Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, September 28, 2023

Date: Thursday, September 28, 2023
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 33m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anUsyy0oFao
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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[00:00:10] This September 28th, 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 a performance of the National Anthem by the Forestville Elementary School Chorus, under the direction of Stephanie Patterson.

[00:00:31] A Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:01:35] Thank you.

[00:02:39] Way to go, Forestville Cardinals. Okay, certification of our closed meeting. In order to comply with section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia, it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on September 28, 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,

[00:03:18] discussed or considered by the board during the closed meeting. Do I have a motion? Dr. Anderson, a second. Ms. Karen Corbett-Sanders, thank you. All those in favor. Ms. Corbett-Sanders, Dr.

[00:03:36] Anderson, Ms. Dernot-Koufax, Ms. Bukarski, Ms. Tolan, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Karen Kees-Gumara, Ms. Marin, and Roger Seiser-Heiser. Thank you. Confirmation of action taken and closed.

[00:03:53] Motion one. I call in Ms. Corbett-Sanders for a motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who was charged with a reportable offense related to an alleged crime that has occurred in the community and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor Ms. Robert Sanders, Dr.

[00:04:19] Anderson, Mr. Koufax, Ms. Bukarski, Ms. Tolan, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Gies-Gamara, Ms. Marin, and Ms. Ratchas-Heiswerheiser. I call in Ms. Marin for a motion. I move THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD APPROVE AND AWARD A CONTRACT FOR PRE-K 12 LEARNING INNOVATION AND ACCELERATION SUPPORT SERVICES 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

[00:04:54] DELIVER AND ADMINISTER THE CONTRACT ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD IS THERE A SECOND MS PIKARSKI ALL THOSE IN FAVOR MS COVER SANDERS DR. ANDERSON MR. ANNET KOFAX MS PIKARSKI MS TOLIN MR FRISH MS Karen Keyes-Gamara, Ms. Marin and Ms. Roger Seitz-Morheiser.

[00:05:14] Motion number three, I call on Ms. Marin for another motion. I move that the school board approve and award a contract for pre-K-12 learning, innovation and acceleration support services, 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 board.

[00:05:40] Is there a second? Ms. Brikarski, all those in favor? Ms. Corbett-Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Darinette Koufax, Ms. Pekarski, Ms. Toland, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Karen Keyes-Gumara, Ms. Barron, and Rocha Seismerheiser.

[00:05:57] I call Ms. Seismerheiser for a motion. I move that the board authorize legal counsel to settle a pending student litigation matter according to the terms and conditions discussed in closed session.

[00:06:13] Is there a second? Ms. Pekarski, thank you. All those in favor. Darinette Koufax, Ms. Pekarski, Ms. Toland, Mr. Frisch, and Ms. Rocha Seismerheiser. All those opposed? All those abstaining, Ms. Colbert Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Keyes-Gamara, and Ms. Barron.

[00:06:39] Okay, announcements. Ms. Omash and Ms. Cohen have submitted a written request to virtually attend this evening's meeting due to personal conflicts and a medical conflict, respectively. Those in favor of approving Ms. Omash's request.

[00:06:58] Okay, that is unanimous for those of us at the table. All those in favor of approving Ms. Cohen's request. That is also unanimous for those at the table. Before we continue, I would like to remind the public of the change in the start time for our regular meetings, as all of our regular meetings now begin at 7.30 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.

[00:07:26] 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.

[00:07:44] Tonight's 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.

[00:08:05] Before we get going with our proclamations, can we just do a mic check for Ms. Cohen? Thanks, guys. Good night. Thank you. And Ms. Amesh. Hi, good evening.

[00:08:21] Great. Thank you very much. Okay, for our first proclamation, Agenda Item 3.05, National Childhood Cancer Awareness Proclamation. I call Ms. Saranak-Kofax for a presentation.

[00:08:38] Thank you, Madam Chair. I am honored to read this. Whereas September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, which is recognized this time of year by childhood cancer organizations around the world, This provides an excellent opportunity for Fairfax Public Schools and the Fairfax County School Board to demonstrate our support in recognizing that childhood cancer touches the lives of those who live and work in our community.

[00:09:05] Whereas childhood cancer doesn't discriminate by race, economic level, or region. Of those diagnosed, approximately 20% of our children will die and 60% will survive challenged by life-altering conditions. Currently, families in our area are struggling with this reality, with even more families providing aid and support for our families in need.

[00:09:27] We cannot ignore the number one disease killer of our children. And whereas, tonight, we are honoring a graduate from Fairfax County Public Schools, Ms. Meg Gallagher, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in December 2015.

[00:09:45] While in the hospital on Christmas, Meg was gifted a sack of toys. The amount of joy that Meg felt from those gifts sparked a need to give back the same joy to her own community. Meg started doing her own toy drives in 2016 and has done this twice a year toy drives for Nova Fairfax Children's Hospital for the last eight years.

[00:10:10] Whereas Meg started Meg's give back with her mission being giving back a little childhood to those in similar situations as herself. Meg is now in college and thriving and I know Meg does not take one single day for granted as she is a strong and successful advocate for the mission and why her Meg's give back has been so successful.

[00:10:36] Now therefore be it resolved that Fairfax County School Board continues to honor the all those touched by this devastating illness. And this evening, we would like to honor Meg Gallagher and her family and encourage everyone to visit Meg's website at meggivesback.com to learn more how you can help. Thank you. Is there a second? I would like to second that. Thank you, Ms. Tolan.

[00:11:02] Ms. Darnak-Koufax, would you like to speak to your proclamation? Yes, I would. Meg and her mom and Christy are here with us tonight, and we are honored to have you with us. They shared with me that they are honored that FCPS is recognizing childhood cancer awareness this month they're glad we're using this opportunity to recognize and educate the community about the reality of childhood cancer and its impact on our children our families and our community i had the pleasure of meeting meg and her mom when my daughter and meg were in a musical together at mount vernon

[00:11:41] children's community theater many years ago i understand that it was shortly after those performances that Meg's battle with childhood cancer began. I watched from afar their journey on their mom's social media pages. Everyone who knew this family saw the difficult but brave journey that Mev and her mom and family have fought and thankfully after three long years they eventually won. But it was no surprise to the many many people that were praying and sending good wishes for Meg's recovery that even as Meg's battle continued she began giving back to

[00:12:18] the community that helped her through her most challenging time. And soon she developed Meg's gift back. Thank you, Meg, for all that you did then, for all that you continue to do as a young adult now, for all of those who are fighting the battle that you have bravely won. We so appreciate you and your family. And Meg has received so many honors about this. She is known across, she just shared with me that they're going to New York where she's being honored by an organization there so congratulations for taking a situation that could have made you a different person but

[00:12:57] instead it made you stronger and it made you want to give back so thank you mick and thank you mom for raising such a beautiful daughter thank you miss darrenette koufax miss tollen would you like to speak to your second yes thank you one in 285 u.s children will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday. Every three minutes, a family is told that their child has cancer with almost 16,000 children 0 to 19 years old diagnosed each year in the United States. It is a diagnosis that

[00:13:32] may not affect your family, but it may be a family in your neighborhood, your school, your Boy Scout troop, or your sports team. Looking at the survival rate for these children, the American Cancer Society tells us that because of major treatment advances in recent decades, 85 percent of children with cancer now survive at least five years or more. Overall, this is a huge increase since the mid-70s when the five-year survival rate was only about 58 percent. Still, survival rates can vary a great deal depending upon the type of cancer that the child has and other factors. I have to

[00:14:11] through and I am proud to know a young pediatric oncologist that is a close family friend and an FCPS graduate. And I just wanted to use that opportunity to say thank you. Thank you to all of the caregivers out there taking care of these children and helping us to make these advancements in these rates of survival. Meg, thank you. Thank you so much for sharing YOUR STORY AND TELLING US HOW YOU WERE INSPIRED BY AN ACT OF KINDNESS THAT JUST HAD YOU THEN CONTINUE

[00:14:48] TO GIVE BACK THROUGHOUT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. WE ARE SO APPRECIATIVE OF ALL THAT YOU DO. CONGRATULATIONS. THANK YOU, MS. TOLAN. MS. KEES-GAMARA. YES, THANK YOU. I DO WANT TO THANK YOU, MEG. DUE TO A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO, I WAS CONTACTED BY A NEIGHBOR WHO was a part of my faith community and was asked to support a family where a child about seven years old was being treated for cancer and so i had the opportunity to meet with them weekly to pray with

[00:15:28] them bring them food and it was just a very very special relationship i also watched fcps homebound teachers come into the home as he began to recover and that was a bond that exists to this day so it takes a lot of courage for a young person to decide to do something about that and so I just wanted you to say from my experience I'm very proud of you we're very proud of you and I thank you

[00:16:00] for what you are doing. Thank you Miss Kees Gamara seeing no other speakers we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor of the proclamation please raise your hand Miss Corbett Sanders Dr. Anderson Mr. Koufax Miss Pekarski Miss Tolan Miss Kees Gamara Miss Marin Miss Sizemore Heiser Miss

[00:16:21] Omeish and Miss Cohen that's unanimous congratulations. Item 3.06 Fort Hunt Elementary School Baseball Diamond Naming Proclamation. I call Ms. Colbert Sanders for a proclamation.

[00:16:47] Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my pleasure to make this proclamation tonight. Whereas Peter Webster was a standout player and a valued teammate for many years in Fort Hunt Little League, and whereas Peter Webster died unexpectedly in a tragic accident at home in June of 2018, And whereas Peter Webster played Little League Baseball at the baseball field at Fort Hunt Elementary School, which is currently not named.

[00:17:14] And whereas the Fort Hunt Little League and Maverick Baseball volunteers, players and families and members of the Fort Hunt Youth Athletic Association and the Mount Vernon community in the Mount Vernon District at large have come together as friends of Peter Webster to remember Peter Webster.

[00:17:32] And Senators Chris Coons of Delaware, Tim Kaine from Virginia, Mark Warner from Virginia, Angus King from Maine, and congressional staffers Mike Henry, Jonathan Stoller, and others. And whereas the Friends of Peter Webster have raised significant funds of money and worked closely with Fairfax County Public Schools Design and Construction and the Fairfax County Park Authority to renovate this field to memorialize Peter Webster.

[00:17:59] and whereas the friends of Peter Webster believe it is appropriate to name the field at Fort Hunt Elementary School after Peter Webster, now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board directs Superintendent Reed to name the baseball field located at Fort Hunt Elementary School in honor of Peter Webster as the Peter B. Webster III baseball field.

[00:18:22] Is there a second? Second. Ms. Coverstanders, would you like to speak to your proclamation? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. It is my pleasure to introduce this motion to name the baseball field at Ford Hunt Elementary School after Peter Webster.

[00:18:41] The great baseball player Yogi Berra once said, love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. Madam Chair and members of the community, this is what tonight's naming represents. Peter Webster was a beloved member of the community whose life was cut short too early.

[00:19:02] In recognition of his many acts of kindness, including welcoming newcomers to schools he attended, to the love and admiration he had for his sisters and their friends, and the teammates he played ball with in Fort Hunt Little League, as well as the travel team, the Mavericks.

[00:19:18] After Peter's untimely passing, the community came together in an act of love to renovate the baseball field adjacent to Fort Hunt Elementary School. This work is currently underway with the help of the FCPS Facilities Planning and the Fairfax Park Authority. The community's efforts were done out of love for Peter and his family.

[00:19:38] It is my hope that the students and athletes playing on the field will feel the love and the spirit that Peter embodied. As his father eloquently stated in his eulogy, Peter was the light of the world, a bright and joyful presence. He was playful, adventurous, thoughtful, entrepreneurial, curious, inspiring, and occasionally impulsive. He loved people. He had a big heart which he wore on his sleeve for the world to share. There was a simple joy to him without artifice or complication.

[00:20:11] Peter's independence of mind, his sense of fairness, and his sympathy for the underdog outweighed his need for peer approval. In a period of time and an area where so much focuses on academic and professional achievement, Peter's EQ stood out as he lifted up others in the community and encouraged all to embrace equity and inclusion throughout our community. Peter loved sports and had natural athletic gifts which included skiing, golf, but most importantly baseball. He was an all-star Little League baseball player who spent years with the Mavericks and on the Ford Hunt All-Stars.

[00:20:49] Although Peter was a solid catcher in a first baseman, he loved to pitch and was proud of his two-seam and four-seam fastballs as well as his curveball. In his final year of Little League, Peter also mastered a knuckleball, which to the chagrin of his coaches and the delight of his teammates, he tested against two batters in a live game. Fortunately, like in most athletic pursuits, he was successful. But as competitive as Peter was on the field, win or lose, in celebration or disappointment, Peter dwelled on neither. At the end of a game, he transitioned immediately to his next activity, whether it was climbing a tree or eating popsicles with his teammates. For Peter,

[00:21:29] the camaraderie of his friends was far more important than the points on the scoreboard. The Fort Hunt field was the last field that Peter competed on as a baseball player. It is my honor to bring this motion to recognize the importance of ensuring that our students are encouraged to develop friendships, inclusion, and love of the national sport, baseball. Thank you. Ms. Turner Koufax, would you like to speak to your second? Yes, I'm happy to second this motion. It warmed my heart when I talk to Karen about Peter Webster to see what a wonderful young man and humble young person he was. It's wonderful to see that his passion for baseball will be honored in a place

[00:22:08] where he used to play. It is my pleasure to recognize Peter, his family, and I also want to thank all those whose love and care made this possible. Okay, with that I would like to call for the vote. All those in favor, Ms. Corbett Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Jonah Koufax, Ms. Pekarski, Myself, Ms. Tolan, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Karen Keyes-Gamara, Ms. Marin, Ms. Ratchel-Seiswer-Heiser, Ms. Omeish, and Ms. Cohen is unanimous.

[00:22:45] Thank you. I would like to invite family members, staff, and community members who are here this evening in support of the Fort Hunt Elementary School Baseball Diamond Naming Proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:23:06] I ask that my colleagues remain at the dais for both photos.

[00:24:18] I would like to invite those here in support of the National Childhood Cancer Awareness Proclamation to please join the board for a photo.

[00:26:10] Okay, agenda item 4.01, 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.

[00:26:34] 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. Comments targeting, criticizing, or attacking individual students are not permitted during public meetings.

[00:26:52] Complaints regarding school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other school officials. Speakers should not use personally identifiable information in connection with an individual student or school-based employee.

[00:27:06] 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 division's non-discrimination policy, which protects students and staff from discrimination based on age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, marital status, or disability.

[00:27:36] 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 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

[00:28:12] 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 who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation.

[00:28:30] Madame Clerk, please call our first speaker. Nadia Shudov. Hello, my name is Nadia Shudov and I'm a freshman at Falls Church High School.

[00:28:49] I live in the Mason District, and an important issue in my life is the rising temperatures and the worsening air quality that are the effects of climate change and rising carbon emissions. I really want to thank you all for everything you have done in Fairfax County, including all the goals adopted from the Joint Environmental Task Force.

[00:29:10] That said, I think we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be. We need to make sure these goals are carried out and they don't just stay on paper. This past spring and summer, we had waves of really bad air quality here in Fairfax County from the wildfire smoke from Canada.

[00:29:26] I couldn't go outside or play soccer and do a bunch of other things I love. It even affected my time at school. I would sneeze a lot and I have asthma, so I had to be extra careful not to expose myself too much. The unhealthy air was also kind of a bummer at my brother's graduation from FCPS last spring, and it came back at other times in the summer.

[00:29:49] Then, just this month, there was a heat wave cancelling my cross-country events. So, sure, the weather isn't bad today, and there isn't a red air quality alert right now, but by burning carbon dioxide, we're making it more likely for wildfires to start in the future.

[00:30:05] We're also just worsening the air for our own students and staff, adding to what we're already dealing with, that is, the pollution from other places like Canada. This is why I think we need to do everything we can to electrify our school buses and all heating systems and kitchens in FCPS.

[00:30:23] Electrification is an essential first step if you want to eventually run everything on clean energy. Thank you. Alexander Balmer. Hello, my name is Alexander Balmer, and I'm a resident of Springfield.

[00:30:51] My child attends Bailey's Elementary School for the Arts and Science, and it has come to my attention that there is not a school resource officer at my child's school. I find this both highly upsetting and unacceptable. I was upset and anxious when I attended his school's outdoor graduation, where there were hundreds of attendants and there was no law enforcement in sight.

[00:31:14] There have been 386 school shootings since Columbine, and many of these, as you know, have occurred in elementary schools. We are all very fortunate to live in a county with tremendous wealth. I want to know what steps are being taken to put police in all of our schools.

[00:31:31] I understand that our police are currently facing a staffing crisis. However, it would seem most appropriate to pilot a program to have officers on overtime and employ the use of retired officers. I work in public safety myself as a D.C. firefighter, so safety is my paramount concern, both on and off duty.

[00:31:52] I've called both Bailey's Elementary and the superintendent's office and have received no answer. Can you tell me what steps are being taken to keep my child safe? Lori Prendergast, Greg Shapiro.

[00:32:22] Hello to Dr. Reed and the school board members at large. I was last here on April 27th as a dedicated IAQ pathogenic mitigation advocate. I made a presentation regarding IAQ PM issues.

[00:32:41] I stressed how important this subject matter is protecting our students and staff from virulent, dangerous pathogens that cause so much harm to all of us. I stress that our organization, IAQ advocates, found a solution to address these important, significant problems that Fairfax schools face.

[00:32:57] The MaxClean 756 system. This technology that MaxClean 756 uses is both green and FDA approved. The response I received from several school members blew my mind. Your support was so heartfelt and sincere.

[00:33:12] We made tremendous progress since I was last here. We were in the process process of getting a test pilot started. It was approved and then there were some issues regarding monetary. Who's going to fund it and pay for it? I believe we were able to address that issue. And since then, basically nothing's happened.

[00:33:28] So that's why I'm here again to kind of light the fire. And guys get you guys going again and get you get you guys behind us because there's no more important issue than indoor air quality.

[00:33:38] So we need to address it. Thank you. Jay Garcia. Over the last year our advocates work to structure a Fairfax Max clean test pilot that will maintain clean and safe schools mitigating viruses bacteria fungus mold and VOCs 24/7 our stem professionals reviewed all technologies and Max clean came out on top.

[00:34:13] It integrates with any HVAC setup, has a small footprint, cost effective, energy efficient. We also reviewed evolving OSHRA CDC safety standards that advise on-site air surface third-party testing, masking shared use cases with facilities that show best-in-class CFU reduction of surface air pathogens.

[00:34:34] An audit of the Fairfax County's current practices show Fairfax does not conduct proactive on-site air surface third-party baseline testing in any school only after exposure and enough complaints Fairfax does reactive testing the reuse of cleaning supplies increases cross-contamination the well health rating is not a performance based rating it's a CDC document based rating no quantifiable metrics to monitor and track compliance and CDC protocols and effectiveness of the cleaning protocols max clean creates a safety mode and mitigates all of these issues we are seeking the previous

[00:35:12] support from dr. Reed Chuck and members at large if the issue is moved to design and construction Janice should work with the max team to execute the test pilot this will generate Fairfax specific third-party results that can be shared with stakeholders transparency when a facilities group did not want to pick a troubled school for the test pilot because other schools will complain and instead chose part of the admin building that tells people current issues may be be widespread and that is worrisome for our kids well-being parent groups and stakeholders want the max lean test pile executed to show the expected

[00:35:48] amazing results a detailed audit report has been gifted to Fairfax please take action and I guess as Jerry Maguire help me help you Christine Bearden I'm Christine burden parent Fairfax County two kids one is still in the Braddock

[00:36:20] district so my topic tonight is the srnr a few weeks ago we got the information to sign the srnr from dr reed's letter and also from the school weekly and from the county weekly but you know i started to think back about uh the policy that uh was recently we were the county publicly stated that the county would not abide by the commonwealth's model policies ensuring privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents. I thought to myself wait wait so I'm asked to be signing

[00:36:53] this document when the county is not following the state policy so I have a problem with the with this I'm thinking that all of you I'm just giving you food for thought here. So the I just want to tell you that even the attorney general looked into this right and found out that this policy does not violate self-discrimination or excuse me anti-discrimination or the federal law so for the record i'm not going to sign it i just want you to know that by signing the document it's

[00:37:31] not all bad the policy of the srnr is not all bad but there's parts i cannot fathom i will not partake in agreeing by signing that certain kids who are hurting and suffering inside only show one way out of their struggles and that is to to try to change their gender or change their sex many of those decisions we now see in the european studies were not good these kids end up with more problems so uh and i won't sign a document that includes the celebration and the bastardization of mental illness and allows free access to girls and women's spaces by fake opportunists

[00:38:06] like we saw in loudon thank you gama elrada good evening everybody miss chairman the board member and a community member i will be very concise about my observation i would say not my thought

[00:38:43] because i came without dissertation i would just like to draw some observation i think this will represent a sample of what i have experienced during my tenure in the county here first of all will go with the grassrooting from ESO school in elementary school I observe that is relying on the new technology method to educate people they that is

[00:39:18] has affected negatively their ability to think individually and even in the language level simply at that I think you might observe the writing and even goes up to the high school even the student are also tackling on English language secondly I don't know how you are can do to influence the state or the federal mandate you have the whole authority because there is so many

[00:39:55] things could be changed and I do believe that education is a remedy for a lot of problems if we use those narrative of necessary satisfactory if you those term to see whether education i think it can resolve a lot of issues in this community like prevailing issue like mental mental problem which is driving me to the gun issues in this problem and this is take me to my previous speaker also my concern at a parent in the county about the security of our children

[00:40:34] Okay, and this issue is true. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you. Please play the video submitted by Mr. Robert Rigby.

[00:40:57] Good evening. My name is Robert Rigby, Jr. I am currently a substitute teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools. I will emphasize my heartfelt thanks to this school board as an educator of 40 years for your firm, brave stance against censorship and bookbite.

[00:41:19] You uphold and have upheld a solid, truthful academic community, which includes and welcomes all people. Children can see themselves, see others, and actively learn about the world around them in our classrooms and libraries, only because the FCSB resists the forces that would extinguish education in our county.

[00:41:45] Academic rigor exists only when learners can investigate, discover, and put together for themselves what is true in the world. By your standing firm, our students are able to learn how to learn and not just have their minds and words filled with empty truths.

[00:42:06] Band Books Week is an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information. It starts this Sunday, October 1st. Let's celebrate by reading, of course, but also by safeguarding all students, caregivers, and parents' rights as humans to learn and exist in our school.

[00:42:32] Thank you so much. Madam Chair, that was our last public speaker. Thank you. Agenda Item 4.02, Strategic Plan.

[00:42:49] I call in Dr. Reed.

[00:43:00] Thank you, Madam Chair. And, you know, again, during the reports that we're planning to do, we're doing one strategic planning update each month at the very second meeting of the month.

[00:43:19] And what we're planning to do is illustrate examples of work in progress around the division in real time. And it's really important that we think about these high leverage strategies and that we're very intentional as we bring the strategic plan to life.

[00:43:35] This evening, in our strategic plan update, we will share some of the division-wide work that we're doing to ensure all students are reading by the end of third grade. Immediately following this update, our Academic Matters presentation will also detail more about our work on the Equitable Access to Literacy Plan.

[00:44:00] So, goal three, I want to remind the community and board that, again, the selected measure we're going to refer to this evening is around goal three, academic growth and excellence, and this commitment and key milestone of making sure that all students are on a reading grade level by the end of third grade.

[00:44:19] We know that reading is a key access point for our students and again illustrates the commitment we have to excellence, equity, and opportunity. This transition year that we know for reading is really critical because as fourth grade becomes right around the corner, we know that content acquisition is going to be more and more important.

[00:44:46] Skilled readers are generally able to learn knowledge and new words from content, while readers that are struggling often are frustrated and begin to avoid reading, and therefore are not able to access content critical to a well-rounded education. In fact, a study recently found that third graders who lack proficiency in reading by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.

[00:45:10] So one of the things we want to make sure we want to guarantee to our community is that all of our third graders in Fairfax County have the very best shot at a strong and early start. We know that evidence also suggests that students who are at or above grade level in third grade tend to graduate and attend post-secondary education at higher rates than their peers who are below grade level in third grade.

[00:45:33] A strong start is critical for academic success. So we want to honor the fact that we're all in different places along our journey. Some of our schools have been implementing our science of reading and early literacy initiative earlier than others.

[00:45:49] But this evening we have a short strategic plan video that takes place at Woodlawn Elementary School. And what we're going to see is Woodlawn Elementary School was an early adopter of the work. Principal Laura Elliott and staff have spent a lot of time really centering the literacy work in the work they're doing with their students so this evening we're gonna take you into some classrooms at Woodlawn Elementary School where you'll see examples of the walk to intervention literacy approach referenced in the video which is going to be used in all title one schools this

[00:46:25] year so madam chair if you'll go ahead and roll tape we'll visit our elementary school this evening at Woodlawn Elementary we use the walk to read or walk to intervention model and the model we're using grade level teams group students based on their strengths and needs in third grade at Woodlawn we use

[00:47:02] a rotation format where small groups rotate to three different teachers and complete different phonemic awareness decoding encoding and comprehension activities that reinforce the phonics pattern introduced to the group that day. The kids will start with Miss Harrison who was one of our reading interventionists. She's really focused on the phonics, the decoding of the words.

[00:47:24] Do you see an FF, an SS, or LL after the vowel? Okay, when we see those blocky sounds, what do we do? We draw a what under? A smile to show that they make one sound. So we're going to read a story about Mr. Gold.

[00:47:41] we're reading for comprehension when they come to me. So I begin by looking at what we call the graphemes and phonemes of the word. I'll introduce a new word to them. For example, today's word was bounce. So we talked about which letters make which sounds in the word bounce. And I really focused on that OU digraph of vowel so we can get the ow sound. I then introduced the poem about a So the students then focused on finding those letters in the poem that have the same phonemes that we're talking about, like they're going to look for that O-U sound.

[00:48:18] When you go to your next team, next rotation, I want you to look for words that rhyme with mind. And then when they get to Miss Gill, they're going to be working on encoding words. Mind, sign, house, mouse.

[00:48:34] So what was Mr. Dunleavy's direction to you? What kind of rhyming words are we looking for in this text? What are we looking for? So we're looking for words that rhyme with mind. Everybody say it. Mind. Three years ago, we started following the science of reading.

[00:48:53] We measure success of our program mostly through the iReady test. Do one last word. We also look at the student's reading fluency using our passage reading fluency assessments and their encoding skills using our spelling test, the DSA.

[00:49:09] We progress monitor students as they move through skills and use time in our Language Arts CT meetings to discuss progress based on the data. Raise your hand if you can tell me, what did I do wrong here? What did I do wrong? I have seen a trend in my students when they come to me.

[00:49:25] Now, after three years of phonics instruction, they're coming in with phonemes and phonics at a higher level. I also see my students progressing at a much faster rate. My students were able to pass the SOL at a much higher rate than they had previously, which, considering that more than half of my students are English as a second language learners, is pretty amazing.

[00:49:49] I thank our staff at Woodlawn Elementary School for giving us a glimpse into our early literacy work, and I can assure you that our Woodlawn third graders are working really hard on making sure we achieve our strategic planning goals and a big thank you to staff who spent time working on capturing those moments the division-wide alignment to reading at third grade is critical every school every elementary

[00:50:28] school in Fairfax County has a third grade reading goal in their school plan this year so as you have an opportunity to be out in visiting our elementary schools all 141 of them that's a lot of alignment right there and when we talked about our arrows moving in one direction to have 141 schools focused on third grade reading is a powerful energy that's sweeping across this county I want to thank our academic offices dr. Presidio miss Clemenco and the teams for the early work around this early literacy initiative and we're really feeling at this point like we're coming together with a strong alignment across

[00:51:06] the division this summer on August 16th we had division-wide teacher in service Over 6,500 elementary classroom teachers, special education teachers, and ESOL teachers came together at seven sites across the division to participate in professional development.

[00:51:25] They learned with colleagues around the importance of access and opportunity for the highest levels of literacy for all of our students here in Fairfax County. Our teachers and staff play a pivotal role, and we're very grateful for the time they committed to this work and the time they continue to commit to this work.

[00:51:43] So in terms of staying informed on this work, on our strategic plan reports for the board, I want to give you a foreshadowing. I know for me, I have to get to bed early before these board nights because I'm so excited about our goal reports.

[00:52:00] Goal three will be presented on November 14th and that will include data around our early literacy work and you can see the remaining dates we are so excited to bring you the results. So that is our strategic plan report this evening. Thank you Dr. Reed. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. That video was really exciting to see. Yeah. There's just such intentionality with the small group work with the teachers really focused and I think we all are very excited

[00:52:36] about the hands-on and the interactive work that is taking place without the use of a device because we know that work does not have to be done just through you know clicking you mentioned a little bit that the um all of the schools are going to have a reading goal as part of their sip can you give a little bit more detail as to what does that mean is it a 10 percent bump from where they were before 20% what's kind of the scope that we should expect.

[00:53:06] So at this point I know that in each school there's going to be an improvement goal which we would consider statistically significant. And I'm looking across here because I know our regional assistant superintendents have begun their review of our student plans and are probably home right now reviewing school plans.

[00:53:31] But I think that, Marcy, do you have a sense of what some of the reading goals are looking like? I think you're going to see variation across schools. Some may be, you know, looking at specific subgroups who need to see greater improvement. And so we can provide some updates to the board on that.

[00:53:47] Yeah, I would love to hear what numbers we're working with to make that statistically significant. I think, let me qualify that to say one of the things we're looking at in terms of a 2030 strategic plan is that we want to close these gaps and make sure that really 100% of our learners are reading by the end of third grade over the next several years and some schools have further to go than others.

[00:54:11] So I think the goals are really representative and are somewhat unique. It's not a standard across other than we expect all students over the next several years to be meeting those targets. Thank you. You kind of teed up my next question which is what is our baseline right now because Because we do know that there are some schools that are further along, there's some groups in some schools that are further along.

[00:54:32] But overall, what is our baseline in FCPS in terms of the number of students that are reading at grade level? So at the primary level, and I'm going to have a little bit more of that in academic matters because we're going to build on this topic in academic matters.

[00:54:48] But there isn't an S.O.L., for example, at K one and two. So we have building based data that shows where we are for K one and two. Um, Ms. Clemenco or Dr. Presidio, do you have a sense in terms of our baseline? Uh, I guess at this point for third grade might be a helpful baseline.

[00:55:08] We can get that for you. I would hate to misspeak and misrepresent. It does vary. You're correct from school to school. Um, but we will, we can, we can definitely provide that. Um, Ms. Neal was just reminding me the, the baseline report for this will be coming in the coming weeks that will provide sort of the baseline where we are on each of these goals.

[00:55:26] Okay. Um, thank you. I THINK AS LOOKING AT THE LAST SLIDE THAT TALKS ABOUT THIS GOAL 3 BEING ONE OF THE FIRST MONITORING REPORTS THAT YOU'LL BE PROVIDING. I THINK WE ARE ALL VERY ENCOURAGED BY US PUTTING THIS FIRST BECAUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY, THIS IS OUR BREAD AND BUTTER AND IT'S WHERE WE REALLY WANT TO SPEND A LOT OF OUR TIME.

[00:55:48] MY LAST QUESTION, YOU TALKED ABOUT, IS IT WALK TO READ? YES. THAT IS GOING TO BE PROVIDED AND USE IN ALL OF OUR TITLE 1 SCHOOLS. DID I GET THAT TERM RIGHT? So the teachers have that was a training that took place in August to be administered to our schools during this year.

[00:56:08] The training in August was really on the early literacy strategies, the high leverage instructional strategies. Walk to read is more of a model for reading intervention and enrichment where all students at a particular grade level, it's an all staff on deck.

[00:56:25] So you would have your ESOL teacher, perhaps a teacher for special education students. And your general ed section teachers all providing small group instruction that is regularly The students are regularly monitored progress monitored and the groups are reshuffled frequently So that students are able to walk to which is where that term comes from that instructor To get the reading level and instruction at their level right now in real time and we know that the walk to read model is a model used in title one schools across the country and has been very successful as part of a

[00:57:06] Multi-tiered system of support structure and our teachers training on this will occur It's being rolled out at this time. Some schools have utilized this model as you saw with lawn Very effectively. I've been in a number of our elementary schools that are really effectively using walk to read and and some are venturing into walk-to-math as well.

[00:57:29] Do we have a number-ish ballpark of how many schools maybe are using walk-to-read and maybe what kind of training we're providing, Ms. Clemenco, please? Yeah, so I don't have a particular number, but this is coming out through different methods.

[00:57:45] Like, for example, Woodburn, they kind of took it on themselves and started this a few years ago, so we've been learning from them. we work through our literacy leaders who we meet with on a regular basis to help build their skills and then they help implement it in their school and design it and then of course in our title one schools we're lucky enough to have some language arts resource teachers that work at a central office that push into schools do that job embedded sort of professional development help them get organized and understand how to do it if i could just add briefly because i think the question about training is good but our teachers are getting the training to diagnose students literacy needs Using the assessments that we have and looking at that data and collaborative team

[00:58:24] So even if they haven't been formally using the walk-to-read model They're still doing that regrouping and the tiering of instruction within their regular classroom The walk-to-read model just makes things a little bit more efficient for students because everybody in the team in terms of the teachers Has a different role in a different group of students that they're working with so can be a little bit targeted And allow teachers maybe not to have to do as much planning and preparation so the training they're getting now it's just implementing those strategies is really more of a school and teeth kind of cultural piece that we need to continue to work on one of the reasons I think this video is so powerful and

[00:59:00] we're going to continue producing and then widely distributing these I do link to our strategic plan reports and academic matters in my weekly notes out to staff and the walk to read model I think it it's a very successful best practice when you couple that with high quality instructional materials and pedagogy it's a it's a deal-changer right for reading instruction intervention and a number of schools have different pathways for that one of the principals we honored this evening Janice Dalton at her school they have a literacy lab

[00:59:37] where they have a classroom that teachers can come and watch instruction occurring right so our schools one of the things Fairfax County is so proud of of is our tradition of being a model for many divisions. And one of the things I think that's important for us is making sure we identify schools where staff can visit within the county to see strategies that might be great for their context.

[01:00:01] And I'm really proud of our instructional department that's going to be working on framing those model school programs so that staff can learn from one another. Thank you. Do you have an expected date by which you expect all of the title one schools to have begun the walk to read model?

[01:00:17] Well, Miss Clamenco, it's something we're working on this fall. I mean, this is this is new to some of our schools. It's brand new. So you'll have schools that are in that sort of implementation mode and some that are really just learning about it. So I don't have a deadline, but I would say that by the end of first quarter, we're typically done with all of our assessment.

[01:00:39] So then we're moving into our intervention. So that's when we would start to try and put those things in place. OK, I'm not sure if I cut the deadline there. Is it by the end of the first? I wouldn't say that we've given schools a deadline that you must have it done by a certain date. I'm going to, you know, but I would say that by the end of first quarter, we're done with all of the assessments that students do so that we'll be ready to start some of those more strategic interventions.

[01:01:04] Thank you. And I know I asked this before Dr. Presidio, so please bear with me because I can't pull it. As we no longer administer the DRA in the, well, at all, What are we utilizing in grades 1, 2 primarily in kindergarten to identify grade level, reading on grade level?

[01:01:22] The iReady assessment is the number one assessment that we're using, and that was actually featured in the video. You might have seen some of the results that Woodlawn is tracking in their iReady scores after they've been doing some of the science of reading work.

[01:01:38] So that's the main assessment that we're using at the primary grades to really track progress for students. All righty. Thank you. And the Walk to Read, I forgot to ask Dr. Read. only for k3 or does that go higher and for the title one schools that you're i you know walk to read is a it's a solid model at any grade so we actually used it uh not walk to read but we used walk to science in high school with ninth grade in prior divisions it just when you have certain units or certain um bodies of work and you can create smaller groups it's not for the um the

[01:02:14] the core instruction at grade level still happens within the classroom this is at that time where it's independent practice or that small group reinforcement work where walk to read is really powerful thank you so much miss court Sanders yes thank you and I'll be very brief I was intrigued and fully support your comments about the readers by third grade and especially the impact of our title one schools concern i have and i would love to and you don't have to answer it tonight

[01:02:51] but i would love to better understand how we're going to address the needs of the high mobility schools because it is a very steep hill to climb when as much as 30 of your school is turning over every year and those are usually in the areas that have the highest level of poverty so we know that there's higher mobility in those schools and so what are we doing differently or how are we addressing the needs of those that are highly mobile we're maximizing every minute they're with

[01:03:29] us and those that are mobile between schools within the division making sure data is shared if you can give us a bit of a overview of how that happens it would be great doesn't have to BE TONIGHT BUT I DO THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND BECAUSE FOR THOSE SCHOOLS THAT DO HAVE THAT OR THOSE REGIONS THAT HAVE THAT HIGH MOBILITY IT DOES IMPACT FRANKLY THE PERCEPTION

[01:03:55] OF SUCCESS THANK YOU THANK YOU MR. KEES CAMARA I'M HAPPY TO FOLLOW MS CORBET SANDERS I WAS GOING TO START AT A DIFFERENT POINT BUT MY CONCERN AS WE'VE DISCUSSED MANY TIMES IS FIDELITY OF implementation and also keeping the board abreast of where where where the work needs to be done what the schools are and so there was at some point under project momentum we would receive reports of each region and also the at

[01:04:34] largest would be able to look you know choose what areas they wanted to hear FROM, I'M WONDERING HAD YOU THOUGHT OF OR AS PART OF THIS EFFORT, HAD YOU THOUGHT OF A WAY TO INFORM THE BOARD SO THAT EACH MAGISTERIA WOULD BE AWARE AS WELL AS AT LARGEST ON A REGULAR BASIS? ON A REGULAR BASIS OF THE -- WITH RESPECT TO THE PROGRESS, I SEE NUMBERS IN THIS REPORT OF HOW WE'RE CLOSING GAPS OR ADDRESSING GAPS. THOSE ARE THE KINDS OF THINGS THAT REALLY

[01:05:11] address some of the concerns that we often hear from parents there is a perception that there are services in parts of the county and not other parts I see and I do think that if we were able to say this is our focus this is what we're reaching for and this is what's going on in your region in your school if the board can be informed of that I think it might be helpful yes ma'am I I know that there are region meetings held where there are data conversations with board members

[01:05:40] AND AGAIN I WOULD ASSUME THOSE ARE COMING UP AS MISS KLEMENKO SAID AT THE END OF FIRST QUARTER THAT DATA WILL HAVE BEEN COLLECTED FOR THIS FALL SO I'M GOING TO MAKE THE ASSUMPTION THAT OUR REGIONAL ASSISTANCE SUPERINTENDENTS WILL BE SCHEDULING MEETINGS TO REVIEW THAT REGIONAL DATA JUST AS THEY DID LAST YEAR UM I'M ASKING THE QUESTION BECAUSE I DON'T REALLY RECALL HAVING THAT CONVERSATION I THINK WE'VE HAD A LOT OF SHIFTING IN THE LAST YEAR OR SO AND SO I'M WONDERING HOW WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT THAT IS HAPPENING BUT I'LL TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT THAT THAT IS A FOCUS

[01:06:15] I'D ALSO LIKE SPECIFICALLY TO ADDRESS HOW WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS IN SOME OF OUR MORE COMMUNITIES WHERE WE KNOW THAT STRUGGLING HAS BEEN TAKING PLACE, THE ESOL COMMUNITIES. THE MS. CORBET SANDERS MENTIONED THOSE SCHOOLS THAT HAVE HIGH MOBILITY NUMBERS, THE SPED COMMUNITIES.

[01:06:37] SO I JUST THINK THIS IS THE MEAT AND POTATOES. READING IS FUNDAMENTAL AS PEOPLE HAVE SAID MANY YEARS BEFORE EVEN I CAME ALONG. And I just think that as a board member, that's what some of the stuff that I'd like to know about. Is this part of what we consider part of the new the literacy plan that we've been implementing?

[01:06:58] Yes, absolutely. It's a complete connection to the literacy plan. And in my next segment on academic matters, you'll see some of the data I believe that you're requesting. So I'm glad you're teeing that up for me. No, no, no. It's great. I THINK SO OFTEN AS AN AT-LARGE MEMBER, THERE'S A DIFFERENT TENOR DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU GO.

[01:07:20] AND PEOPLE'S PERCEPTIONS ARE VERY REAL AND THAT IS THEIR REALITY. DATA IS THE WAY THAT WE CAN REASSURE PEOPLE THAT THIS IS A REAL FOCUS. AND SO I FOR ONE AND I HOPE COLLEAGUES IN THE FUTURE WILL BE FULLY INFORMED ABOUT THEIR VARIOUS AREAS OF CONCERN.

[01:07:38] THANK YOU. OKAY. I WOULD JUST LIKE TO ADD A COUPLE THINGS. Oh, I'm very sorry. Why don't you go?

[01:07:56] Yeah, thank you so much. I'm actually really surprised at how in sync I am with my colleagues in the comments. They've been making mobility piece, English learners, special ed piece, just making sure we're catering these programs in ways that have that targeted universalism lens of just thinking through how does this child experience it?

[01:08:17] How does that child experience it? How does that child experience it? So maybe, Dr., I don't know if you guys have already done some thinking around that. I know my colleague advocated, but I'd love to hear kind of what's in place in terms of how we're going to ensure that's a component. And then the second piece related to all of that is the family engagement component, especially in a school district where more than half our kids' families speak a different language at home.

[01:08:45] I'm wondering how we can still, we can be creative about finding ways to make them assets in that process as well. and make sure that they're fully on board with and understand, whether that's in the language we need to understand otherwise, how to support their kid in this journey as well.

[01:09:08] So that we have that, I don't know if it's wraparound or with the resource teachers in schools, but making sure that kids aren't disadvantaged because they may not have additional support in English. - So those are two great questions.

[01:09:24] Thank you, Ms. Lamish. I know that our family liaisons and our family community relations department has planned activities to make sure we're supporting our community in understanding this literacy work I know we also I've attended a number of back-to-school night events at our I really was intentional about choosing a lot of our elementary schools and I have observed and been in classrooms where staff have really been thoughtfully explaining this work to families with multiple interpreters also in classrooms during back-to-school nights so we're really hopeful that that's going to be helpful one of the things I also remind the board and the community is our

[01:10:04] commitment to be building an actual app for our smartphone devices because we know a lot of families receive information in that way which are also we're hopeful are more translatable so we're really going to be pushing information about all of our initiatives but in particular the early literacy work and our algebra and eighth grade work out through that modality and in the academic matters sequel here you'll see a little bit of the work I think at sort of our some of our targeted student support needs I will look forward to

[01:10:41] seeing that but I definitely want to make sure we put in place that intentional family engagement piece and that might be with the existing family engagement themes in addition to apparently our family because I think they're spread been as it is in so many other ways um and this is more of an instructional piece that i want to make sure whether they're properly trained or there's someone with that expertise as well who's able to connect with families and help them understand that the only other thing i'll mention is um i think when we think of the blockers to a kid accessing reading there's certainly the science

[01:11:16] of reading piece which is why a lot of this is really useful there's also the self-perception the confidence a kid can have their feeling of engagement with the material um and so i'm hopeful that we can give thought in how we set up this um project to ensure that the resources themselves captivate kids and help them love reading because that's kind of the the first step that i think detours a lot of kids right when they develop an insecurity around their ability to read um or associate it with difficulty and feeling bad about themselves and and their skills

[01:11:54] and over time there's only a bigger distance with that right so that's just another thing i personally struggled with that in my own journey um and i am mindful of how it can be problematized especially for kids of immigrants or kids of families whose first language is not english it can be an alienating thing that leads to gaps down the line so i hope we can be thoughtful about having that curriculum be engaging and for the kids to kind of see themselves in it and feel excited about it yeah thank you for that feedback i think it is important i mean it has i think the

[01:12:31] excitement about reading hopefully captures everyone and that's also the urgency to have our children reading by third grade um because if not everything gets harder and just a technical thing i can hear myself as i'm speaking so i was struggling to collect my thoughts as i'm speaking if we could just address that please thank you i apologize i couldn't thank you so technical staff I think they're on it there's an echo when she's speaking we're working on it we believe because the mic is open for dr. Reed that it's causing an echo so

[01:13:08] we're trying to fix it thank you um I just wanted to make a couple quick comments but I think they were captured really in the film but the experience that I've had and I've heard from my title one schools is that in using the science of reading they have been really amazed at how it is helping our ESOL yes students you know that we have found the science of reading I think just to be really great for everyone and so I really look forward to seeing the upcoming data on you know these various groups of students and also I think you

[01:13:46] know as Neil mentioned that we'll get some idea of the SIP goals and the SIP reports and and which schools are doing what and and what exactly their goals are I THINK THAT WILL BE VERY HELPFUL INFORMATION TO SEE WHO'S WORKING ON WHAT.

[01:14:03] SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THAT PRESENTATION. WE WILL MOVE ON TO ITEM 4.04, STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS. DO WE HAVE -- OH, YOU KNOW WHAT, DR. REED, MY APOLOGIES.

[01:14:22] I SKIPPED AHEAD. I KNEW YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT ACADEMIC MATTERS. LET ME KNOW. 4.03, ACADEMIC MATTERS. DR. REED. THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. not out of the spotlight yet no and I'll walk through this fairly briskly because we've really I think addressed a number of the questions and concerns and ideas and wonders in our strategic plan report and we were trying to be intentional this evening by coupling both reports so our academic matters is really going to profile our reading by grade through

[01:14:56] access to literacy plan and one of the things i think we saw through our woodlawn elementary video is kind of a little peek into the instructional practice and i love actually seeing it right um and i hope you saw the excitement of our educators and our students as they leaned in because there's nothing more affirming than learning and feeling more and more confident i think that gets us moving so the next slide really shows the intersectionality and it's exciting really that both our division and state level of activity are converging around a common goal right now our strategic plan of course is our north star and organizes our efforts around

[01:15:36] this measure and our early access to literacy movement here in virginia also helps provide a road map of evidence-based literacy instruction that's aligned to science-based reading research in all classrooms so our strategic plan the literacy plan we have and the Virginia Literacy Act are really nicely aligned so it's kind of a perfect storm of literacy so the components of our initiative really we have a five-year action plan which again is nested within our strategic plan and we're

[01:16:15] looking at four focus areas and this evening I just want to remind our board that there is equity at the center of this approach to student achievement teaching and learning because it provides all students each and every one of them with explicit and systematic evidence-based literacy instruction with the aim of closing what have been traditionally predictably long-standing and persistent gaps and reading achievement so as we look to how we're going to build capacity and grow expectations we thought it would be

[01:16:50] helpful to take a look back the spring of 2021 this board decided to make that move toward instruction aligned to the science of reading in the 2021 to school year there was understanding built systemic instruction and in 2022 23 this past year we really worked on daily systemic word recognition skills again that small group instruction much of that beginning the conversation around walk to read and the Lexia implementation in all elementary schools I will also say that there was extended word recognition lessons that were added

[01:17:29] into grade 6 last year and we added decodable texts for small group instruction for kindergarten through second grade so lots of excitement so let's take a look at just a little bit of our data the good news is that we're seeking we're actually seeing growth aligned to the actions our educators are taking so with the incredibly hard work there are results that we feel are looking really good so last year's impact we gained looks like 13 points and pre-pandemic to now we've actually recovered beyond our pre-pandemic scores

[01:18:09] so I think that's a real celebration when you think about that so again that little line and I love math right and I love graphs and points but the where we were pre-pandemic is the far left on the slide and of course the pandemic we dipped as divisions around the country and around the world did however the pre-pandemic now we're actually seeing more growth and a higher level of achievement the percent of students in both grades one and two meeting their spring I ready reading grade levels are really up so that's I think a big

[01:18:43] celebration I want to also share that last year we saw some predictable long-standing and persistent gaps begin to be narrowed and we feel really excited about this and again huge props to our educators who are working extraordinarily hard on really new instructional strategies in many cases and in many other cases instructional models so I think this answers some of the questions that came up earlier and we're just thrilled with the results

[01:19:15] we're seeing so as we look forward to our 23 24 data and our 24 25 years we're going to continue to work on instructional practices we had that major professional development day as I said in August we're also in the process of selecting a basal resource and miss Clemenco has led I think now several conversations as the state continues to roll out new information

[01:19:48] but our intent is for the fall of 24 to have a basal language resource selection made and beginning to be implemented across our elementary schools we are really thrilled because that will prepare us and set us up for the school year 24 25 where we understand there'll be a new kindergarten through third grade assessment and we'll need to make sure we've got reading plans in place for students that are demonstrating a certain amount of risk within reading so all of these efforts are positioning us extraordinarily well for our strategic

[01:20:25] plan goal three and as I've mentioned several times this evening as far as goal three goes we are prioritizing our third grade reading goal and making sure that we attend to the other measures but that is a key measure for goal three.

[01:20:42] So that is academic matters this evening Madam Chair. Thank you Dr. Anderson has it become that obvious I don't even need to turn my light on now. Thank you for this.

[01:20:58] I'm just going to jump into some of my questions because I think I gave some statements earlier. One of the slides talks about this is a plan for K six. What does it look like for our sixth grade students who are in middle school at poll homes and Glasgow.

[01:21:15] So what we want to make sure is that grade six is grade six wherever students are in grade six. So I'm looking at you with a lot of I know I know you are. I think we have not always done as good a job as we could with that.

[01:21:30] But I know that's a strong commitment. Whatever we're going to order for sixth grade at the elementary will also be distributed for sixth grade at our schools where sixth grade is part of middle school. I think that we have a number of our elementary schools right now as well that are trying new strategies that are science of reading based even at that intermediate fifth sixth seventh grade level.

[01:21:55] And we recently had quite a middle school conversation about how to support students who have missed some of the science of reading when they were in elementary school. But Ms. Clemenco or Dr. Presidio, do you want to address the sixth grade question for those students at a middle school?

[01:22:14] Well, you're absolutely correct. All of the things that we've put in place, all the different lesson plans for those upper grades or for sixth grade, the morphology, What we've put in place this year for vocabulary and building background knowledge, those are sixth grade, whether you're in a middle school or elementary.

[01:22:30] So our lessons are the same. Obviously, the teachers who are teaching in the middle school have to modify just for the bell schedule and the structure, but the teaching outcomes and the standards and the expectations are the same. Okay, as a parent of a sixth grade and a middle school, not sure if I've seen this yet, but that's a side conversation.

[01:22:51] The data that you presented very helpful to have, but I think what always is something that I struggle with is having that data that is across the division. I know we've had this conversation multiple times about providing the data minimally by pyramid. Is that going to be something that is available for this set?

[01:23:08] Because we're looking at this to celebrate a success. And I'd like to have some sense of certainty that this success is happening across the division. We absolutely can provide that by pyramid. Okay. One of the things also that I noticed as you talked about the iReady data that is utilized to offer this information, you've used the phonics domain and the other four are not presented.

[01:23:33] Can you share a little bit why? Because we have the phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and the fifth that I always forget. Absolutely. Ms. Klomenko, do you want to be responsive to that, please? Yeah, absolutely.

[01:23:48] Absolutely. You know, we have been the biggest change to our teaching practice has been in that phonics domain. So tonight around academic matters, we really wanted to highlight the work that teachers have been doing the most change to instruction. So that's what we decided to highlight tonight. There certainly is other data we can share. But this being an academic matters, we have to kind of pick something that we want to really highlight and celebrate.

[01:24:14] Okay, I can push back a little bit and say that that phonics piece in the phonemic awareness component domain kind of go hand in hand. So I find it hard to kind of separate that data point. But I would be curious to see how students are developing or progressing across the other four domains.

[01:24:36] The other thing that I would like to ask, I think slide five, which talks about how students performed before the pandemic after I'm imagining these are different groups of students do you have any data that speaks to the cohort as a student matriculates from kindergarten all the way up to second grade you know if they started in nineteen we definitely can get that data we've looked at a lot of different data points and and it's been exciting a lot of times historically we've seen data where our kids as they have gone from kindergarten to first to second they're actually their performance has declined and we're

[01:25:15] actually starting to see it go the other direction or you know maintaining and growing um i just want to remind people also that this is this is a plan that is going to take a while for us to see the change in the data i'm just going to be honest with you that the changes that teachers are making are significant um i think what we saw in that video really shows that this is not what our classrooms looked like two years ago and the teachers have done an amazing job really embracing the learning and implementing it with students and we are starting to see data changes but it will take us a while to actually see massive change i do think that our the way that we have

[01:25:55] rolled this and starting with the younger kids really set us up well for the strategic plan and the goal for reading by third grade things are moving in the right direction our focus has been on the word part of the work and we're really excited this year we're starting to move into the to the language comprehension side of the work you need the whole package in order to see all of the iReady results really make the moves we want them to see so we are we are trying to provide you data that really shows as we put our efforts in as we make these moves how it is going to impact children and as we continue to move instruction in this direction we're going to

[01:26:32] start to see it and i feel like the the august 16th day where we had all the teachers together and all the different things that are happening from our principal PDs to our literacy leaders in our schools are moving us in the right direction and we're starting to see more and more traction so we can move faster but I just I just really you know I'm so appreciative of this board who pushed us in this direction and we're moving in this direction but it is going to take some time so I just wanted to to say that no absolutely I agree I think our teachers are working very hard in order to make this work but to have a true apples to apples comparison to really evaluate growth

[01:27:09] we have to have that cohort data rather than various groups of kids from one year to the next that's just that just tells a different story yeah and it actually tells a great story so so we will definitely um uh start to do it in multiple ways thank you mr frisch thank you um this is a really great opportunity to thank staff for the the huge shift in work that's happened

[01:27:43] here and you know I remember when the board first began considering moving in this direction and we had such impassioned advocates speaking with us and among those were the parents and families of our dyslexic students our students with dyslexia I'm curious you know all the research shows that this This type of approach to reading instruction can be truly transformative for these students in particular.

[01:28:12] I'm curious if you have any anecdotic anecdotal evidence or thoughts about the impact it's having on our students with dyslexia. So thank you Mr. Frisch and we are actually Miss Kalmenko and I regularly meeting with representatives from decoding dyslexia and I think that we're hearing anecdotal data around the positive results I think the Hegarty when you're in classrooms and see the types of the work that our students are doing that our teachers are leading I mean it's just

[01:28:49] really exciting the level of engagement in just a very different style I think Miss Clamenco said it very well and so often when we roll out something so new there's often an implementation dip that research chronicles, and in this case, it really feels like that we're trying to not have that dip and try to stay on an upward trajectory, but Ms. Klemenko, do you have some anecdotal data?

[01:29:19] Because I know you've worked really hard with the dyslexia community. Yeah, I think one of the main things I would say is those students can get what they need in Tier 1 instruction, right? And that is not a small thing, right? students who the approach was not working for them day after day they would have to either have intervention or their parents were providing intervention you know we have we have stories from people where their students are now able to either get it in tier one or the interventions are really tailored to meet the needs of their students i think a lot of people won't understand how big

[01:29:54] of a change this is because a lot of us learned to read this way and um you know i i've spoken WITH I'M SURE WE'VE ALL SPOKEN WITH TEACHERS WHO WERE NOT TAUGHT TO TEACH THIS WAY WHEN THEY WERE STUDYING TO BECOME OUR EDUCATORS AND THEY HAVE REALLY MOVED IN A TREMENDOUS FASHION TO GET THIS GOING SO IN ADDITION TO DR. ANDERSON'S COMMENTS ABOUT COHORT DATA I THINK THINKING THROUGH THE TYPES OF THINGS THAT WE TALKED ABOUT WHEN WE WERE FIRST CONSIDERING THIS

[01:30:28] FOR OUR CASE STUDIES OUR PROOF POINTS I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR US TO KNOW AS WE KIND OF SEE THE MORE FRUIT FROM THIS THIS TREMENDOUS WORK SO THANK YOU. THANK YOU MR. FIRSH MR. CORBERT SANDERS.

[01:30:45] YES THANK YOU DR. REED AND THANK YOU TO THIS BOARD BECAUSE BEFORE THE STATE ADOPTED THE Virginia Literacy Act this board took action and working with staff because of the recognition and frankly because of the excellent advocacy from so many in our community who were so impacted just very dedicated to making sure that each and every one of us understood the importance of this as somebody who did

[01:31:23] not learn to read until late in later literally I am the read by third grade kid I see this as being so so important but I do want to reinforce and lift up what my colleagues dr. Reed and mr. Frisch have said about the importance of the data because it will allow us to do that structured intervention that is so important and in addition to looking at it as a pyramid by pyramid if we could

[01:31:59] see it by breakout groups and by grades I think that will allow us to see what I look at your data here and say it's a great success but sometimes when we do data as a district it masks areas where we need to perhaps put more resources in so it would be great to have that yeah I I know that staff plan to do that in their region meetings with magisterials and making sure that we include our at large board members in those meetings but absolutely we can have that data by

[01:32:38] pyramid so question for you we will get that in those meetings will you plan on doing you know we're going to be talking about updates and I know that this is going to be an update to the board early on as part of the metrics or the executive expectations when we do that will you bring in more data more finite data at that time I think we have lots of data that will need to be provided at the goal report which is why those are done in work sessions so there will be

[01:33:18] be more time to really look at a variety of data points great thank you so much you bet all right Dr. Reed you really are off the hot seat thank you thank you so much okay so now we are on to 4.04 student representative matters I call in Miss Karim thank you madam chair good evening everyone as many of you may know National Hispanic Heritage Month is annually celebrated

[01:33:53] September 15th to October 15th. This month is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the profound contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans in shaping the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. It's crucial for us to take this time to celebrate the rich heritage of this vibrant ethnic group here in Fairfax County. Moving on, school board members have packets containing information related to the topics I will address tonight. As a friendly reminder applications are currently open for the position of high school student representatives for Technology Youth

[01:34:29] Empowerment also known as TAI. TAI is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that was founded by high school students through the SEALS program. Their mission is to bridge the gap between access to opportunities and STEM education aiming to address issues of equity in the process. Their mission aligns with part 4a of the strategic plan. For any students interested in applying for this role, please don't hesitate to reach out to your career specialist at your respective high school for more information and guidance. Shifting our focus, I've had the opportunity to engage in discussions with fellow students over the past week regarding the potential name change of W.T.

[01:35:09] Woodson High School. It's worth noting that many students have expressed their support for such a change, sharing sentiments like, and I quote, we want inclusivity and diversity in our future. This sentiment reflects a broader desire among students for a more inclusive and representative educational environment.

[01:35:29] Furthermore, some students have pointed out an interesting comparison to George C. Marshall High School, where there is a display case dedicated to his achievements and accomplishments. They've suggested that Woodson High School could follow by creating a similar display for Carter G. Woodson, thereby honoring his contributions.

[01:35:46] Moving on, I would like to address our grading inconsistencies. The impact of Annandale's grading policy, which heavily emphasizes tests at the expense of classwork, has resonated with many of our students as their grading split is 90% summative and 10% formative.

[01:36:05] It's evident that this policy has generated frustration and adversely affected the educational experience of students. As we strive to provide the best possible learning environment for all students, it's crucial to consider their feedback and experiences seriously.

[01:36:21] I believe it's essential to reevaluate the grading policy across schools to ensure it aligns with our commitment to growth and performance highlighted in 3A of the strategic plan. Annandale High School is not the only school facing this issue. Currently, Edison High School is operating with a grading split of 95% summative and 5% formative.

[01:36:42] It's important to note that these are IB schools making their curriculum already challenging, and we also must recognize this issue extends beyond Annandale and Edison to many other schools, including AP. It is my sincere hope that we can work collaboratively to find a more equitable solution that encourages academic growth and engagement across all areas of coursework.

[01:37:05] Additionally, I've had the privilege of presenting at a NOVA class for Educate VA focused on student engagement and voice over the past weekend. I was joined by Ms. Christy Day, an educational specialist from Willow Oaks, and Dr. DeSalvo, the vice principal at Woodson High School.

[01:37:20] The PogPol experience serves as a vehicle for helping students understand how their current learning impacts their future, preparing them for challenges they will encounter in their careers and future academic pursuits. It's not just about assessments, it's about developing vital skills such as public speaking, presentation, and interview skills, which are essential in various aspects of life.

[01:37:42] Ms. Christy Day effectively highlighted these points in her presentation, imparting valuable insights to the students engaged in this course. I also want to mention that last year, Woodson High School successfully organized a PogPol Career Day with the assistance of Vice Principal Dr. DiSalvo.

[01:37:59] This event featured over 50 speakers from various professions, including DOJ attorneys, representatives from Booz Allen, FBI officials, engineers from NASA, and many others. It's crucial to note that Woodson High School was the only school that had a portrait of a graduate career day.

[01:38:16] I believe it's essential to expand this initiative beyond Woodson and introduce it to other high schools as it provides valuable exposure to different career paths and enriches the educational experience for students. While the PogPol experience is implemented with accuracy, it becomes an actionable strategy that aligns perfectly with FCPS's equity commitments 2, 3, 4, and 5 as outlined in our strategic plan.

[01:38:39] It's a powerful tool for promoting equity and ensuring that every student has the opportunity to excel and realize their full potential. Lastly, I'm thrilled to share some fantastic news with all of you as this valuable information was kindly shared with me by Ms. Mary Porter, Director of Programs at Real Food for Kids.

[01:38:59] The Free Meals for All movement is gaining momentum across the country, especially following the free meal waivers implemented during the COVID pandemic. We witnessed a significant increase in student participation in school meal programs during that challenging period.

[01:39:16] Moreover, the USDA recently announced a positive development. They have lowered the threshold for schools to be designated under the Community Eligibility Provision, also known as CEP. The provision allows high-poverty schools to provide free meals to all students. previously to qualify for CEP 40% of students had to be directly certified through participation in programs like SNAP the USDA has now reduced this threshold to 25% which means that many more schools will become eligible for CEP this in turn will lead to increased participation among students who need it

[01:39:52] most while it's not a universal solution it's undeniably a significant step in the right direction real food for kids has always focused on improving meal quality. They are making progress and have significant successes worth celebrating. One such achievement is the implementation of salad bars in all schools, a milestone worth applauding. Thank you. Thank you. Gentle item 4.05, Superintendent Matters. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:40:26] Since last we met, I had an opportunity to attend five more back-to-school nights, and these are so exciting. So I really enjoyed my visit to South Lakes High School, Oakview Elementary, Laurel Hill Elementary, Belvedere Elementary, and Bryn Mawr Park Elementary School and just want to send a shout out to all the hard-working staff that just make these nights so special. They're really magical for our students and families. Also want to make sure that our staff recognize how much work it takes to keep our facilities looking clean and frankly the amount of pride that our custodial team

[01:41:06] takes and maintaining our facilities is amazing and just want to recognize that October 2nd next week is National Custodian Day and want to make sure we give a shout out to our hard-working custodians this week I started my week with a visit to beech tree elementary school and had a great time visiting with students and staff and really getting a strong sense of a great start for a school year this morning had the opportunity to attend the kickoff for the superintendent advisory council and this council met at Edison high school

[01:41:44] this morning and had a lot to say about the state of education in Fairfax County Rita our student board member was there as well representing Woodson with quite a contingent from Woodson Elementary the Cavaliers were very active and had a lot to offer as did all of our schools this morning so it was a great time to reflect with our students and recognize how important student voice is. Later today I had a chance to visit with a very hard-working team. We had a team of teachers, principals, family members, community members and staff reviewing and

[01:42:23] working on our special ed enhancement plan which will be coming back to you as aboard and really want to thank Dr. Presidio, Dr. Edmunds Hurd and the staff putting in and our families, teachers and principals who spent this afternoon working really hard on being real about what we're going to be able to do in terms of our special ed enhancement plan and how best to pace that to have high impact. I've also had a chance to get out and watch the Robinson Rams take on the south county stallions in a great volleyball match as well as edison and lewis playing last

[01:43:02] friday the annual woodson feeder night had all of our cavaliers and all of our cavalier feeder schools attend that was quite an evening the band did a fabulous job with a halftime show titled faberge with some great just great music dance and cheer it was a really a great evening A week ago Sunday, along with board member Bukarski, we had an opportunity to participate in a 5K event.

[01:43:34] I don't know if we could say we were in the run, but we were there from participating in the Chantilly-based Aisha Jothi philanthropic organization, who really are fabulous community partners for our school.

[01:43:50] So it was great to see so many Fairfax County staff, principals, teachers, students, and community members participating. I've said often that learning happens best in community and it's an incredible community. And we had a full experience last Sunday morning.

[01:44:06] Want to remind the community that our community conversations, our schools, our future have kicked off. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, well actually this week, I was at Hayfield Secondary on Tuesday and Whitman Middle School Wednesday. We have four more opportunities this fall.

[01:44:24] So check our website to confirm an opportunity. And we have employee conversations coming up in October. Will it be four different opportunities at different parts of the county and at different times to have an opportunity to visit and hear employee perspectives.

[01:44:41] Finally, just wanna mention that our first round of middle school cross country meets will be occurring this Saturday. And I am so excited. I'm gonna be at the cross country meet Saturday morning. I will not be running, but I will be there cheering on our middle school athletes.

[01:44:57] There's been great attendance in our cross country program and we're just thrilled. And a big thank you to our middle school staff who have made this possible. And good luck, middle school students. I expect to see you running a great race.

[01:45:13] So there you have it. Thank you, Madam Chair. - Thank you, Dr. Reed. like a busy couple weeks okay agenda item 5.01 performance review executive expectation number 2 emergency succession the next order of business is the performance review for executive expectation number two emergency superintendent succession each year the superintendent will provide a

[01:45:50] monitoring report for each of the 13 executive expectations detailed in the strategic governance manual. The board will then determine if the superintendent is in compliance with the executive expectation and will take a small recess while each board, while each school board member fills out their monitoring report. If the board finds that the superintendent is not in compliance with the executive expectation, the superintendent will provide the board with a corrective action plan

[01:46:23] at the next regular meeting and we will be doing several, well 13 of these over the next year in in addition to our goal reports. So I now call on Dr. Reed for her presentation on executive expectation number two.

[01:46:47] Expectations surrounding the emergency superintendent succession. And as you know, Virginia code requires a successor to be named formally in July or annually, which we do in July. This monitoring report we may actually do in subsequent years at a different time during the year to coincide with that.

[01:47:09] But as we're beginning this process we felt like it was a good one to begin with and what I will share is that the expectation is that I will designate at least one other executive member who can act as the acting superintendent should I become suddenly or unexpectedly unable to continue my duties as a superintendent.

[01:47:33] So one of the things that's very important is to make sure that the person that I name has the proper credential or license to be an acting superintendent and also I need to be able to assure you as the board that I have reviewed our strategic plans operating procedures and that this person is fully versed in what my day to day or our expectations are as a board and as a division so this evening I'm presenting that report and I want to make sure that you understand that this report is true as of this evening and at this time I believe that I am to use

[01:48:11] language consistent with this expectation that I have designated at least one other executive staff member as the acting superintendent and certify this evening that he is familiar with the board's governance process and issues of current concern and I believe is capable of assuming the superintendent responsibilities in the event that I'm absent or in the event of sudden and unexpected loss of my ability to serve in this role to that end i've designated our chief of staff marty smith to assume these responsibilities on an emergency basis and i'm apprising you of this

[01:48:50] as was consistent with our board meeting on july 13th 2023 and i will leave it there thank you dr reed at this time i now invite board members to ask any clarifying questions or to provide comments miss keys gamara yes uh thank you for this report dr reed and i realize

[01:49:22] that we are implementing a um a new structure are trying and we'll have an opportunity to comment as we go along but i do want to stress my ongoing concerns um because there is such a significant role and uh important role for the board in uh providing oversight it is noted in

[01:49:54] the virginia statute um and it can't i don't think it can always be reduced to a form like this and for the those in the public that may not understand or have not participated paid attention to how we HAVE DONE THINGS IN THE PAST, I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT THE STATE HAS PROVIDED GUIDANCE TO US. WE'VE ALWAYS MADE COMMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE STRATEGIC PLAN, AND WE TYPICALLY,

[01:50:27] WE HAVE TO PROVIDE A FULL REPORT IN JULY. TODAY'S REPORT IS VERY SIMPLE, RIGHT? MANY OF THOSE OTHER EXPECTATIONS, HOWEVER, ARE NOT AS SIMPLE. AND SO I DON'T WANT THE PUBLIC

[01:50:44] to think, oh, well, there's going to be another one and then they're going to need 10 minutes and then they're going to review and they're going to have because some of those conversations are going to need to happen in a closed session. Obviously, this is a personnel matter. And we want to we want to respect your privacy, according to the law. But we also want to inform the public. And so I think I'm trying to embrace this

[01:51:15] new way but also to balance expectations because this is a significant role for the board that is clearly outlined by the state and so I don't particularly have objections to this review here but going forward I don't want to raise expectations that we're always going to be able to fill out a form and that that will be guiding the board in July because the board's supervision is is a

[01:51:52] continuing one so I just felt that I needed to provide that clarification and I appreciate your patience in my doing so thank you Ms. Theiser Heiser so first I want to say congratulations to Mr. Smith or maybe condolences I'm not sure which one but so I just wanted to start with that and I wanted to pick up actually where Ms. Keyes-Gamara left off and I really appreciate her lifting up sort of the board's role here because what I'm today's is a you know very straightforward executive expectation I think in comparison to some of the other

[01:52:30] more robust expectations that will hear reports from coming down but I just wanted to lift up how I think this procedure that we've put in place is going to not only give the board a consistent and systematic role in the oversight and the implementation of the strategic plan And it's a structure that I think two or three boards before us put in place in our governance manual because it's a structure we already had in the governance manual that we've now updated to be in alignment with the strategic plan.

[01:53:00] But what I love about this is that in addition to what we've already done and are continuing to do, which is to ask you questions, meet with staff, have work sessions on topics, and all of those pieces, we now have a structure where we align our expectations of how you will run operations to the goals and measures of our strategic plan that our community came together and spent a year alongside staff and the board to put together so you know it's great to have a strategic plan but then to put in a structure or refresh a structure that ensures that you are going to report to us in a very public way you know with a you know and I don't word of general

[01:53:40] meeting alongside very public goal reports that we've already got before But in addition to that, not only are you going to report to us in a public way on expectations that are aligned to the strategic plan, there's follow-up. And I remember when I got on the board at first, we got these goal reports and it was like, all right, great, now what's next?

[01:53:59] And the follow-up wasn't always there. So now the public, in a very transparent way, has seen what our strategic plan is, has seen our executive expectations as they're embedded in our governance manual, has heard your reports and will hear your reports on them. And there's a format for follow-up if what you're presenting to the board doesn't fit the expectations.

[01:54:19] So it's not just great you're implementing the strategic plan, but Dr. Reed you're implementing the strategic plan in a way that fits ours and the community's expectations. So I think I'm really excited that we had this framework before, kudos to the previous boards that implemented this in our governance manual and kudos to the work that I think this whole board has done to align what we have now to our strategic plan and then have a systematic way of implementing it.

[01:54:42] And I know as we go further into some of the more robust reports that you'll bring to some executive expectations, I look forward to reviewing them a week in advance, asking the questions. And I look forward to the public hearing all of that just so they can really see the implementation of this plan that we all came together to lead us into the future.

[01:54:59] So I just wanted to kind of frame it out that way. I know this one seems a little much to fill out a whole form for naming Marty as your successor. But I think having this form is a great way to sort of see throughout the year what it is that you and your staff are doing to fulfill our expectations to implement the plan and to move our division forward.

[01:55:19] So I just want to frame it out that way. Having said that. Thank you Dr. Reed for letting us know about Mr. Smith. Condolences. Thank you. You are no longer allowed to be in the same room together.

[01:55:35] Thanks. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. know one of the conversations that have occurred in the past few weeks is and we hear this which is this is work that has been begun that was started by a previous board that we're just picking it up after it's been put to the side for a while and from my understanding by speaking with a longtime board member mr. moon that was not the case there was certainly exploration of policy governance he was very clear that multiple meetings were held to have

[01:56:11] conversations consultants were brought in there was a lot of discussion around policy governance but in his words to me is that the board did not agree to it it was so divisive that they laid it to the side a few years later they use it as a reference to build what was the operational expectations which is what we're using now and trying to build upon so I stress this because I want to be sure that the information that I have and I know some of the longer standing board members also have that recollection that the board any FCPS board did not

[01:56:50] adopt policy governance that doesn't that's I just want to make sure that that's straight and in the public regarding these presentations that we'll be receiving obviously tonight it's just kind of pro forma because we've already done this part this one was done in July as part of the yearly organization. And I'm sure we'll adjust the time moving forward. I think these reports are a great way to really have conversations with the public in terms of how the division is moving and progressing on the things we find important. I think there's a real benefit to having these discussions. I think there's a real benefit to digging into these piece by piece kind of similarly

[01:57:29] the way that we did the goal reports. But even those were too hefty. I think to really engage and fully do I think these need to be part of what constitutes the superintendent's evaluation certainly because I think this is core work but I don't think we've come to that conclusion that it has to happen through this process and this is it only that's the piece where I think there's a little bit of discomfort around this should certainly be one of those components because it's really important work yeah I just really wanted to make sure that the unspoken assumption

[01:58:03] THAT THE BOARD IS SOMEPLACE WHERE IT REALLY ISN'T OR FORMER BOARDS I JUST I'M BECOMING UNCREASINGLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THAT BUT THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION THIS EVENING THANK YOU MR FRESH THANK YOU AND FOR ANYBODY WATCHING AT HOME THAT'S STILL NOT CLEAR WHAT WHAT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW UM AT THE LAST BOARD MEETING UH THE THE BOARD APPROVED EXECUTIVE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT'S UM RESPONSIBILITIES OVER THE SCHOOL DIVISION

[01:58:37] and this is one of those expectations i just want to start by asking mr smith if he wants us to vote in compliance or not in compliance i mean it's up to you um but there will be meatier conversations that the community is going to want to tune into just to give some examples we've got relationships with families and community stakeholders is one of our executive expectations we've got one around human resources we've got financial planning and administration we've got asset protection we've got the superintendent's relationship with this

[01:59:13] board instructional programs learning environment and relationships with students so we are getting into the nitty-gritty in a transparent fashion and for each one of these things this board will indicate to the public in a transparent fashion whether over the past year based on what the superintendent reports back to the board whether they they are quote in compliance or not in compliance with our expectations so what happens if it's in compliance that's pretty basic we just keep going we can change the policy

[01:59:52] around it if we want and we'll talk about that in a little bit but if we find that the superintendent IS NOT IN COMPLIANCE THEN WE HAVE SOME INTERESTING WORK AHEAD OF US BECAUSE THE SUPERINTENDENT WILL WORK WITH THEIR TEAM TO ADDRESS THE CONCERNS OF THE BOARD AND BRING THOSE BACK TO ATTEMPT TO GET INTO COMPLIANCE AND SO I THINK THAT IS A REMARKABLY REFRESHING WAY OF DOING THIS WORK AND I LOOK FORWARD TO PARTNERING WITH MY COLLEAGUES IN THAT ENDEAVOR I DON'T FRANKLY I MEAN I THINK IT IS NICE TO BE INFORMED BY WHAT FORMER BOARDS HAVE DONE I'M EXCITED ABOUT THE WORK THAT THIS BOARD

[02:00:30] HAS DONE ON THIS NOT ONLY THE STRATEGIC PLAN BUT THE MECHANISMS THAT WE'RE PUTTING IN PLACE TO MAKE SURE THAT THE STRATEGIC STRATEGIC PLAN MEANS SOMETHING AND THAT THOSE MANY CONVERSATIONS THAT FAMILIES AND STAFF AND STUDENTS HAD ARE NOT FOR FOR NOTHING SO I APPRECIATE THIS I WILL BE VOTING IN COMPLIANCE IT'S PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD THANK YOU THANK YOU JUST A COUPLE OF COMMENTS

[02:00:58] i might add um to mr frisch's list for example given our um miss cohen why don't you go ahead sorry thanks very much um i just wanted to say i i have the opportunity to second which i appreciate but i for those of us who are leaving the board i think about what it was like to come on as eight new members where we were sent then to evaluate the superintendent with

[02:01:34] very little information um sorry my son is practicing trumpet upstairs um and especially coming into a coveted year which i would not wish on my worst enemy um but i do really look at this as an opportunity for however many new board members we have next time to walk in and at least have our take on what we have experienced uh in this last year and a half um with dr reed and be able to review the last evaluation and then all of the executive expectation that we cover until

[02:02:12] they start in january so i'm really grateful for this process i sure would have been grateful for it walking in as a new board with what we felt like was very little information to be able to evaluate a superintendent so i will certainly be voting in compliance and i'm i look forward to reviewing the rest of them that we get an opportunity to uh before our time here's over

[02:02:38] thank you miss sterna kofax so i was not able to attend um some of the um work sessions on this due to personal reasons but sometimes words hit hard at this table and i appreciate um looking forward and i if this is something dr reed wants and she feels comfortable um this way

[02:03:15] this is something I will support but so looking forward is a good thing but to disparage previous boards that you know we had a strategic plan it meant something staff who is still here including the person you are you know making the superintendent in your absent your successor Mr. Smith he realizes the hard work that went into that we were the first board that did that we are a board that maybe

[02:03:55] didn't agree on policy governors or how to do it but we tried to do it and there were also issues like worldwide pandemics when we didn't get goal reports and it was difficult to do that because all we were doing is keeping up so i caution my colleagues to while you're looking forward and while you are um making certain that you are successful dr reed because i tell you that all the time i want you to be successful because we believe in you and we want you to move forward

[02:04:33] and this is something you're comfortable with i'll i i'll talk to you further about it but i i want you to feel comfortable um how you are evaluated and to be evaluated fairly um but uh this is not the first board that did a strategic plan this is not the first board that looked to ensure that we meet every child's needs where they are with measures and goals and a strategic focus sometimes it didn't happen i won't go into those reasons the whys or where force the pandemic was

[02:05:12] but what one reason so as we move forward I just caution people to say to to not dismiss work of previous staff members previous boards when the work was done was there looking forward to move on in a different direction to help you and help your team be successful to help this school system BE SUCCESSFUL. I'M ALL FOR THAT. MISS KEES CAMARA. YEAH. THANK YOU. I'M HAPPY TO FOLLOW

[02:05:50] MR. COFAX BECAUSE I THINK THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A LITTLE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSE OF MY COMMENTS. I SEE A NATURAL TENSION BETWEEN HOW WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY EVALUATED THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THIS NEW PROCESS. THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT CAN'T WORK BUT THERE IS THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT are required in july there are reports that we will be receiving and how these things fit together is still a question for me and um for that reason i wanted to make the comments that i did because

[02:06:28] um this is a recommendation from you typically um how a superintendent is evaluated is the domain of the board and not the superintendent um of you know certainly what i want and have done everything i can to try to make you successful that's what i want to do and i will continue to do so but we're going to have to figure out how this fits into our reporting that happens in july and i don't i want to make it clear it's not my understanding that this is a replacement of any

[02:07:07] sort um obviously those conversations will have to happen um but you know given a little bit of discussion i've heard i just felt i needed to clarify that so thank you okay double checking i think i'm safe um just a couple of um comments and observations um interestingly i have been cleaning my office at home and came across a binder of work from when I was

[02:07:43] on staff working on goal 3 in the previous Ignite strategic plan and so in that pile of papers was the agenda from this meeting in 2013 and it had these steps that we are going through right here with executive operational expectations at the time so um so this is something you know you know mr kofax i appreciate your observations something that has been done before it perhaps it wasn't um you know called policy

[02:08:22] governance but you know this is something that you know previous boards have done as part of their evaluation process so and um you know we worked really hard mr smith we worked together on many any of those goal three reports in those previous years for the public.

[02:08:41] We will you know we have an addition to these expectations has been mentioned a couple times. We've got our five strategic plan goals because those are even heftier. We will have a work session and a board meeting session like this around those goals to really dive into all of that data.

[02:08:58] I this for a work session that we had previously we did have put together already a crosswalk between the state requirements for evaluation and our expectations and our goal reports and so we definitely will be discussing that as we move forward with this work so that kind of crosswalk work is you know something we can take a look at.

[02:09:25] The form tonight we also agreed upon as a board as a draft so you know we're filling it out tonight we're seeing how it goes and at our work session in October you know one of the things we'll be talking about is the form and exactly this process that we're following here tonight. I do want to just add given some of the comments of our speakers tonight that when this board worked on our executive expectations we added one around safety and security because we feel that that is so important you know in this day and age and you know with the work that we're doing

[02:09:59] in the district. So we'll have the opportunity to discuss that expectation as well. So with that, I do not see additional board members that have comments. So I would believe at this time we want to take a 10-minute recess so that board members can fill out their forms and then hopefully we can collect the forms and then come back for our motion. Point of order, Madam Chair. Given the

[02:10:33] simplicity of this particular expectation, do we really need to fill out a form and take a 10-minute break? Would you like a five-minute break instead? Okay, five minutes. We'll be right

[02:10:47] back at work. Thank you. Okay, board members, let's go ahead and get started. Okay, Dr. Anderson,

[02:20:29] I'm calling on you for a motion. Thank you. I move that based on the information provided, the board finds the superintendent has reasonably interpreted the provisions of the relevant executive expectation and is in compliance with the emergency superintendent succession EE2 as outlined in the strategic governance manual. Is there a second? Second. Thank you Ms. Cohen. Dr. Anderson would you like to speak to this motion? Extensively because I think we did not cover this

[02:21:05] enough in the previous rounds. No I think we're fine. Thank you. Ms. Cohen. No ma'am I'm all right. Thank you. Seeing no other board members that would wish to speak I will call for the vote on the motion. Are we putting the motion on the screen? All those in favor of this motion, Ms. Corbett Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Mr. Anna Koufax, Ms. Pekarski, myself, Ms. Tolan, Mr. Frisch,

[02:21:46] Karen Keyes-Gumara, Ms. Marin, and Ms. Roger Seismerheiser, Ms. Omash, and Ms. Cohen. There is the motion on the screen. Thank you, and that is unanimous. Okay, action item 6.01.

[02:22:18] On police separation reports I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. I moved that this I moved that the school board confirmed the separations report for the period beginning August 1, 2023 and ending August 31, 2023.

[02:22:43] Is there a second? I'm seconding. Miss Dr. Anderson would you like to speak to your motion? Yes. I did ask for this item to be pulled off of consent so that we can have a conversation. It's not because I am not going to be in support of it.

[02:23:00] It is what it is. Can we have it be posted, please? I've had conversations about this with Mr. Smith, with Dr. Reed multiple times, and Dr.

[02:23:16] Wilson set some inquiries regarding this report. I think this report has been around, I can't remember Mr. Smith, but it's at least been 10, 15 years, if I recall from our conversation. And I think it's kind of outlive its utility.

[02:23:33] At one point, I'm sure it was very helpful, but in its current format, it's just not as informative. It's just not as instructive. We have spent, we all have spent many years on this board when we received that goal report that talks about workforce. And we talk about the diversity of the workforce, and we lament the state that we are in.

[02:23:54] I view these reports as kind of the formative, so that you have opportunity to course correct before you get the big report card, which is the gold report. However, this report lacks context. I think there's some space here to improve on this presentation so that we understand what it means. For example, um, you have, this report has in this past month, we lost 28 Asian staff. We lost 48 black staff.

[02:24:24] If you look at the report from last month, it would show that those two groups were also the groups in which we've lost the highest numbers of staff. There's a tell to be told there. What does that mean? But more importantly, what does it mean in context?

[02:24:41] 48 out of how many? 48 out of 50 is an alarm that is ringing, but 48 out of 5,000, it's a non-issue. I don't think this report really provides us with the context for us to really make sense of it. If we're going to create a document, and this is of no shade to anybody here because this has been in place for a very, very long time.

[02:25:06] I'm just looking to raise a conversation for us to offer some improvements. If we're going to offer data, let's utilize it to the best that we could. Otherwise, it's just not very useful. Sorry.

[02:25:23] Thank you, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Tolan, would you like to speak to your second? I don't have really any additional comments. I know Dr. Anderson, I spoke last month. You know, I think she has some very good comments. You know, it would be nice to make some improvements if we could.

[02:25:39] And, you know, I'll certainly vote for it this evening. But, you know, I think it's good to just have that out there, that if we do have data, it's good to have it useful. Thank you. Literally, I heard one click here and one click there at the same time.

[02:26:00] Since Ms. Bukarski has not really spoken tonight, we'll go with Ms. Bukarski. Thank you. My comment is brief. Thanks for pulling this off. When I read these, my biggest question is what are the trends and what does this look like throughout the year, throughout the years, just to have some context if we're going to be making any assumptions from numbers.

[02:26:24] So, you know, I think that's important. I don't know. Hopefully that is something maybe we could do just to get a snapshot of understanding. I don't think it would be that difficult when we get these TO KIND OF PLOT THEM SO WE CAN COMPARE AND REALLY BE ABLE TO, YOU KNOW, SEE RED FLAGS AND BE ABLE TO COURSE CORRECT. THANK YOU.

[02:26:51] THANK YOU, MS. PECARSKI. WE'LL DO MS. CORBETT OR KEYS-GOMARA AND THEN MS. OMASH. THANK YOU. I THINK WE WERE HAVING A MIND MELL, MS. PECARSKI. WE REALLY DO NEED INFORMATION THAT IS USEFUL. I, FOR ONE, WANT TO GET SOME context I also want us to look at particular areas where we may be having some retention problems whether it's identified by demographic group or whether it is identified by position and so this is part of it just to put this

[02:27:30] in context this is part of the reason I made the comments that I did earlier because there are always areas where this board needs to be informed and it may not it it is raised by a board concern and not necessarily by a report and so I you know I think I will submit a I know some questions have been raised for example in terms of principles and I'd like to see a plan for example in making sure that we're supporting and working to make sure we're not losing

[02:28:05] principles we've had a lot of poaching going on I know from other districts and so I do think that if we can take a look at how we might be able to improve and protect those quality those those really top rated employees that we have invested our training in and they're so very valuable I really want to look at trying to do some preventative work so thank you thank you miss Keese Kamara Ms. Omeish. Yeah, thank you. I want to start off by thanking Dr. Anderson for catching this. I think

[02:28:40] that's a really useful thing to work on. I did want to just ask for elaboration if there is any on the context that she was kind of pointing to, like how do you all staff understand these numbers? And I assume you're following trends and analyzing these numbers, not just looking at the data, obviously, but as to what our explanations are, if someone can provide some context. Good evening. So to provide a bit more context, we look at these numbers and we do look

[02:29:18] at trends across each of these groups to determine if there are areas of concern and what perhaps may be cause for the trends that are setting up. I do hear your concerns and I do feel that there are there is room for improvement so our team is currently looking at how this how this report can be restructured so that we don't have to do as much digging to interpret the data that

[02:29:54] is there yeah i mean i think it definitely has potential to inform a lot of um the work that that we've always said is a priority but you know yeah the numbers speak for themselves especially when they're just aggregated so I appreciate that you're thinking about them and hopefully having it in a format that is easier for everyone to visualize will be useful to everyone thanks again dr. Anderson for raising this thank you miss Amesh miss Sizemore heiser yeah I'll be brief and I

[02:30:31] look forward to you know sort of really looking at this report and other ways to find either longevity trends or other trends here but I guess you know and in trying to shift to this new format that we're doing on executive expectations Dr. Reed I just had a question if um you know what I one thing I've noticed over the years when board members or others lift their issue up you know we come talk to you your staff sometimes we have a work session on it we're trying to figure out how to you know get information on all of these issues and then we always run out of enough time for work sessions but if you're hearing things like these or like the concern we're hearing from a principal and when you then come to the board to report on the executive

[02:31:08] expectation around human resources around staff and i don't the exact name of it but there is one around that topic would this be embedded as part of what you would report do you anticipate yes i think it would we would need to be there is a human resources executive expectation and as long as that was one of the pieces and i would obviously think this would be that would be part of the the report that would be done annually a summative report so this kind of gives a way for us to on some 13 major topics to hear sort of a regular cadence of reporting on some of these issues whether they're things we hear year after year

[02:31:47] right like this report or things that may be bubbling up during that year that we're hearing about but there's also space in other spaces to bring questions to you your team as we're hearing things let's say the HR reports next month and something bubbles up in January there's space to ask those questions but at least we know we have a time where we're going to talk about hr issues that's correct okay thank you so i look forward hopefully um i don't know when that report is scheduled for this time around but maybe some of these things that we're hearing and and even re-looking at some of our separation data could be brought as part of that report this year thank you thank you miss sizemore hyzer

[02:32:25] dr anderson no i actually think miss omesh kind of started to get to the next piece of my questions which is how could this be restructured in order for it to provide a little bit more context and Dr. Wilson began to to speak about a little bit obviously we don't want this to be cumbersome because this comes to us monthly but I would love to again have this be more robust and maybe an opportunity for the superintendent whether it's in her Monday letters whenever it makes sense to talk about what does this mean to us because I I did get a chance to pull it I had left it in my bag if we looked at the report that we reviewed in August we have of

[02:33:05] the Asian group 28 had left black group 148 I'm sorry 48 and no I'm looking at the wrong one that's the one that's up there the one from June of the Asian group 157 had left the division black group 186 and Hispanic 140 again the context is missing but these seem to be really high numbers like where are these people going why are they going and why are they going in those numbers when we know they're not even the majority of our of our workforce so we just have to

[02:33:43] find a way again to to treat this data with some sort of purpose because I think right now it's just a little bit flat so I would love to hear any ideas that you have in terms of how we can make this a little bit more useful well thank you and I think as somebody mentioned this has been a report that's been produced for many years and I don't know the origin of the report I also there are a variety of different job categories that have different data sets and different industry drivers as well in terms of staying or leaving and

[02:34:22] to put numbers in context including our hourly and contract employees I believe were in the upper 30 thousands of employees so while those sound like large numbers they're also in terms of the aggregate workforce that we have June would also be the largest most significant month probably I'm guessing dr. Wilson - based on the school calendar and so forth the announcements so I think there's a lot of work to do there's a lot of pattern and sense making to be done with the data and I trust that dr. Wilson and her staff will

[02:35:01] be able to present something to senior leadership that doesn't create, you know, undue work but does give us a chance to look at what our trends are and how we can best support our workforce. So thank you for raising this. All right.

[02:35:21] Thank you, Dr. Anderson. I have a question. I know that there are time periods when we may have, well, let's say, for example, there's a concern just hypothetically about principles, Dr. Reed, and we want to address it before the next year, I'm not sure whether waiting for the HR report would allow us to try to seek some improvement for the following year.

[02:35:54] And so I guess that's the reason I'm raising these concerns. The board has to have the flexibility to raise timely issues, right? And certainly it's up to you as to how you figure that out.

[02:36:10] But I would think that there are some natural cycles that may need to also fit that. So I will put the record out there. I do have that concern. I'll be discussing that with you in my one-on-one with you.

[02:36:29] BUT I DO HOPE THAT THERE CAN BE SOME MORE DIRECTED ACTION SO THAT WE KNOW THAT THINGS ARE PUT IN PLACE TO TRY TO IMPROVE THINGS FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR. SEEING NO OTHER SPEAKERS WE'LL GO AHEAD AND VOTE.

[02:36:54] ALL THOSE IN FAVOR PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND MS SEIZEMARHEISER MISS MARIN MISS KEEZ GAMARA Miss Corbett Sanders Dr. Anderson Spekarski Mr. Annette Koufax away from the table. Miss Tolan and myself and then Miss Omeish and Miss Cohen.

[02:37:13] So that's unanimous with the exception of Mr. Annette Koufax away from the table. One heck of a way to do voting. All over the map. All right. Thank you Mr. Fish action item six point zero two proposed changes to proclamations and recognitions.

[02:37:35] I call him a size for hyzer for a motion. I move that the school board approve the proposed proclamation recognition changes as outlined in the attached red line version of the governance manual. Is there a second? I will second. Thank you, Miss Marin. Miss Sizemore Heiser, would you like to speak to your motion?

[02:37:55] Yes, briefly, I would just like to speak. This is something that has been three years in the making. When Dr. Anderson was chair, she we had a conversation as a board and started a task force with Miss Cohen and I on looking at our recognitions and resolutions procedure at the time to try to streamline the process so you know we could recognize various groups and events in our community but also have time to get to the business of our meeting we miss Cohen I spent quite a few hours working on that with drafts circulated with the board we work with the equity office instructional services looking at national months streamlined our recognitions of our employee groups to

[02:38:33] try to again allow for recognition there were several drafts that went through the board it went to a work session I believe it went to a retreat It came up for a vote in September of 2022. It was polled then, sent to governance. Ms. Corbett Sanders, as governance chair, worked very hard on it as well.

[02:38:49] It came back to the board for a vote last spring. The board voted to pass the new proclamation and recognitions process. And then as it was being implemented, we realized there's a few tweaks to clarify in the process, and that's what is coming to the board today. And it is always a hard balance, right, between making sure that we have space in our board meetings to recognize important heritage months and other events and communities within our group, but also to get to our board work in a timely manner so the public is still awake as we get to some of the important things that we talk about and vote on.

[02:39:22] So the idea, as this board voted on, was to try to streamline those to have annual recognitions as well as two proclamations per board member. So what we're just voting on today is just really a few minor tweaks to what we already voted on in in last spring and I thank Ms. Corbett Sanders for her hard work to bring it to the board and finishing it and this is just kind of clarifying a few little things around what is annual and you know for our student rewards whether it's the district they reside in so I appreciate your hard work and kind of bringing these tweaks to make it really clear as we implement it and I know there's still some work to be done on a few other clarity items so given that as a three-year history of trying to find that right balance I don't think

[02:40:01] we'll ever get to the right place because I don't think there's a perfect answer, but I think we're getting to a pretty good place and we'll continue to work on it. Thank you. Ms. Farron, would you like to speak to your second? Sure. Just briefly, these updates are a result of us wanting to be as efficient and do due diligence to honor and recognize important people and observances in our community. So I think that these do that. It's a tough job and I think that this does reflect those many years of work and I And I thank Chair Tolan and Vice Chair Frisch for diplomatically gathering input and feeding it back to us so we could make a decision.

[02:40:40] Thank you. Ms. Hamesh. Before my time starts, I have a point of order. My understanding has always been that the person who raises something off of consent has deference to speak to the motion, to be the one who brings it, just as Dr. Anderson did for the previous one.

[02:41:08] Let me defer to the problematarian on that rule. Sure. That makes sense. making a motion i mean i would go ahead and give the person uh preference to speak if when once recognize i i would go ahead and give uh preference to that individual to go ahead and speak whoever it was okay okay only once only once the floor has been yielded if the uh if recognition was inadvertently given to someone else first thank you okay so miss omisha i guess that is not always

[02:41:48] the case so the floor is yours yeah i just thought it was the assumed case unless there was a reason not to but in any case um i can still hear myself so if we can fix that before i that would be helpful testing is there anything else we can do that she's still hearing an echo miss omasha tech like a temporary fix might be if you mute your speaker while you're talking i know that doesn't

[02:42:27] help you hear any responses to questions but it's like maybe a temporary fix i won't hear my timer but okay um all right i'm gonna do that so i don't think perfect is possible but we can start somewhere and i hate that i'm here but when i stand here as a board member as imperfect as i am it's my hope that as a system we're intentional about uplifting groups whether or not we feel we relate to them personally and i know that the efforts here capture a lot of that the pursuit of efficiency is exactly why it's so critical that we set up our recognition and resolutions process

[02:43:06] in a way that is fair and the very purpose is to lend voice where it's lacking and to prevent harm that will bring us back to this conversation all over again i know we all want to tell every student that they matter and i know we want to tell them we care and that we see all of them so let us choose something consistent i had suggested ideas like pegging our list to the federal one or having a signature collection process that opens the door to community suggestions like immigrant heritage month and for now at the most basic level since we're here at a voting table instead of approving the same random list let us improve the process and at least decide to base this on what has

[02:43:43] already been approved unanimously by our board at some point in time what would that mean that would mean that most of the current list uh is included though it is true that one of them has never been approved by the full board but there are at least a few more that we've left out so without objection i would like to um add to the list the heritage and history proclamations that this board has already approved of in the past. Madam Clerk, if you don't mind just pulling up the current list on the screen as I'm speaking in the governance manual. But folks, you'll recall that over the past two years, the board did unanimously approve immigrant Caribbean Muslim and Jewish

[02:44:21] heritage months, and they're not on the list. I understand that some preferred to post this as a future action, but I'd like not to delay this as it is an important and really easy step for us to take. While it's not part of this motion, it's my hope that we would continue to fold in additional groups as we continue each year to learn and listen more and do better for all of our stakeholders.

[02:44:43] We all know all means all. We move forward together. So, Madam Chair, without objection, I would like to move the list of recurring proclamations to include the already unanimously approved proclamations by this board, which are Immigrant Heritage Month, which was approved unanimously June of last year, Caribbean Heritage Month, which was approved unanimously last June of 2023, Muslim Heritage Month, and Jewish Heritage Month, which were both approved unanimously in May May of 2023.

[02:45:10] So so OK, so Miss Amish, you're asking to add these items. Do you do you recall that at the last work session and we talked a little bit about this today as well, that we have agreed part of what we have actually this evening is we've got the red lines items in the governance manual and then we also have the items that we talked about at the work session just this week Tuesday.

[02:45:46] Which includes at the bottom, items that need continued discussion, which is because of the great comments that you made on Tuesday, we agreed that we would spend time to go over the list and really talk about items that needed to be on the list.

[02:46:02] Yeah, and I think that's why I had shared that we should revise some of that language because it right now reflects that we are moving forward with a list, whereas my understanding from the work session was that we have not finalized a list.

[02:46:20] you're absolutely correct we have not finalized the list we what we see in the redlined items for this evening we just have the list that we had in the governance manual previously and we just combined the two lists of the list of proclamations and the list of resolutions we just combine those with the agreement that our next discussion on this would be around finalizing it or continued work on a list i'm not sure this list will ever be

[02:46:54] finalized yeah and at the risk of that being an indefinite process and and who knows when it'll come back i'd like for us to include unless there's an objection from someone about any of these four the ones that we've already unanimously voted on as a board because those are already understood to be something the board supports and then we can have a longer conversation about how we make sure we're inclusive of more that we haven't thought of up to this point in fcps okay so would you like to make a motion yeah so i said without objection i moved to amend the list of recurring proclamations

[02:47:33] to include the already unanimously approved by the board immigrant heritage month caribbean heritage month muslim heritage month of jewish heritage month okay do we have a second for that motion i'll second but can we put the list that she's referring to on the board i i'm confused but i want to hear more so i went back with my staffer um and looked over the past as long as we could but definitely for the four years we've been aboard for all the proclamations that were

[02:48:09] heritage or history months that we have approved as a board and these four were the ones that are not reflected here that were unanimously approved by our board so those are not proclamations that were on the current list that's in the governance manual they're proclamations that have been brought by different board members using one of their two that they're allowed to bring.

[02:48:38] And so from my understanding from Ms. Omey, she's asking to bring those four that other board members have brought but that are not included on the regular annual list to now be put on the annual list. You will not see them in the red line since they were not already in the governance manual.

[02:48:57] I can add them as an amendment to the motion language, but they are not on any of the current lists that were in the governance manual already is there any objection to adding those four items to the list can i have an objection it's a little unclear to hear her all right so can we please read those would you list them again can we type them so they appear on the screen yeah we have

[02:49:30] immigrant heritage month caribbean heritage muslim heritage month and jewish heritage okay Ms. Carver Sanders? Just from a point of order, this is really not the way we should be doing business. I absolutely understand the concerns of Ms. Omash, and I would suggest that rather than making this at the table, that we just defer this item on the agenda until our next business meeting

[02:50:06] and take the time between now and the next business meeting to fix her concerns. and any other concerns on that list may I speak to my second when it's just to be clear she asked for any objection that's not the same thing as making a motion so because Miss Tolan asked her she wanted to make a motion she made a

[02:50:42] motion which I seconded all right she said twice no objection she was asked to do so point of order i believe that was a without objection motion and so i guess my question is is miss corbett sanders objecting because that was a motion without objection and if there's an objection i believe there's a different motion that needs to be made is that correct at this point i would like our parliamentarian to assist us all right it is my understanding that even

[02:51:19] though the member used the words without objection that the chair assumed that there would be an AN OBJECTION AND TOOK IT ON TO HAVE HER MAKE A MOTION TO AMEND I KNOW THAT LANGUAGE WAS USED AGAIN BUT THE CHAIR TREATED IT AS A MOTION TO AMEND IT WAS SECONDED AND IT'S NOW BEING DEBATED OKAY SO WITH NOW WE WOULD HAVE MISS WE WOULD HAVE DR. ANDERSON SPEAK TO HER SECOND IN THIS CASE

[02:51:54] DR. ANDERSON THANK YOU I I HOPE THAT WE DON'T GET OURSELVES WOUND UP IN A SPACE THAT WE DON'T need to be. I think the point that Ms. Omez is trying to make is that we have several on this list.

[02:52:10] If I'm looking at the list on my time on this board, F, G, and H were all new and were presented. I remember especially when Arab American Heritage Month was brought forward as a possibility. I I remember that it was Ms. Sizemore Heiser who presented it.

[02:52:32] And in the last year, we've been able to present four more. And all of those did get full support of this board. So I'm not sure we need to twist ourselves into a pretzel on this because I know procedurally here there may be some things that we don't want, but she is within Robert's rules, and these are things that we've supported in the past.

[02:52:53] So I really do not have an objection to just including those four at this point. Okay, so I have several board members' lights on, so can you double-check if you would like to speak to this?

[02:53:13] Ms. Dernick-Koufax, do you have your light on? I tend to agree with Ms. Corbett Sanders because as I look at this list, proclamation that I did and that we constantly, it's not on there.

[02:53:30] There's children's mental health. There's children's mental health, but the one that I just did tonight, which one is one we have done many, many times. Do you see it there?

[02:53:46] Am I missing it? The one I did today for childhood cancer, and that is one that we did many, many times, and that is not on these lists. So I agree with Ms. Corbett Sanders. I would like a less haphazard way because I might not have even caught that if I wasn't just doing it tonight.

[02:54:07] So these were the ones, Ms. Tolland, just repeat for the rest of us, these were ones that have been previously in our governance manual, and that's why we agreed to go through these lists. These were the combination of proclamations and recognitions, and that I feel some are missing.

[02:54:30] So in addition to the ones Ms. Omesh is, I would prefer that we got a complete consolidated list because I just discovered another one, and there's probably several more that are missing as well that we've done regularly and we've approved unanimously regularly.

[02:54:48] Yeah, so to clarify, these were the ones that were in the governance manual as of today. So we, in our discussion on Tuesday, decided that we would combine our proclamations and our resolutions and just moving forward have proclamations.

[02:55:07] What we were doing as of today was just combining those lists into a list of proclamations. We also have a document going with this that's posted that just summarizes all of the decisions that we made on Tuesday.

[02:55:25] One, and then at the bottom, Ms. Elmash requested this, which was a great request on Tuesday, was to list topics that we discussed on Tuesday that needed further discussion. The first one on the list is what should the list be?

[02:55:43] So, you know, so it gets at exactly what you're talking about. You know, do we want to add the things that Ms. Elmash is talking about? Are there other things that are missing? How many items do we want on the list? there are a number of things that we need to discuss.

[02:55:58] So we did agree that these would be topics that we would cover at a future work session in October.

[02:56:14] Ms. Seisbreheiser, do you want to speak? Your latest on-- - So just since Ms. Cohen and I did this original work, just explain where this list came from, was this is the list that we went through, what we had, everything that we used, and again, this is three years old, so recognize that this list is two years old, is old now.

[02:56:34] We went through everything the board had been doing every year. We worked and consolidated it. Then we looked at the, we talked to the equity office to talk about what they run and recognize. We worked with ISD and we looked at what was sort of nationally recognized and came down with this consolidated list.

[02:56:50] It was circulated with the board several times, multiple work sessions, et cetera, et cetera. That's how it got here. And this was the list that was voted on in the spring. It doesn't mean we can't look at it again. However, I do agree with Ms. Corbett Sanders that, you know, and Ms. Derenak-Kofax, for example, why are we only looking to add the ones that we did in May and June?

[02:57:10] What about Autism Awareness Month? What about Disability Pride Month? What about the ones Ms. Derenak-Kofax brought up? I think having the conversation about, you know, it's re-looking at this list if we want to do that again. I know we voted on it in the spring. I think that's a valid conversation, but kind of piecemealing adding four we did in May and June and not really looking maybe holistically or at what have we again done all you know since we came up with this and which of those we want to do every year and which of those we want to do for the two the idea that this board came up with that we voted on was that this would be our list and then board members could get to to bring any extra that they wanted to bring to try to streamline the process it sounds like there's a lot of appetite to kind of

[02:57:49] relook at how many do we want to do every year versus board member bringing And I think that's a worthwhile conversation, but I would feel uncomfortable saying, let's put these four as regular, but not autism awareness, for example, or the one Mr. Annette Koufax brought or many of the other ones that we used to do regularly or have done every year since this board has started.

[02:58:10] So I think we're better off voting for the sort of the changes that we have that are clarifying things, putting this for a future conversation to figure out what that list looks like and then bring that back to a vote. we have more time to really look through all of the different options that we want to add or not miss cowen yeah just to further follow up on that i think you know gun violence prevention is missing pride month is missing so i agree i think um it's totally reasonable to go back and take a look at this you know i certainly take it seriously to be looking at amending the governance manual i i

[02:58:49] I guess I'd probably argue that 1030 at night on the board dais is not ideal to rewrite our governance manual. So I agree that I think Ms. Omeche had a good idea of relooking at these. And I'm not sure that every board doesn't want to include this in what they do when they reorganize in July.

[02:59:11] You know, maybe there's some years that you do some and some others because I know people are real tired of us not doing our business until 10 o'clock at night. So I get it, and that's why I think it's appropriate for it to be a much larger conversation because we're just going to keep adding to these things, even though I'm obviously a really big fan of the months that we mentioned.

[02:59:32] I think we need to have a much larger conversation. Ms. Pekerski. Yeah, thank you. I will not say I was sad to miss this work session the other day. We have spent, well, not we, some of us have spent a long time on this.

[02:59:49] I think, you know, where I land on this is these lists need to be as short as humanly possible. People can bring what they want, but at some point we're going to have to decide what the point of our meetings is.

[03:00:07] And for me, when we're spending well over an hour certain nights on proclamations, And I think for many of our citizens who have made it very clear that they don't appreciate spending that much time, everything is worthwhile.

[03:00:25] But at some point, there just is simply not enough time. There is not enough time. So when you couple the list with the fact that people have the ability to bring the ones that are important to them, and they don't have to be the same every year.

[03:00:41] I mean that's what people bring a certain you know their own perspective and voice and focus to the board as board members so I will say for me as short as possible that is always my advocacy and I would shorten it even further if I could.

[03:01:02] MISS MARIN I'D LIKE TO CALL THE QUESTION PLEASE OKAY SO WE HAVE THIS AMENDED MOTION ON THE TABLE THE QUESTION'S BEEN CALLED SO THOSE IN FAVOR OF THIS AMENDED MOTION

[03:01:28] OH I'M SORRY OKAY ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF CALLING THE QUESTION OKAY DR. ANDERSON MISS POKARSKI MISS TOLAN MR. FRISH MISS KEYS GUIMARA MISS MARIN SEISMER HEISER MISS COHEN OKAY

[03:01:58] Okay, the proposed amendment is to add the annually occurring list, can you move that down a little bit?

[03:02:34] Okay, so we're voting on the amendments. Ms. Toland, may I withdraw my vote to call the question so Ms. Corbett Sanders can offer her solution? Doesn't change it. Okay.

[03:02:49] Okay. Can we vote on this amendment? Parliamentarian, would you like to direct us? since you haven't voted it is possible to move to reconsider the vote on whether to call a question so I just wanted to make sure that that was clear okay so can we please vote on whether or not we would like to call the question those in favor of calling the question this Seizmerheiser, Ms. Marin, Mr. Frisch,

[03:03:26] Ms. Tollin okay so we're not calling the question you do need to call for the knows as well to make sure that. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay, those opposed. Ms. Corbett-Sanders, Dr.

[03:03:43] Anderson, Ms. Serenet Koufax, Keyes-Gumara, Ms. Omeche. We are not following the questions. Okay, Ms. Corbett-Sanders. I will be very brief. May I make a suggestion that we just amend the original motion to say that by the October, you know, give a date certain of when we will review

[03:04:16] the list of proclamations and that on an annual basis the board will approve the proclamations for the year the standard ones not the ones that board members have their flexibility can you make an emotion yes i'm making a motion to amend the government or the main motion tonight

[03:04:54] to allow for a review of all of the proclamations listed please add on is there a second no i i I think Mr. Frisch wants to contribute to this, so please go ahead.

[03:05:12] Before the end of October and on an annual basis thereafter.

[03:05:25] And Ms. Keyes-Gamara, you're seconding that motion? Okay, thank you. I don't need to speak to this. I think we've had an exhaustive conversation about it, and I'm just trying to solve the problem. Okay, Ms. Seiswerheiser.

[03:05:44] I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a pain, but if this is an amendment, we're literally amending the governance manual to say that we're going to reveal proclamations before the end of October 2023. To me, this would be a follow-on motion, I think, not an amendment to the government. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but that amendment would mean this goes in our governance manual, right?

[03:06:02] And so I would think it's a follow-on. And I think we already had something in there that we would review the proclamations on an annual basis. So I would recommend maybe just as a follow-on motion. But I also would caution us to give a date certain by the end of October 2023 and maybe let our chair and vice chair know that we want to do this sooner rather than later and have them look at the schedule and everything else that's scheduled to see if there is a date certain before the end of october 2023 to look at this so but i i do i i totally i respect what you're trying to do to make sure there's a date certain because this is important to you know some of the board members but i don't know if i'm comfortable amending our governance manual to say

[03:06:40] that so we did say at the last work session that we would do this in october so um i think as far scheduling we're probably okay is there any objection to changing this to a follow-in motion well I think it can work either way to address the concerns raised by Miss O'Meche the reason that I suggested this as an amendment is

[03:07:17] because the actual motion if you could pull the motion up on the screen I believe says to approve the proposed proclamation and recognition changes as outlined in the attached redline version of the governance manual and then you could just say with the understanding that a review of all the proclamations listed will take place before the end of October 2023 and on an annual basis thereafter when you do that then you've incorporated both and address the

[03:07:54] concerns of Miss Amish and others at this table okay so let's do we have the motion on the screen sorry but it should rather than saying with the understanding to allow that a review of all the proclamations will be undertaken

[03:08:32] before the end of October 2023 Miss Amish would you like to speak to this motion yeah I mean I guess part of this is the scope was originally history and heritage month resolutions that's what was kind of that's what came up with the work session and that's what I was addressing specifically here anyone else is welcome to address the other components I don't see why we should delay that piece if they've already been approved and the idea of me bringing this was to say again

[03:09:08] the main issue I thought we coalesced around was there's a fairness problem with saying we recognize stamp and not others this my original intent was to avoid that if we're not going to do that tonight then we should just postpone this and work on it for all of them we shouldn't be deciding that certain ones we're changing or not we could resume our old process until we have the conversation and talk about which ones we're moving forward with. And then we move forward with all of them. It's not like we don't have a process right now that isn't perfect, but does something. I don't see why we need to make an action that shows we're trying to change something

[03:09:44] and we're not doing it right. And we're saying some matter, some don't. And then we're moving on to say, we'll talk about those later. And October is hopeful. I mean, how many times have we had motions here that we don't honor? And I don't want to run the risk of, you know, definitely who knows when that'll come back so i just i want to hear real objections to why these shouldn't be included um because up to this point i don't understand why we're having so much consternation over what we've already approved of and it's again within the history and heritage

[03:10:19] scope so i'd like to move to postpone all of this this is where we're going to land i'd like to postpone the entire conversation until the next work session when this is scheduled where we revisit all of it is there a second for that motion at this point there's no second

[03:10:51] for that motion madam chair yes may I make a recommendation on process the motion this second amendment that the school board approved it does not appear to be germane it's not changing the language of the motion to amend my recommendation is to just treat it as a following to be brought up after voting on the main motion go ahead and vote on the motion to amend then the main motion and then bring this

[03:11:23] up as a follow-on all right given the advice of our parliamentarian we need to go back to our

[03:11:57] amended motion and vote on that on the amendment you haven't yet voted on the amendment we have not voted on the amendment no so that's what we need to do now can i get a clarification from the The parliamentarian, please? Please.

[03:12:12] I have amended the first motion with my amendment. I'm not amending the amendment. I'm amending the first motion. And there is nothing wrong with amending the first motion, in my understanding.

[03:12:30] Why is it forced into a follow-on motion if the amendment, as written, allows for the flexibility to do essentially the same thing? Because it does have a confidence. without getting to whether the motion can be proposed as an amendment at all.

[03:12:54] The fact that there is an amendment pending means that an amendment to the main motion is not in order. So when there is an amendment pending to a main motion, then an amendment to that has to be an amendment to the pending amendment, not to the main motion.

[03:13:11] Okay, so what I can do is we either adopt or don't adopt the first amendment, AND THEN MY AMENDMENT CAN GO FORWARD AS AN AMENDMENT. AND IF THAT GETS ADOPTED, THEN THAT BECOMES THE MAIN MOTION, CORRECT?

[03:13:28] IF THE CHAIR AGREES THAT THE AMENDMENT IS APPROPRIATE AS AN AMENDMENT TO THE MAIN MOTION. YES. OKAY. THANK YOU. OKAY. THANK YOU. OKAY. SO AT THIS POINT, WE ARE GOING TO VOTE ON THE AMENDMENT THAT IS HIGHLIGHTED ON THE SCREEN TO ADD THE ANNUALLY OCCURRING LIST, MUSLIM HERITAGE MONTH, OR ADD TO THAT LIST These four items, Muslim Heritage Month, Jewish Heritage Month, Caribbean Heritage Month, and Immigrant Heritage Month.

[03:14:01] Those that would vote positively for this amendment, please raise your hand. Dr. Anderson, Ms. Omeish, Ms. Keyes-Gamara, Ms. Marin, Ms. Cohen.

[03:14:18] This is to add these items. Okay, so we have, I'm sorry, please, we have Dr. Anderson, Ms. Keyes-Gamara, Ms. Omeish, Cohen, and Ms. Marin.

[03:14:46] You're voting for it. Okay. Those opposed Miss Kober-Sanders, Miss Darinette Koufax, Miss Tolan, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Seizverheiser. Motion fails. No. Okay. So now we're back to the main motion. All right. And we have an amendment. We have an amendment to the main motion as amended by the prior motion or the prior amendment. The new motion will read that the school board approved the proposed proclamation and recognition changes as outlined in the attached red

[03:15:50] version of the governance manual with the understanding to allow that a review of all the proclamations listed occur before the end of October 2023 and on an annual basis thereafter thank you okay those in favor of this motion I'm so sorry point of clarification there's some confusion and perhaps mr. Morgan can help voting on this amendment how does that impact the vote that we just took which doesn't they're two separate things okay thank you okay so those in

[03:16:29] favor of this motion I'm sure I'd like to amend this motion I'm in the amendment I'm sorry miss me or amend the motion miss a mesh your your previous amendment passed do you do you know that I thought it you guys said it failed no I'm sorry

[03:17:04] your previous amendment passed okay okay do you still want to amend this motion no but I don't know how it applies anymore yeah okay can we take a vote on this motion those in favor of this motion madam chair I'm sorry just just to clarify it would the intent is to adopt the proposed proclamation and recognition changes as outlined in the attached red line version of the

[03:17:40] governance manual as amended was that the intent of the body okay the words aren't up there and I didn't hear the words it may be important it may be you why should read as amended as a line version as amended yes thank you thank you mr. Morgan we appreciate that clarification okay madam clerk could you please just highlight that amendment

[03:18:06] that we are currently voting on okay so the highlighted motion is on the screen okay those in favor of this motion please raise your hand miss Corbett Sanders dr. Anderson mr. and a koufax

[03:18:34] Okay, myself Miss Tullen, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Karen Kees-Gamara, Ms. Marin, Ms. Heitz-Rajna-Seisberheiser, I'm getting tired of the kids, Ms. Cohen and Ms. O'Meish. Okay, that motion passes. That motion passes.

[03:18:59] Did you call for the nose? I'm sorry. Mr. Morgan. Just make sure that you did call for the nose. Oh, I'm sorry. Those opposed. Ms. Pekarski, thank you.

[03:19:15] Thank you for the reminder. Okay. Okay. Item 7.01, Executive Expectation 2, Emergency Succession. The next order of business is the policy review for Executive Expectation 2, Emergency Succession. Each year, the board will

[03:19:49] review each of the 13 executive expectations at the time the monitoring report is provided to determine if any revisions are needed moving forward. The board may also review any of the executive expectations at any time a change is needed. At this time, board members may provide comments on executive expectation to emergency superintendent succession to determine if any revisions are needed. At this time, I now invite board members who would like to suggest revisions

[03:20:24] to executive expectation to to make any comments. There are no further comments or discussion. I now call and Miss Corbett Sanders for a motion.

[03:20:41] Thank you Madam Chair. I move that the school board refer executive expectation to emergency superintendent succession to the governance committee. Miss Corbett Sanders. I think you know that highlighted motion.

[03:20:57] I apologize. I move that the school board maintain executive expectation to emergency superintendent succession as it is currently detailed in the strategic governance manual is there a second.

[03:21:17] second thank you miss corporate sanders would you like to speak to your motion i think we've spoken about the process extensively tonight and no more no further discussion is needed thank you mr kofax i concur any other board members that would like to speak i will call for the vote on this motion which is on the screen all those in favor of this motion please raise your your hand. Ms. Corbett Sanders, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Gerard Koufax, Ms. Bukarski, Colin, Mr. Frisch,

[03:21:56] Ms. Mirren, Ms. Seismerheiser, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Omash. Those opposed. Those abstaining. Ms. Karen Kieskamera. Thank you. That motion passes. Consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure. Robert's 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 been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be

[03:22:33] removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 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 nine new business the following our new business agenda items there will not be a vote on these items this evening but action is

[03:23:02] scheduled at a future meeting the new business items are on the screen board committee reports there are no committee reports to present this evening board matters next on the agenda is board matters and i call on miss cowan uh i'll just pass with the late hour thanks thank you miss omesh

[03:23:30] i'm okay thanks miss marron yeah i just want to express dismay that we get bogged down in the the details of such an exciting presentation about literacy and I hope that we can continue to do our governance work when we have the time and I will say good night thank you okay I do want to do my board matters is that okay all right thank you um I know everybody's ready to go I will be quick

[03:24:08] I will be quick thank you guys I I have to I know I may have some different OPINIONS AS OTHERS, BUT I DO THINK THERE IS AN ORDER AND I WILL CONTINUE TO TALK ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT. NOW, WITH RESPECT TO THE FUN STUFF, BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHTS WITH MEETING PEOPLE, AWESOME.

[03:24:29] AS DR. REED SAID EARLIER, I HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO HUNTER WOODS ELEMENTARY, SOUTH LAKES HIGH SCHOOL, I THINK I MET MS. MARIN THERE, DOGWOOD ELEMENTARY. I had the pleasure of going with Dr. Anderson to an investment and partnership summit for minority women owned small businesses in the solar industry as to how to process that.

[03:24:54] I thought that kind of connected with my CPDC work. I had an opportunity to stop by the NAACP Jazz for Justice event just for a short time on that day, you know, Noah's day on Saturday when it rained all day.

[03:25:09] And then I just want to wish everybody happy Hispanic month. So thank you. Thank you. Ms. Pekarski. I'll pass. Good night all. Ms. Jenna Koufax. I'll be quick. I want to thank the Hayfield secondary community for their candid conversation with Dr. Reid and myself on Tuesday night.

[03:25:33] I really appreciated all that you shared with us and we will move forward to address some of the issues you spoke of. I look forward to speaking to the Cup Scout Troop 867 next week, meeting with the Fairfax City School Board Chair, Ms. Pritches, who was here tonight, and I also look to touring Finance Park with Dr. Reed.

[03:25:56] Thank you. Good night. Dr. Anderson. Just really quickly, thank you to all of the principals and staff for all of the great back-to-school events. That was a great opportunity. Do you want to wish a welcome to the new homes principal, Ms. Serena Garan, who started just last week. I also want to highlight two things just again to lift up in this room that I know that are on Dr. Reed's radar. One being the grading. You know we mentioned that earlier during our one-on-one and I think that was amplified by our student board member. We have schools where

[03:26:29] it's 95-5, it's 90-10, it's 60-40. It's the same school division. We should have that be a lot more tightly aligned and also we talked about the students the three students at Pole Middle School earlier who are taking geometry honors and because they don't have a session for them those students are relegated to the library to essentially teach themselves and they have a night class on Thursday nights with a teacher that is instructing other kids through some sort of Fairfax online that is wholly inequitable and I'm really looking forward to a solution relatively quickly because it's October and those students have had to undo that

[03:27:08] since the start of the year and I don't think that should be acceptable to any of us thank you and good night Dr. Anderson that situation has been remedied thank you so much I will circle over there and find out how thank you of course Sanders yes thank you madam chair I too want to thank the community that came out for the community conversation with dr. Reed last night there were about 75 people in the room and it was a very energetic conversation

[03:27:47] about the issues facing the schools in region 3 and the need to focus on key key issues of academic rigor as well as safety and security and so I know Dr.

[03:28:03] Reed listened intentionally and has some good ideas coming so thank you for that I also want to wish all of our hometown teams good luck in homecoming games this weekend. It's very exciting. I want to encourage people to go out to George Mason's Gunston Hall this weekend and visit the new gardens that I was disappointed that I wasn't able to go to the ribbon-cutting tonight but please go out and see the new gardens. They're supposed to be amazing and I want to invite everybody both at this table as well as the community to come

[03:28:42] out to George Washington's Mount Vernon where we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Black Women United for Action wreath-laying at the Slave Memorial on October 7th at 11:00 a.m. and I encourage everybody to participate in that and also to be aware that Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon's Ladies Association in conjunction with the Black Women United are going

[03:29:13] to be launching a new program on a fellowship in research in African-American history for 18th through the 21st century and I encourage people to support the that new program they are looking for funding and it is especially in today's world critical that we teach the true and authentic history and this is the beginning of doing that with the research program at mount vernon so with

[03:29:48] that um oh and one last um i hope to see many of our constituents in the mount vernon region at the october fest at fort belver this weekend so have a great evening thank you thank you given the late hour i will just go ahead and pass and just say i hope everyone enjoys an evening and thank you mr fresh really quickly um i want to thank my colleagues and especially miss tolan for um checking in with me over the last uh two weeks uh and um i'm very grateful

[03:30:28] that i was able to go home and spend time with my my mother who is not in great shape but is slowly hopefully recovering and i'm grateful for my colleagues for allowing me some grace and i'm extremely grateful for the doctors and nurses who are continuing to care for her and for my siblings who are still out there and for the rest of my family as well thank you um just quickly i want to give a huge welcome to our new deputy clerk

[03:31:02] Tara Petrovich who's been with us at our meeting this evening thank you for joining us and we do have a second deputy clerk starting very soon I also want to give a shout out to my staff aide Wendy Billeter who has been stepping in in the absence of some key staff members in our office thank you so much Wendy for your time I do have to thank our McLean elementary school parents and communities we had a meeting last night again looking at ways to alleviate

[03:31:38] overcrowding at kent gardens elementary school and had some very very good discussions great comments and people will be able to share feedback online through october 4th so looking forward to hearing all of the feedback i have to say someone mentioned it earlier october 2nd is national custodian appreciation day our schools look great our custodians work super hard thank you so much for all the work that you do and i am looking forward to this saturday attending the first middle school cross-country meet which is being held at herndon middle school yeah it's going to

[03:32:14] be really great so they've got i think we have eight different middle schools competing at least throughout the morning and so that'll be nice and then herndon high school is again hosting the band showcase for 2023 on Saturday, and that is always an amazing event. If you like marching bands, show up at Herndon on Saturday morning. Have a wonderful evening. This meeting is adjourned.

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