Coraggio Consulting
Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 20m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPE7saYVm0M
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.

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

[00:00:00] - 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 moving item 17.09 under board matters to after thriving future focus, Vice Chair Wilt.

[00:00:21] - Temporary recommendation. I move that the Prince William County School Board amend the meeting agenda by moving item 17.09 under board matters to occur after thriving futures. - Mr. Vice Chair. - Second.

[00:00:37] - Thank you, Ms. Williams. Any discussion? This is Ms. Raulston's resolution. - We're moving it up. - We're moving it to the beginning. I'm doing what?

[00:00:52] Did she just say I'm campaigning? - Seven yes, one not present at vote. Lateef, motion passed.

[00:01:27] - The motion is now in order for the approval of the meeting agenda as amended. Vice, temporary Vice Chair Wilkes. - I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as amended. - Second.

[00:01:43] - I'll second. - Thank you, Ms. Williams. Discussion, please vote by hand. - Seven yes, one not present at vote. Lateef, motion passed.

[00:02:01] - Moving on to a motion to enter closed session. A motion is in order. - Mr. Chairman. - I move that pursuant to Virginia code 2.2-3711 and 2.2-3712, the Prince William County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons.

[00:02:17] One, to discuss with staff the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotions, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of any public body pursuant to VA code 2.2-3711A, one, to discuss with division counsel and staff actual or probable litigation and specific legal matters involving staff, students, and other civil litigation involving school division under VA code 2.2-3711A, seven and eight, two, to discuss the award of public contract to employees, exclusive representatives, which involves the expenditure of public funds or and the terms, excuse me,

[00:02:56] and the terms or scope of such contract where discussion open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body pursuant to VA code 2.2-3711A29 and to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security of school facilities, the safety of persons using such facilities and actions taken to respond to such matters where discussion and open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to VA code 2.2-3711A19.

[00:03:30] - Thank you, Ms. Williams. Can I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Agaraport. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote by hand. - Vote is seven yes, one not present at vote. Lateef, motion passed.

[00:03:46] - The Prince William County School Board will now enter closed session

[00:03:48] and return to open session in one hour.

[00:04:54] session action items moving on to the closed session action items Prince William County School Board now returning to open session from closed session a motion is in order for 701 closed session certification I move that pursuant to Virginia code 2.2-3712 the closed session of the Prince William

[00:05:34] County School Board meeting of May 7th 2025 be certified by adopting the following resolution now therefore be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board hereby certifies that To the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies.

[00:05:53] 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. - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - I second. - Ms. Zargarpur. Any discussion, please vote.

[00:06:26] - Vote is seven yes, one not present at vote. Lateef, motion passed. - Okay, moving on to closed session action items. - A motion is in order for 8.01. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the appointments and releases of specific employees as presented in closed session.

[00:06:52] - I have a second. - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zagaport, thank you. Any discussion, please vote.

[00:07:09] - Vote is seven yes, one not present at vote. Motion passed. - Moving on to closed session action item. A motion is in order for 8.02. - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County school board appoint hearing officers as required by Virginia code section 2 2.1-311A for purposes of the employee grievance procedure contained in PWCS regulation 508 period 01-1 and 508 period 01-2 through June 30th, 2026.

[00:07:45] - Thank you, Mr. Wilk. I have a second. - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zagaport second. Any discussion, please vote.

[00:08:07] - Vote is seven yes, one not present at vote. Lateef, motion passed. - All right, thank you. Moving on to the Pledge of Allegiance, I'd like to invite our student representative,

[00:08:17] the Executive Alaa Rashid, to lead us in the pledge.

[00:08:52] Thank you. Moving on to 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.

[00:09:20] We dedicate this time during our meetings to recognizing students, staff members, and schools that have earned an honor or award at the state or national level. We appreciate how these honorees have positively represented Prince William County Public Schools and the school board is proud to recognize them publicly for their accomplishments.

[00:09:44] Tonight, the school board will recognize our Virginia State Science and Engineer Fair winner, FCCLA State Leadership Conference winners, Indoor Track State winners, and our four schools that were awarded the American School Counselor Association's 2025 recognized ASCA model program designation.

[00:10:10] We will begin with Ms. Tredenick of the Brentsville District for our first two recognitions. - Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Brentsville District would like to first congratulate Hannah Janssen for taking first place at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair in the Engineering Technology and Sustainable Design category for earning the VSSEF Grand Prize Award and the Leidos 2025 Young STEM Research Award.

[00:10:40] Hannah is accompanied here tonight by Patriot High School's acting principal, David Van Gelder. At this time, I would like to invite Hannah to share a few words about her impressive accomplishments. - Hello. So these awards, they obviously mean a lot to me because it's a reflection of all the hard work I've put into this season.

[00:10:59] I would like to thank the Governor's School Innovation Park for providing the funds and time for this work, and then also Patriot High School for providing constant support. And I look forward to continuing to share my work at the International Science and Engineering Fair next week. Thank you.

[00:11:20] - Congratulations, Hannah. you've made the Brentsville district very proud. Second, the Virginia Family Career and Community Leaders of America Inc. is a national career technical student organization that is part of family and consumer sciences courses in middle schools, high schools, and technical centers.

[00:11:44] Brentsville would like to recognize the winners of the Virginia FCCLA state leadership conference and their advancement to the national conference. From our stellar middle school, I would like to congratulate Laney McVeigh and Isabel Corrilla for first place finish in the chapter in review event.

[00:12:03] From Patriot High School, I would like to congratulate eight first place winners. Jennifer J. King, first place in the baking and pastry live skill event. Emma Ashley, first place in the career investigation event. And Shivani Davis, first place in the chapter in review event.

[00:12:23] Aria McGee, Alyssa Nielsen and Madeline Corrilla for first place in the Food Innovations Event, and Cameron McGee for earning top 20 nationally for the online instructional video event, and for being named the new Vice President of Programs for Virginia FCC LA.

[00:12:43] Marsteller is represented tonight by Principal Lisa Warner, and Patriot is represented by Acting Principal David Van Gelder. At this time, I invite Patriot High School Family and Consumer Science teacher Catherine Jett McVeigh to share a few words on this celebration.

[00:13:01] - Thank you so much, Ms. Tredenik. Thank you, Chairman Lateef, members of the school board, Superintendent Dr. McDade, and the superintendent staff on behalf of Patriot FCCLA for inviting us here this evening. My name is Catherine Jett McVeigh, and I'm the advisor for both of the Patriot High School chapter of Family and Career and Community Leaders of America and the Patriot Middles chapter held at Marcella Middle School.

[00:13:21] FCCLA is a nationally affiliated career and technical student organization that encourages student members to become college career ready strengthen their families and engage in worthy projects that help our local and greater communities for the fourth consecutive year patriot fccla members have been fortunate to place first in state competition and qualify for national events here's a quick recap of what our students have done in each of these categories in baking and pastry it's a live baking event where individual students have only one hour and 45 minutes to make three different scratch products and decorate a cake in career investigations

[00:13:58] it's an individual presentation event of a 36-page portfolio documenting work-based learning activities such as career research job shadowing and interviewing skills compiled work samples and a resume in chapter and review it is a thematic presentation event outlining each of our chapter's programs of work throughout the year in food innovations it's a research design and presentation event documenting the creation of low sugar beverage that was marketable to teenagers and and included at least one superfood.

[00:14:28] This project required extensive knowledge of nutrition and dietetics, food science, safety and sanitation, marketability, and product packaging. And finally, instructional video design and online video production, showcasing a step-by-step process of an intended topic.

[00:14:44] I couldn't be more proud of these competitors. These juniors and seniors have collectively earned over $145,000 in scholarship offers from colleges and universities from participating in FCCLA's competitive events. Talk about having thriving futures.

[00:15:00] And after delivering a dynamic speech on stage in front of nearly 1,000 audience members, Cameron McGee was voted in as the next Virginia FCCLA Vice President of Programs. When I asked my FCCLA members what skills they walk away with after being in a leadership club like FCCLA, their answers were confidence, creativity, networking, public speaking, teamwork, time management, and work ethic.

[00:15:24] This skill set is not far from the attributes listed in PWCS's profile of a graduate, and FCCLA's eight purposes are very similar to this division's four strategic commitments. Our students have so much drive and dedication, but beyond these skills, we build relationships, and ultimately, students like these are why teachers like me come to work every single day.

[00:15:44] We are so appreciative of the administrative support from Mr. David Van Gelder, Acting Principal at Patriot High School, and Ms. Lisa Warner, Principal at Marsteller Middle School. Their encouragement to let me take FCCLA as far as I can in PWCS in Virginia and nationally has been so helpful, especially facing the uphill battles of fundraising for these opportunities.

[00:16:03] Collectively, we all work together as a village to support our students and their passions. Thank you for your continued support and we will continue to make PWCS proud.

[00:16:19] - Mr. Blake, I always hate for us to miss a name. - I did, I missed it. I know which one I missed. - Oh, I was just gonna say maybe I missed it in the script, but that's okay. - Nope, it was my fault. - Okay. - It was because I think Shivani was here before and so I only saw her name. So, Shivani and Shivani, correct?

[00:16:36] - Yes. - Thank you. - Congratulations. - Appreciate it.

[00:16:53] - Thank you, Ms. Jett McVeigh and congratulations and good luck to our FCC LA winners. - Thank you. - Wonderful. Congratulations to the Brentsville District.

[00:17:08] We now turn to Mr. Wilk of the Potomac District. - Thank you, Chairman Blake. The Potomac District would like to recognize Russell Camgang from Forest Park High School for earning his state title for indoor track in the high jump.

[00:17:27] Forest Park is represented again tonight. I swear you're here every other week. Principal Richard Martinez. I'm gonna not put you on the spot. Russell says you do not want to speak. So congratulations, Russell.

[00:17:44] Continuing to our next recognition, the American School Counselor Association or the ASCA supports school counselors efforts to help students focus on academic career and social and emotional development so they can achieve success in school and are prepared to lead fulfilling lives as responsible members of society.

[00:18:04] The ASCA provides professional development, publications and other resources research and advocacy to school counselors around the globe. The ASCA has recognized Prince William County Public Schools for earning the 2025 recognized ASCA model program, also known as RAMP designation.

[00:18:23] Only 190 schools nationwide received this honor. With this award, the ASCA recognizes schools that are committed to delivering a comprehensive data-informed school counseling program in top-notch educational environments. The Potomac District is once again proud to recognize Forest Park High School as one of the four schools to earn this designation.

[00:18:44] They received the re-ramp status this year, meaning they reapplied and obtained the designation. Forest Park is represented by Principal Martinez, Counselors, Amy Linder, Judith Flores, Tara Scott, and Anna Phelan.

[00:19:00] Congratulations. - Thank you, Mr. Wilk. - Ms. Zagapur. - Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Coles District would like to recognize Parkside Middle School for being one of the four schools to receive the 2025 recognized ASCA ramp designation.

[00:19:21] Parkside is represented tonight by Principal Aaron Merica, Director of School Counseling, Caroline Young, and Counselors Laura Pelzar, Maureen Andrada, and Melissa Funchin. - Congratulations, Parkside.

[00:19:38] - Thank you, Ms. Zargarpur. Ms. Williams, would you please introduce your school? - Absolutely, thank you, Vice-Chair Blake. The Woodbridge District would like to recognize Mary G. Porter Traditional School for being named one of the four schools to receive the 2025 recognized ASCA ramp designation.

[00:19:58] Porter Traditional is represented tonight by Principal Kaitlin Egelmeyer-Floor, Assistant Principal Joseph Wood, Director of School Counseling, Laura Mears, School Counselors, Jessica Jones, and our very own PWCS graduate, Arthur Lockerman.

[00:20:14] Congratulations, Porter Traditional, I'm so proud. - Excellent, thank you, Ms. Williams. Ms. Wall. - Thank you, Vice Chair Blake.

[00:20:29] On behalf of the Gainesville District, it is my pleasure to recognize Ronald Reagan Middle School for its 2025 recognized RAMP designation by the ASCA. Reagan Middle is represented tonight by Principal Christopher Beamer and Director of Counseling, Amy Covell Sherrick.

[00:20:45] Congratulations to the Reagan and Gainesville community. And I wanna say real quick, let's see, I have, hold on. I have the honor of inviting Supervisor of Elementary Counseling and Related Services, Ann Henry, to come to the podium and speak on behalf of our RAMP award winners.

[00:21:03] But before she does that, I wanna say, I recently went to an event at Reagan. It was the unified track event, and there were only over 17 schools represented, 650 kids, and it was absolutely awesome. and it was the most happy, inclusive group of special ed students and gen ed students, and it was so fun and so well executed.

[00:21:24] So I just wanted to say thank you for all of that effort. It was absolutely awesome. - The American School Counselor Association's recognized ASCA model program, or RAMP designation, is more than just an award.

[00:21:45] It's a symbol of excellence. It signifies that a school has implemented data-informed, student-centered counseling programs that meet the national standards. This designation reflects a profound dedication to equity, access, and achievement for all students.

[00:22:02] The RAMP application process is a rigorous one, and it spans an entire school year. During this time, school counselors implement, document, and analyze data from classroom lessons, small group counseling sessions, and other counseling strategies to enhance positive student outcomes.

[00:22:20] Each school must meticulously compile evidence of goal setting, planning, data collection, and analysis, organizing these materials into 10 essential components that align closely with the ASCA national model. This comprehensive approach ensures that the counseling program is effective and impactful.

[00:22:38] Moreover, as a part of the RAMP process, school counselors continuously reflect on their work to determine what strategies to continue, what areas to strengthen, and what new directions to explore. This reflective practice is crucial for maintaining a dynamic and responsive counseling program that adapts to the evolving needs of students.

[00:22:59] I sincerely thank Dr. McDade, Dr. Flanard, Dr. Lateef, and the school board for their unwavering support of the RAMP designation. To the dedicated school counselors, administrators, and school communities, your commitment to student success is invaluable.

[00:23:16] A special thank you to Lisa James from the College Career and Student Support Department for her tireless efforts in guiding schools through the application process. Your hard work is truly appreciated. These schools have shown what it means to lead with heart, support with purpose, and inspire with vision.

[00:23:36] Their school counselors are not merely advocates. They are architects of brighter futures. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Wall, and thank you, Ms. Henry.

[00:23:52] I too was at that unified track meet last week at Reagan Middle School, and it was very good. I'm glad to see all of our students are being seen loved and taken care of and taught. It was a great event. But before asking Dr. McDade to provide congratulations, I would like to ask the families of our honorees to please stand for a round of applause.

[00:24:23] Thank you. Now I invite Superintendent Dr. Latonya D. McDade to share a few words. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Tonight's recognitions have been a powerful reminder of the excellence that defines Prince William County Schools. - Congratulations, Hannah, for earning first place at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair, but also taking home the grand prize award and receiving the LIDL's 2025 Young STEM Research Award.

[00:24:50] Congratulations to you, we are incredibly proud. Your success really reflects our school's commitment to fostering innovation and preparing students to lead in the fields that will shape our future. I'm also proud of our FCCLA State Leadership Conference winners, students from our Stellar Middle and Patriot High School taking first place in your events that is impressive when I heard everything that you had to do I definitely would not have been able to take the pressure so congratulations to each of you in advancing to the national competition we can't wait to see what will happen at the national your achievements also illustrate how our

[00:25:29] teacher leaders empower students to build real-world skills develop leadership and pursue their passions beyond beyond the classroom and also congratulations are in order Russell to you great job your hard work resilience and practice certainly did pay off big and then finally to our four outstanding schools Forest Park Parkside Porter and Reagan congratulations to each of you on earning the prestigious 2025 recognize ask a model program designation from the American School Counselor Association these accomplishments really speak volume to the depth of talent determination and

[00:26:07] leadership within our school system and as i say all the time we are pwcs proud congratulations to each of 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 virginia state science and engineering fair winner and then our fcc la state leadership conference winners track state champion and our four schools that were awarded

[00:26:45] the american school counselor associations 2025 recognized acs ca model program designation

[00:36:10] moving on we will now move on to agenda item 17.09 i get an adoption of the consent agenda motion

[00:36:57] - Okay, we will now move on to agenda item 17.09, school board presentation of the resolution for former board member Diane L. Raulston, Neabsco District, Mr. Wilk.

[00:37:22] - Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the following resolution in honor of former board member Diane Raulston of the Neabsco District. In appreciation of Diane Raulston, whereas Diane Raulston was elected as the Prince William County School Board representative for the Neabsco District in 2015, demonstrating a steadfast commitment to advocating for quality, equitable and...

[00:37:52] - Okay, equitable and collaborative education and whereas Ms. Raulston's advocacy for education began in 1966 as a high school student in Monterey, California, leading to significant policy changes in the local school district.

[00:38:09] And she attended Kansas State College and majored in English and journalism. And, whereas, her advocacy efforts were recognized by the US Department of Education with the Parent Leader Advocate Program Award in 1990, and her appointment to the State California Education Committee for two five-year terms.

[00:38:28] And, whereas, Ms. Raulston was an active member of various local and civic organizations, including the Bel Air Women's Club, Veterans in Foreign Wars, Post 1503, Dale City Civic Association, and the Prince William County Lassie League.

[00:38:45] And, whereas Ms. Ralston's dedication to community service was recognized through congressional recognition of volunteerism awards from Congressman Jerry Conway and U.S. Senator Mark Warner, and her leadership roles included chairing the Neabsco Budget Committee and serving on the Prince William County Disability Services Board, the Discover Prince William and Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Board of Directors for the Prince William County Boys and Girls Club and whereas Miss Raulston served on the school board during a time of significant student growth During Miss Raulston's time on the board Prince William County Public Schools opened nine schools including Covington Harbor

[00:39:25] Innovation John D. John D. Jenkins Kirby. I'm excuse me Kilby and Kyle Wilson Elementary Schools Potomac Shores Middle School Charles J. Colgan senior and Gainesville High Schools and Independence non-traditional schools and Whereas on the board, Ralston advocated for higher teacher and staff compensation, increasing on-time graduation rates, expanding of career and technical education programs, ensuring the full accreditation of Neabsco schools, enhancing parent and community engagement, and increasing pre-K spots for Neabsco students.

[00:40:03] And whereas, in addition to her service on the school board, Ralston actively contributed to numerous local organizations, including the Dale City Civic Association and the Prince William County Disability Services Board. She was deeply involved in the community, centering her efforts on the well-being of children and families, and now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William County School Board hereby recognizes and expresses its profound appreciation to Ms. Diane L. Raulston for her impactful service steadfast steadfast commitment and lasting contributions the neapso district

[00:40:39] and the broader prince william county educational community be it further resolved that this resolution be entered into the official records of prince william county schools and that a copy hero be presented to the family of diane l ralston as a token of high esteem for which miss ralston is held by this school board and the community at large thank you mr wilker and miss williams Can I get a second?

[00:41:07] Mr. Chair, Vice Chair. Ms. Williams seconds. I'd like to second. Any discussion? Dr. Medea, did you want to talk or do you want to let them? I just wanted to say a few words if this is the appropriate time. Yes. Ms. Raulston was one of the original eight board members that saw in me the leadership capability to lead Prince William County schools.

[00:41:34] And I am eternally grateful for her service and leadership on this board. And I'd like to take a special moment to remember and celebrate Ms. Diane Ralston. We are deeply saddened by the passing of Ms. Ralston, a trailblazer in education, and a fierce advocate for children and families.

[00:41:57] Diane Ralston was a public servant known for her work in education, equity, and our community, especially in Dale City. Her mission to boost student achievement and promote family engagement earned her recognition at both state and national levels.

[00:42:13] Diane's legacy is one of courageous leadership, tireless community service, and unwavering belief in the power of education to transform lives. She led with integrity, compassion, and a deep love for the Prince William County community.

[00:42:31] Whether in the boardroom, at a civic event, or mentoring young leaders, Miss Raulston modeled what it means to serve with purpose. We honor her memory today with gratitude and commit to carrying forward the values she held dear: equity, advocacy, and excellence for every single child.

[00:42:56] Her voice will be missed, but her impact will continue to echo throughout the schools in prince william county and the hearts of all who knew her thank you mr chairman thank you mr blake i had the very distinct honor of serving with diane and she was a truly unique and inspirational individual for me she provided a mentorship life experience stories and the encouragement

[00:43:31] to stand your ground and be yourself through anything uh it has it was truly an honor and a pleasure to serve with diane um she will forever hold a special place in my heart and i know that through her service we were able to enact instrumental change for all students in prince william county she will be deeply missed and it has been a pleasure and an honor that i will never forget and I think this speaking to her legacy and her accomplishments tonight is more than the right thing to do she will forever be remembered and forever

[00:44:11] change the trajectory of my service and focus on the school board and I'm just very grateful for her to know her as a as a school board member but also consider her someone that I could call friend and I'm extremely grateful to be to say these words thank you thank you mr jesse a special tribute to diane roston this joint tribute was authored by my wife lily jesse who knew and worked with diane directly it is with a great deal

[00:44:49] of sadness that this that we write this tribute for our colleague our condolences go to her family who have suffered several losses losses in recent past diane ross never met a person she didn't feel comfortable with if you met diane you would never forget her she knew how to enter a room and make her presence known diane political background was very extensive and she made sure those who knew her were aware of it she would walk into the room and start a conversation about her life in

[00:45:25] california she had worked with some very notable politicians and with the title one program she and Lily shared the bond of working with students in low income areas as mentioned earlier diane will walk into a room and begin a conversation about her work in california lily attended a workshop on the on the use of the equity report card conducted by dr rita bishop then superintendent

[00:45:56] of ruanoke city public school dr jocelyn hart diane and lily made the trip to ruanoke to meet with Dr. Bishop. Diane took over the meeting, talked about her ventures and people she knew in California. She, to my surprise, Dr. Bishop knew some of the names Diane mentioned. It was like an old home week, so I changed my thinking about Diane from there was never a person Diane did not know to there was never a person who did not know Diane. Following the meeting with Dr. Bishop,

[00:46:34] our school system adopted the equity report card and the equity program she and her she also supported the naming of the auditorium Garfield High School's John Jenkins auditorium she loved the Jenkins families and supported their annual Dell City Civic Association parade and Dell program and Dell City parade one would not know that because she and her daughter Monique Ratliff would work were worker bees who led from behind both of the of us saw and admire

[00:47:12] them for their commitment to Del City she was very supportive of my initiative but also had her own voice finally Diane and I Diane and Lily had numerous conversations about her family she admired her father who took care of her mother until she passed away I do remember how much she adored her grandchildren she tried to make every event and never that I could tell but a school board event over an event for her grandchildren the Jesse's were honored

[00:47:47] to know Diane Rauston thank you mr. Jesse I'll be I'll be brief I didn't get the opportunity to know Diane for too terribly long but the the stories about her talking about California definitely ring true and I think the couple things that i take from her is she didn't seem to ever let a moment pass where if you needed to stand

[00:48:21] up for something that's right you just do it advocating for children and families and education was really important to her she understood that connection of family engagement and schools and lastly she believed in the power of public education so i'm grateful to have had the time that I did to to know her and work with her thank you. Ms. Wall. I just wish to say that Diane was a great example of dedication to children and children's causes she was a great public servant

[00:48:56] she had a great sense of humor and she was instrumental in some key votes in our effort to get schools open so I appreciate that and I when I hear about her life she's truly inspiring So it's really wonderful for the legacy that she has for her family and loved ones and those around her.

[00:49:18] And she truly will be missed. Thank you, Miss Wall. All right. OK, so, you know, this Miss Rawson is very, very, very dear to me, clearly.

[00:49:36] Sitting in her seat, you know, wearing her shoes, walking her path now. And, you know, she she served in the actual district with wisdom, resolve. and an abiding love for all children and then she led by this guiding principle and uh and and she made it her slogan too it was just it was for the children and it was always for the children and she always said keep that as your um as your garden light and she was relentless in her pursuit for what was best for the students in the app school and for the whole princewood and carning

[00:50:16] school district. And during her time, like you've heard from everybody, during her time, she led this board that she was on was very transformative. And it's leading to a lot of the positive changes and a lot of the fruits that we are enjoying right now was because of those boards. You know, and I just, you know, her legacy is just so profound. It wasn't just a list of all these accomplishments, right? It was the heart behind them. And like I said, she led with courage.

[00:50:55] She mentored with compassion. She governed with a clear unwavering focus for the children. It's always for the children. Everything we do up here is for the children. And I just want to say on behalf of a very grateful community, a very grateful Neabsco district, I just want to say thank you to the app schools Nana miss Ralston and thank you for your voice your wisdom and for your example and may we continue to work may we

[00:51:33] continue the work you began and always for the children thank you oh yeah I would also like to recognize miss Ralston's family is in the front row tonight I see her daughter Monique and I see her granddaughters Micah McKayla Maya and who I see somebody else I don't know who that is exactly but do you want it you want to

[00:52:06] stand up and introduce yourself you can do that okay okay welcome Michelle from California so now

[00:52:24] we need a vote mine is not showing up as I voted but I did vote vote a seven yes one not present

[00:53:07] at vote motion passed so it's not in the script but I know we are we gonna take photos with the family and did you Monique would you like to come up and would you like to address the board yeah I'm put you on the spot now I think mr. Blake is returning the favor by putting me on the spot but I just like to say on behalf of our family I thank everyone for your kind words and I thank you for the work

[00:53:42] that you continue to do every day my mother was the Nana of Neopsco not just banana of these three so thank you for recognizing her for the heart that she had because that's truly what she brought every day to this position and I look forward to the work that you all will do and just thank you for this opportunity to celebrate my mother thank you so much thank you miss Ross present you with

[00:54:17] this resolution and then we're gonna take a photo and then thank you all now

[00:56:36] moving on we are moving on to 11.1 adoption of the consent agenda motions in order. Mr. Chairman I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the public meeting consent agenda as recommended. May I have a second? Mr. Chairman. Ms. Zaglapur. I second. Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:57:02] Seven yes, one not present at vote. Latif, motion passed. Now citizen comment time.

[00:57:26] Okay those citizens who have signed up in advance with the clerk may address the school board this evening when they are called to the podium. The citizen comment period for regular school board meetings is one hour and citizens may speak on agenda items or other topics germane to the operations and policies of PWCS. Please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium or you will be asked to step aside. We ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping, cheering, or jeering to avoid disruption of the

[00:58:02] meeting if you do not the board will recess and i will ask the room to be clear to restore public order tonight we have nine 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 i'm just going to call i'm going to do like dr latif and call the first five speakers uh courtney good sean daly rena step jen donnelly

[00:58:33] in iron calm all right good evening board members superintendent in the community my name is courtney good my dress has been documented and is on file i'm here today as a parent first but also as a veteran law enforcement officer and advocate for child safety i'm speaking to you because a deeply painful experience my seven-year-old daughter endured within the prince

[00:59:09] william county school system one that no student should ever have to go through in march of this year my child was punched in the mouth by another student and the assault caused her lip to swell and bleed she was hurt she was scared and she has not felt safe at school since that day her emotional trauma has begun to manifest in her behavior a reaction that any of us would understand if we were to face our attacker daily and despite being a clear witness document act of violence no

[00:59:44] No medical care was provided, no injury report, and no meaningful intervention until I addressed the school and had to ask for it. When I asked for my child to be transferred for her safety, her healing, and her peace of mind, I was denied.

[01:00:04] The violent nature of what happened seemed to be minimized, ignored, and brushed aside. Let me be clear. Being assaulted is not a conflict between students. It is not a disagreement or a fight, is an act of violence, and demands a serious, compassionate, and protective response.

[01:00:24] I am here to ask, what does Prince William County Schools consider a violent crime? Is a child being physically assaulted in school not enough? What does a student have to endure before they are seen and protected as a victim?

[01:00:39] I am calling on this board to take specific actions. I would like you to define violent crime clearly and transparently in the school policy. Establish a victim-centered protocol that prioritizes the wellbeing of harmed students.

[01:00:55] Ensure that any student who is assaulted on school property during the school day has a right to request and receive a school transfer, especially when the attacker remains at that school. Guarantee that proper medical care documentation and communication are provided after any incident involving physical harm, because our policies must be victim-focused.

[01:01:20] A child who is physically assaulted at school deserves more than vague responses and red tape. They deserve safety, they deserve care, and they deserve the option to learn in an environment where they're not re-traumatized every day. It is our responsibility as adults, leaders, community members to ensure that every school is a place where our children feel secure, valued, and protected.

[01:01:44] I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. - Thank you. Sean Daly, Rena Stapp.

[01:02:06] - Hi, my name is Rena Stapp and my address is on file with the clerk. As you all know, this is Teacher Appreciation Week and I wanted to just read out some of the thank yous to some of my children's teachers that were given to me from them.

[01:02:22] I wanted to share that with you all because I wanted to share some of the wonderful things that have happened in our schools that you may not know of because you may not know every single teacher in every single school. My daughter is in fourth grade and she says that her fourth grade teacher, she says, thank you for teaching the class valuable lessons and that the T. Claywood teachers are always leading us to success.

[01:02:45] To her chorus teacher, which took over 120 students in the chorus this year, which is the most they've ever had. They just had their spring concert and it was amazing. They worked so hard and she wanted to say thank you for spending her time and effort to teach the kids and help the kids be who they want to be.

[01:03:03] My son is in middle school. He wanted to share his thank yous to his math teacher. Thank you for teaching me. You're an awesome math teacher and keep being awesome. And to his science teacher, Miss Willard, thank you for all the fun science that you teach. It has been a fantastic year.

[01:03:20] I'm so proud of my kids for having the things they wanted to say thank you for because they truly love school and I love that they love school here in Prince William County. Our public schools are an amazing resource where children from so many diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, religions, life expectancies, experiences, can all come together and learn with and from each other.

[01:03:47] And unfortunately, there's never enough money to fund everything. At the school I work at, we are constantly reminded, print everything double-sided to save paper, use the smart boards instead of worksheets. And the amount that was allocated for the evals tutors, which is what I do, it doesn't even extend past the end of this month.

[01:04:08] We can't supply our summer reading books like we used to with the PALS funding, we used to receive for those in the reading intervention to take home to continue learning over the summer. And one of the best ways to help thank our teachers is through funding. Our public funds belong in our public schools.

[01:04:26] And I wanted to say thank you all for increasing teacher salaries in this most recent budget because they work so hard and do so many more things outside of their contracted hours to make everything wonderful for our students. I understand that not everything can be funded, but anything that we can give to those rock stars is very appreciated.

[01:04:48] So thank you. - Thank you. Jen Donnelly. - Good evening. My name is Jen Donnelly and my address is on file.

[01:05:03] First of all, I want to commend the board on the strides you've made in improving the consequences that are outlined in the code of behavior. However, the significant lack of consistency in enforcing these consequences remains, giving students the impression that they can misbehave without repercussions and contributing to the chaos in our schools.

[01:05:24] I'm particularly concerned about the lack of consequences for category A behaviors that impede academic progress. Teachers often express frustration over feeling unsupported by administrators in dealing with disruptive students. This ongoing issue affects student learning and creates a hostile work environment for our educators.

[01:05:45] We cannot expect students to thrive in an environment where misbehavior goes unchecked, nor can we expect teachers to manage these challenges without adequate support. I hope that with the introduction of the Dean of Students, which I commend you for in each school, we will see improved consistency and discipline, easing the pressure on administrators and fostering a better learning environment.

[01:06:08] I would also like to encourage more schools to adopt an in-school suspension policy. When children are suspended, they often treat it as an unchaperoned day off, falling further behind in their studies. In-school suspension would allow them to continue learning while being separated from the environment where the issues occurred.

[01:06:27] I understand from speaking with principals that staffing can be a challenge, and I urge us all to collaborate on finding solutions to this barrier. Additionally, I want to address the overcrowding at Covington Harper Elementary School.

[01:06:43] A parent at the last meeting shared her heartbreaking story of her child facing daily bullying. I believe this is partly due to overcrowding and understaffing. With crowded hallways, classrooms and lunchrooms, it's no wonder teachers struggle to supervise effectively.

[01:06:59] The presence of 13 trailers located far from the main building also raises serious safety concerns. I urge the school board to reconsider the policy regarding the utilization of arms school resource officers at elementary schools. Our youngest and most vulnerable students deserve every production we can provide.

[01:07:19] Finally, regarding the vape detection system, while I support our efforts to prevent student vaping, I question its effectiveness. As a member of the Safe Schools Advisory Council, I take my job very seriously, and I've been discussing potential solutions with administrators at different schools.

[01:07:36] I'll be sending out an email to all of you, sharing my insights from these conversations, and with possible solutions moving forward. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Nott. Ian Khan. Hello, my name is Ian Khan and I go to C.D. Hudson High School and I would like to spread awareness for AANHPI month and recognize Lunar New Year as a PWCS holiday.

[01:08:07] PWCS is the 10th most diverse county in the nation and the most diverse county in Virginia. As of 2025, there are 50,000 residents being of Asian American descent. The PWCS government calls for our county to celebrate AANHPI month, but we are not recognizing AANHPI month or Lunar New Year as a PWCS holiday.

[01:08:36] To help with this, I made posters to spread awareness for AANHPI month with fax and I also sent 30 fax to my principal to read off the morning announcements. As I said, I would like to spread awareness to our county and schools about AA and HPI month.

[01:08:55] And I hope you consider making Lunar New Year a PWCS holiday. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Linda Chang, Marty Weaver, Anissa Story, and Caitlin Weston, you can come up to the front.

[01:09:19] Hello, my name is Linda Chang. I'm a proud parent of a PWCS student. You just heard him speak. I'm also really proud of our system, in particular, our specialty programs I think are very unique to our county, and I think it's something we can all be proud of, so kudos on that.

[01:09:41] I myself am a biracial person. My son, who just spoke, is multiracial and a multicultural individual, and I feel so fortunate to be raising him in a county that recognizes holidays and celebrates different cultures. There is one holiday that is not recognized, however, and that is Lunar New Year.

[01:09:59] Like other holidays that occur on different dates each year, there are times when Lunar New Year falls on a weekday. In 2025, Lunar New Year was a Wednesday. In our household, this meant we could not celebrate this year because I've personally been pursuing a certification and taking classes on the weekends this past winter.

[01:10:19] No family should have to miss celebrating an important cultural holiday, particularly when we recognize and celebrate so many other holidays. Like we have Rosh Hashanah, Eid, Diwali, Yom Kippur. I think we can be proud of celebrating all of those holidays.

[01:10:35] I would like to point out that Loudoun County and Fairfax County schools do recognize Lunar New Year as a school holiday. And I think it's time that Prince William County does too. I urge you to recognize Lunar New Year as an official holiday honoring its profound cultural significance in the communities who celebrate.

[01:10:51] And because I have enough time, I wanna thank you guys for what you do. I serve on a board and I know it's not easy. So thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Chan. Marty Weaver. - Marty Weaver, Occoquan.

[01:11:08] Common sense rules. I have a plaque on my wall that says the following. Mom's house rules. If you sleep in it, make it up. If you wear it, hang it up. If you drop it, pick it up. If you spill it, wipe it up.

[01:11:24] If you eat out of it, wash it up. If you open it, close it up. If you empty it, fill it up. If it rings, answer it. If it howls, feed it. If it cries, love it. What it doesn't say is anything about except for, except for somebody's skin color, except for ethnicity or culture, except for socioeconomic status, except for where they live, except for possible ancestors oppression, except for one parent versus two parent households, except for male or female, except for language spoken.

[01:12:02] Nowhere do these rules say they only apply if your skin color is a certain color. They are universal, applied equally, no excuses. We don't have different rules for different people, different shades of skin, limiting quotas for groups.

[01:12:21] Uh-oh, we have too many infractions in a certain group of kids, so things have to be adjusted proportionately. Simply put, do the crime, do the time. Punishment or consequences should fairly fit the infractions, but fit isn't determined by skin color, ethnicity, gender, day of the week, time of day, how somebody feels, and words are not violence, contrary to what a certain segment of the current population espouses. The N-word is always bad,

[01:12:56] no matter who says it, but that somebody used that word or another that you perceive as offensive never justifies physical violence. In response to words, physical action is a last resort only when your physical safety is endangered.

[01:13:14] You seem to rely heavily on your learned PhDs and their studies about the appropriate disciplinary courses of actions. That body of people have already screwed up at least one generation of society and probably several more. They gave us the restorative justice practices and the like-junk thinking that led to the killings in Parkland, Florida, where the killer had a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior that were dealt with poorly and had tragic results.

[01:13:45] Common sense discipline is based solely on student or adult behavior and actions, not on social engineering. Life can be simple and safe using good old-fashioned common sense. Try it. Anessa Stroy.

[01:14:05] Anissa Stroy, and my address is on file. First, I'd like to thank Mr. Wilk and Ms. Tregnick for acknowledging my statement during the last meeting while addressing the overcrowding at Covington Harbor. I understand that you all have a position to support all of your schools and their staff.

[01:14:23] However, you are here to support the students first. It takes courage to acknowledge that although someone is trying their best, it can also be not good enough, making both statements true at the same time. Today, I want to speak about accountability, something that people often shy away from.

[01:14:44] It is easy to point the finger and place blame on someone or something else. At Covington, it is easy to place blame that overcrowding and understaffing are the causes for the lack of disciplinary action. When the school administration fails to hold students accountable for negative behaviors, it only reinforces the cycle, sending a message that it is acceptable.

[01:15:11] The normalization of bullying that is occurring at Covington is harmful, as it is creating a dangerous and toxic environment. It is allowing for a culture to be built off negativity, fear and hurt, opposite to Prince William County's commitments for all students.

[01:15:28] While children are at school, they are under the care of PWCS. They should be held to the level of excellence to successfully thrive in their future. This is not only done academically, but socially. Holding children accountable at the elementary age is imperative to their development, for them to understand that there are consequences to their actions, that there is a cause and effect everything that you say and do. That their words do in fact hold weight. As they grow, so do their consequences. Being moved from class to class in constant talks does nothing to address and stop

[01:16:06] the behavior. On March 21st, my daughter left school early due to fear for a student threatening her with both her fists up. The same student administration claimed they spoke with and their family twice in the same week.

[01:16:27] Autumn Bushman of Roanoke County, 10 years old, was found in her home, dead by suicide, due to the bullying that was happening at her school. Suicide is what children are now believing is their only way out of bullying across the nation.

[01:16:43] As you go into reviewing the code of behavior for next year, I ask that you keep in mind that suicide due to bullying is our reality, and bullying in any form cannot be swept under the rug, thank you.

[01:17:02] - Thank you, Kaitlyn Weston. - Good evening, my name is Kaitlyn Weston and my address is on file with the clerk. As you know, it is Teacher Appreciation Week. I wanted to take this opportunity to express how grateful we are for our PWCS teachers.

[01:17:22] Public school teachers are change agents. Our PWCS teachers not only guide the future of America in gaining skills and knowledge, but in building relationships and developing the skills be engaged, intelligent, empowered citizens. Public school teachers instill an appreciation for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our teachers facilitate brighter, stronger, and more resilient humans. They are the essence of public education. We have a few community members who could not be here tonight, but wanted to share about the educators who have made a big impact on them.

[01:18:00] Ms. Weathers is a ninth grade English teacher. Sarah said, "Ms. Weathers has supported my son "and made space for him to learn and grow "while still being a goofy teenager boy. "She has kept her expectations very high, "but provided him with the tools and strategies "to reach those expectations.

[01:18:20] "Her communication is fantastic, "and she truly demonstrates a level of care "for my child that speaks to my heart. "She deserves this recognition." Mrs. Colley and Ms. Atkins are kindergarten teachers. Trish said, "Mrs. Colley and Ms. Atkins have made the transition to kindergarten a wonderful experience for our family.

[01:18:40] They graciously answer emails and questions. They are so helpful. Our son has truly enjoyed his year in kindergarten because of his teachers." Ms. Garcia is an aide in elementary school. Stevie, a fourth grade student said, "Ms. Garcia makes me feel happy and loved and appreciated.

[01:18:57] She helps me grow as a person by giving me brain breaks and helps me make good choices. Miss Garcia is the best. Miss Winfield is a special education teacher in middle school. Kai, a sixth grade student said, Miss Winfield helped me grow so much as a reader. This helped my confidence grow as a reader and as a student.

[01:19:16] Miss Winfield makes me feel comfortable and safe. I know I can always ask her for help when I need it. I am so grateful for her. Dr. McDade and our school board, thank you for investing in our teachers. I was thrilled to see the salary increase for our deserving educators.

[01:19:32] Thank you for prioritizing our teachers during this incredibly stressful and overwhelming time. To all our PWCS teachers, we appreciate you. We see you. Our democracy has never been perfect, but today its very existence is threatened.

[01:19:49] You have the power to preserve our democracy. Thank you for the important work that you do on a daily basis. Stay strong, we're with you. Thank you. - Thank you. Moving on to agenda item 13.1.

[01:20:08] I'd like to turn that over to you, Dr. McDade. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The development of the Student Bill of Rights has been a comprehensive and collaborative process involving our Student Senate and the Student Voice Committees, our staff, and various departments.

[01:20:27] A key priority was to ensure that students maintain ownership of the process and document development. The second priority was to provide students with the learning experience of eliciting and incorporating stakeholder feedback in the creation of such an important document.

[01:20:43] The PWCS Student Bill of Rights represents a significant achievement in student advocacy and collaboration. We look forward to implementing this document and ensuring that all students are aware of their rights. I'm really, really excited about the Student Bill of Rights and I'm so incredibly proud of all of our student leaders, some of which are here today to present their work and I know you will be absolutely amazing.

[01:21:10] This is an incredible body of work that we all should be proud of. At this time, I'd like to introduce our Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Stephanie Sullivan, and she will then introduce our student senators who will present to you the Student Bill of Rights.

[01:21:28] - Thank you so much. Dr. Lateef, Vice Chair Blake, members of the board, and Dr. McDade, thank you for your unwavering support of the Student Senate and Student Voice Committees. I know you have been eagerly awaiting this presentation.

[01:21:46] Before we get started, I would like to recognize two supervisors that are critical to this work. Mr. Jeff Girvin, Supervisor for History and Social Sciences, and Ms. Inaid Shaver, Supervisor for College and Career Services.

[01:22:04] Directly leading the work for PWCS is Ms. Viola Askey, Administrative Coordinator for History and Social Science. In addition to her responsibilities for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, she has been supporting the PWCS student representatives to the board and the PWCS Student Senate since 2019.

[01:22:29] She led the development of the student voice committees within high schools, as well as the expansion of the student voice committees into middle school this past year. Prior to this position, Melissa was the Secondary Social Studies Specialist and a sixth grade teacher at Fred Lynn Middle School.

[01:22:49] Welcome to Ms. Viola Askey. - Thank you. Good evening, my name is Melissa Viola Askey, as Dr. Sullivan mentioned. I have the privilege of serving as the Administrative Coordinator for History and Social Sciences.

[01:23:08] I'd like to begin by extending my sincere gratitude to everyone who has played a role in this incredibly meaningful work. Through my collaboration with students on this initiative, I've come to realize just how rare it is for a school division to have a student bill of rights, let alone one developed entirely through a student-led process.

[01:23:27] I'm deeply thankful to every individual in our division who has supported and championed this work. To kick things off, I'd like to introduce our Prince William County School Student Senate. As Dr. Sullivan mentioned, it was established in 2020. the Student Senate was created to elevate and expand student voice across our division.

[01:23:46] As of this year, every high school in Prince William County Schools has at least one junior or senior student serving as a student senator, and many schools are represented by two. The Senate has exceeded expectations when it comes to student leadership in Prince William County Schools.

[01:24:01] The Student Senate has been instrumental in creating student voice committees at every middle and high school to guide and strengthen continuous improvement processes within our schools. They've also spearheaded the development and facilitation of several student leadership workshops.

[01:24:17] Oops, sorry, I was supposed to click. Student leadership workshops to expand opportunities for as many students as possible. Recently, several of our senators also traveled to Washington DC to advocate for the importance of social emotional learning in their lives as students, demonstrating how student voice can influence and shape educational policy at all levels.

[01:24:37] And now, most importantly, these students, 60 in total over the last two years have led the charge in drafting the student bill of rights when we say this work has been student driven we mean it in every sense of the word these young leaders have dedicated the past two years to ensuring that student voice remains at the heart of what we do in prince william county schools tonight you'll hear from four of these students but i want to take a moment to acknowledge and honor all of the student senators who have taken on this leadership role and shape the work so the presentation team we have shivani davis who is a

[01:25:12] student senator from patriot high school salette machado a student senator from unity reed high school prenevi ancha a student senator from gainesville high school and adoma pokusama a student senator from woodbridge high school and we're also joined by two of our other members kaylee tom who is one of our alternate student representatives as well as karina grover a student senator from Colgan and obviously you know Allah and we also have a returning student senator in the audience tonight who came because she was a big part of

[01:25:43] this work as well but I will turn it over to the students good evening when we set out on this journey as the student Senate our mission was clear to develop a student bill of rights a documented a document created for students and by students we believe that student voices should not only be heard but truly respected and valued and shaping our educational experience this bill of Rights is more than just words on a page. It's a commitment to amplifying student voice and our

[01:26:16] advocating for the rights, needs, and perspectives of every student in our community. As the Student Senate began the process of developing the Student Bill of Rights, we prioritized stakeholder feedback as well as a clear process for integrating that feedback into a draft. Our first step was eliciting feedback from our most important stakeholder in this work: students. In a leadership workshop in january 2023 students shared ideas and topics that helped inform the creation of

[01:26:52] several categories of rights that would build the structure of our student bill of rights these categories encompass everything from education to due process our next step was then eliciting ideas for idea for rights to include in each category to support this work the student senate created a criteria tool to help determine which rights would be included in the document then suggestions for rights were provided by the student body themselves and in the spring of 2024 at a student leadership workshop high school students from every high school in

[01:27:27] the county proposed rights to include in each category and then the hard work began the senators went back to the drawing board and revisited each right one by one and considered its importance to the document its verbiage the student groups it was representing and any other factors that would would prevent this right from being successful in the document.

[01:27:48] After going back and forth as the Senate, we created a draft and invited multiple different stakeholders, students, teachers, administrators, and central office staff to review the document. In-person feedback sessions were held to review the document and elicit feedback from their various stakeholder groups.

[01:28:07] Each time, the Senate would review this feedback and come to a consensus on how to integrate it into the next iteration of the document. Finally, after two cycles of student senators, many rounds of revision, and several drafts, we were able to create a Student Bill of Rights document that is representative of all students.

[01:28:35] - The Student Bill of Rights outlines several fundamental rights to ensure that students receive a high-quality education, equitable opportunities, and a safe, respectable environment. Each article addresses specific aspects of student life. The first article, Access to High-Quality Education, emphasizes the importance for all students to receive an education that is equitable and tailored to their needs.

[01:28:59] It advocates for students to be taught by teachers who recognize different learning styles and for students to have access to supplemental academic resources, including transportation and in-school support. Counseling services should be readily available and individualized, helping students prepare for college and career paths.

[01:29:17] Furthermore, students have the right to equal access to specialty programs and advanced courses, regardless of their backgrounds, and schools should provide alternatives if specific courses are unavailable. The second article, Modern Technology, emphasizes the importance of technological access in education.

[01:29:35] Students must have updated resources, such as laptops, internet access, both at school and at home. Schools must ensure that students can access online materials required for learning with age-appropriate limitations, and allow students to request additional sites that support their education.

[01:29:51] The third article, Civic Participation and Decision Making, ensures students have a voice in their education. They must be able to access and understand policies affecting their schooling, advocate for themselves, and provide input on major decisions.

[01:30:06] Communication channels must be available for students to express their concerns without fear of retaliation. Additionally, students will have the right to peaceful activism, participation in civic and volunteer opportunities, and information on voter registration to encourage political engagement.

[01:30:23] Civic participation empowers students to become informed, engaged citizens who are ready to lead and make meaningful contributions to their communities, both now and in the future. The fourth article, Diversity and Inclusion, ensures that all students receive a high-quality education, regardless of race, gender identity, language proficiency, disability, or other factors.

[01:30:46] This section advocates for schools to offer processes to address discrimination, provide accommodation for religious practices, and ensure safe restroom and locker room access. Students must be informed about extracurricular and academic opportunities, have open communication with educators, and be taught by professionals trained in best practices for diversity and inclusion.

[01:31:09] Embracing diversity and inclusion enriches the educational experiences and ensures every student feels valued. The fifth article, Positive School Climate, focuses on student well-being. Mental health resources should be readily available, including excused absences related to mental health concerns.

[01:31:29] Schools must be actively informing students and families about available support services. Furthermore, students have the right to learn in an environment free of harassment, bullying, and bigotry, with clear procedures for reporting such behavior. The sixth article, Free Expression, affirm students' rights to express themselves within an educational setting while adhering to their First Amendment rights.

[01:31:54] Students can wear clothing of their choice as long as it aligns with the school's dress code. They must be able to discuss and celebrate different cultures without fear of repercussions. Protecting free expression is vital to creating an inclusive, dynamic learning environment where all students feel ready to learn.

[01:32:12] The final article, Due Process, ensures that students understand school rules and disciplinary procedures. They must be able to voice their concerns about behavioral policies and report unfair treatment. Additionally, schools should provide standardized disciplinary processes, including search and seizure protocols, while allowing students to advocate for themselves during disciplinary actions.

[01:32:39] Ensuring due process is essential to fostering a fair and supportive learning environment for all students. Overall, the Student Bill of Rights affirmed and protects students' fundamental rights to a comprehensive, equitable education, while also empowering them to participate, speak up, and feel safe, respected, and free within their unique schools, communities.

[01:33:06] - As we've mentioned before, this document has passed through the hands of many different people as it has grown and developed. First and foremost, the voices of students from a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and perspectives have been among the most influential throughout this process. Students have given their input from all over the county, both when originally contributing ideas and through the iteration process.

[01:33:27] This feedback was elicited from each middle school and high school's student voice committee, as well as throughout numerous student leadership workshops. Additionally, as students, we were committed to keeping the document student-driven, but we also recognized the value of incorporating feedback from adults whose expertise helped strengthen the final product to ensure its impact.

[01:33:45] To this end, we also elicited feedback from many PWCS employees throughout the school division. This includes teachers, administrators, and central office staff and leadership. Together, this collaboration between students and adults has resulted in a thoughtful, well-rounded document that truly reflects the needs, values, and aspirations of the entire PWCS community.

[01:34:11] A lot of students are unaware of the capabilities they hold within our county and the ways that they can advocate for themselves, each other, and for change. We hope that this document is able to provide a clear and direct way for students understand their rights as students. To support this, we hope that the Senate can be involved in developing materials and resources to help students understand the Student Bill of Rights and the potential it has to support the educational experience of PWCS students. We hope that the Bill of Rights is able to encourage students to stay informed about the resources they have available to them and to advocate when there are missing pieces to their educational experience. The Student Bill of Rights is ultimately meant to give all students

[01:34:50] the tools to create the best experience as prince william county students of which we are all entitled to to this end we encourage our schools and educational leaders to actively use the student bill of rights as a living document we hope that it is regularly revisited assessed and improved upon through student feedback data and collaborate collaborative dialogue so that it continues to evolve and serve as a guiding framework for equity and excellence and student voice in every classroom

[01:35:17] and department into pwcs i think you can see why i started off so enthusiastically i am proud to share that when the board considers the code of behavior tonight they will see the inclusion of the student voice bill of rights in the code of behavior to be approved by the board and codified in prince william county school documents thank you all

[01:35:51] very much and i know the team is happy to answer any questions you may have miss william thank you - Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[01:36:07] What many of you probably do not know is when Ms. Jessie was on the board, Ms. Jessie and I advocated fiercely to have student representatives sit up here because we thought or we believed and knew that capturing student voice was instrumental in having a well-rounded school division.

[01:36:26] Sorry, I'm getting choked up 'cause this for me is a big deal. Because of the student representative, the student senate was born. For myself, I advocated to ensure that every single high school had representatives on the student senate, and that your voice made its way to us.

[01:36:44] I always believe that when you give students autonomy over their learning, good things, great things happen. I cannot express to you how proud I am right now to be sitting on this board, and to see this idea go from having student representatives to all of you standing here before us presenting two years worth of work.

[01:37:10] I was fortunate enough to be able to attend one of the sessions and saw the discussion happen in real time to see students not only thinking about what was in their best interest, but also considering and acknowledging that there are laws that you had to adhere to, additional policy, asking thoughtful questions, collaborating with each other as well as the adults in the room, but mostly taking the lead.

[01:37:40] I am thrilled that this will be included in our code of behavior. I think that you are exactly right and on the right track by exercising your voice and ensuring that all of our other students in the division have the ability to do the same.

[01:37:57] One of the things that frustrated me as a student was there was no path to do that. And I never believed that it was fair to make policy for at that time when I first got on the board was like 91,000 students without having the ability to hear your thoughts and and what life is like in a building for you because it changes I get older I see students I know that my school experience is not the same as your school experience I'm a mother of two the difference in life in a building between one who graduated in 2019 to one who's still in the division is dramatic and I feel it is our responsibility

[01:38:32] as board members and people who make policy for your benefit to hear how our policy affects you and also what we may or may not be missing because your voice is important it's meaningful and we can't say that we're creating future leaders and people who are responsible civic citizens without allowing you the opportunity to exercise your voice and to provide guidance when that when that happens so i appreciate and i am just so grateful to be still sitting here to

[01:39:05] hear the fruits of your labor i hope that all of you continue to do this work and remind us live right in front of us why we're here because it's ultimately not only for our staff but for you for you all and i am extremely uh thankful and proud of our own staff for taking the time out to nurture this for really putting the onus on the students and allowing them to take the lead because I know sometimes that's hard but I think everyone involved in this process did a tremendous job and I'm really really excited by this and I

[01:39:43] hope that all of you continue as you matriculate out to use your voice out in the real world and those who aren't graduating continue to share how valuable and is important to share your voice and how much this board and others adults really value what you have to say and how important we believe it is to your academic experience so as someone who started this long time ago I just cannot capture the joy that I feel and how proud I am of you all of you and everyone who participated in this process so thank you so much for having the courage and the leadership to get this bill of rights done and for coming

[01:40:21] here tonight to present it to us. Ms. Trudenik. I just like to say thank you guys I know that takes a lot of courage to come and speak in front of everybody and I admire that you guys put all this together I would like to ask where are the boys and why are there no gentlemen represented in this group so we do have two male Senate members we're from Garfield who just could not make it tonight so we do have them okay in the Senate as the selection process for the

[01:41:01] senate is tied to the student representative process and that's blind so last year our senate we had two male students that made it to the final round wonderful i do ask that a lot i ask that you know maybe one day we'll see a boy up here as a boy mom i've got a you know rep for the boys i do so but thank you guys very much mr jess well i do remember chance i think williams who was a male

[01:41:33] that was okay so you just have to be around a little while okay but again i'd like to thank miss williams for mentioning my wife and her working to get the student represented on the board she would be very proud of you guys i also like to thank you for the work that you're doing it's very impressive you know you go through some of the training i went through where you try to figure out who's going to make the best decision and it always turn around to the fact that when

[01:42:08] a group of people get together and make it help the leader make a decision it's it's usually the best decision made and i think what you're doing today what you have done is very remarkable a lot of work and very impressive thank you okay well listen i want to thank you for the um spirit of democracy you have pursued this effort with I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness the methodical nature that you guys have approached this with

[01:42:45] and you've done this at a time when the nation and maybe the world is talking about free speech in a way we haven't talked about it in a long time and I think the impact of your work is going to be something that especially when very few school divisions have this is something you should be proud of and that I think we'll be proud of and have as a terrific tool as we move forward in our job in governing and oversight.

[01:43:10] I appreciate Dr. McDade, your leadership in pushing this through and inspiring this to actually happen and to making it happen. And I really think this is great. You know, when you, just as a side note for all of you senators, one's here, one's not here, and any student who participated in the process, This is a great, when employers, when colleges, when the military look for hiring people, they're looking for, or admitting people, they're looking for people to make an impact.

[01:43:41] And how you describe, I think what's important about this is that I believe this will have a real impact. And I think this is something that, as you write your college essays, or you talk at an interview about the kinds of things you've done, this is very important.

[01:43:56] This is something that you will have left a legacy on a document for a record of public policy change that will impact in perpetuity the students of the school division long after you've gone. And I think it's important to reflect on that as you're talking about the kinds of things you've been able to do here, but the kinds of things that have led to a considerable impact.

[01:44:20] And I think when universities look to admit students or employers look to hire folks, they're looking at people who have made an impact. They're looking for those kinds of individuals who can put in this kind of work that leads to substantive change. So congratulations to all of you who've served on this committee, all of the senators, all of the senators, our school board members, and everyone who's participated in this.

[01:44:44] Thank you very much. And I know the school board will take this very seriously. Have a great evening, everyone. Thank you.

[01:45:00] - You, are we in superintendent time still? - We are moving to the next presentation, code of behavior. Okay, all right, Code of Behavior. I'll turn over to Dr. McDade. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would now like to invite our Associate Superintendent of Student Services and Post-Secondary Success, Ms. Denise Heberner, here to present the 2026 Code of Behavior.

[01:45:26] - Thank you. Good evening, Chairman Lateef, Vice Chair Blake, members of the School Board, Dr. McDade. I'd like to introduce Ms. Theresa Duvall, who's our Director of the Students' Hearings Department, who's also a contributor on the Code of Behavior. Ms. DeVall, next year this will be all hers.

[01:45:44] See that smile when I say that? So under the Thriving Future Strategic Plan, the Code of Behavior is representative of all the different commitments. Under Learning and Achievement for All, Commitment 1, the Code of Behavior sets clear expectations that foster a safe and focused environment, ensuring that our students have access to a quality instruction.

[01:46:04] In Positive Climate and Culture Commitment 2, the Code of Behavior promotes a welcoming, supporting, and structured learning environment that helps create a sense of belonging for our students. And under family and community engagement is an important commitment in number three, where we recognize that managing student behavior is a collaborative effort that involves family and community.

[01:46:24] It's not solely the responsibility of administrators or the school, therefore our code of behavior provides families with information about expectations available and supports such as our MTSS process. And under organizational coherence commitment four, I'd like to note that our teams are dedicated not only to the development of the code of behavior, but also implementing the code of behavior and standardizing practices across our schools.

[01:46:51] So as you'll probably recall or have heard me say before, our code of behavior does serve a very important purpose. It establishes clear expectations for student conduct to create that safe and focused learning environment. It facilitates access to quality instruction by detailing expected behaviors, student rights and consequences for violations.

[01:47:11] It's creating a shared understanding of expectations for both educators and students, and it establishes a common ground on both positive and negative behaviors. The preventative practices outlined in our Code of Behavior aim to address issues before they escalate, which helps students succeed.

[01:47:31] Restorative practices focus on learning situations that led to violations, offering strategies for support and growth without replacing consequences. Restorative practices are aimed at promoting healing and future prevention.

[01:47:48] So as you are all aware, as a board, it is in the Code of Behavior, I'm sorry, in the Code of Virginia that you are required to review the student conduct biannually. Boards are responsible for ensuring including that suspension, expulsion, and decisions related are in the Code of Conduct.

[01:48:06] The review process is being taken care of tonight through this presentation, and it should be noted that school boards are not only asked to adopt and revise, but that they are asked to review student codes of conduct and make sure that they are consistent with their expectations, noting that boards may have stringent or more stringent guidelines than that that's put out by the board.

[01:48:34] Over here is a, this slide is an overview of all the feedback and process of our coded behavior. I wanted to make sure that we outlined that it is our goal to hear all voices. And so we did have multiple opportunities for feedback from stakeholders. Our principals provided feedback, central office staff, community members were offered the opportunity through our Five to Thrive, our executive cabinet, our legal team, and we continue to be open to hearing that feedback, ensuring that all voices are heard.

[01:49:02] Some of the feedback that you'll see incorporated into this year's Coded Behavior is making sure that our sections are edited for readability and organization. The titles have been updated for clarity. With the implementation of our online Coded Behavior, we found this to be extremely important, and I'll highlight that a little bit later.

[01:49:20] We also revised the responding to student behavior section. So available responses are now outlined by grade level, pre-K through two, three through five, and six through 12. This enhanced information narrows consequences, creating a clearer guide for our school administrators and for our parents.

[01:49:38] We also enhanced information, so we've included cell phone information to align with the new policy for the 25-26 school year. We also have implemented the Virginia Department of Education, Student Behavior Administrative Response Codes, which is referenced as the SBAR codes.

[01:49:54] These violation codes were added and aligned with behaviors for which students can be disciplined for. Language is also added for each behavior to add additional context to the coding and recommended level discipline responses, which increases the visibility of reporting and links for discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

[01:50:12] On the screen, you'll see an example. We're taking a different approach this year, as I said, narrowing in the consequences and creating those responses in a way that is broken down by grade level to provide more narrow guidance for more consistent implementation.

[01:50:30] It's important to remember that applying consequences is not a one-size-fits-all. School administrators must consider many different factors, including a student's pattern of behavior to ensure progressive discipline is utilized. Other factors can include age and developmental stage of the student.

[01:50:45] Younger students and adolescents are at different developmental stages, which affects the understanding of rules and consequences. Discipline strategies should be age appropriate and consider the cognitive, emotional, and social development of the student. Students have individual needs.

[01:51:00] Students with special needs or disabilities may require tailored disciplinary approaches. This includes understanding of their specific challenges and ensuring that consequences do not exasperate their difficulties. Consistency and fairness is important. Consequences should be applied consistently and equitably to all students.

[01:51:18] This help maintains the trust and fairness within the school community, And this has been a focus of our work group and our level associates and school leaders. Positive behavior interventions, instead of focusing solely on punitive measures, is important. Administrators should incorporate positive behavior interventions and supports, which is referred to often as PBIS.

[01:51:39] This approach emphasizes teaching and reinforcing positive behaviors in order to avoid future infractions and to support a student's learning. The restorative practices aspect helps to address root causes of behavior, repair harm, and it is important to note that restorative practices do not replace consequences.

[01:51:57] There's an educational impact when we impose discipline, so consequences should aim to keep students in school and engaged in learning. Excessive use of suspensions and expulsion can negatively impact a student's academic progress and increase the likelihood of dropping out. With that being said, we recognize that there are times that there's need for removal from the learning environment.

[01:52:16] As mentioned earlier, family involvement is key. Engaging families in the disciplinary process can provide additional support for students and help reinforce student behavior at home through parental guidance. The next slide shows a screenshot of our online platform.

[01:52:33] I wanted to mention that our online platform does require we address the code of behavior a bit differently, and you might see some repetitiveness in the document itself. That's to ensure that when our constituents and administrators are referring to the code of behavior, that all the information is within that section.

[01:52:48] So you'll note that there may be several areas where there's reporting options that are highlighted. This is to ensure that is information that's readily available to our parents. So we have updated our coded behavior and enhanced the hot link index to be more user friendly.

[01:53:04] For example, if you'll look, and I'll demonstrate this on the next slide as well, previously we had exclusionary discipline. Now exclusionary discipline uses the terms long-term suspension, expulsion, and reassignment. We've also added links for cell phone and wireless communication guidelines so that information is readily available for parents.

[01:53:23] On this slide, you'll notice that we have highlighted areas where stakeholders have information about how to report harassment, bullying, and discrimination. This is very important. Our online bullying reporting system was implemented this year. To date, we have 199 reports using the online system.

[01:53:40] 64% of those did not meet the criteria. The work of the Documenting and Addressing Behavior work group has really been extremely impactful in a positive way in our schools and with our school leaders taking the lead.

[01:53:59] Professional development around the implementation of the code of behavior will continue for the 25-26 school year. So in addition to helping our students understand and learn by presenting the code of behavior at student assemblies at the beginning of the year, our school teams also receive professional development and learning around the code of behavior.

[01:54:17] The teacher reported incident platform. Now all schools are utilizing the same online referral in the hub. Paper referrals are only used when there's a person who needs to document the incident, but they don't have access to that online platform. We do have, as I mentioned, required training for new administrators and security specialists.

[01:54:34] New administrators and security specialists will continue to be required to participate in the online training that covers specific areas, such as site-based investigations, referral codes, entering referrals in the hub, how to conduct a search, disciplined data, and investigation.

[01:54:50] Ongoing professional learning for school leaders is and will continue to occur. Principals will continue to participate in learning throughout Zoom sessions and in-person through our principal leadership development meetings. They are expected to turnkey this information with their administrative team. Some examples of these topics include refreshers on how to conduct a site-based investigation, understanding and analyzing data reports, and the purpose and proactive use of discipline data.

[01:55:16] Restorative practices that focuses on the why, MTSS, antecedents, discrimination, harassment, and addressing bias. Additionally, addressing behaviors of students with disabilities, including strategies and steps that can be taken to address those behaviors. Improved data platforms and data literacy, we're continuing to work with research and accountability team to develop ways to help leaders monitor and analyze their data.

[01:55:39] So we use discipline norming scenarios, ongoing scenario-based training to calibrate appropriate consequences by age group. And we know that our Dean of Students position will greatly have a great impact at the middle and high school level in norming consequences in the implementation of the Code of Behavior. We're very grateful for the addition of these Dean of Students, and we look forward to seeing their impact.

[01:55:59] Additional administrator resources have been created and I'll show you an overview of those shortly. The principal handbook includes information about documenting and addressing student behaviors. And on this slide, you can see an example of what that looks like for our administrators.

[01:56:16] Many of the materials in the handbook are printable. For example, on the bottom right, you'll see a guide that gives suggestions about investigations and examples of questions. And at this time, that concludes my presentation on the overview of the changes for the code of behavior.

[01:56:39] - Thank you, Ms. Huebner. Any questions, Ms. Williams? Oh, and then Mr. Wilk. - Thank you. I believe this is Mr. Wilk and I's favorite time of year. Ms. Huebner, thank you for this and for your team for putting together this.

[01:56:55] I'm very impressed by the update. I think every year it gets better and better. A few questions I have. First, you mentioned for staff training. So one of the questions that I have and not being a staff member is with five generations in the workplace now, I noticed, or I'm hearing a lot of feedback on student language and what is interpreted as disrespectful language or not.

[01:57:18] Is there any resources that we are providing? Because everyone speaks differently. We all speak English, maybe, but not necessarily the same, especially students with trending talk and colloquialisms and maybe not be being new to Prince William County.

[01:57:34] Are we being mindful when we are providing this training to our staff members for them to be mindful of corrections not always assuming I mean some things are blatantly disrespectful right but having this own discussion in my household I've heard things like well sometimes I just before I even thought about it I said bruh and then I'm I've tried to correct myself but I don't even get a chance to correct myself so and I know that that is different depending on your age group or things of that nature so are we being mindful and having discussions with our staff about that so Miss Williams that's a great question and so one of the things that I lean into is the fact that as part of our evaluation process we are required

[01:58:12] to enhance our response cultural responsive behaviors and create a sense of belonging in classrooms which it enables us to understand our students a little bit better so we in all that we do in education it's important that we understand the differences with our students and developmentally appropriate communication so to answer your question yes we are considering that is there one specific class on language what's acceptable it's not as I said each situation is unique we have to take into consideration the student developmentally culturally age all of these different things and so it is something that we consider and really the exercises that our team is engaging in through the principal zooms the scenario based and then turn keen those

[01:58:51] to staff it's a great opportunity for us to discuss what that looks like what behavior is acceptable and what is unacceptable as you have said there's certain aspects of behavior language or what have you that's never acceptable but yes we are very much working to norm that with that being said you and I both understand that everyone has different perceptions and that's an area that we continue to grow in thank you I appreciate that because I've noticed some are better able to sort of redirect the students on what's appropriate and what's not but also being in the schools I know that kids are a little different now as well as parents so what I would consider traditional norm behaviors it's

[01:59:28] not necessarily the same as what is appearing in our schools now so I I appreciate the mindfulness of having that discussion and the teachers or staff members ability to course correct as it comes along 'cause it is a big deal. And what is socially accepted is not the same as when I was in school 100 years ago.

[01:59:47] So I appreciate the thoughtfulness to that. The other thing that I wanna know or I'm curious to know about is we have these charts that lay out discipline according to whatever the reportable offense is. And as a parent, I think oftentimes you see these things in the code of behavior and assume that if this action occurred, that is going to be the discipline.

[02:00:10] And so is there going to be any sort of statement in our code of behavior to let parents know that these are possible outcomes based upon the infraction occurred and not to weigh heavily that just because this happened, this is going to happen except for where it says by law.

[02:00:27] 'Cause I think that's something that we run across in buildings and staff has to deal with. parent says this has happened to my child it says right here in this box this should be occurring and we're not often mindful of the fact of each situation is unique so will there be any language or verbiage to address that sure if in within the code of behavior itself for example on page 24 right before the defined student misconduct and corresponding SBAR codes it does reference that these are possible interventions and possible consequences I like to say that discipline there's a size guide when you buy shoes right you you may be this, you may be that.

[02:01:01] You have to try them on to make sure that they fit. You don't wear the same shoe for every activity that you engage in. So these are recommendations. We are working to internally calibrate to ensure that it is a just right fit, not an over-response or an under-response. But as you mentioned, these are guidelines and there are several areas within the Code of Behavior and specifically on page 24 before it talks about the defined student misconduct.

[02:01:25] Also, as I mentioned, it's very difficult When you have two, this happens, this happens, it may be different. The student that engaged in this behavior may have done that more times. The student may have never done that. There are some offenses that don't matter. If you do this one time, one time, it equals the same consequence.

[02:01:42] It's a very complex process, and that's why we rely on our school leaders to be highly aware, educated, on how to respond to these behaviors, and that's the work of the documenting and addressing student behaviors work group where we are really working to norm understand what is the appropriate consequence thank you I appreciate that because I feel like in society there's a sentiment to sort of go back to extremely harsh discipline and also I know as a parent it's difficult when something occurs with your child you know you're there to advocate and stand up for your child so it's hard to not know what happens to the other students involved but also when you see a code of behavior and displays a rubric your

[02:02:21] hearts in it so I just want to make sure that our school community and our school families are aware that we do believe in discipline, we do discipline our students, but it's not just a check the box because you did this, you did that. Because I do believe it's important 'cause the goal of discipline is to correct the behavior, not just to alienate a student or make them feel like they don't belong or that they can't learn.

[02:02:44] So I think that's part of the conversation that's left out. We don't want any student to feel like they're a problem student and not worthy of receiving an education. but I do like the adjustments in the code of behavior. I appreciate the time and effort that has been put into it. And thank you. - Thank you.

[02:03:01] - Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm setting a clock for myself 'cause my colleagues are like, you're gonna talk forever. I promise it's the first presentation tonight. First, thank you, Denise. Ms. Huebner, you work vestidiously on this as well as everything else. You know, you were my point of contact during, thank you.

[02:03:18] You were my point of contact during COVID tirelessly. I don't know when you slept, if you ever did sleep. So I do appreciate what you do. I do appreciate your entire committee and the work that they put into it. Although I think philosophically, I might have a different view on discipline than collectively the group or, you know, the legal system.

[02:03:38] But my, in summary, thank you. I think there have been advances. I do like the charts, you know, I promise if you juxtapose these next to one another, it's a little hard, but so I'm gonna say a couple things with the community that may not make sense 'cause I'm gonna say like this, a level one to a level five stuff like that but i'll try to be a little bit more general than saying level one level five just some areas don't expect to have these are not questions these are just thoughts and things yes don't worry i'm not going to put you on the spot i would have asked that appropriately in another setting so um i want to talk about salt and battery it was great we actually had some well

[02:04:15] it wasn't great but we did have some testimonials today uh during our citizen comment time that i I think apply perfectly to some of these. I wanna talk about assault and battery first with Ms. Good, who resides in the Potomac District, talking about that.

[02:04:33] I look at the assault and battery chart, I know people can't see this, but I look at the level in which things start. I would like it to start at a higher level and not have the option of a lower level, but I understand where it is and I understand there's flexibility.

[02:04:49] However, in my opinion, I wouldn't want that one to be a flexible option to more severe, stricter ones. The other thing is the mandatory report for law enforcement. I know what that chart means in the sense that this is what we have to legally report. However, if we could, I look at this one in particular, striking staff, the use of force against a staff member when no injury is caused.

[02:05:13] Well, first of all, I would have got rid of level twos and threes and made four the starting points. However, in my opinion, I think if you're striking a staff, although it may be onerous, but I think it should be reported to the law.

[02:05:29] I don't think the staff member should have to file a report. I don't think the staff member should have to possibly press charges or litigation. I think we should file the report, but that's just my opinion. Bullying, I'm on the page now, bullying incidents.

[02:05:45] I liked Ms. Stroy's line today of the normalization of bullying. I thought that was an excellent line to quote her. I look, let's say, for example, bullying with no physical injury, or cyberbullying, or without physical injury, that continues.

[02:06:03] Some of the worst bullying is the mental bullying. And we had a great example, not a great, but a horrible example in the sense of what happened in Roanoke with the student of having to deal with this. I will tell you before the tenure of this administration, When I first came on the board, there was a young lady who took her life at Grand Park and she was cyberbullied.

[02:06:27] A photograph of her was sent around and, in my opinion, it wasn't addressed in the manner that I thought it should have and, sadly, she took her life. So when I look at bullying and cyberbullying and it ends at a level three, then I look at intervention.

[02:06:45] So what happens after the first intervention occurs? Well, then it still goes as a level three as a possible option, four and then five. I would, in my opinion, remove the three, start at the four or even start at the five if after intervention the bullying is still persisting.

[02:07:05] I think we have to get to this sooner and set an example before tragedy does occur in these instances. I do wanna just briefly, I know I have one minute, I set myself, the classroom disruption, it stops as a level three option.

[02:07:21] I do believe four should be an option. I don't think it necessarily has to start a course at four. I think it should be there. I wanna hit the big one too. There's a bunch, so, but I'm not going to do this all night. The one other one I really wanna highlight is a big topic that I hear often, transportation expectations in buses.

[02:07:45] I look at distracting a bus driver or endangering the safety of others on the bus as a nefarious activity. This is a deliberate thing that could cost the lives of the students on the bus. And when I look at that those could go to level three as the furthest, I think we should give the option of fours and fives at least three to 12.

[02:08:12] It's very concerning. We, you know, I hear from bus drivers a lot, all the time. Actually, a lot of the bullying I hear about, and when I say a lot, a handful of people that email me, it is about bullying on the bus. And that is very hard, oh, I'm almost over. That is very hard for a bus driver to have to address, not only handle roads, chaotic roads at times with the drivers and the congestion and stuff like that, but to have to maintain that bus and have some semblance of normalcy as they're taking those kids to and fro school.

[02:08:44] So those are just my initial thoughts. I'm at about the same time Ms. Williams had, so I will stop. Thank you. - Ms. Trudenik.

[02:08:59] - Thank you, as Mr. Welcome, just as passionate about the code of behavior and the different things that go into it. And again, I appreciate your time in the two by two. I will say what I said there, which I do appreciate these charts because it was something that we advocated for and asked for so that we could have a clearer set of consequences.

[02:09:20] So this actually lays it out and makes it a little more clear for people to be able to look into it. I do struggle still, and I've been very honest with you that I struggle with the fact that you know the option is let's just use the striking shoving pushing biting another student with no visible injury pre-k through second grade can be anything from level one to level three so Johnny and Billy are in the same class and Johnny can get level one and Billy can get level three there's my struggle it's that is difficult at any level even

[02:09:58] and especially with high schoolers, too, when you're looking at this range of consequences. But when it comes down to big things, such as not being able to attend school, not being able to finish your, you know, sports season yet, Billy gets to go back and play sports, and he did the same thing.

[02:10:20] Like, there's the struggle that I deal with with consistency. Whereas I do also understand that pre-K through second grade can't be held to the same standard as a high schooler.

[02:10:37] That has to be recognized. So I do understand that the levels in that realm, as well as our special ed students, too. There's got to be different things that we look at for that. But again, my struggle with the code of behavior is the consistency, and especially for the kids.

[02:11:00] Another thing that I also have heard from a lot of students is in regards to the dress code. And again, that's the consistency piece. You know, A, they wore that shirt all year. You know, we've talked about that. B, they're wearing the same shirt as someone else, but they look different than someone else.

[02:11:20] It's a struggle. And I think that we can have more clear guidelines when it comes to that as well for our students and for our teachers and the enforcement. I also struggle with how do the teachers enforce this fairly and consistently without being questioned.

[02:11:42] You know, having kids that go to the same school in different grades, too, and, you know, their levels are the same, same level punishments, but they see it differently. that's another another issue can you address it all is there additional paperwork that you're asking the teachers to complete in regards to this at all in regards to the different levels before they can take it to administration in particular like anything that they have to do before they can elevate it to administration is there something else that they have to

[02:12:20] get done is there no at any point they can elevate their concern to administration yes as a matter of fact and I'm going to look in if I'm not right you can jump up this part of Lucas so what we have done is actually enabled teachers to enter information directly into the hub the student information system the referral system so that administrators can see all of their concerns there's no delay it's consistent you can see what's being entered so there's not a pre-form that's required to be completed you can enter the concern into the hub and then with collaboration with the administrator, all of those are addressed and closed out.

[02:12:58] I do hear your concern, and I want to just acknowledge your concern about the consistency piece, and I want to highlight one piece that I might not have been clear about. When we talk about working with our accountability system and the data tracking, what we are doing is looking very closely at how can we look from classroom to classroom, and so when you look at data, you are able to see patterns of behaviors and responses, which is helping us norm across classrooms, buildings and the division to ensure what you're talking about um is something that we can work on addressing so we do have and have increased our data literacy and that is something that's

[02:13:35] one way that we're keeping eyes on how can we make sure that everyone has equitable and implementation of the code of behavior so i hear what you're saying about the consistency but you know so first that's one and then two there should not be any barrier for a teacher in order to put that referral directly into the hub there's no requirements when the when the behavior occurs it's entered into the system and and the Dean of students that that we're bringing into what will also help hopefully with the norming and and knowing I'm in being able to look and review the consequences at each school and seeing where there's differing issues or where there could

[02:14:11] be holes in that as well I think right and you know one lens on that is one of the reasons for example that we have one designated bullying coordinator at a school that all of those complaints run through and we have someone at central office at the division level looking at them you have to be able to see everything that comes through one person because then you have all the information and understanding of that so the dean of students will really help with that consistency piece because while they aren't ultimately the decision maker for everything their eyes will be on that they'll be integral in norming they'll have really a pulse in the building because that is their focus and they'll be able to help our principals and our other administrators with you know recognizing when things maybe need a little bit

[02:14:49] of caleration or you know just acting as a consultant so i'm very confident that what you're going to see over the coming year with you know a lot of support from our school leaders is really better implementation of the code of behavior that calibration piece that you're looking for and consistency um you know there's extensive training available and i'm confident that you'll see a much improved situation thank you i do want to add really quickly i'm sorry um to part answer your question because i know that um the last year a lot of discussion was around implementation and execution of the code the fidelity of that the consistency and uniformity

[02:15:26] across the school system so i do want to ask miss porter lucas because she's representing the level associates who supervise principals and leaders and work directly with them and she's been collaborating with miss heebner and her team to just share a little bit of some of the work that we've been doing with school leaders to address exactly what you're you're asking for right now in terms of you know an incident happening at one school is similar at the other school but you get different results so a lot of work has gone into training to make sure that those kinds of things that we're tamping down on that so can you can you share with the board so that they know some

[02:16:06] of the work that's already happening absolutely good evening so we really have been working with our leaders first to like Ms. Huebner mentioned look at data to look at some of those trends to to look at our responses. Then we take that data and we do scenario-based training.

[02:16:21] So every other week, we take a look at a scenario, elementary, middle, and high school, and it's whatever discipline scenario that we have seen come up in our data, and we talk about what the responses would be. They actually work with their teams. They give us a response first, and then we come back and look at what our responses have been at each of our levels, and we norm what those responses are.

[02:16:43] We then talk to our principals about how to turnkey that with not only their admin team, but also their teachers. So we are looking at how teachers are reporting, making sure that they are using the hub, our system to document the behaviors that they're seeing and that our administrators are responding to those behaviors.

[02:17:03] So we spend a lot of time doing that work as well as just helping with the data literacy to see the trends that we're seeing across elementary, middle and high school. So we've made a lot of progress. We have a lot of leaders that will call us and really talk through scenarios now that they're seen in their buildings to say, hey, am I within range?

[02:17:21] What are your thoughts about this? So it's really great to see that collaboration across all of our leaders and our teams to really get this right for our kids. - I also want to acknowledge the work that's been done around ensuring appropriate reporting and making sure that all schools are reporting disciplinary infractions and we audit that and we pull to see what's happening at school.

[02:17:45] So I just wanna highlight some of the work that is happening to address the concerns that everyone really on the board talked about as it relates to implementation, because we can make however many changes to the code of behavior, but what counts is what actually is executed at the local school level.

[02:18:02] So there's a heightened level of accountability around ensuring that the protocols that we are putting in place is being used throughout the school system at all schools at every single level. And we are monitoring that very heavily. That also includes ensuring that every staff member is documenting using that common referral system.

[02:18:23] We had different ways of documenting previously. So we actually see an uptick in the number of referrals, but that is because we're using the same system to document. - Thank you, and I appreciate Dr. McDade, you saying that about the implementation and that being the most important part of this, as many changes as we make, if it's not shown in real life, that's a struggle.

[02:18:46] I just have one last question. I don't know if it's too broad of a question to ask, but I do know one of our speakers touched on in-school suspension. Where are we at with that? Is that implemented in some schools or not at all? Can you address that?

[02:19:02] - It is right now it's in some schools, not all. So that has been a conversation of our document addressing student behavior work that we've done as well as, you know, what are those responses look like at each school? Some schools just have not had the personnel to implement it or they haven't had the same needs.

[02:19:18] So that is a conversation that we're having, but it's mainly at the secondary level that you're seeing the in-school suspension. - We'll do, I don't think that we've really done a data capture to say specifically which schools have it and which schools don't. So that's something that we can come back and share maybe with a memo to the board to let you know at the secondary level, how many schools across middle and high have in-school suspension in place and which schools, which of those schools are identified.

[02:19:45] And then for those who don't, we can take, we can get some feedback from the schools to find out why they don't have it, if it is actually a personnel issue, or if it's some other reason why they don't. - And is it effective or are we seeing anything, yeah? - We can take a look at, we can do a deeper dive evaluating the effectiveness of in-school suspension, as well as the implementation of it to make some sound decisions about how we move forward, as opposed to just saying, okay, everybody get this personnel to do in-school suspension, because unless it's effective, you're just supporting more staff to not make any changes.

[02:20:20] So we can evaluate that and be able to come back to the board with some recommendations around it. - Thank you. - Mr. Jessica. - I was looking at the drug portion of this and it says use and possession.

[02:20:39] But then when I look at the examples, I think we're missing something. It's one thing to have possession, bringing it to schools and stuff. another thing when you gleefully accept the drugs and use the drugs in the school facility i don't see where we're addressing that uh my analogy for example uh sam brings a gun into the school

[02:21:13] and jeffrey takes the gun uh to play with and accidentally shoot himself both of those people will probably get into big trouble but a lot of times i was looking at a video on the disciplinary committee where the student who was selling wasn't selling he was giving the drugs to another another three students they were glad gladly accepting and having a good time then they get sick and

[02:21:46] go to the hospital but the punishment is very minimal for the use of the drugs and i don't think it should necessarily be the same as a person bringing it in. But without the people accepting it, the sort of gross example is that you have the prostitute and you have the people who use prostitute. There's, you know, the people using it and the Johns are

[02:22:22] normally not punished. But the kids bringing the drugs in, they should be punished. But the kids using the drugs Biden you know should receive some form of punishment and should be listed on here I don't see that listed here so thank you Mr. Jesse for bringing that Ms. Porter Lucas just let me know that that was one of the scenarios that they just went through with our school-based administrators as I believe we've discussed it's a training issue because there is the ability and there should be implementation of the coded behavior so we have both distribution

[02:23:00] and use, and so that is a training issue that we certainly will address and we have already addressed, but we'll reinforce with our team. And I think it should end here, the example, put the word use more.

[02:23:18] Okay. Thank you. Ms. Wall. Thank you for this work on the code of behavior, you, Ms. Huebner, and all your team. Everybody who's been working on it, I believe it's been a year-long process, I'm assuming.

[02:23:36] And I appreciate, I'll be brief, I appreciate the attention to detail in the code of behavior. I like the charts, I like the indicated recommendations, I like the codes.

[02:23:52] I know there's some redundancy because as I look through it I see things that show up more than once, but I understand why that is. I appreciate the attention to implementation that Dr. McDade shared. I know that many of our complaints in past years have been related to implementation, not so much the code of behavior and what's in it, but how it's administered and carried forward.

[02:24:17] So I believe all of those efforts for implementation are gonna make a difference. Let's see, I said that already. And then I agree it would be good to look at the in-school suspension before we jump on it to know where are we doing it, where are we not, is it working, what is it about that option that is desirable, and all of that, because it would be a big lift, and so we do need to know if we moved more in that direction, if it would be the right direction for our students.

[02:24:49] I also like to see, I do appreciate the strictness of the section of, let's see, prohibited substances. That's really specific, it details all the different levels that you were describing, and the punishments levels are all really high, level three, four, five.

[02:25:11] So I do appreciate seeing all of that, including the drug paraphernalia. And it's one of our biggest problems, I think, in our schools that is a community-based problem that kids bring it into our schools. And I think it is worth being really serious about it.

[02:25:30] I know we treat it seriously already, but we need to help students understand how serious it is. So I appreciate that. And I just want to commend the team for all their hard work. and I look forward to looking through this over the next couple of weeks because I know it's on for information tonight. So if I have further questions, I'll reach out.

[02:25:46] Yeah, thank you very much. - Thank you. - Okay, all right, thank you, Ms. Eammer. - Thank you. - Moving on to student representative time, we have Ala Rashid tonight from Unity Reed High School. Ms. Rashid.

[02:26:03] - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Good evening to the Prince William County School Board community and Dr. McDade. I'm happy to be back on the day representing my peers again. As started my remarks, I would like to just highlight all the work our amazing student senate did and student voice committees have done for our first for our county's first ever copy of our student bill of rights. Each student involved has prioritized the concerns of PWCS students alongside Ms. Viola Askey and Dr. Schaefer having been so helpful throughout the entire process. We thank you all for hearing us out and reviewing their earlier presentation from our senators Trevoni, Salette, Prenavi, and Adome. This bill of rights highlights

[02:26:40] the feelings of students regarding various topics spanning from due process to modern technology with each prioritizing the students in every situation. We hope that as you review the Bill of Rights and the presentations you keep in mind the voices involved in the feedback that received from staff and other students. This week is also teacher appreciation week so I want to just say thank you to all the teachers in our amazing county. Each one of our teachers have done amazing things for us with one of my most memorable experiences being the girls on the run club in elementary school with over ten teachers devoting their time after school to run the club for us. We all appreciate what you do for us each and every day and hope you have an amazing week and end of school year. If you haven't already, be sure

[02:27:18] to share with that with any teacher you come across. They are one of the reasons we continue to be better every day for us students. To add on to this, I want to also highlight the outstanding educator ceremony that the division held and that Kaylee, the other student representative, and I had participated in. It was an amazing event that honored the most outstanding educators in our county while still having opportunities for students to shine, whether it was through singing and dancing, or hosting the event itself.

[02:27:44] The division did a great job with the whole entire event, and I hope each and every one of you have been able to tune in. Another thing the division is hosting is a county-wide sports fair here at the Leadership Center on Saturday. It is a fun and free way to increase student activity while also giving parents the opportunity to learn more about what their students already do or can be doing at school.

[02:28:03] Many students have shared that they're excited to attend and feel as if it is going to be a great event hosted by the county. This also ties into the various unified sporting events that the county hosted over the last few weeks, allowing each and every student the ability to participate in events spanning from the Unified Olympics at OP or the Unified Track event, emphasizing unity within our local communities.

[02:28:22] Each student I know that participated, whether it was a general education student or a special needs student, agrees that these events are an amazing and necessary part for our county. Now, to conclude my remarks, I'd like to just share how much of an honor it has been to be up on the dais as one of our student representatives. This role and all the experience alongside of it have been instrumental to who I am as a later and future college student.

[02:28:44] and I have enjoyed representing all of my peers this year. Even though this is my last solo remarks of the year, Almodena and Kaylee will still be speaking until the very end of the school year, with us all being available for any concerns you may have. Thank you again for allowing me to speak tonight and for my role as a student leader within this amazing county.

[02:29:01] - Thank you, Ms. Rashid. Dr. McDade, superintendent's time. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening. This week is teacher appreciation week, as you heard a little bit earlier during citizen comment time. And we are celebrating the heart of our schools, teachers our educators dedication creativity and unwavering commitment to our students is inspiring for all of us who have the privilege of supporting their work our teachers are shaping the future building leaders and opening the doors of opportunity with every lesson they deliver and every relationship they

[02:29:36] nurture to all of our teachers a heartfelt thank you to you for your daily impact which is deeply valued and appreciated by Prince William County county public schools and communities. This month, we also recognize National Mental Health Awareness Month, reminding us of the critical importance of supporting the mental and emotional health of every student and staff member.

[02:30:01] In addition, May marks Better Hearing and Speech Month, a time to honor the professionals who help unlock communication and connection for so many in our community. And National Physical Education and Sports Week, which highlights the essential role of physical activity and sports in building strong minds and bodies.

[02:30:21] Together, these celebrations reflect a powerful truth. Our work is interconnected. The academic, mental, emotional, and physical health of our students is essential to helping them launch their thriving futures.

[02:30:37] As we look toward the next few weeks, PWCS will be hosting a few Family Engagement Series webinars, and I'd like to spotlight those for you tonight. We invite you to join us from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 8th for a webinar to learn how school staff members support students through their transition from elementary to middle school, which sometimes can be a tough transition for our young people.

[02:31:02] In the title workshop, Navigating the Transition from Elementary School to Middle School, families will explore tips and resources for preparing their children for the middle school years. from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13th, you are invited to an informative webinar, "Paying for College Early Planning" is the title. It will provide a helpful guide on financial preparation options for college, including an overview of the Virginia 529 College Savings Program. Additionally, we invite you to join us from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 22nd,

[02:31:38] for a webinar to learn about the new cell phone policy for the 25-26 school year. In our webinar, Stop the Scroll, Take Control, PWCS Cell Phone Policy, you will discover research that supports the need for a cell phone-free education and explore strategies and resources for a collaborative approach to healthy electronic device usage.

[02:32:03] You can check out our Family Engagement Series website for more details on these events and explore upcoming events as well as watch past presentations under Recordings of Past Events. - Thank you so much for your time. This concludes the superintendent's report.

[02:32:18] - Thank you so much, Dr. McDade. We're now moving on to board matters. We begin the agenda item 1701 policy, 757 health treatment procedures, administrating medicines, temporary first aid, first reading. Let's see, who do we have on this?

[02:32:35] Ms. Huebner, does anyone have any questions for Ms. Huebner? Do you want to give us a quick like 10 seconds? - Absolutely, this is an easy one, Dr. Lateef. We are updating the series, the 757 series. All of the regulations that fall underneath this are related to health treatment.

[02:32:51] As an update, we've removed some outdated links at the bottom. We've updated one language from using dispensed to administer and we removed the childcare vendor as part of the policy as we don't control their procedures.

[02:33:10] That is the update. It is available online for anyone who would like to see it. - Outstanding. If anybody in the community has questions, concerns, any members have questions, concerns, please direct them to the superintendent's office and we'll get that taken care of and we'll be back here to vote on next week. 1702, ratification of collective bargaining agreement.

[02:33:26] Division counsel. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe as the board is aware, last year the division negotiated its first ever collective bargaining agreement. And as part of that process, the parties had agreed to revisit with a wage re-opener this past year for the second year and come to terms on wages, which we have done and so really the only change in the CBA that's before you tonight is to the wages section, which is chapter eight.

[02:34:00] The rest of it is the same and it has been approved and ratified by the PWA as the exclusive representative for Prince William County employees. It's now up to the board to ratify the agreement and it would take effect July 1st.

[02:34:23] - Thank you, Mr. Anderson. - Comments? - Oh, we gotta read the motion. Someone, Mr. Blake. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that the Prince William County School Board ratify the collective bargaining agreement with an effective date of July 1st, 2025.

[02:34:40] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Zargarpur. - I second. - Ms. Zargarpur seconds. Any discussion? - Okay. - Ms. Wall. - I can't be the only one who has something to say about this.

[02:34:57] First of all, I just wanted to ask, I believe this is the case, but did PWA ratify this document? Yes, ma'am. We have a copy, so we received the signature pages and a letter from the PWA president indicating that they had ratified the agreement and we received signature pages from Ms. Hansford, the president.

[02:35:22] So do you know if they put it out to their entire membership? I do not have any details about the process by which they ratified the agreement. - Okay, thank you. My only comments are, well, my comments are brief.

[02:35:38] My position on collective bargaining has not changed in the number of times that this issue has come before the board. My issues have to do with the appropriateness of collective bargaining for Prince William County. My belief, well, I'll get to that, but my lack of support for collective bargaining should not be construed as a lack of support in any way for our efforts to improve salaries, wages, and benefits for staff, which I do support.

[02:36:05] However, I maintain that collective bargaining is not in the best interests of Prince William County Schools, nor in the best interests of our students, nor importantly in the best interests of our employees. And so for those reasons, I'm not in support of this ratified agreement with my disclaimer or my statement that I do support increases in wages for our staff and our employees, because I think that is important, but I'm not in favor of the collective bargaining path,

[02:36:39] and I'm going to be consistent with my position. - Mr. Denik, and then Ms. Wood. - I appreciate that, Ms. Wall. I was not here for the initial collective bargaining vote, but it's no secret that I would have also been a no.

[02:36:58] It's also no secret that I also support paying our teachers more, and I do believe as a board, we could have accomplished that ourselves as well. I think that we've done well in working with Dr. McDade to ensure that our teachers are fairly and adequately paid and have increased that since I've been on the board, which is a short time.

[02:37:20] But I also am not in support of collective bargaining and I will say that it is what we have spent a large amount of our time on since I've gotten on this board and I think that it is, there are many other things that we could be focused on that would better benefit our students, teachers, and communities.

[02:37:41] So again, I am still and will not ever be in support of collective bargaining. - Ms. Williams. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I first want to start by thanking all of the school division staff and the collective bargaining team, everyone who was involved in this process.

[02:38:00] It was a very long learning process for all of us since it was the first time around. I am still in support of collecting bargaining, the ideal behind it. I think that this has been an opportunity for all of us, not only the staff and PWEA, but for us as a board to really fine tune and learn more about this process and how we can be more effective in the future.

[02:38:27] I am proud of the results that we have been able to achieve for our staff and students in the division. And I noticed this one goes all the way to 2027. So we have an opportunity to have a little bit of a break and to see what other divisions are doing and to share our learning experiences with other divisions as well.

[02:38:47] So I hope that all of the staff has received a copy of this or is able to access it and seen it. And again, I just want to thank specifically our legal team and the board, new members and old members who have joined this process and making it a positive process for as much as we could for all of us.

[02:39:07] So thank you. - Mr. William, Mr. Chairman, sorry. - I just wanted to clarify for Ms. Williams that it is posted in board docs publicly, so there's a copy available. You mentioned that. - Thank you very much. - Ms. Zarga. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[02:39:24] I would like to recognize that collective bargaining works fairly well in Prince William County because we have a revenue share agreement with the County Board of Supervisors. That agreement allows us to be able to plan and plan conservatively so that we know where we're starting from and not all divisions, I don't know any division that can do it quite like that.

[02:39:54] It is a much easier process in Prince William County than I think it is in other places. Not that any revenue anywhere is guaranteed, but I do wanna thank the Board of Supervisors for maintaining our revenue share agreement and being communicative with our departments back and forth so that we can make plans at a very baseline so that we don't have to have disappointed employees or anything like that.

[02:40:20] Thank you. - Mr. Blake. - So I'll just read these remarks. With the ratification of this first collective bargaining agreement, we are not just approving a contract, we are affirming our values here at Prince William County Schools.

[02:40:37] We are saying clearly that the people who serve our students every day matter. This agreement includes, I believe, average like a 13 percent salary increase over the next two years and I mean that's real progress meaningful change for teachers who have been in classrooms for 15 years the bus drivers getting up at 4 a.m the nice custodians keeping our buildings clean and all those paraprofessionals who go above and beyond for our students every single day and then I feel like we're doing more than just raising salaries we're restoring respect we're paying educators for extra classes they cover

[02:41:17] compensating summer work at their regular rates and protecting employee health coverage and short-term disability. We're increasing stipends for coaches, club sponsors, doubling the night shift differentials for our support staff.

[02:41:32] These are not perks, they're overdue acknowledgements of work people have already been doing. And what I appreciate most about this agreement is the signals for our culture as a school division, that we support our workforce when we listen negotiate in good faith and lead with fairness we create the conditions that student for students to thrive and that's what it's about because when educators and staff feel valued and heard students benefit that is just the truth this is also this also helps with recruitment and retention and we know what it what it has

[02:42:09] been like trying to fill positions this contract helps make Prince William County Schools a place where people want to work and want to stay. I just want to thank Dr. McDade and your team, as well as Mr. Anderson and your team, for your leadership and willingness to get this done, and to PWA and all the educators and staff who spoke up and stayed engaged.

[02:42:35] Thank you, too, for your voice and your advocacy. And to my colleagues on the board, I'm proud to stand with you tonight, and we still have a lot of work to do but this is a bright step and a big step and a necessary step and let us just keep investing in our people because that's how we invest in our kids and ultimately the future of our community thank you mr denik then miss wall um wade just for the public knowledge how much has

[02:43:08] uh collective bargaining cost us as a school board to negotiate mr denik i would say i don't have the exact numbers and i certainly could provide them to the board in terms of it's important to make sure we we clarify that when we say costs the easiest thing is my office certainly has started since collective bargaining started we've we've been tracking the legal costs and so i can only speak to that there certainly are other intangible cost things at staff time who are diverted from their other job duties those kinds of intangible costs and i couldn't tell you what that might be

[02:43:46] for since the start of collective bargaining which happened about a month after i got here so that's probably about two years uh we're looking at easily a half million dollars in legal fees um and i could get you the exact numbers because we do track that thank you wade miss wall i don't remember who said it but i would be remiss if i didn't add my support for mr anderson his team Eric Peltel, Dr. Eagle and her team, all the negotiators, everybody who has been involved in

[02:44:24] implementing what this board tasked you all to do, which I know has been a tremendous amount of work and has not been very pleasant. That's a euphemism. That's an understatement, I should say, for how difficult it has been behind the scenes to work with PWAA.

[02:44:48] But I do wish to express my appreciation for everybody who has been involved in this because I know it has been a lot and I believe the division has done a great job. And so I wanted to say thank you for your efforts.

[02:45:03] - Mr. Jesse. - Yeah, I just want to say, you know, because my colleagues on either side of me it felt they obligated that they have to present their position again so i want to present mine i support the union i don't always like what they do and how they do it but i think it's necessary i also want to support our county board of supervisors and without those supervisors

[02:45:38] providing the money uh it's one thing to have 57 point whatever percent but again if there's tax dollars and the revenues coming in is because of a lot of things that are done up there and it's important that we have them we always look at how how many dollars we are per student and so forth a lot of that is because arlington county and so forth they pulled in a lot more tax money

[02:46:15] property and so forth so that's part of the the issue there but again uh i've been involved with this board for 12 years now and i know some of the reason that we are behind was not because of collective bargaining but because we were not given the money but our board of supervisors this in the last few years have gone overboard, given us, we just got, I think, $40 million more

[02:46:49] than what they had originally planned, so thank you. - Mr. Wilk. - Well, I wanna affirm my support for collective bargaining, since I was asked, actually, to talk, thank you.

[02:47:06] I will also recognize, you know, in my work, in my line with consulting and stuff, primarily in states that are collective bargaining states, When you look at the repeated state testing results and the quality of education in our schools, it is states like New York, Pennsylvania, those states, Massachusetts, New England, who are the top performing states in this country because they have a strong workforce and they have a set of employers that value them and they give them the right to collaboration and efficacy.

[02:47:39] So I just wanna put that out there, whereas opposed you have Oklahoma where you're mandating crazy things in your 49 out of 50 states in the country. No collective bargaining, lowest paid for teachers in one of the areas. So anyways, just wanted to reiterate that about collective bargaining and the states that are the top performing states in this country.

[02:48:02] - Thank you, members of the board. Well, just my quick comments on this. I think that since I arrived on the board, prior to my arrival, the rate of increase for teachers was either a STEP or a COLA. So it was two or two and a half percent each year.

[02:48:18] Since every budget I voted on has been a step and a goal as a minimum. So what I would say is a floor on the increases. And over the course of the last seven budgets, we've increased school salaries to division staff and teachers about 61%.

[02:48:38] And that was prior, I mean, say 10 or 12% of that, 13% from the new collective bargaining agreement. But that has followed a pattern of making sure we control healthcare premium costs to our employees, making sure we're committed to all sorts of other efforts such as baby bonding and other overtime efforts and increased pay to all of our bus drivers and classifieds, a long record of committing to that service.

[02:49:07] And over those seven years, our school division has improved its ranking. Our school division has won dramatically more scholarship dollars for our students. We've improved our retention and recruitment ability. And all of that I believe is due to, and then even in 2020, 2021, we were ranked the number one school division in the Commonwealth to work for by Forbes magazine.

[02:49:30] All of that tracks as a record of a school board committed in a, in frankly, in a bipartisan way, in many ways, to commit to our teachers for the effort they're doing for our children.

[02:49:46] Research always shows the best way to improve student performance is to have a high quality teacher in the room. The best way to have high quality teachers in the room is to pay them well. And that's how you get to recruit and retain them. So I'm proud of the efforts we're doing. I'm proud to support this collective bargaining agreement. This is historic for Prince William County.

[02:50:03] It is historic for the large divisions in Virginia. And I believe this puts us on a, it allows us to continue on the path to improve our school division for our children and our students. So at this time, I'd ask the board to please vote.

[02:50:40] - Vote is six yes, two no, Chodinic, Wall. Motion passed. - Outstanding, okay, moving on. So we have a series of revisions to policies here. Mr. Anderson, you wanna just do them all as a bunch and quickly take us through three through seven.

[02:51:00] - Yes, Mr. Chairman, I'd be happy to do that. As the board is aware, one of the projects the board had asked my office to work on over the last year or so was updating the board's policies which are in the zero series and the one series of the policy manual these are the final batch of policies to be done so that we're going to make our end of school year deadline first is policy zero zero six which involved the deletion of a regulation as you know part of this has been to get rid of any regulations that existed in the zero or one series and

[02:51:36] combine them into the policies because really the board doesn't do regulations the board does policies and so in the in the first one it's prayer and religious exercise it's essentially a to combine the regulation and the policy and also to update some of the legal things that had not been updated some of the items that recent case law regarding religious accommodations and it also directs the superintendent to produce regulations or adopt regulations that will address

[02:52:14] employee religious exercise and student religious exercise again part of that is because there have been recent developments in the law regarding those areas policy 024 comprehensive planning is really just updated to modernize the process and make sure that it basically mirrors what we actually are doing in that regard 17 of item 1705 which is policy 052.02 will be renumbered as policy 053 and delete a regulation playing of the national anthem I want it

[02:52:50] to be very clear we are still going to play the national anthem we will not be getting rid of the national anthem I don't want that to be the headline tomorrow. Mr. Danik I knew you would ask. So policy 124 student representatives to the school board this updates the way that we select and have student representatives join us which we're always happy to do and also change some of the time timelines the previous timelines were fairly unrealistic and

[02:53:25] also to trim down some of the committee members because that also would became so cumbersome it's difficult to manage so there are changes there policy 161 is the office of division council there are a few tweaks there to sort of update what our practice is which is of course you know i report to you periodically throughout the year on the status of legal fees and the policy just will reflect that annually you will be updated as we normally do at the end of the school year give you an update on the legal fees broken down by topics like collective bargaining human resources all the different areas

[02:54:02] in which the school board spends legal fees and that's it okay if you have any questions for division counsel you have two weeks get them up moving on 1708 motions in order mr. Blake thank you mr. chairman I move that the Prince William County School Board revised its previously adopted meeting calendar and and approve moving the superintendent's evaluation on Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 to Wednesday, June 25th, 2025

[02:54:40] at the request of the superintendent due to a scheduling conflict. - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[02:55:08] - Vote is eight yes, unanimous, motion passed. - Okay, board matters. I think last time, I don't know who we started with. We'll start with Lisa today, how about that? - All right, thank you, Mr. Chairman. So Teacher Appreciation Week also coincides with Star Wars Week, which is a truly cosmic alignment.

[02:55:26] So let us delve into the parallels, shall we? First, the force versus pedagogy. Both teachers and Jedi wield a mysterious power. Jedi have the force, an energy field that binds the galaxy together.

[02:55:42] Teachers have pedagogy, which is the art and science of teaching, and it binds knowledge to young minds. require practice patience focus and a touch of intuition younglings versus our students jedi masters train younglings guiding them in the ways of the force teachers guide students nurturing their intellectual intellectual growth both face the challenge of unruly padawans or students who might prefer pod racing or video games to focus learning lightsabers and feedback a jedi's

[02:56:18] lightsaber is an elegant weapon for a more civilized aged question mark a teacher's feedback is their tool for illuminating areas needing improvement sometimes with a similar level of precision and impact the dark side versus misinformation the dark side temps with quick power and easy answers similarly misinformation and apathy can be the dark side of learning which teachers valiantly fight against with facts and critical thinking and thank goodness they do. The Galactic

[02:56:55] Senate versus the Faculty Lounge. Both are places where important and sometimes less important decisions are debated and discussed, often with a diverse array of personalities and opinions. The hero's journey versus the school year. Luke Skywalker's journey from farm boy to Jedi knight mirrors the student's journey through the academic year filled with challenges, mentors, an eventual triumph of learning and growth. As Yoda said, "The greatest teacher failure is." This highlights that both students and aspiring Jedi learn

[02:57:32] valuable lessons from their mistakes, a crucial aspect of the educational process. Teachers guide students through these moments, helping them extract wisdom from setbacks. Thank you for all you do.

[02:57:52] - Thank you, Ms. Williams. - Thank you, Vice Chair Blake. It is Teacher Appreciation Week, and so I would like to send a heartfelt thank you out to every single teacher in our division. Also, I would just like to take the opportunity to say thank you to my fellow board member, Ms. Zagapur, because she is a teacher.

[02:58:12] It doesn't matter where you serve as a teacher, it just matters that you do serve, And I appreciate you and I appreciate the insight that you bring to our board because you are a teacher and that's a valuable voice. I'd also like to thank Mr. Wilk down there for his time spent as a teacher and his voice and perspective that he brings to the board because of that experience.

[02:58:32] For me as a parent and as a board member, teachers change lives. My middle school student was prepared, is prepared, and has been thriving in middle school because of the teachers in his elementary school.

[02:58:48] Once again, shout out 'cause I'm very biased, but shout out to the fifth grade team at Featherstone. As a parent, I've never had the experience of having such a prepared middle schooler ever. I'm learning to adjust to the newfound wonderfulness of this still, and it is because of all the hard work and dedication that you put in.

[02:59:05] I spent Monday losing about 17 pounds sweating cooking breakfast for teachers at Fred Lynn, the first time I had the opportunity to do so. Thank God for the upcoming renovation 'cause they need some more air in their facts room. But it is an honor and a privilege to be able to send my student, my child, to a school building with staff, with teachers specifically, who are preparing him for the future, who love and care about him as an individual and his academic progress.

[02:59:36] And I see that every single day. I am a proud parent of a 2019 PWCS graduate who is now a self-made entrepreneur because of what he learned here in this county. And it doesn't matter whether you're a math teacher, a gym teacher, a CTE teacher, all of you play a very vital role in inspiring all of us to become well-rounded adults.

[02:59:58] Teachers change lives. And I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out. I'm gonna age myself and Dr. Healy here, but Dr. Healy was my 10th grade English teacher when I was at Woodbridge Senior High School. And I tease him all the time, but he's the reason I still read Shakespeare to this day.

[03:00:17] Why I still have a love of learning that I have now, of reading that I've been able to pass on to my children. And it is individuals like that, that make us the great people that we are today. And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for teachers like Dr. Healy and others.

[03:00:33] Ms. Florence, my English teacher in 11th grade, ninth grade, and all of my art teachers that inspired my love of learning and continuing art. There is no greater field to me than being a teacher. You make us who we are, so thank you.

[03:00:50] Just want to, in addition to saying thank you to all our teachers, thank this board for all the hard work that was put in for the collective bargaining agreement. and I just want to end again by saying how grateful and how privileged I feel to have been able to serve with Ms. Raulston.

[03:01:08] She changed my life. She changed the dynamics on this board and always encouraged me to be the very person that I was meant to be. And I would be remiss without saying thank you. I appreciate her service, her dedication and her support.

[03:01:24] And she had an instrumental impact on the school division. sad for the later years where she wasn't in the best of health, but we were always on her mind and I thank her for that, thank you.

[03:01:42] - Ms. Wall. - Thank you. So first, Teacher Appreciation Week, huge thank you to all of our educators. There are many teachers who had a major influence on me and my children. When I was in high school, I had class from Mr. Burningham and he was a speech and debate teacher and I'll never forget Mr. Burningham lying on the ground with his legs and arms in the air and reciting bits and pieces from Mr. Brown can do it.

[03:02:11] How about you? It's a Dr. Seuss book. It was hilarious. I'll never ever forget it. He was a legislator in my home state. Just a great man. So shout out to all those amazing teachers out there. I've been to some amazing events that I want to just highlight because there's so many great things happening in the Gainesville district.

[03:02:32] Start on April 24th, I went to a gravely elementary steam night, filled the gym, just amazing activities. We had high schoolers there from Battlefield with their robotics and other STEM-related clubs. And it was a really fun event. And the best part was seeing kids and parents connecting with teachers and event and activities that were STEM-related and parents being able to learn about what their kids were learning in class.

[03:02:57] On April 25th, I went to Unity Braxton. They held Jaguar night. It was a chance to highlight all the students in the school. They had food from literally everywhere around the world, reflecting students' home countries or their family's heritage. And they had a lot of games from around the world too. It was really fun.

[03:03:13] April 25th, Tyler Elementary held a hilarious inflatable race where staff were in inflatables and they raced. So funny. It was an attendance reward and the kids loved it. Unified track meet at Reagan on April 25th. It was a, we already kind of talked about it, but 17 schools, that program's definitely grown.

[03:03:33] I saw it go from five schools for like 10, and now 17 from all over the county, many from the eastern end, brought kids together, special ed students, gen ed students, and everybody felt very included, it was awesome. April 26, I went to the firefighting live exercises for the student, that specialty program that we have at Unity Reed.

[03:03:53] Got to see Principal Polanco, who was suited up with their students. That was very impressive to see that CTE program and how powerful it was for the kids who were pursuing it. I also went to the All County High School Arts Festival here at the KLC.

[03:04:09] I love seeing kids and parents locate their art and see the excitement on their face to see their art displayed. April 26th, LV PTO put on a color run and the weather was perfect for that. Just a little bit wet, so the colors really stuck.

[03:04:24] I went to a concert at Unity Reed for Pennington Traditional on April 30th. And this was special because the fifth graders helped develop and write the school song. They didn't have a school song, but they now do. And they performed the song for all of us. And then they also, with a community grant, chose artwork from the art factory museum, I guess, or gallery, and then they composed a song that went along with the art.

[03:04:53] So this is just a really cool experience. May 1st, I went to an Alvey flag raising ceremony, which was held at the Wounded Warriors Retreat. Again, a community partner and the school, bringing school and community together, fulfilling one of our key strategic plan initiatives.

[03:05:09] The school had purchased those flags for the retreat and the kids were there for a raising of the flags. So it was again, that military connectedness was awesome. May 2nd, Governor's School Research Symposium, first time I've been able to go. Kids are just so smart.

[03:05:24] I'd love to see an expansion of seats to the governor's school so more kids can take advantage of this amazing program. May 2nd, Battlefield Project Lead the Way. The students did a great job. The thing I love about this is we had some retired folks from neighboring communities who were able to mentor the students.

[03:05:40] And then Bull Run Middle had its first ever musical, Wizard of Oz. It's so, it was awesome. And it's exciting 'cause it's the first time they've ever done it. So kudos to the teachers who are promoting these, the arts in our schools.

[03:05:56] Thank you, everybody. Have a great evening. - Mr. Jesse. - Again, Teacher Appreciation Week, and I just wanna say thank you to all the teachers, the hard work. You know, it's not an easy job, but it's a very vital job that we do.

[03:06:15] And as I said in my little video, look for the opportunity to take a kid that you don't expect or don't think that the person's gonna do well, and when that person does well, cheer not only for him but for you because all kids can learn and they can learn at high levels but a lot of times they need just the encouragement and I just encourage you to do that and experience the joy of seeing a kid do something that you didn't even expect that they would but they did

[03:06:53] because they have it in and you did something to make that kid, when people sit up here and talk about their teachers that they love and respect It's because it made them feel important, and I encourage you to do that.

[03:07:10] I want to thank Dr. McDade and her staff. A couple of years ago, my wife and I talked to Dr. McDade about the fact that we don't have enough science labs, and we talked about the mobile science lab.

[03:07:31] And that's been a while ago. But I don't know if I missed this or not, but I don't recall learning about how we're going to spend the 40 million dollars but the paper said that we're going to have a mobile science lab is that correct that is correct we did put that all right okay well thank you very much that's really exciting and something that uh mrs jesse wanted to say thank you for doing that and again thank the county board of supervisors for giving us that money

[03:08:08] We need them, we need the support, and so forth. I've been to quite a few things. I'm actually going to cut back a little bit on it because what I'm finding is that citizen comments or e-mails are coming in, and I don't have all the time to spend on that.

[03:08:31] But I will still be doing a lot of things, but not as much. But thank you, and appreciate your time. Have a good evening. - Ms. Erika Trudenik. - Thank you. I would also like to say happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all the wonderful teachers in the Brentsville District and beyond, but of course, you know, I'm a big fan of my teachers in the Brentsville District, so I'm excited to go around and drop off some treats to you guys, and I'm thankful that both of my boys brought all their gifts to their teachers in one day, and I didn't find any in the bottom of a backpack, so that makes me feel better.

[03:09:10] I also wanna say a big shout out to our teens that attended prom this week. I saw a lot of pictures. I saw a lot of great friendships and community and safety amongst these teenagers and looking out for each other.

[03:09:29] And I just, I'm proud of the students in the Brentsville District and the way they attended their proms and how they did it safely this year. I'm thankful that you guys made good choices. And again, I loved seeing all the fun pictures that were sent and to all the volunteers that put together those prom nights that decorate and have the food and organize everything to all the volunteers and the teachers that do that.

[03:09:55] Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do 'cause it goes beyond just the classroom. What you do and how you pour into our kids is so important. And because my colleague is about to outshine me name all of his teachers from K through 12 which I cannot do because I do not have that great of a memory but I did attend Neabsco Elementary and Coles Elementary as well as Brentsville so a lot of my teachers still live in the community and their children have now taught my children which is really cool

[03:10:28] but to my favorite most favorite teacher ever my grandmother Lola she still believes that she gets to celebrate Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. So I do need to go bring her a treat this week as well, even though she has been retired for quite some time.

[03:10:44] So thank you, thank you. And have a great week, have a great month. Finish strong, everybody. We're almost there. - Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Thank you, Mr. Jenick. I've been passing on this, but I wanted to talk on this time, but I'm gonna talk a little bit more.

[03:11:01] So one of the events I got to go to the other day, almost just by chance I got a last minute invite and I did take him up on it. There was a award presentation ceremony at Potomac Shores Middle School called the Dr. Howard Golson Education Excellence Award for top performing educators in our school system.

[03:11:24] I learned a little bit of history. Dr. Howard Golson was the first African American administrator hired in Prince William County at Garfield High School. his wife i believe was the first african-american teacher at woodbridge high school and she's still alive it brought back memories it brought back the time and this is a very different time period after brown during the era of massive resistance where people like governor harry bird kept schools closed where people like mills godwin deliberately kept schools closed in prince edward county i'm a

[03:12:03] I'm a little more composed now, but the one thing I'll always remember about Diane is after that laborious meeting, Lori, about names for Kyle Wilson Elementary, I thought of the idea of eliminating the racist, Mills Godwin from a middle school and changing the name.

[03:12:26] It was like 11 o'clock at night, but we did it. And I remember going to Ms. Raulston, Diane, and saying to Diane, I said, Diane, are you okay with me doing this? This is a school in your district. I'm not renaming a Potomac school.

[03:12:42] It's in your district. And just the type of selfless person Diane was, she didn't care about taking credit. She knew she'd face a lot of the backlash. It was in her district and she said, go for it. And it'll forever be as I was interviewed, I think a year ago in a magazine or something, my greatest accomplishment, I still will this day say, expunging or eliminating the name Mills Godwin of one of our middle schools and replacing it with Dr. Hampton. So that's a memory of Diane.

[03:13:15] I do want to thank of course our teachers. Ms. Williams mentioned I was a teacher long ago so I always tell our teachers today I don't know how you do it with the advent of camera phones and video recordings and just the craziness now smartphones. God love you. I'm married to a teacher who has taught over 20 years in our school system at the same building.

[03:13:40] I was raised by two teachers. My mother, who was a elementary physical education teacher, which is kind of funny 'cause that's not really my thing. And then my grandmother who taught fourth grade for nearly 30 years.

[03:13:58] So I thank the teachers. It was no surprise, I guess, that I did go and become a teacher and I taught for six years in this county, three years on the east, and three years on the West, good experience. Got my master's to be an administrator, but then life changes and we go different routes.

[03:14:14] And so I'm very blessed to be on the school board where I still, what I love to do is go into these classrooms and do these school visits. It's my favorite part to staying abreast with what's going on, to see actually instruction, kids learning, the collaboration.

[03:14:30] I mean, you talk about like pacing guides and building collaboration, PLCs, whatever. You go into four different fourth grade classrooms, the beauty of it is they're learning the same thing, but in different styles from the teachers. It's just fascinating the work our teachers do.

[03:14:47] And I'm very blessed to be married to one and to work in a county with so many dedicated educators. So thank you. - Vice Chair Blake. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My remarks will be very brief.

[03:15:02] I just want to take this moment to recognize all the teachers in the Neabsco District and throughout Prince William County Schools. Thank you, thank you for your resilience, thank you for your passion, and thank you for your unwavering commitment to all of our children.

[03:15:22] You are the heart of this division, like Dr. McDade said earlier, and your influence stretches way beyond the lesson plans in the classrooms. You help shape the futures every single day. We see you on this board, we value you on this board, and we are greatly deeply grateful for your service.

[03:15:48] The rest of my remarks were about Ms. Raulston, but I said that earlier. So everybody just have a good night. Thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Blake. So I'm sorry to have missed earlier our tribute recognition and resolution for Diane Raulston, the former school board member the Neabsco district.

[03:16:12] You know, I'm, and I'm very sad to have missed that. And I will say that she made some of the most consequential votes on this board while I've been here that were incredibly important to, I believe the work that has led to the success we are seeing now.

[03:16:35] And in the first one, I'll start out by first saying how grateful I am to the fact that she was one of the great advocates to appoint me as an interim school board chair at the time that that was done. She has been an advisor.

[03:16:50] a council to me, a mentor when I first got on the board, she provided a lot of support, especially in the ABSCO district for those communities.

[03:17:08] She was a relentless advocate for students first and last. And that's what she taught me. And on this board, she made some very difficult votes, very difficult challenges, you know, to help address teacher pay, to really change the way we budget the school division.

[03:17:28] She supported our efforts during the pandemic, making some very tough decisions. And I will always be grateful, as many of the children in the school division are, for the work she did and how much time she put into committing to the students first and last.

[03:17:51] She was instrumental in... You know, we did, we had a superintendent search in the middle of pandemic as well. And she provided critical counsel and advice throughout that time.

[03:18:08] And I truly appreciated her humor throughout the process. It was a tough time. It was a tough time to find a superintendent nationwide. We started with, I wanna say 48 candidates and ended up with the final three.

[03:18:25] And we were doing these interviews during the pandemic, socially distant, some of us on Zoom. And when the final vote came, I turned to division council and I said, I need to know how Ms. Raulston's gonna rank the final three candidates.

[03:18:44] And division council, 'cause we were all voting privately, you know, closed ballot. So division council went and Diane was doing it from Zoom. I said, Carol, go give her a call and get the votes for us. then you come back and let us fill it in.

[03:19:00] You count the votes. Carol came back and I said, and it was important that we had all three. You had to rank them one, two, three, because then we'd give a point for each one. I said, Carol, how did it go? She goes, well, Mr. Ralston only had one.

[03:19:17] And I said, that's not how this is supposed to work, Carol. She said she didn't care. She had one. And I said, well, I mean, it's not going to work like that. What did she say? She goes, I just want that rock star lady, McDade from Chicago. And I said, well, fine, but I need a two and a three, otherwise this doesn't work.

[03:19:38] She's like, she's going to say McDade's are two and McDade's are three. And, you know, and Diane supported Dr. McDade's start to our efforts here, and really, and I truly appreciate her support for everybody in the ABSCO.

[03:19:55] I want to also say that her family cared deeply for her, made sure she got to things, provided her support, Monique Ralston, who's a rock star in Neabsco, a civic agent, a community organizer, someone who's done so much for the Neabsco district and also cares about students as they go into higher education.

[03:20:15] The whole family was all about education. And I think I can say the whole family was about students first and students last. And I think that's what I can say I learned the most from my dear friend, Diane Ralston, who I hope and pray she rests in peace.

[03:20:31] Thank you very much and may you all have a great evening.

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