Coraggio Consulting Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Date: Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia Length: 3h 2m (video) Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sldlQRdZDw 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:02] I would like to call this meeting and the Prince William County School Board to order. A motion is in order for the approval of the meeting agenda. Ms. Zargarpur. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as recommended. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. [00:00:17] - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote. I'm voting yes. [00:00:43] Okay, great. Moving on to the motion to enter closed session. A motion is in order, Ms. Zargarpur. - Mr. Chairman, I move that pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2-3711 and 2.2-3712 that the Prince William County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons. [00:01:00] One, to discuss with staff the appointment, transfer, release, assignment, and promotion of specific officers and employees pursuant to Virginia Code sections 2.2-3711A1. 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 the same as provided by Virginia Code sections 2.2-3711A, 2 and 8. [00:01:28] 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 sections 2.2-3711A, 7 and 8. And four, 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, where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A19. [00:02:03] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman? - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote, please vote. [00:02:19] I'm still trying to get on B. Okay, here we go. - Yes, unanimous, motion passed. - Okay, at this time, the Prince William County School Board will now enter closed session and return to open session in one hour. [00:02:34] Thank you. [00:03:40] At this time the Prince William County School Board will re-enter open session. And we have to certify closed session. A motion for 8.01, closed session certification, Vice Chair Zargarpur. [00:03:57] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that pursuant to the Virginia Code section 2.2-3712, the closed session of the Prince William County School Board meeting of February 21st, 2024, 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. [00:04:36] - Thank you, Ms. Argerpore, second. Ms. Wall, second. Any discussion? Please vote. [00:04:56] - The vote is eight yes, unanimous, motion passed. - Moving on to closed session action items, a motion is in order for the approval of appointments and releases. Vice Chair Zargarpur. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in closed session. - Do I have a second? [00:05:12] - Mr. Chairman, I have a second. - Ms. Wall, any discussion? Please vote. - Vote is eight yes, unanimous, motion passed. [00:05:30] - Excellent, moving on to parent appeal of SMAPD recommendation for reassignment of student SRH 2483, action. A motion to order Ms. Zargarpur. - Mr. Chairman, I move that for the reasons set forth in the Student Management and Alternative Programs Programs Department's letter of January 22nd, 2024, the Prince William County School Board approves SMAPD's recommendation to reassign student SRH 24-083 to the computer-based instruction program via remote access only based on charges [00:06:08] of unlawful acts in the community. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote. [00:06:30] - And the vote is eight yes, unanimous. Motion passed. - Okay, so tonight we're running the meeting slightly different. As was posted, we will have a public hearing on the budget, which is required by, I don't know, state law, Carol, somebody. We have to do it, okay. [00:06:45] So at this point, we will begin the public hearing. So I will read the statement. I declare that a public hearing is now open on the subject of the superintendent's fiscal year 2025 proposed budget. Any citizen who signed up to speak on this subject may do so when called upon and will have three minutes to speak. [00:07:05] We have a total of 14 citizens signed up for the public hearing. When I call your name, please step up to the podium and state your name and address for the record. Now, first one, first one tonight, Lisa Anne Bodie, Ms. Bodie, okay. [00:07:31] The next speaker on the list is gonna be Harry W. Wiggins. [00:07:47] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. McDade, Harry Wiggins, 3525 Wooders End Trail, Lake Ridge, Virginia, Aquan Magisterial District. I haven't been to a school board meeting in a number of years because there wasn't a need. [00:08:05] I thought the board was going in the right direction, new leadership by, at the chair, new leadership at the superintendent level. But now, I think we have a problem. We had overcrowding, we had trailers. [00:08:20] East of Holy Road, we had 218 trailers in elementary school, including, or not including, the outhouses that we required students to use. That's changed, that's changed. I want to thank former board member, Lily Jessie, for solving some major issues in the Aquan District with additions to three elementary schools. [00:08:45] So we made a lot of progress. Now I think we're backsliding with this budget. I wanna thank the board for its support of teachers. While it's not enough, board hasn't done enough yet, but I see progress in terms of pay and benefits. [00:09:08] I'm not seeing progress in terms of facilities, and that bothers me. At Woodbridge High School, where one of my grandkids just graduated from and is at Virginia Tech, we have nearly 20 teachers roving around the school because of lack of classrooms. [00:09:26] Colgan High School, newest high school in the county, we have roving teachers roving around the school because they don't have classrooms. I urge the board to, I want to say, one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, but we can't build schools, and I don't get it. [00:09:47] I urge the board to speed up the process of building the 14th high school. 2029 is unacceptable to the community, should be unacceptable to this board. We have overcrowding at Woodbridge, we have overcrowding at Colgan. We need a new high school. [00:10:04] I know the past board, under Milt John's leadership, only built schools in the western part of the county. It's time to get our share in the eastern part of the county. Louie Jessie did her best in terms of adding on to Garfield and Woodbridge. [00:10:20] It's not enough. I urge the board to support speeding up the building and opening of the 14th high school. In addition, I urge the board to budget for universal PK. We have plenty of money in this county to do that. [00:10:39] It's up to the board to listen to the constituents and do the right thing. If you don't do the right thing, we'll be back. Thank you. - Rachel Freeman. And as we remember, we don't have any clapping, cheering or jeering during public comment time or public hearings. [00:11:00] Thank you. Rachel Freeman. - Good evening, my name is Rachel Freeman and my address is on file. This fall I went to the back to school night at Woodbridge High School. Each class I went to, I noticed how full the classrooms were with desks. [00:11:17] When I got to my daughter's English class, it was so claustrophobic that I asked how many kids were in this class and how do they even move around in here with so many desks? The teacher replied, they don't move around and in fact, she must dismiss her students in phases because they have to climb over desks or move them out of the way to exit. [00:11:35] She explained she doesn't have her own classroom and rumor is the whole English department will be without classrooms next fall because of the number of students at high school. Therefore, all of them will be teachers on carts with the English department, which puts them at a disadvantage for things such as meeting with students before and after school. [00:11:53] Recently, I read there are three new housing developments that have already been approved by the Board of County Supervisors. One, 359 unit mix of single family homes, every development of the junkyard property on Minnieville Road. Two, 81 townhome units redevelopment of the kids' choice property on Devil's Reach. [00:12:12] Three, 355 apartments on Caton Hill Road next to Sheets. All three developments fall within a mile of the new high school site, and fall within the current boundaries of Woodbridge High School. There are two more projects submitted for approval as well. [00:12:29] I would like to know how Woodbridge High School with 2,700 plus students already bursting at the seams. The most in the county could continue to take on more students. How in good conscience can the new high school be delayed with all these new developments happening? I have read the quotes from our school division that our population is declining, yet all these new housing developments are creating a greater population density. [00:12:50] Here is a quote from the school division supervisor of planning. When you are constructing fewer housing units in the county you are yielding less students. I have lived in Lake Ridge since 1999 and in my 25 years here I have yet to see anything resembling such a statement anywhere near me. All I have ever seen is expansion, expansion, and more expansion. [00:13:10] Do not put off the delay of the new high school due to false advertising. I do believe that there is an opportunity to rezone the boundaries between Hilton, Colgan, and Forest Park to rebalance those student populations but even And that will not prevent the need of the new school to be built near Tackett's Mill. [00:13:32] Jennifer Tallman. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Tallman and my address is on file. [00:13:49] I'm here to ask the board in fiscal year 25 to fairly compensate employees in the county with 19 plus years experience. My story is just one of hundreds of employees who have not been compensated fairly as their younger peers are. [00:14:05] At the time of my hiring in August 2004, I was handed a chart reflecting my pay and how it will increase with each year of service in Prince William County. One year equals one step and one increase in pay. I was quite excited. In fiscal years 11, 12, and 14, all employee steps were frozen with no adjustment ever made by Prince William County to rectify it, effectively leaving us three years behind on the pay scale. [00:14:33] In 2017, Prince William County began a four-year process to adjust the pay scale for employees on steps one through four. This raised the minimum pay for beginning teachers, which is outstanding. This change did not adjust accordingly for any steps above step four. [00:14:51] In fiscal year '22, Prince William County renumbered the scale, so years no longer equated to steps. Several year groups were banded together and we were told we would drop two to three steps. is false. I was at year 17 that year, but I dropped to step 13. In fiscal year 24, teachers with 8 to 15 years experience, not steps, were given two step raises. I had too much experience, so I only got one, moving me to step 14 with 19 years of teaching experience. [00:15:26] In fiscal year 25, PWCS proposes once again to offer teachers with 12 to 18 years experience years, not steps, two additional steps. I'm very happy for my peers. But I am now at 20 years of employment and I'm again overqualified for any additional boost. This has been both demoralizing and disheartening. There are hundreds impacted by these policies who are frustrated that at this rate we will never be able to retire at 30 years or even at age 67. I can only guess that Prince Wayne County feels we are too vested in the system now to leave. [00:16:03] My thriving future is based on a we-have-you-over-a-barrel policy. Furthermore, there's no clear or defined path to move up the scale. The chart I was handed in 2004 was a pipe dream. We won't all stay under this system. Currently, Manassas City is paying $5,000 more for my current job. [00:16:24] Fairfax County is matching years of service. Employees at my level can earn $13,000 more per year. Who are you going to lose? We are not staying. Young teachers who are starting out and watching how experienced employees are being treated. [00:16:42] Highly experienced mentor teachers who are helping the brand new teachers in our county. Thank you. Thank you. Cheryl Thompson. Good evening. [00:17:05] My name is Cheryl Thompson and my address is on file. I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of opening, not delaying the opening of the 14th high school. I live over in the eastern side. [00:17:23] My kids are zoned for Garfield and we are in need of another high school there. I want to speak to the demographics that have been, that we're in the capital improvement program and saying that there's going to be a decline in the population as we all know population and demographic graphics ebb and flow doing my research this county and being a military family this county is made up of 12% military families and we come to this area from anywhere from one to three years and the [00:18:02] things that military families look for when they're moving into a new area is schooling what is the best schooling for my child which school will provide my child the best education there's a lot of things we can't control but we can pick and choose where we live and and then you can also be like me and then you choose to retire and you stay in the area and I have a child at Old Bridge Elementary and actually we chose the house that we rented based on the great school the the reports that you can find online from Niche and great schools I know a lot of people don't put a lot of stock into those and I know that it [00:18:42] doesn't really represent what's going on at the school but when you're coming from the other side of the country and you want your child to be going to a good school you'll look at those numbers and you go on the military sites and you ask people in the community what are these schools like and I know that the two schools that are on our side of the county currently are older they're the oldest high schools in in the county listening to the speaker previous to me I don't know what's going on in the high school I have an elementary age student ready to go to middle school and then I have a rising eighth grader and [00:19:20] we've been listening to the different presentations of the different programs around the county and we went to Fred Lynn middle school we have an awesome time my kids doing IB he's doing the dual language program and he's on track and he wants to go to a good school it has science and I know there's different avenues in the different schools but a lot of people there's overcrowding at Woodbridge I know there's overcrowding at Colgan and other schools and I think if the school was built that would help with that and it would attract the kids and military families today on this side of the [00:19:58] county instead of buying the homes over there because most of us are here for a short time and I think that would help with some of your demographics and overcrowding. Thank you. Thank you. Magali Hurtado. Good evening. I'm Magali Hurtado. [00:20:23] My address is on file with the clerk and on Wednesday you can find me here. As a resident and parent of two students in the Occoquan district I am here again to express my concerns with the proposed CIP recommendations to delay for a third time constructions of the 14th high school the 14th high school would alleviate overcrowding in the eastern end of the county and potentially at our second newest high school overcrowded already because of short-sighted planning the lack of communication and cooperation with the county is evident I appreciate Ms. Williams continued advocacy for a joint planning committee the Occoquan district supervisor Kenny Buddy has asked the county to reach out [00:21:00] to the school district about restarting the joint committee on capital Prince William County Schools planning needs to work with the county instead of basing our CIP on one study. The CIP recommends delaying construction of the 14th High School. It also recommends making the 14th High School smaller than some of our overcrowded middle schools. A high school smaller than our middle schools like Lake Ridge Middle for example. This is inconsistent with the information about the projects approved that will impact the 14th High School and the Woodbridge senior attendance area, totaling 790 new homes plus the two recently [00:21:38] approved developments in Prince William Parkway and Minerville and M Farm. I printed that information, I'm pretty sure you already have it. I ask our school board to look beyond your respective districts and reflect on what your position would be if this was being done in your district. I urge our board members to consider the fact that the capacity data in the proposed CIP is known to be incorrect to the point that it will be replaced later this year with a more accurate program capacity data. It is disappointing that the school district is recommending this delay based on what they know is not the most [00:22:15] accurate information, but I hope our community can rely on our school board representatives to reject a CIP prepared with data that needs to be replaced. We are one county. All of our residents deserve access to equitable facilities. Woodbridge has been overcrowded for at least a decade. We owe it to our community to act now not in five years stop delaying constructions of the new high school in favor of maybe considering additions for schools that opened way after the overcrowding in high school started and i'm going to skip the last part of my speech to tell you to ask you [00:22:50] to please do right for teachers like miss talman she thought my my kid he was excited to be in her classroom every day we need teachers like her staying in the district and training our newest districts miss talman if you need to leave i'll be the first one to write a recommendation letter from a parent because you shouldn't leave you shouldn't stay at the expense of your well-being [00:23:13] thank you jennifer reed hi um my name is jenny reed or legally jennifer um i'm in the occoqa magisterial district my address is on file already um so i just i think you're you're here [00:23:50] because you believe that children are the future yeah i mean they grow up they become the adults so literally what kind of future do you want um it's been proven sorry it has been shown in studies put it that way that uh children who come out of overcrowded schools do do less well uh academically in their lives some there's there's a higher incidence of children from overcrowded schools going to jail is this what you want for the kids are you trying [00:24:24] to tell them that they're that they're just trash who can be thrown away and the next group you know 10 years from now they'll be oh they'll be worthwhile kids but you are is that what you're saying because if that's not what you're saying then you need to build more space which means more schools uh putting putting the special needs students in a special center would be great but mostly more schools that's what we need thank you oh also yeah um the teacher lady i didn't know this until she spoke but you could really do better with them with better pay for teachers too [00:25:04] thanks thank you um jen donnelly um good evening my name is jen donnelly and my address is on file the first thing that i'd like to address is teacher salaries well i believe that the 6.1 average salary increase is a good starting point I would like to hear [00:25:39] assurances from the board that the increase is promised to staff sorry with 12 to 18 years of experience will actually be 8.1 to 9.1 percent these are teachers who understand the students and families in our community that isn't something that can be taught in college it's also imperative that we have these seasoned teachers in our schools to be mentors to the new teachers sorry the The second thing I would like to address is the funding for special education programs. [00:26:10] While I'm not directly affected by this issue, I have sat in this boardroom meeting after meeting hearing parents beg for improvements in following their child's IEP. These kids are among our most vulnerable in the schools and I would like to see additional staff and other resources applied to this portion of the budget. [00:26:30] The third thing I would like to see are changes that correspond directly to student safety. I was once a big proponent of the Evolve system until I saw it fail in numerous ways including knives being found in classrooms and a student being beaten while unconscious as the staff of the school was manning the Evolve machines. [00:26:48] I believe that our money would be better spent by having SROs in all of our elementary and middle schools. I also believe that double locked doors with access control systems would be an effective solution. Most of our elementary schools have this type of entrance, but the middle and high schools offer full access to the entire school once someone opens the front door. [00:27:11] Finally, I believe that we need to focus on renovating and/or replacing more schools on the eastern end of the county. Kids can't learn in an environment where there's failing HVAC and faulty plumbing. I believe that there's a lot of waste in our current budget, and I could be more specific in my request of changes and where the funding goes if the board was more transparent and line by line expenditures I think that we could find a lot of fluff and inflated salaries for positions that aren't directly affecting students and their education and until we get all of our kids reading [00:27:48] at or above grade level we need to tighten the belt on expenditures thank you thank you next Dean Lateef good evening Dr. McDade and the school board members this is my first time at a school board meeting and I'm eager for you to hear um the opinion of a middle school student on this [00:28:24] proposed budget so my name is Dean Lateef and I'm a seventh grader at Benton Middle School although I'm not sure if you will take me quite as seriously as the other commenters I hope you will acknowledge my concern I'm happy to be here to support the superintendent's budget for the next year but I'm really here to ask you to provide more and better food options in the the cafeteria for middle schools and every other school level. Many students I know have formed quite strong opinions on the quality of the menus and the quality of the food and I think it's vital that we really solve this issue [00:29:03] because many students rely on these school lunches and they may not have another option and I am also sure that many students in elementary school appreciated the recent return of chocolate milk. There may not be much in your ability, but I think spending more time of this year's improved budget would make all students in PWCS happier. [00:29:30] Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Vivian Quint. [00:29:47] Hello. Good evening. I'm Vivian Quint, a senior at Colgan High School. I'm here to support the superintendent's proposed budget for the next year. [00:30:06] As a first-generation Hispanic, I'm happy and thankful to see new spending on English learning students. It's not only a great misfortune but a major disappointment when I personally see these students unable to succeed academically because of a language barrier. [00:30:23] With this new spending, I believe Superintendent McDade recognizes this barrier as a crossable one, as one that can be surpassed. It makes students like these, English learners, their families, and onlookers like me more hopeful. [00:30:40] first-generation Hispanic who has taken over 20 advanced courses, I'm overjoyed to see new spending on the effort to increase the number of kids, specifically minority kids, in these advanced courses. [00:30:55] These classes have been the source of many of my achievements, not only through the skills I develop and the on-paper benefits, but through the people I meet. Many of my achievements, including an acceptance to Yale University. [00:31:11] I'm very thankful to all the people on this panel for wanting to challenge the status quo of the types of kids who attend these classes. In fact, in my school, with the help of many of the leaders on this panel today, I've started a mentorship program called Mente a Mente, which operates through the club Latino Student Union, which I am co-president of. [00:31:37] It aims to foster a community of academic achievement among Latino students through peer-on-peer encouragement. Unfortunately, this is my last year as a student in Prince William County. However, one day, I hope that the school division would consider supporting programs like these across the county. [00:31:57] It's true, several kids like me won't always completely understand the complexities of handling a county-wide budget. But I can at least speak for the kids like me that we recognize these efforts for minorities and would like to say thank you. [00:32:17] Thank you. Mr. Emmett Fletcher. [00:32:33] Take the time you need, my friend. Take the time you need. Good evening, Dr. Lateef, members of the school board, Dr. Medate. My name is Emmett Fletcher, and my address is on file. And I'm coming here tonight because of the fact of the 14th High School. [00:32:52] Woodbridge High School was built in 1975. That's a long time. And we talk about equity in school, but I don't see Woodbridge getting that. It goes back to the Pratchett's field for the athletes, the Pratchett's. They had big holes in the field, and I thought we were making progress over at Woodbridge, but it seems like that Woodbridge High is the last school to get any kind of update or even with the teachers don't even know what's going on. [00:33:25] Some of them think that we're still going to get a new school at Woodbridge, and they don't know. Some of the students feel that way. Some of the parents feel that way, and a lot of the people that have kids going to Woodbridge high school, they don't have transportation to come to the board meeting. They don't. And what I'm suggesting, number one, is to have a town hall meeting in the Occoquan area, in that school district. Ask the citizens to come out, the people that have kids going to school. Yes, I know what [00:34:00] the budget says, but I agree with my friend Harry Wickens. We need the 14th school. I know what the study says. But a lot of times you can't always, you got to take another approach. And at this time I think the school board and Dr. McDade need to take another approach to include all the citizens of Prince William County and the citizens that live in the Occoquan District. Also, when I used to be in social work and I heard Meals on Wheels, and then when I came to Prince William, we had [00:34:38] trailers but now we have classrooms on carts this is a very affluent county and we should not have that and and this is something to think about we really need the 14th school pushing this out five years to 2029 is too long too long and who who will suffer from them from pushing it out so far the kids you've heard the teachers they they want more money and then we're losing teachers because of the salary. We need to up our game. It's all about the kids. It's all about the kids. [00:35:18] Even Kogan, who we thought we had resolved a lot of the problems in May County and the eastern part, they have the kids now in trailers. We are hurting. Woodbridge High School is busting loose at the scene and we're saying let's wait another five years. I know what the CIP says, I understand, but if you go up and down Prince William County Parkway, [00:35:42] see all of the buildings. Thank you, Dr. Keith. Thank you, sir. Cheryl McBeth. Good evening. [00:36:03] My name is Cheryl McBeth and my address is on record. I'm here tonight as a constituent and as a parent of two students to respectfully request that as it pertains to the proposed budget, the school board not delay the construction of the 14th high school. The need for the school doesn't seem to be in question, only the timing. I'd offer that if the need exists, If the county has acquired the land and construction costs will only increase, then delaying the school any further is really a missed opportunity for Prince William County students and has already come at a great monetary cost, too. [00:36:36] In March of last year, WTOP reported that between Fiscal 2023 Capital Improvement Program and the plan the school board approved last week, then March 2023, estimates for the county's 14th high school went from $157 million to $280 million. [00:36:52] The latest proposed capital improvement plan cites the cost of the original capacity currently at 288 million, meaning that delaying the groundbreaking has already cost the county 131 million from the time of the 2023 CIP. The January 10th proposed CIP for 2025 to 29 indicates that certain current high schools are overcrowded. [00:37:14] So I urge you to consider the option that includes exploring the feasibility of mitigating overcrowding by way of redistricting through the combination of the 14th high school additions if needed or feasible but please don't wait to do it the fact remains the necessity for this high school was identified years ago in this new building this catalyst for more educational greatness on the eastern side of the county has already been the victim of previous delays at one time it was thought this new school could open in 2025 but the current plan suggests suspending to 2029. think about that that's an entire graduating class missing all four years [00:37:50] of potential attendance at this school forging ahead with this project has been deferred a couple of times and what has really been gained to date i wonder by those earlier postponements i am in favor of building the 14th high school as soon as possible whether at the original or revised capacity values though i encourage collaboration with the board of county supervisors to ensure consistent projections regarding residency and enrollment levels as a determining factor the pwcs vision 2025 launching thriving future strategic plan includes the commitment to prepare all students for post-secondary education and the workforce and the objective that pwc schools as a [00:38:26] foundation for our community will continue to prepare students to be citizens and leaders of tomorrow who will create thriving futures for themselves and their communities building the 14th high school forthwith is an excellent way to make good on those promises again the need for the additional high school seats in the eastern part of the county exists now and i ask that you reconsider any further delays and instead prudently support the earliest possible construction of the 14th prince william county high school for the county's deserving teenage learners thank you [00:38:56] thank you next sam villa hi my name is sam via my name should be on or my address should be on file i noticed that we're spending 1.5 million on dei programs in the district and please correct me if [00:39:33] i'm wrong i don't want to rant for three minutes on a number that's incorrect um so first of all i think that's just fat that we can just cut right out of the budget we don't really need 1.5 million for uh diversity equity and inclusion i mean this is prince william county virginia we just look at the school board look at the audience like my daughter alone is mexican irish and japanese we have plenty of diversity we don't spend money on diversity second um inclusion well for we um had this in my own life I noticed that there's sometimes you have kids up here [00:40:11] sometimes you have kids down here for one reason or another and so you have to allocate resources to these kids down here to try to bring them up to this level but really what happens is these kids get discriminated against and they just kind of come down to this level and you say oh well we met our goal but did you really I mean not so much and then inclusion that one just kind of makes me laugh um so you're telling me that you guys were not including certain kids beforehand but then DI wrote in to save the day and now all of a sudden everybody's included I don't think that was what was happening we don't need to [00:40:47] spend 1.5 million to make everybody feel included and obviously there's a lot of people here that want a new high school built I didn't even know that was a problem until tonight but I could see that you know this there are a lot of kids in this district and yes they deserve to have the classroom the classroom room that they need, and if that's the case, I'm not saying 1.5 million's gonna build a high school, but it'd be a place to start, 'cause I would imagine that some fat needs to go away. [00:41:21] And when we're really honest about it, slapping DEI on something is really just virtue signaling. It really is, which is why a lot of companies and corporations have basically gotten away from it since that big push in 2021. [00:41:42] The only places where DEI budgets are being increased are places like school boards and other government agencies that receive taxpayer funding. I mean, really, because you're, eventually you guys are gonna get more funding. The Prince William County School Board is, or district, school district is never gonna go belly up. [00:42:02] You're going to get funding again at some point. So you can waste money on worthless programs like DEI. And yeah, the average Joe honestly does not care about DEI, which is why a lot of people move away from it. Anyways, thank you for your time. [00:42:20] - Thank you. At this time, I was notified the last speaker will not be attending, and so at this point, there being no other citizens indicating they wish to speak on the subject, I declare the public hearing closed. [00:42:37] So at this time, we will start the beginning of our regular meeting, and we will now stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. And we have Fernanda Morante, our student representative for the evening to lead us in the pledge this evening. Ms. Morante. [00:42:52] - Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [00:43:10] - Okay, thank you, Fernanda. Next, we're gonna adopt the consent agenda. Motion is now in order, Vice Chair Zargarpur. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended. - Mr. Chairman. [00:43:26] - Do I have a second? - I have a second. - Ms. Williams, any discussion? Please vote. [00:43:47] - The vote is eight yes, unanimous. Motion passed. - Thank you. Moving on to acknowledgements and recognitions. A motion is in order, Ms. Zargarpur. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the acknowledgements and recognitions as recommended. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. [00:44:03] - Second. - Any discussion? - Yes, sir. - Ms. Williams. - I would like to see the approval, the acknowledgments and recognitions under the agenda. If we could list them back out again. I think it's important that the public doesn't have to dig for them, considering we are in education, and this is important that we recognize all of the members of the public who we are educating and their surrounding families. [00:44:28] This has always traditionally been a highlight, especially for me and for members of the public, because so many years and time and effort was spent in adding these resolutions. for recognition. Just for example, this is Black History Month, the amount that this country underwent just to recognize black Americans. [00:44:46] Next month will be Women's History Month. It's still a considerable struggle, considering women now are born with less rights than when I was born. So I think it's important that we continue to not only highlight, but make sure that it's written out so that we fully acknowledge and set a good example for the students that are here, and especially being in the 10th most diverse county in this nation, I just can't imagine why we would bury them. [00:45:10] So if the board doesn't object, if we could continue to list them out evenly, I think that that would be really important. And I have heard from my constituents that they are upset by not having unanimous support anymore. And I explain, you know, everyone has a right to feel their feels and that should be allowed. [00:45:27] That's part of the reason why we celebrate different things. So if we could just list them out again, I would think that would be wonderful. Thank you. - Thank you. Moving on to the vote, please vote. Did I, where's launching Thriving Futures? [00:45:45] When do I do that? It's not on my script. It's not on my script, is it? Why am I on 14 then? Can we vote? Did you put up the vote? [00:46:02] - The vote is seven yes, one abstained. Tridentic, motion passed. - Okay, all right. Excellent motion passes. We will, I did skip it by the way. I was supposed to do it right after Pledge of Allegiance. No one caught that except me, that's okay. [00:46:17] That's all right. I'm gonna do Thriving Futures Focus, my apologies. Okay, everybody. Thriving Futures Focus is the 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. [00:46:40] We dedicate this time during our meetings to recognizing 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. [00:46:58] Tonight, in honor of Black History Month, the school board will first recognize the finalists and winners of the recent Martin Luther King Jr. oratory competition. We begin our recognitions with Vice Chairwoman, Mrs. Lisa Zargarpur of the Coles District, who will introduce our first honorees. [00:47:16] Ms. Zargarpur. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Sponsored by the Prince William County Alumni Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, the competition is held each year on the MLK holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [00:47:33] Students study with a coach, often a teacher, and begin early in the year to prepare and practice their speeches in anticipation of presenting in the tradition of the acclaimed oratorical skills of Dr. King. These prestigious awards show the exceptional efforts to prioritize student voice. [00:47:52] The Coles District would like to recognize the accomplishments of ninth grade student and finalist, Alyssa Godfrey of the Charles J. Colgan Senior High School. Alyssa is here tonight with Colgan principal, Dr. Tim Healy. Alyssa, would you care to share a few words on your accomplishment? [00:48:12] - Good evening. I would first like to thank my principal, Dr. Healy, for encouraging me. I would also like to thank my coach. And I'd also like to thank my community at my school for being so supportive while I was doing this. [00:48:31] I would also like to thank, of course, my family, my mom, my dad, and my brother. They're my biggest supporters, and I couldn't have done this without them. And I would also like to thank the PWCS alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated for giving a voice to the youth and showing them that they really do have a say in what happens in our future. [00:48:52] I feel like it's very important, and that's one of the true reasons that I continue to participate and will continue to participate through my high school career. And I'd also like to thank the school board for your leadership and dedication to the students of the county. It's really appreciated and we see it. [00:49:08] We might not know, but we do see it. So thank you so much. - Congratulations, Alyssa, on proudly representing the Coles District, your family and yourself, and Colgan High School. [00:49:24] - Can we have Alyssa's family please stand to be recognized, her parents? - Thank you very much for sharing her with us. Excellent, Ms. Zargarpur, Mr. Justin Wilk of the Potomac District next. [00:49:42] - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Your benevolence is greatly appreciated. See, to the camera right there. On behalf of the Potomac District, it is my honor to recognize Ashley Gutierrez Garcia, seventh grade student at Graham Park Middle School, who was a finalist. [00:50:01] Ashley is supported this evening by her MLK sponsor, Tara Funches. Principal Yashika Walker sends her regrets for not being able to be here tonight. Ashley, would you please share a few thoughts on this experience? [00:50:17] - Good evening, everyone. I would first like to start off by thanking my school board, my principal and Ms. Funches for this great opportunity. I am tremendously grateful to be here standing right in front of you and speaking to all you guys. [00:50:38] I would also like to thank my family for this, for their amazing support they have provided me along this journey. and I believe I would enjoy participating next in the future years. [00:50:54] Thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Wilk. Will Ashley's parents, if you are in attendance, please stand to be recognized or guardians. Oh, right, fantastic, outstanding. [00:51:12] Thank you, thank you, thank you. - Thank you, Ashley, for making the Potomac District very proud and Grand Park. Go Lions, good job. - Outstanding, Mr. Wilk. Next, we have up from the Neabsco District, the wonderful Neabsco District, Mr. Blake, Tracy Blake. [00:51:28] - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. The Neabsco district is proud to recognize Brooklyn Sanders, ninth grade student and finalist from Garfield High School. Brooklyn is here this evening with principal Matt Matheson and Anthony Amoruso, MLK sponsor. [00:51:45] On behalf of the Neabsco district, I want to thank you, Brooklyn, for your accomplishments in the MLK oratory competition and contributing to the great legacy of Dr. King. Would you mind sharing a few words with us tonight on what this opportunity meant for you, Brooklyn? [00:52:03] - Hello, everyone. Firstly, I wanna thank God for being in this room with you all. It's so amazing seeing local leaders at work. Secondly, I would love to thank the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated for putting on this amazing event every single year. We should really, truly honor and hone the creativity and talent of the students in this district. [00:52:22] I wanna thank my school oratorical coach, Mr. Amoruso. He's been the biggest help. Mr. Mathison, he's been a wonderful support system, and of course, my mother. She's supported me in everything that I do, so. And it's just such an honor as a senior at Garfield Senior High School to be able to leave this legacy behind, and as a second-year participant in this, it's just such a blessing to be able to do this, and I really hope that the legacy continues. [00:52:48] So, thank you so much for having us. - Brooklyn Sanders, parents, please stand and be recognized. [00:53:05] - Congratulations, Brooklyn, in the whole Garfield High School community. And I've apologized about saying you're in the ninth grade. - Outstanding, Mr. Blake. She sounded like a school board member the way she approached that podium this evening. [00:53:20] I'm ready. Next up, Jennifer Wall, representative of the Gainesville district, Ms. Wall. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. So on behalf of the Gainesville district, it is my pleasure to recognize Ebenezer Ben Samuel, eighth grade student from Ronald Reagan Middle School for receiving the Best Before the Judges Middle School Award. [00:53:44] Ben is represented tonight by principal, or sorry, is principal, is Chris Beamer in the house? No, okay, so by assistant principal, David Ocasania and Blake Lopresti, social studies teacher. Ben, I'm hoping you will also share some of your reflections on the importance of the oratory competition to you. [00:54:07] - Good afternoon. I would like to thank, of course, the school board for having me here. It is a huge honor to be standing here, talking to you guys. And I'd like, of course, I'd like to thank my grandparents, Vera and Emmett Fletcher. [00:54:23] And I'd also like to thank my coach, Miss Stepney, for having me, for coaching me. And I don't think I could have done anything of this without her. So I really look forward to participating next year, though. [00:54:41] - So can we have Mr. Ben Sanders' family, parents, grandparents, everyone stand, who's in attendance with him, to be recognized. Thank you, Mr. Samuel. - Congratulations, Ben, on your amazing accomplishments in the MLK oratory competition. [00:55:00] And the Gainesville district hopes to see you again soon. - I now invite Woodbridge district representative, Ms. Lori Williams to speak on behalf of her honoree. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With great honor, I would like to recognize and please forgive me if I do not say your name right. [00:55:19] I hope you will correct me if I mispronounce it. Rababi Razia, when you get to the mic, it's important that we get our names right. So I apologize, but correct me when you get up there. You are an eighth-grade student at the wonderful Ripon Raiders Middle School. [00:55:38] You won first prize at the middle school level, and you are the recipient of the Best Before the Audience and the Joseph Bagnaris Drum Major Award. Representing Robbie tonight, we welcome Principal Kristen Donahue and Coach Leah Rawlings. [00:55:56] Would you like to come to the podium and share about your experience? Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Rabob Reza. I would just like to thank you all for this wonderful opportunity, and I am just so lucky to be here tonight. And I would like to thank my coach, Ms. Rawlings, and my principal, Ms. Dawn Hugh, for coming out and showing their support tonight. And I would like to continue doing this competition. I would like to thank the members who started this competition in the first place because I would not be here without you and [00:56:37] Yeah, that's all I have to say. Thank you so much for everything and I will be continuing this on next year in high school but I really hope that Rippon continues this legacy and Thank you so much for having me Ms. Raza's family, please stand for recognition. I just want to say Congratulations on your impressive wins. [00:57:14] And we look forward to more outstanding accomplishments in your bright future. I hope to see you again next year. Expect nothing less from our Raider families. And you made a good point. We do have living history in the audience with us. Miss Lily Jessie behind you was one of the originators of the MLK oratorical competition. [00:57:31] So you were right to give that nod. - Thank you, Miss Williams. Congratulations to all the incredible orators tonight. Recognize this evening and to their families. We appreciate you and all the work you do to help our school division really achieve at the highest levels. [00:57:53] And we couldn't do this without the parental engagement and all of our students. You guys are the best. And special thanks to the teachers and everyone who sets up this program. I should also recognize, as Ms. Williams pointed out, I wanna thank the alumni chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. [00:58:09] Also, Ms. Jessie, our former school board members in the audience with this sorority and to thank them for putting on this incredible event. - One more round of applause for everyone, thank you. At this time, I would now like to turn our attention to the Brentsville District and Ms. Erica Trudenik. [00:58:29] Ms. Trudenik. - Thank you. I'm excited to recognize Dr. Drew Miller, program director of Brentsville Turfgrass and his amazing students. Brentsville District High School's Tiger Turf program has been recognized as the winners of the 2023 Sports Field Management Association football field of the year. [00:58:49] The SFMA includes a group of professional dedicated industry workers with a mission to advance professionalism in sports field management and safety through education awareness programs and industry development. Officially formed in 1981, the SFMA has sought to be the recognized leader in strengthening the sports field industry and enhancing members' competence and acknowledge of their professionalism. The students traveled to the National Sports Field Management Association Conference in Daytona Beach to accept the Field of the Year award on the program's behalf. It is also important [00:59:24] to share that the Brentsville students competed in the Collegiate Turf Bowl against the top collegiate turfgrass programs from across the country and did an incredible job placing 15th, 17th, 15th and 17th out of 30 teams. Two students also gave a presentation alongside the head groundskeeper of the New England Patriots and Reno Aces. Tonight to stand in recognition of the SFMA Field of the Year Award we have Elizabeth Rice, Zach Sademack, Jack Cundiff, Charlie Monfort, [01:00:04] Katherine Lambert, Mason Trdenick, Max Apisa, and Addison Butler. Dr. Andrew Miller is the program director and the principal is Dr. Kat Meintz. Congratulations students on this award that recognizes the dedication, commitment, and love you have for your field and your program. [01:00:24] The Brentsville District would also like to recognize Dr. Andrew Miller for being named SFMA 2023 George Tomah Golden Rake Award. The George Tomah -- oh, sorry guys, that was a lot. [01:00:41] There's a lot. The George Tomah Golden Rake Award acknowledges the superior performance of a sports turf crew member in on-the-job activities and in community service. This national award encompasses the "and then some" attitude highlighting the above and beyond work of Dr. Miller and the Tiger Turf program. Dr. Miller would you care to share a few words on behalf of your team? Thank you guys for having us here tonight. I just want to thank you for all your support. Everything that we've been able to accomplish is because of our students and what you guys do for our kids is [01:01:18] unparalleled and there's really nothing more that I can say to that but I truly appreciate each and every one of you and all that you do for our kids. They went above and beyond for this trip. They studied for months before the event. They took the time out of their own schedules to ensure that we did perform well and 15 Collegiate Turf programs, you know, we placed ahead of them. That's pretty impressive. Most people down there were like we're just impressed you're walking in the room. So again, major props to them and everything that they do to make everything works perfectly to the field of the year a lot of people don't quite [01:01:55] comprehend the amount of work my students do when it comes to the actual care of turf grass and the fields and the grounds and everything at Brentsville and this this field of the year award is a very lofty goal of ours we actually use the application as a lesson in class we do go through different testing from surface hardness to tension strength for athletes and obviously there's a lot that goes into it and our students are extremely proud of being the last you know natural grass playing service in the stadium and they take great pride in everything that they do and the impact they have on the community going to different schools helping them with their natural grass playing services [01:02:35] just overall facilities everything is because of them including the award that I received which I still am unsure why but I was in shock when we were down there you can ask the kids I was like we we got across the stage without tripping we're good to go let's get to the hotel and we're done all right and they announced me and I was like yep I'm gonna fall it's gonna be great but you know I couldn't do without them I also couldn't do without my family who's here tonight and everything that they do for me for educators in Prince Union County at the high school level across the county which we're proud to be Prince Union County [01:03:13] educators. I also can't do anything without my admin team, Dr. Mites and Mr. Cameron, Ms. Salas, Mr. Carbo, their support in the building, in the community, making sure that we can accomplish everything that we're hoping to. It would not be possible without them and I'm babbling so I'm gonna finish up with this. One of my students at the alumni actually, he's taking a job in the NFL here when they graduate in the fall, spring, sorry, asked me like hey you know this award you're kind of done after that right there's nothing else to do I was like I think that at Brentsville with the Brentsville turf program we're just getting started we had a lot [01:03:51] of great things coming down the pipeline and we're super excited with different opportunities hopefully with world cup coming working with different programs with that got a lot of great things for our students and I do believe that we truly are only getting started at Brentsville so thank you again for having us thank you Dr. Miller I asked the friends and family members of dr miller and our award-winning students to stand and be recognized i just want to again [01:04:30] thank you all i've got to see that firsthand this program and how much work dr miller truly does put in the extra hours and the time that he devotes to making sure that these students are successful in this program and then afterwards is amazing to set them up to actually have a love for this industry and then to really make sure that they get to walk into the next phase of life doing something that they love. [01:04:56] It's an excellent way to get them involved in something different outside of the classroom and even inside the classroom as you teach them life skills and the dedication that these kids show. I'm so proud of you guys. And I can't wait to see what else we do with that TURP program. [01:05:13] Thank you, Ms. Trudanik. Fantastic. Congratulations, Dr. Miller. My students, outstanding job. And I think you do, I will say this, I shouldn't, but I'll say you probably have the best Twitter account in the county so not official not i don't know if it's an official twitter account but it's a great twitter account so if you're not following the brentsville district turf tiger turf grass twitter it's it's outstanding very exciting so anyways thank you guys very much um at this time uh and again congratulations to our five mlk oratory uh honorees and before taking a few [01:05:47] pictures superintendent dr mcdade will share some final words thank you so much dr latif - Congratulations to the five MLK Oratory competitors for your inspiring performances and powerful expressions of Dr. King's legacy. [01:06:03] And I can say I was in the room to witness it all. It was simply nothing short of phenomenal. You each have a skill, a talent, that in your brilliance really shine through during the competition and will continue as you continue on this journey to lift up your voices, to speak out, And so we are so incredibly proud of you. [01:06:26] I also want to thank the illustrious women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, the alumni chapter for putting on this event. The everything was so well organized from beginning to end. It was not only a showcase of talent, but a celebration of the legacy of Dr. King and something that I will cherish every single year that I'm able to attend. [01:06:49] And thank you to Ms. Jessie. When I first became superintendent, the first thing Ms. Jessie said to me was, you have to go and see the MLK oratory competitors because they are amazing. And at the time it was virtual. And so being able to be present in the room in person and witness your brilliance on display, it was so breathtaking and refreshing. [01:07:13] So congratulations to each and every one of you and thank you to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated for putting on this event for our amazing school board, former school board member, Ms. Jessie, always school board member, Ms. Jessie, for your continuous support of our students and bringing their talents into full display. [01:07:34] Also, a well-deserved congratulations to our winners of the football field of the year. Like Ms. Jessie, I also had some other individuals in the county as soon as that. Matter of fact, I think before I even started day one, Dr. Miller was one of the first people that reached out to me and invited me to come to see Brentsville's program and it was absolutely amazing. [01:07:57] I had never seen anything like it. He is so passionate about the program, which is why I know he reached out because he wants everyone to see the amazing things that our talented students are doing. And so for our students, your exceptional efforts in maintaining and innovating your field have not only enhanced the game, but also uplifted the spirits of players and fans alike. [01:08:22] So you are to be celebrated and commended and you will go so far continuing to do this work. Your commitment to excellence is evident and greatly appreciated by the entire Prince William County's community. And we're so incredibly proud of you. Lastly, I really want to recognize Dr. Miller. [01:08:39] Even during the pandemic, your work in building a name brand and empire known as Brentsville Tiger Turf and putting PWCS on the map nationally and internationally as a CTE global destination for field turf science, all while earning your doctorate from Liberty University is truly amazing. [01:09:07] You truly embody the qualities of our profile of a graduate, always leveling up yourself, your students, your school, and our school division. So once again, congratulations to you all. We are all PWCS proud. Keep shining. [01:09:27] - Thank you, Dr. McDade. At this time, I'd like to request the honorees to come forward for a photo with the school board and receive a small token of our appreciation. We will start with the first photo, include our MLK oratory winners, and the second photo will then include [01:09:41] Dr. Miller and his turf crew. [01:11:56] - First of all, I never said golden break. - You have to say golden break. - That sounds super good. - Is this thing still on? [01:12:04] all right moving on to citizen comment time citizens who have signed up in [01:16:32] advance with a clerk may address the school board this evening when they are called to the podium the citizen comment period for regular school board meetings is one hour and citizens may speak on agenda items or other topics germane to the operations and policies of pwcs please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium or you will be asked to step aside we ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping cheering or jeering to avoid disruption of the meeting if you do not the board will recess and I will ask that the room be cleared to restore public order tonight we have one citizen signed up to speak when I call your name please come [01:17:10] up to the podium and state your name and address for the record. So tonight we have Lori Pollack. Good evening, my name is Lori Pollack. I am at 7744 Visionary Court in Manassas, Virginia. Salim, bonsoir and good evening. Dr. Lateef, Dr. McDade and school board members. My name is Lori Pollack. I'm a Physics and Teachers for Tomorrow teacher at Colgan High School and the Sustained Board recognized me a few months ago as a Fulbright awardee. I'm here tonight with [01:17:49] just an update for you. When I served as an elementary summer school principal a couple years ago, I wanted my students to understand why it was important to learn how to read, write, and do math. We embarked on a global education with explorers from around the globe. My students were extremely successful because my staff embraced and my students enjoyed their journey around the globe. I am fortunate that my Fulbright experience will expand the world for our students. [01:18:16] When I head out for two and a half weeks in April, I plan to Zoom and post on Canvas and interact with my students and the Moroccan students. Last week, I learned that I'll be traveling to Meknes, Morocco. It is east of the capital of Rabat. [01:18:31] I've learned that in high school, students who are going into trades learn science in Arabic. Those going to university learn science in French, hence my pronunciation. It made me think about the gap of equity that must exist. and I wondered if this influenced their educational journey my guiding question for research is does stem PBL project problem or place-based learning influence the culture of global education in fact lurking through the lens of global education is the theme for my Virginia Association of Science Teachers conference in November you're invited global education is the route of future [01:19:11] education as our economy world and people become interconnected as we reach toward thriving futures. Shokrun, merci, and thank you for your time. - Very good, thank you. [01:19:26] And I think that was just one speaker this evening, correct? Okay, back to the meeting we will now get on with. See if I can get us back on track here. So, tonight we have our student representative, Fernanda Marante, joining us on the dais. [01:19:43] She is a senior at the great Forest Park High School. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Good evening, Dr. McDade, school board members. Prince William County community. I want to start by wishing everyone a happy Black History Month. I'm a fan of the PWCS YouTube channel and every time I check it during the week there's always something new in our schools. I saw my school Forest Park hosted a spirit week with fun themes sponsored by our Black Student Union. Rosa Parks Elementary School celebrated Rosa Parks birthday [01:20:22] and Ocoquan Elementary School hosted an African-American storytime session for their students and different HBCUs visited Hilton High School and talked about post-secondary education. It is exciting to see celebrations around the county as our students and staff members commemorate the culture, history, and achievements of the African-American community in our country. [01:20:49] I hope the celebrations continue throughout the month and we celebrate this special time of the year. on this note um i'm also very excited about this um topic but international night season is starting i'm really happy that more and more schools host their own um culture nights international nights um close to the spring i know the i'm pretty sure the first one is at woodbridge high school this friday um forest parks it's next friday on march 1st and colgans is next next friday on march 8th and Potomac Shores is also hosting one on March 14th so it's really exciting to see this type of [01:21:25] events. I hope I can attend a couple of them and it's a great way to showcase the diversity present in our county and demonstrate students leadership skills as these events are usually student-led. I also hope everyone had the chance to spread love and kindness this past week during Kindness Week. I have enjoyed seeing all the activities held around the county. My school's leadership class held different activities during lunches. We did rock painting during lunches. We gave out flowers to our student body, handed out rice krispie treats. So our students were really [01:22:04] happy about that. I know a student from Osborne Parks High School, they hosted their spirit week as well. And Patriot High School visited Victory Elementary and they just engaged in different kindness themed activities. But on this kindness note, I want to take the opportunity to encourage my fellow students to always spread their kindness on and off school grounds before during and after school hours it is no secret that we often see student altercations in different schools whether these are verbal or physical where's my camera is it there yeah okay this [01:22:43] needs to stop i encourage students to make use of their resources available to seek mental and emotional support if needed the anonymous tip line is available 24 7 and you can use it to submit reports about possible threats to yourself others or the school environment including but not limited to personal crises sexual harassment self-harm and depression the system enables school administrators and law enforcement to create effective interventions and intervene upon at-risk individuals to prevent violence suicide bullying self-harm and other forms of threatening behavior to submit [01:23:21] a report you can call the tip line at 1-844-5-say-now or by visiting www.saysomething.net. Your counselors and school administration are also a great resource that you can seek support from. As a PWCS student we are surrounded by people that care about our well-being. There is always a solution for everything and you're not in this alone. Conflicts do not have to end up in altercations with other students or staff members. I encourage our student body to reflect on our school climate and be mindful of how our words and actions can impact others. On another [01:24:00] note I'd like to give a shout out to our winter athletes as their seasons start to come to an end in February and March. Sorry if I missed any sports but congratulations to all of our wrestling, basketball, dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, ice hockey, indoor tracks, swim and dive athletes. [01:24:20] Thank you for representing yourself, your school, and Prince William County to the best of your ability. And now that spring sports are having their tryouts, I wish all of our crew, soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and tennis teams a great start to an even greater season. [01:24:39] Finally, I'd like to encourage our rising junior and senior students to take the risk and apply to be the next student school board representative. the applications will open on monday february 26th through april 2nd being one of the senior reps has been a great experience and if you're passionate about advocacy leadership and government definitely consider this opportunity there is a sponsor in every high school that can support you throughout the application process so don't be afraid i applied to this as a joke and now i'm sitting [01:25:14] here and it's really cool so just do it it's really fun um that is it stay safe and don't skip school guys i know it's i know it's cool in the morning but you gotta go to school thank you thank you fernanda now we will move to uh superintendent's time with dr mctaid thank you miss sargapur as a brief reminder a final school board work session on the proposed fy25 budget will be conducted on march 13th additional information may be found on our website for [01:25:49] the proposed fy 2025 budget i am proud to announce the association of school board officials international has awarded prince william county public schools the 2324 meritorious budget award for the preparation and issuance of the budget for the fiscal year 2324. this award reflects prince william county's commitment to sound fiscal management budgetary policies and recognizes the amazing people working in our finance department i also want to thank the virginia [01:26:21] department of education who awarded pwcs a 350 000 grant last week to support our continued work with virginia commonwealth university through the grow your own teacher apprenticeship program the program a major innovation in teacher education is based on the national apprenticeship model and is meant to help address teacher shortages by removing cost barriers and providing quality teacher preparation as a school-based teacher preparation program the apprenticeship will cover tuition provide a full salary with benefits and pair participants who aspire to become classroom [01:27:00] teachers with a strong mentor teacher pwcs will receive 350 000 to support up to 25 apprentices we aim to address teacher shortages and build a sustainable pipeline of passionate talented and knowledgeable educators through collaboration and partnership with local academic and international organizations prince william county public schools is a destination workplace known for its commitment to excellence in education innovative programs and a supportive community that values the growth and well-being of every employee. [01:27:32] February is Career and Technical Education or CTE month and we just learned more information about our award-winning program at Brentsville High School. CTE programs are critical in preparing our students for employment in fast-growing fields such as computer programming, engineer, health science and skilled trades. Currently there are 644 students with active enrollments in CTE dual enrollment classes. [01:28:01] CTE career clusters include business management and administration, for which we have 170 students enrolled. Manufacturing, there's 36 students currently enrolled. In science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, 24 enrolled. [01:28:16] Education and training, 183 enrolled. And in information technology, 232 students enrolled, with information technology being one of the fastest growing fields. February is also financial aid awareness month. And now is an exciting time for our seniors receiving early admissions and college decision letters, along with the celebration of acceptance letters. [01:28:39] Paying for college is top of mind for our families. In recognition of Financial Aid Awareness Month, I want to invite you to find out more about grants, scholarships, loans, and work study programs by contacting your student's college and career counselor or by visiting our financial aid website. [01:28:58] I'm excited to share that PWCS will soon deliver personalized electronic student vision profiles to all students and families in grades 6 through 12 and we are so excited about the release because this will be an amazing resource for our students and for our families. These profiles are designed to serve as a resource for students and families to support post-secondary planning conversations at home and to involve families in the essential steps of of launching thriving futures for their soon-to-be graduates. [01:29:30] This is a huge step forward as we continue to build authentic partnerships with our families and communities. I want to invite our Associate Superintendent of Student Services and Post-Secondary Success, Denise Huebner, and Director of College and Career and Student Support, Becca Schlater. [01:29:46] And I know she has additional members of her team here to present on the student vision profiles. - So good evening, Vice Chair Zagrapoor, members of the school board, Dr. McDade. I'm really here just to recognize the amazing work, not just of the ladies that are over here that you will hear from shortly, but from the entire division, the collaboration that's occurred in order for this tool to come to life. [01:30:10] This truly was one of the very first, many, many visions, but one of the first visions that Dr. McDade spoke to that I was like, hmm, that's a world of possibility and we could get better at getting better and do that. And so look at that smile on our superintendent's face, really puts a smile on my face because I think as a parent how useful this tool would have been and it really is just one example of the many, many things that we are doing differently now as we focus on achieving our goals. [01:30:37] So I'm going to turn it over to Director Schlater and her team so you can be wowed by this amazing tool. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Becca Schlater and I serve as the Director of College Career and Student Support. [01:30:55] So good evening. I don't see Chairman Lateef right now, but I do see Vice Chair Zargarpur and members of the board and Dr. McDade. I'm so excited to stand before you this evening to share information about the PWCS student vision profile. Tonight you will hear from several members of my team who have been instrumental in creating this resource. I hope that you will hear and feel our passion for the students of PWCS and see that we are working hard to bring to reality the PWCS profile of a [01:31:31] graduate. Our vision for students shown here is not just words for my team and I, it is a force which drives our work each day. In our time together this evening we will walk you through this new resource as we prepare to launch it for the first time. As you may know students are required to complete an academic and career plan portfolio in elementary school and an academic and career plan starting in seventh grade. The creation of these plans and portfolios and the activities associated with them provide us with the content needed to create the student vision profile reports. So when we look at our why for the student vision [01:32:10] profile this work was fueled by the launching thriving futures strategic plan. I would be remiss if I did not also mention that it is fueled by the passion and desire of two leaders who want the best for every student in Prince William County Schools. Their passion is contagious and their heart for this work makes me want to be a better employee each day. [01:32:33] Thank you to Dr. McDade and Dr. Flannard for creating the conditions for me and for so many in Prince William County Schools to engage in this important work. When we reflect upon our first commitment, learning and achievement for all, we see multiple goals tied to the information we will provide to students and families in the student vision profile. [01:32:54] We are turning up the volume on this work by ensuring that all students have opportunities to succeed in any post-secondary path they choose. When we reflect upon our second commitment, positive climate and culture, we see connections with the importance and relevance that college and career planning bring to the educational experience. [01:33:15] Starting in kindergarten, our teachers, administrators, school counselors, and other support staff are planting seeds of hope. The hope for a better future has been proven to be one of the most important aspects for a human being to overcome adversity and trauma. [01:33:34] When students see the connections between their classroom learning and their thriving future, they become more engaged and are more likely to regularly attend school. It's just that simple. The Student Vision Profile report weaves together much of the work being done to promote a positive climate and culture in Prince William County schools. [01:33:54] Our third commitment, family and community engagement, is an essential theme in the work we completed to prepare the student vision profile. This resource is created for the students and families of PWCS. It is designed with them in mind and will hopefully foster more engagement and understanding of the educational experience in Prince William County Schools and the options for life after high school. We have a goal in mind when delivering this information to students and their families. We want to amplify and inform the conversations that occur [01:34:29] around the dinner tables, in the car, and in those moments where children and their families dream about their future. My team and I would not be standing with you tonight if it was not for a focus on our fourth commitment, organizational coherence. Here you see the names of the many unsung heroes who work in Prince William County Schools. These are wonderful people who care and find meaning in the work we do. Every name listed on this screen symbolizes a person who took time from their already busy schedule to support this work. [01:35:07] Evenings, weekends, and early morning conversations have been occurring over the past few months. Our parent volunteers made space in their busy schedules to provide us input. This project was successful only because of the team approach and the coherence of work for individuals from across PWCS. [01:35:26] I want to thank the directors who oversee each of the departments listed here on this screen. Sarah Martin, A.J. Phillips, Dr. Amy Holub, Dr. Wendy Martin-Johnson, Diana Gulotta, Dr. Tim Neal, Dr. Ashley Cramp, and Dr. Lynn Colon. [01:35:42] Their leadership also helped to create the conditions for this collaboration. I will now turn the presentation over to Dr. Anade Shaver. Dr. Shaver serves as a supervisor of College and Career Services and is truly the beating heart behind this project. [01:36:00] -Beat away. -Thank you, Ms. Schlater. Good evening Chairman Lateef, members of the board, and Dr. McDade. My name is Dr. Renee Shaver, and I am so excited to share information with you this evening about the new Student Vision Profile. [01:36:19] The Student Vision Profile is a resource document that we will deliver to families of all students in grades 6 through 12 in the next few weeks. To create this profile, we brought together information from a variety of sources. [01:36:34] Naviance is the platform we use to guide our college and career readiness planning behaviors. Starting in grade six, students use this online tool to take assessments, create their academic and career plan, and learn about themselves through self-discovery, career exploration, and to develop a plan for life after high school. [01:36:58] Students view information about their career interests and post-high school education. My team works with all school counselors to ensure that activities are delivered to students within a developmental framework and a specific scope and sequence. [01:37:15] We closely monitor the work completed at the school level to ensure that all students have an equitable experience regardless of the school they attend. We have collaborated with an external vendor, Pearson Spotlight, to bring the student vision profile report to life. [01:37:33] The team at Spotlight supplements the work of our students with information about workforce trends and post-high school options. Finally, we use information in the Synergy Student Information System to personalize each student vision profile. [01:37:51] Student grade point average and college preparatory test scores will be included in each high school report. The student vision profile document will be delivered electronically to all parent and guardians and students through ParentVUE and StudentVUE account. [01:38:09] We are partnering with our school parent liaisons to ensure that we are poised to support any parent guardian who does not yet have an active ParentVUE account. Parent guardians or students can navigate to the document section to view their report. [01:38:27] The profiles will be translated into the desired correspondence language for the top 9 languages spoken by PWCS families, parent guardians will also receive an English copy of the profile. [01:38:43] These documents were created to be viewed on a computer or a tablet. In the document, students and families will find many embedded links which take them directly to resources to support their learning and post-high school planning. If necessary, the student vision profile can be printed and viewed. [01:39:03] Each school will have the capability to produce paper copies if requested. We are working day and night to prepare for the official launch of our first student vision profile report. [01:39:19] In the next few weeks, all students and parents, guardians of students in grades 6-12 will receive an email from their school principal announcing the delivery of the profiles. In this email, there will be specific directions about how to access the document. [01:39:36] We consider the first report delivery to be a personalized preview of what will become a resource that is sent to families twice per school year. Each time a report is delivered, readers will find the date of the data included in the report at the bottom of each page. [01:39:53] For this initial report, the data used was as of December 2023. We understand that some data points may have changed during the time between our upload of data to the delivery of the profile. We ask for everyone's patience as we embark on delivering this new resource for students and families. [01:40:15] We are committed to continuous improvement. A second updated version of the profile will be delivered at the end of the school year. It is our hope that students and families will be able to review the information over the summer months and consider how they can take steps to begin the planning process for life after high school. [01:40:35] Summer vacations present a great opportunity to visit colleges in different areas and research careers of interest. In future years, the profile will be delivered to families in early January. The delivery date will coincide with the academic advising process, which we will now call Student Vision Meetings. [01:40:57] It is our hope that this tool also supports the process of choosing a specialty program and supplements the already existing information that is sent to all students and their families. The student vision profile will also be used by our school counselors and career investigation teachers as they deliver a high-quality instructional experience to students. [01:41:21] Because this is a new resource, we have a few innovative school counselors using the tool in academic advising this school year. In future years, it will become a standard resource in the delivery of school counseling lessons at each grade level and individual and group student academic advising/vision meetings. [01:41:43] When the student vision profiles are delivered to families, they will see a direct link to our webpage. This webpage was designed to serve as a resource to navigate the document. Users will find links to feedback surveys to include translated versions of each survey, background information about the profile, sample documents for viewing, tutorial videos that walk the viewer through the profile. [01:42:13] An important part of this process is seeking feedback from our community. This is our first time creating this resource of this magnitude and we are open to feedback. We see this as a tool that can be improved over time with the ultimate goal of it becoming a one-stop shop for all middle and high school students. [01:42:33] After students and families receive the profile report, we ask that they navigate to the webpage to provide feedback about their experience and the document. As Dr. McDade always tells us, we have to commit to get better at getting better. [01:42:49] I will now turn the presentation over to Tracy Main. Tracy serves as our middle school career counseling specialist. She works daily with middle school counselors across the county to ensure that every student has experiences to plan for their thriving future. [01:43:04] Tracy will take time to zoom in to specific parts of the profile to provide in-depth information. - Thank you, Dr. Shaver. Good evening, Chairman Lateef, members of the board, and Dr. McDade. [01:43:21] My name is Tracy Main, and I'm pleased to be with you this evening navigate the student vision profile report. On this slide, you will see a view of the first page of a profile report. I want to draw your attention to the yellow box on the right-hand side of the page. Throughout the student vision profile, you will see yellow boxes that provide cues for the steps that may be taken with the information presented. Much of what you find in this document is intended to be a conversation starter. [01:43:55] We hope these proactive, reflective prompts will help families engage in meaningful conversations. In part of the document, you will see prompts to get moving, encouraging you to take an action. You will also see prompts to think about it, urging you to give some thought to the information presented. [01:44:17] Finally, you will see prompts to explore resources, which you can do with the many web links that are embedded in the document. For our middle school students, the vision profile provides information about the work students are doing to explore their interests, likes, dislikes, and work style. [01:44:39] In grade five, students complete the academic career plan portfolio, the ACPP. Some of the ACPP data will transition the middle school student vision profile document. When we zoom in, we see personalized information about our middle school student Jane. Jane has indicated that she wants to pursue a career right after high school. Later in this document, Jane will see information about next steps she can take to start learning about this pathway. When Jane took the career key assessment, which is a career [01:45:17] personality inventory, she scored highest in the conventional area. This means that Jane likes to work with numbers or machines in an orderly way. Jane may want to think about career pathways that align with this aspect of her personality. Finally, we see that Jane has a career interest in health sciences. Depending on the level of post-high school education that she chooses to pursue, she's presented with information about various health science careers. [01:45:50] On page 2, we see Jane's top three career interests. Jane may want to consider these when thinking about which PWCS high school specialty program she wishes to apply to. When we zoom in, we see the map of PWCS and all the high schools with a listing of their programs. [01:46:12] Jane can now see all the options available to her to include Governor's School at Innovation Park in Manassas and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax. [01:46:28] On page three, we see a variety of action steps. Jane's action steps are tailored to match her chosen pathway plan. Since Jane selected the career pathway plan, there's a checkmark next to that pathway. [01:46:48] Let's zoom in to see more. As Jane is in middle school, we see information about steps she should take to ensure a successful transition to high school. Jane is being urged to look at options for taking a high school credit course while in middle school. [01:47:06] Jane has many opportunities to learn about PWCS offerings by attending various college and career related events and applying to a specialty program. Jane should also plan to attend any available high school transition events to help minimize stress and confusion. [01:47:23] Finally, Jane should continue to refine her study habits to ensure academic success. On the final page of the middle school profile, we see important information about the PWCS profile of a graduate. [01:47:39] We want Jane to know who she will be poised to be based on her experience in PWCS. Let's zoom in to see more. Jane needs to build a good foundation, and these mission-critical launchpads will help her do just that. [01:47:57] Jane and her family members are encouraged to attend PWCS family engagement events and can click right here to browse our offerings and register. Jane is reminded about the importance of good attendance. Jane can learn more about what she will need to do in high school to earn a diploma. [01:48:17] And finally, Jane can quickly access free tutoring services when needed through paper online tutoring. Any time the school division makes changes to the free tutoring services available to students new and updated information will appear here. I will now turn the presentation over to my colleague Alyssa Bridges who serves as the administrative coordinator for college and career counseling services. Alyssa will take you on a journey through our sample high school student vision profile. [01:48:50] Thank you Tracy and good evening Chairman Lateef, members of the board and Dr. McDade. As Tracy shared my name is Alyssa Bridges and I'm excited to be with you this evening. We are now going to walk through a high school student vision profile. On page 1 you will see a variety of information about our student John. Let's zoom in. John has a grade point average of 4.09. This is a great start and he gets a positive message to support his hard work. The GPA included [01:49:27] in the student vision profile is calculated at the end of each academic year and includes only grades from the completed courses. John is currently on track with his graduation status. Other students may see "approaching on track" or "off track" on their profile. By clicking the words "graduation status" John and his family can enter parent view or student view to see exactly where he stands towards meeting the graduation requirements. Any student who is off Off track or approaching on track is being monitored by school staff as a part of our tiered graduation [01:50:07] support initiative. John is planning to go to college to earn a bachelor's degree and his profile will give him lots of ideas for his next steps. John is interested in a career in health sciences and will receive information about this pathway in his profile. [01:50:26] Finally, John's top strength as reported from his strength assessment is achieving. At the bottom of each page, you will see a date to represent when this data is pulled. On this next page, we see information about John. [01:50:44] We see also he has a career pathway recommendation based on his interests. Let's zoom in. In-depth information about John's learning style is only a quick away. We see his Myers-Briggs personality type with a short description. [01:51:04] John is an extrovert who is flexible and tolerant. Finally, we see information about John's chosen career cluster and his Holland personality type as artistic, which is a research-based career classification. [01:51:22] On this page, we see more personalized information about John, encouraging him to dream big and reflect on his best fit for life after high school. John receives information about the PWCS college admission profile, where he can compare his own GPA and SAT score. [01:51:41] Let's zoom in. John has worked hard during his high school years, and we can see that his GPA has increased steadily each year. In the circle, John has provided a visual representation of his GPA and how his GPA is impacted in preparation for applying to colleges during his first semester of his senior year. [01:52:05] This knowledge is essential to John's planning and vision for a thriving future. I will now turn the presentation back over to Dr. Shaver to share information about the applied studies diploma profile. [01:52:23] - Thank you Alyssa. It's important that the student vision profile provides useful information for all students and families. In support of our first commitment, learning and achievement for all, we have created a unique version of the profile for our high school students who are pursuing the applied studies diploma. [01:52:42] As you can see, we have the same tips for families to use the document, and we provide an enhanced, unique glossary of terms that are related to the transition process afforded to all of our students with disabilities. Let's zoom in. [01:52:58] Here we see that Jerry is on track towards pursuing the Applied Studies Diploma. Each year, his Individualized Education Program, or IEP, is updated to ensure that goals are set to match his interests for a thriving future. [01:53:14] Our transition specialist will use the Student Vision Profile document when meeting with students and families to complete the student's transition plan. Jerry has multiple career interests as shows here to include manufacturing and marketing. [01:53:30] I want to point out a specific example found in Jerry's report that other students and families may see in their profile. Jerry has not yet taken the Strengths Explorer assessment. This may happen when a student has transferred into Prince William County School after a time which the assessment was administered. [01:53:49] In Jerry's case, he enrolled in PWCS in 10th grade after the time which this assessment had been required. Jerry shouldn't worry. If you see an assessment has not been taken and therefore results are not available, we have provided a link to take you directly to the assessment. [01:54:09] Any student may complete any unfinished assessment on their own time or may even work with their teacher or counselor to take a missed assessment. On this page, we see information about specific skills that we want Jerry to master before he leaves PWCS. [01:54:28] We also see career information. Let's zoom in. Jerry has been provided information about jobs that are found in one of his chosen pathways. Jerry may consider going directly to that career after high school, or he may desire to seek further education. [01:54:46] We have provided links to recommended colleges that Jerry may wish to consider. The colleges listed here would have programs of interest for Jerry. By studying this section, Jerry can also see how more education may mean more money in his pocket. [01:55:06] On this page, we find helpful information about community resources who stand ready to support Jerry and his family. Let's zoom in and take a look. Jerry has been provided direct links and phone numbers or emails for resources linked on this page. [01:55:23] Jerry will see that he has local and state resources he can use to connect with the launch of his thriving future. Here we see an example of action steps that are listed on both the applied studies and high school student vision profiles. [01:55:40] If a student has selected their post-high school pathway plan in the game plan survey in Naviance, it will be highlighted with a check on this page. We know that students' plans change over time. So we provided information about all pathway plans. [01:55:58] Let's zoom in. Here we can closely examine specific steps that students should take if they wish to go to college. Links are provided to support the process of paying for college and for students to to sign up to visit with colleges at their own school. [01:56:15] These action steps are intended to pace students with specific actions throughout the school year. Student voice was included in the process used to create the student vision profile. We would like to sincerely thank our student senate members and student school board members for their assistance. [01:56:36] At this time, I am going to ask student senate representative Fernanda Morante to join me at the podium. Fernanda has received an advanced copy of her student vision profile and to give her an opportunity to share her thoughts about what it means to her to have this information at her fingertips. [01:56:55] - This is like a teaser trailer trailer teaser. All right, let's do it Fernanda. - Thank you, Dr. Shaver. Hello again, but from the other side. It's been awesome receiving kind of like the first draft of the student vision profile one of our senate meetings um a few months ago i believe now and then earlier this week i received my own student vision profile so kind of seeing the feedback that the student voice gave dr shaver and her team in the actual document was really really cool [01:57:32] so thank you for considering all of our feedback and suggestions um as a student the student vision profile allows us to access our assessment information and other resources all condensed in one place which is something that we have not had before so if I wanted to see my GPA I had to go to my student view if I wanted to see my SAT scores I'll go to Naviance or College Board and everything was everything was in different places but this document has everything condensed and it also encourages students to complete self-discovery assessments [01:58:09] during class lessons, we complete a bunch of Naviance assessments and surveys here and there. A lot of students ask themselves why, because we don't really see how they're used for us. [01:58:26] We know that the division uses it for data and those kind of purposes, but we don't see it how they're used for us. But with this student vision profile, we can literally see our own results on paper and how we can use those to succeed post elementary, middle, or high school. [01:58:50] It also allows students to explore things that might interest them, more opportunities to research different options we might have available to us and even discover new interests. My student vision profile notes that I want to take college steps, go to a four-year institution, but it also includes what steps I have to take if I'm interested in going into the military. [01:59:14] So if I just randomly decide to go to the military, I still have the resources even if that was not my kind of first interest. But we still have the information there and it's really easy to access. [01:59:29] This resource can also be used to assist students with course request selection during academic advising. Once your counsellor has your student vision profile, I'm sure it's going to be way easier and not digging through student view and then go into your college board to see what your SAT score is like. [01:59:52] So everything is in one place and I know counsellors have a lot of students in their hands, so it will be more efficient. It also makes it easier to explain to parents what pathway a student may want to pursue. As an immigrant student, this document is really helpful. [02:00:10] I can just show it to my parents and say, maybe we didn't have this before, but these are our options now and this is a path that I want to take. So it's really important, especially as an immigrant student, it makes me really excited. It's way easier to explain and it's in different languages. [02:00:29] So I have mine in English and then I can show it to my parents in Spanish because that's a language we speak at home. So it's really exciting. It's a very useful tool and it might even make parents aware of options that they might not even know they exist. [02:00:49] That is it. I think it's very helpful. I am very excited for all of the students to get them and then I can have bragging rights because I had mine before. I'm really excited and I will ask my brother, he's a sixth grade student, so I will ask him for his student vision profiles because I won't get them anymore because I'm leaving. [02:01:14] But yeah, it's really exciting and thank you, Dr. Saver. Thank you for sharing your valuable perspective, Fernanda. I'm now going to turn the presentation back to Becca Schlater for closing comments. [02:01:33] Thank you all very much for taking this journey with us. Thank you, Fernanda, for sharing your information. Dr. McDade, we did not pay her, just so you know. I want to go on record. That was all sincere and from the heart. Certainly not the salary she's making as a board member. [02:01:49] That didn't do it either. Couldn't ask for better. Thank you. So, I want to thank Dr. Shaver, Alyssa, Tracy, and Fernanda for this wonderful presentation this evening. Thank you for setting aside time this evening to allow us to share information about the the student vision profile reports. [02:02:07] As I stated at the beginning, I hope you feel, hear, and see our passion for this work and for the students of Prince William County Schools. I wanna thank the wonderful team who stands, sits, stands beside me for their teller's work. I also wanna thank Denise Huebner for her encouragement and vision as our leader. [02:02:26] I leave you with the sentiments that will be shared with each student when they see their student vision profile. Your roadmap toward a thriving future begins here. This guide is designed to support you as you engage in meaningful conversations about life after high school. [02:02:42] In PWCS, a student's trajectory is limitless. The information provided in this student vision profile report will ensure that all students and their families have the tools necessary to navigate the road that lies ahead. [02:02:58] Thank you again for your support. - Outstanding. I'm gonna turn it over to Mr. Wilk because he's asking to speak first, and, but I'm gonna say this before, before, and I'm gonna introduce him on this, because I do want to credit Mr. Wilk for, you know, early on, he's in education tech, and he understand, you know, he worked with Naviance. [02:03:21] You know, he brought to my attention, sort of quite regularly, what is a student profile? What is a profile of a graduate? What should that be? And really, until we got Dr. McDade here, and Justin's really strong support on this. [02:03:36] That helped us create sort of the framework that Dr. McDade has helped launch with Launching Thriving Futures. That is the embodiment of the work we do. And so I wanna thank and credit Mr. Wilk for that because that pushing, I think demanded much of us in the work that has led to this. [02:03:56] So, Mr. Wilk. - Wow, thank you. That was a great intro. I'm trying to put words. I'm not trying to be a sycophant about this because when I'm upset about something, I express it. [02:04:11] I am very, very happy, just overwhelmed. I know that came out, right? I'm completely overwhelmed by this work. And to give people some context, 'cause to give people some context of this, and Dr. Lateef mentioned, I worked in sales and as a consultant in government relations for Naviance before it was bought out by Power School. [02:04:41] And I've traveled all over the Midwest. I work with districts in Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, I'm trying to think, Florida, Ohio. I did consulting work, Dr. McDade would know, U46 Elgin, the second largest division in Illinois. [02:04:58] I've never seen anything like this. I have never seen this type of comprehensive reports pulled together, I'm not gonna ask the techie terms 'cause I have no idea how you're integrating all this and pulling this into one source, that's just unbelievable, legally. [02:05:15] It's how you pull, no, no, that's not what I mean. When you integrate all these programs together, that's what I'm saying, like the student information system and Naviance and all these other different components, it takes a lot of work on the backend side. So AJ, her team and all that, whoever's working on that, that's amazing because so often I think people, you know, this integration thing when you're using like a Naviance or other programs like that, that could be a major hurdle for division. [02:05:42] So I think that's amazing. Also, you know, when previously, before Dr. McDade came on, joined our Illustrious School Division, I did talk about, you know, about the need for a profile of a graduate. [02:05:58] I actually even cited Dr. Aaron Spence, previously when he was at Virginia Beach's profile of a graduate and said, we need to create something like this. This is phenomenal work. And we don't need the generic Virginia required one, we need our own Prince William County one. [02:06:16] And I also felt at the time that, you know, and this is post Naviance, I was done, but I felt like we were under utilizing the platform. Doing just simply edocs and a career interest profiler was not enough. [02:06:32] And looking at this report, I see, you know, strength finder, do what you are, career interest inventory, cluster finder, learning styles. I'm just enthralled, the fact that all these are now being used and integrated and part of building this profile of a graduate, which is almost like the buttress to the overall strategic vision of launching Thriving Futures. [02:06:54] So I'm going to stop because I'm so floored by this in the community. I hope once people start getting these, their students start taking these, as Fernanda mentioned, realize the work that goes into this and the importance of this because you are literally now given an outline to talk with your student about their future plans whether it be post-secondary military career trade amazing work thank you I'm gonna go down the line because I have I'm gonna go to we're just gonna go down the line folks and we'll be here all night talking about this I have no [02:07:31] problem staying here all night on this one okay so you may want to sit stand whatever you want get comfortable. Ms. Tredenik. I would like to go home and see my children but I want to thank you guys for the for the work on this. I want to take a minute and just say we do have great counselors in our in our school system and some of our counselors are already doing a lot of what this this is offering but I think this is going to really help them be able to you know streamline it but we I do have to give credit to to my kids counselors [02:08:07] personally over the years have done such a good job really highlighting our kids strengths and speaking life into those strengths and encouraging them to follow those paths. And it's kind of interesting too, you know, knowing kids change. So when they take this in middle school and then again in high school, you know, those tests that they take, it's funny to hear my kids every year come home and say, it told me that I should go do this. And each year it's changed a little bit. [02:08:37] And I'm like, well, I can see that, you know, in them. But just kudos to our awesome counselors. This will also help our students, you know, if you have high schoolers, take these assessments seriously now because they'll come home and ask, you know, I don't even know why I did that or what I was doing that for. [02:08:54] Now they can see, like she was saying, they can actually see that the time that they're spending on these is worth it. So that's great. And hopefully they take advantage of that. I have a few questions. I don't know if we're allowed to ask questions. But I'm curious, will all of the same information the children can see also 100% the parents can see? [02:09:16] 100%. Okay. Yes. 100%. Parent view and student view, same thing. Is this information accessible to anybody outside of the school system? No. Because this has protected student information, this is part of the student educational record. [02:09:31] That's why it's in parent view and student view. Can your teacher see this information? if a parent or student chooses to share that information. Okay. Thank you. Thank you guys for all your hard work. Mr. Jesse. Well, you know, I think you were here a few weeks or a few meetings ago and I was saying this is really great. [02:09:56] This is great. Have you guys applied for a patent on this? No, I'm serious. This is something you should look at because this is a marketable, marketable item that is wonderful and i really think you should consider a patent on this okay the second thing i i want to say is that uh my apology to miss patello i rushed today and i was reading and i looked at [02:10:32] this and i looked at slide three and four and i said all this stuff is old stuff i want to know what's is, you know, what's the results of that? And I didn't look, so I wrote a note saying, you know, we need to do that, and I don't know how we're gonna find counselors and staff to do all this. [02:10:56] Well, you found a way. This has taken the load off of a lot of counselors, so they can now talk to the students about, this is what you need to do from here, rather than spending hours getting them to where you're getting them. [02:11:13] So this is wonderful. And again, I apologize for my note. You know, I have to read a little better 'cause I skipped over the headings and just looked at the stuff and so forth. But you know, this, again, I'm serious. [02:11:30] We really do need to look at this for a pattern. Thank you. - Ms. Wall. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. So this is really exciting. This is really cool. I think if it works as intended, it's gonna be a game changer actually for our students. [02:11:49] And we've been trying to do this in lots of different ways, but it's really cool to see the technology, the know-how, and I'm assuming this is a lot of AI in here to come together to connect with students and their families to help them make decisions. [02:12:08] So if students will use this, which I am sure they will, especially if we have counselors that are encouraging them to look at it and it's used and brought up regularly, then they will be empowered to reach their own personal academic goals. [02:12:25] And that is just awesome because I think if we can make it so that every student knows what they're doing when they leave Prince William County Schools, then we'll know we've been successful. So I appreciate that so much. [02:12:40] And the presentation was great. have I can't wait to like really dive in and look at it a little bit more I did have one question on slide 10 the service delivery tool I so some of our students are using this with it says innovative counselors volunteers use it so some students are already kind of piloting this right and some counselors are piloting this but when will when is it that the majority of our students will get their first student profile I don't want to get my cart before the course and go announce that these are like imminent or anything like that. [02:13:15] So just to make sure I understand, what is the timeline when this will be? So we're not giving a specific date. There's a lot of moving parts from a technology standpoint. I appreciate what Mr. Wilkes said. If you could count the circles under all of our eyes, the work that has gone into the technology piece. [02:13:36] We're in the final step now of uploading the information. These files are graphics heavy, thanks to Matt Guilfoyle for putting up with us. And so we're saying in the next couple weeks that these should be uploaded and school students and parents will receive an email directly from their principal. [02:13:59] For the students that are participating in the pilot, working with our counselors and some of the students that are going to see them, yes, we will have some students who do get it early in working with the counselors in March. But we're saying a few weeks at this point and we'll certainly provide updates to Dr. [02:14:17] McDade. Okay. That's great. That's great news. My only regret is that my kids have now graduated. This is amazing and would have been so useful. You know, we fared decently well without it. [02:14:35] But I think especially for families that maybe they, they're not, they didn't go to college themselves or parents who didn't go to college themselves or maybe they, you know, they have kids who have interests that are different than the path that they took. This is going to be really helpful because it helps, it's student driven, right? [02:14:52] But it involves the parents in helping have those conversations to tailor what the kids are interested in, what their skills are, what they're good at, what they want to learn to move forward. So I just commend everybody for your really hard work and the vision in bringing forth this student vision. [02:15:12] Thank you. - Ms. Zargarpur. - Thank you for this. I was recalling back in, I don't know, whenever I was in middle school in the '80s, we took a test and I think everybody got farmer as a future career. Yeah, it was, this is, oh my gosh. [02:15:32] My really, my only question left is, you know, Obviously the back end work that you all did is a lot. How much is it for the counselors at this point? It's like student input. Is there like IT doing stuff in the background and they just kind of go print here? [02:15:52] What is their work? Is their workload lightened or changed in any way? We hope lightened as the people who lead school counselors. I will say that much of this is coming from the students. So the students are inputting information into Naviance. [02:16:07] We're just doing some fancy work with the data in the background to bring everything together in one place. So counselors are not having to enter data for this. It really is all the normal processes that are run to produce many of the student record elements that we use. [02:16:23] So no extra work on anyone's part except people like us and the IT team. But that's what's so great about this is it really should change some conversations and make it a little bit easier for the counselors to have everything in one place as they're working with the students so next up is an app right just kidding Williams okay I'm gonna try to keep it together over here but we start by saying congratulations do the old Boy Scout round of applause this is I [02:16:58] think one of these single most equitable programs applications series of sets of information that this school division has ever released ever it is absolutely game-changing you are not dependent on uh on a counselor not no offense to counselors but they're already overloaded and inundated it removes the bias from future like that just that part alone [02:17:34] could absolutely change a student's life as um Ms. Zargarpur was just saying I actually still have thanks to my wonderful parents the old black-and-white printout with the little X's that you got and the percentages of where you could go I was not expected to go to college or earn anything and surprised we all know that that's not how it worked and there wasn't a lot of guidance for my family the first one in my family to go to college when I was going through this process with my oldest son helping I remember distinctly helping my friends some of who had gone to college some of whom hadn't but didn't understand [02:18:13] because the information was not in one easily accessible place nor was it down to its lowest common denominator to make it understandable and easily digestible for whoever came across it and it definitely was not in multiple languages bridging all of those gaps now give students whether they have guardians or parents at home to to be able to have those conversations they're able to now take the reins for their own future and academic progress or career and work readiness progress themselves which is something that I had to do and it's nice to, nice doesn't [02:18:51] even really begin to scratch the surface of it, but we're really giving our students the opportunity to take control of their own futures and make decisions and know from a 360 view what is out there and available to them and what they can and can't achieve. [02:19:09] I'm sincerely touched by the third column on, I can't think of what slide it is, but it's student GPA, track your progress. Just the little self-esteem note boosters, you're on your way, you're having your progress. If this was something that was available when I was in school, it would be me reading this because my parents would think, oh, well, you're not failing, this is great kind of a thing, not to minimize my parents and just make an example, but it's a booster for those students who don't have that at home. [02:19:39] So there's so many moving parts and components to this. It's just amazing. I am especially touched by the inclusiveness of including our special needs families in this, that the struggle that they go through now to try to navigate transition after they graduate high school and to have them included here, I think is the first time I've ever seen this type of recognition for those families that puts them on the same footing as every other student, which they should be and should have been all along. [02:20:11] Just a simple acknowledgement of that. I can only imagine how many families are able to now take a deep breath and relax a little bit because they're not forced on their own to just happen to come across a teacher or run into families who have gone before them. [02:20:26] I cannot thank you and your team. Dr. McDade, this is something you said right when you started that you wanted to, eventually accomplished and to be here right now. I mean, ladies, every time you come, I don't know what to say. Every time I see you now, I'm just so excited about what's to come next. [02:20:44] I do have a few questions, 'cause of course, I noticed that this starts in sixth grade. What conversations are we having with fifth grade families to prepare them? 'Cause in my own bias, I have never been more excited to have a middle schooler, ever, 'cause I'm gonna see this. [02:21:01] So what are we doing to help sort of plant the seed for our fifth grade families and our fifth grade students in understanding why they're filling out what they're filling out? - You know, again, I think some of those items are certainly a work in progress, but I want to highlight that these three ladies here have done multiple family engagement series sessions this school year, and we're going to use that venue to continue to educate our community about the student vision profile, Also, I can see us definitely doing something for fifth grade parents as the students are going into sixth grade to prepare them for this. [02:21:40] I know that some of the team are also working to make sure we're integrating. We use a different software at the elementary level for the academic and career plan portfolio. So making sure we're integrating and pulling in that information as well so that when the student gets to sixth grade, they see that work that they did third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade. [02:21:59] So again, we will offer education around that most likely through the family engagement series, but also through information that the school counselors will be a conduit for in the schools. Thank you. And I'm not asking these any questions as a slight, like I'm always harping on fifth grade because it's, it is the beginning. [02:22:17] Really the end of fourth grade is when a lot of elementary school teachers start talking about SOLs and getting ready for fifth grade and getting ready to select specialty programs. That's why I'm constantly bringing up, not that you haven't thought of it because I'm absolutely sure that has been a conversation the other thing I would like to bring up is as we as you roll this out and it gets more stabilized and you were able to implement it division-wide some considerating to consider adding things and it may already be in there and because this is a high-level view things options for some of these students like some of our college prep programs like EIP and some of the other universities also offer those for [02:22:56] first-generation students or minority students that is another gateway to college I'm sure there are also workforce internships and programs that if we could incorporate that information into this that is another way that these programs get exposure students can help plan for their thriving future as they matriculate through the system so I have no expectation no that's a great suggestion and we won't make you fill out the form we'll take that down tonight because there's a form a feedback form I'm horrible you - You don't have to do it. [02:23:26] - I will, though. - But no, I just appreciate that because I've just, I'm so blown away and I feel especially thankful, not only as a Prince William County parent, but as a board member to be here and be able to see this and to share the excitement. [02:23:42] I love how you talked about paper and I figured since you were integrating all the things that might just be one more layer to integrate as you move forward. 'Cause I can't believe you're standing here. This is just a tremendous amount of work. I just again want to say thank you for this as a board member, as a parent. [02:23:59] Can't wait to use it and have those discussions and to participate in some of the parent education series as we move forward. Hope this is a session at the Title I camp when we have the next one. So thank you so much, I appreciate it. - Thank you. And I did wanna, the brains back here told me there is EIP information already in the middle of school one and these ladies back here have been responsible for working with SPARC to expand our seats in EIP. [02:24:25] We just did that recently. - I know, I saw, I'm so excited. - Yes, and that's these ladies right here. Well, thank you and congratulations. I appreciate all of your hard work and effort as a EIP alumni. I can tell you how impactful that program is to students as they go forth in the future. [02:24:44] So thank you so much. - Mr. Tracy Blake. - Thank you very much. I just wanna reiterate what everybody else has said this board this is wonderful and as a parent and a school board member I just really think this is good you're empowering students to take control of their own destiny as well as helping parents be able to track and be able to track and see where to go the courses that they need to take and things like that because I know when I was on those advisory councils there was a lot of [02:25:24] things that parents didn't know oh I need to take this they need this class or oh, I didn't know that we needed this class, but your kid was already in eighth grade and they couldn't, you know, they need to take this class in fifth, sixth grade, seventh grade. So I just really think this is good and it's really gonna help the community and just keep up the good work. [02:25:44] Thank you. - Ms. Barante, any further comments? - A little bit, I think, oops, sorry. I think this would go more for the students once they have their student vision profile, but I really think it would be helpful for teachers have it um especially since it includes the learning style um so i'll probably add it to my remarks whenever um after we get it um but i know a lot of a lot of students won't go up and tell their teacher i don't i don't learn anything if you're talking for an hour and a half [02:26:23] um not to be like shady but there are some people that don't learn like that i don't learn like that um so i think if they take their document and like say here it says i learned better better this way or this way um it would be more helpful for for teachers um to support them um so i just thought about it right now thank you very good suggestion nanda thank you that's personalized education right and at its best and so thank you um one thing i'd ask you to do is once this becomes [02:27:01] live to share this with the other board members and take it over to the Student Senate and maybe have a presentation with the Senate so the Senate can socialize it among student councils and the rest of the division okay well I'm gonna go next and and first of all thank you this is amazing this I think is my I would say most proud one among the most proud moments here in the six years I've served on the school board of programs that we have outlined I think as Wilkes said overwhelmed, I think he captured that correctly, I think Mr. Denik talked about, you know, the counseling and how great our counselors already are, and they are amazing, but this will be a tool [02:27:40] to multiply their great effect, right? And so I think this has a powerful way to make our counselors even more effective than they were, to make their work more, more work effective, so they're not spending as much busy time, and then they can get into the student profile with the student and start really hitting it right as they get started. [02:28:03] So I think that's exciting. And as Mr. Jessie said, let's patent this. This is fantastic, great work. Ms. Wall talked about wishing she had this for her kids and I 100% agree that this would have taken our children to the next level. [02:28:20] You know, on her comments too, one of the things that concerns me is that as our students are getting ready for the future, the challenges are much more competitive. Getting a job is not as easy as it was. It's a lot harder. [02:28:36] The credentials, the things they need to do to even become something that was much easier to become before. If you were into coding, now you have six more languages for coding you needed to know than four years ago, which is one. And now they're telling us we don't need coders 'cause AI can do it. [02:28:52] So now we need to get our kids ready for something different. Should we be teaching them coding? So, you know, all of these things are now here. You can find these things if you look in this program and they help set us up. So it's becoming more competitive. You know, it's like an arms race almost for parents as they try to get their kids ready. [02:29:11] Like, how can I get my kid tutored enough? And we're offering tutoring access through these portals and saying, look, this is available. So getting it to the parent to show them this is available. You know, college and career counseling is a billion dollar industry now because they have stepped in to where public schools are not. [02:29:28] Meaning we're not, you know, we have a ratio, the ideal ratio is 250 students to one counselor. I mean, I don't know who came up with that ideal number. I know it's the national counseling, but that still seems way too high for me. I mean, and I think every counselor would say they would love that number to be 100 to one or 50 to one, you know, that would be great. [02:29:45] But this gets, this can help us move that ratio down. And so this whole industry pops up and people are spending thousands of dollars on the things that this program actually presents. And I'm one of those parents who spent some of that money, and one of the things these consultants do, the first thing they do with the kids is give them a Myers-Briggs. [02:30:05] You know, sit down and talk to them about where they wanna go, who they are, what they wanna be, and we're doing that here, and we're providing this for our students. We're doing it at no cost. We're doing it as something that, this will save families money. And I think, you know, then moving on to what, glasses here, what Ms. Zargarpur said, you know, again, she talked about being, making the counseling easier and even smarter, right? [02:30:31] So working smarter. So the time they do spend is far more return, far better return on investment. Lori talked about equity. I think this is an equalizer. This program can equalize and to what Ms. Wall and Ms. [02:30:46] Williams said about, you know, families who don't know, like I don't know how to tell my kid to be a lawyer. I have no idea. The only thing I know how to do is be a physician. That's it. scientist I don't know anything else and and I have to go and ask people what should my kid do what should he here you're providing a framework for a start right an incredible opportunity you know as Tracy said you know echoed all the comments and in that that his kids are gonna have access to something like this so powerful and I'm just excited to hear what Fernando's experience was and so so you know as I think about you know the savings the access for tutoring the [02:31:24] The whole environment as Justin talked about is just absolutely incredible. It has a powerful multiplier effect. This combined with the catalog you presented last time, at your fingertips now is so much of the information you need to find success, right? [02:31:44] It's not hidden behind a door anymore. We're not waiting for someone to tell us. We're not waiting for a notice or a letter to come home. We can go find it. you know for all of us who you know as raising children is challenging it's daunting this is exciting and it really is incredible and I'm gonna use a quote you know Becca you you miss later you you ended with what you know a quote about you know the fact that this is limitless right what we could do with this right you know Thomas Jefferson said you know in a different word for limitlessly said this institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of [02:32:21] the human mind you know for here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it lead nor tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it this program allows our students to free their mind to go and chase their dreams to search for truth to search for their own truth where do they want to go and i think this is a great start for our school division it's a it's a great program and i just i mean i can sit here like mr wilk and be a sycophant i don't even know what that means but but yes i think that's what i meant um all night long so anyways thank you um does anyone have anything else further to add mr well dr mcdade let's hear from [02:32:58] the doctor herself um well i just want to thank my team publicly for all of their hard work and and you know they keep saying it's a lot but you cannot imagine how much time and energy went into this i really appreciate mr wilkes comments as a content matter expert in understanding what it takes to bring this together because most systems lack interoperability to be able to to bring all of the the tools together so both the individuals you see standing here tonight as well as those behind the scenes that are not here I just want to extend my gratitude not for just pulling all of the work together [02:33:37] but for believing in the vision of Prince William County and believing that our students and our families deserve these levels of support and resources the impetus behind this really stemmed from my own personal experience as a child of immigrants where like Fernanda said you know I had to figure all of that out on my own not because my parents didn't care that my parents weren't concerned they didn't know how to navigate the public school system because the American school system can be very complicated for immigrant families and then there's all these different places to source information [02:34:12] so when you look at this and you see like best fit colleges based on where you what you want to study like I didn't even know where to start as a 17 year old to be able to tell my parents well I like this maybe I should go to this college so it was really just just searching looking for colleges what programs they offer what do I need to be admitted what's the entrance what's the tuition all of that having it where a student can sit with their parent and have this conversation the value of course for our counselors to sit with with our students but there's also tremendous value in strengthening our [02:34:48] partnership with our families as authentic partners in education because I always say you know the school system is just the just one of the systems that work for a child to be successful the micro system is the family and so our families have to be involved in every step of the way and we have to remove the barriers and the complexity in them being able to be involved and and i believe that this is really a strong step forward to doing that and so we'll just continue to get better at this this is our first iteration i'm sure we'll get a ton of feedback even um as users start to use it uh in [02:35:25] addition to the fact that you know the the pool of data here is um from december so another report will go out in june but i just want to thank the board for your support of so many of the different things that we've been doing as a part of the launching Thriving Futures vision because this wouldn't be possible if you didn't believe in the work and knew that this is work that we should be doing but then just the hard-working employees staff not just on my team but in our schools our counselors I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for a counselor who made sure I got to college when my family didn't know how to get me there and so I feel so indebted to [02:36:05] our students to make sure they each have that opportunity to sit down and have an informed conversation with a knowledgeable adult on how to plan and chart their future because i know that when students graduate and have a strong concrete post-secondary plan in their back pocket that just increases the possibilities for them so thank you all so much for the incredible work for presenting this to the board but just believing that every single student in prince william county can graduate on time with the knowledge skills and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving [02:36:39] future for themselves in their community since i tried to summarize everyone else's dr mcdade i i'm going to say what jen wall said to me when you said um it's complicated for children of immigrants you know it's complicated for all of us too right like even everyone as you point out this is for every single child and the power of this this is for every single child in the county And I think it needs to be reiterated that this program will help give families the freedom and children the freedom to do what they want with their focus and their future. [02:37:15] It's not us telling them what to do. It's them dictating their own terms and then following the resources that are available. And it's for every single one. And you know, as Dr. McDade said, she wouldn't be here without her counselor. I wouldn't be here without my counselor. Even if I had parents who were, you know, maybe college educated, they just, you know, without my counselor, without the folks mentoring me, I think each of us at each point of our career, no matter who we are, need mentoring and counseling. [02:37:40] And it's all of us. And so this provides that sort of backbone to the work we need to do. I can't thank you enough. I think this is amazing. So without further any discussion, we'll close up that discussion and move on to something far less exciting, and that's committee reports. [02:37:58] Moving on, committee updates. Ms. Wall, you can take the floor on safe schools. Thank you all very much, by the way, thank you. I think they should have a round of applause or something. [02:38:15] - Yes, this is less exciting. Sorry, everybody. The Safe Schools Advisory Council met on February 5th and we met from 6:30 to 8. Mr. Wilk was also on that committee with me. Unfortunately, the committee was not able to get a quorum, so no official business was transacted. [02:38:31] So for all of us, if we can make sure our people show up, that would be really good. Our appointees to the Safe Schools Advisory Council. Anyway, on the agenda was to be a discussion of the bylaws for the council, which was postponed until the next meeting, which will be March 11th. [02:38:47] But we did proceed, and here we were able to hear from Jacob Edwards, who is supervisor of crisis management, who discussed the division's crisis plan and training. And this meeting was extremely informative, and I believe the information that we received is on the school division's website under crisis management. [02:39:12] One highlight was hearing all of the various ways that safety and security has been enhanced over the last two years, and a lot of people might not be aware of this, but there has been a significant investment in safety and security in our school division. A lot of resources, a lot of additional folks with additional expertise, and a lot of training, training of students and staff, and hard and soft security measures, a whole multi-layered security approach. [02:39:41] So it's been really great. And so we were able to hear some of that. The second highlight was that we do an amazing job working directly with students and teachers and teaching them the principles of crisis management and safety. And we talked a little bit about how the training that our students receive can prepare them for when they're at college where they won't get that kind of training or when they go out into the workplace, like this kind of training that they receive can help them through the rest of their lives. [02:40:10] A third highlight was hearing that after any crisis incident, there is always an after-action review, including with administrators to go over all lessons learned, because I can't remember exactly how it was, but we got to get better at getting better. And that also applies to our security posture and our safety and security plans. [02:40:29] So that is built into the way that security and safety is approached, and that was really great to hear. And so I don't know if Mr. Wilk has anything else to add, but the Safe Schools Advisor council meets monthly thank you all right let's uh move on to board matters let's start uh miss wall do you want you want to go ahead and start i know you just talked let's have you sure i will go first okay good evening greetings from the gainesville district um on the ninth i'm gonna go through a couple of things i've been able to do the last couple weeks i got to see a real life [02:41:09] author Matt Haggerty author of Lumber Dracula work his magic at Mountain View Elementary on the 11th I attended District 9 Honors Choir and on the day before I was at Bull Run meeting with the newspaper club and doing an interview with them and I caught the middle school students rehearsing and they had a full-on dance party going on so it was awesome it's always heartwarming to me to see the fruits of our investments in arts education so it's one of those reasons one of the reasons why why I go to those concerts. Also on the 11th I dropped by the PW Prince William Rowing Club ERG Sprints. Never seen that in my life before. That was a [02:41:46] great opportunity to see competition rowing in action. On the 16th I attended a pre-assessment concert with Reagan eighth grade and Battlefield bands. They're gonna do a great assessment. Also on the 16th I stopped at Mullinell Elementary School's International Baccalaureate Global Night and this is one of their most well-attended events and the food was amazing last night I went to an event hosted by the Civil Air Patrol and learned that they have participate they participate in a program where any educator librarian can apply for stem skit stem kits and can use these in their schools so I think that would be a [02:42:24] great opportunity for librarians gifted teachers classroom teachers stem teachers it's a great program check it out I want to highlight some of the things have been on my mind lately on February 15th was school resource officer appreciation day and here in Prince William we are fortunate to have exceptionally trained dedicated men and women hidden law enforcement who serve as school resource officers in our middle and high schools I know you go above and beyond to develop trusting relationships and reinforce the standards and norms of behavior and you serve as positive role models and provide valued support to our professional school leaders so thank you for all that [02:42:57] you do. I continue to be concerned about student behavior and particular cell phone usage in schools, especially during instructional time. I'm very concerned about this, particularly at the high school level, and I continue to be interested in a comprehensive district-wide policy addressing cell phone usage while in school, with the aim being to refocus our students on their learning. Over the last few weeks, I've been thinking more about the message shared at our last meeting by Dr. Bishop and his students about kindness. I think it's something we need to be very intentional about, not just for a week but all the time. Aesop in his memorable fable about the lion and the [02:43:34] mouse concluded that no act of kindness however small is ever wasted. And I believe this is true in every sense. No act of kindness is ever wasted. In fact, it is exponential. And there's a children's song that goes like this. I want to be kind to everyone for that is right you see. So I say to myself, remember this, kindness begins with me and kindness begins with each one of us thank you and good night thank you mr. Jesse thank you ma'am it's it's really important for me to to say that I want to thank the [02:44:14] people who came out to speak in behalf of the Woodbridge High School the school is in desperate need of relieving the pressure they're gonna make it work one way or the other but they've been doing that for well over ten years and so we need to really look at this and is this hard me you know I get discouraged sometime because you can't get people to come out and talk you can't get people [02:44:49] to stand up for themselves but you know you got to begin and they they're beginning to see that if you don't ask you don't get and we got to ask for what we want and we got a demand for what we want you know Justin and I are close friends but we told each other you got to do what's right for your district and I got to do what's right for mine unfortunately we can't win one one of us [02:45:25] got to lose and more than likely it's going to be me in the Woodbridge High School but that school needs the help and I want you to understand that and I want you to figure out something and perhaps if we got a patent they could pay for the school but that's something that we really need to think about the other thing I want to say is that I sent out something and there's a lot of data in there I did not ask the principal of Woodbridge High School what's her thoughts were and so forth this is something I mean we have a number of [02:46:03] friends and people i get information from things but please do not say that the principal told you to say that because that's not true at all uh thriving futures you know i like the fact i i hate when the kids are standing there 12 10 to 12 kids and they just stand there and we read off their names and then we let the principal talk i hate that let the kids at least say their names first First of all, it helps me 'cause I can't pronounce their name. [02:46:37] But second of all, it gives them a moment. What we did with the MLK students today, they got a chance, they took some pictures while they were standing there. I think that's important, something that we should consider to do. Again, thank you for the people that spoke, and thank you. [02:47:00] I hope to make, as I tell people, I hope to make you proud that I served on this committee. Thank you. - Ms. Trudenik, Brentsville District. [02:47:17] - Thanks to everybody who hung in there for this meeting. February's been a great month. I was able to attend Ellis Elementary School STEAM Night. That was Valentine's theme. They had an amazing turnout, lots of candy, and of course some math. The teachers and staff did an excellent job. I was thoroughly impressed and can't wait to go back and visit Ellis again. [02:47:35] My first budget season with the school board has been an interesting process and I appreciate the feedback I've received from parents and teachers alike. I brought forth your concerns, the largest being teacher pay and steps, especially for veteran teachers. I'm just going to side note and talk about a little bit because tonight I heard a lot of speakers speak on growth in the county and what's happening. [02:47:55] Specifically, I can speak towards the Brentsville District. There's major growth on the horizon. Over the last decade, we've seen the approved construction of 3,000 homes. So that's in 10 years. 1,800 were multifamily dwelling units. There are plans, astonishly, for 3,000 homes in the Brentsville District that have been submitted for just this year. [02:48:16] Of the 200 county-wide projects, the Brentsville district accounts for more than 25% of them. So growth is happening all across the county. Schools are overcrowded in different parts of the county. So there's a lot that's going to go into placing where those schools are, and it's going to take some time and thought. [02:48:37] And I, of course, could go on about that. I have more things to say. But I also enjoyed watching the Gainesville girls basketball team, Brentsville girls basketball team, girls and boys track, Brentsville wrestling. Congrats to the state wrestlers, Evan Sonati being one of them. That's a big deal. [02:48:53] A lot of kids go to those. And I know we have some boys and girls state bound for track and regionals, state bound for basketball, which has not happened yet, but we're headed there. I wish you all the best of luck in these coming weeks. I'm excited for it to get warm and to go visit people on the spring sports fields as well as the upcoming musical and drama performances. [02:49:12] A big congratulations again to the turf and agriculture students, mine especially at Brindsville and Dr. Miller. We are lucky to have you as such a fantastic program for our students in the Brindsville district. I also love seeing that new student vision profile. [02:49:27] Thanks for your work on that. It's been a privilege to serve you over the past couple of months. Please feel free to reach out to me for anything. Mr. Wilk. Yes, I really haven't highlighted a lot of my events actually going all the way back to January 5th. [02:49:43] I'm not gonna go through them all now and be superfluous with everything that we're doing. But I do just wanna pick one or two, just talk about some things. The last month and a half, it's been pretty, basketball has pretty much dominated my schedule between the Potomac District, I believe is probably the strongest basketball magisterial district between Potomac High School and Forest Park, between the two divisions, I think we've dominated most of the Cardinal District title the last 10 years, to be fair. [02:50:15] So anyways, so probably going to about 10 to 15 of those over the last month and a half. There's been some other things too. I do wanna highlight and congratulate, of course, Potomac for being the Cardinal District Champions again. And they knocked out Gainesville the other night for the first round of the regional. [02:50:32] We'll be at Brook Point tomorrow night in the next round of the regionals. Long story short, a lot of great events. We referenced the Fentanyl event last two weeks ago that Ms. Wall and Ms. Tregenick were at as well in the Potomac district. [02:50:48] Wanna, you know, Potomac Middle School had a great event. Are you smarter than a fifth grader that I was able to partake in? And I got actually the sixth grade science SOL question wrong. That was great. The Atlantic Indoor Winter Guard Association competition, a big regional event was actually hosted in the Potomac district at Forest Park. [02:51:08] So that was a great event, supporting both Forest Park and Potomac's teams. going through you know uh in the effort of just slowing uh getting out of here a little early i yield the remainder of my time where am i going next miss williams thank you mr chairman um as we bring black history month to a close i just would like to remind everyone that black history is american history um celebrating um our own prince william county black history i have a few notables that i'd like to recognize our current state senator and former delegate jennifer carroll [02:51:44] Foy who was instrumental in having the ERA passed in the state of Virginia as well as passing Virginia's very own crown act which I honor every year since it's been passed by continuously changing my hair because it's no longer illegal to fire women or other or men or anyone else in between for whatever type of hair that they'd like to have as it was before our very own board of county supervisors just under Jefferson the first chairwoman black chairwoman Andrea Bailey and Margaret Franklin excuse me supervisor Margaret Franklin who were elected and the first black women elected to the board of county [02:52:19] supervisors our very own dr. McDade who was the first woman superintendent and black women super first female and black women superintendent in Prince William County Schools history earlier tonight our very own former board member Miss Lily Jessie member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated who was instrumental in starting the MLK oratorical competition and then they say you don't toot your own horn no one else will so myself included for not only being a Prince William County School graduate and EIP alumni one of the longest-serving members on the Governor School Innovation Park and now one of the most senior members of the Prince William County School Board I also think [02:52:59] it's instrumental to share a little bit if you don't know I encourage our fellow Prince William County residents to check out and learn about the history of the Chin family the Porter family and Fitzgerald as well as so many other instrumental and notable African-American families right here in Prince William County moving on to some of the art of the exhibits or events that I went to I had the pleasure of attending the student art exhibit at the Hilton Performing Arts Center always a pleasure our students ranging from elementary to high school have their arts displayed and the upper floor at the Hilton Performing Arts Center if you have not had the opportunity to go [02:53:36] visit I highly suggest that you do it's amazing on Valentine's Day our school division and Leaselvania elementary was honored to host the state superintendent as the announcement was named that Prince William County Schools was one of only eight school divisions in the state to receive a grant to support our apprenticeship program for new teachers I'd also like to make note that those who are unsatisfied with our school food you may attend the school food and nutrition show on March 7th please register it's at Colgan I know for a fact of having a son who is now a chef who went regularly and commented for [02:54:14] vivaciously that changes can be made based upon your input as a student so please exercise your voice I would like to give a special shout out to Riley Siebel and all of our student high schoolers who are on a bowling league they just celebrated their competition and tonight they were getting their award ceremonies um i'd just like to encourage all of you to attend our upcoming budget workshops and learn not only about how the budget works but um share your input mr tracy blake neabsco district thank you mr chairman good evening everyone in the recent weeks my experience within our district [02:54:52] has been both enriching and enlightening i had the privilege of visiting cd hilton high school where i was deeply impressed by a black history exhibit which was curated by the air force junior rotc instructor chief tracy washington this exhibit traced the journey of black americans from the middle passage era to the present day highlighting their significant contributions and enduring legacy i also attended the brother curtis b taylor senior talent hunt at woodbridge High School, hosted by the Omega Sci-Fi Fraternity, Inc. The event showcased an immense talent of [02:55:30] eight high school finalists with a standout performance by my own Beville Middle School Imperial Step Team. Their energy and precision were truly captivating and embodied the spirit of excellence. I also had the honor of attending with Ms. Wall, Ms. Zargarpur, and Mr. Jesse, the civil air patrol cadet promotion last night which was a great um opportunity to learn about their youth development and aerospace education programs which ms wall talked about their [02:56:07] commitment to nurturing young leaders is truly commendable and i just also want to give a reminder to our community that the open enrollment for head start and vpi programs for the 2024-25 school year began on February 1st with more information available on the Prince William County website and lastly reflecting on last week's Virginia kindness week I'd like to share share a thought kindness weaves our community together turning moments into connections just everybody be kind and [02:56:44] thank you for the opportunity to share these updates and I look forward to our continued efforts to enhance the educational experiences in my district and Prince William County Schools thank you and good night so we've gotten everybody so it's my turn first come back up I went to the erg rowing event at Woodbridge High School only vaguely aware that it was you know on machines but it's the one thing that our rowers do that's an individual event and it's [02:57:22] they're working for their personal best so I think the Colgan coach for explaining taking the time to explain all that and I cannot wait to go to a regatta this spring I've never been to one and I look forward to attending at least one maybe two I got to attend Hilton's Black History Month Museum there's a teacher there who these are his this is his collection and he's got a foundation called United Crowns Foundation Incorporated it he had everything he had Black Panthers he had shackles he had toys that kids would have [02:58:00] grown up with album covers a guitar from Prince it's just an amazing the amount of items he had so I really hope next year Hilton opened it up to have anyone in the community come in the evening I hope people take advantage next year because it was amazing. [02:58:21] Congratulations to Girls OP Basketball for winning their game this week, and I believe they're playing Colgan tomorrow, so I will see you all there. I'm gonna talk briefly about the Civil Air Patrol. It is a, Civil Air Patrol is a congressionally chartered, federal-funded 501C3 nonprofit corporation and the civilian auxiliary of the US Air Force. [02:58:42] We were invited by the First Lieutenant, Bridget Moritz, who has been involved in this. She invited me when we were in the pandemic, when the kids were doing online exercises. She invited me to come see that then, and I was so impressed because the kids were running their own little training sessions, and it was all virtual at that time. [02:59:02] And I was really grateful that we got invited again. So appreciate being able to see the ceremony last night and learn a little bit more about the program. They do have STEM kits for our teachers. They are $35. I think if maybe we could work out talking to a PTO or something, we can work that out. [02:59:18] If you pay the $35, use the kit, and you report back to basically the Air Force, I believe. The next year, you get another kit. They don't charge you. You report back. The next year, you'll get another kit. So it's a really good deal. They'll even send people out to help with the kits. [02:59:35] Last thing I want to mention tonight is it is Clerk Appreciation Week. And I have Bea sitting over here. Bea, Lily, and Anna, I don't know what we would do without you. You keep track of us. You keep track of our stuff. You remind us of all the things. [02:59:51] I know for me, I'm grateful. You always answer my questions and you're always there for us. Thank you so much. And there's nothing we could do to appreciate you even more. Thank you. [03:00:14] - Thank you, Ms. Zargarpur. I'd like to recognize Joanne Bonneris. She is out there in the audience. Wave, Ms. Joanne. She is the founder and helped start the Martin Luther King Oratorical Program for the Delta sorority. [03:00:31] Did I get it right? Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated. If I don't get it right, I'll get yelled at. Sorority, outstanding, thank you. I wanna recognize her for her great work. It's a great legacy. It's an outstanding program. My son did it when he was in seventh grade. [03:00:48] He never actually qualified. It was very competitive to get to the final, but it was just a great, great program and taught him how to be a better speaker. And so thank you. That's a great legacy and it has an impact that will generate success for students way off into the future. [03:01:05] Great program today, Dr. McDade. Very excited about the student vision profile reports. This is very exciting. Again, I think this puts the power of your education in your own hands, in your family's hands. And I think that's the best thing we can do as a school division is to continue to work towards that. [03:01:23] I'm very excited. And then I'm just gonna keep it short. There's a very exciting event happening this week i don't know if someone can help me with this b it's the there's a drone competition at unity reed high school where is it it's a unity reed high school i think it starts at nine in the morning we have i think a middle school at least one or two a couple high schools one or two competing in a drone competition where they're they're flying them they're building them it's it's a whole day thing from nine to four so if you're interested in seeing [03:02:00] some cutting edge programming, cutting edge extracurricular stuff. You come to Prince William County because that's where we have it. And I want you to go to Unity Reed High School to watch that. I think it should be open to the public like most robotic competitions. [03:02:17] Okay, and that should be very exciting. So with that, I will adjourn the meeting. 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