I
want
to
begin
this
evening
by
saying
-
Thank
You!
Last
week
we
launched
what
was
perhaps
the
most
highly
anticipated
and
complicated
school
opening
in
our
Division's
history
-
and
it
was
done
successfully.
I
am
so
immensely
proud
of
every
one
of
our
employees,
students,
and
parents
and
guardians.
While
there
have
been
critiques
of
public
education
-
let
me
just
say
that
in
the
middle
of
the
greatest
global
pandemic
in
a
Century
-
while
others
argue,
pontificate,
or
vacillate
-
PWCS
got
it
done.
Everything
we
have
asked
of
our
employees
in
the
last
six
months
has
been
accomplished,
and
more.
Here
are
just
a
few
examples:
We
asked
our
employees
to
launch
new
platforms
including
Canvas,
Zoom,
and
Virginia
IEP,
along
with
a
unique
50/50
scheduling
in
the
Hub,
and
all
new
paperless
and
online
return-to-learn
forms
-
and
they
did
successfully.
The
successful
launch
of
these
new
platforms
is
the
direct
result
of
the
hard
work
of
our
central
office
support
staff
along
with
the
work
of
every
school
including
our
administrators,
school-based
support
staff,
and
teachers.
We
asked
our
employees
to
provide
devices
to
support
students'
remote
learning.
And
before
the
first
back
to
school
day,
our
schools
handed
out
more
than
44,000
devices
to
support
remote
learning,
including
the
delivery
of
18,210
new
laptops
in
just
the
past
two
weeks.
We
asked
our
employees
to
continue
to
hire
and
process
applications.
This
summer
they
hired
more
than
700
new
employees,
including
nearly
600
instructional
staff.
We
asked
our
employees
to
prepare
to
deliver
remote
instruction,
using
PWCS
lessons
and
curriculum.
To
support
this
learning
15,515
courses
were
created
in
Canvas
by
our
Student
Learning
staff
and
teachers
before
the
first
day.
We
asked
our
teachers,
many
for
the
first
time
in
their
careers,
to
deliver
instruction
completely
remotely.
And
we
asked
our
students
and
families
to
receive
this
instruction
remotely.
The
first
week
we
had
nearly
34
million
page-views
in
Canvas
by
students.
Almost
nine
million
assignments,
discussions,
media
uploads
and
files
were
loaded
into
Canvas
the
first
week.
Division-wide,
nearly
70,000
Zoom
meetings
were
held.
Let's
a
take
look
at
a
brief
video
montage
of
some
of
what
the
first
week
looked
like
-
run
video.
The
first
few
days
had
the
expected
challenges
as
everyone
adapted
to
the
use
of
these
new
platforms,
but
thanks
to
the
incredible
help
desk,
school
front
desks,
and
our
great
Instructional
Technology
Coaches
-
they
helped
thousands
of
people
via
calls
and
help
tickets
last
week.
The
technology
itself
was
executed
with
great
success,
the
issues
were
primarily
around
password
and
log-in
challenges,
and
as
the
days
have
progressed,
these
numbers
have
continued
to
steadily
decrease.
We
asked
our
employees
to
move
all
our
typical
first-week-of-school
paper-based
forms
to
be
provided
online,
and
we
asked
our
families
to
complete
their
forms
online.
We
asked
our
employees
to
complete
nearly
12,000
IEPs
before
the
first
day.
And
they
did.
We
asked
our
employees
to
provide
PPE
to
everyone
who
needs
it,
and
our
amazing
Office
of
Finance
and
Risk
Management,
with
support
from
our
Student
Services
and
Special
Education
offices,
provided
more
than
385,000
items
of
PPE
by
the
first
day.
We
asked
our
employees
to
support
our
most
vulnerable
learners
in-person,
and
they
did.
In
the
first
week,
I
personally
visited
Occoquan,
Dale
City,
and
Lake
Ridge
Elementary
Schools,
as
well
as
Unity
Braxton
Middle,
and
everywhere
I
went
I
met
employees
who
were
working
with
positive
attitudes
and
doing
everything
they
could
to
support
our
students.
Let's
take
a
look
at
a
VIDEO
of
a
teacher
of
special
needs
students
at
Occoquan
Elementary
-
roll
video.
We
asked
our
employees
to
find
a
way
to
support
our
students
and
families
needing
meals.
During
the
first
week
of
school,
PWCS
served
13,000
students
on
September
8,
and
21,000
students
on
September
10.
More
than
320,000
meal
equivalents
were
served
for
the
week.
The
meals
are
inclusive
of
breakfast,
lunch,
supper,
and
snack
for
five
days,
plus
supper
and
snack
for
two
days.
Service
times
are
Mondays
and
Thursdays
from
12-6
p.m.
and
complete
details
and
locations
are
available
on
the
PWCS
website.
Channel
7
-
WJLA
-
recently
spotlighted
this
program,
let's
roll
the
video…
We
have
the
best
employees
-
and
I
am
proud
that
Forbes
Magazine
has
recognized
this
during
the
Covid-19
pandemic.
They
recently
named
PWCS
as
the
top
School
Division
in
the
state
to
work
for
and
named
us
as
the
11th
best
employer
overall
in
the
state
of
Virginia.
For
comparison,
the
next
closest
school
division
on
the
list
was
Loudoun
at
21st,
Fairfax
Schools
were
ranked
31st,
and
the
Prince
William
County
Government
was
ranked
42nd.
This
was
based
on
an
external,
independent
survey
of
employees
and
is
a
great
testament
to
the
amazing
culture
we
have
here
in
our
School
Division,
especially
during
a
pandemic.
As
I
stated
at
the
beginning,
I
am
so
proud
to
be
the
Superintendent
of
this
amazing
School
Division.
It
is
clear
to
me
that
when
you
want
something
done
-
ask
the
public
schools
to
do
it.
We
are
already
beginning
to
focus
on
what's
ahead.
I
am
pleased
to
announce
that
thanks
to
the
advocacy
of
our
School
Board
and
the
partnership
with
the
County
Board
of
Supervisors,
we
have
received
an
additional
$20
million
in
CARES
funds
to
help
with
immediate
needs.
With
this
funding
the
School
Division
will
be
able
to
deliver
on
our
four-year
Digital
Equity
Plan
in
less
than
six
months.
This
plan
was
presented
in
January
and
approved
by
the
School
Board
in
April,
to
provide
computers
for
every
student
in
PWCS.
This
is
a
remarkable
achievement
for
our
Division
and
will
help
our
students
and
teachers
for
years
to
come.
We
now
begin
to
turn
our
attention
to
the
preparation
to
the
2nd
quarter,
as
I
have
been
directed
by
the
School
Board
to
update
you
all
this
evening.
As
you
know,
in
July
the
School
Board
unanimously
adopted
a
directive
that
stated,
in
part,
that
"it
is
the
goal
of
the
Division
to
transition
to
a
50
percent
Capacity
In-Person
and
Distance
Learning
Model
for
the
second
quarter,
with
the
option
for
students
to
remain
virtual,
while
maintaining
flexibility
throughout
to
adapt
to
public
health
guidelines
as
needed."
The
implementation
of
this
model
is
incredibly
complex
and
is
essentially
a
reset
to
a
new
school
year
requiring
immense
work
by
all
our
support
staff
and
schools.
It
is
imperative
that
should
the
School
Board
choose
to
deviate
from
this
plan,
staff
must
be
informed
as
soon
as
possible.
While
remaining
in
the
status-quo
-
essentially
continuing
the
first
quarter
model
into
the
second
-
can
be
implemented
quickly,
moving
from
virtual
to
in-person
requires
substantial
logistics
that
have
already
begun.
For
your
reference,
based
on
the
ParentVUE
data
collected
last
month,
approximately
61,000
students
indicated
they
will
return
in-person
and
32,000
would
prefer
to
remain
virtual.
We
will
also
be
reopening
ParentVUE
near
the
end
of
the
month
to
allow
parents
and
guardians
the
opportunity
to
update
their
selection
of
virtual
or
in-person
for
their
student,
or
students,
in
the
second
quarter.
This
information
will
be
critical
as
we
prepare
to
implement
the
50%
model
starting
in
November.
Here
are
additional
key
considerations
regarding
the
second
quarter:
Multiple
Board
Members
have
asked
regarding
what
options
are
available
for
the
second
quarter
including
starting
with
elementary.
All
student
schedules
have
already
been
built
on
the
50%
model,
as
such,
there
are
three
main
options:
1.
remain
status
quo,
essentially
what
we
are
doing
now
in
the
first
quarter
or
2.
implement
the
50%
model
for
all
levels,
or
3.
phase
in
the
return
to
the
50%
model,
such
as
starting
with
K
through
third
grade.
And
as
a
reminder,
if
we
implement
the
full
50%
at
all
levels
the
high
school
start
time
will
revert
to
7:30
a.m.
in
the
second
quarter,
under
the
phased
approach
with
K-3,
the
high
school
start
time
will
remain
at
the
later
start.
The
50%
model
is
predicated
on
three
feet
of
social
distance
for
most
classrooms
with
face
coverings
required
for
nearly
all
students
and
staff
at
most
times
including
bus
riding.
At
this
time,
the
Prince
William
Health
District
considers
Northern
Virginia
to
have
low
community
transmission
of
COVID.
The
current
COVID
case
incidence
rate
in
Prince
William
County
per
110,000
is
13.7%.
Just
today
we
received
new
guidance
from
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
with
guidance
on
school
re-openings.
We
will
be
working
the
Prince
William
Health
District
to
review
this
information
and
if
any
changes
are
needed
to
our
plans
based
on
this
new
information.
Should
COVID
remain
at
current
or
increased
levels,
there
is
the
likelihood
that
positive
cases
may
occur
within
schools,
and
that
may
require
staff
and
students
to
quarantine,
as
in
just
the
past
week
we
now
have
six
students
and
11
staff
in
two-week
quarantine.
There
is
the
potential
for
an
inconsistent
impact
across
the
County
as
infection
rates
vary
greatly
by
zip
code.
Transportation
will
begin
scheduling
routes
as
soon
as
the
ParentVUE
data
is
up-to-date.
Due
to
reduced
capacity
in
order
to
meet
social
distance
requirements,
our
bus
routes
will
require
double
runs
at
every
school
which
is
very
complex
and
our
staff
have
already
begun
this
work.
Staff
will
need
to
adjust
student
scheduling
based
on
the
ParentVUE
data
and
staffing
at
the
start
of
October.
While
we
believe
we
can
meet
the
staffing
needs,
however
there
may
be
increased
staffing
impacts
if
staff
must
return
in
person,
as
staff
may
change
plans
based
on
child
care,
health,
or
other
concerns.
Our
amazing
Human
Resources
Benefits
staff
are
working
hard
with
our
schools
right
now
to
verify
this
with
each
employee
who
has
indicated
such
as
concern.
In
the
50%
model,
teachers
in
some
classes
will
be
assigned
both
virtual
and
in-person
students.
The
second
quarter
is
scheduled
to
begin
November
4.
This
is
the
day
after
the
election
-
and
what
may
be
a
high
turnout
day
and
will
bring
many
people
into
nearly
every
PWCS
building
as
they
are
used
for
polling
places.
As
such,
we
would
remain
in
the
current
model
on
November
4
in
order
to
provide
additional
cleaning
time
for
those
areas
used
for
the
election.
Additionally,
we
know
that
teachers
will
need
additional
time
to
prepare
their
classrooms
and
the
new
safety
protocols.
To
meet
this
need,
November
5
and
6
we
will
require
teachers
to
report
in-person
while
providing
"on-demand,"
also
called
asynchronous,
instruction.
The
first
in-person
50%
day
will
be
November
10
-
with
a
reminder
that
November
11
is
a
holiday.
Despite
these
enormous
hurdles,
our
staff
is
already
hard
at
work
and
I
have
every
confidence
-
just
as
they
rose
to
the
challenge
to
meet
the
first
day
of
the
new
school
year
-
they
will
do
it
again.
I
want
to
close
this
evening
by
again
thanking
our
teachers,
our
administrators,
our
support
employees,
our
students,
and
our
parents
and
guardians
for
coming
together
as
a
community
and
rising
to
the
challenge
of
the
Covid-19
pandemic.
I
spoke
a
few
weeks
ago
about
how
this
would
be
a
community
effort
-
and
you
all
delivered.
We
will
continue
to
partner
in
the
weeks
ahead
as
together
collaborate
to
provide
a
World-Class
Education
for
every
student.