FCPS School Board Meeting - 11/9/2023

001745 at 7:45 [Music] e board members please take your seats we'd like to start the meeting okay this regular um meeting will come to order this November 2023 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order we apologize to the community for being a little bit late this evening um please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the national anthem by Kilmer Middle School Kilmer singers under the direction of Kevin sap I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice you see by the's [Music] ging and the rocket [Music] of the and the of [Applause] the okay agenda item 2.02 certification of a

002closed meeting in order to comply with Section 2.2 3712 D of the code of Virginia it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convene a closed meeting on November 9th 2023 to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted from from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board during the closed meeting do I have a motion Miss Cobra Sanders is there a second Dr Anderson all those in favor Miss cobt Sanders Dr Anderson Miss mcin Miss bski myself Mr fresh Karen ke Kamara Melanie Marin abaro M and Laura Jane Cowen are any opposed any extensions all right that is unanimous thank you okay confirmation

003of action taken in closed I call on Mr fr for a motion thank you madam chair I move that the uh chair of the school board we authorized to execute on behalf of the board the contract for assistant superintendent for Region 2 is discussed in the closed meeting is there a second miss m seconded by miss mlin all those in favor Miss corbert Sanders Dr Anderson Miss mclin Miss mcari myself Mr frish kieren ke gamara um Miss mirin Miss am and Laura Jane Cowan that is unanimous I call on Miss Cowen for a motion Madam chair I move that the chair of the school board be authorized to execute on behalf of the board the contract for assistant superintendent Department of school Improvement and supports Elementary support as discussed in the closed meeting is there

004second yes I second thank you Miss Marin all those in favor of this motion please Miss corett Sanders Dr Anderson Miss mclocklin Miss mcari myself Mr frish Miss ke Kamara Miss Miran Miss om and Miss Cowen that is unanimous for those at the table um I call on Miss corett Sanders for a motion thank you madam chair I move that the chair of the school board be authorized to execute on on behalf of the board the contract for assistant superintendent Department of school Improvement and support secondary support as discussed in the Clos meeting is there a second I'll second thank you Mr mcari all those in favor miss Corbin Sanders miss mclin miss bski m Chen Mr frish Miss Marin Miss and Laura Jane Cohen all those opposed all those abstaining Dr Anderson and miss

005Karen kees gamara Mr Jackson would you provide the vote please Madam chair the vote for that is 902 thank you that motion passes announcements Miss ciser Heiser submitted a written request to virtually attend this evening's meeting due to a medical conflict and personal conflict respectively all those in favor of approving Miss seiser heiser's request Miss carpet Sanders Dr Anderson Miss MCL Missi M toen Mr frish Karen ke gamara Miss Marin Miss am and Laura Jane cwin and that is unanimous with those of us at the table um if you would like to riew a cop copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight that information may be found at the back of the auditorium or on the website at fcps.edu schoolb boardboard dos tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel

00699 and live streamed on the website at fcps.edu TV c99 before we start our announcements I would like to welcome welcome some special guests tonight from the city of Fairfax we have with us city of Fairfax School Board chair Miss Carolyn pitches we have the city of Fairfax Schoolboard member Miss Sarah Kelsey and do we have your assistant superintendent oh okay he's not with us but thank you so much for joining us this evening we appreciate you being here I would also like to welcome and congratulate some newly elected Fair fres County school board members who are in attendance tonight we have Sandy Anderson from the Springfield District and Matteo Dunn from the Mount Vernon districts thank you for being with us this evening we also have with us um as part of our um

007ceremony for our um purple star schools we have our Garrison Commander from Fort bour Colonel Jones there you are thank you so much for being with us tonight as a reminder to all board members in accordance with our vote on September 28th All sponsors of proclamations will have two minutes to provide comments while all other board members will have one minute each we will employ this practice moving forward after reading tonight's proclamations the board would like to invite those in support of the proclamation to join us for a photo our first Proclamation 2.05 Cedar Lane School gym renaming I call in Miss mirin for a proclamation whereas Thomas Lundy passionately and Faithfully served Cedar Lane School students staff families and community members for 10 years as the school's principal and whereas Mr Lundy has demonstrated

008unwavering dedication to the academic social emotional well-being of Cedar Lane students and where is Mr Lundy provided staff with honest and transparent leadership and moral support and whereas Mr Lundy served as an inspiration to each Cedar Lane student to reach their full potential and whereas his legacy at Cedar Lane School span over 20 years starting as an intern and returning to lead the school through the pandemic as its principal now therefore be it resolved that the gymnasium at Cedar LAN school be renamed the Tom Lundy Jim in honor of this inspirational leader colleague and friend thank you is [Applause] Sarah is there a second Mr frish Miss Mariner would you like to speak to your Proclamation I'll just say I'll keep this brief because I know Mr Lundy is quite a humble man and I'm

009sure even having this much attention is is tough but um I'm glad that we are able to honor you and uh your staff has been looking forward to this for quite some time and I'm really honored to be able to uh commemorate your work in this way in the building uh with the with the people who are are doing the work that you believe in so much thank you for all your service [Applause] Mr fris would you like to speak I think the Applause says almost everything we need to know um so the mission um of Cedar Lane School is pretty specific to provide small structured and nurturing environment that supports the academic social emotional vocational and behavioral growth of every student the mission of Cedar Lane is grounded in excellence equity and Opportunity by

010grounding our mission in excellence equity and opportunity we can create a school where all students can Thrive I think if you speak to staff uh at Cedar Lane if you speak to families whose students have gone to Cedar Lane they will tell you that Mr Lundy has excelled at carrying forward that mission and I'm proud to Second this motion thank you Miss Cohen would you like to speak Miss Cowen thank you so much uh I had the opportunity to get to visit Cedar Lane a couple of times um including the incredible winter talent show um and also had the opportunity to get to see um to get to see some kiddos um that I knew from my time at Burke school and um get to see how successful that they were in the setting and

011recognize that Cedar Lane is such a magical place in large part because of such an amazing staff and such incredible leadership um but as you go through it you immediately um are embraced by the feeling that those people believe in you and that they will not give up on you until they can find that one thing that makes you feel successful um even if it's playing the drums or guitar or shooting Hoops um it is just remarkable and it's a remarkable place to be and so naming the gym is just a very small way of saying thank you um but everybody who you've sent through the doors over the last years um at the last 20 years is your legacy and such a testament to kids who've had um a lot of things not go

012their way until they find Cedar Lane um and uh and to be able to leave and have wonderful successful lives afterwards um is because of all of you so thank you so much and thanks to Dr Lundy [Applause] thank you um seeing no other board members that would like to speak I just would like to make one comment um I was very fortunate to meet um Mr Lundy I don't even want to think about how many years ago 10 12 years ago at least um on a Chesapeake Bay Foundation um training program for principls and I won't go to any further details um but I think that just illustrates the um you know his willingness to bring Innovative and different types of opportunities to the students at Cedar land um they developed quite a sustainability

013program um at their school um you know under our scps get green program and um it's just you know one example of um some great work and I'm thrilled to have um called you a colleague for so many years thank you Miss yeah thank you so much um I know it's always uh a challenge with my colleagues picking which resolutions to speak to but I can't let this wonderful audience uh go without further recognition really I mean the work that's done at Cedar Lane in and of itself uh is tremendous in being able to build a bridge for our young people uh and it takes a lot of heart and I think back at when visiting the the the gym at Cedar Lane which you know to my colleagues point is so uh timely and

014fitting that uh do Lindy you be uh the name that gets to sit on it of the joy the giggles the the the hope the passion that was shared in that space um especially in celebrating our young people in their graduations um celebrating the successes of the skills they've been able to earn and and I hope that you can sit here and and take in all the The Pride the um the celebration of you today for everything that you've been able to offer and building it to be what it is today for these kids and to help them along their Journeys I mean at this point it's Generations that have come through your leadership and your service at our school uh and are better for it in being able to uh live their lives in

015more independent ways um and in ways that are uh uh that allow them to maximize their potential even further so just really grateful for you Dr Lundy we're so blessed in FCPS to have people like you and this is a small token of our uh recognition of all that you've offered the community all right with that I will call for the vote all those in favor Miss carber Sanders Dr Anderson Miss mclocklin Miss mcari myself Mr frish kieren keis Gara Miss Marin Miss om and Laura Jane Cowen and we have Racha seiser Heiser also voting um virtually so that is unanimous congratulations all right agenda item 2.06 school counselors social workers nurses and psychologists month Proclamation I call Dr Anderson for a proclamation thank you whereas the celebration of school counselors social workers nurses and

016psychologists month honors the elementary middle and high school professionals I'm sorry and high school Professional Services staff who ensure the physical and mental health needs of our students and that their safety needs are met in and out of school and whereas FCPS employs close to 700 School counseling professionals including school counselors directors of student services and College and Career Specialists who are committed to Preparing students to become lifelong Learners and productive members of a global Society with a focus on social emotional Wellness academic success and College and Career Readiness and whereas School social workers maintain expertise in many areas including mental health human development Behavior trauma and family systems FCPS social workers use their training experience and skills to provide services to Children families and School staff members to remove personal and environmental obstacles in

017the support of student academic performance and whereas School nurses create safe and supporting learning environments as the First repon Responders at schools promoting wellness and improving Health outcomes for students they collaborate with school staff families communities and other health care providers to ensure the safety and well-being of students and whereas School psychologists are qualified members of the school team who apply their expertise in mental health learning and behavior to help students develop the social and emotional and life skills necess NE AR to realize Personal Achievement and growth and to build resilience and a sense of belonging and whereas these school counselors social workers nurses and psychologists are highly skilled professionals committed to helping every child achieve ensuring Equitable access and opportunity building relationships to strengthen student and family engagement and supporting mental health Wellness to

018help students to succeed in school and in life now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board recognizes November 2023 as school counselors social workers nurses and psychologists month in the importance of our students being cared for emotionally socially and physically in order to thrive in school at home and in life oh I'm supposed to say more thank you is there a second wait Dr andison do you want to finish it first I do I should except there's nothing there you want do you want me to say it I have it I I don't oh I can say that didn't I you got it I said it let it be resolved I'll say it again um I will second that you're excited for about this Proclamation very excited thank you for your second

019Miss Dr Anderson would you like to speak to your Proclamation yes I'm very excited about this Proclamation as everybody can tell but seriously School psychologists nurses counselors and social workers I believe they are all First Responders in our system in times of Crisis we call on them to provide Aid to our students their families and to our staff we thank you deeply for all of your work while we know that your plates are full you never turn away anyone in their time of need we still have work to do in order to provide these individuals these highly skilled professionals with more reasonable workloads in order for them to engage more deeply with our students but we are very grateful for all of the support that you provide to our students in addition to um handing

020out Band-Aids evaluating concussions testing providing mental health supports our counselors our social workers our nurses are a vital part of our school systems so happy School psychologists counselors nurses and social workers [Applause] mon come would you like to speak to your a second I would thank you I will absolutely ditto what my colleague said I don't think I could say it any better than that um but as the mom of a kid who is now um a thriving College freshman I will unequivocally say that they would not have made it through school um without you guys 100% the number of phone calls uh that I got from counselors and school psychologists and um just the support that my kiddo felt as they tried to navigate a tough tough experience in school um there is no

021way that they would have walked across that stage if it were not for all of you you so thank you so much from all of us and everything that you do um seen and unseen for all of our kids we so appreciate you miss mclin well this is Bittersweet Bittersweet for me because um this will be uh my last opportunity after 12 years as a social worker on the school board uh to speak um with my deepest um appreciation uh to all of our social workers um it's an honor to represent um you here on the board as well as our incredible um health behavioral health specialists uh for anyone who's watched my words over the last 12 years I have fought passionately that we needed School nurses that they were so essential for truly

022supporting and ensuring that our students were healthy and able to thrive in order to learn and that I've continued to be a champion long before Co that we needed more social workers psychologists and counselors to again ensure that our kids are supported and ready to learn so tonight really truly is about all of you who help partner with our families help support our children and help ensure that each and every child regardless of background and Circumstance has the opportunity to thrive in Fairfax County Public Schools so I um honored to be part of the board celebrating all of you and the important roles you play in our schools bless you so much and uh I've just been grateful to all that you do for our our school system thanks thank you Miss Kei cerra I

023too really want to say thank you because I believe by providing um our whole teams uh the social workers the psychologists the nurses we are teaching our young people we are teaching our community to take care of the whole person and when we do that we help to remove the stigma that can sometimes follow the need to take care of our emotional well-being and we help to teach that when we feel well we can be well we can do well and our students can truly access education to the fullest extent and become their very best so I think I'm grateful that you're a part of our team and I just want to say thank you thank you Miss am I do want to thank our school counselors social workers nurses psychologists we've lumped them all

024in in one but uh but it's really to emphasize that there are academic blockers that kids show up to school with and they're not not able to show up for learning without the kind of support that these wonderful staff are able to provide I'd be remiss not to point out of course their role during Co and over the past few years and now as well rebuilding after the pandemic and the traumas it's left our children with to be able to show up ready to learn uh you know in the midst of intense global conflict today we understand that students need these Services more than ever and collaboration and communication between parents students teachers and staff is key to building and shaping the resilient Minds that we're also attempting to educate I also want to point

025out two things one um you know that that our many of our uh staff our social workers and our psychologists I know in particular have associations and they went out of their way during the pandemic and the crisis that was unfolding uh to Advocate and to speak up for their students outside of the work hours that they put in which are already well over a normal work week for their kids but to really highlight the importance of continuing to support these positions and to expand and I know I think M mlin was the one to mention uh but my gosh we are still so far behind on the ratios and I I've been saying this since I've started here in Dr Reed I want to flag this for you over and over again we've done

026the budget question year after year to show the tremendous disparity and I know you all have been imploring us year after year to expand funding for those resources I know we've you know you were adamant supporters of the tele mental health supports that are that do exist for our kids now but even beyond that we need the people in the buildings who are able to meet our kids uh uh where they're at and and help them show up for Learning and be ready for that so I hope Dr Reed that will be one of our continued priorities in the years ahead but just so grateful for you all um and I hope all our families recognize just just how essential you are in our schools beyond the academic piece we're really educating that whole child

027thank you and with that I will call for the vote all those in favor Miss corbert Sanders Dr Anderson miss mclin miss mcari myself Mr frish Miss ke gamara Miss Marin Miss am and Miss Cowen and Raja seore Heiser is with us virtually that is unanimous thank you sorry about that all right um I call on Miss Corbett this is agenda item 2.07 Veterans Day Proclamation I call on Miss Corbett Sanders for a proclamation thank you Mr Vice chair whereas whereas Veterans Day is observed annually on November 11th in the United States in honor of all those living and deceased who served with the US Armed Forces to protect the freedoms that are so important to our nation's democracy and whereas Veterans Day formerly known as Armistice Day is the anniversary of the signing of

028the Armistice by the allies and Germans in 1918 ending World War I Armistice Day officially received its name in the United States in 1926 and became an official national holiday in 1938 through conre Congressional resolutions in 1954 President Eisenhower signed a congressional bill that changed the holiday's name to Veterans Day and whereas americ Americans owe a great debt to the soldiers Sailors Airmen and Marines who serve and defend our freedom in war and in peace and their families and community that support them and whereas Fairfax County Public Schools has strong ties to our veterans as our division serves over 14,000 military connected students and their families FCPS also proudly employs many veterans who now serve as teachers administrators and support staff to our schools and division departments now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax

029County School Board does hereby celebrate Veterans Day on November 11th 2023 and urge all students employees and community members to join in appropriate activities to pay tribute to the members of our military and to stress the importance of service to our country as a core value in our democracy thank you is is there a second yes I will second that Miss Corbett Sanders would you like to speak to your Proclamation yes thank you Vice chair and I will be brief because I know we have another um item that we want to get to but I want to personally thank every one of our um staff family members and community members who have signed up for the ultimate call to duty which is to serve our country in the military it is in an amazing gift

030I am humbled by what our military uh members are willing to offer and to sacrifice not only in the um traditional wartime but most often it's in peace time and it's in a peace time in which people serve a whole range of professions within the military and so I am forever Greatful I even have a colleague sitting next to me who is a veteran so thank you very much we should add to next year's Proclamation that Schoolboard members are also but actually when you look at what our service men and women do is after they leave the service they continue to serve they serve as teachers they serve as First Responders they serve an elected office they serve in all different forms because somebody who is willing to sign up to serve in our uh

031military services is usually also committed to everything that is our Democratic Values so thank you so much for all that you do Miss Tolen would you like to speak to your second yes thank you um all of us across FCPS and all Americans honor and express our deepest gratitude to the brave men and women who serve selflessly and defend our country today on Veterans Day November 11th and every day we can never say enough to share our gratitude as our service members and their families have faced many challenges as a contributor in our nation's history many military connected families come to our area for their next job or assignment in fact I met several veterans at the polls earlier this week that told me stories about their families moving here for the school system FCPS

032is honored to support over 14,000 military connected students from both the US Military and foreign militaries by being in school on around Veterans Day our schools share with our students and staff the meaning of this day and an understanding of the sacrifices made by our soldiers Sailors Airmen Marines and the space force Guardians and their families thank you for your service I am really looking forward to celebrating Veterans Day at coven Run Elementary School tomorrow thank [Applause] you thank you Mr Tolen uh I see Miss keys gamara well I couldn't miss this opportunity to um give my last OPP have my last opportunity to say thank you to so many who have served um I truly am grateful for your dedication as the daughter of a military veteran and the mother of a son that

033is currently serving I am truly truly proud um when I look at our nation and I think about so many people who just are willing to go forward for others it is truly a gift and I just wanted to say thank you and I'm so grateful to be at least in the family of those who are working together to take care of our nation thank you thank you Miss Kara Miss amsh yeah thank you I want to start by uh echoing gratitude to those in our community who've ultimately put the greatest thing on the line their lives um in addition to of course the struggle their families have to go through the financial costs of uh of war and of having to put themselves uh in that and then of course the silent struggles of

034um what folks go through when they come back and it's worth noting Fairfax County right here in our community we have 65,000 veterans uh that are our neighbors that are uh perhaps our teachers and of course I I give a nod to my colleague Dr Anderson as well as several of my colleagues who have family uh who are veterans or perhaps are serving as Miss K gamar pointed out uh and of course as the resolution stated 14,000 families who are military connected here in our school system um you know whether in the audience today or those at home and with their families and loved ones we thank you for that service and recognize too that war zones and places of conflict are incredibly unstable and we can only imagine the fear of people who live

035and work in such areas where lives are at risk every day there's no guarantee of safety so in conclusion rather than platitudes perhaps a call to action um for uh the dignity that that our veterans deserve to make sure that we do support them and show that support when they do come at home and provide the right supports and uh the right access to a VA system that's robust and whatnot to make sure that uh we show through our actions not just our words our our appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice they've been given giving thank you Miss am Miss ml Miss mclan I too want to just um share my deep appreciation um my family um in Roots where that my great-grandfather served in World War I um my grandfather uh fought in World War

036II and Korea uh my father his brothers U many of my uncles U including four who serve with the Canadian Royal military and uh were killed in World War I um our family has known what military service means and the ultimate sacrifice that comes with with it and so I I also want to add and lift up the fact that um my family was uh didn't come from money and didn't have opportunity so everyone I just listed they were all enlisted men and uh anyone who knows what our enlisted families go through um it is an additional sacrifice the pay is poor um my mom and her mother were um on food stamps and um starving during World War II so it's it's not easy um so I guess what I want to say is

037that um not only do we want to be honoring our veterans um not only do we want to do what M omes said that when they come home they feel valued appreciated and supported um through the VA and all other ways that we as a society show our care and support for their service and sacrifice I just want to say with humility thank you to each and every family and service men and women who have given to our our nation we are so deeply blessed by the service for Generations before and the generations to come and uh I am one American who's deeply grateful for that thank [Applause] you thank you Miss McLaughlin I will call for a vote all those in favor Miss Corbett Sanders Dr Anderson miss mclin miss picari miss Tolen Miss

038Kei gamara Miss Mary Miss am uh Miss Cohen Miss seiser Heiser and myself that's [Applause] unanimous I would like to invite those here in support of the Cedar Lane School gym renaming Proclamation that's next okay um to please join join the board for a photo after the photo um the guests and staff will depart the Das area and Mr Jackson will announce um the subsequent photos e I would like to invite those here in support of the school social workers counselors nurses and psychologist Proclamation including uh Miss Mary Joe Davis Miss Stephanie gray Miss Kimberly Smith Mr Brian hawkster and Miss Donna dishonors to please join the board for a photo e I would like to invite those here in support of the Veterans Day proclamation to please join the board for a photo e

039okay business time should all right 2.08 purple star schools recognition I call in Miss Corbett Sanders for the recognition thank you madam chair Virginia is home to over 75,000 military connected school age students more than any other state in the nation all our Fairfax County Public Schools proudly welcome and support the over 14,500 military connected Youth and their families who are part of our school Community tonight we are honoring 18 of our schools who have been awarded the purple star designation at this time I would like to recognize the fort belor Garrison Commander Colonel Joseph mesina in 2018 the Virginia Department of Education established the purple star designation to be awarded to military friendly schools that have demonstrated a major commitment to students and families connected to our nation's military criteria established for the award

040were designed to increase educator awareness of military connected Youth and help schools structure their support to and for military connected Youth and their families in the inaugural year 14 Fairfax County Public Schools received the purple star recognition schools that earned this prestigious designation received a special purple star recognition to display at their school the purple Star Award serves to set each of these schools apart for the hard work of the faculty students parents and Community Partners who stand together to ensure that our military connected students are supported academically behaviorally and emotionally during their transitions we thank the FCPS School staff and students from these 18 schools earning the recognition this year for the warm welcome to their military connected students and we thank our military families for keeping our nation strong and safe families students

041and community members in the audience are invited to stand in support of their schools as their school is announced I'd like to start with Belleview Elementary School botney Bray Elementary School canabury Woods Elementary School Centerville Elementary School Chesterbrook elementary school hearnen elementary school Katherine Johnson Middle School Kings Park Elementary School Lake bradic Secondary [Applause] School Lemon Road elementary school lybrook elementary school Rolling Valley Elementary School Rose Hill Elementary School South County Middle School South County High [Applause] School Wakefield Forest Elementary School Westfield High School West Springfield Elementary School among the FCPS schools recognized this year West Springfield Elementary School has the unique distinction of being honored for a second time in recognition of their ongoing commitment to welcoming military students and families now I would like to invite Colonel Joseph mesina the fort belor Garrison

042Commander to the community participation Podium to say a few words to our purple star schools welcome Colonel mesina thank you ma'am Madam chair board uh school board members thank you for having me here today I really just really quickly just wanted to say thank you one thank you for making our military families a priority thank you to all of the schools the 18 new schools here today and the 70 schools throughout the area and in Fairfax County that are purple star schools I've got a long speech here but I'm not going to go through that what I'm going to tell you is that my son who's 16 now has been to six different schools in six different states and what that means is that every time a family moves it's not just going from one

043school to the next with your friends that are going up a grade like you do and I did when I was in high school in in palum New Hampshire it's a new set of schools a new set of friends a new set of teachers and everything is new and this program it's not just a purple star what it is is it's a smiling face it's a friend it's an ambassador that meets the children at the school and welcomes them and provides them with information points of contact and key uh information to make them feel welcome as they move so I just wanted to thank you thank the principls the superintendent thank you very much ma'am and thank all of the teach teers that are taking care of our children and thank you for making our

044military connected families a priority thank you thank you Colonel mesina we would also like to recognize members of the Fairfax County Public School's military connected youth process action team this team's charge is to identify unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of military connection connected Youth and their families and ensure faculty and staff are informed and prepared to meet the needs the identified needs partnering with stakeholders as appropriate at this time I would like uh to ask my colleagues Colonel mesina our superintendent Dr Reed and our chief of schools Dr Pony members of the military connected youth process action team and the fort belor School liaison officer Marie Bailey to make your way to the dis to recognize these schools and be part of a group photo Mr Deputy clerk please call up each school

045by region to join us at the Das with their region leadership staff to receive their recognition and take a group photo region one hearnen Elementary sure e [Applause] region two Chester Brook Elementary no you got to be right up front Region Three Belleview Elementary and Rose Hill Elementary e since Region 4 has eight schools we'll call up four schools at a time so that we can fit everyone in the photo for the first region four group photo with the following schools please come up to the Das to be recognized and take a group photo Bonnie Bray Elementary Centerville Elementary South County Middle School and South County High School staff e for the second region for group photo with the following schools please come up to the Das to be recognized and take a group photo

046Kings Park Elementary Lake bradock Secondary Rolling Valley ele Elementary and West Springfield Elementary e region five photos will also be taken in two groups at this time we'd like to invite the following to the Das uh city of Fairfax School Board chair Miss pitches city of Fairfax Schoolboard member Miss Kelsey and the staff of Katherine Johnson Middle School e for the second region five group photo staff from Canterbury Woods Elementary Lemon Road Elementary Wakefield Forest Elementary and Westfield High please come to the Das e for region six staff from lindbrook elementary e Madam chair that was the last of our P scar school's recognition for they've all 3.01 Community participation the next order business is community participation we welcome all community members who are here and those who signed up to speak this evening community

047members can sign up to provide comments at Schoolboard regular business meetings and public hearings on the school board's websites at regular business meeting speakers May address any school related issue except those that have been scheduled for public hearings such as the capital Improvement program budget and boundaries comments targeting criticizing or attacking individual students are not permitted during public meetings complaints regarding school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate School principal or other school officials speakers should not use personally identifiable information in connection with an individual student or school-based employee additionally speakers should be respectful and observe proper decorum in their statements avoiding profanity inappropriate gestures shouting and comments that run counter to the spirit and letter of the school division's non-discrimination policy which protects students and staff from discrimination based on age race color sex

048sexual orientation gender identity religion national origin Mar Al status or disability speakers must limit their remarks to no more than 2 minutes direct their comments to the school board and should remain at the podium until concluding their remarks additionally only the speaker May stand at the podium they may not be joined by others speaker substitutions are not permitted a speaker may not yield their time to another individual at the conclusion of two minutes the microphone or video will be turned off Schoolboard members will be listening but not responding we ask audience members to be respectful of one another shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated audience members should hold their Applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks and remain at their seats including when video recording or taking photos we are grateful to those

049who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation Madame Deputy clerk please please call our first Speaker David Browning Karen kogan there are two sides to an issue and I know I'm not privy to all the information what I know for a fact is the warehouse does not have a buyer to purchase Warehouse supplies FCPS Warehouse is out of stock on toilet paper and paper hand towels in June of this year the warehouse was informed of our transition from procurement to facilities leadership had clearly communicated that all Personnel would transfer along with their respective departments this however didn't happen for the warehouse a few weeks before July 1 the director of procurement submitted paperwork to transfer the warehouse buyer back to procurement rather than keeping them with the facilities I

050was told the reason behind this move was that procurement needed an additional buyer the warehouse was not allocated a headcounts replaced this role and as a result we now face find oursel without a warehouse buyer the warehouse buyer is a unique position within the school system and other buyers are unable to support the significant workload this buyer is responsible for purchasing approximately $4 million worth of supplies which is vital to ensuring that schools and centers have the necessary materials the FCPS business controls specifically defined for the warehouse buyer are not compatible with the controls for any other FCPS buyer due to separation of Duties this control feature prevents the authorization of any buyer to also procure for the warehouse I understand facil leadership made an offer to procurement they could have a headcount from facilities

051in exchange for allowing the warehous buyer to return to the warehouse this offer was declined by the CFO and the director of procurement Services the solution devised by procurement Services was for the warehouse buyer to create all purchase orders in advance for the remainder of fy2 24 this proposed solution is unrealistic and condescending to the nature of this function this process does not project emergencies or unforeseeable needs which have already occurred to add to the challenge facilities leadership and I discovered on Monday that this unique profile profile for the warehouse buyer was removed from the only individual capable of Performing this function this leaves no one in the division capable of placing orders for warehouse supplies consequently we now face our find ourselves facing shortages of toilet paper and paper towels I feel you should

052know why since this is likely the first symptom of a larger problem I take immense pride in wearing this badge every day as it's truly an honor to be a part of FCPS I also fear speaking up in this manner carries the risk of potentially ending my career or the maybe repercussions and overt retaliation my core values re revolve around fair play and doing its right even when it requires speaking out I believe you share these values as well this is not my preferred method for handling difficult situations but I felt it was my only option I followed thank you Richard Clayton good evening I'm Rick Clayton on behalf of for public education I don't need to be a fortune tell to interpret the results of this week's election I can read the to you

053leaves chaos transphobia anti-crt and lack of Civility were trounced by the voters by parents in favor of inclusivity support for teachers Excellence hand inand and equity for all this board has stood up to crude personal vile attacks in order to protect our students and our Public School culture for four years for some of you this will be the last time you listen to me at this Podium and on behalf of for public education I want to say thank you through this storm Fairfax has remained at the Forefront of excellence and education and of course we do have work still to do but I hope those of you those who have been most critical of your work will be true to their word of wanting to quote listen to parents as parents have spoken loudly and

054clearly parents want all kinds of books in our libraries they told you this on Tuesday parents want all kinds of truthful history history taught they told you this on Tuesday they want trans kids protected and listened to they want teachers supported mentally I'm sorry emotionally and financially they told you this on Tuesday and they want civility when we do disagree not performative politics they told you this on Tuesday they have sent parents have sent a clear message and I hope everyone now will listen to them and as one Schoolboard candidate said in another County make school board meetings boring again so I and the rest of the four publication four public education uh group look forward to working with the new board next year thank [Applause] you Steve tunley I'm the father of a South

0552022 graduate my daughter's now at the University of Virginia and they my son who's a junior at uh hearnden high school I just have to start with a rhetorical question is it a great week to be a progressive Democrat in the state of Virginia and Fairfax County specifically yes it is M Marin 72% of the vote Mr frish 66% of the vote Miss Anderson 63% of the vote congratulations on your overwhelming re-elections Miss parari Miss keys gamar and Miss Cohen congratulations on moving on to higher office Statewide office for those of you who are leaving thank you this is the finest School District in the state of Virginia and maybe the country this school district has more National Merit Scholars than the rest of the state of Virginia combined thank you for tolerating The Fringe

056characters who come here and call you and I watch the videos of this call you groomers pedophiles Communists socialists cultural marxists who create false narratives about the National Merit Scholarship who want to turn our schools into Christian madrasas who want to ban books and who want to jam the lgbtq community back in the closet previous generations these people would be considered gadflies but in the age of social media and conservative trash media like Fox News Newsmax o Sean Tucker and Laura sadly they have power must be hard for you to have to deal with your names and reputations dragged through the mud thanks for tolerating that sadly our governor and attorney general seem to take their marching orders from these people maybe they'll rethink their approach after Tuesday night and now you face your greatest

057challenge perhaps the craziest people of all people who think boys should play volleyball I mean come on seriously are you kidding me I lived in California for 10 years all the boys play high school volleyball please find some funding for these guys so they can play volleyball thank you [Applause] Sandra Roberts the introduction doesn't it um thank you board for uh letting me speak tonight uh my name is Sandy Roberts and I am one of the team parents for the West Springfield Spartans boys volleyball team I do have some of the uh members uh of the team uh from this last year as well as one of the other team parents um this is my first son's my son's first year participating as a freshman with this team and our first our first foray into

058volleyball as a family um I wanted to relay the impact that this team in this sport has already had on my child and what I've seen among them teammates and why I think it's important to Foster and to bring in to the fold of the Varsity Sports um first for personal impact my son as I said is a freshman this year and for moving from middle at Irving Middle School over to West Springfield with over 2700 students it's it's overwhelming um volleyball has given him an outlet and a chance to get to know other students um in the area and it's it Fosters friendships um it's Fosters collaborative efforts and a sense of belonging and I've seen this growth in him even this year um watching the team from the sidelines I've seen opportunities for

059teamwork and Leadership I've watched some of the older more experienced players such as uh the gentleman over there uh take roles upon them themselves to um run practices to help coach the pl players in the plays um it gives those players an opportunity to grow skills that will benefit them throughout their entire lives teamwork is a crucial part of the sport if you've ever watched volleyball it's it can't happen without really good teamwork um and it helps develop the working relationships between the players and that's another skill that can contribute to all these players as they grow into contributing community members finally um bringing the sport into the fold of Varsity Sports makes sense this fall we had a majority of the schools sign interest forms 20 out of 25 and we're currently working on

060making sure that all of them do get those signed and we're also actively working thank you thank you Robert Rigby Jr I am Robert riby speaking on behalf of FCPS Pride it's been a rough few years now is the time to heal now is not the time to compromise with the politics of picking un vulnerable children the community must determine what are the truly crucial actions for our children employees caregivers and parents to thrive and learn the voters rejected the politics of excluding and banning those less powerful the election results tell us that transphobia racism and disrespective disabled people are not Fairfax or Virginia values let's listen work and heal but let's not appease in particular tonight there's no need to compromise on the name of segregation thank you for [Applause] listening Kelly singer healing

061for our communities and our children can't begin until we and they feel safe um a quote from Bessel Vander Coke author of the body keeps the score brain mind and body in the healing of trauma being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives FCPS must Foster those safe connections for all of our children the school board and general assembly elections just past have shown us and shown you that together we have a mandate and responsibility to act to adopt known and evidence-based measures that will help Foster those safe Connections for Children all of our children deserve mental health all of our CH children deserve to feel safe and connected religious students secular students students from every

062country race and ethnicity straight students gay students CIS students and trans students binary students non-binary students non-disabled students disabled students students from wealthy families and students from economically disadvantaged families we all belong here when our public schools welcome include all of our children we Safeguard not just their mental health but also our democracy we insist that every child be able to access a safe diverse and inclusive public education in Fairfax County Public Schools I look forward to seeing the ways that FCPS uses this new and reaffirmed mandate to Champion inclusion to Foster safe connections and mental health for all FCPS students it's what's right for our children and our communities and it's the law thank [Applause] you George Basera good evening chair women Tolen Dr Reed and other school and school board members I'm here

063tonight to talk about Middle School sports uh first I want to thank Dr Reid for her vision uh for starting this uh Headway into Middle School sports out of the five superintendents that have been here that I've uh been involved in this County with for my children uh during your first work session of your attendant ma'am I learned two things about you first thing is setting the tone to equity policy the second is in welcoming my daughter to a work session and you talked about your love of girls basketball and other those School sports um at the same time you related that to equity mental health and also School climate as as you're entering now ble School sports 2.0 couple suggestions during a tough budget year and I can ask for anything new but expand

064the items that you already have for example boys and girls basketball one thing that could be done as I mentioned to Dr Pon is a creation of maybe a tournament for Middle School in each region six Regional tournaments that that can be done in one day but at the same time let's do a home in a way so we can build school pride so the kids can come out that you've been to Liberty you've been here Luther Jackson with myself seing the tournament and in the enthusiasm that's here and at the same time as you and Miss mcin meet with the athletic Council this month please include Dr Anderson who will be transitioning over to that role at the same time please consider forming your own parent group from scps because after that the council

065has buil up the board of supervisor appointees two different worlds two different mindsets two different owners not saying they're not good people but they're associations different politics between Board of supervisor appointees and FCPS Representatives let see and create a new group but reach out to the quadr of folks of parents that you have already and thank you very much Madam chair the individual who signed up for a video testimony did not submit their video Madame chair that was our last public speaker thank you um I would like to just take a moment um we have a another special guest with us um a former Schoolboard member and newly elected um at large Schoolboard member Mr [Applause] Moon okay we will move on to agenda item 3.02 academic matters I will now call in Dr Reed

066to share academic matters so it's a really exciting topic this evening attendance and engagement so um we know that attendance is critic critically important and we're monitoring that it's become increasingly more important um across our nation we can maybe go full screen that might be a um that would be helpful uh research has shown that uh regular attendance is a significant factor in students success that should be no surprise um unfortunately the rates for absenteeism have really increased across the Commonwealth uh during the 2122 and 22 23 school years and supporting uh regular attendance has actually become a really important uh factor and it's a key Foundation to our strategic plan so this evening I want to share just a few of the overall steps we're taking here in Fairfax County to be responsive uh

067to this work uh chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of school for any reason and I think there's a little confusion out there right that to have chronic absenteeism this is really about Trent um uh truancies but it's really not it's about the combination of excused absences for a variety of reasons and truancies as well as potential discipline that might be exclusive to classroom why this is important to be clear about our definition is that chronic absenteeism as you know is associated with low academic progress and what's interesting is that if you miss just two days of school per month it actually can equate to Chronic absenteeism by the end of the year so I want to take a look at our longitudinal data I know you as aboard um this is

068something that's important and what I can say is that prior to the pandemic our absentee rate in Fairfax County has consistently been below 10% however when students return to in-person schooling following the height of the pandemic the C chronic absenteeism has spiked dramatically now some of the spike is due to actual illness our students have come back to school and in many cases um we have had students be ill and then they are missing more days um as a result of that either uh to quarantine in early days probably in 20121 and 22 um but also honestly I think just getting back together and sharing um new and unique um opportunities for getting sick um has also contributed so this again at 20% in 2022 and then 19% in 2023 we're tracking um our percentage

069this year and working on interventions that can um support better attendance either way as you notice the dark blue is Fairfax County and the light blue is Virginia as a whole so we are maintaining stronger attendance than the rest of the Commonwealth but still less than what we would hope for I want to share just a few um statistics honestly that continue to uh create concern for us because the early grades are particularly important we know that um children in the early grades are particularly susceptible to falling behind in fundamental reading skills and again that has a snowball effect as children move through those Elementary years um we know how important that is and by sixth grade honestly those patterns can get set and we really um there is a great deal of research that

070talks about leading indicators in terms of Dropout rates for students uh with poor um attendance in chronic absenteeism by sixth grade I want to share our plan here in the county for our multi-tiered system of support for attendance and we have interventions similar to those we have for academics uh the tier one or Universal prevention would be those things that that we do to encourage great attendance for all students and we really think that hopefully that that takes care of most of our concerns however we do have some students that um miss about 10 to 19% of school which we then provide early interventions such as success plans checkin checkout uh more individualized Student Success uh conferences and conversations and often an adult Champion that works with our students on improv in attendance there are

071then still students who are missing 20% or more which puts them that tier three intensive intervention it's at the top of the pyramid because that's the fewest number of students also though those are the students who are most susceptible to having negative educational outcomes as a result of their attendance um it's very important that we work in partner with our families uh we know that our parents and families are essential Partners in promoting good attendance uh when children are young they're especially dependent on their uh older family members or older siblings to help get them to school and it's really important uh that we continue the strong Partnerships with our families it's uh after school clubs all the types of things we do to build connections Mr Basera just talked a little about Middle School

072sports it's really important when students know that's it's going to be noticed when they don't show up um it really contributes to that feeling of connectedness and engagement which increases attendance so we're really continuing to find ways to support our students um in a variety of ways in fact even today we talked with Elementary principles about the Afterschool programming um particularly Science Olympiad and math Olympiad but making sure that there are some things available at every elementary school after school for our young students um and sometimes it's those activities that uh students bound out of bed for most eagerly first thing in the morning so that's our report on attendance and that's academic matters for this evening and I'm happy to take any questions Madam chair thank you Dr Reed Dr Anderson um thank you

073this is a very important report that I don't think we can overstate um to our families how much this needs to be paid attention to um just kind of going through this a little bit on page five I think you outlined some of the strategies are these new strategies um just implemented this year or are these um practices that have been in the division for a bit I think it's a mix some of them are new some of them are more consistently being applied some of them have not needed to be applied in some context but now are so it's I think it's a bit of both um at this point thank you the reason why I ask is in looking at the data that you shared on page three and 22 it was 15%

074and in 23 the attendance Grose to 17% so we're not going in the right direction that would be correct okay um the other thing that I definitely want to make sure that I raise because I have had this be brought to me as a concern from parents of special needs students particularly special needs students who are medically fragile who are um who um have a higher level of um absences and there's a pressure on on them and I I don't think they see it as Outreach necessarily they see it as a pressure where their children are out for real significant and and sometimes very very um um difficult circumstances and sometimes the Outreach from the school feels more like pressure when they're already dealing with a very um difficult situation I wonder how can we

075strike that balance so that we can still State the importance of attendance without providing that additional tension to parents going through a lot I I think you're raising a good point because when people are doing the best they can and their child really is ill it does feel I think at times like um insensitive perhaps and not compassionate in the way we want that to be so I think that's good counsel and I'll make sure I take that back to staff thank you um the other question that I had hold on I lost my page on page three where you had some of the data I would love to see this be Brook en down by some additional demographics where are we seeing the greatest needs um are they in high schools are they in

076Middle Schools are they in one particular region are they with this subgroup of students where can that be made available I think you were expecting that question I was actually it's on my uh Monday morning data dashboard it's one of our data bites um and I can make sure I do a um what we would call I can do a a snapshot of that in the Friday letter for you what what in your data dashboard we're charting by region and when you click on the region you can go to pyramid and to school and it's the unexcused absences excused absences and those um chronic beginning The Chronic absences at this point does it also give you a view in terms of which students present in these categories in ter so you'll have a breakout of

077special needs students elll students black students Asian students I'm looking for a very granular level of information I think that's something we would want to I would want to maybe sit down and explore with you because it's all um interactive and hyperlink I don't know that um I'll have to think about how I can get that part to you but the staff have that view and that ability to look at that thank you I appreciate that um that's it for me I will also add in late breaking positive news uh quarter one in um school year uh 23 we had 15.17 per absent chronic absent um our absentee rate for chronic absenteeism and this year as of November one at the end of quarter 1 um we're at 13.9% so we are trending in the

078correct direction at least this fall first quarter okay that's good to hear and I I did miss one thing I am very excited about the science and math Olympiad as I've shared with you before it shouldn't be the responsibility of pto's and ptas to not just fund them but to also staff them otherwise they do not exist at those schools so I'm really looking forward to see that Blossom more in our schools particularly that do not have that infrastructure yes ma'am thank you Mr Karo thank you uh I really do appreciate um this report I have um two categories of questions I'll start with the overall um requirements of the state um I I was looking through this report and I it's it's my understanding that the um state is now looking at absenteeism and

079tying that to accreditation is that correct that's correct okay and at what point does that become a concern if I I just think it would be helpful uh for parents to understand that well it was a concern last spring for us in fact our intervention last spring involved even doing double back bus routes and Transportation uh solutions for students who missed an early bus um um there were a variety of phone calls our attendance staff and staff at the schools uh it's it's an all Hands-On deck to really focus on making sure that we're connecting with families and making sure students are attending it is critically important so but how is the state judging us with respect to the absenteeism is is what I was trying to get clarified my apologies um Dr precidio do

080you have a more specific answer to the I think it's 10% or more is there like when stud it's the number the percentage of students who Miss 10% or more I think is what the issue is but yeah that's correct and that that's why in this presentation we were looking at that 10% threshold for chronic absenteeism which could just be two days a month honestly which is not difficult to rack up okay and so how are we monitoring that in the sense that when we see a certain pattern when do our interventions kick in I believe it's after two days um our interventions are kicking in and we're tracking five days in that first month of school was a real high flag we actually had a number of Staff even um who had their own

081children miss a lot of school in that very first month because um students often become sick as we all gather back together in the fall so we're hopeful that we're going to kind of ride a healthier uh second quarter into winter but um those are flagged right now and as I shared with Dr Anderson we have a dashboard that we actually look at at every senior leadership team meeting at the very beginning that has attendance by region and I believe we are at 4,000 students right now that are at that threshold across the entire division of chronic absentees that's correct okay and since the state this may be a rhetorical question but I have to ask it anyway um since the state has made this a focus have they also by any chance given any

082funding to address the problem no ma'am they have not I was I was just curious no they have not but they have provided some guidance around um around the accreditation rules and also I I think what we're getting we're receiving more information to encourage families um to send their kids to school even if they feel a little not well right as long as they don't have a fever and so forth so I the guidance has looked very interesting so I I I want to bring this other issue up just because of my other life as as an advocate for children and having received reports in the past where perhaps there may a child's ability to attend may be indic indicative of a larger problem at home um and I will tell you I handled a

083case years ago where um a child missed let's say 30 days out of two months and we actually found out that that child was caring for a a dying parent so in what what procedures do we have um to try to intervene this was in a different jurisdiction they utilize some processes that I have advocated for here in Fairfax and we don't use uh The Chins um and so how would we handle a situation like that because I can't with a system as large as ours I can't imagine that we are don't come across some problems like that I'm sure we have situations that mirror the situation you've described and I really am proud of our Educators at the school level in terms of their diligence they know these students by name that are in

084this um High absentee uh Arena the over 10% and even under 10% and I know as we visit Schools they're able to articulate what's going on with each student in that situation and our um Regional assistant superintendents and that team are working with our principles to identify any areas where we can provide supports and resources in partner with our County um it would be great if um I think we had more resources because I think uh we also at times have language barriers as we work with families and try to make sure that we understand exactly how uh to support their students so um it would be fabulous I think if we had a few more resources to support that but I'm really proud of the work our staff are doing right now and addressing

085this real challenge I continue to Advocate because at times even though a a family may need that intervention um they may not accept it right and so there may come a time where we have no choice so I continue to hit the same nail I've been hitting for several years but thank you yeah thank you and I also want to point out that there is growing a growing body of research that food insecurity um is a contributor to attendance issues and I think the opportunity the recent announcement around the threshold shifting uh for comprehensive School qualification for school lunch is a fabulous step in possibly addressing that and it would just be you know great if we also had the funding that came along with that for us as I've shared with you it's um

086just over1 million annually to support that for another 40 of our schools but I do believe that that we're going to see more and more research that ties food insecurity and the ability um to eat as one of the contributors to attendance thank you Miss mlin Dr Reed thank you so much and uh I do believe our board recognizes that this is one of the most crucial ways in which we um really do ensure our students stay in school and have an opportunity to succeed um you know just seeing from our schools on this one uh it is such a complicated issue that a one- siiz fits-all is never going to work um we we've got to make sure um partner with our social workers in the schools um and with our our SAS and

087all the other staff the principles in the building looking at what's going on in their um attendance issue cases but I will also say that um if we don't speak with the families we don't know maybe what's going on um I have a family member who's a senior in high school out in California and he's been Trent now for more than 18 days in one of his classes because he's underweight he's thin and going to Conditioning class is deeply um embarrassing for him and so he didn't know how to communicate otherwise it was just not going but we have to identify those things and step in I just use that as an example of there's so many different reasons on why a student's going to have absenteeism and when we don't recognize that behavior is

088communicating the emotional challenges of what a kid's going through then punishment and threats and all that stuff doesn't work on the flip side I will also say that when FCPS um turned to notifying families wanting to kind of raise the the issue we weren't doing the math right so so I also had another family member here in this school division who the young man was in high school got sick with the flu was out for five days but because it was in the first month of school then they were doing the you've been out for 10% of the school year kind of thing and it was a rather Stern letter that came to the family and happened to be my twin sister who immediately came to me and said what is this so I just

089for a little bit of levity here just I think that we have to always be mindful that in um really tackling something that is so crucial for Student Success we also have to make sure that we understand the ways that um systematizing things can suddenly send letters to families where a kid was just sick and we're sending a scolding email about being absent and attendance is so important and it can cause families to say what are you doing here so you know I just I do think that um but it also might be helpful to work with our social work department and find out um are they overwhelmed with their other job duties and where does this sit um but I do know and say with confidence that I believe our principles and our school

090leaders um very much understand that we've got to wrap around arms around this and and do the best we can for kids and families yeah thank you thank you um I have miss Karen Corvett Sanders and then R RNA SE Riser we see your hand you'll follow Miss Corvett Sanders thank you Dr Reed I appreciate this report um you know we've been talking about chronic absenteeism I feel like for the better part of two years um and it is not limited to Fairfax County or the state of Virginia it's frankly a national crisis and um we know that our kids that are not attending school or not attending it for a whole series of different reasons from the uh you know food insecurity to something's happening with their family or child care or missing a

091bus and so it's it's really an a tough situation because you actually have to unpack each individual it's not like there's is one solution for everything so I appreciate that but one of the things that I do understand is that if you miss more than um I think it's five days in the month of September you are you have an exponentially higher correct uh chance of being chronically absent so can you you know I appreciated the uh charts but I didn't see one that said in the month of September what was our our chronic absentee or how many people had missed more than five days you know we were doing really well for a while I think like I said I our data bite um is dynamic so I didn't capture like weekly static reports

092um September has got them here um Sloan I'm G to say a thousand is I I'm just that's a like I don't think I have that to answer it tonight but the reason I'm ask doesn't either yeah the reason I'm asking is is um it's a data point that we know can be predictive right and so it's a way of identifying those kids that are most at risk and being very intentional in reaching out to those kids in particular so I would just hope that going forward you would get a report at the end of every September that would detail how many kids are have Miss more than 5 days uh is are there clusters of these kids at certain schools or is there you know unpack the data and then be intentional with it

093so that's my first um suggestion my second suggestion um and I am very concerned that um students with underlying conditions are have a higher risk of um meeting that chronic absenteeism threshold it seems to me that since this is a new metric that was put in at a state level and people may not have understood the full impact of that metric that we might need to have some adjustments at the state level to address those students that have um chronic conditions and um I don't know I know a few people that might be able to help was en Richmond um and I'm just going to maybe we can whisper in their ears and ask for their assistance agreed thank you Miss ciser Heiser thank you I appreciate it and um turn my volume up and

094I don't want to repeat what my colleagues have said um I agree with many of the points being made I wanted to bring up one more thing um Dr Reed to for you to think about I know I recently sent you information to you and to do um Dr King and Dr um Edmond's FD about um pervasive or pathological demand avoidance right and some of the research coming out of that really coming out of England um and our neurodiversity specialist Kristen hayner knows quite a bit about this as well but there's a lot of crossover between students who may have PDA and chronic absenteeism and so I think it would be really helpful to have the team that's really reaching to support these students for whom you know are absent more especially our counselors as

095psychologists our social workers to to really have an understanding of PDA and how that might impact absenteeism and how they can help support the students because in some ways the more demands we put I think one of my colleagues mentioned I think it's m mofin about you know the harsher we sound the more it triggers PDA right so how do we ensure absenteeism in a way that's going to encourage students to come so that's the first thing I wanted to bring up and the second was in your slide you mentioned um about encouraging teens to join a club or an activity because that sense of belonging connection is linked um to you know showing up to school and I would encourage you to also to mention that for elementary school right uh I know you

096mentioned Science Olympiad which is fantastic but a lot of times for some students when they get to high school they haven't had the opportunities to build the requisite skills to be able to participate some of the programs at the high school level for example in the Arts or certain Sports so really I think providing those opportunities in elementary school not just helps our students get connected to those activities and excited about them but also then builds the skills so they can then participate in high school so I really think it's important um and then the last thing I mentioned will say about training for those who are um providing these these extracurricular and co-curricular activities to make sure that they are really inclusive of everybody to help build that community so those are the few

097things I wanted to mention thank you Miss Ames yeah thank you and Dr Reed thank you for choosing to highlight this critical piece um that's emerged as a chronic problem um I I guess you know in trying to be thoughtful here uh and reflecting some of what we've discussed in our own conversations um illness has always been kind of a factor right I know with coid that was particularly poignant but um but I think it's one of those variables that because it's a constant may not be worth leaning into as a reason for the numbers we're seeing um and no doubt there are unique reasons my colleague spoke to some of them but I think I I want us to really I guess admit or like be honest with ourselves that there are systemic reasons

098and and it's worth going into the root cause and problem solving to find the ways that we're not meeting kids where they're at given the unique circumstances that they're facing um I mean especially postco we know the economic situation in our community has changed um and so I I try to put myself in the minds of you know a kid who has to provide for their family or has to provide to for themselves to survive um who has to work who has hours that are not standard um maybe a kid whose family isn't reached with the language that they speak at home and there and I can look to more than one direction within our system where we're still not addressing those needs to the sufficient level um language being just an obvious one but

099also flexibility with our structure you know so I think of maybe is there a way to have kids make money in school or get credit for experiential learning that could be happening outside of school through Partnerships can we expand virtual options that give them more you know leniency and being able to complete their credits uh I've I've often I felt that in you know in working with our schools it tends to be well we need to get them to school we need to find a way to bring them and I don't know that you know we're going to try this same thing a million times it's been a challenge so I think of Ma's hierarchy of needs like kids you know kids who don't want to be in school or aren't showing through their behavior

100and I appreciated the point of Miss mclaughin Right behavior is is is communication that they're there I don't know that a kid who has all their basic needs met wouldn't want to be in school or who has you know the adults in their lives that help them imagine a future and and see what the benefits of of of taking advantage of that education is wouldn't be in school right so then we have to ask ourselves well what what are the blockers for them to be in that position and I think uh it's it's really worth kind of I don't know if it would require a team or I mean you have some wonderful ideas of how we're moving forward even about organizing our structure and thinking of um how we handle the instructional and academic

101side of things so it's worth you know a task force or something that really tries to look at creative Innovative you know you your thing is uh schools of our future right like what does that look like like um and I know a lot of our principles have tried things but I go back to that problem it's systemic they can continue to put Band-Aids out and try to do you know the case by case but if we don't do something intentionally I don't know that we're going to see those numbers change or at the very least we're going to be ignoring a large subset that just can even if it like uh you know um goes down will still exist uh for our failure not theirs but appreciate you considering thanks thank you Dr Reed

102thank you thank you agenda item 3.03 student representative matters I'm happy to call in Miss Karim thank you madam chair good evening everyone and happy second quarter it always arrives before we know it serving as a simple reminder to live in the moment and cherish the memories you hold in high school and Beyond as for updates I have news about technology Youth Empowerment also known as Ty which is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that originated from the seals promoting stem education to the youth Tai has recently gained its newest student representative at Justice High School along with a large team of over 10 volunteers from their stem club and computer science owner Society in the upcoming summer some of their team members will also be working in Northern Africa specifically in morania and it's commendable that

103students in FCPS are expanding their work beyond our County Tai has planned a stem camp in December at the Fairfax Regional Library and a spring camp at Kings Park library and additionally they will be teaching at Brookfield Elementary in the spring currently they are hosting a camp at the mlan Islamic Center and they are also in the process of working with Title One schools in the Justice pyramid this includes Glasgow Middle School Glen Forest Elementary and Bader Elementary where they plan to teach computer science and electrical engineering as a reminder for students who are interested in serving on the Ty team please reach out to your career specialist for the application as for the community eligibility Provisions I'm collaborating with different students and teachers across the county to provide free meals for all students Mr

104Gabe Seagle from Heen High School is working with George Mason University and we are trying to set up a fundraising program while creating long-term Partnerships we also have a fundraising link with educate Fairfax to erase student lunch debt which will soon be available on Port docks and any support can make a difference I'd like to link this initiative with the issue of food waste which is a common Nationwide concerns for schools that have CS while it's crucial to provide students with nutrition for Effective learning we must find a way to reduce this waste a study from the World Wildlife found that food waste in school cafeterias amount to around 530,000 tons each year equivalent to about 1.9 million metric tons of CO2 greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming it

105is crucial that we find a way to reduce this waste possibly through technology like smart cafeteria Management Systems these systems should use Technologies such as radio frequency identification or barcodes to track student meals selections thereby reducing waste by allowing students to choose their meals in advance these systems provide real-time data that enable cafeteria staff and school admin to make more informed decisions monitoring ing popular food items and reducing waste regarding the witson renaming I want to express my gratitude to the board and FCPS leadership for their commitment in making this change possible during the time of segregation African-Americans faced many hardships and it would be of utmost respect to rename the school after someone who represents this group well such as Carter G Woodson also known as the father of Black History Month he was

106a Pioneer in the field of African-American history dedicating his career to elevating the study of African-American contributions and history his efforts led to the establishment of Black History Month a nationwide institution born in New Canton Virginia Woodson overcame adversity and limited educational opportunities to earn a PhD from Harvard University becoming only the second African-American to achieve this honor along with many other students it is a common theme that we are in support of the school to be renamed after Dr Carter G Woodson to grow a welcoming environment for all students feel a sense of belonging lastly I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation to Dr Anderson and Mr frish who are among the notable speakers at our graduate presentation of learning POG Poole career day hosted by Woodson we also owe a big

107shout out to the approximately 50 Community speakers our administrative team for their unwavering support of this initiative and Dr dovo Mr starinsky and Miss Christy day who are all a part of the POG pole committee this event was made possible through the collaborative efforts of Central Tech our dedicated teachers parents and enthusiastic students I also want to extend our gratitude to the Region 5 team for their support of this important School Innovation and Improvement plan on the last day of the quarter students had the valuable opportunity to explore a wide array of career options ranging from cyber security and the FBI to entrepreneurship and government service the career day provided a wealth of information and students gained insights into to various career experiences even discovering internship opportunities tailored for high school students this unique event

108at Woodson serves as an EXC excellent platform to understand how POG pole can benefit not only in school but also in your life beyond I strongly endorse expanding such initiatives that help students make informed career decisions finally the integration of our year-long plans into advisory lessons is crucial for ensuring that our our goals align us align throughout the school year we are grateful to those that continue to support our spirit programs further enriching the student experience thank you for listening thank you attend to item 3.04 superintendent matters I call in Dr to re thank you Miss Tolen just I want to remind our community that November is National family engagement month and as we know our parents and families are our children's first and most important teachers Advocates and nurtures and we really recognize how

109strong family support is to our students well-being and success also want to Spotlight Our Family Resource Center which provides tremendous webinars family Liaisons a lending library and support for our students and families and I encourage All Families to take advantage of these resources the purple star schools a military family appreciation month this month is a fabulous opportunity as we did this evening to recognize our purple star schools and also remember that November is military family appreciation month so that again I want to highlight the work of our FCPS office of family and school Partnerships who provide resources and support for our military families transitioning to or from Fairfax County a big thank you to our Fairfax County Community for supporting this year's school bond referendum the projects in this bond package are going to enable

110us to break ground on three new schools and renovate 25 others through 2028 so thank you Fairfax County community on behalf of our students and staff we're thrilled um with the support also want to um extend my congratulations to our 628 students who were named National Merit commended Scholars by the National Merit Scholarship uh Corporation and we're just so excited that they come from nearly every high school and secondary school across Fairfax County and we're very proud of all of our students and these students who um achieved the commended status we also received a codeup $2 million grant for Steam and computer science it's our second year from the Department of Defense for a codeup 2.0 and it's going to directly support programming in 14 of our schools in South County and West Springfield pyramids

111all of which have 10% or more military connected youth so we're thrilled um with the opportunity to expand our stem options so just a quick capture of school visits and activities I've had a chance to attend football games at South Lakes and Lake bradic um both fabulous games and got an opportunity to thank Our Community Partners and boosters at South Lakes and I think one of the trademarks of Fairfax county is how supportive our families and businesses are it really makes our student experience something special uh last Saturday I had a chance to join Panther Orchestra day um I of my orange Panther ears which I forgot or I would have warned them this evening um Carson and Hughes Middle Schools were playing it was a fabulous musical morning um I will say the musical

112at West pomac High School that I attended Carrie I'd forgotten just how um difficult that story was um and I'm hopeful to see a more sort of funloving musical or theater production um soon um lord of the flies more recently was also anyhow uh had an opportunity to attend the regional debate tournament at Westfield High School with more than 500 students and just a fabulous program uh the Health Equity and resource fair that was um organized by two of our seniors at Justice high school was equally inspiring and tomorrow um in honor of Veterans Day I'll be participating in events to honor those who've served at Silverbrook Elementary School Community celebration and we will be marking the 248th birthday of the United States Marine Corps um at gate house in a celebration so as the

113mother of a marine um I'm looking forward to celebrating that Marine Corps birthday so thank you Miss Tolen thank you Dr Reed um board members without objection we are um moving up our action item to item four and after we um take care of this we will move on to our um executive expectation performance measure so 4.01 our action item renaming of WT Woodson High School I call on Dr Reed for a presentation thank you Miss Tolen before I make the presentation I really want to give a shout out to the staff and in particular our Deputy clerks who spent a great deal of time um supporting the putting together of this presentation um as well as staff so this is um as up toate and current with data um fresh today so tonight the

114school board is going to take action to officially rename WT Woodson High School and I want to note that um this connects to policy 8170 point7 which is the naming of school facilities and our regulation [Music] the board deems it appropriate I want to remind our community about our process and timeline as you recall the process began in September with the request to consider a name change being presented to the school board posted as new business we then began collecting feedback from the community about whether or not to rename WT Woodson High School using an online feedback form holding a community meeting at Woodson and then a public hearing after this period of public engage engagement the school board voted to change the name of the school I the superintendent recommended two names for board

115consideration Woodson High School and Carter G Woodson High School and encourage continue public feedback during phase two the phase one feedback summary is on the screen public engagement was robust there were 1415 responses collected on the online feedback form and you can see a snapshot of the results on the slide this feedback along with comments at the community meeting and public hearing was shared with the board and FCPS staff to help inform the decision making the second phase of the renaming process focuses on selecting the new name for the school as with phase one we collected public feedback through an online feedback form a community meeting and a public hearing the online feedback form was open from October 13th through noon today November 9th there were 655 responses approximately 30 individuals attended the October 23

116community meeting and four speakers participated in the October 23rd public hearing tonight the board will take final action to officially rename the school the phase two feedback can be represented here um in graph form and again a reminder that of the 655 responses to the second phase feedback form the majority 307 307 self-identified as parents or caregivers 172 alumni shared feedback and we're proud that 79 students participated in the process by completing the form the summary of The Phase 2 feedback 159 respondents selected Carter G Woodson High School as their first choice for the school's name you can see in this chart the breakdown of those that selected Carter G Woodson High School by group 368 respondents selected Woodson High School as their first choice for the school's name and again we can see a

117breakdown of those responses by group the feedback form allowed for write in suggestions for the new name and 223 participants responded to this question 82 of those responses did not pertain to the question well um 44 responses wanted to keep the name WT Woodson High School 16 responses suggested the other name option meaning if they initially selected Woodson High School they then wrote in CG Woodson as a suggestion and vice versa 13 responses recommended a number High School number five for example or a general naming concept such as Freedom High School the remaining name suggestions were not repeated 10 or more times this concludes my presentation thank you Dr Reed at this time I now invite board members to ask any clarifying questions or provide comments um Miss SES did you have a question no

118um Miss C Sanders Dr Anderson yes I actually do want to speak to this um but before I get started I do want to say thank you to miss mclin um I think she's made some real effort to walk through this process with dignity with inclus inclusion of all um the stakeholders um it's been very thoughtful you've been very patient in ensuring that we had optimal times on our calendar where we could devote the time that this requires and it it's just been really it's just been nice to see how this process is rolling out in a much smoother way than previous name changes um having said that I would love for you or Dr Reed I'm not sure to whom this question needs to go to talk about um especially probably you miss mclin

119because you've been present at all of the community meetings when I take a look at some of the options that were provided for names during the first phase in the second phase um I see that there's definitely been more Collective um support for the Carter G Woodson name um is this the sense that you're also getting in the community because I don't spend as much time there as you so I'd like to to know that and that's one um secondly I do know that the um the regulation or the policy that speaks to renaming while we have this process it doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be one of the names that comes out of that um that comes out of the um the feedback so if you could also speak to that as

120well I would appreciate it thank you Dr Anderson um you you are correct that when uh we look at both the feedback we received from phase one where 1,400 people responded and then phase two where we had closer to 600 responses and combining the feedback for both of those um well over 600 were supportive of Carter G Woodson is the name and approximately 400 or so were supportive of just naming the school Woodson and removing um the former superintendent's name officially from the building um when you talk about the community and and I will actually talk about this more in my remarks so um I I will just quickly say that yes um I the motion I'm bringing forward tonight I do believe is reflective of um the broad uh consensus of the community and

121uh I'll I'll go in a little more that um during the motion itself then I will wait to hear it then um I also want to point out that um a few years ago when this issue was raised by some of the students I believe they emailed yourself uh Mr frish Miss Co Miss Cohen and myself because I have a small part of of Woodson um the student Community really wanted to move towards the cardig G Woodson name and during your remarks if you could speak to whether or not that has changed happy to speak to that as well thank you see no other oh miss Cohen I just I also wanted to thank Miss mlin but also say that in getting to have the opportunity uh to spend a lot of time knocking on

122a lot of doors in the woods and Community um these last several months overwhelmingly I would say in particular every time we were at a household of a student a current student at Woodson and even some grads of Woodson um who were overwhelmingly supportive of the idea of changing the name um liked the IDE idea of um Carter G because they felt like it maintained the sense of what the Woodson Community has become but also did a half decent job at trying to write um rewrite the story of the school and so um they were all they've all been overwhelmingly supportive so just wanted to throw that in thank thank you Mr frish thank you very much I think I might have the second most number of students as a magisterial member obviously the at

123larges have everybody um I I want to thank our staff for conducting a process that was thorough and involved the community deeply um I also want to thank uh Miss McLaughlin for working with all of our colleagues to uh bring this forward and bring it along um as um our student representative mentioned I was at Woodson last week as was Dr Anderson um for career day and as I wrapped up my portion of career day I said do you guys have any questions for me and the first question was about the name change um and it seemed pretty clear from the consensus in the room that the students are pretty solid behind Carter G and with good reason I think it's inspiring and I think it has an opportunity you know I've heard some people

124say we don't even think about the WT well how special will it be to be able to think about the name of the school and be inspired so thank you very much for your hard work on this thank you Mr frish M Kei gar yes I um I I'd like to just take a moment to put some context here um we had a speaker earlier talk a little bit about how the school board has had to respond to some pretty well I'll just say interesting comments and different perspectives with respect to how we should be handling education and we also have come through a year where we literally had to defend and and we made some progress but we still have work to do with respect to being able to study accurate history not whitewashed

125history or altered comfortable history but the actual history and so I think it's important to put a pin in this moment to recognize that we are doing this in the midst of that to add an exclamation point perhaps after an election that you know already put a period but maybe an exclamation point that said and yes we will continue onward so I thank you Miss [Applause] mcclaflin okay I would like to call and Miss mcin for a motion thank you um chair Tolen I appreciate that um yes uh I move that the Fairfax County School Board vote to rename WT Woodson High School to Carter G Woodson High School is there a second second thank you Mr M M mclin would you like to speak to your procl to your motion I I would with

126um with humility and um deep Pride uh for our community um I do want to First quickly acknowledge our amazing um interim principal who is here with us tonight Kevin graa and uh also one of our assistant principles who has joined him here this evening as well thank you both for being here so now you can then start my timer because I have a feeling need to go back um I I I I first want to say um to those who may be watching at home and haven't followed this as carefully or closely um I hail from being a um two generation Woodson family um my husband is two brothers My Three Sons my two nephews and uh as a result um when I started to engage with the community on this conversation and it

127was happening um just about about the time that we were also going through a global pandemic um it became so evident that in becoming aware of um superintendent Woodson's private papers that are staff discovered in um the city public library um that this wasn't um the history of Fairfax County Schools being segregated uh was not simply because our common wealth forced it upon our school divisions um it was true um everyone was forced to stay um desegregated um pretty much Massive Resistance ran from January 1956 to January 1959 when the federal courts finally came in and told Virginia enough is enough but the bottom line is that in seeing the private papers um to understand that the Woodson High School namesake Wilbur Tucker Woodson um personally held the views and beliefs in segregation um it

128became the time and the place that in speaking with our community with our students speaking with um our our staff and Community Advocates and then speaking with my fellow board members um that we all beli this was the right thing and the right time to do this and so um I I do want to say to our community um that what gave me the greatest sense of hope for us as even a nation and as a society is that in those Community meetings where we had some alumni who carry such deep love for Woodson High School that is more than 60 years old um not trying to defend Wilber Tucker Woodson but just feeling a connection to the legacy of the school to sit in a place a community place and people willing to listen

129and hear from one another to have our amazing families particularly our families of color to speak up in that room and to say that while we can recognize what former superintendent Woodson did to build this School Division over 30 years the bottom line is his name on that building his being the namesake knowing that he would not have welcomed them and their children into that school building um how could we keep his name on that building one more day and um as I listened to our PTA leaders our athletic booster club leaders our student leaders our black student union um members um the community meetings um the public hearings time and time again what I heard from our community was a deep sense of Pride for what the Woodson High School name means but also

130a recognition that how do we reconcile and bring healing to a very painful part of our County and our Commonwealth's history and so we think about what could be more beautiful than right here tonight to um think about how to honor um the man Carter G Woodson known as the father of black history um a Virginia who came from difficult hardship working in the coal mines having interrupted education and going on to earn um degrees and PhD from Harvard and University of Chicago to um creating our very first journals of African-American history um to Leading um the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University and currently um and continuously honored by the University of Virginia for The Institute of African-American African studies but when I think about the fact that we will be marking

131the 70th anniversary of Brown versus Board of educ ation in 2024 that tonight with an historic vote with your support that we will rededicate rename and honor Carter G Woodson with one of our most celebrated high schools here in this County in the Commonwealth and in the nation I can't think of a more beautiful time to be doing this and finally I will also say that our nation is having a national debate on black history teaching black history teaching the painful aspects of our history and Carter G Woodson is the one who helped this nation start to capture collect and present that black history is our history and so I can't think also of a more perfect time for our County and our community come together and say um with deep Pride uh we are

132Carter G Woodson High School so I hope you'll join me in supporting that [Applause] tonight thank you Miss am would you like to speak to your second yeah thank you and I'm happy to follow Miss mcglaughlin and I appreciate all the work she's put into this and the journey it's been to come to this moment um you know I think that one of the things that screams the loudest to me in this story is not only that we have to turn the tide and correct what's been wrong but that complicity is not okay uh you know Carter G Woodson perhaps wasn't Robert El Lee or Jeb Stewart but um was someone who enabled through his power and in action having that power um the the wrongs of our past and and that makes us reflect

133you know I mean what what are the many ways that we continue to be complicit as a system as individuals uh in various harms unfolding in our society um and this is also a moment you know it's it's it's meaningful that Carter G Woodson being considered the father of black history someone who was a contributor to the idea of an African-American history month um that that solution is through education right that that he and and I want us to take a moment to also appreciate what that required that resources and energies and um Blood Sweat and Tears were spent to not only uh develop but then to push forward and and and try to you know raise year after year after year the importance of creating these narratives so that a child in school first

134exposure to black people is not enslavement right and we still have a lot of work to do uh in in that journey and that path towards Liberation and being able to teach the truths that allow all of our children um to sit within that sense of Liberation and belonging that's within our broader uh society and has been a part of our Collective human history so I'm really proud of us being in this moment I think whether it's you know teaching the realities of our indigenous history of black history um um of frankly you know the realities in Palestine whatever it is in the larger decolonial struggle of teaching truth um this is a moment certainly to celebrate and I'm grateful for Miss Kareem's advocacy uh over many meetings now in helping bring students along as

135well um and making sure that we can celebrate this moment and I'd be remiss not to say I look forward to the moment when we can fix all the uh you know make all the name changes happen we still have a few left so to those who coming into the school board you know I know we still have sster and and Lee corner and others um in Springfield and Sully in particular but uh it's always an ongoing work in progress and I think you know miss mclaughin your leadership on this helped show that conversation and bringing everyone along while we recognize the moment that there was some dissent and difference of opinion but that it's okay for us to all come together uh today in in celebration of uh a historic and important moment that

136our our young people led us towards so uh to the young people out there keep speaking and uh keep uplifting the truth because at one point at some point it's [Applause] undeniable Miss seiser Heiser thank you I appreciate the chance to be able to speak and first I want to thank uh Miss mclocklin for bringing this forward um and as Dr Anderson said you're very thoughtful and collaborative um and deliberate way way of bringing this board to allow for Community participation to allow for the board to um discuss the issues um and to really have a great process going forward and a really um calm process going forward which is really nice to have so I really appreciate M MC and I know how much um Woodson and the Woodson community and the school mean

137to you and your family so I I appreciate what you're doing here in the way that you've done it um and M thank you for also seconding this and being a spokesperson for this um name change as well I think you know it is so rare that you can have a name change that has such poetic um Justice involved with it and such perfect symmetry um you know it is wonderful that we are taking off the name of a person who stood for segregation and putting on the name a person who fought for the inclusion of black history who fought for writing black history for making sure people knew black history for celebrating the history of African-Americans in our community and in the United States it is just it is such Poetic Justice to me

138that students who can walk in now into a school that um that is named for somebody who believe that history should include the history of all of us so I'm I'm very proud to support this I'm very proud to be part of the board that voted for this change and like Miss Cohen I've had a few reasons to knock on a lot of doors in the Woodson Community recently as well and I can Echo that um her sentiment as well that for many many of the people that I talked to at the doors um supported this name change and we're very supportive of the cter G Woodson name and especially as she said families of current students current students themselves alumni really felt strong that this was a a really great move um for the

139Woodson community and for the school and for the students especially um I just wanted to lift up one thing I really loved about this perfect symmetry is the fact that Carter G Woodson Not only was he a Prof Professor um got his PhD from Harvard but he also was a school principal he was self-taught actually and um didn't enter High School I believe to the age of 18 and graduated high school in two years so but he was a teacher and a principal before he went on to get his graduate degrees and um eventually as Miss mcin said being the dean at Howard University so it is very fitting to name this school after somebody who was a school principal so I'm honored and humbled and happy to be able to support this and thank

140you thank you Dr Anderson would you like to speak again yes um I'll be brief since I did ask some questions um earlier and of course I'm very happy to um support this motion and I'm very grateful for the words that you shared as well as you uh Miss om uh I think there's um a Poetic Justice here in terms of coming full circle with the name Woodson um the only thing that I really want to lift up into the conversation is while we have a very clear policy in terms of how names should be changed I don't think we've settled on what names should be changed to and I wanted to take a moment as um Miss omes pointed out we have other names to come and we know that the names that currently

141exist from Lee to Woodson are were in place to uh perpetuate discrimination racism Supremacy over a very specific group of individuals and so I I really want to make sure that we are when we are engaging and renaming schools that hold those um values that we look to uplift the community that were the most impacted um this is a very great example of that um I know we've had some other opportunities that I think we have missed to uplift the communities that have been downtrodden by um these names and I'm hoping moving forward we can continue the path that we are on starting today where we're being very conscientious and intentional that the very people whom were held down are being lifted up in these renamings um so I I'm glad that you are setting

142the pace for us to continue along that path so thank [Applause] you Miss mclin do you have additional comments um just a quick go back from uh what Dr Anderson said and uh for those in the community that um had advocated um particularly in the pH to that why can't we just call it Woodson High School and that was Again part of a deep conversation in our community meetings where we really were able to have for more than two hours each time at the at the Woodson cafeteria with those who came out which was almost a hundred people over those two nights and as we would talk about the fact that you know just calling it Woodson High School um really wasn't going to take away um the herur and bring healing for why we

143were doing this in the first place because the the name Woodson still would always have the origins of being that former first superintendent and um you know there never been a the famous Virginia Carter G Woodson we would have absolutely had to be considering something entirely different um but again through student Voice through uh Community Voice through fellow board member voice uh you know more than 10 years ago someone brought Carter G Woodson to my attention and said wouldn't that be a beautiful name for that school so there's this has been there for a while but it's so important that every single child every single staff member every single family who visits that school who is a part of the community in the campus can now collectively together everyone be inspired and up lifted by

144Dr Carter G Woodson Anyone who reads his his life and uh his legacy and what he accomplished can't help but come away being incredibly proud of this Native Son of Virginia and so yeah I I couldn't be um just more proud of this board you you were with me every step of the way so while I appreciate the nice words I want to thank each and every one of you um the coast sponsors to The Forum and the unanimous support to bring this forward to the community um uh you guys have been amazing partners and uh I do want to finally say Dr Reed that I do appreciate that um there was a a lot of heavy lifting on the part of your staff to do the part of the superintendent regulation and I say

145that because it's not that the board made that happen that's fulfilling the superintendent's work in this area but um your team was very collaborative with me through this process as well and I I want to certainly especially say thank you to uh christe Scott and Donna Nelson Snyder who um really worked very closely with me on this um and again um I want to shout out to our prin inter principal Kevin gr you know he's on loan from us from Fairfax High School um and uh Kevin oversaw the um re the selection of a new mascot at Fairfax High School he he was there um at the helm for that so um Kevin your uh warmth and Grace um through our community engagement process as well I absolutely credit you and your your team for

146setting um the tone and tenor for that too so thank you so much for all that you and your team have been doing on that so with that um I I will stop talking ready to take thank you Miss mclin um yes thank you Miss mclin thank you Miss am for um bringing this forward to us and um I do just want to say too um you know I certainly know for you've been working on this for months and months and getting it scheduled and um you know getting all the the community meetings and everything scheduled when they needed to be working very closely with our um occr staff and um and with the board office to get this set up I really really appreciate it um and thank you too to the community members

147that participated um both in the filling out the forms and attending the meetings and um reaching out to board members we really appreciate your input and U I do think it is time it is the right thing to do so I will be supporting this motion and so with that I will call for the vote all those in favor of our motion please ra raise your hand we have miss Corbin Sanders Dr Anderson Miss mclin Miss bski myself Mr frish Karen ke gamara Miss Marin Miss H Laura Jane Cohen and Raja cmore Heiser that is unanimous congratulations all right with that we will move on to agenda item 5.01 performance review executive expectation number eight superintendent relationship with the board yes I Dr Reed I I have a request for a five minute break so

148I will let you sit down for a couple of minutes and thank you to the public we'll just take a quick break e board members can you please return to your seats e the things I okay board members we are well over our five minutes so can you please return to your seats ski okay we have seven members at the table we are now moving on to agenda item 5.01 performance review executive expectation number eight superintendence relationship with the board Dr Reed will present her report on E executive expectation number eight relationship with the board and board members will then be able to ask questions after the board asks questions they will be able to provide feedback through the board's next steps process or may fill out an electronic executive expectation form which will be

149included with the next steps the entire list of proposed next steps and any executive expectation forms will be shared with Dr Reed after the process is completed and posted in the library section of board docs for the public I now call at Dr Reed for the presentation thank you Miss Tolen and um as executive expectation 8 the superintendent relationship of the board um one of the I think the descriptor and thank you Kevin for pulling it up on the screen the descriptor recognizes of course that the school board provides oversight to the school system and in fulfilling the requirements of the Virginia code um the superintendent of course is held accountable by the board for effectively managing the operations and academic success of the system so the um opportunity to ensure regular and positive interactions

150and Foster effective Partnerships with the board to facilitate the achievement of our strategic plan goals and overall success is critically important I think to the success of our division so one of the things that's key is that the superintendent shall ensure the board is fully informed in a timely manners about matters relating to board work and significant division concerns and then there are a number of um actually eight items that are included um that are very specific um and since these are online I know our community can read it and our board is familiar with these so I will move to the interpretation um this interpretation requires of course the superintendent provide regular thoughtful and positive interactions and Communications with the board and to continue fostering effective Partnerships as a means to facilitate um the

151achievement of our strategic plan goals of which we currently have five so if I move to the evidence of compliance I'm certifying that this evening as of November 9th uh the information contained in the report is true um so uh I would the indicators I um are enumerating or am enumerating include our regular Friday letter which was a Monday letter now is a Friday letter um essentially I don't think we've taken a break on that in terms of vacations breaks or other reasons um because we haven't had one um the superintendent of course also meets regularly with um each School Board member uh in this case we've done this by phone over the course of the last year and um there is consistent two-way communication uh between the office of the superintendent and the Schoolboard

152office um there is a weekly meeting with the school board chairs uh which set agendas and problem solve other topics certainly um important issues media um events and so forth uh we endeavor to get those out to board members prior to um any more public notice um and as you know we also provide um email notifications in advance of personnel issues um we also address strategic plan updates academic matters superintendent matters and making sure items for the consent agenda that are required by law or board approved um along with the supporting data necessary to keep the board informed um are provided as dictated by board policy um the regular presentation of information to the board that could impact our financial condition as a division is provided in a timely fashion um and the regular information

153um out to the community newsletters and staff newsletters distributed via the office of communications is also very important uh you receive a weekly uh legal briefing and as appropriate uh legal briefings during the week when there are matters that require more urgent attention um essentially the Schoolboard advisory committees IDs committees and School Board member activities are also a part of this relationship so at this time that is uh my monitoring report for executive expectation 8 be happy to answer any questions Miss Tolen we can start with questions from um Miss seiser Heiser great thank you for this report uh Dr Reed I really appreciate it and I appreciate the detail um and your information to the board and the community has been really good especially with the Community Information a couple pieces I wanted to

154mention to you one of the things that I talked about in this was the um office of communications working with the public engagement committee to amplify strategies topics and timelines um and I think perhaps this is a place as we move further into this work and I'm just speaking as the public engagement committee chair and I think this the second time I've chaed this committee I think there's some space where maybe we can work on starting in the beginning of the year of sort of a strategy for the entire year of what OCR thinks is coming down the pike and the strategy of how to um incorporate some of those into our meetings so that we on the public engagement committee know of things things that are coming up and what the plan is for

155getting that regular board feedback on these topics and timelines and I also think there's maybe some some space to work together to um especially with um several new board members coming on board to um work on a maybe a um best practices guideline around board's Outreach to stakeholders I know we've talked a little bit internally about um getting some feedback that public engagement committee has but you know having getting some feedback from current members about their um best practices and suggestions but that would be one the other thing I wanted to um lift up to you I'm sure you're not going to be surprised that I mentioned this on that last bullet about Schoolboard members being invited to attend and participate and speak at events right um I think maybe there's again some space to

156work with OCR and the Schoolboard office now especially that we have a fully staffed office on sort of anticipating these events coming down the pike and um making sure there's enough time to get those invitations out out and to um get those speaking opportunities out so board members can be prepared as well so just a couple of things moving forward but overall I appreciate all the information you provided here thank you Dr Anderson oh thank you um and thank you for presenting this information before I go into some of my comments I I would love to get a sense of um looking at the superintendent's interpretation how do you arrive to this language I I just want to get a sense of your un of your kind of thinking of this component so which language

157in particular the superintendent interpretation I I'm trying to figure out is it different than a summary because when I looked at this particular one and you know I'm a big highlighter my whole page is highlighted and it seems to be like components that were just embedded in the actual executive expectation I I'm trying to get a sense of the interpretation component and I don't know if I get that it is in general a narrative summary of what looks like a bulleted checklist okay so it is a summary thank you so much for clarifying that um the one of the things that I want to raise is and I know this is an important piece I know it's a piece that we've talked about when you first started and it continues to be a conversation um

158the first superintendent um expectation number one take direction from the board as a body I I want to make sure I have Clarity in terms of when there's flexibility in that I'll give you an example um a few weeks ago we were talking about the um separation report and lots of members talked about it and there seemed to have been some consensus for it to be reviewed and I understand it couldn't be acted upon because it wasn't clear that the board provided um direction for it to be worked on and I'm fine with that and I will follow those steps um but in earlier but it in in an earlier conversation today we had a similar conversation where people gave a lot of feedback and your feed your response was I hear it that this

159is um important to this group and I will work on it but that also was not a direct vote so I just want to be clear in terms of what is it that you're expecting and when you're expecting it when do you see the the the feedback from the group as something to act on and when do you need it to be a superintendent directive or board voted upon superintendent directive so great question and we I think that through this evening I think when we hear a conversation that could be um a direction on work we're already doing um which I think was related to the attendance report I'm not sure where the okay it was earlier than that okay what if it's work we're already working on or directionally doing then I think that

160if it's a tweaking of that I think we can try to accommodate that if it's a new body body of work that somebody that I'm going to have to direct staff to do or assign staff um that's going to take a significant amount of time or a redirect or possibly even a redo of a system that's been in place then I really want to make sure there's a consensus before we set off on that path or I don't know if consensus is the right word but that there's a direction from the body of the board to set off on that path and if it offers Clarity that when there are comments being made for it to be a directive I'm happy to start planning for that just to plan ahead to have language ready for

161the board to act upon it it was just a little bit confusing to me because we had that conversation earlier and I just thought I would raise it um one of the other pieces that I want to share is and I actually I'm going to go with the easiest one what um what Miss seore heis Heiser seism moiser shared which is the last bullet I I do think there's a significant amount of work that can be done done here because board members are often um unaware of opportunities that are taking place throughout the division or not invited um I I think there's a lot of space here for us to improve upon um how board members are invited and included in other ways um I I shared this earlier um so I'll say it again

162here I think there's some space when it comes to the organizational components that impact some of the things for which the board is statut is stat Lally um responsible statutary thank you responsible I I don't think we've hit the mark on that the communication for me has to be a little bit more intentional um the time has to be a little bit more um it has to be more of a period for some real debate and questions before the decisions are made so I will look for that to be some of the things that you are improving upon um because that will also really speak to to this um expectation that you are encouraging collaboration with the board and in some aspects it is very clear in some other aspects for me it is missing

163and I I I don't want to belabor it because I know you heard it earlier but I wanted to make sure that I um raise this in this conversation um one other this is just a clarifying question because I don't think I am clear under the this is on page three where it says facts and another information provided a mechanism for official board notification what are you referring to regarding this mechanism for official board notification and communication is that the Monday letter yes ma'am okay thank you all right well thank you for this I appreciate being able to have the conversation are there other board members that would like to speak Miss yeah thank you so much um and I thank you Dr Reed I know um you've always strived to make yourself available uh

164for all kinds of conversations and I've appreciated that um I guess I just wanted to ask you what you see to be um it's great to see the strengths that you've outlined I don't know if you see any uh grows if you will or potential areas of improvement in general even to streamline right cuz the directive isn't just hear from the board but it's like the um the the board collect the majority of the board or like the board as one voice and whatnot so yeah I'm just curious as to your Reflections on what you would do maybe differently you have an incoming board so you have a new slate uh you know to start with but yeah that would be helpful even in my own understanding of where we are well I think you

165you know the board's raised several issues this evening obviously the um just getting a better understanding of all the different types of events that uh the board um is a part of and making sure those things are out there in a timely way and the um how do I say orchestration or the coordination on site at the events um I think there's uh room for improvement obviously so and I think uh Dr Anderson spoke to um you know provide getting I think uh the timing on certain types of conversations and decisions I certainly heard that clearly this evening so um I think that overall I think the clear we can all be in a collective understanding about processes um then I think we will be able to manage expectations a little more effectively uh because

166I don't think either the board or in this case the superintendent have an interest in not meeting expectations I think it's the clarity um that we can work on so I think that's going to be important with a new board coming in um and the last several months of this board yeah I definitely think and and this this challenge rather than calling it a problem predates you in the sense that you know kind of the consistency with which every board member engages with you hears from you or or meets with you right is entirely different I feel like streamlining that could be useful some people get a lot of time some people don't get much time um I mean by virtue perhaps their Outreach but I think that that ends up leading to perhaps an

167inequitable Dynamic which could you know build resentment or tension for you in uh in leading our system just mindful of that um and then also uh curious about what can be put in place because even in the build in the leadup to deciding on the process just the process for how we're going to do this right and communicate with you about these executive expectations there were differences and concerns about well what if the what if a minority of the board has a perspective or what if even just one or two people on the board have feel strongly about something and it's informed by their you know constituency their Community maybe their worldview and the fact of the matter is you know um the tyranny of a majority is a real thing I mean even in

168the founding of this country that was a concept right so I'm thought I want to be thoughtful about that too because I think in working moving forward with the board being one voice what does that mean when seven people speak for the body um and then your ability to kind of be responsive to what may be correct but not not always aligned with where the majority will land I think we've seen that more than once in our um Division and and I I guess I'm just sensitive to the fact that some more thought needs to be put into protocols maybe ways of um streamlining conversation and ensuring that the minority voices are heard but then ultimately you're answerable to the majority but perhaps you know it's like not just compliance right ideally it would be

169all moving forward together and not just like yeah we I I I achieved what the majority of the board wanted right but no I was thoughtful about all the various things that have come up um so there's a lot to say here but and and I will take some of it offline actually to talk to you more directly but um I'm grateful for what it's been so far and I recognize colleagues as well that this is a this is even addressing this component is a two-way street I think as a board we can also put in place Clarity and hopefully the new board will be able to establish that in their own way around what we are also expecting from you and what our engagement with you should look like so that um you're not

170left trying to figure that out but I appreciate you sharing this thank you thank you Miss ke Garo thank you uh Dr Reed I want to First acknowledge that I know this is a work in progress right and we're we're all trying to figure out a balance where where um both the board and you feel as though we've reached that sweet spot um and I know we've had some conversations over the past few weeks that suggest you know maybe we're still adding a little sugar to figure out where that sweet spot is so I'd like to I'd like to make a few suggestions and I I Tred to listen in the back I just um but so forgive I hope none of this is repetitive um but I will say I I personally struggle a

171little bit with keeping up with the letters um I sometimes it's I'm visiting this school or that school or and this is what I've done but then other times there's important reports in there and so I'm going to suggest that maybe we take a look at or you may want to take a look at um identifying for the board where they can expect to find certain types of information right um because sometimes I I think I've said and I don't recall what it was recently that I said well wait I I missed that and somebody said oh it was it was attached to the letter or or whatever and and I understand that that was an attempt to communicate but as I have said in previous weeks um it's not just communication it's effective communication

172so I know I'm not um I I do want to acknowledge the process I do acknowledge that there have been there has been much effort um I find those letters to be sometimes just very very long and and it's easy to lose information in there so um if if maybe we can have some conversations about specific types of information I think there have already been um comments regarding um you know when certain things happen the Board needs to receive that information information in a timely fashion um when things are expected or and and we have made some improvements so I just say if we can continue the conversation I think we will find that that sweet spot for most of us I'm not a sweet tea person myself but some people may be and um

173so anyway I just thought I would make these few suggestions and acknowledge that I understand that this is a work in progress appreciate that thank you work on more effective communication Miss Marin I just wanted to make a motion to limit debate to two minutes please two minutes per School Board member anybody that one's not debatable just vote on it this vote Yes it requires a two-thirds to adopt it this is a vote that requires two-thirds to adopt a change at this point so the motion is to reduce speaking time to two minutes instead of three so can we please take the vote okay Miss Corbett Sanders Mr glin Mr parari Miss Tolen Mr frish Miss Marin and Miss Cohen and Miss seiser Heiser okay take the nose too pardon me make sure to take

174the no votes as well okay and those that disagree those that abstain is that a no Miss that's a no Miss okay um can you call the vote please okay we have Dr Anderson is a no it was nine for one against so that motion would carry oh okay do we need to redo the vote okay let's okay so we need two3 to the vote carries thank you okay so our next speaker Miss Marin do you have additional comments no I don't okay Miss mclin um I'm going to practice trying to be SU because I think that's part of um what we're trying to share as um maybe a mutual benefit for you and for the board um I know when I send my newsletters out to my community sometimes uh there's a lot of

175packed information in there and so what I do right up front is I have a the bullet points of I'm going to be talking about these topics right up front and then people can then go look through the lengthy um communication and decide oh I'm interested in that particular topic this one and that one and so that's maybe just one suggestion I would have um I know you and I have talked um that I'm so much wanting to get to the heart of a lot of the research and best practice and the ways that we're going to help um this system uh get stronger and so um I feel at times that some of the most import important challenges facing our system are maybe in the the the communications um but not always and just

176I know from prior superintendent where they've said how am I supposed to read the minds of 12 different elected officials on what you want to see and what you don't want to see and so I I I say this with some humility here that but you know in the end uh to me anything that has to do with um our our instructional changes anything that has to do with our our fiscal spending um organizational changes to um you know the the systems leadership those are the things that you know I would like um for for us to kind of consistently know that's going to be in the weekly letter um because it is interesting sometimes that I feel like the things that maybe were Mission critical uh we weren't necessarily sure where we would find

177it um and and again I say this with humility because I do appreciate that without question your goal is to enhance your communication with the board and for that I I greatly appreciate it thank you thank you Miss Corin Sanders thank you and thank you Dr Reed I I think you're hearing a lot about the Friday letter used to be Monday letter um and I think part of the challenges with it is that it's really hot links to a bunch of other things and um so your suggestion of having an intro paragraph that kind of sets the stage of these are the priorities and these are the things that you should you know focus in that in my mind the top five things things that you should focus in on or the top five risk

178and then also having some celebration in there too because all of us are also sending out newsletters and if there's really good stuff that should be shared with the community that by individual board members I would suggest that I think the most critical thing though is and and I always use this as a um a guiding uh parameter for any bosses I ever had and you have the challenge of having 12 of us is the spirit of no surprises and I would encourage that um you know you when you get stuff you might want to think I don't want any surprises because it's that's the only thing I would suggest is really if I don't get surprised and it's impossible not to have some surprises but limit the surprises and and um it makes a

179very good partnership yes ma'am Mr fresh all right I have some good things to say about the Friday email um I think well before I get to that I think process makes perfect and um if we can Institute some processes around some of the communication I think everybody will be happier um and everybody will be more clearly understood uh in terms of the Friday uh letter um I'm grateful that it's on Friday now because it gives me uh more time away from the workday to focus on it um as opposed to when it was on Mondays um I appreciate the hyperlinks that are used to drop me down to the various sections of it um I appreciate the toolkits that we get from occr in there every week that help us find different things to

180Spotlight in our newsletters and in our social media posts um I appreciate that the documents that are attached to the news to the weekly email are clearly labeled that wasn't always the case previously um and um I think what I appreciate most of all is that there are really two emails that I have to read every single week your Friday email and the chair's email and those things set me up for success in terms of understanding what's going on um and so I try as best I can to do that every single week um and when I am capable of doing it um I have a more informed uh discussion with my colleagues um so um I think there are always ways to make things better in terms of format and structure but I'm very

181pleased with some of the changes that have come into uh the Friday newsletter um and uh I I I hate to say it but I don't read the other email that you send every week too often um but I think you should combine them into one like a book at the end of the year maybe maybe or maybe a quarterly Journal um maybe with recipes I will say my partner was in it once and he was super excited about it and got lots of emails from his friends all over the division when you stopped by chantilli so um I appreciate that and look forward to partnering with you in the future thank you all right so I'm happy to follow that um because I also like the Friday letter and um it is very dense

182um but it has just the competitive of information and what's going on in the district and what new reports are coming and it has the contracts that we need to pay attention to um it's kind of a large smattering if you will of various topics but as Mr first pointed out things that um you know I find as a board member is important to stay on top of and it's all in one place and it is we do have there is a a like an appendix at the top of it so um that is super helpful um I also just wanted to also compliment you on um the addition of academic matters to our board meetings um you know that was an idea that you brought to us and I think that has also really

183helped me just on what are topical issues going on and getting some data and information around them um which I find really helpful as someone you know going out into the community those are the topics that a lot of times our community members are talking about so I really do appreciate that um I was kind of thinking with some of our recent conversations you know I think we all went through the Strategic plan process together and um there was a so much communication around that and um you know the Strategic thinking associated with it and the work sessions and things that you had with the board members there was you know I really felt included in that whole planning process and I think that now as we're going into implementing that strategic plan plan um

184maybe we just need to think a little bit more about what are the the Strategic things that are happening um and you know I there was a list someone gave instruction fiscal organizational changes I think it was Miss mclaughin I think that was a pretty good list because those are super exciting things that are happening in the division and I know there's so much and it's all happening quickly um but those are some of the Strategic things that board members really like to know about so um I'm HP very happy to work closely with you to you know try to get that information out to board members in a more timely um manner so thank you very much for the report this evening thank you appreciate it okay as a reminder to board members um

185you need to enter any next steps that you have out of the conversation um this evening um by 5 pm. on November 14th and then um as we are always reminded um by our clerks um any vote on that that you need to go in and vote on any of those that you support by 5:00 pm on November 17th um if you are electing to use the electronic executive expectation form please fill it out and provide it to the clerk no later than 5:00 P pm on Friday November 17th um there is a link in the um script here to the next steps process but we will also get that out to um everyone again okay agenda item number six consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules provide for a consent agenda

186listing several items for approval of 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 any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda items are on the screen is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing no objection the consent agenda is approved agenda item seven new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be a vote on these items this evening but action is scheduled at a future meeting new business items are on the screen agenda item eight board committee reports I call in Miss Keys gamara her report on the cpdc committee thank you uh the

187cpdc met on both October 5th and October 25th this uh last month I'm grateful to my colleagues Dr Ricard Anderson and Miss Tamara Dar kofax for participating as well as Dr Carolyn pitches from the city of Fairfax School Board and fpac chair Katie Herman as well as our new chief of facility services and capital programs Janice seism manky both meetings served as a a session an in-depth discussion to finalize the community engagement process for capital projects I want to thank staff members from the facilities teams as well as from the office of communications particularly uh Christy Scott and for their ongoing work on this project we began this work almost two years ago our primary goals were to establish consistency and communication and engagement for all capital projects improve communication and Outreach encourage public participation

188in the process and building Community understanding and awareness of the capital improvement process our next steps the framework will be entered as new business on November 20th we look forward to presenting our finished product to you during the work session on November 28th our committee members are available to meet with you in two by two conversations to answer any questions or gather initial feedback from you prior to this work session and from that point it is my understanding that the framework will be included on the agenda of the December 4th meeting for board action I will just add that I I appreciate uh a couple of board members that were able um to serve as our trials um um miss our chair Miss Tolen and Dr Anderson both brought in some of the projects that

189were in their community and so it was uh really um allowed us to work a little bit as a think tank to try to figure out how to improve the process for everyone as well as to provide a uh more of Fidelity in the process so I think um that we made a lot of of progress particularly with staff um certainly didn't do it by ourselves but um having fpac available to us as well as staff and real life problems I think will help in the long run at least that's my hope so I thank you so much and I look forward to our discussions um later this month thank you I call in Miss Merin for a report on the governance committee yes we were able to send forward to the board that went

190on to a new business tonight seven policies that will have no changes they were all dealing with HR human resources and the superintendent did confirm that they are pretty standard policies and they don't have uh complications with forthcoming collective bargaining or other plans going on so those are on the docket and I hope that the board will um push those through in our next meeting there were also a few other policies that that had come up and all of these are on the uh 1031 board documents uh page regarding uh changes to a few of of those policies some just needed minor changes and a few were going to get some more um in-depth changes and I have emailed all this in detail to the board uh the the biggest thing is that we want

191to do is um well we're going to try and get another another governance meeting in before the final meetings for this board for the year so um yes please do oh and we talked actually at length about the fire escape plans for students with disabilities and it was a really interesting conversation that resulted in Dr Reed suggesting that she is going to actually meet with the fire marshall to talk about you know what what's the you know the view at this time and we certainly want to be sensitive to you know um best practices so it was it was really good so yes please do read what I sent you and then I'm happy to collect input um regarding uh draft calendar policy that had been shared so um that can be used in practice

192sooner than later okay thank you thank you I'd like to call Miss tymer Heiser for a report on the PC committee great thank you very much and given the late hour I will try to be brief public engagement committee met on November 2nd and we got quite quite a bit of good work done we talked about the virtual participation for our advisory committees that was um emailed out to the board and on the um new business for tonight for a vote for next time to allow them to set rules for this year so they can um take advantage of some of their ability to participate virtually and then we will also um ask for a work session as part of our advisory committee handbook which PEC has also finished to to discuss going forward after

193this school year we also talked about our public comment um procedures to make more uniformity between our video and our in-person comments and we also discussed the public hearings of frequency participation minimum participant sign up deadline line to conform with the public comment deadline and and this work will be coming forward to the board and then we also um went to discuss the school board standing committees and obtaining feedback from Members as to what committee should exist this is work that was started in the previous iteration of PEC and I know Dr Anderson and Mr fris had committ um committed to Gathering input and had gathered input from some board members and we'll be refreshing this input and reaching back out to you as well and our next meeting will be December 5th so that

194is our update from public engagement oh and Happy the Vol everybody thank you Miss heer Heiser okay with that um I would like to again extend a big thank you to our um Deputy clerks that stepped up to run our meeting today thank you so much for all of your help okay so at this point agenda item nine board matters without objection um we will skip this portion of our agenda okay seeing seeing no objection this meeting is adjourned [Music]