Coraggio Consulting
City of Fairfax School Board Regular Meeting, Monday, June 1, 2026

Date: Monday, June 1, 2026
Place: City Hall, City of Fairfax, Virginia
Length: 1h 9m (video)
Official meeting video (city, Granicus): https://fairfax.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=4568
Agenda: https://fairfax.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=4568
Minutes: https://fairfax.granicus.com/MinutesViewer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=4568&doc_id=0aaf3ae3-601c-11f1-9b4d-005056a89546

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:14] Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight is June 1st of 2026 and this is the regular meeting of the City of Fairfax School Board. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands, my nation, with God.

[00:00:38] Okay, we have no changes to our agenda and there are no announcements. So our first item is the adoption of the agenda. May I have a motion please? Madam Chair. ms kelsey i move that the city of fairfax school board adopt the agenda as written and distributed may have a second i second okay ms kelsey moved ms bartle may second it all those in favor signify by saying aye aye none opposed the motion passes unanimously okay so next we're going to move on

[00:01:13] to our student recognition this evening and so i'm going to turn it over to ms dorsey um who is going to manage the recognition but i will ask board members and our student reps to come down to stand in front of the diaspora pictures while they are coming down we will get ourselves ready and thank you everyone for coming we are so excited that you're here it's one of our favorite nights tonight we get to celebrate our outstanding students who make the city of Fairfax schools so special a quick note before we begin we're gonna call the students by category we are gonna take an official picture with the school board and the superintendent and

[00:01:52] our student reps and then we are going to give the families a chance to take pictures themselves. So please wait until our fantastic official photographer takes a picture. All of these pictures that our photographer takes are going to be on Facebook, City of Fairfax Schools, probably, hopefully, by the end of the week. So let's go ahead and get started. We are going to start with our youngest student today, our Daniels Run singer. Will Antonina please come?

[00:02:28] Antonina is Daniel's-run student. Antonina was part of the Organization of American Kodai Educators, which is, we're going to call it OAK.

[00:02:47] I know they're coming too. We'd also actually like to invite her music teacher, Ms. McCartan, to come down to take a picture. The OAK National Choir represents the highest level for elementary choral music for students whose teachers are members of the organization.

[00:03:04] Students auditioned in October for submitting audio recordings, which were reviewed by a National Chorus Committee. Those selected were placed in one of four youth choirs organized by grade level. Antonina was part of our elementary school. She got to travel with her family to Chicago to perform at the Chicago Symphony Hall.

[00:03:21] It's an incredible musical achievement, and we would like to thank Ms. McCartan for sponsoring this because someone from Daniel's Run has attended for the last 10 years. Thank you. Thank you, Antonina.

[00:03:52] And Ms. McCartan, can you stay one more time? Because we have two middle school students, Grace and Rania, can you please come? Grace and Rania were part of our middle school Oath members. Again, one of the highest achievements for a middle school chorus student.

[00:04:10] We want to thank them both for representing Catherine Johnson Middle School and our city of Fairfax schools.

[00:04:16] We are going to move on, but continue with musical excellence.

[00:05:15] Will Amelia please come from Catherine Johnson? Amelia was selected to the 2026 All-Virginia Middle School Chorus, which is the highest honor for a middle school student in the state of Virginia.

[00:05:31] It's a tremendous achievement, and we are so proud of her. Thank you. Congratulations, Amelia. Jang here? Nope.

[00:06:05] We are going to move on to high school. Mr. Smith, you are excused. Thank you, Mr. Smith, the principal of Catherine Johnson Middle School. It is obviously a busy time for Fairfax high school students. Our seniors graduate on Wednesday. We're so excited, and tonight is also the Fairfax High School sports banquet, so we know a lot of our seniors and our students are there, and we know that some of them have to get there.

[00:06:30] We're going to try to get you guys there as soon as possible. Priscilla Zhang is not here, but we just wanted to recognize her. She was the winner of our Janice Miller Scholarship. Priscilla was on her way to VCU, and we wish her well, and we'll give this to her. We are now going to move on to Isabel.

[00:06:47] Isabel is a junior at Fairfax. Isabel was this Virginia State Rotary Speech Contest first place winner. She was also very busy with her speech team.

[00:07:04] You can go ahead and go ahead. Why don't you start with the picture? She was the VHSL State Runner-Up for Humus Interpretation and the Fairfax High Speech Club earned second place. Is that correct? In your district.

[00:07:20] So congratulations to Isabel. All right, we are going to actually do a new kind of recognition tonight that we haven't done before that we have been talking about for a long time so we're really excited we're going to recognize several students who have made meaningful contributions to our city of fairfax community we want to thank them for their dedication leadership and work to make the city of fairfax a great place to live and to go to school the first we're going to recognize is

[00:07:54] laura and kevin murray kevin is our alternate student rep but laura if you have enjoyed the Fairfax High School Homecoming Parade. It is these two that are behind it. For the last few years, led by Laura and Kevin at her side, they have secured permits, organizing cars, coordinating hundreds of student participants and city leaders, navigating weather changes, location changes, all the many details that go into running such a large community event. It is 100% student run and it has been done by these two. So it is absolutely amazing. And not only do they do it

[00:08:32] well, they do it with grace and smile and great leadership, and we are so thankful to them. Congratulations. We want to wish Laura well. Laura's a senior, and she's going to be attending NOVA next year because she is going to be studying health sciences so she can become a diagnostic medical stenographer. All right. Thank you to Laura. Is Isabella or Estrella here? No. What about any of our superintendent advisory team? I know Anna Hardin

[00:09:08] is here Anna can you come Brenda Caroline I see Caroline we can you come down or any other SAT members here Kevin also so our superintendent advisory team is a group of parents staff members community members and students who come from quarterly to meet with our superintendent they give advice and on a number of different topics we are so grateful to these high school students for their thoughtful feedback, student perspective, and willingness to be part of important conversations.

[00:09:44] These kids are so energetic and mature and they are representing their students well. All of them are coming back next year, is that correct? All the seniors are not here. So we hope that you will continue your service and we are so grateful. I know Dr. Wright is thankful for you.

[00:10:02] And thank you so much to all of you for being on the superintendent advisory team.

[00:10:24] Can Libby and Devin and Olive and Naomi come join us, please?

[00:10:41] If you have attended any of our Fairfax High School Theater performances, these beautiful faces will be familiar to you. These talented students are part of the Fairfax FX Players marketing team. Last year, they won a Cappy, which is the highest recognition that you can win within the DMV area for their marketing.

[00:11:02] In February, I got to meet with these great kids, and they asked if they could do an arts festival in April just a couple of weeks before their performance. I said, absolutely not. That is a terrible idea. You guys are way too busy, and thankfully they did not listen to me. These awesome kids were pulled off a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

[00:11:21] They had it filled with creative arts. There were booths for face painting and prop making, balloon artists, pizza cupcakes. Kids from all over came, and most importantly, they organized local schools to come and give a performance for their spring musicals. So they not only shared the stage with their fellow students from around the area, but they helped shine a spotlight on the incredible student talent across our area.

[00:11:44] We are so thankful. Libby, good luck to you at the University of Utah. Olive, you at Shenandoah. Naomi, you at Point Park. And Devin, we get to see you another year. Devin's a rising senior and I think was just named the president of the International Thespian for Fairfax.

[00:12:02] Also going to be in marketing next year. Is that right? That's right. It's big shoes to fill, but we're so excited and we're so proud of all of them. All right, DECA, are you guys ready? All right, we are so excited to shine a spotlight on DECA.

[00:12:28] For those of you that don't know what DECA is, DECA is, first of all, DECA is one of Fairfax High School's most decorated and successful student organizations. It's an international club organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and Management. The Fairfax-Hideka chapter is not only one of the most recognized chapters in the state of Virginia, but across the country. Students, we're going to call you up by team, and then we're going to have you take a photo as your team, and then we're going to have you come up with your category, and we'll take pictures. And if we can, we're going to see if we can squeeze all of you guys in

[00:13:07] for a picture at the end. So let's start with Lyra and Ashley. Lyra and Ashley for Integrated Marketing. Lyra and Ashley were state finalists, and they did attend the ICDC, which is the International Conference in Atlanta this year. Is that right? Is Mrs. Walters here? Mrs. Walters, come join us. Sorry, Mrs. Walters is the fantastic, and Mrs. Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. West, please come join us. These are fantastic DECA advisors and marketing teachers at Fairfax High School. The hours that they put in

[00:13:44] to be with these students is just incredible. Traveling with them, sponsoring all of their events. And you will see these students are pretty impressive. Great. Thank you, Lyra and parent picture. And Caitlin. Caitlin, can you come up? Caitlin also is in integrated marketing and was a state

[00:14:21] finalist. And Caitlin did also attend ICDC, is that correct? Sorry, so many decades. Caitlin Bailey, is Anya here?

[00:15:11] Now we would like to recognize Dia, Sarisha, and Sleshma. These three were also state finalists for sports marketing and entertainment marketing. Congratulations. And Sleshma did attend the ICDC conference

[00:15:37] in Atlanta. Thank you. Is Haley, Sinai, and Catherine here? Thank you. Is Hafsa here?

[00:16:19] Is Sean? Did I? Hafsa? Okay, sorry, we didn't see you. Hafsa is here. Hafsa, thank you. Hafsa was a state finalist for financial consulting. Sean, Donya, and Charles, are you here? Great.

[00:16:59] They are here for their work with community giving. And, Sean, as far as I know, you also received the DECA Foundation Scholarship. They are our first place state finalists.

[00:17:22] And, Sean, it looks like what is North Carolina's loss is now Virginia's gain. Is that true? Sean was committed to the University of North Carolina and now has decided to stay home and go to the University of Virginia. So congratulations to you on that.

[00:17:51] Haley or Nari here? Miles and Sean, I know you two are here. Congratulations, Miles and Sean, for International Business Plan. Congratulations.

[00:18:31] I think, Miles and Sean, you placed second at States and attended the ICDC as well, international competition. Thank you. I don't know if Jason's here, but Pari is here.

[00:18:50] Pari Patel. Yes, thank you. Pari also was a state finalist for International Business Plan.

[00:19:17] Congratulations, Pari. Are Elle and Eleanor here? Didn't see that. Okay. How about Samantha and Joshua?

[00:19:33] I know Joshua's here. Samantha. For anyone following our senior stories where we profile a different senior every day in the month of May, I'm pretty sure today's day is Samantha. Is that true? God, I recognize Samantha.

[00:20:07] Congratulations. And Jamie and Ellen, are you here? No. But I do know that Adi and Neeraj are here. Thank you. For their international career development and conference finalists. Congratulations.

[00:20:39] All right, all you DECA kids, you, the smart ones, you all, come on. We're going to take one big group picture. We can do it. I know we can.

[00:21:04] Come on. All the DECA kids, come on. We're going to do one big group picture. You're going to have to squeeze in. Some of you are going to have to maybe get down on your knees, but I know we can do it. I'm sure Mrs. Walters would love a group big old picture. If you're tall, start in the back.

[00:21:30] We got it. You can do it. That's right. This is for Mrs. Walters. She's going to love it. Look at these DECA, there we go.

[00:21:57] I'm going to do it again. Got to get Adi with the jacket and the shorts.

[00:22:14] It's awesome. All right, one big round of applause for all of our fantastic DECA students.

[00:22:31] Congratulations. Is there anyone that came late that we didn't get, or is there anyone that we might have missed? I think that's it. Nope, you're going to stay with him there.

[00:22:51] And we'd like, since we have our fantastic student rep, we'd like to say hello and congratulations and goodbye to Abby Lucas. Abby was our student rep for this year. For those of you that don't know, the student rep comes to our every meeting in the first Monday.

[00:23:16] Abby would do a report for all of our four schools. She became an advocate for the city of Fairfax students. She was also in charge of Pyramid Night, which is where we welcome all of our elementary students to a football game. And we have games, and Abby organized hundreds of volunteers and was ready for 400 to 500 elementary kids coming.

[00:23:38] She volunteers at Daniel's Run, which is where she went from. Abby is going to James Madison University to be pre-law. We are so proud of her, and we are so grateful for everything that she's done. And from all of us from the city of Fairfax, we wish you all the best.

[00:24:02] Please have one big round of applause for everyone, and thank you so much.

[00:25:07] Okay, the next item on our agenda is the introduction of our new student representative,

[00:26:04] and we are keeping it in the family. I'd like to welcome, well, we've been here all year, but welcome you to Ms. Lucas's seat, Kevin Murray. We are so thrilled to have you. Do you want to say a few words? I'm really excited for the opportunity of the upcoming year for the next school board role, and I really look forward to working with all of you.

[00:26:30] We're very excited to have you. Does anybody on the board want to say anything, any words of luck, wisdom for Kevin? abby you wanna you got it kevin okay all right next we will start our presentations to the board and we have nobody signed up for citizen participation this evening so we will go to

[00:27:00] our final report from miss lucas of the 2025-2026 school year good evening and happy june as our school year comes to a close here's a recap of what our fairfax city students have been busy with this month. Fairfax High School has been busy and successful in the month of May as students completed AP exams and prepared for final assessments. Spring athletic teams competed in district and regional competitions, representing Fairfax High with pride in sportsmanship.

[00:27:31] Students participated in a variety of end-of-year activities, including the City of Stars prom, award ceremonies, fine arts performances, and senior celebrations. The school community also recognized graduating seniors through scholarship announcements, decision day celebrations, and preparations for graduation as the year comes to a close students and staff are looking forward to final events and celebrating the accomplishments of the class of 2026 katherine johnson middle school has spent most much of may focused on sol testing while continuing to participate in variety of academic and extracurricular activities students joked their talents through spring music

[00:28:08] concerts and performances while clubs and organizations wrapped up projects and competitions for the school year. Eighth grade students participated in activities preparing them for transition into high school including end of the year celebrations and promotions preparations. Staff and families worked together to support students throughout the testing season and the month concluded with students looking ahead to summer and their next academic journey. The Providence Panthers had a busy month of May with SOL testing in grades three through six across three subject areas. The Panthers balanced the season with fun activities including

[00:28:42] a successful PTA fundraiser where the community raised $5,568 used to be for field trips and scholastic news, magazines, supplies for students, and other important uses. In addition, the Panthers played their second annual staff volleyball game against the Daniels and Dragons. There is a great showing from both communities. The Providence Panthers have several important end-of-the-year events including field day on june 8th with a dunk tank an orchestra concert and a band and strings concert daniels and dragons had an exciting and victorious volleyball game against

[00:29:17] the panthers the green team hosted a community cleanup day in early may of in partnership with area 2 farm as well testing in the end of the year concerts incurred in may congratulations to all the students who performed in band strings and chorus performances the pta celebrated the amazing dragon staff with a week full of special meals giveaways and notes of appreciation The teachers felt loved and supported.

[00:29:41] The end of the month with the Dragons and Donuts family event where the families engaged with treats and community with each other. As this is my last meeting, as a student representative, I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for each of the wonderful members of the board, both of our superintendents and Ms. Dorsey for all their support this year, and Kevin, and Ms. King.

[00:30:01] I'm forever grateful for this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Abby. Next is our presentation from the student representatives of the superintendent's advisory team.

[00:30:27] Good evening to the City of Fairfax School Board. My name is Dustin Wright.

[00:30:43] You're a very proud city superintendent, and I'm even more proud to be here with two members of the superintendent's advisory team, Ms. Verinda Gunapati and Mr. Kevin Murray. And one of the things we're going to talk about tonight is some of the important work that this group has done.

[00:30:58] And I'll say, you know, you're not supposed to have favorites as a superintendent. And then all of the concerts you go to are the best. All of the sporting events you go to are the best. But one of the things I've enjoyed the most in these first six months in the role is working with the superintendent's advisory team. Not only do we get to interact with wonderful students, like you see by my side, but community members and staff members.

[00:31:19] So it's truly been a joy. And I think you're going to be impressed with some of the suggestions and work that they have to present for you tonight. So they are going to be presenting. I'm going to be the anchor weighing them down on this presentation. But you're going to hear some really great information and some great suggestions for the work of not only this school board, but our wonderful school division.

[00:31:41] So as we look at the next slide, when I started having the good fortune of working with this group, we presented them with a challenge or a charge. We really wanted to put some structure to their work and have it be not only meaningful, but hopefully have it make an impact beyond their time on this team.

[00:32:02] And so we started with a challenge of helping the school board and the division think about ideas for a strong and inclusive community engagement process. There are a lot of ideas out there, a lot of the things that we know that work, but we were trying to think about our unique situation here in the city of Fairfax and what might be something that's specific, achievable, and impactful.

[00:32:22] And I think you're going to hear some great suggestions for that. So when we look at the next slide, this group kind of went through a process of brainstorming. There was probably close to 20 to 30 different ideas at first about community engagement.

[00:32:38] And they started narrowing them down. They would get in small groups, talk about them, think about the pros, think about the cons of each one. And really where they ended up with was thinking about, all right, if we want to have more engagement with our community, if we want to really hear the voice of our community and all the different stakeholders within that community, the biggest thing that we can do is we can go to them, right?

[00:33:00] we can go out into the community as a school division, out into the community as a school board. So you're going to hear those suggestions of what that would look like. And you're going to hear that around different school events that might be a good fit for this type of work, different city events that might be a good fit for this type of work, and some of the specific topics that might be good for these conversations. And really what this group is proposing to you as a board is thinking about taking an existing event and trying to add a school board or a school division event onto it.

[00:33:33] So if there is a 7 o'clock band concert at Catherine Johnson Middle School, at 6 o'clock in the Catherine Johnson Library, there could be a school board office hour, or there could be a school board town hall or open forum, or there could be a City of Fairfax Schools presentation on a specific topic that leads right into one of these events.

[00:33:53] So that's what you're going to hear about today, and I think you're going to have some really good suggestions and some really good ideas. And this group looks forward to taking some of your questions at the end. So let's take a look at some city events that might be possibilities. So again, these are the brainstorms of our superintendent's advisory team. And if you've spent any time in the city of Fairfax area or the Fairfax High School Pyramid area, I bet a lot of these things would be familiar. So they suggested things like the 4th of July event, the Movies Under the Moon events, which happen at Van Dyke Park, all the different concerts that happen at Truewood Center,

[00:34:30] the world's most populated use of our gym at the Fairfax High School Holiday Craft Fair. There's a sporting event going on every single weekend in every single gym and in every single field that we have at our schools.

[00:34:46] One of the few times the auditorium at Fairfax High School sells out is the City of Fairfax Bands Holiday Band Concert. And you can see some other events, fall festivals, concerts, turkey truck, rock the blocks, and holiday tree lighting. All great things that this team is proposing that we could partner with to have an engaging community event.

[00:35:09] And now Ms. Gunapati is going to talk to us about some of the school events that might be a good fit for this. Hello, I'm Brenda Gunapati. So we brainstormed a lot of school events. We had a few in particular that we thought would be really useful to engage our community, one of them being pyramid events.

[00:35:30] Pyramid events bring together individuals from elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the city, as well as their parents. Because most middle schoolers or elementary schoolers during pyramid nights come with their parents, and that's really helpful to build the community by bringing in many different age groups as well as their parents.

[00:35:51] thing we discussed was the Fairfax High School Family Festival. We believe this was a very good community building event because Fairfax High School has many very good clubs and through those clubs it increases engagement and they have fun little games at this event and many little kids love treats and their parents come along with them. This is great for community engagement because parents get to meet other parents, kids get to meet other kids. Another event we discussed was a fun fair which is a carnival this is great again kids come parents come it builds community

[00:36:27] engagement because it's fun people love to have fun and parents come along as well also back to school nights back to school nights are great because it's not just parents and kids it's teachers as well we get to increase that teacher and parents relationship and that's very very important to just school and again community building by building that trust within everyone in the city schools along with that note of school luncheons i remember one of the biggest luncheons that i was always excited about was thanksgiving luncheon in elementary school it was very fun i

[00:37:05] got to meet other kids parents and then my mom sometimes came and then met other parents and that definitely built community and it was a lot of fun. And then community nights. And in elementary school, I love karaoke night, bingo night, STEM nights. It was so fun. And again, kids come with their parents and it's fun because parents get to meet other parents and it really builds a community there. Some of the other things that we had were the cultural celebrations. So they have those at every single pyramid school and it'd be great to get the entire community, right, involved

[00:37:44] with every single school, right, get you out there, get involved, and then the Dining for Dollars, and then the volleyball game between Providence and Daniel's Run, like, that's a big event that gets a lot of kids riled up, right, gets the parents involved, you get a lot of volunteers there, right, from the high school, and then you also have Eagle Fest at KJ, and then you also have our curriculum nights, so, like, explaining the different things, like, the third grade math curriculum, how that's changed in the past, I believe two years, and then our middle school, right?

[00:38:15] And then performances in concerts, at the theater, chorus, band concerts, and the parade, like the city, the Fairfax Band performing the parade, right? It gets many people attending, right? So that's the one thing that we kind of want to see focused on and getting more engaged in our community.

[00:38:33] I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Wright. So what you'll see now, well, first of all, great job, Brenda, and great job, Kevin. What you'll see now is some of the topics that this team brainstormed. And you can see a lot of different things.

[00:38:49] We just put all of them on here. And we know that because of the really powerful partnership that we have with Fairfax County Public Schools, some of these are topics that are very much specific to the city of Fairfax Schools and our school boards. Some of these are a little bit of both organizations.

[00:39:04] And some of them might be things that are more appropriate to discuss with Fairfax County Public Schools. But you can see those topics that are on the screen, and then with the stars, these are the ones that our team thought would be some of the most important topics to discuss in the upcoming school year.

[00:39:23] But real quick, Brenda, Kevin, any of these from a student perspective, and remember the team had teachers, it had community members, but from a student perspective, any of these that jump out to either of you that you'd like to share with the board? To me, after-school activities is a big one because as a student at Fairfax High School, I try to be very involved with the school, and after-school activities are very important to me.

[00:39:48] Another thing that I really liked was the student-staff mental health, right? We wanted to really focus on staff recognition. We had a lot of ideas for – we had Teacher of the Week a couple years ago. We're going to try and bring that back next year with leadership, so that's what we're going to try and focus on.

[00:40:06] And then I think, are you on the next slide for us, Kevin? And then for our setup for success on the next slide, we have our in-person hybrid. So, like, the meetings here, right, they're online, they're accessible to others.

[00:40:24] But maybe we could get, like, a little bit more when you're attending events, right, doing, like, getting on, you know, a lot of people use social media, getting on, like, the live for social media, right, posting more videos in the community, and then go out in communities. So instead of, like, searching people, getting them to come to our meetings, we go out to them, we ask them questions, and we basically just go out and ask the entire community, right, instead of getting people to come here.

[00:40:51] And then child care. So child care is a big want at many events, right? A lot of people really want to come to the events, but they can't really afford a babysitter or they can't afford to leave their kids.

[00:41:07] So another thing that Fairfax does, I think last year during the fall musical was Fairfax offered the, I can't think of it, we hosted like a child care opportunity at the high school and we played games with the kids.

[00:41:29] We took them into the chorus room and I taught two of them how to play Yankee Doodle on the piano while their parents got to watch the musical with older kids and it created a very vibrant community with the children. Next we have food. Food is a really big role. We discussed how having food in an event would be very convenient for families to come to, so that includes children, because it's hard and tiring to make food at home after a long day of work.

[00:42:03] So coming to an event with food, it's very intriguing. Interpreters. With how diverse Fairfax City is, we believe it's very important for interpreters to be there because since Fairfax City is very diverse, English is probably not everybody's first language.

[00:42:23] So having interpreters there is very important so that more people feel comfortable to come out if their first language is not English. working with family liaison it's very important because it builds that bridge between like maybe not being able to get to these events it fills that need and incentives and raffles it's just fun people love to have fun um Fairfax City is all about fun so having that would definitely bring out children as well as adults um and it builds community and so in closing I'd like to

[00:43:00] first of all just thank Kevin and Brenda and all the members of the superintendent's advisory team for these great ideas and these great suggestions and for presenting to us this evening. You've heard some ideas. You've heard some thoughts about what we can do as a school division in the upcoming year, and we'd be happy to answer any questions.

[00:43:22] And if there's no questions, then we're going to have Kevin play Yankee Doodle on the piano. So you better ask lots of questions. But thank you. Thank you. Ms. Barlomay, do you have any questions? First, I wanted to thank you both for volunteering for the advisory. committee, and you guys have done some great things. I liked a lot of the ideas you had for which events to highlight, but I was curious. I'm familiar with all of the events except for Dining for Dollars, and I was wondering what that one is. Dining for Dollars is basically like a fundraiser. So say Fairfax High School has a lot of fundraisers for certain clubs. Like I'm in

[00:44:01] Speech and Debate, and we had a fundraiser at Silver Diner, and it brought money to us, and it brought promotion to Silver Diner. So events like that would really help build community involvement. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kelsey. I also want to thank you guys for these ideas because I know that is definitely something that we would like to have as more people in the seats out here too.

[00:44:28] I guess my question to you is, is your thought on this more we hold like a meeting of some sort or we just have a table at it where we can give information or is it we just are there like what is the idea of how um we were just hoping that um school board would be just more involved in the community be at the events right um show that you're there right be be there for the community um and then to also kind of give information when needed okay thank

[00:45:02] you miss hickman oh but i would jump in real quick to just say it could be a little bit of both right or it could be you know the the first version that you're talking about miss kelsey where at that dining for dollars event that could be an opportunity for you know a school board office hours because you know you're going to have a confluence of your community members and stakeholders or again at a book fair the book fair could be going on in the library and then the school board or the city could city fairfax schools could host an event in the front foyer or in the gym or in the theater so a couple different options could be at play thank you

[00:45:41] I love all this. I think it's really helpful. And it's actually something that I think as a board, we had discussed at some point about kind of how can we do an office hours or an open coffee or something. So this lines really well and provides us with a lot of great feedback. Similar to Ms.

[00:45:59] Barrow-May, I just had a question on one of the topics, transitions. Do you know what, do you remember what that was alluding to? I think I can jump in. I think it's, it was primarily around that sixth grade to seventh grade transition, and then that eighth grade to ninth grade transition.

[00:46:15] And so there's events that are explicit to those type of those, that time frame for our students and our families, but it's just how to set people up for success. And we know that some of those transitions, if we're talking about that even before that, you know, the spring of the eighth grade year for those rising ninth graders might be something to think about even before then.

[00:46:37] So it's just that general topic of transitions is what the group was bringing up. Okay, great. Kevin, I know you're a junior. Are you graduating or are you? I'm a junior as well. Great, so I'm hoping we get to have both of you back on Superintendent Advisory Committee next year. First of all, thank you for all your great work and the time that you invested in this group this year.

[00:47:00] The school board really appreciates it. My question is around one of your topic ideas as well. It says FCPS, then the City of Fairfax relationship. Is there something specific about the relationship or just how we interact with one another or is it operational that you're interested in as a topic?

[00:47:22] I'm fairly certain that this is one of the topics that were brought up by some of the adult members of our group. So that's why I'll jump in on this. I was like, oh, wow. So again, multiple stakeholders in this group, but our students are representing us tonight.

[00:47:39] And I think it's just generally, it's something that this board has discussed before. The bigger conversations around awareness of the partnership between the City of Fairfax Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools. How can we continue to increase that awareness of what it is and the strengths that it brings to our students every single day?

[00:47:57] Thank you. Okay. Does anybody else have any questions? Okay. Well, thank you so much for the presentation. It was very, very informative, and obviously you all put a lot of work and thought into this, so thank you.

[00:48:48] Next we have our presentation, Summer in the City, with Dr. Wright. thank you chair pitches and good evening to the school board it's my pleasure to discuss some of the many events that are happening in our schools this summer you're going to hear events about students you're going to hear events about our community and i think a lot of what you're going to hear is things that are wonderful resources for our community members but also things that are a realization of that city of fairfax schools promise that we have of providing wonderful

[00:49:28] resources for every single student. And especially when you think about our schools as being a resource of the community, I think you're going to see some good examples of that today. We're going to start by some of the community use that's happening in our building, where you'll see that our parks and rec are some of the biggest tenants that we have in our schools, and we think that's great. We want a great resource of the city government to be utilizing a great resource here in the city with our school buildings. And so at both elementary schools and KJ, there's those Parks and Rec summer camps.

[00:50:03] You'll see a lot of theater performances. There's a theater camp and then an explicit presentation of Frozen Jr., the musical. So looking forward to that. And then there'll be a basketball camp at Daniel's Run. As we look at Daniel's Run and some of the things that are taking place at that school this summer, they'll have several kindergarten playdates and a kindergarten jumpstart program that is funded by the City of Fairfax School Board. The summer PAC program is an extension of that year-long PAC program that's offered in our schools for students on the autism spectrum, and it's for our youngest students. And then you'll see a few other options

[00:50:42] through the PTA, and then we're really excited to be able to host a Get to Green Academy course for the teachers at Daniels Run. At Providence, you'll see one of the things we talk about in our school division a lot is consistency. So you'll see a very similar set of programs for our kindergarten students and how they're marketing it this year. So there's the kindergarten play date.

[00:51:05] The jumpstart program helps our students get into the building, get comfortable, learn some of the routines, and it also helps our staff start to get to know some of those students before the school year, which we know is so important with our youngest learners. And then that kindergarten Safari is really kind of an open house, again, a time to get to know the building when it's not as busy as the official open house and back to school. You'll see that date of August 10th is before the school-wide open houses, which is a little bit of just a better setting for our students who are brand new to the building. As we look at Katherine Johnson Middle School, we have another

[00:51:41] program supported by one of our PTAs. We have the RISE student orientation, which is at each of our schools, you'll have some type of orientation program. So this rise program is for students that especially are seventh graders or eighth graders that are new to the area. It's a one-day program. So you go to one of the three days and it's, you kind of get a flavor of Catherine Johnson. I am the parent of an eighth grader who attended this program. And I'm also the parent of two rising seventh graders who will be attending one of these days. It's a great way to go in there, See the building start to get to know which which hallways bevin which hallway, you know

[00:52:21] Where does this one go? What is the ox gym? All of those different things it starts to help our students Understand what that is so when they hit that first day of school, they're feeling comfortable. They're feeling like they know That Katherine Johnson is a great place for them. You'll see several other events at our Katherine Johnson this summer Including some math support programs which we think are a great opportunity for our students And then finally, at Fairfax High School, you'll see two really important academic programs.

[00:52:54] So there's a credit continuation program, which happens at all Fairfax County high schools. And then the World Languages Camp, which is something that's, again, supported by the city of Fairfax schools. There are a wide variety for community members that are watching, a wide variety of sports camps offered by the boosters.

[00:53:11] A lot of them are week-long camps. They are offered for all ability levels. I know there's a golf camp, and you could have never swung a golf club before, and you can go and have a successful week there. So definitely a great resource in the summer for students and families. And then finally, the Lions on the Rise program is very similar to the Rise program that you were just hearing about at Katherine Johnson.

[00:53:32] So it's an orientation program for the students that are new to the building, get acclimated. And they do some really great work because in the last year, as you heard at the Fairfax High School, state of the schools with the ninth grade academy programs and the ninth grade transition programs a lot of that work gets started at this lions on the rise so we're excited about that and we want to tell you about a little bit about some of the work that's happening in our buildings this summer and so we're going to highlight three fairly large projects the first is that at the stadium at fairfax high school the turf will be replaced it's we're very fortunate to have a turf field

[00:54:09] we're also very fortunate to have one of the first turf fields in the area so that means we're going to need to be one of the places that are replacing it much sooner than everyone else so that work will begin this summer it will begin on July 6th which is right after the 4th of July celebration and then we think it will be finished hopefully in early August but we have plans in place in case it takes a little bit longer than that one of the things that we've talked about earlier in spring as well, is the new electrical program that will be offered at Fairfax High School.

[00:54:43] And that will be offered through the academy, but will also have sheltered classes that are specifically designated for Fairfax High School students. And that electrical classroom rebuild, so it's an existing classroom where they need to do some work to add, you know, 220 voltage plugs for welding units and things like that. That will be put in over the summer, and we're looking forward to that. And then finally, at Providence Elementary School, the security vestibule will be installed this summer and it's on track and and we're looking forward to this great addition to the school to focus on the safety and security in that building it's scheduled to be done in in late august but there are contingencies in place and the team has a good plan in place in case

[00:55:24] it goes beyond that first day of school and then finally this is mostly just for the calendar planning planners that are out there that to get some of these dates on your calendars you can see see on the last slide at each of our four schools the open house events that they have and then the back to school night events that they have and so for families and parents at each of these schools you'll be receiving lots of this information directly from your schools and that's a great place to go if you have any questions about it but we wanted to be able to provide this for the community as well during this presentation so with that chair pitches that concludes the summer updates presentation i'm happy to answer any of your questions great thank you dr wright miss

[00:56:03] Barlamay do you have any questions for Dr. Wright? No thank you. Ms. Kelsey? Yeah I have a couple. Can you explain the math classes at KJ? Because I know that's something that's new this year.

[00:56:23] I haven't seen much about it yet so I was just curious what these are. Yeah that's wonderful. Um, so the, the math summer support classes where, um, they are pre-algebra, algebra, um, and geometry focused and students will have a packet for the course once they are registered and students will have access to our teachers on the dates provided, um, from two o'clock to four o'clock, uh, that day.

[00:56:50] And I believe Ms. Dorsey is in an online, uh, or is it, or is it in person? Do you know off the top of your head? Yeah. So I think it's a hybrid format, but really it's open to all, um, all KJ students, um, that are interested in this just I think of it more of staying fresh with math over the summer so we avoid that summer learning loss but I know that the school is planning to put out more specifics about that in the near future so it's a program for all students whereas the algebra power-up is a summer math support specifically for rising eighth grade students that will be enrolled in algebra in eighth grade that are identified of needing just kind of a little

[00:57:27] extra support to make sure they're ready to be successful once they enter the class. And then my other question is, because I know that Providence is used quite a bit by the city's parks and rec camps, how will building the vestibule affect those camps?

[00:57:47] Because they'll be going around the same time. Yeah, that's a really good question. So some of it we're going to have to just communicate and coordinate. Some of it, it's possible that on the days of the camps, they'll have to utilize a different entrance.

[00:58:03] And I think one of the things to think about is a lot of the actual construction of the vestibule is it's basically adding a interior wall is probably the simplest way to explain it. So it's not like we're ripping the front of the building off to put that in. So I think some of that work can happen and they can still get through that main entrance.

[00:58:22] But probably the most likely scenario is they're going to be using an alternate entrance during that time. I will say I believe that some work programs generally use the cafeteria side of the building. they use the cafeteria doors and that i forget the number door but the one that's in the hallway right in front of the cafeteria okay that's what i was figuring but i just thought um thank you the one thing i did not see on here that i know we've discussed in the past is for elementary schoolers who are needing additional support over the summer um i know that people have been bused

[00:59:02] to different places students invest you know where that is taking place this summer so that's something that i need to get back to the board on that if you know on two things so if it's taking place this summer and because those type of programs you know last summer providence had a title one support because they were because of the federal identification that they received they were provided resources for this additional summer program i'll need to check with the principals to find out if there are programs happening at all through fairfax county and if they are happening where they are happening for our students.

[00:59:40] Mr. Phillips or Ms. Dorsey, do either of you know? Okay. Thank you. That would be, I'd appreciate that update. Absolutely. Okay. I do not have any questions. It all looks pretty good, like it does every summer, so, but I too would love to know where they're having the summer program.

[01:00:01] I can't remember where they had it last, was it Willow Springs? Or they did have one. Okay. All right. Thank you, Dr. Wright. Thank you. Okay, we do not have any public hearings this evening, so I'm going to move on to action items.

[01:00:17] And our first action item is the approval of the May 4th, 2026 meeting minutes. The clerk has provided these minutes. Is there a motion? Madam Chair. Okay, Ms. Hickman. I move that the City of Fairfax School Board approve the minutes of the May 4th, 2026 school board regular meeting as printed and distributed.

[01:00:36] Okay, may I have a second? Second. Okay, Ms. Hickman has moved. Ms. Bartle may second to the City of Fairfax School Board approve the minutes from May 4, 2026. Regular meeting minutes as printed and distributed. Are there any changes, modifications, or additions?

[01:00:54] Okay, being none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye, none opposed. The motion passes. We will move on to superintendent matters. So I will send it back to Dr. Wright. All right, thank you very much, Chair Pitches, and members of the board.

[01:01:15] I would like to share a few brief updates and reflections as we begin the final month of the school year. It's hard to believe that it is June today, but it's also very exciting. I want to acknowledge the pace and significance of the work that has taken place over the past several weeks, from the adoption of the city budget to the continued progress on our capital projects and to the end-of-the-year celebrations across all of our schools.

[01:01:41] It's an important and busy season for the city of Fairfax Schools. I'll start by talking about a few budget and planning topics for next year. Our last regular meeting was on May 4th, so on May 5th, the City Council passed their FY27 budget, and we want to, again, thank the mayor and the city council and the city manager and their staff for the continued partnership and the support of the City of Fairfax Schools.

[01:02:07] This budget supports our students, staff, schools, and long-term facilities needs. Also with the budget, we'll continue to monitor any final state budget actions and the potential impact on schools and localities. And we know that there's been some updates from Richmond about the timing, and I think it's going to go right through June 30th in terms of decisions being made, and we'll continue to keep the board and the public updated.

[01:02:33] I also want to share that we're excited to announce that the City of Fairfax Schools Supplementary Instructional Fund requests from all of our schools were received and approved, and these funds help provide additional opportunities, resources, and supports for the students and staff, and this process is another example of how the city of Fairfax schools is able to support our school-based needs in a responsive and meaningful way. I'd like to talk about some great community partnerships and engagement. Earlier this month, the school board and the Parks and Rec Advisory Board had a joint dinner, and I was really excited to be able to provide some updates about the renovations that will be happening in both of our elementary schools

[01:03:12] because, as you just heard, there's a lot of great community activities that happen in those schools and so we're committed to being great partners with them to communicate and stay aligned about the use of all of our schools and the impacts from those renovations. Also in the month of May I was able to host a meeting to bring together the PTA presidents from all of our schools and I'm grateful for their leadership and advocacy and it's a really great conversation that I think will lead to some some good collaboration next year. And then finally

[01:03:45] We we announced this earlier, but the Fairfax Rotary recognized two teachers of the year. So we're so excited to recognize Corey Knight and Megan Orris and was able to be a part of the recognition at the Rotary meeting.

[01:04:01] And speaking of the Rotary, I have been asked to join the Rotary Club and I was asked to join the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. And I'm really excited to be a part of both of these groups to stay connected with our civic business and community leaders. Focusing on our schools, continue to prioritize being present in our schools and community.

[01:04:20] And so over the past several weeks, we've had a couple wonderful opportunities that I would love to highlight. You heard Abby talk about the Daniels-run Providence volleyball game. I just loved the school spirit that was on display. I loved seeing our staff members spike and bump and set.

[01:04:39] It was awesome. So I do not possess athletic abilities, so it's always great to see it in my fellow colleagues. I was at Katherine Johnson this morning, and you'll hear a little bit about it in a minute, but a huge thank you to all the staff members at all of our schools, and also a big thanks to Ms. Dorsey for organizing the grad walk that took place.

[01:05:01] And so we'll talk about that here in a minute. And then at Fairfax High School, this time of year, there's a lot of things happening in high school. Our athletic boosters hosted a golf tournament a few weeks ago where they raised over $30,000. We had two signing day events, one for our college and career-bound students and one for our college-bound athletes.

[01:05:23] We were able to highlight some great work that you heard from Dr. A at her State of the Schools about the Pride Prep Internship Program, where 40 students went out into schools, to businesses, to law firms, to community organizations, and served a really important role and then gave great presentations on them last Monday.

[01:05:46] And then two other things to highlight, the last Friday was the Senior Awards Banquet at Fairfax High School where Ms. Hickman and myself were able to present the Janice Miller Scholarship Award, which is on behalf of the school board, and it was given to a wonderful scholar named Priscilla Jang.

[01:06:03] And then just a big congratulations in advance to the class of 2026 who will graduate on Wednesday morning. we're excited for the ceremony. And during the grad walk this morning, I got to see their new gowns. They look sharp. They look great. And so I think you're going to really love them.

[01:06:19] Oh, and I forgot to mention, go Fairfax Lions. The girls soccer team is going to be in the regional semifinal tomorrow night at Chantilly High School because our graduation takes place on the soccer field and it'll all be set up tomorrow night. So it's going to be at Chantilly and definitely want to encourage all of you to be there to support those athletes.

[01:06:42] So as we move into the summer months, I'm encouraged by the continued alignment across our schools, our partners in the community, and I remain excited about what lies ahead. The work is going to be complex, but it's strengthened by strong relationships and a shared commitment to providing outstanding opportunities for every student in the city of Fairfax.

[01:07:00] So thank you for your continued support. Thank you, Dr. Wright. We'll move on to board matters. Ms. Hickman, I'll start with you. Just want to wish everyone a wonderful, happy, healthy, and safe end of the school year. And looking forward to a lovely summer.

[01:07:16] Congratulations to all of our graduates. Thank you. Ms. Kelsey? I wanted to also wish everybody good luck on their finals. I know those are coming up in like a week or two, I think now. And also congratulations to all our graduates.

[01:07:36] And then even all of the other students, you guys have worked very hard all school year, so have a wonderful summer. Ms. Barlmay? I'll just echo good luck and congratulations to our graduates, and good luck to all of our students on their finals, and I wish everyone a happy summer.

[01:07:58] And yes, I will just echo all of that, and congratulations to everyone who received recognition this evening. We're grateful for all the teachers who came and the administrators. So I hope everybody has a happy and healthy summer and a safe summer.

[01:08:19] And with that, I will – oh, sorry. What is it? I just want to – you sure? Nothing? Wish everybody a happy summer. I'm going to wish everyone a happy summer, and I look forward to seeing you at the parade.

[01:08:38] Oh, see, you added that. good, good, good. Okay. All right. And with that, just for Dr. Wright, I'm going to adjourn the meeting at 741.

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