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Manassas board reviews 2026–27 professional learning plan and expanded summer offerings
Summary
District leaders outlined a structured 2026–27 professional learning schedule (school-, teacher-, division-directed time), and presented summer school dates, sites, and enrollment plans including ESY for students with disabilities; board members pressed for comparative data and clarity on selection criteria and goals.
The Manassas City School Board received a presentation on the 2026–27 professional learning plan and on summer learning offerings, including Extended School Year services for students with disabilities.
Erica Lo, presenting in her director of professional learning role, said the plan creates three time categories — school-directed, teacher-directed and division-directed — and increases teacher-directed time to give teachers more uninterrupted planning and collaboration time. “For the 2026–27 school year, three distinct time allocations will be used,” Lo said, adding the district is not rolling out new initiatives next year to avoid overburdening staff.
Board members asked how CLTs (collaborative leadership teams) would be scheduled and whether early-release days previously used for parent conferences would remain available for teacher-directed work; presenters said February would remain a parent-teacher conference date but other early-release days would be 100% teacher-directed unless schools choose otherwise.
Interim director of instruction Betty Joe Winnham described the summer learning schedule: K–8 programming at three sites (Round Elementary, Mayfield Intermediate, Osborne High), June 22–July 9, daily 8:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.; classes are planned with whole-group ELA and math blocks plus small-group rotations, targeting roughly 75 students per grade and class sizes of 18–19. High school summer programming will run June 15–July 23 with varied modalities including boot camps and course-advancement options; Osborne’s summer enrollment was projected to increase and was informally reported by staff to be approaching 700.
Erica Lo explained ESY services are provided at no cost and are determined by IEP teams under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). ESY sites will run concurrently with summer school: Round Elementary for early childhood–grade 4 and Mayfield Intermediate for grades 5 and up, with an anticipated 50–60 ESY students and staffing plans that include seven teachers and 14 instructional assistants.
Board members pressed for post-program goals and data collection; presenters said growth tracking will rely on data dashboards tied to approved instructional platforms and that rosters and program goals will be finalized after registration.
