School board frames student outcomes as top priority, sets presentation schedule

The Manassas City School Board agreed at its work session to frame student outcomes as the division’s primary priority for the coming year, with stakeholder engagement and vision/planning as supporting priorities. Chair Seabert summarized the intent: the board should align around a clear strategic priority and then use a consistent reporting template from schools and staff.

Board members debated whether to label items “priorities” or “goals.” One member said the division’s strategic plan already names student academic success as the top priority and recommended categorizing the board’s work as goals that support that priority. “I think priorities is actually the wrong word to use for this because our 1 priority is student academic success,” one member said, urging clearer language.

Members asked staff to create a uniform school-profile handout that would include attendance, SOL and other assessment results, program information, and a concise “glows and grows” (strengths and areas to improve) summary. The board discussed timing and logistics for school presentations, with options to bring principals in either individually or by subset and to tie presentations to forthcoming school performance framework scores.

Staff and cabinet will refine the working calendar of academic-content presentations and return a more detailed schedule and item descriptions for review at a future work session.