Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, September 14, 2023

Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 57m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2lXpdIfo-o
Official School Board page (FCPS): https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/leadership/school-board

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 2026-11-03. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:24] The September 14th, 2023 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence and then a performance of the National Anthem by our very own Langley High School Magicals under the direction of Carolyn Player.

[00:03:43] Okay, Agenda Item 2.02, Certification of Closed Meeting. In order to comply with Section 2.23712D of the Code of Virginia, it is necessary for the Board to certify that since the Fairfax County Public School Board convened a closed meeting on September 14, 2023, to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements, and only such public business matters, as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting, were heard, discussed, or considered by the Board during the closed meeting.

[00:04:20] Closed meeting. Do I have a motion for Sanders? Do I have a second, Ms. Omeish? All those in favor? Okay, that is Ms. Colbert Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. McLaughlin, Ms. Bukarski, Ms. Tolan, Ms. Marin, Ms. Omeish, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Roger Seisberheiser. Thank you.

[00:04:48] Anyone opposed? Anyone abstaining? Ms. Karen Keyes-Gamara. 2.03, confirmation of action taken and closed. Motion number one, I call on Ms. Cohen for a motion.

[00:05:10] I move that the school board approve and award a contract according to the terms and conditions discussed in closed session and authorize the division superintendent or the director of the Office of Procurement Services to execute, deliver, and administer the contract on behalf of the school board. Is there a second?

[00:05:27] I'll second. All those in favor, that is Ms. Cobert Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. McLaughlin, Ms. Bukarski, Ms. Tolan, Ms. Marin, Ms. Omeish, Ms. Cohen, Ms. Kees-Gumara, are you voting affirmatively? And Ms. Racha-Seismerheiser. Thank you.

[00:05:48] Motion number two, I call on Ms. Cobert Sanders for a motion. I move to excuse from attendance at school certain students identified in closed session meeting pursuant to Virginia Code section 22.1 through 254B1.

[00:06:05] Is there a second? Thank you, Ms. Omeche. All those in favor, Ms. Colbert-Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Bukarski, Ms. Tolan, Ms. Marin, Ms. Omeche, and Ms. Rajas-Heiswer-Heiser. All those opposed, all those abstaining, Ms. Cohen and Ms. Karen Keyes-Gamara.

[00:06:27] And Ms. McLaughlin. some announcements 2.04. I would like to recognize in our audience this evening some former school board members. We have Miss Sandy Evans with us, Mr. Ryan McElveen, and Mr. Laura Moon. Would you like to just stand? Thank you for joining us. Miss Darnock-Coffax has submitted a written request to virtually attend this evening's meeting due to a personal conflict. All those in favor of approving

[00:07:06] Mr. Aradok-Kaufak's request. That is unanimous for those at the table. And we have Mr. Frisch is away from the table this evening. Before we continue, I would like to alert the public to a change in the start time of our regular meetings, as all of our regular meetings will now begin at 7.30 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. We thank the public for your understanding and grace as we have work

[00:07:42] develop our school year 23-24 annual calendar and meeting times and we are hoping that with this change in time to be much more punctual in the start time in the actual beginning of our meetings. Thank you. Turning back to tonight's meeting if you would like to review a copy of the agenda or any agenda item that is being discussed tonight that information may be found at the back of the auditorium or on the website at fcps.edu slash school board slash board docs. Tonight's

[00:08:16] meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on the website at fcps.edu slash tv slash ch99. After reading tonight's proclamations, the board would like to invite each recipient and their family and friends to join us for a photo.

[00:08:39] I call on Dr. Anderson for a proclamation. Thank you. Very glad. Whereas Mr. Daniel Aminoff, CMB, AMP, has served on the Fairfax County School Board facilities.

[00:08:59] Oh, thank you. Mr. Aminoff, would you like to come forward? My apologies. And I'll start again. Whereas Mr. Daniel Amanoff, CMB, AMP, has served on the Fairfax County School Board Facilities Planning Advisory Council, called FPAC, as a founding member since October 2020 and served as vice chair for seven years and chaired for three years from 2019 through the 2021-22 school year.

[00:09:34] And whereas Mr. Aminoff's deep commitment and dedication resulted in his participation in over 130 FPAC committee meetings as the Mason District Representative. And whereas Mr. Aminoff developed numerous recommendations to the school board to promote strategies for comprehensive long-term facilities planning activities.

[00:10:01] And whereas, Mr. Amanoff provided valuable input to FCPS staff on the evolution of the Capital Improvement Plan, our CIP, and subsequent revisions.

[00:10:14] And whereas Mr. Amanoff consistently provided expert insight to the School Board's Comprehensive Planning Development Committee, CPDC, where he participated in efforts to enhance the public's understanding of the CIP, improve the public notice process, and advocated to increase opportunities for community engagement throughout the facilities planning cycle.

[00:10:41] And whereas Mr. Aminoff consistently demonstrated the characteristics of an inspirational leader serving with humility and efficiency, he has generously provided guidance to the current chair, solicited community input, and administered his duties with a collaborative spirit and good humor to improve the overall work of the facilities department and FCPS.

[00:11:09] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board extends its highest commendation and deepest appreciation to Mr. Daniel Aminoff in recognition of his outstanding service and dedication to the students, families, staff, and community members of the Fairfax County Public Schools and the Fairfax County Public School Board.

[00:11:38] And I will have the pleasure of seconding this motion. Dr. Anderson, would you like to speak to your proclamation? Yes, I would be pleased to do that. Mr. Aminoff has been a steadfast and consistent voice in all matters facilities. FCPS has benefited from his expertise and commitment for many years, as you have heard. He was appointed to the FPAC committee by my predecessor, Miss Sandy Evans, who is in the audience, and she could not have made a better choice. I had the pleasure of meeting

[00:12:12] Mr. Aminoff in the fall of 2019, during which time he informed me of his background, his work to date on the committee, and that he was the current chair. After quite a period during which I asked many clarifying questions, I know that's new to you all, and he patiently answered every single one of them, Dan humbly stated that he would understand if I felt compelled to end his appointment and secure my own representative. I was floored that a person who spent the better

[00:12:49] part of an hour educating me about the work of FPAC, outlining his goals and guidance, would then easily recuse himself. Of course, I declined the invitation to replace Mr. Aminoff, but that first interaction was illustrative of his character, a humble leader, an expert leader, and one who is driven to serve without ego. For the next several years, Dan would become my go-to for advice and guidance on many issues, including the boundary adjustment in the Justice Pyramid Elementary

[00:13:27] Schools, discussions of grade six in the Mason Middle Schools, and of course the Justice High School parking situation. He always made himself available and would offer sound and research-based guidance based on the needs of the community not only did he know his stuff but he also knows the mason district which made him an invaluable resource and asset to me to fpac to to cpdc and to the board it is with some melancholy that i honor mr aminoff this evening because

[00:14:04] not only is it well deserved but i am fully cognizant of the fact that he is leaving and clearly the next mason district representative will have very large shoes to fill his colleagues mr chuck fanshawe miss katie sessa are here in the audience and that speaks volume to the work that you have done here in fcps thank you and i will speak briefly to my second um i was uh i want to thank dr anderson for bringing this forward and for allowing me to get many of my sentiments

[00:14:40] actually written into the proclamation so i won't repeat those um dan amanoff is the consummate professional he has given his time tirelessly to the fpac committee and the entire time that i was involved with the committee which has been several years he was often the chair and always giving his leadership generously he cares deeply about our facilities and in putting forth clear helpful ideas for their improvement, the improvement of our design and construction department, and our facilities and maintenance processes. He's very deserving of this recognition this evening.

[00:15:18] His quiet leadership was so valued, and he was always careful to reach out to the public on any issues that FPAC was dealing with. Dan, we will miss you at FPAC, but hope you will not be going too far afield so we can see you again. Thank you. We have a couple of other board members that would like to speak?

[00:15:41] Ms. Marin? Yes, Mr. Awanoff, we haven't had quite a large opportunity to engage a little bit, but as I listen to especially the number of meetings you've been to, I just really have to marvel at your true service to the community. And you showed up. You showed up, and it reminds me of how I ended up in this seat.

[00:15:58] I just showed up to meetings, and at a time when I'm out in the community and people ask, what can I do, you could show up, and you did. And that's community leadership. That's civic engagement. It's not this big thing, so I just hope that other people can look at your example and know that you can do really important things little by little if you just show up and stick with it.

[00:16:14] So thank you. Ms. Cowan. I think, Dan, my meeting with you was my first official meeting as a school board member. And I was, boy, I felt like I'd won the lottery with getting placed on FPAC.

[00:16:29] So thank you, Ms. Corbett Sanders, for that. And we got to spend the next year and a half together. And as you educated a lot of new members on the FPAC committee, you were also educating a new school board member. and you were always so incredibly generous with your time, patient, and we all look to you for guidance and also just kind of for calm in the storm because sometimes in FPAC we can get pretty worked up.

[00:16:57] So thank you so much for everything. I echo my colleague's sentiments that I hope you will still stay a cell phone call away and really, truly just so appreciative of your service and all the time that you gave in the middle of a busy life.

[00:17:13] So thank you, Dan. Thank you. Ms. Kieskamara. So, Dan, recently I came across this quote by Harry Truman, which I think you exemplify.

[00:17:29] It says, it is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. And I have the pleasure of not only of meeting you before I ran, but once I became the chair of the Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee, we worked together to try to improve improved processes so that the community could better understand and better participate, receive notice, and have an opportunity for real input into that process. And so I'm just grateful for your knowledge. I'm grateful for the humility that Mr. Truman described so well. I'm going to get a poster of that because I just love it.

[00:18:08] um but i i really you know i have a lot of things written on here you helped work for uh toward greater fidelity in the process you communicated effectively you were always very very kind in helping bring us um to a better place and i you know no pun intended you really were and have been a rock to that whole process um and so i i say thank you you will be missed but I have your phone number so it's good. Thank you. Ms. McLaughlin. Dan I too want to take a moment

[00:18:48] just to praise your service to our school division and to our community. You preceded me in your service to the system by just a few years and I know that as a founding member of FPAC you and Charles Hookie, the former Braddock representative, really helped shape and transform not just FPAC, the Facilities Planning Advisory Committee, for those who aren't familiar, but you became a model of what every school board advisory committee should and can become.

[00:19:23] The level of expertise that you all brought, the massive amount of time, dedication, and attention that you brought with your level of expertise to help our system. There's never enough staffing positions as you know and it's one of the largest school divisions in the nation. There is always more work and analysis that needs to be done and you all so selflessly gave of your time as professionals to really help us to help our students and our school division and you know it's

[00:19:58] just it's so hard to see you retiring because you've been the face of FPAC and I just want to truly convey again my gratitude as a Fairfax County resident the amount of dedication and talent that you brought to this effort and with gratitude thank you. Ms. Carter Sanders? Dan I just I met you in 2010 and I met you in 2010 as f-pack was getting started and I was just in awe of the fact

[00:20:37] that professionals from elsewhere in the county could care as passionately about the needs of the students on route one that the magisterial district members did and the thing that I am so appreciative of is that that was not a one-and-done oh isn't this interesting we're having a couple of meetings down in this area it was a dedication to ensuring that the needs of our students across this county no matter what their zip code is was taken into account and

[00:21:15] that every child deserves not only a world-class education but a world-class building in which to go to school and so I was in all of you then I continued to be in all of you as I watch the F-PAC develop and I am forever grateful from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of all of the students in the Mount Vernon Magisterial District.

[00:21:41] Ms. Amase. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Anderson for letting us, giving us the opportunity to celebrate Mr. Amonoff and all his contributions. I know I haven't had the chance to work as directly with you, not as the liaison of the committee or the person who appointed you to the committee, but I was struck meeting after meeting when you've presented to us by actually what was named, your expertise, your humility, your patience through what probably was frustrating year after year coming back, sometimes with the same recommendations, and seeing a massive project, which is FCPS facilities, take its

[00:22:21] time to improve year after year. But with your steady guidance, your candor about the challenges, I've certainly respected that and wanted to just emphasize, you know, the things that you've worked on as a part of FPAC I mean capacity improvements to our schools renovations even setting up now what's coming is a renovation Q process not just kind of an arbitrary renovation cycle boundary adjustments for multiple schools to help our kids be present in class and not have to worry about too many kids and have more attention with their teacher by the way that we design our buildings because that directly impacts student learning even you know talks of what now will be

[00:23:00] Cummings new high school right so so many accomplishments and those are just to name a few that have supported directly the learning environment of our kids and therefore the mission of our system which is supporting students all in the you know amidst whatever political turmoil and and and perspectives were in the environment while that was happening so I just want to thank you sincerely for all that you've contributed to the system and I hope that folks in the audience folks at home folks watching get inspired because we're so lucky to have talent in our community that comes and serves and becomes a part of the solution not just you know complaining on the outside but

[00:23:36] really contributing and putting in the hundreds of hours and talent like you have so thank you so much for setting that example okay seeing no other board members that would like to speak I will call for the vote those in favor Miss Corbett Sanders dr. Anderson miss McLaughlin miss Bukarski miss Tolan miss Karen Keyes-Gumara, Ms. Marin, Ms. Omeish, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Rajna Sizemarheiser, and Ms. Jaronak Koufax.

[00:24:13] Thank you. Thank you all very much for the kind words, and it's been great working with you these past 12, 13 years, for sure.

[00:24:37] And it was great to know some of you even before you became school board members. We did accomplish a lot in that period of time in making the facilities part of the whole equation and making it much more transparent for the public through the enhancements to the CIP, as well as working with the supervisors on the bond issue and, you know, the whole host of things that come into play.

[00:25:10] And I just want to appreciate your interest in hearing our recommendations and doing what you can with them, given, you know, what you can do and not do with with funding and things of that nature.

[00:25:26] So thank you all very much for for engaging on the facilities piece. And it's been a pleasure working with everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Aminoff.

[00:25:41] Agenda Item 2.06, Lake Braddock Secondary School 50th Anniversary Proclamation. I call on Ms. Cowan for a proclamation. Whereas Lake Braddock Secondary School opened its doors on September 4th, 1973, and proudly celebrates its 50th anniversary and reputation for providing generations of students, including four of ours up here, from a richly diverse community with an excellent academic foundation,

[00:26:12] And whereas Lake Braddock is dedicated to providing a rigorous instructional program in an inclusive and supportive environment for students who represent over 80 countries and speak 53 different languages and has enriched students through a wide variety of award winning academic, co-curricular and extracurricular programs.

[00:26:33] And, whereas the school, the largest in Virginia for K-12 education, currently serving 4,385 students in grades 7 through 12, where 95% of students go on to attend a two- or four-year college or university, provides excellent educational tools and learning opportunities for its students by embracing new initiatives, recognizing the importance of student engagement, robust academics, and arts and career and technical education in developing creative minds and providing alternative avenues for learning.

[00:27:09] And whereas the faculty, parents, parent-teacher-teacher-student association, booster organizations, and community of Lake Braddock are committed to the emotional well-being and academic achievement of all students through increased access to rigor and enrichment with academic and socio-emotional supports and celebrating its diversity as a strength that enrichens and broadens the educational experiences of all students and prepares them to be connected, adaptable, resilient, and engaged learners, utilizing innovative approaches,

[00:27:44] promoting a kind and inclusive culture, and centering student voice and choice to ensure all Bruins thrive in a dynamic world. And whereas thousands of students have passed through the doors of Lake Braddock Secondary School and benefited from the efforts of dedicated and caring teachers and staff who instill the school's core values of commitment, responsibility, integrity, respect, and compassion, with a shared vision that all students graduate as communicators, collaborators, ethical and global citizens, creative and critical thinkers, and goal-directed and resilient individuals.

[00:28:22] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board honors Lake Braddock Secondary School the occasion of its 50th anniversary, commends the school on its history of educational excellence and enrichment to the students and community, and conveys its most heartfelt best wishes for a successful anniversary celebration. Is there a second? I will second. Ms. Cohen, would you like to speak to your proclamation? You betcha. You know, I will say our family certainly bleeds purple and gold you all see me with my lanyard every week between racha and i

[00:29:02] we've sent four kids to lake braddock high school secondary school and i know that so many of you who follow the board probably get tired of hearing us commend and speak so highly of lake braddock but truly it's because we are so proud of our school that has helped turn our favorite human beings into the incredible people that they are and largely it's because of you all so thank you so much for all that you do we have many times in our family

[00:29:38] counted our blessings and Lake Braddock has always been one of them so a huge shout out to all the amazing staff miss Kearns is here the principal Terry Hampton associate principal and Bob Gaylord our amazing PTSA president who were never letting leave. So thank you. Thank you so much. And I know you all give so much of yourselves and your personal life. We all have made your baby our mascot at school. So we notice you show up at events, you show up at theater and choir and band and football and every sport under

[00:30:18] the sun. And we see you and our kids see you. And so thank you for everything that you do and all the magic that you make for our kids. - Ms. Teiser Heiser, would you like to speak to your second? - I definitely would.

[00:30:33] I don't really know where to start. Having had children at Lake Braddock from 2011 to 2022, this is just my uniform, the purple and gold. And so I just, it is an incredible school. I remember when we moved into the Lake Braddock area and I was concerned about a secondary school and the fact that it's the largest high school.

[00:30:56] and I thought, oh, this is gonna be interesting. But I will tell you, just as a parent who's gone there, whose kids have gone there, both of my kids came in with their struggles and they both came in with experiences where their whole child, their whole being, their whole needs weren't seen, their strengths weren't seen and their needs in some ways weren't seen until they got to Lake Braddock.

[00:31:24] And I'm not saying they didn't have good experiences before then, But I remember walking into the activities fair with my son with autism, whose music ability-- every time, every teacher, I had to fight for people to see it. And it was just seen.

[00:31:40] It was just given. And I mean, I cried, going, oh, my goodness. This place is magic, because it sees our kids for who they are. And it sees it for their strengths. And for my daughter, who had some trauma and couldn't get the support she needed until she got to Lake Braddock.

[00:31:56] one of your counselors said I'll take care of this I got her and they are thriving because of the community at Lake Braddock because of the kindness the caring and I see it in the parents I see it in the students it is a kind caring inclusive place and it is it is magic and um I just can't thank you all enough and I will just say my son's prom date went to a different high school and I won't name the high school but she spent one after one evening with the Lake Braddock kids and said these kids are the nicest kids I've ever met I wish I went here it is it is the culture you have created it is a great academic environment it is great well rounded environment the education you provide and the last thing I want to say

[00:32:35] is about the teachers at Lake Braddock the teachers are so dedicated and they care they still remember the kids years after they graduate they talk so kindly and nicely and positively about them the the culture you've created there is amazing so go Bruins a couple of facts I wanted to lift up that I think was so special about lake braddock did you know that it has the only band program to earn the virginia honor band award every year that that award has been offered which is pretty incredibly magical so congratulations to lake braddock band and congratulations to the girls gymnastics for back-to-back state championships and finally for the theater for winning the best play cappies last

[00:33:12] year so that shows you just a little bit of the excellence at lake braddock that goes along with the academics and the current technical ed and everything you provide but kudos to you and your staff and your teachers and the boosters and the parents and the community for creating a school that just takes care of its kids and graduates really kind intelligent and empathetic human beings so oh and thank you to penny for being here too the regional assistant superintendent oversees it so i'm so excited you'll celebrate this one last thing thank you megan um megan is a magistrate member who covers lake braddock but she knew she had two lake braddock parents here at

[00:33:49] at the diocese and so she kindly gave up her her her spot to celebrate so thank you megan for that and um and i always apologize to lake braddock because they had two school board member kids there so um and you guys did a great job congratulations lake braddock keep up for another amazing 50 years of graduating amazing human beings and with that we're going to let miss mclaughlin speak i i i did graciously say to the two of them while i share almost 50 of the school magisterially there was no way i was getting between rachna and lake braddock so

[00:34:25] uh i i too though um have a special place in my heart um for 12 years it has been a true honor to be one of the school board members who not only represents the lake braddock community but actually has it in her magisterial district just down the road um i have many fond memories of lake Braddock and some of them have been tough ones because as people know I had three boys come through Woodson all athletes in multiple sports and we were constantly playing Lake Braddock and while football was a very painful four

[00:35:01] years no competition there we did have some good wins and men's basketball and in swimming but what I can say in representing the school is to the leadership, currently led by Principal Lindsay Kearns and her incredible team, and supervised by Penny Gross, Blake Braddock truly reflects the very best that we hope for in our Fairfax County schools.

[00:35:30] It is a community of love, a community of achievement, a community of support, and to able to be a part of that in some small way to realize how magical after decades and decades and as we are celebrating tonight the golden 50 years it's much to be proud of so congratulations to the entire Bruins I do love to wear your purple and gold when it's not against Woodson

[00:36:02] warmest congrats okay with that i will call for the vote those in favor okay that's miss covered sanders dr anderson mclaughlin ms wikarski miss tolan mr not koufax he's gamara miss marron miss omache miss cohen and size verheiser fantastic okay agenda item 2.07 the vsba that's virginia school board association business honor roll proclamation i call a I'm Ms. Serena Koufax.

[00:36:41] Thank you, Madam Chair. Whereas public schools and local businesses and not-for-profits are an integral part of our community, and whereas many local businesses and community organizations play a crucial role in supporting our school, and whereas the economic health of our community, state, and nation depends on a strong public school system, and whereas collaboration between local public schools and local businesses and community organizations strengthen schools and the businesses

[00:37:16] communities alike by providing a well-trained healthy and highly educated workforce and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in fairfax county and fundamental to preserving a strong democratic society now and in the future therefore be it resolved that the fairfax county school board names the children's science center greater washington partnership and real foods for kids to the 2023 virginia school boards association

[00:37:53] business honor roll showing appreciation for each each entity's ongoing support of fairfax county public schools your work has aided this community focusing on the goal of providing the best public of schools we can, each and every child who attends.

[00:38:11] - Is there a second? - Second. - Thank you, Ms. Hamesh. Mr. Nikopex, would you like to speak to your proclamation? - Yes, Madam Chair. I do want to take this opportunity to share our deep appreciation to the Children's Science Center, Greater Washington Partnership, and Real Foods for Kids.

[00:38:30] Each has provided very meaningful support to FCPS this year, an important year of connection and reconnection. this recognition is well deserved for each and every one of them the children's science center and fcps ignite partner for five years regularly presents engaging family science nights involving a host of volunteers who provide dynamic hands-on steam activities to students and this year the children's science center will support 18 title one schools and fcps with family science nights

[00:39:04] greater washington partnership provides fcps students with connections to real world experience through external of ex externship opportunities their ready pathways initiative is where fcps students explore experiences in i.t so that when employers from government and health care to arts and energy hire workers they might hire a known quantity a trained fcps students and real foods for kids we began our partnership with them in 2012 when former school board member

[00:39:41] ryan mckelbeam took the lead with our board to evaluate our county-wide food offerings and created the statesman station pilot kitchen real foods for kids mission is to change eating behaviors and improve health outcomes for children and families in the greater washington region for sustainable access to whole foods impactful nutrition education and local systemic policy changes so after 12 years we are now continue we have now reopened all of our salad bars in every school and we're moving forward with scratch kitchens and restaurants have adopted recipes

[00:40:21] from the real foods kids culinary challenge i want to thank each and every one of you for your endeavors to connect our students and our families to the broader community thank you and congratulations for you are fcps's 2023 virginia school wars association honor roll recipients and we truly appreciate miss amace would you like to speak to your second yes thank you um and i'll try not to repeat too much of what miss darna koufax said i i'm so grateful to these organizations there are yet another examples of folks in the community who've decided to step up and contribute and be part of the solution.

[00:41:00] As we all know, the old adage, "It takes a village to raise a child," and no doubt local business contributes to our community's success and supports public education. The VSBA Business Honor Roll is just a small way for us to recognize local business for their support, and it's a way that helps us say thank you for their vital contributions.

[00:41:19] We're grateful for all the public-private partnerships, and this recognition helps highlight and uplift these partners who do such incredible work. a few things that weren't mentioned the children's science center specifically started 18 years ago as an all-volunteer effort so students out there get inspired but has been a part of our partnership for five years and they've regularly regularly presented engaging family science science nights which were mentioned but that also add to our curriculum and support our activities through stem initiatives and activities in our schools science technology engineering and math of course

[00:41:55] And this school year, the Children's Science Center will be supporting 18 of our Title I schools in FCPS with Family Science Nights. I'd be remiss not to mention their explicit commitment to supporting those who are underserved and using STEM to empower communities. And also, I want to give a big shout-out to Natalie Anderson, who was a passionate volunteer who introduced me to this wonderful organization, and to Nane Spivy, the Executive Director, I don't know if she's with us, but who's led this wonderful organization since 2010.

[00:42:25] Real Food for Kids also has been a partner with us for 12 years and who's especially important this time Because we did lose some funding for for supporting our kids with meals after covid and that's left many families With with gaps that we still need to address The Real Foods for Kids has been supporting our instructional services department and guiding some of the family and consumer sciences teams teen teen living as it's better known in schools and I've certainly been a fan of the culinary challenges that have been hosted

[00:42:59] That foster innovation among student chefs teaching them how to make healthy food flavorful The last one was hosted at Robinson. I have to shut that out after like Braddock. Sorry but Kids were making vegetarian dishes and getting creative with food So these and and yet again another instructional opportunity to show our young chefs the opportunity that that exists in in and the challenges that are part of setting up school menus so better appreciation for our staff and finally the Greater Washington partnership whose ready pathways initiative is where FCPS students explore their experiences in information technology preparing them for the workforce and potential

[00:43:39] employers have already recognized from government to healthcare and energy and know that when they hire a quality candidate that's finished this program they have classroom and world real-world experiences that they're able to contribute to a future career. So that's just a little bit about these wonderful organizations.

[00:43:56] I want to thank them again, and I'm sure, you know, alongside my colleagues for their contribution. And we look forward to additional partnerships in the future that further support our students. Thank you. Ms. Corbett Sanders, would you like to speak?

[00:44:13] Yes, I wanted to just briefly talk about the inspirational leadership of each of these organizations, people stepping up to fill niches, but also you often hear about the three to succeed that every child needs.

[00:44:29] And each of these organizations represent the importance of that third pillar, which is caring individuals in our community. And so I know I'm looking out at one of my constituents, Mary Porter, who I got to know about Real Food for Kids well before I was on the board because of the work that Mary was doing and frankly the work that Ryan McElveen was doing working with Mary on these initiatives and the importance that if our children have healthy diets and healthy food then they prosper in the classroom but it's also a pathway to success that these kids participating in these

[00:45:08] programs are inspired to pursue careers that are that they get to explore as being part of these competitions. So thank you very much. I appreciate you all. Ms. Cohen, would you like to speak? I would. I have had the good fortune of getting to know a few of these folks and very grateful. I think this is just such an amazing example. I can't think of another year where

[00:45:41] what I've seen is three organizations who find a need, find a gap, and figure out through an awful lot of their own personal sacrifice and service how to bridge that gap and you know we say all the time we can't do it alone and you all are just such a model example of the kinds of community partnerships that we need to have to give these opportunities to our kids that really enrich their lives and as Miss Corbett Sanders says said you know also give them more trusted adults in

[00:46:15] their lives, more opportunities to explore career pathways, and we're just so grateful for you. And I did want to, since Ms. O'Mesh did such a lovely job of highlighting the Family Science Nights, I did just want to say that a whole chunk of the team from the Science Museum is not here tonight because they are actually doing a Family Science Night at one of our schools tonight. So thank you so much. Thank you for all that you do, and we're really so pleased to have the opportunity to give all a shout out thank you miss barrett yeah i think these three uh organizations and the

[00:46:51] conversation for me really focus around partnership filling gaps and accountability so you know the children's science center we don't have a renowned science center in our area here and years ago people had the foresight to say what if we did have a space and when my kids were little we would go to this lab space and it has grown to be something that can come to schools and even i was reading a school newsletter today and they said we we won We want the science center to come and help.

[00:47:17] And you're filling a gap that the community, that others haven't been able to sustain. A large building takes time. When it comes to Greater Washington Partnership, I see our career tech staff here. There's so many partnerships that make the career force education work.

[00:47:33] I mean, there's just so much you can teach a kid in a classroom, right? They've got to get out and see what's really happening. And so that it's just so critical. Even in a week or two, I'm meeting with the local Chamber of Commerce in Reston. We know that these partnerships are valuable, but we know that business also wants to be partners with us to get those great employees.

[00:47:50] And lastly, real food for kids. I was at the event when you hosted Chef Ann Cooper, the renegade lunch lady, who has gone on to really create the tools to bring salad bars to schools. And so much so when I was out there one year, I went to visit her and just kind of just say, oh my gosh, I think you're amazing.

[00:48:07] And it was from that experience, but you were filling a gap. And I'm so pleased that Superintendent Reed has now helped to fill that gap as it should be. It's our school division's responsibility to provide the healthy food.

[00:48:24] We got waylaid with the salad bars during COVID, but whatever, they're in. And you know, we're going to have an expo with our new food nutrition service director is going to do an event with student food. There's a time and a place for partnership and then there's a time for the system to take it on and do it.

[00:48:40] And I'm really glad that we're in that space. And I know we're not going to say goodbye in our partnership, but you got us here. So thank you. Ms. McLaughlin. With 12 voices, we're always trying to be a little mindful that there's a lot that can be said and it can make a meeting run very long.

[00:49:00] But there's no way I could pass up a moment in particular to look out to my friends, former fellow advocates in the community from Real Food for Kids. It's bittersweet to think what it took to get here.

[00:49:16] being a community former community advocate it's not fun sometimes to tackle FCPS as it used to be and so I hope that what we're celebrating here tonight is first and foremost you all of you for your tenacity and your willingness to fight fight fight and then I look at Mr. McElveen I see Mr.

[00:49:37] Moon Ms. Darenak-Koufax we were on the front lines to try and help you as new board members to really elevate and get our school division to understand food matters you know children cannot be optimal in learning if they do not have healthy food and you helped lead us there we had a consultants group that came in to help get us there but if you had not stepped up i can't imagine where we would be sitting here today and so dr reed that walk through history lane you know it looks really easy right now because we've been really lucky and i want to

[00:50:14] to thank my current board members because you've continued to carry the torch and the belief in why real food matters for kids you know I wanted those salad bars up and running a lot faster than we got them going especially at the high schools where we have such a 50% of our kids but again with tremendous gratitude as a parent as a Fairfax County resident as a board member you You guys are amazing and I also want to say to the Children's Science Center, I've really been fortunate to have the outreach from them.

[00:50:51] We are trying to ensure that Northern Virginia benefits what Southern Virginia already has, a state-sponsored science center so that we can build scientists and people interested in STEM and we are not there yet but you as well have recognized a need that we have not been able to fulfill not just in our schools because we don't have resources but that in a county where our poverty continues to grow we cannot continue to think that children only

[00:51:29] discover the sciences and STEM fields through their families or their neighborhoods. needs to be done as a collective community so thank you for what you're doing as well and I stand ready to keep helping along the way and to the Greater Washington partnership thank you as well for continuing to be part of our village that helps to raise a child it makes a tremendous difference and you know Jay Grant I know that you continue to be so much a connecting point for this school division in our community so I want to say a special thank you to you

[00:52:04] because you are a lean and mean machine. We really need to get more resources for you and your team but you help make the difference too. So thank you. Ms. Seiswerheiser would you like to speak?

[00:52:19] Just briefly because I know a lot of my colleagues have spoken already and I agree with many things they're saying. I just wanted to share personally for the Science Center and the Science Museum you're building. When I moved here from California in 2001 I was really surprised at how little Northern Virginia had I when Mike I was pregnant with my son and my daughter was a toddler and we had gone to so many fun hands-on science places for young children in Northern California and I came here I was like where is everything outside of DC right and so to see it come to Northern Virginia where our families can enjoy it we don't have to travel into DC or I used to drive to Baltimore so I just applaud you for bringing science to our students in a

[00:52:58] hands-on interactive way and expanding it and then also partnering with the schools to make sure that we have it here it is just amazing and and for real foods for kids i was just sidebarring with dr reed saying we need to start like culinary competitions like kids baking challenge and things like that to get kids really into the things that they see on tv i know some of my friends kids are doing these challenges at home it would be fun to kind of bring that in the schools too but i just wanted to thank you for and i know it may not quite your um your mission but I just think anything to get the kids excited about creating with food is amazing, right?

[00:53:32] And, but I just want to thank you for bringing science in Northern Virginia where families can enjoy it together and where young kids can get excited about science. So wonderful. And thank you for your partnerships. Ms. Bakursky. Thank you. I too want to lend my voice and just say a thank you to these three organizations. My personal experience with the Children's Science Center has been as a PTA president many moons ago, where I've been able to coordinate some of these family science nights and they are truly amazing and I hope that is a resource that anybody who is listening right now who is involved our parents this this is

[00:54:09] an incredible way to get kids excited about stem and it's fun and it's so easy to set up so I hope people take advantage of it because it really is is amazing, and you've done wonderful things for our students and ignited excitement.

[00:54:30] And of course, real food for kids. We've been working together for a while. Thank you for pushing us to where we are today. I've enjoyed your culinary challenges, that Chantilly food.

[00:54:49] Our Kid Chefs event was amazing. And I think, you know, when we hired Dr. Reed and I spoke to you, and I said, you know, I think we're gonna be in a good place right now. I think this is what we've been waiting for, what you've been pushing us towards.

[00:55:06] And I hope you're seeing that right from the very top, that nutrition for our children, healthy options to fuel their minds and their bodies that they're prepared to do well in school to be academically focused is taken very seriously and I cannot wait to see the changes that are going to be coming through for our kids and I thank you thank you for bringing us here okay seeing no other board members that would like to speak I would just make a couple of comments so many amazing things have been said about these

[00:55:45] organizations already but I just want to make sure people know that these relationships go back a long ways. I see Joanne sitting here. I was working at Marshall High School at the time that Marshall was being renovated and they were one of the first schools to get the multiple lunch lines just based on your advocacy and we spent many hours walking the halls of Marshall and working on this project so I so appreciate it and I think we mentioned that we have an official partnership with the Children's Science Center of five years I mean maybe

[00:56:20] that's the official one that mr. Grant has worked on but I remember much longer than five years ago being on the science team and we just talked about this a week or so ago that there were many many conversations with the Children's Science Center in the very beginning and our science experts and in curriculum experts on you know what what this could be and what could happen and and lots and lots of excitement around it and i understand you are celebrating your 20-year anniversary very soon and just the incredible progress that you have made over that time is really remarkable so thank

[00:57:00] you for being here tonight to both of both of you and and to our other partner here as well the greater washington partnership so with that i will call for the vote all those in favor that's Ms. Corbett Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. McLaughlin, Ms. Makarski, Ms. Tolan, Ms. Darina Koufax, Ms. Keese Gamara, Ms. Marin, Ms. Omeche, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Seismerheiser.

[00:57:28] Thank you. That is unanimous. With that, we would like to invite family members, staff, and community members who are here this evening in support of the VSBA Honor Roll Awardee Children's Science Center to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais please note that we will be taking a photo with each of the vsba business honor roll awardees separately so i ask that my colleagues

[00:58:01] remain at the dais for the next photos i would like i would like to invite those here in support

[00:59:52] of vsba business honor roll awardee greater washington partnership to please join the board

[00:59:59] for a photo. I would like to invite those here in support of VSBA Business Honor Roll awardee

[01:00:44] Real Food for Kids to please join the board for a photo. I would like to invite those here

[01:02:03] in support of the Lake Braddock Secondary School 50th Anniversary Proclamation to please join the

[01:02:10] board for a photo I would like to invite those here in support of the

[01:04:10] proclamation honoring Daniel Amanoff to please join the board for a photo okay

[01:06:37] we are moving on to agenda item 3.01 community participation the next order of business is community participation we welcome all community members who are here and those who signed up to speak this evening community members can sign up to provide comments at school board regular business meetings and public hearings on the school board's website. At regular business meetings, speakers may address any school related issue except those that have been scheduled for public hearings such as the capital improvement program, budget, and boundaries.

[01:07:15] Comments targeting, criticizing, or attacking individual students are not permitted during public meetings. Complaints regarding school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other school officials speakers should not use personally identifiable information and connection with an individual student or a school-based employee additionally speakers should be respectful and observe proper decorum in their statements avoiding profanity inappropriate gestures shouting and comments that run counter to the spirit and letter of the school divisions

[01:07:53] non-discrimination policy which protects students and staff from discrimination based on age race color sex sexual orientation gender identity religion national or origin marital status or disability speakers must limit their remarks to no more than two minutes direct their comments to the school board and should remain at the podium until concluding their remarks additionally only the speaker may stand at the podium they may not be joined by others speaker substitutions are not

[01:08:27] permitted a speaker may not yield their time to another individual at the conclusion of two minutes the microphone or video will be turned off school board members will be listening but not responding we ask audience members to be respectful of one another shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated audience members should hold their applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks and remain at their seats including when video recording or taking photos we are grateful to those that have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation madame clerk

[01:09:04] please call the first speaker joseph bailey good uh good evening um everybody uh my name is joseph and um i uh i kind of script but i just gonna um you know go for it um so i lived in a lot of

[01:09:38] of places. Before here, I lived in Hawaii. And before Hawaii, I lived in China. And before China, I lived here. And I played volleyball basically like my whole life, kind of, or at least since elementary school. And I feel like it's created a lot of good memories for me. You know, I remember doing barbecue nights at Seth Ludlow's house and playing volleyball in his backyard. And I also remember playing, you know, volleyball in middle school. And I think that, you know, when you, i'm pretty close to graduating and sophomore so i only have a couple years left i think that

[01:10:16] it's not really you know you're great in chemistry or things like this that you bring with you but it's um the memories on your sports team and stuff like that and um so i think that making a varsity sport will probably kind of like make it more serious and it'll just make it like a better experience you know we have the um the interest there was a lot of kids who came to the tryouts And we're just lacking some funding right now, I think.

[01:10:42] We've got, you know, great coaches and parents who participate, and I'm really grateful for that. And so, yeah, I think that, yeah, I think we're just lacking some funding, honestly. And, you know, sorry, because I'm a little bit short on time.

[01:11:05] Anyways, yeah. Some other good memories, I think, are in middle school, We got to play volleyball like during recess and stuff. So that was nice. And anyways, thank you for your time and Peyton Walcott.

[01:11:33] That's that's that.

[01:11:51] So hello, everyone. My name is Peyton, and I'm coming here for the same issue as Joseph. And that is I firmly believe that we should have boys volleyball be a varsity sport in Fairfax County. And I think the main premise for that argument rests mainly upon the fact the opportunities just do not align with the popularity of volleyball in Fairfax County.

[01:12:13] We currently have two main volleyball clubs operating out of Fairfax County, the St. James program, which is in Springfield, and then NVVA. I remember going to the St. James tryouts just two years ago, and I have friends that tried out this past year. When I tried out, there were over 120 boys who showed up.

[01:12:29] This next year, or this year, 150 boys showed up, and only 20 made the team. And with NVVA, a similar amount showed up and a similar amount made the team. And so what boys are having to do in Fairfax County is they're either having to stop playing volleyball if they picked it up too late and weren't skilled enough to make these advanced teams, or they're having to travel all the way to Maryland in rush hour traffic to try to make the practices at 5 p.m.

[01:12:54] even though they're on school nights, which is just, if you know, the traffic going up to Maryland is really difficult to do, and it really is sacrificing academics. And then also regards to just the school, I think the importance of volleyball rests not only in the activity that boys are getting from the sport.

[01:13:09] You're getting physical fitness, which is much needed in this country, but you're also developing connections with your friends and with teammates. I think one issue that's really plaguing high schoolers today is largely mental illness. And while I haven't personally suffered from that, I have testimonies from many of my club teammates, many of my school teammates who came with anxiety from school, and their only release was boys volleyball.

[01:13:32] And so I can just think about the popularity mixed with all these very popular issues and And the fact that boys volleyball can really bring a strong group of very responsible young men together, and can help them develop important skills that they'll carry throughout their lives, I think is a very important thing that we need to push and a strong reason why we need boys volleyball to be a varsity sport here in Fairfax County.

[01:13:53] Thank you. Seth Ludlow. Hello, board members.

[01:14:10] My name is Seth Ludlow. I'm a junior at Langley High School. Now, I know what you're all thinking. I'm wearing a tuxedo to give more validity to my thoughts. And you're exactly right. I'm just kidding. I just sang the national anthem with the Lange Madrigals here. So I'm also talking about boys volleyball today.

[01:14:26] I'm going to provide some more of the facts and the interest that we've had. So you may not remember, but I spoke at this same meeting about a year ago about boys volleyball becoming a sanctioned sport. Since that time, I as well as many others, namely my mom and a coalition of other parents, have worked with Rob Bailey to fulfill the requirements for boys volleyball to be an approved sport set by Dr. Reed and Bill Curran's office in their July meeting about boys volleyball. Since then we've made significant progress and we're now asking you to help set the ball in motion. See what I did there? In specific,

[01:15:05] the interest at Langley High School has skyrocketed over the past year. Last year we had 10 boys tryout for the team and this year we had 31 boys tryout for the team and this is with no formal advertisement other than word of mouth. Also our interest club spiked from 30 members to 150 members as Joseph mentioned. And we have a lot of our team here tonight. It's not only happening at Langley though. I know some of the concern was that it maybe started at Langley but not other schools. For example, Annandale High School this year has over 45 boys registered. South County had over 60 boys interested but couldn't accommodate all of them on the team. Woodson has over 50 boys

[01:15:43] registered. I've played their team a few times. And Lewis High School has over 35 boys registered and is planning to make two teams. So in total the Northern Virginia Boys Volleyball League, which all these teams play in, spiked from 35 teams last year to 48 this year. This means that this league has seen a 300% increase in the last four years, the last four years alone. We've seen incredible growth in boys volleyball and FCPF.

[01:16:15] Maura Campione. Hi, my name is Maura Campione. I'm a sixth grader at Great Falls Elementary, and I'm also part of the Climate Conservation Club. I wanted to come here today to talk reducing cafeteria waste in schools. I believe this cause is very important because landfills are piling up with waste and particularly plastic. Fairfax County schools use plastic utensils which kids use every day and in my school

[01:16:53] Great Falls Elementary the cafeteria offers plastic forks, spoons, and knives along with plastic trays which are used one time and then thrown away. There are 199 schools and centers in Great Fairfax County and if half of the students use a plastic fork spoon and knife every day in the landfill there will be two statues of Liberty and one year alone but we don't really need to have to statue of liberties in our landfills there's better ways to do this and one of the ways is us kids can use reusable utensils and trays but all we

[01:17:33] need is Fairfax County to buy them us kids could also be a part of cleaning them but really at the end of the day it's us who are going to have this problem when we grow up and all the generations after us. The Climate Conservation Club circulated a petition calling on schools in Fairfax County to make a difference by reducing waste created by cafeterias. So all of us we walked around our neighborhoods to persuade people into acknowledging that that this is an important cause.

[01:18:09] Our hope was to get over 100 signatures together, and we succeeded in doing that. So right here is the petition. And this is only one of them, which I have done, but we have multiple others. And the decision that Fairfax County could do-- I should have mentioned earlier, if you have a written script, you can certainly hand it to our clerk, and for any of you,

[01:18:45] we'll make sure that the school board gets it Andrew Cowell testing okay hi good evening my name is Andrew Cowell and I represent the boys interest club for volleyball as well as the boys volleyball club team so starting high school I was eager to contribute my skills and experience from volleyball to the Langley community but as I searched through all the pamphlets brochures

[01:19:25] and all the club interest forms I just couldn't find boys volleyball within that group and I asked my counselors where the boys volleyball team was only to be returned with a puzzled look and him saying what like there is no boys volleyball team and frankly like i frantically you know i went into a frenzy started researching clubs sports and how we could make this a reality but i thought i was the only one fighting this battle and i grew very disheartened until i realized that one of my um great friends would be sitting right next to me in chemistry, Seth Ludlow, and after exchanging our

[01:20:04] passion of volleyball, you know, we gathered a bunch of members up to really kick this off. And our progress today is evident of all the effort we put in. Every person sitting behind me in that crowd is here because of their blood, sweat, and tears. Blood from diving to save impossible balls, finger pain from too many jammed fingers, and wrists that have received impacts from powerful spikes, sweat from hours of drills, practice, and focus, and tears. But not just tears

[01:20:39] of defeat and failure, but also tears of joy when we triumphed, such as when we almost won the championship last year. By realizing this dream, we can provide students with the proper structure and resources to play the sport that we all love so much. Our mentality on the court how our mentality when speaking in today. We will spare no effort in making

[01:21:05] volleyball a varsity sport. Ethan Pawu.

[01:21:25] Hello, my name is Ethan Poo and I'm a senior at Langley High School. I just wanted to share a short synopsis about my volleyball experience throughout high school. Before my freshman year I had already played volleyball for a couple of summers where I started to love volleyball. At the beginning of freshman year I look at the list of varsity sports we offer and volleyball just isn't

[01:22:02] there. Then sophomore year goes by and still no volleyball, not even a club team. I'm always asking around and meeting up with friends just to pass the ball back and forth. It feels like volleyball doesn't even want me to play. Junior year comes around and I start coaching for a local boys team with my friend on the girls varsity team. All of my kids were fired up coming to every practice. We meet every week, put in the work and have fun while doing it. Not to brag, but we ended up winning the championship. The kids asked me relentlessly about Langley's team. I had to tell

[01:22:39] them, once again, volleyball just isn't a varsity sport. This year, my senior year, I finally get to wear this jersey to represent my school's colors. So this sport is about providing opportunities for the young boys who are passionate about volleyball. It's about giving the opportunity to the next generation of athletes. We need to foster the growing interest in this amazing sport. Thank you

[01:23:02] for your time. Student number seven. Good evening. My name is Ethan Lam, and I am a junior at Langley High School I'm here on behalf of making boys volleyball an official school sport for several years Fairfax County student-athletes coaches parents residents and other supporters have

[01:23:38] advocated for the approval of boys high school volleyball as a recognized interscholastic club and ideally a varsity high school sport why indoors indoor boys volleyball is rapidly gaining popularity in the United States and is now considered one of the fastest growing sports in the country. With respect, Fairfax County lacks behind. During COVID, I had lost interest in many things, including the two sports that I had mainly done. And by the time that I came back to school, I felt I had no place in it, not being able to be an avid part of the community.

[01:24:17] Being able to represent the school gives us students a sense of pride and motivation to strive for higher. And together, we can achieve such goal. As students, we have shown that interest exists and continues to grow significantly in the in the northern Virginia area similar to the rapid growth across the mid-Atlantic states so far we've gathered we've gathered signature lists enlisted coaches and supporters and educated our principals and athletic directors now with your help we hope to make an FCPS high school boys volleyball program a reality

[01:24:52] thank you Vanessa Hall I was waiting for more students my name is Vanessa Hall and I have two children in FCPS. At the last school board meeting my heart broke listening to adults demonizing and dehumanizing students, which is why I'm so appreciative of your continued support of FCPS regulation 2603. Regarding

[01:25:29] gender expansive and transgender students, your action supports the rights of students and parents while abiding by state and federal civil rights regulations and policies. Those same speakers demanded that you get back to basics like reading writing and math but this get back to the basics rhetoric focuses only on subject matter while ignoring key basics like safety and inclusion which are critically necessary to ensure that students have the opportunity to succeed in and out of school research shows that when students feel unsafe or excluded at school their ability to learn and succeed in school

[01:26:06] decreases dramatically students cannot learn if they fear their hijab will be ripped off or that a gunman will enter the school students cannot learn if they fear being outed by a teacher or prevented from using the bathroom of their gender gender identity students cannot learn if they're abused at home or excluded at school inclusion means making sure that every student can see themselves in the books and history lessons but also among the educators it means equitable support and accessible classes for students with disabilities and English language learners yet it also includes offering advanced math for

[01:26:40] all or maybe even volleyball students support school safety and inclusion they've said this again and again in surveys and their advocacy they've walked out against gun violence and walked out in support of inclusion of and respect for lgbtqia students thus it really makes me wonder why so many adults seem angry about these kind of basics since most adults do not spend

[01:27:04] half of their lives in school every day thank you christine holdman thank you ladies and gentlemen of the school board and thank you for giving the opportunity to address you today.

[01:27:29] I stand before you as a concerted citizen advocate for the freedom of thought and expression in our schools. Book banning is a subjective process that can be influenced by personal bias politics and cultural factors. It results in certain groups or individuals having undue influence on what our students can and cannot read. Have you heard the saying what's good for the goose is good for the Well, all political groups or cultures can use the "ban the other guy's" book as a strategy, and before long, the only book in the library, maybe, will be Harold and the Purple Crayon.

[01:28:07] Maybe. I haven't read it in a long time. When books and ideas that address important and often sensitive topics are removed from schools and libraries and curriculum, it can have several negative impacts. Suppression of diverse perspectives.

[01:28:23] This can reinforce existing prejudices and stereotypes, and this inhibits any society from advancing to be a more perfect union. Banned books often explore the experience of marginalized and minority groups, and a lack of exposure can lead to a lack of empathy and/or ignorance of what the realities are faced by these other groups. And really, aren't we all in some sense a marginalized group? Don't we all wish that they could understand us better? In

[01:29:03] the terms of in terms of history we need to teach our young people all of the good, the bad, and the ugly of our past history and then we can look at our current society and say what are our prejudices? What are our stereotypes? How can we be better? Banning of books and ideas fosters fearful environment and a

[01:29:26] followed. Jennifer Litton Tidd. A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds in the United States. One in seven children are neglected or abused. In FCPS, one in seven is over 25,000 children. In child abuse cases, 77% of children were victimized by a parent. Abused and neglected

[01:30:05] children are nine times more likely to be involved in criminal activity and live two decades less. 40% of 4.2 million homeless minors are LGBTQ. That's 1.6 million nationally. 16% of LGBTQ youth reported that they ran away from home, with 55% of those reporting that they ran away because of abuse and or fear of abuse due to being LGBTQ. 14 percent of queer

[01:30:39] minors say they were kicked out or abandoned. 17 percent of FCPS students identify as LGBTQ. That's 30,600. Half of them reported feeling depressed. Four times Fairfax LGBTQ children reported having suicide ideation than their CISAT peers. Why is the state more concerned with protecting the parents some children fear than the children who fear their parents? 57% of child abuse is detected in schools by trusted

[01:31:17] adults. The Parents Matter movement blithely ignores the existence of parental child abuse and neglect which endangers all children please ignore election year culture wars save lives

[01:31:33] instead joseph miller does this start or is there a button i need to press here okay um you preside over a segregation scheme that disproportionately assigns black and latino census blocks to so-called

[01:32:08] split feeder elementary schools in some cases 50 of these schools are hispanic or latino The outcome is that our black and Latino students travel farther distances to get to middle and high school. This is a physical barrier to the classroom and creates unnecessary bus routes that ultimately cost taxpayers money.

[01:32:29] This is a pretext. FCPS says it has split feeders to address over capacity issues. But in some cases, these schools are still designated as split feeders even after the capacity issue has been removed.

[01:32:46] In Sully District, Greenbrier East continues to be designated a split feeder school, even though the closest middle school, Rocky Run, is now projected to be at 67% capacity.

[01:33:01] Students who live in segregation era communities like Greenbrier continue to attend Rocky Run Middle School, while students in census blocks outside of Greenbrier attend Katherine Johnson which isn't even in the same high school pyramid and Catherine Johnson is projected to have a capacity of 83% compared to 67% of the closest middle school a recent Penn State VCU study found that segregation in Virginia's highest in Northern Virginia and the school board simply can't pretend that

[01:33:40] this isn't happening anymore I urge the school board to take immediate action to provide more substantial oversight over planning and facilities and to remove split feeder status of elementary schools where it's no longer necessary or legally justifiable on the just under the Civil Rights Act thank you

[01:34:00] Sherry Cuffell good evening everyone I've been researching library books at Chantilly High School and I'd like to read an excerpt from one that I came across today it's suggested reading and some of the English classes it's called "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison.

[01:34:35] The overview of the book on the website states, "Perkola Breedlove, a young 11-year-old black girl, "praised every day for beauty. "She wishes she had blonde hair and blue eyes "so she would fit in at her school. "Unfortunately, she faces a lot of strife in her life.

[01:34:52] "The author finishes with the statement, "A powerful examination of our obsession "with beauty and conformity." And as we all know, social media doesn't help with that. So we have Charlie, he's a grown man. And Perkola is an 11-year-old.

[01:35:08] On page 149, I'll read, quote, Perkola lost her balance. Charlie raised his hands to her hips to save her from falling. He pat his head down and nibbled at the back of her leg. His mouth trembled at the sweet firmness of her flesh, this 11-year-old.

[01:35:25] He closed his eyes. Her body was rigid, her throat silent. A bolt of excitement ran down his genitals and softened the lips of his anus. He wanted to F her tenderly, but the tightness of her vagina was more than he could bear. He thrust into her until he is done, end quote.

[01:35:43] He realizes that she's passed out and covers her with a quilt. She wakes up wondering what the pain between her legs is as her mom looms over her. My question is, what educational value is this kind of book? This is in her high school. If my 15-year-old son, who would be in ninth grade, got a copy of this book, I would be horrified.

[01:36:03] I don't understand why things like this are in the school, and it's suggested reading. And this happens. This gentleman touches little girls. He abuses all kind of women in this book, and this is what's in our high school. Thank you.

[01:36:27] Marianne Burke. Good evening. I'm Marianne Burke, and as you all probably know, all these school board seats are up for election this November, and you can tell things are heating up because false claims are circulating about this current school board.

[01:36:53] One false claim is that the decline in SAT scores shows that the Fairfax County public schools are failing and the claim suggests that this will lead to a drop in property values in the county and it's on a particular website, particular party's website.

[01:37:10] But school districts across Virginia and other states and around the globe had similar declines in SAT scores between 2018 and 2022. Fairfax County students perform above the state and global SAT averages.

[01:37:27] Rather than blaming the decline in SAT scores on one's opponent, candidates should recognize other factors that influence SAT scores. Fewer students now take the test compared to in the past. Only three-quarters of the students nationwide took the test in 2021 compared to 2020.

[01:37:45] 80% of colleges and universities no longer require SAT scores with applications, so fewer students are reporting their scores to colleges and fewer students are retaking the test for better scores also there is a shift in profile of students taking the test you're standing on my computer may i continue i'm not sure what's happening are we okay okay please continue okay also there's a shift in the profile of students taking the test free and more accessible testing has allowed more

[01:38:24] students from lower income families to take the test and this these data show that these students tend to score lower than those from higher income families and students who do not plan to attend college are now taking the test because it's free and during the school day so why not Fairfax County is part of a nationwide movement to de-emphasize entrance exams within the college admissions process please tell people to don't be fooled please play the video submitted by

[01:38:57] Stephanie Lundquist Aurora we don't have any sound apologies one second are we

[01:39:41] BE ABLE TO FIX THIS VIDEO PLEASE? THE TECH TEAM IS WORKING ON IT. WE WILL RESTART MISS LUNNQUIST

[01:39:50] AURORA'S VIDEO AS SOON AS THEY HAVE ADDRESSED THE ISSUE. MADAM CHAIR, WE'RE HAVING AN ISSUE WITH

[01:40:39] THE VIDEO. IT'S COMING OUT OF THE TRUCK. THEY ARE TRYING TO RESOLVE IT. SHOULD WE TAKE A FIVE MINUTE BREAK? IS THIS A FIVE MINUTE ISSUE? IF WE COULD TAKE A FIVE MINUTE BREAK, THAT WOULD BE GREAT. OKAY, WE NEED TO WATCH THIS VIDEO. THANK YOU. OKAY, BOARD MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC, WE WILL RECONVENE

[01:40:59] in five minutes um to stay there with you good evening i appreciate the ability to opt out our

[01:42:22] okay board members if you could please um return to the dais we need to continue public participation

[01:50:19] madam chair we have resolved the video issue so if the booth could play the video please good

[01:51:00] evening i appreciate the ability to opt out our children this year from social emotional learning lessons that was a necessary first step to honor parental rights i kindly request that you extend that option to equity lessons which include topics like white privilege. My children for example are mixed race and I don't need teachers or school equity officers telling them how to interpret that or encouraging them to view their friends in racial terms. As a parent I also do not believe our children should be sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with students of the opposite sex as FCPS policy currently dictates. Aside from students being uncomfortable this poses a

[01:51:37] significant safety threat, as we learned from the two sexual assault cases in Loudoun County public schools in 2021. I think if you surveyed parents across Fairfax County and asked them if they wanted their children to share vulnerable spaces with the opposite sex, you would find that we would overwhelmingly vote "No, we do not." If you ask us if we have the right to private information about our children's gender identities, we would vote "Yes, we do." But FCPS is in defiance of parents in both of these cases you revealed your hand at the July work session when you said

[01:52:13] the majority doesn't always dictate right you are currently representing a tyrannical minority and we know it despite 84 percent of respondents disagreeing with your illogical changes to the family life education curriculum you are still trying to find a way to force that through you were elected to represent your constituents and preserve the safety of all children but you are failing we kindly request that you educate our children and leave the parenting to us thank you

[01:52:43] madam chair that was our last public speaker thank you and apologies for the technological difficulties 3.02 academic matters dr reed will now share academic matters good evening madam

[01:53:19] chair and thank you for the opportunity to share academic matters this evening we're excited to bring an update to the board on our compensatory education process we've had a tremendous amount of work put forward by many many staff across the division over the course of last spring in particular and over the summer and the fall and we're really excited to share the progress we've made in the implementation of the plan could we go ahead and move to the next

[01:53:53] Thank you. So one of the things that I want to make sure that we're clear as we close in on this process is that to date we have conducted extensive communication with our families on the compensatory education process across the division. We've held a number of over 30,000 IEP and 504 meetings provided more than 27,000 hours of compensatory services to students and processed a significant amount of family reimbursements in this case we've paid out already more than 5.5 million to

[01:54:32] families in private services so there's been a tremendous amount of work and I think it's important that both our community in our in you really recognize how hard our staff have been working as we complete this process so one of the things that I want to share some details and at this time we're currently 96.7% complete with the conferences and this is data regarding the number of meetings up to date as of August 28th we've continued to hold more meetings since

[01:55:10] August 28th and fully expect that we'll have a hundred percent of our meetings held by October 15th which is when we've had an extension granted by the office of civil rights so the office of civil rights and our contact with them have been very complimentary of the community's efforts and that's why they agreed to an extension until October 15th again our staff continues to work very hard and we also want to note that our continued outreach will continue it is ongoing until all those families in the incomplete we're not started category

[01:55:48] have been contacted and met with. So one of the things that we wanted to also share is that it's each of these IEP meetings, the over 30,000 have been held, and the 504 team meetings, it's actually at that table, that collaborative table, where the eligibility has been determined for compensatory services based on the collaborative conversations around the individual student data.

[01:56:14] These determinations have been tracked centrally and in terms of service hours, 20.4% of students were determined to be eligible with over 60,000 hours of services provided by Fairfax County public school staff.

[01:56:30] The services can include instructional, related services, life skills, and employability services. Several examples of these delivery methods have included before or after school, summer school or individual schools that are co-located with extended with ESY summer programs and regional sites for Saturday programming. Families also have had an opportunity to have private provider options when those are discussed at IEP meetings and those may be through parental reimbursement or more recently we're working on direct pay to vendors because we know that that can be

[01:57:07] a hardship to have parental reimbursement. I do want to share that with With regard to family reimbursements, as of August 31st, we have dispersed $5.5 million, the majority of which was based on coverage of needs during the pandemic period from April 14th, 2020 through June 10th of 2022.

[01:57:32] Approximately 3,000 IEPs have been found eligible for reimbursement to date, and that we do acknowledge that some families have experienced process issues that have delayed reimbursement, and we apologize for that and appreciate our community's patience with that process. We're currently addressing delays. We have mobilized and moved staff into that pipeline process so that we're able to speed up reimbursements in particular, and as I mentioned earlier, we've streamlined processes to be able to pay vendors directly. In terms

[01:58:08] In terms of our ongoing actions and where we're headed with this project, again, I want to remind the board and our community that in our continued conversations and collaboration with the Office of Civil Rights, they have expressed gratitude to the FCPS team for our progress on the agreement, and they have been complementary of the efforts, including reporting and the support of this process.

[01:58:34] audits by both FCPS and OCR will continue to support improvement and process efforts and this process I just want to end with saying it has been a huge heavy lift for our staff and for our families and our students and we're pleased with a high percentage of participation participation and discussions of IEP teams and offer our grateful thanks to all involved in the PROCESS. SO THAT IS ACADEMIC MATTERS THIS EVENING.

[01:59:03] MISS TOLIN. THANK YOU. I HAVE AT LEAST ONE BOARD MEMBER WITH QUESTIONS. DR. ANDERSON. I KNOW THIS IS A SURPRISE TO ALL. THANK YOU FOR THIS VERY IMPORTANT REPORT. I JUST WANT TO ASK SOME QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ASKED OF ME REGARDING SOME OF THIS WORK.

[01:59:23] BUT BEFORE I GET THERE I DO WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE STAFF. I KNOW THIS WAS A HUGE LIFT FROM OUR central office folks who are trying to facilitate and administer what it was going to look like to our classroom teachers and case managers who had to carry this out.

[01:59:41] This is significant. So this is not a small feat. And I want to be sure to highlight that one of the things that I'd like for you to kind of highlight a little bit more. You spoke about it. But I think a little bit too quickly because I really want to be sure that our parents are guaranteed are understand how the ELIGIBILITY ELIGIBILITY IS DETERMINED BECAUSE WHEN ONE LOOKS AT THAT DATA SET THAT SAYS ONLY 20.4 STUDENTS SO NEARLY 80 PERCENT OF THOSE CASES HAVE NOT BEEN FOUND ELIGIBLE I WANT TO HAVE CLARITY

[02:00:15] THAT THIS IS NOT A PREDETERMINED DECISION IT'S NOT ONE WHERE THERE'S A VERY CLEAR SET OF CRITERIA BUT RATHER ONE THAT IS HIGHLY INDIVIDUALIZED SO IF YOU COULD SPEAK TO THAT PROCESS A LITTLE BIT more I would appreciate it thank you Dr. Anderson indeed twenty point four percent of the students were determined eligible and that included over sixty thousand hours of service that were provided those decisions were made at the IEP table which was a collaborative conversation between Fairfax County staff and students and families at the table not always students but Fairfax

[02:00:55] County staff and families I do and same with the 504 so during the course of those conversations a variety of types of data assessment data anecdotal data conversations come to bear and decisions are made at that point about what would best meet the needs of that student moving forward so it is a unique process to each student and I also have our current interim assistant superintendent for special education here which I may Dr. Edmonds heard do you have something you'd want to add to that if that's possible at this point to further

[02:01:34] clarify those decisions at the IEP table please what you stated was correct Dr. Reed it is a very individualized process where the teams come together they look over the data they work with parents and the teams that are represented there to make decisions but it is very individualized determined based on student needs by looking at their time during that COVID period any services they may have missed how instruction looked and looking at the data that was present for students and the requirements are outlined in the OCR

[02:02:07] agreement as well but your answer is right on target thank you thank you the second question is regarding the support for staff because I know we all heard how massive of a load this was for staff as they embarked on this a few months ago and I know there's a little bit more work to go how are we ensuring that we're not burning our folks out that we're putting together as much as possible I know data collection was an issue that really crushed the workload for some of our employees I'm just wondering how are we moving forward to ensure that they can still move on with their duties currently while completing

[02:02:46] the rest of the meetings and eligibility requirements so i think that's a great question it's unquestionably one of the heaviest lifts our staff have undertaken since the coveted pandemic i would say that the schools that both that i visited this year and also last spring all the staff came together to support our special education staff there was a lot of there were a lot of our principals administrative team our special ed chairs within schools our support

[02:03:21] staff that came around our teachers our special education teachers to provide support having said that it was a huge and heavy lift as you know we have provided that extra 30 minutes for our special education staff with ESSER dollars over the last year and this year as we know that there's been a lot of extra work and extra time that's been committed to this process and I just am grateful for the persistence and the dedication and passion of our educators. I don't know that

[02:03:55] we provided enough support for the task that we asked them to do. I would definitely agree with that and my last inquiry is regarding the reimbursements. I was actually asked this by a constituent as to whether or not there was criteria for reimbursement was income level part of the discussion for reimbursements to families.

[02:04:16] So the criteria for reimbursements were really what was determined at the table the IEP table or the 504 table Dr. Edmonds Hurd would you be able to provide a little more clarification on any type of sliding scale I think is the question for reimbursement or if that was not a factor at all.

[02:04:42] terms of the reimbursements they were determined by the information that was provided by our parents at the table all of those things were considered as they determined what the reimbursement amount was going to be so many parents provided information regarding any type of tutoring they may have provided to their students during that COVID period and all of that was used to make a determination regarding what their reimbursements would be I think what I I ALSO HEAR AND WHAT I BELIEVE IS THAT A PARENT'S FAMILY'S INCOME WAS NOT PART OF THAT CONSIDERATION.

[02:05:17] IT WAS AROUND THE SERVICES NECESSARY TO BE PROVIDED AS A RESULT OF THE IEP TEAM'S DECISION. WOULD THAT BE ACCURATE? THAT IS CORRECT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT AND THANK YOU TO THE TEAM AND DR. EDMONDS HERD FOR YOU KNOW I'VE BEEN ADVOCATING AND TALKING TO YOU ABOUT THIS SINCE PROBABLY MID JULY AND SOME OF THE ISSUES AROUND reimbursement and around services so I know it's been a huge lift for our team and our teachers I just want to say thank you and for our staff as well in making this happen but I just wanted to lift up I know you had talked about that

[02:05:55] there is a process now for direct pay for the vendors which is very helpful because that way parents aren't out sometimes large sums of money while waiting for reimbursement but I just wanted to lift up that direct pay isn't just for services going forward for any but also any services that have been deliver but not yet paid for parents can initiate a process to make that switch is my understanding that's correct confirm that that's correct you know so if they're not to have vendors being paid for any length of time but just let families know that they don't have to be out as long as they haven't already paid for the services right thank you miss Sizemore

[02:06:32] Heiser right I think this process we haven't had an OCR complaint that required this type of lift previously so I think we've in many ways some of the processes as we've developed them have been chasing the task a little bit so it feels like we get then we fix the process and then it's gonna be over right but I do know that we are working on making sure vendors are on our list to be able to do direct pay. I see our CFO, Ms. Burden, is with us remotely. Lee, do you have a minute to share

[02:07:11] how that process for reimbursement is going at this time? Yes, I mean, I think it's going pretty well. Ms. Hurd would probably be able to answer that quicker. I will tell you that, you know, we have tasked three finance employees to assist with the effort thanks miss burden i think what miss burden is referring to is we've actually um redeployed uh several finance employees also to

[02:07:48] help because we knew we had a backlog of reimbursement to reimbursements to process in addition to making that direct pay to a vendor available so that we wouldn't have parents needing to front front fund with the vendors thank you miss burden thank you and just so I can say for the public if there is a family member who has questions about reimbursement who should they contact if they need help dr. Edmonds heard who would that be they can reach out to me or they can reach out to the plan administrator which is Deb Scott and they can copy me on emails if that's necessary to we've been trying to be very responsive to parents when they've

[02:08:27] had questions concerned to research and give them updates in returns in regards to their reimbursements as well and then I'm just one last question that I think dr. Anderson lifted this up that there's 20% found eligible and you know about 80% found not eligible for services do you know what guidance was given in support to families to be full members of that process to talk about how they could I know some of the evidence was anecdotal evidence right as so in terms of helping families and IEP and students themselves advocate for themselves in terms of what they may or may not feel like they need in terms of compensatory services thank you miss Sizemore heiser dr. Edmonds heard what

[02:09:05] guidance was provided to families we've provided quite a few letters which was also included in dr. Reed's presentation that detailed the process there are also FAQs located on our compensatory services website that can detail the information that parents or students because in some of our cases these are students that may have graduated that are requesting services or compensatory services as well so we've listed that information in our letters we've sent out to email blasts since January as well as sent letters in the mail trying

[02:09:43] to correspond with parents as well as with students for those that we have may have missed so all of that information is outlined in the letters and also is outlined in our hub so parents and students can access that information there one last question if there are parents who opted or for students who opted to have services provided by their private vendors and seek reimbursement is there a pathway for them if they can't find a vendor or that the services fall apart the vendors busy moves for them to then come back to FCPS and say we need you to find those hours as opposed to using a private vendor that's

[02:10:20] a great question I know we're under a certain you know expeditious timeline to get these plans set up but dr. Edmonds heard is that an option for families perhaps who are struggling to find a vendor they can definitely reach out to their previous school they can reach out to us too as well and we can see we can post information regarding that on the hub as we update information as well be

[02:10:43] GREAT I'VE HAD SOME FAMILIES REACH OUT AND ASK THAT QUESTION SO THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL TO POST THAT INFORMATION AND THEN AGAIN THANK YOU TO YOUR TEAM AND YOUR STAFF AND TO OUR TEACHERS I KNOW THIS HAS BEEN AN INCREDIBLY HEAVY LIFT AND I APPRECIATE THE PARTNERSHIP ESPECIALLY AS I'VE BROUGHT SOME OF THESE ISSUES TO YOU MULTIPLE TIMES OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS AND YOU'VE WORK VERY HARD TO ADDRESS THEM SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO EVERYBODY FOR THAT HARD WORK.

[02:11:02] Yep. Thank you. Ms. Keyes Gamera. Yes. Thank you. I too want to thank our staff and and and the patience of our families.

[02:11:18] This was a very difficult time period. I remember being entering the COVID period and trying to figure out how to service our families. And, you know, perhaps language was was not the best at the time.

[02:11:35] And that kind of got us where we need where we are today. BUT I HAVE SEEN OUR STAFF MEMBERS WORK OVER TIME TO TRY TO ADDRESS THIS AND SO SOME OF MY CONCERNS ARE HOW ARE WE GOING BACK OR PERHAPS THERE ARE SOME THINGS IN PLACE ALREADY TO IDENTIFY WHERE PERHAPS MORE SUPPORT IS NEEDED OR WHERE STAFF IS SUFFERING LIKE HOW ARE WE MONITORING THIS

[02:12:04] Because it appears to me this is such a heavy lift that we can't, you know, I'm trying to understand how we're providing that level of support for staff as they're implementing this amongst everything else that they're doing and whether we're having support for our staff to try to alleviate places of extreme stress.

[02:12:27] So thank you Ms. Keys Gamara and I in terms of the conferences needing to be held which was a huge time commitment and the preparation for the conferences which the data collection I think we've discussed was a really it was a deep time commitment all of those you know at this point 96.7 percent of those conferences have been held they've been prepped and so forth those providing compensatory services now I believe we do have Contracts those are by application and we have staff that have applied to be a provider of these hours

[02:13:05] So dr. Edmonds heard I I think we're past some of the heaviest lift part But I want to make sure I mean that is to say still educating right now as a heavy lift for all of our staff at this time But the the conference piece I believe we're closing out of but dr. Edmonds heard in terms of the provision of these services I believe those are by application, but I just want to check my thinking on that.

[02:13:33] They are our teachers can provide those services as well as the vendors that you've been speaking of earlier, too, as well. So we're always recruiting teachers who want to help participate in providing services for students. We are also looking at some virtual services.

[02:13:52] we just talked to a vendor regarding that and we're continuing to have conversations to see how we can assist with delivering the services to as well as for supporting our staff in their efforts which has been as you've indicated a big lift we do meet with our department chairs to assist them providing them with our training we of course have our procedural support liaisons that are supporting our schools we also our department has a weekly office hours that's offered for our principals and support staff to come and get questions answered as well our data team has been working extensively

[02:14:31] with our schools just a couple of weeks ago we provided them with a list of schools a list of students I'm sorry that they needed to continue to reach out to because those may have been our homeschool students it may have been private students it may have been students that have returned back and re-enrolled so we're trying to make sure that all of our efforts goes towards meeting and getting all of our students at least communicated with to determine if there are any more meetings that need to be held so I think our estimate is around 500 more out of all of the ones that we had to offer us about 500 more

[02:15:06] remaining which may or may not need to be done at this point whether parents reach out or whether we need to do any more follow-up with those so forgive me I don't understand the process and necessarily how we're it seems to me that there's a there is an opportunity I could be wrong of a disparity for perhaps where you may have parents that hey my kid is missing something I went ahead and paid for this but then there were parents who couldn't pay so how are we trying to

[02:15:40] ACHIEVE THE LEVEL OF FIDELITY BETWEEN THOSE TWO, BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO ME ONE WOULD HAVE A VERY CLEAR RECORD OF WHAT THEY HAD TO DO IN ORDER TO ADDRESS, PROVIDE COMPENSATORY SERVICES TO THEIR CHILD, AND THE OTHER WOULD HAVE PERHAPS NOT HAD AS CLEAR OF A RECORD.

[02:16:00] So I think that's Miss Keese-Gumar. I think that's the actually salient point of this process right for And our intent is to make sure that every student has the opportunity to have the Educational hours support and experience necessary to meet their IEP or 504 goals So I would again defer to dr. Edmonds heard on the cost piece, but I know that at that IEP or 504 table, which every family has a right to have and

[02:16:35] Again, we're 96% there that whatever that team determines is necessary either For what was paid out or what needs to be paid out that that gets taken care of? From our from our perspective. Dr. Edmonds heard you want to add anything to that?

[02:16:54] That is that is correct. It's that decision that's made at the table. Of course, we do have some families who were able to You know provide all types of services for their students and some that may not have been able to so it's coming to the table What is it the student needs and how can we look at providing that and it may be through the school It may be a teacher who provides it after school or before school To that student or if the parent did pay for some services is doing that reimbursement So it does vary by, you know, from student to student, but just trying to make sure that the school team team listens carefully.

[02:17:30] They determine what the needs were. They determine what was missing from that student or that they did not receive. And we do our best to provide those services for them. Thank you, Dr. Edmonds. And I think there are inequities, right? Like we would be disingenuous to not acknowledge that there were families that had funds to pay for services during the pandemic that other families were not.

[02:17:54] And this process is really intended and should be centered in the absolute needs of the individual student at this point so that we are able to provide that access and opportunity moving forward in whatever way that team feels is going to be most effective and responsible for the student moving forward. Well having attended a number of IEP team meetings and just understanding how parents can sometimes feel even in a in inequity just being in the meeting and not understanding

[02:18:28] the process or not feeling as equipped as all these educational experts around them um i i i truly believe our staff members are working hard to try to figure that out i just know the realities of it i know how parents can sometimes just feel as though i don't even know what just happened even and that's by no fault it's just it's just the structure of it so i would just ask for and i know this is probably happening uh just a continuous monitoring and uh looking for areas

[02:19:02] of improvement um because it is a process irrespective of having to provide compensatory services or not it's a process by which parents and often students can feel lost and somehow slighted AND SO I JUST THINK THIS IS A REALLY VERY DIFFICULT AREA.

[02:19:21] AND SO I APPRECIATE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET A REPORT. BUT I KNOW THAT WE'LL CONTINUE TO WORK ON THIS. SO THANK YOU. YES, MA'AM. MS. MCLACHLAN. I KNOW IT'S LATE, I'M DR. REED, BUT I JUST WANTED TO LEND MY VOICE TO WHAT OTHER BOARD MEMBERS HAVE RAISED ABOUT THE REIMBURSEMENTS.

[02:19:43] I TOO HAVE RECEIVED A NUMBER OF EMAILS AND IT'S BEEN CONCERNING TO ME because right now the emails I'm receiving notwithstanding all of the deserved praise that board members have made and how hard your team is working but I think we are suffering from a loss of faith people are interpreting this delay as intentional and it's it's unfortunately creating a deeper loss of

[02:20:17] of trust in us so I think we might need to work with our office of communications and community relations to and our chief engagement officer to really and tentfully communicate back out about this backlog as we've talked about sometimes in the absence of information people you know fill it in with whatever narrative they can understand and I know all of us including you um want to continue to grow trust from our families um and you know that i'm not happy with

[02:20:55] the federal government i think that um that the way in which um they put the terms to this um was not um helpful to families and it wasn't helpful um for our teachers um in trying to do what we all believe in terms of compensatory services. I just think that the process that they wanted us through the voluntary resolution agreement, I do not think the federal government did well in finding the most streamlined approach to help our families. And in the end, this is about helping our students. And when we want to do learning loss and the federal government sets up what I believe

[02:21:35] was a very bureaucratic process, our students were the ones and the families were the ones and now our staff who are all feeling the fallout from that. So that's my little soapbox on that a little bit. But more importantly, I hope that we can maybe take a very careful effort to make sure that as we talked about how hard your team is working, we need to help communicate that out.

[02:22:01] And then to other questions that were listed tonight, we absolutely need to have a hotline So that people know how to reach out if they feel like it's that they don't understand the delay or what's going on. And I think we'll need to also utilize the staffing and the program we have of the ombudsman.

[02:22:23] We have staff in there as well, and they could, I think, serve a role to help, again, connect families who are concerned with our staff. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Amesh. Yeah, thank you, and thank you to staff for all their hard work and this massive endeavor.

[02:22:44] I'm happy to follow Ms. McLaughlin, actually, in a similar sentiment. I find myself in a bittersweet moment where I'm glad that we've accomplished this, and I think it's, you know, I'm proud to see it underway, but, you know, it's not lost on me that we got here because we were kind of forced to get here, and it was a place we, there was certainly a lot of advocacy to get us here, but that never proved sufficient before you even got here.

[02:23:10] So that leaves me wanting to kind of ask what your observations have been, Dr. Reid, in terms of how a situation like that can be avoided, because that really, I think, was the original source of the distrust, or the loss of trust, rather, where things were promised, they weren't delivered on.

[02:23:30] And now, because we said it couldn't happen and it wasn't possible, and when we were forced to make it happen, of course it was possible, right? So I don't know if you have thoughts around how we might rebuild that trust. I certainly would encourage some thought in that area because I think it's much longer than just not being able to access information readily or being able to access these services right now.

[02:23:53] And speaks to, I think, a larger system's area of improvement, let me say, in terms of what we consider possible and what we're willing to do and when we're willing to do it to meet what we – to do right by people, what we've promised or what we've committed to.

[02:24:10] so I don't know if you have any reaction to that but I do think that trust is easily broken and hard to rebuild so I think that as we commit to doing the things we say we're going to do and as you pointed out doing right by our students and our families and staff that will rebuild trust doesn't happen overnight with you know we didn't get her overnight but I do think as each day a staff get up and give it their best and work hard to do the things and

[02:24:49] deliver on the promises that you know we've made in public education I think gradually trust becomes rebuilt as a result of that but it's a day after day after day it's a deliberate deliberate discipline practice that we're going to need to continue to be engaged in yeah no I appreciate that and I think at the very least in validating the community's you know feelings around this and hopefully taking the communication steps and whatever else necessary to minimize the gaps in this one in the delivery specifically I did have questions just about the eligibility piece so I know there's a large chunk of students who are deemed ineligible I don't know if that was just because they

[02:25:28] didn't fall in the window of when these services were not delivered or if there was anything else to that so I what we could do is provide maybe a report of sort of the major reasons but again I think one of the things I've been cautioned by staff to be thoughtful about is that each of those IEP team meetings or 504 meetings were very focused on the individual at the center of the meeting right it's not possible to give sort of broad guidance per se

[02:26:04] about what should or shouldn't be provided because it's really uniquely based on that individual plan but I I don't know Dr. Edmonds Hurd if you have just the sense of those reasons perhaps why I think to your point why a number of services might not have been provided or might not have been initiated I have to get used to using this so I would say you know the time period in which the services that parents may present in terms of when those services may

[02:26:42] have been rendered is important the types of services that may have been rendered as well and had their relation to the IEP was extremely important but it is really important the points that you made dr. Reed about connecting it to the individual students needs and looking at what occurred there wasn't a menu per se but some of them just didn't fall within the window and they had we had to follow those requirements that were outlined in the OCR agreement and I can provide more information regarding that too as well since that's come up thank you we could provide that in the upcoming Monday letter sure no I

[02:27:21] think that's helpful it just leaves me anytime I see that something like that it leaves me wondering you know who was it that wanted it and perhaps needed it was overlooked something like that so right I appreciate that diligence and the last thing I was just curious how this manifested for homebound students if at all I don't know if they were deemed an eligible category depending on certain criteria i believe they would be if they had an iep or 504 plan and were homebound but again because i believe the office of civil rights the vra was specific to iep and 504 plans but dr

[02:27:58] edminster that is correct we also looked at students we've been looking at a lot of our students who've been homeschooled as well as those who were in private schools so we've tried to make sure that we you know it kind of has run the gamut so we have looked at all of those students too as well okay and so services were delivered to them as well yes if they responded to the letter or if we reached out as a school to them okay is it too late for them to reach out now if they hadn't I imagine it's very difficult to reach out to families we don't even have in our system right that has been difficult and that's why we've had so many mailings we've you know used variety variety of

[02:28:36] ways to try to reach families so yes they can continue to reach out they can reach out to their school they can reach out to our department to as well and we'll make the good necessary connections for them okay and then after that I guess do they end up having to have a separate IEP like meeting right because that presumably they didn't have something like that right we still have to go through the IEP process so that we can document everything of course so we would still but our homebound students were also eligible as well okay all

[02:29:09] Thank you all so much for this really important work. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Reid. Thank you, Ms. Toland. Item 3.03, Student Representative Matters. I call on Ms. Corrine. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, everyone. As many of you may be aware, this past Monday, September 11th, marked a very tragic event in American history. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the significance of this day and honor those who are affected by the events of 9-11.

[02:29:47] It's a reminder of the resilience and strength that communities can show in times of adversity. Now shifting our focus, the application window for advisory committees has come to a close, and the process of selecting students to serve is currently in progress.

[02:30:03] However, I want to emphasize my commitment as a student representative to continuously provide students with opportunities to make a meaningful impact in Fairfax County. In line with this commitment, I would like to introduce a new opportunity for students interested in STEM. In the previous year, I had the honor of participating in the Student Equity Ambassador Lead Program, also known as SEALS, where I served on the Access to Technology Committee.

[02:30:28] During our involvement, we identified a significant issue, the limited availability of STEM opportunities for youth in our community. In response to this challenge, we took proactive steps and established an organization called Technology Youth Empowerment, or TAI for short.

[02:30:44] TAI's primary mission is to bridge the gap in STEM education for elementary schools in our county that may not have the same opportunities as others. Our dedicated team has been visiting these schools to promote STEM education, covering a wide range of topics from computer science to physics to engineering.

[02:31:03] We believe that the impact of our initiative can be greatly expanded with the involvement of representatives from different high schools who share our passion for STEM education. If you are interested in becoming a part of TAI and making a positive impact on the education of our community's youth, applications will soon be on BoardDocs and also sent out to career specialists Monday, September 18th.

[02:31:27] Now I'd like to address the other documents soon available on BoardDocs. Each school board member, along with Dr. Reed, also has copies of these documents at hand. Subsequently, following the board meeting last time, I've engaged in further discussions regarding the grading inequities.

[02:31:44] I've had the opportunity to speak with students from various parts of the county and compile a document summarizing their perspectives. Additionally, I've had a constructive conversation with Mr. Presidio, our esteemed chief academic officer who supports establishing consistency across grading systems.

[02:32:03] This document highlights the significance of fairness in grading and academic matters. These not only influence students' emotional well-being, but also play a pivotal role in shaping their post-secondary options. It also advocates for the standardization of grading regulations across all of our schools, which must be supportive by extensive research and data-driven insights to ensure their effectiveness and fairness.

[02:32:27] Furthermore, the document delves into grading systems, notably the 4.0 scale and the 10-point scale, prompting the need to establish a consistent system. As a school board, it's incumbent upon us to ensure that all students have the opportunity to thrive. Numerous scenarios exist that extend to and beyond post-secondary opportunities.

[02:32:48] They also impact students' mental health and overall well-being. The Academic Matters document available on BoardDocs serves as a valuable resource for enlightening the community and individuals about the significance of the issue and offers viable solutions. At the end of the document, a key request from students is presented.

[02:33:06] ensure equity by implementing consistent grading policies that are proven effective through data analysis across all schools in Fairfax County. The next document I'd like to draw your attention to pertains to lunch matters, a topic that has been raised by our students and it's crucial that we address their concerns. This document outlines the circumstance where some schools have implemented the Community Eligibility Provision, also known as CEP, guaranteeing free lunch access to all students without the need for submitting meal forms this creates a significant disparity as it's a common issue that many students do not have lunch for various reasons currently 45 schools have adopted CEP and it's imperative

[02:33:46] that we extend this to the remaining 177 it's worth noting that funding for these lunches come from federal sources therefore the document suggests prioritizing advocacy efforts in our federal legislative program to secure free lunches for all students. At schools with CEP, students can easily obtain their lunch without any financial barriers. In contrast, students at non-CEP schools may struggle to pay for their meals, even if they do not qualify for free lunches. This is due to the complex challenges that many families face that cannot be adequately captured by standard forms. The request presented in this document, echoing concerns of students, is to ensure

[02:34:26] that free lunches are accessible to all students without the need for submitting meal forms. The next document pertains to prayer rooms, highlighting their importance in accommodating midday prayers and fostering an understanding of the significance. The document is linked to a previous one posted on BoardDocs from the last meeting under student representative matters in which Dr. Sultan Chowdhury expressed support for this cause and raised concerns.

[02:34:50] School board members and Dr. Reid also have a copy of this in front of them. Within the Capital Improvement Program, the presence of prayer rooms in various schools is underscored. It is essential for stakeholders to grasp the importance of having dedicated prayer spaces where students can pray comfortably, free from obstructions like chairs, tables, and pictures.

[02:35:11] Unfortunately, some students have reported instances where school administrators have accused them of wasting time to skip class. This document encompasses all aspects related to prayer, aiming to put an end to these accusatory comments. When students hear such remarks, it can convey a disheartening message, suggesting that they do not belong or that their needs do not matter.

[02:35:32] However, FCPS is dedicated to engaging, inspiring, and fostering thriving environments for all students. Thus, it is crucial to engage with these students and fully understand their needs. At the bottom of this document, the request from students is clear. Allow students to engage in prayer without scrutiny and provide suitable areas for this purpose.

[02:35:51] The final document, titled Spirit Matters, outlines the procedure for introducing a spirit program in your school. This document also incorporates a checklist provided by the Department of Justice. I strongly urge and encourage students to take action and consider implementing this program in their school.

[02:36:08] Spirit Matters not only amplify the diverse student voice, but also provide valuable leadership opportunities for students. I also intend to raise awareness about this impactful program during my school visits. Another noteworthy matter to bring to your attention is the proposed renaming of Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School.

[02:36:27] W.T. Woodson served as the superintendent of Fairfax County for an extended period, spanning from 1929 to 1961. His tenure encompassed significant historical events, including the Consolidation Era, the Great Depression, World War II, and the initial years of the post-World War II baby boom.

[02:36:45] It's worth noting that during this era also included a period of segregation. Fast forward to 2023, the values and principles of FCPS no longer align with the historical context in which the school's name was established. The need for a change is apparent.

[02:37:03] During the period of segregation, it's important to recognize that various groups face challenges. Minorities face particularly severe hardships, making it appropriate to consider renaming the school in honor of a minority figure. One individual who has garnered substantial support for this renaming is Carter G. Woodson, an esteemed African-American historian and writer.

[02:37:26] Nevertheless, it's essential to acknowledge the plethora of other highly respected minority figures who can be considered for this renaming. Alternatively, considering renaming it to Prosperity High School could hold great significance, symbolizing the success and growth of our students, especially given the school's proximity to Prosperity Road.

[02:37:46] Thank you. Thank you Dr. Reed 3.04 superintendent matters. Thank you madam chair this evening I'm delighted to introduce Janice Siminski as our new chief of facilities Services and capital programs who will be overseeing our capital improvements and planning and facilities management Miss Siminski has served or worked in the k-12 industry for over 17 years

[02:38:19] both in the private and public sector and has deep project management skills in a school environment while demonstrating success in delivering large projects quickly and on budget. She comes to us from the Washington DC government where she was the executive program manager in the Capital Construction Services Division.

[02:38:40] There she led a team to implement large capital projects for the District of Columbia Public Schools, managing a six-year budget of over 2.8 billion dollars. In this role, she consistently set interagency records for efficient, smooth, and timely procurements.

[02:38:58] Ms. Zeminski's work with the D.C. government has given her extensive experience in working with internal and external stakeholders, including government officials and local politicians. Before her role in capital construction, she was Director of Facility Planning and Design for DCPS and facilitated all communication engagement for facility projects.

[02:39:20] Prior to joining the D.C. government, Ms. Zeminski worked as a licensed architect and has designed many K-12 schools in the DMV, primarily in Maryland. Last year, she moved to Fairfax County and is a proud FCPS parent, so she is thrilled to be joining our FCPS team and serving our greater community in her new role.

[02:39:41] Ms. Zeminski. I'm going to ask you just to make a couple comments from where you are, if you wouldn't mind. Just brief comments, please. Sure. I just want to say good evening, and it's such a pleasure to be here. As Dr. Reed mentioned, my backgrounds in architecture, having spent the last six years in D.C. government, prior to that, working in private practice, mostly focused on K-12 facilities, so I hope I don't sound insincere, but school facilities really are a passion of mine.

[02:40:17] and so i'm excited and energized to work with the community here in fairfax and and to do the best that we can so thank you very much for having me thank you miss saminsky and i one of the other things that wasn't in your bio that i know our board is very committed to are our green jet goals and your work around creating and designing and delivering green facilities as well has been really inspiring to us absolutely as i was leaving the district of columbia we were opening up our fourth net zero ready facility so i have a lot of great lessons learned and expertise that i hope to

[02:40:56] share with with fairfax thank you miss saminsky so um i'd like to then share that since our last meeting i've had the opportunity to visit many of our schools i've attended 10 back to school nights since we last met at Bonnie Bray Elementary, Cherry Hill Elementary, Chesterbrook Elementary, which I think are the chipmunks.

[02:41:19] The Chesterbrook chipmunks, it was fabulous. Most of our mascots I've determined are either cats or birds of some kind or another. Also had a chance to be at Graham Road Elementary, Hunt Valley Elementary, Oakton Elementary, where I actually had a chance to visit Cluckingham Palace.

[02:41:39] cluckingham palace with the hens that are in residence and they're very healthy hens that love our students and our staff in addition to our back to school nights I've had an opportunity to visit seven schools since last we met and had a real opportunity to see the instructional impact firsthand that our amazing FCPS staff are supporting and seeing our students as well so a big thank you to Braddock Elementary School, Cameron Elementary School, Hutchison Elementary School, London Town Elementary School, Pulley Center, Quandah Road and

[02:42:17] Ravensworth Elementary School where we've had an opportunity to see just a lot of student and staff and family work. Today I want to call out an award ceremony that I attended for one of our teachers at Katherine Johnson Middle School. Eric Hapaparu, who's a general science teacher, was awarded the Fred Rogers Institute Helper Award for his career work and dedication to teaching.

[02:42:46] And he's one of only 13 award winners across the United States, which is really quite an achievement. And the Katherine Johnson Middle School staff were present while the staff from the Legacy of Fred Rogers Institute Helper Award were there to help you know recognize us so big congratulations to Eric and I mean who doesn't love science so we are very fortunate to have Eric and his spirit of heart as part of our FCPS family also

[02:43:21] had a chance to check in on quite a few other activities the Woodson volleyball team where I had an opportunity to visit with our principal carlin floyd who has done such a nice job at woodson for so many years oakton and westfield played last night and principal jamie lane and i had a chance to watch our girls involved a number of field hockey games at west potomac mount vernon high school mclean and last friday had an opportunity to be at the football game

[02:43:55] at West Springfield until thunder and lightning gave us pause. I do want to also share that we didn't have a chance to talk very much at our last board meeting but we did have six of our FCPS high schools ranked in the top 10 in the state by US News and World Report and we're very proud of our high schools that have been ranked in the top 10. Those six are of course Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, McLean High School, Langley High School, Oakton High School, Marshall High School, and Woodson High School. So

[02:44:29] we want to congratulate our students and staff on these high school campuses. I want to remind the community that we're going to be sharing more information about upcoming community conversations which will occur in each of our regions beginning September 26th. More to come on that topic. Next I want just share that we are excited to celebrate 264 students from 15 different high schools who've been recognized as national merit semi-finalists this year and all of these semi-finalists are eligible to move forward in the finalists process i also want to share that this number of 264 is

[02:45:09] an increase of 26 students over last year and it's also more students than we've ever had in fairfax county even prior to the pandemic it's the highest year on record in fact ever but the previous high was in 2019 which was the highest year on record since 2016 which is the latest data we have so just really excited that our students continue to outperform even those students that came before them so we will also be posting our commended student numbers however as those are only sent

[02:45:46] to our high schools we are collecting those they're not a central distribution list but again congratulations to many many of our students in that in that work finally i want to mention that earlier this year as many of you know the fairfax county electoral board sent a memorandum to the school board to request that we adjust our school calendar for this academic year to be revised to close schools on march 5th 2024 because it is the presidential primary election day for both parties

[02:46:25] here in virginia and as we have discussed and as i've met with legal counsel and staff we've determined that closing school on that day will not affect our hours necessary for conducting school so indeed i have decided operationally that we will close schools for primary day on march 5th 2024 and we will be communicating that out to schools keeping schools open during primary voting would cause security parking challenges and would interfere with the use of our cafeterias and gyms which are often used as polling locations in schools previously fcps schools

[02:47:04] have been closed during the presidential primaries in 2016 and 2020 so this is a continuation of that practice. So we will be getting more information out to families and staff on that. But we wanted to make sure that this is a clear communication this evening as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:47:25] Thank you, Dr. Reed. Agenda item 3.05, opening of schools. Call in Dr. Reed for a presentation. We have a start of a video with that. So let's go ahead and start with that.

[02:47:44] We'll be filling classrooms soon for their first day of school at several area school systems, including in Fairfax County.

[02:48:02] For the kids in Fairfax County, they'll be filtering in this morning to the 199 schools across the county. Super awesome and I'm so excited. 2024! This is how you start the first day of school.

[02:48:21] Welcome back to the first day of school, 23-24. It's so exciting to be here in Fairfax County as we enact our bold new strategic plan. Go Fairfax! One of the goals of that plan is to have all students in Algebra 1 for their 8th grade year.

[02:48:42] This is your second whole year here at Superintendent was adding middle school sports. Tell me about that. Middle school sports is critical. I think when we think about the mental health needs of our students, eating healthy, being active, getting plenty of rest, being in community, those are so important.

[02:48:57] you know we get to wake up early and I get to see my best friend. Yeah and it's the beginning of a great year. Very excited about the beginning of the school year for FCPS. It's going to be a

[02:49:07] great year. This is an exciting year. It is my second year and it feels like it's we are ready

[02:49:49] to roll. When I think of all our students and staff and the excitement they had on the first day again I want to share the excitement of having worked with starting our first day I think with you madam chair at 4:45 in the morning at Herndon High School so having our Herndon High School Hornets and staff ready to go at 4:45 is pretty amazing so as we look at our first day of school by the numbers this is an annual report that has become a tradition so one of the things we thought we would do is just kind of do a by the numbers and one of our goals this

[02:50:28] year and why there are some folks that have looked at the 39,409 staff and said it seems like that's a lot more than prior years what we chose to do this year make is make sure that we included all staff even if they were hourly or if they were part-time or our I'm just here to say we love our substitutes and our substitutes we count on them and we haven't always reflected those in our numbers and so we want to make sure that all of our staff know they're part of our staff family regardless of how many hours and in what capacity they work with

[02:51:03] us so our students again continue to come from all over the globe speaking over 200 languages bringing unique perspectives thoughts and opinions one of which of course is they love the new salad bars so I wanted to share some facts around transportation I think that the fact that 90% of success is showing up I think that was a comment that was made earlier this evening the talking about the importance of being present I am want to say that our transportation superheroes are absolutely amazing we have more than

[02:51:40] 1700 drivers attendance and route supervisors working to get our students to school safely and on time each and every day and while we've had some glitches this fall we've had a tremendously smooth start and the 6390 bus routes that are routed daily and as part of our annual process and the over 82 000 miles covered are not insignificant so just want a big shout out to our transportation folks and we think about other numbers i want to make sure that we give a big thank you to our food and nutrition staff serving

[02:52:19] over seventy six thousand nine hundred eighty two meals and that's on a daily basis our learners can only do their best work when they have healthy nutritious nutritious food we provide almost fourteen thousand breakfasts and more than sixty three thousand lunches on our first day of school alone we stop and think about that those numbers are incredible I also want to share how appreciative we are of our T specs and SBITs and our technology staff across the division and all the staff that are part of our utilizing your utilization of

[02:52:56] technology within the schools by the third day of school this year we had distributed more than a hundred and eight thousand devices to students that's not an insignificant number so let's think about also just how we're taking care of our facilities I introduced Miss Miss Eminski this evening and just want to remind staff that we here in Fairfax County are actually our custodial and maintenance staff take care of 28 million square feet of school that's it's an incredible amount of square footage all through the summer we

[02:53:33] renovated a hundred and seventy thousand square feet across eight schools and a big thank you to our community for funding these bond referendums which allow us to renovate our schools our custodial staff is more than 1300 strong and they work tirelessly to keep our schools all 28 million square feet of them clean safe and welcoming and I've worked in a lot of divisions around the country and I will say our schools are maintained their second to none our

[02:54:04] staff work really, really hard. When I think about the other pieces, the other staff in our schools that have worked tremendously hard, I'll also include our school security officers, our SROs, our security team, our safety teams. They have gone out of their way to make sure that they've been present, that our schools, that we've run the safety audit, which we'll talk more about later this fall but it's been a tremendous amount of work to make sure that our students staff and families can feel safe and secure at school in the extracurricular excellence area we want to make sure that we understand many of

[02:54:43] our lessons learned and much of our community building occurs outside the classroom as well as inside currently we have 7,000 student athletes across all force all fall sports at our 25 high schools 2,600 students participating in marching band and 40 different theater productions already underway across the school division so we're really hopeful to see many of you and many of our community out and about I think that middle school athletics are also beginning right now and we'll have numbers for you shortly so I think we

[02:55:20] already took a look at our first day back and just want to thank everyone on team FCPS that has helped make this year a strong start to the year and last slide just want to make sure thinking again a big thank you to educators leadership team principals assistant principals directors central office staff it's been a really special time from our very youngest learners the class of 2036 our kindergarten team to the graduates planning to graduate in 2024 WE'RE SO GRATEFUL THAT EVERYONE'S BACK AND WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING TO WORK.

[02:55:58] SO, MADAM CHAIR, THAT IS OUR OPENING OF SCHOOLS 2023 BY THE NUMBERS REPORT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. WE HAVE A COUPLE OF BOARD MEMBERS THAT WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK. MS. MARIN. YES, THANK YOU. I THINK THE DATA YOU PROVIDED IS REALLY COMPELLING AND I'M GLAD YOU'RE SHARING IT.

[02:56:15] I WANTED TO TALK FOR A MOMENT ABOUT TRANSPORTATION AND I ACTUALLY GOT THIS REALLY GREAT LETTER FROM A THIRD GRADER ASKING ME TO LOOK INTO FLAT BUSES VERSUS ROUND BUSES. I think actually we all got it from a Marshall Road student but anyhow you know I know I think what I heard when I was at schools the last few weeks is most families are understanding when the bus is delayed and I think they're understanding more and more that we do have a shortage of bus drivers just like there is nationwide but what they really get less forgiving about is when that where here comes the bus app is not accurate so if we could please do something to make that as accurate as possible I think that that would be great especially for middle

[02:56:54] school when those kids are getting up really early and then you miss the bus and that really just it's tough so I wanted to relay that another idea that a parent shared with me was when you have that transition from elementary to middle so like in some places like for instance Thoreau middle school you've got kids who may have never taken the bus because they've been walkers right and now they're getting on the bus or getting really early and some simple couldn't there be like a hub where maybe you know can the walkers go to school like they've been doing and we pick up at Flint Hill Elementary and and get the kids over.

[02:57:27] So just some more innovative thinking about does it have to be you know bus stop to bus stop as we've done or can we you know kind of again help especially for students who have never you know run the bus their entire K you know through elementary career. I do also need to mention that I'm really frustrated with the continued on FCPS thing frustrated with the very slow response if you can call it that of county and state transportation services to fix ongoing problems.

[02:57:58] I have been working with some families that have spent I think it's eight years advocating to get one particular intersection fixed or another school where there's crumbling sidewalk that is controlled by the county or the state. And if we are going to be tasked with being the instructional leaders and providers of this community we cannot have our instructional leaders out on the corner directing traffic and we can't we just can't do it so I really am going to be pushing hard because it's just ridiculous it should not be this way so I would appreciate any of your help when you talk with your counterpart at the county and then certainly legislatively

[02:58:35] but it's not acceptable for it to take years to fix pedestrian problems so thank you.

[02:58:40] Ms. McLaughlin. Hi, Dr. Reed. Again, I know it's late. And so, you know, we can talk more offline. But I do want to say I'm a little concerned about the opening of schools report. You know, in past years, we got an actual report. I believe in 2019, it might have even been as much as 40 pages. So this was unlike, I think, maybe what other board members saw. I just saw some essential basic

[02:59:20] numbers I don't know how that Nestle helps us understand the true opening of schools and you know I'm okay if we decide that we don't need to do an opening schools because we just need to focus on opening schools and I'm not you know looking at reports for reports sake but I just wanted to give you some feedback that might be good for you and your team to look at what it's been in the past and what we want it to be and you know how I feel about the videos it was lovely but I'm not sure who the audience is for and I do worry that for

[02:59:59] people who are concerned that we're not meeting their needs to educate their kids and then you see this lovely little video that looks like it's a promotion for something but I don't you know I'm not quite sure where I see that still fitting in with our primary mission so I'm not trying to sound too much like a grinch it is heartwarming but I I do worry about that so in terms of opening of schools you know I I do hope that maybe going forward we can think about

[03:00:36] what do we want it to be telling us in terms of our numbers you know going a little more deeper and broader across our schools where the needs because I feel like tonight I just kind of know what I already know about the basics of our schools but you know what what do we need to be as a collective board working with you to address now that we've opened them right so yeah well thank you for that feedback I know we've previously contracted this report out to like a consultant person that wrote it and what we really felt like we wanted

[03:01:13] to try to do this year it was try to do this in-house and provide data that we would be able to really capture the essence of this opening day of school I can certainly go back and we can look at the document from last year it and we can fill in those numbers again I think for you and we'll make sure we do that for a Monday letter we can do that yeah I mean I don't know if we're there's two different things happening here there's the PowerPoint which was some beautiful lovely photos of our students and employees but the data was de minimis it

[03:01:51] was yeah just really really like you could fit that all on a one-pager and I think I I really as you know that I'm the data girl I'd like to dig in a little bit more about where we are what we need I'd like to even understand where we are from what was our enrollment when we ended the school year in June what's our you know the Delta because I think that's a little confusing I thought we were over 180,000 when we closed out the year. We're at 179.7 right now. Right, so then we're down students. Well, we're actually at projection because we generally grow, and by the end of the

[03:02:26] month, the projection will be at 180 by the end of September. We still have students enrolling every day right now. Right, so, but we're not technically up yet. Well, we're at projection, budget projections. Right, projections are different, though, from total enrollment. Like, our families often are asking us what's happening with FCPS is total enrollment are we going up or down and from where we were at the end of June we're higher than we were at this time last year I I think that's a matter of how people want to look at the equation I I will say I think we've

[03:03:06] usually looked at the equation of how to what how many students do we have when we ended a school year and then where did you know where are we when we opened our doors if it's that we have a cycle of we always have more at the end of a school year than we always have a dip that goes below, maybe partly being military and people leave out and then others move in.

[03:03:26] And so apples to apples, if you're saying we are year over year in September, we're up, but we still should have then had the contextual data. We are still not at our peak enrollment that we were in June. I think those are important numbers to know.

[03:03:42] You bet. I'll make sure you have them for the Monday letter. No, it's not a rush. I'm more focused on how do we make this work of your time, your team's time, and the board's time meaningful. And for the public, when we look at an open schools report, this one was just a bit of a surprise for me.

[03:04:01] So, again, I'm more about getting the work done than you producing reports. So I hope that's the takeaway here more than anything. But I didn't feel like this ended up being a report. It was just a few PowerPoint slides with some numbers on them. Okay.

[03:04:16] Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. I just kind of want to piggyback on that a little bit. I was kind of looking for a little bit more information to kind of tell our story. And one of the things that I know I've discussed with you, and I've mentioned to some of the RAS is one of the most important pieces I tell our story when we're talking about being prepared for the opening of schools is our hiring, I would have loved to see information in terms of how many teachers do we hire, how many vacancies do we still have, how many teachers are not licensed, how many of those ambassadors that I greeted here

[03:04:52] are present and working that really tells the tale and it really speaks also to what the community is hearing because I know day one I shared with you a parent who was very excited to return back into our schools right had two subs for her child and like oh my god is this going to be a good experience that I make a good decision that is a story that I would personally would like to hear and I think miss McLaughlin also hit on a concern that I had because I'm looking at the data from last June and our enrollment at that time was 181 851 and I'm

[03:05:27] looking at the slide that says we have 15,700 new students and our total is 179 it's a little bit hard it doesn't align quite fully what I think I'm hearing from you is that from last September from September 22 we're 15,000 students over but I think the June to September data would be a lot more helpful at least to me um one of the other things that you talked about here that i'm going to just jump in here um i'm going to look forward a little bit because i do want to

[03:06:02] give rise to the experience that many of our families are having in our schools yes there's a lot of excitement there are a lot of kids who are coming in excited the teachers are and everything's going great but i also like for us to talk about particularly as you talk about renovated buildings kind of about hvac issues because we've had so many schools it's not one two three it is dozens of schools that have that have had hvac issues some of those may have been renovated schools i i'm not sure um some of those issues could have been because the buildings are old and because the systems are old whatever it is but it tells the tale of the experience particularly because we

[03:06:41] have had such a heat wave and i think just kind of looking back a little bit or looking ahead That's going to be a piece where we'll need to talk about a little bit more, because we are only going to get more intense weather and our systems cannot keep up. So how is it that we're going to plan for that future?

[03:06:59] I would love to get a sense of we have chillers. I literally was visiting a school, Mentua, the assistant principal brought a chiller to be placed in a classroom that was over 86 degrees every day. And that should not be the case, but that's an experience.

[03:07:18] So I would like for us again to tell the full tale when you're talking about also fall sports. I appreciate you. I'm trying to find the slide here fall sports.

[03:07:34] Can somebody pull up that slide please. Yes there it is 7000 student athletes and I'm not speaking about middle school sports because again as a middle school parent I know that starting next week. So I am not wanting to talk about that. But one of the one of the conversations that I think you have had with us a lot is the connection to activities really impacts our students mental health.

[03:07:58] We have 7000 student athlete and fall sports 2600 and marching band out of how many high school students because I think at last count we had oops I cannot find it here but I had it here in my notes somewhere how many high school students that we had.

[03:08:14] is that percentage and what is our goal what are we looking for where are those students and future reports I would love to hear a little bit more information on that because I also want to dig down into how is it that some of our schools some of our students are not participating as much as we would like them to right really telling the story of our participation levels who's involved who's not involved because unless we have that data we are not going to be able to TO DETERMINE WHAT THE BARRIERS TO THAT PARTICIPATION ARE FOR US TO REMOVE IT FOR REALLY TRUE EQUITY ACTUALLY THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT'S GOING TO BE THAT'S ONE OF OUR STRATEGIC PLAN MEASUREMENTS

[03:08:52] SO WE'LL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DATA ON THAT TOPIC LATER THIS YEAR OKAY THANK YOU I GOT ONE MORE THING BUT I HEARD THAT WAS MY TIMER THANK YOU DR. REED I JUST WANT TO KIND OF GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND IN THE PAST this report was always offered at the last meeting in September.

[03:09:22] And so there was a little bit more time and there was a little bit more data available. And so I welcome that this report is being presented earlier, but I would actually, I think, give you grace in that this was front-loaded in a way that maybe not all of that data is readily available.

[03:09:45] So just offering that little historical perspective. But I also wanted to do a couple of shout outs about the success of our schools and what's going on in, you know, the state just issued its accreditation data.

[03:10:07] And it's my understanding that every school in Fairfax County, with the exception of two, are fully accredited. And that we expect one of those two to become fully accredited soon, in the next couple of days, once the data is reviewed.

[03:10:31] And that the other one is regarding not the academic performance, but the dropout rate at that school. And so that is actually data I think our community would be very interested in seeing. And I would encourage that you, in future reports, build that in.

[03:10:51] The other thing is that, you know, the state of Virginia does exemplar school notifications and awards. And I'm very proud of the fact that Fairfax County Public Schools has three that are listed as exemplar schools.

[03:11:10] Thomas Jefferson High School and Sangster and West Breyer Elementary Schools. as well as, and I'd have to count, but just a huge number of schools that are being recognized for their continuous improvement, and that when you look at the size of Fairfax County, where we only, well, we do represent 13% of all the students in the state of Virginia, I think that our representation on these lists exceeds that 13%.

[03:11:42] And so I would hope that in the future your staff pulls that if we go back to a more formalized report and kind of allows people to see where we, you know, the successes, but also where we recognize that it's a continuous improvement process.

[03:12:03] And I want to thank you for front-loading this data, and I look forward to next year seeing it a little later in the month with a little bit more details. Thank you. I don't see any.

[03:12:22] Miss Amesh, would you like to speak? Yes. Thank you so much. Dr. Reed, it's always exciting to see the developments of the beginning of the school year. So thank you for everything you've been doing to make sure we continue not only had a successful start and that we continue into the year successfully.

[03:12:39] I'm wondering if there have been any unique observations up to this point. I know last year we'd heard a lot about how COVID had impacted student behavior, the gaps teachers are observing. Just from a high level, if there was anything unique or different that may have come to the surface by now.

[03:13:00] I, you know, I feel like it's been in large part, and all of you, I think, have been out at schools as well. I think it feels like a more normal start of the school year than prior years in, you know, the last couple years have been.

[03:13:16] in the sense that the routines seem better known, students are coming and families. For many of the schools, the back to school nights I attended, those were the first in-person back to school nights they've had since prior to COVID.

[03:13:34] So I feel like a lot of the routines that have been known and class routines are, students are coming back really prepared and I think more focused honestly than a year ago so and staff I think are you know more prepared in the sense that it's just a little more time has passed and I think we're clear so I I think that I've from a high level just seen a lot of excitement about the start of the year and you know that deep sense

[03:14:12] of pride that's familiar i think to students staff and families here in fairfax no that's awesome and and i'm wondering if um i just want to make sure that we still have some of the supports in place for what we might anticipate down the line so one example i know there was a long fought and one uh effort to get tutor.com for example or just a free tutoring one-on-one for kids i don't know if we're still doing that i just wanted to check in we are okay it's still in place okay so for the community to be aware right right free one-on-one tutoring and pretty much every subject 24/7 is available through sis that's for any kids because we don't

[03:14:50] want any kid falling behind we don't want the end of the quarter kids to wake out right now we can be preventative that's correct because we're almost halfway through first quarter now right right time has flown by and then yeah and then the telemental health services which of course are available to kids should they need that do we have any I know it's not the topic of the day but

[03:15:11] BUT JUST IN TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT AND WHAT I KNOW THERE WAS EVEN TALK OF EXPANDING THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AT SOME POINT SO I DON'T KNOW NOT DONE THAT YET BUT I DON'T HAVE NUMBERS YET ON THE TELEMENTAL HEALTH FOR THIS YEAR WE DID PROVIDE YOU AS A BOARD NUMBERS FOR LAST YEAR RIGHT BUT IT'S EARLY DAYS SO YEAH JUST ELEVATING ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ALSO FOR THE COMMUNITY TO BE AWARE OF AND THEN THE LAST THING WAS I REMEMBER PER LAST CONVERSATIONS ON SRNR AND WHAT NOT A TOOL WOULD BE available to students at some point to let's say report concerns related to

[03:15:49] perhaps correct prejudice discrimination what not that they might experience at the hands of staff specifically for some additional support so did we have any updates on that or where we left off no staff are continuing to refine a tool that we can make sure that there's an awareness for and a process that we're able to be really responsive to any concerns that are raised, so more to come on that topic.

[03:16:15] Okay, so not live just yet? Not live just yet, but we're taking one more review by legal counsel on that topic and just making sure we have no bugs in that system. Once we go live, we want to make sure that we don't have a student make a report or somebody make a report and then us not be able to follow up right away on it. So we're just making sure the technical pieces are in PLACE AND MAKING SURE WE HAVE ONE MORE REVIEW.

[03:16:41] OKAY. I WILL BE EYES WIDE OPEN, EXCITED TO SEE THAT AND CERTAINLY LOOK FORWARD TO MAKING SURE OUR COMMUNITY IS ABLE TO ACCESS THE TUTORING AND TELEMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES THAT ARE ALREADY AVAILABLE TO THEM. THANK YOU SO MUCH. YOU BET. MS. MCLACHLAN HAS ANOTHER QUICK QUESTION.

[03:16:57] YEAH. JUST MORE OF A QUICK OBSERVATION. I WAS THINKING AND LISTENING TO BOARD MEMBERS AND I HOPE THAT MAYBE YOUR TEAM IS TAKING NOTES AS WE'VE TALKED BECAUSE PEOPLE HAVE REALLY RAISED SOME IMPORTANT VALUE ADD OF helping raise awareness to what our families don't know things like our school nurses where do we stand with that how do we profile and let people know why the school clinic is more than just the health aids we used to have in the past where are we with you know our social workers and psychologists that we have you know added on over last year these are sort of things that I

[03:17:33] think to what Dr. Anderson and others have said it is sort of a celebration of when we opened our schools and we open them with these additional positions and programs and services that you know I think really help people appreciate what we do well beyond just the direct instruction in the classroom and then the other thing for because I think the numbers are important for all of us is you mentioned the 15,000 or so I know obviously every year we graduate out our seniors right And then we bring in about 13,000 or more kindergarteners.

[03:18:10] So I think when we say we've grown by 15,000 students, county residents are thinking, wow, we're in a big explosion time again. And I think that's the contextual data that's important because if it turns out that the net growth, what has this year over year been, will help us to understand.

[03:18:34] as board members we have to start anticipating budget and impact of the growth so that's that's why I think these numbers are important yeah I think if we go to the slide we didn't grow by 15,000 students what we are calling out is that there are 15,700 new students within that enrollment number I know but I I'm just telling you the way that people who don't study that nuance when they HEAR 15,000 NEW STUDENTS, THEY'RE NOT THINKING, OH, BECAUSE WE HAVE 13,000 NEW KINDERGARTENERS,

[03:19:08] PLUS WE NETED ANOTHER 2,000 KIDS WHO MOVED TO THE AREA. SO I THINK WE HAVE TO REMEMBER, AGAIN, THERE'S WHAT WE UNDERSTAND AND THEN WHAT THE GENERAL PUBLIC UNDERSTANDS. GOOD POINT. ALL RIGHT, DR. REED, I JUST HAVE A COUPLE OF THINGS I WAS GOING TO SAY ABOUT THIS REPORT,

[03:19:32] or just opening of schools I mean I have to say that even with you know the bus issues I've heard of the shortage of you know special education staff in some situations in my schools large class sizes where we need to get selected staff you know in a place you know there of course are issues but overall the back to school nights that I have attended and the you know welcome events you know just before school started have been and had better attendance than I have seen You know during my tenure on the board people are excited staff is excited staff has done an amazing job welcoming people and

[03:20:12] Even with the large numbers that they've been seeing coming in to these events. They've handled it Very very well and parents overall that are at the event seem really happy. I'm super proud of our PTAs The teams of you know PTA members have been there working at every single event and doing a great job And I also, you know, we started together at

[03:20:33] You know two of our dreams of schools math work very intensive math work and literacy work starting on day one or even before school started really trying to get kids into the right math class to make sure that they're really excelling so there's been a lot of really great work you know I do agree with some of my colleagues and some of the you know the numbers that maybe you're missing and would love to see but I think that moving forward it's going to be really interesting to see now that we HAVE OUR STRATEGIC PLAN AND WE'VE DONE ALL OF THIS WORK WE'LL TALK IN A FEW MINUTES ON OUR EXECUTIVE

[03:21:09] EXPECTATIONS AND START SEEING ALL OF THAT REPORTING I THINK A LOT A NUMBER OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP HERE THIS EVENING WE'RE GOING TO SHOW UP IN THOSE REPORTS SO THAT WILL BE VERY VALUABLE INFORMATION FOR THE BOARD AND FOR THE PUBLIC AND I JUST HAVE TO THROW OUT THERE MAYBE I'M A SUCKER FOR A CUTE LITTLE GIRL AT THE END OF THE VIDEO BUT I I LIKE THE VIDEOS AND MAYBE IT'S ALSO BECAUSE I SOMEHOW RAISED A FILMMAKER.

[03:21:39] I THINK THOSE VERY SHORT CLIPS JUST SHOWING LOTS OF SCHOOLS AND LOTS OF PEOPLE AND LOTS OF PRIDE IN WHAT'S HAPPENING AND REALLY CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF THAT FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE IS A REALLY GREAT TOOL.

[03:21:54] SO THROW THAT OUT THERE. WELL, THANK YOU. SO WITH THAT, I DON'T SEE OTHER BOARD MEMBERS TO SPEAK ON THIS TOPIC. WE WILL MOVE ON TO OUR NEXT AGENDA ITEM 4.01 EXECUTIVE EXPECTATIONS.

[03:22:15] I NOW CALL ON MS. PAKARSKI FOR A MOTION. I MOVE THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD APPROVE THE PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE STRATEGIC GOVERNANCE MANUAL TO REPLACE THE OPERATIONAL EXPECTATIONS WITH EXECUTIVE EXPECTATIONS AND UPDATE THE STRATEGIC GOVERNANCE MANUAL ACCORDINGLY AS DETAILED IN THE ATTACHMENT ON BOARD DOCS.

[03:22:37] Is there a second I will second miss Karski would you like to speak to your motion I will try even though it's way past my bedtime after the completion of the strategic plan the school board had two retreats and a work session to discuss these revisions to our governance manual the result of these was an update to our current operational expectations now revised to executive expectations these revised expectations will provide a structure of accountability for the superintendent to report on the division's progress

[03:23:14] towards meeting the goals of our new strategic plan part of this new accountability structure the superintendent will provide annual monitoring on each executive expectation during a public meeting the board will then vote to approve each expectation monitoring report or we will BE ABLE TO REQUEST A WRITTEN ACTION PLAN OR CORRECTION I HOPE EVERYONE CAN VOTE FOR THIS THANK YOU MISS MAYOR WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEAK TO YOUR SECOND YEAH I THINK YOU KNOW THESE EXECUTIVE EXPECTATIONS ARE THE WAY THAT THE BOARD IS GOING TO SHOW TO THE

[03:23:52] PUBLIC HOW WE'RE KEEPING THE SUPERINTENDENT ACCOUNTABLE TO WHAT THE PUBLIC HAS ELECTED US TO DO AND EXPECTS OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS SO I'M VERY EAGER TO HAVE THIS NEW THIS UPDATED SYSTEM IN PLACE WHICH IS THE HIGH LEVEL STANDARD FOR HOW BOARDS GOVERN AND I'M EAGER TO HAVE A RECORD OF ALL OF THESE REPORTS TO GO FROM THIS POINT FORWARD INTO THE FUTURE. THANK YOU.

[03:24:13] THANK YOU. THAT'S SEISMERHEISER. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEAK TO THIS MOTION? YES. THANK YOU AND I'LL BE BRIEF GIVEN THE LATE TIME. FIRST I JUST WANTED TO THANK MS. TOLAN YOU AND MR. FRISH AND THE BOARD'S HARD WORK IN OUR TWO RETREATS AND THE WORK SESSION AS WELL AS DR. REED FOR REALLY SHEPHERDING THIS PROCESS THROUGH. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT

[03:24:37] LAST YEAR WHEN WE WORKED ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND PASSED THE STRATEGIC PLAN I KEPT HEARING FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS AS WELL HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT PLAN IS ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED AND ONE OF THE COMPLAINTS OF OUR PREVIOUS STRATEGIC PLAN WAS WITH GIVEN TURN OVER AND LEADERSHIP THAT IT WAS HARD TO KNOW WHAT WAS BEING IMPLEMENTED AND SO WHAT I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS AND I'M SO APPRECIATIVE OF THE LEADERSHIP TO GET US TO THIS POINT IS THAT THIS IS A CONSISTENT TRANSPARENT PUBLIC STRUCTURE TO HOLD OUR SUPERINTENDENT ACCOUNTABLE AND HER TEAM ACCOUNTABLE TO implementing the strategic plans it's not just the goal reports but it's even the expectations of

[03:25:12] what we expect her to do in i believe 13 different areas that's embedded in our governance manual where the superintendent will come to one of these regular meetings in the public recorded to say here's what we're doing on this particular topic as aligned with our strategic plan and the the part that i'm really excited about in addition to that is that there's consistent follow-up built in so it's not just here's a report and let's all go home but here's a report we agree we don't agree here's what we think you need to bring us in addition and there's a plan for follow-up if the report doesn't meet our standards so i just love the fact that

[03:25:48] we had the community and staff and so many people come together to work on our strategic plan that really it's it's the plan that belongs to the community to lift up the schools and now we have a really consistent structure that we're refreshing that was already there from the previous boards and I know the previous boards really committed a lot of time and energy to building the structure and now we're refreshing it to align with our strategic plan that provides for this really transparent public um holding of our superintendent accountable to implement the plan so I'm really excited about this I appreciate all the hard work in getting us here and I just can't wait to see the reports and um see all this in action so thank you very much for all the work

[03:26:27] TO GET US HERE DR. ANDERSON YES THANK YOU I WILL BE SUPPORTING THE CHANGES TO THE GOVERNANCE MANUAL THE EXECUTIVE EXPECTATIONS I DO WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERY MEMBER OF THIS BOARD BECAUSE WE REALLY TRUDGE THROUGH ALL OF THIS THROUGH THE RETREATS AND EVEN THE CONVERSATION JUST THIS LAST TUESDAY THE WORK SESSION I ALSO THOUGHT MS. TOLAN YOU DID A REALLY MASTERFUL JOB OF shepherding us through that conversation it was collaborative it was productive and it was really

[03:27:04] something that I think all of us can get behind so I'm very excited about the place of where we've landed having an opportunity to have reports that are going to be acted upon that we are going to decide whether or not it's meeting the strategic goals that we have been set and then having a corrective action I think it's a perfect place for our board to really move forward into moving the NEEDLE IN OUR IN OUR DIVISION AND SO I'M VERY EXCITED FOR THAT SO THANK YOU ALL OH I DO WANT TO HIGHLIGHT ONE THING THAT I I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE PUBLIC KNOWS IF THEY MISSED IT THERE'S A

[03:27:39] WHOLE NEW SECTION THAT WAS NOT PREVIOUSLY THERE IN THE PREVIOUS OPERATIONAL EXPECTATIONS THE SAFETY AND SECURITY PIECE AND THIS WAS BORN OUT OF BOARD MEMBERS UM ADVOCACY TO REALLY MAKE SURE THAT WE WERE BEING CLEAR TO THE SUPERINTENDENT REGARDING OUR EXPECTATIONS OF SAFETY AND SECURITY.

[03:28:00] SO AGAIN, I THINK THIS BOARD DID A REALLY GREAT JOB OF REALLY PUSHING AND MASSAGING AND ENSURING THAT WE HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE AS POSSIBLE A DOCUMENT SO THAT WE CAN BE CLEAR THAT THE EXPECTATIONS THAT WE HAVE FOR THIS DIVISION ARE BEING MET. So, thank you all.

[03:28:18] Ms. Kovitz-Sanders? Yes, Madam Chair, thank you. And it's actually nice that we're talking about this after we just had a conversation about returning to a sense of normalcy because what we're talking about here with these executive expectations are an update of the operational expectations

[03:28:44] And a return to what had been a very, you know, a process that was so important, which is having a process for reporting out on key aspects of the strategic plan and having the opportunity for board members to identify areas that needed additional work or further honing.

[03:29:09] In the past, these were done in a next steps process in which board members voted on those next steps. And that was the way that work was, future work was to be conducted. And so what this does is it really formalizes a process that we all know is so important.

[03:29:30] in that in many ways during the covid years we ended up losing that structure or not not losing it but pausing that structure and so this is similar to the return to normalcy we see with our kids in schools with our staffing this really is a return to a model that is a very important model

[03:29:59] and it allows for clear guidance and structure and i appreciate also i appreciate two things one especially the collaborative manner in which everybody worked to getting to where we are in this and also a recognition about that safety and security piece because we know that safety and security has a direct impact on the ability of our students to succeed in school they need to feel safe and confident that they are entering

[03:30:35] buildings that will be inclusive of their needs and to make sure that everybody in the building is safe both the students as well as the staff and that even in our buses in transit that it is a safe they have safe routes to school and so I very much appreciate this and we'll be supporting it and I want to thank you Dr. Reed for your leadership and really working with us and understanding that we have to you know sometimes it's a more challenging

[03:31:11] process but I think we get to the right place. Ms. Keyes-Gamara. Thank you I I THINK MS. CORBETT SANDERS WAS READING MY MIND A BIT BUT I WILL REVISE WHAT I WAS SAYING BECAUSE I JUST WANTED TO PROVIDE JUST A QUICK OVERVIEW SO THAT THE COMMUNITY CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT JUST HAPPENED OF COURSE WE SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN WHICH I BELIEVE PROVIDES AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT WE EXPECT FROM OUR STAFF AND WHAT THE COMMUNITY CAN EXPECT TO BE HAPPENING

[03:31:49] IN OUR CLASSROOMS AND OF COURSE THE STATE OF VIRGINIA HAS PROVIDED LEGISLATION OUTLINING HOW SCHOOL BOARDS OVERSEE HAVE A PART PROVIDE A CHECK AND BALANCE AND HAVE A PART OF PROVIDING SUPERVISION OF OUR SUPERINTENDENT AND THESE EXPECTATIONS ARE WHAT WE ARE EXPECTING FROM OUR SUPERINTENDENT AND I KNOW THIS ISN'T WHERE WE STARTED BUT I DO THINK IT WAS A GOOD PLACE TO LAND WITH ALL OF US WORKING TOGETHER AND UNDERSTANDING THAT WE HAD OUR OPERATIONAL

[03:32:28] GUIDELINES PREVIOUSLY THIS IS AN UPDATE TO ALIGN IT WITH THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND IT KEEPS IN PLACE AS FAR AS I'M UNDERSTANDING THE REASON I'M SUPPORTING IT TODAY THAT CHECK AND BALANCE THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD PROVIDES IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC INTEREST IT IT IS THAT MARRIAGE OF THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF AUTHORITY THAT OUR COMMUNITY DEPENDS UPON.

[03:32:51] AND THAT'S WHY I'M SUPPORTING THIS TODAY. THANK YOU. MS. HEMEESH. HAPPY TO FOLLOW THE COMMENTS OF MY COLLEAGUES. I THINK TO YOUR CREDIT, MISS TOLAN, I THINK SOME PEOPLE CAME INTO THAT MEETING WANTING TO POSTPONE.

[03:33:13] SOME PEOPLE CAME INTO THAT MEETING KNOWING THEY'RE GOING TO VOTE NO ON THIS AND WE WERE ABLE TO BRING IT TOGETHER IN A CONVERSATION THAT WAS HEALTHIER THAN MOST THAT WE'VE BEEN able to have as a team so I'm just really grateful that we were able to do that and and end up in a collaborative way at a place where everybody can get behind this I wanted to take it even a step back and explain to the public so obviously one of our primary roles is holding superintendent accountable after we hire her and normally that's looked like a you know series of conversations that the board has internally we all do our you know write-ups whatever that

[03:33:49] GETS PUBLISHED TO THE STATE OF WHAT WE THINK HER PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN. BUT IT REALLY, YOU KNOW, IT'S ARGUABLE HOW EFFECTIVE IT IS TO DO AN ENTIRE YEAR LOOK BACK WITHOUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME, COMPONENT BY COMPONENT, IN THIS WAY.

[03:34:04] AND SO, DR. REED, TO YOUR CREDIT FOR INTRODUCING THIS AS A POSSIBILITY AND A PROCESS FOR US TO TAKE ON, WHICH I KNOW WAS DONE IN YOUR OLD DIVISION, AND AS, YOU KNOW, MS. AS MORHEISER WAS EXPLANNING EARLIER, SO STARTING NEXT MEETING, WE'RE GOING TO TAKE, YOU KNOW, TO JUST MAKE THIS REALLY SIMPLE, IF YOU LOOK AT THE STRATEGIC GOVERNANCE MANUAL, THE ATTACHMENT ON BOARD DOCS RIGHT NOW, UNDER THE EXECUTIVE EXPECTATIONS, WE'RE GOING TO START WITH THAT EMERGENCY SUPERINTENDENT SUCCESSION COMPONENT AND DR. REED IS GOING TO COME PRESENT, YOU KNOW, WHAT HER UNDERSTANDING OF THAT EXPECTATION IS, WHAT SHE'S DONE ON THAT, THAT ONE WILL BE VERY MINIMAL, IT'S REALLY MORE OF A FORMALITY, BUT THE BOARD

[03:34:41] WILL HAVE FEEDBACK THAT WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND SHE'LL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND that and then with each meeting taking on executive expectation by executive expectation and really thoroughly discussing each topic so you know after superintendent succession we'll talk about community stakeholders and community engagement we'll talk about HR another meeting we'll talk about you know finance financial planning another meeting and on and on and on to culminate where the board will meet her at the end of the year having had all these discussions to properly evaluate her so really the process is more QUANTITATIVE, I DON'T WANT TO USE THE WORD OBJECTIVE BECAUSE NOTHING IS EVER OBJECTIVE,

[03:35:18] BUT CLOSER TO OBJECTIVE THAN OUR CURRENT PROCESS WHERE SHE HAS THE CHANCE TO PRESENT EVIDENCE ON EACH OF THESE PIECES AND WE CAN EVALUATE HER ON REALLY WHAT HER STAFF TEAM HAS BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH. SO I'M EXCITED ABOUT THAT. I THINK WE'RE FOLLOWING BEST PRACTICES WHICH SHE'S, YOU KNOW, THOUGHTFULLY LED US THROUGH.

[03:35:39] I THINK ULTIMATELY WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO WEAVE IN EQUITY IN A UNIFYING SPIRIT OF BEING ABLE TO BRING CONVERSATIONS THAT THE COMMUNITY IS HAVING AND REALLY TRY TO ELEVATE THOSE VOICES IN HOW WE LEAD OUR DIVISION WHICH IS ALSO A REALLY KEY IMPORTANT STEP IN WHAT'S BEEN INCLUDED IN THIS.

[03:35:58] SO WE RELIED A LOT ON SOME OF THE OLD LANGUAGE BUT WE INCLUDED PIECES THAT SCREAM THAT PRIORITY AND SO I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING ABLE TO CENTER EQUITY AND IN A WAY THAT UNIFIES THE COMMUNITY THROUGH DR. REID'S LEADERSHIP. THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE WHO'S BEEN A PART OF THIS. THANK YOU. MS. MCLACHLAN. DR. REID, I JUST WANT FOR THE PUBLIC OR ANYONE WHO'S STILL AWAKE OR LATER ON WATCHING THIS TO KNOW THAT I TRULY APPRECIATE THE COLLABORATIVE APPROACH YOU TOOK WITH THIS. YOU RECOGNIZED AND HEARD FROM SOME OF US WHO

[03:36:35] REALLY FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT WE COME WITH A POSITIVE MESSAGING ON THIS, THAT IT'S NOT limitations to you it's our expectations um and i look at those again with you know lofty expectations so that you know the public um has also an understanding of what the board is communicating on its behalf since we are an elected body to represent our community i've told you how much i value and respect your leadership and what i know you are going to

[03:37:09] to continue to bring the division. It was a painstaking process. I have been very blessed to carry and deliver three boys, nine months each. And at times this felt like we were about to go through again, carrying and delivering a baby. It was a lot of work. So anyway, the process was painful, but I think what we have here tonight in front of us is something that is going to make us stronger as a board and with you in our strategic governance model and I hope we position you with

[03:37:48] the next board then to go even further on it but as I shared during that work session I'm really eager now to just roll up our sleeves and get to the work I don't want to do any more policy governance stuff anymore right now I just I want us to do the work together in these next three months that at least I have left so thank you again for being a collaborative partner I have experienced enough in my time and that's a gift of yours and I appreciate it okay now it's my turn

[03:38:26] so after working all day on these expectations in our Tuesday work session I went to the Langley high school back to school night and in discussions with the director of student services there. I was asking him how his team was doing. And as part of the talk, he mentioned this following quote to me. He said, leadership is not a muscle to flex. Leadership is building a skeletal system

[03:38:59] so that many can attach their muscles and we can all articulate our strengths and move and work together. I just thought that was a good capstone after my day on Tuesday. And this is what the governance work that we've been doing represents to me the strategic plan and now the executive expectations are part to the skeleton we still have work to do but the bulk of it is done this is a way to put procedures in place to make everyone more efficient and able to focus on the work that we must prioritize

[03:39:35] and we must do every day the work of giving the young people of Fairfax County the best education possible to prepare them for the future the strategic work and skeleton building is the important work that this board can do to ensure the success of the next board that will be coming to these seats in January I absolutely feel that I could not have been that I could have been a more effective board member if the strategic plan had been in place and these executive expectations had been in place earlier in my tenure we have worked hard we've worked really hard on these executive expectations and I

[03:40:15] thank everyone at the table we have had many open and frank conversations and shared this with the public step by step I am happy to vote for these changes to our governance manual tonight so that we can move forward with our schedule of holding the superintendent accountable for running the operations of our impressive and very large school district through this vote we will be able to start this work immediately at our next meeting we'll we will evaluate the accomplishment toward one of these expectations in a very public manner I for one am looking forward to the strategic

[03:40:52] approach to governing our school district okay and with that I would like to call for a vote on the motion that is on the screen all those in favor of the motion Ms. Corbett Sanders Dr. Anderson Ms. McLaughlin Ms. Kwiatkarski Ms. Tolan Ms. Keyes-Gamara Ms. Marin Ms. Omeish Ms. Cohen

[03:41:24] AND MISS ROGEN SIZER HEISER AND MISS DERINA COFAX THAT IS UNANIMOUS WITH MR FRISH AWAY FROM THE TABLE ALL RIGHT THE CONSENT AGENDA NUMBER FIVE OUR ADOPTED RULES OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE ROBERTS RULES PROVIDE FOR A CONSENT AGENDA LISTING SEVERAL ITEMS FOR APPROVAL OF THE BOARD BY A SINGLE MOTION MANY ITEMS LISTED HAVE GONE THROUGH BOARD REVIEW AND DOCUMENTATION HAS

[03:42:00] BEEN PROVIDED TO ALL BOARD MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC IN ADVANCE ITEMS MAY BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AT THE REQUEST OF ANY BOARD MEMBER PRIOR TO THE MEETING THE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS ARE ON THE SCREEN IS THERE ANY OBJECTION TO APPROVING THE CONSENT AGENDA HEARING AND SEEING NO OBJECTION THE CONSENT AGENDA IS APPROVED NUMBER SIX NEW BUSINESS THE FOLLOWING ARE NEW BUSINESS AGENDA ITEMS THERE WILL NOT BE A VOTE ON THESE ITEMS THIS EVENING BUT ACTION IS SCHEDULED AT A

[03:42:34] FUTURE MEETING THE NEW BUSINESS ITEMS ARE ON THE SCREEN NUMBER SEVEN BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS THERE ARE NO COMMITTEE REPORTS THIS EVENING THE NEXT ITEM IS BOARD MATTERS I'D LIKE TO CALL ON MISS HEISMER HEISER I'M NOT USED TO BEING FIRST WELL THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL FOR EVERYBODY IT'S BEEN WHAT I'M HEARING AND SEEING THREE REALLY WONDERFUL WEEKS OF SCHOOL AND I KNOW IT'S LATE SO I WON'T TAKE UP TOO MUCH TIME BUT I JUST WANTED TO SAY IT'S BEEN REALLY

[03:43:12] amazing to see the families coming to back-to-school nights there have been so enthusiastic so happy the principals and staff and teachers have been happy even the kids are coming with their parents are really excited to be there I think having them back in person consistently across the county there's just a different energy to it that it's really really exciting to see and I see it at our football games and I see it at other sporting events it's it's just a feeling of yes this is what it's supposed to feel like. And so I think that energy is really exciting to see. And I can't wait to see all the wonderful fun and exciting things our kids do this year. But it goes back

[03:43:50] to school nights have been special. So I'm excited to continue to go some more next week. And then I'm looking forward to a lot of really great rivalries in on the football field and amazing marching band shows. Our bands are phenomenal this year and the dance teams as well. So that's been a lot of fun. So with that, I will say good night to everybody. Thank you, Ms. Cohen.

[03:44:11] Just a big thank you to everybody who does so much work behind the scenes and in front of the scenes to make school work in the way that it does. And the Cohen household is surviving, so that's always a great nod to all the work that's been put in.

[03:44:30] So thank you all so much for everything you do, and good night. Ms. Amesh? Yeah, thank you. i i wanted to start today i guess by commemorating or recognizing the the tremendous struggle of a global community um you know not too long ago there was the major earthquake in turkey but just this last week you know major earthquake in morocco devastating entire communities uh the flood in libya which i mean as the first and only libyan elected in this country i feel certainly obligated to to make note of thousands and thousands of lives lost to natural catastrophe And yet we don't reflect on the impacts of climate change

[03:45:10] and the small decisions we make every day in contributing to what ends up being disasters for so many across the globe, sitting in our own privilege where we can be shielded from much of it, but not for long at some point we'll be feeling it ourselves. So my heart goes out to those families.

[03:45:29] We have an enormous Moroccan American community here and certainly a Libyan one since I exist. But I just wanted to make sure I commemorate that we can show extra care, sympathy and reflection. Hopefully that these moments are ones where we can really take a second to learn something and recognize our role in the broader suffering of others on a perhaps an equally somber note.

[03:45:56] It's also a national suicide prevention week, which generally takes place the week after Labor Day. It's also another moment to be able to remember our role and the importance of being there for others and paying attention to the signs. This is a moment that highlights the Talk Away the Dark campaign.

[03:46:16] I encourage everyone to partake in that by initiating open conversations about mental health, speaking up and making sure more people know what the research reveals about how we can help prevent suicide, and lighting the way for those who are in distress and don't feel comfortable asking for help. As many of us know, sometimes it is those we least expect who are suffering in silence.

[03:46:37] Yesterday, we had, or actually Tuesday, no, oh my gosh, Wednesday, yeah, yesterday, we had the honor of receiving a Vietnamese delegation, the Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister and others. Ms. Tolan and I had the pleasure of welcoming them. They came to learn about the audit practices we have because Fairfax County Public Schools does such a great job, really, of making sure, and Ms. Koh and her team are exceptional in leading the way in best practices and auditing.

[03:47:06] So we're very proud of that and we were happy to welcome them into our community. Today happens to be National Virginia Day, I don't know if you all know that, but it is an opportunity to bask in our history, the good of it. We have a number of presidents that came from Virginia and certainly much more to learn about our past in building a better future in our community and in Virginia.

[03:47:35] I also want to recognize that a number of our community members, Jewish community members, will be recognizing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the week and days ahead. So wishing them a blessed time with family and reflection at the beginning of the year. Thank you all and good night.

[03:47:51] Ms. Kies Gemara. Yes. Thank you. I want to welcome everybody back to school and truly grateful for all of our staff members and so many that have made it possible. truly been a pleasure this year as always to traverse the county trying to figure out where i can meet folks um had the pleasure of joining a youth rally at bethlehem baptist which was focused on making sure our young people were being prepared to be excellent uh in their communities

[03:48:27] in schools and just resources and loving people which is really how we can support in so many ways i mean just that those factors of success were exemplified there um i also attended the first baptist church of vienna this back to school sunday with our superintendent and uh some of our leadership team it's truly moving to see how a community can wrap itself around its young um and just moments of prayer and moments of agreement that this is our

[03:49:03] job and i do want to thank our superintendent for being there with us um being there with me it's not my church but some people might think it is um i also have had an opportunity to go uh to a few back to school nights at langston hughes middle school and um hunters woods and i think i'm with somewhere else but i don't remember it right now but um another fun little thing i had an opportunity to be um a guest lecturer at a conflict resolution class yesterday

[03:49:38] i'm not sure why they thought being on the school board might make you um have something to say about that but it was it was it was a lot of fun at um george mason university um and then one last little tidbit today i had an opportunity to go to reston hospital they are opening up a woman's mental health uh new section uh particularly to serve new moms as we know if we serve our parents we serve our kids and so um as i've done a great deal of work in the mental health field in terms

[03:50:16] of having to support kids and needing those resources i was truly glad to see that happening we are making progress one step at a time so um that's all i want to share right now and happy happy happy weekend everybody um and we we're off to a good start i think thank you miss pakarski thank you it's been a great opening of schools loved going back to school nights football games and just seeing all the kids and staff back um it's been very busy in my household uh good you

[03:50:51] know good things of course but still getting used to the schedules um and packing lunches takes a lot of time um but no it's been wonderful this weekend i'm looking forward to um going to the asha jothi 5k at fairfax corner which is a great philanthropic organization in my district who is begging our schools to have their families and staff sign up for their 5k and all of the money from those sign

[03:51:26] ups comes back to them with an extra donation on top very generous donation so if you have some time Sunday morning please come out and not to be a sourpuss folks but I have to say this you know So I love efficiency, and I will say this meeting will have gone for over four hours when we're done.

[03:51:48] We had one action item that started at 10:55. I'm very worried about the length of these and the amount of work that we actually get done and the ability for people to follow along. I love our academic matters, but they've turned into full-on work sessions.

[03:52:07] hope we'll have the opportunity to discuss some ways to be a little bit more efficient and maybe constituent friendly for people who want to follow along thank you yeah it's extraordinary late so i just want to echo what ms pekarsky said uh i think sooner rather than later we need to think about how we can streamline the meetings a little bit more maybe reduce our speaking time unless it's an action item um that warrants the the typical three minutes um and uh yeah uh staff

[03:52:45] i'm sorry you're here so late and uh appreciate the hard work that you all do um to help us run the division have a good night everybody dr graders just very briefly it is late i do want to say thank you to the glasgow community for coming out to both of the boundary scoping meetings we've had wonderful robust conversations and we're really looking forward to the next steps i want to say thank you to principal hill at west lawn as i visited first my first official visit

[03:53:20] was at west lawn and as well as principal shannon it was so refreshing dr reed to see such fearless leaders in our schools who are uncompromising about doing the best thing for children. So I really appreciated those visits. And lastly, I want to say a special shout out to Braddock Elementary for inviting us and you are also there, Dr. Reed, to attend the Tasteria Guatemala Mural Arts Project Celebration. If you have not had a chance to see it, please, I encourage you to do that. It is absolutely stunning and that partnership was such a benefit to our students at Braddock Elementary. Thank you all and good night.

[03:53:59] yes thank you madam chair I'll try to be brief I want to thank all of our school leaders and all of our teachers for making the back-to-school nights absolutely fantastic very successful I also want to thank the ventures in community which is the interfaith dialogue in the Mount Vernon region for having me at their most recent meeting where we really talked about how the faith community can partner with our schools and so I look forward to

[03:54:33] strengthening that partnership and have offered to them that we will provide them more materials and more ask on how to do that I finally want to thank our legislature because this past will actually today the governor signed a long-awaited budget bill and that long-awaited budget bill increased funding for schools substantially 420 million dollars did a temporary relief

[03:55:10] of the support cap we would like to see it permanent and it was we can expect to see a recommendation from the superintendent soon about what what we can expect out of that funding in light of some of the recommendations that are coming from uh from richmond as well and then finally i would like to wish all of our families that are going to be celebrating rosh hashanah this weekend wishing them a very sweet new year it is a blessed period of time and i look forward

[03:55:49] to spending time with my family as well. Thank you. Just quickly, I want to thank our transportation staff for training drivers and putting naloxone on our buses in order to protect our students from fentanyl overdoses. I thought that was a great move. I've already talked about how amazing my back-to-school experiences have been, so I won't go into that. I do want to say congratulations to our 264 FCPS students who have been named semi-finalists by the National Merit Scholarship

[03:56:24] Corporation. And I'm super excited to have seen all the announcements and photos and celebrations in the My Drainsville High School. I just want to mention for the McLean community, Kent Gardens Elementary School Capacity Community Meetings start next week. We have a meeting on the 19th and a meeting on the 27th so please join me at one of those community meetings to take a look at some of the various scenarios that we're looking at to take care of capacity issues at that

[03:56:59] school thank you very much to all of you for your patience this evening for our lengthy meeting and with that this meeting is adjourned

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