2/6/25 - FCPS School Board Meeting

001board members please return to your seats I got it it's in the script everybody can hear me Whispering now this February 6 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 for the devastating loss of life in last week's heartbreaking Aviation tragedy at Washington National Airport including three FCPS students and seven FCPS parents our board joins the community in grieving and extends its deepest condolences to the families friends and school Comm unities of those lost I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States e [Music] for [Music] give me another round of applause for the Wakefield Forest Elementary School the advanced sixth grade strings under the direction of Mary labinsky uh and a perform we will

002now have a performance of lift every voice and sing by Seria Manson from Woodson High School [Music] voice and sing till Earth and Heaven ring ring with the hormon of liy let our rejoicing voice highest the SK let it ReSound loud is the rolling Sea Sing s of theith that the dark past has taught us sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us facing the ring son of our new day be let us march on till Victory is let usch on till Victory is one [Applause] can we hear another round of applause for Seria and whoever that was playing the guitar with her and principal grea thank you all right the Fairfax County School Board remains steadfast in our commitment to ensuring every child receives a worldclass education in a

003safe welcoming and inclusive environment we will uphold our policy supporting educational equity and championing the success of all students including those receiving special education services immigrant students and their families students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds lgbtqia plus students and other historically marginalized communities our work is Guided by the belief that every child deserves access to an exceptional education with the resources and opportunities they need to thrive we will continue to stand by our students families and staff ensuring that fairx County Public Schools remains a place where all feel valued and supported and every learner is EMP powered to achieve their full potential before we begin tonight's meeting I would like to recognize former atlarge School Board member Mark Emy who joined us earlier this evening for the vhsl recognition and former Mason District School Board member

004Sandy Evans who has joined us this evening as well agenda item 2.02 announcements Mr McDaniel has submitted a written request to attend tonight's meeting virtually due to a personal conflict as he has a work conflict he is located in in the Dr all those in favor of approving Mr McDaniel's request Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mlan Dr Anderson Miss Anderson Miss eore Heiser Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that's unanimous for board members present Mr McDaniel can you try your microphone and Camera we'll try him when he's back when he's on if you would like to review a copy of the meeting agenda please see the back of the audit torium to obtain copies of any items or supporting materials being presented tonight please reference the QR code on the agenda

005or visit fcps.edu boarddocs tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on YouTube and our website fcps.edu livestream tonight's meeting is also being broadcast in in Spanish on YouTube at youtube.com theat symbol FCPS and espanol agenda item 3.03 Black History Month Proclamation I call on Miss seore Heiser for the proclamation whereas the month of February is the time that we as a nation recognize and celebrate the historic and continual efforts of black Americans in improving in improving our society through Black History Month this observance originally commemorated as quote negro history week was created by Dr Carter G Woodson a renowned scholar and journalist in 1926 and gradually expanded to a month-long observation and whereas the 2025 theme quot African-Americans and labor quot focuses on the various and profound ways that work of

006all kinds free and enslaved skilled and unskilled vocational and Technical intersect with the collective experiences of black people and sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work to the United States and across the globe and whereas first Africans arrived on theore of Virginia 400 years ago bringing skills knowledge and traditions that have created a lasting culture impacting our communities that continue to be reflected in daily life and whereas the contributions of African-Americans to the labor force include Richard spikes an inventor with more than a dozen patents including the automatic gearshift the automatic safety brake system an automatic car washer and automatic directional signals Alexander miles who invented an elevator that was able to open and close its own doors and the Elevator Shaft doors Dr Charles Drew a Pioneer in blood

007transfusions and storage whose work transformed the field of medicine and saved the lives of many during World War II Frederick Jones an inventor who revolutionized the food industry with his invention of the refrigerated truck and Madame CJ Walker an inventor of hair care products who became the first female self-made millionaire in America and whereas black americ Americans resisted historic and ongoing oppression in all forms since the nation's earliest days and contributed to the founding and development of this n nation and recognize the importance of teaching this Rich impactful history to all students to create an inclusive and equable county for all and whereas the labor of these African descent contributed to the development of the Rich and vibrant culture of Virginia including Gladis West a mathematician who contributed to the development of the global positioning

008system GPS Maggie L Walker a businesswoman and teacher who was both the first African-American woman to Charter a bank and the first African-American woman to serve as Bank president and Benjamin F Hicks an inventor who was the first to patent the gasoline powered peanut picker therefore now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board officially recognizes and hereby proclaims February as Black History Month an appreciation for the contributions of great Americans who have worked tirelessly and often without recognition or compensation for the advancement of Fairfax County Virginia and the United States we encourage the celebration of the collective Ingenuity creativity cultures and traditions of black Americans and encourage participation in educational events honoring the contribution of black Americans is there a second I second Miss s Johan cunning all those in favor Miss

009Marin m Dixit Mr mlan Dr Anderson Miss Anderson Miss St John cunning Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning missis Mor Heiser myself is Mr McDaniel with us okay we'll try him when he's back um that is unanimous for board members present agenda item the motion passes agenda item 3.04 Career and Technical education disability employment and adult and Community Education appreciation month Proclamation I call on Dr Anderson for a proclamation whereas the celebration of Career and Technical education CTE disability employment and Adult Community Education Ace appreciation month recognizes these exemplary Fairfax County Public School programs and whereas FCPS offers a vast selection of CTE programs that give our students invaluable opportunities to explore and learn about a career they may wish to pursue in the future during the school year 2425 FCPS offered 170

010CTE courses in business education and information technology family and consumer science health and medical jroc marketing technology family and I'm sorry Technology and Engineering educ Technology and Engineering education as well as trade and Industry and these classes equipped over SE 65,000 students with the knowledge and skills needed to prepare for the workforce Force military continuing education and or success in a competitive global economy and whereas our division celebrates the many contributions of people with disabilities in America's workplaces and economy and recognizes the value people with disabilities bring to the workplace as evidence in a recent study that showed that a disability friendly organization are 25% more likely to outperform their organizational peers on productivity and whereas the Davis and pulley Career Centers and other FCPS programs help students with disabilities transition to Life After High

011School through work experiences provided by the local by the local Northern Virginia business community and by providing workplace Readiness and independent living training fostering self- advocacy and self-determination and increasing the soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace and whereas the Ace Program began with an action by the school board in 1955 and it's celebrating its 70th year as thousands of adults have learned essential skills in addition the Fairfax County adult high school has given adults the opportunity to earn a high school diploma certification of high school equivalency through the GED program and the chain and the chance to enroll in individual courses and certificate programs including adult e esol business Information Technology health and medical trade and industrial trade and industrial culinary arts and World languages FCPS Ace programs complement the Virginia apprenticeship program

012by offering apprenticeship classes in electricity HVAC and plumbing and provide career exploration in the trades or cross trining with related tasks and whereas FCPS honors the achievement of our students staff and programs including Edison Academy's electrical engineering program honored with the vdoe CTE creating Excellence award for programs in the year program of the year in Region 4 Kathleen Fugal sleepy Hol Elementary honored as the Virginia Department of Education computer science educ Ator of the Year Kim Gadson Twain Middle School don't see her honored as the middle school teacher of the year by the Virginia Technology and Engineering Association Reggie morone Rec recognized at the administrator of the Year by the Virginia Association of family and consumer Sciences Association and the foundation for Applied tech technical education F honored with the vdoe CTE creating Excellence award

013for business and industry Partnerships for Region 4 and Virginia now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby proclaims February 2025 as Career and Technical education disability employment an adult and continuing education appreciation month and commend these programs pivotal roles and providing our students young and adults the opportunities to acquire job skills transition to new careers have Equitable access to societal resources and grow as responsible and ethical workers and citizens is there a second second Mr Moon all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mline Dr Anderson Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning and myself that's unanimous for board members present the motion passes [Applause] congratulations and J item 3.05 Sleepy Hollow Elementary School 70th Anniversary Proclamation I call on Dr Anderson for a

014proclamation hello again whereas Sleepy Hollow Elementary School first opened its doors on September 1st 1954 on the former site of Fort Buffalo one of several forts of the Seven Corners area used during the Civil War the school was built at the cost of 391,000 63 we would love those those are good dollars we could build nine schools in a week at a time when the total number of students enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools was 28,700 and whereas Sleepy Hollow Elementary School students and families represent 15 countries and speak 17 different languages with an additional eight languages spoken by the school staff creating a Cosmopolitan learning environment where multiculturalism is celebrated through various programs Sleepy Hollow holds the distinction for being one of the first FCPS schools to host an annual Family Heritage celebration with

015its International night becoming a beloved tradition and whereas Sleepy Hollow Elementary School has been one of two elementary schools in FCPS designated to Pilot foreign language instruction in 1957 which continues to this day as the foreign language elementary school or fles program engaging students in developing proficiency and whereas Sleepy Hollow provides a rigorous and engaging curriculum to meet the academic and social needs of all Learners in addition to Opportunities such as Math and Science Olympiad an outdoor Garden a student ambassador program and is designated as an avid Elementary School equipping students with tools for academic success such as organizational skills goal setting and perseverance and whereas sleepy Elementary preschool is proud of its Educators boasting on its roster the 2024 Virginia computer science educator of the Year reflecting the school's dedication to Excellence and teaching

016and whereas Sleepy Hollow Elementary has built strong and enduring Partnerships with parents families and caregivers in the broader Community fostering a collaborative spirit that enhances the overall educational experience and fosters the nurturing and welcoming institution it is today now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board honors Sleepy Hollow Elementary School on the occasion of its 70th anniversary of providing educational excellence and enrichment opportunities to students and the community is there a second a second Mr mine all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mine Dr Anderson Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Moon miss lady Miss s joh cunning and myself that is unanimous for board members presid Mr McDaniel is now on Mr McDaniel how do you vote I vote I unanimous for all board members present the motion [Applause]

017carries uh we will begin with photos we'll say of the Sleepy Hollow Elementary School 70th Anniversary great and the clerks will call the rest as we go e e e all right the board would like to invite those here present for the Career and Technical education disability employment and adult and Community Education appreciation month proclamation to please join the board for a photo up front e e e the board would like to invite those here in honor of the Black History Month proclamation to please join the board for a photo up front e e e [Music] all right agenda item 4.01 Community participation the next order of business is community participation we welcome all community members who are here and those who signed up to speak this evening additional information about signing up to provide

018comments at Schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings can be found on the Schoolboard website at fcps.edu Schoolboard during the signup process community members acknowledged they were informed of the school board's expectations for proper Decor 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 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 or taking photos we are grateful to those who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation Schoolboard members will be listening but not responding Madame clerk please

019call the first Speaker Owen pal good evening my name is Owen Powell I'm a seventh grader at Glasgow Middle School I'm here to talk about healthy school start times because it directly impacts me as well as my friends and peers the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to align with teenagers natural sleep cycles I know you already heard all of the benefits of doing this so I want to take this time to tell you about my own experience Glasgow Middle School is one of the three middle schools in Fairfax County that started starts in sixth grade I went to belir elementary school so let me tell you it was quite a shock to my system from going to a 9:20 a.m. start time to a

0207:30 a.m. start time I would wake up at 5:50 a.m. to catch my bus at 6:30 a.m. the half mile walk wasn't too bad when it was light but when the time changed I was walking in the dark to my bus stop I'm comfortable with the darkness now but when I was 11 I was a little nervous walking the pit black wooded area you never know what could be hiding in there when I finally get on the school bus everyone is tired and quiet some people even have their eyes closed and heads resting on the windows I know it doesn't take a genius to realize that going from this state to your first class is not conducive to learning I'm more than halfway through middle school but I think about my two little brothers and

021want them to get the benefits of extra sleep I hope you look at me and my people years and believe that we deserve healthier school start times and will allow us to maximize our potential at school thank you for your time and [Applause] consideration anelie Seuss good evening chairman frish school board members my name is Angelie Seuss I'm a parent local family physician and today representing the Pine Ridge Neighborhood civic association extraction of the pin Ridge Neighborhood from its current assignment to the Mantua Frost Woods and triad would unravel a foundation fostered by the school board over years in lie of Alternatives which are in line with the published County boundary revision plan objectives examples of these alternative Solutions including programming redistribution such as creation of AAP core centers in neighborhood schools rather than busing

022students to Mana as well as placing students from new unassigned residential developments into existing underc capacity schools the pine W School neighborhood school network is unique in that both in school programs as well as after school activities IE swim team voice Scouts Girl Scouts are delivered jointly with the abiding neighborhood of Mantua so the disruptive impact of a move would be magnified by significantly severing these valuable connective relationships in conclusion the Pine Ridge Neighborhood residents appreciate your recognition of the overwhelming negative consequence of a reassignment and hope that your decisions support a platform which avoids dismantling a foundation buil built over years and very difficult to restore again Karen baras pow good evening I am here to request that you consider making healthy star times a priority for our middle schools as a few other

023parents and students have already stated the American Academy of Pediatrics published position stating that teens greatly benefited from a school start time of no earlier than 8:30 a.m. they demonstrated increased academic performance better attendance and better mental health all of these are goals which FCPS strives to attain for all students I understand that the school board must balance numerous considerations and that it may seem more efficient to pair boundary changes with Middle School star times but this isn't just about work efficiency these are boys and girls at our schools time does not stop for them while Early Middle School start times are in place they lose the benefits of the extra sleep in a critical time of their growth the reality is the foundary work will take years to accomplish and in the meantime our

024children are going growing and moving through their school system I have Three Sons 13 years old 10 and 5 my oldest son started Middle School in sixth grade at 11 years old waking up at 550 a.m. to get ready for school the reality is that he will no longer benefit from the middle change in Middle School star times but I'm hoping that my middle son and others like him who sted Glasgow this fall can have that benefit I understand that there are many factors that i' play and cost is a huge one perhaps a pilot program for middle schools that start in sixth grade could be considered to begin with until the later star times can be applied to other middle schools I just urge you to fully consider all options to consider the recommendations

025from the consultant you hired consider the parents in the community advocating for healthier star times but above all consider the students currently at the middle schools thank you for your time s Andy Evans good evening I'm Sandy Evans and I'm happy to be back with you again to continue my 20-year advocacy for later start times for middle school students and high school students as co-founder of sleep and Fairfax sleep appreciates the board leadership that has gotten us this far as far as uh toward the goal of Healthy Start times for middle school students but we're now calling on on you to take action and make a decision in December you received five options from your consultant but there's been no public follow-up we would like to see a public discussion of these options and get

026your opinion on them and ask you to pick an option and get the staff working on a transition so our young teens can get relief as soon as possible as we know from past efforts this will not happen without out board Direction and determination and clear communication from the superintendent about the importance of this change the options are costeffective options B and C meet ptici recommended start times after 8:30 a.m. for teens while keeping Elementary School start times reasonable option A comes close to recommended times you can probably eliminate option e the so-called slide uh this approach has been considered and rejected um time and time again for about 20 years it um is is geared to um changing Elementary School times to much much later and upsetting parents it's not well aligned with Team

027bi or with young child biology so we ask you please consider the pros and cons of each of the options use a problem solving approach look at issues as they arrive solve solve those problems get whatever feedback you need and then make a decision at the very least the board and the superintendent should make an Elise DeAndre Dr Reed members of the board I'm I'm a mom of two amazing kids in Fair fast County Public Schools but the reason why I'm here today to talk to you about Middle School start times is because I'm a pediatrician I've worked in our community for over 20 years taking care of hospitalized children and that's the point of view I'd really like to emphasize to you not only am I a pediatrician I've been a member of the

028aforementioned American Academy of Pediatrics that has done all the hard work for you this is a no-brainer as my son would say the evidence is Crystal CLA school should not start for adolescence before 8:30 a.m. Crystal clar I'm not going to reash all of that with you um what I am going to tell you is that we voted for you we entrusted you to take the best interest of our children in hand when you make these decisions and there's only one decision that takes their best interest into hand and that is not starting school time before 8:30 for adolescent children I I've as I said worked for Hospital hospitalized children for almost 20 years in our community in the last 10 years I have not worked a single shift without taking care of a child

029or multiple children who have tried to harm themselves not a single shift here in the last 10 years I really want to drive that home to you because we know that sleep is foundational for mental health foundational when you hospitalize a kid whether it's an intensive outpatient program a partial hospitalization program a residential program you name it the first thing we do is address their sleep it is so important and for you too it's so important I implore you to consider this Mental Health crisis in our community when you make this decision for our children it's not about dollars it's about our children's lives Leah Richardson good evening my name is Leah Richardson I'm a Fairfax County parent and I'm the president of the Sleepy Hollow Elementary School PTA and I ask you tonight board

030members to please move forward as planned to implement a later start time no earlier than 8:30 in the morning for our Middle School students in the fall of 2025 I ask that you keep the Middle School start time change separate from the comprehensive boundary study to couple these two things would add years to something we have already waited 10 years to see please do not let Perfection be the enemy of the good the arguments about child care and multiple disruptions to students are not compelling enough reasons to continue to sacrifice the health of a significant population of students our middle school students matter further change is the norm in K through2 education our children are always facing a change every single year parents will always have to deal with child care and scheduled changes regardless

031I strongly encourage the board to not let the edge cases and anecdotes that are not supported by the data distract you from the Decades of Science and demands from students parents and Community organizations for Healthy Start times our students health and wellbeing is the priority and to delay further would be shameful for what it says about the will and the ability of the adults in power to take our students Health seriously the Consultants have given you the Consultants that the taxpayers have paid for have given you a range of options where there is certainly one that will work for all students the community has done their job by participating and now I'm asking you to find the moral courage to finish the job even it's if it's hard and I know it is you have

032the power and the support to take action now and this is a win to do something that will have a material and positive impact but to not act will only increase the apathy and cynicism among the community that they have about our FCPS leaders the people who elected you to these seats want you to act if this change is delayed it will further erode the trust that the citizens of Fairfax County have in their elected leaders doing nothing on this issue is frankly not an option thank you Julie hendris hi good evening my name is Julie Hendrick and I am the uh parent of two children at Sleepy Hollow Elementary including a rising sixth grader I'm here to urge urge the board to move forward with moving the Middle School start times to support student

033physical health social and emotional well-being and academic success we all know the recommendations we've heard them tonight that middle school should not start before 8:30 Fairfax County made the right choice for high school in 2015 proving it can be done successfully and quickly change to a norm I want to thank our Mason District supervisor Dr ricardi Anderson for being so communicative during this process giving regular updates about the status of the contracted evaluation that yes we taxpayers paid for um and also the community input that's gone through this process we've seen the many feasible options and I appreciate that changing school start times will be temporarily disruptive for families but Child Care is a challenge no matter what time your kids go to school and I along with the many other families in our community

034who have been engaged in the process for years feel it's worth the growing pains in the initial year to make a move we know will increase our students Health please do not let the comprehensive boundary review prevent you from acting we all know it has potential to continue to get delayed and delayed the district has been researching Middle School start times for years we have a wellth out and well research plan to use to move forward I move here from out of state from a District in California and I am so grateful every day for the emphasis that Fairfax County places on social and emotional well-being you do not get that everywhere this could majorly improve that for our adolescence your community elected you as our school representatives and you all state that you will

035always do what is best for our students and I ask you to please approve changing these start times to do just that thank you Robert Rigby good evening I'm here to talk about adverse childish Hood experiences especially with respect to Immigrant black disabled and transgender students I'm speaking to all FCPS employees including senior and Central staff and student facing workers I grew up in Northwest Florida my high school years were pockmarked by a largescale public assault by the Klux Clan and the vile campaign in Florida by Anita Bryant in the late 70s that demonized gay people it was a set of adverse childhood experiences that took me decades to shed what our kids are going through now is worse black students to the code words of CRT immigrant students whose families are being ripped away

036trans students who exist whose existence is being denied and disabled students who are losing Services employees must be clear and how much they welcome and respect all students be explicit say the words needed now that black and immigrant and disabled and transgender students are welcome and and empowered in your classroom or cafeteria in your gym or on your bus you can interrupt the oh well you can interrupt the trauma with welcoming and empowering words and kids will be less hurts it fulfills our mission by giving the kids a better chance as learners if you can't welcome and Empower try to and keep these children sake for Humanity's sake for God's sake at least Do no harm in my neighborhood today near a school I saw a yard son with gross exclusions and slurs about Equity

037immigrants transgender and other lgbtq people community let's just not let that happen Joseph Miller hey everybody my name is Joe Miller um I'm a homeowner in the Fair Lakes area um and my uh kids attend Greenbrier East Elementary School which is a split feeder they did attend that was the base elementary school and what happens is that it splits off part of the some of the kids go to Rocky Run some of the kids go to Katherine Johnson Katherine Johnson's a great school the only problem is it's 3 miles away and we're going 3 miles away even though the closest Middle School Rocky Run is underc capacity um and our Base Elementary School is in uh the chanelli high school pyramid when we purchased our home we anticipated that uh Rocky Run was going under

038Renovations and since Green Brier East was in uh the shantell high school pyramid once those renovations were completed that the school board would um open that school up to kids who were ostensibly going to going to uh Katherine Johnson ostensibly because uh Rocky Run was over capacity before the renovation um so I just want to encourage the school board to look at these issues in light um of the equal protection Clause um we are similarly situated uh in all material respect with the uh subdivision that's adjacent to ours Green Brier um right down to the census Block Level uh but for some reason even after Rocky Run has undergone a $50 million renovation it's still sitting there under capacity uh it's projected to be around I don't know 71% or something like that um and

039Katherine Johnson is projected to be at 83% or something along those lines so there's a difference between changing the boundaries and there's a difference between just having current boundaries compliant and even though the revised 8130 doesn't uh account for correcting uh discrimination and current School boundaries boundaries that doesn't mean that FCPS doesn't have to comply thank [Applause] you Kathleen Mard Colleen buer good evening Dr Reed and FCPS school board members my name is Colleen Booker and I'm the mother of three Fairfax County Public School students a graduating senior at TJ a freshman in Justice and an 11-year-old sixth grader at Glasgow Middle School my two older students also attend in glasow Middle School from 6th through 8th grades we've been in the school system so long that our new glasow principal Lisa Baro was the

040principal of Sleepy Hollow Elementary School when my now graduating senior was a kindergartener our family has had a at Glasgow for 6 and A2 years the school board was presented last February 2024 with a very detailed timeline for a plan that would help our students get a healthier amount of sleep in 2015 High School start times changed to 8:00 or later a school board goal with high school change middle schools move to a 7:30 State the superintendent at the time stated that they would push back Middle School start times at a later date now it's 2025 the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that middle and high schoolers start no later than no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to to align with adolescent natural sleep cycles the timing for this is now tonight this week this month

041the a fall 2025 implementation is possible if we make a decision choose a path and move forward parents of middle schoolers have waited long enough for this change in our Mason District Community approximately 3,500 students in our middle schools are subjected to a 710 a.m. start time for three years instead of two years compared to middle schools in other parts of the county the science is clear not not enough sleep leads to a wide variety of unhealthy outcomes including poor attention span and ability to learn parents of middle schoolers have waited long enough for the change Fairfax County Public Schools needs to do what it says it's going to do thank you please play the video testimony by Jenna White I last spoke on the urgency of implementing healthy Middle School start times at the

042December 16th meeting since then I've conducted media outreach community outreach and launched a popular petition people ask me why I'm doing all this since my students are older and won't benefit as a longtime follower supporter and campaigner for Schoolboard members I'm disappointed in how this has been handled we haven't heard any valid reasons why you suddenly want to pair the boundary work with the start times what little we've heard are excuses like it's too late and we don't want people to change Twice first it isn't too late to get this back on schedule if it is too late it's only because you made it so your constituents keep telling you we don't want to wait for the boundary work the boundary work is complicated and it could be difficult to stick to your proposed timeline

043you have also said it might be done in phases so how does it make sense to pair phased work that hasn't determined the who the when and the how yet with Middle School start times there's much to be determined about boundaries and too much risk of further and further delay with Middle School start times so don't pair the two changing schools will happen for many families by the time the boundary work starts to be implemented due to their age or changing for programs and services or any other reasons so that excuse also doesn't hold up and for others they'll want to change twice because of the benefits so I'm left thinking you just don't want to do it despite your constituents pleading with you to do so people ask me all the time what's happening

044with the school board I voted in the primaries I campaigned for all of you when people ask me why start times have been delayed it looks like my only answer will have to be if they don't want to tackle an issue they won't do it despite what the constituents who who elected you are saying as the community awareness continues to grow I think you will find the constituents disappointment and the consequences that go with that disappointment to be deep and Lasting chair fres that was our last public speaker thank you agenda item 5.01 student representative matters I call on student representative Miss Swan thank you Mr chair um there are so many things to celebrate tonight and many many things to honor first a huge congrat to our Virginia High School league athletic and Academic

045Teams recognized earlier tonight as well as our orchestras bands and Middle School sports February is a month filled with so many meaningful recognitions starting with Black History Month across our schools students and staff are celebrating in many different ways whether it's morning announcements painting the school rock weekly features or the kickoff celebration at Woodson last night and many more these initiatives highlight the incredible contributions of black Americans and allow students to engage in learning this month that both inspires and honors what with it also being CTE disability employment and Adult Community Education Month I also want to touch on how important these groups are along with our General High School experience one of the things that makes FCPS truly special is not just our rigorous academics but also the Hands-On career learning opportunities that students

046have through our Academy programs from CTE courses as mentioned tonight from technology Education Health and Medical Sciences Junior RC and more these are the skills that students will need in the real world and so along with that I also just wanted to mention that it is competition season for all of our ctsos TSA Deca FBLA HOSA skill USA so I'm wishing all of these students the best of luck but behind every ctso is also a dedicated CTE adviser not just guiding students in the classroom or preparing them for competition but also mentoring them and being a key role with them during those competition weekends as we continue discussions around the budget I want to highlight the importance of sustaining and expanding financial support and stipend for CTE advisers and courses as some of my other

047board members have expressed in their budget priorities survey and finally happy National School counseling week our counselors are superheroes from always being there for students advising us through course selection which is going on right now and just being a figure that we can always look up to I relied on my counselor so much and I don't know where I would be without her so to all of our counselors thank you so much for your dedication patience and the care that you show every single day your work changes lives and we are so grateful for everything you do on to updates last week I had the opportunity to meet with Dr King Miss shin and the equity team to discuss the srnr proposals for the new school year through our conversations we realized that it's not

048only it's important that we don't just see the srnr as a rule book but also something that defines students rights and policies that shape our school experience I really appreciated the opportunity as well as students to provide feedback through the srnr survey that went through student emails in January and February I look forward to continuing to share a student perspective on the new srnr proposal as we discuss them into March in January I also had the honor of attending the FCPS dit midyear conference where I participated in a panel alongside Mr syy Dr Reid Dr King and FCPS to students that discuss the role of AI in education one of the key takeaways from our discussion was how AI can be leveraged to support Strategic Learning plans making education more personalized but we also must

049ensure ethical and responsible use understanding what the limitations of AI may be another thing that we talked about is AI Literacy for our students the same way during the pandemic all students and staff learned how to get onto zoom and use a computer it's going to be so important especially for our elementary schoolers and middle schoolers where AI is a huge part of their lives right now to know how to use it correctly and responsibly a huge thank you to Mr syy Mr Simmons and the entire dit team for organizing such an amazing event briefly I'd also like to share the questions that our superintendent advisory council is focusing on across the five focus groups on the Strategic plan goals with the help of our subject matter experts at our last meeting in January so

050I am just going to read the questions from the different goals for goal one students are focusing on how we improve literacy rates in elementary schools as well as how we improve the eso testing system and experience for those in the program for goal two students are focusing on how we improve chronic absenteeism and what some of those markers might mean as well as reducing the rates of disproportionate discipline throughout FCPS goal three is focusing on how FCPS can support Elementary and Middle School courses as well well as high school course selection as well as how we can support multilingual Learners in accessing coursework similar to their general education peers and understanding the differences that might exist throughout different types of courses goal four is also focusing on something very similar which is how we

051support disadvantaged students in extracurricular activities and what kind of Statistics can help us with our Solutions and finally goal five is focusing on how we effectively communicate resources and information from the College and Career Center effectively across all high schools thank you Dr Reed for meeting with us at our January meeting and taking the time to answer our questions about these proposals I'm very excited about the direction students will take to present our final proposals in March lastly I wanted to present another student opportunity the FCPS family Summit is being held on Saturday March 15th at South County High School where students are invited to Showcase their projects and advocacy efforts around inclusivity in schools so this could be a club that you're part part of or a project that you're doing in the community

052where students can earn service hours and share their work with peers and have conversations about fostering inclusivity in our school Community communities which is a central goal of strategic plan goal two there is a Google form that you can fill out by February 17th if your student um if you or your student Club is interested in attending as well as contact information for more information which can be found on the family Summit web page and in my minutes after this meeting these first couple months of the year are always so busy but it is so exciting to see the work that our students are doing and where they will be going thank you thank you Miss swamp before I continue I would like to acknowledge that we have a couple of our students from the

053Schoolboard student leadership development program here with us tonight including Mir carnik from Providence District please stand there she is Ari Lee from Sully and Sergio escalar from Mason Mr Mr chair we also have our student from Hunter Mill Miss Walla over there from Madison High School you'll be seeing more of them around our various meetings some of them were at our work session earlier in the week uh thank you for being here everybody agenda item 6.01 action item certification of closed meeting compliance and 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 February 6 2025 to the best of each board member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted from

054the open meeting requirements and only such business public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the Clos were heard discussed or considered by the board during the close meeting do I have a motion Mr mine second Dr Anderson all those in favor Miss Dixit Mr movan Dr Anderson Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning Mr McDaniel and myself all those opposed abstentions Miss Marin the motion passes agenda item 6.01 action item confirmation of action taken and closed meeting there were no actions enclosed tonight agenda item 6.03 action item proposed Financial year 2026 2030 Capital Improvement program I call on Miss Marin for a motion I move that the school board approve the proposed fiscal year 2026 2030 Capital Improvement program is there a second second

055thank you Miss Marin would you like to speak to your motion so this is an annual action that the school board takes but it is the one with the most resources attached to it we are approving The Five-Year program for the maintenance and planning of 8.7 billion Dollar in public facility assets this work is compiled through a lot of data that includes projections of which our school sta our office staff have been on target 100% to 105% of the time it is in the CIP that School boundaries fall under the plans for renovations updating maintenance backlogs potential new schools and how that is all funded or or not is in this program it is essential for the board to approve this program because what happens next is that it goes to the County Board of

056Supervisors they determine how much funding this program will get it has been $230 million a year and this is one of the reasons why we have a 45e cycle to renovate our schools the process is not working however we need to maintain our buildings because that is where our students learn and our staff work the discussions about things including Middle School star times all land in our facilities overcrowding undercrowl ions because what we're doing cannot continue if we want things like nice new buildings and Net Zero schools and um you know quiet rooms and calm rooms and smaller classrooms and state-of-the-art you know machines and activities this to me is the most important thing that our board can work on right now because it impacts every single person who is in our school division thank

057you thank you Miss Marin Mr would you like to speak to your second I will defer comments to later in the conversation Mr Dunn uh I care deeply about the capital Improvement program and uh I view it as one of the most fundamental obligations of this school board because to provide safe and modern uh classrooms and schools with updated facilities uh especially in a county as wealthy as ours as Highly Educated ours is is is fundamental however I will be voting against the capital Improvement plan uh this evening because I view uh the current plan is irresponsible uh in light of the presentation we received from facilities a couple weeks ago which reflected uh enormous uh needs uh and meager resources and uh we are operating uh in accordance with a construction queue a renovation

058queue that was established in 2009 we're a very different school system than we were in 2009 at this point we should be looking at available resources and taking a strategic reassessment of how we are spending money so that we can align our spending with what we anticipate from the school boundary review uh the priorities that exist within our system and making sure that we are doing our utmost from a system perspective to provide uh modern updated classrooms schools facil for every child at every school no matter where you live uh and what school you attend thank you Mr dun Miss Anderson I just wanted to take a quick second I would first like to thank staff for the immense amount of work that this takes in order to create this document for us every year

059and to outline and come up with a plan with the resources we do have available to us so I think that it's extremely important I am absolutely in support of the work that staff has done I also want to speak to the fact fact that we have schools that are at the end of the renovation queue that have been there for 27 years and those schools have been waiting just the same amount of time that all the other schools are waiting as well so I absolutely believe that we need to follow through with our commitment to those schools um I was part of a school environment that was in the middle of a renovation and I watched what happened in our building where where deferred maintenance was pushed off because the renovation was coming and

060I know that's likely to be occurring in the 12 schools that are at the end of the list so I absolutely am in support of us continuing the work to finalize many of those schools are in my district many of them are in my colleagues from the suly district and we share a lot of those schools together and it is essential that we continue to make sure that those students also have the opportunity and the privilege of working in the T same type of schools and that have already been renovated thank you Miss Anderson Miss Dixit I would concur with my colleague uh Miss Anderson that um you know we don't can't be selfish we have some schools already been designed and built and renovated and the western side of the county has really old

061schools still now and I'll just quote some of them Virginia run which is on the Queue now popular tree papes Mill Center Ridge Elementary School Union Mill Cub Run Franklin Middle School centralville High School most of these schools are old they're 8 1980 um and before or mostly 1980s some of the schools are overc capacity some have a lot of modular as well cville high school has 22 and I feel it is irresponsible for anyone to make a comment that we should not consider these schools in the queue waiting for so long to get renovated it and just start a new queue all over we are respecting the work has been done so far and I will I would like to continue with this queue um till the we finish all these schools most of

062them are in Nali District so I I'm ring looking out for my students and my constituents thank you thank you Miss Dixit Miss seore Heiser I just wanted to speak briefly first I really want to thank staff um Miss sininsky and her staff for the all the hard work and I'm just going to say the hundreds of pages that you've submitted in this last year and answers to to many of the board follow on motions as well in addition to the CIP work so just thank you for all the the thoughtful answers and exploring many of the different um areas we've tried to explore as we've looked for ways and we'll continue to look for ways to reduce the time for renovation the cost for renovation and being creative in funding our Renovations because we

063really cannot continue with a 42-year renovation cycle and I will'll continue to work together so thank you to your staff for all the hard work you've done I wanted to mention um I also you know we've been talking about having to redo a renovation queue or starting a new renovation queue for a couple years not knowing this moment is coming as our previous renovation queue is ending and now starting the work of um determining the criteria and how to determine the prioritization in a new queue but that doesn't mean you don't finish the previous queue those schools have been waiting for a long time for the renovation and it's it's not fair to skip them just because they're at the end I think um we had a queue that was thoughtful and thought out at

064the time I think around 2008 when we developed it um and so we finished through those schools and then we start a new with our new criteria and the new process one of the ones that is on towards towards the end of the queue which was something that the previous board had actually voted on it was championed by my former School Board Vice chair we served together chair and vice chair and my former colleague Tammy daret kofax is the conversion of the pet Hill Center on the route one Corridor for early childhood and the school board has talked significantly about the importance of early childhood and the the data and the research that shows that students who have access to preschool just have better outcomes in Reading in literacy in graduation rates and actually probably

065saves money from not having to do as much higher intensity interventions if you can have better access to preschool so I was very proud to support that motion that we passed to have that um already bonded uh repurpose for Early Childhood so I think we need to finish the queue to make sure the schools that have been waiting for many years for renovations get their Renovations and we do what we can to push some of these priorities that we know are are backed by evidence-based research so thank you again to staff I'm happy to support this thank you Miss seore Heiser Miss Marin yes I just also wanted to be sure that we're providing context you know to the credit again of the staff until now the immensity of the need had not been ident

066ified and Quantified to the extent that has been preent presented to the board in just the last few months in the past few months the board has been educated about essential components that we the board must continue to understand in public and discuss and provide directives for that includes alternative sources of revenue things like could we have a specific Bond just to get through the maintenance or maybe we want a green Bond or maybe want a bond you know for the early childhood education that has not been discussed we want to look at public private partners ship which is a growing strategy U alternative ways to conduct renovation I wasn't aware of spring swing spaces until that came to the de where students and staff might only be out of their constructed school for a

067year instead of what we've been doing and stretching it out numbers of years so a lot of information has come to light that is really exciting but it's not going to be quick it's going to take us years to figure out what the new plan is how are we going to get away from this 45e cycle to something much less not to mention the economy the availability of materials so I really you know I really urge my colleagues for us to spend dedicated time this year the next year and the next one three more years ahead Al together and figure out what the plan is what do we want to do where do we want to explore where do we want to be in three years so that we don't keep approving plans that we

068know will take literally a generation to build a new school and renovate it thank you Miss Marin Dr Anderson thank you I do want to take a moment to thank staff because it has been um a lot of work so miss zinsky and your team it is each and every year just very significant and we have also received um some very scholarly work from your shop um all of the reports that we've discussed in um cpdc that we can't wait to dig into that takes a lot of hours and I'm very appreciative of that um my concern with the CIP it's not with the schools that are in the queue because we know what that conversation has been though when communities are waiting for certain things to happen and it doesn't happen there is a

069deep disappointment so I definitely understand um what has been shared with the schools that are in that queue but I I also I'm having a hard time reconciling when we pivot away when something is no longer needed um for example if the Q if whatever we place in our CIP is Sacra Saint then I do have to raise my concern over the fact that just last year's CIP we removed glasow Elementary from the table four so it is clearly a living breathing document to be responsive to the needs of the community as they change I even remember asking Dr Reed this question um in a work session not I can't remember I can't remember when it wasn't this year's it was last year's work session which is if we were to apply a the objective

070criteria that we think we're heading towards in our needs of this day would all of the schools and that queue continue to um will they withstand that evaluation that assessment and she was very honest to say no they would not I I do want us to with to uphold our um com our commitment to our communities but we have to do this in every facet we also heard quite a bit from my community who was really who really turned out here this evening regarding the Middle School start times that's not included in that in the plan um I'm glad to see that the Park Lawn um concerns are raised in that plan but it's not in a consistent way which I've raised at the work session um I'm not going to be able to support

071this plan this evening because I think we can do more thank you Dr Anderson Mr Moon uh thank you Mr chairman uh I'll be supporting the motion I'll be supporting the CIP and and I'm GNA and I'm going to stay why why I do even though uh just like most of my colleagues that I am not happy with a 42 years cyer for the renovations uh M mansky could you uh for the benefit of public tell us why we are adopting CIP at this time of the year certainly the reason we are adopting it at this time of the year is because it needs to be incorporated and adopted as part of the county CIP so there will be public hearings in April and the county CIP will be adopted in May so as part

072of building that we need to provide our cash flow and our approved portion of it to the county uh soon after the adoption comes from the school board okay so is there a deadline from the county side that we need to it Summit is over there is it's um they need it in the next two weeks next two we to be adop to be incorporated into their book okay that was something that I want you to have public hear from you directly uh you know we are only given because we're not we don't have a taxing Authority we don't have a means of by Schoolboard itself we cannot determine our own cash flow the money that we can use to uh renovate in a build new schools Etc we are you know pretty much at

073the mercy of the governing body of a County Board of Supervisors and we get about $230 million per year is that correct correct starting in FY 25 and Beyond we are getting $230 million annually I correct so that is why we are limited by a a you amount of a cash flow there's only so much we can do in terms of a a wanting to reduce the a the 42 year cycle to what he desire which according to our policy is about 25 years so but C CIP is one of those things along with the budget we have no choice at the end end of the day to adopt if we don't adopt we're not going to build it it's not that they we are able to you know reduce the that 42e cycle we

074cannot bu it if we don't adopt just like a budget if we don't adopt the budget we cannot pay our staff we cannot run our programs so even with a a a all of the what happen on most of us if not all of us with the cash flow limited amount of cash flow we have we are given no other choice but to adopt because no matter what we need to continue renovating and building our schools that is why with all the regrets all the unhappiness even on my part I am I have no other choice but to support the CIP thank you Mr Moon Miss St John cunning first of all I would like to take the staff thank the staff because this is amazing work um work that I wasn't aware of when

075I was in a school building and realizing like I was just thinking about my school building and my issues in terms of heating or Cooling and you guys have to take the whole comprehensive look and you have to do a triage of this one needs it more than this one because it's an emergency to each and every one of us in our own individual schools so I really appreciate that and I recognize how hard of a job this is and I really appreciate a lot of the different points of consideration that you've brought up to us uh as my colleague Mr Mr Moon said I'm going to support this because we have no choice that doesn't mean that we can't as we move forward start thinking differently start thinking about how we can improve funding

076sources how we can improve how we do the queue that doesn't mean that that's going to fall by the wayside because we approve it for this year uh this needs to be approved because our schools need to be taken care of there are teachers there are students and buildings that are counting on things to be fixed I'm not even talking about major Renovations I'm just talking about an elevator working or the heating and cooling working uh and that makes a difference in your daily work work or your daily class time as a kid and so I look forward to supporting the CIP and I also look forward to working with my colleagues to see more creatively and maybe with more intentionality on how we move forward to improve the process thank you Miss St John

077cunning Mr McDaniel thank you um I will be supporting the motion uh first and foremost I want to thank staff Janice um and Dr Reed for all your work on this um I know it takes a lot to produce a document like this so so thank you for that at the end of the day we're being asked to cast a vote up or down on the CIP program let's be very clear about this I agree that we could amend this it is a living breathing document but that's not the vote on the table the vote is up or down on these expenditures so I'm going to vote for this I have my gripes I have my complaints but I'm 90% confident in this document um I question whether or not voting this down would impact

078our AAA Bond rating and fundamentally voting this down would halt billions of dollars of Renovations and construction and I'm not willing to put our community through that turmoil and that chaos so while I could complain about some specifics um as we all could I'm going to be supporting this document and I'm looking forward to its passage thank you thank you Mr MCD and miss lady I too would like to thank staff I know this is a volume of work um and um it takes hours to put together uh and it's not easy work so I just do really appreciate the work of Staff um I also appreciate the comments of my colleagues um at the Das uh and especially uh the way my my colleague Mr um McDaniel just shared um you know you know

079the situation with this is that when you read something that's comprehensive you might bump into things that are not 100% um what you would want um but I do feel like you know the work has to get done um but I but I just I'm probably in a position where I don't want to put throw the baby at with the bath water um so I'm while I'm still going to listen to my colleagues um I'm not sure if I can vote for this um my guess is I'm probably going to abstain just because I have some cognitive dissonance around some of the items um that are in there um but I do want staff to know how much I appreciate their hard work thank you thank you Miss Lady Mr dun uh so I I

080appreciate the comments of my colleagues um but in real in reality uh those are strawman fallacies that when you set up a false argument and then say that's that's what's actually being advocated um there's been no advocacy by me or anyone else to cancel particular projects but there is an obligation to reassess the projects that we are spending money on we have a 42 year 42-year renovation queue getting worse we have $530 million deferred maintenance backlog $379 million infrastructure backlog and4 billion doar it would cost according to facilities to get back to a 20 to 25 year renovation cycle those are staggering numbers when we only have $230 million a year um to uh Dr to said we should be governed as a school system not as a system of schools to advocate for renovations

081of particular schools is to argue for a system of schools rather than a school system we should be acting as a school board in a unified way to address the systemic needs as we are in School boundaries as we are in other challenges uh it continuing the current path will only make the situation worth worse to the point where we'll be off the cliff and it'll be too late and we just will not be able to address the fundament mental needs of our school system we are at a point where we've been presented information by superintendent by Mr mankin I do appreciate all the work that's gone into this we have a fantastic Superstar facilities team a superstar superintendent now is the time to change now is the time to reassess and make sure we're

082spending our dollars wisely as our uh uh uh constituents elected us to do to make the hard choices not to wait 10 years as we have done with Middle School start time and make choices now because these are long-term Investments and we need to think longterm thank you thank you Mr dun Miss Dixit uh mrki I wanted to just have a quick question on page um on the slide eight of the uh Capital Improvement program funding summary when you it's on the graph it says we need $1.4 billion and only 384 million are funded um we get $230 million on bond funding that's 1.1 billion doll in five years how that that translate that in a in the slide that's correct right now we have as the funded portion all the bond referendum funding we've

083received to date and through this fiscal year the we get to that over one point over the $1 billion doll number over the course of the five years with the anticip ipated approval of that $230 million annually so this is unfunded $1 billion basically is the future money we will be getting which is 230 million a year that's correct so it that does not show any deficiency at this particular moment if we are already funded for the current projects correct and that's why we're on a 42-year cycle we had to build out the priorities and build out the cash flow with the anticipated funding that we get that $230 million annually we are planning to change some of our Pro Contracting processes for building I believe that is correct we've been working on um revisions

084to Schoolboard policy 8240 which allow for different Contracting methods for construction uh do you think that would bring in some savings for this following projects we are doing I don't know if that's going to be the easy button that brings us up like hundreds of millions of dollars I think we'll gain some efficiencies and I think we'll gain some efficiencies more in the process and the product by having a builder on earlier in the process I can't with certainty say though this is going to solve the financial issue the the costs still are rising you know ever since covid especially and with the adoption of prevailing wage in the past couple years um I think that you're going to still see those higher prices is uh they're not going to go back down from the

085pre-pandemic rates and uh Mr mensky I I really want to appreciate the slide you have which shows our funding as per square feet uh as compared to all the other school division in NE neighboring counties we we get the lowest of the funding for our construction or renovation am am I correct yes that is correct we get the least fundings we have the most students we have the most buildings um so I mean it is what it is I mean we have to work with the funds we have but definitely there is a need of more funding from the bonds um and we have to collaborate with the Board of Supervisors um I also wanted to um point one more thing about the infrastructure replacement requirements um we have a backlog on that but that

086does not come out of the bond money right that is correct right now the bond is funding what you see on page 43 our cash flow of major capital projects um infrastructure and maintenance is coming out of uh it various operating funds Miss meny I have said this before that other ways of building maintenance like Contracting uh onm contracts which federal government uses quite a bit uh we should look in other resources and other options of doing this is it a good thing to do it ourselves or um you know Outsource some of this work um because this is what I have seen in the federal site most in most of the federal buildings so this is something I would like to you know get more information on thank you Miss Dix thank you Mr

087mine uh thank you Mr frish um I too want to thank staff um I I believe this year's uh CIP presentation was the most Illuminating um that I've seen on my time on the board and that's in part because of um Miss sans's uh work to really bring out those staggering figures that uh Mr Dunn just referred to 14.5 not just 14 billion so um we have uh certainly a lot of uh work to make up that funding uh so uh I have a few questions so first um some news was released this week that um the Board of Supervisors is pursuing doing a bond for early childhood education facilities how does that uh interplay with our facilities uh and does is that County specific is that school specific does anyone know I would say

088um Dr precidio is not here this evening so I didn't know if that's something that the skipped uh committee has been briefed on uh Miss samansky are you familiar with the bond content for the Early Childhood on the county side I I would need to go back and get more information I have been made aware and the county has reached out to us saying that they're going to be conducting a feasibility study within their facilities as part of this work and you know have put us on that awareness thank you for that I find it shocking um that we don't know more about that and that the blame does not fall in this room it falls falls elsewhere so we' be grateful to hear from our Board of Supervisors colleagues if they're planning to do

089something something like that uh especially if it um implicates our facilities um SEC secondly I have a site specific question and um this follows on some of the um comments from Miss seore Heiser about our early childhood facilities um so um Miss seore Heiser mentioned the um the pemet hills facility the one I want to focus on though is the Pinewood Lakes facility um so that is um as we can see an update to this CIP uh it says it's stated uh slated for planning in 2032 I believe um and um just going back uh in 2023 a follow on to the CIP uh a follow on motion was made by Miss daret kofax um that uh dedicated uh 0.5 million uh to the design and planning for this facility so I'm not quite clear

090why we are still seven years out on planning for that and Miss uh SMY I realized that's before your time so um I don't know if you have an answer tonight I would have to get back to you on that one thank you okay Dr re well I I don't have an answer either I'm guessing I I don't know what the original when the follow on motion I know there was a plan to study that but I don't know if where that sat in the queue at that time so I I would have to go back and speak with Miss I know it's was definitely a priority conversation that Mr Kila brought forward well I I bring this up just to say that I hope that our Board of Supervisors are contemplating these facilities that

091are already in the pipeline when they're um looking at this Bond funding um my third question is on um uh the D luring facility so um I'm interested to get staff's uh opinions on um a letter that was sent to us by the mlan citizens Association um as well as the Fairfax County Historical um associate Society um there what what these letters have indicated is that there's excess capacity in the region where we're we're looking to put this facility um with 10 surrounding schools you know all having extra capacity um with shwood stenwood Freedom Hill all um having um significant extra capacity so um just any thoughts staff could provide on that sure I uh just as the meeting was started uh received an email with some data so I I didn't have a chance

092to print it but um Miss samansky forwarded it um perhaps you could relay some of the I think there were some um topics around trailers and uh classrooms for special programs perhaps so if you could illuminate uh that to be responsive I'd appreciate it sure so while there is excess capacity in nearby elementary schools and again dun Lauren's been uh in the works for quite some time to address that more long-term growth in need and another uh thing I wanted to point out and sent to Dr Reed that's not so much pure capacity but just really looking at the recent rise and additional programs in this area so uh right now uh dun Lauren's in the Marshall pyramid but Falls Church and um other adjacent pyramids have seen a rise in the need for addition

093classroom specific to special education we did some research and found that those pyramids also had a lot of uh temporary classroom trailers so there's other things that we would want to consider when thinking about planning and that need for dling that goes just beyond what you see in the current membership utilization okay thank you I mean that this is something that I'm I'm as one board member going to be paying a lot of attention to thank you thank you Mr movan all right uh as a note to the public on May 6th we're going to have a work session as a school board um some of the topics that we'll be receiving from the cpdc committee and uh Miss Baron has encouraged us along with some of our CIP followon motions that need further discussion

094uh and some of the other research that's been done around those issues so M okay May 6th um uh we will have a work session on that so stay tuned Miss St joh gunning for a go back a apologies for ringing in right now I just did want to bring some light for the Early Childhood the skip team has made a very conscientious um and intentional effort to get the entire skip team this year to work on early childhood education um and I know that that is a focus that is going to be year long and looking at everything and we haven't discussed the bond yet but I know that that is a very intentional that is very intentional work that's going on right now thank you Miss St John cunning all right see no

095others we'll go to a vote the motion is on the screen all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Miss Anderson Miss seore Heiser Mr Moon Miss St John cunning Mr McDaniel and myself those opposed Mr M mine excuse me Mr ml Dr Anderson Mr Dunn abstentions miss lady will the clerk read the vote 831 the motion carries thank you all right um I call on Mr Dunn for a follow on motion thank you uh I move to direct the superintendent to engage with the county executive to explore the issuance of additional or Standalone bonds to augment the funding available for school construction infrastructure maintenance and renovation to include the potential green Bond and to deliver report to the school board with options and recommendations by May 8th 2025 is there a second second Mr

096mine Mr dun would you like to speak to your motion yes please all right um I it's already been discussed a little bit um there is a shocking disconnect between uh the Standalone bond that has been discussed in the news media uh which is the first time I learned about it um for early childhood education which I think all of us strongly support because it's the key to closing the achievement Gap but with our School boundary review one of our major um issues under discussion is the possibility of moving sixth graders to middle school and one of the stated purposes of that is to make room for pre kindergarten early childhood education so we will have ample space and we likely have ample space in our schools as is right now uh to accommodate as

097much early childhood educ if ation as the federal government the state government local government wishes to fund um at a time when as we uh have stated we have 14.5 billion dollars that we require to get back to a 20 to 25 year renovation cycle which is the industry standard to address the uh very significant infrastructure backlog the very significant half billion dollar maintenance backlog uh we we really need uh as much funding as possible to address the needs of our facilities of our schools of our students of our staff of our communities um in order to make sure that the school board has all the information it requires on the types of bonds the types of financial instruments that are available to us the impacts of those Bonds on our credit rating and the

098possibility of issuing Standalone Bond whether as a green Bond whether as a dedicated bond for Early Childhood uh education or another educational purpose such as school construction and renovation uh it's absolutely vital that the superintendent and the county executive together who are responsible for operations who have the greatest expertise and and resources to fully explore the full range of options um have a very thorough conversation and dialogue that they can then come back to the school board and the Board of Supervisors to present strategic highlevel options that is the fundamental uh nature of our board's job as part-time um officials with day jobs uh in many cases our job is to make high level strategic decisions and this motion is intended to gather information that then can be brought back to us so that we

099can address perhaps the most serious crisis from a long-term perspective um that our county has faced in in many many years um as one of my colleagues said the scope of this crisis has only recently become clear that's because of the excellent work by the superintendent and miss samansky and her facilities team uh and it is time for us to address this crisis We cannot put this off for years and years and years because the crisis is growing worse and so to understand our fiscal options is absolutely essential and that is what this motion is intended to do thank you Mr dun Mr movine you like to speak to your second so I've long believed that um Fairfax County has been far too conservative in uh its uh Bond uh funding I think that um

100you know the county does meet regularly with the credit rating agencies but compared to other jurisdictions of our size um the amount of um Bond funding we have seems to be low um and the county is now at a point where as Illustrated earlier uh it's it's in the bond market for um for new new bonds that we weren't aware of uh so I don't see any issue with uh uh bringing another option to the table um as outlined by Mr Dunn um that I think there's I think everyone on this board agrees that uh green construction is the way of the future this system is heavily invested in that um from our from our roofs to our solar panels um to our our lighting to to just about everything our facilities so it's um

101long past time for the uh the county to look at this option thank you thank you Mr mine Miss Marin yeah I think it's essential that we talk about the bond I said that previously um it's just not a oneandone thing and it's not a oneman show to put this forward this needs to start with a discussion with the board it's not up to one School Board member to direct the superintendent to go ahead and talk with the county executive it's actually a bond program that's run by the County board our funders and our counterparts so the logical thing is to start with them it is very unfortunate is another colleague said that the County Board has um taken a step that could be super positive but not with us um you know I Aspire

102for this board and the County Board to work much more thoughtfully and strategically together especially since our facilities hosted half a million events last year some of which were actually run by Fairfax County so we're we're inextricably linked and this is only going to work when all of us on this board and the people on the the board of supervisors get together and make some really bold decisions um other counties do this other counties hrio County they use their meals tax they have over I think it was 400 different facilities improvements um I'm aware of where the the superintendent came from last in Washington billion dooll Bond Texas they do billion dooll bonds there are things that are best practices and common in other places that this County doesn't do and it really rests with

103the Board of Supervisors because they're the ones to put the bonds out out there it's not the only solution for Capital funding but it's the one we've got in place now and we should figure out how to expand it so I will not be supporting this motion because we as a board need to publicly discuss it before directing the superintendent to do anything about it thank you thank you Miss Maron Miss Anderson I agree with my colleague that I think that the Board needs to spend some time talking about what our funding streams are but if nothing has become clear to me over the last month is that we have several crisises going on in education right now and for me as much as I would love to ensure that our infrastructure is as solid

104as humanly possible the crisis that I am the most concerned about is our teachers and our staff so I can't support this because any scent that the county could give us extra I want it to make sure that we fund that contract and so I would I I just can't fathomable put this forward to the county right now um I think it's an essential conversation for us to have with them in a partnership where it's not necessarily board directed it's it's one board to another I think we need to start off by getting all of us together and actually discussing this in a way that we can work together I've said that many times and so I can't support this tonight um but I look forward to those conversations with my colleagues in the future

105thank you Miss Anderson excuse me I will take a turn um I Know M uh Sloan is not here with us tonight but I do want to note um that I know that the Early Childhood office and Mr Presidio have attended meetings with the county about the Early Childhood Bond um I think the Press coverage probably caught people by surprise um and if he were here tonight he would speak to it and I'll work with the superintendent to ensure that he could report back to the board on the work there I think they've been okay um thank you uh I think they can um uh report back to us on the conversations that they've been having um and the Outreach was early um so um we can go from there um I have Mr McDaniel

106thank you um I will not be supporting the motion you know I think this is a classic example of the need for a better communication um this I was aware of this as you know EOL Chairman's comments um that this was coming down the pipeline so I I'm I'm kind of taken back a little bit by some sentiment that well this was blindsided I don't think it was but that's just this one board member's view um at the end of the day I don't want to put the county and when I say the county I mean the two boards because fundamentally 22 people govern this County our board and the Board of Supervisors I don't want to put any of us in the position of sniping back and forth on bond capacity um I question

107how that would impact our AAA Bond rating which is a Hallmark of what we have done for good governance in this County since the late 70s to my my recollection we're one of the few counties one of the few Municipal governments in the country to have this AAA Bond rating so continuing to go back and forth on this in a in this type of fashion um it's just not a good way to do business had this motion been to reestablish The Joint infrastructure Finance ing working group between the two boards I would support it but I'm not going to support us just firing off a letter saying give us more Bond money um especially because well we didn't know maybe that this pre this early childhood education bomb is coming down the pipes so um

108unfortunately I I can't support this Mo I think there's a path forward to have this conversation this motion is not the path thank you thank you Mr McDaniel Miss seore Heiser thank you I also um will not be supporting this motion at this time I want repeat what my colleagues have said but I'm hoping Dr Reed and Miss samansky at that May 5th or 6th I can't remember the exact date you said work session that we're having with the additional follow on motion of the CIP and the additional discussion one of the points of conversation could perhaps be what are some ways that we can collaborate with the county on issues around bond funding around as my colleague mentioned preschool and and jointly working on school um and perhaps there could be time for conversations

109that we could have our chair could have with the chair of the Board of Supervisors or you can have on ideas that we can then discuss as a board at a work session I know a couple years ago we had a joint CIP work group that ended up in raising the bond funding that's an option that we could discuss our County counterparts and see if they're looking to do something like that but I think that May 5th work session perhaps if you all can come with some ideas of ways to collaborate or we can have that conversation together might be a good thing as a a good point to have a thoughtful discussion but how do we best collaborate in a way that sets both our boards and more importantly the schools in the county

110up for Success so that's just a thought I had thank you Miss seore Heiser Mr Moon thank you Mr chairman uh thank you Mr Mr Don for bringing this motion even though I am not going to be able to support this motion today but I I do certainly understand why you brought this one up uh if I'm not mistaken uh that we the school system needs additional additional a capital funding uh from somewhere uh and at this point in time it's a county side County governing body is going to have to make some decisions in their regard uh even though a it may be difficult for the superintendent to engage County Executive to make for two executive make those decisions because ultimately it's going to come down to a County uh a Board of Supervisors

111make a decision I'm hoping that Mr chairman uh you can engage a county chair uh to let them know of our desire to have this conversation maybe sometime after we have the may work session then we can schedule a join board meeting uh to at least have the discussion whether County side agrees to give us additional funding or not I think we deserve an opportunity to present our case and hopefully uh Dr Reed uh for the may work at the may work session uh if if he could bring to the board some helpful information I say helpful because uh I need to present I I I would like to be able to use the information when I have a conversation with super supervisors that why 25e cycle is much better than 42e cycle why so

112for our students and for our teachers and why even four 25 years cycle makes more financial sense if that cuts down a lot of maintenance cost I'm hoping that we can somehow find a way to quantify that so that we can show that it actually in the long run saves US money by going to 25e cycle then 42e cycle once we have those information we can at the Joint meeting with the County Supervisors present those for their consideration but thank you again Mr Don for you know bring this to us I'm hoping that this will instigate this will a a motivate our board to more actively uh convey our message to County Board of Supervisors having you know join conversation thank you Mr Moon uh Miss St John cunning um so I too cannot support

113this amendment I think what's really important for us to discuss here is the importance of the relationships that we build with our counterparts um On The Board of Supervisors and a lot of us have one-on-one relationships with the board the board of supervisor that represents our district I have monthly meetings with mine I know what's going on he knows what's going on I encourage everyone to do that because I think the way we move this ball forward is not just through our relationship board to board but these personal relationships I have relationships with other Board of Supervisors where we'll sit around and discuss things and I know we're a very datadriven Society uh which is very important but I also think that those relationships are crucial I know that the Board of Supervisors want the

114same thing that we want but I also understand that right now we're going to be fa facing a huge reduction in our tax base because of what's happening with our corporate tax uh tax funding where there's not money there so we H the Board of Supervisors has plus of the pie and we're going to have to be creative for how we try to solve this I encourage us to work together as a board have a discussion as a board work with with the Board of Supervisors but I also encourage us to have those build those relationships so that we can creatively figure out how we're going to do this um I just think that the way that this motion is presented is not the best way to build a relationship we can't be adversarial I

115also know that our state Partners our state delegates and senators are also trying to work to support us but we're facing a funding shortage and we've got to be realistic and my father who always gives gives us Pearls of Wisdom and I've said this to many of you it's like everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die you know so we all want the best but nobody wants to pay taxes so now we have to figure out what we're going to do um I think we start strengthening those relationships thank you Miss St John cunning Dr Anderson thank you we have a joint meeting coming up with the Board of Supervisors on the 25th um is it potentially is it possible for this to be a conversation on the agenda you mind

116if I respond it's the question is to you I know I'm just being formal uh yes I'm happy to talk to Chairman McKay I I think that would be a good idea even whether this passes or does not pass I think that's something we need to to establish and I also don't see any harm in having our executiv speak to their executive because they have conversations all the time we're just honing in on what possibilities could be in this area because you have regular meetings set up with Brian Hill correct yes ma'am how how would be how would those meetings be impacted if you were to raise this as an exploration it's just to to see what they're thinking we talk about a wide range of topics so I certainly could ask the question yeah

117and I think that would be a good start we have to start somewhere because we sit here and we know what we need to have happen for our schools we see our need it it's very clear to us and we just need to continuously convey this to the other side because we cannot generate any Revenue we are at the mercy and so the more we can engage in these discussions the more we could be planful I I don't think we lose from doing that uh my last question is to um Miss zensky not to put you on the spot at all but I'm curious in the districts where you've worked and the divisions where you've worked before have you had simultaneous bonds going on for different projects or different types of um yeah different types

118of projects yeah where where I came from in District Columbia it's sort of a unique situation where the mayor could go out and get bonds uh without voter referendum so I don't know if I'm the right precedent case but I guess to answer your question yes we did so we would have bonds sold to do major capital projects um major infrastructure and asset projects all kind of concurrent and based on what the needs were and that 5year pipeline the amounts would vary from year to year depending on what the priorities were thank you thank you Dr Anderson Mr dun yeah I just wanted to clarify a couple things for those many thousands of people watching on YouTube um first of all um teacher salaries are not paid from bonds they're paid from the operating budget

119two completely different pots of money so teacher salaries is not even part of the uh equation um secondly we're not talking about issuing a bond um the language very clear explore the issuance of additional or stand loan bonds they're already talking about issuing stand loan bonds I've been an education advocate for 10 years in this County and I've heard multiple boards talk about how they really wish they could issue additional bonds because even 10 years ago the school infrastructure construction renovation maintenance needs uh were great um and uh but we were always under the understanding previous school boards were under the understanding that the only bonds that the county could issue to preserve the AAA credit rating uh were the school bonds every two years that's not true right there's some financial instruments that count

120against that credit rating can impact it and there other financial instruments that that don't and so I think um if we the 22 people who govern this County uh get together in a room I don't know what the conversation would be I know everyone's background here none of us are Financial instrument bond market experts neither are any of the folks On The Board of Supervisors the experts reside under the county executive and then with our you know superintendent in cfo's office those are the financial experts they can come together they can develop information and then present it to the board and that's that's the information gathering and then you raise it up to the decision maker level that's how it works in any large organization as I've been a COO for a 2 billion Federal

121agency I understand how these things work I regret that this motion won't pass tonight but I hope formally or informally we will actually go out gather the information so we can actually pursue this because this isn't a one school member initiative this is actually a board initiative thank you Mr Dunn Mr McDaniel and just just to clarify um how the bond process works in this County because I do have some experience in doing that I won't claim to be an expert U but I do kind of know a thing or two um the 10 principles of sound financial management that the county adopted decades ago the resolution that led to us having a AAA Bond rating the resolution that led to us actually being able to build out the county to the mecca that it

122is today the thing that I'm advocating so hard for us to protect and be sensitive about that document outlines very clearly how we fund bonds and the bond capacity of the county we have to have maintain a certain percentage of bonded out debt versus the total book value of real estate assets we also have to ensure that the percentage of our operating budget dedicated to Debt Service is below a certain threshold so this isn't simply a question of just issue more bonds or not it is a closed loop system the question is not give more bonds to the schools or not the question is give more bonds to the schools and that would mean taking away from other projects within the county so this is not a simple conversation of just well let's issue a

123standalone Bond and call it a day we have to be partners at the table and that's why I'm so passionately advocating for this motion to not pass again had this motion been to have that joint conversation I would be on board with it but that's not what this motion says thank you thank you Mr McDaniel sing not oh miss Marin yeah I think too I mean like colleagues you know I'm thinking about what is the point of having a motion like this I mean we are here to direct the superintendent I don't know that we need motions necessarily to direct ourselves and you know how do we set up our agenda for discussions well we have this one coming up on May 6 but to Mr McDaniel's point point I asked at the first joint

124meeting when we met with the Board of Supervisors what does that AAA Bond rating actually get us if we have school buildings that are well past their useful life we can say we have a AAA Bond rating and how is that benefiting us right now also we could stay just focused on the current Bond program which has us getting Bond money every other year on the ballot well how is it that the schools get funds on the ballot this year will be on the ballot it's an even year an odd year it'll be on the November ballot so schools are slated to be on the ballot yet we have four times the amount of square footage than the county plus our Billings are used seven days a week including County programs so that is a

125key conversation could we adjust the schedule and maybe have a few years of school bond funding and get rid of the backlog of Maintenance these are all discussions I've poured over the County's Bond program and I have many questions um I and referring to what was you know set up in the past I'm I can't recall um the document Mr McDaniel was talking about but let's let's review what we've been through we've been through covid we've been through a recession uh who knows what's going to happen to our Workforce right here locally so you know it's time to review these things and I just see a pattern in this County of waiting too long to review things 40 years for a bound r view 15 years for Star times 40 something years for operating systems

126to be reviewed if we are world class we need to update our business operations and our funding mechanisms and it's hard work and we're going to have to do it together and certainly our executives are going to have to do it together but if we can all get on the same page and talk together it's got to start with us before we direct Executives to do it thank you thank you Miss Marin all right seeing no others can we have the motion please on the screen all right I will call for a vote for the motion on the screen all those in favor Mr mlan Dr Anderson Mr Dunn all those opposed Miss Marin Miss Anderson Miss Eiser Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John cunning Mr McDaniel and myself the motion does not pass

127uh agenda item 7.01 performance review Safety and Security el13 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 of 13 executive limitations found on pages 14 through 31 of the board's 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 a corrective action is needed I call on Dr Reid for a monitoring report on Executive limitation 13 Safety and Security good evening chairman frish members of the board and the public uh tonight as Mr Mr frish mentioned I'll be presenting executive limitation 13 which discusses Safety and Security um so

128let's go ahead thank you um I want to uh share that at the time of this report to the best of my knowledge information and belief we have gathered information and evidence that I believe supports compliance with the board's executive limitation associated with this topic and would like to share some of the highlights this evening want to do a reminder that there are seven areas of executive uh limitation 13 and this uh outlines all the parts of item number one these are the remaining items so it looks like item one um I'm sorry Kevin yeah thank you uh these are the remaining items and although I'm only going to be sharing selected indicators this evening I want to remind the board and the public that the entire monitoring report is publicly available and attached on

129board dos so tonight I'm going to start with some updates about how we develop um procedures how we develop procedures that ensure the safety of students and staff and the security of our schools offices transportation services and grounds uh first of all I want to uh share that our office of Safety and Security trains uh with the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office on the responses to critical incidents and supplied uh our road deputies with keys to the buildings this add up this adds um upwards of 25 law enforcement uh Personnel that are able to rapidly respond to incidents that may take place at one of our schools we've also purchased new Public Safety radios for each School uh which are set to be deployed next month these Wi-Fi radios eliminate uh potential dead zones uh ensuring

130communication is always available the new radios have actually already been issued to office of Safety and Security uniformed officers which allows them to communicate more effectively while working in schools during all hours excuse me FCPS is also Contracting with the critical Response Group or crg um to create digital maps for all our FCPS school buildings this ures that all emergency response teams are working from the same uh platform essentially and really um prevents gaps um in our responses next I want to share that uh our security vestibule updates are underway with the first group of 19 schools set to be completed by the end of this month and they're actually about 95% complete at this time last month the plan was shared for a pilot to implement the school board's recommendation for a comprehensive annual

131School traffic and pedestrian safety assessment which will begin in the spring of 2025 so in the next couple months also last month the office of Safety and Security amended and updated guidance for extreme cold and wind chills very timely uh to provide more structure and consistency across the division for a protection of our children during inclement weather we were very grateful this morning that the ice we were a couple degrees away from not just uh Crystal trees but uh roads as well so big thanks and shout out to our facilities team and our grounds team for checking for broken limbs uh trees down and other hazards on our campuses um or around our campuses and also just want to take a moment and thank all our security folks um our Safety and Security team our

132Specialists our sro's that partner um under the leadership of Brian Lambert and Ryan Morgan uh it's a great team and they work really hard uh 247 uh to keep our students staff and community members in our schools safe so big shout out um to close out indicator one of this executive limitation like to focus on the safety tip line uh FCPS does have an anonymous safety tip line to report school safety issues and this is regularly used to um investigate threats unsafe or dangerous circumstances um and a variety of other criminal behaviors or concerns about student wellness tips can be submitted by phone text email or web and there signs up throughout our schools that give uh the ways in which to do this and this evening this would be our number of tips received

133through different Avenues in the last school year 23 24 so looking at indicator 2 I want to highlight how we implement procedures to ensure the safety of students and staff when they participate in off-site school sponsored activities such as field trips and other um events we have many processes and procedures in place uh related to this field trip safety which include commercial bus carriers um that have been reviewed by risk management so they match up with our Virginia Department of Transportation safety measures also our copies of Emergency Care forms for students are sent uh on each trip and emergency contacts are made sure to uh be accurate uh for that adult in charge uh and the recommended ratio in Fairfax county is one chaperon to every 10 students OSS proactively asked School administrators to reschedule

134or avoid trips located uh near high-profile events that might have safety concerns so we really work hard to make sure our students when they leave our campuses are also safe looking at at indicator 3 uh talks about how we provide the appropriate training for staff and students on FCPS Safety and Security procedures as well as Crisis Prevention and management and new this school year we had mandatory Safety and Security Training uh which was called school-based Safety and Security orientation which ensured that all School staff are trained Beyond just the crisis management team and that was uh the team that typically attends tabletop activities based on the feedback from last year's el13 all school board members have also been invited to attend tabletop exercises um and have an opportunity to participate in that process so looking

135at indicator five uh talks a little bit about how we Implement routine staff background checks and procedures for timely communication with law enforcement regarding employees uh which again ensure a safe learning environment for all students during our el4 presentation earlier this year I stated that FCPS has been fingerprinting employees hired prior to 2006 in order to store all employee fingerprints digitally and conduct routine background checks as of the end of uh January 2025 almost well about 91% of all of these necessary fingerprints have been completed and we're in the process of ensuring that the rest of these fingerprints are captured in January 2025 the office of Safety and Security sent notices um to the heads of all law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth uh reminding them of the need to report School employee arrests and

136also clarifying that Mr Lambert is the design um to receive those uh notices the office also recently hosted the bomb threat assessment for decisionmaking course from the Federal Emergency Management agency's office of bombing prevention this course provided foundational knowledge on the assessment and evaluation of bomb threats and related responses while also looking at how to distinguish between low moderate and high-risk bomb threats using techniques and best practices from FEMA and as you know uh in the past year or so we've had a bit of an uptick in um threats and so we really felt like this was a training match uh for our staff indicator six talks about providing age appropriate safety and security curriculum for students to support their safety and well-being so we have a new grade level appropriate appropriate lockdown video which

137is now available for students in grades K through five and that's been a concern raised by a number of community members that we don't use the same uh video K12 so we've created a new um Elementary developmentally appropriate lockdown video which is differentiated from secondary and also the alcohol tobacco another drugs unit was revised last year and implemented beginning this past fall so um lots of uh really work on this um on that topic indicator 7 focuses on establishing a comprehensive cyber security plan to safeguard student staff and the division from cyber threats this year FCPS began the roll out of the nist risk management framework um that's the National Institute of Standards and Technology cyber security framework uh and the center for Internet Security so these um different uh groups I guess help us

138Implement controls and measure progress um while providing a framework for risk-based assessments and authorizations so Mr chairman this concludes the presentation for executive limitation 13 Safety and Security thank you Dr Reed we'll get started uh with board member comments and questions with Miss seore Heiser thank you thank you Dr Reed and thank you to staff uh Mr Lambert and um Mr Vella before that um with all the great work that you've done around Safety and Security did I get your name wrong good just look on his face like like that's not me so um anyway thank you for all your hard workk I really appreciate it a couple questions I had on the vestibules I noticed that group four is not funded does that mean that there's a certain number of schools whose vestibules were

139were not going to be able to fund or what's the plan or five sorry group five thank you four and five are not funded so what's the plan to make sure all schools have these vestibules I I believe that all the vestibules will be funded it's likely that the design has already been funded but I'm going to defer to miss samansky at this point sure group just to give a high L recap of everything group group one is substantially complete we're wrapping up things over the next couple weeks group two is actually out to bid for construction right now it's on new business tonight group three is in design in that earlier stage of design so we hope to carry that through and submit for permit this uh summer uh and yes groups four and

140five have not started contingent on funding So when you say contingent on funding does that mean it's not that we need to have more funding or we going to have to take funding out of the bond or out of operation funds like is there a plan for that funding or we just saying we're not going to do that until we figure out that funding well I think we haven't identified an encumbered funds whereas once we start design they are identified and encumbered I just I asked that because I want to make sure that this is a really important and a long-term plan and and a major factor for safety in our schools so I just wanted to make sure that we are working towards a plan for funding those last few groups yes ma'am thank

141you and then the other question I had a couple of the questions first I want to thank you for the Narcan training that is so important so vital for our students so just thank you for that that um I want to talk about the emergency procedures that are in place I saw on page four of the report that there's still the working group looking at both the shelter in place and the physical evacuation for students with disabilities I know this is a working group that's been there for I think at least a year I know I talked to you about this probably a year or so ago so do we know where that group is in looking at actual physical EV evacuation for people with disabilities as opposed to a shelter in place where there

142where students with disabilities are left behind in the building while everybody else is safely evacuated outside of the building which can be traumatic in of itself so do you know where that the process of that group is yes ma'am well I I Mr V my ni and several members of SEPTA actually met with the fire marshall a year ago to identify the possibilities and in fact we did begin at that point um ordering different equipment that would enable us to evacuate students on an IEP at the same time that other students were evacuated again that was a school by school design given different schools have different layouts and different Maps but um I know Mr Lambert is fairly new still and I don't know if you have something to add to that if not I'll

143make sure we have a more thorough response uh in a Friday letter Mr Lambert yes ma'am um I'm I'm aware of that topic I know that uh the group that Dr Reed met with uh shared some concerns we're also tracking the general assembly has a bill that's still going through right now that uh may require that individual IEPs have to agree with the schools plan so that's something we're we're watching very closely um there are some concerns with the fire marshal we've dedicated rooms that uh are fire safe um but ensuring that we have enough staff if that were to be something that happened because there could be collateral concerns that make it more dangerous um to evacuate students than to shelter in place the fire department has given us great assurances that their first

144priority is to respond to those rooms but once a staff member were to evacuate somebody and we lose the ability to use elevators for example those staff members cannot go back into the school um so those are all things that we're going to be working with and I do know that the uh governing body SEPTA is is very engaged in this topic yeah I would if maybe at some point have a a longer update on where we stand and I am very well aware of the general assembly Bill actually just spoke to my former Schoolboard colleague Laura Jane Cohen who's carrying that bill and and I think my understanding is that is trying to get documented on the IEP plot page or the or similar Pages what the plan would be for that student so

145I think it would be helpful before that bill goes through to have some sort of things that our I AP teams could offer as this is what options are and of course it's still individualized for each student but knowing what options are would be helpful if that that bill does go through and IEP teams need to start documenting on the plot page what the plan would be so it you know wouldn't and one last question I have I don't if my time is up yet or not but on the um cyber security on the nist I'm familiar with nist framework is it I don't know if it's customized for different types of organizations or Industries like if you in terms of cyber security risk that's particular to public governments or public agencies or in this

146case where we have a lot of students who are accessing the internet or accessing the wi are there unique risks to students that you know helping them understand what not to click on and all these other things so I don't know if that framework is particular to schools or if there's a subset that is particular or or not so just let's have more understanding about that so I'm going to uh ask Mr Lambert to comment on that thank you um both myself and Mr uh Seth's shop collaborate on on those topics um it's a general framework a series of controls that are put in place it's adap depending on the situation um so it's not not so rigid as it's one size fits all but it's a general framework and Gotham if you add anything

147Mr sey yeah primarily these Frameworks focus on the systems in the back end to make sure we can protect and secure the data in the networks there's not a lot in terms of front end and user Behavior things like MFA show up but those don't apply to students so this is more focused inwards towards the infrastructure and the strategies we use to secure those that's very helpful that was not aware that it wasn't a front-end strategy as well as we a backend so do we have um training for students around cyber security risk and R fishing I know there's a lot of controls in terms of what goes in their emails but whether it's our email systems or our internet systems or when they leave here I think it's important training for when they leave

148here so I'm just curious what kind of training we have around safety security for training our students the the place we touch those are digital citizenship courses right now and there's not a specific carard of to kind of spend time on cyber security but it's it's certainly a growing need right when we talk to our student leaders they talk about how students need to be aware of those things so it's an opportunity that lays ahead of us but I believe right now they're focusing on digital citizenship what I encourage you to look at that as our as our digital security or a digital citizenship and digital literacy curriculum and see how when it needs to be updated as this changes pretty rapidly I think that was my time I I keep hearing B so thank

149you very much I appreciate it yes ma'am thank you Miss seore Heiser Miss Mary yes I really enjoyed reading this uh it's really outstanding work it answers a lot of questions that I receive from my community and so I do urge you Dr Reed to use this as a resource document um especially about security cameras families are always asking me about security cameras what's the status I've had people ask can I pay for a security C like can they themselves pay for a security camera and have it installed so it's really a big one for our elementary schools I um I'm curious about the vestibules and how is I'm curious about how the timing has gone for the installation and there was like a little bit of a delay and then initially and I want

150to make sure everything's cool with like the zoning and that was I think a a hold up at one point so permitting yeah the permitting like have we got that figured out so it can be as fast as possible I believe um that we certainly have done upfront work and that's part of why we're doing the vestibules in groupings because we're permitting them as a group but um miss manky anything you want to add on that no except that you know we found that time decreased for approvals in that second phase so I do think we're making better on our our schedules and it's going in the right direction great yeah and well speaking of schedule I just want to mention as you say on page six that we are a year ahead of schedule

151with that security camera project installation so again I think that would be really great news for the public to hear um entry protocols and exit protocols I see on page seven um you know there's a note about shared visitor protocol I mean my experience is that it has not been consistent but um I haven't like methodically checked it each time but I do really hope that there is a way to really check that it is the same at every single school not sign in at one scan the machine at another show your badge and also exit I just um that's been a concern of mine so I hope you can design you know a way to really make sure it's it's consistent enotify this actually uh connects with the work I've advocated for around knowing

152which communication vehicles are used for what so I actually was kind of surprised on page seven to see at the bottom that the emergency messaging system is enotify to um and it's focused on critical operational issues and I kind of feel like I've heard things through en notify that are not critical operations it might be like hey I just you know see your email for this important you know announcement from the principal or something else and this just goes back to like please be clear on which vehicles are used for which because that also will help families to like oh if I get any notified like I really need to use that and not you know just um go on to the next thing in their inbox the um on uh page 12 reducing the

153time to do the verifications of people's employment from three to five business days to less than an hour that is fabulous and it's those kinds of efficiencies that I I hope the public knows about and that we just need to see more of that I also wanted to ask about um on page 13 about requiring law enforcement agencies upon arresting a person to identify the superintendent we know that that went arai years ago when an email was sent to a non-working address I'd since turned that legislation at one point was proposed to have it faxed to school board off to school offices like is is there consistent practice on how law enforcement agencies inform School divisions and if not I think that's something I know I'd like to take up as a board that needs

154to be changed prior by the state code last thing I just on the back on page 14 I know that um the curriculum gun safety is not or gun violence prevention is not in this this rubric here on the back but you it is you did compile a list of it but like I think as well as digital citiship like having all here that cross Nexus of curricul wom and safety and how it integrates here thank you thank you m Marin so I'll respond to the law enforcement notice there is a standard expectation um that's email with the read receipt uh however what we've realized over the last year uh first and foremost our Fairfax County Public or our Fair Fairfax County Police Department Sheriff's Department are fabulous um they're right on it they have

155a direct connection with our uh security staff and uh you know there's just no Gap in information what we have found though is for outside our County notification it has been mixed and out of state notification um it's occasional right so that's really why we've uh been I think insistent that the wraback program or something that's an automatic uh ping would be important but I'll ask Mr Lambert if you want to comment because I that was part of the reason I pointed out that we sent these letters out because we gave very clear Direction but Mr Lambert you're correct Dr Reed um Law Enforcement Officers among many other responsibilities are supposed to make notification on certain things um Dr Reed sent out a notice when she first arrived in the school district and we decided

156to follow up on it after we had an incident happen in the last few months that we didn't get notice um as Dr Reed pointed out the rback program would eliminate the need for us to continue to send these notices out um because every time somebody was fingerprinted and processed uh and because they were enrolled and I know um the HR team is is well engaged on that and we're well prepared it would immediately notify us and avoid that Gap so what Dr Reed did with the memo is you know covering all of our bases making sure we're reminding folks and reinforcing it but we're really optimistic about RB thank you very much Mr Dunn uh thank you uh I was wondering uh Dr R if you could introduce to the community Mr Lambert and

157his impressive background because I think it's important for the community to know we have world-class expertise leading our Safety and Security Office Mr Lambert is our new Chief safety security officer and he comes from a long um history in public service at the national level Mr Lambert do you want to elaborate to the degree sure thank you I appreciate it um I did join in November so three months uh complete after a 25y year career with the Secret Service um where I had the uh blessing to lead all of our uh field operations across the US uh before that I was a police officer in Chesterfield Virginia um but hail from the great College of William and Mary please um I apologize for that Mr D uh I was wondering last year there was a

158lot of discussion about crossing guards I was wondering if you could provide an update on on the funding of and and and you know making sure we have enough crossing guards at all our crosswalks during school hours so that's great question I know there was a lot of discussion particularly last spring in different uh parts of the county about uh crossing guards which for many of our children is really a critical safety issue because some of the roads that our children are asked to cross are quite busy and some of our adults um don't show up as their best selves when they're behind the wheel in the morning so uh Mr Lambert do we have an update on crossing guards I believe um there have been some uh there's been some work on that but

159there also some commitments to that so Mr Lambert sure the uh responsibility at present for Prov iding the crossing guards is through the Fairfax County Police Department and um like like many places I think it's a area that's challenged to find folks to work um just to give some context on when we hear requests for new crossing guards uh we will generally send somebody out from our safety section and observe the area both in the morning and the afternoon sometimes on several days uh if we agree that we think there should be we pass that over to the police department who sends their Traffic Unit out out to do their their own assessment and then based on their uh resources and availability they try to uh accomplish that but you are correct it can be

160a uh challenging issue um as it's a resource issue often I will say this my my Deputy um just retired from the Fairfax County Police Department one of their standing orders is that Crossing assignments get filled so um routine Patrol officers are often filling crossing guard rolles so the police department takes that seriously enough um that it is a sacran thing that that gets filled if a crossing guard calls out I will also say um Chief Davis we work very closely together I know Mr Lambert does and he and I uh the chief and I connect immediately when there's any kind of a concern around uh Safety and Security that is appropriately elevated and he had he and I also spoke last spring about crossing guards and his commitment to those um safety High safety

161needs so I know there's a deep commitment from uh his desk as well on this topic and I'm grateful for every law enforcement officer and the chief for uh everything they do to protect our Public Safety but it was minor understanding the county was trying to find a new funding source potentially FCPS to pay for those crossing guards long term is that still happening or do I misunderstand um no sir I I I think what the my understanding of what was occurring last spring was not so much the moving of funding but rather the oversight the recruitment in other words would it be possible to contract maybe um with somebody maybe you know there are many private type security agencies and would the School Division want to take that role and I was I was

162clear that I didn't think that was our area of expertise I really felt like we uh thought the police Le were doing a great job um with that and we're connected to um also traffic violations which you know I it seems like a natural no no Gap service so they left it or they kept it with the police department but I know that was a discussion last spring and so that that's not an ongoing discussion that's been resolved at this point to my knowledge it's not an ongoing discussion um is is there any discussion about centralizing our security staff in our schools under Mr Lambert or is that still being maintained at the principal level with a perhaps a dotted line to Mr Lambert currently it's the supervision is at the principal level with a

163dotted line to Mr Lambert is is that under consideration for being changed at all we've certainly discussed that um and I I think that uh anything is fair game but yes we certainly have discussed it um Can can I ask if there's been any uh assessment or any plans or discussions to assess the security Staffing in our schools to provide more security assistance to better meet the nationally recommended ratio of you know students and and staff to to uh security Personnel so I know Tom Vella was part of that work uh prior to his retirement and he and Mr Solomon uh were looking at those ratios and um also the duties you know of our administrative staff and our Deans and uh staff within the school so I think they're um working on some type

164of a schematic that uh May create different roles or responsibilities uh for security Specialists or staff um I've also said though given our budget circumstances uh and some of the federal uncertainties and the need to fully fund our collective bargaining agreement we're really going to have to think about not adding more staff but rather re um deploying the current staff we have so we would have to think about if we're going to add um staff for a particular program what are we not going to do then to provide staff to do that program does that make sense yes because we can't we're not in a space where we can layer on programs with more staff we're GNA have to think about what we would stop doing to start doing something else or to do something

165differently so that's a conversation certainly um that's ongoing um what what this is a very impressive report and you have you know you know very impressive record um but we face you know the pernicious social media next door and other sources that uh create a false perception of the safety of our students on a daily basis what more could be done or what is under consideration uh to ensure that we are you know accur making sure parents and our communities have accurate information about the safety of our students the safety of our schools so I think our uh chairman McKay here in Fairfax County often says we're the safest County in the country right our data continues to um show that and I would argue that our schools are some of the safest schools in

166the country we have fabulous security staff within our schools our sro's are in all secondary schools and we have security staff um by region assigned to Elementary and our staff are well trained um and we generally speaking I feel like our meetings Staffing ratio so I would encourage uh members of the public um you know to connect with their students teacher or principal if they have concerns um I know Brian uh Mr Lambert certainly would also be able to answer concerns uh we have a lot of ways to get information but our discipline data if you recall even recently we looked at it um the types of discipline incidents are remarkably minimal for serious discipline um events I can see Miss Sant nodding it's we our schools are are very safe and I I've recently

167shared with families they're the safest place for our children to be during the day um so to your point I think perhaps we have to think of more ways to communicate that um so I I'll charge staff with thinking about how we can better tell that story thank you appreciate it yes sir thank you Mr Dunn Mr Moon oh Dr re I think you just answer my question because good you know bottom line of that you know for me out of you know e is keeping our students and our employees safe and secure and you know you have provided a lot of information but what more is needed from my point vantage point is data show the data to show that our kids our students and employees is are indeed in safe and secure learning

168and working environments I mean that has to be uh and also the resources that we put in how they are making if our learning and working environments even safer and more secure and if it could provide a data I they would go long way yes sir thank you yes sir thank you Mr Moon M Dixit Dr read this is an excellent presentation and uh a very good report um I have only a couple of questions one is about our cctvs um on one of the pages the report uh page six it says currently 44 Elementary School uh need funding for CCTV and it would be once fully funded um it would be completed within 3 years possibly sooner um what kind of how much is the funding um to to get this completed to like

169any estimate on that so great question we've done a lot of that work through grants uh so that we don't go into the general fund for those dollars and we don't have a separate bond for those projects um Miss Burton do we have any kind of a financial guess or Mr Lambert on what that would uh the CCTV Project funding might be yes ma'am if we were to install uh external cameras at the 44 sites um that would be approximately $5.3 million uh with an annual recurring $90,000 for licensing and $40,000 for Breakin repair and then I have the information if you were interested about interior as well but I think our priority would first get the get the exteriors up thank you so much for the information um uh this is something uh is

170a priority for um some of us I guess many of my colleagues too that are our elementary schools um sometimes um can be the target of bad elements and and I also you know worst um nightmare for any parent is all the shootings happened um and we have uh armed officers at Middle School school and high school but we don't have an elementary school so while we do we may not be able to have armed officers in every school um can we prioritize use of the um you know weapon detection system in elementary schools first or is that a consideration I think we're still open to using the weapons detection um I think the the plan that we're going to unveil over the next couple months will give a lot of flexibility for us to

171do that um I would add that last year Dr Reid um did give us and Brian Gibson who who works here with us six officers that we dedicated just to the elementary schools what I want to be clear about is these aren't folks that just drive around and you know maybe a Cruiser pulls in front when they stop at a school they go inside for upwards of an hour to touch base with the school administration talk them through what they're doing and we're unveiling just in the next couple months that we're going to incorporate them into the fire drills we want them to be present every time that they're bringing the students outside so we have a group that's a Monday to Friday dedicated just to our 141 elementary schools and not the middle and

172high schools that that sounds good but our count is so wide uh it's you know area wise that sometime getting the resource to the right place and right time it's so that's why something in in the location itself I think that's what uh would be wonderful to see um so thank you for all the work um and this is again U like my colleague said excellent report thank you thank you Miss Dixit I will take a turn um so this is going to be a little kind of out of left field or um out of pocket as the kids say incorrectly um so the intersection of student rights and responsibilities and cyber security and the devices that we provide our students um you know we obviously talk to our our students about bullying and and

173etiquette online um but I I recall several years ago during a board meeting when the notion that students could access things like Netflix on their laptops was scoffed at surely kids can't do that because we've said you can't go to Netflix on your browser and certainly the kids couldn't figure that out and of course like as soon as we put up a a roadblock they've found a way around the roadblock shared it with all their friends we put up a new roadblock a little while later so I'm not worried so much about Netflix but I am worried about students who are using devices in ways that are not appropriate and that are against our rules but they're not being used you know for the typical ways that people think about like cheating or um you

174know uh streaming media or whatever um we certainly know when students have compromised our our information security what are we doing to ensure that students who may do that are held accountable it's not something that we really talk about in an srnr conversation but it does happen so students that Wander from the approved use of their laptop right to corre YouTube channels no I'm not I'm not worried about YouTube or Netflix I mean I'm I'm more worried about students who are using it for hacking or for accessing um School servers or things like that more sophisticated things right maybe these are the kids that find out how to get to Netflix and then tell their friends while they're doing other things um I'm more interested in more sophisticated use of the technology that are inappropriate

175um certainly we I'm speculating um we have very bright students here so I'm curious what are we doing to ensure that in addition to protecting our kids from cyber bullying and all these other things um that we are ensuring that our devices are not being used in such a way that is inappropriate yes sir I understand that better so um we do have light speed which is a a bit of a type of a I don't want to it it's a monitoring um software so that teachers can tell where students are going on their laptop and parents now also have a portal that they can see that um but I'm gonna turn to Mr sethy and then Dr King to kind of talk about that intersectionality thank you Dr Reed the srnr calls for latitude

176for um principles depending on um how um the depending on what offense they break when it comes to our acceptable youth policy right so there's Progressive discipline if it's something very minor it's a minor infraction um it could be a counseling but um if they're hacking into our system that can they can um be referred to the hearings office as well uh my office in um Gotham's office has been collaborating around this because at some of Dr Reed's um parent meetings we're hearing parents concerns about um spaces that their students are visiting on our websites and what are we going to do about it so we're constantly retraining our principles um about Progressive discipline in that area yeah and again I'm I'm more concerned about the sophisticated misuse of our our devices and those things

177would probably only be found by you know folks with a sophisticated approach to looking for those things probably not on light speed um necessarily maybe it does show up on light speed but you know and I'm not a computer genius so I can't even really articulate um but I I sense that Mr sey is maybe has something to say yeah um we have very bright kids you're absolutely right so when we encounter some of these students kind of going to the far reaches of the internet where they shouldn't be um there's always a conversation that is to be had at the school level recently in collaboration as nados was saying when our cyber security team finds out and how egregious it is we have started reporting it to the principal so they can get a

178series of incident report which tells them exactly what they did and hopefully not do it again there is the discipline aspect that we want to bring along I will also mention that sometimes we find the students are just curious and we we try to recruit them actually to see hey why don't you tell us what could be be doing differently we act we have a couple of students who actually help us on the back end middle school students so bright uh so there's a little bit of balance of you could be doing this for the right reasons AKA white hat versus don't go down these alleys otherwise your families and your parents are going to be informed about it so don't end up becoming that black hat that we don't want anyone to be um

179it is a balancing act and it's it is going to be a bit of we try to keep up they get a little ahead we catch up they get ahead we catch up and we are trying to keep it all under control it is not as expensive as it may sound but clearly we don't want any student to kind of wear too far or venture too out I do want to clarify that we do not encourage our students to engage in that behavior to gain the attention of Our IT department for recruitment so this is something we don't want our students uh participating in um and what I'll do is let me go back and work with Mr sethy and Dr King and look at um data about what you're talking about and see what

180we have from the beginning of the year and how that's been dealt with and we'll provide that in a Friday appreciate that and I won't say which of my colleagues wrote a note to me saying we should hire them um but uh I appreciate the sentiment uh and I truly had in reading the report had to dig a little deep to find things that I was curious about because so much is addressed in the report uh on the issue of vestibules and I appreciate my colleagues following up on future projects we are sitting in a school right now that has a shiny new vestibule thanks to the hard work of this board and the school division's team for uh getting that done so very much appreciated I also appreciate the update on cameras uh and

181the you know the backlog that we've eliminated uh in the last year um and the other work that's being done to um particularly around the tabletop exercises and the new videos this has been a subject I believe in our last El report we were not quite there yet it's great that we've made it there and I think that's a tremendous accomplishment so this is you know there's nothing more important to us than the safety of all of our students uh especially now all right Miss Sant thank you Dr Reed and Mr Lambert for this report you know just in light of recent incidences and what we see about threats lately I've been talking a lot about Safety and Security so I really appreciate the security vestibules on the update like we have 19 schools done

182and we're now onto the next phase and that's amazing um one thing that I did want to talk about was on page nine of the report it talks about a communication plan to inform like staff students and families of procedures and what to do when potential threats arise and I see that there's trainings for new principles about media crisis response um but I was wondering if and I've mentioned this in one of my minutes before I I was wondering if there was anything that the office of communications could do with students about how to respond to these threats when they arise how to deal with the threats because even though none of these threats have ever like um manifested into something that actually happened to the school it does create that anxiety around it and

183the then even after that incident goes away um it plagues that school when it happened um at TJ in May it was something that no one showed up to school and then the week after it was kind of like it never happened but it did Shake our school community so I was wondering if there was like any proactive education that we could do for students even if that's a video similar to how we talk about no year security terms lockdown video if there was anything we could do for students about how to deal with those incidents so Miss Swan I think that's a great idea and I very recently just did a video with uh two Woodson students who um are working at the national level on gun safety storage right in fact we've edited

184that video and likely we'll be putting that out very shortly and they talked about that anxiety that the even the lockdown videos right any anytime there's a threat there's just this feeling of anxiety so I wonder um we certainly can look into it and I wonder if that could be an sa uh group uh that you all come together and we could maybe do a script and have it come from students too so maybe let's talk a little more about that yeah for sure I would love that I have actually watched that video by the two Woodson students and I really appreciate that um but I was just thinking a little bit more about like how do students respond to that threat how should I feel about that threat who can I go to and

185talk to the principles have been amazing with managing it at the school level but I just think more resources for students and families in that case that's a great idea um and then I had one more question and I was wondering if we track these threats that occur at schools yearby year or like what we do after a threat at that school happens and it goes away the next week um do we keep track of those events yes we do okay thank you bet thank you Miss SW and Mr dun to finish this up uh just a question since Mr Lambert knew the cost of interior video cameras and he mentioned 5.1 for ex external what is the internal cost of you mind um if we were to add five interior cameras in every Elementary

186School um which would be 700 cameras um it would be 1.7 million more and does that assume that our current uh number of video cameras in middle school and high schools is adequate since you only mentioned Elementary School that that would be first bringing the elementary schools up to some level inside I know that there is uh some interest in having cameras that face bathrooms um because sometimes nefarious activity goes on in bathrooms um if we were to add a camera outside every bathroom at every elementary middle in high school that would be about 2 million so just summing up those figures 5.3 2 and 1.7 um would fill the boat so to speak on uh cameras so that's $9 million um out of A4 and half billion dollar budget or four billion wherever we

187are now um so can you talk about Staffing like the eyes on 700 video cameras um I don't think you have 700 people watching each camera right so how who who watches those cameras and are you using AI at all sure that that's a great question um that is obviously a lot of camera lenses to be watching each of the schools has the ability certain staff to go look at them um one thing that we haven't really brought up here that I'd like to bring to the front is of all the school systems in this area we are the only one with a 24-hour um response and uh group that is watching those cameras um around the around the clock so often that is used when an alarm goes off at school that enables us

188to respond and real time um it's also able something that we are sharing with the police department so we are in final um phases right now of working with the realtime crime Center so that the police department will be able to see our camera feeds and so you can see how valuable that would be God forbid we were ever in some sort of crisis situation that they can cut out a middleman and see what's going on in our schools um the cameras are great deterrence that that is a factor that it does but we are also looking at AI overlays on the camera feeds um there are some products out there that can detect weapons that are displayed um but there's also technology that can detect spills and hallways and so those are all things

189that we think if we get the camera system outfitted that the future is going to let us put software on top of those things that will help us with security elements uh thank thank you thank you Mr dun Mr moon to close this out oh thank you Mr chairman just just one quick question a a internal cameras you know we don't place to internal cameras in indoor cameras in the classrooms do we we do not because we want to protect the privacy of our students and also teachers as well that's correct correct so one question that I had that Mr Lambert your predecessor was not quite able to get back to to me uh before you retired so this is your task is whether gymnasium is considered a teaching space during teaching hours I I

190will get back to you with that answer Mr Moon and if I may while you have there was one close out that you brought up about data that I'd love to to share um what we didn't put in this report and what I think is the most telling is the last two uh climate surveys and that ask students how they feel about their safety and so it's 28,000 students and 25,000 students respectively who answered this Fairfax students rated their safety above the state average both at the middle school and at the high school level um exceeding State and and local numbers so I I did I didn't want to leave tonight without that data point thank you appreciate that if you could have put that into writing it would be able better thank you Mr

191moon I want to respond the gymnasium question we did answer and it's likely not I know that Mr Lambert was aware but during class when the gymnasiums used the cameras would not be on but during evening activities lunch intermurals uh times of unstructured time or after school events they would be okay thank you yes sir thank you Mr Moon all right seeing no others I call on Miss St John cunning for a motion I move that the school board finds that the superintendent is in compliance with the executive limitation number 13 Safety and Security I further move that the school board approve the monitoring report based on the superintendent's reasonable interpretation of executive limitation number 13 Safety and Security as outlined in the Strategic governance manual is there a second I a second Miss Marin

192Miss San cunning would you like to speak to your motion no Miss Marin would you like to speak to your second I would only add that as much as the school division is doing we can only keep our kids so safe and our staff so safe we need the community's help to keep our community safe so um we're going to do all we can but it it's up to all of us so thank you thank you Miss Marin call for a vote for the motion that is on the screen all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dix Mr M Miss Anderson miss seiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St Jun cunning Mr McDaniel uh and myself with Dr Anderson away from the table that's unanimous for board members present all right uh oh

193we don't have Mr we're not seeing Mr McDaniel what did I see I'm hallucinating all right um so that is with Mr McDaniel and and Dr Anderson away from the table the uh still unanimous all right agenda item 8.01 policy review Safety and Security el13 the next order of business is the policy review of el13 Safety and Security annually the board will review each executive limitation at the time of 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 final Amendment language to the board and clerk at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting at which it is to be considered at this time no Amendments have been submitted in advance of this meeting but board members May

194provide comments on Executive limitation 13 Safety and Security before we vote on maintaining the current language for the year ahead seeing no comments or discussions I call on Miss St John cunning for a motion I move that the school board maintains executive limitation 13 Safety and secur Security as it is currently detailed in the Str strategic governance manual is there a second I second Miss Marin Miss ston Cy would you like to speak to your motion no Miss Marin would You' like to speak to your second no thank you all right I will call for a vote for the motion which is on the screen all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr mine Miss Anderson Miss seis Mor Heiser Mr Dunn Mr Moon miss lady Miss St John Cunningham myself with Mr McDaniel

195and Dr Anderson away from the table that is unanimous agenda item 9.01 academic matters I call on Dr Reid for academic matters thank you chairman frish and members of the board um and public I want to this evening uh we feel like it's timely to talk a little bit about the national assessment of educational progress or nape as it's discussed and it's nape in grades four and eight reading and Mathematics and recently I'm going to turn the page so recently these results um were released and they really again showed that as a na we have work to do in the areas of mathematics and reading I want to provide context however because I think that we need to be very careful before we draw conclusions about our local schools and so I want to be

196very clear with our Fairfax County Public School Community just um exactly how many of our students were part of this nape uh National work and I want to be clear that uh this mment was given um last year and limited only to eight Elementary and 13 middle schools with a total of 466 children in Fairfax County Public Schools that actually participated in the nape testing that's less than 2% of our fourth and eighth graders and represents just a 0.25 not even half a percent of all enrolled FCPS students in K12 so we really want to make sure that our community understands um not only is that a tiny um percentage uh it's not even eight% of our students that participated we actually also do not receive student school or division results these are um State

197and national results and I um I think we have to be very careful as we draw any kind of local conclusions around this work um the nape uh assessment also measures different um things that reflect different purposes than our so uh information so I want to make sure the context in the chart on the right of the slide is very clear about when nape is actually uh the window for testing versus our s sols our standards of learning um I also want to share that the nape test it's interestingly not computer adaptive and I think that's important because um the so is computer adaptive and for people who are asking so why is that a big deal it is a big deal because if you have students that actually can answer higher level questions the

198computer can adapt to that and provide really an opportunity for many of our students some of whom Mr sethy was recruiting earlier but many of our students who are middle school students and elementary students are not able then in a non-adaptive assessment environment to really demonstrate rate um their ability so the content also in nape has been minimally revised since 1990 and I have to tell you I know that year um because it might be an important year it's 35 years ago that um the content's been revised and the so content revised every seven years so I just I really want to be clear um about what the um how do I say the uh conclusions we draw about the power of public education and all of the hardworking Educators across this country uh that

199are giving it their all and we're really looking at an Antiquated assessment um that's not provided in an Adaptive format um that's assessed in January and February um and I I just really think that uh it's not representative of the work that's happening in our classrooms across this country and certainly not in classrooms here in Fairfax County so let's look at the next um page again this is a kind of a little different way of showing the same uh data point um and this is the entire uh Virginia uh so um sort of comparison here in our area in nape we had 466 students tested but we had 26,000 uh tested in our s so um and I think you can see that Fairfax County continues to outperform Virginia and outperform nape um nationally uh

200by any measure so uh we continue to be proud of the work our students and Fairfax County do on a daily basis and proud of the work our Educators and all those who support our Educators do on a daily basis um when we look at interpreting the nape data uh nape proficient does not represent grade level proficiency um as determined by state assessments and I think what's most interesting is all of our states really have somewhat different standards so when you're thinking about a fourth grader in Wyoming or South Dakota or Ohio Pennsylvania Virginia Mississippi California they're different curricula that are being used and when you have one non-adaptive assessment um you're going to struggle with a lack of alignment between the written taught and tested curriculum and that's um I think one of the

201other outcomes of our nape exam and I suppose you could argue um that the longer we continue to use the same test after 35 years uh perhaps the less reliable the conclusions were're able to draw um I also want to share that uh the last evaluation in terms of achievement levels was in 2016 and that actually concluded that further Evidence uh was needed to determine if the levels were in fact reasonable valid and informative um so I think that uh how does FCPS compare on other National measures uh again when you look at sat uh the class of 2024 SAT and ACT reading and math outcomes we continue to outp outperform Virginia the United States and the global uh student community and um both in reading and mathema so we're very proud of again the

202work of our students um and our uh Educators I will also say that and I shared this in a earlier report this year Fairfax County and I don't know betus if you have this off the top of your head but we are um way I think I want to say above 70% of our students taking the SAT and Virginia is still down at the right around 50% of students in Virginia so we have way much higher percentage of our students here in Fairfax County that are taking the SAT and we're still um ahead of the averages for our state and Nation vus do you want to elaborate that on but you may not have the numbers either but I know they were significant I'm pulling that up right now um Yes W vetus is pulling

203that up and you can just raise your hand when you have it but while she's pulling that up the reason that's an important data point is that provides the access and opportunity for students and that's a commitment the board made in terms of funding this assessment so that really a high percentage of our students are taking this assessment and you could argue that the more students taking it the lower the um average outcome would be uh but that's not what's happening we have a high percentage taking the assessment and a high percentage performing on the assessment Dr Reed remembered right spot on we're just at 70% in Fairfax versus just over 50% in the state of Virginia so definitely that high participation rate and despite that to your point uh reflecting higher outcomes right thank

204you betus I was just double-checking so I think that's significant and that illustrates the core uh Missi driven work that uh we're standing by and talked about at the beginning of the meeting rooted in equity excellence and opportunity for all kids and the Excellence is on the board there so anyhow Mr chairman that is academic matters this evening thank you so much seeing nobody on the board I'm happy to move on to agenda item 9.02 strategic Plan update Dr Reed thank you chairman frish and members of the board what could be more exciting this evening than a strategic planning update and having Jane noo and Michelle Liz in the audience and they are here uh as um representatives from our professional learning and teacher leadership and instructional coaching offices so we're very excited to focus

205on pillar C this evening um which is again uh and this evening strategic plan I'll be talking about our novice teacher instructional coaches this is a program that's supports our very newest teachers and we're deeply committed here in Fairfax County to supporting our newest teachers this novice uh teacher instructional Coach position focuses on essential areas like planning instruction classroom management data analysis and differentiation and really intended to facilitate students success also want to say that um Mr Solomon has reported that we've had the highest teacher retention rate over the last four years last year we believe that's because we're providing higher levels of support for our teachers and I do want to report also Mr Jones is here this evening for Mr Solomon and I believe we have had 70% of our intent to return

206forms returned um 40% in the first four hours um with a 96% rate of our staff saying they want to come back next year is that correct Mr Jones yes ma'am that is correct all right so again I think that's a big uh uh to all of our staff and to programs like this that support our Educators um so the importance of novice teacher support on the next slide um talks about that nearly half of all new teachers leave within the first five years that's the data across the country 44% leave within their first five years so we know that it's critical to provide high levels of support in those nov years we also know that data says it takes new teachers an average of three to seven years to master the complexities of teaching

207and learning that Art and Science um so some of us hopefully have mastered some of this by now um but it's just it's hard right like you think you have a certain toolkit and um yeah it's just a lot of opportunity there so research shows that these types of programs increase teacher retention and efficacy and Al lead to Greater student outcomes which is really why we're all here so the novice teacher instructional coach program which was launched this school year uh has 436 teachers uh supported since August so lots of excitement about that um one of the key strengths of this program is agility uh which is um unlike previous approaches where coaches were assigned to a single school for the year these coaches work across multiple schools School sites um which allows us to

208they're kind of mobilized as a team so we're able to reassess needs and redeploy resources over the course of the year they're not static so we're maintaining a high level of adaptability based on feedback from principles and coaches in the second quarter um we did adjust assignments to include 20 more elementaries three more middles and one more High School um and initially focused on you know the highest concentration of novice teachers uh but we continue um to I think be just a really Nimble and thoughtful program so the feedback on the slide that you've seen I think is amazing and um this is after first quarter so we really looked at the uh positive data and are working to continue and expand that program at this time we want to take a look at one

209of our new teachers working with her novice teacher instructional coach at Centerville Elementary School madam K clerk please play the [Music] video the novice teacher instructional coach program in Fairfax county is designed to support new teachers as they transition into the classroom coaches work closely with teachers daily planning lessons observing providing real-time feedback co- teing and modeling effective strategies at cille elementary school Sarah Phillips a novice teacher instructional coach supports Emma patain a first year teacher from the very beginning days of the school year even before the school year started she helped me set up my classro and joined me on our welcome walk where we get to meet all of our new students and then throughout the fall she's helped me plan small group time small group time is something that gave me a

210little bit of anxiety made me feel a little overwhelmed because I didn't see it that much in student teaching so I really wanted to use that time effectively and efficiently because I know it's a great time to really tailor the instruction to what the students need so Sarah and I sat down on multiple occasions and would plan out weeks at a time of different ideas that I can use in math and language arts as well and also the schedule too so that I could stay on top of it and make sure that I'm seeing all of the kids and meeting all of their needs a Cornerstone of the novice teacher instructional coach program is that coaches spend 90% of their time in classrooms engaging directly with teachers the program emphasizes a collaborative datadriven approach where

211teachers identify Focus areas based on student needs together with their coach they analyze student data develop tailored strategies and continuously refine practices through ongoing coaching Cycles all with Student Success at the center coaching in Fairfax is asset based and so it's really important for us to really look at it as building on people's strengths they have a partner that they can trust who is non-evaluative and is really someone that they can lean on and be themselves without judgment it allows us to collaborate openly and freely to look at data and think about what would be best for students when students get best practices student learning increases and because our novice teachers are learning these best practices in a small intimate set they're able to go and do the lesson reflect upon a lesson and then

212increase that strategy and the next time they do it how do we describe 24 hours or one day the novice instructional Coach position has had a positive ripple effect if you look at a whole school the instructional coach reinvigorates teachers that have already been here with the new teachers we have seen an increase in confidence a decrease in stress and then student outcomes increasing and this also helps with the school culture and creates a positive School culture where everyone feels valued and supported as they move forward through the years students are growing because they are getting solid instruction best practices and welcoming learning environments being the first year teacher there's so many ups and downs you know it's a roller coaster of an experience trying to learn the curriculum and classroom management and all of

213those things so my experience with Sarah has been nothing but incredible excellent equity and opportunity so um that is the Strategic Plan update thank you it never gets old hearing the children say that do not does not miss sear Heiser thank you and I think this is a wonderful tool I know a lot of times when I talk to new teachers um one of the things they talk about is just how difficult and isolating and lonely that first year is and having you know having somebody who's a mentor to talk to so good kudos to you all as well for the work you've done on the program thank you very much it's it's incredible and to hear that our retention rates are the highest in four years is also incredible so kudos to um to

214your staff as well for all the work that you've done and for Mr Solon and um but a couple questions remind me of these these positions are they new positions like the the funding streams for them or are they positions that we're um taking some of our previous coaches and kind of repurposing them for for this use they're not new positions come on up J I just want to make it clear to the public right that they're not we not adding layers but we're really being really efficient and effective and thoughtful how we're using our coaching but we are always fiscally responsible thoughtful the team gets tired of me saying that right um not at all good answer Jay but um are you phoning a friend is that what we're doing here we are Mr

215Noto is here um I what I would say is we took it a different approach to positions that we had traditionally utilized in one way and we made a decision a conscious decision to choose to use them in a different way and I'll ask Jay to talk a little about that thank you Dr Reed yes that's exactly right so we've had centrally funded coaches in the county for a while now but in the past we've used those coaching positions to be positioned at one school because that's what we needed at the time over the past few years as we know the landscape of education has changed and the pathways into the classroom has also changed so we're seeing more and more novice teachers coming in with various degrees of experience and so by reallocating those

216existing resources and saying this worked at the time but now we need to do something different that's exactly what Dr Reed and leadership team challenged us to do so that's what bir this program I love that and that's what I thought but I wanted to make sure our public was aware that we didn't add a bunch of new positions because what the other thing that I love about what we did is that we're being really Nimble and agile looking at how things are changing the needs of our teachers are changing and what existing resources do we have and how can we deploy them the best way and I really love that thinking and I think that's a great thing to bring to a lot of our programs and a lot of our um the things

217that we're doing so I I love this I I really I did wonder how old she looked like she was 12 the new teacher so that just might be more my age than the teachers age but um I think it's a great program and I'm glad that we're repurposing staff in a way that's really effective for Teacher retention because we recognize if we keep our teachers they get much more effective in the classroom and therefore there's much more effective um teaching and learning happening but one other question I had is um when you talk about our retention rate being the highest in four years have we surveyed our teachers or done some way to figure out like what do they feel has been the most effective thing to help them be successful in their job

218like why are they staying like what's the difference that we're doing is it the teacher coach is it it's sounds like it would be right but it'd be interesting to know from their perspective what is working and what is not sure and I I think there's some we certainly have some survey data and can collect more I will also say um Dr Pon and the school uh support teams uh which would be uh Miss lemon and some of our school Improvement group uh Miss Neil uh Mr Nako all that whole team came together because my bottom line was no new resources no new positions right but come up with a a plan and so I I want to make sure that the board and the public understand this was the team that came and said

219we think if we do this we can actually be more effective even um so I really want to credit them with uh thinking because we can't keep doing what we've always done and get different results right like we know that um so um I think that's critical just to remember in that sense and we'll check in on Data about you know why more folks are staying I do think um it's certainly a heavy lift this year if you're an elementary teacher with a new literacy curriculum so I think the other the board has been very supportive of our teachers with allowing those seven early release days to enable that planning um but to and also to be supportive around uh these positions being able to support teachers as they take on the heavy lift and

220I'll also say the board making sure we had the resources to purchase these materials for new staff they're that's what many new staff need is something that's very tight very scripted right many of our more veteran staff don't require that level of scripting but for our new staff or staff new to this field it's an imperative so I I just feel like that's important too so well I just wanted to say I really I love this program I love the creativity of thinking of what we really need as our staff are changing and I I'd love to see more of that of let's take a look at what we're doing is it really meeting our needs now and if not how can we change or adapt to really meet the needs to and so that

221was phenomenal great job thank you very much thank you very much and keep up the great work I appreciate it so thank you thank you Miss sear Heiser miss lady yeah I'll be brief uh again fantastic work um I just want to uh reiterate one of the things that you had on one of your slides which is related to the fact that it takes 3 to seven years to master complex demands of teaching and learning uh and I just want to reiterate this because uh being being a new teacher uh especially in these times is really really challenging um and I think that we are doing amazing work to to support those folks but I this is more of a plea to our community and to our parents just to have a deeper understanding and

222maybe some Grace related to the fact that for some of these folks they didn't their teacher training training and they didn't do their undergraduate or their work in teaching um some of them did and like she said in the video um the small group session she didn't get a lot in her student teaching you know I can tell you that when I interned and then when I actually got a job as a school counselor it was not very much like what I did as an intern um it's just a different reality and the pace is so fast um so that's all I'm asking it's just people understand it takes three to seven years and Le let's hope for with the novice teacher programs like this that it's going to take closer to that three side

223but just just to give our teachers some Grace and I just want to uplift all those who work with our kids every day because you do amazing work and we couldn't do it without you thank Youk you thank you Miss Lady Miss Dixit to thank you for the presentation Dr Reed U I actually like this idea very much and it's a kudos to the team uh on this slide number five there it says breaks down how many teachers an elementary 25 uh and these are the coach which is I guess and uh in high school three in middle school and high school and they're more uh subject specific uh you know the so are there like uh the coaches are like one one of them is like a science coach or then they work with

224the science teacher how does it work in that level so I'm going to bring up Michelle Liss who's actually in charge of the whole program and she's the one who actually manages and selects alls than you so they're not content specific necessarily they're really looking at good instruction classroom management student engagement looking at assessments analyzing it and then helping teachers pick strategies that match the content so that kids are successful so it's not necessarily the the content uh is being discussed it's more of the how to you know do the instruction and management um of the class that's right so it's through the content um that the kids are successful by the strategies that coaches are helping the teachers with so some of the time we have uh parents whenever the new teacher comes to

225the class they always feel like oh we got a new teacher she has no experience are the parents being um told that this is the new program we're doing and this is a coach working with the with the teacher we're very transparent in the fact that we believe everyone needs to coach doesn't matter if you've been teaching for 20 years 30 Years everybody could use somebody to support them so that we're constantly thinking differently and I think that in Fairfax County we've developed and we are still developing a culture of continuous improvement with that idea that everybody is constantly improving so um we don't necessarily put it out uh to parents right away hey you have a new teacher and a new coach that's going to come in but we certainly do not hide anything

226we want to be trans transparent that support is needed by everyone yeah I I think some uh some parents are just too vocal vocal about that if they get a new teacher in the classroom so and they make uh you know uh that that point made but uh definitely a great program please keep it up and keep going and I think it's going to be very uh successful thank you thank you thank you everyone I I will say secondary teachers generally have departments so whereas Elementary don't have Department ments for that content knowledge and many states also require a Content major rather than an elementary education major so we generally I think feel pretty confident that the content knowledge is going to be solid um but uh it's those strategies for I can know the

227content but if I don't have the instructional strategies I'm not going to be effective and those generally cut across content so yeah thank you everyone thank you agenda item 10 consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Robert's Rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through Board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of a board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda is on the screen is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and see objection the consent agenda is approved agenda item 11 new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be

228a vote on these items this evening but action is scheduled at a future meeting agenda item 12 board committee reports I call on Miss seore Heiser for a report from the budget committee the budget committee met this last Tuesday afternoon to discuss the budget and um some of the various board priorities on the budget and some of the constraints we have around our budget um as Dr R presented we have constraints on jlar funding we have constraints we really are trying to focus on our collective bargaining agreement and 7% pay raise for our staff and um I look forward to further conversations thank you Miss sear Heiser agenda item 13 superintendent matters I call on Dr Reid thank you chairman FR it's been a um a great uh couple days I it's hard to remember

229that we were up very early this morning was it two hours late today um because of the ice but anyhow we're just thrilled that uh we were able to get um to get school going two hours late and um just appreciate that we've also been very busy uh visiting schools um and attending different uh athletic events and just uh really proud of the strong start for second semester and um I'm hopeful that the uh forecast for weather next week does not come to pass because it looks like we're expecting more snow so I'm gonna be out doing a lot of sun dancing and uh I'm gonna be charging the team with coming up with some sun dancing because we do not want more snow days so anyhow just uh that takes care of superintendent matters

230thank you thank you Dr Reid I think you've just enticed thousands of children to do snow dancing uh so all right agenda item 14 board matters I ask for unanimous consent to skip board matters this evening hearing no objection at 10:27 p.m. this meeting is adjourned