Coraggio Consulting Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, April 19, 2023 Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2023 Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia Length: 2h 40m (video) Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrKr4mvLMk 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:00] - Policy 139. School board member participation meetings by electronic communication. School board member Jennifer Wall will participate in this meeting through electronic means due to a personal matter. She's out of state on travel. The clerk will so note in the minutes of the meeting. [00:00:16] I believe Ms. Williams has a motion she'd like to make to amend the agenda. Ms. Williams. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I moved to the, excuse me, I moved to amend the meeting agenda by adding agenda item 13.20, which is my appointment to the Safe Schools Advisory Council. [00:00:33] - Is there a second? - I can second. - And there's a second. Any discussion? Okay, please vote. All in favor, just give me a hand motion. Any opposed? Okay, and for the record, Ms. Wall had her hand up. [00:00:49] - Right, thank you. So the motion passed, six yes, one not present vote, Jessie, one absent, Raulston. - Oh my, yeah, no, my pen exploded. Annette, your motion is now in order for the approval of the meeting agenda. [00:01:08] Ms. Jackson. - I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as amended. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarpur seconds. Any discussion? Okay, please vote. All in favor, hand up, aye. [00:01:24] Any opposed? Okay, no opposition. Ms. Wall for the record voted yes. - So six yes, one not present vote. Jessie, one absent Raulston. We stand corrected. [00:01:40] Mrs. Jessie is here and she votes yes. - Okay, great. Moving on to the motion to enter closed session. The motion is ordered. Ms. Jackson, have fun with this one. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. I move that pursuant Virginia Code section 2.2-3711 and 2.2-3712 that the Prince William County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons. [00:01:57] One, to discuss staff, the appointment, transfer, release, assignment, and promotion of specific officers and employees under Virginia Code section 2.2-3711 A1. Two, to review disciplinary matters for specific students that would involve the disclosure of information containing scholastic record for individual students to receive legal advice regarding same as provided by Virginia code section 2.2-3711A, two and eight. [00:02:23] Three, to discuss with Division Council and staff actual or proper litigation and specific legal matters involving specific staff and students under Virginia code section 2.2-3711A, seven and eight. Four, to consult with legal counsel employed or retained by the school board to receive legal advice regarding collective bargaining notifications under Virginia code section 2.2-3711A, seven and eight. [00:02:51] Five, to discuss with staff and legal counsel the terms or scope of collective bargaining agreement where discussion in open session would adversely affect bargaining position or negotiating strategy at the public body under Virginia code section 2.2-3711A, 29. [00:03:09] And six, to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security of school facilities, the safety of persons using such facilities and the actions taken to respond to such matters for discussion and open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities present Virginia code, Section 2.2-3711A19. [00:03:28] Do I have a second? Ms. Chairman? Ms. Williams? Ms. I second. Any discussion? Please vote. All in favor? Hand up. Any opposed? No. Ms. Wall votes yes as well. All right. [00:03:44] The motion is 7, yes. One absent. Raulston motion passed. - At this point, I move the Prince William County, well, we will now enter closed session, is that correct? [00:03:54] Okay, we'll return in approximately seven o'clock. [00:04:34] Prince William County School Board is now returning to open session from closed session. [00:05:03] A motion is in order for closed session certification. Miss Jackson. - Thank you, Chair Lateef. I move the pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3712, the closed session of the Prince William County School Board meeting of April 19th, 2023, be certified by adopting the following resolution. [00:05:25] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, 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. [00:05:49] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - Any discussion? Please vote. Ms. Wall, how do you vote? Ms. Wall votes yes. And Ms. Wall, if you weren't here at the beginning of the meeting, Ms. Wall is out of town on business. [00:06:07] Actually, can I say Ms. Wall attending? Am I allowed to say? Yeah, sure. She's with our robotics teams in the national world competitions, so out of town. So, but she is here this evening and Ms. Jackson will be acting as vice chair this evening. [00:06:24] - The vote is seven yes, one absent, Raulston motion passed. - Okay, certifications passed. Moving on to closed session action item, a motion is in order for 10.01, approval of appointments and releases. Ms. Jackson. - Thank you Dr. Lateef, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in closed session. [00:06:43] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Sargeport. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote. Ms. Wall, how do you vote? - Yes. - Ms. Wall, Ms. Wall votes yes. [00:07:03] - The vote is seven yes, one absent, Raulston motion passed. - Thank you, moving on to 10.02, a motion is in order, Ms. Jackson. - Thank you, I move that based upon a review of information provided in support of the student's appeal of the March 15th, 2023 decision of the school board disciplinary committee and the record before the school board disciplinary committee, the Prince William County school board denies the student's appeal and confirms that, excuse me, and confirms the school board disciplinary committee's long-term suspension decision of student MS23-113 and that the school board also approved the immediate placement at a different middle school [00:07:41] location under the conditions described in the SMAPD letter, both for the placement and for the return to the students based school. - Do I have a second? Ms. Jessie, Ms. Jessie seconds a motion. Any discussion, please vote. [00:07:59] Ms. Wall, how do you vote? - I vote yes. - Ms. Wall votes yes. - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Ralston, motion passed. - Moving on to 10.03, a motion is in order. [00:08:16] Ms. Jackson. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. I move that for the reasons set forth in the Student Management and Alternative Programs Department SMAPD letter of February 21st, 2023, the Prince William County School Board approved the SMAPD's recommendation to reassign student SR23-072 to the computer-based instruction program via remote access only, based on charges of unlawful acts in the community. [00:08:42] - Do you have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Any discussion? - Please vote. Ms. Wall, how do you vote? - I vote yes. - Ms. Wall votes yes. [00:09:03] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Ralston, motion passed. - Moving on to 10.04, a motion's in order. - Thank you, Chair Lateef. I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the requests for religious extensions and case numbers RE22-21 through RE22-204. [00:09:22] - Is there any second? Ms. Jessie? - Second. - Ms. Jessie seconds. Any discussion? Please vote. Ms. Wall, how do you vote? - I vote yes. - Ms. Wall votes yes. [00:09:43] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Ralston, motion passed. - Moving on to 10.05, a motion is in order. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. I move that the Prince William County, excuse me, I move that the School Board Disciplinary Committee of the Prince William County School Board approve the closed session consent agenda item as presented in closed session. [00:10:02] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarpur. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote. Ms. Wall, how do you vote? - I vote yes. - Ms. Wall votes yes. [00:10:21] - The vote is seven yes, one absent Raulston. Motion passed. - Okay, well that concludes our closed session action items. At this point, we will move on to the Pledge of Allegiance. We have our student member of the school board this evening, Christian Daniels from a senior at Hilton High School. [00:10:39] He will be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please. [00:10:59] - God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. - Okay, thank you. At this time, we will be moving on to our Thriving Futures focus. [00:11:15] It is the time for one of the most enjoyable portions of our school board meetings and that's launching Thriving Futures. We dedicate this time during our meetings to recognize students, staff members in schools who've earned an honor award at the state or national level. We appreciate how these honorees have positively represented Prince William County Public Schools and the school board is proud to recognize them for publicly for their accomplishments. [00:11:38] We begin tonight with the Brentsville Magisterial District. It is my pleasure to introduce Mrs. Adele Jackson, school board member of Brentsville District. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Last month, we had the pleasure of recognizing our state champions in indoor track and field. [00:11:56] One of our state champs had a conflict last month, but I'm very pleased that he's able to turn tonight's meeting. Dylan Sawyer from the Brentsville District High School is a state champion in the pole vault. He is here this evening with his assistant track coach, Steven Susek. Coach Susek and Dylan, please come forward and speak a few words. [00:12:26] like to say state championship like Dylan did unfortunately he's not doing the spring season because he was put up to make a decision on tennis versus track he was not afforded the opportunity to dual sport so he's going to have some fun playing tennis and I'm over to Gainesville now but again this is about him and his accomplishments and again what a pleasure to see a young student [00:12:55] athlete succeed like that thank you congratulations so Dylan are you what year are you I'm a senior - Senior, okay, well good luck with your tennis season. [00:13:11] Well, congratulations, Dylan, and the Brentsville District High School. Before we begin our recognition of the 28 Purple Star schools, I would like to invite Dylan and his coach up to the front [00:13:19] to take a picture with the school board. [00:14:47] Okay, well, April is the month of the military child, so it is fitting to recognize our amazing Purple Star schools and our partners from Marine Corps Base Quantico. The Virginia Purple Star designation is awarded to schools demonstrating a commitment to military families through a series of activities, such as providing professional development to its staff on academic and social-emotional issues impacting military-connected students, providing support to its military-connected students through a student-led peer transition team, and engaging military-connected students [00:15:25] and their families through various activities during Month of the Military Child in April. Veterans and Military Families Month in November and other activities planned throughout the year. Schools must reapply for renewal of the Purple Star designation every three years, which encourages a continuous commitment to supporting military students and families. [00:15:46] Schools earning this recognition receive a Purple Star to display onsite, which sends a strong message of their support to military families. There are currently 28 Purple Star schools in Prince William County, with more schools planning to earn this designation next fall. [00:16:02] Because of the size of this group, We will not be able to hear from each of the 28 schools, but Dr. Dominique James, our military achievement specialist, will speak on their behalf at the end of the recognition. Each school board member will name the schools in their magisterial district and introduce the representatives from each school. [00:16:18] When your name is called, I ask that you wave to our audience and so our audience and viewers at home can see you. We will take several group photos at the end of the recognitions. I appreciate your support of these guidelines to ensure the meeting is run efficiently. [00:16:33] At this time, I will turn this back over to Mrs. Jackson to recognize the schools in the Brentsville district. Ms. Jackson. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Our first purple star is Bristow Run Elementary School, represented this evening by Angelita Gambo, Assistant Principal. [00:17:00] Next, Piney Branch Elementary School, represented by Principal Stephen Thorne and Marissa Bartoli, Kindergarten Teacher. And third, we have T. Claywood Elementary School, which is represented by Principal Dr. Andrew Brookhite and Amy Cunningham, school counselor. [00:17:25] I'm gonna say one more round of applause for all three schools, please. - Congratulations, Bristow-Run, Piney Branch, and T. Claywood Elementary Schools. Mrs. Jennifer Wall, Board Vice Chairwoman, and Gainesville Magisterial District Representative will recognize our next group of schools. [00:17:45] Ms. Wall. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. I am proud to recognize five Purple Star Award winners in the Gainesville District, with Mountain View Elementary School, represented by Principal Adrienne Harrison and Donna Cole Ropp Teacher. Also, we have Tyler Elementary School, represented by Leslie Browngold, Assistant, Principal, and Lisa McDermott, School Counselor. Our third school is Bull Run Middle School, represented by Amy Shelton, Director of School Counseling, and Battlefield High School, represented by Senior Master Sergeant David Shuler from our ROTC unit, and George Bishop, [00:18:25] technology teacher and last but not least is gravely elementary school which is also a winner but they could not attend tonight so let's give these schools a round of applause and might i add you all look amazing even over zoom okay and they might not have heard but the last school was gravely elementary who was also winner but they could not attend tonight so congratulations gainesville magisterial district purple star recipients and um let's do one more round of applause for all of them. Next up, it is my pleasure to introduce Ms. Lori Williams of the [00:19:03] Woodbridge Magisterial District. Ms. Williams. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Porter Traditional School, a national blue ribbon school, is a two-time winner of the Purple Heart, excuse me, Purple Star Award. They are represented this evening by Principal Caitlin Engelmeyer-Flor and Counselor Arthur Lockemi. Let's give them a round of applause. Congratulations to Porter Traditional School. It's my pleasure to introduce now Mr. Justin Wilk of the Potomac Magisterial District. [00:19:31] Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. It is an honor to represent the district with the most military-connected students in Prince William County. I know I lost my spot, okay. [00:19:49] Let's start, beginning with Mary Williams Elementary, represented by Principal Johnson and Assistant Principal Garcia. Good job, guys. Moving on. So our next school, where I am a proud parent, and I was this morning attending one of their great events, Ashland Elementary School, which is a two-time winner their principal made it here from a choir concert she got over here so i give you credit you good for you she prints principal houseworth is here we also have uh sarah leclerc our school counselor and kristen keskel our third grade teacher who put on a great event [00:20:29] this morning both of them so thank you ashlyn they're out there somewhere okay thank you guys um henderson elementary also a two-time winner represented by principal amy schott and counselor lauren heller they're here patty elementary is also a two-time winner they unfortunately could not be here tonight good job patty moving on to the middle school level uh graham park middle school [00:21:02] is represented by principal walker and miss mosley director of counseling potomac shores is is represented by Principal Joe Mergo and Jasmine Smith, business education teacher. [00:21:22] My line says, "But wait, there's more." Forest Park High School is also a two-time winner. Here this evening is Principal Richard Martinez and Lucy Affle, the administrative intern. Let's give a hand to the mighty Potomac District. [00:21:41] Outstanding, Mr. Will. Congratulations to all our Potomac District Purple Star recipients. Since Mrs. Diane Ralston from the Neabsco District was not able to join us today, it's my pleasure to recognize Minneville Elementary School as our Purple Star School. They are represented by Principal Deborah Ellis and Sarah Basler, school counselor. [00:22:01] Let's give Minneville a round of applause. Congratulations, Minneville. It's now my pleasure to introduce Mrs. Lily Jessie of the Occoquan Magisterial District. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. The Occoquan District includes six Purple Heart Schools, beginning with Old Bridge Elementary School, represented by Lisa Jackson, Assistant Principal. [00:22:26] next Rockledge Elementary represented by principal Nikki Steptoe Coleman and school counselor Meredith Glaze Marshall Elementary is also recipient here tonight is Michael Dugger assistant principal and Katherine Sharpe school counselor next up is a two-time winner Springwoods Elementary represented by principal Jeanine Minor and Lisa Ducallis school parent liaison [00:23:06] - I enjoyed that breakfast, thank you. The final school in the Occoquan District is Westridge Elementary School. Here tonight is the Principal Lawrence Kahn and Megan Adler, school counselor. [00:23:23] Okay, Mr. Wilkes, I know. - You have your high school. - I have a high school, I'm just playing with them. I think I may be the only one with high school, I don't know, I don't know, maybe, I hope so. I'm just saying that we're bigger. [00:23:40] Two-time winner, Woodridge High School there's also a representative of Nico Etanay, English teacher, let's give those three schools a day. - Wonderful, Ms. Jessie, congratulations again to our Occoquan District Purple Star Schools. [00:23:59] Ms. Zargarpur of the Coles District will recognize our final group of Purple Star Schools. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef, for saving the best for last, of course. Ooh, we're all one big family, right? Okay, the Coles Magisterial District boasts five Purple Hearts, Purple Star Schools, Pardon me there. [00:24:19] Beginning with Bennett Elementary School represented by Principal Pozell and school counselor Destiny Brown. Next up is Benton Middle School, the two-time winner represented by Principal Pia Chasey and Aaliyah Green, a school counselor. [00:24:40] Parkside Middle School is also a Purple Star School. They are represented by Principal Boynton. Dr. Boynton, there you go. We have two, two, two Purple Star High Schools in the Coles District. [00:24:57] Colgan High School, represented by David Parrish, assistant principal, and Nadine Wodeau, teacher of students with special needs, and Hilton High School, principal Crawford, and Nicole Petrie, school counselor. Give them a huge round of applause. [00:25:18] - Congratulations to our Coles District Purple Star winners, and it is now my pleasure to introduce Dr. Dominique James to read a resolution and recognize our esteemed guests from the Marine Corps Base Quantico. Dr. James. [00:25:35] - Thank you so much. To the board, I just want to say thank you so much for recognizing our purple star schools. They do so much work above and beyond what the requirements are. I believe that there are currently two school divisions in Virginia that are 100% purple. [00:25:54] We are on a mission to make Prince William County Schools the third one. So we are on our way, we are on our way to being purple by 2024. So at this time, I will introduce Colonel Brooks. [00:26:12] Colonel Brooks is the commanding officer of Marine Corps Installation National Capital Region, Marine Corps Base Quantico. So you may join me as I read and present the resolution. For a month of the military child, April 2023. [00:26:33] Whereas the Virginia Board of Education recognize the month of April 2023 as month of the military child to pay tribute to the military families and their children for their sacrifices made and for their commitment and courage. [00:26:52] And whereas the Commonwealth of Virginia is a member of the Interstate Compact on educational opportunity for military children, which addresses key issues encountered by military students including enrollment, placement, attendance, eligibility, and graduation. [00:27:13] And whereas military-connected children and their families move every two to three years within the United States or overseas, disrupting academic routines and friendships. And whereas military-connected children also serve their country by demonstrating resilience, perseverance, and cultural competency, and whereas military-connected children provide unique and valuable insights on learning, friendship, service to others, and heightened national or global awareness, [00:27:52] and whereas Prince William County Public Schools provides military-connected academic and support programs through a Department of Defense Education Activity Partnership Grant to support the unique needs of military service members and their families, and whereas military families in Prince William County include men and women on active duty service in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy, and members of the Reserves and the National [00:28:27] Guard, and whereas Prince William County Public Schools serve 4,900 school-age, military-connected children, now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board and the Superintendent of Schools recognize April 2023 as the month of the military child and encourage all schools and offices to show enormous appreciation with activities to honor our students [00:29:02] from military families. Approved by unanimous consent by the Prince William County School Board on March 1st, 2023, Colonel Brooks, I present to you the resolution for a month of the military child. [00:29:19] And at this time, Colonel Brooks, we'll take just a quick moment to share some quick remarks. [00:29:34] I shall do my best with a quick moment. Dr. Lateef, thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me again back this year for a worthy cause. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for wearing the color purple. Do you know why you wear the color purple? Color purple is the color that has been assigned to all DOD military forces. And therefore, during the month of April we assign that also to our military children very quickly two things or three things one I like to thank my school liaison officer miss [00:30:10] Kimberly Simpson she does a superb job of keeping me where I'm supposed to be and my focus where it needs to be so thank you Miss Kimberly the second thing is our children 1.6 million DOD military connected children throughout DOD they learn from a very early age service before self and many times they do not get a choice and they support their parents and I tell you the conversations that occur over dinner tables across the United States and overseas is quite [00:30:47] interesting when the parents have to tell them one more time we got to move every two to three years from the time that they're born until the time they get out of high school every two to three years it is definitely a challenge And the third thing is Prince William County. What a great partner Prince William County is to Marine Corps Base Quantico in every area, and especially our schools. [00:31:10] I really want to give you gratitude for your commitment. Your commitment is seen, it is felt, and most importantly, it is appreciated. We're only able to accommodate 20% of our military families on base that go to our DoDEA schools. [00:31:29] The other 80% live in our communities. and you are really you have made a commitment and these 28 school districts you have made a commitment to support our military children and on behalf of all the service members and their families I say thank you Colonel Brooks those were wonderful remarks truly appreciated and I think the school board would echo them back is you know we're grateful to be a partner with you all as well and whatever we can do Dr. James you set the [00:32:07] bar high I go around talking about how great our school division is everywhere and I hate not being number one so that means next year we're gonna get a hundred percent purple star is that right did everybody hear me right very good dr. McDade well after that challenge but we can definitely do it first I do want to extend congratulations to our student athlete Dylan from Brentsville high school for the state championship in pole vault in indoor track and field we're so incredibly proud of dylan and he has represented both his school [00:32:42] and prince william county public schools with excellence and we are pwcs proud april the month of the military child and we are honored to have colonel michael l brooks in attendance with us tonight so thank you so much for your partnership and for your words this evening that were so inspiring and um it is that is the reason that it is really important for us critically important for us to be at 100% so that every single military connected family and child has a space that is true to our commitment to positive climate and culture. And so we are thankful to the dedicated individuals serving and protecting our nation. I want to recognize that our thousands of military [00:33:22] connected students and families make multiple sacrifices to protect the many freedoms that we and joy in this great nation. This can include deployments as as Colonel Brooks talked about, deployments abroad that separate families for extended periods of time. PWCS is committed to providing resources and making investments in our schools needed to help our students and military families cope with mobility, transition, deployments, and even family separation. Since 2018, 28 of our schools have been recognized through the Virginia Purple Star designation program [00:33:58] for demonstrating a major commitment to our families and i want to commend each and every school present here tonight for your extraordinary efforts to support our military connected students and families but most importantly for your care and concern for the well-being of our students and our families to make sure that every single student in prince william county absolutely realizes our vision to create a thriving future for themselves and their community so thank you so much for your dedication for your passion and for your commitment to [00:34:28] serving our students with pride congratulations so because of the size of the group we're gonna break into smaller groups for the first picture we'd like to invite the representatives from our eastern and western elementary schools we're doing both of them right all elementary schools basically or no oh got it okay they know who they are okay eastern and west I don't eastern and western elementary schools first and then following that we'll take a a picture with the central elementary schools and the third picture will include all middle [00:35:07] and high schools. And finally, we'll take our picture then with our guests from Quantico. If you missed those directions, [00:35:14] Ms. Gulotta's up front can help direct us. [00:37:45] - High, middle and high. Did everybody who's had their picture taken? [00:38:59] Middle and high, yep. [00:41:58] - Okay, fantastic. Well, thank you everyone. That was such a, just a very important and inspiring presentation this evening. Thank you all very much. So now moving on to the adoption of our consent agenda. This is 1301, a motion's in order, Ms. Jackson. [00:42:17] - Thank you, Chair Lateef. I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended. - Do you have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Great, any discussion? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarpur. - So, oh, let me get rid of this here. Coming up next month is our recognition of teacher appreciation. [00:42:38] Technically, we should be appreciating teachers every day though, that's just my two cents, but be looking forward to that next month. - Ms. Williams. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to give a special shout out to my new appointee to the Safe Schools Advisory Council, Ms. Zuma Santos. [00:42:57] I am very excited and I believe that she will be an asset to the Safe Schools Advisory Council. and I want to thank her for her willingness to serve. - Thank you, Ms. Williams. Okay, please vote. Ms. Wall, how do you vote? - I vote yes. [00:43:13] - Ms. Wall votes yes. - Thank you, the vote is seven yes. One absent, Raulston motion passed. - Okay, at this time, we are moving on to citizen comment time. Those citizens who've signed up in advance with the clerk may address the school board this evening when they are called to the podium. The citizen comment period for regular school board meetings is one hour, citizens may speak on agenda items or on topics germane to the operation policies of Prince William County Schools. [00:43:36] Please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium where you'll be asked to step aside. We ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping, cheering or jeering to avoid disruption in the meeting. If you do not, the board will recess and I will ask the room to be cleared to restore public order. Tonight we have seven citizens signed up to speak. [00:43:51] When I call your name, please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record. I'll go ahead and call the first five up and if you wanna make your way up front. Linda Mitchell, Christine Ware, Katilea Claros, Amanda Locklear, and Richard Jesse. [00:44:08] Linda Mitchell first. - Good evening, Dr. Lateef, school board members, Dr. McDade and our student representative. [00:44:26] My name is Linda Mitchell. My address is on file with our clerk. I am a school librarian at Unity Braxton Middle School here in Prince William County. I'm here tonight as a school librarian and as president elect of the Prince William School Librarians Association, which we refer to as PWSLA. [00:44:43] It's been a few years since any of our members have spoken here. Since April is School Library Month, we thought it would be a good idea to reintroduce ourselves, the mission of our organization, and some of the work we do. I've given the clerk some information detailing that to share with you this evening. [00:45:00] Hopefully you have it. PWSLA is the most local chapter of our American Library Association. Within ALA, the American Association of School Librarians functions. There are AASL chapters in all 50 states and U.S. territories. [00:45:17] We PWSLA is a 5013C nonprofit organization serving our school librarians of Prince William County, Manassas City, and Manassas Park. Our membership seeks to strengthen school librarians and empower future-ready learners. [00:45:34] We take up this work in four areas: Promoting professional learning and collegiality, endeavoring to meet national school library standards, strengthening library services for school libraries in our local area, and providing a forum for library issues. [00:45:49] PWSLA gathers each August for professional development. We discuss our work of ensuring that information literacy needs of our students and their families is provided to the best of our ability. We take direction from national standards provided by AASL. [00:46:05] In the materials I've provided for you this evening is a booklet of national school library standards. To be a school librarian is to be educated and grounded in professional practices of information literacy, which is very simply knowing what you need to know and how to find out. [00:46:22] PWSLA members are certified classroom teachers that expanded the craft of their teaching to a whole school. This is what the state of Virginia requires. Please see the infographic and the materials presented to you this evening related to the relationship between school librarians and increased student success. [00:46:40] makes sense we are teachers that teach from the space of our libraries our national aasl standards are based in four domains including think create share and grow i could spend hours telling stories of how pwsla librarians thrive as educators in these domains for the success of our students in addition to book and storytelling activities we hatch chickens raise funds for author visits sponsor a myriad of clubs from national honor societies to soccer teams we teach through gaming learning stations field trips genius hours hours of coding and so much more truly being a librarian [00:47:16] is the best job in the school i encourage you to take a peek at the materials about our prince our local prince williams school librarians association as well as the aasl standards i'm sorry i can't finish but you are welcome to contact us anytime if you would like information about what we do thank you so much christine ware good evening everyone my name is christine ware and my address is on file. I am a proud school librarian at Gainesville Middle School and as you've already heard, April is School Library Month. The Virginia Association of School Librarians [00:47:55] describes librarians as certified teachers, instructional partners, information specialists, program administrators, and leaders who are essential to student success. I'm here on behalf of the Prince William School Librarians Association, the local affiliate of VASIL. [00:48:12] For a glimpse into library life, let me share with you one of my favorite quotes for a moment with a student in the past in my library. Here's the context. A group of 8th graders have just done a lesson creating blackout poetry. [00:48:29] So they've taken a page of text and selectively colored over some words to leave remaining words to creating a poem. In feedback for the lesson, the student said, "I thought this was going to be a scam. Like when a teacher says something's going to be fun, but it's not. [00:48:45] But this was actually fun. So that's high praise coming from an eighth grader. School librarians and strong school library programs impact student achievement by promoting a culture of reading and collaboration with classroom teachers. [00:49:02] Librarians help students to become responsible consumers and creators of information. An active library contributes to a positive school climate and gives students a place to feel welcome and included, whether they are taking a brain break to play chess, tinkering in a makerspace, or of course getting comfortable with a good book. [00:49:24] School librarians are skilled instructional partners, proficient in technology, and experts in collection development. Librarians are leaders in their buildings, serving as club and activity sponsors, committee chairs, even lead mentors. [00:49:39] They are also active in professional organizations such as VASIL and PWSLA to keep up to date with best practices and emerging trends. Continued support for school library programs is key to the thriving futures that we envision for our students. [00:49:57] And I encourage you, if there is a library or a librarian that is adding value to your life, reach out and let them know. Thank you. Thank you. Claros. Hi, my address is on file and I'm here because of middle school recess. I'm here because it's something my friend told me. She said she's in middle school and she told me cherish your [00:50:36] recess time because in middle school you won't have any. I don't know what people were trying to do but studies have proven that kids that have recess do better on tests than kids that don't. Here are the benefits of recess. Improves memory, attention, and concentration. Helps kids' brains work and develop properly. Helps kids decompress and absorb what they've recently learned. Reduces kids' disruptive behavior in the classroom. Improves social and emotional development. [00:51:11] So that's why middle schoolers should have recess. It doesn't even have to be that long, just 15 minutes and you don't have to need a whole playground just free time. Thank you. [00:51:28] Amanda Locklear. Hi, my name is Amanda Locklear and my address is on file. A month, that's hard to follow up, that was cute. A month ago I stood in this very same spot and I encouraged you to take a look at the policies that I had mentioned because it was time they'd be updated. [00:51:50] I offered to share my time and our experience this year. I heard from no one in regard to that specific meeting. I'm trying to help. I'm trying to help my son. I'm trying to help the other special education students. I'm trying to help the case managers, their parents, and Prince William County schools. [00:52:10] Last night, during the Special Education Advisory Council meeting, an anonymous letter was sent in and read aloud from a Prince William County special education teacher. This teacher expressed that their pleas for assistance from admins and others when unheard. [00:52:27] They were an educated individual, they are an educated individual, that went into special education for a reason, and yet this year, they were contemplating resigning completely. Instead, they're moving to a different school to give it one more go. [00:52:45] It's a make it or break it year for them. This speaks volumes. If you are watching this or you're here as a parent, I heard you, I hear you, I understand you and I applaud you for staying the course and having the nerve to speak up. [00:53:06] We need more of you. Saying nothing is easy. Speaking out can be uncomfortable and create fear, but is the only way to progress and grow. The right leadership should encourage it, should welcome it, should seek to understand it and not dismiss it. [00:53:30] Chairman Lateef, Superintendent McDade and board members, In about a month, our children will sit down and take the SOLs. Imagine you are a 10-year-old fourth grade special education student that reads more than two and a half years below grade level, to no fault of your own. [00:53:54] You have an SOL read-aloud accommodation so an educator reads these tests to you so that you can easily understand instead of having to spend the time reading. You have just been brought down to a room with two educators. [00:54:10] After they place a 33-page SOL reading test in front of you, they read the directions. The last thing they say to you before you start is, "You may begin." [00:54:25] Then they proceed to work on their computers. That was my son, except he sat there for two and a half hours last year, pretending to read. Thank you, Ms. Locklear. [00:54:42] Richard Jessie. Good evening. My name is Richard Jessie. My address is on file, and I'm also running for a school board to replace my wife, Lily Jessie. I've talked to you this evening about a topic, I've talked to you many times before about Citizen Time and the openness and welcoming that is created here at the school board compared to the Board of Supervisors. [00:55:14] Here you have to sign up online, that's the only way to sign up. You used to be able, even here, to sign up at the door, but you can't do that anymore. If you go over to the Board of Supervisors, you can sign up as you walk in, you can sign up virtually, and you can sign up even during the meeting until a certain cut-off time. [00:55:40] Even if they don't like what you have to say and don't want to be there for two or three hours, they still welcome you to go ahead and sign up, and they listen to the citizens. Even after everybody speaks, the chair will say, "Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak and they allow them to speak. [00:56:03] The other thing they do is have virtual. You know, there are people who do not have cars, do not have a way to get here, do not have a babysitter, and it would be nice if they could speak virtually to the school board if they wanted to. [00:56:19] There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to do that. You know, the other thing that sort of irritates me as far as why do we have to declare what we want to talk about. This is sort of a holdover from the old school board when what they used to do, or the school system, not the board itself, but what they used to do in some cases, find out what the people were going to talk about, and they would have prepared topics to discuss that during the meeting. [00:56:51] I don't think we do that now, but again, there's no reason why we should have that. I would like the school board to be more welcoming to the citizen, open it up so that the thing, I understand you only want an hour, and right now you don't even use the whole hour, so I would encourage you to open it up. Thank you very much. [00:57:15] Christopher Funderburg, and then after him will be Jen Donnelly. Good evening, my name is Chris Funderburg, and my address is on file, and I am also running for school board. [00:57:33] It's a little bit ironic that it's library month. It's been about a year since I first started this mission, but here we are again talking about pornographic and sexually explicit books in the school libraries. I honestly don't think it'd be that hard for y'all to handle this issue if you really wanted to. [00:57:50] So I have a couple problems with the current method. I've tried the requesting and reconsideration process, but it's lengthy and difficult to get through. It's far too easily gained by staff. ideological principle can easily stack the committee with people of the same ideological bent and just trash your request from there it has to go up a couple levels and takes close to 90 days to get through what I don't understand is how some of these books even made it into the library to begin with because PWCS already has a definition of sexually explicit material [00:58:28] it requires notification and approval from parents for movies and any other sexually explicit material it also now has a policy to notify parents of any sensitive or controversial materials that will be performed for the whole school but it seems when it comes to the libraries they're completely exempt however regulation 653 - 1 section 4 covers the introduction of sensitive and controversial materials into the school quote materials in conflict with the values mores and philosophies of a significant group of parents of children [00:59:02] for whom the materials are intended must be reviewed by a committee so they have to fill out a form 653-1 attachment number three which asks is this sensitive material if yes explain why and then has to go through committee and get approved I'd mentioned it last year that I wanted to find out how this was happening and I've I've got my Freedom of Information Act requests lined up and I'll be submitting them later to find out what was on these forms for when they [00:59:39] were turned in was there a committee put together to review it and what was the outcome of those committees and I will be making all that information public I think if the school board here wanted to take this issue seriously you could take a look at what Virginia Beach is doing right now they are reviewing a policy to at the division level remove sexually explicit materials from libraries that kids should not have access to I think this is a common-sense request and I would really appreciate it if you guys would act on it and do something thank [01:00:09] you very much. Thank you. Miss Jen Donnelly. Good evening. My name is Jen Donnelly and my address is on file. I'd like to speak to you this evening on a matter of restorative practices in Prince William County schools. There was recently an issue at Marsteller Middle School that brought to light the consequences of restorative practices. First of all, I'd like to thank Dr. McDade and Dr. Lateef for getting back to me so quickly and following up on my concerns. I'd also like to thank Mr. Harris for calling me and listening to those concerns and [01:00:50] for providing context that put my mind at ease. That being said, I think that the current policies are causing more issues in our schools and creating chaos in the classroom. This morning, I asked Mrs. Warner about the BARC program. [01:01:05] She told me that kids get two formal warnings before their parents are called on the third instance. Then on the fourth, they notify the administration, and on the fifth, restorative practices are brought in. Multiply those disruptions by two or three kids a classroom and it's no wonder that teachers are having difficulties educating our kids. [01:01:26] There are basically no consequences to bad behavior. How can anyone work in an environment like that? Mrs. Warner also told our group this morning that if a student breaks a code of conduct that they don't take any other of the infractions into account when they break a different code of conduct. Why aren't we reviewing the student's behavior in a holistic manner? They're crying out for help and they are being pushed along in the name of social justice and restorative practices. We know that from the time that they are little kids that they crave boundaries and attention. Can sitting down and talking to kids about [01:02:04] minor infractions work? Yes, in some cases, but when a child has a history of being disruptive in class and it escalates to more serious infractions then you are letting a child slip through the cracks and when you let that poor child slipped through the cracks you were putting every other child in that school in danger are we supposed to wait until they break every code of conduct and then something tragic happens before we realize that the restorative practices aren't effective what will you do to make these changes and protect our kids thank you thank you that will conclude citizen common time [01:02:43] for this evening next we will move to 1501 update on Rosemont Lewis elementary school naming process which is on for information this evening dr mcdade thank you mr chairman we are excited about the progress toward completion of our newest elementary school temporarily named rosemont lewis elementary school on february 15th the board voted to approve the recommended attendance boundaries to better balance student enrollment and alleviate overcrowding at area elementary schools we have held two virtual community input sessions on the naming of of Rosemount Lewis Elementary School. [01:03:22] Both of those sessions occurred on March 22nd and March 29th. Additionally, we continue to consider name suggestions submitted electronically through our online form and that form will be open until May 2nd. [01:03:38] At this time, I would like to invite our Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Vernon Bach, to present an update on the Rosemount Lewis Elementary School naming process. Mr. Bach. - Thank you, Dr. McDade. I want to thank first, good evening, Chairman Dr. Lateef, board members, Dr. McDade, and our student representative. [01:03:58] I want to thank first our board members who have been serving on the naming committee, and that's been Dr. Lateef, Ms. Wall, and Ms. Jackson. I want to extend gratitude to Mr. Matt Townsend, who's here with us tonight, our supervisor of CIP and land acquisition for facilitating this effort. [01:04:15] And I'd really like to extend gratitude out all those folks who have participated in our virtual to virtual community engagement sessions and for all the suggestions that they've provided for the naming of our new elementary school i'd like to invite mr townsend here to join me to provide to you an update on the suggestions so far matt thank you verne and good evening chairman lateef school members and dr mcdade my name is matthew townsend the supervisor of cip and land acquisition for the facilities department and i [01:04:54] and I have the pleasure of being the facilitator of the naming process on behalf of the naming committee for our newest elementary school, as Dr. McDade said, currently referred to as its planning name of Rosemont Lewis Elementary. This evening, I'll just be giving a brief recap of the naming process, and then I will provide a summary of the feedback we've received so far through the various channels which we've collected. [01:05:20] To start off the meeting, I wanted to provide a little bit of background information on the school. you can see our recent photos of the exterior of the building you can see that it's a three-story design totaling approximately just over 129 000 square feet construction is moving along and progressing nicely it's really a beautiful building and we are well on track to open up for the upcoming 23-24 school year we've seen this slide before but just to just to bring it back into everybody's forefront policy 854 calls for the creation of the naming [01:06:00] committee and establishes the responsibility of the naming committee to develop recommendations that will ultimately be presented to the full school board for their approval and establishing of the name regulation 854 - 1 stipulates the composition of the naming committee to include the chairman at-large dr. Lateef the member the school board member whose district the facility is located Ms. Jackson as well as any member whose district boundaries overlap any portion of the attendance area for the new school and we have Ms. [01:06:33] Wall in the Gainesville district who is part of that. Regulation 854-1 also requires that community input be collected electronically and that at least one community input meeting be held and we did accomplish both of those throughout our process. This regulation also provides some non-exclusive naming criteria for the naming committee to consider while developing naming recommendations to include geographic elements, historical items or significance, as well as the names of living [01:07:10] or deceased persons who have made significant service contributions with a notation that if a name, the selection preference shall be given to those individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of education, especially within Prince William County. [01:07:26] As Dr. McDade mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, we have the naming process formally kicked off March 15th when when I was here presenting the process and how we were going to lay out and accomplish this this task of providing a name for our newest facility that way construction and further operations can go ahead and prime up for the opening at the next next school year after that first meeting we had our two committee input sessions March 22nd and then the second was the following week March 29th and that's where we presented the [01:08:00] process to the community as well as asked for any feedback and suggestions. April 19th this evening is the information item and then that will be followed up by May 3rd where the naming committee is scheduled to make a recommendation so the school board can vote and approve a permanent name for the building. As far as feedback we've received at this point throughout the entire process so far we've had the electronic form and a phone number available for the community to be able to provide [01:08:38] our suggestions or provide their suggestions for our process so far we pulled it i pulled the data this afternoon and we had 129 naming suggestions received with 46 different names and the following names received more than one suggestion we have ashton elementary with four suggestions Barack Obama Elementary with five, Crestwood Elementary with two, Innovation Elementary with 60, 60 votes, Liberty Elementary with two, Rosemont Lewis Elementary with 14 suggestions, [01:09:14] Stephen Waltz Elementary with two suggestions, and Stonewall Jackson Elementary with two suggestions. This electronic form and phone number will continue to be available until noon on May 2nd, the day before the scheduled action item. And that concludes my prepared presentation for you this evening providing an update on the feedback we've received and i'm happy to answer any questions any questions comments mrs agarapur uh could you um tell us if there's people who still would like to vote where they can find our vote or make a suggestion where they could find [01:09:54] that sure absolutely we have the we have a link to both the form and the uh the phone number provided in our web story which is on our pwcs website you're welcome okay i can't see miss wall did miss wall want to make a comment sure can you see me now yes um i just wanted to say thank you to staff for helping us through this process um and um to the community for um letting us know [01:10:28] your thoughts um and you know as we develop name recognition and consider the three um categories where it says you know consider but not be limited to i appreciate um you know people who have um reached out to me to share their thoughts um and to staff for preparing this presentation for us and for the hard work that goes on behind the scenes that none of us see thank you very much ms jackson um i also want to take a moment to extend my gratitude to the staff and the community members who came to the meetings and who submitted suggestions and i just have one quick follow-up [01:11:07] about the um naming portal being open until it was you could you restate the time so i have it correctly absolutely it was noon uh on may 2nd that's a tuesday that's it just needed that thank you so much okay thank you thank you very much thank you all right so now we'll move on to student representative to time tonight we have christian daniels uh who's our alternate alternate student representative um for the school board he is a senior current senior at hilton high school [01:11:39] mr daniels good evening everyone uh thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight As our fourth quarter begins, I would like to first congratulate both our students and staff on completing the third quarter of the year. [01:11:55] With college decision season coming to an end, I would also like to give a huge thanks to our college and career counselors throughout the entire county. They have played a crucial role in guiding students in their decision-making about careers and educational paths to ensure a successful post-graduation life. [01:12:12] There has additionally been great feedback from students about forums like Naviance. This forum has been crucial in the post-secondary decisions of many seniors and has allowed for more in-depth access to information about specific colleges. In addition, it has made the process of sending information to colleges easier and has greatly aided students in finding scholarships and occupational opportunities. [01:12:35] Secondly, I would like to share that the student representatives and senators have been working on constructing the county's first student bill of rights. Throughout our various meetings, we have brainstormed the overall contents of the student bill of rights which are aimed at hitting topics like equity, diversity, communication and discipline. With this project we hope to help students across the county address their rights and freedoms within that public educational system without fear of being unacknowledged. I would also like to highlight the various celebrations of diversity that have been had within the county. Many of our high schools have done immensely well with their multicultural nights and others [01:13:11] are currently in the works of planning them. These events once again are crucial to the development of cultural awareness and understanding within not only our students, but our community as a whole. Prince William County is one of the most diverse counties in the state, and it is important that we honor that through events like this. [01:13:28] We encourage students to notify school officials of cultural events that they would like to see represented in their community as well. On a more serious note, I would also like to highlight the importance of safety in our schools, especially with the recent school shootings that have been happening and the ongoing pattern within our nation. [01:13:46] It is important that students feel safe in their school environment in order to have an effective learning experience. In relation to this, I would also like to share that in recent meetings, we have been able to inspect and ask questions about the new AI safety technology that is being proposed, which was very beneficial in seeing the steps that are being taken to work toward greater security. [01:14:08] Thank you so much for your time. That's all for tonight. And we encourage students to contact us on Twitter @PWCSREPS if they have any ideas that they would like to be brought forward. Thank you. all right thank you mr daniels excellent you can you're welcome back anytime um moving on to superintendent's time dr mcdade thank you mr chairman um well we we already know that there are many um special observances for the month of april we heard earlier from two of our amazing school librarians that april is national school library month in addition we have several [01:14:45] different observances some of them that i'll mention this evening and we really look forward to highlighting these recognitions throughout the month in a variety of ways so although I'll mention only a few this evening we will be celebrating through the scoop our social media and YouTube channel in my weekly letters and in school-based activities events and fundraisers we continue to focus on delivering a positive climate and culture and encouraging family and community engagement the 28 purple star recipients honored earlier this evening serve as notable examples of schools maximizing parent and community engagement through support [01:15:20] of military connected families among the many special observances this month this week is both public school and national volunteer week a community that is authentically engaged in the education process supports the importance of learning assists with monitoring progress advocates for new and innovative approaches and has the tools necessary to participate in the well-being of every student. I encourage you each to reach out to your local school and find out how you can get involved in their academic, social, and humanitarian efforts. PWCS would also like to recognize April as Autism [01:15:55] Awareness and Acceptance Month. I am encouraged by the strides our schools are making to provide support for our students with autism. Ensuring every student has the chance to thrive and succeed in our schools and community is a responsibility shared by everyone. [01:16:11] As April is also National Child Abuse Prevention Month, I wish to recognize the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect. Child abuse is a devastating social issue that cuts across all boundaries of race, education levels and income brackets. [01:16:29] Please join PWCS in collaboration with Stop Child Abuse Now or SCAN of Northern Virginia to focus on preventing child abuse and neglect during the month of April. The Virginia School Boards Association has designated the month of April as VSBA Workforce Readiness Month. [01:16:47] This month and every month, PWCS is preparing our students to be workforce ready. Our career and technical education programs, special education employee programs, and work-based learning are vital in preparing our students for immediate employment in fast-growing fields and skilled trades. [01:17:06] A new partnership involving independence, non-traditional school exemplifies the benefits of workforce preparation programs. The PWCS facilities department has employed two independence, non-traditional students who are gaining valuable hands-on experience while still attending all of their classes. [01:17:26] Nine more students are slated to begin work with the facilities department this summer. Saturday is Earth Day, and one of our strategic plan goals is to incorporate renewable energy, build towards sustainability, and reduce greenhouse emissions, all while developing project-based learning designed to utilize the school building as a teaching tool. [01:17:48] PWCS will be installing solar power systems at 12 schools thanks to a partnership with Secure Solar Futures, a provider of on-site clean energy and educational programs to K-12 schools. We eagerly look forward to further collaborations for a bright and clean future for our children. [01:18:09] I want to recognize the many individuals who provide critical support across our school division, our executive assistants and clerical staff, part advisor, part cheerleader, part protector, part confidant. Our administrative professionals keep us on course and on pace. [01:18:27] Next week is Administrative Professionals Week, and we look forward to thanking and spotlighting the many individuals across PWCS positively contributing to our schools and offices, especially on Administrative Professionals Day, April 26. [01:18:43] Moving into our next presentation. Over the past several months, students and their families and teachers and staff have been alarmed and concerned by incidents involving violence in and around schools. As a school division, safety and security is our top priority, and it is tethered to commitment to of our strategic plan positive climate and culture. The objective of this commitment is to ensure students and staff feel safe and supported in our schools every day. We have made significant investments to improve our security posture. However, there is more that can be done. We [01:19:21] continue to work diligently to take a proactive approach to deter, detect, and defend. Throughout February and March, risk management and security engaged the public in discussions surrounding the potential implementation of new preventative technology. As a result of these discussions, feedback, and regular assessments of our safety posture, I am bringing forward to the school board a recommendation to implement security screening technology in all PWCS middle and high schools. This is a critical next step toward protection and this [01:19:57] technology is already successfully implemented in sports stadiums, national museums and school divisions across the country. We remain vigilant in the innovative implementation of national best practices in school safety to protect and safeguard the physical, social, and emotional well-being of every student and staff member. While there are many pros and cons that come with this recommendation, which you will hear in the presentation tonight, the one thing that we all agree on is the need to do more to protect our students and [01:20:34] staff for schools to be a safe place for teaching and learning and it is this collective sense of urgency to ensure safe school environments that drives my recommendation to implement security screening technology for the 22 20 23 24 school year at this time I would like to invite our chief operating officer mr. [01:20:56] vernenbach back to the podium to present the community feedback answers to frequently asked questions and provide the board with additional information in support of this recommendation thank you dr. McDade and again good evening everyone dr. McDade thank you for the for teeing this up and providing a great deal of information Christian thank you for your comments and Christian was one of the students who was out at at one of our demonstrations obviously this is grounded in our strategic plan and it goes back to our providing a positive [01:21:32] climate and culture in the district and you know PWCS's commitment to providing welcoming safe and sustainable schools first and foremost you know I want to just recognize we've had guns make their way into our schools and we are seeing an uptick in crimes in the community that are involving weapons and we we do need to do more in adding to our multi-layered multi-tiered approach to safety. First and foremost at the outset of this presentation I want to stress that this is one approach to a multi-layered [01:22:12] approach to safety to do everything we can to minimize risk while recognizing that there is no way to eliminate risk. Although I'm presenting tonight a weapons detection system again it is one tier. We believe in taking every step, and this is a major step, in minimizing the risk of harm to students and employees. I want to, again, at the outset of this presentation, stress that there is no foolproof measure we can take to ensure our students and employees' safety, including the implementation of metal detectors or a weapons detection system. Also, I want to [01:22:51] make abundantly clear that Evolve is a highly effective system. It does have a small margin of error and is focused on detection of mass casualty weapons, i.e. guns, parts of guns, explosives, and large knives. Again, there is nothing that is foolproof. Evolve is unlike your traditional metal detector. It prioritizes detection of weapons of mass casualty with a high success rate, uses artificial technology with an ability to get smarter over time. They provide [01:23:27] excellent customer service support and training demonstrations of traditional metal detectors and artificial intelligence we have attended demonstrations i want to thank miss williams she was a board member who did accompany district staff down to charlotte mecklenburg and we observed these systems in charlotte mecklenburg and hampton city we are we have received overwhelming support by our chief of police SROs and school security officers and you know just want to mention we there is a state contract for Evolve and this does not require us [01:24:04] to issue an RFP and it is a sole source item and it's a sole sole source item that again it's a sole source item that minimizes negative effects on students social emotional well-being by maintaining a positive entry it's less intrusive scanning it doesn't require like your traditional metal detectors total divestment of traditional items that you would carry like cell phones wallets keys belt buckles it's able to handle large volumes of schools and that's very different from your traditional metal detector and we've all had those experiences where we're standing in significant lines and it [01:24:43] takes a significant amount of time. This allows multiple students to go through the system at a time, and you know, through our observations at those, in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, we saw them get about 2,500 students into a school through three entry points with this system in about 15 minutes. [01:25:01] I wanna be very clear that this system does not store any biometric data on students, and photos of students are stored locally by PWCS and are not shared with Evolve staff. [01:25:16] Evolve Technology was awarded the US Department of Homeland Security's DHS Safety Act designation, their Evolve Express system, which we are suggesting implementation. It's entrusted to detect weapons in the following secure locations. [01:25:33] It's used at the Pentagon. Dr. McDade mentioned professional sports venues, over 30 venues represented by the NFL, NLB, NHL, and MLB. ANOVA Hospitals locally use the Evolve Express system. [01:25:48] It's used by Amazon, Disney, and Six Flags theme parks, and Smithsonian museums. It's implemented currently in over 500 plus school districts in the US, and here in Virginia, it's currently being implemented in Manassas City, Alexandria, Colonial Beach, Portsmouth, Roanoke City, Franklin County, Nelson County, and Hopewell City. [01:26:12] I just want to take a moment to stress all the community engagement efforts that occurred over the past couple months Prince this began really on January 25th with Prince William County School Board and the Prince William County Board of Supervisors were presented the divisions a tiered approach to prioritizing student and staff safety which did include a presentation of the evolved weapons detection technology school board members and county supervisors saw a brief video provided by Evolve demonstrating the functionality of the technology. [01:26:47] Stakeholders within the division and community were invited to attend several engagement sessions over the months of February and March to learn about our multi-tiered approach to safety and a proposed tier of the weapons detection technology. We do believe it is instrumental to instilling confidence in our commitment to providing a safe academic environment for our students and staff. [01:27:09] Each session was well-attended and highly engaging with the QR code for participants to submit questions and feedback and comments throughout the events, allowing Division and Evolve staff to provide real-time answers to those questions during those events. The QR code remained open until March 30th for stakeholders to continue to submit their feedback and comments, and the last session was a virtual session that was recorded and is still on our website, and that qr code remained open until march 30th in those sessions in our community engagement sessions we did provide interpreter services and that was available at each of our events [01:27:49] including our virtual event i want to touch on our community forums throughout the month of february in our virtual event and you can see those here on the screen we had about six over 600 participants in our engagement efforts we did collect about 500 over 550 responses that were submitted through our qr code system and just just we did not ask this was simply just people providing us their feedback and questions there was no prompt with the qr code and we did have over 240 unsolicited [01:28:24] statements of support uh through the collection of that information so at this time i want to dive a little deeper in with you with some of the community feedback that we received and just touching on the benefits we really try to disaggregate this data down and distill it into some categories and really create some faqs and we'll get into those in a minute but this is directly from what we collected from community feedback the benefits of the system it added a layer of safety and security in our schools which contributes to a peace of mind for our students staff and families. It really is a deterrent in discouraging individuals [01:29:03] from entering into our schools with prohibited items. Quick and efficient entry into our schools. Less invasive than other systems. Maintains the privacy of student information which is owned locally. And you can see here we've teased out some quotes that were direct from the feedback. I'm in favor of any practice to reduce capability of or reduce the capability of any person with ill intentions of entering schools. I fully support this safety measure to ensure the safety of our children and teachers. I'm strongly for install installing security technology. This evolved technology helps keep our gut [01:29:42] helps keep guns out of our schools and keep students and staff safe from any potential threats. I think this is a necessary tool given all the uncertainty of people and their intentions. Maximized security should be the priority, and as long as it's non-invasive and secondary procedures are respectful, I think it's a good thing. We tried again. We teased out some of the concerns here for you, and some of those concerns really will not prevent someone intent on causing harm from gaining access to the interior of our buildings, [01:30:16] possible false alerts from permitted items. Though a deterrent, this system is not perfect and will not eliminate the risks of weapons entering or schools, requires school staff to operate, and increased upfront cost. [01:30:33] And we've teased out some quotes here for you this evening. I think this is an ineffective overreaction. Do most school shooters enter through the front doors? I do not believe these devices are a necessary expense. We do not want surveillance. [01:30:49] No and no, this is not a prison. These machines are ineffective and expensive, Plus, there is no way that we can put one at every door. Some schools have 30-plus exterior doors. And so at this time, I'd like to take some time to dive a little bit deeper into those community questions and responses. [01:31:09] And really what we did is try to develop an FAQ here to answer as many questions as we could in these categories. So I'll just dive into that with you here. And our first one really is around anticipated schools with Evolve. [01:31:24] Like where would we install these? Where do we think we're gonna place these? Will these be installed in elementary, middle and high schools? PWCS will implement weapons detection systems in secondary schools, both traditional and non-traditional secondary schools. [01:31:40] And elementary school implementation is not planned at this time. How soon will the Evolve system be installed in our schools? Schools will begin receiving Evolve systems during the last week in August through the end of September with seven schools each week until completion. [01:31:58] The order has not been determined at this time. However, each week will include schools in the Eastern, Central and Western areas of the school division. We teased out some questions here regarding usage times and themed around that. [01:32:14] I've heard the Evolve system would only be used first thing in the morning. High schools will have three entrances and middle schools will have two entrances monitored during arrival. Entrances will be used by bus riders, student drivers walkers and student drop-off after arrival lanes will be monitored only at the main entrance throughout the instructional day for students coming late to school and visitors pwcl also will pwcs also have evolved systems at football and basketball games extracurricular activities in the evening and on weekends we do anticipate the outdoor units for football games [01:32:52] and considering expanding the use to other activities. Another theme that we saw through the community feedback were health considerations. So we've teased out some questions here for you. Is there any radiation or RF exposure from Evolve? [01:33:11] Evolve uses extremely low frequency radio waves, known as ELF, to reduce or to induce the magnetization of metal objects. The same range is used in retail settings for loss prevention. [01:33:26] What if someone has an implanted electronic medical device or hearing aid? The FDA recognizes a low likelihood of ELF interfering with implanted electronic medical devices, including cochlear implants. We encourage individuals with concerns to consult with their medical provider. [01:33:45] And as Evolve is focusing on detecting weapons of mass casualty, hearing aids are unlikely to cause an alert. Can I pass through EVOLVE if I'm pregnant? Common exposures to ELF are not considered hazardous to individuals or their unborn babies. [01:34:01] Individuals are encouraged to consult with their medical provider. Again, additional health considerations that were raised. How do I raise a health concern for my medically fragile student? If you have a health concern with your child passing through the EVOLVE system, please consult with your medical provider. [01:34:20] If your child receives special education services, you can consult with your child's special education case manager to schedule an IEP meeting to discuss alternative screening measures. Are there any studies regarding the long-term health impacts of the Evolve system? [01:34:36] Evolve is a new technology, and there are no long-term health studies with Evolve specifically. The magnetic field bands in which Evolve Express operates are so low they are not federally enforced, and Evolve has been certified against the Institute electronics and electrical engineers IEEE safety standards. The next bucket of FAQs are really focused around data considerations and what kind of data is generated by Evolve. The system generates [01:35:10] metadata indicating potential threats, camera data to match sensor results, and the general area of concern of where the item may be. Statistical data to provide analytics for alarm rates and threat types, and self-diagnostic for system and health calibration. [01:35:28] Data collected from the Evolve system will be managed centrally and will only be used for planning purposes. This includes the number of students screened, number of alerts, and the duration for screening. For security reasons, this information will not be shared publicly. [01:35:44] Where is the data stored? Is it in the cloud, and how long is it stored? Data is stored locally in the system itself and is deleted on a first-in and first-out basis with all images to be removed within with a tablet power cycle only the system administrator that is pwcs controls the system controls if the system actively stores screening results who can see the data data can be seen on the tablet by operators and or for resolution purposes can the data be used for processing and prosecution if a weapon is found if a weapon is found and the [01:36:23] police department becomes involved a subpoena must be submitted for stored data to be shared. Our next bucket of FAQs are really around the detection capabilities of the of the system. What kind of things does Evolve detect? Detection of potential threats such as knives, guns, and explosives based on sensitivity settings of the system. Evolve can detect ghost guns, 3D printed and simulated guns. Vapes are a significant concerns in our schools now, will Evolve detect them? [01:36:56] Evolve may detect vapes depending on the construction and materials in combination with the sensitivity settings that we decide for the system. PWCS will use Evolve with the primary focus on weapons detection, which does not specifically include vapes and vape paraphernalia. [01:37:17] Data efficacy is our next bucket of FAQs. How sensitive will the settings be on the system? PWCS, in consultation with the Evolve staff, determines the sensitivity setting and may decide to increase or decrease the level to add an additional layer of safety or prevent excessive false alerts if necessary. [01:37:37] Can a group of more than three students pass through the Evolve lanes at one time? And will it detect if one or more students has a weapon? Evolve is able to detect potential threats even with more than one person passing through the system at a time, showing alerts for each student's detected with a potential threat. [01:37:58] What if a weapon's in someone's backpack, bag, or case? Evolve's AI technology places a red box around the area indicating a potential threat that may be hidden in an enclosed space, included in the items that we just mentioned. [01:38:14] Has Evolve efficacy been independently reviewed? Yes, Evolve has been awarded the US Department of Homeland Security Safety Act designation as a qualified anti-terrorism technology. Our next bucket of theme responses or community feedback was around false alerts. [01:38:34] What is the data on false alerts? The false alert percentage is approximately 9%. Operators and Evolve staff will work with students early in the implementation process to identify items causing false alert, like three ring binders and metal eyeglass cases, and make adjustments as necessary. [01:38:56] my student carries an instrument back and forth to school. Will it cause a false alert? And what other items can cause a false alert? Large three ring binders, metal eyeglass cases, umbrellas with a metal tube inside, and some laptops may cause a false alert. [01:39:16] Over the summer, families will receive a list describing permitted items that may cause a false alert. And then another theme was around implementation considerations. How is Evolve going to be implemented in schools? [01:39:33] How will traffic flow be impacted and will staff be required to use Evolve? What about students who access trailers and access school after morning arrivals? Will visitors be required to use Evolve? How will school supplies be impacted? [01:39:49] We plan to establish an implementation committee and we're working to establish that committee now to develop comprehensive communication, training, and implementation plans for Evolve, which will address these questions. More information on the implementation committee will be shared a little bit later in this presentation. [01:40:09] Monitoring, this is kind of an FAQ around monitoring. How will we monitor evolved lanes, teachers, security, and administrators? Administrators, security, and voluntary instructional and non-instructional staff may monitor lanes as students pass through. [01:40:26] Instructional and non-instructional staff trained to monitor entry points will be provided a stipend to arrive 60 minutes prior to bell times to assist with screening. Staff will be trained on how to operate the lanes, resolve alerts, and how to handle if a weapon or other threat is found. [01:40:43] Training will be held over the summer and staff will be supervised by central office and evolved staff during the initial two-day implementation. The next theme was around secondary screening process. First off, what is secondary screening? [01:40:59] A secondary screening is an additional screening that occurs when the Evolve system detects an item that is not permitted at school. A secondary screening will be conducted for the impacted student, staff, and visitor in the event that the system detects an item not permitted at school. [01:41:17] How will the secondary screening be conducted? The student or visitor will be discreetly directed to a resolution table where they will be greeted by a trained operator who has an image of where the system was indicated with a red box where the student or visitor possesses a potentially prohibited item. [01:41:37] If the red box indicates on the backpack, the train operator will ask the student to open the backpack and the operator will then examine the contents. If the red box indicates that the item is on the student, the train operator will ask the student to divest the item onto the table. [01:41:56] What happens if an item is not permitted in the school is identified? Parents will be contacted if their student is in possession of an item not permitted in school. If a student refuses to participate in secondary screening, the student will be denied entry into the school and will be subject to the school code of behavior. [01:42:15] If a weapon has been detected and confirmed by a secondary screening, following division incident command protocols, the building's security posture will be determined. Prince William County PD will be contacted and notification will be sent to families, parents and families regarding a confirmed weapon. [01:42:35] And I just wanna take a moment here. Again, I stressed earlier that this is one layer of a multi-tiered approach that we're taking as a division to keep our students and staff safe. And I just wanna mention a few of those other things that we are doing and considering currently. [01:42:51] We are exploring currently technology to strengthen our doors and windows across the division from intrusion. We're monitoring and enforcement. We're currently monitoring daily with a QR code system with our security staff going around schools, monitoring and forcing the locking of interior and exterior doors at the start of and during the instructional day. [01:43:16] We have dedicated security staff conducting these security rounds at our schools. We have perimeter protection and surveillance through use of CCTV technology. We've actively increased the number of SROs assigned to our schools. [01:43:32] We are constructing secure vestibules this summer for our remaining schools without secure vestibules. And there are many other tiers to that approach. Just wanna get into a little bit of the funding for the Evolve system. [01:43:48] In central office, we will provide the funding, the entirety of the funding for our schools, including the associated costs and anticipated $725,000 of stipends for staff to monitor. [01:44:03] PWCS will continue dedicating ARPA funds during the 2023 school year to support the well-being of our students and staff, ensuring each school has a team of trained mental health support professionals as part of the PWCS HEALS initiative. And PWCS has committed to funding additional safety and security positions, and I just want to review what those additions are. For this current year, we added 97 security assistants, three senior school security officers, one security patrol, [01:44:37] and one community safety officer. Next year we are planning to add an assistant director for risk management and security department, security operations supervisor, crisis training coordinator, training specialist an elementary school and senior school or an elementary school sso and a senior security senior school security officer i want to get into a little bit about our site our school site evaluations that have been completed with our evolved staff and in conjunction with [01:45:12] administration we hosted the evolved staff throughout the month of february and along with our security staff and our building principals did an evaluation of each of our school sites to determine how many evolved systems we would need at each school and across the the division in our secondary schools i just want to remind folks that all of these systems are portable and plugged directly into an electrical outlet within our school and we're proposing a purchase of 81 systems for our middle and high schools including one outdoor unit per high school and one spare unit at no cost this does include systems for three entry points at high schools and two entry [01:45:52] points at our middle schools. And here's the four-year lease agreement. The first year you can see it's about a little over $2.9 million. And it's a little higher that first year because obviously that includes shipping and installation. But you can see the total over that four years is just about $10.7 million. And you can see how that's broken out over that four-year lease. [01:46:19] And just want to cover a little bit with you on the implementation and next steps. I did mention that implementation committee earlier in the presentation should the school board purchase the evolved system we will be this this committee we're working in anticipation of this we're working with standing this committee up currently obviously it'll include the chief information officer chief operating officer associate superintendents for high schools and middle schools division council directors of communication facilities risk management and security and our transportation departments our supervisor of the secure operations center senior school security [01:46:56] officer and several secondary principals and school safety officers from our high schools and middle schools and our goals through that implementation will be to develop a comprehensive communication training and implementation plan with consideration of timing logistics employee usage school supplies and traffic flows at our schools well we're also working currently with our legal counsel to develop policies and regulations for the use of a weapons detection system to screen students upon entry into our buildings and including secondary screenings and what's our measure of [01:47:33] success with the implementation of this system an increase in students and staff feeling safe as you know we survey our students every year and so we're hoping over time to see that increase the districts that when we when we did observe in Charlotte Mecklenburg they did report to us an increase immediately after implementation there's there they saw a spike in their students feeling safe in schools and staff obviously a reduction of weapons incidents within our schools a reduction of school lockdowns and a reduction of student discipline referrals so to sum things up we're here tonight to recommend for [01:48:12] board approval based on the feedback received from our school safety community engagement sessions in the effectiveness of the evolved systems in detecting mass casualty weapons at high-volume entry points we are requesting the board authorize the superintendent to enter into a subscription agreement to implement the Evolve Express system in all secondary schools by the end of September 2023 as a weapons screening technology and I wanted to stress here we did receive again overwhelming support from our school Safe Schools Advisory Council our school safety officers and our Prince [01:48:48] William County Police Department and this this slide here just really kind of summarizes the timeline that we have for implementation currently Mr. Chairman that does conclude my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have Dr. McDade is there anything further you want to add no we we covered everything here I have mentioned before that I have a really strong partnership and collaboration with the Prince William County Police Department I meet on a regular basis with Chief Newsham before I even decided to go down this road to do the research this all stemmed from some of those [01:49:28] conversations that we had in identifying that we have had weapons in our schools and those are only the ones that we know about and so one of the things that Chief Newsham did impress upon me is that you know there is there as Vern mentioned earlier there's nothing that's foolproof there's nothing that is a guarantee but the more that we can do to keep weapons out of the school on the safer that we'll all be and so having the support of our police department was huge to me and we've had very serious conversations about what next steps could be in terms of increased layers of support and this is the logical next [01:50:05] step this is not something that is embraced by everyone certainly we shared some of the feedback from community members who were vehemently against this for different reasons which were mentioned whether it be costs or the fact that it is not foolproof uh the one thing i do want to impress upon the board is that it is you know my responsibility our responsibility collectively to do everything in our power to keep students safe and this is something that can be done to keep weapons out of our schools whether it's being brought by um a student or a visitor whoever [01:50:41] it is you know we have to have something that will deter um individuals from bringing weapons into our school we have to give families a peace of mind that we're doing everything that we possibly can i think that people respect that they're that that nothing's foolproof or nothing's perfect that things will happen but um i think that our families deserve to know that whatever innovations are out there that's available and at our disposal to protect their students that we are we're taking advantage of full advantage of that and so this is an opportunity to further bolster our efforts for safety in our schools and we [01:51:17] will continue to stay abreast of what's current and new and innovative in school safety and follow national practices as new developments come we'll be on top of those right now this is best in class in terms of screening and we're seeing more and more school divisions following suit and we want to not sit on the sidelines but make sure that we're taking proactive actions to ensure safety in Prince William County and so for that reason I am bringing forward this recommendation for consideration to the school board that we enter into this [01:51:51] lease agreement with Evolve. Thank you Dr. McDade. Okay does anybody have any questions comments and I know the board members have been briefed on this throughout the process over the last few months. So please, if you have any questions now, we'll take them, Ms. Zargarpur and then Ms. Williams. [01:52:11] - It's just really quick. There was a slide where we talked a little bit about student data being stored and it's Prince William is storing it, correct? - That's correct. - And it's a first in first or out type of thing. Do we know roughly how either how much information or how long that's stored? [01:52:28] - I do. - What is that? - Yes, ma'am, on the tablets, which accompany the system, it's about 1,000, and then they begin to overwrite, and on the tower, it's about 10,000, so they would begin to overwrite. - 1,000 or 10,000? - Well, 1,000 on the tablet, 10,000 on the tower. - Images? [01:52:44] - Yes. - Oh, okay, got it. Okay, okay, thank you. - Williams. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to first thank all of the staff and the superintendent for this presentation for bringing this idea forward for us to have for consideration. [01:53:01] As you so mentioned, Mr. Bach, I was part of the team that went to Charlotte-Mecklenburg, I was initially skeptical of any type of system like this, being a former Prince William County student. And I do remember when Woodbridge High School did have metal detectors. And I remember what it felt like to be a student going through those and the negative impact that it had on self-esteem. [01:53:20] And it did create sort of like a prison environment. So I did have concerns. What I will say is that I'm very glad that I went. It was an amazing opportunity to be able to see the system live in action, to be able to speak not only to the principals and administrators, but to see the students utilize the system, to be able to speak with them. [01:53:41] I also had the opportunity to speak to a few high school parents that were there on a similar sort of dad watch program, and the chief of police down at Charlotte-Becklenburg as well. The response was overwhelming from all parties involved as to the fact that they did recognize that no system is foolproof, but it did definitely impact their ability to feel safe and secure in the school environment in a positive manner, and I can say that that's one of the first times as a school board member where I think every single stakeholder was in agreement with it. [01:54:17] Also, their surveys down there reflected the same. I think that a lot of the concerns that we've heard are valid concerns, but seeing it live and having to conceptualize 2,000 people going through the system in under 15 minutes is very hard until you see it. [01:54:34] but I can attest to having watched it, how efficient it was, how the students adapted very quickly from those conversations we had with both middle and high school principals and watching the students go through it. They were very self-aware. They knew exactly how to go through and the staff also with the monitoring. [01:54:51] I just want to ease the staff's mind because I do remember hearing frequently during our presentations, a lot of concerns about additional duties for staff. And I think that the system that as being discussed currently really respects that and not demanding of them to have additional duties which was a concern that we heard repeatedly. [01:55:11] Again, I just wanna thank you very much for this and thank all of our community stakeholders who came out or were able to participate virtually. I do understand the concern for cost but again, I think that this is the best system that's out there currently. And I also think that it's hard to put a price on safety And this multi-tiered approach that we do have in our division, I recognize that we didn't touch on every single security aspect, some for obvious reasons and some because time constraints, but I do appreciate all the research and hard work that has gone into making sure that we are able to really inform our community about our next steps. [01:55:49] So thank you. - Ms. Jessie. - First of all, I wanna thank you for this very comprehensive presentation. I know Dr. McDade said one point, we're not ready because I wanted to be thorough. - We're thorough, thank you. [01:56:05] During my two by two, I ask a question about, you know, I'm always concerned about the doors being open. As a principal, there was always a person who put that rock in the door because they did not want to walk around the school. But one of the things that I think if you remember, we discussed in the incident that happened in Tennessee, that Christian school, the thing that startled me was the fact that this person went to the door and blew out the windows. [01:56:34] And we were talking about shadow proof glass. Could you share with us what we're doing in that area? - Sure, we're currently investigating materials that can be placed over our glass entryways that can be shot, but not broken. [01:56:54] And I've seen products that have been shot 15, 20 times and then hit with a sledgehammer hit with a battering ram and you cannot gain access into the entry so we are exploring those options currently will that be a part of your uh plan and will that cost also the cost for that we're currently engaging uh with um vendors with those products right now miss jesse so i'm not prepared to talk we're just in the in the conversations [01:57:23] around that so thank you um miss um miss wall thank you chairman latif i um i appreciate this very thorough presentation you've given us a very comprehensive um presentation um balanced thorough i appreciate hearing the pros and the cons um and the analysis of community feedback as well as um the divisions thinking on this um i appreciate all of the hard work i know it [01:57:58] has been a lot of work probably taken many many hours but you have given us good information for us to consider and this is a very important decision and i appreciate the recommendation and all of the hard work thank you miss jackson um thank you for the presentation tonight i know the safety and security of students are on the minds of all families and i appreciate prince william county's growth mindset approach towards constantly evaluating security in prince from County Schools buildings and the priority that we've taken in making sure [01:58:35] trying to ensure the safety and security of all staff and students the concern that I heard most from the community were both the cost of financial and staff time and this the discussion tonight appears to take this into consideration the cost and the stipend that is proposed I also want to thank you both you and Dr. McDade for including the feedback from local law enforcement and just again for the very transparent discussion tonight and all the time and effort that I went into to this [01:59:12] very important discussion thank you sure thank you Mr. Wilk thank you a couple things one you know being in my background is working with education technology and stuff like that I I realized that you might have the perfect product out there and some school systems just, it doesn't work for them. [01:59:36] A student cited Naviance tonight and I was a consultant for them many years back in the Midwest and I think it's a phenomenal product. It was highly touted here, but there were some school systems that it flopped and to them they just looked at it as a wasted purchase. [01:59:53] We've heard, I've seen some communications from people like X school district disbanded these, Y school district got rid of these. Do we know any particular reason? I mean, other than broadly, like what I can conclude that sure, it just whatever, for whatever reason, it just did not work for that division, for various reasons in the way their protocols were, do we have any information about that? [02:00:16] - You know, Mr. Wilk, I'll say that we're, you know, through implementation is huge and how you go about implementing a product like this and making sure that you're comprehensive in considering everything throughout the implementation and taking your time. [02:00:32] I do know that throughout this process that we've heard stories from divisions. You know, when we toured Charlotte-Mecklenburg, they gave us some real concrete feedback on what not to do at the implementation. So I think you gotta be very careful in how you roll it out. [02:00:48] One of their major suggestions was do not roll this out in all your schools at once. Because you're like us, you're a large division this is a hard thing to roll out it takes time the communication piece is key with families of informing and working with the students of what are what are items that you might bring to school like three ring binders glass you know eyeglass cases those sort of things so what we've heard from the divisions that we've worked with and what I've heard from the Evolve staff is that's critical in the communication plan as well of rolling this out and and also [02:01:24] recognizing um and i've said it numerous times tonight this is not foolproof uh you know there's a margin of error with everything there's no security item that is foolproof and so uh you know i think there have been some cases where districts have have touted this as being a foolproof item and it's it's not i just want to add a finer point to that around what mr box said about this notion that you know some things won't be we caught I think being really open and transparent with the public about that that they're depending on the sensitivity of the settings that we that we put of course we don't want [02:02:02] to have a sensitivity where everything is going off because you know that that will be counterproductive to trying to get students in in a timely fashion but being clear that there may be like anything there may be things that could get by however having the system not only is it a deterrent it significantly reduces the probability of a weapon getting into our school we do not have hard data to concretely answer your question about how many of this if it's in 500 school systems how many of them implemented this with mixed results how many of them implemented this with success we don't have those kinds of numbers [02:02:41] the school systems that we have talked to and been in communication that have had successful implementation has said to us that this has been extremely beneficial to their school community so that's that's the qualitative data that we have no thank you i appreciate that and thanks for your response yes sir um another question well my last question really um you know a few short weeks ago we passed an operating budget for next fiscal year can someone explain to me in the public exactly how this funding is or where the funding is coming from and how we're making in my opinion an important purchase i'm gonna i'm gonna defer to mr wallingford for that one thank you thank [02:03:21] you mr bach mr wilk um you're correct we uh we this school board just passed the budget a couple of weeks ago as you're aware we've uh actually received some additional revenue both on february 28th and then again recently at um at recap at the at the county board's recap so the additional funding required to actually make this make this purchase or engage in this lease will not have an impact on our budget at all we'll we'll have the funding sufficient to make this happen and [02:03:57] mr wallyford just for for clarification we'll come back and vote on that at some point with the when we get the new budget when that is correct those numbers in fact we've been talking about those just the past day or two so the in layman's terms the additional funding is coming from the county that is correct because of additional revenue that they had received that you know the percentage the shared agreement gives us an x percent i forget the number exactly right now so two things have actually happened one is they've actually reduced and this is not final yet [02:04:33] obviously but they've actually reduced the tax rate number one and number two even though the the tax rates going down, they've realized additional revenues by reviewing their forecasts. So we're actually seeing increases in revenues taking place during the budget process right now. [02:04:52] Okay. Thank you. And those increase in revenues are what we're sharing with, with the county. That is correct. So we'll get 50%, 57% of all increased revenues that they're realizing with their change in the forecast for the upcoming year. [02:05:08] And that's where we'll be taking this, this money for. Yes, sir. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So I'll sort of wrap up here. I will say that it's disappointing that we're at this point. [02:05:26] Why are we here? Any number of reasons society has failed and sort of keeping weapons out of the hands of children, whatever one's views are on that and how we have failed on that has been monumental. [02:05:47] And so here we are figuring out ways to harden security systems for our schools. You know, when we started this discussion really about a year ago, you know, we had this discussion because we saw an increase in weapons being brought to school since returning from the pandemic, and it's been a very high increase. [02:06:11] And so that has risen the level of everyone's anxiety, fear, whether it's our teachers, staff, students, families, parents, and then seeing things happen across the country, which sort of is more now routine, unfortunately, continues to increase anxiety in the community. [02:06:28] I spent the fall, you know, trying to understand, I'm taking a class actually on, and I had to write a paper on a topic, a hot topic in education, and so I chose weapons in schools and shootings and in my research and you know I did a literature review on every paper written about weapons being brought to schools in the last 25 years and the three main causes for weapons being brought to schools are if there is drugs some level of drug use or drug dealing drug dealers bring them to school bullies but primarily it's it could be victims [02:07:05] of bullies it could be the bully but it's actually bully victims are the highest risks of students who are being bullied and are bullying others. They're the highest risk. And then thirdly, students with mental health issues. All three of these issues are issues that our society has sort of failed and continues to fail in managing, whether it's our healthcare system, whether it's our, you know, whatever, wherever you wanna come. [02:07:31] And so these three things become the responsibility of school divisions. And they continue to become our responsibilities and take away from time being taught, math being taught in class and science. And so it is, for me, very disappointing. [02:07:47] At the beginning and the outset of this, I was not in favor of these systems or doing this work. I have evolved, sort of like the evolved system says we should, right, and evolve. I've evolved in my thinking because every person I have talked to in this community looks at me like I'm an idiot when I say I'm not sure we should do it. [02:08:07] They all want to do this. And it is bipartisan, pan-partisan, everybody. Doesn't matter where you're at on this because while we recognize we need to do something to solve the drugs, the drug dealing, we've had a war on drugs since I was a child, okay? [02:08:24] Since 1980s, we failed at that war. We lost that war, that war is, you know, we got our ass kicked and we're continuing to lose that. But we, you know, bullying, mental health, all of these things are things that we have to work on, but they don't solve the immediate problem of someone coming into the school with a weapon. [02:08:41] Evolve does, the artificial intelligence scanners provides another layer, not perfect, of added security and deterrence. What I found very important from your visit to Charlotte Mecklenburg, which really isn't the reason we're doing this, but one of the unanticipated consequences, and again, it's not sure that this happens in all school divisions, but they had a decrease in vaping and drugs being brought to school, which if you can just do those two things, that's a lot of the emails I get from parents is vaping and drugs in schools, Can we do something about it? [02:09:09] If this helps with that, fantastic, I'm all for that. You know, it's an election year, so everyone's talking about getting reelected or running for office, and there's a lot of polling data out there. Polling data done in our county that I have looked at, examined, the number one and two issues by everybody, regardless of demographic in our community, by far and away any other issue, number one and two are education and crime. [02:09:40] and they flip as one and two, depending on who you're talking to. But those are the top two concerns by people here in Prince William County. And you see it when you talk, you hear it when you talk to folks, you see it in the polling data, you feel it in the fear and the anxiety of everyone on these issues. [02:09:56] And you see it in the emails the school board members get. And so this issue of adopting this weapons detection deterrent system addresses both of those issues. It allows us to do the education we're supposed to do with a little less fear and worry. and addresses crime in a way. [02:10:13] So I think this is something that I fully support the superintendent's recommendation. The school board, I think, as you've heard from them over the last few months, has come to the conclusion after almost near unanimity from our public on this issue. [02:10:34] I mean, there are valid concerns, and I'm glad, Mr. Bach, you brought them all up tonight. I think this presentation, folks should take a look at this. This will be up on the slide, on the website. It's a very important presentation. We really took a lot of pains to find out what people think. [02:10:50] We have safe schools committees. We have, we've engaged with the parents. And when we started on this, and I know Dr. McDade said, you know, she works closely with the police department. I asked Chief Newshan, he wants it. I called the Commonwealth attorney, Amy Ashworth, seven months ago and said, Amy, what do you think about this? [02:11:08] and without hesitation, not a second skip beat in their voice, do it. Chair Wheeler, the Board of County Supervisors in discussions with them and all the Board of County Supervisors are frankly behind this and in support of anything we can do to make our parents and our teachers and our staff and everyone feel more comfortable here and our students. [02:11:32] And so I think that we must move this direction. It's unfortunate we have to move this direction. I'll continue to say that as long as I sit up here, but it is our responsibility. It's part of our strategic plan and it's our commitment to the public and the people of this county that we serve, that we do this. [02:11:53] And I think I've covered all my topics there. So I'll wrap up with that. If there's no further questions, we'll move on to the next topic. So this board will, for all intents and purposes, if the press is listening, I have heard no opposition. [02:12:09] Is that correct? This is not a vote. We will vote on May 3rd. Procurement will take place based on the timeline on the slide starting May 4th. And as you heard from everyone, we have the funds to secure this. The funds have been provided by increased revenue forecast from the Board of County Supervisors and the county. [02:12:27] And as our share of the revenue sharing agreement, it will not take money out of the classroom based on the budget presented a couple of weeks ago. This is new monies that we are receiving and realizing, and we'll take those monies. and I want to thank Mr. Wallingford-Bach, Dr. McDade for creatively figuring out a way to do this without a 10, $20 million upfront cost. [02:12:49] And so this lease is important. And so on a $1.7 billion budget, $1.7 billion budget, the 2.9, 2.8 million per year really is not as, it's not gonna hurt us as much as the 10 million obviously would. [02:13:08] So for that, I want to commend Dr. McDade, the whole team for putting this together and really hearing from the public. The public did say they're concerned about costs. So you guys addressed that by creatively coming up with ways to do it. We've been fortunate that the county, even with reducing a tax rate, but with their commitment to funding schools over the last three years, we found those dollars. [02:13:31] And so I thank the Board of County Supervisors and all of them for doing this and our delegates from the state who've continued to provide funding. So I'll wrap up with that and I'm sorry for going on long on that, but it's one of those things that, again, I feel sad that we're here, but we gotta do this and we're gonna do it and I'm optimistic that this will have a positive impact on increasing the layers of security we're providing for everyone in this division. [02:14:00] Thank you very much. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. - Okay, next, we'll move on to, that was it, right? What is that? - Oh yeah, 1801 revision of policy 890 modifications to buildings, equipment and grounds, which is a first reading, Dr. McDade. [02:14:24] - Man of the hour, Vern. - Should just stay up here, so thank you, Dr. McDade. Really this, obviously this is a first reading and it's suggested language to clean up the policy in front of you. [02:14:39] It's a facilities development policy that addresses modifications to buildings, equipment and grounds. and we are very fortunate we enjoy a permitting, joint permitting agreement with Prince William County. [02:14:54] And so we have to be very careful that any adjustments, modifications that we make to our facilities and grounds really work through our facilities department. And really the policy and the regulation really ensures a prescription of that process, making sure that building principals are following through with our facilities directors, submitting an approval for any modification. [02:15:21] Our facilities department then will go into reviewing that for permitting. And it really does just help us make sure that we're keeping any modifications safe and in line with code. [02:15:37] So that's what's before you tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. - Questions, concerns, thoughts? - Excellent, so this is up for a couple of weeks and we will come back and vote on it in two weeks? - Yes, sir. - Okay, thank you, Mr. Bach, thank you. - Thank you. - At this point, we will now go to board matters and we will start this evening. [02:15:57] How about Mr. Wilk? He looks like he's just having a great time down there. - Yes, splendid. Thank you, Dr. Lateef, thank you, everyone. You know, tonight it was a great honor to see so many Purple Star schools. [02:16:12] As I mentioned earlier, you know, My district has the largest military student population, I think in the county. Over the years, that has been a focal point of mine, making sure in previous budgets, we had the full-time funding, or the full funding, excuse me, for the full-time military liaison officer. [02:16:32] And last year, I was thankful to Dr. McDay that I was able to secure that full-time position. And we saw Dr. James, who was here tonight. And then focusing on our military families, it was was it two years ago Jen being the creator of the 9-11 curriculum committee with Jen Wall's support steadfast support we were able to recognize the memory and the events of that horrific day and our military and the men and women who served our country for that so congratulations again to the schools Mary Williams Ashland Henderson Patty Graham Park [02:17:09] potomac shores and forest park for their purple star designation i was at ashland this morning for one of the many military events that my son's school and filmed my board brief there so i'm excited to have that released to the community the event that was done at ashland a couple other things where's the clock oh uh what do i got okay i don't want to break it i don't see the eye of Zordon behind me. Couple musical events, great stuff since we last been here. The Lion King was [02:17:43] done both at Grand Park and Potomac Shores. Phenomenal. My wife, who's been at Forest Park for 18 years, put on her annual spring musical, Back to the 80s, which was great. Well attended. Supervisor Andrea Bailey attended with me. Our county does chess tournaments hosted at Forest Park the dedicated Nicole Largen of Forest Park puts these on on her own time Potomac schools do very well Henderson Elementary has not only won and taken second place in these tournaments how [02:18:17] much time 40 seconds the unified track and field event was last week another event that is Miss McCann is at the vanguard of that of Forest Park she's a special education teacher there and really really helped expand the unified program throughout our county. [02:18:37] So it was exciting to stop by there and see both Forest Park and Potomac participate with all the other high schools. And then lastly, I guess we'll say last year, I did have the privilege of coaching T-ball with the Dumfries Triangle Quantico Little League with my son. [02:18:55] This year he opted to play soccer instead. So no baseball, but I was really happy to attend opening night with Supervisor Bailey a week ago so time is up thank you everyone for watching tonight thank you I'm gonna start off first by recognizing the student who spoke tonight was Catalea she and I met her at one of my office hours and she was very invested in this topic so I hope the whole board and Dr. [02:19:30] McDade were paying attention that this may come up a little bit more often a recess in middle schools. So thank you, Catalea, for coming. I want to shout out a couple things that happened at OP. Danielle Darfur is the 2023 Amazon Future Engineer $40,000 scholarship award winner and she will be doing a summer internship. Also OP has Teachers for Tomorrow going to nationals with children's books that they have written and apparently we have about 29 PWCS students across the county going to that. I had an opportunity to see Chicago at [02:20:07] Colgan. It was an amazing performance. I also got a chance to visit Coles Elementary School. They had an international night and one of the things that I love that Coles does is when they have any kind of night with the with the kids and the parents they always have activities and so they were featuring some of the science of reading activities that night so that was really neat to see the different things that you can do, the games they were playing, the strategies and things that they were showing the parents so that the kids could be successful with these things. This weekend, the art festival was here at the Kelly Center. I made sure [02:20:46] to take a look and spend some time looking at the art. I got to say, I know our teachers are really good at this. If you were at this art show, you saw really great pieces of art from kindergarten all the way up to, what was it, fifth grade? [02:21:02] Yeah, this was the elementary one. And what struck me is that, you know, I didn't have these kind of art classes when I was a kid. So I know that they've got some really great instruction, and they're really good at pacing these projects. The kids were amazing. And inside our boardroom tonight, we have some pieces of art that came from Signal Hill. [02:21:21] They're fifth-grade sculptures inspired by Yayoi Kusama. sorry if I said that wrong. The art teacher at Signal Hill is Jill Braebrand. Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist whose works primarily are in sculpture, installation, and painting. She loves to use dots and the concept of infinity in her works of art. So fifth grade students from Signal Hill Elementary School were inspired by her giant flower sculptures and created their own mini flower sculptures using pattern, repetition, and form. And with that, I bid you all a good evening. May your [02:21:56] allergies be getting less and less. Thank you. Ms. Williams. Thank you, Ms. Sargapour. As an allergy sufferer myself, I'll take that. So I would be pleased to have been able to attend the National School Board Association Conference this year. I was able to attend a lot of different seminars and interact with board members from across the nation. A few of the seminars that I was able to attend were School Safety and You, Tools to Address Immersing Threats in K-12 community national school law news every public school leader should know all students are not creative equal effective boardmanship in poverty with [02:22:36] poverty and ethnicity in mind beyond beyond the alarm youth mental health solutions and parents rights and education I'm pleased to report back that Prince William County Schools consistently team seems to be in the lead in the implementation and the strategies that we employ here in our school division in comparison to other large divisions our size but it was also just it was just really nice to be able to interact with other school divisions from across the country and to really get a 50,000 level view about what we do here versus what other school divisions do I was also able to attend the Casa Brumar first annual meet and greet and learn about the rise up [02:23:14] scholarship that will assist members of the LGBTQIA+ community including allies and advocates to obtain their educational goals by offering financial sport for their enrollment in an Institute of Higher Learning it's open to all Prince William County students after that I intended the rededication or relaunch of the Amazon think big space at River Oaks the space opened initially in 2019 and it was the first in the world space like it to open there are now over 60 in existence I just want to give a big shout out to Amazon web services for the space and for the dedicating of a book vending machine I [02:23:52] I know book vending machines are like a hot commodity right now. Students are very excited and anything that we can do to encourage literacy is the right thing to do. Fred Lynn recently had their second annual Comic-Con. This is a very big deal in my house because we are all lovers of comics and superheroes. [02:24:12] I appreciate the fact that it's held at Fred Lynn. For those of our students who do not do well in large environments, it's an opportunity they may not have otherwise had. I wanna give a big shout out to artwayalliance.org who hosted panels and activities and it's just really nice to see the diversity of comic book artists out there and how it encourages students to continue to grow and learn. [02:24:35] It's very impactful in my family because my youngest son has dabbled in the comic book arts. So it was really nice for him to see other individuals who look like him doing that job. I want to thank NOVA's Girls Science Club for joining Lieslvania Elementary STEAM Night just recently. [02:24:53] I personally lost my mind when I saw a protozoa floating on the big microscope, on the microscope. They were able to connect a microscope to a big giant monitor. So myself and another parent who was an immunologist there, I think had more fun at times than some of the kids. With that, I'm running out of time. [02:25:09] I do wanna mention that there will be no racial and social justice meeting tomorrow. It was canceled due to the rescheduled board meeting. Thank you. - Mrs. Jessie. - Thank you. First of all, Woodridge High School, as usual, is into so many things, but one of the things that they've done on an annual basis is they have what they call mock interviews, where students are allowed to dress and prepare for an interview, and several of us were seated, and these students came for the interview. [02:25:39] I was impressed with their interview techniques, but I also learned something about these high schoolers, second language students. Many of the students that I interviewed actually taught themselves English, and they are the English-speaking person in their homes. [02:25:56] I also attended the 30th anniversary of the high school ROTC with a program with Lieutenant Victor Burnett, and met some of the people who initiated the ROTC at Prince in Woodbridge High School. I just want to mention the budget meeting at the Board of Supervisors, because I've been on this board for 10 years, and we have this shared agreement, And I just wanna thank them for supporting the school system in various ways. [02:26:25] We had a lot more questions this time, but I just wanna give a shout out to all the members of the board of supervisors and thank you for supporting us. I had a newsletter, my newsletter this week was, I'm kind of thematic because I'm an elementary person, I think, and it was called The Hills Are Alive and it's with the sound of music. [02:26:47] You know, music is more than entertainment. it is one of the nine multiple intelligences. And some of our students, I love this, where we have these students in this room because some of our kids are linguistically intelligent and like our Martin Luther King orators, physically gifted kids. [02:27:05] But some of our kids are also musically gifted. And with that, I wanted to, I think I have some slides. These are ukuleles. And Whitney Burkola, music teacher at Occoquan Elementary, applied for and received 30 ukuleles for Occoquan Elementary. [02:27:30] Do we have a picture of them? Yeah. I see the ukulele. Do we have a second picture? And the grant was provided by the Music for Life Education, Life Foundation. [02:27:46] They gave this grant and they had classes. And you see them all playing with their ukuleles. And in fact, the principal came in and also played his ukulele. I also attended the Pyramid Concerts, and I think we have a picture of this. [02:28:02] Now, these are sixth graders, fifth graders, and there were three concerts with eight elementary schools and string students. [02:28:21] And there were thousands of people who attended. And I just want to thank all the music teachers and all of the string teachers for what you do. Thank you very much. - Miss, who's next? [02:28:37] Miss Jackson. - I hope that everyone had a safe spring break and thank you to those who came to speak tonight. Throughout the month of March, I was able to attend various events to celebrate arts and education, including at Cedar Point and Piney Branch Elementary where I saw some exceptional elementary school to students perform and at Brentsville District High School for the night of January 16th performance and I was at the edge of my seat. [02:29:06] It was just wonderful to be out and seeing such talent. This past weekend, I was able to see Souser Cole at Gainesville High School. Students, staff did an amazing job. I was impressed with the voices, the acting, the dancing, stage direction, lighting sets, all the talent. [02:29:21] In addition to seeing Souser Cole, I was able to go to the All Counties Arts Festival for elementary schools. And I agree with the other board members that the talent there was amazing. And my son and I were both very impressed. So thank you to all staff and families who support the arts. [02:29:39] I also want to thank all administrative professionals for absolutely everything that they do and to those who have submitted naming suggestions. And just a reminder that the naming suggestion for those unnamed school at Rosemont Lewis closes on May 2nd at noon. [02:29:58] It is Child Abuse Prevention Month and a good opportunity to familiarize oneself with the signs and frequency of child abuse. It's also School Library Month, and I want to take a moment to thank all librarians for their dedication and support in creating learning spaces where students can develop the love of reading, critical thinking, and research. [02:30:16] It's National Occupational Therapy Month, and I am extending my sincere gratitude to all PWCS occupational therapists who dedicate their careers to helping students access the academic curriculum and participation in school activities. I know firsthand the vital role you play as a parent, and I thank you. [02:30:35] I'm thankful for the opportunity tonight to recognize and honor students from military families. And I just want to send my love and gratitude to all military families in Prince William County. April is Autism Awareness Month, and it's a time to celebrate and to learn more about neurodiversity. [02:30:53] So as I leave tonight, I'm going to reflect on what Colonel Brooks said about service before self this evening. And it serves for me a reminder of the importance of learning and listening to everyone's journey. So everyone have a good night and thank you for coming tonight. [02:31:14] Ms. Wall. Thank you. I'm thrilled to be able to join over Zoom tonight. And I'm thankful for modern technology that makes it possible and is so amazing. So I'm joining from Houston, as we discussed at the very beginning of the meeting, where we're seeing some of the brightest minds in technology competing in the first robotics championships. [02:31:40] And also here in Houston this week is the first technical challenge and first Lego League championships. So all levels of technology, all levels of students here from the little kids all the way up to the high school kids. [02:31:56] And among some of those, among all of those students, we have some of our very own Prince William County Public School students today. Just want to, I'm going to focus, I'm going to do something a little different. different. I'm going to focus my comments a little bit on first robotics championships and robotics in general. It brings students together from all over the world to compete in a week of engineering and technical challenges. So this is a collection of some of the best teams in the world from the USA, Asia, Europe, Canada, Middle East, South America, Israel, South Africa. They're all here to compete. And it's incredible to see the level of engineering, teamwork, and cooperation [02:32:32] both within the teams and among the teams. And there's an incredible support for these students from the professional and business community as well. It's a natural fit if we want to increase the collaboration between professional and business interests and our students. [02:32:49] And of course, it is very expensive to run these teams. Each robot will cost upwards of $20,000, but there's a very big opportunity for sponsorship and mentorship. So those are some of the really wonderful things that I like about FIRST. And it's not just engineering skills, but public speaking skills marketing skills visual arts skills fundraising community outreach education all of these things all of those are skills that we work for in prince william county we work to develop in our students so because of that emphasis of robotics in prince william county schools historically many of our students have not only been introduced to engineering [02:33:25] math and science principles but they've had the opportunity to excel on the world stage so i hope that we will continue our commitment um for these kinds of opportunities for children because i really think it's life-changing i've seen it change the children my my own children's lives and i think i've seen it change other children's lives as well quickly um i have a my second point will just be it's month of the military child again i commend the schools in my district who are purple star schools and i also want to commend all the military families and their children for their daily sacrifice and challenges that they overcome um i encourage families to participate in any events that are planned at their schools and to be aware of the particular [02:34:03] challenges that children and military families face especially as they experience multiple moves if you have friends who are multiple or military families please reach out to them and be welcoming and and be welcoming quickly don't take two years to get to know them because by then they'll be moving on and i do believe we do a good job in principal county schools and i'm excited about the goal of expanding our number of schools to 100 i think that's great i have no idea how much time I have left. I can't see the time clock. Kind of like zero. But if you're in Houston, we'll give you a minute or two extra. I know you're an hour behind. I can't see the time clock. So final [02:34:42] stretch. June will be here before we know it. The seniors, you're so very, very close to the culmination of your 13 years of primary and secondary education. So I'm speaking to seniors now. If there is a senior watching, I would encourage you to resist the temptation to shorten your stride, but instead lean in and cross that finish line with acceleration. Do what it takes to get that work turned in, get those concepts mastered, get those materials completed. Work with your teachers and your counselors and just finish strong. These final weeks still count and they matter because you matter. And I'm going to end with that message and wish everybody a good [02:35:16] night from Houston. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Those were great ending remarks. Wow, I'm going get my senior to sit down and watch those let me just I'm gonna make sure he watches that I'll repeat and rewind and maybe it'll go viral that was a great set someone needs a clip that and get that out to maybe improve our attendance all right next I will just wrap up here it's been you know it's been a few weeks since we've been here and which is great but but but more importantly things that I've gotten to do since I've been here the Human Rights Council has a [02:35:53] a student initiative that the Prince William County Schools participates in it's a great group of kids that participate in that every year it's a great program to get involved in it I think this year was the seventh cohort they do some incredible work and then you know they select some students to present to the Human Rights Council on topics they'd like to see you know addressed or changes they'd like to see and what a great terrific exercise and just you know take advantage of that I know they're gonna be looking for next year's cohort and I think the go to the website you'll you'll find that information there i want to thank the parents over at cedar point elementary mary and jensen for inviting me out to see the high school musical put on by the fourth and fifth graders at cedar [02:36:33] point maybe maybe other grades were involved as well it was a fantastic program really extraordinarily well done professional level work the kids were outstanding they were inspiring it was a terrific program and i hadn't been out to cedar point in quite a long time and so i want I wanna thank the community out there for having me that day and what a great theater program. [02:36:56] I also, as a side effect of being out there, Adair Solomon, the leader, the teacher in the tech lab over at Cedar Point gave me a tour of the lab and showed me all the great things they do out there. I mean, what a terrific facility and a great commitment by that school and the principal, the teachers and the staff on making sure that we're getting science into the curriculum and students inspired. [02:37:19] And that tech lab is a lab that other schools enjoy as they come over for field trips, which is really neat. And so really some best practices we saw over there. I also got to go to see Colgan High School perform Chicago last week. Wow, that was fantastic. [02:37:35] I really enjoyed that. I know this week Gainesville is doing Seussical the Musical and that's coming up. So if you haven't bought tickets yet, please buy tickets, support our students. And I know all of our high schools are putting on their final programs coming up. So please support the schools, along with supporting all the spring sports programs. [02:37:55] Science fair, we had the science fair since I've been here and it was a terrific science fair here at the Kelly building. We've sent a number of students to the state fair. The state fair happened just this weekend. I'm not sure if they posted the winners yet here in the county, but the state posted, I think at least three or four projects from Prince William's placed in very high places in many different categories at the state fair, which is really last year, I know we did tremendously well. [02:38:24] I think we may have equaled that or come close to that. Part of our strategic plan addresses the importance of participating in competitions and science fairs are one of them. And it's a great way to get our students involved and excited about science. [02:38:39] And so for all the schools that currently aren't doing it, please consider doing and participating in the science fair. It is a great program. last of the military child purple star schools we recognized earlier today when you walk out this building you will see and it better still be up I know they tweeted it a few minutes ago the lights are purple outside on the building is it still up yes they're still purple so I'm gonna say yes yes okay so when you go out you're gonna have a treat the building is lit up purpley and so if that's a word no purple is lit up in a purple fashion outside looks really good They tweeted it earlier, so spread that tweet around. [02:39:17] It was a great tweet, and it looks great. So again, thank you to our families for your sacrifice, and it's not a normal childhood to be moved around so many times. So you know, tremendous sacrifice on behalf of all of them. And last, for our seniors, as Ms. Wall pointed out, May 1st is the day you have to tell the colleges whether you're coming to them or not, or which one you've chosen. [02:39:42] about it if you're still worried about it you talk to your counselors you know it's important to find the best fit we're going to work with your parents and your family for our juniors you need to start working on your applications now start thinking about how you're going to put together your your portfolio your look you know all of your stuff your reference letters you know finalize your ACTSAT scores get into Naviance Naviance is an excellent resource as you heard from our student rep tonight and start working on that but with that in mind I I think I've wrapped up. [02:40:13] This will be our last meeting in April, correct? And we will see you all here in May. Meeting adjourned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com