Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, September 12, 2024

Date: Thursday, September 12, 2024
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 53m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-XmV3EVK0
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 2026-10-31. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:06:46] - Good evening, our apologies. The school board meeting is delayed till 7:15.

[00:06:50] Thank you for your patience.

[00:18:44] - This September 12th, 2024 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will 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 Annandale Singers under the direction of Pat Vaughn.

[00:19:00] - I pledge allegiance.

[00:21:29] - Another round of applause for our exiting but very talented students. Agenda item 2.02 announcements. If you would like to review a copy of the agenda, please see the back of the auditorium

[00:21:46] TO OBTAIN COPIES OF ANY ITEMS BEING PRESENTED TONIGHT PLEASE REFERENCE THE QR CODE ON THE AGENDA OR GO TO THE WEBSITE FCPS.EDU/SCHOOL BOARD/BOARDDOCS TONIGHT'S MEETING IS BEING BROADCAST ON CHANNEL 99 AND LIVESTREAMED ON THE WEBSITE AT FCPS.EDU/TV/CH99 AGENDA ITEM 2.03 MOUNT EAGLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 75TH ANNIVERSARY PROCLAMATION I CALL ON MS.

[00:22:16] John Cunningham for a proclamation. Thank you. It is my honor to present this proclamation. I have had the pleasure of knowing three of I believe the eight principals of this school and it was five minutes from the house I first bought in Fairfax County. Whereas Fairfax County experienced rapid student enrollment growth following World War II so the Fairfax County School Board authorized plans to build four emergency schools including Pendaw at Jefferson Manor. The four-classroom cinder block school opened in the fall of 1949 with 120 pupils in grades 1 through

[00:22:54] 3. And whereas because pupil enrollment doubled the next year, the school had to operate on a half-day basis, splitting the students into two groups who attended in separate morning and afternoon shifts. Fairfax County Public Schools administrators projected continued accelerated enrollment without providing adequate funding for additional school construction. And whereas the Fairfax County School Board renamed the Mount Eagle Elementary School to recognize the land where it was located, a former plantation that was owned by Brian Fairfax, the 8th Lord of Fairfax.

[00:23:29] During the Civil War, the Union Army constructed Fort Lyon on the site as part of the defensive ring protecting the District of Columbia. There exists a dichotomy between the school families Mount Eagle was initially built to serve and today's student population, which now includes descendants of enslaved people and immigrants from across the globe creating a robust learning environment that celebrates diversity and whereas mount eagle elementary school has grown from four classrooms to 17 serving approximately 34 students in pre-k through six as the founding school of the

[00:24:04] young scholars model mount eagle elementary school takes pride in its commitment to cultivating the talents of youth from underrepresented communities it is a place where students can find their passion that will carry them toward college readiness, whereas today Mount Eagle School educates a diverse student body with a passionate, dedicated group of teachers, administrators and staff who are committed to the school's vision that all students will be complex problem solvers and critical thinkers equipped on any challenge in the world with persistence and compassion.

[00:24:37] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board honors Mount Eagle Elementary on its 75th anniversary of providing educational excellence and enrichment opportunities to students and the community. Thank you, Miss St. John Cunning.

[00:24:53] Is there a second? Yes, Mr. Dunn. I will call for the vote. All those in favor, Miss Marin, Miss Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Miss Anderson, Miss Sizemore-Hyser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Miss Lady, Miss St. John Cunning and myself. That is unanimous for all board members present.

[00:25:11] The motion passes. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the Mount Eagle elementary school 75th anniversary proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front

[00:25:22] of the dais all right agenda item 3.01 community participation the next order of business is

[00:27:19] 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 sign-up 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 meeting materials in the back of the room.

[00:27:45] We ask the 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 not join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats, including when recording video or taking photos. We're grateful for those who have come here to speak to us today and we thank you for your cooperation school board members will be listening but not responding

[00:28:08] madam clerk please call the first speaker scott jones tonight's agenda calls upon the school board to award a contract for more than half a million dollars to conduct a boundary study in accordance with the updated 8130 policy throughout the boundary policy revision process the board stated this study would constitute a comprehensive boundary review and include studies on transportation

[00:28:44] costs under and overcrowding in our schools and that it would create equitable access to programs and services. The agenda states the TIPS contract was competitively solicited in accordance with competitive policies of FCPS. This is a lie. Policy 5015.4 governs the competitive solicitation process and it mandates RFPs must indicate that which is sought to be procured among a number of other factors. In July 2022, TIPS posted an RFP for consultant services, which required basic

[00:29:21] criteria, such as the company not being owned by felons. TIPS awarded contracts to 34 consulting firms, allowing these firms to be listed as consulting vendors on TIPS' website, but no money was exchanged. These were contracts in name only. Through Consulting LLC, submitted this TIPPS response to the RFP stating they offered consultant services focused on research and when describing their services, they listed they were experts in IT consulting, broadband planning, strategic planning, and a host of other nonspecific, non-unique terms.

[00:29:58] Nowhere in their submission nor in the RFP are the terms boundary, redistricting, or transportation used. The TIPPS RFP in this contract fail to meet the most basic requirements of FCPS's procurement policy and they do not meet the requirements outlined in the county's purchasing policy nor in virginia statute there is no evidence in the rfp nor in the public domain that through consulting has the experience or expertise needed to take on this comprehensive boundary study

[00:30:26] you must vote no and vote for transparency caitlin somalis good evening first i want to address the proposed boundary review consultant contract with through consulting llc which i strongly oppose The school board is being asked to approve a one-time cost of over five million dollars for this contract, which would be allocated from the school board's flexible reserve.

[00:31:01] However, this process has not been as transparent or competitive as promised. According to the contract terms, the agreement was supposed to be competitively solicited under TIFF's contract 220601 in alignment with FCPS policy, yet there is clear evidence that these competitive standards were not properly followed.

[00:31:19] Additionally, Thru Consultants website lists they only have five employees with three advisors, and while the website lists boundary studies as part of their portfolio, they have never actually done a boundary study for a county that can be found. They are willfully underqualified to do this type of study. Handing over more than half a million dollars to Thru Consulting under these circumstances is both fiscally irresponsible and a betrayal of the public trust.

[00:31:42] The only connection that explains such a poor decision to suggest such an underqualified consulting group is the apparent connection between Superintendent Michelle Reed and one of the advisors on Through Consulting. We must demand accountability and ensure that any decisions involving the future of our school boundaries are handled transparently and with full adherence to FCPS competitive policies.

[00:32:02] We need the school board to reject this contract with Through Consulting immediately. Anything less would be an outright disregard for transparency, fiscal responsibility, and the trust of the community. Approving a contract that violates FCPS's own competitive bidding policies is unacceptable and using taxpayer dollars to do so is a misuse of our resources the school board must stand and say no to this contract second and equally concerning are the recent arrests of two fcps employees contractors which have brought to light serious gaps in our school systems approach to student safety it's become evident that fcps is not doing enough to train staff and students on critical issues like internet safety and how to recognize red flags related to sexual misconduct

[00:32:40] the safety of our children is paramount and we cannot afford to be reactive we need protect proactive measures in place now mandatory comprehensive training for staff and students sheila spratley chuck ronco good evening again it's been a little while since we've had the opportunity to to meet and talk um and that's actually why i'm here so um a year ago i was

[00:33:20] at this podium talking about the same thing and that's the ace esol instructors that still don't have a contract and we've been losing them we've lost enough of them that we had to close classes at Bryant and it's not because we don't have students it's just that we don't have instructors and these instructors have been working here for a long time and they don't get sick leave they don't get holiday pay they don't have the opportunity to buy into health insurance they don't get anything from VRS and here's the killer when they finally have enough and they say hey

[00:33:58] look I just can't go on without these benefits and I need to migrate to a different position in order to get them FCPS doesn't even recognize their service there we have one person 13 years worked here transferred into a full-time position started her off at step zero at step one as if she has a zero zero experience employee all right we've been trying to get a forum to have conversation that's what we want it's just an opportunity to speak last year we were very

[00:34:33] thankful to to speak with with dr reed and you know we've had one conversation since with one member of staff and that was seven months later and it's been lip service we just want to have a conversation we want to explain what our situation is why we think that getting contracts and just figuring out what those boundaries would look like of the contract would allow these employees to stay and would entice people to come in this is a great opportunity for employees

[00:35:09] to do but right now there's nothing besides an hourly paycheck pamela wilson fcps has long been known for its outstanding and award-winning music programs but we are headed for a rude awakening thank you for the chance to share my concerns about our elementary general music program's

[00:35:44] lack of professional development. When I first started teaching in 1996, I was met with rich support and camaraderie. There were nationally recognized presenters or mini conferences where teachers could choose their best PD for them. The Great Beginnings program became the gold standard for the nation. I even studied it during my master's program, proud to have been a trained teacher coach for our music teachers. But times have changed. Now it seems that FCPS believes that our 250 general music teachers can be excellent teachers in a vacuum on their own. In the past few years, our professional development days have been canceled, virtual, or limited

[00:36:21] to pyramid meetings. In some years, there hasn't even been a date on the calendar for any training at all. Because of the teacher shortages, FCPS has hired music teachers that have never been trained in teaching general music, and yet there is no support, no ongoing professional development to ensure the high-quality music education we expect.

[00:36:40] Our Fine Arts Office and our professional organization, the FGMEA, has been thwarted at every turn despite their good intentions. For over 50 years, the FGMEA has worked in partnership with the Fine Arts Office to benefit all general music teachers and FCPS, but not if we can't get a place or a time to do it.

[00:36:59] In-person training for us does not mean a meeting at our individual schools. Specialist teachers need to meet with our own. We need to gather with our colleagues to learn and grow and make music and dance. This is how we learn. We are professional teachers in a highly specialized area.

[00:37:15] We want to do well. We want to stay in the teaching profession. But with little or no PD and a watered-down Great Beginnings program, we are leaving our teachers to fend for themselves. I ask you, our FCPS school board, to ensure that general music teachers are given in-person appropriate opportunities for effective professional development during the school day.

[00:37:35] maintain our outstanding program we deserve now Ruby Beckwith oh how's everyone doing I have two children that currently are enrolled at Hayfield Secondary School and I'm here to talk about the

[00:38:08] controversy with the football team I echo Mr. Dunn's request for an external investigation I understand that that was voted down however I um I understand that there were what 19 people interviewed i don't know who those people were but were any of the students that left the football team from the spring to the summer interviewed my son wasn't my son's 15 years old since he was five years old he played football and due to some of the issues that were surrounding the drama bullying

[00:38:47] that were happening at the football or on the football team he um he left in july and um april my younger son would get into trouble for other things my 15 year old was directed I don't know if it was by the principal or whomever but the coach would punish my 15 year old for things that my 14 year old or my 13 year old at the time was doing I have it documented I tried to talk to the school about certain things I've talked to the coach about it and then in May when my son also

[00:39:21] got in trouble for being accused of hate speech my 15 year old again was punished by the coach directly he had to pick up trash he was humiliated in front of his other teammates and he was also hit numerous times by other kids on that team so for an investigation an external unbiased investigation about all of the allegations I believe is completely reasonable in addition that information was leaked to a alexandria public school counselor and she released it online

[00:40:00] which is in direct violation of FERPA please play the video testimony submitted by Mike Byrne transparency trust and accountability these are basic elements of good governance and things this school board has said are important as part of the boundary review process over the past few months.

[00:40:30] And yet here we are tonight with Superintendent Reed asking the board to approve a boundary review consulting contract that is shrouded in secrecy. Let's be clear, the contract that the school board is being asked to approve tonight is not based on any request for proposals issued by Fairfax County Public Schools. There was no solicitation document laying out the specific work to be conducted pursuant to this contract and nothing specifying desired qualifications for a vendor to do this work. Instead, Dr. Reed is asking you to approve a contract that piggybacks on a different cooperative agreement that was executed two years ago,

[00:41:09] which says nothing about Fairfax County Public Schools or a comprehensive boundary review. You simply cannot argue in good faith that this process amounts to public notice about this specific contract opportunity. Moreover, that agreement is being used to award a contract to through consulting, a vendor that, according to Dr. Reed, FCPS has not contracted with in the past. Put simply, you are being asked to award a contract to an entity that has not made any showing that it is capable of doing the specific work envisioned here. FCPS families are extremely

[00:41:48] interested in the comprehensive boundary review, and a contract of this importance and magnitude should not be shrouded in secrecy and fast-tracked without adequate opportunity for competitive bids as is the case here a contract of this importance should be awarded via the standard rfp process under school board policy 50 15 the fairfax county purchasing resolution and virginia law for these reasons i urge the school board to vote no chair fish that was our last public speaker

[00:42:24] thank you madam clerk agenda item 5.02 action item confirmation of action taken in closed meeting i call on miss lady for a motion i move the school board approve the award for utility bill processing services to energy cap and authorize the division superintendent or the director of the office of procurement for services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board my screen jumped on me so we're a little ahead of the gun we're going to finish this motion and then we're going to go back in the agenda is there a second a second miss marron

[00:43:03] all those in favor miss marron miss dixit mr mckelveen miss anderson miss sizemarheiser mr dunn mr moon miss lady miss st john cunning and myself opposed abstentions dr anderson will the clerk read the vote the vote is 10-1-1 um i have that mr mcdaniel is not present the motion

[00:43:35] passes thank you uh i call on miss st john cunning for a motion can i have a point of order please go ahead 10-1-1 that's not accurate because we don't count the absent member no it's 10-0-1 10-0-1 I don't know if I misheard was that the apologies it is 10 0 1.

[00:44:01] Thank you Miss St. John Cunning for a motion. I move that the chair of the school board be authorized to execute on behalf of the board the contract for assistant superintendent department of human resources. Is there a second second all those in favor. Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr. McIlvain Dr. Anderson Miss Anderson Miss Sizemore Heiser Mr. Moon Mr. Dunn Miss Lady Miss St.

[00:44:25] John Cunning and myself that's unanimous for board members present. I call on Mr. Dunn for a motion. I move that the chair of the school board be authorized to execute, on behalf of the board, the contract for the chief safety and security officer.

[00:44:44] Is there a second? Second. Mr. Moon. All those in favor? Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismarheiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. H. Uncunning, and myself. That is unanimous for board members present. Agenda item 4.01, student representative matters.

[00:45:02] I call on Ms. Sawant, our student representative. Thank you, Mr. Chair. September is suicide prevention month, but the conversation around mental health needs to be ongoing and not just during this time. It's so important that we continue to raise awareness, have open dialogues, and share resources that help prevent suicide in our communities.

[00:45:21] You never know when someone is going through something difficult, and our schools are and should be a place where it's safe to talk about mental health and reach out for help. Fairfax County Public Schools has some incredible year-round support services available to promote positive mental health and build resilience, and I wanted to highlight a few of these today. First is Our Minds Matter, a student-led mental health movement and club that most high schools and FCPS participate in and it's a great way for students to become part of the supportive community and help raise mental awareness at their own schools. Healthy Mind Fairfax is a program where school-based clinicians are able to refer youth for free counseling services and of course Hazel Health is always open for students to have virtual

[00:46:01] counseling. This year Hazel Health is opt-in so if your parent or guardian has already filled out the digital consent form, you already have access to these services. You don't have to figure it out all alone, and help is available. You can also text 998-247 to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is available outside of school hours as well. Please check in on your loved ones and friends. Just asking how someone is doing could be the conversation that makes all the difference. As students continue to experience the new grading policy, we want to hear your feedback. In the coming two weeks, I'll be releasing a short less than five minute form for students to get their feedback on how

[00:46:39] that what they think about the policy, the effectiveness of the policy, the balance between the summative and the formative grading policy, what they would like to see, things they like, things they don't like, how it's received in several classes like math versus English, things that will be useful to the board as we discuss this policy going forward. I would also like to remind high school students that they have free access to the Coursera Career Academy in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology to access over 30 professional certifications not limited to data science and analytics, business and marketing from Google, IBM, Microsoft and more corporations. If you're

[00:47:16] interested in access to these certifications please visit BoardDocs or reach out to Mr. Scott Simmons to fill out the student interest form and get parent or guardian consent to access course era. Especially at the beginning of the school year I think this is a wonderful opportunity for students who want to explore new fields and get certifications that are helpful to them and extracurriculars and their career as well. I also wanted to give an update on the Secondary Voices Advisory Committee for Portrait of a Graduate that I'm working on in collaboration with the instructional services team at Willow Oaks. The purpose of the Student Advisory Committee will be to collect valuable student feedback on their Portrait of a Graduate experiences

[00:47:53] including how they connect the curriculum to their career goals whether that be through IB, AP, or specialized leadership programs like SEALS, Madison Wings, and Global Leaders, as well as evaluate the current portrait of a graduate attributes and see if there's anything that needs to be changed or added.

[00:48:09] I've also already heard of interest from a student who's really excited to take his experience at Langley and how he's used those skills to participate on this committee, and I'd love to hear from students who are interested if you'd like to join this committee. I'd also like to plug the Student Leadership Development Program for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors interested in a future in law, government or public policy, and an opportunity to work with the school board.

[00:48:34] Applications to your principal are due by September 30th, 2024. Looking forward, I'm very excited to meet with the Superintendent's Advisory Council for the first time in a couple of weeks and have more updates then. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sawant.

[00:48:49] Gen item 5.01, action item certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia, it is necessary for BOARD TO CERTIFY THAT SINCE THE FAIRFAC COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD CONVENED TO CLOSE MEETING ON AUGUST 29TH 2024 TO THE BEST OF EACH BOARD MEMBER'S KNOWLEDGE ONLY PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS LAWFULLY EXEMPTED FROM OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENTS AND ONLY SUCH PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS AS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE MOTION CONVENING THE CLOSED MEETING WERE HEARD DISCUSSED OR CONSIDERED BY THE BOARD DURING THE MEETING DURING THE CLOSED MEETING DO I HAVE A MOTION MR. MCELVEEN IS THERE A SECOND MS.

[00:49:26] Sizemore Heiser. All those in favor, Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore Heiser, Mr. Dunn, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, and myself. Against? Opposed?

[00:49:47] Abstention? Mr. Chairman, I need to abstain because I was only able to participate part of the closed meeting on August 29th. I appreciate it. Thank you. Will the clerk read the vote? Dr. Anderson and Mr. Moon have abstained. 902 the motion carries thank you all right back on track agenda item 5.03 action item consulting contract consulting services for boundary review i call on miss sizemore hyzer for a motion i move

[00:50:24] that the school board one approve the boundary review consultant contract and two authorize the division superintendent or director of the office of procurement services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board it is recommended that the one-time cost of 546 953 thousand dollars be allocated from the school board flexibility reserve to support the boundary review consulting contract with through consulting llc is there a second i second miss st john cunning uh miss sizemarheiser would you like to speak to your motion yeah i would but before i begin i'd like to ask dr reed a few questions if i may um can you share some additional

[00:51:03] context regarding um this vote and this contract in general including the benefit of cooperative contract vehicles like TIPS and how public bodies often use these sort of cooperative contract agreements for cost-effectiveness and efficiency as well as the background and experience that 3Consulting has around similar work with similar types of school systems. Thank you Ms. Seismorheiser.

[00:51:26] This particular cooperative is a the TIPS cooperative out of the state of Texas is a national cooperative organization and the contract that was awarded to TIPS was awarded as part of an RFP and as an example to writing a contract such as a TIPS contract which is a cooperative the board might remember that our hazel health our telemental health contract is also a contract that has gone through this particular cooperative because there is a benefit to having a large cooperative in terms of a price point for the body of work we're requesting the Virginia

[00:52:04] Public Procurement Act in the Fairfax County purchasing resolution prescribe the viable methods of procurement for goods and services, and this procurement model is an improved method of procurement where a public body can participate in or purchase from another public body's contract.

[00:52:22] It's a strategy often used by public bodies nationally and allows us to leverage a competitive process and subject matter expertise by others. And I also want to remind our board and our community that our Office of procurement services Manages over 600 contracts and of those 600 contracts about 25% are Cooperative contracts or contracts that go through a cooperative similar to TIPS and that's over a hundred and Twenty contracts. I believe is that correct within the division. So this is not an unusual

[00:53:01] Purchase or an unusual practice as a quarter of our contracts are purchased in this way To the company specifically, this company threw his experience working with large districts. And we are a large division with unique needs.

[00:53:17] And there are a number of companies that are not able to provide that level of service, which is one of the reasons we want to look nationally. The team working on this project has boundary experience in data collection, data analysis, and scenario development and presentations.

[00:53:34] The team is comprised of a former superintendent, a former school board member, former educators and technicians in terms of the engineering required to do the demographic work necessary. In alignment with the best practices from the National Institute of Government Purchasing, a determination has been made that this competitively awarded grant with through consulting by the Interlocal Purchasing System tips.

[00:54:01] The contract 220601 provides advantageous pricing and meets the competitive requirements of our division. I will also indicate that in calls with other superintendents around the country, as well as those who have worked on boundaries, we really wanted to, I really wanted to make sure that we checked in with divisions of our size or larger.

[00:54:26] And they do have successful experience, in particular in Miami-Dade County, which has 333,000 students and over 500 school buildings, and the Houston School District in Texas that at the time of their review had 181,000 students and over 200 buildings.

[00:54:46] They did offer a fixed-price contract of 547,000, excluding reimbursable travel expenses, which are capped at $50,000, and this means the price is set and will not change regardless of the time it takes to complete the task.

[00:55:02] The contract in mind at this time is laid out for 18 months, as the Board had discussed, which would culminate in bringing a recommendation to the Board for decision in January of 2026.

[00:55:17] If there is any type of an adjustment to the contract, there is an agreement that a written amendment contract will be brought back to the board for approval between the parties so at this point I think that's responsive to your questions yes thank you that's very helpful and having done some work in government contracting this tips it sounds to me this cooperative contract vehicle such as tips is not much different than what's using the federal government contracting space and state as well in terms of these IDIQ type contracts and contracting vehicles individuals under which other contracts to other agencies or organizations can be issued.

[00:55:54] And so it's I think it's a very common thing done in public body procurement, and it sounds like from what I'm hearing there are many other public bodies that use TIPS as a contracting vehicle as well. I know we said about 25 percent of our contracts come through TIPS, but can you talk about whether other public bodies across the country or in Virginia also utilize TIPS?

[00:56:14] If you know that, I wouldn't necessarily expect you to know what other public bodies use for their procurement, but if you do know that, it would be helpful to share. Well, what I will say is that the national cooperatives are utilized frequently because of the expertise that's provided and the competitive bidding process as well as timelines because the formal RFP process is a time-intensive, staff-intensive process.

[00:56:40] So often these national cooperatives are utilized by other public entities. And I did want to just give a note on the cost comparison. And a reminder that we're at $560,000, I believe, for this contract. Prince George's County, Maryland, in 2020, contracted for boundary work.

[00:57:03] At that time, in 2020, it was $465,000. And Montgomery County Schools, in 2019, in Maryland, contracted as well, and their cost was $475,000. So, as we're four and five years, respectively, later, it would seem the fees are in line with the boundary companies that did the work in those two counties, very similar to our size.

[00:57:33] Great. Thank you. That's very helpful, and it's helpful to, I think, one of the benefits I know from my government contracting work is using IDIQs and things also can be much more cost-effective and efficient as well, and it's something that many public bodies take advantage of. I appreciate you sharing about Through Consulting's experience in boundary work, because I know, again, on these IDIQs, they generally tend to be broad, because many different organizations utilize those as contract vehicles for different types of work.

[00:57:59] So they do tend to be broad in the experience that they have, but then it's helpful to know that Through Consulting has specific experience in this sort of work with large school systems that are urban, suburban, and have even some rural areas. So I think that is very helpful and that is I think helpful for us and the public to realize the that this is a cost effective and efficient way of contracting when when especially when there are very few companies that have the expertise and experience that we need to do this.

[00:58:27] And I also appreciate the fixed price contract because that makes it much more certain for us in terms of how much we're spending up front. And if there's cost overruns, it tends to be subsumed by the vendor and not us. And I think that is also for our public knowing what the cost is going to be up front without having a bunch of extra costs come up later on that we're expected is important.

[00:58:52] So I think for all those reasons, there aren't a lot of people who do this with school systems our size. I can support this contract. Thank you, thank you, Ms. Sizemoreheiser. Ms. St. John Cunningh, would you like to speak to your second? Dr. Reed, I appreciate all the information you provided, and I feel particularly confident because they have done this kind of work in Miami-Dade and Houston, which are very comparable school systems.

[00:59:15] And so they have that experience. So thank you. Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunning. Mr. Dunn. Thank you. I'd like to just clarify the record. Is this an IDIQ contract?

[00:59:31] It is. I would have to defer to Ms. Sizemore Heiser's clarification, but I don't believe that this is. This is a-- this is not. I don't know.

[00:59:47] My understanding is that TIPS provides a schedule similar to the GSA schedule, and we're essentially buying off that schedule. Is that correct? Ms. Pratt, would you clarify that, please? Sure. Yes, the contract award through TIPS from the RFP includes a number of vendors which have schedules that we can purchase from.

[01:00:09] And those are not IDIQ contracts, correct? I'd have to look at each one individually, but the ones that I looked at were not. So it's a fixed hourly rate, and THRU's proposal to us is based on those hourly rates as outlined in the TIPS contract.

[01:00:27] And have we purchased through TIPS previously for any purposes? yes we have I mentioned earlier our hazel telemental health contract is purchased through tips are there other examples other examples in the hazel mental health contract I believe that's a 1.2 million dollar contract correct do we have others we'd have to go yeah we'd have to come up with a comprehensive list I know there is another contract with a company called securely for an e-hall pass application used by schools to track students moving in the always those are the two I know of off the top of my head and my understanding

[01:01:07] is that this contract would require extend budgets for a significant community engagement can you describe that the budget for community engagement I think it's within the contract the number of hours miss Pratt do you want to clarify the number of our well I guess the are you asking for the amount of hours of the budget related to the just a general description that General description.

[01:01:33] Given the new policy that requires extensive community engagement that will actually be fulfilled through this contract. Right. And remember, the community engagement piece is going to be a collaboration between our Office of Community Engagement and through.

[01:01:50] But I believe that Ms. Pratt can generally provide what those terms were. So the task associated with community engagement will occur in two places. It's pre-analysis stakeholder engagement, which is up to 36 community engagement sessions.

[01:02:12] There's some provision for how many per region and per pyramid. That also will occur again post-analysis. That's task number six. Again another up to 36 community engagement sessions.

[01:02:28] There's some provision for virtual options in both of those scenarios as well. THE PROPOSAL OR SCOPE OF WORK OUTLINES PRETTY CLOSE TO 1,800 HOURS OF WORK BY THE VENDOR FOR THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ALONE.

[01:02:46] AND IF THE INITIAL SCENARIO DEVELOPED BY THE CONTRACTOR IS DEEMED TO REQUIRE REVISION, WILL THERE BE PROVISION IN THE CONTRACT FOR A SECOND ROUND OF POST-ANALYSIS COMMUNITY MEETINGS?

[01:03:02] That's in the contract currently post-analysis, it's part of phase two, task six. But I'm asking that's for version one, right? So if there is a need to develop a version two for particular high school pyramids or across the county, does the contract provide for that option?

[01:03:21] If we need to add to the contract, it will require a written amendment which would come back to the board for approval. Which is routine, correct? That is correct. Where is the company located? I believe it is located out of New Jersey.

[01:03:38] And does the contract provide for personnel to travel from New Jersey to Fairfax County on a regular basis to engage in person? The contract caps travel at $50,000 but includes all engagements that are otherwise noted in Task 3 and 6.

[01:03:53] But it does provide for the consultant to actually be in person at Pyramid and Region meetings so the public can actually meet with them in person and express their views and have their voices heard. Yes, sir. Can you describe some of the prior experience of this company with large school systems and what they did for those school systems?

[01:04:14] So within the contract, there's a list of what they characterize as representative districts where they've done work that's strategic project management on a variety of topics. In particular, they've done school boundary work of the nature we expect here in Fairfax County for Miami-Dade Public Schools and Houston Public Schools and a number of other smaller divisions.

[01:04:37] But those are school divisions as well as Palm Beach County Schools where we've personally spoken to folks in those counties to confirm the quality of the work that was done. It appears that this contract would provide fairly sophisticated IT tools that would be accessible to the public to not just identify which school their children could attend, but which programming options are available at different schools. Is that correct?

[01:05:02] That is the plan, yes, sir. And we obtain an annual subscription to those tools? I believe so. I believe that's included within the contract, for the duration at least of the contract. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Ms. Dixit?

[01:05:18] So I'm a little bit aware of the TIPS contract coming from the contracting world. And I have seen how the local cooperatives over the country, local governments use this cooperative agreement.

[01:05:35] GSA contract that you mentioned is one of them where local government can buy the products and services available on this large umbrella contract similar to this. And it's clear to me that it was competitive solicited, firm fixed price, which is a really good way of procuring services because then you don't have to pay for the overage and the contractor has to provide the services in that budget. It's up to them how they do it, but they

[01:06:08] have to do it. And we have a list of things that they were supposed to do. My only question is this, that the timeline, are they, if we need additional sessions and additional community engagement, how are we going to address that because of the firm fixed price so I think the firm fixed price as you mentioned is something that we felt was very fiscally prudent and in particular with this larger process if we do need to add more engagement more services or extend the timeline

[01:06:46] we would bring bring back a scope of that work to the board which would require a written approval to amend the contract. Dr. Reid, also in the proposal world, like contracting world, there is mention of past performance, which you said Miami-Dade and the other school like Texas.

[01:07:08] Did we take references from them? Is it we have the numbers of how much was the dollar amount of those contracts and what was the terms of those contracts? - Those are, excuse me, we did do the references on the quality of the work, Ms. Pratt, in terms of the, because it's a cooperative contract, I assume we looked at the cooperative agreement in terms of the hourly rates and so forth that were agreed to.

[01:07:44] - We do have the hourly rates and all of the things relevant to the TIPS contract. I don't have that information about Miami-Dade or Houston. - I think we would like to see that. THEIR PAST PERFORMANCE IN TERMS OF WHAT CONTRACT THEY HAD AND WHAT WAS THE DOLLAR AMOUNT, THE DURATION, AND SCOPE OF WORK.

[01:08:11] RIGHT. WE MENTIONED WHERE WE LOOKED AT CONTRACTS, COMPARABLES, JUST IN OUR REGION, FOR PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY. BUT WE WILL PROVIDE YOU THE OTHER CONTRACTS AS WELL. OKAY. THANK YOU, MS. DIXIT. DR. ANDERSON. THANK YOU.

[01:08:33] Can you tell us if you have it, when the work was completed by this company in Houston and Miami? I would have to look up the exact dates. Would you just estimate that it's been within the past five years or within the past 20 years?

[01:08:49] I would believe so. Definitely within less than the last 20. But I would have to look that up. I don't have that right in front of me. Okay, thank you. If you can get that, that would be very much appreciated. Secondly, can you talk to whether or not there have been any savings actualized by using this approach in lieu of the typical RFP process?

[01:09:09] If there are any miss Pratt at this point, the savings realized would be simply administrative efficiency and resources to conduct the RFP process. And how much would that be roughly in your estimate?

[01:09:29] So we haven't done an RFP calculation in a number of years, but roughly I would estimate a complex RFP.

[01:09:36] WOULD COST IN TIME AND RESOURCES IN THE 15 TO $20,000 RANGE THANK YOU I'LL JUST WAIT FOR THAT OTHER QUESTION THANK YOU DR. ANDERSON SEE NO OTHERS WE WILL VOTE FOR THE MOTION ON THE SCREEN ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF THE MOTION MISS MARIN MISS DIXIT DR. ANDERSON MISS ANDERSON MISS SEIZEMORE HYSER MR. DUNN MR. MOON MISS LADY MISS ST JOHN CUNNING AND MYSELF OPPOSED MR. MCELVEEN WILL THE CLERK READ THE VOTE TEN ONE THE MOTION CARRIES THANK YOU MADAM CLERK ALL RIGHT

[01:10:22] Alright there was an I was informed by council there was an error in the motion that I read about certification of clothes so we're going to do that again agenda item 5.01 action item certification of closed meeting compliance in order to comply with section 2.2-3712 D of the code of Virginia it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on September 12 2024 to the best of each board members knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the

[01:10:59] board during the closed meeting do I have a motion mistakes it do I have a second mr. McElveen all those in favor miss Marin miss Dixit mr. McElveen miss Anderson miss Sizemore Heiser mr. Dunn mr. Moon miss lady miss st. John Cunning and myself opposed abstentions dr. Anderson will the clerk read the THE MOTION CARRIES.

[01:11:23] THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. AGENDA ITEM 6.01 PERFORMANCE REVIEW SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD EL8 MONITORING REPORT. DR. REED, I CALL ON YOU FOR THE MONITORING REPORT FOR EXECUTIVE LIMITATION EIGHT WHEN YOU GET TO THE PODIUM.

[01:11:57] ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING. THIS IS EXECUTIVE LIMITATION EIGHT. KEVIN, ARE YOU -- OKAY. THANK YOU. QUEUED UP.

[01:12:12] EXCUSE ME. JUST A POINT ORDER AGENDA CHECK, PLEASE. ARE WE DISCUSSING 5.04, THE FAIRFAX COUNTY PURCHASING RESOLUTION THAT'S LISTED ON THE AGENDA? EXCUSE ME, DR. REED. NO WORRIES.

[01:12:29] THE AGENDA HAS BEEN UPDATED, SO MS. MARIN, YOU MAY WANT TO REFRESH BOARD DOCS. MS. MARIN, IT'S ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. WHAT'S THAT?

[01:12:45] MS. MARIN, IT'S ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION. GO AHEAD, DR. REED. THANK YOU, MR. FRESH. SO THIS IS EXECUTIVE LIMITATION NUMBER 8, THE SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD. And again, this is one where I'll be presenting evidence this evening that I believe to be true at the time of the presentation this evening.

[01:13:10] And this will be the first executive limitation where we've tried to separate out newly added or updated evidence from continuing evidence as per the board's request at our last conversation. So I hope we're closer to the mark.

[01:13:26] We may not completely be hitting the mark, but I appreciate your feedback, and we're going to see if we can continue to get closer to the mark. So the newly added or updated evidence, and you know what, Kevin, I'm going to move off that and move to the slides, so that should help us.

[01:13:50] So let's get there. I want to remind the board that in executive limitation eight, there's a nice parallel structure is there are eight areas of EL8 of which are shown on the screen and as we go through this tonight if it's in italics then that means it's been newly added or updated since the last EL8 presentation a year ago. So the first area I'd like to review on the next slide is collaboration with the board and one of the things that we wanted wanted to note is that we did participate the

[01:14:27] superintendent's office and staff in an orientation in november and december of 2023 which is almost a year ago now which is hard to believe additionally i've spent time with the board and attended the vsba and nsba conferences and this year we worked to develop a school board annual work plan in concert with board leadership as well as being available i don't know if this is new but i am available to meet individually with school board members at any time or take calls

[01:15:02] pretty much 24 7. also in a continuing topic we do as you know and the community may not that we do meet weekly one-on-one for 30 minutes which i think is time well spent and six hours of our week together so in continuing with that there are other ways that collaboration with the board occurs there is a newsletter that includes school board meeting updates there's a public engagement committee that the office of communication communications works with and school board advisory committees that do work directly with either myself in some

[01:15:40] cases or staff designees school board members continue to attend and participate at all kinds of events across the division back to school nights community conversations employee conversations and many others probably too numerous to note next I would like to highlight communication with the board you do receive a Friday letter every week sometimes early Saturday but the Friday letter is shared all year round we did try to take I think we maybe have one or two weeks off but it seems like we had a fairly short summer this year and I appreciate even during your recess

[01:16:20] you did check in and I appreciate that division counsel sends briefings regularly to the school board on current or pending litigation the office of the ombuds also provides quarterly reports as well as a weekly toolkit from communications which we are working to enhance other examples would be notification of important incidents in as timely a fashion as humanly possible and so I do know that you get a number of those from me during the week that on a variety of topics try to also make sure that you have personnel matters as

[01:16:56] soon as they're available for you and and as often as possible have advanced access to any related communications prior to my sharing those with the broader community the final topic I'd like to share is ways in which content is presented to the board and this is through the consent agenda on board meetings academic matters superintendent matters el reports and goal reports and strategic plan updates to close out this topic also want to remind the board that we do ensure the regular presentation of information that could impact the divisions financial condition monthly student membership

[01:17:33] routine finance items are all shared and additionally during the Virginia General Assembly session any bills of potential interest or impact are shared and we're actually spending quite a little bit of time which I really appreciate on each of your parts working on policy making and delivery and I know this week in particular Dr. Anderson was on the hill with other Virginians as well as those around the country trying to make sure our voice is heard.

[01:18:02] Ms. Marin has also been active around the Commonwealth and all each of you are working really hard I think on that policy work so we try to support that as best we can. So Chairman Frisch that is executive limitation eight and I'm happy to take any questions.

[01:18:19] Thank you Dr. Reed. We'll get started with Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Firstly I do want to say I do appreciate the demarcation of the newer items that are part of this year's EL 8.

[01:18:38] So that is very helpful. One of the things I also want to highlight is as you just mentioned I was on the Hill THIS PAST TUESDAY AND YOU AND YOUR TEAM WERE VERY QUICKLY SENDING INFORMATION TO BE USED IN OUR ADVOCACY WORK LITERALLY WITHIN HOURS AS WE NEEDED IT.

[01:18:55] SO THAT WAS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. THANK YOU. ONE OF THE OTHER THINGS THAT I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT IS -- I HOPE I FIND IT HERE. WELL -- OH, YES. THE ALERT OF VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT ARE TAKING PLACE WITH PERSONNEL.

[01:19:11] YOU HAVE BEEN VERY SWIFT IN ENSURING THAT THE BOARD IS APPRISED OF WHAT IS TAKING PLACE in the community so that's been very much appreciated in the places where I continue to have some some reservations is surrounding the is around the accountability part and I'm not sure if this is the best EL to really illustrate that but I think some of the executive limitations have direct lines of direct through lines to student outcomes and not seeing the data that shows where we

[01:19:49] have been previously and we are where we are now does not really allow for at least me to evaluate the progress this one for me it's really purely compliance but there are some others that I think are more specific to progress and I'd like for us to even undertake and I've started to do some you know some notes in terms of which ELs are more progress based and which ELs are more compliance based.

[01:20:17] But the area where I have, I think, some concerns are for me with number four, reports that are thorough, accurate, and understandable. Not the formatting of the reports, but just having the full breadth of information of these reports.

[01:20:33] One of the things that I'll raise to your attention was the goal reports of last year, because we know that the goal reports, that's it. That's our bread and butter. That's part of our strategic plan, having what occurs with those goal reports at the end of the year and enough time to help us support your own evaluation, because I think this is all part of the accountability, would be helpful.

[01:20:56] And we did not get that for last year. And I know while it was a benchmark setting year, we still had end of the year goals that I still don't know what has happened. and I know it's going to come through this year however how do we evaluate your performance without having that information when we have to evaluate you by June 30th so I'd like for that timetable to be re-evaluated because other than that we don't have sufficient information we receive some very thick you know binders with a lot of this with a lot of these as evidence but

[01:21:33] Not having the data very easily accessible or even not present at all makes it a little bit challenging. That's your time, Dr. Anderson. Oh, okay. Yeah, sorry. Mr. Dunn.

[01:21:48] I want to say I'm delighted by the structure of the report. I think it's fantastic. It's what I've been asking for, not just me, but others as well. So thank you for making it easier to understand what's changed. I think it's also beneficial for the public to see that there's continuing improvement, and there has been.

[01:22:09] It's just making that visible, I think, is important. I also wanted to say I am deeply grateful that you, and appreciative, that you are always prompt, and you're always positive and courteous in all of your communications, and you're always available 24-7.

[01:22:27] So you really do go above and beyond. And you're absolutely unfailingly positive, enthusiastic, and motivating in your passion for public education and SCPS. So as a leader, as a servant leader, you're really a wonderful model for our system.

[01:22:47] One thing I wanted to ask is-- or to highlight, rather, is 3F, which is encouraging an open exchange of information between board and staff members. And this is something I've highlighted in the past.

[01:23:04] It's my understanding, and I haven't asked you directly, but I welcome your comments. In my interaction with staff members, there can often be a significant delay between when I send an email to staff members and when I receive a response.

[01:23:21] And sometimes it's because the questions are hard and require research. But it's been communicated to me on background because no one wants to be cited for this, that you review many of those responses. I don't know if it's all, I don't know if it's your policy, but I'm seeking your insight that you review many of those responses.

[01:23:42] And that can cause a delay because you're a very busy person. You're visiting a dozen schools almost every day, it seems. And you have X number of things to do each day. So is there any way that as you're building this bond of trust that you've successfully established with the board as a whole, that we can also build those bonds of trust with individual staff members, still subject, obviously, to your supervision, but allowing greater interaction so that, as a board, we're not facing these delays that can also delay the formation of motions or the formation of board conversations.

[01:24:20] So I appreciate that, and I think that I want to be really clear with the board, and I think the staff understands this. if you email the staff a question they can respond to you and just simply copy me that there is no review of an answer that I need to provide if you ask for some direction or a project or a how do I say a more complex study or series of tasks then often staff are going to either work with each other or come back and ask me to look at is this kind of in line with what we're thinking

[01:24:55] AND THAT MAY TAKE A LITTLE LONGER, BUT ROUTINE QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK AND GET BACK AS SOON AS A STAFF MEMBER IS ABLE TO DO THAT. THE SIMPLE DIRECTION IS SIMPLY COPY ME. THANK YOU. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ASK ABOUT 6A, YOU KNOW, SIGNIFICANT TRANSFERS OF MONEY WITHIN FUNDS OR OTHER CHANGES SUBSTANTIALLY AFFECTING THE DIVISION'S FINANCIAL CONDITION.

[01:25:16] SO ONE OF THE ISSUES THAT CAME UP, AND I THINK IT WAS IDENTIFIED BY DR. ANDERSON, was that there was a about 12 million dollars for improvement improving um uh certain students academic performance dr anson welcome you to correct me um but it you know there's 10 million dollars left over at the end of the school year um so that's one example where yeah at least for me if there are accounts that aren't being spent down um that i'd appreciate updates on that because we have it seems you know five or six projects that are not being done by the school board

[01:25:51] directly such as the half million dollar contract that are now being funded out of the school board reserve account and i don't know why that's become the piggy bank for multiple projects so i just want to make sure if there are accounts that aren't being spent down that we're we receive some kind of monthly or quarterly report so we can kind of see the spend rates in different categories and if money isn't being spent if it's available for redeployment that we were made aware of that so we can take that into consideration yeah i appreciate that mr dunn and i all our accounts are encumbered at this time and i think what dr anderson's referring to is the achievement gap closing strategies and we really wanted to look at the

[01:26:29] data before we spent the money right like i think too often we move to spend money on resources or strategies that aren't based on data and i know you wouldn't want that either um and that we want to start small and where we see a positive impact or effect then we're going to move forward with that in this case one of the key expenditures that's going to be drawing some of those monies down fairly shortly are multilingual materials in math and literacy for our students because we now have seen some progress in small areas and know that that's going to be something that's a

[01:27:04] potentially a game changer for some of our students there are other aspects of those dollars THAT ARE GOING TO BE VERY TARGETED TO SUPPORT ACHIEVEMENT GAP CLOSING STRATEGIES, BUT WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE GOT THROUGH LAST YEAR TO LOOK AT THE DATA AND MAKE SURE THAT BEFORE WE SPEND THAT MONEY THAT IT'S ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE THE IMPACT YOU WANT. THANK YOU. MR. DUNN, THAT'S YOUR TIME.

[01:27:26] MR. MACKELVEEN. THANK YOU. SO I JUST WANT TO START WITH A FEW REALLY IMPRESSIVE ASPECTS OF THIS EXECUTIVE LIMITATION. AND THOSE ARE FIRST AND FOREMOST your engagement. I think in the history of FCPS I've never seen a superintendent as engaged and as active in the community as you. So you're very much to be commended in that. You're very much everywhere all the time and I think our community and we as a board recognize and applaud that.

[01:28:01] But to the extent that we worry that you're getting enough sleep and anyway we just want to to make sure that you have enough energy to keep going at that pace, because it is impressive. On the flip side of that, one of the things I've noticed is that in contrast to past superintendents, one of the things we are not getting is advance notice when you're out visiting schools.

[01:28:26] We love the fact that you're out of the schools, but in the past when superintendents have been going to schools in a certain magisterial district, we would get a heads up and board members would be welcome to accompany you or the superintendent, you know, if that was in interest to them.

[01:28:43] And oftentimes we learn about these things retroactively, they're, yeah. So I mean, I realize that many of these decisions are made at the last minute, and that you have a very busy schedule, and anyway, it's a jigsaw puzzle that's often being put together as you're running around.

[01:29:02] But I would, just as a suggestion, err on the side of more invitations and more information. What often happens is we learn about things in your very long and informative weekly letters, which are also to be commended, but there's a lot of good stuff that's going on that we don't learn about until after it's happened.

[01:29:25] So anyway, thank you for all you're doing. Thank you for this report which I agree with my colleagues is formatted in a much better way than in the past. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McElveen. Ms. Marin.

[01:29:40] Thank you, Dr. Reed, for this, yeah, I continue to marvel at your pace and energy, but it's clearly just who you are and we're very fortunate to have you. And I've heard from many people that you being in schools has really helped make the vision a reality. I think you've been incredibly available to the board.

[01:29:59] And I appreciate the weekly times. I know that's a time when I can bundle up a lot of my questions and we can have a conversation. But if there's something urgent, I know I can reach you as well. One thing that I would like to see is for you to elevate our partnership and give attention to where the board has put into place motions that create your path to operationalize.

[01:30:19] So whether that was, you know, authorizing benchmark advance or even tonight we've got the facilities, the stadium bathrooms are finally getting moved forward. This has been a huge lift by the previous board. So just, you know, doing that in your communications, and I know we've talked about ways that we can better, you know, partner on the communications piece, and just consider how to maximize our role as ambassadors in the community, because we are the best advocates for our public schools, and we are hearing from everyone in our work.

[01:30:47] I also think it would be helpful to really be clear in speaking and helping your staff to be clear that policy is from the board and regulation is from you, and I see that mixed up a lot it creates a lot of confusion and I think we've done the work of separating the two but the vernacular is still out there especially like with the grading policy then there's going to be the regs and the practices and the processes so I think particularly with that one it will be important to do that and but just to a point that was made earlier I do agree that for the other executive limitations there has been a call from the board to be more specific over time with

[01:31:24] changes that you've you've brought so I will be bringing an amendment to or follow on motion to the next piece the policy review to further put that um forth so that it's clear and we could aspire to that but thank you very much yes ma'am thank you Ms. Marin I'll take a turn um and to do some rapid response here uh to Dr. Anderson's question about um the timeliness of ELs and and goal reports so that it can actually inform or better inform our annual evaluation of the superintendent.

[01:31:56] This year, we work, both Ms. Marin and I, and then Ms. Anderson and I worked very closely with the clerk and the superintendent to ensure that all of that will be finished by mid-May. So we have ample time to have that information, digest that information, and use it for the evaluation PROCESS AND BE FINISHED BY OUR LEGALLY REQUIRED JUNE 30 DEADLINE.

[01:32:21] SO I'M EXCITED ABOUT THAT. THERE WON'T BE ANY ELS OR GOAL REPORTS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN COMPLETED IN TIME THIS YEAR. SOME QUESTIONS, SOME COMMENTS, I THINK THAT THIS EL IS A NO-BRAINER FOR ME IN TERMS OF COMPLIANCE BECAUSE I THINK YOU HAVE BUILT POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE BOARD.

[01:32:41] YOU KNOW, IT FEELS SOME -- THE LOW BAR IS THE COMMUNICATION WITH US, RIGHT? But coming up with better systems for getting information back to us, always being open to new suggestions, you know, and, you know, always being there for us when we have serious questions or when we have macro level discussions that we'd like to have, I think that's been very good.

[01:33:11] I also appreciate the thoroughness of the reporting in the CL. You know, when I was reading it and I read about the addition this year of the onboarding of our new colleagues, and I was like, well, that's not new information. And it was only several months ago.

[01:33:29] So I appreciate you keeping us on our toes by reminding us what we've done in such a short period of time. I also think that there's a significant amount of transparency in your communications with us and with the community and in your engagement with us in the community, which I have appreciated.

[01:33:49] Some questions I have on the depth of reporting. Could you elaborate on how the disaggregated data in the goal reports has directly informed changes to our work? Certainly.

[01:34:04] I think I'll use attendance as an example. in the goal report in our 22 23 year showed some real concerns and as you know they did Commonwealth wide and I will really say that staff the senior team and department staff principals staff and schools looked at that data and worked very hard to create a full-on full court press on attendance last year and as you know 188 of our 200 schools improved their

[01:34:37] attendance year over year and that's a significant achievement. I think other goals last year I think one of the things we looked at in particular we've brought down our immunization non-compliance rate by double digits since last year and again Mr. Sethi and Dr. Presidio and the team Saray Smalls all of the team have been working really hard the last couple weeks to make sure that every last one of our students are fully immunized so they can have this healthy and safe school experience and that again is a

[01:35:15] different goal another data point we looked at last year was AP advanced placement exams and we had 6,000 more students take advanced placement exams last year than the prior year and continue to increase the pass rate even while adding 6,000 independent exams.

[01:35:35] So I think there are many examples of being very intentional. We have close to 70% of our eighth graders in algebra right now from the low 50s several years ago. Again, very intentional, strategic work. We have a ways to go, but we're on the right path, and I don't believe we build solid futures overnight.

[01:35:56] I think it takes discipline and strategic work, and at the end of the day, it is work by everybody on Team FCPS. So I think the variety of those goal points you're gonna see this year that were baseline last year that we're gonna continue to see improvement on.

[01:36:11] - And to me, all of those great examples of how the desegregated data can help improve outcomes is further proof of why we need to do more of the desegregated data to help us improve in various different ways. In terms of board communications, it's gonna be about a year until we have another report on this EL from you.

[01:36:30] Are there things that you're looking at in the year ahead to further enhance your communications and relationships with the board? It's a great question. I'm sure the board may have some ideas on that. I think that I, you know, the other data point I just want to share that I didn't, but it's the data, one of the data points, two data points that I'm extraordinarily proud of.

[01:36:54] Andy Muick and Paul Andrade and our entire transportation team by day four of the school year had only two percent of our buses running late. and that is we're the largest school bus bus system in the country hands down and that's an achievement that's related to data and not having missed stops and making sure we didn't have call outs and secondly in the last two years we have reduced the teacher attrition rate by 37 percent in this county and it's not enough for us just to recruit we have to retain our educators they're

[01:37:29] the best in the world and I'm proud of each and every one of them our HR department our principals our staff are working very hard not just about the future of public education but about making sure that Fairfax County is that beating heart of the future of public education for this country so whatever communication we need to do I'm there well and I think it goes without saying that the relationship with the board is a two-way street so I'll be asking you questions about how we can do better on our end of that bargain so i appreciate it all right um all right mr moon

[01:38:04] thank you mr chairman i want to join my colleagues in praising you and and thanking you for your hard work to be responsive to the needs of a school board and individual school board members and over the course of last eight months or so i have really enjoyed meeting with you on a weekly basis that's something that former superintendent superintendents that had not been able to able to do with individuals group of members with that said one request that I would like to make is

[01:38:43] as you know that in the closed meeting that the board gets to discuss some of the most sensitive and important sometimes legal sometimes personnel sometimes student related sometimes contract related issues and and you know if he could I know you don't do this intentionally but if we could provide all the necessary information in advance as much as possible so that we could adequately prepare for you know to have that discussion in the closed session what I do want to say is like 20 minutes

[01:39:17] before I have to leave for the meeting there's an email notice that additional materials are being posted on your bulldog so please check I mean that's really not giving us a really enough time I know that you don't do that intentionally but I think I think that's one area I want to say that we could perhaps do as a better better as a school system yes sir mr. moon miss Sizemore heiser thank you and so I as per our board norm I was not going to say anything but having violating the board norm I decided to speak up anyway I

[01:39:56] wanted to first just I had to say this thank you for the disaggregated data and for actually disaggregating some of the diploma type data I after many many years of asking for this to be done and getting it after the fact I just wanted to say thank you for being responsive and and I will say from that aspect I find it you are incredibly responsive and whether it's changing how you report data whether it's making sure it's get done once brought to your attention the Friday letters one thing I love about it is when I see oh I had this question and here's the answer in a Friday letter but I really like about that is oh someone

[01:40:35] else must add this really good question I didn't think about it here's an answer in the Friday letter and that is really really helpful for me not just to do my job but or the things that my constituents bring to me but also getting understanding of what's going on around the system and needs and I will say that we all question your energy but you are the most energetic person I've ever met I think that is incredible but I do agree I will say with one of my colleagues I do think things have gotten better in terms of the board being aware of where you are where are things that we can attend but I think there may be some more space there to really look at you know what is going around

[01:41:13] that we can kind of come and be supportive in that way but I do appreciate all the community engagement you do I appreciate one thing I will say having sat as the chair and the vice chair and then now since our terms turn over every year supporting my two colleagues in that role I've been really impressed that your engagement with me hasn't changed right my opportunities changed I'm not in the chairs room anymore but sometimes I've heard in the past and I've experienced if you're not in that role your engagement with the superintendent is different but when I reach out to you you you get back to me as quickly as you can regardless of if I when when I reached out to you when I was chair or when I'm the Braddock district member

[01:41:52] and not chair or vice chair, and that speaks a lot. So I just wanted to sort of say that having sat in both these roles that I really appreciate it. So I won't repeat what the rest of my colleagues said, but I do want to end with saying that trust and communication is a two-way street, as we talked about as our norm in the retreat, right?

[01:42:07] Like no surprises from you, no surprises from us. And I think as one board member will say, I'm really gonna work hard to make sure that we fulfill that on our end as well. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Sizemore Heiser. Ms. St. John Cunning.

[01:42:20] Thank you I'm not going to repeat what my colleagues said but I am going to talk to you from the perspective of being a family liaison and as early as December 15th still being in the school system and what I really want to thank you for is your engagement down in the trenches with our community with the staff with the teachers with the families because they have told me about that and how they feel about that and you just can't fake that or bottle that but most important with the students because I hear students that come up to me and say I

[01:42:56] talked to the superintendent and we don't often see superintendents do that I know it takes a lot of time out of your day and a lot of people would stay in their castles in the air and you don't do that and so I can't thank you enough for that I know it means a lot to me from what I've seen and to all of our residents but our Franconia residents too thank you thank you thank you miss St. John Cunningham's lady. Yeah, I just want to continue to thank you as the others have.

[01:43:30] My experience being on this board has been sadly quite eye-opening. As I can peel back the onion of Fairfax County Public Schools, I have great respect for your keen sense of where to focus energy, how to bring the right people on board. I really appreciate what you've done with leadership and things that I'm seeing happening throughout the system.

[01:43:57] And your commitment to public education, your commitment to every single child, what's in that strategic plan in relation to algebra one and reading. The fact that our elementary schools have the same SIP goals until we get it done, until we get it done well, is something I've been hoping for for a long time.

[01:44:15] So I could go on and on and on, but since my colleagues took their turn, I thought I'd take mine. And I especially appreciate the fact that you make yourself available to not just us as board members, but also you take the time to actually meet with some of our community members. That's not always been the case with past superintendents, so I really commend you for making that time as well.

[01:44:35] So just thank you for all you do. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Lady. Dr. Anderson? Thank you. I just wanted to kind of to I just wanted to wrap up a few things here because there's a lot in this executive limitation.

[01:44:53] And for me, they're of varying significance. And when I take a look at what you presented to us last time in this realm, which was in November, I'm looking at the full breadth of the year. And the continuing concerns for me are primarily regarding under number four, because the data for me, it's a huge sticking point.

[01:45:13] I need to have it in order to make decisions. And under number six, because last July, if you remember, we had an extensive discussion regarding summer recess expenditures and contracts and I know this was a place that we were before and we've been there for multiple years.

[01:45:31] I'm hoping that number six that speaks to the transfers of funds that this is not a position that we find ourselves when the board goes to recess in the next, well, we just started at the next recess. And also number eight, I think one of my colleagues mentioned this, we do get a lot of meaningful information but not all of it is consistent is provided in a consistently in a timely way and sometimes as I've shared during the retreat we have constituents who are waiting for that information because they are relying on us to be their source so those are my biggest areas of concerns number four number

[01:46:10] six and number eight but I do want to echo what's been said in terms your availability I try not to disturb you too much throughout your workday but if I send you a text for something that's urgent TO MAKE TIME TO TALK WHICH IS NOT VERY OFTEN BUT YOU ALWAYS MAKE TIME TO DO THAT. SO THANK YOU.

[01:46:26] THANK YOU. THANK YOU DR. ANDERSON. SEEING NO OTHERS WE WILL GO AHEAD AND GO TO A MOTION. I CALL ON MS. DIXIT FOR A MOTION. I MOVE THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD FINDS THAT THE SUPERINTENDENT IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH EXECUTIVE LIMITATION NUMBER 8 SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD. I FURTHER MOVE THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES THE MONITORING REPORT BASED ON on the superintendents reasonable interpretation of executive limitation number eight superintendents relationship with the board as outlined in the strategy governor governance manual.

[01:47:05] Is there a second second. Mr. Moon would you like to speak to your motion mystics it. Yes I did not speak earlier so I just wanted to say that Dr. Reed I don't know how you do it because I work around the clock and I know that you do twice as much as much work I feel Because at night, you are responding to emails.

[01:47:27] And in the morning, again, you're at school very early. So that takes a lot of time and commitment. And that's a passion for education. It's not just a job for you. And I'm just saying that is because most of us on this board are very passionate about education.

[01:47:49] That's why we're doing what we're doing here. Seeing somebody, a partner like that, it makes us job easy, makes it very enjoyable, and I think as a new board member coming in and working with you, I think it's been a pleasure.

[01:48:05] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dixit. Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your motion? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The community also appreciates your work. All right. Seeing no others, we will go to a vote for the motion that is going to be put on the screen.

[01:48:23] If we could put the motion on the screen. Thank you. All right.

[01:48:39] I'll call for the vote on the motion. All those in favor, Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismerheiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, and myself. Opposed? Dr. Anderson?

[01:48:54] Will the clerk read the vote? 10-1. The motion carries. At this time, the board will take a few moments to document their individual feedback on the monitoring report. School board members may complete the hard copy found at the dais or the online version which is linked in the meeting script.

[01:49:11] YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES ACCESSING THE FORM PLEASE CONTACT THE CLERKS THE BOARD WILL TAKE A TEN MINUTE

[01:49:16] RECESS BOARD MEMBERS PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS BOARD MEMBERS PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS

[02:03:49] STARTED ALL RIGHT WELCOME BACK EVERYONE AGENDA ITEM 7.01 POLICY REVIEW SUPERINTENDENT'S

[02:05:03] RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD THE NEXT ORDER OF BUSINESS IS THE POLICY REVIEW FOR EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 8 SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD ANNUALLY THE BOARD WILL REVIEW EACH of the 13 executive limitations at the time the monitoring report is provided to determine if any revisions are needed moving forward the board may also review any of the executive limitations at any time a change is needed at this time which provides ample opportunity for collaboration in advance of a meeting at this time board members may provide comments on executive limitation 8

[02:05:35] superintendent's relationship with the board to determine if any revisions are needed at this TIME, I NOW INVITE BOARD MEMBERS WHO WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST REVISIONS TO EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 8 TO MAKE COMMENTS. MS. MARIN? YES, THANK YOU. I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER A FOLLOW-ON MOTION, SO I SUPPOSE I'LL WAIT UNTIL WE'RE NOT THERE YET. WE'RE NOT THERE YET. OKAY. I'M VERY AHEAD OF THE GAME TONIGHT. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. IF THERE ARE NO FURTHER COMMENTS OR DISCUSSION,

[02:06:11] I'LL NOW CALL ON MR. MCELVEEN FOR A MOTION. I MOVE THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD MAINTAINS EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 8 SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD AS IT IS CURRENTLY DETAILED IN THE strategic governance manual thank you is there a second I second Miss Anderson would you like to speak to your motion Mr. McElbeen I would not thanks Miss Anderson would you like to speak to your second no all right I'll call for a vote for the motion which is on the screen all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr. McElbeen Dr. Anderson Miss Anderson Mr. Dunn Mr. Moon Miss Lady

[02:06:43] Miss St. John Cunning Miss Sizemore Heiser and myself that's unanimous I call on Miss Marin for a follow-on motion thank you I move that the definition of executive limitations in the board strategic governance manual currently page five be amended as follows while the mission and strategic plan goals are the major drivers of what happens in the school system excuse me I guess I can just read the red lined portion it's not showing us redlined on mine so if you want to call that out that

[02:07:22] would be great and the clerk can adjust the screen for us. Oh dear. Okay, it's a lot. I'd sent it and submitted it. So is this the most expert can find that and adjust accordingly. Go ahead. So I move to add, let's start in the sentence that begins executive limitations are reviewed. I move to add that executive limitations are reviewed annually through insert publicly shared monitoring reports submitted by the superintendent and then insert at public regular meetings of the school board to ensure COMPLIANCE WITH THESE LIMITATIONS AND THEN ADD THIS NEW LANGUAGE.

[02:07:57] MONITORING REPORTS SHALL INCLUDE THE SUPERINTENDENT'S MEASUREMENTS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA, PARTICULARLY HIGHLIGHTING ANY CHANGE OVER TIME SINCE THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S MONITORING REPORT TO SUBSTANTIATE THAT THE SUPERINTENDENT HAS NOT FAILED TO MEET EACH EXECUTIVE LIMITATION. THANK YOU. WE'LL GIVE THE CLERK A MOMENT TO UPDATE THE SCREEN FOR BOARD MEMBERS.

[02:08:16] IN THE MEANTIME I'LL ASK IF THERE'S A SECOND. YES, SECOND.

[02:08:33] MR. MCELVEEN, WE'LL JUST WAIT A MOMENT.

[02:08:50] see the three edits there thank you very much miss Marin would you like to speak to your follow-on motion only to remind that I did mention this when we were doing the review and it has been expressed by other members so I do hope it will have support and thanks to those who were able to talk with us about it prior thank you miss Marin Mr. McElveen would you like to speak I would just add that I

[02:09:27] think tonight's report was reflective of the the spirit of this change and we're grateful for that and look forward to it being included in for future executive limitations thank you Mr. McElveen Dr. Anderson just want to express my thanks to Miss Marin and Mr.

[02:09:43] McAbee for bringing this forward because this has been a long-standing conversation and I think given what we did see this evening with the improvements and the presentation that I think this should be a fairly easy lift just to really spotlight the progress that's being made year over year thank you Dr. Anderson Miss Marin yes I do want to point it that the motion does have below the red line piece the the implementation part so I did just want to read THAT THAT WAS PART OF THE MOTION SHALL I GO AHEAD SO DELIVERY OF MONITORING REPORTS PER THE CHANGES ABOVE SHALL BEGIN WITH THE NEXT EXECUTIVE LIMITATION SCHEDULED FOR A PUBLIC REGULAR

[02:10:21] MEETING OF THE SCHOOL BOARD AND CONTINUE WITH SUCH PRACTICE THANK YOU MISS MARIN I'LL TAKE A TURN A REALLY QUICK QUESTION FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT DR. REED I AGREE WITH THIS MOTION I'M CURIOUS IF THAT'S ENOUGH TIME FOR THE NEXT EL REPORT WILL WILL THIS BE ABLE TO HAPPEN IF YOU WISH IT TO be it will all right all right see no others we will go ahead and vote on this follow-on motion

[02:10:58] all those in favor miss marron miss dixit mr mckelveen dr anderson miss anderson miss sizemore hyzer mr dunn miss mr moon miss lady miss st john cunning and myself that is unanimous um dr reed chairman frisch i'm reminded by staff that the next el is due tomorrow to you so assuming we may be in tomorrow when we're done tonight it may be not possible to have it for tomorrow i'd like unanimous consent to allow that adjustment all right well with no objection rather thank you

[02:11:38] all right i appreciate that all right uh agenda item 8.01 academic matters i call on dr reed for academic matters all right now tonight um i need to say that academic matters is a very sobering

[02:12:13] topic and I I know dr. Presidio and I and senior staff went back and forth about whether this might be confusing To talk about the upcoming state accreditation and accountability changes tonight Even though they're not changing for this fall and very shortly will get last year's data But I do think it's important that we begin this OR CONTINUE THIS PUBLIC CONVERSATION ABOUT THESE NEW CHANGES BECAUSE THEY ARE SIGNIFICANT

[02:12:48] AND I THINK OUR COMMUNITY REALLY NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEY'RE SHIFTING HOWEVER THE DATA THAT'S COMING IN A FEW WEEKS I THINK A FEW WEEKS WILL NOT BE FRAMED IN THIS NEW MODEL NEVERTHELESS I the new model is important for us to understand as we move forward so i'm grateful to staff for putting this together it's very important i think for our community to understand this and understand

[02:13:25] how we're going to be talking about schools moving forward here in virginia so if we look at the state accountability framework revisions this is a timeline and i want to share that currently the virginia board of education is in the final stages of revising the standards of accreditation they call them the soas as you see and the new framework is likely to be adopted later this month

[02:13:57] but not be used to report the outcomes until the fall of 25 but it is scheduled you can see for september 25th later this month for the vote to take place and then you'll see on the timeline that the fall of 24 will continue to use the 2017 model which we've used for seven years and then a year from now we'll be talking about how our schools look based on a new framework so let's

[02:14:32] take a look at what this means for us under the new accountability system a school's accreditation status is going to be separated from its performance outcomes and identified support needs this is a really interesting concept and one that will be new for us here in the commonwealth the new framework limits decisions about school accreditation to matters of operational and statutory compliance aligned to the standards of qualities standard of quality or what we can't

[02:15:06] or discuss as soqs and when you look at the slide under this model a school's designation is fully accredited or conditionally or accredited denied accreditation denied is based solely on evidence of compliance with these eight standards of quality that are listed on this slide previously our school's accreditation was actually connected to our accountability or school performance in terms of academic performance so this is a big move honestly to separate the accreditation from

[02:15:43] academic performance as you look at I think one of the goals that the state board has said is to eliminate high-stakes accreditation from getting in the way of a true evaluation of schools performance and so let's take a look at how this Commonwealth is thinking about the new evaluation system for school performance and in this revised system this framework has been created which will use a point system you can see elementary middle and high school have

[02:16:20] different points allocated for mastery growth or readiness or at high school mastery graduation and readiness I think there's some consternation honestly among our staff and community members that graduation is only worth 15 out of hundred points now which is only 15% of the calculation the calculus for high school performance evaluation I think our Commonwealth schools have worked really hard to improve graduation rates for each and every one of our students

[02:16:57] and that's a it's a very different percentage of impact for our school performance reports I also want to draw your attention to growth being only 20 20% in middle school, down from 25% in elementary, so when we think about what's important and we think about a growth mindset and our students working hard to continue to improve, I think that we really need to take a hard look at this new model.

[02:17:33] Under this point system, schools will be identified as either distinguished, on track, off track, need intensive support and you can see the point totals you have to be above 90 points right and so forth and so on a school's federal identification status will be determined by comparing its performance points for each student group against the lowest five percent of title one schools commonwealth-wide and the school's summative performance category and federal identification status are both used when assigning support from the virginia department of education's

[02:18:11] office of school quality and the allocation of federal grant funds on the next slide we'll look closer at these performance components um one of the things and we'll stay here just a minute kevin that's okay uh one of the things um under the virginia essa consolidated plan is this whole conversation around on track targeted support additional targeted support and these are going to be or comprehensive support and improvement categories this particular slide again revisits

[02:18:46] the elementary middle and high and the difference between these growth percentages as well as giving you a definition and i think it's interesting the readiness at elementary middle and high really looks at chronic absenteeism and promoting students readiness for success at the next level one of the things that graduation will be different with this time and with this performance i'm not changing slides i'm just moving this but this is going to be a much more

[02:19:22] restrictive graduation federal calculation meaning that this will allow only four years to earn a standard or advanced studies diploma even for students who legally have more time to graduate so it's going to create a very different picture of what our graduation rates actually will be also the readiness varies very widely by level it includes chronic absenteeism however at all three levels middle schools also measure student access to advanced coursework and high schools include two

[02:20:00] unique measures as part of readiness this is their extended six-year graduation rate with an applied studies diploma and a new ready-for-life 3E framework this looks at student experiences preparing them for college enrollment employment and military enlistment so in the future these elementary middle and elementary and middle schools will include a new performance task that assesses the students five C's skills which are critical thinking creative thinking collaboration communication and

[02:20:37] citizenship so as you look at these different performance components by level there's a real shift in how schools are going to be assessed when you also take a look at the mastery the multilingual learner process is going to have a significant shift where previously multilingual learners have had 11 semesters, I believe, to demonstrate or prior to needing to demonstrate mastery.

[02:21:11] That number has been moved to three semesters. So our multilingual learners, I think, clearly are going to have far less time to demonstrate their proficiency.

[02:21:26] I want to also share that within the, just a couple comments about the 3E framework, The particularly the enrollment element focuses on students entering or earning college credit while in high school, which would be dual enrollment, AP, IB, Cambridge, and so forth, very similar to the CCCRI, which is the current measurement, which, by the way, has only been current for a year, officially, so we're really transitioning, I think, relatively rapidly.

[02:21:59] But an important difference in this is the omission of any credit for work-based learning or service learning, which previously was allowed as part of this indicator and won't be moving forward. I think that's a concern. I think we have a number of initiatives at the Commonwealth about workforce learning.

[02:22:19] And to eliminate or omit any credit for work-based learning experiences seems to me that we're headed in the wrong direction, if that's a high priority goal here. The enlistment focuses on students showing eligibility for military employment fields equivalent to those from the CTE high-demand high-wage lists.

[02:22:40] And all enlistment points are based on the student scores from the Armed Forces Qualification Test, which is a score derived from the four subtests of the ASVAB or Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. So there's a lot to learn here that we're going to have to, I think, wrestle with as a staff and community.

[02:22:59] So let me take you through the last slide. Thank you, Kevin. And these are really-- I appreciate staff capturing the most significant changes from the current school performance-- what is SOA again, Sloan?

[02:23:18] Standard of-- Accreditation. Accreditation. Thank you. I was thinking standard of quality was Q, but anyhow. These are the most significant changes from the standards of accreditation. And again, as highlighted in the previous slides, the accredited no longer is based on academic performance.

[02:23:37] And that is going to be significant for our Commonwealth to get used to that we have this accreditation around these eight scores. And then the account or the academic achievement, which is going to be separate as a part of an accountability or evaluation for schools.

[02:23:56] So I think as you read these I don't need to read them to you but these are going to be significant and I just want to make sure we had an opportunity this evening to foreshadow these shifts as they're not minor these are significant and systemic shifts that are going to impact a narrative about our schools that I think we have some real concern about.

[02:24:24] Thank you. Dr. Anderson. Ms. Marin. Dr. Reed, I've been thinking about how this information will be received by our educators as well as our community members. I've been trying to start informing the community that a narrative is being built that's not going to be based on truth and what's actually happening in our schools. How can we help our staff and educators through this? I mean, what does that look like? Do you have to already start changing systems? Like what's the timeline here? And how can we help staff, you know,

[02:25:00] get through this? I think one of the most significant concerns is that in any project that we talk about, that we want to engage in to improve circumstances, the project management of that is significant. And there has to be a change management strategy that allows for time for us to make a shift in a thoughtful way this complete restructuring has occurred at warp speed for the Commonwealth and in fact is going into place this year the same year

[02:25:39] that we're being asked to include 27 hours of professional development for a new literacy act to include I think it's 40 plus hours of professional development for secondary content areas as well and new math standards while we're changing the accountability evaluation and accreditation framework it just seems like a lot all at once and so I think one of the reasons we're choosing to talk about it tonight even though it's early is we only have one

[02:26:16] calendar year and in fact this year's data that our children are in classrooms right now working on are going to be measured in this new way period right full stop so we just we're right in the middle of the work that's going to be measured discussed and addressed in a very different way so I think we can't stop we can't start talking about it early enough or often enough and as in all things we'll work with our educators because we're Fairfax and we're gonna give it our all because you know we care about our our students well thank you I

[02:26:53] i think giving it our all means not just taking it it means we're going to fight back and i know many in my community are already very concerned and trying to understand this is very complex and we're trying to translate it for busy families and the more we can let them know how this affects their children the better um you know although he lives here in fairfax county i've never met governor glenn youngkin but this is really an unconscionable change by the governor and his state board of ed you know i've heard that he's a savvy businessman but i remain perplexed why he's torpedoing virginia's best economic resource which is our public schools i hope the business

[02:27:29] community is watching this because it is going to be a huge detriment to our economy not just locally but statewide and i ask for the business community's support too because maybe they can partner with the governor who has turned a deaf ear to us thank you thank you miss marron Dr. Anderson.

[02:27:49] Thank you. One of the things that you said that I think might raise some concern for our families, and I'm wondering in terms of potential next steps, is the fact that the graduation rates, students who are legally allowed to take more time than four years will now be penalized for that.

[02:28:09] Could there potentially be legal recourse from parents whose children will be harmed from that plan? Well, I think that what we want to, what I want to be clear about is our children are still going to have that right to continue. Right, I get that. It's the school and the division that is going to be having, our data is going to be negatively impacted when we do the right thing for our students who have eligible years ahead of them.

[02:28:38] And that individual student data that they began a few years ago that didn't take off very quickly, but then we had it this last year. I IMAGINE THAT WILL CONTINUE AND THERE MIGHT BE SOME DETRIMENTAL INFORMATION THERE REGARDING STUDENTS.

[02:28:54] IT'S POSSIBLE. DR. PRESIDIO DO YOU HAVE A RESPONSE TO THAT OR I'M NOT SURE WHAT INDIVIDUAL DATA. THE YEAR OVER YEAR. OH I SEE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. THE PRO. I DON'T WANT TO CALL IT A PROBLE SUPPORT PER SE BUT I DON'T REMEMBER THE EXACT TERM OF IT.

[02:29:09] DR. PRESIDIO. WELL I'M NOT SURE I'M ENTIRELY FOLLOWING THAT QUESTION EITHER. I mean, I would say the same thing that Dr. Reed has already said, our students are still going to have the same legal rights, our students with disabilities, IEPs, and our multilingual learners to continue with us until age 22.

[02:29:28] The problem that we have here, again, of course, is that our schools, when they allow students to do that, are going to be deducted points in that particular category, which will pull down possibly, quite possibly, their overall rating. No, I'm perfectly clear because our students are going to continue to have that impact.

[02:29:45] i mean that um provision but my wondering is when they receive that year-over-year report which video e began a few years ago could there be negative impact on that report if they are taking more time and if so could there potentially be legal recourse for families who fall into that category i don't know what those forms are going to look like and you know to your point if they're altering the whole system they may be altering the forms as well so i think that's something we're going to want to take a look at and make a note to perhaps see an example or a template for that because you're right the forms are going to need to be

[02:30:24] modified to match the new system and structure so I think that is a really good reminder for us to do a double check on that thank you a question that I had was regarding the student groups of n size of 15 or more reviewed for federal support can you say more about that please so currently our n size is larger for review and dr. Presidio could you identify the current versus planned so luckily we have miss Huffman with us online who has a lot more technical

[02:31:03] knowledge on some of these details than I do so if we could bring miss Huffman into the conversation I think she could help us with what our current end size is but 15 is quite small and the impact of course of that would be that if you are a school that has a very small population of a particular subgroup for whatever reason if they don't perform well in that particular category which could pull the entire school's rating down yes and the current in size is a 30 and that will be moving to 15 students so a school that has 15

[02:31:39] or more students of that reporting group would be accountable for that group's performance one clarification around that is that the student group review comes into play in that federal identification step so the overall school points that determine the initial on track off track needs need intensive support ratings those will be for the overall school population but those student group populations will be reviewed for the federal identification thank you very much

[02:32:17] i know we're going to have probably a very intense discussion here because there are a lot of strong feelings about this but one thing that i want to put in the community and to whomever is watching is i i don't want to speak with the board but personally i am not against accountability it just has to be done in a matter that is fair and appropriate we cannot ask students who are learning a second language to show proficiency after 270 days of instruction none of us can be successful under this kind of approach what this will result in is having our schools be labeled as failing schools which will diminish community confidence

[02:32:54] in our schools and they will want to go elsewhere which I think is essentially the goal to privatize our school systems how can we continue to starting you know yesterday how can we continue to ensure that our schools and us are still putting out information so that our parents our communities don't panic over potential labels that may come in the future so I one of the things we're doing is talking about this early right so that we are clear about the comparables

[02:33:31] we're also working with senior leaders and principals our region staff to look at what the new expectations are to make sure that we're doing everything we can to meet the expectations even though they're new and even though we're in the middle of the start of a new school year but we want to make sure we reassure our students our staff and our families that we're going to remain the world-class system we've always been I could certainly go on and on but I know there's others who want to have some conversations the last thing that I do I would like you to speak to is the the penalty for students who refuse to test

[02:34:08] so previously it had what was it previously and at current I'm sure it'll be a zero that is factored into the overall school's scores so again I yes it's going to be a zero that's factored in I don't know what it currently is in Virginia or if it's simply dismissed yeah currently when schools are not penalized for family opt-outs but in the new system any family who opt-out will be assigned to zero and again remember the total points calculation that dr. Reed mentioned earlier is what's going to be used to come up with these

[02:34:44] performance ratings so that's one more student who's not factored into the total calculation and that student is going to have a zero thank you thank you dr. Anderson miss Sizemore hi I'm sorry miss Anderson so I've been having a lot of conversations about this since our work session the other day and I heard an interesting statistic this this weekend from someone who would absolutely know is that the goal here is it's about 1,200 schools out of the 1,700 I am seeing conflicting I just did quick research so it's either it's

[02:35:21] anywhere between I've heard 1,700 and 1,900 schools in the state and this would basically tank the accreditation of 1,200 schools and that is a significant number so let's assume noble intent to start has there been any money that's been attached to any of these changes any promise of funding that would help us improve our schools so significantly I am not aware of any extra funding Dr.

[02:35:53] Presidio well I'm not aware of any but I mean again we don't even have all of the details on this plan that the board has already voted on once and sent to the US Department of Education for review and once that review is complete it will be enacted and become law so we're not entirely sure the state is talking about school performance and support so that suggests that there possibly may be some additional support the schools will receive obviously there's going to be the accountability component of that support that we're aware of where school divisions will have to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the state about the school improvement actions that they need

[02:36:32] to take but we're not clear if any funding is going to come along with those support expectations or not at this point and there's certainly no funding coming prior to the. Absolutely not. And I have been discussing this with our colleagues at the state level just to determine whether or not there's anything that they can do to support and I do know that they have an eye on some sort of support mechanism that would increase some funding. I also along with my colleagues am extremely concerned about the perception for families of our schools failing because I do not believe that our schools are failing now

[02:37:08] And I would hate to have this arbitrary number provided by some arbitrary body at this point profess to assume that our schools are failing because of those arbitrary numbers and changes in accreditation.

[02:37:24] And something my colleague said at the work session has stuck with me pretty incredibly is that I am not sure why we can't create our own accreditation system that stands next to it and explain where it comes from, even if we just continued using the exact same measures that we're using today, just to make sure that that information is available.

[02:37:45] not because I understand that I fully and completely know that the state won't take it but it doesn't mean that we can't still share that information that shares the longevity of the information that we've been that we've been working hard to improve. So I just I don't want to dismiss that possibility as a way to increase particularly in this moment where we're looking at our schools. I think it's really important to make sure that that is still out in the community. Yes ma'am. Thank you Miss Anderson. Miss Sizemore Heiser. You must have been in my head because I was actually going to recommend us using the current accreditation system and side-by-side and kind of the comparison since we've set up for that current accreditation

[02:38:25] system. So a couple things I wanted to sort of delve a little more into the special education piece and I want to talk a little bit about our structures and whether they're even set up for some of the requirements of this. So on the special ed side, it's going to make it clear, students have a legal right to be in school until they're 22 and the schools are not stopping students or preventing students from exercising that legal right. What's happening is schools are getting punished because students are exercising their legal rights to stay in school until they're 22.

[02:38:54] That's what's happening. The state is punishing the schools for allowing students to have their legal rights under IDEA. That's a problem. And I know, I believe we will continue to do the right thing and make sure that students are on the path that sets them up for success, whether that's four years, six years, or eight years if they're guaranteed that under federal law, but we shouldn't be punished for that.

[02:39:17] All right. So just to make that clear, and it might be why students with disabilities have poor outcomes when schools are getting punished to support them. So the other thing I want to lift up is some of these changes that they're using for accreditation is access to advanced courses in middle school. Is that correct, Dr. Reed?

[02:39:39] I believe so. Yes, ma'am. That's correct. But do we know if all of our middle school teachers have the right of credit, right certifications to be able to teach all those advanced courses? And are we planning on moving kids out of their current class into more advanced courses to meet this requirement? Because this came down after kids already selected their classes, correct?

[02:39:57] Yes. So again, that's an excellent question. We don't have the business rules behind any of these changes really at this point. So that's information that we still need to receive in terms of what would count as an advanced course, right? We don't know. Is it an AP or an IB course that typically you wouldn't even have access to until you were in high school?

[02:40:15] Is it an honors course? So we don't even have access and information on the business rules. But they voted on it, right? So they voted on it without incomplete information as to what they're voting on? Because if they don't know what they're counting as, at least not telling us, shouldn't they vote on it? Great question.

[02:40:31] Okay. I know you probably don't have the answers to what they knew on their vote, but I just kind of want to put that out there because it confuses me. But in the similar way, what I noticed is that the accreditation in high school is based on, in fact, the top score for the academic, and I can't remember the exact name of the column, is graduating students with an associate's degree, which is typically a degree you get after completing community college.

[02:40:54] So it seems to me they're fundamentally changing the purpose of high school if the top number is based on how many students get an associate's degree. I'm all for students taking advanced classes. had one of those students who graduated with like 13 or 14 crazy number of AP classes and she loved it and thrived on it but I don't think high schools are either funded or set up or expected to be graduating students with associates degrees unless am I misunderstanding the purpose of high school Dr. Reed no I think you have the purpose of high school thank you so again if that's what we want high school to be then perhaps that we have should have time to make

[02:41:33] sure we have the teachers who have the certifications right like do you think have enough teachers with dual certifications to teach these dual enrollment classes to allow students to get some of the credits to get an associate's degree not currently so we're going to be accredited based on for the top score for academics on how many students get an associate's degree but they did that without making sure that the students are in the appropriate classes to get the associate's degree or give us time to make sure they're in the appropriate classes and they didn't give us time to make sure we have enough teachers duly certified which takes time right for the teachers to get those certifications is that correct dr reed it certainly is correct that

[02:42:13] the college level courses dual enrollment require different certification that are we don't have sufficient staff that have that certification and that's probably not just unique to us right i imagine we probably have more staff certified than many other school systems around the commonwealth yes to do this but this applies to all of those schools um and you know i've run a small business I don't know if it would make a lot of business sense to change the metrics by which you measure any department or the entire business in the middle of that year does that make sense to you no ma'am thank you the other thing I wanted to mention is that when it looks at one of the if I please correct me if I'm

[02:42:51] incorrect certifications you're looking at AP IB dual enrollment and CTE certifications right so what happens to music and arts is that not important anymore to the state? Because it's not anywhere from I can tell. And again, maybe AP music theory will count, but beyond that, advanced orchestra, advanced guitar, advanced band, is that not something that the state cares about? Because I know there's a lot of research on the cognitive benefits and teamwork benefits of participating in music and arts programs. In fact, I think MIT said it's better to take music classes than either math or engineering classes,

[02:43:28] and that's MIT which I think is pretty good at engineering it feels like there's some gaps in this plan it feels like there's gaps in this plans and again yeah you wrote so you know here's the thing a lot of people probably know I have a passion for special education students we shouldn't be punishing schools for supporting them I have a child who access a lot of the advanced courses and band and theater and will tell you that the theater classes has helped her be very successful in a high my time up sorry tech company I think if we believe in a

[02:44:04] well-rounded education this is not getting us there. Thank you Ms. Sizemore Heiser. Mr. Moon nope sorry Ms. St. John Cunning. Thank you um Dr. Reed how long does research tell us that it takes a non-English learner to achieve mastery of a language? I think Dr. Presidio has that on the tip of his tongue. Between five to seven years how do our multilingual learners perform after they've had the opportunity to have that time in every testable category

[02:44:42] they're outperforming division and state averages do they outperform native speakers well again you'd have to look at each particular test but they outperform state and division averages in every testable category thank you when a multilingual learner comes to our school system how do we approach helping them learn the language well we provide multilingual learner supports we're looking at GLAD strategies currently as well as SIOP strategies I

[02:45:20] think dr. Presidio depending on the grade level they enter it may look different yeah it definitely looks different depending on the age and grade level of the student but there's two major components the first component is dr. Reed talked about is making sure that they have excess acts access to the core content so that they're not falling behind in terms of the learning standards and standards that the state is set for every student in the Commonwealth but the other component is really focused on English language development and providing them with time each day to practice in the four domains of reading writing speaking and listening and that's really really

[02:45:57] important time for them to get that additional support again going back to the research that it's going to take a number of years for them to develop that proficiency so when this was first presented at our work session and you know I said 270 days to learn a language they're not fully being instructed just in a language no that's like if you think about it it's a small block of time particularly like for example at the secondary level it would be one class block so they're learning content and learning the language at the same time absolutely so it's a huge load for students okay I just wanted to clarify

[02:46:36] that because the more I thought about it the more I thought well it's not 207 days of intensive language learning they're going to music they're going to PE they're participating in other enrichment opportunities as well as learning content and some some of our students do come knowing the content just not knowing the language but then they are tested on the content in English as I said in the work session I think this is a disservice to our teachers that work really hard to our students that sends the message that they're failing

[02:47:14] when clearly we know they're not. These I kind of feel sorry for states that have been maligned in the sense that these standards are similar to those in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee that have been considered failing schools and now I think I know why because if this is the metric they're using then we're not getting the full picture. I don't want that to be a model

[02:47:41] for us. Dr. Reed, you had a conversation this week with a student that began with us. I did. As a multilingual learner. I did. Can you please share that story? Well, of course, I'd love to, Ms. St. John Cunning. I had an opportunity to spend a bit of time this week with Heyman Bekela, our time kid of the year at Woodson High School, one of our sophomores at Woodson. We did a short

[02:48:20] video which we'll be releasing here shortly and Haman arrived from Ethiopia as a kindergartner as a non-english speaker and has been with us for 10 years and learned the language as well as obviously is an amazing young man and young scientist and very just an incredible young man so I when I think about to your point we have many many many many young people that arrive here in Fairfax County who learn English as a second third or fourth fifth language

[02:48:59] who are achieving amazing things times kid of the year right thank you for sharing that story I know that that's one story of many I've had the privilege to serve a lot of our multilingual families and I think this does a great disservice to them when many of them are already marginalized. And to have scores that tell them that they're failing when they really aren't I think is a great disservice. And whereas I do

[02:49:32] believe in accountability and I do believe that we have to take standardized tests, I pride myself in knowing that the work that the teachers and the staff in our schools and our leadership staff does is that we don't look at our kids just as an SOL score. They're more than that. And because we do more than that, they become more than that. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunning. Mr. Moon.

[02:50:01] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sorry that I missed the work session because I was out of country at the time. And so this might have been already covered and answered at the time. This new framework, new SOA Performance and Support Framework to be finalized looking at your slide, slide number two, on September 25, which is about two weeks from now, less than two weeks from now.

[02:50:33] Is there anything that we can do between now and then? Is there anything that we should be doing between now and then? I you know we started talking about this even at the work session to provide public comment and I know our school division provided public comment on this and provided Significant public comment on this so I think continuing to talk about it with our state delegation with our Board of Education with our community I think all will help I believe though at the end of the day

[02:51:13] We're gonna have to have a strategy for how best to communicate with our children our staff and our families about the work we're doing in ways that are going to be clear and make sense and Also reflect our deep sense of accountability. I know this board cares deeply about our about maintaining High expectations for each and every one of our students But high expectations also don't include changing all the rules in the middle of the year. They're going to be measured. So

[02:51:50] I I don't know Dr. Presidio. Do you have any other suggestions on what's possible between now and September 25th? I really don't I mean I do want the community to know that we've taken every possible opportunity to provide public comment both orally when We've had the opportunity to address the board and in their public sessions and then they're listening to her around the state we've submitted a written comment at every opportunity that we've been provided by the Board of Education Michael Malloy is with us today and he's done an exceptional job advocating on our behalf but my understanding is that

[02:52:28] the September 25th meeting is really kind of pro forma in terms of moving forward with us at this point that's a very disappointing and I mean you know my colleagues have already addressed the serious problems serious issues dealing with the multilingual learners as a multilingual learner myself a starting to count the scores from the third right after third semester this is ludicrous we know that picking up being a academic language you will take

[02:53:03] anywhere between five to seven years for the most of the multilingual learners I mean I could understand if this framework framework under this framework they want to measure the growth of a multilingual learners academic achievement that's a one thing but just including that raw scores as to basically a come up with an assessment of the quality of our schools what it

[02:53:38] provides that's just makes no sense and we know that you know compared to the rest of the state we have a much higher percentage of multilingual learners ours is 21.2 percent whereas state average is about 10 percent so and and also when you're looking at who those multilingual learners are we have much many more students starting with a level one without formal education from where they

[02:54:14] came from so uh and it sounds like there is much weekend between 9 and september 25. however that not just with our delegation because the state board of education which is dominated by a appointees of the governor one party versus the other party but uh you know going to our media uh you know doing doing a campaign along that way

[02:54:49] Probably won't make any difference on September 25. I think that's an area that I Consider to spend some time on. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Miss lady. Thank you, Mr. Chair Um, I kind of want to start my remarks by simply saying I'm utterly speechless As someone who dedicated my life to public education. This is just disgusting Everyone has a right to free appropriate public education and it's obvious that the video

[02:55:27] wants to destroy public education in our great state. It's my understanding that one dissenting voter on the VDOE Board of Education recently stated that, as my colleague said, that 1,200 of the 1,700 schools in the Commonwealth would fail under this new accreditation process.

[02:55:54] I just want to highlight again that we're punishing schools that are providing legal rights for our students with disabilities and our multi-language learners who have a right to stay in school until their 23rd birthday. and when we are offering that where it is appropriate for those students by name by need that they're going to be punished. I'd further state that the state is punishing schools and school systems that have a high number of students with disabilities and a high number of multi-language learners. We do know a lot of our students are immigrants. The state wants our immigrants to

[02:56:33] fail. In terms of the opportunities for DE, I think that, you know, people need to understand that around the state, a lot of schools around the state don't teach what all of our high schools teach. They don't have the rich curriculum and the high level of academic work across core disciplines, including the arts. And so what a lot of those situations, they don't need their teachers of record on their school system side to have the credentials to teach DE because they simply send those children to the local community college.

[02:57:10] They don't sit in their classroom at their school in a DE section. We have really done a tremendous job of increasing the number of DE opportunities we have for our students both in the online campus and in our high schools, and we continue to try to do that. But the credentialing, which requires 18 hours of graduate work in the specific discipline is prohibitive in many situations where our teachers have masters of special education or masters administration or masters in blended online learning or masters in teaching but not specifically masters in English and therefore they're eligible to teach DE English we need to look for ways to partner with George Mason to beef that

[02:57:49] up and I think that they have been reciprocal in that but I just want to elevate that I also want to say I believe strong in accountability I have high expectations of our schools and our accountability. There's all ways for us to measure it, but certainly in our graduation rates, certainly in our post-grad planning, certainly in the work skills our kids leave with. Is that my buzzer? That's your time. Okay. Thank

[02:58:17] you, Miss Lady. Mr. Dunn. I think we need to recognize that when we look at this new system, we have to start with the question, what is the objective? Is the objective to improve the quality of education delivered to students in Fairfax County. We have been dealing for years

[02:58:50] with bad data originating from websites such as greatschools.com, which is used by parents to determine that particular schools, usually that have a majority of economically disadvantaged students or minority students or free and reduced price lunch students, are lesser than wealthier schools. I have been in the wealthier schools. I've been in schools that do not rate as highly on greatschools.com, and I can tell you every single school I've been in has had an amazing

[02:59:30] principal, dedicated teachers, and incredible students with access to wonderful educational opportunities. In fact, I have been receiving complaints this past month from students at a wealthier school that their schools were crowded because so many people migrate there whereas I have another school that's a title one school that has 15 students in many of their elementary school classes compared to 30 and the wealthier school so think of the difference simply caused by reputation

[03:00:05] right and not a well-deserved reputation my children attended a school that was viewed within our community as a lesser school but it was probably the most amazing elementary school I've ever encountered in my entire career, my entire life, anywhere in the world. And I am grateful every day for the education that they received. And what I see from the governor's naked political ambition and motivations in enacting these new standards is that he will continue to punish the schools that are serving the students who need the most help. And those are still amazing schools for those children to attend,

[03:00:42] for any child to attend. And that's why I strongly oppose what the governor is seeking to achieve because it is not to improve, it is not to make things better, it's only to make more schools look worse. If he paired these standards with more resources, an increase in funding to actually provide the 568.8 million dollars that we are owed every single year by Fairfax County and have not been provided for decades so that we can actually lessen the burden on Fairfax County taxpayers, then I might believe his sincerity, but given the

[03:01:20] fact it's all words and the objectives are plain from what he's doing and it will only harm those who need the most help, I entirely dismiss this accreditation system and the seriousness of it. And we will have to be left with the mess that he's leaving until it is remedied by a future governor. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Dr. Reid, I'll take a turn. If there was an EL for answering credulous rhetorical questions, I think you would have gotten flying colors tonight.

[03:01:55] But I think we need to be very clear about what's happening here and the context in which it happens. The governor and his administration have been playing politics and weaponizing SOL data and other mechanisms that they have at their control since he came into office. Just here's some examples. They started by launching a tip line to get people to report teachers and to you know gather information about bad things that were happening in the schools supposedly. When they

[03:02:33] got sued to get that information by media they admitted they'd done nothing with the information gathered by the tip line nothing they didn't forward it to the department of education they did nothing with it let's talk about sol data the the first complete school year post covid where students were in the building just as we were preparing to release new sol data which would show improvement in most cases the department of education announced something good that they were were going to mail home the SOL data to families, which is a great way of getting it in front of

[03:03:11] people. Were they going to mail the information from the first COVID, post-COVID year where it might show improvement? No. They decided to send the previous year's data, which had been shared with families months and months earlier. The number of constituents I talked to who thought that was the new data, fast forward to this year's SOL data, which our friends in the media got before we did when the governor held a press conference to release the SOL data and took it as an opportunity to attack Fairfax County public schools by misrepresenting the data and misleading

[03:03:50] the public. Why should we expect these standards to be any different? It was just a couple months ago that the governor was touting the Commonwealth's new reputation as the best place in America to do business. And that commendation came with the proviso that it was precisely because of the quality of our public schools in Virginia.

[03:04:20] And so what is his objective here? What on earth is he doing? He would like to see these schools that are providing the best place in America to do business to resemble places like Texas, Louisiana, Florida, where teachers are leaving in droves.

[03:04:43] You think that there's a teacher shortage in this country? Go to those places. It's far worse. And so the numbers that you've heard tonight how this will automatically change you know the rankings of these schools 1200 schools in Virginia's out of 1700 will be marked as off-track anybody can come up with tougher standards I'm gonna finish my my sentence here anybody can come up with tougher standards but that doesn't mean that they are appropriate and that doesn't mean that they are reachable people who are committed to

[03:05:22] public education would think how do we implement this what is the plan for implementation? What are the resources required to get what we are after here? None of that happened. It's almost as if they want this to fail in the first place. All right. It is like they want it to fail in the first place. We'll take a couple gobacks after Ms. Sawant. First, I wanted to say thank you for sharing this information so early and breaking it down for the board. I just wanted to highlight some things that I was disturbed by. The first was the admission of credit for work-based learning and the credit that would come with that.

[03:06:00] take a work-based learning class I know so many other kids who do and credit is really important in meeting our graduation requirements and so I appreciate learning about this early to kind of work this year to see you know what can we do how can we work with these policies and still give students some sort of credit they deserve one thing that I wanted to clarify was that in here it says that it like student schools will be voted down if students spend more than four years to graduate and I was wondering for the but my thing was sorry for the language learners who have to learn that new language in

[03:06:39] three semesters is it the same thing there where they can take more time and the school will lose points or do they have to do it in three semesters so that's a great question mr. want dr. Presidio or miss Huffman I because we're going to continue to offer multilingual services it's that their test scores i believe count now after three semesters but dr presidio i want you to make sure you clarify that no you you just answered it absolutely correctly there's no negative impact to the student but for the school where those students attend those student scores will count towards

[03:07:15] the school's performance after only three semesters and that's really the issue and similarly for work-based learning there's no negative impact on students we still want students to do work-based learning the problem is the school is not getting credit for those experiences that they're supporting students and participating in thank you and I just when when you say that I see the multilingual learner summit in my head I see all these I see dr. Zalaya who took all of these courses and got to where they are and so I am really worried about this but going off of that I wanted to piggyback off miss Anderson and miss Sizemore heiser who suggested maybe there's an alternative accreditation system we do in Fairfax

[03:07:52] County and my take on this was that students can continue to take these classes and continue to take the time they need to graduate but it does do poorly on the school and students will know that so I'm wondering if there's a way that we can still motivate them and show them like here's what you've accomplished while still holding that accountability if that's something that's possible to look into alternative credit you know what I think if I was somebody going to a SAT committee in the coming weeks I would put that out there for my student friends and neighbors and why don't you come with a proposal for me that you all create that would be a measure an index that we

[03:08:32] believe authentically reflects the work of our students and our staff in Fairfax County I love that I 100% agree with that aim on I'll work with you in the next week to kind of figure out a way to present this to the students and I I think that would be an awesome advisory committee to have this year.

[03:08:51] All right. There you go. Thank you. Ms. Sawant. Ms. Dixit. Thank you, Mr. Chair and Dr. Reed. I was just kind of holding back and I didn't want to say something which I will regret later.

[03:09:08] So but at the same time, I want to say the governor who ran on the premises of like education and said education is this and that and parents and now it's totally going against the education standards and especially living in Fairfax County, he's doing that a disservice to his county and his state. And I did want to say one more thing is I agree with my colleagues about the accreditation, secondary accreditation for Fairfax County. And lastly, I wanted to address that I understand there are students who may need extra time to be in high school and

[03:09:48] that's not going to be a possibility or it's going to be against going system what about the students who are graduating earlier than four years are they giving us extra points for those my son graduated in three years and there'll be many more kids who we offer them this choice they can graduate in three years too so i have not heard of any extra points for students graduating early and i do want to clarify we here in fairfax county are going to continue uh to work within the law

[03:10:22] which is to say if they if students have a right to stay through um 22 or till a 23rd birthday we're going to continue that practice where the school's scores will be poorly reflected on poorly i believe it's incumbent on us to um flip that narrative to make it clear that our primary focus is what's best for our students right yeah thank you miss dixit miss Sizemore heiser yeah a couple things i wanted to mention that i was kind of confused by and i was wondering if you dr presidio

[03:11:01] perhaps had heard anything um currently our multilingual students scores start to sort of count towards accreditation once at 11 semesters and now it's changed to three um what i don't understand is if the state really wants to know what our multilingual students are learning why don't they put in an interim from semester 3 to semester 10 they're tested in their native language so we can actually assess what they know and then it was semester 11 they start getting tested in English that gives them time to learn the language and gives us the data so we can make sure that they're actually learning their and I was curious if that had ever been discussed in what you've heard from the state well that that's been one of our

[03:11:40] advocacy points that we've shared multiple times with the state and we haven't received a response to that. I just say that because I have the unique privilege of being born here but then my parents moved back to India and I came back when I was five and I probably would have failed one of these tests when I was five but when I was in fourth grade I skipped a grade so it just took me a little time to learn English and demonstrate my competency and my knowledge and well enough to be able to go from third to fifth grade so I just think that that seems to be a way to get to the state's goals of making sure that we're actually assessing our multilingual students and is more accurate on how we can assess them right I mean I just think that you know I

[03:12:18] personally I have a son whose communication was always held against him from being able to judge his actual intelligence and ability and I don't think we should hold someone's language ability away from being able to judge their actual knowledge so if the state really wants to assess the knowledge of multilingual students they would look at ways to fairly assess their knowledge within the communication and I know I think someone has already said but in case they haven't that it from the data you shared earlier in one of our work sessions that our multilingual students our former multilingual students who have graduated quote-unquote or you know come from our multilingual services the intensive services actually tend to do better on their SOL scores than our

[03:12:55] average population that's correct that is correct they do outperform their typically speaking peers yeah so just test them in their native language while they're learning English and then test them in English seems kind of simple to We have offered that feedback all right then I just had one other thing point I wanted to make but often I will not make any more points thank you I think we will have lots of opportunities to continue making points in the months ahead miss st. John cunning I wanted to reiterate reiterate something that's been brought up twice and witness what one of my colleagues just said is if the

[03:13:34] goal is to get accurate information we would test in their language I want everyone to question what the goal is when you implement a program like this in a state and out of 1700 approximately 1700 schools 1500 will fail leaving or 1200 leaving you 500 that are not failing so what is the goal of the VDOE and some of my colleagues have

[03:14:07] stressed that and explained what they feel that it is and I just want everybody that's listening to this to ask themselves that question what is the goal i wish that it was to know and test what students really know i wish it wasn't nefarious and i wish we wouldn't politicize our students thank you miss st john cunning thank you dr reed agenda item 8.02 superintendent matters

[03:14:42] dr reed oh so thank you chairman frisch uh superintendent matters i've had a chance to visit a number of schools recently in fact I have a little pin on today I visited Marshall Road and our I was greeted by four student ambassadors who I will just take a few minutes to share our student ambassadors did a very thoughtful job they're multilingual student ambassadors who provided a welcome book which they do for every student who's new to Marshall Road and in particular they

[03:15:19] have created picture books with labels for those students who are new who are multilingual so I did have a chance to be at Marsh Road as well as Oakton High School today visited with principal Jamie Lane and visited some classes have had a chance to host several family quad nights attend the Herndon Langley football game last week and just had a tremendous couple weeks out in classes AND I THINK I'LL PAUSE THERE. SO THANK YOU, CHAIRMAN FRESH.

[03:15:52] THANK YOU, DR. REED. AGENDA ITEM 8.03, STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE, I CALL ON DR. REED. WELL, THANK YOU, CHAIRMAN FRESH. I AM EXCITED THIS EVENING TO SHARE OUR VERY FIRST STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE OF THE YEAR. THIS EVENING, WE'RE PLANNING TO HIGHLIGHT PILLAR C, WHICH IS the next slide Kevin so pillar C is around our diverse adaptive and supported workforce and this evening we're going to be looking at our great beginnings program as we are still in the beginning of the year as well as our ambassador teachers and it's really

[03:16:31] critical to reach our student goals that we actually maintain our recruitment and retention goals. So I want to note that Dr. Meg Michele is here this evening. Thank you Dr. Michele for being here who is very much so supports our Great Beginnings program and Marcy Neal is here as well who is a key for our professional development program. So let me share a little bit about our Great Beginnings Summer Institute. We know that when new educators have effective support that

[03:17:08] retention improves and students have greater access to high quality educators. This year it was really exciting. Great Beginnings celebrated its 30-year anniversary, and as the novice educator landscape continues to evolve, Great Beginnings continues to evolve as well as we meet the needs of our new educators.

[03:17:29] This is a four-day professional learning opportunity that kicks off in August, and it's really exciting. We have participants spending two days learning in grade level or content specific cohorts. One day of a division welcome and the last day is a school based orientation.

[03:17:50] This year during our 2024 institute we had over 1100 participants which meant that we had 40 cohorts. We also were supporting these 1100 participants with 80 facilitators, so this is huge.

[03:18:12] As a county and across the nation, we also know that special education vacancies continue to remain a critical focus, and we did provide differentiated support for our special education teachers during this session.

[03:18:27] Social education teacher trainees are also invited to a year-long cohort program to support their learning. You can see the data, the after-school program and so forth. There's just a lot going on here with our Great Beginnings program.

[03:18:46] So looking at our global ambassador program, this year we welcomed the group and cohort One a year ago had 29 teachers or I think we had 3129 return for the 2324 school or return from that year.

[03:19:09] And our cohort two we had 102 new teachers for this year representing 16 countries and that honestly is significant. The 16 countries have an each of these educators have an average of an 11 and a half years teaching experience.

[03:19:27] And we're told that over 20,000 teachers from around the world applied for 750 positions. So these are very highly qualified and effective teachers, many of whom hold advanced degrees. Between the two cohorts, or the total of 131, the ambassador teachers represent about 1% of our teaching staff.

[03:19:52] So, let's take a look at this year's Great Beginnings Summer Institute and hear the voices of our new FCPS staff members. Roll tape.

[03:20:15] At the core of the strategic plan, it's all about students. And honestly, when we think about Great Beginnings, we automatically think of teachers, but at the heart of everything we do at Great Beginnings, it's for students. When we started with Great Beginnings, it was an after-school seminar cohort.

[03:20:30] Today in year 30, we're finding that our teaching landscape is evolving greatly. Now we have those afternoon seminars. We have the Great Beginnings Summer Institute. We run praxis boot camps to help teachers work their way toward full licensure. We also have specialized cohorts for our teacher trainees, where they can work directly with coaches and other support staff in central office to bring them up to speed on what it means to be a great teacher.

[03:20:57] My Great Beginnings experience has been amazing. When you first start, you don't know anything, and you just feel like you're in this void lots of questions and my Great Beginnings coach has been fantastic and just so patient at answering all of our questions. It's been a great opportunity to bounce ideas off other educators and other people that are just starting the experience and I feel very confident going into the school year as a new teacher. So one thing I'm taking away from Great Beginnings is just give yourself grace especially as a first-year teacher and continue to give yourself that grace throughout your education.

[03:21:30] When we first started the Great Beginnings, it was like you were swimming in the ocean, just kind of doggy paddling, and all the waves are crashing against you. And now, after the just two days that we've had, we've learned how to swim in this ocean. Great Beginnings is very helpful, very supportive.

[03:21:52] It has great resources. This program makes me feel confident. Also among the attendees at Great Beginnings was a unique cohort of newly hired educators who have come to FCPS as part of the Global Exchange Program.

[03:22:09] The Global Exchange Program is unique in that we are engaging with and recruiting talent from across the world. Their diverse perspectives, culture, heritage will definitely positively impact our students and help them be global leaders.

[03:22:25] I'm just so grateful for this opportunity that we have this Great Beginnings. trainings are great, the facilitators are great, and I learned a lot. I'm just so grateful that I am part of this team and I'm just so excited for this great opportunity to be able to meet my students and as well as share what I've got. Giving me great support helped me to be ready for this experience with regards to instructional materials, the cultural cohesion, be able to to fit into different cultures as I'll be teaching the learners and they've also helped me

[03:23:01] to look at a larger scope of management of learners. It has been wonderful they are very well organized they are warm they are I mean I feel like at home here so I'm very grateful for the opportunity to work for Fairfax County Public School. Excellence, equity and opportunity. So Last slide is just a reminder that these strategic plan moments will come once a month

[03:23:38] And we're gonna continue to keep you as a board updated We do have goal one coming up And we're very excited October 8th to present the work session and October 24th At the school board meeting. So as we continue to move through the year, we're committed to keeping our community informed about our work and I'll tell you what those new teachers and all of the mentors that is one exciting week and the enthusiasm out in classes is just incredible so I we're really proud of each of our teachers and mentors and our HR department for all the work

[03:24:18] putting that together as well as OPLE and our instructional team it's a truly a team effort thank you dr anderson um thank you so much for sharing this it's really interesting and it's always fun to see the shine and the enthusiasm of new teachers we just hope that it lasts through continued mentorship um so to that end is participation and great beginnings optional for our new teachers miss neil would you like to answer that it is dr anderson we do have the

[03:24:53] after-school cohorts available for our participants and so we had 600 participants signed up this year for 30 different cohorts and the cohorts are based on the area that they're teaching and their experience level but those are optional what we have seen with some of our teachers especially our teacher trainees is they're also in enrolled in class full-time working towards or part-time working towards licensure so we've had to find a lot of different creative solutions to meet the needs of our changing workforce so we are offering some substitute time during the day to help our teacher trainees come out and get the support as well

[03:25:30] okay thank you do you have a sense of how many of our new teachers do not participate in um great beginnings um i we could certainly follow up with that information yes i would definitely love that because i would also like to see because we also want to train our teacher we want to train our teachers but most importantly we want to keep our teachers i'd be curious in terms of the attrition rates do we find that our teachers who may not have participated in great beginnings are leaving at a greater rate than our teachers who have remained because we know that the the tenure

[03:26:04] for teachers right now it's getting shorter and shorter um so is that data that you could um mine miss neil i do believe we have some retention data and we can follow up with the board yes we do so we'll make sure you all have that information in an update thank you just something else you raised for me because this continues to be a point of clarity can you give i and i don't know whether this is your or dr presidio but can you clarify what exactly is a teacher trainee and what are their responsibilities i'm going to defer that to mr solomon to explain the teacher trainee specific

[03:26:42] pathway into teaching thank you miss neil so dr anderson the teacher trainee program is functionally a pathway into the teaching profession it's an opportunity for folks who are interested in becoming classroom teachers who have bachelor's degrees to get hired by fairfax county public schools to receive training and mentorship and partnership with a master teacher and other teachers and ultimately through the course of that job to earn professional licensure and become a full-time teacher over time so are they are teacher trainees a student teacher

[03:27:17] and working with a fully licensed teacher or do they have their own classes the teacher trainees are professional employees with fairfax county public schools who are paired with teachers i'm sorry there was some noise can you say the last piece absolutely teacher trainees are professional employees with fairfax county public schools who are paired with teachers they're paired with teachers okay so they're not on their own thank you just just to clarify my point they are the teacher of record in the classroom or teacher trainees so they are the teacher of record and when we say paired with a teacher it's a teacher for mentorship it's not

[03:27:52] with someone with whom they are working like a co-teacher that that is correct okay that is very helpful and i will have some follow-up with that that i will ask at another time but i do want to say i had the good fortune last year last summer to just happen to be here with dr dr ponce and you came into his office and we were able to greet that first cohort of teachers and there's a teacher at Glasgow who was part of that cohort who I was so very glad to see again at open house this year and he says I am not going anywhere I'm here for the duration so I'm excited to see that program

[03:28:28] grow because we do need to have our teachers come from somewhere because we're not growing them fast enough here in Fairfax County so this is a great opportunity to expand that pool thank you Dr. Anderson and thank you Dr. Reed thank you agenda item number nine consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be

[03:29:04] removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda items are on the screen or will be soon i am particularly shiny tonight avert your your eyes

[03:29:26] All right it's on the screen is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing none the consent agenda is approved agenda item number 10 new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be a vote on these items this evening but action is scheduled for a future meeting agenda number agenda item number 11 board committee reports I call on Miss lady for a report from the governance committee she's away from the dais all right I call on Miss St. John Cunningham for a report from public engagement committee.

[03:30:02] So first of all, I want to thank the members that were able to make it there was we had a little bit of attendance type of Kerfuffle, but everybody ended up making it we had our first meeting We're going to continue with the good work that was started at the beginning of the year and be finalizing the handbook and doing some work for having some toolkits and some Orientations and I'm really excited about the work that we'll be doing. Thank you. Miss St. John Cunning I call on Miss lady for a report from the governance committee. Thank you. Mr. Chair

[03:30:34] governance has met one time thus far this year um to be cut short to the to the point uh per a follow-on motion from the july board meeting we are looking at the grading policy um as a priority we also have a lot of other policies that we need to review this year but that's where our focus is at the at the moment our next meeting is on oct on september 24. thank you thank you miss lady agenda item 12 board matters the next item on the agenda is board matters i will call on each

[03:31:05] school board member to speak. Mr. Dunn. Thank you. I am excited to see all of the amazing parents and students who are excited to return to school and participate in first open houses and then back to school events. It's been a wonderful experience to see all of the great work that so many principals and teachers have been doing throughout the summer and into the fall to get their schools and their classrooms ready for the arrival of new students.

[03:31:44] I wanted to share with the Mount Vernon District that I have a few upcoming events that they might be interested in attending. First, there's a Raptor Rapture at Fort Hunt Park. It's a free event, September 14th at 1 p.m. It's an opportunity to see live raptors, owls, and hawks up close the event is sponsored by friends of dyke marsh the national park service and the secret garden birds and bees there's also a run with island creek elementary school on september

[03:32:17] 20th and gunston elementary on september 29th please mark your calendars these are exciting events and great ways to get in shape with your family there's the naacp for fairfax county is hosting a boys to men symposium at the gum springs community center on september 28th at 10 a.m it's a great opportunity to for young men of all ages to receive information and support as they learn and grow and finally i want to highlight steamology stem fest that will be hosted october 12th from 11 a.m to 3 p.m at mount vernon high school students in kindergarten through

[03:32:57] eighth grade are invited to come enjoy free activities related to stem including robotics coding experiments and more this event provides students with a chance to engage in hands-on activities related to science technology and mathematics and high school students are invited to serve as volunteers please contact either my office or mount vernon high school for more information about this incredible event thank you mr dunn miss sizemore heiser thank you and i'm also excited for the beginning of school and for the crisper nights. I love this weather and I love the Friday night lights. I had a great chance to go over

[03:33:34] to Lake Braddock and watch the marching band, the dance team, the cheerleading squad and for those you missed it they were on the news so that was wonderful. I had a great time in some of the back to school nights. I appreciated going to Woodson High School's back to school night this week and greeting the families and in the small world category I met the mother of a student who's actually a student rep to the advisory committee for students with disabilities so I met her son the next day at our meeting so it was a really cool moment um the families were really excited to come back to school and the coolest part I will say or one of the coolest parts beyond greeting families and students was to see the big banner that said CG Woodson and see the portrait of Carter G Woodson that

[03:34:14] was painted by a graduate class of 2024 from Woodson so it was really cool to see um the and and the students' excitement around that and to talk to Principal Greta about the plans he has for the name change. I also got a chance to go to Braddock Elementary Schools back to school night and talk with the principals and get a great tour of the school.

[03:34:33] And it's a fantastic space with a new renovation. And I even got a really delicious quesadilla from the food truck. And the students were so little and so happy to be back. And the atmosphere there is just energetic. So that was super fun. For those who I saw at the Burke Center Festival, it was really great to see you out and about in Burke, just something that's coming up from our local supervisor.

[03:34:55] He's doing his second annual climate action summit on October 26th. So something to look for. And beyond that, keep a lookout. Fall plays and musicals are starting up soon. So don't forget, there is a website that you can go to at FCPS for all the plays and musicals.

[03:35:11] I'll start announcing them as they get closer. And I hope to see you at a football or other sports game or other event in the school soon. and enjoy your fall. It's my favorite time of year. Thank you, Miss Sizemore Heiser. Dr. Anderson, didn't time that properly.

[03:35:32] I do want to start by saying thank you to the Addendale Singers on the direction of Pat Vaughn for their wonderful and beautiful rendition this evening. They were lovely. I've had the opportunity to visit several schools, and I have been to Glasgow Middle School, Sleepy Hollow, and Bailey's just this week.

[03:35:51] So thank you to Interim Principal Lavery for really doing such a great job as the person who's just stepping in for, you know, the next few months. And also with Principal Vega, it was just really wonderful to see all the wonderful things happening at Sleepy Hollow.

[03:36:08] Additionally, it was fabulous to visit Principal Dowling and the staff at Bailey's Upper and to seeing the great work there. As mentioned earlier, very quickly, I did have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of our school board at Capitol Hill this week, where we wanted to talk about many of the things that you'll see in our legislative agenda that will be coming up next meeting.

[03:36:33] So that will be presented. And there are a lot of issues, and I won't go into them right now, but it was really wonderful to have the ear of many of our legislators. So I wanted to thank them for being really receptive and wanting to follow up regarding many of the things that were raised during those conversations.

[03:36:51] I just want to share that the Glasgow Middle School Band has been chosen to perform at the Virginia Music Educators Association Convention this November. As one of the only two middle school bands to be performing, it is a huge honor to have been selected. Congratulations, Panthers.

[03:37:09] I will be attending the renaming and dedication ceremony for the Minnie H Paton Community Center at Bailey's this Saturday at 10:00 AM. So please join us in order to honor a very dedicated Mason District resident.

[03:37:25] The ceremony will be followed by a reception and tours of the facility. I want to offer reminders to our community that the middle school star time surveys have been out. And so if you are a parent or a caregiver of students attend FCPS middle schools you will receive that start time survey in the next few days so please be sure that you complete it and your answer your responses will be anonymous and lastly Ms. Sawant shared this earlier but I will cap it by reminding our students to complete their applications for the student leadership development program and I believe the applications are due to

[03:38:03] your principals by the end of this month so September 30th have a good night all looking forward to a wonderful week of activities at our schools thank you dr anderson mr mackaline pass miss dixit thank you mr chair like the way you said dixit i don't know it's interesting i had a great time attending the installation of the captain planet foundation project leaning garden at the center ridge elementary school last week this was donated by our community partner cox

[03:38:41] enterprise to help educate children on the benefit of consuming more fruits and vegetables. It was amazing to watch our students build and prepare the beds and plant the vegetables. Hands-on outdoor programs like these are a wonderful opportunity to get our kids connected to the nature. I was at Bull Run Elementary School last night, fell back to school night. This is one of the school my own children attended. I'm very close to the school. It brought back so many fond memories when I attended that for my own case those at Bull Run. I was also able to meet their new

[03:39:18] principal James Morota who we are very lucky to have. He has had an outstanding career in FCPS and I look forward to supporting him in continuing to build a positive and enriching learning environment. We definitely am already signing up my son to get the chess club going on again there because At one point, we had 100 students attending the chess club at Bull Run, so I want to get that back up.

[03:39:44] I look forward to participating in the Shantley High School homecoming parade with my school board colleagues on Friday and some more back-to-school night in the upcoming week. I'm also looking forward to attending the 5K run walk with our community partner, Asha Jyoti, along with Superintendent Reed and students and staff from many of our FCPS schools on Sunday, September 15th.

[03:40:08] please register to support our school it's a fun-filled family event and Asha Jyoti donates 100% of the registration money back to the schools for its STEM needs thank you and good night thank you Miss Dixit. Miss Marin. Okay well I have two words for you all boys volleyball you have got to see boys volleyball it is so exciting wow I went to see South Lakes High School boys at Madison and I like mistakes that I saw parents and kids that I've known since they were little up there on the volleyball team and it was fierce I finally had to call it at nine I was like I got to go home

[03:40:46] I've been here for two hours after our work session but it is so exciting and the kids are thrilled so they are really appreciative and we're going to keep expanding that crew program hopefully we can get that going to the high schools that remain to need a crew got homecoming in South Lakes tomorrow it's it's early but um there's a lot going on in my household as my freshman attends for the first time and my little guy attends in the terracet cluster there in the parade for the last time so indeed my last back to school night as an elementary school parent was last night at terracet and they kept it classy uh miss aldridge and uh mr i and then um the back to school nights

[03:41:23] are winding down but i have managed to go to flint hill elementary to louise archer which the new renovation is going to be phenomenal it is such a showcase of the history and it's really going to be something special in the town of Vienna. Lake Anne Elementary they also had this gorgeous mural that was created just spectacular you could go and walk on the grounds they had their outdoor classroom and their gardens and this mural and then as well Thoreau Middle School and Marshall Road but next week preparing to go down to the Richmond area with some colleagues with Mr. Frisch Dr.

[03:41:55] Anderson and Mr. Dunn also participating to the Virginia State School Board's legislative conference and that's going to be really important because we're going to get the money from the General Assembly step by step. So working on that JLARC advocacy again to get the money that we're owed or due and then yeah working with colleagues on the grading policy. So that is a big thing. So lots of work going on. Thank you Miss Marin. Miss St. John Cunning. Here we go. Fall is in the air for all of us pumpkin spice and all and I'm happy to say I've been excited to see students and

[03:42:34] families going back to school I had the pleasure of helping welcome back Falcon families to Forestdale Elementary School I'd love seeing Hannah Chartel who I've known since she was six years old and is now a sixth grade teacher a fourth grade teacher at the school it was also nice to connect with counselor Sofia Echida Villafara who helps coordinate the annual Penn Doff fire station code and toy drives that benefit our FCPS students a special thanks to principal Nikki Steptoe Coleman assistant principal of Donna Tate and assistant principal Mary Elizabeth Hageman I was so happy to be back at my children's elementary school Rose Hill where I also spent a significant time as a

[03:43:14] family liaison I loved connecting with past and new Rose Hill Rockets during their back to school night it was a blast special thanks to assistant principal Katelyn Miller assistant principal Christina Roam and Kathy Quigley retired principal from Franken Sherman who was temporarily filling in for principal Rachel Edwards and there was a nice surprise visit from our assistant superintendent Ray Lynette this year I am chairing the schools for the school boards pet committee we held our first meeting of the year this week and we are eager to move our work forward I'm also continuing my service on the successful children and

[03:43:53] youth policy team also known as skip where I am proud to say that I am going to champion community schools and early childhood education last night I attended the first meeting of the minority student achievement oversight advisory committee in my capacity as a school board liaison I am so grateful for the time our community appointees organizations and staff members dedicate to this committee their work is invaluable for our school and they've been advising us for 30 years I was thrilled to join Lewis High School leadership team welcome the Caravan for Disability, Freedom, and Justice.

[03:44:29] The students had prepared an event designed to build community among participants. Guests were greeted by members of the Lewis Band and flag team. The cafeteria was full of students, invited guests, and community members who came to view the posters the students had prepared highlighting the movement for disability freedom.

[03:44:46] Participants were able to create artwork at different stations and visit booths set up by community organizations. from key middle school drama class prepared an extremely powerful performance. I hope they take it on the road. Louis students with and without seeing or unseen disability spoke about their passion to advocate for disability justice and freedom.

[03:45:07] Special guest Sadei Ibrahama from the Ministry of the National Education Republic of Senegal expressed how impressed he was with the program. Students then boarded the caravan and took the trip to the U.S. capital TO SPEAK WITH ACTIVISTS AND LEGISLATORS.

[03:45:23] IT WAS ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE LEWISH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM. A GOOD TROUBLE EVENT. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE STUDENTS. AM I DONE? LET ME JUST SAY THAT I WANT TO REALLY COMMEND PRINCIPAL ALFONSO SMITH, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ERIC GIBLIN, AND LEWISH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM DIRECTOR DEBORAH MARCH FOR THEIR LEADERSHIP.

[03:45:44] THANK YOU, MS. ST. JOHN CUNNING. MS. LADY? YES, AGAIN, I'LL REITERATE. IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT WE ARE IN THE FOURTH WEEK of school, but excited that principals, faculty, school staff and families continue to report that they have had an amazing opening and things are going well. And as Dr. Reid mentioned earlier, bus transportation this school year has gone more smoothly than the years past with buses running at 98% accuracy so far.

[03:46:07] Thank you to the transportation office and all school bus drivers. Earlier this week, I attended a safety meeting arranged by delegate Rip Sullivan regarding pedestrian and bike safety on Kirby Road near Chesterbrook Elementary. Principal Kirkpatrick, parents, elected officials, VDOT, and FCDOT were present for this important conversation.

[03:46:25] It is my hope that VDOT and FCDOT will work together on viable solutions and get the funding to implement them. We all need to slow down and give ourselves and our students time and be safe so they get to school without rushing. So last year we were discussing and approving the SR&R, last spring, I was adamant that I wanted to limit access to the use of cell phones at the high school level.

[03:46:48] I must say I was pleased when the governor chose to tackle this issue. I'm hearing positive feedback from school staff, teachers, and families on how the restricted cell phone use across our secondary schools is working. I look forward to connecting with our secondary school students on how the transition is going for them.

[03:47:03] Please take time to share your thoughts on the FCPS website under cell phone policy feedback. And yes, Ms. Marin, let's hear it for boys volleyball. I attended my first match on Tuesday night between Herndon and Langley. The guys were competing, uplifting each other, and most importantly, having a lot of fun.

[03:47:21] It was wonderful to see everyone coming out for this new varsity sport. The play was great, as was the fan support. I look forward to attending other fall sports and seeing the marching band halftime shows this season and hope to see you there. Finally, this Saturday will be the first Que Pasa Festival of Herndon from 12:00 to 6:00 PM.

[03:47:39] The festival would be great fun and will feature live music and performances, authentic Latin and Hispanic cuisine, artisan crafts, interactive workshops, and much more. Please go to the Virginia Hispanic Chamber website for more information. Thank you and good night.

[03:47:55] - Thank you, Miss Lady. Vice Chair Anderson. - So this week is always a somber one for me personally. As a country, we remember one of the most tragic days in our country's history, certainly in my lifetime. But we also remember those struggling or have been lost to suicide on World Suicide Prevention Day yearly on September 10th.

[03:48:15] We lost my brother to suicide in 2010 when he was a sophomore in college. And every year I share a quote from Lin-Manuel Miranda's pep talk called Good Morning and Good Night. So, good night. You are so loved and we like having you around.

[03:48:34] It ties one end of this sentence onto your heart and the other end on everyone who loves you in this life. Even if the clouds obscure your view, check the knots. There. Stay put, you. Tug if you need anything. To all those around you who are struggling, please make sure you tug on those knots for the people around you.

[03:48:57] You are so loved, and we like having you around. Thank you, Vice Chair Anderson. First, I want to thank Ms. Marin and Ms. Lady for mentioning boys volleyball.

[03:49:13] I can tell you how impactful it is as a person who played JV boys volleyball in ninth grade and sat on the bench the entire time. But I am very much looking forward to going to a few games this year, a few matches.

[03:49:31] In any case, I also want to thank Miss Anderson and Miss Lady for their work planning our first school board retreat of the school year. I am still trying to burn off the calories from the homemade cinnamon rolls from Miss Anderson, but I will do my best. As a reminder, I am co-hosting Providence Day and back to school celebration with Supervisor Dalia Palchuk at Marshall High School on Saturday, October 5th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

[03:49:59] TO MAKE IT EASY FOR THE COMMUNITY TO ATTEND WE'RE PROVIDING SHUTTLE SERVICE FROM THE JIM SCOTT COMMUNITY CENTER ON VADEN DRIVE AND THE JAMES LEE COMMUNITY CENTER ON ANNDALE ROAD COME FOR THE FOOD TRUCKS PUMPKIN PAINTING GIVEAWAYS AND PRIZES ACTIVITIES AND ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL AGES INCLUDING A PRETTY GREAT MAGICIAN STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS FROM MY DISTRICT WHO WOULD LOVE TO BE ON STAGE AND IN CHARGE WE'RE LOOKING FOR AN EMC TO INTRODUCE OUR PERFORMERS AND AWARDS portion of the show, so please reach out to my office if you are interested. Tomorrow night,

[03:50:33] on Friday the 13th, Marshall High School is hosting its first annual Marshall Mayhem. It's a carnival for current and future statesmen. The entire Marshall Pyramid is invited to enjoy in the mayhem, but keep it safe at the Marshall Mob Cage. Food trucks, face painting, a fun run, and more the dress code is sensibly neon I'd also like to remind folks that the historical marker installation ceremony celebrating the legacy of gunnels chapel is saturday september 21st

[03:51:11] this stems from the work of this board and the board of supervisors establishing a joint historical markers contest we've got six more of these student inspired installations to go very much looking forward to it Gunnels Chapel provided a safe place for black residents of Fairfax County to congregate and black children to learn built in the late 1800s Gunnels Chapel was an act of resistance and self-determination as black communities sought to empower themselves in the face of systemic racism exclusion and discrimination it is so gratifying to know that students are elevating that facet of our history for everyone to learn and don't forget

[03:51:49] to sign up for the food for others 11th annual tyson's 5k and fun run i'll be doing the fun run on saturday september 28th 8 a.m at tyson's corner center mall plaza a few other updates want to congratulate the marshall statesman for their strong opening of the football season back-to-back wins including an 87 yard uh kickoff touchdown return pretty impressive and I'm looking forward to a bunch of homecoming games coming up in the next couple weeks.

[03:52:22] Unfortunately about half of my schools are on the same night so I won't be able to be at everything but I appreciate everybody's hard work this evening on putting together a successful and engaging meeting especially our staff who are still here with us. Thank you very much and we are adjourned.

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