Coraggio Consulting Prince William County School Board Meeting, Wednesday, June 3, 2026 Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2026 Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia Length: 3h 58m (video) Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ew-tUaWJk Official School Board page (PWCS): https://www.pwcs.edu/about/school_board/ Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting. Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-27. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:00] okay good evening everyone i would like to call the meeting the prince william county school board meeting to order approval of the agenda vice chair jesse i move that the prince william county school board approve the meeting agenda is recommended do you have a second mr chairman miss zargapur any discussion please vote all in favor raise your hands uh any opposed hands down no opposition vote a six yes two not president vote williams traginic motion passed correction vote is seven yes one that president vote williams motion passed [00:00:35] motion enter closed session uh vice chair jesse i moved that's a student to section two point two last three seven one one and two point two that's three seven one two of the code of virginia the princeford county school board enter closed session for the following reasons one specific public officer appointed or appointees or employees of any public body pursuant to section [00:01:12] 2.2 that's 3 7 1 1 a 1 of the code of virginia and 2 to discuss with division council staff staff actual probable litigation and specific legal matters involving staff students and other civil litigation involving the school division under section 2.2 3 7 1 1 a and 7 and 8 of the code of virginia and three to discuss and receive briefings by staff members related to the security [00:01:48] of school facility the safety of persons using assisted facilities and actions taken to respond to such matters where all discussion in a were discussing discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the security assist facility pursuant to section 2.2 that's 3711 a 19 of the code of virginia you have a second mr jaron miss williams second any discussion all in favor raise your hands [00:02:23] okay vote is eight yes unanimous motion passed uh at this time the prince william county school [00:02:28] board will be entering closed session will return to approximately one prince william county school [00:03:38] board is now returning open session from closed session a motion is in order for 7.01 close closed session certification vice chair jesse i move that pursuant to section 2.2 the s3712 of the code of virginia closed session of prince william county school board meeting of june 3rd 2026 be certified by adopting the following resolution now therefore be resolved that the prince william county school board hereby certify that to the best of each member of knowledge one only public business matter matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were [00:04:12] discussed in closed session meetings to which this certification resolution applies and two only schools only such public business matter as were identified in the motion convening the closed session meeting were heard and discussed or considered by the school board do i have a second mr jesse or mr sorry sorry i second any discussion um please vote oh no we're gonna we're gonna do [00:04:39] on the screen vote is eight yes unanimous motion passed moving on to closed session action items motion in order for eight point zero one vice chair jesse i move that that the prince reading county school board approve their appointments and releases that's a specific employees as presented in closed session do you have a second mr chairman i second any discussion please vote [00:05:09] vote is eight yes unanimous motion passed uh moving on the closed session action item for eight point zero two um vice chair jesse i move that the prince reading county school board approve and annual retainer agreements for the school year 2026 to 27 for a legislative lobbying legal services provided by uh james council esquire have a second mr chairman miss williams second [00:05:48] okay on discussion i think uh mr council continues to do a great job and represent the school division extremely well in richmond very proud to have him continue on for us representing our interests please vote vote is eight yes unanimous motion passed at this time we have the pledge of allegiance um we will have karina grover our recent graduate from the charles [00:06:21] c colgan high school lead us in the pledge to the republic which stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you um up next is our thriving futures focus and folks we have a big one tonight it is um our last school board meeting of the academic school year and so we have a lot to get through so i want to first thank everyone for their patience [00:07:00] you'll be given a great treat because you're going to see some terrific terrific students and faculty from around our school division and people so this will be a great night thriving futures focus as you all know 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 at this as this is the last one for the school year we have a lot to celebrate so i appreciate your patience i said that already first the school board would like to recognize the retirement of keith wolf associate superintendent for high schools who is retiring at the end of the [00:07:39] month for more than 30 years in education keith has exemplified a calm steady and student-centered approach to every role he has held from his early days as a high school teacher to serving as an assistant principal principal and ultimately in his leadership across our division since joining prince william county schools our division has benefited from keats clear direction strong collaboration and continued focus on supporting students staff and school communities mr wolf on behalf of the prince william county school board thank you for your outstanding [00:08:16] service to our schools we extend our sincere appreciation and wish you all the very best in the years ahead and know you will always be a friend to this board in this division thank you chairman latif so uh chairman latif vice chair jesse school board members dr mcdade and esteemed colleagues i am truly honored and humbled by this recognition this evening as i conclude my career with prince william county public schools i would also like to extend a [00:08:52] special thank you to dr mcdade and to dr flannard your guidance and commitment have made a lasting impact not only on myself but on the lives of so many and i am deeply deeply grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside you first and foremost i want to thank my family to my wife debbie who is here here this evening thank you for your unwavering love support patience and and encouragement throughout this journey. [00:09:20] To my son, Zachary, and his wife, Christina, my daughter, Allison, and her husband, Chris, and my son, Christopher, and his new wife, Amber, thank you for always believing in me and supporting the many hours and commitments that come with this profession. Also want to thank my parents, Herb and Jean, my in-laws, Jim and Kathy, and my brothers, Chuck, George, Kevin, Steve, Sean, and Kurt. [00:09:44] Seven boys who have proven to me time and time again that the absolute honor of what it is to be a wolf. And to my wonderful grandchildren, thank you for bringing me so much joy and perspective to my life. [00:10:00] You have been my greatest blessing. You all have been my greatest blessing. As I reflect on my years of service, I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together. One achievement that stands out is the tremendous progress we made towards our previous strategic plan goal of achieving 95% on-time graduation. [00:10:19] although we came just shy at 94.8. The success realized was not the work of one individual, but rather the result of the collective efforts of an exceptional team and organization. I would like to recognize our outstanding high school principals whose leadership commitment and focus on student success made help make the progress possible. [00:10:41] I also want to acknowledge the incredible work of our high school office team with Mr. Hood, my counterpart, Dr. Millard, our director, Ms. Chalosky, Ms. Lopez, whose dedication and expertise were instrumental every step of the way. Additionally, many of the talented and committed individuals from executive cabinet and the departments they represent, as well as this school board, played a critical role in supporting our schools, our leaders, our teachers, and more importantly, our students. [00:11:14] I am grateful personally to each of you. Education is a profession built on relationships, service, and the belief that every student deserves opportunities to succeed. It has been my privilege to work alongside so many dedicated professionals who share that mission. [00:11:33] Thank you for this recognition and for the friendships and for the opportunity to serve our students, families, and community. I will always cherish the memories and take great pride in what we have accomplished together. Thank you. [00:12:04] - Thank you, Mr. Wolfe, and congratulations once again on an outstanding career and a job well done. I would add not only to your graduation rate, but you helped us implement the strategic goals of increased scholarship dollars to record amounts the county's never seen before and to having more students take advanced courses at rates we've never seen before. [00:12:23] And so we truly appreciate all the work you've done to help us implement our goals and create a tremendous team that has worked sort of both above and below you in every which way, and we're so grateful for all the work you've done. Thank you very much. Mr. Blake of our Neabsco District, tell us about our next recognition thank you mr chairman tonight we proudly recognize prince william county public schools for once again being named one of the best communities for music education by the national association of music merchants foundation this national recognition [00:12:57] reflects our division's strong commitment to providing high quality music education opportunities for every student and celebrates the dedication of our music educators administrators and students who consistently demonstrate excellence in the arts across our schools at this time i welcome special guest jenna jenna day owner of day violins and members of the board of directors for the national association of music merchants good evening everyone as a business owner parent in [00:13:33] our local schools and proud member of the nam board of directors it is my honor to recognize this community as one of NAMM's best communities for music education. This national designation celebrates school districts and communities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to ensuring that music education is accessible to all students. It reflects the dedication of educators, administrators, school board members, parents, community organizations, and local advocates who understand the vital role music plays in a child's education and development. It is [00:14:08] such a pleasure to work with dr anna marie bellino and michelle milligan and their music educators on initiatives that ensures prince william county students have continued access to quality music programs and resources music creates opportunities builds confidence strengthens communities and changes lives this recognition is a testament of your collective dedication and for this i commend you on behalf of the nam foundation and the nam board of directors congratulations on this well-deserved national recognition and thank you for your continued investment [00:14:41] in music education for every student thank you miss day for joining us this evening and congratulations again to our talented music department sticking to the theme of music we now turn to our school level recognitions beginning with the virginia music education association blue ribbon award the school board is proud to recognize 10 schools that have earned the blue ribbon award for excellence in music at this time i'll turn proceedings over to miss erica trudenik of the brentsville district mr denick thank you dr latif the blue ribbon award is the highest recognition given to school music programs in Virginia and recognizes [00:15:20] excellence in band, orchestra, and choral performance. Each year secondary band orchestra and choral ensembles participate in the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association District Concert Assessment and the Virginia Choral Directors Association Stage Assessment. During these assessments student ensembles perform for a panel of oh man adjudicators who assess students on their performance and provide feedback based on specific categories such as tone, intonation, rhythm, technique, diction, balance, blend, and artistry, musicianship. [00:15:54] I'm sorry, Kapoor, you should have read all of those. To qualify for this award, all disciplines in a school must receive a rating of superior at their respective state music performance assessments. The Brentsville District is proud to recognize Gainesville Middle School and Patriot High School for earning blue ribbon distinction. [00:16:11] Here representing Gainesville Middle School is Principal Ed Schultz AND ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL MARK MCLEWY AS WELL AS CHOIR TEACHERS ALTON PETERS AND ALEX BURKEY. REPRESENTING PATRIOT HIGH SCHOOL IS PRINCIPAL DAVID VAN GELDER. CONGRATS TO YOU ALL. [00:16:35] I NOW INVITE MS. JENNIFER WALL OF THE GAINSVILLE DISTRICT TO RECOGNIZE OUR NEXT BLUE RIBBON AWARDEE. THANK YOU MS. TRENNICK. THE GAINSVILLE DISTRICT IS PROUD TO RECOGNIZE BULL RUN MIDDLE SCHOOL AND BATTLEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL FOR EARNING BLUE RIBBON DISTINCTION. [00:16:50] Representing Bull Run Middle School includes Assistant Principal Ellen Slobodnik and choir teacher Alicia Proat. Representing Battlefield High School, we have Assistant Principal Megan Hostetler, joined by orchestra teacher Edward Scully. Congratulations, Gainesville District Blue Ribbon Honorees. [00:17:07] I now invite Ms. Zargarpur of the Coles District to recognize our next Blue Ribbon Honorees. - Thank you, Ms. Wall. The Coles District is thrilled to recognize Benton Middle School, C.D. Hilton High School, Charles J. Colgan Senior High School, and Osborne Park High School for earning blue ribbon distinction. [00:17:31] Representing Benton Middle School includes assistant principal Michael Spirinello, band teacher Sarah Brick, orchestra teacher Miranda Nash, choir teacher Scott Oden, and music teacher Leanne Stackower. Representing Hilton High School is principal Cassandra Crawford. [00:17:47] Representing Colgan High School is assistant principal Dr. David Parrish. And here tonight representing Osborne Park High School includes principal Dr. Lisa Marie Kane, orchestra teacher Steven Kelsey and band teachers, Ashley Radabaugh and Ben Fuller. Congratulations to you all. [00:18:10] I now invite Mr. Wilk of the Potomac District to recognize his district's blue ribbon schools. - Thank you, Ms. Zargarpur. The Potomac District would like to recognize the Potomac Shores Middle School for earning the blue ribbon distinction. Representing the Potomac Shores Middle is Principal Kanika Dorsey and band teacher Miles Matalavaj. [00:18:29] And to recognize, oh, first, yes. And to recognize our final Blue Ribbon School, I turn to the proceedings over to Mr. Jesse of the Occoquan District. [00:18:44] - Thank you, Mr. Wilkes. The Occoquan District is thrilled to recognize Woodbridge High School for earning a Blue Ribbon distinction. Here tonight representing Woodbridge High School is Principal Dr. Heather Abney, Assistant Principal Michelle Sullivan, joined by the choir teacher Caitlin Davis and music teacher Jessica Leggett and orchestra teacher Tara Woods. [00:19:13] I want to just say thank you guys, my wife and big fan. And I think at the last presentation last week, you had 150-some students on stage, not counting the choir that came up. [00:19:29] And you have 200 and some people signed up for next year. I think we might need the 14th middle school high school. - Thank you. But congratulations and thank you for all that you do. Appreciate it. [00:19:50] - I now welcome Dr. Anna Marie Bolino, Supervisor of the Arts for Prince William County Schools to say a few words about these outstanding Blue Ribbon honorees. - Outstanding. Good evening, Dr. Lateef, Mr. Jesse, members of the board and Dr. McDade. As always, I'm delighted to be here to celebrate the achievement of our arts programs and our students and teachers. [00:20:11] Congratulations to our 10 Blue Ribbon Schools, their teachers, students, administrators, and communities. As you can see and hear, earning this award is no small feat because every music discipline at the school has to receive that superior rating and assessment. And the panel of adjudicators, one of the reasons that this assessment is so valuable and important in our growth is because it really offers an authentic experience, a measure of student learning. [00:20:39] It allows students and directors to not only celebrate their growth, but also engage in meaningful reflection that really supports continuous improvement. And we all are here to make sure that we are continuously improving in our practice. I'm also really proud to serve our students and our teachers. [00:20:57] They are really a special group of people, and I appreciate all of the things you do every day for our students. And I think it's fitting that we're here celebrating the educators the same evening that we're celebrating our receipt of the Best Communities Award, right? because this recognition, this achievement, it's not possible without our educators who strive for excellence every day, along with the commitment of excellence of our board, our senior leadership, our school leadership, and our community. [00:21:24] And again, I'm proud to serve, but I also am proud to serve with my colleague, Michelle Milligan, who does so much for our programs, and I know these teachers adore her. So thanks, shout out to Michelle, and to spend it with my friend, Jenna, who was able to be here with us today is also pretty special. [00:21:40] Thank you as always for celebrating the achievements of our students, our teachers and our programs. - Thank you, Dr. Bellino. I do have to weigh in here. One with an SAT word first, apocryphal. [00:21:57] If anyone knows what apocryphal is, anyone on the board? It is a widely repeated but unverified story. And this is a great time for a widely repeated unverified story. Winston Churchill was asked during World War II, and this is an apocryphal, so it's not verified and considered fake, of giving a choice to cut the arts to spend on the war effort during World War II. [00:22:23] And as you know, Britain was under severe bombing, and the story goes that they were so badly in need of money that they would have to cut the arts. And when asked if he should cut the arts, he said, well, what would we be fighting for if it isn't for that? [00:22:39] And so it is a unverified story, but I think it's a great place to put that story in here. again apocryphal thank you very much we're going to pause at this time to take a few pictures beginning with Mr. Wolf uh we'll take direction from Ms. Galata we'll do this set of pictures and [00:22:56] then we'll come back and do some more students thank you yeah but now they're going to say they're [00:28:20] going to talk about all right thank you very much and we are now moving on to I welcome Ms. Trdenik [00:28:57] of the Brentsville district to introduce our next honorees for the evening Ms. Trdenik thank you the Brentsville district is proud to recognize Unity Reed High School for earning the air and space forces association virginia state drill team competition title for the fifth consecutive year this accomplishment reflects this accomplishment reflects discipline teamwork and a strong commitment to excellence here tonight representing unity reed is principal millie polanco lieutenant [00:29:30] colonel thomas barrett chief master sergeant john garcia and master sergeant tremaine williams miss Ms. Polanco, we welcome you to introduce the cadets and share a few words. Thank you to Dr. McDade, our school board and our Unity Reed School community. [00:29:48] This team is entirely student led and they continue to strive for excellence every day. And the amount of time and dedication and perseverance and teamwork that they show is truly remarkable and we couldn't be more proud of them. So thank you for this recognition and I'll have them introduce themselves. [00:30:06] Good evening, I'm Cadet Master Sergeant Amaya. Good evening, I'm Cadet Master Sergeant Zepeda. [00:30:22] Good evening, I'm Master Sergeant Martinez. Good evening, I am Cadet Airman First Class Ramirez. [00:30:39] Good evening, I'm Cadet Senior Airman Marquez. Good evening, I am Cadet Master Sergeant Vasquez. [00:31:04] Good evening, I'm Cadet Major Cuellar. Good evening, I'm Cadet Airman First Class Nunez. [00:31:36] Thank you, Ms. Polanco. At this time, I ask that Mrs. Zargarpur introduce our next honorees. Thank you, Mr. Jenick. I would like to congratulate the Osborne Park High School Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps Program for being named Area 4 Champions. This honor showcases the dedication, leadership, and teamwork of these students and their instructors. Here tonight representing Osborne Park's NJROTC program is Principal Dr. Lisa Marie Kane, joined by program instructor lieutenant commander james ogawa i invite lieutenant commander ogawa to introduce [00:32:11] the cadets and share a few words about this accomplishment all right good evening i'm a commander ogawa and for our team i just brought the team captains i'll have them introduce themselves but the area four championship for us we've been to the area championships about 10 times now and we've made it to nationals five times nine compulsory events and i guess of the nine teams are all about 12 to 16 people big and you have to do that from a roster about [00:32:46] 40 people all right and i only took 26 to my uh to my area championships and my nationals so some of these guys were on every single team um from drill you know armed and unarmed drill exhibition drill basic drill color guard inspection and then three athletic events push-ups, curl-ups, and a crazy 16 by 100 yard relay. And I'll have them introduce themselves. [00:33:17] Hi, I'm Cadet Lieutenant Commander Shively at Area 4 and Nationals. I led the uniform personnel inspection team. My name is Cadet Lieutenant Averna and I help lead the athletics team to nationals and area hello my name is cadet chief petty officer gregory and i led the unarmed [00:33:56] exhibition drill team to nationals hello my name is cadet chief petty officer hernandez vialta and i led armed exhibition at nationals and area four good evening my name is cadet senior chief petty officer Bo Gray Sampson and I led the color guard good evening my name is [00:34:34] Gabriel cadet chief petty officer Hamilton and at nationals I helped lead the athletics team good evening my name is sorry I'm the chief petty officer all of errors and I helped lead the athletics team at nationals good evening I'm cadet Klein I was the cadet lieutenant commander so I was the commanding officer in the executive officer and I also led the arm standard [00:35:10] team at nationals thank you lieutenant commander next i'm pleased to honor winners from the act so competition which stands for the afro academic cultural technological and scientific olympics it is a nationally recognized achievement program that honors and encourages high academic artistic and scientific achievement among african-american high school students through [00:35:46] competition in a variety of disciplines including the arts humanities business and stem act so i hope i'm saying that right is it act so or is it act so act so i said it great thank you act so provides students with opportunities to showcase their talents strengthen their skills and pursue excellence at the local regional and national levels the coles district is proud to recognize corbin person from colgan high school for being a gold medalist in the musical instrumental contemporary category joining corbin this evening is assistant principal dr david parrish and music [00:36:22] teacher dr andrew miller the coles district is also proud to recognize michelle marfo and gabriel hamilton from osborne park high school michelle is a gold medalist in the mathematics category and gabriel is a gold medalist in the original essay category joining them this evening is principal dr lisa marie kane and all three students will represent the prince william area and the upcoming national competition in chicago in july i would like to invite the supervisor of title one and title four instructional programs who provided one of the keynote addresses at the event victor [00:36:55] powell to say a few words about this competition good evening chairman latif board members and superintendent dr mcdade my name is victor powell supervisor of title one and title four programs here it is my honor to be here tonight to recognize the winners from the fifth annual local ACSO competition. I want to recognize every student, every family, every mentor, an educator, and community partner gathered that supported this competition. Specifically, Ms. Carolyn Custard, our PWCS liaison for ACSO committee member, Dr. Carl Brower, [00:37:34] the president of Prince William Area NAACP, and Mr. Jim Kelly, ACSO committee member as well. this evening is also a reminder that achievement does not happen alone behind every student is a network of support our parents our families our teachers coaches and mentors and our advocates who have invested their time their energy and their encouragement and their love to each of you thank you for your support helps make moments like this possible for our student winners [00:38:11] scholarships and awards are important and just as important is what the experience represents your potential your voice and your future the qualities these students have displayed such as discipline vision resilience and determination will continue to open doors to them long after this recognition and celebration ends so this evening let us celebrate our gold medalists who will represent our Prince William County at the national competition in Chicago. [00:38:45] Let us applaud not only the outcomes but also the effort, the growth, and the promise that each student brings into this room. We are proud of you, we believe in you, and we cannot wait to see what you do next. Thank you and congratulations and enjoy this wonderful celebration of achievement and excellence congratulations um and good luck in chicago thank you miss argapur we're going to pause at this time take another set of pictures please follow directions of ms gulata [00:44:41] okay okay great thank you for that robotics continues so up next is robotics continues to inspire students throughout pwcs and with growing participation across all grade levels through clubs competitions hands-on stem learning opportunities students develop skills in coding engineering collaboration and creative problem solving while applying their learning in meaningful ways pwcs is dedicated to equipping students with the knowledge and experiences needed for the future by encouraging innovation curiosity and teamwork in fact prince william county schools has the largest robotics program in virginia and one of the largest programs in the nation [00:45:18] our elevate 2030 strategic plan will continue our division's unwavering commitment to this outstanding program and i am proud to see so many students excelling in robotics across our division tonight we honor outstanding elementary middle and high school robotics teams who have distinguished themselves through exceptional performance and achievement in competitions throughout the 2026 season miss erica trudenik will lead us off in the celebrations mr denick thank you dr latif the brentsville district is proud to recognize three schools that excelled in robotics this year [00:45:52] the Golden Gears from Glen Kirk Elementary School won the judges award in the first Lego League state competition. Representing Glen Kirk this evening is principal Matthew Meyer and robotics coach Jen Carone. Ms. Carone, will you please introduce your team? Yes, hi, my name is Jen Carone and I'm here with our principal, Mr. Matt Meyer. I have Usher Arshad, Maeve Clinton, Yerry Lee, [00:46:24] Leha Lee, Rachel D'Souza, Sokath Tottenpudi, Nick Thanthe, Savannah Oyster, and I believe that's it. Thank you. Extreme Overdrive from Marcellar Middle School earned the CREATE Award, recognizing a creative and ambitious engineering design supported by strong teamwork and clear documentation. [00:46:57] Here tonight for Marcellar are principal Lisa Warner and robotics coach Nicole Rhodes. Ms. Rhodes, could you please introduce your team? Good evening. I'm here with Kevin Karolos, Aidan Fry, Nargis, oh my gosh, Kara Bullitt, and Shuyen Chen. [00:47:28] Three teams from Unity Reed High School are Nova Sea Perch Regional Champions. The Sea Lions, Stinging Stingrays, and Final Dive. Representing Unity Reed are Principal Millie Polanco and Robotics Coach Jerome Haruska. [00:47:45] Mr. Haruska, will you please introduce your team members? Good evening. My name is Jerome Horuska. I'm the Sea Perch Under Robotics Coach. Ms. Polanco, our principal, is here with us, and also representatives from our two teams that represented Prince William County Schools at the International Sea Perch Competition last weekend. [00:48:02] We have Annie Mai from the Stinging Stingrays, and we have Dime Murad and Adan Murad. Brothers, these are representatives of the two teams that competed at the Sea Perch International Challenge. Congratulations to you all. I now invite Ms. Jennifer Wall to recognize our next school. [00:48:23] Thank you, Mrs. Trudenik. The Gainesville District is proud to recognize Battlefield High School for its achievements at the first Tech Challenge. Team Aspire earned both the Control Award for Excellence in Programming and Robot Performance and the Sustain Award, recognizing strong, long-term planning and program sustainability. [00:48:46] Also, coach and mentor, Brian Shepherd, received the Compass Award, recognizing an adult mentor who provides outstanding guidance and support as nominated by student team members. Here tonight from Battlefield, our assistant principal, Megan Hostetler and Brian Shepard. [00:49:03] Coach Brian Shepard. Mr. Shepard, congratulations on your prestigious award. Will you please recognize your team members? - Absolutely, thank you for having us this evening. I'm joined with assistant principal, Megan Hostetler, our coach, John Rotter. [00:49:19] We have Alex Shepard, Alex Tellis, Esther Cho, Peyton DeMichelle, and Elvis Tovan. And we are Bobcats Aspire, which represents advancing student potential in engineering and robotics. [00:49:35] - Wonderful, thank you so much. Well done, Battlefield. Congratulations again. Mrs. Agraper, you're next to celebrate the accomplishments of the Coles District. [00:49:50] - Thank you, Mrs. Wall. The Coles District is proud to recognize two schools for their accomplishments this year at the VEX Robotics Competition. Team Sharks from Colgan High School earned the Think Award, recognizing excellence in coding and programming design. [00:50:06] Team Great White Sharks also earned the Energy Award, recognizing their exceptional enthusiasm, excitement, and passion throughout the competition. Representing Colgan High School is Dr. David Parrish, Assistant Principal and Coach Lauren Meyer. Ms. Meyer, would you please introduce your teams? [00:50:23] - Good evening, thank you so much for having us, and thank you so much for your support of our robotics program. Today I have with me Troy Maurer, Max Ding, Ethan Meyer, Matthew Duffett, Rocky Hopkins, Sarah Swingle, Sarah Harrison, and Troy Hopkins. [00:50:54] - Thank you, Ms. Meyer. The Metal Jackets from Osborne Park High School won several awards across two competitions. The Metal Jackets Tonka team took home the Sportsmanship Award at the Vex State Competition for their exceptional respect, helpfulness, and a positive attitude both on and off the competition field. [00:51:13] At First District Competition, the Metal Jackets won the Team Sustainability Award for their attention to longevity and environmental consciousness. Finally, I'd like to congratulate Issa Rojas for earning the Leadership Award at the First District Competition, which earned her the right to compete for the same award at the Global First Competition. [00:51:35] Congratulations to all Osborne Park Metal Jackets, Representing Osborne Park High School tonight is Principal Dr. Lisa Marie Kane and Coach Erie Draganyuk. Ms. Draganyuk, could you please introduce your teams? [00:51:50] - Yes, hello, I'm Erie Draganyuk, the coach for the VEX Team, Metal Jackets Tonka, and we have Omi Das, Kaitlyn Del Castillo, Zachary Lawson, and our three graduating seniors, Albert Bogdasarian, Vidant Bakhtin, and Nick Yao. [00:52:06] Thank you. Okay, congratulations to our many award-winning robotics teams, but we are not done yet. We are going to pause, take a few more pictures before we bring in our next robotics teams. So get used to the winning, folks. [00:56:56] Okay, thank you very much. [01:00:01] We overlooked. We're going to introduce the Osborne Park Metal Jackets team. Please introduce yourselves. Hello, I'm Jingy Mel. I'm Isabel Rojas. I'm Gabrielle Agra. [01:00:16] I'm Michael Caludalas. I'm Rachel Zachariah. I'm Rebecca Rodriguez. I'm Donovan Porzer. - I'm Philip Baha. - I'm Abarjarif. [01:00:31] - I'm Tyler Presgrave. - I'm Brandon Berlicki. - I'm Evan McGrail. - I'm Ramai Labarapu. - I'm Brandon Molinato. - All right, well, I love all the chinging in the medals. That's fantastic. [01:00:48] Congratulations to our medal jackets, fantastic. All right, now I'm welcoming Ms. Williams of the Woodbridge District to recognize the excellence in robotics in her district. - Thank you, Chairman Lateef. And as a robotics mom and coach this year myself, it is exciting to introduce our teams. [01:01:05] I'm just going to take one second and congratulate Aaron Lowry and Denise Carroll for running our robotics program to make all of this possible. And I am excited to introduce Banana in Japanese from Rippon Middle School, who took home the judges award in honor given to a team that event judges feels deserving of special recognition. [01:01:26] Rippon Middle School is represented tonight by Principal Kristen Donahue and Coach Alec Yutzler. Mr. Yutzler, would you please introduce your team? Yeah, so I'm joined here by banana and Japanese, our students Toji Taylor, Spencer Savage, Yao Gyasi, Mohammed Sheriff, and then, of course, our principal, Ms. Donahue. [01:01:45] And then, just thank you guys. I'm happy to be here. Thank you. And next up, from Porter Traditional School, the ROC team took home the BUILD Award for constructing a highly durable, robust, and beautifully crafted robot. [01:02:08] Representing Porter Traditional School is Principal Caitlin Eglemeyer, excuse me, Eglemeyer Four, and Coach Natalie Wagner. - Ms. Wagner, would you please introduce your team? - Yes. - We are the Rooks. This is Azana Ahmed, Jonathan Easter, Samuel Easter, Yash Patel, Jonathan Easter, and Astana Setoff, and Mrs. Four. [01:02:41] - Congratulations so much to both teams. It was fun to compete with the middle school teams this year. And I'd now like to turn it over to Mr. Wilk to recognize our schools from the Potomac District. Thank you, Ms. Williams. It is my pleasure to recognize two schools from the Potomac District that excelled at the VEX Championships this year. [01:02:58] From Grand Park Middle School, we proudly recognize the Golden Griffin Dogs, who demonstrated not only technical skill, but also extraordinary character and professionalism. Their team also earned the Sportsmanship Award at both the Virginia State Championship and the VEX Robotics World Championship, an incredible accomplishment that reflects how they represented their school and our division. [01:03:24] Representing Grand Park Middle School is robotics coach Deborah Aita. Miss Aita, please introduce your team. Thank you. Our, my assistant coach, for starters, more important than the kids, right? This is Miss Sharon Ortiz. And I have Scott Silva, Anna Emanizer, Avon Amjid and Kama De La Paz and his brother, who served as a mentor, William De La Paz. [01:04:02] - Thank you, Graham Park. We also proudly recognize Forest Park High School's Sixth Sense Team for taking home the Judge's Award and the Team Hypnotic for taking home the Innovative Award. Innovative Award, excuse me. Both teams should be immensely proud of their accomplishments at this year's competition. [01:04:22] Representing Forest Park High School is Coach Dean Ahmad. Mr. Ahmad, please introduce your teams. - Thank you. So Forest Park, we have Team X, Sixth Sense, joining by Andy Harris. [01:04:38] And unfortunately, their other team member, Anna Ramirez Marmolejo, was unable to make it today, but greatly appreciates the opportunity to be here. And then we are joined by Team H, Hypnotic, our freshman team, consisting of Anthony Chavez, and Neil Ahmad. [01:04:56] - Thank you so much. Okay, Mr. Jesse, keep this momentum rolling, keep going. - Thank you, Mr. Wilkes. The Occupion District is proud to recognize two schools for their accomplishments this year in drones and robotic competition. [01:05:19] Lake Ridge Middle School drone team demonstrated exceptional teamwork and innovation throughout the season, earning recognition at the national level at the Dragonfly Championship. Team Alpha Charlie and Charlie won the Teamwork Award. [01:05:37] Team Charlie won the Communication Award. Team Alpha won the All-Around Championship Award. Representing Lake Ridge tonight is Principal Jim Dutrow and Robotic Coach Heather Odom. [01:05:54] Ms. Odom, please introduce your team. - Thank you, Board, and thank you, Mr. Dutrow. My teams are represented with Charlie, Zoe, programmer, Ava, notebooker, sorry, Lojane, co-pilot, Lelia, pilot, Brielle, co-pilot, Shran, notebooker, Aya, pilot, and Samira, coder, programmer, programmer, sorry. [01:06:24] Thank you all. - Hey, thank you, Woodbridge Middle School, and good to see you coach with our cast this year. [01:06:41] - We are proud, we are also proudly recognized Woodbridge High School Supernova team who won the creative award at the first robotic competition. They are represented tonight by Principal Heather Abney and robotic coach Carlos Castro. [01:06:59] I think he can speak after 400 students yesterday. Mr. Castro, please introduce your coaches and team. - Thank you very much, Mr. Jesse. Tonight, we have Yuriko Hernandez from Wood Virginia High School, Vincent Beale from Forest Park High School, Carma Zalavadilla from Colgan High School, Sofia Ramirez-Jam from Wood Virginia High School, Isaac Rupolgo from Forest Park High School, Julia Bredbender from Forest Park High School, Jayden Davis from Forest Park High School, Miliana Gibralase from Wood Virginia High School, Jonathan Lopez from Wood Virginia High School, Anthony Sandoval Ramirez from Potomac High School, Eliza Camposortles from Forest Park High School, [01:07:38] and Kaitlin Whitney from Colgan High School. In addition, I also have the coaching staff that made our season possible. I have Mr. Ben Murray, Mr. and Mrs. Tammy and Mark DiCoco, our alumni, Dominic DiCoco, our OG original mentor, Terrence Tai, who was there from the very beginning, Ernesto and Oksana Ramirez-Jam, and Dan and Kate Brenbender from also Forest Park High School. [01:08:05] In addition, I would be remiss not to give a shout out to our original head coach from this season, Mr. and Mrs. Becky and Kevin Maurer, who were here earlier, but thank you very much for this opportunity. [01:08:23] I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Blake of the Neabsco District to honor our final robotic honorees for the evening. Thank you, Mr. Jesse. I'm pleased to congratulate the Robotics Redux team. This PWCS sponsored team includes students who live in Prince William County and attend Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. [01:08:45] They represent Prince William County Schools at the All-County Robotics event and earn the Amaze Award, a highly competitive honor that recognizes a team that has designed and built the most consistently high-performing, robust, and reliable robot. [01:09:02] These students are represented this evening by their coach, Nicole Rhodes. Ms. Rhodes, please introduce your team. Good evening. I am proud to be here with the brand new this year countywide VEX robotics team, consisting of Jaden Corsino, Rain Corsino, Adam Gadotti, and Bhuvan Bajay. [01:09:30] Congratulations on your outstanding achievements, and congratulations to all of our PWCS robotics students, coaches, and sponsors on all the success you've enjoyed this season. Keep winning. [01:09:50] Here to say a few words about these outstanding achievements in robotics is Erin Lowry, our coordinator of robotics for PWCS. Good evening, members of the school board and Dr. McDade. [01:10:10] It is my honor to stand before you to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of Prince William County Schools robotics students who participated in the 2025-26 competitive season. We are incredibly proud of the dedication and success demonstrated by our students and coaches, and we are equally proud to serve in the roles that allow us to support their continued growth and achievement. [01:10:32] Over the past years, Competitive Robotics has experienced remarkable and exponential growth within PWCS. This expansion reflects the extraordinary dedication, talent, and commitment demonstrated by both our students and our coaches. [01:10:47] We are especially grateful that the school board and Dr. McDade have recognized not only the success of our students, but also the critical importance of robotics education. We sincerely appreciate your support and vision, particularly your decision to invest in the future of our programs through the construction of two robotics centers and the inclusion of robotics education K through 12th grade. [01:11:13] This commitment will have a lasting impact on opportunities for our students and the continued growth of robotics across the division. This season, our students distinguished themselves through exceptional skills, creativity, and perseverance. They dedicated countless hours to designing, programming, and refining their robots while developing critical skills in teamwork, communication, and problem solving. [01:11:37] This competitive season saw some remarkable firsts for our county. For the first time in PWCS robotics history, an astounding 16 teams advanced to the state championship in our first lego league platform these are elementary age students osborne parts metal jackets double bannered at the same event earning the winner and impact award banner this [01:12:10] is again a first for pwcf pwcs frc program vex grew their number of teams attending the world championship from seven teams last year to 17 this year for all of the accomplishments and achievements made this year by our students none of this happens without the dedication and commitment of their coaches these educators and mentors commit countless hours to their students often extending far beyond the school day they support their teams through hours of practice [01:12:47] sessions weekend tournaments they travel alongside them for state championships and competitions and of course their world championships and continually invest in their growth by participating in coach education, professional development opportunities, and not only that, but our coaches are going above and beyond expectations and earning prestigious awards, like Mr. Shepard earning the Compass Award, the only coach in the Chesapeake area to do so. Heather Oden is working with NASA and John Hopkins to create a curriculum for VDOE around NASA's Dragonfly Mission. The list of amazingness and commitment to the students in the program is unending [01:13:26] and ensures that students are not only prepared to compete but truly inspired to excel on behalf of pwcs robotics we commend our students and coaches for their remarkable achievements and celebrate the continued growth of the competitive robotics in our division we also extend our deepest gratitude to our parents who whose unwavering dedication make these accomplishment accomplishments [01:13:50] possible thank you thank you thank you thank you and congratulations again to all our students and coaches for their innovation teamwork and continued thriving in robotics at this time we're going to pivot here to the school board like to recognize and thank our outgoing student representatives and we will take some more pictures don't worry um for our our school board student [01:14:25] reps for their dedicated service this year karina grover from colgan high school beulah sarsa from the cd hilton high school and alternate representative william billy tyler from brensville district high school these students have served as thoughtful and dependable partners to the school board helping ensure student voices remain part of our discussions and decision making your leadership insight and commitment to representing students across pwcs have made a meaningful impact both in the boardroom and throughout our school communities thank you for [01:15:00] your service and we wish you continued success in your post-secondary journey congratulations to all our outgoing student representatives congratulations to all of tonight's honorees i would like to ask all those involved in supporting our honorees including family members to please stand in recognition of their support please congratulations before taking a few pictures superintendent dr [01:15:34] mcday would like to share a few words dr mcdade thank you mr chairman tonight's recognitions reflect the extraordinary talent dedication leadership and achievement found throughout prince william county public schools across so many different areas there was so much to celebrate tonight so i won't go through every single um awardee but i just want to say congratulations to all of our teams our students our staff our leaders i want to thank you each for representing prince william county public schools with excellence time and time again throughout the [01:16:11] school year you represent the depth and breadth of talent that exists within our school system and we are so incredibly proud i also want to take a moment to extend my heartfelt appreciation to and gratitude to Mr. Keith Wolf, who served on my team. [01:16:26] I want to congratulate you, Keith, on your retirement after a remarkable career of service to Prince William County Schools. Mr. Wolf's steady leadership, commitment to students and lasting impact on our schools and our staff have helped shape this school division and the success that we've experienced over the last five years. You will be sorely missed, Mr. Wolf. [01:16:47] And then finally, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our outgoing student school board representatives. Thank you to Karina and Beulah and William. William served as our alternate. It has been a pleasure to work with you. Both Beulah and Karina are both here this evening. [01:17:05] Thank you so much. I do also want to acknowledge, I believe Shivani is here, who's also one of our student leaders on the Senate, who's done a lot of work with our student voice committee. Our students have really shown up in leadership throughout Prince William County Schools. They've made their voice heard but most importantly they have made a difference so i want to thank each and every one of you for your leadership continue to shine and i wish you well in all that you would [01:17:28] accomplish in post-secondary um endeavors uh to everyone here tonight we are pwcs proud thank you dr mcdade at this time i'd like to request the honorees to come forward for a photo with school board and receive a small token of our appreciation please follow the directions of miss galata and our team all right we will start with rip-on and porter traditional the first picture step forward [01:18:01] after that we will do graham park and forest park yes [01:29:49] okay thank you very much everyone thank you for your patience i know that was along, but it was our last meeting and we had a lot to do and we still didn't even do our spring sports yet. So we're going to have to find time to do that at some point. [01:30:06] So thank you. Now we're moving on to, and spring sports are still going on. So we'll hopefully have some champions soon. Next up, we have 11.01 adoption of consent agenda. Vice chair, Jesse. - I move that Princeton County school board approve the public meeting that consent agenda is recommended. [01:30:22] - Do you have a second? - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Any discussion? - Mr. Chairman. - Yes. awarding a contract for the renovation at Woodbridge Middle School. It's been a long time coming and I'm very excited about that. I would also like to thank my appointees to the Career and Technical Education Advisory Council. [01:30:42] And I am also very, very excited by our new Career and Technical Education course offerings. I'm hoping to see Greenhouse maybe at Freedom. That's all, thank you. - Okay, please vote. [01:31:08] - Vote is eight yes, unanimous, motion passed. - Moving on to 12:01, acknowledgements, for recognitions, motion to order Vice Chair Jesse. - I move that the Prince William County School Board to approve the adoption of the acknowledgements and recognition as recommended. - Do I have a second? [01:31:23] - Mr. Chairman. - Ms. Williams. - I second. - Any discussion? Please vote. [01:31:50] - The vote is seven yes, one abstained. Tridentic, motion passed. - Moving on to citizen comment times, those citizens who've signed up in advance with the clerk may address the school board this evening when they are called to the podium. The citizen comment period for regular school board meetings is one hour and citizens may speak on agenda items or topics germane to the operations of policies of PWCS. [01:32:07] Please use proper decorum and manners while at the podium or you'll be asked to step aside. We ask that the audience please be respectful of each speaker and refrain from any clapping, cheering or jeering to avoid disruption in 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 14 citizens signed to speak. [01:32:23] When I call your name, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record. I'll call the first five up so you all know what the order is and if you wanna come up and grab a seat up front, can if not that's okay monan davis jessica young angie tritola emily cherry and blake hara monan [01:32:42] davis good evening my name is monan davis and my address is on the file today i stand before you first of all tabula and karina congratulations once again but i stand before you a little disappointed in this board we have worked to have good relations with this board this year [01:33:19] we have presented items that have come up. We have advocated for the school system with our budget, with not just the school system here, but with the County Board of Supervisors. But I stand for you today upset because once again, this board has decided to make changes to something without actually having a relative conversation with PWEA, a conversation that we were expecting to have, [01:33:51] but it didn't happen our goal has been to one change the narrative change the views change how things are done and once again we are blindsided by something to take place without knowledge in order to build a good relationship with employees you have to have employees to have a seat at the table and have a conversation pwea is the collective bargaining agent for this county yet no one decided to have a conversation with us [01:34:30] before you decided to make a change to our resolution. That is completely unfair. If you plan to rebuild the trust that has been destroyed, then conversations must take place. I do understand that this is an important factor and this is the last board meeting. [01:34:51] However, I do ask that you table this if you decide to vote, but table it until we pwa can have a valid conversation with the members of the school board once again thank you once again congratulations and have a good night thank you jessica young good evening i am [01:35:25] jessica young my address is on file i'm a mother of four pwcs students elementary pto president for the past four years and an advocate for any family i can help tonight i would like to discuss special education pwcs has a commitment to inclusion but the actions don't consistently match the words families are forced to fight for what seems like common sense and what they have rights to we should be the district setting the standard not meeting minimums policy changes one asl support for students who are not deaf our non-verbal son ryan is learning asl but spends a school day with staff who only know a handful of signs he sent he needs someone to translate [01:36:02] model assigning for teachers and peers Ryan lost his words as a toddler but now I hear I love you through his hands meet him where he is and work his weaknesses just as we do for ESOL and students learning Braille the same vigor and support should be universal to every student not just the ones that are cheaper to provide for IEPs are not built around what a district usually does they are built around what a student requires to access faith staffing and money aren't a student's problem if they need it the law says they receive it policy two that includes the algorithms and factoring instructional time and ESY instructional time so parents can understand where the numbers come from and to promote transparency and objectiveness we [01:36:40] requested how our son's ESY instructional time decreased with noted failure to make progress regression within weeks and full and breaks new reading about age 14 of a five-year-old ie evaluations and no data to support a reduction since PWCS has failed to fulfill his ESY for the past three summers we were met with silence and this is what we are offering you 20 bucks says if you offered a special education teacher ten thousand dollars to service the esy hours for ryan this summer you would have a line but for the past three years as a family we waited on bated breath for a teacher didn't schedule family trips or camps the summers came and went he regressed [01:37:16] and now they reduced his time to lower the burden of responsibility they should be offering more to recover from the past three years and address his individual needs three specialty programs for special education gen ed students apply across the county colgan for the arts battlefield for computer science. When we saw transfers to schools with ASL opportunities for Ryan, willing to drive him ourselves, we were denied. So we moved across the county the next weekend. [01:37:39] Moving shouldn't be the answer. Published the programs and classes like gen ed students and let families apply. Safety plans and IEPs from day one. Our son refused to exit during two fire drills and stayed in the building. We found out from a daily log and had to beg for a plan. Plan should exist before the first drill, not after a tragedy and before a refusal. [01:37:58] is six four you can't just pick them up and run out transition meetings that include the student and their one-on-one aide not a case manager during doing double duty ryan was unprepared and denied support by pwcs administration from his aide miss age who is a rock star and his own transition planning meeting every iep meeting included our cluster procedural staff member miss bergeron leading the charge of denial and lack of data we have now been denied a meeting with this high school after being promised one twice by his case manager deprivation and retaliation WE'VE EXPERIENCED ONCE PEOPLE ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, THEY GET UNCOMFORTABLE, DISMISSIVE, AND HOSTILE. [01:38:32] THANK YOU. ANGIE TREI ROTOLA. THANK YOU, DR. LATIF. YOU CAN JUST CALL ME ANGIE T. OR AGAIN, IT'S TREI ROTOLA. GOOD EVENING, DR. MCDADE AND MEMBERS OF THE BOARD. I'M ANGIE TREI ROTOLA AND I'M HERE TO SPEAK TO YOU ON BEHALF OF MY FELLOW MEMBERS OF PWA AS THE CO-CHAIR OF THE MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZING organizing a membership ad hoc committee um i want to address the vote that you have scheduled tonight to amend the collective bargaining resolution and just a couple points i'd like to make about the optics of importance um the importance of optics and reputations [01:39:12] like monan said earlier when we work together we can accomplish a lot like we did at the board of supervisors we got our raises preserved we were able to help ensure that we were able to move forward elevate 2030. so for those of you that are not versed in collective bargaining law tonight I ask what message does it send your classified employees who are barely making a living wage that if they feel someone is committing an unfair labor practice they must risk paying for their own attorney what does it look like to your teachers who are teaching students the importance of neutrality if you ultimately can decide to follow the suggestions of the very person you agreed to help resolve your dispute amending the collective bargaining resolution during an active contract without even communicating with us first makes your employees once again feel like we are [01:39:51] in a priority optically it appears like an attempt to silence those with concerns by making it more arduous and expensive to bring issues forward so my fellow educators if you're upset do not let your voices be silenced write to your elected officials the general assembly your state senators and the governor tell them to look at pwcs as a microcosm of what happens when there are no state labor boards to govern collective bargaining ask them why we are wasting energy just to get a voice at the table while richmond uses our data centers as an excuse to cut funding to our schools demand that they do what we elected them to do fix collective bargaining at the state level and and fully fund our schools. [01:40:28] Let's fill every seat in any room where there's a future, the future of our children hangs in the balance. Hold the school board accountable to work with the state elected officials to find solutions that make collective bargaining work for all. Remind them that in this case, educators that PWA represents are stronger together and PWA, no matter whether you are an employee that belongs to us or not, we are still your bargaining agent and we are fighting for you. [01:40:55] We want you to have better working conditions. Together, we're gonna ensure our students and staff are safe, successful, and supported. And I'd like to wrap up with one more thing. My godfather has a saying, I give you my trust, you must earn my mistrust. It's really hard to be told that we are supposed to not hold actions of the past against the division. [01:41:19] But as somebody who grew up here for over 20 plus years, meeting teachers across the decades, there is such a culture of fear when it comes to bringing forward legitimate concerns. And a change like this runs the risk that you may not know that something is going really wrong, no matter whether you think it's just a grievance or ULP, 'cause it's gonna scare them into silence. [01:41:41] Thank you. - Emily Cherry. - Good evening, Dr. Lateef, Dr. McDade, and members of the board. My name is Emily Cherry, and my address is on file. [01:41:58] I am a middle school teacher here in Prince William County Schools, and I am one of the co-chairs at the PWA Ad Hoc Organizing and Membership Committee. And I'm speaking this evening with a sincere request. Please reconsider amending the collective bargaining resolution as proposed. [01:42:17] Every day, teachers like me walk into our classrooms committed to doing what's best for our students. We rely on systems that are fair, balanced, and grounded in trust. Because when those systems work, we can focus on teaching, learning, and supporting our students. [01:42:34] The current resolution helps create that sense of fairness. It includes a clear way to ensure both PWCS and PWEA engage in good faith bargaining. Removing that safeguard doesn't just affect rare or extreme situations. [01:42:51] It changes the tone of the entire process and leaves educators feeling uncertain about whether our voices will truly be heard. The existing provisions offer important protections, The ability to appeal to decisions to a circuit court provides reassurance that there's oversight if something goes wrong. [01:43:10] The option to recover attorney fees ensures that fairness isn't limited to those that have financial resources. These aren't just legal technicalities, they are protections that give all educators peace of mind. [01:43:27] The use of a dispute resolution neutral is especially important. Having a fair and partial person help resolve disagreements fosters trust and mutual respect when the neutral parties rulings are able to be overturned by the school division at any time it becomes impossible to ensure that outcomes are actually fair just as important as the policies themselves is the spirits in which they're created the collective bargaining framework in prince william county should be built on a spirit of collaboration between pwcs and pwea a shared commitment to working together [01:44:03] in good faith for the benefit of our schools that spirit has been deeply shaken by the decision to propose these amendments without meaningful discussion or input from pwea when one party is left out of changes that directly affect the process it undermines the trust that collective bargaining is meant to protect at all the heart of this is something simple people want to feel respected heard and treated fairly the collective bargaining process as it stands with a fair arbiter helps make that possible i ask you to preserve these protections and to restore the [01:44:42] spirit of collaboration that makes this process work not just for teachers and educators but for the strength and the stability of the entire school community thank you blake harrah board members chair dr mcdade my name is blake here on my dress file december 3rd hours increased by 30 minutes january 1st transfer declaration window opened four months passed after the hours had not been [01:45:20] released and limited positions have been opened. April 27th, the hours were released. You gave the teachers 24 business days, not even a full month, to apply for positions before the transfer date. COB, June 1st, the cutoff for teachers, again 24 business days. You even had positions open that night after COB, which is 4 o'clock here, and I saw a position open at 5:30. So, I spoke to an HR rep this morning. They said that they had talked to more than 70 teachers in 24 hours asking what are they supposed to do if I can't transfer what am I like if I can't physically [01:45:59] and geographically make it to my school what am I supposed to do am I supposed to quit I've also taught I've also spoken to other teachers as well that that even if both schools agree let's say Forest Park Osborne Osborne Park both principals agree teacher gets the job HR still gonna deny it I don't understand the purpose behind that so Dr. McDade back when this when the hours had been increased you were warned by nearly every high school principal and deputy [01:46:39] superintendents that bringing the hours back in high school was going to be an issue now we're going to have an issue and you simply ignored it i even brought this up a month ago or a month ago addressing that this was going to be an issue with daycare alphabest doesn't you can't always get into alphabest if that's your reason for doing it right now you have 244 jobs open right now and it's only getting bigger each day and now you're going to have to fill them from either out of state or out of county unless you open it up to transfer for the teachers who have declared that [01:47:15] they want to transfer or remain in the district that was it comes across as a very strategic move as many in the teachers did uh as many teachers in the district possibly really you release the hours as late as possible so you can keep the teachers here so they won't either they can't transfer or they're either forced to resign or they're going to quit it so i i don't understand like i understand the june 15th that's a state thing now if teachers have said that i want to train i want to transfer continue on with the interview process and let them continue with [01:47:55] being able to transfer because now you're going to run into the issue of being able to fill these positions the 240 positions i i you're yours this is but the more staff you stick in this building thank you mr louder it gets i'll see you guys next year next five britney robinson katherine [01:48:15] zamus kimberly melman orozco troy harris and carlisa harris britney robinson good evening members of the board my address is on file my name is britney robinson and i am the mother of four disabled children in prince william county public schools two years ago my son was experiencing severe school anxiety and school refusal he was unable to attend school and he told me that he [01:48:55] did not know how to live anymore he told me that his world had become too hard he would sit by the window and watch other children walk to school that were walkers in our neighborhood one day he asked me what if i'm never able to go to school imagine hearing your child ask that not because he didn't want to learn not because he didn't want friends but because but because school had become a place of fear failure and hopelessness prince william county's answer was to place my son in phillips annandale a private day school in fairfax county it is the most restrictive setting next to homebound a placement that maintained five magnetic locked seclusion rooms a placement [01:49:34] where testimony established 42 restraints and 105 seclusions in a single school year imagine an autistic child becoming overwhelmed frightened or dysregulated and being placed in a magnetic lock seclusion room that is the placement pwcs has spent the last two years defending for my son we are currently in federal court now i would like to read you some internal pwcs emails that were being exchanged while my son was in crisis and i'll let you decide for yourselves whether anyone was truly focused on his needs in july 2024 assistant division council wrote i have [01:50:10] concerns whether placement at linder would weaken any defense pwcs would have at the time pwcs was involved in other litigation involving a separate school wakefield they were not concerned about my son they were concerned about pwcs's defense they also wrote i am concerned about the precedent that would be set by essentially overturning an iep team process decision to settle a due process concerns about precedent i feel as though settling with linder as the placement would not be in pwcs's best interest long term so not my son's best interest long term pwcs's best interest so while [01:50:49] district officials were discussing defense strategies precedent and was what was in pwcs's best interest i was struggling to keep my son alive so i made the decision to put him place him at linder academy and they saved him in all the ways that a child can be saved they gave him a community compassion belonging hope today my son loves school he has friends he succeeds academically he believes in himself he is thriving not because he changed um but because someone finally realized what supports he needed and implemented them so i will leave you with one question if this had been [01:51:25] your child would this have been good enough would you have would have proposed a private day school and placed your son with seclusion and restraints thank you catherine zamus good evening my address is on file um i'm here as a prince william county resident and as the mom of a prince william county school student to express my strong disappointment with the school board's proposal to among other things remove binding arbitration from the collective bargaining process and eliminate the ability for the union to recover attorney fees even if it turns out that the school board [01:52:03] is in the wrong this is not just a procedural change it's a massive disservice to the amazing staff members who teach our children every day it shifts power even further away from the people doing the daily work in our classrooms and into the hands of management collective bargaining is only meaningful when both sides come to the table on a level playing field removing binding arbitration breaks that balance it weakens the only meaningful enforcement mechanism educators have when negotiations fail the proposed amendment is not strengthening the system it's stacking it in favor of management at the same time this board continues to publicly promote ambitious goals [01:52:40] universal pre-k expanded career and technical education pathways improve student achievement and long-term strategic investments in equality and access these are admirable goals but they are not achieved through slogans or strategic plans they are achieved through educators who are already stretched thin already under pressure and already being asked to do more with less and yet instead of reinforcing trust with those educators this board is taking steps that undermine it i am also deeply disappointed that chairman latif publicly supported the governor's decision not to sign statewide legislation because it included binding arbitration chairman you were quoted in several online articles making statements that relied heavily on familiar red herrings used against [01:53:20] collective bargaining claims that school divisions would be bankrupted or that taxpayers would face massive unavoidable tax increases these are not serious fiscal concerns they are speculative fear-based talking points that distract from the core issue educators deserve a meaningful voice in the process that governs their pay and working conditions prince william county benefits from a revenue sharing agreement that places it among the most well-resourced divisions in virginia with that advantage comes responsibility you cannot do the things you are promising the public without your educators and they should be allowed to come to the table in a fair and equitable way management is not being asked to give anything away they are being asked to bargain in good faith [01:54:00] removing binding arbitration makes that harder not better i understand this amendment will probably pass tonight but let there be no confusion it's not fair and it's not balanced and it does not respect the educators this system depends on please do the right thing and vote no to these [01:54:16] amendments tonight thank you kimberly melman orozco kimberly melman orozco troy harris good evening my name and address is on file i sat here tonight watching you guys take pictures of the [01:54:55] merits and good efforts of our students of prince william county but i've also simultaneously watched you turn your back on these same students my point being with this is the osborne parks boys varsity basketball coach has been found in violation by the executive cabinet and the communications cabinet of prince william county to be exploiting these kids for personal financial gain on a website of his designed to promote business in advertising this website consists of prince william county's [01:55:29] logo being presented with these children minor kids and their images not not approved by prince william county nor has it been approved by their parents this is the character of this coach the not the qualifications of the coach this same coach was asked to take down those postings which in turn went to another website that is sanctioned by prince william county standard it is approved connecting his website to this additional posting that he's taken down so in turn he took it from one and placed it with another being approved by prince william county is that a mistake by [01:56:08] prince william county for not catching that that's what i'm asking you tonight this is the character of this coach the character of the jv basketball coach which is his father has a website or not a website a instagram post of inviting kids of the school of minor children to be friends with him on this website he has multiple new not nude but scandalously dressed women in sexually suggested positions for these minor children to see he presents himself as a veteran he presents himself as a mentor to these children but has given them access to these kids to see these women [01:56:47] on his website in addition to that i have text messages of a student from this coach that has said when the kid was sick in bed missing school for a week losing eight pounds this child has told this coach that i cannot make it to a workout the reply from the coach was the time of the workout and don't tell me you're sick eight pounds this child's lost that week this coach is a multiple habitual violator of prince william county's rules and you guys have turned your back on it every time it is presented to you i have multiple multiple emails from you acknowledging [01:57:26] these violations and dismissing them i have asked for miss zagapur i have seeked your help before and you were all for listening to me until you found out it was for osborne park high school i have to question you tonight and say is it because you are an alum of osborne park high school i can't say this for a fact but i can only assume that it is because that i am not getting [01:57:52] any response from you thank you mr harris carlisa harris good evening members of the school board and dr mcdade my name is carlisha harris and my address is on file i'm here tonight to address concerns regarding ethics accountability and professional conduct within osmond park high school athletic program specifically involving the varsity boys basketball coach this is not [01:58:31] about a one-time mistake it is about a pattern of behavior that raises serious concerns about judgment integrity and compliance with pwcs standards pwcs policy 910-2 establishes clear expectations for ethical conduct professionalism and avoiding conflict between personal interests and official responsibilities those standards exist to protect students and maintain public trust yet a coach and trusted when mentoring students used school affiliated social media platforms to display personal business branding alongside student-related [01:59:06] content and direct attention to a private business page. School platforms should be used to promote students and school programs, not private business interests. What makes this matter more even more troubling is that the content remained public despite repeated requests for it to be removed. Rather than promptly correcting the issue, the coach allowed it to remain in place. It it ultimately took 18 separate email exchanges and the involvement of pwcs communications department executive executive cabinet and myself before the matter was finally addressed students names images and likeness should never be used in a manner that promotes personal interest or creates [01:59:45] the appearance that students are being leveraged for private gain the students involved are innocent and deserve better protection from the adults responsible for representing them we cannot have a culture in this district where policy violations are minimized where trustees eroded and where personal interests are placed ahead of professional responsibilities when policy violations involving students require repeated complaints and intervention excuse me from senior leadership before corrective action is taken the public is left questioning whether accountability truly [02:00:19] exist. Academic accomplishments, championships, wins, and graduating in three years means nothing when the content of one's character is questionable. I'm asking this board to send a clear message. Inappropriate conduct involving students will not be tolerated, policy violations will not be excused, and accountability will apply equally to everyone. Our students deserve better, community deserves better and the public trust demands better thank you um the next um five four [02:00:57] will be mariluz torres henna ansari marty weaver and gloria jordan mariluz mariluz torres mariluz torres okay hannah ansari all right good evening good evening happy pride month i'm wearing my pride socks you can't see them it's my third pair of socks of the day don't ask why i changed socks three times it's not important all right so thank you to the school board for letting me come back [02:01:34] always a pleasure Super Nintendo McDade my address is on file I'm just going to do a couple of brief anecdotes and I will go away I promise I attended the Eid al-Hadda prayers last on Wednesday last Wednesday at Colgan High School actually and something the imam said stuck out to me those of you that don't know anything about Islam and I'm assuming that's the vast majority of the people listening the imam is like the equivalent of a priest or a rabbi a learned scholar that speaks and does lectures during the services he was talking about the characteristics of what being a true but divine being a Muslim. While you might not agree, he listed integrity as one, being true to your word. [02:02:06] Historically speaking, and I know I'll get pushback for this, but all the history teachers out there should appreciate it. Islam was spread across the world, not by the sword like other religions, but through trade. Being true to your word was revolutionary at that time, and that was something Muslim merchants possessed. It made me think of how in a contract like collective bargaining, like the collective bargaining agreement, you're as true as your word. The very definition of integrity. I want to hopefully convince you that honoring the collective bargaining agreement is a good thing if I took you at your word and I was there at the Board of County supervisors meetings where doctors Latifah McDade spoke about how you need funding to ensure PWCS schools was a competitive employer presumably to pay teachers among others a fair wage and that would fall in line with the [02:02:43] collective bargaining agreement that's currently in place it's incumbent upon the board to honor the collective bargaining agreement or come to the table with honest intentions while the current administration in Richmond believes in antagonizing workers and I'm very pro worker and I know they're not I believe that workers are the backbone of any successful business or and I'd like to remind you that you get more bees with honey than vinegar as my father likes to remind me repeatedly and in this moment in time you have a sort of blank slate before you where you can kind of do almost anything and it kind of reminds me of this video game Mass Effect and I know none of you look like gamers to me at all no offense although I'm sure Dr. Lateef stays up all night playing fortnight with high schoolers don't you yeah but in the game it gives you this option at the very beginning where you can choose to be a paragon or [02:03:23] a renegade you can choose the good side or the bad side and this is the option you to do that now you can decide whether you want to do what's going to be positive for everybody or positive for just you and that's that's your choice so if you if we want pwc to be destination for teachers to want to come to live to spend their lives and raise their families then we need to give them something that reflects that having that stronger workers rights for workers is a net positive thank you and congratulations to beulah and karina i know you guys are still here it's [02:03:47] past my bedtime i gotta go marty weaver marty weaver occoquan america freedom for 250 years happy birthday america i'm so glad you were born many of us are celebrating celebrating all that we have accomplished like medical miracle treatments and medicines celebrating what we may invent invent and build celebrating our return to space into the moon wow the first [02:04:24] time any human walked on the moon july 20th 1969 it was an american i had just graduated from high school now we are looking to go to mars but some are not celebrating they are busy tearing down america figuratively and literally their agendas are all that matters but they love to virtue signal about how righteous they are and how evil the rest of us are they tout viewing everything through the lens of equity kind of sounds like the modern day version of karl marx from each according to his ability to each according to his needs america is a very generous nation [02:05:02] and we do help the truly needy but we also are a merit-based society have you heard the saying you get out what you put in so everyone does not get the same results in life our nation was founded on the idea as stated in our declaration of independence we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal or as the former president described it as you know the thing i didn't read as viewed through the lens of equity our constitution states we the people in order to form a more perfect union establish justice and secure the blessings of liberty i didn't read as viewed through the lens of equity america is not perfect it has been a [02:05:41] work in progress for 250 years but we aren't divided by things like skin color unless you force us to be by what you're teaching and how you teach it you demand equity equal outcomes constantly bringing up past deals when is enough our family has served in defense of freedom since america's founding from the revolutionary war to the civil war fighting for the union to afghanistan our uncle harry was at the battle of the bulge because he loved america so much that he lied to enlist at age 15. harry f miller was recognized by president trump during the memorial day speech harry got a standing ovation and some people know how to celebrate america [02:06:21] patriotism and our son just retired as an air force pilot i see people here who don't stand for the pledge they have that freedom and i have the right to label them america haters and probably having tds how can you teach pride and patriotism when you practice such grievance driven agendas quoting justice clarence thomas at some point we're going to be fatigued with everybody being a victim so how are you so how about using your freedom and choose to celebrate america we are a great nation obviously millions want to be here we are still making america great one day [02:06:56] at a time happy birthday america gloria jordan good evening school board members my name is gloria jordan and i'm a proud parent and member of prince william county as we close another successful school year and recognize both pride month and juneteenth i want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the school board for your leadership and your service thank you dr latif [02:07:33] and dr mcdade and every single progressive school board member that stood before this board of county supervisors meeting and advocated for full funding for our public schools public education is one of the most important investments we make as a community it is the foundation of opportunity economic mobility civic engagement and a brighter future for every child who walks through our school doors my kids all flourished with the music and fine arts and robotics all celebrated here today and i just want you to know that that works they're doing excellent i also [02:08:08] want to thank you for your commitment to ensuring that every student feels seen respected and valued i would ask that you also do that for our teachers we appreciate your efforts to honor the rights of students and parents to create learning environments where young people can express themselves authentically that includes respecting students chosen names and pronouns fostering a sense of belonging and ensuring that every child knows they are welcomed and supported in this school As we celebrate Juneteenth and reflect on our nation's ongoing pursuit of freedom and equality, we are reminded that progress is neither inevitable nor guaranteed. At a time when civil [02:08:46] rights, voting rights, and equal protections are being challenged and debated across our nation, local leadership matters. We ask that you continue to stand firmly in defense of the civil rights of all of our students, especially those who have been historically marginalized, excluded, or made vulnerable by systems not designed with them in mind. We have heard of those that need ASL, need vision accommodations, and language justice, so I ask that you please look into that for those students. The true measure of a community is not how it serves those with the [02:09:21] loudest voices, but how it protects and uplifts those whose voices are often overlooked. We thank you for your efforts to ensure that every student has the opportunity to be seen, heard, respected, and supported as you move forward i do ask that you listen to the teachers because they are the ones that are teaching our students create teacher focus groups and opportunities for the teacher input before making decisions that directly impact them we need these teachers we have excellent teachers prince william county is the best and i really appreciate our teachers please please [02:09:58] please listen to them teachers special education professionals and counselors all bring invaluable expertise we value your leadership please value theirs and prioritize their insight as they shape our public education have a wonderful summer thank you all thank you um up next is 1401 naming of the woodbridge area elementary school item a motion is in this item item is in there's a there's a motion in order uh lori williams representative of the woodbridge district please move the motion [02:10:35] thank you chairman lateef it is my honor to make a motion for the first brand new elementary school in the woodbridge district in several decades by stating i move that the prince william county school board approves the naming committee's naming recommendation of the woodbridge elementary school for the woodbridge woodbridge area elementary you have a second mr mr blake i - I second. [02:11:03] - Mr. Blake seconds the motion. Any discussion? Ms. Williams. - Mr. Chairman, I just would like to thank the division staff, everyone who came out in the community. I spent the past week, especially between graduation and in my neighborhood walking around speaking to a lot of elementary school students. [02:11:21] This has been an amazing process. Even up until today, citizens were prepared to comment on this, which shows how much we have connection with our community. and it is just an honor to be not only naming but opening a new elementary school in my district. And while I have this moment, I just wanna say to all young Potomac View students that I spoke to over the past several days, I told you I would say this, thank you for spending your time with me. [02:11:44] Thank you for sharing your opinions. I know you guys don't get a lot of recognition being little ones, but I said I would say, so I really appreciate your time and energy. Thank you so much. - Thank you, Ms. Williams. Okay, I support the motion and I think it's always great to name the schools after the area they're in and this being the first school you will see when you drive down route one, I think it's critical and you enter Woodbridge and it's a beautiful, spectacular facility and I'm excited to name it Woodbridge Elementary. [02:12:16] Please vote. - Vote is eight yes, unanimous, motion passed. [02:12:34] - Moving on, Student Matters, we have tonight for her final school board meeting on the dais, Karina Grover of the Colgan High, the recent graduate of Colgan High School. We also have Ms. Bula Sarsa, who is here this evening. If you wanna move up to the podium, Ms. Bula, we have you both for student rep time tonight. [02:12:55] Take it over, Ms. Grover. - Thank you. Well, good evening, everyone. I just wanna start off quickly by saying thank you. Thank you for this past year. It has been such a privilege to work with each one of you, to see you guys, you know, the frequent comers to the school board meetings. [02:13:12] It has been such a privilege. I am so excited to attend the George Washington University in the fall, so thank you everyone. I've learned so much from this experience, becoming student rep was such a privilege and I will carry all of the things I've learned into my next four years at GW and beyond. [02:13:32] So without further ado, I wanna take the rest of my time for our presentation on the state of SVCs. - Ms. Bula, and oh great, we're both coming up there to make the presentation, let's go. [02:13:51] And we have the C.D. Hilton High School graduate will be attending Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia on a full ride. - Thank you, thank you. Really quickly, before we start our presentation, I just wanna say thank you for allowing me to learn from all of you, everyone that I interacted with, whether you were from the county police, whether you were on the school board, whether you were from Dr. McDade's staff, you all made a difference in my experience, and I thank you for that. [02:14:21] And everyone who participated, whether you commented as a citizen commentator or you came to just watch, your civic engagement is important, and I thank you for showing up. So without further ado, we will get into the presentation. Hello and good evening to members of the Prince William County community, members of the school board, and Superintendent McDade. [02:14:42] Karina and I are honored to have the opportunity to provide you with an update on the state of our student voice committees. Within this presentation, Karina and I will highlight how exactly our SVCs have empowered our students to become stronger leaders in alignment with key areas of the division's 2030 strategic plan. [02:15:01] We want to start by making sure everyone understands the purpose of SVCs, also known as student voice committees. The SVC initiative was launched with a singular goal in mind, bringing students and their administrators, principals, school board members, and other county officials together. [02:15:18] This presentation aims to showcase all of the wonderful ways that students in SVCs across the division have stepped up as leaders and positively impacted their schools in four areas found in our strategic plan. The first section features positive climate and culture. [02:15:35] The culture of a particular school does not exist in a vacuum. Collaborative relationships between students and staff, along with school traditions, all contribute to the overall feel of a school and how much of a community its students think it is. The next few slides feature the work of three SVCs that improve their school's climate and culture. [02:15:55] SVC members at Woodbridge High School noticed that their lunch periods could be especially crowded due to their large student population. So, they gathered student feedback by conducting a survey focused on that lunch seating issue. They then used that feedback to work with their admin team to install high top counters along the wall of their cafeteria. [02:16:14] These standing areas expanded the capacity of the room, encouraged movement, and improved student comfort. After reviewing data from their annual school survey, the Student Voice Committee at Grand Park Middle School noticed that many students had concerns about the school's climate and culture. [02:16:30] To address this, the SVC introduced several initiatives focused on positivity and relationship building. One of these initiatives was Peppermint Wishes. These positive notes included messages like, you're meant to do amazing things. That's so cute. The SVC also organized activities such as rock, paper, scissors to encourage interaction and school-wide participation. [02:16:51] Overall, these initiatives brought students together and positively impacted the school's culture and climate. Finally, for this section, we have students at the Knoxville School who noticed that their peers were missing the morning announcements due to a variety of reasons, with the most pertinent being the fact that many students took classes at the local high school, so that's Brentsville District High School. [02:17:14] Additionally, the middle schoolers wanted a more accessible way to view their lunch menu. To make sure that students had the information they needed and to ensure that all students felt connected to their school community, The Knoxville SVC created a student website to act as a one-stop shop for information and announcements that every middle school student there needed. [02:17:32] That concludes this section. I'm going to pass it over to Karina, who's going to share how our SVCs have fostered academic growth within the county. - Thank you. So SVCs haven't only helped improve the climate of schools, but they've also helped students grow academically. [02:17:49] Learning and achievement for all is our second topic and commitment as labeled in Elevate 2030. So, first off, members of Potomac Middle School's Student Voice Committee noticed that their peers' SOL scores were lower than they wanted it to be. [02:18:04] They recognized this as an opportunity to better support students academically. The SVC set a clear and ambitious goal to help every student increase their SOL scores. One of the most effective strategies was offering after-school Zoom tutoring sessions for all grade levels and SOL-tested subject areas. [02:18:25] This approach expanded access to academic support and helped students feel more prepared for their SOLs. Now, at the high school level, at Charles J. Colgan Senior High School, I'm an alum, by the way, there were many tutoring and extra help sessions available to students. [02:18:42] However, students often didn't know when these sessions were even happening, and in many cases, tutoring sessions tended to overlap, which limited access and caused a lot of confusion among students. So, our SBC identified this issue through student feedback. [02:18:58] They reached out to all National Honor Society groups to gather their tutoring schedules. They created a centralized tutoring calendar that students could easily reference. As a result, academic support became more accessible and easier for students to use. [02:19:14] Now, at the middle school level, again, students in Fredland Middle School's SBCs noticed that their peers were struggling to feel like they belonged in a school community that saw them for who they are, while staying on top of their assignments and work. So, they organized school-wide initiatives designed to bring the student body together, like motivational chalk drawing and SOL pep rallies. [02:19:35] This helps students feel supported by their peers, and they began to see their school as more of a community, as opposed to a building they go to every day and turn in assignments. You know, so all of the activities I've mentioned, they're so essential in schools because we want to make learning fun and engaging. [02:19:51] Doing the same boring things every day can lead to burnout, so I'm gonna pass it over to Beulah to talk about how our SVCs have supported students' well-being. - Thank you, Karina. In this section, we will share how student voice committees from two schools have contributed to student well-being. [02:20:09] This work is especially important, as supporting students' mental, emotional, and social health is essential to their overall success, both inside the classroom as learners and outside of the classroom as friends, siblings, and future members of the workforce. Burnout, lack of motivation, and feelings of isolation among our secondary students is common, but it is still a cause for great concern. [02:20:31] Luckily, a highly motivated group of middle schoolers at Potomac Shores are looking out for one another. The SVC at Potomac Shores Middle School worked with their admin team to put encouraging notes on lockers, as well as hang up QR codes that link to inspirational videos in the mornings before school starts. [02:20:47] The videos change every other day and they feature members of that school's SVC. So not only is it a good way to get a positive word in, you know, before class starts, but it's a great way to get for these students to get to know their student leaders. Cliques can perform quickly in our secondary schools, and most of the time, it's not our students' fault. [02:21:05] They may not have the opportunity to interact with people who take different classes, have different lunch periods, et cetera. These circumstances can make for a very isolated student body. Students from Bull Run Middle School's SVC noticed this lack of camaraderie and decided to take action by launching the 45 Minutes of Fun initiative. [02:21:23] Once or twice a quarter, students have the ability to make new friends and have fun at the same time. They could craft, play, and socialize together in a low-risk environment, whether it was a teacher's classroom, a space in the hallway, or the gym. Now I'm gonna pass it over to Karina, who will discuss collaboration efforts between SVCs across the division. [02:21:46] - Thank you, so with nearly 90,000 students, PWCS is a very large division, so collaboration may seem challenging. But through SVCs, students have successfully built strong connections and relationships county-wide. [02:22:01] starting off strong with Parkside Middle School. So they observed concerning patterns within their school and used data to really address the issue. So students from all grades, 6th, 7th and 8th grade, presented their findings about these various issues and their proposed solutions to the school's leadership team as middle schoolers, by the way. [02:22:21] Their leadership team was very receptive and supported each grade level in implementing their initiatives. Sixth graders coordinated student incentives for lunchroom cleanliness. Seventh graders helped create a one-way hallway to alleviate traffic. And the eighth graders had the opportunity to conduct a student-led pep rally, as an eighth grader, by the way, to boost student participation in school-wide events. [02:22:45] So SVCs, like the one at Parkside Middle School, are strengthened when members of school's leadership team make an effort to show students that their perspective and solutions to different situations matter. Now at the high school level, We're gonna talk about Woodbridge High School SVC. [02:23:02] So their students facilitated small group discussions with Lake Ridge Middle School SVC. So you really see this collaboration happen here. So middle school students were guided through a structured brainstorming process to identify issues within their school. Each group discussed possible solutions to the challenges they identified. [02:23:20] Students also identified appropriate individuals or school offices they could contact for support and next steps. Their overall goal of the meeting was to mentor and support middle school SVC students by modeling leadership, collaboration, and effective problem-solving skills. [02:23:37] Now, here's gonna bring the energy. At Unity Reed High School, the SVC noticed low student involvement and awareness. They created a school-wide presentation and a promotional video to raise awareness. They also restructured the SVC by creating four committees, giving students clearer roles and ways to get involved. [02:23:58] These efforts increased visibility and student participation in their SVC. Ongoing collaboration with administration, improved communication, and ensure student voices were heard and supported. So without further ado, we would like to share a video that Unity Read made to promote SVC. [02:24:19] - Do you know what SVC is? - Yeah. - Do you know what SVC is? - Hold on, what is SVC? - Since you asked. - SVC is a group focused on school community. - I'm a ginger. [02:24:37] - It's okay, people of all backgrounds can join. - Are there any requirements to join? - Nope, not at all. - I'm in, when do we meet? - Once a month during advisory. - Thank you for listening. And Gras Dias for Escuchar. [02:24:53] - Can we get a round of applause for that video? So Unity Read brought the energy, but they're not the only ones that bring the energy, man. The purpose of these middle school workshops is to build a stronger leadership connection between middle and high school by introducing students to peer leadership early on, encouraging them to be more involved in organizations like SVC. [02:25:18] So these workshops were very structured. We had engaging interactive activities such as SVC share-out sessions, where students gathered ideas from other schools to improve their own, along with different games that helped them practice leading respectful discussions, which is a very important skill to have. [02:25:33] These workshops are important because they help students develop confidence, communication, collaboration, and leadership skills at such a young age, while creating a stronger sense a belonging and community within their schools. That was a lot, you got a video, you got a lot of information, a lot of stuff. [02:25:50] So I'm gonna pass it over to Beulah to take us home and really speak about how important SVCs are and the work we do in PWCS. - Thank you, Karina. Wow, can you believe all of the amazingly innovative ways that our students have improved their schools over the past year? [02:26:08] 'Cause I can't, it was amazing. Student voice committees aren't just a space for students to meet and deliberate on problems. They help foster key student-adult partnerships by allowing students a place in the continuous improvement process. SVCs allow our students to develop transferable leadership skills like collaboration, problem solving, active listening, and divergent thinking. [02:26:29] Finally, our SVCs give our students the opportunity to connect with or engage with their peers in their school community, which makes school feel less isolating and more like the collaborative, inclusive space that it is meant to be. [02:26:44] It wouldn't be a presentation from the outgoing student reps if we did not include a call to action. So here it is. Board members, division leaders and Superintendent McDade, we need your help to safeguard the growth of SVCs across the county. How? First, by engaging with your SVCs. [02:27:01] You can reach out to schools in your district and let students and sponsors know that you are willing to sit in and listen to meetings. We also need you to include student feedback. In your remarks towards the end of each school board meeting, you could include two to three direct quotes from SVC students that you pulled feedback from or have had the pleasure of corresponding with in the past couple of weeks and state how you are incorporating that feedback into your decision making. [02:27:25] Finally, we need you to empower the student perspective. Find a way to increase the amount of feedback that you get from students. So for example, the student representatives have a form that they send out to SVC sponsors and ask them to fill out before every meeting. Perhaps you all could incorporate something like this on a quarterly basis, 'cause I know you guys get a lot of mail. [02:27:45] - That is all, thank you, and we would love to hear from you. So if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them. - I'll start with some questions. [02:28:00] Guys, do all our high schools have student voice chapters? - Yes, they do. - Do all our middle schools have student voice chapters? - Yes, they do. - All right, fantastic. - And before we acknowledge that, I just wanna say thank you so much to Ms. Viola, 'cause she's in the back, right? She's right there, please, can you stand up, please stand up, she's part of the reason that we have all of the middle school in the high school chapters. [02:28:23] So I just want to say thank you to her. - Do you have the student senators here tonight, some of them? - Yes, we do. Yes, we do. - Let's have them stand up and stand up. - We have Alana, CJ, Shivani, who is our Senate pro temp, and we have Storm. [02:28:40] - Say it again when we're not clapping. - Okay, we have Alana, we have CJ, we have Shivani, who is our Senate pro temp, and then we have Storm. - All right, very good. Thank you guys for being here. - Last question I have, and then we'll ask the other member. [02:28:58] Tell me the difference between, so student voice committees in every high school, and I assume most high schools, middle schools, have some kind of student council. What are the differences? - Yeah, I can definitely speak on this. So I'm actually involved in both, and I've gotten this question so much, because on the topic of advocacy, it can kind of seem similar. [02:29:17] But for SVC, we really collaborate more with our administration, people on the PWC central office level way more than SCA, student council, student government, things like that. So student government and student council, they do a lot of work for engagement, things like homecoming, pep rallies, dances, things like that, while SVC focuses more on issues and identifies solutions to those problems. [02:29:43] So SVCs could do things like finding solutions to crowded lunch rooms like Woodbridge High School did, while SCA would focus more on creating a positive environment, maybe putting things on the TVs, things like that. [02:29:59] So a lot of the stuff they do has overlapped and actually in some of our schools, we've kind of collaborated with our student councils as well. So there's that cross club collaboration. But I feel like SVCs, in my opinion, they do more work with the actual policies, actual advocating while SCA, you know, makes the environment, creates a positive climate and culture. [02:30:21] - The, so student voice committees, anyone can join? - Yes, well, depends on the schools. So some schools want students to apply for it, while other schools, it's open for everyone. But there's not really a requirement, you know, you don't have to-- - It's not an election to become-- - It is not an election. [02:30:40] Anyone is able to join. There are, in some schools, officer positions in each, in each SVC, but anyone can really join, which is what's so amazing about it. - And student council is usually an elected position. - Yeah, they're usually elected positions, they have general meetings as well, but they're a little bit more involved in the election process, while SVC is not focused on that, we're focused on advocating, so. [02:31:03] - Great, Ms. Williams? - Thank you, Mr. Lateef, Dr. Lateef, excuse me. I'm gonna add one more question for a little bit more understanding. Now, student council members who are elected on that, how does that work with the student senate? [02:31:18] - The student senate, so the student senate is comprised about around two to three people from every high school. So that process kind of happens March, April timeframe. And basically they submitted an application to their school. So, you know, it has a bunch of questions, essay questions, short answer questions. [02:31:37] And there is a secret, top secret committee at each school and they select two people from the school to go up to run for student rep. And when I say run, I mean interview. So then when those two people get selected, they interview with a representative from each high school in PWCS, and they do their interview. [02:31:58] That interview is for student rep. If they don't get that student rep position, 'cause there's only three positions really, they automatically become a student senator. If they get that position, then there's an alternate person selected from the schools that will then become the student senate. [02:32:13] So it is a very prestigious position to have. Not a lot of people get the position, 'cause there's only around two from each school. So it's a very big honor, and yeah. - Thank you for that. I, as the only remaining board member who fought tirelessly and originated the student representative position, I must give credit also to Mr. Jessie's wife, Miss Jessie, because she was the other half in ensuring that we had a student representative position on the school board. [02:32:42] From the bottom of my heart and everything for all my years, and for the eight years we've had these positions. The growth and the innovation and the change that representatives bring every year is just life-changing. And I want to congratulate the both of you for adding another layer of depth and really, truly bringing the student voice to us and being so transparent and communicable with us up here on the board, anytime we see you. [02:33:11] When Ms. Jessie and I talked about having a student reposition position, the main idea was bring a voice to our 90,000 students. For me, it was seeing this growth. being a student in Prince William and feeling very limited and the change that this position has brought and especially the two of you on alternate this year is really I think in all of the years amplified our student voice in a way that is extremely impactful and right in front of us and I want to congratulate you and I'm going to take you up on that challenge of recommended items for your end of your presentation it's a great idea and I thank you for holding [02:33:48] us accountable as well and giving us ideas for growth so that we can continue to interact and dialogue with our student population. I am extremely, extremely impressed. No surprise there. And I hope that you all impart your knowledge to the new reps when they are on boarded as well. [02:34:06] Congratulations on your term of service and thank you again in ending it so professionally and profoundly. Thank you. Mr. Gessler. I also want to thank the two of you for everything that you've done. [02:34:23] i'm most impressed with is that this year you presented some concrete things that the schools did uh which i don't you know maybe some of that was done in previous years but i don't think as much and it's really very creative from your part and whoever helped do this and thank you very much i appreciate you and good luck in the future miss wall first of all i love that you introduced yourself as an alumna of Colgan. So congratulations to both of you, Violet and Karina, and it's [02:35:01] been a pleasure working with you and seeing you advocate for the students and grow in your capacity as leaders. It's been really wonderful. My high school had nothing like this, and as a result at the end of my senior year, we declared independence from our administration and wrote a mocking declaration of independence. So there's a need, and I love it, and I love that that all along there's a there is a process for students to come together and talk about the challenges they see and come up with solutions I like that it's solution-oriented and I like that staff has been able to help the students [02:35:39] implement their ideas so thank you so much for your presentation it was very informative gave me a much better understanding of what student voice committees are doing and I look forward to taking up the invitation to meet with students thank you very much hey one anybody else Mr. Denik I just want to say thank you both and I'm so impressed with the fact that you came to our meetings and then also made it to school the next day on time and ready to work so I'm really impressed by that and I wish you guys the best and thank you so [02:36:15] much for being so pleasant and fun and dealing with all of us so thank you guys All right. Well, this might be it. This is it. So first off, Karina Grover, Bula Sarsa, thank you so much for your support this year and for representing the student voice on this dais in this school division across this county. This board will always consider you a friend and a colleague, and we wish you all the very best on your future. Thank you very much. [02:36:44] Thank you so much. Thank you. okay um up next we now have uh apropos for the moment um the announcement of next year's student representatives and we have a motion in order so um we'll move to that item for the student representative for the 26 27 school year motions in order vice chair jesse i move that the prince [02:37:23] Prince Rainey County School Board appoints the storm low and Marla Smith as student Marla a student representative to the Prince Rainey County School Board and appoint Carly CJ Graham as the alternate student represented to the Prince Rainey County School Board for 2026 to 27 school year. [02:37:47] And if I pronounce your name incorrectly. - Do you have a second? - Ms. Cherry. - Ms. Williams got there, sorry. - Sorry, I'm always going to jump the gun. - Any discussion? Congratulations, let me just tell you, Storm Allows Woodbridge High School, Marley Smith Freedom High School, CJ Graham Colgan High School. [02:38:05] - Mr. Chair, I think a couple of the students are here tonight too. - Okay, so we'll let us vote, and then when it's official, we can have them stand up and be recognized. How about that, is that good? All right, please vote. Oh, Ms. Williams. [02:38:21] - Sorry, again, this is one of the most important things for me and my legacy for board members, I just would like to personally congratulate the new representatives, it's excited, and I look forward to working with you once we take the vote, thank you. - Please vote, did I vote twice? [02:38:49] Did I vote twice? Oh. - The vote is eight yes, unanimous, motion passed. - Outstanding, very good. So again, it will be Storm Allo, did I say that right? - Yes, it is. [02:39:04] - All right, Storm, so Storm, why don't you come up to the podium stand up here when I call you in. Storm Allo, Woodbridge Senior High School. Marley Smith, Freedom High School. Marley's not here, okay. - Our alternate, Carly C.J. Graham, Colgan High School. [02:39:26] Okay, well, we look forward to working with you both starting next year, be here on time. And all right, look at that, do you see that? No, we're very excited. Thank you guys very much for being here and we look forward to learning a lot from you all. [02:39:42] Congratulations. - Congratulations. - You have big shoes to fill. - Yeah, we know, we know. - Dr. Latine. - Yeah, Ms. Zargarpur. - Yeah, so is it Carly or CJ? [02:39:57] - CJ works probably better. - CJ, we got to talk about the student voice thing then, so make sure we, I'm taking that recommendation. - And we'll make sure the division puts out the names and sort of little bios on our next school board members. Thank you very much. [02:40:12] Have a great night guys. [02:40:21] Oh, superintendent's time, right? Is that what we're up to? All right, did I miss that in my thing? Dr. McDade. - Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, good evening. I wanna start acknowledging the diversity of our community, which is our superpower. Inclusivity is one of our core values, and we are committed to a positive climate and culture, which is why we join many others in recognizing June 2026 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month. [02:40:44] We acknowledge our students and staff because we sincerely care about each and every person and are committed to encouraging school environments that are safe, secure, and welcoming to everyone. As this school year concludes, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations the class of 2026 i had the pleasure of attending and speaking to graduates at several of the commencement ceremonies and students walked across our stages placing their diplomas in one hand and shifting tassels from right to left in the other i felt immense pride in every single student and deep gratitude for each supportive family member and appreciation for the educators [02:41:21] who helped ensure every student graduated with a concrete post-secondary plan to secure their future. And speaking of outstanding students, I know the student representatives selected tonight to serve a one-year term during the 26-27 school year will continue to lend their unique voices to help better PWCS. I look forward to working with Storm Allo from Woodbridge High School and I had an opportunity to personally meet with Storm when they first launched SBC at Woodbridge High School. [02:41:52] I remember that very vividly and they invited me to come over so a lot of great work is happening there looking forward to meeting marley smith from freedom high school and working with cj graham our alternate from colgan high school congratulations to each and every one of you earlier today i had the distinct honor of congratulating two of our principals for being selected to participate in the prestigious 2026-27 con distinguished principals fellowship cohort congratulations are in order to anna houseworth from ashland elementary school and and Dana Johnson, principal of Mary Williams Elementary School. [02:42:28] The Khan Fellowship provides principals with opportunities for professional, intellectual and personal development. It is a competitive process that is facilitated by the Khan organization. They come in, they do interviews with the principal, with parents, with students, with staff. [02:42:45] It's a very competitive process. And only only 50 principals nationwide are selected to be a member of of the Khan program as a Khan fellow. Each principal participates in a one year program focused on real world challenges and measurable outcomes with the Khan professional development model. [02:43:04] This accomplishment is well deserved by our principals, and we look forward to learning all about their experiences. We also have a Khan fellow that was a part of a past cohort. Woodbridge Senior High School, Dr. Heather Abney, also a distinguished principal fellow. [02:43:22] She's here. We're really proud of the work that our principals are doing and honored to have PWCS represented as a part of the Khan Distinguished Principal Fellowship. At this time, PWCS will share more information on the first year of implementation for our universal pre-K initiative, along with a five year road map toward full universal pre-K by the 2030-31 school year. [02:43:47] I am immensely proud that PWCS is leading this effort as the first public school division in the Commonwealth of Virginia, offering universal access to pre-K for all four year olds. This initiative reflects our deep commitment to giving every child a strong start and every family greater opportunity for a thriving future. [02:44:05] At this time, I would like to turn over my time to Dr. Ashley Ryer, who is our associate superintendent for special education and early intervention, and Dr. Nora Bryant, who's our director of preschool programs. they will share the phased approach to universal pre-K. Thank you. [02:44:21] Good evening. Dr. Lateef, vice chair, Jesse, members of the board and Dr. McDade, we are excited to be here this evening to share with members of the board and the public our plans for universal pre-K in PWCS. [02:44:37] I'm joined tonight at the podium by our direct with our director of preschool programs, Dr. Nora Bryant, who will be joining me in sharing these updates. Before I begin, I would like to recognize the absolutely excellent presentation that our student representatives gave this evening. [02:44:54] So, Julia and Karina, nice job, very well done. And congratulations on completing your service as student representatives on the school board and proud graduates of PWCS. And so I'd like to make a connection between graduation and the content that we're going to present tonight, because thanks to the guiding work of our strategic plan, Elevate 2030, PWCS is positioned to have graduates in our future who will be able to say that they began their education with us as early as at four years old through universal preschool implementation. [02:45:31] And so we're proud to be here tonight to share some details of what that looks like in both the short and long term. Elevate 2030 prominently features universal pre-K as part of commitment one learning and achievement for all it states that by 2030 pwcs will provide access to a universal preschool program that will build on the current model of pre-k offerings to connect families with early learning opportunities that are inclusive innovative easy to navigate [02:46:06] and that support our commitment to providing high quality instruction to all learners our Our presentation tonight will highlight the planning efforts that have taken place to date so that members of the public and the community are informed of the changes that will take place as soon as this coming school year, as well as the roadmap to 2030. [02:46:28] We recognize that these planning efforts are contingent on many variables. Those include funding, space utilization, monitoring of birth rate data to anticipate the number of four-year-olds that will build from year to year until 2030. [02:46:44] And then we also are looking forward to opportunities to collaborate with community providers throughout this phased approach so that they are able to have a voice and input as we roll out serving the community of four-year-olds in Prince William County. [02:47:00] The research on early childhood education is clear. And we've heard before that there's recently been a study published by Georgetown University that reveals some groundbreaking research about both short and long-term outcomes. Children that experience high quality early childhood education are not only proven to be more ready for kindergarten and experience early academic success, but these gains follow them all the way through graduation and beyond as they pursue post-secondary goals. [02:47:34] As we implement universal pre-K by 2030, we will become a school division that transitions to being a pre-K through 12 school division, meaning that we have a place for all students who desire to be served as early as four years old. [02:47:49] As we present this work, it's important to acknowledge that before working to expand, we had to take a moment to inspect program quality and equity, and so Dr. Bryant will be explaining some of the changes that are underway for next school year that really focus on those two program areas. [02:48:08] We'd like to begin with some recognitions because there's been a lot of collaboration to date as we plan for not only next year, but and beyond. And so we'd be remiss if we didn't thank all who are partnering with us on this important initiative. First, we'd like to thank members of the board, Dr. McDade and Dr. Flanard for your support in establishing a standalone preschool department within our organization. [02:48:34] This allows us to unify all aspects of preschool programming and bring them together under dedicated leadership of a very strong and skilled team. Members of the preschool leadership team are here this evening. And so we'd like to acknowledge that as well as their continued hard work and dedication that's taken place to date and will continue throughout the summer and for years to come. [02:48:59] We'd also like to acknowledge our elementary leaders, namely our principals who have fully embraced the idea of learning spaces in their schools, becoming those that serve children pre-K through five. This work cannot be done without collaboration with multiple central office departments, both instructional and operational. [02:49:22] They've been critical members of the planning process for both next year and years to come. We'd also like to take a moment and talk about our work that will begin and will continue with community partners to share publicly that we're looking forward to engaging with them throughout this expansion. [02:49:41] Included in tonight's presentation for members of the board is a letter of support from our North Central Ready Region partner, Foundation First. North Central Ready Region provides regional coordination, support, and accountability for all early childhood programs so that all young children have access to high quality learning regardless of where they live. [02:50:05] We are grateful for the support of Foundation First to ensure that our local preschoolers and daycares stay informed about our efforts and also know clearly how they can play a critical support role in partnering alongside us. [02:50:20] And finally, most importantly, we'd like to acknowledge our pre-K classroom staff. None of this work would be possible without the educators that work with our youngest learners every single day in our classrooms. And for them, we are truly grateful. [02:50:38] Before I turn it over to Dr. Bryant, I'd like to share a little bit about the skills and knowledge that she brings to leading this important initiative. Dr. Bryant began ban with PWCS this past November. She comes to us with extensive state level experience that enables her to see the entire landscape of early childhood education. [02:51:01] Just a few of her accomplishments and connections include not only serving on various networks at the state level, but also the Division of Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. [02:51:17] She is notably a subject matter expert for VDOE's early childhood special education, beginning educator support and training grant. And we know that that skillset will be one that we will tap into as we look to expand classrooms and increase our workforce over the next five years. [02:51:35] And I'll turn it over to Dr. Bryant. - Thank you for that, Dr. Ryer. I'm excited to be here tonight and provide you guys an update of what we have done over the last few months. Before we jump into everything we've been working on, I think it's important to understand the broader early childhood landscape within Prince William County. [02:52:00] Foundation First, which we mentioned earlier, has articulated a clear vision for Prince William that every child from birth to age five should have access to high quality early learning opportunities regardless of where they live or their family's income. [02:52:16] Current data indicate that Prince William County has approximately 21,859 children under the age of five. Across all sectors, including center-based providers, family childcare, and public school programs, there is only capacity to serve just over 18,000 children. [02:52:35] This, there remains an estimated unmet need of 3,800 early childhood spaces across our community. The financial impact on families is also significant. The median annual cost of preschool services ranges from approximately 17,000 to more than 20,000 per child annually. [02:52:57] Universal Pre-K is one strategy to address a broader community need, aiming to increase access to high quality early learning opportunities for all children and families in Prince William County. [02:53:13] Today, currently in Prince William County Schools, we serve children through multiple preschool pathways. During the 25-26 school year, we serve almost 2,000 four-year-olds. This includes students served through Virginia Preschool Initiative and Head Start, students receiving special education services in both classroom-based and resource settings, and community peers participating in reverse inclusion classrooms. [02:53:41] In addition, we serve 871 two- and three-year-olds through Head Start, early childhood special education, and reverse inclusion programs. Collectively, these programs represent approximately 35% of the projected four-year-old population according to our five-year planning model. [02:54:01] These numbers highlight both the strong foundation that already exists and the significant growth required to achieve our division's goals. To inform long-range planning, we needed to estimate future demand for publicly funded pre-K. [02:54:21] Among the four-year-old population projected for the 2030-31 school year. For long range planning purposes, we have developed assumptions around future birth projections and participation rates, considering space needs for approximately 83 to 86% of eligible births, using a range around the midpoint birth projection of 5,750 children. [02:54:48] This range is intended to represent a universal offering in which all families who desire publicly funded preschool through Prince William would have the opportunity to participate. It recognizes that preschool attendance is not compulsory and that not every family will pursue enrollment. [02:55:08] These figures are intended for long range planning purposes and may be refined as additional enrollment, birth rate and community demand information becomes more available over time. This slide outlines the significant benchmarks towards universal pre-K implementation in 2030. [02:55:30] In 26-27, our focus includes expanding access to full-day early childhood special education classrooms for four-year-olds, opening additional VPI-funded classrooms, and piloting three-year-old Head Start classrooms. [02:55:47] By 27-28, Washington Reed Preschool will open at full capacity, adding approximately 19 classrooms alongside additional school-based expansion and the implementation of a priority-based lottery and enrollment process. [02:56:04] Over the following years, the division will continue expanding school-based classrooms while planning additional preschool centers. By 2030-31, full expansion could mean a total of 285 universal pre-K classrooms, expanding access by approximately 146%. [02:56:27] This roadmap illustrates how universal pre-K expansion is expected to occur over time. Beginning with approximately 1,995 four-year-olds served in 25-26, PWCS anticipates serving an additional 145 students in 26-27, followed by continued annual growth with new classrooms and facilities. [02:56:53] The largest increase occurs in 2030-31 as new preschool centers are anticipated to open and additional school-based capacity becomes available. Overall, the roadmap reflects a phased implementation strategy that supports responsible growth and scalability. [02:57:15] As we enter year one of expanded implementation efforts, PWCS has prioritized strategic alignment across preschool programs to ensure greater equity and consistency for all learners. [02:57:30] Historically, preschool programming has operated across separate funding streams and program models. This phase of work focuses on creating a more cohesive and aligned preschool system centered on high quality experiences for every child. [02:57:47] To support this vision, year one priorities include four major strategic initiatives. Curriculum adoption, full day for all four-year-olds, formalized enrollment in our reverse inclusion programs, and enhancements to Washington Reed Preschool. [02:58:14] One of the most critical components of a quality preschool programming is the implementation of a high-quality curriculum. Research consistently shows that strong preschool curricula improves early literacy, oral language development, mathematical thinking, executive functioning, and social-emotional growth. [02:58:34] Our preschool teachers in Prince William expressed to us the need for a curriculum that better supports diverse learners and noted a desire for enhanced teacher supports and materials. As part of this process, we conducted a curriculum review and adoption process and selected creative curriculum as our new preschool curriculum. [02:58:56] Thank you to you all for approving that curriculum earlier this evening. All teachers will participate in summer training, receive ongoing coaching, support throughout this coming school year and have access to continued professional learning opportunities. [02:59:13] School administrators will also receive training to strengthen instructional leaderships and ensure alignment across our classrooms. Another major strategic priority is expanding access to full-day preschool programming for all four-year-olds. [02:59:33] Again, research demonstrates that children enrolled in full-day preschool programs show greater gains in early literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional skills compared to children in half-day programs. A study from the National Institute for Early Education Research also found that full-day preschool students often demonstrate stronger attendance patterns, improved classroom engagement, and greater readiness for kindergarten. [03:00:03] Reverse inclusion is one way PWCS advances inclusive opportunities for younger children. In these classrooms, typically developing children learn alongside children with disabilities under an early childhood special education teacher. [03:00:21] As part of universal pre-K expansion, PWCS is formalizing enrollment of community peers through an expanded eight-by-eight model, increasing access to full-day instruction, transportation, and priority-based enrollment opportunities. [03:00:44] Washington Reed Preschool represents a major milestone in PWCS's universal pre-K expansion efforts. This coming year, Washington Reed will transition to an independent school with its own principal and the addition of Encore programming, library services and counseling support. [03:01:03] This site will serve as both a high quality preschool learning environment and a model for future preschool expansion across the division. Looking forward, we will continue to communicate with families and community partners throughout the expansion. [03:01:24] We will soon partner with Foundation First to host a community town hall focused on universal pre-K, providing an opportunity for early childhood providers in the community to learn more about the initiative and provide feedback. [03:01:39] As we move into 2027, families will receive information about the priority-based lottery and enrollment process, while PWCS continues to monitor birth rates, enrollment trends, facility capacity, and funding opportunities to guide future planning. [03:02:00] Successfully implementing universal pre-K requires us to address two complimentary priorities, creating the operational capacity needed to expand access and ensuring that educational quality necessary to maximize outcomes for children. [03:02:20] On the operational side, Departments such as budget, facilities, transportation, food and nutrition, communications, and talent acquisition and employment are helping build the infrastructure required to support significant program growth across the division. [03:02:36] At the same time, the instructional work is equally critical. Departments including student learning, special education, student opportunity and multilingual services, tiered intervention and supports, and career and technical education are helping ensure that expansion efforts remain grounded in high-quality instructional practices and equitable outcomes for students. [03:03:00] This work is not simply about creating more seats. It's about creating high-quality early learning environments that fully leverage the critical window of early brain development and align with our goals of Elevate 2030. [03:03:20] Universal Pre-K represents an opportunity to transform early learning access for children and families across Prince William County. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to the children and families of Prince William County. and we're now happy to answer any questions that you might have anyone have any questions I think there isn't I I do have a couple questions I've been on the head start committee now for two years yes could you talk a little bit about the curriculum you know I was at a meeting that [03:03:58] the other day and they were talking about well learning the ABCs and math and so forth but the curriculum I think is a little different can you talk a little bit about that sure in the preschool world nothing that a student learns stands in a silo so when you really think about educating young children it's an overlapping of all the different areas of development that need to be addressed and so when we're looking for a quality curriculum the first thing we're looking for is that it's based in high engagement in play because play at an early age is learning [03:04:33] And in the early childhood world, we embed all the instruction, like early literacy, early math skills, into play. And so creative curriculum is a highly engaging play-based curriculum that has a very clear scope and sequence of what our children need to learn to be ready for kindergarten. [03:04:53] It addresses all parts of development, so not only the pre-academic skills that you need for kindergarten, but it addresses social emotional skills self-regulation fine and gross motor social skills with other peers so it's a fully encompassing curriculum for all areas of development the other question i have is uh there seems to be a pretty healthy wait list yes uh going forward with the new uh school with worsen reed is that going to help eliminate that the wait list some or [03:05:27] do we expect more well i have i may have had a different question than a week ago we're currently almost 500 have 500 more applications than where we were this point last year so while we had a wait list coming into the year the excitement around universal preschool and i think the awareness of what we offer has grown so we may have an even larger wait list with our attempts at opening even 145 new spots this coming year. [03:05:56] But our goal for enrollment in future years until we reach full capacity is to still have a priority based enrollment. So it's really important to us that we address the needs of the families on our wait list while also increasing access to families across the division. [03:06:14] Anyone else? Ms. Williams. I'm just going to keep it brief and say thank you very much. Oh, yeah. All of your hard work on this. Thank you. I know that several years ago, as I was working with Ms. Jessica from the board for the VPI plus, hundreds long wait lists at that time. [03:06:31] Yes, never gone down. There's no parent need. And I just congratulate you on the hard work. And I'm looking forward to hearing updates in the future as we progress along this road. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Walls. [03:06:49] Thank you for this presentation. I have received a lot of questions actually on this topic. from families, from providers of early childhood education in the private sector and others who wish they could be a part of the current program that we have right now and who haven't been able to get in. [03:07:11] So I think there is a lot of interest. Yes. I think there will be a lot of interest in this presentation. The community is interested in knowing what our thoughts are on planning this, and I appreciate the detail and the roadmap the strategic planning I know there's going to be a lot of work ahead I think everybody on the team who's done all of this work so far and I also know for our data analysis team who are going to be watching birth rates and demographics and how many kids come to kindergarten I'm sure that's a factor yes all right [03:07:47] because we kind of have an idea of how many parents choose to enroll in our schools for kindergarten as opposed to whatever else they decide to do so I do do appreciate the effort and the the transparency on the planning for this and I wish to thank you and everybody else on your staff both of you who has worked so hard on this thank you very much yeah thank you thank you guys very much I you know as you know I've spent a lot of time on universal pre-k and I appreciate all the presentations and the the back and forth and the preparation for this meeting in these slides and all of the work you all have done for this [03:08:25] absolutely incredible and we truly appreciate that you took into consideration the board's goals are elevate 2030 our our commitment to this program a first in class first and only in class type of universal pre-k program in the state of Virginia in the commonwealth you're building it on strong building blocks of head start vpi unit we're doing it I think in a very thoughtful, methodical way that is responsible both fiscally and from a space [03:09:01] capacity standpoint. I think this is very well outlined in the presentation. I truly appreciate it. I think as we talk about, you know, affordability and we talk about what it means to families for kids, you know, families with four-year-olds, this can be a savings of anywhere from eight to twenty five thousand dollars for that year based on how you do pre-k or child care um i think in prince william county it's more like 15 to 17 000 and and so this is a real saving for families uh especially for families who are going to have multiple children um this also you know [03:09:40] one of the other things that really i appreciate about this is that you know while while some say well you know it's it's only for four-year-olds well you know you're going to save money for that that four-year-old where you might then start your two or three-year-old in an early program where you couldn't have otherwise. And so this has a lot of unintended consequences that aren't really part of this program that actually have tremendous impact for families across our division in our county. [03:10:07] And I really am grateful for the work put in. Dr. McDade, I'm very grateful for the work you've put in on this effort. And so I look forward to supporting this program, making sure it goes. Thank you for the presentation. - Thank you. you dr mcdan thank you mr chairman this concludes superintendent time thank you okay uh up next is 1701 um um motions in order vice chair jesse i move the prince marina county school board approve the proposed amendment to the collective bargaining resolution do i have a second mr chairman miss [03:10:43] williams i second any discussion um mr mr jesse yeah i had a few questions from some people over over the last couple of days and i talked to uh mr wade about some of them uh can you point out some of the things that we discussed so mr mr anderson uh mr jesse's asking that you explain um some of the things you guys have discussed on the um core issues on the the motion tonight sure um mr chairman i think uh from some of the feedback we've gotten there's been some confusion [03:11:19] about what process this involves and just to be clear there are there are several grievance procedures there's the state grievance procedure which has exactly the same process that the amendment would be tonight there's the grievance procedure in the collective bargaining agreement itself which was negotiated with pwa and which contains the exact same procedure that we would be adopting the board would be adopting tonight and we're the you the ulp provisions the only one that has this provision. I think it's also important just to note that we have very few ULP [03:12:00] issues that by and large by far the most issues are grievances under the CBA which is under the exact same process that's being proposed tonight. So I just want to clarify that for people because I think there's some confusion and it is confusing because they're just different processes. I don't know if there's other questions. And just to my understanding there's under under one hand number of ulp um actual cases correct the bargaining started yes mr jesse did you okay um miss williams [03:12:36] thank you mr chairman um mr anderson just to piggyback on that if you could also speak to i'm not sure uh now we have three different these are three separate processes i just want to be clear and that's correct the section there's a lot of confusion about and um maybe you can help uh clear it up and i'll say in my general language school to school boards is specifically um are uh very particular about our ability for local control and control over our activities and there's a lot of I think questions around legally binding arbitration if you could speak to that in reference to what we typically see school boards in the code and anything else that I may it may [03:13:15] be relevant with that sure I guess a couple points on that for one this sort of came about when we We had a ULP that then pointed out that it was in conflict with Section 5 of the resolution. [03:13:32] That section, Section 5A1 on page 4 of the resolution, as amended, states that the resolution should not be deemed in any way to limit or diminish the authority of the school board to fully manage and direct the operations and activities of the board of the school division. [03:13:48] And the board retains exclusive rights which shall be considered prohibited subjects of bargaining including the below enumerated rights to hire promote transfer assign retain supervise evaluate schedule and classify all employees to establish criteria for all such actions and to make the ultimate decision as to which employees as to which employees such actions will apply so there was an internal inconsistency that arose between section 5a and then the section of the ULP that's on the agenda tonight as for your I think the - The second part of your question, if you could remind me was. [03:14:25] - Is there anything related to that that would help our public and especially union members understand when we talk about, excuse me, just lost a second, binding arbitration, sorry. Because it is a misnomer, I think, and other forms of collective bargaining outside of K through 12 education. [03:14:45] I think that carries a little bit different weight and is a more familiar process with collective bargaining than within K through 12 education. sort of a niche in that area well there certainly are cases that stand for the proposition that school boards are not allowed to have binding arbitration because under article 8 section 7 of the virginia constitution school boards are vested with the ultimate authority which includes to manage the school division which includes hiring fun firing as a core principle over its personnel again hiring and firing isn't really a ulp issue that's a that's there are grievance [03:15:20] PROCEDURES SET FORTH FOR THAT THAT MIRROR WHAT THE AMENDMENT WOULD BE TONIGHT SO I HOPE DID THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION I DID THINK YOU DON'T HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS I JUST HAVE COMMENTS WHEN I CONTINUE OR JUST UM WHY DON'T YOU DO YOUR COMMENTS AND THEN WE'LL MOVE ON THANK YOU I JUST WANT TO FOR ME I'M GOING TO BE SUPPORTING THIS I WAS ONE OF THE BOARD MEMBERS WHEN WE FIRST BEGAN THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS THAT DID NOT APPRECIATE HAVING THIS IN THERE BECAUSE I FELT THAT WE WOULD BE WHERE WE are today it the ULP process is not the same as other grievance processes it's [03:15:57] important I think it's important to note that there isn't a clean communication bridge when you talked about collective bargaining between the board and PWEA I think it is our duty to do a little bit more educating on the public from our end of how the process works because there's still significant misunderstanding. Also, this is not a reflection of anything other than the board being a corporate body as we are designated by Virginia State Code and Law. It is important that we keep in alignment with that. This does not in any way prevent the collective bargaining process from [03:16:36] occurring. What I will say as someone who is educated in conflict resolution and peacekeeping, my grievance with this process is lays at the state. The state is the originator of the law. There is much to be done, I feel, for collective bargaining to be equitable, not only for boards, but also for school employees. [03:16:57] And that is not up to this board. We are working within the confines of the law as it exists. And I look forward to working collaboratively on an individual basis, because that's how it is right now. When we discuss things with union members and board members, there is no sit down at the table with each board member and a head of PWA. [03:17:19] that is not how the process is structured. And I do believe that's a misnomer for our public. So I hope that as time goes on, we will all continue to work collaboratively and continue to educate ourselves on this process, how it is unique to K through 12 education and continue to be collaborative. [03:17:36] I appreciate everyone who came this evening to share their opinions, whether it is in favor or not of this amendment, because that is why we're here. I hope that again, we spend time staying updated the law and continuing to have can channels of communication uh that educate not only self not only the board but our public and union members thank you miss sarah um i don't think it'll come too much as a shock or surprise i'm not going to support this um but what i would like to see in [03:18:09] the future is um that we find a way that for pwea to be able to have discussions with the school division uh because even if it's something that falls within the letter of the law they the discussion is um an important part of building the relationship and and having um the the so-called seat at the table doesn't feel like a seat when you're not having the conversation so that's where [03:18:36] i stand this evening um who who was it erica or what what is that wilk mr wilk i'm with lisa on this i think this will destroy any type of rapprochement we would have with collective bargaining with the union at this time. Uh, I look at the timing of this and I would be more amenable to looking at this and having collective collaborative meetings before we moved forward with some type of change like this. Um, you know, you know, we, I heard a colleague mentioned about educating and talking this through and stuff like that. And I do agree that is important with this [03:19:16] amendment and such, but if that is the case, then I think there could be a delay in looking at this before we actually get into bargaining and such. So that's my position. - Ms. Trudenik. [03:19:33] - Well, I wasn't here when we voted this into place and I continue to believe that this has caused us more problems than good coming to this agreement. And for 153 years, I believe is what we figured out, Prince William County Schools ran without it. [03:19:51] And I still am anti-collective bargaining. I've never been quiet about that. I've always said it, I'm not supportive of this. And I think that we're sitting here because of this and it's taking up time and space of things that we should be dealing with. [03:20:10] And so again, I'm just not, I'm not for this. I think it was a poor decision. I think we've had to talk about this way too much and that further points to the fact that it was a poor decision. So unfortunately I don't agree with this and I am not a fan. [03:20:28] - Ms. Wall. We have here section 14 unfair labor practices under amendments under consideration. And this section is important. It outlines specific conduct that is prohibited by the school board and by labor organizations or its representatives or agents. [03:20:47] It outlines the procedure in the event that a claim is made that an unfair labor practice has been committed either by the school board or labor organizations. And it is that procedure that is at issue. And I appreciate the answers and information given by division counsel to help clarify some of the broader context, the structural context of the collective bargaining agreement. [03:21:06] And I feel like the answers that were the explanations that were given were very important and are germane to the issue tonight. School boards are elected or appointed to oversee public education in their respective jurisdiction and our power to do so stems from the Virginia constitution, article eight, section seven, which states that the supervision of schools in each school division shall be vested in a school board. [03:21:33] It is right, right, and our responsibility to supervise public education, Prince William County Schools. So in light of that, I wish to highlight an angle that, an analysis to this issue that I don't think has been raised, but is important to my understanding of what is the appropriate approach to take. [03:21:54] One important angle that I wish to highlight that you may not have heard articulated is the relationship of accountability with the citizen a board member holds but which the dispute resolution neutral in an unfair labor practice charge does not for me this is an important element of the question of where the appropriate power lies and what mechanisms of accountability to the citizen exist for any decisions that are made fundamentally i feel that if not amended this provision risks undermining our ability [03:22:30] to discharge our constitutional and legal rights and responsibilities by delegating them to unelected unchecked and unaccountable individuals of course no one is completely infallible but board review follows processes in other points of the bargaining agreement and thus puts in place an important check and balance on delegated power should a mistake or error or error of law or judgment occur this also importantly aligns the rights retained by the board in section 5 with the unfair labor charge process in section 14 and preserves our constitutional authority over key aspects of board supervision of schools these [03:23:08] are all very important it's a very structured argument but i feel like it is um essential that we get this right thank you mr blake okay please vote oh i'm sorry who's next mr jesse please i'm very mixed about what i should or should not do on this case and i want to make a potential [03:23:36] motion that the we table this for further discussion later yeah so so hold on hold on mr mr mr jesse um made a motion to table this and so we have to vote on table is there a second for mr jesse's motion and is that table it to a date certain mr jesse or just table is it there's a difference between tabling it indefinitely or table tabling it to a date certain i'd like to [03:24:14] table which would be what date the either next September 3rd yes which is the first board meeting of the of the new school year pardon which is the new the first meeting of the new school year yes okay so the motion is Dr. Lateef to table this to a date certain which is September 3rd and that's the motion on the floor at the moment oh September 2nd second September 2nd the first board meeting is there a second for that motion is there a second for that motion mr wilkes seconds the [03:24:53] motion uh any discussion okay um let's um so i um my discussion on this that i'd like to wrap this up tonight and i don't think spending any further time on this will um change a lot of minds here and i think um to get this sort of wrapped up in this school year i think is a good good idea to do that so i won't support the uh mr jesse's motion so at this time please vote on [03:25:23] mr jesse's motion are we doing it electronically okay you're voting no to table it if you if you vote no it's not to table and to vote tonight to complete it if you vote yes you're voting to table it to june or january or september september september the vote is three yes five [03:26:01] no latif blake trident wall williams motion failed okay so we're back to the original motion now um does anyone have anything to add mr blake yeah okay so i'll just read my remarks so before i explain this vote my vote tonight i just want to begin with you know reanimating whatever a majority of people up here said tonight what this amendment is not and this amendment does not change uh collective bargaining is not a change to any negotiated contract language it's not a change [03:26:36] to employee rights it does not eliminate in their employees the ability to file grievances pursue unfair labor practice claims or participate in the collective bargaining process those rights all remain intact i support this amendment because i believe it brings greater clarity consistency and accountability to our collective bargaining framework while preserving the rights of the employees and labor organizations first this amendment does not eliminate the independent review process for the unfair labor uh unfair labor practice claims claims would still be heard [03:27:15] by independent dispute resolution neutral who would review evidence conduct hearings hear testimony and issue written findings and recommendations that independent fact-finding process remains intact. [03:27:32] Second, this amendment aligns the unfair labor practice process with the school board's existing responsibilities and authorities. As elected officials, we are ultimately accountable to the public for employment decisions involving hiring, discipline, termination, and other personnel matters. [03:27:52] The proposed amendment clarifies that after an independent review has occurred, the school board retains responsibility for making the final decision consistent with the authority already vested in the school board. Third, this amendment does not reopen any negotiated contract provisions, change grievance procedures, alter timelines, modify remedies, or affect the current collective bargaining agreement. [03:28:20] Employees and labor organizations will continue to have the ability to file grievances and pursue unfair labor practice claims, just as they do today. I know some employees have expressed concerns about what this amendment means for future bargaining. [03:28:37] I respect those concerns. I appreciate those who have reached out to share their perspectives. Strong organizations are built through dialogue, and I believe those conversations are important. However, based on the information before us, this amendment does not alter the bargaining process itself, nor does it affect the upcoming round of negotiation. [03:29:01] It addresses only the final resolution procedure for unfair labor practice claims arising under the resolution. As a board member, I believe there is value in ensuring that our policies are internally consistent. [03:29:18] If the school board retains final authority over employee decisions, then our procedures should reflect that responsibility while still preserving independent review and due process. That is what I believe this amendment accomplishes. For me, this comes down to good governance. [03:29:35] We should have processes that are clear, consistent, transparent, and accountable. We should preserve employee rights, maintain independent review, and ensure that the elected body responsible to the public remains accountable for final decisions. Thank you. [03:29:51] Vice Chair Jesse. Yeah, I was hoping that the postponement would give us the opportunity to have a discussion with the union. But in all reality, I don't think anything would have changed as far as the way the resolution is written. [03:30:08] And I do agree with Mr. Blake. This is something that the school board should do and I will be voting yes for this. - Please vote. [03:30:36] - The vote is five yes, two no. Wilk, Zargarpur, one abstain. Tradenek, motion passed. - Okay, moving on to board matters. I think last time we started with Tracy Blake, this time Justin Wilk. [03:30:55] - Don't really have a whole lot of prepared remarks for this so I'll be pretty succinct. Wrapping up the school year since this is our last meeting before September, uh, for the public. And, um, I just want to thank, uh, everyone, uh, who's come to the meetings this year, uh, for the parents who've stayed engaged and communicated through emails or through let's talk or other methods of communication. I want to thank all of, of course, our teachers, um, and the multitude of times I was able to go into schools and visit [03:31:31] and see them with their craft, masters at it, and doing phenomenal work with the kids. Of course, I want to thank also the coaches for their mentorship and all that they're doing with the students as well for the different games I went to. I want to thank our administrators. We have some phenomenal principals, as Dr. McDade highlighted, too, in the Potomac District with Khan Academy and then of course we had one last year with the Khan Academy as well so good things are happening in Potomac we've seen congratulations principal Whitney who's going to be the principal [03:32:11] of the Potomac Shores Elementary School and that's really exciting to to see that progression and that school opening up in a year which will be phenomenal it's been quite the year between different things uh the boundary process i thought was fairly seamless and collaborative with the boards uh that was a uh gosh that was quite a process especially primarily with the potomac district but i'm very happy again with the collaboration and the teamwork that we put into [03:32:44] that and i think um overall the vast majority of people were relatively pleased there weren't going going to always be people wanting exactly what they get with the boundaries because you have to move people from schools to fill a new school. So that was a process this year. I'm just trying to reflect. Obviously, it's come to the culmination of the graduation ceremonies. I went to the Forest Park one. That was on Saturday. That was a special occasion. And thanks for my colleagues who attended that event with me. And then on Monday, I went to the Potomac Senior High School graduation [03:33:23] ceremony. And that was a great event as well. Tomorrow night is the independent school and that'll wrap up graduation season. And then last night was an eighth grade promotion ceremony at Potomac Shores Middle. And then next week, I'm going to try to do five fifth grade promotion ceremonies. So a lot of crazy fun stuff happening. But I'm looking forward to the end of the school year and the break that will come of course also for our students our staff and hopefully our administrators get some time off as well so with that being said unscripted end of the night I thank you all for attending these meetings and [03:34:02] have a great summer miss Erica Trudon thank you I just want to say congratulations to all of our sports teams that are making it to regionals and states. I know that for some of them school is over, but states is in a few weeks, and so best of luck to you on that since we don't really get to chat about the spring season until the fall. [03:34:28] I'm going to read my letter to the class of 2026. As you celebrate this incredible milestone, I find myself reflecting on a truly special full circle moment. Many of you began your journey in Prince William County schools when I started volunteering in our schools, watching your smiling faces walk into kindergarten. This week I had the privilege of seeing many of those same faces walk across the graduation stage as confident, accomplished seniors. One of the greatest joys of serving as your school board member has been watching your journeys unfold. I've loved hearing about your plans and dreams. Students heading into the careers they've always imagined. Athletes continuing their education while playing the sports they love. Future scientists preparing [03:35:08] to make discoveries that could change lives. Young entrepreneurs helping grow family businesses. interns gaining valuable experience this summer and even those looking forward to a well-earned vacation filled with the fish they plan to catch along the way each of your paths is unique and that is what makes this graduating class so remarkable there's a big world waiting for you one filled with opportunities challenges adventures and experiences that will help shape who you become i have no doubt that you are ready your talent perseverance and character have prepared you well. It's been an honor to play a very small part in your journey as Prince William [03:35:44] County students and as members of the Brentsville District community. I cannot wait to see what you accomplish next. As you move forward, please remember that you always have a home here. Please come back and tell us your stories and we'll be cheering you on every step of the way. Congratulations to the class of 2026. We're proud of you and excited for all that lies ahead. And finally, a special congratulations to my boy. I'm proud of you. Stay focused, Work hard and continually follow Jesus in all that you do. [03:36:13] I love you, Micah. - Miss Lisa Cesar. - Well, good evening, everyone. I have attended many, many graduations and want to just share a couple moments that I found meaningful. [03:36:30] One was being at Colgan's and it was Dr. Healy's last graduation. And his comments to the students were that, you know, they're forever connected and they were both leaving at the same time, and it was a little, leaving me a little misty-eyed, but I'm so glad that he had 10 years at the school. [03:36:53] Colgan will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary this weekend, so I will pop over there and see what's going on at Colgan. At Hilton's graduation, there was a really great moment when a student named Kenny came and sang "My Way." [03:37:11] he he has a great voice and it was a great moment to watch everybody just really listen to him and they took out their phones and did the flashlights on the phones. Osborne Park had an a choir of not just kids singing but they also had staff and that was a great moment again another super memorable thing that just made that one so special and not my school but I want to mention Unity Reed because they had a little fewer than 500 graduates, I believe. [03:37:47] And 300 of them were first generation students, which was really something. And the principal asked students who had taken IB courses or advanced classes or whatever to stand. And it was amazing to see how many things the students had accomplished and what they'd done in their time there. [03:38:06] And it was just a truly that made it memorable because it was just so you know the everyone in the crowd was so so um the cheers for their for their students um and how proud they were came across so uh those were the the moments that stuck out the most to me um other than the traffic from leaving or coming and going but that was you know not the best part but um i wish everybody a great restful summer if you just graduated i wish you the absolute best in whatever you're doing next and i will see you all in september miss wall congratulations class of [03:38:44] 2026 it's been so rewarding to attend your graduations over the last few weeks pace west started it out that's my very favorite graduation every student gets a personal tribute and it's so i wish we could do that for every student across the division but it's just really amazing to hear their stories and see the growth and have staff praise them for what they see in that individual student, so congratulations to Pace West. I have been to Brentsville District, Battlefield, Gainesville, Colgan, Osborne Park, kind of the western half of the schools. Every graduation has been awesome and the speakers have all been so [03:39:20] inspirational and excellent across the board. So if you have been to a graduation you know what I'm talking about. I look forward to Independence tomorrow evening and Thomas Jefferson coming up. Just absolutely awesome. [03:39:39] I have been to, I went to the Mustang Mall at Regan Middle on Monday. Wow, what a crazy day. It was the market day, so all the eighth graders had brought their product to market, and they were marketing it to the sixth and seventh graders. [03:39:54] And it was outside, and the weather was amazing. So, nice job, Regan. The senior walks have been really fun. I've been to some of my elementary schools, Alvy, Gravely, Mountain View, Regan, and Bull Run. And this is also a really fun tradition that I really missed when I was a new board member in 2020 because we didn't do it because you know we all know why I will not say the word so it's just so fun to see that we have these meaningful traditions and I spoke a lot about ritual at my last my blast board matters the importance of ritual and that's one of the rituals I love um [03:40:29] let's see my attendance at graduations has caused me to reflect on the way we We think of time, and it's really a Western notion to think of facing your future, looking into the future, and seeing the future. [03:40:48] Well, nobody really can see the future, right? But in the West, we think of time as a forward-facing exercise on a linear of the past behind us and the future in front of us. But in a lot of Eastern religions and Eastern philosophy, time is the opposite. [03:41:05] You face the past because you can see the past. can see back on days that have already happened but you can't see the future so the orientation would be the futures at your back and you're facing the past and I've thought a lot about this as I've sat in graduations because our graduates are facing their futures and the future is unknown and they have the whole they have their whole lives in front of them and there are so many decisions that are going to be at play in the next decade of their lives, so many people that will [03:41:42] come into their lives to help them and guide them, so many important choices that need to be made. It's the most defining decade between 20 and 30 or 18 and 28. So I just want to say to the graduates and their parents, because it's also probably the most difficult time for parents when your kids are going through this defining decade, stay close, keep communication open, talk to your kids listen to your kids and as they move into adulthood be there beside them but let them make the decisions as they go forward and learn and grow and become thriving adults i have last [03:42:18] thoughts on time in my remaining 22 seconds um this is a poem time flies on wings of lightning we cannot call it back it comes and passes forward along its onward track and if we are not mindful the chance will fade away for life is quick in passing tis as a single day congratulations class OF 2026 WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF YOU GOOD NIGHT MS WILLIAMS THANK YOU MR CHAIRMAN AS WE WRAP UP OUR LAST SCHOOL BOARD MEETING OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR I WOULD LIKE TO START OFF BY SAYING HAPPY PRIDE [03:42:52] MONTH AND HAPPY JUNETEENTH AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SON WHO IS A JUNETEENTH BABY I BELIEVE THERE IS A PITCHER MAYBE COMMUNICATIONS GOT IT UP MAYBE HOPEFULLY IT'S COMING THERE IT GOES I JUST would be very very remiss if i did not send a special shout out to all who helped pilot unified robotics this year it was a very small pilot program but it seemed apropos since we celebrated robotics these is this is a robotics with our special needs and our general education students for me that's myself and some of my fried lane babies it was a very special honor [03:43:28] to be a part of the pilot i just want to take time to thank all of those who participated in it it was a very interesting year for me i think i spent four or five days being a robotics coach and the amount of work that goes into robotics it is a sport a few of our schools have it as a club still but it is such a tremendous effort and the reward is amazing and um i just had such a unique and really from the bottom of my heart awesome year in working with uh this pilot for unified and i can't wait to see it grow uh countywide next year for robotics really was fun uh my godson [03:44:06] often participated in and unified uh programs when he was a student here and did special olympics so for me it was also an opportunity to say i also got to touch the special olympics torch which i never thought i would do but it was even more amazing to share it with the students so i just want to say thank you to all those who helped pilot that program especially to to Ms. Lowery for all your hard work. [03:44:27] Moving on from that, I also wanna say congratulations to our student representatives for serving as well. I cannot say it enough. I look forward to working with the new student representatives and undertaking the challenge left behind. And hopefully the new students will also bring forth challenges to keep us accountable and on our toes. [03:44:46] I too also went to mini graduations. It is one of my favorite times of year between, this is one of the first years of Ms. Gov School. There are so many. We celebrate Gov School, our traditional high schools. Independence is tomorrow. We have nursing and so many other graduations in addition to our promotion ceremonies. [03:45:05] They are all truly wonderful. I hope that some of our students will come back in the future and share how their educational experience impacted them as they move forward so that we can continue to have some knowledge transfer and growth and to see and hear firsthand from our students, their experiences as they move forward into the future. [03:45:25] It's not too late. There are still some summer programs available. I hope if you have not signed up with them, that Parks and Rec offers a plethora of programs in addition to Prince William County Schools. For those who do not know, there are sliding scales available. If you go to a Title I school, there's also financial assistance available too. [03:45:45] So please don't count yourself out. Because of finances, there are options for every level for students who want to continue in the summer. Not last, but I also like to take time again to thank all of those who participated in the naming ceremony for naming selection for Woodbridge, the now new Woodbridge Elementary. [03:46:06] It is an extreme honor to be able to open the next academic year, the first brand new elementary school in my district in decades. It is a beautiful building and I am so excited for the upcoming school year. I know that the neighboring school, Fred Lynn, has plans to work with the elementary school. [03:46:24] It's a beautiful building and we're very, very excited. I know the little ones are, to be opening this elementary school. Thank you to all of our staff here at the division level and our staff who will be manning the building. It's gonna be an exciting time. Special graduation shout out to Ms. Adrienne who will be graduating tomorrow from Independence. [03:46:45] It's my goddaughter. And I just wanna leave you with saying, this the academic school year may be over in a few short days, but the work for our board and for our division staff and our teachers does not end because the last day of school is what it is. The board will continue to meet in the summer. [03:47:02] Our staff also will continue to work. And so with ending with that, thank you. And every day is a learning opportunity. It is our job that we continue to do so, so thank you. - Mr. Blake. [03:47:18] - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, good evening. As this is our final board meeting of the 25-26 school year, I'd like to just take a moment to reflect on the many opportunities I've had to engage with students and staff and families since our last meeting. [03:47:36] So I've attended, I attended the Bevel Middle School 7th grade choir performance. I attended field day at Enterprise Elementary. I was back at Bevel again for the National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony. [03:47:52] And then I got to come here to the Kelly building and honor our rising teachers who just graduated from our RTR program. So I was here for that teacher apprentice program resignation. [03:48:08] And then I also attended Field Day at Minnieville. And like a lot of my other colleagues, I also had the privilege of attending numerous graduation ceremonies last week and this week. [03:48:25] I attended Colgan, Forest Park, Hilton, Garfield, and Freedom. So congratulations to the class of 2026. And just last night, I was super proud to cheer on-- this is what I call them, the cardiac wolves. [03:48:41] The Garfield High School soccer team, we punched a ticket to the state playoffs, winning 5-3 in penalty kicks last night over Osborne. So next week we play Kogan. We'll host Kogan. Oh, it's tomorrow. [03:48:56] Oh, yeah, Thursday. We host Kogan tomorrow. Yeah, Thursday. Oh, that is. See, I'm off. Anyways, so everybody will be there tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow, too. Right. But while each of these events was different, they all represented something. [03:49:15] larger and they reflected the journey of our students. So as I reflect on this school year, I'm reminded that student success is never the work of one person. It is the result of teachers who go above and beyond, support staff who keep our schools running and administrators who lead with purpose and intentionality, families who encourage their children and community partners who invest in our schools. [03:49:47] Here we have celebrated achievements, worked through challenges, and continue to create opportunities for our students to learn, grow, and thrive. As we move into summer, I hope families take advantage of the many summer learning and enrichment opportunities that we have available throughout our division. [03:50:06] Learning doesn't stop when the school year ends, and these programs provide valuable opportunities for students to continue building skills and preparing for the future. And I will just close with this thought I stole from listening to Doc. So falling down is not failing, staying down is. [03:50:28] So that's very powerful because, you know, I wrote it down. So this year, this year, our students have shown us that setbacks don't define us. How we respond to them does. You can fall, but you can also rise. [03:50:47] when you rise you often discover strengths you never knew you had so thank you and have a safe and wonderful summer mr jess before i forget i want to wish everybody a happy summer and enjoy yourself and uh you know godspeed also i want to congratulate all the students who are graduating this year uh wish you very success in the future and so forth so the other thing i want to say i - I did attend a few more things and I have been able to since the last meeting. [03:51:26] One of them was a teacher apprenticeship scholarship program. I think there were 29 students who got their scholarship as teachers and are coming back to work in Prince William County. [03:51:42] I think that's an amazing thing. The most interesting person there was this gentleman who went to Occoquan Elementary School is teaching in Occoquan Elementary School. And now, once he becomes a full teacher, he's going back to Occoquan Elementary School. [03:52:03] So that's really, to me, was sort of amazing. I also want to say that I attended Woodbridge's graduation in Garfield. The last two years, I attended a whole bunch of them. [03:52:19] This year, I cut it down to two. Why Woodbridge, of course, is because it's my high school. Why Garfield? I live in the Occoquan district. Ken Bodie, who is an Occoquan supervisor, lives in the Occoquan district. [03:52:35] But our kids go to Garfield. My kids graduated from Garfield. So the boundaries of the district does not necessarily mean that you're going to go to the school in your district. So that's the reason I went to Garfield this year. [03:52:53] Again, I want to wish everybody, one other thing I wanted to say to Dr. McDade, like for you, you know, I like the thriving futures, but to me, what we're missing is the most important thing, is our academic. [03:53:14] I like some way that the people who are doing well, the schools who are doing well, not only from the state recognition, but from our recognition, I think we have a goal of 85%. I think we have schools already doing that. [03:53:31] Somehow, I think we need to make it as exciting coming in here for sports, making it exciting some way for academics. So that's my two cents on sticking to it. [03:53:46] - Thank you, Mr. Jesse. Well, I'm gonna leave this time for just thank yous. First, I wanna thank the citizens of Prince William County for trusting the school board with the most valued asset in this county, and that's our children and our school division. I wanna thank our incredible faculty for taking us through another school year and getting our students across the finish line, no matter the challenges those students faced. [03:54:11] They depended deeply on our faculty and our teachers and our administrators and everyone in our buildings to make that happen. I wanna thank our families for trusting this school division with their children. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THAT AND WE CONTINUE TO HONOR THAT RESPONSIBILITY WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE. [03:54:31] I KNOW THIS SCHOOL BOARD AND I'VE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH THEM. EVEN WHEN I DISAGREE WITH THEM ON MULTIPLE ISSUES, I AM GRATEFUL TO HAVE A CHANCE TO WORK WITH THEM. I THINK THIS BOARD HONORS RESPECT OVER AGREEMENT AND THAT SHOWS IN THE ABILITY OF THIS BOARD to come to consensus on a variety of challenging issues, and as many remember, this year started out in a very challenging phase. [03:54:57] There were threats of federal cuts to the school division and challenges to different pockets of our student population for a variety of different reasons, and the school board deftly navigated that in a way that we accomplished a strong end to another great school year. [03:55:16] I wanna thank Dr. McDade for her strong work, her fifth year completed with this board uh tremendous success uh a completed first strategic plan and the launch of a new strategic plan the future is only looking bright um i have um i want to thank our clerks laura anna liliana danielle everyone in the clerk's office for really taking a lot of time to make sure our meetings go smoothly truly appreciate it i want want to take a chance to thank our director of communications, Diana Gulotta, her team for Thriving Futures Focus. As you saw today, it's not easy to get everyone in here, to get it right. [03:55:56] There's still a lot of things we're going to have to honor next school year for the rest of the, for this spring, as you heard from Mr. Blake and Mr. Denik of our great athletes who are still competing, who hopefully will have some state championships to brag about next fall, or actually frankly next week and and we have I don't even think we touched the world robotics positions and the the final finalists in the science fair that all of those things came in late so a lot of great things to celebrate I want to thank Diana a lot of staff and I'm going to read the names because these folks help make these meetings go we have Maria de la Favre Wendy de Petro [03:56:33] dr. Kyle Trott Megan Megan Silas Tim to Walt John McHoud Jim Lep Mike Davis indira levine raul rosado jimmy davis john jimenez marco salinas i'd like to thank our director of information technology aj phillips and staff members howard pond olajuwon olajuwon sims alex camacho raymond noel john jenkins andrew choi kevin um saragioli marus maricchio martinez these meetings would also not be possible without our outstanding custodial team led by [03:57:11] Erda Fernandez and our top-notch security team led by Ron Crow I want to thank you and and our folks at the Prince William County Police Department this has been another great year I want to thank everyone for everyone in this community for allowing us the honor to take care of our again our most valued asset and that's our children with that I want to close out this academic school years last school board meeting and wish all of our graduates tremendous success in the future i wish all of our juniors to get a head start right now in college applications and i look forward to our sports teams continue to do well with that the meeting is adjourned ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com