5/30/2026 - FCPS Advisory Committee Summit

001first advisory summit of the school year and um I'm very excited that ACSD got to be first. Um I got the chance to join your meeting uh last month and preview the report. Um, I think there's a lot of really great recommendations and I want to just start that recognizing that um, a lot of work and a lot of thought goes into this and kudos to Chair Zillinsky and uh, Vice Chair Breenbilt for um, I I couldn't help but remark how efficiently their meetings went. Uh, just the the agreement and the the way you all kind of navigated through conflict and so forth was very really great and it it just reminded me of the amount of work that went in all year to these recommendations. Um and so I hopefully I speak behalf on

002the rest of the board when we when I say that um we don't take this work lightly. We recognize that um this for a lot of you this is a very personal issue as well as a professional one. Um we were given these reports about a week ago and had time to go through and read them and mark them up and so forth. So I know we'll have questions. Um and my hope is that today is the beginning of the discussion on how we can advance some of these recommendations hopefully. So with that I will turn it over to three years we've been using these mics, we still don't figure them out. It's the same thing when we're on a Zoom meeting. We've been doing it since COVID and we forget to unmute ourselves. Um,

003thank you for those kind words. It is very personal and because it's very personal. It becomes very passionate at times and it's very diverse. So, there's a lot of, you know, um, but we what we share is that commitment and that, you know, we do all have that passion. and why would you do it otherwise, right? It's hard work and it's heavy work. So, thank you. I really appreciate it. And I know I speak for a number of us on that uh committee when we were thrilled that you were assigned to us. We appreciate that. Um so, I'm going to begin by just framing the conversation around our annual charge. Um, for those of you who've been doing or hearing these reports for a number of years from the ACSD, we beginning with the last

004year have focused more directly on just the charge rather than expanding to issues that may be relevant but are not focused on that one specific thing that we are studying that year. This year, our charge was about data collection. And the ACSD will examine current practices within FCPS regarding data collection and progress monitoring for students with disabilities and learning differences in the division. Using evidence-based and research-based models, the ACSD will make recommendations for improving measurable outcomes for students by understanding the source data collected and used by staff to recommend programs and services, monitoring progress on multi-year special education improvement projects, and empowering families and students to engage more effectively in educational planning using data transparency and interpretation. So this was born that charge was born out of a number of years where we struggled with

005but what does the data tell us about this? We you know our anecdotal information or our lived experience might suggest one thing but what does the data say? We often found that the data was difficult to identify because of disagregating it by disability involved. It dips its toe into some privacy issues sometimes not always but um that that was why we struggled with the question of data. We actually had a presentation from the data department at in department of special services and you can speak for me that actual which department it was but it was such a um insightful and informative and helpful conversation to have to talk to the people that are actually collecting and parsing and communicating that data. And I think both of us both the committee and the staff had a

006number of aha moments about that. Um so of those three bullets on our charge that's how we allocated our subcommittees we've got 28 members on our committee that's quite a lot and um especially when you consider those passionate voices. So of those three bullet points those those being our three subcommittees accountability and systems improvement um those recommendations are aligned with pillars B and D and goal four of the strategic plan. They mostly focus on providing access to information alignment between internal practices and public resources. The data and measurement subcommittee, their recommendations are aligned with pillars A and B and goals one, two, and three. They focus on the FCPS commitment to using evidence to expand access to highquality programming and support. In the family and student empowerment subcommittee, their recommendations are aligned with pillars B

007and D and goal five. They focus on fostering an empowered inclusive community by strengthening strengthening meaningful engagement and informed decision- making. So, I'm going to just walk through quickly with you know, I don't want to assume that you didn't haven't familiarized yourself and marked these up as as um Mr. Dannon said, but um of the I'm just going to walk through quickly the recommendations that were made and we can then talk during questions about the detail and the rationale used to make these recommendations. Accountability and Systems Improvement recommended that FCPS present two town halls during the upcoming school year, one for the public and one for staff. U dedicated to the purpose of discussing the special education enhancement plan closeout report. They recommended commissioning an independent thirdparty audit of ACSD annual reports to evaluate the

008implementation of committee recommendations over the last five years. They recommended updating the community advisory committee manual. And I'm sure that the governance committee is thrilled to hear that. I think it's the governance committee that redid that over the period of a number of years and to have us have changes. You're probably cringing. Um, but to require that staff responses to the annual report include names and contact information of staff who can speak with the public about the staff response. that the you implement the community advisory committee requirements for responding to the ACSD annual report, including written response plans, updating the ACSD, and maintaining an ongoing record of actions. That you revise and expand FCPS's public facing special education program descriptions to align with the scope, specificity, and methodologies described in the internal program guidance document

009of the same name. and that you ensure that when special education reports are provided to the ACSD, linked documents within the reports are also available to the committee. That might seem intuitive, but in fact, when a staff member a staff member produces a document, it's often behind a firewall or a security wall that members of the public can't access it. So, we get links, we click them, can't get to the document. The data and measurement subcommittee recommends ensuring that languages supported by official document translation are available and qualified staff can effectively communicate with the student being evaluated. That you clarify data collected and produced by FCPS related to student suspensions to determine the statistical significance of suspensions for students with disabilities. Identify correlations between students who don't pass SOS with those who have IEPs and

010504 plans, are multilingual learners, receive MTSS services, and or are referred speech eligibility to determine potential patterns of impact. Amend the score reports for division standardized assessments to clarify that parents have the right to request an evaluation to determine their students eligibility. Create documentation that ensures IEP teams are considering assisted technology. Bless you. and/or AAC devices and services each time an IEP team develops, reviews, or revises a student's IEP for or 504. Develop a divisionwide method to track the status of requests for AAC devices and services to include the number of requests received, granted, rejected, or weight listed and the justification for that decision. And the family and student empowerment subcommittee recommended that you develop and implement a systematic process to collect and analyze data on how transition related information is shared with families of

011students with disabilities and that you collect and report data on family participation in transition related meetings including attendance rates, barriers to participation and availability of interpretation and translation services. The next section of the report that you received includes um the follow-up that staff prepared from the 2024 and 2025 annual report. That's the only section that the ACSD doesn't alter or edit in any way that's entirely staff driven. So if you have questions about that, I'll defer to Mr. Bloom or I believe Miss Schaefer is in the room. Um and then in the report, we also recommended our next annual charge and we considered two different topics. We had a very close vote in a hearty debate that Mr. Dannon observed and hopefully was witnessing. That's why he commented on how we conflict resolve. Um, but

012the two issues uh on the table were transition issues specifically the the cliff that happens when a student either graduates or ages out of services. So at you know 18 anywhere between 18 and 22 where they no longer have a lot of the public support available to them and you know the systems and services that are available as adults are certainly not as well supported as ones within the school system. And the other was student mental health issues which that's an issue that we've dipped our toe into over the course of a number of years. Um and it is the one that ultimately we chose to recommend for our charge next year. So, our proposed draft charge is during the next program year, the ACSD will examine current practices within FCPS regarding the intersection of

013student mental health with disability and learning differences. Using evidence-based and research-based models, the ACSD will make recommendations for reducing absenteeism related to school refusal, lowering the incidence of suspensions or other disciplinary responses to behavior, tools to support families in addressing mental health issues for their children, and improving the understanding of internalized anxiety, trauma, or adverse childhood experiences affecting access to education. Um, we had I included in the report a summary of the public comments that we received over the course of the year. We have a robust public comment item on our agenda. We I don't it in the six years I've been on the ACSD, I don't recall a meeting where we didn't have public comment, which I understand is not common for the committee the advisory committees or at least not all of the

014advisory committees. Um, the the hot topics were the administrative due process hearing in March that was open to the public. Um, lot of appreciation for FCPS staff and individuals on the staff and various programs within the system. Dr. Reed, you got a special call out in one of our public comments. Um, training, support, and access for students who may be eligible to use assistive and augmentative communication. our interim recommendations that we've sent to the board over the course of the year. Um the the main one aside from the advice that we are mandated to give on various policy updates and so forth was uh our our five-year update to our bylaws which was fairly significant because it aligned with the update to the community advisory committee manual. Um, I don't know where that is in

015the status, but I hope that it's just a a a rubber stamp that you say it's fine with you because it was a lot of work and uh so we're just waiting for that. Um, and then finally, I would just like to um comment on a few things of my my personal experiences. This is going to be my last year as chair of the committee. I don't intend to hope I don't leave the committee, but I'm ready to step down after three years as chair and two years as vice chair. I want to particularly thank the members of the public that come to our meetings. As I mentioned, we get a lot of participation in our public comment and that really does inform our work in an important level. I want to thank the staff

016that supports FCPS. I can genuinely say that Mike Bloom here is one of the most genuine and kind members of staff with I with whom I've had the pleasure to work. I want to recognize Mike's administrative assistant, Melissa Muse. Um her warmth and welcoming at all of our meetings is so meaningful to us that we acknowledged her with a first class award this year. The committee members, these are people who genu generously donate their time and their knowledge for no reason other than to benefit the students with disabilities in this division. I want to thank my partner Jay here. Um he's my voice of reason and my sounding board and my partner in crime. I could not have asked for a more competent, entertaining, and wise partner to be vice chair of this committee. I

017want to thank most importantly the students with disabilities and learning differences in this division. Many of these students work twice as hard to get half as far and they do it in an environment that values achievement more than effort. They are why we do what we do on this committee and we appreciate them tremendously. My hope for all of you is that you see these students the way that we do as individuals with gifts and strengths who make all of us better teachers, parents, community members, and leaders. They should not be defined as being the students who struggle or may need more resources than their peers. They deserve to be celebrated. Finally, my thanks to you for three years as chair and two before that as vice chair. I hope to remain on the committee

018as I said, but um it's time it's time for new energy and new leadership. My commitment to the students hasn't changed. Um but it's been a privilege to serve and to have the opportunity to advise you all. So, thank you for that. And with that, I open it to whatever questions you may have. >> Thank you very much. We will start with Mr. Fish. >> Thank you uh and thank you for your service all these years. Um, I also want to thank uh David Bean, my representative on the committee who's been there for I think four or five years now and always does great work for Providence District families. Um, listening to the proposed charge for next year, um, want to make sure that people see the connection to the strategic strategic plan. Um, I

019think it likely makes sense connecting it to goal three and goal one. uh particularly safe and included but also um equitable access um seem to be good connections for the plan. Um I want to talk a little bit about some of the recommendations. uh in the first set of recommendations, the proposal of town halls, um I'm curious how we can engage and this is difficult because parents with students who receive these special services, it's like another job. And so often when we're asking them to do even more to engage with us, it's another burden that we're putting on people. How do we make sure that we are hearing from people who just don't have the additional bandwidth um to provide their engagement beyond what they're already doing um so that we're not just hearing the

020same voices? >> Well, Mr. FR, thank you for asking that question. Um you know, I'm sensitive to the fact that and I I hear Dr. Reed mention this from time to time. It's it's difficult and lengthy process to change a culture. I want to reflect something that I have observed in the last month or so. I, you know, I work as an advocate in the division and I travel to a lot of the schools and at a number of them over the course of the last month. Maybe you've seen this document. This has been in the the offices and double-sided document full color talking about the excellence of metrics in FCPS. This is wonderful. This is great stuff and I don't I don't have any issue with that. What if you're a parent of a

021student that isn't one of these? And while disability and achievement are not mutually exclusive, what really speaks to me is that that message of working twice as hard to get half as far. And we don't seem to celebrate that beyond the occasional, you know, this is our disability awareness month or what it might be. And I think that mindset of inclusion is so important. Inclusive programs aren't programs. They're cultures. I am absolutely sensitive to the fact that that's not a panacea to say, "Oh, we're just going to think differently now. It is a long deep process." But when families like my own, this is at the check-in in a number of schools and all I can think about is didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't

022do it. Nope, none of those either. But my kids worked their backsides off. And I think that, you know, it's difficult, as you said, to find that spare time and then to wonder if it's being heard. That's it's the wondering part I think that really resonates you. The responsiveness is critical. >> Thank you. 1.2 asks for an independent assessment essentially of past recommendations and where they stand. I'm hesitant to commit funding for something like that when we could probably have that done internally and get the same result. It's not I don't think it would be um too difficult to determine what progress has been made on these different things. Um you know so long as we're clear about the objective of when we want to have that done by. Um and in my head that

023would certainly need to be done by uh you know certainly before too much work is done on the next uh charge. Um, I also think that updates to the community advisory committee operating manual, um, could easily be taken up by PEC. Um and you know now that we've actually lived within it for I think its entirety at least in theory for a year um I think it's a good opportunity to to refine uh things and ensure that the things that we've articulated in there which speaks to 1.4 um one the 1.4 4 speaks to what the one of the overarching goals of the operating manual was to bring some clarity to the end process here. uh because one of the biggest complaints we've received over many years from advisory committees is we do all this

024work to what end right and so we wanted what is the clear path for reviewing the recommendations what is the clear path for responding to the recommendations initially what is the clear path for subsequent updates about the recommendations so that at least the committees will eventually be told we're not doing this because of X or we are doing this and here's what it's going to take for us to get it done and so uh I think we need to look at our ELS and see where that gets tied into and I think it probably makes sense since this is technically the work of the board through our advisory committee process to tie that into the board superintendent relationship metric. Um, obviously there some other tertiary ties there, but I think it makes sense that part

025of the superintendent's updates annually would be um in addition to the work that's done per the new process, here's how we're doing on on the superintendent side of the ledger in following through on those expectations. So, that's something I think I'll I'll look forward to. I don't know if I'll be on PE next year, but I'd like to see us uh make some progress on that front as well. Um but you know all that is to say that um ACSD is a model for other committees um both in their approach to organizing the work um their approach to including voices from outside of the committee in the work. You know, I always tell uh my advisory committee uh representatives that they have all these other people to draw on from Providence District who have applied

026to serve in these capacities, you know, throughout the years. Um but ACSD really makes an effort to include voices from the general public as well, and I very much appreciate that. So, thank you for the report and the recommendations. >> Thank you. I' I'd like to respond to the the comment about the independent report and you know it is a diverse group and it was not my role as chair to alter the verbiage of the recommendation but I think what is the the the takeaway from that is not so much that it's independent it's that it is um transparent and and understandable because that's the challenge that our committee has had is that you know we get the followup from staff but we've given four pages of rationale and we get a sentence this is

027yes we did it and I think that it would help us as advisory members to have a more granular understanding of okay tell us more what what exactly did that look like and to your point we didn't do it but this is why I think most people can agree to disagree if they understand the reason for a decision >> thank you >> yeah I was also thinking um when you mentioned the independent um one of the things you might notice in the report is a table that shows discrepancy between the committee's internal interpretation and the uh staff interpretation of how well things had been or how completely things had been implemented. So again, I'm going I'm going off top of my head here. This is not something I'm saying on behalf of a discussion. But

028whether it's independent or not, I think that the key is that um it's not one-sided, right? if it were a combination of a a few people appointed from from the committee or the public and and a few people from the board and there were an actual dialogue around well why do you think this is 80 and we think it's 20 maybe it's really 45 you know so just to in the earlier discussion about the uh data request one of the things that we found particularly valuable with the staff that came uh a lot of times our data gathering cycle is we ask questions. One month, we get a response one or two months later, and there's a follow-up question, there's no chance, and sometimes a conversation um and eliminate months of of back and forth

029and misunderstanding. We had the opportunity to meet uh with the equity office for just 30 minutes on our recommendations around the SNR, SRNR modifications. It was very valuable. And so I think the the the the the background behind independent was just not one-sided thing. >> Uh Mr. Moon, >> thank you Mr. Bannon and thanks for the presentation. uh as I was going through the report uh the independent request for the independent audit I mean that caught my attention because uh we have had some audits by external you know bodies of paper over the over the last few years and each time we do that depending upon the scope because of it can cost a lot of money. So with that with that said you know having heard your responses why you know you are seeking

030that and also looking at the table one as you know some of like some place I see a huge discrepancy you know between what our our staff FCPS staff is saying versus what the advisory committee uh is thinking uh for the person percent personage of implementation of the recommendations I mean there's a three-year data I mean threeear comparison but you want the fiveyear to be looked at looked at is that what a third party facilitating conversation first you think that might serve some purposes or they might be valuable rather than hiring someone to go out and then that person will have to I'm sure they have talk to everyone to come back and then neither party might find that to be uh either valuable or fair either unless there just some back and forth conversation

031that can be facilitated by someone agreed deemed to be neutral that >> I I think that's a great idea and you know I'll tell you um I when you say deemed to be neutral I don't know that that's even a requirement. I don't think that it's a a um I don't think it's a a conflict conversation. You know, I tell my my clients in my advocacy practice that one of the main jobs I have is to translate school ease into parent ease and back again. You know, Mr. Moon, if you were to speak to me in Korean, I would know that I don't understand you. But when somebody speaks in English, in my mind, I'm thinking, yeah, I think I'm understanding that. when in fact we can you know human communication is messy and we

032we aren't understanding each other and I think that's probably what happens with this 360 degree response to the staff staff has their own internal knowledge resources language and the community has a very different one and while we seed each other it's kind of a ven diagram with a little bit of overlap you know um we don't fully integrate and I think what you describe you know a facilitated a conversation much like the one we had with the data department which was so valuable and beneficial because it was just a nitty-gritty you know oh wait a minute now I understand and I think that would actually go a long way to help us um save some of our resources that we currently use figuring it out >> and also that may also save a time and

033might be able to you know other committee might be able to get to the bottom of what you want sooner then later without having to incur some incur. >> Yeah, time is a resource you know a lot of expenses. Yeah, resources in all the ways you define them >> perhaps you know I'm not I'm not a staff person so staff will respond to your recommendations first but it's ultimately both do make a decisions uh but if that's something you know I mean I would suggest for the advisory committee to consider at least as a first step and then you know if you're not sat happy satisfied with that you can always come back to us for the recommendations >> and and I'm I'm well aware that we are advisory and the thing about advice is

034you don't have to take it. We offer it oh sorry we offer it based on you know our knowledge and our experiences and our you know our our community information but it is you are the decision makers and in your judgment if you choose this is not this is not how we want to proceed then I'm perfectly fine with that. I want to thank you too for appointing Darcy Kim. I love Darcy and she has jumped in with both feet onto that committee and she's been a valuable resource. So, thank you for finding her and we're not letting go of her. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh I you mentioned about you know you know your role being advisory in a board making a decision. Yes, that is true. At the same

035time, you know, I as one board member do not want to have a board making a decision just to impose upon something on the advisory committee. you don't find acceptable. >> Thank you. Okay, >> Miss Anderson. >> Hi there. I'm so I'm so excited to be here today and hear hear all the work that you've done. Um I have an opportunity I meet with my committee member every month. Um and so we have long calls about all the work that you guys are doing. Um I wanted to speak a little bit about the logistics of how we make sure that information gets from you guys to us. Um, and one of the things that I will note is that because of the disruption of membership on our board this year, I do believe that that

036was part of the reason that some of the recommendations and the interim recommendations that you guys got to us, it wasn't as smooth as we we would hope it would be. Um, but I was heavily involved with the tail end of getting the manual done. Um, and I am very interested in hopefully getting back on PEC now that I'm coming out of leadership. Um, but I am excited about the idea of what of outlining better for our colleagues that are the liaison to the to the committees how we can make sure that the information gets back to the rest of us because sometimes it there's a there's a step missing in the communication chain. And so I want to figure out how we can better um articulate that and also be sure that we're collecting

037all the information in the manual that is specific to those liaison positions in both staff leaison and board liaison. um so that we have all that information. So that's something that I'm going to be looking forward to. Um and I do recognize that we have a bunch of training that we still need to create. We're kind of in this in between moment where we're creating um all of the mechanisms, but I love the idea of creating like tracking for recommendations over a long period of time. And you're 100% right. You guys are advisory, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to hear what you have to say. Um, so far in my time on the board, I think it's been that that moment of where you get a staff recommendation or a staff response

038and then you don't get our response is the the disconnect. And so we need to figure out a better way to make all of that happen. But as always, thank you so much for your time and all the work that you've done. Um, you guys have some great information in here and I'm going to be digging in more as as we have a little bit more time over the summer, too. So, and I'm very much looking forward to the staff response. So, >> I do think that this report makes a great beach read. So, you know, just saying >> I appreciate >> there's a waiting list for it at the library. >> We're lucky that we have our own copy. >> Yes, you are. Would you like me to sign it before I go? Because

039I will. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh, Mr. Meline. >> Um, well, thank you all and particularly for the humor you bring to the work. Always enjoy your presentations at special ed conference and other places. So, thanks thanks for all you do. Um so obviously I want to pick up on the thread that's um been raised by multiple colleagues on the uh request for an audit. So um I am the board's audit committee chair. Um and um I want just clarification from you and I think others have have tried to to get it as well. Um you know we have a shop internally that does this that is in fact independent. We worked for a decade to to get to the point of having a fully independent audit um shop. Um, so would that

040satisfy your request or would you prefer us to go external with it? >> So I think that's a perfect example of the word audit having different connotation depending on who's using it. When you think of audit, you think of the office of the auditor general. And I'm thinking of it as just a a or I think the committee is thinking of it more as a review process by which we extract key information that is necessary for us to make good decisions. I think yes, it would probably satisfy that for that reason. And I think it dips its toe a little bit into both areas where it is independent and yet it is also ingrained enough to understand the the terminology and the you know that breakdown of mutual understanding that can occur. So I don't

041want to speak for the whole committee but I for myself I having been part of the having listened to the conversations and the debates I think it would yes. >> Okay. Well that's something we can take back to the audit committee. Um, and yeah, sorry. Go ahead. >> No, I think there's a there's a an amount an aspect of all of this that's can you help us, help you, help us, help you kind of thing. It it's the same thing that happens in IEP meetings using the same language. Uh, you know, sometimes it may be that the reason that a recommendation wasn't acted upon is because we recommended something that simply can't be done or can't be done now for reasons that we don't know. So I would hope that this process would also you

042know maybe get to the root cause of some of these discrepancies as well. >> Okay. Well that's very helpful and I you know just to be very clear doing it in our internal audit shop does carry a cost and that staff would be working on that instead of other things. Um you know what I would suggest is that we factor that into our audit planning process in the coming year. Um obviously that pushes it out but our our plan is pretty set for the coming year. Um, and the other point I would mention is that um, if we do this for ACSD, we should do it for all of the committees. I don't I mean I don't think it's um, I don't think it's fair to just focus, you know, as important as your work

043is um, on just your committee. I think if we're going to do it, we need to do it for for all the committees. >> Great minds think alike, Mr. Mine because that was the original recommendation and we changed it to just the ACSD because the decision was that we could only speak for ourselves. But to your point, the original recommendation did say all advisory committees. >> Okay. Thanks so much, lady. >> Thank you. Um and thank you for this work. It's a it's a lengthy report and I actually need to read it like three or four times to to grasp all that's in it. But I did have a question about um because some of these things I felt like we do collect data on like 2.2 which had to do with uh suspension data

044and correlates to to to clarify data collected and produced by FCPS related to student suspensions to determine the statistical significance of suspensions for student. Don't we already collect that data? >> 2.2 I think we already collected the data. I'm looking over at Dr. King. >> Okay. So help me understand how it's in the report if it's what we collect. Is it because you don't you didn't get it? Okay. Yeah. There. So our our information cycle, we submit a request for data that's going to be used to make these recommendations in January. Ideally, we get them back by the February meeting. the committees have time to process and include them in the report that is due in March which we then in our April meeting you know we we do a markup. Um so I believe

045that that was one of the data pieces that kind of over overlapped and you know you get good data when you ask a good question and I think the committee when they got their their data back they realized they needed to frame it a little differently to get the information they wanted. I can't recall exactly Jay maybe you do about what it was that was missing from that I know that disagregating the data by disability some of it is is available on the VDOE website but specific to discipline there's a nuance around manifestation of disability and we really only look at that after there's been a pattern of of suspension or disciplinary behavior. So there's there's a granular level there that maybe isn't being collected beyond just putting something in one column versus another column.

046These are all the disciplinary incidents and this is the um the students with disabilities. Do you want to speak to that, Jay? >> Yeah, I I think that's right. I I remember we actually had this conversation internally about wait isn't there data and there was actually one recommendation that we ended up striking because we found it found that the data was there. But I think it's right. It's a granularity question. It's one of these. You think the numbers are all there and then you're trying to figure out some specific question like, well, was this related to the 504? Was it related to the disability? Was it was it correlating to something else? And I'm afraid I I don't have a crisp memory of of what it was. It may just be we didn't know where

047to where to find it. We we didn't know how to ask. It may be that the data is all there, but um I don't know. Do we have anybody? >> I keep looking back at Dr. King because from my perspective, I don't know if some of that granular stuff is in a confidential bucket. >> Yeah. And that's happened with us before if you if sometimes you you get a a combination of things that's three students or even one student of the entire division. And >> okay, >> I'm just saying like I I I want that transparency to the extent that we can do it fairly, but I believe we're doing it. So, I would need more details if we're not. Um and then I'll move on because at 2.3 I again help me with this

048one because you want to identify correlations between students who do not pass um SOS who have IEPs all the you know all the things that are listed here and there and the potential patterns of impact and again I'm I need to better understand how we would how would we collect that do we do anything like this >> I think we have someone from the subcommittee. No. Okay. >> That's Ken. That's Ken. Okay. Yeah. >> So, I will I will say that one of the things that I observe on these recommendations is after doing this for a number of years, I could read the recommendation and tell you which committee member suggested it. This particular committee member um is from a title one school and or he's a parent of a student in a title one

049school and spoke quite a lot about his his anecdotal you know community information regarding students with various other influences such as being a you know multi- language learner and is it for example they don't pass the the so because they don't speak fluent English yet or is it because they've got a reading disability and figuring out exactly where that is and then going beyond just the status as having an IEP or 504 if they receive MTSS services they might not come up as having that intersectionality the same way that a student that's in a clearer category would. Um he also is the same person that spoke at length about the um notifying for example of if you don't pass the the um the vowels or the uh you know the interim reading the the reading

050uh benchmarks that parents are formally notified that they have a right to evaluate for special education services >> and I think >> because that's 2.4 >> right I I am skipping ahead a little bit but I'm saying it's the same individual on the committee that had that passion. Yeah, I appreciate that. It the intersectionality there's a little clarity on that and sometimes it's hard. That's the thing as an educator. I mean, for years we were always trying to figure that out, right? Like what what where's the barrier? Is it language? Is it is it accommodations? Um is it anxiety about around formalized testing? So that that exists. But I also thought that 2.3 and 2.4 were kind of interestingly conflicting with one another because the 2.4 before is like I think the data point on

051the one hand was um that only 5.9% of the people who the kids who failed whatever um third grade so that's a nice number that 5.9% were were receiving special education but now the question is you should test all the ones that failed it sounds like to see if they have a learning issue Like >> so >> is that what is that what you're asking in that? >> No, I I think this is more a transparency issue so that parents have specific guidance on what it might mean for their child when they have these these metrics applied. Um I will tell you for this partic these particular recommendations the original data request um I actually withheld it myself because it was targeting three schools and first of all we don't serve just three schools in

052our advice. We serve the entire division in our our advice as do you. Um it also really did cross over into privacy issue because when you're talking about 5.9% of students at one school then you're really getting a little too granular. And so I think elsewhere in this it does mention that we used um a subset I think it was um region three as a model for extrapolating information and we recognized the limitations on doing that. We just didn't have anything better to work with at the time. What it came down to knowing the conversation that happened in that subcommittee is and there was a lot of debate on that subcommittee because there was another member that took your position and and pushed back a little bit on the recommendation. It's an individual very engaged

053in his own community and sees the the parents who don't have that extra bandwidth whether it's in terms of you know money, time, language, disability, whatever it might be and they just don't know what they don't know. And the recommendation was built around more of a proactive information cycle to let them know whether they act on it or not is in their their purview as a parent. But if they don't realize because the only option they have available to them is to read procedural safeguards, then they don't know. >> Yeah. And I'll say that like throughout my tenure, I advocated for kids whose parents didn't know how to ask those questions. Right. I mean, I I we dug into cumulative folders and we got kids and I I was really frustrated with middle school because

054it seemed like, oh, it's only two years. Let's let's they didn't test anybody and I was like crazy about that. So, um I'm not against them. I'm just trying to understand them uh these recommendations and the clarity helps. So, the other two things I'll be quick because I'm about to be dinged over here. Um in talking about the 30 minutes you spent with the equity office, you know, I wrote dollar signs all over my piece of paper here, right? like cost cost cost cost. Like if we had money, we could do this and more. So my question is, have you all ever made an appointment to sit with the board of supervisors and talk about special education in Fairfax County Public Schools? There were budget questions about how we are funded by the fed and

055by the state for these students. Um they don't understand how 504s are in many ways an unfunded situation. Um so that's that's a question. And then the other thing is I'm wondering do we ever have we ever thought about giving an exit survey to all parents who had a 504 or an IEP about their experience in Fergus County Public Schools so that everyone's voice is being welcomed in some way we could look at that data. a thought and I don't know if that's a question for Terry or >> well well I will say one of the alterations we made to these recommendations is one of the committees wanted to do an exit survey of parents and families in in that adult transition and they wanted to survey what parents understood about the materials that were

056given to them and we withdrew the recommendation because we couldn't wrap our head around what that would look like in practice. were supposed to go give people a quiz on how what they understood after they're out of the system. I don't I don't know, but I I agree with you. And in fact, we about the IEP process after the fact. And in fact, at our June meeting where we've invited some graduates to talk about their own experience with transition into adult life and how their IEP or 504 benefited them into into that next stage. So, absolutely, I agree with you. Um I'm not sure it's always money money as well as as much as of course that's you know your your your lens on things understandably I think for us it's me too for us

057it's transparency and just help us understand before you pay money to your point about the supervisors I love the idea I happen to be Kathy Smith's neighbor so she and I walk our dogs and and talk about things and of course Rashna is there now um I don't know how much that helps but Uh, it's a great idea and I will pass that on to next year's chair and I will I will take advantage of it myself. Thank you. >> If I could add one quick thing. This is really great because you're getting a microcosm of what we experience when we're trying to figure out how to ask these questions. I was thinking, you know, everybody here surely has an advanced math degree and is thinking basian, you know, probability as we that it's hard

058to back to back out when you're trying to understand why did this happen? Why is this happening? you you fall down this rabbit hole. But anyway, you see the the tension. Some of these recommendations, I think you're getting at the heart of what we're trying to get at, even if the mechanism isn't there. And that's what we struggle with as a committee. >> Very much. Uh Mr. Dunn, >> um I'd like to build on my uh colleagues uh question, which is um because that this is a great agenda, but it's also a lot of work, right? And and so has there been any thought to like prioritizing from one to 10 or 1 to 20 um all the various recommendations like the high what are or at least designating these are the three or these

059are the five highest priorities that will make a consequential difference in the lives of our children. >> I love the idea. I you know I think my mindset was just here's what we see within the constraints of our charge and the strategic plan. It's easy to circle the drain around all the things we would love to tell you about what we what we'd like. I think that what you mentioned though in terms of priority as as an outgoing chair I think okay that'll be a fun conversation to manage around the table but also that feeds into the recommendations to all advisory committees as well that would not be unique to the ACSD. I do think that we you know we do have a robust report and I'm a bit of a stickler for structure around

060the report and that's why you get it in the form that you do. Um but if you are auditing or reviewing the efficacy and the you know the 360deree review of recommendations I think that would be a great thing to charge future committees with in their annual report that this is what we deem to be the biggest fires that we would we think has the greatest ratio of effort to benefit. It's it hadn't occurred to me and not gonna lie, part of me thinks so. If you think we had fun conversation coming up within next year's annual charge, just try to get that team to agree on the the highest priorities, but it won't be me chairing it. So, um I I love the idea. >> Yeah, I I'm actually really glad you asked that

061question because I was going to ask something like that. We actually have one committee member who's advocated that should be one recommendation per subcommittee. Now, making that not be one six-page recommendation is another challenge, but your point is well taken. >> I mean, one of the things you discussed is, you know, there you can sometimes read the recommendations and you can hear the voice. So, I'm not sure if that recommendation is a consensus multiple person recommendation or one person who just no one objected to it and it got tossed in. And so whether we as a division should dedicate resources to implementing one person's right um that's that's just a question that comes up. I did want to ask um there's there's a differentiation between how FCPS assesses its compliance of implementation with the air

062report and how subcommittees have assessed compliance. And there can be some jarring differences in the percentage um and very precise 76% or 23% I don't know how you get to uh those numbers but can you talk a little bit about how you uh assessed um implementation and why you assessed implementation at much lower rates than FCPS staff. I think that's actually quite quite an easy answer is if we as members of the public didn't understand that what the implementation was then we didn't we couldn't say yes it's been implemented and so it comes back again to the mutual understanding and the transparency issue of what you internally say yes we've done that versus us as members of the public and you know non for nothing voters and taxpayers you know who are charging you with

063being responsive to what we understand um if we don't understand know what it looks like then then has it been implemented the way that it should have been because it is the enduser's experience that you were working towards improving. Um if it's merely an internal process and not something that the general public has understood or benefited from has it has it really been acted upon in the way that the air report intended in in their own recommendations. So I think also that there's partial implementation issues that maybe staff sees that as a yes and the community sees that as a no and that might reflect some of the differences in that percentage. And then finally I would say in each of the sections of the air report for example maybe there were six or seven

064recommendations. So two or three that you disagree on can make that percentage difference of 29 versus you know 64 whatever. doesn't take many recommendations that you disagree on before those numbers change pretty significantly when you're only talking about a handful of recommendations to begin with because it it's striking looking at the percentage analysis um for the FCPS analysis of the 2024 2025 staff response FCPS rates it as 89% fully implemented but ACSD rates it as 5.5% fully implemented. Um, I mean that's a huge uh gap in whether it's perception or actuality. Um, I guess the the air report was presented October of 2022 and now we're almost 5 years later. Um, do we do you think we need a new air report like an update, bring those people back and have a relook because things

065have changed a lot under Dr. Reid. Um, do you think we need that systematic evaluation or do you think we just need to continue down the road of ensuring fidelity of implementation of the original air report? >> I think that goes back to the recommendation about uh communicating to the public of the special education enhancement plan because I think that that plan was responsive to the air report and that might be some of the breakdown in that understanding of of implementation. My first reaction when you say another report is, "Oh, please no." Um, nothing you do is going to fundamentally alter the way this country appreciates education and specifically students with disabilities in education. That is a much bigger problem than Fairfax can solve. And I think that your awareness from a leadership point of

066view in instituting the air report in the first place was such an important step to come full circle is you know the people who experienced those changes need to understand what came from that air report where that money that spent money was applied in terms of meaningful change in the division. I know Dr. Reid has used that report to make those changes. So help the community understand. And lastly, I would say in terms of how the committee decided something was implemented or not implemented, you know, I know they have that information and I'm happy to share that with you as a follow-up. Um, we chose not to give you 150page report and so the specifics of how that was was decided upon isn't in here, but I know it exists and I'm happy to to

067share more of that with you. Um can you talk a little bit more about the uh the finding that uh teacher workload has not been sufficiently reduced and can you just for a little more granular for those of us not with an education background what that means on a daily basis? So as a general generally understood by our committee is that teachers who teach in any capacity of special education are doing more work than gened teachers based on the fact that they are managing the IEP process and and so much of the administrative functions on top of the teaching. That recommendation is largely informed by the public comment we get. And I'm not a teacher myself and I I you know I think our our teacher representatives on the committee should speak to that more

068directly. But I know that that is the generally understood perception and it's why in the past we've made recommendations of of um you know scale pay for teachers u special ed teachers. They're doing a lot more work just by nature of the fact that the special ed process requires more of that u administrative lift on top of the teaching they're doing as well. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. Um I want to take a take a note as meeting manager uh to say I I want to again thank all the ACSD members who who've made the time this year um especially both of you um to put this work together. Um, you know, I also want to thank the staff for all of your work and I know I've gotten a chance to meet with

069um all of you at different points. Um, I know that uh you're very committed to this work to getting it right. Um, and I also want to say I appreciate Dr. Reed's view about wanting to be in a lot of times the the best, right? I don't know if it's if maybe your competitive nature or what, but it's a good thing, right? But I I also think that um what that means for us is and I I'll caveat this by saying that um well first I'll point out Miss Minsky mentioned about uh changing culture right it's a very difficult thing but that drives so much of this work and when I was speaking with my predecessor coming into this roleheiser um and I asked her you know where is some of this stuff like where

070is inclusion being done right in the country systematically and the answer was nowhere and so the challenge for us as we as we push ourselves to be the best is to not just be the best at how things were done, but to to push the envelope a little bit. And I want to say it, you know, as a as a parent of a child with special needs or disabilities, I'm sorry. Um, we received great services. It was headed off very early. She was um screened and given services and just graduated and was ecstatic about it. Um, but I recognize uh this work requires being vulnerable where we are falling short. Um I also want to say that I as I'll say this again as a new person joining I really appreciate your recommendation and it

071probably stood out to me amongst anything else um about looking back at where there's a gap between the recommendations and action and recognizing again this is advisory work right um as a consultant I don't expect my clients to always take my advice right but um I think it's worth looking at where um there's those disconnects right you mentioned the data are there opportunities to have more staff level working sessions that can kind of bridge those gaps and so forth. Um as well as amongst our different committees. So looking at the the future charge looking at um mental health, our our wonderful shack committee, I'm not going to get ahead of it, spent a whole year looking at that. Right. So I'm wondering where is there opportunities for collaboration there and sharing resources and coming up

072with joint recommendations and and so forth. So um again, I appreciate all the work that you've done and and I want to say too that um you know, this work requires having a new vision, right? I think and you you hinted at it that um you know the the way we've we've looked at people with disabilities over the years has evolved and and and it needs to continue to evolve, right? Um we need to make sure that we're we're seeing um every FCPS kid and every graduate as a as as the captain of their ship, right? As as having rights and having, you know, equal seat at the table. And so I appreciate all your efforts to to get that right. Um, and to that end, I think some of the recommendations seem to be

073really easy ones, right? So, I'd love to have future conversations about um how we can impact those, right? Or affect those because um I mean, I love lowhanging fruit. So, um you know, we'll continue this conversation like I said, but um again, I I'll end with this that the the the challenge for us is is that we are creating something new in a lot of ways, right? The the path we're taking is new. And so, um it's going to take some risks. It's going to take getting things right. Um, I'm confident we have the right people that care about this work and care deeply about getting it right. So, again, I appreciate all the time that you all spent this this past year putting this together. >> Thank you for altering your language there. U,

074Mr. Danon and I had a conversation about that not too long ago. And one of my pet peeves is talking about students with disabilities as having special needs. My kids and and and their peers don't have special needs. They have the same needs as everybody else. education, acceptance, um, safety, security, what they need to get those needs met is different. But there's no shame in the word disability. It is a legal status with protection and definition. And we should not treat it as if it is a shameful word to say. And when we use euphemisms that are generally understood but don't have definition, we negate that experience. So, I proudly say disability and thank you. Thank you for adopting that and I appreciate it. >> Well, thank you again everybody. Um I think we'll take

075a few minute break and then come back for our next um group. Everybody um I want to first acknowledge so um Miss St. John Cunning is at a wedding this morning. So I know she this is an issue very near and dear to her heart. So I guess as the new guy it falls to me to get to be the meeting manager which is kind of nice. But um I I want to thank uh all the folks from the minority student achievement oversight committee. Um, and as I shared for the previous committee, I know this is a lot of work that goes in over the course of the year and we received your reports last week. We spent time going through them, marking them up, coming up with questions. Um, and I I like to

076think that uh I don't like to I know that this will be the start of a discussion about how we can affect some change and recommendations from what you've all provided. So, um, I want to recognize our staff present presenters here. Um, uh, Mr. Bera, um, Miss Craig the co-chair, um, Miss Henson the co-chair and waiting, which I've not heard that term before. That's a that's a great role to have. >> Um, as well as Miss Raiden. So, I will hand it off to you all to share your report. >> Good morning. Good morning and thank you all for having us. Okay, great. >> Thank you. When technology works well, we get excited. So, the Minority Student Achievement Oversight Committee will be presenting our report to you today. Before we begin, I want to let

077you know that our co-chair, Juliana Nelson, is currently serving active duty military. So, she's serving again in a whole another capacity. And so, in her place, we have an amazing student representative who will uh introduce herself in just a moment. But, we want to give everyone a chance to um to share who they are and their role. I will start. My name is Kia Craig. I just graduated to being a Williams after getting married, so I'll need to learn to change my name. Thank you. Thank you. I didn't do it by myself. Um I am a co-chair for MSAOC. >> Good morning. I am Lavaren Henson. I am a co-chair and waiting as indicated. I will go ahead and let Miss >> Hello, my name is Molly. Uh I'm a student representative for the MSAOC.

078I'm George Bisera. I uh guess I'm helping out this year because Miss Nelson Travis here with active duty call up in the mid midcycle of this year and to as our committee knows we always have two co-chairs just if uh one is a staff and one is community and we thought it was important to have that role up here still presented. So thank you very much for having me back. And not only is this the committee, as you can see, our committee consists of the school board members and um we are have glad to have all of our team in the back. Would you please stand up? And our school board representatives and as you can see who they're representing uh in each one of these areas. The next area we have the organizations and

079the communities that are well represented here too. and some of the community members please stand. And without further ado, we we really could not have done any of the things that we're doing right now without the staff. Uh would our staff please stand? FCPS staff. And thank you. I I really need you to focus on one person over there, one of the staff members, and that's Kim. Can we Can we just I I don't mean to take up much time, but Kim has she is the glue that keeps us all together. Kim is just phenomenal. She had to leave this year to go do some things and we were broken. So we thank you Kim. >> Thank you. >> So the minority student achievement oversight committee is uh the reason for being is to serve

080as a bridge between the division's stated goals and the lived experience of students and underserved groups. Our charge was to assess the implementation of the equity commitments which are quite broad. So this year we dug into the commitment of goal two which focuses on ensuring every student feels as though they belong and has a real say and advocacy for their educational experience. As we reflect on the moments and opportunities to understand the study of work by the MSAOC, we carry a perspective grounded in courage, peace, and a deeper sense of responsibility of as community members, as parents, as staff and advocates for FCPS students. We present the following recommendations to this board from a sincere commitment of collaboration, honesty, transparency, and accountability regarding those we care about most, our children. The subcommittees chose four areas

081where student identity and experiences impact achievement for minoritized groups. Academic inclusion and engagement, alternative pathways, discipline disproportionality, and students sense of belonging. Our first recommendation is from the academic inclusion and engagement subcommittee. Access to advanced courses should be a door that's open by default, not a gate that students must figure out how to unlock. Although FCPS has an open enrollment policy in the middle and high schools, the data about which students participate remains troubling. Black and Hispanic students are chronically under represented in higher level coursework in secondary school which uh stems from the disproportionate identification for advanced academic services in elementary. The current open enrollment system relies on students opting in and this inherently disadvantages certain groups effectively keeping gaps in places instead of closing them. In addition to students at lower proficiencies or language

082proficiencies or multilingual learners are significantly less likely to access honors or advanced courses and middle and high school. So, we recommend that the chief academic office and the chief of schools office collaborate to implement automatic enrollment for middle and high school advanced courses based on performance data with a parental optout out provision to ensure family agency. The driving force behind this recommendation is to dismantle the hidden barriers that keep under reppresented students out of higher level classes. Recommendation number two is also focused on pathways to higher level coursework. Information is the currency of opportunity. If a family doesn't know that a program exists, then that student experiences an effective barrier from that opportunity even before they begin. Our review found that families who are from minoritized groups, particularly those who are multilingual or attended school

083in other regions or other countries, are often rellyant on word of mouth, which leaves an uphill battle if families haven't navigated this system for generations. Communication about advanced coursework is particularly difficult for these groups to access in ways that are understanding or understandable. translation alone does not suffice. Even the best systems like auto enrollment will fail families if they don't understand the long-term benefits and the pathways being offered. We recommend that the chief experience and engagement office develop a mandate. They mandate standardized family outreach plans specifically for families of students and groups that are underrepresented in advanced coursework to ensure these families can make the informed decisions that those in the no are already making. Success will look like a consistent divisionwide framework that provides plain language information about course options and their impact on

084college and career readiness and a plan for targeted information for families of under represented groups. I pass the mic to George who will share the next recommendation. Good morning again. Uh on to our next two recommendations. Uh under the area that Miss Craig had uh mentioned is where we're diving into next is the alternative pathways access to CT and academ courses. As you can read through the slide, this is in collaboration with the the office of a career and technic education, but also we're trying to get in coordination with with CEK obviously advisory committee. We weren't trying to uh touch on toes, but at the same time over the years, we've always advocated for a cross-sectional with other advisory committees. This would be another way to uh uh for our recommendation to be heard again

085uh to go through. Uh with that said, as you got used to our slides, we always put at the end that office that needs to uh we would like it our advocacy to go to our recommendation and this one is the chief academic office. We acknowledge that providing access to CT and academy classes as part of the strategic plan goals for many students. CTE is a primary driver of engagement and future e uh economic mobility. However, data shows our ML learners, multilingual learners, especially those at lower levels of English proficiency, are underrepresented in these classes. This is because they are often forced to choose between language acquisition and career preparation. Currently, the required courses with little room in an ML student schedule for academy and CTE courses. Those who do not often don't continue because

086of a lack of support for the particular needs. We see high interest below participation due these issues. In our review, we observed that schools with more flexible models and targeted supports have more proportionate enrollment and more successful outcomes for MLS. MSAOC recommends that the chief academic office conduct a study to identify and dismantle the specific barriers such as scheduling, staffing, language proficiency, and geography that prevent ML students from accessing CTE and academy programs. uh as you can mention on this part of the data of the low uh participation numbers are in our report and you can look at by high school and you can break it down to the area that you represent of the participation. On to the next recommendation number four inclusion isn't just about getting a student into a room. It's about

087making sure they can succeed once they are there in a technical environment. Both academic and language support must be integrated into the course. There are pockets of success at schools like Brian and Fairfax High School where strategic scheduling and ML teacher supports are embedded into the CTE or academy. However, these successes are localized rather than systematic. We recommend a collaboration between the chief academic office, the chief financial service office, and the chief of schools office to revise the staffing formula and program practices to provide additional bilingual content teachers, ML teachers, bilingual counselors to directly support academy and CTE programs. And and with this said also the reason we also chose the Fairfax and Brian is there are people in our on our committee that deal with the principal of Fairfax High School is on MSAOC

088and also guidance counselor uh from Bryant. So that's how we got to hear some of the what is working in our in our in our county and where this recommendation kind of the impetus of where it started. But with that said, I also will change it uh to Miss Henson for next two recommendations. So let me begin by saying that the aforementioned recommendations and the following follow on recommendations are not intended for criticism. They are intended for process, cost, schedule and performance. Um we the committee uh we look forward to being here ready and willing to help out in the uh future to facilitate any of those recommendations. So I wanted to get that across. Um this recommendation is for discipline and disproportionality. the data that um we have gone through on the uh strategic

089plan. We've gone through and looked at that and it shows that discipline across the division is inconsistent in its application and disproportionate in its outcome especially for black, Hispanic and students with disabilities. We acknowledge that the division is is and has been working to address the issue. However, there is a fundamental difference between managing students behavior and creating a school culture that makes students want to invest in their own learning. We're about the students. We are thankful that this year the equity and student conduct team received a title 2 grant that allowed for three additional positions to support the behavior management in schools. But we are dismayed that the instability of federal grant funding resulted in the loss of six position on the equity and culture responsive team. The team worked proactively to prevent disciplinary

090excuse me the team worked proactively with the school to build a culturally responsive learning environment. That's the very thing that can prevent disciplinary issues in the first place. MSAOC addressed the staffing issue through a letter to the school board in September of 2025 which is included as an appendix to this um to this report. And that that letter it spokes to the concerns of students well-being, students attendance and their overall sense of safety within our schools. So please, please take a look at that if you have not already. We strongly recommend that the chief financial service office support the chief equity office in restoring equity and cultural responsiveness staffing to support schools in proactive cultural building rather than reactive behavior management. That's our recommendation one for discipline and disproportionality. And if we go to the

091next slide, we'll get to the next uh one. We also recognize that accountability requires transparency. The community was told that the equity and cultural responsiveness staff members were moved to the other position due to federal grants funds being withheld. The funds did not the funds did come in week a week later. Yet the position has remained unfilled the entire school year. MSAOC called the chief equity and chief financial service office to provide a full transparency on whether the equity culture responsive position can be restored and if not to explain the fiscal and operational barriers that are preventing the restoration of these critical positions. The school needs this expertise and the community lo and behold deserves the full transparency. Now I'm going to transfer to Molly, one of our historic just great student. I I'm sorry

092I just have to go to this. >> Thank you. >> Molly, please. >> Thank you. Good morning. Um so the student sense of belonging subcommittee focused on equitable access to resources, activities, and communication. A student's sense of belonging is directly tied to how well they and their families can navigate the school ecosystem. When communication is decentralized and inconsistent, students are left in the dark about programs, scholarships, and opportunities. This makes it so that families are often divided in two, those who are in the know and those who are not. FCPS's systems are siloed, causing gaps in duplication and communication. Newsletters are an opt-in system and can do more to exclude than they do to include. As a result, stakeholders from marginalized groups in the division report that critical information is often fragmented, making it nearly

093impossible for certain households, particularly those whose primary language is not English, to keep up. The subcommittee has also found that families read the information closest to their child, like from their teacher in their school, and often miss updates from central offices and other county services. Leveraging school newsletters to include division level information would improve these gaps. The subcommittee recommends that the chief experience and engagement office establish a divisionwide framework for all school-based communication that ensures every message is standardized, translated, and accessible across multiple digital platforms. Our subcommittee second recommendation takes advantage of the upcoming accessibility changes to the website and digital platforms like Schooly and Parent View, which require ongoing ongoing stakeholder input. Right now, our digital landscape, specifically the FCPS website, is a maze. If a family can't find a mental health resource or

094a scholarship application, because the search bar is ineffective or the site isn't intuitive, they are effectively being told that those resources aren't for them. The subcommittee found that the current communication systems are a barrier to student belonging. There is a clear access gap, particularly for multilingual and newly enrolled families where information relies too heavily on individual staff knowledge. Rather than a reliable centralized digital system that everyone can use, the MSOC recommends that the Chief Experience and Engagement Office conduct a comprehensive redesign of the FCPS website and all related digital platforms. This must include establishing a standing committee of diverse stakeholders to evaluate usability and accessibility, the creation of a centralized easytouse resource hub, and the implementation of multilingual chat bots to ensure all families can find what they need with ease. Thank you, Molly. So,

095at this time, we are interested in your wonderings and your thinking and thoughts on the recommendations and how you all might prioritize these actions and we'll try to answer as many questions as we can. Um, do keep in mind that we meet as a committee next week. So, any questions that we're unable to share with you now, we will have information following up very soon. >> Thank you all very much. We will start with Mr. Fish. Thank you so much and I appreciate uh as always the work of the committee and our Providence District uh representative on the committee Lori. Thank you for your service this year. Um couple questions. Uh first a macrolevel comment about the reports we're receiving this year. Um I think this is the first year that the reports are following

096roughly the outline of the uh operating manual. Um and one of the things that I like especially uh for several years um the committees have showing a been showing a direct link between the charge and the strategic plan and now we're getting the recommendations in in a similar way. Um, and I think it would behoove the public engagement committee when this cycle of summits is over to look at all of the reports we've seen and then look at them structurally to see what best presents information for board um consideration. Uh, for example, I very much like how uh MSOC's report this year links the strategic plan discussion, how it relates throughout the report. And I also like how ACSD's report this year has a grid uh that shows how each recommendation of applies to each

097pillar or recommendation. So there's a lot of interesting ways that the committees are interpreting uh the approach the board is seeking on the actual recommendations this year. The first recommendation I am extremely intrigued by um and would be very much interested in exploring with the superintendent how um to pilot some of those efforts. Um you know, one of the things I think that we learned in the roll out of algebra by 8th grade was that figuring out how best to adopt it in a school made it much easier to grow across the school division. We're seeing the same thing with algebra in elementary school as well. Um, so I'd be very interested to see like if we grabbed a few of the different coursework offerings and started doing it that way at a school, what

098type of success we have, what types of supports are needed, etc., so that we could then take a bigger step. Have you all thought at all about how this might be rolled out? that plan um was deep as a part of a deep conversation for that subcommittee and so I will get feedback from them to share uh with you all their idea of how this could realistically roll out. Um it's interesting because one of the reasons that we do have the effort around algebra by 8th grade is because we can't simply re rely on traditional uh identification methods for students. And I'm reminded of the GW report from more than a decade ago uh that talked about how um you know for a variety of reasons including lack of diversity among educators who are much

099more likely to identify students who have uh potential for advanced academics. Um many students who are from marginalized communities are typically left out of those types of identifications. Um so I'd be very interested to see how we could do this. um we're having great success with if you look at our uh numbers for the number of AP classes taken, the number of AP exams that are being passed, etc. with our algebra, we're not seeing any dip in performance among students. Um so I have no reason to think that we wouldn't see similar success in other subject matter. So very excited by that and by the I'll take a go back about the outreach part. George, >> to answer your question, uh that's I think you asked about timeline. We had a debate with our own

100committee when to include timelines or not because we want to be quoteunquote too pushy or not. Understand budgetary recommendations that we tried to not include this year because of the situation that we're in. Uh but in our report we do each recommendation has a rough timeline. Uh and I have it I might have the wrong one but I know it's on page 10 of mine. Uh and if I'm reading real quickly, it's under that area and then it has a timeline of year one planning and pilot develop opt out process for middle to high school. It's not to answer it exactly, but it it it gave us the first thoughts, but like I said, we went down the way of not giving you too much specifics and let obviously uh to talk with our lison

101like Dr. Pidia and Dr. to read the guidance between you all what I learned from the algebra one. But also one thing I think is key to that recommendation, if you look at the word the wording in that recommendation, I think the biggest thing a lot of people overlook is it says parent opt out option. I think that really does send some clearance that we would like obviously to making sure there's transparency in our community and knows they also have their ownership of theirs but at the same time the board also is realizing that yes this is something that we we want parents involved especially in in certain represented areas >> miss lady >> uh thank you for your report that's there's a lot to digest here um in terms of recommendation Number one, um

102I mean I can just tell you in all my years of being a school counselor, the battles I had with underrepresented kids trying desperately to get them to take advanced course work and and literally like negotiating like I'll pick your teacher like so I'm just saying like the efforts from the school counselor world I think have always been there. It was always our our you know um closing achievement gap goal at Chantilly. It's all important. My concern about an opt out is the building of a master schedule and the implications on that and how we would roll out timelines, but I it definitely is something that's worth the healthy conversation because we definitely have kids that are undermatching themselves. Um, and we need to we need to stop that. We need to get them in

103those courses because they can do them. Um, I'm most I I love recommendation number two. No comments other than yes, yes, yes. Number three, I've got some questions. First of all, you know, it would be a lot more accurate story if I had percentages instead of numbers of children within your tables because like the Chantel Academy is largest one of all of them. Is that why they're at 17 for ELP1? Yeah, I don't know. The other thing is that in all my years and I worked at Marshall for seven, I worked at Chantelli for 15. So, the majority of my time was w in schools withmies. my multi- language learners um and because you're talking about ELP like here um gravitated towards auto tech, auto body, cosmetology and carpentry which were the four we had

104within the Chantel Academy are high-end you know collegegoing we we we clump them as CTE but they are literally college preparatory classes like AP bio AP chem um so that's I think is also a piece of that where you would add electricity and HVAC to Edison and the and Westpo or whoever I don't even know for sure where those are located but I just think if we drill down more on that and the fact that it's a lottery system to get in right like what percentage of the students in the auto tech u coursework at Chantelli are ELP that's a better data point for me than just a number because those are capped at 20 because of OSHA so auto tech is capped at 20. Auto bodies capped at 20. Carpentry is capped at 20.

105And so I mean we would cut 150 kids out of auto tech, you know, at least the LA, it felt like that the last year I was there because so many people had interest. And that was across the board. So if you could generate this for us from a percentage perspective, I think it would be it would tell the story better as to where we're really deficient. Um because there's also some schools that have low levels of multil- language learners and then somes that have much higher. So while I look at Hearnen and it's got 50, that might be a lower percentage point than 15 somewhere else. Um so I I really want to dive into this because I want to work on it, but I just feel like percentages would would be more helpful.

106And then uh real quick, the the is the is the staffing ratio the same for multil- language learners at an academy as it is in the base school because if the other recommendations around staffing models I just need to know if it's not the same that's a different problem that we should be able to address. >> Two points. first to your first recommendation. Uh we had discussion with our recommendation on that as simple as that area sounds but at the same time I mentioned earlier we didn't want to touch on the toes of a current advisor committee that's under oversees that and has great work plus they have an equity commitment if I understand equity charge in them. So that's why we didn't dive in. I agree with you, but that's maybe something if I

107can suggest as your two o'clock roll out meeting with them is to maybe have the discussion of us combining. Um uh but with that said, yes, we can provide you that. That's not a problem. We have great we have great support uh from our lison uh from Dr. Reed's office and to give us information. Now, in terms of your other one was the staffing ratio. Yeah, that that's something it made us look at. What is that staffing formula? I think when we get into budgetary times we talk about staffing for but the average parent or person doesn't understand how that is rolled up and maybe that is something that I need to educate myself on. >> Yeah, my understanding is the staffing model is the same but if it's not then that >> and we

108need more staffing find the money. Thanks. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Mine. >> Okay. So I want to touch on um something in the report and something not in the report. So, um first of all, um you're advocating for expanding the um chief equity office. Um so, how would you Is that correct? Is that not correct? >> Yeah, I would. We're not saying expanded. We were saying that there was already a staffing model that was there that supports more of the coaching, mentoring, and those kinds of things. So, we were just saying rebalance those from the um equity um I can never think about what ECR from the not the ECS and transferring those personnel back to the uh equity because um they're not looking at this being a problem where we just talk about

109discipline. We want to be able to have a a problem where we manage discipline before it goes to out of school suspension, in school suspension. Um, you know, I want to give you an example of something that just happened. I just lost a aunt who's 105 >> and um my nephew, my great nephew who is he has uh Down syndrome, autism, and everything else you can think of. and he is seven years old. He was sitting with my aunt on a regular basis just just sitting there with her. They have a relationship that's unbearable. Well, on Wednesday on th Wednesday when he went to school, a child that does never get in trouble hit a parent because that parent, he was just losing it. He hit a parent and the school called and said, "Uh,

110we're going to have to um keep him out of school for a couple of days." Well, he's already having problems. So, we want that piece. Someone that can understand upfront and early the challenges as opposed to let's go into discipline this child. >> That's that's um >> and that's where we're trying to get to. That's a great story and I I fully agree with with the goal of heading off issues before they arise. >> Um the problem is um in this political environment as you know we are facing push back on the size of our equity office. How do you respond to that criticism? >> There's never enough. Um, as you all are familiar um, with the ECR team, the equity and cultural responsiveness team um, had over 10 members of that team being able

111to support all regions in the county. Um, and that dwindled to um, less than five, a team less than five. So now there is not onetoone coverage for the regions and the needs of the schools within each region um, as we would like. And then with the equity and student conduct team, another acronym ESC, um we we don't have coverage for every region. So we have a team of less than five tackling the needs, supporting, consulting on discipline, concerns, issues, um advanced level interventions, like how do we get in there? How do we support that student and that family when incidents occur? Um and so the smaller number makes it a greater task to support. Um we're we're doing the best we can with very little. >> Yeah, that's that's a great great argument and

112um thank you for providing us with that. So um the next uh point I want to make is something that's not in the report um and I'm curious about it because goal two is about um inclusive school environments, right? and ensuring that student voice is centered. Um, and I think this board over the past, I don't know, um, nine, ten years has done a lot of good work on that front, um, in terms of school name changes, in terms of making students feel more welcomed in their schools. Um, the one thing I'm disappointed not to see in here is uh discussion of the curriculum itself beyond CTE and things like that and representation of um people of color, diverse voices in our curriculum. Um, I don't see uh any mention of international perspectives. I don't

113see any mention of ethnic studies or things that we should be um incorporating into our curriculum. So, do you have uh a view on that? >> I think you're correct. It wasn't on a report, but we've had that several years ago. So, uh, so yes and no. Yes, I hear you. We hear you on that aspect. The other is we've also had this recommendation in prior years. Uh, but but with that said, I'm I know Molly could probably interject more. Uh, back to your other point, and I know my members are really passionate about your first question. I think we're also overlooking of what I think Miss Henson said nicely about attachment A. Uh the letter that Miss Nelson wrote to the board on September 22nd with no response. The second outreach, no response. I

114did have a discussion with Dr. Reed at that time and she did respond but the but the letter was not written to Dr. We're in and the discussion about expanding, restoring, whatever word you want to use is indifferent of the numbers. Why was that decision made? Like your question brought up, it started with in this political environment. We would also like the sport to also know that they have our backs when you also voted on an equity policy on day one that the equity uh was on equity charge or the equity policy was the first topic in Dr. to reach tenure when she first got in July. So with your answer to the political thing, we also looking for some a little hey we got you or hey this is what we made. This is

115why we decided so we can understand that instead of no response as of nine months ago. >> Well that criticism is well taken. So thank you George. Um and I do want to thank you for your long service as well as many in the audience on this committee. Um, I think it's all of our committees are important and powerful, but I think in terms of setting the dialogue, you always do a very good job. I also want to thank um, Miss Henson for your service as my appointee. Glad to see you in this leadership role. Thank you all. >> If I may, I'd like to respond to your earlier point about uh, no curriculum recommendations. Last year, the MSE recommended that FCPS uh create a new curriculum to better improve student sense of belonging. And

116the response we got was that there was no money in the budget for that. when we did a I did a followup with some I asked him how is the team prepared to meet schools where they're at with when they have these struggles with uh surveys. Um his response was that it's on the schools to report to the teams that they are having this issue. So my point here is that when we recommended that we have that we improve curriculum. At least in the two years that I've been on this committee, the response has been that there isn't enough support to continue recommendations. >> Um well, my final point is what we heard in our first session today, which is that there's interest in having an audit of recommendations and how they've been implemented. If

117they haven't been implemented, why not? Um so we can continue that conversation. Thank you, uh, Mr. Dunn. >> Um, thank you for your, uh, recommendations. Um, one and two, uh, I I see, um, a bit of redundancy because if we adopt one with automatic, uh, enrollment in advanced academic classes, then it seems like you wouldn't need the increased family outreach. Um, do you agree with that? Tell me more about your thinking please. >> Well, one recommendation one is automatic op automatic enrollment in advanced academic classes, right? Uh option two or recommendation two is you want to do more outreach, essentially more out marketing to particular communities. Make sure they're aware of them so they can enroll their children. But if their children are automatically enrolled, then you might not need the outreach. >> They can't

118be it. Yeah, they could be consolidated. Um they Yeah. >> Um for three and four. Um I uh I I looked at the report um because Mr. Bacera said the uh report the data is in the report, but I I'm just confused because um it refers only to multilingual learners, but um MSAOC is addressing the full range of diversity within our county. And I' I'd love to see more data and maybe Dr. can share data in a Friday letter um uh about you know all of our different uh categories that we track students by um because I would like to know um both on a division and a and an academy level as well as CTE within non-accade academy high schools you know what is the enrollment um and is it um proportionate to student

119uh populations um uh so that that that's one thing just I wanted to bring up because I I like my colleague, I didn't have a good sense of whether the numbers that are in the report, how does that how does that compare um for restoring the the ECR staff, the positions that were cut? Obviously, we're in a very fluid um environment both at the federal and state level. Um but um I I just want to ask a couple things, but I'll start with a broader comment. Right now, I think we have only one or maybe maximum two people in the entire division who focus on um outreach to industry. And I mentioned that because uh we're a $4 billion school system. There's a ton of funding that's out there from industry partnerships and we only

120have one or two people who focus on that. And if we can get more money from industry from the private sector, that's more CTE programs and more opportunity for everyone. So to say there's five four or five people in ECR who should be restored, I look at that compared to just that one example of industry partnerships and I'm like where's the most beneficial impact for students, right? Um and um and so I I I wondered um I'm also have spoken historically about I prefer to increase the number of uh staff in the schools, school-based employees rather than central office employees. Um, and while people in the central office may have been reduced, it doesn't sound like people in the schools were reduced. And so I was just wondering if you have stories or or anecdotes

121about the the negative impacts associated with this reduction in staffing. And I I appreciate the story you shared. Um, but just other examples or data that you've seen that we can kind of latch on to as like this has resulted in worse outcomes. Okay. Thank you. >> Are you saying the ECR that aspect sir on those positions? >> Yes. The the reduction in in >> at the centralized office or at the in school off in the at the school based uh outcome or both. Well, just from the numbers you have two people doing a whole six regions. I mean, that's isn't that pretty much evident that you go from a a a number to two people to handle a whole six regions of of an area of of this area? >> That's that's not clear

122to me. No, because I don't know what their workload is. I don't Okay, if you have six people, one per region, you have more robust staffing. Does that result in better outcomes than two? It does. Do you need more people at central office? I don't want to make assumptions that if you're only reducing central office, like I'd prefer to reduce central office more generally to put more people in our schools because I want to serve students directly um rather than just have more more people. I mean, honestly, it's it's bureaucracy, right? I mean, it it can be good. It's not diminishing it. I'm a you know, I've been a federal government employee, so I've been a bureaucrat, too. My job was important. All jobs are important, but I I want more school-based employees. And that's

123the thing I'm trying to understand. Is there do we have objective facts showing that reducing these employees resulted in worse outcomes for students? That's that's just the tie I'm trying to establish. >> Yes, I appreciate you sharing your thinking. Um, one unique um partnership that the ECR team has uh with schools are the equity leads. So basically liaison between building capacity um the supports that are needed and they're in each school. Um so the uh equity leads in central office were eliminated. We no longer have those liaison and those partnerships in that way. Um but we do have people in the building who are doing the work so to speak on top of their 9to5 on top of their position. So if I'm a classroom teacher it's hard for me to tackle and support issues

124and concerns beyond my classroom during the day. If I'm a school counselor, I'm already being pulled in multiple directions, as you know, in order to uh support different needs in the building at the time. So, a lot of our equity leads who are in the buildings to your point, they're right there and and can assist are challenged by their other responsibilities. Um, so that that's been a challenge. They do exist and it's still a challenge. >> Uh, Mr. Moon, >> thank you. I just uh thank you for the presentation. Uh want to comment on a couple of things and looking at student sense of belonging. Uh before I you know few a few days ago I had a conversation with a high school principal uh and that high school principal asked me about a a

125sense of belonging questions because he was concerned. He was concerned about sense of belonging for a certain group of students in in his school community. And I was happy that you know that principle cared about the you know student survey showing a not satisfactory liver by certain groups of students in the particular school. So I was happy to know that principal care what the survey data showed and he wanted to know way to improve that. That was good. A student sense of belonging which I see on slide number 13 and also number 14. Slide number 14. I want to expand it a bit to uh perhaps parents or family sense of belonging to uh of course we have for the multilingual immigrant parents. uh many of them don't feel don't feel that they belong to

126school community uh that I know that we do make a lot of efforts to make them feel comfortable you know a a give them a sense of a belonging to their children's school community and I see you know what you are recommending and you know many of these things we send out send out information you know flyers or through websites you know you know electronic communications etc. But many many members of a multilingual parent community or immigrant community is they need to have warmblooded people in schools. They can tap on someone they can tap on and ask questions in their in their languages and we just don't have enough of that. So many of them many large number of them don't feel that they belong to the school communities. I mean I know that's a

127resource issues. Uh we have been talking about not having enough parent liaison or a a parent leaison who may be able to speak in more than just one language and and parent not having enough flowers and I think that's something something that I was hoping to see coming from MSAOC as a part of recommendation. I'm not criticizing but suggestion that something that MSAOC and us as a school system school board should be looking into. Any any thoughts? >> Thank you. I just wanted to touch on so I was the I was one of the co-chairs for the sense of belonging subcommittee. I've been on I've mentioned this before. Thank you. I've been on the subcommittee for two years. Um our main inspiration for choosing a sense of belonging as the specific pillar. Um oftentimes students

128in this system are taught to be self-reliant. Not always. Even when families desire to speak to a parent leaison and they need help, a lot of families don't have the the resources though. Um, you mentioned uh our survey. Um, as you all probably know, we're about FCPS is at about 60% of students feeling like they belong. Um, I was a group lead at our inaugural student summit and I feel like that statistic really showed um I saw a lot of students conf as to why some schools had resources like uh internships within a federal government bureaucracy. um and how some programs they were able to have different payment methods um and they were receiving communication about these different programs, scholarships and opportunities um while others weren't. And I think that it's important to we started

129with communication. I feel that it's often, at least I'm a high school student, as a high school student, it's often on me, find these resources uh and opportunities that can help me. I I totally agree that there needs to be more attention placed towards uh um that we are students, are we not? And um and my main concern is ensuring that students are able to find these resources on their own. >> Mr. Mayor, I I think you as long as we've known each other, I think this question's always been asked, right? How do we get communities involved? And obviously, we haven't answered that question, you and I, together. But at the same time, I think this year, as as old as I am, and some of the basic questions I forget to even ask my

130own self, where is this? I think you you're asking us, who's accountable for this on the divisionwide instead of a lot of understanding what is not occurring or how can we get to a certain area. I was I was I heard this year is like who is accountable for this? That's what made me think, right? And I think that goes to our recommendation roughly on number seven, even though it's communication, but the last part of it is uh engage stakeholders and it mentions, you know, pretty much everyone. I hear what you're saying. I think at each individual school like Robinson where they had Hispanic uh parents group for many years when I first started many years ago and I got involved and Hernand has had some. But yes, I think that's an area if we

131can start at that end then we can expand out. but also has ownership within the communities too. I agree and to miss lady I think to your student sense of belonging when you had mentioned or you kind of said you know we're trying to beg students sometimes to get into some curses that's why the whole parent opt out or the sense of belonging because sometimes when kids we've heard stories students have come to want to go to those courses it was that push back no I I didn't I didn't say right but I'm just saying that's that's the environment over the Now you're doing a three a 180 and we want to force quote unquote that kid. Now look at that kid that student's perspective has gone from elementary maybe to the high schools and

132we're trying to look at metrics and wrote in this now you want me to start this now where has my self-confidence gone when I tried? They're not going to do it. And why would they do it when their college years are coming up and application and apply? They're going to force themselves maybe in their sophomore junior year when junior year is pretty much the last road before your first quarter apply for colleges. It's been a system where tried push back now you want us to do it and that sense of belonging it was not was not there and that's just the realities of that. And that's an offshoot of Mr. Moons, but just this whole sense of belonging aspect of of this topic. >> Thank you. Um, we've got a couple gobacks, but real quick,

133just building off of that, um, I'm I'm curious from the ground level perspective, um, uh, I don't know if if one of you had mentioned it or if it was in the report, but talked about a lot of times, u parents will pay most attention to the, uh, sources closest to them, right? So, their students, teachers, and so forth. So, within um Talking Points, if I'm a um native Spanish speaker and my English isn't very good, um within Talking Points, is there translation built into it or what's that looking like for me? Um as a parent, >> as a former classroom teacher, I fell in love with talking points just because of that feature. Okay. >> Um you can adjust the um levels of understanding or literacy levels. You can also uh have a chosen

134language or preferred language as well. So it helps guide you on the most effective um communication for the masses for the larger body of parents or families and then they are able to choose the language their home language the language they feel comfort um in speaking and it doesn't offer additional support if um families are building literacy even in their home language but it's one avenue it's one avenue we can use that has many features that are pretty cool >> will it translate my I'm looking through my talking points app right now trying to figure out will it translate my child's teacher messages to me or how does how do I achieve that? >> Yes, you would choose your preferred language. I as a classroom teacher would communicate in English. That's my home language. And

135then as parents enroll and connect from my memory, so don't hold me too close to all the details, but yeah, >> from my understanding as parents enroll and is a part of their profile and setting it up, they can choose their preferred language. So they will receive all of they received all of my communications in that language. >> And if my child's teacher sends a I've had teachers in the past do this, send really lovely newsletters usually in PDF and so forth. Do those get translated or what resources do schools have to help with translation for those kind of messages? >> There are resources available within the county for translation services, especially those items that we create inhouse. That is an option. We just have to inform and empower classroom teachers and departments and grade

136level teams to access that resource. >> Okay. Well, I appreciate it. And um I'm I'm curious, again, don't have to answer it now, but you know, what else do you need from us to to advance that because um like I said, the the numbers I remember we covered it at a board meeting a few months ago about the sense of belonging and I think FCPS does better than a lot of areas in the country, but you know, there's it's still whether it's 1% or 30% those kids that don't feel like they belong is a huge thing. And I I do want to say um it's a testament to the importance of having student representatives here. U Miss Raiden, I I really want to single you out. It's it's so helpful. We wouldn't you wouldn't run

137a business and not talk to your customers and you wouldn't run a school system and not talk to your students and so I'm really glad that you're here speaking so well on behalf of uh our students. Thank you. >> Got Mr. Fris for the go back. >> Thank you. Uh I want to speak very quickly to the multilingual uh outreach piece. Extremely important. Uh I think one of my goals for the year ahead is trying to rethink how we do uh we do a great job with outreach and engagement. Um but I think we can always do better. Um and you know I I look at the boundary process and I had entire communities whose schools were up for boundary potential adjustments that did not come to the pyramid meetings that do not go to

138pyramid meetings that do not go to PTA meetings that do not go to all of the traditional venues that engagement happens. and we need to do a better job of finding ways to engage those communities. Um, and not stereotyping why they don't engage. Um, and so that's something that we're working on in this second phase of this boundary process. Uh, so I'm grateful for that. I do want to talk about since your charge is not yet defined for next year. Um, I do want to talk about some ideas for the charge. Um, we have an entire class uh of largely unttracked students. um uh specifically our LGBTQIA+ students. Uh what we know from the research is that they suffer academically. They have disproportionate discipline outcomes. They have disproportionate levels of bullying. The data we do

139have for students NFCs is that over the last several years, the numbers of students who have been bullied or harassed who are LGBTQIA have gone up uh every single year. It's worse for trans students than it is for LGBT uh students. Um and um so the numbers are extremely distressing. They're even worse when you consider intersectionality. So bipok students who are queer uh face these issues even more severely. Um and perhaps it's because it's not a government tracked indicator. Um nobody seems to ever pay attention to this. And so it would be great if MSAOC would take up the mantle of figuring out a method for tracking the issues impacting these students. When I speak at a um GSA meeting, I should not be hearing the same things that would have been articulated had we

140had GSAs when I was in high school. Um but I do. Um and you know, there's nothing queer students love more than telling them how much better they have it than when you were a kid. That's sarcasm just for the the sake of it. Um, but they're still experiencing the words being used in our hallways. They're still experiencing bullying, harassment, violence. Um, kids without supportive homes do worse academically. They do worse social emotionally. They're more likely to have discipline issues. They're more likely to be bullied and on and on and on. And I can't think of the last time an advisory committee even touched on the issues that impact uh what according to our own surveys are roughly 20% of our students. Now granted more than half of that is by students but um more

141than 20% identify in the in the broader realm and it would be great to have an advisory committee tackle maybe a a big umbrella issue that impacts that large community. And again the intersectionality component is even more severe. I appreciate you sharing that and that just takes me back to ECR um another challenge and partnership that that team would do with schools um for daily support on language in the hallways on on school culture and climate on every student being seen truly being seen. So yes, we have the survey. We have those team members who support that, but ECR would work specifically with um lessons as an example um supporting um incidents that happen when it comes to hate speech, racial slurs. Um they do work with identity. There are a lot of things that

142happen within that team and it's not we're not asking for um we're not asking for them to increase necessarily just to have them restored back to the support. >> Well, and I don't want us to see it as a panacea, right? Because these numbers have been getting worse even when we had those positions. So, we need to do better collectively. >> Agreed. Um and whether those positions are restored or not, we need a solution for this 20% of our student population. >> Thank you. >> To your other point, sir, of uh inclusion, uh MSOC did tackle that about two or three years ago and you also uh put Mr. Robert Rick B on on MSAOC and I understand for personal reasons he couldn't continue, but that's where we did have that discussion. At the same

143time we're also trying offshoot I remember with talking with him is also and I agreed is that what the governance was going to do with the review of advisory committees the manuals and guidance and if there's something be stood up you guys were talking about eliminating other ones or combining like you had HAC you had the family uh the other ones family life education so where I'm going to get with this when Mr. Dun asked about why just MLS. We're also a community volunteer group tackling a system which is we don't have one office to go to. We're not AAP APAC. We're not ACSD. We have to learn all this and at the same time we're trying to play in the sandbox and not go into AACSD. Right. I'm not trying to go. So I'm

144just >> I wasn't trying to make you defensive. >> No, no, no. But at the same time I'm trying to say we have had that discussions but we also have to limit and what our recommendations over the years the board >> what the last recommendation was around LGBTQ students >> probably never >> that's what I'm getting at >> correct and at the same time you're putting all you're >> I'm not anything I'm saying that there are a large number of students who are not touched by this work >> and you know if shoe were on the other foot and you were saying you need to be paying more attention to this and the board was saying we've got other things to pay attention to right I'm not it is not a critique >> like the

145work that MSOC does is exceptional >> but there are lots of students who could also use like and I think the the focus on multilingual students was uh a result of some of the conversations the board had in the last two years around okay well how can we move the needle on this and it's related directly to strategic plan uh goals around multilingual students right um so I'm just saying that like what's a big picture tent item like even if It's just like better data collection so that we know what we're dealing with in our school system. Something can be done. >> Agree. >> Um, Miss Lady, >> I'll just make a statement about that. Thank you. Um, it's important and like all students who are mistreated by their peers, um, they build up Teflon

146around them even though inside they're hurting. Um, and I think it's just a valid point to make. Um, I also um, uh, got was disturbed by the curriculum comment. Um, and I I would like to follow up with staff on that because there are people in an office writing cell curriculum. So, if you want to know the what the what's going on again, these are central office. It's staffed like write it. Maybe maybe survey your schools about where what are your needs? What lessons do you need next year? Instead of waiting like as a school, we're triaging. I'm not going, "Oh, think I'll call the cell office and ask them to create a lesson on this for me." No. Like I'm playing whack-a-ole and I'm working my tail off. The other thing is, and I

147I'm going to comment, we have the smallest central office. Um, smaller than most. But I will also agree with my colleague that I would prefer to put people in schools and the SOSA job when you find the right person um they're doing tremendous mediation. They're doing they have their boots on the ground there when you share in incidents of you know where a student could be acting out based on something that was gone on with the family or whatever. I mean this is why the partnership has to be between schools and families. You know, it frustrated me as a director and a counselor when I'm sitting here working to triage, you know, Robin Lady and I don't understand her anger. It comes from hurt. What's going on? Meanwhile, there's something going on at the house

148and the family never wants to tell me about it and has told me not to tell them, not to tell the school about it. Like, we can only we have it's it's it's a it's community and us. We're all in this to to to rise up all kids to meet their potential. um and to you know provide interventions um resources all the things. So um you know I I will say that when I was at Chantilly and he's still there our SOSA was just unreal. I mean every time I called George in and I was like hey what's going on he could be like go back in his notebook and he can tell me and the connections and how this kid knew this kid and what's going on the family. I mean that's it's a

149it's a special job um because they don't have an alphabet and then of course we always need more school counselors. though. But uh you know again I might suggest like I did the last committee perhaps you reach out to the board of supervisors and meet with them around some needs that you feel are not being met um that are budgetary. So again thank you for the work uh and I'd be remiss if I didn't h thank Heather um Murphy Caps who's my representative. So um but yeah great work. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Uh Dr. did you have a comment on that? >> I did. Thank you Mr. Dan. I think first of all, thank you. I mean, this is important work, right? It's core to our strategic plan. So, appreciate you being

150here and I know our board's committed to the the commitments and strategic plan. We're all probably the biggest leadership challenge is managing agreement, right? Because we are all in agreement with the goals um that you're sharing and the work. I think one of our challenges right now is in this time of diminishing resources, how do we take the work that you've outlined that's so important, the culture that would prevent a lot of this from occurring, how do we um enable or support or provide training to those school-based staff or to staff working directly with schools so that the it's not the goal of the culture shift that's that anyone's taking issue with. it's we're not going to be able to get that work embedded into schools in the same way as we continue to lose

151funds. So, a wonder I have and a body of work I'm interested in is as we think about um some of the things we need to stop doing so that we can do other things, what are those? And if we're not going to be able to have a one for one at every region for every topic in the school division, which we're not, how does the work that is so important still get to the school? Does that make sense? So, is it the region assistant superintendent is the executive principles? Is it um more training for the equity leads? Is it every instructional person that goes to the school on any piece of instruction that has to know these tools? Right. I just wonder if part of the conversation is going to have to be how

152does that message and that support get delivered differently if we're not able to afford more positions. And I certainly appreciate Dr. King's relentless advocacy on this uh throughout the year and today. Um and we're not going to be able to continue to do work the way we've always done it with the budget we currently are facing. I don't want the work to stop. We're just going to have to think about how is it done differently and we've all managed budgets, right? So, we're going to the nobody at this table wants that work not to happen. I think our challenge is how do we get that to happen in some different fashion and I'm open to a conversation about how we can do that in a in a thoughtful way. Thank you. >> You Dr. Eid

153uh Mr. Mcabine or go back. >> I'll be quick uh because we're at lunch time. Um, so, um, I want to take advantage of Molly being here to ask about something we don't get to talk about much, which is our SEALs. Can you give us a sense of how they are doing in our schools? Is that a useful resource? How is it operating from your perspective? >> Um, so this year, uh, the other student representative, Mark Nelson, and I have gotten to work a little more closely with SEALs. We had, uh, a SEAL attend one of our committee meetings this year. Um it's I think it's definitely something that could be stronger uh supported by the committee. Um we're doing our best to connect with SEALs on a school level. Um I met a lot

154of them at the student summit. Um they really are doing their best. Um and they're taking on initiatives. Most of them work with the student the student action. I think it's called committee with uh the student representative to the school board. Um it's really difficult especially in this political climate where a lot of students feel um unheard um where they feel that their voice is being maybe limited um and it's a lot of responsibility. >> You uh Mr. done. >> Uh I wondered if you've done any analysis of uh whether you feel FCPS has fully implemented or partially implemented uh past recommendations from previous year's ENO reports similar to the conversation we had for with ACSD. I don't know if you were here for that. >> So to your topic of what Mr. Me brought

155up earlier, the audit, right? That's nothing new. I think advisory committees have always asked that for decades. I guess difference what I would say this time around is uh obviously has to include all right. I know ASD has obviously said they recommend all but they put it down for themselves. So I I I I agree with that with with all but what would you recommended? Yes. Would I bang for the buck? Right. If it goes to a committee and you have to do how many advisory committees? I would say how about each advisory committee put an area that they would like quote unquote audited. We have asked for many years how is FCPS doing on a closing achievement gap that was under the program evaluation and under the ORCY wherever I think we rather see

156that than how are we doing on our recommendations if that makes sense because I think we're putting that effort if it's our only time to get to something hit that topic for us versus all of our recommendations all at once and and who knows if there's going to be a round two of this if there's going to be something that's going to be on a schedule. But I don't know if that answered your question, but I'm just trying to get bang for the buck. Who's going to do it? You guys have that debate, but if we're going to tackle a program or an area, I think what I've heard for many years is closing achievement gap, how is the system doing on that? >> Thank you. Um, I also want to ask about uh extracurriculars

157um or electives like theater or athletics. Um, has MSAOC looked at uh, you mentioned inclusion in CTE, you mentioned inclusion in uh, advanced academics, but those those opportunities um, have you considered studying that or have you in the past? >> No, sir. No. >> Okay. Well, that might be something >> to consider for the future. Um, and I also want to ask if you've looked at um, you know, every day, you know, I I asked uh, for whatever emails are going to my schools for me to receive them as well. And the number of emails I see where there's a standard email, standard verbiage whenever there's racist language or conduct. And and the number of those emails I see is is is far beyond what I would expect. Um, and so I was wondering if

158if you have thoughts about what needs to be done to uh create a more inclusive language and culture in our schools, if enough is being done, if um or if you have anything to recommend in that regard, >> work is still being done. Um, as I share with you, u more is being asked from a smaller group with less. Um, connecting to a few of the things that you all shared with us today, equity leads are supported by ECR, equity and culture responsive team. SEALs are supported by the ECR team. So that's a direct connection um of building capacity, sharing lessons that can happen inhouse. A lot of things are happening, but it's not happening overnight and now with less people. So things are happening. Um, support is there. It's just on a smaller scale

159and we're trying to be strategic with the resources we have. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Right. Seeing no further. >> One last comment if you don't mind, Mr. Dannon. Um wanted to thank you know Dr. Reid for allowing us opportunity to have Dr. Presidio and and or the board and Dr. Reid over the years. Obviously, it was a board vote to have two uh LT members on on on our committee as as you can imagine all the questions you have asked us, it's hard for a volunteer group. They're passionate that to tackle a whole system. So, I'd like to thank all of you all for continuing that support in particular nowadays with Dr. Prescidio and Dr. King. Uh also to your point, Mr. Danon about the student perspective and what Molly brings here. Uh when

160that suggestion was brought up, I didn't look at it as a student perspective. I looked at it as a person who needs who deserves to be on this table. We've heard her answers. She's done the work for two years. So on top of her age and where she is at now, but as a person in our member under our membership, she deserves to be here. I just want to make sure that's clear. I know you didn't mean it that way, but I just want the folks to know that I would not have sec I did not second guessed that. That was the first time I actually said in my brain that and the person who also said it read my brain, I have never thought that. But this time around, no-brainer. Yes. So, I appreciate

161that. Also to thank uh the members who've been here for many years, you know, and also even if you're one timer, first year, first, I appreciate you coming. uh in being here uh there's some passionate conversations probably one of the most passionate years I've heard in a while just because of political environment we're given this opportunity to use the superintendent's conference room to have that open conversation right and I always say with MSAOC staff community students membership whoever comes board members uh county folks who come in is that nothing leaves that room but also honest with each other and they can they can feel that the that the solution of getting better and forward is always kept in that room and that's what we're here for. So I'd like to thank again for give us

162even that space as little as little as it might sound. Uh and also for um just just to the area that I think Mr. Anderson and Mr. FR and whoever is going to take a charge with the pec is where do these recommendations go and where advisory committees just say hey to just go off poof right in in an attempt to go to the next step you know where are we going here we we've heard staff we love Sloan and Nardis now we want to love you guys more too what is what have you heard our recommendation even if it's just here's our eight MSOC we're going to tackle one and five this year at least that's a start so and I think every advisory committee he deserves that or wants that. Um, but with

163that said, I I I uh congratulate Mark Nelson. You know, he's not here today, but I can understand why he's about to graduate. Nelson's mom is active duty, right? and at the same time what he's done for two years for this Molly I've already talked about you know um >> Eding she can mention where she's going but I think she's been uh I think Miss King I don't think I've said this in a while but other student rep that really impressed me over this near two decades is Mr. Coleman out of Mount Vernon High School. He went to West Point Academy. He was another one, but Molly's in that same breath. So, I'll pass it over to Molly if she'd like to mention where she going. >> Yeah. Uh, thank you. Uh, in the fall

164I'll be attending King's College in London. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank thank you all again so much for for making the time today. Um any final remarks? >> Just want additional thanks really fast. Um the members of the committee, thank you all for being here today. Our chief academic officer, Dr. Prescidio, chief equity officer, Dr. King, and their commitment to supporting MSAC on a regular basis. Also to uh leaders within the system who gave us information and helped us build capacity. William Solomon, Tara Huan, Diana Shin, Rich Polio, Manny, Dr. Manny Gomez Portillio, um, Darina Walsh, Karen Clever, am I hope I'm pronouncing her last KBER, pronouncing our last name correctly. Um, many thanks to all the people who helped us do the work and helped us understand and learn. Thank you. >> Thank

165you all very much. >> All right, we will recess for lunch. Uh, we will be we will be back here in our seats by 12:55 p.m. which I think means 12:58 p.m. and we will start promptly at 1 o'clock. Thank you. school health advisory committee with whom I've had the pleasure of working this year. Um we have um from staff of course Dr. Edmonds heard um Leah um and we have Jennifer and Anisha uh and we also have our student rep to the committee. So I know >> Yes. And so we'll be um I'll leave it to them to introduce themselves and to take it off and um can you tell us about your big achievement today? >> Yeah. >> So good afternoon. My name is Jennifer Steiner and I'm a parent rep for Franconia

166District, but today I am proudly here as a volunteer coach for Mark Twain's Middle School and our boys just won the middle school championship by six points. So, I'm very proud of them and therefore I beg forgiveness for my clearly exhausted voice. Um, but I left it on the field just like the kids did. I'm very proud of them. Um, just as a point of introduction, I am an alum of Fairfax County Schools. I graduated from Jefferson in 1996. I actually went to Mark Twain where both my children are students now. Um, it has been my pleasure to serve on this committee for five years and I am taking off my hat and stepping back and allowing fantastic new leadership and new ideas to step in. Um, it has been the joy of my life

167as always to continue to serve Fairfax County Public Schools in some capacity. Um, I believe in you guys enough that I came back here. I enrolled my children and I also serve in different capacities. Um, and so I thank you for the work you do and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to work with this committee. And now I'll pass it over. >> Good afternoon. Um, clearly our challenge as the school health advisory committee is to present to you after lunch um, after pizza and chicken tenders and the token salad that we all feel we have to put on our plate. Um, my name is Anisha Ready. Uh, this was my first year serving on Shaq. I'm with the Hunter Mill District and um I think that when we were looking at our roster, actually

168a good number, I'll talk about this a little bit later, but a good portion of the voting members for Shaq this year were brand new, brand new to service on an advisory committee. and it made for this really interesting slow start but a beautiful beautiful experience. Um I think for every member so much so that almost all will be returning next year. um which I hope is a testament to what can be done when the right people are around the table and understand that our role as advisory committee members is in service to the school board. Uh we're not here for ourselves, although we bring those perspectives, but our job is to make your job clearer and hopefully a little less complicated, perhaps help you prioritize, and to tell you some of the things that

169even I as a parent, I have a a rising third grader at Flores Elementary and a little one who's coming up after her eventually. Um it's a lot of work. I can see that just in my first year here as a very very green committee member. Um but it's really important work and we thank you for the opportunity to serve you. Um that said, I'll pass it over to AI to say hello. I push this. Hi everyone. My name is Ory Denny. Um, I'm a senior at Marshall High School and this was my first year serving in the school health advisory committee and also my last since I'm graduating next week. Um, it was a really wonderful experience serving um, providing like the student perspective and working with all these wonderful adults to help make

170Fairfax a better place for both students and faculty. It was really amazing and it was a really amazing experience. >> Yeah. Good afternoon. I'm Leah Skursky. I'm director of operations and strategic planning in DSS. I work closely with Dr. Edmunds and our DSS team. Um this is my 12th year uh serving as a staff liazison to the school health advisory committee. And I do want to commend our um co-chairs this year. Anisha and Jen did a fantastic job of um leading the committee, not only just um organizing our thoughts and helping everyone put things together, but collaborating and hearing everyone's voice. So, I think they've made some really remarkable recommendations this year um and really worked well together as a team. And I'm certainly happy to see we'll have a lot of our members returning

171next year. Although we're sad to see Jen go, we are very appreciative of the time that she's given us. So, And um with Ory, our student representatives were very vocal this year and we were really actually very happy to have a number of times public comment and students that were visiting throughout the school year um when we were holding our meeting. So great to see student involvement as well. So with that, I'm going to turn things over to this wonderful team, but um it's really been a pleasure to serve and work alongside um them this year. We we've had a great year. All right. So, to get us started, I'm going to introduce the charge which we received from last year's committee. And we're going to focus on the intersectionality of these two ideas. But

172our charge from last year, as you can see on the board, was to address rising mental health concerns among Fairfax County students and the connections to sleep deprivation and the use of screenbased technology in our classrooms and schools. and we examine Fairfax County's youth survey data to monitor trends in consideration of sleep hygiene awareness and healthy use guidelines for technologies. I raised the point of intersectionality because we can find that in reality you cannot bifurcate these issues. If you are tired, if you are overusing technology, you are going to see a drop in your mental health and you're also going to see that you have poor poor sleep hygiene patterns. So this is um what we looked at this year. Next slide. So in order to address this idea um the committee really wanted to

173make sure that we approached solutions from a positive perspective. We understand what our population, our students, our staff, our administrators are already dealing with. How can we help them? So we really wanted to lean into what a supportive community asset looked like. So we had an hypothesis and we hope that our recommendations can test and prove that this hypothesis is true. We posited that a supportive community assets, the caregivers, educators and community members that serve as protective factors to counter risk um counter risk factors in student lives play a critical role in the student health and well-being. And so then we came up with a series of data collection connections to see how we can translate that into action and maybe prove that we're right about the statement. The point like Jennifer said about Jen

174said about this hypothesis again was not only to be positive but to understand as you all do but to put it out there very clearly that FCPS every aspect of it is the central supportive asset for so many families, so many communities, so many students that obviously you feel this incredible responsib responsibility to the communities that are served by FCPS. With that comes responsibility and accountability as you all know. So that sort of sets the stage for the next slide. One of the things that was interesting for this committee was that our charge talked about rising mental health concerns. However, our primary data source in Fairfax County, the Youth Survey, demonstrated improvements in mental health across the board over the past several years at least, particularly since CO. So, I hope you notice when your

175eyes are all jumbled and you're reading all of these reports and details that we do commend FCPS for its efforts. It has worked incredibly hard to support students. that was not lost on this committee by any stretch. What it did help us to understand especially with a new co-chair again green lots of brand new committee members is that we don't know what we don't know. We don't understand how FCPS operates. We don't understand another committee mentioned silos. It might actually be a good thing that we had a fresh perspective to bring in to say, well, we don't know how this all functions, but maybe if we can call out some issues, FCPS can hold a mirror up and say, okay, well, hold on. There are connections here. Maybe we can do a little bit more

176to break down those walls. But one of the challenges we had because we didn't know what we didn't know is we didn't know the right questions to always ask. and so maybe we didn't get the information that we needed when we needed it. Um there's been a lot of dis I've been here since the start of the day. There's been a lot of discussion around an audit and looking at you know how have recommendations panned across the years. Um how has FCPS been able to respond? Um a lot of questions around data, you know, what does FCPS know about how well it's doing? And what we did discover is when we finally figured out the kinds of questions to ask, we realized that for some of the programs that we may be pouring attention into,

177we're not necessarily now we being FCPS as a whole, including community members. We don't have an understanding. FCPS doesn't have a clear understanding of is this program achieving at schools? What are the metrics? How do we measure that? How do we track it over time? So a big sort of underlying current for all of our recommendations is to focus on data and if we don't have it now we need to collect it and we need to understand how to collect it best and then how to use that data not just anecdotal evidence not just the experiences although valid the professional and personal experiences of the members of the committee but the hard data the black and white that might tell us listen as it does. Sixth graders need our attention. They really do. We'll come

178to that. But what we attempt to do is to help you focus on where those critical gaps may lie. >> So, if you would indulge your little story. Finally, I close down my Chromebook and push it away from my desk. The clock on my phone reads 10:47 p.m. Not bad. I think maybe I could squeeze in a few minutes on the Chem Notes. I have to nail next week's midterms. Anything under a 95 just won't cut it. I need that grade to set me apart. Otherwise, no college will accept me. As I reopen my Chromebook to look at the notes, a soft knock on the door lets me know mom's home. She peaks her head in the door. You're still awake? It's nearly 11:00 p.m. Mom works as a nurse. When she has late shifts,

179I make sure my little brother has dinner and does his homework and doesn't melt his brain on his switch. It's too late for his brain, but at least he had dinner tonight. I point to my chem notes and mom gives me a reluctant but knowing look, please don't stay up too late. You have an early morning. Don't I always? I'm used to running on fumes. That's just what I have to do to get everything done. My mind scrolls through my mental to-do list. Oh crap. I jump out of my chair and bolt past mom. What's wrong? She calls after me. I forgot my jersey in the wash. I need it for my track meet tomorrow. It's regionals. It's the first time I've made regionals. And maybe a college recruiter will notice me. I really want

180to do well. But don't you have your algebra 2 tests tomorrow? She asked. Her voice is dripping with the exasperation that I feel. Yeah, that and my history paper is due too. There's no point in telling mom that. She already worries that I do too much. So, this is a student. She's imagined, but she's not ridiculous. This is a typical I pulled this from several kids schedule especially around Mayber that we're in now. You've got finals, you've got regional and track championships. You've got students who are trying to be noticed and trying to do their best and you've got a limited number of hours to try to accomplish our goals. So we made some recommendations for what we can do to try to help our students. The first one is create a school calendar that

181minimizes student stress and supports academic fi focus particularly at the end of quarters and during test windows. Along with that we want to continue to promote and track healthy sleep habits. and we'll talk a little bit about that a little more, but we want to make sure that there are wellness education opportunities across campuses. We want to make sure that the content is available for students to look at at their own leisure like on Schooly. And we want to elevate and lift up and continue to support really effective programming like March's sleep month. And finally, we'd love to see a centralization of the sleep help curriculum within the physical education department. And so if you would just indulge as I read a little to my first recommendation to our first recommendation, schools should avoid scheduling

182major athletic events and arts programs around the end of quarters and test windows to help minimize student stress and support academic focus. That's a heavy lift. It's just the way that a lot of sporting schedules have worked, at least since I was competing. But what's amazing about innovation is taking the opportunity to look to see if things can be done differently. There might be small but or incremental changes that can really help our students out. And here's the why. to promote sufficient rest and uh recuperation on the part of students and to provide adequate time for home-based assignments so as to not interfere with the students getting their recommended hours of quality sleep. We would love to see the school board look at creating sufficient blackout periods on school calendars that book in test windows

183and ends of quarters. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that children ages 6 to 12 receive 9 to 12 hours of sleep and ages 13 to 18, 8 to 10 hours of sleep. We know with our middle school start time of 7:30 that that means that our kiddos have got to be in bed like some of them 8:45 p.m. for I would love to see that happen. I've got a 13 and a 14- year old in middle school. We know that that means that high schoolers are supposed to be in bed before 10 o'clock. We also know that that's just not what's happening. And so if we can't change, if we are looking at changing our start times, but we're not there yet, what can we do to meet some of our students needs?

184So, we propose blackout windows. We also strongly suggest that the FPS board build on its extensive work to um investigate the ideal school start times and prioritize this matter moving into the 2026 2027 school year. Also students our the executive functioning skills of middle school, elementary and even high school kids aren't there yet. And so we're looking to FCPS to make the changes because you can be or we can be the support um that helps construct these healthy sleepy hygiene habits for our students instead of sort of always asking them to adjust to the demands of the schedule that we've put out. What can we do to adjust? and we don't know what it looks like to have a blackout window, but we would love to see what the school board and um Fairfax County

185Public Schools can do about suggesting ways to implement this idea. The next thing that we suggested was that FCPS should continue to promote and track healthy sleep habits for posting um by posting grade level appropriate content on multiple platforms such as the wellness hub and schooly. Our thinking there is put the information wherever the kids may run into it or wherever they need it. So beyond just schooly and beyond the classroom, we suggest that sleep hygiene information be available in student lounges, in the cafeteria, and in other common areas. We also thought that schools should consider calming places similar to but not exactly like what's in our elementary school classrooms where when students need to take a break they have designated locations that they can go and it's not a nap location although that would

186be nice but to rest because we understand what fatigue looks like in a student's behavior. sometimes they just need a break and maybe it's not always the nurse's office. In that vein, we also encourage um and align ourselves with the efforts of Fairfax County's um sleep month activities and continue and ask that you continue to elevate that information in March and we encourage you to stay on that track. Finally, we've asked that FCPS move its sleep hygiene curriculum to be centralized as part of the physical education program. We are asking this question for continuity. We are looking for the opportunity to make sure that at every grade level, all of our students are getting the same or age appropriate information about developing healthy sleep hygiene habits. We know that some instruction occurs in um health

187and some instruction occurs in home rooms, but we know that's very inconsistent. So, we're asking for the school board and for Fairfax County Public Schools to envision what it would look like to place that curriculum in one department. And finally, while we don't have a line item for it, I would like to reiterate that data, data, data. >> We would encourage that Fairfax County constantly track the efficacy of its changes to any sleep hygiene program. And with that, we'll shift from being tired to being exhausted in a different way. Mental health. Um so really when you sorry about that when you look at our charge um we talked about the intersectionality of everything but for the sake of being able to tackle everything we did split into subcommittees. Sleep hygiene was the first and then

188mental health this big monster if you will of mental health was the second. Um what I'll do is these are sort of the highlevel recommendations. I'm not going to spend time on each and every um piece of the recommendations because some definitely bubble to the top. Some have been um community member concerns for some time. So overarching um we really want to enhance student device monitoring. We're talking particularly about FCPS issued um devices, but um I'll go into detail about an important gap that we have currently. Second, we want to make sure that the good work that's already been done. The information that we've already gathered to support students from a mental health standpoint is just more accessible. This came up in other committees um this morning. Making sure it's not only available in many

189places but easily accessible. Um for example, a tool like Hazel Health stands out. Um it is contracted with FCPS. The good news is younger and younger grades are getting access to it starting July 1, but it's not something that's widely advertised and it needs to be front and center. Uh 2.3 is that again with this data focus, the rich rich deep detailed data we have from the youth survey can really drive a lot of the priorities. Um, the good thing about the youth survey is that it also every qu like the groups of questions are really focusing on all of the pillars and all of the goals of the strategic plan. So, it's a win-win honestly, especially as you measure metrics against the strategic plan. And then finally, one that I have a feeling will

190come up in discussion a lot, we do talk about AI, um, particularly limited memory AI. That would be your chat bots. Um, or generative AI as some of you may understand it. Um, we see a lot of evidence um that is waving large red flags in our faces and it is our duty as committee members to warn the board and to warn FCPS about its implementation. So, I'm going to move to the next slide. We'll delve into each of these. Um, I just obviously you have the reports to reference. For the sake of your eyes not getting crossed, I really sort of brought these down to just a couple of keywords. So, keyword search monitoring is a really important one. We have an example from a neighboring school district. Obviously, they're smaller. they're able to

191implement these things. But one of the big things missing is that we FCPS do not have a way to monitor keyword searches for words of concern. Words that might bring up a flag of this student is looking at something that is not appropriate. This student needs help because they're looking for content that may be harmful. We don't have from what we gathered and understood FCPS doesn't have a systematic way. Each school might operate a little bit differently but that would depend on the resources at that school. But FCPS does not have a way of getting at at a school level at least. What are some of these keywords that we don't want our kids looking for? What do we do when we found that students are doing this? And then how do we help ensure

192the best way honestly is to put protections into what's offered from a technology standpoint? I'll move on to the next one. This is this is a really big one. Um FCPS relies on Google Suite. Of course, it's easy. It's free. However, it is not monitored. Lighteed does not have the capability to monitor monitor Google Suite apps. It is expensive. We tried so hard to make recommendations that would be budgetneutral. So hard. This is not one of them. Um if we cannot monitor what is being done in Google Suite apps which are the core of how work is done particularly for older students there's a huge gap in what we understand in terms of how those apps are being used. major major gap. Um, one of the things that's important to include even though we as

193a system can manage FCPS issued technology in places where it's bring your own device, there's there's no tracking for those devices. So, it's important to make sure that we're covering everyone who's accessing the FCPS system and the tools, whether it's on an issued device from the system or their own. Finally, um we just wanted to clamor support for the bell-to-bell restrictions on cell phones. While there are plenty of ways to get around that for students, they're smarter than we know. Um they know how to use technology better than we do. Let's be honest, they will be our tech support when we're old and gray and we're like, "Honey, what happened to my phone?" Um, we're still supportive of the idea that phones are away and phones are down for the sake of hopefully a little

194bit more engagement and attention within the classroom. The next recommendation is really thinking about how to make sure that the resources that FCPS either contracts for, has developed on its own is accessible to everyone, but more so plays prominently. So, let's say that um you go to the FCPS website as a student or you're on Schooly and you really need help and you're looking for mental health resources, something like Hazel Health, which is free counseling for any student with any mental health question, complaint, you name it. Something that actually maybe not all FCPS staff are even aware of is available. that's not easily accessible. If you search for Hazel Health, you will then find out that FCPS is one of the school systems that's contracted with it, but there isn't a real clear connection between

195FCPS and Hazel Health. And you break down that barrier and you get more and more access coming your way. That is if the FCPS website is where students are going to access things for mental health. That said, we need information on where students are going to access their mental health needs. One of my favorite recommendations um is to encourage more positive feedback. Um just like we wanted to take a positive approach to recognize all that the school system does already to help shift priorities to help use those resources better. They're already there. Um, we want to, the data shows that kids that are getting positive feedback are able to see their teachers as supportive community assets. They're able to then transfer that to the school and then to the larger community in the setting in

196which they exist. So supporting having teachers be supportive of students, telling them when they're doing well, sending those notices home, that's all a good way to keep everyone engaged. Next. So again to this is really our largest recommendation in terms of words but also in terms of meat. Uh there's a lot here to digest. Um I would I'm going to take us through again some of them a little bit quickly. Um tier one wellness instruction really speaks to um SEAL social and emotional learning. Um what we are understanding is that the practices that have been developed or supported um or the sorry the curriculum and the practices that are encouraged to be delivered within our school system are not consistently delivered. some staff who don't buy in to the idea of spending time during morning

197meeting or even having a morning meeting are really missing the opportunity around what is required in terms of SEAL instruction. And so we want to make sure that maybe we can write that ship a little bit to bring some more focus to having that be really central and a really important way to start the day or to revisit with students as they come back later. Um along those lines, making sure that we are applying the ratios required and suggested for the mental health workforce, the uh workforce to student ratio. Um as you know, budget has come up. Obviously, it's a tough political time as well. leaning into some of these items may actually help bring the entire student body up and then their families and then their communities because the idea around FCPS being a

198uniting supportive community asset is that when it's invested in the students before things get too bad, the students are then growing to contribute back to the community. And some of them explicitly I love the newsletters where it's like this student graduated and now she's a teacher at this school. Um, it's wonderful to see that and inspire. I'm I'm the child of two high school teachers who met and fell in love. My sister's a fifth grade teacher. Um, I'm the only one who didn't become a teacher, but that's cuz everyone else was a teacher. um that kind of community service um it's really hard to measure it but if it's done really well in our schools then you have people who were graduates of the system then coming back to serve the system now um I

199was really happy earlier on to hear some questions about I'm moving on to the next subrecommendation um what about these populations what about those populations the wonderful thing is that we do have data that talks about through the youth survey that talks about certain populations. The ones that stood out to us for now and we'll talk about our future charge, proposed charge. The ones that stood out um versus sixth graders, they are showing more mental health pressures um describing more concerns related to self harm and potential suicide. than our older students are, our sixth graders are. And so if that's not a tearjerker and a call to action, I don't know what is. Um that's worrisome. Um they have a lot going on in their lives. Sixth grade is what, 11, 12? Um my goodness,

200do you remember being that age? It was horrible. Um and now they're moving on to middle school, right? This whole new world. Um, the good news is things do get better as they get older. However, they need our attention. Sixth graders specifically. The other groups that need our attention are mentioned on the slide. These groups and others actually are showing that despite the general population of students when the survey is looking at eth 6th 8th 10th and 12th graders. These particular populations are not consistent with the general student population. And this can be on many different fronts. Whether it's access to a safe person in their community or home that they can trust. Whether it is access to physical activity, extracurricular activities that would help be preventive for any other sort of risk that might

201either exist within their family unit, within their community, within their general society, if you will, the pressures. um or bullying came up earlier in one of one of the other committees um reports and honestly um it was nice to hear about um multilingual students and they factor in here as well when we look at youth survey data. Um so we have a real opportunity to use youth survey data to create focused initiatives on these students because if some of them are even identifying in multiple groups then obviously um we have an opportunity to address some of these issues and have an exponential positive impact on those students. Um the the next recommendation is again it's kind of high level if you will with youth survey guided interventions but it's really talking about using the data

202to drive forward any initiatives that the school board or that FCPS chooses to take forward. And then finally, um we did see a lot of data regarding how positive physical activity can be for all students across the board and how community partnerships to allow that, whether it's um after school for middle schoolers, um after school programming for middle schoolers, which I know has kind of been tough to continue on the chopping block here and there. um anything else obviously free of cost is ideal um so that we don't take out the students that aren't able to afford to attend these things but the ones who are exposed to even more positive support from the community through athletics through activities after school they're more likely to report better outcomes across the other parts of the youth

203survey Okay, this is the one I know we're going to get questions on. Um, so I really tried to summarize this as best as I can to get to the point. Artificial intelligence is potentially a really exciting and promising tool. Um, particularly for employees of FCPS. We would love to say that we're going to somehow give back time to teachers so that they can focus on themselves or we're going to make things easier for an administrator to look at data. Um without understanding the potential harm related with AI, um Shaq strongly strongly recommends that the AI work done within FCPS take a very hard pause. That hard pause is specific to what is being done with with relation to limited memory AI. Not the type of AI that can help you analyze something quickly, but

204the type of AI that can that we've seen in the news that can take you down paths that guard rails don't exist for. Um, we have a responsibility as a community, as a school system, as a school board to make sure that nothing is entered into without a full understanding of impact, positive and negative. Um, along those lines, Shaq also recommends that limited memory AI tools, chat bots, um, Claude, is his name Claude? I don't even know them. However, uh, chat GPT, those be completely restricted for student use. No ifs, ands or buts. And then finally, um Shaq wanted to understand to what extent is AI integrated into any tools being used within the system, within the school system. Um we do know that there was a pilot done to train some teachers, if you

205will, on the use of chat GPT and how that can support them within their classroom. We want to gain a deeper understanding of where does AI exist throughout the entire spectrum of technology that's implemented within FCPS and then to report on that publicly. The reason we say that is this has been a very hot topic for the community. Um in community meetings I've attended it's kind of taken over agendas too. And so there's a lot of concern there's a lot of concern about technology period. But when AI comes into the mix and when you listen to stories related to um the negative effects on teenagers in particular, um we're at a moment where if we don't take a pause, um then we may have some harmful consequences coming sooner than we'd like. >> Anisha, if

206you can wrap up maybe like two minutes or so. >> Sure thing. >> Thanks so much. Okay. So, the great news is that in our final recommendation, because technology was going back and forth through every part of our discussion as a committee, we really felt like if the school health committee can focus on school health, whatever that means, there ought to be another committee that's focused on technology within FCPS. And so, we're glad to hear that there's a committee that has been created. Um, we would like to say and as again as I heard presentations this morning, almost a quarterly gathering if you will, this is this is just me speaking off the cuff of all of the committees because our work is so intertwined. Um, it would be wonderful for excuse me for our

207recommendations to work off of each other. Um, one big recommendation is to um, if the audit isn't going to happen, at least let us look back at previous recommendations from committees of years past because the 2022 2023 shack report actually went into great detail about what um, something like a technology advisory committee could achieve. Regardless, we it needs to be open to the public. And so, shall I just wrap it up? >> Proposed. Yeah. Um, our proposed charge for this year, um, just some sorry for next year, I'm going to be co-chairing next year, so it feels like this year. Um, is to take a step back and to be able to look at wellness across the system. That means how well are our um, central office staff doing? How are our teachers, administrators doing,

208how are our students doing? and are there things we can do across the board to support all of them, particularly some of the vulnerable populations. The beautiful thing about this one is it supports all pillars and all goals of the strategic plan. I want to show this picture finally because um and Ryan's smiling there too. It was such an incredible experience to work with this committee. Um, and to be able to pull on expertise and personal experiences. Um, it was especially telling when Aie showed up at our last meeting and we were like, "Weren't you weren't you busy tonight?" And she's like, "Well, I had nothing better to do." And I was like, "Yes." What a great compliment, right? nothing better to do than to spend an evening with adults um talking about the charge

209for next year. Um also included in here is a followup from last year's report that's of obviously in our report and then how our current recommendations aligned with each of the different measures and goals of the strategic plan. >> Thank you. Well, I'll I'll I'll use one more. I'm not going to take minutes. We'll I'll weave in the thank yous with the questions so that we can hopefully get some questions. >> Well, that was that was indeed a tour to force. So, we have um three folks that want to speak so far. U Mr. Moon, followed by Miss Lady, followed by Mr. >> D. Thank you, Mr. Min. There a lot. >> It's a lot. >> Uh but given that we only have a 12 minutes left to talk about all these recommendations, I'm going

210to limit my remarks and questions. is I think something that you left out is schoolboard members mental and physical health as well, >> right? Schoolboard members, they're included in the wellness initiative. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And I was thinking about a a amount of time I spend on this screen on the digital devices. >> I mean it's schoolboard members, teachers and students, we will do that. Why? Why is that? because there just work to be done and I was looking at this morning's or late last night while this morning's last email that I sent out was 1204 a.m. The first email that I sent out was 5:59 a.m. this morning. So that shows how much time I'm spending on digital device right there. Why is that again? Because there's a work to be

211done. Students, why are they so much on their screen? There's work to be done. There's a playing time they want to have all that. So, how do we limit? Do we cut down board members, cut down the amount of work, just not respond to those emails, not read reports, not read, not prepare for scope of the meeting? Well, that's not an option. students don't do their homework. That's not an option. So for high school students from seventh seven period day to cut down to six period day and then ask a state to change the graduation requirement to reduce the graduation requirement go back to olden days. Perhaps they will take a decades to accomplish that. So and also ever increasing competitiveness amongst students and expectations on the part of parents for students to be able

212to deliver the work. How do we how does a school system control that mindset? So those are comments slash questions to you and I be used up all my a lot of time. >> So I will thank you thank you for your question. The impossible question of how do we add two hours to each day right? So, we are a very large ship and if you know anything about ships, they're hard to turn. But it doesn't mean they're impossible to turn. One of the things that I would invite all of us to consider in these moments is what does unique and bold initiative look like in planning for the long term? Because what I would instead ask to those questions is at what cost do we continue to have as an adult sounds like you

213got four hours of sleep and spend significant hours on technology? At what cost do we continue to push our students to point where competitiveness is more important than community? So yes, we're a big ship and we've been on this course where competitiveness has driven us and this need to respond to emails. You didn't have to do it. People can learn to wait. Where is patience? Where is grace? What is the actual push? How much of this is internalized as opposed to actual? We are goal oriented. We are these driven people. Trust me, I know I live in one of those bodies. But how many times do I create the to-do items on my list? So first I think we need to be introspective about how much of this is on us in terms of what

214we've decided is important as our motivations. Are we looking at our budget of time like we would our budget of money and treating that budget by prioritizing what's really important? And so what I would counter offer is how can the school board and the school system instead consider whether that one extra credit is more important than that one extra opportunity to build community? Is that one extra activity more important than someone's social and emotional well-being? Because we've already hit a point where the data suggests we're not balanced. So yes, it's a big ship and I think that I instead of trying to pretend that I have answers to those particular questions, I would just counter with are we a ship willing to see what it feels like to turn. >> Okay. Thank you, uh, Miss

215Lady. Thank you. Um, I think that we need to start up front by talking about that it's vital to highlight the report's own finding that many mental health indicators have already exceeded pre- pandemic levels, suggesting that the current level of intervention is largely effective for the majority of the population. Um, I'd also like to share that, you know, um, we should be empathetic to the percentage of students who overextend themselves uh, without imposing restrictive scheduling mandates on the entire student body, many of whom thrive under current structures. I mean, as a former schools counseling professional, I value student autonomy and I value purposeful use of technology. Um, and I would go on to add that, you know, while we the report does suggest schools avoid scheduling major events near testing windows, it's important to acknowledge

216that many students successfully manage rigorous academic loads alongside their chosen extracurricular activities. We should trust our students navigate their own schedules as a vital life skill. Um and then uh the recommendation to create blackout periods for events assume students cannot prioritize their own rest and recuperation. Many students are highly effective at time management and do require these systemwide interventions. Talk about my own children. I mean they were Marshall graduates. I have three of them and they were incredibly active and one was full IB, one just didn't want to do Cass and extended essay but did everything else. They went to bed at 10. They managed their lives. They were stars in the in the play. They were competing on the lacrosse fields. Um, when you talk about mental health and device monitoring, you know, the

217proposal to extend keyword search monitoring and report on Google Suite applications, including Gmail, could see be seen as an overreach into student privacy. Um, we must balance safety with the need for students to feel trusted in their digital environments. Um, a few more things is, um, I I want to talk about intentionality of technology. Um, and MSAOC, by the way, just sat here and told us that we should have an opt out. We should put the kids automatically in advanced coursework and have the parents opt them out, which is completely the opposite of sort of what your report is asking us to do. Um, I want to talk about active versus passive use of technology. You know, rather than a blanket prohibition on limited memory, a AI like generative AI or chat bots, I think

218we should focus on teaching students the difference between passive harmful use and active high quality use of technology. And as a board, we need to ensure that teachers also avoid the passive use of technology. Just like when I did a find a word as a kid, it didn't help me learn anything. You could get put paper in front of a kid that's passive just to pass the time. We can't be doing that with technology. um because it doesn't enhance learning. But we need to focus on the effective uses of technology that support UDL um and are helping kids access learning that otherwise without some of those interventions they're not. Um prohibiting AI as an interim step will hinder students ability to learn the critical skills needed to navigate, adapt, and innovate in a sustainable future,

219which is a core goal of the FCP's strategic plan. I'm not proposing that we have generative AI for kids. Um but ultimately we have to teach around the models and we have to help them understand. Um and I have more I could say. Um finally I'll just say technology is a powerful resource for equitable access and high quality program. I've talked to a lot of kids in my my area who do not have the computer without the device. Their families can't afford that. And I I I feel like when I've heard from a lot of the parents for intentional tech and I believe in intentional tech. I absolutely 100% agree with it. Um and we need we have work to do but a prohibition on it um is not equitable um from my perspective. So

220um I will share also that I have to get out of here in like four minutes. So I welcome a response to this. It it's fantastic work and as I said I I'm a I'm a school counselor but I've worked 30 years in the system and we've become too competitive. most kids exit at 12th grade and say, "I wish I didn't take as many AP classes because I would have had a I would have gotten into the same colleges and had a little bit more peace of mind. That that's a different problem. That's the ship we need to turn. But I don't believe that our entire system is a ship that needs to turn." >> I'm going to do a quick response on the AI stuff. Um, one of the things that really stuck stood

221out to me during our committee deliberations was a committee member saying, "Imagine if we knew then what we know now about social media. Might we have taken a different approach? Might we have waited just a bit longer?" The idea about around prohibiting generative AI use is not to prohibit AI use altogether. Just the ones that data shows creates and has created harm particularly in the age group served by FCPS. Not at all to limit its implementation for good. The problem though is that evidence is evolving and it might be it would be I'm going to channel the committee members. It would be a dangerous thing to build the AI ship for FCPS or to fly it as it's being built as opposed to waiting to make sure that all of the guard rails are in

222place before anything's implemented. That was the crux of it. Did you have a response on anything earlier? >> And I I 100% agree with the guard rails. I think we actually agree, >> but we explained it differently to one another. >> Sure. >> I just wanted to make sure there was a point of clarity because I wanted to make sure we weren't conflating ideas. We're not talking about opting out of advanced work and we're not we're not addressing the issue of whether there are kids who are successful in these programs. I was an all-American at Jefferson. So, all-American track at TJ. I get that entirely. What we're talking about, though, is that even as an all-American at Jefferson, I didn't understand in the '9s that I was pushing myself in ways that weren't maybe necessarily

223best for my mental health because I was still a child. And it wasn't my job as a child to say, "Well, I have full autonomy. Let me go." there was an adult, thank goodness for my mother, who could also make determinations. And so what's important is not that we think of this as a black and white issue, but as an issue that requires level of intentionality, but adults do need to recognize that if we don't model and provide space for our students and our community members to feel like they don't have to always drive in fifth gear. Yes, students will appear successful in fifth year, but then they'll say, "Why am I exhausted? Why wasn't this the experience that I thought I had?" So, let's make sure that when we're assessing this, we don't put

224this in an eitheror scenario. That we're looking at these things, like I said, with some um with an unique spin. What does it look like to make it okay to maybe not take every AP course? And the last thing I'll say is that it's a pumping of the brakes, but it has to happen at the athletic level in Little League. It has to happen at the I've got to take, you know, I've got to get tutors for my kid in third grade so they can advance themselves in three mass. Like I'm just trying I'm a little defensive of the system because we didn't create some of these problems. Like I wrote down limit the number of APs, but I don't want to do that for some kids, but for some kids that's the appropriate thing

225to do. like we are in a conundrum that's created a mental health situation, but it's all of us that are doing it. And too much of it starts, you know, young and in with with family values that I think in many cases need to be re revisited, too, because everyone can't be the best. Well, what I'm hearing you suggest on the fly is a recommendation where we really work with our community members, our families to um to help them reimagine what success looks like for their students beyond just their GPA and the college they're admitted to. And so that's not on our formal list, but maybe that's one way we begin to address this issue. >> Great. Okay, Mr. Danon, followed by Miss Anderson. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um again, thank you all for your

226time and dedication to this. it's very clearly how how passionate you are and um I appreciate all the reference to research and data because that's um I think we are very data driven system. So um the topics as well were very timely and very helpful. So um I really appreciate that. I'm looking forward to hearing what staff have to say about about each um recommendation. Um I want to call out too I really loved your comment about the importance of collaborating across advisory committees. Um I my sense is you I think every committee that's come so far has mentioned that. Um but they're all kind of hesitant about not stepping on each other's toes. And I think there's I mean we're going to talk afterwards about some ways we can help affect that because um

227you know the more collaboration and refinement that can happen along the course of the year the more likely these recommendations are are going to be able to take hold. So again really appreciate all that. um very delighted to see the use of of the the focus on edtech and technology as well. And um you know the edtech review committee was the first form talk I did. I'm really grateful that everybody supported it. And I'll say that and I really appreciate Miss Lady bringing this up um because talking in groups like this, talking with constituents, talking behind the scenes, there is a lot of shared agreement about how we can go forward about what the vision is. And I think this the the thing I'll point to the board that we need to do is to

228articulate and come to agreement on a shared vision for that because that will help us guide if we can get on the same page and and recognize that there is like I said a lot of shared agreement and consensus about the the risks about the challenges and so forth and you know I mentioned earlier on that one of the things I I appreciate about um you know Dr. Reed's approach is is maybe we're we're and I share myself is we're a little bit competitive. We want to be the best, right? And my own personal view is that being the best here does not mean necessarily being the first with adopting certain things. Sometimes it will be, but it to me being the best is walking that narrow path where we can address student mental health.

229We can address making sure our kids are ready for the future. Um, you know, I don't want a kid going off to to college and not knowing how to use a computer, right? They're going to be set back. Um, so I think a lot of the discussion I hear is is maybe focusing first on educating about technology and understanding how machine learning I know I've talked to my colleagues and again there is a lot of agreement on that but I think we just talk in different languages and it doesn't always come across that way. So I'm very glad you all brought this up. I'm looking forward to to following up and and hearing more. um you know and and like I said, I think we're struggling with walking that narrow path and and we want

230to keep um these considerations in mind as we go forward. So again, thank you all for for taking the time and um uh putting all your time and talents into into this. So thank you. >> Thank you for that. I'll just um bring up it was I almost think it ought to be an onboarding experience. This is again just me speaking now that anytime you come to serve in a committee that the last 5 to 10 years worth of reports are your required reading before coming in. Um, one of the reasons we call out uh the 2022 2023 school year shock report is because they did a great job saying exactly what you just said. And the folks that are on our committee who are from sort of the edtech space have, you know, everyone

231sort of in that technology space has this dream of like how do we teach people to safely and logically and effectively work with the technology in society, in our classrooms, everything. Because obviously we're here to we are here to compete as a school system, right, against other school systems so that our children are set up for success. That said, if they have a healthy approach to technology going into a world that doesn't have the structure of school anymore and the work world or postgraduate, whatever it is, once the structure of school leaves and the real world comes, you're on your own. Imagine if your school system set you up to figure out who you are in reference to all of these other things that are coming at you or that you feel you need to

232go to. I think there's a great opportunity and again I would say to look at that report for the the document detailed around um this new edtech committee is phenomenal. I love the detail. let the work that's been done to date inform some of the direction of that if not this coming year than in the future. Thank you so much. >> Um we have two speakers left want to wrap in a few minutes. So Miss Anderson >> um I'm not going to repeat everything that my colleagues have said because I know we're short on time but I did want to and so this is going to seem a little disjointed because I'm going to just provide a few top level comments. Um, the first thing that I want to say is I wholeheartedly and completely

233agree that we need a schooly course that is a resource-based course for students at an age appropriate level so that kids can find what they need. Um, I've been advocating for this for a while is that I do think that it's a course that every, you know, we could have it be appropriate for middle schoolers, appropriate for high schoolers that have different um, things available to them, including things like availability of Narcan. like there's lots of different things that we can have in that type of a course so that kids know how to find things. Um, so I'm wholeheartedly in in support of that. I want us to be really careful about the language that we use around bring your own devices because that falls into a lot of students with disabilities that are bringing

234their own devices. So, we just need to make sure that we're creating those stipulations when we're talking about those things because I don't think that's what you're referring to. No. Um, but I do want to make sure and I I recognize um, if we move to any other word processing system, we're also not going to have any monitoring. So, I just want us to keep in mind that at least these are often in a in a function that we can actually share like so we can see what's going on. Um, and I am wholeheartedly in in agreement that we need safe places for kids to do things dangerously, which means you get to do things that are adult in terms of practicing what you're going to need in the future, but we do it in

235a supported environment where if you make a mistake, we talk about how that happened and why and it's not just punitive in nature. So, that's a significant aspect. I also want us to be very careful um when we're talking about the connection between school tech usage and sleep hygiene. Oftentimes it's not the school tech issue, it's the recreational tech issue that's actually causing sleep hygiene issues. Um and so I want us to be careful that we're not it's not it's a correlation causation kind of discussion. Um, and the interesting part, and I don't think that this was intended, but the argument that our tiny our tiniest people need more sleep is actually an argument to not move them to be the first kids in our buildings because it means that they're having to get up

236at 6:00 in the morning. And what time does that mean that they need to go to bed? And so, we've got that issue um as well. Um, so just a few things, but I I I do want to say thank you. Um, I think that this is the the last thing I want to say is I am not suggesting that we compete with other school divisions. I would like us to compete with a previous version of ourselves to make us the strongest school division for the students that are here. Um, I think that we do get into dangerous situations when we are creating that pushpull against competing with other divisions particularly around the state. We already know how awesome we are but that doesn't mean that we can't be more awesome than we already are.

237And then the very last thing I will say is the kids are already using AI. >> So we are not building the plane. The plane is flying. We can't avoid teaching them how to be safe on the plane that exists. And that's actually exactly what I think happened with social media is that the schools ignored it and we didn't provide any structure and safety and literacy around what it did and what this what the risks were. So I want us to be very careful that we don't go down the same path here. >> Maybe what we do is start with the risks. Um and I think that the school system would be a miss not to focus on everything out there that is saying whoa whoa whoa slow down. Um that said, um you guys

238make the not very big bucks for a part-time job, right? Um it's it's a very fortunate position to be just a parent and just a committee member and but we know that um we know that a thousand%. Thus, our efforts to bolster what's already being done, take what's there, but maybe isn't just front and center, and just stick it there. Just just stick it there. Um, and then wave those red flags when we need to. So, thank you very much. >> Just a committee member. You're just as valuable as all of us. >> No, but I mean, in terms of accountability, there sure is, you know. >> Thanks. Okay. Mh. Mr. Dunn is going to close us out. Um thank you for for your great report. I really appreciated it. Um uh I've asked all

239the committees and so I'll ask you as well um if you have given any thought to whether you feel FCPS has fully implemented your past recommendations um and if not um whether you have any thoughts about you know prior reports you said 10 to 15 years reports. I I'm a history major so that's the way I love to approach things as well. um you know looking over of those past reports and your one for this year if you know if you would be able to prioritize like what are if things have not been fully implemented what do you think are the top ones to be implemented? >> That's a great question. Um, what I would say is that when we have a committee as new as we did this year, um, we're just trying, we

240are flying the plane as we're building it and we're trying to figure out, you know, what who are we in this grand scheme and how do we actually support the school board and what does this charge mean and where where is the data and all of that. We did not take a retrospective look. And that's why I'm personally suggesting maybe maybe it's not an audit. Maybe it's a practice of every committee that every five years is a let's look back or every three years let's look back. One of the things that I noticed in looking back at one or two years was that there were a lot of things whether it's committee members not knowing or not asking the right questions or not understanding how things function and maybe the critical non- voting member just

241not being in attendance at the committee when this topic was brought up. There isn't enough of like an information exchange. So we would get reports from Leah saying like this is these are the updates since you know from last year and we had those updates every meeting every other meeting. However, because there's a lot of changeover with committee service you don't get enough continuity to say hold on wait I remember when I was on the committee at this time or maybe it's even a summary. Maybe the chairs from the past come to present at the first meeting and say this is what we wanted. This is what we've been told has happened since. There are a lot of little ways to be able to connect the dots so that we aren't reinventing the wheel every

242year. Um I I think there's a great opportunity. Please >> school start time. That's it. We proposed years ago and it was approved school start time and we're still working on school start time, middle school in particular. That's my one newbie versus >> that that was actually my next uh question on my list is just um because we are now in our final sequence of boundary studies um and those will be fully implemented fall of 2027. focusing on school start times within the context of new boundaries I think is something where you know resurrecting looking at what's been done in the past because you know I was very confused I can just say for coming as a new board member looking at the data it just we seem to be going in a million directions

243helping to provide some some leadership and direction to that would I think be very valuable for the upcoming year um I also wanted to just ask given our technology discussion you know kids don't know how to write in cursive anymore they often don't even really know how to like print. It's like capital letter. I mean, from from what I've seen. Um, and they but we also don't teach typing, right? And um and then there's a big question of uh what's the best way to learn textbooks that are like on paper or electronic. Um, I definitely have an opinion on that, but um, that seems to be kind of along the lines of some of the items you're discussing, you know, AI and and electronics and and terms of health, like mental health, learning, that that

244all seems to be within your ambit. So, I'd love to get any thoughts you have or if if if that's something you are interested in exploring. >> So, just really quickly, uh, a little of my background. I am um I'm an attorney and um but now I long-term sub. So I'm in the classroom. I've had a class for six months and before that I had one for two months and um and so I'm in a third grade class where we do benchmark and benchmark does have um a cursive component to it. We don't always get to it but it's there. In my limited experience in the classroom with few years now, I prefer textbooks. I prefer a paper and I love a good handwritten at least first draft. U throwing on another hat, I actually

245write. And what handwriting does is it slows you down in the same way that taking handwritten notes requires your brain to determine what's the most important information. And so you're doing an additional thinking process versus rapid typing. Um, having students write first slows them down in a way that quite frankly their dopamine isn't accustomed to doing. And um, it's frustrating for them, but it's teaching them to think with purpose about why they're doing certain things. So my short answer is handwrite, start with paper. Look, I was a kid of the 70s and 80s. So, I became an adult in the 90s and I can also use a computer. It's miraculous. I can use a smartphone. It's amazing. I was a history major. I know people didn't have computers before me and yet we still managed.

246Um, handwriting is good for the kids. We all deserve to learn to walk and then to run. >> Okay. You good? Okay. Well, thank you so much. Sorry. Sorry. We got to um um conclude this very >> That's okay. Ryan, can I take 10 seconds? >> Yes. Um, just profound, profound admiration and thanks to the committee members, to the school board members, to the FCPS system as a whole, everyone who's doing every little bit to support us being able to come together as a committee, to the members who just kicked rear ends this year. Um, and to Ary who who came and uh when she had nothing better to do. I think that's a huge huge deal. Um to Leah and Debbie and the staff that supported us endlessly. Um it's been an honor. It's

247been a very humbling experience and it's one that um will go down as one of the best in my adult life. Um so thank you for the opportunity. >> Okay. Well, we'll take a very quick break and uh come back with CEK. Thanks. All right. Well, I'm uh very pleased to introduce uh CATC leadership um at a time of uh you know stable funding for CTE but exploding demand. I think we look to CATAC to help guide us in how we can expand uh opportunities for all students and make sure that we're connecting them with uh careers of the future as well as increased opportunities at a time of um questions whether you know the path to college is the right path for all students and uh when you can get uh you know great

248great living wage out of high school with all the right certifications without all the college debt. That seems like a tremendous opportunity. >> Thank you very much. You can hear me and everyone online. Appreciate very much that uh that we are here and thank you for those of us that are still here and uh we appreciate that. We need like a more intimate sitting here at this point here. Um, but I understand my many commitments and hopefully all of our committee members have at some point had an opportunity in the last month or two to talk to each one individually. So, we try and do all that and I've had that opportunity with many of you. So, welcome. My name is Irvin Varonei. I am the current chair. Um, this will be my second last

249term as chair. And with us today is Marissa Apple, one of our co- vice chairs and Paul Thurberger who's Matteo's appointment, the other co-chair. So, our team will be leaving and we'll be announcing at the end a new team. And also, thank you very much, Jen, for being here. Our direct support is Whitney Kiltage and she is doing something very important at her daughter's graduation. So, good for that. So, thank you all and thank you all for here. And also, we have two of our committee members here. Uh, Rich Kang is Mr. Moon's appointment and also Nasser who's the PTA representative as well for us. So very briefly and any questions you'd like to ask now rather than waiting is certainly fine with us. I like questions and it helps us a great deal. Um

250this is our committee charge. We did not change this. Uh this was changed last year. So we have not changed it. We still feel it's adequate in terms of what it is that we uh want to be able to uh to do. Um, occupations however do change and are changing rapidly and our job at the committee has been to try to look at those occupational changes and where and how it is that FCPS can accommodate its customers, students and parents in terms of uh doing that. uh some data that we had shared last year and you have all this data again focuses on just where the average high school student high school graduate is looking at these days and where their families are looking at them. You all the same data in terms of how

251many students are graduating going to college right away. It's really only about 50% of high school graduates are going to to college uh right away. Um we also have read in terms of the situation with colleges in terms of the enrollment actually last couple years total college enrollment as you know has been doing pretty well has reversed itself since uh co days however within that it's quite fragmented four-year private schools are not doing nearly as well as the others and even the four-year public schools aren't doing as well as the two-year schools. So while college Rome in fact has picked up the market is looking at more of the two-year college than four-year colleges for a variety of reasons. One would say the value proposition that college has not just by itself but compared to

252the value proposition of a career not just a job but a career after um after high school. What we have asked last year and the year before and we asked this year is that as FCPS determined the strategies policy that it tried to do its best in terms of recognizing those can't be ahead of that it has to be with it. Uh we know in the past we made some changes anticipating things that may not have come up but I think that's still an important strategy and so we ask the school board to look at that and to ensure that as you decide upon strategy and direct that policy to administration that it in fact is keeping where the the market is in in these days and again on that note while Fairfax County is

253perhaps different than other counties I think some 65% of Fairfax adults are college graduates that may not mean the assumption is that all 65% feel that that's the best option for their children. So I'd like to look at it more as a national base than just Fairfax because I think we've also talked elsewhere that we we train a lot of our students and then they will go elsewhere. So they're not necessarily going to be here um in this um community. Um so there's the status that we have um in terms of what our committee charge is. Um and uh question that's really small print there to be able to do but um the really good thing about this is that this is the first year that I can recall over the many years that I've

254been on the committee where every single board member has in fact made their appointment. Thumbs up. Thank you for that. Sure. Anderson had something to do with that because I I I knew you and you knew you this so it works out. And we also had a really full array of appointments in the in the community, not the least which is is NASA and the PTA. We've not had a PTA representative for a while. And that PTA we think more and more is going to be key. We'll mention it in terms of the outreach that is we want to do. So uh we really appreciate that. Um we appreciate very much that Matteo has been our leazison and uh both yourself and Nelly have attended all of our our meetings. Uh we appreciate the enthusiasm.

255um especially when we do our visits to themies it it's really important you'll see later on we talk about some of those visits which we do on a u on a regular basis so thanks to all there who are are here we do a variety of activities uh there um our staff is really good at keeping us up to date with various monthly reports tremendous compendium of information they get from the the schools and all the programs that they have so it keeps us really in informed um a great deal. Um u we talked about our business partner experiences. Uh we do have two people who are full-time uh from FCPS who do the outreach with the business community. So they keep us informed. Uh we get great schoolboard updates from our leazison. The tours

256of CT programs uh this year we visited um Anendale uh high school and um uh it was a great visit. It's it's an academy but not as official academy but has lots of CTE courses and that program was uh was doing well. It is always tremendous to go to the uh to themies. You get to see the students, you get to see the teachers and I do my best to not only make sure we get as many of you as possible but we also reach out to our board of supervisors and our state officials because it's always wonderful to have all three of you in the same room and just see how the sausage is made. And um uh but each of you have an interest uh in in terms of the success of our

257um of our uh programs. Um in terms of new courses, I don't think we actually have a whole lot of new courses that we have had um other than the aviation program. Would that be correct? So um I'm not saying we're we're just busy just trying to keep up with what we have. There are more opportunities, but it has been challenging to be able to bring that on. I think the aviation is the one new course that we'll be able to uh uh to do. Um and of course we have lots of activities. Um we do have a student representative. That person has not always been at our meetings. Uh perhaps there are conflicts that uh that they may have in terms of attending that. So we have three recommendations we'd like to bring to

258uh your attention. Um this meeting is for us to share with you what we would like you as schoolboard members to be able to do. and um work in terms of the administration and that's the primary reason that we here. Uh the report that we've sent gives you a lot of information on the reasons for all that. But today the main reason here is to pass on these recommendations and to ask your feedback where you think we can uh how those recommendations go, how they could be implemented or perhaps additional information you all need. Appreciate as well Dr. Reed in terms of your background. So, let's go to our first recommendation. Expanding awareness of CT through strategic and creative outreach. I'll just preface that before Marissa speaks to it. Does everybody know there's a CT

259program? Sort of. If they know there's a CT program, do they know what CT is? Sort of. We'll start with that. Let me turn to Marissa for our recommendations. I guess just before I speak on this recommendation, I wanted to echo what Irv said about the um academy and CTE school visits. I think you know everyone who who should be around this table or as often around this table could benefit from attending the visits as often as they can. Even if they've already been to the school in the past, things are always happening. We always gain tremendous insights from hearing from the faculty, from the students, seeing the facilities, just being in the in the neighborhood. And I think it was extremely powerful to go to a non-ac academy school this year and to be

260able to see what CTE looks like and how kind of it works within the schedule, meet the teachers, kind of see the work that we're talking about, the work that is being done, but you know where it's actually being done. So that's very valuable. So I would encourage everyone you know on the board to attend as many visits as possible and invite as said you know the person you work with on the board of supervisors or delegate. We had at the false church um academy visit we had a delegate there whose child had gone through the program and that was very powerful to see the connection and it can help her advocacy you know in Richmond advocate for us as well. So, kind of what we were talking about with awareness is, you know, is

261getting the information to the right people, you know, and making sure that the communities especially that need this information and the families that need this information are getting the information. So, one of the things we talked about was, you know, trying to make sure and and advocating that there be CT a CTE focus or a CTE highlight in all of the schoolboard members newsletters, you know, to, you know, rise up what we're talking about. You know, every time I see we see something on social media from FCPS about a success story in CTE or, you know, a program or a student that, you know, you recognize the program, you know, recently I saw something about, you know, FBLA and you know, when you're in the CTE community, you know what FBLA is, but not everybody

262knows what FBLA is or how important it is. So, I think, you know, making sure it's in the newsletter, making sure you know it's in the communications, making sure that we share CTE the way we share other success stories as well. So, I think that's important. Um, one of the things that, you know, we've been talking about this year is the career investigations course. And one of the things we learned at a recent meeting was enrollment has increased. And hopefully, you know, that'll be a jumping off point for future years. But if we can engage the students early in middle school to prepare themselves, you know, and prepare the families for what they can do in high school, that's valuable because a lot of what we've heard is if you don't know about CTE or

263you're not aware of what you need to do or you know what the requirements are, you get to 11th grade and you're like, "Oh, I want to do this, but now I don't have room in my schedule." So preparing, you know, in middle school to understand careers, but also to understand what FCPS offers is important. Um, also kind of looking at school best practices. You know, there's some high schools and high schoolmies that reach out to the middle schools in different ways, but understanding what is being done and how we can leverage that across the system. So all students who need the information, all families are aware. um of what's going on. But as much as you can help us get the word out and get to the families that need the information that would

264that is kind of what we're advocating for today. >> We are both speaking as parents. Oh, sorry. We are both speaking as parents. U here with us. I want to welcome you that you're here. Thank you very much. And you'll be having good luck in uh CT courses. uh that'll be coming up. Um and uh I as I mentioned before my son was a proud graduate of Chantelli Culinary Academy which really helped him a tremendous amount and today he is as I mentioned living the dream. He and his wife own their own cafe and um uh grocery business up in Vermont just doing tremendously and if without that program u how would he have succeeded? I'm sure he would have, but we we we really appreciated this opportunity. But we both were aware of that

265program. We were active with our children. It is possible not all parents are active and aware, so they need help to be able to know that. One of the newsletters that we mentioned are your newsletters. Each school member sends out a newsletter. You send an email blast to the community. We would appreciate if every issue would have something featuring a CT program and that when you're in meetings with constituents, be able to talk about that. We would appreciate that the PTA has that as well and that maybe we can arrange somewhere volunteers or staff. We all have to talk about that because there just aren't as we're mentioning as many people aware of it as possible. And even if they would be, do they aware of the the program? And while there's so much online

266information, I think that that more in-person touch on that. So, we appreciate if you can all do that and then encourage your fellow board members in the newsletters to be able to do the same as as well. And in terms of the uh uh the career outreach program that Milson managed in fact that was one of our recommendations from last year to increase the enrollment there and that is has also occurred as as well. And not the least important on those of course are the principles. So we do appreciate that someone is communicating with the principles who themselves have a lot to do with encouraging them. So each one of us can do a lot on our own and that's our recommendation where you can to be able to uh to do that. Thanks Marca.

267Any questions? Second one is to address staffing gaps to strengthen partnerships. Currently, at the best of my knowledge, we have two individuals who are full-time uh responsible in terms of outreach to um uh to the business community. That'll be Ashley and Matt. That's two people. We have approximately 38,000 businesses in Fairfax. We have a multitude of government agencies, government organizations, and we have two people whose primary sole job is to reach out. We have lots of people at schools who do reach out because they know somebody or they're employed. So each school itself does that. That is outside of the CTE program. That is what they can do. So if you have parents or alumni who are fortunate who staying involved and have those resources like a TJ or or elsewhere, um they can do

268all that. But for those that don't, they've essentially got two people who are working on them and they're working as much they can. they've accomplished a lot. Uh we have they coordinate the I2I program where we have some five or 600 students who are coming through to talk to maybe 150 different vendors. That's a lot of work and other work that they do. They are in touch with the Fairfax Economic Development Authority as well. So there is a lot that they do but again 38,000 multi-mployee businesses in Fairfax is very challenging for them to to be able to do that. So um um in other ways uh we've also tried one of our recommendations last year that we had uh offered was for us to become more involved with Educate Fairfax. We did get involved

269by them inviting us to a committee that was talking about essentially this idea. We had one meeting with economic educate fairfax this year. We had I had several myself repeated requests to do so. We attended their events. You were there when you gave the status of schools. It was wonderful. But we had one meeting and that one meeting was how do we plan? Nothing had occurred from them. Um if that is the the the the most important tool that uh FCPS is using in terms of reaching out to business community help FCPS I think they also need some additional help um uh and assistance as well because that was not able to address it. So uh we mentioned here about things that we'd like to do which is reaching out to more with the economic

270development authority the chamber of commerce get some champions uh business champions as we've talked Dr. Reed where when you were in Seattle Boeing was a champion to get more champions such as that but nonetheless we still have to I say sweep the leaves and get more folks out. So, one concept that we'd like to share, whether it's something that could be investigated, but if the school board could suggest that this be investigated, is some way to utilize a third-party service. So, we know we're not going to be able to hire more more folks. We're not talking about those budget limitations, but whether there would be a third party force that could in fact working not just with these authorities, which Matt and Ashley already currently work with, but a much larger part of the business

271community and develop some kind of a compensation elimination based on their success. So there's no success, there's no cost. And if there is success, success defined by maybe donations, uh facilities, whatever the measurements may be, uh then they would get compensated for that. There are some uh cities and counties in the country that have done things of that type, um there um uh we can get a list of them. But if that could somehow address the staffing gap that we're mentioning in recommendation two and yet not impact the budget because payment to such a service perhaps will only occur when there's been success that there may be way to reach out to a lot more of the business uh uh community. >> I also wanted to mention that we're in a community where there's a

272lot of trade associations and headquarters of trade associations. So reaching out to those uh groups would be valuable as well because they could help us establish connections, you know, do shadowing programs, other things like that and they have a large network of people actually in the field that they work with every day coming from someone who used to work for a trade association. >> So So we have a whole list. You all would have I'm sure the same list, but the challenge is who actually does that? We can give all the ideas but if there's no execution of that policy then it's going to be very difficult to be able to uh to uh to do so. I don't know maybe maybe some trade association has a grant program help it. So maybe they provide

273a grant and then they can do a start but will all those someone's actually got to be able to to do that part there. And we know that costs are challenging. So that's one thing we'd like to consider have you consider is a third party way to be able to increase that. And once that's done then the outcomes could be uh um more uh more funding and more facilities um all that would be a possibility and in fact on the issue of uh of facilities I do want to mention that when we had talked about this at one of our meetings uh Mr. Dunn um you had started an email um exchange with Dr. Reed and also Dr. Prescidio about that and that email exchange seemed to be very positive in looking at offsite facilities.

274I wonder if any more has been transpired since then in terms of either changing policies or or how FCPS does that. >> I don't think it's my turn yet, but uh but I'll just say uh it's a continuing conversation and um and I definitely need to follow up with Dr. Reed and Dr. Pidio about that. >> Again, this was about four or five months ago. You were commenting so it seemed to be positive. So now we'd like to see if we can continue that further. So that's our recommendation too in terms of addressing the staffing gap we have to strengthen partnerships. The third one um came as an idea and a discussion um after we heard about this uh uh terrific trip that I think Whitney and Matt I'm not sure how else were you

275on that trip others had. Uh it was a grant provided by an organization for FCPS to take a look at how apprenticeship programs work in Germany. Germany certainly has a long history of such apprenticeship programs. Um sometimes their programs may have been criticized because it tended to take certain people at a very young age and kind of direct them. I think they have evolved from that and today this program that they have is to identify students who could benefit by such potential apprenticeship programs and not to pigeon hole them I guess is one obvious way of of saying that. But there are differences in terms of how apprenticeship programs take place in uh Germany and how they take place here. Um and one of them is a much closer relationship and work between the school

276system and government. So government there seems to have a closer relationship with their school system to be able to actually work these programs and work together. We perhaps don't have that type of relationship at this time here in in Fairfax. I'm not sure if that exists elsewhere in the uh in the country. So that takes a lot of cultural change um to be able to do that, but if it's done, it can be there. So in the meantime, we have tools that we we can work with. We have a um tools as we mentioned such as apprentice for a day. Um we have these industry-ledd projects and we also can reach out to to companies to encourage them. Uh Matt has done that and the assessment so far has been is that they are more

277interested it seems on older students being apprentices perhaps college students than high school students. All right. Are we in a position to try and control some changes changes? Perhaps perhaps you know to have a 16-year-old who's going to kind of show up at your office three hours a week do certain kind of certain kind of things is probably very feasible. Maybe the businesses aren't aware just how capable those students may be but that's also a cultural change that has to be done and then again this is dependent on recommendation two which is the staffing gap in order to do it. One of one of the thing may is that it also appears that in terms of looking at Virginia's apprenticeship work development program compared to Maryland, they have a more robust program in Maryland. I

278don't know if there's a reason for that, but they do it. They're more active in in things like that. Maybe that is more funded. So, in terms of that, maybe we can ask our uh our friends in the general assembly what what can be done to make Virginia's as vibrant as Maryland. And if so, obviously they would be helping the entire state, not just uh uh not just Fairfax. >> And I think committee recommendation three also speaks to, you know, the grow your own program kind of that we have and the um expansion of the summer internship program that has been started within FCPS. I was watching the school board meeting when it was talked about and many of the schoolboard members were you know very excited about the program and you know um supporters

279of it. So I think as much as we can expand that program it's been valuable. It was wonderful to see the recent press about a um a gentleman who started in AV and you know where he is right now. So I think as much as we can promote some of those programs would be wonderful as well. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um I've had discussions with some uh supervisors on the board of supervisors. Are there potential tax incentives that they can do? The response was well could be can you bring us some more examples. So I'm a volunteer here. I'm suggesting things that I have seen that our committee has discussed. We just have to encourage everyone but there potentially could be and so of course could the general assembly look at tax incentives. Uh

280in the last administration, they were very um uh proactive in terms of workforce development, though they tended to be more when you're an adult and we had talked to some folks about can we move that earlier to like when they're 16 instead of 25. That work still has to be done, but just providing those incentives. We know that that's not a school board responsibility, but you have those who work with you in terms of the GA and and the board of supervisors. Could they find those tax incentives that would then encourage more businesses to engage high school students as apprentices? There are obviously some u bottlenecks here. One will be transportation. How will students be able to get them and they'd have to go to somewhere on a regular basis? That's something we have to

281look at. And one of the things we have recommended in fact to to Whitney is looking at Educate Fairfax to provide more transportation grants to cover those where there's a few students where we can't give them a school bus. But we'll need that kind of extra one and maybe Educate Fairfax could give such a grant to uh to CTE so that we don't have any u obstacles in getting students there. But apprentice programs certainly be there because that's likely one person trying to get from one school maybe at 1:00 in the afternoon to do that. Another obstacle here that that could get in the way is of course is scheduling uh scheduling conflicts. Could it be that the classes a student has will conflict? Perhaps their their employer wants them to be there between the

282hours of 12 and two and three and then be manageable. So that's probably each and is a one-on-one basis. But where there would be opportunities for FCPS to be flexible so that if it would help to give that kind of flexibility to a student to be an apprentice that maybe that can be the the thing that can open up that opportunity there um for them and we mentioned about the trade associations trade associations certainly looking for for such opportunities um in many of them they have very tremendous demand and I think when I've spoken to some uh the plumbers and and and electrics that they would have room to be able to get apprentice or programs. You got to get the student there. You got to work it out. Plus, you go through the regulations

283that we all have in terms of doing that. But those trade associations, that is one way they could do is create those apprenticeship programs um as as well. And again, as I said, let's let's see if we can be as vibrant and proactive as Maryland and uh to engage our general assembly members in doing that. All right. The last one is a a thing that we've overlooked for a while on the committee. The last committee that we had uh the last time we had bylaws addressed was in 2014. So it was overdue. So we appreciated that we had a couple volunteers on our committee to look at that to work with Whitney. And so what we have submitted is an updated uh bylaws that is in in conformance with the uh the new FCPS committee

284handbook that was created I think two or three years ago. So we have been sort of out of compliance with that in various things like can you have more than one co-chair various other stuff like that. So I think we've done that. I don't know if someone has had to do a review on that if it's consistent but based on our group our committee we think it is. And if it is not, whether we go back to drawing board in the coming year and we can work on it some more. Uh before I go to the closing, I just want to sum up in terms of where we were as far as last year's recommendations. So for uh school year 2425, we had wanted to update the the uh uh the class on career exploration

285which we have and now we have far more people in there and we just need to continue to be able to do all that. Um we also recommended reallocation of resources recognizing base school uh limitations. That's where in terms of how we could assign teachers or or not and um we haven't really been able to do that. So we are still I guess I would say out of balance in terms of where our resources are and where the students are. We hope that so we haven't put that in the recommendation this year but that's still actually a pending from last year that if you all could look at that would be uh much appreciated. We also talked about a recommendation last year about greater equity for teachers in um for CTE our CTSO. Among them

286we pointed out that these teachers do not have a stipen. That was last year. They still do not have a stipen this year. And I don't know whether the collective bargaining assisted that or slowed that down. Either way, those teachers who commit to stay and as you know, in order to get certain credits and accreditation, um the teachers have to provide additional hours beyond the school day. FBLA is a great example of that and so forth. CT the CSCTSO teachers do not get that stipen unlike others whether it's orchestra or football or whichever that program is. Um so we appreciate that. So that's two recommendations from last year that are still pending in addition to the three that we have uh we have put on here. Our committee will be able to go on uh

287as always and our new chair will be Christy Balwa who is currently on the committee. She actually is our leazison with NOVA. She's the workforce development person. And so we are always badgering her. Can you do more? Can you give us more facilities? Can you do these things? She says, "Well, look at it. You know what? You're now the chair. Now you can ask yourself what more of it can do." But she has has done that and there could be certainly more opportunities in terms of cooperation with Novo. But there are various procedural things that have to be done. So I leave that to you guys to make that recommendation and then with Dr. to read to be able to make it. How much can we do more in terms of utilizing NOVA's uh facilities

288assets for our students? And a new vice chair who is with us today is Noster who's the current PTA rep. I imagine will still be the PTA rep will be will be joining us. So that myself and Marissa and Paul. Um I will be staying on the committee. I So will Marissa. Uh Paul has his business is too busy. So Matteo has to find a new representative there. uh but they just like others will be I think enthusiastic and working and will keep doing what we can to make recommendations which we hope are reasonable or feasible and uh with your help as school board and administration will be able to implement those questions. >> Um I just want to start off by saying thank you. I know that the work that you guys do is

289it seems repetitive in some ways because you're telling us the same things over and over, but however, um I want you to know that despite the fact that some of my colleagues were not able to attend this afternoon, we hear you. Um and I don't I haven't heard anybody on the board say that they're not interested in and supportive of CTE programs. We understand that particularly me as a as a former college instructor, I fully understand that not everybody belongs in a college classroom for lots of different reasons and we need to give a breath of opportunities to our students. So, I appreciate the advocacy that you guys always give. Um, one thing that I I don't know if this just hasn't happened during my time on the board or whether or not this is

290something that could potentially be in a charge for next year or something like that. um is what limitations you you guys mentioned this when you were talking about Maryland quite a bit um in terms of how what they're doing is different than what we're doing in Virginia and I like the fact that you already mentioned the general assembly but really looking at what are our state laws I know um Miss Lady has recommended lots of changes that need to be made related to state laws related to apprenticeships and things like that that would count for high school credit and so I would I think that we need a better roadmap of what we actually need to be advocating for um and so I think that that is a path towards that that type of advocacy.

291So just more information from you guys would be helpful because I know we have while while I do understand that employers tend to want older students, it doesn't necessarily fit that way in every job field because many of many of the kids are not are going to hit the workforce immediately after they graduate. And so having someone that is better prepared and that you don't have to start an apprenticeship so early um or so much later, you could start while you were still in high school and really walk out the door ready to go um in a way that I think that would be beneficial for lots of employers um in this in the job fields particularly that are not going away because of technology. Um we still we still need electricians and plumbers and

292HVAC repair and all those things um in order to keep our world running. So, I want and I love the idea of school champions and so I think that having those connections with partnerships uh is awesome and I and I will be continuing to listen hard for that. Um and I hear you related to the stipens for CTE teachers. I think that there are lots of positions across our division that still need that extra a little bit of um support in terms of financial support. And I know that as we as our budget is going to allow for it, I'm sure that we're going to look for opportunities to do that. Um, so I just wanted to say thank you again for all the work that you've done this year. Um, and I was really

293sad that I didn't get to come out on the school visit this year, but I'm going to try to do everything I can to be there next year. But I did get to go to the eye to eye conference and that was pretty amazing to be able to walk through and see what the kids were doing and all the employers that were there. So, thank you so much. I appreciate one thing I I omitted to mention about apprenticeships in terms of opportunities is uh to what extent does FCPS have apprenticeships. How many high school students can be brought on as apprenticeships through various programs in FCPS? I don't know if there's a number on that but if there is that would be great and then whatever that number is can it be increased can they

294do a number of things where you may not have others for or you have the funding but a student would be glad to do that and getting that kind of a practical experience. So, we'd like to put that as a as a a goal for FCPS as well. Thank you, Mr. Samson. >> Um, so I'll take a turn. Um, I I I I agree with my colleague that um having uh a comparison or some work done on Maryland, maybe other states that you identify that have best practices. Um and then so we we have a better sense of you know what can we import to FCPS to whether it requires changes in state laws or not. Um you know how how do we get there and um and if there are changes in laws we

295can you know we have a whole legislative team that could advocate for that. Um uh I I'm also interested in uh expanding um you know partnerships not just with industry but with unions. you know, the um I visited an amazing training center up in Maryland that um where uh it it um uh the pipe fitters union, I believe, and they, you know, you can learn how to set up like kind of booths for conferences, you can learn um carpentry, you can learn plumbing, you can learn all kinds of things. It's just amazing amazing facility. Um and and you know I don't it's probably it might be too far for most of our schools but you know perhaps we could partner to establish something like that closer right um and that could be via a multi-jurisdictional

296uh funding exercise. Um I'm also interested in learning more about this these third party services you mentioned. Um are there any that you recommend or any place to go for to find out more about these third party services? um because it sounds almost a little magical but um >> um the the third party services I met were specific ones. The research that I did show that in in many uh school counties commies with the school uh systems have in terms of saving a costs transferred some things. Now those are becoming more political in some way but they are finding that they are resources that they can access perhaps easier um through that way than trying to create budgets which have been cut back. So some of these could be controversial in terms of you're talking

297about the types of schools those under the third party services I'm talking about I'm talking where county system will use a third party resources that will help those businesses but then be able to help the school system in a way that the traditional government system has not. I'm very happy to do some more on that and try and get some more specific ones there. I take that from my own experience. I my work my career was in logistics supply chain and and the change in supply chain of decades has been to to make horizontal organizations rather than vertical. So instead of trying to do everything within house you go out there and that involves third parties and when third parties come together and assuming they work well together then more can be done about that

298part. So that's where I get my experience in doing all that and technology enables us to be able to do that. in the past you really couldn't because how do you follow but that technology now is an enabler to do that. So I'm happy to follow up and bring some of that to you. >> That would be great. And uh you know I think in terms of the economic development authority and educate Fairfax you know if there's things you need from the school board to make more meetings happen um or get them to prioritize it then then please ask because I think that's something that's free and um and and I wonder if there isn't an opportunity to work with the economic development authority. I mean, they, you know, the schools are one of the

299major things, their major selling points for Fairfax County. Can't they fund a position or two to help build partnerships between industry and schools? Right. I mean, uh, an argument could be made, right? And uh, and and that might be worth exploring. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. I recently, and I rarely do this, but I went to Richmond for a meeting um and our governor spoke and they actually are beginning um Stuart Robinson, they're beginning a K12 uh business partnership group because they're recognizing uh that that's a key linkage. So, I did attend that group and we are working with our um Fairfax Economic Development Authority, Visar Victor Hoskins. Um I think there's Rebecca an and that's part of um the work we're really invested in right now. It would be great if there was

300um more coordination already. But I think that many states have productively partnered K12 uh with industry uh because they recognize when you pair with higher ed it's too late um because a lot of our young people are no longer um as available. We graduate almost 15,000 students a year from Fairfax County and they don't all go to post-secary education um or right to work or the military, right? People have to go out and keep recruiting them and they're actually here. So, I think that our the Commonwealth, I think, is beginning to understand the power of those connections. Um so, I'm hopeful that we can continue to build on those partnerships. Um but uh even just having one common chamber of commerce in Fairfax County would be helpful. Um and my understanding is there used to

301be and now and I don't know if it was COVID or at what point things became more fractured. Uh but there are multiple chambers and multiple economic development uh groups and I think uh to move as an entity is really going to be helpful for us uh and more productive. So I appreciate you raising that uh question. Yes, in response to that in terms of what more work can be done again um there certainly is discussion at the general assembly um in some of that I it's good if they have that um I also know that they've also discussions there about changing the structure of the advanced diploma standard diploma um Senator Picarski had tried some of that legislation to be able to change that because we didn't mention that here but one of the

302other obstacles that the state imposes is in terms of the classes that you need to get your advanced diploma which can limit how many CT courses. So even if we increase that uh demand which we can then we still have this supply issue because while I can't do that because the state does that. So I know that she has been working with others on that and you know it just didn't get up to the list of priorities of the GA. I guess they had a few other issues to talk about but you keep putting this off and I don't know. So us in some part of trying to encourage them to do that but wherever you can for them to make those kind of changes such as this they can do quite a lot and

303I'm glad to see they have these these meetings. Um but just these days it seems they have other things they want to talk about and everyone there will say yes we want the schools do all that. Well you actually have to you can actually do concrete things at the GA level. Uh so can the governor. Um and in fact the last governor did quite a lot on workforce development and I'm not sure if all of that is is being funded or continued but we appreciate that. I think what you're talking about with the differential diplomas is really a critical piece. I think when we're trying to problem solve, we all often make the mistake of looking at what's right in front of us to think about solving. But if we go up river or upstream,

304we see the causality or the events causing it. Many states have gone away from multiple types of diplomas and rather have a diploma. Um and when the diploma has the aspects of the advanced diploma only it has to be earned by all students and there's no waiting then there's not a disincentive to take uh current technical education classes. So right now we have a situation often where students who are trying to get into post-secary education there's a disincentive because of the lack of grade waiting for certain courses to take them because there's an incentive to take a course that has a greater weight for their GPA in a positive way. So I think looking upstream and that's just problem solving, right, for families and students. If those options didn't provide that disincentive, I think we'd

305see um a much more integrated educational approach that has high expectations for career and college readiness. uh because we know I'll just use one example because I know this meeting isn't about this but the Lexile reading level of technical journals for entry level professional technical positions is a higher Lexile reading level than a ninth grade or a freshman college reading level. And so I think there's a myth that college prep is actually a higher academic threshold. It's not. And so I think when we think about an advanced diploma uh threshold for all students, it's actually reasonable and without the waiting, I think we would actually have um a more interesting and balanced approach to course taking patterns. >> I agree. And and so I wish parents would ask this of their legislators in in Richmond

306and do more of that because they have the a key. But I don't think parents on the average will expect that. Parents say if my student would like to take more CT courses but can't because the diploma, who do they blame? FCPS. Let's let's get them to demand more of that. But okay, that's beyond here. But I like doing that and that's why we bring them to these academy visits so we can impress upon them. And uh certainly U Senator Picarski has been there, Delegate Cohen has been there. they just need to get more allies to do what what you're doing >> because I think it also speaks to the skills that that students can get from the CTE programs because one of the things we've kind of worked on over the years is kind

307of dispelling the myths you know that CTE is just trade education it's not it's beyond that and I think you know to speak to your point about what you know reading level is needed you know there are certain careers that need higher level science and they get some of that information in the C in that that that school in the CTE courses that are offered. So I think you know we've also had the discussions about how career and college readiness can work together and it's not two separate paths. It can be one shared path. Uh, so I I'll just say I'll definitely take your suggestion earlier to um put some CTE content into my newsletters and and I think I'll be seeing what else I can do on an individual level to promote CTE more

308because you're right, there's amazing programs which I've often said to Dr. Reid would be half of a glossy brochure of a typical high school if it were private, but not enough people know about it. So, um, anything we can do individually, but also as a school board, I'll try to foster those discussions. Um, because >> Whitney would love to share that like individual students just >> that'd be awesome. So, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you.