Coraggio Consulting Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024 Date: Thursday, June 13, 2024 Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia Length: 4h 19m (video) Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9fdU0jHwo 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 2026-11-01. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:03] The June 13th 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 Terraset Tiger Chorus under the direction of Jonathan Andert and Matthew Christophe. [00:00:20] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. [00:01:08] One more round of applause for those talented kiddos. [00:02:38] - Agenda item 2.02, announcements. Mr. McElveen has submitted a written request to attend a portion of this evening's meeting virtually due to a personal conflict. All those in favor of approving Mr. McElveen's request. Ms. Seismarheiser, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Marin, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon. [00:03:02] That is unanimous for everybody at the table. Can we confirm that Mr. McElveen's audio and visual are working? - Good evening, Luther Jackson. - Welcome, Mr. McElveen. If you would like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight, that information may be found at the back of the auditorium or on the website fcps.edu/schoolboard/boarddocs. [00:03:29] Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on the website at fcps.edu/tv/ch99. This is a reminder that the school board members will no longer make remarks about a proclamation when it is presented for a board vote. [00:03:45] they may choose to make remarks during their board matters at the end of the meeting. Agenda Item 2.03, Caribbean American Heritage Month Proclamation. I call on Mr. McDaniel for a proclamation. Whereas June was designated as National Caribbean American Heritage Month in 2006 to promote the rich culture and heritage of the Caribbean American people and their contribution to the history and culture of the United States. [00:04:12] And whereas National Caribbean American Heritage Month spearheaded and championed by Dr. Claire Nelson, the first Jamaican woman to earn a doctorate degree in an engineering discipline and a founding member of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, has been celebrated across the nation since 2000, and whereas Caribbean individuals are some of the most ethnically diverse in the world and are a fusion of indigenous, African, European, and Asian descent, and the Caribbean also called the West Indies is made up of more than 700 islands, reefs, and caves, which are organized into 30 territories, including 13 sovereign nations, Antigua and Barbuda, [00:04:46] Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, and whereas the Caribbean diaspora in the United States is comprised of over 8.5 million individuals either born in the Caribbean or of Caribbean ancestry, with the majority of Caribbean immigrants in the United States migrating primarily from five countries, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago, and whereas the Caribbean has been at the center of heinous crimes against humanity, including the transatlantic slave trade, as approximately [00:05:22] 40% of enslaved Africans were shipped to the Caribbean islands, which in the 17th century surpassed Brazil as the principal market for enslaved labor, and whereas Fairfax County Public School celebrates the rich diversity and honors the many contributions of immigrants of Caribbean heritage to our nation, from founding father Alexander Hamilton, hailing from St. Kitts and Nevis, to Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sabe from Haiti, who established what would become Chicago, to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell from Jamaica and the Honorable Shirley Chisholm of Guyanese and Bahan descent, the first black woman to run as candidate for President of the United States of America, among many others. [00:06:01] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board does hereby proclaim June 2024 as Caribbean Heritage Month in celebration and recognition of the many contributions Caribbean Americans have made to our society thank you is there a second second miss lady a call for the vote all those in favor besides more Heiser mr. McDaniel miss lady miss a John Cunning miss Marin mr. Dunn dr. Anderson miss Anderson miss Dixit mr. Moon mr. McElveen and myself that is unanimous the emotion passes or the resolute the proclamation passes agenda item 2.04 immigrant [00:06:38] heritage month proclamation I call on mr. Dunn for a proclamation whereas the The United States promises to be a land in which all are created and treated fairly with equal access to opportunity. And America has long been a safe haven for those seeking refuge from economic and humanitarian crises, a better life, and a peaceful future. [00:07:02] And whereas generations of immigrants from every corner of the globe have built our country's economy and helped mold the unique character of our nation and county, the courage and entrepreneurial innovation of immigrants has generated millions of jobs across Virginia and led societal achievements across every major industry including education, healthcare, public service, law, engineering, construction, caregiving, manufacturing, service, agriculture, and countless others. And whereas immigrants have provided the United States with varied and unique social and cultural [00:07:38] influences fundamentally enriching the extraordinary fabric of our nation and whereas despite these countless contributions the role of immigrants in building and developing our nation has frequently been overlooked and undervalued throughout our history and continuing to the present day it is important to shed light on the valuable role generations of immigrants have had across our county and country and whereas immigrants have been tireless leaders not only in securing their own rights and access to equal opportunity, but have also campaigned to create a fairer and more just society for all Americans. [00:08:16] And whereas Fairfax County Public Schools commemorates World Refugee Day and honors the courage and humanity of the millions forced to flee violence, persecution, and war, our division honors the generosity of communities welcoming refugees and the bravery and dedication of humanitarian workers who provide life-saving assistance, often in challenging and dangerous conditions. [00:08:42] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board does hereby proclaim June 2024 as Immigrant Heritage Month and encourages all community members to embrace the significant contributions of our immigrant population. [00:08:59] Is there a second? Second. Mr. Moon. I will call for the vote. Ms. Seismorheiser, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Marin, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Mr. McElveen, and myself. [00:09:15] That is unanimous. The proclamation passes. Agenda Item 2.05, Juneteenth Proclamation. I call on Ms. Dixit for a proclamation. Paris, the month of June is the time that many in our nation recognize Juneteenth as a holiday that celebrates Emancipation Day. [00:09:33] The day in history when the last state ratified the Emancipation Proclamation. And whereas this date marks the time period when African Americans of Texas received notice from President Lincoln that slavery has been abolished, a declaration that was codified in the 13th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. [00:09:55] and June 19 also marks the day that African Americans in the southern state exercise independence from those who benefited from their labors in the founding of this nation and whereas the journey of African American represents both great achievements and great hardship our country realizes the injustice of the African American journey who historically and in the present day have not been treated equally under the law and the pain and anguish developed from generation of systemic racism that impacts our students, [00:10:30] families, state, staff, and communities. And Veris, the educational institution of this nation, including FCPS, has a particular responsibility to recognize the painful reality of our history and to make sure that our curriculum reflects these realities. And Veris, by working with the community as one Fairfax, this This school board is committed to implementing actionable items to improve policies and procedures to improve access to opportunities to ensure that students, families, and staff do not [00:11:06] experience inequality in the Fairfax County Public School. And whereas we value diversity and are united in our opposition to racism and hate, we stand in solidarity with our African American students, educators, staff, and their families. [00:11:23] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Public School hereby officially commemorates Juneteenth as a day to celebrate and emphasize a collective call to action against injustice of any kind. Thank you. Is there a second? [00:11:40] Second. Mr. McElveen, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, Ms. Sizemore-Heisner, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Marin, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Mr. McElveen and myself. that is unanimous. The proclamation passes. I call in Mr. Fish for a proclamation. Whereas June marks the anniversary of the first LGBTQIA pride parade over 50 years ago, which served as a call to collective action just one year after the Stonewall riots, where LGBTQIA plus people, especially queer youth and transgender women, resisted pervasive police harassment and violence during an early [00:12:19] morning bar raid in New York City, and whereas the decades since have been one of struggle and triumph for the LGBTQIA community. Despite increased understanding and legal protections, LGBTQIA plus youth still face many challenges, including the threat of their legal rights and protections being revoked across the country. Without accepting families, schools, and communities, they are far more likely to attempt suicide or experience homelessness. [00:12:43] And whereas recent studies show most LGBTQIA plus middle and high school students in Virginia say they have been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation and often hear negative remarks about transgender people in school. Additionally, middle and high school students in Virginia report experiencing physical assaults because of their LGBTQIA status. Students of color are disproportionately impacted by anti-LGBTQIA plus hostility, with large percentages of Latinx and black LGBTQIA plus middle and high school students experiencing bullying. And whereas now more than ever, the LGBTQIA plus people, especially transgender and gender expansive youth, are being [00:13:20] attacked by political leaders in Richmond and elsewhere verbally and in lawmaking who should know better than to bully children. The Fairfax County School Board stands with and celebrates its LGBTQIA+ students, families and staff. The school board recognizes the urgency of its charge to foster a responsive, caring and inclusive culture where LGBTQIA+ students are affirmed and see their identities reflected in instructional curriculum, school programs and school library offerings. [00:13:47] further commits to advancing policies that protect lgbtqia plus students and staff and enhance their experience in fairfax county public schools whereas the fairfax county school board appreciates the many contributions made by its lgbtqia plus students families and staff to the vibrancy of the broader school community fairfax county has a richly diverse lgbtqia population that includes people from all walks of life who should be able to live without fear of prejudice discrimination harassment or violence physical or political now therefore be it resolved the fairfax county school board on behalf of the students families and staff of fairfax county [00:14:21] public schools proclaims june 2024 as lgbtqia plus pride month in the spirit of one fairfax the fairfax county school board urges all to respect and honor our diverse lgbtqia plus community and to build a culture of inclusivity and equity not only during lgbtqia plus pride month but every day throughout the entire year as well is there a second second there is a second by miss lady i will call for the vote all those in favor please raise your hands looking around [00:14:54] the dais and online that is unanimous madam clerk agenda item 2.07 asian american and pacific islander heritage month proclamation i call on miss marron for a proclamation whereas asian Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, or AAPI, make up 20% of the population of Fairfax County including 35,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. [00:15:22] And whereas AAPIs have been emigrating to the United States for hundreds of years with the first documented arrival in Morro Bay in present-day California in the 1500s and today are the fastest growing racial group in the country, increasing in population by 81% between 2000 and 2019. [00:15:38] And whereas AAPIs have endured such injustices as the Naturalization Acts of 1790 and 1870, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese internment which established concentration camps that incarcerated Asian U.S. citizens from 1942 until 1946, and federal policy that prevented immigrants of Asian descent from becoming U.S. citizens and having access to the vote until 1952. [00:16:02] And whereas AAPI's continue to experience racism, harassment, employment discrimination and hate crimes in disproportionate numbers, including most recently with hate crimes against Asian Americans skyrocketing by 149% in major American cities from 2019 to 2020. [00:16:19] And whereas AAPI students' needs can get overlooked due to the model minority myth as evidenced by varying levels of high school dropout among different Asian American subgroups, greater than average, incidents of limited English proficiency, less return on degree for compensation when entering the labor market, and higher risk of contemplating or attempting suicide among AAPI college students. [00:16:40] And whereas AAPIs have made significant accomplishments and contributions in all areas of society that have propelled our country and have played a pivotal role in America's history for centuries, and famous AAPIs include Vice President Kamala Harris, Jumta Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winning author Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, A.J. Bott, co-inventor of the USB, George Takai, trailblazing Asian-American actor, Chien Hsieng Wu, known as the First Lady of Physics, Steve Chen, co-founder of YouTube, and Philip Vera Cruz, a Filipino-American labor organizer who worked alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to found the United Farm Workers. [00:17:16] And whereas Asian-American and Pacific Islander students and their families are an integral and long-standing part of the United States, Virginia, Fairfax County, and Fairfax County public schools and also reflect the rich and vibrant diversity of cultures histories and languages of the many different countries of asia and the pacific islands now therefore be it resolved that the fairfax county school board proclaims the observance of asian american and pacific islander heritage month in celebration and recognition of the many contributions asian americans and pacific islanders have made to our society is there a second second i will call for [00:17:49] the vote all those in favor looking around the room and online it appears to be unanimous madame clerk please announce the vote that proclamation passes thank you agenda item 2.08 rachel carson middle school theater renaming proclamation i call on miss dixit for a proclamation it's my honor and privilege to bring this proclamation to the school board whereas john bickford or mr b as students affectionately call him is an extraordinary teacher and mentor he has been the theater teacher [00:18:29] of Rachel Carson middle schools in the school's opening in 1998 in the 30 plus years total years of teaching 25 of those years at Carson he was responsible for teaching thousands of students and consistently went above and beyond to create opportunities for his students and give them the support they needed to grow and whereas through theater Jack Bickford taught students to be confident in themselves, lead others, speak and perform in front of crowds and be creative. His unparalleled talent of nurturing creativity, fostering a love [00:19:05] of the performing arts and instilling invaluable life lessons in his students. His unwavering commitment to excellence in his plays and musical at a level beyond what most would expect of middle school created environment where students were inspired to push their boundaries and explore their potential to the fullest. And whereas Josh Bigford was the glue that brought the community together like no one else could and went above and beyond to create something fantastic for all to enjoy over and over [00:19:38] and over again. Whereas outside the RCMS school year, Josh Bigford ran a very popular summer camp called Performer's Corner, where kids across FCPS learn acting skills, wrote and performed skills, and put on two full-length musicals at the end of summer. [00:19:58] Mr. Bigford has also impacted students beyond the Carlson community. For many years, he was a teacher at Institutes for the Arts and also served other theater programs and workshops throughout Northern Virginia. whereas Mr. Bigford is retiring from FCPS after 25 plus years of service at FCPS and has directed dozens of dramatic production and musical. His retirement marks a turning of an important page for the RCMS community. He leaves a profound legacy of promoting excellence and opportunity [00:20:33] for students. For the majority of time from 1998 to present, he was the only theater teacher at Carlson, where he crafted a well-respected theater program. By this careful thought for students, attention to detail, and honoring for students' imagination, he provided a vibrant platform for students to display hard work and talent on stage. [00:20:56] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the lecture hall at Rachel Carlson Middle School be named as Bickford Theater as a testament to his exceptional leadership and dedication, but but also to inspire generation of students to strive for excellence in the performing art. [00:21:14] The school bowl also extends its deepest gratitude for his service to FCPS and heartfelt congratulations on his retirement. [00:21:30] Is there a second? I second. Ms. Marin, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, Ms. Sizemore-Heisner, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Marin, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Mr. McAveen and myself, that is unanimous. [00:21:46] Before we continue it's the custom of this board to recognize the presence of elected officials and current and former school board members and we are graced with the presence of Michelle tog me the former student representative on our school board would you like to stand up and say we've still got it we can still make you embarrassed all right I would like to welcome Josh Bickford aka Mr. B and invite all those in support of the Bickford theater at Rachel Carson Middle School naming proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the [00:22:23] the front of the dais. I would like to invite all those in support of the Asian [00:24:22] American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month proclamation to please join the [00:24:27] board for a photo at the front of the dais. I would like to invite those in [00:25:56] support of the LGBTQIA Pride Month proclamation and please join the board for a photo. I would like to invite all those in support of the LGBTQIA+ Pride Month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the [00:26:22] dais. I would like to invite all those in support of the Juneteenth proclamation [00:27:20] to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais. I would like to invite all those in support of the Juneteenth proclamation to please join [00:27:45] the board for a photo at the front of the dais. I would like to invite all [00:28:42] those in support of the Immigrant Heritage Month proclamation to please [00:28:46] join the board for a photo at the front of the dais. I would like to invite all [00:29:22] those in support of the Caribbean American Heritage Month proclamation to [00:29:26] please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais agenda item agenda item 2.09 virginia [00:31:07] high school league teams recognition the school board is very pleased to recognize the recipients for the winter 2023 and spring 2024 vhsl state championship teams tonight please stand when your team is recognized after all recognitions are completed individual teams will be invited to have a photo with the board mystics it the board would like to recognize the chantilly high school Forensics Team for being awarded the VHSL Class 6 State Championship. The board would also like to [00:31:43] recognize Principal Amy Goodloe, Director of Student Activities, Corey Bowerman, and Coach Barbara Clowarty for their contribution to the team. The board would like to recognize the Lake Braddock Secondary School Gymnastics Team for winning the VHSL Class 6 Gymnastics Championships again. The board would also like to recognize Principal Lindsay Kearns, Director of Student activities Janice Pritchett and coach Mike Cooper for their contributions to [00:32:19] the team. Congratulations. The board would like to recognize the Langley High School boys swim and dive team for winning the VHSL class 6 swimming and diving state championship. The board would also like to recognize principal Kimberly Greer, director of student activities Jeff Noto, and coach Megan Overand for their contributions to the team. The board would like to recognize [00:32:56] the Langley High School boys tennis team for winning the VHSL class 6 Boys Tennis State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Kimberly Greer, Director of Student Activities Jeff Noto, and Coach Jack Porter for their contributions to the team. And the board would like to recognize the Langley High School Girls Tennis Team for winning the VHSL Class 6 Girls Tennis State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Kimberly Greer, Director of Student Activities Jeff Noto, and Coach Stephanie Henrinson for their contributions to the team. Let's go Saxons! [00:33:35] Continuing the accolade for Langley High School, the board would like to recognize the Langley High School debate team for being awarded the VHSL Class 6 Debate State Championship. [00:33:51] The board would also like to recognize Principal Kimberly Greer, Director of Student Activities Jeff Noro, and Forensics and Debate Coach Gifford Krivak for their contributions to the team. The board would like to recognize the McLean High School baseball team for winning the VHSL Class 6 Baseball State Championship. [00:34:18] They didn't care much about districts or regions, but they went and won on that state championship. Just kidding. The board will also like to recognize Principal Ellen Riley, Athletic Director Greg Miller, Head Coach John Dowling, and Coaches Ryan Kristoff, Joey Coogan, Kai Parrott for their contributions to the team. [00:34:36] Congratulations, McLean Highlanders. The board would like to recognize the McLean High School VHSL Film Festival Best Documentary Champions. [00:34:55] The board would also like to recognize Principal Helen Riley, Director of Student Activities Greg Miller, and Broadcast Journalism Advisor Lindsey Benedict for their contributions to the team. The board would like to recognize the McLean High School VHSL Class 6 Scholastic Bowl Champions. The board would also like to recognize Principal Ellen Riley, Director of Student Activities Greg Miller, and coaches Lindsey Benedict and Jeff Brachetti for their contributions to the team. [00:35:32] the board would like to recognize the robinson secondary school boys lacrosse team for winning the vhsl class 6 boys lacrosse state championship the board would also like to recognize principal tracy phillips director of student activities andy jimmo and coach matt curran for their [00:36:02] contributions to the team congratulations the board recognizes the south lakes high school boys basketball team for winning the vhsl class 6 boys basketball state championship for for the first time in school history. [00:36:23] The board recognizes Principal Kim Retzer, Director of Student Activities, Andrew Duggan, and Coach Mike Desmond for their contributions to the team. The board recognizes the South Lakes High School Girls Indoor Track Team for winning the VHSL Class 6 Indoor Track Championship. [00:36:42] The board recognizes Director of Student Activities, Andrew Duggan, Head Coach Scott Rakso, and Assistant Coaches Jeremy Lee and Damon Johnson, and also recognizes again Principal Kim Retzer and congratulates her on her retirement. you for your service to our school. The board would like to recognize the West Springfield High School men's crew team for winning the VASRA Division II Men's State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Mike Mukai, Director of Student Activities Leah Conte, and Coach Mark [00:37:22] Hemphill for their contributions to the team. The board would like to recognize the West Springfield High School Boys Outdoor Track Team for winning the VHSL Class Six Boys Outdoor Track State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Mike McKay, Director of Student Activities Leah Conte, Head Coach Chris Pellegrini, and Assistant Coaches Darren Williams, [00:37:56] Danielle Breedlove, Catherine Cherokee, Hannah Arts, Adam Polite, Charlotte Cruz, Colin Eccles, Charlie Lynn for their contributions to the team. And last but not least, the board would like to recognize the West Springfield High School women's crew team for winning the VASRA Division One Women's State Championship. The board would also like to [00:38:32] recognize Principal Mike Mukai, Director of Students Activities Leah Conte, and Coach Sean Mueller for their contributions to the team. The board would like to invite members of the Chantilly High School forensics team, school staff, and supporters to please join the board for a photo and I ask my colleagues to [00:38:55] please remain in front at the dais for the other photos. [00:39:41] - The board would like to invite the Lake Braddock Secondary School Gymnastics Team, school staff and supporters, [00:40:16] to please join the board for a photo. [00:40:32] The Lake Braddock Secondary School Gymnastics Team, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:41:00] The board would like to invite the Langley High School Boys Swim and Dive Team, school staff and supporters, [00:41:10] to please join the board for a photo. [00:41:51] The board would like to invite the Langley High School Boys Tennis Team, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:42:03] The board would like to invite Langley High School Girls Tennis Team, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:43:03] The board would like to invite the Langley High School Debate Team, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:43:51] The board would like to invite McLean High School Boys Baseball Team, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:44:38] The board would like to invite McLean High School Best Documentary Champion, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:45:35] The board would like to invite the McLean High School Scholastic Bowl Team, school staff and supporters, to please join the board for a photo. [00:46:46] The board would like to invite the Robinson Secondary School boys lacrosse team school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. [00:47:41] The board would like to invite the South Lakes High School boys basketball team school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. [00:48:45] The board would like to invite the South Lakes High School girls indoor track team school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. [00:50:03] The board would like to invite the West Springfield High School men's crew team, school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. [00:51:01] The board would like to invite the West Springfield High School boys outdoor track team, school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. [00:52:05] And the board would like to invite the West Springfield High School women's crew team, [00:52:47] school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. [00:53:38] Mr. Chair, that was our final photo. Board members, that was our final photo. [00:54:58] Before we continue with the agenda tonight, I'd like to [00:56:13] recognize Bill Curran, who is with us tonight, the director of student activities and athletics. Bill, stand up. He's retiring from FCPS. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Agenda item 3.01 community participation. The next order of business is community participation. We welcome all community members who are here and those who signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up to provide comments at school board regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board's website during the signup [00:56:50] process community members acknowledged they were informed of the school board's expectations for proper decorum when providing comments these expectations are also available online and with the printed agenda and materials meeting materials in the back of the room we ask audience members to be respectful of one another shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated please hold your applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks audience members may join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats including when recording video or taking photos. We are grateful to those who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation. School Board members will be listening but not responding. Madam Clerk please call the first speaker. [00:57:27] Sophie Zhang. Good evening my name is Sophie Zhang a junior at McLean High School. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today about an issue that I believe is crucial for the success of our community. The need to implement financial literacy education in our elementary schools. At the mall I'm often appalled to see the countless young elementary or middle school students swiping their parents credit cards left and right. When my Girl Scout [00:58:04] troop conducted a Money Smart session at a local elementary school, I was surprised by how limited their knowledge was on some basic concepts. Even in my high school's business club, I noticed many students lacking a solid grasp of financial knowledge like topics of loans and debts. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that children form persistent habits with money as young as age five and will be more likely to develop lifelong financial habits. Elementary school is the perfect time to start. They pick up new concepts quickly and can develop good habits early on. It's like learning to ride a [00:58:41] bike. The earlier you start the better you get. Now imagine the impact of every Every child understood the basics of money management by the time they reached middle school. We teach kids how to read books, but not how to read a bank statement. We teach kids how to solve math problems, but not how to solve financial problems. [00:59:01] We teach kids how to understand history, but not how to understand interest rates. These are fundamental skills as essential to any other subject in our curriculum. I remember participating in junior achievement at Haycock Elementary School. While these sessions were valuable, they were conducted by parent volunteers and were infrequent. [00:59:20] Many Fairfax County elementary schools didn't even have this opportunity. Thus, to address this gap, I propose that we incorporate formal financial literacy instruction into the elementary school curriculum. As Fairfax County is a leading school district in the nation, I hope we can set an example for the rest of the country, ensuring that all of our children have the tools they need to succeed. [00:59:48] Sigrid Simpson. Good evening Chairman Frisch and members of the school board. [01:00:05] My name is Sigurd Simpson and I'm a proud parent of a rising first grader in the Franconia district. We are here tonight on behalf of a group of parents who have concerns and questions about recent incidents at our school, mainly around communication with parents and guardians about those events. We feel that these concerns need to be addressed, but not in a public forum to maintain privacy and safety. [01:00:24] We are in touch with Representative St. John Cunningham's office to schedule a private meeting. So I want to express my gratitude. Thank you, Representative St. John Cunning for responding to us so quickly and agreeing to meet. We wanted to bring these concerns to your attention, alert this body of our progress, and we look forward to working with you all to address our concerns. [01:00:43] Thank you, Chairman Frisch and members of the school board for the opportunity to speak tonight. Kyla Newman. Hello, my name is Kyla Newman. I am here with Secret, and we represent a group of parents who are concerned about recent instances and that communication and... [01:01:14] FOLLOW UP ON THE LACK OF COMMUNICATION AND IMPROVE SAFETY AND COMMUNITY WELL-BEING. VERY GRATEFUL FOR ALL THAT THE BOARD DOES AND FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH THEM ALL. [01:01:29] WE RELY ON YOU TO EDUCATE, SUPPORT, AND PROTECT OUR CHILDREN. VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO CONTINUING THIS CONVERSATION. [01:01:46] CHRISTINA MCCORMICK: CHAIRPERSON FRISH, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, AND DR. REED, HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. So forgive me, I lost my voice being the hype woman at the Cappies on Monday, and it was lovely to see so many of you there. [01:02:04] So anyhow, my name is Chris McCormick, I'm the co-chair of FCPS Pride, board member for the Transgender Education Association, and most importantly, the parent of two FCPS students. I wanted to come tonight and thank you for your support this year of our LGBTQ students. [01:02:23] You've reaffirmed regulation 2603, which was wonderful. resisted book bans and supported inclusive theater. We have more work to do and more ways to grow including updating our FLE instruction and improving the climate for our FCPS staff. [01:02:39] At recent Pride events I've had the opportunity to talk with many FCPS families and staff and more often than not the employees are sharing with me that they don't feel comfortable being out at work and that they may not have the support from their administrative teams. Even the recent FCPS pride proclamation email failed to mention specifically LGBTQ. [01:03:00] It referred instead to all people and omissions like that are perceived as a microaggression and a form of erasure. So we can and we should do better. We also need to bring our FLE instruction in line with current evidence-based best practices as has been recommended by FLECAC. [01:03:18] The National Sex Education Standards recommends comprehensive sex education designed to be inclusive of all gender and sexual identities our lgbtq youth are already experiencing bullying and stigma separating them by gender for sex ed furthers this and completely ignores the existence of students who identify outside of the binary and further perpetuates heteronormativity with about one in four fcps students identifying as lgbtq we are failing to serve a large portion of our students thank you for your continued and i hope increased support of our lgbtq community [01:03:54] i look for vanessa hall okay hi my name is vanessa hall thank you for letting us all speak i'm the proud parent of two fcps students one of whom just graduated thank you all for attending graduations we really appreciate it i'm also a co-chair of fcps pride and i'd like to thank you for your support for our lgbtqi staff families and students by today's pride proclamation and all [01:04:33] your work this year we held a very small rally to celebrate the proclamation and other successes this year, like FCPS reaffirming transgender and non-binary student rights by loudly rejecting Youngkin's anti-trans policies and implementing policy 2603, by updating the FLE curriculum on consent, safety, and health, by working to make FLE more inclusive to all students, including our LGBTQIA community. [01:05:02] Also I'm guessing you're going to be implementing the updated Title IX regulations from the US Department of Ed that protects students from harassment and provides more consequences for assault. However, there's still lots of work to be done. [01:05:17] For example, our FLE curriculum is about three decades old. Interim changes have been beneficial but cannot address deficiencies at the core of a curriculum developed in a previous century when gay marriage was illegal and nearly all of our students and staff were still in the closet. [01:05:35] Virginia laws exist that prevent FLE from providing medically accurate and inclusive education to students, and students and staff are still targeted or bullied for actual or perceived sexuality or gender identity. Obviously, schools can only do so much, so I beg parents and guardians to think about their words and actions. [01:05:53] Since students model what they hear and see, we should try our best to treat others in our community with kindness and respect, yet we must remain vigilant to prevent bullying and harassment and harm to the to our community. Our work may never be done, but we appreciate working with all of you. The school board to make our school safe and welcoming space [01:06:13] for students and staff. Samantha Phelps. Howdy. Congrats on navigating a challenging budget season. Now I want you to I want to suggest some creative ways to help retain staff and prepare for next year's budget, which Mr. Dunn has indicated will likely be be even worse. [01:06:47] Firstly, as many of you have mentioned, FCPS should use its influence to negotiate benefits for our staff. Many employees cannot afford to live within our county. Why not make their commutes more affordable by collaborating with other divisions to secure discounts on toll roads and mass transit for school employees? [01:07:04] As someone who commutes from Stafford to Tyson's, I can attest that this would help me feel appreciated by FCPS. Secondly, address policies that are currently causing harm, such as the daily rate calculation that means a day missed in June costs an employee double that of a day missed in May for those who would leave without pay. [01:07:22] This policy causes tremendous harm to already vulnerable employees and their families. While we can wait until 2026 for the year-round pay, this issue needs immediate attention, show us you care, and address it now. Finally, continue your good work on leave sharing by allowing more open donations. [01:07:40] This would help ease the financial burdens of many, such as those forced to use 21 days of leave to qualify for disability. When my one-year-old daughter was sick, several colleagues offered to cover my classes themselves and get a sub for their own classes just to prevent me from having to go without pay. Amazing colleagues, right? But why should they have to go to such lengths to help one of your employees when you can show you care and help? [01:08:05] Thank you for your time and considering these suggestions. Kristen Loesch. I'M HERE TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF A FAIRFRAX COUNTY CONTRACTOR, GOYL SERVICES, AND TO ASK THE BOARD NOT TO AWARD THE CONTRACT THAT IS ON ITEM 9.02 TONIGHT BECAUSE THIS CONTRACT WAS IMPROPERLY REMOVED FROM BOARD CONSIDERATION -- FROM BID CONSIDERATION. [01:08:35] THERE ARE -- I SUBMITTED HANDOUTS AND I'LL ASK THAT THE BOARD CONSIDER THEM BEFORE TAKING ANY ACTION ON THAT MOTION TODAY. THE THREE REASONS THAT THEY WERE IMPROPERLY REMOVED WERE THE COUNTY IMPROPERLY REJECTED THE GOYL BID. based on an incorrect allegation of a pricing error, and they cited to an email where the contractor asked to correct a Scrivener's error that amounted to an improper period that was a typo and one-line item price, and in that email, which is attached as attachment B to your packet, the contractor confirmed that there was absolutely no error in pricing, [01:09:13] that the subtotals and the totals were absolutely correct, and he stood behind and was committed to the pricing that was in the bid. However, there was no error in pricing and the county rejected them and said it was because there was errors in pricing. [01:09:29] Section 11 of the IFB allows the board to waive these informalities and to allow Scrivener's errors and had allowed them to be corrected in the past. So it was an arbitrary and capricious rejection of their bid on that basis. They secondly rejected the bid and removed it from consideration based on low item pricing. [01:09:51] And you'll see in the packet that that is not improper to have low amount of pricing on certain line items. And it's not commercially unreasonable because Goyle stood by its pricing. And the county had awarded Goyle pricing a contract previously based on the same type OF PRICING AND HAD TOLD IT AND OTHER CONTRACTORS THAT IT COULD NOT HAVE A ZERO LINE ITEM BUT THAT IT COULD HAVE A ONE-CENT ITEM AND PREVIOUSLY AWARDED CONTRACTS FOR THAT SAME PRICING SYSTEM. [01:10:21] FINALLY, PJ GOYLE. THANK YOU, BOARD. MY NAME IS PJ GOYLE. I AM PRESIDENT AND OWNER OF GOYLE SERVICES, ASIAN EMERGENCY RESPONSE HAZARDISMATERIAL ABATEMENT CONTRACTOR. FAIRFAX COUNTY IS ONE OF THE LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN WHICH COMPANIES 407 SQUARE MILES. THE BUILDINGS IN THIS [01:10:54] CONTRACT REQUIRE EMERGENCY RESPONSE WITHIN WITH FOUR CREWS IN FOUR HOURS TO SERVICE THE 28 MILLION SQUARE FEET AND 199 SCHOOLS AND THE ONLY WAY THAT THIS IS POSSIBLE IS TO BE HERE THE CONTRACTOR BEING ASKED FOR YOU TO APPROVE IN 9.02 IS OUT OF HOPEWELL VIRGINIA WHICH IS 140 MILES AWAY FROM GREAT FALLS TO THEIR OFFICE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BRING ASBESTOS REMOVAL WORKERS AND STAFF AND AND EQUIPMENT AND ARRIVE AT FOUR SCHOOLS IN THIS DISTRICT IN FOUR HOURS. [01:11:31] ON OUR BID WE WERE GOING OVER THE REASONS OF WHY FACILITIES IS ALWAYS THIS IS AN EMERGENCY RESPONSE CONTRACT AND FACILITIES HAS ALWAYS DONE A GREAT JOB OF HAVING A PLAN A AND A PLAN B TO HANDLE EMERGENCIES AND FOR DECADES NO SCHOOL HAS NEVER OPENED UNLIKE MOST OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN OUR REGION DUE TO ASBESTOS CONTAMINATION OR CONTRACTOR BEING BEHIND. [01:11:57] THAT IS DUE FOR THE LAST 12 YEARS WE'VE BEEN ONE OF THOSE TWO CONTRACTORS FOR THE NINE. LAST NINE I'VE BEEN THE PRIMARY CONTRACTOR. I LIVE IN THE MOUNT FERNAND DISTRICT. I AM LOCAL. MY BASE SCHOOL IS HOLLAND MEADOWS. I HAVE FOUR KIDS THAT HAVE GONE THROUGH THE SCHOOLS. [01:12:15] I work where I live so again there's no way that the existing contractor being asked can possibly perform the scope of work and it is one of the major facets of the award of this contract secondly they are eliminating there were three bidders on this contract two one of which was me [01:12:36] both are large and the second contractor Mark Spooner good evening the community survey about the FLECAC proposals was almost impossible to find on the website and it didn't describe the 41 [01:13:16] proposals that were we were being asked to comment on so I was only able to comment generally I did learn that FLECAC wants to teach gender gender identity in the elementary schools a terrible idea kids at that level shouldn't be told that their biological sex may not be real and even Even worse, the lessons would create a firestone of controversy. [01:13:39] Are they going to be told that their sex is artificially assigned at birth? Will they be told that mental health issues are at the core of many who question their gender? Don't do this. It is not appropriate and it will cause too much controversy. [01:13:58] On another issue, one of last year's proposals to put boys and girls into co-ed sex ed classes in elementary schools was overwhelmingly opposed by parents students and employees but not wanting to say no to the advocates this board didn't vote on it this year and i have been led to believe that it won't be voted on this year either but this may be beside the point because i've learned that such classes are being quietly added anyway in a so-called pilot program i think this is a [01:14:31] slap in the face to the community no one wants it except for a tiny minority this isn't an issue of exclusion or fairness or fundamental rights it's just a question of what's the best way to teach sensitive subjects to young minds don't do this just because there might be one kid in a thousand who doesn't want to choose whether to attend the boys class or the girls class say no for once why everyone else's rights be subservient to the transgender agenda whether it be in [01:15:05] the classroom please play the video testimony testimony submitted by Stephanie Lundquist Aurora good evening as we approach June 26th when you'll be considering the changes to the family life education curriculum of course when families leave for their summer vacations I'd like you to ask yourselves [01:15:39] how inclusive are you really how much do you care about parental and community output as you consider these changes you've appointed an ideologically homogeneous committee to advise you so basically you selected people to advise you who already agree with you pretty much strategically and last year survey respondents overwhelmingly disagreed with the recommendations from the committee. They disagreed that we should have combined sex education and family life education curriculum. They disagreed about gender ideology education in elementary schools overwhelmingly. [01:16:18] And when we said that on the surveys, Dr. Reed said, well, the majority doesn't always dictate, right? Was she foreshadowing how you're going to vote? It kind of seems that way as we approach June 26th. In addition to those absurd recommendations, this year your committee recommended that the 4th graders should watch a video where the children would see the explicit images of the drawings of the genitals and the puberty journeys of the opposite sex. What's your [01:16:55] hurry, really? Why do children in 4th grade need to know all of this stuff right now? Now, I know how much all of you claim to care about inclusivity because you talk about it all the time, so I'm wondering, have you went around and made sure that everybody understands what you're trying to do before you vote? For example, have you pitched this at the mosques? Have you got everybody's opinion about what you intend to do when you want to indoctrinate our children with gender ideology? [01:17:22] I think you should ask yourself that for the sake of inclusivity. Please play the video testimony submitted by Robert Rigby Jr. Good evening. My name is Robert Rigby Jr. A hearty and happy pride to all who can safely live as themselves in their families and communities and a hopeful prayer for those who cannot yet do so. Congratulations to the graduates. I will speak tonight about the [01:17:57] effectiveness of family life education curriculum and the process of development in Fairfax County Public Schools. Much research over the years tells us that comprehensive sexuality education is of great benefit to students the family life education curriculum in fairfax county public schools is not yet comprehensive sexuality education we need to begin at first principles and develop a program that meets the needs of children that is we need to start over we had [01:18:32] a good start in the 90s and people have worked very hard to improve on it alas i think we have have been distracted over the years by much smoke that is really unconnected to the topic of sex education. So we need to start over. We need to base our program on the scientific educational research that exists with the best interests of our students in mind. As for family life education as it stands now in this county, my estimation is that it does more harm than good from a progressive child-centered point of view. An important task while we revamp the program [01:19:11] from its first principles is to remove those elements that cause harm while we're doing that revamping. Note, I abdure and forbid the use of my words here or parts of my words for purposes antithetical to mine and by groups that are unwelcoming to students on the basis of race, disability, gender, sexuality, religion, or culture. [01:19:38] Chair Frisch, that was our last public speaker. Gender Item 4.01, Student Representative Matters. I call on Ms. Corinne. Thank you, Mr. Frisch. [01:19:56] Good evening, everybody. As a reminder, my remarks are always posted on board docs for anybody who would like to follow along. At our last board meeting, we discussed significant inconsistencies in the availability of classes across our schools, particularly in computer science education. [01:20:11] Dr. Reed's data clearly showed that offerings vary widely. Some schools have robust programs, while others have limited options. This variability challenges our district's ability to meet the VDO mandate to integrate computer science from kindergarten to eighth grade. Currently, we are constrained by two main issues, a lack of sufficient staffing and limited funding. [01:20:33] Despite these challenges, we have a valuable resource, our students. The Technology Youth Empowerment Group, founded by the Student Equity Ambassador Leader Program, exemplifies how high school students can make a substantial difference. This group of high schoolers has formed their own 501c3 non-profit organization and are passionately teaching STEM education throughout Fairfax County. [01:20:54] Their initiative is entirely volunteer-based, driven by their commitment to addressing inequities in STEM education. These students are making a significant impact beyond bridging gaps. They are actively enhancing our educational offerings. By leading after-school programs, they allow us to expand educational opportunities without additional financial investment. [01:21:16] This approach not only helps us manage our limited resources, but also significantly enriches the educational experiences for everybody involved. Students are constantly seeking opportunities to engage, and I can attest to this from my own experiences. [01:21:32] While these efforts often originate at the school level, we as a school board should take the lead in promoting and facilitating this involvement, as it is not happening as extensively as it should. By proactively facilitating this engagement, we can also ensure that students with disabilities and ESOL students are included. [01:21:51] These groups are often underrepresented in school activities, and through the establishment and support of these programs, we can guarantee their participation and representation, creating a more inclusive school environment. Moving on, we need to optimize the use of advisory periods to communicate valuable resources within our county more effectively. [01:22:11] Currently, many students end up scrolling through social media when they aren't studying or working on assignments. By better utilizing this time, we can reduce these distractions and provide essential information. For example, when I encounter a challenging math problem, I often give up and turn to social media for a break. [01:22:29] But if I were aware of how accessible and user-friendly Tutor.com is, I might be more inclined to use it and be more productive. Similarly, students who complete their work could benefit from exploring opportunities on Naviance, but they may not know how to navigate it efficiently. Advisory periods should be maximized to ensure productivity by highlighting available resources like Tudor.com, Naviance, our career specialists, Hazel Health, and even the safety tip line. Our objective should be to make these resources so well known that students are more surprised if their peers are unaware of them. By focusing advisory [01:23:06] periods on sharing and educating students about these resources and how to use them, we can enhance overall productivity and ensure students are well-informed about the support available to them. Moving on, I want to discuss another issue regarding the variability in classes across our school system. Although I previously mentioned how courses can vary depending on the school's location and how grading differs, a new concern has emerged about the inconsistency within the same school. Achieving the grade you desire can often depend purely on the luck of which teacher you get. For instance, if I were to take AP Lang with Ms. Johnson, I might face [01:23:43] a very different coursework and workload compared to another junior who is taking the same subject with Ms. Kim. This issue isn't limited just to AP Lang. It's a widespread concern across various subjects. It seems unfair that students enrolled in the same course at the same level experience such discrepancies. I believe it's essential to encourage our teachers to standardize their approach within their respective departments. I've heard countless complaints about having the harder or easier teacher, but ideally there should be no such distinction. The experience should be uniform for everybody. We need our departments to collaborate closely to ensure uniformity [01:24:21] and teaching standards across all subjects. No teacher should have a different retake policy or assign varying amounts of work compared to another teacher who teaches the same subject. This way, achieving the desired grade depends solely on the student's performance, not on the luck of what teacher they have. I also want to address a concern regarding the rounding rules currently implemented by FCPS for students' grades. Often, students find themselves just 0.2 or 0.3 away from the next higher grade, and according to our current guidelines, grades calculated on a 100-point scale are rounded up to the nearest whole number, only if they reach 0.5 or above. For example, a grid of [01:25:00] 89.5, which would be a B plus, would be rounded up to a 90, which is an A minus. However, a grade of 89.4, which is a B plus, remains unchanged because it doesn't meet the 0.5 threshold, even though it is only 0.1 away from the A minus threshold. [01:25:16] The same principle applies to 4.0 scales with a threshold of 0.05. This method may prevent students from achieving a grade that could be crucial for their academic progression, suggesting a need to revisit and potentially expand these rounding rules. Lastly, I'd like to address the challenges faced by students who join FCPS later in their academic journey, particularly those who do not start with us from a young age. [01:25:40] This issue frequently arises when courses taken in other districts do not align with our curriculum. For example, I have a friend from Canada who transferred here just before 9th grade. Despite completing Algebra 1 in Canada, the difference in course naming conventions meant she had to repeat Algebra 1 instead of advancing to geometry. [01:25:59] The option of summer classes exists, but it's not always financially feasible for everybody. Similarly, another friend who moved from another country within Virginia started with us in his sophomore year and had to enroll in biology, a year behind the typical schedule where sophomores are expected to take chemistry. [01:26:15] This delay hindered his ability to choose from the broader range of AP or IB science courses typically available to juniors. The frustration of retaking courses due to transfer issues is avoidable. These students are advocating for the introduction of exemption tests similar to those used for language credits in subjects like Algebra 1, Biology, and more. [01:26:38] It's essential that we do not force students to repeat courses if they have already demonstrated proficiency elsewhere. Providing these tests would not only prevent unnecessary repetition, but also ensure that all students have the opportunity to engage with courses that truly interest them. [01:26:54] For example, my friend who took Biology his sophomore year, he had to take Chemistry his junior year this meant that he could only choose one AP science his senior year in contrast someone who is in FCPS before high school has the flexibility to choose any science they want for both their junior and senior years thank you thank you agenda item 5.01 action item certification of closed meeting compliance since the board needs to reconvene our closed meeting we will take care of action item 5.01 after we complete our closed meeting later [01:27:27] TONIGHT AGENDA ITEM 5.02 ACTION ITEM CONFIRMATION OF ACTION TAKEN AND CLOSED WE WILL COME BACK TO THIS AGAIN AFTER WE FINISH OUR CLOSED SESSION THIS EVENING AGENDA ITEM 5.03 ACTION ITEM SUB LEASE 619 SOUTH PICKET STREET WAREHOUSE I CALL ON DR. ANDERSON FOR A MOTION THANK YOU I MOVE THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD AUTHORIZE THE DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT OR THE CHIEF OF FACILITIES SERVICES AND CAPITAL PROGRAMS EITHER OF WHOM MAY ACT WITHOUT THE OTHER TO TAKE ALL ACTIONS [01:28:05] reasonably necessary and appropriate to solicit negotiate enter into and administer one or more agreements and related documentation for the sublease of all or any parts of the facility located at 619 south pickett street alexandria on terms and conditions deem advantages to the school board and with the advice of division council is there a second second miss lady dr anderson would you like to speak to your motion no thank you miss lady would you like to speak to [01:28:41] your second no thank you mr dunn um i i have a fairly large problem with this uh contract um it was entered into in june 2022 a five-year contract uh ostensibly to provide for the refrigeration and and uh storage cold storage of food during the pandemic the issue is that the the pandemic was already over in June 2022, and yet we are burdened with a contract [01:29:19] that will waste potentially millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars. I understand that I've requested abundant information on this contract to understand why it was entered into, what we can do to remedy it. [01:29:36] The answers have not been to my satisfaction. I believe that, well, I'd like to ask superintendent do you have an understanding why this contract was entered into in june 2022 after the pandemic had ended um i was not here in june of 2022 but i have the documents which have been shared with you that i've reviewed which i think you've already described it was to store food right in the freezer right it was to be used by our food and nutrition services at any time has [01:30:13] Has this warehouse actually been used for the storage of food for FCPS? I'll have to, Mr. Muick, has the warehouse been used to store food? It was for a little bit after they got that lease, and what led them to get the lease back then, I wasn't here as well, but the meals they were serving went from $110,000 to $160,000, and they were still serving those kind of meals when they made that decision. [01:30:42] So I know we say it was tied to the pandemic, and the pandemic was over. Those were the meal numbers they had at that time. And to what extent has, why would the, why would FCPS not consider breaking the contract given that the landlord has a duty to mitigate and having done similar breaking of warehouse contracts in the Alexandria area, at most, in my experience, you pay a couple months rent. [01:31:15] What is the downside to FCPS to pursuing it as any commercial vendor would? I would say we certainly can continue to pursue it. What we've been looking for is someone else to lease the property, and there haven't been a lot of someone else's interested in leasing the property. [01:31:38] So the current consent agenda item for a sublease is sort of the best deal that has come across our path here as we've worked to sublease it. And I certainly don't blame you, Dr. Reed, since this was before your time, but will this course of action that is proposed on the agenda not cost a couple million dollars of taxpayer dollars? [01:32:05] Well, what's on the agenda is actually subleasing, so it'll save some of the lease that we're already paying. So I don't think it's going to cost us more to sublease it. It should save us money. The analysis I've seen said it would cost approximately $1.7 million, even if you sublease it because you're not recovering the full cost of the contract lease. [01:32:29] It is costing us money for sure. What we're trying to do is minimize the cost to us. So certainly if we could find someone that was interested in leasing the whole property, we would value that as an option as well. [01:32:46] I guess my question, again, is why are we not breaking the lease? If we're not going to use it for five years and we're only a year into it, would that not save more money ultimately? I believe there are certain legal concerns about breaking the lease, and I'm happy to discuss that further. [01:33:06] I think perhaps if we get into the legal risk that's connected to that, it would be an item better suited for a closed session. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Dr. Anderson? just to clarify we have a five-year lease on this space and we are not using it currently is there any way that we could use it or is it just too large is it just too much facility for our needs just trying to find a way to make it useful since we have to pay it well one of the [01:33:42] things we've talked about but one of the things we've talked about is utilizing part of it for the warehouse for our theater props and all of the you know sets and those types of things which we want to have a warehouse for we sort of didn't want to start moving things into that property if we're trying to sublease it right like because all we need to do is move everything in and then find someone that is interested which we would then want to sublease it to save those monies so So what we're hopeful is if we can sublease the freezer area or sublease some of the area [01:34:21] to save some money, we could use part of the warehouse for storage, or go back to the Fort Center, which is sort of where we'd lean, which wouldn't be an increased cost, but an opportunity to begin the warehouse of theater sets and so forth, and I know the board has a high interest and I'm directed to identify a solution for. [01:34:43] just one last question is this a five-year lease or one-year lease with four one-year extensions the total it's a five-year lease it's a five-year lease and it did not have good termination clause in it from the get-go which if I could I couldn't get off of the the mute button earlier to address mr. Dunn's question which led you know to to be able to just terminate and default you know ties into the county's bond rating and the risk and it was just something that just did not seem worthwhile to do. [01:35:17] And the total of this each year is, again? It's $60,000 a month, so $300,000. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. [01:35:35] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of questions. I know a superintendent and our, Mr. Mewick, hopefully you are listening, that I know neither of you were there when this contract was entered, if this lease agreement was entered into. [01:35:53] but it's but is it true that at the time that we need to find the space rather urgently and and my understanding is that this was the best we could get at the time is it is it fair to characterize yes the situation as such yes sir and then now we are trying to minimize mitigate our losses basically because we're not using the space but we need to under the contract under the lease agreement we need to continue to pay the rent correct and so we try we're trying [01:36:32] to sublease at least a part of the premises right now and then a what's remaining we are trying to find another another sub let's see subtenant to is that fair for me to for the board to understand that's the plan for the staff yes sir it is okay uh and as far as a landlord's duty to mitigate is concerned and we have a legal counsel here but the landlord may not be able to [01:37:05] find the kind of subtenants that can take over entire premises and being able to pay full rent yes sir we've been working with a broker to find sub leasers and we've had four that got close but then just lost interest for various reasons. And those four were looking at the entire space. And we now have a fifth who is very interested in the warehouse part of it, which is a little over half, which is which led us to [01:37:43] what Dr. Reed said, hey, this would be a good way to mitigate as much of that cost as we could. So rather than it is a judgment of the staff and superintendent that rather than us, rather than And rather than just waiting for the landlord to find subtenants, we have a willing subtenant to come in to take at least part of the premises with certain rental rate. [01:38:10] Is that that is how we wanted to mitigate and minimize our losses? Yes, sir. There is no incentive for the landlord to be going out looking for somebody to replace us. So it pretty much falls on us. I mean, obviously, obviously, you know, many of us were not there when, you know, board might have approved, you know, school system entering into this lease at the time. [01:38:32] But it's regrettable that we are incurring, you know, losses in rent payment, but at the same time, at this point, in effort to minimize our losses, this is a proven way to pursue. So so with that in my mind in mind our support promotion what I'm hoping is a step to make a diligent efforts to find a additional sub tenants to be able to sublease the remaining space. [01:39:01] Yes sir. Thank you Mr. Moon. Ms. Marin. There was a reference to the county and the concern about the bond rating of our school system. Has there been any involvement by the county. Can they use this space. [01:39:16] I'm just curious about that. There's not been any connection with the county. I do wonder if this space is of use to the county since we are tied together in our bond rating. This could be an area for some partnership and support. So Dr. Reed you have inherited this is now I think the third five-year contract that has been of concern. [01:39:41] This one Schoology while I'm not financially concerned I know the users have had concerns with it and Cigna I'd like to know what kind of counsel you're developing or what your approaches on contracting and having you know going forward putting in place these these fail safes so we don't find ourselves in these situations in the future so it's i think sometimes um in this case perhaps hindsight is 2020 right i think in the moment people made the best decision they could particularly about the warehouse if there was an urgent need and again i wasn't here [01:40:20] in 2022 and if you were the food preparation exponentially increases probably there was a feeling right that there was an urgent need i think what i um what mr muick commented on is i think it would be it's incumbent upon me to make sure that our staff has clauses within these agreements that are more uh division friendly perhaps to uh the changing conditions that we might find ourselves over the course of multi-year contracts so that's something I think in particular we can work on I will say with regard to Cigna we are [01:40:58] partnering with the county on Cigna benefits and work and I also want to publicly thank Brian Hill the county executive for supporting and really providing tremendous intervention support to maintain Shady Grove as a fertility clinic client of Cigna so that our 286 employees that are in the middle of IVF treatment are able to continue that and I really appreciate the county and Brian's intervention on that [01:41:33] so we do work together on topics I think that are very important topics but I think it's those clauses that are critical it's not just whether we do it but like what do the conditions within the contract and be very thoughtful about that so I hope that answers your question yes thank you mr. done have there been any discussions with the landlord to seek to terminate or exit the lease I have not personally been involved in discussions to terminate the lease or there have [01:42:06] and he has no interest in terminating you mentioned the county bond rating I I consider that a red herring. So do you have, have you had any concrete conversations with Brian Hill or any member of the Board of Supervisors or any representative of the county government that stated affirmatively that terminating this lease, breaking this lease would affect the county bond rating? [01:42:34] No, sir. Given this and other procurement issues, have there been or are there underway any procurement reforms within FCPS to avoid this happening again? [01:42:50] So to Ms. Marron's question, I think that was a similar question. I know that we had, I believe Ms. Coe was here this evening, and there was previously a procurement audit done, I think, relatively recently, maybe? [01:43:09] So, I don't know. I think the recommendations of that audit certainly were presented, I think, to the prior board, and those recommendations, I believe, those management recommendations would be acted on in terms of a management response. [01:43:24] I don't know. I know Ms. Ko didn't plan to talk about that this evening, so I don't know if you want to comment or not. Yeah, and thank you, Dr. Rich. So my recollection is that the last procurement audit was somewhere around the year 2020. [01:43:41] And in a little bit later on, for item 8.03, I will be presenting to the board about the next year audit plan. And then we will speak about the procurement audit that I propose to do in fiscal year 25. Ms. Koh, in your judgment, have all of the recommendations of your procurement audit from 2020 been fully implemented at this point? [01:44:07] At the time when we concluded and followed up upon the audit recommendations, those recommendations have been incorporated and implemented. Okay, so this five-year contract was entered into despite all of the procurement recommendations being fully implemented. [01:44:26] so our review at the time i don't have the audit objective right in front of me so i think it's a fair question but i have to really looked at what we looked at what we audit because there are so many things within the procurement arena right but i would like to say that in the upcoming audit tonight i hear there are different you know challenges that would definitely be a considerations in the next year audit thank you thank you mr dunn we will go to a vote on the motion which is on the screen all those in favor of the motion on the screen [01:45:03] miss Sizemore heiser mr mcdaniel miss lady miss st john cunning miss marron dr anderson miss anderson miss dixit mr moon mr mckelveen and myself all those opposed mr dunn abstentions will the clerk read the vote the votes 11-1 the motion passes thank you agenda item 10 new business the following are oops i'm way too far ahead sorry folks everybody got excited real quick agenda item 6.01 performance review [01:45:42] ASSET PROTECTION EL7 MONITORING REPORT. I CALL ON DR. REED FOR A MONITORING REPORT ON EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 7 ASSET PROTECTION. THANKS, ARMON. [01:46:09] ALL RIGHT. SO THIS EVENING, IT'S MY PLEASURE TO PRESENT EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 7, WHICH IS THE LAST EXECUTIVE LIMITATION IN OUR SERIES THIS YEAR, AND IT'S THE ONE DISCUSSING ASSET PROTECTION HERE IN FAIRFACS COUNTY. [01:46:27] So as we look at executive limitation 7, there's a fairly straightforward description. If we can go to the next -- there we go. And one of the things that I, of course, want to acknowledge is at the time of this report, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, the information gathered and evidence I believe does support compliance and is true and accurate at this time. [01:46:53] So there are nine areas of EL7. These nine areas are enumerated here, one through four, and these have been posted for quite a little while, and then five through nine. And so in tonight's presentation, I'm going to highlight selected areas of this, but if you're watching from home or you're here, the full report is attached to board docs and attached to this agenda item in the meeting. [01:47:20] So the first requirement is to ensure that division assets are protected, maintained, and properly disposed of or recycled when no longer in use. And there are a number of policies and regulations that govern this. We do require proof of liability insurance from community users and vendors. [01:47:38] Our capital improvement program allocates funds for capital projects that also include renovations, which honestly are pretty critical for some of the aging infrastructure. The Office of Facilities Management implements processes for routine emergency and preventive maintenance and repairs. [01:47:58] Our vehicles are properly disposed of through an auction at the end of their asset lifecycle, which is 15 years for buses and 150,000 miles for county vehicles, which is kind of interesting because my car has more than a hundred and fifty, I mean my personal car, so, and I haven't disposed of it yet. [01:48:15] It's kind of a fan favorite. But anyhow, the Fairfax County Department of Vehicle Services conducts these auctions on behalf of the county schools, and all proceeds from the auctions are allocated back into Fairfax County Public School operational funds. [01:48:32] Our Get to Green program is also the Environmental Stewardship Program, offering specific procedures for the responsible disposal of various materials. So in item two, as we move to item two, this really talks about maintaining appropriate insurance and is relatively clear around liability insurance which our risk management team monitors and I also want to kind of nice background music here for this but I want to clarify as I go through this report there are some [01:49:08] aspects of this report that I may pause and if when you have questions and indicate that they're more appropriate for a closed session in terms of some of the potential questions around legal risk but well I'm just reviewing this at a higher level publicly we do maintain appropriate insurance and we administer these insurance plans liability insurance in particular to and also work to try to negotiate favorable favorable premium rates I know the Cigna contract came up earlier and we do the county also uses that insurance and I think we [01:49:46] get some favorable rate because we're both working off of that. We also provide fiduciary liability coverage for individuals who either have a part in the decision-making of employee benefit plans, administer the plan or its assets, or whose name or title is included on benefit plan documents. [01:50:05] Item three ensures that all personnel who have access to material amounts of division and school funds are bonded in accordance with the code of Virginia all personnel of access to material amounts of the division in school funds are this list is updated annually to designate the number of employee roles that will be bonded all of the FCPS employees under the crime liability coverage are insured through Virginia Corp or Bay Corp with the requisite fidelity coverage in lieu of a surety bond is permitted under the code of Virginia [01:50:42] therefore individuals do not need to specifically and separately be bonded as they're covered under the policy through Bay Corp that's a uniquely Virginia sort of interest I guess item for protecting all the division assets including but not limited to the divisions public image and credibility intellectual property information files equipment real property and fixed assets from loss or significant damage to accomplish this our risk management oversees in-house claims and the management to effectively handle liability claims. [01:51:19] We also have an earned media report highlighting news items. We have a regulation that surrounds employee use of social media. And finally, our brand guidelines are created and are actually being reviewed and revised at this time to make sure that FCPS is visually represented in a consistent manner. [01:51:39] As we move on to the next topic, we're going to take a look at how we implement comprehensive risk management, theft controls, inappropriate destruction or unauthorized sale or distribution. And we follow generally accepted accounting principles or the gap principles. [01:51:58] Our Office of the Comptroller and SEMA is here this evening, and our risk management person is also here, Ms. Peach. Also they are going to be sort of our backup for questions. [01:52:14] The office of the controller is responsible for the oversight recording and accounting of accountable equipment, the distributing and tracking of accountable equipment property identification tags, scheduling and monitoring inventories, coordinating property transfer and disposal of surplus property and reviewing financial data. [01:52:35] Also internal controls are used to protect inventory and assets, included but not limited to asset policies, restricting access to assets, physical inventories and reconciliation of asset records, as well as the segregation of duties of asset acquisition, record keeping and disposal. [01:52:55] We follow reporting and reconciliation procedures to ensure surplus inventory is validated and accounted for. And finally, our Office of Cybersecurity is in the process of establishing a robust risk management system aligned with the National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST Risk Management Framework. [01:53:16] Number six is about the Office of Division Counsel, where we take responsible steps to protect the division, its board and staff from legal liability. The Office of Division Counsel also serves as the in-house legal counsel and resource for the school division and consults with the board and staff on a variety of matters to mitigate potential legal risk. [01:53:39] Our legal team also reviews documents and provides trainings to ensure legal compliance in a number of areas, honestly a very wide number of areas, while keeping abreast of changes in laws and regulations. Item seven is really around adhering to federal and state laws as well as our policies regarding The retention and disposal of records related to the business of the division. [01:54:03] We do follow the code of Virginia regarding disposition of public records and our regulation 6701 about our records management program is one that's consistent with Commonwealth expectations as well as policy 6740 which outlines records retention and disposition. [01:54:21] The FCPS records management manual provides staff with guidance to ensure that all claims records are maintained and destroyed in alignment with the Virginia Public Records Act number eight talks about how we utilize knowledge management to ensure that assets are known maintained and transferred we do have some things I'd like to highlight here policy 5028 is our system system of inventory management which establishes procedures and responsibility for system notice FCPS 6250 is our Request IT Asset Management System Certification Schedule, and in this [01:55:01] case for 2023-2024, it specifies the annual schedule for certification of computer and peripheral inventory data. Principals and/or program managers must provide certification by reviewing and ensuring the accuracy of their data once a year. [01:55:20] Additionally, FCPS exercises physical controls over inventory to include restricting of assets through proper storage and conducting periodic physical inventory counts with a reconciliation of asset records. Our Accountable Equipment is asset tagged, tracked, and physically inventoried every two years through the Accountable Equipment Audit, and all fixed assets are purchased or acquired through a grant must be tracked separately. [01:55:46] Finally, on number eight, the office of the comptroller is responsible for the reporting of capital assets and ensuring the proper inventory records are maintained in focus. And finally, to conclude tonight's executive limitation report, I'm going to touch briefly on how we annually review existing leasing agreements. [01:56:08] I know, isn't that timely? And I know just stay with me here and contracts and lease agreements. We do have a risk management team which is Miss Peach heads up that does review MOUs, contracts and lease agreements from an insurance and risk management perspective. [01:56:32] The review of the language that potentially implicates FCPS financially or legally is performed and FCPS does eliminate the language or offers alternative wording before moving forward with the agreement so this is one area that we do utilize prior to finalizing MOUs and contracts the Office of Division Council reviews agreements contracts MOUs and other agreements to ensure compliance with the school board purchasing resolution and the Virginia Public Procurement Act and other state and federal laws a plan for exploring the reduction of annual leasing expenses will be [01:57:10] presented in the 2425 executive limitation and this is going to be responsive to the follow-on motion passed by the board on the May 23rd meeting which was a follow-on motion to the budget directing me to make sure that I explore reduction of these annual lease expenses WE'VE HAD ABOUT A MONTH SINCE THAT DIRECTION, SO IT WILL BE SOMETHING I PRESENT IN OUR 2024-2025 EL7 PRESENTATION. [01:57:39] AND AT THIS TIME, MR. CHAIRMAN, THIS CONCLUDES THE SUMMARY OF THE MONITORING REPORT FOR EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 7 ASSET PROTECTION. AND I'LL TAKE ANY QUESTIONS THE BOARD HAS. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, DR. REED. WE'LL START OFF WITH MS. SEIZEMORE-HEISER. I KNOW THAT LOOK. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I APPRECIATE IT. [01:57:58] I appreciate it. And I know for a little history, when we first started to look at revising the ELs, many of my colleagues were surprised when I asked to work on this one. And people were looking at me like, why would you want to work on asset management? And so it is with real sadness that I'm here telling you that I'm not sure I can vote for compliance on this EL. [01:58:20] I wanted to work on asset management because one of the things I don't talk about a lot and one of my passions that I think really not just protects us from risk, which one of the reasons I'm looking at non-compliance is because we're only talking about risk, not only, but most of this is talking about risk protection, which is, in my opinion, the traditional way we talk about asset management. [01:58:40] But one of the reasons I wanted to work on this in some of the number four, six, seven, eight, and nine are not just framed from avoiding risk, but also framed from, for example, number four, protecting the assets of credibility, intellectual property. Knowledge management isn't just inventory tracking and IT tracking. [01:58:58] knowledge management is the management of knowledge so we're passing down information and knowledge it's a huge passion of mine I don't talk about it a lot from person to person so when we do have change in leadership or change in personnel we're not reinventing the wheel and this knowledge management section doesn't talk at all about that it talks about risk IT controls and inventory control so my concern I'll be honest with you here is that well I really appreciate the work that you've done I really appreciate the risk management and I know there's been some additional controls you've put in place since you got here around you know protecting our assets protect from [01:59:36] theft from liability around some internal controls as well for security there's a lot of good work you've done I don't feel this report reflects the true intent and even the words of what we asked for so I will be in a non compliance today I just wanted to be honest and you know there's a few other things around some of our you know I think things that may be better off in a different session but other risks that I think still need to be mitigated and some of the advice that we get thank you yes ma'am thank you Miss Sizemore Heiser Dr. Anderson thank you I have a couple of questions and then [02:00:16] I will share my comments um and looking at page two this is under number one where you talked about I think it's the first second bullet under ensuring the division assets are protected you You talked about how delays and cancellations also help FCPS protect buildings, equipment, and ground from damage. [02:00:37] I don't think I understand that. Which slide are we on again, or which number? I don't look at the slide, just the full report. Okay. Under number one, there's two dark bullets. The second bullet that says ensure division assets are protected. [02:00:55] It's the first sub-bullet, the open radio button. Got it. Yes, yes ma'am. How do school delays and cancellations protect the buildings from damage? The buildings are out there. [02:01:13] Well, I think that during inclement weather, one of the things that we are very critical about or very concerned about is making sure that when there are dangerous conditions, there are times we may have to cancel so that we're not like plowing areas, which may take out things. [02:01:35] if there's a great deal of snow I don't know I'm just trying to understand this myself but the buildings equipment and grounds from damage sometimes it's hard to know where the parking lot ends and the sidewalk is if we have perhaps a lot of snow so if we are taking making sure we're plowing properly we might not plow down the landscaping or the grounds okay I'd love to hear more at another time. My second question on page three where you talk about the posting of FCPS [02:02:10] excess equipment on the external surplus website. I've never heard of that. Can you say a little bit more? How is that disseminated and shared with the public at large? Yes ma'am. How are we sharing that at large? Do we have a response on that? How are we posting the excess equipment on external surplus website yeah I am taking over the warehouse in July and I've started to learn about it a little bit they have an active website that they post everything up I don't know the exact number of days prior to when [02:02:49] they're going to auction or make it available but it's fully accessible they're continually updating with the excess I can get you more details I would love that because I know we have some nonprofits in my area that might benefit from the things that are being surplused from FCPS we'll add a link to that yes thank you I think this is where I've kind of have struggled a little bit and I want to make sure that I get to this a little next year when this report is presented how do you anticipate it may be different [02:03:26] so I think one of the things that will be different is in particular on the item around THE MOU REVIEW, BECAUSE YOU'VE ASKED FOR A DIFFERENT LEVEL OF REVIEW, NEXT YEAR WE'LL HAVE A REPORT, A FULL REPORT ON THE REVIEW OF, I'M TRYING TO LOOK HERE, I THINK IT'S SEVEN, MAYBE IT'S EIGHT, IT'S NINE, OF COURSE IT IS. THANK YOU. SO ITEM NINE, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE DIRECTION WAS IS TO HAVE A PLAN TO EXPLORE THE REDUCTION OF ANNUAL LEASING EXPENSES. [02:04:06] SO I'LL BE PRESENTING THAT PLAN AS PART OF THE 24-25 REPORT. THAT'S SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN A CLEAR EXPECTATION FROM THE BOARD. AND SO WHAT WILL BE DIFFERENT AT MAYBE ONE THROUGH EIGHT? WELL, I THINK THERE WILL BE SOME THINGS THE BONDING I THINK IS GOING TO BE THE SAME. [02:04:25] BUT IT'S A DOUBLE CHECK THAT IT'S ACCURATE. I THINK ONE OF THE REASONS WE REVIEW THESE ANNUALLY IS TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE PIECES are continuing to be managed the I guess the websites the get to green programs the maintenance of appropriate insurances it's really it's a check-in annually to make sure all of those things are current so some things will be different and some might look very similar are there any new processes that are outlined in this report that were not present before you arrive in FCPS [02:05:06] Actually, we do have a few. I'm trying to think of -- let me think about this. We certainly have taken a closer look at some of the surplus practices around surplus items. [02:05:26] And again, I think that's related to a topic we discussed probably about a year ago, but just creating some checks and balances around surplus items. That is, I think, a new process. [02:05:43] We're also looking at-- I'm just trying to do a read through here. The comptroller's office is similar. The bonding would be similar. The cybersecurity risk compliance would be new. The work toward the risk management framework not something that we had prior to my being here the established procedures and reconciliation around auction and surplus have been updated I think that [02:06:19] probably is it at this time that I can pull up but I happy to go through it again and send you something in the Friday letter that would be more specific that would be very helpful because the task before us is to make a a determination as to whether or not you're in compliance or making progress and I have to have that information in order to see what new things have you brought in to make us better in being compliance and having that be highlighted would be so helpful. There's a lot of good information in all of these that I have found to be very helpful. It has given me insight into the division's work in a way that we have not had before so I appreciate that but it's the second part that I [02:06:58] struggle with the evaluation of compliance versus progress. And I know that's a piece that I've come full circle with. It's where I struggled when we first started these like is this compliance or is this a progress issue. For most of them it's both. This one for me it's probably more compliance than it is progress. But we have got to have the data be outlined. This is otherwise a very nice list of this is what FCPS does. Right. Having said that oddly enough I find myself to be in a very similar a place to miss seismal hyzer and I articulate I've got the same numbers for me it's numbers four and number six. [02:07:36] I would not be able to vote in compliance for this because of those issues and I know I probably should not go in great detail here because these may be sensitive issues but I think there have been some significant concerns in the areas of numbers four and six that for me are more important than maybe some of the other, or rather way more than some of the other components of this EL. [02:08:05] Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Mr. McElveen. So I have just a couple of interrelated questions pertaining to climate resilience. So this was a very tiny piece in there with reference to get to green. [02:08:22] But I'm curious what we are seeing as a district in terms of our insurance premiums we're seeing around the country where jurisdictions have not been able to get flood insurance, catastrophic damage insurance, is that affecting our community at this point? [02:08:39] That's a great question. I just saw, what do I want to say, a documentary on water rising on a coastal community. So Ms. Peach, could you respond to that as you review our insurance policies, please? [02:09:00] So every year, our insurer does a review of our floodplain, and we currently do not have any building that is in the floodplain except for one elementary school, and that is so far removed, it is just one small little corner of that property, and it's not even going to affect the building at all. [02:09:24] Can you share which elementary school? It's the one in Fairfax City. Daniels Ron. Yes, Daniels Ron. I couldn't think of it. Got it. A secondary question is on our reinsurance policies. You know, we've only had to dip into reinsurance a few times during my term, again, for catastrophic occurrences. But can you give us a sense of we've increased over time or [02:09:59] just the current standing? Thank you, Mr. McElveen. Ms. Peach? So I don't mean to correct you but um it's not reinsurance it's our excess insurance so we are self-insured up to a limit and then once we have excess in place for uh general liability vehicle liability and school board legal liability and it's been thank god we have not had to access it very often so okay thank [02:10:33] you appreciate it thank you thank you mr mckelveen mr dunn thank you um and reading through previous year's minutes because I have nothing else to do on a Saturday night there's reference to vehicles for the school board are there any vehicles currently utilized or maintained for use by the school board not to my knowledge mr. [02:10:59] Dunn is there any do you need to check with mr. Mewick or anyone else not to my knowledge either okay how about how about FCPS leadership are there any company cars for I'm not aware of any company cars for FCPS leadership okay so one of the factors oh let me clarify I know our safety and security department has vehicles that our safety and security staff utilize so I mean from that standpoint there are vehicles but they're not like you know cars that [02:11:34] people are driving every day and so forth so I appreciate this presentation as Dr. Anson said, I've previously said, you know, it's hard to sometimes just look at these EL reports and say, this is a description of what FCPS does, but I don't know if it's always done it this way, and what I'd like to evaluate your performance, right, which is the function of these EL reports, I'd like to be able to see, like, what you're changing, what you're doing different, so the progress piece is... Yeah, can I clarify that, Mr. Dunn, a little bit? The purpose of an executive limitation is about compliance, right? It is about, is the organization compliant [02:12:13] in the expectation that you have the executive limitations the progress is really in the growth and that you're gonna hope and I expect that we will see in our goals right but the goals are really the outcomes that we want in the division and the executive limitations are the the means or the ways in which the division gets there so I I really am expecting that we just make sure that the structures and systems in the division are working in a compliant fashion. [02:12:45] And at the time at any time when you want to adjust how those are working like the board did with the annual leasing directive, then we're going to be responsive. I'm going to be responsive and make sure that happens. But there are a lot of systems in Fairfax County Public Schools that work fabulously. [02:13:02] And we just need to make sure we check in on them each year on how they're working and where they're not fix it. But there's not, like, a tremendous amount of, like, I don't, it's not, this isn't where I'm looking at a lot of progress. I'm looking to make sure we're compliant with the limitations that you've set. [02:13:18] In other words, the boundaries for which the division can work within to achieve goals is about compliance, to be honest, which is different than progress in the goal reports. Thank you for sharing that. What I don't see in this report is any discussion of waste. [02:13:39] We've just had a very clear example of it tonight. Not under your leadership, right? But, you know, within the last 48 hours, we had a major crisis. You went in and you solved it, and then it's resolved. I'd like to see that same proactive leadership decisiveness applied to the procurement because I looked up the 2020 audit. [02:14:06] There were no findings for the procurement audit, And so we get a clean audit and then we have multiple instances. Again, not under current leadership, but there are systems that are broken that allowed this to happen. [02:14:22] And so part of my expectation is I don't think I've seen any EL report, maybe I'm missing it, where there's been a finding of noncompliance by you and your staff. So when I say, you know, progress, we're told we're compliant across the board. [02:14:39] can't be the case if we're having instances like this and finally I'd like to really take a step back and and have you and your team analyze should we be doing procurement at all if you go back to 1968 the joint board resolution it say the county will provide procurement services on behalf of FCPS it's only since 2009 based on the data on board docs that FCPS has been doing procurement and it's not doing a very good job. [02:15:09] So if we can't do the job, and in a cost-saving measure, perhaps the county can do it for us under a contracted arrangement. Many, that would make a lot of sense. And again, if we're not a center of excellence, let's use a center of excellence. We already have cooperation on CIPs and other things, and we have the purchasing resolution that's adopted annually by the board. [02:15:33] So let's further leverage the efficiency and workflow, piggyback on their processes, personnel, and try to avoid disasters like this five-year lease agreement, which I want to reiterate, could be handled legally in a manner without affecting the bond rating. It's done every day of the week. I've done it personally, and it's not even something I do as part of my core legal practice. So I just would ask for your attention to that. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Mr. Moon. [02:16:06] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I normally try to send in questions in advance, but with attending all those graduations, I really haven't gotten around to be able to do that, so I apologize for that. My question and concern lies with number four, especially where it says division's public image and credibility. I'm not just talking about our legal liability, but I'm also talking, I'm talking about our division's reputation as a premier school district, where [02:16:46] we are very, very proud of academic achievements, kind of quality of education, quality education we provide to our students. I'm not saying that we are not a premier school district. I am not saying that we're not providing quality education, but one of the steps, you as a superintendent along with your staff who are working with a school board should take to protect that image and credibility because I want to see our school district, Fairfax [02:17:23] County Public Schools, to be the number one school district in the entire nation, if not the whole world. I agree. So I'm sorry, would you clarify the question in terms of what steps? [02:17:43] One of the, yeah, one of the steps that we should take, you have been taking to protect that image and credibility of a Fairfax County public school as a premier school district. Well, I think that we're doing quite a bit of work around the strategic plan and making sure that we're making progress towards our strategic plan goals. [02:18:05] I think making sure that our communications team is putting out stories that are reflective of the experience of students and staff in the county. And there have been many, many, multiple, I think that's one of the points I've put in here, the board does receive an earned media report monthly that highlights those stories and the work the communications department is doing and that work that occurs around branding [02:18:39] and around the protection of the district's public image and credibility is critical so i think those are the steps that we're working on and at the end of the day the steps we have to take is to make sure that what we say we're doing we're actually doing and that we are that preeminent division on a hill that we have been and need to continue to be agreed dr reed however at the same time unfortunately there are a number of people quite a large number of people in the community [02:19:13] that a that reputation as a premier school district was in the past as opposed to being right now so it will be incumbent upon all of us especially you as our superintendent bring that reputation back to FCPS. [02:19:43] Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Anderson. I just wanted to make a comment of the fact that I do think that that is what we're working towards collectively as a board and with your obviously with your leadership. [02:20:00] I believe that there are numerous moments within what I've seen in my short tenure on the board that show that you clearly and completely understand that that is what we're working towards and I am in support of the work that you're doing to make that happen. [02:20:15] I fully also understand the reservations that some of my colleagues I am assuming are discussing currently related to this particular executive limitation. I would like to remind I think that the problem that I have with all of these executive limitations is there are so many components within one bucket that it's really hard to say that we're not in compliance because there are so many different things going on. I also think that it's it's problematic to say that we're I do think that we're making adequate progress towards I so I am [02:20:54] in support of of of the movement that we're making towards. I also understand that at some point if we're doing our jobs well including you doing your job well is that we're going to get to the point WHERE YOU DO COME AND GIVE US A REPORT THAT SAYS I'M IN COMPLIANCE AND IT'S NOT GOING TO BE A HUGE AMOUNT OF PROGRESS THAT'S BEEN NECESSARY BECAUSE WE WILL GET CLOSER TO WHERE WE'RE TRYING TO GO. SO I -- WITH ALL OF THAT SAID, I DO RECOGNIZE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE COMPONENTS WITHIN PARTICULARLY THIS EL MORE THAN MANY THAT WE HAVE WORK TO DO. AND I APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT YOU RECOGNIZE THE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND CONTINUE TO LEAD OUR STAFF IN THAT DIRECTION. [02:21:30] NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU, MS. ANDERSON. MS. DIXIT. NEW SPEAKER: I'M JUST GOING TO MAKE ONE COMMENT. DR. REED IS ABOUT THE SAFETY ALARMS GOING OFF IN SCHOOLS. QUITE OFTEN THERE'S FAULTY ALARMS, I BELIEVE. SO I DON'T KNOW THE COST TO GET THEM FIXED, BECAUSE THE PREVENTIVE MENTINANCE IS NOT ON TRACK WITH FCPS. AND THAT'S I THINK ONE OF THE REASONS THAT THAT CAN BE IMPROVED IF WE HAVE THE MONEY, BUT WE DON'T HAVE THE [02:22:04] money right so at least those concerned because I know smoke alarm going off disrupts the entire school and the you know the stud education instruction so maybe if that could that part can be focused on a bit. I agree thank you and I'll uh I'll make a note to and when you talk about safety alarms are you talking about like fire smoke yeah smoke alarms are going off like you you know, you'll just get emails that their school has. [02:22:32] Yes, ma'am. Thank you. As one of my colleagues said, this is so comprehensive, and I know that there is a difference between outputs and outcomes, and being in compliance with structures is what makes everything easier. [02:23:03] I just want to say that because I know there is so much involved, I've been to the warehouse. you know was here when we had problems with things being sold out of the warehouse by staff you know so I know that tightening all of that is really important and protecting our assets and that's just one little piece not even speaking about school buildings and as we're talking about leases I want to commend the work that's being done because I feel that I have seen that [02:23:42] you're putting a leadership team in place that is competent and that is maybe making changes that may take a little bit of time and that may be, there might be pushback because people are used to the Fairfax way, which sometimes is not always the best way. I just want to compliment you on the work that you've done. I know that there are so many pieces and we cannot be a hundred percent at every piece it's impossible but i think we're in on the right track and i think you're on the right track i think the staff is on the right track and i think this board is also on the right [02:24:22] track um and i just want to commend you for that thank you thank you mr john cunning mr dunn uh i would like to address uh number i mean first of all echo my colleagues i mean there's a lot in here as there are in all el reports and um i you know i'm i'm a big fan i think you've been doing an outstanding job but the one thing that sticks out here is number six take responsible steps to [02:24:57] protect the division its board and staff from legal liability um i just think for that bullet point in particular there has been multiple instances that i've witnessed in the last six months where um not through your own actions but through those of your subordinates we have been been exposed to legal liability that should not have happened in a well-functioning organization, [02:25:27] and so for that reason, and because lawyering and legal liability is at the very heart of any well-functioning multi-billion dollar organization, I would urge consideration of what I saw at Penn State many years ago, which is they had one lawyer for a university the size of Penn State. So who provide the lawyering? Outside counsel. Provide what they call general counsel services. We already employ multiple outside law firms. That may be approach that [02:26:01] you wish to consider here. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Ms. St. John Cunningham, did you want to go back? Ms. Sizemore-Haiser. Thank you. And so first I want to apologize, Dr. Reed, that I didn't bring this up earlier. To be honest, it's been that kind of week. And normally I'd like to talk to you before we get to this moment. So my apologies to you. My apologies to my colleagues. Also, it's just been that week one of the things I loved about the EL process is that there's room to say this is not that this there's a great stuff and your staff is doing great stuff but there's big pieces that are not here knowledge [02:26:40] management in of itself is not here and this is what I love about this process is we can say hey this is not in compliance because of these three things we can ask you to come back with a corrective action plan and then we can vote to say with this corrective action plan you are now in compliance and that's what I love about this process because it is you're in compliance you're making adequate progress or hey you're doing wonderful things in one three fives that I'm making those numbers up but we do want to see some corrective action on number four we want to see some corrective action on number six and we'd love to see some information on knowledge management and a little more of what you're already planning on bringing back on reviewing leases around [02:27:17] contracts and procurement I think that's a good thing because that shows we're doing our job and saying yes your staff is amazing there's amazing stuff and I And I know, having worked with you, there's a lot of controls and risk management processes you've put in place since you've been here, and I commend you and your staff for that. [02:27:33] But I do think in this instant, there's some pretty big pieces that I would love to see a corrective action plan to come back and address those concerns, the procurement leases, the knowledge management, number six, and some issues on number four. [02:27:50] And so I would ask my colleagues to, you know, support me in letting this process maybe do what it's supposed to do in all the different ways and come back and say, we want to see more in these areas and some of these things we've talked to you offline about. [02:28:05] So let's bring back some more and give you a chance to, with the corrective action plan, be in compliance. I do think compliance isn't progress, but I do think compliance has to address the areas that are in here. And there are some areas that are just not addressed and some areas that I have concerns about. [02:28:20] So I would ask my colleagues, even though I apologize for doing it this way, let's give Dr. Reed a chance to come back and address the concerns we're hearing today. It doesn't mean she'll be in noncompliance forever. It just means there's information that we'd like to see more that's really big chunks that are not addressed at all, in my opinion. [02:28:36] So I'm going to, with that, I'm going to bring a substitute motion to, I think it's a substitute. There's no motion on the table at this point. That's what I wanted to ask. There's not a motion to. No, so you would be making a motion to vote for noncompliance. And I've just emailed you all the language, but I would like to make a motion for noncompliance with a request for a corrective action memo to have Dr. [02:28:59] Rhee come back with a corrective action to address number four, standard four, protection of intellectual property to adequately address records management to ensure student and staff privacy is protected and further on cybersecurity policies, regulations and controls. Additional measures to ensure protection from legal liability and describe knowledge management systems and structures in place. [02:29:20] and additional information around procurement controls and leasing agreements. So, and I'll write all that up. Madam Clerk, you have the language. I know, I said that very fast. I'm happy to try to, I forgot one and I'll email it to you all. [02:29:41] I believe we do. We're trying to get it into the motions document now. We'll just pause for a moment. And I would love to see this process work through this area as well because I think it shows that in some ways we're looking for the full information that we're asking in this. [02:30:05] Yes ma'am. All right. Excuse me. So the motion is on the screen. Is there a second? There's a motion. There's a second. Ms. Sizemore Heiser would you like to speak to your motion? I think I did. I just want to read it real quickly because it went by very quickly just to kind of make sure it captures everything. But I think I did. And again I apologize for doing it this way. I would just like to give Dr. Reed a chance to address some of the gaping areas that are not addressed here. So I would appreciate my colleague's support. Dr. Anderson would you like to speak to your second? Yes I would. [02:30:53] and I had my light on to make some other comments so I'll just do it all right now. One, I do appreciate what Ms. St. John Cunning has shared and I just wanted to really elevate it because this is, I think this board has tremendous confidence in you Dr. Reed and this is not a personal attack. We have to evaluate what takes place in the division and no one single person can we need the whole group we need the whole team to move this division forward. [02:31:26] And I don't want for the two things to be conflated. The confidence in you does not mean that there is not things for us to address and then address them and then we'll move on as Miss Sizemore Heiser has has shared. So I just wanted to make sure that I articulated that. [02:31:43] And in speaking to the motion, I think there's two pieces there, which is four and six and eight. AND I THINK IN LIGHT OF THE CONVERSATIONS THAT WE'VE HAD HERE, WE NEED TO ADD NUMBER NINE, BECAUSE THAT'S MISSING. YEAH, AND I THINK I SAID IT IN MY PHRASE IS NUMBER NINE TO ADDRESS -- I DON'T SEE NUMBER SIX EITHER. [02:32:00] OH, NO, NO, THAT'S -- YEP. FOUR, SIX, EIGHT, AND NINE. YEAH. I MENTIONED NINE AS -- I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO TAKE -- I GOT A TURN. WE'RE GOING TO RECESS FOR A MOMENT SO THAT WE CAN GET THIS MOTION IN ORDER. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. [02:32:16] DON'T GO TOO FAR. CAN I RAISE A QUESTION IN RECESS? I'm just 9 is piece and 9 are we wanting me to come back like in the next meeting because that's really for the 24-25 like we're not like I'm a little confused okay because that's the review that's a reduction of annual leasing expenses it's not likely I'm going to be able [02:32:51] to get that done in a month I think it's the review component oh should I be speaking I know it's still my turn technically yes we just need to add number nine um miss setlo i just need [02:33:11] to know exactly what you want for number nine we could just put i'm not sure board members please [02:40:02] return to your seats thank you everybody for your patience without objection i'd like to allow [02:41:07] the sponsor of the amendment to amend her amendment as seen on the screen which she will read allowed. Can we scroll it down? So I can only see part. Thank you. So again, my apologies to my colleagues for the last minute, but I move that the school board finds that the superintendent is in non-compliance. I move to request a corrective action memo for EL number seven, asset protection that includes the following. Number four, protection of intellectual property files that adequately addresses records management to ensure student and staff privacy is protected as well as further [02:41:45] ensure cybersecurity policies, regulations, and controls. Additional measures to ensure PROTECTION FROM LEGAL LIABILITY GIVEN BOARD RAISED CONCERNS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT OF THE STANDARD, DESCRIBE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES IN PLACE OR PLANNED, INFORMATION DETAILING HOW LEASING AGREEMENTS, CONTRACTS, MOUs AND OTHER AGREEMENTS ARE TO INSURE ASSETS ARE BEING REVIEWED IN INCORDANCE WITH STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS. [02:42:08] THANK YOU. IS THERE A SECOND? SECOND. DR. ANDERSON, MS. SEIZEMORE HEISER WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEAK TO YOUR MOTION? motion yeah I just want to first again I apologize to the last minute I really really do I just it struck me as I was reading it again today the non-compliance or for things that are missing right adequate progress is things that are addressed but maybe not as much as we'd like these are things that I feel are missing I do not feel the number nine one thing I wanted to mention is the two things that are talked about in the report are from compliance with legal [02:42:48] standards and compliance with risk management the standard itself asks for utilizing accordance with strategic plan goals and that is not addressed at all it's missing knowledge management is missing I don't feel number six even gives us is not even adequately close to addressing that concern and same with some of the privacy concerns so that is why that's why it's a non-compliance because these are missing and so or so wholly inadequate the addressed and this gives the superintendent a chance to come back to us and adjust them. [02:43:22] So I hope I can get your concern. Thank you, Ms. Sizemoreheiser. Dr. Anderson. Yes, briefly, just with the recognition that while we're at while we are requesting for this corrective action, I know that that's usually provided in this setting that we may want to consider the more sensitive topics to be covered in a different forum because I think there are some limitations to what we can be discussing in this setting AS PART OF SOME OF THOSE. SO THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS I WANTED TO FLAG BUT OTHER THAN THAT I THINK [02:43:53] WE'VE HAD ROBUST DISCUSSION ON THIS. THANK YOU. MR. DUNN. I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE WAY NINE IS WRITTEN. IS THAT, WOULD AVOIDING WASTE AND PROCUREMENT REFORM BE ENCOMPASSED WITHIN THE WAY, IS THAT, IS THAT WITHIN THE INTENT OF THAT? BECAUSE IT'S PART OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN. [02:44:18] I THINK THAT WOULD BE PART OF THE INTENT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN. OKAY. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. Ms. St. John Cunning. I have two questions. [02:44:33] One, what is the time frame? And then after we get that, I'd like for Dr. Reed to let us know if that is a reasonable time frame. The governance manual says it will be delivered at a subsequent meeting. [02:44:50] So it's fairly open-ended. I think we'd all want the superintendent to have the time necessary to do that. So are you requesting a specific date? I am not. Whatever the superintendent thinks is reasonable for a result is fine with me. I just want us to be realistic. I don't want to burden staff or the superintendent with something that asks them for something that is going to be impossible to get to us. [02:45:15] Whatever is whatever Dr. Reed and her staff thinks is reasonable is fine with me. All right. If you have your light on and you're not intending to speak please turn it off. All right. Thank you. We will go ahead and vote for the motion that is on the screen. We go back to the top of it. Thank you. [02:45:38] those in favor of the motion on the screen please raise your hand ms sizemore heiser mr mcdaniel miss marron mr dunn dr anderson mr moon mr mckelveen and myself all those opposed miss lady miss st john cunning miss anderson abstentions miss dixit uh and can we have the clerk read the vote the vote is 8 3 1 the motion passes thank you all right so timing is that it's Well, the governance manual says it's a subsequent meeting. [02:46:15] So, not this meeting. You have time to, the time that you need to bring an adequate memo back to us in your eyes. Okay. All right. Agenda item 6 point, excuse me, 7.01, policy review, asset protection. [02:46:33] The next order of business is the policy review for executive limitation 7, asset protection, EL7. Following the board's vote in September 2023 and our vote at our February 8th, 2024 regular meeting, Each year, the board will review each of the 13 executive limitations at the time of the monitoring report is provided to determine if any revisions are needed moving forward. [02:46:53] The board may also review any of the executive limitations at any time and make changes. At this time, board members may provide comments on executive limitation 7 asset protection to determine if any revisions are needed. Again, you can do this at any time. It does not need to be tonight. [02:47:12] Seeing none at this. Oh, Dr. Anderson, I'm sorry. I don't have anything specific to share regarding this one, but I do want to say I think this is a conversation we may want to have in a retreat, because now that we've gone full circle with all of the ELs, there are some that lend themselves to be more for compliance-based, and there are some that lend themselves to be more-- there's progress, because the data is a little bit more absolute. [02:47:38] I just want to throw that out for consideration, because now we've wrestled with it, I think there's a lot of space for improvement, especially even with the language that's used to forward our vote on this. - Thank you. [02:47:56] At this time, I know we already did that. If there are no further comments or discussion, I will call on Mr. Dunn for a motion. [02:48:13] - I move that the school board maintains executive limitation seven asset protection as it is currently detailed in the strategic governance manual. - Is there a second? - I second. - Ms. Dixit. Mr. Dunn, would you like to speak to your motion? - No, thank you. [02:48:28] - Ms. Dixit, would you like to speak to your second? No. All right. We will take a vote on the motion. All those in favor, raise your hand. Mr. McDaniel, Miss Seizmerheiser, Miss Lady, Miss Sejohn Cunning, Miss Marin, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, Miss Anderson, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Mr. McElvina, myself. That is unanimous. [02:48:50] Agenda item, the motion passes. Agenda item 8.01, Academic Matters. I call on Dr. Reed for Academic Matters. - Thank you, Chairman Frisch. I appreciate that. And this evening I have an opportunity to talk a little bit about a very time-sensitive topic, and that is the recently released VDOE professional development requirements. [02:49:16] Just wait a minute for our presentation to load. Thank you. So the recently released VDOE professional development requirements for elementary staff are quite significant. [02:49:34] And I know we've seen divisions around us talk about this and make plans. And I think it's important to think about how we in Fairfax County public schools are responsive to these new requirements. It's also important to note that for the first time in probably close to 30 years, we're going to actually have a new basal curriculum for literacy for our kindergarten through sixth grade students. [02:50:02] And that is a huge lift for our staff. And I think it's a fabulous opportunity and lift, particularly for our newer staff, because it provides real structure and I've heard from a lot of elementary teachers the excitement around that structure particularly for our newer staff but it's going to create a significant need for professional development and I let's go ahead and go to the next slide please Kevin thank you one of the things I just want to put in context as well is here in Fairfax County uniquely perhaps we've had an inequity in planning time that's been a bit of a long-standing concern [02:50:42] honestly between our elementary staff and our secondary staff and our elementary staff over the last I don't know eight years or so have been performing Herculean tasks around instruction to mr. moon's point in terms of being the best of the best these staff have been working hard and really had less planning time than their secondary school colleagues who also perform Herculean tasks and have had a bit more collaborative planning time together so that's the context within these within which these requirements [02:51:21] at number one our elementary planning time has not been adequate over the last several years and number two we're going to be expected to do a significant amount of state required professional development and it's good professional development we're not fussing about it it's appropriate and a good and right thing to do to think about how we improve our literacy performance for our young learners and three we have a new basal curriculum which the board and our community has invested a significant financial investment in and we want to make sure as we roll it out that we roll it out well so let me just review for [02:52:00] public what the Virginia Literacy Act is requiring and essentially this act as you know was passed in 2022 and to Fairfax County's credit we were ahead of the game we'd been working on professional development in anticipation and because we recognize that literacy instruction is important so this at this time though I think what's happened is that there was a statute passed that had timeline set which honestly is asking for a bit more training than you would normally do in this short time span and I did speak with leadership at the state [02:52:38] level at VDOE and they understand that this may seem challenging but nonetheless that is the law at the moment so one of the things that is clear that the Virginia Literacy Act requires that at the start of the 24 25 school year which is this fall that contracted teachers have to start receiving evidence-based literacy instruction which is called EBLI this training an initial training has to conclude by the end of the 24 25 year and on you know that seems like a [02:53:16] fairly straightforward statement and then we go to the next slide it's not just a few hours folks it's 27 hours for all kindergarten through sixth grade teachers that's a lot of time in a schedule that already doesn't have sufficient planning time not including the basal reading curriculum that needs to be learned so this is a significant lift and our reading specialists k6 are going to be required to have 54 hours of time so i i really think that as we've been wrestling with [02:53:55] this and our i will really just say dr ponce and marine lemon our elementary principals our teacher association leadership have really raised this as a concern honestly and our elementary principal executive board um mariosti kelly shear sarah harper the team has worked very hard on thinking about how we could best provide this training for staff and i will tell you in past years it's often been a possibility that we could pull teachers out for example during the school day and have [02:54:33] substitutes be able to provide instruction in the absence of classroom teachers and what i can say with great certainty right now is that there is a shortage of substitute teachers and we really want to use that as a last resort for professional development because we believe having our classroom teachers in front of our students is the best education that our students can have. So we're trying to look for a model that does not pull our teachers out of the classroom during instruction leaving substitute instructors in place. So this slide talks [02:55:09] about the actual training we're going to provide for the new basal and standards oh and by the way also new math standards this year which we're obviously needing to address in addition to all of the literacy work but this summer over 4 000 of our teachers are going to be receiving three days of training they're coming in during their summer and honestly it's a huge testament to their commitment and dedication I mean we are paying them but this is three days out of their summer that over 4,000 of our staff are going to come in and do this work and I know I'm grateful to them [02:55:48] for their efforts and I know you as a board also are with the new video e mathematic SOLs that are going to be implemented we're going to have to take some time to address mathematics and this totality is really a need, it generates a need for additional on-contract teacher planning and professional time. [02:56:08] So I want to share with you this evening our proposal and plan, which I intend to share with our staff in the morning as well as our families. We did meet with principals across the division, but our belief at this point is the best way for us to address these needs as well as provide the strongest instruction during the day is to have seven early release Mondays next year for only elementary schools, which is one [02:56:44] a month, but not in December, I believe, and not in January because we don't have Mondays sufficient numbers of Mondays these early release dates tomorrow and the letter to families will have the actual date for the pyramids that families find themselves assigned to which is the high school feeder patterns and the time will be used for teachers to participate in this required professional development and it minimizes the need for school day substitutes which there is an extreme [02:57:21] shortage. What makes this Monday early release different than prior Monday early releases in Fairfax County is they're not every Monday number one they're just one a month and only seven but secondly we're committed to providing supervision for students who are unable to access the early release schedule which means for students whose families can't have them come home because they're working or are not able to access childcare. We're going to provide activities [02:57:56] and supervision for students on campus. We have spent a lot of time this spring, our elementary principal team partnering with Fairfax County, including the SAC group to provide additional supervision. And I'm really proud to say that the partnership with the county has been fabulous they're going to be adding hours to sac employees to support this program i've also announced that we're going to have our central office licensed educators of which there are about 300 myself included many of the people sitting in the gallery will also be deployed to [02:58:35] schools during these afternoons to support learning activities and supervision for any students that are that need to because of whatever circumstances stay even though it's a an early release end of the school day finally i want to share that we are going to be seating a steering committee next week that will include teachers principals and parents to make sure that the development and problem solving of this plan are that it's done well and that there's a group of shared interest stakeholders that will continue to develop and work through that plan I've spoken [02:59:14] personally with the principal leadership the teacher leadership and we've sent a note out to our PTA I know and I've also personally spoken with our SEPTA leadership to make sure we have representation and participation in the steering committee we've committed it took quite a little while to work out the details but we have transportation twice for these schools both at the early release time and for those that need to stay and the late release time so it doesn't create a hardship on families and we have this [02:59:51] one moment in time this year where we have monies for high impact tutoring and this is also a time where students who need extra tutoring will be able to stay and receive that because there are funds to pay those positions at this time I also want to share that it's just critical that we think about the strength of working together Ted one of our elementary principals said today it's so important to think about teachers working together to learn how to use this curriculum and not on some kind of an asynchronous professional development [03:00:30] It's just far more valuable. These will be on site in person staff development times on school campuses. And the other thing I just want to clarify is that each it's one of the I think it's going to be one of the first times that 141 of our elementary schools are going to be consistently working on the same professional development goals to be able to effectively utilize this basal curriculum and meet the video guidelines. [03:01:05] And I think that's really important. And there's a strong commitment to making that work. So I wanted to share that this evening. And as I said, I think our communication options are going to be tomorrow morning. We'll be getting a letter out to families. [03:01:23] There's not really a scheduling urgency, as we know that we're going to be meeting needs that are not able to be met. We're going to have our landing page on our website ready up and running tomorrow so that families will be able to see which Mondays we're talking about for their students. [03:01:42] And one of the strategies we're using is that there are going to be two Mondays a month. Some pyramids will have one of the Mondays and other pyramids will have the other. That way we can use our SAC volunteers, our Boys and Girls Club volunteers, scouting, Math Olympiad, Science Olympiad, all the activities, the resources. [03:02:05] We only need half as many of them because we can split them over to Monday. So we're trying to be really thoughtful and strategic in that. So at this point, Mr. Frisch, I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you, Dr. Reed. Oh, let me clarify. Go ahead. [03:02:20] I apologize. One of the really important things one of the things when I worked with our principals as we said we could not Do something that would impact our learning time hours. We had to still stay above the minimum So the hours were utilizing don't get us anywhere close to being Close to the state minimum. In fact, we're using some of our excess snow day hours here. So we're well within our hours [03:02:52] Are yeah, so I'll just leave that there. Thank you. Yeah, Miss Lady. Thank you. I love the plan. I especially love the reality of in-person PD. It's what it's what folks need and teams to work together, learn together, support each other. Just a couple questions. You know, I don't even know what year it was where we actually used to have an early release on every Monday. And I don't know. I would hope that might be something that's considered in the future. I do understand the hardship on families. [03:03:24] But in terms of planning time, I think we have to keep in mind that we have lots of people in elementary master schedules who are coaches, specialists, espets, things like that. When they are in the master schedule, it doesn't mean that the teams that they should be supporting, the CLT teams they should be supporting, they're not available to attend their meetings. [03:03:50] And so I get how we're using those people to create planning time during the regular elementary day but I think we're missing on the opportunity to have this instructional coaches with CLT teams so I also I do know there's some elementary schools using monitors very effectively but the other question I had was you know is this my worry is that we've come so far with attendance that we hope we're gonna do some communication with parents around while this is a shortened day it's a day it's important because I'd hate to see some people look at it say well it's only you know five hours or four and a half hours there's also concern around lunch you know I'm guessing lunches would start it like [03:04:29] really super early and then my last question is and this could be part of your steering committee is do we look at all at any late starts versus just early releases in terms of you know I get it we're doing an early release but could you possibly do a three-hour late start down the road maybe or just as another thought or just even parent preferences you know based on you know different communities I don't know it's just just a thought because I think that our teachers are pretty fresh to in the morning around their own learning so sometimes at the end of five hours I just want to make sure they have the that they're energized by what is they need to be learning but but I absolutely like [03:05:08] what you're doing thank you so just as a response to that one of the other keys is and I heard that from several of you as I've spoken with you individually we We are putting in place an evaluation for this project. [03:05:24] This is not I'm not presenting tonight a multi-year plan. This is a one-year plan to address the VDOE requirements and our new basal curriculum. And so I think one of the things I've tasked the steering committee with is having an evaluation before the year starts that we at the end of the year can say as a result of this planning time our student achievement in literacy at the elementary level has been improved and also [03:05:58] let me just say our teachers I think we have the best teachers in the country they're just hands down they work hard they're passionate they're dedicated they need some time to make sure this gets done well and i i believe that given that time um it also will help our our staff retention thank you miss lady dr anderson um thank you just to confirm you're not asking anything except for [03:06:34] feedback from us this is just for our information yes ma'am okay thank you um start here um one of the things that i looked at when you i think this was page i don't know what page this is but you said the classroom teachers need 27 hours the three the three Mondays at three hours each do not come up to 27 hours how will the additional six be made up so it's seven Mondays at three hours so it's 21 so you're right it'll be six not we're planning as part of the pre the August days [03:07:14] there's still like a couple days during the school year that our staff development days So I think they're going to we're going to have to slide the six hours within those or the other planning time that teachers have. OK, thank you. [03:07:29] And this training is for teachers of K eight. The K six is the training for all K six teachers, grade level teachers. K eight is for the reading specialists. Then I think I got confused on the first slide. [03:07:46] Not the first slide, the second slide. You noted that grade six teachers in the middle schools. Thank you, by the way, for bringing that. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. It says that they would participate with their grade seven and eight colleagues. How are the seven and eight colleagues grade seven and eight colleagues involved? [03:08:07] They're reading specialist colleagues. I should have been clear about that, so I'll add that footnote. OK, that's why I got confused. So so just share with me, articulate for me What will be happening with the grade six teachers in the middle schools? [03:08:23] So Dr. Presidio and I just talked about that. They will not on those Mondays, what we're going to really work towards. And I think there's a there are a lot of tangential benefits. We're working towards pyramid alignment as well. [03:08:38] So I think one of the things that we've discussed is the possibility of sixth grade teachers working with their sixth grade pyramid colleagues. So they may need a substitute for part of their day on those one Mondays a month so that they can participate in the same training as the sixth grade pyramid colleagues. [03:08:59] And we have three middle schools that are in that situation. So just be the literacy teachers at sixth grade, the language arts teachers that would work with their pyramid colleagues. The reading specialists is kind of a specialized position. Right. And OK, sorry, I don't think I have a question about them. [03:09:17] I just want to know what are the teachers doing? Did I hear you say that the grade six teachers in the middle schools will be working with their sixth grade counterparts in the elementary schools? I think what we're going to have to do is they'll either work with their sixth grade counterpart for that generic sixth grade training or it's possible that the three sixth grade middle school middle schools of language arts teachers could come together also and work because their role will look a little different. [03:09:46] And I don't know that I have a specific answer for which way that's going to land. I think that's something the steering committee will probably come back to me with. But we want to make sure that wherever someone's teaching K6 literacy, they're getting ample time to plan. It's just that it seems to be by pyramid. [03:10:03] So they're not because we have Holmes and Poe there and Glasgow there in different pyramids. I'm just trying to see how that would work. I think it could go either way. I think they could choose to participate with their sixth grade pyramid colleagues or their sixth grade pyramid. [03:10:19] Where would that be? They are the sixth grade colleagues. There's no sixth grade in the rest of their elementary elementary schools don't have any sixth grade in our pyramids. Right. Well, then they would have to be a different pyramid like that's that's what I was trying to get out. [03:10:36] Yeah, sorry, a little slow tonight. My apologies. They are the sixth grade teachers. There's no others to go away. So they would have to go elsewhere. And that has to be, I think, managed. Are you anticipating that this work will be happening at the school sites or will will teachers be moving to be together in some other location? [03:10:59] I anticipate it will be happening at school sites. It is possible that a pyramid may come together at some point, but it's the collaboration time is to happen at the school site. [03:11:15] I will say one of the benefits of having some schools in session and some planning is that and principles have talked about the ability to visit other schools and kind of see practices, which, again, I think just help us work through some fidelity concerns and how we're rolling out what we're doing. [03:11:33] So I think there's some, again, tangential benefits. Sure. And I really I'm enjoying the idea of having the license employees that are centrally based being deployed to the schools. And I would love to see Dr. Presidio put together, you know, the plans that he's writing up in central office for him to deliver it. [03:11:51] Then you'll have firsthand knowledge in terms of the feedback that some teachers should have. So that I will make a special trip to go see when that space happens. Speaking to the student supervisions piece, there will be space for every child who wants to remain at school. [03:12:10] Yes, ma'am. And so they'll be able to be properly monitored and be productively and constructively using their time. That's the expectation. Okay. One of the other things that I just tossing it out again, I can't get out of my elementary school hat is just ensuring that the lunchtimes are aligned so that the teacher's lunch periods are not now not now encroaching into these three hours because if they didn't get a chance to eat they're going to have to do that before they start this work and i do agree with uh miss lady you know if there was some space to do this where the teacher when they're fresher because they still will have [03:12:50] had a full day of work i know the constraints but i i did want to lift that up as you're just better when you haven't worked all day and it's time for you to do more um i do have a couple more questions I'd like to go back you don't for go back Mr. McElveen thank you and thanks for the presentation Dr. Reed so to Robin's question is actually at this meeting 10 years ago the first meeting in June where we approved the full day full school days for Mondays and I remain very proud of that [03:13:25] vote but unfortunately it wasn't implemented as we were expecting we were sold the false We were told that FLESS would be implemented universally throughout the district with the TTT time would allow for proper elementary school teacher preparation time. [03:13:45] And unfortunately that has not happened. So that's a lesson learned. But the main point I want to emphasize which Dr. Anderson just touched upon is the fact that we need to walk into this with the expectation that every child will stay a full day. [03:14:08] And we need to make sure that we have onsite work ready for them to undertake. The biggest concern I'm hearing is that principals or other folks on staff won't be able to be with their staff as they undertake the professional development because they're going to be having to monitor students. [03:14:28] So I can't emphasize this enough. I know Dr. Reed in her presentation and other points has emphasized that that will not be the case. But I just wanna lay the ground here that it's my expectation as one board member that we're gonna have something for every student to do without encumbering our school-based employees. [03:14:51] That's all I have, thanks. - Thank you, Mr. McElveen. Mr. Dunn. You mentioned that this is a one-year pilot. Is there a possibility that it could be extended to future years beyond this one year? [03:15:08] I think it will depend on what the evaluation shows. Is the purpose of this half-day Monday to essentially allow the transition to these new basal standards, the math standards? [03:15:24] Yes, sir. Okay. So once those standards are fully implemented, the half-day Mondays arguably wouldn't be needed anymore, right? I THINK THAT TO MR. MAKELBEAN'S POINT, I THINK THERE ARE WAYS TO CREATE ADEQUATE PLANNING, AND IF WE DON'T CONTINUE THE EARLY RELEASE ONCE A MONTH MONDAYS, THEN WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ELSE. [03:15:48] SO I KNOW IN MEETING WITH ELEMENTARY PRINCIPALS TODAY AS WELL, WE'RE ALLOWING SOME FLEXIBILITY FOR STEAM OR FLEX STAFF WITH MONITOR FUNDS. IT'S A WHOLE OTHER CONVERSATION. BUT I THINK We I don't believe we can continue on the trajectory of excellence. [03:16:08] And again I'll go back to Mr. Moon's expectation that I leave this excellence brand piece. And I'm going to tell you that I don't think we can make the progress we need to make if we don't give our elementary educators adequate planning time. [03:16:25] And how we do that is going to be incumbent on me to come to you with a plan that makes sense. I think for one year, the expectation from the state and the new Basel, we cannot accommodate in our current structure. We can't. I don't think taking full days off for Fairfax works because our secondary students need to be in school for their AP, IB, and so forth. [03:16:49] And we don't need, they have half days for other testing and those types of things. So I don't think having full days for us is a good option. Other divisions don't have this discrepant planning time between elementary and secondary that we've lived with. [03:17:05] So it puts us in a little different situation. And we certainly don't want to have elementary children home all day with no secondary children, right? Because many of them would not have any kind of supervision. So I think for us, this is our best shot at this for a year. [03:17:22] And given our unique circumstances and wanting to make sure we have thoughtful learning experiences for those students who are not able to head home for whatever reason, that still, to Mr. McElveen's point, enable school-based staff to have the planning they need. [03:17:42] But a short answer, I'm giving you a long answer to a pretty straightforward question, which is I apologize, but we can't go back to what we've been doing. It's not enough. I don't know that this will be an answer beyond this year. [03:17:58] If it's not you need to expect that I come to you with something that does provide that planning because it's not sustainable and in the school systems where you were previously superintendent or Todd or served as a principal. What was the solution used in those systems to ensure elementary school teachers had sufficient class planning time. [03:18:19] Well, we actually, I think it's called triple T time here, but we had the time that our specialists looked different. It was scheduled differently than it is scheduled here. I'm sorry, what do you mean scheduled differently? [03:18:36] The PE Library Arts Music was scheduled in a way that provided adequate planning time for our elementary staff. And it's just not scheduled in that way here to accommodate that. [03:18:52] Do you mean that those classes, those enrichment activities are longer periods of time, perhaps in a big block? I think that we provided more frequent and longer periods so that our classroom teachers were, our non-specialist teachers were able to plan in the same amount of time that our secondary teachers were. [03:19:19] I appreciate that because you obviously have vast experience across the country. You interact with people at conferences, and you have a great network. As you look forward, I hope there will be no sacred cows. [03:19:36] What I know is 1970s through 2013 or so, we had half-day release Mondays, which maybe parents weren't very fond of, but in reading about it, teachers were very fond of. And there was also a period of time when Fairfax County became the gold standard in public education. [03:19:54] So we should consider, especially given that we're in this era of remote work, it's a completely different world now than it was 10 years ago, whether it's something that should be revisited for possible enactment or other approaches such as the one you mentioned in other school divisions. [03:20:11] But having a concentrated block of time where we can actually use, especially for children who need more enrichment or looking at FLESS. FLESS has been a crutch, instead of really trying to enrich students through FLESS, it's been used as a way to provide classroom planning time. [03:20:30] But it was never expanded, as my colleague mentioned. We could use Half Day Mondays for world language instruction, getting back to one of the goals from the board 10 years ago, to have every child fluent in two languages by the time they graduate. So I just hope you will be willing to bring, you know, think outside the box and present a full range of options rather than just one approach because I think the board would be willing to be creative and look at this in a fresh way. [03:21:00] Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Mr. McDaniel. I applaud the ingenuity. There are many things that we can create. Time is not usually one of them, but here we are. The question I have is you mentioned the MAGIC acronym PTA. [03:21:19] Can you kind of go into some more detail on what has been done, what will be done, kind of that on-ramp to make sure that in schools where we do have a working relationship with the PTAs, that that's there, it's consistent, and specifically, how is that going to work in some of our schools that maybe don't have the most active PTAs? [03:21:42] So great question. And I, you know, one of the things I probably should have prefaced this with, and it's one of the last things I said to elementary principals this morning, we cannot let perfection get in the way of progress. We this is going to be a little messy. It just is. We need to be prepared for that. Right. We're going to have a little challenge here, a little challenge there. And that's it's OK. We're going to work through it. Right. I think that we one of the things our elementary principals this morning they were making calls to their PTAs this afternoon and evening because they want to make [03:22:21] sure we want to make sure folks understand the why and the what and the how right so I think we have some schools that have robust after school activities which will move maybe earlier on Mondays and some schools that don't have PTAs that are as active and those are schools probably that some of our central office license folks are going to be spending more time at right or the sack volunteers or the high leverage high impact tutors that were that we have hired that are there we have a lot of instructional assistants to that aren't necessarily going [03:23:00] to be doing literacy training that will be supporting activities we have you know it's it's going to look that time block is going to look a little different school to school it just is and maybe we can even look at some youth teams or youth activities in addition to what the county is doing but it may be even an opportunity for ptas to try new things that they haven't previously tried so we're just hopeful that that steering committee again is going to look at all the options and share best practices and share opportunities it could be a great time to think [03:23:39] about composting you know i think we talk about a lot of the projects we don't have time to do i'm going to put in air quotes and maybe it gives us some time to do that and it's just again three hours a month but it's it could be a great three hours a month could be a running club could be all kinds of things we could do but i think we're going to find out a little bit when the steering committee meets and you know we're going to have that chart of 141 schools how many kids are choosing to stay at each school what can we provide we may you know some ptas might create buddy ptas right if our school has an abundance of support maybe we'll have a buddy school where we can [03:24:18] support a buddy school across the county i just think there are all kinds of options that help us be a stronger community and help our educators be even more effective in their roles thank you mr mcdaniel mr moon thank you mr chairman thank you dr ria for a making a presentation on this very important issue i agree with you that we need to provide additional planning time especially for upcoming school year 24 25 to our elementary school teachers [03:24:52] so our support there whether you need a school board member support or not i will stay in my support for that you know having said that a couple of messages that i don't want to send out or people to see that we are sending out is that first, first, we are not going back to half day Mondays. It's only seven Mondays out of here. It's not every Monday. You know, second, when you mentioned about deployment of the staff from central office to schools, are they, were you [03:25:32] saying that you are deploying them to work with the students or work with teachers? I didn't quite get that I at this point it's teachers first or excuse me students first we want to make sure all our students have the best experiences possible that choose to stay or whose families have them stay I think there will be staff clearly that are going to be out working with teachers but we have strong teacher leaders and strong principals at the school-based level so we want to to make sure our students' needs come first. [03:26:09] - Sure, I mean, I agree, students' needs should come first, but at the same time, another message that I don't want us to be sending out is that our central office staff have nothing else to do. [03:26:29] So they can spare-- - That clearly isn't true. - They can spare half a day Monday, you know, once a month for seven times, do this work with students to supervise students activities otherwise as some may claim that we are over staffed in the central office and we can do away with some of those or if not many of the central staff. [03:26:55] That's a wrong message. Yeah I think we'll be careful about how we talk about that but I think three hours a month to spend in a school for a central office staff that supports schools is actually quite reasonable. a lot more than three hours a month already and another thing is i don't want that our central office staff do not have enough work to do to add another three hours to to be deployed to work with the students i mean that's an additional work you know we are asking central office people to do because they have their ongoing work already right and next one in next [03:27:35] one is when as you are sending out communication to entire entire Fairfax County just to make sure you know make it clear that we are going to be evaluating this program at the end of the year and make a determination whether we may may not continue this in the future and and and one last thing I think I had this conversation with you previously is that for the students who choose to stay at the school rather than going home on those [03:28:13] seven Monday afternoon I hope that their time spent at the school to be as enriching as possible yes sir thank you mr. moon miss Sizemore heiser thank you I know I'm very excited about our basal materials and making sure our teachers have adequate time to get trained on them and I know there's a lot of demands from the state requirements so I appreciate the creativity and trying to find a solution while balancing student learning and you know I'm supportive of this for next year to kind of to make sure you have that time and space to do [03:28:52] it I really do appreciate the creativity you put into different ways to make sure the students are supported rights because it can be especially a little bit late difficult for families as well so a couple things one when you talk about looking potentially at morning versus you know late start versus early release have you talked to done any surveys of families to see maybe they have a preference i don't know but i was just kind of curious if that's something that you've thought about but it would be interesting to see what the community as someone said so much has changed in the last 10 years [03:29:27] maybe they have a preference but i i want to be clear that i haven't talked about making a decision between yeah the suggestion that came up i apologize you're correct um i think it's something that in the evaluation of this year we could certainly take a look at i've been a high school principal that had late starts um we had a two and a half hour late start every week to do planning and it was great planning those were some of also our most difficult days with students for a variety of reasons um so i've been in districts where we've had early release and [03:30:06] And I've been in districts that we have late starts and I think it is always prudent, I think, to think about in an evaluation what might work better if we even continue that, you know, down the road. yeah and I appreciate that it's just for this year given the need for PD and then but I also just wanted to mention I liked what you said that in other divisions you've done scheduling different ways to ensure teacher planning time I know one thing that I've heard from many elementary school teachers is the need for parity and teacher planning time and so I hope that you know since we kind of need to do this for this PD that we can look at it [03:30:44] as ways to maybe more innovative ways to get the teacher planning time and fill some of the goals of this treaty plan because one of the goals in this treaty plan was equitable access to enrichment opportunities and maybe we'll find in this year that this is a way to do that in similar ways the TJ has that eighth period right maybe this is a so I would just encourage I hope as you do this your staff looks at how it works such as an evaluation from a PD perspective an evaluation from how can we provide some of the as I think mr. McElwee mentions flesh we've talked about steam how can we provide these in a way that may maximizes or teacher planning time or addresses some of the teacher planning [03:31:23] time concern so I hope that some of the things you're looking at as you implement this this year because as I've said to you sometimes we can't continue to do things as we've done them and expect different results so this is an opportunity to see if there's other ways we can do things I also just wanted to make sure since again it is a little bit on the later side that as your team is looking at implementing this IEPs are mostly done for next year which means service hours are mostly set for next year and I want to make sure as we're removing you know a half day of school you know with enrichment or other you know supportive opportunities that we look at ensuring those IEP service hours [03:32:03] are still able to be right by the teams so I don't know if that's part of the conversations that are going on in addition to related service provider time I know sometimes their time is really tight and they schedule things in really tightly to make sure this doesn't impact their ability to do related services in a push-in model. [03:32:19] I imagine it could allow them to do related services in a pull-out or in a separate model. So just some things to think about, I'd love to talk to you offline about what your thoughts are on those. Right. Yes, ma'am. And I think we are already having those conversations around the services and what this one, three hours, seven times, how that might impact and what services we could provide as a continuation. [03:32:46] So I think that's and again, I think the steering committee is going to really be helpful in those conversations as well. Thank you, Mrs. Seismerheiser. Miss Dixit. [03:33:01] Just real quick. I know it's just noticing the number of hours which is allocated 27 for the classroom teachers. Is there a math PD part of that 27 hours other than the reading and that's just the reading from video. [03:33:18] It doesn't include the math. So I know you also mentioned the new math standards are required for 2425 is there going to be enough support for the teachers to get PD if they don't have allocated time for that. [03:33:36] I don't really feel like there is to be honest with you. I think people are going to be using planning time just traditional planning time to do some of that work. And that's not ideal. so math is like a center of our excellence as well other than reading and you know their goal strategy goal so i mean i know you've allocated three hours but if we could you know add a couple of hours for math any other day or the same day it's just to kind of push that school towards all [03:34:11] especially the elementary the math skills are developed there those that that's the best time and I think teachers learning and teaching better and in different ways and in fact some of the computer science curriculum can be also taught at the elementary level if teachers are getting that PD. Well I agree and I think we're going to be adding some steam staff at elementary so in all truthfulness right our elementary school teachers are responsible for teaching [03:34:48] a lot of content that continues to evolve and it would be fabulous if the standards would just stay still for a little bit. I think, you know, it's hard to master something that keeps moving. So I think this is a start to see how we can do a division-wide rollout. But the math, you know, my heart is on mathematics. So we're going to have to figure that out as well. [03:35:17] Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you. Ms. John Cunning. Hi. First of all, thank you. I'm really excited about this. I'm really excited about the PD for the teachers and the consideration of giving elementary school teachers in a planning time. [03:35:40] As someone whose children were in school when we had half day Mondays, I know that it's doable. I know that parents adjust. I know that part of that part of it is going to be communicating great time to make doctor's appointments for your kids and they don't miss school. [03:35:56] I mean, so it's all about how we approach that communication. I think that's really important. And also, we're talking about enrichment opportunities. We're talking about elementary school. And guys, recess play is a great enrichment opportunity. [03:36:13] I don't think we have to overcomplicate this. I think there's just a lot of things that our kids need that time to play. And studies have shown, especially the younger ones, they need that. So I think sometimes we get over complicated in making sure that, you know, these kids are being, you know, having all this material thrown at them when sometimes our kids just need to play. [03:36:36] And that is enough enrichment for our younger ones, particularly. I do not have a problem with half day Mondays being something that moves forward because I lived it and that was when I personally would do doctor's appointments for kids, braces, all of that. [03:36:55] and then they didn't have to miss school at other times. I think parents can be creative. I also think this is a great opportunity for us to partner with our county and being on the skip committee, like how can we partner for some of those opportunities within our rec centers and provide those opportunities for those kids. [03:37:15] So I do think that this is a time that we can be creative. And I do know that in terms of central office staff, three hours a month I think is not going to take them away from a lot of their work and a lot of our central staff office do spend time in the schools anyway. [03:37:32] That is part of their job. So it doesn't mean that they don't have enough work to do because a lot of their work is coming into the schools. And so I just want the public to understand that central office staff does not always just stay in the central office. They're out there supporting our teachers, our students. [03:37:50] So this is just something that they're going to continue to do. But I'm really excited about the possibilities and also being on the SCIP committee working with SCIP to see how we can work on those three hour, you know, a month, Mondays to see how we can partner with them. [03:38:06] Thank you. And I, the other thing I forgot to mention is we are planning, I'm going to do a couple of community evenings for parents if they, you know, to hear directly from me and also to provide direct feedback. So as well as we're going to have an email within our website, the webpage, if people have questions, it'll go to the steering committee so we can get answers out right away. Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunningham. Ms. Marin. Yeah, let's be bold. Let's make change. I mean, I support this. [03:38:37] I, you know, I thought after we got through COVID that would, or during COVID, it would be the opportunity to pull in virtual learning in a new way, to use technology a different way. And we just couldn't make that happen. And we got to change some things. And there's nothing more important in literacy academically um i'd love to know more about why that why that change was made and what the data show how did that work well before and like where we are now maybe it's kind of a moot point but you know i know there's regulations about planning time for staff it was one of the first things i worked on before covid stopped us all in our tracks but they've been talking about this [03:39:13] like you said i think it was eight years actively so um they definitely need this there's no going back. I think my colleague is absolutely right about how to market it and play and activities. I think the one thing I want to be cautious of is that there's not a gross inequity of schools that can and schools that can't but like what a great way to ask people to be part of this you know. [03:39:35] So I'd I'd like to also you mentioned our scheduling is not common in other places. I'd like to know how other school districts schedule. I don't know how we got here. It's clearly not working I'm glad you're working on a solution I also think the schedule for secondary needs to be examined I hear from people all the time they're taking their kids are taking PE in the summer so they could get in their band in their world language in high school I mean this stuff is we've got to fix this stuff kids should not be choosing between music and world language or business and whatever else they want to do and finally yes it's a great opportunity to partner with our county I believe the SAC memorandum of [03:40:13] Understanding was issued in 1987 and has not been updated since. So what a great opportunity to update that MOU and figure out how to provide school-age child care as well as our in-home child care providers who are pivotal people in the county's early childhood child care system. [03:40:31] So I'm all for it and I'm happy to address the public's questions and encourage us to this is what we need to do for our students and our teachers need this and if our teachers say they need this? We have to do it. So thank you for coming with an innovative solution. Thank you, Ms. Marin. Ms. Anderson. So I love being in the messy middle. I think it's awesome. There's always opportunity for excellence in there somewhere. So I'm fully on board with that. I love the fact that you guys are pulling in the PTAs. I would really strongly suggest that you [03:41:07] make sure you're going through the principles so you get to the PTOs too. If you just focus on the PTA level support you're missing a huge tranche of our of our programs in that vein we also should probably be talking with the county to make sure that other community partners are aware what's going on certain things like buses from the Pentagon don't run after until 3 o'clock in the afternoon on like any day of the week and so those are types of things that we should be responsive so that we can make it possible for parents to get home so if that is all at all possible I think that that would be an awesome thing to be able to do in that [03:41:44] vein also we've talked a ton about community partnerships in terms of business partnerships this is would be an opportunity to maybe have corporate volunteers come in and in you know in controlled ways also I will say that I have had the opportunity to talk to several principals who are doing an amazing job utilizing their classroom monitors to also provide extra planning time because what they're doing is using that the classroom monitors to help aid the CLT meetings and so the benefit of doing that I just want to make sure that we're actually talking to the principals to ensure that we have those robust [03:42:21] sharing moments to talk about how that is all happening and then the other thing that I'll say is that I think that some of the things that you guys were doing with sprouts over spring break could obviously be utilized here particularly if you were trying to do some sort of remediation kind of kind of work with our kids. So I think that that's a particularly good opportunity. And I know that Ms. Clemenco is already extremely excited about some of the things that you guys were doing. So I think that it's an opportunity to share some of those. Yes, ma'am. And I have to say that's a great connection because a lot of the Sprout activities would be very transferable to the early release. So thank [03:43:00] you. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Ms. Kareem. I'm also very excited about this. I like how you mentioned how they'll get tutoring services and like other after school activities after the early releases I think something we could explore is getting high school students involved so in my school we have what's in math partnerships like we'll walk over after school and teach the middle schoolers math or like our computer science on our society we'll like go to local elementary schools in our pyramid and just teach computer science and I know like this would be [03:43:36] like during school hours but I do think it wouldn't be too bad if we missed like three hours of school anyway and like we could switch around groups so it wouldn't have to be like the same group each time and like you could jump around and what Sophie was saying earlier in public comment about having financial literacy like that could be another thing students teach after during these early release hours and I also think it would help with teacher planning because like high school students are mature enough that they don't really like obviously like a teacher would be there to supervise us but then they could also use that time for planning so yeah just my thoughts thank you miss Karim that's [03:44:14] fabulous because we have a lot of high school partnerships where the high school students walk across I see them when I'm visiting school so it's a great idea I just think that's what's gonna happen right learning happens best in community we need planning our students need the best we have and coming I think we figure that out. Together things are possible. [03:44:36] Thank you, Dr. Reid. Agenda item 8.02 -- sorry. Oh, right seat. Just under the gun. Paul, I apologize. Ms. Seizmoorheiser. One -- really two quick things. One quick thing. Dr. Reid, one thing we've talked about in this strategic plan and one thing you've talked about is opportunities for inclusion. [03:44:53] Yes. This might be a good chance to have social inclusion opportunities. I think it's a great opportunity. So thank you. Yes, ma'am. I'll stop there. Thank you. Dr. Anderson. Yes, I think the idea of Sprouts is one of the things I wanted to raise, but that's already been covered. [03:45:13] I just wanted to kind of throw in there the steering committee if I like the idea that you've ensured that SEPTA is participating. If we could also make sure that our title one group participates because that's a different set of issues or maybe even MSAOC. I'm not sure which is the most germane or maybe it's both. [03:45:32] But there are some issues that are happening in those communities that should be part of this conversation and the survey that you talked about teachers being able to do. I would also encourage you to consider having parents do it at the end of the year. [03:45:48] You know was this a problem was this not a problem but I'm really looking for that plan for the grade six teachers. I know we kind of were not speaking the same language just a little while ago because it's a matter of equity. AND I'D LIKE TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT IS IN PLACE. [03:46:05] AND ONCE THE STEERING COMMITTEE COMPLETES THEIR WORK, WILL THAT PLAN BE SHARED WITH THE BOARD? YES, MA'AM. OKAY, THANK YOU. I WOULD PLAN TO KEEP THEM IN PLACE ALL YEAR. OKAY. RIGHT, BECAUSE IT'S NOT JUST THE DEVELOPMENT. TOO OFTEN I THINK WE PUT A TEAM TOGETHER TO CRAFT THE DEVELOPMENT AND LAUNCH, AND THEN THEY DISBURSE, AND THEN WE IMPLEMENT AND GO OFF THE RAIL. [03:46:28] SO I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE STEERING COMMITTEE stays in place and will also facilitate the evaluation at the end of the year. That'd be great. I think that's a good thing to do to continue that evaluation. And I'm really, really excited about this being in person and not a virtual, not another module, but opportunity for people to really work with each other. [03:46:50] And my final thing is more of a question than a comment. I'm not sure if this is a Dr. Presidio question, but can you speak to what kind of supports are typically provided to our teachers when there are new standards it happens every eight years and one subject or the other so it's not something that is not a frequent occurrence how do we typically support teachers in that space I will defer to dr. Presidio on that question about how we do that here in Fairfax County yeah no thank you for that question so I mean we do it in a number of different ways one of course is updating our planning and pacing guides and making sure that you know teachers have those shelf ready lessons and [03:47:29] materials available and updated with the new standards so that they don't need to do all of that work on their own and then we do a lot of job embedded support for that work so you know for example with our new math standards schools that have instructional coaches math coaches the administrative team will support the collaborative teams with opportunities to process that work and basically run job-embedded professional development that way yeah because I think we have math this year and I think the next one is science or social studies it's one of the two coming up very quickly thank you thank you Dr. Anderson agenda item 8.02 [03:48:08] superintendent matters thank you chairman Frisch so I just I'm gonna be brief because we've got another meeting after the meeting I just want to note that yesterday was the last day of school and if anybody's continuing to go campuses but just a big thank you to all of our staff a great year and just want to give my grateful thanks also big shout out to high school principals and all high school staff involved with graduations and those principals who came to be a part of graduations who don't work at high schools we it was a [03:48:46] great graduation season I'm really proud of our graduates our families that came to celebrate in our staff also enjoyed the cappies I think for those of you who are there just unbelievably talented young people and a big shout out to our educators in the music and theater arts had a chance to attend the Asian Leadership Alliance scholarship banquet and our Hispanic Leadership Alliance scholarship reception some incredible graduates headed off to do incredible work so proud of our students and at this point i'll leave it there it was fun to see the kids all [03:49:24] cleaned up today our athletes i did go down and watch a couple of the state final events and whether our kids are on an athletic field in the classroom on stage or in the shop we've got amazing young people so a lot to be proud of anyhow thank you thank you dr reed agenda item 8.03 financial year 2025 risk assessment and audit plan presentation. I call on Ms. Ko for a presentation on the financial year 2025 risk assessment and audit plan. Good evening school board members, [03:50:04] FCPS colleagues, and the community members. For those of you who may not be familiar, the Office of Auditor General reports directly to the school board via the audit committee. So tonight, I will present our fiscal year 2025 risk assessment, which is the roadmap guiding our audit efforts for the upcoming fiscal year, which will be beginning next month, July 2024 through June 2025. [03:50:33] So we will focus on the presentation right now. This slide two is a summary of what we are going to cover. We can move on to slide three. Slide three sets the stage of our discussion. This slide outlines our mission and authority. [03:50:51] Each year, the Office of Auditor General submits the annual audit plan to the audit committee, and this year happened in May. Now I'm going to present it to the school board. Slide four, maybe I can slow down a little bit first, and we are at slide four. [03:51:18] Slide four sheds the light on the details of how we craft our plan. We have gathered inputs from various sources, including feedback from the school board members, Audit Committee citizen members, surveys, interviews with FCPS staff and look at our neighboring and nationwide school districts internal audit reports. [03:51:40] You will see the numbers and the percentage of involvement from our stakeholders. So rest assured that as auditors, we are leaving no stone unturned in considering all types of risks. Slide five, even though it is a little bit late at night, I will need a drum roll here because it is the result of our audit assessment. [03:52:01] So here are the key outcomes for the fiscal year 2025 risk assessment, and I will go into each audit topic in more detail next. Slides six and seven represent the key metrics. [03:52:17] So this slide explains why we selected these audit topics. So these topics are supported by benchmarking, financial, and other indicators, as well as the support from FCPS employees, school board members and audit committee members and I will go through each one of them briefly. For the first line item is the business process audits. [03:52:40] These are performance audits of financial transactions mainly for school and we also include central offices as well. Our schools are our bread and butter and it is essential to continue to perform this audit. And then for the second and the third line is the construction and renovation contracting process, as well as the critical process review for hiring. [03:53:04] One can see that we have obtained overwhelming support to perform, plus the industry relevance as well, because we all have a yes for benchmarking, that the other K-12 audit shops are also conducting similar audits. [03:53:19] And moving on to slide seven, slide seven, we start off with local school activity funds. It is a requirement per the Code of Virginia, so we proposed to the school board that we should continue. And then the next one is the procurement process, including the relevant information technology processes. [03:53:40] It also receives strong support and it also has the industry relevance. Last but not the least, student disciplinary process. It is an area that has not been audited by my office before, and so we propose to include in the next year audit plan. Slide 8 is the operational plan which laid out the timeline for each audit aiming for completion before June 30th of next year. [03:54:09] The only exception is the local school activity fund audit which required a year-end balance validation. So after we go through the title the topics and we are now going to go through the what to be included in each audit at a macro level. So slide 9 and 10, they are the carry forward audits from fiscal year 2024. These are ongoing audits that are currently happening with scopes already approved by the board. So I'm going [03:54:41] to spare some time to go over to slide 11. Slide 11 explains the business process audits, which is I think one slide. Yes, thank you. As I mentioned before, we will audit financial transactions at schools and non-school sites. [03:54:59] Career, technical, and education fund accounts will also be included as part of this audit. Slide 12, which is the construction and renovation contracting process audit. Its objective include the evaluation of the checks and balances and regulations, sampling of contracts to review, and comparing with other K-12 organization contract mechanism for constructions and renovations. [03:55:26] Moving on to the next slide. critical process review for hiring. I'm sure all of us would agree that talent acquisition is critical for the success of FCPS. So in this audit, we will review the relevant process for design and operating effectiveness, identify key and redundant controls, and provide recommendations for improvement. [03:55:48] Moving on, next slide is the local school activity funds. We talked about that already. So I think we can go to the next one, which is the procurement process audit. This audit will focus on the procurement process managed by both the Office of Procurement Services and the Department of Information Technology. [03:56:08] Since we talked about the procurement process a little bit ago in the meeting, I would like to compliment that the last contract audit completed by my office, like we discussed, was in 2020 with the focus on sole source contracts only. [03:56:24] Then moving on to the next slide, which is the student disciplinary process. The objective are to evaluate the disciplinary process, including appeals, for compliance and also the fidelity of implementation across all schools. [03:56:39] We are also hoping to do benchmarking so that we can compare and contrast our practices at FCPS. The next slide is the continuous monitoring, and I am almost done with the presentation. [03:56:54] And this slide will talk about what we are going to focus next year for continuous monitoring, we will be ramping up our analytical reviews and also help us to make some smart choices in sampling. And I'm sure all of you know that for auditing, we are selecting a sample to review because we cannot look at all of them. [03:57:16] So hopefully with this tool can help us to make smarter choices. Then the next one are all the other duties as described, is the other OAG duties. And I just want to highlight a few here that we will continue to focus on the fraud, waste and abuse inquiries as we discussed in the previous meeting and the audit committee meetings. [03:57:41] Right now, we have received more than 70 cases as a year. So again, I want to thank for all the school board members' support in spread the words of the important to see something, say something. And we will also continue to be active in providing training, which is item five to our employees. [03:58:01] And we will continue to also ensure our own audit quality, which is item seven. And we will follow up on each audit recommendation and report a status regularly to the audit committee as well, which is item eight mentioned here. [03:58:17] And moving on to the next one, the next slide, it talks about next steps. So today, we are the bolded line number two that I'm presenting the plan to the board. And there will be a work session scheduled on June 25th. There will be sitting together to have more time to discuss with the approval schedule on July 11th. [03:58:39] And the last slide here for those of you who may be interested to find out more about our office, you can find some helpful links. And with that, this concludes my presentation tonight. I would like to hand the time back to Chair Fritch. [03:58:55] you very much uh auditor general as a reminder we are going to have a work session on this later this month all right mr dunn um i'll keep it brief since we do have a work session i think the oag having worked with office of inspectors generals in the federal government uh government accountability office outside consultants you know um accenture and bain and others I think there's a mission that needs to be defined more closely by the [03:59:33] OIG earlier we had the example of the procurement contract and and you know I have a lot more to learn about OIG but what I expected to learn over the past six months is that OIG has saved us significant amount of money because every Every OIG audit in the federal government will say, "We did this audit. [04:00:02] This is the fraud, waste, and abuse we found," or the inefficiencies, and this is how many millions of dollars we're going to save through grants that are rescinded or business processes that are improved. And essentially, we need to see the return on investment from the OIG because there's theoretical you know can consistency with other standards but I don't see the cost-effectiveness and from a taxpayer perspective you know that's what I would expect to see I would expect to see things prevented so that we don't have [04:00:40] five-year freezer warehouse contracts and and so that's what I would just ask that while you have identified some good audits here that I support we need to have a mission that aligns so that OAG is not working hand in hand with staff. In some sense, you should be adversarial to staff because you're reporting to the school board and our function is oversight. So if you're working too closely with staff, then, you know, it's like regulatory [04:01:12] capture. And so I would just encourage as part of your mission for 2025 to not just conduct these audits but to think about the mission and how to be more effective at that mission so that at the end of the year and and how you frame your reports um you know we can see that the value in our taxpayers our constituents can see the see the value and and and thus you can contribute in a positive manner to the increased efficiency of the of the school system operations thank you [04:01:45] mr dunn mr mckelveen uh thanks and just one sentence esther appreciate all this work and i appreciate the effort you went to to get uh input from all 14 members in crafting this plan for the coming year so look forward to working with you thank you thank you mr mckelveen and thank you miss ko all right agenda item nine consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval excuse me of the board [04:02:22] by a single motion many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members in the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda is on the screen are there any objections to the adopting the consent agenda item items by unanimous consent I object to adopting item 9.02 award of contract hazardous materials removal contract by unanimous consent adopting item 9.02 by unanimous consent is objected to and we will consider it separately after consideration of the remaining consent agenda are there any [04:03:00] objections to adopting the rest of the consent agenda by unanimous consent there being no further objections the consent agenda is amended as adopted the question now is on item 9.02 with unanimous consent of the board without objection I would like to move 9.02 to consideration at the next school board meeting. Seeing none, we will move agenda item 9.02 to the meeting on June 27th. Thank you. [04:03:36] Agenda item 10, new business. The following are new business items. There will not be a vote on these items this evening, but action is scheduled at a future meeting. Agenda item 11, board committee reports. I will now call on the following standing committees for their committee reports. Public engagement. Ms. Anderson, do you have a report? Very, very quickly. I am excited to say that the The Public Engagement Committee has worked hard to ensure that we received robust feedback from our advisory committees, and we have submitted the document that we have been talking [04:04:12] about, the operating manual for our community advisory committees as new business this evening, and we will vote on it on the 27th. So I'm excited to share those documents with my colleagues in the next couple of days, And we will move forward with that to actually get that over the finish line. [04:04:30] So we're excited. Thank you. Ms. Anderson. Governance Committee. Ms. Seizmoorheiser, do you have a report? Yes. The Governance Committee continued to work on policy 8130 at our last committee meeting. And we have finalized all of the sections except the community engagement section. [04:04:48] So we'll have a meeting next week on June 18th to finalize that section and then look forward to the work session on policy 8130 on June 25th. So that is my report. Considering the hour, I'll keep it short. THANK YOU MISS SIZEMORE HEISER CPDC MR DUNN DO YOU HAVE A REPORT NO I DO NOT THANK YOU AUDIT MR MCELVEINE DO YOU HAVE A REPORT GIVEN THAT WE JUST HEARD THE AUDIT PLAN FOR NEXT YEAR I THINK WE'RE GOOD THANK YOU MR MCELVEINE ALL RIGHT UH AGENDA ITEM 12 BOARD MATTERS NEXT ON THE AGENDA IS BOARD MATTERS I WILL CALL ON EACH SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TO SPEAK MR MOON THANK YOU MS DIXET [04:05:24] THANK YOU MS ANDERSON PASS THANK YOU DR. ANDERSON JUST A COUPLE OF THINGS I DO WANT TO SAY congratulations to the new principal at Justice High School, Dr. Sean Rowland, who is coming to us from an, I'm sorry, from Falls Church High School. He was the assistant principal there. He's, since he was appointed, he's had a community meeting, and I have to say our community is very enthusiastic over his appointment. Expectations are high, but I think there's a lot of excitement with what he [04:06:03] will bring to to justice high school i also want to say very quickly congratulations to the justice high school wolf pack theater that were nominated for eight cap awards and with two wins earlier this week sophia hemmins for supporting actor in a male role in a play the picture of gorian day and elijah casa also lead actor in a male role in a play also the picture of dorian gray just want to quickly give a big shout out to the students at Belvedere Elementary. Once again, they have [04:06:38] been so impressive with their PYPX presentations. They are thoughtful in terms of what problems they tackled and have had some tremendous ways to address those issues. Last but not least, I do want to say congratulations to Miss Shea Hestmark at Columbia Elementary who was named the outstanding elementary teacher and also outstanding new principal where we sit currently Miss Raven Jones from Luther Jackson yes and we do share [04:07:14] her so I know you want to share that as well again great graduation ceremonies I don't want to go into all those details I'll be putting that in my newsletter so I do want to say congratulations to the class of 2024 and most importantly happy summer to all of the students who began their summer sessions today. Thank you. Mr. Dunn. Well I want to celebrate for to start with that at the FCPS honors last night we had multiple winners from the Mount Vernon district or schools attended by Mount Vernon district students including [04:07:53] Mary Ann Cassell, a multiple disabilities teacher at Lauren Station Elementary School for outstanding elementary new teacher. Simone Kilani Jenkins, an English teacher at West Potomac High School for outstanding secondary new teacher. [04:08:09] And Darrell C. Byram, a special education department chair at Lewis High School for outstanding non-school based professional employee. Congratulations to these amazing educators. I also want to share that we have some fabulous new principals at Mount Vernon District Schools, including Mr. Kerry Dimmick at Mount Vernon High School, Katie Plunky at Bellhaven Elementary School, and Jean Consola at Fort Hunt Elementary. [04:08:39] Congratulations to these fabulous administrators for joining these schools and helping to ensure they provide a world-class education to every student. Finally, I just wanted to celebrate the fact that Holland Meadows Elementary, which has about half of the school coming from a nearby apartment complex, has finally received school bus transportation after more than a decade of advocacy by the community. [04:09:05] So I wanted to very much thank Superintendent Reed and COO Andy Muick and Executive Director of Transportation Paul D'Andre for making this happen. I also want to thank my predecessor Dan Stork and Karen Corbett Sanders for their advocacy and the community who really lifted up these students who for too many years have been forced to walk along an unpaved path in an area of increasing crime to school in inclement weather and all year round. [04:09:36] So the school bus transportation ensures these students are protected and safe and provided with equitable access to their school on a regular basis, which will help to resolve the chronic absenteeism that has confronted the school in recent years. [04:09:52] So thank you again to the great FCPS leadership for making that happen. Thank you. Ms. St. John Cunning. So first of all, I'd like to congratulate all the graduates. I had the honor of attending 11 graduations. I won't name all of them, but I started, I believe, with the first one, which was Key center and ended today with the last one which is with the adult detention center and I want to commend FCPS staff for educating all of our kids regardless of what their needs are and these graduations especially the smaller ones were just so compelling I also had the privilege to speak [04:10:30] at the Claremont elementary school sixth grade six grade promotion ceremony which was really exciting. At the awards ceremony for our staff, I was honored to be able to present the outstanding school operational employee to a person that I've had the privilege to work with for five years, Ms. Abbott, who was fantastic and very well-deserving. As well, I'll highlight our Lewis High School special ed department chair that also won an award. I was able to attend the Early Childhood Roundtable moderated by Supervisor Dalia Cech, and we discussed different [04:11:05] ways to spotlight opportunities for kids with early childhood education opportunities. I was also very proud to attend the Walk in My Shoes program that was spearheaded by Olivia, Olivia Bradley, who came and spoke before this board, and it was fantastic to see kids learning about different abilities. [04:11:27] And it's amazing to see what a second grade student can do when they're really motivated. She presented me with hundreds of signatures in support of expanding the programming among third and sixth graders across FCPS. I would also like to do a shout out to the CAPI winners from my district, featured actor in a female role in a musical, Jordan Suley for Les Miserables from Hayfield Elementary, Hayfield Secondary, featured actor in a male role in a musical, Carter Aleph, also Les Les Miserables and Hayfield Secondary, and the amazing set from Les Miserables also won a CAPI. [04:12:03] Finally, something I've been wanting to say, but we haven't gotten to board matters at several meetings, is that I was really happy to have a tour with Dr. Ponce of the WISH Center with Supervisor Rodney Lusk to look at the Work Innovation Skills Hub, the WISH Center, and start looking at possibilities of how we can partner with our community partners to expand offerings to our students, perhaps in different settings to make sure that they get the skills that they need. [04:12:36] So I'm looking forward to maybe developing partnerships that will help our students. I hope that everybody has a relaxing and happy summer, our students and our teachers. Take care of yourselves, teachers. You deserve this time off. [04:12:53] Thank you. Ms. Lady. Thank you. I'd also like to offer congratulations on the FCPS honor nominees and winners. Congratulations to Drainsville's elementary school principal, Jamie Gadley, for winning the 2024 outstanding principal. Jamie sat through our entire meeting this evening, waiting for the board vote to award the contract for the renovation of Drainsville Elementary School renovation project. [04:13:15] So she is quite a leader and very proud of her. Also, congratulations to Herney Middle School's principal, Monica Vareb, for being the region one finalist in the outstanding new principal category. I also attended the Cappies on Monday and had the honor of presenting the award for stage management to Herndon High School's Charlie Olson. [04:13:31] Herndon won four Cappy Awards, second only to West Springfield's eight awards. Very proud of my Drainville School winners, Critic Awards to Langley's Alden Walcott and Herndon's Ellen Lawton. A Critic Team Award to TJ, Stage Management, Herndon's Charlie Olson, Stage Crew, Herndon's Amelie Abun and Hayley Klein, and Vocalist in the Melrose, Herndon's Ethan Hardy. [04:13:52] And then lastly, I just want to lift up two people who were on the debate team for Langley. The class six Lincoln Douglas first place recipient was Visha Rikasi. And then the class six public forum second place was An Shah and Sahil Gubai. Congratulations to those students and congratulations to all of our graduates who crossed the stage at some point the past couple of weeks. [04:14:14] And again, I want to echo what my colleague has shared and that is to wish everyone a restful summer and come back refreshed for next year and that's for all our faculty and staff and also our students, thank you. - Thank you, Mr. McDaniel, pass. [04:14:31] - Ms. Sizemore-Heiser. - I'll skip most of what I plan to say, but since we did celebrate both AAPI Heritage Month and Immigrant Heritage Month, I had to say something. As the first Asian American woman on the school board and the first Indian American person on the school board, I just have to just say, I really recognize how much representation matters And it's amazing to me sometimes that I think that my mother was a refugee and my dad came here on a scholarship and I don't think they ever thought that their daughter would be an elected official. [04:15:05] So it really matters. And immigrants bring, when I think about what it took for my parents to leave everything they knew and the culture that they knew and come here with no money, get an education so we could have a better life, that determination and grit is what makes our country wonderful. [04:15:22] And I just had to mention that. Beyond that, I just wanted to say, because I'm such a fan of theater, congratulations to the Braddock School Cappy winners, including Wes, well, including Robinson, Secondary School Keira Gilligan, who won for Best Comic Actor in a Female Role for Pride and Prejudice, Riley Kozal and the Props Crew at Lake Braddock Secondary for their excellent work on Props and Romeo and Juliet. [04:15:43] And a little extra shout out to Lake Braddock Secondary Schools for Best Play two years in a row, this year for Romeo and Juliet. is the first time in history of the cappies that a school has won back-to-back best play awards so one last thing a huge congratulations to west springfield high school for winning best musical award for sweeney todd that is also really amazing um and i will just one quick thing i want to give a shout out to the woodson high school pyramid community for holding a really difficult conversation about the power of our words about the impact of hate speech anti-semitism racism and really [04:16:19] starting a courageous conversation that was led by students so give a shout out to that pyramid hopefully we can have more of those conversations in other parts and and our student rep was part of that student panel rita and she did a great job along with her peers on leading that conversation so with that congratulations class of 2024 thank you miss sizemore hyzer miss maron excuse me mr mckelveen i just wanted to extend the virtual handshake to mr moon on another valiant uh competition this year for graduations well done sir um uh and then uh just very briefly want to [04:16:57] uh extend a hug to uh miss dixit and mr dunn whose offspring uh graduated on the stage this year we enjoyed um accosting your your children uh and uh wish them all the best in the future thank you mr mckelveen i'm sure the offspring appreciate your sentiment uh all right agenda item see what I did? I got messed up with the list. Ms. Marin. Thank you. Well, we all know this is a time of year of transitions. This week in South Lakes, we had two major transitions, two new leaders. [04:17:35] Ms. Brittany Rogers will be the new principal at Lake Ann, excuse me, principal at Forest Edge Elementary. She comes from just down the road from Lake Ann Elementary. And Mr. Carlos Seward joins us for South Lakes High School to be the new principal from elsewhere in Virginia. So I was there for both of those announcements, and the staff is really ecstatic. So as such, with this time of transition I want to share here tonight that I will not see be seeking to remain vice chair for the next year after my current term concludes in mid July since being selected as vice chair by my colleagues in January and throughout the budgeting process it's become painfully clear that we must get the money and that is due to our public schools being chronically underfunded by [04:18:14] the state as I've also been the vice chair of the Virginia School Board Association Northeastern region during this these months I've observed a groundswell of interest across school divisions to work as a coalition to get the money. The effort must have attention if it will be successful and I believe I can play a role in this. I served as vice chair knowing it was during a transition time and I believe I've tried my best to do my duty to get this board situated and put some processes in place and orders that I think will remain and the work still has to be done. But I think having two veteran members in the leadership positions has been successful for the start of this board. Now that there has been some time to get settled I think it's appropriate to consider the [04:18:52] leadership for the board not only for this coming school year but for how this July's decisions paved the way for the next year so I look forward to helping with the smooth transition of leadership that is to come when the board makes such votes next month happy summer I hope our educators and staff rest and we will be back later this month thank you miss Marin agenda item 12 one second here [04:19:19] THE BOARD WILL NOW RECESS TO GO BACK INTO CLOSED SESSION. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com