Prince William County Public Schools

School Board Meeting of June 20, 2018

Select this link to view the agenda on the Electronic School Board webpage.

Select this link to watch the School Board meeting on PWCS-TV.

The School Board Approved:

• Agreements with Manassas City Public Schoolsand Manassas Park City Schools for their students to participate in several Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) programs for the 2018-19 school year;
• The School Board Chairman signing documents pertaining to application for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to receive appropriate federal program funds;
• Authorization to the Superintendent and supervisor of Purchasing to award summer contracts to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder(s) and approve change orders from June 21 through September 5, 2018;
• Authorizing the Chairman to execute utility easement documents for portable classroom relocations to meet school opening and operational requirements for the 2018-19 School Year;
• Contract award for interactive white boards, projectors, sound systems, and AV integration to Virginia Integrated Communication and Clinton Learning Solutions, in accordance with established criteria;
• The FY 2018 encumbrances and unencumbered balances; and increasing the FY 2019 fund budgets by these amounts. These amounts will be provided to the School Board as soon as possible after June 30, 2018;
• The license agreement between Sinclair Elementary School and Trustees of Hope Lutheran Church Missouri Synod for use of the adjacent church property for drop-off and pick-up of students, and for the Chairman and Clerk of the School Board to be authorized to sign any necessary documents pertaining to the Agreement;
• The Prince William Workforce Center Memorandum of Understanding Addendum, July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019, and authorization for the Superintendent of Schools to enter into this Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the School Board;
• Annual tuition rates and fees for FY 2019; and that daily tuition rates are to be the annual rates divided by the number of required instructional days;
• Revision of Policy 351, "Reporting, Investigating, and Prosecuting Fraud, Embezzlement, and Other Financial Irregularities." View the justification. View the current policy with proposed revisions;
• The first amendment to the real property lease agreement with T-Mobile Northeast LLC for the existing telecommunication tower at Forest Park High School, and authorization for the Chairman and Clerk of the School Board to sign any necessary documents pertaining to the Amendment;
• The Development Impact Statement to the Prince William County government about the impact the Gainesville Crossing rezoning will have on the School Division by allowing a mixed-use development consisting of 1,150 residential units and approximately 796,000 square feet of non-residential uses. Click to view the location of the 13^th High School, as it is mentioned in the Development Impact Statement;
• The Development Impact Statement to the Prince William County government about the impact the Brady's Hill rezoning will have on the School Division by allowing residential development consisting of up to 59 multi-family units;
• Authorizing the Chairman to appoint Gil Trenum and Loree Williams to a committee to recommend a proposed model for the Office of the Ombudsman, pursuant to Policy 122.02;
• May 2018 payroll in the amount of $57,725,922 as shown on the recapitulation sheet, pursuant to Virginia Code § 22.2-122(C); and
• The School Board meeting minutes for June 6, 2018.

Citizens' Comment Time:

• Cooperation from the schools and the School Board to work with local non-profits to address topics such as mental health, avoiding gang violence, internet safety;
• Civil leave/administrative leave for Prince William County School employees who wish to take time off for election officer duties;
• Tuition and fee collection;
• Motion to transfer the Office of the Board Clerk to the supervision of the Superintendent that was removed from the agenda;
• Employee moral;
• Having certificated staff not actively involved in instruction spend one day per semester in the classroom;
• Woodbridge High School specialty program replacement;
• Westridge Elementary School administration concerns; and
• Woodbridge High School turf field.

Staff Presentation Topics:

• FY 2019 Budget/CIP Update.
• Discussion to amend the charter of the Infrastructure Task Force to expand its mission and scope to address and reduce overcrowding and to optimize class size, as reflected in the revisions to the Approved Charter.
• Discussion of proposed changes to Regulation 601-1, Instructional Objectives.
• Discussion of proposed changes to Regulation 562.02-1, Certificated Personnel Workday and Responsibilities.
• Discussion of proposed changes to Regulation 542.05-1, Personal Leave.
• Discussion of proposed changes to Regulation 346-1, Tuition.
• Discussion of plan to eliminate interim reports.
• Discussion of plan for certificated staff not actively involved in instruction to spend one day per semester in the classroom.

Superintendent's Time:

• I would like to begin by congratulating the graduating class of 2018.
  • This year, our graduates earned more than $74 million in scholarships. This is nearly $18 million more than last year.
  • The total includes 19 military academy appointments and 50 athletic scholarships.
  • Congratulations Class of 2018. We are very proud of your many accomplishments, and wish you tremendous success.
• A team from Ronald Reagan Middle School capped off a successful season with a second-place win at the 2018 Odyssey of the Mind World Finals.

• The tournament was held at Iowa State University with more than 835 elementary, middle, high school, and college teams from around the world competing to solve complex problems before a large, international audience.

• Congratulations to LoriAnn Pawlik, a fifth-grade teacher at Penn Elementary School. Ms. Pawlik earned the Prince William County Public Schools Excellence in Science Teaching Award.
• I recently had the pleasure of attending three outstanding community events-the annual Ramadan Interfaith dinner, the Optimist International Club of Manassas Education Awards ceremony, and the amazing National Capital, A Cinderella Ball, honoring special needs youth, military personnel, and students from The House Student Leadership Academy.
• I also enjoyed attending one more graduation ceremony - Brentsville District High School.
• I would like to share an update on the practice field at Woodbridge High School. In January, a portion of the practice field caught fire, likely caused by someone shooting off fireworks.
  • This slide shows a picture of the damaged field. At the time, members of the community and school staff expressed concern that the field was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt.
  • The Office of Facilities Services recommended that we allow the field to grow back because the grass is Bermuda and has a deep root system.
  • I am happy to share a recent picture of the field showing that the grass has grown back, and the field is now being used.
• There is no way I could conclude my remarks without recognizing that tonight is the last Board meeting for our amazing Associate Superintendent for Finance and Support Services, Dave Cline, and our Human Resources Associate Superintendent, Keith Johnson.
  • Both have been essential to the School Division and these Board meetings for a long, long time.
  • No one has a better understanding of how to get the biggest education bang for the buck from a school budget than Dave Cline.
  • As you've seen, he has encyclopedic knowledge of where every dollar comes from and how it's spent. That helped us to continue growing and succeeding through tough financial times that created severe issues for other School Divisions, and it's led to successful budgets year after year, without any employee layoffs.
  • Dave's team management skills helped us to run one of the biggest transportation fleets in the nation; to open and operate the equivalent of nearly a hundred restaurants every day; to keep our schools safe; and to build and open 23 new schools and upgrade dozens of others on time and within budget. He will be a hard act to follow.
• I've had the honor of working with Keith Johnson for well over two decades and in three different school systems.
  • He has turned our Human Resources Department into the recipient of the Division's highest stakeholder satisfaction ratings year after year.
  • That is not easy to accomplish when you have to recruit, evaluate, and hire more than 800 teachers a year.
  • Or deal with the concerns, the changing needs, and professional development requirements of more than 11,000 employees.
  • And he has done this with fewer staff, but more empathy, effectiveness, and expertise than just about anyone around.
  • He will be missed.
  • Both of these gentlemen have given more to this School Division, their colleagues, and our students than we could ever repay.
  • They richly deserve all the great experiences that retirement will bring.
  • And I ask them both to stand and be recognized.
• Finally, I am grateful to all of our stakeholders, employees, parents and guardians, and, of course, the students of Prince William County Public Schools for their help and success this year. Thank you to our elected officials, business partners, and our community for supporting Prince William County Public Schools. I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable summer and look forward to our students returning on August 27 for the beginning of another great school year.

Volume 13, Number 19 - Publication Date: June 21, 2018