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Fairfax County School Board Public Hearing — Middle School AAP, Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 20m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a22OqF_ms28
Official School Board page (FCPS): https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/leadership/school-board

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-11-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:48] This middle school AAP expansion phase two public hearing on the Ferris County School Board is called to order at 6:00 p.m. Good evening and welcome to the public hearing on the middle school expansion of advanced academic programs, AAP, phase two, Franklin Middle School, Hayfield Secondary School, Holmes Middle School, Key Middle School, and Whitman Middle School.

[00:01:07] On behalf of the entire school board, I would like to thank you for sharing your comments with us. This hearing is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on YouTube and our website at www.fcps.edu/livestream. We have eight pre-registered and walk-in speakers who will address the board at this public hearing.

[00:01:25] Speakers are allotted two minutes, and we ask that you stay within that time limit. The timer will start when you begin to speak, and the timer will sound after two minutes. Please ensure that your remarks are limited to testimony on the middle school expansion of AAP phase two, and that your remarks adhere to the school board's expectations for community participation.

[00:01:44] Included in those expectations are that only one person allowed at the podium when speaking neither adults nor children may accompany a speaker to the podium copies of all expectations are available in the back of the auditorium to assist with the flow of tonight's hearing please ensure you are following along with the speaker's list and are ready to go as soon as your name is called if you have a hard copy of your testimony please give it to the clerk if you have electronic copies of your testimony and would like to share it with the board please email it to community participation at fcps.edu when your name is called the clerk will call your

[00:02:19] name two times before moving on to the next individual on the list you may find copies of the speaking order in the back of the room or on bird docks mr frisch has submitted a request to attend this evening's meeting remotely due to personal conflict as he has a work obligation is located in his home in providence district i performed an initial review of mr frisch's request and having found it to be in compliance with the school board's remote participation resolution i've approved your request mr frisch please check your audio and video good evening good evening thank you i now ask board members who are physically present to vote on the following all those in favor of confirming the approval of mr

[00:02:58] frisch's request miss anderson miss marron mr moon mr mcdaniel miss dixon mr dunn miss st john cunning and myself all those opposed dr anderson the motion passes madam clerk please call the first speaker mia becerra

[00:03:21] Nunez. Mia Becerra Nunez. Molly Sullivan. Hello, my name is Molly Sullivan. I teach in the Springfield District and I live in the Sully District. Next year you plan to expand the AAP Center to Franklin Middle, bringing nearly additional 300 students to that school. And that, according to FCPS's estimation, will put Franklin at 112 percent capacity, which makes absolutely no sense to me

[00:03:59] to rush it on this timeline when Rocky Run, where some of their students go to right now, is sitting in the 80s in terms of capacity. Franklin's unfunded renovation is currently estimated at 78 million dollars. There are no comparable renovations to to Liberty and Stone where students will also go back to in the hundreds. Meanwhile in year two you plan to continue moving those students out of Rocky Run which is a state-of-the-art building that is four years old after their renovation that we as taxpayers paid 48 million dollars in renovation costs for. So I have to ask are we actually saving money by cutting transportation, or are we simply shifting costs and creating a much

[00:04:36] bigger problem? Do students deserve to have quality education and programming available to them? Absolutely, but it doesn't have to be on this timeline. I really urge you guys to consider and think about on what timeline you are doing this, and then when that happens, Ms. Dixit, I want you to go to Rocky Run and look the teachers in the eye that have dedicated over 15 years to that single building and that school, and tell them why their positions are being eliminated because that is very hard to do. Those are residents of Sully District. Sully District is one of the last places where a teacher and a bus driver could be a married couple and own a single-family home. I have talked to their admin. I have talked to state-level officials and supervisors, and the

[00:05:16] consensus is clear is that the people on the board don't know what they're doing when it comes to expanding this program on this timeline. It's unacceptable. As a teacher and as a taxpayer, I'm frustrated. It feels like my dollars are being lit on fire year after year with no long-term clear plan no meaningful accounting for the costs and far too little consideration of what those decisions mean the lack of planning and the consequences of this decision are

[00:05:40] major thank you Erin Laura good evening every time I stand up in front of you I'm asking you to give our students more more opportunities more resources and more reasons to believe in the schools in their own community for years students in our community haven't had the same access to advanced academic opportunities within their own school pyramid as students in other parts of the county.

[00:06:18] With the proposed expansion of full-time AAP to Key Middle School, we finally have an opportunity to change that. One of the most encouraging things about this proposal has been the positive feedback from families. There's excitement about having these opportunities available closer to home and allowing students to remain in their own school community while receiving the academic services they need.

[00:06:40] And really, that's how it should be. Every school pyramid should offer the same academic opportunities. Families shouldn't have to look outside their own community for programs that are available elsewhere in the county. What makes this proposal even better is that Key has the capacity to accommodate it.

[00:06:58] We have the space and we have the opportunity to use that space to benefit students. This is a win for students, a win for families, and a win for Key Middle School. Students would gain access to rigorous academic programming, families would have more options within their own community, and Key could make better use of its existing capacity.

[00:07:19] The positive feedback surrounding this proposal shows just how much these opportunities matter to families. We have an opportunity to make a meaningful change, one that expands access, strengthens academic programming, and benefits our students and our community.

[00:07:37] I'm asking each one of you to vote yes on the AAP expansion to Key Middle School. Let's take this opportunity to give students access to programs within their community that should have been available all along.

[00:07:56] - Carolyn Moore. - Good evening, Dr. Reed, school board members, FCPS staff. As a parent of two kids in the Lewis High School Key Middle School pyramid, I want to urge you all to vote for expanding middle school AAP to Key Middle School for a lot of the reasons that Erin already talked about.

[00:08:20] As far as Key Middle School goes, they already have an AAP cohort. The only thing that's needed to make them is to officially make them an AAP center. So our students can't transfer out to Lake Braddock or Mark Twain Middle School. You've probably heard the saying that a rising tide lifts all boats.

[00:08:36] Well, the great thing about middle school is that honors or advanced classes aren't limited to kids identified for level four AAP services. Anyone can take those classes. And that means all of these middle schools can offer more honors, more advanced classes, meaning even more students can benefit, not just the level four ones.

[00:08:59] While you're at it, you should consolidate our Pyramids AAP elementary school students at Springfield Estates by moving the Saratoga kids out of Lorton Station, which helps with some of the capacity issues at Lorton Station with the proposed boundary adjustments. My oldest and his friend both qualified for level four AAP.

[00:09:16] We decided to keep our son at Saratoga and Key, and his friend went up the street, to Lorton and Lorton Station in Lake Bredick. Today they're both thriving at Lewis, taking many of the same classes together. My youngest son also stayed at Saratoga and Key with his close friends, I might add. Today he's at Key taking all honors core classes, which are also the AAP cohort classes. He hasn't officially been identified for level four services, which is a whole different issue, but he is there thriving. Not every child in FCPS has a parent who can apply for level four AAP services. Why would we want to leave them behind? Don't we want to challenge and elevate

[00:09:53] all students? As the late Senator Paul Wellstone from Minnesota said, we all do better when we all do better. So let's all do better. Liz Murphy. Good evening. I'm excited to advocate strongly for the placement of an AAP center at Key Middle School today, November 10, 2026. I am emphasizing today's date because members of the lewis high school pyramid have been asking for a center at

[00:10:32] key middle school since 2015. ironically our reasons then for asking for a center are the same reasons stated in the current fcps middle school expansion proposal and mentioned by my fellow parents nine years ago our group made a foia request asking for the 2017-2018 school year transfer data for Lewis High School then known as Lee High School. The 2017 data shows that there were 125 AAP students boundaried for Lewis High School who were not enrolled at Lewis High School. Nine years later, the current

[00:11:09] FCPS transfer black dashboard data for the 25-26 school year shows a total of 241 students transferred to high schools other than their boundaried school, Lewis High School. Also, in November 2017, when FCPS proposed adding a center at Bush Hill Elementary School, we also advocated for moving the AAP students from Saratoga Elementary School, which is part of the Lewis Pyramid, to Springfield Estate Center. Our request was submitted again to Franconia's former school board member in April of 2018 and in subsequent

[00:11:49] years. This request has not yet been implemented. Please approve the AAP Center at Key Middle School and move the Saratoga Elementary AAP students from Lorton Station to Springfield Estates AAP Center. The Lewis Pyramid has been waiting a very long time for these changes that better serve both AAP students and all Lewis High School Boundary students. Please act as quickly as possible. Thank you very much.

[00:12:16] George Becerra. Good morning, Dr. Reid and school board members.

[00:12:37] This is going to be a little choppy. First of all, I want to expand on the comments that my daughter has submitted as a first speaker. She couldn't make it today because there's no video allowed for the public hearing to be submitted. Thank you for bringing this expansion up for a vote. Let me tell you how I felt on that day on April 7th.

[00:12:53] I think I texted you, Dr. Anderson, about I was lightheaded or wanted to cry. The first time that a board actually wanted to make middle school-centered AAP centers for all schools. The reason why I was so emotional is I've known so many people who have passed away on MSAOC who wanted this.

[00:13:10] The thing is, these centers is the key to a lot of these level four, TJ. When I first became the chair in 2012, the first data that I saw was four or five middle schools represented about 85% of the people who were admitted to TJ.

[00:13:26] The system stopped that opportunity by far. With that said, I wanted to thank you on that. On your work session, or your advocacy for MSAUC has done, they advocated for many years for AAP centers at the elementary level.

[00:13:44] We wanted both, but we couldn't do both. It was kind of greedy if we asked for both when we were just trying to get a win. Let's talk about the room that you're in now today. The first African American high school in this area in 1954. Before then, African Americans had to go to D.C. every day, 1954.

[00:14:01] There's no VRE, there's no Metro, there's nothing. The determination they had just to get a chance for education. Now look at the room you're in now. Look at the vote you will have in December. So remember that. They might not be in this room, but you have to know they're out there, especially in the times that we live in, where some people think they're losing their civil rights, not in terms of just the rights in terms of education.

[00:14:25] This community deserves it. I expected an all-unanimous vote on the plan. I didn't get that. But I do expect an all-unanimous vote on the day of the vote. years next year you have communities in every sector that have underrepresented folks. Chung Wei Liu. Good evening members of the board. I have a sixth grader at Navy Elementary and depending on your decision she will go to either

[00:14:59] Franklin or Carson. I'm not opposed of the center expansion but I don't think Franklin is fully ready before the EP Center moves. My biggest concerns are two points first prepare teachers second the building capacity first teachers in the meeting of October 6th the staff from Franklin middle school have shared Franklin already has AP teacher and training has started but we really appreciate that but families have not heard many details so we don't know how

[00:15:37] the plan has been developed second the space I know right now the EP Center is is at Carson, which already has an established program. If it moves, nearly 300 students will be moving to Franklin Middle School, and the capacity will increase to 127, the top one in Fairfax County Public School, which is really crowded.

[00:16:05] That means the hallways, the toilet, and the classroom, and even the playground will be very crowded. So according to the handout, the innovation plan will be started in 2023.

[00:16:26] That means the student will go in first, and innovation will start later. So that really brings a huge concern to me. So in this case, I respectfully ask the board to consider keeping the center at Carson first and phase in in Franklin a little bit later until it's ready.

[00:16:47] So my point, our children deserve the program that is ready on day one. Thank you. Rony Zen.

[00:17:11] Hello. Good evening, school-- good evening, members of school board. My name is Rony, and I'm here to speak about the proposed phase 2 AAP expansion and Franklin Middle School.

[00:17:31] I'm not opposed to AAP expansion in principle, but I'm deeply concerned about the timing and Franklin. And I am asking the board to delay the implementation and Franklin until the completion of the renovation.

[00:17:48] Here's the core problem. Franklin is already facing a significant capacity deficit. By Fairfax County Public Schools' own definition, Utilization above 150% is considered a substantial capacity deficit.

[00:18:06] Community projections have warned that Franklin could reach 131% capacity under certain enrollment scenarios. Even enrollment, even under the current timeline, the AAP expansion alone is projected to add 284 students to Franklin, pushing the school to roughly 112 percent come passing next year before the full seventh and eighth grade phases are even in place.

[00:18:41] So I want to express my concerns and I also want to see if there are any possibilities to delay the AAP frankly until the completion of the renovation because I have concerns as a parent.

[00:19:02] My daughter is a sixth graders right now, and I'm concerned about the consequences. You were worse were impacts on my student about coming from the overcrowding. Like I'm worried about the increase, the bully and aggressive behaviors.

[00:19:23] Chair Lady, that was our last speaker. Thank you for sharing your comments today. If you wish to provide any feedback to the board before this vote or to submit written copies of your testimony provided today, please do so by sending your comments to communityparticipation@fcps.edu.

[00:19:45] Thank you for your participation, and have a nice day. This public hearing of the Ferris County School Board is adjourned as of 6:19 p.m.

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