Coraggio Consulting Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, January 11, 2024 Date: Thursday, January 11, 2024 Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia Length: 3h 34m (video) Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYO8tk9zpxA 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 2026-11-02. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:05:45] We'll get started in just a moment. [00:06:56] January 11th, 2024 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 Herndon High School Guitar Four Ensemble under the direction of Christopher Cunningham. [00:07:14] - My Pledge of Allegiance. [00:09:18] - We have another round of applause for our Herndon High School students. Agenda item 2.02, Certification of Closed Meeting Compliance. [00:09:38] ORDER TO COMPLY WITH SECTION 2.2-3712D 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 JANUARY 11TH, 2024, TO THE BEST OF EACH MEMBER'S KNOWLEDGE, ONLY PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS LAWFULLY EXEMPTED FROM OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENTS AND ONLY SUCH PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS AS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE MOTION CONVENING THE CLOSED MEETING WERE HEARD, DISCUSSED, OR CONSIDERED BY THE BOARD DURING THE closed meeting one second can I get an opinion from the parliamentarian or council as to whether we do this part of our meeting [00:10:17] since we're continuing with closed after the meeting it my recommendation as parliamentarian would be to go ahead and take care of the motions that were considered during the closed meeting and to follow up on any motions that are done when you continue all right do I have a motion mr. moon is there a second Mr. McIveen all those in favor. [00:10:52] Miss Sizemore Heiser Mr. McDaniel Mr. McIveen Miss Lady Miss St. John Cunning Dr. Anderson Mr. Mr. Dunn Miss Anderson Miss Dixit Mr. Moon that's unanimous all right. [00:11:10] Agenda item 2.03 confirmation of action taken and closed. I call on Miss Sizemore Heiser for a motion. I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who participated in the group assault of another student at school and confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent is there a second second all in favor miss Sizemarheiser mr mcdaniel mr mckelveen miss lady miss st john cunning mr dunn [00:11:45] dr anderson miss anderson miss dixit mr moon uh that is unanimous i call on miss anderson for a motion uh mr frisch miss dixit did not have her hand raised oh i apologize uh without objection I'D LIKE TO ASK MS. DIXIT IF SHE'D LIKE HER VOTE RECORDED DIFFERENTLY. [00:12:08] MS. DIXIT WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECORD YOUR VOTE AS NO ANY OBJECTION GREAT THANK YOU VERY MUCH I APOLOGIZE MR. CHAIR MAY I BE RECOGNIZED PLEASE YES MS. BARON HELLO GOOD EVENING UM UNFORTUNATELY I'M NOT ABLE TO BE THERE IN PERSON I DID SUBMIT THE REQUEST TO BE VIRTUALLY PARTICIPATING THAT GETS READ AFTER THE UM THE CLOSED PORTION OKAY SO I'M NOT VOTING IN THE CERTIFICATION CORRECT SEENING FROM THAT OK. Thank you. All right. All right. I call on Miss Anderson for a motion. [00:12:45] I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who participated in the group assault of another student at school and confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent. Is there a second second. Thank you. All those in favor Mr. Moon Miss Anderson Dr. [00:13:09] Anderson, Mr. Dunn, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Lady, Mr. McIveen, Ms. McDaniel, Ms. Sizemore-Heiser, and myself all opposed. Ms. Dixit, any abstentions? All right. The motion passes. I call on Dr. [00:13:28] Anderson for a motion. I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who possessed, used, and distributed for profit a THC vape at school and to confirm the disciplinary decision OF THE DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT. IS THERE A SECOND? I SECOND. THANK YOU. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, MS. SEISMOUR-HEISER, MR. MCDANIEL, MR. MCELVEEN, MS. LADY, MS. JOHN CUNNING, MR. DUNN, DR. ANDERSON, MS. ANDERSON, MS. DIXIT, MR. MOON. ALL OPPOSED? NONE. ALL ABSTENTIONS? NONE. [00:14:04] THE MOTION PASSES. WE WILL CONTINUE WITH CLOSED SESSION AFTER TONIGHT'S REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING and return to officially close when we're finished um agenda item 2.04 announcements miss marron has submitted a written request to attend this evening's meeting virtually due to a personal conflict all those in favor of approving miss marron's request please raise your hand miss sizemore heiser mr mcdaniel mr mckelveen miss lady miss st john cunning mr dunn dr anderson miss anderson miss dixit mr moon all opposed abstentions welcome will you test your microphone [00:14:39] Ms. Marin. I believe I already did. Sorry about that. Thank you. No worries. If you'd like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight, that information may be found in the back of the auditorium or on the website fcps.edu/schoolboard/boarddocs. [00:14:58] Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on the website fcps.edu/tv/ch99. agenda item 2.05 election of school board chair and vice chair the next order of business is agenda item 2.05 the election of school board chair and vice chair section 22.1-76 of the code of Virginia specifies that at the annual organizational meeting in January or July a school board shall elect one of its members to serve as chairman and may elect one of its members to serve as vice chairman both for a one-year term and shall also provide and shall also [00:15:38] approve other appointments and designations of responsibility necessary for board operations during the year. I now call on Dr. Reed to conduct the selection of process of the school board chair for the remainder of this school year. Thank you Mr. Frisch. At this time I will open the floor to nominations for chair of the Fairfax County School Board. I nominate Carl Frisch for chairman of the board. Is there a second? I second the nomination. Carl Frisch has been nominated as chair. Are there any other nominations? Hearing no other [00:16:16] nominations, the motion before the board is to elect Carl Frisch as chair of the Fairfax County School Board. I'll call on those members who nominated him for comments first. Miss Lady, would you like to speak to your nomination? Yes, I would Dr. Reed. Thank you. I just want to share I've known Carl Frisch for a very long time, personally, but also have followed him and his work here on the school board. Great respect for all the work he has done in his first tenure and also watched him lead as vice chair as a new board member. I was very grateful to him for his support in helping organize with leadership orientations for new [00:16:54] board members. He's been on call as needed and responsive to any requests. I feel confident in his leadership. He puts students first in his decision-making and it would be honored to serve alongside of him as chair of our board. Thank you. [00:17:10] Thank you. Ms. Anderson, would you like to speak to your second? Yes, thank you. I guess it's too early to say ditto. However, I would also echo everything that Ms. Lady just said is that we have been hugely supported as new board members through Mr. Frisch's leadership and I would be honored to serve alongside him with him as our chair. [00:17:35] Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Are there any other board members who wish to speak? if you could just raise your hand then i can call on you mr moon even though it has only been about 10 days that that i have worked with mr fresh as a colleague on the board i have come to a true appreciation of what it can bring to the rest of the board as far as his leadership and also his [00:18:10] personality of trying to include everybody in the discussion and i appreciate that i look forward to to your continued leadership for the next six months. I'm happy to support you. - Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Sizemore Heiser. [00:18:26] - I am thrilled and honored to support this as I was your election to vice chair back in July. I am, as the immediate past chair of the school board, I will say that I know you have all of the skills, knowledge and collaboration to really do a fantastic job as chair and so grateful to you. [00:18:42] I just wanna say I know the difficulty of this job and the time consuming nature of this job And so I just wanted to say thank you for stepping up to lead this board as you've been an amazing colleague and a collaborative colleague. I'm honored to be serving alongside you the last four years. [00:18:57] I'm honored to be working with you as our chair. So thank you for stepping up is what I wanted to say. If there are no other comments, then we'll proceed with the vote, which requires a majority of votes from those board members present in voting. [00:19:14] The motion before the board is that Carl Frisch be elected chair of the Fairfax County School Board. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand and saying aye. Aye. That would be Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Ms. Anderson, Dr. Anderson, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Frisch, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Lady, Mr. McElveen, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Sizemore-Heiser, and Ms. Marron. [00:19:43] Those opposed? I believe that's a majority. At this time, I am pleased to introduce the new chair of the Fairfax County School Board, Mr. Carl Frisch. I just want to say that I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as chair. [00:20:07] You know, I was elected vice chair with Elaine Tolan, who was kind enough to send me a text message during our first work session as a new board telling me what was on her calendar. And let me tell you, it was sparse. So if she's watching at home, she's not. I appreciate everything that I learned from her and everything that we did together as a team. [00:20:32] And I think we all agree that the school board needs to work with parents and staff as we advance a student-centered focus on our strategic plan. And I remain as always committed to collaborating with my colleagues new and returning to help our world-class educators deliver on the promise of excellence, equity, opportunity to help every student achieve their full limitless potential in our system. [00:21:00] So I look forward to getting to work with this board over the year, over the next six months. Thank you. We will now move on to election of the vice chair. [00:21:18] Since I am no longer vice chair, there will be an election to elect a new vice chair. Do I have any nominations for vice chair? Mr. McDaniel. I nominate Melanie Mirren for school board vice chair. [00:21:37] Is there a second? Ms. Sizemore-Hyser. I second. Thank you. Melanie Mirren has been nominated for vice chair. Do I have any further nominations for vice chair? there being no further nominations for vice chair the motion before the board is to elect miss marron as vice chair of the fairfax county school board mr mcdaniel would you like to speak to your nomination uh briefly mr chairman i could probably get away with making no comments but i just wanted to be very brief and in mind i'm making the motion to nominate melanie tonight because she has extensive public education policy experience she has school board leadership [00:22:14] experience as the governance chair as past budget chair and as public engagement chair i'm excited for her new role and i'm excited to work with her and all the new all of my new colleagues on this board thank you thank you miss Sizemore heisler would you like to speak to the nomination just briefly um i'm excited to be able to nominate miss marron um one of the many strengths miss marron brings is being very process focused and process oriented which i think will serve us very well as we are a new board coming together and working out our new norms and processes so i think that will be a a real strong strength and um to her role as vice chair and i having served alongside her for the last four years. I know she's very student focused she's she's really out [00:22:53] in her community to represent her community well and a fierce advocate for stakeholders for the best interests of our school system and as former budget chair and governance chair I think she brings in that leadership role so I'm I'm honored to nominate the second the nomination excuse me. Thank you very much. Any others? Dr. Anderson? Thank you. I'm glad to support my colleague Ms. Marin as was shared over the last four years she has definitely shown that she is driven by process which is something that is near and dear to my personal heart and she is a whiz at ensuring that we are staying very close to the work of the school board which is to focus on [00:23:33] the work of policy i know that miss marron has many wonderful ideas and will serve in a wonderful way as part of our board's leadership so i'm glad to support all right if there are no other comments then we'll proceed with the vote which requires a majority of votes of those board members present and voting the motion before the board is that Melanie Marin be elected vice chair of the Fairfax County School Board all those in favor of the motion please signify by raising your hand and saying aye all right Ms. Sizemore Heiser Mr. McDaniel [00:24:09] Mr. McElveen Miss Lady Miss St. John Cunning Mr. Dunn Dr. Anderson Miss Anderson Miss Dixit Mr. Moon that is unanimous uh madam well we've just announced the vote the motion passes at this time I am pleased to introduce the new Vice-Chair of the Fairfax County School Board, Melanie Marin. [00:24:27] Can we max headroom her and make her screen big for the audience? There we go. Hi, good evening, and I am so sorry to miss this momentous occasion I had made plans a long time ago. [00:24:50] But thank you to my colleagues for your unified trust in my leadership and service of the board. I'm eager to join Chair Frisch in facilitating the smooth workings of this newly elected board. already I'm inspired by the energy and calls to action that our members have expressed and I am ready to help us achieve our best work together so our students staff and community can thrive onward to big things in the months ahead. Thank you very much Ms. Marin all right I call on [00:25:21] Ms. Sizemore Heiser for a motion. I move that the Fairfax County School Board adopt the mid-year the school board mid-year liaison and committee assignments as detailed in the agenda item and attachment on board docs. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Ms. Seismerheiser, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. McElveen, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, [00:25:51] Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon. Well, it's not in here, but technically it's correct, Dr. Anderson's point of order about speaking. So, Ms. Seismerheiser, would you like to speak to the motion? No, I think this is just filling the vacancies left by our previous board on the committee assignments, so I'm happy to move it. Thank you. Dr. Anderson, I appreciate it. We'll take the vote again with no objection. [00:26:20] Ms. Seismarheiser, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. McElveen, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, and myself, and Ms. Marin. That is unanimous. Agenda item 3.01, community participation. The next order of business is community participation. [00:26:41] 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 meeting business meetings and public hearings on the school board's website at regular business meetings speakers may address any school related issue except those that have been scheduled for public hearings such as the capital improvement program budget and boundaries comments targeting prison comments targeting criticizing or attacking individual students are not permitted during public meetings complaints regarding school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other school officials. Speakers should not use personally [00:27:20] identifiable information in connection with any individual student or school based employee. Additionally, speakers should be respectful and observe proper decorum in their statements avoiding profanity, inappropriate gestures, shouting, and comments that run counter to the spirit and letter of the school divisions 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. [00:27:48] 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. [00:28:06] 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 our audience members to be respectful of one another shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated audience members should hold their applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks and remain in their seats including when video recording or taking photos we are grateful for our for we are grateful for all of those who have come to speak to us at today's meeting and thank you for your cooperation madam clerk please [00:28:39] call the first speaker elizabeth nichols nicholas sorry elizabeth nicholas uh hi um i'm elizabeth and i'm here to discuss a very important issue with the school menu there's only one gluten-free entree nachos more and more kids are being diagnosed with celiac disease and their schools need to be able to support them with gluten-free entrees in the cafeteria i was diagnosed with celiac when i was five years old and i was never able to buy food from the cafeteria except on [00:29:17] nacho days, but every day other than nacho day I had to bring lunch, and nacho day doesn't happen very often, approximately once a month. I want to thank you for offering the salad bar at schools. This is an excellent option for us. However, there needs to be hot gluten-free entrees in the school cafeterias for those who are gluten sensitive. This could include nachos, gluten-free pasta, or gluten-free chicken nuggets as examples at least once a week. Since my school starts earlier now and I am out the door at 6:45 a.m. I have less time to get ready which means packing a lunch is just an extra challenge but it would be so much [00:29:55] easier for so many if they didn't have to pack lunch which you can help with by adding more gluten-free entrees to the cafeteria it would just help and support those of us with celiac disease or those who are gluten sensitive to add more gluten-free entrees to the school menus thank you so much for your time I [00:30:12] hope you can consider my proposal. Thank you. Caleb Kiraga, Sandra Davis. I have a son with celiacs too. She's a brave young lady. The results of the 2023 election were not a mandate. Frankly, [00:30:51] most people didn't know who we were. Voters came to the polls with sample ballots and voted straight D ticket with national politics on their mind. The only campaigning you had to do was to get on the sample ballot. You misled voters into thinking parents were trying to ban works of literature when the concern is about highly sexualized graphic novels. [00:31:12] The day after the election, a mother posted some images from a school library book her nine-year-old had brought home. The post was quickly taken down. Pornography, of course. On the campaign trail, you looked afraid to be seen talking to me or simply left the premises because this is too hard with her here. [00:31:29] My very presence was offensive. And this is exactly how you treat non-progressive students and teachers, and there's no need to wonder why they leave FCPS. One of you told voters that FCPS does not keep secrets from parents. I hope you were misinformed and not straight up lying. [00:31:45] Some of you filled out your petition of qualified voters in a sketchy manner and when called out, you blamed your opponents. Deflecting responsibility is an FCPS specialty you'll fit right in. For those of you who blame the state for FCPS funding being critical underfunded, how about a long overdue full independent audited of the FCPS budget? [00:32:05] The rest of the state doesn't want to pay for your over bloated administration and neither do the locals pay ever-increasing property taxes for you self-proclaimed China experts where you complicit or incompetent when the TJ partnership fund received 3.6 million from entities affiliated with the CCP you pay your high-priced consultants on time but you leave parents begging for reimbursements for fate denied a recent poll shows that a high percentage of young adults support the oppressed oppressor binary with rising anti-semitism constituents deserve to know if their school district embeds this ideology into the teaching at the [00:32:41] expense of factual history. My hope is that at least one of you will have the courage to be a common sense moderate leader that people were hoping for in me. Stephanie Lundquist-Aurora. [00:33:11] Good evening and welcome to the new members. I'd like to believe we have a lot in common. We need to work together to address the fentanyl crisis in our schools. All hands on deck. Pandemic learning law should also be our very top priority. Last year FCPS students fared poorly on their SOLs. [00:33:36] 25% failed math 43% failed writing 22% failed reading 38% failed history in the continuation of heavy laptop reliance in elementary schools isn't helping anything next I'm sure that we all see the benefit of participation in sports and expanding the middle school program and hopefully there can be debate teams at all of our high schools I hope that eliminating the 800 plus trailers at our schools is on your radar as well the last board seemed more concerned with contracting its own office space for $400,000 and increasing personal salaries than they were in dealing with our school trailer parks hopefully you also think that all [00:34:13] forms of racism are wrong the last board changed the TJ admissions policy to discriminate against Asians one member admitted it when she said that the new admissions policy is quote anti-Asian hate to say it lol she was right but there's absolutely nothing funny about discriminating against children based on their race the TJ selection process should be based on merit not discrimination The last board also used hateful and racist language when they referred to the previous superintendent, Scott Brabrand. One member said that he was "too white to get it." Those members would grandstand for hours about symbolic resolutions, likely for media attention and [00:34:50] political donations and eventually promotions. But wouldn't it be great if you could just make the school board boring again and work within the law to avoid those lawsuits? I think Fairfax residents would really get on board if you prioritized the most important things, like educating the children on the fundamentals and getting fentanyl out of our schools. [00:35:08] Finally, that $3.5 billion budget needs an external audit. There's so much waste and there's a lot of money that you could use to other things. Thank you. Cassandra Alcoin. Tamika Payne. Good evening. [00:35:40] The fact that this county model policy was recently reviewed by the governor and then a subsequent review was completed at the Fairfax County schools that resulted in a different application of the guidance this guidance policy was communicated mostly most recently via a post on the fcps website while the district's policy interpretation was found to be legally sufficient i bring to the attention of this board the concerns of the implementation fallout the policy is currently employed an equitably support to protected class at the expense and at the risk of those who do [00:36:15] not subscribe to expansive gender identifiers it favors certain students that may be excessive and may be excessive and work contrary to the laws and goals of the school and the social contract between the school and the students. In a period of 30 days this policy application has put my child in multiple positions of personal compromise and safety with no sound recourse for a response. [00:36:38] I propose a working group be comprised to review the short and long-term implications of the district's model policy complete with recommendations to further the educational objectives of the school. Specifically, I request timely communication and notification to parents about the risks that exist at the school and undocumented exceptions to the policy usage, staff training for students with traumatic experiences surrounding gender fluidity when they do not identify with that group, data metrics clearly defining the need and impact for [00:37:13] of the Fairfax County school policy deviation, and a fair disbursement of resource accessibility to all taxpayer funding for the facilities that were built and no longer lawfully restrict the intended use of those facilities to students who do not identify with gender fluidity thank you Theodora Geis mark [00:37:42] Spooner good evening I'm here tonight with a plea that this new board resolved to spend its full energy on quality education and not on ideology the last board found itself constantly not only in the local news but the national news and it didn't get there by focusing on the ABCs and moderate policies. Among the [00:38:18] things that got us there were closing the schools at the behest of the teachers unions for a prolonged period of time while other districts focused on getting back to school as quickly as possible. Secondly, deciding that it wasn't acceptable to have even one high school in this big district that would value rigorous education above all else. Third, paying huge fees to a noted race hustler to spread his poison in this district. Keeping pornographic literature [00:38:53] like genderqueer in student libraries. Adopting the country's most extreme LGBT policy including allowing biological boys to play in girls sports and to use their shower rooms based on the principle that the desires of a tiny minority are more important than the rights of the majority. Deciding that it's okay to keep secrets from parents about their kids mental health and deciding that it's okay for the school board to defy laws that it doesn't agree [00:39:30] with. None of these decisions were at the core of this board's proper mission. They drove some people out of the school district and they created unwanted divisions. Please, please don't try to outdo the last board in this direction. [00:39:49] Return to the basics. Your constituents will thank you for it. Thank you. Leslie Houston. Good evening, Chair Frisch, school board members, Dr. Reed, and leadership team. I am Leslie Houston, President of Fairfax Education Association, a union representing thousands of your employees. Welcome and [00:40:27] congratulations on your recent electoral victories and re-elections. Let me express my sincere gratitude to you as you take on this important work and commit to creating an environment that fosters learning and growth for staff and students. Today we find ourselves at a critical crossroads where the allure of the teaching profession is diminishing. This is not unique to Fairfax But it is a challenge we must confront together. [00:40:58] The individuals who have dedicated their lives to shaping the minds of our youth are now facing unprecedented levels of stress, burnout, and mental health challenges. We, the Fairfax Education Association, look forward to open and constructive collaboration with the school board. [00:41:17] Together, we can explore ways to create a more supportive environment for our educators and students. students. We implore you to champion public education and advocate for what is right within it. Disregard the skeptics and focus your energy on the priority, the students. Protect our marginalized communities by supporting safe and equitable schools. I encourage each of you to work closely with FEA and FCFT. [00:41:55] We are the experts in the field of education, ready to address your questions and provide guidance. I urge you to continue leveraging our expertise as we collectively strive for the betterment of our education system. [00:42:12] Thank you for your service and may Chuck Ronko. Good evening, Chair Frisch, Superintendent Reed, and members of the school board. [00:42:36] My name is Chuck Ronko and I teach algebra and pre-calculus at Falls Church High School. I come to you this evening as an excited and enthusiastic member of the Fairfax Education Association. I'm excited tonight because this evening is the first opportunity that we, the public, will see this new board operate and interact. [00:42:57] And I'm enthusiastic because I have had nothing but positive experiences in the meetings that I've had in the conversations that some of us have had recently. I look forward to more conversations with you in the future, and I invite you to come and visit the Fairfax Education Association so that you can meet some of our Jungian brothers and sisters who are your employees. [00:43:21] All of us care deeply about what we do in and around our schools and work sites. All of us care deeply about providing a caring and healthy environment to work and learn in. And most importantly, all of us at the FEA care deeply for the students and families that we serve. [00:43:39] future looks bright. I'm not only proud to stand here as the vice president of the Fairfax Education Association, but I'm proud to stand here as an employee and I'm proud to stand here in support of my union, my school and my students. I look forward to the future. Thank you. Melissa Morrison, where my [00:44:18] time begins. I just would like to submit the following exhibits. These are emails and meeting notes I've had over the last 12 months with certain FCPS department heads, school board members, FCPA, and members of the community. You can give it to the clerk when you're finished. I will. Thank you. Dear Chairman, board members, thank you for your time and efforts and welcome to the new board. I'm excited for a new start. I'm also very supportive of Dr. Reed's five pillar strategic plan with equity being at [00:44:53] the center of implementing each one. I'm here today as a Herndon middle and high school parent member of the Herndon Middle PTA board a taxpayer and resident in Fairfax County since 1999 an active PTA and community volunteer for many many years CPA for over 25 years and a product of a majority economically disadvantaged k-12 public Virginia school you may ask what these submissions are for what is my purpose with these meetings and emails over the last 12 months my [00:45:27] focus has and will continue to be on the inequities experienced in the day to day lives of students teachers and administrators at herndon middle school i began by comparing the fcps and videoe data on several metrics test scores chronic absenteeism demographics to name a few of the outliers of the closest five middle schools compared herndon failed most of the ss school quality indicators and math and English where all the other schools passed Herndon significantly having higher numbers of English learners I can economically disadvantaged and special [00:46:03] education students the percentage of these students to teachers is at a huge negative as compared to the closest for proximity middle schools Herndon middle over has over 55% free and reduced lunch but this percentage is not high enough to receive some of the 35 million in federal Title I funding, even though it has three Title I elementaries feeding into it. [00:46:28] For accreditation, Herndon Middle passed; however, its scores were the lowest by significant gaps in English, math, and science, gaps from 19% to 42% as compared to the four other closest proximity middle schools. We'll make sure the clerk gets it to everybody. [00:46:59] Harry Jackson. We've come before you today to share insights from the recent FCPS Family Life Education Committee meeting on the 10th of January that was not publicly live-streamed, making one has to wonder, what's the committee trying to hide? [00:47:27] The committee's deliberations revealed controversial proposals, particularly within the Grade 9 Sexual Prevention Program. A suggestion to remove references to gang sexual violence, trafficking, and incest. Amidst the rise in human trafficking, raises profound concerns about our readiness to prepare students for real-world challenges. [00:47:43] Furthermore, the shift from tangible coercive behavior to an abstract focus on language could potentially undermine the severity of such issues. The Committee's makeup, primarily of white women with some diverse representation, mirrors the broad societal challenges of diversity. [00:47:58] Discussions highlighted the necessity for more inclusive lessons on sexual behavior, addressing the significant gap of human trafficking in the curriculum, and then, surprisingly, open attitudes toward sex work and prostitution. A sensitive topic was the Committee's interest in safe harbor legislation for underage prostitution. [00:48:15] While protecting minors is paramount, we must tread cautiously to avoid unintentionally legitimizing underage sex work. Of equal concern was the dialogue around circumventing FOIA requests, suggesting a troubling approach to transparency and accountability within our public institutions. [00:48:31] The recommendations made by Chair Kerry Reynolds, including the noncompliance with a FOIA request regarding committee members, demand our attention in action. A notable presentation by Sherry Zamara on faith in action brought to light the growing influence of the Unitarian Universalism in our educational sphere. [00:48:47] This faith characterized by this liberal stance and diverse beliefs has increasingly shaped our curriculum, from critical race theory to transgender policies. The program's influence at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, sparking legal challenges, exemplifies the deep impact and controversy of such ideologies. [00:49:03] In confronting these issues, we face a pivotal question: should a single religious perspective, notably one so meshing cultural debates, hold considerable sway in public education? Advocacy for social justice and diversity is essential, but we must avoid allowing any single ideology, religious or secular, to dominate our educational landscape. [00:49:20] This is especially pertinent- Cheryl Binkley. Y'all just look so good. [00:49:40] I'm really glad to see you here. I come to you tonight, and it's the reason you'll see me fairly often. I come to you as a true believer in public education, and the reason I believe is because learning and the schools have saved me over and over. When I was a girl and the rugs flopped on the floor when the wind blew, schools saved me. At the end of second grade when my grandmother was shot and killed, schools saved me. In high school when I didn't know who I could become or might be, [00:50:19] schools were there for me. In college when I was working 40 hours a week and taking overloads to put myself through, the schools maintained and sustained me. When I was in seminary they sustained me. When I was in grad school they sustained me. When I taught and I watched my students struggling with challenges equal to or greater than any I had faced, I watched as the schools [00:50:53] were the refuge and sustenance of my students so I want to thank you tonight for being here and taking on a thankless task to provide for the students that are in our community the sustenance and the salvation that I have enjoyed for my [00:51:15] 72 thank you Robert Rigby my name is Robert Rigby I [00:51:57] speak tonight for myself I speak for no organization Okay. Hooray for the Unitarian Universalists. I'm a Quaker and we were maligned and thrown out once, too. [00:52:13] Anyway, tomorrow, all teachers in another school division in this Commonwealth will have to turn into their administrators a list of all students whom they suspect be transgender or non-binary. Another school board is voting now on a policy that bans trans people in sports. [00:52:33] chess club and Latin club, banned, on and on. It forces everyone to misgender, all trans kids all the time. It reveals private medical information and bans all queer-related material, like this. [00:52:51] And it separates kids in family life education by gender. It outs every queer kid as a matter of course. Books, opt-outs from the curriculum, gender separation, sports names, pronouns, privacy. [00:53:08] They're all a package. If you yield on any part of this, gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and non-binary people will think you're going to yield on all of it. That's kind of what we thought when with the surprise thing on family life education last May. [00:53:27] Dr. Reed's done great work on this. Thank you. I'd like the board to do it too. No one knows what y'all are really going to do. If you start with appeasement, we'll assume that that continues. [00:53:47] Keep respecting and welcome for all our kids in books, activities, and family life education. No appeasement. It doesn't work. Thank you. Please play the video submitted by Stacey LinkedIn. [00:54:10] Carl Frisch is swearing in on December 13th on a stack of pornographic books that I've exposed in our public school libraries was a big middle finger to me and to the parents of Fairfax County. The books contain explicit illustrations of a man having sex with a boy, oral sex, anal sex, and masturbation. They also include an explicit description of a child being raped by his adult male cousin. These depictions of pedophilia are an abomination. Carl has stated [00:54:46] repeatedly that he thinks these books are a benefit to your children. He has consistently supported all manner of perversion, including putting a photo of himself at a monument in Los Angeles to a pedophile named Harry Hay, a radical communist homosexual, and photos of himself at a drag queens event in Fairfax City with children where adult male homosexuals dance seductively for kids for tips. Drag is about prostitution. We have laws against pornography in this country in front of minors. If they can't legally buy it in town or be shown it, it doesn't magically become [00:55:24] okay on a public school campus. I naively thought that our board might do something to enforce the law and remove the books. Therefore, since Carl wants to continue to distribute pornography to minors. He has demonstrated he is unfit to hold office on this school board. I'm announcing a petition to recall him from office. This is the remedy we the parents will use to deal with a lawless school board chair to enforce the law and to remove this filth and protect our kids. [00:55:57] Mr. Chair that was our last public speaker. Thank you. Agenda item 3.04 super intent uh 3.03 [00:56:23] excuse me 3.02 academic matters dr. Reed evening mr. chair so I will this [00:56:59] evening I have an opportunity to share graduation and diploma outcomes and this is an opportunity for us to look at a high level at some data and I did pass out an additional chart to each of you we did amend a couple of the slides to make sure that we had some comparisons to Virginia to the Commonwealth as a whole so for those of you who print the PowerPoint out you have the amended slides to slide four actually so let's go ahead and go to the next slide please [00:57:35] thank you again the graduation rates are some it's a data point one data point but an important data point for our students here in Fairfax County and I want to share five-year trends. It's been the tradition with our board. I'm told that we like to look at data over a prior set of years and not just one year at a time. So this represents data from 2019, which is pre-pandemic, to 2023. And of course, our goal is to have 100% graduation. [00:58:10] However, our five-year trends are consistently above statewide outcomes for the past four years. even as we've emerged from the pandemic our graduation rates have improved more than two percentage points since 2019 compared really to the commonwealth-wide improvement of less than half a percent so we're feeling that at least in our graduation rate progress we're moving at a tighter clip than the rest of the commonwealth we have had slightly lower rates since 2021 again as coming out of the pandemic our team has spent a lot of time having that conversation [00:58:47] And there were some flexibilities built in for students during the pandemic that over time, since we've returned to classes, have been less flexible. So I know that this is a piece that we're working on. We also have a theory of action around our on-time graduation support staff in buildings. [00:59:08] And that's showing some real promise in terms of improving graduation rates where we are very tightly focused on our seniors the four-year plans as students join us in ninth grade. So in parallel to graduation rates, we also want to make sure we look at our dropout rates, and these are an annual report of students who did not successfully earn either a diploma, a GED, or a certificate of completion, and did not remain enrolled. [00:59:38] We do have some students who don't earn those and within that four-year time, but do remain enrolled and those would not be captured here. From this graph we see that Fairfax County Public Schools again has significantly reduced our rates over the five-year trend from 7.3 percent to 5.5 percent. We're also now closely aligned with statewide rates which are currently 5.4 percent. We also know that you know we've got some celebrations and a significant amount of [01:00:12] work to do here but continue to outperform the state on graduation outcomes even though our dropout rate at this point is 0.1, one-tenth of a percent higher than the state average. So we do have some work to do here and again our division will continue to work that as we move forward. This is a slide that was a new slide that was dropped in and it includes Fairfax County on-time graduation rate trends and Virginia Commonwealth trends so you have an opportunity to see a [01:00:48] comparison there again we've seen for our Hispanic students the greatest five year increase in graduation rates which we're very pleased with we certainly have work to do on these rates in terms of the graduation staffing and if I can mention that we had nine high schools receive additional on-time graduation staffing and professional development we saw overall improvements that were more than double the gains seen in other high schools so as we're rolling that theory of action and strategy out [01:01:23] we're very pleased with the opportunities that we're seeing as an outcome of that i also want to comment if we could stay on that slide for a moment thank you i know i touched the page you guys are really good at that so i want to draw your attention to the students with disabilities which is the very last row of the turquoise, and those rates are probably they're apples and oranges, and I just want to say that we're going to work to make sure that a future chart is more accurate, but the 92%, for example, graduation rate also includes multiple pathways to that graduation. [01:02:02] It does not necessarily imply graduation of a standard diploma, for example. So we really want to, there's a slide a little bit later on that separates that data out a little more, but we do want to make sure that while that data looks like it's improving, we want to make sure we look under that data to identify the different types of diplomas or graduation outcomes for our students with disabilities. [01:02:29] So we do continue to expand division-wide systems and strategies and are excited, as I mentioned, about those outcomes. So this chart talks about the dropout rates and as you recall this is an area we're not doing quite as well with and have more opportunities if you will. [01:02:48] Again it looks like we're doing better, we've lowered some parts of our dropout rates more than others but we have work to do clearly here again. So I do want to note that our students with disabilities in the dropout area here as we think about this, they may continue to pursue a standard diploma with or without accommodations even after they initially receive an applied studies diploma. [01:03:17] Let's go to the next slide for that conversation. These are the membership counts. I thought this would be an interesting slide as we changed out some slides just in terms of the actual full-time membership, which is really a breakdown of the percentage of of our student body here in Fairfax County. [01:03:37] I will also share that as of two weeks ago, or I guess a week ago, Mr. Sethi, we were at 181,716. So our enrollment continues to rise, which again is a good sign. [01:03:52] But these are the demographic breakouts. So we could go to the diploma distribution. Thank you, Kevin. So this is a chart, as I mentioned earlier, where we are looking at the types of diplomas students Fairfax County are graduating with and we've separated our advanced standard and applied studies diplomas and again since 2019 overall the proportion of advanced studies and standard diplomas is virtually unchanged however the proportion of graduating students with disabilities receiving advanced studies diplomas has increased 2.5 percentage points since 2019 and that is a point of [01:04:31] emphasis I know it's something we've talked about particularly with our twice exceptional students and programming and two and a half percent is not a large large number given our student population but it is significant and we're going to continue to build on that we also want to share that our students graduating our students with disabilities graduating with an applied studies diploma has been reduced 2.9 percentage points since 2019 and our goal is to make sure that all of our students are able to earn if possible at least [01:05:09] standard and then potentially advanced diplomas advanced studies this also I want to remind our board is one of the measurements in our strategic plan so this is data that we're going to be charting very closely and let me see here I think that's it we jumped to resources for graduation information for those of you watching at home who can't wait to see even more data about this topic and I know how compelling this can be here are some links on our website and I know once you start reading you won't be able to stop so do start early [01:05:47] in the evening so mr. Frisch that is academic matters thank you we'll get started with Dr. Anderson. Thank you so much for this information. It's exciting for us to see that we're outpacing the division. I'm sorry the state but I I'm really more concerned with what's happening within our schools. But before I go there I would like for you to speak to slide two. [01:06:16] There's information here that tells the public that the rates are slightly lower since the statewide graduation flexibility was removed. I would love for you to explain to our public what that flexibility entailed. So thank you, Dr. Anderson. The flexibility primarily was occurring during the pandemic time. And I'm going to call on our chief academic officer, Dr. Presidio, to share some of those flexibilities as I wasn't here at that time. And I don't know that I could recite them accurately. So Dr. Presidio. Sure. Thank you, Dr. Reed. And thank you, Dr. Anderson, [01:06:53] for that question. So for folks in the community who are listening tonight, there were a number of different flexibility waivers that the state provided to help students graduate in the first pandemic year and then those continued into the second pandemic year with slight modification so the first major category was some flexibility and waivers of the verified credit requirements so allowing students to have locally awarded verified credit requirements in those courses that they needed for graduation so instead of having to pass the SOLs we were able to do some locally awarding of verified credits and that was a significant [01:07:33] flexibility waiver they also waived things like the first aid CPR requirement CTE requirements for graduation they also reduced the following year 2020-21 school year they reduced cut scores on the SOLs and continued with some of the flexibility is around CTE requirements and CPR first aid requirements those quite a few waivers that we received from the state during those years those two years thank you I want to dig into the data that you provided I think this [01:08:08] was the blue chart I don't recall what page that's on and looking at this again we have some really some real areas of success and we are some areas that are highly that are highly concerning if you're taking a look at our English language learners at our Hispanic students. Those rates are significantly below the other groups. [01:08:29] Can you speak to what is that work that is being engaged in so that we have less of a discrepancy in next year's data? So we've really zeroed in on our English learner language data and programming and scaffolding for English language students because clearly as you've pointed out that is an area while we've improved slightly it's not we're not approving quickly enough to hit the mark we need to hit in our strategic plan goals i would ask dr ponce to share a little bit as he's been working with our regional assistant superintendents and school principals as well as [01:09:07] our school improvement team to share briefly the plans around our el supports please dr ponce thank you uh we have been working with the teachers and something that we find out is that 80 of our teachers actually at any point they teach talk or somehow they have any kind of relationship with el students so based on the data we have been providing professional development strategies and revising also the curriculum and making sure that every single el child [01:09:46] we'll have intervention for language acquisition. Something else that we have been working with is to make sure that we provide support in the native language as well. It doesn't matter if they're gonna be Spanish or Vietnamese or Chinese. [01:10:08] We do have a program through Edmentum that we are targeting those children and we have been providing support in the native language So they can acquire the knowledge in the narrow language is easier than to transfer that into English. [01:10:26] Thank you, Dr. Ponce. We're also, Dr. Anderson, as we move to a basal reading curriculum for our elementary, we think that that's going to provide us some very consistent curriculum and new professional development opportunities to support all learners at our elementary levels. [01:10:44] And I don't know if Dr. Presidio wants to add anything to the modeling and planning that ISD is doing in collaboration with our chief of schools on this topic. I don't think I would add too much to that. I think Dr. Ponce covered it well. [01:10:59] We are looking at some specific English language development curriculum resources to support those students and really trying to accelerate their English proficiency. And when you look at the research base, the research has been pretty clear for decades that it takes students about five to seven years to become proficient in a target language. [01:11:18] So when you think about students that maybe haven't had that amount of time in our school system yet and are subject to not only competing, you know, completing rigorous high school courses, but also passing those end of course tests and those SOLs that are required for graduation, it can be quite daunting. [01:11:34] and when we look at our students overall and when we look at our l data and we look at students that have developed proficiency with us they're outperforming our division averages on state tests and graduation rates so lots of times you know when we look at this data we forget about the success that our students have when they're given enough time to develop that english proficiency so one of the flexibilities that we do have from the state when we think about graduation requirements is those students can continue to stay enrolled in FCPS and get additional time to graduate and that's not something that counts against them and it doesn't count against us and our graduation rate so the data [01:12:13] you're seeing here you're seeing that those students you're not seeing those students that are still maybe enrolling for a fifth year or a sixth year to develop that English proficiency the other thing I'd point out on that chart since we're looking at it is oftentimes we forget about the importance of the intersectionality of our English learners and our Hispanic students and when you do look at that intersectionality our Hispanic students who are not English language learners again are performing at that division average or or or above so a lot of this is just about getting as Dr. Ponce and Dr. Reed mentioned students additional support but also additional time to develop that [01:12:50] proficiency and meet the graduation requirements thank you so much Dr. Presidio. If it's possible, Dr. Reed, can this can these efforts be provided in writing so that this can be shared with our community in terms of how we are trying to impact this data? Yes, ma'am. [01:13:08] Thank you. And Dr. Presidio, you must have been reading my notes when we're talking about intersectionality. It would be helpful to have that be part of this conversation because we know these students are not in a vacuum. So I look forward to that being something that continues. [01:13:24] The second set of slides with the orange, the one that talks about dropout rates. Again, we have Hispanic students at high levels and EL students at extremely high levels. Dr. Reid, can you speak to the root causes of this data that we are reviewing this evening? [01:13:43] - Well, I think that the root causes, I think our EL student dropout data is connected to our need to develop stronger models of support for our EL students. I also would share that there are times where our multilingual students come very late in their education career. [01:14:07] Sometimes come at ages perhaps 15, 16, 17 with very few credits. So as we work to make sure students are integrated into an academic program, often it's difficult for some of our students who come to the division older as multilingual learners actually be able to learn the language and earn credit within those timelines which to Dr. Presidio's point often will want to stay in high school a little bit longer to be able to finish their diploma and also at times we have students that leave school to go to work honestly to support either [01:14:46] themselves or their families and I think that we see that that characteristic as well I don't know if Dr. Presidio, you would be able to maybe comment on root causes to the data points Dr. Anderson referred to. This is a five-year trend and it looks for all practical purposes. [01:15:09] Like we're certainly making some progress, for example, but really at the end of the day, lowering things by 2.3% over five years. I mean, this has been a really an ongoing challenge. While we're getting a little better, I don't know if you have insights as you've obviously you've been addressing this for several years no i i would agree with you dr reed i don't think that those gains that we've made are anywhere near the success that we would like to see so we need to continue to put those supports in place you know dr ponce mentioned some of the things that we're doing with those individualized graduation plans looking for as much flexibility [01:15:47] and support as we can provide to our students who are behind particularly our english language learners but also as dr reed mentioned we've got to have more flexible programming for students particularly those students that might have child care responsibilities in their family work responsibilities so we have tried to expand some of our alternative educational programs but we've got a lot more work that we could do on that front we are putting in place a flexible evening program our twilight program to get students additional support we've got that at 17 schools right now but there's a lot more work that we need to do in this area i would also say [01:16:22] I think fundamentally I mean one thing that may not seem large but I think is is we have I mean today for example I had several emails that come in in one language and are translatable on my email to English so that I can respond in English and they're then translatable back to the parent and I think those tools as they're coming on board that we're able to use just being able to communicate directly with families sometimes when we have our students um that are the translators for us with their families being the parent of students myself at one time they may not be accurately parents may [01:17:02] not always be able to accurately get information from us so we're really working on our translation of all documents and also being able to connect more effectively and we really also rely on our family liaisons and strategies but as I think it's we improve those as well families will feel more connected and get answers more quickly so they're able to support their students no I wouldn't disagree and I'd expound more but I don't want to kind of use the rest of my time because I have a couple of more questions on page 8 of the document one of the things that you did provide a [01:17:37] link to is the school level data because I always ask about what does it look like by pyramid I appreciated the link but I think I would have appreciated the actual data so I was able to use the link to pull the data to kind of create my own little sheet I mean I would have liked it to be shared here publicly that's what I mean the data is there just for it to be shared publicly when I pulled it and I just used the 2023 data and dropout rates and I'm taking a look as to how is it that our schools are performing by pyramids [01:18:13] and this is how it looks and it speaks very much to what that one parent Melissa talked about earlier which is what are the efforts for our neediest schools if I just may finish this one sentence please the graduation rates are as follows for our schools Fairfax County adult 15 percent bryant 37 percent mountain view 39 percent key center 75 percent justice high school 82 percent false church 86 percent addendale 87 percent herndon which she talked about 88 percent [01:18:50] and then everybody else is in the 90s and all the way up to 100 that is a huge disparity and i will say we can also put a disclaimer on the first five schools that i stated because they are specialized centers but we have four schools that are not yet at 90 percent and i would love to know what the plan is for those schools yes ma'am we've got uh nine of the schools that we think and again the centers or the non-traditional programs i think have unique characteristics that um contribute [01:19:27] to the less than 90 graduation rate however we do have nine identified schools for the supports that i refer to the on-time graduation support where the rates are increasing those are annandale centerville falls church herndon justice lewis mount vernon south lakes and west potomac and those nine high schools have extra staffing support to support specifically graduation increases and dropout decreases those staff members are not new right is this brand new [01:20:00] I believe it's two years. They've been there two years. And I think this goes through the Office of School Support, which was the on-time graduation program was begun by Mark Greenfelter just prior to his retirement. Dr. Presidio, do you want to talk a minute about that? I know that has transitioned, but that has been a project, I think, for two years, but at least one. [01:20:25] A little bit longer than that. We started that prior to the pandemic. I want to say we started the initial allocation and then we increased the number of schools that had that role. But I want to say we started in 2019. But I'd have to go back and think about that. And I appreciate that. And I'm not necessarily looking for causality. I'm looking for correlation. [01:20:44] I would love to see that we're saying because of these added staff members, this is what we're seeing in terms of impact. The data does not necessarily show that it's trending upward. It's a little bit up and down. I am going to stop here because I know my time has expired. [01:21:01] But I would like to really dig into this a little bit more with whomever. Sure. You will direct me to do that. But thank you, Dr. Anderson, besides Barheiser, she's taking a breath because she knows what's coming to five years. This is year five. [01:21:18] And so for the benefit of my new colleagues, I feel like I need to say this again. I really appreciate the inclusion of slide seven, which breaks out the percentage of Advanced Standard and Applied Studies diplomas. For those, maybe, and I apologize if you know this information, so I'm just going to share it, the Applied Studies diploma is a significantly different type of diploma than the standard or advanced. [01:21:43] It is basically a certificate of attendance. It does not, it is not a standards-based diploma. It does not mean you can access college. It does not mean you can access federal student aid. I'm not saying we should get rid of it. I'm not saying there isn't a place for it. However, when, on slide four, we're trying to compare different categories of students and how they're achieving on-time graduation, and our students with disabilities percentage includes three diploma categories, where every other student's percentage includes two diploma [01:22:18] categories, it is not an apples-to-apples comparison, and it hides potentially, I don't know because I don't have the number because we don't have it here, it hides potentially the true graduation rate meaning a standard or advanced diploma to what most of us think of is what a high school graduation is ie you can access college or technical training or get federal student aid to do so and I'm only sounding like this because I know since you've been here I've probably lifted this up like eight times and I've lifted this up many more times over the course of now going on five years and I understand that Virginia combines those two numbers and that's how we report the data to Virginia I get that but this is [01:22:56] not being reported to Regina. This is being informing our own work and the reason I bring this up is because these percentages inform the need and the need informs where we put resources and if indeed isn't informed to us accurately we cannot determine where the resources need to go. So while I appreciate the step forward of actually admitting we have an applied studies diploma and it impacts numbers, I do not think we can have a chart that shows graduation trends by student group when one has a different set of diplomas than all the rest of them. [01:23:31] That's all I'm saying and I think it's a disingenuous data point that we cannot then base action on. So and I just say that now because I don't know how else at this point after this many years to keep explaining the same thing. So I apologize for my extreme frustration on that slide. [01:23:48] However, I will say I really appreciate, I don't want to repeat Dr. Anderson in terms of our Hispanic students and English learners but I very much agree with her points and and I think we need to really understand the significant differences and how we can help support those students better to help close some of these gaps. [01:24:05] I did have one question. I think, Dr. Posito, I'm sorry if I misunderstood you. You had said at one point that the COVID flexibility, you know, was, it seemed to imply it was for seniors, right? But the reality is that the COVID flexibility was for anybody who earned a verified credit while they were in high school during that COVID flexibility period. [01:24:25] So it might impact those numbers differently than what, and I just wanted to clarify that, to make sure that's my understanding. - Yeah, I'd have to actually check and see how many students that weren't graduating seniors applied that flexibility. [01:24:42] It was really our seniors who were graduating that that was most beneficial for. I'd have to check and see how many sophomores or juniors in those two years period of time. Yeah, I'm not saying that there weren't any, I'm just saying most of that flexibility was really aimed and targeted at students who were going to be graduating that year. [01:25:01] But of course, if they suffered during the pandemic and needed to apply some of that flexibility, they had the ability to do that. Off the top of my head, I don't know how many students that might have applied to. Thank you. I would like to go back just because I had to spend so much my time explaining the same thing again. And Mr. Frisch, I'd like to take us to slide seven again, please, because I think I have your data point, Ms. Sizemoreheiser. [01:25:23] If we look at the far right column on the right side for the diplomas awarded by diploma type, what we tried to do was break out the 2019 to '23 just students with disabilities. So to determine the percentage for our students with disabilities in just the two categories, we would take that far right column and just look at the advanced and standard, which would be roughly 86.3% of our students with disabilities would be in those two standards. [01:25:56] So if we take that 86.3% and put it back into the original 86.3% and put that in the original slide on page four, we would see that comparison. So I think I apologize for not taking that data point and moving it to the other chart, and we will do that in the future. [01:26:19] That, however, is the data point, specifically 86%, which actually well it's not as high as the 95 it is higher actually than some of our other student subgroups for graduation in those two categories can I just respond to that Mr. Chair I don't disagree that it's higher or may not be higher I'm just saying that 94.8 and 83.6 are very different numbers and that's the point I'm trying to make yeah and absolutely true so I just want to make sure we have the number is it there actually That was on my notes earlier than I said, we actually have it. [01:26:56] We just, anyway, I will stop. I know my time was up. I'll take a go back. Thank you. Mr. Dunn. Sorry. First time. So I appreciate the data that you've shared. [01:27:14] I think this is data that would benefit from a work session or a much more extensive briefing. I once did a project with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration where they defined even one death in a school bus as unacceptable. [01:27:32] So when I look at the on-time graduation rates on slide two, I ask, you know, what's our plan to get to 100 percent, right? I mean, if one death is unacceptable, one student, one child failing to graduate from high school impacts not just that individual, but all of society, right? [01:27:53] In terms of opportunity lost, I mean, that could be the next Einstein if they were given the right opportunities and support, right? So I would ask that, you know, you don't have a plan right now, but you develop a plan because every child deserves the opportunity to receive a world-class education. [01:28:11] On slide three, when second bullet says FCPS can celebrate, in bold, a significant reduction in dropout rates over the past five years of nearly two percentage points, I don't know if it's meant to be humorous or not because uh the last three years 2021 22 23 reflect increasing dropout rates um and i don't know if that's reflective of the fact that you know during the pandemic uh to some extent we made it easier for kids um made it easier for them to pass and [01:28:46] now we're heightening our standards again but i'd like to have a better understanding of of what's driving that so um yes and you will hear the plan the team does have a plan but uh in more detail for the graduation when we do the goal five presentation which is coming up here i think very shortly to your question clearly it's not a celebration when it's not where we want it to be so i apologize for the use of those terms what i think we talked about just briefly a few minutes [01:29:20] ago is this flexibility that the state granted around certain requirements which i think accounted for the much lower dropout in 2021 of 4.7 and then the 4.8 and as the flexibility is gradually tightened and it's less flexible i think we've seen a bit of a progression in dropout rates though we're still lower than we were pre-pandemic so it's a long way of saying i think that's the reason why you see the chart the way it is but we have plenty of work to do and you'll see the very tight planning that sits in the goal five presentation because we hope to see uh for 2024 [01:29:59] things going uh the other direction thank you um with with regard to slide four i i echo the comments of my colleague dr anderson um it seems we're failing an entire generation of hispanic and english learner students um and and so i think it's it's absolutely essential that we understand that we see in writing and we're able to share with our constituents um a comprehensive plan you know not just something vague and high level but something concrete with milestones and metrics and and i'd like to understand as part of that you know when it says the third bullet on page four fcps high schools identified for central [01:30:38] support had more than double the improvements i'd like to know which high schools and i'd like to to know what exactly was the central support. It shows that, you know, efforts can have success, right? So why aren't we doing that everywhere? If that was the pilot, right, can that be expanded to other high schools? [01:30:58] And were any high schools in my district, the Mount Vernon District, identified for central support? So great questions. We did identify as the beginning for this work nine high schools, which I will read out for you. [01:31:14] the nine high schools that we identified for support which was the extra staffing for on-time graduation were annandale high school centerville high school falls church herndon justice lewis mount vernon south lakes and west potomac high schools and what did that central support consist of exactly the central support consisted of um having strategic support from central office as well as on-time graduation staff placed within the school to support uh outreach for students and working with counseling, administrative and teaching staff in those schools, [01:31:50] often checking on homes when students stop coming to school, being out in the community. Again, I think Dr. Presidio shared a couple of those strategies. And to Dr. Anderson's point, those were begun in 2019 ish, and we've gradually added more each year as as we've been able. [01:32:11] If you have anything written just that Dr. Presidio has briefed previously to anyone I'd really appreciate getting something in writing again not asking for anything new but just whatever you have so I can get a more deep understanding yes on slide five the different award type the different diploma types I'd really like to see a breakdown by demographic data to understand you know for black students for Hispanic students for English learners for economically disadvantaged students what the what the you know who's getting those advanced diplomas who's not I'd also like I'd appreciate if you have any information on applied studies diplomas I'd [01:32:48] like to learn more about that again offline not necessarily be free to provide that yes sir um our goal five presentation will have those breakdowns um for by diploma by demographic and the intersectionality data that I know our board is expecting so goal five will have that thank you mr dunn mr moon thank you mr chair certainly we do have we still have a lot of work to do and i don't want to repeat the comments and questions already raised by even my colleagues [01:33:26] especially regarding english language learners and hispanic students but at the same time i must emphasize the fact that while other students in other student groups we have generally done at least equal to or better than the rest of the state english language learners and hispanic students we are two percentage two percent you know below you know same numbers uh which is quite concerning and especially when we know the fact that substantial percentage of our student [01:34:04] population belongs to those two groups and earlier doctors uh president mentioned about intersectionality is there a way for the board to get intersectionality information for not just for fairfax county students students outside of fairfax but in virginia non-fair fact students so that i can sort of on my own be able to analyze uh you know potential reasons behind [01:34:37] our hispanic students english learners being below statewide average i.e for example whether our english learners were a substantially higher percentage of students start from level one and level to as opposed to higher level whether I don't know whether we ever have what this kind of data as to whether our you know Hispanic or English language learners they have a more challenges you know in terms of family [01:35:14] support level of families financial resources so in terms of being able to get Commonwealth wide data on intersectionality I know we're gonna to have the intersectionality data broken out for goal five um because staff are working on that right now but for the comparables for the rest of the commonwealth dr presidio will that data be available well i i have to say welcome back mr moon it's a pleasure having you back on the board and i appreciate those uh insightful questions as always some of the questions that you're asking we've uh inquired at the state and have not been able to get that information but maybe what we [01:35:53] do is work offline on the specific data points that you might be interested in and then we can do some additional uh requests at the state level and see what we get and whatever we do get we can share with the full board thank you i appreciate that that was that is all for now mr chairman thank you mr moon miss dixit thank you mr chair uh dr reed um like there are a lot of reasons there are dropouts and as we can see this among hispanic students english learners uh one of the [01:36:31] factors I personally what I feel is when there is no hope when the students feel that even finishing the diploma or finishing school high school doesn't lead to anything so are we doing anything working with the students showing them the career pathways or working one-on-ones showing them the kind of a roadmap after graduation what are the opportunities not everybody want to go to college, but like trade school. [01:37:01] And I feel some of the students don't get those insight or advice from their homes. So they are probably looking at the schools and the counselors and maybe some need more than others. So my question would be just to what are we doing about that? [01:37:18] Thank you. So thank you, Ms. Dixit. I think you're getting to the why, right? why do I come every day and what am I preparing for and how is this relevant for me right as a student so I think one of our big challenges I think in the county that I hear from students is our Academy courses which many students find to be very relevant and very exciting are often not accessible because of the length of transportation or they fill up quickly I think you and I have spoken a little about that they the courses fill up and the wait lists and so many students are [01:37:57] not able to access those courses so I think one of the challenges we're going to need to think through as a board and superintendent and staff team is how to create more opportunities that really are going to match the career choices of our future so because I think once that relevance the motivation is different and perhaps we will see those higher rates because it matters more to a young person for example so there are many strategies that are going to improve the data we're looking at and I don't think it's going to be one strategy for every student but I think [01:38:34] what you're raising is something that is an inspiring strategy rather than we're going to send somebody to your home every day right so I appreciate that insight thank you are you finished thank you Miss Dixit Miss Lady thank you Mr. Frisch I'm glad you brought up academies Dr. Reed I had written that down as someone who spent the majority of my career except for the one year I worked in McLean I worked in an academy I would count TJ as one as well I chose those specifically I chose those schools because of the opportunity and it's true for some [01:39:13] of our students, they are looking forward to an auto tech or a cosmetology or carpentry course and it will retain them, it will keep them and as someone who built the master schedule at Chantilly for 15 years, it pained me to no end to have a numerous number of students on a wait list knowing what that was going to be. [01:39:32] So I think we need to be nimble, I think we need to think, I don't know whether or not it's possible with the fact that high school start times are 8:05, I mean is it a possibility to flex a day within our academies because we only have so much space within those labs? [01:39:48] Could we have a period for kids that's after school? Could we start at seven for kids who want to come in? Could we, you know, some of these academy teachers already have an AT contract, which I think in terms of time and instruction, I think we need to look at that from an economic perspective, to be honest, because of transportation, but I'm getting in a rabbit hole there. [01:40:10] But I also watched in my tenure as transformed, sort of this pendulum went at one point from the wanting to make these governor STEM academies. And I recollect that in order to be governor STEM academy that you had to teach core classes, which also took up academy space. [01:40:29] I would argue that while they are fantastic classes, I'm not going to name any specifically because I don't need my phone to blow up from former colleagues, but we do need to do something so that we have more classroom space and so we can cater to some of these students who are looking for a trade and looking to us to help provide that trade. [01:40:50] The other thing I want to mention to my colleagues, and I don't know that you can tease this out, is our SLIFE students. We have a lot of students with limited or interrupted formal education. So I just need my colleagues to understand that a lot of students come and enroll with us, and they have not been educated in their own country. [01:41:07] So they might come to us at 15 years old, and they have never been in school in their life. And we do the best we can to see those kids for who they are, to honor them, and to begin to work with them. And the other thing is, as we know, we have an issue with attendance at an epidemic level. [01:41:26] And obviously, there's a direct correlation between being in school and being able to achieve. So I don't know if it's a possibility for that intersectionality of the folks that are dropping out, But it's been my experience when I worked, while we drove and picked students up from school, our social workers, our counselors, administrators. [01:41:43] We do a lot to try to get kids in our building. But really, truly, it's just the absenteeism for a lot of our students that leads to that failure. So again, my biggest thing is just that I think we need to be creative and nimble, because we have limited spaces. But maybe we can figure out a way to teach courses, maybe before or after school, so we can have more students access those courses. [01:42:02] Thank you. I'd like board members to turn their lights off just in case besides my Heiser wants to go back. Go ahead. I apologize to my colleagues. [01:42:17] I normally don't take go back to this. But in time to explain the same point again takes a lot of my three minutes. A couple of questions. I appreciate the nine the information about the nine high schools or the central office support staff. I'm curious is that that's separate from the Twilight program. [01:42:33] Correct is that's correct. OK so I'd be curious on data on the on the schools that have the Twilight program and I think it's newer. So maybe we don't have the data as much yet. but it would be good to know, since we have two different programs to help support, which one is more effective, right? [01:42:50] In terms of when we're looking again at resources, and which one we wanna expand or not expand. So I think that, or maybe a third option, but that would be helpful, 'cause obviously there are some real disparities in on-time graduation. I do wanna point out, I think, I can't remember which my colleagues, I apologize, mentioned Virginia versus FCPS, and I did notice that our English language learners percentage-wise double in the state the state is ten point nine percent and we are twenty point five percent so that is a big difference that might impact that number a bit to go back to what I was talking about before there's a couple of data points I'd like to see I appreciate the out of the numbers [01:43:27] actually was on my listing if we have the data I'm not sure why we didn't put it there we will next time yeah and I think that kind of highlights my point right that's I think you said 85 83 percent 86 86 so that's you know eight percentage points different than what's here so I think that's just important to know I would like to know I think dr. procedure mentioned the locally avoided verified credit I know there's also the special permission locally awarded verified credit and I'd like love to get some sense of how much that's been used to help students with disabilities achieve a standard or advanced diploma because that was the purpose of that special is called the [01:44:06] SPLAVAC which is a terrible acronym but I know so I'm happy to send this in writing but I think that would be helpful because that is a tool and it's an all it's a alternate way to get a verified credit that was supposed to help students achieve a standard credit standard diploma if of course they qualify for that and just really quickly one last data point that I'd love to have that you mentioned something about students receiving a standard advanced diploma after the applied studies I'd love to know how many do that what the percentage is after year 12 thank you that's it all right yes ma'am all right [01:44:41] thank you very much Dr. Reed we will now move on to agenda item 3.03 student representative matters thank you mr. fresh good evening everyone and a happy warm welcome to our returning and new school board members I'm excited about the opportunity to collaborate with each of you in the upcoming months delving into your individual goals and collectively working with you towards the continuous improvement of our school district. [01:45:14] Just this past Wednesday, Fairfax County student equity leaders known as SEALS convened and delved into their respective committees. Discussions included the creation of transparent information about post-secondary opportunities addressing the challenges posed by resources like Naviance that may cause confusion among students due to its navigational complexities. [01:45:35] Besides that, the Multilingual Inclusion Committee is actively engaged in promoting extracurriculars such as clubs and sports to ESOL students, recognizing the importance of inclusivity for all of our students. These dedicated student equity leaders have formed eight committees, each focusing on various topics. [01:45:53] While it may be challenging to cover all the issues they are addressing tonight, I strongly encourage our esteemed leadership to attend these meetings, gaining invaluable insight into the student perspective. Understanding these perspectives is crucial, as effective change cannot be realized without such understanding. [01:46:11] Also within SEALS, the STEM Committee has begun a noteworthy initiative called TIE Connects. Their mission is to bridge the gap in 21st century skills like STEM, CS, and AI, which are essential for a student's preparation in various work fields. Commencing next week, a team of Robinson students will be teaching at Laurel Ridge Elementary followed by a program at Brookfield Elementary in February taught by students from Chantilly. [01:46:35] They have been actively involved in teaching not only at local libraries but other educational institutions and also collaborating with fcps schools to provide specialized instruction specifically to title one schools turning our attention to the superintendent advisory council they have diligently formed five unique committees specifically aligned with our strategic plan during my engagement with these committees one significant concern stood out school security students are expressing valid concerns about the insufficient frequency of lockdown drills prompting a need for enhanced preparedness in various scenarios it is evident that the current [01:47:11] two lockdown drills per year might not adequately prepare students for potential threats while we conduct one fire drill monthly the limited frequency of lockdown drills doesn't match the urgency and importance of preparing students for various safety scenarios therefore increasing the number of lockdown drills becomes imperative to enhance their readiness and response in critical situations thank you for listening thank you very much and happy new year all right uh agenda item 3.04 superintendent matters i call on dr reed thank you mr fresh i just want to say with our [01:47:51] new year and our first regular meeting of our new school board i'd like to start by saying welcome aboard and it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to serve you looking forward to our work ahead as we realize the goals of our strategic plan and meeting the needs and supporting all of our students staff and families I know that the data we shared tonight is one data point one particular piece of goal 5 but it's one we're taking very seriously and I believe that our plans that we'll share during our goal 5 presentation and the progress we're making this year will be evidence of that and I appreciate your attention to the detail of that that's That's our mission. [01:48:29] That's mission critical work here at this time. I also want to thank many of you who showed up last night and many of our community members for our opioid community awareness night. I want to especially thank Mr. and Mrs. Foster for joining us last night and our three principals, Ms. Rogers, Mr. Koshaba, and Ms. A from Fairfax High School. [01:48:53] Goodness, I knew if I didn't have it in front of me, I was going to mess this up. Fairfax and I was going to say West Mount Vernon and South County, there you go. And other principals were there, but those three principals had an opportunity to speak on stage about their experiences, very sobering. [01:49:13] And we do care so deeply about the health and safety of our students and just really appreciate also our Fairfax County Police Chief and our support staff that were there to help with that event last night a big shout out to the oakton high school marching band i want to congratulate our marching cougars who won the inaugural marching band competition sponsored by metallica which there's some great tagline for metallica what was that tagline something about i can't remember what the tagline is um so also want to give a shout out to two of [01:49:48] our esports teams that recently won the virginia high school league championship tournament our teams from Centerville and Woodson High School and we're thrilled about that. Woodson High School won the Rocket League Championship and Centerville won the League of Legends Championship. Congratulations to players and coaches and that's a great career preparation for those folks who want to get into the gaming industry. Also enjoyed a Hornet basketball game last Friday night. Our Herndon Hornets played our Marshall Statesman and I know we had other board members out at other basketball games it's definitely a great time to get out [01:50:26] and watch some hoops dual language immersion program the countywide lottery will open Monday January 22nd so for those community members please note the registration and plan to take a look at that at this time Academy open houses are occurring right now and also want to give a shout out that with Martin Luther King Day on Monday. There is no school, so do remember Monday, no school. For those of you excited who might be planning to come, but we are excited to collaborate with Volunteer Fairfax for the day of service, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Students and families can [01:51:04] volunteer together with children ages 5 to 12, and it's designed to have a family event. Student ages 13 to 18 are welcome to serve as teen event volunteers. It's free and open to the public. Registration is required, but it will be great to see many of you out there. [01:51:20] So thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Dr. Reed. Agenda Item 3.05, Proposed Financial Year 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Program. I call on Dr. Reed. [01:51:35] Thank you, Mr. Frisch. I'd like to, for our proposed FY2529 capital improvement program presentation, I'd like to call on our chief facility services and capital programs person, Janice Zeminski, [01:51:51] to present that report. [01:52:19] Good evening. Tonight we are going to cover a summary of the presentation on the proposed capital improvement program for fiscal years 25 through 29. At a high level, a capital improvement program is a planning and fiscal management tool used coordinate the location timing and funding of projects over five years the cash flow is submitted to the county for incorporation into the larger Fairfax County CIP the FCPS CIP includes an annual review of student membership and facilities data to identify capital projects newly identified needs are included in the estimated schedule of capital projects for the next five years [01:52:57] and the capital cash flow tracks the funding allocation for these projects as A PART OF THIS, UPDATED MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION IS DONE BY DIVISION AND BY SCHOOLS AND IS INCLUDED IN THE CIP. THIS IS BASED ON SEPTEMBER CERTIFIED MEMBERSHIP. FOR THIS SCHOOL YEAR, 2324, TOTAL MEMBERSHIP AS OF SEPTEMBER WAS 180,806 STUDENTS. [01:53:25] WE CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE IMPACTS OF THE MEMBERSHIP FROM THE PANDEMIC AND IT REMAINS UNDER THE SCHOOL YEAR 1920 BY 8204 STUDENTS. students. Three main factors that contribute to the changes in membership include the birth to kindergarten ratio, the migration of students, and the transfer of students. Data for these three factors have been included in the slides at the end of this presentation for reference. The CIP also includes membership projections. Total membership is projected to remain relatively flat [01:54:01] within the five-year projection period of school year 28-29 to about 180, 799,000 students. These These are due to overall decline in membership since the COVID-19 pandemic began and includes lower births and a decline of elementary and middle school cohorts over time. [01:54:23] The largest cohorts of classes in FCPS are currently in the 10th and 11th grades. The Fairfax County Demographic Report confirms this trend with a decline in the school age population between 2020 and 2025. With the recent decline in ongoing changes in membership, it's important to highlight projections are updated annually in the CIP to reflect changing conditions. This slide gives us an overview of our funding. So funding sources for the capital projects in the CIP include the general obligation bond as voted on by residents in the biannual school bond referendum. The annual [01:55:02] limit for general obligation bond funding has increased over time. The most recent increase is a result of the joint CIP committee in 2021. This increased the annual allocation to 205 million per year and another increase to 230 million per year in FY25 and beyond we thank Fairfax County and the Board of Supervisors for their continued partnership which resulted in an increase in funding to support FCPS capital projects as a result of escalation in the construction industry FCPS continues to monitor these costs as they relate to FCPS capital projects additional funds [01:55:37] that impact the CIP include the FCPS operating funds funds from the Fairfax County Board of supervisors for infrastructure management and the capital sinking fund and proffers this graphic shows information on the fcps staff review in collaboration with the county planning staff of county-wide residential development beyond five years to identify impacts on school facilities staff monitors new residential development during a plan amendment which is a review process for the fairfax county comprehensive plan the review process of rezoning applications and as part of [01:56:17] the five-year membership projection set developed and included in each year's CIP so these are the types of projects you'll see in a CIP it includes new school construction capacity enhancements facility renovations which is usually the bulk of the work and potential sites which are defined on this slide here's some examples of recently completed projects from our past CIPs and up on [01:56:55] the screen here we have braddock foxmill highblow valley and the renovation at frost middle school this slide summarizes the capital projects identified in the capital construction cash flow for this year within the next five years these include new construction projects of dunloring elementary school capacity enhancement at justice high school and the relocation of three modular buildings and the renovation of 21 schools including 18 elementary two middle and two high schools looking within the next 10 years the capital projects included are new construction [01:57:35] and or repurposing of the silver line elementary school western high school route 1 pinewood lakes early childhood center tyson's elementary and the new repurposing of pimmitt hills and virginia hills renovations include two new elementary schools from the existing queue and site acquisition for western high school a summary of funding for these projects is on this slide the total five-year funding requirement is approximately 1.2 billion. Approximately 533 million is currently funded by [01:58:11] bonds and approximately 710 million is unfunded and would be included on future bond referenda. The total 10-year requirement is approximately 2.5 billion. Approximately 578 million is funded by bonds and approximately 1.9 billion is unfunded and would be included on future bond referenda. [01:58:36] Impacts to the schedule of projects that we often see year over would be construction bids reflecting the state of the market. Recent bids right now do average 33% over cost estimates and projects were either value engineered to reduce the cost and still needed to access the construction reserve which was established by past project savings. [01:59:01] The increase in the county's bond allocation to schools is going towards the increased costs and we'll note that it's not sufficient to cover the increases additional cost increases are also impacting costs these include inflation prevailing wage legislation environmental priorities and labor materials needed to meet project schedules priorities will need to be given as renovations are being deferred as part of the result of a funding shortfall this slide here gives an overview of what a typical project timeline and duration would look like so for capital projects they're listed in the cip and provided on an annual basis the school bond [01:59:40] referendum is on the ballot every other year on the odd years for us architectural services are procured via a request for proposals or an rfp with information on project assignments provided to the board during the process design of bond approved projects kick off in the spring following the vote and this phase lasts a couple years depending on the size and the project the The construction phase is started with the school board approval of contractor selection and along the way there are many school and community meetings throughout the project [02:00:12] timeline and we've been working closely with the CPDC committee to standardize that. This slide shows the process for development of a new renovation queue. The current renovation queue is anticipated to have funding for planning and design by through 2031 with updated costs and planning and planned bond referenda. [02:00:36] So we are still in the current queue that we have been working through. A new renovation queue will need to be developed for future renovations. This will occur in phases of which phase one is currently underway. Consultant has developed a framework for work needing needed to develop. [02:00:51] And once the criteria is set, phase two will be able to assess the criteria developed in phase one. And then phase three will be to implement the new queue, which would be incorporated in future CIPs and bond referenda when complete. [02:01:06] This is a little bit of an update on some of our JET goals, especially as it pertains to net zero energy. So the 2020 JET recommendation called for new county buildings and major renovations to achieve net zero energy practices. These enhancements will typically include photovoltaic or solar arrays, ground source heat pumps from geothermal wells and other features, active design and construction projects, maximize net zero practices where ready and possible, and we build not to preclude future installations an example of this might be creating enough structure to allow for future solar projects [02:01:42] future projects starting in fy26 and beyond include in the cip funding for major energy reduction member measures to gain a possible on-site net zero energy ready this includes building in again that structure for solar readiness the ground source heat pumps or geothermal system and increased insulation beyond code to make sure we have a very energy efficient building Looking beyond just the net zero and the energy reduction piece, we are committed to sustainability. [02:02:17] So here's some highlights with FCPS shown on this slide and include get to green, energy conservation, solar energy projects, net zero, chips design, and electric vehicle conversion. I want to switch gears and talk a little bit about our building infrastructure and maintenance. [02:02:40] So the current cycle between big renovations is approximately 42 years at this point. This is much longer than the 20 to 25 year renovation cycle identified in policy 8258. This longer renovation cycle does require infrastructure investments in building assets at shorter intervals to support system life expectancy. [02:03:01] So this slide shows all the infrastructure assets by category and notes those past the useful life by average age. The table also includes the estimated total replacement cost. To clarify, this is the total replacement cost, not just the ones passed through useful life. [02:03:19] That's included on the next slide that we can move to. This slide provides a breakdown of the cost of infrastructure replacement requirements by type. For the next five years, we condensed it down into four major categories. And as you can see, the total assets that we calculate passed through useful life is approximately $379 million. [02:03:39] And so as we wrap up, here's some upcoming dates to show you where we are. [02:03:48] We had our work session on January 9th today. We are here at the school board meeting and we're going through new business on January 18th. We'll have a public hearing and then on February 8th we'll have school board action and mid-February the Fairfax County releases their CIP and we will be included as part of that and that concludes my presentation. Thank you Miss Szymanski up first we have Dr. Anderson. Thank you. I know we talked about some of these things during the work session. [02:04:28] last tuesday but because we have usually a larger audience for these meetings i'm hoping that you can reiterate certain points um one um i think mr muick was the one who delivered this news regarding electric buses i'm sure the community would like to hear what the division was able to secure um in the past week or so yes ma'am glad to share that um we're always looking for uh grants to get more electric buses right now and our goal is to be you know completely electric bus by 2035 [02:05:03] i will recently received approval on a grant from the epa for 16.5 million which will get us 42 more electric buses and there's another one due at the end of the month that we're putting the final touches on right now and that's notable thank you so much for sharing because those 42 buses will be more than what we have currently in the entire electric fleet which is 30 seven thirty one thirty thirty one. [02:05:30] OK. I was a little bit more generous there. The other thing Mr. Minsky that I'd like for you to speak to because again our community is watching this more than they do the work sessions and there's always the cry for when is my school going to get on the renovation queue. [02:05:47] Obviously I have schools which I named last week. So did so many of my colleagues way in Oak Belvedere and Luther Jackson where we stand right now are the schools that I have named can you can you please share with the public what is it that you all are going to be doing with those requests. Sure in terms of adding schools to the queue right now we're still working under past guidance which is to first go through all of the schools developed in the queue starting in 2008. So the CIP that goes fiscal year 25 through 29 is [02:06:23] still working through that original queue and during this time we'll have the ability to identify a new queue so every school that was already completed can be put back into a new order and the goal is to have that completed before the current queue is up so that we can go right into the next round of schools. And you expect that the current queue will be exhausted by my retirement your retirement? It will not be completed by this five-year CIP but we expect it to be completed within the next 10 years and yes thank you and other issues that the community has raised dr reed [02:07:01] regarding athletic fields safety and security measures i know at the work session we talked about um establishing other cues again just for our public can you reiterate what will be coming from staff work along those lines yes ma'am we're um looking at an athletic cue traditionally in Fairfax County we haven't looked at athletic facilities when we've done excuse me major renovations or remodels we're also looking at security cues we have a number of security projects so both of those cues will be in addition [02:07:37] to a holistic review of our facility queue and that's in addition to the traffic safety queue which was one of last year's follow-on CIP budgets lastly And this is kind of the big question because everybody saw the big circle. [02:07:58] And I know that Mr. McDaniel brought raised some really good points regarding that, which I'm hoping he will reiterate here this evening. But no matter what, our needs outpace our resources. How is FCPS trying to procure additional funding? [02:08:15] Because we can't do this alone. What else? How else can we diversify our revenue streams in order to attack all of the projects that you've outlined? yeah I think you bring up a really good point I think the first thing we have to do is maximize the resources that we do have so definitely making sure we're getting the most value for the dollars we spend if it's how we award our contracts how we negotiate we're definitely going to be looking at ways to maximize the dollars that we have and then I do agree we need to look beyond that because we do note a definite need for resources so we look forward to [02:08:52] Exploring different partnerships, different ways to expand our revenue. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Mr. McDaniel? So, Dr. Anderson, we've probably read my mind because I had the big scary circle pulled up and I see this up. [02:09:10] So, I want to, just for the public's, for public purposes, this number of the unfunded does not include anything that we've identified that we need to have in terms of capacity, correct? [02:09:27] This number only reflects the cash flow, so that queue that you see primarily of renovations or any site acquisition or new building, it does not include the useful life of the infrastructure piece. Okay, which is, I think that was an extra about $1.4 billion as well. [02:09:46] Yes, with of it about 380 currently being passed its useful life. Okay. And the red portion of both of these circles does not mean to imply that we do not know where the money is coming from. This is simply noting that the bonds have yet to be authorized on the ballot, but we anticipate the funding for the bonds. Okay. Correct. This is just at this point in time with the referendum that have been passed to date, we cash floated out with the expected passing of bonds for this to fully become blue over the five-year cycle. [02:10:21] Okay, all right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Mr. Dunn? Thank you, Mr. Szymanski. You know, I think we talked about this quite a bit in the open session on Tuesday, but elaborating on some points made by my colleague, Dr. Anderson, I think it's essential that you've been four months in the job and you bring a lot of great experience. [02:10:50] But it's essential that we look at how we can do business differently. and i'd like to emphasize the importance of public-private partnerships one was used to build south county high school other counties in our region and nationally have used them to build a whole suite of schools you know up to a dozen schools at a time and then sign contracts for contractors to maintain them over 30 years which um you know gives the benefit to taxpayers and the school system of having a fixed price right and puts the risk the onus of managing that risk [02:11:24] on the contractor rather than on the system I think it's also important to look at expanding multi-use facilities and the lord community action center combined athletic facilities with mean facilities with a library we should also be in discussions with the county about that actively I also want to emphasize the importance of as a government contracting attorney of best procurement practices a lot of what I've seen with FCPS is you know good efforts but but not Not the sophistication I would expect given the decades of experience and the billions of dollars that get spent annually. [02:12:01] Every dollar should achieve maximum return on investment. Taxpayers in Fairfax County simply can't bear to continue having increasing property tax rates to compensate for the underfunding by our state government and federal government. I also want to emphasize on pages 15 to 16 and 17, we have a long infrastructure list. [02:12:23] And I want to ask you to please make sure that you're undertaking a comprehensive audit, not random sampling for statistical purposes, but of every school. Because I can tell you on my side of the county, Mount Vernon District, there's high inequity compared to the schools on the western side of the county. [02:12:39] It's almost night and day. We need to make sure that all of these facilities, athletic fields, elevators, dugouts, scoreboards, and HVAC systems get updated. And so looking at how to buy in bulk, right, using economies of scale rather than just one-off purchase after one-off purchase, can actually reap significant discounts, especially with multi-year contracts. [02:13:03] I, again, am a government contracting attorney. I can tell you firsthand that contractors will give you those discounts if they have certainty of cash flow. So I am happy to work with you both through CPDC and FPAC and through other means to make sure that FCPS increases the sophistication of its organization so it gets more bang for its buck and reduces the fiscal burden and the risk imposed on Fairfax County taxpayers. [02:13:26] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Ms. Sizemore-Hyser. Just a brief question to follow up on Mr. McDaniel. I want to just be clear on that slide number 10 that red circle in the blue that total is what the road requirement is just requirement based on our anticipated bond numbers right it's not what we require to have best practices in terms of renovations right we're currently in a 42 year renovation cycle and best practices I believe are 25 so I just want to clarify that slide in terms of we're budgeting our requirements to what we anticipate the funding we anticipate correct [02:14:06] the 1.2 is what we anticipate to get so the cash flow is reflected accordingly okay i just wanted to you know make make that clarify for the public that there's requirements we have to kind of get up to what we may consider best practices or or help be more efficient with our systems and then there's requirements in terms of the cash flow equalizing with that is that did i capture that [02:14:28] correctly? Yes, you're correct. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sizemoreheiser. Mr. McElveen. Thank you, Mr. Frisch. So, you know, it's interesting because every time we come to these presentations, we just have more shocks thrown at us. And, you know, comparing this presentation to ones that Mr. Moon and I would have seen eight years ago, four years ago, it's just surprising that we've gone in the other direction that [02:15:04] we were anticipating and I would argue that we have in Fairfax County kind of ebbed and flowed when it's come to facilities but we have probably not seen a crisis like the one we have now since the late 1940s early 50s and the post war boom we had a few good years when Sandy Robin and I were in and in our schools when we weren't having capacity issues and we were actually closing down schools but we are not in those days anymore so the three shocks that I wanted to highlight and I've highlighted previously if if you take three things [02:15:42] away from this presentation I want it to be these three first as you've heard the 42-year renovation cycle which is an increase from where we were previously the 33% cost overruns that we're seeing on our projects and the fact that we only have two schools slated for solar panels after four years ago having promised the county 87. So these are concerns. I'm not going to belabor them at this late hour but they were [02:16:14] shocks to me coming back in. Thank you Mr. McElveen. I'm going to take my turn. Thank you very much for the presentation and all the hard work that went into it. I agree with Mr. McElveen about the renovation cycle. It's disappointing especially we had this brief moment where it looked like we were going in the other direction right we came on some of us joined this board four years ago and it was 37 years and the Board of Supervisors saw fit to provide us with more money in the bond and you know that money would have [02:16:49] brought us probably to 35 years around a renovation cycle finally progress in the other direction and then COVID and the as you articulated the big increase and construction costs and labor and everything else has pushed projects past the 30 percent mark as I discussed in the last CIP so all is not bad though I did a calculation based on various year's CIPs and found that one-third of the the instructional trailers used in Providence district have been removed since 2020. I know that county-wide I haven't done everybody's district [02:17:29] I know that countywide we've we've reduced the number of trailers significantly as well that's the direction we need to be going in so I encourage that and then I also want to endorse you know this CIP when the board made the joint environmental task force directives to move us towards net zero schools and buses and the whole like to show that we take the climate crisis seriously this cip is the first cip that makes an honest attempt at moving in that direction [02:18:04] and i applaud you for that um so thank you very much for doing that um and i look forward to partnering with you in the years ahead to continue making that progress so thank you forgot i was chair for a second uh are the lights up because we want go backs or because we just forgot to to turn them off all right thank you very much thank you very much oh sorry we have one more uh just real quick I actually appreciate Mr. McLevin's statements of you know what's happened in the last [02:18:42] four years and I know um the entire country and world is struggling with the cost overruns from COVID and the supply chain issues I guess so the question I would ask is do you know or are there are we going to continue to see supply chain issues and the cost overruns due to some things COVID are things getting better to we anticipate some of that coming down as things sort of more normalized they're just kind of curious what your forecast is you know I know as Mr. Frisch said we we inherited a 37-year renovation cycle which is you know well above the 25 years that um we should be at we worked the board of supervisors and I'm so grateful that we were able to get it [02:19:20] down to 35 for a brief instant before everything kind of hit the fan um and so I'm just kind of curious coming out of this now are there is there some sort of rainbow is there some sort of you know bright lights that we can look towards is there something positive that we have or are we anticipating these kind of overruns are going to last a little bit longer well I don't have a crystal ball unfortunately yeah just kidding um but I do think it's important that we stay really in tune with the marketplace so that's something that since coming on board I've been trying to do on a regular basis even if it's just bringing in general contractors we're working with take [02:19:58] aside the project that we're working on and just ask how the marketplace is doing, not just with their level, but also the subcontractor markets. So I think it's just really important and prudent that we just stay on top to the best knowledge that we can and no better way than keeping up with the local marketplace. The feedback I've been getting is that we don't see it going down any time soon. I think the inflation is up and now we're at a rise. And, you know, I will say I understand this is probably not the information people want to see with the rise in costs but we are here to be as transparent as possible and we will keep you informed of how the marketplace [02:20:36] progresses and the best thing we can do is catch it as early as we can and predict it out in our cash flows so we're making the right choices strategically the last thing i'll just lift up i know it's late is that if the reason i asked that question is if we're not seeing a potential change and obviously i know you don't have a crystal ball right and i appreciate um the work you're doing to try to stay as ahead of it as much as possible then perhaps we need to work i'm sure your teams are looking at this perhaps work with fpac on do we need to change our practices or expectations or something to adapt to the changing environment right because i don't think what we're [02:21:12] doing now is sustainable in terms of expectations maybe it's design changes maybe it's as i think I think Ms. Marin mentioned doing some -- I don't know the answer, but I'm just wondering at what point are we like this is our new world and so we have to adapt to it or we're waiting for things to maybe shift in a little more favorable direction. [02:21:29] That's -- I just wanted to lift that up. I don't expect you have an answer to that right now, but just a thought. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sizemoreheiser. Mr. Moon. Mr. Chairman, could you remind us when you are taking on action on this one? February? [02:21:44] February 8th, correct? Yes. Correct. and we have a joint retreat coming up with the Board of Supervisors since you are the chair. January 17th. Has agenda been finalized? [02:22:01] Yes, and it was shared in the chair's notes today. And then whether this will be part of in any fashion to be shared with the Board of Supervisors. Yes, there is ample opportunity for us to talk on the areas that we need to be partnering on. That is wonderful. I'm looking forward to that. Thank you, Mr. Moon. All right. Thank you, Ms. Szymanski. [02:22:20] Thank you. Our adopted rules of agenda item four, consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure, Roberts' rules, provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion. Many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance. [02:22:40] Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to meeting. The consent agenda items are on the screen. Is there an objection to approving the consent agenda? Yes, Mr. Frisch. To what item on the consent agenda do you object? [02:22:59] I object to agenda items 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.08, and 4.09. Items 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.08, and 4.09 have been objected to. [02:23:21] Are there any objections to discussing these items and voting on them as one main motion? Seeing none, there are no objections. We will consider adopting items 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.08, and 4.09 as a group. Mr. Chair, just before considering the questions that were objected to, you will need to first dispose of the remainder of the consent calendar. [02:23:49] All right. So the items that remain on the consent agenda are 4.05, 4.06, 4.07, 4.10, and 4.11. [02:24:06] Is there any objection to approving the current consent agenda? Hearing there is no objection, the consent agenda is approved, and we will move on to the motion that we were just discussing. I don't think there is 4.11. Did I just make that up? No, it's there. There's a 4.11. It's just the advisory committee commitments. [02:24:27] I'm sorry, a point. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I am not clear on what was just approved through the consent. Nothing's, well, the items that were not objected to were approved. Okay. Thank you. All right. Was that just voted on? [02:24:44] The items that were not objected to get handled first, and then we move on to the objections. And we just approved the items that are still on the consent agenda. So here we go. There are no objections to the question of adopting items 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.08, 4.09, and 4.11. [02:25:08] And we will start the discussion. Is there any discussion? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Dunn, you're recognized. And for the parliamentarian, I don't know if we did it in the right order, because you did the reverse first, and then don't you have to do it? [02:25:29] I'm not sure what you mean. - All right, the parliamentarian said you have to do the consent agenda first. - We did that. - Right, but then, yeah, don't you have to go back and ask if there are objections to treating the objected two items as a group or not? - We did that as well. - But didn't you do that before? [02:25:45] - Yes. - The chair may just want to ask if there are any objections to treating them as a group. - Are there any objections to treating them as a group? - Yes. - All right, then we will handle them individually. Buckle up. All right, we will start with item 4.01, Alternative Accreditation Plan 2024. [02:26:03] Is there discussion? Yes. Mr. Dunn. I object to agenda item 4.01. Specifically, I object to the inclusion of the alternative accreditation plans on the consent agenda. We have had recent discussions concerning the Key Center, the Kilmer Center, the Adult High School, Bryan High School, and Mountain View High School at a time when many schools are experiencing an explosion of student misbehavior and misconduct, which we witnessed recently at a Sandburg Middle School Security and Safety Forum. [02:26:33] These schools form a critical part of the FCPS Toolbox for ensuring every child has access to a safe, welcoming, drug-free, and violence-free learning environment. And in my view, it would be irresponsible to blindly approve alternative accreditation plans that have not been briefed to or discussed by this board. [02:26:53] These alternative accreditation plans highlight some troubling data, such as Bryant High School being composed of over 70% Hispanic and English learner students. Whether these schools are achieving their mission is of the highest importance because they represent an extraordinary fiscal expenditure and they serve students who require extraordinary support. [02:27:12] So I respectfully object because I believe this is a subject that does require careful examination to ensure that we have the appropriate data and the proper understanding before these alternative accreditation plans are approved. - Thank you, Mr. Dunn. [02:27:28] Mr. Moon, your light is on. Do you intend to have your light on? All right. BEING NO FURTHER DISCUSSION, THE QUESTION IS ON ADOPTING 4.01 ALTERNATIVE ACCREDITATION PLAN 2024. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, RAISE YOUR HAND AND SAY AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED, WE HAVEN'T GOTTEN THERE YET. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR. MS. SEIZEMORE HEISER, MR. MCDANIEL, MR. MCELVEEN, MS. LADY, MS. JOHN CUNNING, MS. ANDERSON, DR. ANDERSON, MS. DIXET, MR. MOON, ALL THOSE OPPOSED. MR. DUNN. MR. SHAUNAN, I DIDN'T VOTE. [02:28:02] I'M FORMATIVE. ARE YOU VOTING -- I'M APSATING. mr frisch did you capture miss marron i'm sorry if i missed that we're going to redo the vote because there was some confusion all those in favor of approving item 4.01 alternative accreditation plan 2024 please raise your hand miss sizemore heiser mr mcdaniel mr mckelveen miss lady miss st john cunning dr anderson miss anderson miss dixon all opposed mr dunn oh sorry i see miss marron is voting in the affirmative as well all those opposed mr dunn [02:28:37] Abstentions? Mr. Moon. The item passes. All right, moving on. We will move on to item 4.02, amendment of contract WDDP and associates construction testing and inspection services for Cooper Middle School. Is there discussion? Yes. Mr. Dunn. This contract states that it is being increased by approximately 125 percent and it attributes the cause to contractor delays. [02:29:09] The fact that we are giving the contractor more money, a significant increase in the contract because of its own failure to perform in accordance with the contract, I find troubling. And I committed during my campaign to work tirelessly to ensure every taxpayer dollar achieves maximum return on investment. [02:29:31] As a government contracting attorney, this contract and others appear to indicate that FCPS is not utilizing best procurement practices to ensure the cost-effective use of taxpayer money. At a time of increasing budget constraints, I believe it's important for the board to ensure that every dollar is effectively spent. [02:29:50] Ms. Szymanski has stated that construction costs are rising by 133%. Here they are increasing, and we are not examining the reasons why. Dr. Anderson. Yes, can I ask staff to speak to this a little bit just to provide some greater context because we're engaging in an exercise that's going to look a little bit wonky to the public at this point. [02:30:16] So I think it might behoove us to take a little bit of time and offer some additional information that may respond to Mr. Dunn's inquiries. So I'm not sure. To respond to this specific inquiry, I think the agenda item detail has the description due to the delays. [02:30:40] I'll ask Ms. Szymanski to elaborate on this. Sure. I'm happy to provide some more context. These contracts amendments for WDP and ECS, these are for our third-party inspector contracts. [02:30:57] So it's not the general contractor. These would be the folks that would inspect the work to make sure it's in compliance that we need for occupancy. So the delays in the construction is more of a result of the general contractor, and I'm happy to follow up and give you more information on Cooper and some of these other schools listed, but because the general contractor has prolonged the construction duration, these third-party inspectors are having to spend more time out there as well. [02:31:25] So that's not at the fault of the third party inspectors. So we do feel like there is an entitlement to be paid And so that's why you're seeing the contract amendment proposed here. I withdraw my objection without objection The objection is withdrawn. All right, we'll move on to the next one Mr. Chairman. Yes, do you want to vote on you? It's been withdrawn without objection, but that's correct We have to vote. Thank you very much because it's already been withdrawn from the consent agenda [02:32:01] All right. There being no further discussion the question is on adopting 4.02 amendment of contract WDP and associates construction testing and inspection services for Cooper Middle School. All those in favor of proving this raise your hand. Miss Sizemore Heiser, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. McElveen, Miss Lady, Miss St. John Cunning, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Miss Anderson, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, and Miss Marin. That's unanimous. [02:32:30] Moving on. Next up, item 4.03, Amendment of Contract WDP and Associates Construction Testing and Inspection Services for Oak Hill Elementary School. Is there any discussion? [02:32:49] Yes. Mr. Dunn. Well, I'd like Ms. Szymanski, if possible, to provide a similar explanation. The only details included in the one pager we received is phasing delays. Is this a similar situation where a general contractor caused delays that then the inspector endured increased costs as a result? [02:33:10] That is correct. Was the general contractor held accountable in any fashion for its delays? This project is ongoing, so I will need to get more information from my team on the corrective actions that we're taking right now. Understood. I withdraw. [02:33:27] The objection has been withdrawn again, and with no objection to the withdrawal, we'll move on to the vote. all right there being no further discussion the question is on adopting 4.03 amendment of contract wdp and associates construction testing and inspection services for oak hill elementary school all those in favor ms seismar heiser mr mcdaniel mr mckelveen miss lady miss st john cunning mr dunn dr anderson miss anderson miss dixit mr moon and miss marron that is unanimous [02:33:59] moving on to the next item item 4.04 amendment contract ecs mid-atlantic llc construction testing and inspection services for Louise Archer Elementary School. Is there any discussion? - Yes. - Mr. Dunn. [02:34:15] - I'd again like to ask Ms. Szymanski because the proposed 175% increase in contract value is not explained at all, except to note additional services requested. I'd like to ask for additional information to be provided to the board, given that this is a significant expenditure. [02:34:34] - My response is similar to that of the ones of WDEP. This ECS is also a third-party testing agent, so any delays or additional calls out to the site brought forth by the general contractor, it results in more work needing to be done by our third-party inspectors. Understood. [02:34:52] I would like to request in the future offline a briefing to be provided on how corrective actions are implemented with respect to general contractors who are not complying with schedule or objectives and thus causing FCPS to incur increased costs. Duly noted. [02:35:08] Thank you. I withdraw. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is about these additional charges. [02:35:25] If these are billable hours contract and the construction is delayed, are they doing all the sitting there waiting for this building to be billed and just billing hours? I can understand a hundred percent increase or 50 percent, but this seems to be a really large increase in terms of if somebody is providing billable services and I have built up my own house so I understand that people have you know these site inspectors come and do their job but they don't sit there for a long time to get the project done. [02:36:05] That's understood. Typically our third party inspectors are called out per the guidance of the general contractor because they're more plugged into the day-to-day construction activities so I agree they're not necessarily sitting on the sidelines waiting but because the construction is you know prolonged or if you're up against a tight crunch to get a project opened sometimes you need to have them come out more frequent to kind of check along the way making sure that we're meeting all the intermediate steps so that we can get to our end goal so when you do usually run up to those [02:36:39] situations we will find the overruns but i understand the point embrace thank you miss Dixit there's no other discussion since the objection has been withdrawn we will move to a vote on item 4.04 amendment of contract ECS mid-Atlantic LLC construction testing and inspection services for Louise Archer elementary school all those in favor Ms. Sizemore Heiser Mr. McDaniel Mr. McElveen Ms. Lady Ms. St. John Cunning Mr. Dunn Dr. Anderson Ms. Anderson Ms. Dixit Mr. Moon [02:37:15] and Ms. Marin. The item passes. Moving on. Item 4.098, sole source contract amendment Jason Learning. Is there discussion? Yes. Mr. Dunn. I'd like to understand this contract because it refers to a sole source contract. There's not a lot of historical information provided, but it notes that this company, Jason Learning, a subsidiary of National Geographic Society, has been providing services to FCPS since 2011, which seems to suggest that there [02:37:54] have been a series of sole source contracts since 2011, so I'd like to understand if that is a fact. I'd also like to understand why this contract was not competed, why there are a number of companies that I'm aware of, and my day job is not in education, who provide this type of service and I know of one organization in the South County area of the Mount Burn district that provides these types of workshops and might do so at a much reduced price but far below $750,000 so I would like to understand the [02:38:30] broader context and history of this contract. So thank you Mr. Dunn I will have to defer to Dr. Presidio because it looks like it's an instructional services department contract. Dr. Presidio. Sure and thank you for that question or those questions so this is not just a professional services contract where we receive training from the organization from the vendor it's actually our core stem curriculum that we use in our elementary school so it's an interdisciplinary curriculum that we use for science technology engineering and math and we've used it since 2011 that predates me in terms of the [02:39:07] procurement process in terms of how that vendor was selected but this is core curriculum as well as a lot of training that elementary teachers have received over the years and if we were to adopt a different curriculum there would be additional training costs associated with that as well so that's kind of the background on the relationship that we've had with National Geographic and Jason learning well the National Geographic Society has a great brand I think we've all witnessed its deterioration in recent years where effectively the entire society was sold off to Fox quite some time ago they [02:39:44] discontinued the magazine, and it really is a shell of what it used to be, I have a hard time believing that this company, Jason Learning, is the only company in the United States that can provide this curriculum. And I do find it troubling, given the centrality of STEM technologies to the global economy of the future, AI and everything else that's happening, that we would never take even an initiative to issue an RFI, a request for information, or hold an industry day, or hold a workshop so that outside vendors could come in and explain why they [02:40:24] could provide a better product for a lower cost. And if you go out into the marketplace, as I am a government contracting attorney, many vendors will do training for free because getting into FCPS, one of the 10th largest school district in the country represents an extraordinary opportunity both financially and reputationally. [02:40:45] So I do continue to object to this contract because I fail to understand for something so critical as STEM technology and training why we're not competing this and just continuing in stasis for 12 years. [02:41:01] That's not a best practice. Mr. Don, are you finished? Thank you. Dr. Anderson. Oh, sorry. Ms. Anderson. That's going to remain very confusing. Dr. Presidio, can you let us know whether or not this is an accredited program? [02:41:20] I apologize. Can you repeat that question? Can you let us know whether or not this specific program is vetted in terms of being accredited for schools, appropriate for FERPA, all the goodness that would make it appropriate for FCPS? [02:41:36] Yes, it absolutely is, yes. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. There being no further discussion, the question is on adopting 4.08 sole source contract amendment, Jason Learning. May I please be recognized? I'm sorry, Mr. Hand. Go ahead, Ms. Marin. That's okay. [02:41:53] I want to use this opportunity to also mention that our Policy 3003 for instructional materials was last reviewed in June 2014. So I do concur with Mr. Dunn that there is an opportunity here to review how instructional materials are selected and how often we had a similar there's a similar conversation around our basal materials and how often they are reviewed and selected so I just want to put a plug in for that urgent policy review need thank you mr. Moon thank you [02:42:27] mr. chairman could I ask either dr. Reed or dr. Presidio impact consequences of school board not approving this contract thank you mr. Moon I'll have to again defer to dr. Presidio I'm not sure which courses this is used in so again this is a core curriculum used at the elementary level and my understanding from the procurement office is that this contract is going to expire at the end of the month and if we don't renew it we'll no longer have access to the print [02:43:01] and electronic materials to be used in the schools I will support the motion I'll support the motion provided that going forward next time you come back with a concert renewal of this particular contract as a source I would love to hear i would love to hear from dr reed or you dr presidio you have attempted other vendors as well yes sir we'll do that thank you thank you mr moon mr dunn i'm sorry i have somebody before [02:43:35] i go back uh mr john cunning dr presidio can you tell us comparison-wise other programs and how much they cost that are comparable to this that are used in either elementary or high schools so i wouldn't be able to give you comparable programs and costs that would be something that we typically would negotiate with the vendor through the rfp process i will say that our rfp process in fcps is subject of course to you know federal and state laws and quite lengthy and typically the procurement of instructional materials through a process like this can take a [02:44:11] year to get those materials we typically follow the state guidelines of looking at updating our curriculum materials every seven years that's what the state does is they update their standards of learning and the materials that we adopt have to be aligned to the state standards of learning both those instructional targets as well as the state tests and it's quite a lot to to go through that rfp process thank you miss st john cunning mr dunn miss anderson asked if this [02:44:45] is you know accredited ferpa all the good stuff is this the only option out there in the marketplace even though you haven't done an RFP? No, it's definitely not the only material or vendor available. And there are other options that are FERPA and accredited and all that? [02:45:04] Okay. So if the board approves this tonight, given the fact that we're kind of between a rock and a hard place, and there are RFP processes that go faster than a year, I mean, it's dependent more on FCPS than anything else, But you could conduct a request for information to ask potential vendors to come in with data or just information so that you could be briefed on alternatives, correct? [02:45:33] That's correct. Okay. So I would hope if the board approves this tonight, given the rock and the hard place, that you would rapidly develop a strategy for engaging in an RFI and then a subsequent RFP so that we can see if this is the best option. [02:45:51] and it might be. I'm not foreclosing that possibility, but it's certainly something that should be considered. Would you agree? I would. I wasn't sure if Dr. Reed buzzed in there or not, but yes. Dr. Reed? I think that it's clear that there are multiple products out there. [02:46:18] It's also clear this is a product that the division has used since 2011 for almost 13 years. So I would I need some real clarity at the end of this vote on this contract about the will of the board before I set the team off to potentially run a process as part of their duty. [02:46:39] So I will want some direction. I've heard a variety of individuals on the board make a request. So I'm just asking for clear direction because this will be a body of work, both for the Instructional Services Division, in this case, the Advanced Academic Programs, as well as if we end up with choosing a different program that'll be a shift in professional development required all of which are appropriate I'm just saying it's not I want to be clear that that's the will of the board directing and then we will of course do it but I want [02:47:15] to get some clarity this evening on that if possible Mr. Chairman just a moment you'll get a go back when we finish going through everybody else Dr. Anderson thank you maybe after this round of discussion we can provide the superintendent with some clarity a couple of things that i wanted to ask and thank you for re-engaging dr presidio in terms of this product um looking at the contract it's for a year so we'll be having this conversation again whether it's jason learning or some other product in a year so there is some space for us to do some [02:47:51] additional um to gather some additional information and i think two things just come to mind one as is with everything else we have been doing this from 2011 is it still having the impact that we want it to have what what are the users saying um what are teachers saying what what does the data show in terms of the impact of this product maybe it's not doing what we wanted to do and that would be an opportunity to seek something new and maybe it is that would be an opportunity to know that we we should remain with this product so I would be wondering I'm not giving a [02:48:29] direction but I would be wondering the teachers who are being trained and who are utilizing this what what is their feedback and again not just the anecdotal what is the impact what is the data that we're going to utilize to evaluate its effect its effectiveness that's my wonder yeah those are excellent questions and I don't have all of that information this evening what I can tell you is anecdotally feedback that I've received both from teachers and from students when I observe in the classroom students using these materials that they are very interactive they're very engaging it's a lot of [02:49:08] project-based learning activities and students and teachers have given us very positive feedback about the materials they are used in our advanced academic program with those students scoring you know above 95 percent pass rates pass advanced rates I should say on the SOLs and math and science. So we do think it's a it's been a very effective product or we couldn't bring the contract renewal request to the board this evening but board members are asking very good questions and we certainly can take a harder look at the product. I think the observations that you just shared are good but I think we need to kind of [02:49:44] have some verification of that which will require some additional work if we were to go down this [02:49:50] this path. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Ms. Sizemore-Heiser. I think this is a good discussion. I think, you know, there's some, it's always a difficulty, right, in what we ask the dais, what information we gather in preparation for meetings, right, and questions that we have. I know it can be difficult sometimes. We have two meetings in a week in the lengthy agendas to ask the questions so we have the information to inform our votes. But I think, you know, when we're looking at cost effectiveness, like I really appreciate Mr. [02:50:28] done bringing up, you know, should we do an RFP process and Dr. Anderson, is this the best product? Should we, you know, instead of sole sourcing from 2011, recompete it every time? And those are all very good, valid questions. And I think to Ms. Maren's point, maybe there is some room through the policy review process to kind of answer some of those questions and have those conversations. What I will say is I think there's a couple of tensions I want to lift up here one is there's the cost savings in potentially potential cost savings and recompeting there's also the potential cost of recompeting right just the [02:51:05] extra staff it takes nothing one is better than the other just things to think about there's also the potential of having maybe a better program than we have now but there's also the cost both in time professional development redoing curriculum teachers adapting to a new program when maybe are used to using a program that's built people time cost and perhaps money cost in PD and there's always competing interest for PD so we're gonna look so I think all of those need to be balanced when we're trying to decide when should we sole source something that's embedded deeply in our curriculum and well used and used over again and one of which should we not as far as the sort of quality control or [02:51:44] return on investment is this still the best product is this still actually doing we need to do that to me is the job of the superintendent and her staff right that's deeply operational and while I think we're asking really good questions and we should ask these questions you know it is one of the most difficult things when I start on this board is really understanding the role of the board versus the role of superintendent and where that lies and where that crosses and asking the questions for accountability is important but at what point do we say to Dr. Reed have you and your staff done the work to determine whether this is something that's worth continuing or not. [02:52:19] What's that process look like? That's kind of questions. But if we start digging into whether every program ourselves we think is the best instructional program, then I don't know how we have our staff. So I think there's just a balance that's really difficult to find because we and the public want to know the answers. [02:52:36] Is this the best instructional program or not for any particular program? But the size and scope of the county, I don't know how we as a board would do that work as a part time policy governance board. [02:52:46] YOU KNOW I ALWAYS TELL PEOPLE WHEN THEY ASK ME WHAT WHY SUPERINTENDENT OF BOARD I SAY THE SUPERINTENDENT'S LIKE OUR CEO AND WE'RE LIKE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SO THERE'S A TENSION WITH THOSE ROLES AND THERE'S IT'S DIFFICULT TO FIND THAT THAT BALANCE I STILL KNOW I'M WORKING ON IT BUT I THINK WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT COSTS AND EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCIES WE HAVE TO LOOK INTO ALL OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGING OR NOT CHANGING SO I JUST WANT TO LIFT THAT UP AS FOOD FOR THOUGHT THANK YOU MS SIZEMORE HEISER MS MARIN YES I DO THINK YOU KNOW I WONDER IF THE POLICY [02:53:21] If we clarify the policy, if it would clear up some of these questions, but I also think that given that this is a sole source contract, it is reasonable for the board to perhaps vote on a directive tonight that once we pass this contract, renewal or amendment, since it's mid-year, that we can direct the superintendent to report back with information about this particular contract. [02:53:46] or even contracts that are up for renewal, especially related to academics, or over a period of time, if they're 10 years going, I think that that is in the purview of the board. So I would be open to passing this tonight so our students do not have their science instruction interrupted. [02:54:05] I also want to point out we are doing a massive transition with the science of reading. And that in and of itself is a huge lift for our, especially our elementary school teachers. So I'm not willing to just, you know, stop this contract for science, but I think it would be good to know why a continued amendment, why not a renewed contract. [02:54:30] Those would be the questions. So I put that for my colleagues' consideration. Thank you, Ms. Marin. Mr. Moon? Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. In as much as I respect my colleague, Ms. Seismar Heijer's comment on operational aspect of what you do versus on the policy level, there was a reason why we put a threshold. [02:54:59] I think long ago it was less than $200,000. Since then it's been raised to $200,000. If a contract amount goes above that threshold, it should come to the board. for the board approver because ultimately ultimately board is going to be responsible board is going to be held accountable for its action that's what you are being asked to do take on action approve not approve modify that's what you are being asked to do and and i am as i said earlier i'm willing to support this for tonight but going forward for something like this [02:55:39] and the next one that is going to come up next contract i'm going to suffer for the same reason but i think board has a responsibility to a to get to get more information from superintendent and other staff and and you know be able to review what you are doing and and if a superintendent is seeking uh some directive some direction from the board it may not have to be it does not necessarily have to be tonight Mr. Dunn or somebody else could certainly present this as a forum topic [02:56:15] and have a fuller discussion rather than tonight because I didn't know that until just a half an hour ago Mr. Dunn was going to have several items removed from the consent agenda that brought my attention to it and I am happy I am really glad and appreciate that Mr. Dunn as a new board member bring a new approach in how we do our business as a board. Thank you Mr. Moon. Ms. Seizmerheiser. [02:56:48] I just briefly since Mr. Moon referenced me specifically per se I just want to kind of respond I don't disagree I I'm well aware of the contract thresholds and the changes we dug into that I don't disagree with the board having oversight and we're responsible what I was saying was that we're not the instructional experts and so the level of understanding instruction we need to let our staff do it doesn't mean we don't ask the questions which is what I said in my comments as well but there is um there's there's a balance between figuring out how deep we can go instructionally and how not and so I just wanted to clarify my remarks to make sure I was clear on what I was trying to say I do well and well aware of the [02:57:27] contract threshold and changes and the reasons why we had many conversations in the last four years about that and made some changes as well in the last four years so thank you for reminding me of the history that you had and um we just need to figure out as a board where that balance is and and i think it's it's very helpful to review these contracts i also think um it's probably helpful to do this to make sure that our staff knows our questions so they can come prepared to answer them as well so we can get full information um as we to help us prepare for the vote thank you miss eismore heiser i'm going to take a turn on this one i spoke i sidebarred with mr dunn just now [02:58:06] about mr moon's idea on a forum topic and so rather than doing a motion after this particular contract i'll be talking to mr dunn about how to submit a forum topic so that we can have a a broader more detailed discussion than we want to at this hour all right there is no further discussion the question is on adopting 4.08 sole source contract amendment Jason learning all those in favor raise your hand Ms. Sizemoreheiser, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. McElveen, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Mr. Dunn, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Ms. Marin with Dr. Anderson away from the [02:58:39] table. Moving on to the next one. Item 4.09, sole source contract amendment, EduPoint Educational Systems. Is there discussion? Mr. Dunn. I would just like to make the same point with respect to this contract as the last one. This is an eight-year contract started in 2017. My concern is that it's a $2.8 million contract, and given the proclivities I've seen tonight and over the past [02:59:16] 10 years as an education advocate, I fear that next year there will be, you know, a one-year extension and a one-year extension and one-year extension after that. So I would, you know, I can defer this topic to the forum, and I'll withdraw my objection, but I do ask that, you know, just in general we look at long-term contracts and whether there are other service providers who can provide more bang for the buck rather than just continuing indefinitely so I withdraw my objection there being no further discussion the question is on adopting 4.09 sole source contract amendment edu point educational systems all those in favor please raise your hand [02:59:56] Ms. Sizemore heiser sorry Mr. Frisch I just saw that Ms. Marin had her hand raised I'm sorry Ms. Marin my apologies I was voting already okay Ms. Sizemore Heiser, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. McIlveen, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Mr. Dunn, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Ms. Marin, and Dr. Anderson away from the table. All right. We will now move on to item 4.11, additional advisory committee appointments. That was included in the, okay, [03:00:32] so we're done. All right. Thank you very much. Getting back to the primary script here. Agenda item five new business the following our new business agenda items there will not be a vote on these items this evening but action is scheduled at a future meeting the new business items are on the screen item number six agenda item six board matters next on the agenda is board matters I will call on each school board member to speak mr. moon mr. chairman just briefly I am happy to be [03:01:08] back to the school board so that I can work with the other 11 board members many of them are doing this for the first time even though I had done this for 20 years you know returning to the school board I surprisingly requiring a lot of adjustment in my own life especially with my day job I think a time demand has increased quite a bit over the last four year period but I'm hoping that it won't take too much time before I get fully adjusted to new lifestyle having said that having said that you know if you haven't read this [03:01:45] story I would like to share a one quick story with you about up a one of my former teachers from then TC Williams senior high school a mr. Louis coconut legendary now we have to call him legendary because he passed away on on January the 4th, he had taught until he died at the age of 91 for 65 years. What a life he had, [03:02:17] loving his more than 6,000 students, and I was fortunate enough to be one of those 6,000 students in my junior year in his algebra 5 back then pre-calculus class. Thank you, Mr. Kokonis. [03:02:34] I was happy to visit your class back in 2016 and invite you to our great beginnings to be introduced to more than 1,000 new teachers in Fairfax County in 2019. [03:02:49] Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Dixit. I'm thrilled to introduce myself as a newly elected school board member and a Sully District representative on the Fairfax County School Board. [03:03:08] Sully district has been my home since 2004 where I had the privilege of raising my family I'm a proud mother of two FCPS students and I understand the importance of quality quality education and it impacts my children our children's future Little background my husband and I immigrated from US to to US from India and we are really appreciative of the magnificent magnificent opportunities living in Fairfax County. [03:03:40] I'm a small business owner and also a non-profit co-founder and I've been very actively involved in the community, volunteering, being involved in the PTAs as a PTA leader and this has really, I guess, prepared me to today be in front of you and be a board member. [03:04:02] I want to thank you, all of the people and my fellow board members for, you know, I look forward to working with all of you. I want to thank to Stella who actually helped me, you know, introduced me to this position and kind of guided me through this. [03:04:22] And I'm especially thankful to the Sully District, all the residents for giving me this opportunity and I hope to serve all of you. And a quick shout out to Oakton High School Marching Band who won Metallica Marching Bad competition to whom the band chose and they will get an award of $15,000 thanks to all the parents, students and community members who voted for them. Go Cougars! And I hope 2024 brings you a lot [03:04:54] of love, laughter and joy. Thank you. Ms. Anderson. As I was getting ready tonight to figure out what I wanted to share, the number 11 kept coming up. The The last 11 months have been a whirlwind. [03:05:11] As someone who believes wholeheartedly in the importance of supporting your community, it took me the last 11 months for me to realize or to understand the leap that this role was going to be for my family and me. The last 11 days have proved that all I really saw was the tip of the iceberg with so many nuanced opportunities below the surface of what this position looks like from the outside. [03:05:33] I am eternally grateful for the guidance that I've received so far along the way. My predecessor, Laura Jane Cohn, offered me the best mentorship and cheerleading possible and has answered all of my crazy questions. My executive administrative assistant, Stephanie Sheridan, took the leap to continue to serve with the people of the Springfield District and ensure continuity for our office. [03:05:53] To my 11 colleagues on the board who have already proven themselves invaluable, we are all so different in so many ways and so alike in the ones that are the most important. desire to ensure that Fairfax County is the best school system possible for our kids. I have had way more than 11 meetings talking with county officials, several of our regional assistant superintendents, members of our leadership team, involved community members out there doing good work, and our amazing superintendent. Perhaps my favorite that I had the privilege of was speaking with the fifth grade scouts that are part of Troop 688 who stayed [03:06:30] engaged in our conversation for way longer than 11 minutes to the surprise of their parents. I so appreciated their time and attention and for sharing what I had already suspected. Our kids want to understand more about the decisions that we're making to help keep them safe. They want to be part of the conversation and we need to listen to them. That was reiterated last night at the hardest moment of the last 11 days. I was trying not to channel all of the [03:07:06] Springfield. I know I'm working on it. When I attended our community conversation to raise awareness at Edison High School and heard from the foster family about the loss of their son to fentanyl. We had students as young as sixth grade to stand up in the audience and ask us to make sure that their friends knew what they needed to know to keep to stay safe. Many of us on the board were there and we were listening very carefully. So despite this ended on a sad note I am amazingly excited about the adventure that we're about to start on and I'm looking so forward to working with all of you so thank you. [03:07:45] You are. Dr. Anderson. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. That was really lovely. That was really nice. I don't know that yet to that is yet to be seen. [03:08:02] Well, on a lighter note, I do want to say Happy New Year to everyone. Very excited to be back on this board. And I do want to extend my thanks to the Mason District for your trust in me to do this work to represent you. I am not here to represent what Riccardi Anderson thinks. [03:08:19] i'm here to represent and fight for what the mason district needs and what they need to have happen from our school division so thank you i do want to say to everyone there are a lot of opportunities on monday on martin luther king day to participate in various days of service there's a plethora of information on the fairfax county website and i do know that many of our schools have been posting opportunities as well online and with students so please take take the chance to engage in that time it's not just a day off as we [03:08:58] are pivoting into the second quarter which is quickly ending I'm sorry we're pivoting into the third quarter as the second quarter is quickly ending at the end of this month I do want to remind our parents there are two great opportunities for you to make sure you are tracking how your students are doing Please be sure that you are on ParentVUE and sign up so that you get weekly emails, however often you want them, so you don't have to go to see how your kids are doing. [03:09:25] The email is sent to you on a regular basis, as well as the Relay Lightspeed, where you can identify and review where your students are spending their time when they are using their FCPS devices. It is an invaluable resource for you to see how much YouTube your kids can actually engage in during science class. [03:09:47] Just another reminder to our high schoolers who are in the process of applying for financial aid, there are many FAFSA completion assistants. This is the Federal Student Aid Form. College Access Fairfax and FCPS have partnered to offer families with assistance in completing this document. [03:10:08] January 20th at Justice High School, January 30th at Annandale High School, February 20th also at Annandale High School. As we are engaging in the capital improvement program, as we are engaging in the budget program, I do encourage the Mason District and others to please come out at the public hearings and provide us with your feedback. Share your voice because that needs to be what informs our work and lastly I too am very excited to work with this group of colleagues especially tonight as I heard how people are approaching this work and I see the [03:10:48] variety of skills that so that you all are bringing into this work it really warms my heart that we are going to be diverse and not only our skills and our thinking but it only strengthens the work that this board can do when we have this diversity of thought so i'm very appreciate appreciative and very excited to embark with you all in the next four years thank you dr anderson mr dunn uh i'm i'm honored and humbled to have the opportunity to serve my community and fairfax county to make sure that every single child [03:11:27] regardless of where they come from who they are who their family is receives a world-class education. FCPS, when I was growing up overseas, I'd never lived in Virginia, I didn't know anyone in Virginia, but I had heard of Fairfax County as having the best schools in the world. So when I graduated from law school and my wife graduated from getting her master's in social work, we knew where we were going to live. There was absolutely no question. And, you know, moving to the Mount Vernon district 20 years ago was the best decision we ever made. All three of our children attended [03:12:03] FCPS from first grade through 12th grade, and they received outstanding educations. But it's hard as a parent nowadays, the threat of random gun violence, the threat of fentanyl overdoses that we saw last night with the heartbreaking story of the Fosters, the dangers overseas that seems to be infiltrating our society, rising intolerance and hate, wars that seem to be proliferating. [03:12:33] My children are entering the military, so that's a particular concern to me. Rising terrorism, just the threats never seem to end. And at the same time, we face numerous challenges in the wake of the pandemic. Rising anxiety and mental and behavioral stress, the learning loss that resulted during the pandemic, even though FCPS and the prior school board did the best they could. [03:12:59] And then, of course, the budget constraints we face with possibly a soft landing or possibly a recession. But in all of that, I see strong glimmers of hope. We have an absolutely incredible superintendent and an absolutely incredible staff, talented and dedicated educators who, despite the fact that they have too many administrative burdens and aren't paid enough, they're working their hearts out to make sure that every kid gets a world-class education, despite all the challenges that I just described and you know everyone from bus [03:13:37] drivers to the genders to the cafeteria workers we're all in this together and and I am cheered on by the fact and inspired by the fact that I have 11 colleagues who I'm still continuing to get introduced to but I'm continually in and awe of all that they've accomplished and all of their insights that I'm constantly enlisting in learning mode, not just being new to the board, but also listening to all of their ideas and suggestions. [03:14:10] And all 11 of them, frankly, serve as mentors to me of how to be a better school board member and how to be a better human. So I appreciate their service. I appreciate their models. And I hope that I can emulate the incredible predecessors by having Karen Corbett Sanders, Dan Stork, and Chris Amundsen to deliver to the Mount Vernon District all that they hope for their community, for their schools, for their families. [03:14:37] Thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Ms. Marin. - Yes, one second. Thank you. I too want to congratulate the Oakton band. I voted for you, yay band. [03:14:53] I will always support a marching band, especially one backed by an awesome rock group. So tonight and this season, lot of our high schools are hosting curriculum nights where our rising ninth graders will go to start to look at their schedules and my own daughter was one of them tonight and i haven't yet heard from her how that went but it did allow me to talk with her about her intentions for high school and you know i impressed all the opportunities that she'd have in front of her and one thing i said was you know your current principal um mr dr meisel over at langston you know he he sees you every day or he sees the students and and then you're gone and you know [03:15:30] I said, these teachers and these staff get their whole lives and they care so much about you. And then you go off and do whatever you do and they might never see you again. And I just, you know, I hope the public thinks about the kind of person it takes who can do that job, give their hearts to something and just let it go. And you'll be lucky if maybe you see a few of those students in the future. But I also wanted to reflect on the role of families. So, you know, the families are key and and i was um discouraged to hear one of the public comments tonight that you know we don't support families we don't welcome families but it is the families coming to curriculum nights [03:16:07] understand the academics with students that is what's going to help them succeed and so you know when i hear claims like you know fcps has to get our drug get drugs out of school problems of drugs of violence they're not going to be solved within our school walls they're going to be resolved outside in the community and we need the family's help so I'm just I'm glad that so many people are going to the curriculum nights and participating in all the ways that people do I also wanted to reflect upon you know the experience that it's it's kind of a new day for school boards and yeah the it's quite a different tenor these days but I am very thrilled to be back for a second term [03:16:45] and as I said earlier when I was humbled to be elected as vice chair I'm inspired by this new Board's approach to work and its commitment to excellence. I learned a lot from tonight's discussion about our contracts, and I think we have lots of interesting views to share. So I'm really excited to continue the work, finish off the second quarter, theater season's coming, sports seasons, and I'm just delighted to be here with Chair Carl Frisch to continue this work among us all. Have a good night. Thank you, Ms. Marin. Ms. St. John Cunning? Thank you. I'd like to [03:17:20] begin by thanking my family my friends the colleagues on this board and everyone in the Franconia district and really in my situation throughout Fairfax County that made it possible for me to be here tonight. [03:17:37] Like Miss Anderson I did not anticipate what was going to happen the past 11 months in terms of running for a position. A little bit about me and my background. I'm from El Paso, Texas. I'm the daughter of a Mexican immigrant mother and a Mexican-American father with an 18-generation history in these United States. [03:18:00] I am the proud product of a great public education, beginning from Head Start, through high school, where my debate coach inspired me to apply for a debate scholarship, which helped finance my time in college. [03:18:15] Ms. Rita Harlan was an amazing coach for so many people, and she changed the trajectory of my life, just like I know teachers in Fairfax County are doing for the students here. I went from being involved in FCPS as a parent. [03:18:31] Three of my daughters graduated from FCPS schools, and through that, I became a language interpreter, a family liaison, a family engagement region representative, and my last position, community school coordinator to sitting on this dais that's something I would have never imagined I say that so that I hope that other people out there not just parents but maybe students can maybe see this as a place where they can come to because believe me this is never where [03:19:03] I saw myself I'm humbled that I'm here and I'm honored to be serving with so many amazing colleagues the staff wow you guys blow me away you guys are amazing um we have a superintendent that is so committed to making this the best system in the united states she wants this to be a model for everyone to follow if we can do that we know that our kids are going to get the best of everything [03:19:41] all of the roles that i mentioned that i was were roles of service i serve teachers i serve students, I serve families. The title of school board representative does not in any way elevate me above my constituents, the teachers, the school staff, or families. It only means that I have a greater responsibility to continue serving all of you to the best of my ability to ensure that Fairfax County Public Schools continue to provide safe, equitable, inclusive schools where all [03:20:19] students teachers and families feel valued and respected thank you miss st john cunning miss lady good evening i want to begin by saying i'm honored to serve on this board with my esteemed colleagues as a duranesville magisterial district representative a lifelong learner i've thoroughly enjoyed our orientation training and i'm grateful to leadership team staff and returning board members for their time and patience answering questions a product of fivrex county i was so excited to return as an employee and i'm extremely proud of my 27 years of service as a counselor and director of student services kids were at the center of my work each and every day and i [03:20:57] endeavor to make that the case in my work on this board i'm excited to continue to learn more about fairfax county from this seat and particularly our drainsville community and schools i look forward to collaborating with my fellow school board members to support and partner with our superintendent in fairfax county's new strategic plan and meeting students families school staff and community members at different events across the county i want to thank our office of community relations for organizing community conversations to raise awareness about fentanyl and other drugs that took place last night as an high school. Overdoses in our country are up 400% over the past decade and we must educate all our students on the risks of [03:21:34] fentanyl as we teach, support, and empower them to reach out to a trusted adult when and if they or one of their peers is engaging in risk behavior. It is my hope that this message will reach all of our families and students. While there is great debate regarding age-appropriateness of discussing the sick reality in our world, I commend the sixth grade boy who stood up last and asked for training for his peers. We are all in this fight together. Now some good news from Trainsville. I was delighted to be present at the announcement of Ferris Thomas as the new principal at Franklin Sherman Elementary School starting January 16th. Ms. Thomas has spent 18 plus years in Fairfax County and most recently served as the assistant principal at Chester [03:22:13] Brook. I was especially happy to celebrate this promotion as I was a former colleague of Ms. Thomas at McLean High School. Congratulations and I look forward to working with Ms. Thomas in the Franklin Sherman Elementary School community. The Cooper Middle School Symphonic Band made history by being the first scholastic band from Fairfax County and Virginia invited to the Midwest International Band and Orchestra clinic in 20 years. This event is the Super Bowl of Music Education events and features the best bands and orchestras from around the world. To prepare for and qualify the students learn 14 pieces of music in four months including two world premieres. As a former performing arts [03:22:50] administrator at Chantilly I remain in awe of the talent across art system. The The Herndon High School Marching Band, the Pride, was invited and performed in the 2023 Pearl Harbor Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii. Having chaperoned the Chantilly Marching Band on this trip years ago, I know what an amazing experience this is for our students. [03:23:08] Congratulations to the pride of Herndon. As we approach this weekend, I hope that we will all pause and reflect on the amazing work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and honor his memory by continuing to fight against bigotry and intolerance and find ways in which we can live and work together and respect and honor each other. As Dr. Reed mentioned earlier, if you're looking for a family event for the Martin Luther King Day holiday, consider volunteering with Give Together, a collaboration between FCPS and Volunteer Fairfax and Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Thank you. [03:23:38] Thank you, Miss Lady. Mr. McElveen. Thank you, Mr. Frisch. So, it's wonderful to come back to so many new and fresh faces, and also some old faces, of course, no older than Mr. Moon himself. It's good to see you, But also some old friends, Mr. Smith, Mr. Presidio, Ms. Kennedy, Ms. King, and other folks who have stuck around. [03:24:08] So thanks for being here for us. But I do want to just use my time to express my profound thanks not only to Mr. Frisch and the old board members. Yes, the four of you are now considered old as well. But also to our clerk, Ms. Setlow, Mr. Jackson, and Tara, for all the work you've done over the past two months. [03:24:32] I don't know how you've done it. Well, I do know you haven't slept. But really, just all of us could not be more thankful for all the events and orientations. And certainly, Mr. Ho, with all the tech issues getting us up and running, we really do appreciate it. [03:24:50] So thank you to everyone. I'm looking forward to stimulating the next four years, and I think tonight's been a good start. So it's great to work with such a wonderful group. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. McAfee. [03:25:06] Mr. McDaniel. Thank you. I have to admit, I was sharing with my colleague from the Braddock District over here. I did not realize this was an introductory session that we were all going to go around on. But that being said, my wife sent me a video clip of our four-year-old in bed with the cat tonight. [03:25:32] And it was a very cute video. And I was sharing a picture with Dr. Reed that my two-year-old took this morning, a selfie. And as I've watched my own kids grow up, I see the opportunity that they're going to have being Fairfax County students. [03:25:49] And every time I see pictures of them, I'm reminded of the job that we all have and the responsibility that we all carry to all kids across Fairfax County, to Mr. Dunn's point, regardless of where they live. And I'm honored to be a part of that journey for the next four years. [03:26:08] I do have two, well, one item additionally. Some of the community is aware of the passing of the Fairfax NAACP branch president, Michelle Leet. She was not only the longest-serving board member of the county branch of the NAACP, but she was also a longtime PTA leader. [03:26:25] She served on the Fairfax County Council of PTAs in many roles, including as vice president of training. She also served on her local PTA board at Edison High School and on the Virginia PTA board. She touched many lives through her selfless volunteering. She's been described as a true servant leader, and I know that the board joins me in keeping her family and her thoughts and prayers. [03:26:47] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Ms. Sizemore Heiser. Thank you. And first, I just want to say I'm really excited to be back on the board serving in a new role as a Braddock district representative. So just a couple of words to my Braddock district constituents for those who don't know me as well as as is my at large may know or don't know that I've actually been a resident of the Braddock district for 22 years. I moved to the Braddock district when I was pregnant with my son and my daughter was a toddler. They both spent their entire education career in FCPS schools in the Braddock District, Kings Park, Kings Glen. My [03:27:26] daughter was the AAP program at Keene Mill. My son was at Hunt Valley for a little while and enhanced autism program. I see a Hunt Valley teacher in the audience before coming back to Kings Glen and they both graduated from Lake Braddock, my son in 2022. So I'm really excited to serve the district that I've called home where I've worked, I've lived, I've raised my family. So thank you for that honor of serving the district but I also am really glad that my service for the next four years will be informed by the countywide lens that I've had for the last four years and I think it really helps to have that balance between making sure the needs of my district are met but also understand that we are one school system. I think Mr. Dunn mentioned that [03:28:03] so thank you. In that I wanted to say I'm really glad to hear how powerful the town hall was. I was not able to be there because I was at the ACSD meeting which I'm the liaison to but I did go to the previous town hall that we held and I understand it was incredibly powerful and I really encourage all of our families to look at the materials we have on substance abuse and especially on the fentanyl crisis it can happen to anybody and it's incredibly deadly and it is valuable lessons that we can all as a community wrap our arms around our kids to help keep them safe so on a lighter [03:28:38] note I did want to lift up a couple things that are coming up soon for those theater fans like me Lake Braddock secondary school the middle school is doing Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer for anyone who's missing the holidays frost middle school is doing puffs young wizards edition both of those are this weekend in addition to that Robinson secondary school theater is doing a student-directed showcase on January 13th for those of you who are huge theater fans like me there's actually a website and FCPS you can google FCPS performing arts calendar and all these will pop up [03:29:12] it is the best theater locally not that I'm biased that you can find and it's great to support our young growing actors and actresses and thespians. So just lift that up as well. I'm really excited to attend some of these events in the Braddock district and be out and about. I want to thank my new colleagues. I'm really excited to work with all of you. I'm really excited to do the fresh perspectives, different experiences. We are really a group of so much talent and knowledge and experience. I'm really excited to learn from you as I work alongside you. And I just wanted to, you know, I have to say give a thanks to my colleagues who are not here [03:29:48] from the past four years it has truly been a trial by fire that we've gone through in the last four years and I think what that board went through is unlike no other and I just want to thank them for the work they did thank you miss Sizemore heiser I will take my turn happy new year to Providence district families since our last meeting I had an opportunity to attend a variety of holiday concerts at Providence district schools but I want to a little personal tonight my earliest memory growing up i was about three years old and [03:30:26] my two older sisters were already in school and my younger sister was one years old and when my mother would put her down for a nap we would get the latest books that i received in the mail we had a mail order book subscription and i did not understand how the postal service worked at three. They just arrived and there were new books to read and they were always a surprise and so my mother would open the box and then we would [03:30:54] pick a book to read and we would read it together before my nap. My mother passed away on November 30th and the last time I spoke to her before going back to California to be with her, which was the last time I spoke to her, she [03:31:26] congratulated me on being reelected and said she was proud of me, but she didn't know why I was doing it again. So why I do this, you know, people are like, you've got no kids. Why do you do this? [03:31:47] Because I want kids to be attracted to learning the way I was by the experiences I had growing up. And I want to avoid the experiences that made learning more difficult for anybody that I possibly can. And so I am excited to be working with this board. It's already been said we have a lot of unique talents and we're going to put those talents to the test, believe me. [03:32:17] And, you know, I first started talking to Ms. Marin about being vice chair and working together at VSBA this year in November. And we've had a lot of really great conversations about structure and how things operate and what our priorities should be and how the retreats are going to shape up with the governance committee chair and I am very much looking forward to doing whatever we can as a team to help this team succeed in the year in the six months that are in front of us and with that I will say I'm looking forward to honoring Martin Luther King Day on Monday [03:32:56] at the First Baptist Church of Vienna with Dr. Walton and many others in the community AND WE'RE NOT ADJOURNING BECAUSE THIS BOARD, IF YOU'VE FORGOTTEN, HAVE ONE MORE ITEM TO TAKE CARE OF AND CLOSED, BUT I WILL SAY GOOD NIGHT, MS. TOLAN, IF YOU'RE WATCHING. [03:33:12] YOU CAN GO TO BED NOW AND WE'LL BE BACK TO CLOSE THIS MEETING OFFICIALLY AFTER CLOSED. SO WE'LL BE BACK. WE ARE IN RECESS UNTIL WE RETURN. MR. SHERMAN, YOU MAY WANT TO MAKE A MOTION AGAIN TO GO INTO A CLOSED SESSION. [03:33:30] I DON'T KNOW IF I HAVE TO MAKE -- THANK YOU. JUST A MOMENT. [03:33:51] WE DO NOT NEED TO MAKE A MOTION TO GO BACK INTO CLOSE BECAUSE WE DID NOT ADJOURN CLOSED. SO WHAT IS THE -- THAT WOULD BE GREAT. WE'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. [03:34:08] I THINK THE BOARD HAS. BUT MY UNDERSTAND -- NO, I MEAN WE'VE NEVER DONE THIS. IF WE'RE REMOTIONING CLOSED, WE'VE NOT DONE THAT BEFORE. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT YOU RECESSED THE -- CORRECT. CLOSED MEETING. SO YOU CAN JUST RECONVENE AND -- THANK YOU. [03:34:24] SO WE WILL RECONVENE IN CLOSED AND WE'LL BE BACK TO finish and close out closed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com