001as we're calling so I'm going to go ahead and call individuals to go ahead and take their position in the reserve seats if I can get Juliet Cohen if I can also get Diego uh Vadus Agus if I can get Luca Bodka if I can get Joanne Walton and if I can also get Emily Emily Vanderhoff if you can take uh seats in the first we we do have virtual individuals that will be calling in between those individuals but these are the first five in-person individuals thank you we have overflow seating in the cafeteria we also have some seats over here we have some seats over there please try to fill in where you can if you can't find seats in here we have overflow seating in the cafeteria the May 13 2025 public hearing
002on the fiscal year 2026 approved budget is called to order at 6:01 p.m miss Lady has submit sub submitted a written request to attend tonight's public hearing virtually due to a personal conflict as she is participating in a conference and is located in Washington DC all those in favor of approving Miss Lady's request please raise your hands miss St john Cunning Mr moon Mr dunn Mr fr Miss Anderson Mr mave and myself that motion passes miss Lady can you please test your mic i don't see her on yet i'm sure she will join us soon miss Dixit has submitted a written request to attend tonight's public hearing virtually due to a medical conflict and is located in Centerville Virginia all those in favor of approving Miss Dixit's request please raise your hands miss St john
003Cunning Mr moon Mr dunn Mr fr Miss Anderson Dr anderson Mr mave and myself that motion passes miss Dixie could you please test your mic i see you on camera right now hello everyone great thank you very much good evening and welcome to the public hearing on the fiscal year 2026 approved budget on behalf of the entire school board I would like to thank you for sharing your comments with us this hearing is being broadcast on channel 99 and livereamed on YouTube and our website at www.fcps.edu backlivestream we have 187 registered speakers who will address the board at this public hearing if you have not registered to speak but would like to address the board please see the clerk or deputy clerk to sign up for one of the five extra reserved speaker slots please
004note that those individuals will speak after all pre-registered speakers speakers are allotted two minutes and we ask that you stay within that time limit the time timer will start when you begin to speak and the timer will sound after two minutes please ensure that your remarks are limited to the budget and that your remarks adhere to the school board's expectations for community participation included in those expectations are that only one person is allowed at the podium when speaking neither adults nor children may accompany a speaker to the podium copies of all expectations are available at the back of the auditorium to assist with the flow of tonight's hearing the clerk will be calling speaker names and letting the next five individual know individuals know who are on deck when your name is called as a
005person on deck please head to the reserved several seats up near our clerk team and sit in one of those seats until your name is called as the next person if you have a hard copy of your testimony please give it to the clerk when you move to one of those on deck seats if you are virtual please turn on your camera when you are next in line to speak so that you just have to unmute when you are called to speak if you have electronic copies of your testimony you like to share it with the board please email to community participation at fcps.edu again that's community participation at fcps.edu when your name is called the clerk will call your name three times before moving on to the next individual on the list you may
006find copies of the speaking order in the back of the room or on board docks given the length of tonight's hearing we do ask for grace and patience from the audience members we also also ask that you hold your applause so we can keep the hearing flowing to ensure all speakers are heard in a timely manner because of the length of the hearing school board members may be taking small breaks but are able to access the hearing throughout and will be listening to all speakers please note that if you need overflow seating you can find it in the cafeteria madame clerk please call our first speaker so our first speaker is going to be Juliet Cohen on deck is student number two student number three Diego Vitus Agus and student number five thank you for
007giving me the chance to speak up about an important teaching position i am current I am a current sixth grade student at Hok Elementary and I attended Chesterbook Elementary from 1st to fifth grade today I want to speak about someone who changed my life one of FCPS's many amazing AARTS i've heard the school board is considering cutting her position due to budget issues please don't let that happen she is a mentor and a leader for the whole Chester Brook community and Chesterbrook would be worse off without her our AART is an exceptional teacher who supported me and every Chesterbook student starting in kindergarten he pulls students in small groups teach them not only core subjects but ways to be a critical thinker and uphold the portrait of a graduate concepts i I would spend all
008week looking forward to these groups she also teaches thinking lab a STEM class that incorporates critical thinking and collaboration it is our chance to think creatively about how to approach a problem every lesson she taught sparked curiosity and every question she asked made people think deeper i definitely would not be standing up here speaking in front of a crowd if our AART had not been pushing and inspiring me to challenge myself for the past 5 years it's not just me our AART takes the time to learn how to challenge each student in the school and learn their learning style whether they AAP or not i know she is also a behind-the-scenes miracle worker craft crafting lesson lessons with teachers and supporting the student community students who come after me will not have the same educational
009experience as I did if the budget cuts to um if the budget cuts the ART position please reconsider we can't lose her [Applause] go ahead and start hello my name is Huck Connoreller i've been diagnosed with ADHD dyslexia and disgraphia i'm in fifth grade at Oakill Elementary i care about the budget cuts because my special ed teacher helps me cope with my anxiety she helps me feel better at school she helps me she helps a lot of other students my mom told me that these budget cuts might might mean that my teacher won't have the same support she needs to do her job when I heard this I felt sad and worried she said she said that special education department chair uh helped me to get the support I need she also she also makes
010my teacher's job much easier i felt uh please do not cut these department chairs because it will decrease the amount of time my teacher will have to help me when I need it thank you [Music] [Applause] everybody it's going to be a very long night if we applaud in between everybody can we make a deal that every 25th speaker there will be aorious applause and you'll know just the kids all right just the kids pinky swear all right i only saw half the pinkies everybody close enough madame clerk please continue okay we're on student number three will be up but in on deck we have Diego Vades Edgus we have student number five we have Lucas Vodka we have Joanne Walton and we have Emily Vanderhoff thank you student number three you may go ahead
011hi my name is Kayen and I'm in fifth grade i'm here to talk about my special ed chair Miss Hoffman she's amazing and she helps so many students every single day she's always there when someone needs help or just someone to talk to she makes kids feel seen and safe if she has to go back and forth between two schools that means she has to help double the kids with only half the time that's not fair to her or us she won't be able to really get to know everyone or build trust with students if she's always traveling it's hard to talk to someone if you don't know even know if they'll be there the next day miss Hoffman should be here full time we really need her thank you all right diego Vadus Egus
012is going to be up on deck um is going to be student number five Lucas Butka Joanne Walton Emily Vanderhoff and David Walrod good evening school board members my name is Diego Vidgas and I'm a student at PO Middle School i came here tonight to say thank you and to you and uh board of supervisors for keeping the after school program and thank you Dr anderson for always being willing to answer my questions even the hard ones throughout all this process I'm learning that budgets are hard and sometimes to save one thing you must sacrifice something else that's why I was concerned to hear about the possible cuts of in to essential positions for special education services in elementary schools i have an EIP and I was diagnosed with ADHD in fourth grade i know
013how much support matters special education department chairs in advanced academic resources teachers are the backbone of support for other for other students with disabilities that makes sure no student is left behind cutting or reducing these roles will hurt kids and it will put even more pressure on teachers who are already doing so much i know teachers got a raise this year and that's great but now we're talking about taking away the support that helps them succeed that's not progress teachers can't do it all alone when we cut or reduce critical supports we send a message that their workload doesn't matter and the students like me should just get by without the help we need that's not fair please protect the support that help students and teachers succeed after all teachers are the only professionals who
014create other professionals without teachers we Can you please hold the speaker's time how about at the end of their speeches because you do take their time when you applaud in between all right go ahead sir without teachers we wouldn't have doctors legislators or even schoolboard members if we want a strong future we must invest in the people who build it every day our teachers thank you for listening and thank you for caring about students like me and please keep Dr eob as principal at Poke she's caring and she's super cool student number five is up next hi my name is Lucas Batka and I'm a second grader at Oakill Elementary School i miss swim practice to be here because this is important to me i hope that you don't cut funding for AAP teachers like
015the one at my school her name is Miss L miss Lar has done a lot of things for my friends for me and my friends i started working with Miss Lar in kindergarten after that I had group meetings with Miss Lar she helped me make friends that have good imaginations like me my brother Alex will be in kindergarten next year and I want him to receive the same services I got please keep AAP teachers like Miss Lur thank you for your consideration student number five who's virtual i think we may have to go back to student number five madame clerk because we went that was student that was number speaker number six so we need to go back to student number five student number five I understand you may have the same link as student
016number three so if you're on and want to go ahead and speak you can joanne Walton is going to be up next on deck we have Emily Vanderhoff David Walrod Molly Cronin Kurt Samuels and Duran Thompson for those people that I just called that are on deck please come to one of the rever reserve seats and as a reminder please hold your applause so we can keep the flow going thank you wow that was incredible um what a way to kick this off um good evening Dr reid and Chair F and FR and schoolboard members and staff um my name is Joanne Walton i am a special ed uh teacher at a Title One Elementary School here in Fairfax County um I'm a parent of an FCPS senior and an FCPS alum and a proud
017union member and I'm speaking tonight as an individual my word for this year is unacceptable i'm here tonight to tell you that these proposed cuts to elementary school staff are unacceptable we've been begging for elementary specialed department chairs with no case loads for years we finally get them and now they're going to be made part-time unacceptable this year I had 25 IEPs including addendums and about five eligibilities the most I've ever had due to case managing for a teacher trainee who is not qualified to use our IEP system there are 13 special ed teachers in my school so my department chair attended at a minimum 260 IEPs in addition to all local screenings eligibilities reeligibilities not to mention testing leading our collaborative learning team reviewing progress reports in actuality we should have two chairs one
018for IEPs and one for screening eligibilities and testing i challenge each one of you to spend a day with a special ed chair just to get a snapshot of what it's like it's unacceptable that they're going to have case loads again many of them actually still do have case loads because of the terrifying lack of staffing that we have and we can't afford to lose anymore and we can't afford to lose any more special ed teachers everybody's essential they are our lifelines and without them we will most certainly lose more special ed teachers and cutting monitors is also unacceptable all the monitors I've talked to in the past few years are interested in special ed they want to be specialed teachers or IAS and they don't have the money for the classes so what we
019should be doing is actually giving them some fun Emily Vanderhoff good evening budget chair Seismarheiser and members of the school board my name is Emily Vanderhoff i'm an FCPS teacher and the president-elect of FCFT gross negligence by the board of supervisors has forced us to walk back our first ever ratified contract and we're now facing a proposal to increase class sizes and cut school-based positions for the first time since the Great Recession our state and county partners have failed us and tonight we turn our attention to how FCPS responds to the gaping shortfall we now face i'm most concerned about the cuts to school-based staff all of whom directly serve students and families on a daily basis arts directly teach students daily at many schools including my own the ART is on the master schedule
020for specials they pull small groups for young scholars and level three students reducing their position to 0.5 equals a reduction in student access to opportunities for rigorous instruction sped shares also work directly with students and parents daily to ensure students with disabilities access their services and accommodations they complete student testing and support students in crisis they collaborate with families in IEP meetings even at 1.0 some still carry a case load and with around 30% of our sped teachers not fully licensed sped teams would crumble without the mentorship and support to help new teachers stay long enough to become experienced ones the cuts to monitors is also a blow to student support while the position started out as a co response monitors have become integral to elementary schools especially in covering classrooms such as for IEP
021and LSC meetings the coverage needed is not going away so the coverage need is not going away so eliminating this this position will just put more strain on our depleted substitute pool i call on this board to demand to see a full line item budget and find non-personnel cuts if deferring the social studies textbook saves 15.3 million there must be other non-personnel cuts that can be made to preserve the 5.9 million for a 9.3 million for sped shares it's your duty as our board to find those cuts and preserve student services thank you david Wellrod good evening budget chair Seismore Heiser Superintendent Reed and members of the board thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today i am a special education teacher at Lake Bradock Secondary School and I have previously been a
022special education teacher at Keen Mill Elementary School where I had the opportunity to serve as local screening chair before um department chairs were added i've been an advanced academic uh classroom teacher at Keenill Elementary and Lorton Station Elementary i know exactly how much these cuts are going to hurt I know exactly how much work this is going to add to teachers i know exactly how much this is going to hurt students um this whole budget process makes me angry i'm so mad at what's happening right now and I want to be clear I am not mad at Dr reid not mad at any of you not mad at any of the folks sitting in the room and what makes me the most mad right now is that none of the people I'm mad at are
023here in this room our board of supervisors has failed us our board of supervisors has failed every single person in this room our board of supervisors has failed Dr reid our board of supervisors has failed all of you and last last Tuesday we had to listen to our board of supervisors insult several people in this room and now we're in a situation where we have to make up $121 million in funding that the our board of supervisors did not fund us we have to make up for their failures and so I sincerely hope that maybe that you're able to find less painful cuts somewhere in the budget but I hope that all the folks here in this room let the board of supervisors know your failures are unacceptable thank you for those who are virtual
024you have to agree to be uh put up to participants we cannot do it as attendees our tech team are trying to advance you and we've gotten several refusals if you refuse we will not be able to hear you and you will not be able to speak to the board so please allow them to advance you next up is Molly Cronin good evening Chair FR school board members and Dr reid my name is Molly Cronin and I've worked in FCPS for the past seven years as both a general education and special education teacher i'm here today speaking as an individual i want to address the difficult position the Fairfax Board of Supervisors has placed our schools in by grossly underfunding FCPS by nearly $150 million thanks to a recent state adjustment we regained about 29
025million but that still leaves $121.3 million shortfall historically over the past 26 years the board of supervisors allocated an average of 52.4% of their budget to FCPS this year and next it drops to 51.5% this small shift in percentage has a huge impact just 1% more would have meant $60 million in funding and significantly fewer cuts these school-based cuts are painful i think we all know that but let's not forget who forced them the same board of supervisors that gave themselves a 30% raise called our 7% negotiated raise lacking reason that's deeply frustrating our staff teachers paraprofessionals and support professionals are being priced out of the communities they serve a 6% raise in thousand bonus could mean the difference between staying or leaving FCPS it could mean the difference between staying or leaving education as
026a whole i applaud the school board and leadership for attempting to make thoughtful difficult choices cutting central office expenses delaying social studies curriculum adoption and reducing traffic to attempt to minimize the harm to classrooms as we look ahead we must continue advocating for a fair share from our board of supervisors our students and staff deserve better it's not too late for the board of supervisors to step up and do the right thing and fully fund Fairfax County Public Schools thank you for our queue if we can have Amanda Campbell uh Regis Brett Michelle Peele Zachary Co and Michelle Caldwell uh Winer if you could join these seats that have the blue reserve signs next up is Curt Samuels who should be virtual kurt Samuels kurt Samuels next up is Duran Thompson good evening as Fanny
027Liu Hamer a civil rights activist from Mississippi said "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." I too am sick and tired of the excuses given to FCPS employees represented in this bargaining unit the bargaining unit that we bargained in good faith for a 7% raise a raise to help offset the increase in Sigma health care costs a raise that in no way compares to the 30% raise the board of supervisors gave themselves a year ago or a raise that in no way compares to the one some of you are giving your new administrative employees increasing their salaries from $73,000 a year to $121,000 a year i am sick and tired of school board and board of supervisor members sharing how they or family members were teachers and they understand the challenges of
028the job one member shared that her niece and husband who are both teachers couldn't afford to buy a home she told them to leave and go to work for the park service for park park services for a few years to save money and then come back to teaching i thought wow this thinking only normalizes the fact that this county's leadership is well aware of the inequity of in pay but instead of being bold and making the necessary moves to change the system they share their personal stories pat us on the head and say there isn't money in the budget what if teachers took that same approach what if teachers taught the way we did 10 15 or 20 years ago we would be remiss in our duties why wouldn't the same be true for you
029as employees of FCPS we don't do that we do the job anyway we stay late come early work nights and weekends to meet the needs of our students we build relationships and strategize on how to move our students toward academic success stop normalizing the lack of pay in this budgeting process as this is how it's been and start thinking outside the box teachers solve problems every day leadership is not just exerting your will upon another it's also listening and learning let's write this ship because I and so many others are sick and tired of being sick and tired of the same old story amanda Campbell my name is Amanda Campbell and I'm speaking tonight as president of Fairfax County SEPTA eight years ago I stood at this very dis for the first time to speak
030for to speak against special education cuts after all of the advocacy and all of the progress it's disheartening to be here again we are grateful for the 6% raise for teachers and recognize that FCPS is in a difficult position we advocated for full funding with the board of supervisors and consistently call for increased state and federal funding we are disappointed in their decisions and will continue to advocate but we are also deeply concerned that these proposed cuts may negatively impact special education students elementary special education department chairs were added in the May 2022 budget 7 months before the OCR decision to relieve administrative burdens on teachers so they could spend more time in the classroom this need is long-standing my colleagues will speak more to the role but it must be said mentoring coaching and
031training are not optional they are critical to ensuring our students access to a free and appropriate public education especially when 25% of our special education staff are provisionally licensed teacher trainees or long-term substitutes a primary role of department chairs is to bridge the gap between general and special education staff to adapt materials and implement accommodations that is the work of inclusion how can we pilot new inclusion efforts while reducing the very roles that make them possible reducing this role to a half-time position will result in classroom at special education teachers spending less time with their students especially in center-based programs like enhanced autism intellectual disabilities and comprehensive services sites these programs may serve fewer students but the students have more intensive needs creating a heavier workload than in larger schools without such programs students with
032disabilities are consistently among the lowest performing subpopuls in FCPS how can FCPS hope to close the gap by reducing support for special education teachers and students if centrally funded funding these positions isn't possible then FCPS must direct principles to fund a full-time department chair locally as all of our middle and high schools do thank you Regis Brett good evening FCPS school board and Dr reed thank you for allowing me to speak tonight my name is Rus Prrett i am a bus driver and proud member of FCFT i am also an alumni of Fairfax County Public Schools and I have received an IEP and got the services I need through the special education program when I was attending money must come from somewhere and it seems that much of it will come from cuts especially from
033the special education departments i humbly implore you to do everything in your powers to keep special ed as whole as possible the amazing and hardworking members put their health and safety on the line to give some of the most vulnerable people in our community a quality education instead you should look to reduce or eliminate the proposed raises to admin who failed to organize and collect a bargaining and brought no contract to the table 6% means thousands of dollars for an administrator but a job is life or death to a teacher give our special ed teachers and their assistants the dignity and humanity they deserve give them a needed raise not tossing them aside like moldy fruit special educators give our students a voice and by cutting their funding their salaries and their job it silences
034those voices and acts as just another attack on our most vulnerable communities that sorry is tantamount to those unforgivable actions currently being done by a certain administration in closing save special ed put admin raises to bed thank you for our queue if we can get Courtney Dinkens Juliet Adams Jane Lewis and Michael Rell up here in our queue area i know we have about 60 to 70 people that are watching overflow so if you're in overflow and I've called your name for the queue please head on to the auditorium next up we have Michelle Peele good evening everyone first I want to say my name is Michelle Peele i'm a former special education teacher i'm currently a family liaison at Key Center School first I want to say thank you for approving the 6% raise
035for FAU workers i know this was not an easy budget year and I appreciate your efforts to pri prioritize staff compensation however the significant cuts that have now been passed down to schools cuts that are not the fault of the board of this board or of SCP FCPS leadership but rather a direct consequence of chronic underfunding by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and honestly let's not forget the state either these are systematic funding failures and it is our schools and our students our employees who bear the brunt eliminating or reducing these positions will trigger a cascade of negative consequences special education teachers will face significantly increased administrative burdens compliance with legal timelines data tracking service delivery will be hard to monitor mentoring for 25% of the staff who are pre who are provisionally licensed
036trainees or substitutes will be lost principles and assistant principles will be pulled away from their core duties to attend IEP meetings the absence of knowledgeable leaders at IEP meetings increases the risk of misinformation and legal missteps less f flexibility for classroom coverage for special educators to attend IEP meetings have planning time and have lunch breaks principles may have to cut other critical staff like instructional assistants to fund a full-time department chair position department chairs might split time between schools to maintain full-time status doubling their case load and reducing their availability this isn't a single cut it's a ripple effect that impacts staff compliance and most importantly students and their outcomes please protect these positions without them we do not lose staff zachary Co hi my name is Zachary Co i'm a math teacher at West
037Springfield High School i have been an FCPS employee and a member of the union for the last two years first off I want to thank Dr reid for working with the bargaining team to honor the compensation agreed upon in the county's first ever CBA i also want to acknowledge how difficult of a position that we have found ourselves in and that is because of the liars on the board of supervisors in the next few weeks we will have to make hard choices about every single dollar spent this year and however that ends up we can't forget that the board of supervisors are the people who put us in this position in the first place when it comes to cuts I don't know if we've considered all of our options i want to take a look
038at the people who are managing our healthcare in FCPS three years ago FCPS suddenly switched healthcare providers from Blue Cross Blue Shield to Sigma according to FCPS communications this was done to save 70 to90 million over the next 3 to 5 years however what this meant for FCPS staff was that we had no agency in a choice that made our healthcare worse this year even though the switch to Sigma was supposed to save us money there was still a massive increase in health care costs that increase came with additional changes which increased deductibles co-pays and maximums the cost of the standard family health care plan increased by over $850 per year for a worse service avoiding accountability increasing costs worse health care this is how healthcare is managed in FCPS i say this because currently
039administrators and central office staff are set to get a 5% raise somewhere within this group of people are the people who had control over our healthcare do they deserve a 5% raise their mismanagement of our health care has cost the county millions of dollars how much more do we owe them how much of the $9.3 million being saved by decreasing the number of elementary special ed leads or the $5.9 million being saved by decreasing the number of ARTS could instead come from these unnecessary raises if even a full a few million can be saved here we can provide critical support to the neighboring Michelle Caldwell Winer just as a reminder please no applauding in between so we can keep the flow going thank you feel free to do the hands as much as you like
040hello um my name is Michelle Caldwell Winer and I'm a veteran teacher with more than 20 years of teaching experience starting from elementary to university levels i'm a Spanish teacher at West Springfield High School and an FCFT member as well as a proud FCPS parent i'd like to thank those school board members who publicly supported us in prioritized honoring the contracts we negotiated mateo Dunn Dr anderson Ryan Meline and Carl FR also want to thank Dr reid and the bargaining team for reaching a fair agreement on our compensation to include a 6% raise for teachers and staff i am however frustrated by the board of supervisors and their lack of support adding to the frustration is Chairman McCay trying to take credit for the raise where he and the board of supervisors in fact stood
041in the way and underfunded the budget i've taught in Louisiana Texas California Kansas and Baragio Colombia South America in each of these locations no matter the size of the school district a step increase was always a given even in South America in the 11 years I've been an FCPS employee I've lost three steps due to budget shortfalls which not only affects my salary but my retirement i have co-workers that accepted jobs here and arrived from other states to find their original salary had been quoted was in fact not honored again due to budget cuts i'm perplexed with the constant unders under underfunding and struggle to know what our pay will be each year the administrator contract awards 5% raise to those employees why not start there to consider cuts instead of cutting school staff special
042education leads or increasing classroom sizes i recognize that the board of supervisors has put us in this position and it is really quite disgusting that year after year they praise school staff while consistently underfunding us i'm glad that we're getting a sub substantial raise this year but we can't let some of our staff get left behind the ball is in the court of the school board to protect these positions please think about these budget cuts and make cuts else for our queue moren Bellingham uh Debbie Kilpatrick Brienne Russell Morris and Gregory uh Daryl if you can head to the areas where we've got the blue signs next up is Courtney Dinkens good evening members of the board my name is Courtney Dinkens and I'm an instructional assistant in special education at Forest Edge Elementary a
043title one school i am confused and frankly disheartened as to how we got here we came together negotiated a good faith and made meaningful progress and then it felt like we took a step back ladies and gentlemen of the board we are tired we are exhausted we are asking for a contract that supports our students and treats staff with fairness and respect we cannot keep overlooking and underpaying educators and expect excellence if we continue to cut special education funding if we increase class sizes we won't just lose our n national ranking we will lose we will fail our children and don't and we don't want that i grew up in the system i grew up in Fairfax County and I know what it's like to lose funding over and over again and I don't want
044that for my daughter who is sitting right behind me and I know we can agree on that we've spent months we spent years and even decades building strong bridges with our community and I would hate to see that progress lost thank you for your time and please consider the weight of what what I've shared with you today julia Adams good evening everyone um my name is Juliet Adams i'm a special ed teacher US history Glasgow Middle School my presentation will take about 94 seconds and it's a call for further dialogue with the board using an economic expansion approach from Adam Smith the theory of moral sentiments instead of the contracted approach which has us here and many of the concerns being shared my call comes amidst trillions being given to corporations which FCPS feeds through
045that pipeline with job candidates through guiding excellence of staff members stellar staff members smile with me as I say it's not just 7% but a future 30% as was campaigned by Ben Jealis using a space exploration political power and new approach two of my five books which receive awards from the National Association of Black Journalists amplify this thought be assured um board members I left you copies of resources at the FCPS front desk so that you can adequately understand my plea and capitalize on the thought process of since Madame CJ Walker did then FCPS must since First Lady Elena Roosevelt did then FCPS must since Jeff Bezos moved from a garage to Amazon then FCPS must even Harris said then FCPS must I adjoin my presentation for next steps setting the stage of ongoing holistic
046thoughts because two minutes certainly cannot beam forth the knowledge and the opportunity that presents you thank you so much michael Ronell good evening my name is Michael Ronell i'm a teacher at West Springfield High School and a lifelong resident of Fairfax County i want to thank the members of the school board who gave their public backing to teachers as we fought for our well-deserved payraises this year mr dunn Dr anderson Mr fr and Elsa i hope the rest of you will join us next year for what is sure to be a renewed push against the board of supervisors moral failures in contrast to the leadership of those four board members here today I want to specifically condemn that craven duplicitous waste of air Jeffrey McCay for saying this budget is a win for teachers this
047underfunding was not the fault of this school board or of Dr to read i encourage the school board members who stood with teachers this time to reflect on whether a political challenge to our current supervisors might unlock future budget improvements the teachers union is here to stay our county leadership needs to adjust to that reality or be adjusted the days of asking more and giving less are over the time of requiring those without power to bear the burden are over we have power now fcps will only ever be as strong as the teachers and the staff members who carry its reputation on our backs as you finalize this budget I urge you always prioritize the workers who make our students education truly exceptional if we want worldclass educators we need to pay them this region
048is too expensive and our neighbor counties are too enticing for you to offer anything less than a competitive living wage thank you apologies i skipped Jane Lewis miss Lewis good evening board thank you so much for honoring the contract that the FEU bargaining units have have worked with you diligently on i especially thank Mr dunn Mr mcelie and Mr fresh and Dr anderson for your public um companionship and partnership thank you i do have remaining concerns um specifically with cutting the fulltime sped department chairs and AARTS to half time it's in direct contradiction to our four pillars and the mandatory SIP goals that are present for English teachers and for math teachers in elementary and middle schools it directly contradicts our four pillars that are guiding us to improve rigor and address resourcing gaps for
049students with disabilities especially with the state's upcoming Virginia Literacy Act and the new accreditation standards that focus primarily on growth not just benchmarks elementary schools are asked to do the most with the fewest resources and now they're being targeted when they have the most important and most pivotal years for building a student's foundational skills especially in reading and math as someone already burned by the abrupt timelines for in involuntary transfers I was destaffed so we're going through that this the cuts that are being proposed for these full-time positions were not even allowed to be notified ahead of the transfer windows they are impacted even more than I after applying to multiple surrounding counties during my destaffing process because I had four days from receiving the letter to being told where I would be placed to
050find a position after applying to multiple counties I've learned how many are willing to embrace experienced educators with over a decade in the system all right for our queue we've got Katarina first we've got Riley Wall we've got Mercy Kalen Endis we've got Tim Thompson we've got Martin Rodriguez we've got Tasha Khan if you can come up to where we are with the blue and then next is Moren Bellingham hello my name is Moren Bellingham and I've worked for FCPS as a speech language pathologist since 2008 i'm speaking tonight to advocate for preservation of the full-time special education chair position at our elementary schools and share how this position directly affects speech language pathologists as you may know there is a shortage of speech language pathologists working in public schools one major reason for this
051is the crushing workload the addition of a full-time special education chair at the elementary level has received some of this load for my colleagues in preparation for tonight I asked my colleagues if the addition of this position had any impact on their workload here are just a few of their overwhelming responses the special education chair at my elementary schools was so important for me when I first started working with FCPS the lead teacher helped tremendously in training new to the district staff they navigate the way meetings are run within FCPS as well as help the speech pathologist explain the academic portions of the IEP to parents in parentfriendly language this is a vital and irreplaceable role our special education chair can complete paperwork the administrators cannot do because many of the administrators do not have
052any experience in special education and do not know how to advise this reduction could lead to difficulty retaining SLPs and other special education staff who are already stretched very thin maintaining the full funding of the special education teacher chair position is not just beneficial it is essential for sustaining staff morale meeting compliance requirements and most importantly serving the students this position was something we didn't know we needed my colleagues cannot imagine the special ed departments at their schools running smoothly without this position we implore the school board and Dr reid to think Debbie Kopatrick good evening school board members and Dr reid i'm Debbie Gilpatrick president of Fairfax County Council PTA we are very proud to represent 173 PTAs and 20,000 members fcc PTA strives to be a powerful voice for all children a relevant
053resource for families and communities and a strong advocate for the education health and well-being of every child pta is 128 years old and the largest child advocacy organization in the world in 1897 the founders wanted all children to have a better life for generations to come this is still true today for our PTA mission to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children we know that since the board of supervisors underfunded FCPS budget needed to meet the proposed FCPS funding and cuts are not what you really want to consider just please know that all of us here tonight understand that these are challenging times and you have some hard decisions to make as you consider the needs of students and staff i do want to
054share with you that FCCPTA has long held the position of lowering or maintaining current class sizes providing qualified teachers to enhance and enrich student classroom experiences in general education special education and advanced academics we are concerned that the proposed FCPS cuts will greatly impact our students on receiving the services they need we urge the school board to maintain the current staffing formula for AARP and special education staff in order to maintain our high academic standards thank you for your service brienne Russell Morris who's virtual thank you today I am speaking as the president of Parents of Autistic Children of Northern Virginia some of the proposed cuts from the FCPS budget will be detrimental to students with autism including reducing elementary special education department chair positions the addition of this position in recent years has lowered
055the administrative workloads of special education classroom teachers so they are better able to focus on teaching it was created to ease the special education teacher burnout we are seeing at a local and national level as well as to ensure FCPS is in compliance with special education law if you reduce this position to halftime you'll dilute its impact to the point of ineffectiveness it will result in other costs for FCPS in the form of lawsuits and lower student outcomes on the other hand if an elementary school principal is forced to decide to retain their special education department chair full-time it will most likely come at the cost of other crucial special education support positions such as instructional assistants who increase staff ratios and allow students receiving special education services to access the general education and even
056advanced education curriculums and learn alongside neurotypical peers this inclusion leads to participation and success in state assessments which leads to more special education students earning standard and advanced diplomas something that is clearly lacking in our numbers if Superintendent Reed's inclusion initiative is going to work the school district will require more support at all levels it definitely will not succeed with less are there other cuts the school board can identify that lessen the negative effect these cuts will have on our special education teachers workloads and stress levels and on our students futures i urge you to assist FCPS's leadership in identifying them thank you gregory Daryl good evening my name is Gregory Daryl and I'm a librarian and a teacher working at Cedar Lane School in Vienna cedar Lane is a specialized center at the high
057school level that is dedicated to serving students with emotional disabilities all our students have IEPs and most require extensive services and supports to be successful i would like to thank the school board members not individually I don't have time who have publicly supported fully funding our first contract and I'm sincerely hopeful that more members of the board will be able to support us in the coming year i along with many of my colleagues are extremely frustrated by the board of supervisors who willfully willfully chosen chose to underfund the FCPS requested budget which means that teachers and all staff and FCPS had to settle for less than our first fully ratified legally bonding collective bargaining agreement now we're being asked to bear the brunt of cuts in both positions and services for some of our most
058vulnerable students one of the through lines of my career has been trying to serve populations that have not always received the services that they need and deserve it's what has inspired me to work as both an MLL teacher as well as a special educator i know how timeconuming and important providing excellent special education services can be which is why I would advocate for not cutting special education department chairs from elementary schools it is essential that students be provided with their legally mandated services and that meetings and timelines be followed with fidelity furthermore as anyone who looks to the posted vacancies for FCPS can see special education positions far outnumber all others by a wide margin all early career teachers but especially special ed teachers require mentoring which is something that a good department chair can
059provide also burnout from IEP mandates and documentation it was one of the reasons teachers don't go into or stay in special ed a good department chair can help with all of this um I respectfully ask that the board reconsider um raises for administrative staff before implementing these cuts which will negatively affect our student services and staff thank you katarina first hello good evening um my name is Katina First i'm a high school teacher here in FCPS for over 10 years i'm teaching German biology chemistry and earth science and um I thank you i thank you to found uh have found a creative uh solution for um our 6% raise i feel a little bit more valued a little bit more respected um I also thank all um the members of the board of supervisors who
060supported funding our schools um and um this fall I joined for the first time um a teachers union and I'm very grateful for them too because I feel if um we hadn't had the good work of the union uh we might have been brushed away with the 10 uh the 3% raise nonetheless um tonight I'd like to ask you two things um I think you have to be now very creative um because um you have to make do with the money you have and um I don't think that we can afford to um make our system worse public education is one of the biggest values we have in our community it is the future of our children and it's the future of our community so um any cuts you can avoid that take away from
061the quality of teaching and education would be highly highly valuable and um so maybe I know everyone is trying to pull their weight uh but maybe the rise for administration is not the most creative approach um the other thing I'd really like to urge you and this is for the future please please fight back um if the board of supervisors is not funding our beautiful education system fully and as we need it please fight riley Wall good evening everyone my name is Riley Wall and I teach second grade at Sangster Elementary School i'm here today on behalf of my co-workers and to encourage the board to find a different solution to our budget issues than cutting the special education education department chair and full-time ART positions i've seen the crucial daily impact of my school's
062special ed department chair and ART our sped share helps us to ensure that we're providing all the appropriate accommodations for our students further IEP plans and she consistently communicates with families to make sure they're knowledgeable about the process losing their status as a full-time position is going to cause more stress because they'll be tasked with splitting responsibilities between schools which will eventually lead to worse outcomes for students with special needs the AART at our school who is present and will be speaking later on provides an immeasurable benefit to our staff and students she's been an incredible help to me through each year of the AAP portfolio process which as a second grade teacher I know is a beast she's provided us with consistent support with finding appropriate differentiated lessons that best support high level thinking
063which is a constant talking point in the county she makes sure that parents are well informed about the whole process and spends a significant amount of time carefully reviewing each student's portfolio to ensure that they've been provided enough opportunities to show their thinking we talk about it constantly with her too our school community will be worse off if her position has changed reducing these positions from full-time to halftime will lead to worse outcomes for students with special needs and will add to the everinccreasing responsibilities of classroom teachers i uh also want to repeat the same sentiment that other people have proposed for cutting these positions another alternative is to delay the raises for administrative positions teachers in the past have waited for their turn to have raises um and I think that the administrators should
064wait for their turn to it thank you all right for our uh queue we've got Carla Okuchi Misha Cherinoff Cheryl Baker Ashley Khan who's virtual Cameron Ward Lindsay Leam Jamie Muchilo and Molly Sullivan if you can head towards where we have the blue next up we've got Mercy Calonites mercy Calonitis Mercy Calonites Next up is Tim Thompson tim Thompson next up is Martin Rodriguez dr reid members of the board thank you for having us here tonight but I'm tired i'm tired and disappointed i've been in this county for 13 years and for 13 years we've been hemming and hawing and going back and forth about our teachers not having full about our system not being fully funded about how teachers are going to have to wait for another raise i've been here when there were
065no step increases i've been here when we had changing mandates throughout the pandemic i was here when we did get a raise of 3% but then our contributions to the retirement system and our healthcare increases was 5% that hit a little hard but I'm also disappointed i was excited we finally had a seat at the table we had an agreement in hand and I know you're disappointed as well that we had a contract that the board of supervisors did not fully fund and support but as we look forward to the future and we continue with a relationship I wonder is this the best start for that relationship to have a contract that we couldn't support where are we going from here what does it look like in the future when our negotiating teams are sitting
066down again are we wondering whether the agreement that we make is going to be held in place because I hope it is i'm hoping we can have a better future i've had a lot of great experiences in Fairfax County i've represented this county in foreign countries as part of a teacher exchange i've had leadership positions and and gained experiences I would not get anywhere else but at the but at the same time there are times I look at the decisions that are made and on the other I don't always feel valued as a teacher so as we continue forward I'm hoping that we can make agreements that we can all support thank you for the time phoebe Gray who is virtual phoebe Gray phoebe Gray tasha Khan hello thank you for giving me this time
067i believe we need to stop relying on the government alone to support our most important county resource our teachers our votes matter but I'm tired of my vote being my only voice i want to speak louder i want to be heard i want my community to reflect my values that's why I'm giving 1% of my salary to the teachers of Fairfax County and asking anyone else who can afford this to do the same i chose 1% to represent the 1% that our teachers lost due to lack of funding from the county and to make sure my action is loud enough to be heard and to make an actual difference yes this means one less vacation or waiting another year for that second car but it won't we won't worry about food or shelter or even
068our basic everyday comforts with this 1% I'm buying into something much greater i'm buying into a future where our best and brightest are competing for teaching jobs rather than turning away from them in favor of a financially stable future anyone else who wants to buy into this future please consider giving them the 1% or whatever you can spare show our teachers everywhere that regular people people who have kids or want kids or ever were kids care about and appreciate them show them that we understand that aside from our parents they're often the most influential people in our lives show our board of supervisors that we as a society want to take better care of our teachers show them that a fulfilling teaching career and financial stability are not mutually exclusive show them that we truly
069value our teachers show them with more than words and coffee mugs and chocolate bars show them with better pay and start now give them the 1% i'm still trying to figure out how to fund raise but give them the 1% spelled outgmail.com if anyone wants to help with the fundraising thank [Applause] you carla Okuchi greetings school board members my name is Carla Auchi proud parent employee and FBA president-elect speaking as an individual as dedicated FCPS employees the budget shortfall and proposed cuts by Dr reid left mixed feelings of anger excitement and frustration as union members we believe an injury to one is an injury to all our county board of supervisors has unfortunately chosen to underfund our public schools a deeply disappointing decision for education educators and families alike fcps is not only our central
070to our community but a key economic driver homeowners invest in county services through property taxes and the new food and beverage tax will help diversify revenue additionally the state legislature had stepped up and increased funding for SOQ positions and key priorities outlined in the Jark study it's challenging to reconcile the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors claim that public education is their number one priority with their decision not to fully fund the superintendent's budget request actions speak louder than words budgets represent our values while contracts for Fairfax Police Fire and Rescue are fully honored education workers are expected to do more with less public education workers deserve full and fair compensation without harming our students as we review the proposed budget cuts we must ask how do these cuts impact our students and why are elementary
071schools bearing the brunt of these reductions the proposed reductions of ART and sped shares will impact students families and staff workloads these professions are essential to the communication compliance and differentiated learning elementary monitors supported teacher planning and relieved the ever growing workload that our specialists will inevitably have to cover staffing formula adjustments that increase class sizes of all levels will undoubtedly affect student achievement and one employee stated "A bigger paycheck really isn't a raise if it comes with extra hours of work attached please continue to protect our schools honor our commitments and support the staff who make FCPS strong." Misha Cheroff good evening Chair FR school board members Dr reid my name is Miesa Chernov i'm an FCPS educator and have been with the division for 29 years i would like to thank you Dr
072reid for keeping your commitment to the collective bargaining agreement and for striving to ensure that significant salary increases remain intact for employees i appreciate that this is a top priority for your team and for the school board i only wish it were a top priority for the county board of supervisors dr reid proposed a needs-based budget to the county and unfortunately the transfer request was underfunded by $120 million and while certain supervisors may use language defending the inadequate transfer to schools and suggest the division be flexible or creative those words really mean that FCPS will be forced to make cuts and adjust formulas that will negatively impact students educators and support staff i thank you Chair Fr for recognizing how these cuts will put more strain on our work three of the proposed cuts are
073targeted at our youngest learners and I'm not sure why why have elementary schools been singled out to find cost savings cutting elementary school monitors and reducing advanced academic resource teacher positions and special education department lead positions per school will have a negative impact on our most vulnerable students the ripple effect at elementary schools will be enormous with the loss of these full-time positions therefore I urge the board during your upcoming work session to review alternatives that you may consider so that students and staff at the elementary level are not disproportionately bearing the burden of these cuts and staffing reductions thank you Cheryl Baker good evening Dr reed and folk board my name is Cheryl Baker i've been a music educator for 38 years 12 of those here in Fairfax County where I currently teach general
074music at Colon Pal Elementary School i spent my career helping students grow as confident creative learners through music in general music students aren't just singing they're developing their key portrait of the graduate skills they become communicators collaborators critical thinkers and global citizens music builds literacy focus and resilience it's not enrichment it's essential and education i thank the board for not cutting music but I'm worried about our friends as you consider the district budget I urge you to protect the full range of special programs a worldclass education includes music PE art library and advanced academics when even one of these areas is reduced or eliminated it creates strain on the others more students in fewer spaces fewer resources and less time for meaningful instruction the impact ripples far beyond one classroom increasing class size is also
075makes it harder to give students the attention and the quality that they deserve especially in hands-on active learning such as in music i've seen how music transforms students i've seen them find their voice their confidence and their place in the world let's take this budget time ashley Khan ashley Khan ashley Khan cameron Ward good evening i am deeply concerned about the proposed elimination of nearly half of FCPS's advanced academic resource teacher positions known as arts the Virginia regulation under VAC 204060 of the Virginia Administrative Code requires school divisions to employ these instructional personnel because they're specifically trained to work with gifted students and provide equitable access to services across the grade levels and the populations fcps has codified this obligation in its local plan for the education of the gifted which promises online on-sitebased support
076through the arts not just for gifted students but for early identification and advanced opportunities systemwide cutting nearly one-third of these positions and shifting to a half-time presence at all but the title one schools fundamentally violates the spirit of these obligations it will reduce outreach hinder student referrals limit collaboration with general education teachers and disproportionately harm students who rely on most of these services meanwhile this budget contains several excessive central office compensation and costly non-classroom initiatives your raises to your um administrative assistance renovations to gate house why are they being considered at this time i urge you to honor your own gifted plan and comply with the state code and fully restore the art funding our children all over the county deserve to be prepared for the jobs in the futures yet to be imagined this
077will not happen by allowing budgetary underfunding to affect the classrooms by eliminating the arts the same can be said for special ed lindsay Lean good evening my name is Lindsay Lean and I'm here speaking from the perspective of a very exhausted parent of two elementary school students one as most of you know have a disability while the proposal of the 6% increase to the bargaining unit is an incredibly important step forward it is overshadowed by the significant cuts to the essential support services for our elementary school students and staff hall monitors play a vital role in maintaining support across the building it allows school administrators to remain flexible to provide teachers time to plan and hold IEP meetings during their contracted hours equally concerning is the reduction in support for our special education leads while
078members noted a this would be a plus because the teachers would be put back into the classroom many of these leads have their own case loads because of teacher shortages or support new teachers this will undoubtedly cost the county more money in litigation it al it is also concerning to hear that it may be looked at by how many students within that school have IEPs or 504 plans this is unacceptable it has to be based on the needs of the students there are unique needs and each child is should have the respect to have that support and their teachers should have that support as well our son has an IEP that is 45 pages long cutting preschool is shortsighted statistically the high a high educ a high quality early education has long-term benefits and gains
079a return of $7.30 for every dollar spent this saves money in the long run yes this is a terrible position you were put in Dr reid but the county both at the supervisor level and the school board knew that these shortfalls were coming and there seems to be no forward thinking when entering into the school budget season these cuts target the teachers who have the highest turnover rate and the least support and the most vulnerable children all right four Q molly Sullivan Tara Frederick's Shelley Arnaldi Patty K uh Kersner Kristen Kerry Jenny Hemik Jan Hawthorne um Shu Ha uh Laski Kate Maddox George Bera please take seats up in the uh area for a queue next up is Jamie Mucci uh mucho good evening thank you so much for taking the time to listen to
080our concerns i am speaking to you today as the mom of a Fairfax County student and a full-time elementary advanced academics resource resource teacher at Kings Park Elementary School and I just want to point out that when you told a room full of teachers to hold our applause not one teacher in this room paused before advocating for the kids who spoke to receive the praise that they deserve that's what we do we advocate we teach and we cheer for our students as they learn and grow i have been at the school that I served for eight years and I love my community i know the importance of not only my role but the importance of my off office officemates role the special education chair our small office is a revolving door for our hardworking staff
081who support who need the support to serve our students and families by the way I have watched them take on more than they ever have this year and they have served our students while promoting our e excellence equity and growth my special education chair and I get to work together when we team up to serve our choice exceptional community we recently joked about needing a Saturday to make sure we met all of our upcoming deadlines we were completely shocked and confused at the proposed cuts we love our school and we cannot believe the uncertainty that is ahead of us because of this budget and not only for us but our amazing monitors and other positions that will feel the ripple effect of these cuts respectfully we should not have to decide between a raise and
082these crucial positions we deserve to support our community full-time and support our families by making a living wage please help us prevent the strategic plan our northstar from dimming right before our very eyes molly Sullivan my name is Molly Sullivan i'm an FCPS parent teacher and PTA president in both the Springfield and Sully districts the reason I'm speaking tonight is to get some clarity and ask for transparency from you the board and Dr reid the budget that is what the budget is so griping about lack of dollars at this point doesn't really do us any good what would be helpful to the community and of teachers is to know who made the decisions to cut the ARTS and sped department chairs to.5 some are under the impression that you the school board made that decision
083others think that it was Dr reid others believe that it was the union that came and it would be really helpful to know who was in that room and who made those decisions so that we can therefore direct our uh opinions etc towards them uh you have to reject this proposal to ask bed chairs to be reduced to a 0.5 position you're forcing FCPS to fail money in our pockets cannot replace bodies in a building and dismantling systems that are put in place to protect children and families that need it most your raises were proposed to keep and attract quality teachers that has zero chance to be effective with choices like this in terms of looking for dollars I appreciate you postponing the social studies basil if you look at the spreadsheet that I gave
084you I've actually gone through each of the schools budgets and the region budgets itself okay these are the numbers as of yesterday 51225 the last column the last line that I've highlighted is the dollars left in school accounts uh look at the amount of excess dollars highlighted please uh if you why can't we reabsorb those dollars and actually apply them towards this there is an excess of $12 million as of yesterday sitting in school budget accounts i guarantee that is not going to be spent between now and June 11th make HR stop hiring people until we can guarantee that these critical positions like sped departments stay and they are fully funded make a gate house get creative with the money that has been allocated to them and find more money you do not answer to
085Dr reid you don't answer to the unions but you do answer to the children of FCPS just because they propose something does not mean that you have to adopt it you can tell them we need to keep these positions we have to cut somewhere else and you can go back to the table before the 22nd sped employees students and families cannot be the [Applause] victims Tara Frederick's good evening everyone thank you so much for having me um I first want to say this is my first time speaking in front of the board and I'm here because it's this important to me this is really out of my comfort zone um as in my role as an AET I not only work with advanced students in elementary schools I work with all students providing them access
086to the rigorous curriculum that helps them grow and that we have committed to i work with the teachers as well providing them with the support professional development and help differentiating for all students i work to help them identify and support young scholars a very huge piece of our my job is supporting young scholars and I fear that that will go away with this halftime reduction working halftime at schools strongly hinders my ability to do my job i've done it before and it helped it's hard for me to be present for kids for teachers for parents um at only halfime my job really is to help kids see things in a different way and I love seeing that light come in their eyes and I feel like I won't have the same connection with kids if
087I'm not able to be there for them full-time i love my school i love my community who is here um and I really just I feel like I'm a part of that and I feel like it is so important to keep us part of the community so that we can keep doing the work that we are doing um it's also really important that we have the ability to support like I said and advocate for young scholars and twice exceptional students thank you very much for your time all right before I call the next person we do for those who are in overflow we do have some seats opening up throughout the auditorium if you want to try to head over next up we have Shelley Arnaldi shelley Arnaldi Shelley Arnaldi next up Patty Ker i'm
088speaking to you as the parent of a 2E fifth grader twice exceptional students and their families are disproportionately impacted by this proposed budget our students need the support of trained general education special education and advanced academic teachers while some schools will have funding to keep full-time AARTS and full-time lead special education teachers other schools like ours will have these positions cut in half this is not okay this budget when it comes down to it is a statement about priorities fcps was able to give teachers a 6% raise and that was important but what this budget tells me is that that support for elementary school to E students is not a priority is not a priority in this budget to have ARTS and lead special education teachers working together to support GE kids it's not a
089priority in this budget to give lead special education teachers the time to support new teachers and teacher trainees it's not a priority in this budget to fund classroom monitors at the elementary level supervision is the limiting reagent for many student supports classroom monitors let my student have lunch in a calm predictable space and take a self-regulation break on a daily basis these are the accommodations that let him get through the day successfully so let me ask you when are two e-ids going to be the priority in our budget every year families pull their kids out because they are not having their needs met and that's going to continue until elementary schools have better supports thank you kristen Kerry good evening this is my 22nd year as an educator uh this is my first year as
090an AART um I would like to address the budget proposal that would cut my position to halftime i love my job as an ART because it allows me to serve everyone in my school community i work to help close achievement gaps by raising the bar for the entire elementary school by supporting and advocating access to rigor and experiences for all the students i personally enjoy collaborating closely with my principles math and literacy coaches classroom and special ed teachers i also work closely with parents and community stakeholders supporting and advocating for twice exceptional students is particularly close to my heart as a classroom teacher I found that to be very difficult but as an ART I have time to attend IEP meetings meet with families work directly with our amazing special education department chair i would
091not be able to collaborate in support of our 2e learners in any meaningful way with a part-time or an itinerant position many educators are still learning to identify and support twice exceptional students so this task is incredibly important and building that understanding takes time i help lead and support district initiatives in my building such as portrait of a graduate skills universal design for learning advanced math experiences and classes that lead to algebra 1 by 8th grade as well as get to green and outdoor education next year Rolling Valley My School will launch our full-time local advanced academics program just a next up is Jenny Hemock who is virtual good evening school board members and Dr reid my name is Jenny Hemock and I have been a special education teacher for three years as a new
092teacher who has greatly benefited from the leadership knowledge and unwavering support of our special education department chair I feel compelled to voice my concern and disappointment regarding the recent proposal to reduce our contract hours to say this move is short-sighted is an understatement it is both disrespectful to us as professionals who dedicate ourselves to this work and detrimental to the students who depend on a fully functioning wellsupported special education system the expectation that a special education teacher can perform the full scope of a department chair's responsibilities without the allocated time and support is unrealistic and unjust this decision demonstrates a lack of understanding of the complex demanding and critically important nature of special education leadership the department chair role requires extensive collaboration administrative coordination staff support compliance oversight and instructional leadership cutting hours doesn't reduce
093these duties duties it just shifts the burden onto someone else expected to do more with less the message this sends to special educators is clear our work is not valued equally by decreasing the hours of the department chair while maintaining the full scope of the duties the district is effectively asking us to either sacrifice personal time and well-being or allow critical functions to go undone either outcome is unacceptable it leads to burnout increased turnover and a degradation of services for the very students we are supposed to protect and uplift this move undermines the collaborative infrastructure that supports IEPs datadriven interventions and legal compliance these tasks are mandated by federal law and essential for the success of our most vulnerable learners cutting support at the leadership level creates a ripple effect that weakens the entire special
094education system from the top down we must protect our most vulnerable students from the detriment this decision would make i hope you will take this into consideration as you move forward in voting to adopt the proposed budget thank you for our queue we have uh So Laski Kate Maddox George Bisera and Jessica Wheaten next up we have Janon Hawthorne good evening my name is Jan Hawthorne i'm a proud FCPS graduate and currently serve as an elementary school special education department chair i'm here tonight to speak against the proposed reduction of 71 department chair positions cuts that would disproportionately impact elementary schools and jeopardize the delivery of critical services to students with disabilities elementary school is where families often first engage with special education it's also where early intervention is most effective leading to measurable gains
095in academic achievement emotional regulation and long-term student success removing full-time leadership at this foundational level undermines that progress this is not a budget cut it's a step back from equitable practices department chairs are not just paperwork managers we are instructional leaders legal compliance officers and frontline crisis responders we train and coach teachers coordinate IEPs troubleshoot placements and protect staff and students during behavioral escalations when case loads balloon which they have we are the ones that step in and hold the system together right now 25% of special education staff in FCPS are provisionally licensed many are new and overwhelmed without full-time department chairs to support them we risk higher burnout lower fidelity of IEP implementation and legal vulnerabilities cutting our hours doesn't cut the work it just shifts it to an already overburdened teacher and those
096administrator administrators that support us and at what cost the students if we are serious about inclusion compliance and quality of education for all then we must invest in the people who make it possible full-time department chairs are not a luxury they are a necessity please reconsider these cuts and stand with the students families and educators who depend on us thank you for your time sua Laski hi my name is Sua Laskkey and I am the PTO president and a mother of two students at Bonnie Bray Elementary in Fairfax so I'm here to make sure that everybody just really understands the real life implications of what these cuts are going to mean so first for our monitors elementary school age students are the most vulnerable of the populations so having someone in our school who our
097children know who we as parents trust it's crucial for their safety uh with our current substitute shortage our monitors are the ones who fill in for these positions when we can't get a substitute teacher and that will happen um so when they're able to fill in that they are able to have that position filled right away but without them then classes are going to need to split up amongst other classrooms we're going to have 40 plus kids in a classroom at a time i just don't see how that's instructionally feasible for the day nor is it logistically possible especially for schools with trailers this is a massive strain on our already overworked teachers and it really does compromise the safety of our students and our staff um next is the advanced academics resource teachers so
098if you think that this just affects a small group of students that are in the advanced academics programs then you're seriously mistaken in that case um the these teachers work tirelessly to ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to reach their full potential uh by providing challenging resources and experiences that promote critical thinkers and problem solvers who will be the next leaders of our world the AART staff are the architects of the foundation that has built Fairfax County Public Schools to be the leader in the nation for having as Dr reid said a world-class education experience so cutting these positions at any level is akin to cutting us at our knees this move wildly is wildly shortsighted and the effects will be felt quite profoundly and last is a special education lead it is an
099elementary school where the majority of the students who receive special education services where they're identified this is where all the interventions plans meetings testing takes place kate Maddox Kate Maddox who should be virtual kate Maddox George Bera good evening Dr reed and school board members i have two parts to my testimony first as the MSAOC co-chair I can convey to you that we are opposed to the cuts to the ART positions we advocated a link for an increase to these positions and civil annual reports to previous boards and superintendents this cut was out of the blue as MSAC co-chair may I suggest to you Dr reed in the future to have a plan in early early in place and shared with the committee what would be on the chopping block if you don't get x
100amount of dollars at different levels a month after the county executive presents his budget just like prior superintendents have done this gives the community time for a dialogue and where the committee has time to speak publicly to the board of supervisors also was there real time built in for the bargaining committee to agree to these decisions after markup if so do the unions have time to get their general members to vote on these cuts if not there is still time to bargain second as an individual here to the school board you the board of supervisors and the unions need to really work together on collaborating for next year's budget i know a lot I know a lot has been said about the board of schools not doing this which has some truth but in the
101last joint board's budget work session in November only about half the school board members showed up compared to the full board of supervisors plus only one union showed up which was Mr david Walrron what message does it send to the board of surve board supervisors committed working together on the budget these meetings occur the same week of the year for the last two decades and covered as EG obtained as I looked at this modified list of speakers what happened with the principles that were supposed to speak did they back down why we have teachers and educators speaking tonight who are sticking their necks out for what they believe in and are fighting for their jobs for the unions I'm glad both president-elects are speaking tonight but why is one president-elect not listed as a president-elect
102for their union or even mentioned as a member of FBA is there a division within FEU if there is let's fix it now because next year's budget will be worse than this year's as you are looking for solutions tonight I as an individual like to suggest you lower the pay raises to keep these human beings jobs during these times we are living here in the DMV i'm only talking about people who who will really lose their jobs and not the ones who will be repositioned thank you very much for those of you looking for seats we have seats up here in the first few rows we have a few seats through here next up is Jessica Wheaten good evening school board members my name is Jessica Weaten and I'm an FCPS parent and teacher as
103a parent of a twice exceptional child and a teacher with lots of experience in our elementary schools I'm here to speak about the proposed budget and its impact on two critical areas special education and advanced academic programs we want FCPS to be a community of excellence right now our special education services are operating under significant pressure the proposal to reduce the elementary school special education lead by 0.5 positions per school eliminating 71 roles is a serious problem my kids and your kids have the right to receive support to ensure the safe and equitable access to all school division facilities and activities in accordance with regulation 2603 the this reduction in leadership will strain our already dedicated special education teachers and impact the crucial support they provide to our exceptional students also concerning is the proposed
104reduction of 48 ARTS by supporting teachers with different excuse me uh teachers with differentiation and enrichment strategies arts contribute to the progress of all learners they are vital decreasing their presence limits the potential of our students and our community's future investing in special education and AART programs is fundamental to building an excellent school community these are not supplementary services they are integral to ensuring that every child receives the individualized support and challenging opportunities they need to succeed in life i urge you to con carefully consider the impact of these proposed cuts and prioritize resources that directly support the learning needs of all FCF FCPS students thank you for your time and attention to this important issue okay for our queue for these seats up here Casey uh Bassoon Nicole Zupan Allison Burns Julie Wilson Amy
105Lacrosse Emily Sakdev Cheryl Binkley uh an Andrea Co Constess Terry Lee and Joe Roland as a reminder as those individuals are coming up for queuing only the speaker may be at the podium when speaking neither adults nor children may join them when your name is called like I just did here and you're on deck please head to our on deck seats so that it's easier for us um if you have testimony written testimony and you want to h hard copies please hand it to me or my deputy clerk Mr jackson if you are virtual please turn your camera on when you uh are next in line to speak so that all that you have to do is unmute when you are called to speak and if you have electronic copies of your testimony and would
106like to share it with the board please email it to community participation at fcps.edu when your name is called I will call your name three times if I don't see you uh moving up before moving on to the next individual on the list you may find copies of the speaking order in the back of the room as a reminder please hold your applause you're doing a great job thus far so that we can keep the hearing flowing to ensure that all speakers are heard in a timely manner because of the length of the hearing school board members may be taking small breaks but are able to access the hearing throughout and will be listening to all speakers so next up we have Casey uh Bison thank you Dr to read and members of the Fairfax
107County School Board today for this hearing and listening to our concerns my name is Casey Bisson and I am a current special education teacher speaking today in support of the special education department chairs at the elementary level staying at a full-time position as a firstear special education teacher switching over from being a general educator I can say confidently that I do not know where I would be without my department chair lead even with how acclimated I was with our school and county protocols there were many things I learned from our lead this year she helped me complete technical trainings answered any question I had checked over all of my progress reports helped navigate parent and advocate questions and concerns and helped me gain the confidence to lead IEP meetings through her modeling and guidance as
108principal design my job already consists of many hours beyond the eight that I am contracted for but I cannot imagine on top of my existing responsibilities doing educational testing leading re-evaluation meetings finding coverage for my general education counterparts during IEP meetings peer-reviewing a set of progress reports after doing all of my own and much more ieps and any processes associated with working with students with disabilities demand rigorous and conscientious care in order to not only help all students succeed but to fulfill legal obligations that can have costly consequences if not looked at meticulously as rewarding as being a special educator is it can also be demanding and this can be shown as FC FCPS tries to obtain and retain staff members in these positions the answer to the over 50 vacancies currently at FCPS is
109not to take away another valuable resource frankly the department chair position alone could be separated into at least two different jobs and it is reprehensible to think that it can be reduced to a half-time role i strongly ask that you reconsider the proposed changes to the special education department chair full-time position schools will feel the immediate consequence of these changes should they go through thank you nicole Zupin good evening Dr reid members of the school board my name is Nicole Zupan and I'm a Fairfax County Public Schools elementary special education teacher i'm here today to oppose the proposed cuts of elementary special ed chairs from a full-time to half-time position our special ed chair fulfills a critical need that allows me to spend more time teaching and less time on administrative duties without our special
110ed chair I foresee having to return to organizing my own re-evaluation meetings completing students educational assessments getting trained so I can do those of four horseet assessments etc all of this takes time away from my primary function which is teaching my students our chair currently provides support for special ed students in the general ed setting who are acting out attempting to alope etc so that the teachers both general ed and special ed can continue to teach without her support the assistant principles and/or the principal would be called in to spend time on these challenging situations during IEP meetings our chair helps to make sure that parent input is accurately noted on the plot page and that the prior written notice page of the IEP is completed properly this allows me to focus on sharing my
111proposed goals and making sure parents feel heard and seen throughout the IEP meeting thereby establishing or just reconfirming the trust which is so needed to make this a smooth and hopefully less latigious process in closing I ask you to to not reduce the elementary special ed chairs to a half-time position they provide us with the support that allows us to focus our time and energy on teaching students and collaborating with collaborating with families to maximize student success without them our time teaching students will be reduced our ability to work with and support our families will be minimized and we will be exhausted thank you allison Burns who is virtual good evening my name is Allison and I've proudly served this county for over 15 years as an elementary special education teacher today I speak to
112you not only as a special education department chair but as an advocate for our students and fellow educators i am deeply concerned and frankly outraged by the proposal to reduce the funding for the elementary special education department chair position this decision was made by individuals who with all due respect are not in classrooms every day yet they are choosing to eliminate a role that is vital to the success of both our students with special needs and the educators who serve them can the leaders of this county honestly claim to champion equity and inclusion while simultaneously asking our most vulnerable students to accept less support and for our already overworked underpaid teachers to take on even more you speak of equity for all students but slashing this position contradicts that mission it's not just insulting it's
113a liability department chairs handle critical responsibilities local screening meetings testing ensuring compliance with federal law mentoring new teachers implementing professional development supporting the strategic plan and sitting on both the academic and behavioral intervention teams just to name a few attempting to split this position between two schools is not a feasible solution these responsibilities require a consistent full-time presence someone who can respond to urgent needs coordinate effectively across teams and build relationships with staff and families these tasks are not optional and complying with them takes specialized staff members cutting the position in half does not cut the workload in half it shifts the burden to already overworked staff the laws surrounding special education and compliance will not shrink by half just because you have reduced the funding it will fall on the shoulders of the special
114education teachers this proposal will drive our dedicated quality teachers away harming all students it sends a message that equity and inclusion are just in fact buzzwords and not commitments i urge you to reconsider this short-sighted decision a strong school stands on the strength of its support systems and this Julie Wilson Good evening thank you for hearing us i stand before you today with a really heavy heart the manner in which the news of the cuts was communicated was shocking principles were informed of these drastic changes a mere hours before the wider announcement after their staffing decisions had been already been painstakingly finalized including the end of transfer window and the hiring of teachers from outside of the county the dedicated teachers serving in these now threatened positions have missed the opportunity to pursue job openings
115of their choice not only were principles left out of the decision-making the special education department and advanced academics departments were left out as well our special education department chair is an invaluable leader in our school we have two specialized education programs has anyone on the board visited an enhanced autism center or comprehensive service site we have both are you aware of the additional resources that are required to appropriately serve these populations of students these two programs leave us with about double the amount of student case loads as other schools losing our department chair would leave our school in an impossible situation as for the elimination of our advanced academic resource teachers this is a decision that is in direct contradiction of the superintendent's goals of a focus on our twice exceptional students and of algebra
116by 8th grade our AART position will be held by a teacher who was has devoted the last 20 years of her career to FCPS as a classroom teacher she recently decided to become an ART for the next school year she has now lost her secure full-time third grade position to someone new to the county the email from our union leadership proclaiming the collective bargaining agreement a success felt jarringly out of touch but maybe that's the board and superintendent wanting us to feel how how we want to feel to cast a negative light on the recent collective bargaining by using your own co our own colleagues as pawns [Applause] amy Lacrosse i am the extremely proud special education department chair at Rolling Valley Elementary words matter please note that our job title is department chair not
117lead special education teacher the work that is done by the elementary special education department chairs far exceed what the original job description offered and promised to quote from Dr reed's weekly emails "This work matters it has been disheartening to see how little our work seems to matter to the individuals outside of our building who are responsible for working with us to best serve all students i am also concerned about the lack of transparency with these budget cuts and encourage you to reflect on how this information was shared my colleagues and friends have spoken and will speak far more eloquently than I will about our concerns with the proposed budget cuts the number of individuals who have signed up to testify are just one small piece of evidence of the impact these cuts will have i
118would like to extend an invitation i invite you to come into our buildings to observe our students and our staff i invite you to speak to our staff our parents and our students i invite you to offer to teach a lesson discuss procedural safeguards on family rights in an IEP local screening re-evaluation or eligibility meeting i invite you to observe how a student in crisis can be deescalated because of the relationship built with school staff i invite you to sit with multiple department chairs and see how their roles are so vastly different based on the needs of the school i invite you to engage in collaborative team meetings within our school buildings participate in planning and scheduling meetings and learn more about the positions you propose to cut i invite you to sit in on
119the advanced academic screening process to fully understand just how much additional work that process is and how our AARTS facilitate and support our teachers through that process and support our 2E students i invite you to listen to building leadership principles and assistant principles to gain a better understanding of what these cuts would mean in their buildings lastly I invite you to read and respond to the numerous emails I can only assume are flooding your inbox i appreciate your consideration and look forward to a new proposal in the near future to my A Emily SDV Good evening my name is Emily Suchdev and I am the parent of Cyrus Hutchdev a kindergartener at Union Mill Elementary School i'm here tonight to speak in support of maintaining the full-time positions of the special education department chairs in
120all elementary schools and to share the profound positive impact this role has had on my child's life cyra's story demonstrates how students can thrive in their least restrictive environment and with the right special education supports and efforts in place this is a picture of my daughter participating as Gerald in her book character day most people will look at this and think "Oh that's a cute memory." But for me this was the first time I was able to watch my child fully participate and be included in a large group event you see Cyra has autism she has hearing loss she wears hearing aids and she has ADHD so situations that involve large groups of people sounds anything that could trigger her overwhelm we normally have to avoid they're just too challenging i was nervous that she'd
121be overstimulated and have a hard time participating in this parade her IEP team ensured she would not only participate but she would truly shine with the right considerations in place Cyra wasn't able to just be in the parade she was right up in front seeing her walk with her classmates beaming with pride was an incredibly emotional moment for me it was this powerful demonstration of true inclusion not just being present but being and sorry but belonging this isn't an isolated incident though every day I see the benefit of having a well-coordinated and expertly led special education department cyra is not just getting by she's thriving she's making academic progress she's building friendships and she's developing a love of learning our success is a direct result of the dedicated IEP team and the leadership they receive
122from the department chair this is not just about budgets or staffing for us this position has a profound impact on the life of students like Cyra and it brings peace of mind to families like mind this position ensures that every child regardless of their challenges has the opportunity to reach their full potential cheryl Binkley Hello brace yourselves normally when I stand here it is to boy you up to congratulate you to protect you from the crazies not tonight everyone has said how disappointed they are i'm not disappointed i am disgusted this is not appropriate i came across while recycling papers the other night a paper a flyer from 2004 about this about the budgeting process this happens every year for the last 20 years and the school board always looks around and goes "How did
123that happen how did that happen?" We are depending on you to know how that happens and to fix it in advance and to not be sitting here tonight in these conditions we similarly worked very hard to break that 47-year ban on collective bargaining and tonight I stand in front of you a group of people who have broken your first contract in 47 years before it could even take effect you may have done more damage tonight than all the crazies have done for the last four years in terms of your reputation the school's reputation and Fairfax County's reputation as people who care about children and care about the people who take care of them this is not just any other year you can feel that in the way people are responding i know you believe you
124cannot fix this now but I want to say to you don't make me come back here next year this should not be happening over and over again and unless we elect people who fix it we've got Andrean Costas good evening my name is Andreanne Constus i'm a parent of an elementary and rising middle school students and a graduate of Fairfax County Public Schools my children have benefited greatly from having special education department chairs and advanced academic resource teachers available on a one per school ratio tonight I'd like to speak to the proposed cuts to sped and AART i'd like to start by reading a note I just received yesterday from my son's teacher your son had a great day he continues to be respectful towards his teachers and peers by being kind he works hard
125to complete his work and to ask questions if he's confused keep it up you're almost in third grade wow i'm proud of you this note may seem mundane something families regularly receive from their teachers maybe not um but my son began the school year feeling dejected his teacher would report that he often would put his head down or even hit himself when he felt he was stupid or dumb it was heartbreaking to pull out half-completed worksheets and quizzes from his backpack he thought he couldn't keep up in class and was being and was losing his confidence within a quarter of the school year he received his IEP it was like a switch flipped he was given the time and space to address his challenges build his confidence and gain tools to cope with adversity in
126the classroom now we often pick him up from the bus stop with a nose in with his nose in his books and just the other day he excitedly removed a spelling test from his backpack in which he received 100% on i credit this change to his teacher's ability to collaborate with our school's special education department chair and have the time to meet with us and effectively address our son's needs we often say children are resilient but resilience is not inherent it's built when there are resources to collaborate cope and to build character special education department chairs and arts help nurture resilient students thank you for your time and consider okay for our queue these are the seats up here rob uh Robert Riby Christina Glennness Kate Kaliski Kirsten Porter Susan James Rachel Cameron Janette Puran
127and Charlie Beakman and Aaron Arnold next up is Terry Lee elementary special education teacher i'm here tonight because the proposed budget cuts disproportionately affect our elementary schools where students are building those foundational skills that will shape the rest of their education these cuts will deeply impact our youngest learners particularly the proposed reduction of the elementary special education department chair position this role is essential with so many new teachers entering the field the department chair provides hands-on support training and day-to-day guidance to ensure new and veteran teachers alike can succeed while also keeping our schools in compliance with complex special education laws the chair wears many hats overseeing testing IEP meetings communicating with families in ways that make legal jargon understandable and ensuring every IEP is student centered and data driven this already is a demanding
128full-time role cutting into part cutting it to part-time would be unsustainable and frankly irresponsible without this position we risk accelerating teacher burnout and worsening the already critical shortage in special education most students are identified for special education services during their elementary years which makes this role even more crucial elementary schools already operate with fewer resources if we don't invest in our students now while they are still developing core academic skills we will face even greater challenges and costs in the upper grades eliminating the department chair position will widen achievement gaps and likely lead to more legal challenges due to compliance issues the role is not a luxury it's a cornerstone of effective special education in our elementary schools and I urge you to reconsider this cut for the sake of our teachers our students and
129their futures thank you Joe Roland good evening members of the board Superintendent Reid and the community members thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight i stand here not just as an educator and advocate but as a representative of the many voices in our school community who are deeply concerned about the the proposed changes to the critical support roles namely the special education lead and the advanced academic resource teacher the decision to reduce these positions to part-time is deeply troubling these are not peripheral roles they are essential our special education lead ensures that some of our most vulnerable students receive the tailored services advocacy and compliance oversight they need to thrive and to meet legal standards our AART provides advanced learning opportunities that challenge and support our gifted learners students who without this resource risk
130becoming disengaged or undersupported these positions are not luxuries they are equity in action cutting them sends a message that we are willing to balance the budget on the backs of our most at risk and high potential students alike we understand that funding is finite and that hard decisions must be made but what's difficult to reconcile is this we are being told that these cuts are necessary to fund a 6% teacher raise a raise that is desperately needed and long overdue yet just a few months ago the superintendent was awarded a 12% plus salary increase that raise while perhaps justified in some ways undermines the credibility of the argument that there is no other place to look for budget adjustments when the top receives increases in double digits while essential studentf facing roles are reduced it
131creates a narrative of misplaced priorities it tells the community that administrative compensation outweighs classroom and student needs and that is not the message we should ever be comfortable sending please do not trade short-term savings for long-term damage to the foundation of an inclusive and excellent education thank you robert Rigby good evening i'm a resident of the county and I've been teaching for FCPS since 199 1999 um I wrote a whole speech but like David Walrod said "The people I'm angry aren't here to hear it but I've got a line item for you spend the money to set out tables at all 196 of our schools." I have a list of how this board supported trans kids and disabled kids and immigrant kids and students of all religions and races and ethnicities with fairness and empowerment
132but the BOS made the wrong decision you hear us tonight coin at one another high school against elementary school admin versus staff teachers versus superintendent gened versus special ed and student uh and uh and AAP um the BOS can still change that i heard that this morning they made the final decision now all 10 of them can go out and have a bake sale one at every one of those 196 schools i'm serious that's what we've been reduced to you've left us chewing at one another and clawing at one another and you leave our students short and I am angry christina Glennness good evening my name is Christina Glinds and I am speaking tonight as the president of the West Brier Elementary School PTA and as a parent of three young children i'm here to
133express our deep concern about the cuts to the positions that directly serve our students specifically we strongly oppose the reduction of specialed department chairs and ARTs to halftime positions we oppose the elimination of classroom monitors and an increase in classroom size these significant cuts disproportionately impact the staffing burden on our elementary school team and on our youngest and most vulnerable students they undermine the ability to provide quality education and support particularly for those with the highest needs these positions on the chopping block are the very differentials that make Fairfax County Public Schools one of the best in the nation i truly believe that these positions are so critical that they should not be on the table for the cuts at all additionally we appreciate the 6% raise for our dedicated teachers and staff who work
134so hard every day but now what should have been a morale boost has instead created anxiety among our educators who are now witnessing their colleagues facing displacement reassignment or termination you are asking our classroom teachers to take on more work and more responsibility to pay for the raise by cutting the support staff these cuts will inevitably impact teacher retention as educators question their job security and their ability to effectively serve the students i urge the board to reconsider cutting these student-f facing positions and explore alternative cost-saving measures such as delaying the administration raises or considering reducing administration jobs to part-time instead to save these important frontline jobs our children deserve consistency in education and in a constrained fistol environment we have to make hard choices but we must prioritize what matters the most and focus
135on our basics our students safety and their education in the classroom thank you for your consideration kate Kazalysiski good evening my name is Kate Kazalki and I'm in my 17th year as an FCPS preschool special education teacher fcps strategic plan goal 4 reads "Students having access to formalized systems of early intervention including special education services cutting our special ed department chairs in half is not in alignment with a strategic plan when considering teacher retention special ed teachers leave the profession at a much higher rate than gened teachers we experience heavy and complex workloads including legal documentation and procedures why cut our primary resource and support our department chair in half with a special education teacher shortage and high turnover rates every year we are supporting more novice teachers provisionally licensed teachers and teacher trainees experienced
136teachers availability to mentor new teachers is already spread too thin there simply aren't enough of us personally I have had to turn down mentoring a teacher at another school because my mentoring load in my own school was already too full our department chair guides new teachers with special ed procedures compliance legal timelines etc this allows us veteran teachers to have the time to mentor our mentees in the education part of their job creating developmentally appropriate and enriching learning experiences for our young students with IEPs specialed teachers need more support not less without support it's a vicious cycle new teachers and veteran teachers quit you can't take away the structures in place to support our very specialized work and expect that students will continue to receive the consistent highquality intervention that they need for academic and
137social success thank you Kirstston Porter good evening thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the vital role of special education department chairs i would like to share with you a piece of my story to show you how a budget's abstract numbers impact real people two years ago I accepted a position at a special educa as a special education teacher at a title one elementary school i am a proud Fairfax County Public Schools graduate kindergarten through high school and I was excited to be a new teacher in the same school system that helped me learn and grow unfortunately at my first school the special education chair was not filled throughout the year which meant I did not receive the consistent training guidance and support that a firstear teacher in special education desperately needs
138while other teachers tried to help me they were already stretched far too thin with their own case loads as my first year ended I said to myself I think I've made a mistake i don't think I should be a teacher friends urged me to transfer to to a school where they did have a department chair in place who could offer me the support that I needed i found that special education chair in Dr rosemary Walsh at Aldrin Elementary this year with the support of Dr walsh I remembered why I love working with children and why I love teaching and why I should be a teacher dr walsh has given me on the job training guidance on teaching strategies and data collection and checks in on me to make sure I have what I need to
139best support my students in addition to a myriad of duties that she already has she makes time to offer her support and guidance to all of the special education teachers on our team we all need it please don't take away our support take away taking away funding from from our special education leads means taking away support from teachers susan James Good evening my name is Susan James and I'm the parent of a neurode divergent second grader and rising kindergartener at Fort Hunt Elementary School i want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude to the classroom teachers specialist teachers specialists counselors support staff and administrators who have nurtured and supported my son his success in the classroom is a direct result of their patience for what must be a thousand questions a day from just him
140their hard work their collaboration their expertise and their heart and that's why I'm here to share my concerns about the proposed budget cuts specifically the the reduction of the ART position and the special education department chair at the elementary level next year the county will begin serving students who receive AA full-time AAP services in their base schools and this shift is especially important for students who benefit from remaining in their home schools like those with IEPs 504s or military correct connected children who already face frequent transitions and as the county works to bring AAP to base schools it's critical to recognize that classroom teachers cannot do that alone in addition to the full-time role that AARTs already have they will play a vital role in coaching planning and collaborating with staff to effectively serve and
141advance learners reducing these positions to halftime will limit school's ability to meet students needs and will put even more pressure on already overextended teachers reducing these roles while rolling out AAP services at Bay Schools undermines the very initiative you're investing in new programs require appropriate staffing to succeed i'm also deeply concerned about the proposed reduction of the education department chair in elementary schools to halftime these staff members are essentials for guiding family through testing meetings service coordination and cutting their hours will cause delays that make an already complex process harder for both parents and for their students elementary school is when many learning differences first become apparent and that's why timely and wellsupported intervention matters rachel [Applause] Cameron my name is Rachel and I'm a teacher at Old Creek Elementary School and more importantly tonight
142I'm a mother of a second grader in Fairfax County Public Schools i'm here not just as an educator but as a parent with a story that speaks to the heart of what's at stake in the decision to reduce our special education lead position to part-time this decision doesn't just affect staffing it affects lives i know this because the full-time sped lead at our school quite literally saved my son's life my son has been in FCPS schools for three years and his struggles began the moment he stepped into kindergarten and as a mother I was lost i didn't know what to do or how to help him that's when Emma Hamilton our sped lead first entered our lives she guided me through a system that felt overwhelming and impossible to navigate she held space for my
143tears questions fears and she never once made me feel alone she helped us find the first steps towards stability in first grade things didn't get easier when I sat in his first IEP meeting terrified despite being a teacher myself it was Emma who stayed afterward just to make sure I understood felt safe and wasn't alone then came second grade that was the year everything fell apart he was in crisis and as a single parent terrified desperate asking not "How can I help my son succeed in school but how do I keep my child alive?" And again I turned to Emma on one of the worst days my son ran from class threatening to harm himself emma didn't hesitate she calmed him calmed me stayed while I called hospitals walking through every step she was on
144the phone with me as I took him to impatient care that decision saved his life emma saved his life her presence full time saved his life and when he was ready to return to school it was Emma who welcomed him back it was Emma who made every step of his return safe thoughtful and supportive today my son is thriving he is happy he loves school he is living because of her this isn't just my story it's one of countless stories across our county emma Hamilton shows up for students for teachers for families every single day but she cannot do this work this life-saving work in a part-time capacity so tonight I am begging you not as a teacher but as a mother to reconsider this decision because when you reduce this position you aren't Janette
145Purinan good evening my name is Janette Purin and I serve as an elementary school special education department chair i'm here today to express serious concern about the proposal to reduce this position to a half-time role fcps outlines over 130 responsibilities for this position most of which apply equally to elementary and secondary settings these responsibilities aren't just administrative they're essential to ensuring compliance to to IDEIDA and FAPE and more importantly to improving student out outcomes this cannot be done in half the time before this role was established in elementary school we juggled leadership duties like local screening meetings and team lead responsibilities on top of full case loads it was unsustainable and it limited our ability to support our teams effectively at my school the special education program has grown significantly and is now comparable in
146size to some middle school programs most initial special education evaluations begin in elementary schools bringing higher testing and communication demands we also onboard new teachers every year who need intensive support to serve our students effectively and to stay in compliance i have learned at yesterday's department chair meeting that there's been some progress in retaining special education teachers and I firmly believe that the department chair role is part of that success we provide the mentoring the guidance and the support to help keep teachers in this profession the notion that elementary teams require less support than secondary ones is simply not true i respectfully urge you not to make elementary special education a primary target of these budget cuts our students and families and teachers deserve better thank you charlie Beakman good evening Superintendent Reid esteemed members
147and clerks uh I stand before you today dismayed over the proposed cuts to both special education and the AAP programs at our elementary schools why am I dismayed i decided to come speak here today because even though it may look like I'm only wearing one hat I'm actually wearing three uh one is as the father of a twice exceptional 7-year-old son who is just been admitted to the AAP program the second is as an FCP uh s alumni uh 7th grade algebra included West Springfield Spartans 03 let's do it but the third and perhaps most relevant is also as a PhD developmental psychologist and this proposal is a travesty i uh have heard other people uh talk about what these effects will likely have on the ground so I'm going to focus on what I
148know and that's the science it's actually quite clear overwhelming evidence in the extent literature for the adaptive impacts of advanced education programs that feature acceleration ability grouping and curricular intervention the science is quite clear yet your proposed budget would slash FCPS's local AP programs by 50% when the last thing that that program needs is a budget cut you would stifle the all inspiring possible trajectories of the county's special and advanced learners for what this proposal in its face is a mistake but I urge you to recognize that and pull it back thank you all right for our Q- line uh these seats up here Susan Readinger Andrea Stani Jen Connor Naylor Norman Hall Stephanie Will Ros Salvador Michelle uh CAD CADs Bridget Gered Carmela Pine and Julie Little next up is Aaron Arnold good evening
149my name is Aaron Arnold and I am an FCPS graduate a special education teacher at Annadel Terrace and a member of both FCFT and SEPTA i truly believe that without the support of my special education department chair I would not feel as competent in the classroom and with special education paperwork as I am today special education leads support IEP teams as the principal design they oversee and monitor paperwork to ensure timeline compliance provide turnaround training to staff mentor new teachers provisionally licensed teachers teacher trainees and long-term substitutes they also administer educational assessments write reports as a part of the evaluation and re-evaluation processes they oversee and train special education teachers on ESY registrations new rollouts of processes such as the LRE data collection tool the share document VAP data collection and PWN documentation they also
150coordinate and run local screening committees mentor and coach special educators on difficult situations and they participate in MTSS meetings to bring special education lens to the team if this position is reduced to part-time there would be a serious detriment to the special education teachers ability to provide students their required services and manage special education paperwork on top of the additional duties that we will have to take on this would also result in less availability of principles and assistant principles to observe mentor and coach all staff and perform their other duties as they will now be required to attend all IEP meetings instead of the department chair competitive compensation is essential but without the structural support of a full-time special education lead teacher burnout will only increase i urge you to consider the lasting impact on
151our students with disabilities if these roles are diminished strong wages and strong support systems must coexist to ensure equity compliance and quality education thank you susan Readinger hello good evening my name is Susan Readinger and I'm a special ed preschool teacher at White Oaks thank you for the opportunity to speak i want to address the cut proposal to cut elementary sped chair positions to halftime first I'd like you to share the data with us that you consulted when this decision was made because I'm sure you did the data that showed this was a good way to save money i don't think that data exists i truly don't a full-time elementary sped chair is essential this week the policy on how to mark preschool transportation on the IEPs was changed recently the share document was added
152to IEPs if these policy changes are important to you and believe me they're coming fast and furious then you need to give us that department chair we can't do all these policies without that support the department chairs relay the um information to us they train staff and they make sure these changes happen i guarantee you without that effort the policies would at best be haphazardly implemented we just don't have time without that help at my school two sped teachers had been on leave all year because of health issues if our department chair had not stepped in and made sure all those students who were on their case loads got their services I don't know who would have but she did she did step up on top of everything else she was doing which was a
153lot elementary special education services are one of the most important things this school system provides i do not understand why you would set that system up to fail you are ultimately failing the students thank you andrea Stani good evening my name is Andrea Stangi this is my 20th year as a special education teacher at FCPS over the years I have seen and experienced how the role of a special education teacher has changed and how the workload pressure and demands have impacted me and my co-workers i love my job and my school community however I have felt that SCPS has not always understood all the responsibilities a special education teacher has some of the responsibilities include balancing being a case manager implementing specialized instructional programs educational testing writing reports behavioral supports and co-eing in a general
154education classroom when FCPS created the special education department chair position I finally felt that they had heard and understood our our needs this position is vital for the elementary the elementary school special education teachers to provide the best education and support for the SE students and their families the special education department chair supports new and experienced teachers as well as other teachers and support the staff throughout the years in various ways i do understand there needs to be cuts in the budget however this proposal will have a significant negative impact on FCPS students faculty and families thank you for your opportunity to speak this evening jen Connor Naylor thank you Dr reid and school board members for hearing all of us my name is Jen Connor Naylor and I'm a graduate of Fairfax County Public
155Schools a parent of an eighth grader and a fifth grader i'm an active volunteer with the PTA um a SEPTA member I participated in the family vision meetings with Dr reid and I'm a licensed clinical social worker i have children who receive both special ed services and AAP services and I'm a mental health professional that has years of experience working in tandem with schools to serve students i'm here today to ask you to fully fund the special education department chairs as full-time positions access to special ed services for my elementary school children has been made possible with the support of the department chair Melissa Hoffman even with a graduate degree in social work and years of you youth mental health experience my family still needed to hire a family advocate in order to navigate the
156system for families that are unable to do this I fear that their children will not be identified supported or seen if you take away from this vulnerable population melissa worked closely with us and went above and beyond creating testing that was able to capture my child's needs when others reported that he was achieving above expectations when no one could see it but us Melissa proved it my children fall in the 2E category and having having a staff member that understands those competing needs and can support teachers and administrators in doing so is invaluable lastly there are many federal laws that demand schools provide services to these populations while unfortunately these are unfunded mandates we are leaving ourselves open to litigation not to mention failing these students without these professionals in their full-time roles these rules
157are necessary for SCPS to maintain its highquality reputation and our integrity in providing a fair education to all students in a time when there is so much uncertainty with cuts to the Department of Ed and Medicaid and the support of our federal government at all we need our county to stand strong in defense of these kids who need us the most thank you for your time norman Hall who's virtual good evening uh school board members people at Luther Jackson Auditorium this is Norm Hall i prepared a message to the school board i delivered that sent that last Friday uh Thursday um I've also did a draft message for tonight that's in my Facebook um people can look at my message there i just want to now make some overall comments um it was about two
158school boards ago that I began advocating on behalf of special education and two school board ago I was told uh Nor you may not want to go there because um if anything they're going to talk about the high cost of special education and it may not be uh what you want uh to bring it up um during the budget process so we move ahead to now and I am very proud of the number of speakers tonight who fully wish to represent the need for special education now I wish that the prospects weren't so daunting for that but I do think it's important that voices be heard who are teachers who are faculty positions uh families and students so I'm very proud of you all um I do want to uh continue to be involved as
159a community member working in the strategic planning framework where we can unite uh county workers such as myself make sure we're going in the same direction as the schools are um we're in very rocky times and I hope that we can all get through them to the best of our ability thank you very much everybody have a good night stephanie Will who is virtual hello my name is Stephanie Will and I'm an AART at Bull Run Elementary School i'm at a loss of where I should start so I will start with how I feel which is gutted disgusted angry hurt and defeated imagine going to bed on Thursday night thinking about your plans for the next day it never occurs to you that you are going to wake up the next morning and learn that
160all the people who tell you on a daily and weekly basis through weekly reflections that you are appreciated and valued have been lying to you when I woke up on Friday I learned that Dr reed and the school board have decided to cut my position from a 1.0 to a.5 to say that my Friday went from bad to worse would not even touch upon how devastated my colleagues and I are feeling not only did you do this under the darkness of an embargo an embargo but you also dropped this bomb without one ounce of guidance do you really believe it's going to be so easy to move arts into other school vacancies have you thought about the fact that most of us want to stay at the schools that we work at right now that
161other people are shifted and negative negatively impacted if we go back into the classrooms and our buildings you made this decision after the transfer window after principles have already spent their funding and utilize their trades telling me and my colleagues that we will have a job it just won't look like we thought it would less than a week ago is beyond insulting and quite frankly cruel have you thought about the impact of reducing the ART position i'm aware this move won't cost you a thing but it will cost my students their families my colleagues and me this means no longer pooling my first graders second graders young scholars or helping with 2e students the way that they should be helped i understand that Dr reed was given a menu to choose from cuts to save
162money did the menu not include pausing the roll out of math materials or other avenues that were not teacher positions did the menu suggest not having leadership also get a 6% raise i am not fine with having a raise resting on the positions of teachers and you shouldn't be either i'm pleading with you not to cut the positions of ARTS give us the opportunity to continue our important work and allow us to feel that we really are team FCPS and not just collateral damage raz Salvador i'm a parent of a beautiful special needs daughter who is a student at Wolf Trap Elementary School in Vienna without her full-time special education lead teacher she would not be able to close achievement gaps and overcome mental health challenges reducing this position to part-time is contradictory to the
163school district's belief that effective educators are essential to student success reducing them to being part-time is making them half effective educators we must maintain full-time special education lead teachers positions for each elementary school and not reduce it to part-time it is not a solution for passage of this adjustment to seek a savings of $9.3 million recalling when this school district asked for help on November 7th 2024 67% of Fairfax County voters renewed a community investment by approving the sale of $435 million in bonds to fund the building and renovation of schools the voters the voters supported it we ask for the board support now how can a $9.3 million savings be justified when the budget for this fiscal year is an increase of $297.1 million over the FY2025 approved budget you are inviting legal risk
164proposing this adjustment reduction is clearly demonstrating deliberate indifference to our special education students making this reduction is intentional discrimination to our most vulnerable students special education students are not secondclass students we must maintain full-time special education lead teachers at each elementary school michelle Cades my name is Michelle Cades i'm Fairfax County SEPTA's advocacy co-chair and president-elect the trickle down effect of our federal and state government's actions and thus the board of supervisors have put FCPS in a quagmire as such thank you for the 6% raise and unsurprisingly we are requesting that you please preserve the full-time positions of elementary school special education department chairs they run hours and hours of special ed meetings as principal design bringing a depth of ex of expertise and training to the IEP table that most principles and APS do
165not have if you want to reduce lawsuits and obscene legal expenses have the special ed experts at the table in turn this also frees up school administrators time for observing coaching and supporting the rest of their staff in the classrooms and building relationships with their student bodies specialed department chairs work directly to increase inclusive practices which is a strategic goal and through coaching and mentoring all teachers on best practices in IEP implementation and co-eing and this is an equity issue not only looking at individual schools expenses and funding but also taking into account case load and intensity of student needs when determining special ed department chair staffing fcps has finally started making significant strides toward breaking down silos between special ed and advanced academics with joint training to better identify and serve our 2E students
166after 15 years of advocacy for 2e students we are finally seeing forward progress directly thanks to Dr reid making this a priority losing half of both positions negatively impacts 2E students on both sides of the spectrum so on behalf of the roughly 15,000 elementary school special education students please ensure that principles can flexibly budget to keep these positions as full-time thank you bridget Gity who is virtual good evening as a representative from Fairfax County SEPTA I am sharing this testimony abbreviated for time that we received from a teacher who wishes to remain anonymous my special education department chair significantly contributes to a more manageable and effective work environment this increases time dedicated to quality instruction and planning knowing that she is available to support problem solving on complex cases allows me to focus more intently
167on individual student needs her support alleviates stress most notably through streamlined IEP processes she actively supports the scheduling of IEP meetings making it easier to accommodate parent schedules without disrupting instructional time due to her efforts in providing coverage of classes she also diligently ensures adherence to critical timelines for meetings including but not limited to IEPs and evaluations this prevents potential compliance issues proactive behavioral support during student crises she provides crucial assistance either by helping the student regain calm state or by offering the teacher a necessary break to reset collaborative staff support she invests time in reviewing providing feedback and collaborating on IEP goals and accommodations leading to stronger and more effective plans she provides thorough guidance to new special education teachers on all aspects of special education fostering confidence and offering ongoing support during planning
168and IEP meetings leadership in preschool transition IEPs her proactive leadership in managing the preschool transition IEP process including observations and collaborations has significantly reduced my workload and allowed me to maximize instructional time with my current students in previous years this responsibility alone consumes consumed a substantial amount of time from February to May and finally effective communication bridge she acts as a vital link effectively communicating the needs of special education teachers to the administration team thank you all right for our queue Julie Little Diane Cooper Gould Gayla Bumgart uh Abigail uh Doble Stephanie Smith Alana Whims Melissa Hoffman Corey uh Pena Hannah Shad Amanda uh Mano Rosen Char and then Colleen O' Carol next up we have Carmela Pine carmela Pine next up Julie Little julie Little Julie Little Diane Cooper Gould who is virtual hi
169I'm Diane Cooper Gould a volunteer community disability advocate with SEPTA and Deoding Dyslexia Virginia as well as a professional advocate disability supports are being cut across all levels of government federal state and local and unfortunately the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has now followed suit and has chosen to severely underfund our FCPS budget at a time when our student needs are growing i understand the choices that the board and the superintendent are being forced to make are impossible ones i could also say as someone who has participated in hundreds of IEP meetings over the past decade that I can share my perspective on why it is critical to preserve full-time elementary special education department chair positions i have seen a dramatic shift in the knowledge base and functioning of IEP teams since the institution of
170full-time elementary sped department chairs they relieve some of the crippling administrative dean de demand on our classroom special education teachers allowing them more time to work directly with students they set a cohesive tone and expectations for all special education staff across the school and help unify our system of desperate schools into a single equitable school system department chairs provide needed expertise while running challenging meetings with farreaching legal implications but perhaps most importantly specialed department chairs have been instrumental in improving communication between central office and school-based staff they've been one of the the most effective systemwide tools for ensuring the successful roll out of countywide initiatives such as the shift to the science of reading as a direct result of their ability to boost the knowledge base of their teams I have seen a market improvement
171in student outcomes department chairs are currently working handinhand with our AARTS on our new district-wide initiative to meet the needs of 2e students how will this work be successful without school-based personnel to educate and guide the school teams forward department chairs also coordinate student care across multiple departments within schools in order to provide a holistic approach to support students who are in multiply marginalized populations gala Bumgart my husband is a federal employee and when he told me that we were returning to Washington we purposely bought a home in Fairfax County because of the schools i applied to one employer FCPS because I wanted to work with the best i am disappointed in the lack of funding from the state the state does need to increase their funding but until that happens the local taxpayers of
172Fairfax make up the difference to maintain our excellent schools the pride of Fairfax County we want our schools to be funded fully and our staff paid well i am sad as a parent and a taxpayer that FCPS is being allowed to deteriorate when it is the best thing that we have going for us the county not fully funding the budget request is not okay and the county reducing the annual percentage of funding to the schools is also not okay the collectively bargained raise is necessary to keep the good teachers and FCPS i wish there could be no cuts but I understand the cuts have to be made so I am in favor of some of the cuts proposed by the superintendent i oppose the increase to the staffing ratio we cannot increase class sizes i
173also oppose the cut to the elementary specialed chair position where principles will have to find funding from other positions to keep it full-time these two cuts disproportionately impact elementary students with disabilities i hope someone is keeping a list of all the other creative saving solutions that have been identified by the speakers here tonight and that they are seriously considered i know this board cares about our staff and students there has been much damage done by this very poorly thoughtout proposal it's been like a punch to the gut but there is still time to make better decisions i'm looking forward to hearing the improved and more palpable proposals in the coming days thank you abigail Dubel i speak as an FCPS elementary teacher of 17 years and the parent of two FCPS students the current proposed
174budget cuts are ill advised because they place most of the burden at the elementary level don't align with our strategic plan and will negatively impact student and parent experiences first the cuts to special ed department chair AERT positions and monitor positions only affect the elementary level this is not equitable at my school alone these cuts will affect seven positions or over 10% of our staff and will in turn increase the workload of all remaining staff second these cuts don't support our strategic plan pillar C claims that FCPS provides a balanced workload cutting monitors will all but eliminate recent attempts to give elementary teachers planning time that is equitable to our secondary peers since monitors at my school currently provide the needed coverage for additional planning time pillar D states that FCPS strives for equitable resource
175allocation cuts predominantly at the elementary level are not equitable when we serve a little over half of all FCPS enrolled students goal one addresses access and preparation for advanced instruction and goal 3C is algebra for all by 8th grade reducing ART hours will reduce the number and quality of enrichment opportunities for all students the opposite of these FCPS goals goal 4C addresses student access to special education reducing the support of the special ed chair will have a ripple effect on special ed teachers responsibilities for testing and meetings and will thus negatively impact student access to special ed services finally cutting arts and special ed chairs will limit the quality and quantity of time they can devote to parent communication something highly regarded by our families this is a double whammy to twice exceptional students and
176families mine included these cuts will send the district backward in our implementation of supports for 2e students please find cost cutting measures that equitably impact all levels of FCPS these proposed cuts are unwise unjust and directly conflict with our strategic plan stephanie Smith who is virtual good evening i'm speaking as both a parent of a child who receives special education services and a provisionally licensed special education teacher in an enhanced autism classroom at Rose Hill Elementary i'm here to speak against the proposed cuts to the elementary specialed department chair positions these positions are essential removing them will jeopardize compliance with federal mandates exacerbate staffing shortages and most critically harm the quality of support for our most vulnerable students when these positions were created I saw the positive impact firsthand as a parent iep meetings became
177more efficient communication improved and documentation was more timely and accurate at our school currently 30% of the students have IEPs or 504 plans we have programs including preschool autism preschool class-based enhanced aught Spanish immersion and there were plans to enh expand our AAP programs we have currently 11 special education positions six of which are provisionally licensed teachers and long-term substitutes as a new teacher I cannot overstate how critical our chair is she supports us with IEP writing progress reports behavior plans parent meetings training and goal writing classroom management and ensuring we are meeting compliance timelines and legal requirements which do not stop because there's a substitute in the classroom 25% of special education teachers are provisionally licensed cutting these chair positions creates a disproportionate burden on elementary schools especially those with higher special education populations
178fcps showed leadership when it created these positions now is not the time to reverse that progress i urge FCPS leadership and the board to revisit this proposal make datadriven decisions that reflect the unique needs of our students and the elementary schools they attend preserve these positions and ensure we are supporting the students and teachers who need it the most thank you alana Whims who is virtual good evening Dr reed and school board members i'm here to express my deep concern and disappointment regarding the proposed reduction of the special education department chair position to a 0.5 role after 12 years in special education at Rose Hill three of those as a full-time department chair I can say with confidence that this proposal is not only shortsighted but also demoralizing this role is far more than administrative
179it is essential department chairs are the support systems of our team we mentor new teachers manage case loads ensure compliance provide professional development teach attend extensive trainings and that barely scratches the surface at Rose Hill Elementary we've worked this entire year with three unfilled special education positions we've depended on substitutes and provisionally licensed teachers to fill those gaps these responsibilities didn't disappear they simply fell on those of us who are already here quietly professionally and out of commitment to our students we stepped up this proposed cut is not a minor adjustment it's a major setback that sends a deeply troubling message about how this work is viewed expecting this level of responsibility to continue with half of the time and no additional compensation is not sustainable it's unrealistic and dismissive of the dedication and expertise
180that special education staff bring every single day currently special education department chairs are on a longer contract because much of that crucial planning happens over the summer reducing this position not only removes time that we rely on to do our work well but also prevents us from pursuing summer opportunities like ESY which are already filled this change would have a direct impact not just professionally but personally and financially as well this is not a budget it's about priorities it's about whether FCPS truly values the leadership continuity and specialized knowledge required in one of the most legally complex and chronically understaffed areas in education because if that value isn't reflected in your decisions we notice and so will the families we serve i urge you to reconsider this reduction not just for me but for the
181staff students and the integrity of special education programs we cannot continue to be asked to do more with less thank you for your time and attention melissa Hoffman good evening my name is Melissa Hoffman i'm a special education department chair at the elementary level here to express my concern about this position being reduced to 0.5 when the strategic plan was first introduced I immediately recognized the powerful role I and our advanced academics resource teacher would play in advancing inclusion practices and equitable access elementary school represents our students first experience with education it's here that we lay the foundation for inclusion and provide early interventions each week I attend multiple IEP meetings i lead and manage full day local screening meetings and handle all related paperwork i'm called to assist with student behavior which I can
182be effective at because I've had the time to get to know them i mentor new teachers model strategies conduct most educational evaluations provide one-on-one so testing and ensure our team stays compliant with evolving procedures i serve on multiple committees to ensure neuroiverse students have a voice in schoolwide decisions without a full-time department chair these tasks will shift back onto teachers who are already stretched thin this will compromise the support our students receive and increase the risk of procedural errors i've already had teachers come to me concerned about next year and for the first time I don't have answers for them other than I'm going to try my best i take great pride in serving my students and the community i've had the pleasure and surprise to hear some parents and students speak up tonight um
183that I work with and as heartwarming as it was it was also heartbreaking because I don't know how to serve them next year in a 0.5 position i know you guys have tough decisions to make and I implore you to find a way to protect special education services and advanced academic services at the elementary level thank you Corey Pena good evening my name is Corey Pena i'm an FCPS general education elementary teacher and an FCPS parent i'm here to demand a fully funded FCPS to ensure that special education department chairs and advanced academic resource teachers remain full-time positions in our schools let me give you a glimpse of what that looks like at the elementary level the only level in danger of losing access to these crucial positions in just one second grade team this
184year with just over 70 students we've had more than 50 special education meetings so far ranging from eligibility and IEPs to staffing and local screenings they last anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours but most of them run about an hour and next year our school is adding a pack program which will bring even more intensive needs and coordination our special education department chair is the glue holding it all together she manages scheduling runs parent meetings documents everything meticulously coordinates with county experts and supports behavior plans she is the reason our students with disabilities receive the education they deserve equally vital is our academic advanced academic resource teacher she is embedded in every classroom and leads our local level 4 AP program for younger grades she provides monthly lessons to specifically encourage creative out-of-the-box thinking
185this year alone she helped our second grade team complete 17 AAP referral packets and attended more than 30 team meetings with us to plan access to rigorous lessons and advocate for students who might otherwise be overlooked if these positions are reduced or shared across schools it is our students the ones who need the most support and challenge who will lose these roles aren't extras they are essential to equity and excellence in our schools and they require that FCPS fully funds them thank you as a reminder if you are virtual we need to be able to promote you if you're not allowing us to promote you you will not be able to speak to the board the next person we have is Hannah Shad who is virtual hannah we can't hear you can you hear me
186yes now we can can you hear me now yep okay my name is Hannah Shad and I'm currently an Esau teacher at Wayanoke Elementary School so I would like to speak on the issue of the proposed cut to monitors from the point of view of um an ESOL teacher at a title one school so um one issue I would like to bring up that's very concerning to me that I've not heard anyone else tonight speak about is the fact that the classroom monitors allow ESOL teachers in elementary schools to do our job um they are a barrier between us and uh our students services getting inter interrupted so it's very common not only in my school but across the county that when there are not enough substitutes not enough um sitebased subs or classroom monitors
187ESOL is pulled to do classroom coverage and act as a substitute um it's not just my school but it's across the board i've spoken uh at trainings to other Esau teachers about this issue and so the classroom monitors really provide a hedge for us because as you know especially title one schools have lots of IEP meetings we have lots of teacher trainees who need to attend professional development sessions um and sometimes those are for shorter time slots where we don't always they're not even always eligible for a substitute um so the monitors do us a great service they're able to take on those uh jobs and so without that extra support staff providing coverage Esau tends to be called upon so I started working with FCPS during the pandemic in 2021 and this school year
188is the first school year uh since I have been here that I've not once been asked to do coverage during my school day so I just wanted to flag that issue that it really helps um Esau teachers be able to perform our services uh because multilingual learner instruction is tier one it's not an intervention students are entitled to these services uh and so Amanda Mano good evening everyone my name is Amanda Mano and I'm an advanced academics resource teacher this is my 11th year in the county i'm here to express my concern about the proposed reduction of the ART position this change is more than just a staffing adjustment it's a step backward in our commitment to equity access and excellence for all students under goal two safe supported included and empowered we've pledged to
189build inclusive and equitable schools through the Young Scholars model we identify and support students with advanced potential who are multilingual economically vulnerable and twice exceptional in Fairfax we have identified approximately 3,400 young scholars in non-title one schools as ARTs we partners with teachers collaborate with special education teams and engage families to make sure these learners aren't overlooked and instead are seen supported and celebrated if this reduction moves forward there will no longer be time for that essential work a arts will be limited to compliance duties such as pullout services and screening the equity centered outreach family engagement and schoolwide talent development that have become the core of our role will simply disappear as noted in the FCPS external AAP review early and robust opportunities are essential without them students from historically underrepresented groups are far
190less likely to access advanced pathways later i want to share a story um with you all about a former student of mine a young scholar who was identified early um for her strong potential at first she received subject specific differentiation small opportunities embedded in her daily instruction and as her strengths grew we provided part-time services that challenged her thinking and nurtured her love of learning because of the strong partnership between myself and her classroom teacher we were able to collaborate plan intentionally and create a learning environment where she could truly thrive and by fifth grade she was found eligible for full-time AAP services she flourished because of the ongoing support access belief in her abilities that we cultivated together and that is what a full-time art can do all right for our queue up here
191for these seats Rutier Naran Brian Hickeyi Rachel Acasta Lisa Falconer Linda Bib Bibberai Wendy Rosner Deborah Alsado Amy Long Sarah Blind and Cele next up is Razan Sharan Char who is virtual mr char you have to allow us to promote you or you will not be able to speak to the board razan charen O' Carol Colleen O' Carol Colleen O' carol Ruchir Naran good evening my name is Ruchir Nion and I'm a parent of a special education student i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight and recognize immense challenges in developing a budget that meets the diverse needs of our large county uh there are undoubtedly difficult decisions do I envy you no uh however it's with deep concern that I address the proposed cuts to the special education department chairs and the classroom
192monitors while I understand the need to find efficiencies and make tough choices I believe these particular reductions will have a profoundly negative effect on some of our most vulnerable students and ultimately on the overall success of our inclusive learning environments you've already heard the impacts from previous speakers special education department chairs are simply not administrators they're the lynchpins of effective special special education programs they provide crucial guidance training and support to classroom teachers ensuring that IEPs are implemented effectively and that students with diverse learning needs receive the individ individualized attention they deserve simil similarly classroom monitors play a vital role in creating a safe and supportive learning environment for students with disabilities providing direct assistance and behavior management support there has to be other ways to find money was analysis conducted on where the greatest
193concentrations of students with complex needs where are the schools facing the most significant challenges in imple implementing IEPs how would this impact teacher retention and student support instead of blanket reductions in these essential roles I strongly recommend the school board consider a more nuance approach any reductions should be based on known detrimental impacts to teachers and special education students additionally the one-sizefits-all cuts disproportionately harm schools with higher Brian Hickeyi good evening my name is Brian Hickeyi and my six-year-old son is a student in the enhanced autism classroom program at Rose Hill Elementary School he's not fully verbal and a wild little man so I'm here to speak for him after separating from active duty my family moved back to Fairfax specifically because of the resources at in FCPS's we are fortunate to have a wonderful
194teacher and special education department his teachers deserve the proposed raise and more we're keenly aware of the shortfalls that FCPS has played with though special education professionals and staff are increasingly difficult to hire and retain and the often cited metric of 25% of the staff being provisionally licensed or long-term subs is an unsustainable metric like with many autistic kids building rapport is crucial for my son's progress it fosters a positive relationship capable of addressing challenging behaviors building on individual strengths and facilitating learning and the proposed cuts jeopardize all of this if our chair cut is if our chair is cut to halftime or stretch across two schools the layers of support training and guidance for our son's teacher will be significantly diminished we are certain it will increase the administrative burden thus limiting her ability
195to plan and provide quality instruction for our son and his classmates furthermore a reduction of any kind will unnecessarily expose the school to legal risks and potential issues regarding non-compliance with his IEP if principles try to absorb the difference using school funds they may need to cut other essential positions like instructional assistance to make up for it this is an equity issue and the gap between what students should receive and what they do receive will continue to widen in closing a reduction in staff will come at the expense of Fairfax County's most vulnerable children who cannot advocate for themselves i ask each of you to go to enhanced autism classroom program anywhere in the county and justify how reducing the department chair position is consionable thank you for your time rachel Acasta good evening thank
196you for allowing me to speak my name is Rachel A costa i'm the ART at Clareman Elementary School and I am a world-class educator i have had the honor of representing and serving Fairfax County Public Schools for 20 years i have dedicated myself to promoting excellence creating engaging learning experiences for all students knowing every child by name and by need always having an open line of communication with parents and guardians and loving with all of my heart every single student that I have worked with cutting AR positions to 0.5 is dismantling advanced services for all students in FCPS arts provide consistent support not only for students who have been found eligible for AAP services but every single student in FCPS halftime AARTS cannot provide this level of support collaborate with other staff members curriculum enrichment
197and extensions attend CLT meetings provide professional development work on the team that writes the school improvement and innovation plan and a variety of other responsibilities for the betterment of the school i work at a small elementary school that doesn't have an instructional coach or an EMERT so I run CLT meetings alongside our reading specialists create math goals for our tier 2 and tier three students run the high impact tutoring program and manage and enter all the math intervention data into CIS the quality of education provided in FCPS will be negatively impacted i am also a resident of Fairfax County and the parent of two Fairfax County Public Schools elementary students one of my children is creative empathetic and has a ton of school spirit she also has an IEP my other child is witty caring
198has a 504 plan and received part-time AAP services they both deserve an education that is rigorous and engaging this cannot happen without the collaboration of AERTS and special education chairs classroom teachers and administrators it is vital to the success of our students all students including our twice exceptional students who have significant strengths and significant needs our Thank you very much Lisa Falconer hi there good evening FCPS board and Dr reid i'm here tonight as both a proud FCPS elementary school parent of two and a Fairfax County taxpayer and I want to begin by recognizing something positive uh and important which is that the proposed FY26 budget includes a well-deserved raise for our teachers that's a step in the right direction but a raise alone won't sustain them if we're also pulling away the support that
199they rely on to do their jobs so very well this budget proposes larger class sizes cuts to special ed leads reductions in advanced academic resource teachers and the loss of elementary classroom monitors all while increasing central office supports that's not reform it's a compounded negative effect more pressure on teachers fewer adults in the building and diminished capacity to meet students needs at Chesterbrook Elementary our ART teacher isn't a luxury she's a cornerstone of our community leading enrichment professional development testing math coaching and referrals and that same level of value is brought by our special ed department chair and our classroom monitors and they're really the mortar that holds the bricks of our school together filling all the gaps wherever we need them while we're in our financial crisis our neighboring school districts are investing more
200aggressively in instruction and they're keeping class sizes smaller and the reality is if Fairfax becomes known for overcrowded classrooms and under supported teachers it won't just be a school issue it's going to be a real estate issue families talk and prospective home buyers pay attention our reputation is part of our economic engine and we really can't afford to run it into the ground while we're in a financial crisis we're investing heavily in student laptops and we all know too much screen time especially for younger kids has well doumented downsides shorter attention spans reduced physical activity fewer chances to build social and emotional skills we know technology can't replace human connection and it shouldn't come at the cost of staffing i urge Linda Bere i implore you to reject the cut to the art position i
201am Linda Bibai and I am a lifelong Fairfax County Public School member i started as a kindergartener when I walk through those doors I graduated as a senior i've served 16 years as a teacher and I'm a parent i'll be in the system for the next decade or so i never thought I would be in this position standing here today ever in this capacity fairfax County is built on fueling minds unlocking potential and backing every kid the way that they deserve it this cut betrays that and what this district stands for for the last 5 years I've served as the ART at Sangster Elementary a school of a thousand a nearly a thousand cutting this position it doesn't reduce the workload and I'm going to say this clearly it reduces the quality of services let's
202be honest your entire mission is our job equity access rigor talent development teacher support we're not a silo in our building we reach every corner so what are we going to cut co-eing co-planning no enrichment we're just going to go off survival here and when that happens you know who gets left behind our students they burn out they disengage our families lose and what do our kids become a number on a spreadsheet let's be clear this decision it doesn't save our schools it guts it you are stripping away at the infra in infrastructure that makes advanced learning equitable and possible it tells the kids who need us the most that they matter the least it tells teachers parents and students you're on your own don't expect support don't expect partnership and don't expect the gold
203standard that we pay for and Wendy Rosner who's virtual Wendy Rosner oh hello we can hear you now hello i'm here as a FCPS parent and the PTA president in Kilmer Middle School i'm also the mother of a 2E student when my daughter was in preschool we learned that she had a severe social language deficit she could not answer answer simple questions such as where do you brush your teeth or when do you eat dinner she had only one friend who only spoke Arabic even though my daughter wanted friendship she was capable only of parallel play testing revealed that my daughter's verbal IQ was essentially two years below her non-verbal IQ i was distraught but thanks to the wonderful special education staff at our elementary school my daughter is now thriving both academically and socially
204she has a wonderful group of friends and completes her work independently with minimal assistance she receives part-time AAP services which are her favorite part of the school week and have helped her grow creative and create and critical thinking skills my daughter's success story is the result of thoughtfully crafted IEPs and highly skilled and patient special education teachers the special education staff at our school works incredibly hard and is always busy they each have huge case loads and currently struggle to give each child as much time as is needed reducing special education resources will make things considerably worse for all children first those with IEPs will not get the attention and services they need this goes against FCPS's goals of inclusion and equity further primary teachers who already grapple with many children who likely have undiagnosed
205disabilities will not be able to deliver the same level of classroom instruction to the remaining students further making classroom teaching more challenging leads to burnout scps cannot afford to lose more of its talented staff finally cutting into a AART resources is also detrimental a arts provide enrichment for kids who need it across seven different grade levels in elementary school this is an extremely complex job and part-time ARTS will struggle to deliver part-time AAP services to kids who need them additionally part-time AARTS will not have time to collaborate with the special education case managers to fully support and nurture 2E students in their unique needs again it's a matter of equity and inclusion thank you for allowing my voice to be heard deborah Alsado good evening board good evening Dr reid i decided to speak from
206my heart because I think so many good points have been made about the special ed chair position my name is Deborah Alo this year I celebrate my 25th year as a special education teacher at Westbire Elementary School in year 38 teaching contemplating my retirement I entered a drop defer retirement plan that would actually force me to retire in June 2030 honestly since I signed the forms for retirement I have realized that leaving Westbrier and FCPS will be one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life the thought of retiring overwhelms me with emotions after hearing about the specialed chair cut my mind raced back to the days that I had to do the educational testing for my team as part of the screening for my students to receive IEPs when testing I
207was not providing the hours to my students on my case load i had such guilt unable to have the focus needed to write reports at school I would set my alarm for 5:00 a.m and write the reports before school i shed many tears and felt constant stress my colleagues stood by me and drive my tears and I wondered how long I could continue when we received our full-time chair I was so happy again and able to teach without the stress of not meeting IEP hours and not having to spend mornings before school writing reports i could once again teach without the stress of testing and our chair was there to help with all so that we could teach i love Westbrier and I love FCPS please don't make teachers like me suffer again and please
208support teachers like me to reach our full retirement of 30 years in a great school system like Fairfax County Schools dr to read i sent you an invite to the author's tea at Westbrier and the kids are really hoping you make it thank you amy Long good evening i'm Amy Long a student monitor for Wakefield Forest Elementary School i'm here tonight advocating for our team and the position as a whole thank you for your time please reconsider eliminating the monitor position from our elementary schools cutting the position will be a serious disservice to our students teachers and the FCPS community at large pandemic aside monitors have become an integral part of quality modern public school systems if quality exceptional education is what the county boasts then eliminating monitors completely is going backwards in classrooms we
209provide invaluable assistance to teachers we cover for meetings and unexpected callouts allowing instruction to continue smoothly our principal told me today that this is the first year she hasn't had to substitute in a classroom since CO hit monitors also help one-on-one with students falling behind whom teachers admittedly can't help while leading instruction we show up every day we learn the kids we know them we give them familiarity and personalized care that can't be replaced outside the classroom we handle student disputes we guide and look after all age groups we foster a safe inclusive environment we track and report behavior holding the student body accountable and decreasing chaos and violence eliminating monitors will not only overburden already stretch teachers and staff but it will also remove support that directly contributes to student success and safety we
210perform critical duties for modest pay and no benefits schools can't afford to lose us at this time when every dollar counts investing in student monitors is one of the most cost-effective ways to maintain quality and FCPS education the value we bring exceeds our cost as part of a monitor team I can testify that schools will not be as safe supported or exceptional without monitors thank you sarah Blind good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Sarah Blind and I am the parent of a third grader at Franklin Sherman Elementary in the superintendent's recommended expenditure adjustments one of the line item reductions coldly reads formula adjustment advanced academic research teachers the ART in my son's school is more than part of a formula to be adjusted she's a living breathing crucial
211and dynamic part of our school community and she makes a difference every single day plus nights and weekends too i know this is also the case for all the other ARTs that have been mentioned here tonight if I may I'd like to tell you about our AART her name is Christy Stormman she's energetic bright creative and one of my son's favorite teachers i watch him light up to see her flash a big smile maybe get a quick hug or hear her say "Use your superpowers for good." as he departs school in the afternoons when we see her helping other children get into the car at kiss and ride and these are just the interactions that I witness i know more goes on during the day she is willing to take on additional roles such as
212when she served as an interim assistant principal this winter when our assistant principal was called elsewhere she goes above and beyond at every turn most of all she's amazing at her job because of her efforts and leadership within the school my son is challenged engaged and learning at a higher level than he would be otherwise she's an advocate for him a friendly face and a safe place when he needs it i know she does the same and more for other students her full-time role is crucial to the delivery of AAP services at Franklin Sherman and if her role is reduced the impact will be significant please carefully consider the effect of these proposed reductions on actual members of the community real people who have meaningful impact on our children maybe think about the directive that
213Miss Stormman gives to my son and other children and consider how you can use your power for good thank you our next speaker is number 100 after this next speaker we will take a 10-minute break to give our staff who could not take a break while we listen 10 minutes to to move around and you know bio break so you all can move you all can move too if you like so after the next speaker we'll take a 10-minute break and come back so nanji hi this is Salim Nanji i'm on I'm here on behalf of my daughter uh 2 minutes looks like the 6% increase that you have promised so here are my two cents classroom monitors and pair professionals a nationwide study from Denmark adding one pair professional per class boosted reading and
214math delivered the biggest gains for low-income students similar UK studies linked trained aids to better behavior and more on task time monitors also protect teachers statemandated planning minutes without them principles will pull specialist cancel planning or leave classes uncovered raising stress and substitute cost research shows discipline referrals rise as class size grows partly because teachers have fewer seconds per student to preempt disruptions larger group combined with the loss of monitors compound this risk arts national gifted program analysis are blunt the frequency of enrichment sessions and the specialist time on the campus are the strongest predictors of equitable identification cutting arts to halftime means fewer screening portfolios fewer level three clusters and wider excellence gaps exactly the opposite of our equity commitment a smaller class sizes project STAR showed K3 classes of approximately 15 added three
215months of learning that lasted to high school with outsized uh benefits for disadvantaged children larger class means less feedback more disruptions and higher teacher turnover these positions cost a fraction of 214 millions that you have promised for a 6% salary lift eliminating them will save dollars but erode instructional quality widen achievement gaps and fuel burnout ultimately driving the very pay raise you have promised into higher turnover cost top system in the world keep at least one of three levels extra adults small classes or protected or protected planning you have decided to remove all three at once jeopardizing achievement and morale for mod modest savings here what's what you can do uh Fairfest County surplus for last year approximately 1/3 of the county 240 million your end balance 60 to 80 million dedicate new meals and
216beverage tax millions there are so many ways to uh save uh other things if I can figure it out you can figure it out too don't just take the easy way out thank you thank you we will take a 10-minute break and come back at 9:34 [Music] hi if individuals could please take your seats we're going to begin again soon staff if you can please return to your position so we the board can uh reconvene momentarily board members please take your seats board members please take your seats we can resume board members please take your seats madame Clerk you may call our next speaker all right so for our queue we have Thomas uh Dannon Jason Miller Zanob Elmary uh Deborah RH uh Katrina Champion Samantha Amy Jessica Klene Carolene Botka Stacy Carter and Brittany
217Mintz if you could take positions up here in the uh blue area as a reminder to folks only the speaker may be at the podium when speaking neither adults nor children may join you when your name is called uh and you're on deck please head to the reserved seats as I just mentioned if you have a hard copy of your testimony please give it to me or Mr jackson um if you are virtual please turn your camera on when you are next in line to speak so that you just have to unmute when you are called to speak if you have electronic copies of your testimony and would like to share it with the board please email it to community participation atfcps.edu when your name is called I will call your name three times before
218moving on to the next individual on the list you may fa find copies of the speaking order in the back um please hold your applause so that we can keep things moving and because of the length schoolboard members may be taking small breaks but are cap are able to access the hearing throughout and we'll be listening to all speakers uh Thomas Denun you are up thank you uh good evening members of the board uh my name is Tom Danon i'm the president of the PTA Center um you have probably heard everything there is to hear about the budget tonight so let me just share this um I come to you not only representing our community but as someone who has volunteered and worked in schools at the US and around the world um I have
219taught places where the school was a dilapidated building with no water no electricity i have seen schools that consisted of a group of broken chairs under a tree where kids learn to read and write in the dirt at their feet those experiences show me that education doesn't require the best buildings or technical resources but it absolutely requires the best people we're very grateful that you and Dr reed have had the vision to increase teacher compensation teachers represent the best of us they represent an investment in our kids and our hope for the future and that's what brings me here tonight hope the proposed cuts especially those to special education and class sizes threaten not only your strategic plan but your entire legacy i've heard from dozens of our members who are rightly concerned that these
220proposed cuts will have a significant domino effect again a significant domino effect on our students and community especially at the elementary level terra center serves more than 100 students with disabilities including one of my own these cuts disproportionately harm schools like ours and they put add headed strain on remaining staff risking burnout and turnover challenges that you know the school system is already battling our children deserve better and our teachers and staff deserve better and I want to be clear i know this board is in a difficult position for that reason we strongly encourage and we've been encouraging the board of supervisors commonwealth and the federal government to fund our schools adequately but you have the opportunity here to hold the line against these cuts and against the abhorrent shift toward things like privatization we
221strongly encourage you to to invest in hope which means investing in our people thank you for your time jason Miller good evening my name is Jason Miller and I'm a homeowner and registered voter in the Sel district and I'm speaking here today as the husband of a special education teacher and the father of two students who receive services from special education teachers at Oakill Elementary i'm here today to ask you to please fully fund the special education department chair position our children's education is very important to both me and my wife so when we were searching for a new home eight years ago we focused on Fairfax County and specifically Sel District because of the quality of schools at that time FCPS's investment per student was the highest in the region but in recent years
222Lowden County has surpassed FPS and this is a disappointing trend we continue to see in this year's budget as I previously mentioned my wife is a special education teacher so I firsthand So I've seen firsthand the passion that our teachers have for improving the lives of their students and the countless number of hours outside of the classroom focused on planning and preparation one of the proposed cuts is to reduce the elementary special education department share from a full-time to halftime position these valuable resources help with mandatory testing ensuring that special education services are delivered according to regulations providing instructional strategies and professional development to teachers planning and coordinating IEP meetings and the documents that that are built out of those meetings and making sure schools stay in compliance with these legal agreements along with many
223other important responsibilities many of these resources are also handling student case load because of special education departments are already understaffed due to an alarming number of teachers leaving the county or the field because of the lack of support reducing these positions may sound like a reduction that would affect the least amount of students but these are the students who need the most amount of support especially for elementary school students in their early years of development reducing these positions doesn't make the responsibilities go away these tasks will now fall back to the already overburdened classroom teachers to manage give them less time to focus on their students and classwork i don't know about you but I would definitely prefer my children's teachers be able to focus on their classwork some of these ch children's some of
224my children's teachers are here today and I owe them a huge debt of gratitary who is virtual good evening hello am I hurt yes we can hear you yes good evening school board members and superintendent trade my name is Dana Bala Mary and I'm a proud parent of Jenna who is like an advanced like a full liketime advanced academic student um at AW Elementary School i'm here tonight because I want you to know what a difference Mrs nicole Sharps our advanced academics resource teacher has made not just for my child but for entire school my child went through like a chemotherapy and Miss Nickel Sharps was really on top of everything it's really hard to imagine Eagle View without her miss Sharps has a unique way of connecting with students she challenges them inspires them
225and sees potential in each child my own child has grown so much with her support not just academically but in confidence curiosity and love of learning she helps students like think in new ways ask big questions and believe in their abilities it's not about my child but I've seen like how she works across the school collaborating with teachers and making sure every student has access to advanced thinking strategies no matter like their backgrounds she embodies what like we mean when we talk about equity opportunity and excellence in education losing her position would be huge step backward not just for advanced learners but for the whole school community please I urge you protect funding for our like advanced academics resource teacher keep Mrs sharps at Agel View our children need educator like her like to thrive
226thank you so much for your time and for your service deborah RH who is virtual i hope you can see me and hear me um hi my children attend Mosaic Elementary School in Providence District um one of the most critical factors cited by individuals that influences the value and desiraability of a home a neighborhood and a county is the quality of local schools the teachers the specialists and the classrooms unsurprisingly high paychecks for the board of supervisors is never going to be found on a list like that and yet the board of supervisors has insulted us with a budget that slashes at the quality of local schools and consequently insulted the educators the students and the parents at Fairfax County while raising their own pay furthermore Mr moon I received a response from your new
227director sent on your behalf when I wrote about my budget concerns i guess you all felt that you have too much work to handle on your own when you made those roles imagine if you were a teacher with a full classroom you all should be ashamed making those extravagantly paid roles for glorified assistance for yourselves while asking teachers and students to make do with less the long-term effects of this lack of vision is corroding the quality of our local schools and reducing the desiraability of our area and I'm not sure anyone is making that connection you're forcing the steepest burden of the budget shortfall on our elementary schools and I have to believe that somehow you picked these egregious reductions in order to shake your constituents maybe this makes it easier to renegotiate with the
228board of supervisors you have shaken us and I hope this does give you the will and the power to write this ship do not approve this budget do not make the gap by taking away from studentf facing classroom education at the elementary level families directly rely on the programs being targeted and the staff who bring them to life and that's all I have to say katrina Champion who is virtual hello my name is Katrina Champion i'm a parent of a child at Fairview Elementary School an active PTA member and a working mom my husband and I both had the privilege of graduating at FCPS um schools in this area i say privileged because when I went to school I was in special education and that special education helped me become a successful adult these children
229deserve to have IEPs processed in a timely fashion at Fairview Elementary there are over 100 students currently receiving special education services and special education department chairs is an essential role and has helped us personally with our son's issues the special education uh support supports all special education teachers paraprofessionals teachers students and parents students deserve a place to have special education programs that can give them the time services and attention that they need especially required by their IEP special education department chairs split split their time into two schools increasing the already large case load especially in elementary schools is unacceptable how is cutting services to a marginalized community that has an IEP requ that's required to them to receive services acceptable to anyone on the schoolboard how is providing less services now than I received when
230I was in elementary school in Fairfax County as a millennial an acceptable state of affairs cutting services will increase the burnout for teachers staff and obviously negatively affect the children who are already struggling i'd like to mention that Fairfax County teachers deserve every penny of the 6% raise that they received all sources of income appear to have increased over 2025 advertised budget i want to mention Samantha Amy hi my name is Sam Amy and I'm the proud elementary special education department chair at Timberlane Elementary School i'm here to speak against the proposed reduction of the elementary special education department chair position to part-time a decision if implemented would directly contradict the values and commitments laid out in the Fairfax County Strategic Plan special education students depend on consistency advocacy and tailored support a part-time department
231chair cannot effectively oversee compliance support teachers and coordinate services while juggling a time constraint this directly puts students at risk of falling through cracks academically emotionally and legally the strategic plan calls for equitable school communities instructional excellence and removal of barriers for all students especially especially our most vulnerable special education department chairs are critical for that mission they ensure that IEPs are followed support teachers in implementing individualized instruction and provide critical coordination that make inclusion real not just aspirational this move would directly undermine goal two of the strategic plan which pledges to create equitable learning environments that meet individual needs it also weakens the plan's pillars of instructional excellence equity and access both of which rely on having experienced leaders in place to support highly quality highquality differentiated instruction i understand that this is a
232difficult time but cuts like this sacri sacrifice long-term student outcomes for short-term savings and that is not in the vision of equity and excellence this district has committed to in short reducing this position would undercut the very infrastructure that enables FCPS to deliver on its strategic commitments to equity excellence and inclusive education please honor your strategic plan and more importantly honor the students who depend on it thank you Jessica Klene good evening my name is Jessica Klene and as a former public school teacher I'm pained to hear about these funding cuts and as a parent I'm furious to hear that academic services may suffer and class sizes will increase i didn't grow up here but my husband did he's a proud former saurus and a Lake Bradic brewin we moved here for a few reasons
233but chief among them is the phenomenal schools and sadly the prospect of increasing class sizes and cuts to student services is forcing us to reconsider and we are not alone and believe me it is not for a lack of confidence in our teachers it is only because of our educators that schools can accomplish what they currently do it is because of a lack of confidence in the system that we are looking at alternatives we are living in uncertain times and families need reassurance that our kids' needs will be met i call on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal government to step up do their jobs and fully fund our schools please call your representatives and I call on all of you to take another look at the budget
234allocate funds in accordance with your mission and your values thank you caroline Batka caroline Batka stacy Carter good evening thank you so much for allowing us to come this evening and speak i am Stacy Carter i'm a special education department chair i work at Beachree Elementary School i have been in education special education for 35 years 22 in Fairfax County i've worked in most states Michigan Florida Texas Georgia Louisiana i've worked in Europe um and when we moved when I moved here and met my husband what I realized in looking at other schools around the area was the collaborative learning that was going on i'd never taught in a school America or Europe that um included special education teachers at a table um with other teachers and that's what um brought us to Fairfax County
235and we have a son uh as well in 11th grade um well also when I came to Fairfax County realized it's hard to work at Fairfax um this is true but we're not afraid of hard work and I don't know many teachers who are and as a special education department chair um I listed our responsibilities um during this meeting i don't want to sound redundant so I will send it but I also listed um things that don't go right um or things that just happened during the day um and those were all touched upon as well but I think the most important thing that I want to leave you with today that I don't think has been brought up um our department chair reductions AART and um our monitor reductions would impact the entire school
236we work as a team um not just at Beachree but every school the monitors are available to provide services to provide support so that we can collaborate as a team aart All right for our queue we have Mary Elizabeth Ertel Melissa Davidson Brian Watts Curran Dongo Maria Petrakus Allison Rodriguez Monica Oliver Hassan Shaw Eataterina Roman uh Romanova and then Alexia Forester if you are here in person please move up to the Q spots that are where it's reserved brittney Mintz is next hello my name is Britt Mintz and I am here tonight as a proud Wolf Trap Elementary parent military spouse and the incoming Wolf Trap PTA president speaking as an individual as a military family transitions are a regular part of our life but that doesn't make them easy when we moved to Fairfax
237County last year my son H struggled he thrived at his previous school in Florida but starting over in a new state with new routines and expectations was deeply unsettling he withdrew emotionally and as his parent I didn't know where to turn what made the difference was the support services available to him at Wolf Trap services that could be at risk if these proposed budget changes goes through through our school's special education programming H was able to access social emotional support during Wolfie time he was invited to spend time with a therapy dog Lucy and participate in small group social interactions which helped ease his anxiety and rebuild his confidence these services allowed him to form trusting relationships and regain his footing at the same time H was beginning to show an aptitude for learning when
238he was identified for the advanced academic program he received enrichment services that stretched his thinking and supported his unique learning needs with guidance from the AAP team he grew academically and emotionally and we learned how to better support him as a twice exceptional student these services require time planning and presence under the proposed budget both special education department chairs and AOTS would shift from full-time to part-time roles if these changes are approved the capacity to offer the kinds of individualized support that help my son and so many others will be drastically reduced a part-time ART would likely not be able to teach critical thinking lessons or to all grade levels or participate in collaborative planning a part-time special education chair may not have the capacity to build trusted relationships please don't let these cuts move
239forward the services our children receive are an extra Mary Elizabeth who is virtual good evening everyone excuse me my name is Mary Elizabeth and I'm the proud parent of two amazingly neurodeivergent children at Fairview Elementary and an SCPS educator i rely heavily on the support advocacy and expertise of the staff at Fairview to help me navigate the system not as an educator but as a parent parents like me need the relationships and deep understanding that the school team has built with our children the special education team the counselors the steam teacher and and our arts don't just deliver services they help us advocate for our kids and make sure they are truly seen the proposed budget cuts put all of that at risk reducing our special education department chair to halftime would drastically impact their
240ability to support children with IEPs and would impact children with 504s as well this is not a position that can be trimmed without consequences they are essential to helping families like mine navigate an already complex and emotional process larger class sizes less counseling support and shifting staff responsibilities will create a ripple effect that undermines everything Fairview stands for and our children will be the ones who pay the ultimate price for these decisions if schools are forced to fund critical roles like the special education trader themselves they will be forced to cut elsewhere possibly cutting the counselor position that they already partially funded that is not a choice any school community should have to make the strategic plan gives a commitment to creating schools where every plan where every child experiences an equitable school community and
241can achieve their highest potential please do not choose to sacrifice our most valuable students protect the people and positions that make FCPS and Fairview a place where all children including mine can thrive melissa Davidson who is virtual hi I'm Melissa Davidson i'm the parent of two FCPS elementary age students i'm glad that it's been acknowledged that our valued gened teachers deserve a 6% pay raise this is important and necessary at the same time I have two twice exceptional children who have either been on an IEP currently have an IEP in place or have needs being served via the advanced academics resource teacher at our very large elementary school in the last three years I've attended at least 15 IEP meetings with the SPED department chair and she's been at most of those meetings she played
242a key role in being sure that our questions and concerns were addressed she's been an important bridge between us and our sped case workers when there were communication issues and I doubt that the principal or assistant principles at our elementary school with over 850 kids who are already underresourced and stretched thin are going to fill the knowledge gap when the sped department chair goes down to a 50% role although our first grader was identified as being eligible for advanced math instruction it took until the end of second quarter and countless communications with our school to get our daughter access to quote academic rigor we were told by her gened teacher and the AART that there were simply not enough resources to go around to ensure that all of the children identified to receive advanced instruction
243would be able to get that instruction cutting the ART to a 50% role at our school will only make this problem worse and it was already not at an acceptable level our other child is a 2E learner who we pulled from FCPS because even with its best of intentions our child's needs were simply not met fcps specialed services in its current state is not okay pulling resources will not address the existing shortcomings i hope we don't need to pull our second child as well my takeaway from this proposal is that there will be an even deeper inequity in how the kids on the outside of the norm both specialed and advanced will continue to be underserved compared to their typically developing peers this reduction of sped chairs and a teachers will place undue pressure on
244the already stressed GED teachers this solution will surely not address the current efforts of Dr reed with the twoe task force committee to better serve our twoe kids i'm not clear how you go about appealing to the county board of supervisors to bridge the hundred million dollar funding gap brian Watts Brian Watts Brian Watts Curran Dongo good evening i'm here advocating on behalf of my daughter and my godson both of which have benefited from FCPS AAP and special education programs these same programs that are currently at risk for significant staff reduction i'm usually a politically correct person or try to be but today I have to be blunt reducing staffing for special education for the special education chair and the AAP chair is just simply not acceptable these programs particularly the special education programs are
245already understaffed i've attended my godson's every single one of his IEP meetings so I know when I tell you that these programs are already understaffed these proposed cuts do nothing but compromise the future outcomes of our children if our teachers don't get the support and the pay that they need our children won't get the education that they need and don't we think don't you all think that this will become a bigger budgetary problem in the future i don't want a situation where you underfund our teachers and the AAP and special education chairs in our children's education today but then are able to find funding for resource officers and disciplinary measures that will surely be needed when children are not properly educated and suddenly you can find those re those funds tomorrow we know the data
246there's no need to repeat it the data is clear early intervention and investment in our children's education not only keeps them out of a criminal justice system but it also sets them up for success in future grades maria Petrakus who's virtual hello good evening my name is Maria Petraus and I am representing my daughter who is in Fairview Elementary School i like myself will voice a lot of the same concerns i know uh obviously the community is very upset we've been talking about this issue now for 4 hours so as you can appreciate um this was a shock to all of us i like myself my husband and I moved here from DC where we had an opportunity to take our daughter to a private school but decided to come to FCPS because of the
247exceptional services provided here by the community we have been impressed by Fairview and the teachers and the countless hours they have been working what we are not impressed on is the budgetary cuts that are being made and the duty of responsibility that has negligently been denied so far what I understand is there is a budgetary working session on May 20th and it is my hope and expectation that the members here will go and provide alternate solutions other than cutting our elementary school AAP programs our STEM programs and our special education programs i would implore more transparency and look at administrative cuts potentially to the board making part-time positions to the board potentially lowering salaries within the board but by no means making the elementary school children and their teachers who work countless hours and do
248not have enough bandwidth now to suffer from these negligent and non-transparent cuts i am very concerned about what was done in closed doors 47% increase to a budget director position went from 76,000 to 112,000 i use that as an example because I don't know what else was done behind Allison Rodriguez as the special education department I oversee 152 students with individual educational plans i have two preschools autism classrooms two head start preschool president and we have five enhanced enhanced program four comprehensive site classrooms and eight resource teachers i collaborate with the case managers to assign case loaders assist teachers with writing individual and initial IEPs ensure timelines and responsibilities strategies for classroom behavior data collection analysis i follow up with timelines to ensure compliance with case managers for extended school year compository services from CO
24919 this year we have scheduled over 150 reevaluation meetings i coordinate with parents and school staff to attend reevaluations meetings i transition meetings from preschool to our kindergarten program as well as coordinate preschool reevaluations this year we have had over 12 students transition from preschool to kindergarten as well as five re-evaluations this year I collaborate with learning teams to disseminate information from state to county to the school i'm the first point of contact to provide assistance to all the special education teachers at Saratoga started with seven teacher trainees and or new teachers who needed direct one-on-one support to assist with students the paperwork including transportation weda least restrictive environment stealth and relationship form IEPs re-evaluation work all the case managers who still not have access to sea stars are online platform for special education or
250if they're new to it they need help with it they need help with closing works or ensuring the information is correct Every quarter I review over 178 progress reports and edit and approve i conduct educational testing write reports for proposed testing for special education this year I've tested over 48 students i schedule initial referrals for the local screening committee and share within timeline and compliance from start to end monica Oliver Monica Oliver monica Oliver next person is Hassan Shaw hassan Shaw hassan Shaw ekatarina Roa Romanova good evening members of the school board it's a very late evening and thank you for letting me speak today my name is Kate Ramanova i'm a parent of two current FCPS students my oldest daughter is in advanced academic program at Louis Archer Elementary School and my middle daughter
251is in the IDS program at Vienn Elementary School and my youngest son will start school in a couple of years my husband and I have been navigating the highs and lows of raising two daughters on opposite ends of education educational and needs spectrum they're both thriving in their respective programs and as parents we have been very happy you know well that both AAP and special ed programs at FCPS are among the best across the nation parents move to Fairfax County because of the quality of education for children with differing abilities my daughters do very well in specialized programs because there is a student tailored approach strong student teacher relations and needed support and resources available i have come to learn it is an integrated system you cut one part and the rest will crumble or
252will start to crumble the teachers are already stretched thin cutting out AP resource staff special ed departments chairs school monitors and increasing the student teacher ratio will take away from precious instructional time teachers will have to backfill administrative tasks and spend less overall time with students it will impact educational outcomes as a parent I have seen firsthand how dedicated and talented our teachers are special ed teachers in particular pour their hearts in the care and education of my child my middle daughter struggles to do simplest task needs support with all activities of everyday living but the patience and care and dedication of her teachers and the school administration shows that with support she too can reach her potential in Thank you very much all right for our queue we have Jonathan Campbell Mariam Zava Linda
253Simon Jim Myworm Kaitlyn Keling Elizabeth Wgner Darcy Kelly Melissa Hughes Vishel Ayer and Carolyn McCarthy next up we have Alexia Forester who is virtual good evening members of the school board my name is Alexia Forester and I'm the parent of an 8-year-old student and a rising kindergartener at Freedom Hill Elementary since kindergarten my 8-year-old has benefited from the support of our school's AART Miss Frederick's miss Frederick's has not only provided enriched instruction but has inspired a love of learning in my child sparking curiosity encouraging deeper thinking and building confidence these services have had a profound impact on my child's development and they've been made possible through consistent dedicated full-time support under the proposed budget cuts the AART role would be reduced to part-time this will limit the opportunities available to my child and others and
254it sends a troubling message about our collective commitment to challenging and supporting all learners as a parent I am deeply concerned about the ripple effects of this budget including special education classroom staffing and teacher planning time our school is home to both a full-time local advanced academic program and one of the county's largest special education programs reducing staff and supports here will have an outsized impact on some of the most v vulnerable and high potential students in the county freedom Hill is nearly at title one levels of students who require support but nearly generates zero additional staff money or resources despite the need because we are a relatively small school the loss of our ART specialed chair math specialists and monitors is a massive staffing hit and will dramatically reduce the services the school currently
255provides to our community i understand that hard choices must be made but I urge you to consider the long-term cost of underfunding schools like ours instead I ask that cuts are shared equitably across elementary middle and high school since budgets and staffing at the secondary level are higher thank you for your time and for your service to our schools jonathan Campbell jonathan Campbell jonathan Campbell mariam [Music] Zabra mariam Zabra mariam Zabra linda Simon good evening my name is Linda Simon and I'm an elementary school advanced academic resource teacher when I first learned that Dr reid's revised budget including cut included cutting elementary ARTS and special education department chairs to.5 positions I cried but then I got angry 120 million needs to be cut from a $4 billion budget and yet somehow reducing these two critical
256roles was considered the best choice to save 15 million this decision reflects a profound misunderstanding and undervaluing of the work we do the impact we have and the many responsibilities these roles carry i know firsthand the difference a full-time versus halftime ART can make because for my first 11 years as an ART I was split between two schools as a half-time staff member I was often left out of leadership and planning conversations and although teachers wanted my help with differentiation it was hard to find consistent time to collaborate four years ago I became a full-time ART at Lane Elementary and the contrast is striking now I can consistently serve K2 students helping to recognize and nurture potential early on which directly addresses the equity and achievement gaps that grow over time students across the school
257know me and see AAP as something that includes them as my school has implemented local full-time AAP I have been able to regularly collaborate and co-e with the full-time AAP teachers i attend grade level CLTs and have time to locate and adapt curriculum resources supporting access to rigor and portrait of a graduate goals i'm able to meet with special education and ESAU teachers to support twice exceptional students and multilingual learners none of this would be possible in a half-time role as you finalize next year's budget I urge you please recognize the value of what we do and find somewhere else to make cuts that won't have such a devastating cost to our students teachers and the quality of instruction in elementary schools thank you jim Myworm my name is Jim Myworm i speak to you
258tonight as the parent of an autistic 2e fourth grader at Mosaic Elementary in Providence District uh first I want to thank the members of the school board thank you for listening tonight i know that these marathon public comment meetings are no fun for anybody um thank you for taking on the impossible task of making a budget after the board of supervisors handed you a $120 million shortfall under these conditions any budget must make painful sacrifices i understand this but I wouldn't have come out on this wet miserable night if I agreed with all of those choices let's talk about my son when he was three he could barely talk he couldn't sit still he was terrified of loud noises among many other issues we were worried he would not be able to handle mainstream school
259but with help from child find and support classroom he's come so far even recognizes 2e my son is a great success for the approach championed in Dr reed's inclusion initiative but he has a complex IEP and needs support in multiple areas a skilled experienced full-time specialed department chair is vital as and a full-time are vital for students like my son many many speakers tonight have talked about the vital work that full-time specialized department chairs do they're all right we've heard a lot of people i won't repeat there but so far few people have talked about the cost to FCPS if students like my son are not supported adequately without full-time elementary special ed department chairs it will be harder to schedule IEP meetings than the required 30-day windows without those chairs inexperienced special ed teachers
260will make more mistakes there will be more second and third meetings um there will be more complaints more lawsuits I'm almost out of time but I will say that fully funding those departments is a wise investment for FCPS thank you for consideration caitlyn Keesling good evening when we talk about equity we have to be honest about where it all begins and where it breaks as a second grade teacher at Oakton Elementary I see what it looks like when these support systems hold students and staff up and what it looks like when those systems are stripped away these proposed cuts won't just hurt they will harm students who rely on them the most let's be clear the board of supervisors has once again failed to adequately fund our schools but now the responsibility sits with you
261all you can either comply with that failure or correct it that starts by protecting the positions that ensure vulnerable learners are not left behind that gifted students are identified early and given the chance to rise and that all students regardless of grade level have access to rigorous highquality instruction reducing special education department chairs and ARTs to half time is not a compromise it's a decision that strikes at the foundation of equity and places the greatest strain on elementary schools where support is not a luxury it is the groundwork for everything that follows the cost will fall on children who had no voice in this process but every stake in the outcome i'm not going to go into every incredible thing that special education chairs and AERTs do on the day-to-day basis in all of our
262schools but I do want to say as a public educator I don't know how I can look my families in the eyes of the students that I teach that do receive special education services and tell them we don't have enough resources for you same thing with students who are needing advanced academic resources or access to rigor the board of supervisors fell short now you will decide what happens next will you pass that harm down to the classrooms or make a choice that reflects the values that we stay we stand for reallocate the funding fully staff these roles this is where the promise of public education either holds or breaks thank you elizabeth Wgner elizabeth Wgner elizabeth Wgner darcy Kelly who's virtual um good evening my name is Darcy Kelly i am a parent of a
263third grader with an IEP and I'm also a substitute teacher my primary purpose for speaking tonight is to object to the reduction of the positions now being referred to as elementary school special education leads my high masking autistic child was not identified until the end of second grade prior to that he was often perceived as a good kid but also as a kid who was on the edge of failure he lacked social skills and was sometimes disruptive in class a class I might add that was already at 30 students and we're talking about making them bigger and in those bigger classrooms the monitors have been a saving grace and that is going to be a huge loss for our class for our students and our teachers but back to my main point I strongly believe
264that my son who has always loved books would still not think of himself as a reader or have the successes he is currently having without his IEP accommodations and I give credit to wonderful teachers and to our elementary schools special education department chair our count teachers and parents count on her for her expertise as a sub I get to see this firsthand with her focus on identifying kids with special needs early her work to ensure that these kids get the help they need early so that they can be better integrated into classrooms so they can be self-sufficient or more self-sufficient anyway later and require fewer resources later in their school careers and beyond she kept my she helped keep my son from falling through the cracks we need this position and as a sub I
265get to see not just my own son's growth but the growth and successes that happen often faster than you think when teachers have the time and resources that they need to focus on their children or on the children and the students don't let our kids fall through the cracks we we need to support our teachers and our special ed thank you Melissa Hughes i am a special education department chair at Cunningham Park Elementary School i am concerned about the process and effects of the proposed cuts i arrived at work Friday morning and was blindsided by the news that my colleagues were getting a 6% raise at the expense of my special education position and I'm just learning about this in the middle of May neither my principal nor central office could answer fundamental questions about
266implementation revealing a disturbing lack of planning with this budget proposal what does a 0.5% department chair look like how do you share this role with another school if I have to move to a special education teacher position will I be able to stay at my school no one had any answers i started to understand that this wasn't a thoughtful decision based on due diligence it was a rushed decision to fund raises by sacrificing special education i also realized that Dr reid didn't call us special education team leads during her presentation accidentally she really didn't know that we are called special education department chairs and likely and disappointingly has no idea the function we serve in supporting our special education students administration had a single mission to provide raises that would move teacher salaries and FCPS
267to second place within the Northern Virginia region and elementary special education was a line item that stood in the way the short this short-sighted and uninformed decision will unequivocally harm special education students special education department chairs are not paper pushers who work in a vacuum we are part of an integrated system that works directly with general education special education teachers and special education students and like in any system when you move when you remove one part you weaken the rest lastly it is wrong and poor form to provide a 6% raise at the direct cost of our most vulnerable visual ery who's virtual carolyn McCarthy hi yes um my name is Carolyn McCarthy and I'm here tonight as a PTA member and a parent of a kindergartener at Fairview Elementary to express my opposition to
268the staffing cuts in the proposed budget especially also its impact on elementary schools my oldest child is in kindergarten at Fairview this year so our family is just beginning our journey with FCPS we don't know yet whether our child will someday need an IEP to help her achieve her greatest potential or if she'll take advantage of an advanced academic program that will help her soar i do know that we chose FCPS as the place our child would begin her education because of its abundant resources its smaller class sizes and its world-class educators so that whatever needs my children may have FCPS could meet them but as we look ahead to next year I'm afraid her school will no longer look like the one that we chose for her under the proposed budget Fairview will no
269longer have a full-time special education chair or or an AART slashing vital support for both students and teachers and it will no longer have a steam teacher at all since the proposed cuts will eliminate the monitor funding that both supports steam lessons across grade levels and provides essential planning time for its gened teachers and there will be an increase in class sizes throughout the entire school at a pivotal time when these kids these young learners need small class sizes more than ever this is not the school I want for my daughter or for any of our kids our children deserve the respect and dignity of being provided with the support the staff and the specialized programming that they need our teachers deserve respect and dignity of a school budget that realistically supports them in their
270jobs allowing them to thrive as educators and not just survive i'd like to respectfully ask the board to consider everything they've heard tonight and do not approve this budget please reconsider the proposed cuts and explore more equitable solutions for our queue we have Marie Maroon Michelle Michael Andrea Schuford uh Dan Stalup Sarah Bowick Jill Underh Hill Amy Grup Rosemary Walsh Shaina Walco and Ashley Deanna Lucas next up is going to be Marie Maroon marie Maroon marie Maroon michelle Michael michelle Michael andrea Schuford andrea Shuford andrea Schuford dan Stalup hi I want to start by saying that I've been really moved tonight by the enthusiasm and the resolve of all the speakers who would probably rather be doing something else on a Tuesday and I hope all you up there are uh moved as well to
271do the morally right thing here uh my name is Dan Stalk i have a second grader and a rising kindergartener at Oakill Elementary uh I'm here to express concern about the proposed reduction of AART and special ed chair staffing to halftime um my second grader has really thrived at Oakhill and I attribute much of that to her consistent access to full-time AART support challenging her and helping her grow shout out Mrs l my daughter will be in full-time AAP next year and I would be devastated if my rising kindergarter did not have access to the same opportunities and staffing that my second grader did another student who has benefited from full-time ART is the second grader that spoke here about four hours ago remember that uh I met him when he was a shy kindergartener
272his parents directly attribute his growing confidence and blossoming to the outstanding full-time ART support future leaders and advocacy for their peers like that is what is online with this what is on the line with this budget please think about that although my kids have not personally used the special ed resources many of their friends have including a close family friend with two twice exceptional students who have succeeded in ways very profound and directly tied to full-time access to both AART and special ed chair staffing we need both of them students like these depend on reliable and full-time support systems and I think FCPS would be making a massive mistake creating a debt that our community will never be able to fully repay in reducing the ART and special ed chair staffing at elementary schools to
273halftime i know you guys don't have any easy decisions with this budget and I don't pity you the tough road ahead but I implore you not to reduce support systems for those most in need for the extra help guidance support and challenge thank you have a good evening sarah Boowick sarah Boowick jill Underh Hill jill Underh Hill jill Underh Hill amy Grup Amy Grup amy Grub Rosemary Walsh good evening i am Dr rosemary Walsh and I am the specialed department chair from Alden Elementary over the past 27 years I have worked as a special education teacher in Fairfax County over this time I have witnessed a significant shift in the balance of responsibilities in our special ed team including um increased IEP development meeting participation data collection and more which are now overtaking the time
274available for direct student services elementary department chairs are instrumental in helping special education teachers manage this overwhelming load hence helping to retain staff and avoid teacher burnout within my building I serve as a mentor to both special education and general education teachers i meet with school teams and individual teachers to discuss each student by name and by need i help problem solve and provide guidance on interventions for all students i am available both in school and out of school to talk collaborate and support my team i also provide essential emotional support for the team as we navigate often difficult and highressured situations we face throughout our year at the elementary level we serve students for nine years from preschool through sixth grade we strive to have all students make strong and significant progress and we
275push for inclusion for all of our students i work extensively to ensure that both the general education teachers and the special education teachers have the tools and skills necessary to ensure that inclusion will be a positive experience for all students in our building you earlier heard from one of my teammates tonight on the crucial role department chairs play in supporting and retaining special education teachers maintaining a full funding of the special education department chair position at the elementary level is not just beneficial it is essential and vital it is to help to sustain staff morale to meet compliance requirements and most importantly to serve those students who depend on us it is imperative we take all necessary measures here to ensure that special education department chair positions continue to be fully funded and preserved thank
276you Sheena Walco when FCPS students thrive Fairfax County thrives too hashtag invest in excellence this is the first thing you see on the FCPS budget web page i'd like to let these words set the stage my name is Shaina Walco i am the mother of three kids who love school we are at the beginning of what I had hoped to be a long and wonderful relationship with FCPS starting at Stenwood i'd first like to commend the raise being proposed for teacher salaries teachers are among a handful of the most important people in every community and they deserve to be compensated as such however I am horrified at the proposed cuts that completely undermine your hashtag of investing in excellence let me remind you of what's on the district website we provide students with a world-class
277education it states that this budget reflects the needs of and the district's commitment to students please tell me how increasing class sizes and decreasing positions in our elementary schools meet the needs of students you know as well as I do this will lead to poorer outcomes how can you in good conscience and full transparency cut the very essence of the worldclass education you so proudly publicize how can the district website say one thing while you consider making cuts that will do the exact opposite the website also states that Fairfax County is one of Virginia's highest performing districts which helps attract residents businesses and increases our property values and that when students succeed all of Fairfax County succeeds my husband and I chose to build our home here in Vienna because of the outstanding reputation of
278these public schools i wonder how many others tonight chose to live here for the exact same reason fight for our children maintain the present level of staffing and instruction thank you ashley Deanna Lucas Ashley Deanna Lucas ashley Deanna Lucas for our next queue we have Debbie Chen Erica Giovani Joy Walsh Kimberly Smith Umaima Jubun Kelsey Padareth uh Lisia Simon Tracy Crockett Adam Austin and Sarah Barnett next up we have Debbie Chen good evening my name is Debbie Chen i'm both a proud product of Fairfax County Public Schools and now a parent of a second grader at Wolf Chap Elementary i returned to Fairfax County as a grownup and choose to buy a home here before I had children because I believe so deeply in the school system i wanted my future kids to experience an
279education equal to or even better than what I received here that belief is now being shaken i'm here to speak specifically about AAP this is not an optional luxury it is a necessary service for many students just like special ed is essential for others aap helps bright curious kids stay challenged and engaged without these services many of our brightest students risk becoming bored overlooked and even disruptive not because they want to be but because their needs are not being met fairfax County has attracted one of the most educated and driven workforces in the country and with that comes a population of children who need this kind of academic stimulation if we start cutting programs like AAP we're effectively telling these families "Look elsewhere this county no longer support your children's needs we cannot let this
280happen if we lower the bar now we're setting our kids and our county up for long-term mediocrity unable to compete with peers across the state or country please do not balance this budget on the backs of our most vulnerable or exceptional learners in these foundational years we own them better thank you erica Giovani erica Giovani Erica Giovani Joy Walsh i'm speaking you to you tonight as a parent of two twice exceptional SPS students who are both gifted and have a variety of special needs we attend Carson Middle School and Oakill Elementary i am adamantly opposed to the proposed budget cuts to both advanced academics and special education these are not just programs they are lifelines they provide the tailored intentional support that allows neurode divergent students like mine to not only survive the school experience
281but to truly thrive this is especially critical during the elementary years when their sense of self connection to learning and long-term motivation are being formed i can tell you firsthand if our school's special education chair had not been a full-time presence one of my child's path would have looked very different at one point he hated school he refused to go he felt isolated misunderstood and defeated it wasn't until she stepped in consistently compassionately and visibly that things began to change she saw him in the hallways in the cafeteria visited him on the playground invited him to lunch groups and built a relationship of trust her present wasn't occasional it was constant and that consistency was the turning point because of her he is now in school every day and thriving that extraordinary educator is Melissa
282Hoffman our special education department chair who you heard from earlier tonight i say without exaggeration she saved my child's life her passion commitment and care are the only reasons he is in school today her impact is immeasurable not just for my family but for so many others cutting these supports doesn't just pull the rug out from under students it also places an unsustainable burden on our teachers and jeopardizes the stability of our school communities the negative trickle down effect is real and dangerous it affects everyone students staff and families we are already navigating special educators and classroom teachers being stretched to their limits overworked and underresourced adding more stress responsibility or gaps in support is not just unwise it is as a reminder if you are virtual and our folks are trying to promote you
283please allow them to promote you or you will not be able to speak to the board next up is Kimberly Smith kimberly Smith Kimberly Smith Umaima uh Jubron good evening Dr reed board members thank you for giving this uh give me giving me this opportunity to you today my name is Omega Japan and I'm proud parent of two boys who are currently student in Wolf Trap Elementary School in Fairfax County i'm here tonight when I should have been with my boys but the reason that I'm here is to advocate for all these teachers i'm not a teacher but I'm here to advocate for all these hardworking teachers and to express my deep concern about the proposed cuts for special education staff advanced academic resource teachers and elementary school monitors being a parent and a concerned
284member of this community I strongly oppose the proposed budget cuts this isn't just a policy issue for me this is personal one of my son received special education services and I can tell you firsthand that he his that the support he has received from Wolf Prep Elementary School made a tremendous difference in his progress and in bringing confidence in him uh we moved here from Lden County and the reason that we moved over here was because of this education services over here these are not just jobs you have proposing to cut they're lifelines for the families like mine i come before you with a deep concern regarding the proposed reduction of the special education chair's position miss Robs she is uh special education chair position in uh Wolf Trap Elementary School cutting this position is
285making sure that the expert a trained experienced professional should move to another position or another school or maybe another job she's very hardworking and I feel that uh getting this position is going to hurt the school and our students over there now speaking of the elementary school monitors who help keep students safe and supported during the times like recess lunch hallway transitions and they are the quiet heroes of the school day with fewer monitors there's less supervision thank you Kelsey Padath hi um good evening my name is Kelsey Padarath i am an FCPS graduate a former FCPS early childhood special education teacher and now the proud parent of three students who currently attend FCPS i am here tonight to speak from the parent perspective our youngest son receives special education services at Westgate Elementary and
286he is in the pack program he um has high support needs and he requires a high level of support to be successful in school our family has been profoundly impacted by the leadership and dedication of the special education department chair at his school this individual ensures that all IEP meetings are scheduled in compliance with required timelines consistently serves as the principal design in every one of our IEP meetings and provides clear and thoughtful guidance on the procedural safeguards while also offering me space to ask questions share my desires for my son's education and to truly feel heard beyond her professional responsibilities she goes above and beyond to build community she attends every event in my son's classroom fostering a strong sense of inclusion and connection among students and families helping us form relationships and really
287alleviating the isolation that often comes with having a child with a disability she has taken the time to get to know our family regularly checking in with us and she warmly greets our neurotypical daughter at school making her also feel seen and celebrated too as a former special education teacher and current advocate within the field I know firsthand how vital this role is the special education department chairs are really the backbone to support our teachers families and most importantly our students they serve as compliant experts instructional leaders and compassionate alisia Simon who is virtual olyia Simon who is virtual can you hear us yes okay we can hear you now okay thanks good evening i'm Alicia Simon i'm a parent of a child who needs and benefits from special education services at Laurel Ridge Elementary
288School thank you for hosting this hearing i'm outraged by the suggested reductions in special ed teachers and the impact on students with special needs i can't listen my brain is dumb i can't read i hate school these statements were voiced by my daughter when she was six years old in kindergarten she often fell apart in tears when it came to school and my heart sunk and I didn't know what to do her teachers and special ed teachers explained the services she could benefit from the school conducted assessments and determined a learning disability in addition to her diagnosis of ADHD now at age nine thanks to the amazing expertise care and support from her special ed teacher she can read at a slow pace she can listen and she's gaining confidence it's critical still to her
289learning that written instructions and texts are read aloud who will do that if special ed is underfunded the daily support from her special education teachers have been critical to her growth as has the teachers advice and guidance for us the parents as we navigate this process it also makes good economic sense to maintain special ed teachers full-time cutting hours will lead to the loss of excellent trained faculty and schools will be forced to recruit and hire new personnel staff turnover and hiring is expensive save that money and keep it in special education i implore you to fully fund special education teachers and department chairs who make it possible for teachers to serve all students there are legal and moral implications to cutting special ed services it's unacceptable to pass down these budget cuts to the
290schools teachers and our children give our children especially those with special needs the chance to learn and succeed thank you tracy Crockett who is virtual tracy Crockett she's on there she's there she's there can you hear us Miss Crockett i can now thank you thank you good evening thank you for the time i have a third grader in FCPS and I often say I learned a lot in second grade referring to her second grade experience last academic year this was when we navigated the systems by which she was identified as twice exceptional in no way did this knowledge or understanding surprise our family however we did experience the process as difficult to understand and sometimes to navigate before my daughter was granted special education services she was denied twice we were fortunate to have the
291time the resources and the support of people within the system to help us finally uncover precisely what it is that she needs i often wondered during that time how many children were not getting the kinds of services that they needed simply because no one was available to spend that time and expend those resources to ensure that a child's needs and potential were met i consider my daughter extremely fortunate to have access to Fairfax County Public Schools i grew up in an area where nearly every elementary school is a title one school and where FCPS is held out as the aspirant standard fcps represents progress it is impossible for me to imagine that these cuts lead to progress in Fairfax County in fact all I can think is that these cuts will make it harder for
292students like mine and for the many others who might need a little extra help and support along the way to get where they need to be we must find a way to keep these critical roles intact so that all our students can not meet not just their benchmarks but their full potential let us never forget that education including special education and advanced education is the great equalizer thank you adam Austin adam Austin adam Austin Sarah Barnett hello i have two students two great kids at um Bonnie Bray Elementary i am an independent school alum my husband and I have both built our careers in the independent school sphere and when we moved to Virginia from New York City a big selling point was the opportunity to send our boys to my husband's independent school only
293after moving here did we realize how lucky we are to live in a county with renowned public schools we eagerly enrolled our boys at our local school when the time came and have been so happy with that decision we believe in investing our time and energy into our own community and hope that FCPS will live up to the promise of an outstanding education for all of our children teachers are one of our most vital resources and education is paramount to the su success of not just the individual but of our communities we love to say that our teachers are heroes but we constantly show them that these are empty words i believe teachers are amongst the most undervalued and underappreciated group in our society and the proposed cuts underscore that feeling teacher burnout is a
294real crisis we are facing and taking away resources will only increase that burnout cutting monitors and downsizing departments tells your people that they are not important that the work they do and they themselves are expendable we need to stop looking how to cut corners and learn to start investing in our people thank you alicia Leonard alicia Leonard alicia Leonard erica Crep despite the thousands of texts my husband sent over the past four and a half hours begging me to come home I hope that my presence along with all the others still here speaks just as loudly as our words i'm speaking as a PTA board member and as a parent of three girls two of whom go to Wakefield Forest Elementary School one of my daughters benefits from the special education services while the other
295benefits from part-time AAP services by our irreplaceable AART specialist as many others have noted the proposed solutions to the budget are cuts that disproportionately impact elementary schools cutting elementary staffing for advanced academic resources special ed and teacher planning time rolls back the support needed for our children in the early years undermining the foundation of academic excellence FCPS is known for increases in classroom sizes at the elementary level while simultaneously cutting monitor support reduces the efficacy of classroom time for our children and places undue burden on our teachers the proposed cuts hurt elementary school staff who are already marketkedly short on planning time when compared with planning time given for higher grades demanding once again that they they do even more with less finally administrators at the elementary level already have fewer resources to achieve academic
296excellence than those at higher levels and the proposed cuts make that strain even bigger the proposed cuts do not set our youngest children up for long-term success while necessary to implement the budget cuts should not be borne solely by the tiniest shoulders as a taxpayer and a parent who would like to stay with FCPS for another 14 years I urge you to re-evaluate the proposed cuts and redistribute them in an equitable manner thank you Melanie Bird who is virtual can you hear us melanie Bird I don't see her melanie B are you able to hear me we can hear you now okay good evening Dr reed Chairman Frisk and members of the board thank you for your time i'm here to urge you not to move forward with cutting full-time funding for special education chairs
297this decision would be a serious misstep with legal educational and ethical consequences first the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDA mandates that students with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment that's not just a principle it's the law school level special education chairs are the ones who ensure compliance with this complex and critical legislation removing them increases the risk of procedural errors legal challenges and more importantly unmet needs for some of our most vulnerable students second reducing these positions places a massive administrative burden on special education teachers who already face some of the most demanding workloads in education without full-time chairs to coordinate IEP meetings manage compliance documents and lies with families teachers will be forced to divert their time and energy away from what they are trained to
298do teach that directly affects quality of instruction and student progress full-time special education chairs are not an administrative luxury they are essential to upholding students rights supporting teachers and preventing costly mistakes reducing them to part-time is not a savings it's a shift in cost from your budget to students futures i say all of this from the background as a special education teacher who knew this burden an attorney who represented special needs students in cases against the school system and a state level special education director who managed complaints against the school system and most importantly as a parent of two neurode divergent children who would be floundering in their elementary school without the support of our special education chair I urge you to reconsider aaron Hawk hi my name is Erin Hawk and I am here
299as a product of Fairfax County Public Schools and a parent of two Fairfax County Public School students i have a first grader and a third grader at Claremont Elementary School and neither of them are AAP nor special ed and I'm deeply concerned about the budget the budget does not reflect the values of FCP FCPS community or the values that shape me as a student the roles that you are proposing to eliminate are vital and they help ensure that students like mine and so many others are both challenged and supported they help catch diverse learning needs early build personalized plans and create pathways for all students to thrive regardless of the students pace of learning they are not extra resources they are essential eliminating the monitor funding that allows teachers time to plan meaningful instructions is
300yet another blow i see every day how hard the teachers at Claremont work to meet students where they are we are asking them to personalize education without giving them the time or resources to do so and we must also not ignore the elephant in the room the effects of COVID are not behind us many students are still catching up national data shows that they are an average of four to five months behind in reading and in math the learning gap isn't something that goes away it takes focus intentional planning support and that means investments not cuts fairfax County claims to value diversity high expectations and creating resilient ethical innovative and global citizens but this budget does not reflect those values it pulls the rug out from under the students and the teachers who are doing
301hard work every single day please reject this budget these cuts are deeply personal to me and my family stand up not just for my kids but for all michelle Booth who is Rachel michelle Booth are you there online michelle Booth yes hi hi thank you go ahead oh thank you oh um yes hi my name is um Michelle i am the mom of a rising uh kindergartener um and ball of nerves because my son is starting school but that's compounded he has he has autism um and I was calling because I heard that there were going to be cuts to special ed and as I've been sitting here for hours with all of you all luckily at home for me um I you know realized how um wonderful some of these programs are and how
302students have thrived and I want the same for my kid um I understand and I appreciate that cuts are not easy for anyone um and that it's somewhat of a a Sophie's choice um I have also a typical kid and I have to make those decisions every day as well between you know my time and my resources with both kids but I um prioritize my kids with special needs because I know in the long run um that um benefits everybody everybody in the family including my typical kid and I think it's goes the same for FCPS um I know it's a long night we're tired we're emotional but I hope that we're all so heard thank you Alexis Crowley who's virtual hello hello good evening my name is Alexis Cwley and I'm here as a
303parent of two elementary school students in Providence District one of whom has special needs when my special needs child started school they struggled socially and emotionally and had difficulty adjusting to the behavioral expectations of kindergarten it was the special education team but particularly the department chair who went above and beyond to observe my student in multiple classroom settings and helped create a consistent supportive plan that allowed my child to find the least restrictive environment that allowed them to grow and succeed the department chair didn't just coordinate services they built bridges between special education teachers general education teachers speech language pathologists occupational therapists our outside therapists and our family she helped us navigate IEP meetings adjusted accommodations when things weren't working and made sure our child did not fall through the cracks her time that she
304devoted to our child also decompressed the significant administrative tasks placed on the special education teachers which allowed them to better support and teach my child along with many other children in the classroom cutting this position to part-time doesn't just mean losing a teacher it means losing the person who holds the system together it sends a message that our most vulnerable students are not a priority every student deserves a fair chance to thrive without the leadership and coordination that this role provides we risk undoing years of progress not just for my child but for many others please keep this essential position full-time thank you doris Desus Ocha good evening my name is Doris de Jesus and I'm here to voice my concerns on how these cuts will negatively affect my children's education you may be already
305aware but I just want to reiterate special education requires consistent support and individualized learning plans reducing roles could mean fewer resources for students with disabilities and increase workload for general education teachers who may not have special training the reduced oversight could lead to lapses in compliance with education laws advanced academics students may miss out on specialized instructions it is known that advanced learners thrive on enrichment opportunities teachers may struggle to differentiate instruction with high achieving students which could lead to disengagement and underperformance private education can be facilitated through academic uh advanced academics and special education however not everyone can afford afford it as Fairf County is already a high cost living area eliminating classroom moni mon monitors affects the essential support provided that allows teachers to focus on instruction quality lesson planning and preparation while
306ensuring safety for students during lunch and recess the cuts in funding for steam educators limits hands-on learning and experiences in science technology engineering art and math reducing steam would mean cuts to benefits of steam programs which include creativity and innovation improving problem solving skills and building stronger critical thinking skills your proposed increasing classroom size studies show that smaller class sizes improve student engagement and performance particularly in younger children increasing class sizes could negatively impact learning outcomes i am a retired combat veteran not native to Fairfax County but I opted to live here to give my children the education the quality that I didn't have growing up and to give them a high rated education that Fairfax David Hankle David Hankle Punam bagela punam bagela hi there my name is Puna Maragela and I consider myself
307a special education elementary mom yes that is what I am and I've been sitting here for the last 5 hours away from my child entirely to come here and speak to you on the proposed budget cuts that we have today so let me just tell you a little bit about my son he is bright he's 10 years old but he's also autistic and he has ADHD combine all that together and send him to school without support that is not a successful child in the making i am very fortunate i am a part of the Cunningham Park system where I have a phenomenal special education department that has been working with me for the past five years to help my son get to where he is today so I am those parents that have a fivehour
308IEP meeting we need to talk about an extensive level of services and I don't believe that we could have done that without our special education um department and the and the leader that we have today the reason that I'm so passionate about this is because I live in a world of analogies so let's think about this for a second if you want to build a skysc scraper if you don't build a foundation you're not going to have a skyscraper if you are not building multiple floors you are not going to be able to reach significant heights so if we want to have productive members of society and these communities we have to start at foundations the foundations start in elementary schools you take away teachers and educations from elementary schools you are you are putting
309these kids so far behind that they will not be able to catch up so step back relook at the budget be inclusive be equitable be innovative be thoughtful and please have heard for the last five hours of what we have told you how deep Josh Good evening everybody thank you to all of the teachers who are here today to do what they do every single day with grace and tenacity which is fight for our children and as a downstream effect the future of our community i'm not going to say something new here i just want to add my voice to this chorus of voices so we can be loud about special education and classroom sizes i'm not a teacher or a politician or an accountant i'm just a parent who transplanted myself to this state
310specifically to this county many years ago for the amazing educational opportunities promised to my children being a parent can sometimes drive people to do things that are a little crazy that don't make the most financial sense like pay the exorbitant taxes this county demands in return for a promise that the county will give its youngest residents like both of my sons the education that they need and that they deserve my boys along with many of their friends and classmates receive special education services through Cunningham Park Elementary School in Vienna i cannot believe we are poised to sacrifice the gains our incredible special education teachers have made in our community in my boys by cutting funding in a way that will remove full-time status for our special education chair Miss Hughes who spoke so passionately today
311melissa Hughes I see you and all of us parents too on a similar note our class sizes are large enough and it is inconceivable that they may incre increase due to budget cuts our village is only as strong as our most vulnerable members i strongly urge the board to avoid budget cuts that would result in an increased class size and to fully fund our special education department chair position our children and their educators deserve to be valued and we are Fairfax County show us that caring about our children and their teachers needs isn't just some platitude thank you eliza Sander eliza Sander eliza Sander diana Mat diana Mat diana Mat amanda Prindle good evening my name is Amanda Prindle i'm a parent of two daughters a kindergartener and third grader at Virginia Run Elementary School
312a member of the PT PTA board and an active school volunteer i'm here tonight speaking on behalf of our 744 students and the staff and families who support them every single day the proposed cuts reducing our special education department chair and advanced academic resource teacher to have time and eliminating 4.5 classroom monitor positions would strip over 160 hours of weekly support from our school these are not nice to have positions they are missionritical at Virginia Run 20% of our students receive special education services and 25% are in the academic advanced academic program these roles directly serve nearly half of our student body and indirectly support all of them the SPED chair ensures we stay legally compliant supports overwhelmed teachers and advocates for every learner's unique needs the AART doesn't just serve a select few she
313expands access to enriched and challenging learning experiences for all students and keeps families at their neighborhood school and our monitors they are the quiet glue holding the day together covering recess lunch meetings spur-ofthe- moment emergencies and interventions and often the only reasons our teachers get time to plan or even breathe cutting these roles doesn't save money it shifts the burden onto administrators teachers and parents like me who depend on this v who depend on this village to help raise and educate our children if these cuts move forward our staff will be forced to absorb those 160 hours meaning less collaboration fewer supports and ultimately fewer stu opportunities for students with a school population this large and diverse these supports are not optional they essential they are essential please Victoria Steel good evening i serve as
314the PTA president at Le Corner Elementary School in the Sully District and I'm here to represent our families and staff that would be directly impacted by these proposed cuts like all of us I'm deeply disappointed by the county board of supervisors decision to short change our schools by 150 million at the urging of Dr reed at our vision group meetings I was one of the many PTA members who traveled to Richmond this year to advocate for stronger education funding especially for special education thanks to that effort the state increased its support and narrowed the deficit to $120 million but we didn't advocate for special education just to see it targeted in local cuts no budget cut decision is easy but reducing special education department chairs to half-time would be a costly mistake these professionals are
315vital to meeting the increasingly complex needs in our schools by our administration's assessment these roles have dramatically improved how we support students with disabilities if you cut their hours you cut their impact and risk losing them to other districts entirely if replacements can even be found they'll face unsustainable workloads leading to burnout turnover and most importantly unmet needs for thousands of students this also means your own goals reading at grade level by third grade algebra by 8th become far less attainable for the very students who rely on these supports these are goals you've prioritized so highly that the district has undergone major curriculum changes to achieve them and yet these proposed cuts would place new barriers in front of a large population of students i'm also concerned about the cuts to the AART program into
316monitor hours especially since those monitor hours can be traded to fund steam programs that's a backdoor cut to steam and one our elementary schools can't afford these proposed cuts are heartbreaking fcps must not balance its budget on the back of the students with the greatest needs our public schools are the backbone of what makes Fairfax County exceptional if we want to remain a leader in education across Virginia then Fairfax County and FCPS must act as true partners united in strengthening our goals not weakening their foundation thank you emma Strauss emma Strauss emma Strauss kathy Van Djk good evening i am Kathy Van Djk i'm an AART but I'm not here to talk to you about my experience as an ART i want to talk about my experiences as a classroombased teacher several years back specifically
317about two students i will change their names to protect their privacy the first student I want to talk about is Alicia alicia historically struggled in school not because of lack of aptitude but due to frequent moves and lack of continuity an astute a AART noticed that she learned quickly she was curious and was highly motivated and started providing young scholar services by the time Alicia made it to my fifth grade advanced academic classroom she not only was passing all of her SOS advanced where she had never once passed one in third or fourth grade she was beating everybody in the school on competitive math league contests she was thriving because of the impact of an AART the next student I want to talk to you about is Ben ben is a student with dyslexia highly
318impacted in second grade he still wasn't reading and writing yet an astute AART noticed that he could grapple with complex ideas he was highly creative and original she worked with the family on family outreach and with his special education case manager to shepherd him through the screening and referral process by the time he made it to my fifth grade advanced academic classroom he had a strong grasp of history was a medalist in the Virginia science olympiad and could extemporaneously compose rhymes or like dozens and dozens in with perfect rhyme and amic pentameter ben wrote to me last year he just completed his first year of college as a writing major think of the impact of AARTS and the impact that will happen when they are not available to serve our young scholars and twice exceptional
319students thank you kathy Van Dyk who's Amanda Parker who's virtual hello my name is Amanda and I have two students at White Oaks Elementary my fourth grader is twice exceptional and we need to shout out the AAP teacher who is stepping into ART role next year Mrs holmes because she's a gem but I want to illustrate why all our specialed ART and classroom monitors are essential to all elementary students with a story about my first graders time at school this year we started out the year excited had a wonderful experienced teacher friends in class and was beginning to read said within the first few weeks our son told us how another student had destroyed the classroom threw books overturned chairs and that after two other students joined in various adults had to come in to
320help the teacher evacuate the class to the hallway for their safety and cleanup these types of stories would continue all year despite constant efforts by the teacher classroom monitors shout out to Mr peak and our specialist staff and administrators being multiple students struggling in this class my son and many others have been kicked and punched multiple times one student was stabbed with a pencil this was the first grade year my son and his 25 classmates will not get back and I'm not sharing this to complain i rightfully don't know any of the private details of the students cases but I do know these students are good kids who need more resources to access the education they deserve and the budget you propose would offer them less while there's no easy answer to the budget problem
321your job is to find the answer that does the least harm to the fewest number of students there are over 30,000 students in FCPS with disabilities and countless others who await identification cutting funding for special ed chairs arts and classroom monitors is not the solution and it will have cascading effects that will reduce the quality of education for likely all elementary students across the system please find something else thank you Leslie Houston good evening i'm Leslie Houston the president of Fairfax Education Association and co-president of Fairfax Education Unions fairfax Education Unions and FCPS bargained in good faith we came to the table with transparency integrity and one goal securing a contract that reflects the value of our educators and staff and we did it we reached a historic agreement that both sides were proud of
322but the board of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors refused to fund us meanwhile they fully funded the first collective bargaining contracts for county employees every dollar no questions county employees are valued for their work and rightfully so we just want our work valued as well fcps is the largest public workforce in the county our schools serve over 180,000 students our profession is nearly 70% women and yet we're the ones told to make do with less that's not just a funding issue that's an equity issue we did not return to the bargaining table by choice we returned because we had to and after the failure of the board of supervisors and even then we made protecting people our top priority we were assured that no one would lose their jobs that positions not people would
323be cut we thought we were doing the right thing we fought for a 7% raise we got as close as possible 6% not because we backed down but because we were forced to clean up someone else's mess this isn't a bargaining failure it's a funding failure and we should not be turning on each other we should be turning our focus to the board of supervisors we won't forget what they have done thank you ann Snyder who's virtual thank you for having me here tonight i'm speaking to you as a parent of a second grader and a rising kindergartener in FCPS schools i would like to align myself with the comments opposing the cuts to special education and AAP services and staff including concerns about a domino effect on our kids communities and the local economy
324this proposal directly undercuts one of the main reasons parents currently seek out FCPS the school system's reputation for providing an excellent education for all students our school has benefited immensely from having a full-time ART teacher she knows our schools she knows our kids and she's able to help compensate for gaps that appear when the unexpected happens an example this past year two of the three second grade teachers were out on parental leave simultaneously that meant that twothirds of the second graders at our school were being taught by long-term subs when they took the KOAT exam and the regular teachers had had significantly reduced facetime with the students when it was time to prepare applications for full-time AAP because we had a full-time ART teacher she was able to step in and support the long-term subs
325to provide access to rigor and to help parents and teachers with AAP referrals without a full-time ART teacher this past year our second graders would have had a significantly harder time bridging the gap while their teachers took well-deserved parental leave our kids education and their access to rigor would have suffered this proposal sends a troubling message about our priorities it disproportionately impacts elementary schools despite a multitude of data showing the importance of early education on future outcomes it once again tells our teachers to do more with less and says that students who are different who are outside the norm in some way will be the first on the chopping block i urge you to reconsider this short-sighted proposal thank you pamela James good evening i'm Pamela James an elementary advanced academic resource teacher with nearly
32620 years in FCPS like many of my colleagues I'm here to address the proposed reduction of elementary ARP positions to have time a decision that strikes at the very core of our commitment to equity excellence and the growth of all our students let's be clear full-time AARTS are not an extra they are a strategic investment essential to the learning of all essential to FCPS's strategic plan the 2020 external AAP review made it plain a full-time AART is necessary for equity reducing these positions isn't just a step back it puts us behind where we were in 2019 as a full-time AART my role is comprehensive it's about fostering a schoolwide culture that values rigor and high expectations for every child it's about coaching teachers providing crucial support for curriculum differentiation and integrating advanced academics into every
327classroom additionally AARTs are tasked with supporting teacher planning time increasing demands on their role to revert to a part-time model now after these responsibilities have been integrated will create significant logistical challenges and diminish the crucial support we provide to our dedicated educators this reduction has far-reaching consequences not only does it limit the AART's ability to coach teachers and engage families and ensure all students have access to rigorous instruction it compromises the support for 2E learners advanced math and initiatives like Young Scholars in short this isn't just a staffing cut it's a strategic regression and a disinvestment in our students in our teachers and the very principles of equity and estimates that FCPS strives to uphold i urge you to reconsider this proposal and fund our ARTS they are champions for equity as Aaron Dandro Aaron
328Dandro Aaron Dandro Christopher Ryan who's virtual uh good evening Dr reed members of the board uh thank you for uh being here and and and holding this hearing um I'm the father of a children in Fairfax County public schools including one with special needs and uh one thing that we've noticed in his time in Fairfax County is that uh we've come to rely on a great many people great many teachers um throughout his educational experience no one tells you when you uh when your child gets a diagnosis that you're going to rely heavily on uh many professionals along the way many therapists many uh teachers many uh other educators all up and down the line and um one of the great things about uh our special ed department chair is that she holds all that
329together is able to make the right connections is able to establish relationships both within the school itself and within our uh and with uh our private support team uh to produce the best outcomes for our child and not having that position available will definitely require uh teachers to stretch themselves thin and ultimately take away from the education and support needs of of not only our child but other children in special education as well it's important that uh we make sure that when hard budget decisions have to be made that we don't do what we so often fall back on and that's taking away resources from those who need them the most and hopefully we can reconsider these choices and continue to uh support and provide uh a world-class education to children who need it the
330most rachel Saxton hello uh my daughter is uh a fourth grader right now at Oakill and I just want to talk really quickly about what her journey has been since she's been there even before that actually when she was in preschool she was thought of as the smart kid a lot of people called her that and um we actually that caused problems actually because she got this in her head that she was the smart kid and then she went to kindergarten and she actually did really well it was virtual was the first year of um of uh COVID and for some reason she was just very good at that and she uh actually was helping the teacher by the end of it trying to say you should push that button doing great and then she
331went got into second grade and things started getting more difficult and it became very clear very quickly that she was not going to be able to read and she couldn't read um and then uh but still her teachers were like this girl is smart and then she uh met Miss L who also thought she was wonderful and in third grade uh she was doing really well in math and she was doing really well in these other ways and she still couldn't read and um halfway through third grade uh we applied for the AAP because she was obviously twice exceptional and she was rejected regardless of the fact that Miss Lar the head of the uh advanced program in our school thought she should be there her teachers thought she should be there everybody thought she
332should be there except for a committee that I never met and after that uh and I'm gonna I'm running out of time so I want to say this uh she had multiple steps getting to where she is now and she is now in the AAP but she didn't start there the school invited her in not the committee but the school said "This girl is good she's smart and she should be there." And she's still struggling but she's getting to where she should be and now she's been accepted officially and when I told her that Miss L's job was in trouble and and and other people who helped her were in trouble she said to them Elizabeth Shagru hi there um I'm Elizabeth i'm a parent of a sixth grader at Cunningham Park and a junior
333at Marshall High School i'm also the PTA secretary at Marshall High School um I am advocating tonight for full-time special ed chairs at the elementary level it's been so helpful to my sixth grader she has ADHD and she's used special ed services since she was in preschool she has grown so much in the last year since kindergarten and I um would just like to say thank you to the special ed chair Melissa Hughes from Cunningham Park um I asked Caroline before I came tonight um what does Dr hughes do for you here's what she said she helped me with my re-evaluation test i was so nervous but she reminded me to take my time and do my best she works with my teachers to keep us learning and safe one time she sat in the
334classroom with a boy who was scared she kept him comfortable so he'd stay at school she is always there for me Miss Hoke Mr marorrow and Miss Romela as a parent she helps us in so many ways she guides me to work with the teachers she knows the kids the teachers and she understands the laws that protect Caroline and all of our kids she is not just an IEP scheduler she provides guidance leadership and understanding to everyone especially the other teachers she is the one who creates the foundation for special ed at Cunningham Park Elementary um if you cut this position in half you'll diminish the special ed chair role and put our special ed kids at risk please consider your budget cuts and think about our kids and their future thank you for listening
335casey Hoffman Bllelock casey Hoffman Bllelock casey Hoffman Bllelock nicole Neil nicole Neil sana Flynn sana Flynn sana Flynn Rebecca Akuna who's virtual hi good evening thank you so much for taking the time to hear all of us and what we have to say um I am going to start off by saying I am a graduate of Marshall High School excuse me class of 2000 um and I do have a kindergartenner at Stenwood Elementary School this year um today actually ironically was my um local screening um meeting for him to begin the process of a 504 for him as he just received a diagnosis of ADHD um I'm not sure that you all know exactly what goes into these meetings but there was the special ed chair there there was the school psychologist there there was
336the school social worker there was his kindergartener teacher and there was the principal present for this 45 minute long meeting about my son to get him the special education that he needs um going forward um I think your proposed budget is a travesty for all elementary age children we do know um from years of research how important early intervention is and how important class size is and your proposal to increase class size will be detrimental to all students and I really hope that you reconsider your budget and look at other areas to cut the spending mostly in the central offices and your assistants that you have hired at um pay rates that are larger than the teachers who deserve those rates thank you so much for your time and I hope you reconsider this budget
337sahara sadinian sahara sadinian who is virtual hi can you hear us yeah go ahead my turn yes go ahead please i am Sahar Sedian parent at Stenwood Elementary i don't think I can say anything more compelling than the hundreds of personal stories you've heard tonight from the incredible kids that spoke up earlier to the dedicated teachers FCPS workers and concerned parents so instead I'd like you to ask yourselves a few questions start off with why why did you work to gain the positions you currently have why did you work so hard to be part of our school board and what were you hoping for for our children and then think is this budget cut in line with the goals that you had envisioned for your career also consider why is this happening now and who
338will profit from it because it definitely is not our children and it's not our teachers it's abundantly clear that reducing FCPS funding will have terrible repercussions i don't need to give you numbers or stats um for you to know that it takes away resources from our children and from their teachers and uh it leaves an extreme stress and pressure on the teachers a sort of stress that builds over time and is not sustainable so I hope you're hearing your constituents tonight as public servants it's your job to hear us it's your job to be our line of defense our children's line of defense we voted for you we vote for you to carry out what's in the best interest of our children and our teachers this budget cut is not it it's not in our
339best interest it's not in their best interest and it's not what we've voted for so the next move is yours you've heard of from hundreds of people for more than five almost six hours now so what I'm looking forward to to is to see how you will correct this and how will you show that you have heard us thank you Andrea Trumble good evening i appreciate everyone who has stayed with us this long i know it's arduous i know it's late but this should tell you how passionately we feel about this and how important it is thank you to everyone who's already spoken sharing important points about how devastating these proposed cuts are especially to elementary schools and thank you specifically to my AART colleagues who have spoken and are here or were in attendance
340i'm proud to be part of this community i am also an FCPS parent of a second and fourth grader one who is recently found eligible for full-time services and another who is twice exceptional in the short time that I have I'd like to speak to a few points that drove me to speak this evening not to say there aren't more but these felt particularly big and particularly personal my school is in the final phases of the full-time AAP expansion program we've spent countless hours these past few years building the support for our teachers and educating our parents about this program my school is an immersion school the number one question I have been asked is how can we guarantee that these kids will get their full-time services and their immersion program and I have personally
341promised them that I will be there every step of the way to ensure that their needs are met i don't feel like I can uphold that promise anymore and that pains me and it makes me feel like a failure to my families i have also promised my teachers that I have will be there to support them through this process not only my third grade teachers in the first year of the roll out but my fourth grade teachers as just this morning we were talking about the courses that they will be taking to get ready to roll out the program in fourth grade the following year i have been a full-time AART at my school for three years and in those years we have had an average of 55 full-time referrals in the three years prior
342when I was part-time we had an average of 30 that is in part due to the advocacy myself and my school team has worked to educate our community and to promote the program to our students thank you ma'am you can give your written testimony to the clerks if you like okay thank you abdelte Benodel Benod abdelte Benod joseph Morgan who is virtual joseph Morgan joseph Morgan joseph Morgan can you hear us if you're online can you hear us we can see and you're muted sir yeah back to you thank you great thank you i guess I'm probably the last one I suppose but uh you know I was going to echo the comments of so many other parents you know my daughter went through the developmental prek at West Springfield Elementary uh she was there
343for two years and they did an amazing job and you know they they went from her being enrolled in that program to going into first grade next year and doesn't need an IEP lo and I just want to say that as like a testimony to the team there Miss Fel Miss Kaiser Miss Bush the whole West Elementary team I and you know even though she's not going to participate in the special education program anymore I wanted to advocate for the need for the program because it did help her so much i wanted to reiterate what was already said many many times and to reconsider setting the program or come up with alternatives or something uh you know it's just it's going to help too many kids but if I'm not one I want to let
344you guys go for that i really do appreciate you guys taking the time and staying on this and for five and a half hours it's a lot and I appreciate it thank you alicia Walsh alicia Walsh alicia Walsh kristen Bordner thank you all for taking the time tonight my name is Kristen Bortner and I am the PTA president of Laurel Ridge Elementary and a parent of two i'm here today to express concerns about the proposed budget cuts to elementary staff but first I'd like to share a lens through which I view FCPS when I was a beginning teacher in a different part of Virginia people said "Let's see what Fairfax is doing and let's do that." When I taught in the Midwest several years later people said "Let's see what Fairfax is doing and let's
345do that." When my current fifth grader started kindergarten in 2019 I said "I'm excited to see what Fairfax is doing." And overall through my children's elementary school journey I've felt very fortunate to live here and to see for myself as a parent what Fairfax is doing and now tonight I've heard a lot of speakers essentially ask "What is Fairfax doing and what does it mean for where Fairfax is going?" I listened to trends tonight i heard dozens advocate for special ed chairs and a to remain full-time 21 people said how critical classroom monitors are 13 mentioned class sizes eight used the exact words ripple effect or domino effect and at least seven said the cuts are in conflict with the strategic plan where are we going i will be submitting a group letter from parents
346at Laurel Ridge the letter shares our concerns about the proposed elementary staffing cuts in just over 24 hours the letter was signed by 143 parents representing more than 200 of our students these parents along with others you have heard tonight respectfully ask that you reconsider this plan and try to find some other way forward i recognize that the budget is very complex and difficult and these are hard decisions i also know that you too want everyone to say in the most positive way look what Fairfax is doing caitlyn Murphy caitlyn Murphy caitlyn Murphy theodore Shei theodore Shei the Theodore Shei right back to Phoebe Gray who indicated that she online phoebe Gray phoebe Gray Andrew Salman uh good evening and thank you all for your time and attention uh I know that this is a
347long night and I realize this is an incredibly difficult situation uh I've been at uh I have to be at school at 7:30 in the morning up at 5:00 a.m so please understand that I wouldn't be here if I didn't think this was life and death i'm a Fairfax parent of three AAP Spanish immersion elementary students and a high school alternative to school teacher of 15 years i was raised here my whole life is here i'm still raising my family here i love this county but I'm not feeling that those in charge love us back right now as a teacher I'm grateful for our raises i really am but I'm furious that my three kids and my students at school will pay the direct price for the raise I'm getting and I'm sickened that Supervisor
348McCay would take credit for our raise while cutting our proposed budget by over hund00 million that's ludicrous and duplicitous i don't understand how anyone can hold a raise in one hand and a massive cut in the other with a straight face it's insulting i don't know what the tipping point is here we have an auditorium full of advocates and 200 speakers this county uh this county is my lifelong home and I'm devastated to see it going backwards we were leaders for so long and I don't understand what's happening with recent decisions by leadership our morale is dying these endless budget crisis are killing us which I don't believe is hyperbole at this point cutting special education cutting a ar special educa uh afterchool programs monitors big class sizes straining our already deeply strained staff uh
349this goes against every academic study and evidence-based recommendation this is irresponsible unsound policy and the antithesis of equity please fix this melissa Rossman i've been waiting for this uh good evening members of the board and Dr reid my name is Melissa Rossman and I am the reading specialist at Freedom Hill Elementary and an FCPS parent some of my kids are also twice exceptional we are losing three time full-time positions and our monitors who cover daily vacancies in our school and stop me from subbing in classrooms we are losing our special education department chair part-time AART part-time and our elementary math resource teacher and other individuals staffed by monitor funds elementary cuts hurt schools that have large multilingual and special education populations like mine i want to say clearly that we are working so hard to
350regain academic losses that these students experienced in the pandemic and our children are finally making progress but we are a transient school so we start again with many new students every year if elementary school teachers bear the burden of these cuts we will face the burnout we saw just three years ago and the burnout I experienced this year with all of the changes in literacy i have seen teachers who burnt out walk off the job midyear or leave the field leaving those school leaders some of whom you're cutting to fill these positions every day we need to be clear that these cuts occur just as the new state accreditation system is coming into place our teachers are pushing ourselves and our students as hard and as fast as we can towards progress and closing the
351gaps we are making progress with these students jeffrey Connor Naylor hello thank you uh first of all I just want to say thanks to all of you for making these very tough tough um decisions for all of our kids um a lot of what I wanted to say has already been said what I will say is a story um my son um who is at Oakhill um elementary school um he has a range of uh hurdles that he deals with including anxiety in the last two two weeks um I stood outside school with him for about 40 minutes or so as he had an anxiety attack we almost went home if it was not for the special ed staff he most likely would have missed those two two uh two two two days of school
352um I fear that with the cuts to um special ed that the staff that are able to support him would not have the time um to support all of the kids in the way that they currently support my my my son um so I would just ask that all of you please um reconsider cuts to the special ed chair and thank you all righty Miss Seismarheiser that is our last public speaker thank you and thank you for sharing your comments this evening the board has scheduled a budget committee meeting on May 20th 2025 excuse me and will take action on the fiscal year 2026 approved budget at our regular meeting on Thursday May 22nd 2025 if you wish to provide any feedback to the board before the vote or to submit written copies of your
353testimony provided tonight please do so by sending your comments to excuse me community participation at fcps.edu thank you for your participation and for staying so late and have a wonderful evening this meeting is adjourned