9/11/2025 - FCPS School Board Meeting

001[Music] pronounc the time is 7 p.m. and this September 11th um 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 the performance of the national anthem by West Springfield High School vocalists Emily Colada, Jacqueline Drobniss, Kaylee Weisner, and Katherine to Thomas. I pledge allegiance Say can you see by the dawn early [Music] so proudly we held at the twilight Gleaming brought stripes and bright stars through the last fight. For the we were so gallently streaming and the rocks bursting proof through the night that our flag was still there. For does that star spangled [Music] for the land of the free and the home of the [Applause] Can we have one more? I know they're not here,

002but can we have one more round of applause for our amazing students? [Applause] On behalf of the Fairfax County School Board, I would like to welcome Fairfax City School Board Chair Caroline Pitchist with us this evening. [Applause] If you would like to review 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 FCPS or www.fcps.edu/boards. Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 999 and livereamed on YouTube and our website at www.fcps.edulivestream. Tonight's meeting is also being broadcast in Spanish on YouTube at youtube.comfcps and espanol. Agenda item 3.03 Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation. I call on Miss Dixit for a proclamation. Whereas Hispanic National Hispanic Heritage Month is recognized annually from September

00315th through October 15 across the United State by celebrating the histories, cultural and innumerable contribution of those whose ancestors traced their roots to Spain, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Spanish-sp speakaking Caribbean nations. And whereas nearly one in five people in the US is Hispanic Latino. The highest concentration of Virginia's Hispanic Latino population resides in Northern Virginia and accounts for 16.5 Fairfest counties population. One in four Fairfest County public school student is in Hispanic Latino heritage. And whereas Hispanic um history, Hispanic history is inexorably entwined with United State history as California, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, part of Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma were at some one point Spanish or Mexican territory. As part of the largest ethnic group of the United States, Hispanics and Latinos have significantly contributed to the nation's

004identity and have played a vital roles in shaping Americans democracy, economy, cuisine, and culture. And whereas the 2025 national theme, collective heritage, honoring the past, inspiring the future, calls upon us to recognize the rich cultural traditions and shared legacy of Hispanic Americans while celebrating the vibrancy and innovation of younger generation who will carry forward this collective heritage. Hispanic Americans have profoundly shaped the fabric of our nation from military service and civic leadership to groundbreaking contribution in science, education, entrepreneurship, arts and beyond. Building the nation we enjoy today. The resilience and creativity of Hispanic communic communities from storytellers like Sandra Cisen Rose, innovators like Lynn Manuel Miranda, public servants like Justic, Sonia, Sard Mayor, artists like Celia Cruz to modern cultural trails baser like Marcelo Hernandez, Elizabeth Asavido, Shust Scott, Martinez, Lori Hernandez, Becky G, Ellen

005and ooa embody a bridge from the past to the inspired future. Whereas prominent his Hispanic Virginiaians including Michael Yahur, founder of the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Susanna Marino, an entrepreneur, founding president and chair of the Northern Virginia Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce, and major league baseball pitcher Javier Lopez, who attended Robinson Secondary School. And whereas have CPS Hispanic American students, staff, and families are valued member of our community whose contribution immeasurably enhance our classroom culture and collective success. By affirming our shared commitment to equity and opportunity, we empower all students to become the next generations of leaders, reinforcing the school board's belief that diversity is a strength that creates resilient, open, and innovative global citizen. Now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfist County School Board here hereby proclaims September 15 through October 15,

0062025 a Hispanic Heritage Month. We encourage Fairfax County residents to participate in programs and events taking place in our schools and community to learn about, celebrate, and elevate the rich Hispanic Latino heritage. I now call on Miss St. John Cunning for to provide a reading of the proclamation in Spanish. inspiration. Latina Fairfax. California, Florida, Deas, Nova, Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Espanol, Mexico. significance. No, [Music] militar educostoayor artistasia cruz. Marcelo Arnandez, Elizabeth Martinez, Lai Hernandez, Becky, Elenoo Choa, and Carantoes, including Michael Sahur, Bundador de Susanna Marino baseball. the FCPS Collectivo. Fairfax. Is there a second? >> Second. Miss Heismoreheiser. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Miss Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarheiser, Mr. Moon, Miss Dr. Anderson,

007and myself. That's unanimous for all board members present. This is where we wave our flags. >> I would like to welcome the Hispanic Educators Association and all those here in support of Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation to please join the board for a photo in front of the DAS. Agenda item 4.01 board business resolution dedicating the toll activity office at the Westfield High School. I call on Miss Dixit for a motion. I move that the school board approves the following resolution dedicating the activities office at Westfield High School as a Terry K tool activities office. Whereas Miss Tol's unwavering commitment to fostering sportsmanship, teamwork, and a strong work ethic profoundly impacted countless student athletes, guiding them to achieve success both on and off the court. And whereas Miss Tol's leadership and dedication were instrumental in the

008development and expansion of the school's athletic program, creating opportunities for generation of students to participate in a wide range of sports. Whereas she is a respected mentor and a role model emoding the values of integrity, perseverance, and dedication that are central to the spirit of Westfield High School. And whereas the activities office served as a central stage of her enduring legacy, a place where she inspired, coached, and celebrated the achievements achievements of Westfield High School athletic community and where it's fitting to honor her memory and her extraordinary contribution to the school by dedicate dedicating a prominent space in her name to ensure the future generations of students community memory members will remember her impact. Now therefore be it resolved that the school board of county Virginia honors Terry Tol with the naming of the Westfield

009High School activities office as the the Terry K. Tol's activities office in recognition of her service to the entire Westfield community through the caring way she has served the students, families, and community during her time as a director of student services at Westfield High School. Is there a second? >> I second. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Uh, Miss Dixit, would you like to speak to your motion? >> No, just thank you, Miss Tol. >> Miss Marin, would you like to speak to your second? >> Thank you for all the time and energy you've given to our community, and I'm so glad you can be remembered and celebrated in this way every day. Mr. Dvari is a very huge champion of yours. So, thank you. >> Seeing no others, we'll go ahead and call for the

010vote. All those in favor, and the motion should be on the screen momentarily. uh Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. McVine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarheiser, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous for all board members present. [Applause] Agenda item 4.02, board business, resolution dedicating the Swarm Gymnasium at Marshall High School. I call on Mr. Fresh for a motion. >> Thank you. I move that the school board approve the following resolution dedicating the main gymnasium at George C. Marshall High School as the Joseph D. Swarm Gymnasium. Whereas Joseph D. Swarm, a distinguished class of 1989 graduate of George C. Marshall High School, has dedicated over 30 years of life to serving the school and its community in many different capacities. a social studies teacher, a coach, an assistant

011director of student activities and director of student activities. And whereas as a teacher and coach, Joe's engaging personality, excellent communication skills, and problem solving abilities led him to quickly become a favorite among students by demonstrating a profound commitment to their development both on and off the field. And whereas Joe Swarm's unwavering dedication and the high expectations he set have shaped the values and beliefs of Marshall student athletes, contributing to their success both in competition and in life. And whereas during his tenure as athletic director, Joe Swarm demonstrated exceptional leadership, fostering a culture of excellence, sportsmanship, and holistic development for student athletes, emphasizing academic achievement, character building, and community involvement. And whereas Joe Swarm embodies the five pillars of ethical values that George C. Marshall High School prides itself upon, respect, responsibility, honesty, spirit, and community.

012Now, therefore, be it resolved that the school board of Fairfax County, Virginia, honors Joseph Swarm with the naming of the George C. Marshall High School Gymnasium as the Joseph D. Swarm Gymnasium in recognition of his service to the entire George C. Marshall community through the caring way he has served the students, families, and its community during his time as a teacher, coach, assistant director of student activities, and director of student activities at George C. Marshall High School. >> Is there a second? Mr. Mcabine, Mr. Fresh, would you like to speak to your motion? >> Yes. Um, so Joe Swarm is the kind of adult every student deserves to have in their corner. Uh, someone who sees them, encourages them, and believes in them. What strikes me most about Joe's career is not just the number

013of years. We heard his graduation year in there. I'm like, that's not I guess that is a while ago. Um not just the number of years that he gave to Marshall uh but the way he gave himself truly uh and fully to his students, his colleagues, and the entire Marshall community. He lived the values of respect, responsibility, honesty, spirit, community every day. And those lessons carried far beyond the classroom gym or playing field into the lives of thousands of students who were influenced by his example who are now parents, neighbors, and leaders themselves. Which makes Joe sound like some ancient figure in Marshall's history, as if he were a contemporary or a confidant of George C. Marshall when he was Secretary of State. U but I promise he's not nearly that old. um as I

014might be making him sound. What matters most is how long Joe's been there, but the impact he's had on generations of students and families in the time that he has been there. That's the legacy we celebrate today. A gymnasium that now bears his name and a community forever shaped by his example. >> Mr. Makave, would you like to speak to your second? >> Absolutely. So, um, for me, this is a very circular moment, uh, because, uh, Joe Swarm was my civics teacher, uh, in 10th grade, uh, and, um, it's wonderful to see you sitting there with your great hairdo, uh, and everything else. Um, but, uh, really, uh, just as Mr. Fris said, um, you were an inspiration not only to me, but to to, you know, many years of of Marshall students. And you

015know, when I think about it, I don't think anyone has been committed to Marshall for as many years and as as deeply as as you have throughout your time as a student and as a teacher and a coach and a director of student activities among many other things. Um, you've sacrificed evenings, weekends, lots of time with your family um on behalf of uh Marshall but also our school system. Um, and I cannot be more proud um, of this board and in recognizing you. Um, and of course there's no more appropriate place than the gym uh, to to put your name. So um, congratulations Mr. Zor. >> Thank you Mr. Mcabine, Miss Lady. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, this is also a full circle moment for me. When I started my career in Fairfax over

01630 years ago, I was a school counselor at Marshall and Joe was a civics teacher. Um, I also coached several sports while I was at uh Chantill, I mean at Marshall. And uh I'll just echo everything that uh Mr. Fr has said about about Joe. Um it's and it's not just the kids and the parents, the community members, it's the faculty that worked with Joe. Um and um when we talk about the Statesman star and the five pillars, uh the points of the star with respect, responsibility, honesty, spirit, and community, um Joe uh embodied that every day and continues to embody that. Um he's a 10 of a human and I'm going to tell you he was a true director of student activities. He was not a director of student athletics. Yes, it's very appropo

017that the gym will be named after him. But the way he championed the arts, marching band, theater for years, Joe has hosted the district tournament for the one act play competition and he's done an incredible job. He comes in his suit. He respects every actor uh that takes the stage uh the whole set and design crew, all those things. So, uh, I am forever grateful for the, uh, sort of impact you had on my life, uh, as a mentor and a colleague and a friend. Um, but again, I just want to highlight that, you were truly a director of student activities, and I applaud you for that. Thank you, Joe. >> Seeing no others, I'm going to call for um, the vote. All those in favor, Mr. FR, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss

018St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarheiser, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous for all board members present. [Applause] I would like to welcome Mr. Joe Swarm, his family, colleagues, and those here in support of dedicating the swarm gymnasium at Marshall High School resolution to please join the board for a photo in front of the dis. I would like to welcome Miss Terry Tol, her family, colleagues, and all those here in support of the dedicating the toll activities office at Westfield High School resolution to please join the board for a photo at the front of the Yes. 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 signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up

019to provide comments at schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board's website at www.fcps.edu/schoolboard. During the sign up process, community members acknowledged that they were informed of the school board's expectations for respect and proper decorum while providing comments. These expectations are also available 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 a speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain in their seats, including when recording video or taking photos. We are grateful to those who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation. Schoolboard members will be listening

020but not responding. Madame clerk, please call the first speaker. Natalya Langden. My name is Natalyia Langden. I'm a senior at Hayfield Secondary School and I'm here to talk about the unacceptable mold situation at Hayfield. First of all, thank you to schoolboard members Miss St. John Cunning and Mr. Dunn for your attention to the problem. We need you to keep visiting to demand transparency and accountability and to keep it up until our problem is fully resolved. With respect, I would highly encourage all schoolboard members to take an interest in this. With respect to the school situation at Hayfields, I have three main points. One, the situation has been and continues to be much worse than the administration and FCPS recognized in their few emails to the Hayfield community. Two, staff, students, and parents worry about their

021health in the learning environment. Three, the mold problem has significantly exacerbated the existing lack of trust in the school administration and FCPS. FCPS sends few emails that the mold situation and those emails failed to describe the extent of the problem. From what I see, the mold has gotten worse, not better. Hayfield now has many air scrubbers and air purifiers. They disrupt learning because they are so loud, especially in classrooms that have two installed. At the same time, it is not clear that they can make a difference in a busy open classroom. My understanding is that these machines are most effective when put into a room that is clo left closed for 24 to 72 hours. That does not happen at Hayfields. It has gotten to the point where some teachers are turning the air scrubbers

022off when their students are in class so that they can teach and students can hear. The FC FCPS emails don't describe this. Nor do the emails attempt to describe why we have the mold in the first place and what will be done to prevent it from happening again. Before this problem, the trust in school leadership was already fragile. It has gotten much worse. Staff and students feel like they don't have a voice or they afraid to use it. As FCPS brings in an interim principal and selects new principal for Hayfield, I ask that the school board ensure that FCPS prioritize someone who gives staff and students a voice. Thank you, [Applause] Devon Tullson. Hello, school board. My name is Devon Tossen. Um, I'm a senior at Fairfax High School and I just wanted to touch

023base on the fact um that we're losing our coach. Um, one second, my apologies. Um the past six weeks uh at our school has been very uh some of the hardest times we had. We lost our coach and our mentor. Um instead of focus on on a game we love we've been focusing dealing with rumors and distraction and feeling out that people outside of our locker room don't believe in us. For me, this is my last chance to put on a Fairfax football jersey. And for many of my teammates, we're going through they're going through the same thing. Um, all of us are supposed to be on point with this season. We were supposed to be focusing on our goals and that got cut short a week before the season started. We were supposed to

024uh set new memories and goals as a team, but instead of that, we're focusing on things that has been distracting distracting us. The impact that coach Taylor had on me for the last four years. I don't know where to start, but he has been more than a coach to me. He's been a father figure throughout all my hard times throughout high school. He's always been there for me. And that memory is solely being stolen away from me right now. With all fairness and closures, please stop letting us live in this limbo. Please give us back our coach who's been here for every step of the way. We just want a chance to play together as a team and without this cloud hanging over us. Thank you, [Applause] Charles Ronco. Good evening, members of the school

025board. My name is Chuck Bronco and I'm a proud union member, activist, and organizer. I come here tonight to ask that Dr. Reid meet with the Office of Labor Relations to damn the river of falsehoods flowing out of their office to principles. At the end of last school year, it became clear that many high school principles were getting some really, really bad advice from the Office of Labor Relations. So bad, in fact, that many of us began to wonder if they were reading the same collective bargaining agreement that we were. Clear as bell definitions were grossly misinterpreted. Black and white language was nonchalantly tossed aside. Rules seen nowhere in the document were starting to come out of the woodwork. and principles were singing the chorus that they were trained to sing. It's because of the

026CBA. They have unilaterally changed the contract hours to force us to stay late when we already must come in early because more than half of the high schools have a dire lack of parking. One principal even closes the faculty parking lot before the their draconian contract hours begin. They're making edicts out of whole cloth and then saying, "Blame the CBA." The consequences of their of their actions have turned pleasant work spaces into hostile ones. Morale across the board is the lowest that our members have ever seen. The unions didn't unilaterally decide to make everyone's lives difficult. The principles under the direction of a million dollars worth of lawyers in the office of labor relations most certainly did. I implore the members of the school board and the superintendent to sit down with the office of

027labor relations and union leaders to iron out these patently false misconceptions. I am a union man through and through and I am glad to see the power of collective action. If the administration bargaining unit decides to begin to organize themselves, that's awesome. Maybe they can get their own collective bargaining and keep their hand Katie Johnson. >> Good evening. My name is Katie Johnson. I am I am writing both as a FCPS employee and as a parent of a child with a disability. Unfortunately, my daughter has experienced serious violations of her educationalist rights within FCPS and I am asking for your immediate attention, assistance in resolving this issue so that she can receive the support she deserve. Summary of the problem. In August of 2024, key informations were removed from my daughter's signed IEP without parental

028consent. This include her placement and related service hour. These changes were not based on the child's need, but instead appear to serve the district interest. Although the district acknowledged the remover and agreed to resolve the information, they later claimed that the sister will not allow the return that was removed. Despite my repeated request, the IEP has never corrected impact on transition. Because of this issue remain unresolved. My daughter was out of school for two weeks for this new school year. This unresolved issue caused my daughter to enter high school without an updated IEP. During her transition, the district introduced a new proposal that replicate the same changes that were previously removed from my daughter's signed IEP without consent. We as parents rejected this proposal because it effectively effectively legitimized this unauthorized changes. As a result,

029my daughter has been denied a proper transition plan and currently does not have an updated IEP that reflect her high school need. Current situation, the district is now telling us to our only option is to go to due process. This will not be necessary if districts had simply restored the information that were previously removed as promised request. I respectfully Anna Smith. Good evening, Dr. Reid, and members of the school board. My name is Anna Smith, and I am the mother of a Fairfax High School junior who plays both football and baseball. I am here tonight to share my concerns about FCPS athletics and the impact of unresolved issues within our football program. On July 31st, Coach Trey Taylor, a 28-year employee of FPCS and my neighbor in the city of Fairfax, was placed on administrative

030leave for alleged recruiting violations. In addition to serving as head football coach, he is also a teacher. His absence affects not only athletes but also the many students he teaches every day. My for my son, it has meant losing both his coach and his personal fitness teacher. Since that time, no updates have been provided to football families, to student athletes, or the broader school community. Nor has FCPS offered any meaningful support to the athletes ne left navigating this uncertainty on their own. The lack of communication, support, and resolution has disrupted both the football program and the student experience that FCPS athletics is meant to strengthen. Our program has now been in limbo for six weeks and so has coach Taylor. For an employee who has dedicated nearly 30 years to FCPS, this prolonged uncertainty does

031not reflect the fair and respectful treatment he deserves. At the same time, students and families are left without clear direction, undermining the stability that athletics should provide. I respectfully urge the board to resolve this matter promptly and fairly so that our students and families can move forward with confidence. Protecting the integrity of this process is not only important for our team, but it's also essential to maintaining trust in FCPS athletics as a whole. Thank you for your time and your commitment to our students. [Applause] Jim Hardle, thank you. Good evening. and good evening Dr. Reed and FCPS board. My name is Jim Hardle and I'm the proud father of three student athletes at Fairfax High School. I speak tonight regarding the application of administrative leave to Fairfax High School's coaches Taylor and Coach Harris. This

032hastily made decision has left students, families, and the community deeply concerned not only for our coaches but for the fair for the fairness of the process itself. Fairfax County Public Schools Human Resources Regulation 4812.7 is pretty clear. Administrative leave should be applied in a way that protects the integrity of any investigation while also safeguarding the rights of employees. Yet, in this case, allegations from outside of FCPS, allegations made by a non-FFCPS student and family have resulted in an immediate suspension from duty for these two men. That outcome raises serious concerns about whether your regulation is being applied as intended. We fully support investigations when concerns are raised, but the process must be timely, transparent, and balanced. When an employes's career and reputation can be jeopardized by allegations from outside the system without due consideration or

033context of evidence, we risk undermining both fairness and trust. Coach Taylor has faithfully served FCPS and its student athletes for nearly 30 years. His absence disrupts not only the football program, but the academic, athletic, and collegiate futures of our student athletes. For these reasons, I respectfully urge this board to follow both the true intent and spirit of the human resource regulation and reinstate Coach Taylor and Coach Harris while a fair and thorough investigation continues. Our teachers, staff, and coaches deserve due process, and our students deserve deserve stability and guidance from the leaders they trust. Thank you so much for your time. Have a great evening. >> Liz Depri Good evening, Dr. Reid, school board members, and members of the community. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here as both a parent of

034a Fairfax High School current student athlete and a graduate of the school's future teachers of tomorrow program, which encourages students to return to FCPS as educators after college. I'd like to raise concerns about the protections in place for FCPS teachers, coaches, and staff when allegations are made by parents. Specifically, I'm speaking I'm seeking clarity on the criteria used to determine when an employee can continue working and when they must be placed on administrative leave during an investigation. The recent situation at Fairfax High School, where two football coaches are placed on leave due to an alleged recruiting violation has left many in our community confused. Football parents were notified on July 31st about the coaching coach's leave, but as someone whose child had Coach Taylor as a teacher, I was not informed of his removal from

035the classroom. Coach Taylor has served FCPS for nearly 30 years with an exemplary record. The recruiting allegation does not involve student safety. Yet, both his teaching and coaching roles were suspended. According to FCPS regulation 4812, administrative leave is granted under unusual circumstances, but there's limited public guidance on how this applies to the internal investigation. Meanwhile, long-term substitutes are being paid, raising concerns about concerns about responsible use of taxpayer funds. In my professional experience working with HR departments, swift and transparent resolution is key to minimizing disruption. FCPS has a responsibility to ensure continuity in education and athletics. The longer this remain remains unresolved, the greater the impact on our students, athletes, and school community as a whole. I respectfully urge the board to prioritize transparency and expedite a resolution. Our students deserve stability and our educators

036deserve fair and consistent treatment. Thank you for your time and attention. Jamie Maltis. Good evening, school board and community members. Thank you for your time this evening. I'm a Fairfax football team parent. As you may know, two of our coaches were placed on admin leave in late July after a recruiting violation concerning one player alleged to have taken place last year was brought forward. I'm not here to condone illegal recruiting as I believe in fair play and the sanctity of amateur high school sports. While our team is passionate, we emphasize good moral character above all else and would respect the findings of a fair and independent investigation regardless of the outcome. However, I would like to address several concerns. One, lack of consistency. As you may recall, a certain program was charged with massive recruiting

037violations last year. Throughout that time, no coaches were placed on admin leave. 0 close to my um GPA uh first year of college. Um therefore, it's highly inconsistent that our coaches facing allegations on a far lesser scale have spent the last six weeks on leave. Two, student well-being. Our student athletes, many of whom are in attendance tonight, have spent years of blood, sweat, and tears building a successful program. Their work is now being undermined. They faced harassment and been accused of cheating among among other challenges. Three, reasonable timeliness. The Sixth Amendment uh ensures the right to a speedy trial. In that spirit, we look forward to a swift conclusion to the investigation. Given what we know, this should be easy. If not, we ask that our coaching staff be reinstated until the investigation can be

038completed. And finally, uh closing remarks. Uh a word a few words about Trey Taylor. Um he spent close to three decades uh serving in in this uh FCPS school district. Uh we just named a gymn gymnasium uh after a teacher who spent three decades. Yet our teacher is on admin leave uh based on vague unproven charges. Uh again, I respectfully uh request a swift uh resolution to this investigation. Thank you for your time. >> Cole Mard, >> Paula Steiner. Hello, my name is Paula Steiner. I am here to respectfully request that all students and parental rights be safeguarded by the Fairfax County School Board members to promote active partnerships with parents and understand that the school's role is not the role of the parent. I am deeply concerned by the recent news and allegations that

039Fairfax County Public School staff may be directing minor age girls about how to get an abortion and funding them without involving the child's parent. The parents of Fairfax County deserve to know what funds were used and how this may have happened. No matter what a person's personal opinion is about adult access to abortions, parents must be able to trust that teachers and staff will not overrule our parental rights to help support and guide our ch children during critical health care moments in their lives. I thank Governor Yncan and Attorney General Jason Mizes for initiating a full investigation involving the state police. It is a shame that our taxpayer dollars are being spent on expensive New York attorneys instead of improving literacy and math instruction. We need transparency. I am the proud parent of a past

040FCPS high school and NCAA Division 2 football athlete. During my son's time playing high school football, I worried about the intermingling of locker rooms with female kickers. Under the current climate of FCPS, if a female kicker decided to identify as a male, they could have been granted access to my son's locker room. No parent should ever have to worry about such possibilities. Protecting boys spaces is also protecting our girls spaces in Title Nine. Sex-based discrimination against both sexes is not progressive. It's regressive, misogynistic, and misandress. Thank you for your time, George Morad. Good evening, members of the board, community leaders, Dr. Reid. Um, I am a product of Fairfax County Public Schools. I have a child at currently at Fairfax High School, and I'm deeply concerned about how Fairfax County Public Schools has handled the

041recent recruiting allegations. Two Fairfax High School coaches, Coach Trey Taylor and Coach John Harris, were placed on administrative leave. While in similar situations, other coaches in the county, including coach Daryl Overton from Hayfield, were treated extremely differently. This inconsistency raises serious questions of fairness and double standards. The process for handling allegations should be clear, transparent, and applied equally. Yet, what we see instead is selective enforcement where some are swiftly punished, and others, despite serious violations, are allowed to continue coaching or move on without consequence. our athletes, their families, and this community deserves consistency. We deserve to know what are their criteria for removing coaches, how are decisions made, and why is Fairfax High held to one standards while others are given a pass. And I want to remind you, this isn't just about adults. It's

042about kids. Seniors who should be spending their last season making memories are instead living in limbo. Players who worked for years for this moment, now face uncertainty and distraction because of inconsistent leadership. Their season, the season they'll remember for the rest of their lives, is being stolen from them. That's why we are calling for immediate reinstatement of coaches Taylor and Harris. Our students deserve stability. Our community deserves fairness. And our school deserves the same treatment as other as every other program in this country. We respectfully ask this board, Superintendent Reid, to act now to reinstate these coaches, clarify the FCPS policy, and ensure standards are applied consistently across the country. Our students futures, their opportunities, and the integrity of Fairfax athletics depend on it. Thank you very much, Alan Suti. Good evening everyone. Um, I'm

043a proud graduate of Robinson Secondary School. I was an IB student, a division one athlete at the United States Military Academy. I am a respected coach and official in the track community in our county. Uh, so I feel particularly justified in asking the school board to do better. Fairfax County Public Schools taught me to apply critical thinking to real world problems. So, I'm here to discuss VHSL's sports eligibility change that was not well publicized to parents. Um, students who aspire to engage in dynamic academic programs like IB or the academy programs are being specifically targeted by VHSL's new transfer restrictions. It's also putting a lot of pressure on a county that has a large military and transient uh student population. It's teaching our students that they have to suffer the consequences of administrative decisions, logical

044or otherwise. I understand why the restrictions were put in place. Um, but it's not teaching our students that we are here to protect their academic or athletic enrichment. You're elected officials, so you know that ethics, fiscal stewardship, and culture start and end with you. Fostering a culture of unethical win at all cost hubris starts at the top. FCPS and VHSL should start by vetting employees and requiring ethics and fiscal stewardship training, not by submitting children and their parents to untrustworthy vetting before they are allowed to participate fully in their high school experience. We elected you to be advocates for our children and our renowned programs in the county. It's why I moved back here after I got out of the army. It's why I fight to raise my children here. Please question VHSL's new eligibility

045requirements and help restructure them before we create lasting consequences for a number of students across the county for years to come. Please play the video testimony submitted by Stephanie Lenquist Aurora. Good evening. In case anyone needs to hear this, when you spend money on legal fees, there's less money available for students education. Budgeting is a zero- sum game. This academic year, you've already eliminated 275 teaching positions, and that was before you decided to engage in lawfare with the United States Department of Education. Last week, the judge dismissed your first attempt in the Fourth Circuit and told you not to waste the court's time. I would also like to tell you on behalf of taxpayers and parents, stop wasting our money. Since 2019, you have spent $44 million on legal fees, an average of $9 million

046a year. For your latest fight to allow boys and girls locker rooms and bathrooms, the price tag is even higher. for violating Title 9, you are forfeiting about $168 million in federal funds. I know many administrators and schoolboard members don't really care about our increasing property taxes because you just raise your own salaries in response. It's not right. And even if we wanted to, we don't have that option. Many of you don't have children in FCPS, so you don't have to worry about the depreciating quality of public education in Fairfax County. Senior administrators in Gate House such as Superintendent Michelle Reid, chief experience off Chief Experience and Engagement Officer Lisa Youngblood Hall and Chief of Schools Giovani Pon are from Washington State in Texas, so they have very few ties to our community. But here's

047a news alert. Parents in Fairfax County care about children's plummeting test scores. So, I'm asking you, how many teaching positions do we have to lose to satiate your appetite for lawfare? How many teachers are you willing to get rid of so that boys can go into girls locker rooms and bathrooms in Fairfax County's public schools? >> Chair Anderson, that was our last public speaker. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Agenda item 6.01, 01 student representative matters. I call on Miss McConen. >> Good evening, chair, members of the board, and everyone here. I'm also in virtual attendance, so hi. Um, I would like to take my time today to talk about something that has been on many students minds, which is safety. This past week, students across the country reminded just how fragile that sense of safety

048can be. At Utah Valley University, what should have been an ordinary event ended in tragedy where a speaker was shot into one campus. This moment wasn't just about one university. It was about the way violence can turn a space for open dialogue and debate into a place of fear. Almost at the same time, threats poured into historically black colleges and universities. Students had to evacuate classrooms, hide in dorms, and wonder if they were being targeted simply for attending a school that celebrates their history. These weren't just false alarms, but malicious and senseless attacks that we cannot begin to understand. For students here at Fairfax County, these events unfortunately do not feel far away. They feel personal because every single time there's a school shooting or a lockdown across the country, it begs the question, what

049what if it happened here? What makes us so different? What if it was my country? What if it was my state, excuse me? What would I do? Would I be safe? Would my friends be safe? This violence incited doesn't have to be in the building to sit with us. That's why I believe that safety can't just mean more drills and more cameras. has to mean open, honest communication when threats happen, so students and families aren't left in the dark. It has to mean mental health support for the students who carry anxiety well after the headlines fade. And it has to mean making sure every school has the resources to protect its students equally. But I also want to take a moment to say this. Safety isn't just about preventing harm. It's about protecting what schools

050are supposed to stand for. A place where every student has the freedom to learn, to speak, and to show fully as themselves. Violence and threats aren't random. They're often aimed at censoring voices. from silencing political debate or black students H.B.CU or anyone who dares to be visible. When fear dictates who feels safe to speak or welcome to learn, by definition, education itself is under attack. So tonight, I would like to ask that we think about safety in its fullest sense. Not just in the physical sense, but in the way we build trust in the way we make space for student voices, in the way we protect the dignity of every young person in our district. Because at the end of the day, what students want isn't really complicated. We want to learn without fear. We

051want to be heard without threat. And we want to know that our futures matter enough to be protected. These tragedies are painful reminders, but they can also be a call to action. A call to remember that our responsibility as schools isn't just to keep danger out, but to make sure that every student feels safe enough to thrive. Thank you. >> Thank you. Agenda item 7.01, action action items, certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with section 2.2-3712D 2-3712D of the Code of Virginia. It's necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on September 11th, 2025, to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements, and only such business matters as were identified in the motion convening

052the 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, Miss Marin, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismore Heiser, Mr. Dunn, I'm sorry I can't see you. Mr. Moon and Dr. Anderson, and myself. All those opposed, all those abstaining. Mr. McDaniel. Agenda item 7.02, 02 confirmation of action taken in close. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. I move to deny the procedural violation claim of the of the employee that was considered on the written record during in close session. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarheiser, Mr.

053Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. All those opposed, all those abstaining, Miss Marin. Will the clerk please read the vote? >> So 1101. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Closed motion number two. I call on Mr. Fresh for a motion. I move to grant the uh grant in part the employee grievance and to modify the step forward decision of the division superintendent's hearings office as further discussed in close session. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Dr. Anderson. All those in favor? Mr. Fr, Mr. Mavine, Mr. Mr. McDaniel. I'll switch you two. Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismore, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. All those opposed abstaining. Miss Marin. Will the clerk please read the vote? >> It's 11:01. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Closed.

054Motion number three. Miss I call on Miss Lady for a motion. >> I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who threatened fellow students at school and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Dr. Anderson. All those in favor, Mr. FR, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarheiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. I believe that's unanimous. Agenda item 8.01 performance review, the superintendent relationship with or the superintendent relationship with the board EL8 monitoring report. Each year the school board assesses the superintendent in part on the basis of the school's div the school division's reasonable progress towards achieving the go the 2023 to30 strategic goal plan or plans goals in

055adherence to the set of 13 executive limitations found on page 14 through 31 of the board strategic governance manual. The superintendent provides the annual monitoring reports to the board for each executive limitation. The board then votes on whether or not or whether the provided report is in compliance or corrective if corrective action is needed. I call on Dr. Reid for a monitoring report on executive limitation 8, superintendent's relationship with the board. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, and the public. Tonight, I'll be presenting executive limitation 8, which indeed does discuss the superintendent's relationship with the board. So just a reminder for those watching about what executive limitation 8 does state and at the time of this report and to the best of my knowledge information and belief I have gathered information and evidence

056that I believe supports compliance with the board's executive limitation associated with this topic and we'll share some of the highlights tonight. For those of you watching at home the full monitoring report is posted on board docks for your reading pleasure. There are eight areas of executive limitation 8 all of which are shown on the screen. Um before sharing the new evidence related to this executive limitation, I want to start by noting that within this EL there are really not a lot of significant changes this year. And it's similar to some of our other executive limitations where the prior year's executive limitation reflected several best practices or industry standards. And where we are using best practice, we tend to maintain the use of the best practice. Uh the newly added evidence to this year's executive limitation

057builds upon last year's board approval and incorporates board feedback from last year's presentation. Here are the new um or newly added information on Thank you. Uh so let's take a look at uh our communications team providing weekly news clips and uh story reports in the Friday letter. Um this year uh the first and second day school visit schedule was provided. Our department of information technology continues to explore learning management platforms to onboard new prospective schoolboard community advisory committee members. And in response to board feedback, the office of procurement services actually engaged in herculean work this year to not have contracts come uh to the board over the summer recess. So uh there was a lot of work done to support uh that uh effort. So at this time madam chair that concludes the summary of

058the monitoring report for executive limitation 8 the superintendent's relationship with the board. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you so much Dr. Reid. You just have to give us one moment. I now call on Mr. Fresh for a motion. >> Thank you. I move that the school board finds the superintendent in compliance with executive limitation 8, superintendent's relationship with the board. I further move that the school board approve the monitoring report based on the superintendent's reasonable interpretation of EL8 superintendent's relationship with the board as outlined in the strategic governance manual. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Mr. Fresh, would you like to speak to your motion? >> Yes. >> All right. E8 lays out clear expectations for the superintendent's relationship with the board. uh that she must ensure regular

059professional and collaborative communication, provide us with information we need to govern effectively and foster a working partnership that advances the strategic plans goals. Uh this monitor report before us makes clear that the superintendent is meeting those expectations. um and as we define it as reasonable progress towards those expectations. We see consistent pattern of timely transparent communication whether through her Friday letters, weekly meetings with each uh board member and standing check-ins that she holds with the chair and vice chair. This consistently uh consistency has ensured that when urgent issues arise, the board is informed promptly and prepared with accurate information. superintendent has also demonstrated success in supporting our decision-making through robust data and reporting. By far the most robust data that I've experienced as a school board member. Um that level of detail allows us to

060identify where gaps remain and where progress is being made so that we can align our policies and resources accordingly. This year's report also shows new steps forward. for example, the office of procurement services put uh putting in place a summer contracting process for when the board is on recess. Uh the superintendent has also shared um her schedule for early back to school events so that board members can participate as well. And in another promising step, uh the department of information technology is working to develop a learning management system for onboarding new schoolboard advisory committee members, which I think is a great follow through on a longtime commitment of the board. Beyond these new initiatives, the superintendent continues to model professionalism in her work with the board. She treats all members impartially, ensures equal access to

061information and creates a space for honest discussion uh when differences of opinion arise. Uh and the academic matters presentations uh remain uh perhaps to the the chagrin of board member egos the most popular part of these meetings. um taken altogether. These actions show the superintendent has not just been checking a box on compliance, but actively strengthening her relationship with the board to ensure we can govern effectively. For these reasons, I'm moving that the superintendent has made reasonable progress on EL8 and is in compliance. I do have two questions um for the superintendent. The report highlights weekly communications and updates, but I'm cur with board members, but I'm curious how you measure whether board members feel that they're receiving the information that they need beyond just this e process. How do you ensure that board members

062feel heard and that that part of the relationship is working well? So I think that in our weekly check-ins I there's pretty uh clear feedback on whether information sharing is working and often there's a request for more information or followup. Um so you know I feel like there is a pretty steady back and forth. Um, as you know, I'm also available 247, seven days a week, and often speak to board members after hours or on the weekend when there's a question that comes up or information that's required. Uh, so I think that absent uh and honestly there there is feedback uh at times that uh information wasn't as timely as a board member might want or as thorough or as disagregated. Uh so absolutely uh when those requests are made we you know I work

063to take our game up. >> I think part of the relationship with the board is by extension our relationship with the entire system since you are our direct report. How do you ensure that the relationship between the board member and the rest of the system, your direct reports remains strong and that um no one board member is getting more out of the system than another? >> Well, I think there's always going to be a matter of perspective on uh that question. Uh but I do I do know that in terms of our senior leadership uh we do maintain constant communication when a board member does make a request or um when several board members make a request to avoid overlapping work as well. Um I think that um it's one of our board members has

064made a I think a a real well several you know want to make sure that um we have a a funnel for divisionwide activities and um invitations and um we're really excuse me working hard on a system because there's so many schools programs and community events that occur um to I think our biggest step forward this year is the development of a divisionwide calendar because I think over the last several years it's been difficult for any one office to coordinate all of the activities in the school division because it hasn't been as transparent uh to any one office. I really think the division calendar will be a gamecher for that and it was to be responsive to board member requests to make sure they're getting invites and the calendar has the ability to actually put

065events on on your calendar right to map that. So, I think we're not perfect, but we're making progress towards making sure that board members are able to attend events um and also uh you know uh get information that's relevant uh when requested. >> Last question. Um it's been said again and again, I'll just finish my comment. Um that when a superintendent and the school board are singing from the same sheet music that real progress can take place. We're seeing great movement in numbers. Just this week, we announced a 40% increase in our semi-finalists for National Merit Scholarships. Um, what do you attribute uh that harmony in our system too? So I think it's important uh because I mean there is tremendous a tremendous body of research that says when uh the relationship between the superintendent

066and the board um is a positive relationship or a functioning work relationship which I believe ours is uh that we're able to make academic progress and reach division goals much more uh efficiently. And I'm glad you brought up the 40% year-over-year increase in the number of our national merit semi-finalists. I'm going to talk a little bit about our narrative and how important that is. Uh and in this case going from 191 to 262 um of our students this year, which is huge. That's a huge uh progress point. And I I just want our students and our staff um our educators, our families to recognize how committed you as a board are to raising uh the standards of excellence here in Fairfax County. and we're best able to do it when we're all rowing in the

067same direction. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Um is uh Dr. Anderson, would you like to speak to your second? >> Yes, thank you. I'd like to share a couple of things that I think um I'm personally just very grateful for, which is the recess contracts. I know that's been a sore point, and I'm glad to see that we did not have this um just this past recess. So, thank you for that. And I'm also very encouraged by the increased um responsiveness. Um it's it's really um heartening to know that when an issue is raised to you, you respond or it shows up in a Friday letter. So I do appreciate that and I want to make sure that I highlight that as well. Um one of the things that I see as an area for

068consideration is just a little bit tighter alignment in terms of the updating of the regulations when there have been policy changes. Um because we you know governance is very busy. Um and when we uh make those changes and vote upon them, it will be really uh um it will really be tight to have that be aligned to whatever to whatever the regulations are. And also something that we just discussed this morning just also a tighter um timing of new changes to regulations. I have two that I want to share with you as an example. One is an existing regulation and one is a new regulation. the existing being the teleawwork um we have some new expectations but the regulation itself has not been updated and I think it's really important when we are um offering

069the workforce new practices new expectations that we have the document that they look at to really monitor their work for that to be ready upon the roll out because the expectations are on the website and they were effective July but we still don't have the updated um regulation yet even though the the guidance has changed. Can you speak to that a little bit please? >> Right. It has been updated. It simply in checking today hadn't been posted to the website but it has been updated. >> And where would we find it if it's not been posted yet? >> It's being posted so you should be able to find it but it it has been updated and cleared uh legal office um okay prior to implementation. >> Wonderful. And my other example was the um the

070new policy with grading. And I know this one is a particular concern to teachers because the first quarter is coming up and I know there's been lots of changes. It would be good to ensure that those rollouts are available because we do have those expectations being communicated. Um, one of the other things that I'd like for you to consider is as you provide the academic matters um, presentations, which I I I love and absorb, but there are some other things that I think could be included um, just to again just continue the work of the mission of the division, perhaps the Baldridge report because that speaks so much to our investments, that speaks so much to our financial state, and I think we're looking to see a little bit more um, information being provided about

071that on a regular basis. So, I would ask you to consider doing that during one of our um during one of during one of the updates, the strategic updates. Um just another question, a question that I have now regarding the relationship between board and staff members. It's kind of a two-parter. One, how do you ensure that that is happening? Not along the lines that um Mr. Fris had asked, but when a board member is advocating for a particular matter, because that's what we do. We represent various districts which raise issues to us which we in turn raise to you. What's the internal process? How do you utilize that? How do you communicate whether that um initiative fits or does not fit in the overall mission and vision of the division? >> So I think that

072when a board member raises an issue and obviously it's a bit of a topic this evening. Uh what I want to make sure first and foremost is that staff research what traditionally happens when that particular topic may or may not be raised. And often uh we're not necessarily raising new topics. We're raising topics that might be new but have had prior precedent in terms of their roll out. So staff will review what has our practice been with regard to uh decision making on topics that individual board members might bring forward. Once we can identify what that process might be, I would bring it to the whole board in some fashion. We have a variety of tools. Uh we have next steps which happen after work sessions. We have uh new business or consent. We have

073presentations and votes. There are a variety of ways in which the board might signal that the board as a body is supportive of that next move or that process commencing. So, I think that um I will also say that I think the 13 of us uh would likely benefit from a conversation about how we want to bring ideas to the table. Uh if I'm bringing an idea to the table, I think it's clearer when I'm bringing it or staff has asked me to bring it. I think when individual board members bring something to a staff member to me it's a little less clear about the process because um they uh you know there are forums there work sessions there they're just a variety of ways those ideas uh bear fruit and I think uh we

074would benefit from clarity around what that process looks like because I think absent clarity on that I think we can trip over one another and unintentionally uh cause discord. So, I'm definitely committed to uh making sure that we have a path and perhaps with all the prior precedent uh we need to chart a new path at this point maybe that makes things uh clearer for the board and the superintendent and staff. >> Thank you. I think that was my time. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Uh Miss Seismariser, >> thank you. Um I will be voting in support of this today. So, I wanted to I like the relief on your face. >> What? >> I like the look of relief on your face. >> I'm teasing you. Um, I wanted to thank you for the

075amount of transparency and how quick you are to respond to things. Um, the the volume of information that you give us on a weekly basis is just incredible. And the responsiveness to when a board member asks a question or wants more information is is really incredible to look through. So, um there's always room for improvement for everybody and everything. I think though, um the amount that you give and how fast you get us information is is commendable and I want to thank you for that and as well in our weekly check-ins. Um, what I do think that we as a board, and this is just a statement I wanted to make as a possible retreat topic for our next retreat, is I think there's some room for us as a board to figure out how

076to help better build processes and clarity around when we bring you an issue or bring you a concern or bring you an idea. Um, what happens after that, right? What's the process? And that's I think more of a board conversation, board process, you know, so we can tell you as our executive so it's you have clarity on what that process looks like. And I think maybe something that's that the the team of 13 could work together on our next retreat on that because I think it would help you know how to what to do when we have ideas. And I think we all have great ideas that we've brought you and I'm sure it's a lot for you to have 12 people bringing you ideas non-stop. Um and I think that we want to make

077sure that board members who bring you these awesome ideas can be acted on too. So, I think there's a lot of room here for us to make sure that our that board members who are bringing your constituent ideas and concerns can get acted on. So, I know we have a forum topic process, but I think there's room to build in other processes. So, I would just put out to my colleagues and to you, Dr. Reed, that perhaps is something we can work on our next retreat. But, um, I really appreciate our weekly check-ins. I appreciate the volume of information that you give us and how responsive you are when we do have questions and look for data. and I look forward to um continue to partner with you as we do good work for our

078division and bring in new innovative ideas and good initiatives to close gaps and um provide enrichment our students. So thank you Dr. Reed. >> Thank you Miss Saiser. Miss Dixit >> Dr. Pri thank you for the presentation and al as always it's already always good to hear from you and uh and the communication with the board uh has been ex uh outstanding. I have uh always heard back from you when I've reached out or I don't know how you go through the emails and so many emails late at night or early morning you're always responding to them and uh and any uh other matter from our constituents. So I've seen that as u a great uh response time on those as well. Uh so I I do want to vote for this obviously. uh but

079I just a feedback from uh my side is like some of the board members and I know we have 12 so few of us are more vocal than the others and that's something I guess you have to kind of work with with that and uh and sometime the quiet ones and I'm I'm not saying I'm the quiet one somebody else you know don't really do so many calls and so many emails and just kind of you know I want this I want that done I want that done So I think it's just like what what we talk about our constituents that those the quiet ones also matter because they are not the ones uh jumping up and down. So similarly I think um that place that all of us are heard would be uh I

080think maybe a better way to figure that out and um I really like the idea of um the data data points and that you present in all academic matters academic matters or other presentation but I would love to get some more uh like pointer it's like every month like this is how we are doing our you know HR department is has fully position full positions uh fully staffed IT department like the highlights from each department so so to speak that would be great in one place like like a data dashboard kind of a thing so thank you >> yes ma'am and I just on HR we're 99.7% staffed so I know that's amazing >> thank you Miss Dixit uh Mr. Moon. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the presentation. And Dr. Reid,

081uh, you'll probably know that I am one of those a board members who does not jump up and down quite often, but you seem to be able to read my mind all the time. And even when I'm quiet, I'm not jumping up and down. You know, you know how to respond to probably some of things that are on my mind. So in that regard, I thank you for being a being able to do that. Uh I will support the motion and I cherish the relationship that I have been able to maintain with you as a board member and and a superintendent. One of the areas however that I've been it's not that you have not been doing this uh and not you know paying attention to this but uh a to me uh I guess

082I'm a little impatient uh in this area is a use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning and operation of a school system. I just want to have a little clearer path uh from you for the board to consider as where we are going and and how slowly or how fast you think we should be going in the regard that I do not have a clear picture from you yet. >> Yes, sir. I think it'll get clearer this fall. We're going to be talking about it October 7th, but I appreciate the sentiment and we'll be more responsive on that. >> Thank you, Mr. Moon. Uh, Miss Marin, >> Dr. Reed, thank you for everything you do for the school division, for every adult and every child and family member. Um, you know, the public might

083not know that when it comes to working with the board, uh, we are all restricted. The board members are restricted. We can only meet one-on-one. Otherwise, it we have to announce a public meeting. And so, for you, Dr. agreed. You can only ever meet with two of us at the same time. And so you're often saying things if not six than 12 different times. Um and you really have 12 bosses, which I wouldn't wish upon anyone. And yet you um continue to bring huge progress and success to our school division. You know, for me, the process matters and the adherence to policy and regulations matters. And so some others have brought that up and I know it's on your radar, but I really want to continue to see urgency about that because that is going

084to keep us focused and keep our agreements in place. Um, I I would love to see, you know, more managing up, so to speak, and providing recommendations and advising us, offering options. You know, when I see your eyes light up about AI, I'm like, I want to know what she's reading, like what is she reading, who's she talking to? And I know you mentioned this October 7th event, and that's great, but um I I want to I want to know what you see as promising. And you know, I think at this time, you know, three years leading FCPS and almost two with this board, I think we need more of a distinct approach for working together as that team of 13. So, you know, I'd love to know what board practices you think could be

085helpful and effective. When you arrived in summer of 22, you pushed us through the executive limitations, this very process that we're using, and you did not stop. And I think we are so much the better for it. And we actually used to do it years ago in the school division. So like that's the kind of energy and advisement I'd love to see refreshed um to keep us you know tight and on our toes. I think you know you hold the responsibility and the ability to thread consistency across our board because you are going to hear you know we're going to learn from you and then you can synthesize all these different you know people's thoughts. Hopefully some of them are similar but reflect back to us what you see the opportunities are. And um ultimately

086I'd like to see the school division you see at times that uh through your tireless school visits, your attendance at events, the conversations with convened audiences. Um you know you made 122 school visits last year during the instructional day. I'd love to join you for one and see what you see are the glows and grows and just um and see it through your eyes. So, I I'm just so thrilled that you're here and I appreciate this process and I look forward to us all being that that team of 13 going forward. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Uh, Miss Lady, >> thank you. Uh, and thank you for the report. Um I uh just want to echo much of what my colleagues have indicated which is um the volume of information you send

087us uh is a bit overwhelming to me and that's just a nugget of what's going on in your world here in this in this school system. Um and literally being the CEO of an amazingly huge corporation if you will. Um I I also want to um um talk about how uh responsive you are. Um, I'm shocked by that. I mean, sometimes I'm in the middle of something and um, I have a thought or an idea and one of the ways I think I might archive it is to shoot you a text, not thinking, "Oh, wait. She's going to respond right away and I should not do that because you're busy." Um, I should put those in my notebook for our weekly meetings, which I also uh, greatly appreciate the time. Um, I also want to

088talk about your integrity and the work. Um I I really find um that you have the highest of ethics. Um you care deeply about our our students, each and every one of them, our families, our community members, our guardians, um our faculty, our staff, our custodians, really the entire uh corporate industry, if you will, of of education in the community. And um I just see that and I just I just I want to honor that and and say thank you. Um um to me as someone who who worked 30 years in education um I wish I had that sort of light uh uh as consistently as you do. Um because uh I I do appreciate that that you you see the good in every situation. Um but you also are not poly about the work.

089Um you have moved the needle. Uh I I take great pride in sitting on this board. Um and that's the work of our teachers and vision and our chiefs and just really the entire um uh school system evidenced by things like the national merit um you know data point. So the high academic expectations is amazing. I I do think that there's opportunity in terms of board ideas um and how we can collectively sort of be around whether it's steam and all elementary schools that's high polyiana thinking just because we have no money right so there's no room for any new initiatives at this point but the idea of how we could work smarter um and and innovate for the future I think it's very very important for us to understand that when we have you

090know kindergarters and first graders beginning to understand the basics of coding What high schools are we preparing them to attend? How are we preparing for this generation of young people who are just such um natives of this technology to continue to challenge them at the level with the skills that they're bringing uh each year uh into the classroom. So, um I know you're on top of that. Really grateful for the math initiatives. Um, but overall just really appreciate uh how much you care, how much you uh are committed to the relationships with us as a as a board of 12 plus you and also with us individually. So, thank you for all you do. >> Thank you, Mr. Dunn. >> Uh, it's a tough job being a superintendent uh because you're not dealing with a

091unified board. You're dealing with 12 individual people with 12 different personalities, 12 different sets of expectations, 12 different backgrounds and expertise. And uh because of the Virginia law limiting our interaction to two people at a time, it's impossible at any one moment for all of us to get on the same page because even when we're in the same room, we still can only talk in two or three minute segments, right? um you know that that makes it difficult for us because it's not just incumbent on the superintendent, it's also incumbent on the board to be able to act in a cohesive manner. Now that's tough because not everyone picks up the telephone to chat, right? And there can be characterizations uh that some of us are jumping up and down, but some of us call

092that jumping up and down doing the job. doing the job with the fierce urgency of now to advocate for their constituents to fix the problems to be a thought partner and be a thought leader. That's what's necessary to meet the expectations of our constituents at a time when the future of public education is at risk. And you know, when there was mold at Hayfield, I met with you, Dr. to read at and the chief of facilities, Eric Gordon, uh Thursday morning, 7:30 bright and early to find out what the problem was, what you were doing to resolve it. And I came away hugely impressed with your personal commitment to make it your top priority to bring extraordinary resources to bear so that that problem could be solved on a permanent basis um and not just

093with a quick fix. So that's the kind of thing that jumping up and down involves. and means getting up, getting in touch with the problems and trying to make sure you're informing your constituents about what FCPS is doing. So, I appreciate everything you do to coordinate with us when we are not necessarily coordinating internally. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Uh, Miss St. John Cunning. >> First of all, I want to echo what everyone here has said. I mean, I wholeheartedly will support the um this limitation. Um, and in terms of your responsiveness, as my colleague said to Mole, that was I know the third time that you had been there with with the health department with everybody else and we had toured the building. Um, uh, I believe that was something

094that I know I had been there before other with other people doing that. So, you were on it immediately uh, and consistently have been on it. Um and you're also my colleague touched on what had not been touched on before is that you are committed to the work with such integrity and high ethics and you are you do what every teacher should do is you model behavior that we all should be aspiring to and I really want to commend you for that. I know I've had conversations with other board members that have said they've learned a lot by watching you. Um, the way you truly and honestly care about every person in this division is amazing and people feel it. Um, there's a lot that I could say. I will say that I had a

095phone call from someone that said they had a concern and they wrote you a letter and they were very surprised that you responded and you met with them and this person said she met with Lil the superintendent and she was amazing. How often does that happen in an organization this large that that happens? This person is so impressed that they want to actively become involved now to help support our kids. And I think I'm just going to end with that. Thank you for all you do. >> Thank you, Miss St. John Cunning. Mr. Mavine, >> thanks. And I think um I agree with uh just about everything that's been been said tonight. Um, I will say, um, you know, I've worked with a number of superintendents, uh, and as we've said many times before, none

096have worked as hard as you have, um, just in terms of both the actual work, but also getting out in the community and and meeting with people. And I do think that continues to be one of the places where we can improve our relationship. Um, you know, uh, past superintendents have, um, been more proactive at letting us know when they're when and where they're going to be in the community. And when you have a schedule is is as chaotic as yours, it's hard to do that outreach in advance. U, but oftentimes we're learning about um, all the great things you've done in the weekly letter. Um, and it we would have loved to known about those earlier. So, I do think that's one place um, for improvement. Um and then uh secondly um that I

097have um noticed and we've talked about one instance today um just a slow responsiveness from um staff to a lot of our um our questions having to prod um many times over many months to get um responses to things that probably could have been uh answered quickly. Um so that's been a frustration, but uh appreciate all you do. Uh, it's a hard job. Uh, and you're um you're holding holding down the fort. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. McDaniel. >> I won't be the only one that doesn't speak. Um, I what I appreciate you, this is a tough job in a tough jurisdiction in very tough environment from a whole lot of different angles. Um, what I always appreciate is the positivity that you bring to communications and to the job. Uh, one more

098I'm going to paraphrase the conversation, but I know one morning a couple of weeks ago, you and I spoke on the phone. You answered the phone and you said something like, "It's a beautiful day in Fairfax County." And I said, "Really? Because it reminds me of Seattle." And you said, "Of course it does. That's why it's beautiful." Yeah. >> Um but uh whether it's in written communication, whether it's in person, whether it's over over emails or whether it's anywhere, uh the upbeat positivity and the love of the job that you bring, I think really radiates as a board member. Um you know, it it can be easy in these environments to get down, but you don't get down. And I I appreciate that because sometimes we on this board do and it's a roller coaster

099for all of us, but I can depend on the fact that you're very steady every day 247 quite literally. Um so happy to support this motion. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. I'm going to go ahead and take a moment here. Um one of the things that I love most about working with you is that when you see a problem, you immediately fix it. And so I'm modeling that behavior as much as humanly possible. And that's where I want to talk about the fact that we have some processes on our side that need to be taken care of. One of them is the speed with which we can move through um the process of getting regulations and things like that posted. And so we worked on that this week and we came up with

100a solution because we're going to fix the process that takes what was the holdup out of the way um in a way that doesn't change the validity of the work. And that is the that's the goal. So, I want to confirm that I am never going to hold you personally accountable for things that need to be fixed on our side of the net. Um, as I've been using that analogy all week. Um, so I just want to say thank you for the work that you do to make sure that we all that you never make us feel like we're bothering you, which I don't know how that's possible because I know we must be. Um, so that part is it's just one of those things that we always feel like we have your attention and

101that is extremely important. Um, and honestly it's not what I expected when I ran for the board. I didn't think that there was any way that you would have as much time to spend with all of us as you do. And so we I think that sometimes we call you because we want to hear what your perspective is on something. Um, and that is a a really valuable and important thing. So um, I'm I love the fact that I'm in the position that I'm in. So that we're going to continue to work on fixing some processes on our side to make it clearer for board members as to how we can bring work forward because that is a process that it does move through lots of different channels. And when you're a little bit um

102sneaky in terms of how you can figure out how to work the system, it's clearer and I'm one of those people. So it's clearer the paths, but it's not necessarily fair. So I think that it's it's an excellent idea to have this as a retreat topic. I think it's one we can all get behind to make sure that it's extremely clear on how we bring work forward um in a way that is sustainable for everyone. So that being said, I see no other lights. Fabulous. Um so we're going to go ahead and call for a vote with the motion that's on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Meline, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismore Heiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. Opposed abstaining, Miss

103Marin. Thank you. Would you like to read the vote, Madam Clerk? >> It's 1101. The motion carries. >> Thank you so much. Um, at this time, the board is going to take a few moments to document their individual feedback on the monitoring form available. All schoolboard members may complete the hard copy or later or the online form. So, we're going to take a five minute quick recess. [Music] At least that one part. [Music] Board members, please take your seats. It's you. Agenda item 9.01, policy review, superintendent's relationship with the board, EL8. The next order of business is the policy review for executive limitation 8, superintendent's relationship with the board. Annually, the board will review each executive limitation at the time of the monitoring report is provided to determine if revisions are needed. School board members

104may offer amendments to executive limitations at regular meetings provided they send final amend amended language to the board and clerk 48 hours in advance of the meeting at which it's to be considered. I call on Miss Marin for a motion. I move to amend the language in the executive limitation 8 superintendent's relationship with the board in the strategic governance manual as detailed in the agenda item on board docs. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Fr. Miss Marin, would you like to speak to your motion? >> Yes. Is the language up though, please? And I will pull it up. So, as we know, uh, we have at this time when we do our executive limitation review the opportunity to look at the base policy to which the superintendent reports

105on. And um I did suggest back in May or June that there were some there was an idea to make an update. Um let me just find this. Sorry. Here we go. Okay. Yes. So, the update that I'm suggesting, it's um just to be more specific about making sure that the board is made aware very clearly about um any non-compliance with board policy um and any explanation about, you know, why has there been non-compliance if it's identifiable and then the options for remediating that such as a work plan um and also perhaps if staff support is needed. And this gets to a point that was made earlier by my colleague just about, you know, those policies that are on our side of the house to maintain and the regulations that are more the superintendent that

106are the superintendents to operationalize. But sometimes, you know, either we're we miss something or if a law changed and we have to update the policy, you know, we're supposed to be reviewing the policy every five years and that's going to guide the superintendent. So by articulating this more strongly in the executive limitation, it just makes it a very good reminder for all of us that we've got to be sure to be on top of this uh because that's how all of our decisions are made based on these policies. So I hope the school board members can support it. Thanks to those of you who gave me input over the last few months and weeks. Uh so yeah, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Uh Mr. Fresh, would you like to

107speak to your second? >> Yes, thank you. Uh, I appreciate Miss Marin's collaborative uh, spirit that was brought to bear on this. Um, I think it's ended up in a good place and I want to address the the three main areas that there are adjustments. The first is around policy. And so for the public at home, the way this kind of works out in practice, uh, frequently every year there's new laws that the legislature passes. as they go into effect. And some of those laws impact the policies that we're allowed to have on the books here. And the way that the school board finds out about that is through division council and and our um our uh legislative relations folks. And that should result in updating our policies which then drive updates to regulations. That's

108one of the ways that policies get updated. And uh this simply you know stipulates that as one of our limitations for the work around the superintendent's relationship with the board is that we have an expectation that there'll be a clean process for ensuring that that is done in a regular consistent manner. I think that's a healthy thing to do. I think generally speaking that's our board's um expectation to begin with and this just puts it in a place where we're going to get an annual report that attests to that. Secondarily, maintaining a system for inviting board members to divisionwide events. Um, superintendent spoke. >> Point of order, Mr. Fish, that is in the uh EL3. >> No, it's not. >> It's an EL8. It got moved. >> My apologies. >> No worries. Um, uh, which

109the superintendent spoke to in her comments about the difficulty we've had with combining calendars throughout the system. Uh, and I think Mr. Uh Mavine also addressed the need for board members to be more aware of what is happening throughout the division so that we can take part in these events. Uh it's really, you know, one of the ways that the board gets to know about special initiatives and really great moments of success. And so simply asking the superintendent to maintain a system for informing the board, I think is a reasonable thing to do. Uh and it probably just formalizes work that is already at least in part being done. And then finally on the interpretation services, I think the board's ability to communicate with the outside world, i.e. our constituency is important. Um, and this

110doesn't require that board members have an unlimited, you know, draw on the resources of our interpretation services uh folks. But what it does say is that the superintendent will maintain a a system for board members to seek that help. And I think that's a reasonable thing for the board to expect in the same way that we would expect support for communicating about the various things the school division is doing. So I think these are reasonable. They require minimal reporting or process creation by the superintendent and I look forward to seeing them in the next year's report. >> Thank you Mr. Fresh. Seeing no others I'll go ahead and call for the vote. All those in favor Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mr. Mackeine, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Heisarheiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon,

111Dr. Anderson, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members at the dis. Um, Miss St. John Cunnings away from the table. Agenda item 9.02, relationship or policy review, relationships with families and community stakeholders, EL3. The next order of business is a policy review for e executive limitation three relationships with families and community stakeholders. As noted earlier, board members may offer amendments to executive limitations at regular meetings, provided they send the final amendment language to the board at least and the clerk at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting to which it's to be considered. Miss Marin has submitted a timely amendment for executive limitation three. I call on Miss Marin for a motion. >> Thank you. I move to amend the language in executive limitation three relationships with families and community stakeholders in

112the strategic governance manual as detailed in the agenda item on board docs. >> Is there a second? >> A second. >> Mr. Fr. Miss Marin, would you like to speak to your motion? >> I would. And again, apologies to Mr. Fr. through the editing process, we moved content to the best optimal places, and I appreciate his input on that. So, I'm glad that he explained the latter part of that executive 8 change. So, relationships with families and community members. Uh, some of this is just some editorial changes. Uh, stakeholders we've determined is a word that doesn't really resonate and isn't reflective of how we want to view the very important people in our community. So, changing that to community members. And then, um, the change under number two is something that for me was born

113out of, uh, a lot of my experience as a parent trying to keep up with my high schoolers and middle schoolers uh, work. And so information that's shared on websites, on the content um learning management system, uh you know, communicating things about course selections and all these opportunities. We have amazing opportunities. Side note, I went to my daughter's uh sports medicine class last night. Incredible that we offer something like that. So, you know, but h but how are we ensuring that parents and guardians know about those things? So this is really cottifying that those technology systems are boosting the communication about these incredible learning opportunities in ways and in you know whether it's talking points or the emails or events that are really helping families be the partners we need them to be to guide

114and support their children through the academic experience of being prepared for life beyond graduation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Marin. Mr. Fresh, would you like to speak to your second? >> Yes, thank you. Um, when I first joined the school board, um, I thought the first thing I'm going to do, I'm going to go to every school that I represent's website. I'm going to check out the community calendar and I'm going to populate my calendar. And lo and behold, only a fraction of the schools maintained the calendar portion of their websites. And I get it, resources are thin, time in the day is only, it's finite, etc. Um, but fast forward a few years and we have a beautiful new website with an app on the way. And I think it's kind of like

115over the holidays, you get your kids a really nice present and then you see it in the corner of the living room a week later untouched and you're like, don't you want to play with that anymore? So, I think what this leans into is using to its fullest the new tools that we have available for our schools to communicate out to the community about what's happening inside of those doors. Uh, additionally, the same principle um is true for our learning management systems. um you know we we sink significant resources into those tools that are to be there to assist in the educating of of students but also in the engagement of parents. And so while I know that a great deal of work happens at the school level to ensure that these tools are trained

116and that educators are trained up on them, um I think it would benefit the board to see some reporting annually about how that work is going, what the utilization of these tools are, how consistently schools are, you know, taking advantage of the technology we're providing them to communicate with their uh with their families. Um and uh the good news is that we already have these tools. We don't have to buy them to make it better. We just have to use the tools that we have. >> Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Um, Dr. Anderson, >> thank you. I appreciate this being brought and I I just want to share an example and then just kind of a thought. Um, as you put this in play, um, a as a parent who was seeking an opt out form,

117I received an email from my child's school and they wanted me to, if I wanted to opt out, go to this site. It was impossible for me to even find that form. I I I went through multiple clicks. It It was just not there. And I'm emailing the principal. I said, "As plugged in as I am and I can't find that form, I I wonder what that experience is going to be for our other parents." So, I I hope you could just kind of consider that. And as we engage a little bit more in two-way discussions or communications with our families, I also want us to be thinking about how do we manage all of the communication that comes from FCPS. It is quite a lot and everybody wants to communicate about everything but it's

118really a challenge I think from the parent perspective to give all of that equal attention. Um, and I just wanted to kind of put a bug in your ear. How do we manage that communication so it's not so overwhelming that parents end up not reviewing any of it because they're it's just too much to track. and you know multiply that by multiple children at multiple levels and then it really becomes um a difficult thing to manage. So just a wondering in terms of how do we still have all of the communication that we want but in a manageable way and I know that parents check off certain things but even if you don't check off anything you still receive a lot automatically. information rich but maybe sometimes communication poor. >> Yes ma'am. >> Thank you

119Dr. Anderson. Um Mr. Dunn. >> Uh thank you. Um you know what what what I hope and I spoke to you previously about Dr. is just that, you know, as there are communications within a school, especially on issues like mold remediation or, you know, other things of concern that board members receive the same communications for each of the schools that they're responsible for because if there's information going out um then I have people contacting me about that information and if I don't have the communication, then I'm a little bit in in the dark. Um, so I I know that you referred me to a great app that's on the way. Um, uh, I'm still figuring that out. Um, it's not as easy as News You Choose. You just click. Of course, you have like infinite

120buttons in News You Choose, so it's not that great an example, but um, but I I I hope the app makes it easy to get all communications, not just a a subset. Um, thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Seeing no others, I will call for a vote on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor, Mr. Fresh, Mr. McDaniel, Miss Marin, Mr. Mavine, Miss St. John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Miss Seismarhiser, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Dr. Anderson, and myself. That's unanimous. Agenda item 10.01, academic matters. I call on Dr. Reid for academic matters. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. This evening I just want to spend a few minutes in academic matters talking about at a very high level um our board data from our state standards of learning in

121Virginia alternate assessment program. Uh and these assessment results were released by the Virginia Department of Education very recently on August 27th. And this evening um I will not be presenting in the you know a lot of really detailed disagregated data because we're staying at a very high level but when the goal report for these um data sets come out we're going to have the data in uh a much more granular detail. So this evening we're going to talk about this at a very high level. And before we talk about this, I want to remind the the board and the public uh how important it is to know what this report actually reflects. Uh the annual pass rates in Virginia fulfill a federal requirement for year-by-year reporting of how many students reach proficiency on state assessments

122for reading, math, and science. These are not the same rates that will be reported later this month as part of the state's new accountability system or the school support and performance framework. As we review the data in the next few slides, it's also important to know that when reporting the multilingual learner group for annual pass rates, only students who are currently eligible for services are included. That's another difference from the performance rates within the accountability that will be later from um the Commonwealth. And I want to note that because it's important because multilingual learners don't just suddenly spontaneously break out into non- multilingual learners at some point, right? They are and will always be uh having the strength of being a multilingual learner. and traditionally we have reported them um as multilingual learners throughout their

123work with us here in Fairfax County Public Schools. I will say that under the direction from the United States Department of Education, uh the VDOE made two small changes to our annual pass rates are reported for 2025. And for the first time, annual pass rates for mathematics include the small number of substitute exams approved in high schools for students who took all their so math tests before leaving middle school. So this resulted in a slight increase in the number of high school math tests reported for annual pass rates compared to previous years. Additionally, since annual pass rates are meant to reflect actual test participation, parent guardian refusals omitted from calculations uh beginning with the 2025 reports. This resulted in a small decrease in the number of filing tests across subject areas and school levels. It's

124my understanding those will be in the new framework categorized as zeros um when we have those declines. So, let's take a look at where we are. And on this slide, we see a three-year comparison of Fairfax pass rates in reading, math, and science. And in each bar, you'll see the dotted reference is the Virginia Commonwealth um standard. So, from this graphic, um I'm proud to share that our educators and students u have continued to gradually increase year-over-year and in all three areas have remained above, um the Commonwealth. um standards. And so Fairfax County Public Schools continue to outperform outperform Virginia's overall across all subjects. I want and I really want to say sometimes we just kind of whip through these slides but I want to point out that this improvement is especially significant this year

125uh because uh the reading and math uh programs this was an area where we had a brand new reading curriculum which is very difficult. our staff um performed herculean tasks last year, learning a new curriculum, uh new uh just a whole new way of approaching reading for many of our staff. F and furthermore, our students were tested on new assessments. So even with new curriculum sometimes it can be comforting to have the same assessments and the same targets but we had both new curriculum and new assessments which required students to demonstrate a higher level of knowledge and skills in the grade level content um for and for reading and math. So when you have more rigorous assessments and new materials to still make gains is really a testament to the spirit and dedication of our

126students and our staff here in Fairfax County Public Schools. Here we have the same 2025 pass rates by subject broken out by student group and again the dotted line is um the state performance by context. So I think that we have some work to do uh based on this chart um which thank you and we have uh outcomes that definitely require our attention as a school division and I will say that Dr. Pon, Dr. King, Dr. Presidio and Miss Neil are working on very concrete uh framework and theory of action to make sure that in all areas uh of this disagregated data our students will continue to outperform Virginia. So uh in taking a look specifically at our multilingual learner pass rates again taking out um those students who no longer fall into the ML1

127through four category. This shows a comparison for 2025 outcomes for current and formal former multilingual students. So in this case, what you can see is that our students who um prior or our students who have exited the multilingual program actually outperform our students uh in the all category. So I think that's a obviously a strong achievement. We know our multilingual learners once they master um language skills are able to outperform our students as a whole um in the category. So I think and that's across all three content areas reading, math and science. So looking at our students with disabilities pass rates on the so and VAP tests. Uh, in terms of taking a deeper look here, SOS make up the vast majority of tests completed by students with IEPs. In this case, for the past

128year, it's 97%. In each set of bars for the three subject areas, the first uh and the darkest bar represent pass rates for all tests, the so and the VAP combined, whereas the middle bar represent pass rates for just the so and the third bar in each uh content area represents just the VAP tests. Because of the heavy representation of so exams, the overall annual pass rates for students with disabilities groups align closely with this group's pass rate for just so uh tests. Again, Fairfax County Public School students with disabilities exceed the Virginia overall pass rate by a substantial margin of about 8 percentage points in reading and math and six percentage points in science. Um the Fairfax pass rate on VAP tests, which is the last bar in each set, um is actually below

129the state average, although up substantially in reading and math compared to 2024. Uh in this case, our VAP reading improved from 79 to 84% and our VAP math improved from 59 to 68% with respective five and 9% um growth. And we'll explore more of this data when we present the goal three report. I want to take a look at our algebra 1 pass rate by grade level. As we wrap up this uh overview, I'm going to talk a little bit of um just a couple more slides. But wrapping this up, I want to circle back to our earlier success to algebra 1 um for sure by 8th grade. And from these data, we see that our students who are accessing algebra 1 by the end of 8th grade have a very high pass rate, 95%

130actually, which is well above the division algebra 1 average of 89% across all grades 6 through 12. From the test counts, we also see that the numbers of students accessing this assessment is climbing at a solid rate with pass rates remaining consistently high. And this is the data chart we're watching very closely because we want to make sure that as we increase expectations that we also increase support and our academic matters from our last meeting we talked about the summer program algebra power up and we've got a variety of other school-based um initiatives to provide those uh support strategies because high expectations require high support. I want to flag some upcoming events and decisions that we expect will impact our division along with the rest of the state. And these are on the screen for

131you. Uh later this month, the VDOE intends to release the first ever school performance and support framework accountability reports Virginia for Virginia schools. We know that this new accountability model has some positives such as its recognition of algebra 1 by 8th grade as an important target and we of course here in Fairfax County have recognized that for several years as we've worked on that. However, we also know that many of the changes will have an uncertain outcome for how schools across the Commonwealth are depicted for their communities. At this time, VDOE has not yet released any preliminary estimates of ratings under the new system. I'll continue, of course, to keep the board and public updated as these data become available. Another area of concern is the proposed revision to SO cut scores for reading and

132math tests that the state board of education reviewed for the first time during their August meetings. And for those watching, cut scores would be the score at which we determine passing. So analysis of the proposed changes have raised several areas of very specific concern, including the potential direct negative impact on students and families with mixed messages about student proficiency and potential increased barriers to graduation. Again, we'll continue to share updates with our board. Lastly, our board, staff, and partners across Northern Virginia continue to provide feedback on the potential unanticipated impacts from the assessment reforms adopted by Virginia's General Assembly during their last session. As we discussed in the work session earlier this week, these changes are currently scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2026, unless there are further revisions introduced. We're especially concerned about

133proposed changes in grades 7 through 12 relating to SOS impacting or potentially impacting a final course grade which might significantly constrict the timeline for delivering so tests at the end of the year and possibly include complications in accessing tests for verified credit. Again, our team will continue to work around these important points to keep our student needs at the forefront. Finally, I know there's been a lot of um discussion about the recent release of NAPE scores nationally and um what they've shown in terms of uh performance particularly in reading and mathematics. And I would want to remind our Fairfax County uh public school community that in 2024 only 265 students were tested for NAPE in the entire county in Fairfax County Public Schools, which is really less than 1% of our enrolled students. uh we

134only had 1,820 students that were actually assessed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which is 1% or less than 1% of the all the enrolled students in Virginia. And this was a sample from only 8th and 12th graders Commonwealthwide. So, I want to make sure that the data that we're talking about actually is something that here in Fairfax County Public Schools, uh that this should raise any alarms. And we do not believe it does. We believe the data we're monitoring, our increased so scores, our increased number, as we shared tonight, 40% increase in our national merit semi-finalists, our continued increase in the number of students taking AP and IB exams. And I could go on. Um, we want to make sure that the nation's report card is reflecting the entire country, but we are not currently

135receiving Virginia data or data by school division. This national test does not provide this level of detail. And so I think anytime we talk about NAPE scores, I just want to remind um our community that the sampling model only looks at a tiny number um less than 300 of our 183,000 students and um we just want to clarify that we believe that our students continue to benefit from a world-class education. So madame chair that concludes academic matters for this evening and the team uh is here to help answer any questions that you as a board might have with the caveat know that this is highlevel data and we're going to get much more detailed when we present the goal reports that um report on this but wanted you to know as soon as we knew.

136>> Thank you Dr. Reid. Uh Mr. Mr. McDaniel, >> thank you. Um, overall good. Couple of one item that I wanted to draw the attention to, maybe get some more data on it. on slide um four reading, math, science. The only three categories across all of those three topics that is below state consistent Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, and multilingual learners. Could we get that data broken out like you did in one of the other slides for 24 uh 23, 24, and 25 just to see the trend on that? Yes, sir. We can. And I think we're having all of that will be teed up for the goal report, but I'll see if we can get you a sneak preview in an upcoming Friday letter. >> Okay, great. Thank you. That was all. >> Yes,

137sir. >> Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Mr. Dunn, >> thank you so much. Um I wanted to understand uh what is the plan to uh help our students with disabilities because I think there was extensive discussion by uh some of my colleagues last year um who discussed you know different examples of jurisdictions in Virginia that have made substantial progress perhaps greater progress than we've made in Fairfax County in recent years. And so I just want to understand now that we're seeing this data one year later, um has has FCPS studied those other jurisdictions, is there a plan in place to adopt their best practices and and what is that plan and has it been articulated to the board or will it be? >> Yes, sir. So I think we're on slide six, team, I believe. And

138one of the things I think one of the goals was to make sure we had more students with IEPs taking so exams and I believe that with 97% of our students taking so exams that um is definitely moving in the right direction which would leave fewer and fewer students that are taking the VAP test or the VAP assessment which that format also changed right it became I believe a multi multiple choice exam but I'm going to let uh Miss Huff Huffman uh respond more specifically uh to the year-over-year question you're asking, Miss Huffman. >> Um the we do have the increases for participation in so as Dr. Reed pointed out for students being able to access that grade level curriculum as opposed to um the numbers of students accessing the adapted curriculum for those subjects

139with stronger and more rigorous standards in terms of which students are eligible for the BAP assessment. Um and the improvement information in terms of year-over-year for the performance on those assessments. Also, we'll be able to get you in a report for tomorrow's letter. um that you'll be able to see the details on those breakdowns, but if there's a specific area that you a specific group or a specific area that you're interested, we can try to find those right now. >> Actually, there were two data points I did provide, Mr. Dunn. So, let me restate those. The um 2025 VAP rates, which are different than the so rates, did improve in reading from 79 to 84% which was a 5% gain. and the VAP math improved from 59 to 68% year-over-year, which is a gain of

1409%. >> I'm sorry, I I'm certainly not disputing any of the positive data, and I I applaud all the great efforts that have been made. I'm just trying to understand, one of my colleagues identified other jurisdictions in Virginia that were making more substantial progress over time. So, I'm just trying to understand, have we studied those best practices? Are we importing them? And is there a plan, some kind of written plan? Because John Kenneth Galpress said that which is measured tends to improve and I do believe in plans. It worked for D-Day. It can work for school districts as well. >> Yes, sir. I understand. Um, Dr. Prescidio, I know we certainly worked on executing a plan here. So, Dr. Prescidio, would you elaborate, please? >> No, I appreciate the question and and we do collaborate

141with jurisdictions around the state on a regular basis. Um there's a network for special education uh administrators at the state. There's the region for the Northern Virginia school districts that meet on a regular basis. But I think in terms of the plan that we're executing, the the biggest piece that I would talk about is the three-year inclusion plan that we have uh working with national inclusion experts uh to really make sure that we're providing um uh direct instruction and direct uh services to students with disabilities as often as possible. um unless determined otherwise by the IEP team in the general education setting with uh specially designed instruction and explicit instruction from some of our most trained educators uh in literacy, math, and science in these content areas. So, we've been working really hard to provide

142professional development to our staff. It's rigorous. It's over 20 hours uh of professional uh development that uh staff members get uh with our national inclusion experts. been working with us for um a little bit under a year right now and we're phasing in changes to that service delivery model to be a more inclusive service delivery model uh over a course of three years in all 200 of our schools. So it does take time to turn that ship uh and make sure that uh both classroom teachers, administrators and support staff in our schools um have the support and the training needed to make the changes that we're asking them to make uh to both service delivery, instruction, and assessment. Additionally, we made changes to our curriculum uh to make sure that our students with disabilities, even

143if they're in a self-contained setting, have access to the same general education curriculum that students in the in the gened track have as well. Uh and we're working really hard uh in particular in the area of literacy to make sure that our reading plans uh and our reading approaches are really aligned with evidence-based best practices. So, we do have a comprehensive three-year plan uh really designed to bolster support uh and changes to services for students with disabilities. >> Thank you. um with respect to Hispanic students, multilingual learners, African-American students who also tend to lag. Um is same question is is there a plan or could a plan be formulated? Because again, if there's no plan and there can be lots of good efforts, but it can be difficult to coordinate and I think just for

144us on the board to have oversight, we'd like to know that there are goals. What are those goals yearbyear to increase? We have the state goals, but those are are they realistic? Are they not realistic? looking at past efforts, what worked in the past or what is working elsewhere in the state, elsewhere in the country and then bring those in. I mean it's kind of a component a sub plan of the strategic plan which is kind of overarching but uh just trying to understand if there's something written so that you know we can review that so that we don't have a permanent and enduring gap in achievement. uh we we want to close that we want to end that because if it's possible anywhere if it's possible under any leader I believe it's possible here

145possible under your leadership >> well thank you and we do this is what we worked on really a great part of the summer was our multi-learner lingual multilingual learner plan uh Dr. Pon, do you want to elaborate on the work because we have a number of principles that also have um these uh plan end goals written into their school plans. Um and do you want to bring up slide five please Dr. Pon? >> All right, thank you very much. Uh we have a three domain that we have been uh working with. Uh the multilingual one is instructional support uh scaffolding uh lessons differentiation and literacy across all content areas. I can elaborate a little bit more uh if you want. H we have domain two that is language development. Uh we have uh bilingual translation

146uh practices. uh ELD um there is targeted English language development material and uh also dual language material that we utilize uh and of course uh social emotional and cultural support. This is very important and we have been uh working across uh I know my uh group one of my uh sections in my team working very uh tight in collaboration with uh uh Sloan um team as well the multilingual we have been uh working with the teachers and we have been modeling as well personally I have been going to several others uh schools and uh modeling some classes for them especially in high school since I'm a math teacher uh I have been uh working with how we should uh work with math uh with multilingual students and I'm very pleased that we are uh moving

147on the right track and we have also um supplemental material for the students where they can uh access on their own language and have academic tutors as well and I know very soon we're going to be utilizing and AI as well uh supplemented to support them. >> So I want to thank you Dr. Pon. I want to add last year was the first year we actually had supplemental literacy materials for our multilingual learners. We actually ordered that curriculum alongside benchmark for our K6 students and one year isn't going to move all our students. But we believe one of the key parts of this plan, particularly in literacy, is the evolution of once uh a student has access to that supplemental curriculum in kindergarten, first, second, by the time they hit third grade, we should see

148very different results. Um, which is different than the first year in third grade. We're not going to see um as great, but that's a key part of the plan. But what I'm hearing is you would like a copy of the plan in the Friday letter. >> Yes, ma'am. And and if is there one for African-American and Hispanic students? >> It's well any of our multilingual learners. Um and wanting to make sure that uh we have tight tier one instruction and tight tier 2 instruction. So yes, sir, we do. We'll make sure you have that. >> Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Dr. Anderson, thank you. I'll actually pick up where Mr. Dunn left off. So um these achievement gaps as outlined uh in the previous slide that has these subgroups is always a great concern and I'm

149very excited to hear that there are plans for multilingual students, plans for our students who are um who who have special needs. I I'm not hearing and understanding also that there is significant overlap because we know students may fall in multiple groups but I'm not hearing what the efforts are for our students who are economically disadvantaged because that seems to be a very persistently low performing group. So if you could speak to that. >> Yes ma'am. that a lot of the work connected to our economically disadvantaged students are is taking place in our title one schools and there's been a tightening of the title one plans uh and a centralizing honestly of the allocation of resources and so I'm not sure I think Dr. Pon or Miss Neil might want to comment on that. Um

150I'll ask either one of them because there's been a lot of work um to address how title one resources are uh rolled out to schools. >> Um I also I would like to add um that sometimes when you are addressing one subgroup you are addressing that uh eco group as well at the same time. So uh when you see that uh that number not necessarily I just uh looking at that only the ego but there are some student that overlap that they are special education they are multilingual and they are under that threshold as well uh uh low income. So uh we have been working with the with the parent and making sure that they have all the material all the resources that they need to make sure that the students are successful. We have

151been um given also material that is needed uh and we have been working with that title one uh resources to make sure that they receive everything that they need especially on the title one schools. But remember that there are some other students as well that they are uh eco I call it ecoeconomical disadvantage that they are not necessarily on a title one school but they also request uh material and support them we have been able to uh to support them >> and and I do understand the overlap and I I'd like to think I shared this at the top of my comments because our students don't come in neat little packages but I I think I'm looking for a little bit more specificity than what you've just described when we're saying we want to provide

152them with everything that they need. What does that mean? Um when parents are being you said parents are you're ensuring that parents have all the materials that they need. I'd like to better understand what that entails. Um and also the second part Dr. Reid shared that there were some new changes to the title one programming and and monitoring. I'd also like to hear a little bit about about that. And if it's not today, it's fine in the Friday letter. It's fine in the goal three report if that's coming up soon. Uh but I I I want to understand what is different that we're doing because sometimes we we tend to do the same thing just slower or and louder. So I'm looking for the new strategies that are going to be a little bit more

153impactful. >> Yes. For example, we have uh we have been working with that teaching because the best thing that you can give to uh any school is uh support instructionally. We have been having uh uh e expert in a content area that belong to the title one department and they go and we do what we call uh I do you do we do and it's coaching them how to teach the children. This is number one which I think is better to give them a a present is to give uh I would say effective instruction which this is always number one target that they receive tier one instruction for those who are on tier three. We have been uh having uh academic tutors and also uh we have been uh working with some teachers so they

154can have uh extra tutoring and also pull out which this is something that we have been providing with the families. We have been uh having some uh literacy night where we support them and teach them how to support their children. Uh we have been implemented in several schools and where they receive not only classes from other teachers, how to pull data, how to navigate a website and at the same time if they need extra support on uh school supplies what they received uh from um Titan and also uh things that we have been uh utilizing is to have a uh get together that we call and is where uh I go with some of my team and we talk with the parents and we teach them um things that we have available for them that

155they can ask for because several times with parties they don't want to totally just go and say hey I am poor and I need so we don't necessarily say hey we have food for you and everything but they know that they can go and just grab Okay, thank you. I just have two more points on this matter and then I want to spend the rest of my time on my other questions. Um, knowing what happens in many of our title one schools, I wonder Dr. Reed, are you also tracking the transiency because the 600 kids that you are starting with in August may not be the same 600 kids in a in um January and all of those efforts have to be restarted. So tracking that data point should really be an important thing because

156we need to know how how many times are we starting over and also research shows that the most effective thing that we can do to impact student achievement is the expertise of the teacher. Are we putting our most effective teachers in front of our neediest students? I I think there's a lot of room for us to do better there and I think we need to be thinking about how to be innovative to attract those great experienced teachers to put in front of our neediest students. So I will stop there on that. Um I'm very glad that you raised the NAP um scores and the number of students because very often the public does not understand the context in terms of we are really looking at very very few students to inform that data point. Um,

157but one of the things that I wanted to spend a little bit of time on are the cut scores. I I don't think we could spend enough time to educate our public in terms of the impact of those cut scores because right now 400 is passing and the new cut score um plans, the proposals, they range anywhere from 431 to 445. They're inconsistent across grade levels. They're inconsistent across subjects. It's just a quagmire. Um the modeling, has your um office done some modeling in terms of what would our data look like with those new cut scores? And if so, can you give a little bit of a preview? >> Yes, ma'am. We've been working on modeling and I believe Miss Huffman can give um maybe a highlevel uh possibility. We don't have real numbers yet,

158but Miss Huffman. >> Yes. So to your point with the proposed changes, the pass rates that we see here on our screen would u for reading and mathematics which are the two subjects that are being contemplated for these changes. Um we would see pretty substantial um declines um by um you know up to up to you know 20 30 percentage points depending on the final um the final decisions. The concerns as I I know you share from uh earlier conversations are really around the impacts on individual students and on individual families and the lack of transparency and clarity around what this means when for example my student scored at a a 480 or was perhaps even at the advanced level this past school year and suddenly with these changes perhaps that same student is performing,

159you know, just above 400 or or maybe not even passing. Um, so substantial impacts on the individual student, substantial impacts on potential graduation concerns and I know some of those were raised in the work session on Tuesday and um that's part of the followup that u Mr. Mallaloy is supporting with many of you as well. >> Thank you for that. We cannot stress how important this is. >> Dr. Anderson, that was your time. I can put you on a go back. >> Sorry, I couldn't hear. >> No worries. Um, Mr. Fr., >> thank you. It's that special time of year when Richmond politicians are showing up at school division parking lots across Northern Virginia to talk about our schools without ever having been in them. Um, so it is a there's no better time than

160the present to talk about the success, especially here in Fairfax County uh public schools. Just to recap some of the stuff that people may have missed from the conversation outside. Again, seven of the 10 top high schools in Virginia for the first time ever are Fairfax County Public Schools. And I will say six of those are attended by Providence District students. Um 40% increase year-over-year in National Merit Scholarship semi- finalists. 16th uh% increase in the percentage of eighth graders taking algebra or higher over the last three years without compromising on pass rates. We're leading the Commonwealth on uh AP exam t test taking uh and test passing. Our SAT scores lead the Commonwealth. Our ACT scores lead the Commonwealth. Our graduation rate our graduation rates lead the Commonwealth. Um, and tonight we're getting a report

161on how we continue to lead the Commonwealth when it comes to data on reading, math, and science. But that's not enough for us because we're Fairfax County. So, we're always looking for ways to do better. Um, and I wish that there were press conferences in the parking lots of school divisions that are not as fortunate as we are. Um, so I do have some questions. Um, in past conversations that we've had when we've been receiving reports, goal reports, one of the things that we've looked at favorably is the increase in in English proficiency among our multilingual students, uh, multilingual learners. Um, I'm surprised that that's not having a more demonstrative impact on the so scores considering that those are only given in English. What do you think accounts for that? I will probably phone a

162friend. Although, I do wonder um if we exit students based on the increased WEDA exam scores because we're doing a better job of making sure our students are able to exit earlier, then those scores are no longer allowed to be used in the data you just saw, whereas they previously were. So >> I'm glad you picked up on the trick question aspect of this because it is the only category that we observe >> where people eventually leave the category, right? Or one of >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. And so um it's confounding the way that we uh judge that success because it's a dog chasing its tail continually, right? Um, additionally, the Commonwealth isn't making it any easier for school divisions to meet these uh these needs. Either in Washington, they're cutting funding or in

163Richmond, they're making it harder for us to count the success of these students towards the success of our school division. And so, to Dr. Anderson's points about these cut rates. We can't get into that conversation more frequently enough because, you know, people may recall board meetings a year ago when we were talking about how the Commonwealth of Virginia was not partnering with local school divisions that they were not being clear about what the expectations were going to be. And that was while we were already measuring for those expectations. They were setting new expectations without explaining what they were. and they were judging us in the moment. And now we're fast forwarding to a time where they're not letting us in on what the data is so that we can understand how well we're doing so

164that we can adjust accordingly. They're keeping it close to the vest. Why would they do that? Perhaps I don't want you to answer. This is for the politicians. Um, >> thank you. >> Perhaps because they don't want or care about the success of public education. They want to make a political point instead of making our kids' success in our schools better. and we have to message the opposite of that. And my time went off. I heard it. I'm angry. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Fish. Uh, Miss Seismore, >> thank you. Um, and I wanted to pick up a little bit on where Mr. Fris left off because you and I have had many conversations in my role as budget chair about um, you know, helping like about the knowledge is power. One thing I've

165appreciated since you've been here is the greater transparency in data sharing from our goal reports to academic matters to strategic plan goals and we've had many conversations about sort of sharing the story of FCPS with our community right what our data and especially what our data shows um I was going to ask this of you but since m Mr. FR just summarized it may we just work with Mr. Trish, but I think a one pager on some of this academic data would be really good, right? A one pager on some of this academic data that we have. You we talk about I mean we've we've gotten it in in bits and pieces. We've gotten data about and I'll just in some of our successes we've gotten data on the chronic absenteeism that that's reduced. We

166you know we just found out about the 40% increase in national merit. We've you know we've got the seven out of 10 best high schools. I mean, I I could go on and I I'm thinking back to the many different academic matters where you've presented things, the increase in algebra pass rates and access to algebra. It'd be great to pull all of that together in a one pages. So, when we're out talking to our community members, we can say, "Here's some of the people always saying, "Well, great. You have this new strategic plan. What are you actually a what what can you show us that's been done in the last two years?" and you've shown us in lots of different places and ways pulling it together in a one pager would I think help us

167all as we're talking to our community because I think it's a valid question people ask you've done this show us you know show us the results right and so that is the first thing I would ask because I know it's out there if we can pull it together that would be helpful to us um >> I wanted to to circle back I appreciate my colleagues questions about the you know the students with disabilities and multilingual students I was wondering and if you don't have the answer today. Maybe it can come in a Friday letter, but when we look at some of these pass rates for students with disabilities that are around the 50% or lower passage and we are higher than the state, but can you tell me how many of those students or students

168disabilities on the so track have been accessing or educated about the local awarded verified credit and the special permission local awarded verified credit as options? I know Miss Edmonds Herd had mentioned having done training for staff, but do we have data on how well that training is implemented into IEP teams and IEP team conversations? If you have students who are because those are state sanctioned assessment methods for students with disabilities for the SOS. They are not substitute tests and they were specifically to address um making sure students with disabilities could access and demonstrate their knowledge. So it would be good to know not just the data on on how much it was used to see is it being used and the ones who failed the so was it then used as an option. The local

169award of verified credit is only for 375 and above but I just be curious to know was it used or not? >> Yes ma'am. So if we do I think we do have a bit of that information. So, Miss Huffman, >> so I have um before me just the most recent school year data in terms of the um students who accessed one or more special permission locally awarded verified credit. And we can we can get the prior year data to see if we do indeed have that growth trend that we believe we have from the work that we've been doing with teachers and families. Um but for last year we had um a total of 234 students with disabilities who um were approved for at least one by the state when that was um requested.

170Um 82 of those students received one, 48 students received two, 16 students received three and two students um received four. So we had um a number of students or I think it was 23 must have been 234 total locally awarded verified credit. Um when we add up those students >> the special permission locally awarded verified credit. >> Those were the special permission. Those were the special permission locally verified. >> Go back. >> Okay. >> We can also capture those in a Friday letter chart for you. Missheiser, Miss Lady, >> so along the same line, uh, Miss Huffman, if memory serves me well, in LAVC, first of all, they're not to be awarded till senior year. I believe they were held till senior year. No, they're >> it's not a policy stance. There may be some

171cases where um those are held to see if additional opportunities are provided. Um but I I think that's actually declining. That practice is declining. And um we've been working on um additional data to support school counselors and directors of student services in identifying students who may be eligible based on past testing. So those conversations can be held. >> Okay. So perhaps some of that's changing. My next question is when one is awarded an LAVC, it's not going to count as a pass in this data. Correct. >> So that is absolutely to my colleague's point, the LAVC's are not going to increase the data. >> Right. Right. But but but multiple attempts and remediation in other attempts will which is perhaps why when I was a director we waited until tw till 12th grade to do

172LABC's because we wanted students to be remediated and pass the SLS on their own. So I just need clarification that when you get an LABC it's not it's not going to count in the charts that we're looking at. Thank you. Okay. So I'm going to take a quick moment. Um, I also am feisty about particular things that are going on. Um, and I'm going to try not to repeat and try not to ask you rhetorical questions, but we're I don't promise any of those things. Um, if I understand correctly, in the period of maybe two years at the most, we have had a requirement for new assessments. We have a we have had a requirement for new curriculum and we have had a change in the so cut scores. Has that ever happened historically in

173the state of Virginia? >> Miss Huffman, I you probably have more historical data. Um >> sadly yes. Sadly yes. Um however the difference this time through is that most often those decisions about the standard setting when new assessments are developed and being implemented is made prior to that first implementation so that all of the preparation and planning can be built around knowing ahead of time what the target is. Um whereas in this case, the tests were uh implemented this past spring for the first time without having had the opportunity to go through that standard setting process. So now we'll be seeing the same tests held to a different standard. So again, I could take the exact same test this past spring or this upcoming spring and potentially exact same performance but receive a different score.

174It's almost as if they were creating new assessments intended to make us fail and that we didn't. And so now we have to create new scores in order to show failure. And if we continue to have that moving target repeatedly over and over again, um I'll go back to what my colleague said at a work session not that long ago that I all those schools districts out there or states that we feel are failing, maybe they're not. maybe they've been set up because if we understand the framework here echoes some of those states as well. So the other question that I have is related to the federal funding. How many how many of our federal funding categories or grants actually impact directly the learners that we're talking about >> currently each of our federal grants

175directly impact the learners we're talking about. So when again when so we have a we have um we have direct input at the federal level that is that is impacting our ability to serve the students that need the most support and then we have artificial creations of standards and cut scores at the state level that are meant to show failure. It's almost like we're we're we're under attack. Um, and so that is where I think so many of my colleagues and I are so eager to ensure that we defend the very public education that we were elected to. So, um, I appreciate the data as always. I'll continue to dig in. I'm going to say the same thing I said last year, though. I would really love to see the numbers without us in them.

176So, I want to know what the Virginia number looks like without us because what how well is the rest of the state doing if we're not being compared against ourselves? And so, I think that that would be an amazingly good point as a way to see, you know, what does the rest of the state look like without us. So, thank you very much. And maybe our way partners, but yes. >> Yes, ma'am. I I do think the current data is that we do educate 14% of the students in the Commonwealth uh here in Fairfax County Public Schools. And I know this very question came up last year around SAT scores because over 70% of our students take the SAT and are counted in our scores and fewer than 50% of students across the Commonwealth take

177SAT scores. So, I remember asking if we just took our highest of our 50% of our scores, we would even be more significantly ahead of the Commonwealth score. So, you might be on to something, Mrs. Anderson. >> Well, thank you for that. Um, Miss St. John Cunning, I didn't see the green light. Um, so going back to um the numbers and one of the questions I want to ask and I've had this come up before and I've seen it before and I guess I would just want an explanation because when we look at the reading math and science um for our Hispanic, economically disadvantaged and current multilanguage multil- language learners their pass rates are lower than the overall rate in Virginia. But can one student be all of those three categories and be counted in?

178So, one student is counting three times. >> Yes, ma'am. I I believe you're uh correct that that's possible that one student could be counted three times if they are in all three of those categories. >> So, that also skews the numbers particularly when we're looking at multilingual learners having to now take those SOS in three semesters. >> Correct. Because again a reminder for those watching our multilingual learners scores uh used to be calculated after 11 semesters and now it will be after three semesters. So another um hurdle that is correct not fair and will disproportionately impact our numbers. just wanted to make the point and as I'm as upset as the rest of the people on this board because it directly impacts what we are elected to do to protect public education to make sure

179that we're doing the right things and when we're showing tests scores that are not truly accurate. It's really frustrating. It's also disparaging to our teachers that are doing the hard work and disparaging to our students because they feel like failures when they truly aren't. >> Miss uh Dr. Anderson for go back. >> Yes. Just very quickly, two more things I didn't get to. Um the data that you showed us is pretty much composite. It's reading for the entire division. Are you seeing that there's consistency or is there variance in terms of performance at the various grade levels? Do we have grade levels that shine better than others? >> So, I have not looked at other than the macro data to date. Uh, but do we have any sense of that, Miss Huffman or Miss Neil?

180>> So, those are um detailed data that we'll be looking at more closely in the goal three report that's upcoming. um they are data that we look at with our um school leaders so that they can understand the trends within their building in terms of areas for um you know continued development of staff and also for cohorts of students and support as they're moving along. Um that's not something that I have for you today, but again it's something that we could get for you. >> Thank you. I was just curious with all of the efforts that we put towards at least third grade. I I was hoping to see that that data would perhaps be a little bit different than others. Uh and lastly, you presented the data for VAP and so together. What does

181it look like when is this aggregated? >> So I believe the data was separated on one part of the slide, but let me double check. Could we go to slide six, please? Miss Huffman or Miss Neil, do you want to clarify? Um because I'm not able to see. I think the VAP only is the far right. The so only is the middle bar and the far left is the um so and VAP combined. >> That's correct, Dr. Reid. So we in this slide, we've separated it out because the students who are taking the VAP are only our students who have IEPs. Um when we look at the scores separated out from most of our other student groups, they're very similar to the combined scores, but we can provide that to the board on a Friday

182letter as well. So you have that data? >> No. And I did notice that for that subgroup I I think I was speaking more to the overall I believe it is um slide four just wanting to see what does that look like um with the larger group because that one is just the um the students with disabilities. Um so but I think you're going to provide much of that in the goal report the goal three report. So I would look forward to that. Um again thank you for this. This is always important and it it does bear to say that staff are very aware of the students that fall in multiple groups because those are your kids just like they're very aware of bubble kids because those are the kids that you know will hit

183multiple groups and because we need to raise those numbers they're very aware of who those kids are and how they're going to impact um the performance of their class and school etc. So, thank you. >> You miss Seismarhiser. >> Thank you. Um, a couple things to pick up my colleagues said, it is very sad and very disappointing that for the last couple years there has been continual and lastm minute changes to accreditation and test scores. I think all of us can agree that continual improvement, accountability, and refining our accountability systems are all good things, right? We want to make sure that our public education systems are educating our our students. However, when you have a school system that consistently outperforms the rest of the Commonwealth, when you have public education that has been chronically underfunded

184in Virginia, according to their own nonpartisan report, to then change accreditation requirements when it's too late for us to make the adaptations to meet some of those requirements because the change is made after students have already started their schedules after school's already started. It seems hard to understand how that's actually an improvement to accountability standards to make sure public schools are educating students. Because if you really want to change accountability standards in a way that you can give the schools a chance to set up their processes to show whether they're meeting them or not, you work with the schools to phase it in and give them more than 0% notice. especially since some was rolled out before they even knew what all of it was. Change in cut scores. I would like to know what

185data that's based on from the state. I know you can't tell us that, but it'd be interesting to know how they came up with those numbers and changes and what they plan to do to support the schools. This is why I think that one pager is so important because I think the flip side of that one pager should talk about how some of these changes were made and how and if I may finish the relationship between these changes and accountability. So, we all want to make sure our schools are doing their jobs, but that's what the goal should actually be, making schools making sure the schools are doing their jobs and celebrating when they are. >> Thank you, Miss Hiser. >> Um, agenda item 10.02, strategic plan update. >> Well, thank you, Madam Chair, and

186members of the board and the public. Um, I am excited to share our first strategic plan update of the 2526 school year. And as a reminder to our public, each month we share an update on our work around the strategic plan uh to highlight the efforts in FCPS as we pursue our strategic goals. So it's my understanding that I have a there we go. Our executive director and director for food and nutrition services, uh Sean Sako and Melissa D'Angelo are both here uh with me this evening and they are superstars as are all of our food and nutrition staff. So, we want to highlight um our pillar D, our culture of equity, excellence, and accountability. And this evening, we're going to be focused on our FCPS food and nutrition services. Want to share for the

187board and the community that we have almost,300 staff members who work in our food and nutritious uh nutrition department. We serve approximately 110,000 meals daily across 198 sites. And when you stop and think about that, I mean, that is not an insignificant uh number of meals. 110,000 meals served daily over 198 sites for the school year 2425. The daily breakdown, it looks like we serve more lunch than breakfast and also provide afterchool meals. So, lots of uh food going on and as you can see the young man in the picture there, the healthy fruit. Uh definitely also uh we're thinking about how do we make sure our children get food that's not highly processed. Want to share that uh we did have snow meals and fasting meal kits as well as summer meals and these

188are outside what our normal food and nutrition services function might be. And I have to say, um, it is such a pleasure to support a team that goes so above and beyond, uh, to serve our children and families. And I, it's just kind of what we do in Fairfax County Public Schools. Um, our staff see a need and they find a solution. So, you can see that, uh, the meals uh, that were served when we were out of school in the snow. Uh, and you know, our food and nutrition staff found a way to get to kitchens, prepare food, and uh, get food out to families and students. Our fasting meal kits were something new that we did uh, and culturally appropriate meals to more than 500 families who observe religious fasts. and the summer

189meals. Um, we didn't necessarily track the number of families served, but we certainly provided over 160,000 over 161,000 meals through the course of summer. And I visited some of those summer sites this summer. And, you know, it wasn't just about food. It was about community, people coming together and uh connecting in the summer. And there's no better way than uh connecting over breaking bread. So the staff and families, it's it was really a powerful example of what community can do. So looking ahead for this year, I just want to share with the board and the public, we have 20 new menu items introduced. I'm not sure if I'm going to get to try all of them, but uh it's possible. Uh we did have an annual food show and student focus groups that continually to

190active uh that continue to provide student feedback to ensure student preferences are reflected in the menus. And in elementary schools, we're going to be launching new informational videos for students to teach them about nutrition in a fun and engaging way. to see this work in action. Let's take a look at how our FC FNS team serves students with purpose and commitment. Madame clerk, please play the video. [Music] >> When our students are nourished, they're able to tackle their day. If students don't have access to meals, they're not going to be able to perform as well in their academics as students who do have access to meals. We look through the lens of how can we better serve our students. If there's ways that we can improve access, we're going to be there and prepared because

191we're holding ourselves to that high standard and creating that support structure for our students. >> We love being able to provide students with a basic necessity like food and it's healthy and it's representing who they are as well. We want to be able to provide culturally diverse meals and we're proud of that work. >> I'm really proud of our snowstorm feeding right after winter break. >> We had winter break and right after that there was another snowstorm and then we learned that schools are going to be closed. We know that this meal is actually a main meal for a lot of students. >> My role within FNS is to find a way to feed students when there is a need to feed them outside of our regular operating hours. So during the snow closure, for

192example, I communicated with the state to find out various ways to create this meal kit that we were able to offer that included breakfast, lunch, supper, and snack. We were able to get approval and waiverss from the state to create this meal kit and give it out to families and a ton of kids. >> During that snow feeding emergency, we were able to provide over 7,000 meals. So many families actually have given us a feedback through the social media that they really appreciate what we were doing. We started hearing from other districts that how did you guys do it and they wanted to be prepared for this. So taking a lead and uh taking a lead of something which is great for our students we always feel proud of. >> We're always looking at what

193we're going to be able to do in the future and how we can improve. So this past year we offered over 20 new menu items and we're proud to be able to provide 20 new additional items coming this school year. You'll be seeing that throughout the school year starting in fall into spring. We're very excited to see how students are going to respond. We are going to be launching videos targeting our elementary school students that's going to help them learn how to go through the lines successfully, build their own tray their own way, build a healthy meal, and be able to understand and recognize all the delicious options that they have available for them. >> FNS really is focused on incorporating strategic plan in everything that we do. When we're talking about strategic planning, equitable

194access and strengthening those family and community, family, community and school relationships are so crucial when it comes to our northstar and guiding post for FNS. And we're excited about seeing how this is going to be trajectory us into the next school year. >> Excellence, >> equity, >> and opportunity. So I just want to say that there is a tremendous through line through every department, every pillar of our strategic plan. And I I think when we see the work in action, that level of coherent alignment uh is what's going to continue to power the engine of innovation. On a side note, um it was a good thing to see a little chocolate milk there. It happens to be a personal favorite. Um but anyhow, I'll stay off that. I want to remind uh the board and

195the public that I'll be delivering reports uh about our progress toward each goal and our first uh strategic plan goal report uh will be October 7th uh which is a work session. So we're thrilled and um madam chair that is our strategic plan update for September 11th. >> Thank you so much Dr. Eid. We'll go to some board members. U Mr. done. >> I love that video and uh it reminded me during the pandemic how um pe folks who work in the cafeteria um did heroic work for those children who were not in the school building anymore. Um there was so much innovative thinking in terms of how FCPS could continue to deliver uh necessary meals and and food support to children in our communities. Um they really are heroes and uh because without that

196food many many families many children would have gone hungry um and bad consequences could have ensued. And uh when we think about um the people who make uh a difference in the daily lives of our children, when I when I think of the daily excellence of FCPS, obviously the teacher in the classroom matters greatly, but it's every staff member who who really brings the love uh to to bear on on children both for safely transporting them um and providing for, you know, mental and behavioral health support in some cases, but also feeding them, right? Because um that is uh a necessity as as human beings to to be able to learn, to be able to thrive, to be able to sustain themselves. And so I just want to thank you and the entire um FNS

197department within FCPS because it's tremendous work and I'm I'm so proud um as as as a parent, as a schoolboard member, um community member of the tremendous work you've done. uh Dr. Eid and your team has done to put in real kitchens to get away from just processed food that we all probably grew up with, right? Maybe tastes great, but not the best for our bodies, not the best for our health, but also just to provide daily sustenance to so many children. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. D. And I also want to make sure that Mr. Muick, Andy Muick, uh our chief operating officer who oversees this uh department. Uh the department works really well, but I I know that uh it's much appreciated by our staff. The the work sometimes is thankless, but it

198makes a difference in the lives of a lot of our children. >> Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Mr. Mcabine. >> Well, hello. Um, so, uh, this is the first time I think we've ever had a dedicated presentation and video on FNS. So, I I just want to thank you for that. This is fantastic. I echo Mr. Dunn. Um, I'm glad to see we're we're uh beginning to better showcase the great work that we're doing here. Um, and obviously this has been a long journey. Um, goes back um, what is it now 13 14 years. um to get us to where we are today. And there have been es and flows. The pandemic really set us back, but I think u bringing in Sean and Melissa and our chef um among others has really helped us turn

199a corner um and get us on the right trajectory. Um so thank you you you both for for all you're doing and and to Andy of course. Um so a couple couple things. Um first a um a good news thing. Can you tell us a little bit about the mobile delivery bus that you're working on? >> Yeah, so um that's uh again going into increasing access to our students. Um uh I also, you know, uh want to mention back to um Mr. done. Um when we reached out to our our school member or our staff members about um snow feeding, uh they said that they were so thrilled about being able to impact their community again and they had reminiscence of COVID and that that that impactful feeding for that point too. Um but going

200back to the mobile feeding, uh we're looking at expanding access as much as we can. We recognize that our summer meals, even though we have been able to provide 160,000 meals to all of our families throughout Fairfax County, it's still not enough. Um, so we've been able to partner with Department of Transportation who's given us a decommissioned bus. Um, and we're actually retrofitting it ourselves. Uh, it should be starting to uh finalize its work at the end of this month and we're hoping to launch it fully um this summer. So, so, uh, we will be making more announcements as it comes through, but it's a way for us to make sure that we're bringing food access to our communities instead of having our communities come to us during that summer period. It's fantastic work. I'm

201very excited to see it uh, in action. Um, in terms of scratch cooking, so we've this is another place where there have been es and flows and we've tried different things to find what the right fit is. Can you tell us a little bit about um what your current vision is for scratch cooking, how it's going and what more we have to do? >> Yeah, so uh again, thank you to Dr. Reid. One of the first things that she did when um or she tasked me with when I came on board was to create a position called executive chef, and we now have fulfilled that position. He is creating uh recipe videos utilizing the Akishwa equipment that we have to make freshmade food. Um, we're excited that we're launching over 20 different recipe items just

202this fall semester alone. Um, it's going to encompass things like homemade mac and cheese instead of buying pre-made mac and cheese. Uh, we're making homemade fried rice instead of uh buying pre-made rice and and um prepackaged items. Uh, it's a lot of just translating the kitchen equipment we have and the skills that we have and how we can adapt that. We do that through our recipes, but then also we have visual aids too to include recipe videos that our chef does um to ensure that even our our staff members that may have English as their second language are able to follow the recipes and every single student has the same exact meal as student from school A to school B. >> That's great. Can you tell us a little bit about the success of share

203tables? Are we at 100% in elementary schools yet? Um how how far are we? >> Um yes. So uh uh we've worked with uh Dr. Pon and the chief of staff or chief of schools uh to uh provide an action item or action grant for the schools to have it where it's mandated starting September 30th. We have seen a huge expansion since then. I was uh casually at a school as a assistant principal was providing detailed instructions to their students about how to utilize the share tables. So uh it's definitely growing and and I know that we will be following up with that. >> Well, that's great news. And then I guess my final question and and I guess it's more of a point is on the salad bars. Uh you've heard heard me say

204this before. Um uh they aren't where I'd like them to be um both physically and theoretically. Um, as as as my board colleagues know, um, we went to great effort to get, um, a grant to get us a standalone salad bar, um, for every school. Um, and we had this up and running a couple years ago. They've now been reverted back to the the the line itself, which I understand logistically is easier for schools, but even in the video, you can see that the offerings are just not as robust as they had been. you know, we used to have a lot of protein options, eggs, chicken, other things on on that salad bar. Um, and now it's it's, you know, it's it's just like carrots or cucumbers or so. It's um anyway, I think um

205we still have to figure out how to make that work and really realize the vision that, you know, we partnered with Michelle Obama's Let's Move to get those sound bars and so um we aren't quite there. Um, but I don't know if you have any reaction to that. >> Um, yeah, and in, uh, you know, we're really proud to be able to have salad bars in every single one of our schools and provide unlimited fruits and vegetables to our students. We're also working as as um, our chef has been tasked with composed salads, too, where it could be um, we have a new I think it's called ranch slaw, a new Asian uh, salad. Sorry, I have notes just in case you guys ask me any questions. um uh three bean salad, Asian sllo salad,

206a ranch salad, and then garlic broccoli as all of some composed salads that our students will be able to see just this fall alone, knowing that, you know, cucumber slices can only be served so many times before students get tired of that, too. >> Uh well, thank you both again for for all you're doing. Um and to Dr. Reid for her leadership and Andy as well. >> Thank you, Miss Dixit. Thank you Dr. Reed for the presentation. Hi Sean Hamesa. Uh I really enjoyed the me the visit last year with the the taste of Fairfax I believe you have the hat and um really uh good food ethnic food and there were chickpeas like you know and I guess masala you know chicken or something like that which uh there was lot of different variety

207of food and we tasted and it's really good to see the food uh so a lot of the students eat at home to see that in the cafeteria uh few years ago when I used to visit my for my you know school's cafeteria you know 10 15 years ago I'm being vegetarian I could not find any meals I now there was nothing in the school cafeteria for me except like maybe one item but now I see there's a plenty and there is very nutritious food so I I really do encourage and you know uh you know let you keep going and kind of come up with new recipes and one of the things I would just say is that uh Maybe you know like you have a lot of cultural different diverse staff members. Maybe

208ask them about their recipes which they like their home recipe what they cook at their house sort of like their grandma's recipe and that maybe somehow in being incorporated. Um, but I do remember last year there was a presentation made and there was a Fairfax sauce being mentioned and and we were trying to say if you guys have any done any commercialized initiation that >> it is it is coming to a school near you soon. >> Okay, thank you so much. We would be loving like to taste that. So, but uh but yeah, thank you. And I think this is this shows uh and I would just hate to see any of that uh funding being stopped to the school the students which we need it and uh that is $60 million which we get

209from the federal government. I like to see that should not get stopped because these kids really need the food. That's the basic need for anyone. So, but thank you again. Thanks, >> Miss St. Jud Cunning. Thank you. And I would never get tired of cucumber slices. I love cucumbers. Um I I want to echo what my colleague just said. I really appreciate that. Um a lot of the new meals are are reflective of the cultural composition of our students. I think that's um really admirable and it addresses, you know, u the different cultures and like the fasting meals uh which is really important. And I've I've worked at schools where we do the evening the evening after school programs and those dinner light dinner meals are just critical for our families. Uh with that in

210mind, of all the meals that you served, do we know how many of those were for free and reduced lunch students? >> Uh we can pull that data for you. >> I think that's important for people to understand like how many people we feed that need to be fed. Um, I think that's a critical number. Um, and just echoing what my colleague said, and you said that you think that we would need that we're serving all these meals, but we could serve more. Could you explain that a little bit more? >> Yeah. So, uh, right now we are averaging about, uh, as Dr. Reed alluded to, a little over 30,000 breakfastes every single day and a little over, uh, 77,000, uh, lunches per day. However, we have 180,000 students uh that uh attend Fairfax County

211Public Schools. So, in my lens, if we're not feeding 180,000 students, then there's still room to grow. >> Okay. Um I think those numbers are important. Um because if we don't get the funding to feed those kids, that would show dramatically how many meals we would be unable to serve and how many kids we would be unable to serve. and particularly in these economic times, I think that number is going to increase. Um, so I appreciate the work and um I love the idea of maybe getting some of those grandma recipes though, coordinating with your chef because I think we might have some grandmas out there that are working in our kitchens that might have some really good recipes. And I also appreciate the recipes that the kids have brought in. I I think that

212inspiring kids to be interested in learning how to cook and taking that ownership is also really inspiring. So, thank you again. Amazing work. I I saw it every day down in the trenches. So, thank you, Mr. Trish. >> Just two quick things. One, if some Fairfax sauce were to fall off a truck sometime at Luther Jackson on a random Thursday evening, I think you might have some happy campers here. Um, second, when we report out the metrics of success here, because that's what they are. I think one thing that we might want to keep track of in the future is the perhaps the milligrams of sodium not consumed, right? Like take old old food that was consumed, compare it to the fresh unprocessed food that is consumed and let us know how many perhaps billions

213of milligrams of sodium are not consumed in a school year as a result of the changes. Perhaps with fat and sugar as well, I'd say calories, but I think we were pretty good on calories regardless. Um because I think that really puts into perspective the the drastic shift and the kids actually like the food which I think is remarkable, right? Um it wasn't that long ago I went to um uh I think Anendale uh Terrace Elementary School with Secretary Vilsac um uh and a whole bunch of people from the community and I got to have one of the Parmesan chicken sandwiches and it was delicious and the kids loved it. So, um, you know, I, uh, I've been around enough cafeterias where the food wasn't good to know, uh, a real change is underway in

214our system. I agree with Mr. Mavine as well that anything we can do to beef up the offerings that are available for the salad bars, I think more people are going to be likely to, you know, uh, make selections there. And the more they make selections there, the more likely they are to return there regardless of the number of selections. So, thank you for everything. Thank you, Mr. Dunn for go back. >> Uh just quickly, um I was wondering you you mentioned uh changing from prepackaged to uh scratch. Uh are there cost savings that are achieved by that? Because if I go to a grocery store and I buy separate ingredients, flour, eggs, etc. to make a cake. That's actually significantly cheaper than actually buying a prepackaged uh cake in a box. >> Yeah. So,

215we are analyzing our food costs at any given point. Um and we do recognize that when we are making uh things from scratch, we do see a saving in food costs. However, there is an increase in labor cost when it does come to that. Um I will give you one example uh and this isn't official because we are piloting it right now, but we're going to be making homemade granola. Um, and so that is a significant uh decrease in food cost to about half of the amount um that we would be ping buying prepackaged granola. >> And uh does the increase in labor cost offset the the cost savings that you get by making from scratch? >> Uh we we can send you that information. We would have to analyze it as as a case

216by case basis for each recipe item. That would be great because I mean certainly I think if we can save money um even if there are some you know uh additional labor required then that would result in healthier children you know you know skilled employees right because everyone's getting upskilled by making things from scratch and uh and and better outcomes in terms of health. Thank you. >> Thank you all so much. I would like to say that my strapping young men are four of those meals every day. Um, and I was just texting our clerk because I think that it would be a lovely thing to actually have some of that homemade granola at our legislative breakfast to show off to our legislators that are going to come talk to us. So, I think that

217that would be a great opportunity. >> So, yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, Fairfax Sauce is going to be hitting a Gate House Cafe near you very soon. >> I know. I know. >> Thank you so much. >> Agenda item 11, the consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary consu procedure. Robert's rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by the board by single motion. Many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members in 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 or hearing and seeing no objection, the consent agenda is

218approved. Agenda item 12, new business. The following are new business agenda items. There will not be a vote on items this evening, but action is scheduled at a future meeting. Agenda item 13, Superintendent Matters. I call in Dr. Reid for Superintendent Matters. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so wow, what a great start to the school year and we are just thrilled uh with everything that's going on. I've had a chance to attend quite a few back to school nights and each one of those has been incredibly exciting uh and incredibly well attended. Honestly, um our staff have been showing off program and uh classrooms and just really uh there's a lot going on. also the first couple weeks of school. I've had a chance to visit a number of um schools and classrooms and

219it's fabulous to see our our children uh working on a wide variety of content areas. Um so just really exciting. Um also this past weekend had a chance to attend Timberlain's 70th anniversary. It's rare that you can hit a 70th anniversary for an elementary school, but it was lovely um to visit with uh alumni from the school as well as some of the uh staff that had retired that were singing and providing just an incredible um experience. Just reminded me of how important community is and learning continues to happen best and particularly our community. Wakefield Forest Elementary School ribbon cutting was also a really I thought exciting event. Uh the Wolfpack can actually attend school under the same roof for the first time in roughly 20 years. So it was really exciting and just a

220big thank you to our Fairfax County voters for their support of our schools and our facilities. Want to remind the community that we're kicking off the fall or the September round of boundary community meetings. And I just want to make sure I'm clarifying that we are doing 12 um combined pyramid meetings in September uh which will be two pyramids each and then we're doing again that same cycle of 12 community meetings um in October after we have the new maps uh drawn. So, um, if you miss a meeting in September, you're certainly going to have plenty of opportunity in no in October after we review the new maps to continue to provide, uh, feedback. So, just uh, also had an opportunity to attend the Hearnden Rotary Club and visit with um, the H. earned Rotary

221team and just thank them for their support of our uh books uh and bookmobile uh this summer and um so we also had our family vision kickoff uh was was very well attended and our first uh quad one meeting. So um at this point just uh want to turn it back to you madam chair. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Reid. Item 14 board matters. Next on the agenda is board matters and I will call on those board members that choose to speak tonight. We're going to start with Mr. Dunn. Uh thank you. Uh I'd like to uh congratulate uh TJ's student uh Micah Sori and West PTOAC High School student Shan Nagda for being named National Merit Semi-finalist. That's awesome. Um, I'd also like to congratulate three students who live in the Mount Vernon

222district who earned the Pioneer Award for participating in the inaugural Bernardo de Galves essay contest. Congratulations to TJ student Sajji Alcape Alcati uh and South County High School student Saddaf Ranchber and West Ptoic High School student Madison Seaffort. Uh, I'd also like to congratulate the Mount Vernon High School boys volleyball team who made history by becoming the first uh countywide champions uh in boys volleyball. So, congratulations for your uh first ever win. Uh we know that the best is yet to come for this new program. I want to congratulate all of our students whether I named them or not on all of the achievements academic, extracurricular, and otherwise. Um because I know you're all uh getting off to a great school year. I also want to publicly thank Dr. Reed for agreeing to reschedule the

223boundary community meeting at West Potoic High School uh after learning about the conflict with back to school nights at Holland Meadows Elementary and Bucknell Elementary. Uh we don't have a new date yet, but uh we'll certain we'll definitely let you know as soon as it's rescheduled. Uh I also want to honor and remember those we lost on September 11th uh 2001. For many of our students, 911 is a historical event, not a lived memory. Uh but having uh witnessed the Pentagon in the aftermath of the uh of of the plane crash um I can say it was a catastrophic event for the community. Uh there are many of my friends and former colleagues who continue to uh suffer uh severe health effects as a result. Um the lessons in civic unity and compassion we learned

224back then are just as important and relevant for the world we live in today. My sincere prayer tonight is that we as a community and nation rekindle our collective sense of compassion and affirm our commitment to peace and understanding now and in the future. And that's particularly true in light of recent acts of political violence, school shootings. Um they're becoming more rampant every day and we must all come together and and with love and peace in our hearts to overcome the many challenges we face as a society. uh and we must do everything we can uh to regulate guns um because uh there's just too much uh too much violence in the world today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Uh Miss Dixit. >> Hello everyone. Um I'd like to start uh from where

225my colleague just ended. Uh before I start my board matters, I would like to take a moment to remember the honor and honor the lives lost in September 11, 2001 and the courage of first responder and everyday heroes who step forward in our nation's darkest hour. 911 remind us not only for our grief but also our strength. Today we honor acts of service, kindness and community. um violence is never an answer and definitely this is something uh I come from the land of Gandhi and non-violence uh and I do believe that lot of issues can be solved just by talking and discussing things without um you know hurting other people. Now back to back back to school matters. Uh we're already in fourth week of school and I'm excited to see all the amazing things

226the students are doing and staff has uh been you know supporting our students as well. Uh this is an exciting time of the year with the fall activities and Friday night football games, marching bands, cheer performances and uh students uh remember to follow the rules, stay safe and most of all enjoy yourselves. And there is uh this fall also make the launch of girls flag football in our high school for the 2526 school year. I'm eager to cheer athletes and watch this program grow into successful new tradition. I also look forward to connecting with student parents and staff during back to school night next week. And please join me to give a warm welcome to Aspiria, our new principal for Center Ridge Elementary. We're excited to have uh have to have her leadership and vision

227guiding our community. Um I have an office hour so please follow my newsletter if you have the you know access to that. There's a sign up link and I do have uh time to we can chat on any topics you would like to discuss. Thank you so much. Have a great night. Good >> Miss St. John Kenning. >> Thank you and winners. I had the privilege to see the new metal detectors in action during arrival at both Lewis and Edison High School this week. I was really impressed with the staff and the students at both schools and how efficiently and smoothly they moved hundreds of kids into the building. Uh airport security can take a tip from the Lewis Lancers and the Edison Eagles on how to move people quickly and get them to their

228destination uh safely and on time. I also attended Hayfield Secondary School's back to school night last night and I really enjoyed listening to the families and the students and was really proud to have my student um representative from last year speak tonight. So I think the leadership program has taught her how to be a good advocate for her school. Uh, as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, I'd like to recognize the Hispanic Educators Association and Hispanic Leadership Alliance that was started as a very humble organization by FCPS staff about 26 years ago. The organization has grown and this past year they awarded 33 scholarships to FCPS Hispanic students that are the first in their family to attend college. I'd also like to thank the many Hispanic staff members in our division that support our students and

229our schools. And finally, I want to recognize our Hispanic families and students who enrich our schools by sharing their language, culture, and tradition with all of us. I want them all to know that they are welcome and they belong here in our schools. When I think about this year's theme for Hispanic heritage, collective heritage, honoring the past, and inspiring the future, we have to remember that some of that past was not so pleasant. In my personal life, my paternal grandfather received two purple hearts when he was in World War I, only to come home and see signs on windows that said Mexicans not allowed. Never mind that he represented the 16th generation in New Mexico. My father was punished for speaking Spanish in school, yet he went on to be a leader in the community

230and an inspiration to me and my siblings. I honor his and my mother's past by retaining my language and encouraging our Spanish-sp speakaking students and families to celebrate their culture and to retain their language. Some of you may not know this, but the United States is the third largest Spanish-sp speakaking country in the world. I realize that this is a heavy lift for some of our families in the current climate. However, we need to remember that Spanish was spoken in the American continent half a century before English ever was. Our Hispanic lineage in this country runs deep and it is strong. So, let us celebrate this month not only not only let us use this month not only to celebrate but also to listen, learn, and continue building a school system that reflects the strength

231of our diversity. We recognize that we would not be here if it were not for the sacrifices of those that came before us. Our celebrations are loud and passionate because we are not just celebrating for ourselves but for all of those who came before us overcoming adversity. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month. And I will end by saying Cis. >> Thank you, Mr. Jung Hunning. Mr. Macke. >> Thank you. So last weekend uh I had the pleasure of joining uh Dr. Reed, Dr. Pon, and uh Mr. McDaniel at the um Spanish Cultural Center in um in DC uh where we really had a great celebration of um of culture but also of uh student um achievement and involvement in um international programs. So, uh, at, uh, Langley High School, the World Affairs Club, um, led by Ryan

232Minton, um, who is a junior there, I believe, uh, created an essay contest, uh, in which we had, uh, students from across the division participate and I think we honored about, um, 60 or so of those students who had risen to the, uh, top of the the field in that essay writing contest. Uh but it was the best example I've seen uh perhaps ever of us partnering um with an embassy uh in order to uh recognize the achievements of our students. Um and as I shared that day, this is something that uh we really um it was really a board vision starting back in in 2013 um to increase our partnership with embassies uh in um in Washington and take advantage of our our geographic proximity um to all that all those resources. Um so

233congratulations to the Langley World Affairs Club uh and uh keep up the good work. We're gonna we're gonna go back a little bit. Mr. Moon. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. I I just wanted to add a couple of words regarding 911. Upon hearing what Mr. Dixit uh has said about 911 going back to 2001 uh 24 years ago and my kids were in school at the time. So I have a vivid uh memory of this as to what our teachers, our STEM members had to do within school system when planes hit World Trade Center buildings and they also hit Pentagon. We all know that uh there was an announcement through a PA system for all teachers to go check their computer. So teachers went to computer check direction directive to the teachers were to

234maintain calm in the classroom. You know that many of our teachers have family members who worked in Pentagon family members and relatives who might have worked in World Trade Centers as well. So obviously they had to be concerned about their loved ones but their first and most important duty on the day was to keep calm for their students and that's what they did. Just wanted to share that with you. Miss Marin, as a native New Yorker, even just saying 911 or September 11 always hits me. So, um, you know, I've been hoping that the school division could do more, um, to teach local history, and, you know, this is actually history that, you know, we've lived through, um, for some of us adults. So, I think, you know, the more we can help our teachers

235teach and facilitate about events, world events, current events, and make sense of it, the better our our children will be. But speaking of local history and teaching it, this weekend we held an event to celebrate the the reveal the revealing of a historical marker for Louise Archer who for whom the Vienna School for Colored Children, I believe it was called at the time in Vienna now bears her name, the Louise Archer Elementary School. We celebrated the opening of that re of the construction earlier this year, but this Saturday we celebrated the revealing of the marker that was created through a partnership with the Fairfax County Neighborhood Community Services. And it was remarkable. Again, students who were Ms. Archer's students 50 years ago were there. 80 year olds, 92 year olds speaking as if it was

236just yesterday that they were in a classroom with Miss Archer. And all I could think was how could anyone question the power of public education when people who remember things generate, you know, a generation later. It just was such a testament. And I I learned that she used to drive through the town and that's why the mural in the school has a picture of her car because she would drive through the dirt roads of Vienna picking up children who of course did not have a car and taking them to school and the memories that were shared were really amazing. So, um, it was very special and I thank the county for making that program happen. Um, I also went to my own daughter's back to school night last night at South Lakes. I didn't get

237as lost this year, so that was really nice. And, um, I headed to Marshall Road tomorrow for their picnic. Marshall Road is just such a beautiful, diverse community in Vienna. And then we've got lots of legislative work going on. We've got that extra session uh on Tuesday night. And uh I'll be going to Richmond next week with I think a few colleagues for the Virginia School Board Association's legislative conference and then we'll get ready for our breakfast on October 7th when we host our state electives or any electives that want to come and and talk with us. So before the next regular meeting, we will begin the holiest time of the year for Jews starting with Rashashana on Monday evening, September 22nd. And that starts a week-long time of introspection, reflecting on how one is

238doing the work of what's called takunolum, which is repairing the world. So I look forward to observing that holiday with my family and friends. So, thank you to the educators and staff who have made the first weeks of school go so smoothly despite a varying configuration of days and to the families who are helping our students get into that school schedule. Good night, >> Mr. Fresh. >> Thank you. Uh first I want to start by extending my sincere congratulations to Congressman James Walkenshaw uh who was sworn in yesterday to the US House of Representatives for Virginia's 11th congressional district which includes almost all of Providence district with Fairfax County federal workers under constant attack and Washington politicians working overtime to cut billions from programs that feed hungry kids, keep them healthy, uh put roofs over

239their heads or make their neighborhoods safer. Uh, Congressman Walenshaw certainly has his work cut out for him, but I believe he's up for the task and the challenge. Um, I've had a lot of people reach out and ask me uh what I'm thinking about the climate in the country right now. And I guess the only thing I could say is that the only way for cooler heads to prevail is for people to demand leaders with cooler heads. Um, in other updates, uh, out and about in Providence District, um, I was grateful to attend the 70th anniversary of Timberlane Elementary School. Dr. Anderson was there. She was doing back flips in the Moon Bounce. Um, Mr. McDaniel was there. He was eating all of the the uh, food truck food. Um, Dr. Reid was there. Uh,

240it was a lot of fun. Uh, a lot of activities, a lot of really happy people. um and running the gambit of alumni to uh the littlest learners. So, it was really great to be there and to have supervisor Palic's office uh providing a proclamation as well. Uh on Tuesday, I attended Kilmer's uh afterchool activities fair. Um and I think I can take single-handed credit for convincing one eighth grade boy to sign up for modeled United Nations. Um, I promised it would be an extremely fulfilling opportunity for him to learn parliamentary procedure. Um, so if you're wondering why I could run a meeting with parliamentary procedures, it's because I learned it when I was like 14 years old. I'm that nerd. Um, also want to congratulate all of the students in Providence District who are

2412026 National Merit semi- finalists. Uh, of the um 262 students countywide, 35 of them live in Providence District. um and they are now eligible to compete for $26 million in scholarship opportunities uh in 2026. So very excited for them and to underscore again a 40% increase in the number of students this year. And then two upcoming events to invite folks to this fall. My schoolboard office is hosting a series of a night at the game events. Our first game is tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Join us under the Friday night lights at Oakton High School. It's Oakton's homecoming game and the Cougars will be taking on the Woodson Cavaliers. Get your tickets at the gate. Um, and be sure to swing by our table um to say hello. We already have 50 RSVPs for the

242game at Oakton alone. So, that's pretty exciting. Uh, and you can visit our website for uh the other events coming up. And finally, September 20th is Providence Day and back to school celebration. I hope you will join Supervisor Palic and I uh at uh Marshall High School for that wonderful activity. our our second annual. Thank you. >> Going back one more time, Miss Seismarhouser. >> Thank you. And I just wanted to start by um saying just taking a minute as some of my colleagues have done to reflect on 911 on the somber um anniversary this year of 911. I was um I think everyone in this area and in New York and in Pennsylvania can remember perhaps around the world really can remember where they were if they were alive on that date. And I

243had just moved to Virginia in July of 2001. So it was quite a jarring to be a brand new family with no family here and um very little friends with two little kids in 911. And it's I feel very lucky that um we lived in a place where all of our neighbors and communities really came together. Um echoing my colleague, I want to also congratulate our newly elected congressman, Congressman Walkenshaw, the former Bradock district supervisor who I've worked very closely with as we represented Bradock jointly. I know he'll do great things in Congress to represent our federal workers and our county. Um, I want to say kudos to Robinson Secondary School who won both the Virginia High School League VHSL National Guard Cup for athletics and academic activities for class 6 schools in 2024 to

2442025. Winners of the National Guard Cup are determined by a point system. This prestigious award honors schools that have led the state in performance across 27 sports and 12 academic competitions. and Robinson came out on top in both categories, which is pretty impressive for Robinson. So, go Rams. Um, I also really enjoyed celebrating Wakefield Forest um 70th anniversary and ribbon cutting for its renovations with now Congressman Walkenshaw and school board member at large Kyle McDaniel. It was a wonderful celebration in the morning as we celebrate this amazing renovation. Thank you to all of our taxpayers voting for the last bond that helped finance renovations like this. and I hope you'll come out on November 4th to vote for the new bond that's coming out so we can keep um renovating our aging school facilities. In

245the evening, Principal Sharon Prindle and her staff welcomed the entire Wakefield Forest community in a 1950s inspired celebration since the school was founded in 1955. It was a building filled with poodle skirts and root beer floats and lots of hula hooping and and a lot of fun. Um, they even had a poster of this day in 1955 of all the cool things that happened or this year 1955. Um, and last but not least, I'll just end with saying that I was at Lake Bradock Secondary School for Friday night lights on uh, Friday night and I'm so sorry to my colleague Miss Marin, but Lake Bradock defeated Madison 34 to 31, coming from behind to win in the fourth quarter and avenging the state semifinal loss to Madison from last year. So it was their pyramid

246night to so watching all of the young the future Bruins running with their mascots through the tunnel and then watching Lake Bradock defeat the Warhawks. So sorry again Miss Marin was a super exciting way to spend Friday night. I will be um attending football games at Woodson Robinson West Springfield and Anandale soon. So with that have a wonderful evening. >> Dr. Anderson, thank you. Um, I do want to say congratulations. We do have a couple of students from the Mason District um, who are National Merit um, semi finalists. Christian Ada from Justice High School. Congratulations to you. As well as Jada Newan from False Church High School. And I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to the parents and community members who came out earlier this week um right here to Luther

247Jackson for the principal selection um community meeting in order to um find the next great leader for of Luther Jackson as Miss Raven Jones has gone on to MLAN. She's a gem. She'll be great. We miss her dearly. But thank you all for your feedback and we're hoping you get that in and you volunteer to serve on those committees. Um I do want to ensure that I invite the community to the Taste of Anandale on the 20th. Um where you could come out and see all of the wonderful things that are taking place in Anendale. Um today is 911 and I'm very glad to hear um some of the share some of the stories that were shared um by my colleagues and it is one of those moments that I will always remember as having

248my family in New York when that was taking place and I was just across the river here in Maryland um as an assistant principal trying to figure out how to keep all of our families calm as the school swarmed with parents who uh many of which were service members who ultimately had to return back to full-time service. So, it was a very, very dark time and um I hope that it is not something that we forget and it is an opportunity for us to learn from. Um I do want to say congratulations to Westlaw Elementary. They were selected to receive the 911 day of service miniig grant through the Virginia Service Foundation to support their upcoming service project and they will be honored um hopefully very soon by the committee that selected them. Um it

249was also very exciting to be at um Bailey's Upper just last week to congratulate Miss Kylie West um for her um recognition as the FCPS cares of the quarter recipient and Mr. Melvine was there as well as Dr. Reed. It was really a wonderful moment because she is a humble person who did some extraordinary things and I am glad that um there was an opportunity for her to be recognized. Um, I also want to say thank you to the Anendelle and Poe pyramid who were providing who have been providing lots of feedback regarding the potential middle school AP center. Um, if this is approved, there will be meetings to respond to all of your questions that are um to all of the questions that you raised to me, but I do appreciate that you've reached

250out. And also a reminder that the justice pyramid meeting on the boundary is Monday the 15th. Um I'm not sure if the link for the virtual part was set up. It wasn't as of earlier, but hopefully that will be set up very quickly because there there is an opportunity to participate virtually as well as to attend in person. Um and that's it for me and I want to say good night to all. Miss Lady, >> thank you. Uh, as my colleagues have mentioned, 20 years ago today, our nation was irrevoc ir irrevocably changed. The horrible attacks of 911 brought unimaginable grief and sorrow. We remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost, the innocent civilians, the brave first responders, and the heroes on Flight 93. As we stand sit here tonight, we hold their memories in our

251hearts and honor their legacy. In the wake of that trag tragedy, a remarkable thing happened. Our nation came together. The divisions that had seemed so wide faded in the face of shared sorrow and a common purpose. We saw it in the halls of Congress where members from both sides of the aisle stood united, working together for the good of the country. We saw it in our communities where neighbors helped neighbors and strangers became a source of comfort. We saw it in the outpouring of patriotism and love for our country that was felt in every corner of the United States. We set aside our differences to lift each other up. This anniversary comes at a difficult time. The violence and political vitrial that have become far too common in our public life are deeply troubling. Just

252yesterday, we experienced the pain of the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk. His death and the murder of others like Melissa Hortman are heartbreaking to all of us. These acts of politically motivated violence against influencers, elected officials, appointed judges, and others are a stain on our nation. They must stop. We must reflect on who we are as a nation and do better. We must return to a time when we could disagree without resorting to hatred and violence. As remember, as we remember lives lost on 911, let's remember the unity we found in that moment. As we grieve today, let's work towards finding common ground again. Let's commit to fostering a community and a country where respectful dialogue and empathy are valued above all else. Let's teach our children that it is possible to hold different opinions

253and still treat each other with dignity and kindness. Thank you. >> And as the only person that's standing in the way of everyone getting to go home, we are adjourned at 11:02.