001e e this March 13th 2025 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a Moment of Silence to honor the passing uh and memory of former atlarge School Board member and chair Robert Fry who passed away recently and a performance of the national anthem by the Forestville Elementary School fifth and sixth grade chorus under the direction of Stephanie Patterson I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for stands na [Music] indivis so proud We at the Twilight [Music] bright rock is the thir in [Applause] through the night that our was [Music] [Applause] [Music] still the of the and the of the [Music] [Applause] done we have another round of applause for those talented kids
002agenda item 2.02 announcements if you would like to review a copy of the meeting agenda please see the back of the auditorium to obtain copies of the any items or supporting materials being presented tonight please reference QR code on the agenda or visit fcps.edu boarddocs tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on YouTube and our website at fcps.edu livestream agenda item 2.0 03 women's History Month Proclamation I call on miss lady for the proclamation whereas women's History Month began as a women's history week in Santa Rosa California in 1978 to coincide with International women's day on March 8 the goal of this event was to bring attention to women's historical achievements many communities across the country adopted this special recognition this movement became so widespread that in 1987 Congress ultimately designated
003the month of March as women's history month and where as this year's theme moving forward together women educating and inspiring Generations recognizes and celebrates the contributions women have made to the American educational system from classrooms to boardrooms Grassroots movements to Global initiatives women Educators leaders and mentors have played a pivotal role in the nurturing minds and inspiring transformative action this theme honors the Collective Strength and influence of those women who have dedicated their lives to Education mentorship and Leadership through their efforts theyve served served as an inspiration for all generations both past and present and whereas women of all Races Creeds and ethnic Origins have have contributed significantly to the history and development of the United States these women include not only the notable Abigail Adams Susan B Anthony sojer truth Rosa Parks kamla Harris
004Yuri kochiyama POI takimoto pink Dolores suera Sono Sodor Felisa raan detier Hita Adar Sylvia Mendes but also the many other unsung heroins and whereas women have led our country and made significant contributions to public life and the development of our country in 2023 26 women sought local public office in Fairfax County with 12 being Victorious to include seven members of the fairis County School Board and whereas though in 1963 President John F Kennedy signed into law that women's work and fair and their fair and equal treatment in the workplace was vital to our our country's economic prosperity American women still face a substantial substantial gender-based wage Gap the Institutes of women's policy research estimates equality might still be Out Of Reach until 2088 and a working woman full-time in 2023 on average earns 82.7 cents
005per every dollar a man working full-time earns which shrinks women's annual earnings by about $10,000 We Salute women advocates in their efforts to fight for Equitable pay for women and whereas women women's history provides our youth with positive role models and Inspirations including Katherine Johnson who is the namesake of our own Katherine Johnson Middle School here in Fairfax County Miss Johnson is most known for her significant contribution to NASA and the stem Community she also blazed a trail and educational access by being among the first black students to attend and desegregate West Virginia University in 1940 now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby proclaims March 2025 as women's history month and a time to remember and honor the countless women who fought relentlessly for the rights of all women in
006our great nation Commonwealth and County we are proud to celebrate these women past and present who work for inclusion equality and fairness is there a second second Mr Dunn all those in favor of the Proclamation Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss Eis Mor Heiser Mr dun Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that is unanimous the proclamation passes congratulations agenda item 2.04 disability acceptance month Proclamation I call on Mr Dunn for a proclamation uh whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was founded on four principles inclusion full participation economic self-sufficiency and equality of opportunity for all people with disabilities Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to these and the principles of equity excellence an opportunity for all students and whereas inclusion is an attitude
007an approach and a mindset that welcomes and facilitates participation of students with disabilities in every aspect of student life which requires Mutual responsibility for adaptation and removal and removal of barriers so that students with disabilities have the same opportunity to participate in student life as any other student and whereas Fairfax County Public Schools celebrates efforts to recognize disability awareness and acceptance to increase public awareness and respect for persons with disabilities inform the public concerning their many contributions to society ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities encourage health promotion to increase Community awareness of the needs of persons with disabilities and emphasizes the abilities and rights of disabled persons and whereas over 28,000 and approximately 16% of FCPS student students receive special education services and research has shown that students with disabilities encounter more difficulty being accepted
008by their peers making friends and becoming involved in school and community-based activities and clubs than non-disabled students and whereas Fairfax County Public Schools provides Innovative and individualized programs to advance the achievement and knowledge of students and young adults living with disabilities in the areas of vocational social and life skills and whereas disability is a natural part of human diversity and people with disabilities have the same human and civil rights as everyone else including the right to be included in all aspects of society therefore we must ensure they are included in the FCPS Community by increasing knowledge and understanding of disabilities promoting positive Attitudes by creating a culture of respect and inclusion and ensuring the school curriculum and Norms events and processes are accessible and inclusive of disability history and disability Norms now therefore be it
009resolved that the Fairfax County School Board does hereby Proclaim March 2025 as disability acceptance month in recognition of the many contributions and strengths of people with disabilities and toot promote inclusive School communities across our division and now therefore be it further resolved that the Fairfax County School Board renews its commitment to inclusion for all individuals with disabilities in our schools and communities is there a second second Mr McDaniel all those in favor of the Proclamation Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr MC Mr mavan Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss eisar Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that is unanimous the proclamation passes congratulations J item 2.05 Bailey's Upper Elementary School 10th anniversary Proclamation I call on Dr Anderson for a proclamation thank you whereas Bailey's Upper Elementary School
010for the Arts and Sciences opened in 2014 as an Innovative solution to the growing needs of its Community transforming a former fivestory office building into a first ofit kind elementary school in Fairfax County and just hold on to your horses Mr msky eight months earning the two 2016 Fairfax County Exceptional design award and whereas the opening of Bailey's Upper Elementary School relieve the overcrowding at its sister School Bailey's Elementary School by moving students in grades 3 to five to the new location and whereas Bailey's Upper Elementary School is a celebrated magnet program offering Arts and Sciences to students through dance theater and music and they have made Dr Reed dance there too the program at Bailey's is committed to educational Excellence which is reflected in its long-standing partnership with the Kennedy Center through the chain
011changing education through the arts program which integrates the Arts into core academic subjects to inspire creative thinking and learning and whereas Bailey's upper Elementary has continued the Spanish Immersion program which was established as one of the first Spanish immersion programs n FCPS at baile Elementary and continues to enrich the lives of the students by fostering bilingual proficiency and cultural understanding and whereas Bailey's upper elementary school has demonstrated leadership and Innovation through initiatives such as becoming the first project glad school and FCPS in 2022 and establishing one of the earliest Elementary Partnerships with the Davis Center and whereas the school's efforts to nurture student leadership and achievement are evident in programs such as the Bailey News Network a live Daily News show which offers students hands-on experience in broadcasting as anchors reporters and technician s and
012the Bailey's upper Ensemble engaging fifth grade students in the production of musicals each year to include acting singing dancing and producing and whereas Bailey's upper elementary school has been recognized for his excellence and dedication to equity and Improvement through accolades including the Virginia Board of Education continuous Improvement award and the FCPS excellence an equity award in 2019 now therefore be it resolved that the fairfox County School Board honors Bailey's Upper Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences on the occasion of its 10th anniversary of providing educational excellence and enrichment opportunities to students in the community is there a second second Mr Moon all those in favor of the Proclamation Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mavan Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss sore Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and
013myself that is unanimous the proclamation passes congratulations agenda item 2.06 neurodiversity affirmation week Proclamation I calling Miss seis Mor Heiser for a proclamation whereas neurod Divergence is a biological fact and the neurodiversity movement is a civil rights movement that emerged from social justice efforts and social science research beginning in the 1990s and whereas every person on our planet is neurodiverse as we all think behave feel perceive and learn in different ways that are unique to each individual due to their identities and experiences all of these different ways of being and functioning are value neutral meaning there is not one better or right way and within the neurodiversity perspective there are neurodivergent ways of being in which an individual's cognitive functioning is different than society's received quote unquote typical or quote unquote most commonly occurring means
014of functioning and is associated with diagnoses such as autism ADHD dyslexia auditory processing disorder PTSD and more and whereas since a strength-based approach to ADHD autism and other related diagnoses is better than the medical deficits based approach the neurodiversity movement favors a strength-based model that also recognizing that society's current Norm Norms beliefs and structures can create barriers to access and affirmation for neurode Divergent individuals and whereas according to the National Institutes of Health NIH an estimated 15 to 20% of the world's population exhibits some form of neurode Divergence driven both by genetic and environmental factors and many successful and famous people such as Emma Watson Travis Kelce Simone biles Richard Branson Carl Sean Daryl Hannah and Billy Island to name just a few are neurod Divergent and whereas this neurodiversity Equity work is about building
015mindsets that drive our language address biases promote spaces of belonging and Center human variability at the Forefront of our decision-making processes and actions and whereas Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to ensuring Equitable access to Quality education for all students by universally designing instruction and educational environments employing a neurodiversity specialist the first in the nation for K12 school divisions lifting up neurodiverse staff members recognizing that there are different ways of being in our schools and communities affirming the abilities and unique strengths of every student and staff member presuming competence promoting positive self-concepts and identities and ensuring spaces in school communities do not require students to mask their unique unique individual characteristics or to assimilate to participate now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board renews its commitment to creating neurodivergent affirming schools
016and hereby proclaims March 17th to 23rd as neurodiversity affirmation week in recognition of the cognitive Brilliance that every student brings to our system schools and communities is there a second I second Miss Marin all those in favor of the Proclamation Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss seis Mor Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss s joh cunning and myself that is unanimous the proclamation passes congratulations agenda item 2.07 honoring Gerald W Jerry Highland Proclamation before we hear the next Proclamation honoring the memory of former Mount Vernon supervisor Jerry Highland I would like to recognize some special guests that are with us this evening Mount Vernon District supervisor and former School Board member and chair Dan stor and former Mountain Vernon uh School Board member and former chair
017miss Karen Corbett Sanders I'd also like to welcome GG Highland the daughter of supervisor Highland uh and her husband Chris Rivier I call on Mr Dunn for a proclamation whereas Fairfax County and the Mount Vernon District celebrates the life and Mourns the passing of Gerald W Jerry Highland a trusted and Beloved Community figure who guided the transformation of the Mount Vernon district and Fairfax County while serving as Fairfax County supervisor for the Mount Vernon district from 1988 to 2015 and whereas he was a staunch advocate for Fairfax County Public Schools to include successful advocacy for full day kindergarten and the establishment of South County High School and South County middle school and whereas he played a pivotal role in Community Development Public Safety and infrastructure advancements to include the establishment of the Lorton Farmers Market
018the preservation and expansion of an NOA Mount Vernon Hospital the acquisition of the Lorton Correctional Complex and the establishment of a master plan for a vibrant South County community and whereas throughout his tenure Jerry Highland was known for his tireless advocacy and Leadership guiding the community Through significant challenges to include the closure of the inter Interstate 95 landfill and whereas after serving nearly 30 years in elected office and multiple advisory boards and commissions the South County Center was renamed the Jerry Highland Government Center to reflect his profound impact on Public Safety Health Care Transportation and the environment throughout the region now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board honors and remembers Gerald W Jerry Highland for his outstanding contributions exemplary leadership and unwavering commitment to the community extending our deepest sympathies to
019his family and expressing our heartfelt gratitude for his remarkable service thank you Mr Dunn is there a second second Mr Moon all those in favor of the Proclamation Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that is unanimous the proclamation passes congratulations [Applause] I would like to welcome the family of Jerry Highland and all those here in support of honoring Jerry Highland uh the proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the deis and then we'll move on through the other proclamations for for I would like to welcome all those here in support of the neurode diversity affirmation Proclamation affirmation week proclamation to please join the board for a photo at
020the front of the Das e e e I would like to welcome all those here in support of the Bailey's Upper Elementary School 10th anniversary proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis e I would like to welcome all those here in support of the disability acceptance month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis e right I would like to welcome the Fairfax County commission for women League of Women Voters of the Fairfax area and all those here in support of the women's History Month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dis e e e all right only seven more proclamations I'm just kidding all right agenda item 3.01 Community participation the next
021order of business is community participation we welcome all community members who are here and those who have signed up to speak this evening additional information about signing up to provide comments at Schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board's website at fcps.edu Schoolboard during the signup process community members acknowledged they were informed of the school board's expectations for proper decorum when providing comments these expectations are also available online and with the printed agenda and meeting materials in the back of the room we ask audience members to be respectful of one one another shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated please hold your applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats including when recording video
022or taking photos we are grateful to those who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation school board members will be listening but not responding Madame clerk please call the first speaker Moone koroi hello okay thank you for having me here today today I'd like to share with you a couple of numbers 83 is the number of school shootings in 2024 39 is the number of of those that occurred in Virginia according to John Hopkins University guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens in addition there have been numerous gun violence threats creating fear and uncertainty in our FCPS Community when I wake up in the morning my first thought shouldn't be is it safe to go to school today but one day last year it
023was on May 1st of 2024 at Thomas Jefferson High School there was a threat made on our school and school remained open students sat in fear wondering if the threat was going to be carried out and teachers locked doors and kept a closer eye on their students exiting and entering the classroom all of us had practice lockdown drills But anxiety hung in the air as no one knew if we would make it home safe we don't feel this way on days that threats are carried out we feel this every day we don't have the resources to prevent every school shooting but we can make lockdown procedures more effective as part of a student activism group here in FCPS done with guns I promise to implement cic Cen T GX Panic buttons to let staff contact
024emergency services quicker and safer they're worn on lanyards and have two parts one that alerts local emergency services with your current location and the other that lets teachers alert administrators within a school current methods of contacting Emergency Services we see in FCPS like phones emit lights and sounds and can be unsafe during e mercies schools in Georgia Florida Texas Tennessee and New Jersey have implemented Centex Panic buttons and reported more rapid emergency service response times in the school's shooting at Georgia at the beginning of this year the shooter was apprehended almost instantly due to this procedure Panic buttons are my proposed first step and I'd like you to take the rest thank you Michaela Danner good evening Dr Reed and members of the school board I know how hard your jobs are thank you for
025all the work you have done to improve our schools today I'm once again here to talk to you about healthy school start times healthy school start times are super important and it feels like you've been ignoring our request it's been 10 years now and you made a promise to work on them and now you're you're breaking that promise you are the people we chose to represent us sleep is so important important I attended your work session and heard each and every one of you say that you understand how important this is and that you want it to happen and it's still not moving forward why if you understand why won't you listen why aren't the needs of students the most important thing you are considering here so that is why I'm here today now why
026can't we just go to sleep earlier well that's not how our bodies work it is scientifically proven that during adolescence when we are changing and growing we need more sleep and our body clocks change our bodies want to stay up later and wake up later according to Nea news the majority of teenagers do not get the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep inadequate inadequate adequate sorry sleep can lead to countless negative Health consequences that impact students abilities to learn many experts Advocate later school start times to help students get the sleep they need this shows that it is unhealthy to start school at 7:20 a.m. it's clear that you are not going to change start times for everyone for fall 2025 and that is outrageous and infuriating I'm hopeful that you will at least
027move forward for Mason District honor your promise and commit to change for fall 2026 thank you lindai Kendall Zachary Zur hi good evening everyone I'm here to talk to you about the policy of raising grades up to 50% Imagine This was done to encourage students that are struggling not to give up and give them an ability if they work harder to achieve good grades and move on to the school system what I don't think you're aware is that there's a segment of kids that are taking what you've done and misusing it essentially taking AP high level courses which count for out of a 50 instead of a 40 and then using your system to raise grades to essentially wind up with about a 35 average doing absolutely no work when I spoke to the school
028system I found that it wasn't just my child that was using it it's many children that are using it it's a known problem uh I looked into the the specifics on it and the way I believe it was written was that if the student demonstrated uh a reasonable effort the teacher would have discretion to raise a grade but in practice that's not how the teachers see it the teachers see that they should not be allowing zeros to remain in the grade book and they are essentially raising the students even if the student makes no effort so essentially what happens is that you have kids that look that are graduating that even have good GPA that are essentially doing no work in many cases not even attending their classes um the school's aware of it the
029the guidance Department's aware of it it's a known problem and there appears to be no solution solution I think it's not just uh not in the interest of the children to have this system in many cases but it's also discouraging for the teachers um who feel powerless to do anything other than pass kids through the system so I'm not sure what the original intent of this was but I wanted to let you know how it's actually being used in the system and I would encourage you to look into this and re-evaluate whether this program is doing more harm or uh or more good thank you please play the video testimony submitted by Phyllis pay good evening thank you for all of the work that you are doing to protect children in Fairfax thank you for
030the productive middle school starttime work session where you raise the idea of adopting a first phase in Mason District where students suffer with wake times before Dawn for 3 years you have a golden opportunity to implement this positive change next fall you can transform the day and the school year to help thousands of families studies show that with later middle and high school start times students parents and teachers gain sleep why does that matter not just because of the gain but also because timing is everything when secondary schools start later students are more engaged awake and ready to learn mood improves in a dose response relationship in a Fairfax study for every hour of sleep gained the odds of students feeling sad and hopeless declined by 38% and the odds for attempted suicide declined by
03158% you have a golden opportunity because the days of pins and strings on a map and manually pairing bus trips are over you have software to optimize multiple options quickly so you can choose thoughtfully to improve the overall student and family experience avoid moving elementary schools later than the current 920 last start we've waited 10 years for the promised improvements to Middle School start times you have a golden opportunity to resolve the perceived challenges in a small area in 2025 to make improvements to the plans and then to bring the best options forward for implementation of healthy Middle School start times for the whole County in 2026 chair frish that was our last public speaker thank you agenda item 4.01 student representative matters I call on Miss Swan good evening everyone happy women's History Month
032earlier today I attended the Virginia school board association's spring student representative conference online with other Virginia Schoolboard representatives to talk about updates legislative updates from Virginia's general assembly and topics to look out for as we move into the next couple months it was such an informative session and I'm always inspired by hearing the ideas from other board representatives and how important student voices not just in FCPS but across Virginia during the last week of February I had the opportunity to attend the future of FCPS food show in chantilli where I got to interview some students we had students from eight high schools eight middle schools and 12 elementary schools where they sampled 24 different food items including the Fairfax sauce that we've been talking about and got to provide feedback through surveys rating each item
033on taste nutrition and appeal for things that we should see on our school menu in the upcoming school year I also had a chance to interview some of these students but rather than hearing from me let's hear from them Madame clerk could you please play the video this was a photo from last year so we wanted have as just as much energy as this little girl had last year too okay you guys ready you guys excited all right first we have BW today we're going to be interviewing students at the second annual FCPS food show to see what they think about the new food options we have and why student advocacy is so important in food and nutrition services we're going to be trying the chicken Catu so can you guys try it for me
034see how you like it I think it has just like a little bit of spice but I think that the flavoring is great what do you like I like the sauce you like the sauce oh we got the mega mac and cheese first Ed I think it might have been the most amazing dish I've tried yeah I agree with them I think the cheese and the bacon goes together really nicely and I think oh that's definitely the best dish over there awesome this is the taco pizza okay and how do you feel about it at first taste I wasn't really sure but uh as I took more bites it was really good and the flavor is really enriching what do you guys think think is the most important thing or the thing that you guys
035want out of your school food I think I just want something that like it's just like something that I can enjoy for lunch I mean lunch is like the break in the day it's like kind of where you can like talk to friends but like to make lunch good you need to have good food so I feel like if you have good food it just makes the entire experience better the food that we eat at school drives us to um get through our day and take our test and accomplish what is expect what is expected of us at school and I think food is a big part of that food does like nurture mind and like it helps like your mind work faster and stuff and like I I feel like when I'm hungry and
036I have good food that like gives me energy and stuff like I'm able to focus more in class and I have more energy to like do work study longer and things like that if there's any options that I don't like I mostly and then I think I would just have mostly low energy during the school day cuz I hav what's your favorite part of today my favorite part is the freedom of the event um going around and tasting different foods just free of any judgment or opinion and um letting them know what you really think because they're going to use that feedback to truly improve this experience exactly well thank you so much thank you so from all the noise in the background you can tell that it was a lot of fun um but
037a huge thank you to food and nutrition services for organizing this event and FCPS his commitment to student voice and the food that we have moving on at the February superintendence advisory council meeting our students are continuing to work on their goal reports that they'll present to everyone next month and branching off from the conversations that Dr Reed had about CTE with all of us last meeting I sat down and surveyed students on what ctsos they had at their school what was missing and why the most common answer for why they didn't have a certain ctso at their school was because they couldn't find a sponsor for it or there wasn't enough awareness around that CSO being a CT CTE sponsor is so important there's so much time that goes out into nurturing our students
038and preparing them for a career in that technical field I hope that in future years the same way that I mentioned last time we can have better supports for our teachers who choose to sponsor ctsos speaking of ctsos and broader extracurriculars one student group in the superintendent advisory council is actually focusing on extracurricular involvement and offerings by region and they're compiling a spreadsheet based based on surveys from students and they're using the survey to further examine any barriers to participation and are developing recommendations for schools facing challenges in club creation and accessibility so that we can see those changes in upcoming school years the last thing that I wanted to talk about was the joint budget meeting that I was able to attend between our board and the Board of Supervisors and I really appreciated
039being in that room and being able to understand the conversations that happen between our board and their board and how we navigate these issues together one one thing that I wanted to share was the current reality that students face in schools a lot of questions that students asked me pertain to the following will certain courses or classes still be available next year will funding for loans or lunches which many students depend on remain intact and how will the programs at our schools change over the next coming months on top of this as I voice to the general assembly as well we are facing a national gun violence epidemic and there are threats that are being made in our classroom that are affecting our Fairfax County Public Schools it is so important that in our budget
040we continue to increase our safety and security measures and keep in the budget the money for our cameras vestibules and our crossing guards this is how students feel but imagine how our teachers feel and what they take on they wear multiple act they wear multiple hats they act as social workers mentors and counselors while continuing to address the academic recovery that is happening from the pandemic supporting our Educators is essential to the well-being of our students and this is why collective bargaining and honoring the agreement that we have is so vital and it is our duty to respect respect it our teachers deserve Fair wages improved working conditions and the resources necessary to do their jobs effectively and how can we best support that with the budget that we have thank you thank you Miss
041Swan I think I speak for the board when I say that video really ate no crumbs now that sling is dead and no one will ever use it again you're welcome yeah it was a lot it was extra ah all right agenda item uh 5.01 action item certification of closed meeting compliance in order to comply with Section 22- 3712 D of the code of Virginia it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a close meeting on March 13th 2025 to the best of each board member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements and only such business matters public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board during the closed meeting do
042I have a motion Mr moon is there a second Mr movan all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mlan Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that is unanimous motion passes agenda item 5.02 action item confirmation of action taken in closed meeting I call on Mr moon for a motion thank you Mr chairman I moved to deny the school reassignment of PE of a student who engaged in inappropriate physical contact of a sexual natur nature with the students at school during the school day and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the super division superintendent is there a second second miss lady all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Miss di it was
043your hand up oh I apologize okay we'll start try this one more time all those in favor Miss Marin Mr mine Dr Anderson Miss Anderson Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss s joh cunning and myself all those opposed extensions Miss Dixit Mr McDaniel Miss seiser Heiser will the clerk read the vote the votes 93 the motion carries thank you agenda item 5.01 action item coats Elementary School boundary study scope I call on Dr Reed for a presentation on the coats Elementary School boundary study scope thank you chairman frish I'm gonna turn the presentation over to miss zansky our chief facilities officer thank you and good evening Mr chairman and to the rest of the board and for those listening here tonight my name is Jan samansky I'm chief of facility services and capital programs
044ref CPS and tonight I'm presenting the staff recommendation on the scope study for the coats Elementary School boundary study next slide please uh some background information on coats and this boundary study is captured on this slide coats has a capacity utilization of 137% for school year 2425 which does not include the 20 trailers currently on site the school is projected to reach 163% capacity utilization in 5 years for school year 29 uh 30 student membership of coats based on September certified membership is 983 for school year 2425 and as a reminder Schoolboard policy 8120 identifies the preferred maximum of 950 student program capacity for elementary schools the current program capacity at coats is 720 students and again this program capacity does not include the temporary trailers on February 8th 2024 the school board amended the
045proposed uh FY 26 through3 CIP staff began this process with the community boundary scoping meetings in January 2025 as required and outlined in regulation 8130 uh for more information you can look at um School data in regions 1 and five and that's that's on pages 88 and 89 of the CIP and on 52 and 53 of the CIP all right next slide please so this slide shows um Solutions implemented over the years so you can see that coats has had a historical capacity utilization ranging anywhere between 102 and 137% since school year 2015 2016 next slide and coat's historical membership has reached a high of 9983 students in the current school year which is 2425 and just to clarify this membership shown on the slide is based on certified September membership data the certified February
046membership data which is more recent for coats is one 1,1 student next slide thank you okay so we now have a series of four maps to share next this first map shows the location of coats and the School boundary in red as well as the location of elementary schools directly adjacent and the schools next to them and their boundaries this map also shows the future Silverline Elementary School site just to the south of coats the second map here shows which middle schools a coats Elementary School and the nearby elementary schools are assigned to so we've overlaid the Middle School boundaries and they're shown in blue the blue lines on this map so you can see here coats Elementary feeds to both hearnen middle school and Carson Middle School the third map shows which high schools
047coats Elementary School and the nearby elementary schools are assigned to the High School boundaries are shown here in Red so you can see that coats elementary school feeds into both hearnen high school and Westfield High School and lastly this map shows the boundaries of the AAP centers that serve coats element school and the nearby elementary schools it also shows which elementary schools are the AAP centers so you can see there ones with a red star or a local level four site which is shown with a yellow circle so as you can see here coats Elementary School is a local level four site and the McNair Upper Elementary School AAP Center serves coats Elementary School and the boundary for McNair upper AAP is shown in the dark green shading all right this is the current and
048projected capacity utilization of coats and the adjacent elementary schools the projections include consideration of birth data M migration in and out of boundaries transfers among several other factors the first few columns show the region design capacity program capacity September certified membership and the current school year program capacity utilization percentage the next columns show the number of temporary class CL rooms and the number of modular classrooms so as a reminder temporary classrooms are not included in capacity calculations while modular uh facility spaces are included finally the last two columns in Blue on the right show the fiveyear student membership projections and the associated capacity utilization percentage so for coats in particular you'll see a design capacity of 930 students a program capacity of 720 student membership as of September of 983 the program capacity utilization of
049137% for this school year and that the school has 20 temporary classrooms the associated projection uh going out 5 years for school year 2930 estimates 1,177 students and that's a 163% capacity utilization and just a clarify the yellow uh highlights shows that schools that are currently planned for renovation in accordance with the current renovation queue all right this slide again just shows the same information but for other nearby schools which are uh in region one this map shows the current capacity utilization for the school year so again we saw it in a table this is in a map form and again this this particular map does not include the temporary trailers but they do include the modular facilities moving to the the next slide this map shows the current capacity without the modular just so
050you can see the data both ways for school year 2425 for the elementary schools near coats this map here shows the fiveyear projected capacity without the modular for school year 2930 for elementary schools near coats and lastly this map shows the 5year projected capacity with the modular for school year 2930 for the elementary schools near coats so as I mentioned back in January we s feedback from the community so this slide is a summary of that feedback so we received approximately 180 um participant back from those meetings and additionally we had an online feedback form that was open for over two weeks following the meetings and the highest number of responses to the question what nearby schools should be considered for the boundary adjustment are shown here on the following slide um the feedback received
051continued as shown on this slide so other responses we received were to build Silverline Elementary School and major themes were students staff and community members are overloaded by overcrowding there were concerns about long Transportation times uh if moved to a school further away concerns about students being in temporary classrooms outside the building um feedback on an opportunity to resolve a split feeder and a desire to better balance capacity and concerns on how to do so without Shifting the issue to another school and for reference all that Community feedback has been posted to our website and you can see the link here at the bottom of this slide uh this slide outlines the entire boundary adjustment process per regulation 8130 so this boundary study is currently at stage two of the process where the scope of
052the study for schools is present presented to the school board here tonight following feedback from the boundary scoping Community meetings following today's meeting and after the action by the school board on the scope additional Community meetings will be held to present and discuss possible boundary change options as prepared by staff after those additional Community meetings there will be a series of Schoolboard meetings with where recommendations for any boundary change will be presented to the school board and a public hearing to the school board is also going to be included in these series of meetings for any additional community input all right so considering all the information on the previous slides we present the following to be considered as the boundary study scope for coats so that would include coats itself Aldren Armstrong Clear View drainville
053Dogwood Fox Mill Flores hearnden Hunter Woods Hutchinson Lake an Le Corner McNair McNair upper oakill teret to be included in the boundary adjustment scope and it will be important to consider the implications to middle and high schools based on the outcomes of any Elementary School adjustments um and that's especially true if there's any options that may involve a split feeder and I just wanted to point out just due to the nearby capacities and limited space ability we this is a much broader scope of study needed to resolve the capacity challenge so that's why you see the 18 schools across the Westfield and chantilli pyramids in region uh five and the hearnen and South Lakes pyramid in region one I do I do want to clarify too the scope does not consider some of the AAP
054boundaries including local level four Center boundaries at Clear viw Forest Edge hunterwoods MCN upper oakill and Sunrise Valley so that being said this is all that information here on a map so this is a map of the schools to be included in the recommended scope and with that that concludes my presentation thank you thank you Miss samansky I call on Miss Lady for a motion I move the school board approve the scope for the boundary study to include the following schools coats elementary school aldron elementary school Armstrong Clear View drainville Dogwood Fox Mill hearen Hutchinson Lake Anne Lee corner McNair McNair upper oakill terce set and the AAP boundaries for Clear viw Elementary School Forest Edge Hunter Woods mcneir oakill and Sunrise Valley elementary schools as detailed in the agenda item on board kns is
055there a second second Mr mine miss lady would you like to speak to your motion just briefly um I think the data speaks for itself and while I'm well aware that we are in a you know systemwide boundary uh study um I certainly um have been to coats enough to know that this warrants um looking further into uh as they are bursting at the seams and as Miss samansky indicated earlier they they are just over 1,000 students right now I think that puts them at 139% capacity at the moment um and they just continue to grow so um while it sort of pains me that the number of schools involved in this is so expansive um I wish it were easy to perhaps figure out how to move some that are in the Hearn and
056pyramid um to a Hearn and pyramid school since it is a split feeder as of um I don't have that expertise so I I trust facilities to do that um what I don't want to have happen is I don't want students to be moved uh and then moved again as a result of a full boundary study so um you know just because they uh look deeper into this doesn't mean that they come to the the they come back to us and we we necessarily move forward with whatever they might bring to us um but I'm comfortable with them doing the work thank you thank you Miss Lady Mr M you like to speak to second uh yes just very briefly so you know as an atlarge member I'm always grateful when colleagues um magisterial colleagues
057come forward and um share the issues they're having in their Community um as is the case with coats grateful to um uh Miss re miss lady for bringing this forward just as I am grateful to um Dr Anderson for bringing forward her next motion on parklon um there's clearly a need here having visited the school having seen kids crammed um and trailers and modular in the back uh and just walking the halls and not having any space in the school um I'm hopeful that this will bring much needed uh relief to to coats um and I'm happy to support it thank you Mr mlan all those in favor of the motion on the screen please indicate by raising your hand Miss Marin Mr mlan Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss
058lady Miss St John cunning and myself with Miss seore Heiser away from the table and Miss Dix away from the T I'm sorry like I knew another one was missing all right uh that is unanimous for board members present agenda item 5.04 action item parkon Elementary School boundary scope I call on Dr Reed for a presentation on the Park Lawn Elementary School boundary scope thank you chairman frish I'm going to turn the presentation over to um our chief of facilities and capital projects uh Janice samansky thank you again and so so now I will be presenting the staff recommendation on the scope of study for parkon Elementary School boundary study so some background information on parkon and this boundary is captured on this slide parkon has a capacity utilization of 99% for school year 2425
059and this includes the modular building out there which has 10 classrooms it does not include the current 19 trailers the school also is projected to reach 104% capacity utilization in 5 years for school year 2930 without considering the modular building the capacity utilization is 138 for school year 2425 and 146% for school year 2930 again as a reminder student membership uh for Park laon is 949 students for school year 2425 and again this is based on the certified student membership Schoolboard policy 8120 identifies the preferred maximum of 950 students program capacity for an elementary school and the current program capacity here at parkon is 960 students on February 8th 2024 the school board amended last year's proposed CIP to include coats Elementary and park laon as a priority recommended boundary adjustment was scoping to be
060conducted in Fall 2024 spring 2025 so staff began this process with Community boundary scoping meetings in November and December of 2024 um and that kind of br brings us to where we are today and so with this next slide we're showing Solutions implemented at Park Lawn to address capacity parkon has had a historical capacity utilization ranging anywhere from 85% to 99% since school year 2015 to 2016 and parkland's historical membership reached a high of 949 students in the current FIS uh school year uh 2425 and again just to clarify this membership number shown on the slide is based on certified September membership data the certified February membership data so more recent for coats is 961 students uh like coats we have a series of four maps to share next this map shows the location of
061parkon Elementary as well as the locations of elementary schools directly adjacent and the schools next to them and their boundaries this second map shows which middle schools Park Elementary School and the nearby elementary schools are assigned to again the Middle School boundaries are overlaid and shown here in blue lines on this map and parkon elementary school feeds into both Holmes Middle School and Glasgow Middle School the third map here shows which high schools parkon elementary school and the nearby elementary schools are assigned to High School boundaries here are shown in red parkon elementary school feeds into both anandale high school and Justice High School lastly this fourth map shows the boundaries of the AAP centers that serve parklon Elementary in the nearby elementary schools it also shows which elementary schools are AAP centers with the
062red star or the local level for for site which is the yellow circle and so as you can see here Park laon Elementary is a local level four site the badier elementary school AAP Center serves as parkon elementary schools uh AAP and that's shown here in the Shaded pink all right this is the current and projected capacity utilization for Park laon in the area other area elementary schools the projections again include considerations of birth data migration in and out of boundaries and transfers among several other factors and these projections are also included in our CIP so for parkon in particular you'll see a design capacity of 1,277 students a program capacity of 9 160 students student uh September membership data of 949 students a program capacity utilization of 99% and that the school has 19
063temporary classroom trailers and a modular facility with 10 classrooms the associated 5year projections going out to school year 2930 estimates 1,000 students in a capacity of 104% utilization all right this slide again shows the same information for other nearby schools which are in region two and region six okay so moving on same information this slide and the next three are maps showing the capacity information this shows the current capacity utilization for the current school years with considering modulars this map is the current capacity without the modular for for the current school year this map shows the projected capacity that fiveyear projections and it's with the modular so that's for school year 2930 for the elementaries near Park laon and lastly this map shows the five-year projected capacity without the modular for school year 2930 all
064right uh again as mentioned earlier in the presentation Community meetings were held in December and uh in November feedback was gathered in writing from approximately 140 participants attending either the inperson or virtual meetings and an online feedback form was also open for two weeks following these meetings the elementary school shown here had the highest number of responses to the question what nearby schools should be considered for the boundary adjustment all right um other responses included uh all of region two and the northern part of region six and major feedback themes included are concerns on impact distruption of a change to students concerns on overcrowding uh minimizing the use of modulars and trailers uh change should be uh improve equitable distribution of resources and access to resources concerns about safety and the number of students in
065a crowded School uh the opportunity to resolve split feeders and traffic and transportation concerns and please note there was variance uh and the frequency of these responses but these are the major themes next slide all right so like um par coats parkon is at a similar point in the adjustment process so this slide outlines the entire process per regulation 8130 so we're like coats at stage two of the process where the scope of the study for schools is presented to the school board following the feedback from the boundary scoping meetings and again so following today's meeting and after the action by the school board on the scope additional Community meetings will be held to present and discuss possible boundary change options as prepared by staff all right so with that being all said we present
066the following to be considered as part of the boundary scope so that includes parkon itself anandale Terrace Bailey Bailey's upper Beach Tree badier bradic brenmar Park Columbia Glenn Forest Mason Crest North Springfield Sleepy Hollow and the AAP AAP local level forest center boundaries at veler and canbury wood should also be included in the boundary adjustment and similar to coats due to the nearby capacities and limited space availability we are recommending this be the scope of study which is why we're including all the elementaries in the Justice and anadale pyramids as well a Mason crust which goes to Falls Church and then consequently AAP boundaries for veter and Canterbury Woods need to be considered too and finally this is a map of those schools in the recommended scope for both Elementary School boundaries on the left
067and the AAP level four centers on the right and that concludes my presentation thank you very much thank you Miss samansky I call on Dr Anderson for a motion um thank you I move that the school board approved the scope for the boundary study to include the following schools Alon Elementary anadel Terrace Elementary Bailey's Elementary Bailey's upper Beach Tree elementary badier elementary bradic elementary brenmar Park Elementary Columbia Elementary Glenn Forest Elementary Mason Crest Elementary Sleepy Hollow Elementary North Springfield Elementary way no Elementary in the AP boundaries for kinderberry Woods Elementary and badier Elementary as detailed in the agenda item on board docks is there a second second Mr chairman Moon Dr Anderson would you like to speak to your motion yes very very briefly I feel like these are the two schools that are on
068a very Sim they are very similarly situated um the only main difference that I've been able to identify is the fact that um parkon has um 10 modulars that are outside and it looks like a sea of class rooms outside I had the opportunity earlier and I apologized for the late delay to share some of the letters from that students um from parkon elementary shared with me back in December just really discussing how uncomfortable it is outside because they don't have any more spaces to play to have soccer to be on the playground because there's so many buildings that are outside and of course we have so many students the playground itself is insufficient um and I'm hoping that we can just go ahead and begin to study and figure out how to solve this
069issue that has been plaguing the school for a number of years now and I'm looking for your support on this oh last thing is um to raise is the lunches I'm sure it's similarly at coats at Park laon they begin almost right after 10: and end after 2 it is just a long time to be able to funnel the kids through that building to that cafeteria rather thank you thank you Dr Anderson Mr Moon would you like to speak to your second you know just just briefly even though I feel very embarrassed you know to repeat this there are 19 trailers and 10 classrooms in modul that's all together 29 and Dr Anderson if I'm not mistaken it's a two entire GR the levers of students outside breaking motor isn't that correct and and this
070was something that could have been done last year perhaps it should have been done last year and this time we cannot wait for another year to go by thank you Mr Moon Miss Marin yes I do support the motion this is really quite tragic and we have to fix it and um I do think the scoping will just be a jump start for when we get the full set of data during the boundary revieww process I did just want clarification from the superintendent about um that this is scoping and how will this factor into or dovetail into the data that we'll receive um in the months ahead when it comes to the boundry review just to assure the community that this is not being acted on right now I'm just concerned the way some of
071it was described so if the superintendent could just speak to how this work will coordinate with the forthcoming data from the bound review thank you uh Miss Marin I know that the team that's uh worked hard to put the scope together uh clearly would be taking that into consideration as we look at different scenarios um I'm wondering if um Miss samansky has any more detail uh essentially I since you asked for um confirmation I think what we're going to need to do is the scoping will obviously um occur in parall parallel uh with the scenario development work that the advisory committee is going to be looking at and that also will be coming out to the community uh later this spring so you know I think the work will be done in tandem uh it's
072hard to predict which pieces are going to overlap at this moment since we don't have any scenarios yet drawn for the uh advisory committee on the larger division wide uh boundary work yet okay great so just to confirm we'd expect that even though the will be forthcoming it will be considered in tandem with the great big amount of information yes ma'am okay thank you thank you m Marin Miss Heiser thank you and I apologize I had these questions on coats as well but I've been dealing with a family emergency tonight so I apologize I to step away um I want to pick up where my colleague left off I had the same question in terms of how this works in tandem with the can you explain what you mean a little bit more by in
073tandem like what does that mean to you well I think what that means is that the work uh clearly there's been some Community engagement work with these specific communities and that Community engagement work has occurred within the same ecosystem that the community engagement work for the broader division-wide boundary study has occurred uh I think we're expecting for our at our next advisory committee to look at several scenarios that are being developed that we haven't yet seen that are division-wide scenarios I would expect that the current scoping that's being uh proposed for these two schools would also be occurring it would not be occurring with the consultant who's working on the if you will uh holistic full uh division boundary but it would be that more traditional scoping approach so it'll be the same data but
074perhaps for a different purpose what do you mean by different purpose well how do I say the data there will be data for the scoping of these two schools um which will be specific to I think the number of schools identified in the motion whereas the division wide data is being used to look at division wide impact of boundaries um so the tandem means they're not going to be done at the same table but rather in parallel maybe that's a better term than tandem so since you're doing scoping with the set of communities which is it's a fairly large set of schools for both schools yes ma'am how does that then not impact this development that you're doing for the entire County it may very well impact that work and would it then limit the
075other work that we're doing or Pro or limit options or maybe lead to kids being moved twice in a very short amount of time like I I'm I'm just struggling to these two schools obviously have significant overcrowding that we need to address I I think we're all from what I'm hearing in alignment with that what I'm wondering especially when we're now with this one also starting looking at programmatic because we're looking at the AAP centers which is a programmatic part as a as opposed to just just geographical so we're expanding that as well you know I first I'm curious which communities when it says the community which Community was it just the parkon community was it all of these potential schools because I I worry a little bit about and this happened in a previous
076one when um just before this board came on when all of a sudden we started hearing at the last minute from some Community saying wait a second we didn't know we were involved in this we would have spoken up much sooner so I don't want to have that happen again so are all of these communities that are proposed for the scope have been talked to already are you asking if they've already been spoken with Miss samansky which communities have been spoken with believe when we did our community engagement sessions we made sure to you know extend that invite out to the broader area but again without knowing exactly what schools we're going to end up recommending in the future steps we'll we'll plan we have meetings tentatively scheduled for April and now that we know
077what the scope is we will be engaging with those communities as well as we develop these into actual scenarios I mean I just worry because the slides show 140 participants which which for I'm looking at almost 10 schools if not more 140 participants and only two weeks of an online feedback form that was open I I'm just we're doing something very hard with this boundary work that could have seminal change and we're telling our communities all the positive impact it could have and what I'm hearing is that this may impact that both both of these schools can you explain a little more why what you mean by impact because that was the whole purpose of doing that is to not do other things things in the meantime that impact it that may either make it
078harder for us to do that may make it less optimal for what we can do especially know we're trying to put programmatic changes in there I I I have a lot of heartburn about do so I want to understand more what do you mean by impact what kind of impact can that impact be undone would we undo it tell me a little bit more about what that means well I think that clearly if as a result of the scope work there's a recommendation to move forward with some adjustment that adjustment would impact the overall adjustments that are going to at some point be considered for the school division so the the question really is these are a number of schools in the motion that are being um addressed and a question of course that might
079arise depending on what decisions around program uh boundaries as well could Ripple into more schools potentially than what are listed on the motion so when I speak about impact there could be an impact based on whatever the decision is following a scope um that would impact the broader community and not just the schools mentioned we've seen that you know from time to time because we're looking at the entire division boundaries so the scope itself may not impact other than to people illuminate right but here's the other question I have I speak for myself as one board member I'm getting a lot of questions from various communities about the overall boundary change what does it mean are we looking at Maps what maps are there are there secret maps what changes all these things right how
080do you then go to I guess I I done I haven't countered them 15 to 20 schools over coats in parkon the 31 thank you 31 schools thank you and tell explain to them we're doing this comprehensive boundary oh and also we're going to look at your schools for this other thing also like we've got communities for lots of things that are happening right now that are in angst and in flux for lots of things that are outside our control that are happening we've already started this boundary and committed to it over a year how do we then go to the communities and say and on top of that we might also do this like I'm not necessar saying we don't go do the scoping because I also know we're in a tough place these
081two schools have incredible needs that we need to do this but what's the communication plan for a community that's going to get doubly confused or Community 31 communities that may get doubly confused well I think that will depend on the decision the board makes this evening if we're moving forward with scoping that will include these 31 communities will need to um develop and Implement a communication plan uh very quickly I think there's been a beginning of that as part of the presentation uh but clearly if we're going to be in embarking on a scope for 31 schools we'll need to have a a robust communication plan I mean I I since I missed the vote for coats I I will probably abstain also for parkon just to be fair to both schools since I had
082to step away but I will just say that with all due respect this is good information for this scope but it doesn't at all seem to explain this in relation to the full bound rework and so if we're going to be out there talking to these communities some of which are my community some which I mean many of us touch upon these communities I think we need to be very clear because there is already so much angst and uncertainty and change is hard and proposing two different uncertainties and two different changes I have a lot of heartburn over this um I understand we're not doing any changes right now with the scoping so I understand moving forward to look at that because these schools need but what's the plan for helping our helping our communities
083understand why we're doing these two different things for 31 different communities I we are going to have to develop that plan as a result of this evening's uh action by the board thank you thank you Miss eore Heiser Mr Dunn um I was just wondering uh if um this you know given the process and where we are in the process if you anticipate that the process that was outlined in the slide would be completed before January 2026 when we're currently scheduled to have a vote on the package of changes through the comprehensive School boundary review or if you expect the process could be completed sooner than that and when you refer to process Mr Den do you are you referring to the scope the proposed scope for these 31 school communities uh so on slide
08417 if that slide could be brought up okay well that slide shows numbers one through six with a red arrow saying today next to number two which is scope of boundary study presentation then it's followed by Community meetings Schoolboard meeting new business school board public hearing Schoolboard meeting action so what I'm trying to see is do we get to number six before January 2026 I understand your question Miss samansky did your team have a sense of when when they think they would be able to get there we we do and again just to clarify the presentation tonight is to vote on the scope that we presented as a recommendation going from there we'll start to develop uh in-house scenarios those are scheduled to take place with the community in April and then we would be
085coming back to this board in May of 2025 so it would take place before that end date for the countywide work so we'll be at number six by by by May by end of May yes and and then the the boundary changes would be in place for fall of this upcoming school year I think that is something that we will need to recommend as part of what the actual scenarios end up looking like how extensive they are and we'll come and work on what the recommended phasing would look like so I do think part of that will depend on what the scenarios look like but the point is that it could potentially start for the next school year by getting all this work done in the spring and how did these two schools if the
086data you present both for coats and for parkon indicate there you know there's under enrollment in the surrounding schools so how did these schools in particular get so overcrowded well I think for coats there's been a lot of new developments um of a fairly high density in that area and we're continuing to see that and it's again been true the last handful of years and into the future um part parkon I believed experienced a higher uptick and enrollment over the last five or six years I think there was um unexpected uptick and migration so there's varying reasons for why we saw the capacity increase at both schools and for these two schools coach and parkon are these the largest number of trailers anywhere in the county I believe so uh off the top of my
087head I can't think of schools that have greater trailers yeah when 9 trailers was mentioned by my colleague that sounds astounding I is there anything or do we have other schools that are even in that neighborhood of having 29 trailers not to my knowledge okay thank you so Mr Dan I think what these two schools illustrate is really why the board reviewed the boundary policy right because when we go so many years and don't revisit uh boundaries and enrollment patterns where you end up in situations that are really unacceptable so I think that as once we can get a reset and then do you know a routine review we shouldn't be in this situation again so I appreciate you raising the concern thank you Mr dun Miss Dixit hi um so I thank you for
088the presentation Miss SMI and Dr Reed uh I uh in the beginning right when we were doing the count division wide boundary assessment um this topic had come before too for courts and Park Lawn and that time I decided not to be uh you know be part of that because I strongly believe in the com comprehensive boundary review uh I do not uh think uh duplication of effort um is a way to go here and is uh affecting lot of schools um if there is a way it can be done with less number of schools in the same vicinity uh without impacting a lot of uh other schools in the other districts and Etc I'm fine with that um I'm I this is just a very big scope for me including like you said more
089than 30 schools so I'm going to be not able to uh support this time thank you Miss Dixit Dr Anderson for a go back thank you so much um couple of things that I want to raise um I'm looking at this list for consideration with um Park LA there are 14 Schools and AP centers I'm looking at the list for coats there's 17 schools in AP centers we've had probably 25 minutes of discussion on this one when the other one went forth really really quickly we had 160 um participants with the coats Community conversation and 140 at the park lot and the first one passed literally with two minutes of discussion 102 that's it thank you Dr Anderson Miss eore Heiser thank you and I just wanted to reiterate I was not at the dis
090for the coats conversation or I would have brought all of the same conversations and questions up then but I did have a family emergency I was dealing with um so I guess the question I'd ask um Dr Reed given or Mr whoever Dr will turn to you and you can um yes ma'am ask your staff as you see as you see fit um given this dilemma that we're in which we have two schools that have significant overcrowding and and trailers and and need relief and the potential of this comprehensive boundary and the impact this may have on that or of kids being moved twice which is also a negative impact what would you recommend for these two schools I'm putting in a tough spot but we're kind of in this no in situation I I
091certainly don't want to leave these two schools without the relief that they need and I certainly don't want to negatively impact this comprehensive boundary work when we're doing something that is the third rail and we need to do it right and I apologize before you answer I would have asked I didn't I don't know if others did I didn't get any calls about either of these two schools so I and and I've had the flu for the week so my my apologies I didn't really see it before and I didn't get any calls about these so I'm asking these questions now so I think um we clearly have discussed the challenge of working on boundaries that affect 31 schools at the same time we're looking at boundaries that affect 200 schools and um I think
092um you're asking the direct question and my direct answer would be that I think think that uh these two schools are more uh certainly more concerning than many of the 2 200 schools no question and as Miss samansky said you know may would be the soonest we would have a chance probably to bring action back to you as a board I don't know that a May decision uh would appropriately give us time to map transportation and all the um resultant sort of ancillary decisions that would be necessary to actually make the change in the fall of 25 I think it would be very difficult and the communication to a community really over the summer is not optimal so given that that's I would not recommend making that shift for the fall of 25 then if
093we're going to make it for the fall of 26 I think uh subsuming this into the um overall boundary review is the best use of our time staff time and res Resources with a provision that these two schools must be addressed in the comprehensive uh review first right like it's I think that provision uh must be a necessary statement but I do think if you're asking my recommendation this work uh might best sit within the larger work um for a fall of 26 move I am concerned that if we bring something forth in May and then have a shift of decision in September because we're bringing scenarios back again we may make other adjustments and then we've got a change and a change within three months and I I do I do worry about that
094and again that's my opinion at this point um so there you go thank you is and I appreciate that is what you're suggesting possible as an option under what we're voting on today in terms of the scoping is that like is that a possible even if we do the scoping separately is still what you're recommending it's subsuming the overall changes as part of the boundary a possibility of something that could be done even with this today so I'm gonna pivot to staff here for a minute Miss samansky given what I've outlined if we do the scope now would you I mean would you reframe the question Miss seis Mor Heiser just guess what I'm trying to get to get that I mean it's and again I feel bad I'm I didn't have a chance to
095do with coat I and I would have done it with both but is what you're recom you know recommending which is subsuming the actual work of the changes into the comprehensive boundary work still possible to do even if we do this scoping like is it possible to marry those two with this motion so if this passes you're still able to do that so if this motion passes to begin the scope could we then sub assume that scoping work within the holistic uh boundary work Miss samansky what are your thoughts on that again I just want to clarify we have we are now presenting as part of this presentation this recommended scope we have gone out and gained Community feedback we reviewed it and this is the actual scoping process that we've been going through over
096the last few months so now it's at the point where the Board needs to approve the scope The Next Step would be then to develop scenarios based on on the schools that you've given us that sandbox to look at potential Solutions so could those scenarios be subsumed like I'm just trying to figure out like I think that's where it gets more difficult because I think the scenarios could be but they're not going to be um they won't have defined edges yet because they're going to still be done within a context of a full division review and it's unlike I mean we're not able to create sandboxes all across the division right because part of the point of doing a division wide review is that there's going to be some fluidity across um the pyramids at
097this time well I had a very ill-timed call then unfortunately because I would have had the same on coats but I I I'm sorry so I think I will do what I did with coats and since I wasn't here for the vote I'll abstain on this one so it's the same result but I I have a lot of concerns if this board is really going to stick to what it stuck to thank you Miss seiser I'll remind members to observe proper decorum Miss Marin yeah I I do feel the same way about this as I do about Co about um coats I think they're similar actually thought we could have had just one presentation um I you know in the past I've been very um staunch about not wanting to act outside of the boundary
098work but things change and where we were the last time we talked about this is different where we are now my understanding and this is all I sought to clarify was this is going to jump start the scope work because this is such an egregious overcrowding it's going to jumpstart it and so that when the superintendent brings the data from the all of that all that's happening that will be ready however it could have to change with what else is brought so I do think this is exactly like um coats and I'm eager to put it through so we could get a jump start on helping these kiddos thanks thank you Miss Mar and Mr Dunn uh thank you I just wanted to say briefly I agree with Dr Reed's comments that you know it
099is it is a failure mode that we have uh over 900 classrooms in this County and trailers and modul and modular while counted differently in the CIP it's just a trailer with plumbing uh we we should Endeavor in in this County one of the wealthiest places on the planet to eliminate every trailer uh everywhere because what I see in this study is there's plenty of room in our schools um but historically when there was an over credit school we would do an addition rather than um actually trying to rebalance our students across our existing uh building assets so I strongly support this um motion I strongly support providing Rel for this community that is well in excess well in excess of the uh uh not just the program capacity but the design capacity of the
100school and uh and I hope that we will be able to achieve this uh this work this implementation of change uh before the start of the next school year so that they can you know enjoy the benefits of a balanced school where everyone has equal access and equal opportunity to uh realize their potential and explore their interests thank you Mr Dunn we'll move on to a vote can we put the motion on the screen please Dr Reed thank you Mr frish I wonder as you're moving toward a vote I think one of the things we could think about is you could approve the scope and add a motion to put it into the division review as a priority so we wouldn't have a separate Standalone scenario um which would prioritize I'm trying to think of
101ways to integrate the work while we get it moving so it's just a thought Dr Reed will you repeat yourself yes um you could another path forward is approving the scope and adding a motion to put it into the division-wide review um as a priority in lie of um um creating Standalone scenarios um separate from that division wide review it's just an idea thank you Dr Reed Mr M thank you um Dr Reed I'm I'm concerned that this is being raised now when we just passed a separate school which would ostensibly um require the same um review um so my question would be would we apply the same criteria to coat I think it would be a good idea if we thought it was a good idea for one it should be for both I
102would agree Mr okay I just want to make sure that there's equity in how we handle these two schools thank you Mr mine all right the motion is on the screen all those in favor of the motion Miss Marin Mr mine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself opposed extensions missx missis Mor Heiser the motion passes I call on Miss seiser Heiser for a motion can we take a 10-minute recess actually uh a motion is not in order uh because of our 48 hour rule a follow uh so if there's going to be a follow on motion it's you can't do a follow on motion to an agendized motion without 48 hours notice so if there's going to be a motion it'll have to
103be worked out in the next two weeks between colleagues um and we will go ahead and move on to the final action item for tonight we'll take a break before performance evaluation uh agenda item the motion passes agenda item 5.05 strategic governance manual edits superintendent's instructional resources Review Committee I call on Miss Anderson for a motion I move that the school board approve the edits to the community advisory committee operating manual strategic governance manual and policy 1710 as detailed in the agenda item on board docks is that is there a second I second thank you Miss St John cunning Miss Anderson would you like to speak to your motion I would um during my review of the board's committee advis or Community advisory committees last year in my role as the chair of the public
104engagement committee I realized that we had two potential committees that needed to be reviewed I brought a forum topic to the board last spring to request that peek be able to review the community advisory committees and consider which are still needed peek has engaged in this work in that work this year starting with the human resources advisory committee in light of the work we were doing with uh with collective bargaining and then Family Life Education Community advisory committee in light of the inconsistencies with the community advisory committee structure there is no doubt that the Family Life education curriculum is an extremely important area and it requires both extensive feedback from the board staff and community members it's an example of the need for a strong partnership with all stakeholders in our division however it is
105the only piece of curriculum that the board reviews this way this year so far the board has appointed members to two other curriculum advisory committees that are run by the superintendent and her staff this motion simply moves Family Life Education to be treated as all curriculum is however I want to make clear to all those concerned the board is still legally required to approve all changes to the fle curriculum that differs from the state required option therefore no changes will be made without further approval from this board in addition to the reiteration of the state law our own policy 3204 requires that no change in the program or the instruction materials used shall be made without thorough public scrutiny and parental reaction I would like to thank my colleagues on PEC for the work that
106we've done to bring this alignment of our practice today for a vote and I'm hoping that the next move that PEC makes is the the the final part of our charge which gives um the opportunity to look at new curricul new um Community advisory committees that we might need thank you Miss Anderson Miss St John cunning would you like to speak to your second I would briefly um one of this one of the things this board has been attempting to do since I joined is to update and grapple with issues that have not been looked at in the past and to bring things into alignment some of these are difficult such as having a comprehensive boundary review when there hasn't been one in at least 40 years if not more some although May seem more
107mundane such as updating policies are just as important then others are more logical such as that aligning advisory committees to where they should be as my colleague just mentioned uh the this work has been going on for a year and realigning the Family Life education curriculum committee to match other curriculum committees just makes sense and is logical um so I would encourage all of my colleagues to um support this motion so that we can bring more more of the work that we're doing into alignment put it where it's supposed to be so that we can be effective uh with the work that we continue to do and I really applaud the work that this board has been doing so far and all of my colleagues for really grappling some issues that not throwing shade on
108other past boards but it's it's taken a lot of Courage for people to stand up and and do this work that we're doing and I'm proud to be part of a board that does this kind of work thank you Miss St joh cunning Dr Anderson um thank thank you just a quick question and then just a couple quick questions and then a couple of quick comments um one of the things that typically occurs um with this committee once recommendations are made um is that we typically have that period where there's feedback given will will there be any changes to that part if it's now a superintendent advisory committee Dr Reed I will I know uh Dr Presidio you've been providing I think this committee works out of ISD do you want to share how that
109currently is occurring yeah sure thank you for that question Dr Anderson so um we would not be proposing any changes to the community review period so typically um after the committee completes their recommendations those are posted online we have an opportunity for any community members uh to review the recommendations and provide written input um that is a 30 day review period we summarize all of that information and provide that to the board before uh the board would be asked to vote on any changes so that part will continue thank you that's correct um Mr Foster I think um when we were discussing the requirement for this committee or for this work to be reviewed can you share with us what the state requires for us to do in terms of reviewing this curriculum the uh
110the short answer is that um fleak is is not acquired by the Virginia code to be a Schoolboard committee um it may be a superintendent advisory committee thank you and how about the number of the the Cadence of the review of the C of the curriculum what is it for the other areas the Cadence for the statutory requirement is every seven years thank you and do you anticipate we'll get into that same Cadence with this um area yes ma'am I do okay thank and that would start if we vote tonight that will start like I guess they'll finish out their work this year at this point I have not made any kind of plans because I'm not sure what direction the board is to choose sure no I definitely understand that thank you for that
111um one of the other things that I want to say is thank you all for the work that you've put in this um as you all know for me the work that we do has to be transparent and clear to our public we have to explain to them why we're doing the things that we're doing and I'm glad we're able to do this with this measure tonight thank you thank you Dr Anderson the language is on the screen all those in favor of the motion Miss Marin miss Mr mine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss eore Heiser Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself opposed Mr Dunn the motion passes we will take a five minute break recess [Music] for board members please return to your seats board members please return
112to your seats [Music] for board members please return to your seats after this 17 minute 5 minute break all right we are back agenda item 6.01 performance review Financial Administration el6 monitoring report each year the school board assesses the superintendent in part on the basis of the school division's reasonable progress toward achieving the 2023 to 2030 strategic plans goals and adherence to a set 13 executive limitations found on pages 14 to 31 on the board strategic governance manual the superintendent provides annual monitoring reports to the board for each executive limitation the board then votes on whether the provided report is in compliance or if corrective action is needed I call on Dr Reid for a monitoring report on Executive limitation 6 Financial Administration Dr Reed thank you chairman FR members of the board and the
113public that are watching uh tonight I'll be presenting executive limitation 6 which discusses Financial Administration I also want to thank um those uh the directors from our finance office uh who are here this evening to provide support on this report we have um SEMA Arad our direct director com controller Lisa Edmonds our director of benefits Michelle Pratt our director of procurement and Melissa Russell our director for payroll as well as Alice witon executive director for Budget Services I thought I saw Matthew Norton as well here um another executive director for budgets or nope a director for budgets nope all right Matthew Norton all things budget all right Michelle what a budget Rockstar uh thank you Matthew for being here so um the school board's executive limitation number six is on the screen um please um
114anyhow at the time of the report I want to remind the board uh that to the best of my knowledge information and belief that we have gathered information and evidence that I believe supports compliance with the board's executive limitation associated with this topic and I'd like to share some of those highlights this evening I'm on slide three um thank you there are 12 areas of executive limitation six indicators 1 through 7 can be seen on this slide and the remaining items are on slide four which are thank you these are 8 through 12 before sharing new evidence related to this executive limitation I'm on Slide Five now please before sharing new evidence um I'd like to start by noting that within this executive limitation we actually do not anticipate large updates year-over-year because this is
115really a technical executive limitation and we do want to make sure that we have consistent Financial processes and procedures in place that really generally don't change year-over-year um these processes in fact shouldn't change frequently uh because we have really strong internal controls on our business proper uh processes these are primarily governed by what we call generally accepted accounting procedures and therefore most of the evidence in el6 is continuing evidence um it's important that this work is cyclical and that we have stable business uh processes that is generally a strength of a fiscal management uh process uh we do comply with state and federal regul ations uh to ensure transparency and accountability we also minimize risk including fraud and misuse of public funds and we provide clear audit uh Trails as well as long-term planning and
116decision-making although I will only this evening be sharing selected indicators the entire monitoring report is publicly posted and available on board dos so I'm going to continue on slide six with indicator two in that we administer all purchases in accordance with the Fairfax County Purchasing resolution uh and the board procurement policies in state and federal law in October of 2024 I want to remind the public that procurement Services implemented a standard contract approval and notification template this new template provided consistent details including but not limited to historical current and budgetary information contracts requiring approval during the summer recess when the school board does not meet will be submitted to the school board well in advance of the summer recess which will include a summary list of all the contracts as well as information detailing the
117negative impact should they not be approved during that time and we're making a sincere effort to minimize any contracts that might need approval during that time moving to indicator for eel um of this eel uh states that we ensure that payroll and legitimate debts of the division are promptly paid when due in the my paath HCM replacement project that FCPS uh is undergoing right now we know that the pay method will change and while there will be occurrences of leave without pay the employees hourly rate will now be consistent across all pay periods and this is huge um this has been something that's just been a real concern of our staff for many many many years so this will ameliorate that issue providing all leave balances upfront to employees reduce the instances of leave without
118pay from FY 23 to fy2 24 by 22% I'm really proud of our HR and business departments for doing this work what this means is that when employees are hired they're provided their leave upfront so that they're able to use it in a thoughtful way and not have to take leave without pay when they have actual leave moving to slide number eight eight and indicator six this is the one that says we will seek all state and federal funds to which the division is or may be entitled as part of this indicator I want to remind our public that the office of budget Services pursues all applicable grant opportunities the Department of Financial Services works with program managers to ensure that reimbursements are up to date for these grants and we continue to monitor the
119federal landscape for additional information and we'll continued to pursue all federal opportunities that align with our goals and strategic plan also Fairfax County Public Schools reconciles to the state budget at every stage of the budget process this reconciliation allows FCPS staff to identify a state data error that would have resulted in a 2.6 million reduction in state funding to FCPS had we not made VOE aware of the error allowing for correction and this is an example of the due diligence and detail focused work of our finance team I'm really proud of the work they do um in this uh student centered Mission driven work looking at indicator 7 highlights how we keep complete and accurate Financial records by fund categories and accounts in accordance with established fiscal accounting procedures as reflected in generally accepted accounting
120principles I'd like to share a few examples of this uh we have um The Association of school business officials and the governor's Finance Officers Association awards for financial reporting it was one of our Awards this year we also received the award for the Educational Employees supplementary retirement system pension plan for FY 2024 and the meritorious budget award and distinguished budget presentation award for the FY 2025 approved budget as well as a clean audit opinion for FY 2024 Financial stat statements and while these aren't new Awards we've received them before and while we've had clean audits before I think it's comforting to know that it's predictable that we have clean Audits and highly um awarded budget documents so looking at um indicator 11 this is the indicator that uh states that we publish a public and
121transparent annual report that indicates the financial health of the division including revenues expenditures and costs of major programs this transparent well we also have a transparency portal that allows the public to search financial data of Fairfax County Public Schools and allows users to search and view summary information about payments to specific vendors and budget versus actual expenditures finally an audited annual comprehensive financial report for each fiscal year is prepared annually Mr chairman that concludes the presentation for executive limitation number six Financial Administration thank you Dr Reed I call on Miss Anderson for a motion I move that the school board finds that the superintendent is in compliance with executive limit just is in compliance with executive limitation number six Financial Administration I further move that the school board approve the monitoring report based on the
122superintendent's reasonable interpretation of a executive limitation number six Financial Administration as outlined in the Strategic governance manual is there a second Dr Anderson you're the second oh second all right uh Miss Anderson would you like to speak to your motion I as as we've been saying as you said this is is more functional in terms of just how our systems work so I know that we have some other things that we need to work on in terms of updating some policies that related to this but it is really kind of just keeping the keeping everything moving so I'm happy to support this Dr Anderson would you like to speak to your second yes I'd like to just kind of make my comments and ask my questions here thank you um couple of things that I
123really wanted to highlight and I I don't know you must have looked at my paper because I literally wrote huge next to it and you mentioned that in your comments um one being the um summer recess expenditures having that done early and so that we don't butt up against the issues that we've had um in the past few years and secondarily is the equalization of pay across um the months because that has been I've talked about it with with you so many times that has been such a burden on our staff who cannot find a consistent or they can't rely on a consistent payment plan outside of you know all of the issues that have um existed uh one of the inquiries that I had is regarding the transparency piece and very grateful for that
124showing up because I know that's one of the points that I've been raising quite a bit as well because our community it's a big budget they want to know what's in it but it's hard for them to navigate that big book and I I see the fund there I see the list and I was able to play around on the transparency side a little bit so I think that's uh a really useful tool but I'm wondering will there be an expansion of it because there's some questions that I know have been asked regarding how we're spending our funds that don't seem to live here so um I will I know that we're continuing to work on building out um aspects of our website and I think if there is more functionality that we desire from
125the trans uh transparency portal we certainly can look at that I'll speak with our chief finance officer Lee Burton about that I'll send you a couple of things because there are some things that I know I get a lot of questions about but overall I I'm um very happy to support this thank you thank you Dr Anderson Mr Dunn hi um I would like to ask ask about the summer contracts list because that's mentioned in the presentation um last year as you may recall U the summer contracts list added up to you know five six seven billion dollars um and then it turned out it wasn't that um so I wanted to ask you know what improvements have been made so that we can actually have insight into the contracts that will need to be
126approved in the brief four to six week time period between our July meeting and our first August meeting yes sir um last year as you note as you noted the full value of multi-year contracts was calculated when really what we were looking for in most cases was a simple annual renewal which is a far smaller figure so this year the commitment is we're going to have that information to you much sooner much clearer uh with a tight summary for each and really as we plan ahead cyclewise our hope is to have fewer and fewer of those that are even necess necessary at that time during the year um so the team is like they have a pin in that and we're ready to do that in a much tighter fashion great um you mentioned that
127you're providing leave balances up front can you elaborate on that and and how much leave is being provided upfront to FCPS employees yes sir uh back in 2022 which seems a long time ago but uh I recall when I actually entered the School Division I think it was along about November when I checked kind of a leave balance and realized I would think I was getting a a day a month or something like that and I thought well how interesting uh because we had we were hearing um at the same time we were hearing from staff who were new to the school division um often times somebody who actually just moved here to the area could be a military spouse or it could have been somebody transferring for a variety of reasons who may or
128may not have either small children or Elder Care responsibilities or just got sick and we weren't pre-loading their leave so we only allowed certain a little bit of leave each month so if you got if you had something you had to be away for in October or November then what would happen is if you only had three days but you needed to be gone five you'd have to take two days without pay even if you never took another day the rest of the year and I believe we have 10 each year but I'm M Miss Russell 14 thank you Mr Russell 14 days each year so now we changed our practice in the fall of 23 believe it was the fall of 23 and and our team was great about this we saw a need
129we heard about it in employee conversations actually and we're very responsive so now those 14 days are front loaded so that um people who need them earlier in their first year can use them and not have to take leave without pay um I also want to just add ask uh I I recall that there was uh Miss Burton uh last summer and had promised that there would be uh an an an announcement or description of the new maternity paternity leave policy and I believe it was said to be put in place this past July but I don't know if I ever saw anything in a Friday letter so if you might in the next Friday letter just explain what our policy is how it changed and um I'm hoping that we have generous paternity maternity
130leave benefits because we have a younger Workforce and that can be a differentiator when we're competing not just based on salary but based on benefits and I know that might be negotiated but just trying to understand where we are compared to where we were yes sir we did up the benefits and um I'll make sure we have um an update for you thank you um I'm also uh wondering uh the clean audit is that an audit by uh ogag or is that by an accounting firm yes sir I'm going to defer to um our comproller um SEMA would you like to come on up here quickly and uh share actually The Firm because I know there's a specific firm name so we get an annual audit by a third-party um firm Cherry beckard is our
131auditor we partner with FX County government so every year we have an audit and the Auditors come and give us an audit so this is separate from ogag who does internal audits on us um throughout the year different departments we also have Federal audits State audit audits but we keep getting audited yes we are a very audit Rich environment and and I I I think uh for the public it is important to understand that is um a success metric because there are federal agencies like the Department of Defense that have been required by law to be audited for many years but have never been able to successfully pass an audit so the fact that FCPS uh obtains a clean audit is is a sign of um prudent uh fiscal measures that have been enacted I
132want to ask um most Summers we have a carryover of around $100 million per year is that reflective of reserves that have been enacted based on this presentation you talk about maintaining a certain Reserve um or is that um a reflection that we are just not very good at estimating our potential costs it's actually a reflection in recent years we've had a slightly larger year end balance because we've had more Grant dollars with the eser dollars the postco relief you're going to see fewer and fewer dollars at year end as we move forward and this will be the first year we've had no Esther dollars because it all had to be encumbered or expended uh by the end of September of this year so we're going to get back to sort of a more normalized
133if you will uh year end and and in the context of uh Financial Administration we have uh we're living in a the context of you know the US Department of Education possibly uh going away or being substantially uh modified in terms of both grants and and funding including for School meals I read about um the USDA program to allow schools to buy uh food from local farmers and such uh is is uh being cut back or eliminated so can you uh just advise um you know for for the public what measures we're putting in place to ensure that you know in the worst case scenario that we can um still be able to deliver a worldclass education for all children well thank you Mr Don I we are watching very closely what's happening um at
134the federal level it's very disturbing I think and alarming for many staff as we see key offices that we interact with um no longer open or no longer accessible so I think that as you know we receive roughly $168 million in federal f funding um 68 million of which is um generally our food right and our food services uh which as we have 68,000 children on free and reduced lunch um in not to mention all of our young people who benefit from the fresh fruit and vegetable grants uh that's a significant part of our operation and we're very concerned about that and have to believe that our federal Partners car is deeply as we do about making sure our children have nutritious food the remainder of our federal funding is primarily around idea um and
135funding for special programs as well as Title One and um those are also concerning and so we're monitoring Staffing positions and any type of purchases within those grants as we watch um the federal action very closely and and $168 million just for the public is what percentage roughly of our total budget for year oh I don't know if we've done Matthew it's in the 5% of our budget range is so our residents should feel assured that yeah less than 5% so so our resident should feel assured that uh schools uh will be impacted to some degree and particularly in the areas you mentioned but they'll still be able to be U confident that the schools will be open teachers will still be there and students will still be learning our schools will remain open because
136uh that's a Missi driven value here in Fairfax County Public Schools I will say that um if funding for idea or Title One were to be compromised the school experience would look very different uh but schools would be open thank you thank you Mr dun Miss Dixit thank you for the presentation Dr Reed um my question was about the grants program uh it is on the page uh eight I believe so the office of budget Services pursues all applicable grant opportunities um I just wanted to get a little bit of higher level understanding of the how the grant program work and how much of the time and uh man I think resources we are allocating in that and with the changing landscape in Federal grounds grant program um what are the other ideas to get
137some other grants well I you know the types of Grants like the and again ballpark 50 million-ish for title one which funds extra supports for 51 of our schools and um the idea monies which supports special supports uh for students who have an IEP I think that there aren't a lot of other grants out there we currently pursue every state Grant available to us and monitor those we pursue every Federal grant available to us and uh we pursue private grants to the degree they are available and those are often partnership grants uh but they don't come anywhere close to the uh scope and magnitude of the federal grants for the specific purposes we're talking about uh so we are not applying for a mini grants so to speak well many grants for example our educa
138Fairfax our foundation staff apply to many grants for school-based or classroom based grants um we're always applying you know for Grants whether it's for um electric buses we've applied for Grants fresh food and vegetable um is a separate Grant separate from the federal school lunch program um I could provide in our upcoming Friday letter a list of really all of the types of Grants that we're applying for there's just I don't know that there are grants with that same scope and focus currently that the major federal grants provide yeah I'd be curious to know if there any um grants for STEM related um activities especially when we are trying to do that in every Elementary School uh after school activity um you know stem special uh I would like to see if there any Grand
139options um opportunities out there we can apply for um the other thing I you you had mentioned about the new uh Pro uh there's a for Contracting right procurement there's a new system um could you please uh elaborate on that I'm just checking the page is a standard contract approval and notification template um what is the it's because it's new I would like to learn a little bit about it yeah no I I agree and we've um we find that this is really helping us streamline and be more efficient in our grants so or our procurement so we have Michelle Pratt here that can answer that question sure uh back in October we started a using a new template the template is what is attached to each agenda item for contracts that are going to
140be approved so uh consent agenda tonight has five contracts attached to each agenda item is the new template it's a two-page document it again provides some historical Uh current spend information any notable terms and conditions that we think the board the public might need to be aware of um renewal information strategic plan goal alignment all of those things are provided for every single contract approval as well as every single contract notification that comes in the Friday letter this this was an adjustment we made after last year's uh summer contract list discussion right because there was a lot of question about well why this contract why now so it's really excited that our contract Department put together this two page document for each of you for every single contract um and as uh Miss Pratt shared
141you have that even this evening right for contracts and um it comes in the Friday letter ahead so you have time to read it so we're really trying to be very transparent about all the conditions of each contract that you're approving so just out of curiosity how much of uh contracts we do in a year how many U task actions do how many contracts do we award in a year um it's in the neighborhood of 120 to 140 annually and they're most of them are multi-year contracts so they would be in place for you know three to five years okay all right uh thank you know things have um definitely like you said have improved a lot in that uh uh information about the contract because uh when we come in and um this presentation
142shows that we are doing really good with all accounting process and you have a great teams and my name sake SAA thank you so I appreciate uh this presentation Dr re thank you thank you and I I will say Miss Burton has assembled a finance Dream Team it's a it's a real pleasure having them support our budget yes I I agree with that too thank you thank you Miss Dixit Miss Marin yeah I appreciate all this and I'm particularly happy to see about the contracts in the summer and we're going to get ahead of that this year um so this is not going to be a new topic but I I do want to discuss that there are a number of policies that I know are owned by the board but that drive your work
143that are not in compliance and so um when you're when the report references these policies and they're out of date um you know and this has happened with other situations like our facilities it's hard to evaluate what's you know really up to up to par so um I I am going to work on in the weeks and months ahead and I'm welcome working with my colleagues having the reports include a status of where our policies are and I know that you're working with governance and we're figuring it out and that's great but um I think it's important that we have the policies listed that drive this work because if it's referencing policies that are defunct and out of dat then how it's hard for me to evaluate you know the the quality of the work
144at this time so um so I did want to clarify believe it's just the 5,000 series uh policies I don't know if it's any additional ones but you know like I said in the future I think the El report should have a space where we're we're tracking that for us so um that's what I wanted to relay and because this is like my thing I'm not going to vote in compliance today thank you okay thank you m Marin Dr Anderson yes just one question I know we talked about this in another Forum where I I understand Miss Dixon had asked for a list of grants that we may be engaging in but I also had asked previously for a list of other um Federal funding that we receive outside of the big ones um some
145of the smaller ones I believe one that came up during that conversation was um the EV grant for um electric buses but I know that there's some others that we may not be aware of outside of the titles and of course Ida impact Aid could that list be called together and be provided in a Friday letter we could definitely provide that list again absolutely because I will also be helpful in terms of responding to the community and I'm glad that Mr Dunn raised some of those questions because we are receiving them quite a bit like what does it mean and the events of this week have been also pretty significantly worrisome to so many in our community because they want to have confidence that our school experience is going to continue as it is but
146I think it will be helpful to have that information thank you Dr Anderson all right we will go to a vote for the motion that is on the screen all those in favor Miss Dixit Mr mine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss eore Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St Don cunning and myself opposed Miss Marin uh the motion passes all right agenda item 7.01 policy review Financial Administration el6 the next order of business is the policy review for el6 financial Administration annually the board will review each executive limitation at the time the monitoring report is provided to determine if revisions are needed board members may offer amendments to Executive limitations at any regular meeting provided they send a final Amendment language to the board and clerk at least 48 hours in
147advance of the meeting at which is is to be considered at this time no Amendments have been submitted in advance of this meeting but board members May provide comments uh on el6 financial Administration before uh the vote um I call on Miss Anderson for a motion I move that the school board maintains executive limitation six Financial Administration as it's currently detailed in the Strategic governance manual is there a second Dr Anderson the motion is on the screen all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dix Mr mine Dr Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson miss Mr Moon miss lady Miss seore Heiser and myself abent or OPP opposed abstentions how do you vote I did oh sorry it's one of those days all right will the clerk read the vote I'm sorry we were trying to
148get the accurate motion on on the screen because it's not the correct one can we please redo that vote should be 7.01 there we go we'll try this one more time for the mo motion that is on the screen all those in favor Miss Maron Miss Dixit Mr movine Dr Anderson Mr McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that's unanimous for board members present all right thank you Dr Reid agenda item 8.01 academic matters I call on Dr Reed for academic matters thank you chairman frish and this evening I am thrilled to present academic matters around career and transition Services um the FCPS career and transition Services Program provides services and supports that prepare students uh who've had an IEP to transition to a variety of
149post-secondary options um and we're going to explore that this evening in terms of the services and opportunities uh for both classroom and work-based learning um options so as we look at this program it's important to note that every high school in Fairfax County Public Schools has at least one employment and transition representative who is responsible for working directly with families and students and provides input to the transition plan in the IAP and provides support and training relevant to students transitioning there are 47 employment and transition Representatives who serve our students across Fairfax County Public Schools additionally Fairfax County Public Schools has two Career Centers that serve students across the county these centers are open to students between ages 18 and 22 and they offer students a supported employment setting and students spend time both at
150the workplace and in the classroom developing workplace skills and independent living skills work-based learning is a key component of the uh career transition prog the career and transition service program and the business and Community Partners make it possible for FCPS students to explore career Pathways and increase student access to Real World work-based Learning experiences this program partners with more than 350 local businesses annually to provide Community work experiences and highlights of this work-based learning uh where students this year are uh engaged in workplace workplace learning development we have a partnership with the US Geological Survey to provide work experience for step students that include cataloging data digitizing records and identifying and tagging features in geographic information systems with precision and reliability as a result our students have been listed as co-authors on Publications and data
151releases in some of the USGS student interns have found employment post program either with USGS or or other organizations a partnership between the CTS and CVS is hosting 36 student internships this year through um Watt and efo the CVS has committed to providing work experience Stu to students with IEPs with a focus on retail health and wellness we also have Frying Pan Farm Park annually host CTS student interns through the step program which allows students to explore agriculture and animal Sciences by learning and working on the working farm properly alongside trained professionals a partnership with weird Brothers Coffee a small Business Partnership host student interns through the Watt and step programs to Foster workplace Readiness skills by engaging students in all aspects of running a business student interns at the pulley career center learn to
152use a t-shirt press to make apparel for the school store this is an example of school-based Enterprise where students build and develop commu customer service skills practice financial literacy and learn about Supply Chain management the work awareness and transition or what class um are fulfilling produce orders at a local Community Food Bank practicing sorting stocking and inventory control skills we really appreciate our business and Community uh Partners in this work as we look at slide four please uh we have post-secondary planning is another key component of our CTS program beginning at age 14 or grade eight students with I APS work on formal transition and post-secondary planning by working with their IEP team to write a transition plan this serves as the foundation for instruction and coursework during their secondary school years our students families
153and school teams work with agency and Community Partners to provide stud students with the resources they require to successfully transition to Life After High School some key highlights include CTS moving on to life in the community resource Fair also students at Davis and pulley Career Centers learn important life and workplace Readiness skills through the career Pathways I discussed on the last slide we also have FCPS job coaches and students in the work awareness and transition classes receive support from their employment transition Representatives through opportunities like School stores as well as uh where they learn customer service money handling stocking inventory and much more um also they uh can access courses such as jrc and criminal justice through the academy programs and may receive additional support from Academy resource teachers as part of their IEP on
154the next slide uh our CTS program work hard or our staff work hard to provide access uh for FCPS students to explore college and trade and Technical School opportunities the career and transition staff work closely with all staff in their building including the career and college Specialists School counseling teams and other staff to provide multiple opportunities and access to exploring and applying directly to two and foure colleges as desired students with disabilities enrolled in Academy courses have access to attend job shadowing uh field trips with support from Academy resource teachers again FCPS and Northern Virginia Community College partnered to host an annual event called Nova Vision which is an orientation to the college experience for students with disabilities as well as other opportunities throughout the year this orientation to the college experience is provided by
155Nova and includes presentations from the office of accommodations and accessibility Services counseling services a mock Nova classroom experience for students and a Nova student panel with Q&A sessions additionally FCPS and Northern Virginia Community College offer multiple opportunities through the community per school year for students interested in attending Nova and to learn more about available options flashforward is an event designed to provide students seeking a standard or Advanced diploma in their families an introduction to options available after high school so that is um academic matters this evening chairman frish thank you Dr Reed Mr McDaniel just real quick um there's another program that I wanted to call out that's relatively new to the system I think about a year and a half maybe um but that's our partnership with the Economic Development Authority the think big
156for kids program oh right yes so I just wanted to make sure that they got a shout out and say thank you uh for their partnership where they identify businesses to help go into schools and kind of provide that bridge um and that uh real Hands-On uh perspective to our our students so uh shout out to the Eda thank you thank you Mr McDaniel Mr Dunn thank you uh I wanted to ask um these are wonderful programs and to what extent are they potentially impacted by the current um potential reductions uh in federal funding well the transition services are certainly a category of services that the department of educ ation does fund so it is again a body of money or a funding source that we're watching very closely because it certainly has been one
157of those funding sources that has been named as um possibly at risk is it the principal funding source for these uh programs it would not be the Full Source but it's certainly a significant Source do you know roughly the ballpark percentage that comes from the federal government I can get that for you and have it for the Friday letter that that would be great um those are all the questions I have thank you Mr Dunn Miss seore Heiser thank you and I appreciate the presentation I appreciate my colleague asking those questions that was one of my questions I also wanted to mention what would be the impact or maybe additions we may need to do if what's in the County's budget continues which is the removal of the three filled positions that um of the
158three staff members who specifically work to help CPS students transition as well as the loss of the self-directed funds um and you may not have that answer now that's okay but I think it's something that we need to think about as we're looking at our transition programming is what the impact of that what that may be yes ma'am and I with the loss of those positions it certainly would impact the programming yeah I think that's important the other thing I wanted to ask and again if you don't have the answers today that's okay um I appreciate including sort of all the various options we have I'd love to know how many students are in all of these programs because we mentioned you know the step programs the um Davis and pulley of course which we've
159talked about a lot we mentioned wat EF efo um I wonder how many students they actually serve Vice how many students have IEPs so I think that uh yes ma'am we will get that data Dr precidio do you have a sense of that I'm sensing not so I we will get the numbers uh to you by tomorrow evening probably about 500 I believe Davis and pulley last I checked the numbers have about 300 and there's a some few more in the step programs and Watney F and efo but versus 27,000 I APS in that 18 to 22 year old range well so some of these are W EF and efo are not for the 18 22 year old they in high school but 27 on total IEPs I think graduating seniors is I want to
160say 1800 is but I'm not positive so just when you have a chance to bet it'd be good to do that comparison right of how many students are we serving in each year 18 to 22 um but it'd be good to do the comparison in high school right like how many do we have in high school that are accessing transition programs and how many are we identifying that could benefit from transition programming because it's not just who are those who are here 18 to 22 are only the ones that have already been identified for these programs the identification takes place in high school so that would be in to some extent should take place in middle school as p possible pathways so it' be good to kind of get that sense of at least how
161many IEPs we have in high school versus how many end up in any of these programs yes ma'am I'll have that in the Friday letter tomorrow evening and we have our family Summit formerly our special education Summit or special education conference on Saturday so uh I'll make sure I have those numbers for you thank you the other question I have too is um around what the curriculum is for w EF and efo because I don't know when the last time that curriculum was updated um as well as the um implementation the Fidelity of implementation oversight and as well as the requirements as to whether all high schools must offer at least one of those or within a region how are those decided to be offered in any particular high school because I don't believe they're
162required to be offered so I think th those are great questions because we've just been reviewing if you will our division wide course catalog and what is the backbone versus what's optional so um I will make sure we yeah that information I asked that cuz I wonder instead of offering three different ones what e and efo whether there's a way to sort of have a more robust curriculum because otherwise you're you're siloing an already siloed group right like efo was originally designed for office that's what the O is for right and my understanding is W versus EF was was aiming at different work places or work skills but I'm not sure the clarity of how well that's understood so I think getting some background information might be helpful so and what the curriculum is for
163each of those programs and how much support is given to the teachers in finding work sit sites and all of those pieces of it would be really helpful to know as we're looking at our transition programming um and also I find it interesting where the step programs are located because there's two Davis is at maroy but there's South Lakes and chantilla kind on that the other side and mount vs on the South Side there's really not much in the center of the county that's correct I wonder if it comes back to facilities um but again that's something we'll be taking a look at in our boundary work so I appreciate I appreciate the questions just as we're looking at equital access to programming I think that's an important piece as well so schools don't kids
164students don't have very long commutes to be able to access those programs I think I heard my time but I wasn't sure okay I apologize it's a new sound thank you Miss seiser Heiser Miss Dixit thank you Dr Reed for this exciting presentation again um this academic matters always excite us um I wanted to ask about um what is our relationship with the industry in terms of curriculum design um I was in a seminar at conference and and the Intel Corporation was one of the speakers and they were working with the school Division and basically saying that we will come and co-design a program which actually leads to the job in the industry so basically that's a um basically industry driven uh you know curriculum design which uh especially in semiconducting Industry I think there's
165a need there uh and a real uh shortage so something I don't know if we have looked into it's a great idea when you think about design thinking and program delivery models um I think that uh we certainly have work to do in partnering with that but I would love to to see if I can get contact information from you on Who provided that session yes uh because I think uh that's the answer right we want to be a have a match for our young people as they uh work to develop skills to match um employability skills particularly in high need um in high yield Fields yes uh correct and my second question is uh actually for our did Department uh that we have so many students and techn interest in technology and then getting
166certificat ations and but uh and we have a really Advanced I should say FCPS are really highly um like ahead of curve it department so we should use this again as a collaboration between our students getting more in on the hands like on the job training uh I know there's internship but uh there is only few students who can get to the internship but if we could you know do more on that front as well yes ma'am uh Mr sey you want to comment on that yeah as as those mentioned we certainly do summer internships because students currently don't get credit for the internships it's more of Hands-On experiences we also as you may remember offer um the corsera program which allows you to get industry certifications as micr credentials we can certainly dig in
167deeper and partner up with instruction to see if we can bring in newer programs which can help from a credit perspective yeah and some more like some of the you know we call talk about how our some of our older system Legacy systems are getting um you know we need to modernize some of our systems like uh uh Facilities Management has one and we can use our inhome programmers working with dit and working with the facilities and and just come up with their own unique system like you know maybe homegrown uh system of our we don't have to pay millions of dollar to an external company for that then so and it will be just be a great uh experience for students I I believe so maybe a pilot to do that so I'm I'm
168trying to see where actually there's a need and we are actually training the students and getting into the job market they're their future ready basically so these are just my ideas and uh would love to talk more about that later yes ma'am I look forward to that um and the companies and local business I listen tonight uh we're more in the uh work-based learning model and I think uh expanding that uh certainly makes a lot of sense so I look forward to that thank you thank you Miss Dix Miss seore Heiser I know you're shocked um one last point I wanted to mention is I'm wondering if we have done any audits of the transition IEP starting especially um the earlier ones when students are 14 and I say that because that then directly the
169transition IEPs are supposed to then tie to the goals which are supposed to then tie to helping um understand if students should access any of these um transition programs or workplace learning programs in high school so it would be good to see that through line or at least an AUD of that through line of how those goals are developed because I I have lots of thoughts um and then how those are tied to IEP goals which is what is supposed to happen and then how that is then translated to the etrs helping students to know what the options are and also helping us tailor the options with the variety of job sites as Miss Dixit was mentioning right um whether it's internal or external that might then help tie to the actual transition goals that
170were set so there's that through line right between the goal to the IEP goals to work on the skills and knowledge needed for that goal to the workplace learning opportunities that may match those goals because right now I don't know if those are working together I think they're a little bit siloed right and I especially I think when we look at workplace opportunities how well are we looking at a variety that could then tie to those goals that's a question that you don't need to answer tonight but something to think about as we're working on our transition programming yes ma'am I uh made a note and we'll take a look at doing that audit so we have something to talk about uh as a baseline yeah and I think that might even help understand maybe
171the breadth of skills we should be teaching in these programs programs right it's beyond laundry coffee carts and stores what are the skills we can teach so we can help the students as best as possible have those experiences to get to those goals yes ma'am thank you thank you Miss seiser Heiser and thank you Dr Reid agenda item 8.02 strategic Plan update Dr Reed thank you chairman frish uh and members of the board as a reminder to our public each month we share an update on our work around the Strate strategic plan to highlight uh the efforts of our staff and students uh in this important work so this evening we are going to take a look at goal four which is what we're going to be uh addressing at our next meeting this month
172and one of the measures within this goal includes a focus on accessibility to extracurricular activities and this uh this school year I want to remind the board uh that we've expanded our offerings by boys volleyball and girls wrestling and these have been added to the list of high school Sports after we approved uh support for that last year and this follows the addition of winter cheer which returned a year ago and I want to say too even though I'm not profiling winter cheer this evening uh I was recently at a Justice high school basketball game and our I was with our principal Mr Rolan and his team and they had 82 winter chair members I've never seen a squad quite that large uh that they were a hype Squad and they traded off sitting in
173the bleachers cheering and cheering on the floor and it was exciting to see 82 young people feeling such a part of the energy in that gym that night so whether you were playing or cheering in the crowd or as a fan it just it was a great Community Building uh evening so I want to uh highlight the quote on slide three U that's on the screen and I just think this is so important as we think about the mental health situation we have in our country today for our young people and the absolute positive impact of these out-of-class activities on the development of our young people it's critical and when you think about this this is such a proactive preventive measure uh for mental health uh and achievement and just truly a well-lived and loved
174life uh participation in extracurriculars can be linked to consistent attendance academic achievement postsecondary success increased well-being and a decreased likelihood of risky Behavior so let me highlight our fall volleyball Sport and as you know last year about this time we still had people coming and requesting uh us to make sure we uh manage this we had 440 uh student athletes participating and both mlan high school and Oakton High School Advanced to the vhsl uh class six tournament uh I want to say with great pride um that boys volleyball began with all TW all 25 high schools participating with a varsity team and I think this board has made such a point of saying it's Excellence equity and opportunity we were not going to start this program with some schools and not all schools so I
175think uh props to this board for insisting on that and it's made a difference for uh our athletes across the entire County there have been schools that did not traditionally have full gyms or Championship programs that for the first time had undefeated teams for a large part of the Season it was just a lot of excitement so um want to think about also girls wrestling that has been really thrilling to see get going this year I've attended a lot of those uh matches as well we had 239 girls participating and again was offered at all 25 high schools we had 151 girls compete in the regional Zone qual qualifier while 29 Advanced to the vhsl Open Championship and we're thrilled with the success in a first year program at this time let's take a closer
176look at these Sports in action so Madame clerk please play the video [Music] new this school year Fairfax County Public Schools began offering varsity boys volleyball and varsity girls wrestling as vhsl sponsored activities anytime the Virginia High School league offers activities as a school district we want to be able to offer those opportunities to our students varsity boys volleyball teams hit the court in the fall season and players from mlan Oakton and West Springfield went on to be chosen to Virginia High School league class six Allstate teams all 25 high schools were able to field a varsity team this year the numbers of students coming out were very good and they were able to have a a great competitive season all my friends were telling me Oh you got to play volleyball you got to
177play volleyball and like I was really excited about it because I was like I was really happy to play representing the school it brings me like a lot of Pride and Joy yeah same for me I was really excited because uh we have a lot of great guys out here the team's really great to me it was just very exciting having like people around me who want to play the same sport want to get that win everyone having so much fun everyone watching but it feels even better that we could have the future Generations have fun and represent the school a winter sport varsity girls wrestling was initially offered by the Virginia High School league as an emerging sport in 2022 Rising participation by girls in co-ed wrestling programs led to the vhsl introduction of
178a state tournament for girls wrestling right now we're in the middle of the girls wrestling season and we have seen explosive growth in that sport with the amount of um girls that have come out for that I would say definitely for me it's really great cuz I started and everything was co-ed so there was never really like a place for girls in our own so now that it's our like our own sport more respected and we get more opportunities wrestling like any team sport it brings that camaraderie together and uh the girls are really buying into it and that's that's great day I think it's definitely nice to have a girls team because it's just a different Dynamic like it's to have other girls on the team oh it's amazing I wasn't the best at
179sports but when I joined wrestling like I really flourish and I feel more confident well I think wrestling is a really special sport because it teaches so much mentally because it's just you and one other person out there and you have to have confidence within yourself and I think having confidence to go and rest with somebody else has helped me have more confidence in like the classroom and in other events being able to control your emotions and your stress has been really helpful to learn especially as a young person the push to bring varsity boys volleyball and varsity girls wrestling to FCPS was a Grassroots effort in which student advocacy played a large part as a kid it's very very monumental that like I can get adults and like all these big people that has
180like a lot of power uh to like listen to us and for them to actually listen and accept it it was just truly grateful for it I couldn't be more prder to compete for my school I love the school of my team and I'm really just really dedicated to this team hey Excellence equity and opportunity yeah I uh I've gotten to know some of the uh volleyball players and some of the young women competing and the coaches and it's as a board you've got to feel good about the experience of a large number of young people um that looked pretty darn um excited and engaged so that would be our strategic Plan update thank you Mr Moon thank you Mr uh thank you Mr chairman it's a great great report about volleyball and wrestling I
181just love it uh you know when we when we do a great job somehow but both members still ask you to do even better job by asking you uh whether we have a desire and capacity to accommodate freshman team JB teams if you're referring to um JB teams for boys volleyball um we've already okayed that I met with high school principls and said we're going to do that next year um we have more than enough Boys in most schools and enough uh in all schools and the gym time is being used so yes we've made that commitment and the girls wrestling doesn't have a JV but we're you know keeping the girls that turn out so yes sir we've made that step all right excited thank you so much yes sir thank you Mr Moon
182Dr Anderson thank you I remember when boys volleyball was here many many moons ago and it was only in a handful of schools and that was not Equitable so this has been fantastic the games have just been Baron awesome but I would be remiss if I didn't leave this conversation with some advocacy for girls flag football because that's a thing that I would love to see us be able to offer for our girls and it's women's month and it's all of those things so this is a good time for you to tell us that this is going to be on the radar very soon I can say that I have had a recent meeting uh Tom Horn and I uh had a recent meeting where uh that topic is being discussed and the commanders and
183Divas the Washington divas and Washington commanders um are looking uh for some partnership opportunities and so are we uh we've been talking about it with our dsas um for girls flag football for a fall sport it will be it's it's currently a scholarship sport for women and there are a number of women that are uh accessing those scholarships and when we talk about Equity um I think it's important flight football's also planned as an Olympic sport in 28 uh as women's wrestling is currently so I think um you can uh I I don't want to have a spoiler alert tonight but I think it's very likely that we're moving in that direction for this fall I'm super excited I also played FL football so this is a little bit near and dear to my heart
184yeah um oh shoot there was another point that I wanted to make but I I can't remember but this is very exciting and I I just love to see that our kids are connecting more and more I'm hoping that we're keeping Good Records in terms of how many of our kids are participating and being connected and having something for our kids who not who are not accessing the sports or the theater or the debates or all of those other things um because we still need to capture that group yes ma'am and I this year also a current initiative is making sure we have speech and debate accessible at all high schools so it's not just Athletics we're adding but I think what this board has said to me that I am very clearly cognizant of
185is we're not starting things in some places when we start them it's as a school system not a system of school so I think that's the drive right now that works out and the last thing that I wanted to say I just just remembered it it it's really was impactful to hear what that student shared regarding coming up here and talking to what he said big people or important people I think he I'm me that you're important I think just to to actually advocate for something and seeing it happen I I was very glad to see them make that connection that their voice really matters and can definitely move the needle on things so thank you for including that in the video yes ma'am and I I think one of the things that the Young
186uh the young men who advocated learned a year ago is we said we're not starting it till everyone has a program so Network connect you know work to do that and they did and they came back within the timeline that was set for them and then we kept our commitments so I just think it's a good civics lesson as well in keeping commitments thank you Miss Anderson so I am lucky enough to know many of the the students that were here advocating for volleyball so I was I took great joy in in visiting as many of the games um as I could this fall at South County specifically um but I just wanted to say one of the coolest things that I see on the volleyball court that's different than other sports is when when
187kids make a mistake they take the immediate ownership of the mistake and then all their teammates come around them to kind of like lift them up and that is something that you don't see in other sports and so I I think that it's such such a positive um thing that we've done I mean you see like team camaraderie but it's a little different on the on the volleyball court for some reason and so it was just really awesome to watch so I also think that it's an amazing opportunity for kids to see their advocacy go turn into something and I look forward to seeing the possibility for um girls flag football thank you Miss Anderson Miss Dixit Dr Reed I'm just just going to take a little joy out of this uh I would like
188to challenge my fellow Schoolboard members to play a friendly game of volleyball on one of those new courts and the opposing team would be fairfest County's school um staff okay everybody you're out of order this is Miss Dix this is Miss Dix's time what's left of it okay I Okay so this is no serious like let's do one game we are always doing serious work but this is exciting we should um play at least a game of volleyball and the other thing I wanted to say is uh about uh the wrestling um it is such a such a great sport for women I cannot even say these girls who are playing do doing wrestling they's become going to become such great Road mod Road model because it's a mental game and it's also um it's
189a mental game but it's also with strength so um I just want to see more and more girls participating in wrestling and um FCPS is like one of the best uh School District in the whole country to have uh the biggest uh wrestling um Team hopefully than thank you so that's all I sent said Thank you thank you Miss Dixit thank you Miss Dixit make sure that's wiped from the minutes Mr dun yeah I I I don't know if I can agree with my colleague suggestion there but um uh I wanted to ask uh I believe if I'm not misre Mis recollecting that uh Dr Ed you've said that uh crew is the primary source or the most popular Source or the biggest source of scholarship money is that right crew is the number one
190scholarship sport for women in the country okay so I guess given that um is there any consideration to having FCPS sponsor women's crew teams um because right now where it exists it exists only in a private capacity and I know I've had constituents express interest in participating in crew and I think you might remember um one student from one high school who wasn't able to participate in the crew team at the other high school and that's you know problematic right um that uh student might have been able to win scholarships if if enabled to participate so um just wanted to see if that's something that's under discussion at all yes sir it is Mr Horn's working with vasra uh which is the governing body for crew in Virginia and it's really our intent to have
191crew available at every school in the county very shortly and and would that be uh I mean crew as a private sport can be very expensive and and thus exclusive to all students and so is there uh an approach that's under discussion to allow all students of all income levels to participate yes sir okay thank you thank you Mr dun Miss seore Heiser very quickly I will take that challenge because that sounds like a lot of fun um but um very quickly I wanted to say one thing I I really appreciate you saying that we're not going to have things at certain schools and not at other schools two things one let's hopefully make sure that includes the secondary schools I know some of those are challenges with Middle School sports but I also wanted
192to mention that you may want to look at Winter Guard because my understanding is that winter guard is at some school and not other schools and so something to think of and if you Winter Guard so if he color guard with the with the flags during the marching band season there are some schools that then have that color guard do competitions and routines during the winter time Winter Garden if you don't think that's a sport try tossing those things around uh yeah I'm teasing you but yeah is you know um and some schools have that wintergard experience that then gets the students to really want to come back and that connection other schools don't so just something to put on your radar to look at if we're going to have Winter Guard perhaps at all
193the schools we should look at Winter Guard yes ma'am I'll do a checkin on Winter Guard thank you Miss Lady under the buzzer thank you speaking of wintergard um I just want to uh uplift um it is amazing but I will tell you um I I am incredibly proud of the work that you are doing to ensure that our directors of Student Activities are directors of Student Activities and not directors of Athletics and I bring this up because when I was the supervisor Performing Arts at chantilli um I got no help finding gym space for my winter guard for my color guard um I didn't appreciate that I mean it was just dismissed um there's fees there's fees charged to use elementary schools and other gyms because we only have one large gym right so
194um there's layers to this that need to be addressed because I do agree just with speech and debate all of these opportunities they speak to a unique group of kids uh all of our kids have gifts all of them have talents uh it's our job to create the opportunity for them to Showcase that and for them to you know really uh flourish inside and outside the classroom um so I bring that up and and hopefully that's something that we can we can work on or you can look more deeply into but their gym time is just as important as a sports team thank you yes ma'am thank you Miss Lady uh finishing up really loved the video the volleyball had Parts had everything the hitters the blockers the Setters I did not see the position
195I played in high school which was Bench Rider um so look forward to that I'll volunteer to play that position in our in our in you know inter School Board member volley game uh but thank you very much thank you Mr P agenda item nine consent agenda are adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Robert's Rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through Board review and documentation has been uh provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda is on its way to the screen here it is is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and
196seeing none the consent agenda is approved agenda item number 10 the following are new business items they are not uh they there there will not be a vote on these this evening but action is scheduled at a future meeting agenda item 11 board committee reports we have no committee reports this evening agenda item 12 superintendent matters I call on Dr Reid thank you chairman frish and I'm just pulling up my my page here uh it's been quite a quite a week or quite a two weeks tomorrow is one of my very favorite holidays uh as Pi Day so I hope all of you uh listening are as excited as I am uh National P day is uh for all those uh math lovers out there which of course is everybody I hope you enjoy this
197um we also last week I had an opportunity to visit lindbrook Elementary School and saw a fabulous science lesson and some early literacy work as well as having a chance to excuse me be at Mana Elementary and had a chance to visit some fourth and fifth grade classrooms as well as an art class uh lots of excitement there with the raccoons at mana and got to visit a basketball game on Saturday which was very um exciting uh fifth grade basketball uh Fairhill Elementary School two weeks ago and um had a chance to visit a fifth grade class A Chinese language class in fourth grade as well as an enhanced autism class lots of exciting work going on they were really debating the positive and negatives of technology and um in particular self-driving cars and what
198that would or wouldn't enable them to do um which I thought was very interesting Green Brier West and Union Mill and Lee Corner Elementary School as well as Burke school and Kings Park Elementary uh so just got around and got to see a lot of excite a lot of exciting learning also had a chance to go out and visit the transportation training center and I have determined that I would not be an excellent bus driver um I think all the different lights and the light board and knowing which anyhow I really hats off to all our transportation staff they do an amazing job um and it's just uh the training staff out there does too as well as our warehouse we are stocked for um I think appropriately so we our warehouse and food and
199nutrition folks so just a a lot of excitement um also just want to call out our Lake bradic Secondary School gymnastics team had a chance to watch the state championships and they won their 13th state championship in girls gymnastics at Lake bradic and their head coach um whose name I don't have here uh but chocked up his ninth uh state championship as a gymnastics coach just phenomenal and uh just hats off to the competitors um and also then Saturday we have uh both our Woodson Cavaliers and our South Lake Seahawks playing in the boys basketball championship which will be very exciting um and just want to I know we've talked a lot about our school stop arm camera Initiative for safety on our buses uh on 50 of our buses and I want to thank
200our elected board uh for their leadership and making sure this project got off the ground and Andy muick our chief operating officer uh who's done such a nice job of making sure this happen so we really believe it's going to um be a a life Cher for our students boarding and offboarding buses and really um ask our community to consider making sure we drive uh compassionately moving forward so thank you chairman frish uh those are my comments this evening thank you Dr Reed agenda item 13 board matters I call on Mr Moon thank you thank you thank you Mr chairman uh Dr Reed I used to be able to memorize uh a valueable the P to the uh 22 decimal points but but I don't know whether I can still do that text me tomorrow
201when I see you at 1:30 uh but Mr chairman and something that I wanted to share uh with you and my colleagues this evening uh is a something that goes back to a 1960s and when I was growing up in Korea in extreme poverty in a back then Korea was a underdeveloped country and I I'm sharing this in the midst of this flurry of very confusing and also misplaced a new policies from executive branch of our government uh because I was living in a very extreme poverty uh you know we didn't have you know food uh I didn't grow up with any snack uh the only snack when I was in elementary score that I was able to have was a piece of corn r that I would get from school uh couple of times
202initially a couple of times a week and then and then began you know dwindling down and there was just something that I brought I was able to bring home so that I could share that with a a one of my younger brothers and some of you may know that I had two younger brothers both of them passed away because uh we could not provide a proper Medical Care due to not having just the financial resources uh but that piece of pieces of comrad that I was able to bring home was being distri distributed by uh this agency of United States government called us Aid us that's what the folks working at this agents did for a lot of poor people in many countries we know that we all know the saying to whom much is
203given much is expected is our country losing our moral Authority be the leader of the Free World or are we are are we the country trying to keep all that much is given to us just for ourselves thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr Moon Mr dun thank you uh so um on March 2nd I attended the 2025 peace Awards and had the honor of joining my colleagues to recognize students from around the county congratulations to Mount Vernon District resident Jonathan Johnston the student hore from quander Road school um the South County High School uh girls varsity basketball team made history recently by winning the Patriot District championship this is a momentous occasion marking the first district championship for the girls basketball program so congratulations to the stallions another huge congratulations to South County High
204School's girls indoor track team for winning the state tournament according to the Washington Post the team dominated the class six girls competition uh the Virginia band and Orchestra Directors Association District x uh district 10 concert band assessment was recently held at West pic high school on March 7th through 8th Mount Veron High School concert band demonstrated exceptional Talent scoring all ones in a superior rating at their vboda state assessment and earning honor band accolades for the third time in four years West pic High School also had Stellar performances by three bands the fourth period band earned an overall One Superior rating the second period band earned an overall two excellent rating and the first period concert band delivered a grade six highest level program spending almost 30 minutes and received straight one Superior ratings from
205all four judges West pomac also won the prestigious title of Virginia State honor band for 20242 marking a historic back-to-back win for West pomac since the pandemic I also want to congratulate West bomic uh High School band students and Mount Vernon District residents for being named to three Allstate bands Nick Reese uh for Bas trumbone Aiden Bratton for tener trumbone and Molly Gorman uh for cl that um I also had the opportunity to participate in two recent budget town halls for the mount uh Vernon District ciens Association and also uh sorry Council uh of citizens Association as well as the South County Federation um and just last night I had the great honor to present uh about School boundaries and other issues to the Mount Vernon civic association along with uh principal Carrie dimi of
206Mount veran High School and Whitman Middle School uh assistant principal lelle Williams thank you to um all of the Mount Vernon District residents who came out to participate and I also wanted to uh wish um uh a happy holy uh very joyful and colorful to all of those who celebrate thank you Mr dun Miss SC smiser thank you um I also wanted to wish a happy Hool to all those who celebrate so thank you to my colleague for saying that as well um it's been a really um busy and wonderful last couple weeks I enjoyed um going to the South by Southwest Conference with many of my colleagues um there were some incredible sessions there from every from Ai and education to um supporting students mental health to the future of teaching to so many
207more U and the Keynotes really made you think so it was a a great learning experience and I have lots of ideas to bring back I think to our work here um so I enjoyed doing that and the tacos were also amazing because I really miss really good Mexican food so it was exciting to have that um before that I spent U quite a bit of time in some of our schools I went to frost I went to Woodson Kings Park Kings Glenn Laurel Ridge and really enjoyed chatting with the principes and and want talking through the schools and and checking out some of their programs so I appreciate the school communities for having me there and I know it's late so I'm not going to keep us much longer but I appreciate all the
208work of my colleagues and the staff today and I'm looking forward to being out and about and especially to attending the family Summit this weekend for those of you who used to go to the special education conference this is um that it's assumed into more information for all families and I'm really excited it's finally back in person so um if you are free Saturday during the day please come check it out there's a great amount of information out there so with that have a great night thank you Mr McDaniel thank you a rare board matter for me um I presented on our budget to the FCC PTA a few days ago and then I also swung through the Su District budget Town Hall and something that struck out to me that stuck out to me
209at that Sul Town Hall was the number of middle school kids that were standing up for that middle school after school program the message was received loud and clear by me um and I I think a lot of people in the community but the funnest thing I did the last couple of weeks I did read Across America at Daniels Run Elementary and I asked for like a first grade class um because my kids are kind of getting to that age and I read this book to the class about an elephant that has some s has a we we say a lack of self-awareness that was going to sneeze and blow down the rainforest and harm all the animals so I'll kind of leave it at that but after I finished reading the book a hand
210shot up in the crowd like we have a question and this little girl says I'm sorry but who exactly are you that was my reaction too and uh I I I said um well first and foremost I'm a dad I have two little girls they're almost in school and I said when I'm not doing that I fly airplanes and when I'm not doing that I try to make sure that your teachers and your principls and your bus drivers and the custodians and the food workers and everybody has the resources they need to make sure that when you come to school you have everything that you need to get a great education with that good night are you thank you uh Dr Anderson that was hysterical who are you and Mr Moon thank you so much
211for sharing your story I I very much appreciated that it just gives further insight as to the state of of where we are um I've had the opportunity well before I go there I want to just remind the Mason District community of our budget Town Hall that is coming up on the 26th please see my newsletter for the opportunity to submit questions in advance um I do want to say congratulations to a number of Mason District students um who've been recognized across the a number of areas for Scholastic writing um Awards we have Roslin Lobo from Justice Molly Raiden from Langley oh that's Langley on my list and um Bridget lions from Woodson um also Mason District students were recognized for their work in the Scholastic art Awards Kate Holbrook from Glasgow Caleb chambi from
212Po and from false Church High School we have Khloe Brown Jean Fernandez and Christopher so from Justice we have Camila um serela Colleen Early B fish Ella gadway pillar mckitrick ma Newan and Ella Palmer congratulations to all of you um it was also fantastic to join Megan and our former School Board member our former student School Board member at the food challenge at um at westfields and it's always great I have literally I think I really watched some high school boys eat themselves into a coma they were sitting down and just like I can't eat anymore and it was quite fantastic IC Fair um I do want to say congratulations to Luther Jackson for their third place finish um with their beant stock medal and um I fried okra with mud Chutney it's a very
213long title so congratulations to you as well as fur high school for their breakfast fan favorite category with vegetarian breakfast burrito um I do want to also say I had the opportunity to read to some preschoolers at um B lower last week for read Across America and they did not even ask me who they who I was they just wanted to sit on the floor and get into the story and touch the pages it was just my happy place Bailey's lower is always a fun place to visit because there's 800 really little people but I'm taller than every single one of them so that's a good thing um I also had the pleasure last week of presenting to Girl Scout Troop 1330 as they earned their govern government badge and of course lots of the
214questions from that Cadet Group which range from sixth grade to 8th grade lots of questions around the middle school sports I'm sorry the middle school after school activities from sixth graders who are looking forward to having them when they enter uh middle school and from those who are already in Middle School who are not wanting for that opportunity to be removed from them um I have a Litany of schools that I have visited and I'm not going to go through all of them but I do want to highlight that I have the chance I've had the chance to see some fantastic instruction I was in a Kindergarten class at timberlan two days ago I was just so impressed the engagement level was so high and Dr Reed the materials from class to class were consistent
215I know we've had that question quite a bit and teachers are really getting into the literacy um materials and are finding I think that Groove because ini ially I heard a lot of concerns about all of it but they are seeing I I think some of the impact and I'm really looking forward to having those consistent materials will result in all of our teacher teams at the various schools Reinventing the wheel the way that they do right now and we'll hopefully reduce their workload that was your time Dr oh okay I didn't hear it thank you good night all right Mr movine thank you well I can attest that um um my colleague Dr Anderson also ate herself into a food coma at the food food event um but I enjoyed being there with with
216Dr Anderson and Megan and um and others it was a fun event um I my vote goes to the Monte Christo sandwich which I look forward to having on our menu some sometime soon also on the topic of food uh congratulations to hearnen high school who won for the first time ever the uh real food for kids culinary challenge uh they are going to be appearing for an hourlong segment on on Fox 5 tomorrow so be sure to uh tune in for that I'm sure we'll learn a lot about uh how to cook uh more healthly uh from them thank you thank you Mr mine Miss Dixit so uh hello everyone I will uh start with the Su District Town Hall which I had with supervisor Kathy Smith and uh Mr McDaniel also came by
217I'm so grateful to so many student who come came there teacher staff principal Comm community members um and they provided their thoughtful comments on range of topic and importance of middle school after school program uh child care options ped program and other community based program initiative um I'm so proud of our students so speaking so passionately about the importance of after school and uh programs and summer programs as well uh for the women's History Month I want to especially celebrate the women's making history in our school including my colleagues on the school board and on the FCPS leadership team approximately 75% of our nation's teacher work force is made up of women I honor their passion hard work and resilience congrats to Rachel carel Middle School Services uh student services department who has received the
218prestigious ramp award the ramp designation is awarded to school whose counseling program aligns with the criteria set with the American School counseling Association National mod model the V recognizes schools a commitment to delivery a comprehensive datadriven School counseling program and creating an exemplary educational environment I want to invite our families to the 70th annual Science and Technology Fair which is open to public on Sunday March 23rd from first uh 1: to 300 p.m. at Robinson Secondary School community members invite to see the project displays and congratulate our high school students participants I was happy to attend the FCC PTA student reflection award ceremony with my colleagues on February 28th um and I'm looking forward to visiting centralville high school and London Town Elementary in upcoming weeks and last but not the least happy holy and
219happy pm to all those celebrate and please if you play Holy be safe don't throw too much color on each other thank you thank you Miss Miss Marin so this has been quite a time in public education I appreciate um my colleague sharing his story my origin story began at the US Department of Education when I was 24 in the title one office I was able to meet the researchers Hart and rizzly who were just presenting their research at the time about how the number of vocabulary words a student a child is exposed to would project how how well they would do in life and it wasn't a mystery which kiddos did not hear a lot of vocabulary and which did that was the caliber people I was working with and um I I really
220can't even begin to express what it's like to see so many I I can't help my colleagues enough I'm trying but it's just not possible so um you know here though we are doing what we must do and that is to be the stewards of public education to work so that children Thrive and I believe the most important thing that the 22 elected officials serving on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax County Schoolboard can do is to unify our efforts to fortify our quality of life for all and fair County this is an historic and unprecedented time so we may not have the answers on what to do and I get asked a lot what what can people do but I know that the two boards working together is the pathway it's
221finding out how to do better business to construct our schools so we save time and money and it's doing the hard work to find a solution not just cut programs and protections for our youth that's middle school after school uh after school programs it's summer program it's crossing guards at high schools and it's ensuring that our staff receive the dignity the Dignity of a salary worthy of their emotional mental and physical work to nurture children into people who Thrive and create a much better America I'm not done working on this budget and I am asking chairman Jeff McCay and County Executive Brian Hill whom the County Board supervises and holds accountable to do the hard work with the school board and our superintendent to find Solutions cutting programs is not a solution we need to
222get creative and we could do better I also want to state that barefax County Public Schools is the largest employer in the county the third largest in the state we must fully fund competitive compensation for our incredibly hardworking staff as agreed to in our collective bargaining agreement FCPS is a stable employer we have staff who are now the Breadwinners and their families due to Federal Cuts I see it as a moral imperative but it's truly an economic imperative to provide the best public education system in the nation and the DMV if we want people to retain their homes spend money and continue living in Fairfax County we must fully fund the superintendent's proposed budget and compensate our staff public education is a non-negotiable public investment thank you Miss Marin Miss St John cunning um women's
223history month is a time to recognize the incredible contributions of women who have shaped our history our rights and our communities in Fairfax County we are proud to honor the women who have shaped our own Community leaders in education government business business and activism from Katherine Johnson the trailblazing NASA Nas NASA mathematician who lived in our region to soccer Legend Mia ham who led Lake BR High School to win the 1989 state championships and the many women serving in public office and leading local organizations their impact is woven into the fabric of our County at a very personal level each of us can thank women in Our Lives who have been instrumental in our development be it our mothers grandmothers aunts sisters daughters cousins or friends as we celebrate women's History Month let's uplift these
224contributions and recommit to advancing equity and opportunity for all this month I was honored to join Colonel David J Stewart at his community leaders Lyon at Fort Bor as the key as the keynote speaker Mount Vernon High School principal Carrie dimmi gave a dynamic presentation about Mount Veron High School which was well received by the attendees um I also enjoyed learning cutting Ed educational information at South by Southwest uh in my native Texas uh and making incredible uh connections which I'm sure will yield us some good information and something we can build on together um last night at the minority student achievement oversight committee Dr Deborah Marsh and teacher Mariela salana Tores gave committee members an insight to the great work being done by students and staff at Lewis High School in the John Lewis
225leadership program this program offers incredible real world leadership experiences such as internships service projects and exclusive opportunities supported by more than 70 organizations and University Partners including the family of Congressman John Lewis the good news is that currently the lwis leadership program will accept up to 30 Rising n9th grade students applying from FCP schools outside of Lewis High School boundaries accepted students will transfer to Lewis High School as full-time students in the fall of 2025 five don't miss out on this unique opportunity to become a future change maker I have a few shout outs for some of the students in my district I'd like to congratulate Hayfield secondaries Ethan osor on becoming the school's first two-time wrestling state champion he finished the season 45 and0 with a 100% bonus win rate congratulations to Avery Moran
226and Amaya Wilcock for placing first for their women's voting rights project at the Virginia District 5 na National History Day contest both students are greton elementary students students from 27 Fairfax County Public Schools have been named recipients of the 2025 student peace Awards of Fairfax County designed to recognize young people who work as peacemakers those are those from the Franconia District winning Awards this year are AA Saunders and Grace bares from Hayfield Secondary School Maya Martin iscandar from Edison High School Madison mclin from John Lewis High School Jennifer Vios from Mount Vernon High School saliha naib from West fomic High School the Wolf Trap Foundation that was your time I'm Sorry Miss St joh okay Miss Lady thank you um I was an honor tonight to read the um Proclamation for women's history month and
227I just um hope we can continue to make strides uh as women continue to make history here in our County and and in our in our country and our world I also want to congratulate the Hearn and High School culinary team for winning first place in the 2025 real food for kids challenge for the lunch entry creamy dreamy Noki soup Dippers and zesty Sunshine salad um good stuff there so looking forward to seeing their items on the FCPS lunch menu eventually some facilities updates tonight we passed in the consent agenda the contract for the armstar Elementary School renovation project and also Stadium Sports lighting replacement at mlan high school um ongoing renovation has been taking place we will soon celebrate the completion the completion of Cooper uh and the beginning of Hearn and Elementary School's
228renovation uh I want to thank uh our staff and support for the dedication to our schools over the last several weeks we've celebrated many of our staff with appreciation days social workers custodians food nutrition staff bus drivers and attendants SRO and crossing guards thank you for all you do to ensure a wonderful day for our students and their families with all that's happening around us I also want to remind folks that we have a lot of supports in place we have free free counseling for our high schoolers through Hazel health uh each of our schools have family Liaisons counselors social workers and psychologists to help students and families as well as help from the FCPS Family Resource Center through counseling and resources Fairfax County Mental Health services and resources for crisis and ongoing stresses through
229the community service board are available as well this is a difficult time for a lot of the people in our community and I just want to make sure we that we know we have resources and we are here to help and support uh last night I had opportunity to meet with the mlan citizens association's education youth committee had a healthy conversation and a great discussion about the budget programming across schools and the boundary work I appreciate all their work and taking their time to be thoughtful on education and giving our youth the best to become young adults um in the next coming uh weeks I'm looking forward to several events one of which is the FCPS family Summit at South Lakes High School on Saturday morning um looking forward to the keynote speakers first thing
230and some of the other breakout sessions also hope to make it to the fpac retreat and to Brookfield Elementary School um on Saturday um next weekend be at the science fair Awards I hope to see my colleagues there to celebrate that great work of our Scholars who are science oriented students um also upcoming we have two drainville Community budget Town Halls one on March 28th that's a Friday that's at the McLean Community Center and the other one is on a April 2nd and that one is at hearnen high school those are both at 7M um other than that I hope to see Folks at some Spring Middle School and High School sports matches and meets and I will say when it comes to food I I I I loved the South by Southwest I love
231the tacos but what I loved more was seeing my granddaughter who put who picked the book at the store the food the little food critic so maybe one day she'll transfer here and she can go to South Lakes or wherever CRI Cardy food and the Fairfax sauce thanks thank you Miss Lady Miss Anderson we are certainly living in the middle of unprecedented times and I am personally looking forward to living in precedented times again um at some point but until then as a wise woman often tells me I'm going to do my best to stay in the light and share some awesome work that our students are doing out there so I have lots of congratulations to share for student athletes um shantell's boys swim and dive team for winning the state championship Ben clubo
232won as a member of both the record-breaking 20 or 200 yard and 400 yard freyle relay champ state championship teams additionally Michael Santos won the boys state wrestling champion championship in the 106 pound weight class um Fairfax High School's Harry maltz won the boys state wrestling championship in the 215 pound weight class Dr Reed already called them out but congrats to the lake bradock gymnastics team on their fourth cons consecutive state championship I didn't realize that it was 17 overall but fourth in a row with Maddie Bell winning her third straight all-around title second straight uneven parallel bars title and the balance beam title additionally Josh howt won the state championship in the 500 And1 100 yard freestyle Robinson's Li Lila um Wilbur won the wom the girls swim and dive State CH title in
233the 100 yard breast stroke and as I as noted congratulations to South County High School's girls Ino indoor track team on their state championship the boys indoor track team also won the 400 by 200 um meter relay title so that was really cool too lastly West Springfield High School boys indoor track team won the state championship in the four 4x400 4 by 800 meter relays and Michael Murray won the State title in the pole V volt so congratulations to all our athletes and coaches um I had three kiddos um win Awards within the the 2025 Fairfax County student peace Awards so we have a winner from Fairfax High School Kieran asuk we have a winner from South County High School which is zizo Hana and a winner from West Springfield High School uh which is
234Simeon Simon so I'm or Samuel I'm sorry so it was so awesome to see so many kiddos I was sorry that I couldn't make it this year um I was also able to attend the Fairfax County Council PTA Reflections award outstanding interpretation award ceremony and I have a special congratulations for the following winners in literature Connor Huber from Hunt Valley wrote a really cool poem and was there showing off about it um Abby hulahan from Cherry Run Elementary School also won in literature in music composition Brian Lee from Lake bradock and in Visual Arts Bruno funz from um Irving Middle School it was really cool to see the kids accept their Awards and get excited about it so um I am pleased to be co-hosting the 2025 Fairfax County teen jobs Fair um for for
235students 16 through 18 looking for employment and volunteer opportunities the second Fair will happen this Saturday March 15th from 11 to 1 at chanelli high school it's a great opportunities and I hope students can make it and then finally I'm looking forward to next the week ahead with um the family Summit this weekend speaking to the our Schoolboard student leadership development cohort on Monday and speaking with um PTO and ptas in my in my district coming up thank you Miss Anderson I I had the pleasure of reading to first graders at mosaic Elementary School uh did not read about elephants however I read a book called Saturday which is about a child and their mother having a great Saturday plan and nothing seems to go to plan and they take a nice big sigh after
236everything falls apart and I got all the kids doing a nice big sigh after everything that fell apart and at the end moral of the story which is important when you're telling us about a book because now I have to go read the book that Mr McDaniel was talking about because I have no idea how it ends uh moral of the story is they had a great time on Saturday even though everything they had planned fell apart because they spent Saturday together uh so I really enjoyed being there in a brand new classroom thank you Miss samansky and team for uh moving that renovation along it's looking really great at mosaic Elementary School also had the uh pleasure of being at the Providence District budget Town Hall recently we had easily 75 people there including
237some middle schoolers who asked about the middle school after school programs very articulate very eloquent uh very good questions um supervisor palchik and I also uh visited Oakton elementary school together um with Representatives Mr M was there um uh folks from fcpd FC dot um Fe dot were looking for ways that we can improve the track traffic situation on Miller Road uh for the kissen ride so more on that soon hopefully had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of the UVA Northern Virginia campus uh with a few fellow who's supervisor alorn and Lusk um and governor yunan was there did not get an opportunity to talk to him about the budget although next time I promise I'll try um but it was great they're going to be offering summer programs for high schoolers at
238the UVA Northern Virginia campus which is conveniently located in Providence District uh in the Anova campus so I encourage everybody to check it out I included some information about the summer programming for high schoolers uh that uh they can sign up for in my newsletter um also attended the naacp's Black History Month celebration with superintendent Reed uh recently um and I'm looking forward to Kilmer Middle School's production of The Adams Family um lastly I want to say that I was at dinner with my partner uh last week and as we were waiting for a table we heard no less than three couples you know in the well you're waiting for a table talking about how one one of them had lost a job and these are the conversations that kids are hearing at home and
239so I want to you know say that we're talking about people who are responsible for scientific advances and keeping us safe and our national security all of this tremendously talented people in Northern Virginia so I want to thank Mr Solomon and his team for doing their best to make sure that the community knows that there are potential homes for these workers these talented people in our system and if anybody watching at home would like to explore careers with FCPS they can go to fcps.edu careers thank you and at 1050 p.m. we are adjourned