Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, July 16, 2026

Date: Thursday, July 16, 2026
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 6h 52m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHBFQUixALc
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 2026-10-27. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:10:37] This July 16th, 2026, regular meeting in the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order. And before we start, I did want to mention, please keep Chair Lady in your thoughts and prayers. She's out of town today, unfortunately, last minute. Her father, she's with her father in Williamsburg, who's not doing well.

[00:10:52] So please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the national anthem by SoCo's Quartet,

[00:10:57] on the direction of Karen Chapel Dean Walker.

[00:13:22] We have one more round of applause for the SoCo Quartet. If you'd like to review a copy of the meeting agenda, Please see the back of the auditorium to obtain copies of any items or supporting materials being presented tonight.

[00:13:38] Please reference the QR code on the agenda or visit fcps.edu forward slash board docs. Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on Cox Channel 99, Verizon Fios Channel 11, and live streamed on YouTube and our website at fcps.edu forward slash live stream. Ms. Lady has notified the vice chairman and clerk of the board that she is using remote participation as she is caregiving for an individual with a disability.

[00:14:01] thus Miss Lady will be counted as in person for the purpose of quorum today and does not need to be voted in by the board. She's located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Miss Lady, can you please check your audio and video? - Check, thank you. - Thank you. Agenda item 4.03, I call on Dr. Anderson for a proclamation.

[00:14:20] - Thank you. I would like to ask the Henderson family to please rise. They are located over here. Whereas Mr. Harry Henderson has served as the Mason District Representative on the Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities since January 2017, providing distinguished leadership as the committee's vice chairman during the '22-'23 school year, and whereas Mr. Henderson's tenure, spanning over nine years through July 2026, reflects a deep commitment and unwavering dedication

[00:14:58] to the advocacy of inclusive education and specialized services. And whereas, throughout his service, Mr. Henderson has provided valuable insight and expert recommendations to the school board to improve the educational outcomes and well-being of students with disabilities.

[00:15:17] And whereas Mr. Henderson's consistently engaged with the community to ensure that the voices of families in the Mason District were heard and reflected in the committee's advisory activities. And whereas Mr. Henderson has demonstrated the qualities of a principled leader.

[00:15:37] fostering a collaborative spirit and advocating for transparency and equity within the Fairfax County public schools. And whereas his generous contribution of time and expertise has significantly enhanced the public's understanding of the challenges and triumphs within special education.

[00:15:59] Now, therefore, let it be resolved that the Fairfax County School Board extends its highest commendation and deepest appreciation to Mr. Harry Henderson, In recognition of his outstanding service and tireless dedication to the students, families, and staff, and community members of the Fairfax County Public Schools.

[00:16:20] Is there a second? Second. All right. I call for the vote. All those in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunning, and myself.

[00:16:38] Will the clerk read the vote? What is Ms. Lady's vote? Clerk read the vote. It's unanimous. Thank you. The motion passes. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the proclamation honoring Harry Henderson to please join the board for a photo in front of the dais.

[00:18:13] Vice Chairman McDaniel, that's our last photo for proclamations.

[00:18:58] Agenda item 4.04, National Merit Scholarship Award Recognitions. Tonight we're recognizing the winners of the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Awards.

[00:19:14] There will be three groups of students recognized, the 2026 National Merit College Sponsored Scholarship winners, the 2026 National Merit Corporate Sponsored Scholarship winners, and the 2026 National Merit Scholarship winners. We're very proud of all our FCPS students who competed in the National Merit Scholarship process.

[00:19:34] Mr. Frisch. There were 17 Fairfax County Public Schools students named as winners of the 2026 National Merit College Sponsored Scholarship. These students were evaluated on their academic record, an essay, and information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions, SAT scores that confirmed outstanding test performance, and a recommendation and endorsement from a high school official. Each award provides between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the recipient scholarship. Listed on

[00:20:11] the screen are the names of this year's scholarship winners. There were nine Fairfax County Public School students named as winners of the 2026 National Merit Corporate Sponsored Scholarship.

[00:20:30] Corporate sponsors provide merit scholarship awards for national merit finalists whose children are of their employees who are residents of communities the company serve or who have college majors or career interests the sponsors want to encourage.

[00:20:51] Corporate sponsored merit scholarship awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and range from $1,000 to $10,000 a year. Others provide a single payment between $2,500 and $10,000.

[00:21:07] Recipients can use awards at regionally accredited U.S. colleges, universities of their choice. Listed on the screens are the name of this year's scholarship winners.

[00:21:26] - There were 31 Fairfax County Public School students named as winners of the 2026 National Merit Scholarship. These students were evaluated on their academic record, including the difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned and scores from two standardized tests, contributions and leadership in school and community activities, personal essay and a recommendation from a high school official.

[00:21:58] The number of winners named in a state is in proportion to the state's percentage of the national total graduating high school seniors. Listed on the screen are the names of this year's scholarship winners.

[00:22:28] like to welcome all those here in support of the 2026 national merit scholarship winners to please

[00:22:35] join the board for a photo at the front of the dais next order of business is community participation

[00:24:32] 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 at www.fcps.edu forward slash school board 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 we ask audience members to be respectful of one another shouting an outburst will not be tolerated please hold your applause to 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

[00:25:12] notes we're grateful to those who have come out to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation school board members will be listening but not responding madam deputy kirk please call

[00:25:20] our first speaker. Student 1. Good evening school board members and Dr. Reed. I'm a rising 11th grader at Centerville High School. I'm here tonight to talk about two items. My first item is the renovations and expansion of Centerville High School. It is great that the new Skyview High School will open next month but the Centerville community feels that you have neglected us. As I listened to your June 25th board meeting several suggestions came to mind. When Dr. Reed comes back to you with an update on August 28th it should include having a town hall in September on this issue at Centerville where this board and Dr. Reed bring the board of supervisors and park authority

[00:26:04] to the town hall let everyone hear the update and take questions from the disenfranchised on the same day all four entities should take an extensive tour of the school with student and teacher representatives only as dr reed is re-looking at this project there's an opportunity for fcps to include the current community voice not the one from 2022 where only one neighborhood was included in that voice that is the neighborhood in front of the school where it is wealthy and caucasian centerville is one of the most diverse high schools in the county and their voices were not included in the original outreach the second item is from my testimony last july there i stated several suggestions first to rename the student representative to be called the superintendent student advisory council's representative to the school board sac is the only body that is allowed

[00:26:41] to vote for who that person will be there is no clear fixture consistent way sps chooses their sac representatives it allows each high school sponsor to do what they want maybe the group who should choose the student rep should be all the students in sga at each high school instead of the hundred or so out of the 50 000 plus high school students i do realize that most sga classes are not representative of the school community in terms of race and gender and most sponsors are are not as diverse as our student body, but we must start somewhere for change to occur.

[00:27:05] Second thing I mentioned last year is that there should be three student representatives to the school board, just like the board's three at-large members. Third thing I mentioned was for SPS to create a yearly student congress conference where student leaders from the county's ambassadors, academic clubs, youth groups, SGA, SAC, and more gather to network and tackle issues together.

[00:27:21] Hopefully all my suggestions from last year gain some traction this year. Thank you. Student two.

[00:27:38] - My name is Cece and I am going into fourth grade. I go to Crestwood, and I'm in the Lewis Pyramid. My mom spends a lot of time talking about the Lewis High School fighting for Lewis.

[00:27:54] Sometimes I wonder why, sometimes I don't. She tells me she's trying to make it better for me. I hope she can. I don't know too much about boundaries or these meetings, but I do know that other schools have 2,800 kids, And Lewis only has 1,400 kids because the boundaries are not at all fair.

[00:28:18] I just know that one day Lewis will be in my high school, and I hope it will be. So please figure the boundary out, like I said. Make it which school is closer, not the parents' or kids' opinion.

[00:28:34] That will make it more fair, which school is closer. Plus, kids can move schools. Lewis lost 100 kids, which is a lot. Thank you, and please bring Lewis Pierce.

[00:28:59] Student number three. Hello, my name is Oliver. I'm a student at Crestwood Elementary School.

[00:29:16] Crestwood is in the Lewis Pyramid, which means I'm meant to attend Lewis High School. Sadly, it seems that with the low student count, Lewis's doors may eventually close by the time I'm a Frenchman in high school. This would affect me and other students in many ways. I have seen students that will be attending high school in the next two years choose to avoid Lewis, mainly because of its lack of programs and sports teams.

[00:29:41] Lewis has the materials and education for the teams and programs. The only part it's missing is the students required to create classes and teams. The problem is reoccurring and not being solved. The board has said Lewis is a priority, so why does the problem still persist?

[00:29:57] The Lewis community requests that the board review solution choices and use an impactful solution to repopulate Louis and solve the vast majority of Louis' problems. Think about the kids going through Louis, the kids being deprived of opportunities that other high school students can have.

[00:30:13] I want us all to think about Louis. Are we really doing enough as nothing has changed for the better? Carol Shaina. Carol Shaina.

[00:30:31] Good evening. My name is Freyot Saptameskal. I'm a resident of Stonebrook at Westfield. I don't know. Okay. I called Carol Shaina. I did not call you yet ma'am. Lewis High School has fewer students than any other high school in Fairfax County.

[00:31:01] That small student population affects everything from music to sport to how many classes are offered. Lewis is also bordered by two overcapacity high schools. This exact scenario was faced by the school board of La Crosse Wisconsin back in 1979.

[00:31:19] Right down to the socioeconomic differences between schools. People back then said the same things that are said about Lewis today. Fix the school. Add more programs. Those things did not work. The La Crosse Director of Instruction stated that students will not get equal education if enrollments are not similar.

[00:31:42] The La Crosse School Board adjusted boundaries and moved students to the under-enrolled school. The under-enrolled school thrived. Test scores for transferred students stayed high, and those already at the school saw more classes and higher academic achievement.

[00:31:59] Similar success stories can be found across the country for the past 40 years. Right now, there is a proven track record of what works. The pieces are in place for Lewis to be a successful school. It has dedicated teachers and staff, but the school needs more students.

[00:32:20] New programs and fixing things aren't proven solutions. The school board needs to examine the full scope of boundary changes that are needed right now. You can vote on this today. Changes bring protests as seen when ending segregation and even changing Wisconsin school boundaries.

[00:32:39] But schools today are built on those changes that were needed. Your actions here decide the future because you cannot claim that Lewis provides equal educational opportunities while denying its students the same enrollment capacity across Fairfax High School County. Thank you.

[00:33:06] Frywood Abedamechdel. Frywood Abedamechdel.

[00:33:38] Frywood we have to move you over from an attendee to panelist. We tried to do that. You declined to allow us to do that. My tech team is going to try to do it again. If you decline again we will have to move on.

[00:33:56] Friwit now? Yes, can you hear me now? Yes, please go ahead. Good evening. My name is Friwit Haptemesken.

[00:34:13] I'm a resident of Stonebrook at Westfield. Tonight, I would like to focus on one principle, which is consistency. We sincerely appreciate the FSPS listened to community feedback and revised the assignment for our neighboring community, Walney Village Court.

[00:34:35] That demonstrated the process is responsive and willingness to make thoughtful adjustments. However, that also raises one important question. As per the map in our packet, Stonebrook, at Walney Village, Pau Court are neighboring communities.

[00:35:03] We share the same local roads, transportation network, and many of the same concerns throughout this boundary review. If the neighboring community faced substantially similar circumstances, why did they receive different outcomes?

[00:35:25] We are not asking special treatment. We are simply asking for the same thoughtful consideration that was extended to our neighboring community. We respectfully ask the board to look at Stonebrook at Westfield before making the final decision.

[00:35:46] please keep us with Rocky Run and Chantilly High School thank you. Erin Laura. My name is Erin Laura and I'm here once again on behalf of the Lewis community. For years we've talked about enrollment, boundaries, feeder patterns, and possible solutions. Tonight I want to ask a

[00:36:25] different question. What problem are we actually trying to solve? If the problem is declining enrollment then we have to talk about enrollment. If the problem is inequitable opportunities then have to talk about resources. If the problem is the long-term sustainability of Lewis High School, then we have to be willing to evaluate every reasonable option. But if we believe that adding one program alone solves all those problems, then we're solving the wrong problem. Programming is important. Every student deserves strong programming. Programming can enhance a school.

[00:36:56] It cannot by itself solve a structural enrollment imbalance. But if it could, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I've heard words that gave our community hope. I've heard that Lewis is a priority. I've heard that we need to think differently. But hope doesn't change outcomes. Public decisions do. Promises build hope. Votes reveal priorities. If the data tells us additional options should be evaluated, then we should have the courage to evaluate them. Decisions should be driven by evidence and by what's best for the students, not by who is the loudest or what is politically easiest. Leadership means asking difficult

[00:37:33] questions. It means challenging assumptions. It means being willing to determine whether the solution we're choosing actually solves the problem we're here to solve. And before you vote on anything that impacts Lewis, I have one request. Come spend a day at our school. Walk our halls.

[00:37:51] Sit in our classrooms. Talk to our students. Meet our teachers. You will see what we see every single day. You'll see incredible students who deserve every opportunity that every other Fairfax county student has. Then ask yourselves one question. If this was your child's school would you

[00:38:11] honestly believe you've done enough? Good evening I'm Carolyn Moore. I'm a parent to a junior at Lewis High School and an eighth grader at Key Middle School and I'm here today to make good trouble. I urge you tonight to vote in favor of the motion that Mr. Dunn submitted last week to

[00:38:46] expand the Brenmar Park Elementary School Boundary Study which is supposed to strengthen the Lewis high school pyramid four of you on this board represent families that live in the lewis high school pyramid three of you are at large members that represent all of us as well we are here tonight begging you to actually represent us there shouldn't be any issue passing this motion all we're asking you to do is vote yes to explore some options to bring some kids to our school if you don't if you if you don't vote yes on this amendment you're going on public record that you

[00:39:23] the representatives for the families that are being affected by these decisions you're not interested in helping us lewis high school is the smallest high school in the county for instance we have a waiver to play class six athletics with the rest of the school district but we're actually class four school which means we get trounced every time we play everybody and nobody wants to play us so we don't have the numbers we just are outgunned by student body size we barely have enough kids for a JV and varsity team let alone even trying to have a freshman team so we've got freshmen out there playing seniors the nearest schools that are class four are in Loudon and Stafford

[00:40:02] counties have you driven on 66 westbound or 95 southbound between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. yeah I think you know what I'm talking about there are many more examples some which you'll be heard and we'll hear from other parents tonight but we are here to tell you we are a school in crisis you have to do some triage we've lost an arm and all we're getting is a band-aid John Lewis the great civil rights leader our school is named for said when you see something that is not right not fair not just you have to speak up you have to say something

[00:40:33] you have to do something please do something thank you Darcy Healy good evening let me start with a a quick story. In junior year, my son was caught cheating on a physics test with his phone. And

[00:41:06] unpleasant surprise, a month later, an English teacher contacted me and was wondering why my son had done a complete 180 degrees in his test scores, his homework assignments, and engagement.

[00:41:24] And it was a really profound discovery for the teacher and I to realize that the phone was a severe distraction in school. And so I come to you today with the lens of talking about the five motions on technology. And so first, I really think you should support motion one. Yes, kids through kindergarten, through second grade, and if we can even push it to sixth grade, no phones in the classroom. I think that would be important. Highly recommend you guys listen to psychology, social

[00:41:58] psychologist Jonathan Haidt and his research on tech in the classroom. The second motion I wanted to talk about was motion number three about the whitelist for teachers. I think this is great. It's a start, but I am concerned of overblocking legitimate educational sites. I just want to make sure that you give parents transparency on what is whitelisted so that we can have a say. The other thing just to mention is that with the whitelisting we don't want it to get

[00:42:34] hung up when ITQ because that would just create more friction and finally the last motion that I want to talk about is motion 5 and that is for students on IEPs and 504s I really I think it's important that they should not be

[00:42:53] mandated to be using screens if they're having trouble and one thank you. Caldwell Dugan. Good evening my name is Caldwell. I'm an FEU member and an operational employee of FCPS. I'm here to ask

[00:43:28] that regulation 4417 the telework reg be reverted to version one. First I'd like to address the contention from leadership claiming that hybrid telework is a bargaining issue. This claim is false and the actions leadership have taken prove their claim is insincere. FCPS allowed hybrid telework since 2001. The FVU contract was ratified in November 2024. The hybrid telework change was announced April 2025 and took effect July 25, effectively discontinuing hybrid telework.

[00:43:58] Per that timeline, leadership waited until the contract was ratified before sneaking in unbargained unilateral changes that discontinued the 25-year-old practice of FCPS hybrid telework. Leadership has the option of demonstrating their claim is sincere by immediately reverting the reg diversion one which was the state it was in when the feu contract was ratified then bargaining about it in the upcoming negotiations second i'd like to address the contention from leadership claiming that fcps staff are only allowed exactly what is in the collective bargaining agreement or cba this claim is false in reality the cba is a floor not a ceiling fcps can go above what's

[00:44:38] written in the cba but not below it the easiest solution to this whole issue including any potential equity issues stemming from hybrid telework differences between FVU and administrative staff contracts is to revert the telework reg diversion one and apply it to all operational and administrative staff. In conclusion leadership's claim that this is a bargaining issue does not align with the actions they've taken. Additionally all confusion and any potential equity issues can be resolved by reverting the telework reg diversion one and applying it to all operational and administrative staff. Thank you.

[00:45:14] Prabhat Athawale. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Prabhat and I'm a resident of Stonebrook at Westfield. If you look at the neighborhood map in your packet, you will see Stonebrook and Walney Village Court. These are not adjacent communities. These are back-to-back.

[00:45:45] We share the same local streets, the same roadways, and the exact same safety conditions. We were incredibly encouraged when the board listened to the feedback and revised Walney Village Courts assignment. It showed that you value community input and common sense adjustments. But because our two neighborhoods are just physically linked, we were deeply confused as to why Stonebrook received a completely different, much more hazardous outcome. Our current assignment to Rocky Run and Chantilly allows our students a safe local commute. Shifting us to Westfield and Stone Middle School completely changes that. It forces our school buses, parent drivers,

[00:46:23] and young student drivers directly onto the high volume high speed route 28 and Braddock road interchange during peak morning rush hour. We are taking children off safe local roads and pushing them onto massive regional highway corridor. This transition introduces severe traffic bottlenecks, adds transit delays and exposes our children to unnecessary highway hazards, all with zero benefit to travel time or distance. Given Stonebrook's very small student population, Keeping us in our current Chantilly/Rocky Run pyramid is the safest and most logical solution.

[00:46:54] We are not asking you to rewrite the entire county proposal tonight. We are just asking one simple question. If two neighboring communities share identical safety and geographical conditions, shouldn't they receive identical consideration as well? We respectfully ask you to review Stonebrook one more time using the exact same principles that guided your decision for Walney Village Court. We aren't asking any special treatment just for equal consideration. Thank you.

[00:47:19] joy huang good evening my name is joy huang and i'm the resident of stonebrook at westfield i already talked so hi again first i would like to thank the school board and fcps staff for the thoughtful work that has gone into the boundary review process we understand these decisions are

[00:47:56] not easy they are complex and we appreciate that our community's concerns was part of the discussion on tuesday however we respectfully ask you to take for another final review of spoonbrook at at Westfield before this proposal is finalized.

[00:48:12] We sincerely appreciate you that our neighborhood communities, Warnie Village Court, received additional consideration. Their reassignment gave us community hope, not because we want something different, but because we believe similar communities would be evaluated using similar principles.

[00:48:33] We're not asking you to redesign the whole thing. We're asking for one small refinement that will create a more consistent and equitable outcome. We're not asking for special treatment. We're simply asking that the same planning principles be applied consistently.

[00:48:51] Before casting your final vote, we respectfully ask you remember the families behind those boundary lines. Please remember that one small adjustment can make a lasting difference for one small community.

[00:49:06] Tonight you have the opportunity to ensure that two neighboring communities are treated with the same thoughtful consideration. Thank you for your time and for your service.

[00:49:24] - Andrew Fetch, Andrew Fetch, Joshua Shastain.

[00:49:46] - Good evening. I'm a parent of two, a rising first grader and fourth grader from the Mason district. I'm here to talk to you about AI and AI literacy. I want you to think about someone you know who's always on their phone. You know that person. Now keep them in mind. I hope you keep them in mind while you vote tonight.

[00:50:02] When devices replace human connection, the harm adds up, especially for young children learn through play conversation and collaboration that begins with pre-k and kindergarten that's why i urge you to vote yes to prohibiting devices for within pre-k and kindergarten tonight um and weigh the benefits with the actual evidence if there is truly value there i also urge you to continue with the motion to inventory fcps generative ai tools and prohibit their use until a formal policy is established i'm not opposed to artificial intelligence by any means the fact i I work in that with data and IT, AI could support adaptive instruction, tutoring, and

[00:50:39] flipped classroom teaching models, so the value is very clear. But unlike a calculator, generative AI does not produce fixed or predictable outcome, and it's extremely important to understand. It is evolving at an unprecedented speed, making it difficult for safeguards, policies, and technical controls to keep pace.

[00:50:58] Before SBU approves or moves forward with any AI policy, they ought to know what tools are being used and are available right now and understand what student how student data is being collected what safeguards are in place if any and whether the educational benefits truly outweighs the risk is that ROI even worth it next year will be totally different that is not anti-technology is simply responsible management and governance please vote yes AI is something on the horizon it's already here shaping the tools we use the information we consume and the decision we make it's quite ambiguous as we all know as with

[00:51:33] any transformative technology, the best defense against misuse is understanding. AI literacy gives people the ability to understand how the technology works, where it is helpful, and where caution is needed. I urge the board to increase. Kathleen Cagano. Kathleen Cagano.

[00:52:05] Nitin Pandit. Hi, good evening. My name is Nitin Pandit, and I do support all the motions regarding AI today. I hope you will too. I'm here not to reiterate the dangers of AI on children because this board needs to reassert its governance and oversight role.

[00:52:40] Our strategic governance manual requires us to protect the division's assets and public credibility. Under EL7 and EL1, we are prohibited from permitting any imprudent condition and must protect our most valuable assets, which are our children's data and their long-term digital independence.

[00:53:03] Currently, our incomplete policy is being exploited. AI companies view our students as what would be called in a Shark Tank episode as a cheap customer acquisition cost for securing a lifetime customer base.

[00:53:21] By allowing a lackadaisical pace while these companies lock us in, we're not just awaiting policy, we're allowing our students to be mined as lifelong commodities. From a fiduciary perspective, under Article B.1, this is a dereliction of our stewardship duties.

[00:53:42] This inaction creates immense legal exposure, liability for data breaches, and non-negotiable terms of service signed by children that will haunt this division long after these vendors have moved on. Motion number three is our only responsible path.

[00:54:01] It mandates an inventory of Gen AI tools and prohibits their use until we fulfill our EL-12 duty to establish formal ethical governance policies. It ensures that we treat students as protected stakeholders and not products.

[00:54:21] Noting that AI governance is the most urgent, thank you. Please play the video testimony of Stephanie Lundquist-Aurora.

[00:54:43] Good evening. Transparency is important. When 13 girls from Fairfax High School bravely came forward this year to tell school administrators that they had been sexually assaulted in the hallway during school hours, we all agreed the situation was extremely concerning.

[00:55:01] In March, parents applauded your move to initiate what you claimed to be an independent investigation to provide accountability and ensure that our children were safe at school. A closer look at the contract you signed with McGuire Woods Law Firm shows this investigation wasn't at all independent, but actually a public relations stunt.

[00:55:20] The contract states, McGuire Woods was retained to conduct a confidential attorney-client privileged investigation. The investigation has been undertaken for the purpose of providing legal advice to client. Last month, Dr. Reed announced, The external investigation confirmed that our administration acted promptly and appropriately to stop this behavior.

[00:55:44] Really? Thirteen girls were sexually assaulted in the hallways. Are we expected to take your word on everyone's prompt responses? Apparently so, because when I submitted a FOIA request for the report, you refused to share any of it. It seems suspicious, to say the least.

[00:56:02] District leaders have publicly cited the review's conclusions in addressing a matter of significant public concern, but the public is not permitted to evaluate the evidence and reasoning underlying those conclusions. You cannot simultaneously portray an investigation as an exercise in public accountability and shield its findings from public scrutiny as privileged legal advice.

[00:56:25] Parents and students deserve more. Be honest about your legal expenses. It's shameful to say that your payments to law firms for image polishing are external independent investigations. We know better. Thank you. Please play the video testimony of Logan Young. Good evening. I'm Logan Young, parent of a rising first grader in Miss Dixit's district, PTA officer, and speaking on behalf of Parents for Intentional Tech. A room parent, too, I cannot describe how disconcerting it's been

[00:57:05] walking down the hall during the instructional day so often in near silence. Because the 100 kindergartners across four teachers at my daughter's school were all far too consumed with that penguin on their iPads. As an AAP dad as well, I worry that the differentiated learning my daughter deserves will translate simply into more screen time, a digipedagogy profoundly detrimental for gate kids, downright hurtful to the twice exceptional. Hailing from a multi-generational family of public educators who stretch from South Carolina to New York, I know all too well that

[00:57:42] curricula, much less culture, cannot change overnight. But this right here, my kids' browser history the last full week of school, is unacceptable any and everywhere. To wit, I urge this board to affirm all five of Ms. Marin and Mr. Dunn's motions, which I trust will receive a free and fair vote. We need motion one to protect our most precious cohort from compulsory devices, Motion 2 to establish literal storage protocols, as well as Motion 3 to suspend access to generative, agentic, or whatever else AI evolves into before the 12 of you can proffer a policy proper.

[00:58:18] Apropos, this board recently extended a contract to keep fourth grade social studies in silico. Again, I get it, budget cuts delay the transition to tactile textbooks, but it does beg a bigger question, how exactly do Chromebooks help nine-year-olds comprehend 400 plus years of virginian history vis-a-vis fcps strategic plan not unrelated the board of supervisors just unanimously approved a 2700 acre plan to transform centerville into a high

[00:58:46] density center with thousands of new mixed-use units chantilly seems next please play the video testimony submitted by amanda campbell good evening my name is amanda campbell and i'm speaking tonight as advocacy co-chair for fairfax county sefta we have been advocating for speech services for a decade now with little change in practice we wish to be clear up front our comments tonight

[00:59:24] are not a reflection of school-based staff our slps are working with caseloads far beyond a reasonable capacity our comments are about the systemic barriers and the action or rather inaction of leadership septa has been told for multiple years now that central offices council department chairs and slps that the idea that the classroom is a quote language-rich environment is not an acceptable reason to deny evaluations or services yet we continue to hear from families across the the district being given this reasoning. This remains a systemic problem. What's even more problematic is that it is our students who have the most significant need who are being denied even a basic evaluation, our non-speaking students, and our AAC users. Since 2022, there's been over a

[01:00:03] 3% increase in AAC users receiving no speech services at all, with the highest concentrations in our earliest grades. Currently, 62% of preschool AAC users and 44% of kindergarten AAC users receive no speech services to support the language development needed to use their devices.

[01:00:20] Teachers do not have this training. As inclusion expands, we must remember that inclusion is not just a physical placement, it is the ability to communicate, to participate, and belong, and that requires access to appropriate language support that these students are currently being denied. FCPS demonstrates daily what it can do when it prioritizes world-class programs from foreign language immersion to AAP and TJ.

[01:00:42] The system clearly understands how to build intensive, specialized supports when it chooses to. aac users deserve that same commitment to communication access i implore you to audit speech services for aac users including evaluation service access and outcomes because the status quo does not reflect individualized equitable decision making there are roughly 1400 aac users and fcps a middle school's worth of children when will their access to communication education and their future receive the same urgency

[01:01:09] as other programs fcps rightly invests in thank you mr vice chairman that was our last speaker Thank you. I call on Mr. Shostek for Student Representative Matters.

[01:01:27] Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I know you all saw me here last week. I just want to thank everyone for all the responses I got from that.

[01:01:45] I currently do not have a lot of updates to give you all, but the one thing I will say is that advisory committee applications we're working on and hopefully will be released soon. But just in the interest of keeping things moving along smoothly, I'm going to yield the rest of my time.

[01:01:59] Thank you. In order to comply, next item, confirmation, certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia, it's necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on July 16, 2026, to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board during the closed meeting.

[01:02:34] do I have a motion? Mr. Moon, is there a second? Ms. St. John Cunning, all in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Ms. St. John Cunning, and Dr. Anderson, and myself, all opposed. Any abstentions? Mr. Dannon. The clerk, ready to vote.

[01:02:59] How is Ms. Lady voting? Is Ms. Lady on the screen? Ms. Lady, how do you vote on the closed? Abstention. Abstentions are Mr. Dannon and Ms. Lady. Confirmation of action taken in the closed meeting. That was 9-0-2. The motion carries. Thank you. I call on Mr. Frisch for closed motion number one. Thank you. I move to adopt the hearing officer's recommendation and deny the employee's

[01:03:33] grievance as discussed in the closed session. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Ms. St. John Cunning, and Dr. Anderson and myself,

[01:03:48] All opposed. Any abstentions? Mr. Dannon. Abstention. And Ms. Lady with Mr. Dunn away from the table. Can Clerk read the vote? It's 8-0-2-1. The motion carries. Thank you. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. I move to adopt the recommendation of the fact-finding panel that the employee identified in closed session be dismissed. Is there a second? Second. All right. All in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit,

[01:04:35] Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John-Cumming and myself. Any opposed? Without objection. I'd like to change my vote. Without objection. All opposed. And abstentions. Mr. Dannon, Ms. Mirren. Abstention. Ms. Lady with Mr. Dunaway from the table. Will Cook read the vote? 7031. The motion carries. Thank you. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion.

[01:05:09] I move that the school board deny the petition for license revocation of the employee identified in the closed session. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Ms. St. John Cunning, and Dr. Anderson, and myself. All opposed? Ms. Anderson, and abstentions? Mr. Dannon? Mr. Dannon, Ms. Lady, and Ms. Dixit, you're in abstention now? Ms. Dixit is in abstention with Mr. Dunaway from the table.

[01:05:43] I'm sorry, I was still trying to, could we please do that again?

[01:06:01] Okay. All in favor, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunning, and myself. All opposed. Ms. Anderson. Abstentions. Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dannon, and Ms. Lady. With Mr. Dunn away from the table.

[01:06:27] 6-1-3-1. The motion carries. Thank you. Action item 7.03, FY2026, year-end review. I call on Ms. Dixit for a motion. I move that the school board approve the revenue and expenditure adjustment as detailed in the agenda item.

[01:06:51] Is there a second? I second. Ms. Dixit, would you like to speak to your motion? No, I just want to do our budget team under the guidance of Ms. Lieberton, does an amazing job, and we're always good to see you in the numbers for the year end, so thank you so much for sharing that.

[01:07:08] Thank you. Ms. Anderson, would you like to speak to your second? I won't repeat everything that my colleague just said, but I do appreciate the work of the staff on this, and I appreciate the overall support for a plan that best utilizes the funds with the eyes on the future.

[01:07:24] Okay. We'll go ahead and have discussions, and I'll recognize Mr. Moon. Ms. Mirren is the first speaker. Thank you.

[01:07:39] I just had a question on, oh, gosh. It regards the subject line. it's 166.1 million and it talks about school and multi-year projects carryover includes system-wide multi-year projects and it says end school requests for critical needs funding. I was wondering how that gets determined. What is a critical needs funding and how that is determined and given out.

[01:08:07] Thank you Ms. Marin. I know that that's a topic of high interest and Ms. Burden I know you can clarify that this evening for us yeah we have a a pretty extensive critical needs process at year-end every year where school principals go into our portal and they identify any critical needs that they have that which they have funds available to carry over into the next year this year I think the

[01:08:45] the requests that were funded were about seven hundred thousand dollars and because we limit the approvals to items that are some kind of compliance issue or something that they've already committed to but this year we were very limited in the amount of funds we had available and so only about seven hundred thousand is what was approved and I also believe that we didn't have any department or we've really diminished the department the central office department ability to access those funds is that correct Ms. Burton

[01:09:21] that's correct there's also a process for departments and again funds were very limited this year but we were allocate able to allocate some funds to departments for again items that are critical or unanticipated those kinds of things the departments put together requests and those requests totaled 65 million dollars and we were able to fund six million okay thank you you did jog my memory that we had the conversation about how much the schools could carry over from their school-based budget I guess it was earlier this year and at

[01:10:01] first I thought that's where this was headed that this was just the amount that schools were carrying over from each of their individual budgets but now knowing that there's sixty five million dollars that was allocated kind of no sixty five billion was what was requested okay by departments six million is what we were able to fund due to the limited amount of year in funding but the schools carry over the the seven hundred thousand that I'm talking about is not the ten percent carryover that is included in I think it's regulation that each school can carry over 10% of their budget into the

[01:10:40] next year if they have those funds available and that is not part of the 700,000 the 700,000 is on top of that and I think the actual 10% it's about 5 million I think so can you just clarify what is this 166 million for them I'm sorry if I'm missing it it's it's that balance carryover it's all of these things together yes but the the bulk of it you may recall that miss Anderson asked about this at the last meeting the bulk of it is for schools

[01:11:18] project carryover the schools 10% is one piece of it at the at the six it's actually six million but in addition to that the project carryover or for things like FCPSON, ECART, Lawson, Enterprise Technology Systems, HR, the HCM project, textbooks and ISD. These are multi-year projects that are very expensive and we aggregate funds from year to year in anticipation of the item coming due and

[01:11:54] so that's where all the central projects are. Okay thank you for clarifying. Thank

[01:12:00] Thank you. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Just kind of picking up on a question that I did ask last week regarding the 166. We were talking about textbooks and had asked if you had an opportunity to kind of disaggregate that. Have you had the chance to do such yet? I'm sorry. What is your question? The 166.1 million. Last time we were discussing textbooks in terms of what was available. You said you did not have that available at that point in terms of what was in

[01:12:36] each of those buckets? Because some were textbooks, some were FCPS on. Did you have a chance to disaggregate that a little bit since our meeting last week? I have not, but Ms. Wigington is getting

[01:12:54] ready to tell me what piece of that is textbooks. 51 million of the 166 is textbooks money.

[01:13:22] Thank you. And the FCPS on, I guess, commitment is how much? Well, information technology is 46.4 million and that is fcps on ecart law of the awesome upgrade centralized assessment planning system

[01:13:58] enterprise i.t support and integration thank you that's very helpful um on page three of the report item c where it talks about the school board flexibility reserves um the one point million dollars um is that for the totality of the assistance and if that is not all utilized for example i don't not all of us have two assistants so if that is the case then is it less than a million that is transferred can you just help me understand that one a little bit that is

[01:14:34] the value of one-third of the school board assistance because the the plan that is in place is that part of the one-third of the school board assistance will be covered by the school board flexibility reserve in fiscal 27 and so typically the school board flexibility reserve is for 8 million and so we've set aside 7 million for that as a result and then 1 million has been allocated to cover 1/3 of the school board assistance as directed thank you for that

[01:15:14] clarification and lastly I heard parts of the discussion regarding the 6.8 million for the department carryovers did you say that was schools and and central office no schools are six point seven million total and then the departments are a similar number where is that I'm just trying so the six point eight represents schools get to carry ten percent and that number is near six

[01:15:53] million in addition to that they requested about seven hundred thousand And so $6.7 was allocated to schools as part of carryover. As far as departments go, the request from the departments was $65 million, and we were able to fund six-point-something.

[01:16:12] So about 10% of what was requested was funded. Thank you. Much appreciated. And I just want to add, I think the 10% was similar to what the buildings carryover at 10%. Thank you. And Mr. Moon.

[01:16:32] Thank you, Mr. Vice-Shawman. I move to amend the FI 2026 final budget review to provide transportations to non-boundary elementary and middle school students who decide to stay at their current schools under the phasing options in the comprehensive boundary changes the school board made on January 22, 2026.

[01:16:56] with the funding to provide these transportations in the amount of $1.8 million to come from the transfer to the health fund. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your motion? Thank you.

[01:17:13] I don't have to remind my colleagues that this is the third time I'm trying to provide equitable transportations to our students who are exercising their phasing options with a recent comprehensive boundary changes the school board adopted.

[01:17:32] It was the first time in four years, or it's the first time in my career as a school board member over three decades that we are not providing full transportations to students who are exercising phasing options with the boundary changes.

[01:17:50] That is a shame. The first time this came up for discussion was in December, And at that time, regrettably, the superintendent chose to present a recommendation not to provide any transportation whatsoever to anyone exercising phasing option.

[01:18:09] And then in February, when he discussed this again, superintendent's recommendation was only for high school seniors. Fortunately, school board disagreed with the superintendent's recommendation and wanted to include all the high school students who are exercising phasing options to get the transportations.

[01:18:34] That was better. That was better than the superintendent's recommendation. However, I felt that that was way too short of what the students need. Equitable transportations for all those who are exercising their right to get the education.

[01:18:53] At that time, a majority of the board felt that we did not have enough resources, enough funding to support transportations for all the students exercising facing options now we do now we do with a final review we can use 1.8 million dollars out of the 25 million dollars being proposed to go into health transfer fund to be used for these purposes not only that general assembly has given us another 30 million dollars that's a beyond beyond what he put in in our next

[01:19:30] year's budget we can use 1.8 million dollars and this is phasing option transportation will only be needed for the next two years because after two years all the students there will not be any more phasing options so it is an important important investment we owe to our students whom we are forcing to basically exercise their phasing options. The students who are being affected come

[01:20:03] from these 16 schools and they are Coates, Fort Belvoir, Fort Hunt, Groveton, Holly Meadows, Oil Creek, Parkland, Riverside, Rolling Valley, West Breyer, Franklin Middle School, Glasgow Middle School, Katherine Johnson Middle School, Kilmer Middle School, Longfellow Middle School, and Sandburg Middle Schools.

[01:20:30] they need transportations. Thank you. Dr. Anderson would like to speak to you a second. Yes thank you to Mr. Moon for reviving this conversation. Very clearly as he mentioned it was stated that we did not have the funds to support this months ago when this was brought but we actually have a real opportunity here with the additional funds that we were not expecting from the state. We have an opportunity in order to actually give our kids access to the phasing options that we have decided they were allowed to have. Some of our students cannot access that option without

[01:21:08] transportation from us. The same arguments that were made for high schools are the same arguments that are made for these students who have been at their elementary schools for five years, six years even in some instances, and then they will have to finish their final years elsewhere. Similar situation at the middle school. We have the opportunity with these additional 30 million dollars. We're not using all of it. 1.8 of those additional dollars just to really create some equity for these students. I think it's a great spend and I'm really hoping we can have some

[01:21:44] support on this for our students. Thank you. Ms. Anderson. I just have a few questions. First, do we know what next year's costs would be for transportation for the same group of kids that we're talking about it's 1.8 million for for next year but the year because it would be two years so do we have any indication of like what we're committing to over time yeah excuse me it would be the same Miss Anderson okay so it's because we're you know it's the lease for the bus and salaries for the driver

[01:22:21] gotcha so we're talking 1.8 for both years what are I have a couple of questions related to what the the long-term effects of this what are dr. What does our budget look like for next year at this point? Well, at this point, I know Ms. Burda and I have discussed it, the budget does, it's looking very, it's looking to be a more difficult budget year than this year for sure.

[01:22:52] Okay. And then the other question that I had is, what are the staffing implications if we make decisions now that cause phased students to change their decision as to which school that they're attending? What would be the staffing implications for schools of that would maybe receiving more students for this fall for this fall?

[01:23:13] Would there I guess would there be an impact? We would have to go back and calculate that I'm not sure I would have to go back and look at how many students for a particular school and if they were in the same grade level Mr. Solomon we'd probably I think mr. Moon read off a number of schools. We'd have to go back and look But we could transfer staff, I suppose, from one school to another if we're moving students back.

[01:23:40] We'd have to do some staff transfers. Okay, and then the final question that I have is taking money from the health fund, I understand that we're self-insured, so money that's moved into the health fund, I imagine, already has earmarks. So is there an impact of losing $1.8 million out of the health fund?

[01:24:00] So we are self-insured, and the health care premium stabilization reserve is actually the reserve we're talking about. And I think that, you know, for a variety of reasons, we've had an unanticipated high employee number of claims.

[01:24:21] In particular, not just an increased health care cost, but also pharmacy costs. And this has been a bit of a national trend, but we're certainly seeing it in FCPS. So I know that we actually minimized. We had wanted to add more to the health care premium stabilization reserve.

[01:24:40] And we're going to need to add more next year. But in lieu of, you know, it's all a balancing situation. If we're not able to provide money to stabilize the reserve, then we would need to raise rates for our staff.

[01:24:57] Because being self-insured, we have to be able to cover our claims. And the alternative is raising employee premiums if we don't have the money in the stabilization reserve. Okay, so while I understand the makers of the motion and the importance of this for particular parts of our community, I am extremely concerned about making this decision without more information as to exactly what the impacts would be.

[01:25:21] So for that reason, I am comfortable with what we've been doing so far and that we have been treating the phased-in students more as student transfers, and we don't provide transportation for any student transfer, as far as I understand, unless it is for very specific programming.

[01:25:44] So I am comfortable with where we are currently with transportation. Okay, Ms. Marron. Thank you. I really appreciate the makers of the motion for bringing this. This was something I was very passionate about at the end of last year to the point that I believe I had the motion adjusted and continued to advocate for it.

[01:26:03] Treating students who are transferring using the transfer policy is not appropriate because it should be applied, the boundary policy should be applied. We did not fulfill our mission to fulfill the boundary policy. Using the health fund, you know, we know the costs are constantly rising, and yet this is for phasing, so this is not a long-term cost.

[01:26:27] It won't be rolled into the base of the budget. We explored using school board reserve funds, but the school board was opposed to that even though there were $7 million in that, the board already turned that down. So, look, either we're for equity or we're not.

[01:26:43] At the time, in the winter, we didn't know the exact schools that would be hit, and when my colleague here read the names of schools, we know that those schools have populations that need extra support. If we are about equity, we will fulfill the boundary policy that we have said we employ, and we can do this and make a difference for these kiddos for a short period of time.

[01:27:05] I also do want to share when, on the last board, we approved transportation for, I think it was, a Drainsville set of schools. I think the amount was actually more than this amount, if I'm correct. It was over a million dollars.

[01:27:21] So we're talking about helping students at multiple schools in our highest need areas generally to fulfill the boundary policy we said we do for a limited amount of time. That certainly has my vote. Thank you. Mr. Moon, light's on.

[01:27:39] Yes, yes, sir. Just a couple more comments. Yes, we are self-insured.

[01:27:47] For school health fund-wise, based upon the information provided by a staff, for FI 2026 beginning balance for school health and flexible benefits funds premium stabilization reserve, I'm reading the whole thing, was $33.3 million, which was a decrease.

[01:28:20] I'm sorry, that's the ending balance, was a decrease of $22 million from the beginning balance, 22. But we are setting aside, we are putting in $25 million, so $3 million more than the amount of decrease.

[01:28:40] Of course, I always welcome, if we can put in more and more into reserve, but at the same time we cannot ignore transportation needs of those needy students for the next two years. Dr. Anderson and then Miss Lady. Thank you and thank you for the discussion regarding the health fund. It would be my hope that when we receive the superintendent's recommendations for the dollars coming

[01:29:17] in from the state that that could be one of the things that we replenish. We're talking about 1.8 million dollars the school board will continue to have a reserve of seven million dollars after we're done here just sitting there just sitting there and we have students who need our help and our neediest schools these are not the parents who can drive their students these are not the communities in which going through the transfer process and the way that has been described is going to be easy we have eighth graders who have to move

[01:29:55] schools. That is really difficult to deal with because those parents haven't any other choice. And as a division of an over $4 billion budget, we're talking about $1.8 million. We have spent more for less. And I struggle with the fact that we have now this small opportunity because what we're receiving from the state is greater than we anticipated. We are unable to pivot to support

[01:30:26] these families it's either we believe in equity or we don't thank you miss lady thank you um yeah i've got a few thoughts on this um first of all um i 100 do believe in equity um and i also believe that all of our schools are good and i personally have received no emails from anyone

[01:30:58] who has an issue with this um a lot of families have just decided to send their students to where they've been boundaried because that's their new pyramid to their middle and high school they can make the friends that they're going to travel on to to the next school um and i i you know as i've said all along i think that once you establish yourself at a high school it's paramount that you stay there um but what happens prior to that um you know i i don't i don't think it's an inequity not to provide transportation um the other thing i'm concerned about is we haven't

[01:31:36] really approach this and we're not going to debate it right now but we've still got to figure out after school middle school programs because that's not getting funding from the board of supervisors um and so i don't i don't know that i want to take the 1.8 from the health fund to do that either because um as someone who worked for the system for as many years as i did what's happened with health care, the burden that keeps getting put on faculty and staff in a profession that's underpaid but overeducated, I just hate to put more burden on all of our staff. So I believe

[01:32:15] strongly that all of our schools are great. I stand behind that. I think that, like I've said before, I think one of the best things that we've learned from the bounty study is that nobody's calling us and asking us to change their school it's the opposite because they like their school and once people just you know step foot into new spaces um they get just as excited because they realize that there's that that palpable excitement in all of our schools um although that they're uniquely different in many ways um the educational offerings are are robust and the kids are going

[01:32:50] to do well so um i'm not gonna be able to support this tonight thank you all right everybody's had first turn has had one I'm going to ask a couple questions I think I know the answer the first one the 1.8 million that's just to clarify that's for one year yes sir okay so there would have to be a funding source identified for the second year yes sir okay the the funding that came from the state that's being referenced remind me is that one-time funding or is that recurring funding I

[01:33:27] will defer to miss burden because I think there was a little of both to be honest miss burden it's it's largely recurring funds okay thank you and the last question if the 1.8 is for the first year what would be the mechanism to fund it in the outlying years what's the source of the funding for the outline years are you referring to the funding well if we pull one in the motion well maybe perhaps it's for the maker of the motion but for somebody if we're pulling 1.8 out of health for year one but there isn't a funding source identified for

[01:34:05] year two, where would year two? Well, that would have to yet be determined. We don't, we haven't budgeted for it at this time, so we would have to go back next year when we did the budget next year and include it in next year's budget, I would assume. Thank you. Okay, I see no other lights, so I'm going to call for the vote. This is on the amendment, if the clerks could put it up on the screen. Okay, all in favor of the amendment as posted on the screen, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Anderson, all opposed?

[01:34:55] Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dannon, Ms. St. John Cunning, and myself, Ms. Lady, opposed. Clerk, read the vote. 4-7, the amendment fails.

[01:35:15] Thank you. All right, we're back to the main motion, which is FY2026, year-end package. I have no lights. I'm going to call for the vote. All in favor of the school board adopting the recommendation. Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Marcia, Ms. St. John Cunning, MS. LADY AND MYSELF. ANY OPPOSED? MR. MOON, DR. ANDERSON, THE CLERK READ THE VOTE.

[01:35:47] 9-2, THE MOTION CARRIES. OKAY, THANK YOU. ACTION ITEM 7.04, SKYVIEW HIGH SCHOOL AND WESTERN PYRAMIDS BOUNDARY STUDY. I CALL ON DR. REED FOR A PRESENTATION. THANK YOU, MR. MCDANIEL. I'M ACTUALLY NOT PRESENTING AGAIN BECAUSE IT'S THE SAME PRESENTATION THAT I GAVE LAST WEEK.

[01:36:10] um i will say i do have a couple comments we did um review the uh capacity charts and what we had not uh been very clear about is the fact that the uh boundary study actually has a a step down in other words the um enrollment doesn't change in the immediate year because we are phasing the new high school in and phasing the boundaries in so we felt it would be clear to lay that out over a

[01:36:44] period of years and also what we hadn't included was as students were being moved from high school to high school there are several high schools that are experiencing or in areas of the county experiencing significant potential growth in terms of housing construction starts and permitting and so forth so we also needed to do an estimate of students coming in based on new housing and that had not been included in last week's charts so we've updated the chart on page 13 and I think it's also fair to say that in

[01:37:22] particular with Westfield high school we noted that there currently are 13 trailers on the site at Westfield high school and as one of our goals is to diminish or begin to perhaps move away from some of our trailers, that again will impact the capacity at Westfield High School.

[01:37:46] With fewer trailers, the capacity of the remaining building, even though it's fixed on program placement, will result, I think when it's all said and done, at about in the mid 80% capacity for Westfield.

[01:38:04] I think that there is certainly concern about the high schools and not just in the western area but since we're talking about the western boundary right now when high schools lose students we know that staff go with students but we also know that there are a significant number of new housing starts and I think even this evening there was a comment about the Centerville high school or excuse me the Centerville area being looked at by our board of supervisors in terms of new housing as well so we know that that's an area of the county that's

[01:38:40] growing and so we want to make sure we're thoughtful about planning ahead for those starts and making sure that programming isn't compromised at our schools so i'm happy to take questions and i know mr smith is here this evening and played a large role in leading the western boundary work and i really want to publicly thank him for that and mr gordon's also here this evening So we're available to answer any questions, but essentially the boundaries we're recommending have remained the same.

[01:39:13] Mr. Vice Chair, may I be recognized, please? I've got your message. So, Dr. Reed, the question is, because we've got this PowerPoint up here, can you just go through the slides of the PowerPoint? Go through the whole PowerPoint? Go through the slides of the PowerPoint. We know that this has been previously presented. There were some updates, and we know that there's no boundary changes.

[01:39:31] So we can go through those slides, and then we can open the floor for discussion. okay um madam clerk would you start with the title slide please and i'll review the powerpoint presentation so this evening i'll be presenting the um skyview high school western pyramid boundary recommendation what's changed is we've crossed out the word preliminary because this is no longer preliminary this is the final recommendation and it was preliminary last week

[01:40:06] next slide please so the boundary review again again involved primarily the five western boundaries and based on community feedback early on even though our consultant early on had looked at multiple boundaries at elementary middle and high based on community feedback the elementary boundaries were not changed during this review although some feeder patterns

[01:40:38] certainly were so next slide policy 8130 prioritized the following criteria in recommending school boundaries these were the access to programming the proximity enrollment and capacity as well as transportation a little bit of background in august 2025 the school board acquired the skyview high school building and property in fact we haven't quite owned it for for an entire year yet.

[01:41:08] That'll be next month. And I certainly wanna pause and thank staff for all the work in less than a year to open a school, have programs ready, work with our community to set boundaries. The team has been extraordinary.

[01:41:25] So I just, again, wanna thank them and thank our board for the leadership in actually realizing the need for this building. So, in November of 2025, the board voted to open the new school for the 26-27 year as a comprehensive high school with traditional boundaries that included a special programming pathway.

[01:41:47] So, it was in November that the decision was made to have traditional boundaries. In March, we awarded a contract to WXY Architecture and Urban Design to complete the Skyview High School and Western Pyramid Boundary Study.

[01:42:03] And we had hoped at that time to conclude by the end of June, 2026. As you know, I asked for a third round of public review because I felt we were close, but not quite there. So we did a third round, which is why we're doing the final vote in July rather than June.

[01:42:21] Next slide. The community engagement at a glance, this is a high level view. We did hold six community meetings. We had 15,000 comments on our map tool and 49,000 address searches as part of the process.

[01:42:38] We had 25,000 unique visitors to the Interactive Boundary Explorer tool. So I feel like the community engagement was significant and timely. Next slide, please. The Boundary Advisory Committee, which has continued a smaller version, we're kind of calling ourselves a skeleton version, have continued to meet.

[01:43:00] In fact, as recently as this past Tuesday evening because we wanted to review the Monday night public hearing comments. So this group has continued to provide ongoing community input between boundary review cycles. It includes parents, caregivers, and community members, and currently supports the boundary work related to the Skyview High School and Western Pyramid Boundary Study, as well as four ongoing boundary studies of areas identified for extended review.

[01:43:31] We have shared the draft scenarios part of this sky view and western pyramid boundary study and the boundary advisory committee has provided their feedback these committees we've had six of them between april and july next slide please the meeting dates for all of our community meetings are on this slide as you can see the six community meetings are on the left and the six boundary advisory committee meetings are on the right the community meetings began before the advisory meetings because the advisory meetings

[01:44:09] were reviewing the data from the community meetings and there wasn't data until there was a community meeting next slide the school board engagement during this process the board was provided updates at two different work sessions both in october of 2025 where we discussed what type of school perhaps this would be and what type of programming and also in May 2026 as well as through regular written updates this slide shows that preliminary has been crossed out because this is no longer a preliminary

[01:44:46] recommendation but the recommendation is the same as it was last week and so in this case in both paragraphs again preliminary has been struck the word has been uh stricken i guess maybe since it's more than one word so it would indicate that the recommendation we're making this evening has been informed by feedback received throughout the process from the community the consultant staff and the boundary advisory committee the preliminary well it's no longer preliminary the recommendation balances utilization community

[01:45:23] priorities and was developed through a detailed review of community feedback on the revised scenarios presented in both the may june and actually there were two june meetings so next slide please the again the word preliminary has been taken out of the slide because this is now final although unchanged so these are high school boundaries and the skyview high school attendance area draws students from westfield chantilly and south lakes the boundary adjustments

[01:45:58] help balance enrollment across these six high schools over the course of the next decade. No high school is projected to be overutilized. Again, the term preliminary has been taken out of this slide because this is the final scenario recommendation for middle school boundaries.

[01:46:22] So in this case, the Carson Middle School boundary is adjusted to create a clean feeder pattern to Skyview High School and improve feeder alignment across the study area. Franklin Middle School remains the only split feeder at the middle to high school level currently in the western region.

[01:46:41] And again, the term preliminary has been taken out, but the scenario of impacted students remains the same as last week. The proposed boundary would impact approximately 2,544 students, of which 420 are middle school, and 2,124 our high school.

[01:47:02] Next slide. This is slide 13 and it shows the one, two, three, the five high schools. And I think two, three, one, two, three, four. Well, it's six now because Skyview is included in the five pyramids that were originally impacted.

[01:47:20] We now have six pyramids. And this, as I explained in my remarks prior to the presentation, now includes a really clearer example of year over year changes rather than trying to summarize a point in time it also includes the projected additional enrollment based on new housing starts and construction development as we know it today and again these are projections with our best guesses and we're using we took out the word preliminary and clarified that this is our

[01:47:59] forecasted high school capacity next slide please same thing here we took out the word preliminary and because we frankly ran out of time with all of the data we didn't have an opportunity to go through the step down but we're going to continue that and provide that to the board and post that as soon as it's available it's a rather detailed process but again these are the forecasted middle school capacities next slide so Skyview High School reassigns

[01:48:36] 333 high school students from Chantilly High School to Skyview reassigns 384 high school students from South Lakes and reassigns 1062 high school students from Westfield increasing the Skyview High School capacity utilization percentage from zero to eventually 90% projected next slide Centerville High School Centerville High School reassigned 77 high school students from Centerville to Westfield and decreases Centerville High School capacity utilization from 104 to 92% projected and you can see the existing boundaries

[01:49:15] on the left and the proposed boundaries on the right chantilly high school reassigns 333 high school students from chantilly to skyview reassigns 268 from chantilly to westfield and decreases chantilly the capacity utilization from 110 eventually to the 87 percent in the out years with the growth projections the existing boundaries are on the left and the proposed boundaries are on the right and again this is an area that does not have as much growth projected

[01:49:53] as for example our Westfield or South Lakes areas in terms of building permits. Next slide please. Oakton High School. There were no changes proposed to impact Oakton High School so the existing and proposed boundaries are similar. Next slide please. South Lakes High School reassigns 384 high school students from South Lakes to Skyview which decreases South Lakes from a capacity utilization from 99% to 88% and eventually I think it's higher than that Eric but anyhow

[01:50:32] we've got that slide so you can see the existing boundaries on the left and the proposed boundaries on the right and Westfield High School reassigns 77 high school students from Centerville to Westfield reassigns 268 from Chantilly to Westfield and reassigns 1062 from Westfield to Skyview so it decreases Westfield capacity utilization from 98 to eventually 81 which is projected again with growth in and students out

[01:51:08] the existing boundaries are on the left and the proposed boundaries are on the right Carson middle school reassigns 91 middle school students from Franklin middle school to Carson middle school and reassigns 177 middle school students from Carson to Franklin decreasing Carson middle school capacity utilization from 97 to 91 percent with the existing boundaries on the left and the proposed boundaries on the right Franklin middle school reassigns 177 middle school

[01:51:44] students from Carson to Franklin reassigning 91 middle school students from Franklin to Carson reassigns 111 from Franklin to stone reassigns fewer than 10 from Franklin to rocky run and decreases Franklin capacity utilization from 94 to 89 percent with the proposed boundaries on the right and the existing boundaries on the left Hughes middle school there are no changes proposed therefore the existing and proposed boundary look similar next

[01:52:22] slide please Liberty middle school it really Liberty 35 middle school students from Liberty are reassigned to stone decreasing Liberty middle school capacity utilization from 81 to 78 percent with the existing boundaries on the left and the proposed on the right Rocky Brown middle school reassigns fewer than 10 middle school students from Franklin Middle School to Rocky Run, which increases Rocky Run Middle School capacity utilization 1% from 83 to 84%, with the existing boundaries

[01:53:00] on the left and proposed on the right. And Stone Middle School reassigns 111 middle school students from Franklin to Stone, reassigns 35 middle schools from Liberty to Stone, and increases the Stone Middle School capacity utilization percentage from 80 to 97 percent with existing boundaries on the left and proposed boundaries on the right.

[01:53:28] And so the school board decision timeline, last week I presented this presentation. On July 13th, which was on Monday, we had a public hearing on the Skyview High School western pyramid boundary and then on the 16th which is this evening we had a public hearing prior to this board meeting that began at 6 30 and at this point on our regular board meeting this evening i'm presenting the final recommendation for consideration and action so mr chair that is

[01:54:02] the presentation thank you uh i have first mr dunn thank you um i had a question uh dr reed because I'm looking at the presentation that was on the board docs yesterday and the numbers are the same in terms of number of students who are being moved from each high school but the percentages have changed significantly. Yesterday for what for Centerville it said that Centerville was going from 104 percent to 101 percent capacity utilization and today so just 24 hours later

[01:54:42] same number of students but it's going from 104 to 92. So yesterday it was 101 in the future state and today it's 92 and then if you look at Westfield the projected future percentage capacity utilization yesterday was 72 but today it's 81 again the numbers haven't changed in terms of how many students are being reassigned it's still 1062 students from Westfield going to skyview but i don't understand how capacity utilization calculations could change so significantly if you're not changing the underlying math so thank you mr dunn and actually we didn't

[01:55:22] post anything yesterday we posted this was from last july or excuse me july 9th last week um what we didn't include last week and what we probably could put on a separate line is our estimate based on the growth and development demographics of the new housing that's in those areas so that's in addition to the transfer in and transfer out which wasn't included in the previous chart so what we did was look at i believe there are multiple thousands of homes that are under construction

[01:55:56] or i think we've talked about that either in approval under construction or in the permitting phase so what we realized is we need to also look at the fact that the boundaries are stepping down each year there's not like a sudden year where the transfers all occur and at the same time that students are being moved between schools we have the new housing impact of new students as these houses sell and families move in because each how do I say each neighborhood or each development that's both being built and

[01:56:30] permitted has a certain expectation or prediction of student generation based on those homes and that's probably a number we can add to the presentation but that's what accounts for the different number of students between just the transfers sorry most of that housing has yet to be built so I'm not following something because we I understand from the slides that you're showing the capacity utilization this year and then once the boundaries are fully implemented so you think all of that housing will be built and that's what

[01:57:06] your projections are? Not all of the housing, but over the next four years where the distinction between that 70 and the 81%, that's four years out. And we believe that some of the housing actually is in the middle of being built right now. It's not going to take four years to finish.

[01:57:25] And so we understand it's an inexact science, but there are a number of homes right now that are being constructed and a number of developments that are not just permitted but under construction right now that are going to generate a certain number of students, and we want to make sure we account for those.

[01:57:45] Because I looked at the residential applications dashboard, and when I look at the current boundaries of Westfield, I see 160 high school students that would be expected to come out of the approved and under construction category, but of those, only one-fourth, about 40 of those 160 would still be in the Westfield boundary after the boundary changes, so three-fourths of those would actually end up in the new Skyview boundary, so maybe if you could just provide the board with some calculations to show the math, as I know you're passionate

[01:58:22] about math, as am I. So can you explain a little bit more why the utilization at Centerville and Chantilly is without modulars? Because it seems like you would want to show modulars and without modulars, with and without. We were trying to keep it apples to apples. And for example, Westfield doesn't have modulars. They only have trailers, but they have 13 of them. And frankly, I honestly think sometimes it's hard if you have four modulars. Excuse me.

[01:58:59] The modulars, we count differently than trailers here for CIP purposes because of the funding source, which ones are bonded with CIP funds and which are not, is my understanding. But what we tried to do is keep it apples to apples. And again, note that Centerville, in the out years, Theoretically, we're going to be beginning this renovation, and again, we have yet to determine how much larger, how much more room we're going to include in the renovation, but that's going to have an out-year impact on their capacity for sure.

[01:59:34] I'm sorry, could you, that point you just mentioned, could you just confirm that with Mr. Gordon? That's the first time I've ever heard that modulars are paid for with school bonds, but trailers aren't. Yes, we had a big modular conversation today, so Mr. Gordon?

[01:59:55] Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir, that's correct. Interesting. Okay, thank you. Which, honestly, I think is an interesting way to determine capacity based on source of funding. So I just think there's some conversation to be had with that, but when we're actually trying to look at where do we put students, because when I was talking about the 13 trailers, and I think Mr. Gordon and Mr. Smith can attest this morning, We had a pretty spirited conversation this morning about this because when you looked at, Mr. Gordon gave me a map of Westfield, what's in the trailers, there's music, there are math classes, there are key program classes.

[02:00:34] And I said, well, if we're not accounting for those, right, then if they disappeared, they're certainly going to have an impact on what's happening in the school in terms of the capacity usage. So anyhow, I'm happy to provide a more detailed report about that. Well, I'll just mention, I have an elementary school where the trailers regularly get up to 84 degrees.

[02:00:53] So it may be great for programs, but it's not great for, I think, students or staff to be in that condition. Thank you. And I apologize. I was supposed to call on Ms. Tixit for a motion. We'll continue the conversation. Ms. Tixit. I move that the school board approves boundary adjustment as described in the superintendent's recommendation attached.

[02:01:15] Is there a second? I second. Ms. Tixit, would you like to speak to your motion? I'll just speak briefly, and maybe I'll make more comments later in my time. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we had in our school system. Our school board worked collectively in the purchase of this new school.

[02:01:36] And I said that before, I really appreciated all my colleagues' support in that. Now it's almost one year, and we're voting on the boundary. I really appreciate the work done by the Dr. Reed's team, Mr. Marty Smith, Mr. Eric Gordon, and every member of the Boundary Committee BRAC for their countless hours they dedicated for this work.

[02:01:58] It's not easy to do something like this and that to open up a school in a year and go through the whole boundary process, but the school was much needed. And the significant residential development had happening in the western side of the county and where I reside and a lot of my constituents are, there was an overcrowding process situation in many schools.

[02:02:24] I'll take more time later, but I wanted to just request support of my colleagues for this boundary. Thanks. Thank you. Ms. Anderson, would you like to speak to your second? Yeah. When I came onto the board in January of 2024, I was told that we wouldn't see a Western High School location for at least 30 years. We knew roughly where we needed the school, but we had not been successful in locating a viable plot of land for a high school. And watching what's happened at Chantilly High School in terms of how it's landlocked, I knew that having the appropriate amount of land was going to be an important part of that. Two and a half years later,

[02:03:01] we've purchased a beautiful building, saved hundreds of millions of dollars for taxpayers, and we are just weeks away from welcoming students to our new school. Obviously, we've had some challenges. We were in the middle of a county-wide boundary work, which added its own complication, and buying a constructed school was not on the board's radar either.

[02:03:22] I don't believe that we had ever done that fully before. And as with all of our boundary work, this wasn't a simple decision. I recognize our decision here impacts real families and school communities, But I've also reviewed the data behind this recommendation, enrollment projections, capacity utilization, and the community input gathered through the boundary study process, and I believe it reflects a sound, well-reasoned approach to address overcrowding, balancing capacity, and preparing for the new school opening.

[02:03:52] So I want to acknowledge the families who have engaged in this process, particularly those raising concerns about travel distances, school-specific programs, and sibling placement. Boundary changes are never easy, and no plan meets every family's preference, so I would like to thank my colleagues, the superintendent, and staff for conducting a thorough process and incorporating community feedback wherever possible.

[02:04:14] Thank you. And Mr. Moon. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. I have a couple of questions to ask to start with. I don't know whether this should go to Dr. Reed or Mr. Gordon. Earlier this evening, we had a number of speakers who raised concerns regarding their community, known as Stonebrook at Westfield and Mr. Gordon have they brought their concerns

[02:04:45] prior to this evening yes sir they have and and and would you would you be able to share us with us the size number of students they are being affected or or living in that community that's going to be affected by this boundary change so yes sir so I think roughly for you look at both communities total students we You can include elementary, middle school, and high school.

[02:05:25] It's about 100 students per both those communities. When you said those two communities, which communities? I'm only looking at Stonebrook at Westfield, not Warnley Village Court.

[02:05:43] Yes, sir. If I heard you correctly, I believe you said Stonebrook and Boulevards. Are those the two communities you asked about? Or just specifically Stonebrook? I believe it's roughly 46. You believe it's 46? Well, you know it's 46. I know it's 46 students total.

[02:05:59] That's a relatively small number, correct? That's for both middle and high put together, 46, or just high school? That's all three, middle school, elementary school, and high school. So all three levels, it's a 46, really small number. And what they are saying is that they are being treated differently from the community right next to them, and they are raising very serious safety concerns.

[02:06:26] And if they raised these concerns prior to tonight, whether you sat down with them and addressed their concerns, or I'm just trying to figure out if it's such a small number.

[02:06:43] I mean, you heard their concerns before, and if what they are seeing is in fact true, that they are being treated differently, why this has not been addressed? I will also share that Mr. Gordon and I, last Friday morning, drove both the Stonebrook community and the boulevards of Westfield community, because I believe the team has met with both communities.

[02:07:08] And we took different paths, because there are different paths from both communities, and we drove both to Chantilly and to Westfield. And I think the team, Mr. Smith, drove it several weeks prior.

[02:07:24] And they didn't note the safety concerns because there's also transportation provided from both those communities to either high school. So the buses provide transportation. It's not a walking community to the schools.

[02:07:42] In other words, transportation is being provided to Westfield. Are they currently going to Westfield? I thought they were currently going to Westfield. going to Chantilly a number of yeah a number of neighborhoods are. And you have a problem keeping those 46 that's all three levels elementary middle and high school and whether staff has a problem keeping that at their current schools and with your duly revised percentage utilization and

[02:08:13] Chantilly only showing out years 29 30 Chantilly only shows 87 percent and 46 students high school students will perhaps be one-third of that could be 15 I think that the challenge for the boundary team was it's hard to look at a neighborhood and not look at the other neighborhoods near it and pretty soon I think that the concern being raised was we had to draw a line at some point I think we picked as I

[02:08:49] mentioned last week there's a ravine that cuts through some of these neighborhoods and I can't draw for you exactly tonight but I know that mr. Gordon mr. Smith and the team have met with both of the neighborhoods we heard from Monday night but again that's I don't know if mr. Smith if you have anything to add on good evening everyone and you're exactly right we had extensive community engagement I see some of the faces here this evening who we engaged with at our meetings at Skyview and heard very clearly from

[02:09:26] families and also in explaining to families and also working with the boundary review Advisory Committee understanding that when you have communities that are in these shoulder areas in between boundary areas that it's of course those are the areas that you look at first when you're thinking about moving students this was also the information that WXY shared with the community as well during their presentations you know from my perspective as a board member is that these community members of this

[02:10:01] community were here this evening raising concerns and letting us know unlike other communities who have already done and there are concerns have been addressed by superintendent's recommendations and they are not here tonight because their concerns been addressed while this particular community with such a small number that we have not been able to address. And I find that to be troubling when the number is so small. If it is 100, that may be a different story. We're talking about perhaps again, maybe 15 high school kids.

[02:10:44] Yeah. I mean, if the board wants to add that community, we certainly will find room for the students in the neighborhood. I would favor in keeping that along with the warning, just to treat them the same way and keep them at the Chantilly, especially knowing the person is at the revised person is 87 percent.

[02:11:04] Mr. Moon, that was your time. I can put you on a go back if you'd like. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Just a few questions. First of all, I do appreciate the presentation. It's a nice cap, particularly since this is the voting day and it's yet another opportunity to further educate the community.

[02:11:21] even though it was just last week. You talked a little bit in terms of reducing the trailers that are at various sites because there will be some adjustments made there. What's the anticipated timeline for that? Would it be at the end of the phased period, which would be 2030?

[02:11:42] What are you thinking? I think that a lot of this boundary work is our best guess, right? It's not a pure science, and it's not going to be perfect in our recommendations.

[02:11:58] So I think we don't want to be hasty, right? We don't want to move trailers out and then find that suddenly a particular multifamily housing unit, for example, maybe suddenly has many more families or a particular neighborhood, turns over more quickly than we thought, and now we need to move the trailers back because that's an operational budget expense to be moving trailers.

[02:12:21] So I think that we want to move them out as soon as we feel like we responsibly can, that we really won't need them in the near future because we don't want to get in the business of moving them and having to move them back because that draws down our operating fund.

[02:12:37] But I would absolutely commit that I don't think there's anyone that wants to delay the removal of those any longer than we need to. Sure. I know sometimes we can get addicted to the extra space. I worked out of school, I know what it's like, even if it's not for student use, but the whole idea of just being able to remove it, it's a nice little signal and message.

[02:12:58] Well, in particular, at Chantilly, because we have such limited parking, and many of those trailers are in areas where we can actually have more parking, and that particular campus, I think, is really parking challenged. Or in some of our elementary schools, it's the playground.

[02:13:15] Yes, ma'am. It's the field space. Can we put up slide 13, please? I really want to make sure I build understanding around that, and I don't think I'm there yet. Can we just pause my time while we wait for that to come up?

[02:13:32] While that's happening, you know, I can jump to another question. You talked about how the capacity is calculated, and it seems to be connected to the funding source rather than to something else for the CIP regarding the modulars and temporary classrooms.

[02:13:50] Are we given the formula and criteria to use for the CIP, or is this an FCPS imposition and regulation? Because if it is, we should be able to make some changes that make a little bit more sense. That's a good question.

[02:14:08] Does anyone want to tackle that? Eric? Hey, ma'am. Thanks for the question. So the concept of the modules being funded by bonds is because there's capital assets. The modules are semi-permanent facilities. They're on a concrete slab that has fixed plumbing, electrical, so there's capital services that are being brought to those that you just can't take away in an easy manner.

[02:14:31] Temporary facilities like the trailers, you know, you bring electricity to that, but you can, in theory, can bring them in and move them out in that will. So it's less the funding source, but rather the fact that it's a more permanent structure. Well, yes, and the funding source for these capital, more capital-like assets, the modulars, is the capital funding, whereas the trailers, because they don't have these capital characteristics, are funded from the operating fund.

[02:15:04] Okay. I'll just leave that there, especially since the slide is up. Just kind of wanting to walk through this a little bit. I know last time I raised that the capacity utilization that I was looking at were based on what was in the current CIP, and I think that adjustment has been made, so appreciate that.

[02:15:24] So the first set, you know, the first set of columns, you know, facility, that's fine. Second set speaks to what's happening in the 25-26 school year. That's also fine. Now we get into the third grouping, which is the adjusted projected memberships. That and the fourth grouping, for me, go hand in hand.

[02:15:41] terms of these are the number of kids for each of these years and these are the capacity and it seems to jive it seems to make sense i don't know how to treat that final column of projected program capacity where is that 101 all the way down to 86 is that happening at the end of the school year 29 30 how do i treat this i think that we were looking at that what i asked the team to do is because we've got boundary reviews in these five-year increments the division wide boundary that we need to look out maybe over the next decade right that's

[02:16:19] why we didn't put a year on that so we're looking at trying to look at all the different housing starts and permits and developments and where are we likely to be after the 2930 school year and again the further out we get the less accurate we're just trying to be as predictive as we can based on looking at the county development because we know all that development won't happen at the same time but and that's where I said to mr. Dunn it's very likely that I'm gonna need to provide you guys more of the background and kind of how we were

[02:16:54] thinking about calculating that but again just trying to look at if the housing permits all came to be in the way we think within the next decade this is what it would look like now we don't know that they're all going to but we don't know that more won't right like so it's we're just in this place that we wanted to make sure we just gave a stab at that so that's probably the least probable but it is a forecast that we were looking at I think your 2930 is certainly you know that's based on where we're headed but the outside column is

[02:17:32] likely over the not further than a decade out but within the next decade sure and I appreciate that clarification but I think I find it to be less helpful because it's so far out it's really hard as you said to really hone in so for me the most important data set is what's going to be happening at the end of the 2930 because that's also inclusive of the of the construction to date yes we did add the construction to date within those numbers yes we did yes ma'am

[02:18:07] so in 2930 Westfield's will be at in and I point out to Westfield because I know that's been the conversation yes Westfield will be at 81% I I find that it's hard for me to put any confidence on that last column only because it's not dated and it's just it's a little bit beyond I think the the typical scope so So I'm going to treat the 29:30 data as the data that we really have a greater level of confidence in.

[02:18:36] Is that fair? Yes, ma'am. Okay. I think I heard my time, but I'd like to go back. I have one more question unless you just want me to spit it out. I'll put you on a go-back. Ms. Tixit and Ms. Mirren.

[02:18:55] I have one concern in this whole presentation is about -- actually I have more than one, but first I'll go to the one I have is for Stone Middle School. Middle School is the only feeder for Westfield High School right now and it's showing of 97 percent capacity and we have more construction coming up in that neighborhood and the AP programs will also put students back in stone and it's going to be grow over 100 percent capacity very soon it is also a smaller school so I wanted to ask that what what can we do is to keep that keep an eye

[02:19:34] on that because where will we put our kids then yes ma'am I think that's a really important question mistakes it because I think what you're pointing out is that the growth really around Westfield High School is going is one of the most significant areas in this part which is something we want to watch closely and we I appreciate that comment I think that we're gonna have to look at all of the middle schools in this Western region area and I mean the good news is we also we haven't done a lot of moving for the middle school at this

[02:20:11] point and we do have our next five-year division review coming up now in four years so I think that may be an area we're gonna want to look at sooner than later and I know there's also a conversation about AAP centers in the western boundary area so it I think it's something we're gonna have to take and keep a very close eye on I think possibly we have to look in the expansion as well, the capacity expansion, because that school, if it stays as the only feeder, it's going to go over 100% very soon.

[02:20:44] And the other thing I wanted to mention is about Westfield High School is that I have talked to you, Mr. Smith, the principal, and other parents, and I would like to know your opinion about some like specialized programming so we can add some enrollment in that school.

[02:21:09] So I appreciate the question, Ms. Dixit, and I have also met with Principal Norris, and I know I was just at Westfield High School Friday night for an amazing musical. So I think that we want to make sure that all our high schools have access to programming, and I think as Westfield has a bit more room, a bit more classroom space, we certainly would intend to look at bringing programs, whether they be perhaps adjunct academy programs or maintenance of programs.

[02:21:45] Because as you see, Westfield High School actually stays above 2,000 students, which should enable a full catalog of our standard courses as well as you know courses elective courses that students want I particularly will was interested in the parents comment this evening around the math options even before we've had boundary conversations so definitely it's something I've asked staff that we're going to take a close look at and want to make sure that we

[02:22:21] We know the Westfield community is a proud community and is, you know, committed to excellence for all of our Bulldogs. So I want to make sure that we maintain programs so we will be staying very closely engaged with them.

[02:22:38] Thank you, Dr. I don't know if I'm out of my time. I have some seconds. I have a question for the clerk. Can I bring a follow-on motion? At this point, because this is considered an agendized motion, in order for you to bring a follow-on you would have to suspend the rules in order to bring a follow-on or you can amend um that we do have a follow-on already on the agenda or you could amend the uh that but please be aware that we potentially already have an amendment to that follow-on and there can only

[02:23:14] be um one second degree amendment at a time i'd like to suspend the rules second so are we suspending the rules for a follow-on or for an amendment we haven't gotten to a fault the follow on jet if you want to suspend the rules to move an amendment to the main motion then that's what where this would occur if you're trying to do a suspension of the rules for a follow-on that would occur after we voted on the main motion

[02:23:43] yes okay all the conversation notwithstanding I'm gonna go ahead and read my prepared remarks because I've really labored over them over the last few days and want to share what I'm thinking, even though it continues to feel like things keep changing.

[02:24:15] So after much analysis and consideration, I will vote to approve this boundary proposal. To me, having a new public school should be a time of excitement because students and the public are receiving a modern, safe, and accessible asset. And this facility is certainly top of the line and features what an amazing place to work and learn. The purchase of this public school facility asset remains a financially wise decision that will save FCPS and the county government and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars for years to come.

[02:24:43] Yet during this year-long process up until this very moment, excitement has been elusive for me because reasonable and really critical information has too often been incomplete or shared in an untimely manner to the board and the public. I spoke to this last week on July 9th. The process run by the superintendent could have been better.

[02:25:01] This is why I'll be proposing follow-on action, seeking for the superintendent to present a scheduled public meeting at a scheduled public meeting this fall, an after-action report with ideas for future improvements in boundary work, as well as about instructional programmings at schools impacted by the boundary change.

[02:25:19] Further, I'm seeking follow-on action to provide more precise information about housing projections for our future boundary work. The bottom line for me is this. The overwhelming majority of residents I've heard from support the proposal to move students in Hunter Mill into Skyview High School.

[02:25:35] Specifically for the Fox Mill and Florist Elementary School attendance areas and parts of the Crossfield Elementary School attendance area and also the split feeder situation at Carson Middle School will be reduced. And this is an overdue adjustment that benefits children. I've heard from Florist residents from nearly after we announced the purchase of the school that they are excited.

[02:25:55] It's closer to them than any other high school is, and the Fox Mill community is excited to not have a split feeder anymore from Carson going to South Lakes, but rather Carson going to Skyview. We purchased a school, and the students have to come from somewhere. These are the places that, for a number of reasons, make the most sense.

[02:26:11] I want to share that the changes in school membership for South Lakes and Westfield look alarming, but they may not be as dire as they seem. Certainly, the numbers alarmed me, and for weeks I've been trying to understand the genesis of the data and the potential impacts of our people. So here's what I've learned even since last week.

[02:26:29] Even with the reduced membership to 2,000 students, that is still a very large high school population that can sustain robust programming. Housing will be coming onto the market, bringing students into school. Let's asterisk that for my follow-on comments, though. These changes will be phased over time, allowing for concerns to be addressed before larger problems develop.

[02:26:49] Finally, I remain committed to ensuring that these schools, particularly Southlakes and Westfield, remain robust so that students have access to the opportunities we have come to expect in FCPS and even more. Again, the follow-on action I'll bring soon seeks to get ahead of any potential negative impact on instruction at these high schools as a result of this boundary change.

[02:27:07] Both Southlakes and Westfield high schools are exemplary FCPS public schools that must be well-resourced. Thank you. And go back for Dr. Anderson. Thank you. I think the question that I have, Miss Dixit will address, one of the things that I want to ensure that we're being responsive to is the number of Westville parents who have come in being very concerned about their enrollment being decreased in a manner that is going to negatively impact opportunities for their students.

[02:27:42] I, you know, to put it shortly, trying to avoid another Lewis situation. And so that is my level of interest in ensuring that something is done. So I'm glad that Ms. Dixit is going to have the opportunity to bring in a follow-on for the exploration of programming.

[02:27:59] And looking at the list of academy programs, I had the chance to do that on Monday during, actually, the public hearing. and there are so many programs that are offered in some of our schools Chantilly High School has so many programs and I know I've heard some concerns about the overcrowding there and it just makes me wonder and I'm not predicting any thing at all but it just makes me wonder what could it potentially look like for both Chantilly and Westfields if one of these programs obviously not the ones who are going to require significant infrastructure were to be moved it would

[02:28:37] increase capacity at one school and decrease capacity at another and I think both will be needed so so those are some of the ideas that I'm hoping will be coming out of this follow-on motion that Miss Dixon is going to bring and it's really going to show the responsiveness to the community because at the end of the day we are here to represent them and they've said over and over and over again that this is a concern and addressing that is key although I have zero dog in that fight I live in the Mason District but I do vote on this and And I want to make sure that I can explain my positions and the votes that I bring forward.

[02:29:14] So I'm really looking forward to that part of the conversation and want to echo some of the things that Ms. Marin has said. This is exciting. This is still a very exciting opportunity. And so I want to be able to celebrate it while still addressing the, you know, little things that need to be addressed.

[02:29:31] Thank you. Mr. Frisch, for your first. Thank you. I appreciate all the work colleagues have put into this in addition to the thoughtful follow-ons that are coming. Two comments. Number one, tonight we are going to ask for a ton of things to be done in September and October by the exact same staff. So I hope we can all provide a little grace to the superintendent and her team in asking for all of this additional work that will help our work be better. But know that we are asking for several things tonight, if they all

[02:30:11] pass to be done on a very similar timeline by basically the same people so i would just put that out there secondly i had hoped to see uh capacity relief for oakton high school in uh this boundary con in in this iteration of the boundary discussion um you know i'm hopeful that uh the cip's projections of uh i think roughly 98 percent uh capacity use at oakton are true you know many years ago one of the cips listed in the back uh an analysis showing

[02:30:49] the accuracy of projections over time and they were largely accurate i mean there were some discrepancies here and there either lower or or higher than what had been projected so i'm hopeful that the 98 number is accurate because there are students who live closer to oakton high school than many of the students that come from much further away and i think that they would like to attend a school closer to home as well so i look forward to those further conversations and i appreciate the work that's been done by colleagues thank you and i'll i'll take a turn um this has

[02:31:24] been a very long process i remember when we first had the conversations about purchasing this building and the opportunities that it posed and here we are tonight and i think the slide that really highlights what i want to emphasize is the slide that says six community meetings 15 000 comments and 25,000 unique visitors.

[02:31:44] The public input process was done with a painstaking level of effort, and that's the expectation that our communities have, and that's the expectation that the superintendent and her team and the board met. So I'm looking forward to having a decision made so Western Fairfax County gets the high school they've been waiting for for decades, delivered to them at about a 67% discount on the going rate to buy land and build a building.

[02:32:12] and an immediate delivery of 2,000 seats of capacity in Western Fairfax to provide decades-long relief for overcrowding in our high schools. So with that, I will call on Mr. Moon. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman.

[02:32:30] I move to suspend the rules and to move an amendment to the superintendent's boundary adjustment recommendations to keep the community of Stonebrook and Westfield at its current schools of Chantilly High School and Rock Hill Run Middle School. Is there a second?

[02:32:48] I second. Okay, the motion to suspend the rules to bring an amendment to this agenda item has been made. The motion to suspend is not debatable. It requires a two-thirds majority. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Ms. St. John Cunning, Mr. Dannon, myself, Dr. Anderson, and Ms. Lady.

[02:33:22] How do you vote? I'm going to abstain. and okay so those are the affirmatives uh any opposed oh that's right it's not so the motion is carried uh the motion carries the rules have been suspended you can now make the motion yes sir okay uh thank you mr vice chairman i move to i move to amend the superintendent's boundary

[02:33:55] adjustment recommendations to keep the community of stonebrook at westfield at its current schools

[02:34:02] Chantilly High School and Rocky Mountain Middle School. Is there a second? I second. Mr. Moon would you like to speak to your motion? I think I've spoken enough on this. Thank you. Ms. Dixie would you like to speak to your second? I just wanted so we heard the community and you know it was a little late but I thanks to Mr. Moon for bringing this motion. Okay I have Mr. Moon your light still on. Dr. Anderson. I'm so sorry can that motion please be posted I'm not sure which motion we are on. So there was a motion to suspend the rules the rules were suspended then Mr. Moon brought

[02:34:40] motion to add Stonebrook correct just keep the Stonebrook Chantilly high school and rock in a middle school so if the clerks have the copy they can put it up there and just also just a point of clarification if I could ask it's not a point of order it's a question we're suspending the rules for this follow is this a follow-on motion or an amendment thank you I appreciate it I'll better

[02:35:07] understand there's the amendment lights so I'm gonna call for the vote on the

[02:35:58] amendment is that the is that the language could I could I read the language I think that's dr. Reed I just want to clarify that Stonebrook is currently at Franklin Middle School in Chantilly okay so let me let me rephrase my motion I moved amend the superintendent's boundary adjustment recommendations to keep the community of Stonebrook at Westfield at Chantilly

[02:36:37] High Schools and Franklin Middle School. I'm sorry Rockville Middle School. That was what the community proposed. If you haven't been recognized I got you Dr. Anderson. If you haven't been recognized please don't speak. Mr. McDaniel I recommend a very brief recess to make sure we have this motion. I agree. Recess five minutes. Thank you.

[02:57:27] Board members please take your seats. We're going to get started here in about 60 seconds.

[02:57:52] okay so welcome back to recap the rules were suspended we have we're considering an amendment to the main motion and the language now is up on the screen mr. moon can you please read the motion thank you mr. vice chairman I move on amendment to the superintendent's boundary adjustment recommendations to keep the community called Stoneburg at Westfield at its current schools of Chantilly high school and Franklin middle school there's a

[02:58:29] motion is there a second i second okay mr moon would you like to speak uh you know i've already done thank you miss dixit would you like to speak uh no okay uh i have dr anderson away from the dais uh there are any i have no lights on i have no lights on so i'm going to call for the vote on

[02:58:52] this amendment okay the motion's on the screen there are no lights to speak all those in favor of the amendment as posted mr moon miss dixit mr dunn dr anderson all those opposed miss anderson mr frisch miss mirren mr dannon miss st john cunning myself and miss lady the clerk read the

[02:59:28] vote all right so we are just confirming that we have mr moon is yes miss dixit is yes mr don is yes dr anderson is yes correct correct and the nose we have is miss anderson mr frisch

[03:00:03] miss mirren mr mcdaniel miss lady mr dannon and miss st john cunning correct all right four seven the mo the amendment fails all right so we're back to the main amendment are there any other discussions for the main event i had dr anderson your light is on did you wish to speak to the main motion okay so we're back to the main motion it's on the screen uh that the school board approved the boundary adjustment set describing the superintendent's recommended attached recommendation attached seeing no others i'll call for the vote all those in favor of the motion miss anderson mr Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunning,

[03:00:43] myself, and Ms. Lady. Ms. Lady. That's unanimous. We have boundaries. Okay, I call on Ms. Mirren for a follow-on motion. I move to direct the superintendent to work with Fairfax County staff to deliver publicly to the school board quarterly updates about housing projected to come to market in

[03:01:23] Western Fairfax County for five years on a rolling basis with the first report delivered as part of the FCPS Capital Improvement Program public presentation as scheduled in early 2027. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Mirum would you like to speak? Yes.

[03:01:38] Thank you. What I learned throughout this process of the boundary setting for Skyview is that the housing projections are really important and while we do have a dashboard that FCPS maintains and and includes it includes our GIS information and the superintendent has talked about the different phases of housing and planning it's not precise enough and in the western part of the county there is a lot of development happening that's not happening other places and I think that we really need to do better to understand the pace at which the housing is coming on it's not just enough to say there's going to be 30,000 units are they happening in five years ten years I know some of them are way out with

[03:02:15] Reston Town Center North. Those are projects decades out. So in order for us to match the membership that our staff use a formula for and the capacity of a building, we need to know what the housing truly is coming on. I was able to receive the past, what the average is per year, and it's 600 units. And that doesn't quite match up with the data that was used to make this decision, but that was the past. And I feel like whether it's a simple Excel sheet or some nice AI work the county and the schools can do better together to offer that information. I'm thinking

[03:02:50] this would be a brief update definitely part of the CIP you know I've always hoped that we could have more regular work session time dedicated to facilities so perhaps this is just part of that that we you know it forces us to be more on top of some of our facility work so I hope that colleagues can support it so that we can have better more precise information and get ahead of any potential issues that come up if enrollment is dropping too quickly and the housing is not coming in to boost that enrollment.

[03:03:16] Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dunn? My colleague did an excellent job, so thanks. Okay. Mr. Fresh, I have you. Thank you. So there are lots of places in Fairfax County that are experiencing growth, and I think it is important that we get additional information like this, particularly in our hotspots.

[03:03:45] So I'll support the motion. uh because i think it's important for board members particularly those of us who are impacted by western growth and believe it or not i may not be right in the midst of it but oakton high school is significantly impacted additionally i have the tyson's periphery that i'm always watching that has significant growth as does miss lady miss marron and others and so i'll be looking to the next cip for perhaps some additional work in this area and we may find after a year of this that we don't need quarterly updates that maybe we need it twice a year or just with the CIP after a couple

[03:04:21] years we do receive emails with some level of analysis about development that's happening in our respective magisterial districts but it's not in the context of the boundary work right it does tell us to some extent what growth could come out of a development at specific schools but it's not Not in the context of our decisions around CIP renovation cycles or boundary work.

[03:04:46] So I look forward to finding a path where this all kind of gels together at some point. Thank you. Dr. Anderson? I do want to say thank you to Ms. Marion for bringing this and just to echo what Mr. Fritz just said. Those emails that we receive regarding developments, they're nice in terms of understanding that it is happening, but it really misses the opportunity for discussion.

[03:05:11] a quarterly report also makes it public because the community very often is asking when they see activity well where are these kids going to go to school and so if we have the board if the board is able to have a public discussion then some of those questions can be responded to in a way that's a little bit more comprehensive so i would love to see this become a regular part of all of the activity that is constantly taking place in fairfax county that is impacting many

[03:05:37] many of our schools. Thank you. Ms. St. John Cunningham. So I do agree and I know that I had been asking questions along this along these lines with one of our electeds. And during the discussion what I understand and I think this is important for us to look at as we start looking at this is that when the county puts up these you know tells us about developments they give projected numbers of students and then we give projected numbers of students and they're never the same. And so I'd like to look at the history to see see what the delta is so that we can have a better understanding.

[03:06:16] Their account seems to always be under what our account is and so I think if we start intentionally looking at this we will get a clearer picture of what truly is happening so that we can make decisions that are best for the community and overall it serves all of our elected bodies to do this work with fidelity and to try to come you know as close as possible to what a true number is realizing that we don't have a crystal ball but let's get a realistic number. Thank You Ms. Dixon. So I support this I

[03:06:51] only have one question Dr. Reed is is it there is a possibility of creating like a data dashboard instead of providing the report on a quarterly basis so like which is I believe County does it on their side and I've mentioned that before also that if we have more data dashboards more visual and it's you can you know see at any point of time yes ma'am I think we do have a dashboard on our website with that data that we do pull from the county but I think we'll take a look at it and see if it's as helpful as it could be and you know try

[03:07:29] to work to make sure it's clear and concise on doctorate where is it sitting is then that can we get the email or link to all the board members yeah I'm happy to I'll include that in the Friday letter tomorrow and I'll make sure Mr.

[03:07:45] Gordon provides that in a short note but we'll get that out to you tomorrow afternoon thank you yes ma'am thank you I don't know the lights and quick for the clerks do I need to call for the vote on this motion prior to moving into the suspension okay to any of the others going for the vote on this follow-on motion all in favor Miss Anderson Mr. Frisch Miss Mirren Mr. Moon Miss Dixit Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunning, myself, and Ms. Lady is...

[03:08:16] Ms. Lady is yes. Ms. Lady is yes. That's unanimous. I call on Ms. Dixit for a motion. I move to suspend the rules to allow for two additional follow-on motions. Is there a second? A second. Thank you. This is not debatable.

[03:08:32] We've been through this. All in favor, Ms. Anderson? Unanimous. That motion passes. okay the I call on Miss Mirren for follow-on motion number two I direct the superintendent to deliver at a board work session no later than September 30 2026 an after-action report about the boundary work that has occurred over the last two years with lessons learned and suggested future improvements and information about how to mitigate any possible negative changes to instructional programming to schools impacted by declines and student membership that result from the establishment of the Skyview high school boundary

[03:09:11] Do you have a second? Second. Ms. Miriam, would you like to speak to your motion? I think this is self-explanatory. Mr. Dunn? I just wanted to say I think this is a wonderful motion. I appreciate the mover for bringing it, and I think it's so important that we have a continuing look at the work that's been done through the Comprehensive Boundary Review, the SkyView boundary process, and the boundary hotspots that are continuing so that we understand not just at the time changes are made, but subsequently the potential impacts, positive, negative, and we continue to study those over a series of years so that we can understand

[03:09:49] in the future how to do things better and make sure that we're trying to avoid any negative outcomes by future boundary changes. And I just want to also say thank you to the staff, facilities, division council, and all the offices in FCPS because it's been a tremendous amount of work to acquire former King Abdullah Academy to transform it to provide world-class sports facilities and and make it into a full high school instead of K through 12 and then all the work on the skyview boundary the number of community beings

[03:10:23] the dedication shown by FCPS staff is just unbelievable and and the process hasn't been perfect but that's part of a human endeavor in the fact that we haven't done this in decades so I think we have done a wonderful job with community engagement I appreciate all the work that went into by the governance committee of making sure the policy 8130 really highlighted and emphasized and put front and forward community engagement and that's been fulfilled and and that's been a wonderful thing to see thank you thank

[03:10:58] Ms. Anderson. This is just a note that we have a work session on October 6th that would lend itself very well to this. Otherwise, this is going to require that the superintendent have this done by September 8th in order to meet the work session in September. And so without objection, I was hoping that we could move to October 6th just to mean that we could actually meet the requirement without moving the superintendent up by an entire month. Without objection,

[03:11:28] the date is amended. And that was October 6th. That would be great. Dr. Anderson?

[03:12:01] Thank you. Just one point of clarification. I know we've talked about this throughout the boundary process about an after action report. Is this going to be inclusive of the entirety of the boundary process or just specifically for the work related to Skyview?

[03:12:22] Is that a question for the maker of the motion? It is a question for whoever feels that they have the information. Would you yield your time to Ms. Mirren to answer sure okay miss Mirren so it is seeking it's two things that after action on the boundary work that has occurred over the last two years with lessons learned which I believe the superintendent is always work already working on I discussed this with her in advance this morning to see if this was amenable and she's got a report that's almost ready and then the information about mitigating any negative changes to the school is impacted by the sky view

[03:12:58] enrollment changes. Thank you. That's clear. Thank you. Okay. No others calling for the vote. All in favor. Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, this lady, myself. That's unanimous. All right. I call on Ms. Dixit for follow-on motion number three.

[03:13:21] I move the Fairfax County School Board to direct the superintendent develop and present to the school board by October 2026 a comprehensive plan for establishing specialized programming pathway at Westfield High School in the areas of of business information technology and skilled trades.

[03:13:40] The plan shall include recommended programs of study, industry and higher education partnership, implementation timeline, staffing and facility requirements. - Is there a second? - Second.

[03:13:55] - Ms. Tix would like to speak to your motion? - I believe this is something our community needs and I wanted to address this now, right? When we are doing the boundary, the Westfield community ask for more enrollment in their school.

[03:14:15] And the Specialized Pathway, just like we have for Skyview High School, will provide that. The students will be full-time coming in, so we're expecting more enrollment with these programs, and I'm really excited to discuss this with the community, also with the administration, Dr. Reed's team, and see what we can offer in this amazing facility in the school.

[03:14:40] and I would like to work with my fellow colleagues also and get this ideas of what we can do to bring more students in. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Mirren. - Mr. Seconder, I'm sorry.

[03:14:55] - Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Anderson, would like to speak to your second. - Just very briefly, I said that earlier, the only thing I wanna make sure that is clear, particularly with the last piece that says skills trade, skilled trades, that's pretty much wide open. It's not just these two, it's not just business, not just information but there's opportunity for staff to look at a number of other things that could potentially draw some students to Westfield. Again, this is responsive to what we've been hearing here over the last number of days so I'm happy to support. Okay, now Ms. Mirren. Thank you and if the motion language should be put back up that would be really helpful please. Thank you to

[03:15:33] the Sully representative for bringing this. We have heard a lot from Westfield families in the last few weeks and over the months. I do think that this is a little too soon, because what does Westfield, like I would like to know the accounting of what Westfield already has, and by way of business, IT, skilled trades, maybe they're, and I certainly would want to check with the principal first and just see, you know, what's happening. I think what I put forward in the motion that just passed was about having this kind of a discussion and talking about what might be, get off kilter as a result of the enrollment change.

[03:16:12] That's what that was really based on. I'm all for having discussions about secondary course offerings, though. I've been talking about that for years, so that goes back to presentations that we've had. So I'd prefer to anchor it to the conversation that we just approved to have on October 6th, plus getting input from the school and looking at some data and even resources like what could Westfield actually host.

[03:16:33] You can't just, you know, drop, like, auto body shop in a school. you have to have certain requirements and such. So I'd like to wait on this one. Perhaps this could be a topic for discussion, but a full-own plan seems a little too much. Perhaps this would be a really great topic for the work session to explore and ask for information to be presented, but a plan is quite a lot at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Dixon. This is in response to the COMMUNITY ASKING FOR HOW DO WE INCURVE THE I THIS IS TIMELINESS I BELIEVE TO SHOW THAT COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY BOTH ME AND THE

[03:17:12] SECONDER WE WE TALKED ABOUT THAT DR. ANDERSON AND WE BELIEVE THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME TO DO IT AND WE'RE ONLY ASKING FOR A PLAN WE ARE OBVIOUSLY WE WILL NEED FULL BOARD SUPPORT FOR THIS AND DR. REED WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEAK TO THIS I THINK THAT MAYBE THERE'S A WAY TO THREAD WHAT MS. MARIN'S CONCERNS ARE IN TERMS OF A PRE-EMPTIVE decision on topics if we just included language about the specialized programming pathways at westfield high school to include but not be limited to the areas of right so that we would bring back

[03:17:51] a plan with those areas but it wouldn't be limited to that if in engagement with the community something else emerges that we may want to you know discover or consider so i think there could be a minor adjustment that could meet perhaps both needs yes definitely we can amend that in the areas and in the areas of business but not limited to i guess added to the motion in the areas of business information technology and skill trade but not limited to these areas did did you get

[03:18:29] that what dr reed was saying i think would be including but not limited to the areas of can we unduly edit that was made and after including but not limited to should be inserted somewhere after

[03:19:07] westfield high school but before the list of business information etc in the areas right after areas including but not limited to and strike of mr mcginho are we asking to do this without objection so we're not having that as a separate amendment hold up remove the word of the word of

[03:19:40] needs to be struck out thank you without objection it's done okay mistakes is that all that's that's all thank you miss mirin i also wonder i appreciate the um recommendation from the superintendent perhaps instead of a comprehensive plan it's an analysis of i don't i don't want to signal that something's lacking from westfield this is an approach because we're expecting to have lower

[03:20:13] enrollment and we're trying to infill for that so um i just i wouldn't want to give that impression and so we're taking extra care to look at this school um i mean for that matter we might as well add in south lakes because they're going to experience the same thing so you know for me it's hard to do things on the fly like this so i'd rather it be as general as possible so perhaps it's by 20 you know it's an analysis of specialized programming pathways you know at westfield but again South Lakes is going to be facing the same challenges not as great but

[03:20:50] they're losing their projected to be down 17% so I would suggest that instead of a comprehensive plan it read an analysis of you know possibilities and I guess it's just too off the cuff for me to say South Lakes too at this point so I would just leave it at Westfield okay now I mean mystics it I'm okay with the

[03:21:23] word analysis. Instead of plan, we can write analysis. So strike the word plan and put in the word analysis. This will be the last edit. Okay, is that without objection? Hearing no objections. That's done. I have no lights. All in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dannen, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cumming, myself, and Ms. Lady, how do you vote? I'm going to abstain on this one. That is unanimous with Ms. Lady abstaining, so 1101, or excuse me, 1001. Okay, agenda item

[03:22:16] 7.05 action items, Skyview High School, student phasing and transportation presentation and vote. I call on Dr. Reid for a presentation. And a note on this, we do not need to read word for word. So we can do the presentation and then go from there. I know the last one was a little with some of the changes, but let's go ahead and do the presentation.

[03:22:34] Do the presentation again from last week? Briefly. Oh, briefly. Okay. We do not need to read word for word. We can be brief and then go into the conversation. Okay. You bet. All right. So thank you.

[03:23:12] Thank you, Madam Clerk. Tonight I'll be providing a summary of the phasing and transportation plan for Skyview. This is a continuation of the presentation from June 25th, which includes graphics to make the information as clear as possible to the community. I think we can go to the next slide. In terms of phasing, the three-year plan has not changed since the June 25th presentation. To clarify, in In year one, students may opt in to attend Skyview in grades nine through 10.

[03:23:48] And in year two, a new ninth grade class will be added and students may choose to opt out to attend their base school if they so choose. And in year three, Skyview would serve all four high school grade levels and opting out would no longer be an option at Skyview.

[03:24:07] students who opted to attend will continue on as aviators as my understanding is a mascot so next slide the current slide that on the screen shows the phasing plan for skyview high school and other schools impacted the orange cells show that the school boundary is not yet in effect the green shows where the boundary is in effect where students can opt out etc and the red shows when the boundary is complete and students are expected to attend their newly assigned school

[03:24:46] however of course pursuant to our transfer policies they can still apply for those transfers and will be accepted on a transfer office approval in the 26-27 school year no changes are going to be made the boundary is not yet in effect and all students who attend skyview opt in in the 27 28 school year the boundary will be in fact in effect and the school board's phasing policy will begin students assigned to skyview in ninth grade in 27 28 may opt out if the school

[03:25:22] doesn't meet their educational needs seventh and ninth graders who are impacted in other schools must attend their new school in the 28 29 school year skyview's boundaries will be complete meaning they have ninth through twelfth graders and on the 29 30 school year All but rising 12th graders will attend school based on their newly assigned boundary.

[03:25:46] In the 2030-31 school year and beyond, the boundary is complete with all students attending assigned schools based on the new boundaries. Next slide. In-boundary students will receive traditional neighborhood busing.

[03:26:02] This applies to all students who opt in and live within Skyview's approved boundary. Staff do recommend a depot-style transportation model for out-of-boundary students who opt in to Skyview. This is recommended to control costs and alleviate strain on the ongoing FCPS bus driver shortage, which isn't as short as it's been, but it's still not, you know, plentiful.

[03:26:27] So next slide, please. The estimated annual cost to implement the Skyview Transportation Plan is approximately $2.5 million. This includes 20 neighborhood bus routes for students living within the boundary, because when you have a new school, you need new routes, and 11 depot routes to serve students that voluntarily opt in from outside the boundary during the transition period.

[03:26:53] The depot model is a deliberate strategy to reduce costs, limit the number of additional drivers, and address the ongoing bus driver shortage while still providing transportation access for opt-in students. It also allows us to provide choice during this transition while maintaining a fiscally responsible and operationally sustainable transportation system the associated costs have been built in to be absorbed by the current fy 27 budget this infographic on the next page the team worked really hard to try to find something that could be simple to explain the phasing for the three school years

[03:27:32] i hope that it is more simple than what we previously had in terms of vhsl and i appreciate Mr. Horne still being here tonight. In school years 26-27 students will play at their base school and afternoon transportation will be provided. In 27-28 students will transition to Skyview teams. On the bottom right of the graphic you can see that the transportation model would be traditional neighborhood bus stops for students living within the boundary and depot stops for students

[03:28:07] outside the bank. In terms of VHSL eligibility, this is the three-year plan on the slide in front of you. In year one, Skyview High School will not be a VHSL member. However, students will be able to participate in VHSL athletics and activities at their base school. In year two, Skyview High School becomes a VHSL member school and students attending Skyview will participate in VHSL athletics and activities at skyview in year three skyview high schools vhsl rules remain unchanged

[03:28:42] and hopefully our sports fields are scheduled for completion tonight we hosted a public hearing prior to the regular board meeting and i've shared the recommended phasing plan and transportation plan previously on june 25th it has not changed the board will now consider the recommendation take action um on this phasing and transportation plan so i think uh the chair this concludes my presentation uh and i'm happy to take any questions the board may have and we have

[03:29:19] uh staff here also to answer questions okay i call on miss mirin for a motion oh i'm sorry never mind i'm reading the wrong item i call on mr moon for a motion do you make a motion first instead of asking questions yes let's go ahead and make the motion i don't want to use on my that's three minutes for asking questions you'll make the motion sure thank you everybody will get their piece all right thank you uh i move that the school would approve phase-in transportation

[03:29:56] plan for skyview high school for the 20 20 27 28 school year and beyond is there a second i second miss jermoon would you like to speak to your motion okay before i speak on my motion i have I have a couple of questions to ask first, Mr. Weiss-Sherman.

[03:30:13] Dr. Reid, the first question goes to with phasing. We have just established a boundary for Skyview. So, for example, for a freshman, rising freshman, living within the boundary can opt out to go to a different high school, correct?

[03:30:38] - This year, yes, sir. - Upcoming 26, 27. In the following year, following year as a sophomore, students can still opt out. Yes, sir. But the year following as a junior will not be able to opt out.

[03:30:55] Is that the way I should understand the chart? I believe so. Because 28, 29 seems to be in all, I call this color sort of reddish. Right, yes, sir. Like no more opt out.

[03:31:12] So if you are living in the boundary, if you're a rising freshman or sophomore, because this applies to sophomore as well, that if they are thinking that they can opt out for four years until graduate, that's not the case.

[03:31:29] I will defer to Mr. Smith on that level of specificity. So if we could go to slide three, that would be helpful. I think that some of that nuance is there in slide three.

[03:31:48] Yeah, I'm looking at slide number three. Sky, Skyview High School phasing, rising freshmen, 26, 27 can opt out, no problem whatsoever. Then year following, the rising freshmen will become rising sophomore, can opt out.

[03:32:11] 28, 29, that person, the student is going to be a rising junior. Looking at the chart, it is red. You cannot opt out. That is correct. The students who are in red will not be able to opt out. The boundary will have been set.

[03:32:27] When you look at the students in the 27-28 school year, that ninth grader may choose to not enroll in Skyview and opt out because, again, for educational reasons, if there aren't programs in place for that student in that ninth grade, they can remain in their base school.

[03:32:50] But in the year 28-29, if you live within the Skyview boundary, you shall attend Skyview. - Okay, understood. The next question has to do with the transportation. Same thing, same thing. Students living in, now within the Sky V boundary we established, that student is gonna, if that student opts out, how do you provide the transportation?

[03:33:15] Or do we not provide the transportation according to your plan? Because I don't see that anywhere. At least it's not clear to me anywhere. - In that first year, in that ninth grade year, for those students opting out, are still buses going back to the base schools because you have 11th and 12th graders who are not at skyview so because those buses are still going back to their base schools that ninth grade student could ride a bus in the neighborhood back to their base school uh because there are still

[03:33:48] seniors and bus service would be available uh for the following year students within the boundary but opting out, they are going to be 10th and 11th graders that are you providing with the transportation because seniors will be guaranteed at transportation to opt out.

[03:34:11] Is that the plan? Your chart on your slide does not say anything about that. I know my colleagues in transportation have costed this out, and so they may be able to provide a bit more clarity in terms of what either depot stops look like or providing busing for students.

[03:34:36] We know that for students who are transferring, those students would find their own transportation based on our transfer policy. But it's not the transfer case. I'm talking about students who are permitted to opt out based upon the plan.

[03:34:52] I think the opt-out permitters are still going to be provided transportation as long as there are still seniors that we're transporting to the base schools. And the opting out ends when the senior class gets to Skyview.

[03:35:12] So it sort of coincides. There's no more opt-out after the last seniors. So to make it just a clear, students who have a right to opt out according to a plan will be given transportation.

[03:35:30] Yes, sir, because the opt-out ends at the same time the senior transportation back ends, and once that's over, it's over. Okay, I just wanted to make clear. Yes, sir. Actually, I understand now. Okay, thank you. That's what I am.

[03:35:45] That was your speech to the motion? That was not a speech to the motion. Would you like to speak to your motion? Okay, if I'm allowed, I can. I don't know whether it's a speech, but just wanted to thank, you know, all the time and episodes you put in to come up with this. I'd just like to speak to your motion because you were first on the list anyway.

[03:36:02] You can speak to your motion. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. I'm happy to make this motion, which I made. And I wanted to thank Dr. Reed and other staff members, because this is very complicated. And when you are adding VHSL eligibility, that makes it even more complicated.

[03:36:20] But we have this. As a person who is very passionate, who is passionate about providing transportation, I'm glad to hear what you said. So with that, I'm hoping that my colleagues will support this motion. Ms. Tixit, would you like to speak to your second? Yes, and I have a couple of questions too, Dr. Reed.

[03:36:40] So I support the motion, but I wanted to know a little bit about the sibling situation. If you could guide, if somebody has a child in Westfield, another, sorry, one kid in Chantilly and the other one is still in elementary or middle school, But they want to go there in Chantilly as a high school.

[03:37:04] Or same vice versa for Westfield. They don't want to go to Skyview. So I'm going to ask Mr. Smith to talk to the sibling rules with regard to transfer. Mr. Smith? Sure, and I'm pulling up the regulation. It's regulation 2230 is our transfer regulation.

[03:37:23] And within regulation 2230, there is the ability for siblings to request a transfer. And again, it's based on a variety of factors, and it's based on space available, but there is the ability for students to request a transfer. - So I've heard this for more than a few families right now.

[03:37:41] Some want to stay in Westfield, even though they're rebounders to Skyview, and also some who are rebounder to Westfield, and they're going to Chantilly, and the parent who talked today as well at the end, last public speaker, mentioned there's two kids in Chantilly, and would like to continue for that reason I was asking that question.

[03:38:05] So, and the second thing I wanted to ask that we are giving the Skyview grandfathering or I should say phase in and next year it is still, ninth grade is, boundaries affect for ninth grade and for not for 10th and 11th, for 27th, 28th school year.

[03:38:27] Can we do the same for our other high school? give that flexibility to the other schools as well just like skyview that would be that would be something we're gonna have to study in terms of the impact about about that at this point because the flexibility is intended because we're not going to have the breadth of programs and we won't be a VHSL school right and the other schools are all VHSL schools and have that full

[03:39:03] 9 through 12 breadth of program but we can certainly take a look at what flexibility is possible. I mean not just sports is one thing there is other programming which you're already planning to go to this school because of this particular program and then they and Skyview will slowly get to up to speed. I think Skyview has a great potential for people who want to go to specialized pathways and I see great success in that but then not all students see themselves going into the specialized pathway and they would like to stay so I just wanted to put that across if it could be given a one more

[03:39:42] year of flexibility well I think we can take a look at flexibility I the good news is with another high school with six pyramids instead of five the transferability should increase because schools should be less crowded right and And as long as, again, when there's an intended transfer, transportation's not provided, just as it isn't anywhere in the division when it's a transfer request, I do think having six pyramids instead of five will provide more, maybe, I would hope, more flexibility for student transfer requests to be granted.

[03:40:20] Thank you so much, Dr. E. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Barron. Regarding slide three. So could it be, is it true that for the colors that are orange, and apologies if anyone is colorblind, but for the colors that are orange, green, and that lime yellow, that transportation is provided in some form, whether it's a neighborhood, a stop, or a depot, basically anything that's not red.

[03:40:55] That is correct. Well, that's wonderful. That's really a relief because this wasn't how it was happening previously when we did the comprehensive review. So that's wonderful. I also appreciate having the cost right here.

[03:41:12] This is all an improvement of the information and how it went down with the comprehensive. I just want to share an anecdote about VHSL. I happened to be at the Athletic Council meeting last night and there was a lot of interest throughout Skyview and when it's going to come online for VHSL. And I shared that I heard from two parents yesterday and one said, please advance as fast as you can to get the school into VHSL so the kid can play and another parent said no why don't you wait until it gets you know a full team and then enter vhsl so like just an example that you know people have different different wants but

[03:41:46] the fact of the matter is once we once we are in school like it has to commence like we can't delay it so um i know that that's going to be something that we're going to be learning about how to bring a school on board with a full athletic um experience so i am eager to support this thank you Thank you.

[03:42:06] Dr. Anderson. Thank you. A couple of weeks ago, I had asked about the enrollment of Skyview, and there were a couple of numbers that were floated. Do we have what the numbers we're expecting? Because I imagine all of the moves are now closed, maybe, question mark.

[03:42:24] Well, they're not completely closed because people are still moving in, right? Sure, sure. We still have brand-new families coming to schools. So what is that number? I think we were in between seven-something and eight-something last time. I think we're just over 800 at the moment. Okay, so still around at 826. Yeah, we're still hovering.

[03:42:40] And remember, with just over 800, we also have opened our WSI classes in the pool as a quasi-academy, so that will allow students from other schools to join that program because of the swimming pool, right, and then the ability to learn and get certified to be a lifeguard.

[03:43:00] But they won't count towards the school's capacity because they'll just be dropping in. No, but it'll just be more students potentially traffic and so forth. OK, thank you. And being that the boundary was just approved five minutes ago, you don't have any information regarding how many students are in boundary and out of boundary yet.

[03:43:18] I do not have that. If we could get that, that would be very helpful because it will give some context. Lastly, I do appreciate the fact that, as Miss Marin put it, everybody who's in whether you're in yellow or green or red on slide three, you'll receive transportation.

[03:43:38] yes ma'am and so students who are taking advantage of opportunities that we provide are going to be transported I would be remiss if I didn't draw the parallel we have other students who are taking advantage of opportunities we provide without transportation I'm going to support this because I don't think we need to take away from one group in order to give to the other I think we just need to spread the wealth and be consistent in terms of how we approach our students. Yes ma'am. Mr. Dunn. I was just wondering if you have any updates on the FRM

[03:44:17] percentages before and after of the affected high schools. We do not yet. Okay do you anticipate having that for the Friday letter? It's taking some time because we have the intersectionality of CEP schools as well so at the elementary level that we are trying to roll up but we will certainly work to get that in the next couple weeks. I thought I looked and there were

[03:44:46] weren't any CEP schools? Elementary schools. Okay. In the western region. Thank you. Ms. Meeren for a go back. Yeah I just want to be sure I spoke correctly and on the map basically really it's everyone in red plus the green and the lime green in terms of people who students who are moving right. So the students in orange it's not in effect but they will basically is everybody on this chart here going to get a bus. Okay it's not just the ones that I

[03:45:21] articulated. Well what I would say is not everybody has the same type of routing. Correct. Because some are neighborhood and some are depots. Right and I articulated earlier I was honing in on the phasing the ones who were being phased because that has been the point that hasn't been complete. So all in all all the students are getting some form of transportation including those who are phasing or who opt to stay at their base school. Yes ma'am and that's consistent with the high school aspect of the division-wide. Okay I do just want to underscore this does follow our boundary policy but we're approaching this differently than we just approached the

[03:45:57] comprehensive because the comprehensive review originally you had proposed only to bus the seniors and then we lobbied to have more of the boundary policy fulfilled which was the 10th and 11th graders and we're moving more kids here but the board again just rejected the effort we're not consistent i mean to my colleagues we are not consistent we are saying busing is okay for these

[03:46:27] kiddos and not for the comprehensive i think that's really a problem okay seeing no others i'll call for the vote yes miss anderson all in favor miss anderson mr frisch miss mirror mr moon Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunning, myself and Robin, Ms. Lady, and Ms. Lady.

[03:47:01] That's unanimous. Okay, agenda item 7.06, secondary mathematics, basal instruction resources. I call on Dr. Reed for a presentation. Thank you, Vice Chair McDaniel. Dr. Presidio and members of the math team are have really done the work here and shepherded the process to bring us this recommendation tonight so Dr.

[03:47:30] Presidio all right well thank you Dr. Reed and good evening everyone we're excited to share our math basal resource adoption plan for middle school and high schools with you this evening I'm joined by Ellen McKay right here our Director of Curriculum and Instruction and I think Dr. Amy Hunter might still be online if she hasn't fallen asleep already to join us as well virtually but we're definitely happy right up front to be able to announce that this adoption for middle school and high school basal math materials is going to include

[03:48:04] hard copy textbooks for every one of our students so we know there's a lot of support for that and that's great it's taken us a long time to get here you know as you'll recall this adoption has been a lengthy process it began back in the fall of 2024 with the release of an rfp and in school year 2425 our resource review committee met numerous times we're going to go on to the next slide if you don't mind met numerous times to develop an adoption recommendation

[03:48:41] Unfortunately, we were not able to identify a product that met all of our instructional needs, including things like hard copy textbooks and also fit within our fiscal constraints. So we did decide to postpone purchasing any new materials in school year twenty five, twenty six.

[03:48:57] But we did utilize that purchasing delay as an opportunity to pilot some materials last school year. Those pilot results, however, were really not compelling enough to warrant automatic adoption at that time. So we did decide to reconvene our resource review committee in the spring of 2026 and we reviewed additional products from the VDOE state approved list. Additionally those materials were also part of a public review process this spring and some of those materials were also part of the public

[03:49:31] review process in 2025. So we're excited to have strong consensus from both our resource review committee and our community input sessions on the two vendors that we've selected, which are SAVAS and VISION for our middle school courses through Algebra II, and then Cengage for our high school courses past Algebra II.

[03:49:51] So if we could go on to the next slide. We wanted to just share just a few highlights about the materials that we think really fit well with our instructional needs. So first, as we've already mentioned, students are going to receive hard copy textbooks.

[03:50:07] They're very engaging. include a lot of additional helpful features that we really believe are going to support student learning outcomes. The materials are also very tightly aligned with the required VDOE standards of learning and they're very teacher friendly and support teacher planning needs. The lesson layout is very clear, it's easy to follow and the materials really do support differentiation of the variety of different learners that we have in our school system. So for example there's a lot of support options for multilingual learners which we find very very exciting and then finally the print materials do include some

[03:50:42] supplemental resources that can be used either in school or at home to support individualized student learning needs we are grateful as we move to the next slide for everybody who participated in the public review process the feedback that we received from our parents from our teachers and other community members was very helpful in shaping our final adoption recommendations Through the public review, our community emphasized the need for direct SOL alignment and robust support for diverse learners.

[03:51:14] Our community members also voiced a strong desire for lessons rooted in real-world applications to make learning more meaningful. And then, of course, the biggest takeaway from the community feedback was a strong preference for hard copy textbooks with a lot of our community members really noting that those physical textbooks really do reduce digital distractions and make it a lot easier parents to be able to support student learning needs at home as well so yeah there you go so we're excited to be able to honor those requests on this slide what you'll note is our final adoption recommendations by grade level or by

[03:51:50] course and the associated publisher for each of those you'll notice particularly dr. Anderson that we've included our three six in the middle schools for sixth grade adoption as part of this process due to the unique grade level configurations there and then of course all students will receive those hardcopy texts there are digital supplemental resources that can be used to support individualized learning needs as necessary but they are not part of the core program and then of course a successful curriculum adoption definitely relies heavily on a strong implementation plan we're very excited that

[03:52:28] our vendors have been great to work with they're fully invested in our success and we've established a clear timeline to guarantee that our classrooms are really equipped and our staffs prepared on the first day of the new school year so we're going to be working very closely with our vendors on August 19th to provide intensive vendor-led professional development and training for all of our teachers alongside the immediate distribution of the resources and then most importantly our contract does guarantee accountability well beyond the initial implementation year so our vendors are bound to provide that ongoing coaching

[03:53:05] and support throughout the seven-year life cycle of this adoption term so mr vice chair that concludes our presentation we'd be happy to address any questions board members might have thank you i call miss mirin for a motion sorry mr mcdaniel if there are questions about the presentation we should do that before we go to a motion we can do that mr dannon and mr dannon um no i uh i want to ask do we have a copy of these textbooks here by chance going lm i should

[03:53:45] have asked that earlier i have them in my office i'd be happy to bring them over to the board office i could do that tomorrow i never made i never made my way over to to check them out in person and but i had some constituents that had messaged about going to check them out and um confirming that they were so um i i know this is a lot of work i want to thank the folks that sat on the committee and i recognize that there were some constraints that unfortunately weren't um you know ideal but you all worked through this for several years to get to this place um i'm excited to go into a classroom and actually get the touch of film it's the way i learned math where most of us learn math maybe not mr mcdaniel but um is the younger one i don't know um but

[03:54:23] again i appreciate all the other work you did to put this together um and um looking forward to seeing these next thank you miss tixit so this is so exciting um growing up i we always read uh did math with the textbook, and that's the memory I hold.

[03:54:43] Till now, if I do math, I need my book. I cannot do it on the computer screen. And when my son was in, I guess, middle school, and he had an algebra 2 book, algebra 2 honors, Rocky Run, and he said, my book is online. I'm like, what do you mean it's online?

[03:54:59] He's like, that's how we have. And as a mother of an ADHD child, it was very hard for him to track the papers and worksheets and bring them home and then return it to the school. And I just really, really like that there is a workbook and a textbook.

[03:55:20] So that way the students can do their work and obviously there will be additional work they can do separately too. So math is all about doing the problem solving, doing it on the paper. That's how the math is learned. And I've done math in college, so I know. And I've read all those things which is listed here and maybe more.

[03:55:39] So I really appreciate the work behind this and the investment in this. This is the money. That's where we should spend our money is in getting the textbook to students. And I appreciate this doing. But I did want to ask you, could this be done in-house?

[03:55:55] Could we have come up with a curriculum on our own or created it ourselves? Well, it's really important that we have curriculum that is aligned, obviously, to the state standards. It's also very important that we have curriculum that is really reflection of the, you know, evidence-based and research-based for, you know, effective instructional strategies.

[03:56:20] So there are times that we supplement core text, but we really feel that we need to have that core anchor text to have fidelity of implementation, consistency, coherence across all of our classrooms. If we provide something that's completely made in-house, then there's a lot of room perhaps to be able to modify that, and it might not necessarily meet all the needs that we've got for all of the learners in all of our schools.

[03:56:42] So we really are trying to have core materials and supplement them where we might need to do so. Okay, thank you. I think I'm done with my questions now. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Thank you.

[03:56:57] Just to clarify, every student is going to get an individual textbook. That's correct. Kind of like the olden days where you write your name on the side and then you get to carry it back and forth. Well, you are going to have to carry it back and forth. That is true. Yes, that's true. I just want to make sure that, you know, this is exciting because I do think having a textbook come home is going to be such a help to the parents just to understand how can I help my child.

[03:57:22] But, you know, they will have to carry it back and forth. And I appreciate the attention to our sixth grade students in the middle very, very much. Just a couple of questions regarding some of the things that were posted. Attachment C for SAVAS, is that how we're saying that?

[03:57:40] Yes. SAVAS, it says here that it is, I'm looking, I lost it. It says that it's aligned, there it is, it's aligned to the standards of learning. For Cengage, which is some of the higher level classes, it says there's a correlation to the Virginia standards.

[03:58:03] Is this just a haphazard use of terms, or are we conveying that the correlation is less connected to the Virginia standards, because that's how I'm reading it? It's mostly semantics, but, you know, some of those advanced courses beyond calculus, for example, we don't have as much guidance from the state because we offer a lot of courses that many school divisions around the state don't offer or offer as frequently as we do.

[03:58:32] So there's more information and more alignment at the grade levels below some of those advanced courses. And that's Cengage is for our more advanced courses in high school. Okay, thank you. Also on that page, you have what is going to be centrally purchased, which is essentially everything that is for grade 6 through algebra.

[03:58:53] And you have school-based purchase. What does that mean? Does that mean the schools are going to have to? That's how we do our purchasing for, again, the more advanced courses at high school that vary from school to school. Schools receive a textbook allocation as part of their baseline budget.

[03:59:12] That's all part of, obviously, how we consider textbook adoption funds. There's central funds and then there's school-based funds. Those schools are making some of those school-based decisions for those high school elective classes. But those decisions are not discretionary. No, no, no. Yeah, any student enrolled in those courses receives books.

[03:59:30] Okay, thank you. One of the things that I know that occurred in the math adoption were some pilots. Were Savas or Cengage piloted?

[03:59:47] We piloted MathSpace and McGraw-Hill, so no. So the pilots... And those pilots were just for Algebra I at a few middle schools. Okay. So the texts that were piloted ended up not being the ones that are being recommended for adoption.

[04:00:04] That's curious. Can you say a little bit more? Well, I think there was a couple factors. One, the pilot was a shorter pilot, right? It wasn't even a full year-long pilot. But what we did determine is that we didn't see compelling results, which required us then to take a step back and open up our review process to additional publishers as part of the VDOE state-approved list.

[04:00:30] And then when we went through that process again with all of our user requirements, particularly the requirement to have hard copy text, we found vendors that fit our needs better. Do we feel that those students who were in that pilot forever long were at a disadvantage instructionally?

[04:00:47] No, I don't think that they were at a disadvantage at all. It's just that we didn't see anything that hit it out of the park in terms of additional opportunities with those particular materials. Okay, thank you. And lastly, what is the timeline now for the elementary math materials?

[04:01:03] Well, we're going to have to evaluate all of our adoption needs with our fiscal constraints for next school year. But we're going to be looking at an elementary adoption process. We hope to be able to complete that in FY27, school year 26-27.

[04:01:20] dr anderson i would ask dr presidio one of the things i asked the department to do because we weren't able to make a decision yet on elementary to put together some paper workbooks so i do and dr hunter's online i know that they're they've spent quite a little bit of time putting together resources because it's really important that the children have that tactile text so even though we couldn't purchase textbooks yet uh we did i know so i would ask you to speak to

[04:01:55] that dr presidio or dr hunter yeah i mean um if dr hunter wants to jump in she's she's welcome to do so but her team's done a great job uh really curating a lot of additional print materials so that we can make sure that we do have hard copy materials for all of our elementary students this year while we contemplate running an adoption process during the school year that also avoids the teachers having to make so many copies that's right and it also provides for some consistency so I think dr. hunter is unmuted yeah sorry I wasn't sure if I should jump in so yeah we're very excited about the two new

[04:02:31] resources that will be providing an elementary we'll have a practice work book and we'll also have an in-class journal workbook that students will be capturing their thinking on so we're excited about those two additional resources for elementary thank you i think that was my time but do we still have pilots going on at elementary no so many pilots mr frisch thank you i want to start by warning children do not write your names in the books uh please consult with your parents about how to cover your book

[04:03:07] with a paper bag or or a book cover um we all remember what it was like to have physical textbooks so but do not write your name in the book itself all right that being said um actually Dr. Presidio I think you've undersold the tremendous nature of us arriving at this moment right the last couple years we have scaffolded rigor in elementary school mathematics to ensure that students are properly prepared for algebra at earlier years we've piloted algebra in sixth grade across the school division we've increased the number of uh students taking algebra by eighth grade by 30

[04:03:46] points give or take across the division we're in the high 80s now in terms of students percentage wise again that's a civil rights indicator um and now text physical textbooks which should only add uh to the success of those efforts um you know and the higher the percentage goes the harder it is to eke out improvement right so around the edges these kinds of changes matter even more i'm eager to know what's next i know dr reed has talked about something i'm supportive of even though i was a horrible math student in middle and high school it was an intel college

[04:04:25] that i got the hang of it um dr reed has talked a bit about uh requiring algebra trig for graduation which is something that is expected in 40 plus states across the country but not here in virginia what's next for us well i'm not going to get out in front of the board or get out in front of dr reid but i i will say i appreciate the comments and shining a light on the great work that the math team is doing uh dr hunter and her team and ms mckay are just amazing we couldn't be prouder of the work that they're doing and we'll continue to to innovate and push forward as much as we can

[04:05:02] i've had the opportunity to be in eighth grade classrooms where algebra is being taught and seeing the success of students being engaged by their educators I think the physical textbooks will have will reap dividends for that work and I look forward to seeing them in action not unlike when we brought in new basal materials for language arts to enhance our literacy instruction so and before people like get ahead of it it's going to take a while for these

[04:05:39] materials to begin having the impact we all want them to have and for that to be reflected in the test scores that will measure the success you want to speak to that at all well again I don't know how far we want to go down that road but it's a critical investment at this time particularly now that the state board of education is moving forward with implementation of the new cut scores starting in 26 27 we've got to have evidence-based high quality instructional materials in front of all of our students and that's a you know a core function of what we need to provide our teachers

[04:06:13] to ensure student success so it's really more important now than ever thank you miss anderson and then mr dunn so i am absolutely thrilled about this um and just as i was so i'm extremely grateful because we had a very similar conversation last year related or last year the year before related to social study materials and so i was sad when we had to table that because of budget issues so i'm extremely grateful um when we were talking about some of the things related to social studies and I'm not going to repeat the same question that Dr. Anderson had is but we had

[04:06:50] talked about having class sets so that it was less wear and tear on books and things like that so I understand that we may not be in the financial position to be able to do that right now what I would ask though is that you make sure that you talk to high school principals about the fact that they need to issue lockers for kids that want them because what is happening is that oftentimes the kids are being told that they can't have them unless there's some other reason that they would need one and so we're going to need to figure out how to put some of those processes back in place to make sure kids are ready and maybe then we can actually get them to wear coats again you'll never know um but but i just am i'm keeping these things

[04:07:29] in mind because there are very practical implications to having textbooks that many of our children have never faced before and so it'll be very interesting to see how that plays out now the benefit is is it's not seven textbooks which is how it was every day when i was growing up because we weren't on block scheduling yet so this will help with that a little bit but there is an impact if we keep going to back to the textbooks which is i'm extremely grateful for so great work here thank you thank you and we'll definitely work on that mr dunn thank you well uh all of my best lines have been taken by my colleagues um i guess the next thing we'll bring

[04:08:08] bring back is trapper keepers um uh loved my trapper keeper um denim was great yeah so yeah i'd mentioned last meeting we definitely need to maybe mr gordon can halt the removal of lockers because there's still a lot of middle schools and high schools taking lockers out but we don't want to have to put lockers in um and make sure lockers are clean and not who knows what's in there because they probably haven't been open since before the pandemic um but building on my colleagues comments about social studies so what uh this is so exciting that as a history major my first question is what

[04:08:44] are we doing about social studies well as i as i kind of mentioned a moment ago we've got a number of adoptions coming up in limited fiscal resources so we're going to have to assess and prioritize and that's something that we'll be working on with dr reid this year but social studies is one of the areas that we have in the queue along with elementary math yeah well teaching accurate and comprehensive history is super important uh so uh that that should definitely be a high priority

[04:09:19] and i'm i'm sure it's your priority as well um uh yeah and definitely caring for the books that's definitely a life skill that um along with writing checks and things like that that we have not done a long time so thank you so much thank you dr anderson for a go back yeah um in terms of the middle schoolers for the grade 6 component now we have the grade 6 math and grade 7 kind of combination in many of our advanced courses yes for advanced

[04:09:54] math 6 students are basically learning the math 7 curriculum so it's not really a lot of grade 6 no okay because I was just making sure that we weren't needing to have two sets of textbooks for advanced students no okay can you also refresh our memory what is the total investment here so we're still in finalizing the contract negotiations but there is posted to board docs an estimate of what we think that expenditure is gonna be I just want to make sure that our students know this is a lot of money don't lose these books

[04:10:27] it is multi-million dollar investment yes thank you okay thank you I'm gonna call for the vote oh that's right we need a motion call us here for a motion the school board approves the titles listed for the secondary mathematics basal instructional resources as recommended by the review committee and FCPS staff. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Mirren, would you like to speak to your motion? This is very exciting. Mr. Dunn,

[04:11:03] would you like to speak to your motion? Traffic keepers. Okay, all in favor, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunning, and Ms. Lady. That's unanimous. Thank you very much. Okay, I am unfortunately in the position of not being able to get up from this seat unless there is a recess and I need to get up from this seat for five minutes so five minute recess until and then

[04:11:39] we'll go right into the various motions five minutes board members please return to your seats

[04:17:52] members please return to your seats okay we're going to go ahead and get started again and before

[04:19:09] we move on to action item 7.07 I did want to I was reminded that tonight is the last night of someone who has served Fairfax County and Fairfax County Public Schools for 32 years, and I want to take a moment to recognize and thank Marty Smith for his time at FCPS.

[04:19:35] You want to go back, Marty, or are we good? Okay. I call on Ms. Mirren for a motion.

[04:19:55] I move the Fairfax County School Board to direct the superintendent to prohibit the FCPS-issued laptops and tablets for students enrolled in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten commencing in school year 2026-2027 except for students who require access to and use of such devices for individualized education plans, 504 plans, translation purposes, or multilingual education support. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Mirren, would you like to speak to your motion? Our job is to lead the school division and direct the superintendent and not the other way around. I don't want to wait to be told what to do when we already know the clear and present harm that excessive and inconsistent

[04:20:33] in technology use is doing to our children. The research is there, and so if we tell the superintendent to fix it, she will do it. If we're not willing to lead, then we have no reason to be up here. I trusted my ability to make this decision after reading dozens of books and articles about the impacts of technology. Test scores are down. Writing is lacking for incoming college students. Mental health suffers. Children lose social and cognitive skills. These things happen because children are glued to screens that are unregulated and meant to be addictive, rather than using basic developmental tools like pen and paper,

[04:21:10] crayons and pencils, and face-to-face interactions. Children have their entire lives to learn how to use a computer. There is only one shot at being a child while developing through face-to-face interactions, and it's developmentally appropriate not to use devices. I also was listening to the first meeting of the Education Review Council. Pardon me, I didn't get the name correctly, correct but what was interesting about the meeting is that a presentation was given of the history of how devices came to be in fcps starting with 2014 the fcps on initiative and

[04:21:47] when i got onto the board in 2020 we were in the midst of deciding whether we should roll out devices to middle school they didn't roll out to high school there was a lot of debate and 24 and then um middle school we were in the midst of start of covid we ordered laptops Well, that plan was being implemented, and at that time, the educators were learning how to use devices.

[04:22:07] And elementary school was going to be next to learn that, have that professional development. But guess what I learned? Devices were not on the plan for kindergarten and pre-K. So the division has never planned to use devices for the youngest students.

[04:22:26] So that, to me, sealed the absolute deal that we have got to get these addictive devices out of our children's hands for the youngest grades at the very least. I certainly hope that my colleagues will support this. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dunn, would you like to speak to your second?

[04:22:45] Yes. You know, I don't think there's been a time in my life when I've looked at a 3-, 4-, or 5-year-old and said, you know what that kid really needs? A tablet, right? Kids need to play outside. They need to learn how to hold scissors.

[04:23:02] They need to learn how to use their imagination. They need to know how to exist in this world and spend time with their peers and learn socially, learn emotionally. And while AI and many of these innovations are great in many ways, we need to introduce them to the real world and all the facets of it.

[04:23:26] and what an amazing world it is that exists and how much there is to explore especially through individual creativity and entrepreneurial type activities learning to not be afraid learning to get up and keep going these are values you learn on an athletic field these are values that you learn from your family from your community and what we do know is that it's not just three four and five-year-olds who should not be tied to an electronic device so many hours a day so many

[04:24:01] days a week it's also older children through elementary school and beyond and while I would personally prefer to you know you know much broader scope to this motion up through at least second grade I don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good I want to make sure that we can make you know progress starting this coming school year and then have a foundation upon which we can build in the coming years what i know is that there is no evidence that despite the utopian visions that we were sold by google so many years ago that put a chromebook into every child's hand and wow what

[04:24:37] an amazing future we'll have instead we'll have kids who are now addicted to youtube and watch ads for from politicians all day long we know that social media is causing anxiety ADHD and other distractions. Making people feel worse about themselves rather than better about themselves. So if you take all of that away you end up with healthier, more physically active, more mature, better developed human beings. And at the end of the day that's what it's about. It's about oral language and vocabulary acquisition, fine motor skill development, social emotional regulation, and really achieving early literacy through the best and the only way

[04:25:16] to achieve literacy and that's with books because books are the best thing that was ever invented by our good friend gutenberg in the 1500s so um i really do believe that based on all of the evidence that exists the american academy of pediatrics the american federation of teachers and a recent education week survey all of the evidence points to we need to get the electronic devices out of the hands of our three four and five year olds and eventually maybe older children as well but this is a great starting point it follows in the footsteps of other districts including Arlington and foreign countries that have already pioneered this work so I look forward to

[04:25:53] supporting and working collaborating with my colleagues to make sure that we can protect our children from the perils of electronic devices at too early of an age thank you thank you Dr. Anderson I'd be remiss to not point out that we just voted on math textbooks and everybody celebrated the book and so this is an opportunity to really follow that up with a similarly consistent message which is to just reduce the dependence

[04:26:26] on digital materials particularly for the age group that is here I shared this with mr. done when he first began to talk about this I do not think this goes far enough because first graders are still six years old and should also have the same kind of protections that are provided to the three and four and five year olds as well as our seven year olds there's some space here to grow so I will just leave that there I also want to point out that it's important to

[04:27:02] emphasize that there are some there is some flexibility built into this because we do know we have some our students who use devices for communication this is not mean this is not intended to take that away from them. There are some students who are needing their devices for to help them access the language that they don't yet have proficiency in and this is not going to take that away from them. Although I would argue that to learn English you need to be speaking English not just listening to it from a device. You need to converse with someone else.

[04:27:40] So I am pretty excited to make this move and hoping that we will have support for it. Thank you. Mr. Moon. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. I am excited to support this.

[04:27:57] Before I vote yes, however, I would like to ask some questions to Dr. Reed. Dr. Reed, as you know, that this board, a couple of meetings ago, decided to have ETRC established.

[04:28:13] And we did, in fact, board members appoint our appointees onto that committee to work with you. We have seven technology-related motions tonight. What do you think will be the impact on the work of ETRC if all of these motions pass tonight?

[04:28:44] Well, I mean, I think the development and the identification for the need for an ETRC was really visionary on the part of the board. I think any time that you can bring together community members and staff, teachers, principals, we have central office staff, students, parents, to work around challenges, we're going to get better solutions, right?

[04:29:17] So I think that's a core tenet. And I'm excited about that. I didn't have a chance to stop by the first meeting, but I know Mr. Sethi and Dr. Presidio are working hard to create space for really robust conversations. I think that any time we are talking about decisions that are going to impact children and educators and classrooms, it's important to have that shared conversation. So I think even though all of these motions are going to likely have some impact on the work it's important that the committee I

[04:29:52] think have an opportunity to connect particularly on the use or the prohibition of use whichever way we're going because I think that when we say that we're going to move in a different direction just as this evening we talked about math textbooks that's going to be a shift for teachers and educators who for the last decade or so or more in Fairfax County have not used textbooks right so I think that having that group at least have the opportunity to have at least a couple conversations about those shifts is part of a really healthy

[04:30:32] change management process so that we can really be thoughtful as we're now going to turn and communicate to 200 schools right and who are responsible for essentially 180,000 children, that here is our shift, and here's why, and here's what we're going to do instead, and here's why, right?

[04:30:54] Because we really want to ensure a sustainable path forward that all of us are on the same page to the degree possible. And I think any time a committee has a chance to dialogue about that, and I've read some of the backgrounds of the people you've put on the committee, and it's quite impressive, really.

[04:31:16] So I just think any time we have an opportunity to have that conversation, I think it can be really helpful. And it can only enhance, I think, the potential for success of whatever the decision is. Okay, thank you, Dr. Ian. Yes, sir. You know, I'm not going to predict or prejudge the outcomes on all these seven motions tonight.

[04:31:37] You know, however they come out, what I'm hoping is, you know, ETLC, you working with ETLC, will do its work. because, you know, we gave some missions. We gave certain mandates the ETRC should be working on and continue working on, and even after we, the board makes a decision on these motions, if the ETRC feels that themes that it is worth their time to invest some time to look at some of the decisions we made and to further refine our decisions,

[04:32:15] and if there's anything, any recommendations, ETS can bring to us as a recommendation, I think you should not be hesitating to bring those to us. So with that said, to my colleagues, I'm going to listen very carefully.

[04:32:33] I'll be supporting this motion, but on all the motions, I'll be listening very carefully to see whether, you know, by supporting these motions, we're not really disrespecting the work of the committee that we have just established put the people on you know we all got dozens of applications and we could only select one best one for each one of us and i do not want to undercut their work i don't want to prejudge all their work from the get-go but i'm here willing to listen but i'm

[04:33:11] supporting this motion thank you mr danon good evening almost good morning um just just briefly I'm really glad my colleagues brought this forward and I'm really supportive of it you know I'm usually with any kind of operational change I try to be really mindful about the impacts right because we've got teachers that are on summer break coming back in a month but you know not wanting to surprise them with anything that's going to cause undue burden but having spoken with a lot of teachers and principals and others they support these kind of changes right and a lot of them are working towards that end so I did have a couple questions along that lines if you

[04:33:47] all can just speak to the some of the one of the things that I heard came up came up a lot with Some teachers were like, we only use these for the minimum amount of time. And that was, I think, at the first grade level. Can you talk a little bit about the minimum amounts of time for Lexia and ST Math and maybe why those exist?

[04:34:04] Well, yes, sir, I can. I think one of the classic concerns at this point is that those minimums have been heretofore guidance. And I think that as with any guidance, right, there's a certain latitude to refine that guidance individually in a classroom or perhaps at a school or at a grade level.

[04:34:32] And I think what we've heard loud and clear is no longer can topics around technology in the classroom be guidance. It needs to be clear direction, right? So that's one shift I know that staff are talking about. If you want specific minutes, I can ask Dr. Presidio to talk about ST math and Lexia math, or ST math and Lexia reading.

[04:34:58] I'm not sure what some of the other, you know, elementary programs are, but Dr. Presidio can enumerate those. But there are recommended guidelines for the amount of time. I think some of the concerns have been raised because I understand that there's been more or less adherence to the guidance that's been provided.

[04:35:22] Can you talk a little bit about just what it looks like at those younger grades, I guess maybe working your way up from pre-K and first grade, second grade, what are the expectations? I think I skipped over kindergarten. What are the expectations around usage and also what are the alternatives? If a teacher doesn't want to use ST Math or we change the guidelines and they don't need use that anymore um what it's what are they able to use to teach with so i'm sorry i wasn't sure which grade levels you were requesting in terms of like what's the typical use like or the guidance

[04:35:53] use like for pre-k and kindergarten right now for pre-k and k i dr presidio yeah so the lexium language arts and st math personalized learning program usage is pretty minimal right like an hour a week it's going to vary depending on students if they need additional support if they're perhaps you know showing learning needs below grade level on assessments that they're taking but on average it would be around 60 minutes a week for Alexia 45 minutes a week for ST math but I think the the problem that

[04:36:31] we're starting to see is that the usage of devices creeps beyond those particular uses into things like using it during choice time or if you finished your activity you can get on the device and I think that you know there's a lot of spillover effect usage of the devices that really has not been intended and I think that's the bigger issue and the bigger challenge right now I do want to just clarify and thank you Dr. Presidio our educators are working really hard every day and doing everything that we know to do and doing it extraordinarily

[04:37:09] well here in Fairfax County and I know everybody on the staff behind me and the board and those in the audience would agree we have some of the best educators in the country so we're very proud of them and some of this transition that we're talking about indeed much of it is going to likely require some level of resourcing and support be it time with staff new ideas resources for different materials. So I just think we need to be cognizant of that because our, it's not, how do I say this,

[04:37:47] I think we are currently utilizing the time just as efficiently and effectively as humanly possible and I really want to think about ways, and that's part of the importance of the committee that Mr.

[04:38:04] was talking about making sure we have ways that when we are going to be directing less use of certain resources how are we going to then backfill the new resources or the new support because I know our educators are going to want to continue to do everything they can to support our our children I'll echo that too because I've spoken to educators that use it minimally don't use it at all so forth and they're all excellent educators you know they just have different ways using it so i think it's about being intentional um and it's funny because and i appreciate talking about the change management side of it and talking about this with my wife she's like you know it's

[04:38:41] like taking away gps from somebody but you have to give them a map or something else i'm just trying to be mindful like what else do you need from us to be able to fill the void and make sure our kids because what i don't want is to get to a scenario and this isn't going to happen from this motion i don't think but it's to get to a scenario where you know we remove devices or make action too quickly um and also have to call things back because test scores dropped right and so i'm just trying to be mindful of that and again that's why i'm excited for the for the committee's work i'm grateful for my colleagues to bring this forward um i want to ask too just given building up my colleagues um and my constituents uh questions um what uh given what the committee's been saying

[04:39:20] given the research and so forth you know what are your existing plans heading into um before this and then and assuming this passes um these existing plans for issuing devices at the kindergarten and then beyond those levels first grade second grade third grade do you anticipate any other changes just yourself through those or are you waiting for board direction on that i think that the really right now we're um relying on the etrc to um really be thoughtful about recommendations and right now we've got a number of topics queued up for them

[04:39:57] right we I think the priority one right now is making sure we have the opt-out process in place so for the beginning of the year because that was a recent board motion so we want to make sure that gets done we also want to make sure that the digital literacy curriculum that staff have worked on that we move that through the committee because August 19th is our only day that we have to really provide training for staff on that particular topic so we've got to have some vetting of that topic before August 19th or we're you know we're just

[04:40:36] not gonna have an opportunity to share that with staff so there's certain topics that are really queued up I think I would really appreciate the committee having an opportunity to just have a dialogue about the pre K K motion option and I think if the committee were to have an opportunity to do that we would certainly still not distribute devices to pre K and K you know until we had some finalization with regard to what the committee thought I really so in terms of further grades I think I would want to reserve comment until I

[04:41:15] i have a chance to visit with staff part of this is we want to make sure we phase this so we have some resources as the grades go up some resources to provide in lieu of what has been done right so that we're not um creating gaps for staff or educators in what they're able to do in the classroom appreciate that and i i'll just close by saying i've heard from some teachers really great suggestions for their colleagues and so forth about ways to especially teachers who've taught before one-to-one devices and all that and that are excited to go back to some of those methods and so forth so um i can't speak for the whole board but it's we're ready for anything else you need from us to help you know push these through and think through these yes sir and i

[04:41:54] just i mean i can't lose my gps so if i had a map i would be in real trouble thank you uh miss So thank you for bringing the motion Miss Marin miss Miss Dunn and Miss Lady and myself because I worked on one of them too so I wanted to say there were there are a lot of motions today and and we are already in this sky view boundary and everything is already close to mid on this midnight I don't want to be here till four o'clock in the morning because I have to work tomorrow and as well so I want to be

[04:42:34] Shorten my comments, I will support most of these motions, but I want to give some opportunity of discussion to Dr. Reed. I did not have a chance to discuss it with the maker of the motions. I was busy with my own boundary view, and Ms. Tan, you did reach out to your staff, but I did not hear from Ms. Marin.

[04:42:59] And I'd like to have a conversation with the board itself about this a bit, right? So, but anyways, I did reach out to talk to one of the parents sitting here and teacher and I'm, you know, at least I'd had a conversation with someone about it.

[04:43:14] So I don't like the word prohibit in general, banning this, that, book banning, this banning. I just don't like that word. So that's a word chosen in many of this. So Dr. Reed, I wanted to say there's going to be any exception to students.

[04:43:32] Could it be for the students who are high achievers? And I know kindergarteners, you will say, oh, I mean, those are just little kids. They may not be knowing much more than drawing and drawing numbers. I had a son, and I still have a son, he could do double-digit addition in kindergarten.

[04:43:53] And I would like them to, and my idea of us using tech was also in specialized programming for those kids who are advanced of their grades, and the teacher cannot give them additional, you know, books or worksheets, then they can go on a resource like this and they can accelerate their math knowledge and grow in that skill if they're interested.

[04:44:18] And some kids have this natural passion for math and, you know, reading. So I don't want to take that away even from kindergartners. So I would say if there is a way we can include some of our kids who may need this extra supplement, And I know it's not gonna be the majority of kids, but then we have kids who are just different.

[04:44:40] So that's what I would like to say here. - Thank you, Ms. Mehran. - So just to reflect on where we are, we started a policy that we're working on.

[04:44:57] We made some headway, and we're gonna continue that in the fall. In June, we had a set of motions that I helped bring, and the board rejected prohibiting devices for pre-K to second grade and storing devices away.

[04:45:12] And we also rejected having a digital literacy instruction plan. So this is another attempt to do what's right. So look, either we act or we don't. Both of those are decisions. So far, we have decided not to act.

[04:45:31] Some members have said, well, I don't know the operational impact. We've made all sorts of decisions without that. I mean, the best example is the AAP Central Middle School. We decided that, and we didn't have any data given to us about operational impact.

[04:45:49] It's our job to set the vision, and the superintendent is super experienced. She will figure it out. I am getting really – look, the Educational Review Committee, I will get the acronym right one day or the name, that is not a substitute for us.

[04:46:14] That was an additional resource. In no way will I relegate my decision-making to a committee, which, by the way, we don't even have the membership of. I attended the meeting. I don't know who was there. I don't know who was on the committee. It's not posted publicly, and there's no way I'm going to relegate my decision.

[04:46:32] That's a great resource, just like the Strategic Planning Committee and the Superintendent's Quad Committee and the Boundary Review Advisory Committee, although we know how that went for Skyview. So I'm not going to put all my eggs in that review committee basket, okay? We are the board. We have been talking about this for months. We know it's bad for kids.

[04:46:51] Either we say yes or we say no, but both of those are actions. So I really hope we can say yes. Mr. Dunn. Thank you. I just wanted to reiterate the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time for children under six in all settings. So just from a medical perspective, that's an important fact to keep in mind. But I also wanted to address my colleagues' concern about the intersection with the etrc um all i can say about the etrc is that in this age we're in a

[04:47:29] digital age it's it's rare it's an exception to be buying textbooks right um the the universe of issues to be addressed by the etrc is nearly infinite because they're so we're so deep into the digitization of our children and their education decades in especially since the pandemic which put the whole thing on steroids I remember being at meetings in the 2015 time frame when getting to one-to-one was like a decade-long plan until you know suddenly pandemic brought lots of billions of dollars to make that happen very quickly this motion doesn't preempt the ETRC's

[04:48:07] broader work it really just addresses a narrow urgent gap for the upcoming school year while the committee works through a much broader agenda and the mandate of the ETRC is really to review ed tech policy system-wide including for older grades where the issues are much more complex the trade-offs are more complex and I don't think anything about this motion narrows or predetermines that work because that's really where they need to focus if anything I think this motion is complementary because it gives a real-world implementation for them to study in its first year right pre-k and k is an easy call right if you get into older grades more difficult

[04:48:45] And so this allows an example, a pilot, circumscribed to two grades where you really don't need devices. And if the board waits for the ETRC's full review before acting, I mean, I don't know when that will be in the future because it's not like they're meeting every day of the week.

[04:49:03] It's a monthly meeting. So we can't wait because we know our kids are being harmed today. These are the most vulnerable kids. We need to start the process of weaning our kids off of these devices And allow the ETRC to do its work, but not wait for the ETRC to complete its work before we say, hey, maybe we should start acting now.

[04:49:23] So that's just my viewpoint. Thank you. Dr. Anderson for a go back. Thank you. I don't tell a lot of stories, but I'm going to tell this one. When I was a student teacher, I was in a preschool classroom where this young little kid came in, and he walked into the classroom first day.

[04:49:45] He read everything on the wall. He was three years old. My teacher at the time, Ms. Mary, who was helping me become a teacher, she asked me to go and work with him separately because he was just far above everybody else.

[04:50:03] We read this book right down to the last page where he said, Property of Calphys Elementary School, Niagara Falls, New York. He even read the stamp. This was a kid who had gifts and he was ready for more. There was not a computer in sight and he got more.

[04:50:19] Granted, this is not anytime soon, but I know our teachers who have these master's degrees that we strive for, they can do this and challenge our kids. I don't want us to walk away with thinking that having a device is the only way for our kids to be challenged.

[04:50:39] That is a disservice to our teachers because I've watched what my children's teachers have been able to do with them. and I think I've said this before for some reason and I don't know if they came together to do this but my children's teachers at both at the high school and middle school level their math teachers did not use any devices they had packets that they provided it was a lot of hands-on they may have supplemented with some other things just for additional practice if they wanted but their core was really a packet and I believe that my personal children got a lot out of it having said that

[04:51:14] this may be a shift certainly anytime you do anything differently is a shift when there's a tree that falls down on gallows road i have to figure out how to get here um because i can't just make my typical route work um it's a shift but it is not an impossible thing because our teachers are gifted enough to get our kids the advancement and the challenge that they need without a device plus what they said um i'll take a turn and it will probably be my only turn for

[04:51:51] the night considering work ahead of us my daughter just completed kindergarten and there was a gentleman that spoke at a previous board meeting about his I think he had a daughter as well who would bring home her Lexia certificate and how proud she was that Lexia certificate and that resonated with me because my daughter's done that before she's brought home that certificate and she's been so proud of it and I checked the light speed reports I know how much she's on the iPad because I checked the reports and it's an hour-ish a week that's my daughter I'm not making the claim

[04:52:26] that that's everybody's kindergarten or first grader I'm just it's an anecdote I've been very consistent about this educational stuff that my sole concern is twofold one now that we have the ed tech committee they need to have time to do work but number two is the implementation is how it's going to impact teachers and administrators and and how it can actually get done because even presupposing that this is the right thing to do which I'm certainly in that direction if it's not done right and if it's not executed properly across all 141 of our elementary schools then

[04:53:02] it's pointless so I was not comfortable with the motion as brought but I think there's going to be a proposed adjustment to it and we'll see how that conversation goes so with that Mr. Dannon I call on Mr. Dannon for an amendment I move to amend the main motion by inserting to the end of it the following language this prohibition shall remain in effect pending the educational technology review committee's recommendation to the superintendent and any resulting board action including the adoption of policy sort of second second mr daniel speak to your motion uh sure and

[04:53:41] i'll i'll um take the um note from my colleague here and just share a little story so early in my career um i uh served overseas in the peace corps and then i found myself um in the uh in the african bush where um one in five children died before they got to the age of five years old and i I was in charge of managing a hospital serving an area of 10,000 people and 100 square miles with no other resources, and I was terrified at that responsibility.

[04:54:14] And I'm eternally grateful to the doctors and others who advised me to say, look, trust the experts, trust the medical decisions here. So it's maybe a little more of a dramatic way of saying that this is, I think, a really minor emotion but an important amendment to show the respect of the experts and the community members and the volunteers and the staff who've already put in countless hours towards that committee so we can change the policy anytime we want is this motion is this amendment necessary no but i want to make sure we give the respect of those and and make note that we are going to be

[04:54:51] working on the policy continuing that work that was done over the past seven or eight months um and uh you know look forward to getting the recommendations of the of the those stakeholders so thank you mr fresh thank you um two points one um i want to be clear that the structure of etrc was specifically designed to not usurp the authority of the board um and that was a consideration there were some people that advocated for a committee that could do like decide things and it was important that the structure maintain the you know the the board's role in all of this and

[04:55:29] so i think what this motion does it does not change the thrust or impact of the motion that it's amending what it does is it telegraphs to those in our community who have reached out and said i thought we were having etrc work on this so we're still interested in what etrc comes together with on this and what we are voting on tonight will remain in effect unless the board changes direction or formalizes it in actual policy and I think eventually that's the direction that we will have to take as a board is something that is referred back to and not just found in board

[04:56:05] docs from a couple years ago when the board voted on it right and so this does not change the thrust of it doesn't change any of the language of the actual motion it adds to it it could have probably been done as a follow-on motion but I think this is appropriate too and so to our members of the ETRC this should tell you that we're still interested in your thoughts and your work on this not only uh pre-kk but beyond that as well and on the other subjects that we're likely to engage in in the policy making discussions or in motions that the board eventually decides as well so um

[04:56:42] i think that this uh telegraphs to the community that we uh that we value the work that they're putting into the committee and that this is going to be the law of land and it will in perpetuity until the board takes the recommendation of etrc and decides to do something with it or enshrines it in policy etc okay i will call for a vote on the amendment missing all those in favor

[04:57:16] miss anderson mr frisch miss mirand mr moon miss dixit mr dunn mr dannon dr anderson miss st john cunning miss lady and myself that's unanimous the main motion has been amended purpose to put the

[04:57:36] call for vote on the main motion all those in favor miss andrews that is unanimous okay call miss mirin for a motion good morning i move the fairfax county school board to direct the superintendent to deliver a plan no later than november 12 2026 for the storage of fcps issued

[04:58:14] laptops and tablets in the classroom or other areas when they are not in use by students for for instructional purposes except for students who require access to and use of such devices for individualized education plans, 504 plans, translation purposes, or multilingual education support. The plan shall include a proposed timeline for division-wide implementation.

[04:58:33] - Is there a second? - Second. - Ms. Mirren. - So this is the next generation of the motion proposed in June that was rejected by the board. So this is just an information-seeking motion. It's requesting a plan by November 12th from the superintendents to tell us how she will ensure that laptops are stored or devices are stored.

[04:58:59] I want to say that we implemented more screens into classrooms without properly evaluating their benefits, but we definitely know their harm. So, again, we can do more to structure how those are used. We have frequently heard from parents, students, and educators about the problem of the unstructured screen time, the laptop sitting on the desk.

[04:59:18] It's heartbreaking to hear how kids are distracted, both the kids that are using the technology and the kids that aren't, but they're watching their classmate or maybe their classmate's behavior is changing because they're getting all riled up. Many teachers are already deliberate with technology, so let's standardize this practice so that kids are not mindlessly browsing on laptops instead of engaging in learning with their teachers and their peers.

[04:59:42] Mr. Dunn? So every single one of us in the room knows what happens when a smartphone or a laptop sits open on the desk in front of us.

[04:59:57] In fact, when I worked at a law firm, my wife used to yell, leave them alone whenever my BlackBerry buzzed. Even if we're trying to pay attention, every chime, every ping, every lit up screen is a quiet pool on our focus. And we're adults, and we struggle with it daily. I know I do.

[05:00:13] So why would we expect a middle schooler or a high schooler to sit in a classroom or an elementary school student with an idle screen and not be distracted, not be, you know, potentially addicted to it? How can we expect them to do better than we do?

[05:00:30] and when a device sits open during direct instruction it isn't a learning tool it's an invitation to check out we cannot ask our teachers to constantly compete with glowing screens for our students attention this motion directs the superintendent to bring us a practical plan and only a plan for storing devices when they aren't actively being used for a lesson and it fully preserves every required accommodation ieps 504s and english language support this is just a process motion not a top-down mandate it gives our professional staff the flexibility to design storage solutions that fit their specific buildings and

[05:01:07] grade levels while establishing division-wide consistency that our families and our teachers lack right now some will say that we should wait for the ETRC or leave this entirely to chance but I really believe that establishing a basic consistent baseline expectation for classroom management isn't micromanagement I think it's governance giving staff a clear deadline also gives the ETRC real operational data to evaluate rather than forcing teachers to navigate another year of digital chaos so putting devices away I think we've learned with cell phones when they aren't part of the lesson is common sense it restores the classroom to a place where students look at their

[05:01:44] teachers talk to their peers and focus on the work in front of them thank you thank you mr. Dannon thanks again appreciate this being brought forward and very supportive and just had a couple comments or questions for for staff so I talked to a number of folks about this and I wanted to clarify with this if we prove this well with this plan incorporate grade level scenarios and so forth what different storage might look like for different levels I had a constituent and a wife of a teacher email me to say that at the high school levels it could create a burden if you know if students have to put

[05:02:23] something in a cart in a different room and come back to it versus putting in their bag so is this something that you're gonna but I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves but is this something you would take into account something i'm sorry something about the um regarding how would would this plan break down recommendations based on grade levels um and school types and so forth i had just leaned over and asked miss anderson what grade levels this was for but i'm is it k12 or 112 i guess that's my presumption reading it but i'll I'll yield time to the motion makers.

[05:02:59] I mean, if it's 112, we're going to have to go back and take a look at a plan. You know, I haven't begun working on it yet, so I don't know what that looks like at this moment. But it's not, I mean, it's likely to create some level of system that is going to take some level of time, just like, you know, the cell phones or anything else has.

[05:03:26] Can I just clarify to the motion makers or anybody who wants to answer? I presume this is for K through 12. That's correct. Thank you. I had another teacher share, a principal actually shared that they hate the laptop cards because they're so bulky, right?

[05:03:42] So would this plan look at if we were to go to like a shared, like a computer lab model or shared computers for a single grade, that kind of thing? Many of our schools don't have extra empty classrooms for a computer lab, honestly, any longer.

[05:03:59] I mean, many do, but many don't. SO I DON'T KNOW THAT THAT WOULD BE A CONSISTENT -- I GUESS I'M JUST WONDERING OR MAYBE IF I'M SUGGESTING THAT IT CONSIDERED A SCENARIO WHERE WE GO -- THE BOARD ADOPTS A POLICY WHERE WE DO AWAY WITH ONE-TO-ONE DEVICES AND WE HAVE GRADE LEVEL CARDS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, THAT THAT COULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THESE RECOMMENDATIONS.

[05:04:20] SO I'M SORRY, YOU'RE SAYING -- I'M SORRY, I'M JUST ASKING IF AS YOU DEVELOP THIS PLAN, YOU COULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE FACT THAT THE BOARD MIGHT ADOPT A POLICY THAT DOES AWAY with the one-to-one devices and goes to like a grade-level model or something like that, or each grade has a set of laptops that they share.

[05:04:40] So I think it would be helpful for the planning to know what we're planning for, right? So I think currently we're planning for the, I'm trying to look here, for the storage of the laptops and tablets, which are currently one-to-one in grades 1 through 12.

[05:04:59] So that would be what we would be bringing back on November 12th, which is different than maybe having classroom sets. Classroom sets. So I just want to be clear on what we're going to plan for because I don't want to have the team set off and do a comprehensive plan for one-to-one if the board is going to move away from one-to-one.

[05:05:17] Does that make sense? It does. So I think it would be helpful for me maybe then to better understand the parameters for us to plan. Okay. That helps. And I had another teacher share that they don't like their cards and they use some kind of a sleeve in the back of the room that the kids had figured out and worked very well and got the devices out of the way.

[05:05:37] So again, just maybe asking as you all develop this, thinking of the art of the possible or what might the different scenarios look in terms of how storage... You know, I think we used to have carts, but my understanding is we don't have them anymore, so we would have to purchase them again because I believe we surplused our carts when we went to one-to-one.

[05:06:00] So, you know, I think it's something i'm going to have to take back to staff to actually develop i'll just say it's going to be kind of wild like when i was pta president we raised funds to buy laptop cards so that they could be stored at school um and then my own child's teacher um last year used hers for her own workstation right so the kids are bringing them back and forth every day so um it's going to be interesting to see what what comes out from this and again whatever you need from us happy to support so thank you thank you mr frisch thank you um i think one thing that the board should be

[05:06:39] girding itself for is any plan around this is going to require us to consider the differences at the different schools and the equity aspects that go along with some schools having a much easier go at storage than others i think about my schools that have been renovated in recent years versus those that haven't in the type of space that might be available or the type of space that might be available in schools that are future renovated if this is part of the thinking going into it so that's something to think about the other thing and I'll just put this out there because this is going to be consistent I think in every motion that we talk about tonight

[05:07:16] is you know the governance aspect of this board and how to achieve the things that people are talking about tonight there's going to be a required runway of resources because change costs money and I think the superintendent is very politely telegraphing to us as a board and to our allies in the community, that aspect of change management.

[05:07:45] This is going to cost resources. And so when we think about proposing a motion to spend X number of dollars on this and X number of dollars on that, because we all want to do a million different things, that's money that can't be spent on transition or change management.

[05:08:01] And so I'm supportive of the motion. I think a plan is essential. and um i think it'll also maybe answer some questions that the board might have down the road um and i also see the timeline is such that etrc could totally weigh in on it and this is one of those fall timelines that i talked about earlier tonight right let's all have a little grace for staff many of them are going to be engaged in the same uh in in all of the things that we're talking about tonight in the august september october november time frame uh so uh while it says

[05:08:38] november 12th i'm hopeful that we can get it then but we're not exactly um putting up hiring signs for central office personnel uh the last few budgets so um we need to provide a little bit of grace to make sure that we're getting optimal work as opposed to work that fit a timeline thank you miss lady thank you um i i certainly support this um but i have a lot of comments to make because you know something's just pained me throughout my entire career was the number of

[05:09:14] teachers who didn't feel empowered or didn't choose to be empowered in their own classrooms to control their classrooms there are teachers right now the majority of which probably do this with fidelity when i'm not using the the device for instructional purposes it is a way it is not a distraction it is closed it is put somewhere my concern with this is we did surplus the carts we've also talked about not sending devices home i'm worried about the additional electricity bill

[05:09:50] for us to be charging all devices in the buildings and if we're going to now purchase carts so this is going to have to come with a price tag um i don't believe we need to buy carts um because i think there's a way to to store devices but i can't emphasize enough the fact that you know we we need to if a teacher doesn't know how to use the device with um instruction at its core and all of the things that we've already outlined and what's going to come in the in the technology policies um that's a problem for me but i believe the majority of people who teach in our

[05:10:30] system um can manage their classroom and can manage kids closing their computers and putting them away so for me i mean yeah a plan i don't know it's a sleeve when we first started dealing with cell phones you know there were shoe racks on the back of of you know doors that people put them in that's fine um but at the end of the day um you know we again you know we can go over and over and talk about the fact that um purpose of the device is to use it instructionally and if

[05:11:07] you're not using it instructionally it needs to be put away um so i support the motion i just want people to understand that there's a there's it's going to be a fiscal issue i believe that there's going to be a dollar sign that comes with it and i'm personally i'm not interested in spending any of our precious dollars to buy carts um and i'm really not that interested and i don't know what the impact would be on electricity if we're charging all of them because that's a problem too because when you issue a device then you get issued your power cord and if it's at home we don't have enough power we don't have two power cords for per computer um and and that's that's a

[05:11:46] problem um and i was gonna say one other thing and it just left me um sorry i'm tired um i had another amazing point that I've forgotten. So hopefully maybe it will come back to me. Thanks.

[05:12:08] Thank you. Okay. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. I just wanted to raise, like, this is about, and I'm actually glad to follow Ms. Lady, even though she lost the last of her thoughts. This is really about intentionality. That's it. And again, as somebody who spent 23 years in classrooms, I can envision how this can be accomplished. Third grade classroom. The computers can be stacked up on a on a ledge on a desk on a table underneath your seat there's places for it to go that don't

[05:12:43] require additional resources because we all know that's a that's a consideration even high school all right folks walk in we know the high schoolers are walking with their computers put it on the floor underneath your seat until you need it or until you're leaving if you don't need it that day this doesn't all have to be this big great thing um it just doesn't have to be and And I don't want to oversimplify it, but there are some easy ways to ensure that there's intentionality.

[05:13:13] Because the whole idea is this cannot be just on your desk, just available for access the entire time. And I think that's what this addresses. I would love, thank you, maybe that was the brilliant statement Ms. Lady wanted to make. I would love for us to, that conversation that you're talking about is not this motion in terms of, you know, one-on-one devices and class sets.

[05:13:38] That's a separate conversation. Would love to have it, but it's not this conversation. This is just really trying to ensure that it's just not constantly available. It's like that popcorn that's in front of you. You're going to eat it because it's there, but it doesn't mean you're hungry, you know, like what we do back there a lot of times.

[05:13:56] It's just available. It's just making it less available. And it doesn't have to be a complicated system that's going to cost millions of dollars because we know that those resources are hard to come by. I do, however, do see some opportunities with limiting devices at the younger grades, K, pre-K, those will offer some savings that we can then parlay into some other things.

[05:14:22] Maybe, you know, transportation for face kids. But that's a thing. And also, now I lost the last brilliant thing I wanted to say. I will stop here because it literally just went.

[05:14:39] All right. Miss Dixit. Okay, so as a budget chair, this is my new position, thank you. I wanted to know how many classrooms do we have all across FCPS? Just a ballpark number.

[05:15:00] 25,000-ish. So I just did a quick search on these laptop cards. One cost about $740, and you can do that times 25,000. 2,500, what, how many?

[05:15:17] 25,000. Okay. Yeah, we cannot buy cards at that cost. Yeah, that's what I was saying. So if this is just a plan to just put the laptops under the chair on the back of the room, why does it have to be a plan?

[05:15:33] Couldn't we just do this? Like, it's not a, it's, like this is not, yeah, I understand, but this is not like a, you know, if it's not dependent on the money, like a budget, or it doesn't cost, it's a cost neutral solution, it is something we could, you know, if you just tell the teachers, ask your students to put the laptop away, are they not doing that right now?

[05:16:00] Are they not gonna be able to do that? Okay, so even if you say that to all the teachers, it is up to them to implement them in the classroom. How would you see each classroom is getting that done? Unless there's a storage device, which is like students know they have to do the work and they put that away.

[05:16:22] I think we're just asking a lot for teachers and if the teacher's on board with it, I think we need to have that teacher voice in this matter. This is just a plan, so I'm okay with supporting it because we are not actually giving a directive right now or making a decision on it.

[05:16:46] But I do feel that if it's that easy, it was like the phone thing, right? Just, you know, put the phone away. You can't use the phone in the classroom and students don't have access to that anymore. So again, teachers can do that, but at the same time it's like on them.

[05:17:04] So, but yeah, I'll support this, but I don't want it to be any cost to our budget and not millions of dollars, thanks. - Okay, I have Ms. Lady for a go back.

[05:17:20] - Thank you, my brilliance returned. To Ms. Dixit's point, yeah, I mean, this has gotta be a cost-neutral thing, But to answer her question, what I was trying to articulate was I think it's unfortunate that we have too many teachers that without being told that they must have a plan and it must be put away, that they sometimes don't feel empowered in their classrooms to have a plan and own their classroom.

[05:17:51] I mean, just saying that as an administrator for 15 years, I knew which classrooms I could go by and they'd be like, well, I can't make them do it. And then there's the people who you walk by and they own their classroom. So, first of all, we'd like to teach them up, coach them up, so they own their classroom. But the other thing I was going to say is we can't go back to computer labs because the one-to-one is how we do, you know, caching for testing.

[05:18:15] It's deployed to that particular computer. It's how we do damage to computers. Like, the one-to-one is that that's a unique login. That's your computer. That's how parents see Lightspeed. Like, there's all kinds of reasons we have to maintain the one-to-one.

[05:18:32] And that's just a strong belief because I also believe strongly that technology can allow UDL to be at its best, inclusion at its best, and enhance the learning experiences for all kids when used purposefully.

[05:18:48] But those were just the points I want to make. This has to be cost neutral. And I don't understand that teachers don't always feel empowered to say, I don't want to use technology all in my classroom because that's an option. You know, as long as they're delivering the curriculum with fidelity and making sure that kids are, you know, constantly in motion around their learning.

[05:19:11] So that's all I wanted to say. But I do support the motion, but fiscally neutral. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no others, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, Ms. Lady and myself.

[05:19:30] All those opposed. All those abstaining. Mr. Moon. That is 10-0, motion carries. Okay, just a real quick housekeeping note. As a reminder for everyone in the room, making comments, noise, etc., during a board member's speech may be a breach of decorum.

[05:19:53] I know it's getting late and we're all tired, and things can sometimes get a little informal in the late hour, but I like to be a stickler for decorum and Robert's rules. So just as a reminder as we continue to go through this, I'd like to call Mr. Dunn for a motion. I move the Fairfax County School Board to direct the superintendent to provide a comprehensive inventory of generative artificial intelligence tools and solutions provided by or through FCPS on FCPS-issued laptops and tablets by November 12, 2026, and to prohibit the use of such generative AI tools and solutions by students until a formal policy is adopted

[05:20:33] by the school board to govern such usage. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Dunn, would you like to speak? Yes, please. Genitive AI is not just another piece of classroom software. It raises entirely new, urgent questions about student data privacy, academic integrity, algorithmic accuracy, and child development. Yet right now, embedded AI features, writing assistants, automated tutors, adaptive algorithms are operating on district-issued devices without a clear comprehensive accounting or a formal policy adopted by this board. Our students should not be an ungoverned

[05:21:11] test case while we try to figure out what is already in their hands. First, it directs the superintendent to provide this board with a complete division-wide inventory of generative AI tools deployed on FCPS laptops and tablets by November 12th. We need to know what exists in our digital ecosystem, plain and simple, so we can build policy based on facts rather than assumptions. Second, it puts a temporary pause on student access to these generative AI tools until this board adopts a formal policy. To be clear, this means restricting actual student access on district devices, not just dropping a paragraph into an acceptable use document.

[05:21:50] It may be asked whether we need to wait for the Educational Technology Review Committee. This motion directly empowers the ETRC because an accurate inventory is the exact baseline data the committee needs to do its job. Pausing ungoverned use ensures the ETRC can do its work with a clean slate rather than trying to walk back habits that were normalized without board approval. We have heard loud and clear from our community about data privacy, vendor oversight, and screen time asking for an inventory and setting basic guardrails before

[05:22:25] student use continues is fundamental board governance thank you Mike was all sorry dr. Anderson yes this is another ask for information a lot of these motions are organizational in nature it's just to plan for future action and this is what this does it's asking for list of generative AI materials non

[05:22:51] GENERATIVE AI MATERIALS AND I WILL ALSO INSERT THAT OTHER THIRD BUCKET THAT I'VE TALKED ABOUT QUITE A BIT DR. PRESIDIO WHICH IS THE WHAT YOU'VE CALLED GENERATIVE GENERATIVE AI BUT ENCLOSED SYSTEMS LIKE THE ST MATH AND THE LEXIA THIS IS JUST INFORMATION THAT'S GOING TO BE HELPFUL TO US HELPFUL TO THE COMMUNITY AND CERTAINLY HELPFUL TO THE COMMITTEE THANK YOU MISS LADY THANK YOU I CERTAINLY CAN APPRECIATE THE SPIRIT OF THE MOTION I MEAN QUITE FRANKLY

[05:23:26] means spell check is generative ai um doing a google search is generative ai uh i'm just not sure i can support a prohibition on the use of generative ai tools i do want an inventory that'd be great i'd love to see something comprehensive but i think we need to realize how much of what happens organically that we're accustomed to before we even knew it was ai um is happening So I'm not sure I can do a ban.

[05:23:59] My preference would be, quite frankly, that if we're going to do this, it would be K through or pre-K through 8. I just don't think we can be doing this with our high school kids. We've talked about digital literacy. We've directed the superintendent to come up with effective digital literacy teaching at all grade levels.

[05:24:18] You know, I was just at the ISTE conference and celebrating the students from Robinson, i think it was robinson high school who created the civic lens app um they used play lab they used other ai they used a tremendous amount of technology to create this amazing thing and won an international award for it i just think you know we got kids who know how to drive the maserati um and also not to replace their learning but to enhance their learning so that's just my hesitation i love a list i just don't like the prohibition um up front i mean i could live with

[05:24:58] it through grade eight but i don't know what that means because if a kid is writing a paper in word how do you turn off spell check how do you turn off grammar check so i guess those are a couple of my questions maybe to go to staff um to mr sethe or somebody like what would this look like it is even plausible to prohibit the use of any AI until we have a formal policy? That's a question.

[05:25:27] Yeah, I think one of the key questions that we would want to clarify is the definition of generative AI, because that definition, I know we are working through the policy governance process. We were mapping some definitions, and we have some working definitions in there yet to be approved. But if have a good definition we can certainly go back to our vendors and ask for their current state i would also suggest the timelines because the the number of vendors we'll have to reach out to could be substantial and even if we gave them a few weeks to respond to our queries that could be

[05:26:04] long turnaround time but we will certainly try and get as quickly as we need to if your definitions could you clarify ballpark about how many vendors mr sethy um if we wanted to be comprehensive that we want to reach out to every vendor who's in our digital ecosystem library not all of them may be used currently but that library has upwards of 800 plus tools in there and some of them are not necessarily student but they are they are 800 plus tools so a comprehensive review mean that we want to send something to every vendor to say certify what you have in this tool how

[05:26:40] does it work and provide maybe even your future state because what they don't have today in six months they will likely be adding a capability like ai in there just to keep competitive with the market landscape i appreciate the answer and again i i think that uh you know i don't know if there's an appetite for any type of amended language here to limit this to k through eight but i don't think we can be limiting our high school kids because we've got to launch these kids um and there's a high expectation that they come into the workplace um the military

[05:27:20] college with a deep understanding of the appropriate uses of ai so that's just i think we've got to teach with fidelity but that's my concern um so i don't know if there's an appetite to that on you know i'd like to offer an amendment i don't you know terminology to say pre-K through 8, somewhere in this current language.

[05:27:49] Thank you. Mr. Moon. Thank you, Mr. Weiser-Chairman. Mr. Chair? One major problem that I have with this motion is, as written, I think as Mr. Gotham stated, that we do not have bold adopted definition of generative AI.

[05:28:21] So they're going to have to come up with their own and use that to come up with a list. I mean, that may be still acceptable to me. I just want to know what he has. You know, knowing what he has has certain benefits.

[05:28:38] But if he is simply a blanket, if you want a blanket prohibition of using those tools until the board adopts a policy, we don't know when the board is going to adopt the policy.

[05:28:53] Meanwhile, all those tools identified to be on the list will be prohibited from being used. I mean, that's, I don't know what the impacts will be. Could someone tell me some simple examples besides SD Math and Lexia, some simple examples of your own working definition of what some of those tools might, our high school students might be using?

[05:29:26] - I would certainly defer to Dr. Presidio on some of the instructional tools. The one example which would be really complex would be Google tools, right? Not so much of generative AI inside the Google documents, but Google searches sometimes come back with a response, which is a generative AI.

[05:29:46] By a strict definition, if you suggest that we are blocking all generative AI, then we essentially block Google search altogether. So students would have no access to searching, which shouldn't be an issue from an instructional perspective.

[05:30:01] The teachers never want them to search the internet for anything. So let me ask Dr. Presidio, if he prohibits our students from using Google search, how would that affect student learning? Yeah, I mean, I think absolutely it would. A lot of our students use Google for research purposes, right?

[05:30:22] So, I mean, right off the bat, then how, you know, how restrictive do we want to be with this? I don't necessarily have a lot to add, particularly at this hour, but I do think the definition here is really important. If we're talking about generative AI chat features, as we've discussed in some of our previous conversations, we do not allow and we do not intend to allow access to those tools until the board adopts a policy.

[05:30:50] But if we're talking more broadly generative AI, as Mr. Sethi is just pointing out, then you end up with things like Google, Adobe, PDF makers, as Ms. Lady has pointed out, all All kinds of different things that potentially could fall under this umbrella term of generative AI.

[05:31:10] And again, as I stated earlier, I think having a list, having a list of what you are using, using maybe staff's working definition might have some benefit, but blanket prohibition until we adopt the policy is something that I am not prepared to go along with.

[05:31:32] Ms. Anderson. Okay. I just have a few questions. First, during our work session, we had come up with a plan that I thought was a good start for the policy related to differentiation amongst grades, so that it was nothing from pre-K through six, or elementary, nothing.

[05:31:49] Middle school was with very specific guardrails, and then high school was a little bit looser. I think that that works the best in terms, I think that the thing that I have the biggest concern here is, along with what other colleagues have said, is that we don't have a good definition And I'm not okay with just blanketly prohibiting use for K through 12 without a little bit more differentiation.

[05:32:15] Specifically since some of our middle school, after school programs are doing things like Model UN, where they absolutely need to be able to do research. And oftentimes you at least start, I mean, as someone who taught this for a very long time, you at least start with Google.

[05:32:30] like just start with blanket um you know search terms and things like that and then move into more advanced things as you figure out what your key terms are and everything and so i just that's my only apprehension here so i'm all on board with getting a full list and making sure that we understand what they are i'm okay with some guardrails put on i certainly don't want you know what we think of as like the large-scale model generative ai i'm not suggesting that we need that What I will say, though, is that I do believe that it should be allowed in courses that specifically say that it's going to be allowed, because we just adopted not that long ago

[05:33:09] an addition to the course catalog that would have allowed a class related to AI. And so it doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me that we would blanketly, I mean, I have no idea whether or not we have schools that we have kids signed up for those classes starting in August. And so it would be, I think it's short-sighted on our part to just have a blanket prohibition until we understand where it is, where it is. I can say I would 100% be comfortable with elementary prohibition because I think that's the way the board's going anyways.

[05:33:47] And so I don't have a problem with that. I just have a concern when we get into the secondary level of prohibiting if it's not at least in a course description so I think there's a way we can do this that would get us to where we are looking that we're going to go without necessarily burning down everything right this moment. Thank you Ms. Merritt. Okay this probably won't be as coherent as I'd like it to be but look we hear all the time how AI is evolving by the second and since we began this work in January it's only grown and what's happening is very sophisticated it's the transformation of the whole information economy and the digital

[05:34:27] universe we have this digital ecosystem now we've got to shift our thinking to accepting that a motion was brought in June to have a digital literacy plan that specifically spoke to AI's role this board rejected that so now we're further down the pike with nothing in hand we're seeking to prohibit it because we don't know it this motion has two aspects and really perhaps it could have been better broken apart in two different motions. One is about cataloging what we have.

[05:35:00] That seems like a no-brainer, and actually I have asked for that as far back as October, not for just AI, but for all digital tools, and we sort of have it, but one list is like 400 or 700 accounts. I don't know. It's unclear. Certainly the new committee wants to see that stuff. The second piece is to prohibit it until a form of policy is adopted, but here's the thing. Quote, students are not using generative AI in FCPS, end quote. Dr. Presidio, our chief of instruction or academic officer, has said this multiple times. So what's the big deal? It's not being used. If there's a

[05:35:39] distinction between generative AI like a chat bot, like a chat GPT, and something like Canva or Adobe, I say they're part of the same category. Because if we allow this, that is saying that we are allowing cognitive offloading we are allowing our students to take the easy way out when we are here to challenge them that's the very heart of this so look this is a like a holding a holding place until we hear more yes students may know how to use this and if they're in an after-school

[05:36:14] club or whatever well if they're on an fcps issued device they can't do this that's just how it is i will say the european union has an amazing document that i would love for us to use empowering learners for the age of age of ai which centers on instructors knowing how to talk about ai right talking about what does it mean if you use spell check what does it mean if you've canva to generate your image of a house for your book report when you're in second grade so look students may know how to use this but unleashing ai even on the 60 000 teenagers in grades 9 through 12 in fairfax

[05:36:49] county public schools is not something i am willing to take a risk on this is a request for information and a pause until november at the earliest and perhaps longer it could also be seen as an incentive for us to do our policy right we want ai i don't understand how we could possibly have any courses that allow or require generative ai because again students are not using generative AI and FCPS. So I absolutely support this motion. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Some of my questions were

[05:37:29] around exactly what Ms. Marin has just talked about. If we don't have generative AI being used in our schools, this shouldn't be a huge issue. So let me just confirm, Dr. Presidio, I just heard you say, are we using generative AI in instruction? So what I've tried to say consistently as we've had these conversations is that we're not using generative chat ai tools in our schools we're not providing access to those tools to our students and we do not intend to provide access to those

[05:38:01] tools pending the board policy at all however the term generative ai can be interpreted very broadly to include a lot of other categories as we've been discussing things like google search things like spellcheck, right? So that's where the nuance lies with this particular language here is in how we're defining the term generative AI, how narrowly or how broadly we're defining it. Okay, thank you. And that would describe some of the platforms that were just talked about earlier. And Dr. Reid, I recall

[05:38:39] asking you this question during our work session, which is until a policy is in place, all of that work is essentially paused I yes and I think there was a question in some of our dual enrollment courses which are dual enrollment with the universities in the area so I think that was one of the go back and checks because I think some of our dual enrollment courses have AI related either requirements or you know

[05:39:16] agreements that students have to understand because as students matriculate to post-secondary, AI is a part of the learning culture, you know, when students leave high school. So we may, we're still inventorying dual enrollment, but if we, if dual enrollment courses use AI and we need to freeze it, we may need to unenroll students from dual enrollment courses. And I don't think that's where we're going with that, and I think for me at least that's new information. I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one because the ST Math and the Lexia, those are not the concerns.

[05:39:53] It's the generative chat AI components, which you all are saying are not being utilized. Dual enrollment, you know, as it is. I think there's some space here for some restructuring of the language so that I could be a little bit more specific to speak to that because I do not want us to lose the opportunity to gather this data that's going to be informative for future activity and action by this board.

[05:40:18] We just need to tighten up the language to be a little bit clearer. So I know you all are having conversation, but I'd like for us to be very specific. The generative chat AI, which is already not being used, will not be used, and I can't remember the exact language that was used at the work session regarding the notice to parents if there is a component of AI such as the dual enrollment.

[05:40:47] If we could just embed that, we don't have to make this a thing that we have to pick up back in September whenever we come back. So I think there's some activity there for us to salvage what we're hoping to do.

[05:41:03] I'd even say as much as if we would be able to just let's decouple, let's get the list. I don't think anybody's in disagreement with that. I haven't heard not one person say we're in disagreement with getting the list of the things that exist. I've heard Mr. Sethi say we need a little bit more time, so let's get that done, and then let's tease out the specific things with the rest to reflect this conversation.

[05:41:26] That's my advocacy. Thank you. Mr. Dunn. I move to amend the motion. I circulated to clerks and the school board members. In bold is the changes. I move to amend it without objection.

[05:41:41] to explain. I put in to reflect that FCPS can define what generative AI is. I moved the date from November 12th to January 14th. I limited the motion to elementary school students per the advocacy of my colleagues and I added in an exception drafted by my colleague Mr. Dannon to allow specific exceptions if authorized by a school principal or the superintendent or their designee.

[05:42:11] And the clerks, please put that up so we can all see it. Point of order. And it should be 2020. Point of order. Stand by. There was a motion made. It was requested without objection.

[05:42:27] I suspect there's going to be an objection. Is there an objection to doing this? The item was Mr. Dunn's motion. And so he can't amend his own motion within our rules at this point. Another member can bring it.

[05:42:43] But at this point, Mr. Dunn can't. So someone else is going to have to bring an amendment, and we already know it's going to be objected to, so don't even ask for without objection. So if someone would like to bring this, Mr. Dunn, it's still your turn, but you unfortunately cannot bring the amendment.

[05:43:01] I believe I've addressed the concerns that have been raised this evening. I incorporated the provision by my colleague, Mr. Dannon. I limited it to elementary schools. I provided more time for Mr. Sethi, and I allowed it to be defined for Genitive AI. With that, I don't believe there's a need to decouple because having addressed the objections, this brings the clarity, it brings the scope, it brings the time frame.

[05:43:26] And I believe the first part no one objects to, I think now with the second part amended, we're within the ballpark of what we've just been consistent with what we've discussed previously. I'm happy to second, or I'm happy to bring the amendment. Okay. Are you done? Yes.

[05:43:43] Okay. Everybody that's already spoken and doesn't want to keep speaking, please turn your lights off. Please turn your lights off if you don't want to speak anymore. We'll do another round. Okay, Ms. Anderson.

[05:44:00] I would be happy to bring the amendment as posted. So I believe that the clerks have that and it can be posted. Also, can you change 26 to 27?

[05:44:16] Yes, if you could please change January 14, 2026, because that was last year or earlier this year. Thank you. Okay, Ms. Anderson, and the clerks are right now building this into the document.

[05:44:35] So Ms. Anderson made the motion to amend. there a second of that motion to amend all second okay motion made and seconded um there were a lot of lights that went on so i'm going to go down the list we are discussing we are discussing the amendment to the main motion to be clear uh mr dannon thank you um i appreciate the the thought here i my concern with this is that um there needs to be some safeguards or protections for students at the higher levels as well so um i'm thinking of you know i spoke with an art teacher

[05:45:11] the other day who is um very certainly does not use any kind of generative ai tools and is adamantly against it um but spoke of other teachers that do perhaps without you know fidelity and so um i don't know if there's a way to clarify this a little bit to and i spoke about this at the work session have a moratorium on the elementary school level um period but then also for any use beyond that would have to be through authorized to either the principal or the superintendent or their their designee so again i'm failing at trying to wordsmith this but that's just my

[05:45:50] concern is that this um doesn't give any guardrails at the higher levels from what i from what i read i could be wrong and i would defer again to um yeah i just i would love to see guardrails at the middle and high school level so that it's um and i take folks at the word that general ai is not being used as part of general instruction um but i'm also just trying to be mindful as well that there are specific uses we had a team at Robinson was one of three student groups internationally that won an award for creating a chat bot and so I think those intentional uses should be preserved

[05:46:29] while also making sure that we're being intentional about not letting folks use it so again I don't know if there's a way to wordsmith this to to delineate that but is that all I guess so I've just added the confusion perhaps but okay Dr. Anderson I'm along the same lines of what Mr.

[05:46:52] Dana just shared. I feel like we've swung entirely in the opposite direction where it probably will invite more specific use. Again, I'm not trying to oversimplify this, but we're not using generative chat AI at any level. So I don't think you can take my turn. I don't think I can either. So we're not using generative chat AI at any level. So if there's some way to engage that in here, that would be great. And I know we keep referring to the great work that these students did. And I was at ISTE and I was there and very excited for them but the question that it begs for me is how

[05:47:30] did that happen was that generative chat AI can somebody help me understand how those kids came to do this wonderful work in school well I think they were using AI but I think as an elective and some of the students were certainly using it outside of school time the play lab course maybe mr. Sethi if you can clarify it was not a required general ed classroom it was a quite a different set gardras on it for one uh parents had to give permission for two they had a coach who was

[05:48:10] managing the student use and the tool itself was not general purpose like a chat gpt or a gemini it wasn't a general purpose chatbot tool it was a tool with specifically narrow scope of being able to use those tools to build other tools but not to be able to say give me my essay answer or the general purpose chatbot tools that exist okay so let me make sure that i understand those students were not using the generative chat AI that I think has become more of the concern. Yes, we have some issues with Google, but I don't think we started that conversation there. So I want to summarize

[05:48:45] for myself. We do not use generative chat AI unless it is a dual enrollment course, unless parents give permission at school. Is this an accurate statement? I think that I will ask Dr.

[05:49:17] Presidio to answer that we went back after the work session to make sure and that's when the dual enrollment conversation came up because we don't dictate the syllabus for the you know the colleges those are dual enrollment courses so what I was asking Dr. Presidio is where are we with some of our AP courses right because as we move into more so anyhow that was the question I didn't get the answer because he said you just asked me a question so I'm just trying to get clarity for sure so miss or dr sethe or dr presidio yeah so again we're we are not using

[05:49:52] generative chat ai okay that's not available to students mr sethe kind of clarified the play lab experience and how that was different that was outside of a course parent permission that was something that was very different we're investigating right now right to what extent if any, AI is featured in any of our dual enrollment courses.

[05:50:16] So we don't have a definitive answer to that yet, but we don't believe, well, A, we know it's not widely used if it's used at all, so we're still investigating that. I think there's some spaces, there's some space for us to put some guardrails regarding the gender chat AI, which I think has been the primary concern, and to allow the rest of the work to be taken up at a different time besides whatever time this is, 1 o'clock in the morning. So if we can make that amendment, because now I'm feeling a little bit less comfortable in the we don't use generative AI in our schools, because there's all these other

[05:50:55] caveats and disclaimers. So if we're not clear on the no's, then it seems as if there are things going on that have not been clear. I think that there's a bit of a chicken and egg right now. We don't have a clear definition that's a shared definition for generative AI. So I think where staff is, is we're trying to answer questions based on a moving target because Emotion doesn't say generative AI chatbot tools. It says generative AI tools, right? And so we've been, I think Dr.

[05:51:32] Presidio has been offering a qualifier, but I think that definition is crucial for the conversation to be clearer. So I think we're trying to answer it as directly as possible, but there are so many, there's almost a continuum that we could be addressing so I think that's part of the challenge in this conversation then at some point I think I would like to raise a secondary amendment to separate the list from the

[05:52:04] prohibition because sure I'll stop there thank you miss Tixit I have a question from mr. city do our elementary school students use Google Gmail students do have access to gmail accounts yes and gmail has now automatic automatically everybody has access to Gemini for creating modifying their email no not they won't have access to those those who don't be switched off wherever we

[05:52:44] have the ability to switch off they are switched off in every student access account so they shouldn't they would not have access to any of those tools because they can be switched off individually for different users okay I I just want to make sure because Gmail does automatically give it to everybody now, right?

[05:53:00] For staff, yes. Like even right now on this, there's an AI capability in the Google Docs itself, but we can switch those off. But the Google search, there's no way to switch off the Google search capability when it returns a response. So the nuance is hard, but it is the nuance, and we want to make sure we can qualify it for everyone for clarity.

[05:53:22] And I think our Google search is used a lot. students like Ms. Anderson said for Model UN, Science Olympia, a lot of competition, kids who are doing science bowls and other competition, they do research as a group sometime, work as a team. I'm very interested in what Ms. Dr. Anderson says about decoupling those. I'm comfortable with the first part, we're getting an inventory of all the generative intelligence tools used. I'm not comfortable with the second one, which is the prohibition of the use of engineering AI right now. I just need to do a little bit more analysis on that

[05:53:59] and maybe more questions needs to be asked and answered. And I think not right now, we don't just have the time to go back and forth. Thank you, Mr. Frisch. Thank you. My apologies. I didn't realize I'd be so quickly up. But I've sent amendment language to the clerk that I share the concern about guardrails and secondary and

[05:54:36] so I would propose that the language to Mr. I don't remember who made this amendment Ms. Anderson's amendment the ventriloquist amendment be as follows so after the word school elementary school it would read students comma and will only be permissible for secondary students and then you pick up the language when

[05:55:10] specifically authorized la la la la la don't include the la la laws Mr. Frisch I think what you're trying to say is I sent it to you as well right I moved to amend the amendment to main motion number three by inserting the phrase comma and will only be permissible for secondary students after the phrase elementary school students and before the phrase unless yes specifically

[05:55:40] authorized and writing yes without objection all right that's my amendment and I will wait for a second I can second it can I just have a I don't know if it's a point of order stand by there's been a motion to amend the amendment there's been a second on

[05:56:17] the motion to amend the amendment so discussion on the motion to amend the amendment yes I support my amendment for the reasons I've articulated. Thank you. Mr. Dunn. I am pleased to support this motion. It aligns with the original intent of the motion which was to you know establish to establish protections for students at all grade levels and I believe this provides the flexibility at the secondary level

[05:56:51] which secondary defined as middle and high school as well as secondary schools like Hayfield and allows uses that are like play lab developing apps for educational purposes but doesn't allow unrestricted ungoverned uses as as we currently face in our in our current school environment thank you may be recognized stand by everybody doesn't want to talk on this item thank you miss there every time we have a new amendment or a new motion the list restarts so miss mirin please

[05:57:24] on the amendment to the amendment thank you um look point of order can you even find the word we need to get the language up on the screen mr fresh can you please forward that to the full board so we can all see it mr mcdaniel it's there we just have to scroll down let's go down so we

[05:57:44] can see it there is the amendment to the amendment that's under discussion now miss mirram the way i see it this is a very poor way to be making decisions about the education offered in the public school system this is i'm remembering on the last board we could not get anything passed we could not make sausage at the table like this um the way i see it we are here because the

[05:58:23] superintendent has provided no direction no recommendation or data about what ai and fcps looks like now what it could look like and what guardrails look like and now we look silly because we've been asking for months and asked in June and here we are trying to make it up. We are in the middle of the night making things up at the dais. This is not a good way to govern and it's not leadership. This motion was originally presented over a week ago. If people have questions and changes, bringing them at midnight is not appropriate. It's not professional and it's not fair.

[05:58:59] We're not doing justice to the enormity of this topic. We clearly all want to talk about this. Let's set time on every work session this coming year to go through the aspects about instructional technology we need to work through but right now is not the time to debate this vote the motions up or down and then let's move on we are just not going to be doing our best work now and it's certainly not going to be database please can we just vote the motions that were presented over a week ago and stop with the off-the-cuff decision making for 180,000 children and 25,000 adults

[05:59:36] please. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Okay. Mr. Frisch, your light's still on. Did you want to speak?

[05:59:54] Senior is calling for the vote on the amendment to the amendment. All in favor, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, Ms. Lady, and myself, all opposed. Ms. Mirren, that's 10 to 1. I believe the motion passes. So the amendment has been amended. We please have the amended amendment

[06:00:15] up on the board. As the clerks get that, Ms. Mirren, you had your light on. So to be clear, we're amending this because one superintendent said we have do one school board member said we have dual enrollment classes that need access to ai and because although we prohibit generative ai

[06:00:51] we still need to say that secondary students need it and we're also going to encumber the school principal which i told the bringer of this amendment whoever it came from the superintendent in my experience has always shied away from naming specific school staff and positions as we've done in governance this past year we've moved away from naming certain positions and always saying the division superintendent not their designee not the name of the position that has been the superintendent's preference and not only here are we we're going as far as to encumber a school principal we are

[06:01:25] burdening school principals with notes are we kidding and has anyone talked to principals I mean I'm asked well I would have loved the actual well it's too bad

[06:01:38] It's unfortunate that I got this proposal at like four o'clock today. That's not good policymaking. And I don't mean one principal. I mean, have we talked to the association of high school principals and middle school because we actually have those associations that could formally engage with us and not just do this stuff on a fly by night basis. There is no way I am approving something that is directing principals to do something. Thank you. Miss lady. Sorry. I didn't mean to have my hand up. Okay. Mr. Moon.

[06:02:18] Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. It's 1 o'clock. We still got how many more motions? Four more tech motions, and we have a few other motions afterwards. This is not the best time to do.

[06:02:37] I mean, I concur with Ms. Merrin. Do you think we can find the consensus? Have all of these remaining motions, technology motions, referred to ETRC, and come back to us with recommendations, Otherwise, I'm going to be voting no for every one of the remaining motions.

[06:03:07] Okay, seeing no others, I'll call for a vote on the amendment to the main motion as on the screen. All in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon. We're calling for a vote on the motion to amend, which has been amended, but it's going to amend the main motion.

[06:03:27] So we're back up to the main motion. Mr. Dannon, Ms. St. John Cunning, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Lady and myself, all opposed. Ms. Mirren and Mr. Moon, that passes. The motion has been amended. Now we're on the main motion.

[06:03:53] Ms. Mirren and then Mr. Dannen. So this was a motion that I know I worked on with Mr. Dunn. And once again, I'm in the position of seeing work that I've done hijacked at the dais by similar people.

[06:04:09] And it's really frustrating. And now I can't vote on this. The spirit of board work is supposed to be everyone comes together to make compromise and do things, not to say this is what I'm doing take it or leave it so now I'm gonna leave it and this just builds bad working relationships and this is why the board continues to be fractured I reached out to the maker of the motion about the principal stuff and I said this and I said this is rather than have a conversation it's just I'm just shut out and so that's the parlor with which the

[06:04:41] work is being done it's just sad okay I'll call a vote for the main motion all in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Dixon, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, Ms. Lady, and myself opposed. Mr. Moon abstained. Ms. Mirren. Main motion three passes.

[06:05:07] Okay, main motion four. I call on Mr. Dunn for a motion. Thank you. I move the Fairfax County School Board to direct the superintendent to develop a pilot program to implement a tiered positive list, white list only, firewall architecture for FCPS issued electronic devices at two elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools, and provide this plan to the school board for approval no later than December 10, 2026, with the implementation plan no later than the beginning of the third quarter of the 2026-2027 school year. The development of the

[06:05:44] pilot program should consider access to apps, extensions, and websites by grade levels, as well as how such an architecture would provide additional protection for students from cyberbullying, inappropriate content and predatory behavior i further move to direct the superintendent to report to the board on the results of the pilot by june 10th 2027 to guide possible division-wide expansion for the 2027-2028 school year is there a second second mr dunn would you like to speak to your motion briefly um right now fcps relies on a blacklist model for web filtering on district devices we block known bad sites but new gaming hubs gambling platforms and streaming workarounds

[06:06:23] slip through every day so our students are smart they find those cracks very quickly it's an endless game of digital whack-a-mole and a reactive blacklist means we're always one step behind so i believe we need to do a pilot a very limited pilot and i'm happy to have schools in my district participate in the pilot where we use a the capabilities that already exist in light speed where they have a whitelist capability to have a positive approach under this default deny approach only approved vetted educational tools and sites are accessible on district devices

[06:07:00] to be clear we already own this technology our existing filtering platform has this capability built in and it's a simple system configuration not a costly new contract and for all of our discussion about being budget neutral this is the preeminent example this pilot won't derail learning. It will launch with a core starter list, Google Workspace Canvas research databases, and include a streamlined exception process for, you know, participating schools conducting open research. More importantly, running a small palette gives us real operational data to inform ETRC deliberations on IT workload and classroom impact before we consider a

[06:07:38] division-wide rollout. And I'd like to thank my colleague for partnering with me on the language. Thank you, Mr. Dannon. I'd like to echo that, and I shared this as a really great example of how collaboration happens and works well and I'll start with a little bit of a story so at the beginning of last school year my own son who I hope is in bed by now but there's a small chance he's still watching got his first one-to-one laptop and couple months later as October November I attended my first meeting of like-minded parents in a library conference room to hear about excessive and unintentional technology use and you can put two and

[06:08:15] two together while I was there. And it was there that I learned what whitelisting was, and I appreciate you sharing the importance of this. So fast forward six months later, I got elected, and Mr. Sethi will probably attest, one of the very first things I asked him was, hey, what about whitelisting? Can we do whitelisting? That's a great idea I wrote about. And so this is a really great, like I said, an opportunity, an example of collaboration in action, because I brought this to Mr. Dunn a few days ago. We ended up, I think we had a conversation with Mr. Sethi or emails or something and you know we talked about this and Mr. Sethi was you know and I will recognize that he gets a lot of flack some of it deserves some of it not but I really appreciate the thought and

[06:08:55] the seriousness with this because he's like look if we want to know if this works we need to not just do a plan we need to test this out you know come up with a pilot and not only that let's have multiple pilots and and so forth and so I also want to give kudos to to both Mr. Sethi and some constituents who have been working on an individual basis to try out whitelisting and this is how this works um and so i'm grateful for all that i'm looking forward to seeing the results of it i will keep my ear out for any principals in braddock that want to do this my sense is that there are and i'm looking forward to seeing this what comes out from the recommendations

[06:09:28] dr anderson thank you i'm happy to support this motion but what i ask in terms of staff selection of schools to pilot that we give some consideration to what that could potentially look like because we know a lot of pilots very often start with the title one schools it's always a title one schools so i just want for some consideration for us to be a little bit more expansive in terms of who we reach out to thank you miss anderson i just have a few quick things to say this is one i have a

[06:10:02] little bit of trouble with just because i'm not 100 sure i'm on board with white listing for secondary level for the same reason we've been talking about i am far more in agreement with it for elementary school because um but i don't even know whether or not it's possible to to differentiate by grades um i also am wondering whether or not it can be managed at the school level because i'm very concerned about just the the sheer volume of time it will take to approve individual sites when you are talking about kids that are doing research and things like that And I've already heard about the implications of just the sheer volume of sites that we have blacklisted

[06:10:40] that stop students from being able to do things that are essential to their future college careers and things like that. So I would, this is one that I definitely, I'm not sure that I can support it in the way that it's written, but I would definitely support the idea going to the ETRC because I want to hear more about it and I want to hear more about what the pilot would look like.

[06:11:04] and what our goals are with the pilot a little bit more clearly than just broken out by different levels of schools. So I'm not sure I can support it tonight, but I am behind the idea of it. - Thank you, Ms. Lady.

[06:11:21] - Yeah, just real quickly. I echo my colleagues comments in regard to age appropriateness and everything that I've done in terms of reading on whitelisting is that there's implicit bias in it. So depending on who's making the list, I'm not sure that we're going to be one Fairfax and be as culturally responsive as we need to be based on what we think is something that should be allowed versus something that I may personally never think to search because I'm a Caucasian woman, but someone else might.

[06:12:01] That's my concern. So I have the same issue with this. I prefer it be maybe elementary and middle school piloted, but I'm uncomfortable with it for high school. So that's my thoughts.

[06:12:18] Thank you. Mr. Dannon. I just want to acknowledge those concerns, and those are valid, and it's, to me, the benefit of doing a pilot. I want to ask, I guess, Mr. Sethi, your thoughts on, I think we talked about two elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools. Can you explain the thinking, like why that would work or the concerns that my colleagues addressed about, you know, maybe scale it to one high school or thoughts on that?

[06:12:42] I mean, when you think about what's going to happen on the back end of this is the teachers would have to help us understand all the tools and resources they use in the classroom on a daily basis. And an elementary level, it's a little easier because one teacher, entire grade levels. When you go to the high school level, the complexity is far larger.

[06:13:03] So the data collection from teachers to be able to help tell us exactly which tools we should be whitelisted, and then us being able to put that in, validate it, test it. And it's just a little more high stakes, in my opinion, at the high school's level, right? If an IB student gets stopped at the wrong time, at the right time, and they have to work through a day or two or three, that impact could be a little more sensitive to their educational outcomes.

[06:13:28] But we can certainly work through the process as defined by the board. one thing i'll just say that so um and i appreciate breaking this up into developing a plan and then i think we vote to approve that plan right so if we're looking at that plan it doesn't satisfy these concerns we can always scale it down and say okay well in high school we're going to have a different kind of wait list model i don't know but um uh so hopefully that'll for now we're taking the step to develop a plan that's going to hopefully address these concerns we can work to identify schools where these pilots could could be implemented um and um proceed once we have more

[06:14:03] information so thank you Mr. Dunn yeah I just want to hit that point very hard and foot stomp it that this is not a motion to approve to approve a pilot program this is a motion to bring to the board a plan to do a pilot program so there is an intervening step and if you look in in the motion it says this plan to the school board for approval right so if the school board doesn't approve it the pilot doesn't happen but this is something we'd like to explore

[06:14:39] and if it's not technically feasible or if there are issues I'm sure mr. Sethi will tell us all the reasons it's a terrible idea and the board won't approve it but if it is technically feasible and if it is you know it has enough benefits to recommend it and there are you know school districts that have pioneered this then then we can proceed with the limited pilot see how it works if it works great we can roll it out to a broader number if it doesn't work we can kill it and no problem so again all this is about bringing information a

[06:15:12] plan how we could do it but we don't have to do it thanks thank you I'll call for the vote all those in favor mr. Frisch miss Mirren mr. Moon miss Dixit mr. Dunn mr. Dannon dr. Anderson miss st. John Cunning and myself all those opposed miss lady all those abstaining miss Anderson motion passes call on mr.

[06:15:40] - Mr. Dunn, for a motion. - Can the clerk bring up the next motion? - No, five. - We're on five. - I move the Fairfax County School Board to direct the superintendent to deliver a report by December 10th, 2026 on the technical and operational feasibility of allowing elementary, middle, and high school students with a documented medical or developmental need to opt out of the use of FCPS-issued laptops and tablets for instructional purposes.

[06:16:13] - Is there a second? - Second. - Mr. Dunn, would you like to speak to your motion? - Briefly. not every student has a 504 plan, not every student has an IEP that's costly, time-intensive, and there's just a larger number of students who have ADHD or other conditions where having access to electronic devices makes their physical health, their anxiety, other issues demonstrably worse and in these instances electronic devices are not serving to further their education

[06:16:51] which is the very core mission of FCPS instead it's working to their detriment and it may indeed end up making them be less interested in school more interested in having greater access to websites and content that they shouldn't have access to so this is intended to provide pathway by which students who have a documented medical need condition can obtain relief and to get the proper education and support they need from FCPS to obtain a world-class education thank you thank you mr. moon nothing more

[06:17:28] to add okay miss lady thank you as I shared with the motion maker earlier this week this is already in place and a 504 doesn't cost any money you have documentation of adhd of documentation of vision you have documentation of whatever um it comes to the local screening committee and the 504 is put in place that is the medical documentation um the reason i don't like this motion is because i don't think we can define medical

[06:18:05] um documented medical i i don't i don't want kids bringing in a doctor's note from pediatrician that says Robin can't have a laptop and there's no really justification for that like there is a this already is done with fidelity and I don't even understand what the need of the motion is because there's a process to do this appropriately and throughout my entire career it's been done and there are times when people come to you and ask hey this is an issue and then we as the people

[06:18:39] who were in charge of student services say, well, this sounds like an appropriate, you know, referral to local screening for either testing or for a 504. It doesn't cost people anything. So I just think this is already organically in place with fidelity, and for that reason I can't support the motion because it's already in place.

[06:19:02] Thank you. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Mr. Dannon, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, all those opposed? Ms. Anderson, Ms. Lady, and myself, any abstentions?

[06:19:21] Are you opposed? Abstentions are Ms. Dixit and Ms. St. John Cunning. Can the clerk read the vote?

[06:19:39] We're at 6-3-2, the motion carries. Thank you. I call on Ms. Lady for a motion. This is motion six. I move that the Fairbanks County School Board direct the superintendent to amend all student device regulations, including regulations 2601, Student Rights and Responsibilities Booklet, and 2602P, acts for which students may be disciplined disciplinary procedures and interventions to prohibit student use of personal electronic communication and computing devices, including

[06:20:16] but not limited to personal laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and smartphones during the instructional day requiring the exclusive use of FCPS-issued devices for school-related digital activities. This prohibition shall not be applicable to students with an individual education program or Section 504 plan that explicitly mandates or permits the use of a non-FCPS-issued personal device as a necessary accommodation.

[06:20:37] Additionally, school principals or their designee shall retain the authority to grant limited course-specific exemptions for students enrolled in specific classes in which the curriculum requires technology, tools, or software not available on standard FCPS-issued devices. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Lady, would you like to speak on your motion?

[06:20:53] Yeah, so, you know, speaking of whitelists and blacklists, the more that we, as we got tighter with Chromebooks and prohibiting certain websites, we saw a rise, or at least we did certainly in Drainsville, saw a rise in students bringing their own devices.

[06:21:12] So, in full disclosure, this claimed clearly from Langley High School and Cooper Middle School. The principal's there, and then I've touched base with my other principals around the fact that this prohibition would be great because they can't control what kids are doing on a personal device.

[06:21:27] There's no firewalls, there's no way to control it, and we've got to stop it because we're doing our best. We're here until, you know, 1.30 in the morning trying to control technology in the hands of our kids. And I think too many of our parents don't understand that when their kid brings their own personal device, what that means that they're allowed to do at school.

[06:21:48] So I think it's a pretty clear cut to me that this will help all of our principals and will help all of our teachers to control kids. And again, go back to the past. We just passed earlier to create a way to store the FCPS-issued devices.

[06:22:06] That doesn't address personal devices. So I think it's a pretty clear cut. thank you uh dr anderson no i think it was covered okay uh mr dannon sorry just very briefly um i appreciate this and i i heard you both talking about this at one point and um uh clearly a lot of passion and thought went into this so i appreciate that i just wanted to ask either for the motion makers or perhaps for um fcps staff just in cases where a parent wants a device that is more restrictive um in your view reading this does that accommodate that so if i if i want a a device that is white listed perhaps, or if I want my kid to have a device that's white listed,

[06:22:45] is that going to be permissible under this? I think that this motion indicates that any device brought from home, other than for an IEP or 504 plan that explicitly mandates or permits the use, would not be allowed.

[06:23:10] And I'm reading the last paragraph to understand if there might be exceptions for if a child doesn't have an IP or a 504, but the parents still want a more restrictive device if there's a way to accommodate that through this? It looks like for course-specific exemptions where the curriculum requires technologies, tools, or software not available.

[06:23:35] So I don't, I'm not, your example of a parent wanting a more restrictive device, I'm trying to, if they have an IEP or 504, I think that would work. And I'm wondering, maybe as we, it seems, reading the room, that there's a general trend away from using devices for a lot of classroom sites.

[06:23:53] So I think this might eventually become more of a moot point. But the hope being that, you know, if I'm sending my student to school every day and three out of eight of their classes rely on a laptop, I don't want them to be on a device that's going to be distracting them, and I feel like my personal device is going to provide, you know, better for that.

[06:24:14] Is that still, I guess they would work with their principal to get that kind of exception then for the, I guess that would fall into the course specific definition there. And if not, we can revisit this perhaps in August, but I just want to make sure that for those.

[06:24:30] I think the two exceptions that I see, and we looked at this, was if you had an IEP or 504, and if a parent felt like the security was needed, maybe that would somehow match into a 504 in some way. I'm not sure.

[06:24:46] Or course-specific exemptions whereby the Chromebook maybe didn't provide the level of tools or software available. But I don't see an out for just a non-IEP, non-504, non-course required personal device in this.

[06:25:06] I think you could write something into it, but I don't see it as it's written. Okay. I appreciate it. We'll follow up at the August meeting in the interest of time. Thank you. Mr. Frisch. Thank you. I'm happy to support this. in fact one of the the primary reasons is you know i've heard from educators who very much appreciate the cell phone ban and then macbooks started showing up in the classroom and students were using the iphone basically interface on their laptops to circumvent

[06:25:40] the cell phone ban and so that's one of the reasons in addition to the reasons articulated by the motion maker and sponsor and seconder. So I'm happy to support it and would welcome the further conversation that Mr. Danden is mentioning.

[06:25:57] Thank you, Mr. Moon. Thank you. Just one question to make sure is if you prohibit students from bringing their own devices from home, do we have enough devices in the school system to provide everyone a device?

[06:26:19] Currently today we do because we do provide everyone a device. Okay. I'm just, you know, going back a few years ago, I guess you might have gotten more funding to provide more devices. We basically supplemented our resources with home-broad devices so that when we didn't need to spend additional money for devices where, you know, students were able to bring their own devices, you know, we didn't put the money into buying unnecessary devices.

[06:26:52] but with this we may be forced to maintain the number at that level it certainly could be one outcome yes sir thank you okay I'm going to call for the vote all those in favor Ms. Anderson Mr.

[06:27:12] Frisch Ms. Mirren Ms. Dixit Mr. Dunn Mr. Dannon Dr. Anderson Ms. St. John Cunning Ms. Lady and myself all those opposed all those abstaining Mr. Moon motion passes okay I call on Ms. Lady for a Motion, this is motion 7.

[06:27:34] The Paris Canyon School Board direct the superintendent to direct the Educational Technology Review Committee to prioritize evaluating and plan to implement network-level filters to block direct student access to the YouTube platform, including YouTube website and mobile applications for all students in pre-K through 8th grade while utilizing school networks or FCPS-issued devices while providing instructional YouTube content that is directly embedded by a teacher within an improved educational platform, presentation tool,

[06:28:08] learning management system. Is there a second? I second. Miss Lady? Yeah, so at ISTE, I went to a think tank of leaders, talked to a couple of chief technology slash chief innovation officers from other states, and asked them about the YouTube use, because I'd heard from a lot of people for the, in the Parents for Intentional Technology around the pop-up ads, and wanted to figure out if there was a way to prohibit that. So what I learned was this was something that was put in

[06:28:42] place in other school systems where if a teacher embeds a link within like a presentation like canva um it it it's literally like doesn't allow the pop-up ads to occur um it prohibits teachers from just emailing links um it makes them in my opinion uh use it for a much more restrictive purpose that's purely instructional like you really need to know why it's embedded and why it's part of your instruction and why it's enhancing the learning, because it needs to be in some sort of formal presentation.

[06:29:18] So I welcome the Educational Technology Review Committee to look more deeply at this, but I feel pretty strongly about the fact that I think it's going to make a lot of people happy in terms of eliminating the ads, but also still allowing teachers to use YouTube to enhance their instruction based on clips that they find that they think are appropriate for their learners.

[06:29:44] - Ms. Dixon. - No, I agree with what Ms. Levy said. - Thank you, Ms. Anderson. - Just really fast, I would like to say thank you to the bringer of the motion for adjusting the language just to give us some time to find some more information.

[06:30:01] I'm wholeheartedly in support of the idea behind it. I just wanna make sure that we're not gonna end up in a procurement issue where we have to get a different tool in some way to make this possible, at least without knowing. So I appreciate it.

[06:30:16] - Mr. Dannen. - Just real briefly, again, I'm sorry, Mr. Sethi, the part of this motion that talks about to implement network-level filters to block direct student access, are there other ways to basically block direct student access to YouTube?

[06:30:31] Or is this term unnecessary limiting in developing this plan? - What I'm guessing in hearing the conversation is the Lightspeed filter has a technology called Smart View, which basically is similar to what is being described.

[06:30:47] which was on a roadmap to implement on our lightspeed enhancements. The question that comes up is the same as the whitelist, right? The teachers would have to create that whitelist of two YouTube videos to put in there so that we can make sure that the content teacher approves can make over to the students, and then everything else gets blocked.

[06:31:09] So the discovery in this is going to be similar to the whitelist, blacklist conversation to say, what is the universe of content that needs to be approved? Once we know the universe of that content, then the tool should be able to handle most of the work. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[06:31:25] And again, it's worth saying, this is a lot of work. As somebody alluded to earlier tonight, we're asking a lot of you over the next few months. And so we do appreciate it. It's difficult because a lot of this is unprecedented, right? But as others have alluded to, I think if we can do this thoughtfully and so forth, we can hopefully get this right and not have to be back here in six months and fixing it.

[06:31:47] so again thank you all for your work and thank you to the motion makers for for bringing this i was i was most excited seeing seeing this come up on the on the agenda so thank you thank you i will call for the vote all those in favor miss anderson mr frisch miss mirren mr moon miss dixit mr dunn mr dannon dr anderson miss st john cunning miss lady and myself that's unanimous action item 7.08

[06:32:17] middle school configuration motion i call on mr dunn for a motion i move that the fairfax county school board direct the superintendent to evaluate best practices for middle school configurations either grade 7 to 8 or 6 to 8 establish a standard FCPS configuration for middle schools and identify near-term and long-term opportunities to transition particular middle schools to the recommended configuration in order to promote academic achievement reduce overcrowding in elementary schools ensure effective capacity utilization and support the

[06:32:56] accomplishment of strategic plan objectives. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Dunn. Yes. So in 1990, almost 40 years ago, the Fairfax County School Board approved a pilot program to shift sixth graders into middle schools, starting with Glasgow, Holmes, and Poe. But in 1991, the school board voted to expand the six to eight middle school configuration into the entire division. So the the intention was all middle schools should be six through eight however due to subsequent funding

[06:33:32] constraints facility limits and overcrowding in elementary versus middle school feeder patterns the division-wide rollout was stalled leaving glasgow holmes and poe as the only three middle schools in fcps with the six through eight configuration now what's very interesting is if you look at every surrounding school division northern virginia they're all six through eight to my knowledge and and so we're a bit of an outlier in having these seven through eight the very first meeting of the comprehensive school boundary review was at Glasgow and the chants from the crowd were end the experiment end the experiment meaning they didn't want to be the

[06:34:11] outliers anymore either shift them back to seven through eight or make other middle schools also six through eight so the difficulties that come from making boundary adjustments between some elementary schools that are k through five and some that are k through six and the accompanying middle schools that you know are complementary to that aren't as difficult as we have found through the comprehensive boundary review um superintendent has also spoken at length um over the past couple years about her vision and her personal preference for uh six through eight middle schools am i

[06:34:44] getting that accurately dr reed yes sir and why why do you have that preference i think that any time you have a building where the student population turns over by 50% every year, it's really difficult to build community at a really pivotal time in a young person's life, that early adolescence.

[06:35:08] I also, for, again, advanced math courses, where sixth grade is in middle school, it's much easier to accommodate. I think for science labs, the arts, fine and performing arts options, CTE options, you just, sixth graders have the opportunity to experience a really more robust curriculum that might be more developmentally appropriate. So I just think for a variety of reasons, it makes a lot of sense. We also have a lot of families. As you know, we have

[06:35:46] over 13 000 military connected youth and very often when families transfer in and out the idea that they have to go back to elementary school when they've been very excited to go to middle school wherever they've been sometimes is you know it's also challenging because it's we are an outlier to have seven eight schools thank you uh so i just want to break down the motion it's it's pretty straightforward first part is evaluate best practices i think the fact that we're the only one in Northern Virginia that is seven through eight speaks for itself but we do want to look

[06:36:22] nationwide and I think there have been recent studies as recently as 2022 so we don't have to do a lot of original research second part establish a standard FCPS configuration do we prefer six through eight do we prefer seven through eight we should have one configuration for middle school not counting secondary schools because that's a whole different beast and then finally identify near-term and long-term opportunities. I think of this as it can be a 20-year plan. We don't need to transition next year or in six months. But there are some middle schools today that are below 85%

[06:36:59] capacity. And so you can imagine that the superintendent could develop a plan, say, in the next five years, we're going to look to transition, you know, X, Y, and Z middle school to a six through eight middle school and that will enable greater accomplishment of strategic plan objectives and other things that the superintendent has mentioned. There are other middle schools that are overcrowded and and they just don't have the space and so for those it can be a long-term priority but the whole point is we were we've been in this situation for a long time just let me talk

[06:37:37] for one more minute we've been in the situation for a long time and it's not intentional to have some 7 through 8 and some 6 through 8 we've tackled hard challenges like comprehensive boundary review on this board and this is one thing out there that needs to be resolved needs to be addressed it can be addressed over 20 years but we should have a plan so we can work against it over many years thank you Dr. Anderson I don't know if Mr. Frisch or Ms. Marin have ever heard me talk about this before so it's brand new information I I'm not even going to take a whole lot of time to talk about this because I've spoken about this for years and years and

[06:38:16] years you've been getting to the doorstep of activity only to have it not happen um Dr. Reed I appreciate the things that you've just shared regarding the benefits of having a um sixth graders at the middle school as a teacher as a principal I've worked in middle schools that were 7-8. I've worked in middle schools that were 6-7-8. I've worked in elementary schools that were K-5 and those that are K-6. And what I said then is also what I will say now in terms of this concept

[06:38:49] of Glasgow Poor and Holmes. I'm not married to the configuration. We just all have to be in the same place. So we just stopped making these particularly these particular exemptions for the sixth grade in the middle, as was notified earlier when Dr. Presidio said we didn't forget sixth grade in the middle because we so often did. I sent to Dr. Reed just last Friday that very listing of schools, I just went through the CIP, of middle schools that actually have that room

[06:39:27] because some of them are in the low 70s, 72 to 71 percent. Again, this is just pulling it from the CIP. There's no story behind it, but it's a start because we do have some space where there is room where we could begin this conversation, and I'm hoping not 20 years, but I also know it's not going to be everybody all at once in the next three years. So there are opportunities that we could potentially capture in order to start moving that train. And all of the benefits that you've

[06:40:01] just share Dr. Reed from community to academic opportunities to all of the things that you just said so eloquently are also the very reasons why I do not want for Branwell Park to add a sixth grade in order to go to Key and then go to Lewis. I have to make that connection here because it matters. So we thank you. Thank you Mr. Frisch. So the research that I've looked at paints two pictures and then there's a few complicating factors one the research

[06:40:40] about the benefits of sixth grade being in elementary is a maturity question and the research that advocates for a six seven eight configuration for middle school talks about academic and instructional continuity and advancement but it also talks about hastening maturity so there are plenty of benefits to a six seven eight configuration and I presume that whatever we get back from the superintendent may point in that direction and I am 100% bought in on the idea of transitioning

[06:41:17] the school division to six seven eight presuming that's where the professional guidance lands us as well at least as part of the conversation but to mr dunn's point about a 20-year cycle i think that's accurate because so many different pieces have to be looked at and aligned from the cip and the renovation queue to to questions about boundary reviews program placement you name it there's a bunch of different things that are all moving pieces and to make it move more quickly

[06:41:55] there are going to be equity trade-offs in this conversation because the equitable approach may not be the swiftest approach to adopting the full transition of the entire school division unfortunately but that's the trade-off of bringing a perhaps an optimal makeup for our middle schools to to every middle school in in Fairfax County so I look forward to seeing the

[06:42:24] report did i see a time on here yes you can yes if you can uh there's not a timeline in here there's a lot of things in the fall it's literally the same people that are responsible for every motion tonight so it provides flexibility uh i i welcome your thoughtful consideration on whatever timeline that takes within reason so i appreciate it thank you miss anderson um so i'm

[06:43:01] generally supportive of this. I like the idea of looking at it holistically in terms of what's our timeline coming down the road. My concern has always been is that while we talk a lot about the middle school configuration, that is not the only unique school setup that we have. And we have three secondary schools that I do not want sixth graders in with seniors. I just don't. I lived seventh grade with seniors i went to one of our secondary schools unless we can renovate our schools so that we actually put the firewall between the middle school and the high school

[06:43:37] the way that we actually should and the way other counties do that for their middle schools and high school combos i absolutely wholeheartedly agree that we still need a secondary model partially because we still have the busing issue out of clifton that is almost all my constituents and so we one bus pickup for sixth grades is awesome and we don't have problems on the buses we've done you know lots of research related to that um what the other thing that i would say here is that if we're going to do this and we have a plan over time then we have to actually

[06:44:12] get rid of the split feeders because you have to have a clean pattern on how the kids are moving up if you have some space in some schools and some and not in others because it can't be that it's It's not likely going to be that all of one region is going to be able to move to this at the same time.

[06:44:29] We're going to look for where we have, again, low-hanging fruit in terms of space, and then we're going to look for renovation because I have one middle school that can take this tomorrow, and I have another that's at 113% capacity, and there's no world that it could happen. And so we've got to figure that out.

[06:44:46] And the other thing that I love about this is it does give us more room potentially for pre-K. So I love the idea of having having space for the littles. Thank you. I will call for the vote. All in favor, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, Ms. Lady, and myself.

[06:45:11] That's unanimous. Action item 7.09, motion on boundary study review. I call on Mr. Dunn. Without objection, this item will be postponed until August 27, 2026. The item is postponed.

[06:45:27] Action item 7.10, federally identified schools, CSI. I call on Mr. Moon for a motion.

[06:45:49] This question, I'm trying to find it on the script. Yes. I move that the school board review the CSI school's multi-year school support plans and that the assurances page for each school indicates the date reviewed per school board minutes.

[06:46:19] Is there a second? I second. Ms. Tixit with the second. Mr. Moon, any? I did ask this particular agenda item to be moved from the consent agenda because I wanted to have a public to hear from superintendent or someone else about what this is all about.

[06:46:46] We have four schools identified as a CSI school, what that means and what are we doing, when on the boulder it is stated that you know one of the reasons one of the reasons for a school to be identified could be because it belongs to the bottom five percent of the title one schools I do want to understand how that has happened to a one or more of our schools there seem to be

[06:47:20] four CSI schools in FCPS yes sir and actually the good news is we have fewer CSI schools this year than we've previously had it's a designation that i'm going to ask miss roman to review as the office of school support reports up to our chief of schools miss roman so miss roman great the csi designation is a three-year designation for our high schools there are two different designations that really impact us the graduation rate if it's below a threshold of

[06:47:57] 67 percent that triggered a CSI status which is a three-year stay at the status and then for low performance that is again a three-year designation schools will develop support plans the schools were able to apply for grant funding in order to get additional resources and support to support their improvement and exit criteria is that for CSI that schools make academic progress in the areas that are identified within three years and then that they're not

[06:48:33] re-identified at the end of three years on that new criteria and then for high schools for on-time graduations the exit is that they need to hit 67 percent for their graduation rate one thing that's important to note is for all our alternative high schools which were identified this was the first year where the state did shift that from previously having alternative accreditation plans for our schools and so our alternative high schools are on the same identification status as all of our high schools in the state so to summarize that the three of

[06:49:10] the schools that are on for graduation it's because the criteria previously used is no longer available to be used because the alternative school in each case criteria used to be mapped to alternative school graduation rates we also have a one elementary school identified the CSI school if you could comment on that yes sir miss Roman yep Herndon elementary school was identified as a CSI school for low performance and so they are setting

[06:49:48] goals for in their three-year plan to support improvement in reading as well as in math and in order to again exit that status they'll need to demonstrate growth over the next three years and then every cycle they will identify the state will identify the lowest performing five percent of title one schools and then we'll do a new designation after three years okay thank you Miss Tixit did you want to speak to your second no I'm good okay calling for All in favor, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Mirren, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr.

[06:50:27] Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, Ms. Lady and myself. That's unanimous. Consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure. Robert's rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion. Many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members in the public in advance.

[06:50:47] Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any member prior to the to the meeting. The consent agenda items are on the screen. Is there any objection to approving the consent agenda? Hearing and seeing no objection, the consent agenda is approved. Item nine, new business. The following are new business agenda items. There will be a vote on these items. There will not be a vote on these items this evening, but action is scheduled at a future board meeting. Item 10, superintendent matters. Well, well, well. I just wish the board

[06:51:19] restful and joyful recess other than that I think I'll save my remarks as it's 1:53 and almost 2 o'clock this morning thank you item 11 board matters and of course the board consensus to the late hour we will skip board matters this evening this meeting is adjourned as of 1:53 a.m.

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