I. Welcome and Introductions

Attendees: Olivia Beckett, Angie Yeh, Melissa McClellan, Kelli O'Loughlin, Jordan Fischer, Rose Quint, Cathy Balfanz, Megan McCourt, Caitlin McCourt, Kaaren Jurack, Rana Kahl, Renae Robinson, Elija Robinson, Vanessa Olson

• Please remember to sign in using the QR code

II. Chairperson's Time

• • Review and Approve September 2023 Minutes
  • Review last meeting's questions: Chronic Absenteeism-breakdown numbers
    • 10% of school days (18 days), excused and unexcused
    • 634 students last year: 18-98 full day absences, 56.4% excused absences, Doctor's notes asked for in some cases
  • Evolv update
    • "Walk throughs" tomorrow and Wednesday as practice
    • Three doors operational at drop off, then just Door 1
    • Colgan is one of the last schools to go live
      • Gainesville HS observed: 33% false positives first day, down to 10% second day

III. School Stakeholder Reports:we are working to reach out to leadership in these groups to have cleearer message from the organization

• • • (PTSO, Athletic Boosters, CFPA, Student Leadership, SACI, Other)
      • Presented differently this year: more streamlined presentation in the future from Kelli

IV. Principal's Time

• Requested Data
  • College Data from last three graduating classes
    • Self reported, not exact data
    • Post-Secondary Plans passed around for classes of 2021-2023
  • PSAT
    • October 18
    • Seniors don't come to school
  • SAT during school day on October 26
    • No cost to students with opt out (assumed seniors will take it)
    • 550 students
    • Regular school day for all other students
    • Date for juniors in March, no details yet
  • Disciplinary Data from last three years
  • • Includes suspensions and non-suspension data
    • Vaping is a continued challenge
    • Parent Questions: Do offenses go on transcripts?
      • No, but go in student folder
      • Colleges don't get disciplinary data
    • Parent Question: What is the disciplinary consequence for bring a weapon?
      • Default for any weapon is a 5-day suspension based on severity
    • Generally a safe community at Colgan HS
      • Tipline is used by students and taken seriously
        • Posters and See Something Say Something app
      • Tardies and vaping are two biggest offending behaviors
• Next meeting: Continuous Improvement Plan
  • School division has a Strategic 5-Year Plan
  • In alignment with division, targeted areas of focus
    • Shared with faculty, central office team, and PAC
    • Not static plan, modifications made

V. Round Table: Presentation Discussion

VI. Q and A:

• AP Test Data
  • will present in the future
• Athletic tryout info: starting earlier? concern about overlap between fall and winter season
  • Students guaranteed 3-day tryout
  • Virginia High School League dates, not set by Colgan
• Rent musical opens this week
• Homecoming is inside this year
  • Security will be at dance
• Question about book choices.
  • No books have been banned
  • A few parents in PWC have challenged books at all schools
    • Committee formed and reviews
  • Books that plan to be used: parents receive 30-day notice and can opt out if book is not on school division's list
  • School division put out list of explicit books at beginning of the year.

VII. Adjournment

• Meeting adjourned at 8:12 P.M.

Remember to sign in using the QR Code if you haven't already

**Next meeting: Monday, November 13, 7 pm in the Colgan Library

I. Welcome and Introductions

• Revision to October minutes: The default for any weapons violation is 5 days suspension. Based on the situation, the student can receive additional penalties.
• Minutes will be brought back in January with revision. Will approve both the October and November minutes in January.
• Please remember to sign in using the QR code

II. Chairperson's Time

• Review and Approve October 2023 Minutes
• Review AP Test Data
  • AP Test data is moved to the next meeting. We are working on registering all students for AP tests. We are honoring a student with a perfect score on the AP Spanish exam.
• Evolv update
  • EVOLV Update- We are getting increasingly better. We have a 3-5% hit rate (where students identified for further screening). Makes students feel safer. From the buses around 7:00- 7:02 students sprint to the door. From about 7:02 to 7:12 there is a long line. By 7:15-7:18 lines are gone. We are hoping that rain continues to stay away. Kids are getting used to the system. Discussions have been dialed back on using these systems for every event. But we are keeping bag policy. The Evolv system was not used at homecoming.
    • Question: If buses get here before 7, can they come in early?
    • Answer: We do not let students in early because we do not have the staff to supervise large numbers of students before 7.
• Capacity
  • This year our enrollment is over 2900 students. Our official capacity is 2080. We are overcapacity by a large elementary school. This is the first year we feel over capacity. We could eliminate the entire Senior Class and still be over capacity.
    • The CFPA nets the school about 100 students
    • We have 31 teachers that float
    • Class sizes are generally ok. We are surviving with the use of the 10 trailers.
• Feedback on Homecoming
  • Students reported it was great. There were over 2,000 students in attendance.

III. School Stakeholder Reports:we are working to reach out to leadership in these groups to have cleearer message from the organization

• (PTSO, Athletic Boosters, CFPA, Student Leadership, SACI, Other)
  • SACI: We held the first meeting of the year in November. Dr. McDade presented the state of the school division. This is the same presentation that was provided to the school board in October. We are seeing improvements, but we are still working on our subgroups. Specifically we are working to address the needs of our Hispanic population. We also discussed the attendance policies. We are not going to see the school pull back on their efforts to push for attendance.

IV. Principal's Time: Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) presentation

provided with an overview of the Strategic Plan

• • Learning and Achievement for All
    • Area of Focus: EL students will increase pass rates on SOL exams
      • Current rates
        • Reading: 86%
        • Writing: 68%
        • Science: 66%
        • Social Studies: 60%
        • Math: 67%
    • Area of Focus: SPED students will increase pass rates on SOL exams.
      • Current Rates
        • Reading: 86%
        • Writing: 69%
        • Science: 68%
        • Social Studies: 61%
        • Math: 68%
    • We are working on strategies to reach these goals.
  • Positive Climate and Culture
    • 23.12% of students were identified as chronically absent. This is 677 students. The rate is 29.59% of Hispanic students (179 students).
      • Goal- Decrease percentage of students who are chronically absent from 23% to 19%. We are giving a special focus to our Hispanic students.
        • Q1 data- We have 531 students who are chronically absent (18%).
        • Highest day of absenteeism was Oct 30. SAT data was the 2nd highest, last day of Q1 was the 3rd highest.
  • Family and Community Engagement
    • We have a 81.7% satisfaction score. We want to increase it to 84%.

  All schools must have a CIP plan. On Wednesday we will be meeting with representatives from central office to update on goals.

  V. Round Table: Presentation Discussion

  VI. Open Comments:a time to bring up issues for discussion at our next meeting

  • open discussion of the issue will be limited until appropriate information can be gathered
    • General Questions
      • Question: Retakes- Are teachers allowed to create own policy or is there a general policy?
        • There is not a whole school policy, but all blocks of classes should have the same policy (ex. Algebra I).
      • Question: Parent Liaison- Can we talk about this position?
      • Question: Bus Liaison- Do we have a person in this position that can communicate changes to transportation?
      • Question about forbidden books
        • Answer: Colgan does not have a specific forbidden books list. There is a regulation that has a list of books that requires teachers to notify parents about the book.

  VII. Adjournment

  • Meeting Adjourned 8:37. Next meeting January 8, 2024.

  Remember to sign in using the QR Code if you haven't already

Attendees Timothy Healey, Melissa McClellan, Chase Durgin, Sam Durgin, Kelli O'Loughlin, Jessica Durgin, Melissa Johnson, Vanessa Olson, Simone Jackson, Rana Kahl, Christine Romer, Rose Quint, Kaaren Jurack, Becky Maurer, Claudia Smith, Cathy Balfanz

Meeting Called to Order at 7:02, Kelli O' Loughlin, Chair, Colgan PAC

I. Welcome and Introductions

• Please remember to sign in using the QR code

II. Chairperson's Time

• Motion to Approve November 2023 Minutes passes

III. Principal's Time: Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) presentation

• Requested data
  • Next PAC Meeting topic: budget
    • Superintendent presents her budget to school board. Dr. Healey gets allocation February 9. He has five business days to prepare budget. Will talk about the budget at the next PAC.

• AP Exam Data presented by Mrs. McClellan, liason to College Board
  • 1693 students taking the test this year, 2024
  • Data given for 2017-2023, including number of exams, average score, percent of exams scoring 3 or higher, Virginia percent scoring 3 or higher, global scoring 3 or higher.
  • School division has a goal to increase access to AP classes. Rigorous classes are gateways to higher education.
  • PWCS pays for all AP exams
  • Last year was the first year the College Board gave digital exams in some courses. Seven total. Eventually all courses will be offered digitally.
  • Questions:
    • Colgan is above the rest of the state in many areas except math.
      • Statistics- lower enrollment in recent years, higher pass rates.
      • Calculus has had more turnover. Math department is taking a hard look at prep classes prior to calculus. Working on finding the right vertical progression.
      • College Board gives detailed breakdown of test results. Mrs. McClellan provides this data to teachers to prepare instruction.
      • Comment: Some parents say that students get A's in class, but the teacher did not prepare them well for the test.
      • Question: Do students lean towards DE for college credit?
        • In English, some will take DE senior year because it transfers to colleges better than AP Lit.
        • The challenge for providing DE is that teachers need a masters or higher in the subject.
      • Comment- Parent who has had several children go through calculus at Colgan and she said teachers have improved at Colgan over time.
      • Anyone can take an AP course, even if the course is not offered. If not enrolled in the course, families need to pay for it.
      • Registration final date is March 15.
      • Question: How are students encouraged to take AP?
        • Equal Opportunity program from county gathers Student Insight Cards that provides student feedback. Teachers and counselors have conversations with students during academic advising.
      • Question about AP US Gov scores and possible improvements to the course.
        • AP US Gov, teacher went to training. College Board is now offering project-based training. DE Gov is now being offered, so maybe that is why enrollment is down.
      • Latino student club is holding event to encourage students to take AP classes.
• Course Selection
  • Junior Family Info night is tomorrow night.
  • January 22 AP/ DE Info night will be restructured. Better job of presenting what those classes entail to help parents understand what’s involved.
    • Parent comment- some students panic because of the messaging received by the teacher at the beginning of the year.
      • Dr. Healey mentioned that they reiterate positive messages to teachers.
    • Comment: Benton has not sent out info about Rising 9th Grade Info night on Jan. 17. Colgan counseling will reach out to Benton counseling.
    • New classes are being offered. Data Science is an exciting offering to encourage seniors to take a math.
    • Dr. Healey is pushing for students to take full courses senior year and is pushing back on reduced course load. Parents will be required to write a letter.

IV. Open Comments:a time to bring up issues for discussion at our next meeting

• Parent Question: Any concerns about qualified teachers for next year? Any incentives for teachers to major in specific subjects for DE?
  • Concern about the teacher shortage. Trend is still there.
  • Incentives from government and educational institutions.
• Parent Comment: PSAT feedback- digital created a more chaotic environment with everyone taking breaks at different times, student was not directed to find the tools for the math portion and didn’t know where to find them until the end. Student felt like it really impacted her score.

V. Adjournment

• Meeting adjourned at 8:28 PM.

Remember to sign in using the QR Code if you haven't already

Meeting called to order at 7:07 pm, Kelli O'Loughlin, Chair, Colgan PAC

I. Welcome and Introductions

• Motion to approve January 2024 minutes approved

II. Chairperson's Time

• Review and Approve January 2024 Minutes

III. School Stakeholder Reports:We are working to reach out to leadership in these groups to have clearer message from the organization.

• Parent representative Claudia Smith brought forward information from the February Superintendent Advisory Council on Instruction (SACI) meeting regarding the Budget and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Shakeel Yusuf, CFO. He has been 30 years in public service, and he noted that this is the first time in all of his public service life that he saw the actions reflecting the vision and the plan in place. In the second portion of the presentation, Dr. Matthew Cartlidge, Supervisor of Planning, explained how projections were calculated. Vernon Bock, COO, Heather Diez, Director of Facilities, and David Beavers, Supervisor of Planning & Financial Services, were also in attendance and contributed information.
  • Funding comes mainly from Prince William County (46.7%), through our property taxes, 7.4% from our Sales Taxes, and State Aid (40.8%). Federal aid accounts for less than 3%
  • Funding has been allocated as follows: 9% of our budget goes to central support, 79% to instruction, 6.1% to facilities Mgt., 4.9% to transportation, and the remaining 1% to reserves.
  • The enrollment projections were mostly decreasing, which surprised the greater majority of attendees at SACI. The presentation only mentioned significant growth in Early Childhood Special Education. Note: Numbers excluded VPI, Headstart, Virtual Learning, and Pre-K speech. Current enrollment shows a higher number in High School than in the lower grades. This means that in ten years those lower numbers will be at the High School level. Statistics showed an increased migration towards Richmond as well, and the rate (variance between the years 2018 and 2030 ) of new construction showed a decline for PWC as a whole.
  • Representatives raised questions regarding the decrease in projected enrollment. The statistical methodology has changed from years past. The rise in families working from home was also given as explanation. Overseas immigration is taken into account by seeing an increase in numbers in a specific grade (for example, Grade 1) that was not present in the prior year (in this example, it would be Kindergarten), and as such, this variation explains immigration to the area, independent from where it comes from.
  • Parent Representatives also raised questions regarding the addition of space needed within just a year of a building being inaugurated. The changes in methodology in projection computations are trying to correct this long-term. In the short-term, management is working with Principals.
  • Representatives raised questions regarding the budget for the Arts/musical instruments. The decision to eliminate student fees for instruments has impacted the budget, but the main office is working with grants and special programs to replace old or damaged instruments. There are also additional grants that schools can apply for.
  • Colgan is operating with close to 400 additional students than the original projection. Its capacity without portables is at 2053. The new 14th High School would assist with the projected Colgan’s student availability of -840 to -1,004. Yet the 14th High School’s opening has been delayed by two years to SY2029-2030 and reduced in size by 1,400 students due to the projected reduction in enrollment in the higher grades by 2030. The slides presented and the debate by current and future representatives (those in elementary and middle schools zoned in this area) was evident during the Q&A on where these numbers were coming from.
• Regarding the budgetary process and how parents can provide input:
  • On February 7, 2024, Superintendent McDade presented her proposed budget to the school board. YouTube Link to Dr. McDade's presentation
  • On February 12, citizens had the first opportunity to address the School Board. The school board does not have the authority to generate funds.
    • 1. A second public hearing will take place on February 21, 2024.
    • 2. Each parent can email our School Board Representative. They will take the opinions and information they receive into their work sessions geared to adopting a final budget proposal on March 20, 2024.
    • 3. That proposal is then presented to the County Board of Supervisors in April 2024.
  • *This is a projected budget based on current numbers.
  • *The majority of PWCS funds come from Prince William County and the State.
  • *Interesting note: One-penny rate cut in property taxes equates to a 5.7 million dollar decrease in the School Budget. Parents and public can advocate for the funding levels that they deem appropriate at the state and local levels.
• Also, SACI presented the new PWCS catalog for courses tied into a variety of tracks for the future of all our students. See more at catalog.pwcs.edu

IV. Principal's Time: Budget Fiscal Year 2025

Dr. Healey presented the Superintendent’s Budget Proposal highlights and the process for the county budget, as well as Colgan’s Budget FY2025 specifics, as they continue to work on the plan that will be presented as first Draft on February 21, 2024.

• The Superintendent's Budget Proposal (Selected Highlights)
  • Full proposal available at www.pwcs.edu
  • Superintendent proposed budget to the school board on February 7, 2024
  • School Board Approval of Budget- scheduled for March 20, 2024
  • Board of County Supervisors Approval of Budget - TBD (Note that they cannot veto a line item)
  • Employee pay increases
  • Health insurance premium increases of 3% only to PWCS employees
  • Supplemental pay rate adjustments
  • Budget aligns with Prince William County Supervisor Strategic Plan
• Colgan High School Budget Specifics (selected highlights)
  • First draft of budget due Wednesday, February 21 (based on proposed budget received by PWCS)
    • Colgan has about a week to a week and a half to present their proposal changes
    • Colgan is looking to add 2 English Teachers, 2 Math Teachers, 1 Science Teacher, 1 ESOL, and 1 Gifted Teacher
    • CFPA program has a classification of gifted in the arts. Therefore, and given the CFPA specialty at Colgan, our gifted student numbers are fairly high in comparison to other schools
    • PWCS and Colgan added funding for additional Teacher Assistants SPED and one Athletic Assistant
    • Note: PWCS allocates the cost of each teacher the same across all levels of tenure to avoid impacting each school’s budget. PWCS calculates this cost by averaging their workforce and making sure that all benefits and manpower costs are included. This method allows each school to hire the best-qualified teacher from those who apply.
    • Students of varied abilities have a budget that is allocated by program. This allows the entire program/class to be funded, independently of the class size.
    • Activities are budgeted considering the number of seasons that they take place. This is the reason that Cheerleading seems to have additional funding, but they have additional seasons, as well.
    • Colgan is looking to propose a budget based on actual numbers now, not the reduced number provided, as that number of enrollments was from the beginning of the year, and we have had many additional students since then.
  • Modifications to school budger will be due in early May (based on approved budget)
  • Final amendments to school budger (based on September 30, 2024 student membership)
  • Next steps:
    • PAC input
    • Department Chair input
    • Personnel decisions (usually 91 to 93% of the budget)
    • Department Supply/Equipment Request
    • CIP plan and schoolwide priorities
    • Adjust staffing all through spring, Academic Advising, and monitoring of student membership numbers as they continue to roll in

V. Round Table and Open Comments

• Parents thanked Dr. Healey for pointing out the need to have a full schedule for Seniors
• Request from Parents to the Advisory Counselors to verify that classes recommended to/for students are aligned with prerequisites.
• One parent brought up the upcoming re-zoning in the Parsons' area, the additional Data Centers and the 250 housing developments happening in our district. If you who like more information about this, contact Jamie Van Echo [email protected]
• Future SACI Meeting Topic: Family Engagement and Parent Liaisons’ work presentation and panel discussion. Requesting questions or items of relevance to bring up at that March meeting (Second Thursday of each month).
• Music Tech does not have enough levels. Can this be evaluated?
• Could the instruments that are not being used anymore, for exanple, the guitars, be added to Music Tech?

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm

I. Welcome and Introductions

• PLEASE remember to sign in using the QR Code

II. Chairperson's Time

• Review and Approve February 2024 Minutes

III. School Stakeholder Reports:If you are attending the meeting as a representative of one of these groups, please let the chairperson know prior to the start of the meeting.

• (PTSO Athletic Boosters, CFPA, Student Leadership, SACI, other)

IV. Principal's Time

• Parent Liaison Introduction/Presentation
• End-of-Year Status Report

V. Round Table and Open Comments

VI. Open Comments: a time to bring up issues for discussion at our next meeting.

• open discussion of the issue will be limited until appropriate information can be gathered.

VII. Adjournment