Coraggio Consulting
Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia
Length: 2h 51m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mC9Ud0cp5Q
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 2026-11-02. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] - Okay, welcome, I'd like to call this meeting Prince William County School Board order. A motion is now in order for the approval of meeting agenda, Ms. Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as recommended. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman, I second.

[00:00:14] - Ms. Williams, any discussion, please vote.

[00:00:41] Moving on to the motion to enter closed session. A motion is in order, Ms. Jackson, or Ms. Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711 and 2.2-3712, the Prince William County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons.

[00:00:57] One, to discuss with staff the appointment, transfer, release, assignment, and promotion of specific officers and employees pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711A1. And two, to review a disciplinary matter for a specific student that would involve the disclosure of information contained in the scholastic record for the individual student and to receive legal advice regarding same as provided by Virginia Code sections 2.2-3711A2 and 8.

[00:01:22] Three, to discuss with division counsel and staff actual or probable litigation and specific legal matters involving specific staff and students pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A, seven and eight. Four, pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A, three, to discuss or consider the disposition of real property, easements requested across school board property because of discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the school board's bargaining position.

[00:01:51] Five, to discuss division counsel with division counsel specific legal matters involving collective bargaining pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A8, 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 actions taken to respond to such matters.

[00:02:10] Where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A19. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Mrs. Zargarpur. - A second. - Any discussion, please vote.

[00:02:43] - The vote is six yes, one not present at vote. - Jesse, one absent, Raulston, motion passed. - Okay, the Prince William County Board will move into closed session.

[00:02:53] We'll return in one hour.

[00:03:55] Prince William County School Board will now re-enter open session. At this time, we're gonna do closed session certification and we're gonna move on to agenda item 9.01, closed session certification. A motion is in order. Vice Chair Wall.

[00:04:17] - Mr. Chairman. - I move that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3712, the closed session of the Prince William County school board meeting of November 1st, 2023 be certified by adopting the following resolution. 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.

[00:04:52] Do I have a second? I second. - Jackson seconds, any discussion? Please vote.

[00:05:12] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Raulston, motion passed. - Moving on to closed session action item, a motion to order for 10.01 approval of appointments and releases of specific employees. Vice Chair Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in closed session.

[00:05:30] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarpur. - I have a second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:05:48] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Raulston, motion passed. On to 10.02, a motion is in order, Vice Chair Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that for the reasons set forth in the Student Management and Alternative Programs Department's SMAPD letter of October 6th, 2023, the Prince William County School Board approve SMAPD's recommendation to reassign student SRH24-053 to the computer-based instruction CBI program via remote access only based on charges of unlawful acts in the community.

[00:06:24] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarform. - Second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:06:42] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Raulston, motion passed. - Okay, that wraps up closed session action items. At this time, we will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. We have our student representative here tonight, Isabella Aversano, senior at Gainesville. She will be leading us in the pledge.

[00:06:58] - Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, At this point, we will move to our Thriving Futures focus, and this is our opportunity to highlight the exemplary work being accomplished in our schools that fulfill our vision that every student will graduate with the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their community.

[00:07:33] We dedicate this time during our meetings to recognize students, staff members, and schools that have earned an honor or 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 publicly for their accomplishments.

[00:07:50] Tonight, the school board will recognize the five Prince William County public schools that have earned recognition as 2023 exemplar performance awards by the Virginia Department of Education. The exemplar awards were established in 2019 to recognize schools or school divisions that exceed state board established requirements, show continued improvement on academic and school quality indicators in schools, school divisions, and school boards that implement effective, innovative practices.

[00:08:19] These prestigious awards show exceptional efforts to prioritize the school community's essential achievement needs. Our five schools met or exceeded best practice standards in one or more topic areas related to school excellence for students, teachers, and staff.

[00:08:34] We begin our recognition in the Neabsco district. And here I'd like to recognize and who earned the highest achievement award from the VDOE, a school to meet all the following criteria. The school, okay, here's the criteria. The school must be accredited, must meet state benchmarks in reading, math, science.

[00:08:52] All student groups within the school must meet state benchmarks in reading and math. For schools with three or more student groups, there is no more than 10 percentage points between student performance standards. The criteria for the highest achievement award set the ideal precedence for a school's overall performance.

[00:09:08] The Neabsco District is proud to recognize King Elementary School as recipient of the highest achievement award by the Virginia Department of Education. All right, very good, very good. King Elementary School is represented tonight by Principal Amy Larson, Cindy Husted, Title I math teacher, Andrea Thornton, instructional coach, Jennifer, all right, Ditamo, Ditamo, I'm sorry, fifth grade teacher and Corey Rose Stafford and second grade teacher,

[00:09:46] and second grade, Corey Rose Stafford, second grade teacher. Principal Larson, would you care to share a few words? - Oh yes, thank you so much. Thank you for having us this evening. I wanna start by thanking the Virginia Department of Education, Prince William County Schools, Dr. McDade, for this recognition.

[00:10:04] It really is an honor to be here to represent our hardworking students, our dedicated teachers, and our supportive parents of King Elementary. We are really proud of the hard work that we do every day, and it is a privilege to be recognized by VDOE under the Exemplar School Recognition Program.

[00:10:28] So for King Elementary, we were one of only 48 schools in the state to be recognized with the High Academic Achievement Exemplar Award. And as you heard, we had met all benchmarks for all students in reading, math, and science.

[00:10:43] And that is without the English language learner growth indicator. So it was our raw data where we earned those scores. We also met the benchmarks in reading and math for all of the reporting groups. Again, not including the English language learner progress.

[00:11:01] And finally, we do have three or more student groups at our school. actually are a small community school. We're 40% English language learners and we represent 20 different languages in our school this year. And so in those student groups, there was no more than a 10 percentage point between the lowest performing group and all students.

[00:11:24] So we are really proud to say we are closing the achievement gap at King Elementary. And as a school, we really are committed together to work in partnership with our parents and the community to achieve that collective purpose of high achievement for all students.

[00:11:41] And we know that the work we do every day is very important and it is essential to launch our students into a thriving future. And so we're honored to be recognized tonight. Again, we'd like to thank VDOE, Prince William County Schools, Dr. McDade, and my own Associate Superintendent, Mr. Todd Erickson.

[00:12:01] Thank you so much. - Wonderful. - Okay, now from the Brentsville District, Mrs. Adele Jackson, please introduce the Continuous Improvement Award and begin the recognition of our award-winning schools.

[00:12:20] - All right, thank you, Mr. Chairman. To receive Virginia Board of Education's Continuous Improvement Award, the school must be accredited or accredited with conditions and meet one of at least the following criteria.

[00:12:35] The school demonstrates an increase in combined rate for math, reading, science for each of the past three years with a total increase across three years and 10 points or more. The school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for two or more student groups in reading and math for each of the past three years with a total increase of the three years of 10 points or more.

[00:12:56] Or the school demonstrates an increase in the graduation and completion index for each of the past three years with a total increase across the three years of 4% or more. And the school demonstrates a decrease in the dropout rate for each of the past three years with a total reduction across the years of 15% or more in the first year's dropout rate.

[00:13:17] The Brentsville District would like to recognize Chris Young Elementary School for earning the Continuous Improvement Award. Chris Young Elementary is represented by Principal Stephanie Downey, Anne Katroni, Assistant Principal, Monica Watford, Assistant Principal, and Melissa Morgan, Reading Specialist.

[00:13:45] Ms. Downey, would you like to speak on behalf of this outstanding award and congratulations? Thank you so much Mrs. Jackson. I appreciate that introduction. Good evening and thank you so much for the opportunity to be here this evening. As the proud principal at Chris Young Elementary, I am deeply honored to join you this evening as we celebrate this recent recognition conferred by the Virginia Department of Education. Thank you to Dr. McDade, our school board members, and Prince William County Schools for extending the invitation. This recognition serves as a testament to our collective commitment to providing a thriving future for our

[00:14:22] students. It underscores the unwavering support and commitment of our school board, the dedication of our staff, the resilience of our students, and the consistent support of our parents and the community. To our educators, our teachers, our teaching assistants whose knowledge of best practices, commitment to high standards, and love of children have fostered a culture of academic achievement at Chris Young Elementary School, my deepest gratitude to those folks. To our parents and our supportive community partners who have been instrumental in shaping our school environment

[00:14:59] over the past three years, I offer my sincere thanks. And to our students who embody the spirit of Chris Young and inspire us daily with their energy, creativity, and curiosity, this recognition is truly for them this evening. I look forward to continuing to champion the cause of quality education for all children as we work to prepare every student to be a productive, thriving member of their community. I believe the future for our students in Prince William County is bright. Again, I want to say thank you to Dr. McDade, to Prince William County Schools,

[00:15:35] to our school board, and certainly to the Virginia Department of Education for this recognition. Thank you, Ms. Jackson, and congratulations. I invite the Woodbridge District Representative Miss Laurie Williams to speak on behalf of her schools Miss Williams Thank You mr. chairman with great honor the Woodbridge district would like to recognize Featherstone and Vaughn elementary schools representing Featherstone elementary we welcome principal Christina Treadwell assistant principal mr. McManus parent liaison Gina Sosa first grade teacher Tamika

[00:16:14] Bowen and kindergarten teachers the Amara Frank Franco Neves principal Treadwell, would you like to say a few words? - Yes, thank you so much, Ms. Williams. Good afternoon. It is with great honor that we are here tonight representing Featherstone and receiving one of the Virginia Department of Education's Continuous Improvement Awards.

[00:16:35] Thank you to Prince William County Schools, the Prince William County School Board, and to the Virginia Department of Education for allowing us this opportunity to be recognized for who we are and the work that we are doing at Featherstone. At Featherstone, we have remarkable educators and an outstanding support staff who go above and beyond every day.

[00:16:56] For our students to ensure that through high expectations and rigorous learning, our school's commitments for learning and achievement for all are at the forefront of everything that we do. We would also like to thank all of our Featherstone students and families.

[00:17:14] The incredible motivation that our students bring to school every day continues motivating us more and more to continue giving our best to help each student be their best. Our family's support and understanding and ensuring that children are at school every day and how important that is for their academic achievement has truly made a difference in helping our students continue to grow to their full potential.

[00:17:40] So we thank all our families for their continued partnership. Again, thank you to Dr. McDade for your leadership and to the Prince William County School Board for always supporting us in making sure we thrive as a school.

[00:17:59] - Thank you, Principal Treadwell. Representing Vaughn Elementary School, we welcome Principal Mark Boyd, Assistant Principal Michelle Edwards, Lead ESOL Teacher Deidre White, Gifted Resource and Talent Development Teacher Kelsey Conroy, and third grade teacher Myesha Pryor.

[00:18:20] Principal Boyd, would you like to say a few words? - I'd love to take the opportunity. First, I'd like to say thank you to Dr. McDade and the school board for recognizing this accomplishment. This is an especially impactful award for Vaughn. We have a staff that is just packed full of dedicated teachers who give it their all each and every day.

[00:18:39] And what we recognize in schools like ours is that every play doesn't result in that touchdown, but it's all about that 10 yards. So this, by design, shows that it's about the growth, recognizing that everybody's not starting at that same point, but it's that growth mindset that we might not be there now or yet, but we can get there. So on behalf of Vaughn Elementary, we'd like to thank our parents, our students for all of their hard work and dedication. We want to remind them all to be here on time every day. It is very important. We're making gains there too, but

[00:19:19] And it really is a chance for me as a principal to give back to the teachers and recognize all that they do each and every day to make Vaughn a great place to learn for our students. I'd also like to thank our supportive associate superintendent, Mrs. Worley, who gives it her all each and every day.

[00:19:36] And once again, thank you for the opportunity to be recognized. We appreciate it. Congratulations again to you both. Thank you, Ms. Williams. Moving on to Mr. Justin Wilk of the Potomac District.

[00:19:52] Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, Mr. Lateef. On behalf of the Potomac District, it is my honor to recognize Montclair Elementary School. Montclair Elementary School is represented by Principal Tim Slater, fifth grade teacher Jacqueline Zizzo, fourth grade teacher Magali Delgado, third grade teacher Sydney Leneza, and school counselor Adrena McDonald.

[00:20:14] Principal Slater, would you like to share some thoughts? - Chairman Lateef, Mr. Wilk, members of the board, Dr. McDade, thank you for acknowledging the hard work of our teachers, our staff, our parents, and our students.

[00:20:40] I feel a little awkward being up here, I'll tell you, because I'm new to Montclair. So a little out of place, but I couldn't be more proud. And in the few months that I've been here, I want to tell you what I've seen. And this is what I know is why the teachers who are behind me are here with me now, representing the awesome staff of Montclair.

[00:21:02] Dr. McDade told me she said, Prince William County is a destination, and it's true, but so is Montclair Elementary, I have discovered that. I am pleased to share with you that, while I know that teaching is one of the toughest careers that teachers can undertake, the teachers who are behind me and the ones they represent are heroes in the community, for sure.

[00:21:31] they bring such efforts to the classroom setting their extensive efforts to build classroom communities to promote engaging learning environments to teach in a student-centered way to see the students that are in front of them to discern what have they learned and then what do we do about it if some still need extra help in the few months that i've been here that's what i've seen them do so i know that's how they got where they are today as a continuous improving school it's my hope though that these teachers behind me one day inspire the next generation

[00:22:10] of teachers because we really honestly need that i can tell you this i'm inspired as their leader having been here for just a few months i really appreciate the recognition that vdoe has given to montclair and when i asked the teachers you know i did my viewing and look around and i finally said so tell me why are we here their answer was teamwork he said we learned from one another and when we needed help we looked to a peer and we looked to a colleague and we continue to do that and so first of all I'm inspired I'm impressed by the work that they do I'm pleased that the school board gave us

[00:22:49] this opportunity for me to speak about their great work and I thank you for honoring these teachers and then all teachers and their colleagues here in Prince William County thank you very much thank you mr. Wilk congratulations again to our five VDOE exemplar performance award winners.

[00:23:10] I think the words spoken by each of our principals and were fantastic and thank you all for speaking so passionately about the staff you have, the teachers you have, the great work they're doing, and the children and our parents who do all the work to help us get to where we are.

[00:23:28] My good friend, Derek Wood, the mayor of Dumfries says, "The Dumfries is not the place to drive through, but the place to drive to. So as Dr. McDade says, we do believe this is a destination school district as well. And you all are making this truly a reality for everyone to know about Prince William County Schools.

[00:23:48] Thank you. And then before we take some pictures, Dr. McDade would like to share a few words. Dr. McDade. - Thank you so much, Dr. Lateef. For the 22-23 award year, only 93 schools across Virginia were recognized for the continuous improvement award. and I just want to congratulate all of our awardees.

[00:24:05] This award highlights the work Chris Young, Featherstone, Montclair, and Vaughn Elementary Schools are doing to pursue a greater school experience for their community, close achievement gaps, and ensure success for every single student. So congratulations again to each of you and your entire staff for all of your hard work and your commitment.

[00:24:24] Likewise, the 2022-23 award year, only 48 Virginia schools met the criteria for the Highest Achievement Award. And as one of the recipients of the Highest Achievement Award, King Elementary School has demonstrated how a rising tide lifts every boat and how collective progress translates to universal achievement.

[00:24:47] Congratulations to you, to all of you, for setting high expectations and engaging students in rigorous learning. Because of your work, students will have the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their community.

[00:25:03] Congratulations, you make us PWCS proud. - Thank you, Dr. McDade. At this time, I'd like to request our honorees to come forward for a photo with the school board and receive a small token of our appreciation. We'll start with the first photo that includes King.

[00:25:20] The second photo will be Chris Young, Featherstone, Montclair, Vaughn.

[00:25:24] Thank you.

[00:32:21] Okay, thank you very much. Now we'll move on to, we're moving on to adoption and consent agenda. Motions in order.

[00:32:36] - Mr. Chairman. - Yes, Ms. Williams. - I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended. - Can I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Yes. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:33:12] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Raulston, motion passed. - Okay, moving on, citizens comment time. Those citizens who signed up in advance with the clerk may address the school board this evening when they're called to the podium. The citizen comment period for regular school board meetings is one hour and citizens may speak on agenda items or other topics germane to the operations and policies of PWCS.

[00:33:31] Please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium or 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 disruptions of the meeting. If you do not do so, the board will recess and I'll ask the room to be cleared to restore public order. Tonight we have 20 citizens sign up to speak.

[00:33:48] When I call your name, please come to the podium and state your name and address. I will call the first five folks up if they'd like to make their way up front. Jessica Quinn, Turkea McCauley, Mary Bounds, Michelle Rupert and Carl Greeten.

[00:34:05] - Jessica Quinn. - Hello, my name is Jessica Quinn and my address is on file. I'm a special education teacher in the county and have been working with children and adults with disabilities my whole life, but professionally for nine years.

[00:34:28] I would like to walk you through my day when I was working in a self-contained classroom. I would arrive to school, get myself settled in, and before the bell rang, I would go to the front to meet my students and get them off the bus.

[00:34:44] We would get breakfast and then have our morning meeting. The rest of the day consisted of going to and from general education classrooms if their IEP stated that, or learning within my classroom that included the general education curriculum, modified curriculum, social skills, and interventions for both reading and math, all while managing multiple behaviors.

[00:35:05] I would have at least 10 to 15 timers set depending on the students in my classroom, so I knew when my TA or I would need to take a student wherever they needed to go. Some of my students would have lunch in the classroom and eventually we would go out to recess.

[00:35:22] At the end of the day, we would pack up and go home, except we'd have to wait because buses were late anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Now that you know about a fourth of my day, did you notice what wasn't mentioned? A planning and a lunch.

[00:35:38] For five years, I ate my lunch in my classroom because I had to make sure my TA had their lunch. no one to cover my lunch as I couldn't safely leave my TA and in the classroom alone. I never got a break outside of my classroom. Planning? I had to do that in my classroom if I could because I taught multiple grade levels. I was told on multiple occasions by administration that I should do my plannings on weekends or after school. So on top of being a single mother at that time who had to take care of a four-year-old and an elderly disabled father, which included cleaning

[00:36:15] cleaning the house, cooking, running errands, et cetera, I was supposed to complete work and not be compensated for it? Is this a job you would want? Is this a job you would want your children or your spouse to have? I love my students.

[00:36:30] We all love our students. But at what point do I love myself and my children? You wouldn't dream of taking a job that didn't provide you with basic human rights. So why are you denying us ours? Put a lunch in the contract.

[00:36:46] Turkiah McCauley. My name is Tarkia McCauley and my address is on file.

[00:37:01] I'm here tonight as a teacher that is a parent struggling to manage all the responsibilities that I have and I'm not doing it very well. I wish I could say that it was just me, but we are all breaking down a little each day. There's so much on our plate and it's overflowing. That overflow of work is constantly on my mind.

[00:37:17] It's an unliftable weight because I know I can't get it all done. Even when I'm cutting corners to save time, I still can't manage to get it done because there's always more added to that plate. my guilt and my stress and my self-doubt tells me that I'm not good enough or I would be able to get it all done. The overflow of work and feelings of failure that keep me awake at night and the overflow of work that keeps me from my family in the evenings and locked away in my office during the weekends because the time needs to come from somewhere. So my family has to take the hit because sadly that's what they're used to. Ms. Wall quoted Barbara Bush and talked about fathers and mothers and if you have children that they must come first and you must read to them and you must hug them and you must love your children. And hearing this was one of the biggest gut

[00:37:57] punches i felt as a parent and it's been annoying at me ever since in those moments after it was like i was watching flashbacks of my kids in their lives and they're many of them are wonderful until i remember the countless times that i chose that overflow of work over them and i didn't make my family the priority i'm not proud of this and i'm completely mortified that i'm up here admitting it out loud in front of you i've worked while uh been at family gatherings at holidays skipped numerous events in order to catch up with the overflow of work i've attended events with grading in my lap the laptop out or the phone to my ear planning with co-teachers because there wasn't time of the day i rationalized and believed the sacrifice would pay off in the long run and that

[00:38:33] the payoff was not only about money but also being able to provide my family with good health care my children with opportunities that i never had and enriching their lives i was proud of my loyalty to the same employer for 25 plus years and i wanted my children to see what hard work and dedication looked like my children that see that i'm exhausted stressed out and unable to meet their needs i realized what i was trying to accomplish wasn't working and i must change we all know that definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results my family needs to be first and the overflow of work can no longer be my priority when I get home because I feel guilty and think that I'm a bad teacher for not using every bit of time that is free to catch up we all

[00:39:11] know actions speak louder than words and my actions have repeatedly told my family that my job is more important than they are no matter how many times I've told them differently I need to start showing them and not telling them Barbara Bush also went on to say that at the end of your life you will never regret having passed one more test and not winning one more verdict or closing one more deal you will regret the time that you didn't spend with your husband a friend or child or parent moving forward when I'm faced with the choice between overflow of work and family I have to change my mindset and I have to choose my family because there will be more work there tomorrow and I

[00:39:42] must be a parent first and a teacher second Mary Bounds good evening board members and dr. McDade my name is Mary Bounds my address on file first of all I want to thank the board members and the people here that are watching us while are speaking looking at us and paying attention um the very first item i want known is that we love our schools we love the places we work we love the children we love our administrations we love

[00:40:16] what they do what we don't love is the fact that we're working 40 50 60 hours a week to do what's best for our children i want to give you a little example here imagine you go into your job and somebody comes in walks up to you and punches you and call the police imagine they come back again the next day get him arrested how about the next day no trespassing here's what you're going to have a hard time understanding me last year after the first three weeks of school every single day

[00:40:52] every single day i was kicked or i was hit i was scratched and bled i had books thrown at me i had toys thrown at me and you know what was done we met with parents we met with had intervention meetings i met with principals i met with everybody we did everything we could everything i felt so incredibly supported but you know what nothing happened nothing happened to those children we know suspension doesn't work so we're not going to kick them out of school but what do you do i went home every night and just didn't want to get up the next morning i didn't want to go to

[00:41:32] school i didn't love teaching anymore and it's the one thing i've wanted to do sorry since i was eight years old but how do you expect us to teach when we do not feel safe if i did that to a student what would happen to me i would be taken out i would be handcuffed i would be prosecuted i would lose my job i don't know what the answer is but it's not okay i've already been punched once this year i teach four five and six year olds it's not middle school it is not high school and

[00:42:12] nothing is being done last year a six-year-old brought a gun to school and shot somebody you know what most of my colleagues think we don't think oh well you know it's not going to happen we go out in the playground we make sure we know where everything is what are we going to do to ensure that teachers are also safe bus drivers are safe staff members are safe that's why we want a contract it's not just about money it's about safety and it's about having a safe place a healthy place and a place where you feel accepted and that's all we want in our fair

[00:42:50] contract thank you michelle rupert my name is michelle rupert and my address is on file at the last meeting i spoke about the lack of stipends for our middle school music directors and requested compensation equal to that received by our high school counterparts i trust that this matter has been thoroughly discussed since then i have continued to gather data and have conversations with my colleagues in prince william and surrounding counties i hope that you will soon take action to rectify this issue, providing us with fair compensation for

[00:43:27] the extensive work we do outside contract hours. Tonight I return to address another concern of the middle school directors, the outrageously high student to teacher ratio. The Virginia Standards of Accreditation provides compensation to teachers when student counts exceed specified weekly limits, which range from 200 to 400 students. This expectation places an unmanageable workload on on a single teacher, effectively demanding them to do the job of two full-time instructors.

[00:43:57] The additional compensation, which caps at 6,000 for 400 students, not only falls short of addressing the real issue, but also fails to benefit our students. It's disconcerting that you think paying someone $6,000 extra to do the work of two people is acceptable.

[00:44:14] But I suppose from your perspective, that's a bargain. Section G of the SOA stipulates that an appropriate contractual arrangement and compensation shall be provided if a middle or secondary school music teacher exceeds 200 students per week.

[00:44:30] I seek clarification on what you consider an appropriate contractual arrangement. Our neighboring counties have set the threshold for additional staffing at 200 students, offering a more equitable and consistent approach across the county. Instead, we cap student numbers at 400.

[00:44:48] What are you going to do when someone goes over 400? One middle school orchestra teacher is currently at 394. Parents, the quality of your children's music education is being directly affected by class size and scheduling.

[00:45:04] Unlike other subjects, middle school music directors teach all three grade levels, numerous, for me, 14 plus different instruments within my class. This requires a lot of planning, individual instruction, assessment and feedback. Unfortunately, all of these things suffer with overly crowded rooms and long rosters.

[00:45:23] The current compensation for excessive student numbers is both inadequate and detrimental to the quality of your students' education. I propose an alternative solution, eliminate the stipends tied to student numbers and site-based decisions on staffing, and instead implement countywide staff allocations based on student enrollment.

[00:45:42] Our dedication to our students and their musical education remains steadfast. We're eager to collaborate with the school board to find equitable solutions that benefit both teachers and students. Parents expect a first-rate music education. Let's give it to them.

[00:45:58] Carl Greton. - Good evening, I'm Carl Greton of the Gainesville District. Due to the elections next week, we hope all you on the board right now do not make inappropriate lame duck decisions.

[00:46:19] We need a change. The school board is failing our kids. At the October 18th school board meeting, Superintendent McDade revealed that chronic absenteeism, achievement gaps, and dropout rates are all on the rise. Democrats are throwing all they have at the current school board race to avoid talking about a very unfortunate fact.

[00:46:38] They are failing in their central mission to graduate kids. Instead, this school board, under their control, has lowered academic standards, brought back virtual learning, and ignored parents. We need to get our kids back on track. We can't afford another four years of this mismanagement.

[00:46:55] Thank you from Steven Spiker. A presentation was shared on 12 September 23, with the proposals from the PWEA and associated costs as estimated by the school division. The number for a 17% raised proposal is $307 million.

[00:47:11] The cumulative cost of PWEA's compensation of benefits proposal is 364. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but there's a negotiation there of 330 million. With the compounding effort over five years, the Prince William County School System average teacher salary increase was 27.3%.

[00:47:32] Under Dr. McDade's tenure, there has been an increase of 18%. compounding effect in average salaries. That's just over the last two years. We constantly see teachers here complaining about a negotiator because they're the ones representing you in negotiations, not the school board.

[00:47:50] Have you realized that the negotiation process is not working? We hope you have been looking at the news and have seen the killings from the extremist Hamas Palestinians and the Islamic Jihadist terrorist groups. We have a concern with Prince William County students if they walk out of class while supporting these terrorist organizations, we hope you have a plan to give an unexcused absence for those students who participate with this terrorist organization's process.

[00:48:17] Those students should be labeled as terrorists if they support barbaric killings. Please be aware that teachers may also support this terrorism and may need to be admonished and disciplined accordingly. Students need to be in class. We hope all parents or guardians are aware of the parent view location and use this location frequently to see students' scores.

[00:48:39] We also hope this website is updated to mention preferred pronouns and sexual orientation. This should be part of a student's record. If this site is updated with student accomplishments, this process will help to start student resumes and college applications.

[00:48:56] Support the model policies from the governor. Why is Prince William County not supporting state compliance? It would be ironic if the state of Virginia sues Prince William County for your decisions. Why are discussions with parents and the community not occurring regarding gender identity disorder?

[00:49:11] Thank you. - Next five, Afton Schwalm, Jared Gay, Emily Cherry, Shannon Coriel, Jane Coburn. Afton Schwalm.

[00:49:36] - Afton Schwalm, okay. Jared Gay. - My name is Jared Gay and my address is on file with the clerk. Over the last few weeks, I've spent a lot of time down at the early voting site at the Woodbridge DMV, supporting Chantel Rock for school board.

[00:49:56] Over that time, I've had many conversations with folks who were there volunteering for the local Democratic Party, the local Republican Party, their candidates of choice, and at times even the candidates themselves. My conversations with voters have been pretty uniformly positive with regards to our activism and collective bargaining campaign.

[00:50:12] And they've generally shared the opinion that our division is not doing right by its employees or students by proxy. As you can probably imagine, my conversations with some of our Democrat volunteers, as well as some of their candidates, have been less uniformly positive. Just ask Lori Williams. i think i'm a nice guy but apparently my tone and my assertiveness rub some folks the wrong way when they're on the receiving end of it anyway so i thought i'd speak to a couple of things tonight to set the record straight first of all i'd like to remind everybody that for months leading up to the school board's passing of the collective bargaining resolution we were a lot more positive

[00:50:49] in our tone we came and shared personal stories about what it was like working for the school division and we were trying to elicit empathy from our elected officials our tone has grown more stern as these politicians and their hired union busting team have made it more and more apparent that they don't take their staff or these negotiations seriously and i'll remind you we're talking about the livelihoods of 11 000 human beings 11 000 human beings who are suffering and whose families are struggling under the weight that our school division is placed on their shoulders

[00:51:25] There are only so many members who can reach out to you in tears and desperation, sobbing about how the undue burden placed on their shoulders has left them feeling utterly worthless, as if they failed every duty and every person in their sphere of influence, despite having worked themselves to the point of breaking in order to satisfy you.

[00:51:45] There's only so many phone calls and conversations you can have like that before you stop sucking up and start calling out. And that's what I've done for months now. I wish that I could say that it's yielded more positive results. To everyone listening, we are a union.

[00:52:02] We do not exist to elect politicians. We do not exist to raise money for the Democratic Party. We exist to collectively demand the respect and the dignity that our responsibilities as educators and caretakers of almost 90,000 children in one of the largest school divisions in the country should already afford us.

[00:52:21] We don't owe you civility when you steal from our families. far too late to play respectability politics when we're a month away from setting precedent for every educator in the Commonwealth of Virginia that will ultimately determine the future of our public schools. Instead of asking us to be nice, perhaps people should be demanding that these elected servants of our county take the prospects of their own re-election seriously enough to put their egos aside and work out a compromise. I'll have a press conference and I will praise you for being a champion of education. Thank you Mr. Gay.

[00:52:51] Emily Cherry. My name is Emily Cherry and my address is on file. I currently teach at Benton Middle School but I want to make sure that you know that none of the events that I'm going to talk to you about tonight happened during my time at Benton. A little over a year ago I was diagnosed by a licensed mental health care practitioner with PTSD as a result of my experiences teaching in Prince William County Public Schools. My first panic attack happened at work after student dismissal. A parent sent me a pages-long email angry because schools closed

[00:53:30] during the pandemic, and asserting that we and that I had failed their child because of the closures. My heart raced. I couldn't breathe. I sat with a colleague until it passed. I thought it was just stress. A few months later, I had a panic attack during my planning period. That day, a student submitted classwork to me full of comments about how I was an effing bee that deserved to die. Pages of Die Emily Cherry. I spent hours that day and the next day after school begging for a full investigation to take place.

[00:54:03] A few weeks later, one of my students was hospitalized after attempting to die by suicide. I was tasked with informing all of their other teachers about what had happened. Then I sat in my classroom and cried. That same day, I had a pop-in observation by my administrator.

[00:54:20] Their main concern was that the verbs in my learning targets matched the verbs in my objectives. But my main concern was if there was any way that I could have known, if there was anything that I could have done to stop my student from hurting themself. it was around that time that the nightmare started i dreamed that my students were in danger and i couldn't save them i dreamed that my students were in danger and it was all my fault i started waking up an hour earlier so i could try to calm down by the time i had to start getting my kids ready for school i started staying up later and later every night because i was too scared of the nightmares

[00:54:57] to go to sleep i told almost no one what was happening to me none of my friends none of my colleagues. I pretended that I was fine, that I should just, I thought that I should just be stronger, that I should just be a better teacher, that I should just be a better person. I was ashamed that I couldn't handle a job that I've loved since the very first step I took into a classroom. Even now I don't want to tell you this story. I am scared to tell you this story, but I need you to know that my experience, because my experience isn't rare, we come here

[00:55:34] meeting after meeting begging for you to listen and so many of us are drowning. We need you to listen to us. Negotiating isn't just about a salary. It's about listening to us so we can create an environment where the trauma that I've experienced isn't the norm. I have my power to use my voice, but you have power too. You have the power to ensure that the contract that is negotiated creates a school district where teachers can do the jobs we love in an environment that allows us to be healthy and whole. Thank you. Shannon Coriel. My name is

[00:56:13] Shannon Coriel, and my address is on file with the clerk. I am an educator and resident of Prince William County and I'm here to address contract negotiations between the PWEA and Prince William County Schools. I'm here to empower you to make the decisions necessary to support the crumbling education system in this county, a system dependent on unpaid overtime from its staff. I believe that the school board is unaware of the conditions your staff are facing and that has led us to this point of crisis. This is my sixth year as an educator and and my second year working in Prince William County Schools.

[00:56:50] Three minutes is not enough time to review the 62-point list I drafted, which explains my daily responsibilities. Instead, I will focus on the extra duties we are required to maintain on top of teaching. Keep three things in mind.

[00:57:05] One, none of us are being compensated for these extra yet required responsibilities. Two, we have only been in school for nine weeks. Three, these points do not include the difficulties that are classified and support staff also endure.

[00:57:23] I have spent seven hours on state testing during my planning. I have missed three planning periods without notice covering classes because of the substitute shortage. I have attended six and a half hours of staff meetings outside of contract hours.

[00:57:38] I've spent two hours towards after school duties and have 16 more scheduled for the year. I've spent six and a half hours watching kids after school because of the bus driver shortage. I co-sponsor a club that was supposed to be a three hour a week commitment, but with the bus driver shortage has become a five hour a week commitment for no extra compensation.

[00:58:00] I've spent 16 hours in professional development and I have 40 more hours of mandated training, but we only get six contracted PD days a year. These hours spent on things not related to lesson planning or grading forced me to spend 10 extra hours outside of my contract every week.

[00:58:20] And at the end of these long days, I go home to a basement rental with no kitchen. Why? Because it is the only way I can afford to live in the county I work while paying off the student debt required to enter this career.

[00:58:36] A second job to help support myself is not feasible because of the 360 hours of unpaid labor I do in a year for this one. Prince William County began the school year with 300 staff vacancies. and it is clear why we the classified and certified staff are counting on you to make this a sustainable career by passing the seven contract negotiations thank you jane coburn good evening members of the board and dr mcdade my name is jane coburn my address is on file

[00:59:14] uh so here we are again me standing here you sitting there me giving a speech you trying to pretend you're listening to it it's kind of the same thing again and again right so every time i come here I spend hours writing a speech I hope that something I'm gonna say is gonna make some kind of difference that you will understand how bad it is and every time I leave I feel like nobody listened I want to be really clear I don't come here because I have a problematic school site that's not why I'm here I come here because I have a school site where I know my principal will allow me to be here and will not retaliate for me being here and there are

[00:59:53] many many voices across the division where that is not the case and I'm here for them. Honestly, I'd much bother be home with a book and my family, but we can't do that. I could tell you how bad it is, but you're hearing it. I don't need to repeat any of that. I can just point out to you that none of these stories are isolated incidents. Last year alone, I had a death threat.

[01:00:19] I was hit. I was bit. I was kicked. I was punched in the face. That's just me. I had a colleague who was threatened by her student that he was going to rape her until she died. I just want to be clear on that elementary school student who told his teacher I'm going to have sex with you until you die and he didn't just say it once he said it repeatedly day after day after day after day and she was so traumatized she didn't want to come to work but she had no choice so if you think this is isolated and the stories that you've heard today are just a few people you're kidding

[01:00:55] yourselves it's that bad that's why we're here that's why we're talking to you that's why we're wearing these lovely black shirts by the way black not my color i can't wait to get rid of the black shirt that's why we're here and you won't even give us lunch i want you to think about that we're getting beat up we're working for free and you won't even give us lunch in the contract really you can't even put lunch in the contract

[01:01:25] how do you think that makes us feel just consider that for a minute the disrespect to your staff when you won't even put something that's in a policy and a resolution into the contract you're telling us you want us to have it you wrote it in the policy in the resolution but you refuse to put it in a contract because once it's in that contract guess what you actually have to do it you're accountable and you don't want to be accountable you're not fooling anybody we're intelligent

[01:02:01] people we are well aware that you don't want to do it it's time to step up put it in the contract Next five Erica Weiss, Sophia Hobbs, Andrea Bortner, Anthony Morris and Sophia Cruz. Erica Weiss.

[01:02:23] My name is Erica Weiss and my address is on file. Tonight I'm speaking not only to my personal experiences but also to the experiences of my colleagues who are also working every day with our students. If for some reason you haven't heard this enough my colleagues and I are tired and

[01:02:55] overworked. According to a 2022 study completed by the Merrimack College, the median amount of time spent teaching is only 25 hours per week. The act of teaching our students is not the source of the excessive workloads and exhaustion. It's the administrative tasks would have increased dramatically the last two years. We're being told to work without pay. Sometimes it's direct.

[01:03:24] staff are often required to sign up for special duties spread throughout the year such as supervising after-school sporting events we're also given schedules for multiple after-school meetings scheduled regularly for the whole school year often it's indirect when teachers are regularly required to attend meetings cover classes complete required professional development courses or supervise hallways during their planning periods this is an unexpoken expectation that that they are to sacrifice their evenings and time with their own children to do the

[01:03:59] work that they would normally be doing during their planning periods. More often than not, if a teacher expresses their concerns related to the additional work, they are scrutinized. Often phrases such as "work smarter, not harder" or "just make it work" are weaponized against us.

[01:04:23] Educators take this abuse because we have a strong inner motivations, the desire to prove our importance and an overdeveloped sense of duty. We spend a lot of time and energy asking ourselves, who is to blame? We need to be asking, is this additional work resulting in better student outcomes?

[01:04:43] Are we effective as educators operating in these conditions? Well, there's a large body of research suggesting that regardless of our reasons for overworking, it does not help students.

[01:05:00] suffer when teachers are overworked. A 2016 study involving 380 teachers and 7,899 students determined that teacher exhaustion not only negatively affected standardized test scores, but also diminished class grades, school satisfaction, and perception of teacher support.

[01:05:23] Sounds like a county initiative. These workloads are borrowed investments with a high interest rate. it's taxing educators energy levels without translating to a higher student performance thank you so if this working us to death is not helping sophia hobbs good evening my name is sophia hobbs and my address is on file first i would like to thank the school board for allowing me to speak tonight this is my first time speaking at a school board meeting and i'm definitely nervous i'm a first year teacher at freedom high school i did my student teaching

[01:06:01] at Freedom and I knew I wanted to start my career at this school. I teach U.S. history and world history too. I want to emphasize how much I love and adore my school. Our students are amazing and I cannot imagine serving another group of kids. Our staff at Freedom are so incredibly passionate about educating our students. As a new educator, I was excited and hopeful about starting my career with Prince William. However, teachers are clearly not being respected in this county. At my school, teachers must work unpaid security and attendance duties during one of our two planning blocks

[01:06:38] for the entire year including those teachers who teach not five but six periods that means that 50 of our planning time is taken away for the whole school year as a first year teacher with two preps this makes planning high quality instruction nearly impossible i have been told by some that i should get used to this because it is just how it is this is not how teaching should be i may be a young teacher but i know what is happening to teachers at freedom and across the county is not acceptable even the most experienced teachers at my school are feeling extremely burnt out and it is only

[01:07:17] the beginning of november not only are teachers being worked to their limits in this county but we are also being pressured to raise graduation and sol pass rates at the same time how do you expect us to plan "rigorous" instruction when we are not given the time or opportunity to be creative and practice our craft. I have no doubt that education is the field I am meant to be in.

[01:07:40] I want this to be my career, but I am on the road to burnout already and I know my weariness comes from more than just being a new teacher. I and so many other passionate educators are being driven out of this county. If teachers are not treated fairly in Prince William, you all should expect a to mass exodus teachers from this county and this profession as a whole. As much as I love working with students, I cannot continue to work under such abusive and disrespectful conditions. We are all highly educated professionals and deserve to be treated as such. I urge you to collaborate with a PWEA bargaining team to ensure that Prince William County teachers are compensated fairly

[01:08:17] for our work and not taken advantage of. As we all know, we have a crisis in education on our hands right now and Prince William is not doing enough to get ahead of this issue thank you Andrea Bortner my name is Andrea Bortner and my address is on file I'm a kindergarten teacher and this entire year I've had about five planning periods that haven't been taken up with meetings my planning is 45 minutes and if you'd allow I'd like to subtract a few minutes for going to the bathroom filling my water cup and walking to and from to pick up my students now I don't know if anyone on the board has ever planned an entire

[01:08:55] robust and rigorous day for 23, 24, 25, 26 plus five-year-olds but perhaps you have planned a birthday party for eight to ten of them before. I'm guessing that the birthday party was planned to last about two hours and I'm guessing your objective for them was I can eat a cupcake. A cupcake that I'm guessing you took time to bake or perhaps spent time researching available bakers in the area and their pages to check out their style and prices and availability. You may have spent time researching activities, decorations, capacity specifications, maybe time buying gifts, party favors, maybe making invitations, you arrange the menu, the venue, the seating. I think it's quite safe to assume that you spend at

[01:09:34] least two to three hours or more planning and prepping for this birthday party where the objective was I can have a great time and rightly so. Members of the school board when we had a four-day week and I had three CLT meetings during my planning time in which I'm not even allowed to bring my computer by the way I was left with a total of 35 minutes in my contract in the entire week to plan prep and annotate objectives for reading phonics writing small groups science math and differentiated interventions for the following week tick my classroom bursting with bright and curious kiddos that's five core subjects per day plus several differentiated objectives for reading

[01:10:10] and math small groups and interventions times five days talk plus the prepping of every activity for every day tick plus three speech referrals talk plus VKRP social skills scales tick plus scoring the beginning of the year writing samples talk plus a required weekly newsletter tick plus informing a parent that their child is coming home with a few scratches from the playground talk plus helping the three participate teachers on my team one who is new to the school two that are new to the country learn how to use perform to access their PGP ESS to access their pay stub and school status and gradebook and report card matrix in canvas in time for school and SFE or where to find a state testing identifier to add the four missing kids on their PALS assessment

[01:10:49] list since all new teachers and PWCS are tossed into their schools with zero training on any of this leaving that task to veteran team members to help with on their own time tick tock members of the school board we have asked begged and rightly are demanding that unencumbered planning time every day for all teachers be included in our contracts because

[01:11:12] right now i don't have enough planning time an entire week to bake a cupcake anthony morris good evening board and community members my name is anthony morris and my address is on file I'm a former PWCS student K through 12 and a PWCS employee for 12 years, 10 years as an instructional assistant and two years teaching 7th graders with autism on a provisional license from the state of Virginia.

[01:11:46] The long sleeves aren't just for the cold. This year I have a student that has documented aggressive behaviors. I've seen a wide variety of aggressive behaviors in my time as an instructional assistant. Scratch, kick, bite, throw, student with a wheelchair, use a wheelchair as a weapon, spit, vomit regularly.

[01:12:04] that's not assault that's a little different I would bet every school in the county has at least one if not more classrooms with at least one student who has some of these who has some of these behaviors usually hopefully somebody with my job title is beside that kid all school day both to help provide the services and that students IEP and if things go sideways to help protect everybody else in that classroom from that students outburst or meltdown some kids when they when they when they go past their frustration point engage in self-injury, others strike out at whomever or whatever is nearby. When my classroom has a student with aggressive behaviors, I know I eventually will bear

[01:12:41] the brunt of that behavior. Functionally, an instructional assistant is a large majority of the time the only other adult in the classroom at the time, unless the classroom is large enough to have more than one. Practically, it's either me, my classroom teacher, or one of the other students with special needs who may just wander into the situation. Part of routine part of my after work routine this year is to check myself for bruises broken skin and bite marks other school staff joke that we should be getting hazard pay uh my arms look like i have a big dog that doesn't listen uh last year a special needs special needs teacher down the hallway from

[01:13:19] us suffered two concussions in the space of four to six weeks from the same student despite all this i clock in five minutes before the students come off the bus and clock out before dismissal is finished especially now that there's so many late buses because my school on your instructions only It only lets instructional assistants work six and a half paid hours a day, and only a handful of days where students aren't in the building.

[01:13:42] If you expect me to act professionally in a situation that could be stressful and maybe even dangerous, and you should, wouldn't I be more likely to do that successfully with a few minutes of prep time? Even if it's just to talk to my teacher without students around, you really can't afford for me to stay until 3:15, to either stay with my students until their probably late bus arrives, or to pick up and restage the classroom, or to debrief with my teacher if things went sideways to try and do better tomorrow?

[01:14:10] You're asking me to assist in delivering what is supposed to be individually tailored, specialized instruction to kids with developmental disabilities who may not have verbal language skills at all, and you want me to do that having no time without kids in front of me? The classroom teacher's a licensed person, they hardly have any planning time to make anything.

[01:14:29] - Thank you. Sophia Cruz, Sophia Cruz, Chantel Rock, and after her will be Maggie Hansford, Andrew McCarthy, Tanner Cruz, and Aidan Vivas.

[01:14:51] - Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Shanta Rock and my address is on file. I'm speaking not only as a Woodbridge District candidate for school board, but also as a concerned parent of students in Woodbridge and a constituent of Lori Williams. First of all, let me say that I know Lori Williams personally.

[01:15:10] For a few years, I consider her a close friend and an ally in our desires to improve the schools that our children attend. My kids once referred to her as aunt and we served together on the Racial and Social Justice Commission with me being the chair. Unfortunately, over the last few years that I've known Lori, I've seen very little follow-through in addressing many of the issues plaguing schools in Woodbridge.

[01:15:34] Don't get me wrong, many of our school administrators, staff, bus drivers, and teachers are doing a phenomenal job with the limited resources made available to them. But more needs to be done. For example, giving our teachers a real duty-free lunch by adding it to their contract.

[01:15:54] I am running because I got tired of hearing my children, who are here by the way, telling me about the same problems over and over and over again. The violence in our schools, lack of discipline in our classrooms, the drug use, and the inability of our division to hire enough qualified education professionals to provide a safe, secure, and environment conducive to learning.

[01:16:20] As a parent, having to learn of a robbery taking place inside your kid's school from an online news source is disheartening. Or your son and his friends being threatened inside the school on a Tuesday and a drive-by happened on a Wednesday.

[01:16:40] And those same friends being shot at immediately following the missile of school in the first week of school. That would anger any parent. I am tired of hearing the same excuses come out of Lori's mouth from someone I considered an ally and a friend.

[01:17:00] But she isn't making excuses anymore. Last week, she told us, she told voters, that Freedom High School had a 100% senior graduation rate. I called the school and they said that was not factual, that she was not telling the truth. Similar to the graduation rate, Lori downplayed the drive-by shooting.

[01:17:21] I'm not here to campaign, but the fact is, a parent should not have to run to become a member of the school board to feel like the person representing them actually cares about our children in schools. Our school board members should care about us.

[01:17:39] - Maggie Hansford. - Hi, my name's Maggie Hansford and my address is on file with the clerk. I'm a mom of three boys, I have a fifth grader, I have an eighth grader and a 12th grader.

[01:17:56] I want all of their teachers to have lunch. We all know in this room, our staff is not getting lunch every day. We know that. It's no secret, it's not protected by the policy, it's not respected by the regulation that states when they can provide lunch.

[01:18:14] We know this, and we know that it's not happening. Something that's happened with collective bargaining is the sharing of data. And that kindergarten teacher was so much fun, right? She made you feel good, right? Your data says she's gone in five years.

[01:18:31] You can't keep staff. You have the largest vacancies in this region. And your staff is asking you for lunch. we're told at the bargaining table with disrespect is that it's a scheduling issue and we're not allowed to bargain it you all told all of us that when the resolution didn't work that you would be open-minded and you would amend that resolution i don't need you to amend that resolution that is

[01:19:05] a human need that your staff needs through working conditions it is not scheduling you know better you should do better but you continue to choose not to that kindergarten teacher she's not going to have that energy for 30 years a great data example we asked how many of your staff have been able to take the pay scale from start to finish have you ever asked that question what

[01:19:38] we've learned at the table is you don't ask questions you don't ask questions you don't seek to understand you don't have a single teacher who's ever done that not one not one teacher has moved from beginning to end on the pay scale you don't have many but you have a few 30 years experienced educators in prince william county they're in the middle of the pay scale how in the world do they plan and afford to retire no one is able to get to the end of the pay scale but again

[01:20:17] let's talk about lunch your policies and regulations show you are lazy because they don't align we're asking you to protect the staff's lunch stand by your word and put it in the contract this isn't a scheduling issue this is a working condition your staff deserve it my kids teachers

[01:20:41] deserve it we deserve lunch andrew mccarthy good evening my name is annie mccarthy and my address is on file. Dr. McDade and Prince William County Board, I first want to thank you for recognizing the importance of student mental health, safety, and academic success in our division. At one time, you showed a willingness to listen to us when we asked for more staffing in the counseling offices.

[01:21:18] And when school divisions across the nation realized that trauma, trauma's impact on learning, Prince William teachers doubled down on student relationships and supportive, welcoming environments. Dr. McDade supported these teacher efforts through professional development in de-escalation and understanding childhood trauma.

[01:21:36] This cooperation of the division with its teachers is invaluable to our students. Ms. Jessie in her school board roundup, she lauded Dr. McDade's approach as research-based and instructionally focused. Dr. McDade is helping teachers to fix problems in education that get to the root of marginalized and disadvantaged students.

[01:21:59] But as we continue these commitments to our community, division leadership is missing a very important piece of the process, and that's teacher efficacy. I'm sure you all heard that before. Teacher efficacy is the belief in their ability to affect student performance.

[01:22:16] And how do we increase teacher efficacy? One, we allow teacher participation in school division processes, and two, we collectively value the teachers as a collective, as a whole. as you have heard over and over and this is the first time i've finally been up here in 20 years you drew me out here to address this over and over it's not happening clearly clearly so the division refuses such simple requests guaranteed lunches and planning the division continues to ignore bargaining team requests the division continues with top-down mandates

[01:22:52] why is the division doing these things knowing full well that these actions impact teacher efficacy, morale, and in effect, student achievement. Why are we ignoring that when it directly impacts student achievement? Mr. Wilk, as you know, when you endorse PWEA use and collective bargaining, you mentioned the importance of teacher efficacy. While attaining our administrative degrees together, Professor Esposito said it again and again and again, teacher efficacy has an effect size of 1.57, more than any other factor in student achievement. Dr.

[01:23:29] day your doctoral dissertation examines teacher efficacy in students with trauma clearly everybody in here knows that teacher efficacy is number one but you don't have it and you're losing it december's in one month bargaining and mediation over in one month we have culture climate engaging

[01:23:53] community you're not gonna be able to do that without teacher efficacy thank you tanner cruz My name's Tanner Cruz, my address is on file.

[01:24:15] As I stated in my speech at the last school board meeting, my mother is one of your teachers within the county and I am one of your graduates. When your mom is a teacher, you're constantly learning, but I'm actually not here to talk about what mom's taught me, I'm here to thank you for what you've taught me over the entire last year.

[01:24:31] You've taught me that I should never expect any employer to care for my safety, my well-being, my mental and physical health, or my family. After all, if an elected body that oversees public service involving children doesn't care about their employees it seems unlikely that any boss would care you've taught me my family and my employers are natural enemies and that my employers will always try to steal everything from my family that they can since they will view every minute spent with my own children one day as a minute that we have stolen from them and since time equals money reading my kids a bedtime story basically is the same thing as grabbing a handful

[01:25:06] of bills from the cash register at work you've taught me there's no such thing as a work-life balance. You've taught me that anything my co-workers and I try to do to organize a better pay or working conditions will be met with retaliation and public attacks. You've taught me that I will always have to work another job in addition to my career if I'm expected to pay my bills and make a living. You've taught me that the school my children will attend one day will be staffed with miserable stressed out overworked people that may or may not quit before the end of the year. But really more than anything else I've learned from you over the past year from watching what my mother and her colleagues have been put

[01:25:42] through is one lesson that I'll never forget. I'm never going to be a public teacher at any point in time and on a side note I would just like to state that my little sister spoke last week or not last week the last meeting and there was somebody that decided was a smart idea to talk crap about an 11 year old girl on the internet. So I suggest you pick on somebody your own size and if you choose to talk crap about me tonight my last name is spelled C-R-E-W-S not C-R-U-Z.

[01:26:10] I look forward to the next book you read to this board. Aiden Vivas. Hello, my name is Aiden Vivas.

[01:26:28] My address is on file. First of all, let's get this out of the way. Chancel Rock, candidate for Woodbridge District School Board and speaker tonight is my mother. But I'm speaking tonight because I'm a student at Prince William County Schools. I go to Freedom High School in Woodbridge. Because I'm a foster child, I am somewhat new to Freedom High School.

[01:26:47] And while I can report that the teachers and staff at Freedom High School work incredibly hard to do the most they can to help students like myself, I can tell you that they are struggling enough. I've been alarmed by a lot of what I've seen going on in the schools. I've never expected to see so many fights and so very little done about it afterwards. It seems that no one in our school has the authority to actually discipline students. Vaping in the bathrooms is constant, including weed vapes, and I've also seen a beer bottle in the toilets. Despite all of this,

[01:27:20] I work hard to maintain my education. I'm able to hold a 3.6 GPA, but my experience at the schools here have led me to support my mom and her campaign to work harder because I know how badly we need leadership to address the problems our school is facing. I'm speaking tonight because it's the right thing to do, just like I see my mom doing the right thing by running for school board to fix these issues, just like I see my brother doing the right thing by running as a candidate for delegate in the 19th district.

[01:27:51] I guess public service runs deep in our family. I wish people like my mom and brother did not have to run for office to fix things. I wish that the people already working in our schools were given the resources or the manpower to fix things. And I wish our current elected officials were already doing everything that they could so this wouldn't have to be necessary.

[01:28:13] I used to call Lori Williams my aunt. I thought she was a kind person that my mom is. But I can tell you, when I've been out knocking doors in Woodbridge with my brother, a lot of voters have told me that they're deeply worried about our schools in Woodbridge. Many of them have no idea who Lori Williams even is.

[01:28:31] I'm not saying that because I'm trying to score political points for my mom or to hurt Lori Williams. I'm saying it because it's true, and the fact is that it should not be true. Voters should know who represents them, and voters should be able to trust that a person and serving in the office for 10 years is accessible and is doing everything that they can to help our students.

[01:28:55] That's the kind of person I want to represent me. That's the type of person my mom is. Thank you very much. - Okay, that concludes citizen comment time. We'll move on to 1501. New course offerings for the 2024-25 school year.

[01:29:10] This item is on for action. We need a motion, Vice Chair Wall. - Dr. Lateef. - I move that the Prince William County School Board and the Superintendent of Schools approve the new course offerings for the 2024-25 school year.

[01:29:27] - Do I have a second? - Ms. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarpur. - Second. - All right, I'll open this up for discussion and turn it over to Dr. McDade. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our students' interests vary widely across the curriculum and we are constantly revising and improving our course offerings to ensure we are delivering the engaging subjects and content required for students to launch their thriving futures.

[01:29:49] Requested by our parents, students, and schools, We are excited to propose a range of new courses to our curriculum. These additions reflect our dedication to providing well-rounded and innovative educational experiences that equips all students with the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to thrive in the 21st century.

[01:30:08] At this time, I would like to introduce Dr. Stephanie Sullivan, Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, and she will share information on the proposed new course offerings with the board. - Thank you, thank you Dr. Lateef, Vice Chair Wall, members of the board and Dr. McDade.

[01:30:25] I am pleased to present to the board and our community our recommendations for additional courses for the 24-25 school year. As Dr. McDade mentioned, sometimes these course requests come directly from the schools, sometimes from the staff, and sometimes from the student interest level.

[01:30:43] The first two courses that we'll be adding are both advanced placement courses. We'll be adding AP, African American Studies, as an opportunity for all of our schools. I'd like to emphasize that this course is really focused on developing skills across multiple fields with an emphasis on developing historical, literary, visual, and data analysis skills.

[01:31:08] We think this is gonna be a great class for our students to enrich their understanding and ability to process primary documents and do historical analysis. AP Pre-Calculus, this is a course that advanced placement through College Board launched last year.

[01:31:25] And this is an opportunity for students who want to take a pre-calculus course that's not necessarily directly tied into AP Calculus. So this will be an additional opportunity against our other pre-calculus courses for students to engage in this rigorous level coursework.

[01:31:43] I checked just today, 14 of our state colleges are already accepting the course for credit. So that's great news. Osborne Park High School has a biotechnology program I know many of you are familiar with. And we'll be adding chemistry 2, organic chemistry to that program.

[01:32:02] And this is a deep course focused on analytical skills in the sciences that will be a great addition to that biotechnology program. Woodbridge High School has requested that we add dance 3 and dance 4. Those are a great compliment to the offerings that they already have for our students who excel in the creative arts.

[01:32:23] Especially excited about Dance 4 that focuses on leadership in that space as well. So we may also have some budding entrepreneurs in our talented dancers. One of the course offerings that I have to say I'm especially excited about is Data Science.

[01:32:42] Many of our board members in our communities know the importance of data analytics in today's world and this is a course that students can engage with that advances those mathematical and analytical spaces a little differently our kids who look at numbers and concepts in a different way and we're excited to be able to offer that course dual enrollment calculus again it's another way for children to engage in rigorous coursework that is slightly different than the traditional path our goal is to continue look at different ways that students can engage page in content in a way that is suited to their career goals.

[01:33:21] Dual enrollment environmental science was specifically requested by Forest Park High School. And this is a really interesting opportunity for students to complete two dual enrollment courses in the span of the year, totaling eight college credits, a lot of hands-on interaction with the community in the environmental science classes.

[01:33:43] Our career and technical education program is adding two courses to its program offerings, emergency medical technician and medical terminology. I was able to verify that these courses are going to be available for all schools to be able to add the course and do the coursework along with it.

[01:34:05] The fire department is one of our partners in the EMT work. So I know there was questions about our community agency. We've developed this alongside the fire department. So really excited about that partnership as well.

[01:34:20] And finally, we want to make sure all students' needs are met. We are requesting the addition of weight training and conditioning program and performance. And this is actually a high level course in that field for our students that really excel in those areas.

[01:34:37] So thank you very much. questions comments okay well I have some because I never won't on this issue but but thank you Dr. Solomon Dr. McDade I am I am thrilled that we are adding these courses I am particularly excited about AP African American Studies and and that and I understand that will when we offer it that's something that any of the high schools can choose to do if they find yes faculty capable or wanting to teach that in student interest there and then secondly on the just real quick

[01:35:14] question on the data science as well so on the data science course is that something that will also be offered across the division or is that something that's just one school request yeah that that we actually requested that course and it will be available we will be conducting training for interested teachers and we're certainly hoping that many of the schools have the capacity to add the course sometimes it takes a couple of years as students attrition between different courses. Dr. Sullivan I really appreciate that you know data science at the University of Virginia we created that major a few years ago they

[01:35:50] have a whole new school now for data science the Virginia board for that oversees all higher education has encouraged universities to create a whole degree in data science and that's happening across the country you know but just something to think about.

[01:36:06] Thomas Jefferson, at their school, the first course that they are required that every ninth grader has to take is statistics and data science. It's the first semester, it's the first math everyone has to take there, it's mandatory. And I know that the Virginia Department of Education in their math reforms a couple years ago that became somewhat controversial for no really good reason.

[01:36:29] But one of the things that VDOE really wanted to do was to embed stats and statistics and data science in second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh grades. That was one of the biggest pushes and it's because that's a practical thing that we all use regardless of what field we're in and data science is becoming one of the hottest minors for anyone in college because, you know, just, but I just hope we can, you know, as you look at this and see how this gets adopted in the schools to really maybe consider this as something that we really push hard, wherever-- - Yeah, it's an outstanding complement to any of the research areas.

[01:37:08] And so it would be my hopes to potentially have our students that are engaging in research also take part in the class 'cause it really amplifies their data, their outcomes, their analysis of it, whether it's social sciences, of course, or the hard sciences as well. So we definitely see it fitting as a complement to many, many different fields, certainly biology, the sciences, mathematics, but also other fields where maybe it's an untraditional look at data analytics.

[01:37:36] - Yeah, no, great, thanks. And then I know the Governor's School has a sort of, it's a different, its own thing, but they don't have data science at the Gov School, and I think this is something that if we could take a look at also as well for implementation, 'cause many of the Gov Schools across the commonwealth already offer it.

[01:37:53] - Yeah, we will definitely make sure they're looped in the information string. - Yeah, no, I mean, this is all very exciting, and just add the weight training and conditioning program performance course I think will be popular and I'm excited that the health and PE department has requested this course. I think that will be very exciting and I think it'll be incredibly popular with our students.

[01:38:11] So very, very grateful Dr. McDade, Dr. Sullivan, these are great courses and I hope that next year we have another bunch of great courses. - We've already got a list that we're working on, thank you. - Ms. Williams. - Thank you Chairman, excuse me, thank you Chairman. I'm also very excited by these course offerings, especially with the AP African American Studies.

[01:38:33] I know that Prince William County was part of the pilot program. I think that's a necessary part of our history is teaching all of it. I'm also equally excited to see all of these science courses. I hope that Freedom is able to take advantage of them. I am excited that they'll be offered everywhere available.

[01:38:50] A lot of them have to deal with environmental sciences and they have the Center for Environmental Science. So that's wonderful and I'm encouraged by all of these new course offerings, especially the dual enrollment. I know that's very impactful for a family's budget and oftentimes some of our students sort of max out depending on where they are in their love of science or their ability or their love of math.

[01:39:12] So it's nice to see that we're continuing to go above beyond to meet those requirements. So thank you. - Thank you. - Ms. Zargarpur. - Yeah, I have a couple of questions about dual enrollment just because it was not available in any subjects my children were interested in when they went through, do they also have to apply to NOVA when they're in the dual enrollment class?

[01:39:36] - Yeah, they are doing the processes for both and the teachers have to qualify according to those standards as well. So I am very interested in expanding dual enrollment opportunities, so we'll be looking further at ways to do that. - And do our children pay tuition or is it covered by-- - No, it's covered.

[01:39:56] - Okay, that's excellent. And then dual enrollment is actually different than AP, yes? - Yes, ma'am. - Okay, so if you're taking AP, then you could take the AP exam and you might get credit. Dual enrollment gives you college credit that if it's at NOVA, you could then transfer to a Virginia university or college.

[01:40:14] - Yes, correct. And some of the ideal pairings are for students to really work closely with their counselors so that they are complementing their AP credits their dual enrollment and then those AP credits can fold into that transcript at Nova and not hopefully be duplicative and so it's very important for them to work closely with their school counselors to make sure they're maximizing those opportunities that is excellent I almost wish I had another child to go through but no no I think this is a great opportunity think about it in terms of like banking for the future if your kids are headed toward this this is a great way

[01:40:52] way to get a jumpstart on college where you're not paying the tuition. You're gonna walk in with the skills that you need to be successful. I know I did a little research in one of my courses that talked about the advantages of taking AP and dual enrollment, even just taking the class, maybe not even for AP taking the test, but I encourage everyone to do it anyway.

[01:41:14] It gives you the skills and the habits of mind as Dr. McDade likes to say, to be ready for college, but it also increases your persistence in college. So if you're gonna go, if you've had these classes, you're more likely to finish college.

[01:41:29] So this is a fantastic thing. Thank you so much. - No, you're welcome. - Ms. Jessie. - Good evening. I wanted to also chime in and say that I really am excited about the dual enrollment courses and also the African American studies.

[01:41:46] On dual enrollment, in the past there's been a situation with not having teachers available, has that changed somewhat? - It's really course dependent and school dependent because the teachers do have to meet those qualifications as well.

[01:42:02] And so I can't say for certain if that challenge has been eliminated 'cause it does require an additional level of competency. - And the Woodbridge High School, the dance, help me with this, how does that relate to their request for additional courses and specialty programs?

[01:42:24] - They have a dance program. And they have requested for their students to be able to continue beyond dance one and dance two. - Does not relate to the other requests? - Correct. - Thank you.

[01:42:41] - Ms. Jessie, one point of clarification. I believe that the request around Fine and Performing Arts from the, you're referring to the conversation about potentially having a specialty program around Fine and Performing Arts? Was that the? So if you will recall in that conversation about Woodbridge's Fine and Performing Arts program, what I do remember Principal Abney sharing is that they would have the full suite of offerings if they were able to add these two dance courses.

[01:43:18] And so it is directly connected to the conversation that we had about what it would take to ensure that they have all of the offerings of the fine and performing arts program.

[01:43:33] - Ms. Wall. - Thank you, Chairman. I am pleased, so pleased with this list. It's a great variety. We have career and technical education courses on here.

[01:43:51] We have science classes on here. We have fine and performing arts classes on here. And some new, and math classes as well. You know, this is impressive because we've added a lot of rigor with this. Like organic chemistry in high school, that's pretty amazing. - Really amazing. Data science, amazing.

[01:44:07] That's so great. Two AP classes, pathways for kids who are wanting to get additional instruction and rigor with mathematics. Pre-calculus is a great option. If you're not necessarily going all the way for multi-variable calculus or AP calculus BC, right?

[01:44:25] This is great. I'm really, really pleased to see this. And I believe it will complete some of those pathways that students are looking for, right? Like if they want to take organic chemistry, regular chemistry, then organic chemistry, like the dance, et cetera.

[01:44:44] So I think it's fabulous. And I had one question, and I think you might have answered it. But what happens after this? When the entry-- now these courses enter the course catalog, and then where does it go from there? I believe that site-based decision based on availability of teachers to teach the course and the schools will figure out if students want the course or can you give me a little insight on how that works?

[01:45:07] - It really becomes a combination of obviously student need, interest, teacher talent, and availability. And whenever students are going into a new program, they're leaving a different program. So we always try to take a tempered approach. And I would expect in each of these, it would start off with one or two sections and to see that it builds from there because we're constantly pivoting courses and we can't just add, we have to look at what that means for some other spaces.

[01:45:39] But yeah, we've shared with the principals that these courses are coming. I know they're excited. After today, they will be included in the course catalog development. That'll be coming in January for our high school students and then become part of those course selections.

[01:45:54] We're currently reaching out to schools to look at their interests, what they're looking to try to offer. In some cases, they will try to make a class, and certainly when it's new, to try to get kids excited. Something like data science, I think is awesome. The kids' first year might not necessarily think it's awesome, so it'll take some really inspired teachers to bring some of those kids along.

[01:46:16] And so we expect to see some dabbling in it first year. As we get through the first year, school's growing capacity. - That is great news. I think it's gonna open a lot of opportunities for students, So thank you to you and your staff and for everybody, you know, all the hard work and for listening to the requests of the schools to build out their programs.

[01:46:35] Thank you. - Thank you. - Dr. Sullivan, thank you. I, you know, I don't like to use the word mandate, but data science would be a good mandate. I'm not gonna say that any further. Okay, thank you, thank you, doc. And I think at this time, if there was no further questions, discussion, I'd like the board to vote on the motion.

[01:46:53] Please vote. - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Ralston, motion passed. - Excellent, right on time now, moving on to student representative time, we have Isabella Aversano.

[01:47:09] Aversano, senior at Gainesville High School on the dais with us tonight. Miss Isabella, please. - Good evening to the school board superintendent in Prince William County community. I'm excited to serve as one of your student representatives and I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak tonight.

[01:47:25] Thank you to the quarter of the room that actually stuck around. As the first quarter draws to a close, I'd like to congratulate the student body for making it to the finish line. Additionally, last night was the primary early action and early decision college application deadline. I commend every single senior that has submitted an application of any kind.

[01:47:42] Speaking from experience, I know how hard it is to juggle school, extracurricular activities, a social life, and then applications on top of all of that. So once again, congratulations. And in honor of American Education Week and International Education Week, I would also like to extend my congratulations and gratitude to educators across the county because they are truly the backbone of the preparation that goes into post-secondary educational success and beyond.

[01:48:05] On another positive note, student voice committees have successfully been implemented at nearly every high school throughout the county. Oh, sorry. At a meeting this past Monday, the Student Senate shared that committees have already begun to establish norms, identify unique school-based concerns and solutions, share feedback on district-level ideas and host meetings.

[01:48:22] These committees aim to bring a variety of students together to foster collaboration as well as generate feedback that reflects the wide array of concerns that a diverse student body faces. Tonight's agenda discussed Prince William County's recognition of inclusive schools week and the vitality of understanding and respecting different student backgrounds ways of thinking and learning I believe that student voice committees are a step in the right direction and will contribute to the progress schools have already made in supporting these principles additionally the input generated by student voice committees will be crucial as the student Senate also begins to draft the student bill of rights also at my own school I have started to collaborate with the parent teacher student organization they reached out to me asking if they could

[01:49:00] work with me and eventually the student voice committee because they wanted to get students involved and ensure that their opinions would be incorporated into projects. Before this, I had no idea how many events were planned and funded by the PTSO. These parents put in a lot of effort and students should be aware of that. I also appreciate that the PTSO sought out student voice because that isn't very common and I haven't ever experienced it before.

[01:49:21] I would like to encourage student leaders and voice committees across the county to see if similar collaboration at their schools is possible or necessary. Thank you for your time. That concludes my remarks. - Thank you, Ms. Alversano. Next, Dr. McDade, moving on to superintendent's time.

[01:49:38] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Providing a positive climate and culture is about providing a learning environment which fosters inclusivity, connectedness, and encourages social and emotional wellness for all of our school psychologists play in an important role in supporting a positive learning environment.

[01:49:55] From November six through 10, we are celebrating the work of our school psychologists through School Psychology Awareness Week. Our dedicated school psychologists are trained to listen, help, and heal, and are available for support to our students and others.

[01:50:11] I also want to extend my appreciation for those who ensure our students are developing a love for learning, especially during Attendance Officer Appreciation Week from November 6th through 10th. In our launching Thriving Future Strategic Plan, we have a commitment to reduce chronic absenteeism by 5%.

[01:50:28] Students who are in class on time every day will be on time for graduation, and we know that attendance matters. Our attendance officers work passionately to ensure students are showing up to school and they need our help to show students we care about their wellness.

[01:50:44] As we move into the winter months, let us collectively support student success through prioritizing our students' time in class, healthy habits, and engagement in after-school activities. Moving into our presentation for this evening, we are excited about the progress toward the planning and building of our first net zero elementary school.

[01:51:05] As outlined in our strategic plan, PWCS will complete our first net zero new construction school replacement. This new building will symbolize our commitment to providing a future environment for our students to thrive. The three-story floor plan will honor Occoquan's connections to our proud Native American history and incorporate elements from nature throughout the design.

[01:51:29] The Net Zero School will be US Green Building LEED certified, use solar energy, along with 96 geothermal walls, and serve as a teaching tool with indoor and outdoor learning spaces. Mr. Bach, I hope I got all of the-- - Yeah, you're rocking it, too.

[01:51:46] - All of the points for this amazing new school. PWCS is excited to make this incredible first step toward a brighter and sustainable future for our students. And I want to invite our Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Vernon Bach, Heather Dietz, our director of facility services and Jessica Weimer, some supervisor of engineer management and sustainability.

[01:52:08] And they will together present an update on the Occoquan Elementary School building process. And I do notice on the side, through the side eye that I see Mr. Buddy, principal of Occoquan here, and he will be supporting this presentation as well.

[01:52:25] - Awesome. Thank you, Dr. McDade. And good evening, Chairman Lateef, school board members. I'm very excited to be with you tonight because we are sharing a groundbreaking initiative that we're embarking on, the development and planning of a net zero elementary school right here in Prince William County.

[01:52:43] This project is a testament to our commitment to not only provide exceptional education, but to do so in a sustainable and environmentally responsive manner. I want to extend my gratitude and our gratitude to the school board and our forward-thinking superintendent, Dr. McDade, for her visionary leadership and your commitment to being good stewards of the environment and reducing our carbon footprint, and it is exceptional.

[01:53:09] This net zero school project is a reflection of your dedication to the future and your understanding of the profound impact our actions today will have on generations to come. For me personally, I have to say it's an exciting moment in my career, having the privilege to be a part of designing a net zero school.

[01:53:28] A first in my career is a source of immense pride. It's a testament to our collective commitment to innovation and sustainability. And thank you for your support and vision in making this project a reality. I want to take a moment to recognize Heather Dietz, our new director of facilities, her dedicated team that Dr. McDade just mentioned.

[01:53:48] And we do have architects here from Perkins and Eastman who have worked tirelessly to bring this vision to life. I'd like to ask Heather to join me at the podium. And since this is her first time presenting to the board, I'd like to take a couple of moments to properly introduce her to you.

[01:54:05] Heather comes to us with 25 years of professional experience with her most recent time as the Director of Design and Construction for Fairfax County Public Schools. She's a licensed civil engineer and has a master's degree in public administration.

[01:54:21] Heather has managed a comparable capital improvement program of renovations and capacity enhancements for schools in her previous position, and we're excited and really lucky to have her join the team. So at this time, I'd like to turn over our presentation to Heather, and she's going to present to you the Occoquan Elementary School design.

[01:54:48] Thank you, Mr. Bach. Chairman Lateef, members of the board, Dr. McDade, I'm very happy to be here this evening. to provide an update on the Occoquan Elementary School replacement, which, as you've heard this evening, will be our division's first net zero school. It will also be taking one of our oldest facilities and transforming it into one of our newest school facilities.

[01:55:08] Here's a capture of the proposed school entrance, which includes a two-winged facility. On the right-hand side, you'll see the administrative area and large group areas, such as a gymnasium cafeteria. The center of the school is considered the heart and is also connector wing between the two wings.

[01:55:27] And on the left, it is the three-story instructional grade levels for all of the school. This is a glimpse of the engagements that the facilities department has engaged various community members, schools, the school itself, the other departments, executive level leadership.

[01:55:48] And most recently, October, we had a community meeting at the school with surrounding area community members. Just to orient everyone of the existing school that's located, bordered by Occoquan Road. Just going to make sure I have my pointer here. Occoquan Road on the left and Old Bridge Road on the top of the slide that you're viewing where we have also been partnering with Prince William County as they work to realign that road. At the same time we will be undergoing our construction of the new school. We currently have the school at the front of the site and

[01:56:25] fields at the rear of the site here's an overlay of our proposed school which shows us doing the construction of the new new school at the rear of the site while students remain in session at the front and their existing school part way through the construction we will have a ceremony relocate students into their brand new school and then we will restore the site at the front with fields here's a glimpse of our site plan where we have added separate entrances for the bus loop and the kiss and ride drop off for students so at the top of the page you'll see the bus loop which

[01:57:00] we're recognizing all of the congestion on Occoquan Road we work to pull that traffic off of the road and onto our site with an extended bus loop that brings students to the front of the school as well as at the bottom of the page where you'll see kiss and ride for drop off and student pickup it'll allow parents and community members to circle back out with staff parking at the rear so another extended off-the-road enhanced safety and circulation pattern to the site.

[01:57:33] Here's a massing image that shows the neighboring properties of industrial and commercial over on the left side, which is where we intentionally have our higher limits of the school facility. We step down over to the administrative side on the left as you near the residential components of the community.

[01:57:50] There's also a river-themed walkway that will connect the fields over to the new school as we include a nature component of the design of the school. A glance at the first floor, which includes the center of the school, which I mentioned was the heart and the connector.

[01:58:08] On that bottom side of the screen, you'll see the administrative wing, the suite, large group areas of gym and cafeteria, and the other side is our early grade levels. As you rise throughout the school, the second level includes rising grade levels, a library including a makerspace and workroom, as well as art and music classrooms.

[01:58:29] You come up to the third floor, which again is only the instructional levels carrying up to the third level, which is our upper grades as well as a science class, which is next to the outdoor classroom featuring sustainability initiatives, including a photovoltaic array, which is a solar panel, out at the outdoor classroom for learning and teaching opportunities.

[01:58:50] Classrooms throughout the upper grade levels include shared adjacent resource rooms for for breakout sessions and collaboration between classes or for the individual classroom. The interior concept was set on a longstanding culture within the school of four tribes, one village, which you'll see those indications on the left and that is part of the color scheme throughout the school.

[01:59:14] And then on the right, we have colors as you graduate from the lower level of the school and rising up as if you're actually the growth in the forest from the forest floor up through the leaves the canopy of the trees as the students develop and grow over their career in the elementary school.

[01:59:30] Here are some snaps of the as you approach again you'll see those color schemes going up through the forest levels of the school itself. This is the approach you'll see the solar array atop the building. A lot of natural light while still maintaining security features are throughout the interior and exterior of the building. In the upper right there you'll see floating ceiling with with some of the forest theme, those floating panels may consist of lighting, noise attenuation.

[01:59:59] In the lower right, you'll see a classroom with more natural light coming in, as well as that nature theme again. Here is our library proposed on the left, again with the floating ceiling light and abundance of natural light.

[02:00:15] And on the right, the gymnasium, which again includes the longstanding theme of the school. And I'm gonna turn it over to Jessica Wymer to discuss the very important energy and sustainability initiatives with this design.

[02:00:35] - Thank you for the introduction, Ms. Dietz. Good evening again, everyone, Dr. Lateef, members of the school board, and Dr. McDade. I will be providing you with some additional details regarding the sustainability and net zero design elements for the Occoquan Elementary replacement.

[02:00:53] So a very important goal for this project is for us to achieve net zero energy, Meaning that we will be producing as much energy as we use. So we've highlighted some energy projections here for you and we should see a substantial decrease in energy use than that of a typical elementary school.

[02:01:15] And even more savings once we include the energy offset by the solar. Additionally, we incorporated green building aspects using our PWCS sustainable design principles for high performance buildings. And with that in mind, as Dr. McDade mentioned, we are pursuing a minimum of LEED Silver.

[02:01:34] So LEED being that third-party green building certification. Some other design elements have been considered as we move toward the goal of net zero energy. And these include the way the building is oriented on the site, how we best maximize daylight in the classrooms.

[02:01:55] And then for the HVAC system, we are planning for a ground source heat pump using the Earth's heat for 96 geothermal wells. Also, we have a solar panel array on the roof. And since occupant comfort, or user experience as we like to call it, is very important in a sustainable building, we are considering things like acoustics, color patterns, room layout, and lighting to make it a welcoming and happy space for students and staff. And finally, we are projecting an emissions reduction that will impact the division's overall carbon footprint.

[02:02:34] We've also thought a great deal about how the building can be used as a teaching tool. So some of those features include a public interactive dashboard, an indicator showing energy used versus produced, a visible mechanical room, an outdoor classroom with landscaping and solar panels, and educational signage throughout the building and grounds.

[02:02:57] And finally, we are planning for building specific curriculum developed in partnership with EcoRise. Related to that, my team has already started discussions with Mr. Lint and his staff about creating professional development opportunities specific to Occoquan teachers that will be guided by our division's environmental literacy plan.

[02:03:17] So that way, all Occoquan Elementary staff and students will better understand how to use their new building as a teaching and learning tool. So at this time I'd like to turn it back over to Ms. Dietz, who will go over our project timeline. Thank you.

[02:03:40] Late this past summer and early fall, our site plan and building plans were submitted to Prince William County for review and ultimate permitting of the project. I mentioned the October meeting where we engage with the community for a final update and design input. As soon as our plans are approved by the county, we intend in early 2024 to competitively procure a site contractor and a general contractor to build the building and starting construction in the spring of 2024.

[02:04:08] Partway through the project timeline, ideally in the winter of 2025, we will move students to their new school and then spend the rest of the season until summer of 2026 restoring the front of the site. I'd again like to recognize our partnership with the school.

[02:04:26] The principal is here this evening, Buddy Lint, And our architect partner, Perkins Eastman, Sean O'Donnell is here from them, and everyone else that we have worked with throughout this project. Thank you. So, Mr. Chairman, that does conclude our presentation, and we're happy to answer any questions that board members might have.

[02:04:48] Ms. Jessie. I would like Mr. Lent, Buddy Lent, to please come to the front. Principal's office. Good evening, school board.

[02:05:04] Dr. McDade. How are you, Ms. Jessie? Hi. How are you? I'm excited. - I am as well. It's a beautiful building. - Isn't it? - It is. - Could you share with them a little, the front, can you show that photo of the front of the building?

[02:05:20] I think it's slide number two or three, the front with the emblem. Would you share with them the emblem and the input students had and the tribe concept?

[02:05:35] - Absolutely, so what you're looking at right there is a symbol that we have. The O of the shape is for Occoquan, obviously. And what we did was we incorporated the four tribe symbols that we have into the O for Occoquan in order for it to symbolize the four tribes, one village mentality that we have at our school.

[02:06:02] You know, one of the things that we have that we built upon was the indigenous people. There were a lot of different indigenous tribes kind of split up and splintered around here but they were all still part of one large tribe and we're trying to hone in on that and make sure that we honor that with the education that we're providing the students through our tribal system in our school our tribal systems based off of the Ron Clark model out of Atlanta that's an internationally well-known program based with a house system and And that's kind of what our tribal system is,

[02:06:37] is a house system with integrity, you know, initiative that all the tribes have meaning for. And those four symbols that are going around the O are the symbols of each individual tribe.

[02:06:54] So it shows that they're all kind of unique, but yet they all kind of fit together as well. - I want to leave the opportunity for other people on the board to ask questions. I'd like for you to stand by at the end.

[02:07:09] Thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Lent. - Any other questions? - Ms. William. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just think that this is amazing. It's a long time coming. This board, thanks to our chairman and several other board members, really advocated for being a more green school division.

[02:07:30] I'm excited for my time I spent as being a facility person. I see those LEED certifications, and of course, I'm a science nerd, so I love this. And I especially love the fact that we are going to be able to incorporate an educational program around this. I'd love to see more partnerships with maybe like, of course I'm gonna say freedom for their environmental science program, but I love when we can utilize our buildings and our spaces as educational tools.

[02:07:56] I think that's an important investment in our children's future and hopefully we'll get some building engineers out of it 'cause it's a really cool job. Thank you Mr. Lint for coming this evening and all the work that you do at Occoquan Elementary. I wish I could have a geothermal school in my district, but the land doesn't support it, but we're getting as close as we possibly can.

[02:08:14] - That's right. - But I really wanna thank you and all of your staff for all the herb work that has been done on this. I know this is a tremendous undertaking. It's right next to where I used to park every day as a commuter, and when I first heard it was going to happen there, I was like, oh my goodness, the traffic. But the amount of work and planning that has gone in to remediate any of those issues, to ensure that there's no interruption to the students' academic progress is just outstanding.

[02:08:43] Welcome again, Ms. Dietz, 'cause I had the pleasure to work with her at a community presentation. It's just amazing what can happen when we have qualified staff and growth in our division. I'm really, really excited by this and I can't wait to see the progress when it's all finished and done.

[02:09:01] And I absolutely love the incorporation of the symbols from the tribes right on the front of the building. I couldn't imagine being an elementary school student, seeing that every day welcoming, coming in. That's a fantastic idea. And again, I just love all of the collaboration at every single level that has gone into the development of this project.

[02:09:19] So thank you. - Thank you. - Mr. Wilk. - This is beautiful for Occoquan. So I wanna know now, is this happening concurrently or consecutively with the second Potomac Shores Elementary? - So we're beginning that work.

[02:09:36] Obviously, as you know, we've purchased the land for that. And so we will be looking at a third story design there at that site, Mr. Wilk, similar, but somewhat different, but with the constraint of the footprint there, we will be looking at a three story design and we've begun that process.

[02:09:55] - Thank you. - Jargapora. - I just wanna thank you for putting in a strings room. I believe that is one of the things that has been a long time coming. A separate space for strings is really important. And I'm hoping, does Okaquan currently have fourth grade strings?

[02:10:17] - Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a great opportunity for our kids. And yeah, I just know that that was something that was really important to our strings teachers. And this is like the first place that's really just, thank you, thank you.

[02:10:35] - Mr. Jackson. - Thank you so much for the presentation tonight. It's nice, it's wonderful to see what the school's gonna look like and have the blueprints and the detail of the community involvement. I am really excited for the Occoquan community and just for Prince William County Schools as a whole.

[02:10:55] This not only helps protect the future from an environmental standpoint, but also addresses the rigor that I know Occoquan Elementary School has through incorporating science. So it's just, it's really exciting. I just wanted to put a plug in that as we change the design of our buildings, maybe like we should consider how we allocate custodians 'cause it's more glass to clean and I just put that out in the thought sphere.

[02:11:24] So thank you so much for the presentation and congratulations, Akakuan, and I'm excited to see the final product, thank you. - Awesome, thank you. - Ms. Wall. - All right, so I visited a net school, net zero school, sorry, in Washington, D.C., and it was very, very cool.

[02:11:43] So this looks, this has a lot of the same things in it, I believe. First of all though, I want to commend the separate bus loop and the kiss and ride and the teacher parking because this is a problem at schools in my district and with our older schools that didn't really anticipate that we would be in such a big county with so many students.

[02:12:06] So great job. I like to see that and I hope it works. - We'll be continuing to focus on that Ms. Wall as we design buildings. That will be something we will continue to focus. - I appreciate that because it's just, It's just better for everybody as you know.

[02:12:22] And so my other question, I guess, and comment is, one thing I like about the net zero school is the net zero aspect of it. Because to me, that means we're saving money in our energy costs year upon year upon year.

[02:12:40] And so I actually don't know how much those cost savings will be for like a cost savings of a school being net zero. I'm assuming it's pretty significant. - Yeah, I can ask Jess to come up. And I wanna make sure I do a proper introduction here too because Jess, it did assume a new role recently and she is our supervisor of our energy management and sustainability team.

[02:13:04] So I just wanted to make sure to recognize that tonight, but I'd like for her to share a little about, to answer your question. - Wonderful. Yes, so to answer, we will see significant savings. I don't have that exact figure on me at this time, but I could certainly get that to you.

[02:13:20] - We will have some costs because in addition to the saving from electricity, we will have a couple of other utilities that won't necessarily be net zero. But yes, so we will eliminate our electricity costs. - Awesome, well I think that's great.

[02:13:39] And thank you. And yeah, sure, if we can get that data for me sometime. - Yeah, we could certainly come back to you and present that data to you. - That would be awesome, thank you very much. - Ms. Jessie. - First of all, this is a historic night for us because Occoquan Elementary School is 100 years old.

[02:14:03] Am I correct? - Not quite yet, it's 97 I believe. - Yeah, okay. So it will be 100 years old. And when I came onto this board, I wanted to close the achievement gap and Dr. Torian said, well, Occoquan District doesn't have an achievement gap.

[02:14:22] And I thought, well, maybe it doesn't have an achievement gap, but it does have an equity gap. AND SO WE HAD A SCHOOL WITH THE LAND THAT WAS AVAILABLE BUT WE DIDN'T PLACE A SCHOOL THERE SO I WANT TO THANK AL SHIROKE AND YOUR WORK AND REALLY I'M JUST VERY PLEASED THAT THIS SCHOOL IS BEING BUILT AND I WANT TO ASK A QUESTION ABOUT THE WELL SYSTEM I THINK THERE'S ANOTHER SCHOOL IN ARLINGTON THAT HAS THAT HAS THERE BEEN ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT WE SHOULD ANTICIPATE WITH THIS NET ZERO SCHOOL? SEAN WOULD YOU LIKE TO ANSWER THAT I THINK WE MAY HAVE AN ANSWER

[02:15:00] for you. Yes, thank you for the question. I'm pleased to be here. I'm Sean O'Donnell. I'm with the architect Perkins Eastman. The geothermal system is a system that we've been using for well over 10 years, if not 15 years, on schools across the DMV at this point in time. And all of our clients at this point are reporting back that they are, in fact, the easiest systems in their inventory to maintain and operate so we've not seen any difficulties and using the systems and

[02:15:37] they're actually quite significant contributor to the energy performance of the building and achieving the net zero goals that you're talking about this evening thank you mr buddy lynn would you please come to the podium yes ma'am buddy inherited a school that was nationally recognized and the principal there is now a national consultant that school was a highly highly performing school and I want you to know that at this point you

[02:16:16] have closed that gap and you know I gave you I came to your school and I gave these cups for schools in Occoquan at 9090 performance based on the accreditation from video II and I want you to know that I accidentally looked up the US news and world report and I didn't know they did elementary school so I want to share with you where you are as a school based on a national level

[02:16:47] first of all this school is according to this report 82.9% minority yeah and you You are, according to US News and World Report, 93% in math and 85% in reading and that you are number 76 in the state of Virginia and you are number six in Prince William County

[02:17:24] schools, which means as a Title I school you are above many of the schools that are not Title I because I've had in this boardroom people have come in and talked about they They would like to see us look at the, I think that the sign said something like teach to ability and not to race.

[02:17:50] And you've proven that you can teach to ability and to race of all races. And I think on your scores at the VDOE, what is your percentage of pass rate for your minority kids, your black kids?

[02:18:06] Our minority African-American students were, if I'm not mistaken, our highest performing population in reading and math so they were I believe three four points above our white and maybe two points above our Asian which are normally our two highest subgroups but in this past year they were at least I believe four points higher African-American scores were four points higher this year 97% pass rate and so I wanted to take this time to this board to meet you as a principal and

[02:18:42] to say I applaud you and I enjoy working with you and it's going to be some school and of course you know I gave your teachers a cup so I have a cup for

[02:18:51] you thank you Miss Jessie so please come forward thank you Miss Jessie do you

[02:19:47] have any other further comments Miss Jessie we are looking at the Eastern corridor you I want to tell you that when I looked in that report by the way your school at Porter is number one not only in Prince William County but in the state of Virginia and there are some other data I will share later I just want you to know you hear a lot about these minority schools and what you can and cannot do and this man has come in and done this with his staff because

[02:20:24] they are phenomenal staff and I want to thank you and I want to thank you for for sharing this with us and putting together this presentation to the architect and to your new person. I don't know her name, but you did a phenomenal job.

[02:20:40] Thank you very much. - You're welcome. - All right, well, outstanding. Thank you guys very much. This was great. This just, I think is the embodiment of our resolution from four years ago and it's another step forward.

[02:20:56] So we can't thank you all enough very much. Thank you guys very much. - Thank you. - Have a good night. - So next up, committee updates, Ms. Wall. - Thank you, Chairman Lateef. I wanted to provide a quick update on the school health advisory board, which met on October 27th last Friday from nine to 11.

[02:21:15] And this committee, the purpose of the committee is to advise the school division on broad topics or specific aspects of the coordinated school health program. And at this meeting, there were two main objectives. The first one was that members would be informed of the tiered level of support provided to PWCS students that provide mental health, that promotes mental health and wellness.

[02:21:36] And the second objective was to receive an update on immunization non-compliance within our schools and highlight the partnership with Prince William County Community Foundation, Prince William Health District, and the George Mason and Partners Clinic to continue to provide vaccines for students who remain non-compliant with required immunizations.

[02:21:56] So that was a really good update. And the other thing that the committee will be doing is updating their mission statement and their bylaws. And this is a committee that does allow community members to participate.

[02:22:13] And there will be a process for if individuals would like to volunteer to be on the committee, there'll be an application process coming. The next committee meeting will be February 9th, 2024, same time nine to 11 here at the KLC. So I expect there'll be more information coming about that.

[02:22:30] And that's it. - Thank you, Ms. Wall. And very good, at this point we will move, I think, with anything further, do we have anything further? Board of Matters, and we did something different last time. So we'll start with Ms. Williams today, how about that?

[02:22:47] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I love all the jumping around. Well, it is officially November 1st, which is the time to honor Native Americans. It's also Diabetes Awareness Month, and Epilepsy, and National Homeless Youth Awareness Month.

[02:23:03] It is important to honor and recognize these designations and I hope that we all will take the time out to do so. In addition, we have upcoming on the 9th of November, the Governor's School Innovation Park meeting, which will be a virtual meeting.

[02:23:21] Citizen comment time is always welcome. Citizen comment is always welcome. Over the past several weeks, I have attended a few events, specifically Freedom High School for the community resource fair. I just wanna take a moment to thank all the staff, especially the staff that is there to support our student services, that they just do an amazing job and are always so gracious and welcoming.

[02:23:47] Featherstone celebrated their Monster Mash, which was a spooky good time. All fun was had by all. Upcoming for I think most of us on the board will be the Virginia School Board Association annual convention, the middle of this month.

[02:24:04] I'm excited once again to be a delegate. Policy is one of my favorite things. And for those who are able to, it is November 1st, which means the first day to apply to a specialty program, which is one of my favorite times of year.

[02:24:20] So I encourage all of our Prince William County school families, many of our schools are hosting information sessions on specific specialty programs, such as like Ripon Math and Science, Woodbridge is same gender. Fredlin is IB and World Languages and Freedom has the SINs program.

[02:24:39] Take the time out to attend the specialty program night or check on our website for more information. They are, you have three opportunity, three choice selections and it's done by lottery with the exception I think of the dance program or former arts program at Colgan.

[02:24:57] So in addition to that I was unfortunately missed a few events this month due to myself being sick and my lovely elementary schooler sharing his lovely elementary school germs at home. So I look forward to catching up on all of the activities in my schools in my district in the upcoming months.

[02:25:16] I know it's also dubbed No School November, but that doesn't mean that we don't have to read at home. So I encourage everyone to do so. And this evening, I just wanna take a special moment to celebrate our student representative. I never in my wildest dreams, never my wildest dreams anticipated when Miss Jessie and I advocated so fiercely for student representatives that over these years you guys would have developed it into such a wonderful role and really expanded the opportunities and student voice because that's one of the things that I thought was so instrumental so thank you for everything that you do and for the

[02:25:52] other two representatives and I look forward to watching it grow even further so thank you Miss Jessie would you like to go next hi I'm ready I think I have a slide I always have a slide do I have my first slide please don't start the clock while they're waiting with a slide okay I brought a dog into the boardroom I'm sorry this dog won't hunt this is a sprocket

[02:26:29] and he only hunts for food he's at my he's my daughter's dog but you know I'm making fun of something that is really very important to me 'cause I've been on this board for a very long time. I've been in this county forever. And I decided I couldn't sit back and let's allow various groups to berate and give the skies falling type of speeches about our school system.

[02:26:51] So I wanted to share, the next section is called Truth Be Told. Truth Be Told, the best schools, best public schools in Prince William County are in Virginia. In Virginia are Osmond Park High School, Battlefield High School, Charles Cogan High School.

[02:27:10] These schools all rank in the top 10% of the schools in the state of Virginia. We have also outperformed five of the nine Northern Virginia schools listed on the Washington, the Wavy Report. You know, you look at the Wavy Report, you look at schools like Alexandria, where their per pupil expenditure is $18 and ours is something much less.

[02:27:36] but we have outperformed those schools. And I want to share some facts about Occoquan, and I think the next slide has the cups. I want to talk about the cups because this is the political season. I want you to know that every cup was paid for out of my money.

[02:27:53] We gave thousands of doughnuts at the beginning, and that money came from Kenny Bodie and from me, so I don't want people to think that I'm using school board money to buy these cups. You know, everybody has to be celebrated. There's a book called "Love 'em or Lose 'em," and I gave that book.

[02:28:11] I think I shared that with Dr. McDade. Celebration of people, I call these gratitude cups, and I want to share a little bit about what's happening in Alcaquan in particular. First of all, there are two 90/90/90 schools that's 90% pass rate in reading, math, and science, and those schools are Old Bridge and West Bridge, and there are another five or six schools that are 90/90/90 schools, which means they have a 90% pass rate reading and math and those schools are carydale occoquan marshall springwoods and rock ledge

[02:28:51] and i would like to reiterate this the statement earlier because there is a national movement and i see these signs all the time and it says teach to ability and not to race and i think that i would like to change it to that we all races have the ability and they're just waiting for somebody to find them so we need to teach to all of our kids but whether regardless of race they have the ability they just need the opportunity thank you mr wilk thank you um i'm gonna go off script

[02:29:26] a little bit i was gonna go through my litany of things i attended the last two weeks um but um tonight and the last couple meetings have been very compelling um some of the stories shared and stuff like that and I'd like to comment on some of that. You know, from our speakers, from Mary talking about physical assaults in her room, from four, five, and six-year-olds, to Emily detailing a very personal mental health situation and the emotional trauma, Shannon's extra hours

[02:29:58] beyond contract, Jane death threats, Andrea's lively presentation about being a kindergarten teacher. It brings to me and worry again some of the things and concerns I've had all along. One, I'm not a big fan of site-based management, and I know we've been looking at it and revising and looking at just auditing it and determining the effectiveness in moving forward.

[02:30:23] And I've also been concerned with this amongst other feedback I'm hearing from families about the implementation of some of the changes we made with the Code of Behavior in June when it comes to discipline and getting rid of tiered one and two for bullying and assault in our schools.

[02:30:39] You know, I said, if you're not gonna disrupt a parent by your discipline and your actions, you're not gonna see a lot of change behaviors. And so I just really wanted to emphasize that. You know, Andy McCarthy was right.

[02:30:55] We did go to grad school together and I did a lot of work and a lot of paper and research on teacher efficacy. And it is important. It really is to make sure teachers feel like they're part of the community, part of the conversation. And I agree with him. So without, after consulting obviously Wade and what I can say and not, 'cause we are an active mediation.

[02:31:19] I'll leave it at this. When I was 14, this kind of makes me think of the John Michael Montgomery song. When I was 14, I was following fast. When I was 14, I was hired in my first job. I worked at a country store, if that gives you an idea where I grew up. We had country stores, right?

[02:31:34] Had an ice cream shop, a little bakery in it, all that. When I worked a full shift, I received a 30 minute lunch. From there, I went and got hired at Arby's. people always say and my wife when I'm in a drive-through, why are you so polite all the time and say please, please, please? Honestly, because I know what it's like to work at a fast food place and I truly value the workers who work at fast food restaurants and when you work the full shift there, I received a full 30-minute lunch and management had to make sure that was covered and then even when I went to Abercrombie and Fitch, my god, they gave me a 30-minute lunch and I just again want to emphasize that and the importance of that and I'll leave it with that.

[02:32:13] And thank you, have a good night. - Lisa. - I looked ready. Thank you, Dr. Lateef. So I wanna just, I got to meet with a lot of parents this week, a lot of students.

[02:32:34] Oh, bless you, I got interrupted by a sneeze. I still wanna commend the elementary students who are working on finding recess in middle school. They are working really hard, and they're thinking things through. They understand that scheduling is important.

[02:32:51] They understand supervision is important and I really, I can't wait to hear more from them. They were awesome, their parents were awesome. I also had an opportunity to kind of correct things with some misunderstandings about Code Red. Code Red is still one of our things.

[02:33:06] It's the first thing on our weather closing list. If you go to pwcs.edu and just type in weather, you can find the inclement weather codes. Code Red still exists. There is no code orange replacing it. But I had to have a little conversation to make sure people understood that Code Orange is its own kind of little category.

[02:33:26] Code Red will still stand if the weather's horrible. We aren't going anywhere. So I just wanna make sure people get that and understand it. Had my 35th class reunion. I'm a graduate from Osmore Park High School. And this week we got to honor Michael Foley.

[02:33:41] So I'm gonna read to you the honor he got. It says, "Michael Foley has been the voice of Yellow Jackets announcing the home football game since 1986. His iconic calls of there being laundry on the field and extra mustard, don't do it as well as him, on the hot dogs have been synonymous with Osborne Park football.

[02:34:06] In addition to his volunteering in the press box, Coach Foley had a long and successful career as a teacher and a coach at Osborne Park. For his successes in volunteer time, He was awarded the VHSL Region 6D Award of Merit in 2018.

[02:34:22] For his dedication and commitment to Osborne Park High School over the last 47 years, from this day forward, October 27th, 2023, the Press Box at Al Crow Stadium will be forever named Michael Foley Press Box. It's a fitting honor for this man. He is awesome.

[02:34:37] He is part of the, he's just, he is Osborne Park. Last thing I wanna basically address is we heard many, many teachers come in, Very moving stories, don't know quite what to say.

[02:34:54] I kind of sit here with Mr. Wilk with similar thoughts, I'm sure. But I do want to remind people that we have a section of our collective bargaining resolution, 9B. It says, "All collective bargaining shall only occur "between the party's respective collective bargaining teams."

[02:35:11] The school board is not on the bargaining team. I just want to remind people that, because we do empathize. Thank you. - Ms. Jackson. - All right, thank you. Last meeting, I was unable to provide remarks during the meeting.

[02:35:27] Over this month, I attended many events from homecoming games, cheer competition, field hockey game, title one night, an event, car show at Patriot High School for the benefit unified sports, and saw some trunk and treaters. Great events, great conversations. PWCS recognizes October as National Bullying Prevention Month.

[02:35:47] I was reviewing the website earlier today to prepare for a post for resources for parents, staff, and students as I had some constituents reach out to me over the last few weeks about the world events and humanitarian crisis. This month, for me, serves as a reminder to reflect, to try and put ourselves in another's shoes.

[02:36:07] I have been very open, more open than I have ever been, about having a disability, and that as a special educator, I love and serve my students. I disclosed my hearing loss, either to break down barriers or to receive an accommodation. When I was in my master's program, we discussed the Council for Exceptional Children's Special Education Professional Ethical Principles.

[02:36:31] They include protecting and supporting individuals, upholding ethics and not tolerating and engaging in practice that harms individuals. As a current and practicing special educator, I take my role as an advocate seriously.

[02:36:48] is the discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities it can be imitating speech it can be purposely preventing access it could be saying that person doesn't look disabled and it can be posting on someone's social media Adele did you hear us at the school board meeting yeah I heard you and I know full well that I've told you that I'm hard of hearing so I heard the message of lack of tolerance and respect that you were conveying in your post as a human I can turn the cheek again but that post was blatant and public and as a special educator and parent I cannot ignore the

[02:37:27] apparent disrespect. This post was purposeful and disrespectful and you may think you were just attacking me and just attacking my disability, but you were not. I am thankful for those who remain consistent advocates, the educators that have reached out to me, the family, the staff sitting here and fellow board members. I am proud of the educators who come and speak with suggestions and

[02:37:52] conviction. However, if there's a systemic concern for the association has the fundamental responsibility to advocate, not wait until negotiations and an election, but follow proper channels and advocate with haste. I spent some of my time during the collective bargaining vote over a year ago expressing my concerns about how collective bargaining would impact my ability to advocate for my fellow special educators and teachers, my fellow educators in general. I had the hope and desire to see collective bargaining flourish.

[02:38:25] but i was worried that my role would change with my vote although it appears my concerns are valid i completely understand that there are real frustrations and concerns and there is a need to build and improve the school system in the spirit of this month i go worried about the tone and topics conveyed tonight and i hope we can move forward and negotiate i am thankful for those who came out and spoke tonight to those who stayed and i wish everyone a good night and love and respect and that we may all walk in each other's shoes.

[02:39:04] Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Jackson. Ms. Wall.

[02:39:21] - So I'll start on a major note and end with a minor chord. It's been a busy time of year. Some of the places that I've been, Sinclair Elementary School Advisory Council, followed by Hispanic Heritage Month, Alvey Elementary, Trunk or Treat, Bull Run v. Reagan Soccer Game, Bottle Field High School Counseling Advisory Committee Meeting, Unity Braxton and Unity Reads Pyramid Orchestra Concert, field hockey for Battlefield High School, regionals for cheerleading, and first responders day at Patriot, Pace West for their fall festival, at Gravely Elementary for Halloween Bingo,

[02:39:58] Mullen for Glow Bingo, ask me about that later, and Battlefield's Pink Out football game, Sudley Elementary's first ever fall festival, and Battlefield's Voboda band assessment. I love how much community involvement we have from everybody at all these events that I've been to, and I know students appreciate your support.

[02:40:17] Now to my minor chord. I appreciate the comments shared tonight. We've heard some moving stories and grievances from some of our dedicated teachers. I'm glad that we can provide a forum for teachers to make their grievances heard. The fact remains, however, that PWA is the only organization that has the power to advocate on their or any other teachers' behalf.

[02:40:40] The union representatives know that the negotiations, as they agreed, occur not here, but at the bargaining table where they currently sit. Reflecting on the last six months of meetings, the tactics designed to rally community sympathy and shame board members into doing what the union wants have been persistent and at times ugly.

[02:41:04] And those tactics have had, in my observation, precisely the opposite of their intended effect. Tactics are alienating decision makers, staff, parents, and community members who otherwise support the union's seat at the table. For those who did not support collective bargaining, The tactics used by this union in this boardroom and in other public fora are case in point for their opposition.

[02:41:25] To the casual observer, over the past six months, PWEA has confirmed many of the negative stereotypes they have of organized labor. What has come out of this collective bargaining process so far is a whole lot of negativity and not much else.

[02:41:42] Moreover, union leadership's bullying tactics are directly undermining our strategic commitment to positive climate and culture. With an astonishing lack of self-awareness, the union would have you lay that blame at the feet of the school division.

[02:41:57] Going forward, we should constructively discuss what we have learned from our experience over the last year. We should look at how collective bargaining processes played out. We should ask ourselves, has collective bargaining helped us meet our strategic goals of positive climate and culture and student achievement?

[02:42:15] Most importantly, we must ask whether at the end of the day, This process actually benefits our students and staff, since that is ultimately what we're all about. For those seven or eight of you still here with us tonight, who didn't get up and leave after public comment, or anybody who is still up and listening to the livestream, you who are working so hard every day to do your part in accomplishing our division goals and helping students be the best that they can be, thank you.

[02:42:43] We value you, we value what you do, and so do your students. - Thank you, Ms. Wall. - Okay, you know, yeah, did you, sure, Ms. Jessie.

[02:43:04] - You know, tonight, I've been a principal for 20 years, and if any principal is taking away duty-free lunch from teachers, you need to stop it.

[02:43:24] I don't know, you know, as a principal, I've done no survey, but I will tell you that principals, in my estimation, generally follow the rule. We were afraid as all get out to not give people their lunch period.

[02:43:40] And I always provided lunch for my teachers. And if you have emergencies, we're in a different time. They don't have the subs to cover. But if you don't have subs to cover, you need to make a way for those teachers to find an extra time for them to have lunch or to compensate them in some way.

[02:44:01] So I don't know what, I know Dr. McDade, and I know that she has done something when she heard this, because she's as concerned about these teachers as I am. And it bothers me that I saw all these teachers crying, saying that we're taking away your lunch.

[02:44:18] I don't know, again, I don't know very many principals who are bold enough to not follow regulation. We're afraid of regulations. And every teacher at my school had lunch. I celebrate teachers. I'm not sure where I am with PWA, but I will tell you, These cups and these doughnuts are not just, I'm not doing that for a small reason.

[02:44:42] I'm doing it because I love teachers and I know how hard you work. And I know you work overnight and I know you do planning time at your tables. I went to a teacher's house and she had so much stuff on her table and I thought, oh my God, she's never gonna see her family. But everybody on this board and everybody at central office, I know you work extra hours too.

[02:45:04] All of us work extra hours. I'm not saying that that's what we all should do but I do say that whatever we do we need to look at teachers and celebrate them and for god's sake don't take away their lunch and I don't think that they do their planning time work it out you know there's a way to work it out and I'm not beating up on principles because I know them I've worked with them for 20 years and I know that they value teachers.

[02:45:35] And those people who had complaints tonight, I would like for you to let your principals know or let Dr. McDade know about your concerns, thank you. And I hope that's not out of order. The lawyer is over there, he said, "Lily, I don't know," but everybody else spoke.

[02:45:50] And I decided I had a right to speak to it. It bothered me tonight that I had people cry, saying, "You're taking away my lunch." I don't know who those principals are, but you need to stop it. - Thank you, Ms. Jessie.

[02:46:07] - Okay, well, let me change topics here a bit. We had, last night was early decision, early application, some of the deadlines for some of the universities. I'm encouraging all our seniors to continue filling out applications, common apps, regular general admissions.

[02:46:24] There's still early admission schools, still have deadlines coming up. Make sure you're getting all your work done and in, and encourage, I know the delay, there's a delay on the FAFSA application this year, but stay, keep looking at your portals, to make sure you're on top of that and filling that out.

[02:46:40] Had some great opportunities to see some playoff field hockey and volleyball this past week and it's been very exciting. I think our sports teams are doing fabulous. Very excited to see all the great excitement out there. Congratulations, Osborne Park and Garfield, they inaugurated their new turf fields, OP, right?

[02:46:59] New turf field, yeah. Turf field at OP and Garfield and those look fabulous and I know the alumni associations at both those schools have reached out to me and told me how excited they are to have those fields. Regarding this evening and actually the course of the last five years, you know, I ran for this office, I chose to be on the school board and I committed to four areas that I believe this school division should work on, and that is student success, salaries, space and infrastructure, and safety and security.

[02:47:35] And each of those four categories peaked in importance at different points in these five years. Whether we had to deal with school shootings and security and anxiety in the community of what to do and how to keep our teachers feeling safe, safe from threats from students that you heard tonight, safe from threats of outside threats and guns being brought to school, safe from drug use, all of those things we have worked on, we have invested in, we have implemented programs and protocols and procedures.

[02:48:06] Will they be perfect? I don't know. We have, some of these problems are historic, require constant work and continuous improvement and we'll continue to do that. Regarding salaries, you know, I believe teachers are vastly underpaid. That's how it is nationwide.

[02:48:23] Our society chooses to fund schools with a tax structure that does not permit teachers to get a salary that I believe they deserve, which is why I fought for cash and money for the school division over the last five years and working with Chair Wheeler and our governors, both McAuliffe Northam and Governor Yunkin.

[02:48:47] Yunkin provided a record budget last year and I commend him on that. And a lot of that went to salaries. We have to keep doing that work. And that helps a lot with the way teachers perceive their value.

[02:49:03] I try to thank them as much as possible. We do it with our letters, with our emails. We do it with our public thriving futures focus. We're doing it constantly and I'm committed to that effort. When it comes to space and infrastructure, you just saw a great new school that's coming.

[02:49:21] You know, the space benefits both the students and the staff and we're continuing to try to do that. And we have good buildings here. We have older ones, we have work that we need to do. We have committed to do that over the last five years. And student success, that is our goal.

[02:49:37] That is our core mission. That is our core business. That is the work that I've been absolutely committed to. Tonight, you saw another great example of us adding more rigorous courses. We have put together a plan to come out of this pandemic, to recover from it, to build from it.

[02:49:54] And I'm very confident in Dr. McDade's leadership, the strategic plan, and everything that goes into it. And this board, and I can vouch for every single member of this board has listened, has heard over the course of the four and five years I've been on this board and has a clear conscience of what they believe in and votes they're conscious every time because they believe everything we do does have a benefit for everyone in the school division.

[02:50:23] We may not get to where everybody wants to get to today, tomorrow, or even next year, but it's what we're doing. And as you heard, collective bargaining is something that is done at the table, at the negotiating table. And that's where we will leave it for our teams to continue to work and hash out the things we believe will help all of our teachers and as much as we can afford with the resources we have.

[02:50:47] And so I as chairman will continue to advocate for more money for schools to allow us to do more things, but we will rely on our administration to operationalize all the policies and procedures and the strategic plan that we have to make sure our students succeed.

[02:51:04] And we'll do that with fidelity. And I can tell you that every day I'm out there, I talk to teachers, I talk to folks, they love our schools. People love our schools. Prince William County School is a destination school district. People are coming here, they wanna work here, and I'm excited to be a part of it, and we're gonna keep making it better.

[02:51:22] Thank you very much. At that point, meeting is adjourned.

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