Coraggio Consulting
Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 18m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVui9weP26Y
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 2026-10-30. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:02] - I would like to call this meeting of the Prince William County School Board to order. Before we move on to the approval of the agenda, I need a motion to amend the meeting by removing item 18.02 under board matters.

[00:00:18] Mrs. Wall. - I move that the Prince William County School Board amend the meeting agenda by removing item 18.02 under board matters. - Do they need discussion? - Yes, this will be moving to the May 7th board agenda.

[00:00:36] this item isn't right for our discussion. - Please vote. Oh, can I get a second?

[00:00:51] Thank you, Mr. Will. In discussion now, please vote.

[00:01:08] - Six yes, one not present at vote Williams, one absent Lateef, motion passed. - Okay, a motion is now in order for the approval of the meeting agenda as amended.

[00:01:26] Ms. Wall. - Mr. Blake, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as recommended. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Thank you, Ms. Zagapur. Discussion, please vote six. Yes. One not president vote Williams one absent Latif motion passed. Okay. Thank you a motion Moving on to a motion to enter closed session a motion that is is in order. Mr. Blake

[00:02:01] I move that pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2 - 3 7 1 1 and 2.2 - 3 7 1 2 The Prince William County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons one to discuss with staff the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salaries disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees or employees of any public body pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A1.

[00:02:24] And two, to review disciplinary matters for a specific student that would involve the disclosure of information contained in the scholastic record for the individual student and to receive legal advice regarding same as provided by Virginia code sections 2.2-3711A2 and 8. Three, to discuss with division counsel and staff actual or probable litigation and specific legal matters involving staff, students, and other civil litigation involving the school division under Virginia code sections 2.2-3711A7 and 8.

[00:02:53] Four, to discuss with division counsel and staff a specific legal matter involving the lease of real property pursuant to Virginia code sections 2.2-3711A8. And five, to discuss the award of a public contract to employees exclusive representative, which involves expenditure of public funds and the terms or scope of such contract, where discussion in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A29 and six, to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security of school facilities, the safety of persons using such facilities and actions taken to respond to such matters

[00:03:33] where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A19. - Thank you, Ms. Wall. Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Thank you, Ms. Zargarpur. Ms. Zargarpur seconds, please vote.

[00:03:52] - Six yes, one not present at vote Williams, one absent Latif, motion passed. - The Prince William County School Board now will enter closed session

[00:04:03] and return to open session in one hour.

[00:05:06] Prince William County School Board is now returning to open session from closed session. A motion is in order for 8.1 closed session certification. Ms. Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the code of Virginia, the closed session of the Prince William County School Board meeting of April 23rd, 2025, be certified by adopting the following resolution.

[00:05:31] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies. And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board.

[00:05:54] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zagaport. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:06:17] - The vote is seven yes, one absent. Lateef, motion passed. - Moving on to the closed session action items. Motion is in order for 9.01, Ms. Wall. - Mr. Blake, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in closed session.

[00:06:36] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Thank you, Ms. Zagaport. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:06:57] - Vote is seven yes, one absent. Lateef, motion passed. - Moving on to the closed session action items. A motion is in order for 9.02 Ms. Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that for the reasons set forth in the Student Management and Alternative Programs Department's letter of March 26th, 2025, the Prince William County School Board approved the Student Management and Alternative Programs Department's decision to reassign students SRH 25-113 to the computer-based instruction, CBI program, via remote access only,

[00:07:32] based on charges of unlawful acts in the community. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Thank you, Ms. Agarapur. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:07:59] - It is six yes, one abstained. Tradenek, one absent. Lateef, motion passed. - Thank you. Moving on to the Pledge of Allegiance, I'd like to invite our student representative, Amadula Lutore to lead us in the pledge.

[00:08:38] through Thriving Futures Focus. Good evening, Thriving Futures Focus is an opportunity to highlight the exemplary work being accomplished in our schools, fulfilling our vision that every student will graduate on time with the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their community.

[00:09:10] We dedicate this time during our meetings to recognize students, staff members, and schools that have earned an honor or award at the state or national level. We appreciate how these honorees have positively represented Prince William County Schools and the school board is proud to recognize them publicly for their accomplishments.

[00:09:33] Tonight, the school board will first recognize one of our student state champions and then move on to our 13 purple star distinguished schools. We will begin with Ms. Tredenik of the historic Brentsville District.

[00:09:54] - The Brentsville District would like to congratulate Patriot High School's Shivani Davis on her first place finish for her original oratory speech at the VHSL 2025 Class Six Speech Tournament. Shivani is accompanied here tonight by her family, gifted education teacher, Adrian Phillips, and acting principal, David Van Gelder.

[00:10:17] At this time, I would like to invite either Shivani or Ms. Phillips to share a few words about her accomplishment. - Thank you so much to the school board for the chance to be recognized tonight. It's not every day that students have the chance to be recognized at the county level for their achievements, and I am so grateful for this opportunity.

[00:10:40] The speech I competed, which I titled The Promised Land of America, is a speech that is meant to remind us that unity is always stronger than individuality. Unity is the grounds for change and the platform of success.

[00:10:55] Speaking of success, I'd like to thank my unified support system, which is the backbone behind my achievement. I'd like to start by thanking God for giving me the idea for this speech and the words to say. Next, I'd like to thank my family. Since eighth grade, they've supported my passion and allowed me to express my creativity through writing.

[00:11:16] I'd also like to thank my coach, Ms. Phillips. You listened to countless drafts and gave me the resources I need to make my speech the best it possibly could be. In addition to this, I'd like to thank Mr. Van Gelder, Patriot's current acting principal. Thank you for allowing so many students, like myself, to feel seen when we accomplish big and small things.

[00:11:37] Again, thank you for the chance to be recognized tonight, and I encourage you all to remember the power of unity. Thank you.

[00:11:52] - Congratulations, Shivani. You've made the Brentsville District very proud. - Congratulations. Now I'd like to kick off our recognition of our Purple Star designated schools, starting with my district, the Neabsco district.

[00:12:09] The Purple Star designation awarded by Virginia Department of Education is more than just a title. It represents a deep and meaningful commitment to the unique needs of military connected students and their families. Military families often face extraordinary, extraordinary challenges like frequent moves, adjusting to new schools and making new friends.

[00:12:33] They also have the emotional toll of having a parent deployed, and at times missing important milestones in their loved ones' lives. These are not small burdens for our young persons to carry. Their sacrifice deserves specialized support from their school communities.

[00:12:51] Here in Prince William County Public Schools, we serve nearly 5,000 military connected students, and every one of those students deserves to feel welcome, supported and understood from the moment they walked through our doors. This achievement also reflects the broader commitment of our division.

[00:13:10] Nearly half of all PWCS schools now hold the Purple Star designation, a remarkable accomplishment that speaks to our shared belief in the power of connection, consistency and compassion. The Neabsco District would first like to recognize King Elementary School for its first Purple Star designation.

[00:13:35] King is represented tonight by Principal Kathleen Poe, Assistant Principal Yvette West, and School Counselor Ursula Daniels and Sarah Tracy. The Neopsicle District also would like to recognize the Garfield High School for its first Purple Star designation.

[00:13:54] Garfield is represented tonight by Assistant Principal Tiffany Grisham, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Kelly, a retired senior Marine instructor, Spanish teacher Jasmine Garcia, and graduation coach Erica Frazier.

[00:14:13] Congratulations again to King and Garfield High Schools. We will now turn to Ms. Wall.

[00:14:28] - On behalf of the Gainesville District, it is my pleasure to first recognize Alvey Elementary School for its first Purple Star designation. Alvey is represented tonight by Principal Elizabeth Johnson, Assistant Principal Michaela Moore, Parent Liaison, Melissa Hedrick, and Counselor Janet Marish.

[00:14:53] Second, the Gainesville District would like to recognize Ronald W. Reagan Middle School for its first time receiving the Purple Star designation. Representing Reagan Middle School is Principal Chris Beamer and eighth grade math teacher Tina Frossard. Hope I said that right. Wonderful.

[00:15:08] Third, the Gainesville, should we clap for them too? I'll clap. For both those great schools, Albie and Reagan. And third, the Gainesville District would like to recognize Tyler Elementary School as being designated as a Purple Star School for the second time.

[00:15:26] Tyler Elementary is represented tonight by Principal Jennifer Perilla, Security Assistant and former Marine, Nick Shire, and Parent Volunteer Captain Matthew Hendricks, United States Air Force. Congratulations to all three Gainesville District Schools for the Purple Star designation.

[00:15:47] - Thank you, Ms. Wall. We move on to Ms. Zagapur of the Coles District. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Coles District would like to recognize two schools, Osborne Park High School and Parkside Middle.

[00:16:02] This is Osborne Park's first time earning the purple star designation and the third time for Parkside. Osborne Park High School is represented tonight by Principal Lisa Marie Kane, Executive Administrative Assistant Marie Emery and High School Counselor Vicky, oh sorry, sorry, Jackie Villapondo.

[00:16:20] Parkside Middle School is represented tonight by Principal Aaron Merica, assistant principal, Shannette Miller, and school counselor, Laura Pelzar. We are incredibly proud of our first time and long time schools.

[00:16:40] - Thank you, Mrs. Zargarpur. Ms. Williams, would you please introduce your schools? - Absolutely. I have one purple star designee school and it is the mighty Mary G. Porter traditional school. Porter traditional is represented tonight by principal, Caitlin Fore, assistant principal, Joe Wood, and Director of School Counseling, Laura Meyers, and School Counselor, Jessica Rose Jones.

[00:17:07] Thank you so much, and congratulations to Porter Traditional. - Excellent, excellent, thank you, Ms. Williams. Mr. Wilk, please introduce your award winners.

[00:17:23] - Thank you, Mr. Blake. On behalf of the Potomac District, I would like to recognize three Purple Star designated schools. First, we have our first-time winner of Triangle Elementary, represented tonight by Principal Jeffrey Devers, Assistant Principal Courtney Strauss, and Counselor William Parker.

[00:17:42] The second time winner, I have Patty Elementary School, represented tonight by Principal RJ Luciati, Assistant Principal Tiffany Turner-Bell, and Counselors Karen Modesto and Chelsea Wilkerson. And finally, third time winner, committee I served on as a parent, the first time, Ashland Elementary School.

[00:18:03] They are here represented by Principal Anna Houseworth, third grade teacher Kristen Keskel, and school counselor Sarah LeClaire, and military liaison Sonia Baltusberger. Congratulations, Potomac District Schools.

[00:18:25] - Thank you, Mr. Wilk. - Ms. Ferdinik. - The Brentsville District would like to congratulate Cedar Point Elementary School and the Noakesville School for earning their first Purple Star designations. Cedar Point is represented tonight by Principal Erica Williams, fourth grade teacher Michelle Baldwin, school counselor Ashley Pitt, and parent liaison Grace Riley.

[00:18:51] The Noakesville School is represented tonight by Principal Amanda Johnson, Director of Counseling Dawn Schafer, Caitlin Brault, middle school counselor, and Heather Moe, school social worker. Congratulations to both schools.

[00:19:13] - Thank you, Mr. Dennick. At this time, I would like to introduce Kimberly Simpson, our Prince William County Schools Military Achievement Specialist to say a few words on behalf of tonight's 2024 Purple Star Designated Schools, and on behalf of all Prince William County Schools, 47 Purple Star Schools, she will also introduce and recognize Colonel Jenny A. Colgate, the commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Quantico, who will also say a few words.

[00:19:49] - Thank you, Dr. McDade, members of the school board, PWCS stakeholders, good evening. Again, my name is Kimberly Simpson and I am honored to serve as the military achievement specialist. Thank you for supporting our 2024 Purple Star distinguished schools and their dedication to our military connected students and their families.

[00:20:12] As the Purple Star program continues to grow in PWCS, it's important to bring awareness to the why behind the initiative and how it aligns with our vision. In 2018, Virginia became the second state to implement the Purple Star program. The Virginia Department of Education introduced this initiative to address the unique challenges faced by children from military families.

[00:20:34] The program requires schools to provide professional development for staff with the needs of military-connected students, establish a student transition support team, among other measures. These efforts aim to create a supportive and inclusive environment where students can thrive both academically and socially.

[00:20:53] For our division, the Virginia Purple Star Program is more than just a designation. It stands as a testament to our dedication to supporting those who serve our nation. Committed to sustaining and expanding the number of Purple Star schools, we will continue to uphold the program's values, ensuring our military-connected students receive the support they need to succeed.

[00:21:20] The Purple Star Forum is a reflection to our commitment to supporting military families. But equally important is our ongoing genuine engagement with community partners. This evening, I have the distinct honor of introducing one of our most valuable military community leaders, Colonel Jenny Colgate.

[00:21:43] Colonel Jenny Colgate is the commanding officer of Marine Corps Installation National Capital Region, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. Always a mouthful. She has had a distinguished career in the United States Marine Corps, which began with her enrollment in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program at the University of Arizona in 1998.

[00:22:07] Colonel Colgate graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Arizona and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1999. In 2013, she earned a Master of Arts degree national security and strategic studies from the united states naval war college in newport rhode island throughout her year throughout her career colonel colgate has held various positions including aircraft maintenance officers series commander at paris island and executive officer at marine corps air station new river she has also served in multiple deployments including okinawa

[00:22:44] japan kuwait and afghanistan in july 2024 colonel colgate made history by becoming the first woman to command marine corps installations national capital region marine corps based quantico virginia colonel colgate i ask that you join me at the podium podium for the reading of the 2025 month of the military challenge after which i will extend an invitation for you to say a few words

[00:23:21] whereas the virginian board of education recognized the month of april 2025 as the month of the military child to pay tribute to the military families and their children for their sacrifices made and their commitment and courage and whereas the commonwealth of virginia is a member of the interstate compact on educational opportunity for military children which addresses key issues encountered by military students including enrollment placement attendance eligibility and graduation and whereas military connected children and their families move every two to three years within the united states or overseas disrupting academic routines and

[00:23:56] friendships and whereas military connected children also serve their country by demonstrating resilience perseverance and cultural competency and whereas military connected children provide unique and valuable insights on learning friendships service to others and heightened national or global awareness and whereas prince william county public schools provides military connected academic and support programs through a department of defense education activity partnership grant to support the unique needs of military service members and their families and whereas military families in prince william county include men and women on active duties

[00:24:34] service in the air force army coast guard marines navy and space force and members of the reserves and the national guard and whereas prince william county public school serves approximately 5 000 on school-age, military-connected children. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board and the Superintendent of Schools recognize April 2025 as month of the military child and encourage all schools and offices to show enormous appreciation with activities to honor our students from military families.

[00:25:07] Approved by the Prince William County School Board on March 5th, 2025. Please join me in welcoming Colonel Jenny Colby. - All right, thank you very much for this generous recognition.

[00:25:29] As a commanding officer, I've witnessed firsthand the incredible strength, resilience, and sacrifice of our military children. They often face frequent relocations, long periods of separations from their parents, and the challenges of adjusting to new schools and communities.

[00:25:45] Despite these obstacles, they are resourceful, they are independent, and they develop strong coping skills. They also have a deep sense of pride in their family's service to the country, and often show maturity beyond their years. Military children are also incredibly supportive, understanding the importance of teamwork and the value of connecting with others who share similar experiences.

[00:26:08] Thank you very much for celebrating the month of the military child and for your continued support for those of us that serve. And thank you to all the schools who recognize the challenges that our military children go through on walking in on day one and knowing nobody. And they have incredible teachers and academics who really focus on us.

[00:26:29] And I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for continuing to develop in the Purple Star Schools and for developing the children of our youth. So thank you very much.

[00:26:52] - Thank you. Dr. McDade, at this time, I invite all the honor, wait. Oh yeah, I invite all the honorees to come forward for, oh, I invite Dr. McDade to say a few words. I apologize. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:27:09] Well, first I want to say congratulations, Shivani. We are so incredibly proud of you on your first place finish. And although this is absolutely an incredible accomplishment, it also represents the power of student voice and student leadership, which is one of the cornerstones of the PWCS strategic plan.

[00:27:28] And so you represent all of our students with your first place finish because we in Prince William County embrace the power of student voice. So congratulations to you. And then to our 13 PWCS schools that are here with us tonight, congratulations on earning the 2024 Virginia Purple Star designation.

[00:27:48] This designation really just represents your strong support for our military connected families and the work that you do to create a positive climate and culture for our schools and for our military connected students really does deserve this recognition.

[00:28:03] This brings the divisions total to an impressive 47 Purple Star Schools. And I would, yes, that is a true accomplishment. And we set a goal to grow year over year and that we do want to get to the point where all of our PWCS schools are military connected schools that are Purple Star designated.

[00:28:28] I would also be remiss if I did not acknowledge the hard work of Kimberly Simpson, our PWCS military achievement specialist. I want to personally thank you for all of the work that you're doing with our schools and our school leaders. And then for Colonel Colgate, I had such a honor and a privilege to meet you personally when you first took your post.

[00:28:49] And I just wanna thank you so much for honoring us with your presence tonight and for your continued partnership and support, which means so much to the school division. It's always a pleasure to have you with us in our community and partnering with us and showing your strong support as well.

[00:29:05] All of the successes that we recognize here tonight reflect the talent, the dedication, and the spirit of students, staff, and our schools in PWCS. And with each accomplishment, we continue to be PWCS proud. Congratulations.

[00:29:27] - Thank you. Thank you, Dr. McDade. At this time, I invite all our honorees to come forward for a group photo with the school board and to receive a token of our appreciation. We will begin with one group photo with our original oratory winner and then our 13 purple star schools.

[00:29:49] Colonel Colgate and Ms. Simpson, I hope you'll join us.

[00:38:16] All right, thank you all for being here tonight and this concludes our Thriving Futures Focus recognition. Thank you all. Now we are moving on to 12.01, adoption of the consent agenda.

[00:38:31] Ms. Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Thank you.

[00:38:46] Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:39:07] - Six yes, one abstain, Tredinik, one absent, Lateef. Motion passed. - Thank you. Moving on to 13.01, acknowledgements and recognitions. A motion is in order. - Mr. Chairman. - I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the acknowledgements and recognitions as recommended.

[00:39:25] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. Thank you. Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:39:51] - It is six yes, one abstain, Tredinik, One absent, Lateef, motion passed. - Thank you. Now moving on to citizen comment time. Those citizens who have signed up in advance with the clerk may address the school board this evening when they are carved to the podium.

[00:40:09] The citizen comment period for various 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.

[00:40:28] 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.

[00:40:45] Tonight we have eight citizens signed up to speak. When I call your name, please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record. LaTosha Thompson and Brooke Marshall, speaking as a group.

[00:41:07] - Hello, I'm LaTosha Thompson, Brooke Marshall, and our address is on five. - Hello, my name is Brooke Marshall. I'm the school counselor at Covington Harper Elementary, and this is LaTosha Thompson, our librarian and media specialist.

[00:41:26] One of my responsibilities as a counselor is to advocate for all my students, and that's why we're here today. Mrs. Thompson previously emailed the board our concerns, and we appreciate that some of you took the time to respond. We know the school board cares about the students of Prince William County and their education. Our representative, Mr. Wilk, brought up a discussion regarding Covington-Harper at a school board meeting on October 16th, 2024, but nobody offered solutions.

[00:41:50] We were very disappointed that the school board did not take more than a few minutes to discuss the possibilities of helping our students. Covington-Harper is overcrowded and currently has eight trailers, with more to come. I know other schools have dealt with overcrowding, but how many elementary schools could say they have over 1,028 students and many more on the way?

[00:42:09] Being overcrowded has many negative impacts on our students and number one is safety. We do our best to keep all of our students safe and this can be a difficult with over 175 students outside of the building. Next year will be even more. We are so overpopulated that finding space during emergency drills has been cumbersome. Spacing is a big issue and imagine having 400 students transitioning in the hallways to get to lunch on corn classes at the same time.

[00:42:34] Meanwhile multiple classes are lined up for our limited number of restrooms. The cafeteria is another problem we are very have a very small cafeteria and a large number of our students because of this students start eating lunch at 10:40 in our space to very tight together number of students in the cafeteria leads to safety issues and parents who come to the school often report concerns recess has impacted as well we created recess zones to spread out the classes for safety but this has led to a majority of our students having limited access to any playground equipment loss of instructional time is another great concern for us. We have employed someone to watch the students who need to come into the building.

[00:43:13] Think about the instructional time lost when students have to walk to and from the bathroom, the nurse, strings, or any other service within the building. Unfortunately, due to the layout of school property, the trailers are very far from the building. Students must walk across probably a couple basketball courts, a long sidewalk just to get to the main building, then through the main building to the bathrooms. As you can imagine, students do not always walk with purpose to their destination and so this impacts their learning some teachers have opted for bathroom breaks to try to decrease the wasted time but this takes the entire class away from learning for as long as it takes for 28 students to use the restroom and walk back to class a new school is many years

[00:43:51] in the future and no guarantee to when it will open the new school woodbridge for example has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances we are worried that the overpopulation of our school will remain an issue for several more years with 365 upcoming condos and more houses to come we are facing the need to explore solutions right now we do not want to wait until things get worse

[00:44:12] one of the elected school members thank you ms marshall thank you caitlyn weston good evening dr mcdade and esteemed members of the school board my name is caitlyn weston and my address is on file with the clerk i am here to express my immense gratitude for continuing to do everything in your power to protect our most targeted communities thank you again for your continued

[00:44:50] commitment to the non-discrimination policy i feel proud to be a part of pwcs and i hope you continue to stay strong in regard to our immigrant community there are several specific actions that pwcs took that brought me a sense of relief including the email on january 27th stating that our division policies remain unchanged and that pwcs will protect the the legal rights of all students and staff in our schools, Dr. Lateef's verbal recommitment to protecting all students, including our families who may be impacted by ICE raids, and seeing the website updated with a link

[00:45:28] to immigration protections and PWCS policy. I can only imagine the fear some of our residents are experiencing during this time, and I am hopeful that your commitment to student safety is bringing many others some sense of relief.

[00:45:44] I do hope you will consider other ways in which PWCS can proactively protect students that may be impacted by ICE raids. For instance, a big area of concern are bus stops. Please consider how you can equip our bus drivers to be on the lookout for suspicious behaviors from others.

[00:46:01] How can we inform families and students that they can stay on the bus and return to school if they feel unsafe getting off the bus? Also, please consider making general public resources available to families. For example, Immigration Law Help has information about nonprofit legal service organizations by state.

[00:46:21] We know you cannot give legal advice to families, but we do hope you find a way to inform residents of their rights. I have emailed you a resource created in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers, United We Dream, and the Center for Law and Social Policy, which highlights immigrant rights regarding access to public K-12 education, protections for student information under FERPA, and provides guidance for students and families if ICE authorities come to their homes.

[00:46:51] I do hope you strongly consider sharing this resource with families. Thank you. - Thank you. Yoko Sack.

[00:47:08] - Two years ago, my daughter was diagnosed with high functioning autism. She's eight now. A year later, she was diagnosed with ADHD. While she was in public school almost every day, she had a meltdown.

[00:47:24] After school, she was always in bad mood, easily agitated, and refused to talk about what happened at school. After she came home, she started to turn off lights and lock doors. These behaviors lasted for months. I asked teachers how she's doing at school.

[00:47:41] They said she's doing fine. Autistic kids have repetitive behaviors. Do you know why they do it? They are trying to regulate themselves and calm down. My daughter lines toys everywhere. That's how she regulates herself.

[00:47:57] They have sensory issues. One day I noticed that she was overwhelmed by all the stimulants in school. Noise, lights, smell, crowds for five, six hours every day. No wonder she's not functioning well when she gets home.

[00:48:14] Got to the point she started to line furniture in the room that's not normal. As soon as we got her diagnosis, we requested an IEP. Instead of going IEP evaluation, we were told she would have an intervention. The second time we requested for IEP, the school gave 504.

[00:48:34] 504 doesn't work. Here's the reason why. Allowing kids like my daughter to wear headphones is not accommodating for them. It is more like they're accommodating for school. They can't stand the environment. Having them sit facing the wall, you are humiliating them.

[00:48:53] My daughter doesn't want to eat lunch in the cafeteria. Too many stimulants. If the environment is controlled, they don't need extra time for exam. I believe she was unable to get a fair and equitable education.

[00:49:09] I don't believe current system is working well. Immediately, please reevaluate the school system and make a change. At this time, I cannot send my child to public school. For my child's well-being, please acknowledge that all kids won't fit in public schools.

[00:49:26] School choice is necessary. I ask you all to please address this with the appropriate point of contact. When my child was six years old, she cried and told me that she doesn't want to exist. She only lived six years and she told me that.

[00:49:44] Their lives are so restricted. It was too much for her. This is the reason why autistic people have higher suicide rate and depression, with higher suicide rate with depression and anxiety. Thank you.

[00:50:02] - Anessa Stroy. Anissa Stroy, my address is on file. Bullying, far too often minimized to horseplay, mean words, or kids being kids.

[00:50:24] Unfortunately, with this small-minded thinking, it is allowing children to be impacted academically, socially, and most importantly, emotionally. Bullying is an alarming issue that cannot be overlooked. It is heartbreaking when the school administration fails to take adequate action, leaving families feeling unheard and unsupported.

[00:50:47] That is what is happening at Covington-Harper. The failure to enforce disciplinary action to ensure behaviors do not reoccur is desensitizing what the victims are experiencing. It is normalizing the bully's behavior and making it acceptable to harass and torment their peers, while the victims and their families are left to handle the long-term effects.

[00:51:11] Mental health, low self-esteem, and academic challenges, to name a few. It is also showing the victims that they cannot entrust the leaders in their schools to keep them safe. Bullying prevention programs provided through the county should be proactive, not reactive.

[00:51:29] And schools should be held accountable for ensuring a safe environment, positive climate and culture for all students. If administrators are failing to seek additional resources, it raises significant concerns about their priorities. It is a disservice to the growth and development to the children that they service and support.

[00:51:50] When it is at the hands of the administration, they should be taking all the proper and necessary steps when handling situations that arise. Overcrowding will not be used as an excuse to dismiss the lack of leadership. This is my daughter's first year at Covington, and it was nothing short from traumatic.

[00:52:10] During one of my most recent meetings, the assistant principal, Dr. King, said it to me regarding my daughter, and I quote, "This is forever," in terms of her learning how other people can be. Although I'm not happy about it, it is how our little people, little by little, deal with conflict, learn how to deal with conflict, because it's not always going to be positive, end quote.

[00:52:34] She's right. The trauma my daughter has experienced at Covington will have to be worked through as a family forever. However, this will not define her, and she will overcome this, because I will not allow this division the opportunity to make my daughter become another statistic of suicide due to bullying.

[00:52:55] I hope that you all investigate what is happening at Covington and division-wide and address what can be done to improve bullying consequences. Thank you. - Gloria Jordan.

[00:53:17] - Good evening, my name is Gloria. The GOP president delivered an ultimatum that US schools eliminate DEI programs specifying that governors be required to certify compliance or lose all federal funding per state public schools.

[00:53:33] So what does this mean, get rid of DEI programs? What even is a DEI program? As a mom, nurse, and educator, I feel it is important to begin with the understanding of what our terms are. We cannot answer a question or address a concern without understanding what we are even talking about.

[00:53:49] Too often we hear DEI, and many do not know what it stands for, nor what it means, and they certainly do not know how it applies to them. D-E-I, diversity, equity, and inclusion. In their simplest definitions, D, diversity means a variety of people who are in some way different.

[00:54:06] E, equity is a synonym for fairness. I, inclusion, means welcoming everyone. D-E-I, diversity, equity, and inclusion. People who are different in a variety of ways. Different than what, you may ask? Different than a cis, white, able-bodied, middle-class, Christian male with traditional American upbringing and background.

[00:54:26] So who is diverse? What is diverse? Women are diverse. Any of the 140 different countries represented here in PWCS, the 10th most diverse county in the country is different. Every culture, ethnicity, religion, and creed is diverse.

[00:54:42] The LGBTQ community is diverse. Anyone who is raised by a single parent, grandparents, step parents, same sex parents, older sibling, in foster care, unhoused or displaced is diverse. those who have a disability, are autistic, or any kind of medical condition, disease, or health concern is diverse.

[00:55:01] All 504s, IEPs, even gifted education, starting with Signet, AP, IB, and dual enrollment classes are diverse. Specialty schools and classes that cover a variety of different topics, perspectives, knowledge, and skill base are diverse.

[00:55:17] You are DEI, I am DEI, we are DEI. So when this Republican administration led by Trump says we must remove DEI, they're asking us to do the impossible. We are diversity, equity, and inclusion personified.

[00:55:33] We are a county made up of a variety of people. We welcome all and include everyone into our various work, school, religious, athletic, and living communities. Here in Prince William County, we seek to help everyone have the opportunity for success. We seek fairness, recognize when one person succeeds, we all succeed.

[00:55:50] Small business owners are DEI. Trade workers are DEI. Farmers, federal workers, and our honored military members and their families are DEI. We can no longer exist if we remove DEI. We cannot educate our children or worship as we choose without DEI.

[00:56:07] We are Prince William County strong and Prince William County proud. We are DEI. - Matt Audette. - Audette.

[00:56:28] Matt Audette. Kyle Ellingson.

[00:56:43] - My name is Kyle Ellingson. my information is on file. Why am I even here? Right now I'm supposed to be coaching my kid's baseball team. Instead, I had to cut that short to come back to look out for the wellbeing of all kids at Potomac Shores because individuals in front of me are incapable of doing so.

[00:56:59] Covington Harper should have been rezoned months ago, but here we are again. Since my last remarks, we've had parents come up here and explain the safety concerns, the educational disadvantages and the rise of bullying attributed to overcarrying at Covington Harper. mean look around it's ridiculous more importantly you had a bomb threat that was communicated to the school you didn't let no parents you didn't parent let parents know until the day after after drop-off right what can we do for our kids after that just ridiculous and the school principal even submitted her resignation it's a circus it is a circus over there and you should be ashamed of

[00:57:38] yourselves I blame you months of inaction despite community begging for and your own colleague, Mr. Wolk, asking for help. I personally asked you for help on the issue on behalf of the community months ago via email to all of you through your responding.

[00:57:56] Thanks to Mr. Wolk for your response. I appreciate it, appreciate your continued efforts. I'd also like to thank Mr. Blake for your response, despite the inaccuracies. Sir, you referred to me to Dr. McDade. It's not a responsibility, that's your responsibility. It's a shame that you don't even know as your vice chairman.

[00:58:15] Thank you to Ms. Williams as well for the response, although I'm pretty sure it was an AI generated reply. I can't say I'm surprised considering you don't even realize 20% of your constituents attend COVID in Harper. Not shocked. I guess the most disappointing aspect about all of this is that on September 16th, you all took time to ratify policy 264 focuses on school boundaries.

[00:58:39] Your own chief of planning came up here and stated, quote, optimizing capacity is the top priority. Also, quote, the goal is not to be over capacity, but more than 5%. He even admitted, quote, when schools get overcrowded, you get all kinds of impacts from that.

[00:58:56] COVID and Harper's at 120%. Your own paid employees said 5% is a problem, and you could sit here and be okay with that. It's shameful. Absolutely shameful. And then for the folks on the left, none of this applies to you. You still voted no.

[00:59:12] When Bloke put it across, you voted no. Why? Lastly, I got 25 seconds. The remarks tonight about Purple Star schools, that's a farce. We got 10% of our community that's military affiliated.

[00:59:28] You're not helping us at all. You're harming us. If you really wanna make a difference, all schools should be purple stars, right? Why don't you help ours? We need your help. Thank you for your time. - Jessica Schauer.

[01:00:02] - Good evening, members of the board. My name is Jess Schaer and I'm a proud parent of three children in Prince William County schools, one in elementary, one in middle, and one in high school. And I'm here today to speak from personal experience on why diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, are not just buzzwords, but essential values that shape our children's educational experiences.

[01:00:22] So let's start with my youngest. He's a student at Gravely Elementary. He's autistic and he has ADHD. Because of PWCS's DEI-driven policies, he has an IEP that provides him with the support he needs to thrive. He receives accommodations like visual aids, extended time, movement breaks, and strategic seating.

[01:00:40] He has access to a flash pass to take breaks he's overwhelmed and he receives specialized instruction writing social skills and behavior and his incredible special education teacher mr wells ensures he feels included and supported in his classroom so without these inclusive and incredible incredible approaches my son's experience in school would be drastically different this is dei my middle schooler has faced three orthopedic surgeries in as many years while at ronald reagan middle school through a medical 504 plan, he received adaptive PE when he couldn't participate, and he had homebound

[01:01:17] instruction during recovery. His instructor, Ms. Roshansky, who I love, worked one-on-one with him to ensure he stayed on track. This wasn't just about catching up. It was ensuring they had equal access to his education during this difficult time. This is also DEI. My daughter at Battlefield High School has ADHD. Her IEP allows her extra time on assignments, the use of headphones to reduce overstimulation and strategic seating. These might seem like very small accommodations, but without them, she wouldn't be doing as well as she is. Right now, she has straight A's. And

[01:01:53] this is DEI. DEI is not a political stance or an abstract policy. It's a lifeline for our kids with IEPs and 504s. It's the reason my children are not just surviving, but thriving. PWCS's commitment to DEI has created an educational environment where every child, regardless of the ability or circumstance, is given the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.

[01:02:18] I'm sorry, I'm very emotional 'cause this one's about my kids. Thank you so much for continuing to support DEI policies in our schools and helping our families like mine feel seen, supported, and valued. Thank you very much.

[01:02:36] - Thank you. That concludes citizen comment time. And now we move to the student representative time. Joining us tonight is Ms. LaTorre. She is a senior at CD Hilton High School.

[01:02:52] Ms. LaTorre, the floor is yours. - Thank you. Good evening to the board members, Dr. McDade, and everyone who has taken the time to be here today. I'm happy to be back here as a student representative after quite some time. I hope everybody enjoyed their spring break.

[01:03:09] I want to start my remarks by highlighting a special event that took place earlier this month. On April 10th, Garfield High School was the host a unified prom. On that day, a combination of general ed and special ed students came together to dance and have fun. While I did not have the pleasure to attend, I was told that students from over five schools were present and that Dr. McDade also participated. I am grateful for all of those that worked hard to make sure that this location was possible. It inspires me to know that I'm part of a community that is welcoming of all people. On a similar note, on a different topic actually,

[01:03:47] Yesterday many students came back to school after taking a break for a week. Now we are that much closer to summer. For high schoolers, graduations are scheduled to start on May 28th. That is only a little over a month away. I'm excited to hear what a lot of my peers are planning to do after graduation. May 1st, which is decision day, is fast approaching. I hope family members, teachers and counselors will join me on this day to celebrate the accomplishments of all seniors to underclassmen summer opportunities remain open if interested in learning more please feel free to reach out to career counselors i'm certain they would be happy to help and good

[01:04:26] luck to everyone on upcoming exams next i'll share some of the concerns i have received from students in numerous events including the student leadership workshop that was held on march 27th here principals teachers and student voice committees share the progress they have made but also the struggles that they have seen.

[01:04:47] For example, something that a lot of middle schoolers brought to my attention is the fact that the dress code is not equally enforced. Girls tend to fence more restrictions and harsher consequences than guys do. Moreover, students have let me know that they would appreciate a visual representation of clothing that is and is not allowed, especially in terms of length.

[01:05:07] As we move on into discussions about the code of behavior in the next few months, I want to advocate for clearer resources about the dress code so we can ensure that schools are enforcing the policies equally. Some other concerns include an increase in school tardies and doubts on how the new cell phone policy will be implemented. In order to address the later, I would recommend for the board to continue working on ensuring students, not just parents and teachers, are aware of how the policy will impact their future school years. Everyone please remember it is time to stop the scroll and take control. That was the winning

[01:05:43] slogan of the recent Prince William County context. Congrats, Ruth B. Moving on, I will now share some news and updates about student voice committees and the student senate. Currently, high school student voice committees are looking to partner with SVCs from their feeder middle schools. So far, Lake Ridge and Benton Middle School have already held meetings with their respective high schools. I know I speak for all senators when I say I'm excited to work with these young leaders in the future. In addition, as the Student Senate, we continue to meet regularly to ensure student voices are heard, and we appreciate the opportunity

[01:06:20] to provide feedback on the future strategic plan. Finally, I'll conclude my remarks by congratulating and thanking everyone who applied to become a student representative. It is an amazing opportunity and I wish you all the best. If anyone has any questions, please not hesitate to reach out to to me or my fellow student representatives.

[01:06:39] Those are all my remarks for tonight. Board members, Dr. McDade and everyone listening. Thank you for having me. - Thank you, Ms. LaTorre. We now move to superintendent's time. Dr. McDade, the floor is yours.

[01:06:54] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening all. We acknowledged our new purple star schools a little bit earlier. And so I do wanna share a short video that I believe demonstrates our vision's commitment military families and also spotlights one of our schools who are doing an exemplary job in celebrating their military families and that school is ashland elementary who was here with us this evening and so i would like for our team to play a short video at this this is our first

[01:07:30] military ball for our students so we put together lots of little details to make this a really big event for the month of the military child we wanted it to be formal so that kids got to dress up, we wanted a DJ to make it fun, and then we added the month of the military child ball cake to have a nice cake cutting ceremony.

[01:07:50] Highest ranking service member gives it to the newest service member, and we're going to add a little twist to that because it's all about the kids. So we also need the youngest child in the midst. Good job. We have about a third of our population of students who are military connected students, and so April is the month of the military child.

[01:08:12] really try and make sure that we thank all the families who are military so that we celebrate them. A lot of times when we come to the communities, we have to find new family members and we have to join in. We have to try to fit in where we can get in. So here to be invited in is awesome. Just knowing that they recognize us for the sacrifices that we make and especially the little ones, the resiliency that they show through all the adventures that they get to take, and I think that it's great that Ashland recognizes that.

[01:08:47] I like that the lights were off and there was music on. Tell me what your favorite part's been so far. The music of purple carpet. By the kids dancing on the floor, jumping around, the smiles, they look fantastic. I think they're having a blast.

[01:09:03] Prince William County Ashland Elementary School, you're making it very hard to go to military balls because this is excellent. The purple carpet, way to go. This was truly an amazing event for our students, but we just wanted to kind of spotlight Ashland and show what it really looks like to have events that bring our families together and support our military families.

[01:09:30] Also last night, PWCS held the annual Outstanding Educators Awards Program, recognizing educators who received or renewed their National Board Certification, as well as our finalists for Support Employee of the Year, Novice Teacher of the Year, Teacher of the Year, and Principal of the Year.

[01:09:51] This was a beautiful celebration that was held at the Hilton Performing Arts Center, showcasing the phenomenal work that is happening in our schools every day. And so I do wanna congratulate the following winners for Support Employee of the Year, Connor Sadler from Potomac High School was our winner.

[01:10:08] Novice Teacher of the Year for elementary, pre-K to five, Destiny Fauntleroy from Sinclair Elementary School. Novice Teacher of the Year for secondary grades six through 12 was Sarah Antion from Gainesville High School.

[01:10:25] And then Teacher of the Year for grades pre-K to five was Kristen Howe westridge elementary school and teacher of the year for grades six through 12 kelly wasson independent in non-traditional school and then also i want to congratulate our principal of the year for elementary as well as secondary for elementary pre-k to five heather good from sinclair elementary took the win for this year and principal of the year for secondary six through 12 amanda johnson of the noakesville school and so we're incredibly proud of all of our educators and excited to honor them in our annual Outstanding Educator Awards ceremony.

[01:11:05] I also want to congratulate another school leader who's doing a phenomenal job and was recently awarded, none other than Elise Zafiro, principal of Kerrydale Elementary School, who is this year's recipient of the National Distinguished Principal Award for Virginia.

[01:11:23] And the award is given by the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals, and it recognizes principals who set high standards for instruction, student achievement, character, and a positive climate and culture for students, families, and staff in their learning community. We're incredibly proud of Ms. Zavero's accomplishments and the dedication that she has shown to our PWCS community and her support for teachers in delivering high quality education.

[01:11:50] Also, as we talk about high quality education, we are winding down for the school year. We are in the height of testing season, so I would like to remind all families of the upcoming standards of learning tests and end of year course assessments that are taking place. These evaluations are essential as they assist us in measuring the progress that our students are making in their learning as well as the effectiveness of our curriculum and teaching methods.

[01:12:15] And as we approach the beginning of May, cooperation from our families and support from our families are invaluable in ensuring that our students are well rested and attending school each and every day. PWCS will be hosting a few events that I do want to spotlight. Tomorrow, I want to invite all of our families to our Family Engagement Series webinar to review the in-person summer learning opportunities that are available to PWCS students, as well as how to complete the registration process.

[01:12:43] PWCS offers an academic recovery and academic support summer program for recommended students in grades kindergarten through grade eight, as well as discovery enrichment programs. A credit recovery program and SOL remediation is offered for students in grades six through 12.

[01:13:03] Also, we will have an informative webinar on Tuesday, April 29th, in which students and families will learn how to complete the common application through a detailed walkthrough. Families will also discover what steps can be taken during the summer before senior year for those students who are preparing to go off to college.

[01:13:23] You can check out our website for more details on these events. And then finally, in April, we are celebrating numerous special observances. PWCS is dedicated to fostering a positive climate and culture while supporting families and community engagement to enhance the learning and achievement for all, making sure that all families and students and staff feel welcome and supported in Prince William County Schools.

[01:13:48] This month, we would like to acknowledge Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. We're encouraged by the progress our schools are making to provide support and resources for students diagnosed with autism, ensuring every student has the opportunity to thrive and succeed within our schools and community. That is a shared responsibility. The last full week of April is Administrative Professionals Week, and we are looking forward to expressing our gratitude to these individuals, especially today on Administrative Professionals Day, Wednesday, April 23rd. As advisors, cheerleaders and confidants our assistants and clerical staff keep us organized focused and

[01:14:24] aligned with our goals we also want to recognize national child abuse prevention month no child should ever have to live in fear of abuse or neglect and we wish to underscore the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect it is known that one in seven children in the united states will experience child abuse or neglect during their lifetime. In 2021, 1,820 children died of abuse and neglect in the United States. This is likely an underestimate because many cases go unreported. Child abuse is a significant social issue that

[01:15:03] transcends all boundaries of race, education levels, and income brackets. The devastating effects of child abuse can ripple throughout a person's life, impacting their emotional health, relationships, and overall well-being. And as we consider student health and well-being, tonight we are providing an update on substance abuse prevention we've been trying to do a lot of work to be preventative in our in our school district division and rather than reactive and so I want to invite our associate superintendent of student services and post-secondary success as well Denise Huebner as well as our director of student health and wellness Dr. Kayla Goodwine

[01:15:41] to provide us with an update on the division's efforts towards substance abuse prevention good evening thank you so much for having our team here vice chair blake members of school board dr mcdade i'd like to just start by introducing a few of the members of our team we have dr kayla goodwine our director of student health and wellness additionally we have kim mclaren who's our supervisor of student prevention programs and family assistance we have ann henry who's our supervisor of elementary counseling and related services as well as lieutenant kimberly mercer who's our supervisor or lieutenant over sros who also supports our prevention efforts through

[01:16:20] through education and through our SROs. Before we start, I also wanna thank the school board and Dr. McDade for the additional substance prevention specialists that we received in last year's budget. It has really helped us in our collaboration and coordination among offices as we make education prevention efforts.

[01:16:37] So under commitment to and positive climate culture, our goal is to promote wellness for all. As a division, we work to create conditions for those students who are experiencing conditions for those students to receive resources education about prevention and also align our families with additional resources in the community our strategic plan was built on core values of equity inclusivity innovation integrity and resiliency and well-being we take responsibility for the well-being of our students physical and mental health one of the most important things that we do in prevention of substance abuse is

[01:17:15] help our students make good decisions on this slide you'll see some examples of the success skills that we utilize to help our students achieve academically and these are embedded in our counseling curriculum and our day-to-day interactions with students social awareness relationship skills self-management and self-awareness but mainly the responsible decision making is key in our prevention efforts and so i'm going to introduce now dr kayla goodwine our director of student health and wellness who'll be sharing the highlights of our prevention efforts good evening we're on slide four oh this is a clicker i'm

[01:17:54] sorry substance abuse prevention education and programs are essential pwcs places a strong emphasis on substance abuse prevention to ensure the safety and well-being of the students the division implements a comprehensive approach that includes prevention education intervention and support services the substance abuse prevention specialists play vital roles in supporting the substance abuse prevention programs in the division to support the programs a new position

[01:18:27] was added on July 1st, 2024 as Mrs. Huebner said. The substance abuse prevention specialists develop and implement programs to educate students, staff, and families on substance use risks, prevention strategies, and healthy decision making. They provide training sessions, lead workshops, and collaborate with schools and community partners to provide support and resources to students and families. They coordinate Red Ribbon Week activities to engage students in drug free awareness campaigns that promote healthy decision-making. We couldn't do this work without our wonderful partnerships. Internally we work closely with schools,

[01:19:06] cross-departmental teams, health and PE staff, the Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force, and parent organizations like PTO. Externally we collaborate with Prince William County Community Services, local coalitions, and regional workshops including the Prevention Alliance of Greater Prince Williams, the Northern Virginia Substance Abuse Prevention Work Group, Opioid Process Action Team, Systems of Care Advisory Committee, treatment providers, law enforcement like DEA, and the Health Department. These partnerships allow us to expand our resources and align our efforts to

[01:19:41] provide more comprehensive support to students, families, and staff. We extend our gratitude to our partners. Without their assistance, we would not be able to provide the critical education and support our students and families need the graph this graph provides a comparison of high school teen substance use in virginia versus national averages overall virginia's rates in orange are lower than the national averages in most categories however one exception is cigarette use before age 13 where virginia's rates are slightly higher these data are from the virginia

[01:20:17] office of substance abuse prevention's 2024 annual report they help us better understand and trends at both the state and national levels. On slide nine, on slide six, figure nine, shows the year-to-year comparison of Virginia middle school students' tobacco use behaviors.

[01:20:37] The results show a decline from 21 to 23 in all areas except ever using an electronic vapor product, where there was a slight increase from nine to 10%. Figure 10 shows the year-to-year comparison of high school student tobacco use behaviors.

[01:20:54] Data show an overall decline in all areas. Figure 12 shows the year to year comparison of middle school students who try marijuana before age 11. While middle school students trying marijuana before age 11 has decreased over time, it is slightly up from 2021 at 1.1%.

[01:21:17] Figure 13 shows the year to year comparison of high school student marijuana use. High school student marijuana use also showed steady improvement, period. 3.3% of students tried marijuana before age 13.

[01:21:34] In Virginia, drug overdose deaths peaked in 2021, followed by a 5% decrease in 2022. This trend was also seen among 15 to 24 year olds who overdosed on fentanyl or other synthetic opioids. While 2023 data for this group show a slight increase in overdose stats compared to 2022, the total number remains relatively small, making it hard to draw a definitive conclusion.

[01:22:02] These trends highlight the ongoing need for prevention, education and early intervention efforts. Now let's take a look at the PWCS substance use data. This slide shows a comparison of total substance use infractions over the last three years, FY23 to present, along with our current numbers for this school year.

[01:22:24] The data reflect incidents from August through January for each year. We saw a decrease in infractions from FY23 to 24. However, this year we are experiencing increase in overall substance use infractions.

[01:22:40] On this slide, slide 10 represents a comparison of discipline referrals for substance use infractions over the past three school years. The most common infractions continue to be for marijuana possession and electronic cigarettes. Marijuana possession, the number of infractions remain steady between 22 and 23, and then saw an increase this school year.

[01:23:04] Electronic cigarettes infractions saw a significant decrease between the 22-23 school year, but have started to increase again this school year. These patterns highlight important areas for ongoing intervention and monitoring. Tracking these data help us identify where to focus our efforts.

[01:23:26] Here we see a continuation of our substance use infraction data for the last three years. Tracking these trends help us identify areas targeted intervention and monitoring. Slide 12 provides an overview of the substance abuse prevention lessons developed delivered in grades K5 as well as some of the standards of learning that guide instruction at the secondary level. In elementary schools lessons are taught by our school counselors. At the secondary level lessons are delivered by the health and PE teachers in grades 6 through 10. Each grade level has a unit guide developed to address the specific

[01:24:06] health SOLs ensuring students continue to receive substance abuse prevention education as they matriculate through middle school and high school. Now you'll hear from Ann Henry, who is our supervisor of elementary counseling and related services. At the elementary level, substance awareness lessons are based on the Virginia Health Education Standards of Learning located in the substance use and misuse prevention strand. School counselors deliver the lessons at this level because they often work with students on such topics as positive decision-making and personal

[01:24:45] safety, which align with these specific health standards. The elements in each grade-level lesson are developmentally appropriate. These include defining substance misuse for students, discussing harmful effects when substances are misused, teaching coping skills like refusal skills or resistance to peer pressure, teaching problem-solving and decision-making, and including peer-interactive elements such roleplay. At each elementary grade level notifications are sent home before the lessons occur. The content of the lessons is available for review and we provide

[01:25:21] parents and guardians with the opportunity to opt their student out of the lesson if they choose. An example of an elementary substance awareness lesson is the second grade lesson on healthy and unhealthy choices. During this lesson students begin by reviewing the definition of a drug as well as harmful effects of drugs. Students then participate in an activity in which they work together to sort healthy versus unhealthy choices. They discuss their choices as a group. In a previous grade level, the "don't touch, don't taste, tell a trusted adult" protocol was taught to students and it is reviewed in this

[01:26:00] lesson. It is a brief and simple phrase that aids in positive decision-making when it comes to students encountering unfamiliar substances. Finally, students apply their learning by interacting with their peers. They role play and respond to scenarios that involve potentially dangerous situations.

[01:26:20] Now you'll hear from Kim McLaren, Supervisor of Student Prevention Programs and Family Assistance. - Thank you. Tonight, we would like to present an overview of the Substance Abuse Prevention Initiatives within the Student Health and Wellness Department.

[01:26:40] These initiatives are designed to support students through education, prevention, and early intervention efforts to ensure they have the knowledge and resources to support wellness and positive decision-making. Prevention requires a collaborative approach.

[01:26:56] We work closely with student health services, college career and student support, and various community partners to provide comprehensive education and resources. Our partnerships further strengthen our ability to address substance use and connect students and families with the right support.

[01:27:21] The formerly named Tobacco Program was changed to Stop and Think. Vaping, Marijuana and Opioid Prevention Program, which now addresses topics that better align with priority areas identified by our data. The Stop and Think Program is an education program for students who have violated the Code of Behavior as it relates to substance use and possession.

[01:27:44] School administrators may refer students to this program as a response to substance use infractions. The program is virtual and takes place once a month for students in grades six through 12. The goal of this program is to provide students with the opportunity to gain accurate information, honestly assess their involvement with substances, and make personal decisions about behavior changes with vital replacement options.

[01:28:12] Feedback from these sessions has been inspiring as students demonstrate a growth of learning. An example is during one session, a student thanked our substance abuse specialist for teaching them about opioids. The student stated that they didn't realize how dangerous these drugs were.

[01:28:31] The Stop and Think program commenced during the 2023-2024 school year. This slide provides an overview of Stop and Think participant data from the last two school years, including referral numbers, attendance rates, and participation by secondary level.

[01:28:49] This chart compares the data from August to January for both years. The 2024-2025 school data participants is as follows. 12 schools have referred students to the Stop and Think program. The referrals by grade level for the 24-25 school year are, in sixth grade, there were four referrals, seventh grade four referrals, eighth grade 11 referrals, ninth grade 17, 10th grade 14, 11th five and 12th grade five.

[01:29:22] This year, our department launched the Stop and Talk Parent Education Program, which is designed for parents of students referred to Stop and Think. Our goal is to strengthen communication between students and their families by providing parents with the same key information their students receive.

[01:29:40] Sessions are scheduled during the same week as the student sessions, ensuring that parents are equipped to engage in meaningful conversations at home after infractions occur. The Stop and Talk program launched in November, 2024, and as we continue to pilot this year, we are actively working to increase parent engagement and participation.

[01:30:02] Our most recent session was on March 27th, and our next session is scheduled for May 1st. The Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force has undergone a name change to better align with its mission, objectives, and the broader scope of work this committee is dedicated to achieving.

[01:30:22] Some of our current initiatives include reviewing our Return to Learn regulations to ensure that students receive the support they need to successfully reintegrate into school after rehabilitation, overdose, hospitalization, or other substance-related challenges.

[01:30:40] The goal is to support the student with reintegration, collaboration with the student and parent, and relapse prevention and stigma reduction. The second thing that we're proud of is that we partnered with the Student Health Services Develop to develop an empowerment screening tool, which standardizes the tool for nurses to provide consistency in their assessments and improve documentation and increase early identification and interventions.

[01:31:07] And in improving our data collection is a third thing that we've been able to do in this work group is to be able to gain an accurate view of substance use in schools and evaluate current programs to ensure that they are adequately meeting the needs of our students.

[01:31:22] This group brings together key partners, including Prince William County Community Services, family members impacted by opioid overdose, law enforcement officers who support school resource officers and various central office staff.

[01:31:38] In addition to our core members, We invite guest speakers throughout the year and share insights on community data, emerging substance use trends and other critical information. These presentations help ensure our strategies remained informed, relevant and responsive to student needs.

[01:31:58] As this task force continues to work towards strengthening our prevention and intervention efforts within the school division, I would like to take a moment to highlight two key accomplishments of our work group. The initiation of developing early prevention for students in grades K through five.

[01:32:15] Through the targeted programming, schools have increased students' awareness of safe medication practices, decision-making skills, and the impact of substance use on brain development. The second key initiative is that, the deployment of the REVIVE training for all staff.

[01:32:32] We were able to successfully roll out the REVIVE training for all staff, ensuring that they are equipped to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose. We've also increased our access to Nanoxalone in all schools and administrative offices, reinforcing our commitment to student and safety.

[01:32:53] Participation and training grew by 20% from January to June, 2023, compared to January to June, 2024. This demonstrates strong engagement and willingness by staff to support this initiative.

[01:33:09] Revive is the opioid overdose and Nanoxalone education program for the Commonwealth of Virginia. This training covers understanding opioids, how opioid overdoses happen, risk factors for opioid overdose, and how to respond to an opioid overdose emergency.

[01:33:28] We partner with Prince William County Community Services to offer these training opportunities to staff. It's important to note that in 2022-2023, Revive training started in January. In 23-24, the data is for the full year, and in 24-25, the data is from August through January.

[01:33:52] Shaw provides a number of professional development opportunities for staff throughout the school year. These presentations focus on substance use and the impact on students as well as our community. Our presentations take place on designated professional development days and cover a range of important topics, including substance use trends, naloxone, education, and available resources for staff.

[01:34:17] Last year, we expanded our collaboration to include sports medicine, ensuring all coaches, athletic trainers, and athletic directors receive training to strengthen our collective response to opioid-related emergencies during the school day, as well as after school hours.

[01:34:36] We are still growing, but we know this work will have an indelible impact on our students. The PWCS Substance Abuse Program envisions continued data monitoring to develop guidance for school administrators on use of appropriate substance abuse codes.

[01:34:53] We plan to collaborate with research assessment and data systems to conduct a program evaluation to assess the impact of substance abuse prevention initiatives within the school division. Efforts to increase organizational coherence are aimed at enhancing existing initiatives such as the vape detector pilot program.

[01:35:13] Additionally, the vision is to seek an increase in collaboration with school health, counseling, and administrative teams to bolster substance abuse prevention supports. Strengthening the connection between schools and our department is also a key focus.

[01:35:31] For additional information, please visit the PWCS substance abuse prevention web slide. Thank you for your time and attention tonight, and we welcome any questions. - Ms. Zargarpur.

[01:35:47] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the presentation. It contained a lot of really important information. I just would like to get a little bit more here on the stop and think. said it's a once a month and it's online is that synchronous or asynchronous it is synchronous oh it's synchronous okay and then um so child goes and does the thing and then what happens after that like i'm just imagining there might need to be a follow-up but a month later seems you're nodding so what what's happening in between those monthly meetings so after the child participates um and

[01:36:26] would stop and think mm-hmm so after they participate they are the the administrator is talked to and spoken to about the fact that the child attended and we the administrator tracks and monitors if the student has any more infractions okay okay thank you then the other thing I'm concerned about it's not a it's not an us problem but when students are going to go through rehabilitation or hospitalization are there any places within Prince William in County that are currently doing rehab or hospitalization.

[01:37:01] - I would have to get back to you with that question 'cause I'm not sure at this moment. - I'm sorry, Dr. Hemer, you should be able to take that one. - So thank you. So Ms. Zargarpur, your question is our knowledge about providing.

[01:37:17] - Yeah, are there providers in the County? 'Cause I know a few years ago, you know, if a student has a mental health crisis, they're often going to Fairfax and rehabilitation places are few and far between, especially for adolescents. So I'm just wondering if we've had any increase in opening facilities or if you know of where, 'cause I know that's a concern for parents who are going through this.

[01:37:40] - Yeah, thank you. So we rely on a community partners, community services board to connect families with resources. Our role is the education and priding supports to remove the barriers for learning. So that would be our role in this and that would be the extent that I can answer that question.

[01:37:56] - Thank you. I just wondered if you knew And it's one of those sticking points because I know when it comes to student mental health, we've done a lot of things on our end. And I know like Dr. McDade likes to say we're in the business of education. But schools are always having to make up for the gaps and lacks of things that rest of society doesn't always have available to us.

[01:38:17] So that's why I asked the question. - Sure. - Thank you. - Understood. - Thank you, Ms. Zagafor. Ms. Williams. - Thank you, Ms. Huebner and team for all of your hard work for this presentation.

[01:38:35] - My question really sort of relates at this time to middle and high schoolers. So I was just wondering when I, the feedback that I receive is that they get this. So I know that you're glad to hear that. Understood, comprehend, digest it. However, they feel that, or at least what I've received is that there's not enough information on vapes and it not being socially acceptable.

[01:39:00] They kind of feel like it's just a thing that's out there as well as marijuana use because they see it kind of everywhere. And so I was wondering what sort of new language, vocabulary, what are we doing in sort of an updated way or how have we updated it?

[01:39:15] 'Cause I'm not in class with them and I'm excited to hear that they are paying attention. It's not boring, 'cause that's what I used to say. This is boring. So I understand the message is getting through. I was just wondering, you know, what are we doing new for those two groups? And I see it's mostly in health and PE, right?

[01:39:33] Are we doing any sort of companion lessons throughout the year? Like maybe there's a information night or I'm just curious. - So thank you for the question. As you heard, the team really is, the goal is to evaluate our current programs, enhance those in the coming years. There's a new resource that's been put out, It Takes One, and that is a lot of great information, lessons that have been provided to schools to evaluate, if that's something that we would be able to use.

[01:39:58] So the resources are being updated all the time, and in particular under the It Takes One initiative. So we will be looking at those resources to do exactly what you talked about. How do we connect with kids at their level, make them understand. You all received an example, hold it up.

[01:40:13] Yeah, fentanyl awareness. And so we really have some resources that come to us from VDOE. We typically use those resources because those are aligned with what the vision is for teaching the students. But we will definitely keep you informed on this. - Thank you. And then my last question is, considering all that's going out in society and the rhetoric and economy and all these things, it tends to, right now we're sort of a negative aspect, I guess you could say, in some areas, depending on who you are.

[01:40:41] And historically, when we have hard or tough economic times, we see substance abuse rise. So are we doing anything sort of proactive, kind of discussions held within leadership to acknowledge that that might be coming forth or are we putting together any plans?

[01:40:59] 'Cause I know it's not there yet. I'm just asking if we're talking about it, if we're being mindful, that's all. - So I'll make a statement that I do feel, especially this time of year, it's a very stressful time of year for students in general. We're racing toward the end of the year. Some kids are excited about the end, other kids aren't.

[01:41:16] You know, we have a lot of resources available in the division, including our Hazel Health. And so we have increased our awareness to parents through our communications out into the public and internally to our administrators. We provided them with that, you know, a resource that students need additional help or support.

[01:41:31] So we're increasing our efforts for awareness in general to support mental health and working individually. Our student support teams are always available to work with students as well. And so there is a raised awareness just in the heightened time that we are. - And we did have a significant increase in Hazel Health usage as well.

[01:41:49] We were only like at a little over 300 and now we're up above 2000. - Yes, we had a recent push and our administrators did a great job really getting that information out to the community and I anticipate seeing that grow as we move forward. Thank you I really appreciate that because I know those mental health and substance abuse go hand-in-hand and I appreciate the renewed effort of being mindful because it's very stressful times and I can see the difference as a middle school parent now from a lot of the attitudes of the students on even how they interact with each other about substance abuse is in the conversation so I can middle schools are talking about it I think it's

[01:42:25] working right in a positive sense and getting on each other about how substance abuse tobacco use and vapes are not a good thing can't say it's cross division but from what I see so I really want to congratulate you and your staff and 11 years I've been sitting here it's the first time I've heard the younger students really get on each other and in our daily interaction so thank you and I appreciate the mindful attitude about where we are so thank you I have a question so from what I see the substance abuse prevention curriculum

[01:43:00] and during 10th grade however from my experience as a high schooler myself as a senior I see that it is mostly juniors and seniors that are using drugs or illegal substances and they are the ones who you know lead younger students into that same path is there any way we can like give more resources to our juniors and seniors it's definitely appreciate the feedback and that's why that data is is so important as you heard the team mention that we're really working on effectively coding and recognizing when there are trends.

[01:43:33] And so we can certainly consider that. We do have in our high schools, our new horizon counselors. And so we have resources available when infractions or there is a need, but I appreciate that feedback. - Mr. Dinik.

[01:43:49] - Thank you. I was actually gonna ask the same question 'cause I noticed that it ended in 10th grade and that 11th, 12th grade, those kiddos could use some extra reminders all the time as well. So I don't know if there's something that we can do to extend that curriculum.

[01:44:05] I think they would just love one more thing, you know, to add on senior year, just end strong. I do appreciate you highlighting our governor and his wife's program, that it only takes one initiative. I know Mr. Wilk and I, and I think a few other colleagues attended one of their fentanyl awareness programs, and it was eye-opening for me as a parent to understand that a little bit better.

[01:44:27] So if people get a chance to go to that website, it's very insightful and to attend one of those trainings and then to speak to your children about it, I think is so valuable. So thank you so much for this presentation. - I appreciate the comment about asking parents to speak with their children.

[01:44:44] The education and prevention piece, it is a family group effort, and one of the things that we can promote through conversation. - Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, Mr. Blake. You know my love for and my adoration for the coded behavior.

[01:45:01] - I do. - So I do wanna talk about slide nine and 10 with the data and the statistics there. So what concerns me with those numbers is, you know, on the Safe School Advisory Council, and Ms. Donnelly can back me up on this, we were presented preliminary data.

[01:45:17] You mentioned the pilot program of the vapes. And there were schools that are part of this program where for every month there were hundreds of detections of vaping occurring in the school, in the bathroom or wherever these vape detectors were. Unfortunately, the disparity was when you turned it over and looked at how many times there was an infraction in the code of behavior, it was minuscule.

[01:45:41] And so I'm just wondering if I look at, for example, slide nine, 784 violations with the code of behavior on substance abuse, but then more specifically on slide 10, the 80 for vaping in the entire division, is that factoring in these pilot detectors at this point or is that gonna be looked at later?

[01:46:01] And then my other question with that is, what constitutes an infraction with the code of behavior? So are those, for example, students who get the first level and then they have a detention or something like that for getting caught with the vaping, or is this only for potentially suspensions?

[01:46:19] - So Mr. Wilk, as you know, and I'll keep reiterating all the great work that's being done on norming our expectations and on the implementation of the code of behavior. I can't speak specifically to the pilot, the vape pilot, that's, you know, falls under a different team, but I do know that we have examined that exact data that you're talking about, the frequency, follow-through on the infraction and what makes the infraction and infraction so no it's not necessarily a suspension it's a code so when we pull that code it means there has been documentation and follow-up it's not correlated with an expulsion or exclusionary discipline if that was your

[01:46:54] question i also just want to add really quickly with the pilot why you can't we can't necessarily say that there's a direct one-to-one correlation with the data that you see here and the pilot is with the pilot it's letting you know you know we can tell how many times the vape detector may go off but every time that happens doesn't necessarily mean that the school can specifically identify which student you know that that may have occurrence may have happened with and may not rise to the level of them being able to issue an infraction or a discipline because they can't identify the student right especially if you've got multiple

[01:47:33] students coming in and out of the bathroom at the time when the the sensor goes off and so that's why with the pilot we're taking that kind of data to make some determinations about how we actually implement this you know in more schools the do's and don'ts what we learn from it what kind of guidelines we need to give schools things of that nature so the pilot is a learning opportunity for us and and the data that we're collecting doesn't necessarily equate specifically to behavior instances or infractions can I ask one more question on the vape sensor sure is it possible that we get a presentation I

[01:48:13] don't want to risk security or anything like that or you know give the kids hints on what goes down but I it was a question that was posed to me in the public twice now from parents because I think there's some confusion about our security what do we call those again evolve thank you sorry clearly I haven't evolved evolve and and the vape sensors and why do we have a vol or why are we getting a vape sensor if we have evolved the difference between those I think something very insightful that you said because I'm also on that committee that mr. Wilk apparently doesn't see me on but it's

[01:48:47] okay no I know but um that you talked about how the vape sensors also detect noise and other things so that could also be part of why the infractions weren't listed so something like that possibly getting a presentation on that here would maybe also help with the public's knowledge on it as well I think we can at the conclusion of the pilot we could do a presentation on what we've learned from the pilot the data that came out of that and then kind of dig into some of the explanations that would probably be helpful as well as how what role evolved does and doesn't play with with vapes so that that could be a way

[01:49:25] to address that through the conclusion of the pot typically when we do a pilot we do do a presentation to the board so we can do it then whoa thanks mr. Blake I'm glad to hear about I'm glad to hear this presentation this is a topic that I've talked about on multiple occasions in past years and I knew you guys were working on a number of things and so I've kind of laid off on it and so it's exciting to hear some of the great things I'm glad to hear that the additional substance abuse prevention specialist is making a difference because you know that's a resource that when we allocate a new position and we hope that it will make you know more

[01:50:04] work possible and and better work I am really glad to hear about the prevention efforts since we are a school division you know the education piece is really more in our wheelhouse than like the treatment side of it which we really heavily rely on our community partners and our medical professionals and and our families to kind of pick up you know and take care of problems if they do occur but the education part we can really we can really help with through our through our counselors and our teachers so I was really glad to hear about that I I am pleased about the stop and think program and the stop and talk

[01:50:41] program and the task force I'm just highlighting a couple of things that I'm really happy about and I do did I also am pleased to know that we are doing a vape detector program and I do look forward to hearing more about that because that is also something that I talked about a number of years ago when I said bathrooms was one of my biggest concerns and it was the vaping in the bathrooms.

[01:51:04] When I talk to students or when students reach out to me, they tell me that the bathrooms are still a problem. That's a place where things happen that they shouldn't be happening. Kids will go to places like that to abuse drugs. And it makes the kids who are not in that, not doing those things uncomfortable and rightfully so because we want our schools to be drug free and that's what we say, but then when they aren't, It's just, it's a problem.

[01:51:32] And so I really am pleased with the effort and the focus to try to clamp down on this problem because it is a society problem. And as we know, what happens in society does affect our kids. What's happening in our families and our communities, it does affect our kids and their ability to come present to school ready to learn, which is our goal, is to help them learn.

[01:51:52] But if they're high or whatever, thinking about their next hit, then they're not focused on learning and they can't learn. They can't learn. So it is really important what you guys are doing. And I wanted to just thank you, every single one of you who are working on this problem.

[01:52:08] Well, it's not like our direct, you know, we're an educational institution and this is like sort of a side thing, but it is important because it does help our children. Hopefully we can keep more of them from falling off the cliff into the drug abuse world. We can keep them up safe, you know, with the fence.

[01:52:25] Mike, I did have a question on the Stop and Think program. you said may refer and then it's a virtual and then I'm assuming it's generally voluntary because the data showed that like we refer kids but not all of the kids participate in it. And so my question would be maybe we could look into making it mandatory in order to, I don't know, come back to school or something, I'm not sure.

[01:52:50] I'm thinking just off the top of my head but in some way a little bit more compulsory so that they need to go through it and that the parents maybe need to go through it. I know that's controversial, but it sounds like for those kids that do it, it is helpful.

[01:53:09] And I also wonder if the, I know virtual is easy and awesome, but maybe we could pilot an in-person conversation with a kid, like a face-to-face, you know, eyeball-to-eyeball, let's talk about the content that's in the stop-and-think and see if that's even more effective, just throwing that out there.

[01:53:28] But I think, you know, you have an adult looking eye to eye with a kid who has a problem, you know, and they're saying, I care about you and I really think this is important and I want you to listen to me because your future's on the line. That may be even more effective than like a virtual click through it kind of thing.

[01:53:44] So that's just my feedback. But anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for all you guys are doing. Thank you, Ms. Wall. Okay, and I have a few remarks. I just want to acknowledge Prince William County Schools for its multifaceted and proactive approach to this substance abuse prevention.

[01:54:07] And what is most striking in this presentation to me is the divisions recognizing that discipline alone is not enough. And you need education, family engagement, and compassion.

[01:54:24] must work hand-in-hand with policy. So I strongly support, Ms. Wall, I strongly support the continuation and expansion of the Stop and Think and the Stop and Talk programs, like the suggestions you made. And these provide not just intervention, but education with dignity, offering students and family tools to recover, reflect, and grow.

[01:54:49] So the increases in violations Between the 2023 and 24 and 2024 and 25 year, particularly regarding the marijuana and vaping, is concerning and should serve as a call to anticipate community-wide prevention strategies.

[01:55:14] So, as a community, we should all be, you know, having our eyes open for this. And I also appreciate the data analysis and the division's emphasis on early prevention, including grade appropriate curriculum starting as early as kindergarten.

[01:55:37] So I really appreciate that. And finally, I just wanna thank Ms. Huebner, Dr. Goodwin, Ms. McLaren and Ms. Henry for your leadership in this space. And your team's work reflects an unwielding commitment student wellness family partnership and prevention with purpose and we all appreciate it and I know I'm proud of the direction we are taking and I remain committed to strengthening this work in partnership with our community so thank

[01:56:11] you and keep up the good work I had one one PS no I echo the thoughts of our student representative about juniors and seniors I know PE curriculum ends in this sophomore year, but a lot of juniors and seniors, you know, they're kind of stretching their wings and they're feeling invincible.

[01:56:32] And also, you know, as seniors, they prepare to go off to college or military or careers, they leave home. That's kind of a time when it might be good to come up with a way, I don't know how you would do it, but a way to talk about these issues in a more serious way with kids and just kind of touch base on it, you know, as you move out on your own.

[01:56:55] I mean there's a lot of those parents should be having these conversations with their kids but it doesn't hurt as an educational institution to maybe extend that into those junior and senior years when there is a lot of potential for abuse because there's a lot more independence and there's a lot of invincibility and you know people they feel like they're eternal they're never nothing's not gonna ever hit them and so I think and plus just cognitively and there's more awareness and more decision-making ability so I I kind of I like that idea I think that's important like maybe we should explore that I would I would

[01:57:30] second that idea. Thank you and definitely it is the goal and as I mentioned you know earlier with that second position we are able to increase our collaboration and Lieutenant Mercer is here she's done some education in buildings so we don't just limit it to health and PE I know we emphasize those lessons but it's a comprehensive approach to educating kids meeting kids where they are having them being interested in hearing and receiving the information you know through our counseling teams, our social workers.

[01:57:56] And so that feedback is appreciated and we definitely will look at doing that. - Ms. Williams, one more question. - Thank you, last question. I just forgot to ask. I know at one time we were hosting programs in the evening for parents and guardians on what substance abuse indicators look like in your home, like what container someone could store something in or candy and things like that, but it was by request from the school itself.

[01:58:23] I just haven't heard or really looked for that this year. Is that something that we're continuing to do? 'Cause I went to one last year, I believe, and it was extremely helpful. There was like a-- - Bedroom? - Bedroom? - Yeah, okay. - Set up. - Sure. - And I hear a lot of things and I learned a lot from that presentation as a parent.

[01:58:42] So I was just wondering if that's a program that we're continuing to do or if we've sort of modified it to be electronic so you could click through slide, I don't know, I'm just-- - I'm gonna reply, I'm gonna give my team permission to correct me if I'm wrong. That is a program that we partner, Heather Martinson with community services board is the person who is involved in that.

[01:59:01] We have actually had that same display in that set up here in the Kelly leadership building. I believe it was during red ribbon week. I'm looking over here. Yep, so far I'm doing okay. So that is something that we partner with our community resources with in order to do that. So it's certainly something that we can help schools be aware of and work with PTOs or parent teams request for that.

[01:59:21] But that is something from the community. That's not a Prince William County initiative. It's just something that we partner with them. - Okay, thank you. It was, it seemed very school. - It's a very educational, yeah. - It was wonderful. I'm glad that school that I went to partnered with the community. I wasn't aware of the difference, so thank you.

[01:59:44] - Thank you, Dr. McDade. All right, tonight we have two committee updates from Ms. Wall and Ms. Zargarpur. We will begin with Ms. Wall, who will provide an update on the School Health Advisory Board.

[01:59:59] - Thank you, Mr. Blake. - I attended the School Health Advisory Board April 11th here at the KLC and Mr. Wilk attended with me. It was a very good meeting. One of the things we heard was a vaccine clinic update and this is a great partnership with a number of community providers that help offer vaccines to kids for the state mandated vaccines. So we got some update on that. We also received a very interesting and important update on the family life education human trafficking curriculum which is something that I know some community

[02:00:34] advocates have advocated for over a number of years and as we know this is a problem in our community in our communities and nobody's immune to being potentially influenced by human trafficking and so there will this was a really important update and there will be some curriculum Very important curriculum coming our way soon.

[02:01:02] Also, we received an update on secondary devices for continuous glucose monitors. This is a topic that I think is, well, it's near and dear to my heart 'cause I have a son with type one who he was diagnosed as 10 month old baby. So yeah, we've lived this world.

[02:01:20] And this is exciting because there's a pilot happening, I believe this week or this month, and it will continue through the rest of this school year children who wear continuous glucose monitors um and a way that the schools can help monitor blood sugars in a less intrusive and more comprehensive and very much more effective way so i'm very excited we were excited to hear about that thank you to all the staff who worked hard on that and then we heard a couple of other updates on the wellness policy and student health services other than that it was a very productive meeting i was very excited about it and excited to hear

[02:01:56] about the great things that we are doing in pwcs to support our children um and their health needs um so that they can be successful in their educational goals that's my update thank you thank you mrs wall mrs agarapur is now welcome to present an update on the joint environmental task force thank you mr chairman um i went to the jet meeting on april 10th and it was held here at the Kelly Center the the public can come and do public comment no one shows up

[02:02:33] but if there's something that you feel like you want to speak to that's either on the county side or the school side you are very welcome to come in and make a public comment there we covered just some business that to facilitate our meetings a little bit better and then there were a couple presentations short presentations one of the things that I wanted to to make sure that we heard about on our side of things was jessica weimer from princeman county schools reported that there's been um bel-air elementary school has the geothermal heating and air you know the temperature

[02:03:09] controls anyway there's a 70 reduction already in energy costs and i thought that was outstanding because it was just just became operational recently so um it's it's things like that that are making a difference in our schools and our communities and just pointing out that of the county buildings or buildings in the county the schools have so many pieces of property the more that we can do to make them energy efficient it's making them cost effective as well so it was a great meeting and i look forward to our next one next month thank you thank you miss zagarpoor

[02:03:46] that concludes our committee updates we are now moving on to board matters with agenda item 18.01 the presentation on factors contributing to the current enrollment at Covington Harper and potential solutions Mr. Bach and his team will give a presentation on this topic thank you chairman Blake and good evening board members I have Dr. Cartlidge Dr. Matt Cartlidge joining me here at the podium first I'd like to thank Matt and his team for developing the presentation tonight which really aims to provide for you an overview of

[02:04:26] factors contributing to overcrowding at Covington Harper Elementary School but also share with you and discuss some potential solutions so at this time I'm going to turn the presentation over to dr. cartilage thank you Matt thank you mr. Bach vice chair Blake members of the school board thanks for having us this evening we're going to go ahead and kick off. The presentation this evening will focus on three key points. The first one is talking about the historical circumstances and factors that led to

[02:05:01] the current landscape of overcrowding at Covington Harper Elementary. We'll then move into a section that discusses what factors were contributing to the delayed construction of what we are calling Potomac Shores number two elementary school. We'll then wrap up this evening's presentation with an overview of the various solutions that are already being pursued and are forthcoming.

[02:05:24] First part is talking about the circumstances that led to the overcrowding at the elementary school. In the 2008 CIP, this was when we first identified the need for additional elementary schools in the Cherry Hill area.

[02:05:42] At that time, there was an initial redistricting, rezoning application applied by a different developer for a project called Harbor Station. That project was later picked up and pursued by a different developer, and that is what came to be Potomac Shores Homeowners Association.

[02:06:02] The developer proffered two school sites to PWCS. One later became Covington-Harper, while the other became Potomac Shores Middle. The Board of County Supervisors approved the construction of approximately 3,500 housing units within the Potomac Shores land bays.

[02:06:21] The animation that we have created and providing you this evening is showing the construction of each of these housing units since 2013, quarter by quarter, and then they are symbolized by whether they're detached homes or townhouses.

[02:06:38] If anyone is counting, I can let it run one more time. Okay, I think we're ready. What we're providing on this slide is an illustration or a data visualization of the year-over-year construction amounts of housing units.

[02:06:55] We've identified with a great call out the opening year of Covington Harper, which is for the 2017-18 school year. Over those first five years, the developers were constructing primarily detached homes, approximately 450. During that window of time, there were only about 30 townhouses constructed.

[02:07:15] If you look at the bars right after the school opened, so 2018, you can see that the number of housing units per year increased significantly as the developers began building more townhouses more rapidly than they had in the past with over 200, almost 300 units in the 2022 year.

[02:07:40] So for six years, there was a shift to constructing about 500 detached homes, but nearly 1,300 townhouses. One of the enhancements or under-the-hood improvements that we made to our projection model last fall was evaluating how houses that are 10 years old or newer actually yield students at a slightly different rate than the overall average.

[02:08:10] Detached homes actually yield students about one-tenth more on average per housing unit, while townhouses are actually one-tenth less per townhouse on average. So if we use these yield rates for Covington-Harper and multiply these by all the housing units that have been constructed since the opening of Covington-Harper, you'll see that there have been about 450 students yielded from the new construction.

[02:08:40] Now we'll bring into light why that number matters. When we opened Covington-Harper in 2017, the school opened at about 75% of capacity and had roughly 280 seats unassigned or available.

[02:08:57] If we fast forward to the current school year, you can see that we no longer have a surplus, we're at a deficit, we're 200 plus seats above capacity. but the Delta between when we opened and now is very similar to these 450 students that are yielded from new construction as we look into the future we anticipate about a hundred more students coming from new construction coming to Covington Harper and that would be by 2627 so 2627 is the last year that we would anticipate overcrowding at this school as the

[02:09:35] Potomac Shores number two elementary school is scheduled to open for the 27-28 year. We're going to focus on the portable classrooms that are being leveraged at the school to provide temporary overcrowding relief. If we look at the top five schools in PWCS this school year with portable classrooms, you'll see Freedom is the most with 12.

[02:09:58] We also have 12 at the Nooksville School. Nine are allocated for elementary. Three are allocated for middle. Colgan has 10. Enterprise Elementary has 10, and then there are multiple that are at eight. Covington-Harper is one of those.

[02:10:15] If we look in recent history at elementary schools alone that had a significant number of portable classrooms, Potomac View for the '16-'17 school year had 14, while Neabsco had 12 for the '17-'18 school year.

[02:10:30] As we look ahead with these 100 additional students, we estimate or project the need for possibly five additional portable classrooms between this school year and the 26-27 school year. Now we're gonna pivot into a conversation about the factors that contributed to the delay of Potomac Shores number two.

[02:10:55] In the 1625 CIP, an elementary school was identified as a future need in the Cherry Hill area. At this point in time, the scheduled opening was for the 21 school year. Land was needed, as if you recall from the earlier part of the conversation, the developer proffered us two sites.

[02:11:15] Those became Covington-Harper, the other Potomac Shores Middle. So we needed to secure an additional third site, either through proffer or through purchasing. As we move into the discussion of the delays, the first delay actually occurred during the 1928 CIP.

[02:11:35] This pushed the school back two years to the 23-24 school year, and land acquisition was the chief contributing factor. For the 22 through 31 CIP, this was the second delay, an additional one year.

[02:11:51] The property acquisition was actually reaching final settlement and the absence of a site before that CIP is what contributed to that one year delay. The third delay was for two years. This pushed us back to the 26, 27 school year.

[02:12:09] The factors at this point were largely out of the hands of PWCS. There was limited progress by the developer on the site preparation. So these includes things like grading, utilities, infrastructure, like the roads that would go to the site of the school.

[02:12:28] The developer recognized this, offered the school division an alternate site, and that took time to assess and evaluate. Additionally, the developer was navigating a variety of other factors as well, including negotiations with VRE, trying to time the VRE station with the opening of the town center.

[02:12:52] The town center in of itself required rezoning to accommodate the vision that was being cast for this area. Also during this time, the developer paused conversations with the school division as there was interest by an unnamed party in purchasing land that the developer owned, which included the five-acre site that was intended to become Potomac Shores number two.

[02:13:19] The fourth delay was during the 24-33 CIP. This pushed it back to its current scheduled opening year of 27-28 and the primary factors, again, beyond our control were related to site suitability issues that contributed to permitting delays.

[02:13:42] Now we're going to move into a discussion of what solutions might we pursue or continue to pursue to resolve this matter. We are taking a multifaceted approach. Some of the intermediate solutions are already underway.

[02:13:58] We are critically evaluating any new educational programs that are being proposed for being housed in Covington Harbor. We're trying to align programs being in the school that align with the students who are assigned to the school.

[02:14:13] And if they are not, then we consider alternative sites in the immediate area. Additionally, we are using portable classrooms to serve as temporary overcrowding abatement. When it comes to the long-term solutions, the key one is Potomac Source No. 2 opening.

[02:14:32] But we also recognize with updated projection models, updated data, that what we were initially proposing for the size of Potomac Source No. 2 was going to be inadequate for the region with the growth that we are observing and projecting.

[02:14:47] So during the FY2529 CIP, the board approved our recommendation to increase the capacity of this school by approximately 300 seats, bringing it up to over 1,000 seats for this new school. We also want to mention that the redistricting for the opening of that school is going to begin this fall.

[02:15:11] We're going to run that concurrently with the redistricting we have planned for the Woodbridge area school that is just north up route one. So it'll be a phased approach. This allows us to critically evaluate all the elementary schools up and down the Route 1 and 95 corridor.

[02:15:30] We will implement part of the boundaries that are related to Woodbridge area for the 26, 27 year. And then the other portion will be for 27 year when Potomac Shores number two opens.

[02:15:50] I want to mention that we recognize, we've heard from the community members, heard from the board members we would want redistricting now and what I want to bring to our awareness is that as the speaker mentioned earlier the board adopted an updated policy a routine update like we do every five years for redistricting they updated in October and one of the elements in there is talking about the capacity utilization of schools the board strives to not change attendance areas that puts any one school beyond a hundred and

[02:16:27] five percent of capacity for the first three years that the redistricting goes into effect if you look at the chart on this page you'll note that the other elementary schools in the Cherry Hill area all of them already have portable classrooms most of them already exceed a hundred and five percent of capacity before we try to send any more students to them from Covington Harper. We would be not able to

[02:16:58] create a draft proposal that would be in compliance with this key element. There was a motion back at the October 16th, 24 board meeting to amend the meeting agenda to task planning staff with proposing and pursuing redistricting. The motion did not pass. The last thing that I'll mention from the updated redistricting policy is that the awareness and highlighting of student stability is put into effect.

[02:17:35] When we look at the geography of this area, if we were to redistrict students out of Covington Harper for the remainder of the school year or to go into effect for the 26-27 school year, the following year most of those same students very well would end up going back to Covington-Harper for the 27 school year.

[02:17:57] As a fact of the geography of where the new school site is, where development is occurring, we would not be able to embrace something that's so pivotal to student learning and that's the stability of a school. Therefore, as we bring to a close to our recommendations, our recommendation is to stay the current course, continue to critically evaluate any new educational programs proposed for Covington-Harper, Utilize portable classrooms as necessary.

[02:18:29] Add the capacity from the Potomac Shores number two elementary school for the 27/28 school year and begin planning its attendance area in fall of 25. The key justifications for this primarily is twofold. We want to avoid the shortcomings of redistricting.

[02:18:46] It is a task that puts a lot of burden on students, on the schools, and we don't move into it lightly. And additionally, there's just simply not space at the surrounding schools to offer any measurable, significant overcrowding relief to Covington-Harper.

[02:19:06] Lastly, as I mentioned before, we are supporting student stability and student learning by being mindful that the attendance areas for this geographic area will be changing for the 27-28 school year. And that wraps up our presentation.

[02:19:21] I'm here for any questions. - Sir Wall, okay. - Yeah, I know, shocking. I'll start us off. Thank you, Dr. Carlage.

[02:19:37] Thank you, Vern. Thank you for the team. I appreciate you guys putting this together and doing the research. It definitely met my desire in the fact that you provided an overview laying out the timeline of what occurred, what led to these delays.

[02:19:56] Although I don't agree with the solution, I respect it. My board voted and voted it down back in October, as you mentioned, and unless there's a change or something in their opinions or something that they can state later, probably after me, then we're just moving forward, as you said, with the current plan that you have outlined there.

[02:20:15] I appreciate Mr. Jinnick, I appreciate Ms. Zargarpur helping me get this added to the agenda. I wanted this to be as transparent as possible 'cause of the growing concerns as illustrated tonight with some of the speakers. You know, I appreciate Ms. Thompson, Ms. Marshall, Ms. Stroy and Mr. Ellingson coming tonight, as long as others who came before them.

[02:20:39] So I guess what I want to talk about now, and it's already been brought up and broached, I guess I should say by a number of speakers, and I'm not expecting answers right now at this moment about some of the concerns I have moving forward for the next two school years, intermittently before this 1,050 seat building, Potomac Shores Elementary opens.

[02:21:02] But these are some things that I've flagged and I do believe are, you know, growing concerns. And I know we have a number of months, the school year is actually coming to an end fairly quickly, believe it or not, as we all know. And then of course we'll have a summer and then the school will open.

[02:21:18] So families are going to have undoubtedly questions about this matter in a number of key areas that I would like to bring forward. And again, this is by no means a comprehensive list. and some of it, again, has been articulated by other speakers tonight. And if I was to summarize safety and security, right?

[02:21:36] And Mr. Bach, you know, I brought this up. We're, I think we're fortunate as a district that the chairman of the Safe Schools Advisory Council is a resident of Potomac Shores. So of course he sees the need and the desire to add some more security features.

[02:21:54] And I know I've brought it up and the idea that's, Again, this idea, I'm not saying that I'm gonna get the approval, but this is what's something I'd like for the board or everyone to consider is, you know, having a community safety officer assigned to that building.

[02:22:10] And we don't have to just make it Covington Harper specifically. We can make a benchmark in our division for elementary schools, again, in my opinion, for if you hit a certain threshold of a number of trailers, do you get some more heightened security or support to better, you know, what word am I looking for?

[02:22:32] Not a suage, mitigate, thank you, Mr. Genick, to mitigate some of the concerns of the constituents with that. So that would be an extra layer of protection. I would love to see. And if my colleagues do not support the redistricting immediately for the next school year, this is something to consider as we expand the capacity of that building and add more trailers.

[02:22:57] Another item that was broached by Ms. Stroy and in full transparency, three weeks ago, she and her family met with me at Panera. I heard this story from her, what she mentioned tonight during her citizen comment time and some of the frustration that she is experiencing with bullying.

[02:23:20] As the number of students continues to exceed capacity, I continue to fear about the capacity and the ability for administration to be able to tackle the rising number of disciplinary issues. And this may be, again, is not necessarily just Covington Harper specific, but what I'm looking at is a school that has really the enrollment of a middle school, it's actually larger than Grant Park, the enrollment of larger than some of my middle schools.

[02:23:52] And again, I would like to hopefully look at if we're going this route, analyzing and seeing that if only two assistant principals is enough to support the disciplinary measures and the enforcement of that in the building. Lunch and transition times have already been brought up.

[02:24:08] Ms. Marshall mentioned about how lunch does start at 10:40 AM and that is true. Of course, I have concerns about how that's gonna work with the scheduling and ensuring that instructional time is not lost and all these kids are gonna be able to go in, not just for lunch, but also breakfast in the morning and to ensure they have everything they need.

[02:24:26] I understand we do follow as a division the student per teacher ratio or, you know, I forget the acronym, but we follow that procedure. My concern though is bandwidth on things such as cafeteria staff, such as janitorial staff, things like that nature that come up as a result of this increased number of students going through the school on a daily basis.

[02:24:53] Encore and special classes. You know, when I was asked by, I believe, a newspaper reporter about the 13 trailers, you know, I was speculative about that because not questioning your data about that and your numbers, what I'm looking at potentially is, okay, so 13 trailers, but what about how do we add specials?

[02:25:15] How do we provide that additional support without adding additional trailers? So that was something that came up to my mind. And I know originally, I think a couple of weeks or months ago, I brought up the number 15 and I think we didn't have a final number and I don't think we're ever gonna necessarily have a final number because of the construction and the growth that is going on back there at an inexorable rate.

[02:25:36] But I do believe we have to look at potentially more than 13 trailers. But again, that is all something I know a principal makes a decision on based off their numbers and projections and things like that. I just look at that as a concern, especially again with the transitions to and fro the building.

[02:25:54] I also look at that with those projections and saying, right now we have a system in place with someone equipped with like the walkie-talkie and connected with the system and for safety and security, I acknowledge that. But again, increased number of students, increased crossing, you know, the courtyard, having to be led into the building, bathroom breaks, early dismissals, late arrivals, these different things that are potentially gonna impact instructional time.

[02:26:21] Those are again, further concerns of mine. Staff in space, that was brought up earlier. And again, bandwidth, as our two teachers came tonight and spoke about making sure we had the bandwidth to be able to support and educate these students. So those are some, again, this is not a comprehensive list.

[02:26:37] And I know other speakers can or will come in the future and bring forward additional topics. But those are items that I hope as a board without doing the changes in the redistricting this year that we are able to address to the families of the community.

[02:26:58] And so final thoughts on this to summarize about what I've just talked about is I want to put a disclaimer that I don't believe student success is limited by learning in trailers. I had a trailer when I was in school in Michigan. My son was in a trailer at Swann's Creek Elementary.

[02:27:16] I don't believe the quality of education diminishes inside a trailer in a classroom. That's not my concern. That concern as you heard is a plethora of other issues. So I want to put that there out there originally and high quality teachers are there now. They're doing the best that they can.

[02:27:32] We have some outstanding educators in that building as we do in a number on all of our schools, excuse me, in Prince William County. I want to also mention Mr. Jesse highlighted earlier this year, Covington Harper has received strong recognition for SOL scores. So it is a top performing school despite, you know, what we've talked about here.

[02:27:52] And so again, my concern, I think we have things in place right now for the present. I would like to obviously see major improvements, but my concern is for the future. What are we looking at the next intermediate years between the two? I don't have the support and the votes to change that.

[02:28:08] So what can we do as a system and a board to assure our parents to mitigate any other issues that may come up as a result of this? And again, I'm not asking for immediate answers. These are just concerns and thoughts kind of where we're at with the presentation.

[02:28:26] So again, I thank the division for putting on the presentation. I think one of the most glaring slides is slide 10, where we see all the delays. And I would encourage people to dig in a little bit more about the unnamed party that caused a two-year delay.

[02:28:41] This building was set, as you showed the projections, 2021, and that would have alleviated the overcrowding immediately. but the delays that were compounded year after year after year caused the delay in this opening of the school.

[02:28:56] And as the vision, a lot of this, I know, preceded this administration. And this is what, in a sense, you guys inherited exactly. So we're doing the best we can in that regard. But that, again, that amongst other slides and the data that we're showing with the overcrowding, that was pretty glaring to me.

[02:29:14] And I would encourage people to do some research on that item. But that is where I'm at. So unless something changes, those are again, my concerns moving forward. And I appreciate the division's time putting this together. This will also be my board matters, don't worry. So I will not need my four minutes at the end of this.

[02:29:31] So thank you. - Mr. Wilk, thank you. I, we hear your concerns. I've noted those and I appreciate your concerns. Thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Wilk, Ms. Williams. - Thank you. I want to thank the division for putting together pretty constant have comprehensive presentation I want to start with just saying that we have had a plan in place for this issue for years it is not new to the division it is not new to any of the board members that have been here for a while I just want to make sure that I reiterate that as much as

[02:30:11] possible because there seems to be this sort of sense of misinformation in the public that we are not aware we have not been working on this and I'm glad that that that was highlighted in this presentation. I think one of the things that there's a lot of information around is how challenging it can be for the division to acquire land and to plan for a new school site.

[02:30:32] As someone who has served on this board almost since the first year I got on and been involved in land acquisition and finding new sites for schools, and as the district, Weber's district is getting its first brand new ever school in well over two decades, This is an issue that's near and dear to my heart as well as boundary issues, sat through many of those.

[02:30:55] I understand the importance of the cohesiveness of keeping a school community together and how much trauma it can cause, especially for our young ones. When we redistrict or reboundary within a certain amount of time, I believe one of our policies is we don't do within three years because in my district, I've had to put the kibosh on that several times under the previous administration.

[02:31:18] my district I also understand, as well as working with our former school board member, Ms. Jessie, about trailers and trailer issues. I've always had trailers at my schools. It's never not been a trailer situation. I can say that that is something that this board has been especially sensitive to over the years.

[02:31:37] There's mixed bags and feelings from staff and students on whether they like trailers or not. And I understand the complexity of Covington-Harper, the distance as a little bit longer than at typical elementary school sites for the students to come in and out. I wanna stop right here and ask a question about that.

[02:31:53] At one time, we had trailers where students could utilize the restroom outdoor in the trailers. Is that still an option that's available now? - That is an option, and that's a note I've made to investigate an option for a trailer restroom at that location. - Okay, thanks, 'cause I've been in one of those.

[02:32:09] They're nice, way better than porta potties and concerts, and sometimes even nicer than the ones in the inside of the building, 'cause they don't get as much use. But I think that that's important 'cause our youngest learners often don't have the longest legs. So I hear the concerns from the staff.

[02:32:26] But I do want the public to know that our staff is amazing. And this is not an issue that is new to them either in the instructional time or the safety concerns. I remember a few years ago, Maremsco Hills had over 10 trailers and there was just not enough space 'cause I sat up here and was very vocal about emergency drills and that's an older, smaller school.

[02:32:50] So there wasn't even enough room, if they did a tornado drill, to house all of the students and the staff at one time. And we've since resolved that issue. So I know that we have extremely capable staff on our side to help work through this. I understand as a parent too, 'cause both of my students have been at schools with trailers, how difficult it can be.

[02:33:11] But there are also some good things that come from that as well. But I just want for the public to understand that the beginning of that Route 1, top of the Potomac District, the Cherry Hill area, all the way up to North Route 1, almost every single school is over capacity.

[02:33:28] There really isn't a place to put students. When you start to go further south, the distance and the time and the traffic and the bus schedules and all of those things also have to be put in consideration when we do redistricting. And there aren't a lot of other elementary schools in close proximity that we can bus those students to that we wouldn't then again have to interrupt them.

[02:33:49] You'd have to really sort of go in Western into the county and further in Montclair area where there is availability. But again, as you pointed out so nicely in this presentation, once we redistrict those students there, if we were to decide to do that, they'd have to come right back. And then you're talking about a loss of instructional time because of the longer bus times it would take for the students to get there.

[02:34:10] You're also talking about impact of families' abilities to participate in programming within the school for their students and to be involved. So I am very empathetic and sympathetic to our Covington Harper families. As a parent, I have experienced some of that myself with my student in school.

[02:34:29] But what I can say is we do have amazing staff. We have great SOL scores. We have great programs at our schools. And it has always been the case. Featherstone at one time, love the school, completely biased, but has been an award-winning school for several years now, good SOL scores last year.

[02:34:47] One of those schools, a significant amount of trailers, leading the way on having attendance and some other awards. So while this is more than uncomfortable for those students and our staff members of being a little bit overcrowded, the main goal of educating our students and learning and growing I know is continuing to happen.

[02:35:08] I just wanna make sure that I heard you clearly when you're talking about new programmatics that we're not taking away anything from the students and the families that are currently at the division, at that school, correct? - That's correct. - And we have no intention to do so, correct? - Correct. - Okay.

[02:35:23] And the other thing that I want to bring up too is the lunch transition times. I'm pretty sure almost all of our elementary schools, our lunch starts around 10:30, 10:45, correct? - That's accurate. - Yeah, 'cause I had a, well, I remember when I, my youngest, there's a 12 year gap when they started elementary school again.

[02:35:38] I was like, what, you're eating lunch at 10? What is going on? We do have second chance breakfast and other resources available for our students if they're hungry after that. But I know that we can't do any additional adding of classrooms and such like that to Covington Harbor at this time 'cause there isn't the land space too as well, correct?

[02:35:57] - That's correct. - And we wouldn't be able to accomplish that within the timeframe before we start redistricting? - That's correct. - Okay. 'Cause the other thing I want our listening community and the public to understand is how long it takes to build something. even with my new elementary school coming in, that's also been delayed and due to site issues, correct?

[02:36:18] I believe that's the issue, one of the issues, right. And so I can tell you after serving and our director of facilities could probably also agree, I'm a pain in the butt when it comes to these kinds of things. It's also something that I enjoy, but Dr. Cartler's gonna tell you too, I'm in there when it comes to where we're putting students, How long is it going to take the buses to get there?

[02:36:43] Are we adhering to the laws and regulations that we have to for students in a building where we bus them? Are we communicating well enough with the community and the family and educating them on all of the moving parts in this process and are we being equitable?

[02:36:58] Because that's another very important thing. It is not a slow, excuse me, it's not a fast track. Anytime you want to move students, anytime you want to build a new building, you want put an addition on we have to work with developers county the public the parents the families sometimes it can even speak to in the case of my new elementary school we have done all the things correct you dig a hole and find a surprise that wasn't even on the county's development records so it's not an easy thing and nobody likes an overcrowded school so i understand that but i

[02:37:33] just want our our public to be very clear on the fact that we are aware that it is overcrowded we knew this was coming and we have been doing everything we can for several years to ensure that the overcrowding period was temporary that we had a mitigation plans going back in our cip several years which speaks to the fact that we knew that this was an upcoming issue and that we plan to do our best to resolve it we can't control when other parties are interested in land site we can't control if you find a surprise during construction but i just wanted to be perfectly clear that we knew this and we've had a mitigation plan for a long

[02:38:13] time there have been changes to it but we're gonna do our best to ensure that our schools are populated as as we plan them to be as effectively as we can but we also don't control when a developer starts developing which is another key issue we've experienced that or I've experienced that in Belmont Bay we've had a couple of times where we've had developers go oh we're gonna start to build houses we start to plan for that no housing or we've had issues where a site has been already approved for development we're monitoring it the developer says nothing and all of a sudden we have construction and so I think that there's a fine balance when it comes to student generation where

[02:38:52] they're going to be located at and all of the timing involved I do want to congratulate this administration for not only changing how we look at student generation rates but also how we plan to accommodate students that was a major update to our procedures which I think has been very helpful I also like the new graphic animation that's pretty cool when it comes to extra security could you tell me sir Bach what we have currently in our elementary schools for security yeah we we have currently 12 CSOs that patrol our school division they're armed former commission law enforcement officers next year through

[02:39:32] budget markup we'll be adding six additional so they'll be patrolling in essence four schools per day and be assigned to four schools they go around our school division in a randomized format we have added over 150 school security officers in and we have one at each of our elementary schools with respect to trailers we have cameras that are focused on our trailers and also communications with intercoms and radios into the trailers.

[02:40:04] Those doors, just like our school building, are kept secure and locked. And we've trained staff in the school, in those trailers to, you know, before opening a door, make sure you recognize an individual. Just don't, you know, open the door for anyone. So I think we have a lot of different safety and security measures that we've implemented at the elementary level to accommodate the trailers.

[02:40:23] - Do we have armed security officers at our elementary school? - We do. We have the CSOs that I mentioned going to 18 next year that patrol our elementary schools. - Okay, and do you, I'm not sure if you know the exact time, I know it's a pretty short time period from a response for the police division to arrive on. - I don't have response times, but I know it's very quick.

[02:40:41] - 'Cause I remember at one point, no matter where we were in the county, I think it was like under five minutes. - It's very quick. - So it was very quick. And that school's also very relatively close to the Eastern District Police Station as well. - That's correct. - Do we have any, with the cameras you say, and I don't wanna go into detail, but they not only monitor the trailers, I'm sure, but as well as the grounds around?

[02:41:00] - Yes, ma'am. Multiple cameras around each campus. - 'Cause I've been concerned about, but I know Covington-Harper does not back up into any wooded areas. So it's a pretty open line of sight as well. - Correct. - Okay, I just wanted to make sure, 'cause I have a lot of schools where there's nothing but tree lines back there and trailers.

[02:41:17] So I heard a lot of comments from our families about that. And I just wanted to be clear, when we do the redistricting plan, it's gonna involve for Covington-Harper and the new elementary school, - Will we also be looking at some of the schools on the other side of route one and opening up to a broader viewpoint?

[02:41:34] Because I think that's one of the issues is that we notice there are some schools as you move to the west that have available seats, but I'm not sure what that looks like. Could you talk a little bit about that as well? - Yeah, absolutely. So as part of the process, we will update our enrollment projections in October based on our new baseline, September 30th.

[02:41:53] At that time, we'll be able to really identify what will be the total scope of the schools affected. We know now that we confidently want to move forward with the entire Route 1 corridor from Belmont all the way down to Triangle. I'm assuming you're kind of referring to like Ashland and Montclair kind of going up.

[02:42:12] - Yeah, I'm not the geography expert, but I know there's available seats on that end. - We are aware of the space at Ashland. So we will be looking at that more comprehensively and then recommending to the board, this is the scope that we think we should move forward with. - And how will the community be able to participate in that process?

[02:42:28] - Yeah, so through the new regulation policy that was adopted last October, we will continue to use community town hall style meetings to engage with everyone. And then we will also, for the first time, be using focus groups.

[02:42:43] And these focus groups could be representing schools on the north, on the south. They could be a subset of population within the affected area. That could be its own focus group. Additionally, we'll have an online interactive website that parents and guardians will be able to go to, learn about all of the milestones, the process, enter their address and be instantly told this is how your school assignment would change from these various proposals.

[02:43:14] - Thank you, I appreciate that. I know everyone doesn't like trailers, but I can tell you they've been here for a long time. When I was a student at Prince William, when the dinosaurs roamed, we had trailers. I had art in a trailer back then at Rockledge. I just really want to thank Mr. Bach, you and your team for all the hard work that goes into presenting this material and really being aware and monitoring what the county does because we are limited in the amount of time that we have to make a decision.

[02:43:41] And there's so many other outside factors that occurred that we have zero control over that often interrupt our plans to have schools not at over capacity. So I wanna thank you again for this presentation. I hope that the public will be able to tune in and if they have any questions, reach out after this.

[02:44:01] So thank you. - Thank you. - Go ahead, Mr. Dennett. - I mean, we do have great technology. It would be wonderful if we could somehow get buttons where once we push in, we're in a order.

[02:44:18] You know, since we'd like to remind the public of things, I'd like to remind the public that last meeting, I tried to vote to limit our time to five minutes. I think it's very difficult for us as board members get to allow each other to speak when we take 15 minutes of time and we don't switch over and allow for other questions.

[02:44:36] I would like to thank you, Mr. Cartlidge, because a lot of the questions that were asked I know you've covered in another presentation that you gave us in the past. I would also like to thank my colleague, Mr. Wilk, because I think that this lens is put like Mr. Wilk is doing something bad by asking for this.

[02:44:52] Mr. Wilk was elected to represent his district and his constituents, his teachers, his parents, had an issue and he needed to address it whether it had been addressed on a board years ago doesn't matter because right now there are parents who may not have had kids in school years ago who have an issue and mr wilk needed to address that issue so i thank you mr wilk for doing your job as a school board member and addressing your constituents and their issues and their concerns um i too have constituents that have concerns in my district about overcrowding we've talked about this before

[02:45:27] you we've had good discussions um what i'd like to ask for um because i think this was very insightful i don't need you to do a presentation here but possibly a smaller and i know you did a little packet for me but possibly resending it and updating it for haymarket because um because this has come up on the agenda my haymarket parents have re-asked what are we doing what's the plan there i know that there is steps of mitigation and plans um i also uh would like to say that leadership matters at our schools too um our schools that are overcrowded leadership matters and i think that it's a big deal when that's a trickle down effect to some of the

[02:46:07] issues that we heard tonight of um you know discipline and things like that i think some of those things hopefully will will change at certain schools that are overcrowded um with with different changes as well um and i know i've seen that firsthand and appreciate that so um but i i do feel strongly for our Covington Harper families, the parents that came and spoke tonight, and I'm sorry that we can't do more, that you can't see what we're doing tangibly right now, but I hope that some of these mitigation strategies are helpful to them and to their students especially,

[02:46:45] and that I believe that they're still getting a wonderful education and I hope that continues and that it can only get better it can only keep getting better for them um i i do disagree strongly with talking about trailers being great um i've just never liked them uh that can be my opinion alone i guess um i'm not a fan i don't think that they should be included in capacity especially when we talk about capacity of the school because the school is the building that we built for them to go i do not believe that the trailers should be included i don't believe that they should be included when when we're talking about land use cases and things like that um

[02:47:24] so I that's something I struggle with I I do um see this as an issue and I see us repeating this history and I've said this before um in in my district we're getting ready to have neighborhoods that are continuing to be approved every single month we have land use cases coming to the Brentsville district for approval um and as that happens our schools are going to become overcrowded especially because you talk about how new houses have more children than old houses have, I guess, is what you said.

[02:47:55] Not the houses physically, I assume it's the people that move into them, but okay. I think that that's going to be a conversation that we have to have. And like we said, I think a comment was made that we have overcrowding in all of our schools. I know that that's not true because I know that in my district we have overcrowded schools and undercapacity schools.

[02:48:16] And I think a redistricting effort would help mitigate that even without the build of a new school and things like that. So I appreciate all your work. I know you guys are working through different strategies. And again, I'd just like to thank Mr. Wilk for advocating for his constituents.

[02:48:38] Mr. Jesse. You know, I'm really happy that you brought out the causes for what we have here. It's a very delicate situation.

[02:48:55] uh humans parents people who buy the homes you know they were probably told about the problem with the uh school being overcrowded but they bought the home anyway the developer what i would hope but i know it's not going to happen that the parents get really ticked off at the developers because that's where the the problem lie but that's not going to happen they're going to get ticked off as us and it's not necessarily fair we're doing the best we can but that's just the

[02:49:35] reality so we have to deal with it but again we got a real can't use the word i want to from the developer and that person or the persons are making money now and they're not doing anything to say let's help get something with our school system they are just making money selling the houses as fast as they can i think mr wilkes gave some excellent uh ideas that we need i do agree

[02:50:13] with my colleague to the left here that we should not and i hope we are not counting trailers as far as the capacity of the school so that that i hope but you know is this again we need to the other thing I think in here I believe and correct me if I'm wrong if a school is a title one school the amount of students that they have is limited by the

[02:50:48] capacity of the building and also if you have trailers but is that correct I think you you might be mentioning the Virginia kindergarten through third grade class size reduction grant that some of the schools utilize as a as a function of when they qualify based on the number of free lunches.

[02:51:13] That would then invoke reduced class sizes for grades K through three. And as long as they're in compliance with keeping the class sizes for those four grades under what the grant outlines, the limiting factor to your point is, are there enough classrooms to make those class sizes upheld?

[02:51:37] - Okay. Title I isn't necessarily directly related to that. It's more the Virginia K-3 class size reduction grant. - But some of our schools are using those grants and that's the issue. We don't want to give up the grants. - Correct, correct. - So again, thank you for doing this.

[02:51:55] Actually, I would like for you to have beaten up on the developer a little bit more, but you did a reasonably good job, thank you. - And if Mr. Cartlidge could just address the trailers in capacity of buildings. I'd like him to do that.

[02:52:11] - Yeah, thank you. To Mr. Denning's point and Mr. Jesse's point, when we receive a rezoning application from the county government asking for an impact statement, if the developer has identified the school's capacity inclusive of trailers, we flag that as an issue.

[02:52:34] Our impact statements that we deliver to the planning department, which then goes to the planning commission and the BOCS, those impact statements only provide an assessment on the physical building itself. No portable classrooms are ever included in those assessments.

[02:52:58] - Thank you, Ms. Wall. - Thank you. So to Mr. Wilk and community members from the Covington Harbor area, I am very sympathetic to what your school community experiencing due to delays in the area for Gainesville High School delays for getting the school open the land and all other kinds of delays you know my my students were at Battlefield High School when it had a hundred a thousand extra students beyond capacity so I know what you're experiencing you're not

[02:53:35] there yet hopefully you won't be there but I understand and I and I am sympathetic overcrowding is is is something you know we don't we we try to avoid I think you know the BOCS approving housing and approving lots of higher density housing than originally perhaps was planned the developers slowdowns and delays and the land issues the suitability issues of the land these are things that are without without beyond the school divisions control and they are all three a factor in what has happened what is transpired here I think the history was very informative it helps to understand like

[02:54:15] how did we get to this place because you know it is frustrating to have lots and lots of housing built and then the schools are trying to play catch-up and then when you get developers and delays and land issues and you know site suitability thrown in the mix you end up with a problem like this and so I am truly sorry that this has happened however having experienced a number of boundary adjustments in my area of the county back a decade 15 years ago when the same kind of thing was happening where developers were building hand over fist and making a ton of money and you know just throwing houses up and the

[02:54:50] school division was trying to build school year after year after year and I served on several boundary committees because I was in areas where my kids were getting redistricted I know that one thing people really do not like is getting moved out of a school that they're happy with and if you move them one year and then two years later you move them again they're gonna be very unhappy and I know this from personal experience in my neighborhoods in the town halls in the boundary committee hearings people just do not like it because it disrupts their playgroup associations their mom groups their

[02:55:28] birthday party lists their babysitters you name it it's very disruptive and so I think while the community does have a desire to say, okay, let's redistrict and it's okay if we redistrict in a couple of years, I don't know, just take it from somebody who's lived through that. It does come with a lot of unhappiness and frustration. In this situation, if a boundary adjustment were to proceed this year, like the 25, 26 school year, let's say we you know did it and then again two years later in the 27 28 school year we would

[02:56:06] have to redo that and invariably there would be kids who would be moved out of Covington harper to another school and then moved back into Covington harper or they could be moved from Covington harper and then moved to yet another school which is what happened in the Bristow Gainesville Haymarket area you know 15 years ago and it did cause a lot of pain and and people don't like that they don't like getting moved around they don't they don't like getting jerked around it feels like that and ideally people think oh well i won't move somebody else will have to move i'll get to stay in the school but it doesn't necessarily work that way and so i think um i

[02:56:44] appreciate the chance to talk about this problem again i sympathize with the desire to do something quickly and now it feels like we need to solve it now but sometimes the quick solution can cause greater problems down the road for families, and I know while it's difficult this is a difficult challenge the community is facing with the rapid development of housing in a relatively small area and all the land issues and everything else. I do trust that we can get through this and that's what my community had to do back in the day and I think we do have a good plan. I wanted to offer

[02:57:18] one suggestion and I don't know if it would it's kind of out of the blocks thinking we can take it or leave it it's totally fine but what if we another idea to the ideas that mr. Wilk put forward would be what if we had like a liberal transfer process where somebody really felt like I just can't deal with this overcrowding and I'm willing to be the one that moves that we had like a liberal transfer process in the elementary school within a region or something where families could apply to go to a school where there was space as long as they provided themselves transportation or something like just throwing it out there if you want to move we'll let you move because normally we have a we have limits right you have

[02:57:55] have like a babysitter or like a bullying reason or a doctor's note just throwing it out there because we do have availability not necessarily next door there are only a couple schools here i see swans creek and mary williams have a few spaces um but that's something we could consider like just kind of opening it up a little bit a liberal transfer process where families are willing to be the one that moves for a couple of years knowing that they may have you know they may get redistricted back into covington harper then at least they could escape the overcrowding just throwing that out there yeah thank you miss wall and we do have that process in place already

[02:58:29] covington harper does qualify for that as it exceeds 120 of capacity parents can request a transfer through regulation 721-1 and cite significantly overcrowded as the reason it becomes an accepted reason for transfer and they could transfer out i did not know that we had that policy that is great to hear okay yeah um maybe maybe that could be offered to the community like if this is you're really unhappy about you know kids and trailers then here are some schools that

[02:59:00] you could transfer to what was the policy again that's 721-1 problem entry all right thank you very much i appreciate your work on this i think you know thank mr book for bringing it up it's good to talk about these things they really are important issues and people do care deeply about it and i understand that thank you miss wall miss zagarpoor uh thank you um so so covington harper is not a school i am as familiar with and i know when i looked at the numbers of the area schools

[02:59:35] they all seemed overcrowded and data shows this um but when you put patty on here patty is up 234 yes how many miles is it away from covington harper it's not close it's not an adjacent school we use cip regions okay and the theory behind that is that if they are in the same elementary cip region then through redistricting cascading effect those schools are close enough in

[03:00:09] proximity okay because um the one thing that i've had to do as a board member was when we built the new elementary school in Manassas and three of my schools were affected none of my kids were going to go to the new school and I get the they were trying to move kids out of a crowded school and sort of spread it out and and families were upset about that they were happy in their school as it was my concern and this is my concern for a lot of pockets in this county particularly down down on the Route 1 corridor, Mr. Wilk's district, Mr. Genick's district.

[03:00:49] And this is gonna be some tough conversations, I believe, because we have schools that are so overcrowded. And I'm looking at this Patti Elementary and I'm thinking, but there's Henderson nearby, there's Ashland. I have Kyle Wilson, which has got a ton of kids in it.

[03:01:05] And you'd have to shift these populations all around and you get to, as you kind of push different territory I feel like that's what's going to end up happening in some of these very very densely populated places and I am worried about Brentsville because that sounds like one that's just gonna it's a it's gonna happen so I I don't have a solution I just want to offer up that this this is not as easy as it would appear and and echoing a lot of what Miss Wall had said it's

[03:01:43] there's a lot of other things to be considering so thank you I don't know if you have a response or anything but I or if you have a great idea and you're just like I was waiting for you someone to open that door but thank you for for this presentation I think I'll just bring a reminder to the board and to those tuning in that Prince William County is not immune to decreasing birth rates like we're seeing throughout the entire nation and globally as well so what we have to be mindful about is we have projections today that are a prediction of the future we're going to have updated projections come September 30th

[03:02:22] and that'll be our first set of projections that June no longer has the effects of the pre pandemic also this coming year the kindergarten class has an heightened amount of variability for projections because we still recorded their births in 2020 as living here and as we all know a lot has happened since the pandemic there's been a lot of mobility a lot of shifts to the exurbs of dc to richmond to the carolinas and south so we'll need to see what that kindergarten class actually looks like

[03:02:57] this fall and some of these places that have been overcrowded they might course correct themselves without any redistricting it won't be the case for every school but some will thank you thank you very much. Yeah, just thank you for that detailed analysis and the responsible approach to problem solving. I just think this kind of forward, I think that it's a forward thinking, forward

[03:03:34] planning and it's grounded in data and sensitivity to the community needs. So I think it's a good course of action and I think it sets a standard for effective governance. So I appreciate the presentation thank you thank you on to board matters all right we start with oh mr wilk you

[03:04:10] said you got you passed okay mr dennick i mean i i'll pass too mr jesse three strikes you out i'm the third strike what i never give an opportunity away to say something right um

[03:04:44] okay um first of all happy administrative professionals week to all of our administrative professionals um also i love stop the scroll take control i don't remember the name of the studio on that i love it um i'm really excited about the cell phone policy and implementation and communication and enforcement plan which i would love to hear more about maybe we're going to hear about that i'm not sure if we're going to hear about that by um at the end of this set of meetings like hopefully next month but um i would love to hear about it and i think the public would

[03:05:20] probably benefit from hearing about what our plan is um come august so if um we can talk about that later i think that would be fantastic um i hope everybody had a great spring break i know i did i was able to visit my three um college students my three pwcs grads and spend some time with them and they're doing great and they tell me because i asked them you know how do you feel that your PWCS education prepared you for college and they all report they feel very prepared and they're all doing very well so good job educators who educated my kids I want to share my congratulations to all the outstanding educators who

[03:05:57] came out last night for that amazing ceremony it was a really nice event I am told that the reception food was provided by Garfield's culinary program and it was delicious what an honor to be there in attendance with some of the people I hold in the highest esteem educators have been some of the people who have directly influenced me the most in my life, apart from my parents and ecclesiastical leaders.

[03:06:19] They're right up there with these great, wonderful people. Congrats to all the finalists. We had a couple of folks from the Gainesville district, so that was pretty exciting. I also wanted to say, earlier today I attended the Unified Track Meet at Forest Park.

[03:06:35] There were 13 high schools in attendance from Prince William County and Fauquier County, and there were so many amazing supportive students there to help out that track event to be a great unifying, inclusive event for students. It was just a wonderful feeling.

[03:06:51] Unifying, kind, thoughtful, it was amazing. So great job for everybody who participated in that. Now that the budget has been approved, we'll be heading into our annual review of the Code of Behavior, which is a ritual, I think.

[03:07:08] I look forward to reviewing the recommended improvements and I hope that they reflect my thoughts where we need to go with the code of behavior um i'm looking forward to hearing about how our students did in the third quarter um and i encourage everyone to work hard and stay committed to the end i've quoted this before um but it's that time of year when this thought comes to my mind um some years ago my father gave every grandkid the chance to earn a large pack of skittles if they could memorize this poem that he gave them and not surprisingly many of his grandchildren took him up on the offer and some of his own children did as well and um i am the recipient

[03:07:46] of his frequent quoting of this poem which has become kind of a mantra and i'm not going to quote the whole poem but i'm going to start it out it goes like this it's the steady constant driving to the goal for which you're striving not the speed with which you travel that will make your victory sure it's the everlasting gaining without whimper or complaining at the burdens you are bearing or the woes you must endure it's the holding to a purpose and the never giving in it's the cutting down the distance by the little that you win it's the iron will to do it and the steady sticking to it so whatever your task go to it and life's purpose you will win it's a very

[03:08:20] nice thought for the final quarter of a school year and thanks to my dad i multiple times have memorized this spell for a bag of skittles anyway um to thine own self be true good luck everybody and have a wonderful wonderful week thank you miss wall miss williams well looks like i should have added that minute a long time ago because uh the amount of time we're saving um i'm not going to take up too much time i just want to say welcome back from spring break i hope that everyone had an enjoyable spring break away from school got some rest we are in sol season i want to let

[03:08:57] parents know that one of the best ways to help their students is by talking about it teens aren't especially excited to talk about it so you may want to do it in short chunks that's what we do at my house it makes it much more effective especially car rides places because if you have boys it tends to go better less direct eye contact also for parents test nav is on your students canva account on their device that is a place that they can go to do practice sol tests if you are like me even though i've been doing this all these years sometimes the questions throw me i don't want to throw my student direct them right to test nav we get rewards if you take a

[03:09:34] test and get a good score I also want to remind parents it's not just the material on the test that's important it's learning how to take a test that's also important so the best you can do to replicate an environment similar to what they will be doing in school when they take the test also maximizes the score that the student can achieve on the test if you don't have a quiet environment it's okay as similar as it can possibly be works just fine also in my house we do one test and I let it go the older the students are the less likely they want to do homework back to back it's also good to have breaks in between and that's very helpful I know a lot of students have test anxiety I did

[03:10:14] not enjoy taking tests myself so those are some of the few helpful hints and suggestions that I have in from in my house because we often focus on the material and we don't we leave off the part of how important it is to learn how to take a test as well. In addition to that, it's scheduled times. A lot of students will be making selections, course selections for next year. Our course catalog is online if you want to take a look at it for parents. Also, I would highly encourage you review the, Dr. McDade, I'm sorry, what's it called? It's not, it's profile of a student, right?

[03:10:45] Profile of a student? Profile of a graduate? Yes. So it's in your parent view or your student vision profile. Sorry, I keep getting the two mixed up. But as we're moving into next year that's very important parents it's in your parent view account and students it's in your student view account it's all the information you need to play it for the future for your academic future so go ahead and look in there if you have a rising ninth grader it gives you all the high schoolers especially programs everything under one sign on one document it's amazing outside of that I'm going to wrap up by saying happy administrative professionals week and happy administrative professionals day thank you to our clerk miss Laura Mills

[03:11:23] to our deputy clerk Miss Anna and Danielle is in the back it is important to appreciate our administrators they are often the ones that are the backbone of the people you see out in front making the decisions they do the work behind the scenes and I just want to say thank you very much as someone who spent 20 plus years as an EA and in administration and how I grew up I know the work that is done and I just want to say thank you very much from the bottom of my heart it's a lot so with that there's some new upcoming events and the only one I want to mention is rising senior applications for common application overview for families that's on April 29th it is a virtual parent

[03:12:02] engagement series thank you thank you well this won't be too long I forgot to mention that at the meeting that I had attended we had talked a little bit about the event that's gonna be tomorrow night, the SEAS highlights.

[03:12:19] SEAS is the Prince William County Student Environmental Action Showcase. So these are project-based learning opportunities that students and their teachers worked on together, student-driven, teachers the guide on the side, and they came up with their own questions about something in their environment and just kind of followed that thread until they got to a project.

[03:12:42] So those will be tomorrow night at the independent school. There's not a lot of parking over there. They said that there will be parking over here and a bus to take us over. So I forgot to mention that one earlier. I want to thank the parents that I got to speak with over the past week.

[03:12:57] My spring break was spent time just with my grandsons, three in one, and watching how they learn and grow has been fun to relive, but I don't have to live it every single day, I can pass them back off. But I was home and I got a chance to take extra time to meet with community members, some teachers and parents and some students as well.

[03:13:20] And I just wanna remind teachers, I love hearing your concerns and I will always make sure we start our meetings by saying as long as it doesn't have anything to do with the collective bargaining stuff, I will sit and listen because that's just a conflict of interest and I wanna make sure that if there is something that's important that's outside of that, I am available to you.

[03:13:41] Thank you all for everyone who came to talk tonight. I do care what everyone has to say. Sometimes it's not always easy to listen to where we are not thriving in. And I wanna make sure that we are doing things to make our schools better for our students.

[03:13:59] Hope everyone has a great last quarter and have a good night. - Thank you, Mrs. Agrapoor. All right, well, I just wanna say, welcome back from spring break. I hope everyone found some time to rest and recharge, to spend some meaningful moments with family and friends.

[03:14:18] And as always, it's been a privilege to be here representing the Neabsco District and reflecting on their incredible experiences since the last meeting. So over the past few weeks, I've had the honor of attending a wide range of events that truly highlight the vibrancy and dedication of our schools, staff, and most importantly, our students.

[03:14:40] Let me start by congratulating Hampton Middle School, who defended their title and won Battle of the Brains for the second year in a row. Congratulations. I also had a chance to spend quite a bit of time at Garfield over these past two weeks, which I like to describe as a small city.

[03:14:59] It was bustling just between the orchestra craft show. They had a community pop-up event. They had a powerful student-led Sixth Musical and a health and wellness expo. So as you can see, Garfield just continues to be the hub of culture, health, and community connection in Dell City.

[03:15:19] And speaking of energy and expression, I want to give a special shout out to the Fitzgerald Beam Steppers and my Bevel Imperial Steppers, who lit up the stage at the step up and show out step show at Patriot High School.

[03:15:36] And then our students' critical thinking was also on full display as I attended the Math Quest and Math 24 competitions at Benton Middle School. That was great and I also attended the round two of the mock trial competition where the students presented arguments before the appellate court and I mean just the level of preparation and confidence these students showed was remarkable. I also attended Battle of the Books where Glen Kirk Elementary emerged victorious. Congratulations. It's always refreshing

[03:16:13] to see such enthusiasm from reading and teamwork. At Dell City Elementary it was SOL night that stood out to me. The parents came in and we were writing encouraging messages on greeting cards for the students to read before they take their SOL test. So that was that's that's what community really looks like.

[03:16:34] and then we celebrated Multicultural Night at Neabsco Elementary like you heard tonight just congratulate all of the winners from the Outstanding Educator Awards last night and then we today I just enjoyed the great weather for a field day at Minnieville and I got to go with my colleagues meet my colleagues at the unified track meet like you Miss Wall said it was 13 schools from Prince William County and Falk here competing side by side and then you have our general education students out there serving as peer models and peer partners

[03:17:13] and it's just truly a model of inclusion and action and it's just a really a good thing to see and then I just want to thank you thank you all for the continued work you do in your respective roles and I thank you I thank you to our community for showing up for lifting up and stepping up for our students every single day and I just also would like to say I will continue to stand with with our families with our educators and most importantly with our students equity is

[03:17:48] not a trend it's a moral imperative diversity is not a checkbox it's our strength and inclusion is not optional it's foundational I remain committed to the decisions that reflect the values of our community and uphold the dignity and opportunity of every student we serve.

[03:18:09] Thank you. And there being nothing further to come before this board, I declare this meeting adjourned.

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