001This February 26, 2026 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order at 7 p.m. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the national anthem uh followed by a performance voice and sing by the Justice High School chamber chamber choir under the direction of Miranda Lansbury. I pledge allegiance to the flag. Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring. Ring with the harmonies of liberty. Let our rejoiceing rise high as the listening skies. Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Missing the rising sun of our new day began. Let
002us march on till victory is one. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we held at the twilight last gleaming. Whose bright stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight or the ramp parts we watched were so gallently streaming. And the rockets red glare. The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave or the land of the free and the home of the of the brave. Can we please have one more round of applause for our amazing students? If you would like to review a copy of this me of the meeting agenda, please see the back of the auditorium. To obtain copies of any items or supporting materials being presented tonight, please reference
003the QR code on the agenda or visit www.fcps.edu/boards. Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel on cox channel 999 Verizon Fiios channel 11 and livereamed on YouTube and at our website www.fcps.edulivestream. Mr. Mr. Dunn has submitted a request to attend tonight's meeting remotely due to a personal conflict due to a professional obligation and is is located in Mount Vernon, Virginia. I have performed an initial review of Mr. Dunn's request and having found it to be in compliance with the school board's remote participation resolution, I have approved the request. Mr. Dunn, please check your audio and visual. We see you. >> I can hear you. Can you hear me? >> We can hear you. Excellent. We now ask all board members who are physically present to vote on the following. All those in favor of confirming
004the chair's approval of Mr. Dunn's request. Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, and myself. All those opposed, Dr. Anderson. Will the clerk please read the vote? 71. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Agenda item 3.03, Custodian and Food Nutrition Worker Appreciation Month Proclamation. I call on Miss Lady for a proclamation. Whereas custodians are the first employees to arrive in the morning and the last employees to leave at night. And our custodians rise to the challenge each and every day to ensure schools are safe, clean, and ready to receive students. And whereas we honor FCPS's custodians, field custodians, and building supervisors who are responsible for the daily care and safe operation of all facilities and buildings on a year-round basis. School facilities represent a significant investment
005on the part of the citizens of Fairfax County and FCPS custodial employees ensure they are kept clean and in good repair. And whereas by providing clean and safe school environments, FCPS custodians have direct impact on the educational success of our students. And whereas FCPS custodians take pride in their work and seek additional training leading to certification as professional custodians. And whereas we recognize that helping our children fulfill their highest potential begins with access to healthy food and balanced nutritious meals at school. Studies show these are often the most most nutritious and sometimes the only meals in a student's day. They improve student health, making it easier for students to learn and and erode inequality while focusing on exposing students to a variety of diverse meals. And whereas food nutrition services is committed to serving every
006student by offering numerous programs to support student nutrition and academic achievement by serving over 20 million meals per school year. And whereas we honor the 1400 FCPS school cafeteria staff and food and nutrition professionals who make these meals possible and operate the division's food services programs to ensure every student has access to healthy meals regardless of food allergies, medical conditions, or cultural and philosophical dietary preferences. These essential, valued employees who prepare and serve school meals help nurture and nourish our children through their daily interactions and support our students. And whereas the hard work, contributions, and unending dedication of our food and nutrition services employees have been an example for all of us. And for that, the FCPS community is extremely grateful. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fergus County Board recognizes February 2026 as
007custodian and food and nutrition worker appreciation month. and thank these custodians and food and nutrition workers whose attention to detail, compassion, and high standards benefit all students, employees, and members of the FCS FCPS community. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. I will call for a vote. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Macke, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Mr. Dunn, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members. Agenda item 3.04, proclamation celebrating the 25th anniversary of McNair Elementary School. I call on Miss Marin for a motion. They just walked in. Okay. Here we go. Okay. Whereas McNair Elementary School opened in 2001 to meet the growing needs of its community, transitioning from a preK through sixth grade model
008to a primary school serving students in preschool through 2 grade. And whereas in 2021, the opening of McNair Upper Elementary School alleviated overcrowding by relocating students in grades three through six to a new site, allowing McNair Elementary School to focus on preschool through 2 grade while expanding specialized programming, including enhanced autism classrooms for kindergarten through 2 grade, preschool autism classrooms, early childhood class-based classrooms, and inclusive prek programming. And whereas at the start of the 2025 school year, McNair Elementary School was designated a title one school, expanding opportunities for students through targeted supports, including free and reduced meals, um uh free, excuse me, including free after-school clubs for kindergarten through 2 grade that strengthen mathematics and science learning through problem based instruction, creative and critical thinking, and the activation of student curiosity. And whereas McNair Elementary
009School focuses on cultivating a safe, inclusive, and joyful environment where academic and social emotional excellence allow the youngest learners to thrive under the motto lifelong learners grow here. The vision is realized through a commitment to fostering a sense of belonging, mutual respect, and a growth of mindset and a growth mindset rooted in perseverance. By integrating innovative experiences and critical thinking into curriculum, the school empowers students to embrace ownership of their unique learning adventures and explore endless possibilities. Whereas McNair Elementary School provides a holistic educational experience through diverse instructional and behavioral programs such as AVMR, conscious discipline and enhanced autism classrooms while fostering creativity and environmental stewardship through get to green and various fine arts performances. And whereas the school cultivates student leadership and inclusivity through the daily McNair morning news show, the Best Buddies program,
010and Junior Patrols, empowering students to build essential life skills and support peer community. And whereas a robust family and community engagement is sustained through strategic partnerships with organizations like Asha Josie and Food for Others alongside a collaborative PTA that hosts multicultural events, steam nights, and enrichment activities to support the school's mission. Now therefore, be it resolved that we celebrate the 25th anniversary of McNair Elementary School, honoring its dedication to AC academic excellence, inclusive programs, leadership development, and strong community partnerships that continue to enrich the lives of students, families. And be it further resolved that we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the students, families, staff, and community members who have contributed to 25 years of excellence at McNair Elementary School. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Moon. I will call for the vote.
011All those in favor, Mr. FR, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Mr. Dunn, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members. Agenda item 3.05, proclamation honoring the 100th anniversary of Chester Brook Elementary School. I call on Miss Lady for a proclamation. Whereas Chester Brook Elementary School opened its doors in 1926 and proudly celebrates its 100th anniversary, making a century of service to students, families, and the community. And whereas Chesterbrook Elementary School's history reflects the broader history of Fairfax County Public Schools with roots in the Chesterbook community formerly known as Lincolnville, including early schools serving African-American children beginning in 1906 and milestones such as racial integration in the 1960s that shaped the diverse, inclusive school community it is today. And whereas for hundred
012years, Chesterbrook Elementary has provided generations of students with a nurturing and rigorous education, building strong relationships across the school community while encouraging lifelong learning. And whereas Chesterbook Elementary School is dedicated to providing a rigorous and enriching instructional program, including a full-time advanced academic program, Spanish foreign language in elementary schools flesh, a comprehensive instructional music program, and a wide range of before and after school extracurricular activities that support the development of the whole child. And whereas Chesterburg Elementary School promotes leadership, service, and community engagement through initiatives such as student ambassadors program, including an echo team, philanthropy club, school spirit committee, safety patrols, and a studentled CES news show, partnerships with Vincent Hall retirement community, and St. Dunston's church and peer buddy programs. And whereas Chester Brook Elementary School proudly fosters strong school spirit and community engagement
013through meaningful partnerships with families enjoying many traditions that bring Chickmunks together, including fun fair, family fun nights, community cookouts, and annual grade level celebrations of learning. And whereas as a purple star schools Chester Brook Elementary honors military connected students and families and fosters an appreciation for service, citizenship and civic responsibility annually hosting Veterans Day speakers honoring the service of our military families and our Vincent Hall neighbors. And whereas thousands of students have passed through the doors of Chesterbrook Elementary School and benefited from the dedication of exceptional teachers, staff, families, and community partners who work collaboratively to prepare students to be thoughtful learners, compassionate citizens, and future leaders. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby honors Chester Brook Elementary School on the occasion of its 100th anniversary commends the school for
014a century of education, educational excellence, service, and community impact and extends its best wishes as Chester Brook Elementary School continues its proud tradition of preparing students for the challenges and opportunities of the future. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Mavine. I will call for a vote. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself with Mr. Dunn away from the table. Oh, nope. There's Mr. Dunn. Mr. Dunn. Thank you. With Mr. Dunn. That's unanimous for all board members. I would like to welcome all those here to support the proclamation honoring the 100th anniversary of Chester Brook Elementary School to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis.
015I would like to welcome all those here in support of the proclamation honoring the 25th anniversary of McNair Elementary School to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the custodian and food and nutrition worker appreciation month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis. Chair Anderson. That is the last proclamation photo. That's the last proclamation photo. Agenda item 3.06, school anniversary recognitions for 2026. The Fairfax County School Board is very pleased to recognize the schools celebrating an anniversary in 2026. Please stand when your school is recognized. After all recognitions are complete, schools will be invited by region to have a photo with the board. Celebrating 40 years of excellence, Armstrong Elementary
016has a proud history of honoring the growth, achievement, and the caring spirit of their amazing students who remain the center of everything they do. The success of Armstrong is built upon the foundation of a caring and dedicated staff and a supportive, encouraging community that together ensure every child can achieve greatness. At Armstrong, they take immense pride in their inclusive and caring culture, which is designed to support the unique individual needs of every learner. From their specialized local level 4 AP and enhanced autism programs to hosting the largest elementary school comprehensive services site, CSS and FCPS, Armstrong serves as a model of diversity and dedicated support. As we look ahead to Armstrong students learning in a newly renovated building, we celebrate 40 years of Armstrong being a place where every student is empowered to belong, learn,
017and succeed. Originally opened as a neighborhood elementary program in September 1956, today Cedar Lane School proudly serves high school students with diverse needs. Their mission is to provide the structured and nurturing learning environment that supports the academic, social, emotional, vocational and behavioral growth of every student. Cedar Lane School is a small school with a big purpose. A principal parish and STEM know students by name and support them to achieve their personal goals. The Panther community thrives through small class sizes and individualized instruction tailored to each student's unique journey. Now in its 70th year, Satellane School celebrates learning, community and progress. Family connections, community partnerships, internships, and hands-on learning, arts, athletics, and academics all fuel the thriving Set Lane community. Congratulations. >> Crestwood Elementary School proudly celebrates 70 years of learning, growth, and community as the
018home of the O owls. Opened since 1956, Crestwood has served a vibrant neighborhood anchor where a rich tapestry of diversity and commitment to academic excellence go hand in hand. The milestone honors a unique multi-generational legacy as many families have seen parents and grandparents pass through these same halls, fostering a deep sense of tradition and belonging. Supported by dedicated staff and a close-knit community, generations of owls have been empowered to reach their full potential. As we celebrate this 70th anniversary, we honor Crestwood's storied past and look ahead with pride as they continue to inspire and nurture students for many years to come. Gabbrun Elementary School proudly celebrates 40 years of learning, growth, and community as the home of the Cubbies. For four 40 uh decades, not 40, four decades, Cuban has been a place where young
019learners are encouraged to be curious, caring, and confident as they take their first step in their educational journey. Guided by dedicated teachers and staff, Cabran cubbies have grown academically and socially in a welcoming environment that values kindness, responsibility, and respect. Families and community partners have been an essential part of the school success helping to create a strong sense of community and belonging as their school motto is together we belong. As Cabran marks the special milestone, we honor the many students, educator, families who have shaped its history and look ahead with excitement to continue continuing a proud tradition of nurturing and inspiring cubbies for generations to come. Eagle View Elementary celebrates its 20th anniversary, marking two decades as a beac beacon of belonging and academic excellence. Since 2006, the school has lived its vision that every
020student belongs and loves to learn. Supporting military families as a Purple Star school and earning frequent FCPS Cares awards for its dedicated staff. Anchored by a strong house system, Eagle View fosters a true Eagle View family through programs like Lego Robotics and Math Olympiad. Community events such as Steam Night and or STEM night and music and arts, gallery night, and inclusive supports from preK through sixth grade as a comprehensive services site, ensuring every Eagle is supported, challenged, and celebrated. Since opening in 1971, Forest Edge Elementary School has served as a vital cornerstone of the neighborhood, honoring its unique open concept history while evolving from the ferrets into the majestic Forest Edge Eagles. The school's enduring legacy is built upon the dedication of its award-winning staff and a deeprooted sense of home that frequently inspires former
021students to return as teachers and community partners. By integrating modern initiatives like the AVID program alongside traditional AC academic excellence, the school ensures that every student is equipped with the critical thinking and organizational skills needed for lifelong success. Over the past 55 years, the campus has transformed to include vibrant murals and outdoor learning spaces, reflecting a commitment to providing a premier well-rounded education for all. Through her continued focus on kindness, leadership, and service, Forest Edge proudly celebrates its rich history while remaining devoted to the future achievements of every student. Forestville Elementary proudly celebrates its 45th anniversary, honoring a rich history that began in 1980 and came to life when students first entered the building in January 1981. From its early days, organized in the Dell, Glenn, and Veil pods to today's modernized campus, Forestville has
022remained a welcoming, inclusive community where students are safe, supported, and challenged. Nearly 600 students from diverse backgrounds learn each day through strong academics, engaging specials such as music, art, PE, and performing arts, and leadership opportunities, including student council, patrols, and forest vision. Beloved traditions like the school musical field day, spirit weeks, Forestville Fridays, and enriching field trips continue to connect generations of Cardinals. With dedicated educators, strong family, and a PTA partnership, and a commitment to helping every child soar, Forestville's legacy of excellence continues to grow. I will invite you to stand. Glasco Middle School as one of the largest and most diverse middle schools in the country. Glasgow Middle School Glasgow Middle School fosters an environment where students from around the globe come together to learn. It is one of the only three middle schools
023in Fairfax County to serve students in grades six, seven, and eight, offering a distinct three-year experience. Notable programs at Glasgow Middle School include AVID for college readiness, a wide range of afterchool clubs and athletics, awardwinning performing arts ensembles, and comprehensive support for multilingual learners. These programs reflect a sustained commitment to holistic student growth and success. Glasgow's dedication to inclusion is demonstrated through initiatives such as its nationally recognized best buddies chapter mentoring opportunities and an instructional focus grounded on grounded in international balorate approaches to the learning. For 65 years, Glasgow has fostered a culture of respect, responsibility, and readiness that prepares the Panthers to thrive as lifelong learners and engage as an engaged global citizens as well as the region 2 principal of the year. For the last 65 years, the vision of Hearnden Elementary School
024Bees has been to provide students with a safe, nurturing learning environment where all students will work to their full potential. Our community works hard to provide highquality instruction, a safe environment, and develop goals with students. Parents and teachers work together as a community to prepare students to become productive citizens. We believe in our students that each of them has unique qualities and the ability to learn given opportunity and encouragement. With the proper guidance, support and expectations, our children can have high levels of achievement. We believe in our teachers who are highly qualified to support, encourage, and nurture each of their students to become high achievers. We believe in our community. Families are an integral part of a great school. We're excited to see what the next 65 years will bring to H. Hearnden Elementary. Also
025celebrating 65 years as H. Turn in middle school. We honor a campus whose roots run deeper than almost any other in Fairfax County. For more than a century, this site has served as an educational hub beginning in 1912 as the original home of H. Hearnden High School, where the first brick building opened its doors to the community. In 1961, when H. Hearnden High School moved to Bennett Street, the Locust Street campus transitioned into an intermediate school for seventh and eighth graders, marking the beginning of H. Hearnden Middle School. While the facility has been modernized over time, its mission endures. Today, H. Hearnden Middle School proudly serves one of the most culturally and economically diverse student populations in the county, reflecting the vibrant H. Hearnden community. Through strong partnerships with students and families, a culture of
026collaboration, and fierce optimism, the staff ensures equitable access to rigorous, engaging instruction so all students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally as confidence cur confident, curious, lifelong learners. Keenill Elementary Elementary proudly celebrates 65 years of excellence and dedication to student success. For more than six decades, Keenill has served as a cornerstone for its community. Grounded in strong partnerships, high expectation for students, and a commitment to educating the whole child. Generations of students, families, and educators have contri contributed to this legacy defined by professionalism, care, and continuous growth. The Keenill staff is committed to balancing high academic expectations with keeping a pulse on the social emotional development of their students to ensure a sense of belonging for all. Keen Mill continues to honor its past while remaining rooted to equity, care, and continuous growth for generations
027to come. Uh, the board would like to recognize Key Middle School on their 55th anniversary. At Key Middle School, expectations for student behavior are high, curiosity is nurtured, and achievement is celebrated. The board would like to recognize principal Drew Campbell and assistant principles Sha Brown and Sher Peters for their exceptional leadership. Together with Keys dedicated teachers and staff, they have built a thriving international balora program that equips students with the critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills essential for the 21st century. Students have numerous opportunities to enhance their classroom experience at Key Middle School, including the National Junior Honors Society, Drama Club, Soccer Club, and Model UN. Through strong partnership between educators, students, and families, Key welcome. Key creates a welcoming environment where all students develop into inquiring, empathetic, and knowledgeable young people. >> Lemon Road
028Elementary School pr celebrates its 70th anniversary. Honoring a legacy that makes the school truly unique within Fairfax County. Since opening on January 6, 1956, Lemon Road has combined strong academic achievement with innovative student- centered learning. As a level four full-time advanced academic center, the school offers rigorous instruction enriched by project-based learning, steam, outdoor education, and portrait of graduate portfolios. Flexible learning spaces, advanced technology, and a focus on social emotional learning support the whole child. Lemon Road is equally defined by its strong community spirit, meaningful family engagement, and deep commitment to inclusivity, reflected in its history of integration and its designation as a Purple Star and Echo School USA Green Flag Award winner. The 70-year milestone celebrates a school community built on excellence, equity, and continuous growth. For 65 years, Manua Elementary School has played an
029important role in shaping forwardthinking education in Fairfax County and enriching the lives of students, families, and the broader community. Opened on September 5th, 1961, Mantoa has a proud history of embracing change to better serve its students. In 1995, Manto Elementary School pioneered a one-to-one technology initiative, providing each student with access to an individual computer and helping redefine how teaching and learning could take place through thoughtful integration of technology. Work that helped lay the foundation for instructional approaches used across Fairfax County Public Schools. Today, that legacy is reinforced by an exceptional PTA that strengthens community connections and offers unique opportunities, including Virginia's only single school elementary basketball league. In 2025, Manuela was named the per a purple star school in recognition of its support for military connected families and students. Manuela Elementary is committed to fostering
030a school community of passionate staff and students in which curiosity, resilience, well-being, and joy thrive. Celebrating 65 years of excellence, Marshall Road Elementary School empower students through innovative programs, dedicated educators, and strong partnerships with families in the community. opened on September 5th, 1961. Marshall Road played an important role in the desegregation of Fairfax County Public Schools, wel welcoming its first African-American students in 1963 during the early stages of Fairfax County's long delayed desegregation process. Today, Marshall Road is known for its culture of kindness and belonging, serving a diverse community where students speak 48 languages at home and represent a wide range of abilities and backgrounds. Marshall Road is recognized for enriching learning opportunities in steam, strong community service programs, and sustainability efforts, including a schoolwide composting program. Montro's Alternative Learning Center provides a non-traditional educational
031environment for Fairfax County Public School students in grades seven and eight. Muous ALC's commitment to motivating, teaching, and empowered and empowering every student reflects its vision that all learners deserve the guidance, encouragement, and structured support necessary to achieve personal and academic success. Mos ALC provides equitable student academic opportunities, a positive school climate, and promotes social emotional wellness, including restorative practices which are utilized in the classroom to build relationships and encourage students ownership of personal responsibility for their actions in class and in the school community. Small class sizes combined with a specialized curriculum allows teachers to customize instruction for each student. The cent's commitment to fostering accountability and resilience ensures that students are equipped for a successful transition back to their base schools and are prepared to reach their full academic potential. Congratulations on 35 years.
032Celebrating its 70th anniversary, Navy Elementary School stands as a testament to seven decades of educational excellence since first opening its doors in February 1956. Originally designated by Belaloo and Justice with just nine classrooms. The school transitioned from its temporary home at the old Flores School to a dedicated facility that was formerly inaugurated on a snowy afternoon March 1956. Since those early days uh when enrollment was set at just 250 students, Navy has evolved into a premier 21st century learning community. Today, the school maintains a rigorous academic environment where students consistently strive to exceed state standards through a technology rich differentiated curriculum. This commitment to the whole child is evidenced by the integration of flesh Spanish instruction for grades K through six and a robust suite of extracurriculars including the junior master gardeners and dolphin discovery
033science classes supported by an active PTO and a long-standing partnership with Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. Navy continues to foster a community of trust and environmental stewardship ensuring its students are prepared to be informed, self-sufficient, and productive global citizens for the next 70 years and beyond. North Springfield Elementary is recognized for its engaging after-school programs and cultural clubs that expand learning beyond the classroom and for its strong partnerships with the community which includes PTA sponsored events such as movie nights, bingo nights, and heritage nights. North Springfield Elementary was among the first in Fairfax County public schools to earn a Purple Star School designation in recognition of its support to military families and is home to the largest special education preschool program in the division. A source of Beaver pride at North Springfield is their signature musical,
034The Play, which rivals secondary school productions. It is that amazing. North Springfield maintains an award-winning eco club and student centered programs such as project-based learning in a studentrun news show. Traditions that include the top 10 mile race, winter singalong, the gratitude wall, and kindness celebrations programs reflect a vibrant culture rooted in respect, belonging, kindness, and collaboration. North Springs North Springfield Ele elementary school proudly celebrates its 70th anniversary honoring a legacy of community and student success. Old Creek Elementary School proudly celebrates 60 years of excellence as the home of the Bears. Since opening in 1966, Old Creek has been a cornerstone of our community, building strong relationships and a proud tradition of academic excellence. For six decades, Old Creek has supported the academic, social, and emotional growth of every student in a safe and welcoming environment.
035As a vibrant community school serving families across the Bradic District, Old Creek provides a comprehensive and inclusive educational experience, including an AAP program, enhanced autism program, and comprehensive services site. Old Creek envisions an inclusive community of lifelong learners and competent risktakers who see challenges as opportunities to grow. Through engaging experiences, generations of Bears have been prepared to thrive as thoughtful, curious, responsible, and resilient individuals. With pride in its history and excitement for the future, Old Creek celebrates 60 years of growing strong together.Wondor Road Schoolers. Anyone from Quander Road? Quander Road School marks 60 years of service as a specialized alternative high school located in the Mambon district, but serving students from throughout the county. Serving 100 students, the school provides a family-like atmosphere defined by a small classes and integrated clinical support. As a model
036for trauma inform education, it prioritizes trust and resilience, creating a sanctuary where students feel safe to take academic risks. This mission is bostered by by the Aspire program and a staff of champion advocates including outstanding employee winners from 2023 and 2025. Beyond the classroom, school fosters community through initiatives like Operation Gift Box, demonstrating a deep commitment to service. Under the new school leadership, Quander Road continues its meaningful work in partnership with the parents and neighbors. By prioritizing relationships over rigid structures, the school endures ensures students find the safety necessary to earn their diplomas and thrive as a con confident contributing members of a society. Robinson Secondary School proudly celebrates 55 years of excellence, tradition, and school spirit as the home of the Rams. Serving students in grade 7 through 12, Robinson has for more than
037five decades challenged learners to think critically, lead with integrity, and strive for their personal best. Generation of Rams have excelled in rigorous academics, athletics, the arts, and student leadership, building a strong culture of pride and perseverance. Dedicated educators and supportive families have helped middle and high school's years, preparing them for success beyond graduation. This anniversary honors the achievements, memories, and tradition that defines Robinson's legacy while looking forward with confidence as Ram continues to learn, grow, and lead in an everchanging world. Celebrating 60 years serving students and families, Shrivewood Elementary School fosters high achieving learning environment rooted in strong relationships and a sense of belonging. Opened on September 6, 1966, Shrivewood serves a richly diverse student community and is committed to providing equitable academic opportunities for every student. Among Shrivewood's many clubs and organizations is a
038student-run news crew that produces the daily live morning news show. I encourage you all to tune in. Uh Good Morning Shrive offering students hands-on experience in filming, production, and broadcast technology. Shrivewood is also supported by a very strong PTA that brings students, families, and staff together. The school has been recognized for its commitment to positive school culture and environmental stewardship earning the designation as a positivity project green shield school and a green flag award from the national wildlife federation's eco schools US program and in 2025 Shrivewood was named a purple star school in recognition of its support for military connected students and families. Stone Middle School proudly marks 35 years of supporting students during the pivotal middle school years as a proud home of the Panthers. For more than three decades, Stone has helped Panthers
039discover their strength, build confidence, and develop a learn love of learning in a supportive and engaging environment through strong academics, world language, fine arts, and extracurricular opportunities. Students are en encouraged to explore interest and challenge themselves both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers and staff work closely with families to foster a sense of belonging and community that helps student thrive social socially and academically. As stone celebrate this milestone, we recognize the generation of Panthers who have shaped the school spirit and look ahead with enthusiasm to continue a tradition of growth, resilience, and panther pride. Union Mill Elementary celebrates its 40th anniversary, marking four decades of excellence since opening in Clifton in 1986. Now a 21st century leader in STEA in STEM digital literacy and artificial intelligence. Union Mill engages families through events like math and
040science night, family heritage night, and literacy night supported by a deeply committed PTA and parent community. As a purple star school, Union Mill proudly supports military-connected families while fostering inclusion through programs such as unified sports and the be and the bear buddies mentor program. Guided by the portrait of a graduate framework and enriched by initiatives like get to green and the advanced academic program, Union Mill continues to nurture academic achievement, leadership, and social emotional growth for every bear. Waples Mill Elementary celebrates its 35th anniversary, marking more than three decades as a vibrant cornerstone of the Oakton community. Known for strong academic performance, the school supports every learner through a continuum of advanced academic programs and inclusive multilingual learner and special education services. Waples Mill unique spirit is reflected in its signature experiences such as the
041student ambassador program, the annual fourth grade Broadway junior musical, steam night, and hands-on learning in the STEM lab. As the as a purple star school, it proudly supports military connected kids while community traditions like back to school, the black back to school block party, fall festival, and fun run brings Eagles together, underscoring a long-standing commitment to academic, social, and emotional excellence. >> The board would like to recognize Whitman Middle School on its 65th anniversary. We recognize and thank Principal John Flowers and assistant principles Latasha Watson, Michael Meiser, Heather Wiggins, and Freda Woods Lawrence for their leadership and for fostering a culture of excellence where students are empowered and expected to achieve their highest potential. At Whitman Middle School, learning comes to life through rigorous programs such as the international balorate middle years program, advanced academics
042program, and advancement via individual determination. AVID Whitman's robust extracurricular program inspires and prepares students for success now and in the future. As one of Fairfax County's first intermediate schools, we congratulate congratulate Whitman for being an enduring cornerstone of support for students and families throughout the Mount Vernon community. The board would like to invite the region one schools including Cedar Lane school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. And I may ask my colleagues to remain at in the front of the dis for the upcoming photos as well. The board would like to invite the region 2 schools, school staff, and supporters to please join the board for a photo. The board would like to invite the region three schools including Quander Road School staff and supporters to please join the board
043for a No. The board would like to invite the region 4 schools, school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo. The board would like to invite the region five school, school staff, and supporters to please join the board for a photo. The board would like to invite the region six schools including Montro Montrose alternative learning center school staff and supporters to please join the board for a I know. Chair Anderson. That was our final photo. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank all the schools who came out this evening for their recognition of their school anniversaries. These anniversaries highlight a long-term commitment of the community to the public education in Fairfax County. Agenda item 4.01, community participation. The next order of business is community participation. We welcome all
044community members who are here and those who have signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up to provide comments at schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the schoolboard website at www.fcpschoolboard. During the sign up process, community members acknowledged that they were informed of the school board's expectations for proper decorum when providing comments. These expectations are also available online and with the printed agenda and the meeting materials in the back of the room. We ask audience audience members to be respectful of one another. Shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated. Please hold your applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats, including when recording or taking photos. We are grateful to those who
045have come to speak with us today and thank you for your cooperation. School board members will be listening but not responding. Madame clerk, please call our first speaker. Uh, can I start? Okay. Uh, good evening. Uh, my name is Anokei. I'm a junior at Falls Church High School and I'm here to talk to you today about the importance of installing more solar power on FPS buildings. I'm a member of Falls Church High School's Get to Green Club and we've joined the FCPS solar schools campaign. We're trying to educate our community about the opportunities solar offers for our schools. So far, we've uh given presentations to our PTSA and three elementary school PTAs. Part of our goal is to share the good news that solar panels have already started going up in several Fairfax County schools.
046In total, you have approved contracts for solar at 34 schools. And for that, we'd like to thank you. And we've been doing this outreach in the community. And from this outreach, we found that students and parents are for the most part unaware that SCPS is putting up solar, and they're really happy to hear about it. Me and my school's solar campaign think it would be beneficial if the district would celebrate and publicize this process. It would be amazing if FCPS could dedicate a page on the website to show updates on school solar solar projects and hold ribbon cutings for when solar arrays get connected in the future. If you and the board decide to install more solar power on our school buildings, you would be actively lowering budget costs on energy and putting that time
047and money into more enriching matters that would benefit not just me but every student in FCPS. Thank you, >> Allison Cerrone. Hello, I'm Allison. I'm a sophomore at Falls Church High School and I'm also a part of the Get to Green Club. To expand more on the process, as Anokei just said, we are excited about the progress so far. However, there is opportunity to do so much more. As you are all well aware, FCPS has 199 schools and centers. Many, if not most, of these roofs would be suitable for solar. For example, Falls Church has been undergoing a big renovation the past several years, but we haven't heard of any intentions to install solar on our new roof. We would like to see the district continue to put effort into adding solar to all suitable
048locations. This is urgent because the federal tax credit that helps make these projects viable will disappear at the end of 2027, which means we need to work as fast as possible if we want to implement school solar on as many schools as possible. Thank you. O Omar L A Al Aloe Bobby Manaceella. >> Hi, thank you so much. I'm Bobby Monaceel with Mothers Outfront and Since 2019, our teams of moms have been standing up here asking FCPS to protect our kids' health and their future in the face of climate change. And we've seen remarkable commitments and movement forward despite so many difficulties and tough realities. You've added 48 electric school buses to your fleet, creating cleaner air and healthier rides to school for hundreds of kids. You've scheduled 34 solar projects in the face of
049huge headwinds from our biggest utility. And there are net zero schools planned in the capital improvement plan. So, thank you so much for all of that. Um, but I also want to urge you to keep going, to stay committed to the jet goals that I was a part of creating. Our kids are exposed daily to pollution and toxins in both the indoor and outdoor air around their schools. And the older and less efficient these buildings and buses get, the more unsafe they are for our kids developing lungs and brains. Studies show that asthma, lower test scores, cognitive impairment, and even cancer are risks we take with our kids' health when fossil fuels are combusted in and around school buildings and in school buses. This this daily threat is in addition to the existential threat to
050their future in the face of climate change. I want to urge you to continue to look ahead and play the long game and find ways to make these upfront investments in sustainability that will save money in the long run. These savings can then be put toward educational programs rather than be thrown away on fuel and utility bills. Governor Ab Abigail Spanberger has called for us to be efficient with the resources we have and making improvements that increase energy efficiency and building and vehicle sustainability is the first line of defense. So please for the sake of our kids' health and their future carry on with that mission. Thank you. David Keller. >> Good evening. My name is David Keller and I'm a special education teacher at PO Middle School. I'm here to discuss the involuntary transfer
051of ESOL teachers and assistant principles over the past few months. Due to factors outside this division's control, Dr. Dr. Reed, word on the street is that we've lost over 4,000 students between August and November due to a myriad of reasons, including fear of ICE, pauses on immigration, Doge layoffs, or families relocating during the government shutdown. Because staffing is tied to FCPS and statemandated ratios, many ESOL teachers and assistant principles have been involuntarily transferred as school changes on paper from overstaffed to understaffed. I'm not here to talk about that. What I am here to advocate for is that Esau teachers in these uncertain times, especially two members of Pope Middle School, who were told to fly away from our nest, were given inconsistent timelines and had to use personal leave to transition between schools. To be
052clear, this is not a failure of my building's leadership. My administration is working with consistent board-directed guidance on how this process should operate. And meanwhile, as a sped teacher, I know that there's word in the street that we're currently overstaffed as well. And these trenches are going to occur and they clearly they clearly will. There must be a consistent system. I propose that any employee who use personal leave during a transfer have that leave retroactively converted to admin leave. Moving forward, implement a standard 5-day business transition where two days to close out, say goodbye to their students, say goodbye to their co-workers, not spreading rumors while they're just leaving one day randomly, two days to pack up and clean their room, and one day to move in and onboard on the at their new site.
053These are uncertain times, and they will likely grow more uncertain. If hard decisions must be made, then let them at least be made fairly with dignity and a consistent timeline. Thank you so much, >> Susan Stillman. >> Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the school board, Dr. Reid. My name is Susan Stillman. I'm a volunteer with the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club. I'm the co-chair for renewable energy. I worked on the jet and it was a great collaborative um exercise among school board members um experts in the community and other folks that put together the proposal that you all adopted in 2012. You all made the commitment to reduce emissions by 50% um in by 19 by 2030 as compared to 2019 and produce 25% of your energy through renewable sources by 2030 and
05450% by 2040. It would be interesting to know where the school system is in achieving those goals as 2030 is right around the corner. It's exciting to see the net zero ready schools in the construction permitting phase and in the capital improvement program. The list of schools that are contracted for purchase p power purchase agreements to get solar given the interconnection challenges and roof ages is impressive. Building highly energy efficient all electric schools is critical because energy efficiency stays with the building for its lifetime. These buildings are more comfortable and provide healthier air quality for the students. When a building is all electric and highly energy efficient, it's easier to provide renewable energy through solar and ground source heat pumps. I encourage you to continue to build new and renovate schools to high energy efficiency
055standards and continue to deploy solar as quickly as possible. School systems in Virginia that have gone down this path are finding the savings are significant. An investment upfront pays financial and health benefits over the life of the students and shows the school systems dedication to the future of the students in their care. Thank you Aaron Dial. Good evening. Estimates are that one in 10 high school students has difficulty focusing during the school day. For students with ADHD, it is almost nearly impossible for them to focus on the task at hand when they could be playing Retro Bowl, consuming inane low-v valueue content, or asking Google search an A for an AI response that they use in an assignment or the s or the students persistently find ways to circumvent the the restrictions. There's almost no
056SR&R consequences for misuse of tech during school except when parents flag it for the administrators, which is a huge disincentive. They have told us that they can't address all violations of the SRNR um as it relates to tech except on a case-by case basis. As a result, it's another game of whack-a-ole as parents flag yet another movie that's uploaded or game usually hosted on FCPS Google sites. Some of the teachers have simply refused to use light speeded during the class time because they don't have time. They don't have the bandwidth. When what twilight zone am I in when for more than five years I have been begging reliance on tech and the distractions during the school day on the school provided device and ask you to create better policies that will enable students to actually
057experience deep sustained learning and focus. I brought these up many times and the questions are well it's the it's the district's responsibility and the district I it staff says oh it's the school policy responsibility. So if this becomes a policy question I beg you please create policies to reduce the reliance on onetoone tech especially before high school. When I've addressed these concerns I'm usually met with well tech is a part of your child's future. He should figure out how to learn it but guess what a car is too. and I am not giving the keys to a fifth grader. Thank you, Elana Jurgen Donner. >> Hi, two minutes is hard. My name is Alana Jurgen Donner. I've been an FCPS parent for almost nine years now. I believe strongly in giving back to my community
058and have done significant volunteering through the years, including advocacy related to screen time and edtech starting in 2018. I served for four years on a school health advisory committee during which we spent a lot of time focusing on edtech and hearing stories about the very inconsistent ways that devices are used from classroom to classroom and school to school. I'm sharing this background to explain that I've been following edtech issues for a while and I'm also aware of the frequent cavernous gap between FCPS policies and their classroom implementation. Now, AI. On February 10th, the school board had an AI work session where FCPS shared proAI slides that shared a theoretical framework for students to use AI in a way that would theoretically allow SCPS to prosper, protect. The slides relied heavily on a 2026 AI and
059education report by the Brookings Institute. But not once in the presentation was anything mentioned about an important conclusion in that same report. Brooking summarized this conclusion in a very brief article overviewing its 219page report. I quote after inter and this is a quote after interviews focus groups and consultations with over 500 students teachers parents education leaders and technologists across 50 countries a close review of over 400 studies and a deli panel we find that at this point in its trajectory the risks of use utilizing generative AI in children's education overshadow its benefits this is largely because the risks of AI differ in nature from its benefits that is these risks undermine children's foundational development and may prevent the benefits from being realized." End quote. That's from Berkings. I'm almost out of time, but to me,
060the biggest reason to keep AI out of kindergarten through 11th grade classrooms is the fact that these are the years when kids are developing neural connections and building their adult brains. And we should not be experimenting on this current generation of kids to see what their adult brains look like after their growing brains were weakened by AIdriven cognitive offloading for creative and academic tasks. Thank you for your time. K. Chang. >> Good evening, Dr. Reid and the school board. Thank you for the time and care you've put into the complex boundary adjustment. I appreciate the responsibility you carry. I'm here to respectfully urge that transportation be provided for all high school students impacted by the change, not just for the 69 seniors during the full transition period. For families like mine, this is about logistics.
061We have two children at different FCBS levels, one at Marshall and one at Wolf Trap. Without bus service to Marshall, it is realistic it is it isn't realistic to drive to the high school, return for elementary drop off, and still get to work on time. In the afternoon, we would have to leave work early to manage traffic and both dismissals. That shortens the workday and creates real financial strain, forcing families from public transit to driving, paying for parking and tolls. It is not sustainable for families with children at all three FCPS levels without flexible jobs or reliable transportation. The impact is even greater. Without buses, standing staying at their current school is not a true choice. It is a privilege determined by resources, not equity. Beyond logistics, rising sophomores and juniors face the greatest long-term
062impact. Sophomore year is when academic paths like IB take hold and students build confidence and leadership. Junior year is the most important year for college admissions. Grades matter most and teacher relationships become recommendation letters. Stability during these years is essential. The IB curriculum at Marshall does not seamlessly translate into AP at Madison. Students who have invested in IB may not receive equivalent placement and switching requires adjusting to different academic structures and learning. Seniors are important but many can drive and can coordinate uh independently. The greater disruption falls on students who still have years ahead of them. The choice is only available to students who with private transportation. This is not an equitable choice and it is fundamentally against what FCPS stands for. Thank you for your consideration. Nadia Shellav. Hello, my name is Naja Shuv
063and I'm part of the Falls Church High School Get to Green Club and I would like to talk to all of you about solar. I want to recognize that buying solar panels can be a real challenge because of the large capital investment that it typically requires. However, power purchase agreements allow school districts to install solar with no upfront costs. In other words, for free. Because the school doesn't own the panels in a PPA, the school district then buys the electricity generated by the panels. The cost of this energy is less than what FCPS would be paying Dominion in part because of the 30% tax credit the solar provider is able to claim. This is how solar can be a moneysaver for FCPS. Even if you don't care about climate change, this seems like a no-brainer.
064The solar projects approved so far are estimated to save $4.4 million. So, why not use power purchase agreements on all suitable roofs in FCPS before the tax credit runs out? All of the money saved could be invested into classrooms and my education instead of going to pay electric bills. Thank you, Meg Legera. Good evening everyone. My name is Meg Lgera and I'm also a junior at Falls Church High School and member of our Get to Green Club where I'm here to talk about the Fairfax Solar Schools campaign as well. Maximizing school solar is essential to achieving these climate commitments that the school board adopted in 2021. One, being energy carbon neutral by 2040. two, achieving 50% emission reductions by 2030. And three, producing 25% of county energy use from incount renewable energy generation by 2030
065and 50% by 2040. Furthermore, even though they are not as visible as school solar, electrification and energy efficiency are also essential to these goals. When schools are renovated, they should be designed to use the least amount of energy possible, and they should be built without without new fossil fuel infrastructure. Every time you install a new gas boiler instead of a geothermal or electric heat pump, you are locking in more emissions for many years to come. Gas also creates real safety risks and gas cooking appliances are associated with poor air quality. Therefore, it is important to keep these factors in mind regarding school renovations and hopefully our FCPS community can work together to achieve these goals. Thank you for your time. Andrea Keller. Good evening, Dr. Reid and school board members. Tonight, I'm here with my
066freshmen who are in the middle of their five-year commitment to pursuing their IB diploma. We represent Marshall Families for Transportation Equity, a growing group of concerned families in phasing students in grades 8 through 11. We are real families, your clients with full-time work schedules, multiple ages of children, child care concerns, and defined resources. Without transportation, we would need to assume an inequitable burden, or simply not be able to afford our children their right to remain in their educational communities. We are here to support you, our representative leadership, in fulfilling your promises to our high school students and demonstrating your commitment tonight in excellence, equity, and opportunity. Our Marshall High School students are demonstrating excellence by fully engaging in their school communities and academic path. Our students need and deserve equitable access to transportation to ensure
067all students receive their opportunity for academic continuity and personal development. Without it, their education and very lives will be disrupted and their school communities will feel the effects. As a long lifelong third generation educator, I know the work we do is centered around what our students need. The meat of our work is not about initiatives, politics or strategy. It is about our students. If we cannot agree on that, then our priorities are backward. Every person in this room cares about education. If we do what is right and best for our students, we know our students come first. to keep our priorities in proper order. Tonight, we are confident that each of you will support a reasonable opportunity to ensure that funding is an avail is in place for all our phasing high school students. I
068would like to invite students and families who support equitable transportation funding to please stand. Sarah Armstrong Good evening everyone. My name is Sarah and I'm also a junior who belongs to the Get To Green chapter of Falls Church High School. My heart has been warmed tonight by the presence of my peers advocating for solar panels in our county where I've grown up and actually first learned about climate change. Perhaps the most poignant moment of that first lecture was the overwhelming feeling of helplessness that consumed me. I've realized since then, however, that many people in our own community have heavy hearts on this topic and care just as much as I do. This is my home. This is our home. My years in the classroom have taught me the importance of fighting for what you believe
069in, for what's right. I believe we can have a clean future free of unnecessary pollution. I want that for my loved ones, my neighbors, my classmates, and future generations of students. It hurts every day to see fossil fuels burn up our atmosphere despite having the technology to avoid this. I want change. I'm asking you all tonight to want this, too, because the truth is that only when we go solar can our future truly shine brightly. Thank you, Scott Peterson. So, Mr. Peterson was on the wait list and we've now moved on to the wait list because one of our individuals did not show. So I'm now calling weight list individuals. So we can we can move on to Vavina Anud Jacob Hirs. Hello. I didn't think I'd get on off the wait list. Um first
070off, um thank you all for the work you do for all of our students in Fairfax County. Um I want to paint a picture for you. Um, we heard a little bit from another another parent about this. Imagine being a parent of two students at two different schools that start at 7:30 and 8:10 followed by a 30-minute drive to their job in DC, but that job starts at 7:45. Or a pickup at 2:15 and 2:55, but their job ends at 3:45 and is 30 minutes away. I hope that parent has a great partner that can help. That person is me. Actually, I do have a great partner, but can I ask her to do that for three years to help get our kids to school? I don't think so. Um, and think about single parents
071um and people that just don't have um as much flexibility. It truly is an equity issue. My daughters um have transitioned through COVID through leaving um their school, their school, Mason Crest, and it was a split feeder. So, many of their friends went to another school. they transitioned um into Glasgow and then to justice or the younger one is still is at Glasgow in sixth grade. The older one is ninth grade at Justice. They transitioned, made new friends. Um and it would really hurt to tell them they had to now leave the schools that they just transitioned to. Um there's plenty of people, some of them are here. Um there's plenty of people that are in a very similar situation. Um what I would say is what Dr. Reid is um planning to propose today
072is a half measure. Well, actually, I'm a math teacher, so I can't even call it a half measure. It feels more like a 17th measure because there's seven grades. A lot of people have been talking about high school. There's also elementary and middle school kids that would be affected by this. Um, it's more of a 17th measure. One of the seven grades are going to be getting transportation under her proposal. Um, it's not just seniors that would need this and not just their families. So, please vote for the amendment from Dr. Anderson and Dr. and uh Miss Marin to fully fund and do sevenths, which is 100% of the funding that the students need and the families need for buses. >> Please play the video testimony submitted by Robert. >> Good morning. My name is
073Robert Jr. I'm a resident of Fairfax County. I'm also and have been for 27 years an employee in Fairfax County Public Schools. You may know that we have two employees unions, a National Education Association affiliate and an American Federation of Teachers affiliate. What a management dream that has been for 27 years. when one union says we want this, you can go to the other one say well you know decide we'll work with you and play one off against one another. Now we have the Fairfax education unions. Unfortunately you only have one partner to play with or to work with. Um what's clearly going to happen when I talk to people in both the AFT and the NEA affiliate is merger between the two organizations. So, you'll just have one employees union, literally one employees union
074to work with. That'll be so much easier. Um, it'll be easier for everyone all the way around. In the meantime, when you make changes like these involuntary transfers that everybody has heard of, you need to alert and get agreement from both organizations. It becomes very obvious at this point if management is playing employees off against one another. And when the merger happens, people are going to remember that. I know it's extra work for you. I know it takes extra effort, but you need to work with both organizations for agreement rather than confrontation or controversy. That falls to you. Thank you for listening >> this year. Please play the video testimony submitted by Stephanie Lenquist Aurora. The >> Virginia Department of Education released a list of 40 FCPS schools requiring federal support. That is 20% of
075our schools. And despite Dr. Reed's repeated claims, that doesn't sound like excellence to us. Parents and community stakeholders share your stated interests in better student outcomes. To that end, we should be able to agree that budgetary allocations reflect improving students academic success. But you seem to have a mess on your hands. FCPS has become a jobs program for central administration. While you cut 275 teaching positions last year, you paid $272 million for the salaries of about 2400 district administrators who are not school-based. When you add in their benefits, the district pays about $400 million per year for central staff. There are at least 44 district administrators enjoying annual salaries of well over $200,000. Superintendent Reed makes $445,000 this year, plus a car allowance, and her chief of staff, Marty Smith, $36,000. He is probably the
076highest paid government chief of staff in the entire country. Comparatively, the starting FCPS teacher salary is $61,747. Your priorities are maddening to taxpayers. You lavish extraordinary salaries on detached administrators and allocate egregious payments to elite law firms such as the $4.4 million you've paid King and Spalding so far this year. Meanwhile, schools such as Rolling Valley Elementary and 39 others are identified as sinking. You are failing our children. You are in charge of a $4 billion budget and need to start taking that seriously. Use taxpayer funds responsibly to help the next generation achieve their dreams. Please play the video testimony submitted by Michelle Durst. I'm here to ask the board to roll back the use of technology in our schools, especially in elementary school, and pause the AI demonstration initiative. The National Education Policy Center
077states, "Research does not support claims that edtech platforms improve upon traditional low tech schooling. Likewise, research does not support the efficacy of introducing AI into educational processes. Evidence is accumulating about the negative effects of young people's technology use on the quality of their education, their mental and physical health, and their privacy. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP recently issued its policy statement on the digital ecosystem and youth. They warned that the current digital environment is not designed around children's developmental needs. The statement highlights concern about attention fragmentation, reduced sleep, mental health risks, problematic media use, and the displacement of critical developmental activities like face-to-face interaction, physical activity, and deep learning. The AAP emphasizes that technology use must be developmentally appropriate and carefully evaluated for benefit versus harm, especially in school settings where
078exposure is mandatory, prolonged, and largely unavoidable for children. Some argue that technology is the future and children simply need to adapt. But when it comes to other aspects of development, independence, emotional maturity, we do not expect children to just adapt. We scaffold learning intentional intentionally. We protect childhood development. The nation's recent report card showed historic academic declines and the downward trend beginning around 2013 when technology use increased. Working in the mental health field, I hear of growing struggles with focused communication and problem solving. These are foundational life skills. When I asked the county for evidence that the educational platforms being used are effective, I received industry sponsored studies. History has shown through tobacco, vaping, and even aspects of the opioid crisis that relying on industry to prove its own safety or effectiveness does not protect
079children. Please prior prioritize child development over device deployment. This is not about rejecting technology. It's about using it responsibly. intention. >> Chair Anderson, that was our last public speaker. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. I um agenda item 5.01, student representative matters. I call on Miss McConen. >> Good evening, Madame Chair and board members. I would like to begin with goal three in the proposed gradebook changes. I recommend that we do not pass goal three in its current form. The proposed gradebook shifts towards a skills-based model that in practice may prioritize is isolated competence over sustained content mastery. While this model can work in some subject areas, it may not work universally across all disciplines. One of my core concerns is an incentive. Let's say I'm an AP biology and there are five skills the unit
080will fall under. I could do poorly on natural selection, receiving lower scores on three of the five skills. If I know ecology is coming up, which is regarded as the simplest unit in AP bio, what incentive do I have to go revise the lack of content knowledge when I'm not required to for my grade? With a traditional grade book, I would go and review the unit, then retake to not just improve my score, but my content knowledge. This example is applicable even when the next unit isn't easier. Not all classes directly build on all of the necessary knowledge from past units. I think everyone on this board knows students may not take the extra initiative if they are not being graded, no matter if it's regular classes or IB. In fact, gradebooks should not be
081making past unit mastery optional. Class should be pri prioritizing mastery of the content along with skills with all the classes students have to handle. This will this will result in students prioritizing their grade over knowing the past content. Mastery should require accountability over time, not replacement by the next unit. This model, unless corrected to require content revision, can result in gaps in students knowledge of the course. When we ask schools to implement a divisionwide grading overhaul, once again, we must ensure we have a strong backing, clarity, and execution in a clear process for revisiting or adjusting the model if it does not work as intended. The structure that works well with Madison works well because of the deliberate work put in over years to make the gradebook clear. Clear to students, teachers, and families. I've
082said this in past meetings, and I will repeat it. We cannot re achieve the same results they have in one year with so many different communities and high schools. Grading reform should be deliberate and not experimental. What works for one school will not work for all. I strongly suggest that each board member think about how grading will affect their schools and think from the perspective of students and teachers who are having their gradebook changed yet again without clear-based as to why. Now on artificial intelligence, I recommend that the AI policy being drafted clearly directs teachers not to use AI in the grading of student assignments. AI can be a powerful instructional support to tool. However, grading is fundamentally relational and evaluative. Students deserve to know that their work is being assessed by a professional educator
083who understands their growth context and effort not by an algorithm. No matter how well we are trained, no matter how well trained, the use of AI and grading question raises questions about transparency, bias, and accountability that we have not yet addressed and can't fully since we do not build the algorithms of the AI platforms we may utilize. At the same time, students do not have visible centralized AI guidance on the FCPS website. The student AI guide is still not viewable on the FCPS website. If we respect responsible AI use, we must provide accessible policies. I recommend that the board ensures that the student AI guide is clearly published on the FCPS website. The creation of a student AI honor code aligned with SN RNR along with in-depth training AI training for students that does not
084promote the already prevalent reliance on generative AI to the expenditure adjustments in the budget summary. Robotics can wait. It's nice to have, but it is not a necessity. Not all students do robotics. The money allocated to this can be used to ensure that all students move by the boundary adjustments are guaranteed transportation, not just seniors. Imagine this from the perspective of a rising sixth grader. Because their parents may not be able to transport them, they would have to move because we don't provide transportation. For other grades, key developmental years, which are already hard enough, are moving students from the friends, teachers, and communities they've been grown they've begun to grow accustomed to. The school traditions and activities they are excited to be a part of in the following years now hang in the balance. Do
085not put families in this position when we do not have to. It is not the equity we strive to promote. Prioritizing the extracurricular activity over basic transportation needs for our young students is a cruel choice but easily fixable by allocating this budget to transportation for all students. The boundary change is already hard enough. We should not be making it harder when we have the option to help. Finally, I want to address social media regulations within the SRNR. Student operated accounts, particularly those representing schools, currently lack a concise and accessible framework. There have already been ramifications for this reflected in the TJ and Langley situations in the beginning of the year. I recommend the development of a clear structure that includes a plain language breakdown of expectations and accountability guidance on crisis or conflict management management
086online transparency standards for leadership structure and password ownership. Student leaders are often navigating public communication without clear guardrails that creates risk for both students and for the division. Preventative struct structure is better than reactive discipline. In summary, I strongly suggest the board does not approve the gradebook model proposed this year. We must create transparent, equitable AI policies for both teachers and students, and our budget allocation must reflect the student and family necessities before all else. And we must modernize our SR&R to address social media realities that with clarity and fairness. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Miss McConen. Action or action item 6.01, 01 certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with section 2.2-3712D of the code of Virginia, it's necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School
087Board convened a closed meeting on February 26, 2026, to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements, and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board during the closed meeting. Do I have a motion? Mr. Fresh. Do I have a second? Mr. Mine. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Mr. Dunn, and myself. Those opposed, Miss Marin. Do I can the clerk please read the vote? >> The vote is 101. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Um action item 6.02 confirmation of action taken and closed. There was no action taken in the closed meeting this evening. Agenda
088item 6.03 action item boundary change phasing and transportation decision. I call on Dr. Reid for a presentation. Thank you, Madam Chair. Me I think we've got slides. So, we've spent quite a little bit of time over the last um week. Again, I know staff and thank you Andy and I think Paul is here, right? Okay. Andy and Paul and all of our transportation team have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to at least uh with our high school students uh create uh a different way than the traditional routing because the uh data that is on um and again just for the purpose of the presentation if the clerk would go ahead and move to the next slide just want to summarize um what we're talking about specifically. um we currently looked
089at what we could do to create um for sure um a pathway for our seniors to finish uh high school. So we had 69 seniors impacted and then if we keep going through the slides, I think they're posted for folks to take a look at. Um if we can go to the next slide, please. And go ahead and go on to the next one. Um I think we're in and let's go ahead and go to slide six. Slide six is really sort of where the data is. So as we looked at this, we were looking at trying to figure out ways um to minimally get our seniors and that's where the staff uh presentation or the staff recommendation came in at 241,000 given our current budget transfer uh gap of 43 million. So, we felt
090like the uh staff in recommending that felt like that was something we could do um with the current budget situation. However, I think the questions that came up, right, like if you're juniors and you happen to be at the same bus stop, would we not pick you up? Of course, we would. Um then the question is we not all juniors are at the same stops as all seniors. So, really the team we really tried to work more creatively to look at what would hub routing look like? Um, some school divisions around the country call it depot routing. It where it's not that traditional this bus stop routing that we might do with elementary and middle or our more traditional routes um that have uh that aren't like neighborhood specific in the sense of um you
091know the boundary conversation obviously we're having. So we think actually within the reasonable bounds because uh high school students have a one and a half mile walking uh I think it's walking zone for school that we could create a hub or depot uh situation that would accommodate high school students for next year um within those budget numbers. Um, and I know there are various solutions for what we would do if we needed to backfill those budget numbers, but um, the team does believe that given the number of high school students currently, particularly after the survey, which we did, uh, that data is on the PowerPoint as well, but not everybody who um, requested transportation, when you look at the percentages, there were many students that also said they could make it work if they didn't
092have it. So, we think we can accommodate high school students next year within sort of a more creative routing uh project pathway um within the budget and again maybe have a fall back if we end up with a need for funds somewhat to balance that on the backside. So, I think staff would like to amend that recommendation to include all high school with uh those provisions. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. I call on Mr. McDaniel for a motion. And at this point, I just want to remind my colleagues that the the recommendation that's being considered is the recommendation that was originally put in the PowerPoint and provided to the board last week. So, there will be some further discussion that happens, but we're going to go ahead and start with Mr. McDaniel for a motion.
093>> I move that the superintendent that the school board adopt the superintendent's recommendation. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> Mr. Mr. McDaniel, would you like to speak to your motion? >> I I'll save my comments for the amendments. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. or I'm sorry, Miss St. John Cunning, would you like to speak to your second? >> No. Thank you. Um I call on Dr. Anderson for amendment to the main motion. Um thank you. I move to amend the main motion to read as follows. that the school board authorized $3.1 million in funding from the schoolboard flexibility reserve to provide transportation to non-boundary current students for all tiers which includes elementary, middle, and high schools. >> Is there a second? >> I second. Miss Marin, would uh Dr. Anderson, would you
094like to speak to your motion? >> Yes, I would. I I want to be clear, this motion is not to address transportation for students who are just transferring. Um while we're using that mechanism in order to administer this process, this is for our students who have been in schools and the boundary policy allows them to remain. This is to provide transportation for that group of 60 37 that was just on the list here. And the reason for this, it's numerous. I can speak on this for probably the next 15 minutes, but I don't have 15 minutes, so I'll try to be super brief. one, we have some mental health supports that we need to think about. We year over year we review the student um the youth survey and we talk about how we need
095for our kids to be connected. The whole energy and even mantra of that survey is get your three because we know that helps support students. How are students supposed to get their three when they are leaving an elementary school potentially that they have been in for six years if this is a K6 and they're supposed to spend their last year at a brand new school? How are they supposed to get their three if they're in my area and they've been in that middle school for two years and their eighth grade year has to be spent elsewhere because their parents are not able to support them through their own private transportation. I I I see this akin a little bit to giving food to somebody who's hungry, but yet we're putting it in a tree 20
096feet high and unless they're able to levitate themselves, they have a ladder, they cannot access this. We have said our equity policy is clear. It is our job to eliminate gaps, eliminate barriers to access and opportunities. And yet what was posted last Friday, what I was working on up until today will not do that. It will create gaps. It will create opportunity. It will diminish opportunities and access for our students. Yes, let's just be clear. Budget times are tight. They are. They are what they are. But there is a way for us to make this happen. Budgets reflect our values. We have said this on this board. We have said this on every single board that I've every single year that I have been on this board. So, this is what I would value. I
097would value this over the next few things that I'm going to share with you. One, um, let me hope I find it. one, the board has spent um as you'll see on board docs, has spent almost 800 $600,000 that was allocated in 2023 to expand their office. Another $600,000 just very recently to continue that expansion and to also from what I've just learned this week, help to improve the space here. I would prefer to do transportation instead of spending the money on that kind of opportunity. And I think uh Miss Kmeninan also raised this regarding um the K robotics, the K12 robotics in the um budget here. If we are able to take that $300,000, we can afford this, but we also have money that is just sitting in the bank. Why are we keeping
098the schoolboard reserves in the bank and not putting it to help the kids that are in front of us right now? I am struggling to understand that. >> Thank you, D. was my time. >> Miss Marin, would you like to speak to your second? >> So, Dr. Reed, to be clear, you are saying that you now have funding identified to fund the phasing as per the boundary policy for high school students. Is that correct? >> No. What I stated is that we believe um and again the team has been working honestly around the clock for the last week uh after we received the survey results of the students who um would request uh transportation to look at um the most efficient possible way to route for students because they're not on a traditional route if
099that makes sense. And so I think as they look at hubs and look at as I mentioned um ways to provide transportation uh sometimes it's getting students from a particular school or particular hub bus stop to their base school. Um we're hopeful that we can do that within the budget but we also believe that there is a need to backfill funds like we didn't find money. What we're trying to do is route more creatively and it's still going to cost money. We just are hopeful we can do it within the budget uh as long as we have a certainty of the possibility of being able to backfill those funds. >> Thank you for clarifying. So the way I see it is that the board had a lot of courage to do this comprehensive boundary review
100for the first time in decades and we made a commitment in our boundary policy to phase some of those grades to ensure a tr a smooth transition. The decision to adopt phasing seven months ago did not stipulate anything that transportation was not part of that because we would think that naturally we would transport the children. The kids waiting today to know what high school they're going to go to. This is not how I want to do business and I think it's unnecessarily stressful. Look, this boundary process has things that we can learn from. I don't think anything we're doing in this process is setting precedent. This is, I think, the third vote we've had regarding this boundary change. There's certainly a lot of room for improvement, but for the board, you know, we're all about
101access. This is exactly what that that is. So, I'm glad that the superintendent mentioned um something about, you know, bus students, if they're a junior, they would join the Marshall stop because the first thought I had when I read this is are a bus drivers going to have to essentially be bouncers to the school buses? I mean, how's it going to work when a junior at the same bus stop as as a senior goes to the bus and the bus driver will say, "Sorry, you can't get on." I it's just I don't understand it and it's so operational. We talk so much about operational versus policy. This is like way out of our lane, no pun intended. So the vision that we set was we wanted kids in the high school grades and those transitioning
102grades to have a smoother transition for this time. It is not forever. It is for this small set of students. So um I do think we would be going against board policy the intention of it. Okay. It does have something in there about that we may adopt other phasing plans, but we got this on Friday at 5:00 PM and I don't understand why it's so last minute. If we had some more time, we could have talked about some other options, but we have not thoroughly discussed this. I think we just need to send our kids on the buses um and and move on. I I also think that we have Sky View next to deal with. Are we going to do this with the Sky View students, too? Th this is just too much and
103it's it's unneeded stress on our families. I um hope that the board colleagues can um support this. I have not yet heard any so I have talked with some colleagues who are an emphatic no to this. I have not heard a real reason to fully support funding the transportation. We have the money at least half the money in the schoolboard reserve. What is the real reason for not honoring the phasing outlined in the boundary policy that this board agreed to unanimously seven months ago right here? What has changed that we are not honoring what we all agreed to and would think is the way that this is going to happen with kids on school buses? >> Thank you, Miss Marin. I call on Mr. McDaniel for an amendment to the amendment. >> I move to
104strike the amendment in its entirety and replace it to read as follows. that the school board direct the superintendent to provide transportation to non-boundary current students for high schools consistent with the phasing policy and that end ofear funding be utilized if the existing transportation budget cannot fund all associated costs. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Lady. Mr. McDaniel, would you like to speak to your motion >> uh briefly? I'm uh a little winded this evening. Uh so I'll keep my comments brief. Um, I've been struggling with this decision since it came to the board a couple of I guess a couple of months ago now end up getting delayed. Um, I agree with the comments that have been made about the strive for equity and the strive to plug gaps
105in equity and the strive to address that. Um, but I also have to consider the fiscal reality in which we find ourselves. Um, you know, the one of the slideshows that was up on the the screen, u, the total cost for full phasing for all the different, I think, seven grade levels was over $3 million. High school was $1.35 million. And in conversations with staff, a hub model, a deep hub model would drive that $1.3 million down further. And I think that to the greatest extent possible, being able to do what really made the decision for me was the greatest extent possible, being able to do that within existing budget constraints with the option to backfill if the need arises using end ofear funding. Um that's where I landed uh in my mind to strike
106that balance between the need to plug equity gaps and the need to recognize the fiscal situation uh in which we are in. So that's all. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. McDaniel, Miss Lady, would you like to speak to your second? >> Yes. I second this motion because as a board, we must balance our deep empathy for our families with our non-negotiable duty as fidiciaries of public funds. We've spent months listening to our community. We know that the bonds formed with teachers and peers are precious, and we don't take the impact of these boundary changes lightly. However, we are currently facing a 43 million budget gap between our needs and the projected funding from the state and our board of supervisors. In this climate, we must prioritize. I support paying for transportation for all
107high school students because they face the most complex transitions regarding credits and graduation and where the stakes are higher. Our high school students have created four-year academic plans that map to their post-graduate goals. Most of them have found their tribe within their current school from model UN and debate to band, music, and performing arts to athletics, DECA, and robotics. Our high school students deserve to continue with the academics and extracurriculars at the school where they are currently thriving. And as was stated earlier this evening and as someone who has children who graduated from an IB school, moving from an IB school to an AP school or vice versa is an unfair ask. This isn't just about dollars. It's about opportunity costs. Every bus and driver we commit to a three-year phasing plan for all grade
108levels is a resource taken away from our broader goal of healthy start times. We cannot be in good conscious tell our middle school families that they must continue with an 7:20 a.m. start because we prioritized optional transportation for others. We are fortunate to live in a county where every school is a center of excellence. While change is hard, our commitment to the long-term health of and academic success of all of our close to 175,000 students must come first. I support this motion because we're making a choice that is both compassionate and fiscally responsible. Thank you. Mr. Moon. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Since I a madam chair just wanted us to talk about all of this at one time that I'm going to address both amendment and as amendment to amendment. I'm not going to
109support the amendment to amendment, but I but if amendment to amendment passes, I'm not going to have a chance to vote for amendment because that will be will have been amended by Mr. Mr. McDaniel's second amendment. Uh I very much prefer a Dr. a Dr. Anderson's amendment over Mr. Mr. McDaniel's. So I am going to vote no to Mr. McDaniels. And then if that becomes the main motion, I'm going to I'm going to vote no to the to the to the motion itself because because we are we are really doing injustice to our students. We are forcing them. We are forcing them to by boundary changes. Bold making that decision not not the community members bold makes those boundary boundary change decisions and then we provided under our phasing policy rights to stay at their
110schools. But if you look at there's one other policy we currently have. We are obligated in my opinion we are legally obligated to provide the transportation for students who leave farther than certain distance and then this amendment amendment is basically denying the legal right and I cannot go along with that a little bit later on we'll be also voting on the next year budget which I will be supporting and I I said at the last meeting that I'll be happy to support that even with even with putting in close to $18 million for the highest paid 1,400 employees in the school system. So if you divide that $18 million,400 for each of those highest paid employees, we are setting aside more than $12,000. But I will support that because we need to pay them fairly.
111But we need to treat our students even more fairly. And this amendment amendment is failing to do that. Next year we are expecting 5,000 less students to for overall I bet out of 5,000 about 3,000 students would have used the transportation though there would be savings from not having to provide the transportation for those 3,000 students. Now this is a much smaller group of students who deserve right to be educated at their schools. They are exercising their right to stay there but we are denying them. And what you what the amendment to amendment is doing is we will provide the transportation to older kids, older students but not younger ones. I cannot go along with that. >> Mr. Mavine. >> Uh thank you. So, um I'm going to begin with a question for our uh
112budget staff. So, about um a month and five days ago, January 21st, I had submitted a budget question, priority one, top priority, um asking for the cost of our boundary study. Um do we have any status update on that budget question? >> The budget question is still in process. Um Eric, I believe that is with you. I believe that budget question is still in process. >> Okay. I will tell you my um more decade plus on this board, I've asked budget questions few fewer than a handful of budget questions. I very much value staff time. I don't want to waste staff time on budget questions, but when I put in a budget question priority one, I expect it to be answered. And it's been more than a month. We voted on the boundary study more
113than a month ago. And now we're being asked to vote on a budget tonight. We're being asked to vote on a transportation implementation plan tonight. Um, it's untenable that we don't have an answer to that question. Um, I don't see how I can vote for a budget tonight. I don't see how I can vote on this plan tonight without knowing how much we spent on our boundary study. So, let me just begin with that. I want to echo um what my colleagues have shared. I'm not going to repeat their words, but I think Mr. Moon's words are very wise that we cannot prioritize our older students to the detriment of our younger students who need our transportation and the safety that that provides more than our older students. So, I will not be supporting the
114f the amendment to the amendment. I will be supporting the original amendment separately. Um I've heard argued at this uh deis tonight that um after this board has postponed start times for middle school students later start time school later start times for middle school students for more than a decade that we now have a choice between funding middle school start times and this transportation plan that is also untenable. Thank you. Mr. Dunn, >> thank you. Um I I'll start with um this this should have been included in the presentation on January 22nd when the school board made um a vote on school boundaries. This is inextricably intertwined with school boundaries. Um I don't understand how this could be separated out. Uh it just reaffirms my decision to vote no on January 22nd because as I
115described I was not going to vote on an incomplete package and this is certainly um part of that package and there may be other elements as well. Um I'd like to ask the superintendent um the numbers that have been provided here um are significant but what I'd like to understand is whether this is the total cost or the annual cost because um for example the the uh original amendment um proposes you know the 3.1 million scenario. Okay. So, let's say I have a second grader at one of my elementary schools who was attending uh Forttown Elementary but resides in an attendance island. That attendance island has been eliminated. Um so, my understanding from the presentation that you've provided is that uh my second grader could stay at Fort Hunt um through this and for $3.1
116million that would cover all of their school bus transportation through the end of elementary school. Is that correct? or are these numbers an annual cost that you've put forward? >> No, sir. I and I want to go back. I think it's only the fifth and sixth graders. So, we wouldn't be addressing second graders if my recollection is correct. So, um but the 3.1 million is the one-year uh cost uh estimate for all grade levels for the coming year. That's it's not the multipleyear estimate. There would be an additional set of dollars and recall that we have six hotspot uh areas that we're still going to be working through next December um that we'll be bringing to the board in January that'll create obviously some more um numbers for the following year in addition to the
117residual um for this year. So there is there should be less of a cost in year two. Well, probably the same cost honestly depending on seniors will graduate, right? So, there might be a slightly less cost, but it'll be probably similar in year two, a little bit less. >> Okay. Um, I also wanted to address uh the amendment to the amendment. Um the amendment to the amendment um I feel is not sufficiently uh tailored from a legal perspective because the way I read it uh providing transportation to non-boundary current students for high schools um to me the way if if I wanted to attend a different uh high school and we have a board policy that says who gets school bus transportation or not uh this has enough of a loophole that uh there could
118be high school students beyond um the schools affected by boundary decisions that could request and potentially legally obtain through lawsuit uh school bus transportation. So, I'm very concerned with the very loose nature of of the verbiage, which um potentially opens the door to a much larger number of students getting transportation and the cost potentially being astronomically higher um than that which is set forward in in um uh in in the uh in the presentation that you've provided. Um, I' I'd really prefer uh if if that is going to be adopted by a school board that there be very significant changes made to the language to tighten it up so that it is specific to the uh school boundary scenarios that have been approved by the school board on January 22nd. Thank you. >> Uh Dr.
119Anderson. >> Thank you. Obviously, I will not be supporting the amendment to the amendment, but I I did appreciate the conversations that I had with Mr. McDaniel um this week. So, right now, from what I understand, Dr. Reed, you're going to find some way to handle all of these high school students. >> Yes, ma'am. That's correct. >> So, that's going to be done. Is there a space for you to apply that same approach to the middle school students, to the elementary school students? >> I think we could try. I can't commit to that this evening because we've been working um pretty much uh full-time and the team again uh has put a lot of time and effort into sort of an unusual routing model, if that makes sense. and high school students um are able
120to perhaps walk a little further than our elementary students are in that sense. So, we're going to be able to achieve, I think, more efficiencies. Um but the team's going to continue to work on it. Uh I think we share the commitment. We're just struggling with the budget committing uh the competing budget commitments right now. Thank you. So, if we were to take 3.1 million is for everybody. If we were to remove the 1.35, that was just for high school. Now, we're talking about $1.75 million. $1.75 million in a $4 billion budget. Here's what I'm willing to sacrifice. I I said it earlier, I think a little bit too quickly, but I'm going to be a little bit clearer. This board, well, not this board. A previous board allocated $600,000 in the schoolboard reserve funds
121which has not yet been used to build out the schoolboard office at Gate House. $600,000. This board has allocated $412,000 to finish that job. That is $1.1 million right there. the robotics in your budget that you're going to talk about is $300,000. It's great, but I as one person, again, just speaking for me, I think that is a nice to have and not a need to have. That right there is $1.4 million. I could go on in terms of all of my penny pinching. This is not a problem that we cannot resolve and it will be reduced across the next three years. And we're supposed to see efficiencies and savings from the boundary. And we're supposed to see savings from the middle school AAP centers. Once that's put together in whatever capacity, we're going to
122stop busing all those kids eventually because right now we're busing kids for AP all over the division. Those are savings we could actualize to help offset this. I believe if there's a will to do this, there will be a way because right now we are talking about 1.75 million. It is cruel for us to potentially look at a spe a speech a student who's receiving special services, who has an IEP, who's connected with their school, with their community, who's now a sixth grader, and we're saying you have to go elsewhere. I don't believe this is how we want to do business even in the most dire of budget times. Prioritizing students ahead of what we need as board members must be what we do. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Uh Mr. Marin Anderson, I would
123like to clarify. I just want to make sure we're clear on a couple topics. Number one, students with IEP's transportation is part of the IEP team decision and those uh transportation routes continue. Uh secondly, the high school 1.35, we're still going to be spending a significant um amount of that money in some way. We're hoping to make it less, but that's why I think that we're looking for money to be backfilled. In other words, I don't think that 1.35 is completely going away. I think it's going to cost um not uh not an insignificant amount of that money. Uh which is why I think the discussion is is there a you know a end of year to backfill that or not. Um and thirdly, in the second year, while this part of the boundary it'll
124be slightly less, recall that we have those six hot spots that are coming to you in January that will actually add more probably than what we might save with the seniors rolling off. So, I just I want to make sure um and those numbers all still may be doable and all the same arguments apply. I just want to make sure that um that we're clear on that. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Miss Mary. So, we're talking about school buses for kids. This is like the least controversial, most basic thing. The iconic yellow school bus, like what public education is known for. a majority of this board seeking to deny school buses to kids for an unstated reason other than general tight budget times. So, some on this board are making the value judgments
125with this motion about which children are more worthy than others to deserve a school bus. It's the exact opposite of equity as the board had previously specifically defined it in our boundary policy. I'm confused as to why we have policies if we're not going to follow them. I'm confused why the superintendent is proposing a solution that does not fulfill the policy. Voting to strip transportation to those eligible is damaging the credibility of this board and this school division. Can you see the headlines already? School board denies school buses to students. The directive in this policy is to provide the option for students and that implies that school buses are needed. Silly us for not putting that in the policy. The seconder of this motion has repeatedly asked the superintendent to provide a list of what
126may be needed to be reduced or cut in order to maintain commitments like collective bargaining. Where are the lists of options? The superintendent has given the board a directive. It's this or nothing. What else can be reduced to get that $3 million? I still don't have an answer to the question, why? What is the reason for not fully honoring the boundary policy? And I want the public to know this got posted on Friday at 5:00 p.m. publicly. Then it was the weekend. I started my prep for this meeting on Monday around 3:00. I looked at Bordox. There it is. No information in a Friday letter. No text or email. Hey guys, this really important thing we've been waiting on, it's here. This is not the way we're supposed to do business. And I want people
127to know that. Miss McConen, I know firsthand how difficult it is to transition from schools. I left a private school that I had gone to my whole entire life to start at Lawrence Station Elementary School in fifth grade. I knew absolutely nothing about FCPS but or the middle school or high school that I would eventually be attending. But being able to stay in the pyramid since I've started since then has helped me immensely. I would be a much different person if I was redirected to South County from South County Middle School to Hayfield or Lake Bradic instead of South County. The opportunities that are unique to my school would be close to me as will as will the community I grew up around. I do not think I'd be here on this dis if it
128wasn't for the support of my school community and that's not just to shout out South County. That's why I believe so strongly in the fact that we should allocate whatever funds needed towards transportation for students. Our first priority should be to all of our students. We should be eager to slightly inconvenience the budget for the sake of our students. We should follow the policy that we have set plain and simple. We are fracturing trust with students when we do not have to. This is one of the conversations where I really wish I had the voting power to vote because I would vote against this amendment to an amendment. But I just want to end directly with a question to Dr. Reid which I think most of the board has kind of indirectly asked during the
129discussion. If there's money in reserves and money that is clearly available for robotics, space improvement projects, and payraises, what is the reason that those funds were not originally directed towards our boundary commitments that we have we knew were coming since the beginning of the fiscal year? >> Thank you, Miss McConen. Uh >> oh, I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I think there was a question. I think that uh we had never committed to the transportation costs as part of the phasing plan and that was stated at every community meeting. Um it is still something that you can uh budget for. Right now, we're $43 million apart on the things. We've already uh worked to try to reduce class size, for example, to try to support our AERTS being full-time, to try to support special ed department chairs
130at the elementary school level and other initiatives. So I think that those we're still going to have to look for a way in middle school after school activities. We're going to have to look at a way to cut those things even to get um to address class size right now because we're like I said we're $43 million apart. So trying to find a way to balance um the very uh limited resources at this point. Um, I think that's where staff is at the place of thinking. Um, really, as we know, all of our schools here in Fairfax County Public Schools are outstanding. They're incredible schools. Throughout this boundary process, nobody was saying, "Please let me, you know, take me out of my school to move me." People are really excited about the schools, whether the
131schools people are moving from or to. I do think and the staff as we reviewed this, high school is different in the sense that's a permanent record. created the AP and IB discussion is legitimate, a legitimate program decision. So, we're working very hard to try to figure out how to do that with a very limited budget. And um you know, I think often many things can be true at the same time, right? All of the ideas are outstanding ideas. We just are not going to be able to fund them all. And at some point we have to make um a judgment. And that's what the board is going to have to determine this evening. Can I ask a follow-up question with my time? Um, so what I'm getting from what you're saying is that you
132are willing to reallocate the funds for some of the projects described by Miss Marin and Dr. Anderson. And I know doc um Miss Marin was also asking for a list of those things that we can reallocate the activities from. >> They're on the budget slide. They're all the things we're hoping to fund this year. So we could not fund any one of those things to do that. >> Thank you, Miss McConen. Uh Mr. done. >> Thank you. Um I I wanted to ask uh the original presentation uh on transportation uh discussed you know a certain number of electric school buses that would be purchased uh versus a certain number of you know traditional diesel school buses that would be purchased but that level of detail I don't see. Um can you clarify you know does
133are these numbers involving the purchase of additional buses of any kind? >> So thank you Mr. Dunn. If you go to uh slide seven uh madam clerk please uh what we did Mr. Dunn is we broke down the uh data um in diesel or electric and we did go back to our school division policies. In fact, we did another legal review this afternoon just to confirm that we're still able to purchase diesel bus diesel buses. Um, and while the um preference is still to go electric, there is still an allowance to purchase diesel buses. So, the breakdown is on um by diesel or electric. And that's and if you go to the high school um high school only on slide eight again similarly it's diesel and electric what we did do to try to save
134more money if you go to slide six please um m clerk um if you go to slide six the term absorbing buses we took the reason we could get down to a lower cost is we purchase student we purchase buses and we're on an amortization um schedule every year because we run 1600 of them. So, what we've chosen to do is not surplus 10 buses. So, these will not be these are going to be older buses. We're just trying to not um add 10 more buses. We're going to use 10 buses that we otherwise would have surplused um to save money. So, that's why you don't see those costs um for the high school, the 804, uh 620 there. Um, if if I may ask, does the cost for electric buses in slides seven and
135eight um include the cost of installing uh a new charging facility because right now there are only two and historic conversations at the DES and conversations with uh FCPS leadership, they've expressed that that the main limiting factor is is that the fact that there's only two charging stations, one in Lorton and I don't remember where the other one Yes, sir. That's a great question. I think honestly we've answered that both ways. So, let me make sure we get a a correct answer this evening. Um I think one of the biggest limiting factors is simply the cost of the um electric buses. But Mr. Muick, can you comment on whether these um estimates include charging stations? >> Uh yes, ma'am, I can. They does not include the roughly $50,000 for charging stations. Each charging station would
136cover two buses and the locations are Lorton and Stonecraftoft that we have. >> So, Mr. Dunn, if you weren't able to hear that, the $50,000 for a charging station charges two buses and they're not included in the figures. >> Okay. Um I I I I imagine that the 50,000 is just to install the charger itself, but there is a a substantial amount of electrical work. I think perhaps even a substation sometimes depending on the size of the charging facility that might be required which you know that might be an additional cost on top is is that can Mr. Mio address that? >> Yes sir I can uh the all that is included in that 50,000. >> Okay. And and and how many charging stations would be required if we were to go with the electric
137bus option just for transparency. Well, if we were on slide eight, since that would be 10 buses, we would need five charging stations because every charging station serves two. Um, and on uh page seven, for all tiers, it's 48. So, we'd need 24. >> Okay. So, that's quite a bit additional money. Um, thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Dr. Anderson for a go back. Thank you. Um I I did have a conversation with a colleague regarding um the potential that part of the schoolboard reserve funds would be potentially needed to help with some other programming such as the middle school after school. But we have enough to do both. And I I guess I'd like to hear a little bit in terms of what and probably more for the public in terms of why would
138we not use those reserve funds to take care of an issue that is before us right now. We're just holding that off and and that's not really a question for you, Dr. Reed. We're just holding that in the bank. And we know these students who have to um transfer in their last years as an eighth grader or a sixth grader, their academics will suffer and then they'll end up needing all of the things that we're providing for students who who have deteriorating academic achievement. That's what these reserve funds are are here to do, to help us bridge gaps when we are faced with difficult budget times and we're not wanting to do that. I I'd just like to hear a little bit more there. Seeing no others, we're going to go ahead and call for
139a vote on the motion or on the amended motion that is on the amendment to the amendment that is on the screen. All those in favor It's coming up on the screen. It's the amended amended. Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, and myself. All those opposed, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and Mr. Dunn. Will the clerk please read the vote? >> The vote is 65. The motion carries. So, it is an amended uh amendment. >> Thank you. >> Miss Marin, I ask you to stop, please. I will now call for a vote on the amend the amendment which approved will replace the main motion in its entirety and it is on the screen. All those in favor Mr. French, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Miss St. John
140Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, and myself. All those opposed. Mr. Meline, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and Mr. Dunn. Will the clerk please read the vote to clarify? Miss Marin is a yes. Correct? >> I believe so. >> Okay. So, the uh vote is 74. The motion carries. So now our main motion has been amended. >> Thank you. I will now call for a vote on the main motion which is on the screen. All those in favor Mr. Fr, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, and myself. All those opposed, Mr. Mlavine, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and Mr. Dunn. Madam Chair, I asked for a 10-minute recess, please. >> Absolutely. I was just going to say that. Thank you. >> Point of order. You need to explain what just did the
141vote carry? >> Yes. I'm sorry. >> Sorry. The vote is 74. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Uh, yes. And we are going to take a 10-minute recess. Board members, please take your seats. Okay, bringing the board back. Agenda item 6.04, FY2027, advertised budget. I call on Miss Dixit for a motion. I move that the school board adopts the FY2027 advertised budget as detailed in the agenda item. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Uh, Miss Dixit, would you like to speak to your motion? >> Yes. I want to sincerely thank our school uh our staff and budget team for this tremendous work done on this budget. And uh building a responsible budget is in a constrained fiscal environment requires careful analysis, difficult prioritization and a deep commitment to our
142students and employees. I strongly support the compensation increase included in the plan as well as the key initiatives that advance student achievements, safety, and essential services. These investments reflect our shared understanding that our people are our greatest assets. I also want to thank fellow board member members for their steady leadership throughout this process and express appreciation for our continued partnership with board of supervisors and other elected official as we work together to advocate for the resources our student and community deserve. >> Mr. McDaniel, would you like to speak to your second? Uh, I would there's a around the holidays there's a you know there's a song that talks about Christmas being the most wonderful time of the year. In my opinion, it's actually budget season that's the most wonderful time of the year. So, I'm
143a glutton for punishment. Uh, no. Happy to second the motion. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Anderson. Um, thank you. Um, I know this is just the very beginning of our budget and it's just a starting point. I I do have to express my disappointment with the fact that we could not see a possibility for us to repurpose the $300,000 for K12 robotics into transportation for our kids. against robotics is great, but I think at this point given our budget climate and our needs, it is a nice to have, not a need to have. And I'm going to support this budget tonight because it's just our starting point. Um, and we still have lots of opportunities at board members to make amendments moving forward. We typically don't do it at this stage, at least we haven't
144since I've been on the board, but I know that the practice had been different um previously. And so some of those um things will be what I am looking at um depending on where we land after all of the uh budget dollars are in or rather um funding dollars are in. Um thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Anderson. Uh Mr. Fresh. >> Thank you. Um this is always an interesting time of year and it's changed over time since I've been on the board. I'm uh looking forward to my budget town hall meeting with Supervisor Palchic in I think about two weeks from now. Um and I'm supportive of the proposed budget because it centers the need to fulfill our collective bargaining agreements in their first second year for most employees and in their first year
145for our principles and managers. and um looking at the gap that we have between um what's currently available for funding and what we're proposing in our budget. Uh the most important thing with this budget is ensuring that well this budget process not necessarily this document as Dr. Anderson indicated this is just the beginning. But when we reach the end of this process, we will have to reconcile what's available uh versus what um what is needed for following through on our commitment to our collective bargaining partners. And um that continues to be my number one priority is ensuring that the folks who staff our classrooms and keep our schools operating um are paid competitively um and that their collective bargaining rights are respected. So um I'm looking forward to the conversation with our funding partners and
146our continued advocacy in Richmond um for additional resources for our schools and for our students. Um, and I'm hopeful that hopefully we'll have some surprises out of Richmond given the change in environment there. But it's going to take more than our board or the board of supervisors to make that happen. I hope anybody who's watching this later on YouTube uh and the twos of people who are joining us this evening for this conversation in the auditorium will carry that message to their delegates and senators about how critical it is to ensure that our schools are adequately funded at the state level. And as we always talk about when we have these budget conversations, that includes adopting the JARK recommendations, which would uh bring our schools more than half a billion dollars in additional funding every
147single year. We would not be having to have this conversation every every year. Um and uh I look forward to that continued partnership that has effectuated some progress on the JAR goals, but we certainly have a long way to go. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Um, seeing no others, I'm going to go ahead and call for Mr. Moon. >> Sorry, Madam Chair. I'm gonna be quick. I'll be supporting this mo I'll be supporting this budget as I said earlier that that and also I agree with Dr. Anderson that this is just beginning of our long budget deliberation until until the end of May. I'm I'm hoping that uh county board of supervisors will transfer a a a fully fund us but at least more than what the county executive has proposed in his proposed budget.
148But I am more hopeful to be receiving a more support from general assembly uh in terms of a funding. But with that said, I still must point out the fact that uh we need to continue making investment in our teachers got to provide them with a better support and higher salaries. I'm sure Dr. V you will agree with that. I think that's I think nation as a whole got to put that as a top priority. I think that's we are missing the you know we are missing the point is just putting that the local responsibility. Uh you I think this is something that I had shared at the joint meeting with the county board of supervisors that you know 2025 a 2025 national council on teacher quality reports points out that in Fairfus County 42%
149of a beginning teachers salary goes into paying for one-bedroom apartment. 42%. We need to remember that. >> Thank you, Mr. Moon. Uh, Miss St. John Cunning. >> Uh, first of all, I want to thank um the staff for really doing an amazing job. Um, putting this budget together as a very basic needs needsbased budget. Um, and I know a lot of the things that we had to trim next year were not included in this budget. And that trimming did impact us, but we were mindful of the fact that the economic situation across the state is a little bit different and we were also advised that next year is might be tougher. So making those tough decisions is the hardest thing we do sitting on this board. Uh but as I have always said, investment in
150our staff is the most important thing. Not just our teachers, but our custodians, our food service workers, our bus drivers. um our family liaison, everybody that's in that school building is critical to the environment they create in the school building as well as how they make their students feel and how they make the families feel. And I also want to mention that a lot of times um unfortunately um our central office staff gets um dinged for saying well central office can be cut. I've worked in in schools and I can let you know that a lot of our central office people actually come out to our schools to support us or create the programming and curriculum to support us or provide the security that our schools need. So it may sound like because you are
151assigned to central office that you're actually not performing work at schools and nothing can be further than the truth. And a lot of our staff and our teachers really rely on a lot of our central office staff. And I really want to mention that because I think sometimes people don't see that importance. Um, and they are critical members in our school system. Um, and I think that it's the people in our county that really make the difference with our kids. So, I support this budget because it really is putting the importance on the people that are supporting our students. And if we have good people supporting our students, our students are going to be okay. So, I'm very happy to support this budget as it's beginning and hopefully this state will come through and we
152can have a little bit more flexibility. >> Thank you. Seeing no others, we're going to go ahead and take a vote for the motion that's on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, uh, Dr. Anderson, can you please see? I can't see Mr. >> Mr. Dunn is not has left. >> Um, and myself, all those opposed, all those abstaining, Mr. Meline with Mr. Dunn away from the table. Will the clerk please read the vote? It's 901. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Agenda item 6.05, strategic goal plan three, report or goal three report, academic growth and excellence. I call on Dr. Reid for a presentation. All right, Madame Chair and members of the board, um we're going to go ahead
153and talk through um goal three this evening. And um let's go ahead and go to the next slide, please. Um at this point, um we're going to talk about excellence in language arts first. And um let's go ahead and go on to the next slide. These are we're going to look at the reading so pass rates for grades three through eight and our high school end of course exams and um at this point we are continuing to make progress in all areas. Um but we are um and we actually have hit targets uh towards our 2030 goals obviously in three areas but this is a slide that we're feeling confident that um we're continuing to move forward and that we believe by 2030 uh we are going to hit the targets that we are setting.
154Thank you. Um so that's our reading. Um, and I also want to just remind the board and the community that we have spent a significant time at a work session already reviewing um, a lot of these data charts. So, I appreciate the time and if the public watching tonight wants to see a more in-depth conversation. Uh, we did have that conversation um, I want to say a week ago, I guess maybe it was two weeks ago, the 13th. Thank you. So, it's been a couple of weeks ago. Um but that uh work session I think is very illuminating because the board has an opportunity really to dive deeply into the data. So um let's go ahead and go to the next slide. We'll look at the reading VAP pass rates. And these again are grades
155three through eight in high school. And you'll look across the uh bottom here and we've hit all the targets. I want to share that um you know last year 84% of our reading VAP test takers uh achieved a passing score which is a very strong data point but I'm going to share later why this is actually a troubling data point in some ways too because the state um we uh had to move a number of students who had previously been on this VAP assessment track into the so track rather abruptly and that's created I I think, excuse me. Um, some challenges I think for our students as they make that adjustment uh without really as much of an on-ramp I think as we had hoped that they uh would be able to have and that's
156with the new framework, the new accountability framework. So, let's take a look at the APIB English exam pass rate. And again, um the vast majority here have met targets or making progress. And um we have a baseline in some areas for this data point. Um let's take a look at the strategic priority the pass rate on the grade three reading so which is the next slide. And we have 71% of our students pass the grade three reading so this pass rate increased two percentage points from the baseline. And in every case, student groups are making progress. Excuse me. So, let's uh look at the five strategies we have focused on uh for reading by third grade. And these are um if you will shared on this slide, I think folks can read those. The data
157is actually very promising with a number of these strategies which we have um implemented this year in a number of our schools at least 29 of our elementaryaries. We've moved to a walk to read model in third grade. We've also enhanced uh the core reading instruction. It's called ECRI. Was piloted last year with first graders. It's a phonics um enhancement to our core literacy program and it's shown tremendous results. So, we're we're very excited. I think often the board asks, "What are your strategies? What are the things you are doing to work to improve um the scores?" And while we're seeing improvement in all student categories, uh these are the strategies we believe that consistently applied, we'll continue um to take our numbers up. So, let's take a look at mathematics now. We'll look at
158some highlights. And in thinking about the math so pass rates, uh we have uh grades three through eight in high school end of course. These pass rates continue to increase steadily since the baseline and we have again overall met our targets. Um in addition, five student groups had doubledigit gains from the baseline. Um this is actually um an incredible progress slide particularly given that last year there was a change in both the mass standards and the type of math assessment given. Uh so even with those changes we continue to make progress. You want to look at the math VAP pass rates on the next slide. These again um the pass rates over time continue to make progress overall and for most student groups. During the work session, we talked about the state changes to this
159eligibility, which means fewer of our students were able to access this assessment. And as I mentioned earlier, they're now expected to take the SOS. When we look at AP and IB mathematics pass rates, last year, our students took over 12,000 AP or IB math exams, and 79% resulted in a passing score. That is a 9 percentage point gain from the baseline. That's incredible, folks. That's outstanding. Not only did pass rates increase, but we also increase the number of exams given by close to 4,000. So, we have more students taking the exams and the advanced coursework and more students passing. I think that's a data point to be proud of. On the students passing math so with above grade level level content, which is the next slide, thank you. Uh nearly half of our students in
160grades five through nine took and passed an so covering above grade level content which surpassed the state average and other divisions in Northern Virginia. This includes our eighth graders who are taking algebra 1 or higher. And you can see that 49% is higher than all neighboring divisions and well above the state average. Again, I think a data point to be really proud of. And honestly, if you don't mind going back to that, thank you, Janet. Um, this demonstrates the incredible dedication of our educators. We have staff who have stepped up and taken on coursework that they hadn't maybe previously taught. They are working to get credentialed in an area that they hadn't maybe previously had this level of credential. And that commitment and dedication is um it's incredible. It's what makes Fairfax Fairfax. So, I
161just want to make sure that I thank our educators. I know um several of you this evening talked about that commitment particularly in the budget to u providing um salaries that are commensurate with this level of dedication and effort. But our students are working hard, our families are supporting students in this work. Um but again just a great data point for the school division as we look at the strategic priority uh which is making sure that eighth graders have a verified credit in algebra 1. Last uh year we saw an overall increase by 10 percentage points from the baseline. Again significant. We're continuing to see substantial growth this year and currently have just under 75% of our eighth graders enrolled in algebra 1 or higher. Big shout out to Amy Hunter uh who leads our
162math initiative work in our instructional services uh division, her team, our principles, and again our educators uh Dr. Pon's office. Um just really a strong partnership there. Let's go ahead and look at the next slide. And just as I provided you in the literacy, these are the um this is the work that we're doing to increase algebra 1 completion. And again, this is focusing on three particular strategies. Uh we continue to support our students. Um it was exciting to think about our bridging program over the summer. I know I was talking to principal, interim principal Matheni at West Springfield High School. Believe they are going to have 14 classrooms of algebra powerup this summer. and just a lot of excitement for our students having an opportunity um to really challenge themselves. And so I really
163want to give them a a big shout out. Uh key takeaways then are shown on the screen. In language arts, we've seen progress from the baseline and our overall reading so scores and we have seen strong AP and IB English exam pass rates um and our strategic priority of reading by third grade. In our mathematics, we've seen large gains from the baseline and our overall math so performance even as many parts of the Commonwealth are not AP and IB uh pass rates and our strategic priority of students completing algebra 1 by 8th grade continue uh to move forward. So this year we're seeing progress and yet we acknowledge their opportunities for growth as there always will be. We remain committed to this academic growth and excellence for each and every one of our students. And
164madame chair, this does conclude my report on the highlights of goal three um to sum up our work session discussion. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. I call on Mr. Moon for a motion. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> I move that the school board would accept school for the strategic plan report for S school year 25 2025 26. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Uh Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your motion >> just briefly? Uh as Dr. stated that we had a work session on this one a little more than a month ago, January 13th and we set aside, you know, more than two and a half hours to have a disc discussion and we had really robust discussion on this. You know, board
165members had a lot of good questions and a lot of u very valuable information was provided by staff members uh including you of course Dr. V. I appreciate that. So I am not going to reiterate what has been already stated by you uh this evening or at the work session. Uh but for the public and as a reminder to my colleagues a a approving of the report does not necessarily mean that we are just happy with everything uh that the school system has been doing. That's not that is not the case. uh we made a progress in a lot of areas and and happy to see that in many areas we met the targets but we still have a work to do but with that said you know accepting the purpose of bringing the report
166to the board is to provide the data uh when the prior board a a uh adopted the strategic plan they set six measures for the goal three for the superintendent to report on and those measures measures for just for the public information. I want to read those goals uh those measures. The first measure is growth and performance in coursework including GPA, IEP goals and language acquisition. Second measure, growth and performance on state, national and international assessments. Third one, successful completion of algebra one by 8th grade. Fourth, evidence of progression toward or com completion of advanced coursework like AP, IB and CTE. Fifth, annual growth in self-identified portrait of graduate skills. The last one but the least students reading and grade level by the end of third grade. This year's report focuses on focuses on excellence
167in language and excellence in mathematics. However, report also contains all the necessary data for the board and public to have on all the measures. they were contained at the end of the report as a appendices and I appreciate that and as I said that you know we still have a work to do even though we have made a lot of progresses but you the report also provides us with what kind of strategies we are implementing to achieve our targets and with all that information I hope the bold job is to make the resource allocations and make policy decisions and give a direct you know directions to the superintendent and I think report was well presented well prepared and I appreciate that our happily support >> thank you the team has worked hard >> Dr. Dr.
168Anderson, would you like to speak to your second? >> Yes, thank you. I I do want to agree there was a lot of hard work that went into this and that's appreciated. And you know, a report that speaks to the academic excellence of our students is one that I want to dig into. And I did have the opportunity to do so at the work session. We had plenty of time to do that. So, I won't delay that point um with questions here because those were answered. But I do want to share and raise the concerns that I do have. Um just to kind of summarize a little bit for people who are watching now who may not have been watching during the um work session back in January. Um there are a lot of good
169successes here. Um and I'm glad that you were able to highlight that. But I think I I continue to be fairly dismayed with the achievement gaps that persist and in a lot of places widening and um I I'm just concerned about how we are better targeting some of those successes so they're not just happening across certain groups. Um and especially in that meeting, one of the things that I shared and spoke with Dr. Presidio thereafter. I am also kind of very concerned with um the not your tone per se but with the general tenor of when certain groups don't achieve it's the problem with that group. It cannot be. We cannot make those marginalized groups be responsible for their own failures when there are systemic r reasons why those failures are occurring. So I I
170will not be in support because I'd like to see a little bit greater effort into those achievement gaps and a little bit more urgency with supporting those who cannot be responsible for their own failures as I've discussed before a and lastly just in the key takeaways that you shared a little bit again highlighting the successes why you said you acknowledged that there's more work to do. I'd like to see a couple of those things that we want to really be working on be part of those um that slide presentation. >> Yes ma'am Dr. Anderson uh Miss Dixit >> Dr. Thank you for the presentation and this is amazing report lot of data and I am actually very impressed with the overall progress. Um I think the slide uh which shows number 13 which shows our
171grade 5 to9 have taken a grade level above grade level math in 2425 that's almost like double the state um and then better than lot of other counties around our area. So it shows FCPS is doing something right is we are we are educating our students um and they're getting they're um interested in math because that shows um that's why they want to uh learn the higher level. Um I understand the achievement gap. Uh it's it's a it's a fact. It's uh it's kind of a state of affairs. But I I think there a lot of thing is just when the kid comes to school at fif at five five year old um some schools some kids are already reading from home they're already learning basic math and number counting and some school some kids
172don't have access to that. So unless and until we do individual individualized education for each student that gap is very difficult to um you know bridge because you have to be the mother and the father of the child also who's basically supplementing what they're doing at home because this child is not getting that from home. So I'm hoping in the as AI is becoming our tool supporting our teachers hopefully and if they can do indiv individualized instruction at a better level I'm hoping in next four five years that type of teaching we can provide to our students um and this numbers will rise but I definitely am very um happy to see progress in most of the section. >> Thank you Miss Lady. Thank you. Um, and thank you for the report. Uh, I I
173really could just summarize my remarks as wow. I mean, wow. This is great stuff. Um, 79% pass rate on all I think you said AP and IB tests across the board is just incredible. And, um, kudos to the teaching faculty. When they started benchmark, it was hard. Um, they put in so many extra hours. uh similarly with people preparing for math, but we do know numeracy and literacy are essential at all grade levels, but we certainly want our students reading by third grade so that they can then read to learn. Um I just want to mention again to the public that, you know, and I've said this before, one of my campaign things I ran on was PreK for all. And um as my colleague mentioned um it's unfortunate that it's kind of like I'm
174running the mile but I'm a lap ahead or in some cases I'm two I'm I'm two laps ahead. Um and our faculty are doing great work. I also want to commend um your team uh in every in each region at least I know in working with region one and two and five that the extent to which to my colleagues point to drill down on certain demographic groups that are not moving like we want to um that that I believe that they're doing that in great detail by name by need uh by name by strength uh to try and make sure we target um and and and bring all kids up to where we want them to But I I think until uh and I believe I did read recently, I think that Prince William is
175moving to universal prek next year. Um and you know, at this point, you know, we're almost three times better than them in math, but I suspect that they're going to start closing their achievement caps with that investment. So, um if anyone's listening, um in Richmond, we need money. We need preK for all as a state. It it shouldn't just be by jurisdiction. um it should be something our state does because it it's cruel um and it's it's not equitable uh in terms of access and and where learning is. But great work and again I I appreciate the drilling down um on all areas to make sure we're we're doing the work and helping the kids. Thanks. >> Yes, ma'am. And I will share a national data point that um across this nation we could pro
176provide universal prek for all children with 1% of our military budget. >> Mr. F. >> Thank you. I just want to make another plug for universal prek. um you know in places where they've successfully tackled that it has typically been a state-led initiative uh that brings it to every corner of the state because so many places just can't afford it even wealthy places uh or pe places that are considered to be wealthy. Um I also think a little bit more context on some of the bones here is important. you know, the the AP pass rate numbers are extremely impressive and not just because we're leading uh the Commonwealth, but because our sample size is so much larger than the average locality in Virginia, can you talk a little bit about the efforts that we make
177to grow the number of students who are taking these exams and how that is not having what one would expect on its surface uh a depreciating impact on our ability to have students pass the exams? Yes, sir. And I think Mr. Fris, you're raising a a point that's so important. Um I recently noted that uh we have some folks that have been critical around the SAT numbers, for example, for the school division. And across the Commonwealth, there are roughly 51% 50% of students in the Commonwealth, I'm paraphrasing, that are taking the SAT. We have over 70 almost 82% I think last year. I don't have the exact but definitely in the high 70s of our students who are taking it. So we have at least 25% more students taking the SAT and our scores are
178still higher than the state average. So imagine if only our top 50% of our students were taking it, our average score would potentially look different. And what I think about equity, access, and opportunity is that when all children have a chance to sit for those exams, to have rigorous coursework in all of our schools in every neighborhood across the county, we're going to see data like this. And to your point, our students took over 12,000 AP or IB exams last year, and 79% of those were passing scores. That's that's 12,000, right? So, I I want to really congratulate uh Dr. Pon, Dr. Presidio Dr. King uh for their work in making sure that um and Miss Neil in terms of the able work that we've done working with our high school principles and now middle
179school principles um to support pathways um course rigorous course taking pathways because we know that it's the quality of that schedule that a student has that's going to be the determinant of post-secary success. Additionally, um even with our our focused effort to have elementary school students piloting advanced math and our eighth graders in algebra, even growing those numbers, we're not seeing a decline in the pass rates on the SOS. Can you speak to that? >> That's correct. As we're adding um almost 20% more students in algebra 1, um our pass rates have remained above 90%. And again, that goes to the strength of our educators and the work and dedication and honestly the talent of our young people and the support from their families. So, um we're very proud of um our performance across the
180board. >> But I do think it sets up a tale of two students, right? Like we have persistent gaps that existed before COVID. In some places we see very good signs of growth and in other places um it's either stagnant or the same and we're putting a lot of effort at the school level into addressing these. So I can only imagine where we'd be if that effort was not there. I'm curious if you know in addition to prek which is not something that you know we're certainly growing our prek program even with limited resources but it's not something that we have direct control over our ability to really up that number. What more could we be doing in a focused manner to support schools particularly where um these problems are most acute? And this is
181not a problem unique to Fairfax. This is a problem in every school division in the country. So I think a lot of that work you saw in the theory or our strategy slides. I think making sure that our curriculum that there's alignment between the written taught and tested curriculum and making sure that the supports for students who maybe are a bit behind grade level are connected to that grade level curriculum. Making sure that um all students have access to grade level curriculum. And that's been a strong push in the last couple years as um Dr. Prescidio's team has worked through our inclusion work uh making sure that every student has access to uh third grade reading strategies and comprehension if they're in third grade that they still then have time for support or enrichment, but
182that everyone um has grade level material. And that's really important. It sounds like a simple statement, but it's critical uh for our children to continue developing because if a child's a bit behind, we're going to need to accelerate their progress. They can't just make a year's progress. So, they're going to stay behind. My last question, um, when we look at school by school data, we'll find in some when you kind of like neutralize the the size of the numer numerator or whatever, you'll still find some schools surprising jumps in these gaps and some that are stagnant and some where >> it's not it's going in the in the opposite direction. What are we doing to harness what we're seeing working? you know, again, equalizing the numerator so that we're not just, you know, a 20%
183jump when there's a much smaller group of students, but what are we doing to grab what we see working in schools in one part of the county with a group of students and, you know, put that to work for students in another part of the county where it might be helpful. >> So, yes, sir. I an example is the ECRI work we've been doing. tremendous um data results and also a tremendous commitment of funds for professional development for the materials that our teachers need as first grade teachers. Um but I will tell you that again a shout out to our region offices, our region assistant superintendents and executive principles have been doing walkthroughs in their schools in instructional not just like walking through the school but instructional walkthroughs with principles and staff. And so I
184think as we see um and of course Mr. Sethy we're graphing our um charts of outlier performance uh and where we see those we definitely want to go visit and replicate those strategies. So the ECRI work we'd like to expand. We have schools asking if they can expand it to second grade and right now budget-wise um we're a bit challenged although likely we're going to look at some of the um achievement gap strategy funding for the ECRI and professional development uh because we know that's a winning strategy and I don't know uh Miss Lemon do you want to comment on the ECRI data and just what it's showing either you or Dr. Prescidio. >> Thank you so much. Yes. Last year we had the opportunity to expand to 10 schools with the the ECRI work
185and that was based on two schools showing just tremendous growth in first grade in one year and we are seeing that same come through as we have the vow scores come in mid year. We're what we're saying is we're growing the green and we're shrinking the red. That means more kids are on grade level and less children are at high risk. So once we find sort of those pockets, it's like bringing it to scale across the division. >> So when we hear that like immediately when we were doing the reading transition, one of the things we talked about was the distinction between uh staff who were trained up and could you train the trainer or could the trainer be a trainer? I think I'm saying that right. Um is the ECRI work something that we
186can grow within our school division that the volume of people who can train others to do it? I believe so. It's an intensive training for every teacher that picks that up and begins to work with it. And the teachers who've done it, which is why we started so small with two schools. People were like, "Seriously, we are just doing benchmark." But they we had two schools pick it up and run with it. And at this point, we couldn't pry it out of their cold hard hands because they think it's the very best strategy uh for that primary reading support. Um, but are we Miss Lemon working on a train the trainers? I I know you guys have some plans of foot. >> That's not necessarily a model that is that's we're allowed to do right
187now, but we are exploring what other things we could do to expand quickly. And um because so many of the training is like coming into tier one, it's like you learn this as a tier three small group, but the teachers then pick that up and are able to transfer it into their regular classroom lessons. So that has been super supportive. Um but we are looking at additional ways. >> Thank you, >> Miss St. John Cunning. Um Mr. fresh asked a lot of my questions. Um, but one of the questions I did want to ask is as you're finding these areas of success, um, and since we're talking budget, um, where would you put funding, if we had discretionary funds to close? And I made a slip at our last work session meeting and I said
188academic gaps instead of achievement gaps. And I thought about that and I said, you know, our kids are achieving. They might not academically be somewhere. And I kind of like that idea better that there might be some academic gaps. That doesn't mean that our kids that aren't there yet aren't achieving because I think that doesn't represent where they're going in the work the teachers are going. So, I'm going to use the word academic gaps. Um, where would that funding what would that funding look like? And I think we just got a an answer in terms of the training. Well, that is I think one of the things that we have um identified schools that are receiving extra support right now. We have about 29 elementary schools specifically that have received extra support that are modeling
189the walk to read strategy which I talked about in the goal three report and I think we've seen a video about that. So at this point the ECRI work uh very much so we're we're in 10 schools plus two, right? So we're in 12 um we have 141 elementaryaries so we have a room to grow here and the costs at each one um I think that's one of the things you've all talked about early childhood in one way or another we know that children close academic gaps faster younger right so the younger we can reach uh children with the reading and in particular these first grade um phmic support the I believe and the research bears out that if we can close those gaps in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, those primary years, um we're
190going to have less need for remediation as students go through the system. So, um I think that that's definitely a place we're very much so focused on with literacy right now. >> Thank you. And I too just want to make um a plug for uh universal prek. And it's something that if a state like New Mexico, which is considered a poor state, can provide not only universal prek, but is also starting to provide ch child care, I think the Commonwealth of Virginia can kind of look at a model that's working, and we are by far a wealthier state than they are. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Seeing no others, we're going to go ahead and take a vote for the motion that is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin,
191Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, um Mr. Moon, myself, all those opposed, Dr. Anderson with Mr. Dunaway from the table. Will the clerk please read the vote? >> 91. The motion carries. Thank you. Agenda item 6.06. Thank you, Dr. Agenda item 6.06, federally identified schools, TSI and CSI. I call on Mr. Moon for a motion. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the school board would approve the multi-year school support plans to be submitted to Virginia Department of Education for the 36 schools identified for targeted support and improvement TSI and that the school would certify the review of the CSI planning year activities section of the multi-year school support plans to be submitted to the Virginia Department of Education for the four schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement. CSI.
192>> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I second. Miss Marin, uh, Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your motion? >> You know, Madame Chair, uh, I actually wanted to have this removed from the consent agenda for the purpose of asking some questions, especially for the public. Uh, in light of the fact that earlier this evening, uh, there was a speaker, uh, who talked about, you know, these 40 scores. So, if I could have Oh, Dr. Reed. Should I ask you or should I ask Mar Mr. Smith for so much? >> No, I I apologize. My notes were right here and now they're not. So, >> but I will try to find them here real quick. >> I can ask very very slowly. >> Okay. Um I will try to do them from
193memory. >> Okay. I I sent you some questions in advance. So, I'm >> I will do one by one. I have seven questions. Uh, could you explain how and why we came to identify the 40 scores? >> I'm I'm sorry. Could I explain >> how and why we came to identify the 40 scores? >> The the CSI and um TSI schools are identified federally um and they're connected to the new framework. I don't know where they I hand wrote them. So they're connected to the new um school framework performance framework. And so this uh year for the first time there were new um for example uh new standards or new requirements for our schools uh to meet. In other words, our end size was changed from 30 to 15. Which means previously if we had
19417, 18, 20, 24 students in a group, they were not part of the criteria in the performance framework and that was a situation that was challenging uh for a number of schools. Um we had four schools identified as CSI. Um and thank you Three of those were our alternative schools, Bryant, Mountain View, and the adult high school. And one was an elementary school. So those were the four CSI schools. And then we had um 36 schools um that were um identified as TSI for targeted support and improvement. And those schools um are only in improvement status for one year. And of those um 36 um 11 of those were just based on participation numbers. In other words, we didn't have enough students participate because they were opted out to count the numbers. They negatively impacted.
195Um so I think that we didn't identify the schools. the schools were identified um federally and I can go into some more of the details. I want to make sure I'm responsive to the question. >> That was very responsive. This is something coming from federal government. Yes, sir. And the VDOE as opposed to anything that we are doing differently changing the N size and >> and so forth. Sure. >> Well, and the other the other item is that previously we had 11 semesters for our multilingual students to u master English prior to taking the required assessments. These assessments and this data is based on three semesters. So, a year and a half rather than five and a half years. So, um that was a significantly different um situation for our students. And we're also very
196proud to say that with the work we've done and our multilingual student improvement um that only two of the 36 schools had multilingual students only as groups that uh didn't meet the new expectation. And that is a huge win. Our young people worked so hard and our staff worked so hard. Um and I I just am very proud of that data point. >> You know, so am I. So am I as a former ESS student, multilingual student myself, right? >> You know, expecting someone to be able to master English in three semester, that's an absurd, right? >> That's an absurd goal. >> And so, uh, 40 schools out of about 200 schools we have in the county, right, that represent about 20%. Is that percentage high, very high compared to other school district? How is
197that compared to other school districts in the Commonwealth? Well, so the Commonwealth had 24% of the schools across the Commonwealth that were federally identified. Our Fairfax County, we were at 20%. So, we had a lower percentage than the Commonwealth. And I want to just walk us a minute through that because when you begin to break down the data of these 40 schools, um, four of them, as I mentioned, were CSI, but three of those are our alternative schools, which are some of our hardest working students and staff, and they come in often very credit deficient and often um very grade level behind when they're coming to the adult high school or um one of those uh other alternative schools. So if you kind of separated them, those previously used to be able to have an
198alternative accreditation path and this is the first year that that alternative accreditation path was not available with regard to this um framework. We do know that the VDOE is working on reinstating that. But if we pull those three out and we looked at the remaining uh there were 27 other schools uh that were only um students with disabilities that were the category often because recall I mentioned that we move students from the VAP to the so track with limited support and a very short on-ramp. So that end parent um refusal for assessment. And um so that would be 27 of the schools. So if you take those 27 and the three that had previously been accredited, >> then now you're down to just 10 schools in Fairfax, which only be a 5% of our schools
199that would be in support. So we really believe that while um we have work to do that um the data is actually quite strong for us. And I also lastly want to mention that last year we had five middle schools that were on the federally identified list and all five middle schools are off this year. >> That is wonderful news. Thank you so much. So if someone to label those 40 schools as a failing schools, is that a failed characterization? >> No sir. In fact, that's um some of these schools have some of our strongest growth. Um and it we absolutely would not characterize these schools as failing. >> Thank you. Uh since you know board member you know bold is required to uh either approve or review uh these plans I I took my
200time to go through those plans very very lengthy documents lengthy documents but one of you know one of the things that stood out to me was stakeholder engagement. I mean plans all seem to emphasize upon the importance of stakeholder you know engagement and many of the plans I mean they mentioned they include stakeholders include you know parents and students but at the same time I only saw very few parents and students actually part of that stakeholders groups perhaps perhaps you know Dr. you know when you have a chance to look at that and and see whether we can find a way to include more parents and students as a part of stakeholder that's my request yes sir >> you don't need to respond I'm I'm all done madam chair >> I I also want to
201just just put a bookend on this to say that even though they have this federal identification every one of our 200 schools was fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education >> thank you >> uh Miss Marin, would you like to speak to your second? >> No, thank you. I'm glad Mr. Moon had the opportunity to um inquire. >> Thank you, Mr. FR. >> Yeah, I think it's a good opportunity to point out why we're here and I think Mr. Moon was getting at some of this. Um, you know, a year ago, this board was talking about the changes that were coming, right? Uh we were complaining about the VDOE's new school performance and support framework and how they were penalizing school divisions when parents exercise their rights to opt out of taking SOS. Um
202that they were penalizing multilingual learners by limiting the time they had to prove their mastery of English. Um and these are the fruits of those changes. These are artificial impacts on our school system. and yet we still thrive. And so, um, I'm hopeful that the new administration in Richmond, um, will take a close look at what they've done here. And let's not forget that this was implemented partway through a school year without all of the an without all of the many questions that school divisions across the Commonwealth had about what exactly was going on being answered. There are some questions that still haven't been answered. And so, here we are. And I hope that the the new governor uh and her eventual new uh board of education um and our friends in the legislature will
203look at this and partner with school divisions to be much more uh proactive about engaging school division voice in the process of ensuring that we have high standards for every student and that we provide schools with the resources and time and tools they need to achieve those new standards instead of scrambling like they've made school divisions across the Commonwealth do. Um, when we look at how we compare to other school divisions, um, I'm grateful that we're doing better, but I tell you what, every single school division in the Commonwealth would benefit if, uh, Richmond would pull back on this a bit and partner with everybody to get it right. >> I also to echo Mr. Fish's comments. Uh Jark has already identified concerns with the new framework and my understanding is that they're um concern
204is that they've overidentified um schools honestly. So um I know that I'm confident that uh as Mr. F said that more work will be done. Thank you Dr. Reid. Uh seeing no others, we're going to go ahead and call for a vote on the motion that is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members with Mr. Dunaway from the table. Agenda item 7.01, >> academic matters. All right, Madame Chair, this is one of the highlights of our uh of my meeting. Um this evening, I'm going to take a point of privilege and share a video prior to my academic matters that was shown last evening at Carter
205G. Woodson High School uh when we celebrated Black History Month uh last evening at Carter J. Carter G. Woodson High School. And this particular video is very I think impactful and um I just it's a reminder that we need to celebrate um our black history not just in a particular month or a particular meeting um but uh everywhere and all the time. So I'm going to ask Dr. King who uh helped put this video together uh to share a couple comments and then we'll see our video from last night. >> Thank you Dr. Reid. Um, as we close out Black History Month, it's my hope that this vid video serves not as a conclusion, but as a call to action. Our charge is to continue showing up for every child every day, ensuring that each
206student feels seen, valued, and empowered to thrive. I want to thank the board and Dr. Reid for your continued support of our students, and for helping us create a school system where excellence is recognized, nurtured, and celebrated in all forms. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Moon. It was really, really great to see you last night. >> All right, madame clerk, if we could go ahead and uh show the video. Black excellence in Fairfax County Public Schools. A legacy, a journey, a future. Before there were modern classrooms, before there were textbooks filled with promise, there were black families in Fairfax County Public Schools who believed, believed that education was not optional, but essential, powerful, and worth fighting for. In the early years, black children learned in segregated schools, often underfunded, overcrowded, and overlooked. Yet inside
207those walls live brilliance, resilience, and hope. Teachers taught not just lessons, but dignity. Students learned not just facts, but faith in themselves. Even when opportunity was unequal, excellence was not. When desegregation came, it did not erase the struggle. It asked black students and black educators to be pioneers. Often walking into spaces where they were unseen, unheard, or unwelcome. Yet, they showed up anyway. They showed up prepared. They showed up proud. They carried their communities with them. Black educators became anchors, mentors, counselors, disciplinarians, advocates, and champions. They nurture generations of students who would go on to become leaders, scholars, artists, engineers, service members, and change makers. They taught through policy changes. They taught through cultural shifts. They taught through moments of progress and moments of pain. And still, they taught. As Fairfax County grew, so did
208the voices of black excellence. Students brought their full identities into the classroom, their histories, their languages, their dreams. They challenged expectations. They redefined success. They reminded the system that brilliance does not come in just one form. Today, black excellence in Fairfax County Public Schools lives everywhere. in classrooms and in cafeterias, in school offices and central offices, in principles, bus drivers, counselors, teachers, custodians, and coaches. It lives in students who lead with courage, and educators who teach with purpose, and families who partner with belief and pride. Black excellence is not just a moment in history. It is a living legacy. It is the courage of those who came before, the brilliance of those who stand here now, and the promise of those still to come. As we honor black history, we also honor black futures. Because
209when black students thrive, when black educators are valued, when black voices are heard, our entire system rises. We celebrate the past, affirm the present, and commit to a future where every black student and every black educator knows you belong, you matter, and your excellence is essential. This is the story of Fairfax County Public Schools. A story shaped by perseverance, strengthened by community, and illuminated by black excellence yesterday, today, and always. Happy Black History Month. >> Dr. Reed, if I could just say I want to really thank Mark Jones and Mark Hoffman for helping put this video together. The communicate our communication teams rock. >> Yeah, >> indeed they do. So, um I think you can understand why I thought it would be Nardis. Well done. So, for tonight's academic matters presentation, uh we're going to
210provide an update on the division's elementary literacy initiative with a specific focus on writing. What? Okay. Um, as we have stated in earlier board presentations, we can go to the slide two. There we go. Um, the benchmark has some key components for writing and the division's new literacy curriculum really is having a significant impact on our students reading achievement. But our writing I think also I don't know I know our board you're very active visiting schools and when we walk into classrooms and see work on the walls of the halls the writing that I see this year looks just um it's really incredibly I think more robust than what we saw several years ago. Um and I just I'm really uh proud of the hard work again our educators and our young people are doing
211um with this. So, there are three key components to the writing curriculum. They're on the slide. Um, if you want to go to the next slide. Just want to take a look at the impact this new curriculum is having on student writing performance. Each quarter, students in grades three through six are assessed on a writing task. In one of three genres, uh, narrative, information, expository, or opinion, which is often called persuasive writing. And by comparing scores from last fall to this fall, you can see that the grade level performance has definitely improved from last year and that students writing proficiency is getting stronger as they advance through grade levels. For example, if we look diagonally down the rows of the displayed chart, you would see the third graders going to from November of 24, do
212you see how diagonally to the right to the fourth grader, they go from 52 to 69%, which is a 17% increase in their assessment. And in grade four, a year ago, um, at 57 to 78, there was a 21% increase. And this past year with our fifth grade, there was a 23% increase in improvement um in terms of endofear grade level expectations for writing. That is significant and again demonstrates how hard our young people are working. In our next slide, we're looking at Lexia foundational writing skill improvements. And again, um, this is a core five reading and power up literacy at middle school that includes word study, morphology, and spelling as well as grammar. Um, which honestly, I mean, I can talk math all day, but talk grammar, and I'm I'm going to struggle a
213little bit, I'm sure. Uh, but again, students continue to show impressive growth after just several months of using Lexia this school year. Um, for example, students in grades K to five, there are 23% more students demonstrating intermediate or advanced levels of writing. So, we're again to the questions this evening about some of the strategies. Um, what is the data? U, I think you can see that some of the strategies are showing really strong um, results. So, madame clerk, let's uh, take a moment to see benchmark writing action in a first and fourth grade classroom. I really appreciate that we're not just focused on reading, but also on writing. There's a separate time that's specifically set aside. The lessons are scripted. They enable me to model for students what it looks like to begin writing a
214piece, to continue writing, and then to give it a sense of closure. What's amazing about these resources is it gives me the opportunity to enrich my students that need enriching and support my students that need support and reteing simultaneously. They also provide a lot of anchor charts. There's one I especially like that has the five W's. Who, what, when, where, and why. Um, I was inspired by that and I created bookmarks for each student to keep in their journal. This bookmark is to help me ask questions so I can so I can write about things in my in my book. >> Another anchor chart I really like is I think I speak and I write. And that sounds so basic, but it's really helped them to get started because when they're faced with a blank
215page, having those scaffolds, knowing that they can say the words out loud and then they can write them down is really helpful. Probably the most powerful tool is the fact that the reading and the writing are integrated. I notice the connection between the two when I see students writing and they're applying that background knowledge they've acquired from the passages or stories that we've read and they're putting it on the page. They're using the vocabulary words that come with that benchmark unit in their writing. What I noticed this year that the writers that came to me from third grade were writers. For the first time when I said let's write students put paper to pencil and were able to go they asked me things like are we writing an informative essay or are we writing an
216opinion essay did you want that to be in the narrative form or can I write a poem they are writing complete sentences they're adding more details to their stories I'm noticing that uh the quantity they're writing a lot longer pieces a lot of times the first week of school they'll just write a few words or one sentence. Now they're writing entire pages even though I have not prompted them to do that. What I notice is the quality, the quantity and the stamina for writing is 500 times better than I've ever seen. >> I look for students who maybe are not writing complete sentences yet. And so we might do a lesson on parts of speech and how every sentence has I called it a who and a do with a noun and a verb. Um
217and I can use those grammar lessons from Benchmark to reinforce that. This has helped me ensure that everyone's on the right track and that I'm able to meet the needs of every kid in the class. Benchmark really levels the playing field. It gives all students a strong foundation in things like grammar, handwriting, punctuation so that all students are able to express themselves in writing. Everything they want to say, they're able to put on the page. >> I'm learning to have better handwriting. Before I used to add like too many details from the stories, but now I add details that only matter and I remember to call text goes and give credits to like where the stories are from and the facts. >> I know I've gotten better at writing because I've been spelling longer words.
218>> I've gotten better at writing in third person. I started writing two or three sentences. Now I write four paragraphs. I got better at using text evidence to to support my ideas. That makes me feel very great because um I can show my opinion and my feelings. >> I've been teaching for over 30 years and for the first time in my career, I can honestly say that I have peace of mind in my writing instruction. >> It's important for all people to be good writers because um you can get into a good college that and I really want to get into a good college job. And so, um, I'm going to just say here's our last slide on writing. The National Commission on Writing refers to writing as the neglected R. And I really think
219this data is important. The young man at the end of the video said it. Uh, it's important to have good writing skills. And um, I couldn't agree with him more. Uh, in FCPS, we understand the importance of writing for the future success of our students. I love that our students were able to voice their own um improvement and success. And also just again want to thank our educators. We've asked a lot of them in the last couple years, especially our elementary teachers with the benchmark curriculum. It was a lot to learn and plan for um and I just appreciate the dedication um demonstrated to be able to get the results that we're getting. So Madame Chair, uh that is academic matters this evening. Thank you, Dr. Reid. Uh, Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. I I'm
220pretty excited to see this because I know writing has been kind of the Achilles heel here. Um, it wasn't well structured enough to be successful across all skill levels of students. And so, this is this is very exciting. I particularly appreciated their use of academic language because that means they really understand what is it that they're producing. Um question that I have that I I think needs to be highlighted a little bit is regarding the key components the explicit foundational instruction the cursive grades two to six. Can you speak a little bit more in terms of how that occurs? Um because this has been a um a new question that I'm being asked by parents quite a quite a bit because now they have older children who cannot create a signature and so they are
221wondering when we're going to bring cursive back so that their kids can actually read you know notes that they are leaving if it's not just a a text. Um can you speak a little bit to this? >> I yes ma'am I will give that a shot. Um would you like to speak to that Dr. Prescidio? I I still think cursive seems a bit elusive and um for uh yeah so Dr. Prescidio >> yeah I mean I think just the the short answer is we are excited to have this as part of the core curriculum. We had supplemental resources and materials uh prior to this adoption but they weren't frequently used and this is part of the core curriculum so students are getting daily practice. Um and again I'm just going to reiterate how thankful we
222really are um on to have the support of the board and the superintendent to do this language arts adoption. It was comprehensive. It was the first one we have done in 25 years and you can see in the data the impact that it's having already. So we really appreciate your support and this investment because it's making a huge difference. But yeah, this is daily writing practice including cursive in grades two through six. And I know as we've talked about homework for elementary school kids, a cursive worksheet makes a perfect homework assignment. Send that sheet home. Um I did have another question regarding the um the benchmark assessments for writing. I I noticed here that you have um well the data that is here is for um levels two, three, and four. One, who scores these?
223Are these just the regular classroom teachers? Yeah, they're scored in the classroom. Um, but the teachers do compare um scoring and so they work to have interrator reliability on scoring, but yeah, these the um the data on the slide that we showed was from unit two that occurred in the fall. >> And do you have this data with just levels three and four? >> Um, we could pull it that way. I don't have it off the top of my head that way, but we could pull it for, you know, just level four or level three and four, whatever you'd like. >> I'd just be interested to see what the growth is for three and four. If you have that, that would be fantastic. >> Um, and then the last piece is, and refresh my memory,
224and I I guess I'm just going to ask Dr. Presidio, the fifth grade writing assessment, that is that was made optional some years ago. Are we doing anything that is um comparable to that? That was a fifth grade writing so >> yeah I I'll have to check on that and get back to you to see if we're doing something consistent in fifth grade. >> Yeah, >> thank you. Um, I I'm excited to see that kids are writing extended essays and actually trying to find ways to articulate their thinking beyond a a quick uh message. So, this is really exciting stuff. Thank you. I also appreciate you noting the academic language. I think that's really important. Um, and the children noting the context. And um I will say coming from a state that had a fifth
225grade writing assessment uh fifth, eighth, and tth um we had a much greater emphasis on writing than I noted when I first came to Fairfax. But I really appreciate how hard everyone's working because whether or not the state tests, it's important and I think people know that. Yeah, >> we used to have it and I I'm not sure if it became just entirely optional, but I know it wasn't mandatory. So, some divisions did their own thing and it just kind of watered down a little bit across the years. Um, the extended essay piece is really so exciting because I see this as a great trajectory for those who are in that IB work that IB extended essay. You know, some of our kids are struggling at that high school level because the foundations were not
226there. So, again, this is really good stuff. >> Yeah. Uh and I even on the data slide that's up ahead of us, 91% of employers consider writing proficiency in the hiring process. I know for senior leaders and principles, we expect a writing um activity. So I think writing is something as our young man in the video said that it it matters. So >> Mr. Dixit, >> thank you Dr. Reed. And these students could be future authors, right? So they can write, they can do anything. So um I actually am u really impressed with the the growth um and and as I say 23% 17 and nine um I have uh seen this firsthand in the classrooms actually in elementary schools that the students uh the teachers have said that the writing improved uh from fall
227to spring and students are writing uh and very good hand in writing too because they're writing more and and and the books itself. So, I saw that in the video as well. Um, you know, some some people have this great writing skills, some some don't have like that. Um, I guess they're more verbal and cannot write that well. But, uh, this can be taught. Um, I I um I'm not a big fan of writing myself, but uh, you know, when I when I need to write, I can write because I had that foundation skills to be able to to write. And I agree with the cursive writing. Um I mean when I was young and I guess a lot of my colleagues will remember like cursive was the thing that's how we wrote. So I
228would love to see our students um writing again in cursive if if and I see that in some classrooms. I don't know how they get the skills but they some kids are already writing in cursive. So but uh overall this is uh a great uh success and improvement and thank you for that >> Mr. Amen. >> And Dr. Thanks for the presentation. I want to ask a quick question from a little bit different angle gap, achievement gap between boys and girls in writing or language arts in early grades. >> You know, traditionally, nationally, we have seen that um our boys have tended to lag in writing. I don't know that we've looked at that here. Miss Neil, Dr. PCI, have we looked at a gender gap in writing? >> I don't know that we've pulled
229writing um data by gender. That's some certainly something we could >> Is that difficult to pull? Is that difficult to pull? >> I I think if we were clear about what the request was, we could pull that information. >> Okay. Just just because I I I remember when my kids were small that they were slower than others. Well, we do know developmentally that fine um hand coordination generally develops in young girls quicker than boys. But um there probably other reason >> it's not just a cursive. I'm not just talking about cursive but actually writing >> right >> composition right >> I probably was an outlier which is why I went into chemistry. >> Okay. >> Because I was not I don't enjoy writing per se either. So, >> it's great that I have a staff
230of great writers. >> Thank you. >> I'm gonna take a quick turn here because I can't not. Um, so I my favorite story of teaching the engineering students at Kansas State was that I had a student walk in and say, "I'm never going to need to know how to write because I'm going to have a secretary that's going to do that all for me." >> Nice. >> And it was it it was a moment where we all looked at her like, I don't think you understand how this works now. But um what I love about this is I've been able to see it real time with the tiniest person that lives in my house. >> Um we went from pretending that we couldn't read in second grade, literally um to now he has graduated Lexia
231>> as a fifth grader. So that was an awesome day that was very much appreciated in our house. Um, but what I love about this, and I've talked about this with several principles and and teachers around the count or around my district, is the fact that >> I can't wait to see what happens when we get the kindergarteners that have gone all the way through. So, when we get those kindergarteners that started with benchmark from the very beginning, I can't wait to see what happens with the third grade SOS and how it works with our strategic plan goals. So, I'm very excited to just be able to see the growth in my own kid. Um, and I will say that I have heard repeatedly, we still need a little bit of innovation to figure out
232how to catch those kids that we adopted just a little bit late. And that's always going to be the case, right? And as you guys always hear me say, um, the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago or today. Um, but I do want to make sure that we figure out how to get those core skills with those kiddos that maybe missed it because I have to tell you as a former former English teacher, the worst thing that ever I my students would ever say to me is, "I hate writing." Um, and you don't have to love it. It's just it's a tool. It's a skill. And with the advent of AI, um, our kids actually need to be better writers because they need to be discerning and and be able to
233critique um, information that systems are going to provide for them. So, I am excited to see where we go next. Um, and I can't wait to to see how awesome our kiddos do next year. So, thank you. >> And I think that's it. All right. Agenda item eight, consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure. Robert's rules provide for a consent agenda, listing several items for approval by the board by a single motion. Many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance. Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting. The consent agenda items are on the screen. Is there any objection to approving the consent agenda? Hearing and seeing no objection.
234Oh, I'll make sure it gets to the screen before we move on. Hearing and seeing no objection, the consent agenda is approved. Agenda item nine, new business. The following are new business agenda items. There will not be a vote on these items this evening, but action is scheduled for a future meeting. Agenda item 10, board committee reports. I call on Miss Marin for a report from the governance committee. Yes, at its March 17th committee meeting, members will continue working on developing the first ever policy regarding AI. The board reviewed a version from the superintendent at its February 17th meeting and the next draft is expected to be posted on the board talks web page by March 12th at the latest so that we can be ready in time. The calendar policy. So I I hope
235members arrive ready uh to discuss many aspects related to this. I've already shared a briefing memo created by myself and Mr. done and our staff that provides a comprehensive summary of practices from the past leading up to the present and areas that could be addressed in policy. Earlier this week, I invited each board member to schedule time with me to connect next week to hear th their thoughts on AI and the calendar policies work. So, I thank Mr. Fr, Mr. Melby, Mr. Moon, and Miss Lady for scheduling that time already. Uh we're also going to be reviewing some fiscal policies to keep keep trying to get through the backlog and we'll continue to fine-tune our review process to keep work moving forward. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Agenda item 11, Superintendent Matters. I call on
236Dr. Reid for Superintendent Matters. >> Thank you. Um Madame Chair, just I think the last couple weeks there's just been so much going on. Really appreciated. Uh, I've had a chance to get out and watch a number of our basketball teams playing and they're in playoffs now. Uh, a number of theater performances that have been incredible. Uh, and music performances. Um, I last night had a chance to attend the uh, Black History Month celebration at Carter G. Woodson and today had a chance to have a soul food lunch and uh presentation at West PTOAC uh high school and had a great time with students and staff there. Um I think that uh I also last uh evening uh had made remarks at the artifacts first annual uh event where we honor the uh visual arts
237of our Fairfax County public school students from across the county. And oh my goodness, the sculpture, the painting, the multimedia visual art is incredible. Our children have so many gifts. Um, I also want to foreshadow uh a calendar topic coming up. Uh while the elections have been sort of an onag again offagain uh topic, our county elections um committee did let me know this week and I sent a note to the board um believe yesterday that April 21st appears to be a go day for the uh constitutional amendment election across the Commonwealth. And um as that's the case, it's very likely uh that since 168 of our schools are identified as polling places that we will likely need to uh close schools on April 21. Uh we'll be sending out communication to the broader community
238next week. Um but uh again it's going to be a Commonwealthwide um election and because our schools in Fairfax County are used as polling places with parking required uh the elections board has indicated that they believe there will be a high turnout uh for this election which requires parking and a lot of uh traffic in and out of schools uh during the day that uh we're not able to really adequately manage at the same time we have school. So, more uh information on that topic to come. It does look like the June primary date for an election has been moved to August 4th. So, we won't need to at this time uh amend the calendar in June. So, that's my update for this evening. Thank you, Dr. Reid. Agenda item. Agenda item 12, board matters.
239in alignment with board consensus. Uh due to the late hour, we're skipping this item for this for tonight. Um that means that on February 26, 2026, the regular meeting is adjourned at 11:07 p.m. Heat. Heat.