Board of County Supervisors Meeting - Work Session - May 19, 2026

meeting

Prince William County Board of Supervisors 3h 53m 3 speakers 7 agenda items transcribed 2 months ago official recording ↗

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: agenda · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What public comments raise concerns about special education settlements and school district legal spending?

Deshundra Jefferson 0:00

Take a seat. Yes. It is 2 o'clock on Tuesday, May 19th. We're going to begin with a moment of silence.

Deshundra Jefferson 0:28

Thank you. I'll rise if you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we are going to begin today's work session with public comment time. Do we have anyone signed up?

Deshundra Jefferson 1:08

And while I'm waiting for our clerk to come down, I just want to let everyone know, if you're signed up to speak, please begin by stating your first and last name in the Magisterial District where you generally reside. Up there on that screen, you will see how much time you have. You have three minutes. And let us begin. We have Dr. Kimberly, I should know how to say, Melman Aronco, and Kevin Parker. So if you guys can... GET IN THE LINE. DR. KIM, YOU MAY BEGIN. I'M A RESIDENT OF THE GAINSVILLE DISTRICT. I FIRST WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU ALL TO COMMEND YOU. THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW BIPARTISAN BOARDS WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO DO SOMETHING TOGETHER THAT IS MEANINGFUL, THAT IS TRANSPARENT, AND YOU DESERVE PRAISE FOR THAT.

Deshundra Jefferson 2:01

Specifically, I'm talking about how you recently reduced the Prince William County Schools budget by around 30 million, and you had the school come and explain to you why there was a increase in their budget, but a reduction in registration. I watched the response that you've received from Dr. Barbara Lateef, and that's only part of the truth. So let's talk about the whole truth. The reality is one of the things that they didn't talk to you about is the number of complaints against the schools from parents with children with disabilities has skyrocketed. The number of settlements has also gone up. I was one of the parents that they tried to settle with. They offered me $20,000 if I signed an NDA with teeth.

Deshundra Jefferson 2:48

They did this after there were multiple Virginia Department of Education findings that they were in violation of the IDEA and the ADA, and specifically one of those letters of findings said that they had a quote unquote fundamental misunderstanding of the roles and responsibilities for students. I am just one parent. After they tried to get me to sign a $20,000 NDA with teeth, they proceeded to spend a half a million dollars litigating against me.

Dr. Kimberly Melman Aronco (public commenter) / Connections speaker (multiple references) 3:15

And I'm not the only one. I've also served as a pro bono advocate for another parent. I encourage everybody in this audience, everybody watching this video, to look up the case of Prince William County Public Schools versus Lassiter.

Deshundra Jefferson 3:27

There is now appellate court precedent that names me, Dr. Mel Minerosco, as the pro bono advocate for this child, not my child, another child. They also spent about a half a million dollars there. In that case, I asked your Prince William County Schools administrators, will you settle? Will you offer even a penny? Will you remediate these failures? They wouldn't offer a penny. In the end, the hearing officer ordered $150,000 of private placement, and now we have appellate court precedent confirming that what happened was right and just. I encourage you to continue your investigation into Prince William County Schools. And actually, I would go a little bit further. I'm actually also asking for the U.S.

Deshundra Jefferson 4:10

Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and any other federal authority to look into this because public school districts receiving federal education funds are generally required to provide assurances and certifications that they're complying with federal disability laws, the IDEA and the ADA. Noncompliance and saying that they're compliant when they're not is a big problem. With that being said, the last thing with the 14 seconds I have is you should also look into Wade Anderson, who's the current school board attorney. He is the former employee of where they're spending all these million dollars on law firms. So he's a former employee of Sands Anderson, and you should know that. Thank you.

Deshundra Jefferson 4:52

Next speaker, please.

Richard Wyman (Principal in County Transportation / DOT staff) 4:56

Can I have the thing here?