10/9/2025 - FCPS School Board Meeting

001The time is 7 pm on and this October 9th, 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 a performance of the national anthem by West PTOAC High School Guitar Ensemble under the direction of Skyler Keley. I pledge allegiance [Music] [Applause] Can we have one more round of applause for our amazing students? Agenda item 4.02, announcements. Miss Seismarheiser has notified the chair and the clerk of the board that she is using participation as she is caregiving for an individual with a disability. Thus, Miss Seismarheiser will be counted as in person for the purposes of quorum tonight and does not need to be voted in by the board. She is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Miss Seismarheiser, we

002can see you. Can we hear you? >> Hello. Welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. On behalf of the school board, I would like to welcome Carolyn Pitches, chair of the Fairfax City Board. [Applause] If you would like to review a 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 channel 29 or n 29 99 and livereamed on YouTube and on our website at www.fcps.edu backlivestream. Tonight's meeting is also being broadcast in Spanish on YouTube at youtube.comfcps and espanol. Agenda item 4.03 03 Indigenous People People's Day and Native American Heritage Month Proclamation. I call on Miss Lady for a proclamation. Whereas Indigenous

003People's Day is recognized on the second Monday of October and Native American Heritage Month is recognized throughout the month of November across the United States and in Fairfax County Public Schools to honor and celebrate the history, accomplishments, and contributions of the first peoples of this land. And whereas in 1990, Congress passed and President George HW Bush signed into law a joint resolution designating the month of November as the first National American Indian Heritage Month. In 2021, President Joe Biden was the first US president to formally commemorate Indigenous People's Day as a national holiday with a presidential proclamation. And whereas indigenous people have made invaluable contributions in the sciences, arts, public service, military service, and many other fields that are integral to the advancement of our nation and society. And whereas the Commonwealth of Virginia is

004home to 11 officially recognized tribes whose presence and leadership honors and strengthens our shared history and future. And whereas Fairfax County sits on the land originally stewarded by the Doge, Manaho, and Pom Monkey tribes and other indigenous peoples whose stories, traditions, and cultures continue to enrich our country and commonwealth. And whereas FCPS serves a diverse student population with many who embrace and celebrate their indigenous family heritage. Whereas Indigenous People's Day and Native American Heritage Month are wonderful opportunities for our Fairfax County Public Schools community to honor our nation's original inhabitants and their descendants. These commemorations further call us to honor the beautiful and rich indigenous communities, traditions, cultures, and lives across our our county, Commonwealth, and all around the world. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfist County School Board does hereby proclaim October

00513, 2025 as Indigenous People's Day and November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month in recognition and celebration of the many contributions of our nation's indigenous people to our school system, community, and country. >> Is there a second? >> Second, >> Mr. McDaniel. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. um Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself, and Miss Seismore Heiser. That's unanimous for all board members. Congratulations, Wy Clap. [Applause] Agenda item 4.04, LGBTQIA plus History Month. I call on Mr. fresh for a proclamation. >> Thank you. Whereas LGBTQIA history month has been recognized across the United States since 1994 and Fairfax County Public Schools since 2017 to acknowledge the often overlooked contributions of LGBTQIA people, communities,

006and movements in our history. And whereas the arc of LGBTQIA history is one of both struggle and triumph. Despite increased understanding and protections, LGBTQIA plus people still face many challenges, including the threats of violence and their legal rights being revoked. And whereas LGBTQIA plus organizations across Virginia and Fairfax County have shaped our Commonwealth's history, Equality Virginia, founded in 1989 and now the leading statewide advocate for LGBTQIA plus rights. Fairfax County's Transgender Education Association, launched in 1982 and now led by Reverend Emma Chattton to provide education support and advocacy for transgender and gender expansive people and their families. Fairfax Lesbian and Gay Citizens Association established in 1989 by Bart Forbes which sponsored Gay Fairfax, a cable television program chronicling local LGBTQIA plus life in Fairfax County. Equality Fairfax started in 2001 by parents Paula Pittman and

007Kelly Schlagader to build local visibility and community. FCPS Pride formed in 2015 by educator Robert Rigby as an employee and family advocacy group. And Pride Liberation Project organized in 2021 by then FCPS student Arian Roual in response to attacks on LGBTQIA plus books and students. These and other groups collective legacy has been transformative in the lives of LGBTQA plus Virginia's Virginiaians. And whereas despite earnest attempts, FCPS was regrettably slow to formally protect LGBTQA plus students and staff. In 1992, the school board extended modest verbal bullying protections to gay, lesbian, and bisexual students. In 2000, the school division removed administrative barriers that kept students from forming and joining gay straight alliance clubs. In 2002, the school board postponed voting on a measure to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy when the state attorney general declared

008it did not have the authority. 12 years later, these legal hurdles were removed and the school board finally added protections for sexual orientation in 2014 and gender identity in 2015. Progress has continued. 2016 and 2021 saw major inclusivity focused updates to student rights and responsibilities. 2018 and 2021 saw significant inclusive updates to family life education. 2020 saw the school division's first recognition of June as pride month and the implementation of regulation 2603 among the nation's strongest protections for transgender and gender expansive students. And 2022 saw FCPS become one of the first public school systems to provide family planning benefit parody for LGBTQIA plus employees. And whereas the Fairfax County School Board stands with its diverse community of LGBTQIA plus students, families, and staff, recognizing the urgency of its charge to foster a responsive, caring, and

009inclusive culture where LGBTQIA plus students are affirmed and see their identities reflected in school programs, instructional curricula, and library offerings. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby proclaims October as LGBTQIA plus History Month in Fairfax County Public Schools, urging all to learn more about the many historical contributions of the LGBTQIA plus community, not only during October, but throughout the entire year as well. >> Is there a second? A second, Miss Marin, I call for the vote. Mr. Fresh, all those in favor, I'm sorry, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Miss Seismarheiser, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members. [Applause] I would like to welcome those who are here to support the LGBTQIA

010plus history month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at in the front of the dis. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the Indigenous People's Day and Native American Heritage Month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis. Agenda item 5.01, community participation. The next order of business is community participation. We welcome all community members who are here and those who have signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up to provide comments at the schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board's website at www.fcps.edu/schoolboard. During the sign up process, community members acknowledge that they were informed of the schoolboard's expectation for respect and proper decorum when providing comments. These expectations are also

011available online and with the printed agenda and meeting materials in the back of the room. We ask audience members to be respectful of one another. Shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated. Please hold your applause until the conclusion of the speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the p podium and should remain in their seats, including when recording video or taking photos. We are grateful to all of those who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation. Schoolboard members will be listening but not responding. Madame clerk, please call the first speaker, >> Nathan Hurley. Good evening, Dr. Reed and uh school board members. My name is Nathan Hurley and I've been an FCBS student for 13 years, a member of the Fairfax football team for four, and a

012captain of that team for two. Me, my teammates, and the community are all extremely surprised and disappointed about the unjust decision made by the VHSL regarding our playoffs and are asking the school board to stand with Dr. A in appealing the punishment for several reasons. First of all, me and my teammates have been tirelessly working non-stop, not only for the past 11 months for this specific season, but for the past four plus years of work that ideally should culminate with the last shot at the playoffs. Second is the seniors. Personally, I don't have plans to continue playing this game in college, meaning that I only have three hours and 12 minutes left on the field to show for the past five years of my life, the 80 pounds I've gained, the continuous injuries, and the

013unbelievable time sacrificed I made to be at practice and workouts every day for the entire year. Lastly is the facts about the punishment. Evidence has been revealed that an assistant coach had a conversation with a JV player last year regarding regardless of all that that coach and for some reason coach Taylor have been put on leave. Meaning that any additional punishment that we the students and the players receive does not affect the adult which caused the problem who allegedly broke the rules any more pain. The last time me and my fellow seniors will ever put pads on has been spoiled. And I know that allowing us to be eligible for the playoffs doesn't mean that we will get in. But at least we know that our destiny is in our hands. And if we keep

014trying and we keep playing, then we can keep having more games. We've seen you guys contribute to the team banned for by the VHSL to get back in the playoffs last year and now there's another chance for you guys to do it for a right reason. Thank you for your time. [Applause] >> Ryan Hardo. Good evening, Dr. Reid and members of the Fairfax County School Board. My name is Ryan Hardle and I'm a senior and four-year member of the Fairfax High School football team. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight on behalf of my teammates, our coaches, and the entire Fairfax community. We're here to respectfully ask for your support and advocacy to the Virginia High School League to to lift a postseason ban placed on our football program. The situation that

015led to this penalty involved one player and one coach who is who was with the team for only a single season. Not one current player and no other coach had any involvement in that incident. Yet the consequence has have fallen on all of us, players, students, and families who had no part in what occurred. Our team has been working toward this. Our team has been working toward this season since last December. Countless hours in the wait room, on the field, and in the classroom have gone into preparing for the chance to compete and represent Fairfax with pride. We've done everything the right way, living the values of discipline, team make teamwork, and respect. But this decision doesn't just impact the football team. It affects everyone who makes Friday nights in Fairfax so special. The band,

016the cheerleaders, the dance team, and the hundreds of students and families who fill the stands in blue and white. We understand the importance of accountability, but the punishment reaches too far. It hurts the very students who have done nothing wrong and who continue to uphold the standards of Fairfax County Public Schools. All we are asking for is fairness, the opportunity to finish what we have worked so hard, worked so hard for and to compete for something we've earned. We hope you'll stand with us and advocate to the SHL on behalf of our school and community so that the Fairfax Lions can proudly continue our season. Thank you for your time and for your continued support for our Fairfax family. Adam Chavez Good evening, members of the school board. My name is Adam Chavez. I'm a

017junior at Fairfax High School. I've been a member of the uh Fairfax High School football team for two years. I'm very grateful to give to be given this opportunity to speak on my me and my teammates's behalf. I wanted to get respectfully straight to the point. I believe that the punishment that has been given to us is unjust and unfair. I understand that the coaches broke the rules, but I believe the circumstances are much different than us compared to Hayfield. Hayfield had a whole team and a whole staff, but for us, it was one player and one coach. The coach has already been put on administrative leave and isn't being affected by this punishment. And for the player, he doesn't attend Fairfax anymore. And when he was there, he played junior varsity, meaning he didn't

018really contribute to varsity. This punishment has really affected me because I feel like a part of my life's work has been taken away from me. I have worked countless hours, weeks, and months for one goal of being able to compete at a high level for the ultimate goal to play alongside my brothers and win a state championship. It also makes me mourn for the seniors who have shown me the ropes and really showed me what it meant to be a part of this program just for their potential future with football to be a at a possible loss. For many seniors, the postseason, especially state or re uh regional playoffs, is the highest level of competition they will face. College recruiters often use these highstakes games to evaluate an athletes performance under pressure. A ban eliminates

019this crucial chance to showcase their talent in front of coaches. I understand the importance of accountability, but in this case, the punishment punishment just doesn't fit. It penalizes the wrong people, the student athletes who have done everything right. All we're asking is for fairness, the chance to compete, and to finish what we work so hard for, and to make our school proud. We hope you'll stand with us to advocate to VHSL to lift this ban so that every Fairfax student who wears blue and white can be part of something positive, something we've all earned together. Thank you for your time and uh for your continued support of the Fairfax High School family, [Applause] >> Angie Bradford. It is my understanding that public schools in Virginia do not receive federal funding for sex education courses, so

020they can include anything they want in their sexed curricula. I want to share with parents the idea ideology I found in the FCPS 8th grade family life education curriculum for this school year. This course content is available to parents in Schooly. In lesson two, individual identity, I found the following. Individual identity includes components of gender identity and sexual orientation. Gender identity describes a person's internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female. Remember, gender identity may be the same as sex assigned at birth or may differ. The term transgender is used to describe an individual whose gender identity is different from the individual's sex assigned at birth. A little later in the lesson, I found this individual identity also includes sexual orientation. We will discuss the categories

021heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual. Although there are additional sexual orientations. Let me repeat those last six words. Although Although there are additional sexual orientations, I'm wondering where a kid's mind might wander trying to think of all of the additional sexual orientations they could choose from. Sounds like the options are limitless. The ideologies of additional sexual orientations in transgender are not universally accepted and should not be included in public school curricula. What about opting your kids out? You can do that, but the teachers at our school say there is stigma associated with opting kids out of selected lessons. They recommend opting kids out of a whole day or the entire two-day course. Your kids don't get fact-based sex education if you don't genulect to the ideologies that have been worked into the curriculum. This isn't right.

022Thank you, >> Elnura Bettley. Good evening everyone. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Elnora and I'm a parent from Cannibar Woods Elementary School. I'm here tonight to talk about the time change, proposed time change to it will push our school to 9:50 a.m. The 9:50 a.m. start time poses such a huge challenge to working families to the before and after school care, after school activities. And speaking of Canabir Woods Elementary is a center for the deaf and heart of hearing. Some of these kids they travel one hour each way. Right now under the proposed plan or the time change the option two these kids will be getting home close to 6 p.m. In winter time it's really dark. It's a safety issue. There is no time for these kids

023to spend time with family. They will be coming home tired and overstimulated. Also this impact is this going to be impacting teachers and staff. I think a lot of teachers going to be leaving FCPS if all of this going to go into effect. So it's not going to just affecting families. It's not affecting families of the students but families of the teachers. Also, we absolutely support that the goal your goal is to uh change the time for the middle school uh and find that healthy start times. However, it's going to be a ripple effect on all of these elementary schools because there are currently 24 schools that are starting right now at 920 in FCPS and these schools will be starting at 950 under option two. And I understand that this is a um budget

024neutral for FCPS. However, it's not the budget neutral for us families whose kids are going to the schools. So, I really hope that you guys will take all of this into consideration when you guys are making um decisions on time change. And just remember, please, elementary school runs for seven years and middle school runs only for two. So, thank you so much for your attention tonight. [Applause] Brie Fram Good evening. My name is Brie Fram. I'm a Space Force colonel who is currently being dismissed based on this administration's transgender policies. I speak today in my personal capacity and as the parent of two FCPS kids who thrive because of your inclusive environment. In the military, every time we opened the aperture of who was allowed to serve, we grew stronger as a nation. Every time

025we expanded who could fully participate in our democracy, we became better the next day than we were the day before. The same is true here. When everyone can learn and live without fear and shame for who they are, we all benefit. Some now question whether openness inclusion are creating more queer and trans kids as though we are something new. But LGBTQ people have always been here. For most of history, we simply couldn't be open out of fear for our safety or for our freedom. Hiding who we are diminished our potential and drained the energy we could give to our work, our studies, or our communities. There's a lesson from history. In the late 19th century, the number of left-handed kids, people, anyone suddenly plummeted, not because they disappeared, but because schools slapped hands with rulers

026and punish left-handedness as wrong. Kids worked hard to hide something innate out of fear. When that stopped, the numbers rebounded to normal. The people hadn't changed. The environment had. So today, when we create safe, inclusive spaces, we're not making more LGBTQ plus kids. We're letting them exist as themselves and giving them the chance to flourish. So, I wanted to thank you for your continued commitment to ensuring that every student can bring their full self to school. Because when our children no longer have to hide who they are or who they love, our entire community grows stronger. And it's why we have chosen to make Fairfax County our home. Thank you. Kathleen Mallard. Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you. My main topic pertains to student safety. There are many dangers they

027face. As you all have admitted, human trafficking is uh occurring in every high school in Fairfax County in some me elementary, some middle schools, drugs, gang activity, etc. One of the things which we definitely can control though is keeping boys out of girls bathrooms and locker rooms. Biological males are different than biological females. While your first I know responsibility is academic and training, you also must keep our students safe. you have gone back and forth with lawsuits against the Department of Education because you do not want to follow um the bathroom policies um gender identity violates students constitutional rights. You say FCPS has filed appeals and back and forth. But just recently, last week, Wednesday, October 1st, a final judgment has come down. I don't know how much money you all have spent on these

028lawsuits, but federal judge Diaz once again denied Fairfax County Public Schools appeal and dismissed the lawsuit against the US Department of Education. Now, the Virginia Board of Now, the Virginia Board of Health is advancing gender-based regulations, and Governor Glenn Ynan has issued an executive order calling on the Virginia Board of Health to create regulations to prevent biological males from taking part in femaleonly sports. I'm sure the football team wouldn't want to have a bunch of girls on it. Uh, and I'm, by the way, I pray that you will be um condoned. Anyway, um let's keep girls sports. Okay. Isaac Christopherson. >> Good evening. My name is Isaac Christopherson and for the past 15 years I have entrusted the education of my two children to Fairfax County Public Schools. Tonight I wish to share my thoughts

029on a matter of significant concern. On September 26th, parents, coaches, and student athletes were informed of a postseason ban against Fairfax High School. The individuals and carpet bagging family responsible for violations have long since moved on, leaving the current student athletes to unfairly bear the consequences. The situation raises important questions about fairness, accountability, and advocacy. The 2025 season of Fairfax football, Friday Night Lights, is now expected to end sooner. After the September 26th meeting, parents and concerned community members rallied together to determine how best to support Fairfax High School. Many parents meticulously reviewed the roughly 250 page BHSL uh handbook to understand the situation more clearly. In doing so, we learned that an arbitration process does exist, that violations are supposed to be referred to a committee for adjudicating the appropriate punishment, and that the

030principle of Fairfax had a very narrow window to submit an appeal. I commend these members that for their dedication and strength of character and tackling this challenge and trying to find a positive path forward. I'm also grateful for Dr. and Miss Melick's continued advocacy on behalf of the students and hopeful for a positive outcome. and I encourage the board to familiarize themselves with the merits of this appeal. However, I'm deeply concerned that FCPS Office of Student Activities and Athletics does not possess a more in-depth knowledge of the VHS's rules. By now, the office should be well practiced and intimately familiar with the appeal process and it should not have taken a group of dedicated parents to compel the off into advocacy. We need better leadership that is willing to advocate for our students, athletes, and

031coaches without proddding from the community. We need to better educate our student athletes and their parents and the rules governing them. so that they can proactively so they can be proactive in identifying, reporting, and avoiding potential conflicts. And mostly, we need to stop turning our student athletes and coaches into collateral damage because of the misguided and selfish actions of adults. Molly Sullivan My name is Molly Sullivan. I teach in the Springfield district and I live in the Sully district. I stand before you tonight with a healthy respect for freedom of speech. Um there was locally a group of activists that came to our high school pyramid protest uh protesting reproductive health rights. Uh they go to all of our Fairfax County high schools um whether in the fall or spring or both. My concern is

032there was a gentleman there who was recording all of the students and our dismissal procedures. Um, there's a copy of a picture coming around that I gave to the clerk and I will email you a higher deaf one as well. Um, we don't know who that man was. We don't know if he's actually affiliated with that group or not. Um, this poses a serious security risk to our students, our family, and our community. Uh, I'm here tonight to urge the board and the superintendent to draft language and regulation to protect our students and our dismissal arrival practices to include but not limited to the recording of said procedures. While our students are while our schools are public, our procedures and practices to ensure safety should remain uh just that, safe and private. Our worst nightmare

033is to have a massive um or tragic mass incident in one of our schools. And sadly, in today's day and age, we need to think about the whatifs. Knowing our students faces, our dismissal procedures along with the timeline from for them are from potentially every high school across Fairfax County district in some random person or group's hands has been gravely concerning to me as a parent as well as a teacher. Um, please protect our schools by enacting policy which prohibits recording our grounds procedures without specifically granted permission from FCPS. Thank you. [Applause] >> Robert Rigby Jr. Good evening. I'm speaking tonight as a member of FCPS Pride. I've been addressing this board since these whiskers were read in 2001. Saturday is National Coming Out Day, and as you've seen, it's so much riskier than it's

034been before. It's risky also for allies. Privox County Public Schools senior staff, the superintendent, and this school board have shown support for all of the students and families in FCPS, especially for those under duress in these times, such as black, disabled, immigrant, LGBTQ people, and religious minorities. Why are there such great efforts to radicalize Virginiaians against vulnerable groups? Here's my thinking. Besides the election, the radicalizing is to create chaos and dismantle public education in Fairfax County. Hoping for the failure of Fairfax County Public Schools seems to be the assigned task of folks such as Luke Rosiaak, Oz Oza Nomani, and Laura Ingram. also for such mysteriously funded outside groups as the Independent Women's Network, Moms for Liberty, Parents Defending Education, on and on. I'm not certain why folks like Nova Campaigns, and that new guy

035in Ohio, Walter Kurt the Younger, are doing this. Maybe because of monetization, perhaps for the sheer heck of it. But thank you for maintaining public education for everyone in the face of this onslaught. Have a good evening. >> Angie Trayo. >> Good evening. My name is Angie Trayola. In honor of this month being LGBTQIA history month, I'd like to share the contributions of a World War II patriot, the first Americanb born Chinese woman physician and comic book hero, Dr. Margaret Mom Chung. Despite immense discrimination due to her gender, ethnicity, and the laws of the 20th century, barring her from living authentically as a lesbian, Chung harnessed the power of the connection she made to others and the community she built to help America win the war against fascism. Chung applied to serve as a surgeon

036in the Cino Japanese war in the 1930s, but was denied due to rumors about her sexuality. Soon after, a young ensenraftoft reached out to Chong because he thought she could convince the Chinese government to let him join their military to fight the Japanese overseas. Chung, a US citizen, instead invited him and his friends to dinner, and they quickly became what we now call chosen family. One night, the pilot joked she was so understanding, she was like their mom, and the nickname stuck. Chung's family quickly grew to over 1500 members as she gave each of her fair-haired foster sons, um, a number and a little Buddha trinket. The pilots recruited others to join them for her famous weekly dinners in San Francisco. As word of her hospitality spread, submariners, politicians, top military leaders, and movie stars

037like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan were welcomed into her family. In 1941, the US government secretly asked Chung to help her recruit a group of pilots who would become the legendary Flying Tigers, one of the most famous squadrons in all of history. In 1942, she tried to join the Navy, but was denied because of her gender. So, she called up some of her sons in DC and worked with others to lobby Congress to pass Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services Act, or Waves. Waves allowed over 80,000 women to serve in new and crucial roles such as aeronautical engineers, parachute riggers, and cryptographers. Chung ultimately was denied entry into Waves because of her ethnicity and age. Stories like Dr. Chong show students that even when odds are stacked against you, not only can you find people

038who accept you for who you are, and you can even find ways to become a hero, not just in your own story, but even in your country's history. This is why history months like this one are so important to celebrate. Thank you. Vanessa Hall. >> Hi, thank you. Um, my name is Vanessa Hall. I'm an active FCPS parent and co-leader of FCPS Pride. Thank you for recognizing LGBTQIA history month because our families need to be seen in the classroom, curriculum, and library, especially in these hard times and when 20% of our students identify as LGBTQIA. During last year's proclamation, I felt hopeful for the future. But this year, even I'm occasionally hesitant to wear rainbows in public. In fact, I've been bullied by Project 2025 operatives for daring to wear a rainbow heart t-shirt and

039attend a schoolboard meeting. Oh boy. Um, it seems crazy because freedom of speech and assembly are pretty basic first amendment rights, right? They've threatened and harassed me, called me a groomer because I dare to exist as an ally. So, I can only imagine how our LGBTQIA community feels every day. Some have told me they're trying to blend in, keep their heads down, and do their work, hoping that anti-quer hate or discrimination won't find them. But that's no way to live, much less thrive in this world. And for our students and staff, that does not lead to happy people, much less academic excellence. Because this is FCPS, it's painful painfully obvious that we need you all more than ever to stand firm and protect our students, staff, and families from hate and hateful speech, including in

040this room. Keep combating the US education department, America First lawsuits, and our attorney general. At the same time, we need more allies to stand strong against anyone trying to bully or exclude people based on their identity, sexuality, race, religion, income, or immigration status. Because American history teaches us that Marsha P. Johnson didn't spark a revolution at Stonewall only for us to go back in the closet as queer or queer allies in 2025. Alan Turing didn't defeat the Nazis so that we would give in to reduced civil liberties and creeping authoritarianism in the 21st century. Thank you for keeping Eric Queen also signed up to have a video played tonight but we never received the video. Thus, there is no video testimony tonight. Chair Anderson, community participation is complete. >> Thank you, Madam Chair or Madame

041Clerk. Um, agenda item 6.01, 01 student representative matters. I call on Miss McConen. >> Hello everyone. It is so nice to be joining you virtually. Um sorry. Um over the past several months, one of the common concerns I've heard from students across FCPS is they feel disconnected with the decisions that shape their education. With many students wanting to understand the policies that affect them, whether it's grading practices, attendance expectations, technology use, or discipline procedures. but they often like feel they often feel confused on where to start. While this information technically exists on board docs, it's not exactly studentfriendly. These policies are lengthy, filled with legal languages, and scattered across multiple sections. For most students, this makes engaging with the schoolboard policy nearly impossible, even when those decisions directly affect their day-to-day experiences in our classrooms.

042It's why I'm proposing a student accessible policy database and website that translates boards policies into clear, concise explanations written for students by students. This is a project I will be taking on with SACE and this is a brief overview of how it would work. Um, I plan to partner with SACE which already includes student representatives for each high school. We're going to divide the policies into topic areas such as academics, students right, discipline, attendance, and wellness, and summarize each one into simple accessible language. Each policy entry on the website would include a short explanation of what the policy says in plain student understandable terms, a section on how it would directly impact students separated on grade level policies and the links to the original board docs version for full transparency to ensure that students would

043actually use and see this resource. We're also launching a social media page connected to the site which would post short explanations about recent or upcoming policy changes, SACE discussions, and opportunities for student feedback. This would help make students feel more connected to the real every this would help the schoolboard decisions to feel more connected to the everyday lives of students. Ultimately, this school goal, this project is for the goal of transparency and empowerment. When students understand why policy exists and how they work, it builds trust and encourages meaningful engagement. It also helps ensure that student voice and policy decisions are informed, thoughtful, and grounded in the actual language of board decisions. This would not only make boards more accessible, but it would also create a sustainable framework that future student representatives and SEC members would

044be able to update each year, building a lasting bridge between students in the board. I'm currently drafting a structure for the site and I'm going to begin with SEC subcommittees that could contribute to different sections. I would love to explore potential collaborations with the communications office or the department of IT to ensure that this site aligns with FCPS standards for accessibility and design as well as any board members who'd like to offer their perspective. I know I've already talked to Miss Marin about it. In short, this initiative is about making the governance of our schools more understandable to the people it affects the most, our students, because when we know that what policies say, they can better advocate, participate, and contribute to improving them. Thank you for your time and your continued support of the

045student voices of FCPS. >> Agenda 7 or agenda item 7.01, certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with section 2.2-3712D of the code of Virginia, it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on October 9th, 2025 to the best of each member's knowledge, only public b business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such business matter public business matters that 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. Mavine. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mackle, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Miss Seismore Heiser, and myself with

046Miss Lady away from the table. Um, and opposed abstensions, Mr. Dunn. Agenda item 7.02, action items. Um, confirmation of action taken in closed meeting. I call on Mr. McDaniel for a motion. >> I move to excuse from attendance at certain school at school certain students identified in a closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code section 22.1-254B1. >> Is there a second? Miss Marin. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. Mc Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin. That was that was not Mr. Fresh. Just so you know, we're going to start this over again. All those in favor, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Miss Seismarheiser, Dr. Anderson, and myself. Those opposed? Abstensions. Mr. FR and Mr. Dunn with Miss Lady away from the table. I call on Mr. FR for

047a motion. >> I move that the school board authorize legal counsel to settle the matter discussed in close session according to the terms and conditions discussed therein. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. McDaniel. All those in favor? Mr. FR, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mackin, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Mr. Anderson, Miss Seismore, and myself. Abstensions. Mr. Dunn with Miss Lady away from the table. I call on Mr. McDaniel for a motion. >> I move that the school board authorize legal counsel to settle the matter discussed in close session according to the terms and conditions discussed therein. >> Is there a second? >> Miss St. John Cunning. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Miss

048Seismarheiser, and myself. Those opposed, Dr. Anderson. Abstensions. Mr. Dunn with Miss Lady away from the table. Agenda item 8.01, performance review, financial planning, EL5, monitoring report. Each year, the school board assesses the superintendent in part on the basis of school the school division's reasonable progress towards achieving the 2023 to 2030 strategic plan goals in adherence to a set of 13 executive limitations found on pages 14 through 31 of the board strategic governance manual. The superintendent provides annual monitoring reports to the board for each executive limitation. The board then votes on whether the provided report is in compliance or if corrective action is needed. I call on Dr. Reid for a monitoring report on executive limitation five financial planning. Good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, and the public. Tonight, as Madame Chair shared, I'll

049be presenting executive limitation five, which addresses uh financial planning. So recall that uh each of these executive limitations requires um evidence to be provided and I would encourage uh those watching to note that the full monitoring report is attached to board docs for your review this evening. I'll just be highlighting several of the points uh from the report. Again, at the time of the report, to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, we've gathered information and evidence that I believe supports compliance with the board's executive limitation associated with this topic. A reminder that there are four major areas of EL5. Uh item one focused on developing an annual budget is on the uh screen for slide three. And we'll take a look at the next couple slides. The remaining items in EL5 are shown

050here. Before sharing new evidence related to this executive limitation, I want to start by noting that within this executive limitation, there really are not significant changes this year. Very um financial planning, it continues to be very similar in that this is um a matter of course for the division and we continue to use several best practices or industry standards. The newly added evidence builds on last year's uh board approval of EL5 and incorporates board feedback from that presentation. As we begin this monitoring report, I want to highlight the planned FY2027 budget timeline and remind our board and public that the first work session on the FY2027 budget is scheduled for November. Because of this, tonight's presentation will be focused mostly on FY26 updates to include any new work updates or items newly added since last

051presented in October of 2024. Again, a reminder, the full report is online. As part of our FY26 budget process, um the timeline for projected enrollment was successfully accelerated to inform the FY26 fiscal forecast which minimized changes between the fiscal forecast and the proposed budget. That was one of the adjustments the board asked for a year ago and we were able to provide that. The budget services office worked collaboratively collaboratively with the schoolboard budget committee to improve the timeliness of budget question responses last year. In December, the budget office held a training for schoolboard member staff aids on the overall budget process and the process included an education and communication strategy to inform school community members and the general public about our FCPS budget. So for new or newly added information, one of the major milestones

052uh with the FY26 budget was the implementation of Fairfax County Public Schools first collective bargaining agreement. Our FY2026 budget cycle also presented significant challenges. A 121 million shortfall added pressure to a budget already strained by years of longstanding um inequities in state funding. As a result, FCPS faced a number of difficult decisions and those are enumerated on the slide. Finally, I'd like to end with a bit of a celebration. In September of this year, last month, we were recognized with the Baldridge Pioneer Award at the Ohio State University given to leaders who embody Baldridge leadership values and principles. One of the several year initiatives the board has asked us to work on is looking at our budget to streamline for efficiencies. As part of last year's cuts, we did make 3% cuts across the board,

053central office departments as all an already lean central office and likely will be making further cuts this year to come in as a budget in terms of the budget we intend. This Baldridge work is helping us to identify efficiencies um even during these difficult budget times. So at this time, Madam Chair, this concludes the summary of the monitoring report for executive limitation number five, financial planning. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you, Dr. Reid. I now call on Mr. Mavine for a motion. >> Thank you. >> So I move that the school board finds that the superintendent is in compliance with executive limitation number five, financial planning. I further move that the school board approve the monitoring report based on the superintendent's reasonable interpretation of executive limited limitation number five financial planning as outlined

054in the strategic governance manual. >> Is there a second? >> Second, >> Miss Lady. U Mr. Mleine, would you like to speak to your motion? >> No, not at this time. Thanks. >> Thank you. Miss Lady, would you like to speak to your second? >> No, not you. >> Okay, Mr. Fr. >> Thank you. I think sometimes people probably wonder, well, this doesn't seem very specific. Uh, financial administration is another EEL that we'll be tackling uh later in the year. Um, but I do think that it's important to note that EL5, executive limitation five, sets a high bar financial for financial planning and it's a bar that we consistently meet. And I want to thank our our team uh uh for doing that and for you know I don't know how many years in a

055row they've received top honors for the various awards that are given out for financial planning and public education but uh it's welld deserved and um regardless of how complicated the situation gets or how much the board asks there is always a yes we can mentality. Um, case in point, we have more budget questions than ever before and yet we get to them all. And uh, the budget team worked with uh, staff to develop a process that now enables the board of supervisors and this board to get their budget questions answered in a more expeditious uh, manner. So, I commend the team for that incredible work and that helps us do our jobs as schoolboard members. Um I also want to note that uh you know even with the $121 million budget shortfall um you know

056we face persistent significant inexcusable inequities uh in state funding. Um and despite all that uh the division maintained its commitment to ensuring that uh we center employee compensation and classroom support uh this past year. Um so I appreciate that. I do have some questions particularly around uh the forecasting accuracy. One of the things that was changed as a result of the uh you know collaborative work with the board of supervisors it became clear that it was difficult it was more difficult for the board of supervisors in the previous way because we were um having to occasionally um reconfigure the numbers based on actual attendance uh you know of when we were doing our forecasting. So we sped up the forecasting to help inform their process. it was something that they'd asked of us. What kind

057of an impact has that had on our own planning? So I think we're um again as we as you change any process it takes a bit of time to to slip into that practice in a more seamless way. But I think that the sooner we're be able to provide that forecast, uh, the sooner we're going to have, uh, particularly as budgets are tighter, uh, the sooner we're going to be able to make determinations about whether we're going to be able to initiate any type of new programming or initiate any type of new initiative. Initiate initiatives, okay, or begin any new initiatives. And at this time, uh, the sooner we have that information, I think the more likely it is we're going to be able to be thoughtful about processing those decisions. >> Are there any

058plans to expand this kind of earlier data-driven uh forecasting in other areas uh that would impact our finances? So I think that's part of the Baldridge work uh in that we there is a cycle that uh is unique to the budget but there's also a cycle that's unique to sort of operational work within the school division. So forecasting fuel costs or energy costs for example um as we uh synchronize some of the cycles that we're able to HR costs for example um or openings uh transportation costs uh we're hoping that some of the boundary work that we're doing right now will create some efficiencies um and again the sooner we have that information uh the more likely it is we can you know integrate that into the metrics of the budget that we're working on.

059So I think anytime we can follow the rules of prior planning preventing poor performance right the earlier we have information I think the the more thoughtful we can be about the conversation. >> Uh one of the you know things that may confuse people you know we say things in passing here that we all understand here but maybe they don't at home. You mentioned the Baldridge process and Mr. McDaniel and I turn to each other and say did she say we got the award? Um >> Mr. Smith was quick to say phase two, right? Okay. Can you tell people at home what the Baldridge process is specifically and why we embarked on it? >> Yes, sir. The Baldridge process, and I'm going to turn to Mr. Smith in a minute because he's really been heading up

060this work to offer some comments. Essentially, it's an industry standard process that not just school divisions, but other businesses around the country work through to really make sure that their ROI or their return on investment is the maximum possible given the resources we have. So, it's a way to streamline and focus and align our resources with our mission. And we have a very clear strategic plan. the goals are clear and we need to make sure that all of our resources are aligned and focused on the achievement of those goals. Um so I'll let Mr. Smith explain the second year award we've received and we are um my understanding is the team is a high achieving team. We're moving through this process um very thoughtfully. So Mr. Smith. >> Sure. Certainly. Good evening. So the second

061award that we've received is the pioneer award. It's the second award for our 25page application and the 25page application is the draft for the 50-page application that we will submit in November. Uh we have uh multiple teams working on that 50-page application. Uh once it is submitted, it will be reviewed and we'll have examiners come on site. They'll be asking questions of selected individuals. Uh they will select members of the board, the leadership team. they will go out into schools and departments and they will ask questions about our application. So that's the next round of the process. We would then be eligible for what we feel we're going to receive the gold award and we've been told that as an organization uh they are our group of examiners are quite impressed with our work and

062have uh yet to see an organization on its first application get to the gold on its first application but they feel that we will get there. Uh we've used this process to uh look at many processes to streamline. Uh we've streamlined uh some of our staffing uh guidelines. Uh we've looked at consolidating some of our data teams that we've gotten from feedback from our initial uh reviews. Uh and we've also uh looked at restructuring our non-traditional programs based on some of that feedback. So we're going for the gold. uh when we get the gold, we will then be eligible to uh submit for the national Baldridge award. >> I do want to clarify too that we had examiners on site last year last spring who did engage for this level. So, um independently interviewing staff

063and reviewing program records. So, we're well into this process. >> Yeah, they provided that informal feedback for the uh 25page application to help us prepare for the 50page. Well, and to that end, you know, you mentioned return on investment, and I think that's the crux of the situation here, right? Like anybody can cut, >> right? Um, but this is about ensuring that we are um incentivizing what works and which has what has results and then letting go of things that don't produce results. >> Yes, sir. Right. I think we're in the type of business that is really missiondriven in the sense that we're supporting the arc of the future lives of our community, our children, um our country in public education. And I think we while we have to be very efficient with our resources,

064we still must continue to get the results that we're getting, right? So, it's a it's a powerful responsibility and the team's taking it very seriously. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think our taxpayers want nothing less. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. I I think I'll pick up from from there. I appreciate and I'm glad that these awards are being won, but is there a way where there could be a little bit more visibility from the board in terms of how this application is allowing those efficiencies to happen? because I'll be honest, it's still pretty nebulous to me and I'd like to be able to speak a little bit more informed about it. >> Yes, ma'am. I know we've included the application and the response in our board letters,

065but Mr. Smith, any thoughts on how perhaps we could make that connection more um thoughtful? >> Sure. >> Just to put a finer point on that, Mr. Smith, I I know that based on the meeting that we just had this week, a board member is raising an issue where we're providing some evaluation of programs and determining are those the best expenditures? Does the budget work support that? >> So, the bald board uh work doesn't support that per se. They are not going to provide input on our programs to give us feedback on what we should cut or or what we should continue. But what it does do is that it helps us think about our processes and the work that our individual we have seven teams uh that are working to within departments and in

066schools uh to look at some of those processes. As we then uh investigate those processes, we can take a deeper and closer look uh at again the staffing guidelines that we use to uh for certain processes. We then think about ways that we can streamline those processes which at the end of the day create uh savings uh in many programs. We are very peopleheavy and when we can uh streamline processes it helps us get people in the right places for work which then creates cost savings. Uh and the feedback that they will give us will be mostly on our processes and not necessarily on the content of our programs. We then take that feedback to analyze what we're doing uh to then make some of those difficult decisions around cuts and adjustments. >> So then

067how we get how do we get some visibility into that piece because I think that was kind of what the follow- on motion from last year was trying to get to. How do we kind of see the homework that you all are engaging in? And one of the pieces of the um of the eel um I'm trying to figure out which one it is here and of course I will not find it. Um but the one that speaks Okay, there it is. Um one I includes program evaluation and budgetary planning discussions. I I can't say I have much insight into that. I would say that that is separate from the Baldridge work, but we can certainly provide some input to what our program evaluation teams are doing uh to show how that provides uh input

068to our processes. Uh, one of the most recent documents that our program evaluation team pulled together was the our uh uh look at uh future schools and future curriculums for schools that we uh added to one of our Western High School conversations. That's the kind of work that in addition to our program evaluation that our our office for program evaluation provides to the system and we can provide some insight into how those decisions and how those reports drive the work that we're doing. >> Then maybe I I misunderstood because I thought the Baldwin work kind of informed the staffing discussions around expenditures. Again, it's the the work that we do based on the Baldridge work. We're not getting guidance from Baldridge on what to do, but it's the work that we engage in based on

069the Baldridge processes as part of our journey that we then put into play that drive some of the decisions that we make around budgets, around uh reductions. As we looked at the 3% cuts last year, uh we didn't do that willy-nilly. We looked at some of our processes to see what we could reduce. Uh, and a lot of that thinking was driven by uh some of the the bald rich questions that we've been trying to answer. >> Okay. I don't want to take up the rest of my time on this one, but I would definitely love a little bit more visibility because I still feel as if I'm unclear as to how that is benefiting benefiting us in a clear way for me to evaluate on my own. >> In our next update, we can

070provide an update on the kinds of questions that we have to answer for the Baldridge work. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Uh, and typically I I know this work is is just a lot with the planning and I I think in years past I've been very supportive of where we've been with the planning, but given the evaluation from last year to this year, I do have some areas that have raised some concern for me. Um, that's area 1B, which speaks to the development of a budget based on realistic assumptions and most importantly, ongoing assessment of local and state and federal funding sources. I and the to explain that I I think typically we've been um in a good position where the board of supervisors has provided us with you know one um one forecast

071or rather whatever the um executive steps out with and I think over the last few years it's always been increased by the time they come to their final decision. Um this year was not the same. Um, but I felt like we had we we weren't ready for it to not be status quo. We assumed it was going to increase because it always has, but we had very little time to be planful. You know, we had hundreds of people here talk about arts because in no um in a very short period we had to make some determinations. I would have liked a little bit more planning in terms of being prepared even if it's a quiet conversation with the board because we also don't want to be putting out cut lists because that causes unnecessary um

072angst in the community. But I I think we did not have those conversations as early enough as I would have liked to feel really prepared and good. It seemed to be very rushed um in terms of being responsive to that. And I'll take a go back please. >> Thank you Dr. Anderson. Miss Marin, >> I think this is a rudimentary report. Uh we may have received the info provided, but the outcome from last year was devastating to FCPS. And so what I see missing here is the analysis of the budgetary situation and what was assessed as the landscape changed as um my colleague just said about what was assessed and um how to inform us about what was coming at us. I I can't agree with number four which is to take all reasonable, prudent,

073anticipatory and proactive actions in securing financial resources for the division from relevant funding revenue sources. You know, my experience is that we are not a team of 13. We're not working together for action steps to change the fate of the FY27 budget. And as that work now begins, I'm not aware of anything happening differently. Um, we are now living the results of the reduced 121 million and I'm hearing from constituents about destaffing and increased class sizes, 30 kindergarters in a class. I don't experience any urgency among our team of 13 about approaching this year differently. Uh not in this report and not at our board meetings. And while it's up to the board to set the board's agenda, the superintendent as the leader needs to help us plan for better results with the FY27 budget.

074You know, my observation has been that the superintendent and staff develop precise calculations. Sometimes the least worst decisions are being made but that is not financial planning. Okay, we are not meeting to determine you know aligning our work across the team of 13 with a plan of action for local county funding work and state funding work. The legislative work is talked in its silo and the budget development work in another. But budget development is not financial planning. And I've mentioned that in past remarks and I tried to find them. I thought it was earlier this year reinvisioning how we do our financial work of monitoring this multi-billion dollar entity more regularly and more strategically. So my specific questions regarding this are what lessons from the last budget development cycle are being applied to the FY27

075budget development work and what's the plan to engage the board in this work so we can be the fullest advocates possible over the months ahead. >> So I think those are great questions. I think that we have a budget meeting coming up next month actually and I think it's going to be a great conversation in the work session. I think that um whatever I think the we as you know um we are in year two of a collective bargaining agreement this year. So it's a much uh it gives us a longer on-ramp for planning. In October of last year, we hadn't settled the collective bargaining agreement even at the time of the um October financial planning executive limitation. So, we know that uh year two is a 3% and step increase for salary. We're not

076planning at this time any new initiatives or programs. Um only uh mandated additions which might be fuel costs and um other insurance related costs. So, I think the on-ramp for financial planning this year is a much longer, smoother on-ramp because we have more known variables earlier, which goes to Mr. Fr's comment. And when we know things sooner, we're able to be, I think, more thoughtful about that. Last year, we finished collective bargaining at about the time I had to begin drafting a budget. Um, which leads me to lessons learned as you shared and I I've recently been meeting with our board of supervisors individually to really work on how do we work, you know, together on this budget uh situation as well as with our state delegates and senators. And I think what's important for

077our Fairfax County to know is that all of our electeds and all of our staff have the same goal in mind. We want what's best for our children, right? We want worldclass education in Northern Virginia and V, you know, Virginia at large and we need resources to deliver on the power and promise of public education. One of the things that I think is unique right now and we're going to have to wrestle with in some way is that our collective bargaining timelines and processes because I think it's so new don't really line up with our budget timelines and processes. And that's a conversation we've been having moving forward. We're not bargaining actively with our largest unions this year. Um, but it's going to be important to think about how we can better align those collective

078bargaining timelines with our budgeting timelines. So, um, and I think there's some general agreement around that. So, I feel like we've got some topics to work on. Um, and, um, believe that, um, it's still going to be a difficult budget year for a variety of reasons. >> Well, thank you. and we're very fortunate to have you as an expert, you know, experienced with collective bargaining. I I don't think that that was what got us stuck. It was that we have all of these elective leaders who do want the best and want to be financially responsible and we don't meet together. And so, I know I've talked about that and um you know, I'm not clear what the actual action plan is because we've already heard public remarks about our budgeting not being based in reality.

079Already there are remarks um looking to uh do away with the $4 million for afterchool programming. It's not looking very promising right now and I feel like I'm sitting here trying to you know at Tuesday we talked about Western High. It might need $50 million in renovations. Well, where's that going to come from? So there's just all this we we I don't have a clear sense of what the path is and what this board is supposed to do. Well, the good news is we have choices, right? And I think that we are all in our roles at such a time as this to make our very best choices for the future of this county and this country. And our children need us working together. And I know that's my commitment. I know that's your commitment.

080I know that's the commitment of all other electeds right now. And for us to make the best and wisest use of diminishing resources. We're going to have to work together. >> Thank you, M. Mayor. Uh Mr. Dunn. >> Uh Dr. Reed, I've said many times that I think you're, you know, the bright leader for our school system at this uh challenging moment in history. Um but I will be um voting non-compliant on this uh executive uh limitation. Uh I spoke with a board member recently who served for over a decade and she said in in 10 years uh we were never fully funded. So that's not a realistic expectation. Um and yet for the past couple years we have asked for very large increases in budgets and understanding that that's the determination that you've made

081as superintendent that that's what's needed. Um, but that amount is is not realistic anymore in the current environment when the federal government is slashing support for state programs like Medicaid and when the county is facing uh a financial crisis with the collapse of the uh commercial office space market. Um, in prior years, uh, superintendents like Karen Garza at the beginning of the budget season would identify potential budget cuts. um and some people describe them as the Washington Monument List, but um it did lead to months of conversation within the community and with uh elected officials that enabled and foreign decisions to be made by the school board. Um I found the discussion last year to be very hasty, very last minute. we were deciding things within 24-hour time periods and when we voted to approve

082certain cuts um it was um you know made with very little information on what would be the impact and then we had the large community reaction and and this year in doing school site visits I'm seeing in practice what those budget cuts are and the one that I opposed most strongly was the increase in class sizes which I've said many times historically we've only done in emergency situations like the great recession. It's not something in a typical budget year that we've engaged in. And and what I'm seeing on the ground is just um drastic impacts to our schools. And I'm concerned because last year we got a significant increase even though we didn't get every dollar we asked for. Um so can I ask are you planning to put on the table early in January

083and February time frame um you know potential budget reductions, efficiencies, whatever terminology you want to use so that we can have a conversation early rather than at the last minute um about what's on the table in terms of reductions in programs and staff um in particular positions or or central office for example. >> Sure. I, you know, I think one of the things that we have to recognize is that um our wages for our educators, our staff here in Fairfax County Public Schools have not kept up with surrounding regions, surrounding states. And I do think that's a serious concern. And I appreciate the board's support and understanding that's a serious concern. And I do believe that the progress we're making on providing a um a working wage for our educators and our staff in the

084school division to support their ability to live within our county is really important. And so I appreciate the support in making that progress. And I'm committed to making good on our collective bargaining agreement and continuing to improve the salaries for our educators. in terms of programs or uh possibilities that we may need to cut or may need to in some way amend for whatever reasons. I think that conversation this year will be starting in November. It's going to be starting next month because we're not, as I mentioned earlier in responding to Miss Marin, we're not bargaining right now. We were last year. We were still bargaining until November. So, right now we know what our target is and we're going to be able to put those items um all the topic areas where we're over

085SOQ um you know in terms of how we allocate funds and we can begin having those conversations in November. One of the things that we talked about last year was a 3% reduction in the central office and um at the time during one of the work sessions we talked about you know potentially increasing that 3% to 6% and what would the impact be and it was somewhat unknown but uh as it was later described during that same budget season the 3% was described as being able to be achieved without destaffing without reducing anyone from or limiting any positions right uh postponing uh textbooks or uh reducing purchases of um paper and pens and maybe postponing software licenses or reducing them. Um, I would love to see, you know, as in this conversation starting next month,

086what different levels of reductions in central office expenses can be uh achieved and what those impacts would be because having a transparent conversation about those levels and and the impacts on the operations of our schools, I think would be very valuable both for the school board and for the public. >> Yes, sir. And actually, we were modeling that now. We began modeling that last summer. So it's uh I think that we already have a um much smaller central office than by ratio than our surrounding jurisdictions as we've shared. Um but absolutely we're going to continue to look at modeling for what happens if we you know fill in the blank XYZ across departments um and across programming. >> Thank you. I'd like to go back. >> Absolutely. Uh Mr. Moon. Thank you, Madam Chair. I

087I don't want to repeat what couple of my colleagues have already stated about having to make having had to make, you know, last minute budget cuts of $120 million. Uh that was not something that I want to see happening again. Uh I mean, I understand, you know, why that happened that way. Uh uh but we also remember how critical board of supervisors was on us uh when they gave us FI27 budget guidance and and I was I was reading the statement again uh that you know they do really want to work with us at the same time uh they want us to use realistic revenue revenue assumptions. Uh you know they are asking pleading with us to use when you develop our budget a the estimates revenue estimates we all get I know it's an

088early number as opposed to just come with a number which is maybe just a whisper thinking on our part from their perspective. So with that in mind, how would you reconcile your statutory obligations to present these based budget and the 1.2 Dr. Anderson mentioned which is in your present in in your report about our budget needing to be based upon realistic revenue assumptions. How do you reconcile those two? Yes sir. So I would reconcile those by indicating that the statutory requirement is to provide a needsbased budget. What I believe as the superintendent of the schools we need to perform at the worldclass level our community expects us to perform at. And in this case, as I've shared earlier, one of the um absolute foundational needs right now is to meet the terms of our collective

089bargaining agreement that are uh that we celebrated right with a unanimous affirmation. And so that is a foundational need for the development of this budget. Furthermore, I think it's important to look at what are those other required need increases around health insurance, which is a national conversation right now, as well as fuel costs, utilities, those types of basic things. So, when I think of need, I'm thinking bones need, right? Like meeting our collective bargaining agreement and required adjustments to the budget. We're not anticipating moving forward with new initiatives or new programs, but just simply to keep the commitments we've already made to our community. In the report, I saw because you are required to provide us with multi-year budget projections, budget forecast for FI27. another close to $200 million you would be requesting from somewhere

090additional additional request if that has to come from that has to come from the county board of supervisors that's a 7.1% transport request do you think that's a realistic in this economic climate >> we haven't determined a final number yet but I have to provide a needsbased budget the budget has to be realistic we have um state dollars, local dollars, and federal dollars. So, we look at what is traditionally the uh money and the split. And we have to do uh we have to present a budget that um both satisfies the commitments we've made um as well as uh minimizes the impact on available resources. >> You know, Dr. Reed, uh you know, I've been hearing from other super supervisors that is going to be even tougher than this just past year for the budget

091and I hope that we all keep that in mind as we uh deliberate and also develop our budget for the next year so that again as I stated at the getgo that we don't repeat what he did last year I was not happy having to make last minute adjustments uh for something like that for to do much more work had to be done earlier ear and I hope that even with you know fully a honoring collective bargaining if we have to we have to make an adjustment as to the bottom number but then we have to look at every programs we provide >> I think we can begin that >> yeah 30% cut you talked about 3% cut perhaps that should have been done not at the last minute but much earlier >> well the

0923% cut was for this year to bring So even the last that should have been done should be looked at much earlier and you know unfortunately we have to look at the same thing again. >> Thank you Mr. Moon. Uh Miss Dixit >> thank you Dr. Reed for this presentation. Um I find you in compliance with the executive limitation number five financial planning. um as you mentioned and we have seen that FCPS does have a very um you know a good budget in as and we spend less than the other counties and cities and you know states around us but and our school education is world class so we doing something right here um the budget not getting money from any sources it's it's because FCPS does not have those money so we have to

093be you know we always count on other people to give us funds. Uh in that situation uh when we have to cut uh you know any programs, it's not on us. It is not our fault. Um it because we want to provide the best education to students. So we don't want to cut any programs. But yeah, I understand that the times are tough. Um and I agree with uh a lot of my colleagues that getting that information timely uh earlier on this process would really help. Um especially like the afterchool programs um I know community really really wants to know what what what goes on with that and um and I think we are doing something right here and that's why we got the Baldridge award and uh hopefully get more awards for doing such

094high level financial work. So, I appreciate you and the entire finance team for doing this uh this work and uh and we'll keep working to get more money. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh Miss John Cunning. >> Um thank you for the presentation and thank you for the team for putting all of this together. I really appreciate hearing that you're meeting with our board of supervisors individually and making those connections because I know that that's extremely valuable. we do it and as a leader I really appreciate that you're taking that step. Um, one of the questions that I was you know thinking of because I have worked in the schools is like at what time do our principles get involved in terms of the budgeting process other than the staffing because we know that

095comes you know at a time when they know what their enrollment is and then it comes to staffing. But do we have a process? And it may exist and I just may be ignorant of it because I think sometimes the people that are actually down in the ground doing the work can give us some really good suggestions about, you know, if you're going to cut something, this is what we'd like to see cut because this is what we really need. Not just our administrators and principles, but also our teachers. I the processes that may have been in place over time shift when we move into collective bargaining. So right now our principles are actually collectively bargaining. Um they're in a separate union and so our principles and directors and so forth are currently bargaining. So

096they are not part of bargaining with our FEU colleagues, right? our operational and instructional FEU um union. So, and that's part of I'm trying to be thoughtful this evening about answering some of the questions. It's part of the challenge last year because we shifted into a different um a different process in terms of collectively bargaining um the uh a significant part of our budget since we are you know 85% plus uh staff. So the costs associated with collective bargaining become a very large cost and um as you know we don't go back and reopen a bargaining agreement unless as the resolution says that we don't receive full funding. So at the moment we are noticed that we're not receiving full funding that's the moment that we can go back and have those conversations. Is am

097I making sense? So there's a timing um that creates a certain level of uh lastm minuteess to that process. So what I would say this year is that principles in their group as you mentioned are um they have not completed bargaining yet. So whatever their asks are going to be will then need to be brought to you as well for you know affirmation as that process continues and that will need to be considered as part of the budget as well as what we do at the year two of the FEU um contract. So I think there's a certain amount of discussion about what can be cut, but it also has to be at some point discussed with the union leadership as well. So we're just developing different paths for those communications and conversations. Um it's

098not a uh better or worse, it's just a different protocol and that's what we're working through as part of our budgeting process because we're very new in this. >> Okay. Thank you. Um the other thing that I want to I'll just bring this up and talk about what we do cover and what is threatened. Uh special education we cover about um approximately 7.2 of our kids receive those services. Um 20.8 reserve uh receive multilingual learning services. We have 37.0% 0% that receive that are enrolled in free and reduced lunch. Um, the reason that I mention this is we understand it's going to be a tough year. We all understand that. We all understand we don't get the money, but we also understand that you fund what you value and you make sacrifices for what you

099value. And I think that that's something that we have to push hard to all our funders. Education is critical and we're going to keep hearing that refrain. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's too much. It's we can't do this. But we have to say, do you value this? Because that's really the crux of what we're talking about. And that's where I think all of us have a responsibility to bring that up. Um um that's all I want to say is that I think we fund what we value. Thank you, Miss St. John Cunning. Miss Lady, >> thank you. Um, I obviously will find you in compliance. Um, I'm um, amazed at the ability to create a budget and then keep a balanced budget. Um, I commend you and our CFO and the entire team for that

100work. Um, especially in light of the fact that, um, you're doing it with less. And and I also want to lift up um the changes that have been amazing that have impact learning, impact self-esteem, impact physical fitness of our kids from different benchmarking, math curriculum, high expectations of all learners, expanding after school programming for middle schools, funding buses four days a week. Um and I'm saying all this because these weren't you know at least the afterchool portion which my colleagues have referenced were not in place right so you know we we do fund what we value but in terms of our funders our funders are our taxpayers and they're tired and and and and justifiably so because as a state we're underfunded. Um, and I think that we can't we cannot keep we can't talk

101about it enough because I'm always shocked at how many people I talk to in the community who don't know this. They do not know it. They get angry about real estate tax. They don't even talk about their income tax, which we can't tax, but the fact that we just got refunds, and I believe, I don't even remember the the quote that was on my little, you know, stub for my my check of the billions, nine billion maybe, um, that were returned to Virginia taxpayers when we're grossly underfunding public schools here in the Commonwealth. Um, I just want to put that out there. Uh I also in in terms of what has to happen moving forward, yeah, we need to talk about cuts. Um and my question is hypothetically if we're shorted this amount of money,

102I would think there would be a proposal of these potential pain points. If we're shorted this amount of money, it's lengthier and it includes these pain points. I'm not asking necessarily because we as a board would need to prioritize those. It's sort of like I hate to say it, but a buffet of here's, you know, hypothetically what what what we could potentially try to live without. It's not going to be easy and then we've going to have to sort of bang that around and try to figure it out. But uh is that the plan is to sort of eventually say here's here's some things if we're shorted a h 100red million if we're shorted 200 million. I I think that we're going to discuss the plan further in November, but uh Miss Burton, we've already

103met multiple times. Obviously, I've met with the budget team. This is a high priority, and I pay a great deal of attention to this. Um but we've already begun looking at um the list which is the same list we provided honestly early last uh spring around all the uh beyond SOQ funded uh topics if you will uh and those obviously will be where we would start first right because the uh about 70% of our budget is zerobased every year I know that's been a question a topic of conversation but we do build about staffing um from the ground up. I want to say Matthew about 70%. >> Yeah, Matthew Norton who is all things amazing when it comes to building staffing and budgets. But every year about 70% of the budget's zerobased and then we

104have to build up to say okay uh once we've gotten there there's so many things that uh the SOQ doesn't address right that we think are important and schools across the Commonwealth do not just in Northern Virginia. Um but we're going to provide a list of those again and I think it's a great conversation for our board to engage in if we have to prioritize and perspective take um where does the board situate on that and I think the budget committee this year is going to be very um interested and obviously we'll be providing some type of uh activity for the board to value vote those topic areas and I look forward to that conversation. Yeah, I I do as well. I mean, obviously, um I believe in transparency. Um I I think the earlier

105that we can um you know, uh communicate to our community what could possibly be happening, um the better. Um and you know, I think that we have to, if I can just finish real quick, I won't need to go back. you know, I I encourage my my colleagues on the board um that we're going to have to lean into this and then and then listen to one another and listen to other people and really try to fully understand what this means in practice for teaching and learning because that's the number one priority of what we're doing is this is the teaching and learning as opposed to getting emotional around people who might be in certain positions versus versus continuing to make sure teaching our number one priority. Thanks. >> Yes, ma'am. Mr. McDaniel, >> thank

106you. Um, the EL is financial planning, not financial outcomes. That might sound silly, but there's a big difference because the conversation this evening has kind of been all over the board on planning and outcomes. Um, there are factors that are just outside of our control. taxing at the state and local level, the federal government, as we are seeing right now in the headlines, property values. Uh Virginia is one of about 10 states that does not allow school divisions to have any type of independent taxing authority. Um we can't control our state funding levels. All of those factors drive the $4 billion budget that this system depends upon. And those are all outside of our control. They're outside the superintendent's control. But even with that reality, the budget planning process still ticks off every year to

107amazing accuracy, doing more with less, meeting more needs of kids with higher needs, kids with more complex needs in an ever evolving K- through2 public education environment. Um, and we do that year after year to an amazing degree of accuracy. I don't know how that hasn't met the expectations of this eel. Um, you know, I remember the Garza years. I was working for the board of supervisors. I don't want to go back to the Garza years. There was a reason she was the shortest tenur superintendent since the early 80s. And I hate to put it that bluntly, but those are the facts because I remember how rough those budgets were because people's emotions got played on when cuts were dangled out there in the headlines. And we got a little bit of a taste of

108that last year when the middle school after school program was dangled out there. And if you think that was bad, boy, let me tell you, we start dangling cuts out there, it's going to be 10 times worse. I don't want to go back to those years. I want a respectful budget conversation. And you've done that. You've struck the balance between meeting the needs and meeting the reality of the moment. So, I'm happy to vote in favor of this. >> Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. I am going to take a quick turn. Um, so we're a big shift to turn and we are in the middle of a perfect storm of all the different churn that's going on out there. Um, and I'm reading a book right now that's talking a lot about paradox and about how

109two things can be true at the same time. And yeah, and so early notice is awesome, but we also have to acknowledge that it's going to create panic. And so we have to figure out both of those things are true. It's important for us to plan and we don't want to create panic where it's unnecessary to do so. So we are we need to be partners with our community. We need to hear what they want. And the problem is is with a system as large as ours is, we're always gonna have something that is important to someone. And we see that all the time with different things that are going on is it doesn't it doesn't matter. Um the other thing is we need more and our county very well may not be able to

110provide it to us. That doesn't mean that they don't want to. They again I agree with you that they all we all want the same thing. And so I just I think that what we're doing is we need to make sure that we level set expectations from the beginning that this is going to be a hard year. Um I think that's what the county has been trying to do with us. They're trying to give us the high sign. I still will say that if they had $9 billion to return to taxpayers, then they didn't have a surplus. They just underfunded their budget. And so if JARK is $3 billion a year, that's where the money is. And so we I so it's absolutely at the state level that we need to be paying attention to

111those things, but some of the actions that have been taken at the state level mean that there's not going to be a surplus this year. And so we have this again, it's part of the perfect storm. So I did also want to just say one thing about the Baldridge because I've worked with kiddos that were actually doing this at Kansas State when I was there. And the coolest part about Baldridge is it asks you questions that cause you to think about the process. And so many of us are so eager to to make sure that our processes are strong that this proc this the whole system allows you to have sunlight on the process that you wouldn't normally have because you're actually getting into the nitty-gritty of why we do things. And so I am

112thrilled that we're doing as much work with Baldridge. the facts that fact that our examiners came out and said that we're doing a great job. I I expect nothing less from our team. Um and so I am very excited to see what we're doing in that arena. Um and I know that we're going to be strong at the end of it. So I just I am absolutely in compliance here. Um I definitely think that you are doing everything that you possibly can to create the best possible outcome related to our financial planning in a an extremely um difficult moment. So we have some gobacks. So we're going to start off with Dr. Anderson. >> Thank you very much. Again, looking at the E, these are the areas that have raised concern for me. I I

113shared about 1B earlier, 1D, which is to present all materials and budgetary assumptions, one I and 2A, as well as four as Miss um as another colleague had mentioned. Um it's not that we are in control of all of what happens. We are not. It's just how do we plan so that we have a thoughtful measured approach. We did what we could in a very short time period. But I don't think that's the ideal way of doing this work. So those are those are my challenges here. And we also know that 90% of our budget is in our people. It is. And as one board member, I I continue to struggle with how do we do our job of fiscal oversight because the budget is our work. We're supposed to take what you provide, we

114wrestle with it, and we we bring out something that is reflective what the public is finding to be of value. That is our work. And I'm feeling more and more as if that work is happening outside of us. that we are approving what's done because we either don't have an opportunity for input or it's just so quick that we just have to make do. So I I will not be voting in compliance today and that's not a knock on to the efforts of of the finance team because I I see them as the blender. We put in all the ingredients and they make it happen. They made it happen, but this was not the right way of making it happen. And I really don't want us to be in that position again. >> Mr. Dunn,

115>> I I appreciate um that uh this e focuses on planning and I think part of planning is transparency and I think part of transparency is uh you know providing for the public an understanding of what what's at risk, right? Um because we don't want to have that be a surprise to anyone. there ought to be very clear decisions because if those decisions are not apparent to the public, they won't be apparent to our state lawmakers, to our county, uh board of supervisors, uh, etc. Um, one of the things I also want to mention is I think there's a lot of money out there, right? But historically, because we've gotten, you know, a lot of money from the county, from the state, from the federal government, um, we haven't had to go look to the

116private sector. And I think that's something that needs to be done. I only learned yesterday that um Jay Garant's replacement uh in the office, the oneman office of public private partnership has has left. And so that's an empty seat. And that's a one deep office. If you're a college, if you're a private school, you're going to have multiple people whose only job is to go out there, form partnerships with the private sector, and get money from them, get donations, get grants, etc. I know we have multiple people applying for grants. Maybe those people could be reallocated to support uh establishing partnerships with Microsoft, Amazon, Apple or others, not just for AI, but also working with unions for skilled trades in our CTE programs. There's money out there and we just don't seem to be pursuing

117it based on all the conversations I'm having with with staff. But I also want to raise public private partnerships for construction renovation. That's something there guidelines that were prepared. We need to enact those. We need to put them into place. and then see, you know, developers have conversations and see what we can do to activate uh that as a as a strategy for bringing in new dollars. These are these are things that many school districts, including Prince George's County, has done very successfully. Um we don't need to just rely exclusively on other higher uh sovereign governments uh in order to get funded. There are partnerships. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dun. Miss Mary. >> So again, I have to underscore we don't have a plan for how to do this work. Um I don't

118yet see the superintendent implementing the robust approach to financial planning to change our future reality and advising us on how to do this. Um I see the superintendent as working within the bounds that we have when it comes to finances, but I don't want to operate in these confines anymore. and some others have said we can't change everything but I don't see the change in our approach right now and although this e focuses on the last budget year it's now October so it includes what has happened post that budget to now and you know we have the same setup of our board committee of our budget and we have the same approach we cannot you know the saying is you can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome so to me financial

119planning includes a blended approach of budget forecasting and development work, targeted legislative advocacy at the state level, and the community engagement. When are we going to do a full-on community engagement for budget like we've done for boundaries like we've done for, you know, the superintendent's other conversations and like what is the board's work? I would propose that at each of our work sessions, we have time to work on financial planning. That we as a board determine our goals for this budget process and the ongoing financial planning and management. And then we get really specific. Look, a lot of us are have other jobs. I know that you're successful in all your planning. Can we treat this as that goal? You know, we need a plan. We can't just say we're going to meet about it

120one month and hear about it another. What's the plan? For me, I definitely don't want to go backwards. I do not want more money coming out. Um, the work on the joint facility committee that's coming up that I've been preparing for, I've learned more and more about the services and the investments that the county has, and it's raised questions for me about the traditions of how programs are implemented, whether that's school age child care or community use or capital funding. The guiding documents for those work are out of dates. I've read documents that are still being used. Now, if I could switch my sentence, I've read documents that are still being used now to guide county and FCPS partnerships that go back to 2015, 2011, 2004, and 1987 that we are still using to determine

121how taxpayer dollars are creating a good way of life in Fairfax. We need a plan to work with the county to figure this out. >> Thank you, Miss Maron. I will call for a vote on the motion which is on the screen. all those in favor Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismoreheiser, and myself. All those opposed, Miss Marin, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson. Will the clerk please read the vote? >> The vote is 84. The motion carries. >> Thank you. At this time, the board will take a few Oh, Hold on. I went too far. Um, agenda item 9.01, policy review, financial planning, EL5. The next order of business is the policy review for executive limitation 5 financial planning. Annually, the board will review

122each limit executive limitation at the time of the monitoring report is presented to determine if revisions are needed. Board members may offer amendments to executive limitation at any regular meeting, provided they send the final amendment language to the board and clerk at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting at to at which it's to be considered. At this time, no amendments have been submitted in advance of this meeting, but board members may provide comments on executive limitation five financial planning. Before we vote on maintaining the current language for the year ahead, I call on Mr. Meline for a motion. So I move that the school board maintains executive limitation five financial planning as it is currently detailed in the strategic governance meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you Miss Lady.

123Uh Mr. Mleene, would you like to speak to your motion? >> Not at this time. >> Uh Miss Lady, would you like to speak to your second? >> Uh no. Thanks. >> I will call for a vote on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fris, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mcine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, Miss Seismarhiser, and myself. All those opposed, all those abstaining, Mr. Dunn. We are going to take a five quick minutes recess and we will be right back. [Music] Board members, please take your seats. Okay, we're going to get going again. Dr. Reid. Agenda item 10.01, academic matters. I call on Dr. Reid for academic matters. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. um tonight for our academic matters. This

124is actually probably um one of the academic matters I have in some ways most looked forward to. Uh we uh this evening are going to unveil our first iteration or if you will our beta um future ready index for Fairfax County Public Schools. And why this is so important right now is as the state is redefining um in their own way their framework for accountability and as the state continues to look at uh they have created more rigorous assessments in the last uh couple years and now they're working to raise the cut scores to make it more difficult to pass courses um or the so exams. I think that it's really important that we take back our narrative as a public school division and that we here in Fairfax County Public Schools define excellence in

125a way in which we believe it ought to come off the page. And so our team has been working really all for over a year on putting this together uh because we want to make sure we're defining our work uh so that it's something that's a stable metric that we can look at year after year after year and that someone outside of our system isn't able to come in and manipulate. So we are uh we've worked with community members as well to put this together. And so this evening I want to begin by uh hearing our student voice uh because this is really I want to center our work back uh where it ought to be which is our young people and the arc of their future which each of you um and our entire

126community really is responsible for. So, as we begin to think about how we're going to measure our success moving forward, uh, Madame Clerk, let's go ahead and play the video and let's, uh, kind of center ourselves in our student voice. >> Some futures are written by circumstances, >> not ours. In our schools, our futures are written in the moments between the bells. They're written in the classroom, in the lab, in the code, on the stage, and on the field. This is a story of excellence, >> of belonging, >> and it's the story of what's next. We don't just prepare for the future. >> We are building it. >> There will always be numbers, but they don't tell the whole story. >> We will. >> We are proud of our success. We celebrate our achievements and

127we are ready for the future. >> We are Fairfax County Public Schools. So what our young people have to tell us and our staff is that there are a lot of numbers out there that are used to define education, to define outcomes. And I think uh to our peril, define our children. And so this evening I want to share with you an opportunity to think about our success differently and to think about how we measure that differently. So when we think about what meas what measuring um why that's important and what matters for our future, we did take a look at five domains. Um and as we began to work on this project last year, we want to make sure we're providing with um our families and our community a transparent and a consistent, predictable

128way that if we want to change, that's on us to make those decisions. but someone else isn't going to um tell our story or be part of our narrative. It's really um an opportunity to center Fairfax County Public Schools in the tradition of excellence that we've long come to expect. This work is grounded in the education to workforce framework which is a national evidence base that connects what happens in schools to long long-term student success from early learning through career readiness. The index measures both outcomes and the conditions that make those outcomes possible. And when we think about the budget conversation we just had, that's really one of the primary tasks of financial planning is to make sure that the conditions in our learning spaces and the conditions our learners experience each and every day

129enable them to achieve the outcomes we expect each and every day. This is a living framework for continuous improvement and it's designed to help us learn, grow, and celebrate our progress across five domains of readiness. We're defining success in a way that reflects our community values, not someone else's. As we look at the next uh domains of readiness, I want to note that the very first domain of excellence we know is important here in Fairfax County Public Schools is academic excellence. This measures rigorous learning and foundational skills in literacy, math, and critical thinking, includes key predictors of future opportunity and long-term success, and focuses on preparing every student to thrive in an increasingly complex world. The second domain is safety and belonging. We know that students learn best when they feel safe, supported, and connected.

130We learned that again and again and again, and it was spoken about this evening. We know that belonging drives engagement, attendance, and academic success. And that this domain reflects an inclusive, caring school culture where every student feels valued and can show up as their authentic self. The third domain is a future ready experience and this domain looks at hands-on realworld learning that builds creativity and problem solving including CTE pathways, interdisciplinary projects and applied innovation. This particular domain really is an opportunity to look at not just how students adapt to the future but how do students shape their future and ours by extension. The fourth domain is great teachers and support. We know strong educators are the foundation of student success and that's why we've invested in our educators which by the way you're going to

131hear more when we have our HR eel because we've again um cut back the um loss of our um or we've increased our staying by another 1% I believe. So we're continuing on the right path um retaining our educators. We look at teacher quality, retention, professional learning and we know that investing in our workforce strengthens every other outcome. Our final domain is community community investment which recognizes that success depends on the system surrounding each and every student. When the community invests together, every student's path to the future opportunity gets stronger. So let's take a look at this at this point. This slide shows our current future ready index ratings as the team uh has rated them. So you can see the five ratings and we've picked stars. Um and we believe and we'll show you

132uh how the team came to this uh conclusion. Overall these results show that FCPS is performing strongly across most areas. At the same time the index reminds us that our work is ongoing. We see opportunities in particular to expand future ready experiences or those kinds of hands-on real world learning experiences that prepare our students to lead and innovate in the future. And quite honestly, many of our students are leading and innovating in the present. Uh the takeaway is balance. We are on the right track and we have clear momentum and a shared commitment to continuous growth. Let's take a closer look at those subcategories. And I know this is fine print, but I want to share that the team has worked very hard to look at five measures within each of these domains, which are

133really the measures that you might think about in a future ready division. When I think about 22nd century skills, the 22nd century is right around the corner. Children born today, as we learned at our work session, will be graduating from university in 2042. That's only 54 years of a career before they're in the 22nd century. The future is fast approaching. For each measure, we identify data points as well as state or national averages against which we can compare ourselves. A star is awarded if our level is better than the comparison. When we cannot find reference points, we used a threshold of 80%. consistent with the cutoff score used in the new state um standards or framework for on track meaning that meeting the state's expectations for achievement growth readiness and graduation are consistent uh with

134where we are at the state. This index is intended to be a living document that will be updated with measures and data as new data and information become available. examples. Uh here we have several examples of what we would characterize as aspirational data points again in a future division that we might or a future version of this particular um measure or index. These examples show where we might be headed next. The kinds of measures that might capture what it truly means to be future ready. They move beyond traditional metrics to focus on innovation, creativity, and applied learning. things like exposure to design and computational thinking, AI fluency, interdisciplinary projects, sustainability or entrepreneurship experiences. And that doesn't mean that we aren't doing those things currently in the division. Those um activities are happening. What we want

135to talk about is how do those activities happen at scale and how are those accessible to children all across the county. We're looking at how educators collaborate and innovate because we know our teaching practices drive student opportunity. So these are um I think aspirational data points and others that you as a board are going to be um thinking about providing and as we continue to work with our community to shape our future. Um we're going to continue to uh keep a nimble index. The key is we own it. It's our work. It's our community. It's our narrative and it's our aspirations that will drive this work. So this evening, Madam Chair, this concludes our academic matters on the future ready index. >> Thank you Dr. Reid. We're going to kick things off with Miss Dixit.

136>> Thank you Dr. Reid. Uh this is such an interesting topic uh and know future ready generation and uh we we have a lot of students who are already future ready. So but uh we know that technology changes have happened so fast in last uh 20 30 years that uh uh definitely more is needed. Um I when you you mention about the uh few things happening in some parts of the school system. I remember walking into a class and in real school and they were doing shock tank type competition where uh students were actually working on their business idea and first sharing it with their colleagues uh I mean classmates and then presenting it. So um and I thought of that as like uh you know why are we not doing this maybe divisionwide and

137then just do a shock tank type of competition at the division level. Uh I I think it's we need to generate those future leaders uh business owners entrepreneurs thinkers innovators and u and it has to be done divisionwide. So that's just my um point in this and other than that uh I think we're heading in the right direction. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Dixon. And I was thinking maybe of a kinder, gentler term than shark tank. Um we might have halibet tank or um something that might be a little less uh um dangerous, but I do think that it would be interesting to have an FCPS uh event like that. I I think we would be um we'd continue to be so impressed with our young people. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Reid.

138Moving on to agenda item 10.02, strategic plan update. >> Thank you, Madame Chair. I am really excited this evening to share our strategic plan update for October. Um each month we share an update uh on our work around the strategic plan as we highlight our goals and pillars. Uh this evening, I'm very pleased to have Holly McKinley, the manager for design and construction projects, who is going to be my phone a friend. Holly, you want to give a wave here? uh from our design and construction team. So I am thrilled to remind the board that we do have five goals and four pillars. And this evening I'll be showcasing how our design and construction services create innovative culturally responsive learning environments for all of our students using ed specs educational specifications developed in collaboration with

139a variety of departments in the school division. I want to remind our board and community that um our FCPS design and construction teams are fundamental to ensuring our students have safe, modern, and effective learning environments. The team serves as our liaison with Fairfax County on all facility related matters, ensuring collaboration on everything from zoning and permitting to occupancy. They're responsible for the entire life cycle of our building projects from initial design to final construction, creating highquality, state-of-the-art facilities for our students and staff. Educational specifications provide the fundamental criteria for designing school spaces that support our school board approved instructional program. They guide the design of all new and renovated schools and are a critical component of our facility planning, ensuring that we have adequate physical space for students, staff, and programs during renovations and the

140introduction of new programs and capacity concerns. Most importantly, they continually adapt to meet current practices and state guidelines to guarantee each school is designed to the most up-to-date standards. Currently, our edspecs continue to be living documents that guide the design of our learning environment. They allow us to increase natural daylight, improve technology integration and design for better student and staff circulation and movement. We've installed improved mechanical systems and controls, and continue to work on that. And we've created more efficient vehicular traffic flow and increased flexibility within learning spaces. FCPS continues to emphasize energy conver conservation and reduce life cycle costs in our design criteria. Let's take a moment to see this work in action and look at some recent projects from design and construction. Madame clerk, if you would please uh play the video Education

141is always evolving. The challenge is ensuring that our schools can keep up with the changing needs of our students and curriculum. The FCPS educational specifications, also known as edspecs, detail how types of spaces are built and specify size, amenities, and location within a facility. Over time, the use of a building changes with each unique program having different accommodations and spatial requirements. One of the great things about being a large school division and a dynamic county is that we have access to experts who understand the needs of our students, families, and communities. Our process is deeply collaborative. While our ED specs guide the vision, the construction team ensures that the vision becomes reality. During construction, our team coordinates with architects, contractors, and engineers to ensure specs are implemented accurately. Then we monitor how materials, finishes, and

142layout support instructional goals and long-term functionality. Our ad specs provide the framework, but we remain collaborative because once construction begins, then things evolve. Our job is to stay true to the intent while navigating the realities of the site. Once a new or renovated space is open, the work isn't over. In fact, the most important phase begins. Real learning and real environment. The people who use these spaces every day, students, teachers, and school staff are evaluating the learning space. FCPS uses feedback to update and refine the aspects so future designs continue to evolve. Great learning spaces don't just meet expectations, they grow from lived experience. >> The brand new design of our library has made the library space even larger than it used to be. The original size of our library made things feel really cramped

143and kind of tight. We had our smaller windows, our brand new library space. Everything is on wheels. We can rearrange this space so that it meets the needs of classrooms that are using it. Whether an entire grade level needs to use it in the library, whether we're having a community event out here, having all of this amazing huge almost floor to ceiling windows in here, the natural light that this brings in, it makes the space look lighter, feel lighter. It's always just it's it's a happy place for so many of our students. design and construction came in and they have made everything way more efficient. Um, historically we only had one entrance where buses were coming through as well as kiss and ride cars. So, it got really congested. Now that we have two entrances,

144there's separate entrance for cars, there's a separate entrance for buses, and it makes things uh way less congested. It makes it more efficient. It's much more safe for the families, much more safe for the kids especially. >> Designing learning spaces for all is more than a construction project. >> It is the FCPS strategic plan in action. We create intentional learning spaces for all students that promote a positive school climate, empower staff, and support student success. >> Each learning space is a step toward a future where each and every student reaches their greatest potential. >> Excellent, equity, and opportunity. So, Madam Chair, I think one of the other than the incredible um opportunities this provides for our children, I think one of the incredible takeaways is how committed every one of our staff members on team

145FCPSR are to the success of our students. whether it's a managing design and construction or as a math resource teacher, right, or a principal, librarians, uh, everyone is so proud of what we're able to create for our young people. And I can only say recently I was at Falls Church High School and, uh, touring uh, their new spaces, their science rooms, their library. Um, it's just remarkable what we're able to design and it makes a difference. It matters to our young people. So, um very proud of our design and construction team and uh really pleased with uh the report and um want to continue to report on uh our design and construction as we move forward and remind the board that goal one is coming up for October 23rd for our strategic plan and then

146goal five leading for tomorrow's innovation will be December 2nd at the work session. So, lots of exciting strategic work coming ahead. >> Thank you, Dr. Reed. Uh, Mr. Fr, will you kick us off? >> Yes, thank you. Um, especially when such a great video of so many Providence District Schools up there. >> Um, or Providence adjacent as the false church case may be. Um uh you know the first soon after I was elected in in uh in 2020 after being sworn in uh I visited Mosaic as a school board member for the first time and Dr. Ashie, who is not only one of our best principles, but is also one of the school division's best salespeople, took me on a tour and at the end of the hall, uh she walked me into the pullout

147room, which any normal person would have called the closet at the end of the hall and she was making a point in this tour that they were using literally every nook and cranny in the building uh for the educational advancement of the students. And so to see where it is today based on the work of uh these great staff members um is incredible. Um and you know it it's interesting because if you go to a school that was renovated in the 90s the you know the as the 10ens and recently they're all a little different in terms of what things may have been the focus of the edspecs of the time. So, um, and I've been talking, oddly enough, about edspecs with Dr. Anderson of late, and she'll I'm she'll sure she will bring up

148some topics here, but, um, I'm interested how, um, when big changes happen over time, how do we ensure that the schools that were remodeled um, before those changes are seeing the benefits of those advancements? So I think that right now our renovation queue uh is lengthening right so the opportunity to get back to a school perhaps to enhance uh part of the ed specs that maybe weren't part of the specs at that time are fairly limited currently but I'm going to phone a friend Miss McKinley do you want to come on up here and we'll Miss McKinley is going to help here with a little bit of that uh and if you have a thought on I don't It's since I've been here, we haven't gone back to previously renovated schools to do any upgrades,

149but I don't know if that's been our pattern or not. >> Uh, that's correct. If it's in a renovation queue, uh, once it's renovated, it would refer to the current EDS spec. However, if a school would submit a a DC 407 or a work order request, then that team would refer to the current ETSspec and design it to this. So in some cases if a school requests a change and that change is accepted it might be upgraded to the current atspec depending on the project. Okay. It's helpful information and you know I think it speaks to if you've been through a remodel uh or renovation rather and I wish we had a better word for renovation because it's so much more than new paint wallpaper or whatever the word renovation implies right. It's a complete

150reimagining of the educational space. Um to see not only our principles transformed into like HGTV hosts without the cameras as they reimagine the use of every conceivable space inside of the building with the expertise of our staff. Um and then see what the result is. We're seeing giant chunks of Falls Church High School coming online and and being reopened to the student population as we look now to the athletic complex. Um, it's really something special that's happening in these schools that are being renovated and I just wish that we could do it more quickly for everybody. We were on that trajectory of shortening the window down to 20, you know, to get closer to the 25 year mark, but now it's just been blown out by more than a decade from when I started on

151the board. >> Right. That's correct. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. This is again kind of timely in terms of the conversations I've been having as of late, but I'd like to understand better the development of the edspecs, those are local decisions. What is utilized to inform that? Are there industry standards? Are you just thumbming through architectural magazines? What goes into developing these aspects? Like what's the process? Oh, thank you. >> So, Dr. Anderson, I'm going to have uh Miss McKinley talk a little bit about that because I think you could probably do it in your sleep. >> Um so, as the video mentioned, it's deeply collaborative. We work with um several different departments throughout FCPS. Um for example, ISD um particularly in regards to program requirements for the different spaces

152within the schools. And that helps us understand what the space is requiring. Um the square footage that's required, adjacencies, things like that, equipment, um that goes into the edspec. We also work with food and nutritional services, OSS, transportation, um EIT, DSS, several different departments, and we get their input to help influence these EDS specs um and when we develop them. >> Thank you. Um, that's very helpful. Are there codes, and I'm not speaking about building codes and permits, that kind of thing that we know must happen in order to ensure safety, but are there Virginia codes? Are there regulations that determine that our schools must have these kinds of things in them? Because it sounds as if we have lots and lots of latitude from what you've described. What are the boundaries? what where who

153are who else is informing um the decisions that are happening with you know food and nutrition services and ISD um the VDOE has guidelines for school designs the Virginia Department of Education has guidelines for school designs and we reference those guidelines while we're working on the edspecs >> and those are guidelines mandatory activities to which you must adhere >> correct Okay. Can you give an example of a guideline that video has that we pay more attention to than others? Hate to put you on the spot. >> I I think it would be best if we can give you get back to you with the specific. >> Sure. No, thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Uh, Miss Dixit. >> Thank you, Dr. Reed. uh I not this know what word this word ed

154specs was interesting for me to re learn something new uh I wanted to ask about the existing school that we have lot of schools where we still have locker bays and they're not being oper used at all and some very hardly I think few students use them so in lot of schools I've seen they have taken them out and used them space as a collaborative uh you know learning space you know like a free period and students working on project together and I think budget is a constant like every principal I think is working with their budget or they're on the maintenance queue. Um can we do this as a divisionwide uh change where we can implement this as a in our schools where they're not using the locker bays any anymore. So good question.

155I've been in schools where they use them and in schools where they don't. So, and some schools took blockers out to widen the halls to allow more uh kind of less congestion in the halls. Um, whereas other schools have left them in because their students are using them. So, right now um it's a bit uh hit or miss depending also on the uh construction years of the building, right? Because some remodels or renovations are not including lockers and some are. And again, we're talking middle and high or secondary schools. So, I think it's a great conversation. It's also not cheap to take them out or put them in. So, um I I think it's uh one of those conversations that is a school by school right now. >> Yeah. I went I had two boys

156went through FCPS uh you know from middle to high school and none of them both of them did not use it like ever. But I know some students uh probably still like that put their bag in on place. So yeah, that's something I'd like to know because I know a lot of principal did mention that to me they would like to get rid of them and just kind of use it in a more open space like hallways or other other things, other classrooms maybe. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Miss Marin. >> Yeah, you know, I'm not really sure I've ever seen like where the edspecs live. Where do they live? It's like the secret place or not. >> Well, um, they live in design and construction. the department. Um but I think there is

157a bit of them in the CIP. Um I believe um but we could certainly I can provide those to you. Well um in a Friday letter we can provide an attachment. >> Well well I'm not sure that's what you know I'm looking for. I mean I don't fancy myself an architect or designer engineer. I think you know but there's questions like the one about the locker is a good question or I know when we were working on the outdoor classrooms new ed specs were drawn and as I again work on prepping for this joint facility committee you know there's things with like permitting and I know with the edspecs you know if we added a concrete outdoor classroom then it was like oh we need to add more bathrooms because it's expanding coverage but it's

158really not so I just think it's curious we talk about so many other aspects of facilities and this is one that like we never visit And it seems like something that should be visited, not to get all technical, but to say, "Huh, you know what would be interesting?" Like even a plan for more um you know, energy efficiency, which again I'm sure our staff are experts on, but um you know, how is that in the ED specs? How does that stuff from policy get in there? Um yeah, so I I don't quite know how it's how it works. So, I think that the EDSP specs are part of the design and construction process which um come into play when there's when we're going to build a new building, which we haven't done in a long

159time, or when we move into the renovation, the design for a renovation. And I think what I understand even a little better this evening um and as a result of doing this report because we haven't talked about EDSP specs uh much but that that it's is a collaborative effort that's also based on the strengths of the site that we're renovating. So um I'd be happy to gather more information for you on that for the board and in particular for you that for that joint committee. I think it'd be very helpful. Well, I think this is one of those key areas that if you know we could talk as a board about this very regularly, the $ 8.7 billion in facilities that this is one of those topics. Every month we're having a work session about

160it and how we're maintaining it. You know, I'm also learning about it's not just getting the funding to build these things, it's the maintenance, especially when we look at our athletic fields. They're in and there's a perception that okay, they're good like for a long time, but there's maintenance and there's even just the cost to run utilities. So all of this stuff is again it's it's twice the amount of our annual budget and we really don't talk about facilities enough. So um yeah I'd love to learn more in a reasonable way. I don't want every edspec. Please don't send every edspec to us. I just want to know more about it >> and it intersects with these decisions we have to make. >> And I think that's why we selected EDSP specs tonight as part

161of our strategic plan update was because we felt like um this$8 billion dollar investment is something we want to talk about. So I think we're trying to the team's trying to be responsive and uh I I think it's a it's a good topic and even having ed specs does not um mean that every uh site is similar you know it's an aspirational spec almost I think because some sites have more fields some have less um it's you know again the size of the acreage the geographic location sometimes um so but I'm happy to ask the team to provide a a primer that might be a little more of a summary document on this topic if that would be helpful and then link to the details for those who might want to look at more details.

162>> Mr. Dunn, >> uh I love this topic. Um here's here's my question. Uh we have for doors and windows and it's on the you can just Google FCPS edsp specs and you find it for doors and windows only. There's 139 pages of specifications. 139 pages just for doors and windows. Um I don't I don't I could not begin to think what we could possibly say for doors and windows um that requires that amount of uh specification for concrete for masonry for all these things. These are all governed. There's an international building code and and my I guess my question is why don't we just use the code that I use for my home that every commercial building operator uses to build buildings or renovate buildings. Why do we need um our own uh code

163in essence building on that supplements um what the county already has established or that the state has already established? >> I think those are great questions Mr. Dunn. I um I asked the question I think yesterday about why we need to get a permit to run our new school as a school because it's been a school. Um but we do we have to file a permit with the county um to have our new Western High School permitted as a school and before we can do any kind of renovation, we have to have this permit in place. So I think um I'm going to turn to Mr. Gordon to provide a little bit of insight as to why we would have um Fairfax County Public School um EDS specs. I will say even in my prior

164division, we had division level edsp specs. Um because there were certain things that our community by virtue of our community facilities committee expected in any school construction. And we were building schools uh new schools um multiple new schools and uh new buildings and there were certain ed specs that were um critically important to that school division that meant that every school would need that feature. So Mr. Gordon, your thoughts on that here in Virginia? >> Hey. Yes, ma'am. Hey sir, I would say, you know, for us the edspecs helped bridge, you know, education vision and design a facility design and it helps us helps with consistency and bring in standards and benchmarks. So specifically ask your question, why would we have such detail on doors and windows? Uh I would look at it from an

165operational maintenance perspective. So, you know, you we have a construction budget, but the requirement to maintain facilities is much larger. And so, if you have a standard um facility design, standard window design, I think it helps our downrace uh facilities teams to fix and repair and replace windows at a more equitable uh economic or more economic type of uh uh process. So >> I I guess you know if you add up all the pages it's over a thousand pages which you know you could build a space shuttle with that amount of pages. Um have you considered doing a Baldridge efficiency like process to cut back on our EDS specs? Because the more customization we have from what's out there just in law or in requirements by the county, the more it costs to build for

166us and the more uh the harder it is for people to come in and just give us estimates that are, you know, cost effective. So that drives up our our cost by having more customization, more specifications. And if we could just be more efficient and cut it back to, you know, the door has to be, you know, x number of inches wide so wheelchairs can get in or gurnies or whatever, right? That, you know, just what is absolutely necessary versus nice to have, right? The mustave we can keep, but that should be just a core and the rest is extraneous. That that might be worth doing because if we have limited dollars and great needs, we need to spend more efficiently. And and I really loved what you're saying about the Baldridge maximum return on

167investment. We need to apply that here and and cut back on the customization that maybe is ownorous and dissuades people from bidding in the first place. >> Yes, sir. I'll uh take a look at that and we'll see what we can do and come back to you with a report on that. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Dun. Miss St. John Cunning. >> Um so thank you for this report. It's really interesting. Um, having moved through several renovations uh at several schools, I feel I have like a little bit of experience, not anything as expansive as reading all those pages. Um, having said that, just because the doors issues was brought up, I do want to say there are several kinds of doors within a school and there are several kinds of

168requirements for some of those doors. Um, and building codes for a house are different from building codes for a building that houses children and how we're going to protect children. So, there have to be safety measures within those doors so those children don't get hurt. Again, not an expert. Just saying that I've lived through several renovations. It seems like every time a renovation I lived through was done and the building was new, I moved to another school where there was another renovation that was just starting. But having said that, uh, when we'd look at ensuring long-term value and energy conservation and reducing the life cycle costs, um, as we move forward and we do look at the renovation queue being longer, um, I think it's important for us to consider a way to support some

169autonomy in our schools. And again, that down on the ground experience where the building supervisors will know that there are certain parts in their schools that maybe need more v ventilation or more more air conditioning at certain times than at other schools because I know right now it's centrally um it's centrally controlled and having that ability to monitor that individually depending on the school because they are so different um geographically by size is something that I'd like to see being considered. because I think that also speaks to the life cycle costs because we save energy but then we might create another problem that is less that costs more to fix than what the energy cost would be. So just >> yes ma'am I will take that under advisement. >> Thank you. Just my two cents.

170>> Thank you Miss St. John Cunning. Mr. M. >> So, I agree that this is a an exciting presentation. Um, but my overarching question is where does the board fit in this process? Right. I've been on this board for many years. Um, and I don't think we've ever had a discussion that about EDSP specs um in any sort of detail, which is fascinating because it's um such an intrinsic part of our construction. >> So, I it's a great question, Mr. Mleene. I I think what I would before tonight would have thought is that maybe the CPDC or FPAC process had some input into EDSP specs, but maybe not, right? I'm not entirely sure. Um, so I think it opens up a conversation. What role would the board like to have in EDSP specs? Um, I

171think minimally, um, as we think about the executive limitation around facilities, maybe there's some, um, oversight of whatever the current EDS specs are that would have an annual review, for example, like if we're adjusting them or what are the EDS specs for the projects in that prior year, like I can think of some topics, but those would be, of course, potentially after the fact. And if you wanted um input into edspecs before a project, then that's a another conversation. So um I think let's I'll have the team mold that over and provide some maybe some options in a Friday letter and maybe that's a conversation we can have. >> Hey Dr. Reed, can I just add one thing? >> Oh, sorry. Where did that voice come from? >> So there is schoolboard policy 8120 that

172the >> Oh, there you are for specs. >> My friend phoned in. Um, so policy 8120 talks about board involvement in edspecs. >> It 8120 is edspecs. Yes, ma'am. >> Well, we will review 8120, >> right? Because I I mean, just reflecting, you know, on board conversations, we talk about wanting stronger roofs to hold solar panels. We talk about wanting more natural light in the classroom. We talk about needing elevators that don't break down. Um, so I just it it would be nice to see kind of a flowchart on how these things trickle down, right? Um, and I I fully agree with Miss Marin and others who have said and you have reinforced that we need a board conversation. Um, and it seems like it would be uh appropriate for a retreat, right? Um to

173to lay things out really just do um visioning work about where we think we're doing well, right? um in terms of our facilities and where we need to work on and so anyway uh that is my takeaway. Thank you. >> Yes sir. And it it connects a bit to Mr. Dunn's comment about sort of I don't want to say baldring but u utilizing some of the framework questions and some of the framework strategies to kind of think about how does the process of setting these happen from setting them to you know implementing them. So, I look forward to the conversation and the team will come back with some ideas. >> I'm going to take a tiny tiny turn. Um, I love a good Garand by the way. So, Bulgering I think is great. Um, but

174I also will tell you that we get a lot of feedback or I get a lot of feedback um from some folks in my district that talk about things that we could be use doing within a school that might make it more conducive for different kinds of kids to learn. And so I do think that there's some opportunity that we just need some place to maybe share that information so that we see traction that can happen if we have either a large enough group of people or if we you know adopt something as a division. So I think coming up with some sort of pathway that we can make sure because you know some of our community members are going to have the perfect idea that we need to adopt and so I think that

175coming up with a methodology for that would be part that would be helpful. Yes, ma'am. And I I think it it it uh it exists to have input because I know we've discussed, for example, having a more sensory um safe lunch area to eat, and that's one of the topic areas we've been inserting into EDS specs. We just haven't renovated many buildings since we inserted that. But it's important that we have a space for um our children and young students and students to have a quieter area to eat lunch for example. So we know that there's some very important ed specs that we want to include moving forward. >> Exactly. Mr. Dunford, go back. >> Uh is it possible to amend the edspecs to uh to emphasize beauty? Um, our schools by and large are

176painted concrete block and have a feeling of prisons. Um, then contrast that with the Western High School we just purchased, which is award-winning. Not a single concrete block in sight. I think that, so I'm just having to think for a minute about that question. I I think we're back to the And I back to the budget conversation, too, right? Like I think beauty is important and it um I also if I think about we're going to have to make sure that the facilities are efficient financially uh frugally designed and built at this time. Um so as long as we can do beauty and frugality synonymously I'm all in right now. >> Uh Dr. B, can I add something? >> Yes, Mr. Gordon. So I I think uh sir Mr. Dunn if if we get to

177a point where you're doing design build versus design bid build I think that uh aesthetic creative component to that would come out through a design build process. You would allow for that because you you can have that in the scope of the work and you can then have uh kind of outside the box thinking that a design build collaborative team would provide us in that kind of meeting to the what you're getting at there. So I think design build would would help alleviate your concerns. >> Uh do the edspecs require concrete block construction? Uh just is that is that in the edspecs and mandatory? I'll take that as a duo or I'll phone a friend. >> Um, so our master specifications are where you will find what materials are used within the design of the

178building. So there's concrete, there's um steel, there's every option available for a building. Um, our ED specs are laid out to describe the square footage and the finishes and the adjacencies and the equipment that are required within the space. >> Uh, but but we don't necessarily have to have con, you know, painted concrete block walls in all the schools. >> Okay. Um, would it be possible to develop a standard design for elementary, middle, and high schools? So, instead of having a different design for every school, you have a standard Anything is possible. Mr. Dunn, I what I would say coming from divisions that have used standard and the divisions that have not, one of the things that's critical to having a standard design is a fairly similar geographic uh square footage andor um what do

179I want to call terrain, right? Because uh to have a standard design, I was in a division. We used a standard design three times because we were building elementary schools. And so there were three elementary schools that looked very similar, but then there was another site that just didn't provide uh because of the terrain, the topography of that particular lot and the size, we weren't able to put that standard design on that lot. So I think yes, and we would want to make sure that the lots would uh support that. And in this case, a standard design because we're so infrequently building, often time moves on and then we have new things we may want to include. But in divisions where we're moving more quickly or building more quickly, I may think even around us

180like allowen for example, it's very plausible that a standard design would work. Uh because you're building maybe multiple schools within the same decade. Um it's been several decades since we've started from scratch here. >> Um is there a reason is it mandated by the edspecs that we build horizontally? Because when you build horizontally especially our high schools they become mazes and that requires miles and miles of cables of HVAC duct work of pipes. Whereas if you built and and and the concrete footing, which is often the most expensive part of construction, that's a lot more concrete than if you had a smaller footing and built vertical, you know, three or four stories, maybe three because I don't know four would be allowed by regulation. But is there a reason that we build horizontally according to

181the ED specs? >> Well, I'll need to get back to you on that one. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Dun. Mr. two things really quick. One, and folks can correct me if I'm wrong, but we have many schools that at one point started as replicas of each other in Fairfax County, but over successive renovations where needs were different, they've kind of developed their own personalities. I think that's one reason. At a certain point, that was possible because the envelopes were small or large enough that they housed schools that were the same. and we saved money because of that. But things change over time. The second thing I would say is that uh I think the work that the team does is magnificent and I've been fortunate to have a few renovated schools open in

182Providence District over the last six years. Um and they're gorgeous. Uh Mosaic is not that far from here. It's almost done. It's it was in the video. It's beautiful. Oakton High School featured prominently in the video. Gorgeous. Um, so, um, I appreciate the sentiment. Uh, I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Although I will say brutalism is pretty brutal. Um, and Washington's full of it, but it has its own character, too. Um, you know, I think the schools of the 90s look strange uh, compared to what we think of as like contemporary architecture today with the beauty of it and what people expect. And you know, there were schools built in the early 90s that didn't have many windows because people thought differently about what the goal was there. So I I

183think what I would like to see and I appreciate Mr. Mavine's comment about what's the board's role here. Love the idea of a retreat on something this being baked into it as part of a broader conversation. um how do we remain flexible so that we're not stuck with a choice made 30 years earlier that is so rigid that it I think of Chantelli High School for example you know wonderfully high achieving school not a window to find anywhere um and so that'll get fixed at some point but that's a you know something that probably should have been addressed when it was first built and so I think of like what's the flexibility factor uh because one generation's beauty is another generation ations. Oh my gosh, we thought that was beautiful. Uh, so I appreciate the

184hard work that everybody puts into this. I know it's not easy. Uh, and I also know that the community plays a role, right? Every renovation includes a community committee that's there to help consult on the design of the school. Um, and I've had members of the community stand up and say, "I don't like the way that those renderings look." Right? >> And then other people in the room say, "I quite like that. It's a big improvement on what we have." So, we're not going to please everybody, but the least we can do is try and use our tax dollars to the best of our ability. And I think Mr. Dunn is on the right approach when we talk about partnering with private institutions to try and bring in extra money to help defay that cost.

185Maybe that helps us be a little bit more free in what we choose to do. Maybe it just helps us decide to move on to another project that much sooner. But I really appreciate the work that everybody's put into this. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. And I I have not yet noticed any avocado fixtures. So, as I've made my way around the division, >> and you haven't seen the six different shades of green tile that they've discovered as they've successfully moved through Falls Church High School. Oh, dear. >> And mauv. There was a mauvier apparently as well. >> Okay. Mau I've seen, but uh anyhow, >> thank you, Mr. Fresh. Um Mr. McDaniel for an initial turn. >> Thank you. Um, I always know when my wife is interested in a topic that we're talking

186about because she will send me a text. And because she's a civil engineer, I have 50 texts now that I have to read on this topic when I get home tonight. Uh, literally 50 text messages from her on this topic. Great topic. Speaking of for our October 30th CPDC agenda. So I'll add agenda item for an adspec primer and we'll have a conversation CPDC and tee that up for a board work session if that's what the committee wants. Thank you. >> Thank you >> Dr. Anderson. >> Thank you. You know, one of the things that some of the comments remind me of is open classrooms. Uh one of my first teaching jobs was an open space and then people realized we wanted walls. So walls went up. It changes based on whatever is current at

187the time. >> One of the things that I I also wanted to respond a little bit to what Mr. Dunn shared regarding do we have a set standard. That's exactly what happens in Lowden County. I know I had the opportunity to be the opening principal at one of the brand new schools. It is the same plan except the color is different. You get the blue model, the red model, or the green model. that's what they've used, but they also are not building or renovating in place. When you have students in the schools, we're a little bit more limited. And we see that being manifested right now in our beautiful renovations, but the second story that's just been added is taller than the first story. You have these weird little steps because they couldn't just blow

188it all up to start from scratch. So unless we can get into the conversation of swing spaces where we are moving everybody out and really starting from scratch and you know topography and all of those things come secondarily because we don't have anywhere for those kids to go for us to reuse the same plans which would be a lot cheaper um because we won't have to customize each and every one of those buildings the way that we do now. Um and the other question that I had is regarding the edspecs um regarding height or rather stories. Bailey's is four stories. >> It's more than three. I don't know if it was four or five. So >> it's definitely more than three. So I didn't think there was a limitation there regarding how far we can

189go up if somebody from if Mr. Gordon can confirm. >> Yeah, we can get back to you on that. I think different um I think that was also a building, wasn't it? Before >> it was an office building, >> right? So that >> you know, my guess is when we purchased it, we purchased it as a building and we didn't I wasn't here, but I'm guessing we didn't take off a floor and we didn't add a floor. I'm thinking we just remodeled the floors we bought. Um so that's would be different maybe than uh construction from the ground up, but we can get back to you on that. >> Sure. Thank you. And if m if Mr. Moon were here. One of the things that I know he would say is it was the fastest

190renovation ever because the building went from being purchased to being available for students to enter within eight months. And that's also a a another um option that I don't see us exercising as much. And this was a huge conversation during the pandemic where the fair um the board of supervisors would sit around and lament about how many open spaces that they have available throughout the county because of the commercial side being down. And I've never we've never had sufficient conversation to figure out how can we maximize those spaces that are still sitting empty with the need that we have on the school side. So I again with the joint facilities discussion that I believe Miss Marin and Mr. uh McDaniel are on this would be something important to raise with the county folks. >> Thank

191you Dr. Anderson. Uh Miss Marin. >> Yeah I'm I'm glad to hear all this conversation. I certainly again advocate for more time for the board to spend learning about this. Um, you know, I, um, as I've been at meetings, unless I was at two PTA meetings, I mentioned that there are traditions we have in Fairfax that other areas don't. Like if you're in Lowden, you could put your address into the school locator and a window pops up that says this uh, assignment for your school is only good for one year because they review boundaries every year with a huge one, you know, over school division one in five years or the funding of facilities. And I I do wish, you know, this is a gorgeous video and there's no question that our staff and our

192contractors deliver beautiful work. However, it makes it look like this is the frequency of which the buildings are. You know, I was thinking, how many schools have I had opened or renovated in Hunter Mill and I don't feel like it's quite that frequent. Some had been, you know, I guess before I got on. But, you know, this little chart here that we included in the CIP, which I'm very fond of sharing, which drew audible gasps last night at the PTA meeting I was at, because it shows that we get $8.54 per square foot to renovate and take care of our buildings, whereas Prince William gets $4357. And this is why we can't do beautiful things more often because it takes basically my entire lifetime, you know, of 45 years to do that. So, I like

193that when we elevate the successes, but especially with this one, we can't just make it look like it's all rosy. Um, swim safety education, Maryland does that. Community use of buildings, you know, that's something that our spaces are used seven days a week. Prince William doesn't do that, right? So, there's all these things happening. And again, I don't know what we are doing to advance these solutions to these situations. The joint committee is is great and that's one thing, but until the board really understands more about well, how often are EDS specs being, you know, updated and are we going to approve the policies and there's just so much that has to be done. Um, but I'm I'm hoping that everyone who's watching will go vote for the the bond that's on the ballot that

194will pay for some of this. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Thank you, Dr. Reed. Thank you. Agenda item 11, the consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure. Robert's rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by the board in a single motion. Many items have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance. Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting. The consent agenda items are on the screen. Is there any objection to approving the consent agenda? Hearing and seeing no objection, the consent agenda is approved. Agenda item 12, new business. The following are new business agenda items. There will not be a vote on any of these items this evening,

195but action is scheduled at a future meeting. Agenda item 13, Superintendent Matters. I call on Dr. Reid for Superintendent Matters. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um this evening I want to begin uh by wishing a happy National Principles Month uh to each and every one of our amazing, talented, incredible, hardworking, dedicated principles um at every level, elementary, middle, and high and our secondary schools. I continue to just see incredible work and the commitment of our principles is second to none. So we have a fabulous uh all-American principal team. and just want to wish them a happy uh national principles month. Um also want to give a shout out to our community relations team led by director Angie Aldav. Um Angie and the intercultural engagement manager Gracie Mendes proudly accepted Celebrate Fairfax's event of the year

196award uh for their outstanding work on putting together our summer extravaganza recently. And just as a a brief little teaser to a future report, I want to say how proud I am of our students and our educators for the 40% increase in SAT national merit semifinalists uh year-over-year. Um we continue to outperform the Commonwealth of Virginia, the national and global standards in SAT scores, and we had 262 national merit semi- finalists. Um even uh I just I couldn't be more proud of our students. Um and then we have 65.7% of our students who take the SAT and the Commonwealth has just over 50%. So even with 17% uh or 16% more of our students taking the test, we're still outperforming the Commonwealth. So definitely um very proud of our students and our educators. I had

197a chance to visit a number of uh schools over the last couple weeks and saw a number of you as well. Uh, and in particular want to give a shout out to Marshall High School's um, auto technology auto uh, instructor Rebecca Fenton um, as she received a $50,000 prize uh, for Marshall High School's automotive uh, department and she was one of only 25 high school educators to receive the award out of more than a thousand. So, we're very proud of Miss Fenton. Um, and of course I've had a chance to be in a number of our schools and just continue to be impressed by the work that happens every day. So, thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Dr. Reid. Agenda item 14, board matters. Next on the agenda is board matters. I will call

198on each board member to speak in the order that's in the script. We're going to start things off with Miss Dixit. >> Good evening everyone. Um, it is a wonderful time to reflect on the power of community and giving. This past month, we were glad to donate much neededed school supply to the schools in the Sulli district. These resources will help ensure students and families have a support they need as the school year continues. Congratulation to all the students have been named semi-finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation uh in 2025. There are 50 SI uh district students among them. Congratulations to Oakton High School student Joina Arulandu, a Sully student, and her friend Victoria Yu on publishing their first book. Hear that? Squiggle squiggle. Congratulations to Katie Han of Navy Elementary for her incredible

199achievement in the school of Sons of American Revolution poster contest. She was a state winner and won second prize at the national level. The Chantley charges are charged up for homecoming tomorrow, October 10th, as they face the Centerville Wildcats. While I won't be able to attend in person, I want to wish the entire Shandi community a fun-spirited and safe celebration. And last but not the least, I wish happy Diwali to those who celebrate. It's a festival of lights and a victory of good over evil. Um, and just spread the light all around you and have a great night. Thank you, Miss Tix. Miss St. John Cunning. >> Thank you, Buenes. No. I was blown away at the impact awards last night. I'd like to congratulate all of the recipients. It's amazing the work our staffs

200are doing, and I'm particularly proud of those who represented our Franconia schools that were recipients. I'd also like to say happy principles month to the fantastic and fabulous Franconia principles. As we gather this October, it is with a deep sense of respect and gratitude that we recognize two important observances tonight. Indigenous People's Month and LGBTQIA plus History Month. These commemorations give us the opportunity to honor the rich cultural histories and contributions of communities whose stories have too often been marginalized or erased. We especially acknowledge and uplift the voices of indigenous peoples whose stewardship of this land predates our institutions and affirm our commitment to learning from the resilience, wisdom, and living traditions. It is also vital that we recognize the role of twospirited people within many indigenous nations, individuals who embody both masculine and feminine

201spirits and who have held sacred roles in their communities for generations. Their histories and identities remind us of the diversity and depth of gender and sexuality long before colonial understandings were imposed. As we celebrate LGBTQIA plus history month, we recognize the courage of those who have fought for justice, visibility, and the right to live authentically. From Stonewall to today, the movement for LGBTQIA+ plus rights has been strengthened by people of all backgrounds, including black, brown, indigenous, and two spirit activists. Our schools are not only places of learning, but of belonging. We reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that every student, staff member, and family, regardless of their identity, feels seen, valued, and supported. Let us continue to learn, to listen, and to lead with love and respect. Thank you, >> Mr. M. >> Well, going back

202um the last meeting uh we had a opportunity to visit Hayfield uh to see their robotics competition underway and Dr. Reid um led Miss St. John Cunning uh Miss Anderson and I on a uh mold inspection tour and uh things looked quite good. Uh so thank you um Eric and Dr. Reid and everyone who has been working so hard on on that situation. Um, I'm looking forward to um uh participating in several parades this weekend. Um, tomorrow I will be driving Mr. Moon in a golf cart at the Lake Bradic Parade. And I understand I'm going to be marching with um Mr. McDaniel and Miss Lady uh on Saturday. Um and Miss Lady will be wearing a Shamrock costume. Uh so looking forward to to seeing that. Um so happy happy homecoming to Lake Bradock

203H. and and so many others. >> Miss Marin. >> Yeah. I also was very pleased to have us recognize Indigenous People's Month. That was one of the first things I helped to change in the school board. It was the summer of 2020 and after a lot of work with local um constituents and education, we were able to change that. So, I was very proud to lead that effort and um certainly want to continue teaching our students about indigenous people's history and present day in our social studies and other curricula. This weekend is a double whammy for homecoming in the Hunter Mill area. We've got South Lakes's homecoming tomorrow night and Hernand's homecoming on Saturday. So, that is going to be a fun time. I also am looking forward to our first governance meeting of the

204year for our school board. We're really getting in there to get through a lot of policies, get things really organized. So, that is exciting. I'm going to the first girls flag football game that I've ever been to this Tuesday at um luckily it's the same place where there's a community boundary meeting. So, I get to stop by for some flag football and then talk about boundaries or listen to it. And then I'm headed next Friday to the Fairfax Arts Fairfax Awards lunchon which is honoring South Lakes High School art teacher Marco Rando who is uh one of the leaders of the amazing steam team that brings sculptures and art to Rustin and really changes students lives to go into art and architecture and engineering. And then other than that, the big news in my family

205this week is that my teenager has her permit to drive. So that's new for me and um I guess I'll be driving with her this weekend in the future. Thank you. Mr. McDaniel. >> Um, it's been a very interesting few weeks and it's going to continue to be interesting few weeks. The impact awards, as Miss St. John mentioned last night, were a really a good opportunity for uh us to showcase some of the best and brightest teams and individuals we have in the division. Uh, Hearnen Homecoming tomorrow, Chantelli, excuse me, H. Hearnden homecoming on Saturday. Chantilly homecoming tomorrow. Um, but the most fun thing I did was yesterday in Gate House. I got to eat a lot of chili and judge the Gate House Chili Cook Off. And congratulations to the winners of that. Um,

206but the most impactful thing I did in the last couple of weeks was observe a lockdown drill at one of our schools. And it happened to be my daughter's school. And as I was walking with the principal as they were in lockdown, it just happened geographically that my daughter's classroom was the first classroom that was checked. And as a parent, knowing that my daughter was five feet away behind the door shut with the flap down and the door locked and the lights off, hit really close to home. And I don't think that the public knows that we go through these exercises because we have to and because unfortunately we need to. And it really reinforced the reason I ran for this office was to try and make sure that we don't have to do that

207going forward. So with that, good night, >> Mr. FR. >> Thank you. Uh during the proclamation tonight, I talked a little bit about the arc of uh LGBTQIA history being of uh one of struggle and triumph. And I was reflecting on what's happened historically in the LGBTQ movement in my lifetime. The year I was born in 19 um there was a ballot measure in my home state, Proposition six, that would have made it illegal for uh someone like me, a gay person to teach and for my colleagues on this board who are supportive of people like me to teach. Um thankfully that ballot measure failed uh thanks to bipartisan outrage over the very concept. It didn't fail by much but it failed nonetheless. Um the next year in my life 1979 Harvey Mil was assassinated.

208Um one of the first openly LGBTQ elected officials and he led the the fight against that ballot measure. When I was in elementary school, uh the AIDS crisis came about and in our schools regularly were conversations about whether children or people who have children um who are HIV positive should be allowed to have a free and appropriate public education. In fact, we have a policy in FCPS because of those conversations back then. When I got to high school, Matthew Shepard was the victim of a hate crime murder in Laramie, Wyoming. Um, and you know, eventually it took 10 years, but they passed the hate crimes law. Um, in the also in high school there was don't ask don't tell, keeping open military service from being allowed, and thankfully that was eventually um repealed. Um, and

209through it all, there's been this constant effort by the LGBTQIA community to constantly push and push and push to get what is rightfully theirs, which is just to live with peace and simple human dignity. Um, and so, um, through difficulty comes purpose. And I'm, you know, convicted to the idea that even though things are very difficult today, there will be a better day as long as we keep pushing towards uh that more perfect union. Um, and so, you know, I'm heartened by the young students that I meet in our GSAs and elsewhere who um are not willing to settle for secondass citizenship. So, um, since our last meeting, and I know I'm almost out of time, but I just want to say I thank my colleagues for, uh, joining me at, um, a night at

210the game, these the series of events I've been doing across high schools, uh, attended by Providence District students. Um, we've now been to Marshall High School, had a great turnout there, and, uh, Robin Lady and Mr. McDaniel were able to join me at MLAN for one of them as well. It was a lot of fun. We hung out with Principal Jones and uh we have another one coming up so go to our newsletter to find out more. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. Um I do want to make sure that I say national um happy national schools principles month. So the principles of Mason District, you are doing incredible work and as a former principal, I my hat is off to you. I do not think I could take on what

211you all are handling in this day and age. It has gotten exponentially harder. Um, I also want to extend thank you to the community at Falls Church High School because so many of you turned out on Monday for the renovation meeting and I was very encouraged and I shared this with Dr. Reid that the approach that staff took to make the school whole is exactly what I'd hoped to hear. um because we'll have a community that will not have use of its um fields for the entirety of the spring season and every single spring sport will be impacted. And I am grateful to hear from Mr. Horn and Dr. Reid and others who were presenting that every action will be taken in order to ensure that those students do not feel that deep burden of

212not having um the chance to play on their home fields. Um, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of that come to light in the near term. And I do invite everyone to please provide, if you have not done so, your feedback, um, to the information that was shared on the capital improvement plan website for false church high school. Um, and I'll also be providing more information in a newsletter to come very um, very soon. Um, I wanted to highlight two school visits that I had in the past couple of weeks at Manua and Camelot elementary schools. Principal Shannon and Principal Flity. And I was just so encouraged by those conversations. We spent probably 90 minutes talking about school data. And that's kind of my bag. That's what I'm interested in. And I walked away

213just feeling so inspired as how those leaders were honing in on what students needed and how they were going to move and make a reality the growth that they're looking for for their schools. Um so thank you for your work. It will exponentially um impact our students in such a positive way. Just a last reminder to the community regarding the boundary review meetings that are coming up that impact the Mason district pyramid schools. the false church um the false church high school pyramids and Marshall will be meeting at false church in the in the new building on October 16th at 6:30 in the Anendelle High School and Justice Pyramids will be meeting on October 21st at 6:30 at Anandale. So, please be sure that you are um at those places to have your voice be

214heard in the boundary conversation. And also want to remind the Anandelle Pyramid of the Po Middle School AP center community meetings happening on October 22nd and the 28th at 6:30 at PO Middle School. And lastly, just happy homecoming to all of our schools. say no justice is this and um false church I believe are this weekend. So happy homecoming to all. >> Thank you Dr. Anderson. Uh Mr. Dunn >> uh well it fall is off to a great start. I wanted to uh start by uh saying that we have three community meetings that we will be h holding uh in the Mount Vernon district on Wednesday, October 22nd. Um, we will be holding a meeting at Hayfield uh high school cafeteria for Hayfield High School and South County High School Pyramids on Friday, October 24th

215from 6:30 to 8, we'll hold a meeting at the Lewis High School cafeteria for the Lewis High School and Edison High School pyramids. And on Saturday, October 25th, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., we'll be holding a meeting at the Sandberg Middle School cafeteria for the Mount Vernon High School and West PTOAC High School pyramids. Please come out. Um, it's uh both a in-person and virtual uh participation is enabled. Uh you can register online or just show up. Um if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to my office. I recently had the pleasure of participating in Avid Family Night at Gunston Elementary and I visited Laurel Hill Elementary and Island Creek Elementary. A big thank you to Principal Rinski, Principal Dalton, and Principal Fowlard for welcoming me. We had great conversations about

216academic achievement, student outcomes, and took a tour of the buildings to understand their facility needs. Uh, congratulations to West PTOAC and Mount Vernon on their successful homecoming celebrations last weekend, which I was very happy to attend. And I'm excited to join South County High School uh for their game and celebration tomorrow evening. Uh, the search is on for new principles at Lewis High School and Hayfield High School. Uh, we urge you to participate in the community conversations for Lewis High School. The community conversation will be Monday, October 13th at 6 PM. That's a Zoom meeting, so you can participate online. And for Hayfield uh High School, it will be a community conversation on Tuesday, October 14th at 6 PM. Again, participate by Zoom. So, thank you to everyone for all you do and thank you

217to our school administrators and educators for helping to make such a big difference in the lives of our children. >> Thank you, Mr. Dun. Miss Lady, >> thank you. Uh like some of my colleagues, I thoroughly enjoyed attending the robotics competition at Hayfield High School and seeing our amazing students in action. Uh also loved attending the marching band Battle of the Bands at Hernand High School later that same day. And I'm so excited about women's flag football. Uh huge thank you to the Washington Commanders and the Divas. Um but for the commanders for supporting this new sport, designing and funding all the uniforms and organizing two media events where these unifor uniforms were revealed and our athletes could participate participate in professional media activities. Um it was super exciting to be at Westfield High School

218for that reveal. I was not able to be at I believe Annale the following night but uh boy was it exciting and the kids are really pumped up. Um as my colleagues have indicated uh scenario 4 uh for boundary work should be coming out tomorrow. Please access the explorer tool. Um dates of of the pyramid uh event um meetings are are listed on that on the boundary page. So uh if you're interested in attending one of those, please see those for the dates. And also um if you have feedback, please uh use the tools on the web page uh andor reach out to your B uh committee members representatives. Those emails are also on the web page or feel free to email me your concerns and possible solutions. Please don't just complain, but bring a

219solution. Uh and as we've also talked about, October is full of appreciation days and weeks. Um, we give our support to all of our staff, but as indicated, it is principal uh month in October. Um, and uh, you know, I haven't formerly been a director of student services. I know how hard our principles work uh, the hours they put in. And we are very, very blessed, not just in Drainsville, but in our entire school system to have uh, amazing leadership. So, kudos to those folks. Thank you. I hope you feel appreciated. Custodians, we celebrated your day on October 2nd. National Coaches Day was October 6th. Let's talk about coaches and the mentorship they provide to our young people. For many of us, there were athletes. It's those moments, those people um who actually were uh

220huge influences on our lives and for some of us trajectory of what we chose to do with with our own professions. Um school lunch teams, thank them. October 13th to 17th, National School Lunch Week. and our bus drivers. October 20 to 24 uh is is a national bus safety week. Um as has been referenced, yes, uh Hearnen's homecoming is uh this weekend. The parade is on Saturday. Uh I was sort of sharing with Mr. Mav I might wear a shamrock outfit, but then I did Google Enchanted Forest and I'm not sure if that's going to work. But nonetheless, I will be in the parade and I am excited to walk with Dr. Reed, uh Mr. Mr. Pon, Dr. Pon, and my other colleagues on the board, uh, Mr. Racklavine and Mr. uh, McDaniel. Um, and

221that was my time. Next weekend is MLAN's homecoming, so if you're available to get to that, that'd be great. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lady. I'm going to take a very quick turn. Um, it's been a busy couple of weeks in the Springfield district. I attended vi I went did some school visits to Cherry Run Elementary with uh Mr. Macke or Mr. I'm sorry Mr. McDaniel it's late um and to West Springfield High School with Miss St. John Cunning. It was great to see the impactful work of our new principles Mora Edwards and Dr. Jim Patrick. I also had the pleasure of meeting with school parent leaders for my first roundt of the year. It was wonderful to meet the new leaders and connect with them about their questions and concerns around boundaries, start times,

222the new volunteer system, and general challenges they are experiencing in their schools and roles. Um, on September 27th, like many of my colleagues, I was able to attend the Chesapeake Robotics Icebreaker Challenge. Um, I was fascinated by everything going on. Um, and asked a lot of questions. And now I need to figure out how to get my youngest interested in robotics more than he already is. Um, I also learned en enjoyed the Fairfax County Council's PTA kickoff this week and was able to answer a few questions while I was there. It was always it's always great to see what they're doing to support our schools um and students and staff. And lastly, I want to recognize the Springfield District students from the seven different schools who have been named Merit um National Merit Scholarship Semi-finalists.

223Congratulations to my finalists from um Centerville, Chantelli, Fairfax, Oakton, Thomas Jefferson, and West Springfield high schools as as well as those from Lake Bradic. So, they will be receiving letters from me shortly. We're and we have a quick thing that we have to go back to. Um going back to item number 13, board committee reports. I call on Mr. fresh her to provide a report for the admin committee meeting this week. That happened last week. >> We had an admin committee meeting. We talked about many various things including the evaluation process and we'll be bringing something to the full board at a later date. >> Thank you. And um Miss St. John Cunning will is going to give us a quick skipped update. So, we had our first skip meeting of the year and we're

224going to focus on workforce readiness this year. And we also have the report that came out from last year from preschool um readiness as well, which I'll share with the board. And at 10:26 p.m., we are journed.