Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, August 27, 2026

Date: Thursday, August 27, 2026
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 59m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BjCOK45FDk
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 2026-10-26. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:02:43] This August 27, 2026 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the National Anthem by members of the Fairfax General Music Educators Association.

[00:03:39] We'll give another round of applause to our fantastic teachers.

[00:05:25] 3.02 announcements. If you would 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, please reference the QR code on the agenda or visit www.fcps.edu backslash board docs.

[00:05:44] Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on Cox Channel 99, Verizon Fios Channel 11, and live streamed on YouTube and our website at www.fcps.edu slash live stream. Virtual participation, Ms. St. John Cunning. Ms. St. John Cunning has submitted a request to attend this evening's meeting remotely due to medical reasons and is located in Alexandria, Virginia.

[00:06:04] I performed an initial review of Ms. St. John Cunning's request and having found it to be in compliance with the school board's remote participation resolution. And I approve the request. Ms. St. John Cunningham, please check your audio and video. Can you hear me and see me? Yes, we can. We hear you and see you. Thank you. I now ask the board members who are physically present to vote on the following.

[00:06:22] All those in favor of confirming the chair's approval of Ms. St. John Cunningham's request. Ms. Anderson, Ms. Marin, Mr. Moon, Mr. McElveen, no, is that right? Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, and myself. All those opposed? Dr. Anderson, the clerk read the vote.

[00:06:44] Eight to one, the motion carries. Thank you. I now call on Dr. Reed to provide some brief remarks on the first week of school. Thank you, Madam Chair, and what a fabulous first week of school. I think I really appreciate our music educators singing the National Anthem.

[00:07:00] I had a chance to attend their professional develop in-service. Ms. Okuchi's here actually from that event as well, and their tradition is as an entire group. They sing the National Anthem, and I actually almost for a moment thought I could sing, too.

[00:07:16] with them. It's amazing what happens when you can join a group of people who are so gifted. I will say that for the first time in three years, we have a 99.7% fill rate for critical positions for the opening of the school year. So this is our highest rate in three years. And a big thanks to Mr. Solomon and our HR team and all of the departments that worked with Mr. Solomon and HR team, they've worked very, very hard on staffing. I also want to note that our food

[00:07:51] and nutrition team has served close to 80,000 breakfast and lunches on day one alone. And I have a little bit of intel on this. The most popular menu item was the crispy chicken sandwich with over 35,000 crispy chicken sandwiches served. So I was really thrilled about that, about 20,000 servings of apple slices, 13,000 servings of baby carrots, and 10,000 orange slice servings. So I'm not sure it appears citrus is taking a back seat to the apples, so

[00:08:27] but a lot of work and really want to thank our food and nutrition team. I also want to share that I'm thrilled to report that of our approximately 1,600 buses that transport about 130,000 of our Fairfax students at 45,000 different stops that by yesterday, 94% of our almost 6,000 bus routes were on time.

[00:08:51] So we were very excited about that. Our transportation and food, thank you to Chief Andy Mewick, our Chief Operations Officer, and Paula D'Andrade and Sean Sacco, Melissa D'Angelo and all of the teams.

[00:09:09] It just takes everyone here in Fairfax, so just thrilled with that. Also want to call out our athletic practices. On the first day, we had over 200 practices and 30 contests, and I've already attended several of those. I know the boys' volleyball game last night at Annandale High School versus Lewis High School.

[00:09:29] Our Lancers and Adams had a very, very sporting boys' volleyball night, and you'll have to read the press clippings to see who won. but just a lot of excitement and I think what I'm most proud of is on day one as I visited schools as many of you did in day two we had instruction happening right now so our educators in the classroom our principals all of our support staff that made that possible just a big thank you and we're looking forward to the magic that will continue in our schools this year so thank you madam chair thank you Dr. Reed I call on Mr. Moon for a proclamation thank you madam chair it gives

[00:10:08] be a great pleasure to read this proclamation but this is a very much belated expression of our gratitude to an ever-growing group of community volunteers with that whereas the 220 Club was established in 2007 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting low-income children and families through its mission sharing love with our neighbors and whereas the

[00:10:42] AM220 Club reflects the commitment of each member to contribute monthly two hours of volunteer service time and $20 of donation, demonstrating the organization's belief that small, consistent acts of generosity can create meaningful and lasting change in the lives of children and families in need.

[00:11:09] And whereas, for the past 19 years, the 2-20 Club has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to addressing food insecurity by sustaining its weekend backpack food program, ensuring that students in need have access to nutritious food over weekends and school breaks, including throughout the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[00:11:38] And whereas the 220 Club, supported by approximately 420 members and donors, empowered entirely by volunteers of all ages, exemplifies the values of civic engagement, volunteerism, and community partnership by bringing together elementary school students, college students, parents, and seniors in service to others.

[00:11:59] And whereas each month, approximately 50 dedicated volunteers personally purchase, pack, and deliver nutritious, shelf-stable food packages that meet Fairfax County Public Schools guidelines, preparing every package with the same care and compassion they would extend to their own families.

[00:12:17] And whereas, through its long-standing partnership with Fairfax County Public Schools, the 220 Club currently provides weekend food assistance to approximately 50 students at each of 13 elementary schools and one middle school, positively impacting the lives of hundreds of students and helping remove barriers to learning by addressing a fundamental need.

[00:12:45] And whereas, through nearly two decades of sustained service, the 220 Club has made a lasting difference in the lives of children and families, while fostering a culture of generosity and service throughout the Fairfax County community.

[00:13:02] Now, therefore, be resolved that the Fairfax County Public School Board extends its highest commendation and deepest appreciation to the 220 Club in recognition of its outstanding service, steadfast partnership, and nearly two decades of dedication to improving the lives of Fairfax County Public School students and families through compassion, volunteerism, and the spirit of a community.

[00:13:31] Is there a second? Second. I will call for the vote. All those in favor, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Marin, Mr. Moon, Mr. McElveen, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous for board members present. Motion passes.

[00:13:48] Ms. Lady. I'm sorry, and Ms. St. John Cunning. So, it is unanimous for all those present. All right, I would like to welcome all those here in support of honoring the 220 Club Proclamation.

[00:14:04] Please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:14:58] The next order of business is community participation.

[00:17:01] 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. During the sign-up process, community members acknowledged that they were informed of the School Board's expectations for proper decorum when providing comments.

[00:17:23] 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 and outbursts will not be tolerated. Please hold your applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats, including when recording video or taking photos.

[00:17:43] We are grateful to those who have come to speak to us today, and thank you for your cooperation. School board members will be listening but not responding. Madam Clerk, please call the first speaker. Elizabeth Shina. Hello, my name is Elizabeth Shina.

[00:18:09] I'm a future John R. Lewis High School student, class of 2032. My dream since I learned that my mom went to John R. Lewis High School is to go to the same school. But Lewis is losing students, and I'm worried that when I go there in two years, there won't be enough students. Lewis is a great school that deserves more than to have nobody left when I come there.

[00:18:29] One of the programs that might not be around is the IB Music course. Only this year did students in the Lewis band get enough people to sign up after years of trying. Next year, those students won't be there to help. My brother's friend wanted to go into IB chemistry, but not enough people signed up.

[00:18:47] Lewis is a great school, in my opinion. It has lots of opportunities for students who want to try things out. I want the music program to grow so that when I go to Lewis, I can get an amazing band experience. I've always wanted to go into science, but what if there aren't enough people to go into science when I go there?

[00:19:03] Lewis needs more students to come so that future generations like myself and the middle schoolers that will be going to Lewis can take courses that we want to take. Even the current students at Lewis deserve better. From all the times I've been to Lewis to see my brother perform, to going to fundraisers, to seeing all around the school, I have learned that Lewis is not just a school, but a community.

[00:19:24] That community is shrinking by the year and needs more support. I ask of you to help John R. Lewis High School so that the Lewis community can grow and all the kids in all the years to come will get a better education. Thank you for your time.

[00:19:48] Obadiah Sutton.

[00:19:57] Dear members of the school board, my name is Obadiah Sayan. I am nine years old and I am a fourth grader at Bryn Mawr Park Elementary School. There are a lot of changes happening to our school. I'm hoping you will help us. First, the county wants to change our middle and high school boundary.

[00:20:14] These do not change our high school anymore. Our high school seems to change a lot and I do not want to be separated from my friends. Second, someone wants to build an asphalt plant less than a mile from the school. My dad told me they are really smelly and can give kids headaches.

[00:20:31] We may be able to smell it from the school, even if they use the most expensive smell-stopping equipment. Please write a letter to the government asking them not to build the asphalt plant. Third, someone wants to build a data center less than a mile from our school.

[00:20:48] My friends at school live really close to there and will hear humming noises all night at home while they try to sleep. Please write a letter to the government asking them not to build the data center. Thank you, everyone, for helping us. Olivia Sutton.

[00:21:13] My name is Olivia Sutton, and I am six years old in first grade at Bradmore Park. There are a lot of changes happening to our school. I am hoping you will help us.

[00:21:32] First, the counting wants to change middle and high school boundary. second someone wants to build a asphalt plant less than a mile from the school third someone wants to build a data center less than a mile from our school thank you

[00:21:54] thank you everyone for helping us the end vanita kataria i'm sorry to follow with those cute kids hello good evening my name is vanita kataria i'm a small business owner in fairfax county and mom to two kids aged five and two.

[00:22:29] I have a consulting and public accounting background, and my current business is in evidence-based interior design, and it's relevant because I care deeply about our collective children's experience and understand both the corporate business world and how their curated experience matters.

[00:22:45] I come to talk about adaptive programs like Lexia and ST Math, which have real measured benefits, and they're dramatically cheaper than staffing enough human experts to deliver the same amount of one-to-one instruction, I understand why FCPS leans on them.

[00:23:02] Yet, a child working alone on a screen during an intervention block is missing core learning that a 1-to-10, 1-to-5, 1-to-3 group that a real teacher provides, such as practicing asking a question out loud, sitting next to a peer stuck with the same problem, feeling normal and not singled out when reading already feels hard.

[00:23:27] For a struggling reader working alongside other kids facing the same challenge, it builds confidence and provides interactions that a solo screen cannot. There's also a community cost. Lexia is owned by a New York private equity firm. Every dollar that we send there is a dollar not going to Fairfax County reading specialist or a tutor, a neighbor, spent in our own local community, building our own economy.

[00:23:53] So my asks are these tonight. First of all, the important motions passed this summer for kindergarten have seemed to fall by the wayside, with limited to no mention in communications. I'm telling parents about this. Please better communicate these wins so parents like me can feel motivated.

[00:24:09] And second, as FCPS plans technology for grades 1 through 6, please pair these tools with real funded small group human instruction time. Thank you.

[00:24:26] - A.J. Sutton. - Good evening, A.J. Sutton, PTA President at the Bryn Mawr Park Elementary School, here to talk about our proposed boundary change to change from Holmes and Edison to Key and Lewis.

[00:24:44] Our community has collected more than 200 petition signatures in opposition to this change, including families from the Lewis High School community. If the board approves of this change, we will be setting a record. We will be the only elementary school in Fairfax County to have had four high schools, different high schools in a 40 year period.

[00:25:03] And that is because we are the easy path. Our community is working class immigrant families. That's why they're proposing a data center and an asphalt plant within our own community here. All right, now we always make the sacrifice for the community and now we're being told that the best thing for the county is that we have to change to get another high school and send hundreds of our families across the 395/45 interchange every day, twice a day during rush hour to Springfield to get to school. In 2015, the board took the easy path. They voted to move families from Lewis High

[00:25:41] School to West Springfield. Unsurprisingly, West Springfield is now one of the most overcrowded schools in the county, and Lewis High School is facing an under-enrollment crisis. But Bryn Mawr Park should not be the solution to every single regional boundary change that's happening, especially when this problem has nothing to do with our community, and especially when this problem, especially when there are two better solutions which are before you here and we shared previously with the board. The first solution is to move the West Spring, the hardest solution and the first solution is to move the West Springfield families back to Lewis where they

[00:26:16] were originally zoned. The second option is also in Springfield with Franconi Elementary School. They are right next to Lewis High School down the street barely a mile away. They are also zoned to Edison and to Twain which is over capacity. Both of these options are good on their face and yet they're not even being considered by the board. Please join me on the right. George Ann Lavery.

[00:26:50] Good evening members of the school board. I am a teacher at Lake Braddock Secondary. My first experience working weapons detection was last school year. The training I received was an email telling me that I needed to balance two things: maintaining a welcoming atmosphere and upholding safety protocols. I want you to think about those two phrases. A welcoming atmosphere. That is what teachers were doing on Monday. We were smiling at students, welcoming them back, asking about

[00:27:29] their summers, telling them about how great it was to see them. Now safety protocols. I watched many videos of schools introducing weapon detection. The people operating those detectors were security personnel wearing security uniforms, radios, and equipment appropriate for that responsibility.

[00:27:49] Those are two very different roles. Yet at Lake Braddock, teachers are being mandated to do both. Come in with open arms and welcome our students, but then stand at weapons detectors and become the first line of security. I think about Uvalde and the scrutiny placed on everyone who is expected to respond. I think about the countless stories of school principals and staff being portrayed as heroes, or being named in lawsuits after a tragedy. I don't want to be either of those.

[00:28:16] And there is another cost that I hope you will consider, the human cost to our staff. Over the past week and a half, I have spoken with several educators who have worked at Lake Braddock for more than 20 years. They have given extra time, extra effort in their hearts in this profession to their students, yet they now tell me they feel a sense of community is disappearing.

[00:28:37] They no longer feel treated as professionals, and some staff members have received anonymous letters calling them cowards and jerks and bullies simply for speaking up about the issue. That should concern us all. I'm asking you to change this policy because Lake Braddock refuses.

[00:28:55] Weapons detection is a security responsibility. Please allow trained security professionals to perform this responsibility and allow educators to...

[00:29:19] Justin Toney. Justin Toney. Tony. Good evening. I'm also a teacher at Lake Braddock Secondary and I echo everything that Georgiane just said. An additional thought here is the accountability that administrators have both in this school and across the county to the people they work for and people they work with. There's a lot been

[00:29:56] going on where we approach various members of the staff and are rebutted where we are being surveilled because of union activity, where we are being offered different treatment based on our various positions on different issues regardless of our compliance with them. Who do we bring these issues to? We can grieve them all we want to, an onerous process which singles us out more, or we can ask the school board to take a look into these issues, to peer under the hood and actually take accountability for the people who are in charge of running

[00:30:36] these buildings, many of which are making everyday basic kind of decisions that don't make much sense. Where there's a possibility of cooperating with union membership, with the day-to-day school compromising on various issues, it seems that the culture has lost its way.

[00:30:54] It seems that more and more we are ingratiating a kind of culture which is cold, bureaucratic, unthinking, unfeeling, and in general not very concerned with the outcomes for the students. A lot of these kinds of decisions, and I'm not going to go into specifics because they'll bring too many individual people here but a lot of these kinds of decisions are impacting not just the work environment for the teachers who are finding it more and more difficult to justify this job year after year but they're impacting the kids in a way where they do not feel connected to the school building do not feel free in their own skin to be kids to make mistakes to learn and grow i've seen

[00:31:33] the number of administrators double while the school's population has fallen mackenzie middock Hi, my name is Mackenzie Meidock. I'm the parent of a second grader at Bryn Mawr Park Elementary in Mason District, and I'd like to speak on a few issues related to our school.

[00:32:07] First, I and many other parents at Bryn Mawr Park Elementary are opposed to the proposed reassignment of our pyramid from Edison to Lewis High School. In order to attend Lewis High School, our students would have to travel through the mixing bowl twice a day to get to and from school, or they could take the one back road option, Van Dorn, and drive past Edison in order to get to Lewis. Also, if Edison High School is overcrowded, our small school certainly isn't going to solve this issue single-handedly. So why aren't other pyramids feeding into Edison being looked at for this boundary review? Please open up the boundary review process to take a more comprehensive look

[00:32:43] at our region for solutions. Second, our school community is currently battling two significant industrial development proposals, one Star Wars data center with Dominion Energy's electrical substation at Plaza 500, and Vulcan Materials Asphalt Plant, both on Edsel Road within one mile of our elementary school. The safety of our children is of our utmost concern, and there are many concerning health hazards that being in proximity to either of these, not to mention sandwiched between both, would have on our FCPS students. Please stand up for for our community and our students by opposing both of these developments with the Fairfax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

[00:33:22] Thank you for your time. - Robert Rigby, Jr.

[00:33:49] - Good evening, friends. My name is Robert Rigby, Jr. I'm speaking tonight only for myself. It's relevant that I'm a currently contracted FCPS employee. A coach friend of mine defined school as the place where you are safe and they know your name.

[00:34:08] At school, I will call all people, including and especially transgender students, by the names they have chosen for me to call them, regardless of outside direction. I will not call anyone by name they themselves do not choose.

[00:34:26] Such dead naming is not OK. As a gay person, I would suffer if my teacher or bus driver called me an anti-gay slur deliberately each day. As a matter of deeply held faith, I am called upon to welcome and respect each person that I encounter.

[00:34:49] I believe that I must welcome each one of these least powerful people as one of God's siblings, and as if they were God themself. This certainly includes transgender students.

[00:35:05] My own denomination's official social principles say that we should, one, challenge policies that deny basic rights to the young based on gender identity, two, support and advocate for the well-being of all young people and for their agency, education, and participation, and three, be committed to supporting the equal rights and protections of all people, regardless of gender identity.

[00:35:32] I will not deliberately deadname or misgender anyone anywhere, anytime, regardless, including at work and FCPS. Watch the training, and you'll know what I'm talking about. Thank you for listening.

[00:35:56] Jennifer Chang. Jennifer Chang. Joanne Walton.

[00:36:25] Good evening, Chair Lady, school board members, Dr. Reed, and staff. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy some World Cup soccer this summer. was pleasantly surprised to learn that the World Cup actually banned the use of artificial turf for the games. In fact, many local governments in California, Massachusetts, and New York are also banning artificial turf. I'm here tonight because I noticed on the draft agenda that you were going to be voting to replace some artificial turf fields, and I saw they were removed for now.

[00:36:58] And I request that you consider a moratorium on the use of turf fields, And I also request that you consider replacing the turf fields that we currently have, including the one at Bailey's Elementary where I teach. That field is, I believe, almost at the end of its life.

[00:37:15] It was installed in 2019, and I'm hoping that it's on the calendar to be replaced hopefully with grass. Every day, 600 preschool through second grade children walk across that field to school, they bring in lots of the turf turds as they are affectionately known, an added burden on the custodial staff. I'm sure that back when these were installed 15 to 20 years ago there was a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of using these artificial fields. We didn't know what we didn't know and now that we know better we should do better. The environmental impact of these fields is immense and I'm really surprised that more families aren't organizing around

[00:37:51] this issue in terms of the health and safety impacts on their children. At this moment in time, we should be prioritizing environmental impact over cost-saving measures because, as we're seeing, climate change is already wreaking havoc. And if we don't start to mitigate some of these environmental impacts, there'll be no turning back. Even if you're using the cork infill, the rest of it is still plastic and still not recyclable without great resources and effort.

[00:38:17] Is the benefit worth the cost in human terms? Thank you very much. Lonnie Bartola. Good evening. My name is Lonnie Bartola and I'm here tonight as a parent from Redmar Park Elementary School community to speak against the proposed boundary change. We understand that FCPS must manage enrollment capacity and resources. We also understand that boundaries

[00:38:54] sometimes need to change, but we believe this particular proposal places a significant burden on Redmar Park families without enough benefit to justify disrupting an established and thriving community. Many parents believe this change would create more problems than it solves. First, transportation and travel time are major concerns. Parents have raised concerns about how students from different parts of the Benmar boundary would get to Key Middle School and Lewis High School, especially because the community is divided by I-395. Longer travel can mean more time on buses

[00:39:30] and less time for schoolwork, activities, family, and friends. Second, parents are concerned about changing the school community that their children already know. Students have built friendships, families have built relationships, and many parents have planned around their children attending Edison High School.

[00:39:47] Changing the feeder schools could separate siblings and disrupt those established connections. Most importantly, we are asking FCPS to look carefully at whether moving Brent Marr Park students is actually necessary. If there are other ways to address capacity and enrollment, we believe those alternatives deserve serious consideration before disrupting hundreds of students and families at Bryn Mawr Park we want to work with FCPS we want to be part of the solution but we also want our children's voices and our community's concerns to be heard please reconsider this boundary proposal and choose a solution that minimizes

[00:40:24] disruption and best puts the and puts the best interests of Bryn Mawr Park students first thank you for your time Yolinda Q good evening members of the school board and superintendent reid my name is yolinda q and i am a parent of three students at brentmar park elementary school i am speaking against the proposed plan to change the elementary our brentmar park elementary school's alignment in addition to the unfair targeting our elementary

[00:41:04] school has experienced over the years that my my friends and family have talked about before we have been mistreated repeatedly during the most recent five-year review as well as the most recent proposal. When the first proposals came out during the five-year review, Burma Park was not a targeted school, yet our boundaries were proposed to be changed by adding the attendance island. So our community opposed that proposal. Then a month before the review was to conclude, our school was proposed to shift our middle school and high school alignment. Our community fought it again, even though we had no time to react. And we were grateful then to receive Dr. Reed's decision

[00:41:41] that this proposal to realign us will not be visited again until the next five-year review. So to our shock, only a few months later after the conclusion of the boundary review, the same proposal to realign Bryn Mawr Park came up again, this time under the guise that BMP is the only solution to solve Edison High School's overcapacity. Without any justification and study, it was presented to our community that somehow Bryn Mawr Park is just always the panacea.

[00:42:11] So our fifth-grade students from last school year are already this week going to separate schools from their friends because we were just experiencing an approval of our AAP middle school changing from Glasgow to Poe. In two years, the renovation for our school will be completed, increasing our capacity from 500 to more than 800.

[00:42:34] I imagine that will require other boundary changes and potential realignments. So how many changes do we have to experience and do we have to fight in such a short period? I ask you to consider what so many changes in such a small period of time is doing to our students and especially those in middle school.

[00:42:56] Shannon Lane. Hello, my name is Shannon Lane.

[00:43:15] I've been learning and working with early childhood students in FCPS for 29 years. I'm here to share my experience with technology use in pre-K and was thrilled to learn that the use of iPads in pre-K and kindergarten was halted this summer. thank you very much for that. Over the years I've watched our classrooms changed as technology and devices have become more common. I've seen teachers spend valuable instructional time managing devices, troubleshooting technology, monitoring screen use, and redirecting children back to learning. More importantly, I've seen changes in our students. Some arrive at pre-k comfortable with navigating a tablet, but with less experience using crayons, scissors,

[00:43:52] pencils, puzzles, and other hands-on materials. We are seeing children who need more support with attention, self-regulation, communication, and engaging an open-ended play. After nearly three decades in the classroom, I believe we need to be more thoughtful about what we ask of our youngest learners to do during the day. Requiring three and four year olds to spend instructional time on programs like Lexia and ST Math, take time away from what they need most: meaningful conversations, play, hands-on learning, and relationships with their teachers and peers. For many pre-k is their first school experience and many or multilingual learners. They need opportunities to talk, listen, explore,

[00:44:29] problem-solve, create, and learn through play. And these experiences that they have build confidence, social language, social skills, language, independence, and the foundation for future learning. Our teachers see firsthand what happens when children build with blocks, draw, paint, look at books, pretend, negotiate with classmates, and have face-to-face conversations. These experiences develop skills that no app can fully replace technology will always be a part of our children's lives pre-k doesn't need to look like more like the digital world that they already experience let's continue to make pre-k a place where children learn through play relationships conversation and hands-on

[00:45:07] experiences not through digital devices thank you very much moving to the pre-recorded videos Hannah Lee did not submit her video please play the video

[00:45:28] testimony submitted by Katie O'Connor. We are unable to hear Ms. O'Connor. We are

[00:46:22] currently experiencing a technical issue in the booth so it will be one

[00:46:26] moment. Chair Lady, the booth is requesting a five-minute recess so they

[00:47:24] can address the technical issue. Okay, we'll take a five-minute recess.

[00:55:30] My name is Katie O'Connor. Chair Lady, we are ready to resume. Board members, please

[00:56:45] take your seats board members please take your seats thank you for your patience those of you who are here in the room our issue is with the booth communicating with our streaming truck that is outside there's a snafu going on and since we can't fix it in a timely fashion we're going to have the videos played on a computer and a microphone put up to the computer so we can hear the remarks but we will not be able to see the actual video so I'm waiting for that

[00:57:23] to be forthcoming and then we will hear from our two remaining video speakers that are now audio speakers thank you they believe hopefully fingers crossed that we actually have it working so we can see it so let's try again with playing the video from Miss O'Connor if that does not work we will do what Miss lady said hello members thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to comment today even though I can't be there in person my name is Katie O'Connor My child just started kindergarten at Bucknell Elementary, which is a title one school I want to start by thanking you for passing the motion prohibiting devices in pre-k and kindergarten

[00:58:02] The relief that went through me when that motion passed is hard to describe I'm very grateful that the school board took parents concerns To heart and took action to protect our youngest learners Naturally, I am concerned about my son's future exposure to screens as he continues his public school journey research has consistently shown that reading comprehension and retention are worse when children read on digital devices i can see in my son the natural tendency of all children to obsess over the instant gratification of tablets and screens i need him to understand the frustration of having a pencil that won't quite sharpen correctly to learn how to type so he can express

[00:58:41] himself he already knows how to tap a screen that's why i'm asking you to avoid mandatory minimums for Lexia and instead explore analog alternatives to Lexia with urgency. We need consistent policies across the school system that deprioritize screens. To be clear, I am not anti-tech. I make my living on a computer. Devices can be lifesavers for children with special needs and we're lucky to live in a time when those children have access to them. I know school board members have raised concerns about eliminating the mass use of devices in schools and the singling out students who have IEPs for their device use.

[00:59:21] But teaching our kids about inclusivity, equity, and that some people naturally need tools that others don't is a vital part of understanding and appreciating each other's differences. We would be doing a disservice to our children if we carry on assuming that screens are inherently helpful without reconsidering our excessive use in schools.

[00:59:40] Thank you very much. Please play the video testimony submitted by Katya Dimonstein. My name is Katya Dimonstein.

[00:59:58] I'm a parent of three children living in McLean. Thank you to the board for taking action to remove devices from kindergarten classrooms. I'm here tonight because the concern parents raise is not limited to kindergarten. It's about screen exposure and overexposure across all of elementary and middle school.

[01:00:17] Families with littles at home want real enforceable screen time limits built into instruction at every grade level, not left to each classroom discretion. Other jurisdictions, Utah, Alabama, Los Angeles, Unified, Sweden, Denmark, Madrid have all made changes FCPS still lacks behind.

[01:00:39] I also want to raise something that troubles many of us FCPS is currently a plaintiff in litigation against Google, alleging that Google's products harm students wellbeing and exploit student data. This is a serious legal position for this division to take.

[01:00:56] Yet at the same time, FCPS continues to give Google effectively unrestricted access to our students and their data through de facto mandating one-to-one Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education. Hours a day, every school year from every age.

[01:01:15] I asked the board and specifically the superintendent, how do we reconcile suing Google over harm to students while simultaneously handing that same company broad daily access to those same students' attention and data.

[01:01:31] If the litigation reflects a genuine belief that Google's practices are harmful, that belief should be reflected in our procurement and classroom policy decisions, not just in a courtroom filing. We ask the board to close that gap, extend device limits through elementary school, adopt real screen time caps division-wide, and bring our Google relationship in line with the concerns Chairlady, that was our last public speaker.

[01:02:08] - Thank you. 5.01 Student Representative Matters, I call on Mr. Shostek for Student Representative Matters. - Thank you, good evening everyone. I hope the first week of school has been great for everyone. That goes to parents as well. I know it's been a bit hectic for me, so I'll just get right into it.

[01:02:26] To start off, I've reviewed a lot of very good applications for the community advisory committees. We've received over 50, and there's been some truly stellar candidates I've had to choose from. It's been a lot of hard work reviewing these and I've had to make a lot of difficult choices, but I'm happy to say that I've made a majority of my decisions, there's still a few open slots, but that should be good.

[01:02:49] I know when I was running for this, what I told to a lot of people was that I really wanted to bring myself to students directly. I know previously a lot of student reps have met often with the Student Advisory Council, but what I plan to do and then what I'm excited and looking forward to is working with Mr. McDaniel's staff hopefully hosting some virtual town halls where I talk directly with students who are, you know, across the county and not just in Fairbanks Honey, not just in the Student Advisory Council.

[01:03:18] I've also recently had the pleasure of working with a lot of school board members, meeting directly with Mr. Frisch, Ms. Marin, Ms. Anderson. And so it's been a real pleasure. I'm excited to work on improving the quality of life for our students here, particularly when it comes to to things like metal detectors and our other security policies and such.

[01:03:42] Lastly, there are a few things that I've noticed and heard from students as we begin this transition back into the school year. I'd say the first thing has been the tap-on-and-off system for buses. I've heard that there's definitely been a bit of growing pains when it comes to that. There have been some delays with buses. There have been struggles with students getting on on time.

[01:04:00] So I just think that in reflecting on the trajectory we're going with these security policies, We need to really analyze whether or not it is worth for whatever security benefit this could give and safety to have these really huge growing pains and implementation issues.

[01:04:19] The other thing is, I know at the previous school board meeting, there's a bit of discussion around having a whitelist for laptops, which would manually approve websites for use rather than block them on school-issued laptops. I will say definitively right now that that is something I would advise against doing.

[01:04:38] I know that this is for now just exploratory to see, you know, what both sides could present here. But I would say from the student perspective that any motion similar to that would carry a lot of, first of all, implementation issues similar to tap on and off system. There would be a lot of sites that I think students currently use as vital tools that would just not be caught by a tech team that's, you know, deciding which sites to leave and go.

[01:05:02] And I think at the end of the day, especially students that are my age that are about to go into the adult world with unlimited access to technology, we should not really be risking isolating students from technology outside, especially when you consider the personal device ban and the cell phone ban.

[01:05:19] That's a statewide policy, but it has essentially resulted in students being completely isolated in terms of their technology access while they're in school. And this last year is a bit more of a local school related thing. I know that Dr. Reed just said that we've had a lot of success with staffing essential positions, 99.7%, which is fantastic.

[01:05:39] But what I will say is there has been a short staffing issue when it comes to counselors at Hayfield Secondary, where we're currently a counselor short, and that has resulted in people, including me and a lot of my friends that are seniors, not being able to make any schedule changes this week because they're just so far back behind.

[01:05:56] So there's a lot of issues when it comes to that and AP classes and just thinking about how we relate to try to stay on top of this at the beginning of the school year. And so that's, those are my big things. I'll let the rest of the meeting commence. I'm looking forward to continuing my work on the board and representing the student body. Thank you.

[01:06:13] Thank you. 6.01 Academic Matters. I now call on Dr. Reed for Academic Matters. Good evening, Madam Chair. As we begin another school year this year, our Academic Matters focus this evening is on the works that work that schools are doing to build supportive communities.

[01:06:53] And so this evening, I think Dr. Mike Axler is also joining me, Dr. Axler, thank you. So appreciate the efforts of the team putting this together. So next slide, please. Supportive school communities emphasize students' right to feel that they belong, know that they're seen, and to see themselves in the school community.

[01:07:14] This does fit within goal two of our strategic plan connection, and core to this goal are the schools working to amplify student voice so that we ensure students actively shape their school communities and those relationships that matter most.

[01:07:29] Through structures such as morning meetings, particularly in elementary and advisory periods, students share what makes their learning and their school relationships meaningful. Student-led advisory councils also provide critical input to shape school and division plans for instruction and culture, and in particular, the inclusive environments that are being built for incoming 9th and 7th graders are important for sure.

[01:07:59] Student feedback from the SEL Screener and Youth Survey also directly informs student planning and targeted student support. Why this sense of belonging matters, just want to provide a little bit of data because I think this is a topic that obviously does matter when students feel that sense of connection and belonging.

[01:08:21] The outcomes improve, particularly academically, social, and emotionally. For example, connected high school students are far less likely to report poor mental health than their unconnected fears. Also this feeling of connection acts as a critical safety measure, reducing the likelihood of missing school due to feeling unsafe, so it improves attendance, which again is connected to strong outcomes. In the U.S. study of about 20,000 plus ninth graders, this sense of belonging was a statistically significant predictor of academic achievement by the end of ninth grade.

[01:08:59] Students who experience strong school and family connectedness are more than three times as likely to graduate from a post-secondary institution. As we think about some of the example practices I want to share some elementary level practices in terms of building supportive community starts with structured daily rituals that you can see on the screen.

[01:09:21] And the skill development here is dedicated social-emotional learning lessons to explicitly teach some of the foundational fundamental skills like self-regulation, empathy, and positive relationship building. The academic integration also is important.

[01:09:39] building is not separate from academics it is connected so here are some examples of middle and high school community building again student voice is elevated as well as dedicated responsive advisory periods and to alleviate stress during major school shifts the team has been working to develop transition programs as i mentioned earlier for rising seventh and ninth graders so The central supports that are provided by our central office team that Dr. Axler is here this

[01:10:15] evening represented have resources, professional learning, and consultation opportunities. These include facilitated data dialogues and support with school-wide goal setting and action planning. Their staff have been provided a sense of belonging toolkit with curated high leverage practices for use at the school and individual classroom level, which reduces planning burdens for many of our staff. This aligned community of practice is available for school teams who wish to do a deeper dive, dialoguing and problem solving with colleagues in other buildings and

[01:10:52] from the central office. So I want to close out this report with a video where you will hear directly from students and staff about the importance of belonging and supportive relationships and how this helps to create supportive school communities. So, Madam Clerk, if we can go ahead and roll the video, let's take a look.

[01:11:14] Belonging is a basic need. Until you meet students' basic needs, you're not going to be able to achieve those higher level things that we're looking for in education, right? Or even those lower level, like remembering those basic tasks that we talk about because students are going to be focused on something else.

[01:11:34] Teachers are thinking consciously about and equipped with strategies to build relationships with students. That's going to help us tremendously in terms of how our students feel like they belong. Being able to feel safe in that classroom, being able to be comfortable coming up to your teacher to ask a question also affects how you're learning.

[01:11:55] If you want to learn something, you have to make mistakes. There's no other way. You have to make it. But you can, like, learn from those mistakes. And with this podcast, I just want to say, or I just want to show them that it doesn't matter if you make mistakes.

[01:12:14] Just express your ideas. SEL Screener has done, like, so much for that specific data. And I think that just by that quantitative, like, the questions and what we learn from each individual, even though I mean it does eventually pull to an average we can learn so much from that average and slowly changing those specific areas through the SEL screener through SEL work through just giving kids fidgets in classrooms to make them enjoy the class a little bit more I think it's really important to encourage our students to get their opinion they're you know everything how

[01:12:53] they feel and what we can do and you know our obviously our counselor our principal can help them can help us to improve our um you know our whole community at justice high school we have done like a bunch of like um skits for like our advisory lessons which i thought was super fun um we've also done like podcasts about like mental health and um why seo is very important in our school community every morning students participate in a morning meeting typically it starts with a greeting so making sure that every

[01:13:30] student is greeted by name and creates a sense of belonging that we're all here together in an effort to boost our sense of belonging we have asked that teachers participate in a morning meeting daily and integrate the castle three signature practices into their day and utilize the outdoor learning space to hold morning meetings, to do read-alouds, finding ways to incorporate nature into those three signature practices to strengthen that sense of belonging and connection to the natural world. We know that with our sustained attention, we can only have directed attention for so long.

[01:14:11] So going out into nature can help reset and be able to help them get back to class and start learning again. So, yeah, I just really appreciate the work that our students and staff did in putting that video together.

[01:14:30] And I think you see a lot of relationship building and really thoughtful conversations. So, Madam Sheriff, that's our academic matters for this evening. All right. Thank you, Dr. Reed. At this time, I'll now invite board members to ask any clarifying questions or provide comments.

[01:14:48] As a reminder to my colleagues, per board member agreement, we will be using a timing system of two minutes for initial remarks and one minute for go-backs for all presentations that do not require a vote. Dr. Anderson. Thank you, and I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Mr. Harvey, who's the counselor at Justice High School, who his entire world is community building, so I have to acknowledge that.

[01:15:11] I'm very appreciative of this focus because I know the youth survey data also speaks that connectiveness, and I think the term that's used with some of the work that's associated with that is know your three, which is the three adults. So all of these efforts to have kids be connected, be tethered to our community, keeps them coming. And I see all of the activities that occur at elementary schools and high schools and middle, et cetera. And I would be remiss if I didn't share this. This is one of the reasons I was fighting so hard for us to, when kids are being phased out

[01:15:46] because we're making necessary boundary changes, that they be allowed to finish where they've started. It's because of exactly this. Asking a ninth grader to go elsewhere, it doesn't allow them to do all of the things that we're discussing are important for their well-being and their academic success. And we know in some communities, not providing transportation does not allow them to take advantage of that phasing. So this is a huge example as to why many of us were fighting so hard for those provisions from Fairfax County. A question that I do have is regarding the

[01:16:26] transition to middle and high school that is presented in slide six. Is that consistent across the board? Because I know across the years there's been challenges with what is happening at school a is fairly consistent with what's happening at school b and sometimes it's not enough can you speak to that a little bit have we improved on this so i know that we had a goal team that worked actually explicitly on those transition markers and i know we also looked at

[01:17:03] some programs and we're trying to determine if we wanted to look at a program or do more of a homegrown type transition. So, Dr. Presidio, do you want to comment on that or Ms. Neal, one of you? Yeah, no, thank you for the question. We have provided a number of centralized resources and training supports to try to create a more coherent experience across schools. I'll say the schools have been very receptive to that work, trying to get on a common calendar, common transition activities where students have an opportunity to visit campus before the school year starts family activities as well but that's still a work in progress

[01:17:42] we've got a lot more to do but we're off to a good start okay thank you and I imagine that we have the same expectations with the three schools that the transition to middle school begins in sixth grade thank you thank you mr.

[01:18:01] McLean well thank you for the presentation and I feel like this is especially appropriate for this week which is probably why you've timed it this way because I know when we were on some first-day visits this week, principals indicated that one of their top priorities, if not their top priority, was building that sense of community so that every child has at least one person in the school they can go to for support.

[01:18:27] So whatever staff is doing is getting through at the school level, so that's good news. I know this is not meant as a comprehensive presentation by any means, and we can certainly reserve a lot of this conversation for youth survey data presentations but my recollection is that our data over the past few years has improved in this area can you speak at a high level to that yes sir I think it indeed has improved the in general mental health I think the areas the student group I think we had I'm gonna say was it eighth grade there was a grade level I think maybe Dr.

[01:19:06] Presidio recalls, and also our LGBTQIA plus students continue to be more challenged, and that data has not improved. In fact, I think we saw some concerning data from our student group that identifies as LGBTQIA plus, but wasn't there also a grade level, Dr. Presidio? I want to say it was sixth or eighth, you know, sixth grade. So that's the grade that we have some real concern around for this year and I know are developing some thoughtful plans with our school teams around that but in general the data certainly has been

[01:19:42] improving. Great thank you. Yes sir. Ms. Dixit. Thank you Dr. Reed for this presentation and I agree this is very timely. It's the beginning of the year and every student who's coming to a new school or perhaps you're changing school are looking for the sense of belonging. I think some parents are also looking persons of belonging in schools. So I would encourage all of them to join PTA. But I wanted to just mention that even though this program looks wonderful and is a lot of effort going to

[01:20:22] a, to an, how do you determine which school is, has like a, you know, meeting the standards or what you're looking for and, and those who are not, and if they're not meeting that level of belonging, the measure, what additional support that school probably will be getting?

[01:20:38] So, yes, ma'am, that's a great question, and that's the SEL screener data is provided by school to our school teams, as well as the Healthy Youth Survey data is broken out and shared with our schools.

[01:20:55] So, I think that we want to make sure that our region assistant superintendents are working with our school principals as they design their plan, because we want to make sure that our data continues to improve, and where we have outlier schools, we want to make sure we provide some extra supports.

[01:21:13] Ms. Roman, do you want to, our chief of schools, Ms. Roman, maybe you can tag on to that with, I know you review school plans with all of our principals, or your office does. Yeah, we do review the school plans, and then looking at some of the screener data, we know that there's a process for school support teams to be reviewing that data, both with staff and then with counselors.

[01:21:34] But that's certainly a piece that we'll include in the region work to support the school plans. Thank you so much. And lastly, I know when my own son was in middle school and our principal is not with us anymore in FCPS, I think he moved on.

[01:21:51] But he mentioned one thing, that every child should have a champion in school and just an adult. And I know it's done in many of our schools, but how do we make it like a policy in a way that there should be somebody you can go to if you want to talk?

[01:22:11] Well, I think that that's certainly part of the research for many years, right? Gates Foundation that was one of their foundational underpinnings around the school work they did in the early 2000s was around each student having someone who knew their knew them and their work well right that students should be known by a name strength and need and so I think that that's something we absolutely encourage with staff we would also hope that our counselors and our educators, our IAs, all of the staff within the building that there will be trusted adults

[01:22:48] for our students to connect with and constantly work toward that goal with professional development. And I will say here in Fairfax County Public Schools, I think we have amazing educators, drivers, food service. I mean, all of the staff that surround our children, I think there's a special care here in the county and that certainly remains a goal to ensure that each student has a trusted adult thank you thank you I'll take a quick turn obviously love this report as someone who worked on transitions from middle to

[01:23:24] high it's and it's very important work but I also I appreciate the fact that you just uplifted custodians and food service support staff bus drivers the relationships that all these people build with our kids just calling a student by name every single day.

[01:23:42] I remember I had a friend who was a bus driver and she sang on the bus all the time. And when she opened the door, if kids weren't smiling, she'd make a face and shut the door and try again. But just a little bit of that uplifting to start your day. And also just to reiterate that we have a fantastic student support staff in terms of counselors, psychologists, and social workers.

[01:24:01] And one of the things I want people to understand, especially our middle and high school students, is that if you have an issue, if you're a male have a female counselor and you have an issue you'd rather talk to a male counselor, then find a male counselor in that building. You're assigned to a certain counselor by alphabet for all your academic work, your college work, and all the course selections, but for social emotional things you can reach out to someone if you feel like you want someone that's your same gender and your assigned counselor may not be. So I just want to put that out there and just give a big shout out to all of our support and you know our principals. I'm always amazed when I'm at the back-to-school bashes or the Hornet Fest that our

[01:24:40] elementary principals, middle school principals, they know every student's name. I mean the kids come running up for hugs and I just think that's such a wonderful thing for elementary that a lot of those kids start in K and go through six. So again the cell data is important and hopefully that's been reviewed with fidelity from our staff but again thank you for the report it's a great opening to school. I'm going to call on Mr. Moon now. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one quick question. Do we have a data related to a sense of belonging felt by students? Is that the youth survey data? We have used the SEL screener data, has questions around a sense of

[01:25:19] belonging, and I believe the Student Healthy Youth Survey also does. Yes, sir. I just have We're interested in being able to compare a student's feeling of belonging, sensible belonging data, versus families of sensible belonging, whether they're parallel with each other, whether there's divergence.

[01:25:45] We can certainly take a look at that. I know there are questions around parents feeling welcome at schools that are part of the parent surveys that go out. So we can certainly take a look at that data and provide an analysis back to the board.

[01:26:00] Okay, thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Dr. Reed. 7.01 Action Item, Certification of a Closed Meeting Compliance. In order to comply with Section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia, it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on August 27, 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 do i have a motion

[01:26:36] dr anderson do i have a second miss anderson all else in favor miss anderson miss marron mr moon miss dixon mr dunn mr dannon dr anderson miss st john cunning and myself all those opposed those abstaining mr mckelveen and mr mcdaniel will the clerk read the vote 902 the motion carries thank you 7.02 action item confirmation of action taken in a closed meeting

[01:27:11] closed motion number one i call on dr anderson for a motion i move to excuse from attendance at school certain students identified in closed meeting pursuant to virginia code section 22.1 dash 254 b1 second second for mr moon all those in favor miss anderson miss marron mr moon Ms. Dixon, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself. Opposed?

[01:27:40] Abstentions? Mr. McElveen and Mr. McDaniel. Will the clerk read the vote? 9-0-2, the motion carries. Thank you. 7.03 Action Item Advanced Academics, Proposal to Expand Full-Time AAP to All FCPS Middle Schools Community Engagement and Implementation Plan. I call on Mr. McDaniel for a motion.

[01:28:01] I move that the school board approved the timeline as detailed on the agenda item on board docs for community engagement public hearings and professional learning for expanding aap centers to every middle school phase two community engagement in fall of 2026 with board action by december 2026 franklin hayfield holmes key whitman phase three community engagement in fall 2027 with board action by december of 2027 herndon liberty robinson stone phase four community engagement in fall 2028 with board action by December of 2028 Irving and

[01:28:38] Thoreau. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Dunn, Mr. McDaniel would you like to speak to your motion? I will. One year ago almost to the day not quite but about 11 months ago I suppose I brought a motion and thanked to Dr. Anderson because I was able to bring a follow-on to her motion on the POE AAP expansion and that motion required a similar AAP expansion across the remaining 11 middle schools across the division that were not home to a local community-based AAP Center advanced academic programs. The miraculous thing is I think there's

[01:29:17] an assumption that well if you increase the number of programs in a school by 11 schools you're gonna have a significant increase in the budgetary requirements. But after staff went back into the work that was in fact not the case because we're already teaching the kids that qualify for the program we were just only teaching them in less than half, in about half the number of middle schools as we have across the division. So the proposal that's on the table is to close that gap of remaining 11 middle schools and to do it in a methodical phased-in process over the next three years. The cost to do that is

[01:29:55] a few hundred thousand dollars and for the middle schools that may have some capacity, need to have some attention on capacity, that cost is also included in this proposal. But what this means is that students no longer have to choose between staying in their neighborhood-based school or taking AAP, as previously was the case for these 11 middle schools. What's also not, I think, calculated into these costing is the transportation savings that we're going to realize. As we have found out during the boundary reviews, busing people does in fact cost money and the less we have to bus folks out of their neighborhood

[01:30:33] schools and put them on the bus that's already going to their base school the more money we can save but the most important thing quite frankly is that it no longer matters for AAP program what zip code the kid lives in because our kids in some cases we're having to choose between going to the program that they qualify for or going to the neighborhood school and this is one of the instances where we've been able to accomplish something we always talk about about, which is making the zip code irrelevant. So I'm happy to move this forward and I'm looking forward to the discussion. Thank you. Mr. Dunn, would you like to speak to your second?

[01:31:08] Yes, thank you. I'm proud to support this motion. I appreciate my colleague for bringing this forward as well as bringing the original motion last year. This is an absolutely vital measure. I believe it is budget neutral for the reasons he described that the transportation savings will offset any increased costs from staffing. But more importantly, this remedy is a great inequity within multiple high school pyramids, including the Lewis Pyramid and the Mount Vernon High School Pyramid, where more than 100 children every year leave that pyramid. Children who have to leave

[01:31:45] their student cohort, and we know from research studies the importance of student cohorts to achieving optimal student outcomes both for those students and for entire schools and so we want to keep our student cohorts together we want to enable students to be able to access world-class education including advanced academics athletics extracurriculars all in their base pyramid and going forward that will both increase the capacity utilization of certain middle schools that heretofore have been under-enrolled, unfortunately, as a result of these AEP centers being not located in their pyramids, but it will also bring communities together.

[01:32:25] And I think until now, many of our, the way we move kids around, it really hasn't made any sense from a fiscal perspective or from an academic perspective. So keeping kids together is vital.

[01:32:40] In addition, I do take seriously the concerns that have been raised by some about perhaps there might be uneven quality in program implementation, but that's something that we have to work out. And I have great faith in the superintendent that she will put in rigorous program evaluations to ensure that there is fidelity of program implementation at every middle school AAP center that exists today and that is created in the coming years.

[01:33:07] But with this, we recommit to the vision of FCPS being the gold standard in public education so that every child, no matter where they live, what language they speak at home, what high school they attend, has equal and equitable access to a world-class education and doesn't have to travel great distances, depriving them of opportunities to participate in those extracurriculars and athletics, being deprived of the friends that they have gained through their academic journeys, and being far removed from their families and riding the buses for long times into the evening. Thank you.

[01:33:42] Thank you. Dr. Anderson, followed by Ms. Dixit. Thank you. Just a clarifying question. I know we talked about the middle school expansion earlier on in the year, last school year. We did not approve it at that point. Are we approving both the plan and the public engagement plan today, or is it just the public engagement piece?

[01:34:07] Well, I think the public engagement piece implies that the plan is going to be approved simultaneously, because if we don't have a plan to expand, we wouldn't be doing the public engagement. So this is our opportunity to, we just had the conversation about the plan back in the spring.

[01:34:23] I kind of lost track a little bit. So now we're going to approve the plan and the public engagement component that goes with it. Yes, ma'am. That's correct. Thank you for that clarification. to that end I think the community needs a presentation I have to say a presentation would have been nice there's some really helpful data in here as well as plans that if we had a chance to articulate it it would have been a lot more informative to the public so I want to stress that as a point so now I'm going to jump into some of my questions well while I find my questions

[01:35:02] ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO POINT TO, WHICH IS PAGE FIVE OF THE REPORT THAT IS ONLINE. AGAIN, I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY TO PUT THAT UP HERE. IT'S NOT.

[01:35:18] AND SO I DON'T KNOW HOW EASILY IT'S GOING TO BE FOR THE PUBLIC TO FOLLOW IF THEY'RE WATCHING. THIS IS A VERY HELPFUL CHART BECAUSE IT IDENTIFIES THE CAPACITY AND WHAT THIS IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE IF AND WHEN THIS PLAN IS SUPPORTED, WHICH I AM IN HIGH SUPPORT OF. Again, the speed at which we're going to be able to do this, it definitely beats the six years it's taking me to get Poe off the ground.

[01:35:39] So I want to say I'm in high support of this. And what I see here is additional opportunities. One of the things that we had talked about, Dr. Reed, when we began with the boundary work, which is how do we expand a grade six through eight in our middle schools?

[01:35:57] at that time there were two schools that you had identified which ultimately did not pan out in the boundary process because of space but here we are we will see here we have seen here on page 5 that there is going to be room at certain schools that may be created by some because of the movement of students So I'd like to hope that as we start to roll out this plan, we will also be thinking in terms of how to increase grades 6 through 8 across our schools, because there is room.

[01:36:35] Can you give me any feedback on that? Yes, ma'am. I think that that's certainly part of the conversation, and it's something we will want to take a look at. I know the staff are reviewing the current middle school ability to integrate sixth grade, but I think we have to, I think this expansion plan needs to run its course for us to see where the numbers end up.

[01:37:04] And in those middle schools that have room, I think it certainly makes sense to explore adding sixth grade to those sites. Okay, thank you. One of my questions is regarding the teacher preparation piece because that's going to be something that is of interest to parents.

[01:37:19] They want to make sure, wherever my child is, that they have a teacher who is prepared and ready to serve them. And I think I was, and I cannot find these pages, my apologies, I think it is on page 20. I think I was a little bit surprised about the percentage of teachers that seem to be teaching full-time advanced academic courses but haven't necessarily the preferred endorsement and or local certificate.

[01:37:50] Can you speak a little bit more to efforts to expedite this because there's a lot of zero percents here. Yes, ma'am, and I think that the division has this expectation currently that there is a credential around gifted education to be an educator in the AAP program, and it's certainly something, that certification is something that staff is working to develop.

[01:38:18] I know that we have our director of AAP programs here with us this evening, Kristen Maloney, and with Dr. Presidio. So I would ask her to provide a brief update on the work to support credentialing teachers for AAP programs.

[01:38:38] All right, well, I'll jump in first, and Dr. Maloney certainly is welcome to jump in as well. First of all, I appreciate you calling out these numbers because I do think it's a little bit confusing because there's nuance in how we need to look at the numbers. So the data on slide 20 that we're looking at actually is reporting the percentage of teachers that have either the state endorsement or the FCPS local endorsement.

[01:39:03] But by regulation, historically and currently, we've only required that certification for teachers that teach full-time in the program. Most of our teachers do not teach full-time in the AAP program. They have a mix of AAP classes and non-AAP classes.

[01:39:20] If a teacher does not teach full-time in the program, we've only required them per regulation to have certain professional development sessions and training, basically the equivalent of just like one course, essentially. So I think in some ways this slide is under-representing the percentage of folks that actually have completed professional development.

[01:39:40] Additionally, I would say Dr. Maloney's work to develop a more robust professional development plan and we've reserved additional funds out of the chief academic office as we consider the ongoing professional development needs that our teachers will need to make sure that we can support more people earning either the part-time training opportunities or the at least the local endorsement fcps endorsement which is equivalent to the state endorsement i think that was it oh

[01:40:16] i was waiting for dr maloney to speak because you said you were going to jump in first i was just waiting for her to articulate her statements. Okay, Dr. Anderson, actually you didn't hear your time go off, so I'm going to put you on a go back, okay? Yes, please. Okay, Ms. Dixit. So I actually support this motion, but I do have little concern, and I've heard from my community already, starting from students, kids who are going to Franklin and Stone, and their two schools, Franklin is projected to be 112

[01:40:54] percent with this transition. How will we manage the additional student while Franklin is going through its renovation? And could the renovation timeline affect when the AAP Center opens? So I know that the numbers are being looked at, but it's certainly something that we can take a look at in concert with the renovation schedule. We did move Franklin up in the phasing, so it's something that we'll have to take a close look at.

[01:41:30] And also Stone is at 80% capacity, even with the changes. But then we have, with the Skyview boundary, there's going to be additional students coming in Stone. Stone is one of the smallest middle school we have in county. And it's a little concern, again, from the community that Stone will be more at capacity or more than capacity. So I won't be attending these community meetings and also trying to see what other concerns the community have before we actually take a final action on this.

[01:42:02] This is, again, we are taking feedback, right? We are not just going to just do it right away for the next few months or until next year. So I'll be watching this a little closely, and lastly, Ms. Anderson and I share Rocky Run, and we are also going to be looking at that because that's reducing the capacity to 59% at Rocky Run. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Mehran, followed by Mr. Moon. All right. So I am

[01:42:38] eager for the board and superintendent to have more conversations about student academics in general. What is working? What is needed? What we aspire to? Understanding state and federal programming requirements. I think that every presentation about a plan, whether it's community engagement or programmatic, has to be delivered with a budget. Where is the money coming from for this communications effort. From what line? You know, I'm seeing a pattern of having standalone initiatives and not a larger vision of the educational experiences and opportunities we

[01:43:13] are trying to build for students and the budget and the plan to get there. You know, I would think there's, that we always want to be aspiring for offering challenging learning opportunities. Is the center model the way to do this? And I'm unclear if all schools have a center, isn't that just standard program offering, which is a fine proposal to consider, but I think that we're continuing the model of center-based programs, which has benefits and drawbacks.

[01:43:41] I hear it often with elementary school. When are we going to have that conversation? When are we going to talk about where we're actually trying to build our children to so that when they get to high school, they're ready for all this advanced math the superintendents talked about?

[01:43:56] You know, I really would like, and maybe the board needs to do this work to set it, but, you know, I'm eager to hear with the superintendent things. We've heard about math. We've dabbled about digital literacy and technology. I don't think we've been very well facilitated in that endeavor.

[01:44:14] I also think when it comes to community engagement, why is community engagement needed here? I don't hear parents saying they want less rigorous academics. You know, if anything, they want more for their particular child. Maybe not for every child, right?

[01:44:30] I have seen community engagement being used a lot, and I'm not sure how fruitful it is or to what end. What does the superintendent think? Does she think we should be expanding these services? But with the community engagement, with the boundary process, I saw salaried staff many late nights a week, weekends.

[01:44:53] I saw with the Skyview community engagement process, two of my high schools were not represented in the community. like what are when are we determining that community engagement is needed this is a core academic thing we've been talking about world language are we going to have a community engagement process about that I mean we are supposed to know what the core important academic things are and yes there's a place for community engagement but like our job is to say this is the level that we want these are the resources that we have and then we have budget hearings and we have community meetings so I just think this is an not an optimal way to get out expanding more rigorous learning

[01:45:33] opportunities and I think if we could start to build in time to talk in about the budget more frequently and what are we really giving kids access to and how are we funding it and staffing it I think that's more you know wholesome and and full thank you mr. moon thank you madam chair I have a quick question to a maker of the motion. Mr. McDaniel, the phase two, the board action will be in December of

[01:46:06] 2020 or by December 2026. That's the time when board actually makes final decisions on expansion of those. I'm setting basically centers at those five schools mentioned for phase two, correct?

[01:46:24] We are only setting the timeline. We are not saying that it's going to be done and done and done at this point in time. Is the question whether or not we're setting the timeline for the rollout of the act like what semester the students will start? My question is having centers for the phase two five five middle schools is the decision tonight by the board making a decision to have centers at those five schools regardless of the outcomes of community engagement. I see

[01:47:02] I see what you're saying. So I think I can answer your question and package together a response with Ms. Mirren. So Virginia code requires a public hearing for boundary adjustments. And because technically this would be moving children within a boundary, code requires us to do a public hearing.

[01:47:18] So that's why we have to have the community engagement piece, which Mr. Dunn pointed out prior to recess. So that's why we're here tonight. And we can't do a boundary adjustment without having a public hearing. So it's kind of a cart before the horse or chicken before the egg. But based on staff recommendation, this motion language was the way that both the actual plan and the community engagement to lead into a public hearing could be accomplished.

[01:47:45] And board action. And board will have to vote. Board after vote. Yes, yes, after public. Correct. Because that's going to be the actual decision by the board. Correct. All right. Because if you're going to have a public hearing and community engagement, and then tell the community that we have already made a decision tonight.

[01:48:01] I agree. I agree. Okay, so with that said, is transportation going to be part of the discussion at the point, or do we assume anything? I'm asking the maker of the motion. I'm making no assumptions. Yeah, I think that would be a staff question.

[01:48:18] Okay. Dr. Rhee? Yes, sir. I'm sorry. The question was... About transportation. This is a phased approach, right? Yes, sir. So theoretically, it will save transportation because the intent is to provide the AAP center at the homeschool.

[01:48:40] My question is for the students who are currently going to certain centers. Once the board makes a decision, this is not going to affect those who are already at those centers. It's a phasing implementation.

[01:48:58] It would depend on the phasing plan that the board chose at the time the board voted. I understand yes okay one last question is very technical uh so if we make I guess you may say that it's up to the board if we make a decision in December is that gonna be implemented starting from September 20th it's August 27th well I believe that's the intent but we may find through community engagement or budget or capacity that that might not be optimal but that is the intent

[01:49:35] is to be able to open whatever the adjustments are for the incoming sevens at those identified schools for the fall of 27. With that in 10 behind, if I look at page 5, numbers given for Franklin Middle School, for program capacity utilization, a full implementation of 112%, and also what's provided on 12, years don't seem to match.

[01:50:06] if we start from 27 august 27 first year and the next year 28 will be fully implemented and then i don't see 112 until school year 30 and 31 instead instead of instead of 115 or 118 that we should be using on slide page number five you used 112 so i want to step to really double check

[01:50:44] what to provide you on page 5 versus page 12. Because there seem to be inconsistencies between... Thank you, Mr. Moon. I don't know if Dr. Presidio has an answer.

[01:50:59] I know his team put this together. Is there a simple answer now, or do we need to get back to the board? I think it's probably most prudent to take another look and get back to the board. Thank you. Mr. Dannon. Good evening.

[01:51:17] first again i want to thank dr reed and your team for putting this all together i know again a lot of thought and work went into this and um appreciated the discussion from the work session a few months ago um you know and to start off to be clear i i speak as a parent that's personally affected by this or would be personally affected by it um but i said you know i do support this um for a number of reasons not the least of which was discussed earlier tonight during um economic matters that you know keeping kids within their pyramid helps to build community and so forth so you know that's it I do have a couple questions first I know the plan talks about handling

[01:51:53] over capacity can you talk a little bit more about the plan to address schools that are going to be under capacity I'm thinking of Lake Braddock which is going to go down to I think 69 percent recognize that would still be a slightly above average as far as middle school enrollment but you know what's your thoughts there if you is it too early to talk about early childhood programs or other ways to boost enrollment?

[01:52:16] Well, I think, thank you, Mr. Dannon. I think that earlier in the meeting, Dr. Anderson asked about our ability to look at 7, 8 middle schools and the potential to integrate 6th grade into a 7, 8 middle school. And I think that's one strategy we'll look at where we have 7, 8 middle schools that may have a lower enrollment.

[01:52:37] It may enable us to move 6th grade, which would provide greater access to coursework and for many of our sixth graders. I would not advocate that for a secondary school as I sit here today, certainly willing, as the board may or may not wish to explore that, but I'm not sure that a six through 12 is necessarily where I would, that I would think that is our best look or best experience for our students.

[01:53:08] But I do think our 7-8 middle schools could-- sixth graders could benefit in being a 6-7-8. So I think that we'll have to be really thoughtful about campuses, because if we're able to move sixth grade to a 7-8 middle school, that would provide perhaps room at the elementary for more preschool programming.

[01:53:26] So I do think there's a net potential positive to enable more space for preschool programs. Yeah, I appreciate it. And you know, I've talked about universal pre-K stuff like that. So I recognize I had a good conversation with my APAC liaison representative last night actually and talked about how these things are just so interconnected and so trying to swim in one direction here. So going down the road to our other secondary school, Robinson Secondary, which is an IB program, can you talk a little bit, I've read through it, I had a hard time understanding kind of what the plan was for honor, places that offer honors or in

[01:54:02] in this case, NYP, how would those programs be affected by this change? That's a great question, and I'm going to defer to Dr. Presidio on the NYP conversation.

[01:54:18] Dr. Presidio? Well, our middle schools currently offer the middle years program, right? So that program runs at a middle school if it starts at grade 7, 7 and 8, and then at the high school in grades 9 and 10. It starts at grade 6, it runs grade 6 through 10.

[01:54:35] So the programming is already there. So we would just be adding more students to that experience. Okay, I appreciate that. If I could, Dr. Presidio, I think the question is how does the NYP interact with the, like an AAP center at that site?

[01:54:53] Oh, with an AAP center at that site. In that instance, the students that are in the AAP center are cohorted together, and the students that are not cohorted in the AAP Center still have access to a lot of the IB program and curriculum. So the curriculum kind of flows across both programs, but you are correct, the students in the AAP Center are cohorted together. Okay. I mean, is there enough kids, I wonder if there's enough kids to have that critical mass to make both programs work?

[01:55:27] Would they be competing against each other? Yeah, so historically, we've talked about critical mass, meaning two classrooms of students per grade level per content area, and we do have a slide in this deck that shows the projected enrollment at each grade level for each of the schools, which is sufficient to have two classes and two cohorts at each grade level. Okay, I'll probably follow up more afterwards. I want to ask about, and I don't want to put you on the spot, but I know my colleagues talked a little bit about the budget impacts. Do you have a general sense, maybe not Not a dollar amount, but a general sense that this is on net, talking about the cost of

[01:56:06] additional training and so forth, the reductions in transportation. Is this going to be a net neutral, net positive, net loss financially? So I think that that's a great question, right? The teacher training costs certainly are not insignificant.

[01:56:22] I believe the total is $330,000 over three years. It's honestly likely a cost we should be considering whether we expand or not, because we do still have staff that we want to credential. In terms of the transportation savings, it's hard to quantify that.

[01:56:42] I don't know that I could say this evening that that savings will be an offset for the staff training. I don't know that. I think that whether or not there will need to be any facility modifications, I don't know that that would be likely. But as we move forward with this, I certainly can ask the team to, as we get closer to a December board action, I will make sure we have an accompanying budget statement or ledger column for board consideration.

[01:57:15] I appreciate that. And, you know, I'll just add, I don't think I'd be able to vote for this either way without knowing that information, just given the situation that we're in. So I appreciate you thinking through that. Continually, you talked about teacher training a little bit, and I know Appendix C talks about the different training paths.

[01:57:32] There's some large discrepancies amongst the schools. Can you talk about what's been the teacher feedback around obtaining additional certification? And then is the thought that teachers would be transferred among schools to balance things out, or what's the thought for that? So, great question. I know we've done a lot of work very recently with advanced math credentialing, in particular, Algebra 1 credentialing.

[01:57:55] And we've had a number of teachers volunteer to take that training on. I've just been so proud of our educators for taking that on. With regard to the specific AAP training and certification, I have not engaged as closely.

[01:58:13] So I have to, again, defer to Dr. Presidio or Dr. Maloney about the teacher response to the training. Yeah, I mean, I would just say, again, the coursework, we have really positive feedback from the teachers that participate in it.

[01:58:29] But it is one more core responsibility that teachers have to meet, and I think that's the struggle is finding, you know, the time to do that. So for the part-time teachers, again, we've created new training opportunities, and we're trying to do as much job embedded during the school day as possible.

[01:58:45] But for somebody to earn their full certification, which is several college-level courses, it's a very significant commitment. Thank you. That was your time. I was going to go back. Thank you. Okay. Mr. McElveen, followed by Mr. Dunn. So thank you.

[01:59:02] So I agree with my colleagues who say that this is not exactly what they were expecting the conversation to be tonight. I don't think the community understands what we're voting on tonight, and I certainly did not. Walking into this meeting, I mean, looking at the title of this agenda item, It is a proposal to expand full-time AAP to all FCPS middle school community engagement and implementation plan.

[01:59:31] To date, to the best of my knowledge, we have not done any community engagement on the idea of expanding the AAP centers to every middle school. So the question that comes to me is, why are we engaging the community after we make the decision to expand the AAP program to every middle school?

[01:59:56] It seems like we're putting the cart before the horse here, and so I'm just very confused. Thank you, Mr. McAleen. I want to note that on September 25th of 2025, which was about a year ago, the board directed me to develop this comprehensive plan, the comprehensive plan for establishing advanced academic program centers in every middle school in the division.

[02:00:24] So that's what we have provided tonight is that plan. And inherent in that plan is the need to schedule or signal the scheduling of community engagement because the statute and policy require that.

[02:00:41] So what we're doing is we've brought back the plan that we were directed to provide. And within that, also the community engagement that is a key part of that. I think it likely would have been helpful to do a presentation tonight to be clearer about that.

[02:01:00] I know the plan is attached, but that's the purpose. We brought it back because we were directed to develop it a year ago. - Okay, I think the fact still stands that this board has not done community engagement on expanding AAP centers to every middle school. So I still feel like this is putting the cart before the horse.

[02:01:19] I fully agree on the need for a presentation. It has been raised by others. Again, this is a lot of text, a very dense and data-filled document, which is very, very hard to parse through. What I gleaned from that document, one of the many things, is that by moving forward with this plan, which we haven't engaged the community on, is that we'd be increasing capacity at schools, or I'm sorry, we'd be increasing students' populations at schools that are already under great strain

[02:01:55] four of those are Cooper, Franklin, Irving, Thoreau. We're going to make capacity issues worse after we've just gone through a comprehensive boundary study. So I think there are a lot of problems here from my perspective. One question I have is to Miss Marin's point is there are a lot of numbers and budget figures in this, but I you know I feel like this is also making a budgetary decision outside of the budget cycle. I don't know how much this is going to cost? I understand we may be saving on transportation, but I don't know what we're

[02:02:30] spending on other things. Can anyone give us a sense of the budget implications holistically? Yes, sir. I think that the page 21, the chart on 21 is really what has been quantified around teacher training, and that's the approximate $330,000 over three years with $150,000 in year one for teacher training. I think that that is a cost that we've clearly identified. I think the

[02:03:01] transportation won't be increased cost, but likely savings. And the facilities, there aren't like room improvements necessarily. It's, you know, the identification of different classrooms. So as we look at other possible budget scenarios I think that as we would bring this back to board for action in December we would want to have a column if there are any other budget considerations other than the teacher training costs okay so I see

[02:03:35] 330,000 for for teacher training I've heard questions about having to add teachers at schools where the AAP centers are expanding whether we'll be transferring teachers from other schools to those schools.

[02:03:52] There are a lot of unanswered questions here tonight that have budget implications, that have school capacity implications. I'm certainly not prepared to do this, to vote on this tonight before we've had any community engagement.

[02:04:07] And again, it's putting the cart before the horse to have this decision before any community engagement. - Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunning.

[02:04:23] - Thank you. I'm trying to turn my camera on, but I can't. So first of all, I want to say that I actually do fully support this. Basically what this is doing is making sure that every one of our middle schools eventually will have an AEP center, which means that kids that normally, you have students from the feeder schools that are gonna be bused there.

[02:04:49] So you're not adding buses because buses are already going to those schools. So I understand where that cost savings would be in terms of transportation. I agree that we need to have the data on that before we move forward. But there are schools in my district that are over capacity because the kids are being bused to, they are being bused to Twain, which right now is over capacity because it's the only AAP center in my district.

[02:05:20] In order, this will increase the, this will put more kids into key middle school, which right now is under capacity. And the other factor for me and for some other schools and divisions is that then kids do wanna stay with their core cohort.

[02:05:35] And a lot of times we'll try to pupil place to stay with their cohort. This eliminates that student transfer pupil placement situation that sometimes has been problematic. I do agree that we need a little bit more information and there might be some situations where depending on the individual schools, the capacity might be impacted differently in my district.

[02:06:02] It's gonna relieve the overcrowding at Twain. It's gonna enhance the undercapacity at Key. And so that to me is very important for those cohorts to stay together. My understanding, and I would ask Dr. Presidio to just verify, my understanding is that There are, there's already teachers that may be qualified that are at Key and that are at Whitman that are doing some of this work already.

[02:06:34] So that might be like prep work that has started for those schools. And the other issue that I also want to, I mean, you could answer that question, but the other issue that I want to say is that particularly in some of my schools, This is going to give an opportunity to a lot of our underrepresented kids to be identified and to be in those programs.

[02:06:55] And so I fully support this because I think that this is a way that we can also reach out and through community engagement, reach out to our underrepresented communities in AAP and explain to our parents, this is what your kids can aspire to in our middle schools.

[02:07:14] And if you would just let me know, Dr. Presidio, what's going on at Whitman and Key. yes ma'am thank you for the question yes Whitman and key like all of our middle schools do have teachers that both have completed the part-time training as well as teachers that are fully endorsed so we do have teacher capacity at every school it does vary from school to school but that's one of the reasons for phasing the plan in and giving us more time to make sure that each school has the adequate teacher certification and capacity I know those principals have been very proactive to try to bring that program to their school. And so some of these principals

[02:07:51] are really invested in making sure that this is in their community. And I appreciate that they're doing the prep work. So I fully support this. It's best practice to try to keep all our kids together as they move forward. It basically removes the quote-unquote center model for all middle schools because basically every middle school will have an aap center we'll have an aap program I should say we shouldn't even call them centers

[02:08:25] anymore they were they're all just gonna have aap programming thank you miss Anderson okay I just have a few things I remember that we had a work session on this and April on April 7th so we have had many of these discussions already and what I see that we're doing tonight is actually voting to do the community engagement that we're asking for. So that's all that's being voted on tonight.

[02:08:53] We're not voting to approve anything. We're not we're just voting to approve the plan to do the community engagement. So I'm fully in support of that. This also goes back to something that we talked about I believe in July where we were talking about the need to have alignment with our pyramids in order to be able to look at where sixth grade will fit. And so that also requires that we have the kids going to the school that is their base school. So I see this is a positive. I do fully and completely appreciate the fact that we are going to do that carefully when we're talking about our secondary schools, but we do need to know which kiddos would normally be in a base school in order to have

[02:09:31] that work. Some of our schools, even those that are significantly overcrowded, are doing a lot of work to get local level four going now knowing that this is coming. So I do think that some of those kids will make different decisions related to whether or not they're going to go to a center or whether or not they can stay put and so I'm really happy to see that. I do agree with my colleague from Franconia that this removes the center model and part of my major push to do this was that this prepares kids at all middle schools for possible TJ admission because it gives them the opportunity to the high to the highly

[02:10:08] advanced coursework that's necessary for them to be successful at TJ which is something that I've heard is a concern for some of our kids. And so I really, and I, the other thing that I will say is when we know which kids should be at which school, then as we're looking at renovations and things like that, we can determine what the capacity of a school really needs to be. And I think it also significantly informs what's going on with our boundary work and what boundary work will happen in the next five years. I think this is an aspirational goal for sure. And I'm very interested to participate in those community meetings to hear what some of

[02:10:46] the community members have to say. And I will be watching particular schools that are in my district or that my district serves because some of our schools like Rocky Run going down to 59%. It's a beautiful building and I'd like to get more kids in there. But I think that that's one of the areas that definitely makes sense to consider whether or not there's room for sixth grade. So I think that that's one of the options that I would love to hear more about and kind of look how we can make those moves. So I'm really excited about this and I'm fully supportive of it. Thank you. I'm going to take a turn before we do some go backs. Actually we're gonna hear from our student rep

[02:11:23] after me. I'm very excited about this plan. I have felt this is something that the county should be evaluating for a very long time. For many of the reasons stated by I believe the last two colleagues who spoke this is a one Fairfax moment and it also is sure it might create a little imbalanced places but if you look at that chart for the most part it creates more balance than imbalance and I think that has us moving in the right direction I think it's going to save us in transportation but most importantly it's it's an it's an equity issue and I think that we need to focus on that I also want to

[02:12:02] apologize to my colleagues. As a member brought motion, I was not thinking we needed a presentation because we had a presentation and we had a work session. So I'll think that through better next time. But since it was a member brought motion, I wasn't thinking about a presentation.

[02:12:22] So again, I'm excited about this because I think I seconded Mr. McDaniel's motion back in September almost a year ago. It's something that when I was campaigning, It's something I talked about. And when I think about my particular Magisterial district in Herndon, we send quite a few of my kids from Herndon Middle to a different AAP center.

[02:12:45] It would be great to retain those students along with the students that are choosing to stay for Local Level 4. So this excites me. And also, we're voting on a plan which will require community action. And then there'll have to be a vote for implementation. So there's no harm in moving forward at this point from my perspective.

[02:13:03] - Okay, Mr. Shostek. - Thank you, so yeah, so when I first saw this plan, the very first thing that popped into my mind, just as you said, is that this is an equity issue. I think this is a fantastic idea, you know, reviewing it. I think, and I'm of the strong belief that if you challenge students, they will rise to the occasion.

[02:13:23] And I think that this is giving them the opportunity to do just that. You know, I'm in the unique position where I've attended both Twain and Hayfield for separate grades, so I'm familiar with both the differences in programming that level. I'm also familiar with the difference in environments and the capacity levels as well, so I think that what this can do, if properly implemented, is give students the opportunity to stay in their community, as a lot of other board members have stated, and pursue higher academic rigor. And I can say firsthand that there's, you know, like year after year we get more people coming in from Twain that go to Hayfield and from Edison that go to Hayfield, so

[02:14:02] There's a lot of transferring from schools that is needless and doesn't need to happen, so I think this does a great job of reducing that. I do just have a couple questions for clarification regarding the capacity, because I know this is a big issue when talking about this type of thing, and I'd also like to echo the requests of board members for a presentation at a future time.

[02:14:22] And I'm not sure if this has been answered in some way, But if the program capaculization at full implementation on slide five, if that takes into account the boundary changes from SkyView and from the other changes that have recently been implemented, and if not, how is that affecting that number, if that can be answered?

[02:14:48] So I'll just make a few comments, and if Mr. Gordon wants to add anything, that would be fine. That's an excellent question. So the numbers that are reflected on slide five were completed prior to the Skyview boundaries being completed. So they don't include Skyview, but they do include the other boundary adjustments that the board had made previously.

[02:15:08] So they include most of the boundary adjustments, but not the Skyview boundary adjustments. Okay, thank you. And my other question here is for Franklin and Twain, which I see are undergoing renovations. Is that taken into account for their capacity changes as well?

[02:15:27] That one, I'm definitely going to defer to Mr. Gordon. So for Franklin, Franklin is in, we're just now going forward for starting the design process. We don't think the actual construction will start until 2030. So the capacity for Franklin is currently at $1,215 design capacity.

[02:15:47] It will increase to $1,350. So it's known that we will increase that capacity in the future, but it's in the out years. Thank you. Oh, and for Twain, if there was anything on that, because I noticed that that's also important.

[02:16:03] Highlighted here. Excuse me. I don't have anything at this time for Twain. I'd have to take a look at that and go as a go back. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dunn for a go back. All right. I wanted to first ask Mr. Presidio, if I may. I believe that IB Middle Years Program is implemented on a whole school basis at Whitman. Is that not true everywhere?

[02:16:32] It is true everywhere. And again, maybe a little bit more nuance that I should give you. So IB is not a curriculum. It's a curricular framework that talks about interdisciplinary education, the opportunity to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile, which are very similar to the attributes of the portrait of a graduate that we have here locally.

[02:16:54] Things like reflection, the completion of a personal project, kind of a culminating project at the end of 10th grade. So all of those components are implemented school-wide. I want to ask Dr. Reed, do you think there would be benefits and could we possibly in a Friday letter get a cost estimate for providing advanced academics training to part-time teachers as well as all teachers? Yes, sir. I mean, I think there could be benefits and we certainly could provide a budget update. That'd be great. Can you describe some of those benefits that you think would accrue from especially ensuring the full diversity of our county is participating in our advanced academics program?

[02:17:33] Well, I think if we've established that teaching in the advanced academics program full-time is best to be required to have that credential, if you're teaching in the program part-time, it seems like it would also be helpful to have that credential.

[02:17:50] So I think that the question really will come down to budget in terms of our ability and time to provide the training for staff, because staff also each year, as we look at different curricula, curricular and standards adjustments, you know, staff is constantly undergoing professional development cycles.

[02:18:14] But we can certainly look at the budget implications for that, but I think that it would certainly be a benefit if they're teaching in the advanced academics program. How will you maintain the fidelity of implementation as you expand the number of AP centers to ensure that there's, you know, balance and rigor across all the programs?

[02:18:35] I think that's a great question, and we actually, when I met with the Advanced Academic Advisory Committee, we talked about that in terms of how we evaluate rigor, right, and the effectiveness of advanced academic programs, period. And right now, I think that's still a conversation the committee is engaged in.

[02:18:55] I do think that there is an advanced academics office. Dr. Maloney certainly heads that up. So I know that there's a connection between that office and the different programs, which I have to believe has an impact on the calibration across the system.

[02:19:13] But I think in terms of a metric that evaluates specifically the effectiveness of rigor, I think probably the easiest space to do that in is in more of the advanced math, because math course content can be evaluated. Are we in this particular course or not, right?

[02:19:30] But I think it's more nuanced perhaps in other courses, but I'll ask Dr. Maloney to comment on how we currently monitor and collaborate, or excuse me, monitor and calibrate across the division. Yeah, so we do fidelity of implementation collections from the schools.

[02:19:50] talk to them about their program standards for that and so annually they do report to us about meeting those standards and they do report out on things like teacher certification the curriculum being used with fidelity so those are things that we have had in place for a while and we're adding some additional features now to really look at more student outcome data related to that it is challenging to measure problem-solving there's reasons why those aren't whole-scale multiple choice tests, but we are working on those things and have some other measures longitudinally that we're looking at in terms of students taking advanced courses in high school and how they're

[02:20:29] doing in those courses. So we are building upon a fidelity of implementation survey for schools that we've had for a while. Dr. Reed, do you believe that having middle school AP centers in every middle school will help to bring back some students who may have gone to private school or or being homeschooled because they didn't have local availability of those AAP programs I don't know that it will bring students from I don't know I would have to I think we're gonna find some of that information out as we do the community

[02:21:06] engagement with the different school communities I do think that having students able to access advanced academics at their neighborhood school is generally something I think people would perceive as an asset. The team has done run the numbers and feels like there would be a critical mass of students to provide that experience at each middle school. So I think that would be certainly a benefit to be able to attend a neighborhood school and receive those advanced academic services. And on slide three it says it is important to have a variety of academically focused after-school opportunities such as

[02:21:45] chess club, debate, math counts, Model UN, Science Olympia, chess club, I would love to see a plan to ensure that there is you know equitable opportunities at every middle school just as we have AAP centers so that kids have those extracurriculars that are so important to their intellectual development as well as to engage with their peers and and if that requires additional funding or something that that you know a plan could encompass that is that something you could bring to the board? Yes, sir, I could. I think those activities currently are very linked with the middle school after-school program and I

[02:22:24] do know that, yes, we could certainly bring a plan to think about how it's almost like a standard menu and then each school community sometimes has unique courses based on the interests of the students in that particular school, but we certainly could provide a clear menu for the board yes sir that would be fantastic because having as you say a standard menu would ensure that there's at least a baseline for every middle school to meet and then if there's variation based on community interest and such that can be

[02:22:58] provided um do you feel that uh with the expansion that middle school aap that that that renders the honors program at the middle school level somewhat superfluous i mean do we need those honors classes If we have every middle school with an AAP center.

[02:23:15] So I'm going to defer to Dr. Presidio on that in terms of the nomenclature for course titling. Yeah, so students that wouldn't be participating in the full-time center or local program, if you will, still need access to rigorous advanced coursework, right?

[02:23:37] So if a student's not taking four honors classes, they might be taking two honors classes. So we definitely would still need those advanced learning opportunities for students. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Anderson, followed by Ms. Marin. Thank you.

[02:23:52] I'm going to try to rapid fire through my questions before my time runs out. In the presentations, how will transportation and busing, whether it be provided or not provided during the phasing for students, be addressed?

[02:24:08] So that in part will depend on the community engagement, but the phasing plan would begin any school that would begin a program would start with seventh grade so obviously the sitting eighth graders would stay at the school because we're not going to start with eighth grade so essentially the as the phase in would occur those students who will be beginning seventh grade at a new at their home school would still be transported to their home school as their classmates are

[02:24:44] and for seventh grade, and those students who still need to access the advanced academic program in eighth grade would be bused to the school that they're scheduled for in eighth grade, because we wouldn't be able to roll it out for seventh and eighth in the same year. It would have to be seventh, and then the eighth graders would roll up in their homeschool. Thank you, and I raise this because this was a point that came up a lot during the PO community meetings. It's a question we want to get in front of, because there was a significant confusion on that, and hopefully we can use that as a model for lessons learned for these community meetings.

[02:25:24] The page 20, can that be disaggregated to identify the credentialing of teachers between part-time and full-time? Dr. Presidio? Yes, we can do that. Thank you. Which EL can this be connected to for regular reporting?

[02:25:42] I would ask Ms. Neal, I think as she's thinking for a moment I would think likely our EL around instruction, but Ms. Neal? I would agree, Dr. Reed. What's the number? Is that? EL9. I believe it's nine. Thank you. One of the things, and you're not going to be surprised at all to hear this because I say this all of the time with the local level fours that exists at the elementary schools, it cannot be the grass is greener because our list of menu is so broad, everybody's program looks differently.

[02:26:19] We must make this tightly, tightly standardized and consistent. We cannot have parents feeling that the program at school X is better than the program at school Y. How are we going to ensure that? And that speaks to what Mr. Dunn talked to about rigor.

[02:26:37] There has to be a way to identify that. And my wondering, yes, math participation is one thing, but with students who are advanced learners that we expect all of these students to be. Another opportunity is to evaluate their performances on SOLs at the advanced rate, not at the passing rate. Could that be a measure that is included in the other measures that you look at to ensure rigor and consistency across programming?

[02:27:05] Dr. Presidio, I'm not sure if we currently utilize that or not. It seems like it would be possible. Are we currently utilizing that? Yeah, we actually do collect that data and look at that data but I think in and we're happy to share that I think to your larger question though our program standards is what provides the consistency along with the training and the implementation support for what happens during the school day and then as the boards discussed this evening having something similar for extracurriculars where we could standardize something similar for what happens outside of the school day would be another good step to take I think all of this needs to be teased out and presented in advance of whatever

[02:27:45] this vote is going to be because i'll be honest with you after talking about this for the better part of six years i do not have any i don't have the confidence that i'd like to have that our elementary programs are consistent and rigorous across the board because again the menu is so large everyone is doing something differently and coming up with a different result and i i want to say this as somebody who's working in a number of school divisions no one else does this this way. There are no centers in Loudoun County, there's no centers in Arlington, and we consider those to be really good and productive and successful school systems.

[02:28:22] So we're kind of going toward the norm rather than continuing to be an outlier with the process that we have here. Was that the bell? It is a little too low, but... Thank you. Ms. Mary. So if I'm recalling correctly, this conversation began when the Mason representative raised that no school pyramids in the Mason District had a middle school AAP Center. Correct? I said if I the conversation began when the Mason representative raised that no school pyramids in the Mason District had a middle school AAP Center. And so is

[02:29:00] that correct Dr. Anderson if you could give me a thumbs up or Mr. Chair? Robin, I'll just continue. It's okay. Okay, yes, I'm sorry. I'd like to recognize, you want me to recognize? I'd just like to move on, thank you, now that half my time is gone.

[02:29:17] um look there were two votes i voted yes to expand to poe i voted no i was a sole no vote on this because i look i strongly advise against taking this action tonight this is the first regular meeting of the year the board could spend some time in the month ahead identifying the priorities we want the superintendent staff to focus on i'd really love to see our board focus on instruction and resolve some questions that needs that have been lingering for years i mean I mean, the ultimate FCPS challenge is we are a system of schools and not yet a school system.

[02:29:48] We have a challenge being consistent. We have a challenge with having the same rigor and quality that all of our parents expect of our students. So this is what it was after me. What's the plan academically? Why aren't we just talking about adding courses at each school like it's happened in increasing math offerings?

[02:30:06] I'm confused why this needs to be focused on middle school only. The superintendent has talked about coursework mapping and the bell work. I think that's the core of what we should be talking about regarding regular academics. That stuff is really cool. We've had maybe one conversation about that.

[02:30:21] What happens after middle school? Are we even talking about if we offer this to middle school students, are the high schools going to be ready to accept those students? I mean, it's kind of similar to when we adjusted the TJ admissions, right? The students had to learn, and we had to right-size the course offerings.

[02:30:38] And now, look, the students are doing great. again is there money to expand AAP instruction it's just too off the cuff like the comment that was just made about well maybe we will need facility modifications it's just it's not enough like with Skyview you know I still don't know the total renovation cost for that I also want to say we just went through a boundary change too and our community is fatigued at the thought of moving kids around I just don't think there's an appetite for that and I've got kiddos in northeastern in Vienna who now have a bus ride instead of 15 minutes it's an hour because some of them actually

[02:31:14] are following the phasing like kiddos going from Kilmer to Thoreau and we thank them by giving them a bus ride that takes them an hour to get home. So we have yet to unpack all of what we could learn from the boundary work. I don't see how we could really expect to start talking to the community about changing programming, changing schools. We could have a great work plan ahead and really dig into this, but we need to look at it holistically. Thank you. Mr. Moon. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm

[02:31:47] going to support this motion. As I stated earlier, through my questions, it is just setting the timeline for the board's action by December. And the board, if the motion passes, is directing superintendent to engage the community in the fall and hold a schedule of public hearings so that the board could make a decision by December. I mean, this issue has been going on for many, many years, many, many years, and it was a board's direction to the superintendent to come up with a plan. It was a board's direction, and the superintendent was following the board's direction,

[02:32:27] and then she presented a plan, and we discussed that at the April work session. It seems like the only difference between what was presented back in April versus today is one middle school. from phase four to phase two you know if you compare the document that seems to be the only difference even with all those numbers i have not really gone through every numbers you know numbers seem to be the same to me from april to today i just want to step to double check whether

[02:33:01] those numbers are correct between a certain pages because i see in consistency with that said with With that said, what Ms. Merrill has brought up, what Mr. McAveen has brought up, those are all important issues.

[02:33:16] And I hope the community will let us know through a public hearing, through a public engagement. Because whether we go, we do this program in every middle school, even with overcrowding, overcrowding certain schools, Or we make different decisions in each December for the next several years that what we hear, what we will be hearing from the community is going to be important.

[02:33:47] And we do expect every school to have the same quality, advanced course offerings to students who qualify for these programs at the local level.

[02:34:03] But with that said, we're not making a final decision. We are just setting the timeline. I'm supporting the motion, Madam Chair. Thank you. Mr. Dannon. Good evening. So I want to first share something that I've shared this multiple times before, and again, I say this as a parent of a kid at an AAP center, but I've heard from multiple educators that these materials and resources are very good.

[02:34:29] And it would be great to, you know, we shouldn't be holding these just for AAP. And I don't think we are. I think we talked about this a few months ago. You know, other educators have access to these materials, but as much as we can use these to help differentiate and provide additional rigor to kids, I would really, you know, support.

[02:34:44] So I don't want to go too far off topic, but I did want to put a plug in for that. And I want to ask a little bit about, finally, just about the timing of these changes and how they might mesh with potential boundary changes. And I know you've given a lot of thought to that as well. But I guess the situation I think we're all trying to avoid is having a change one year, then a change another year, and so forth.

[02:35:04] So have you kind of thought through initially what that could look like? So we did provide a timeline, and that's behind, it's an AAP timeline at the end of the document. So I think that the early schools were essentially identified for a variety of reasons, for pyramid-specific support.

[02:35:28] Also, we knew that Key Middle School in particular, developing a center at Key, keeps students together as they proceed through the Lewis Pyramids. specifically. And we really want to encourage that pyramid motion through each pyramid. So I think that in terms of the boundary work, we're going to pick that up again in five years from last year. So I think we're four years out. So the hope is to have students be able to return to

[02:36:02] their base schools to access their advanced academic programming. And that will be part of the level setting for the reset for the next boundary work because ideally, if this comes to pass and the community engagement is positive for these schools and the board approves that, then that's a different level setting for the upcoming boundary work and may, in fact, in some cases, preclude the need to do some boundary work based on the fact that students are actually, if you will, more neighborhood-centered, and it reduces transportation, and

[02:36:42] therefore the boundary work would actually look different, because what we wouldn't want to do, if this is a goal of the board, is to delay this, do the boundaries, and then say, let's move our students back to schools, right? So I think as we looked at this, it made sense for us to do this work first, and then that would do a reset for the the boundary work moving forward I appreciate that and that's another one of the reasons I'm supportive of this is you know that we're using the data and the numbers to try and go in the same direction and not having competing interests and putting families in the middle of that so I

[02:37:20] appreciate the thoughtfulness that goes around that and looking forward to further discussion thank you sorry I did want to comment one of the big questions that the advisory the Boundary Review Advisory Committee had early on is what would happen if every student went to the school they were geographically aligned to go to would we even need to do the boundary work right because there's so many programs academies centers fill in the blank transfer pieces that I just think this is another step a concrete step potentially

[02:37:54] if it receives a positive public response and the board feels like it's reasonable to approve in December, I think it could create a different kind of a reset. Thank you, Mr. McElwain. Thanks. So I've heard two things come from the superintendent tonight, so I just want to confirm whether what we're voting on for tonight is for community engagement or for adopting the plan. I've heard two board members say vehemently that this is a community engagement plan only.

[02:38:29] I've heard another board member say that, you know, we're going to vote on the final plan in December. You're asking me what I think we're doing tonight. I believe we're voting to approve the plan and inherent in that plan, if you will, the plan is the umbrella. Inherent in that plan is the need to have community engagement.

[02:38:54] So the plan doesn't presume that this is going to happen at every school, but the plan presumes we're going to go out and engage in the process for each school and bring that process back to the board for an approval vote that we're actually going to finalize the placement of the program.

[02:39:15] But the plan to expand, I believe we're approving a plan to expand to every school but that plan has to have engagement and at the end of the day it doesn't approve each individual school program yet. It just sets a date for that decision. Yeah if I had hair I'd be pulling it out because I really I can't get an answer on this. The concern that is often shared about FCPS is that we engage community with a foregone conclusion in mind and I want to ensure the

[02:39:52] community that that's not what's happening here. But the way this is being phrased is this is approving the plan and then we're doing the community engagement. Well, let me try again. Since I was directed to develop a comprehensive plan to establish this, it feels like the plan would need to have some level of acceptance to engage in it. So maybe the plan should just be called like a community engagement plan. I'm fine with that too. I just want to make sure that as a plan, like we've picked the right schools for the right years to engage in.

[02:40:31] Does that make sense? Like, so maybe it could be characterized or retitled as a community engagement plan for the expansion of middle school AAP programs because that's really essentially the practical reality of what we're talking about. Okay, I could be supportive of that.

[02:40:47] Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dixon. I'll be quick. My own child went to an AAP center and I said that before it was 6:15 in the morning they used to get up and go to the bus stop it's for a 7:30 morning school start time. Winters was very scary walking that distance far away from the house to catch the bus. So for a lot of parents and especially who have their kids have to ride 40 minutes bus ride to go to their AAP center this is real this is a real challenge and we

[02:41:24] fear for our kids safety as well when they are going to school because every parent cannot afford to drop them or don't have time to drop them off. So I definitely for many many reasons this plan is definitely for equity for for making sure each child gets the opportunity in their base school or their own school they don't have to you know feel like oh we don't have science Olympiad, or we don't have this club, this other school has all this opportunity and they all can get to TJ or wherever they want to go. But that's caused a lot of inequality in our system.

[02:42:06] Yeah, I agree that has to be in each pyramid in school. And I also want to just make a point that, you know, I understand change is hard and a lot of our board members, a few of us, we don't like changes. We want to make sure everything is box is checked out, Everything is done right before we take a decision.

[02:42:25] And I think we are going into that path. This community engagement process will be a step in that direction. Then we can decide whether which is the right thing by our community. So I'll support this, and I do want to say that it will also help some kids to sleep a little bit extra.

[02:42:43] Thanks. Thank you. Mr. McDaniel. I want to just take a moment to kind of recenter the conversation because I think it's important for the public to know that we're not creating a new program.

[02:43:02] We're already doing this for the same kids that have access to this program. And the beautiful part of this is now we're eliminating the kid and the parent from having to make the decision. In Lorton Station right now, I have constituents in Lorton that have to make a decision.

[02:43:24] Do I put my kid on a bus for 45 minutes to an hour to go to Lake Braddock to get AAP? Or do I not and forego AAP? Those are the real-life decisions that have to be made by parents across this county. And whether we call it whatever we want to call it, this is the next logical key step in remedying that equity.

[02:43:48] So this has been a fascinating conversation. I'm looking forward to us voting on this and moving on because we have a lot more business to do tonight. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. In that vein, I just have a very quick question for the superintendent. We've spent a lot of time talking about middle school start times.

[02:44:07] And I guess my only question is, if this eased busing for middle school, is there a chance that it could make it a little bit easier to make that happen? Well, that's an interesting idea, Mrs. Anderson. But I think that it is possible, if we're running fewer buses to transport students to centers across the division, and that it could create a situation where it would be easier to route the, if you will, cycles for busing for middle school start time.

[02:44:37] So we could potentially see a positive impact. Because if I'm understanding this correctly, then this group of busses is in the same outside. It's not in the main group. Am I understanding that correctly?

[02:44:52] So they are part of the specialty busing system because of the AAP centers. Am I understanding that correctly? Do you mean that they're like extras just doing these runs? Well, they're doing other runs afterward as well. So they're doing a full run out.

[02:45:09] I understand that it's a full run, but if you're, some of them, when we're talking about extremely long distances, then it makes a whole lot of sense that if we keep those kids closer to home in the cohort of kids that are already being bused to the middle school, then it makes a whole lot of sense that it would ease up that strain on the system.

[02:45:26] Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay, thank you. I will call for the vote on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor? Ms. Anderson, Mr. Moon, Mr. McElveen, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Dr. Anderson, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself. All those opposed? Ms. Marin. Any abstentions? No. Will the clerk read the vote? 10-1. The motion carries.

[02:45:59] Thank you. 8.01, Performance Review, Global Executive Limitations EL1 Monitoring Report. Each Each year, the school board assesses the superintendent in part on the basis of the school division's reasonable progress toward achieving the 2023 to 2030 strategic plans, goals, and adherence to a set of 13 executive limitations found on pages 16 to 33 of the board's strategic governance manual.

[02:46:23] The superintendent provides annual monitoring reports to the board for each executive limitation. The board then votes on whether the provided report is in compliance or if corrective action is needed. I call on Dr. Reed for a monitoring report on Executive Limitation I, Global Executive Limitations.

[02:46:41] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board and the public. Tonight, as the chair indicated, I will be presenting Executive Limitation I, which is really the global expectations. So the school board Executive Limitation I can be seen on the slide, and if you're watching from home, the full report is posted to board docs.

[02:47:04] I want to clarify that at the time of this report, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief that we have gathered information and evidence that I believe supports compliance with the Board's executive limitation associated with this topic, and I'll take the opportunity to share some of the highlights.

[02:47:24] I'd like to begin tonight's presentation by highlighting progress that the division has made towards achieving our 2030 strategic plan goals. During our 2025-26 school year, the goal reports reported on 107 strategic plan metrics.

[02:47:43] These reports share data from the 24-25 year, and of those with targets, over 90% of the metrics showed improvement from baseline to the 24-25 rates. I also want to share that we did receive a 2026 Gold Award for Achievement of Excellence by the Partnership for Excellence and related to the Baldrige work.

[02:48:10] This recognition is the first time an educational applicant has won the Gold Award on their first time applying. And it highlighted several of FCPS organizational best practices which are outlined for you on the screen.

[02:48:25] So the report, given its global nature, honestly doesn't have a lot of change year over year because the global expectations really remain quite similar. So this does conclude the presentation for Executive Limitation 1, Global Expectations, and I'm happy to take any questions.

[02:48:48] - Thank you. I will now call on school board members for any questions they may have related to the presentation. - Comes up.

[02:49:05] - Point of order. - Doctor. - Miss Lady, I believe that we traditionally actually state the motion in these before we actually go to member comments? - Okay, my script is out of order then. - We typically will for presentations, right?

[02:49:23] Under Robert's rules, from my understanding, what we typically do for presentations is we have board members speak to the presentations and then we go to the motion. - Okay, thank you. - Thank you. I will now call school board members for any questions they may have related to the presentation.

[02:49:39] Dr. Anderson. - Thank you. As you know, I usually have a whole host of questions, which I still wish I'd do. But I did do something a little bit differently this time around. I always put these things in my newsletter, saying this is what the board is going to vote on, et cetera.

[02:49:57] But for the first time, I actually asked for people to send me feedback and questions and thoughts about it. And I am going to run through some of those, because I found them to be very interesting. And since that's the public that I represent, want to be sure that their questions are being responded to. So here we go. Sorry, I needed to organize this a little bit better. Are you okay? Okay. Hold on, I apologize. I have to find my

[02:50:34] questions here. Okay, here's a question that there is regarding, I think this speaks to risks. there needs to be more defined policies and processes in terms of what situations such as regarding legal risk that warrant initiation and procurement of outside counsel. This question is speaking to the fact that very often we have an independent report that is handled by an external

[02:51:08] counsel who also conducts other work for the division. And so there is a question about is there a conflict of interest if these individuals, if this firm that is supposed to evaluate FCPS staff, if they find, if there are findings about the work of the staff, would that potentially jeopardize the other work that they do for the division? Can you speak to any

[02:51:41] of that potential conflict of interest I think that probably I would ask Mr. Foster to respond I think each issue that we address we take on the merits of that individual and unique situation whether it's a personnel matter a property matter a safety matter but I do know that you know I'll defer to Mr.

[02:52:08] Foster because often Mr. Foster is part of the conversation around when we do utilize external counsel. So Mr. Foster, do you want to clarify that, please? Yes. As Dr. Reed indicated, each time a law firm is conducting an investigation, they're looking at the specific facts that they uncover in the course of that investigation. And as licensed members of the Virginia State Bar, they have an ethical obligation to the school board client to provide unvarnished conclusions that may not be what the client wants to hear, but what the facts are

[02:52:47] indicating. And if they did otherwise, they would be violating that ethical obligation to the board. Okay. Thank you for that answer. Question two. The OAG FY25 risk report included seven categories for assessment. There were some findings, and we went over this with Ms. Co. earlier in the spring.

[02:53:12] While there is a reference to collaborating with the OAG office in the document, why does the executive response not include evidence of compliance? I'm not sure which report that the question refers to.

[02:53:31] The report that the OAG, that Esther Cole's office presented to us earlier on this spring, it's publicly available. It showed that there were several areas of concern. There were findings. The question is, if this speaks to risk, why is this not included here as these were the fine?

[02:53:51] Why is that not addressed in terms of what the OAG found as issues in FCPS? Why are they not addressed here in your executive response? Likely because we provide a management response to each of the audit reports that MISCO presents.

[02:54:09] And those management responses are part of the OAG process, which occurs within the audit committee and also the annual report. Is there a possibility, this is kind of me inserting myself here, is there a possibility for in this report when we're talking about the collaboration with the OAG, that we perhaps link to those management responses?

[02:54:33] I don't know. Just to offer the clarity, because again, this is for the public. The public needs to know that this thing happened, we addressed it. we're saying here everything is good we've addressed it can we link that information so that it can be more transparent i think the information is online and is transparent it's not connected to your response here right because i don't oversee the oag's office right i don't

[02:55:00] think that's the question i'll take a go back i call him dr anderson for a go back okay question three on page six it presents and I've raised this myself so I find it curious that it came from my community we're presenting information about processes that are in place they outline a number of strategies how are these processes being evaluated for effectiveness measuring the contributions to the

[02:55:38] divisions outcomes to the divisions outcomes for example restorative justice, restorative justice practices are in 98% of our schools. What is the impact on student discipline? What is the evidence of impact of the strategies that we've employed that are articulated in this report? So Dr. King's office oversees our restorative justice program and I know that they've looked at the discipline reports by school and over time year over year with the implementation of that, so that's something I would want to connect with Dr. King on with

[02:56:16] that particular example, because I don't think, I know she's not available this evening, but that would be an example where I think with our student discipline data that we would begin to see, you know, some support for the restorative justice practices having a positive impact on that. I know that there's been a lot of work with our school teams.

[02:56:41] And there was a presentation last spring with a number of schools and their success. But I would certainly want to check in with Dr. King. Sure. But I think the larger picture is if this is the opportunity to have conversation regarding compliance, regarding the fact that we are moving in the right direction.

[02:57:00] And I know it's not the only conversation, but it's something that we vote on. And we're having a public conversation. we have to kind of thread the needle for the public. We have to kind of bring in some of these other reports and evidence into this, even if it's a link to not necessarily needing to be a new body of work.

[02:57:18] Because otherwise, it just comes across as if we're doing this thing. What this report lists is a lot of activities. What it needs to include is the impact of said activities. How do we make that happen? So the impact of the restorative justice work is generally found, I think in goal two in that report and it may be in another report do you recall miss Neal where else that appears it is goal 2 Dr. Reed okay thank you okay here's another question how are these policies and regulations selected

[02:57:56] in this report as ongoing evidence miss Neal since you worked with the teams to collect that do you want to clarify how these specific ones were selected yeah Certainly. So there are several policies and regulations that show up across all of our executive limitations.

[02:58:15] We tried to identify those policies and regulations that are related to the specific indicators in this executive limitation. I'm so sorry. Can you say that last part again? Sure. We looked at the indicators of this executive limitation and tried to identify those that were most closely aligned.

[02:58:33] Thank you. How is the Office of Procurement managing adherence to clauses, including in contracts, regarding contract employee background checks? So as you know, we are enrolled.

[02:58:48] In fact, I think we're still the only division enrolled in Rat Pack. So all of our employees, all 40,000 plus, are currently fingerprinted in part of our Rat Pack program. I think your question is asking about our contractors who have employees working in our schools, or I'm not sure I understand the question exactly.

[02:59:09] Is that the question? I can just read it again. How is the Office of Procurement managing adherence to clauses included in contracts regarding contract employees' background checks? So yes, essentially it is saying, are they having the same expectation as we do of our employees?

[02:59:27] So I'm going to connect with Ms. Burden on the Office of Procurement and/or Mr. Lambert. I'm going to have to answer that in writing because Ms. Pratt is not available tonight.

[02:59:43] - Okay, and last question. Attributing the-- - Dr. Anderson, that was your time, unless you want to do one last question and not do another go back. - Mr. Dan has his light on, so go ahead. - Sure, just wanted to first start by, this is kind of a weird executive invitation in that it's so broad, but yeah, it's worth, I think, mentioning just the high expectations that you've set and obviously couldn't go into details, but just having worked with you now for five months, You know, in public and behind closed doors, you've acted very ethically and set high standards.

[03:00:19] And I appreciate you doing so, right, because, you know, you represent such a big division. A couple kind of minutiae questions here. So the first is around just the Baldrige report submissions. When can the board and the public expect to see those submissions and any suggestions or feedback from them, from the examiners?

[03:00:39] I will check in with the team. I know we've already provided the original application, but I will check back with the team and give you an update. Appreciate it. And then, again, bounce around a little bit, since it does mention fingerprinting. Can you just talk about how the fingerprinting background check process is going for the Level 3 volunteers?

[03:00:58] So for Level 3 volunteers, I know I had a question from another board member about how the volunteer management system was going to work this year. And recall last year, we had a bit of a challenge in that area because we simultaneously were trying to fingerprint 40,000 employees through the state police.

[03:01:17] At the same time, we're rolling out a new volunteer management system. So likely the timing was not great. We should have phased that separately. what we didn't know when we initiated those plans was the backup that was going to occur with the state police, that their ability to process our fingerprints actually was very modest, right? And I understand that they've got a lot of things on their plate as well, but the intersection of those two tasks created a real challenge. Once our employees are enrolled

[03:01:55] in Ratback, we don't have to keep re-enrolling them. That's the benefit of the program, right, that we have ongoing monitoring. So only those employees that are new need to be fingerprinted because all our other employees are still good. So that gives more bandwidth for the time for our volunteer management system. But Ms. Hall, do you want to clarify where we are on our level three volunteers or Mr. Solomon? Thank you. I will say that the process remains the same

[03:02:26] After we made adjustments to the process, sorry, after we made adjustments to the process last year, I can tell you that overall we have about 29,000 volunteers with the majority of Level 3 volunteers having been fully, you know, cleared.

[03:02:48] there are some volunteers who either decided not to volunteer or just kind of got lost in the process and they've already received all types of communications but we're good to go I should say I think I was one of those volunteers and I ended up getting elected to school board and got finger fitted that way so it all worked out in the end but don't recommend it for necessarily but I appreciate that and I also appreciate the introspection there too because I did hear a lot of feedback from folks that this is frustrating people who volunteered for years and had to deal with this but as a lot of these things it was done with good intentions and I appreciate the

[03:03:24] changes you all made to expedite this and so forth so I will leave it there thank you thank you miss Marin yes thank you when I looked at the language in the EL for slide two I really reflected on it you know the superintendent shall not cause allow or fail to take responsible measures to prevent any practice activity decision or organizational condition that is unlawful and ethical and safe and so on and as i thought about the work this year i do think that preventing unsafe

[03:04:00] situations has been lacking um the major things i mean i'm feeling my voice going because every morning this week i've been standing outside of south lakes high school observing the chaotic horrific dangerous traffic that's happened and i think that protecting children on their way to and from school within our realm of responsibility that hasn't been met there's been a stalemate between our boards and executives but i know that i've done everything i can this week to try and fix it and i haven't seen what the division is doing and i feel like it's a political game of

[03:04:35] chicken with our children so that is first and foremost in my mind i also read the report you gave to us in the summer about the traffic and pedestrian safety initiative which clearly says that our kiss and ride is just way over capacity and we have to get real about that we just it was not built to hold that but i have not heard any plans to try and address that and again with the crossing guard situation it's just it's just boiling over the weapons detection system when i was watching the traffic and watching my daughter as one of the hundreds of kids standing outside

[03:05:12] it just broke my heart and we've heard about school culture and how that makes kids feel And we heard from teachers, and I got to say, the Kiss and Ride line at Langston Hughes Middle School on Ridge Heights is bonkers because Dr. Mizell used to be able to send some staff out there to monitor, but now those staff are monitoring the weapons detection, and so that's a mess.

[03:05:32] And all of these things are things that need tactical solutions, and again, these particular transit problems are not all ours to fix, but I just don't see steps being taken to actually fix them. I also have seen different processes with dismissal, and again, I look to Langston Hughes.

[03:05:51] Dr. Mizell came in, and he said, okay, we're not going to release 1,400 kids at the same time. We're going to have buses and then walkers and then kiss and ride. That wasn't standardized, and I don't think it is elsewhere. That, to me, is just a straight-up safety thing. I also think that protecting children in the digital age we are in, that things have fallen way short.

[03:06:11] It's clear that devices and applications have danger. Yet, FCPS supports a successful Google lawsuit claiming this, and yet we're still offering Google. The meta decision will reinforce that unfettered access to technology is harmful to children. My son came home today with his laptop and said, I just biked home, and I said, how did you get this?

[03:06:32] And he said he was just given it. There's just too much, and it is unsafe. I'll just close by saying, you know, standardizing how social media is used by teachers for after school time and students, deprioritizing screens, and upholding the school board's decisions like not giving kindergarten devices.

[03:06:53] And we're revisiting this with Lexia. I do have a few more things to add for a go back, please. Okay, well, I'm going to go ahead and give you a go back. And then before we do anything third, I'm going to call on the motion. So you can have your go back now, Ms. Marin. Just my last point, I mean, in the global expectation, it uses the word unethical, and I think that's a bit too strong.

[03:07:13] But I do think that work hasn't been approached facing the really tough and honest challenges using consistent and fair approaches. I mean, there's just been an inequity in how some things are addressed for different populations, like the comprehensive boundary change. You know, those kiddos at Marshall, they participated in good faith, and the boundary work would happen with Fox Mill and the South Lakes Pyramid.

[03:07:37] And even tonight, what I understand of Lewis and Bryn Mawr, it's just people really trust us. And I don't think that that trust is always honored. I think, too, I don't understand how the staff can say that they were assigned weapons detection duty. And that's not a collective bargaining thing.

[03:07:53] And yet they want telework. But that is a collective bargaining thing. There's just a lot of different rules for similar situations. And I think that we just need to be more straightforward. So that's my laundry list of things. But I gave this immense thought, and I do think we as a board should do more to address these things.

[03:08:15] Thank you. I now call on Ms. Anderson for a motion. I move that the school board finds that the superintendent is in compliance with executive limitation one, global executive limitations. I further move that the school board approve the monitoring report based on the superintendent's reasonable interpretation of the executive limitation number one, as outlined in the strategic governance manual.

[03:08:37] Is there a second? I second. Thank you, Ms. Dixit. Ms. Anderson, would you like to speak to your motion? Absolutely. I want to say thank you to Dr. Reid for the comprehensive monitoring report on EL1. After reviewing the report and the evidence presented, I am prepared to support compliance with this executive limitation.

[03:08:56] It's intentionally broad, but it is an extremely important one. It speaks to our expectation that the division operates lawfully, ethically, safely, responsibly, and in accordance with school board policy, while also protecting FCPS and ensuring that we are prepared to respond effectively to emergencies.

[03:09:15] Just as importantly, it requires a data-informed system of continuous improvement aligned with our strategic plan and executive equity policy. I'm going to pause here for just a second and say really fast is that when I came on the board, I did not expect that everything would be perfect when we walked in.

[03:09:33] And what I do notice is the time and care of the data that we track that was historically not in order to make sure that we can move forward. So I appreciate the evidence that was presented that addresses these expectations from multiple perspectives.

[03:09:53] I was particularly encouraged by the evidence of continuous improvement, as I said. More than 90% of our strategic plan metrics show improvement from baseline. And as I've spoken about before, the Baldrige recognition for FCPS with the 2026 Gold Award for Achievement of Excellence, I understand how significant that is because I've worked with folks that were trying to get that Baldrige Award.

[03:10:17] And so it provides a meaningful external validation of the division's work around organizational excellence, ethical leadership, and focus on students. The safety evidence is also significant. Schools achieved 100% compliance with required safety drills in 2025 and 26, and that's largely because we told them we want them to.

[03:10:39] And so, again, when we put that focus on safety and security, that's where we see the results. I've also seen firsthand that the ongoing partnerships with FCPD, the Fire and Rescue, Emergency Management Agencies, and other partnerships demonstrate that emergency preparedness is active in continuing responsibility rather than a written requirement.

[03:11:04] I've seen this in action in real time. So finally, I appreciate the attention and the emphasis given to stakeholder engagement, public trust, and data-informed decision makings. And for these reasons, I'm in support of this particular executive limitation. I do want to say really fast that I know there is a ton of staff across the division that their work is incorporated here.

[03:11:26] And I cannot tell everybody how much I appreciate the time and energy that goes into making sure that we can be successful with this particular EL. Thank you. Ms. Dixit, would you like to speak to your second? Yes, briefly. I'd like to also support and find Dr. Ian compliance for EL1. I did understand the report and that a couple of things which stuck out are outstanding is the data dashboards, which is a weekly data visualization for critical and time, key performance, KPIs for division initiatives.

[03:12:04] And this is, I think, on different sort of things, kind of student enrollment, immunization compliance, on-time graduation projection, chronic absenteeism, and I know that that's a very intentional work done in that. I was at Bull Run on the first day of school, and the principal mentioned, you know, James Merita, that the chronic absenteeism is reduced from 13% to, like, less than 5%.

[03:12:30] It's, like, really in one, two years of exceptional work there. So I know my colleague said that every person working in FCPS is behind this, and that is why we are doing such a great work in this division under your leadership.

[03:12:48] I did have a question about social media, though, which is one of the section here. How is any school body of this size able to monitor social media of their staff members and if they are doing the do's or don'ts, which I see this website is very comprehensive.

[03:13:08] But who's monitoring their social media if they are abiding with these principles? So currently, the school-connected social media accounts do have very specific guidance coming out of the Office of Communications, and they've provided office hours to support the expectations, again, for school-approved and school-connected social media accounts.

[03:13:36] Over the past year, we've also linked staff to our student association accounts to make sure that staff have a conversation and have oversight within our official student club accounts and those types of accounts.

[03:13:52] I think where things get less clear are what we would call not FCPS accounts or not official FCPS accounts. And students and staff likely have their own personal social media accounts, which may or may not be connected to activities related to the school, but that's where it gets less clear.

[03:14:14] But the official accounts have clear guidance and clear direction, and that does come through the Office of Communications. Thanks for telling me that. But like if a teacher decides to create their own social media account, but for the students, it's not for any other purpose. Are they allowed to do that? Are they allowed to share students' handwriting, their pictures, even their other, I mean, it's still related to school, nothing else.

[03:14:46] Let me phone a friend here, because the specifics, I know that they've continued to evolve over the last year. So I'm going to ask Ms. Hall and Ms. Fazzoli, who are here, to comment on that. Thank you again.

[03:15:01] We are here connecting, and it is in the guidance that staff should not be creating their own social media accounts for students. They should be using their official FCPS accounts. Do you want to add more?

[03:15:20] And I know it's not easy to oversee all the $25,000. Well, I can certainly ask the team to provide an update and a link, but I believe it is on our website as well, that guidance. But I'm happy to add something for tomorrow afternoon's letter.

[03:15:39] Thank you. Thank you. Ms. St. John Cunningham? My hand should not be up. Is it up? No. It was. It was. Okay.

[03:15:56] Mr. Moon? Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, Dr. Reed, if you don't mind, could you comment up on the points raised by Ms. Marron a little bit ago? I didn't take notes on all of them. You didn't take notes. You know, some of those points include, like, what I heard this evening through a public participation where teachers came out and spoke about their duties assigned in the morning.

[03:16:24] And also a long kiss and ride lines at a number of schools. So the staff concerns shared tonight are already working through a process related to the RHR department. So I wouldn't be able to comment on that tonight because that's a matter that's being addressed through our human resources department. And I'm not directly in that flow, that workflow at this point. The kiss and ride lines, you know, I think where they're long in places,

[03:17:00] That's something that our traffic safety team certainly can take a look at. We can provide recommendations, rerouting, but at the end of the day, parents are making a decision to drive their students, so I don't think we can restrict parents from making the choice to drive their students, so I think the degree to which we can help support routing of you know the in entrance and egress for campuses I know the team is out reviewing those on an annual basis and I you know I would venture to guess that

[03:17:36] we have more and less schools that have perhaps more congested and less congested depending on the roads and the lanes I know in some parts of the county there have been some added lanes some bike lanes or bus lanes which have perhaps you know connected to kiss and ride topics as well depending on the proximity to schools but I don't really have those notes in front of me this evening to to be speaking thoughtfully about it yeah I would love to hear from you later not tonight as to what kind of efforts you are making in working with

[03:18:13] the parents or families a who are dropping up or dropping up their children and why are creating these long lines which could endanger a you know a lot of you know a lot of cars or walkers or or those who are crossing the roads and what what kind of efforts we're making i understand you know those are parent choices but also we have a choice to work with the parents to let them know that there are other alternatives you know they should consider we are strongly encouraging them to consider.

[03:18:53] I want to get some sort of report back from you because I don't know the kiss and write situations for all 200 different schools. Likewise. I've seen a number of schools in similar situations, so I would love to hear that back from you.

[03:19:10] Yes, sir, we can provide... Tonight, an exact limitation on one vote. Voting no will be too harsh, but having heard the points raised by Ms. Maron, I am going to have to abstain until I hear from some satisfactory reports back from you.

[03:19:32] Okay, Ms. Mehran for a go back. Yeah, I do need to talk about the kiss and ride. Actually, we can't do things exactly. This is where real community engagement is needed. Maybe some parents don't realize that them just dropping their kid off is creating a problem, and maybe they can adjust their schedule.

[03:19:54] If they knew they could actually improve the situation. I've heard some places do a lottery. We have limited space, just like the parking lot for students. I know that students want more parking. We have limited space. And we don't need a team to look into it because the team has looked into it.

[03:20:10] It's right here. District-wide findings, kiss-and-ride congestion, most significant operational concern district-wide. If it's the most significant operational concern district-wide, where is the plan to fix it? Unsafe vehicle maneuvering, we can't control that.

[03:20:26] Traffic backups extending into neighborhoods, conflicts, limited circulation, illegal drop-off. those are all parent behaviors school sites originally designed for significantly fewer vehicles today i considered reaching out to my board of supervisor to see if they could help me get signs put up on ridge heights that say no parking during school hours that is not my job and i know we have short staff but there's literally a report right here i don't see any urgency or eagerness to bring this to the board to report the findings and explain what's

[03:20:58] actually happening. I know our side of the house has done a lot, but we can do more and it's unsafe and delivering a report to the board in a Friday letter when we actually had a public conversation about it just is not good enough. We need solutions for these things. Thank you.

[03:21:24] I'm gonna take a quick turn. This is a great volume to safety. I'm gonna talk about success educationally but also your data dashboards you know we talk about being a school system there's a lot of things have been implemented to make that a thing right and that is the data dashboards that are consistent across every school they're looking at similar things every single day how they're addressing absenteeism is a perfect example along with the other metrics that we're meeting at 90% I also want to uplift again that we're the

[03:22:01] first educational institution to apply for the Baldrige Award and get it on the first application. That's right. There are thousands of education, hundreds of thousands of education systems in this country.

[03:22:16] And we are the first, I'm going to reiterate, to apply for Baldrige and win it, get it on our first application. That is an amazing accolade in regards to the tentacles of the work that's taking place.

[03:22:36] In terms of safety, I mean, unfortunately, prior to your being here, we didn't know who was on what bus. And we do now. And it may take a little time extra for kids to adjust to tapping that as they get on. But that's incredibly important information.

[03:22:52] I do share a concern about the Kissin' Ride. And I think it would be an interesting conversation because I'm not sure we can tell parents they can't drive their children to school. But I think we could communicate the fact that if they put them on the buses, it would save time.

[03:23:08] But I also don't know if that means we need more buses on the streets, right? So I don't know what the domino effect would be on that. But I just-- from the wrap-back program, a lot of things that are in the report. It's a very lengthy report. and I absolutely will be supporting this.

[03:23:25] I think that in any situation, there's always the opportunity to find anomalies here and there, and I think that some of those have been raised tonight that we can evaluate, but overall, I think the body work is fantastic.

[03:23:41] So I think that we are on a go-go back to Dr. Anderson. - Yes, just wanna kind of share some statements, et cetera. Just kind of overall, What my concerns have been with some of these reports, and again, this is not new, is there are things that are cited as evidence, but there's no information to actually support that evidence.

[03:24:07] And the questions that I receive from my community, it shows up there over and over and over again. For example, we're saying adherence to FOIA and FERPA is listed as ongoing evidence, but there's no citation, there's no information to really support that evidence.

[03:24:23] we need to speak to the outcomes of the things that we're doing. Listing that we're doing this, this, and this, it's step one. The impact of the strategies is the most important thing, so I'd like for that to be lifted up a little bit more. Speaking to the Baldrige Report, when we began this conversation, this is the first year on the board of this new board, it was to evaluate the efficiencies of our budget processes, of our budget expenditures.

[03:24:53] That was the motion that the board put forward. We went into audit. Are we spending monies in the right places doing the right things? It was not to go out and get an award. It's fine to get an award, but we have not had the conversation of what did that do for us in terms of increasing our efficiencies.

[03:25:15] Those are the things that we need to be talking about more and more because our community wants to hear that. And frankly, I want to hear that. It's not just we got the Baldrige Award, but by going through this process, this is what we're doing, and this is how it's impacting our system.

[03:25:30] This is how we are achieving efficiencies. We fail to thread that. I still don't have a full understanding of how the application of the Baldrige work, which resulted in all these awards, I still don't have any clarity on how it is impacting us and the savings that we are experiencing.

[03:25:53] My last question to you, what is our enrollment to date since we're in the beginning of school? You had a presentation earlier, and that was one of the things that was not shared. Can you speak to that, please? It's not firm yet, so I don't have a number this evening.

[03:26:10] I can say that we're likely several thousand students down, as many of our regional neighboring divisions are, but we don't have final numbers yet. We're still working through the process at this point. AND AS I MENTIONED EARLIER TO YOU TODAY, REALLY THE NUMBERS ARE CHANGING HOURLY AS STAFF ARE INPUTING NEW STUDENTS AND WITHDRAWING STUDENTS AND CONFIRMING WHETHER STUDENTS ARE ON VACATION OR ARE THEY REALLY HERE?

[03:26:37] SO AT THIS POINT, WE'RE SEVERAL THOUSAND STUDENTS DOWN. AS SOON AS WE HAVE A MORE ACCURATE NUMBER, I'LL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THAT TO THE BOARD. AND AS I SHARED EARLIER, I ALSO FIND THAT CURIOUS BECAUSE WE HAD SEVERAL BOARD MEMBERS JUST TALK ABOUT ALL THE DATA DASHBOARDS THAT PROVIDE US WITH INSTANDIUS INFORMATION.

[03:26:54] So I think what you've explained makes perfect sense. But what is the number given all of those things? What is our actual number to date? I think that should be something that can be procured and shared. - Yeah, as soon as we're able to, I'll provide that to the board. - Thank you.

[03:27:10] I'll call for the vote on the motion, which is on the screen. All those in favor, Ms. Anderson, Mr. McIlveen, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Dannon, Ms. St. John Cunning and myself, all those opposed.

[03:27:27] Ms. Marin, Dr. Anderson. Abstentions? Mr. Moon. Will the clerk please read the vote? 8-2-1. The motion carries. Thank you. Annually, the board will review each executive limitation at the time that the monitoring report is provided to determine if revisions are needed.

[03:27:47] Board members may offer amendments to executive limitations at any regular meeting provided they send final amendment language to the board and clerk at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting at which it is to be considered. At this time, as no amendments have been submitted in advance of this meeting, Executive Limitation 1, Global Executive Limitations, was placed on the consent agenda for approval later in tonight's meeting to maintain the current language for the year ahead.

[03:28:12] Nine, consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure, Roberts Rules, provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the boards by a single motion. Many items listed have gone through board review, and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance.

[03:28:30] Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting. The consent agenda items are on the screen. Is there any objection to approving the consent agenda? Seeing none and hearing no objection, the consent agenda is approved.

[03:28:47] New business. The following are new business agenda items. There will not be a vote on these items this evening, but action is scheduled at a future meeting. Board committee reports. I call on Mr. McElveen for a report on the audit committee. Thank you.

[03:29:04] Audit committee had its first meeting of the new term. We are pleased to welcome new member, Ms. Marin, and have her join our conversations for the first time. And then we heard just an initial report on work, as well as we have forwarded a topic for consideration at a future closed meeting to the full board.

[03:29:32] Thank you. Thank you. I call Ms. Anderson for Report and Governance Committee. We had a great first governance meeting. We were able to look at several of the policies that need to be reviewed and re-approved, and we had a great conversation about our planning for the year.

[03:29:53] So overall, it was awesome, and I look forward to the next one on September 15th. Thank you. Superintendent Matters, I call on Dr. Reed for Superintendent Matters. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. so I just want to start by saying welcome back to everybody it's been fabulous to see our students and our families and our staff coming back for another magical year of academic adventures here in Fairfax County I know many of you join me on first day visits I had an opportunity on the first day of school to begin the day at just after 5 o'clock in the morning at Thomas

[03:30:32] Jefferson High School. We moved on to Edison, Mount Vernon High School, Hayfield, Forestdale Elementary, Kings Glen, Camelot, Flint Hill, Skyview, and Oakton on the first day and saw just an incredible number of just exciting relationship building activities as well as academic work.

[03:30:53] And day two, I started the day at Herndon Middle School and saw some just incredible work going on in classrooms at Herndon Middle School, at Franklin Middle School, Flores Elementary, Colin Powell Elementary, Fairview, Sankster, Newington Forest, Hunt Valley, and Laurel Ridge Elementary Schools, and just really want to thank all the staff at these schools and all the schools across the division for a fabulous start. I also want to thank all of our department staff, our chief officers that are here, everyone that's made both behind the scenes, in the scenes, and ahead of the scenes work.

[03:31:31] Thank you to our communications teams for coordinating all of this. Also enjoyed attending the Skyview High School opening. The ribbon cutting, that's really a seminal event, which I believe history will look back on and really be kind with the vision this board had in developing Skyview and just excited about all the possibilities.

[03:31:57] Also, we'll probably have an Academic Matters on our summer school credit recovery and credit continuation, but I want to give a shout out to Annandale High School Principal Sean DeRose and his work in coordinating all of our high school principals and Megan Vroman and her team, the amazing data results and really the strategic work that they're engaged in right now.

[03:32:22] I can't wait to highlight that for the board. And it also shows that our principal teams are able to come up with incredible solutions and systems that will, you know, support greater efficiency and success for our students.

[03:32:39] Celebrated our summer internship program and other kickoff events. And most recently attended the McLean Open House last night. And I do want to apologize for our heat conditions there. I know I've been responding to emails as I've been between meetings today, but our facilities team is on it, and really want to thank our principal, Raven Jones, there for making sure that we're getting this work in place, and we'll be sending out some continued communications on that topic, so lots of good things happening.

[03:33:16] Just a thank you to everyone that's a part of it, and thank you to our families for trusting us and partnering with us in this important work. It is the most important work in our country right now, so thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda is Board Matters. I will call on each board member to speak. We'll start with Ms. St. John Cunning. So my voice is not really good today, so I'm going to keep it short, but I want to say that even before school started, there was a lot of activity and preparation. I was really excited to attend the leadership meetings, the New Beginnings

[03:33:51] meeting and the equity summit and the excitement that was had there and the learning that was going on with our leaders all transferred to the first day of school. I also was up very early on the first day of school and made it to Edison, Hayfield and then I went back to Rose Hill which is where my kids started off school and there were still teachers that I knew and a parent came in and remembered me and has a young child now going, but had older children that also attended with my kids. So that was a going back home that was very fascinating and fun for me. And then I was

[03:34:27] able to head to Lewis to bid farewell to the students as they were leaving school. And as one of the kids said to me, she was really glad to be back to school, but she just said, I just forgot what it was like to wake up so early in the morning. So that was exciting. And I'd also like to just welcome our two new principals that are going to be starting the new year in Franconia.

[03:34:52] Serena Heron will be at Lewis and Justin Simmons will be at Edison. And I think that's about as much as my voice can say, but the excitement that I saw on the first day I know is a great way to begin. I'm really excited for everything that the students are going to learn. I'm really excited for the enthusiasm of the teachers and one thing that they had at Rose Hill which was really wonderful they had for the for the parents dropping off kindergartners the PTA had a boohoo coffee because the parents were dropping off their kids and they had coffee and donuts and lots of tissue

[03:35:31] boxes for the parents as they had their kids start off kindergarten uh with all of that I'm looking forward to an exciting time at the board and I know we're gonna accomplish a lot and I hope everyone has a good night thank you miss Anderson thank you I hope everybody had a wonderful start to the school year I've loved seeing all those first day of school pictures with those bright shining faces tonight I wanted to talk to some about something that is likely laid weighed heavily on all of us this week we have more than a hundred and seventy thousand students in the division and roughly a hundred and thirty thousand bus riders that leaves a

[03:36:09] lot of kiddos driving themselves to school walking or arriving to school by car and with that we know that every single morning thousands of kids across fairfax county step onto sidewalks across busy intersections and walk to school those children all count on the adults in their lives to help them get there safely that is a shared responsibility and as a community our highest priority must be keeping our children out of harm's way. For this particular discussion, out of the nine high schools where crossing guards were removed as part of the county's budget process last year,

[03:36:45] five of those schools include Springfield district kids. I know that many people on the board, the board of supervisors and around the community are looking for solutions and I'm right there in the middle of that group. This week I sent out some information about our exception to ride process that can be useful for some high school students who find themselves walking to school without a a crossing guard, but it won't be a solution for all of our students in this position.

[03:37:10] I want to say thank you to Supervisor Herity for his board matter at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, and I plan to meet directly with several of our supervisors over the coming days to discuss this path forward and to work with my colleagues to explore things that we might be able to do as a division to mitigate some of this risk. It's time that we stop managing the symptoms of unsafe roads and start building real lasting safety for all of our kids.

[03:37:36] I also wanted to mention that the news coming out of Nepal and Tibet is heartbreaking. My thoughts are with both communities there and with loved ones that are worried about people that they haven't heard from yet. So thank you. Thank you. Ms. Marin. Yeah, it's hard to believe it's only the first week of school. It feels like it's been a month. My own kiddos in 11th and 8th grade seem to be fine. They're back at their schools that they know, so that is reassuring. And I went to a dozen schools last week for the open houses. It's such a great opportunity to be able to see

[03:38:14] everyone. They're all there and mostly very happy. I know it can be a stressful time for people as well, so I hope those kiddos and parents were able to adjust this week to the new normal. Now I'm into going to the back-to-school nights. So I was at Madison last night and seeing people who are babies were in child care together and now they're in high school.

[03:38:35] So it's just really amazing. And we're all like, we can't believe the kids are all this age. And then I did catch an insanely competitive girls volleyball varsity game between Southlakes and Herndon, and Southlakes eked it out in two, like, overtimes. It was really amazing.

[03:38:51] And I did not look at my daughter who was there with her friends. I'm learning to do that more and more. I also, though, really took time over the summer to develop what I wanted to really make sure I focused it on this year, and I have three priorities. One is to protect children, and that goes into making sure our kids are safe as they come to and from school, and then being online, all the devices, keeping them safe that way.

[03:39:18] The second one is articulating the intentional use of technology and instruction, so all things related to AI and tech and digital learning. And then finally, making sure that we're stewarding our public facility school assets to best serve our kids, our adults, employees, students, and the public.

[03:39:33] So I'm looking forward to a restful weekend, and thank you to all the educators and staff who did so much work this week. I'm sure everyone's tired, but I've really heard just so many wonderful things. People are really pumped to be back this year, so thank you. Thank you. Mr. Moon. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[03:39:49] I hope that everyone has had a smooth and positive start of a new school year. And I want to take a moment to thank our teachers and staff for their dedication in making this year's opening so successful. With that said, this past Monday was my first day of the school for myself.

[03:40:10] I have decided to challenge myself. For the first time, I am taking more than one class at George Mason. So Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, I'm taking classes at George Mason. So if you have a hard time getting hold of me, I'm in class.

[03:40:28] And professors, both professors, it's Latin American history and global history. I love history classes that are a lot more difficult for me to learn to become a better school board member, to serve our diverse population.

[03:40:45] Both professors are prohibiting all digital devices in the classroom. And at the right time, I want to share with you their AI policy as well. along with their grading policy. Very interesting.

[03:41:01] With that said, I have also even taken those classes doing my reading assignments. I have taken some time to watch a couple of volleyball games, and for the next two weeks, I'll be watching two football games, football games where our teams are going to play teams from outside Fairfax County.

[03:41:26] I'm going to cheer for Fairfax County schools and maybe one of the loudest cheerleaders there. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McElveen. Well, thank you, and congratulations to everyone on a relatively successful start to school.

[03:41:48] It was great to be out on many visits on our first day. We did encounter heat in a lot of schools and obviously variable HVAC conditions throughout buildings, So I know that's a lot of work, and thank you to our staff who continue to try to keep our students comfortable around the county.

[03:42:09] This past month, I was pleased to join Ms. Anderson and Mr. Moon at the final graduation of the season, our summer graduation, credit recovery graduation. It's great to see all our final graduates for the year across the stage.

[03:42:29] That made it 29 ceremonies for me. Mr. Moon, congratulations on another successful year. He's being a poor sportsman right now, not shaking my hand. I've also been pleased to join many of the ceremonies celebrating our teacher award winners from the spring, as well as our new principal inductions at places like Edison, Braddock Elementary, Terrace Elementary, Holmes Middle School, Vienna Elementary School, Oakton High School, Haycock Elementary, and so on. It was great to be with everyone and have all these celebrations

[03:43:05] and start the year on the right foot. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Dixick. So I also want to welcome everybody to this great start of the school year. This is always very exciting. There's a lot of great energy about it at the beginning of the school year when students coming back, reconnecting with their friends and teachers and starting fresh is like I think for us also as a board I think it's a fresh start and we all are looking forward to working with each other and doing great things. Big thanks to our custodians, teachers, administrators, and staff who worked so hard to get our school ready to

[03:43:43] welcome our students back. We had a great turnout at the St. Chantilly Pyramid Magic Bus. We handed out backpacks, school supplies, and snacks and And it was very wonderful to see the excited kids are to get those supplies.

[03:43:59] The SkyWoo grant opening was a highlight for me this summer. And we have seen the school from buying the building to actually opening in a year with the boundary as well. So I am very excited. It was a great ceremony and I appreciate all the board members who were able to make it that day.

[03:44:19] I also met with Principal Norris from Westfield High School to brainstorm what possible path at Westfield High School would look like to create more opportunities with our students. And I did do some first days and second days of school visits and did find the kids enjoying walking in the school without any issues.

[03:44:43] Buses were running fine, there was no issue at any of the schools I visited. And also at Powell Elementary, I enjoyed the tour for the sixth grade students and seeing the excitement in the core immersion classes with Dr. Reed and Mr. McDaniel.

[03:44:59] And yeah, overall, I'm just in a great place. And I would do understand that we are struggling with the crossing guard situation. So we are committed and working towards it to find a solution with a board of supervisors who are our partner in this. So thank you again.

[03:45:16] Have a great night. Thank you. Mr. Dunn. - Well, I come from a family of teachers, and as I've sat here tonight, I've been reflecting that education, it starts in the home, because parents are the first and most important educators, but delivering a world-class education to every child in this system is a shared responsibility.

[03:45:39] And so I'm grateful to Ms. Marin for highlighting the unsafe conditions that have resulted from the elimination of cross guards. I'm grateful to my colleagues who've worked in collaboration with the superintendent to implement a new science of reading literacy curriculum, which required the entire leadership in so many schools to train teachers in the largest curriculum change in many years and is now paying off with major gains in literacy scores across the board.

[03:46:10] I'm grateful to all the parent advocates at Lewis High School, at Mount Vernon High School, who have been meeting with me collaborate and envision what they want those high schools to look like, you know, 10, 20 years into the future and possible improvements that could be made. I'm so grateful for the parents for intentional technology advocates who have brought forward all the concerns and research about educational technology and have enabled major motions to be passed banning electronic devices from pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and new safety guardrails to be enacted for AI at every

[03:46:43] level of FCPS. And I'm so grateful for all the staff who on a daily basis give above and beyond to care, feed, transport, and make sure that we are supporting our students in every way possible, not just teaching them academically, but supporting them in a holistic manner.

[03:47:02] It really does take a village, and Fairfax County is just a very large village, and we're microcosm of this world and at a very time of geopolitical competition and increasing danger I'm so grateful that we provide a safe inclusive learning environment every day for every child no matter where you come from what language you speak at home etc that is vital to achieving the one Fairfax vision it's vital to ensuring that every child can realize the American dream and that's absolutely essential to uphold our community values. Thank you. Mr. Dannon.

[03:47:41] Good evening and echo my colleagues comments. Welcome to a new school year. It's been fun and surprising getting into a new rhythm. Everything from the new bus passes to making sure that I do my job every morning of getting the kids backpacks unpacked and the water bottles filled with ice cubes for both now.

[03:48:01] and so I only missed once this week you know I had a really good summer recess so to speak a lot of time to connect with different liaisons and community experts and community members also want to thank my colleague Sandy Anderson for joining me for a PTA roundtable more like a round room I guess where you were but it was it was really phenomenal and I've got to give a shout out to the to Laurel Ridge PTA because they have something like 500 plus members and I've been to their events and it's just it's a well-run group and it's really well run because they have so many

[03:48:39] people involved helping out and I'll just share probably my biggest takeaway is if you haven't already please take a moment and join your PTA PTO if one doesn't exist you know reach out to my office we're happy to help work you to get that set up because they they do so much for for our schools and so looking forward to having more roundtables as the year goes on. I'm also excited this year to get to work on a couple new roles. So first as the board liaison to the Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities and I know a lot of folks who are struggling with navigating the system and you can feel like you're alone I want to let you know that ACSD is there for you as a resource and so again reach out to my office I'm happy to

[03:49:19] connect you with them because you don't have to do alone we've got a system where people want to do it the right way and to that end you know my second role is chair of the public engagement committee I'm really excited to start we've got a first meeting on Tuesday and I really want to make sure that our one of my priorities is going to be to make sure that advisory committee work is very meaningful and can contribute to to you know actionable results and recommendations and so forth so excited to get the work and as always invite folks to reach out to me if you have any comments or questions and have a great rest of your

[03:49:51] evening. Thank you. Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Just want to echo the welcome back to school for all involved, students, parents, staff, etc. As one of my colleagues shared, I've always been excited about the start of the school year because it's a new year. You get to have the reset button. I think it was Ms. Dixit who shared the excitement over being able to start anew and to do new things and to correct the things that, you know, didn't happen in the year before. So thank you to all of staff that made that happen thank you to the principals i know all of the work that you put

[03:50:27] forward all summer planning for your teachers to come back i know some of you had multiple master schedules because of staff moves thank you to that group of folks thank you to our teachers who are the most closely aligned to you know the core mission of fcps or any educational enterprise thank you for all of your work and all of the new things that are coming down for you to impart upon off kids and all of the work you're putting forward to finally tuning your craft as you do every year and also thank you to our transportation folks because when we talked about safety quite a bit

[03:51:01] tonight they're the ones who are transporting hundreds of thousands of students across this division day in day out and if they're not safe our kids are not safe it's our most precious cargo so i do want to extend my thanks to that group of individuals as well and then we have everybody else that supports the system our custodians our food our central office folks i do want to send a special shout out to the transportation team some of our parents in my community didn't receive information in terms of where the buses were and by the time friday came saturday came sunday came

[03:51:39] those people were in a panic but when they reached out to me i reached out to you you email them right away so i do appreciate the responsiveness it was very clear you all were working around the clock it's not the spot we want to be in but you were responsive and you solve the issues so I do want to highlight and say thank you to that to you for that I do want to say express my thanks to the community of Bredma Park who came here today we say all of the time I say it all the time we know we all say it that the voice of our community matters and I want to ensure that the Bredma Park knows I hear you I will continue to advocate for you four different high

[03:52:18] schools in 40 years that is not a fact that i was aware of that is not a way to sustain community that is not a way to build the kind of schools that we're looking forward to so as i've said before and i'll say it here i will be against a move a scenario that has grandma park going to lewis for all of the reasons that i have previously enumerated that have been shared tonight there has to be other scenarios to resolve the issues that are facing this division having said that your voice matters. So please lend your voice to the boundary meeting that is going to be happening

[03:52:54] for Bryn Mawr Park on September 3rd at Bryn Mawr Park Elementary, as well as the MOU for the SROs. We just love our acronyms. Please provide your voices to that. I believe that closes right after labor day um and i want to again just thank you folks for all of the work oh here's what i did forget we did this on consent but i have to say congratulations to miss tiffany shepherd who is our new deputy clerk when we do things on consent we miss the opportunity to embarrass you

[03:53:33] and lodge you for your work and she's working our office in a different position but she was so spectacular and that and she was able to compete and now be in this position that's going to demand a lot more of her but we know she's up to it and I'm very excited that you're in that position so thank you thank you mr.

[03:53:52] McDaniel thank you I was also honored to attend the Skyview ribbon cutting and again for the record delivered in a record time frame at a 60% discount to the taxpayers I want to say a special shout to the DC Army National Guard in the Fairfax County Police Department who didn't fly over but they landed a helicopter that had to be flown over. So thank you for to their efforts for that.

[03:54:17] I was also honored to attend the Springfield Community Bridgewalk and the High Blvalley Community Center backpack giveaway both with Miss St. John Cunning. And I am a little you know bummed that on day one and two Dr. Reed outpaced me in the number of school visits. I think I had 11. She had more than 11. I won't get into the exact details of who did what and what time but I tried to keep up but that that didn't work. And lastly my granddaddy in Mississippi was a bus driver after he retired from the Bungie Grain Elevator in the small town of about 1,300 people that I grew up in and I remember going on those bus routes

[03:54:57] with him and he would sit me to his left there's a little of a compartment in the old buses at least where you could a little kid could sit up there and there no air conditioning and it was humid and it was hot but there was a little fan up there and uh that's where i first decided i wanted to fly airplanes because i would pretend that the fan was a propeller and i was flying the bus but regardless um i i really want to say thank you to our bus drivers because i know how hard the work is i know the pressure that you're under and i know the care and love you have for every soul that walks on and off that bus on a daily basis

[03:55:35] And lastly, a personal note, I set a goal on my first term to visit every school in Fairfax County, just shy of 200. I'm halfway there, and I told my staff I want two schools a week minimum, so I can close out my goal by doing that by the end of this first term.

[03:55:53] So for all the principals out there, if you haven't gotten an email from my office, you're going to get an email soon. So thank you and have a good night. Thank you. Yes, this time of year is palpable. I say Happy New Year as I enter into schools.

[03:56:10] It's been a delight to be in many of the buildings, seeing the elementary students come back with their supplies, their backpacks, and excited to be part of the learning experience that awaits them. So it was a great beginning of school for me.

[03:56:27] Also, it was very exciting to be at the Skyview ribbon-cutting. And you can't say much more than what a bargain and what an amazing space. And I can't wait to see the things that happen there. I thought the time capsule was a fun thing for people to dig up and find and read about in the future.

[03:56:50] I also want to recognize that we had two Drainsville Outstanding Employee Awardees at Haycock Elementary School. A sixth grade teacher, Clark Levine, was the outstanding new elementary teacher. And then at Spring Hill Elementary School Instructional Assistant in a preschool autism class, Kimberly Roman was the outstanding school-based operational employee.

[03:57:13] These are fantastic individuals. And it was very exciting to be in those buildings and hear the ovation of their colleagues around how proud they are of the work that they do and that they get to work alongside these amazing people who care deeply about children.

[03:57:29] Also, I want to congratulate Langley's High School Orchestra director, Scott McCormick, for outstanding secondary teacher. Having supervised performing arts, I'm not sure our community knows how many hours our music and performing arts teachers put in, in terms of overtime, because they love the work, they love the music, and they love teaching the kids and the camaraderie that happens in ensemble.

[03:57:54] And I think that's fantastic. Attended several open houses, which was awesome. Today, I was at Herndon High School for a 2026 cultural exchange, which was really, really wonderful. I'm not sure how it came to fruition. The teacher I asked said, it's a long story.

[03:58:11] I don't have time, so I'm going to go back and figure it out. But we had a choir of high school and college students from Cape Town, South Africa. And then we had a dance team from South Africa. and the kids from Herndon who came to the auditorium were just mesmerized.

[03:58:31] The choir was singing in multiple languages, but they were doing the hip-hop, and they had some sort of theatrical movements with their song, and it was fantastic. And the dance team, there was a 10-year-old boy who really won the ovation of those students, but I was really proud of the Herndon students and how much they embraced that cultural experience.

[03:58:54] It was just really special to be there today. Also had the opportunity to attend the North Virginia 11th Annual NOVA Regional Elected Leaders Summit hosted by the Arlington Chamber. It was great to connect with some other electeds. And looking forward to ribbon cutting at Cooper Middle School coming up soon.

[03:59:15] And my time is up, so this meeting is adjourned, 10.58. Thank you.

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