the constituents, your constituents, the members of the community, the people in the school divisions to the superintendent and any ideas you may have that you may believe will benefit the system.

[00:21:17] So I do appreciate all of the hard work each of the board members have done as we put this together. It's not it's not easy. So at this point you know thank you for sharing those additions and revisions. We're going to start by going around the table. Each board member can have some opening comments and then after that we will follow a process where board members will offer proposed changes that that might not have been previously shared.

[00:21:43] And if if if there is a change change must be moved and seconded, followed by discussion and a vote. No board member may speak twice about a budget change unless and until all board members have spoken once about it. After all board member, after all board's comment, after all board members comment is complete, the matter will be called for a vote by the chair.

[00:22:00] So these are the ground rules we normally use every year. A change will be offered and voted on at that time. Should there be any changes, they will be compiled and a final vote on the budget will, all changes incorporated will be taken. Likewise, should there be no changes to the proposed budget, a final vote will be taken to accept the budget as presented.

[00:22:17] Board members are not so bound, but otherwise pledged each other not to offer amendments to the budget in open session as being duplicative of the work session's efforts, allowing for straight up or down vote on the budget that is reflected in the final vote of the work session. Board members may make any comments or discuss changes offered in the work session in open session.

[00:22:37] So, okay, we'll start with opening comments. Why don't we start, who would like to go first? You want me to go in a circle and anybody want to volunteer okay mr. Wilk hello thank you thank you mr.

[00:22:54] chairman thank you dr. McDade thank you mr. Wallingford and staff for compiling this comprehensive budget as comprehensive as it is I think it's fairly succinct I think as we've discussed a lot of the funding that we have available is filling gaps for federal funds that are no longer available to fund things like our elementary security assistance or the additional resources that we have there or our community liaisons at our schools these are things that when I go out and visit my schools and speak to like my principals these are definitely things that they feel have had a positive

[00:23:33] overall impact in their building so I'm happy that we are able to fund those areas and keep those in our schools rather than pulling out a bunch of positions, uh, and taking away a bunch of people's jobs. Um, those are big. Um, you know, I also think, you know, I know we talked today and one of the growing sports and popularity is the crew.

[00:23:54] Uh, there's seven active programs in our high schools. Um, and, and just full disclaimer, we have no jurisdiction over the lake in the boathouse. I know people would love us to build a brand new boathouse and stuff. That is not our purview. Um, but one thing we can do is I'm happy WE WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE THOSE ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDS FOR THOSE NON-TRADITIONAL SPORTS.

[00:24:14] I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT. I'M ALSO HAPPY TO SEE, YOU KNOW, AS A PARENT OF A SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD, I'M HAPPY TO SEE THE ADDITIONAL STIPEND FOR THOSE. SOME AREAS IN PREVIOUS YEARS I MIGHT HAVE JUST THROWN OUT A MOTION AND SAID I WANT THIS, I WANT THAT.

[00:24:31] I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT. BUT ONE THING I DO WANT THE BOARD TO THINK ABOUT IS, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LIKE our CIP one area of concern I brought up before is the equitable resources that are in Dumfries Elementary I understand we have a renewal process in our CIP I can't go back and fix what happened ten plus years ago I was not on the board but what I'm hoping is we can look and investigate how much money did go into that process what are things that were possibly left off at that time because I'm concerned about just the sheer size of things like their cafeteria their their gym they don't have a loading space so all their supplies are literally

[00:25:09] in part of their gym so I would be remiss if I didn't mention those concerns and I know we've talked about that but you know that is something you know another area I often you know another area I'm kind of also looking at is making sure our schools that are just on the border of being title one but not they still have those coaches and resources and I know these are goals of ours I'm just vocalizing things so that's an area I've talked to a couple of my principals who are near the bubble but they're not there and there's concern that potentially they might you know like lose a reading coach but they're just close enough where they almost have those numbers to get all those

[00:25:47] resources that you know the funds from the federal government does does help fill with title one schools so that's another one you know the I know another area I brought up is you know I know we we have been compensating our people who are people who have to stay for bus duty and that and I know this year we didn't pay the first three weeks just because we were trying to figure out a motion and process.

[00:26:11] I just hope you know next year that we're prepared if teachers have to cover shifts the first three weeks or something that we are able to compensate them for that time. And so and then like I said as we're talking about additional funding that may or may come I think Mr.

[00:26:27] Wallingford said it best to possibly look at putting it more into our teachers to increase that 5% to a higher number so that's my those are my opening statements thank you thank you mr. Wilk miss Jessie first of all I want to thank you for the process I think this has changed tremendously under your leadership dr. McDade and I really appreciate the fact that you give us a form and we put our input into that form and that you're responsive and I

[00:27:05] also appreciate although it doesn't seem like a lot when you make a phone call and say did you you know we're let's go for what you your wishes were because that personal call really means a lot to me you know in the budget I want to thank you for also for addressing my concern about science labs in these schools at a lack of equity I know that there is a study I asked for a study and that's in there. So Vern, I guess you'll be doing that. I'd like to have a date on that if you could

[00:27:42] down the road. I'd like to have that. As I've talked to teachers and principals and people outside of my area, the biggest concern is not a budget item. It's just that people are stressed. The testing is overwhelming and I requested data rates and I understand that you cannot provide data rates as a principal when I felt stressed in the building sometimes I would send a floating sub into a classroom and give people a rest. I don't know what you can do along those lines. Perhaps principals can

[00:28:20] consider it in their their budgets but I think that there's an extensive amount of testing especially at the elementary level where you are a generalist and you're teaching language arts, math, social studies, science.

[00:28:37] You have to test all of those areas. You have the new tests coming from the state and of course we have our own tests, but you know my feeling is one test is too much if it doesn't guide instruction. So I think we're maybe in a test and send mode. It's not a budget item, but it is something that I think on a local level I'd like to see the principals really to consider that celebration of teachers I you know I asked for a mental health day when I was in Chicago State Hospital I wasn't in

[00:29:14] there by the way but I worked there although my husband did pick me up there but one of the things that they did because we were in a stressful situation they had a one day where you could just take a mental health day you called in and say I need a day off and I know you can't afford it but I think somewhere we need to look at celebrations of teachers and maybe quarterly I don't know I don't want to get into a specific but my sense is that there is a great deal of stress out there and of

[00:29:51] course it's not in the budget I'm not asking for it tonight but I think we need to think about retaining our teachers I don't know I saw some counties are given a retention bonus of some kind but we need to find some way of retaining teachers I don't know we have a at this point we should have some indication of whether or not we're going to be losing teachers but I don't think we can afford to lose any good teacher we can afford to lose ones that are not working but we cannot afford to lose any good teacher and I think something along that line for you guys to really think about and I appreciate the process and that ends my opening

[00:30:28] comments thank you thank you miss Jessie miss Williams thank you dr. Lateef I want to echo the comment some of the comments made by miss Jessie and mr.

[00:30:45] Wilk I do appreciate the budget and the process this is year two for us on this new process and it seems just want to remind people that you know with this new administration we are still streamlining things and continuously working to improve this for all stakeholders and I really appreciate the time and effort and energy that has gone into this years prior it was sort of like a dogfight and now it's collaborative and I'm sure our staff also appreciates not having to come up and testify for their existence as they had to do in previous years so already I think we're leaps and bounds ahead I do

[00:31:22] share some of the same concern Mr. Wilkes has for some of our older school buildings but I understand that that is an intensive process and oftentimes it's It's about building codes and things that are sort of outside of our control. So I want the public to just be aware that it's not a matter of just adding on a wing or expanding a gym.

[00:31:40] Sometimes you really can't because there are rules and regulations that would prevent that from occurring. It's not that the division doesn't want to. But I do agree with Mr. Wilk that those are things that we should continue to look at. I am very impressed with the new plan to reevaluate how we view schools.

[00:31:57] And I'm excited to hear the results from that when they come down the pike. As far as some of the updates and additions from our concerns being addressed I really truly appreciate us giving a nod to some of the non-traditional sports. I know bowling has been very big in our school division and there's millions of dollars of scholarships for that sport.

[00:32:18] I've been invited to a few so I can attest to how impactful that is as well as crew but especially for me esports. I've been hounding that alarm for several years because I know several young men who who participate in esports and actually compete and have won money competing outside of the school division.

[00:32:35] So I know a lot of parents around my age are like get off your PlayStation or get off your whatever but there's serious money to be made for a lot of those students and I hope that we can build a relationship further with George Mason and maybe come to some sort of collaborative relationship as they have a gaming center right near our Governor's School Innovation Park.

[00:32:55] So I know that that's something that a lot of our e-sports students would appreciate. I also really appreciate the dedication to funding for police at our events. Some schools end up paying a higher cost than others. So continuing to follow our lens of equity I think it's going to be very impactful to our base school budgets.

[00:33:13] In addition to that one of the things that I well two things that I did not see but I'm going to petition for next year and that try to try to keep at everyone's forefront is dedicated spaces in our buildings for music and arts and gifted.

[00:33:28] we still have some teachers on wheels through no part of our own but we've been under a lot of transition the past couple of years trying to figure out how to use space, where to put students, how the shift from traditional textbooks and moving to laptops for everyone.

[00:33:44] So as we go through and review our CIP annually I think that that might be something that we could take another look at. I know there was discussion a while ago about having to keep some computer rooms because the state mandates that you test for certain tests in our buildings at computers, I guess hardwired, I'm not sure of the intricacy of that, but if it is possible to have students test at their desk or other spaces and we can utilize that particular space in another way, I hope that we can look at that down the pike.

[00:34:13] And then the last thing that I want to advocate for, not in this budget, but to start the conversation as I mentioned previously, is to look at a dedicated space for our robotics students to practice. We did bring home more awards than we had ever last year for Prince William County with robotics.

[00:34:30] I know we're in the process of doing that now. Teams are on their way to worlds. And that is something that I've heard not only from our students, but actually in the community as a program that's worthwhile for them. And they continue to utilize those skills in their professional career. Just a short little example, my son's dental assistant, and my son is terrified of the dentist, but turns out the dental assistant was a robotics student in Prince William County.

[00:34:53] So now I have a child who's less terrified of going to the dentist. You never know where it comes in handy, but just those conversations and saying how problem solving and critical thinking skills that he learned in that program help him now in his career, even though it's not in robotics.

[00:35:09] So I know that there's extra value to that and the popularity for those programs increase year over year. And some schools just don't have the space. And I can only imagine how far our teams could go if they had a dedicated space. So what that looks like, I don't know, but I think as we go for the future that would be something worth considering.

[00:35:27] And the last thing I just want to say to the division is to congratulate on really putting effort to put parent liaisons in our schools. They have just been instrumental. I've had a few in mind but now that we are going to have them everywhere they really are that key connection between the community and our schools that often they're the first line of defense that parents come see in our schools.

[00:35:52] sometimes they help with language translation different programming for us as a board. I know a lot of the people who individuals in buildings who take up some of the admin work of letting us know when events are that falls on the parent liaison. It frees our administrative staff to do other things that they really need to be doing.

[00:36:09] So I just want to say that how much I appreciate that. And with that out that's my opening statement and my final statement so thank you. Thank you Miss Williams Miss Zargarpur.

[00:36:26] There we go it's on. Thank you Dr. Lateef. Thank you, Dr. McDade and the staff who worked so hard on preparing the budget and board members who we do work collaboratively. It's, you know, my first year on this board, it was sort of like, it was a little overwhelming 'cause I felt like there was just sort of this yee-haw kind of attitude to it and it's so much more organized and it's getting better each time.

[00:36:54] Well, it was, sorry, Adele, she's gonna. I think I just wanna make a point the budget can be a great tool to make changes in the in the system and one of the changes we're going to eventually need to make and talk about is a way to find planning time for teachers it's a big deal no one will ever say they have enough because there's never enough but a couple thoughts I had I know we're not doing it this year but and and you have to build this you can't just say boom next year everybody's getting XYZ but one of the the thoughts that has come up up that teachers and some administrators seem to like at least an elementary

[00:37:32] school is a one way you could give teachers time is getting kids into another rotation of an encore right one of those on course could be stem steam whatever you want to call it or alternatively some schools have a math science person who support the the classroom teachers so you could either have someone who's helping to either co-teach or plan or takes the kids for extra time and gets the rotation of something else in this in out of their days but like I said that's I mean I'm just gonna pretend we have what 50 elementary schools and we need one person in each building that's what mr.

[00:38:07] welling for what five million dollars right there you told me six I was close right yeah so it's it's a big lift right and you have to have the personnel so I I would like to see us building a plan toward it's benefiting our kids and our teachers by doing something like that if you didn't tune in last week I did mentioned it's music in our schools month, ESSA, which is Every School Succeeds Act, which was passed under, I believe, Obama's administration, counts music as a core subject.

[00:38:36] So it's a core subject, it's offered during the day, and every child, at least in elementary school and middle school, takes it up to seventh grade. Over this year, I've heard from some of the music teachers that there's not enough instruments, which is a good problem to have.

[00:38:52] don't want to have a kid lugging a string bass or maybe even a cello back and forth so you need extra instruments right some instruments we need to be able to have students borrow or rent out at a low cost to families and there's not a big supply of them it depends on whether the school already has them I know I had some laying around my house I donated them to some of our schools because I'm not playing trumpet anymore so so we need a I think we need to look at that as an instructional program because it is it's a core subject according to ESSA it's offered during the day which means all of our kids at least up through seventh grade have opportunity to take this and we've

[00:39:29] been talking about how to expand robotics and crew and and e-sports and all these other things which are great but this one everyone gets to participate in for a little bit more over half of their educational career so that's something for the future to think about I think I think that's just my future my future tense I just wanted to get that out there the rest of this for the people who don't you know sit in our spaces all the time that the budgets big right but it but any one of us doesn't know all the things it requires a lot of conversations a lot of back and forth I say the budget season starts as soon as this one's approved the next one starts so keep that in mind as you're making

[00:40:06] your requests making them today is a really kind of hard time to do it so let's be forward-thinking thank you for all of the work you guys have done and the collaborative efforts from the board Thank You Mrs. Argarpur Ms. Jackson

[00:40:22] Thank you Dr. Lateef I would agree with Ms. Zargarpur that the budget season doesn't seem to start today because a lot of the board members are advocating for things for the next budget and also it starts the summer before because I know that and I appreciate this that we met during the summer and started the collaborative budget process then the budget is something that you have to advocate for consistently and directly it's an ongoing intensive process the last months and I'm just really thankful to those who help curate those who listen those who answer questions especially I know I had a lot

[00:41:00] of questions so thank you and those who drafted this budget I'm also very grateful to those who came to the budget hearings before today their constituents and the expertise experience financial stewardship and commitment to the strategic plan especially during a time when the budget has not been finalized by Richmond as we get 50% from our funding from the state so thank you mr. Wallenford and dr. McDade to your whole team I really appreciate it I'm really looking forward to the conversations tonight and I also support that a lot of the advocacy that my previous board members I've mentioned

[00:41:36] including like you know of course raising funding and always being conscious about ways to retain teachers and increase salary and I do have concerns about enrollment and funding that maybe like offline we could just talk about the impact and like low enrollment and the bubble schools that Mr. Wilk mentioned and the budgets and losing teachers and I think it's like a larger conversation. I'm really thankful for the collaborative effort to the additions that were mentioned today especially during a time during budget uncertainty. I feel that a lot of good change was added and especially excited

[00:42:15] about you know the the unified sports the cameras pilot and the stipends for especially teachers and there were some other great things and I'm just I'm thankful for the collaboration and conversation and I'm looking forward to further conversation tonight.

[00:42:31] Thank you Ms. Jackson. Ms. Wall. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I want to thank I'll start off by thanking staff for all of the hard work that went into the preparation of this budget. I can't begin to understand all of the many hours and levels of work that go into the development of this budget but I do really appreciate the final product and it looks it looks good.

[00:42:57] Dr. McDade I know your staff has spent many long months in fact you probably are already starting on next year's budget and so I just wish to thank everybody and I understand the uncertainty with on the state level makes this very difficult because we put out a budget but then we don't have the final amounts we don't know for sure if we're going to be under or over and I know that uncertainty creates a lot of extra work for everybody so I just want to acknowledge that and appreciate that I also want to say that I hope that the state revenues come through for us I know there's other there are other

[00:43:35] commitments that we have that because we did this through a priority process so certain things made it into this budget and there are other things that still exist that are priorities but maybe didn't quite get into this budget so perhaps we'll be able to maybe do some of those things I know it's a very tight year especially with uncertainty in markets costs of materials and goods and labor so that affects our CIP which we're also going to be voting on but I did want to mention very quickly in my opening statements I appreciate the additional items that are in direct response to board advocacy as I look at the list I can see you know different things that I've heard board members

[00:44:13] talk about with me over the course of the year I can see things on there that I've talked with other board members about things that concerns have been raised to me that we've talked about and then maybe I didn't remember to put into the request but they showed up in the request so I do appreciate all of those conversations that we've had over the many months just listening to each other bouncing ideas back and forth because I think as I look at that list I think it looks good I want to highlight just a few I am pleased to see an increased funding for unified sports my experience with unified sports has been very

[00:44:50] positive I feel like it is very it brings students together it helps students feel like they belong and it's extremely positive for the social and emotional and empathy building opportunities that provide so I'm really pleased to see that I am also pleased about the evaluation for coaches stipends in my experience there's so much variability from school to school sport to sport club to extracurriculars I know from robotics alone there's so much variability and some of those positions it's really difficult to find somebody who's willing to who has the skills who's willing to put in the extra

[00:45:26] time so I think but but the kids benefit so much from those extracurriculars whether it be sports or more academic like Odyssey of the mind or something like that so I appreciate the additional resources it's not a it's not a big amount in a 1.7 billion budget it's really not that much but it does make a difference so I'm keeping in mind like I said it's a 1.7 billion dollar budget it's a huge amount of money I think we should always keep in mind that this money is from tax revenues from hard-working people they expect us to use it wisely and to invest it where we see our greatest needs are in order to

[00:46:03] really build up a really strong public school system because we all benefit in the next generation matters to all of us and that's our responsibility so I I feel like understanding, you know, in the budget process as we look for things that we should continue, as we look for things that maybe we've been doing and maybe we shouldn't be doing anymore, maybe they've lived their usefulness, or other things that we are not doing that we should fund, that we realize, well, best practices would require that we add this program or we add this funding or something like that, as our needs also change because our population is changing.

[00:46:41] anyway those are that's the extent of my opening comments I appreciate again everybody's work hard work on this budget and I look forward to the rest of the evening miss wall thank you so much John for my opening remarks just if you can go back to the slides after the ones where you talk about the this is the salary raises and and while you're doing that I want to thank our budget director Kathleen Addison our finance director Shaquille Youssef and our supervisor budget Natasha Valencia and John the rest of John's team for all the hard work they've done all the work that goes into putting this budget

[00:47:20] together and in the harder work that's going to happen between now and the General Assembly's final decisions and the work that we need to do to finalize this as we also present it to the Board of County Supervisors so just to just to recap some of the things that I think everyone should remember is you know if we go back it was it was there one slide before this one you don't mind John on right there.

[00:47:43] So if you take a look over the last years of the school board's efforts, we have committed significantly to catching up for salaries with our region regional competition. These increases have worked to our benefit.

[00:48:00] We continue to, as far as retention and recruitment, you know, our goals were to improve recruitment, improve retention, you know, the hardcore aspects of being able to do that is by adjusting salaries and these salary adjustments over the course of the last four years and even the years before that, there was a 5% raise in 2019 and 2018, so 2019 for sure.

[00:48:22] So those have helped us in our retainment percentages. I think Donna and Dr. McTave mentioned two meetings ago that we were better than the state average and better than the national average for our ability to retain teachers. And so we're working really hard at that.

[00:48:39] I'm very excited about the 0%, you know, the changes in healthcare premiums were zero for three years in a row. We've had some minor adjustments in those over the last couple of years 'cause inflation has been really out of control. And I think, you know, I give a lot of kudos to our HR team, the HR team over at the county, we do self-insure.

[00:48:57] And this has been, these numbers, 00023 are because of good fiscal responsibility in this program where our County and our HR team and our HR team, you know, we make up the larger portion of the healthcare benefits of the County employees.

[00:49:16] And so that work is really kudos to all of them for that amazing work. These are tremendous numbers and you don't see these kinds of numbers in every organization. If you go to the next slide, John, thank you. The importance of, you know, we have a triple A bond rating from all the rating agencies.

[00:49:36] I think we're a triple-triple, right? Is that right? One of 56 municipalities in the nation to have that. That's on average one per state or territory, right? So we are one of those. And that comes with having great fiscal responsibility, doing your self-insurance plan, giving raises at the same time, not increasing debt.

[00:49:56] So if you take a look here at this raise for this year, again, on average for teachers and folks, John has put up there, you know, about a $4,900, $5,000 raise. The healthcare premium's going up about $291 on the high end.

[00:50:12] And so you're still looking at about a 4.94% raise, which is really good. And as Mr. Wallingford and Dr. McDade have pointed out, that might not be the end of it. We might be able to get to a 7% raise. And that's depending on whether the Senate side of the budget passes and the governor signs that, if that happens, which it's probably a better chance not not happening that that that we do get some of that so we'll see and so we do believe it'll be somewhere between five and seven that I think we can get to and that'll be even better for our all of our employees next slide John in you know again when we talk about the AAA this is really important for

[00:50:51] everyone to see our borrowing so that budget amount is what we said we'd plan to borrow the actual debt amounts what we actually did borrow in each of these last five years it's been less than what we budgeted because we really worked hard in our CIP and we never sacrificed projects in the CIP it should be very clear to everyone that no projects were ever cut we were able to save money but in our CIP work session this year and not to bring up some of the bad news but there will be increases to the CIP just because of inflation inflation is really hurting construction it's it's really uncertain how much that's gonna be that

[00:51:28] fluctuates even on a daily and a weekly basis so all these years of savings in our borrowing off of the average we used to borrow prior to to to the 2020 or 2019 what you have up there we were borrowing about a hundred between 110 and 120 million a year we've significantly dropped that but we may go back up to those numbers and maybe shoot past some of those and at a higher interest rate so those are the things we're watching at watching for but those again the triple the bonding agencies the rating agencies take a look at that and say wow Prince William County Schools which makes up the biggest part of the county budget has done a great job with that.

[00:52:05] And so you know again I want to recognize our finance team Dr. McDade's team they have won award after award each year for good budgeting good fiscal responsibility. You know just to wrap up my opening comments again I want to thank the board for all their work with their constituents and working with Dr. McDade on the things that they'd like to see in the budget.

[00:52:24] I'd like to echo a number of things. You know, I would love for every principal to be able to hire all the coaches they need and all the teachers and staff they need. And that is the work we are continuing to do. We are doing that much better in these last four years than we ever did in the years prior to that. We will continue to do that.

[00:52:40] We will look for dollars wherever we can find them and get them into the classroom. This budget does that. And I'm very proud to support this budget. Like I said, our retention continues to improve. We're gonna keep working on that. The adjustments to the budget, Dr. McDade, I echo the sentiments on the unified sports.

[00:53:00] I think my favorite tweets in the entire division are when our unified teams are tweeting about the work they're doing. I mean, I don't think there's a tweet, if you're not following our unified sports in the schools, please follow them, share them. They are some of the best, you will smile every time.

[00:53:17] If you get an opportunity to go to some of those events, they are fantastic. I would, you know, short of mandating it for every school to participate, this is a good step towards getting there. And I think any investment in extracurricular activities is some of our best return on investment in the school division.

[00:53:35] So I applaud the stipend study for, and I would ask, and I don't necessarily think we need to vote on it, but if Dr. McDade, if you could consider as part of that study, as you look at coaching stipends, but other stipends for extracurricular things. So whether it's robotics coaches or-- - Yeah, that's included. - It's chess teams, yeah.

[00:53:52] - It's included. - Okay, that's great. - It's all, looking at all the studies, all stipends. - That would be fantastic because if we can make some headway on that and get some of our schools who aren't doing that as much to do more of that, and if it takes dollars, we should do that. I mean, I really do believe that, and I can't thank you enough for that.

[00:54:10] Everyone should remember the vast majority of our budget, the vast majority goes to salary and benefits. We have very little to play around with on a given year. So while Jen Wall, Vice Chair, mentions that it's a big budget, it really is a massive budget.

[00:54:27] But most of it, 92, 93% of it goes to salaries and benefits. We don't have any say on that. We can't choose not to spend that or spend it a different way. Those are set in stone. And so the work we're doing is really on that 7, 8, 9, 10% of that budget.

[00:54:44] And we're going to continue to fight for every dollar, whether it's with the state. Our lobbying teams are down there working. If the Senate side of the budget fully passes, we'll be looking at support caps and we'll be able to do other things. So I'll just put out here, while I know everyone's talking about next year's budget, I'm the one who always says, well, if we do get more money this year, you know, there are wish lists and the board will look at spending those extra monies.

[00:55:08] If the Senate side passes, that'll be support caps being lifted. If support caps being lifted, it means we can hire more counselors. We can get to that 250 to one ratio. We can hire more of the instructional coaches we need math, science, reading, and in our special ed, you know, we can, all of those things, by the way, all of these things I'm saying are in our strategic plan, nothing I'm asking for is over and above or outside of the strategic plan effort.

[00:55:29] So those are great things, and then more money into extracurriculars as well. So that's all I have to say. Again, I wanna thank everyone who's, you know, done the hard work. At this point, we will now move around. If members have amendments or motions they'd like to mark, up tonight we'll start with Mr. Wilk.

[00:55:55] Thank you Mr. Chairman I'm going to make the motion to remove the board salary increase for the fiscal year 20. Do you have a second for that. Mr. Chairman I second. Any discussion. Ms. Williams.

[00:56:13] Thank you I just want the board members to know that the last salary increase that we had I think was the first in a decade for the board and I also want the public to understand I think like the second longest serving here at this moment time this when when we first started this truly was a part-time job most of us showed up for meetings we conversated in between time and that was it it is now a expectation i believe for most of our constituents and just simply with the new administration and how we work together

[00:56:49] it has morphed into almost a full-time position i also want the public to understand that we don't see that money, this board. So normally what happens is in there's a public outcry because funding for the board but I also want the public to understand that's not our for us. That's for whoever sits in these seats after November and I think it's really important that this board be mindful that that's to take care of those people and the expectation of the amount of hours and time and money that comes with this position and what it would continue to look like in the future.

[00:57:22] so I hate for us to short the next people sitting in the seat because it's no longer a part-time position and it is a lot of work that gets done so depending on how you vote that's just my two cents I'm always an equity I don't I don't believe in shortchanging anyone if we can help it Miss Jessie you know when I was a principal I would always say things like I could do this job for

[00:57:54] nothing and my husband would say no she wouldn't no she can't but I would and I think that we're looking through the lenses of us as middle class people we can afford not to have a salary many of us on this board and i think that we want to encourage people to join this board where the salaries are at a at a rate that is competitive competitive i don't know how this got i'd like to have i don't know if it's a time to ask for a discussion on why this was put into the i didn't

[00:58:32] put this in who who is the person who put this particular item on the budget was it you Dr. McDoctor it's called the superintendent's proposed budget so yes I did ask that the raise go in I know our Board of County Supervisors are put in for a raise I know other regional leaders in Fairfax have and you know I don't think it's a lot of money so I I asked to be put in I think it's like How competitive are we I'm sorry I just have to ask questions about this.

[00:59:09] We can I can get that information for you if you want to table this we can get the information for you. I know Fairfax and Arlington are higher than us and they have they have staff so we you know we've we've run a tight ship we do a lot of our own work compared to other school divisions our size.

[00:59:32] I when I came on this board I I think I did some visits but now i look at i can't keep up with my calendar and every day i'm going somewhere and i think to i think that we really need to look at ourselves as professionals and it's not necessarily about money but i think it is a professional position and i i think we need to look at upcoming members and adding people on this board who maybe the salary would be something that would enhance them in the lower income areas who salaries are not what we have in our in our

[01:00:10] retirements and whatever so for that reason I will not vote to remove it yeah sorry um it's uh just wanted to add some things and kind of some of the stuff was said it's it's not that I don't think it's deserved or warranted I just look at certain things that I think would be more helpful stuff that kind of has already kind of come up like more stuff that could help more in community engagement we have three phenomenal people in our clerk's office but we could use another one too to better

[01:00:44] support our constituents as we were talking about the calendars themselves cause just trying to coordinate events and stuff like that and our neighbors to the north have three times the staff in like their board office other areas i think could be useful not everyone gets emails we don't get postage to mail out newsletters like the BOCS an annual newsletter from their board member or something like that that could be beneficial for community engagement we also in the past it used to have some type of stipend as board members to recognize either teachers or students or something in our district whether it's a plaque or something that we had a little bit more discretion on and

[01:01:23] these are areas that I think would be helpful as a board member or the future board to have RESOURCES MORE TO ENGAGE WITH THEIR COMMUNITY FOR THE PURPOSE OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS THOSE ARE JUST MY THOUGHTS MR. ZARGAPOR THANK YOU DR. LATIF I ACTUALLY WAS MY THINKING IS A LOT LIKE MR. WILKS ADDITIONALLY BECAUSE THERE IS UNCERTAINTY IN THE BUDGET RIGHT NOW I AM NOT COMFORTABLE PUTTING MYSELF INTO A BUCKET OF I GET SOMETHING BEFORE WE'RE

[01:02:02] sure with what we're doing with our staff it's it's and this isn't a competitive salary we don't live in Fairfax we can't run for Fairfax's school board so this is just fundamentally different I'm it's just me being me I but I but mr. Wilk is correct we we don't have we just got a a little bit of an expansion on our staff here I've had constituents say can I meet you at your office hours they are surprised my office is wherever I'm standing at the moment. It is a little bit harder to make sure you're communicating with people because I don't

[01:02:41] have anybody I can easily ask because they're doing stuff for all of us. So I think more support in the office is where it's needed. I wanted to add may I add something in my comments on the budget I said that if there's a reduction I think that we should not get that raise but I think that if the budget it depends on the budget so i think i would rather wait and see what the budget is

[01:03:13] going to but i think you know my my position i think it was written the motions on the table at this time miss jesse so unless you make a different motion to table it then for now we'll vote on this motion as it is miss um miss uh jackson um try again i'm currently hesitant to vote for this but with the full understanding that this has been a full-time job however um I would support tabling this so if I could make a motion because of the budget uncertainty and

[01:03:51] because I believe that both Ms. Jessie and Mr. Wilk have raised valid points and there may be a compromise in there so that would be what I would offer is possibly to table it yeah no I mean um yes it's a straw poll so it's not a formal meeting so do you want to withdraw your motion

[01:04:29] and then make them yes someone okay Mr. Wilk withdraws a motion somebody want to make a motion to table so I'll motion that we table this for discussion at the next meeting or in further when we come back to do the final budget after the General Assembly passes.

[01:04:45] How would you like to do this. I second that. Okay any discussion on tabling it. Okay all in favor of tabling the salary increase for the school board for further discussion either at the next week's meeting or when we get more information.

[01:05:01] And after research all in favor. It looks unanimous. Okay so thank you Mr. Wilk it's excellent work. good work outstanding we'll go to Miss Jessie next okay I have no additions I have no amendments or additions okay great miss Jessie miss miss Williams thank you mr. chairman with the new process all of the things that I have advocated for and continue to advocate for are in the budget or up for

[01:05:33] discussion for next year miss Zargarpur I have no additions Miss Jackson I have no further additions I just appreciate the collaboration thank you miss wall I well I have no further additions to this budget I wish to advocate for three future things if we were to come up with additional funds like depending on how things shake out with the state or for next year's budget my first ask would be the current counselor ratio I think is 301 at least in the high school and so I

[01:06:10] believe I would like to see that brought down to 250 to 1 which I think is the ASC ratio so I don't know what it would take to get us to that goal but even if we can move it a little bit to like 275 to 1 I think the school counselors especially in the high school level are really important because they have that personal relationship with the kids my second ask would be that we look at the funding per pupil for our ESOL students especially at the high school level because our ESOL students at the high school level have multiple classes they take you know seven different classes and so that's a lot of work for the ESOL

[01:06:44] teachers and I don't know if the per pupil amount is adequate but I believe it might not be at the high school level and the third would be I understand that the prices for graduation have gone up a lot like the rental of facilities like Jiffy Lube live I believe have gone up quite a bit from like 5,000 or something this is what historically I think it was a lot less and now it's like 30,000 or something like that so that comes out currently out of a school's budget but I'd like to maybe take a look that it's not a big amount but it's kind of a big

[01:07:19] amount I mean for a school so those are just three things that I would advocate for I'm sure others have good ideas as well but my additions thank you okay I have no further additions mr. Wilk anymore you want to go around again are we good no we're good okay if I have no further recommendations for markup at this time I'll ask that the Prince William so at this point we will again

[01:07:55] this is non-binding ask the board members at this point so next week we'll be bringing the budget for a full vote obviously any anything can happen in between now and then if there's any changes we'll make revisions to the budget but at this point I'd like to get a straw vote so I understand where the board members are and so at this point I move that the Prince William County School Board accept the fiscal 2024 budget as presented in this evening's work session and final markup do I have a second for that okay and any all in favor hands up non-binding it's a straw vote yeah straw vote and as opposed

[01:08:35] none okay so as seeing there's the no major objections to the budget at this point we expect that the budget that comes to the board the full board meeting next week will be as proposed provide there's any changes from the state you know in the meantime and again it's it's on binding but if board members still have more changes that they offer they can certainly offer them at that point but we're hoping that they won't be any major ones okay um there's no changes may i make a comment yeah miss jessie if you're voting to leave this budget meeting it has to be the fastest time i've ever seen i've been on this board the longest and i've been in long meetings i want to congratulate

[01:09:12] you for because this has never happened i think it's a historical event maybe this is your this is women's week this is women's month right international women's day yes you're doing a wonderful job thank you thank you miss Jessie okay at this point I think I'm at the point where we do the school board does have to go into closed session is that where I'm at okay so we I need a recommendation I need a motion miss wall mr. chairman I move that pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2 - 3 7 1 1 and

[01:09:48] 2.2 - 3 7 1 2 the Prince William County School Board enter closed session to discuss with legal counsel and staff members the acquisition of real property for a high school Woodbridge area which is the subject of litigation pending within Prince William County Circuit Court and where briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position and litigating posture a PWCS pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2 - 3 7 1 1 a 3 and a 7 do I have a second I second Miss Jackson seconds motion any discussion okay all in favor moving to closed session signal hand aye okay any opposed

[01:10:27] No, at this point the Prince William County School Board will move into closed session and return in approximately 30 minutes Prince William County School Board now returning open session from closed session Moving on to closed session certification motions in order. Mr. Wall Mr. Chairman, I move that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 - 3 7 1 2 the closed session of the Prince William County School Board meeting of March 8 2023 be certified by adopting the following resolution now Therefore be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board hereby certifies that the to the best of each member's knowledge

[01:11:04] One only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies And two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion Convening the closed meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board. Oh, um, do I have a second?

[01:11:25] Mr. Chairman, sorry for seconds any discussion, please vote all in A favor aye. Okay so that votes I think that's six. I'm abstaining. That wasn't in closed session so I can't I don't know. Yeah.

[01:11:40] Yeah. All right moving on to the next motion. Closed session action item. Ms. Jackson Miss Wall. Mr. Chairman. I move that the Prince William County School would authorize legal counsel to make a pretrial settlement offer in the amount discussed in our closed meeting to the landowners in the condemnation litigation set for trial in Prince William County Circuit Court on March 13th 2023 and also authorize the chairman at large and the clerk to execute any necessary documents subject to approval as to form by division counsel.

[01:12:17] Do I have a second I have one question on this. Wade I wasn't in closed session but since I wasn't in closed session do I authorize doc do I send documents or does the vice chair sign documents. Does it matter. Can you just look into that. Okay the vice chair anybody have any opposition to that because I wasn't in the meeting.

[01:12:40] I won't be signing these documents. - I can say I move, I can make an option. - So there's no, so we'll just substitute chairman for vice chair, okay? No opposition, that will be accepted. Okay, all in favor of this motion? Aye, okay, that it will be six to pass and one abstention.

[01:12:56] Okay, thank you all. That being no further business in front of this board, we will call this meeting adjourned.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com