10/23/2025 - FCPS School Board Meeting

001This October 23rd, 2025 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence and their performance of the national anthem by the Fairfax Villa Elementary School 6th grade chorus under the direction of Mary Gaskins. I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Say [Music] by the dawn early [Music] so proud we at the twilight last stars through fighting [Music] and the rockets red [Music] flag still there. May star [Music] for the land of the brave. [Music] [Applause] Can we give our amazing students one another round of applause, please? [Applause] >> Agenda item 3.02, announcements. If

002you would like to receive a copy of the meeting agenda, please see the back of the auditorium. To obtain copies of any items or supporting materials being presented tonight, please reference the QR code on the agenda or visit www.fcps.edu backboards. Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on Cox channel 99, Verizon FiOS channel 11, and livereamed on YouTube and at our website at www.fcps.edulivestream. backlivestream. Agenda item 3.01, proclamation honoring National Red Ribbon Week. I call on Mr. McDaniel for a proclamation. >> Thank you. Whereas the National Family Partnership, a national leader in drug prevention, education, and advocacy, sponsored the first Red Ribbon Week in 1988 in response to the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarina, in which in which angered parents and youth and communities across the country began wearing red ribbons as a symbol of their

003commitment to raise awareness of the violence and destruction caused by drug abuse in America. And whereas the red ribbon program is based on scientific and evidence-based principles for substance abuse prevention and incorporates the following six prevention strategies. Information dissemination, prevention, education, alternative activities, community- based processes, environmental approaches, and problem identification and referral. And whereas the 2025 theme for Red Ribbon Week, life is a puzzle, solve it drug-free, is a call to action emphasizing how living drug-f free helps build a stronger, brighter future with each positive voice fitting into the bigger picture. It also serves as a reminder that every person is empowered to shape the communities around us through positivity, bravery, and strength. And whereas Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to fostering a safe and supportive environment that empowers students to make healthy choices

004through offering activities and learning experiences which focus on the many ways cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, vaping, and other drug use can negatively impact student lives, including a substance abuse prevention program for students experiencing substance abuse. Whereas and whereas the efforts of FCPS educators, counselors, and support staff are instrumental in equipping students with the knowledge and skills necessary to resist peer pressure and lead fulfilling drug-free lives. We especially commend our substance abuse program specialists and the role they play in reaffirming a culture of wellness and resilience in our schools. Now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board does hereby proclaim October 23rd through 31st as Red Ribbon Week in recognition of the oldest and largest drugrevention program in the nation and encourages students, families, and the Fairfax County community to unite and take a

005personal invisible pledge to a drug-free lifestyle. >> Is there a second? >> Second, >> Mr. Mavine. I will call for a vote. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mavine, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismore Heiser, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members present. Agenda item 3.04, proclamation honoring student athletes and activities month. I call on Mr. Mleen for a proclamation. Whereas National High School Activities Week was first proclaimed by Congress and President Ronald Reagan in October 1983 in recognition of the significant place extracurricular opportunities have in the growth of our high school students and how these programs and experiences help students to learn to set and achieve goals to organize their time effectively and to enhance the social skills that are needed to enjoy

006and succeed in life. And whereas the National Federation of State High School Associations expanded this week to National Activities Month in 2012 to properly celebrate the contributions and benefits students experience by participating in athletics and activities such as speech, debate, music, drama, and other student groups. And whereas national studies indicate that students who participate in school athletics and activities have higher grade point averages and attendance than non-participants. and participation in school activities is one of the most accurate predictors of success after college. And whereas Fairfax County Public Schools offers a wealth of athletics opportunities both through uh Virginia High School League and through club sports throughout the fall, winter, and spring for high school students and cross country and track and field for middle school students, which encourage team building, confidence, and personal growth. And

007whereas Fairfax County Public Schools stresses the importance of providing a well- balanced activities program to augment the learning activities in the classroom and provides opportunities for student growth and enrichment in a variety of extracurricular areas including student government, safety patrols, performing groups, journalism, drama, general and special interest clubs and honor societies. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Fairfax County School Board does hereby proclaim October 2025 as Student Athletics and Activities Month in recognition of the many achievements by students participating in school athletics and activities and the generous contributions and effort of the athletic coaches and trainers, club sponsors, student activity staff, parents, faculty, and school communities who support them. >> Is there a second? >> Second, Miss Lady, I will call for a vote. All those in favor, Mr. FR, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr.

008Mavine, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Eisarheiser, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members present. I would like to welcome all those here in support of student athletics and activities month proclamation to please join the board for a photo in front of the DAS. I would like to welcome those here in support of the National Red Women Ribbon Week Proclamation and please join the board for a photo at the front of the DAS. Agenda item 4.01, community participation. The next order of business is community participation. We welcome all community members who are here and those who signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up to provide comments at schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board's website at www.fcps.edu/schoolboard. During the

009sign up process, community members acknowledged that they were informed of the board's expectations for proper decorum when providing comments. These expectations were also available online and with the printed agenda in the and the meeting materials in the back of the room. We ask audience members to be respectful of one another. Shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated. Please hold your applause until the conclusion of the speaker's remarks of a speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats, including when um recording video or taking photos. We are grateful for those who have come to speak with us today and thank you for your cooperation. School board members will be listening but not responding. Um deputy clerk, will you please read the first speaker? Michaela Danner. >> Good

010evening, school board members. Dr. Reid. Today, I am back to talk about how frustrated I am with middle school start times. Studies from the American Academy of Pediatrics say that starting school before 8:30 a.m. makes it harder for students to focus, learn, and most times stay healthy. When we don't get enough sleep, we feel tired, stressed, and sad, and anxious. That's not how school should make us feel. In fact, I've asked a a handful of my friends what they think about this, too, and they agree with me. I know from experience that waking up so early makes it hard to pay attention in class, no matter how much we try. By the time it's first period, some of us are still half asleep. Not because we're lazy, but because our brains are aren't fully awake

011yet. If school started later, we'd be more alert, happier, and more ready to learn. We do better on tests, be be nicer to each other, and teachers would notice the difference, too. This isn't about wanting more free time in the morning. It's about wanting a fair chance to do our best. We can't control how our bodies work, but we can change when we start school. You have the power to help us succeed just by giving us a little more time in the morning to sleep. You chose this job to protect us and take care of us. And I will say you're doing a really good job doing that in other important places. But right now, you're not when it comes to starting school at a good time. is that you a lot of you know

012and say you care about this but you don't care enough to change start times and that is what makes me mad. Thank you. >> PJ Hints. >> Hello, I'm PJ Heights. I'm here to talk about the new Western High School. I'm an Oakton freshman and I really want you all to know that I want to stay at Oakton. Um, this will be the third, if I move to this school, it would be the third new school in four years since elementary school for any sophomores making the switch. And I don't think that that can promote a good learning environment when you constantly know no one and are stressed out because you have to make connections again with new teachers and new students. This will make it much harder for the school to form a community.

013I'm also in Oakton Deco, which is a 5 100 person club with history, experience and connections. A big part of that club is the upper classmen which this school would not have any and it really adds to the experience just like all my teachers like Mr. Barrows who runs the Oak Deca. There are also 299 other clubs at Oakton that are mostly driven by upper classmen and athletics. I play hockey which is a club sport and we only have a varsity team. I don't know how we would be able to get that start again with only freshman sophomores, no coaches, no connections. And even if we were able to get coaches in ice time, how would we be able be able to field a competitive team with only freshman and sophomores? Same thing with all

014the sports. Would we have a JV football team only or would we put sophomore and freshman on a varsity football team? I hope that puts into perspective what this would be feels like for an Oakden High School student. Thank you for taking my thoughts and Cara Danner. >> Good evening. I'm speaking as a Fairfax County resident, a parent of a middle school student, an FC CPS graduate, and a longtime supporter of evidence-based school start times. I want to express my concern about how the middle school start time initiative has been managed and communicated. In January 2023, the board approved a contract to study late start time options. Nearly two years later, we have a motion to delay rather than substance about student outcomes or implementation and planning. The motion initiating this work focused on operational

015feasibility and cost neutrality, but omitted reference to student health, safety, academic performance, the very reasons this issue matters. You all know research, the research. It's been clear for years. Adolescents need start times after 8:30 a.m. for adequate sleep for learning, safety, and well-being. The community has invested time and trust in FCPS to take this issue seriously. We need a transparent, datadriven plan, posted reports, and clear accountability for progress. Rivx County led the way once with high school start times. It's beyond time to demonstrate that same leadership for our middle school students. Thank you, >> Cole Mard. Good evening. My name is Cole Mard. I'm a Vietnam veteran, retired Voice of America journalist and father of three former FCPS students. My remarks tonight pertain primarily to student safety. While your number one responsibility is to educate

016and prepare the 183,000 FCPS students to be productive members of the community, it's a big job and you do a very good job in some areas. However, it is your responsibility to provide a safe environment that is critical for student success. In fact, for their very survival. Tonight, you have issued two proclamations. Red Ribbon Week to educate the dangers of drugs and a proclamation honoring student athletes and activities. Both of these proclamations highlight the importance of a safe school environment. I found I found this bottle, this plastic bottle with a funny metal insert in the cap about three to four years ago while walking my dog at MLAN High School. This is the little funny thing I'm talking about there. My u I I learned it's a contraption to smoke weed. Today, however, our students

017don't need this sort of contraption to do drugs. And we know that the drugs available to them are far more dangerous, if not lethal, and hard to detect. However, there's a way to keep many students safe that is not hard to detect, and that is keeping boys and men out of girls sports and locker rooms and bathrooms. And finally, stop promoting a curriculum that leads to gender dysphoria and sexual engagement and then surprise girl gets pregnant or trafficked. You send her to get an abortion without informing the parents. Please kind protect our students, include parents. Please do something within your control to keep our kids safe and don't use our taxpayer dollars to groom them. Every CP FCAPS high school by your own admission has had incidents Aaron Gains. >> Hi, I'm Erin Gains. I'm

018here to talk about school start times. I'm the parent of a first grader and a preschooler. We are just starting our time at FCPS. I have a lot of empathy for the middle school students and parents and recognize that data shows the importance of later school start times for middle schoolers, but the options FCPS has presented in the latest survey are frustratingly unreasonable for elementary school families. I want to focus on a few impacts. First of all, the cost. Later start times for elementary schools will require families to pay for before school care when they didn't have to before. To my knowledge, these proposals don't include any additional money to expand SAC, which already has years long wait lists. Our already late start school, which starts at 920, would start at 9:50, 3 hours after

019most kids are waking up. Even though I have a very flexible job, no job is that flexible. So, families will have to pay hundreds of dollars every month for before school care. This is especially true for government workers with back to office policies. Second of all, safety. school release time so close to 5:00 PM means dark bus rides home, especially for a school like ours that have kids bust for an hour to attend our deaf and heart of hearing program and more buses on the road and bus stop uh drop offs during rush hour will create serious safety and traffic issues. Finally, the process this process has lacked transparency. Parents found out about surveys through Facebook posts and text messages not from the district. And the survey design made it impossible to convey the true

020impacts of the time change, especially for families at already late start schools like ours. A 950 start time will be very challenging for working parents and elementary families have to deal with our start times for at least seven years. Again, I'm sympathetic to the middle schoolers, but if middle school start times are moved later, it should not be done in a way that increases the cost and burden and decreases safety for elementary school students and families. Thank you. >> And Gordon, >> good evening. Um, I'm here just trying to um emphasize on the programming for um New Western High School. Um it's very close to me and I happen to have a special need kids. Um so I want to um express my um my thoughts on how we want to schedule the how we

021want to structure the new Western High School um programs that try to um supply enough um of the support for for the students who may need a little bit more help. Um, and I know that the school teachers and the schools are doing great job and I um keenly aware that how blessed we are in this Fairfax County um that we have the funds to actually um get an extra high school uh which is not easy. I know that probably will cost a lot to actually get the teachers and specialty teachers. Um so I just want to be here to um you know encourage the school board at the same time trying to um put that thought in. So there are um you know families like ours that not only the the kids will would

022like to participate in new high school but also they may need a little bit more extra help when they start. Thank you Aaron Heights. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute this evening. You heard earlier from my son PJ about his very strong feelings to stay at the school he is already immersed in Oakton High School. And I'm just going to ask that you really prioritize that so that there's the least amount of disruption and the most amount of stability especially for those kids already enrolled in high schools that are not over capacity. I realize that requires alternatives, so I just want to share a few that we would suggest for you all to consider. Um, first, establishing the Western High School as a countywide magnet. Let the kids who are excited and

023enthusiastic to be at that school be at that school rather than disrupting the kids who are already imu immersed in thriving in communities elsewhere. Option two, redistrict crossfield Elementary to Franklin Middle and then Oakdton High School. Our kids play sports and are social with the kids at Wable's Mills, at Navy Elementary, and that prevents some of these pesky beater school issues. Um, we are only 10% of the population at Carson. So, removing us and sending us to Franklin makes a lot of sense. Option three is consider accommodations for students like my son who are at high schools already that are underenrolled. We will drive our kids there. We will do whatever you need, but please don't ask us to move them in the middle of their high school careers. I realize there's a lot to

024consider, so we're going to ask that you all apply the same really thoughtful deliberation that you are to the countywide redistricting conversations, that you engage community feedback along the way, and are transparent with that process. It takes a lot of time, so we may need to slow down. It feels different than the broader conversations. It feels rushed and our community is concerned. Thank you. >> Please play the video testimony submitted by Stephanie Linquist Aora. Good evening. Dr. Reed claims student test scores are improving, but let's take a look at how we're actually doing. About a quarter of FCPS students failed their math, science, and reading SOS in 2025. That doesn't sound like academic excellence. Our most vulnerable students are failing at alarming rates. English language learning students make up 20 27% of the student population.

025In 2025, 69% of them failed reading SOS, 98% failed writing, 56% failed math, and 68% failed science, while 76% failed their history. SOS taxpayer funds should be spent for positive student outcomes. You wasted $980,000 for King and Spalding to investigate the abortion scandal, which was inconclusive. That seems like a million-dollar cover up, which you topped off this week by placing the whistleblower on administrative leave. Meanwhile, you've cut 275 teacher positions this year while schoolboard members hired personal secretaries with six figure salaries, some that are doing campaign work on the taxpayers's dime. Also, our superintendent makes more than the US president and has personal bodyguards. And then there's the nepotism. Chief of schools Giovani Pon hired his father-in-law, Gustavo Suarez, as the district's business operations assistant in a non-competitive process. Obviously, we need an external audit

026of the budget and leadership decisions more generally. People used to say that Fairfax County had amazing schools, but no longer because your terrible leadership is sinking them. Moving forward, you need to stop bloating Gate House with more family staff and ensure that taxpayer funds are thoughtfully allocated to improve student outcomes. Thank you, >> Chair Anderson. That was our last public speaker. >> Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Agenda item 5.01, Student Representative Matters. Miss McConnen can't be with us this evening, so her comments are Is she on? Oh, awesome. I call on Miss McConen. >> Thank you so much. Hello, Madam Chair, members of the board, and those listening in the audience or online. At our most recent SACE meeting on the 21st, students broke out into regional groups to discuss what's happening in their respective communities.

027Talked about things that they're working that were working in their schools, what's changing, and what they want to see improved this year. Here are some of the most pressing topics that came up. One of the most prominent topics was redistrict was redistricting and how it affects school pyramids and community identity. Many students expressed that while they understand the ne necessity of balancing enrollment, they're concerned about the impact on school spirit and connection, especially for students who have built long-term relationships in their current schools. Mention the changes in feeder pattern can feel disruptive. This is not this is not just logistically but emotionally as students adjust to new environments. Others saw it as an opportunity to bring together different communicate communities and increase diversity within schools with some schools discussing partnering with neighboring pyramids. The overall

028theme was a desire for open communication and student inclusion throughout the redistricting process. Another major point of discussion was the new gradebook system being piloted this year. Students appreciate that the county is exploring new ways to make grading more consistent and transparent, but there's some uncertainty about how it works in practice. Students shared confusion about how assignments are weighted, how grades are calculated, and whether teachers across schools are interpreting the system in the same way. Another topic that has come up is how reassessments work with skills-based assessments with skills needing to be retested in the same core to have an impact on the students grade. There is a call for clearer communication not only to students but also for families and what this new system means, how it supports, how it supports fairness and equity

029in grading. The rolling grade book being piloted has some notable changes from the gradebook we had in co years and that difference should be highlighted. A particularly meaningful conversation centered on inclusive extracurricular opportunities, especially around the intersection of special education athletics. Some schools have best buddies programs that help connect students with intellectual or developmental disabilities to peers through social and athletic activities. Others are building partnerships between sports team and special education classes, creating moments of shared joy and school pride. students discussed wanting to see those programs expanded and standardized across more schools so that every student regardless of ability can feel represented and included in school life. Several several groups also raised concerns about the loss of certain mental health resources that were available last year but are now limited due to funding changes. Students

030spoke about how critical those supports were and how the decrease has been noticeable. Alongside those concerns, students discussed how important it is to raise awareness about the supports that do still exist because many students don't know how to access them until they're already in crisis. The desire is not only for restoration of resources, but also for consistent visible communication about where help is available. Finally, there was a lot of enthusiasm enthusiasm about pre-ol preparation programs, particularly after school workshops that help seniors navigate the Common App, financial aid, and other college essays. students said these programs make process less much less intimidating and more equitable, especially for those who might not have as much support at home. Expanding these opportunities across more schools was a shared suggestion since they directly help with the transition after high

031school. Students will begin breaking up into their strategic plan groups next meeting and I cannot wait to share what they decide to tackle this year. On behalf of the SA student superintendent advisory council, I would like to thank the board for continuing to listen to student voices. We look forward to continuing these conversations and finding ways to ensure that every student feels seen, supported, and set up for set up for success. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss McConen. Um, agenda item 6.01, action item, certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with section 2.2-3712D 2-3712D of the Code of Virginia. It's necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on October 23rd, 2025, to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully

032exempted from public meeting requirements and only such pus matters were identifi 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. Is there a second? Mr. Moon. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mclamine, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismore Heiser, Mr. Moon, Miss Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous for all board members present. Agenda item 6.02, confirmation of action taken in closed meeting. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. >> Thank you. I move that the school board grant the school reassignment appeal of a student who was charged with an alleged crime that occurred in the community and to overturn the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent. Is there a

033second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? Mr. Fr, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Eismerhiser, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous for all board members present. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. I move that the school board deny the grievance appeal of an employee that was considered on the written record in closed session. >> All those or I'm sorry, is there a second? Mr. FR. All those in favor Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, >> Dr. Anderson. Okay. >> Point of order. Can we recess for a moment? Thank you. [Music] Okay, we're all on track again. Dr. Anderson, can you please read your motion? >> Absolutely. I move that the school board deny the grievance appeal of the employee that was considered on the written record in

034closed session. Is there a second? Mr. Fresh. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Meline, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarhiser, Dr. Anderson, and myself. All those opposed, all those abstaining, Mr. Moon and Miss Marin. Thank you. I call on Miss I call on Miss Seismheiser for a motion. I move that the employee identified in the closed session be dismissed from employment for the duration of the 2526 school year and that their contract will not be renewed for the 2627 school year. >> Is there a second? Mr. FR. All those in favor, Mr. FR, Mr. Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarheiser, and myself. All those opposed, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, all those abstaining. Miss Lady, Deputy Clerk, I'm sorry, I missed Mr. McDaniel is in the affirmative. Mr. Mc

035Moline is not. We're going to have a fun time with names tonight. Um, Mr. Jackson, will you please the vote. >> The vote is 631. The motion carries. >> Thank you very much. Action item 6.03, strategic plan goal one report, strong start preK through 12. Presentation and vote. I call on Dr. Reed for a presentation on strategic plan goal one report strong start prek through 12. Thank you, Madam Chair, and good evening board uh and the public listening. Uh this evening I'm happy to share highlights from goal one and the amazing work that our educators and our young students and their families have done over the course of the past year. So just a reminder that this is a highlight uh presentation because we did spend significant time at a work session reviewing goal one

036and I appreciate uh the input, feedback um and introspection honestly that the board gave during the work session. For those at home, uh note that the full report is attached online uh for your reading. Want to remind um our community that of our five goals, this is goal one, which is a strong start uh prek through 12. Uh goal one has uh recognizes that students need to have a strong start to their educational journey no matter when they enter our schools. And there are actually six measures for goal one which were on this slide. Tonight I'm going to be sharing highlights focused on school readiness for our youngest learners and our growth for our multilingual learners. So as we think about school readiness, next slide. Thanks. As we think about school readiness, um we discuss

037these early learning experiences and how important they are in building a foundation for student success. So, I want to share a couple of our key findings. Uh, because we really, I think, had some things to celebrate this year. And compared to a year ago, our kindergarteners, our very youngest learners, had a higher rate of readiness in the spring than they did at baseline. We also saw strong improvements from fall to spring. And many of our students entered kindergarten with preK experiences. We know early uh learning and early literacy is so important. our very youngest learners. Uh we when we can accelerate learning um we can close gaps much more quickly. One of the things we also know is the link between prek experiences and school readiness. Uh this increase was driven by greater student participation

038in both FCPS and Fairfax County VPI uh prek experience again which is a reflection of this board's investment in prek. Finally, we actually anticipate meeting the state target for prek inclusion this year, which is um has been a target of this board and our educators. When we look at how we measure school readiness, um FCPS measures the readiness at both the beginning and the end of the kindergarten year by looking at three main areas: reading, math, and self-regulation. And so to demonstrate readiness, our students need to meet benchmarks in all three of these areas. These are defined by the Virginia kindergarten readiness program. So as we think about this, last year the reading screener that we use to assess readiness for kindergarten students changed from the PALS to the vowels assessment. It honestly makes uh

039sometimes year-over-year progress difficult when we continue to change how we measure um our children, which is a bit of a theme um in the Commonwealth at this time. Uh the change of course was a result of the Virginia Literacy Act and the Vow screener is actually more rigorous and it better predicts reading risk and allows us to better identify students who would require early intervention because the vowels is more sensitive to identifying risk. The state noted that school divisions had more students classified as at risk and not meeting benchmarks. In other words, a harder test is harder to pass. So, one of the things that um is noteworthy is when the screener became more challenging, we had more students identified as um needing support. So, here you can see our fall kindergarten readiness or those

040students who met all three benchmarks. Overall, we saw 14% fewer kindergarteners meeting all three uh reading benchmarks primarily driven by the change in the reading screener. As I mentioned, when we went from PALS to Val, um the uh Val screener actually is going to pick up more children who need support. And while the numbers uh year-over-year may cause concern, it actually does flag children who could benefit from early support and thereby be stronger readers by third grade, fourth grade, and on into their academic career. While math and self-regulation data remained stable, we did see a 16 percentage point decline for students meeting the reading benchmark again connected to the vowels instead of the PALS. Uh given the timing of these sorry given the timing of these assessments assessments which are within the first three to

041five weeks of the school year fall readiness scores often tend to reflect the skills children come to kindergarten with since teachers really don't have within three weeks uh much time to show impact for um their work. However, we are continuing to monitor these data points to provide support as soon as possible. So, as we look at um school readiness among kindergarteners in the spring, the story is a different story. Uh and we're excited to report that we saw increased reading uh readiness levels for our kindergarten students up two percentage points from the baseline. And honestly, since they started further behind and ended further ahead, we consider that progress um with our kindergarten teachers. And I'm going to tell you, team kindergarten has been rocking it with a new curriculum and a new assessment. Um, our

042kindergarten teachers have really uh put in the time and uh their their work is showing real results. Um, gaps do still exist and we will require continue monitoring and attention uh because we know um early readiness is so important. One of the most impactful things we can do to prepare students for kindergarten is to provide a quality prek experience. This slide highlights the impact of prek on kindergarten readiness. And you can see that those students who've had a prek experience actually generally are better ready. Um 65% of our students who had this prek experience met fall readiness bench benchmarks whereas only 26% of those students that didn't have a prek experience entered kindergarten meeting um those benchmarks and that's honestly a significant data point. It's about a 40% gap. So a quality pre kindergarten experience

043preschool experience really sets our youngest learners up uh better for kindergarten. Increasing the percentage of kindergarteners with a prek experience is a common uh interest between us and the county and it's something that as we continue to grow the number of our young children who have a preschool experience um we will continue to see improvements in reading. So, while we share this data and we're excited when we continue to have more students enrolled, it's not necessarily a data point we're really completely able to control as a school division, whether parents have access to or can afford or there spots available for preschool. Um, so we look at uh these data points and continue to uh work at making sure we have opportunities for prek uh within Fairfax County. So, um, this is another, uh, increased

044percentage chart of students in preK overall. Um, and it's driven by increased enrollment in our FCPS programs or county VPI programs. Uh, as this board knows, we've been continuing each year to provide uh, funds to support increasing classrooms. And so we are up from 22% um we actually had 29% of our kindergarten students attend one of our programs which was up from 22% in school year 2122 and it does show that these investments are that we're making are helping to close access gaps for students. So again, I think the work of the board, you can see our budget resources uh in and budget resources out to actual opportunity. And um it's important based on the slide we saw that if they have these experiences, they're going to be stronger uh readers. Um just last week,

045Virginia released the quality ratings for prek programs. All FCPS programs continue to meet the state standards for quality and several of our schools were recognized in this year's report. We actually had 16 of our FCPS schools and preK programs recognized. So, we're very proud of that. Um, and in Virginia, the quality is monitored through the unified Virginia quality birthto five system. um which accesses uh which assesses the quality of observed teacher child interactions and the use of evidence-based curriculum aligned with Virginia's early learning and development standards. So looking at rates of inclusion um the VDOE also monitors inclusion which is another element of prek that's important for developing school readiness. We've seen steady growth in this area with an almost 12% uh point increase over four years. Uh last year we estimate that 28% of

046our prek students met the definition uh for the VDOE indicator 6A. As a result, we actually this year expect to exceed um the VDOE target. We also know that inclusion rates vary and uh for example the rates of inclusion for students with a primary or secondary disability category was 11% which was accomplished uh primarily through our paired classroom model. And we do know we have work to do uh with our prek autism programs in particular um and have not made the same level of progress uh with those programs. So that's a definite focus uh for us moving forward. But if you not but and if you look at the chart um the progress that we have made is significant in the sense that we have not met the BDOE target I don't think ever have

047we Dr. Presidio. So this will be the first time ever in the history of FCPS that we'll actually meet the inclusion target. So if that's the only goal, one data point, I'm very proud of how hard our team has worked uh to really uh make progress in making sure that our young learners uh have the opportunity um our neurodeivergent young learners have the opportunity to learn alongside our typically developing learners at a very young age. Excuse me. To improve school readiness, we're focused on four strategies and these are on the slide. Um first strategy is focused on our shared role. Uh the second on expanding opportunities for inclusive preschool. Um and as part of strategy three, uh we continue to provide training to prek educators in evidence-based curriculum in the areas of literacy, math, and

048social emotional skills. And our final strategy is focused on transitions and developing foundational skills once students are in our kindergarten classes. I think that uh the strategies over time are showing promise and as I mentioned in some areas clearly we're going to need to accelerate our work and we also need to recognize that um there's an entire culture shift that's at play here um as we add children add classrooms and um integrate uh programs in a way we haven't traditionally. uh this is an exciting time to be connected to FCPS uh preschool. So I want to then shift to our multilingual learner process or progress and this is a very important area of focus for us particularly this year. Um, and one of the reasons it's such an important area is about one in five

049FCPS students is a multilingual learner, which is to say almost 40,000 of our um students are multilingual learners. It is not an insignificant uh percentage of our population and we are proud of our multilingual learners and the strengths they bring um to the uh instructional programming. This year, our multilingual learners have made great gains in language acquisition. 57% of them met the state standard for WEDA growth, which is up 12 percentage points from our baseline. A higher percentage exited services last year, which is important because we know our multilingual learners once they exit our programs actually perform higher than students who were not in our programs. and we saw some of the largest gains for our ELP level four students in both growth and exiting services this year. One of the ways we measure our

050learning progress for multilingual learners is this WEDA um access test. This assessment uh evaluates skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking and the state sets expectations for multilingual learners to make regular progress toward English proficiency each year. So, let's take a look at some of the progress we've made. We continue to see gains overall and across student groups on this measure. All student groups have improved 10 or more percentage points from the baseline with economically um disadvantaged students and our Hispanic students showing the largest gains. We this year many of our schools as you're out in schools visiting you'll see that their continuous improvement school plans are connected to the progress of our multilingual learners. This year's goal report also includes data on the percent of multilingual learners who successfully exited the program last year

051by gaining English language proficiency. This is not a data point we would expect to see close to 100% as we don't expect students to exit when they're just beginning when they're just beginning to acquire English skills. Uh at the baseline 10% exited the program successfully and last year that rate increased to 14%. These successes we are observing in the data are a result of an intentional focus on four strategies as well. the first focusing on direct explicit instruction provided to students in the English language development and recall that last year is the first time we've actually purchased K12 basil services for English development English language development for all schools and began piloting a digital English language development resource at 15 secondary schools to give students extra practice in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Our second

052strategy focused on enhancing English language acquisition and content area instruction. And this year we're launching a multilingual learner microcredential to increase teacher skills in supporting multilingual learners because we know 90% of our teachers are teaching multilingual learners. Our third strategy focuses on supporting students in schools who are not making expected progress. We offered summer programming to long-term multilingual learners and are piloting a new AI tool support uh for multilingual learners as well. The reading assistant with a mirror is uh the tool that is supporting literacy instruction for multilingual learners. And the final strategy focuses on engaging our families and their students educational progress. And this is by offering resources uh to support students continuing their language skills at home such as our family literacy program and access to family licenses for students using Summit K12.

053So I think we've got one more slide which is that this concludes the presentation uh this evening and the highlights from the goal one report um that a reminder we have spent a great deal of time discussing at a previous work session. So thank you madam chair. I'll take questions. >> Thank you Dr. Reid. Um I call on Miss Maron for a motion. I move that the school board accepts the goal one strategic plan report for school year 2526. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Miss Marin, would you like to speak to your motion? I'm glad that we have these regular updates on the strategic plan. It It's something that just helps us benchmark the change. This is a wildly um exciting report. I think tremendous gains, proof that our teachers and educators are

054doing amazing work. The instructional, you know, the Basil instructional curriculum is is helping. And I think we're going to do a little bit more on that this evening. But, um, you know, I am passionate about early childhood, but there's only so much we can do. And Dr. Reed, you are like getting to little kids as much as we can, putting them in classrooms like inch by inch. And really, it's that state role that we're waiting for to help fund this work that I know the whole board wants to do way more of. Thank you, >> Mr. Fresh. Would you like to speak to your second? >> Yes. Thank you. So, this is interesting, right? And our goal and when we do uh an executive limitation as part of your performance evaluation. Um the board is

055voting in those instances to say whether or not the presentation demonstrates adequate progress towards those indicators which are an extension of the strategic plan work. Right? But when we receive a strategic plan goal report, we're simply accepting that you've given us a report and then we measure the quality of work done towards the strategic plan in our executive limitations work. And so I just want to acknowledge that for the public who may not know the distinction that when we receive these reports, we're just accepting that we've received the report and that's how it's been done for a long time. I will say our governance manual is opaque in this regard and still references sorry our board's governance manual and still references the previous strategic plan throughout the document. So perhaps we can take care of

056that in governance this year. Um, I do want to dig in like this Marin into our pre-K work because whenever I think about this topic, you know, um, we clearly offer a high quality product uh, when it comes to preK. Um, but many young people, children um, in Fairfax County still receive private services where the quality of instruction is not clearly not as good as it is in FCPS. Um, and we're kind of like in this position of where people want to grow that because it's a much cheaper way of getting kids in and getting them care. And at the same time, it's not the same level of quality instruction that they would receive here, which would give us more of the added benefits that we know are existent when a child has access to

057services that stay with them through the trajectory of their education. So, I know that the state has new report cards out for private services. I think that's a start in terms of accountability. I know that FCPS provides some instructional materials to help in those settings. What more can we be doing to help bridge the divide knowing our budget situation? And knowing that when we're butting heads, nobody wins. >> Those are all um comments I would agree with. Uh one of the things we know the importance of early childhood education. Quality preschool actually is a very economically wise decision. Uh when children come to school ready to learn, fewer resources for supports later in their educational career are necessary. So we know there's both an economic and a self-confidence benefit that the research is so very

058clear. I think at the end of the day uh the data point that I find most compelling is for this nation to provide child care for every preschool child in this country would only cost 1% of our military budget. And as supportive as I am about our military and our military connected families, 1% of that budget put toward universal prek for this country. I think would do dramatic things for um the future of our country. >> I can't imagine Washington doing anything to help us right now. Uh unfortunately, so I guess my question is and we can talk about this uh perhaps another time. Um what about before that happens? What more can we be doing before the federal government sees the error of their ways um and steps in or the state sees the

059error of their ways and steps in? Well, in lie of uh a clarity of thought around the importance of early childhood at the national level, I think that one of the things we're going to need to think about is how to better integrate tuition paying preschool perhaps with uh VPI and Head Start preschool spots as well as uh spots for developmental preschool. And I think as we think about um providing some type of paired preschool instruction uh with tuition paying families as well, I think that we can begin to grow our program perhaps with less of a budget impact. And that's going to require a strong partnership uh with our county and also with our facilities team uh as we conclude our boundary process for this cycle in January. It'll be um I'm very eager

060to see where we may have some spaces at some elementary schools to provide some of these paired sites. Um but we're going to really need to think about how do we uh put together uh those families able to pay tuition that might be interested with positions that perhaps don't to begin to grow um our inclusion program even further. >> Thank you. And I would be remiss, you know, Miss Marin mentioned this is the important work we're doing. Um, and it feels like it's the first meeting in weeks that we haven't had Richmond politicians in our parking lot uh to observe this uh this great work that's happening in FCPS. So, I appreciate you bringing the presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. U Miss Seismarer. >> Thank you. And um this is a struggle

061for me and I I know I've talked to you offline as well. So I appreciate the conversations. Um we have some incredible work we've done here and there's no you know I want to thank you and your staff for the the focus you've had on the goal reports on preschool. The data and research is so utterly clear on the benefits of preschool and early childhood education on long-term success of students. And I know you know this and and I agree we need help from the state. Um, and as someone who's been talking about indicator five and six from the states around inclusion for 15 years, the fact that we have surpassed one is monumental. Um, I will say, and this is not on FCPS, it is very sad to me that the indicator that the

062state has for preschool inclusion is just 25%. Because what the state is saying, and this is a state, not us, that the state is saying that they're perfectly fine with 75% of kids being segregated is what they're saying. But that is not an indicator that we are in charge of. So I I want to thank your team for that. I will say however and and the multilingual progress that I saw on slide 17 is incredible as well. >> It is. >> I will say however I am not sure I can support this report tonight. Um I have been asking for probably two years every time we've talked about preschool inclusion and the good work we're doing about what is going on with the students whose primary or secondary diagnosis is autism in particular those in

063the preschool autism class. because we cannot be uneven in our inclusion efforts. And your slide said only 11% of a child with a primary or secondary diagnosed with autism is included as opposed to the 25% or 26%. We we can't leave students behind and there's no reason that we we are differentiating based on a label. So because of that I am not sure I can support this today. Um, I appreciate your reassurance that there's going to be a redoubled effort to make sure that we are more even in our inclusion efforts. I know for two years when I've asked I haven't gotten as many answers as I would have liked. Um, I appreciate all your please I want you to know that that it is monumental that we've met the state indicator and I don't

064want to gloss over that. I just hope that we can work to make it even across the board so all of our students can benefit from the science and research base that inclusion is because we know inclusion saves money but even more importantly it leads to better outcomes right and it leads not just better outcomes in education but in long term so thank you for your work I'm not sure I'm going to support this report tonight but I'm looking forward next year for a more even report on inclusion yes >> thank you mismar Dr. Anderson. >> Um, thank you. Um, I'm particularly glad that you followed up with some of the questions that were asked um by the board during the work session and that you shared with us. So, I want to take a

065moment to take a look at that. Um it is very clear that prek matters and um the the gap between students who are who do not have prek it's 27% even after intervention by staff the and I'm looking at the spring data because they've been with us for um for the year. Um but something that I thought was curious that I noticed here is that our students with prek um increased nine points and our students with without prek increased 21 points. Can you speak a little bit about what it is what happened behind there? >> Okay, let me think about that. You said I apologize. You said that students with prek >> increased nine points, >> right? And the students without increased >> 21. I think it was that without Fairfax County preschool. Miss Neil,

066can you clarify that, please? I know you just put that data set together. >> So, Dr. Um, Anderson, I believe you're referencing the spring readiness data. So, that was in the work session, but not in this slide presentation for this evening. And and just to clarify, I think you're asking what the driver we think is in terms of why we saw the larger gains for students without the prek experience. >> Yeah, the gap still exists, but they had a they had um much more growth. So, I just want you to kind of speak a little bit to that. I I think that's something certainly that we would have to do some additional analysis on to be able to answer that question with with confidence. But I would certainly say that we're seeing students obviously the

067gaps closing in terms of the students who were seen at risk in the fall to not at risk in the spring due to a lot of that intentional intervention work that's happening. But we would have to do some additional analysis to be able to answer that question. >> Sure. Absolutely. Thank you. Um, one of the other things that I wanted to point out that you sent to us was the um, disagregation of the three benchmarks for our um, students. I think a colleague had asked can we parcel that out and clearly it has come across that some of the strengths of our students are in the self-regulation realm and um, reading is the area that there requires a little bit more support. So, I appreciate having that and I I'm very glad to see the

068WEDA performance and that you outlined how when our students exit um the you know the ELLL world um multilingual world my my apologies um they do perform better than our students who are native English speaker English speakers um and that shows up on their so assessments that shows up in the scores in the assessments that the that the state provides and It makes me It makes me wonder at this point how will that then show up when we have these new cut scores? I I'm very concerned about that impact. Could you speak a little bit to how do we see these new cut scores impacting the where our students are and the progress that we've made? >> So, thank you Dr. Anderson. I I think that um we did prepare a couple slides for the

069board this evening to share um on the cut scores. I appreciate the question. So I think the clerk um thank you uh Kevin if you can or Janet. Um the impact on the proposed um cut scores. Let's start with this slide. And I I think that we've talked about this at several meetings but this visual is so um I think startling to be honest. um the cut scores. Uh for example, what we did is we took last spring's math so scores for Fairfax County Public Schools and the sort of turquoise on the left is uh the old cut score results. And cut scores means the level it would that passing obviously is um set at. And then with the new cut scores uh is in the very dark the indigo blue. And it's absolutely startling

070to look at um same tests, same kids, just different cut scores. And um for those at home watching, this is something that's still being debated um at the Virginia Department of Educ or the Board of Education. And we are really strongly recommending that um this process uh be more transparent and actually be paused um at this point because we're almost at the end of first quarter and the initial plan was to have this be in place for this year's tests. Um so and I also I think um Dr. Presidio is here as well as Miss Hunstead and Miss Neil. And one of the things that's been very challenging is the math standards have changed in the last couple years. The types of problems, the rigor of the math tests have changed, and now we're going

071to change the score necessary to pass a harder um test with new standards. It just it really uh feels like it's a lot of change within a very short amount of time. And we know that change management is very important. So we really um would encourage and those at home and I know our PTAs and our elected board um to make sure we provide feedback to the board of education um about uh this uh cut score issue. And I I also want to add this morning I had an opportunity with Miss Neil to uh do an Ed Week interview and we talked about um the doing away of the blue ribbon program at the national level and how the recognition of educational excellence in this country is something that is such a powerful reminder of

072the power and promise of public education. And when we do away with programs that celebrate excellence um that we're not doing a service um really to public education and if one of the reasons and it's been stated several times that we're changing the cut scores and the test and new standards is to raise expectations, I'm going to take issue with that because it actually will have the exact opposite effect because one of the uh communications we're going to be providing Tomorrow we uh I met with Principal Straoud from Langley High School, one of our amazing 25 high schools here in Fairfax County Public Schools, and we looked at geometry as an example. And this past year, I believe it was 96% of our Langley Saxons that took the geometry so passed. Well, if you change

073that cut score, it would have been 50%. 50%. Now, I can't imagine that that's going to inspire more Langley to take higher levels of math courses. Higher expectations doesn't mean changing the score we give students. It means changing their educational experience. And so what we want to make sure is that students who successfully are completing geometry are able to take algebra trig and pre-calc and AP calc AB and BC and multivariant calculus or linear algebra and concrete math. Actually having students progress to taking and leaving our school division with Higher understanding of math concepts is what raising expectations means. And that requires funding and our expectations that our students are capable of higher level coursework, not quarreling over changing the scores in basic math classes. So I really think we need to rethink what the

074impact of these cut score changes had and how it actually flips I think um having higher expectations. So let's also take a look at reading what that would look like year-over-year. This is I think as or more startling. Again, left side our scores from last year, right side the indigo would be the scores based on new cut scores. Um in many cases it's actually outrageous what the impact is. And so I really encourage those at home. We'll be sending communications out to make sure that our voices are are heard. Um I think parent partnership is critical and as we partner with our parents and families to send a message about what we really mean when we talk about high expectations. I think that's critical at this time. >> No, thank you. Thank you for providing

075this information. And to me it's jarring just to see the results. And I wonder if you when you do the modeling, let's say for schools like TJ, what would that show? Do we have significant changes in how those students are performing knowing very well that they're very, very bright students? Moving the goalpost does not increase rigor. It just moves the goalpost. Um, I would like to go back, please. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Uh, Miss Lady, >> thank you. Good evening. Um, since we're talking prek, I have to give a shout out to my lovely granddaughter who's at my house. can't wait to see you in the morning, but I think it's bedtime. Um, but I will uh start there because when I am interacting with my grandchildren who are in preK, um it's amazing

076to me the learning that's taking place, the fast pace, um the connections that are made outside of that learning space and and and translates other places. >> Um so I again want to uh emphasize the early intervention and the importance of that. Uh I think the data speaks for itself. Dr. Reed, you talked about the 1% of the military budget and the fact that it's the best e economic investment we can make. Um, not mostly because if kids are learning by second grade, reading by second grade, then their trajectories pretty much change, numeracy and literacy. So, um, having said that, I think I'm very pleased with slide 12, which talks about the fact that we're down to 18% of our kindergarteners that don't have a pre-k experience. I'd like to make that a little smaller

077um and talk about the preschool that's at the western site. >> Um it is my hope that we will keep it as a preschool. I was in there my ro most recent tour and I think the maximum capacity is >> like 60 in there. Now we're going to have learning folks but it's very well designed. I feel like we could service quite a few kids from a fairly needy area uh where there is needed uh preschool and also um again this is Robin speaking from her perspective but we don't have a early childhood program. We have teachers for tomorrow but we don't have early childhood in our system. So if we can make that an academy program I think it also help our older kids. Um so that's one thing I want to talk about.

078Um I'm incredibly proud uh that for the first time ever we're meeting the inclusion target. Um and and I think you know um while I understand there's always room, we always have targets. We always have goals. Um you know what I've seen just in my short tenure on this board um and then the yearish prior when when you came in as our superintendent um the the change, the progression, the higher standards, uh the implementation, the fidelity of teaching is all resulting in higher scores. And so I I thank you in the work and your leadership and the team. And yes, we we definitely can can and we always do. You're a good to great person. Um one of the things I really appreciate about you and your expectations of your leadership team and all your

079principles and all the teachers is we don't ever say we're pretty good. You know, let's rest. Um we're always striving for it. So I really appreciate that. Um and also the multi- language learner improvement um is is is incred is incredible. So I will be supporting this report. Um and uh again I I not only as the uh you know president eliminated blue ribbon schools but also the presidential service award that many of our students were striving for actually got the hours for and then couldn't put on their college applications this year. Um and and I think it's a sad thing because it's another thing that we want our kids engaged in and it's not it's not there anymore to to achieve. So again, thank you for for the great work that we're you're doing

080with prek. Thank you Miss Dixet. >> Thank you Dr. Reed for the presentation. Um I agree with my colleague. I am in support of this uh pres this uh goal report and I totally believe that we are doing the best in the state in terms of education educating our students and uh the I I just feel this cut scores and new cut scores are just to you know demoralize school divisions across this uh commonwealth and uh the excellence expectation of excellence uh comes you know should be both ways. we know do not receive excellent um you know you know funding from our state uh but they do want excellence in education and I I feel like if we are one of the most performing uh best performing county in the state what is happening to

081the other counties do do we know what how are they doing in terms of their with the cut scores now they're facing >> they the uh framework or the new state framework for accountability. It's very difficult to know exactly and again these are projections because the state still hasn't released the scores which were supposed to have been released in September I believe. So Miss Neil, do we have any ETA on when our um framework scores will actually be released because they're already quite late. So the most recent update we have is they do have an external consultant who's coming in to look at the data with the state for our SPSF information and we're anticipating sort of mid November would be the earliest we would see anything. >> Oh dear. So mid November. >> Yeah.

082So that's well after first quarter is over. >> So yeah thank you for that uh son. But I I totally u believe that we are educating the students we want to and how we want to. I I also want to say almost like if we can do universal prek like a lot of my colleagues support there'll be so many working families who are literally um you know have to moms work especially mothers who have staying home because they can't afford a private kindergarten or or a prek. Um so they this is u going to help the students get started early and uh I I just feel we have the money like you said that 1% of the DoD budget if can be given to them. I'll support that. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you,

083Miss Dixit. Mr. Dunn, >> I'm looking at slides eight and nine and um and I'm trying to figure out um certain things about these slides because they're they seem somewhat troubling. Um what is what is the baseline on slide eight and nine? What does that constitute? >> Miss Neil, you want to clarify, please? >> Sure. I believe and Mr. and I'll have to double check in the report, but it's normally the first three years prior to the start of the strategic plan, the three school years prior to 23 24 when we start our strategic plan. >> Um, on slide nine, what is the target? Is that mandated by state law, state policy? No, that is an internal target we've set year-over-year to get to our N 2030 goals. So, we have mapped out annual targets

084to keep ourselves on a growth line that shows consistent growth year-over-year so we hit our 2030 targets. >> I I'm just troubled by the fact that we have a different target for white children than we do for black children and Hispanic children. It seems like we we shouldn't divide children, but we should try to have a high standard that all children meet regardless of of their racial background. Uh is is there a reason for that? >> I don't think it's a different target. I think it's a percentage that was consistent which a percentage of um I believe that's how they were set. But Miss Neil, do you want to clarify? >> Yep. So our our end of uh goal report targets our 2030 targets are the same for all students. Um the annual growth that

085students need to make based on their starting point looks different. So that's why the targets look different. So, in some cases, some of our student groups may need a 2% increase year-over-year to get to the end of year or our 2030 goals. Some of our student groups may need 10% increases year-over-year to get to those 2030 targets. So, it is a um paced out over the seven-year duration of our strategic plan to ensure that there's consistent growth happening year-over-year. >> So, what you've done is you've taken uh an all student and then you've broken it down along racial lines. Is that correct? No, the board asked for the data presented in this manner to be disagregated. So, we're presenting it in the way the board requested on the original measure. What Miss Neil is saying

086is that if you're like if you're farther behind, if you're at 20% whatever uh category, then you've got 80% to make up. So, we're going to have to have more aggressive targets for that group than if you're already at 80% and you only have 20% to go. So some groups have more ground to make up each year than others to get all groups to the same place by 2030. >> And it just seems like if if you compare the baselines in slide eight with the baselines in slide uh nine, uh the baselines in slide nine are lower in general than the baselines in slide eight. Um so it suggests that uh we're we're kind of lowering I I I guess there's less achievement for students who start kindergarten in the spring. Is that what's shown

087about the slide? >> No, it's the spring scores are a different measure than the fall readiness scores. And in each case, we took the cumulative score of the prior three years to the strategic plan. But they're two completely different data sets. Um, if I would understand that, yeah, it's not a pre and post. It's two data sets. >> Okay. Um, thank you. >> I'm happy to go through those more in more detail in our oneonone. >> Thank you, Mr. Dun. Mr. Moon. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks for the presentation. I I'll be supporting the motion. Uh, with that said, could you repost the A slide showing how the A changed cost scores might impact upon? >> Yes sir. Uh, math or reading. math or we math will do. Let's start with the math.

088You know, you talked about what the board asked you to provide in terms of different subgroups. The data disagreg disagregated scores right there. One on the left, one on the right with the higher cutup scores at least with this This might show maybe at a higher level higher level there is a more achievement gaps amongst the different subgroups. So when we talk about so error >> scores we generally look at a pass proficient level as opposed to pass advanced. with higher cut of scores. It may not necessarily be past advanced scores, but at higher level, maybe gaps among different groups might be even bigger. >> At least I think that's something I could glean from looking at these graphs. >> So, great question. Uh, Miss Neil, do we have any insight into the advanced versus

089proficient passing with the new cut scores? >> We can go back and check to see if we've done some analysis on that um and get back to you. >> You know, Dr. Reed, the point I'm trying to make is this. uh as we try to address eliminating reducing the achievement gaps by 2030 or a certain point uh we should be we shouldn't be just looking at pass prof proficient level but even at a higher level that all students should be encouraged should be prepared to pass at a much higher level and those gaps you know we should work to eliminate those gaps. >> Yes sir. Thank you. >> I'm gonna take a quick turn and then we've got some gobacks to go to. Um I can't help but use this opportunity to reiterate one more

090time that we have had a new curriculum, a new accountability and accreditation system that we don't even have the full details of at this point. Um we have new tests, we have new standards, and now we were still doing okay. So now we have new cut scores. It's It's incredibly difficult to not see this as targeted. Um, the question that I had though was I'm assuming these is these are our raw scores, correct? They're the I I lost the the term um when when we get them that are normalized or whatever the the word of art is. >> These are unadjusted scores. >> Thank you. So, I assume that we are going to at some point receive adjusted scores. Are those typically higher or lower than the than >> um I think if you recall

091um Miss Anderson that um we'll have fewer students coming out of those adjustments because those adjustments change now with the rule changes for our multilingual learners. Um so we'll see what those differences are as the frameworks are released. They used to be much higher because our multi- well not because they used to be much higher and there were factors that supported those being much higher. Um in particular uh I believe we had 11 semesters before multilingual learner scores counted in the adjusted scores. Correct. So they were more time to reach proficiency, >> right? They had five and a half years to reach proficiency and I believe as of this year they'll have a a year and >> a year and a half, >> right? Um so in in this case, if we do have adjusted

092scores that are higher, our disparity between where we have are right now and where we will be next year is going to be a wider gap than we're even seeing here. Correct. I believe that's likely true, but Miss Neil, you are closer to the numbers. >> I don't know if I can definitively answer that tonight, but I believe you're down the right track. >> So, I mean, I I just don't know a way that so significant number a quarter of our students are going to end up not not doing as well overnight. It just doesn't make any sense. in addition to the changes to the so law that just went into or are due to go into place that many of my colleagues are working hard um to try to make sure is right sized

093for a division of of our of our stature and size. Um, so I just I just want to keep reiterating to our anyone that may be watching that we are not failing just because, you know, outside systems are being set up the way that they are intentionally to make us look that we are. So I I want us to keep doing the good work that we're doing and keep working to have students improved um and keep thriving. So, it's just unconscionable to think that this is the plan. Miss Seismore, >> thank you. I'm going to pick up on where you left off um around sort of the plan to your point. We changed math standards, we changed accreditation standards in the middle of the year without change management or planning and now we're changing cut

094scores. And I think the one thing when you mentioned PTAs and families to be aware is that Virginia, I don't remember how many states, but it's one of the few states that has high stakes testing at high school. >> So these change in so test scores don't just impact school accreditation or school accountability, but for high school students, it actually impacts their ability to graduate high school because if they don't pass five SOS in various subjects, they don't graduate. So even if they pass their grade level classes even if they would have passed under the previous cut score, it also impacts the um locally awarded verified credit which is 37 had been 375 to 400 which is unclear whether that's going to change or not for certain students with disabilities. So we are students who

095already in high school without the chance to maybe do the extra learning or the extra prep for a higher so score that's needed to graduate may not graduate. And that should be a four alarm fire for some of these families, you know, and just people in general that if you're going to do these changes, you've got to do the change management so we don't punish the students because we didn't plan and do the change so they could actually learn and prep to the level they needed to learn and prep for. So the other thing that I really would love to understand is what is the rationale behind the higher cut scores. Is it because we think that that level is what's needed to be proficient as a high school graduate or not? And I don't

096that that's a question I think should be asked. You don't of course have that answer. The state is doing this. Um so I just wanted to make sure that we get that out there that this is an impact on current high school students ability to graduate and we saw the 50% may not pass. What does that mean for seniors who need to pass an so to graduate this year? Can I have one little go back? Sorry. Well, I was going to talk about it, too. Okay, that's >> Dr. Anderson. Um, thank you. In addition to that, one of the things that I want to point out that it's become exponentially harder to keep up with what is the right and what is the passing score because it used to be 400 all grade levels, all

097subjects. Now, if I'm looking at math, I'm sorry, reading, it ranges anywhere from 444 to 479. If I'm looking at math, it ranges anywhere from 443 to 42. So, if I have a third grader, he might pass at 443. But if my child is in eighth grade, they need a 430. Parents can't keep up with all of that. I could barely keep up with all of that. But I knew 400 was passing. 500 was advanced. 600 is a perfect score. 375 to 399 you get to retake. Now we are all over the place. This is just really really poor planning. And I'm really excited because that was one of the things I wanted to raise. The impact on the end of course for our high school students. We're talking the difference between graduation and not

098graduation. And when I saw this this morning, I'm like this is just so jarring. It should really really be very something that our parents are highly concerned about. Um, I did have one follow-up question because I asked this last year. It took me a long time to wrap my mind around it. The kindergarten readiness, the fall versus the spring. They're not pre and post, but we are presenting them like they are pre and post. How do we evaluate the impact of our work with those students once they come to us? Because we know they come to us all over the place based on who they are and what they've done. But usually we can say we worked with you so this is the growth that we're seeing. But we're if we're administering two different tests,

099we don't have a space to do that. >> Yes, ma'am. So, Dr. Prescidio, do you want to talk a minute about that? And maybe Miss Hunstead or Miss Neil could answer sort of the the data set piece. >> Well, I I would actually characterize it a little bit differently because when we give the assessment in the fall, right, at the very beginning of the year, the first few weeks of the year, that kind of establishes the baseline for where the students are. When we give the assessment in the spring, then we can see the growth that students have made over the course of the year. >> Yes. But this is Miss Neil. You remember we talked about this last year. We have some students that in the fall their scores were greater than in the

100spring. So we unschool them while they were with us. I'd like to think that's not what happened. No, I I think I think what we tried to do showing the two different data sets particularly and Dr. Reed, I think did a a good job in the presentation talking about some of the changes that have happened. So that we've seen the changes with the assessment, the literacy assessment from moving from the PAL's assessment to the Val's assessment and how that much more rigorous Val's assessment compressed those scores in the fall in comparison to prior years because it was a much more rigorous assessment than the PALS. But by the time we got to the spring, students had actually made a lot of growth and even surpassed prior years performance on a less rigorous assessment. >> So

101for this data set, what I think I'm hearing is that it's best to compare it year-over-year rather than fall to spring. >> I think it depends what purpose you're looking for. If you're looking at overall performance for students, I think that's correct. But if you're trying to gauge the growth students made throughout the course of the year, I think it's helpful to look at how did students do in the fall compared to how did students do in the spring. I think that was my time. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Seeing no others, we're going to call for the vote for the motion that is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Miss Marin, Mr. Mine, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. All those opposed? All those abstaining. Miss

102Seismoreheiser with Mr. McDaniel away from the table. Action item 6.04 K through 12 start school start times project update. I am going to pass the g to um vice chair lady. >> Thank you madam chair. I call on Dr. Reid for presentation on K12 start times project update. >> Thank you uh vice chair lady. Um, tonight I'm going to really be providing anformational update on school start times and a review of where we are today. And, um, as I walk through this, um, I also want to recognize the really, really, uh, hard work of our chief operations officer, Andy Muick, and Paul and Deandradi, who's here, our executive director of transportation. Um there has been a significant amount of work that continues uh to be done on this topic. Uh so I just want to

103share that um these were the options that were presented by our consultant this past February in 2025. Uh some of the constraints on this project were really cost neutrality uh to not move secondary or high school times and to not allow for civil twilight loading or unloading for elementary school students. Our current run time is 110 minutes. And the run time is defined as the total time from the first morning start 7:30 a.m. to the last morning start which is 9:20. So that's the amount of time buses are running to get um students uh to start the first classes to the last on the runs. Four of the six proposed options, AB, C, and D, were not costneutral and had run times of 80 or 90 minutes, which when our uh team actually modeled those

104uh routes on in a bus, in our traffic on our roads, um it was not possible to get those run times to 80 or 90 minutes. So, while it looked possible on uh in the plan, um for whatever reason, I don't know if it's construction or congestion or whatever, but um it wasn't possible when our teams actually took buses on the road to try to model. Of the two remaining alternatives, option C2 and E, only E was assessed to be achievable based on the runtime. Again, meaning that C2 just wasn't able to be um to get to uh a runtime that was going to be helpful. While C2 was neutral. The team determined that a 100m minute runtime with the current number of buses, driver vacancies, and known traffic constraints, this would result actually in

105an increase in later deliveries across all three tiers of busing. In February, we still had um over a 100 driver vacancies and the numbers much lower today, but still hovers at around 60. So C2 was not deemed uh really doable by our transportation department. So again only E which I think um we've established is not ideal um based on the elementary in particular start times as late as 9:50 um for a particular tier of the elementary. So um looking at the start time options for September and again I know there was a lot of confusion well about why these two models and I want to be very clear publicly these two models were not selected by the board. They were not approved by the board. They were not um in any way acted upon by

106the board. These two models came from our offices uh because the what we tried to do was look at what would budgetneutral options be. Um and the team worked hard to try to find an alternative to option E. Um but the only two options that they could currently come up with were the two um that are on uh the slide that were actually costneutral. So um this was provided along with option two which was previously option E from the consultant. Um option one had elementary going first followed by secondary and high. Um but uh again we really uh as we go to the survey results based on those two options um there was really no clear option that had um enough support uh really from the community. Uh there were a lot of uh respondents.

107Among the respondents, 73% identified as parents or guardians, 35% identified as staff, 6% as community members andor 3% as students. Um and then 11% of the respondents identified as both guardians, parents or and staff. So the we had 25,655 um unique respondents and these respondents completed the survey in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic and Erdo. Uh unique means that duplicate responses were only counted once. So the survey closed um I believe Monday, October 6th. and the insights. Um when staff reviewed all the survey um results um you know the survey results were important but as mentioned a partial signal um I think it's fair to say we can read uh the feedback the concerns um seemed uh centered around the time the um access and so forth. Um I think in this you know,

108essentially I don't think there was a lot of satisfaction in either of those two options. So, as I look across this and think about um what's really possible here, one of the things I just want to remind the board about is that we're currently in a significant budget challenge time. our county board of supervisors has talked about that and we have a lot of commitments um to make and keep within um our budget constraints this year. We're also in the middle of finishing our boundary review. Uh I'll be bringing you a recommendation of some sort in January of 2026, which is now several months away. We just purchased a high school. We heard from several community members um tonight and that Western High School is going to need to be feathered into the boundaries in

109whatever fashion uh we're able to do that here over the next uh month or so and we have a March 26th deadline for me to bring a plan back to you about placing an AAP center in each middle school. So this is these are sort of projects. I also want to share and I guess remind our board and those watching that this year we're also um completely changing our routing software. We're currently running two systems um our old system as well as our Tyler routing system because we didn't want to cut across and not have overlap. some divisions in our commonwealth and around the country have done that and had everything sort of blow up and left um thousands of students stranded. So, we wanted to make sure that we were thoughtful about an overlap

110in routing. But by this spring, and it won't be till probably near the end of the year that the routing is complete and completely cut over. Um and it won't be till the end of the year that we have our tablets fully operational on all buses. The tablets on each bus will allow enable turnbyturn uh directions as well as workarounds for accidents and um other unforeseen incidents and allow efficiencies for substitute bus drivers as well. So that's going to be at the end of this year. So my um recommendation in thinking about this is really that I think it would be prudent uh to pause this particular project until we can see the impact of our uh new boundaries um and the impact of the possible plan around AAP centers for middle school and the

111impact of our new routing software and tablet implementation. I just think we're going to have a more thoughtful um process at that point, notwithstanding the concerns um that staff have about having enough lead time to make thoughtful decisions um and families with child care decisions they need to make as well. So that is um my report on start times this evening. I want to finish by saying this pause in no way should signal that I personally as a superintendent don't think it's important to have healthy start times. I know this board believes it's important to have healthy start times. Research supports healthy start times. I think we're all committed to making this happen. So I think we want to do it well. Um so a pause is not a no. It's simply a we're not

112ready yet. Um, so there you have it, madam madam vice chair. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. Uh, I now call on Mr. Dunn for a motion. >> I move that the school board direct the superintendent to postpone any divisionwide implementation of changes to school start times until no earlier than the 2027 2028 school year to allow for the full implementation of the new transportation routing software. and consideration of potential updates to school boundaries. I further move that the school board direct the superintendent to present to the board no later than December 2026 a plan outlining viable options for healthy school start times that where possible are budgetneutral and minimize impacts on staff. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> Miss Anderson. Thank you. Mr. Dunn, would you like to speak to your motion?

113>> Yes, I would. Thank you. Uh, I am a strong uh supporter of healthy school start times, specifically starting middle and high school at or after 8:30 a.m. as recommended by by the American Academy of Pediatrics. There are multiple benefits which really fall into three categories. First, academic and cognitive benefits. Later start times align the school day with the natural biological sleep cycles of teenagers, leading to improved cognitive function, including better academic performance. Studies consistently link later start times to higher grades in core subjects like math, English, and science, and improved performance on standardized tests. Also results in increased attendance and alertness. Students are less tardy and have fewer absences. It leads to improved attention and better memory because adequate sleep is crucial for memory consolidation and attention span. The second category are mental and

114physical health benefits. Chronic sleep deprivation in adolescence is linked to numerous health risks which later start times help to mitigate. First of all, improved mental health. Students report fewer depressive symptoms, less irritability, and an overall better quality of life and psychological well-being. The also uh suggests that there are reduced risk behaviors. Increased sleep is associated with a decrease in risky behaviors including the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. It also leads to better physical health because sufficient sleep helps regulate hormones that affect mood and and and satiating leading to a potentially reduced risk of obesity. And finally, safety benefits. It leads to teenagers being uh less drowsy. So you have a reduced drowsy driving crashes. One of the most significant safety benefits for older teens is is this reduction in motor vehicle accidents. And it's

115a tragedy every time someone who's young, who has a bright and promising future, is lost to an auto accident. It also leads to fewer accidents and injuries on the sports fields and in our hallways. And finally, it leads to less classroom disruption. So all around healthy school start times helps students, helps families, helps schools, helps the community, keeps us all safe, and leads a better academic, extracurricular, and health outcomes uh for our teenagers. So for all of these reasons, I think all of us share a dedication to healthy school start times. But where we are right now when we're on the verge of new school boundaries, we're on the verge of implementing major changes to how we do bus routing and we're and we're looking at a western high school which will lead to further

116boundary changes. We need to really take a step back, make sure that we fully and successfully implement all of these different changes and don't try to do too much at once. We just can't bite off more than we can chew. And so for these reasons, it makes sense to wait until new boundaries are in place, all the improvements and and strengthening of the operations of our school bus system and transportation services are fully implemented that we can then successfully and safely evaluate potential options, especially ones that might be where possible budget neutral so that we can as a system manage change in an effective way to the benefit of our public, of our of our communities, and of our students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. M. Anderson, would you like to speak to your

117second? >> Yes, please. Um, so I knew that we weren't doing things in the right order by putting this before boundaries. And now that I think that we have gotten into more of the weeds related to boundaries, and I absolutely think that we still need a little bit of extra time. So, I'd like to thank u Mr. Dunn for his time working on this with me. Um, I think that we have a potential here with reducing our runtime. Maybe maybe if we're directing you to do something that I know you're already going to do. We're I'm hoping that we can do some sort of audit related to the the current bus routes now that we have the new software so we can gain efficiencies anywhere that we can find them because my hope is that

118with boundaries and those efficiencies that we will be able to tighten the delivery window if possible and so I'm that's what I'm hopeful for. So, I understand that while we have this extra moment, I'm hope I'm I understand that we're directing you to do something that you were already likely to do. But what I hope, similar to my colleague, is that this signals to the community that this is still something that we care a lot about. But in my district specifically, I there is no way that I can have the tiniest humans picked up at 6:45 in the morning because some of those kids are on the bus for an hour. And I was at my the other day very close to where those tiny children live at 7:30 in the morning and it was

119dark outside and so I don't want any of our kids in unsafe circumstances but I certainly can't have it be the kindergarteners and so I can't advocate those kids dealing with those things for seven years and so we are going to we are in a tough budget time and what I'm hoping that this pause will do is give us some more time that we can dig in and figure out where viable options are that even if we could move it slightly, even if we could move the window a little bit, so it wouldn't put the school starting at 9:50 in the morning. So, I I'm fully recognizing all of those things and I just I I believe that this extra time is going to be really important as we work towards a positive change for

120all of our kids. >> Mr. Fr., >> thank you. I hate that this is where we're at. Um, I'll be supporting the motion. Uh but first, you know, at the end of March, I brought the motion that said, "I move to direct the superintendent to develop a plan including robust community engagement and consideration of varied student transportation needs for implementing healthy school start times in conjunction with the holistic boundary review process." And so I was disappointed when the survey came uh with two options that this board was never going to approve because they were the the free ones, right? And I think what we've learned in this process is that we're not so the second half of this motion and I talked to Mr. Dunn about this a little bit. Uh the second half of

121this motion just ain't going to happen. We're not going to find a magic free version of this. Perhaps what Miss Anderson is talking about where some efficiencies can be found. Maybe some of the expensive ones will be less expensive. But my hope had been that between March and now or in January that perhaps the board we would be presented with a look, these aren't going to work because parents will never stand for nor should we ever have first graders, kindergarters showing up at bus stops at this hour. This isn't going to work because we can't move everybody by 30 minutes, etc. But what could work is the one or or a slight shift on the one that has a $2 million price tag. And we don't have that money, but it would work if we

122did. We don't have the money. Then the board could have thought hard about what we prioritize, right? Obviously, we have to meet our collective bargaining agreement, but what where there's a will and a price tag, there could be a way. So, I hope you read into the emotion that you're receiving today an opportunity to present to this board something that may not be something the board can vote on immediately, but at least it sets a a star that we can aspire to reach and perhaps we can come up with a plan and get creative to get there so that we can stop going around and around on this. like, you know, I was as frustrated as anybody on the board when we were talking about pilots and everything else because it just wasn't we were

123trying to, you know, round a square or square around, I don't remember what the the phrasing is. Um, but my hope in kind of opening up the conversation is that we would get out of here's what the consultants proposed and here's how it doesn't work and get to a these things don't quite work. You're never going to vote for these ones, but if we can get some efficiencies here for $2 million, we can make it happen. Then the board can get a parents would have something to advocate to our county partners and state partners about. The board could try and find additional funding. Um, you know, we could when we're talking about programs, we could talk about whether those programs are more or less important than school start times, etc. Obviously, we're not going to

124jeopardize the collective bargaining agreement, but at least we'd have a honest, frank conversation. So, I'm disappointed, but I think this motion provides an opportunity and I hope we take it. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. >> Thank you. Just a quick question first before I start with my comments with the parent survey. I'm sorry, with the community survey. What was the response rate like? How many people did we actually get to respond? I believe we had I think it was 28,000 [Music] uh 25,655 unique respondents. >> And do we have a sense of how many of those were parents and how many were staff? Among the respondents among the 25,655, 73% identified as parents or guardians, 35% responded as staff, and 11% identified as both parents, guardians, and staff. Um 6% were community members and about

1253% were students. >> So roughly we had about 18,000 parents respond >> roughly. roughly and that is a very very very very small number of our population. Correct. >> Yes ma'am. >> Um one of the things that I think that would have been helpful to do is to be a little to turn every stone in order to get some more community participation. And I remember a few years ago um we used to do the um uh what do you call it the the I forget what you all called it but the the community surveys were the groups where you would bring people in because you did not think they were going to complete the surveys but you brought them in and had a conversation. This was just a survey and so it was easily missed.

126I I would have to say that. Um can can we go to the slide two please? I will say the surveys were all addressed at the September boundary meetings as well. So we sort of tried to take uh advantage of parents or community members coming in. Um and I believe those links were provided during the September meetings as well. >> Thank you for that. Um I I am seeing less and less that where there's a will, there's a way. I I don't think I'm seeing it as clearly as some of my colleagues because I'm looking at what's there right now. Um I I know when we were having these initial conversations it was that um you know the budget landscape was very tight and so it was not something that we should do. But I'm

127looking at option C. Option C has a price tag of 0 to 1.1 million. I mean we spent that on staff and so these are potential options. And I do worry about um the motion particularly the language that speaks to no earlier than 2728 school year. Is that correct? Yes. The 2728 school year. So no earlier than that. So does that mean it's going to be the 3031 school year, the 4041 school year? The parameters for me are are are unclear. And and so that makes it really hard for me to buy into this. And I I don't have the belief that this is something you're already going to do. I I know others here have said that, but I don't have that belief. And um so if we're going to direct you to do

128something, I think it should be time bound. This is so open that it could be 10 years out. And we know we've had families that have been been waiting already 10 years because it was after we did the middle the the high schools, we're going to tackle the middle schools and here we are. Um, do you anticipate that there will be efficiencies that are that are achieved through the new boundary work and the N software? >> I think that's the hope that we'll achieve some efficiencies, but we won't know till they're actually modeled um on the road. >> Sure. Is that where, and this is primarily to Mr. done. Is that where you're saying where possible in that second paragraph? Because if the budget landscape is hard now, I don't anticipate it's going to be

129too much easier in a few years. So where is this where possible getting the funds? I'll take a go back. I think that was the timer, but I would love for Mr. Dunn to kind of share a little bit regarding the where possible. >> Point of order. your time is expired and you can't ask questions of a board member on somebody else. >> I don't know who could answer it then. >> Well, I I can endeavor to answer it if that's >> Thank you, Dr. Reed. >> Yes, ma'am. Um I think the where possible in my conversation with Mr. done is I believe the um motion was to come back with budget a budget neutral option or options by X date and I just it may not be possible uh to bring back a budget

130neutral option. So I think it was simply a statement of if it's possible we're going to bring it. I but to the point that you've raised option C um I understand the cost wasn't um overwhelming 0 to 1.1 but option C option C is predicated on the runtime being 90 minutes and we weren't able to model a 90minute runtime um in fact I believe option C um our current run time is 110 minutes and um the achievable options we're just not we just couldn't get it to 90 minutes. So, it wasn't doable and therefore the minimal cost was not going to be that minimal. So, um that's that would be how I would answer that at this point. >> Thank you uh Miss Dixit. >> Thank you Dr. Reed uh for this presentation. I would

131be supporting the motion and u I believe uh we have to wait till the boundary process complete and the new transportation routing system is fully implemented before making a divisionwide start changes to start times. This also allows the board and staff to have clear understanding of enrollment patterns, transportation efficiencies and potential ripple effects. It also provides more time to gather meaningful community feedback and consider the impact on staff and families before moving forward with this such a significant change. Um, having said that, I'm I'm definitely would like our middle schoolers to have a more sleep time. So, as soon as possible, uh, we would like to move forward with that change. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you, Miss Mayor. I know that everyone on this board wants what's best for students and the

132superintendent does as well physically, instructionally, mentally. Um, we received data from this analysis not even a year ago. So, while we might have contracted it out, we actually didn't get this data was it December of 24, we have had multiple meetings. We have spent time and money trying to make this work amidst a historic boundary review process, decrease in our local education funding, challenges from the federal and state governments from everything from funding to how our students are being tested. Okay, we are not slouching on this matter. It's complicated. It's 180,000 kids and how many buses? 1,000 buses, 93,000 miles a day. >> 1600 buses. 1,600 buses, 93,000 miles a day. So I think I'd love to see the board use the largest tool that we have available to us to set in motion a

133better approach going forward and that tool is our policies in governance. We are have slated to review policy 3415 which is length of the school day and policy 4275 which is length of the school year for students. Now the first one's under instruction. The second one's under HR. Uh I'm wondering if we can use this opportunity to get really clear and say what the school board expects of start times and whose decision is that? Because that has been a confusion point going back and forth. This even relates to the calendar work that we used to do. It used to be of the board. Now it's of the superintendent and the more we can codify these things, the better roadmap we'll have and that will at least take out that uncertainty. Uh, I will support this

134motion because I want to put that final point on it for now and let it be known that this is what it is and at least let people know and people could be disappointed or not, but at least it's known. I I would ask though that the board get back into the habit of working with the superintendent to track motions. And that is we used to have a thing called a motion tracker. When the board directed the superintendent to do something, it was tracked. And I have seen lately sometimes we're hearing things that might have come from last year or a prior board and I have you know um I'm a little concerned about that but at least now you know we could put somewhere that okay by 2026 that time we can expect this

135to happen because I think the more we can do that the more we can also see how much we're asking of staff what our timeline of work could look like and just be more thoughtful. So, um it's also one of those things that's in our governance manual that we don't use. So, it certainly could be something for governance, but um it's there if we want it, and I really think we should reinstate it so that it's it's all in one place and um organized. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. >> Thank you. Um I'll support the motion. I at the end of the day, we either buy more buses or we move every grade level to a certain extent. Right now, based on the factors that we have in front of us, um neither

136of those options I'm willing to go for. So, that's why I'm going to support the motion. Um I'm hopeful that the new software could potentially find some efficiencies. I'm hopeful that these boundary changes are going to help more compact these routing lines. Um, but it's also, I think, important to point out, and I don't remember where I heard this number, but I know it came from our staff, about onethird of our routes are not base school, neighborhood to base school. They're specialized routes. So, we're doing a lot of transportation all over the place across a lot of different vehicles. Um, it's a very complex issue to tackle and I I'm I hate to say that I'm not holding my breath that we're necessarily going to come to a different outcome, but at least with the

137dynamic changes of the software and of the boundaries, there's a possibility there. Or we find a rich uncle that can buy us a bunch of buses and pay to run them. I suppose that's possible, but I'm also not holding my breath on that option. So, I'll support the motion. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Meline. >> So, I think it comes as no surprise that I'm quite disappointed. Um, just to take a step back and um, look at the history here. Uh, community advocates have been working at this for a quarter of a century since 2001, I think. Um, it took us 14 years, 13 14 years uh, to get to a positive solution. Um unfortunately that positive solution in 2013 2014 um left a hole uh and at that time Mr. Moon and I

138and our colleagues on this board uh made a promise to the community that within the next few years we would fix the middle school start times. Well, three boards have come and gone since then. Um and that um has not happened. It's an unmitigated failure of this board u to have let this linger so long. We failed our community and particularly our middle schoolers and we continue to do so and I take this personally. I personally promised the community that we would do this as as Mr. Fr. you know there's no such thing as a free lunch. So we shouldn't assume that we can change something this massive for free with a positive result. This is complex work, but it's not rocket science. Karen Garza, Jeff Plattenburg did it with the support of their board.

139We paid a little money, but we got a positive result. These two options that were taken out to the community were non-starters. And I need to apologize to the community that that happened because they've been spinning their wheels over these two options that this board was never going to vote on. So, we did this survey based on these two options. Um, and as far as I'm concerned, the results are not very useful to me, not useful to others because we are never going to consider these options. One question I have is there was an option D2 that Prismatic came forward with. That's not reflected here. That wasn't reflected in the two options. And I'll quote from the Prismatic report that said D2 solutions begin to likely be within the range of little minimal fiscal impact

140when middle school starts 9:00 a.m. or later. So, I'm not sure what happened with staff not looking at that option. Uh but again it's disappointing. Um the question I would leave is that um you know we have um this new transportation software. Um I'm not quite clear why it's taking so long to operationalize it. So can you clarify that for us? >> Yes sir. We it is um we have over 45,000 bus routes right and or bus stops and 1600 routes. So we felt like it would be prudent to keep uh the current system running as we cut over because um with computers and routing uh we didn't want something to go wrong with the new system which has happened in some other divisions and not have a backup. So, um, my understanding, and I

141think it was prudent, is that we keep the systems running concurrently this year and then we'll be tapering off our old system and be fully on board with the new system by the end of the year. But I believe, how close are we to having all routes routed on the new system? Mr. Muick, please. >> Yes, ma'am. You you have it uh essentially right. I just want to correct the timing on it a little bit. We've been throwing a lot of stuff at you recently with routing. So, we've fully implemented Tyler routing as of 6 October and the transportation team led by Paul over here wanted to run both systems, the Tyler routing system and the old system concurrently until winter break to make sure that there were no lost stops, misplaced students, and it

142wasn't perfect, but it was pretty it was really good. Right. We've had some stuff we've had to correct, but they were minor. In December, we'll decommission the old system. And at that point, we'll fully be on Tyler routing. And at that point, we go in earnest on getting all the mobile data tablets, the the t the tablet that the drivers use installed on each bus. It takes about two hours per bus. That should be done by the end of the year. So, the end of the year, we'll be fully up on Tyler routing system and the tablets. And then over the summer, we'll convert over to the Tyler version of Here Comes the Bus. We didn't want to throw all that. We didn't want to throw that here comes the bus change in the middle

143of the school year. We knew that'd be too chaotic. And this is just a smoother way for us to to roll stuff out. >> So, it's the tablets that aren't done till the end of the year with the because I knew we weren't cutting over on the app till the end of the year. So, there you have it. >> That's helpful. Thank you. And I'll just say um to my colleague, Mr. Dunn, um and Miss Anderson, I appreciate your work on on this amendment. Um, I'm not sure that I can support it. Um, so thanks. >> Thank you, Miss Seismore. >> Thank you. And I don't want to repeat many of the things my colleagues have said. I'll be supportive of this as well. I think my colleagues, Mr. Dunn and Miss Anderson for bringing

144this. Um, you know, I we're all I think hearing I'm hearing that we're all in support of healthy start times. I think no one in this room or our leadership team can argue against that. But it, as my colleague said, it is complicated. The main reason I wanted to speak up is that there's many in my community who were very concerned about the very late start and the late getting home for some of our elementary school students. And I heard that quite a bit from my community in Bradock. And I want to lift that up to say it is a concern. and you know when I'm very grateful for the previous board in 2013 to address the high school start times with leaving a promise to fix the other ones and I don't want to

145do that same thing here where we fix one start time and potentially break another right by having elementary school students get home so late. So, I am really glad that we're pausing this so we can be um look for solutions that fix the middle school start time issue to make sure there are healthy start times without negatively impacting or or breaking the elementary school start times to make them unhealthy times to get home. So, I'm glad we're pausing. I'm very happy to support this. Um and I just wanted to thank your staff because from the first work session we had on this, I brought up the issue of the run times and I questioned whether 80 or 90 minutes was enough for a runtime. I believe Mr. you may remember those questions that I had

146and I asked you all to to test it in real time with traffic. So, I I'm very grateful. I want to say thank you for doing that because the last thing I wanted to do was promise something that we couldn't deliver. So, thank you for doing that testing to recognize that those run times perhaps with the change in traffic weren't as realistic as perhaps they were you thought they might be. So, thank you for that. Um, and I'm happy to support this motion and I I know that we'll keep doing the hard work to get to healthy start times for everybody. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm g go ahead and take my turn. Um, as someone who worked in the system uh when the board in uh 2013 2014 or leading up to that

147um studied this and evaluated and worked on it, um the conclusion was we're going to flip middle and high because middle is two years, high is four. It's going to cost some money, but they couldn't find a path forward to make both of those later. I want to repeat that that board could not find a way forward to make those paths I mean make that make that work. Okay. Um for the all the things that we've talked about the 1600 buses, the 93,000 miles per day, um it is incredibly complicated. Um and it's further compounded now by the number of people that have to report back to the office. I mean, obviously we are in the middle of a government shutdown right now, but when all systems are firing, I have found that since that

148return to office, the traffic pattern has gotten worse. And so, I think it's going to be incredibly important for this bus routing data for the tablets for us to really be able to model what's happening. Um, you know, I've said this before, I am not a morning person and I wasn't as a child and um, you know, I had to, you know, I had the early high school start time. So, um, I also will say I think our middle schoolers, I understand the health and the developmental, but whenever I'm in our middle schools, and I'm often in my middle schools, um, they're pretty energetic. You know, they're they're they're I don't want to say they're bouncing off the walls, but they're they're they're not sluggish looking. Um, having said that, I understand the importance of

149it. Um, we also have robust after school programs at this point. Uh and and I I I just need to I think it's okay to uplift this. I mean I think that our faculty um we heard from our elementary, our middle, and our high school principles associations around if there was a significant shift uh it would decimate many of their faculties. uh we're already battling what uh our competitors can pay people um because their funding resources uh locally um seem to be you know they've like loud has the revenue of of data centers and whatnot. So um it pains me um because I was a school counselor and social emotional health and physical health and mental health is of utmost importance for all our children. Um, I'm going to support the motion. Um, but and

150I believe in transparency. I too am sorry that these were presented in boundary meetings because it was confusing to the public. Um, I tried to chase it with my constituency to get information out into my to my schools. Um, I think this is a right thing to do. And again, to Mr. First's point, it might be that here's what we can do. Um, it's 15 minutes or it's 20 minutes um for middle and high shift, but we're not touching elementary. I will not approve anything that's going to have a later start time than what the last schools have right now. Um, and maybe we can get somewhere that's fiscally a viable option. Um, but we fiscally are in tough times. We weren't in those in as tough a time fiscally as uh in 2013 and

15114 as we are now, but I just want uh to say that. So, we're going to get to go backs. Um, start with Mr. Dunn. >> Thank you. Um I just uh in response to an earlier question I just wanted to mention that uh the I the goal of where possible as Dr. Reid articulated was to provide some flexibility because we just don't know what the analysis will show whether any of the options uh by December of 2026 uh will be budget neutral. But I also just want to highlight one thing that has not been broadly discussed in terms of school boundaries and that is the grandfathering policy that we passed this past summer. Um, while it's well-intentioned, it's going to create a a a magnitude of complexity to the implementation of school boundaries that

152I don't think any of us have have really imagined, which is if all of the students who are proposed to be reassigned to a new school instead elect grandfathering policy to stay at their current school, we're going to face some schools that are going to be severely overcrowded potentially, right? Because you'll have the old students and the new students. Now, this is going to be pockets across the country because not all schools are being affected by school boundaries. But it will also potentially affect our our busing very significantly depending on whether uh the school board decides to provide busing to grandfathered students or doesn't. So there's also cost implications to that at a time when we're facing the loss of federal funding and many other fiscal challenges. So there's a lot of complexity uh that

153is coming up with the implementation of the first school boundary review, comprehensive school boundary review in 40 years. I think this is not a year to add on more changes. And so that's yet another reason why school start times as I articulate all the reasons and all the benefits um and and from in myriad respects that it makes total sense to do it at the earliest uh possible time, but it also makes sense to do it at a time when we're not carrying so many other challenges that are vitally important both to our school staff, our students and the families and the broader community to successfully implement. So we need to execute successfully against the challenges we have without adding to that burden. Thank you. >> Thank you. And my apologies to Mr. Moon. I

154think you turned by I I I turned it on pretty late so you might not have noticed that. >> I I I you know pretty much concur with uh Mr. done. Uh dear my colleague and Mr. Melvin, I know that you and I were the only ones on this board who previously they participated in approving or working on and eventually bringing in later high school start times. Uh and we made promises to community which have not been kept as you said over 30 boards. Uh that also shows that uh mr been how complex, how difficult it is to find the solution for later middle school times. Uh if it were going to be easy, we would have done that long long ago. You know, Dr. Even though I support the language as stated in this

155motion, to be realistic, finding a budget neutral solutions to get this done is going to be hard if not impossible. Uh I wish you well but but uh if you if you come back uh with just like you know other options presented by consultant that you know some of the realistic options will cost us some money and the board will have to make some tough decisions whether to go along with you know options with a budgetary implications or because we are expecting a a a rather tough financial budget situation coming up for the next few years uh that we have to make a different decisions but uh I think you know having something come back from new by December of the next year uh is something that worth waiting for this board especially as we

156are going through this boundary change and along with phasing that the board agreed to allow and how the community will actually uh utilize that option they're going to have under the board policy. So I'm supporting the motion but not happily with a lot of regrets and sharing. >> Yes sir. >> Thank you Dr. Anderson. >> Yes. Thank you. And this time I'll be mindful of my time. So my question to Mr. done is is there a reason why you elected to articulate the motion as no earlier than the 2720th school year rather than by the 2728 school year. >> You I'm giving you my time. >> Okay. >> Point of order. >> Um point of order. You can agree to give your time, but it goes through the chair. So, uh, you can only speak

157from the day if you're recognized by the chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Dunn. >> Uh, yes. Uh, I I put it to be, uh, no earlier than because, uh, again, while we right now are extremely eager and, uh, I I certainly include myself among that group. Uh, it remains uncertain the various challenges that I've raised, other people have raised as well. um whether what next year looks like and we need to get through next year successfully implementing the largest school ch change in school boundaries in 40 years. Uh new bus technological obstacles which will be you know beneficial once fully implemented. But we need to have all of that in place before we can contemplate uh changing school start times because we have had school systems that changed their uh their their school start times

158and it resulted a disaster where they had to go back to the previous school start times and and imagine implementing that on on our school system. I think it was Portland that had to go back and maybe another system just within the last 18 to 24 months. So we want to avoid debacles, right? We can't afford that. >> Thank you. You cannot use all of my time. Um, so, uh, I I think my my my concern here is we spent a lot of years talking about this. Everybody's committed, but there's been no action. It just seems like another opportunity to kick it down a can. And again, going to the budget neutral activities. I I'm I'm struggling to see how we will have something that is different from what we have right now. It just

159it's it's just far in the future and that's way too uncertain for me and that's why I'm not supporting the motion. Okay, seeing no other um lights on >> chair. Oh, sorry, Mr. Fresher. Go back. >> In your reading of this motion, it says where possible. Does that mean if you're not able to come up with a budget neutral option, you won't bring an option or will you come to the board and say don't have a budget neutral option, but this would be the preferred path if funding existed? I think that um it's a good question. I think that the amount of work we're going to do, obviously, we're going to create options with the expectation that they be budget neutral. Um but I think that we would want to show our work and I

160think we would want to show you budget neutral options and maybe anything close to budget neutral options that we're able to come up with. Um, so I I think that would be my read on that. I don't think um but I think it's clear that budget neutral is the preferred expectation. >> Yeah, I think it's the preferred expectation. But my hope is that if you find yourself coming back to the same answers that are not palatable to the community or the board, that you level with us and say, "Look, but here are some other things that we can think about. Um, these ones are cheaper, these ones are more expensive, but would be easier to do. Let's figure out what the path is." Um, obviously none of that work has been done. So, I'm kind

161of, you know, predicting future conversations, which is never a good idea. Um, but I really hope that we don't find ourselves in a position where we are talking about the same or very, very similar free options. Um, because that's what this says when I read it as being a little bit more expansive than you're only allowed to come with free options. It says where possible. And that could be read two ways, right? It could be read as if you can come up with free options, bring those where possible. But it could also be read as if you can't come up with free options, give us your best thinking on that as well. >> Well, I I I do try to always give you my best thinking um when I can remember when the app and

162the Tyler tablets are all done. Um, but uh, of course we're going to bring you our best thinking. And um, >> I guess I meant best thinking not hemmed in by a parameter that might be more restrictive than allows than your best thinking would be able to get to. >> Yes, sir. I think the the best thinking um, we will do our best thinking. I think we also understand that we have to keep thinking until we can get it as budget neutral as possible. Thank you, >> Mr. Mine. >> Thanks. U just uh one next step that I would like to see is um for us to get a copy of the testing report um just showing that all these runs were tested um and that we weren't able to to get the run times

163down. Um that's something we haven't seen yet. So, I'd appreciate seeing that. I know when Prismatic pres presented to us, they showed how they were able to get Anna Rundle from 35 minutes down to 75 minutes and get all of their schools elementary, middle, and high between 8 and 9:15. Granted, Anunnel is smaller, but um this method has worked elsewhere. So, I'm just not still understanding why we aren't seeing it here. >> Yes, sir. We'll get those. >> All right. Seeing no other lights on, I'll call for the vote on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fr, Mr. Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Miss Anderson, Miss Dixit, Missheiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, and myself. All those opposed, Mr. Mavine, Dr. Anderson. Clerk, can you please share the vote? >> The

164vote is 92. The motion carries. >> Thank you. >> Agenda item 6.06. Action item I'm sorry 6.05 action item award of contract architectural services. I call on Miss Lady for a motion. I move that the school board authorize staff to negotiate professional services contracts with with selected firms for architectural services for various facilities projects and authorize the division superintendent or the chief operating officer to execute, deliver, and administer the contract on behalf of the school board. >> Is there a second? Second. I'd like to recognize Mr. Dunn. >> I move to postpone this action item until the next regular school board meeting to provide additional time for the superintendent to provide requested information to the school board. >> If there is no objection, >> second. >> Okay, there we have a second. Um, Mr. Dunn,

165would you like to further explain? Um I uh requested additional information regarding this action item um on Saturday and I believe it's important for the information to be shared with the school board and discussed uh in the proper context so that uh the school board can make a determination on uh this RFP which uh could go to um a broader discussion of of how we do uh procurement for construction and renovation projects. Again, just a brief delay to ensure that the school board is fully informed before making any determinations. >> Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your second? >> Nothing to add. >> Thank you. Uh, >> could some of my colleagues that have their lights on, please turn them off. Thank you. Um, um, Dr. Anderson, sorry. Yes. Thank you. Um, I

166guess the only I'm interested in finding out u Dr. Reid is are these times sensitive or we'll have time until I don't know what the how long it will take for you to provide the information. >> So yes ma'am we I did assure Mr. Dunn that we would be able to gather this information and be able to provide it um at an upcoming board meeting. >> I'm so sorry. Say that again. >> At an upcoming board meeting. >> Okay. So these contracts are not timesensitive. We're not going to be hamstrung by waiting until the next board meeting is what I'm hearing. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Seeing no others, I'm going to go ahead and call for a vote on this motion which is to postpone this until the next business meeting or the next

167regular meeting which is November 13th. So all those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarhiser, Mr. Moon, Mr. Dunn, Dr. Mr. Anderson and myself. All those opposed abstensions. Mr. McDaniel. Then we will move move on. Agenda item 6.06 action item monthly separation report September 2025. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. >> Thank you. I move that the school board approve the monthly separation report for September 2025. Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Moon. Dr. Anderson, would you like to speak to your motion? >> Yes. Thank you. Um, one of the things that I had I had some questions regarding um the data that is on page I believe this is page four with the large charts. Um, one of the things that stood out to me, I

168guess Dr. Reed and Mr. Solomon is for our separations. The two charts down below, our separations for black and Latino staff seem to be outpacing their entire employee group percentage. Is that a concern? I'm just trying to go ahead. >> I'll ask Mr. Solomon to respond as he gathered this data. >> Dr. Anderson, can you repeat the section you're looking at, please? It's this page that has the the charts with the multiolors. They're not numbered, so it's hard for me to identify. Just seems to be the last in the series. Is it numbered? Oh, seven. I didn't see it. My apologies. I think I wrote over it. So I think there are a couple of things that I would offer there. One of the things that we've talked about as it relates to the employee

169separation report is that the separation report shows our separations point in time when they're being entered into the system versus when people are separating. So this is showing all of our separations that were processed by human resources in the system from July to September. And that means these are people who could be resigning next week. It also means these are people who could be resigning or retiring a year from now. So it doesn't mean that they're resigning in July, in August or in September. It's point in time and I would encourage thinking of it as the time at which the volume is passing through human resources. I will say that when we zoom out and look at different employee groups, teachers, assistant principles, principles, and I know this is something that we talked a bit

170about during a previous MSAOC meeting, uh we tend to see that separation rates across demographic subgroups are flat. Um in other words, people are separating from the division at a pretty consistent rate year-over-year. And at the same time when you look at other populations of employees, operational staff, other staff members where you see a higher population of BIPOC employees, you naturally see that population of separations higher than you would expect for other populations of employees. >> Okay, thank you. Another question that I had was regarding the quarterly new hire report. Just looking at this, I guess I'm trying to get a little a sense of of some analysis. Are we doing well? Are there areas of concern? Is this where we want to be? Because having just the data without some sort of understanding makes

171it a little bit hard to un to to get context and to determine whether or not there should be some additional actions. >> So, I think there are a couple of things that I would say there. I I think that this board has so much to be proud of as it relates to the ver to the diversification of our workforce. And I would offer that Fairfax County Public Schools is leading the region as it relates to innovative ways of recruitment. Everything from the one-year local eligibility license, which increases and expands our pathways in Fairfax County Public Schools to leveraging alternative routes to lensure so that more and more educators have access to this profession and so that more and more of our students have access to highquality high impact educators and other professionals. Just some

172other data points that I would share. When we zoom out and look at our recruitment year-over-year, I've shared before that our BIPO population of teachers is increasing and it once again increased for this past year for the 2526 school year by nearly a percentage point. >> My apologies, just the last thing. So, and so the the pie chart that is at the top of page seven, is this our most ideal circumstance? Is this our most ideal scenario or do we still have target goals that we will that you are endeavoring towards? >> I think it's hard to answer that question looking at the chart on page seven. I think we have made great strides as a school division and I think that we still have a long way to go. uh to give you one

173example and I know this is one that we've sh we've talked about previously. When I look at our population of Hispanic teachers and our Asian teachers, we've made great strides but we still have room for improvement. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your second? >> Uh I don't know whether speaking on second, but I have a question and then comment to make. Uh have the separation numbers slowed down overall due to tightening job market? >> While it's hard to pinpoint the exact factors, the separation numbers have slowed down immensely. Our separations for teachers as one example uh have decreased by nearly a percentage point 8% year-over-year. And another thing that I would offer is that they're decreasing steadily year-over-year and have for the past three years for our teachers.

174What about the hiring numbers over the last three months period of time since July? >> We hired significantly fewer teachers this past year for a few reasons. One of which is that we saw a decrease in the separations for our teachers. Um I believe you also asked uh during a previous school board meeting uh if the reduction in um if the reduction in the divisor I'm sorry the increase in the divisor for the number of teachers had an impact and that did have an impact. So to give you a frame of reference, we typically hire about 2,00 to 21 teachers each year. This past school year, we hired roughly 1500 teachers. >> Okay. What about the vacancy rate? >> We start >> compared to last year, compared to last year, let's say last three months,

175compared to the LA prior years, three months period time, >> we have very few openings um for teaching positions in Fairfax County Public Schools at this time. And compared to last year, we were also doing quite well last year, but the difference is noticeable this year. >> Okay. Okay. One comment that I want to make is uh about that pie chart on page seven at the top. We cannot have a target. Is that correct? We cannot have a targeted goals. We cannot have we cannot set targets. Are we allowed to set targets? Generally, that is correct. >> Generally, no. >> Generally, a school division, an employer would not set targets. >> Okay, that's what I thought. We're not allowed to set targets. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Moon. I will call for a vote

176on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mine, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismore Heiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous for all board members. We are going to take a very quick fivem minute break before presentations. Board members, please take your seats. Coming back, agenda item 7.01, presentation, academic matters. I call on Dr. Reid for academic matters. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, this evening, academic matters will focus on the Fairfax County Youth Survey. And a reminder to those watching uh that this youth survey is a comprehensive, anonymous, and voluntary survey that's given each year to students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12, all even number grades, in partnership with the Fairfax County government. So, what we should

177know about the Fairfax County Youth Survey is that it does examine behaviors, experiences, and other factors that might influence the health and well-being of Fairfax County youth. The survey asks questions about risky behaviors, um, mental health, physical health, and safety. Students are also asked about the positive aspects of their lives and activities, as well as specific protective factors concerning health and safety. Fairfax County Public Schools as well as county and community based organizations rely on these results to assess youth needs and strengths to develop programs, monitor trends, measure countywide outcomes, and ga guide countywide planning of prevention act efforts. We're not on that slide yet, please. So um the survey is also an important tool for measuring student achievement goals that are related to essential life skills and responsibility to the community. Our substance use

178um and overall trends around substance use um would be on the current slide. The reported rates of alcohol and substance use among FCPS youth were the lowest since 2018 for all substances, including alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, and vaping. I have to say that is good news for our county. Um, because some of those trend lines start fairly high up. And so to have the lowest number since 2018 is really, I think, a a good story. Additionally, we're pleased to report that Fairfax County youth reported lower rates of use for these substances than national averages as well. So, um let's talk a little about mental health and the overall trends. And we can report that all mental health indicators among 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students, including levels of stress, prolonged feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and

179suicidal ideiation and attempts have continued to improve significantly since the pandemic period in 2021, reaching their lowest levels in the past decade. Another good news story for our students. 22% of eth, 10th, and 12th grade students reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row. Um, which is a decrease from 25% in 2023, 29% in 2022, and 38% in 2021. Looking at mental health trends from 2017 to 2024, this year's data shows continued improvement in students mental health since 2021 when these concern peaked. When these concerns peaked during the CO 19 pandemic, it is important to note that female students, non-binary students, LGBTQ students, and students from food insecure homes reported higher rates of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideiation, and suicide attempts compared to their peers. So, we still have work to

180do in providing um that safe space for many of our students. Compared to 2021, the percentage of those who felt stressed most or all of the time declined by 11 percentage points. So, our 2024 rates are the lowest since 2015 for um considering or attempting suicide have been those rates have been cut by over 50%. There's a lot of good news honestly in this report. So um our physical health of our students uh overall trends these survey asked students about this and their nutrition behaviors. So in 2024 46% of sixth grade students and 39% of 8th 10th and 12th reported participating in physical activity at least one hour on five or more days in the past week. 13 or 18% of sixth grade students and 12% of eighth, tth, and 12th grade students reported watching

181TV for three or more hours on an average school day. I don't know how you find time watch three or more hours of uh TV on a school day, but so be it. Um, and 34% of sixth grade students and 40% of eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students reported playing video games or using electronic devices for three or more hours for nonacademic purposes on an average school day, but not at school. Bullying overall trends. Um, FCPS students were asked about their experiences of bullying on school property, cyber bullying, and having received derogatory comments about their race or culture. One in 10 of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students reported uh being bullied on school property in the past year, which is similar to the rate in 2023. Younger students in general were more likely to

182report being bullied than older students. So again we have work to do in this area. One of the things that the data from the youth survey reinforce which we already know is the three to succeed um model which um has really had decades of research where um youth that have protective factors in their lives have healthier outcomes. Specifically, children and teens with three or more of these uh protective factors are more likely to manage stress, make better choices, and develop healthy habits. So, uh madame or Mr. Clerk, uh please play the video to hear from our staff and how they use this data to support our students. Thank you. um sharing the information to bring awareness um to our school teams when we're having conversations about what factors might be impacting our students that might

183might not be uh visible that might be impacting stress. So bringing awareness to those life stressors but also then awareness to the power of resiliency factors both individual strengths of the student strengths of our families and strength of the community and their influence and connection. So we take that awareness um and then apply strategies that um help respond in ways that continue to foster that resilience. The substance abuse prevention program uses youth survey data to share the real social norms of what's happening in our school division. The fact is that most students do not use drugs. Most students do not use opioids. Most students actually engage in extracurricular activities after school instead of using drugs. So we use survey data to share what's truly happening in the division. I value the youth survey data because

184it demonstrates how building protective factors in our young people really builds resilient young adults who are able to problem solve and cope with challenges in their daily life. When we build protective factors, it can counterbalance risk factors that some of our students may be experiencing, which reduces the likelihood that they'll engage in a variety of risky behaviors like bullying, engaging in harassing behaviors, um, and substance use. Most of the time, parents walk in with fear and anxiety. So, when we do educational sessions for parents, we're able to use that data to minimize that fear and anxiety. So, not only minimize those emotions for those parents, but also equip them with the next steps for how they can then have conversations with their children. I think it's essential for um our school community and the success

185of our students um to really integrate um both that understanding of wellness, so factors that drive wellness um for for students, for our relationships with families um and our even our our staff culture. So building that wellness comes with some explicit teaching for social emotional learning those skills and integrating time um then throughout the day to be able to practice those skills so our students are able to meet academic challenges and kind of approach that with that growth mindset because we have the tools to be able to apply. I value the youth survey data because it demonstrates how building protective factors in our young people really builds resilient young adults who are able to problem solve and cope with challenges in their daily life. When we build protective factors, it can counterbalance risk factors that

186some of our students may be experiencing, which reduces the likelihood that they'll engage in a variety of risky behaviors like bullying, engaging in harassing behaviors. um and substance use. Children feel connected to people by way of having conversations with them. So when we talk about that youth survey data, it it shows that when people are connected to one another and we engage with one another and recognize that all of us are just living life and attempting to live life on life's terms, we become better individuals. >> All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. That is academic matters for this evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. We're gonna kick things off with Mr. Fresh. >> Thank you. Um, so the 2025 survey results are not yet posted by the county, so it's hard to put meat on

187the bones of academic matters tonight in terms of what the the numbers show. But one of the alarming trends that we saw in recent years in the survey, if you look at the question about have you been bullied in the last year? Uh in 2023, 25.5% of transgender students said they had. In 2024, 27.9% of transgender students said they had. For non-binary students, the jump was larger. Um, in 2023 it was 21.2% and in 2024 it was 25.9%. So not the trajectory that we would hope to be seeing in a school division with uh the policies that we have in place. Um do do you know if the 2025 data shows the same trajectory or has there been an improvement? >> So I will have to defer to Dr. Prescidio on that. Um but we

188do know that as I shared um I think earlier in the report, let me see if I can locate this here. We did have we do have significant um both with our female, non-binary, and LGBTQ students. We do have significant um issues still with mental health that um are noteworthy and uh are need to be addressed. Um Dr. Presidio 2025. >> Yeah, I don't have um top of mind the comparison data between 2024 and 2025, but we can get you that information and then a copy of the 2025 survey information uh the complete report which should be posted on the county website. So, I'll triple check that as well, but we can get that directly to the board as well. >> Yeah, it's not. And in the the tool that they have where you can

189select between the years, it's not posted yet either. Um in addition to that information, be interested in uh lesbian, gay, bisexual uh students as well. And um for the trajectory of the data on mental health outcomes and uh substance abuse um uh in previous years um there have also been an uptick in uh indicators there that are also troubling. um uh you know and it bears saying that students who feel supported um have far better both at home and at school have far better outcomes academically, socially, emotionally etc. So um we have work to do to ensure that they feel safe in our schools. Um I guess my follow-up question would be how do you take this data and make use of it? >> Yes, sir. Well, we at the senior leadership level talk um

190through about the level of resources because we've made really significant progress in a number of areas but not all areas clearly. Um so I know our counseling staff continues to work at the school level. Our school leadership uh our we continue to work on um safe, supportive and welcoming environments for each and every student. I think there's a great deal um of also external uh rhetoric right now around topics that um create feelings of a lack of safety for particularly our transgender and non-binary students. Um, and I think that, uh, you know, students learn best when they feel safe and they feel like a an authentic member of the community when they show up as their authentic best selves. So I think we need to do a better job of managing those environments within our

191school division and um we also need to understand the impact of what's happening outside our school division and how that impacts our both our students and our staff quite honestly. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's what's difficult, right? We can't on a very local scale change the national conversation or dialogue which everybody experiences, right? But what we can do is try our hardest to ensure that when students walk through our the doors of our schools that they don't carry that baggage on their shoulders with them from class to class to class, whether they are trans, non-binary, LGBT, uh students, whether it's based on their religion, their gender, um other, you know, marginalized communities, um that they're able to just exist in our school as a student and focus on what they're here for, which

192is uh their education and you know building um a social and emotional support system. >> Yes, sir. And I I know we're often asked about sort of numbers of students and we do know that about um just over 11% of our students identify as LGBTQIA plus which is just over 17,000 of our students. And of that group, about 2.3% identify as transgender, which is just over 4,000. >> Right. Well, and for people that get confused by these numbers. Um there hasn't been like a rash of more people becoming gay or lesbian. Um uh you know it's a pretty consistent number of people in recent decades decade or so that have identified as gay or lesbian. Um far more people identify as bisexual today than they did years ago. Um and the the number of transgender

193students is still very low. More people are identifying as non-binary. Um, so I encourage every to learn more about those designations. >> Thank you, Mr. Chris. Mr. Dunn, >> um, I wonder a couple things. Uh, this is a great survey, great results. Um, how many students took this survey? >> Um, it would be 6, 8, 10th, and 12th. We have about 14,000 studentsish in any grade span level. It is voluntary. So what would be ballpark Dr. Presidio. >> Well, again, I I don't have that number top of mind. We can get that for you. But if we're estimating, you know, 12,000 students approximately per grade level for four grade levels, you know, somewhere between, you know, 40,000 plus students possibly. >> But historically per grade level, is there an average completion rate that you can

194recall? Is it half, a third of the each grade level? >> The majority of the students do complete it. Yeah. >> Okay. And if if you could just provide data in a Friday, that would be great. Especially like historically if if we're having more kids taking the survey list kids. Um I I notice there's nothing about teenage pregnancies. Is there any data on that in in the survey? >> Not in my notes, but no, >> Dr. Presidio. >> Yeah, I mean there are questions about sexual activity, but not about pregnancy to my knowledge. I >> mean, maybe that used to be a big thing when I was growing up, but maybe that's not a thing anymore. I think pregnancy is still a thing. I think that it may or may not be connected to the

195healthy youth survey. >> Okay. Um in in terms of health, I mean, do you do you look for positive uh questions in the survey? I mean, do you ask people like, do you have a trusted adult in your life? Do you have friends? How many friends do you have? I mean, things like that would, you know, not just show I'm not doing negative things, but do I have the positive characteristics of mental health? Because study after study shows that, you know, Having friendships, having a trusted adult in your life is among the most important if not the most important factor and you know a healthy lifestyle and positive academic outcomes. >> Well, yes sir. And if we go to slide two please um just a reminder that um students were also asked about positive parts

196of their lives and activities as well as um the specific those protective factors. Um so both risk and protective factors. uh the protective being the positive, but I will share that since we've noticed that often it's middle school um the ages uh where we see still significant uh mental health concerns and as you mentioned having that connection with a positive adult being so important. I think that's why our middle school sports and activities that particularly as we've tried to continue adding those gives more of our children an opportunity to have those healthy connections just as adding flag football, right? Girls flag football, girls wrestling, boys volleyball. The more things that a young person can connect to, the more protective factors we're providing. So, um I really appreciate your point. The more positive things we can

197put in place, uh I think the more mentally healthy our children are going to feel. >> If there is any, uh data from this survey that you could just highlight in particular that you think is particularly important to write a letter, I would appreciate it. >> Yes, sir. Thank you >> Mixit. >> Thank you Dr. Reed for this presentation. Very um interesting numbers. Um I I think students are definitely are born mature. You know they know what they're doing. Um so all a good thing. Such a big drop in some of these numbers especially vaping um is encouraging. But I also hear a lot of vaping concerns in schools like you know bathrooms and things like that. I now now we know this is a voluntary data anonymous. I I'm just wondering if their students

198are like we just we'll say what we want to say and then we don't want to get in trouble by saying the truth and maybe there uh is there any way this goes back to the school system that who made the who's filled out the survey if it's digital? Uh no ma'am actually the survey goes back to the county um because the county Yeah. Um and then they release it back to us. So, um, and in fact, I believe I've provided that in their Friday letter not long ago. Um, because they, but at that point, it was still being presented to the board of supervisors. So, um, it it doesn't the raw data doesn't come back to us. It goes to the county. >> And, um, I think 454% of the students said they had

199something bad to said to them about their race or culture in the past year in the sixth graders and 33% from 8 to 12. uh knowing forest county is such a diverse uh community and that number concerns me a bit. I think we have more work to do um depends on race or any other reason. I I don't think our students should be picking on that. So that would be something I think more positive work needs to be done in that. And same thing with bullying. Uh 25% for sixth grader. Last year I remember was high too among the sixth graders. and there's something going on with our sixth graders. They probably are feeling out of the place or maybe they're too old for elementary school. We've been we maybe this is a conversation to

200have is like they should be in elementary school or not like we are kind of the anomaly there. Uh overall a great report and very positive and I would like to continue to see I mean better numbers where we are not you know doing well. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Mavey, >> thank you. And thanks also for all you are doing to um push forward with activities at at various levels and the middle school sports in particular because that's an age group we know that needs that kind of support. Um you know looking at um this uh survey uh you often uh lose sight of the real numbers. the percentages can be very low. But if just as you know as we were discussing about um you know the participants in this so um you

201know if you extrapolate over the grade levels um you would have 3% attempting suicide which would amount just among you know 8th 10th and 12th graders to about 1,200 attempting um or 2700 considering right and um you know if we uh carry that forward to all the grades that's a it's a big real number Um and I'm particularly concerned with um those numbers because in my community over the past year we've had three three suicides including one in the past week. Um and we haven't seen like that those numbers in my pyramid in particular um since probably 2010 or so. Um so I I also worry that you know we we sometimes um miss patterns and trends in various communities by aggregating this. Um and I know in the past they've asked for disagregated heat

202maps from around the county where where things are popping. But uh I guess a question would be uh just when we're when we're thinking about suicidal ideiation and um attempts in successful suicide, what are we doing in particular to support those communities? >> So I know we have um crisis teams that go to schools when we have uh concerns of this nature. Um Dr. group. Um several of the folks that were on the video um and we deploy extra counseling support um to schools and communities uh where we've had situations um Dr. Prescidio, I think there's there are also protocols in terms of um counseling, professional development also with our social workers. Um I don't know if you want to add anything to that. >> Yeah, I mean I think on the student side of

203of the things that we've really tried to do is, you know, through the social emotional learning that we've really increased a lot since the pandemic to try to address some of the mental health issues that students were having. Um, focus on, you know, how to recognize signs uh of mental health issues just as on a personal level for students and where to go to get help. So, you know, trying to be as proactive and empower students as much as possible to be reflective about their own mental health and to know how to get support with that. We've also done staff training to recognize signs of suicide. Um so that you know if they're recognizing risky behavior or concerns with students, you know, to make sure that we're intervening and providing proactive support as much as

204possible. Um and then you know in the situation if we do have somebody who's acting on um some of that some of those concerns and issues then as Dr. Reed saying we have a lot of counseling support uh for students. we've increased the amount of um mental health supports and services through you know telemental health services um so we've done a lot to try to bolster on the preventative side um you know uh because that is a very concerning issue and I think you know with any of these trends as we see these numbers going down we recognize that you know we're you know we're pleased to see the downward trend but anybody who's using substances engaging in risky behavior you know as mystics have pointed out students students that you know might still be

205vaping in in our schools. Those are all things that we're working very actively on to try to mitigate and get to as close to zero as possible. >> And Sloan, while I have you, so I know I I asked this last year and in past years, but in terms of heat maps, how much are we how much is Mr. Axler's team able to use the data to to look for trends in specific communities, if at all? >> Um, we are able to do that. Um, we we can do that. We haven't provided that analysis obviously here in this report, but um you know that is something that we do have the capability in partnership with the county to do. >> Okay. I would love to see that put into action. >> Yeah. I think one

206of the most important things we can do, Mr. Mleine and I, the superintendent advisory committee students are talking a lot about this is destigmatizing mental health. just being able to talk about it um without some of the uh stigmatization that over time has occurred. So, the more we're able to talk about that um I think the more students are comfortable getting help and support when they need it. >> Thank you, Mr. Mine. Mr. McDaniel, >> thank you. Um, and continuing on this line of of questioning. So, I I pulled our membership report as of today or this month rather and 8, 10th, and 12th graders add up to 43,32 kids, which based on our data here extrapolating that means that 4,300 have either attempted suicide or have thought about attempting suicide. That is a staggering

207number. It's an alarming number. So I guess my question is you know we get this report this is always a bittersweet report to read because there's positive movement in many directions but until we get to zero it's not enough in my opinion. Um in recognizing the reality of that situation I guess my question is specifically on the students that are have either attempted suicide or or are considering attempting suicide. How deep into the data does your team drill to understand the who, the where, the when, and the why? And what type of extra supports are we pushing down into the schools specifically to address that issue? So, I know um Dr. Prescidio's team, Dr. and the team work with schools directly on um how we utilize the data. That was the the video explanation. I

208think that when we talk about resources for mental health, you know, we've had for the last several years extra funding. We had a federal mental health grant to recruit and retain mental health professionals and that grant was ended as you know for divisions all across the country. Um I think as we uh resources become tighter. Um it's going to be more challenging to provide the layered resource support we've been able to provide um for mental health uh concerns. However, the training for our staff that we do have, our counselors, administrators, educators, staff um will continue. And um I think our students are also in some ways eager to become more of a resource. There's a student uh mental health first aid uh program that's active around the country where students also learn to recognize signs

209and symptoms um and can refer friends um because often students are going to be the first people to hear about a you know one of their classmates that is struggling in that area. Um but um I do think again if we also focus on some of those positive characteristics like the more activities we have for students to participate in without barriers um a barrier being maybe cost or um other transportation those types of things. I think the more active our students are um the better that mental health is going to be. >> Sure. And along those same lines, when we get this data, it it provides year-over-year information. I guess my question is, similar to how we track academic progress, do we have a target goal of where we want to be or at least

210a target goal of annual progress in reducing some of these concerns such as students attempting suicide >> or So I believe we in our goal two report are going to be um sharing data and goals around this topic. Um so this is sort of um an academic matter prequel to goal two which I believe is coming up next. >> Okay. Right. Thank you. >> Yes sir. Miss Seismarhiser. >> Thank you. And I appreciate the the prequel would say and I I appreciate the robust conversation. And um I am glad to see the trends especially as my colleagues are on vaping getting better around students. Um the one thing I wanted to kind of mention where I was thinking about the intersectionality of some of the um concerns students are reporting about being bullied based on

211their race or ethnicity or ethnic background and the mental health concerns. And one thing that I don't know, you don't have to answer today, but what training or what supports do we have in place for culturally competent mental health support for our students? And I bring that up because the acceptance of mental health issues or supports is can vary from culture to culture and the understanding behind it can vary as well. And so, you know, when you mentioned the student advisory councils talking about the importance of ending the stigma, >> right? >> I think we need to look at how do we then target that to for specific students who come from maybe specific backgrounds or, you know, how do we help them also end the stigma in a way that's culturally competent, but also

212recognizing the different backgrounds they come from, especially given the diversity of our students. I think I saw a number that 40% of our students have a family member who speaks a different language than English at home. So, just something to think about. You don't have to answer today for your staff as you're building out your supports for mental health to make sure that we're addressing in a way that is um resonant with the different cultures of the students we're serving. Because otherwise if we say it in a way that may not be resonant for them or recognizing the starting point where certain families and students are coming from we not may not be as effective in providing that you know destigmatizing it and providing the support they need. >> Yes ma'am. >> Thank you Miss

213Lady. >> Thank you. Um so uh obviously this is near and dear to my heart in terms of the work that I did with students for years. Um and I just want to sort of share a A couple things. One, I think this is full of very very good news. Uh I think it's postcoid. Um I think that our kids are um I'm hoping learning to to live in discomfort a little better and understand that that that life is we don't get up every morning and we're jazzed about everything we that's going to happen in that day, right? Uh except for learning, which we're always incredibly jazzed about. But I just think that like um you know we we're doing better work in helping our students find their words to articulate what it is they're

214feeling. Um I was very encouraged today when I had a uh meeting with my PTA PTO's and PTSAs that uh one of the uh advocacy work that was happening I believe at Clear View and I hope is happening elsewhere is this wait till 8th around smartphones. um that parents in elementary schools are getting together and trying to work as a community and get everyone to wait till 8th grade uh it sounds like until you get a smartphone. So, and I bring that up because that's so damaging to self-esteem. Um, I read a horrible article uh this weekend um about a young boy who committed suicide based on being on Discord and being encouraged by this web of people overseas that were wanting people to videotape these these harmful things they do to themselves and you

215know lying awake at night I'm thinking like how does that how does a child get to that space right so I I mean we're doing great work um I also will say that the signs of suicide intervention work we do uh is fantastic. Um I I think the struggle and I don't know that my colleagues um understand this, but whenever we do a signs of suicide um screener that um we've got to notify all of the public mental health and private um places because kids are going to come forward in that and going to be need to referred for services. Um it which is a good thing. Um I think our our student services departments also do a very good job of just communicating that we have a robust clinical staff here which is school

216counselors, psychologist, social workers and the extent to which we can continue to put those folks on uh the television and broadcast journalism uh and help kids understand how to map the resources is great. Um and and and all the afterchool things. I mean, I I know that as a former coach of five sports, a former class sponsor of, you know, two different classes and one as administrator, when kids stay at school and kids have more adults in their life, there's a greater chance someone's going to notice something different in them. Uh it's our young people who come to school and go home and don't engage with us in any other way that often we we just don't have that connection with. So, uh I like the questions on the survey. I think that we're heading

217in a great direction. Um, and I'm just really, really, really grateful to the um, ratios we have for mental health services here in Fairfax County. And I hope we ne we don't we don't go in another direction. If anything, we go to a lower size and and we don't spread that um, more kids per counselor uh, moving forward because our kids need our counselors. Thank you, >> Mr. Fresher. Go back. Yeah, just really quickly as we gather more information for the board to consider at another time, um the National Alliance on Mental Illness publishes data on various elements of suicidal ideiation and attempts. One of the things that's interesting is that overall um ideiation is at like 5.3% for the general public, all age groups combined. Uh and obviously 7% is significantly higher than that.

218Um, NAMI pegs the number uh as highest among young adults and adolesccents and that overall that's eight for 18 to 25 it's 12% uh that have suicidal ideiation and among high schoolers they peg it at 20%. So I think as we gather the information it'd be helpful to have context around the data. We certainly have work to do. Um and uh you know when when colleagues talk about uh things that have happened in this community in years past, very serious concerns around those things raising their heads again. Um but I think we need additional context around the data too so that we know whether the data how that fares compared to other things. And this is just a little bit of research that I've done the you know and I've also found some conflicting research.

219So, I'd appreciate some context around that. Do you know if the data in the youth survey is uh simply aggregate data from the surveys taken or is anything done to uh remove outliers or uh provide a more scientifically stable analysis of the data? >> You know, I don't know that I've looked at their um analytics. So, my assumption is that it's just raw data. >> So, >> but I will check I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Moving on to agenda item 7.02, New Western High School programming. I want to start off by apologizing to my colleagues. There was a little bit of a snafu, making sure that this was in the correct location on the agenda tonight. Um, you were notified previously that we were going to receive the presentation,

220but there was a mistake in where it was. So, um, I call on Dr. for a new Western High School programming presentation. >> Well, good evening, Madam Chair and School Board and those watching. Um, it's an exciting time to have an opportunity this evening to talk about our newly acquired Western High School site, uh, formerly known as the King Abdullah Academy. So this evening I'm going to share some information with you and the community um about the site and also discuss programming options briefly uh because those programming decisions will be made at a later date um as well as sharing uh my recommendation um my current recommendation for a proposed school model and instructional design. So, a review of the Western High School facility facts. Um, as you know, we've done a work session on

221this topic as well. Um, but I want to make sure that as we uh prepare for the November 13th board meeting and a decision on programming, uh, it's really important to identify some basic facts about the school. Uh, we do expect the capacity once fully um, occupied to be about 2,000 students or more. It will actually be our newest high school building as it was built eight years ago, 2016. Um and the campus space actually which includes two uh shell buildings on the campus that we're currently um going to be in the process of developing uh provides overall 350,000 square feet uh with roughly 407 parking spaces as well as a transportation loop um that's already been reviewed for accessibility. The boundary process um for the western high school is essentially designed to reduce overcrowding

222in our western high schools and that's been in our CIP for a number of years I understand actually for over a decade as well as the county comprehensive plan um for a similar amount of time. So um in the addition of this uh high school, the review um and the preparation of boundaries for this particular high school, we want to try to minimize attendance islands and minimize split feeders as well as provide access to programming. So one of the things that um I've asked staff to do is have uh some draft maps. I think we're on versions 12, 13, and 14 uh for the Western High School, but we will be presenting um I believe four maps um this Saturday at our Western High School open house. And these maps will be initially shared um

223at that meeting and then subsequently um be available more publicly. Uh just a reminder that the open house at the school on Saturday, October 25th, will run from 12:30 to 2:30 uh with an opening uh brief presentation that I'll be providing and then tours of the school, some focus group conversations, and a closing uh with an opportunity to look at draft boundaries and provide feedback. When we think about a proposed western high school model, we've had some discussion at a prior work session um of a comprehensive high school with a traditional boundary being the likely uh current model with a possible school programming pathway very similar to Edison High School and uh Jon R. Lewis High School uh in terms of Edison having their global STEM academy and Edison the leadership academy. It's important to

224note that within any comprehensive high school, there are a number of programming pathways. Um, and we want to make sure that across our school division, these pathways prepare students with 22nd century skills. So, in thinking about Western High School comprehensive programming, we want to make sure that um that there are comprehensive offerings, that neighborhood enrollment that's geographic is um definitely prioritized, and again, that our space, our facilities support arts, general academics, and are consistent with FCPS educational specifications wherever possible. Um and so as we think about this um this is a an opportunity again uh to shape um a high school that's going to take um uh the overcrowding in the western high schools and uh diminish that obviously. So this is just a slide to clarify what a um instructional pathway looks like within

225a comprehensive high school. We have these models already in Fairfax County Public Schools. And so these are simply um examples, exemplars where a group of students within a school for either three or four years become part of a cohort in a particular pathway program. So, we took the liberty of laying out a couple possible um pathways that we could be considering as an instructional pathway for the new Western High School because of the proximity to Dulles airport and the incredible career opportunities. One of the pathways we're looking at, of course, is aerospace. Also, the space industry and startup companies within Fairfax County around space um are currently uh growing very quickly here in the DMV area. So, when we think about workforce learning and workforce development, um I met with uh Victor Hoskins today from

226our economic development authority in Fairfax County and we discussed the importance of having those connections with our Fairfax County um economic growth uh development teams. So you can look at a fouryear strand on the slide for aerospace um AI data science uh and one of the things that's important uh we recently met with FAA uh members and one of the things that's important is we want our industry credentials that we're preparing students for to match industry industry credentials that our employers are looking for because there can be a disconnect at times where we we don't want to be preparing our students for our past. It's really important that we prepare our students for their future. So, um these types of programming pathways are ones that we're certainly looking at. Also, we're looking at the Western

227High School humanities programming possibilities. These might fall under different lines. That would be the next slide, please. So these might be under civics and government, leadership and ethics, applied humanities and communications and again making sure that industry credentials would align with actual industry um interest. Then you know I think there's last night I we had our first meeting of our uh student environmental uh task force or advisory committee to the superintendent and Miss Marin actually dropped in and joined us. Um it was at Gate House and we had about 40 students sign up to uh visit with me about the importance of needing to have more environmental um both instruction curriculum wise as well as um they talked about solar the EV buses and really are challenging one another to think about other things to

228really be focused on environmental concerns and it was fabulous to hear a group of them talk about writing policy would be really important around this topic. So when you look at a humanities pathway um the ability to couple sort of science with policy writing and government um there are a lot of possibilities in and these young people came from high schools all over the county. So, if we look at my recommendation at this time, it's to uh recommend that the new Western High School be a comprehensive high school that will have traditional boundaries and include special programming pathway options. So, I understand the board, this is new business tonight and a presentation and on November 13th, you're going to be voting on this. Um, so I look forward to the continued conversation. We have just

229over a thousand people registered for Saturday's open house event. So looking forward to visiting with our community and hearing their ideas and thoughts. Um so it's a certainly a time for exciting planning. And uh Madam Chair, I'll turn it back to you. >> Thank you so much. Uh Miss Lady's going to kick us off. >> Thank you. Um so I I wanted to go first because I have a lot of thoughts around uh the school. I've toured it two times. Um, you know, the more I think about it, the more I reflect on it, the more I think about um it's designed uh much more like uh you know um a a career academy uh or a magnet. I don't really want to use the term magnet school. Um, but I am very interested in

230having us do some evaluation of the Loudenmies. Um, because what they have is they basically have some STEM programs. It could be a humanities track. It could be an aviation track. The finding performing arts spaces in this building are are fantastic. I've already mentioned early childhood. But what they do is they do a block schedule. So students go to that academy of science or theirmies with different pathways >> on like an A day or a bday and the other day they're at their base school, >> right? >> You know, one of the concerns with the community is the cost of us having to I don't know the the technology terms around redesign uh construction work that needs to be done, but also what we would need to do to make it comprehensive in terms of

231athletics. Um if we did something more like this model um we wouldn't have to put a football field in because all of the kids that attend the Latinmies they they play sports at their base school. >> Um but it alleviates overcrowding and I would be have a huge emphasis on alleviating the overcrowding at the schools that we've named most importantly Chantelli Centerville and Westfield. That has to happen. Um so I don't know if that's a percentage of seats um or what this would look like but I just think that we need to be nimble in our thinking. I don't want to run with scissors here. Um, and I mean that because I think there's a rush to try and get this open by next year. Um, and I don't I don't want to make a

232mistake. I think we really need to be reflective and and I'm going to encourage my my colleagues on the board to to think that way. Um, because there's also, you know, I hear a lot if we do another magnet, it's a brain drain from some other schools. Um and and you know the reality is we have amazingly talented kids and we have to be preparing them for their future not not our current situation. Um and all these pathways are great, right? I think we need time to survey. I think we need to find more about interest. Um what level of interest is there from this the schools that need most of the um relief? Um I just think we just need to be be be nimble about what we're doing. Um, I'm just making sure

233I'm not missing anything here in terms of my notes, but um, yeah, I just want to be careful that we don't rush to get something open. And the last thing is if people come to the open house, it's my hope they will be only those who attend. If if you don't see the space, in my opinion, you kind of can't really give an educated opinion of what the space should be used for um, other than proximity to your home. But I think if people see it and tore it um that hopefully some of this will be posted for them to think about and they there'll be a survey at the end that could ask them what they think truly based now not now now having seen it what they might encourage us to do with

234the space. Thank you Miss Marin. I'm glad we were able to fit this in on the agenda. I appreciate it being brought up. Um I will ask the question I've asked before is what are the different cost options for the different programming? What as was just asked what does it cost to retrofit or renovate to make this start to be habitable for 10,000 teenage 2,000 2,000 teenagers. So it really in some part depends on the type of programming we put in. Having said that I think Now we're looking still at the design and I think we've had uh the range shared at the recent board meeting of anywhere between you know 20 25 million to 50 million. That's been the range that has been discussed. I think that in some ways having it as a

235magnet program is less expensive because a magnet program doesn't necessarily um ensure that all of the similar athletic facilities for example may be there. Um it uh it may have slightly less of a need to be remodeled. Honestly, I think to become a traditional comprehensive high school with all of the um amenities of fields and so forth is likely the more expensive route to go down. Um so, and we're really um but again, the range has been about 20 to 25 million up to 50 million is what I've uh seen in terms of range. And is it your expectation that that money would come from the current renov the bond? Where does that money come from? >> Well, the money would come from the current bond dollars um because um you know we had the

236um Western High School in the CIP plan as we all know for quite a long time. But we would not be we have no general operating fund capacity to pay uh for the remodel out of the operating fund. So the only other fund available to us would be the bond fund. >> Well, and my understanding is what's on the bond right now on ballots that people have already voted on is for the purchase of the school, not these additional renovations. So then what people are currently voting on is actually not totally accurate because it seems like it would change if we're going to use money from this current bond. So the bond um the bond project lists every bond cycle have target buildings but depending on cost escalation and depending on um pretty much cost

237escalation and uh timing uh it's very often off cycle. So for example um some of the projects that like the silver line was part of the last bond and it's really moving into the design at this time um when it was probably um voted on on the last bond cycle. So each bond cycle project will get done but in some cases there is a significant cost escalation depending on time for permitting or time for um and I don't want to use tariffs in a negative way but I mean it There are a variety of factors that aren't always able to be factored in at the beginning in terms of cost estimates. >> Sure. But this is unusual in that like it's literally on the ballot right now and we're already talking about changing it. And

238so I think and I'm not clear on the process for us to change the renovation queue. That's been up for some discussion. So I'm uncomfortable with that. Um what I'm hearing is we don't know how we're going to pay for the changes that that we expect to be needed. Um I do want to take a moment to talk about the phasing of people of students. So you know our policy allows for the phasing of students and when it comes to high school the you know uh 10th through 12th graders would have the option to remain at their current school and not change. But our boundary policy says with a new high school that boundary is mandatory. And so I would think that since the board agreed that keeping a student in high school once they're

239in is best for that student that we would want to amend the policy or make a motion of some kind because I that's what the the public here was speaking about that they have a 10th grader in a school that it looks like they could be boundary to Western and our policy allows for that. So, I do want us to be aware of that and I'm certainly eager to help um amend that so we don't have students leaving high schools in their middle of their career. the uh slide three um which really just it talked about the purpose of this of this review with Western it says it seeks to eliminate attendance islands reduce split feeder patterns wherever feasible and those are things that I'm hearing at the other community boundary conversations but provide access

240to programming is not something I've heard in the other conversations of our four pro policy priorities in the boundary policy enrollment and capacity has really been the singular priority I've heard in any community meeting. It hasn't been proximity. It hasn't been transportation and it hasn't been access to programming. So, it's surprising to see that just for this one school when we talk about the boundary, we're going to look about access to programming. Um, I I think too access we need to be clear about what that means. Does that mean moving some kids and segregating them like we do with AAP or in other programs or does it mean increasing opportunities for all students like ones at other schools that don't even have the full gamut of career programming? So, um I'd like to go back

241please to continue my comments. Thank you, >> Miss Dixit. So, Dr. Reed, thank you for this uh presentation again. Um we've talked about Western High School for few weeks now and uh the community is very excited. Um I'm getting all positive feedback uh about get going to this new school. They in fact there are uh people looking forward to going to the school. So I understand there are people who are saying we want to stay that in their base school but there are a lot of people who want to go to the school and and possibility of uh AI track or aerosp space tech that's something unique. um to going to beat the school and we we want to um as we discussed in the work session we'll use this as a model of uh

242doing it in one school and hopefully we can kind of just replicate that in all our high schools because we do want those AI tracks in all our high school jobs not in one high school. So for me just making another magnet school and that was the issue which we had with uh the programming available in TJ and not any any other high schools in the county. I have seen that firsthand. Um my son had to go to George Mason because he had finished all his classes at uh Centerville High School. There was no no more math class for him. So um we want to we want to make sure our all schools have better programming. That's what I would feel and definitely it will alleviate the u the issues of all the overcrowding we

243have on the western side. So I am in support of the uh traditional boundary at this moment and um also the the special programming we can do inside the school um and hopefully in the future we can revisit this u if we have more time and more more budget. Thank you >> Mr. Dunn. >> Thank you. Um I just wanted to clarify for the record um were any economic development authority bonds used for the purchase of this high school? >> No sir. >> And you provide a range of 25 million to 50 million. Um there was a published figure recently of 62 million. Is that is that accurate? Have you heard $62 million in association with potential renovations of the Western High School? >> No sir, I haven't. >> Thanks. Um, has there been any

244thought given to given the current configuration of the school as K through 12 to maintaining it as a K through2 school, which would avoid any necessity of renovating it at all? >> Um, I think walking through it initially, it was a thought. Um, but with the commitment to reducing crowding in the western high schools, um, it wouldn't be likely that it would reduce significantly reduce the crowding in the western high schools if um K through eight were, you know, remained in the building because then that would only leave essentially four grades uh given to uh reducing crowding. >> Um could we also reduce uh cost by I know some of my colleagues have advocated for establishing some kind of early childhood program there. Perhaps it could be like within the CTE framework um if we

245don't have to renovate that part of the building. Could that also reduce the renovation cost? >> Yes, sir. because I one of the things we're actually kind of excited about is the prek area um that would accommodate approximately 60 uh prek students and we don't currently have a prek um career track model um plus we have uh it would be an option to look at some flexible programming >> um so we're adding roughly 2,000 seats uh with the western high school does that mean that um perhaps proposed renovations of areas of of high schools in the western half of the county that might be uh anticipated to have to add capacity might not have to add capacity and thus we might reduce the scope or cost of other renovation projects that are out there. >>

246It's certainly something we could take a look at. >> Um I would appreciate if you could pursue that. >> Yes, sir. uh is what is the or the process to engage the public on potential names for the Western High School? How's what does that look like? >> Actually, that's the last slide I didn't cover, but it's uh there will be um an opportunity to I think the board is voting. I don't know if you guys can put the last slide up on that presentation, please. There's a timeline for that. Um and that process is underway soon. Um, next slide. There we go. The open house is the 25th. Um, the action you're going to take on programming is on the 13th. The naming actually decision. Uh it looks like it'll be on new business on

247January 8th and then for action on February 12th because there are two hearings currently uh set and there's a chart I'll make sure we publish um that gives the entire timeline for naming. >> But between now and February 12th um how will we know what names are being considered or if the public can propose names? >> So um I'm going to turn it over to Miss Hall who can uh walk through that briefly for you. >> Yes. Thank you. Um uh beginning tomorrow actually we will start the public comment period which will be one month. You turn on your microphone. Can >> you hear me? Yeah, it's on. >> Can you hear me? Okay. >> No, we can't. >> Okay. Um we'll start the public comment period immediately after this uh new business today. Um

248and then the public comment period is for one month from October 23rd to November 23rd. uh that's when we will have uh a ser there will be a time within that period where there will be a survey available for the uh western pyramids um those families there community members to submit names there will also be some community meetings where we'll be um having sort of a guided discussion on names and we'll bring those names back Dr. Reed will get those uh I think November 26 she'll have the survey results as well as the names and according to the regulation we'll be able to submit those to um the school board. Uh then a new public comment period will begin on uh the tw I'm sorry the 4th of December and that will be another month-long

249public comment period with the list that is submitted to the board. um that will get whittleled down again and then uh on January 4th, the superintendent will provide um I'm I'm sorry that the close the public comment period will close. Uh the superintendent on January 8th will provide uh the short list of names and then there will be the action on February 12th. There is also uh I think there will be two public hearings in that period as well. Thank you. Uh will there be any public uh input process on the programming question or any opportunity to for the public to to weigh in? >> Um the programming decision around whether you're going to go traditional boundaries comprehensive versus not traditional boundaries comprehensive is really a decision the board is going to make and there

250isn't um a lengthy policy or regulation about that. um the type of and of course the open house will be able to be the folks attending can provide some input based on their walkthrough of the facility. Um but that's really a decision you all are going to be making. In terms of the actual curriculum as a comprehensive high school, Fairfax County Public Schools has a standard curriculum that apply to all high schools in the county. And this western high school would also um be governed if you will because you approve those courses of studies as a board annually. So that course of study will be the same course of study that this high school will be um following. The particular specialized pathway will be a decision that um likely will come out of once the

251shell is built. Our planning principal and we'll be posting for a permanent principle will likely have process to uh winnow down ideas and settle on a path. >> Do you know roughly when that time frame will be when that um framework will be published and the public might have an opportunity to comment in some way, shape or form? >> The shell is going to be November 13th because that's what we're slated to vote on because that determines the fact that we have to actually have boundaries, right? So, we have to have that go no-go decision. Um the actual particular pathway may not know until January >> and uh and so between November 13th and January there will be some public input process on the pathway options. >> Maybe maybe not. I'm not you know there

252will be at the open house. It's also to be honest we're going to have to with the budget situation whatever pathway we're going to have to be able to fund it. Um so in looking at um a particular ba pathway it likely will require some partnership funing. So there might be fairly limited options to be honest with you. Which doesn't mean that in subsequent years this would be a start but in subsequent years just like any high school in the county if they come forward with an idea that they want to create a pathway within their school um they would come forth with some kind of uh plan and a funding source and that type of thing to create that. So it's not the pathway isn't a forever decision. it would just be for the,

253you know, the opening decision. >> And and do you still anticipate uh that on in January 2026 when we vote on the comprehensive school boundaries that that will include the school boundaries for the Western High School? >> It will need to include the boundary for the Western High School if you decide that the programming decision is to have a boundary. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Uh Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. I for one think that the recommendation that is included in this um presentation is the sweet spot where we are going to be able to relieve overcrowding in that area because as I've said before, I don't see any other space where that's going to happen. There's no land, there's no money, and there's no way to expand Centerville and some of those other

254spaces. So, I am in full support of what you've designed as the recommendation. A question that I have is regarding the timeline of the um of the renovations because I think we're barreling toward opening this next year. So, in the 26 um school year, when is the renovation expected to happen? What is that timeline? Is it going to be as students are there, this is going to be accomplished in these next few months? I I'd like to understand that a little bit better, please. >> Yes, ma'am. So, we currently have filed a permit form 2232. Um, which for those watching, um, that is the permit, the conditional use permit, right? Because it's been a private school and we're now making it a public school. So that process is an evolutionary process and takes some time

255and we can't begin any renovation till that permit is in place. So um the team is working on you know possible design ideas. We believe that we would be able to accommodate about a thousand students for the fall of 2026. Um, and then while students are there, not unlike many of our schools across the county, there will be renovation going on as we prepare for the next, you know, the junior class or the next freshman class as the nine10s become juniors. And then, um, I think the team is in perhaps, uh, the big discussion is the amount of time it takes, uh, to prepare for that final freshman class. So doing design and remodel, but again it'll be determined by how much remodeling we decide to do. So um the renovations the first obviously graduating

256class is likely going to be experiencing renovations while they're there for sure which I mean currently if you're a Jaguar at Falls Church, you've been in a re renovation site for four years. >> Whole high school career been under renovation. >> Well it's not desiraable. I And it's certainly something we've done. >> Certainly. And so just to confirm because I think there's a little bit of confusion which probably seeped into my mind. Um your goal is to open with ninth and tth grade. >> I think I wouldn't want to open beyond that. I think >> but not below that to just be one grade. >> Well, I mean you could even I if we only open with ninth grade um many divisions have a ninth grade academy, right? So, it wouldn't be unusual and it

257might give us a little more building space to actually um get ahead on the renovation depending on when we get the permit. It's all sort of a right. So, um but I think uh that'll become clear as we take clo a closer look at the permitting, but for sure we'd want to start with ninth grade. Um and I think we could start with ninth and tth if we were, you know, interested in reducing overcrowding by more early on. But I also know that sometimes once students start in ninth grade somewhere, maybe it's not as exciting to move to a new school. Um, you could also uh we could start with the ninth grade as a mandatory move because nobody's been to high school yet and the 10th grade could be, you know, we could do

258a lottery for just the 10th grade for one year for kids who want to go. Um, and I think we'd have more than 500 kids want to and then we, you know what I'm saying? Like, so I think we have to think a little bigger than just um a plan because we're in a unique situation. So, sure. And I I probably I mean, I think I could support either of those options. Well, I think starting with ninth grade being mandatory and having an optional 10th grade op 10th grade choice is in keeping with the phasing that we um amended to the boundary policy >> because the whole idea is if you start a high school you stay there and now to request that 10th graders leave wherever they are and they must come to this

259new school it it just seems counter to that. So, if there's some space to consider doing something that's a little bit more flexible with the 10th graders, I think it would relieve some of the folks that came here to speak to us earlier. Um, just going back to now the renovation queue. Um, we have this school in order to relieve what's happening at Sternville, etc. What does that mean for that renovation queue? And most importantly, I know we've been trying to um update the criteria for the queue. There were vendors that were to be procured. It seemed to be very very slow moving. What is an update regarding the new criteria, the vendors? Where are we? >> New vendors. Oh, the what we put on pause tonight. >> Not the condition assessment, the renovation Q

260development. The the facilities assessment was the precursor to that. But I thought you were looking for a vendor to complete all of that work because it was not possible for staff to do this internally. >> So we did put out an RFP for the facility use condition, the facility condition report and that facility condition report was going to feed a reassessment or an assessment of the current Q. Um so I don't I will have to get back to you on where we are in the RFP process. I don't want to inadvertently publicly say saying if we're right in the middle of it right now. So, I'm going to just need to get back to you on that. >> Sure. One of the things that I will say here, and I know this is deeply unpopular,

261but the landscape changes, and I I think we really need to revisit our existing queue because things have changed. We have some places where seats are uh needed. We are some spaces where seats are not needed and yet they were in the queue. I I hope that could be part of the condition as well. Um the other question that I Uh, I wanted to just share some comments regarding the prek the the space that is below it. It for me it just screams it's asking to remain as a prek space. It has its own little parking, its own little entrance. I just see that as a great opportunity to do something innovative where we could have some fee paying parents in that prek space as well as the other students we want to serve in

262order to have a more inclusive class. I'll take a go back please. >> Thank you Dr. Anderson. Mr. Daniel, >> thanks. A couple of questions for staff and then comments. Um, yeah, I don't need an exact dollar amount down to the penny, but about what are we going to pay if we were to renovate a hike? What's the average going cost to renovate a high school right now? >> Well, I believe we set aside 381,000 to renovate Centerville, thousand or million. >> I'm sorry. 381 million. Boy, all of us are little. Uh, anyhow, we set aside I believe um it was over 300 million to renovate Centerville High School. >> Okay. And do we know about roughly what it would cost between the entire process to build I mean this is 355,000 square feet. What

263it would cost roughly to build this if we didn't >> from the ground up. >> Yeah. >> Mr. Gordon. Yes, ma'am. Per our CIP for Western High School, we had budgeted per plan roughly, you know, 400 $430 million. >> And did that include land acquisition? >> That's uh planning, design, permitting, construction. Uh I'm not 100% sure on the land acquisition. >> So 430 to build plus >> 430 to build. It did not include land. >> And land acquisition for something's own data center at 33 acres would be about $140 million. And 140 plus 430 is 560. So, let's just call it half a billion dollars, give or take, had we not spent this money through a traditional bond, not an EDA bond in our existing capacity to do that. Okay. Um, I want to emphasize

264the relief that this building is going to provide because there's been some recent commentary on that. Um, and I made these similar comments at our work session. Westfield High School is 100 over. Centerville High School is 200 over, hung up in a permit process renovation. Chantelli High School is 270 over. But what is lost in these numbers is that between Centerville High School and Chantelli High School and Westfield High School, we have kids sitting in almost 60 trailers and modulars on those three campuses. And that kind of gets lost when people just look at CIPs and say, "Oh, you got plenty of capacity. Just shift kids around." Um, that would be a failure in my opinion. And when you look at the fact that, you know, $200 million even with some buildout cost million dollars,

265that's on the high end as opposed to half a billion dollars to build and acquire land on this site. Um, I have a hard time saying that that's not a smart fiscally responsible move. And even if we were to say, okay, we're not going to buy it. We're just going to renovate those three high schools. Well, three times $380 million is a lot more than $200 million. That's about $1.2 billion. So, I don't know how anybody can say this was not a smart fiscal move to acquire this site to provide capacity relief at schools in the Hunter district, schools in the Providence district, schools in the Sully district, and indeed some of the two worst overcrowded high schools sitting in the Springfield district. So, I really wanted that to be out there on the record

266because I like to operate on facts, not opinion and conjecture and speculation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Um, okay, we're going to go to some gobacks. So, we're going to start off with Miss Marin. >> Agreed. There's no doubt this school is an asset for FCPS and for Fairfax County. You know, there's no doubt. I I think though we need to get straight on the board's process and commitment to the renovation queue and to how we do changes to publicly voted on bonds. That that's really not clear and we need to address that. We also need a multi-year plan for this facility. Um while I share the excitement that some have mentioned about the possibilities and I've been there, the most common themes I hear from constituents is, "Are you going to move

267my kid in high school?" Um Is my kid gonna be able to play sports? When's the best? There's just so many unknowns. And so, let's even play this out for for a little bit. The timeline is that the programming is being developed into the start of the new calendar year. Well, we know that our high school students are already planning for their coursework for next year. And if not now, they're going to be starting to do it in January. I know sports teams are training now to be on the team in spring. So, how can I commit to this very nebulous approach that will change the trajectory of kids' lives when I don't have the the data about what's going to be there? I don't have the numbers. Also, we as a board have been

268done so much work this year especially to improve approaches to school renovations that are more frugal and time and money. We learned about swing spaces where students and staff could be moved out of a space so they wouldn't be living through construction. And yet the board is being asked to commit students and staff to learning and working in a renovation. The most often comment I hear, most frequent comment is this is too rushed. And I agree. Um it's very fortuitous. I don't what is I I I think we need a multi-year plan. The early childhood space is to die for. to destroy it would be awful. What can we do within the next year to prepare better and not throw people into what feels like an extremely rushed situation? I don't have enough money and

269by enough information by the way the permits currently the permitting is going to take 200 days. Well, Mr. McDaniel and I are on a committee to work with the board of supervisors like we're starting that work next week to try and fix those things. There's too much coming at us and um I think that we all deserve better than to rush this. >> Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. My last question and comments were around um you know, as we're talking about programming, where do we fall in terms of the API discussion that most of our high schools seem to fall into? I believe that because of the proximity of South Lakes High School, which is IB, it's likely that um the discussion for this particular high school is AP. >> Okay. Like is that going

270to be has that decision been made or is this open to community feedback? >> You know, I think it's certainly open to community feedback. I think that we also know that opening an IB school is a lot more expensive and as we're thinking about budget and um we do have a standard course uh you know a standard course handbook or a um that all high schools all comprehensive high schools have to go with. So my expectation would be that that curriculum is already set. Uh the standard coursework and AP um and dual enrollment would be the logical uh course of study at the new school, excuse me, given that a that IB is close and it's a lot more expensive and right now in our budget uh circumstance, I wouldn't recommend that we would go

271that route at this time. >> Thank you. Do we have any sense of how many of our schools are AP and IP? I I know we have some sense, but I don't want to say off the top of your head. What's the ratio of our high schools that are AP and IB? >> Many more AP than IB. >> Many more. Okay. Thank you. So, given that you said one of the closest schools, South Lakes, is IB. This would be AP. What are Senville and Chantelli in those places? >> AP. >> They're AP. Okay. I I just wanted to know if we're going to pull students from multiple schools. That's also another argument for not bringing in kids who are already in programs as 10th graders because it may not match um the programming that the

272school may offer. >> I think that was one of the reasons we looked at AP because it matched the three most crowded schools. >> Okay. The three but not all four. Um and my last question is you had discussed very briefly some plans for the pool so that it could be accessed a little bit more with um by other schools. Have we made any headway? >> We can't use the pool till the permitting is complete. So, as soon as we're able to get the 2232 permit, um it was my intent that we work with our elementary schools on the western side of the county uh to provide um water safety courses uh for our third graders, which is like the other side of the county as well. I did meet with our park authority um

273or is it athletic council park authority friends uh and that's something they're very interested in. We just wanted to pilot it in one place where we actually had control of the the pool in terms of costs. Um but it's you know it's a it's not swim lessons but it's a water safety Red Cross course uh that we would like to put as many third graders through as possible once we're able to permit the building. >> Thank you. I like that we're going with third graders. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Mr. Dunn, >> I I appreciate the issue of trailers and modulars was raised um because we have um approximately 900 classrooms across the county in trailers and modulars. And I think that's far too many. And I think unfortunately um I don't think we're going to

274achieve a sizable reduction in trailers and modulars through this comprehensive school boundary review which I think is unfortunate both for issues of environmental health and school safety. Um so I just wanted to highlight that um you know as we move forward um that you know trailers muras have to be addressed not just in the western half but all over the county um because um we we do have available capacity at most our schools and a previous uh chief of facilities once opined that we could get rid of most uh trailers and modulars in our county if we uh if we just rebalanced students across the system. Now, maybe that was back of the envelope, but it's still um an interesting data point um because I don't think anyone >> uh I don't think there's any

275upside to trailers and modulars other than it's it's it can be temporarily increasing the capacity, but then that temporary increase often turns into permanent, which is not what trailers and modulars are designed for. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. 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 to 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, the consent agenda is approved.

276Agenda 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 is scheduled at a future meeting. Agenda item 10.01, board committee reports. I call on Miss Marin for a report from the governance committee. Yes, the governance committee was so productive. It was very exciting. We've got some big policies coming through. Um I u tried to let some of you know we have um in the consent agenda tonight that we just approved. We approved a bunch of policies. So that's exciting. Um I guess we can actually speak to the I think the most exciting one now the uh A240. Yes, we could talk about Yeah. So, this policy will allow us to approach uh construction and renovation bids with much more

277flexibility um for contractors to propose more cost-effective and frugal ways to renovate our facilities. This is huge. So, thank you to this whole board uh for pushing this through and working it out to our chief of facilities and our staff because we are trying to be as frugal as we can with every dollar and this is a huge step for this school school board and school division to be able to do that. Um so, more to come and we have uh our next meeting isn't until December because we have a a busy November coming up. But, um this work is so important as I also mentioned. You know, there's lots of other policies we can do. So, um, I will leave it at that. Yes. >> Thank you, Miss Maron. Agenda item 11.01, Superintendent Matters.

278I call on Dr. Reed for Superintendent Matters. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, as I mentioned earlier, we had our very first student youth environmental council meeting uh last evening and it was exciting to uh have our students share their passion for all things environment. Um, and I'm looking forward to what they're going to bring off here in the future. Also want to note that 49 Fairfax County Public Schools were recognized for supporting military families. So at this point, uh, 49 of them have been recognized for the first time by the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Council on the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children as 2025 Purple Star Schools. Additionally, 40 schools renewed their Purple Star designation, which brings the total number of schools in FCPS to now 145 schools

279that have a Purple Star designation nearly 75% of our schools. We our goal is still 100% by next year. Um, but that's a really uh we're very proud of that uh to have our military connected youth uh be um celebrated and uh be able to uh have our families uh welcomed in ways that are really special. I want to recognize Spring Hill Elementary School where a number of us were able to attend their 2024 National Blue Ribbon School uh from the US Department of Education and um also visited a number of schools since last we met as Kilmer Middle School, Providence Elementary, Cardinal Forest um and uh there was one other Crestwood Elementary and really having a chance to u be uh part of seeing what they're doing with early literacy. So, very exciting. Along

280that line, in Kilmer, I love the Algebra Scrabble. If you haven't played Algebra Scrabble, it's a hit. Uh and who wouldn't want to do Algebra Scrabble? Um we've had a number of boundary review meetings um at Robinson, Hearnden, Langley, Falls Church, um as well as others this week. Um and then then had a fun time at Chantelli High School's uh newsies um presentation. It was a great uh event. Girls flag football has started. If you haven't had a chance to get out and see a game, you must get out and see a game. Um and thank you again to our Washington Commanders. Uh was at a couple middle school cross country meets last weekend. and just want to share with the board um so many parents, grandparents, uh staff really were so positive and thanked

281you as a board for having the leadership to get that program going and uh just really excited about the future. Um and our middle school runners are, oh my goodness, high school coaches are very excited because there were some really fast runs last weekend. So anyhow, I'll leave it there. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. Uh, agenda item 12.01, board matters. Next on the agenda is board matters. I will call on each school board member to speak in the order in the script. We're going to kick things off with Miss Dixit. So, I'm going to speak in speed of 1.5 so I can go fast. Please bear with me. I hope everyone had a wonderful Diwali filled with light joint celebration. This week we are recognizing National School Bus Safety Week, a

282time to honor incredible transportation staff who brings us uh who safely brings us to and from school each day. And let's do our part to support a culture of safety by reminding our communities that stop means stop. It was a joy to return to Bullron Elementary School on Friday, the school my kids attended. and I spent 10 years volunteering, walking the halls, reconnecting with Miss Principal Marota and staff. And seeing all the exciting program in action reminded me how special this community truly is. I'm looking forward to my next school visit with Brookville Elementary School next Thursday with my colleague, Mr. McDaniel. Next Wednesday, I'm also looking to attend an event at Carson Middle School where students will plant a new native pollinator gu pollinator garden made possibly uh possible through get to green partnership

283with Fairfax County R3 program. Congratulations to the Westfield Bulldog Band for their victory for the 36 Oakton Classic competition where they earned first prize the 2025 gold winner award and the individual honors for outstanding general effects, outstanding visuals and outstanding color guard. Congratulations to also to Westville High School cheer team for winning the Concord district finals earlier this week. Good luck to all the school that move on to the regionals. This Saturday, I'm excited to attend the new high school open house, uh, Western High School open open house and TJ's 40th anniversary reunion celebration. If you like to join the open house, come learn about the site and explore all the exciting possibilities the new school offers. Thank you. Good night, everyone. >> Mr. Mr. M. >> Yes, >> Miss Marin. >> Yes. I um

284in addition to the governance committee, I just want to uh share a little bit about the legislative work we're doing. Uh we are preparing to host as many state legislators who will be in town. They seem to be getting called more and more down to Richmond even though they're in the off session, but we are planning to host them in November. and I know colleagues on the board are preparing to tour our legislators around our schools to show them all the amazing things that's happening and the needs that we we do have. So, we really appreciate that partnership with our state officials for making those visits. Um, as well as our local officials. We're always happy to bring anyone around who wants to come see our wonderful schools. Um, yeah, the the facilities work, as

285I mentioned, next week we're kicking off the joint facilities committee with the board of supervisors. And through the research and and conversations we've been having, you know, I've learned how important it is to not only have our supervisors with the county and the school board with the schools, but our park authority. Um, I learned a lot about our park authority and their role in the land use. And having all three of these entities at the table, I think is going to be really important. uh not only the boards of each authority but the executives. So I'm really interested to see where that can lead to help us kind of untangle some of the uh quagmireers that have formed over the years because everyone wants to use our money most effectively for all of our residents.

286So I'm really looking forward to that. I'm also headed tomorrow to honor South Lakes High School art teacher Marco Rando who is receiving the educator award from Arts Fairfax. Mr. uh is the the uh energy behind the steam team which every year uh the students put a art installation of a sculpture on one of the Restston Lakes and throughout the year learn all sorts of amazing lessons in art and engineering and collaboration and business. So it's really um it's a wonderful thing to be able to celebrate him and the work that his colleagues do together with the students. I'm also looking forward to joining some of the TJ celebrations on Saturday with a tour that's led by students and then zipping over to Western High School where it sounds like there's going to be quite

287a lot of people. So, um like half the capacity of the actual school looks like will be there. Um I am curious though, Dr. Reed did mention that the uh just draft maps of boundaries will be available there and I would like to know where those will be online for those who can't be there and then of course going f going further. So, thanks and have a great night. Mr. McDaniel, >> no board matters. >> Mr. Fish, >> thank you. Um, first I want to thank everybody who turned out for our uh Marshall uh pyramid and false church pyramid boundary review uh conversations. Um, also had the pleasure of attending the NAACP's uh annual freedom fund and sneaker gala with Dr. Anderson, uh, Mr. McDaniel and um one of us may have won the sneaker

288contest. Um and you know it's certainly the one that has the the shiny gold high tops. That would be me. Um I uh also had the pleasure of joining colleagues uh Ryan Mcavine and Kyle McDaniel, Senator Saddam Salem at Freedom Hill Elementary School last night uh for their PTA meeting. We had a great conversation about a a host of issues. Um, I hope folks will join me under the Friday night lights uh tomorrow evening at Falls Church High School. We're getting Providence District residents that uh feed into the school to come out for the game to support our athletes and our our our football players, our cheerleaders, our uh dance teams, the the band, etc. Um, and show their their collective school spirit. And we'll be doing Madison High School the week after. Um, we've

289got boundary review meetings coming up for Woodson Fairfax on Tuesday and Madison Mlan on Wednesday. Um, and then I'm very excited to announce that two Providence schools have been selected for a visit from NBC News personality Tommy McFly as part of the statewide Tommy's Teachers Tour sponsored by the Virginia Lottery, which highlights the extraordinary work of Virginia's educators. Mosaic Elementary and Stenwood Elementary uh are uh among those that have been selected and I'll be attending both events and with a very special guest at Mosaic Elementary School. Uh Dr. Reid mentioned the Purple Star Schools. Um among the first timers in Providence District, we have Freedom Hill, Graham Road, Manua, and Oakton. Very excited about that. Um, and uh, I I want to mention Fairfax County's Shark Tank Technology Challenge. Uh, several of us attended the

290uh, ending ceremony last year. Um, and it was just a delight. So, if you are interested in having your students take part in the technology challenge, the Shark Tank, um, please visit the Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services website for additional details. These kids were exceptionally creative and smart. Um, and uh, it was just really great to be able to see them. And I'd love to see more Fairfax County Public Schools students participating. Um, and I hope that you will stop by Halloween at the Park in Tyson's um, uh, for a fun-sized candy and other treats that are going to be handed out u from 4 to 7 for trick-or-treating, live music, food, and everything else that you would hope at a Halloween celebration. Um, so with that, I will say thank you. Have a

291good night, >> Dr. Anderson. Thank you. I I do want to say thank you to the Samaritan's Feet event which occurred at Anadel Terrace. It's a wonderful opportunity where in connection with Tourist Bank, they come and um develop um deliver a financial literacy um program to all of the students K5. Then after that, they go into the gym where they get to select a brand new pair of sneakers with socks and a little bag. It was just wonderful to see those kids really giving some of the presenters their their money's worth to learn about how to spend money. Um so thank you to that organization for including um Annadel Terrace into their good works. Um boundary community meetings abound false church last Thursday. Annadel and Justice earlier this week. So, thank you to all of

292those who who've come out. And just a reminder, please go into the explore tool to include your feedback as well as sharing it with me. Um, last night we had the PO middle school AAP community meetings and as I share with Dr. Reed, I thought Dr. Presidio and his team did a really good job of um presenting um not just the center program but the school. That was not a component that I was um um anticipating, but it really did a good job for Dr. ECAP to really highlight the wonderful things that are happening at PO to welcome those potential new um new families. Um I had the opportunity to visit wayanoke baileies and beach um in the past couple of weeks and I'm very grateful for all of the work of those principles and

293those um wonderful kids. Um, I do want to highlight last Monday I had the opportunity to participate and well to attend the Deca competition which was at Oakton. Thousands of kids coming in in their finest suits just trying to sell their marketing wares. It's just so impressive and I was just glad to be there as well. And my son participated so I was happy from a mom perspective but he would not have me watch his presentation. I was banned from that. Um, I am very excited. Tomorrow night I'll be going to Columbia Elementary School for their bingo event and I am the caller. I may not have won the shoes, but I've got the big prize. Good night, Mr. Moon. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. I participated in the Lake Barock Secondary School's homecoming

294parade along with my colleague, Mr. Merian, last week. I enjoy that. Uh even though I didn't get to participate, I was so was also able to watch Robinson secondary schools parade on the side and trying to catch some candies being thrown by, you know, students from trucks. And last week, last week I met with a delegation of principles from Nepar. You know we have a visitors from perhaps every every country in the world wanting to learn from us and three of our principles you know met with them to share what he offer to our students from this very diverse county and also a Dr. Pon was gracious enough to share his inspiring story about how he had been able to achieve American dream through education in the US and then thank you thank you so

295much talking about boundary we we we talked a lot about that earlier today I've been attending many scenario four boundary meetings few while to go before this is all over but thus far I was so you know grateful to you know many participating in person and also virtually. This weekend I'll be attending some of the activities. I listed some of the activities celebrating 40th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Good night. >> Mr. Dunn, >> uh it was a pleasure to uh meet with the principal and some staff at Lawrence Station Elementary and Gunston Elementary recently and it was an honor to be able to present president to the Gunston Elementary uh PTA last week. Uh it was great to see the turnout for the recent South County Hayfield boundary meeting

296and especially all the Gunston parents who came out to advocate vigorously for their community. Um I wanted to remind um my constituents that the Edison Lewis uh pyramid community meeting is uh tomorrow, Friday, October 24th at 6:30 p.m. at Lewis High School. Um, and the following morning, uh, Saturday, October 25th at 9:30 a.m. at Sandberg Middle School is the meeting for Mount Vernon High School and West PTOAC. Uh, I think we have seen throughout this process that uh, the communities who stand up and advocate, raise their voices, their voices are being heard. Um, I think if you look at the changes from scenario three to scenario 4, um, that FCPS is being very responsive. So if you have concerns, if you have changes, if you have particular outcomes you and your community want to advocate

297for, please do comment uh comment in bulk, get your neighborhood, your community to uh get involved and and come out to the community meetings which you can participate in person or online. Um I was also pleased to participate in a community meeting at Hayfield with some of our FCPS leadership and my uh colleague Marcia St. John Cunning uh to listen to community concerns about uh the mold remediation that is ongoing. Um I think there is a good conversation and I think there's some doouts to the community. Uh so uh do uh continue to uh look at our newsletters and we will continue to stay engaged. Um, I also wanted to congratulate congratulate um the uh many of our schools that were recognized for the first time as uh purple star schools uh including Laurel Hill

298Elementary, Grove Elementary, Mount Vernon Woods Elementary and Key Middle School. I also wanted to congratulate schools being recognized for the second time which is includes West PTOIC High School, Woodlon Elementary, Silverbrook Elementary, Edison High School and Twain High School. There are also a number of uh schools being recognized for the third time which is even more amazing because it's not just um our our brave uh service women and servicemen on the front lines serving. It's their entire family as they rotate around the nation and overseas uh to support our national security. So, thank you to everyone who does serve in our military and supports our military and I hope all of you have a great night and a great weekend. Miss Seismarhouser, >> I will be kind given the late hour and skip for tonight.

299>> Miss Lady, >> I'll do the same as I want to know who's going to win the trophy. And at 11:32 we are