Coraggio Consulting
Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia
Length: 2h 25m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RVWG_kAVw
Official School Board page (PWCS): https://www.pwcs.edu/about/school_board/

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-11-09. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:01] - Okay, the Prince William County School Board will now, do we have quorum? Yeah, we got quorum. All right, I'd like to call the meeting of Prince William County School Board to order. Motion is now in order to approve the meeting agenda. Ms. Wall.

[00:00:18] - Oh, you don't have it. - Oh, I have it. Sorry, I got it, I got it. - Okay. - I move that the Prince William County School Board approves the meeting agenda as recommended. - Do you have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Okay, all in favor, raise your hand with signifying an aye.

[00:00:35] - The vote is five yes, three absent. Ms. Rodinick, Jessie Williams, motion passed. - Moving on to enter closed session, Ms. Wall. - Mr. Chairman, I move that pursuant to sections 2.2-3711 and 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia, the Prince William County School Board enter closed session for the following reasons.

[00:00:54] One, to discuss with staff the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees or employees of any public body pursuant to section 2.2-3711A1 of the code of Virginia.

[00:01:10] Two, to review the grievance appeals of employee T-27003 pursuant to sections 2.2-3711A1 and 8 of the code of Virginia. Three, to discuss with division counsel and staff actual or probable litigation in specific legal matters involving staff, students, and other civil litigation involving the school division under sections 2.2-3711A7 and 8 of the code of Virginia.

[00:01:34] and four, to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security of school facilities, the safety of persons using such facilities, and actions taken to respond to such matters where discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such facilities pursuant to section 2.2-3711A19 of the Code of Virginia.

[00:01:52] - Do I have a second? - Mr. Chair. - Mr. Blake seconds, all in favor? - Aye. - The vote is fine, yes. - Okay, motion passes. At this time, the Prince William County School Board will enter closed session and return in approximately

[00:02:04] The Prince William County School Board is now returning from Closed Session to Open Session.

[00:03:28] We need to do Closed Session Certification. A motion is in order. Ms. Wall. Ms. Wall: Mr. Chairman, I move that pursuant to Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia, the Closed Session of the Prince William County School Board Meeting of November 4th, 2026, be certified by adopting the following resolution.

[00:03:44] 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 the certification resolution applies, and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board.

[00:04:06] Do I have a second? Ms. Mr. Chairman. Ms. Williams, Ms. Williams. Ms. I second. Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:04:27] Ms. The vote is six yes, one abstained. Tradenek, motion passed. Moving on to closed session action items, approval for appointments and releases. Ms. Wall. Ms. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approves the leases of specific employees as presented in closed session. Mayor Paterson: Do I have a second?

[00:04:43] Mayor Paterson: Mr. Chairman. Mayor Paterson: Ms. Williams.

[00:04:59] Mayor Paterson: I second. Mayor Paterson: Any discussion? Please vote. Mayor Paterson: The vote is six yes, one abstained. Dridenic. Motion passed. Mayor Paterson: Agreements appeal for employee T-27-003. Motion's in order. Ms. Wall. Ms. Wall. Ms. Wall: Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board uphold the Superintendent's recommendation of dismissal in employee case number T-27-003, and further, that the Chairman at large is authorized to provide a written decision to the employee reflecting the school board's - I second.

[00:05:22] - Mr. Chairman. - Mr. Blake. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:05:43] - The vote is six yes, one abstained. Tradenik, motion passed. - Okay, moving on to the Pledge of Allegiance. I'd like to invite our student representative, Marley Smith, senior at Freedom High School, to lead us in the pledge.

[00:06:17] On to Thriving Futures Focus. Thriving Futures Focus is our opportunity to highlight the exemplary work being accomplished in our schools that fulfills 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. The school board is proud to publicly recognize these honorees for their positive contribution to the Prince William County Public Schools.

[00:06:37] Tonight we celebrate excellence in scientific research and innovation, as well as music education. Our recognitions include two students named among the nation's top 300 junior innovators and 20 band and orchestra programs honored by the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association.

[00:06:54] We begin with Ms. Jen Wall, Jennifer Wall, of the school board representative for the Gainesville District, who will recognize our first honorees. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. The Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge is the nation's premier middle school STEM research competition.

[00:07:11] Founded and produced by the Society for Science, the competition engages students in grades six through eight across the United States in rigorous scientific exploration. The Gainesville district is extremely proud to recognize an outstanding young innovator from Battlefield High School. Congratulations to current ninth grade student, Garunsh Sabarwal for being named of one of the nation's top 300 junior innovators in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

[00:07:44] This prestigious national competition recognizes middle school students who demonstrate exceptional achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through original research and innovative projects. Grunge, your willingness to explore new ideas and apply technology to a complex problem represents exactly the kind of innovative thinking we hope to inspire in every PWCS student.

[00:08:09] Battlefield High School is represented this evening by Principal Dolores Lucas and technology education teacher, Brooke Malin. At this time, I invite Garunsch to share a few words about his remarkable accomplishment.

[00:08:25] - Good evening, members of the school board, superintendent, teachers, families, and fellow students. Thank you for recognizing us tonight. I'm honored to be named one of the top 300 junior innovators in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

[00:08:41] The nation's premier middle school STEM competition organized by the Society for Science. My journey began at the Prince William Manassas Regional Science and Engineering Fair, where I presented my project, Sky Rover AI, while attending middle school. I've always been curious about aviation and how airplanes work.

[00:08:59] My dream is to attend the United States Air Force Academy and become a pilot one day. That interest led me to explore how artificial intelligence could help prevent aircraft collision on the ground at airports. Sky Rover AI is a digital safety assistant designed to help pilots and air traffic controllers move aircraft more safely and efficiently.

[00:09:19] I built a computer simulation using real airport layouts to test the idea. One important thing I learned was that even AI can make mistakes, which is why having extra safety checks is very important. I've been around science competitions since I was little, watching my older brother, Yashvir, compete at all different levels, including the International Science and Engineering Fair.

[00:09:39] Seeing all the incredible projects over the years inspired me to explore my own ideas. Having the opportunity to be recognized here tonight makes this experience more meaningful to me. I'd like to thank Mr. Barrett, my middle school science fair coordinator, along with my teachers, mentors, and family for their support.

[00:09:58] I'm also grateful to PWCS for organizing science and engineering fairs that encourage students to explore their ideas. Now, as a freshman at Battlefield High School, I look forward to continuing my interest in STEM and research. I would also like to congratulate Thomas Wagner from Parkside Middle School on his research into aircraft wing design.

[00:10:18] Thank you to the school board for encouraging young students like us to keep learning. - Thank you so much for your words and congratulations, Gournish.

[00:10:33] - Thank you, Ms. Wall. I'd like to invite Ms. Lisa Zargarpur, school board rep for the Coles District to recognize our next honoree. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. The Coles District is proud to recognize Thomas Wagner, an eighth grade student at Parkside Middle School who is also named one of the nation's top 300 junior innovators.

[00:10:49] Thomas, your dedication and determination have earned you a place among the nation's most promising young scientists. Your accomplishment is a reminder that scientific discovery requires persistence, patience, and the willingness to try different approaches when something does not go as planned.

[00:11:08] Thomas is joined tonight by Principal Aaron Merica and science teacher Jill Hall. At this time, I invite Thomas to share a few words about his accomplishment. - Thank you. honored to be recognized this evening by the Prince William County School Board as one of the top 300 national winners of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to School Board Chairman Dr. Lateef, Cole's District Representative Mrs. Zargarpur, and Superintendent Dr. McDade for your ongoing support of the regional Prince William County Manassas Science Fair. I would also like to thank my principal at

[00:11:47] Parkside Middle School, Ms. Merica, and the coordinator of the Parkside Science Fair, Mrs. Hall, for your support of me and the rest of Parkside students as part of our school science fair. Finally, before I begin the rest of my speech, I would like to congratulate the other national winner of the Top 300 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge for Prince William County, Garunch Sabarwal. The science fair has given me the opportunity to explore and pursue my curiosity regarding how airplane wings function and have the ability to lift the cabin of hundreds of people off the ground. The project that won me this prestigious

[00:12:27] honor assessed whether the airflow that followed homemade airplane wings was laminar or turbulent. Laminar flow is a phenomenon that occurs when a substance flows smoothly over itself with little to no fluctuation. Turbulent flow is the opposite. Turbulent flow occurs when a substance is moving in an erratic and unpredictable manner. In order to assess airflow, I built a wind tunnel that had straws at one end to ensure that the air entering was laminar and a fan at the opposite end which pulled air through the straws and tunnel. To be recognized as a top 300 junior innovator there were many challenges I had to overcome. The first problem I had to solve was finding a way to

[00:13:06] quantitatively evaluate the difference between laminar and turbulent airflow. For each model airplane wing I did this by measuring the average wind speed in the tunnel every 10 seconds with the hotwire anemometer and calculated the deviation of every reading from the average. I then found the average of those deviations to assess whether each wing shape produced laminar versus turbulent airflow. The second problem I faced was that the air entering the tunnel was turbulent at first, making the readings a lot less accurate. I fixed this issue by changing the fan's direction so it was not pushing air through the tunnel but was instead pulling the air. This helped me fix the

[00:13:43] problem because when the air passed around the spinning blades of a fan, it would become turbulent. If you were to pull air, the blades would not affect airflow until after the air had left the wind tunnel. Through this project, I learned that hard work and perseverance pay off, and that good research sometimes involves adapting when things don't go exactly as planned.

[00:14:02] I would like to give a final thanks to all those who helped and supported me throughout the course of this project. Thank you very much. All right, congratulations.

[00:14:18] You know, I do have to sort of weigh in here a little bit. The way it works in Prince William County is if you do the science fair in middle school, middle schools participate in our regional science fair those students that get first or second place i think can then apply or qualify for the thermo fisher scientific science fair and um it is extremely competitive there are 15 000 middle schools in the united states so you can do the math on how many children that is they only picked 300 projects two from prince william county this

[00:14:50] year it is an incredible honor so let's give them another round of applause thank you miss - Ms. Zargarpur, congratulations again, and now we turn to another outstanding student achievement, our music education.

[00:15:06] We ask that you hold your applause until all honorees have been recognized. Dr. Anna Marie Bolino, Supervisor of the Arts, will then share a few words on their behalf. Ms. Zargarpur, I understand that several schools in the Coles District earned this prestigious recognition. Hit it. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef.

[00:15:22] The Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association, or VBODA, or VBOTA, has recognized 20 band and orchestra programs 16 Prince William County Schools with its prestigious Program of Honor Awards. The recognition celebrates outstanding musical performance, student participation, and excellence that extends beyond the classroom. The Coles District is immensely proud to recognize six schools whose band and orchestra programs earned eight Program of Honor Awards. We begin by congratulating Benton Middle School's Orchestra Program led by strings teacher Miranda Nash, although principal Jerry Piazzi and the Benton Middle School team could not be could not

[00:16:02] join us this evening we extend our congratulations on this wonderful accomplishment next congratulations to Charles J Colgan senior high school which earned program of honor awards for both its band and orchestra programs the band program is led by Timothy Grant and the orchestra program is led by Ben Bernstein neither teachers could attend this evening but we are very proud to recognize dr. David Dr. David Parrish Colgan assistant principal and Administrator for the Center for Fine and Performing Arts.

[00:16:30] We also congratulate C.D. Hilton High School's band program led by Dwight Fontenot. He is joined this evening by Director of Student Activities, Tom Greiter. Osborne Park also earned two Program of Honor awards, recognizing both its band and orchestra programs.

[00:16:49] Congratulations to band teacher Ashley Radebaugh and strings teacher Stephen Kelsey for their exceptional work with student musicians. These amazing teachers are joined this evening by Principal Dr. Lisa Marie Kane. Next, congratulations to Parkside Middle School's band program led by Abby Izzo and Daniel Loudon.

[00:17:08] Their principal is Aaron Merica. And finally, we congratulate Saunders Middle School's band program led by Michelle Rupert, who is supported this evening by Principal Jeremy Byrd. To all of our Coles District honorees, your achievement reflects the countless hours of preparation, collaboration, and practice that contribute to the musical excellence.

[00:17:28] And I thank you very much for your professionalism and supporting our students. - Thank you, Ms. Zargarpur. Sorry, up next. - I know, it was so long, you've lost track.

[00:17:45] Thank you, Coles. - I'll have Lori Williams recognize our next two honorees from the Occoquan District. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. It is my pleasure, on behalf of Mr. Jesse, that the Occoquan District is proud to recognize two exceptional music programs that earned Program of Honor Awards.

[00:18:01] First, congratulations to Lakeridge Middle School Band, led by band teachers Nick Robinson and Joseph Rupert. I'm sorry, just give us a little wave. There's so many people, we can't tell who's up here. Here with them tonight to provide support is Assistant Principal Tammy Talley. And we also congratulate Whitbridge High School's Orchestra Program, led by strings teacher Taryn Wood.

[00:18:22] Assistant Principal Michelle Sullivan's here to support the music programs at Whitbridge as well. Thank you. Up next, Ms. Wall. - All right, thank you, Dr. Lateef. The Gainesville District is proud to congratulate Battlefield High School's orchestra program led by strings teacher, Edward Scully.

[00:18:44] Although Edward could not attend this evening, we recognize his leadership and we are pleased to recognize Battlefield Principal Dolores Lucas, who is attending on his behalf. And I had students in the orchestra program at Battlefield, so go Bobcats. My kids benefited immensely from the quality program there.

[00:19:01] We also congratulate Ronald Wilson, Reagan Middle School's band program led by Muhammad Al-Khalili and Ronald Reagan Middle School is also represented by Assistant Principal Mandy Zayetz. So thank you, Reagan Middle. I hear great things from you about you, congratulations.

[00:19:20] - Thank you, Ms. Wall. Up next, our recognition takes us to the Neabsco District. I invite Tracy Blake, school board member there, to introduce their honor. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. The Neabsco District is proud to recognize Bevel Middle School's band program for earning a program of honor award. - Congratulations to band teacher Daniel Post and the talented student musicians who dedicated.

[00:19:41] Dedication helped earn this prestigious distinction. This award speaks to the important role our music educators play in helping students discover new talents and develop a lifelong appreciation for the arts. Daniel is joined this evening by Principal Shabish Thomas.

[00:19:57] Congratulations to the entire Bevel community. - Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Wilk, Potomac District. - Mr. Chairman, the Potomac District is blasting off and thriving, and we are extremely proud to recognize the Potomac Shores Middle School, which earned a program of honors awards for both its band and orchestra programs.

[00:20:22] Congratulations to the band teachers, Ryan Burr and Myles Matilovich, and strings teacher, Amy Ruhlman, for their exceptional leadership and dedication to student musicians. Potomac Shores Middle is also represented by Assistant Principal Cassandra DiPlacito.

[00:20:38] Congratulations. - All right, up next, Ms. Trudenik. - Thank you. The Brentsville District is proud to recognize four schools whose music programs earned five Program of Honor awards. First, congratulations to Gainesville Middle School's band program led by Stephen Ballas.

[00:20:55] Representatives from Gainesville Middle could not be with us here this evening due to a conflict in scheduling, but we appreciate Mr. Ballas' presence and continued dedication to student excellence. Excuse me, I'm just reading my script. Welcome.

[00:21:13] We also congratulate Gainesville High School's orchestra program led by Jennifer Malachek. Gainesville High is also represented by administrative intern Ann Marie Moore. Next, congratulations to Marsteller Middle School's band program led by Shannon Fairbank.

[00:21:29] Shannon is joined by Assistant Principal Alexandria Gray. Finally, we recognize Patriot High School, which earned Program of Honor awards for both its band and orchestra programs. Congratulations to the band teacher, Catherine Williams, and strings teacher, Katie Highfill, for the exceptional accomplishments of their student musicians.

[00:21:48] They are supported this evening by Principal David Van Gelder. It is my honor to invite Dr. Anna Marie Bolino, Supervisor of the Arts, to share a few words on behalf of our honorees. - Good evening, Dr. Lateef, members of the board, Superintendent Dr. McDade.

[00:22:05] I'm delighted again to be here to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of our music programs across the division. The Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association, VBODA, is under the umbrella of the Virginia Music Educators Association, for those of you who may not know that. And the Program of Honor Award is actually a fairly new award, and it recognizes our programs that demonstrate excellence across multiple areas of music performance and student participation.

[00:22:31] This award was actually from all of the efforts in last school year. To earn the honor, students must first demonstrate excellence together. A program's most advanced eligible ensemble must earn a superior rating at the VBODA District Concert Assessment, and they perform music that's at an established level of rigor, but the recognition goes well beyond that single performance.

[00:22:53] Programs must also demonstrate additional student achievement through opportunities such as our solo and ensemble assessment, district and region honor ensembles, conference performances, all Virginia participation, and other eligible criterion assessments.

[00:23:08] So in other words, the honor isn't simply about one great day on the stage, but it's really about the strength of the entire program. And it represents students listening, collaborating, taking risks, practicing with purpose, responding to feedback from their teacher and peers, and holding themselves and others accountable to high standards.

[00:23:28] It represents music educators, like these awesome ones behind me, who build those skills day after day, and often over many years. And it represents school administrators, families, and communities who continue to make these opportunities possible for our students.

[00:23:43] As Supervisor of the Arts, what makes me especially proud is what these awards tell us about music education in PWCS. Excellence is not limited to a single school, ensemble, or performance. We're seeing students across our division engage in rigorous, meaningful music learning, and then extending that learning far beyond the classroom.

[00:24:03] So tonight, we're celebrating these 20 outstanding programs, but also the students, the teachers, the administrators, the families, and the communities that are behind them. So thank you for having us here, and congratulations to our educators, our students, our administrators, who really represent our school division with artistry, commitment, and excellence.

[00:24:21] We're very proud of you. - Excellent, thank you, Ms. Trudenik. Thank you, Dr. Bellino. Congratulations again to all our honorees. I'd like to now invite our honorees, friends, families, teachers, colleagues, and other supporters here tonight to stand in recognition of the important role you have played in the success of our distinguished guests.

[00:24:43] So parents, friends, families, please stand up to be recognized. And before we take a few pictures, Dr. McDade would like to share a few words. Dr. McDade. - Thank you, Dr. Lateef. Tonight's recognition demonstrates two very different yet equally important ways our students are developing the knowledge and skills necessary to create a thriving future.

[00:25:07] Garush and Thomas, through your research, have demonstrated what happens when students are encouraged to ask meaningful questions, investigate challenges, and pursue solutions. We are so proud to see that you are already applying your learning in ways that can help to shape the future. And to our band and orchestra honorees, your accomplishments remind us of the incredible value of music education.

[00:25:30] Earning a VBODA Program of Honor Award requires commitment that goes beyond a single performance. It reflects sustained excellence, individual achievement, and countless hours of practice and preparation. Congratulations on these remarkable accomplishments. We are PWCS proud.

[00:25:50] Thank you, Dr. McDade. At this time, I'd like to invite our honorees to come forward for photos with the school board and receive a small token of our appreciation. We'll begin with a photo of our VBODA program of honor recipients, and we'll then recognize our two Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge honorees.

[00:26:21] - In the middle.

[00:33:44] - Traveled, okay, wonderful. What a great evening. Thank you very much, everyone. Up next is the adoption of the consent agenda. Ms. Wall. - Dr. Lateef, I move that the Prince William County School Board approves the public meeting consent agenda as recommended.

[00:34:02] - Do I have a second? - Dr. Lateef. - Mr. Blake. - I second. - Any discussion? - Mr. Chairman. - Yeah. - I believe on our consent agenda this evening. Oh, I'm sorry, I think I'm on the wrong place. OK, please vote.

[00:34:33] The vote is six yes, one not present at vote, Zargarpur. Motion passed. Up next, Acknowledgements and Recognitions. Ms. Wolfe. Ms. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Prince William County School Board approves the adoption of the Acknowledgements and Recognitions as Recommended. Do I have a second? Ms. Mr. Chairman. Ms. Williams.

[00:34:48] Ms. Second. Any discussion? Please vote.

[00:35:17] Ms. I'll do that one more time.

[00:35:36] It didn't pop up. Nothing--it's very slow. She's got a yes. OK, all right, we're all--it's unanimous, right? Or no, what do we got? What abstention? Ms. The vote is five yes, one - Okay. - Presentable Zargarpur, motion passed. - Outstanding, good. Citizen comment time.

[00:35:52] Those citizens who signed up in advance with the clerk may address the school board this evening when they're called to the podium. The citizen comment period for regular school board meetings is one hour and citizens may speak on the 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'll be asked to step aside.

[00:36:08] We ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping, cheering or jeering to avoid disruptions of the meeting. If you do not do so, the board will recess and I'll ask that the room be cleared to restore public order. Tonight we have eight citizens signed up to speak. While I call your name, please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

[00:36:24] For Policy 134, the time allotted for each speaker will be three minutes. The first five, just so you all know the order, and if you wanted to come up and grab a seat, and I'll apologize for any mispronunciations of the names in advance, but Jennifer Nicolason, Janelle Anderson, Deborah Shaw, Jasmine Chamberlain, and Hina Ansari.

[00:36:45] Jennifer Nicolason. - Hi, good evening school board members. My name is Jennifer Nicholison of 4393 Kevin Walker Drive. I'm the proud parent of a middle schooler in the Potomac District.

[00:37:01] I'm here tonight concerning student bathrooms being locked at the schools and I've started a petition online to gain attention to the issue and it's received over 100 signatures as of today. I'd like to thank Justin Wilk as being the only member of the school board who did respond to me of the concerns when I emailed him on as well and we've gotten our individual situation addressed.

[00:37:20] But the issue here is this, Restrooms are locked during class transitions and lunches and they are limited at other times. To use the restroom, kids must use an app and they're at the mercy of their teacher to see and approve it. Requests are not permitted in the first or last 10 minutes of class or during active instruction.

[00:37:37] Teachers can also deny the request for a variety of reasons based on guidelines from the school. And I've heard some teachers impose their own additional rules as well. This means that kids that genuinely need to use the restroom do not always have guaranteed access. I'm also concerned about our female students.

[00:37:53] Girls naturally have a need to attend to their menstrual needs, and this may result in a more frequent use of the restroom at certain times of the month. The schools indicate that the bathrooms are locked because of vandalism, fights, and vaping. But I have three questions, as well as suggestions for the school board.

[00:38:10] Number one, what is being done to hold students accountable for vandalizing the restrooms? And have the locking of the doors reduced repeat offenders and instances of vandalism? I do have a suggestion. Have a required program for students so that they can learn janitorial, maintenance, and basic construction skills.

[00:38:30] Require them to help restore the destroyed property. This teaches responsibility and respect for the school property. And if they refuse to participate, then they can't graduate. Maybe make it a cumulative program. The more you get in trouble, the more service time that's needed. Another suggestion.

[00:38:45] Have a student leadership elective for kids to patrol the bathrooms and the halls. Number two, if kids are breaking the sinks, why do we keep putting the same sinks in the bathrooms? My suggestion, put vandal resistant concrete sinks in there, like the kind that you find at the train station or at Costco restrooms.

[00:39:04] Something with reinforcements so they can't be broken. And I think that the county should also consider bathroom designs for future schools. So in 20 years, we're not still dealing with this. Maybe we need translucent stalls like they're starting in Japan. Number three, do parents even know that the bathrooms are locked and that their children are struggling with headaches because they're not drinking water during the day, anxiety over when to use the bathroom, and accidents due to these restrictions.

[00:39:30] My suggestion is that the Prince William County School Board eagerly seek ideas of students, teachers, and parents for input. They meaningful solutions can come from the input of many. Lastly, what if this doesn't work? What's gonna happen next? The county needs to hold kids responsible.

[00:39:48] Restroom access isn't a basic necessity. It's not a privilege. Thank you for your time. - Janelle Anderson.

[00:40:05] - Good evening. My name is Janelle Anderson. I live in the Occoquan district and my address is on file. This is my fourth time addressing the Prince William County School Board, pardon me, about locked bathrooms at Colgan High School.

[00:40:20] I want to begin by thanking school board member, Lisa Zargarpur for taking this issue seriously. She has been reaching out to high schools in her district. She plans to speak with fellow board members and she is seeking input from the Safe Schools Committee and the Health Committee. She also wants to understand what support school principals need.

[00:40:38] I appreciate these efforts, because toilet access is not simply a Colgan High School problem. It is a division-wide issue that deserves a division-wide solution. Currently, schools appear to have considerable discretion over when student bathrooms are locked.

[00:40:56] But what written standards govern these decisions? What minimum level of restroom access is guaranteed? And who is responsible for ensuring that access to unlocked toilets is adequate? At Colgan High School, nearly 3,000 students have just seven minutes between classes, and the hallways are very crowded, and the lines for open bathrooms are long.

[00:41:21] Locked bathrooms during passing periods creates unnecessary obstacles to meeting a basic biological need. Students should not have to sacrifice instructional time to use the bathroom, nor should they have to choose between arriving at class on time and finding an unlocked bathroom.

[00:41:40] I recognize that school principals face legitimate challenges involving vaping, vandalism, and student supervision. Principals deserve appropriate resources to address these problems, but restricting access to toilets should not be the solution.

[00:41:59] I am asking the school board to direct staff to develop a written division-wide policy establishing minimum restroom access standards, clear limits on closures, and accountability for compliance. The committees can help develop these standards.

[00:42:16] Principals can explain what resources they need. Students and parents should also have a voice. The ultimate goal should be simple. Every PWCS student should have reasonable, reliable access to a toilet throughout the school day.

[00:42:32] Thank you. - Deborah Shaw. - Good evening, school board, Superintendent Dr. McDade, and fellow staff. My name is Deborah Shaw, and my address is on file.

[00:42:49] I am a PWCS parent, middle school teacher, department chair, and coach. For the past three years, I have served as a department chair without receiving any additional compensation for that leadership responsibility. As a department chair, we mentor teachers, lead department and PLC meetings, analyze student data, coordinate curriculum and instruction, support new teachers, communicate administrative expectations, order and organize department supplies and closets, and serve as a bridge between teachers and school leadership, while continuing to carry out

[00:43:26] all of our full responsibilities within our classrooms. I am also a middle school coach, and PWCS compensates me for that coaching. I appreciate that compensation. Coaching requires additional time and responsibility, and coaches should be paid for that work.

[00:43:44] But here's the disconnect. I spend more hours fulfilling my responsibilities as a department chair than I do coaching, yet my compensation for department leadership is zero. Why is one additional responsibility recognized financially while academic leadership is not?

[00:44:02] This question especially is important as PWCS implements Dr. McDade's Elevate 2030 strategic plan. Elevate 2030 identifies teacher empowerment as part of our future and calls for developing and retaining talented educators.

[00:44:19] Department chairs are already doing that work. We develop teachers, we mentor colleagues, we strengthen instruction, we build leadership capacity within our schools. If we are serious about empowering educators and developing teacher leaders, then we must also examine how we recognize the educators who accept these additional leadership responsibilities.

[00:44:44] Other Virginia divisions do. In neighboring Loudoun County, the comparable middle school subject area lead teacher position receives a documented annual stipend of $1,819. I am asking for the school board to conduct a formal compensation review of middle school academic department chairs.

[00:45:03] Compare PWCS with peer Virginia division schools divisions and consider adding department chair compensation to the supplemental pay schedule to the next middle budget cycle elevate 2030 challenges challenges us to think about the future of PWCS teacher leadership is part of that future our time has value our leadership has value and empowering teachers should include recognizing the leadership work they are already doing thank you thank

[00:45:38] Thank you. Jasmine Chamberlain. Jasmine Chamberlain. Okay. Hina Ansari. And then after Hina will be Blake, Hera, Elizabeth Marlow, and Saul Guzman. Hina Ansari.

[00:45:57] All right. I want to thank the board for letting me come back and speak again. Super Nintendo McDade, always a pleasure, and my address is on file. About a month ago, we were subjected to a double whammy of a racist presentation and a wildly transphobic presentation. And since there's only one of me, I can only whack so many moles at a time. What I really love about these uh transphobic arguments is that it's got 15 people in a room with two brain cells amongst them and they're obsessed with what's going on in somebody else's pants this level of perversion is really astounding but are we really surprised by supporters of a political party championed by a rapist and a pedophile to be perverted it's a real mental illness to be

[00:46:37] obsessed with trans people take a hint they're just not that into you i thought of an analogy that might help some of you grasp the concept of being trans who are not transphobic if you're transphobic then your head's already closed so there's no point in talking to you it isn't a a perfect example, but it might help a little bit. And I realize this is going to date me a lot, too.

[00:46:55] Is anyone familiar with that Tom Hanks movie, Big? And I hate to say this, for all you kids watching at home, Tom Hanks is the voice of Woody in Toy Story, because I know you're not going to know who I'm talking about otherwise. And now I got another 10 years older for saying that. All right, so in the movie, he's a little kid, and he goes to this carnival, and he wants to make a wish to be bigger, and he doesn't get big like a Snorlax. He gets older. He becomes an adult, which, whew, I would return that wish in a second. But anyway, he's still a kid inside his body. So even though he's an adult and he's doing adulty stuff, he's getting a crappy job, he gets an apartment somehow on the wages that he gets, I don't know, he's still a kid inside. And for a brief spell, he's trapped in that, in that cocoon where he can't get out. And if you can embrace that idea, then maybe you can

[00:47:34] understand why the transphobic argument of having a girl on a boy on a girl's team is not gonna, because it's not, they're not boys, they're girls, they're girls inside, they're girls trapped inside their bodies and they think that they're and they believe that they're female they're not gonna be a boy on a girl's team and I had a very disruptive discussion about this with the boys basketball player but that's beside the point if you can embrace that idea then maybe you can understand why she's not gonna be a danger to anybody on the school but the real problem is the transphobic people who are who are creating these snuffleupagus kind of imaginations in their mind about what's happening on these girls teams and really they're kind of telling on themselves they're admitting what horrible awful things they would do to people if they were boys on a on a

[00:48:13] girls team or if they got into a girls bathroom and they were doing horrible things. I think that all those trans folk people shouldn't be allowed within 50 feet of any of the schools and playgrounds in this area or anywhere at all. And with my limited time left I wanted to remind everybody that OPHS is holding a rendition of Clue to honor the late great Tim Curry. So wait, was it Tim Curry? Yeah. I don't know. All right, thanks. Thank you. Blake Harrah. Good evening. Board

[00:48:51] members, Chair, Dr. McDade. My name is Blake Harrah. My address is on file. So I've tried to stay away from this, since I've been up here at the podium, but after the last meeting when I was openly corrected with information that was conveniently left absent, I thought we should expand upon how you get your graduation rates.

[00:49:09] So while you report that rate, it's self-reported, it wasn't in the internal audit, and it was not audited by an outside third party. So you get that rate with the use of Edmentum and unethical means of grade replacement with Admentum, which is not the way it was designed when it came through, and along with the quality point grading system as well. Now with the way PWCS uses Admentum, you can credit recover a class by cheating, and you can finish the semester in roughly two to six weeks. So because it has no monitoring, it doesn't have the same assessment as a normal class. So you can't guarantee academic

[00:49:49] proficiency and your resiliency is non-existent. So now the way PWCS uses Admentum under the direction of the KLC A student receives an Inmentum code on the transcript if they take an entire year of Inmentum.

[00:50:04] Those students who fail one semester and then they get placed in, let's just say, a normal class when they dual take Inmentum, they do not receive an Inmentum code on their transcript. So under that tactic, you're using someone who recovered a grade as someone who recovered a grade for someone who never even failed an assignment.

[00:50:29] So that kind of tactic kind of corrupts your grades. Now with the quality point grading system as well, I don't get why some things are so overweighted. You can have a student get a formative grade that's a B and turn in no more assignments and walk away with a D. How is that possible?

[00:50:52] So I realized that no teacher is going to speak up for fear of retaliation because you guys have already done it before and no executive staff member is going to speak up either because it goes against the strategic plan. So, as you know, VDOE is increasing the SOL rates and it's because our students can't pass the entry level exams when they get in there, either that or they get put on academic probation.

[00:51:17] So it's not looking good when we consistently use this Edmentum concept. Now, tonight you're going to do your first read of Policy 603, which you're going to bring down, your intention to bring down what the state SOL scores is. Now with the limited amount of time I have, I have my first amendment sitting up here, talking from the podium.

[00:51:38] So whoever in the KLC is doing the scare tactic of sending executive staff and asking why I'm here, drop it, like it's getting old. And then I'm also being talked about outside of the podium.

[00:51:53] You're not gonna scare me. - Thank you. Elizabeth Marlow.

[00:52:11] - Good evening Superintendent McDade and members of the school board. My name is Elizabeth Marlow and I am a Prince William County Schools teacher. My address is on file. A few weeks ago, something remarkable and rare happened. We received an email from Elizabeth White, the Digital Curriculum Coordinator in the Department of Student Learning.

[00:52:32] Miss White reached out to educators to ask for our input about a potential update to our curriculum software. She took the time to create a video demonstrating side-by-side navigation before asking us to complete a brief survey about the new tool.

[00:52:50] What made this message so memorable was that we, as professional educators, were asked to share our expertise. For those who are not teachers, I cannot overstate how unusual and welcome this type of communication was.

[00:53:07] It seems that every week brings a new initiative, a new tool, or a new directive. We adjust and adapt, and as professionals, we find a way to implement these changes. Too often, however, this happens without clear communication or meaningful collaboration with teachers and staff, the stakeholders most affected.

[00:53:31] Instead, we are simply told to comply and check all the boxes. What we hope to encourage is thorough collaboration among the members of the school board, central office, school administrators, and the educators who serve students every day.

[00:53:49] Compliance and quantitative data for projects and initiatives have their place, but meaningful learning must remain our primary focus. To understand whether we are truly serving students, we must also value qualitative data and the knowledge of our professional educators.

[00:54:09] What I enjoy most about teaching is truly knowing my students and watching them have breakthroughs in their learning as they develop their skills. That requires hard work, including the unseen and immeasurable effort of building relationships and making meaningful connections that are essential to helping students grow and making an enduring difference in their lives.

[00:54:34] Superintendent McDade and members of the school board, initiatives such as those outlined in the Elevate 2030 strategic plan give us substantial goals to build toward. As we enter into this next era in Prince William County schools, I ask you to provide educators with more meaningful opportunities to engage, collaborate, and share our expertise.

[00:54:59] Please ask us for our input before decisions are made that affect our classrooms and instruction. Please create more opportunities for educators to be part of the conversation. When teachers and staff are included in the process, the entire school division benefits.

[00:55:15] - Thank you. - Thank you. - Up next, Saul Guzman, Saul Guzman. - Okay, that will end citizen comment time.

[00:55:31] Up next is student representative time. We now have Marley Smith from Freedom High School. Marley, you can have the floor.

[00:55:50] - Hello, everyone, and happy November. To start off, I would like to acknowledge School Board Chairman Dr. Lateef, the members of the Prince William County School Board and Superintendent of Schools, Dr. McDade. My mind can barely grasp the fact that we are already in November. Students sometimes call this month No School November because of all the holidays, teacher work days, and breaks in the month.

[00:56:11] I know students are excited for these days off, but I believe it is important to take advantage of the extra time you have. Get ahead on newly assigned work, get your sleep schedule back on track, and enjoy time with family and friends. As we enter the holiday season, I also want to revisit a topic that I mentioned during the last meeting that I spoke at, food insecurity.

[00:56:33] While many of us are looking forward to getting seconds, thirds, and fourths at Thanksgiving, other students may be wondering where the next meal will come from during the holiday. This is exactly why school pantries should be prioritized in our community. As of fall 2026, 21 schools now host on-site food pantries.

[00:56:51] Yes, 21 is a lot, but we have 100 schools and learning centers in this county. Let's try to increase this amount as much as we can. It's also exciting to see this as part of Dr. McDade's Elevate 2030 plan as well.

[00:57:08] To support, you can donate to these pantries using a credit card, writing a check, or by buying off the Amazon wish list. And it doesn't just stop there. At Freedom High School, we offer after school dinners for free. As students stay out there for clubs, test retakes, and sports, we offer meals for students whether they need it or just want an extra boost.

[00:57:29] This is another way to provide support discreetly for students who prefer to keep their circumstances private. Yesterday, I had the chance to attend the Student Ambassador Convening, hosted through a partnership between PWCS, George Mason University, and the Virginia Department of Education.

[00:57:47] While it began through the Purple Star program to support military-connected students, it has expanded into a division-wide effort to foster belonging, strengthen peer support, and ensure every student feels welcome and connected in their school community. Students from across our high schools came together to discuss leadership and ways to strengthen support systems in our schools.

[00:58:07] In one breakout session, we discussed leadership styles. This leadership styles activity gave students an opportunity to reflect on their strengths and how they work with others. Activities like this can help build stronger classroom relationships and remind students that there is no one right way to be a leader.

[00:58:26] In another session, we exchanged strategies related to communication, student engagement, empathy, and sustainability. The conversation challenged us to think about what is already working in our schools and how we can build upon these efforts to create an even greater impact for students.

[00:58:43] After gathering survey feedback from my peers, One reoccurring concern is participation and school spirit. Our schools offer plenty of opportunities through the club activities, honor societies, athletics, and service organizations.

[00:58:59] Yet, many students are still not involved because they do not know where they fit in. As a student representative, one thing I've learned is that students are often waiting for someone to make the first connection. A quick conversation from a teacher, a recommendation from a counselor, or a simple invitation from a peer can completely change a student's high school experience.

[00:59:19] teachers and staff i encourage you to continue helping students discover opportunities where they can grow and learn sometimes the difference between the students staying disconnected and becoming involved is hearing phrases like i think you'll be great at this club or have you considered an opportunity to try those moments of encouragement can have a huge lasting impact thank you for your time and i'll see you in december thank you miss marley smith up next dr mcdade superintendent's time thank you mr chairman i want to begin by reminding families

[00:59:54] that applications for PWCS specialty programs open November 2nd. These programs provide students with opportunities to explore their interests, develop specialized skills, and pursue unique educational pathways. Families can learn more on the PWCS website, including how to apply, recorded webinars, school contacts, and information about upcoming school-based sessions.

[01:00:16] Please note that the application deadline for the Center for Fine and Performing Arts, or CFPA, is december 11th while applications for all other specialty programs close february 1st next tuesday november 10th is national young readers day a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the joy of reading and the importance of developing strong literacy skills from an early age reading opens doors to imagination discovery and lifelong learning we want every student to develop a love of reading that will support their success throughout their educational

[01:00:52] journey. In recognition of the importance of literacy, I want to highlight two upcoming opportunities for families through our family engagement series. The first is tomorrow, November 5th, from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m., titled Your Public Library, Your Family Resource, Your Community.

[01:01:10] This webinar will introduce families to free resources and opportunities that support reading, learning, and family engagement inside and outside the classroom. The second event takes place Thursday, November 12th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and features children's book author Traci Kyle.

[01:01:27] Families will enjoy a read aloud of her book, Peep and the Pinata, followed by a hands-on craft activity inspired by the story. I encourage our families to participate in these opportunities to connect with books, authors, and valuable community literacy resources. November is also National Veterans and Military Families Month, a time to recognize and honor the service, sacrifice and resilience of our nation's veterans and military families pwcs is proud to serve our military-connected students and families and we remain committed to ensuring they feel welcomed

[01:02:03] valued and supported throughout their educational journeys as a reminder pwcs schools and offices will be closed next wednesday november 11th in observance of veterans day to all veterans and military families across our school division and country, thank you for your service, sacrifice, and continued contributions. November is also National Scholarship Awareness Month, an opportunity to remind students and families about the many resources available to support post-secondary education. Scholarships can help remove financial barriers and expand access to

[01:02:39] college, career training, and other educational opportunities. I encourage our high school students and families to connect with their school's college and career counselor, explore available scholarships, and begin planning for the opportunities that await them after graduation.

[01:02:54] This week, November 2nd through the 6th, we celebrate Attendance Officer Appreciation Week. Our attendance officers play a vital role in supporting student success by removing barriers to attendance, connecting families with resources, and helping students stay engaged in their education.

[01:03:10] Their dedication strengthens our schools and reinforces the importance of showing up every day ready to learn. Thank you to our attendance officers for your commitment to our students, families, and school communities. Next week, November 9th through the 13th, we will recognize National School Psychology Week.

[01:03:27] Our school psychologists play an essential role in supporting students' academic, social, emotional, and behavioral well-being. Working alongside educators, families, and school leaders, they help students navigate challenges, build resilience, and reach their full potential.

[01:03:43] To our dedicated school psychologists across Prince William County Schools. Thank you for the expertise, compassion, and care you bring to our schools each and every day. Finally, I am pleased to introduce tonight's State of the Schools presentation. This is an opportunity to reflect on the progress that we've made as a school division and identify the priorities that will guide our continued improvement.

[01:04:05] Tonight's presentation will highlight our accomplishments and the instructional priorities that will advance our work under the PWCS Elevate 2030 strategic plan. While we have much to celebrate, We recognize that our work is far from finished and there's much more work to be done.

[01:04:20] We have established a strong foundation for continued growth, and we remain focused on ensuring every student has the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their community. At this time, I would like to introduce Dr. Tim Neal, Director of Research, Assessment, and Data Services, as well as Dr. Stephanie Sullivan, our Associate Superintendent for for Teaching and Learning, and Mr. Matt Guilfoyle, our Chief Information Officer, and they will lead tonight's presentation.

[01:04:51] Dr. Neal. - Good evening, Dr. Lateef, school board members, and Dr. Brigade. I'm pleased tonight to present to you an overview of our state of schools. We will ground this in our vision of every student graduating on time with the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to create a thriving future for themselves and their community.

[01:05:11] I think our data shows that we are on that pathway. We're going to take a look mostly at division-wide data, starting with our SOL pass rates. Now, as I go through these next few slides, you're going to see a consistent pattern where we'll have an initial increase in our SOL scores and then a plateau over the last few years.

[01:05:32] So, you can see this with reading where we had a very slight bump initially and then a plateau over the last several years across all of our groups. What this is indicating is that we're meeting the needs of a portion of our students, but But there is a percentage that we need to do a better job of meeting the student needs so that they can master that content material.

[01:05:54] When we move on to writing, again, we see that same pattern. A difference here is with students with disabilities, we see a consistent upward trend. Math follows that same pattern, an initial bump followed by a plateau.

[01:06:12] We do expect that as we continue with Elevate 2030 and focus in on math, we will see improvements in those math scores. Science also follows that similar pattern, an initial bump at the beginning, and then a plateau over the last several years.

[01:06:35] And lastly, history, again, similar trend when we look across. We do see improvements in students with disabilities and English learners, but again, upward trend initially, followed by a plateau. Again, the data indicates that although we are meeting the needs of a chunk of our students, there are a percentage that we are not meeting the needs for, and we need to look at our instructional practices to enhance that.

[01:07:01] This is especially critical as the state changes, will be changing the SOL cut scores, meaning we have to take a harder look at instruction to continue our forward progress. - Dr. Neal, Ms. Williams has a question. - Hi, Dr. Neal, thank you for this data. Within the years that this data has been captured, has there been any changes to the SOL with these subjects?

[01:07:23] Could you give us a little bit more context? Because I think when we present this information, I can only imagine if I was a teacher, I'd be going, but there's so much more, or a parent who would just think it's just five years, 'cause we often hear from our community about the scores and our, everyone's very concerned that we're doing a good job, but I think a little bit more context would be helpful, if you don't mind.

[01:07:45] - Sure, so it is important to know that these scores do represent a single snapshot in time, so it is one data point amongst many data points that our educators would be using to make both decisions and determinations about student progress. There have been changes in the curriculum standards, and when the tests are created and they are built in such a way that they are still measuring essentially the same material.

[01:08:12] So reading is a good example. Although there have been changes in the reading standards, the fundamental constructs of reading remain the same, allowing us to look over time at these various scores. - Thank you, that's helpful. know at one time like we were so focused on writing and then they took the writing portion out and that you know depending on where how long you've been around it can get confusing and this to me does present that we know you know where our students are but it's helpful for me as a school board member when I'm interacting with my constituents to have a deeper understanding and it's not just we've had the same test year after year with the same curriculum because often

[01:08:48] like over the summer I think we had a curriculum change and that's important to acknowledge when we have our teachers in the classroom or our parents trying to help our students to prepare for this end-of-year test because there's changes frequently so I appreciate that thank you you're welcome it is important to recognize that there are lots of data points to look at including comparisons with how we're looking with the state and so we can use that as one of our benchmark points in fact when we look at all of our tests over time we consistently in Prince William County are outperforming the state averages so But it is important, to your point, to look at multiple data points and consider all kinds

[01:09:27] of factors when assessing how our students are doing. So the next item we want to look at is our advanced course participation. If you, as a consistent high point, we have made, had increasing percentages of students participating in our advanced courses over the last five years.

[01:09:47] So if you look at this slide, you can see that we have had sizeable increases in black and Hispanic students participating in advanced courses, we've also seen increases in English learner and students with disabilities participating in those advanced courses.

[01:10:03] Now, as a matter of equity, this is really important, but when we look at how those students are performing in these advanced courses, this slide does a really nice job of conveying those outcomes. So the dark blue bar represents the number of tests taken in AP, IB, and Cambridge from 2122 to current.

[01:10:28] And you can see that we've had a substantial increase from just over 11,000 to 17,000 tests taken in those areas. The blue bar right above it shows the increase in qualifying scores for college credit.

[01:10:45] And so you can see in 21-22, we had around 6,300 tests that received qualifying scores for college credit, and that is up to just over 11,000 now. So it's a substantial increase in the potential for students to exit with college credits.

[01:11:04] The light blue bar represents the number of graduates that earned one or more dual enrollment credits. In '21-'22, we had just over 1,400 and that is just over 2,100 now.

[01:11:19] So a substantial increase in the number of students earning dual enrollment credit. Dr. Neal? Yes, sir. So I just, I think that's really critical. This graph and chart are excellent and I think folks should really pay attention to this. Not only are more students taking higher level courses as pointed out in the slide before, more students are scoring better on the exams and achieving well.

[01:11:42] There does seem to be some room, and I know Dr. McDade has it in our Elevate 2030 plan, maybe Dr. McDade, just real quick mention, so that the graduates earning at least one dual credit, I think we still have a lot of room to go on that, and I know you're sort of putting programs together, and can you just talk a little bit about that real quick?

[01:11:59] - Yes, as a matter, well, Dr. Sullivan's here if you wanna add anything, but we just had a meeting with all of our principals to talk about advanced coursework and the opportunities that still exist. Certainly DE is one of the advanced courses that we are trying to expand across the county.

[01:12:18] DE is a little bit more challenging because of the kinds of credentials that staff need to have in order to offer that. But if you wanna add, Dr. Sullivan, any additional details about our plans for expansion. - Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that question because some exciting new research has come out that actually suggests the greatest impact to success in college is the combination of either an APIB or Cambridge course with dual enrollments that the students actually perform best when they are taking both types of classes.

[01:12:52] And so our work with NOVA has been expanding year after year. And as a reminder, last year, we talked about our new partnership. It's called College and Career Ready Virginia. And now every student at every high school has the potential to complete a full year's worth of college.

[01:13:09] And so if the student doesn't have all those classes on campus, they can complete them with virtual classes as well. So we are one of the largest consumers of that program for NOVA, and this year had about 300 students this semester alone participating in that class.

[01:13:29] We also added-- - So those 300 students, Dr. Sullivan, are on track to finish one year of college while in high school? - They have the potential to-- - Potential. - If they stay into the program. and that's additional to all the courses they're taking at their school campuses.

[01:13:46] - Are those 300, they're not doing that one-year college in just one year, that's over the course of their time in high school? - That's over their junior or senior year. - Junior or senior, okay, great. - And so every student in Prince William County has the opportunity to do that. We also added the NEON program last year where our students, we're one of only two divisions in the Commonwealth where they can take classes from universities all over the country.

[01:14:10] In fact, there was just an article spotlighting several of our students for performing at the highest levels nationwide. So we've added those programs as well. We're continuing our partnerships to expand dual enrollment with career and technical education as well. So we are very motivated.

[01:14:27] We agree that there is a huge upside for this division with dual enrollment and we are expanding those partnerships with college partners. - And Dr. Sullivan, I know Dr. McDade and I talked about this a little bit earlier, not to put you on the spot, Dr. McDade, but the amount of dollars one saves by having dual enrollment credit, like maybe you can talk about like per credit, what does that mean to a family?

[01:14:50] - Yeah, when you, this chart right here, this data is representing nearly $13 million worth of savings of college credits. When you take the dual enrollment class along with the credits that the students have from passing APIB or Cambridge courses.

[01:15:07] Dr. Neal calculated at nearly 13 million dollars. - I think it's a range. - It's a range. - It's a range between nine to 16 million because it depends on whether or not the student is going to a community college, 'cause a community college course range of about 700 plus dollars.

[01:15:26] - Per credit. - Per credit, whereas a state university would be more like 1200. So when you look at the number of early credits earned, It's a range between nine to 16 million, but that all depends on what type of school they actually attended.

[01:15:41] - And to be clear, I think everyone should know the answer if they don't, but we don't charge the students for achieving that credit. They are not paying any tuition or any kind of fee for these classes, correct? - That's correct, that is correct. And that wasn't always true and isn't necessarily true throughout the Commonwealth.

[01:15:58] So in Prince William County, our students do get the benefit of taking these courses with no expense to themselves or their families. And then when they take the AP test, we pay for the fee for the AP exam, the students don't pay for that fee, correct? And that's true for AP, IB, or Cambridge.

[01:16:14] Wonderful. I mean, it's a great thing for affordability if our students really take advantage of the program and complete one year of college, they could theoretically finish college in three years when they leave here and save essentially one real year of tuition. Yes, sir. And in addition to the affordability, the data on success and student persistence rate is also extraordinary.

[01:16:35] If a student takes one dual enrollment class, they're about 15% more likely to complete college on time. And so it also supports persistence in students having exposure to the level of coursework they're gonna need to be successful.

[01:16:52] - Yeah, I mean, that's terrific. Thank you. - Yes, sir. - Carry on, Ms. Woyt. - I just wanna throw on some more kudos to that. As a parent of a child who took a dual enrollment course before graduating high school, went to culinary school.

[01:17:11] However, the rigor in the course, having that time to prepare before going to the next level, being the first generation in my family to go to college, it was also a relief as a parent because I was able to sort of support my son as he was going through that and been to college in quite some time.

[01:17:28] So if you have not been to college, there's advantages to that. Not at this time, but maybe at a different time. The board could hear a little bit more from the counseling side, the internal side, on how we're marketing that to students and parents and families at all levels, not just our students, 'cause we're college and career ready.

[01:17:46] But I think, I'll speak for myself, sometimes being a little old, you get in this mindset of my child is going this way as a parent, so you don't always think about the other options just because they're not on a specific track. And I know that we speak to that, so just later at some point during the year, it'd be nice to also give our counseling team some kudos and how we see it, how we market that information to our parents and our families, 'cause it makes a difference.

[01:18:10] So thank you. - So continuing with the data, chronic absenteeism has been a consistent focus. And when we look at the data over the last five years, we have seen a consistent and steady downward trend in our chronic absenteeism rates.

[01:18:27] Last year, we ended at 14.2%, which is comparable to our pre-pandemic rates. And so although this is trending down, we can do more to address chronic absenteeism. And with an increased focus on our instructional practices, looking more closely at our learning environments, we do expect that the chronic absenteeism rates will continue to drop.

[01:18:55] When we look at our dropout rates, this is a shining star of an achievement for Prince William County. Going back to 2008, which is as far as I could go back in the state databases, We have never had a dropout rate this low at 3%.

[01:19:13] The state average, incidentally, is about 4.7%, so we are exceeding the state average as well. When we look at our dropout rate for English learners, again, going back as far as I could, which was 2008, we do see a historically low dropout rate for our English learners.

[01:19:34] - Ms. Williams. - Thank you, I'm just gonna continue with my congratulations, 'cause this is the time since we're talking about it. That's a tremendous amount of work that's being done on behalf of all of our staff and our families. Sitting here as long as I have from when we talked about dropout rates and absentees and having school security officers and people come in and speak to our families and going from there, having to comply with state changes and what those definitions mean to be absent or to be chronic and then to see the reflection of how we've embraced this from a holistic perspective and educating our families and our communities

[01:20:13] and what this means and the advantages of staying in school, I think is notable and should be applauded. So I just wanted to thank everyone from our superintendent on down to the individuals in the building because it's a team effort to keep our students in school and explain why it's important. And supporting our families to allow our students to maintain academic progress is also important.

[01:20:32] So I just wanted to say thank you. - On the flip side, I want to take a look at our graduation rates. Again, our graduation rates reflect the tremendous efforts of our staff and teachers to meet the needs of our learners.

[01:20:51] I do wanna take a moment to offer a couple of definitions. Historically, or at least in recent history, we've been using the on-time graduation rate as our main metric. Basically what this means is do you graduate from within four years of entering high school, but they do make some adjustments.

[01:21:10] They include students who transfer in, they exclude students who transfer out, then under the on-time graduation rate or OGR if you are permitted additional time to graduate so if you were an English learner or you were a student with the disability and could get more time you are allowed to slide out of that cohort into a new cohort so you would change the way the calculation is done that causes the rate percentage to increase that was how it has been measured under the old accountability system.

[01:21:46] We set a target of 95%, which was a very ambitious target, and at the end of the strategic plan we've exceeded it by hitting an on-time graduation rate of 96.1%, and we did see increases across all of our groups, including English learners and students with disabilities.

[01:22:06] Under the new accountability system, we are moving to what's called the Federal Graduation Indicator. You can think of it as the most basic way of calculating a graduation rate. Like the on-time graduation rate, it's the percent of students who graduate within four years of entering high school.

[01:22:24] They do include transfer ins, they do exclude transfer outs, but there are no adjustments made for students who might need additional time. So your cohort tends to be bigger and your percentages tend to be a little bit lower. This is applied consistently across all states so that we're able to, so that the federal government is able to look at things comparatively.

[01:22:47] When you look at our changes in the FGI, which we do have, again, you see a remarkable increase of 3% over the last year. So we did see that upward movement in our federal graduation indicator as well.

[01:23:03] In looking at all of the data, what the data reflects is we are meeting the needs of students, staff, teachers, administrators are working to try to make sure that all of the students develop the habits that they need, but there are still gaps that we need to address.

[01:23:19] And to address those areas and where we're heading, I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Sullivan. - Thank you. Good evening. As an organization deeply rooted in continuous improvement, we do take a moment to identify where we are experiencing success, but we equally dive deeply into the data to identify, confront, and continue to work on the areas where we wanna see improvement for our students, where we know our students can demonstrate increased outcomes for themselves.

[01:23:55] Each year, Dr. McDade identifies for the organization's specific areas of focus within our ongoing continuous improvement work. Many of you have participated in our Triple E kickoff, and at this time, Dr. McDade makes it clear to every member of the leadership team that in addition to all the other expectations, these are our targeted areas to focus on for the year.

[01:24:23] This year, we are emphasizing these four priorities, academic excellence for all, note the capital all, doubling down on the Virginia Literacy Act, balancing rigor in math, and integrating data-driven decision-making.

[01:24:38] Together, these priorities connect challenging learning, responsive support and close attention to student progress. They guide how we build on the work of our teachers and schools and focus our improvement efforts this year.

[01:24:57] In Academic Excellence for All, we share a commitment to all of our students, but this year we've been challenged to make an extra focus on our students with disabilities, making sure our students are receiving the absolute best education to support their needs.

[01:25:15] The Office of Special Education and Early Intervention, Teaching and Learning, and school leadership and staff collaborate to set high expectations, accessible instruction, and responsive support for students. Each team contributes complimentary expertise and shares responsibility for this work.

[01:25:36] This work is not done by one team, one department, one staff member, it is a responsibility of all educators to improve outcomes for our students. In a focus on what's new or enhanced, I'll share a few of the initiatives designed to transform practice and student outcomes.

[01:25:55] Our general education teachers were looking for support in research-based approaches to ensure they met the needs of all learners. They were asking us for more professional learning in this space. So this summer, my core instruction team, along with our special education leaders, jointly delivered the inaugural Inclusive by Design professional learning series.

[01:26:19] They equipped classroom teachers with practical approaches that help diverse learners access rigorous content and thrive in an intellectual challenge. Teachers collaborated to refine their instruction and problem solve strategies to meet the needs of their learners.

[01:26:35] We extend even more support to our new and novice educators through Bright Beginnings, an induction program specifically for our special education teachers. Through this program, teachers were given explicit guidance on expectations, along with practical support for instruction.

[01:26:55] We want all of our special education teachers to be part of a community where they can lean on each other and get support for the unique challenges they face as educators in our organization. We carry that learning into schools through a unified approach to monitoring and support across offices with new expectations for school leaders.

[01:27:19] The alignment allows for more impactful examination of classroom instruction across the division with actionable data on student and classroom needs. We remain clear about what evidence-based instruction requires while making feedback and follow-through useful to educators.

[01:27:39] We are literally in every classroom in this organization multiple times together with school administrators, with teachers, with staff members from special education, as well as teaching and learning. We also learn together through model special education classrooms.

[01:27:57] The specialized instruction department identified classrooms throughout the division that demonstrate excellence in educational practice for students with disabilities. We know when a teacher sees a peer teacher doing outstanding work in the classroom that that has the greatest impact on their practice.

[01:28:16] Those classrooms have become centers for professional learning and collaboration for teachers who benefit from seeing quality practice in action. And our instructional standards of excellence bring these efforts together through shared expectations. Our curriculum writing teams, inclusive of teachers from the field, examined research, outcome data, and observation data to adjust those resources to reflect our collective knowledge.

[01:28:43] We never sit still. We are constantly looking at what's working, what we need to tweak, and where we need to add more focus. There is now explicit and clear alignment in our standards to practices that advance learning for students with disabilities.

[01:29:00] We carry those strong expectations, our work and instruction into literacy. And so doubling down on the Virginia Literacy Act is really important. Year three on an initiative can make or break a focus on ensuring consistency across the organization.

[01:29:18] We are deepening Virginia Literacy Act implementation through learning, application, and reflection. We have aligned instructional materials, curriculum, professional learning, and intervention to give teachers and school leaders a coherent foundation. We are consistently examining how those practices are implemented, how students respond, and then adjust our approach based on that information.

[01:29:43] High quality instructional materials provide a common foundation that teachers bring to life through their planning, instruction, and knowledge of their students. Thanks to the board, these resources spanned a full range of instructional materials and experiences that engage students in hands-on reading, activities, and discussions.

[01:30:06] The use of manipulatives even in our ELA classroom to connect the kinesthetic to that learning experience for the child. Our commitment is that students who need additional support retain access to strong core learning. Together, we continue to examine how students can access and engage with our instructional materials.

[01:30:26] Additionally, we are working closely with George Mason University to evaluate and measure the impact of our instructional resources on ELA. Building on those materials, our curriculum guide adjustments help teachers plan for deeper thinking.

[01:30:42] For example, students might explain an interpretation and support it with evidence. Text becomes the center of all instruction with students. All students demonstrate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in every course, every day.

[01:31:00] And that is a clear point of emphasis that we've made through all of our professional learning with our educators, as well as our administrators, to be looking for those expressions of literacy every day. We extend the work to families through the continuation of Just Write Readers.

[01:31:17] These materials connect classroom learning with reading at home. The take-home literacy packs give families a practical way to continue that learning with structured support. You remember, you may remember that video from last year where we showed you the impact of that wonderful program when the students get their packets every couple of months throughout the school year.

[01:31:39] Professional learning for reading specialists strengthens the expertise that sustains the work. We must have deep expertise in every single school to ensure equity to the best strategies for every one of our students.

[01:31:54] Our division literacy plan positions reading specialists as building leaders and continues their learning through the science of reading and instructional implementation. We want that learning to support collaborative planning, thoughtful instructional choices and reflection on student progress.

[01:32:10] We continue to invest in their growth with best in class research and professional experiences. We follow that professional learning into classrooms, partnering with schools to monitor instruction and target support. I wanna thank our teachers. our teachers have been incredibly responsive to constant presence in the classroom.

[01:32:31] Our questions about how did you get that to work? What does it look like? Can you lead professional learning for us? We had over 600 teachers lead professional learning this fall for their peers. And it was the first time we had more teachers leading professional learning than anyone else in the organization.

[01:32:52] School and division teams are using evidence to recognize approaches worth sharing, identify specific needs, provide support, and return to examine students' progress. When students need additional help, tier two guidelines and decision trees help educators make timely, consistent decisions using formal and informal student achievement data.

[01:33:14] These are new resources several departments work together to put in the hands of our teachers 'cause our school said we want a more clear roadmap on what data to look at and what are those next steps for targeted support. So we built these decision trees for all subject areas, for all grade levels, so teachers could have a clear roadmap on those next steps.

[01:33:38] - Dr. Sullivan, quick question before you move. - Yes, ma'am. - Could you just explain to those who are listening what a tier two guideline is? - Absolutely, thank you. Our students receive instruction in tier one settings, primarily, where all students are receiving certain strategies, curriculum, resources, and experiences.

[01:33:54] Sometimes a student needs additional support 'cause they're not fully successful in that tier one setting. Sometimes those additional supports are targeted, maybe a one-week focus on a specific math strategy. Other times there's supplemental instruction, intervention, and tutoring.

[01:34:12] Those would be tier two strategies. Tier one for all, tier two for the group where they need a little bit more to succeed in the content. Thank you for asking. As we transition into math, we connect the same attention to instruction and support with a balanced approach to rigor.

[01:34:31] We balance procedural fluency, conceptual understanding, and real-world application in mathematics. We want students to solve accurately, explain their reasoning, and apply their learning. We learn from and collaborate with teachers as we refine support and resources to teachers to design learning experiences that develop all three to ensure that students can authentically apply their learning.

[01:34:58] Again, wanna thank the board for their support of high quality instructional materials that provide every single teacher comprehensive resources to use for instruction. They balance support and give teachers a shared foundation for planning.

[01:35:13] Includes hands-on materials and learning experiences that invite students to explore ideas, discuss strategies, and make their reasoning visible. We support teachers in using those resources purposefully and examine the tasks students engage in, the reasoning they express, and the understanding they demonstrate.

[01:35:34] That reflection helps us determine what to sustain and what to refine. You're hearing over and over again this continuous cycle of focus, reflection, and revision. Alongside daily instruction, we're focusing on flexible pathways to match students' readiness and support their move into accelerated work.

[01:35:54] Summer support is an important part of that work. In addition to opportunities to remediate, we provide opportunities for students to engage in accelerated math in the summer to prepare them for more difficult courses the following year.

[01:36:10] We will continue to grow those opportunities, those classes filled up quickly last summer, we'll be adding more this year. Our instructional standards of excellence, again, guide differentiation and connect expectations with support. Teachers are provided a wide range of evidence-based resources.

[01:36:29] We do all the research, we check the databases, and curate those resources for our teachers so that when they are choosing experiences, they know they're choosing evidence-based practices. Strategies for our English learners, students with disability, and gifted learners are embedded within those resources.

[01:36:51] because we know differentiation goes both ways. Differentiation goes to support, it also goes to acceleration. As mentioned with ELA, students who need additional support in mathematics, we also have those comprehensive decision trees to help teachers utilize that data effectively.

[01:37:09] These tools support professional judgment and collaborative problem solving. In high school algebra, we took a new approach this year, working with students who need additional time and support in mastering the concepts. Students take a double block of math to get intensive support, so they pass algebra their freshman year.

[01:37:29] This positions them to advance to higher levels with a stronger foundation. In this extra block, teachers address prerequisite understanding and current concepts, keeping students on pace in their algebra course. We know from extensive data, the earlier the students succeed in algebra, the greater their chance for success in post-secondary activities.

[01:37:52] Looking ahead, we are developing data science and statistics pathways that expand access to rigorous mathematics and connect mathematical thinking to meaningful questions involving data. As we develop these pathways, we must clarify readiness, instructional support, and the opportunities students can access.

[01:38:14] We are strengthening our academic work and our data systems together. Alongside teachers and school leaders, we use clearer evidence to identify strengths, pinpoint learning needs, and target support more precisely. Mr. Guilfoyle will now explain how our fourth priority, integrate data-driven decision-making advances that work.

[01:38:43] - Thank you, Dr. Slob. So I have the opportunity to talk to you a little bit about how are we making data-driven decision-making a reality in the organization across both operations and academics at all levels of the organization. And really it starts here.

[01:38:59] And what you're looking at here is really the model that we've been working towards over the last, over two years now, towards data coherence in the organization. We are a data-rich organization. What that means simply is we got a lot of data. But just because you have a lot of data doesn't mean you have a lot of data-driven intelligence.

[01:39:18] So one of the things that we've been working towards is how do we get there. Well, it starts first and foremost at number six on this chart, if you will, very bottom, which is that you have to have strong data governance practices. We work in a regulated environment. What does that mean? Well there's certain federal rules that we have to follow. FERPA, for example, when it comes to student record compliance. There are many other statutes, both state and local, that we, at least state and federal, that we need to follow. And we also infuse that into our regulations and policies as a school division. And so we have a number of specific regulations that govern how we need to govern our data. From who has

[01:39:54] access to it how do we secure it how do we store it and all those are codified in our in our regulations from there we then apply that governance in what we call our data architecture which simply is how do we design all these data systems to encompass all these data sources across the organization and then of course we have to secure that and that is a huge challenge in this day and age especially in the age of AI the next is that just because you have a lot of data doesn't necessarily mean that it's accurate so we need to then ensure that that we have strong data quality processes and that then we're looking at that data through the lens of is this data structured in a way that we can take advantage of new tools such as AI so it has to be structured in such a way

[01:40:32] that we can use those tools to apply to it once we've done that foundational work we then can start to move towards actually analyzing the data and using things like AI to help us better understand our data but of course if you don't have good data literacy in other words if you don't know what you're looking at it's not necessarily going to help you and so we need to then also help folks understand how to interpret the data. Moving up the next goal is we don't want to necessarily be looking at data that has already occurred we want to be thinking about what is going to happen and that's where predictive AI predictive data starts to come into play and we are building models that help us understand what is the likelihood that if a student scores X at the beginning of

[01:41:12] the year on a test what is the likelihood of their score at the end of the year and that helps us to Dr. Sullivan's point then understand how to target better better down to the individual student what are those individual students needs we also use predicted we're starting to look at predictive data not just on the academic side we're looking at predictive data on the operation side such as in mr. Bach's operation when it comes to transportation facilities we're starting to move towards an era when which we'll be able to hopefully predict with some accuracy which things are going to break and when they're going to break and how do we then do preventative maintenance before they break so that's where predictive data comes into play and then And the last here goes then, once we have all those abilities, this really comes down to better decision making.

[01:41:52] We want to be able to make those decisions, whether it's for the students, whether it's for the way in which we manage our finances, the way in which we manage our human capital. We want to be using data in such a way that we're making better decisions for our students and for our schools.

[01:42:07] So how are we doing this from a technology standpoint? Well, this is pretty much an oversimplification, but what you see here is that we have implemented what is called a data lake. simply what that is is we can take sources of data from many many different sources and you see here just examples of the kinds of data sources that we might use we're able to then co-mingle that data in such a way that we can then start to extract it to then create data analysis from it so we use again what's called a data lake we're able to bring in all these different sources of data we refine that data again that idea of going from sort of raw data to quality data we do that work and then we build that out in such a way that our teachers

[01:42:45] our staff can then make sense of it in a more simplified visual way and so we use a tool called click which is a data visualization tool to help our teachers our staff be able to understand that data and not have to be a data engineer in order to be able to use that data this is an example of all the data sources that we've already started to build in the organization and I want to give a huge shout out to our data engineering and data services team we have amazing talented staff who have been doing just an amazing amount of work very quickly. This really has been built just in the last year and what you see here is really an organizational chart, if you will, of all the different data

[01:43:24] collections that we've created in the organization. We're continuing to build more so that again this is both on the academic side and on the operations side and what we do is we apply role-based security controls so that only those who have access to that data should have access to that data. So what does that mean? It means that if I'm on the executive cabinet I'm able to view data more holistically across the organization down to a classroom if I'm in a teacher if I'm a teacher I only see my school and I only see my students that I have rostered so we do is incredibly complicated in order to manage that but our data engineering team does a huge amount of work to ensure that we are in compliance and making sure that folks only have access

[01:44:04] to the data they should have access to and the data they need in order to be effective in their role so what I'm going to show you now is just a very brief visualization demonstration of what it actually looks like if I'm a user within the organization so what you're seeing here is the actual screenshot of our Qlik dashboard and within that there are many what we call apps and within an application there are many what we call data sheets sheet is essentially a dashboard so what we've created are literally hundreds and hundreds of dashboards in the organization that are then gathered together within a single app which is basically around a specific data type of data set and then that you

[01:44:42] see then we have a collection of all these different applications across the organization so we'll see if this animation starts to flow so here we go so let's just say we are looking at academic achievement we're able to go in and open up our assessments application I can then drill down into our SOL scores for example but then the SOL scores I can drill down even further down by school I can apply filters across these I can see just the math scores I can go in and then pick different student groups or years I can run comparisons and you see that this is all just within a 30-second window but

[01:45:20] it all the data dynamically adjusts there's no having to do pivot tables or any adjustments the data is automatically filtering as I go and you see at the top there those little green boxes those are all the filters I can then move across the data sets across all the different apps to see those filters applied to different data sets.

[01:45:38] And this makes it really simple for staff. No pun intended, but it is really just clicking. And it makes it really simple for folks to be able to understand how to interact with that data. They don't necessarily, again, have to have a data engineering degree. They don't have to be a data analyst in order to do this. The data analysts and our data engineering teams have spent a lot of time with our subject matter experts to ensure that we've built these out in ways that we know are accurate and we know that they are usable for our end users.

[01:46:04] So that really is just a snapshot on how we're moving towards that data-driven strategy across the organization and achieving our goals within our strategic plan. I do want to come back to what Dr. Neal opened with, which is our vision, that ultimately we're doing all this work because we want to be able to ensure that we are able to meet every student by name and by need.

[01:46:24] And by using the data tools that we have now available, that is closer than ever. And we've equipped everyone in the organization with these tools. And so I feel confident that we are on track to be able to achieve our vision as stated. So thank you very much for that. It concludes our presentation for this evening.

[01:46:45] - Excellent, Ms. Williams, what's it? Oh, Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, this was a great presentation, phenomenal work. I appreciate your guys' time and the work you put into the graphs and the data and the presentation a lot.

[01:47:01] I do have two items that I'd maybe like to have follow up on. It doesn't have to happen on the spot right now. The first one would be like advanced course placements and credits at dual enrollments. We are doing a great job at expanding opportunities for diverse learners as we're seeing with the numbers and the increased enrollment there.

[01:47:23] But I'm looking to see more also of like the targeted instructional supports we have in place for these diverse student groups. So that they're not only taking these and enrolling in these but they're being successful. That's, again, I don't want an on-the-spot thing, but that's one thing I'm curious about.

[01:47:40] The other one is this CLIC graduation tracker, or the data that Mr. Guilfoy, you presented. I'm curious, again, does not have to be on the spot, but in a follow-up, how are school leaders using this, leveraging this weekly, daily in their admin meetings, their staff meetings, that kind of monitor and identify students early to enroll them and things like college credit recovery, I'm sorry, not college, enroll in credit recovery programs in their final cohort year before it might be too late and graduation is upon us.

[01:48:16] So just curious again about that data collection and extrapolation piece from a site level, a building level, principal level kind of a specific area. So, but I don't, you guys don't have to answer those on the spot, do not worry. but I just want to learn more about that later.

[01:48:40] - Okay, Ms. Williams. - Sorry, keep trying to give other people first chance. I had some questions in regards to that as well, when it comes to data and data literacy, and these don't have to be answered now, you may just want to piggyback in with Justin's at a later date, but I'd like to learn more about how the, when we talk about data literacy, what that means for our staff, right?

[01:49:04] Because when we think about learning styles, Teachers are no different. Having a snapshot may be one way to read this data that may work well for one type of brain. Are we offering that same type of perspective to our staff in how they view the data?

[01:49:19] And then also, at that time, maybe you could talk about, or maybe now, I don't know if you have this answer, what is the primary difference between the data gathering that we're doing to determine the success of a student? For example, we know outside factors, socio-economic factors, how much a student attends school.

[01:49:38] There's plenty of research studies, right, in existence about these things. What differentiates what we're doing from what we know existing academic research as indicators of student success. And I don't need like college level depth, but just very surface because the data is presented this way or we're combining all of that and making it digestible in a way because it makes me nervous when I think about AI and data collection and predicting student outcomes, right?

[01:50:05] And what does that mean more? Are we looking at all those outside things? Are we using the same? 'Cause there's a lot of embedded is-isms in research and predicting student outcomes. So how are we also avoiding putting some of those isms back into that data?

[01:50:21] 'Cause that's also a concern right now in AI and things of that nature. So I don't know if we're looking at that, but I'd be interested to know. And then how are we making this digestible for parents? Because we do talk about this in the schools, back to school night, orientation, parents ask us how are we doing that in a unified manner so that any parent who walks in our building, whether they've gone to college or this is the first time in their country or their first time hearing about this, they're able to understand.

[01:50:48] And I know everybody can't get it from a presentation, but where would I go? How would I access that? Is my teacher the first line of questions I would bring this up to? Would I go to the principal? I think that kind of information would be helpful for our audience because this is just a small snapshot.

[01:51:05] And then what is the last question I have in very short? If you could just speak a little bit about the difference between these type of data dashboards. I know these are in-house ones for schools. And what we show the public on our public-facing dashboards.

[01:51:23] I know that sounds like, why would you ask that? But it's data points and information. And as a parent, I might come across that and say, oh, this is what my teacher is looking at. And I'm sure it's not exactly the same. So just to kind of clear that up. Thank you. Sure. - So again, there are lots of different types of data, right?

[01:51:39] So what the public sees ultimately is the same data that we are using internally, just typically in aggregate, right? And so an example of that is the data that is on the Virginia School Quality Profiles, which those are outstanding that the VDOE puts together, and I would highly recommend parents, if they're interested, to go take a look at that because it does give you good data.

[01:52:02] I use it frequently as a reference point. You can go in there. They've again done nice visualizations. You can see information about your school and how things are performing. And that is a good resource if you want to kind of see things in aggregate. And the state data that is being shown there comes from us.

[01:52:17] We give it to the state. The state then uses that in our state. That's how we provide a state reporting. So essentially what we see inside is eventually seen by the public in aggregate. Again, because of student privacy, we're not going to be showing individual student outcomes at that level.

[01:52:36] When it comes to an individual student outcome, I definitely would recommend the first and best place to start is with the teacher. That is absolutely the right spot. That's the best conversation to have, especially around if you have concerns or questions, you're not understanding your student or how they're performing, or you have questions about how things are going in the classroom, definitely reach out.

[01:52:56] I would highly recommend that they start by having a conversation with the teacher. Again, there are other resources within the school if they need to reach to their parent liaison, they can also work with them to help them connect with different resources within the school community if they needed additional supports there.

[01:53:14] The other area that I would say is that we are gonna be launching within the next couple of weeks. Much of, at least some of the data that you see will be shown on our dashboard on the PWCS website, and that will be the same Qlik interface that our staff use.

[01:53:30] Again, it's more in aggregate and at high level on certain types of data so things that are more at the higher level in terms of the aggregate data that is being shown so we're trying to use both so I would say that those are those are some of the resources that we have available thank you I appreciate that because we're very familiar we hear about this every year and if you're a new parent or if you've been a parent for a while this is a big change yeah and then there's lots of conspiracies about data yeah and I will say around I think it's helpful to know around the standards of learning for example as well we will be doing partnering with the our parent liaisons

[01:54:05] and doing parent webinars and other resources so that folks that want to learn more and better understand what's going on at the state level and how does that what does that mean we will be and we also will be working with the superintendent's Advisory Council instruction of which is a large parent group and we'll be doing a briefing for them as well so we have we're trying to kind of hit it in multiple venues thank you I'm gonna stop I just want to say how much I appreciate that, because we just have diversity within our community.

[01:54:33] If you're a parent, you may look at things one way, or a student, or a teacher, and so it's helpful to kind of cover all those bases when we're explaining this data, so no matter who's watching or where they're, they can get in where they fit in and know where to go next, so thank you. - Ms. Williams, I do also wanna add that we have not abandoned our traditional methods of sending detailed reports home to parents about those progress monitoring tools.

[01:54:55] We know that's important. So after each of our progress monitoring cycles, we do have parent letters that explain the assessment, explain where the child is at and what might be the next steps. Because we know that that's an important compliment to the technical information as well.

[01:55:15] - Ms. Wall. - Thank you, I appreciate those questions, Ms. Williams, because these were some of my questions, so I won't have to ask them now because I got such a good explanation. But I will just say, I do appreciate the division's efforts to help families understand how their student is doing.

[01:55:32] Because as we become more data-driven and as we have greater data coherence and we can interpret that data, it's great for parents to be able to say, okay, I have a better picture of what's going on with my kid. Like, where are they strong? Where do they need support?

[01:55:47] And that will, I think, improve parent engagement and commitment to our schools 'cause they'll see the effort that we're doing and we'll give them real-time data that is relevant to their child. So I commend that effort. I know that the data coherence piece has been a very heavy lift.

[01:56:04] We've put a lot of work into it, and it's taken a lot of time. But I'm very excited about it, because it is, as you say, a scaffolded pyramid. I don't know if it's a scaffolded pyramid. Anyways, it's like you have to lay the foundation, and then you build it from there. You have to have the data, you know, the data architecture and the security piece, the governance strategy, you know, that's all very important.

[01:56:26] And the quality of our data is important too. Obviously, if we have bad data, we're not gonna get results that we can really rely on or make decisions from. So I know this is a heavy lift. I do really appreciate it. And I know families will appreciate it as well as they try to help their individual students really maximize their potential.

[01:56:48] I just wanted to hit one other point, which is the key priorities, the three, or the four, sorry, academic excellence, the VLA, the math and the data-driven decision-making. I love these goals. I know we've talked about it with our leaders.

[01:57:04] I know we and the board know about it. And I think that they're all really important because it does speak to the work that we're trying to do as a leadership team, as a governance team. And my question is, as we are putting this information forward out to families, I know it's probably maybe esoteric, a little high level, But I do think it would be helpful for families to really know these are our top four priorities and to know some of these things.

[01:57:34] So I don't know if you could speak to any efforts to connect that knowledge with families. I don't know if we've made like a cool video about it or like do we have some materials to kind of be like, hey, you know, PWCS, we're doing these things and we want you to be aware of it. Just speaking from like, not necessarily marketing, but like.

[01:57:52] - Yeah, a little bit to that is that, so Dr. McDade actually presented these four priorities to all the leaders of the organization this summer at what we call our Triple E Conference. From there, school leaders are asked to develop individual school continuous improvement plans.

[01:58:09] And as part of that effort, they are also asked to brief their continuous improvement plans to their families as part of their back to school nights, which should have occurred probably in the September timeframe. And that is an opportunity for families to hear firsthand, how are the schools, what is this, These are really the divisions, but then each school has to take that and translate it into what does it mean at their school.

[01:58:31] And each school has a little bit different in terms of what their specific priorities may be, again, tailored to the needs of their students and their school, based on these four priorities. And so, really, that was kind of the first step in terms of that. I also would say that principals, I do know, you know, certainly meet with their parent advisory groups and share what are the priorities within the schools and what are the things they're working on.

[01:58:53] at the division level we will be doing some high level communications out of tonight even about like what was presented tonight how are things what are the big areas that we're focused on but i think what's most important for a family is to understand what does that mean at the school level what is my school focused on and that's really for the principal to be able to communicate that vision and then have those conversations with families around these are the things that our school is most focused on this year thank you i think that's a really good point every school is a little bit different and they may have slightly different goals that you know feed into the

[01:59:25] overall goals and I think families do appreciate when they have a big picture and they also have like okay specifically how does my student fit in fit in with this and then to that point the discussion that we had about you know students with disabilities but also helping students who need they need a gentle push to really excel because you got you know students across the entire spectrum like getting those kids who are just on the verge of a past advance or really mastering and you know the curriculum can get them there so yeah thank you that's a good point the each school has its its role to play and our principals are those leaders of the building that can really connect with families I

[02:00:03] appreciate that thank you okay excellent thank you guys very much really appreciate it okay up next Dr. McDade or Board Matters revision of policy 603 automatic math acceleration first reading so we have Dr. Sullivan here You ready? - Yep.

[02:00:31] Well, hello. I'm here to share some recommendations to policy 603. And in fairness to anybody that might be reading it, it is a little confusing. We are recommending removing the specific numerical SOL thresholds and retain the statewide language around upper quartile standards for alignment in auto-enrollment with Virginia code.

[02:00:56] We learned in year two of implementation of this new policy that the Virginia Department of Education was changing those thresholds annually. And so in our first version of the policy that was just about a year ago, we utilized the cut scores provided by the Virginia Department of Education.

[02:01:15] And this past summer, they released new cut scores aligned to the new assessment that was completed. So an effort to make sure that we do not have to update the policy every single year when the Commonwealth changes the cut scores, we wanted to remove the specific cut score language and use the exact language in Virginia code on how students meet that criteria because we did discover year two that they were not constants.

[02:01:46] So automatic enrollment remains. We loved when this passed. We are big supporters of utilizing data to ensure students get accelerated opportunities. Parents can continue with additional pathways like parent recommendations and teacher recommendations for their students to access it.

[02:02:05] So nothing changes in the spirit of the policy at all, just removing language that gets outdated every single year. - Any questions, Mr. Wilk? - So point of clarification, thank you for that.

[02:02:20] So this isn't really lowering the threshold or making it easier for a student to be identified. Like basically there's no, I don't want to say merit or something, but watering this down so that there is no cutoff score or something like that.

[02:02:37] - Yeah, absolutely not. In fact, the cutoff scores this past summer were higher than last summer's. So the Virginia Department of Education in around April produces the new cut scores for divisions to utilize for that auto enrollment.

[02:02:54] And that's when we realized we had to change the policy 'cause we were tied to actually lower cut scores from the year prior. And so this year, the cut scores were actually even higher than last year's. But good question, 'cause easily confusing, yeah.

[02:03:11] - Ms. Wong. - One question I have, I'm looking at the policy right now, in Section B, the opt-out process, it says, or it states that parents may opt them out and that PWC shall provide notice to parents about four different points.

[02:03:28] I'm assuming every child who has automatically qualified receives a letter, not just those who are considering opting out, right? Like every-- - That's correct. - Everybody receives a letter of like, this is why this is so important. - That's correct, and we manage it at the division level to make sure that no students get left behind.

[02:03:48] So as soon as the cut scores come out, we go through the student results at every single school. We identify the students, we send letters to those students, and in fact, we track the opt-out process as well. And so we monitor it every step of the way.

[02:04:06] Another aspect of the code is we annually report all that information as well. So we monitor the number of students, the increased access to students, as well as any opt-outs or any of those bits of information reported to the state.

[02:04:23] Since I have the mic, I will mention that we enrolled hundreds of more middle school students last year in Algebra and our pass rate did not decline. Our students did prove that when you provide access, they will be successful.

[02:04:40] Our pass rate in our middle schools for Algebra stayed steady despite the addition of hundreds of students. And so it's certainly, we're aligned with the belief in this and wanna continue to support it. - That's great information to know.

[02:04:55] - Is that, are those cut scores a public record? - They are. - Like if they're reported to the state, then they would be, right? - They can go to the Virginia Department of Education Middle School Acceleration, there's actually a website, and we wait on that update, and again, they update it annually, so for example, the cut score for fifth grade last year changed to 475, which is different than it was the original year.

[02:05:22] So they post it annually online, we comply with it. So essentially, everything in policy is directly aligned with Virginia code. We just originally had the specific numbers in there, which then made us vulnerable.

[02:05:39] - Do we also publish the number of students that qualify for the advanced enrollment? - We haven't published it. We do report it to the Virginia Department of Education. - And that's also public knowledge, would that be data that people could look at I am quite certain that's true not my area of expertise but I'm quite certain that that's accessible because it is required to annually report okay it just be interesting to see how we're stacking up against other divisions mm-hmm I'm sure we're stacking up pretty well but I think I happen to know we are because I happen to look at that and so

[02:06:16] our increase in students did exceed several of our local areas some school divisions delayed a year. At the last minute, because it was a late move from code, they gave schools permission to delay a year.

[02:06:35] So for some divisions, this is their first year. We did not delay a year. We automatically implemented the code. - That is awesome. Thank you. Thank you for answering my questions. - Ms. Williams. - Thank you.

[02:06:51] The accelerated, this started three years ago, almost. - This is the second full year of implementation. The code passed in 2025. - I was gonna say, I have a middle schooler who got bumped to Accelerate Math coming out of elementary.

[02:07:07] Maybe it was the first year we offered a different course in math and middle school. - Yep, this is the second full year of students enrolling in it. - Okay, I know I got a letter. I think from the parent side, this is easy to digest. I didn't have the same frame of how many students, but I can say that the advantages are tremendous.

[02:07:28] And the way that, but going back to state of the schools, having students in Accelerate Math, having teachers not only have them literate, looking at a number, being able to verbally explain the math, all that I think goes extremely well hand in hand with bumping these students up.

[02:07:47] What do we do in anticipation? Because it's a lot of, I feel like maybe it's a lot more students than we would have normally looked at because it's not our focus, it's a score focus. So how do we prepare for maybe say a large cohort coming in or what do we do to support our staff on that side?

[02:08:03] - Yeah, we made some adjustments to the curriculum so that if a student was in a non-accelerated course one year and is moving to an accelerated, they missed some of the standards that would be necessary for success. So we adjusted our curriculum guides to accommodate for that.

[02:08:21] And then as I mentioned earlier, we established our summer programs for students that wanted some additional support in getting ready for that next level. But again, the data was tremendous. In fact, we just shared that data with our high school teams that met about enrollment into those advanced pathways to show when you open the door, students will be successful.

[02:08:43] It was part of the story we told with our high schools when they're opening the door to AP, IB, ACE, and DE. - Thank you for not only updating, but showing a picture of how that policy works in action. and what we're doing around it.

[02:08:59] - Okay, thank you. - Thank you. - We'll move on to board matters. We'll start with Mr. Wilk. - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the sake of time. I'm gonna pass this week. - Ms. Trudenik. - It's like music to my ears, Mr. Wilk.

[02:09:16] I'd just like to thank Dr. Sullivan and everyone else who redid those presentations for us again, as me and all of my colleagues have heard them before in our two by twos and gotten to ask questions prior to this so that we were ready for this meeting.

[02:09:32] so I really appreciate you doing that again for us. I also wanna say a huge congratulations, although it's not my district, it's Ms. Zargarpur's district. So Colgan boys volleyball team with Mr. Cerrone, I feel like is his last name if I'm saying it correctly, the gentleman and his son who came here in this boardroom 12 times to beg us to add boys volleyball to our sports list and we finally did.

[02:10:01] I got to watch him coach and his son play tonight, and they won the regional quarterfinals against Osborne Park. They are headed to play Battlefield on Friday, and if they win, they will go to States as a first-time sport with a bunch of freshmen on the team.

[02:10:20] So it was really cool to watch in person, and I highly encourage my other board members, if you have not seen a boys volleyball game, it's pretty hype, you know? And as a football mom saying that, that's a big deal. but they were very excited and there was a good crowd there. So congratulations to the Colgan boys and especially Greyer who lives in my district.

[02:10:41] So big, big, huge congratulations to you all on that. And that's all I have. - Ms. Wall. - All right, awesome. I have been to a boys volleyball game and it was awesome. They were very athletic and very fun.

[02:10:57] So it's been a busy few weeks. I'm gonna try to truncate my remarks. Congrats on a successful first quarter. On the 22nd, I went to the Turf Grass Research Center, ribbon cutting for the new Brunsville District High School Turf Grass Center, it was awesome.

[02:11:15] Great program, so excited for the school. I went to a trunk retreat at LV, the PTO put that event on, the community really supported it, it was awesome. Gravely Elementary hosted a spooky bingo night, I went to that, everybody was in costume, like everybody except me, I would say.

[02:11:32] And I went as a school board member, it was great. Anyway, it was, again, an amazing PTO at our schools. Thank you to all the volunteers. I was able to go to a football game at Battlefield. Right now they are ranked number two in the region, the highest PWCS ranked football team.

[02:11:49] So good luck to Battlefield. They are right behind Colonial Forge. And we actually have Woodbridge, Gainesville, Garfield, Patriot, and Colgan who are all in the top 10, in including Battlefield. So that's pretty impressive, so great job. I went to Forest Park High School for their Bruin in the Den Robotics.

[02:12:05] That was a really cool event. I was surprised by the number of private teams competing at the event. Something we should take a look at. I went to Patriot High School to catch the Viboda Marching Van Assessment for Battlefield. They got all superiors across all their levels. Congrats to the Battlefield Marching Bobcats.

[02:12:22] I stopped at Sudley Elementary for a trunk or treat. This one was unique in that they had invited the Sheriff's Office to come and sign students up for their missing child program. I don't know what it's called, but it was really a great service. And there were a lot of families that were doing that. I've been to a couple of literacy nights.

[02:12:38] I love the literacy nights. The schools are doing such a great job. Tyler, Sinclair are the two schools I went to this last week or so. They're doing such a great job with those book fairs, literacy nights. Families are coming out. They're really focused on reading instruction. It's great. I visited Pace West for their school fall festival.

[02:12:59] Great school. Doesn't get mentioned very much. Never shows up here in our honoree section, but they really are doing a lot of good work. And I went to a very, very, very loud pep rally at Reagan. And I went to the sixth grade pep rally and I needed earplugs.

[02:13:15] It was so loud. It was awesome. There was so much enthusiasm. Looking forward, I'm looking forward to that food fair tomorrow night at Hilton. I have been watching the niche rankings and the US News World Report rankings religiously while I've been on the board. And food is one of those areas I think we can improve according to the ratings that people give us and so I love these food fairs because it's an opportunity to try new recipes so please go if you can. I'm looking forward to Veterans Day a lot of a number of my schools hold very special events so and they traditionally do this so I'm looking forward to that especially for our military connected families. There's

[02:13:53] a School Health Advisory Board on Friday I'm excited for that because one of the recent topics we've had important conversations about is support for students with type 1 diabetes I am a type 1 diabetes mom it's a topic very near and dear to my heart and there was a new law enacted in Virginia that went into effect directing schools to allow nurses who are willing to assist students in putting an insulin pump back on or a glucose monitor back on to do so if the medical diabetes medical management plan so provides and I appreciate that divisions work toward complying with that Virginia law and hope to see a

[02:14:29] resolution to the concerns over training very soon. And on that topic of diabetes we'll have 16 seconds left I appreciate the remote glucose monitoring pilot and efforts full implementation it's going very well families are thrilled I just want to say thank you for all the work in that area I commend the division for its efforts and being leaders in these very important supports that we provide for families who have children with diabetes, which is such a very difficult disease to cope with.

[02:14:58] So thank you. That's all. Good night. Ms. William. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to start by saying the next school board meeting is unusual in November. Going along with no school November, we switched one of our meetings to the 17th because most of us attend the state conference.

[02:15:15] So don't log in on the third Wednesday because we won't be here. We'll be meeting again the next meeting on the 17th. I bring this up because just like the line of questioning I had this evening, sometimes I think it's good to just educate or provide some context or some upcoming programming about what is going on.

[02:15:31] I missed earlier in the meeting on our consent agenda, we added some new course offerings to our curriculum in case anybody was interested. It's Aerospace Engineering, Bridge Academy, Food Sciences and Dietetics, which is not a part of culinary, but could be, but it's separate that for those parents quantitative reasoning statistics and veterinary science I bring that up to say that we add new course offerings all the time it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be offered at the school that your child attends but they may be and it's good to learn ahead of time about the course offerings we have I often hear from parents going oh we don't have CT

[02:16:10] or we don't have that and I think sometimes it can be hard to keep up with or depending on how long you've been a parent you may just be looking at a different place to piggyback on that we we do have lots of opportunities to learn with our family engagement series one of the things that I like best is that they're recorded so if you can't attend you still have the opportunity to access the information which is important a lot of our families are quite busy and don't always have the time even though family engagement series are often via zoom so just a general while we have a lot of free time in November there's still plenty of school activities and plenty of things to do so when you're not at school or if you're a parent,

[02:16:49] now's a good time to go and review our updated website or how easy it is to find information or where we may have relocated something. The way we operate in schools changes and modernizes and even I forget that. So just a little general reminder. In addition to that, I just also would like to congratulate Porter Traditional for being ranked the number one traditional middle school in Northern Virginia.

[02:17:11] I think number two in the state. We do have those traditional school offerings and they are wonderful just as well as our non-traditional school offerings too. I'm gonna try to keep it short. I went to the first trucker trunk at Woodbridge, our brand new Woodbridge Elementary.

[02:17:30] I was excited not only because it was the first trunk or treat there, but the amount of students who are now former, some of the former Porter teachers who were taught at Potomac View, who are now teaching at Woodbridge Elementary, having some of those middle school students come back because their siblings are at elementary and just it was a mini reunion.

[02:17:50] So it was bigger than a trick or trunk. I make trunk or treat, sorry, thank you. I know I always get it mixed up. But it was exciting because to hear the staff also talk about future collaborations with Woodbridge Elementary and Fred Lynn and Ripon and Woodbridge, it just continues, those type of things continue to grow our school community.

[02:18:09] And it's amazing for a family to have an older student come back and help with a younger student, for the teachers to see and learn about the progress of their former students. It just creates an entirely different dynamic, and I think that with our specialty programs and students' opportunities to travel to different schools once they get out of elementary, it's a nice time to refresh and continue to hone in on those bonds of community, 'cause it's important.

[02:18:36] Outside of that, I just wanna say, again, thank you and congratulations to our staff for this State of the Schools report. It is a tremendous amount of work that goes into having our students meet our goals that we set forth in the strategic plan. And it's not just the board, it's down to every single person, our family members, our teachers.

[02:18:58] We don't spend often the time to just stop and say thank you because we're constantly inundated with new requirements, whether it be the state or the feds. And it seems like since COVID it's every year, every almost semester or quarter. And we often don't take the time to, thank you, Dr. Sullivan, to update our parents on where these are coming from.

[02:19:20] That makes a difference. A lot of times our students or our staff just assume it's just a school-based regulation. And it's often not, it's a state requirement. So outside of that, it is November, which is a time of giving thanks and gratitude. Please do remember that we do have a lot of food insecurity county-wide, and everyone isn't always celebrating the same holidays, but now's a good time to be in a given spirit, 'cause there's a lot of holiday activities that occur.

[02:19:44] So if you have the opportunity, donate to one of our food pantries and just be mindful that every family is different, but we are all one Prince William, one PWCS. So thank you. - Mr. Blake. - Thank you, Chair.

[02:20:01] Tonight we heard our state of schools, and I think it's important that we take time to recognize the progress happening across Prince William County Schools. And the data matters. It tells us where we're going, where gaps remain, and where we need to continue focusing our attention.

[02:20:20] You know, we had a 96% graduation rate, a 3% dropout rate. Like, this is, you know, 14.2% chronic absenteeism. Like, that's really significant.

[02:20:38] But for me, the state of schools isn't only what we see in a presentation. It's also what we see when I'm out at our schools and in the community. And over the last couple of weeks, I attended some fall celebrations, trunk retreats at Miniville, Neabsco, and Enterprise Elementary.

[02:20:57] And one thing I really appreciated when I was out there seeing our schools, they were incorporating the Title I math night into the trunk retreats. And I think that was really good. The kids came out for costumes and candy, but the families were learning all together two at the same time right i just think that was really smart and it was good family engagement and sometimes the best way to connect with families you know what's happening academically is simply to meet them where they already are and we're doing a good job with that i also had the

[02:21:30] opportunity to sit down with the we blow pack 108 at penn elementary um but this time i was the one being interviewed and we talked about elections what school board member actually does how decisions get made, and what it means to serve your community.

[02:21:48] And coming just days before yesterday's election, it was a pretty timely conversation. You know, civic engagement doesn't start, it doesn't just begin at 18. We can teach our kids now that citizenship means asking questions, learning about your community, listening to people you may disagree with, serving others, and eventually making your voice heard at a ballot box.

[02:22:13] Regardless of how any of us voted yesterday after an election, we still have to live, work, and serve together, and that matters. And speaking of community, Friday night is a big one in Dell City. So Garfield, you heard Ms. Wall say that with how many teams we have in the top 10.

[02:22:31] So Garfield is number five. We take on Woodbridge for the Cardinal District Championship on Friday. They're number four. And so this is his third straight year. We're 0-2 right now. but i i have faith in my red wolves i need everyone i need everyone to really be in those stands on friday um you know one pack and tomorrow i also would like to mention that pwcs is hosting the 35th annual food show at hilton high school um from five to seven

[02:23:05] giving our community another opportunity to engage directly with the work of the school division and provide feedback. And I just want to go back to when I think about everything we heard tonight in the state of the schools, there's a common thread through all of this, is student success doesn't happen in isolation, it's intentional, it takes great educators, it takes strong school leadership, it takes students willing to learn, and it takes families and communities that are engaged and willing to show up.

[02:23:38] So tonight we celebrate our progress and we should continue asking the hard questions about where we need to improve and keep doing the work to make sure every student has the opportunity to thrive. Thank you to everyone who continues to show up for our students and for our schools.

[02:23:58] This work isn't easy, but you guys do it very well with fidelity and I'll see everybody Friday night at Garfield, thank you. - Okay, thank you. Great presentation tonight on the State of Schools.

[02:24:13] Very proud of the work we're doing. I, too, was at the Brentsville District High School's new turf grass facility research center. It was fantastic, a tremendous evening. Very excited for the work we're doing over there with our CTE programs continuing to expand and provide high quality learning opportunities.

[02:24:36] On the state of the school's presentation, I just continue to be very proud of the fact that we have more kids taking more advanced courses, getting more advanced credits, and scoring higher on those advanced exams. And I think that's a good snapshot of the kind of work that we're doing across all sort of demographic areas and all areas of specialization and areas that we're working on with students.

[02:25:01] So continue to do the great work, very excited. And that's all I have to say. I hope everyone has a good November and a great beginning of the second quarter, thank you.

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